Queenstown at Last!

Finally we made it to snowy Queenstown...except there was no snow and it wasn't even that cold! Apparently it was unusually mild for this time of year and so the five layers of clothing I was wearing seemed unnecessary...I didn't remove any though, out of principle! Queenstown is relatively small but is full of backpackers. It's one of the most expensive places to live in New Zealand and you could see why, the fantastic views of Lake Wakatipu (3rd largest lake in New Zealand) and "The Remarkables" mountain range that runs true south-north would be a nice view from your front door.
On Saturday our Milford trip was cancelled due to an avalanche fall so instead (since we had a backpack filled with snacking goodies) we decided to attack the steep walk up to the gondola Skyline lookout over Queenstown. The gondola ride up there was $25 so that was no option for us and besides walking up through a pine forest is more adventurous...or so we told ourselves. It was a long walk up, muddy in places and steep with the path winding back and forwards along the way. At one point we saw a little cave to crawl into and make a fun photo but on close inspection it looked bottomless and creepy so we stayed clear! I also found a nice "seeing" chair to sit in, take a rest and think for a bit! Eventually we made it up to the top and it was a pretty cool view, plus a free chairlift so the hard work was worth it!

On the way back down we decided to take a different route: down through the green pine forest and along a waterfall (that had once been used in an old waterworks system). It was all really pretty, but then somewhere along the track we got a bit lost (those damn orange direction arrows were too few and far in between) so we had to back track and that meant some clambering up over rocks and roots.

Eventually we found our way back on the right path, then something creepy happened. walking along the right path, I saw a figure up ahead, twice. But then I looked up again and there was nothing! Jen suddenly spoke from behind that she had seen a figure up ahead that had vanished, when I replied I'd seen it too we got a bit freaked out! But that would be nothing to how freaked out we got when back at the hostel I looked at my photos and in two of the photos I'd taken earlier that day, there was a strange black form lingering in the middle. It may have just been the light but we were so creeped out, especially as the swing chair outside our dorm started swinging by itself in the wind...I got goosebumps all over and we haven't even stayed in the haunted prison hostel in Napier yet!

Lake Wanaka!

The 4th largest New Zealand lake awaited after Franz Josef. On the way to Lake Wanaka we had stopped at Fox glacier and Lake Matherson (the mirror lake) for a reflection of Mount Cook (it was in some cloud that day so thank god for postcards). We had then travelled alongside the Mount Aspiring National Park and through Haast Pass seeing the last of the rainforest for a while as on the other side of the Southern Alps the landscape would dramatically change from lush green mountains to dry barren mountains! But the mountains were all caked in snow and very pretty!

We arrived in Wanaka to nice weather. While there we decided to walk out of town and climb Mount Iron (hard-going) then after we got back down we went straight to Puzzling world where we walked more than 3km around a 1.5km maze (my feet were dragging) before going into a crazy slanted room that made me so dizzy I nearly crashed against one of the walls. There were some crazy prospective rooms too and a room of faces that all followed you - creepy. So with all of that, the walk back as well as the little puzzles they gave you in the cafe to work out, I was so ready to drop -I had walked too much and my head hurt from trying to figure out one of puzzles I couldn't do!

Ice Walking on Franz Josef Glacier.

Back on the activity trail, this time it was to do some glacier walking! The sky was bright blue and the ice was sparkling white under the sunshine. Kitted out in waterproof jacket and trousers, boots, spikes, sunglasses and mittens - we were ready to get up on the ice! Up over rock, over melted streams running down the glacier, over slush and digging our spikes in over the ice on the make-shift dug out steps up the glacier we went for several hours. It was fun slipping and sliding through the crevices and seeing the strange blue ice in the deeper cracks and crevices. We felt like proper explorers...commercially guided explorers, but explorers never-the-less! Franz Josef was the site of another Lord of the Rings filming location from the third film; "the lighting of the beacons" and so sat on the ice, in the sun appreciating that and the view with a nice cheese sandwich and a Mandarin! Later when I was back down the glacier and tucking into hot free soup (again) I wished I'd worn a hat more, my hair parting was burnt to a crisp!

West Coast and Greymouth

On to the West Coast next; stopping to see a seal colony where we saw our first glimpses of Mount Cook in the distance (New Zealand's highest peak) and on through Paparoa National Park to see the pancake rocks (layered like pancakes) at Punakaki before stopping off the beaten track in a town called Greymouth. It's the west coast's largest town with 10,000 people! Maidenhead in the UK has about 60,000 people. There are 4 million people living in New Zealand with 3 million of them living in Auckland city on the North Island so it's only a tiny proportion that live on the south Island...very quiet then.

But Greymouth was a sweet place, and the hostel we stayed at was even better than Nelson: made-up beds, sea themed rooms, hot water bottles, bubble baths and FREE iced buns from the local bakery at the end of the day! Fantastic! Free stuff from hostels has definitely become a detrimental part to how we decide which to stay in! In Greymouth there were more pretty coastal walks to do alongside huge crashing waves (that made a rumbling sound which I mistook for an Earthquake but I didn't panic...much). Plus the hostel manager, Steve, showed us a scary cave (Cobden Cave) to explore but me and Jen had seen the film, "Descent" way too many times and so didn't take us long to get scared of the dark and came running back up again - especially as all I had with me was my wind-up torch when I should have had a huge, blindingly bright, industrial-type torch...and flares! We consoled ourselves after that with an "all-you-could-eat" BBQ for $5 (2GBP) which I did terribly at as I filled up on pasta...damn filling pasta!

