Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Bye bye Australia, bungy and Christmas!
After a long drive down to Sydney from Emerald Beach we encountered our first part of city life we had seen for a while. The congestion reminded us of home. The first night we stayed in the suburbs in the closest campsite to the city but we found it hard to experience city life this far out so enjoyed a nights stay in a hostal in the middle of town. It felt strange not making our sofa into a bed for the night! Being in Sydney only for a short time, we saw the obvious tourist spots-Sydney harbour bridge and the Opera House. We didn't have time for Bondi unfortunately but having heard it was over hyped from people and living off its name, weren't so concerned. Not meaning to sound bitter having missed it!
We flew to Christchurch, NZ where the temperature was considerably different-12 degrees and raining! The night before we picked up the campervan, we took in the town and its many adventure shops, having to buy a raincoat for Ben knowing that rain was guaranteed at some point. Proving our point the next day when it rained non-stop. This was the first time we reached for our warmer clothes, all one outfit of them! The next day we had breakfast at The HoneyPot cafe. The best breakfast we've had-Ben reckons EVER! He had eggs benedict with bacon, Loz had scrambled eggs, beans, tomatoes and mushrooms-filling us up all day. We then picked up the campervan which wasn't quite as up todate as our Australian counterpart but has its own charm, if you can dismiss the waste stink! Loz is enjoying the heater at night. We drove a long distance to Lake Tekapo (having started off in the wrong direction thanks to the rental guys advice) to a campsite situated on the clearest blue lake you'll ever see, snow capped mountains in the background and very cold. It's difficult to realise what time of day it is as the sun sets at 10pm.
Our next stop was the Otago Peninsular and Dunedin where there is the world's only mainland Albatross colony. The huge wingspans, on average 3metres wide, makes for an impressive flyover. Whilst admiring the Albatross we got our first look at the NZ Fur Seals playing in the water and the NZ Sealion basking in the sun on the rocks below us. After investigating the area we took a walk to The Chasm, Lovers Leap and Sandfly Bay. The rugged coastline is similar to parts of Cornwall. The highlight of the walk has to have been Sandfly Bay, home to the Sealions and Yellow-eyed Penguins. This brought us our second 'close' encounter with the native Sealion. On our walk down the steep sand dunes to the beach, there was a Sealion basking in the sun. Naturally excited we took a closer look to capture on camera the cute looking mammel. Getting nearer, the Sealion awoke from his sleep and as we took pictures happily a couple of metres away we'd fallen for his charm. Lauren said "look Ben he's yawning, film it." As Ben pressed record the Sealion launched hinmself at us and trust us, they move alot quicker than you think! Still filiming, Ben, while running himself, caught a glimpse of Lauren already 50 metres in front of him. She must have put in a personal best, challenging Usain Bolt's 100m record. Lauren explained how her heart was beating so fast and legs were like jelly. Now weary of what might be around us, we found a viewing point on the beach where we could watch the Sealions and Penguins without disturbing them. It was here that we saw the sign that told us "don't get closer than 20metres to Sealions-they are not afraid of humans and can move quickley over short distances" There were plenty of Sealions to admire on the rocks and we came across a few more walking on the beach. The enduring task of climbing back up the sand dunes was a challenge in itself but worth it for the encounters we just had.
