Blogs from Franz Josef, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 34

Sad to leave Queenstown after an awesome time, we got in our newly aquired Mazda Familia. We hit the road early(ish) Sunday morning on a 4 hour drive to Milford Sound; a national park south of Queenstown with incredibly beautiful lakes, mountains and rainforest areas. The drive down was very impressive with stunning views around every corner. After soaking up the views, we headed back North to Te Anau for the night. Here we had a wander, and a beer at the local, before bed. Monday morning was another early start for the drive to Wanaka. We arrived in the afternoon and had lunch by the crystal clear Lake Wanaka surrounded by snow topped mountains with bright blue skies. Having had enough of the natural beauty and in need of another adrenalin rush we decided to ... read more

So today we left Uncle Les and Lake Mahinapua and it was Franz Josef today’s destination. Only one stop along the way today, Pukekura (Pook-e-ku-ra) where we visited the Bushman centre. This showed us how people make a living from various things including possum trapping and helicopter deer recovery. They showed us a film of men basically throwing themselves out of helicopters onto deer’s back, crazy! And we met their resident pig, which Sam had to feed, the pig was huge and hungry, Sam was very nervous, ha ha. Then it was on to Franz Josef. Now Franz Josef is famous for its glacier and that was tomorrows plan, so today we went to the tour office to find out exactly what walking on ice involved and what we should wear, then it was off to ... read more

Hello all! We have decided we deserved a day off so today is just that. Also we arrived in Franz Josef yesterday and it hasnt stopped raining, sometimes torentially, since then. We thought rather than getting very wet on the glacier we would have a rest from driving and walking and do our blog instead to keep you guys up to date. We arrived in New Zealand last friday and collected our van....which was much bigger than it should have been. We investigated Christchurch that day and stayed the night. First thing on Saturday we went to the Antartic centre which has been rated as New Zealands top visitor attraction twice. In fairness it was really good. Thy have a room there where they simulate a polar storm, and add some massive fans for wind chill ... read more

um 8.15 trafen wir uns in der orts mitte beim visitor center, glacier walk center....(in der nacht hatte das paracetamol gewirkt, mir gings erheblich besser.die einzige frage, die mich beschaeftigte war, was mache ich, wenn ich auf dem gletscher mal zum klo muss???sollte es da eistoiletten geben oder nur loecher???? dort wurden wir dann erstmal komplett einheitlich eingekleidet...d.h. von struempfen ueber schuhe, regenhosen, regenjacke, muetze und handschuhe.erinnerte mich irgendwie an die niagarafaelle, dort sahen auch alle passagiere des bootes gleich aus wie pinguine. wir wurden dann mit einem shuttle bus in die naehe des gletschers gebracht.45 minuten wegmarsch bis hin zum gletscher, 6 stunden hoch und weider runter vom gletscher und 45 minuten wieder zum shuttle bus. einen tag frueher, haett man mich wohl von der gletscherzunke kratzen muessen.das war unglaublich, auch uebrigens d... read more

We spent ten days seeing as much as we could of South Island. At the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch we zoomed in 'Hagglund' Antarctic vehicles over hills and through a lake; there is also a snowstorm and a lot about Antarctic exploration - I find the last page or two of Scott's diary very moving however many times I hear it. We then got a train down the coast (5 hrs) and over the mountains (4 hrs). It felt much too short - I can no longer believe an hour on a train is a long journey. The train has an open-air carriage to enjoy the scenery at its best, as long as you wrap up well and squeeze through other passengers all wanting photos at the same places. Anyway, next we hired a car ... read more