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Hey All!
So here go the updates;
So spent Christmas and New Year in Queenstown.. really is backpacker central, amazing backdrop, great bars and fantastic people! We spent the entire festive period with people we'd met all over New Zealand, who all travelled to Queenstown for the same week no matter where they were in the country! Will never forget my first Christmas in the Sun!
On Jan 2nd we started our journey to Christchurch. We started our travels through the Kawarau Gorge and further on up over Lindis Pass into MacKenzie Country... the New Zealand OutBack..named after James MacKenzie, a notorious sheep hustler apparently?!
Beautiful farmland with a back drop of the Western Alps including awesome views of Mt Cook.. New Zealand's highest mountain that reaches 3,754 metres above sea level.
There are 22 mountains that are over 3050 metres high in this area. We also saw the Tasman Glacier here, covering a massive 27 Km in length and 3km wide.. making this the largest glacier in the world outside of the Hamalayan region. We passed through the amazing aqua blue Lake Pukaki (take a look at the pictures) where you can see the mountains in the background.. really didn't look real even standing there!
Christchurch, otherwise known as 'Garden City' is the largest City in the South Island.. the city was settled early last century by the Anglicans from England. It was named after Christ's College in Oxford and each park and road name is named after a city in England. You'll be able to see from the pictures I made the effort to find the Cambridge one! They even have punting on the 'River Avon'.. no match on Cambridge Punting I may add!! It's main park is named Hagley Park, the world's third largest central park behind Centre Park (New York) and Stanley Park (Vancouver).
It is true to it's name and is a very English style city with its remaining old Neo-gothic buildings and well-established gardens.
Christchurch is also home to the AMI stadium, famous for it's NZ rugby of course and vivals between local teams. The ground is currently being upgraded for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
We also checked out the Arts Centre Weekend Market and the free art gallieries. Oh and the city has a tram that acts as a hop on hop off bus service around the city!
We left Christchurch 5th Jan and headed North up to Kaikoura. Kaikoura is known as the South Islands best kept secret, it's name actually means 'to eat crayfish'. These days it is so popular for it's whales, dolphins, seals and fish and chips! The city thrives on tourism activities such as dolphin swimming, whale watching, fishing tours and a new one for the summer.. seal swimming!... Don't ask.. I saw the seals on the beach and were convinced they could eat me whole if they wanted to, so god know's why anyone would choose to swim with them?!
Very close to the coastline of Kaikoura sits a sea trench that is as big in size as The Grand Canyon (USA) that sits under the ocean. This is why Kaikoura is famous for it's sea life.. the trench holds massive amounts of food so close to the coast, making the mammals stay so near to shore! Will and I saw some Seals (pictures) but spent the rest of the day enjoying the sun! I would have LOVED to dolphine swimming but it was just SO expensive! I'm thinking if I really want later on I'm sure Fiji and Oz will have some opportunities.. oh and the water won't be as cold!!
We left Kaikoura today, heading north along the rest of the dramatic eastern coastline, passing Lake Grassmere and a large solar salt works plant. Today the ponds looked pink, which is apparently nothing to do with the sea water but more to do with the millions of tony brine shrimps that thrive in the saline water! We headed further north, heading through the principal centre of Malborough, Blenheim, an area that basks in an abundent hours of sunshine. This and apparently very good soil conditions have assisted this area in becoming the most prominent wine producuing region in the world!
We then entered Picton, catching the InterIsland Ferry back over the North Island of New Zealand! Sad to be saying goodbye to the sound but excited to see more of the North!
So now we return to Wellington... New Zealand's Windy Capital!
The plan for the day few days is to continue North, heading through some of the same places we stopped on the way down to see abit more then head back up to Auckland where we started to jump of the Kiwi Experience Bus and start our next adventure!
With the lovely Christmas money we recieved we have decided to hire out a little campervan! So excited! It is basically a little car/van with seats in the front and a kitchen and double bed, BBQ and picnic set in the back! It means we can drive where ever we want on a daily basis and see more remote, more distant areas and just parts the bus doesn't go to! Check out; www.exploremore.co.nz and you'll see our little van! So in the next week, people we've met have started to head to OZ, to Asia, to South New Zealand and as the next few days continue we will loose more people, and although sad to say goodbye, many we will meet again as we drive around, people we have already arranged to meet in Fiji and even some I will meet in OZ! I'm very excited for Will and I to get the camper van and wake up and decide where we want to drive to that day! Not having to worry about buses, times and dates!
Anyways that's all for now but shall check in soon :)
Love you all, missing you lots xxxxxxxxx
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