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Published: October 3rd 2010
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Calm ferry journey from Wellington over to South Island. Drive along bendy Queen Charlotte Drive from Picton to Nelson, fab views of Malborough Sound. Love driving our little Nissan Sunny on the NZ country roads. Stayed in a backpackers hostel in Nelson, where we were clearly the only 'backpackers'. Everyone else looked like they were on the witness protection scheme or something! Anyway, didn't linger. The weather had taken a turn for the worse and a big storm rocked the west coast.....just our luck! Made our way south past Cape Foulwind and a quick stop to see the seal colony there and stocked up on supplies in small town Westport.
Stayed a couple of nights in tiny Punakaiki, made famous by the interesting layered ''Pancake'' rocks on the coast line. We have never seen sea so rough. The waves were so choppy and ferocious they whipped up a thick white foam that covered the beaches in the area. Really strange. Found a wonderful cosy hostel to stay in called Te Nikau (we imagine it's like a Swiss Alps Chalet!) that baked fresh muffins and bread every morning. Great smell to wake up to. Could have stayed here longer if it
wasn't for the fact there were no shops for miles around. So few people you see!!
Next we drove further south to glacier country, past the incredible Southern Alps snowy peaked mountain range. Stayed at Franz Josef Glacier (FJG) and did a day organised hiking on the ice, which turned out to be one of the best trips we have ever done. The weather coundn't of been worse really - cold, rain, sleet, hail and snow. Apparently, they haven't had that much snow fall on FJG for over 2 years so pretty unique conditions. Still, normal people stay home in that weather. Our group of 11 plus a guide set out onto FJG with our ice picks and crampons (spikes for shoes!) and walked in deep snow, through ice blue tunnels and narrow crevices. We saw avalances and had snow ball fights. The cracked ice landscape was so spectacular we didn't notice the weather. Since doing her Geography A-Level on glaciers, Holly had always wanted to see one in real life so it was a dream come true. All the technical terms came flooding back and she bored Dee to death with talk of drumlins and pyramidal peaks! While
we were in the area we popped to see Fox Glacier too before heading east.
After an overnight stop in Hokitika, we headed out to the stunning snow covered Southern Alps hoping the road to Christchurch would be clear and passable. A road sign said "snow chains essential" this made us think would our rent-a-dent make it over the pass? Lucky for us we followed the snow plough and gritters. After a few stops to take in the breathtaking scenery, a pie and tea in Arthurs pass, some sandwiches by a lake and a quick skate at Darfield we were greeted with open arms and a big smile by Dee's Great Uncle Tom in Halswell, CHCH. After beautiful dinner of roast leg of lamb (mmmmm we love a roast) we crack open some beers n extensive booze cabinet and catch up on the family's goings on over the past 10 years. Tom is a great great Grandfather!!!! and it was lovely to see his great great granddaughter Mynia (Dee's fifth cousin once removed) when Nawai, Tom's Great Granddaughter, came over.
Barbara (Dee's second cousin, Toms daughter) was also staying which was really nice but it a shame about
the circumstances. Just two weeks earlier, on 4th September, Christchurch was surprisingly rocked by a 7.2M earthquake! check
to see all the tremors they have had. Luckily Tom's house was undamaged but Barbara's house was not so lucky. The next day we went to see it. There were big cracks around all the windows, cracks all round the outside of the house and the road in front, basically cracks everywhere. We felt the aftershocks for ourselves, which happen mostly in the night, which woke us up a few times. Tom took us out for a lovely drive round the hills and to beachy Sumner for tea before going ''rubbernecking'' for earthquake damage round the city. Whole sides of brick buildings had collapsed and roofs had come down. After what the media had been saying we were expecting to see full on carnage but the city looked to be functioning as normal with just a few buildings here and there with damage.
Only stayed with Tom for a few days before catching a flight back to Auckland. Stayed with Christine and Steve for one more night as we'd left the didgeridoo there accidentally. We had a brilliant last evening out on the tiles and our last day doing some lovely walks round Auckland before we boarded our (delayed) flight to Santiago. Sad to leave New Zealand, had the best time, especially seeing our family and friends.
We've now been away from home for one year. Only 5 months left of our adventure.........Hola Sudamerica!!!
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becky dixon
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So jealous it looked fab on the glaciers even if it was freezing. Looks like you are having a ball - be good to see your photos at home instead of waiting to see them in cornwall. Had chris and joan to stay over last weekend. great to see them. x becky