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Published: January 3rd 2007
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Fly by WHAT?
Henley on the flying contraption. Happy New Year!
This week we have done many weird and wonderful things ranging from going topsy turvy at puzzleworld to flying around a canyon in a jet plane on a cable.
Christmas day was spent at Puzzling World in Wanaka which is a really good place full of weirdness and puzzles. They have a room in which the floor is on a 30 degree slope, but everything in the room is at a normal angle. After about a minute of being in there, you brain rights itself and you find yourself very confused and almost falling over! What was even funnier was seeing a two year old toddler who had only recently learnt to walk properly, trying to understand why everytime it tried to walk it was crashing into the wall! Even his parents found this hilarious. They have another room which is a big illusion that looks like people shrink and grow depending on which side of the room they are on - you can see this in the video.
http://www.travelblog.org/Videos/1257.html
We further celebrated christmas day by driving to Queenstown and doing more lugeing - you can also see a video of this!
http://www.travelblog.org/Videos/1258.html
While in Queenstown we went to an endangered bird and wildlife park, and saw a Mauri cultural show where Henley got to take part in doing the Haka (the cultural dance that the all blacks do before rugby games, and which the Mauri use to do to ward off evil). We were deliberating whether to do the Canyon Swing or the 'Fly by wire' and eventually settled on the Fly By Wire. This is a small jet type thing which you lay on, has handles on the front and an engine on the back and is connected to a cable at the centre of a big canyon. The idea of the fly by wire is basically to get strapped in to the 'plane' on your front and fly it around the canyon. This is really good fun, but not really that scary - especially after the other things we have done!
From Queenstown, we headed down south stopping off in the small village of Kingston which is the home of the Kingston Flyer steam train which we had a trip on. It is famed in New Zealand and has been restored to its former 1920s glory. For Laura,
Leaning Laura
It really does mess with your mind. being stood next to a steam train waiting for Henley to take pictures of the engine evoked childhood memories so there is a piccy of this just for Dave...
We then stopped in Te Anau and then went on the Milford Road up to the Milford Sounds. Here we did an overnight boat trip to see the fjords which are spectacular. Hundreds of waterfalls just rolled off the side of the mountains in to the sea. It was like sailing through some kind of CGI film, pretty cool. We stayed over night and had a few drinks with some of the other people on the boat, playing scrabble whilst drunk was interesting, especially with people who think "gooday" is a real word. Also, whilst on board the boat, Laura left Henley to go to the bar and during that time a Brazilian model sat down next to Henley and started chatting him up! Needless to say Laura quickly returned and stated her ownership. I think she was disappointed and maybe.. Henley too.... hmmm.... :S
The next day, after staying over night on the boat - we continued our journey and thought we would check out the Manapouri underground
One for Dave
The Kingston Flyer! power station we had heard a few people talk about. Needless to say it was pretty impressive with a coach tour that corkscrewed underground to it's destination where the huge turbines were. The power station had been carved out of solid rock and was a hydro electric station so was half in the Manapouri lake itself. This is a fact we knew Richard would fear and we have proof to show you Richard!
We continued Southward to the Catlins, the scenery again is pretty awe inspiring but nothing other than we have come to expect in this beautiful country. We did however come across a seal sunbathing on a beach which we discovered when Laura almost stepped on him thinking he was a rock. Luckily he was pretty chilled out so it wasn't a problem but he was a big fella so Henley carefully approached him to rack up a few photos before we ran away!
Whilst in the Catlins we also saw the worlds rarest penguin, the Yellow eyed penguin! Only found in New Zealand too, so that was nice..
We spent New Years in Dunedin, a town famed for it's Scottish heritage and around which
WOW
Although... we are not entirely convinced by Puzzle Worlds facts. most of the Lord of the rings was filmed (not actually in the town itself though). We met a few more people here who we had a few drinks with, and waited for 2007 to begin. While in Dunedin we also visited the Albatross centre which housed the largest colony of the remaining Royal Albatrosses alive. They're huge buggers with a wing span of around three metres, so not to be messed with.
Our next stop was Mount Cook, to have a meal at the famous Panorama resturant. Famed as being one of the best in NZ. Frankly it was just too posh for us, the food was all a little over the top and left us both wanting beefburger and chips, Nice food though. Laura ordered Tiger Prawns and did get a little confused over which bits to eat when it arrived with head, tail and legs still attached and ended up eating a massive Tiger prawn head. She said she realised she wasn't supposed to eat it when it cracked and then burst brain in to her mouth which was all watery. She maintained composure and swallowed anyway and felt ill for the rest of the meal.
Henley again saw his chance and made sick noises. 😞
Earlier today we were in the village of Tekapo at the side of lake Tekapo which is a glacial lake in the centre of the South Island. The water runs off the glaciers on the central alps and is bright turquoise blue, really bizarre but really stunning to look at. This morning we also stopped off on the way to Christchurch so Henley could go gliding, he really enjoyed flying around the mountains and even flew the thing! We are currently in Christchurch about to go for some food. Christchurch is supposed to be the most English town in New Zealand so it's a little like being at home again.
Tomorrow we have an early start as hot air balooning is scheduled for 4:30am!!! We had better go and eat/go to bed now. Hope everything is good in the UK, see you all soon!
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Jay Walker
non-member comment
ooh
That video is well freaky, guess its all down to perspective and angles, but looks so cool :) Well compared to my xmas/new year of sitting on a sofa wondering if could be bothered to get up and get a coffee or wait for my dad to want one and ask him; I think you `just` win the competition for most entertaining one :) See ya soon