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Published: November 13th 2007
Airbus A380
Awesome!! Only flew into Sydney on it's maiden voyage a few days earlier!Before leaving Australia, while we were waiting to board our plane, imagine our excitement when we saw the Airbus A380!! Ha ha ok, we were not excited exactly but it was pretty cool as it's been on the news everywhere! It's huge! Shame we had to get on a very tired looking JetStar Boeing for our short hop across to New Zealand - which by the way was delayed...and they didn't even give us a free drink! Gutted.
Anyway....we arrived into Christchurch International airport and ready to start the final phase of our travelling bit! The first thing we cottoned onto was how cold we suddenly were! We had just come from 25-32 degrees temps and here it was about 13!! But we didn't care, even though it was a slight shock to the system! Even Jon felt the cold so it must have been bad! But we were quite glad to be out of the glaring sun!! We caught a taxi to our first hostel called 'Jailhouse' where we were staying for the next 2 nights. The hostel is actually set in an old womans prison and each room is a cell, so we had our very own! Quite
amusing although couldn't really get the gist of what it would have felt like as we had a double bed, and a TV and DVD player! Not too shabby.
While in Christchurch we did a little sightseeing but as we knew we were coming back in 9 days we didn't rush to fit it all in. So we checked out the tourist shops, and sport shops (Jon)! Christchurch has a river going through it so there is a nice feeling to the city, and straight away we could see how much more laid back and friendly it was compared to Oz (sorry Aussies). That evening we met up with Jon's mate Matt (who used to work at Cambrian) and he took us to a gourmet pizza place called Winnie Bagoes. One of the pizzas we ordered was bizarre, bit like a roast dinner on a pizza, gravy and all! Fi wasn't too keen (Pepperoni is better!!), but Jon was loving it...anything with gravy! It was a really cool, busy place and good to catch up with Matt (well...Fi just met him!). Top man! 😉
The next day we went on the TranzAlpine train which we had been looking
Big Chess!!
Cathdral Square forward to since we booked it six months before! The train goes across the south island from east to west, Christchurch to Greymouth, through the Southern Alps. We got up early to catch our shuttle to the train only to find out that Magic (the company we are doing our NZ trip with) had booked us for the week after! Luckily the nice lady at check in fit us on and personally we think we got some of the best seats on the train! So off we set along the Canterbury Plains (flattest part of NZ) and at this point the sky was clear and the sun was out so you could see the slightly snow capped mountains in the distance! Amazing! The train stops at some points along the way so that you can get off for photos...although as we were at the back end of the train the platform doesn't go that far so we had to jump off the train to the floor! Very rustic!
The trip was brilliant! Unfortunately about half way across, at Arthurs Pass the sky clouded over and it got very grey but it was still worth it! Although trying to take
pictures and videos in the rain isn't great! We rolled into Greymouth 4.5 hours later and went to our hostel Noah's Ark. Now maybe it was because it was a Sunday but Greymouth was one of the more UNexciting places we've been. But the hostel was fab, and it was tipping down so we were happy to curl up by the open fire! Each room in the hostel had a different animal and we were the elephant room (see pics!)
The next day was our first day on the bus and we were to go from Greymouth to Franz Josef. The way that Magic Bus works is that it will go from place to place stopping at anything interesting along the way (pretty much like any guided tour), but the drivers are good fun and the bus is mainly young people (but not too young - most in their 20s). Our first driver/guide was Graham and Ryan who were informative and funny respectively. On the way we went through Hokitika which is famous for pounamu/greenstone (jade) although we were mainly stopping for the supermarket! We also stopped in Ross which is the richest town in NZ as there is
Scott Memorial
It commemorates the death of Scott and his party when returning from the South Pole in 1912 gold there! Although you're not allowed to mine without a license (boo). We got to Franz Josef around lunchtime and we were to stay here for two days.
Franz Josef is a little alpine village next to the Franz Josef glacier. It was cloudy the first day so you couldn't see the mountain tops, just eerie mist (see pics). But the next day was clear and sunny and the scenery was spectacular...little did we know there was much better to come! The hostel Chateau Franz had free veg soup in the evenings, although you had to be quick (we managed seconds both nights though! Result!). There was also a hot tub although this got a little crowded! You didn't really want to put your feet anywhere as you didn't know who you'd end up playing footsie with! Jon got the fright of his life when he bumped into a girl he knew from home - Fi had warned him this would happen...it's a small world!!
