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Continuing on from where we left off...
Queenstown
On route to Queenstown we couldn't help ourselves but to stop off at one of the many wineries, our choice happened to also have a cheesery! We chose to stop at Gibbston Winery where we were taken on a tour of the largest wine cave in New Zealand, specialising in Pinot Noir. We tried several types of wines but the Pinot Noir was our favourite. The cheesery was in keeping with the wine but I wished there had been a nice cheddar open to sample!
On route to Queenstown again we stopped at a dam called Roaring Meg which had an impressive rocky landscape. We later discovered that there is also a wine named after it too.
Once we arrived at our hostel we were pleasantly surprised to find we had a four bed dorm room to ourselves. The bathroom had an unusually small bin in the loo though much to my amusement.. sad I know!
We had a rest and then headed out for a pub crawl night out for Steve's birthday. We started at The World Bar but soon started to notice that the organised crawl wasn't really taking shape so decided to do our own crawl. We loved the teapot cocktails which they are famous for in Happy Hour. We then headed for the Ice Bar 'Minus 5' where I soon realised that ballet pump shoes are not the most sensible idea in those freezing conditions... brrr. The sculptures were really great though and the cocktail was very moreish. We headed on to 2 more bars but the atmosphere and music wasn't really to our taste so we called it a night.
The next day we made a trip to Arrowtown, a small place with a western feel to it which was really nice. Then after this I took Steve's recommendation and we headed for the Luge. This is a like a sledge with wheels that you race down a hill track. In order to do this though you have to first go up a really steep hill on a gondala which I spent the whole journey gritting my teeth and trying not to look down at... much to Steve's amusement. After this we then had to take a further chairlift to the top, just check out the pictures for my thoughts on that!!! After my first Luge attempt though I gave the more difficult track a go and laughed the whole way down. The view at the top was also really amazing so well worth the height fear factor for that.
Mount Cook / Oamaru
The next day we started our journey North with our first stop at a Glacier Lake which overlooked Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand. We were subject to a speedy boat ride around the lake with the help of our Swedish tour guide who made the tour very enjoyable and informative. It was amazing to see how much smaller the icebergs were in comparison to the last time I (Steve) had come 2 years ago, so much smaller and less of them! We were assured however that the inevitable demise of this glacier would not be due to global warming, but to the lake itself being warm enough to melt the glacier, effectively, it was killing itself. Very sad. Another sad fact we were brought our attention to was that some local ducks that swim the lakes are quite the romantics. Should their partner die, the other would starve itself to death. :-(
During our time on the lake, one of the icebergs had rolled itself as it had got top heavy due to the melting. Not as dramatic as you might think as it happens quite slowly! The closest we could get to the glacier itself was a good 100m away due to the instabilty and unpredictable nature of it. Still, it was quite an amazing site with the mountain backdrop.
Walking back to the bus after the boat trip, our attention was brought to a sharp needle like bush which the Maori's used to take the needles off and use for their tattoos. Ouch!
We then took our Nissan Pulsar and headed to Oamaru where we would spend one night. On route, Laura had a personal incident with an Orange Juice carton. Check the photo! We also made a quick stop to Moeraki where they have some strange large boulders that sit on the beach which were naturally formed. They do however look quite alien like!
The next day we had a quick look around Oamaru which is quite the eccentric little town with some weird monuments and statues. It all seems to revolve around a place call Steampunk. This place is full of dark art and strange goings-on. We were not allowed to take any photos of the weird stuff but I can assure you that it is not very pleasant! Lots of it based around alien abduction and doomsday! We then set off to Christchurch area.
Christchurch/Akaroa:
After a very windey drive to Akaroa which Laura loved (not!), we arrived to a very sleepy village which is dominated by French settlers. Unfortunately everything was shutting up when we got there so we didn't get to see much. We did have to drive through the clouds to get there though! Our hostel for the night was on the outskirts of Christchurch which was an area that was less desireable than others!
The next day we checked out the Re:Start mall which we only found out by word of mouth and happens to be the shopping central area of Christchurch! It consists of all the high street shops crammed into a new area and operating out of shipping containers. It was different that's for sure! Shame to see that they weren't advertising it as much as they should have been as it is worth a visit.
We carried on up north to catch our night Ferry to Wellington for the night where we were forced to dine in McDonald's. Surprisingly very nice with some ACTUAL fresh veg in the burgers! I never thought I would say that about McD's!
Waitomo Caves/Kerikeri:
The next day we continued North to Waitomo caves which is world famous for their Glow Worm caves and Black Water Rafting. Although we didn't get a chance to do the Black Water Rafting (next time), we did enjoy an excellent tour of one of the caves Ruakuri. Our guide was very enthuastic and got us up close and personal with the Glow Worms (not actually a worm but a fly larvae), which was gross but very cool to look at in the dark as the Larvae arse is what glows.
We spent the night in Waitomo caves at a local hostel which had a strictly no alcohol policy, even in the rooms!.... Yeah right!! We had a few beers in our room before getting some sleep for the big drive back to Kerikeri.
On the way North we stopped at Dome Valley which after a 30 minute trek through the woods uphill, we arrived at a Viewpoint over the valley which was extremely green!, but worth the trek.
We finally arrived at Pete's where we would spend 1 week chilling out and Christmas, much needed after the manic 14 day NZ tour!
It was very nice spending time with the family and catching up. We were also treated to a nice lunch at Marsden Estate Winery which needless to say had amazing wine and food!.
Among the sites we were treated to in the area, we climbed up St. Pauls Point (named after the Cathedral in London due to the shape of the rock). This had incredible views over the bay with plenty of Oyster farms to look at. Laura learnt how to rock scramble in full flow with the opportunity to climb a steep part of the trek which had a chain link style railings. However, my 6 year old niece, India put us all to shame by doing the entire trek with no shoes on. Little legend. We also visited Rainbow falls which is a picturesque little gem in the area that is actually quite tall!.
Our last full day in Kerikeri we spent going to Mangonui where we had some tasty fush and chups (spelt in kiwi talk). Yum!! We then headed to Auckland for our last night in NZ before catching our flight to Sydney!
- comments
Liz Loved the luge. Who won? I couldn't get used to the flipping thing stopping abruptly if you took your hand off the handle! You must do Waitomo next time. I've got the t shirt
Laura Steve won! But had the upper hand to be fair as he had done it before. Black water rafting is a definite next time!