bungy jumping and much much more.....

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Well the adventures continues, if not a little more sedately. From Hamner Springs we started to head south over the Canterbury plains. Our first ‘sightseeing stop’ was Lake Tekapo, this is a crystal blue lake with the perfect back drop of snow covered mountains. On the edge of the lake sits the church of the good shepherd, built in memory of the Scottish shepherds who managed to work the harsh land. This church must have one of the most amazing views of all the churches in the world. By this church is also a statue of a collie, is memory of the all the dogs that have helped make the management of the land possible.

From here we continued onto the next lake, still a stunning colour however a bit bigger, here we had a quick look at a hydroelectric station and met a couple of fisherman, one of them even gave us a salmon, which made a wonderful starter for dinner that evening,
We then ventured onto the highlight of the day Mt cook Village, which had an amazing view of Mt cook, and the numerous other mountains that it shares its’ range. There was even a mountain called ‘Prudence Peak’! We had a wonderful coffee and cake whilst at Mt Cook Village, with the perfect backdrop - snow capped mountains. We then split up for a bit - Ian and myself had a look around the very recently opened visitors centre, and had a walk around town, whilst the others headed to the Edmond Hilary centre for look around and a couple of videos, me and Ian plan to return to visit here and do some of the longer walks and the Edmond Hilary Centre as we have been advised it was excellent.

From here we headed onto our stop for the night. The next morning we finished our drive into Dunedin. Dunedin is the Celtic word for Edinburgh. Dunedin grew due to the immigration of many Scots, and as such the city has a strong Scottish influence. Whilst here our first trip was to the Cadbury factory, which was very insightful, and of course we came away with lots of lovely chocolate! We then did a bit of shopping well us women did and the men soaked up the sun trying some local beers! This was perfect practise for the next stop, an evening tour around Speights brewery - the biggest in New Zealand. Here we learnt about the history, and then for the last half hour we headed to a room, which had 6 beers on tap and were allowed to drink as much as we wanted - however we had to pour it ourselves! Agatha managed the most, and giggled all the way to the ale house. Here we had a 3 course dinner - oh and more beer and wine!

The next day we headed to the steepest street in the World - Baldwin street, Dunedin. Here Jan, Agatha and me (Pru) climbed it! However, Wim and Ian took the easy option and drove it in our van - there were concerns the campavan might not make it so it stayed at the bottom! We then carried on south to the Catlins. Out first ‘sightseeing stop’ of the day was Nugget point although the weather was not great it was still stunning and the seals and sealions put on a show for us, although the penguins were too busy out fishing to make a showing!

From here we headed to Purakaunui Falls, this is a terrace style falls and even in the rain look magnificent, however by this time, we were damp enough and decided to headed for our campsite for the night!

The next morning we got up too lots of snow and the sound of hail stones, what a change from the brilliant hot sunshine we had, had only a couple of days before we thought the british weather was changeable! Due to the snow we thought a trip to the campsite cafe and a hot drink and lovely muffin was necessary before we headed off. First stop was a fossilised forest this was a lush green forest only 160 million years ago! The branches and tree stumps were still visible. From here we then headed to Invercargill. You may ask what do you do in New Zealand when it is snowing? Well the easy answer is more beer tasting so that’s what we did. We found a little boutique brewery and very much enjoyed their beers, and cider - so of course we couldn’t leave empty handed! We then grabbed a quick bite for lunch, decided the weather was too bad and drove straight to Te Anau for an early evening!

What a beautiful small town besides the second largest lake in New Zealand surround by magnificent snow capped mountains, we had a bit of spare time the next morning so we had a leisurely wonder round town - Agatha did a bit of clothes shopping and we left Wim in the sun reading his book - so a perfect morning for all! Then in the afternoon we headed off to the Gloworm caves, this meant a short boat trip then a guided tour through the caves. These are very young caves so no normal cave features however there is a river that runs through them which has an amazing waterfall. We then hoped on another small boat for a trip to the Gloworm Cavern, here we saw lots of little bums glowing brightly!

That evening we decided it was time to head out to dinner again! We found a wonderful place called the Redcliffe Cafe. We had some wonderful food - Agatha and Wim opted for a main of Venison, whilst Ian and I had Backstrap of Hare and Jan had Greenbone (Butterfish).

The next day we took a trip to the truly magical fjordlands of New Zealand. We headed to Doubtful Sound. Which is not actually a sound but is a fjord, just those that discovered it got a bit confused because it looked like an Australian sound. A fjord is a valley formed by glaciers, a sound is form by a river. First of all we got a boat trip across lake Manapouri, which is stunning in itself, then we had a coach trip through the Alpine forest, we then met a very friendly Kea, before boarding our boat onto Doubtful. No words can really describe its beauty, but hopefully these pictures will give you some idea. In addition to this the wildlife was on show, we saw lots of penguins including the fjordland and the rockhopper. We also saw 2 pods of bottlenose dolphins and lots of New Zealand Fur Seals. Oh and not to forget the dreaded sandfly (they bite and itch more than mossies!) For the second half of our trip the sun even came out and the snow started to thaw! It had been the first day for a while they had managed to get the boat out to the Tasman Sea - so we were very lucky. Also they tried to convince us the penguins were rare but with all our sightings this became hard to believe! So once again luck was on our side. Once we finished this boat trip on the coach journey on the way back we visited an underground hydroelectric power station, this involved a 2 km trip through a tunnel, and the experience of just how big the turning circle of a bus is to get us back out. This was very interesting though, and a wonderful engineering feet for it’s time. Once we crossed back over Manapouri Lake, we then went straight from here for an evening drive to Queenstown......

Well we thought Jan and Agatha had guts doing their sky dives but they decide with only a little coaxing that a bungy jump would be a good idea also! So we took them out to the Kawarau Bridge bungy! They have the videos to prove this for all those that disbelieve and both did it with no hesitation - we have created two more adrenaline junkies! From here we headed into town for a classic Ferg Burger, before a trip to Shotover Canyon. Here we all (yes Wim as well) went for a jetboat ride through the canyon and what a day for it, the sun and temperatures were back and the water glistened the crystal blue colour we are now all so used too. What a ride, it created plenty of smiles! Following the excitement we thought a drink was in order so we headed back to Queenstown and down to the lakefront for a relaxing drink before a trip up the mountain. No we didn’t walk , we took the gondola (no not a boat but a cable car), from the mountain top there are more magnificent views over Queenstown. After the sit down we thought Agatha was in need of a bit more fun so we went luging, this is similar to a go-kart, and you take it on a downhill winding track, and then when down you return by a chairlift. The 3 of us had great fun. Now a bit tired after all the excitement we sent them back to their campavan whilst Ian and I sorted out some pizza, for an early night ready for a our next journey tomorrow. This will be to the fox glacier.....

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