New Zealand. Wanaka

After leaving Franz Joseph on a misty day with the clouds clinging to the mountain we set off south to Wanaka. We definitly had the best day for our glacier walk. The guys going up today would maybe have their trip cancelled. 

We set off on a very long journey. Of course we stopped for several photo opportunities! The first of which was at Lake Manatuba which was supposed to have amazing mirror like reflections of the surrounding mountains. As the weather was so misty I skipped the walk and stayed in the cafe. Took some lovely photos of postcards to see what it would have looked like! 

After a stop at another waterfall we then stopped at a place where the boys could jump off a bridge into an amazing beautiful turquoise pool. The water was so clear for the whole of today so magical. I slipped on jumping off the bridge but went down to the shore. On the pebbly lake edge people had stacked up rocks to essentially make a big sculpture. I made my contribution :)

The rest of the drive down to Wanaka was unbelievable. The weather cleared and then we came past the lakes. Unbelievable!!!! It was the most incredible beautiful sight. Beautiful clear turquoise waters surrounded by mountains. 

We shortly after arrived in Wanaka. An amazingly beautiful town. The town was sat right on Lake Wanaka and we got there late afternoon. It would have been amazing to have another day here as I arrived so exhausted I just wanted to go to bed! But got out for a walk to the lake and then had a very needed early night! Unfortunately the sun set behind a big mountain so the sun set was as spectacular as I had hoped it may be. In the morning the morning sun was lovely. And found a timeline in the paving stones along the lake side. So cool. 

New Zealand. Invercargil.

Today was a long day trip through the Catlins area from one Scottish town to another. Invercargil is another Scottish origin town, and seriously is the arse hole of NZ, both in location and in reality. But the journey there was fantastic. 

We set off early out of Dunedin and started on our many stops along the way.  First up was a beach, not very exciting, it was just a breakfast stop. But I walked along the beach and there was so much massive seaweed it was amazing. Huge swaths of kelp which had been pulled up from the sea. There were huge muscle attached to a lot of the roots too. But best off all, after waking the beach I found paua shells! So happy! I found some small pinkish ones, not sure what breed they are and then I found part of a paua and then yay I found a whole paua shell! The outer shell is really beautiful too, not all calcified like the ones in the shops. Those are from fisheries so maybe they add stuff to the water for the pauas. 

Next up was a nice lighthouse stop which also had a colony of fur seals laying beneath it. It was a but of a grey start but it was still cool to see the views. 

Then we were told we were going to have a walk along a beach. But when we got to the beach there was actually a pack of New Zealand sea lions! They were pretty scary as they are so aggressive but so cool to see them up close. Maybe a little too close!

We then made a quick stop off for another walk around a lake, very glass like a pretty also got to hear a but of info about some of the wildlife from our driver. 

Next up was another waterfall. This one we got to climb up to and it was very impressive. 

Then it started to rain! I did get out for more than a couple of minutes at the next stop which was a lookout at a couple if beaches, but we then drove down to one of the beaches which is home to a flock of yellow eyed penguins. There was one there!! Just one but was not scared and just hanging out for the tourists! 

These are the rarest penguins and just 18 live around this area. The beach they are on is a fossilised forest and you can see the old tree stumps and trunks. 

There was so much seaweed here too. It was cool to watch it move about up a narrow channel which the waves sloshed up. This was our last stop before heading to Invercargil. Such a weird place. I have no idea why anyone would come here. The rest of NZ has felt about 20 years begging the uk, but here feels about 40! Everything feels so dated and bizarre. 

New Zealand. Dunedin.

Today I left all the people I had been travelling with to start my voyage into the Deep South on a massive hangover! We joined a small bus which was nice and a bit more friendly than the big busses. We travelled east out of Queenstown and stopped off at our first stop of Clyde. This was a cute little village which was established during the gold rush so looked like something out of the Wild West in America. 

After an important coffee stop we set off for Dunedin. Dunedin means Edinburgh in Gaelic and apparently has a very Scottish influence. Not seen it. We made a stop at the world steepest road to climb it. Not the most amazing sight I've seen in NZ! 

There was a nice seat at the top though. 

We then got to our hostel and I headed out to explore. Didn't really find anything very interesting. Looks like a nice town though with lots of nice bars and cafés. It has a huge student population so caters well to that. I then went on a brewery tour I'd signed up to. It was of the Speights brewery which is apparently the most famous in NZ. We went around the brewery and the guide was really interesting, but we didn't see any beer being brewed!! Which was disappointing. But at the end we got half an hour with a free bar! We got to try lots of their beers and that was great.  

I learned that it was the Egyptians who first created beer from stale bread and water. They described the effects in these hieroglyphics. So accurate!

 

New Zealand. Queenstown day 1.

Today was a super boring bus day. Queenstown is only an hour drive away from Wanaka but we had to do it the kiwi ex way and take ages! We only stopped at one place so people could pay for their bungy jumps and also so one at this place. The place we stopped was the first ever bungy site. We watched a video about it's history and then had to hang around for ages watching people jump. It was cool for a couple of jumpers, but that was it. Still not sold on the idea of doing it! My knee is really painful so maybe not a great idea to do it. 

When we finally left we drove into Queenstown. It was another beautiful alpine town on a lake. 

We took a walk around the botanical gardens and it was of course beautiful! 

In the evening drinking was allowed in the beach, which was great as this is the first no alcohol ban place we had been. It was going to be a big night and it was, but it was great to watch the sunset with a bottle of wine before falling of a table whist dancing later...

New Zealand. Franz Joseph

Today we had an epically long drive to Franz Joseph. We set off at the crack of dawn as usual and got to our hostel, which was beautiful, really late on in the afternoon. We did the normal kiwi ex stops along the way for walks if course. We stopped at a couple of places to see a fur seal colony and then to visit a place called pancake rocks. The seal colony was nice. Only saw about 5 seals but was pretty cool to see them playing in a rock pool and also watching one trying to  get out of the really rough sea only the rocks. 

Our next stop at pancake rocks was of course very picturesque.

We travelled along a costal road and it was so beautiful. Very similar to The Great Ocean Road I travelled in Australia with the great views and rock formations dotted along the coastline. 

When we arrived in Franz Joseph the scenery was stunning. It looked like a ski town with its chalets and mountains surrounding and snow on the peaks and the famous glacier. As we arrived late there was not much to do other than book in our trips for the following day and visit the really nice bar. 

The second day in Franz Joseph was when the fun started! I was booked into a trip called the ice explorer. We had to get to the office at 8:30 to get kitted up for the trip. After filling out a medical waiver in which I stated that I had twisted my ankle and knee a few days ago in Kaiteriteri I had a very hot guy strap up my ankle. I was very glad that I had shaved my legs for that as he was sat on the floor with my foot on his thigh. They called him Donkey. Shame I never got to find out why... ;)

After getting kitted out with waterproofs and boots and a fetching bumbag we made our way to the helipad! As the glacier is retreating so much, the only way to get on it was via helicopter. 

I was so lucky to be sat in the front for the ride up. It was really short but still amazing. The views were of course awesome. 

We landed on the glacier and got out crampons on and set off. It was pretty tame as the guide was creating stairs for us in the ice the whole way! It was definitly smaller than the glacier in Canada but still impressive. We walked though big ice ravine and tunnels and it was spectacular. The photos just don't do it justice!

At the end we got another helicopter ride back down! Such a treat and definitly made the day! 

In the afternoon we could use our glacier pass to visit some glacier hot pools. The pools were outdoors in a rainforest and were water from the glacier heated up and it was amazing. So relaxing and the ideal end to to a fantastic day. The town is just so beautiful and has the most amazing scenery with huge mountains towering over the small alpine town. The bar in our hostel was great so it was good to see the girls I'd left in other laces again and might not see again on my trip. I would definitly come back to visit here again! 

New Zealand. Westport.

We left Kaiteriteri at a very reasonable hour of 10:30 and set off on the marathon drive to Westport. We only made one stop which was feather unusual for this bus! But we stopped at a beautiful glacial lake for lunch. It looked just like Lake Louise in Canada with the blue water and mountains all around. 

After lunch we drove for ages through more beautiful scenery and as I chose to go power jet boating we got dropped off for this. This was amazing fun! It was a 13 seater jet boat which flew us up and down the Buller river. I've got no photos as it was so wet, but I had the best seat on the front row and it was fantastic. We all got kitted up on waterproofs and prepared to get wet! The driver threw us around and went through tiny gaps in between rocks and went over really shallow rocky water which bumped us all over. We did spins and turns and reversing and it was fantastic! 

The hostel we stayed in was really cool. It was a big hippy place with hammocks and murals on all the wall. The free wifi definitely helped with the good vibe! There was an option to go to the beach for a bonfire, but after getting back from the boat and going to the supermarket we didn't have time to eat and go so I decided to stay back. It was so nice to have some time alone, except for Heidi who stayed back as well. We ate and drank wine and interneted and  chilled out. It was so good to be away from people for a few hours! As our hostel room had it's own kitchen and living room it was great. 

New Zealand. Kaiteriteri.

UAfter our late arrival last night in the dark it was an amazing discovery to see how beautiful my new surroundings were. A man in the bar last night said here was paridise and I believe him! With the beautiful clear sea and yellow shelly sand being bordered by mountains in the distance and the Abel Tasman national park to the sides, it really is a kind of paradise. 

After a short walk on the beach I got my sky dive booked! I got collected and off I went! I chose to do the highest jump, why not as I'm probably only going to do this once, so went from 16500ft! After being introduced to my tandem pilot and my cameraman and a cheesy interview on the ground we took off! It was such a small plane and there were three of us jumping with out thre guides and three cameramen. The plane was full with just that. I got in first as I was jumping last because the others were going from a lower hight. My tandem pilot Kevin was really nice and very reassuring. I wasn't worried at all at this point and it was really nice to chat. He was showing me all the landmarks in view. The scenery was amazing. Such a great place for a jump. And we saw Mount Doom! The views were spectacular and so far reaching. So when we reached a certain height I had to wear and oxygen mask, which was a bit unnerving! At 12000ft the other two jumped out. Watching then go made it very very real! It looked so scary and so fast to see then go. After done more climbing it was my turn to go. We had to make our way to the door and sit on the edge and put my feet under the plane. After three sways back we were off!!!! It was unbelievable! Such a shock to be falling and I couldn't make a sound as I was finding it hard enough to get enough air in to breathe. The views were amazing and was really weird to have be filmed. It was over so quickly as the parachute opened. All I could do was giggle hysterically. Kevin was really nice and was chatting to me on the way down.  We did lots of spins which was really fun. Then we landed! It was over so quickly! They say that it seems really quick due to sensory overload, but in bit convinced we really get 75 seconds of free fall. I'll have to time the video! I got to watch my video and I look horrendous with my big chubby face flapping everywhere and my stupid voice! But hopefully the photos will have some good ones. Luckily my credit card worked so all good!

After I got home from the skydive I spent the rest of the day on the beach. It was so beautiful but also a bit chilly with the wind. Still can get my white ass to tan! 

Later on a went for a walk around kaiteriteri. Without goin off road there wasn't anywhere I could see to go. I walked along the beach and saw a huge sting ray swimming right up close to the shore.  It was amazing! 

At the end of the beach I waked up to the next bay but left after seeing a very old man in a thong! I then went up to the point and had some great views over both bays. They also had one of the same road signs with the distance to various places as in Cape Reinga. 

After sitting looking over the bay for ages I made it a day. Such a beautiful location with so much to do.