Goodbye New Zealand

Hi all,

After a whopping 103 days spent travelling in New Zealand, we have come to the end of this part of the trip. We have driven over 7200 kms around this lovely country, seen a great many beautiful sights and explored as many nooks and crannies as possible.

After leaving Arthur's Pass, we headed east to Christchurch to stay, once again, with the Cooke family who had kindly offered to put up with us again. Thursday night was spent enjoying a lovely traditional Kiwi Roast (complete with Kiwi Pavlova) at Erin's parents (thanks to them!) Instead of staying just the one night however, we stayed for 2, enabling us to take part in a party at their house. All in all we got to bed far too late, had slightly overcooked the booze department but had a cracking time. :)

Niall had lots of fun on the pinball machine with Jason and Sam. A small competition was had with Jason and I think it is important to post the results:

Niall 9: Jason 15

Many thanks to the Cooke family once again!

From Christchurch Laura drove straight to Picton for our 2pm ferry crossing - Niall did not enjoy the journey at all! Unfortunately for us, and especially Niall, the sea was a bit rough - not something that aided hangovers in the slightest. Despite that we made it to Wellington safe and sound and managed a good night of kipping to compensate. As we had already passed through we decided we would just stay the one night before cracking on to Napier on the east coast. It is a unique town in that, after an eartquake early last century, the whole town was rebuilt in an art deco style. T'was a lovely place and the weather was certainly a fair few degrees warmer than it had been on the South Island! We had a lovely stroll along the beach just taking in the sun and art deco sights.

From Napier we hopped back into the car for a trip to Rotorua, a popular tourist spot famous for its volcanic surrounds. For those die hard blog readers, you may remember our earlier trip to Orakei Korako. This time we went to a place known as Wai-o-Tapu - famous for the Champagne pool (not what we were hoping for - but very pretty nonetheless). A walk takes you past mud pools and boiling waterfall scenery for a very scenic 3 kilometers. We enjoyed ourselves very much but, now starting to tire from the long drives, were glad of the chance to soak our bones in the Hostel's own hot pool - bliss.

We had intended to go from Rotorua to the Coromandel but unfortunately the weather turned filthy so we opted instead to head straight to Auckland where Amy, who you may remember from our first few days of the trip, has put us up for the last few nights of our trip.

Fortunately however the trip does not end here. On Sunday we fly to Sydney where we will spend a week getting to know a bit about this famous city. In addition we shall be paying a flying visit to the Blue Mountains before once again hopping on a plance to the tropical Gold Coast where we shall spend 3 nights in Cairns and ten in Port Douglas. the weather should be a lovely 25C+ and the Coral sea (home to the Great Barrier reef) just as warm. :)

Until then,

Ruff, Niall & Laura

More Mountains and Glaciers!

Hi All,

We have been moving faster since leaving Wanaka and have been really enjoying the trip back to the North. The rain was pouring when we left Wanaka and it did not let up all day! Luckily we arrived at a lovely hostel in the Fox Glacier township, it had a huge TV room with over 200 DVDs available to rent. Amongst others we watcher Touching the Void - if anyone has seen it they will know it is not the best thing to watch when you are planning to go walking on glaciers! In true West Coast style (they get 5m of rain a year! - London gets 0.6m!) it poured all night and was still pouring in the morning so we stayed in bed watching rubbish UK TV (why would you buy and import 'Tenants from Hell?' A quick let up allowed us to go down and view the impressive glacier and some very impressive waterfalls. A pleasant afternoon was spent chatting with others in the hostel - including a guy who had cycled from Auckland! We spent the evening watching the All Blacks get beaten in the rugby! But, alas, it was South Africa that dealt the blow not England!

We awoke to glorious weather on Sunday and walked around Lake Matheson - famous for its views of Mount Cook (we are on the otherside of it!) and went back to the glacier as we could get closer thanks to receding rivers. We then drove 25km north to Franz Josef Glacier and booked ourselves on a full day hike for the next day.

Our glacier hike on Franz Josef glacier was truely remarkable and one of the best things we have done in New Zealand. Our guide, Bruce (from Bury St.Edmunds - for those that don't know that's 25mins from Soham!), led the way cutting steps with his axe as we climbed up the face of the glacier, giving us a good geography lesson along the way. Once at the top we began "free guiding" along less formed paths, squeezing (literally squeezing!) through crevasses and climbing over ice walls. It was all fantastic and great views were in abundance throughout the day. Ruff in particular enjoyed the day and didn't need crampons like the rest of us thanks to his four sturdy legs!

On Tuesday we set off across Arthurs Pass to get back to Christchurch. A beautifully scenic road, the highlight of which (so far) was stopping at a scenic lookout, only to be surrounded by 10 or more Keas! Keas are rare alpine parrots found only in New Zealand. They are one of the most intelligent birds in the world and their intelligence matches that of the most sophisticated monkeys! They were incredibly tame and great at posing for photos. Although we had to watch out as they tried to demolish our car!

We are currently staying in another lovely hostel in Arthurs Pass village after a day of beautiful walks and more Kea photography (they are awesome birds - they really really are!) and tomorrow will finish driving across the pass and arrive back in Christchurch before heading on Friday for Picton and the ferry back to the North Island! We have certainly enjoyed the South, but the warmth of the North and the trip to Australia are beckoning!

