Blogs from Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 17

After our night in Nelson it was back on the bus again - this time to Picton where we met up with some more of the girls, Joanne (another brit) and Delis (a kiwi), and got a boat over to Furneaux lodge in the Marlborough Sounds... home for the next 3 nights. We'd chosen to spend New Years here for a number of reasons... we wanted to be near the sea but away from the hussle of a big town or city (well, big by NZ standards), it's a beautiful spot, it was in the right direction back to Welly... oh and there was a live band playing for NYE!! We had a tiny bit of blagging to do when we arrived at Furneaux lodge..... Joanne and Aileen were late additions to the trip and by ... read more

here are some photos of my last few days in picton. all together rather uneventful. i finished up cleaning work and driving work yesterday. all paid up and ready to party....to bring in the new year with style!! well, maybe not so much style, but fun in a city at least!! today i drove from picton to christchurch....it took most of the day. the drive was beautiful. i have come to expect nothing less. i saw a few snow covered peaks descending to black sand beaches. much of the drive i spent on roads carved into moutnain sides looking out onto the water. the roads doubled back and forth around the mountains and through them with scary dark tunnels. i rounded on corner and was looking out onto a small bay....i saw something move above the ... read more

well, it's christmas day and i am missing ardie knocking on my door at 7am. more than rising early i am missing my family and christmas food. i'll tell you why it doesn't feel like christmas....why i'm (as my mom put it in a recent email) feeling droopy. i worked this morning....scrubbing toilets til noon (they pay double on christmas day i hear). i will continue to drive to the ferry three times today and as usual visit the gym and read in between. in fact today is a droopy day for everyone here....we're all a little lonely i think. all used to being with family and in the northern hemisphere's harsh weather for christmas. the sun shining bright and hot, walking around in tanks and shorts is unusual for a christmas day. this may well ... read more

Hello Everyone, The rest of the group had a very successful canyoning trip. All in all they abseiled (repelled) down 11 walls, the biggest being over a 120 foot sheer wall/waterfall. They jumped off a couple of cliffs, the highest one was about 22 feet (Justin conquered the big one and the others were happy to stick to the under 15 foot jumps...still a big accomplishment ;) The day consisted of many adrenaline rushes and pushing themselves to the limit. When the guide told them they had finished the canyon, everyone let out a sigh of relief only to find out they still had to jump off a 80-90 foot cliff and zip line down to the finish with only the guide to slow them down. They enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Before leaving Wanaka we all went ... read more

From Queenstown where I last wrote, I made my way south on the Intercity bus to Te Anau. Here I would wait for my friends Brian and Caroline to catch me up, for Brian and I would soon embark on the Kepler track together, leaving Caroline to watch movies, drink wine and kick back and relax. I spent a couple of days in Te Anau doing not much of anything, though this proved a profitable use of time come the walk itself. I spent the majority of my time in the YHA place in Te Anau which had a great range of movies for lending. One I managed to fit in was "Whale Rider", a tale about Maori in the present day which was deeply affecting and I recommend it to everyone (on a side note, ... read more