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kia ora from the south island
the ferry crossing was pretty good, luckily it was a nice day and we could actually see some great views of the islands heading into picton harbour. from picton we took a scenic route to Nelson, the road was crazy with bends everywhere and a few steep slopes here and there. but i guess it was worth it, some of the views were amazing.
we spent the night in nelson, but just stayed in the holiday park watching tv. the next day we set off for the abel tasman national park, its such a beautiful place. we decided to take anaquataxi to tonga bay via the seal colony, and then to be picked up at Barke's bay a couple of hours later. this gave us enough to time to relax and have lunch on the beach before tramping (walking) down the coastline and through the forest to barkes bay. we hiked for about an hour and half and were pretty tired by the end of it, we didnt realise how steep some of the inclines were gonna be. the coastline was littered with a number of golden beaches and turquoise water. after we had such a nice day in the abel tasman, we decided to stay a night in one of the villages, called kaiteriteri. the following day the weather was beautiful and we spent the morning laying on one of the golden beaches and enjoyed the turquoise water. around lunch time we headed south west to a town called westport, which is located on the west coast. the views of the moutain ranges from the road were wicked and gave us a taste of what was to come on the west coast.
we got to Wesport and unfortunately the weather was such a contrast from what we left behind in the abel tasman, it was raining so bad and we heard on the radio that it was only going to get worse that night. it did and in the morning the weather was still real bad, there's nothing worse than getting soaked and then jumping in a small campervan to dry off. atleast we're in NZ though....!!!
after drying off and the weather slightly improved, from pouring down to a slight drizzle we decided to go visit the the seal colony is Tuaranga bay. its currently birthing season (for the seals), so there are little seal pups laying about on the rocks with their parents. rhiannon loved seeing them.
from the walkway back to the car park, we could see EEK (our camper) with the headlights on...by the time we got back and tried to start EEK up the battery had run dead and we had to phone for a recovery van to come out and start us up. it was such a pain, we did ask a man from another camper for jump leads but he was a bit of dickhead and didnt seem too bothered and didnt help us.
after getting going again, we made a move down the coast to an area called punakaiki, which is famous for its Pancake rocks. we stopped off for a cup of tea and walked around to the viewing area. they're called pancake rocks because they look like stacks of thick pancakes due to weathering of the limestone.
from Punakaiki we made the long trip south to Franz Josef, Glacier region.
i had booked to go and walk on the Franz JOsef glacier with Franz Josef glacier guides just after lunch, Rhiannon didnt fancy it as the weather was pretty bad and didnt want to walk all that way. we walked for 10 minuntes or so through the forestry and came out about 2km from the terminal of the glacier. we stopped for a photo opportunity and the guide spoke to us all about the glacier etc when another one of the guide's came over and said its had to be cancelled due to more bad weather on the way. he said that heavy rain is on its way and that it would be too dangerous for us walk on the glacier, the other risk was that the area could flood. i couldnt believe it. we stayed there for about 5-10 minutes taking more photos and then headed back to town...disappointed.
the next day we moved to Fox Glacier, and I finally got to walk on a glacier. it was a pretty cool experience and the trip as a whole was really good. there should be a few photos to look at. whilst on the trek to the glacier it actually stopped raining and didnt start back until late that evening. the next morning, thunderstorms! the rain and thunder woke us up, we were planning to walk around lake Matherson (mirror/reflection lake) but the rain didnt stop and there was no point because all we would have seen is the rain drops hitting the water. gutted! so instead we stopped for a cup of tea and left for Queenstown.
some of the views of the drive down were amazing, driving through Mount Aspiring National Park and through the Haast pass are the highlights of the drive.
Queenstown is a really cool town. loads of shops, cafes and restaurants in the town centre. its definitely one of the most scenic towns in NZ, well that we have been to anyways. one of the number one tourist attraction in Queenstown is...the bungy's!!!! 3 AJ Hackett bungy's, the Ledge (m), the Bridge (43m) & Nevis (134m)..as i felt i had to one of them, i decided to try the biggest one..Nevis! makes sense since ive never a bungy before! Rhiannon said before she arrived in NZ that there was no chance of her doing it and she kept it that way, but stupid me said i was well up for it. suppose i couldnt back down, rhi would have reminded me everyday that i chickened out and that would be bad enough. So we both went into the shop and looked at the bungy on the screens, it seemed ok and i just thought lets do it. immediately after booking, rhi and i were talking and i thought what am i doing? this is gonna be bad! we hopped onto the bungy bus and drove a while out of town to Nevis creek, the site of the bungy. WOW it looked so high. the platform was suspended in the center of the valley, have a look at the photos. i got kitted up in my harness and jumped onto a small cart that transported the jumpers to the platform, sensibly rhi stayed in the viewers gallery on land.
The Jump!!
Waiting to be called up was a bit scary but watching others jump helped settled my nervous. i was called up and i think i was ready to jump now, i had to sit in a seat whilst i was instructed what to pull and was attatched to the bungy cord. slowly made my way to the edge and immediately looked down...wow! did kinda s*** it but just thought to myself this was gonna be awesome. was counted in 3 2 1 Bungy!!! & i was away! 8 seconds of free falling to the ground and bouncing up and down for a while. rhi was waiting for me and we both had a big smile on our faces...phhewww! it was awesome, definately worth it and so glad i did it. the adrenaline rush i got from it was amazing and you can see why some many people do it again and again. i decided to buy a few photos and dvd, i had to after that.
the rest of week, we jumped on a gondola that took us up the top of the mountain overlooking queenstown. that gondola was scary!! it kinda stopped halfway up, which left us hanging there for a while. we eventually made it to the top and the views of Queenstown and the mountain ranges that surround it are pretty cool. we strolled around for a bit and then plucked up enough courage to hop back in the gondola to take us down, thankfully it didnt stop on the way down! we also played a round of crazy golf that had some really cool holes and rhi ended up winning by 5 strokes. wish
i could say i let her win but i tried my best..definately beginners luck!
we're now moving on to Christchurch via lake takepo for a night.
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