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Not long since i last wrote on here, but we have seen most of the south island now...we left Queenstown and went to Wanaka, had a hot chocolate there, very ski resorty there, lovely drive from Queenstown though...we picked up a hitchhiker, only our second, he was from Argentina, was pleading on the side of the road and it was very cold outside!!so we let him in, drove through the Gates of Haast stunning scenary, a lot of lakes around, and dropped Fran off in haast. We filled up our water bottle and camped on the roadside that night. Then we left for the Glaciers, We saw Fox Glacier first which was impressive but even though it was huge, it would have been a lot bigger a long time ago. About 2miles up the road we passed a sign saying that the glacier was there in 1750, and we drove for a while and then walked to the glacier edge. The other Glacier is Franz Josef which is a lot bigger, we prefferred that one, we tried to get closer but they rope it all off, so that u cant, for safety reasons mainly, but we wouldnt be silly!there were people wakling on the glacier, but you have to pay about $90 to do that... We walked a different way bac through the forest, these two glaciers are the only 2 in New Zealand that are surrounded by tropical forrests, the coldest i'v ever been into!!we saw Fran after the glaciers, he'd managed to hitch hike there with someone else!
after the glaciers we drove up the west coast, and bumped into Jonny and Laura the friends we met in Australia, really randomly, they had stopped at a pub and greg noticed jonnys hair as he was outside and we pulled over and they were staying there!dont think we would have seen them otherwise!so that was good. We saw a stag deer in a field, it was huge!!went to see the Pancake rocks, which are rocks which have been formed and made up out of very thin layers, they look really strange but are very cool. And we looked out to see for a while and eventualy spotted some dolphins, which we thought were wales, but we looked them up afterwards and they are New Zealands Hectors Dolphins, they'r fins are rounded and they have a white stripe down their middle, hence why we thought they were wales...
then we made the drive from there to here, so from the west coast to the centre of the north of the south island if that makes sense...?!and have come back to Hamner Springs which we were at a week and 4days ago. There are the amazing hot springs here, we went in them this morning and are going to go back to them tonight as they have the option to pay a little more to be able to come back again in the same day.
We have 2weeks left in New Zealand, so will now just take our time going back to our favourite places we have already visited and stay there for a few days then move on. OUr next stop will probably be close to Mount Cook as we havent done that yet, and also drive through Arthurs Pass, its meant to be a good drive. and probably spend most of our time near Queenstown, so that we can hopefully get a ski in. Even if it is for 1 day i wouldnt mind!! So that is the plan really, and then head back up to Christchurch to return the van...
So may write another blog once we'r back in Christchurch before we leave New Zealand for the Cook Islands. We are both keeping warm, dont have colds, well i dont think i do, greg said i may ahve a chest infection,but i'v never had one before so i dont know how to tell?!but i feel ok...the van is soo much better than a tent, i would not camp in this cold if i had the choice!!
Haent started a countdown yet, as still have some more things to do and see here, a lot happier now, as isnt too long until we come home, so just enjoying the fact that we are stil on the other side of the world-pretty cool, cant and dont think i will get over that!!
Love to all, and looking forward to seeing everyone xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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