Bye for now

Love

Laura, Niall & Ruff

Queenstown & Wanaka

Hi all,

In the past week we have spent some quality time exploring the Queenstown-Wanaka region of New Zealand. Both are well known as year round resorts with plenty of adventure activites (bungy jumping, sky diving) and winter skiing on offer. It is quite evident that one could spend a fortune in these places, but we shunned this aspect of the towns and headed for the hills and the multitude of walks on offer - Ruff was especially pleased!

First up was the Queenstown Hill walk - a 3 hour round trek ascending 600 metres to a lovely vantage point with views over Lake Wakatipu (upon whose shores Queenstown resides), The Remarkables and other mountain ranges. The day prior to this had seen plenty of snow fall which made the climb a bit trickier but added significantly to the marvellous views.

The following day we set out on a more ambitious trek - a 1000 metre ascent of Ben Lomond saddle. The peak itself was off limits as, at 1700 metres, too much snow lay in our way. The day started out cloudy but cleared as we approached our destination giving magnificent alpine views in every single direction. As a reward for our efforts we allowed ourselves to dine out at one of Queenstown's many restaurants. A couple of beers, some wine, steak and lamb were devoured leaving us with a very satisfied feeling after a cracking day.

A little rest after the sharp ascent through deep snow!

From Queenstown we headed north to Wanaka. It is smaller than Queenstown and attracts a different crowd to Queenstown. Where the latter is besieged by English and Irish holidaymakers, Wanaka is home to a great many French who prefer the skiing and quieter atmosphere.

Once again we set our targets high and decided upon a trek up Mt Roy - a 1570 metre peak that would require 1100 metres+ of ascent (in just over 6 kilometers of distance). We hoped intently that the views would be worth it! In the end we need not have worried. Although the ascent was relentless the views were sublime. Not only did it feel great to reach the summit but we were witness to sun halos and iridescent clouds - quite the spectacle!

Laura and Ruff had to forge ahead to the summit as Niall had a sudden attack of nerves! But we were not going 1100m up to miss the last 10!

Asides from all the walking we have been to the cinema in Wanaka (big room with lots of comfy sofas making it a novel, but enjoyable experience). We watched Iron Man which isn't much to write home about but it did certainly allow for a good few chuckles. We also managed to watch the last few sets of the Federer v Nadal Wimbledon final - a cracker of a match that reminded us of the summer you must all be experiencing back home!

Bye for now,

Niall, Laura and Ruff

Fjordland

Hi Everyone,

The travel pace has slowed a little since the last place a we have stayed the last four nights at Te Anau - the gateway to Fjordland. We drove through yet more rain on the trip from oh so sunny Invercargill and arrived at our campsite to find that we had a cabin upgrade :-) which meant we had a TV, dining table and kitchen facilities all to ourselves! Not so luxuriously we had to go outside to the bathroom facilities - not pleasent in torrential downpours and gales!

We popped into the not too lively Te Anau town centre on Sunday afternoon and were soon suckered into paying for a coach/kayak trip on Milford Sound. So, we set our alarms on Monday morning to ensure we made the 7.45am minibus (painful when the sun doesnt rise till 8.15am and it is FREEZING!) It was nice not to drive the potentially icy, snowy road and to sit back and relax for once - especially as the Milford Road is reputed to be one of the most scenic in the world! Scenic it was! Particularly lovely were the aptly named Mirror Lakes which our drive made a photostop for.

As we arrived at the Sound any morning cloud there was, disappeared to reveal glorious blue skies - very luck for a place that gets 8m of rain a year! Changing into kayak gear was decidly chilly (Ruff wimped out at this point but did enjoying watching the Sound from the shore and chasing Keas), but once we were paddling we soon warmed up with the sun on our faces! The kayaking was glorious with stunning scenery and the odd seal to spot. Simply stunning. The day ended with the lovely return trip and plenty of photo stops with glorious waterfalls and towering peaks to be seen.

The next day we decided to head back out on the Milford Road as the road had been very driveable. We decided to tackle two walks - Key Summit (part of the Routeburn Great Walk) and Marian Lake. The first walk proved a tough one with a 400m ascent and snow and ice to contend with. We were, however, rewarded with marvellous views. The second wakl began with a stunning white water river. The walk was through difficult terrain but the forest was lovely - beautifully green with moss growing on all the trees. We didnt quite make it to the lake but he walk was lovely all the same and the weather was quickly clouding over. In view of the clouds we decided to head back to the Sound to see it in different weather. It was still beautiful but very different - moody and mysterious.

On Wednesday we awoke to torrential rain and thus abandoned our plan to walk part of the Keplar Track. In our 13th week we feel pretty chuffed to have only had to abandon our plan once - and tired from our previous days exertions we were happy enough to have a lazy day. On leaving today the weather was worsening and the Milford Road conditions becoming too difficult for our inexperience, once again our timing has been perfect. We hope there is no one doing our trip a few days behind us - they will be having a miserable time!

We have just arrived in Queenstown (a hugely popular ski/adventure resort) and it is certainly bustling and crowded - so a very different experience once again and we will update you shortly on the adventures we have had!

Laura, Niall & Ruff