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Published: January 8th 2007
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13+ GMT, New Zealand is definately the furthest we've been away from home. In fact in reality to get any further away you probably need to charter a boat and sail to some obscure island in the remote east pacific.
We arrive in Christchurch, the garden city, to call it a city is rather ambitious. It's pretty, but simply too small to be classed as a city as we associate them in the UK. In NZ you need wheels and after the 80's campervan in Auz, we're not risking a campervan and settle for a car. As we pick up the car, it's a Nissan Sunny, no improvement in our luck with transport then! Driving around, esp on the South Island can only be likend to going on a Sunday drive in the UK, but everyday, it's awesome!
Instead of driving around the outside of the full south island we opt to go thru one of the Southern Alps passes and then drive down the West side. As we cross the Alps the scenary is stunning. In Arthur's Pass Village we stop for a coffee and as we sit it starts snowing. Big flakes of snow! We're missing winter
at home so off we go for a walk in the snow - absolutely amazing fortune for us, but shocking news to the locals when you consider that the next day is the first official day of summer!
Further south are two glaciers - Franz Josef and Fox. The forests around the glacier is something from Lord of the Rings and you expect a hobbit to cross your path. It's not a well trodden path which explains the lack of bridges over the rivers. It takes some courage for us to hop from rock to rock to cross the widest of the icy rivers. We make it however the camera which I threw (too high apparently) to Paul which he missed (poor effort I think) hits the ground and no coaxing gets it to work. Typically we are on the Franz glacier the next day - armed with a disposible camera - cursing ourselves.
We spend a day hiking on Franz Josef which is just surreal. We're walking on and in a glacier from which you can see the path it carved through the mountains hundreds, thousands, no probably millions of years ago. In some parts the ice
is pure blue, and as you see it slowly melting you understand that it is alive and constantly moving and reforming.
So further south we go. We arrive at some blue pools to our dismay to find Kiwi Experince (young, dumb, full of cum) have already arrived, walking down to the pools, hundreds of backpackers are skinning stones into the pools, the scene for the poor people not on the 'Experience' is something reminiscent of Baghdad. Inevitably it had to happen, one guy skimmed one, plump into the nose of another which exploded spectacularly on impact. Tour leader rounds up the injured and they retreat out of there....Kiwi Experience, young, dumb, full of cum and a truly shocking way to experience a country, shish! Rant over!
Lake Wanaka was an unplanned stop but ends up being one of our favourite places in NZ. A beautiful glacial lake surrounding by green hills and a couple of days adventure mountain bike riding.
Down to Queenstown, the adventure capital of NZ!. The town's great, however the prices for the activities aren't. We said we would do everything going here but if we did we would be flying straight home! We
opt for JetBoating, the first time the driver steers the boat at the cliff face before veering away at the last moment is exciting, the next 20 times just become monotonous. Compared with our 7 hour canoe with a jet engine trip up the Mekong out of Laos without a lifejacket, this seemed rather tame.
A trip on Milford sound is amazing. We feel tiny as out boat passes under towering cliffs and glacial waterfalls. The dolphins at the entrance to the sound chase under the boat and it's simply beautiful, you really feel part of nature out here. Paul especially feels close to it as he stands under an icy waterfall cascading over the cliff side!
At the bottom of New Zealand, the Catlins coast. The guide books says the only traffic you'll meet is sheep on the roads. And it was right! Sheep everywhere, the stats say there are 4 sheep to every person in NZ and they have to be right.
Heading north again we hit St Arnaud - a real speck of a town. Secretly I wanted to come here for 'Elaines Cafe' which had to be good, and was. Another glacial lake
- which Paul decides to swim in while I watch drinking wine! 1 lake, no people, lots of eels (didn't point those out to Paul), a bottle of wine = paradise to me. It was such a peaceful and serene place.
Up to the northern most tip of the south island and the Abel Tasman National Park for some hiking. This place is so far from my impression of NZ before I came. White sandy beaches and green trees meeting the ocean.
Over the strait to Wellington and again not much of an excuse of a city especially not a capital one. More like Bolton town centre! The only redeeming thing about the place was the Te Papa museam. After the disappointment of Wellington, our next downer was in Taupo, where we specifically went to walk the Tongarino Crossing over dormant volcanoes. However the bad weather prevailed and all walking was cancelled.
Geyser country, and Rotorua, lot's of belching pools, steaming lakes and a real smell of rotten eggs. The highlight tho was zorbing! A big inflatable ball, water, a big hill and Paul and I inside. Absolutely brilliant. I kicked the hell out of Paul on
the way down and I'm still insisting it was an accident! Really!
Christmas Day we spent at Mount Manganui. Dressed in our santa hats we hit the beach. It seemed a good idea to go for a swim but as I hit the 12c water I change my mind! It's freezing. Turkey sandwiches and mince pies on the beach, then in true Christmas style drinking too much and a dip in the hot springs before more booze and drunken calls to our very missed families back in the UK. A brief visit to Auckland, pleasant enough but nothing to inspire and we're on a flight to South America.
New Zealand is an amazing place, especially the South Island. Unlike Australia which is more like America than England, New Zealand is very, very English. Great ales, pies, fish 'n' chips, laid back personalities, similar crappy weather and overall keen (for now) to be associated with the motherland. If you like to be outdoors, stunning scenary and don't mind a bit of rain this is certainly the place for you, if not don't even bother! We loved it!
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