We then headed for the 'adrenaline' capital Queenstown. On our way Lauren spotted the first ever bungy site. AJ Hackett's Kawarau bridge where they have a viewing gallery to watch people throw themselves off the 43 metre bridge. It looked fun but we were looking for more. We then learnt of 'The Ledge' (Tom this is not named after you) a 47metre bungy with views over Queenstown. Again what's 4 metres? The highest on offer and third highest in the world is the Nevis Highwire bungy at 134 metres, supposedly offering an eight second freefall. Alongside the nevis bungy in the canyon is the Nevis Arc. A swing across a 550 metre wide canyon on a 120 metre cable. In short, we decided to do both! Christmas Eve was now upon us and on the way to the site we travelled up a steep mountain incline to see what we had let ourselves in for. Our plan was to do the bungy first, however they told us that we'd start with the Nevis Arc. As we were doing a tandem, our combined weight would make a faster ride. The instructor advised us we should do it backwards. This allowed another instructor to film our faces with our video camera. They knew what they were talking about-you should see our expressions as we dropped! He counted us down all the while Lauren questioning whether it was safe! Upon pressing the skull and crossbone release button, we dropped virtically 120m before swinging from one side of the canyon to the other leaving our stomachs where we started. We dropped at such a rate, our legs were literally left behind us, as on reviewing our video, while we were initially upright at the start, we were soon upside down. We can't quite put into words the feeling it gave us. The individual bungy was next, the main difference being the mental ability to physically jump off. This lived up to the hype. Ben got into the zone and was buzzing afterwards and is now looking for the highest bungy. He says it's Hong Kong. Lauren was understandably nervous. Pierre (the smooth talking French instructor) helped her on her way. There was no hanging around, even jumping before the countdown had reached zero and letting out a blood curdling scream that Ben can verify was heard from everyone and put them in hysterics.
As people know back home, Christmas Eve is a night to go out so we felt obliged to do the same ending up at a funky London-esque club, Subculture. Our type of tunes being dropped. Meeting the owner on the way in he told us he spent time in Battersea which led us on to the Rowdy story of Battersea Dogs home. A New Zealander, he was cool enough to bring us a complimentary drink and toast Rowdy for us. An unexpected and thoughtful gesture. The night started and ended well. Christmas Day was different from the usual festivities. Waking up next to Lake Wakatipu and lazing around in the van all day. Japanese (one of the best we've tasted-Ben and Faye we'll let you know just in case you happen to be in Queenstown) for Christmas dinner was great but nothing beats the traditional roast turkey and trimmings. The highlight for us was speaking to family and seeing the dogs on Skype. It's great to know you're all well.
Next up-Milford Sound, a Fiordland where we had a campsite by the river and next to kilometre high mountains. We took a cruise to look at the stunning surroundings and to also observe the wildlife. Having so much rainfall (200 days a year) and therefore so many waterfalls, the water in the Fiord has a top layer of fresh water on top of the salt water. This means the marine life you would only see very deep down, you can see just 10 metres down. We also visited the underwater observatory to watch the marine life where Great White sharks have been sighted. We encountered the socialable Kea bird-native to NZ and the only alpine parrott in the world. A couple took a liking to Ben's flip-flops during the night and they bear the gauges of their beaks. As we left Milford Sound we experienced the quickly changing climates going from heavy rain to bright sunshine in no time.
On our way to Franz Josef, we stopped at Knights point for a lookout and saw what we believe were Killer Whales. A great sight.
Franz Josef had no guided walks available of the Glaciers so because of our hectic schedule the best way to see the mountain landscape was by helicopter. We were able to see both the two main glaciers-Fox and Franz Josef as well as the other glaciers in the range. We made a landing on Fox glacier to take photos. The experience was well worth it as we got to see the extent of the glacial terraine.
We followed the western coast road up to Westport where we stayed a night. The scenary we encountered on the way up consisted of a diverse mix from rainforest to the mountains along with the rugged coastline.
We are now in Kaikoura where we've just done a Whale watching tour. We encountered two Sperm Whales about 5 miles offshore. An awesome sight as close as we were. We learnt that they also emit the loudest sound in the world at 240 DBs. Twice as loud as standing next to a jet engine and enough sound to crush organs in the body. We then headed inland spotting a Mako shark on the way in and 3 Albatross. It was near the coast where we came across a pod of 300 Dusky Dolphins, the most promiscuous and aerobatic Dolphins there are. They are only found in the Southern Hemisphere. This experience has made us want to swim with them as they were in touching distance and we wanted to jump in and join them. We're looking in to doing this in the North Island. We then had lunch at a BBQ seafood stall on the coast and while we were sitting there we both thought how much Skip would love this place! After New Year we're off to do a bicycle wine tour in Malborough which we're looking forward to.
Happy New Year to everyone, missing you all....until next time x x
p.s let us know your thoughts on the pictures with the Kiwi Campervan in them-we're trying to make $250 for every picture they use. Any suggestions welcome.
- comments