Road Trippin'

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So after spending a little longer on the the rain soaked and sandfly infested (but otherwise beautiful) west coast, eating chips and looking at lakes we headed off to Christchurch to pick up the long awaited Aimee. We stopped off on Arthur's pass on the way where we had our first contact with the mountain parrot 'Kea'. Arthur's pas is amazing, it goes across the southern alps and then the Canterbury planes to Christchurch. We spent a little while there, partying with Al, Edith, Hippy and Josie and doing some shopping then on the wednesday morning bright and early (8am anyway) Aimee arrived after a mammoth 30 hours of traveling. It was really fantastic to see her and after suitable introductions had been done (she didn't really know Ben and Sarah) and coffee had been drank we headed back over the hills hoping the weather would improve.
We made our way leisurely down the coast, stopping off at interesting hills, lakes and lagoons on the way. And after not to long we arrived at the Foz and Franz Joseph glaciers. They were amazing huge valleys of snow and slush forced together to become a glacier (i promise, promise i will put up pictures when i can). The were very impressive, but heath and safety meant we couldn't get very close in case bits broke off and killed us 😞
Unfortunately as we headed south the weather deteriorated from irritating drizzle to pouring rain and we were forced to take shelter in a hostel in Haast (the problem being i am running out of money so the luxury off a hostel is a no-no). But i met some nice people there and after a good night's sleep we headed south again off the west coast. The weather changed completely as soon as we got off the coast (and has been good ever since) and we were able to enjoy Wanaka, Queenstown and Arrowtown in good weather. I decided not to do a bungey as y budget could not stretch to the $220 needed to do a good one. Maybe another time. We did the luge in queenstown (Ben's reason for wanting to come to NZ) and generally pottered around for a nice few days) its a beautiful area and wasn't too touristy. We also did possibly the nicest single day of walking i've done in NZ the Rob Roy track that was completely over the top in it's beauty. Glaciers, Waterfalls and mountain ranges all in one vista. Awesome, literally.
The one thing all travelers to NZ really should do is Milford sound, and that's what we dis next. We did a couple things in the area of Fjordland and decided to head to the sound the next day. That night was unbelievably cold (we should have guessed) Aimee barely slept and there was frost on my boots (as well as the surrounding field) in the morning. Not a night i will forget in a hurry.
Douglas Adams described Fjordland something like 'it makes you want to spontaneously burst into applause'. And he's not wrong, it was amazing. But cold. Cold, cold, cold.
As amazing as it was we refused to spend another nigh in Fjordland, so jumped on the 'southern scenic route' and made our way south to the coast, then east through Invercargill then north (slightly) up to Dunedin. The days pass in a blur of beaches, lakes, bush walks and hillside. We've seen yellow eyes penguins, seals and sea-lions in the last couple days and its been great.
Transport options get a little complicated after we drop the car off in Cristchurch but more of that when its relevant

Chris xxx

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