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Published: August 18th 2006
My sign
How long?!!After a great time in the North Island with sky diving and bungy, the South Island was going to be more laid back.... we hoped!
The ferry journey from Wellington to Picton was 3 hours long and took us into the South Island through the Marlborough Sounds. We had our first night in Nelson, a fishing village.
We headed down the West coast passing through Abel Tasman national park, a walk to a seal colony and a visit to the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. The drive had incredible views of rolling waves to the right and the snowy Sounthern Alps to the left. Then onto Milford Sound. We expected it to be a highlight and booked a coach and cruise tour as we were told the journey was quite dangerous in wintry conditions. This had been good advice, the coach driver informing us of avalanches that had covered the roads the previous day. Unfortunately, Milford Sound was full of fog and we couldn't really see very much....and then the rain came..... the waterfalls were impressive though! To make up for the poor weather, the dolphins decided to come out and say "hello."
8 km before Queenstown we
Lake Wanaka
Lake Wanaka take a brief detour to the small oldy worldy township of Arrowtown (in the snow). Well worth the stop due to steak pie........and free fudge, yippee!!! Left feeling fat and nauseous....but happy!
Queenstown and Wanaka were in ski season flow and it was hard to resist the temptation to get up on the slopes as we were told that the conditions were the best for the whole season (travelling on a tight budget certainly has its downfalls)! Our campsite in Wanaka had a trampoline, so we amused ourselves with some mountain surrounds for a while on that (and Alex proved himself to be quite a pro). We woke up in Wanaka to snowfall. Then onto Puzzling World where we were able to visit a version of Ames Room (fascinating for those of you that have studied Psychology) plus many other illusions, giving us hours of fun.
Our fan heater that was an absolute MUST died on us :-( ..... so we had one very cold night and made sure that we bought one the next day!!
Onto Dunedin, on the southeast coast before heading on the following day to Christchurch. We stopped for a brief break (due
Puzzling World
Not a puzzle really, just pure strength to Alex's insistance) at Moeraki Boulders (some BIG boulders on the beach). To access them we had to calmly step over a leopard seal (a large beast with fangs-no exaggeration, honest). Some good piccies and pretty warm in the sun too. On arrival in Christchurch (that's hardly worthy of calling itself a city) we hopped on the tram to take us around the city sights. A sight highlight was the fudge shop loaded with freebies-times are hard, alright?! A close second was the Christchurch Art Gallery-it was free!!! The following day we took a trip to the International Antarctic Centre (it clarified the whole penguins not polar bears problem I have - Mum (Ky's) would be proud). Included in our ticket price was the Hagglund ride, great for motion sickness! In basic terms it's the amphibious vehicles they use in Antarctica (where there are penguins not polar bears...) to get around. Plus the experience of blizzard conditions at minus 25degrees celsius.
Departure the next day, having run up a total of 4500km in our wee camper-3 1/4 hrs to Sydney......
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Mummy Sandra
non-member comment
Wot Joy.
Hey, I can hardly see through the tears of laughter. Wheres Wally is a family favourite. The Spa looks luxurious!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Travels. Love you bothxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx