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Archive for June, 2008

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The West Coast to Picton

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

All dressed up for England vs the Allblacks

Chloe Writes: After all the skiing furor in Queenstown, we had a huge reality check when reviewed our finances and decided to cut back the spending in the south island in order to save some money for the north, where we will be spending a week or so with Steve, Zoe & India. So since the last blog we haven’t done an awful lot but wanted to rap-up the south island blog.

So what have we done? Some walking in Wanaka & Fox. A visit to the glaciers, Fox & Franz Joseph. The original plan was to go on a guided ice walk but we decided to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia and do one there (unfortunately we cannot afford to do both). Interesting fact about the Fox glacier though, in 1935 a man went missing, believed to have faltered in the glacier, and who is now expected to surface at the bottom any moment now, encased in ice. Another visit to Christchurch and another rugby match. After getting all dressed up for this one with our home-made shirts and face paint, England suffered an embarrassing loss and we all went home deflated and slightly drunk..

We are now on the ferry in Picton on our way to the north island, first stop wellington.


Jade (NZ’s most famous export) factory

Pete Writes:As Chloe wrote we have not been up to too many exciting things, although it has been good to get out and about on some walks around the New Zealand countryside, realizing that the winter here is a lot sunnier than back home!

We arranged to meet Tim and Jo (who we met in Milford Sounds) at Christchurch as they had tickets for the rugby as well. During the day we decided to play a few rounds of crazy golf, with one course involving the wearing of 3D glasses and tripping up over various obstacles! After the round of golf we headed back to the van to get kitted out for the big event! 2 tubs of face paint plus various red and white paraphernalia later, we definitely looked the part. It was a shame about the result but we all had an interesting/forgetful night, so much so I ended up losing my bag but gaining a pair of rugby boots?!?

So that is the South Island ticked off, and it’s on to the North to see Steve and family and plenty more adventures :o)


Page Gallery

Web
Web

Reflection
Reflection on the lake

Mist
Mist

Goldrobber
The Bearded Gold Robber

Fox from a distance
Fox Glacier

Fox up close
Also Fox Glacier

Franz Joseph
Franz Joesph Glacier

Jo at crazy golf
Jo Playing outdoor crazy golf

Indoor 3d course
3D indoor mini golf

Me and the mrs
Us before the game feeling slightly (but not overly)optimistic

The Haka
The All Blacks performing the Haka to the England team

Seals
There are hundreds of seals lazing around the coast in the North of the South Island

View from the ferry
View from the ferry over to the North Island

Posted in New Zealand | 1 Comment »

Oamaru to Queenstown

Friday, June 13th, 2008

Us on the ski lift

Pete Writes: We headed south from Christchurch along the south east coast to Dunedin (which we thought was pronounced Dune-Din, but quickly learnt it was dun-Eden). Dunedin is known as little Edinburgh, with all the street names having a Scottish theme and the only Castle in New Zealand you can see how it gets the name. We spent an afternoon wandering the castle and grounds which were immaculate, but being built in 1871 I suppose it has not had the same past as a lot of our castles! The previous day we decided to don on our anoraks and board the Taieri Gorge railway for the day, the line was saved by a group of enthusiasts in 1995 after being closed for more than 5 years. They spent the next few years restoring the 30km of line and now it is open for the public to enjoy the numerous tunnels and viaducts as the line cuts into the mountains of Central Otago.

Taieri Gorge railway

Next we headed towards Milford Sound (rated #1 attraction in NZ) a beautiful conservation area, with the most breathtaking scenery, as the road on route winds along the river with snow capped mountains on either side. When we arrived at Milford we went out on a boat to experience the sheer scale of the place. The boat also took us under a couple of waterfalls for a quick shower, amazing, shame I did not think about my non waterproof shoes and trousers! I spent the next hour trying to dry off!

So onto Queenstown for some Ski action :) I had been looking forward to this part of the trip for some time and I have to say I was not disappointed. Although a lot of the runs were closed we both managed to get 3 days of good skiing in and also met some really cool people (that came to Chloe’s rescue as she fell for the umpteenth time!) We even managed to play a round of the craziest golf I have ever played, every hole had moving pieces from a very impressive ski lift to a thunderbird style rocket that took off… CRAZY!

Street sign

Chloe Writes: Before we landed in Dunedin, the Oamaru region was a must see, as it is home to some of NZ’s biggest mainland blue penguin colonies. At around 5pm you can witness a handful of the 400 plus penguins come in from a days fishing in the southern ocean. The little penguins leave at around 5am and come back to their little homes (often with their partners waiting for them and calling them from the rocks or outside their nests), having covered around 70k. The next morning at 7am we went to another beach around the corner to watch the rare yellow-eyed penguins make the short journey into the sea to start their day of fishing.

While in Dunedin, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to walk (or should I say climb) up to Baldwin Street, reputed to be the world’s steepest. And pay a visit to the Royal Albatross center, to learn about these huge birds with an average wing span 3.3 meters. Unfortunately they were all out fishing but we did manage to get a rare glimpse of a mother coming into land to feed her giant chick. From Dunedin we moved on to Te Anau to see some glow worms in their cave environment. One of the shortest experiences of our trip so far but unique and interesting none-the -less, they reminded me of the glow in the dark stars and planets you put on your bedroom ceiling as a kid.

Marbles on the beach

The Milford Sound scenery was spectacular, although I didn’t quite fancy standing directly under the waterfall as it was freezing cold out and I was wearing Jeans. Although a boasted experience of a lifetime, I was happy to sit this one out. We did meet an English couple on the boat and spent a night in the pub watching the Rugby (Ireland vs NZ) and playing Ludo, Yup another one of our other games. Queenstown is a really nice place to spend a few days, meet people, ski and enjoy an infamous Ferg burger or two! Skiing was cool although a bit too icy (being the very start of the season), and I spent the first day and a half on my backside only to be rescued by a London couple who helped me find my feet after a nasty fall and gave me a few lessons, although my 4th time skiing, I’m not a natural and was missing a few basic techniques. I finished the skiing on a high (although extremely sore) and will probably invest in some more lessons on my next ski trip. We also got the opportunity to see just how many people you can fit in a camper and a night in on the beer with 5 other people worked quite nicely.

Page Gallery

birds on jetty
Birds on Jetty…lots of them

penguins crossing
Some of the Penguins have to cross to road to get home at night… cute!

signs
For those who like geography.. some interesting facts!

view from top of street
View from the top of Baldwin St

Kea
Kea, native bird of NZ

the road to milford
The road to Milford

Waterfall up shot
Waterfall

Boat and waterfall
Watetfall & a boat

Pete after waterfall
Pete after standing under a waterfall

Mirror lake
Mirror lake

On the slopes
On the slopes

mini golf
Mini Golf

7 in the van!
7 in the van!

Posted in New Zealand | No Comments »

Christchurch and Surrounds

Thursday, June 5th, 2008
Us at the Game Chloe Writes: We arrived off the plane into Christchurch at about 11pm. The temperature was noticeable cooler than Melbourne but we were ready for it so it wasn’t ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in New Zealand | 5 Comments »