Nelson and Abel Tasman National Park

Nelson was the next stop, and the best hostel for free stuff so far...free veggie soup and free breakfast (which we made the most of by taking extra bread for our lunch as well....mmwwhahaha!) It was a really cosy hostel with Sky movies and a cat that claimed one whole sofa in the TV room each night...but he was so cute! You had to let him!

It was from Nelson that we did a day trip into the Abel Tasman National Park for a trek. You know how you sometimes go for a walk but to get to the place you want to walk you drive, well for some reason to get to the walking track in Abel Tasman from Nelson we had to get a coach, to get a tractor, to get a speedboat, to get the water taxi ( a bigger boat) to get to the bay at which we started our walk! Bloody crazy! But it was another really sunny day and the walk was through a really nice rainforest (with not too many steep parts which made a change!) alongside the Malborough Sounds so all was good!

On our last day in Nelson (as we'd already gone to see the Jeweller in Nelson that made "The One Ring") we headed out on the STEEP walk up to the Centre of New Zealand Monument which provided a great view of Nelson and Abel Tasman NP. I stood on top of a pillar on the hill there and shouted out that I was in the middle of New Zealand like a crazy fool! Then it was time to leave....quickly.

Friday the 13th: Goodbye North, Hello South!

Well, it was goodbye to the cloudy North Island and on to a 4 hour ferry crossing to the clear skies of the South Island. A longer journey than I had expected as the Islands are so close, but due to the Windy Cook Strait in between, we had to go all the way out to come back in again! But we did float through the picturesque regions of the Queen Charlotte Sound and Malborough Sounds where the water was so calm and blue and the lush green islands were all dotted around all over the place...it was very pretty!

Then we arrived in pretty Picton! The hostel was a sweet, little, bohemian place with free apple crumble and ice cream. This meant I wanted to stay longer but as there wasn't much to do, it was time to move on again especially after a crazy siren woke me up at 7am (apparently used to call volunteers to the fire station, but I mistook it for an old world war two siren ringing out...crazy!)

Wellington: Te Papa, Parliament and Harry Potter!

Our last day in Taupo was spent at the Winter Solstice festival complete with music by a homegrown New Zealand band, "Spacifix"...they were pretty good but it was odd as girls were screaming at them at the front and we had no idea who they were. Odd.

Then it was on to Wellington - Capital City! On the way we had stopped for a perfect view of the three volcanoes of Tongariro National Park including Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings. The Kiwi's even call it Mount Doom as it's real name, "Ngauruhoe" is really hard to pronounce!
Then we were in Wellington. It was a nice day that day but in the days that followed, so did the rain. But it was ok as there was the big national museum, "Te Papa" (Maori for "Our Place") to keep me occupied as it took three days to get around - my head kept getting full of information and all fuzzy! We also went to see New Zealand's Parliament which is two buildings, one of which is called "The Beehive" - because it looks like one. It was a free tour (free is good) of which I came out afterwards clutching my parliamentary mints called "Argumints". You could also get "Parliamints" and "Governmints"...Politicians' humour seems to know no bounds!
There were also Cathedrals to see (old and new), art galleries and so on...so I was pretty "cultured" out by the end...plus we went to see the new Harry Potter film!

Wellington was really nice and the free evening meals our hostel provided, made it even nicer!

Skydiving over Lake Taupo!

We were in Taupo, chilling by New Zealand's largest lake and waiting. Waiting for the weather to get better since there was just one reason we were in Taupo: to skydive!!!!

It was always something I had wanted to do and to do it in New Zealand, but the days went on and the weather got worse and it kept getting cancelled! But on Thursday 05-07-2007 we did it! After jumping out of a plane at 12,ooo feet up in the sky; I have now taken off in a plane more times than I have landed in one....for the rest of my life!

I was nervous! But then as we got in the plane and I was sitting by the door, I suddenly became aware that that mean't I'd be the first out and so I sort of went, "well, ok then" in my head and from that moment I was totally in denile of what was coming next. The door opened high in the sky and my feet were hanging over the edge outside the plane (which did not seem right!) I heard Roy, who I was doing the tandem with, count to three behind me and suddenly we were out in the air and I was shouting "oh my god!".

It was so crazy as it feels so strange to be so high up and free in the air like that with nothing to hold you....just floating there but also falling! The 45 seconds freefall felt like forever. Then my DVD camara man (yes I got the DVD package and free T-shirt - woo hoo!) floated away down below me out of sight and I was wrenched up by the parachute! Oh what a lovely sight that parachute was! We then gently floated around in the air taking in the views of the lake and surrounding areas. It was great up there...these skydiving guys have the best job in the world! All too soon we were heading towards the ground and I actually suprised myself by landing gracefully on two feet...the same can not be said for Jen who kind of skided...hilarious on the DVD! Then me, Jen and the two girls from our dorm who also jumped; fell about laughing as we watched the DVD back...our faces coming out of that plane were hilarious! It really was the best thing I've done so far! Bloomin' fantastic!