Heaps of fun in New Zealand

On Thursday, January 21st we took an afternoon flight from Melbourne to Christchurch. With the 2 hour time difference, our arrival time was 11 pm, 18 hours ahead of Atlanta. We had a reservation with a car rental company for the following morning and the pick up was at the airport so another night in the airport terminal was in store. After several failed attempts to sleep on the floor, our New Zealand trip finally began. Leaving the airport we were greeted with NZ's finest weather, full on rain with cold winds. Fantastic.

A few days prior we had planned out a rough 14 day itinerary for the south island. The first part was heading into Marlborough wine country where we would explore vineyards, valleys and excellent beaches.

We spent the first day heading up the coast with a stop in Kaikoura to see the fur seals then on to Picton for the evening. Picton is known for is Queens Elizabeth hikes and also for its port which serves as the gateway to the north island. The next day we decided to skip the hiking there since the weather was less then ideal and push forward to Nelson, a town right outside of the famous Abel Tasman national park. Cruising through the mountains and lush valleys with vineyards on either side was a real treat. In this region there are over 150 vineyards. The climate provides a perfect environment for Savaugnon Blanc. We decided to post up on Nelson for the night and check out some of the local eateries and bars. In an attempt to save money, the whole eatery idea turned into Beth and I eating ramen for dinner and having some beers with the locals.

Enjoying a roadside stop with our vehicle "Twitch." The name came to mind as I was struggling in first gear when leaving the rental agency. The clutch was a little different than our vans from Australia.

A cool shot of hundreds of shoes along a roadside fence in Marlborough.

In the morning we set out for Abel Tasman, a huge national park on the north western coast that spans for miles along some of New Zealand's best beaches. Beth and I decided to take a boat tour of the entire park. On our return we ask the captain if we could hike back and he said it was an easy 3 hour, 12 kilometer walk through the rainforest. In! This was certainly one of the best decisions I had made in a while as this hike turned out to be our favorite experience in nz. The hike did infact take around 3 hours but the scenery was much more beautiful than we expected. Ferns about 20 feet in diameter and waterfalls every quartermile made me feel as if I was in a different world. One much like the planet from the blockbuster AVATAR, except without crazy dinaosaur wolves and sAgornie weaver. We finished the trail around 8 pm, grabbed dinner at a local pizza joint, the drove into a neighborhood, parked the car, and carcamped for the evening. Money was VERY tight so sleeping in the car would have to do every few nights or so.

Hiking the Abel Tasman park was outstanding. From lagoon, to beach, to rainforest and back to beach in a matter of minutes was truly amazing.

Capturing waterfalls is my new favorite thing to shoot.

The following day we made our way down to Hamner Springs, a quaint mountain town outside of Christchurch known for it's sulfur hot spring pools. This was our last stop in the north before heading west to glacier country.

1. I hate Swans. 2. My uncle Rudy said that if you can act bigger than any bird, even ostriches, they will submit. 3. I win.

On Tuesday we came back through Christchurch for lunch and then pushed forward to the west coast. Along the way were many excellent scenic stops for tourists. My favorite was Arthur's Pass, a narrrow pass through high peaks with super windy roads and small, one-lane bridges. We also checked out the pancake rocks and blowholes in Punakaiki. Thousands of years of compression of flattened rocks stacked on top of each other created these huge coastal crags. We went at high tide to catch a possible blow-holing. This only happens when the wind is strong during high tide. Well, I thought conditions were perfect but evidentliy they were not. The " blowhole" did nothing but disappoint. We left and caught the sunset on the coast (by the way, this was at 9:40 pm. what time is the sun setting in Atlanta?)

Scenic stop at Arthur's Pass.

A random stop on the way to Franz Josef. Not sure how the water could actually look like this.

The next stops on the list were the two glacier towns; Franz Josef, and Fox. There are more tour companies around these towns then you would ever imagine so choosing a tour became quite tedious. With little input from Beth I decided that we would do a skydivve tour of Fox glacier and then a half day glacier hike on Franz Josef. I figured the "go ahead and book it" technique would prevent Beth from backing out of skydiving. Truth be told, it worked and little nervous Beth found her self at 12000 feet wondering what she was doing and why she was still with me. In the end, the thrill overcame the anxiety and she loved the experience, as did I... of course.

I think Beth looks pretty excited in this picture don't you? You should see the one before it.

If you look closely you can see Beth cruising around in the background.

A perfect landing.

The following morning we made breakfast, grabbed some crampons (spike attachments for hiking boots) and joined a tour for Franz Josef Glacier. I must say, glaciers are way more impressive than I thought. Everyday the snow/ice/rock mass moves and changes, making the tours exciting for guides and tourists. We saw small ice caves and drank glacier water. Climbing was tricky at times but very manageable. Another great one.

On Franz Josef Glacier.

That's a lot of ice.

Making our way further south we headed into queenstown, the extreme sports capital of the world. If any of you out there know me well, you would understand why I was excited. On our way in (early Friday morning Jan 29th) we stopped outside of Qtown to do some sledging, which is basically white water rafting on a boogie board. We had a quick instructional session then jumped in the freezing water and began to sledge. Beth hated the first half of the trip and I loved every second of it. I coached her through it and somehow she managed to enjoy getting tossed around in rapids for the following 45 minutes. Afterwards we high tailed it to queenstown, but wait...not yet. Beth spotted Aj Hackett's bridge bungee jump, the first one of it's kind in the world. She said "E, let's just go and have a look." I knew this was in trouble. Within 20 minutes I found myself on a platform deciding if I wanted a dry jump or a dunk-in-the-river jump. Surprising I know, but I went with the dunk. Broke and starving we arrived in queenstown with a full day to explore.

Sledging down the Roaring Meg.

I always have trouble getting these things off.

Free as a bird.

Sorry mom, I had to.

Queenstown is nestled right in the mountains and sits right next to Wakatipu Lake. Everyone other store in town is either a cafe or an extreme tour outfit. Since we had already done most of the activites we wanted in the previous days, we used our time there to relax and listen to the live concert in the city center.

Enjoying an afternoon on the lake.

Giant Sequoias.

Our last major stop on the south island was Milford Sound. Even though it's not actually a true sound, Milford is one of the most beautiful in the world. Some argue that tours and overnight expeditions are not worth the hundreds of dollars that the tour companies charge, we drove up there to check it out nonetheless. The 2 hour drive through fjordland national park was spectacular on it's own, but nothing beat the 25 dollar, 1.5 hour boat cruise that we took in the sound. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the park and then spent the night in Te Anau, where we had already scoped out a restraurant to watch the australian open finals match on TV.

Milford Sound.

The rest of our time was spent making our way back up to Christchurch before heading to Sydney, the last stop on our fantastic voyage.