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Hay, We've managed to take some time off from bombing around New Zealand in our Ezy Camper to let you know what we've been up to in the South Island.
We flew in to Christchurch and our imediate thoughts were that we were back in England, it's a very British Town/City. Now we realise that the rest of NZ is so different.
We didn't hang around Christchurch too long. We headed up to Kaikoura for a spot of Whale Watching, this was en excellent start to our trip, we managed to see 3 different whales. On the trip we visited a seal colony and even had some massive albatross' pay us a visit. Our first night in the camper was pretty cold, we parked in a car park next to the beach. Thankfully this was the coldest night so far!
We stopped to take in the views of Mount Cook, as it was a lovely clear day we could see the snow peaks.
Next stop was Queenstown, this is the adventure capital of NZ. So when in Rome.... Here we had an exhillerating ride on the worlds most exciting jet boat. The drive took us down the Shotover River Canyons, near missing boulders, rocks and performing 360 degree spins.
At the top of the mountain was a Luge track. Rather than take the Gondala to the sumit we decided to take the walking track that weaved its way up. It didn't look very far! This was a massive mistake! After a quarter of the way(we thought we were nearly there) the track turned to clambering over rocks and steep inclines. As Carly had a cold she struggled to breathe most of the way. It took us well over an hour and we needed a good rest at the top! Once up there the views were fantastic and the Luge was alot of fun.
While in Queenstown Paul decided that the skydive wasn't scarey enough for him and that he fancied diving of the Karawoa Bridge. The sight of the first ever bunjy. This is a 43m drop with a splash in to the Shotover river with nothing but an elastic band strapped to his ankles. This was a alot harder than the skydive as you have to do everything by yourself. Well jump off the edge yourself anway! He screamed so much that he even screamed under water and scared away all the fish!
After all this excitement we chilled in the Fiordland of Milford Sounds. We took a cruise on the fiord and saw glorious mountains, natural waterfalls and dolphins! The road up was pretty spectucualr as well and we were regularly stopping to take in the views.
Next we went to Wanaka, is's like a scaled down Queenstown. Here we enjoyed a lovely day fishing, Paul lost a fish within the 1st hour and we spent the whole day trying to re-catch it but sadly for all our efforts all we caught were colds! Whilst here we went to Puzzle World. It was pretty good and were enjoying ourselves until we got stuck in the maze! We completed the 1st part but the the second part was to find your way out. We were delerious by the end and we managed to sneak out through a fire exit as the 2hours of continous searching really drained us!
We then headed up the West coast to the Glacier County. Here we visited the fastest moving glaciers in the world, Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers. Unfortunately the day we were at Fox it was hammering down with rain so we couldn't get too close and get the full effect. The next day we got right close to Franz Joseph and it really was amazing to see. Of course what we could see is only a tiny portion of it aswell.
We headed up the coast stopping to see the pancake rocks of Punakiki. The rocks resemble layers of pancakes. We then drove to Hotikia to spot some glow worms in the dark. It was pretty eary!
Next we headed up north to Golden Bay and the Able Tasman National Park. Whilst up here we visted the deepest cave in the southern hemisphere, Harwoods hole. We didn't want to get too close to the edge as there was a 100m drop! It probably wasn't worth all the hastle to get there actually, first we went the wrong way and ended up driving round cliffs on private property, driving over streams/creeks in our camper. When we did finally get on the walking track it was actually a tramping track and this involves clambering over rocks, fallen trees and sinking mud! Whilst in the area Paul decided to go to a salmon farm to catch his own Salmon for dinner that night. As it was a salmon farm it's pretty easy to catch and he was soon reeling one in! It tasted lovely and atleast we didn't have to spend all day in the freezing cold again.....
Were loving the campervan experience even though it's really small and cold in the mornings, but it's good to have our own freedom, being able to stop and admire the scenic views NZ has to offer. We think we have seen enough lakes, creeks, streams, rivers, mountains and wildlife to last 10 lifetimes!
Hope all the scenic pictures aren't too boring for you.
Love
Carly and Paul
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