The next day we set off at 7:45 for our longest day of the tour to Queenstown (we arrived just before 6!). This drive was amazing, the scenery was awesome, huge snowy mountains
Matt
Winnie Bagoes and turquoise lakes! The pictures just don't do it justice! Our first stop was Lake Matheson, also called the Mirror Lake as on a clear day the Alps are perfectly reflected in the lake. Unfortunately there was a little cloud so we couldn't see the full effect but it looked good nonetheless! After breakfast here we set off again. There was a lot of driving to do but luckily the scenery along the way made it seem less tedious, plus our driver Karl was really good! Lucky really as we ended up staying with him for the next 4 days! We passed both Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea which were massive! We stopped in Wanaka briefly and it was a shame we weren't staying for a night! Apparently Shania Twain has a $21m house there! You could see why!
The final stop before Queenstown was the birthplace of bungy...the Kawarau Bridge. This is where Jon had (some would say stupidly) decided to throw himself off a bridge! Fi was almost more nervous watching him! Jon was the only person on the bus doing it so he had a lot of support, and jumped off it in style to lots
of cheers! He had also decided to get dunked into the water to his waist (but remember he is upside down!). According to him it's a must do...Fi is not so sure! Jon plans to do some more which is lucky as some of the people who are coming to visit say they want to do it too! Fi says wait till you actually see it! Scary!
We arrived into Queenstown and were showed the hill we would have to climb up to get to our hostel...Aber people, imagine Cefn Llan doubled in length! Plus we were carrying backpacks! Fi got about halfway up then the packhorse (Jon) took hers the rest of the way! The hostel 'Hippo Lodge' had great views though. After dinner and a shower we headed off to the pub to meet our fellow travellers. Unfortunately not many turned up...just Karl and five other girls. After Karl left early Jon was happy (him & six girls)...Fi not so much! We left the pub at midnight to temperatures of 1 degree!! Freezing!
Queenstown is apparently the adventure capital of NZ (some say the world) but due to money restrictions we limited ourselves to a ride
up the gondola! Not scary as such but very picturesque! The views from the top were simply breathtaking! The town itself was great, had a ski town sort of feel about it and a Starbucks! Woo hoo! We were happy...in fact it was here than Jon fell in love again...with a Toffee Nut Latte! He just can't get enough of the limited edition Xmas special...Fi thinks he is trying to fit in as many as he can before they stop doing them! We plan to come back to Queenstown when it's wintertime and covered in snow!
Our next trip was to Dunedin which means 'Edinburgh of the South'. According to Fi Edinburgh is beautiful...she could not see the resemblence to this place! The most Scottish thing we saw was in the Scottish shop...and it was all imported! Sorry Dunedin, not much to say...and we left the next morning!
Our final destination for this chapter of the blog was Lake Tekapo. Before leaving Dunedin however we were taken to the world's steepest street! At its maximum, the slope of Baldwin Street is approximately 1:2.86 (19° or 35%) - that is, for every 2.86 metres travelled horizontally, the elevation rises
TranzAlpine Scenery
Springfield, mountains in the background by 1 metre.
Anyway, the drive to Tekapo was gorgeous! Some of it resembled Wales, green hills, trees and lots of sheep!! Baaaahhhh!!! We stopped at the Moeraki boulders, which are big spherical boulders in the sand...not hugely exciting but quite cool. But it was the final bit which was most amazing...we stopped by a lake backdropped by Mount Cook, NZ's tallest mountain at 12,316ft (3,754m or 2.33 miles). Again the picture does not do it justice.
Arriving at Lake Tekapo we were taken to our hostel 'Lakefront Lodge'. Exactly as it says it was next to the lake, with views across it into the distance. Awesome. It was here we had volunteered our services to cook the BBQ for the rest of the bus (we didn't have to wash up that way!). The food was excellent (if we do say so ourself), we had sausages, chicken burgers and lots to go with them..salad etc! Yum! This was washed down with ample wine and beer which continued into the evening with drinking games. We did not feel too good for our 8am bus the next day!
Next we were back to Christchurch but we'll say more next
time!
Hope you enjoyed it! Ha ha. Keep the comments coming..
Lots of Love,
Fi & Jonny
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P.S. We now have NZ mobile numbers so if you want them let us know!
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mum & dad
non-member comment
brilliant
we are so excited we cant wait to come out ,we want one of those pints haha. glad your having so much fun love you both xxxx p.s love the pinny jon ha ha xx