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So, yet again its been ages since ive blogged...this travelling lark doesnt half keep you busy!
I think the last time I blogged I was in Wellington on the south tip of the North island and since then ive travelled all around the South island and up to the northern most tip of the north island, so ive been keeping busy.
We headed to Abel Tasman National Park on the South Island and stayed in a lovely converted barn. Of course we made a very important trip to the almost empty local pub to watch the start of the rugby world cup (not quite the atmosphere we were expecting). The day after we were able to take a boat up the coast line and saw seals on the rocks before being dropped off at a bay for what was supposed to be an 18km hike back to our accomodation...well we enjoyed walking so much and got side tracked a little too often and ended up walking 25km and only just making at back before dark. However, the scenery and coastline was stunning and so made up for our rather achy legs at the end. We had even been lucky enough to see a seal swimming up a small river underneath a suspension bridge we were standing on.
In Greymouth we did a brewery tour which was brilliant! It was probably made so good because of the amount of free beer we were able to consume before a huge pub dinner. I think I may have wobbled back to our accomodation that evening and we certainly greeted with a bit of a hadache in the morning.
Our next stop was Franz Joseph and the glacier where I spent a day with two of the other guys from the bus ice climbing. It was so much fun but such hard work. We were fully kitted out with all the gear and ice climbing crampons before heading up onto the ice. The glacier was far dirtier than I expected, however there were amazing pockets of very blue ice and we could always hear the sound of running water and cracking ice. The climbing itself really made me tired. Getting your feet into the ice in the right position and manageing to support all of your body weight to move you ice axes further up was hard going. But, I was very determined and even managed to complete an overhang (possibly with a little hauling help from our guide pulling on my harness). In the afternoon the weather turned and we found ourselves ice climbing in rain and hail which was a new experience. I didnt realise quite how tired I was until we got back to the base and I sat down and never wanted to move. I had blisters on my heels that were huge and its taken almost two weeks for me to be able to not wear plasters over them!
Back at our accomodation there was a hot tub which made up for the ling day of climbing and very achy muscles that started to appear. The next day I was finding it fairly uncomfortable to move so I certainly knew id had a good work out, and also one that I would quite happily repeat!
I was sad to leave Franz Joseph and its definatley somewhere I want to return to. But we moved on to see Lake Matheson which really does have scenes like you see on postcards. We were lucky and had a day of clear blue skies and perfect reflections in the lake of the mounatin ranges behind.
We made a short stop in Wanaka which is a lovely town set on the side of yet another lake with the mountains behind. I dont think ive ever been to a country where the scenery is constantly so stunning m(helped of course by all the sunshine we had). On the way to Queenstown we stopped at a bungy site and were luck enough to bump into three of the England rugby squad (Tindle, Foden and one other) who were having a go. They all did it with their tops off (which of course us girls had no complaints about) and were nice enough to have photos with us all afterwards.
Queenstown was lovely. I really liked it a lot. A very relaxed feeling but also very buzzy and full of young people. We stayed in Queenstown for three nights and were able to unpack a bit, and drink quite a lot. It certainly is a party city! On our first day there I did the Canyon Swing which claims to be the worlds higest cliff jump. I still have no idea why I signed up to do it, but I loved it and would definatley do it again! Basically you are all harnessed up, and attached to a huge swing. You jump off the side of the cliff, fall 60meters before swinging 200meter across a canyon and reaching a speed of 180kmph...pretty terrifying! Im fairly sure my language wasnt the best at a couple of points before hand...mainly when I put my toes at the end of the platform and looked down! But, I managed to jump myself and there was no pushing involved from either of the guys there which was a great achievement and something I never thought id do! The adrenaline rush makes it completely worth it (plus the view once you get over falling 60meters is amazing too). Once I was back up on the platform though it did take a while for my knees and hands to stop shaking.
That evening we all went out to watch the Ireland vs Autralia game at a bar called Cowboys. It was quite quirky and came complete with a bucking bronko (which was great to watch drunk people on!). The rest of our time in Queenstown continued along the pub lines which was great fun, but did mean that out 6.50am departure time from Queenstown was pretty painful.
I took a cruise at Milford Sound which was amazing. The waterfalls coming over the cliff faces are spectacular and we were lucky enough to see Dolphins, Seals and Penguins, plus an avalance happening on one of the mountains in the distance. We stopped on the way down to Milford Sound and saw Kea birds. They are really intelligent birds and very tame. They were trying to hop into the bus and join us as well as taking a liking to one of our groups fluffy ugg boots! We had a lot of fun with them, almost playing games of hide and seek around the bus.
Our sty at Gunns Camp was interesting. Its a small place of old minors huts. There was a generator for electricity that was turned off at 10pm and we had to keep out fire going intose our cabin for warmth...it went out over night and so we had a rather chilly start in the morning.
I visted the steepest residentail street in the world...and walked up it for some strange reason! It was hard work but good fun to then watch some local lads have races up it on their mopeds! We took a visit to the Moeraki Boulders which are on the shore line of one of the southern beaches. They are perfect spheres and good fun to jump between, although we had to get our timing right otherwise you got wet.
Spent a night near mount Cook and enjoyed a walk to see it. The picture on this blog is from that walk. The view was stunning and we spent quite a long time enjoying the sunshine up there.
In Kaikours I was lucky enough to swim with Dusky Dolphins. It was perfect weather and we ended up surrounded by a pod of 200-300 dolphins. They are really playful, but like noise (I discovered that they liked the theme tune to the Wombles as I hummed down my snorkel) They came so close, probably only 2ft away and would swim around you in circles so that you followed. At one point I have seven of them swimming underneath me. It was so magical I didnt ever want to get out of the water. Once back on the boat we were able to enjoy watching them jumping out of the sea and flipping in the waves before returning to the shore. Such incredible creatures to be so close to.
When we got back to the North Island we spent two nights in Wellington which were not so good. The hostel had over booked due to the world cup and so out 10 dorm turned into a storage room for everyones luggage whi was sleeping downstairs on the sofas! I was very glad to leave.
Made some good friends Joanne, Paul and Steve and so the four of us drove a car from Wellington back up to Auckland over two days instead of catching the bus back. It was brilliant fun, we stopped at one of the ski fields in the National Park for a snow ball fight and enjoyed some time by lake Taupo before spending a night in Waitomo and a tiny backpackers lodge. I could quite happily have stayed there for a few days but we needed to get back to Auckland.
Took a three day trip North of Auckland to the bay of islands and did an eco cruise where we were lucky enough to see two Whales...well spurts of water and some fins but I was still excited! On one day we travelled to the northern most tip of the north island and then went sandboarding on the dunes at 90mile beach which I loved.
Now im back in Auckland and getting set to fly to Sydney tomorrow. Im keeing my fingers crossed for some sunshine as at the moment its raining there, but we will see.
Hope everyone at home is well. Im finally going to get some pictures uploaded onto hear for everyone who does not have facebook...otherwise they are all on facebook :) Em xx
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