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Hello everyone,
We are now in the South Island and the scenery is beautiful - Danny, Tim and Nicola keep talking about Lord of the Rings, so sometimes its nice to walk on your own and take in the views while they sing "they are taking the hobits to Isengard."
27th Oct
Today we left Gerald and Natalias to catch a ferry to Picton. This was a 3 hour ferry journey to get from the north to the south island and when we got off it was like we were in another country. It was much warmer and sunnier in Picton than in windy Wellington so it felt as though we had gone from somewhere like England to somewhere like France. At Picton we went wine tasting and Danny learnt how to taste the wine properly!
From here we got on a coach to Nelson where we would spend 2 nights. The hostel in Nelson was pretty posh and we managed to get a four share dorm with Nicola and Tim so that we wouldn't be with strangers.
28th October
Today we went to Abel Tasman National Park. It meant we had an early start as it took 2 hours on a coach and then 30 mins on a boat to get to the start of the trail. We walked for four hours straight and saw some great scenery - it is still impressive, despite having been on about 25 scenic walks. The only problem was that we couldnt find a bench to eat our pack lunch so had to sit in the middle of the path. When we reached the end we were all so tired and whilst having a rest got eaten alive by sandflies.
29th October
We left Nelson for Westport stopping at Nelson lakes national park for yet another scenic walk (getting lots of excercise which is good after all the McDonalds we are being forced to eat) and a chance to take photographs of some snowy mountains.
At Westport there wasnt much to do so we shopped around for fancy dress costumes for a party we are having tomorrow night, but couldnt find anything.
That evening we watched the third Lord of the Rings film (yay) and Michelle lasted 10mins before leaving the room. In her defence whats the point in watching 3 if you havent seen 1 and 2.
30th Oct
Today we travelled to Lake Mahinapua where Kiwi Experience are the only people who stay here and the hostel/pub is run by an old guy called Les. On the way there we all bought our fancy dress costumes for the Poo Party. The whole bus had an hour to get a costume and we didnt have a clue what to go as. Michelle thought she`d have to end up going as a witch as usual, but as time was running out we found a Salvation army shop. It was like walking into a fancy dress shop, we dont know who would have worn half the stuff in there. When we asked the lady for prices the maximum price for everything was $2. Michelle found a boiler suit and Danny got a nurses dress, so we were sorted.
That evening Les cooked everyone steaks and then everyone went to get ready, Tim went as the joker and Nicola was a nurse (same as Danny). Danny got covered in tomato sauce as he tried to make it look like blood (doesnt work that well with value ketchup which is watery). However, we think we look pretty good considering the time we had to get the costumes.
31st Oct
We went to Franz Josef today and booked our full day hike for the next day. In the afternoon we just chilled out and went in the hostels hot tub. It was freezing when we all got out at the same time as we had to queue to use the shower.
1st Nov
Woke up for our hike in the morning and it was raining really heavily. We got soaking just walking to the meeting place. We got kitted out in Gortex jackets, waterproof pants, socks, shoes, hats and gloves and they still told us we would be freezing.
We got on a coach to the starting place and when we got off we had around a 45min walk through the rainforest and valley. Despite crossing a few streams we manage to keep our feet dry until we got to the terminal face of the glacier. Then we had to cross a knee deep river, the current was so strong we had to link in threes to cross it. After this our boots were filled with ice cold water. At the bottom of the glacier we put our crampons on to give us extra grip on the ice.
We then began climbing the giant ice cube in the pouring rain. It was really intense and we had to climb up some really steep steps that had been cut out in the ice by our guides. Luckily aound 11ish the rain stopped and we were able to take down our hoods so we could actually see. It was quite sureal being stood on a giant glacier and the ice looked amazing when the sun hit it (it went clear blue - like Jondalar's eyes). We continued up and went through a narrow crack in the ice which was bright blue (there is a very good picture of Danny).
In total we were on the ice for around five hours and loved every minute of it once it had stopped raining. That eve it was Tims birthday so we went out for a curry (although the curry was a bit disapointing) we had a great day.
2nd Nov
We woke up to bright sunshine which is just typical and got on the coach to Wanaka. On the way we stoped at Lake Matheson for another scenic walk and at Lake Hawea which we both agree is the most spectacular view we have ever seen. The mountains were snow capped and reflecting off the crystal clear lake - the pictures on facebook dont do it justice.
That evening we went to an independent cinema which had couches to sit on instead of the usual rows of chairs. We went to see Taken which was alright, and half way through there was an interval where they served freshly baked cookies and home made ice cream.
3rd Nov
As we were staying for two nights we could finally have a lie in. We all slept for over ten hours and when we got up we had breakfast on the balcony overlooking Lake Wanaka and the mountains in the distance. After breakfast Danny finally managed to get his hair cut and managed to catch some of the F1 in the barbers (well done Lewis). We then played on a kids playground for a while :) and relaxed in our fancy dorm room that had a flat screen TV.
4th Nov
Left for Queenstown today, stopping at Puzzling World on the way. This wasn't the best place we have been to, Kiwi Experience get money for stopping there though. Then we went to the site of the first ever commercial bungy but we were both too scared to do it, especially for the price they were charging. At Queenstown we stayed in a different hostel to the rest of our coach because we had a voucher for a free night in the YHA there - this was the first night we hadn't scared a dorm with Tim and Nicola for about three weeks (except when we were in Wellington with Gerald). We also had a Fergburger for dinner. It is meant to be the best burger in NZ which was nice but even Danny struggled to finish it all.
In the evening we went out to the hostel bar and then to the world bar which sold alcohol in tea pots.
5th November
Today we didnt do much as it was snowing when we woke up. Apparently it never snows in November, we were freezing cold and were unable to do our planned activity as i8t was shut due to the weather. That evening there had been a rumour spread around that there would be fireworks at the lake. Lots of us gathered at the lake in the freezing cold and there was no fireworks! Apparently there was a big display at around 11pm but we missed it.
6th Nov
Today we went up the gondala which was a really steep climb to the top and gave us great views of Queenstown. It was a lovely clear day and as it had been snowing yesterday the mountains looked as though they had icing sugar dusted over the tops. We then got on a ski lift up to the luging track. It was so much fun especially on the advance track. We had 5 go`s...Michelle 1 Danny 2 Tim 1 Nicola 1.
7th Nov
We went to Queenstown gardens today to play frisbee gold (there are baskets to get the frisbee into) and it tells you how many attempts it should take. The frisbees didnt work well and it was really windy. It was frustrating so we gave up after 9 holes.
8th Nov
Not got up to much today. We have been updating the blog which took a while as we left it for so long.
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