Monday 9 October
very chilled morning, poor Christian was back at work today so Bec gave us a guided tour of Christchurch, what a beautiful place.

More amazing food and sadly it was time for us to prepare for our flight tomorrow.

 

Sunday 8 October
Anne's birthday.  Thanks Mum for the birthday card and money - very impressed that you have changed the money into Kiwi dollars.

Visited a crafts market in the Arts Centre in Christchuch - Anne could have spent a fotune, but realised she would have to carry all the purchases around with her for another 10 weeks.

Had a fantastic lunch , followed by boating along the River Avon.  Chris managed to drench some poor women and her child - she was not impreesed but luckily for Chris she was too stunned to say anything to him.  Chris also won the batle of the nations rowing race - cheers Colin for the training!

Ended the day of with more beers and an amazing BBQ - see the pics!

 

Saturday 7 October
Headed of to Riccarton House, one of the oldest house in Christchuchs.  There was a local market on and we bought some beer which is produced in Dunedin - Anne really struggled to pronounce the name!!!! 

Headed for an ice cream and got entertained by some poor dad who really struggled to get all 3 of his kids in the car and keep them in there - very amusing - one of his kids managed to lock the dad out of the car - highly entertaining for us!! 

Went for a walk arond Godley Head and Taylors Mistake.  Saw some wicked batches - or for us Brits, beach houses.

Then it was time for fish and chips kiwi styleeeee - oh my god the portions were huge.

Another night on the beers accompanied by a fab meal cooked by our wonderful hosts.

 

Friday 6 October
Left Wanaka and headed to Christchurch, our last stop in NZ. Arrived at Becs and Christians house around 4:30pm - Bec was gardening, hope you are still watering your plants?!  Went to Sumner to a bar called Poseiden for a couple of beers - great place.  Then it was time for Pizza, what a fab place - if any of you are ever in NZ go to Winnie Bagoes - they even do Roast dinner pizzas!!

 

Thursday 5 Ocotber
Another drive today to Wanaka.  On the way there we stopped in at the world (!) famous Wanaka puzzle centre.  It was good with a big maze that had Anne and I cursing as we kept getting lost.  We eventually made it and left immediately!

Wanaka is a beautiful town, again right by a lake.

We had a lovely lazy afternoon just sitting down by the lake and reading in the sunshine.  We got fish and chips (bloody horrible - not like English ones) and drove around to see the sun set over the lake eating our food.

Home (or hostel) and bed - beauty.

 

Wednesday 4 October
A quick drive to Queenstown this morning which is a relatively large (in New Zealand terms) town.

There is so much to do in Queenstown in terms of trips and activities but we did not have much time.  We took the cable car to get a fabulous view over Queenstown, the Remarkables and Wakatipu Lake.  We did the luge again whilst we were there (Anne cannot get enough and now thinks she should be in Formula 1).

For the rest of the afternoon we wandered around Queenstown going to a few bars.  We went to Minus 5 which is a bar made completely of ice.  The bar, seats, walls and glasses are all made of ice.  We were given a big thick coat to keep us war and Anne got a bar of wooly shoes.  It was cool (parden the pun).  You can only stay in the bar for about 30 minutes as it gets very cold but it was long enough.

After that we went to the Tandoori Palace to warm up.

 

Tuesday 3 October
Up early to go to Milford Sound.  The drive there was fantastic - driving through mountain ranges, waterfalls cascading down the cliffs and beautiful scenery.

When we arrived at Milford Sound we booked onto a ferry ride which takes you around the Sound.  This again was fantastic - the water was perfectly still and the sun was shining.  Even though it is called Milford Sound it is not actaully a Sound but a Fford (Anne has been reading her books again!).

We did the trip early to avoind the tourists (!).  Back in Te Anau for the afternoon and had a lovely walk along the river front before food.

 

Monday 2 October
We left Franz Josef this morning.  Our original thought was that we would go to Queenstown for a few days and go to Milford Sound from there.  However, we were told to go to Te Anau instead which was between Queenstown and Milford Sound.

Most of the day was driving.  Got to Te Anau which was a beautiful little village right on the lake front.

 

Sunday 1 October
The weather was cloudy but our trip up the glacier was go!  We were doing a heli hike - a helicopter takes you on to the glacier itself and then you go for a 2 hour hike with a guide before the helicopter picks you up again.

The helicopter ride was cool and we landed about 5km up the galcier.  The sight was completley breathtaking.  Nothing but ice, mountains and cloud.  The ice was white, grey and blue - really beautiful.  We were given crampons to where with our boots and then set off with our guide.  We had to walk in single file so that we all walked in the same footsteps as the guide and avoided falling into any crevices or into ice cold watery pools.

The guide was very chatty and was telling us all about glaciers as we walked along in awe of where we were.  At times he had to carve foot holds out of the ice so that we could either walk up or down some of the ice rocks.  There were also caves that you could crawl through.  Anne did not do the first cave as it was very narrow but did do the second.  My brave Anne!

