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So, after nearly a year of not having seen him, my wonderful dad hopped on a plane and after an arduous 52 hour journey, arrived in Chistchurch. It was soooooo good to see him!
We had an awesome 2 weeks. We started by heading north to Kaikora, where we saw a huge seal colony, then headed for Blenheim to do some wine tasting. Misjudged our schedule slightly tho, and got there after everything had closed! So we bought some local wine for our own tasting, and proceeded to explore the lovely lands of Marlborough Sounds. We found a gorgeous little campsite on the sea, and had our first night camping – dad in his little ‘roadrunner’ and me in my new little tent: Alfie.
The next day we did even more driving (by this point I had just about got the hang of the automatic!) and went inland to Hanmer, where we went and relaxed at the natural hot springs. (I found it a bit hot, but dad was in his element!!)
We headed home the next day, as I had my course, and that evening all 3 of us went for dinner…on a tram! Which was lovely, despite the food, lol. We didn’t waste any time, and next morning headed off for our southern excursion. We drove right across the country to the west coast, and down the west coast to Fox Glacier, where we had a bit of a nose – bloody cold! Lol. After that we went and camped at a wonderful little beach site, which would have been absolutely gorgeous (see sunset pictures) except for its excessive sand-fly infestation!! After a night of being eaten to death we escaped out of there pronto.
Driving along the next day we stopped to admire what must have been at least a kilometre of ‘barrier’ between beach and road, made by travellers who had each made a unique sculpture out of stones and driftwood – there were hundreds! (see photos) It was very cool, we got out and made our own, and given it was such a hot day decided to risk the NZ Tasman Sea, which was also bloody cold! But lovely and refreshing, all the same.
We carried on, eventually arriving in Wanaka where we camped in yet another stunning setting, by a colourful lake with lots of friendly ducks. The next day we were all pumped up to do our tandem skydive (15,000ft) but there were medical issues, so we drove to Queenstown to do the ‘luge’ which was little go-carts on an awesome track – going round some of the sharp corners you saw nothing but water from the vast lake – it was awesome!! We also met up with Camilla again, which was great, and sat on the grass enjoying the sun and a very chocolatey ice cream.
We drove back to Wananka that night, camped once more and missioned for medicals in the morning. Unfortunately we couldn’t get one before the end of the day so we gave up on the skydive. Somewhat miserable on our lack of adrenaline, we drove towards QT….and pulled up at the sight of the original bungy jump – opened the year I was born! Stood watching jumpers, we looked at each other with fear in our eyes and so nearly chickened out, but battled on thru.
We paid our money, walked up onto the bridge, and wandered what on earth we’d done! Dad was up first, and I was so scared! The guy clipped me in so I could come up to the edge to watch. He clung onto the side so hard I didn’t think he was gonna jump, my heart was racing, then he finally jumped….and fell…and it was terrifying!!!! Then it was my turn, they yanked the towel and ropes around my legs (“you sure these are tight enough??”) but I was more worried bout dad! Once I saw he was safely onshore, I waddled up to the edge. I wanted to get it done but they held me back for photos, meanwhile I was trying not to hyperventilate! When they counted down I knew the longer it took the worse it would be, so I just went for it. I started to scream as I fell, then my voice caught in my throat as I fell and all I thought was ‘s***.’ In those few seconds I wanted to take it back, rewind back onto that ledge, but as my hands splashed in the river and I was gently pulled back away from certain death it was the best rush ever. They fished me out, gave me back my flipflops, and dad and I celebrated our survival.
That evening we headed on thru to Te Anau, where we decided we really should camp at a real site (all the pretty little ones were DOC sites with nothing but toilets n tranquillity) so that we could shower, as it had been a few days!! It was a great site, and given our little camp stove packed up we were grateful for cooking facilities!
Our last day on the road we ventured out to see Milford Sound, obviously at the wrong time of year, as it was very disappointing. We headed back the next day, was miserable weather but we did see some trendy Merino sheep, with their woolly coats and curly horns.
On the Friday we drove to Akaroa, an hour n a half away from Chch, and once again basked in glorious weather. Akaroa is a gorgeous little town, and we were very excited about getting to swim with the worlds smallest dolphins (Hectors). Unfortunately, while we saw lots of dolphins, and a few penguins, we only swam briefly and not with very excited ones – but we got a partial refund, and there’s always next time! That evening we went to a penguin colony, where tons of penguins live, and saw a few, including a little chap who had been rescued (see pics) only 7 weeks old – at 8 weeks he will venture out to sea, but at 7 he still needs a few swimming lessons! We wrapped up the fortnight with some nights in, and a lazy weekend in the sun, including a homemade roast, the museum and the gondola.
Finally a tearful goodbye was had at 4am, as we waved dad off in his taxi. We had a smashing fortnight tho, and can’t wait for his (and everyone else’s) next visit.
Hope you are all well, miss you and love you all Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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