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New Zealand, South Island
First thoughts, oh my goodness its cold. We flew out of a 'cold' Sydney at 20 degrees and into a FREEZING Christchurch at 1 degree celcius. Sheesh. Naturally our time in this picturesque city was spent buying socks, gloves, hats and long johns. We also tested out numerous flavours of the fabulous NZ pie. Simon is officially the pie monster of the southern hemisphere. (My time was to come at the Cadbury Factory tour!)
We took the Tranz Alpine train across the middle of the South Island to the West Coast, and to Greymouth. This town is very grey. It is built around the River Grey, at the mouth. The people there don't wear shoes. The End. (It was pretty rubbish, although we got a free hot water bottle at our hostel - a clue to the temperature!!!!!!! Brrrr.) The train over the Southern Alps was however magnificent. 'Voted the fifth best rail journey in the world', SGC. We passed through the town of Sheffield, choo chooed around Lake Sarah, and even the Devonshire Tea deserves a mention - a thoroughly enjoyable journey all round.
Franz Joseph was our next stop. A nice little town built at the bottom of the Franz Joseph glacier. Our extreme sports began here! We ventured on an 8hr hike up the ice, crampons, ice axe and all. Our guide 'Rhino' (got to love the Kiwis) had a huge pick and had to cut steps for us from the ice, which is allegedly 7 times harder than the ice in your freezer. Interesting fact No.1. We squeezed through crevasses, crawled through meltwater holes, and even spotted a Kea bird, the 4th cleverist animal in the world (only 2 above Yorkshire people apparently). Interesting fact No.2. The glacier was rather dirty at the mouth, but absolutley beautiful further up, such white snow and amazingly blue ice. (For further details on glaciers, their behaviour and landforms please contact Miss. H. Riley, BSc). The camera even packed up on the ice as it was soooooooo cold!
Next stop was Wanaka. The scenery down the West Coast is amazing, snow capped mountains and sparkling clear lakes galore. Wanaka is built on a Lake, Lake Wanaka, and is a lovely little town. We ventured to Puzzling World here, and fed the eels off the pier, which are as big as people, I kid you not.
We arrived in Queenstown on the 10th of June. The eve of a momentous day. Another beautiful setting, fabulous mountains and a picture perfect lake. We had lots of birthday fun here (I managed to span the day out over 3 with a little help from the time difference! Whoop!) The activities included dancing, singing, luging, bungee jumping (more on that shortly!), a visit to the minus 5 ice bar, and a scenic voyage to the fiorlands of Milford Sound.
Thank you so much for my cards and birthday wishes!
The Nevis Bungee... on the 13th of June Mr. Colton and a VERY reluctant Ms. Riley set out on a journey that would test their metal. The bungee was calling us, so we went for the biggest: 134metres / 440 foot / 8 and a half seconds freefall!!!!!! Thats right. The jump pod is suspended over a gorge by wires (!) and a teeny tiny metal cage carries you out to it. They suit and boot you and then its 3, 2, 1...Bungeeeeee. Simon went first (not due to his galantry but rather because the fatties have to jump first - too many pies!) and he was scaaaaaared! This worried me as usually he shows no fear, even in the most blatant of dangerous places. I was informed that the time was a ticking and I needed to decide whether I was jumping - OK. The guy could smell my fear and so was very gentle with me, and did my countdown from 5 - how very lucky of me. We both jumped first time though, and head first too which is unfortunatley a necessity - to avoid you getting tangled in the oh so long cord. It was an 'awesome' experience and we have the DVD for everyone to have a chuckle at. Well done.
Here was where my weak body could no longer resist the flu. 4 days in bed. Rubbish. As Simon's body is a temple he survived the disease, but not the curse of being Sarah's maid for the duration of the illness. I knew that whistle on my rucksack would come in handy!! Merci.
We eventually reached Dunedin and Cadbury World. We walked up the steepest road in the world, Baldwin St. and ate lots of free choc. Chuclit. Yum.
Kaikoura was our final destination of note on the South Island. This town is back on the East Coast, and is famous for its whales and dolphins. The weather stopped us from seeing either (boo) however we did take a walk to the local seal colony which was lovely. Seals are pretty but rather dull, they lay down on the rocks (we thought some were dead) and only exert themselves to glance your way when you get too close. The seal is my new favourite animal however, as they seem to be ranked as a last resort form of wildlife, and deserve a champion. I am champion of the seal.
We did an anti-clockwise loop of the South Island and I am tempted to say that it is perhaps the most beautiful of all the places we have been lucky enough to frequent thus far. Here we managed to embrace the extreme sports, eat lots of Kiwis (the fruit), and some of us turned 23.
Look out for the North Island installment coming to a computer near you soon! xxxxx
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