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Hello! :)
Well we managed to find our way out of Queenstown and ended up hiring a car (called Harry) for four days. We set off with our cheese and ham sandwiches on Sunday, and started heading up the West Coast along Route 6. The roads around Queenstown were amazing and so much fun to drive.(one of the highlights of my holiday anyway!! dad you'd be proud!:) ) We drove around the edge of stunning turquoise lakes and through what felt like the very centre of Middle Earth! Heading to Wanaka and Hasst first, we set up for our first night sleeping in the car...It was freeeeeezing! We found a nice campsite(ish) to stop at and got ready to head off first thing next morning. We managed to make quite a nice make-shift camp in the car and were glad that we'd rented an estate!!!
Unfortunatly the weather decided to get pretty bad, so what should have been the most spectacular scenery ever..was a little bit damp to say the least!!! We headed up to the fox glacier. This was really surreal. we set off down a walking track and all of a sudden, in the middle of a valley is a huge glacier. The rain then went a little bit crazy and we got soaked through so couldnt stay too long. We carried on up route 6 and found a fantastic beach where people had made balanced stone and driftwood structures all the way along the beach. We then headed towards Franz Joseph glacier but it was a too wet to do too much tramping. The scenery was breathtaking though a mixture of really dense rainforests and waterfalls around hair-pin bends.
Heading on up to Greymouth we became "proper travellers" and stopped for a shower and coffee at a random cafe. It's funny how you soon get used to making do with any bathroom and sleeping pretty much anywhere! After another freezing night in the car we then started heading up through the "hobbity" hills to Nelson. The landscape then changed to vineyards and orchards as we travelled inland from the coast.
Nelson was lovely, and it was great to stay with Clare in a PROPER HOUSE! With nice shower, comfy bed and "flight of the conchords" on dvd! We explored Abel Tasman national park and found a beautiful beach, but unfortunately no blue penguins! :( Nelson proved good for pub quizes, fish and chips, cider, charity shops and lots of giggles. Clare then drove us to catch the ferry friday night through the amazing scenery of the sounds, ready to cross over to the North Island.
lou x
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