Towards the end of the hike, and after everyone had been used to walking in each others footsteps and avoiding any dangers, we came to a place where you had to step over what looked like a small stream in the glacier.

Yes, you guesed it - Anne stepped right into the middle of the stream.  Anne sank up to her knees and after a panic and a paddy was hauled out by one of the other hikers.  Chris was behind her helpless to do anything but did have a little chuckle to himself.  Only my Anne!

It was a great trip.

In the afternoon we sat in a little red bus (the only internet place in Franz Josef - and yes it really was a little red bus) surfing the net as it was peeing down.

 

Saturday 30 September
We were on our route to the Franz Josef glacier today when we passed a couple of hitchhikers.  It was a nice day and we were in a good mood so we stopped to give them a lift.  They were heading to the glacier as well so we all set off on our little journey.  Anne and I were comfortable in the front whilst our guests were squashed in the back along with some of our bags and all their rucksacks on their knees, but they seemed happy.  A French couple (dont know their names) and very chatty.

The hitchhikers said there was a magnificent lake on route - actually just a 15 km detour.  Being the nice kind people we are we decided to take them to the lake so we could see it also.  When we got there we were right by the ocean (which was lovely) but no lake.  There were a few streams but no lake.  The hitchhikers decided to stay the night there (10 houses and not a hostel in sight) whilst Anne and Chris headed for the bustling township of Franz Josef (20 houses and everything shut at 9pm).

Tomorrow we conquer the glacier. Oh, and Anne managed to find somewhere that did roast chicken.

 

Friday 29 September
We had to get up early today to drop the hire car off and get the ferry from the North Island to the South Island.  Anne had a hangover and was grumpy.  After getting lost (which did not help things) we eventually made it to the ferry terminal and got ready for the journey.

The crossing is actually a very relaxed affair - we made sure we got reclining chairs and made ourselves at home.  Apart from the odd excursion to the breakfast bar and the outside for a couple of photos as we left we did not move for most of the journey.  As we were nearing Picton in the South Island we went to the top deck as the weather was gorgeous.

We then picked up the hire car for the South Island and set off.  We drove all the way to Greymouth on the West coast.  Greymouth is the largest town on the West coast.  Three streets and everything shut on a Friday night - Rocking!!

Due to Anne's hangover she wanted "home cooking".  The few places that were open served either roast lamb or pumpkin soup.  We then found somewhere that served pumpkin soup and pumpkin pasta with pumpkin sauce but Anne decided this was a little too much pumpkin! We eventually found somewhere that satisfied her requirements, a Copthorne hotel!

 

Thursday 28 September
Chris decided to buy laptop today, as you do!  Before that we drove up to the top of Mount Victoria.  We were told that we would get some good views of Wellington and they were not wrong.  Excellent views that made Wellington look like a Spanish town in the hills!!

We then drove out to Poripua and after some deliberation bought the machine that will probably be used to update the rest of the web site while we are away.

After testing out the laptop we went to Courney Place, the main street where all the bars and restaurants are, and did a little "crawl" along the bars.  Tomorrow will be interesting.  This time subway was open - oh great!

 

Wednesday 27 September
We drove from Taupo to Wellington today which took up most of the day.

When we arrived in Wellington we booked into Base Backpackers and then had to move the car to the opposite street to park, at the top of a bloody long hill!!  We then moved room as the room that we were in had a hole in the roof and rain was leaking onto the bed.

Just a lazy night with pizza in the room.

 

Tuesday 26 September
Today was a short drive to Taupo and straight into Chris's sky dive!  Lake Taupo is the largest fresh water lake in Australasia and the size of Singapore.  Isn't everyone learning interesting little facts over the past couple of days.  Can you tell Anne has been reading the tourist leaflets.

We got to the hostel at 10.30, checked in and then were at the airport for 11am.  The sky dive was booked for 12,000 feet but Chris decided to go higher to 15,000 feet.  After getting "kitted up" everyone was bundled on to the plane (more like a little microlyte).  After a short delay we were off and up.  It was at this point that Chris realised that he had not been given any training or even advice as to what to do after he jumped out of the doors.  The only comfort was that he would be attached to someone who did know!

The jump, over lake Taupo, was absolutely unbelievable.  The feeling of freefall and then gliding is "awesome".  No more words to describe it.  Anne had smoked a pack of 20 by the time Chris landed - but she was on the landing field and even managed to get in the video!

We then went to the Huka Falls (more like a river with a few waves - not quite).  Next on to Orakei Korakocave and thermal park.  There is a 90 minute walk around the "park" which takes you up close to thermal pools, geysers and a geothermal cave (Ruatapu cave).  This geothermal cave is one of only a few across the globe.  An excellent walk.

