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Published: July 15th 2009
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Sorry about the delay folks, but here's all the news up to date....
Left Dunedin with a failsafe plan to get to Fox glacier.....needless to say we hit a hurdle.....or rather a foot of snow hit us and our route!!! We were merrily travelling along the Southern Scenic Highway, stopping off to look at some ancient rock art....sun was shining....then around 4pm the snow started.....and didn't stop!!! We managed to make to a small town called Omarama and booked into a campsite in the nick of time before the roads were shut! With true British stiff upper lip, we cracked open the red wine, determined to make the best of a bad situation!
We made a snow 'sculpture', which started off as a snowman, but ended up as a a snow 'penis'...sorry mum! We met a nice couple of kiwi guys, who plied us with homebrew bourbon and sambuca, a really good night, but horrendous hangover in the morning!!
The roads were eventually reopened about 2.30pm, but we only managed to make it about 100km to Wanaka before they were shut again....so another day lost! Eventually made it to Fox glacier via some VERY treacherous roads, we even had
to put the snow chains on the van for a while!!! All this while you guys were lapping up the sunshine during your heatwave!!
Spent a couple of nights in Fox, and booked a whole day trip to the glacier - it was amazing!!! A real physical challenge for me, and a great sense of achievement!! Our guide Jim was a little crazy, he was wearing shorts!!! He led the way, cutting steps into the ice for us with his trusty ice pick..very macho!! Amazing sights, and yet another once in a lifetime experience!
Once we had completed our glacier adventue, we headed off to our final port of call in the south island - Abel Tasman, a beautiful National Park. We did a 4 hour walk around the park which was really good, and got a water taxi back to Marahau where we had parked Dee Dee. A friend of Jess' was arriving in Abel the next day, so we headed off to Nelson for the night so we could meet up with her the next day.
Now the lonely planet guide, describes Nelson as New Zealands most 'liveable' city, but I can assure you it
is quite the opposite!! So we spent a few hours wandering round the town, before heading back to Abel to meet up with Charlotte, Jess' mate form Oz. We had a few glasses of Red wine (or 'goon' as it is known in oz - the staple cheap boxed wine that all the backpackers drink apparently!!) and spent the evening chatting to Charlotte and her travel buddies.
On our way out of South island, we had to pass through the Marlborough wine region, so we were 'forced' to stop of at a few wineries and taste some of their wares.....a real struggle as you can imagine!!! Apparently you are supposed to swill the wine around your mouth to get the flavours, then spit it out, but I kept forgetting that bit !! It was really good to find out about the wines and try out the different varieties, will be looking for some of them when I come home thats for sure!!
Caught the ferry from Picton to Wellington on sunday evening, and headed off to find a local DOC campsite just outside town. However when we got there at 11pm, the bloody gate was locked, so we
had to camp on the roadside!! We've had some real problems with the free campsites, either because we can't find them, or they are so far off the beaten track, you need a 4x4 to get to them safely!!
Spent one night in Wellington before heading to Taupo where we planned to do our skydive!! The weather was not clear enough that afternoon, so we booked it for the following morning, and headed off to Rotorua stopping off on the way to visit a honey making farm (also made varities of mead so JC was very impressed!) and Huka falls. In the evening, we went to a reconstructed Maori village called Tamaki. Here a group of local Maoris put on a fantastic show for us. There were 3 groups and each group had to appoint a 'chief'...ours was called Bryce and he was from the uk. The 'chiefs' then had to stand before the entrance and 'face up' to the village warriors, who performed a very intimidating 'welcome' routine!! Our 'chief' then had to accept a peace offering from the Maori chief before we were allowed to go into the village! The maoris then showed us all various aspects
of their history and life in the villages years ago. They also performed a fantastic show, singing and dancing in traditional costume, and performed a 'haka'. It was brilliant, although it was a bit impersonal as there were so many of us there, but nonetheless I really enjoyed it. We finished the evening with a traditional maori dinner called a 'hangi', which was delicious!! On the way back, our bus guide 'Sunny' said that as we had been entertained all evening, then we all had to stand up on the bus journey back to town, and take turns to sing!!! Fortunately, we got back before our names were called, good job really, as Jess and I couldn't decide between 'If you're happy and you know it' and 'swing low sweet chariot'!!!
The next day, Tuesday, was Jess' birthday, and boy did we make it special!!! Started the day off very early, and drove to Taupo for our 9am SKYDIVE!!! (see previous blog!) It was amazing, and I would definitely do another one! Then we headed back to Rotorua, where I had booked a night in a hotel as a birthday treat, it wasn't very plush, but we did have
our own private outdoor hot tub, which was really cool!! Went into town, after a few glasses of vino in our room, tried to find a restaurant, but everything was shut by 9pm!! So we plumped for a takeaway pizza and more wine back at the hotel!! A little tipsy, we decided to fill up the hot tub at 10pm, and sat in there eating our pizza and quaffing our wine for a good hour or so!!! A brilliant day all round!!
We are now in Tongariro, about to get an early night, as we are off snowboarding tomorrow!!!
Love to all
Don x x x x x
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