Blogs from Franz Josef, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 8

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef February 25th 2012

So last we left you in Carters Beach with some rather underwhelming seals. Now we are in Franz Josef Glacier Township in the sunshine, at last! We have been continuing south on the West Coast Highway. Most of this journey was done in torrential rain and so although we were passing by the Southern Alps we didn't really see them. We made one over night stop inland at Jacksons Retreat, a one horse town if ever there was one. It seamed to consist of a luxury Holiday Park and one tavern. We opted to follow the guidebooks recommendation and go for our evening meal at the local tavern, only to find it in darkness because of a power cut caused by a flood at Kelly's Creek. (It really had nothing to do with me) We were ... read more

Franz Josef Glacier

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef February 22nd 2012

Our guide cutting steps

SRMUSA

Here are some photos from our guided hike up the Franz Josef glacier on the West Coast. -sean... read more

Bambi on ice

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef February 8th 2012

Dels Grown up Gap Year

Up and about early, and headed to the glacier centre in town, from where we'll be ice climbing. It's a beautiful day which I'm not sure is a good thing or not. Baking sunshine and hiking don't tend to go well together. Throw in some ice, or rather slush, and we could be in for a bambi on ice disaster... First things first - I have to pass the medical. 'Any breathing problems, madam?' 'Oh, just antipodean asthma. Does that count?' 'Hmm, ok, well, any back or neck injuries?' 'Does a horse-related encounter with a tree count?' 'There's no hope for you...' Fortunately all the questions did were give the guys in charge a laugh. Permission to hike granted! We set off on the bus for the 10 minute hop to the entrance, at which stage ... read more

Bubber og B.S. på afveje ☺

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef February 4th 2012

Helli tur :)

Morten and Marianne

Lørdag d. 4. feb. bød på heldagsrafting for Mortens og mit vedkommende. Vi vågnede begge tidligt med sommerfugle i maven, og jeg var særligt spændt, da det var første gange, jeg skulle stifte bekendtskab med rafting. Mor og far kørte os ud til stedet, hvor vi skulle mødes. Her fik vi uddelt udstyr og fik det taget på. Herefter kom der en helikopter og samlede os op (og alt udstyr) i hold. Efter ca. 8 minutters fantastisk flyvetur, blev vi droppet af midt i Whataroafloden midt i INGENTING. Her blev båden klargjort, og vi fik en masse instrukser vedr. sikkerhed og dagens rute. Under disse instrukser gik det op for mig, at det ikke var en ”begyndertur”, jeg havde meldt mig til – og som Morten havde bildt mig ind det var. Det viste sig at ... read more

Her Marianne fik at vide det var en 5'er :)

Udkants-New Zealand

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef February 3rd 2012

Marinne ved et af de mange vandfald.

Morten and Marianne

Man ved, man er i udkants-NZ når: - - Der er bush ligegyldigt, hvor man kigger hen - - Man ikke kan høre andet end floden og fuglene - - Der går høns rundt i haven - - Der på vejen er skilte, der viser, man skal passe på ikke at en kiwi over - - Der ikke i miles omkreds er det, der minder om mobilsignal - - Den nærmeste by, der ligger 10 km væk, ingen butikker har – og først fik vej dertil i 1999 - - Man skal smøre sig ind i myggebalsam fra top til tå for at gå udenfor uden at blive ædt på af myg og sandflies Vi har også fået dagen til at gå med andet end at fundere over ovenstående statements… Da vi ikke skulle køre et ... read more

Frokost i det "fri"

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef February 2nd 2012

Et af de flotte vandfald:)

Morten and Marianne

Morgenen startede som så mange andre stadigvæk ret tidligt, og Marianne var blandt de helt morgenfriske med en 6 km lang løbetur. (Hun er snart i bedre form end mig)… Dagen i dag stod på det lange stræk fra Wanaka til Franz Josef. En tur på cirka 330 km, eller cirka 5 timer. Selvom det var det meste af dagen var lidt gråt, var turen bestemt flot. At gå fra det mere øde landsskab til ”bushen” var spændende at opleve. Frokosten var planlagt til at blive nydt i naturen, men takket vejret sandflies, måtte vi sidde og nyde den i bilen på en resteplads. Vi har endnu en gang været heldige med det sted vi bor. På internettet har vi booket et stort hus, der ligger cirka 15 km udenfor Franz Josef. Selvom her ikke er ... read more

Grant and Rae's NZ Trip

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef January 25th 2012

Franz Josef Glacier...

Grant0549

Well,we did the half day glacier trek. Not as physically testing as Tongariro - and well worth the effort. Mind you,making it to the bus was a challenge - apparently there was some sort of incident yesterday (there was a rumour that someone had had a heart attack)! We had to fill out these forms and those forms,take off our own boots and socks and replace them with theirs (our coats managed to pass inspection),get issued with crampons. It was worse than the IBM employee induction process!!!! Having arrived for the 08.30 bus,it eventually left about 09.15! We walked through some bush to get to the river bed at the bottom of the glacier which was 2 kilometres away. The weather was cloudy but dry and fairly warm. En route the sun did come through a ... read more

Grant and Rae's NZ Trip

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef January 24th 2012

Queenstown,view from.....

Grant0549

Had a good run up to Franz Josef via Lake Wanaka. Left sharpish and were at Lake Wanaka (via Kawarau Gorge) before 10. Lovely day - again! Bumped into a couple from Gouraock that we'd met in Dunedin - they gave us a recommendation for breakfast. Fabulous views over the lake. Stopped off at Lake Hawea (impressive),Thunder Creek Falls (less impressive 'cos of lack of rain),Roaring Billy (ditto the comment for Thunder Creek) before popping into Haast for a toilet break - where Rae bought a Merino gilet............no,not in the toilet! Had lunch at Knights Point overlooking the ocean - wonderful blue water! Went to Lake Mathieson near Fox Glacier but, disppointingly,the mirror effect was spoiled by the wind rippling the water.Still............ Accommodation very good again - a very well-equipped self-catering chalet. Off to the Franz ... read more

South Island, New Zealand

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef January 23rd 2012

Nelson

Frandrew

To get to the South Island we had to get the Interislander ferry from Wellington to Picton which took about 3 hours which wasn't as bad as it sounds as the there are some nice views as you approach the south island through the Marlborough sounds and also we saw some dolphins up close along the way (in fact we were closer to them than when we went on a dolphin spotting cruise back in Australia!!) Once we reached the South Island the weather was already much better than on the north island and it wasn't long into our drive to Nelson before we started seeing the even better scenery Fran had said to expect!! We were in Nelson for just 2 nights and decided just to take it easy and just did a bit of ... read more

Happy New Year (Kaikoura to Wanaka)

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef January 2nd 2012

home sweet home

FloPau

Well its been a few days since we've been in touch, so firstly Happy New Year to you all! We entered the new year 13 hours ahead of you this year, and have had a great 2012 so far. We have lots of news to catch up on since we last blogged. On our last morning in Kaikoura, we woke to a grey day which promised drizzle so we pressed on towards Christchurch and found a motel on the outskirts of the city before picking up the campervan the next morning. During our stay there were 2 small earthquakes - one at 10:50pm, which we felt, and apparently another at 5am. Only lasting a few seconds, but still quite an experience. So we were fairly glad to collect the camper and leave the city the next ... read more

lunch on the go - check out the view outside the window!

Brief history of New Zealand

The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year...more history

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