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Published: April 5th 2008
On arrival on the South Island we took ourselves directly to the wine country and booked ourselves on a bike wine tour. Great fun, definitely recommend it, just need to remember after lunch is most definitely harder than before. Our bikes were great, we each had six little holders on the back for any wine that took our fancy en-route and the bike tour company gave us some tips on where to head. All in all a lovely way to spend the day, we even came across a winery that uses cow horns and crystals to get the best results, turns out it´s owned by the director of the last Harry Potter film. Say no more.
It appears drinking and eating is becoming a bit of a theme, so just to try and balance things out, we headed to the Franz Joseph Glacier for some hard core hiking. Our first day was washed out by a monsoon, but the sun came out the next day and after happily being relegated to the second 'slower' group we made our way up the glacier. Yet more amazing photos had to be taken and at lunch we were joined by one of the
resident Kea parrots hoping to share a sandwich or two.
Next stop was Queenstown and more adrenilin-packed fun. We headed out on a jet-boat up the Shot-over river which was beautiful with the most freezing cold water we had felt in a while. Dropped off for our helicopter ride (I kid you not) up to the top of the hill above Queenstown and 5 luge rides later felt we had had our excitement for the day. Luckily so as checking our credit card bill later was just as effective at getting our hearts pumping as the day itself...
From Queenstown we headed to Te Anau ready for a visit to Doubtful Sounds which were absolutely stunning, we caught sight of numerous seals and also a pair of crested penguins (very rare at this time of year). Still no dolphins though, we were beginning to think we´d been had on that front.
From Te Anau we headed south to Curio Bay in the Catlins, more beautiful scenery in a cosy studio overlooking the sea, and, finally, I managed to see some Hector Dolphins swimming nearby, although no photos so you´ll just have to believe me. Whilst in the
Catlins we visited the Southern most point in the South Island which was distinctly chilly, and Waipapa where we saw some huge sealions, one a matter of a metre away by the road, definitely not to be messed with. We just avoided getting stranded in Cathedral Caves which is a huge cave that has small windows of opportunity to visit it every morning at low tide, was worth the soggy feet!
From Curio Bay we started to head back up north towards Dunedin, where Nina and Andy kindly put us up for the night (thanks guys!). We ended up on a tour of the Cadbury factory, not sure how, being shown around by an incredibly enthusiastic lady wearing purple dungaries favourite expression ´How cool is that??!!´,not that cool to be honest. Looking around the factory was very interesting, NZ have a lot more products than we have, including pineapple flavoured chocolates, chocolate rabbits filled with marshmallows and the all important Moro bars (bit like Marsbars and very popular by all accounts). We came away with goodie bags full of freebies so all good.
Whilst in Dunedin, we visited a Penguin sanctuary which was brilliant, got to see a
lot of them up close and personal as they were in the middle of their maulting period, check out the photos. Then the scenic route, via Lake Pukaki and more amazing views to our final destination, chez Angie and Gareth in Christchurch.
Our last days in NZ were spent eating, drinking, and attempting to play jenga to early hours of the morning, bliss! We did make it out and about too, Angie taking us on a marathon tour of Christchurch itself to try and find us a new first aid kit. Up to Hamner Springs for a lovely soak in the thermal baths and a spot of mini golf and our last day in NZ was spent in the ´French´town of Akaroa having lovely seafood and strolling about soaking up the sunshine, oh and another spot of minigolf (less said about the scores the better as far as we´re concerned!).
Felt very strange being waved off by Angie and Gareth at the airport, NZ had really become a home from home and the idea of picking up the Backpacking mantle once again felt a bit daunting. Next stop Chile!
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