Thank you New Zealand!

Today we fly to Sydney. We are excited about the hot weather and new experiences, but are a little sad to leave New Zealand after all the fun we have had.

Highlights include:

A seal jumping up onto our kayak in Abel Tasman
Seeing dolphins in Milford Sound
Seeing the life of a Maori Village in Rotorua
Sandboarding at 90 mile beach
Waking up on the beaches while camping in Northland
Walking on a glacier
Watchin 'V for Vendetta' at 10.30 in the morning in Nelson
Tramping the Milford Track and Abel Tasman

We'd like to thank Shona and Laurie in Aukland for putting us up for the night, taking us on a great tour of the city and doing our washing!

The last few days have been very wildlife focussed - the search was on for yellow eyed penguins and the blue penguin - both spotted successfully. The sea lions however were a wily lot and dodged us successfully for our 48 hr hunting frenzy.

Christchurch has been a great place to come for the last few days. Akaroa was peaceful (if a little wet) and Christchurch has a great English atmosphere - we are staying on the corner of Gloucester and Worcester Roads.

Great things about New Zealand:

In a country the size of Great Britain, NZ only has 4 million people.
The ability to get lost for a few days with no sign of human habitation is great
You are able to camp anywhere within 50 metres of a river for free
Monteiths Radler beer
The only uptight people are the English tourists (not us!)
There is so much to do outdoors. No need to stay in infront of the TV of an evening


more to follow......

Fiordland

After a quick visit to Queenstown to do the Luge at the top of the Skyline, we headed to Fiordland to start the Milford Track said by many to be 'the most spectacular walk in the world'. We walked the 55km over 4 days - which doesn't sound like much, but we were walking with heavy packs for 6-8 hrs a day.

The scenery was spectacular and we passed through valleys, under waterfalls, over rivers and high mountain passes. On reaching Milford Sound we rewarded our acheivement by going on a cruise. Milford Sounds, Garry assures me are actually the Milford Fiords because they were made by a glacier and not a river. Guess someone got confused?! We saw another few seals and lots of amzing water falls, but then someone shouted "DOLPHINS!" and a pod of 8 dolphins swam with the boat for 10 minutes doing tricks and entertaining us all. WOW!

Our muscles are still hurting, but it was well worth the effort.

We are now on the Southern Scenic Route which goes through Dunedin to Christchurch - where we fly out of in a weeks time.

Thanks for all your messages, keep then coming!

Glacier Country

Today (Monday) we went on a glacier walk on the Fox Glacier. It had been sunny all morning and even while we were on the bus it was hot. As soon as we got off the bus however, the rain came down. It was an hrs walk up to the glacier and then we put on our crampons and started on our trek to Crevice No. 1. The views were amazing and it was great to walk on the glacier - only one of three in the world that meets the rainforest.


(Photo is of Lake Matheson looking towards Mount Cook:)

Before hitting Glacier country we stopped for a night in Arthurs Pass. A high pass in the middle of the South Island. It was really wet and cold. We only managed to leave our cosy cottage with log fire once to do an hours walk up to the devils punchbowl waterfall. We got back to the car dripping.

After the glacier hike we drove 5 hrs to Wanaka on the way to Fiordland. Starting to get tired now. We have had 6 weeks of one night here, two nights there, 1 night here ... sightseeing... exploring... walking... more sightseeing. We need a holiday!

Wanaka was a great place to chill out though. A chillled out day for us in New Zealand however is a 2 hr walk up a mountain and then 2 hrs walking around Puzzle World - this great place full
of weird illusions and puzzles. Next is the adventure capital of the world - Queenstown. Yeeehhaaaaa....

Riding the Mad Mile

Abel Tasman National Park is at the north of the South Island NZ. It contains lush subtropical forest, golden sand beaches, clear turqoise waters, spectacular granite coastline and sea caves. We booked a 5 day trip - the first day kayaking and then next four tramping.

The kayaking was awesome, even after a few arguments over steering! A seal jumped up onto our kayak at one point and we passed a little 'whity' penguin who was having a relax in the warm water. Pretty hard (wet) work, but such a great experience.

The tramping was diffucult and yet amazing at the same time too. We carried all our gear including tent, cooking utensils and food across mountain paths, rivers (sometimes wading across) to the next camp. The weather (after the first day) was amazing - hot enough still to swim in the sea and sometimes a little too hot.

After five days of seeing the most amazing scenery from land and sea we reluctantly made our way by water taxi back to civilisation. Aaahhh... a shower and a bed!