The Last Leg..

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Hi Folks...

As you will have guessed there's been a break in the Travel Blog..this is due to various reasons, none of which are very interesting, so apologies, and here we go again..

We left the beautiful town of Queenstown and headed off to The Millford Sounds - a quick geological lesson - a 'Sound' is an area carved out by a river and a 'Fjord' is an area carved out by a moving glacier. Hence the name The Millford Sounds - although just to confuse you (and us) this region was actually carved by a glacier and therefore a Fjord, although the Kiwi's still decided to call them Sounds! Great hey!

Again, without trying to understate it too much its simply a huge region of sheer faced cliffs and mountains with rivers, lakes and waterways running between - although as with the rest of NZ its truly amazing scenery. Some of the mountains rise vertically out of the water to hieghts approaching 6000 feet. This region boasts some of the most impresive waterfalls in all NZ but with an average rainfall of 260 days per year you'd hope so! We took the 45 minute boat ride through the Sounds and out to the edge of the Tasmin Sea and back, detouring only to chase a pod of a dozen or so Dolphins that had unexpectedly arrived for their lunch..

From Millford our final few days took us to Te Anau, Invercargill, past Stewart Island (the southern most town in the world), the Scottish created town of Dunedin (the student capital of NZ) and finally onto Christchurch. We did a few bits and bob's round this 4 day leg but nothing really of note...

Christchurch was our final base for the last 5 days and really we used it as a recouperating stop. We met up with 10 or so different people that we'd met along the way and believe it or not mainly went out drinking... Every night here was somebody's leaving do so it was one long goodbye - shame, but a must..
Christchurch is pretty nice in parts and the usual attractions like the museum and the Botanical Gardens were certainly up to standard.
We took a day trip up to Kaikora to go 'Seal Swimming' - this was a funny experience snorkelling through a seal reserve while 20 or more 150 pound-plus seals stared at you with golfball sized eyes. We even got within inches of them at times although touching them was not advised - "cause they bite" was the warning - 'great'..
We also went for an overnight trip up to Hamner Springs, a little town built on the site of hot springs, just inland. Nice, quiet, different. We went to the outdoor hot pools and relaxed in 40 degree water while watching the stars above. Should be compulsory after a hard days work in England - would definately help the stress levels..!

Then it was our turn for goodbye's - again, a shame, but a must...

So there we are - one month gone - just like that..

New Zealand - as you've hopefully discovered with us - is an amazing place with anything you could ever want to do or see only a few hours away at any time.
Everything everyone ever told us was right - you just can't find reasons not to like this place.
If NZ was closer to home we guarantee you that half the population of Engalnd would move instantly - and that's certainly where you'd find us!

This place is the recommendation of the trip so far - so if you've got some time (and money) get yourself here before its too late... you'll not regret it.

So time to head off and relax for a while in the islands of Fiji, and hopefully top up the non-existing tan...

We think we really are headed to a desert island so i don't think we'll speak for a week or two - take care and we'll catch up soon..

Thanks for reading!

Love Rich and Rose XX

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