NZ - South Island

After seven fantastic months we finally left sunny Australia for the shores of not so sunny New Zealand. We landed very late in Christchurch and quickly found our hostel and went straight to sleep, before waking to a pretty cloudy and cold morning (just like home!). Christchurch itself is pretty small compared to the other major cities we have visited so far, so we quickly found our bearings and headed for the information centre to find out about all the amazing things we can do on the South Island. The people there were very friendly and told us so many good things to do that we had to get our camper van a day early as we just wanted to get out there and do them! The next day we relaxed at the hostel and booked our trip for Fiji, which is going to be the best ever, before packing to go and get our camper van the next day.

Turning up at the Wicked Campers depot the next day, we were introduced to our home for the next four weeks, Bro' Town. The van is lot more modern than we expected and is basically a Ford Galaxy but with a bed in the back, instead of seats. We were quickly away from the depot and out onto the open road. Our first stop was Lake Tekapo, which is a beautiful lake about 3 hrs outside of Christchurch, surrounded by mountains, it was stunning scenery and a great introduction to the South Island. The next day we took an early morning stroll up Mount John, for yet more stunning views, before driving on to Mount Cook. During the journey the wind really picked up and it also started raining, which meant that when we arrived at Mount Cook we couldn't do anything, but the drive was worth it just to see Lake Pukaki (check out the photos). As we had loads of time spare we decided to head for Queenstown, the adventure capital of NZ.

The only problem with Queenstwon is that there is just so much stuff you can do that its hard to choose, but in the end we HAD to do the White Water Rafting on the Shotover river. Of course there is only one way to access the river during winter.....BY HELICOPTOR!!! We were airlifted down into the canyon, with all our gear and then seperated out into our rafting groups. Dave got the short straw and ended up at the front of the raft, as for some reason the guide thought he might be able to help there, whereas Rach got the cushy seat at the back next to the experienced rafting guide. The rafting itself was absolutely awesome and as soon as it was over we both wanted to go again straight away, and is definately something we are both going to do again, as soon as we can afford it. In the afternoon we did a summit walk for great panoramic views of Queenstown and the surrounding area.

The next day we headed for Milford Sounds, which is probably the most scenic part of NZ, as it is miles from anywhere. As it was so far we had to stay on an (almost) free campsite, which meant no facilities and no light, as it was grey and rainy all day. However, the following day as we drove the winding road to the Sounds we discovered that it was worth it as the views are so good, its hard to describe (not even the photos do it justice). We also got to the docks at Milford Sounds for the earliest tour, which meant we missed the rush and there were only 4 people on the boat we sailed on. This meant that we got perfect views of everything and once again words cannot describe how beautiful the Sounds are, you just have to go and see them for yourself.

After the cruise we took the long drive to Wanaka, located just above Queenstown. It was pretty much dark when we got there so it was a quick meal and then a relaxing evening. The next day was the Mini-golf challange, Dave versus Rach in a battle to the death, well almost. In the end Rach couldn't handle the pressure and fluffed her last hole to hand Dave a slightly embarrassing draw, as Rach (apparently) had never played before. The Mini-Golf was only the warm-up to the main event however - Puzzling World!!!!! Basically a big maze, although it did have an illusion that showed how they made people seem tall and small on LOTRs, which was pretty cool.

The following day we drove to Franz Josef Glacier, and went and booked a climb on the very same glacier for the next day. An early, pretty cold start didn't deter Dave from wearing his shorts, which he was glad of come the end of the day, but only because they got so wet, a lot of times. We turned up at the glacier climb HQ right on time and quickly got togged up to take on the 6 hour hike round the glacier. We were in a group of about 12 people with an experienced guide leading us on the hike, literally hacking steps on the glacier for us to walk on, we also had to slip through some pretty tight spots and we were both thankful we hadn't had a big breakfast.

After spending the evening recovering from the hike and getting a good nights sleep, we headed for the thermal pools of Hamner Springs. We arrived late afternoon, and got settled into the campsite before planning the following days activities. Early the next morning we visited the springs and were not disappointed!!! The pools were so relaxing and warm that you could just sit there all day without a care in the world, however our locker automatically opened after 2 hours, so after this time we left, but planned to return later that day after a nice hike. Turns out that the hike was not as nice as we thought as we climbed up so high that the track was covered in snow and ice, which was slippery going up, but almost impossible to get back down, if it wasn't for Rach slidng almost the whole way down on her bum, we would proably still be up there!! Thankfully we made it back before dark and after a quick dinner, returned to the springs to soak our tired legs for another couple of hours, it's a hard life.

The next day we drove to the port of Kaikoura to get on a whale watching trip the next day. And what a whale watching trip it was, we got up close with a pod of 20, yes 20, Pilot Whales, a seal that knew they had an audience (i.e. show-off) and 3 Sperm Whales, everyone agreed it was quite a trip. We took a coastal walk in the afternoon, before getting to bed early as we had a 2hr drive to catch our ferry at Picton the next day.

A very early morning and drive meant that we arrived with plenty of time to board our ferry for the North Island to Wellington, where we are now. The South Island has been great and is so beautiful, and it's like you are in LOTRs the whole time!! We can't wait to see what the North Island has to offer.

Miss you all as always

Dave & Rach