Blogs from Geraldine, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Geo: -44.0933, 171.243On the road down to Queenstown from Christchurch is a hidden little gem of farmed rolling green hills backed by the Southern Alps. This area is known as Beautiful Valley, 15 minutes west of Geraldine. Here is where my Dad and extended family lived and still live.We came down for a day trip from Christchurch, a 1.5 hour car ride in to the small town of Geraldine where we visited one of my dad's aunt's and the resting place of my grand parents. We proceeded westwards to my aunt and uncles farm for some lunch and a catch up.Anna and I took a trip up the top of the farms hill which opens up on the other side for some amazing and stunning views that I never get sick of. Seeing the views from ... read more

Jeg stoppede med at skrive, inden jeg fik forladt Fjordland. Tredje dags vandretur gik langs stranden. Vi var ogsaa saa heldige at faa delfiner at se. Vi saa dem, da de havde forladt havet for at svoemme op i soen. Der kom tre par op ad aaen. De svoemmede i takt. Begge delfiner kom hele tiden op af vandet samtidigt. Hollyford Track- turen sluttede med en tur i en sekspersoners flyver. Vi floej over Milford Sound. Det regnede, saa der var ikke saa meget udsyn over bjergene, men hvor var der da mange vandfald. Jeg har ikke tidligere vaeret oppe i en lille flyver. Den er ikke ret stor saadan en. Saederne er noget mindre end bilsaeder. For vores pilot var det ogsaa ën almindelig koeretur."Hun skulle lige flytte sin madpakke fra instrumentbordet, og toerre forruden ... read more

Had a relatively nice lie in! We weren't getting started until 10.30 but I had to be up for brekkie coz it's included in the price. Toast and jam, scrummy. So there was another Swedish group that arrived and we all made our way to the back where they explained how everything works. We got into some extremely tight wet suits that are designed for men so I had a huge crotch area hanging down, lovely. It was far too big for me but I guess I can't be picky. The bus came and took us to where the rafting begins. After a couple of photo moments we climb into our raft. This river goes right upto grade 5 waves which are the biggest you can raft in! I had seen videos and was actually feeling ... read more

After leaving Wanaka we made our way down to Queenstown where we stayed for three nights. It was extremely tempting to do every adventerous activity on offer but I would instantly run out of money if I did that so we settled for a quiet few days instead (knowing we had white water rafting coming up on our way back to Christchurch). Queenstown is cool, but just so very expensive. I did however discover a brilliant budget shop where I got some new sunglasses for just 5 dollars! (I had broken yet another pair). On our last day in Queenstown we took a ride up the gondola to take in the view out over the town and the lake. Really stunning scenery and the weather was beautiful which made it even better. We could not however ... read more

29th March 2009 - LAST DAY OF SORE BOTTOMS!! My alarm went off at 6.30am. It was still dark outside and felt very early to be up. We didn’t have a choice though as we needed to be on the road by 7.30am as we had a long way to cycle and a bus to catch when we got to Geraldine, our destination. It would be our furthest cycle to date and I hoped it would go smoothly!! We got sorted and set off on time. It was just starting to get light as we set out which was nice as the sun was rising over the lake and the sky and mountains turned pink. It was really unexpected and woke me up a little as I still felt half asleep when we set off. There ... read more