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Hello from Queenstown!
We left Christchurch last Friday and have had a busy few days making our way around the South Island. Our first journey was on the trans-scenic train from Chirstchurch to Greymouth. The views from the train were fantastic (although I did fall asleep for a bit!). It's very strange seeing snow capped mountains in the distance in the middle of summer. We arrived in Greymouth early afternoon and did some shopping and wandered around the town, which took all of about 5 minutes, it was tiny! We only stayed 1 night and jumped onto the Magic Bus early on Saturday morning and travelled to Franz Josef. On the way we stopped of in a small gold mining town called Ross...I did some gold panning and managed to find some jade and a few flakes of gold which I have kept in a tiny little test tube! In Franz Josef we booked a half day glacier hike and although the weather was sunny in the town, it was raining on the glacier. We were provided with boots and spikes for the walk which took about 5 hours. Walking on the glacier was probably one of the best trips we have done- the glacier looks an amazing blue colour in some parts- very pretty! After a hard days walking we treated ourselves to a gourmet backpacker meal deal at a local bar- it made a change from soup and beans on toast!
We left Franz Josef after staying 2 nights in a dorm where we had a horrible snorer (i'll save you all the long story). We jumped on the Magic Bus again to travel to Queenstown. On the way we visited Lake Matheson which has a perfect reflection (see pics!) and stopped off at some heritage sites where the views and scenery were fantastic. We also stopped of at Kawerau bungy bridge- where we watched a couple of people hurl themselves off a bridge over a river. Crazy kids.
We arrived in adrenaline central Queenstown and checked into our lovely twin room (what luxury after dorms!) and spent the next couple of days with some friends Pippa and Lorna who we met in South Africa. We went up a gondola in the mountains to the 'Luge' which was a lot of fun and the views of Queenstown from the top were lovely. One evening we had a 'Ferg Burger', possible the biggest and tastiest burger I have ever had and went to a bar where they sold cocktails in teapots! We also played a 18 holes of crazy golf (managed to get in for children-bargain!) The weather has been lovely since we arrived in Queenstown, it's strange because the air in cool but the sun is really strong because there is no ozone layer here and you can burn in 7 mins- factor 30 all round!
We are leaving Queenstown tomorrow to go to Dunedin where there is a Cadbury's Factory-Can't wait!
Hope everyone at home is ok- send us some messages please!
Sarah xxxxx
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