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We had a beautiful drive down the west coast, in pretty stormy weather which was perfect for seeing the pancake rocks and the blow hole as the waves were huge. Craig spent a good half hour trying to get the perfect waves-crashing-against-the-rocks photo. The coastline was quite spectacular, and the east coast did not compare on our way back up to the north island. We stopped for KFC in a car park for dinner (classy!)
We did a full day glacier walk on the Franz Joseph Glacier, which was fairly tough, with 5 hours on the ice in the rain. I nearly cried from the cold and feared for my life several times due to the enormous crevasses we had to walk down/through/over. Apart from this, it was an amazing experience, totally different from the Argentinian glacier, and we still cant decide which one we preferred. This glacier was definately more challenging, more rugged and and scarier than the first, the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina was probably more scenically beautiful and enjoyable (no cying involved!) but less of a challenge to complete the tour. We came back to our van soaking wet and exhausted, and had our measly soup for dinner (this and pasta became our staple for dinner for the next few weeks!) but luckily there was a bar at our holiday park with a great happy hour deal, so we plonked ourselves here for chips and a drink as a reward for our hard work
We stayed at Fox's town to see the Fox's Glacier as well as Lake Matteson, to see if we could get that perfect photo everyone wants when they come to new zealand....which we were extremely lucky to get as the weather was perfect...the only thing that ruined the reflection of Mount Cook in the lake was the flippin ducks...but we'll let them off.
Next we drove to Wanaka, where we stayed for 2 nights, Jo had recomended we go to the Cinema Paridisio here, which is made up of lots of different un-matching comfy seats and sofas, one of which is an old VW beetle in the front row. They made yummy cakes and cookies for the interval....the only downside was the film we saw....the kite runner....we have both read the book which we loved, but didnt love the film so much... We found an internet place to ring Tony for his birthday....he didnt seem to want to get out of bed to speak to us!!so I think Jo may have had to drag him to the computer!woops! We were naughty and had an Indian takeaway (the plan was fish and chips which is extremely cheap here...but it was closed:( ) and went to bed to watch films!
In Queenstown, we stayed with Debbie and her family, who is a rep for changing worlds, and was kind enough to put us up...One of her poor kids got turfed out so we could have a bed. It was a very full house, lots and lots of children around (all boys....so ALOT of sport was on!!which craig loved...he even got up at 6am to watch the Arsenal-Liverpool game as Debbies children are Liverpool supporters) Queenstown was really nice, and very touristy...this area is all about extreme sports which we didnt want to do...but we had a good time here any way. Lots of nice restaurants and bars... this was also where you do the Milford sound tour from, however we drove down to Milford, a drive worth doing for the scenery alone, and caught the boat from there for the 1 1/2 hour boat trip,, which was beautiful (apart from the bit where they deliberatly reversed the boat into a waterfall...twice!)
After leaving Queenstown, we did the southern scenic highway right down to Invercargil at the very south of New Zealand. This drive took took all around the coast where you can stop of at various walks and scenic lookouts, and takes you up to Dunedin. We only stopped here for lunch, but it could have proved eventful, as when we got back to car park craig realised he had left his bag on the seat in the cafe (actually right on the pavement!!) this had both our passports in...which he has been carrying....as he is the responsible one!!! supposedly!!luckily the bag was still there...phew!!
Next stop I had been waiting for for a while....to see Penguins!!! my favourite! so I was very excited. In Omaru, you pay to sit in this small semi Grandstand, right by the shore next to a protected penguin colony. Every night they come back from all day fishing in groups called rafts, and we got to see them swim in and return back to their nesting boxes. We had special lghts on the grandstand, so that they couldnt see us and be frightened away. We were asked to check under our cars before leaving as they often hide under there and get squashed...I would have cried if we had squashed one...:(
We spent a day in christchurch, a very english city which felt a bit like oxford or Cambridge, and the next day i was reading the local paper and saw a guy I went to uni with on the front cover!! He was in christchurch with a group of people who got severely beaten up..some were stabbed...so its a very small world...luckily nothing like his happened to us and we had a very nice day there! A friend of Debbies had said we could stay at hers, told us the key was under the mat and rushed straight out!! We had this lovely big house to ourselves, cooked dinner in a realy kitchen and watched films on a real tv!! she was so trusting, it was really kind of her.... Unfortunatly it was christchurch that we had to give our spaceship back....and picked up a teeny tiny normal car, which we decided to sleep in, in order to save money!!! this was eventful!!! we had newspaper stuck to the windows, towels jammed in the electric windows to block out light, our chairs put right back to sleep on....and a large bottle of rum and whisky to help us sleep!!!I dont know what we were thinking when we came up with this plan...but we survived, just about!!(we did this for 5 nights!!)
To ease our sore backs from the car, we went to Hamner springs, a complex of outdoor hotpools which went up to 40 degrees, where we spent all day...We even splashed out here and paid an extra 5 dollars for a wooden shack/cabin with no power...just so we could lie flat to sleep!! We made up some drinking game out of desparetion....while watching the little mermaid on the ipod!! We headed up to Picton the mext day to catch our ferry back to the north island, where we were going to help with the preparations for Sam and Katherine's wedding at Mahunga farm. Craig wasnt so good on the ferry this time, and was quite sick as he crossing was pretty rough:(
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