We went to a few bars (one of them was Irish) and ended up playing the quiz with a couple of locals.  They took all our answers (all 4 of them) but did not share any of theiranswers with us!!  In a bit of a huff (and a little drunk) we left the pub before the answers and went to the 24 hour diner.  It was shut!!  At 10pm!!  Along with everything else!!!  It was OK though as Subway shut at 10.30 - butthe doors were already locked and an obnoxious teenager just stared at us from inside.  As you can imagine Anne went balistic!

Oh well, we picked up a pie from the garage and went back to the hostel.

 

Monday 25 September
We startedour day off with a spa in the Polynesian Spa.  There were 4 pools ranging from 38 - 42 degrees - Chris went in feeling relaxed and came out with a sweat on.  A nice way to start the day apart from the building site in the spa area.

We then drove out to the Gondola (a cable car that takes you up to the top of Mount Ngongotaha).  The views of Rotorua and Rotorua lake are spectacular.  A very relaxing place.  However, just around the corner is the start of the luge.  They have built luge tracks around the top of the "hill" that you can go down.  As part of our ticket we had 2 luge rides each.  After the trauma of trying to find Anne a helmet that fitted and then convincing her that it was safe (this was after all the little kids had pushed past us and raced down) we set off.  So much fun!!  Whizzing down at 45 miles per hour (or so it felt like) with the wind in our hair (or at least Anne's!).  There was a chair lift that then took you to the top to do it all over again.  Ooh I felt about 12 again!

In the evening we were booked into a traditional meal and Maori dance show.  We went out to the hotel where it was being held.  We had been told that there was a purpose built stage for the performers and led to believe that it was all very subtle.  We were led into the restaurant where there was a stage in front of 15 tables!  It was a good evening - extremely informative as they talked you through the traditional dances.  The meal was a traditional "hangi" where they cook the food under the ground.

 

Sunday 24 September
Today we headed straight down to Rotorua - but not before Vanessa had fed us with bacon and egg butties and packed us up with banana cake for the journey.  Looking forward to seeing Vanessa and Andy over Christmas, south of the Bombay Hills!!

We smelt Rotorua before we saw it!!  It is a lovely place but it constantly smells of sulphur (rotten eggs) due to the hot spas and mud pools.  We booked into a great little hotel (The Grande) which had recently been refurbished and was in the heart of Rotorua (it is not a big place!).

Norman - this is where we picked up your cap!!!!!

After planning our trips for the next day we went to the Pheasant Plucker and then an Irish bar - typical Brits - Great!

 

Saturday 23 September
Slept really well in a nice bed rather than on a matress in a hostel.

Today we went to the Waitomo caves which was a 2 hour drive south of Vanessa and Andy's.  These caves are natural caves formed under the hills around Waitomo.  You can anything from "scenic" walks in the caves to black water rafting (rafting in the dark).  We decided to do the "unadventureous" walk within the caves to see the glow worms.

To get into the particular walk we were doing you descended under the hillside via a large man-made circular ramp that just circled down and down and down into the darkness of the caves.  The lightling on the ramp was purposefully dim so that our eyes could start adjusting to the light of the caves. Anne said that it was too dark and she did not want to go any further - this was just as we had entered the ramp!!  A little prod in the back and Anne ventured further down the ramp and we were off.  The walk lasted about 90 minutes and went alog many different paths looking at the rock formations and stalagmites and stalgtites formed over thousands of years.  We also saw the glow worms - or rather I should say little green dots which were the arse end of the worm!!  An amazing experience.

That evening we spent another relaxed evening with Vanessa and Andy - they had their first BBQ of the season just because we were there!

Big, big thankyou to Vanessa and Andy for looking after us so well for 2 days and feeding us, particularly the excellent BBQ and banana cake.

 

Friday 22 September
Today we picked the car up.  Someone was supposed to pick us up from the hostel at 11.30am.  By midday they had still not arrived so we phoned them.  They said that they had phoned the hostel that morning and been told that we were not there.  The hostel said that they had not received any phone call from them.  Typical!

After eventually picking up the car we decided to go shopping!!!  Cannot get away from it.  After more pursuassion Anne was finally goaded into ringingVanessa.  There was no answer so Anne left a long rambling message along the lines that we were just leaving Auckland.  Not too useful as Vanessa lives just outside Auckland so thechances of meeting up with her were minimal now.  Oh well, at least we contacted her.

Half an hour later just as were stuck in traffic trying to leave Auckland we got a phonecall from Vanessa saying that she had just returned from work and picked up the message.  We were instructed to go straight to her and Andy's house which was actually on our way out of Auckland.  Eagerly we said yes.  Luckily we had hired a sat nav at the same time as hiring the car (Robin's influence is rubbing off on us) so we just set the address and off we headed.

We had a really good evening catching up with Vanessa and Andy.  They have got a fantastic house and made us feel really welcome with snacks, drink, pizza and a bed.  What more could we want.  They said that we could stay for the Saturday night as well if we wanted.  We decided we would with not much pursuassion!!!

 

Thursday 21 September
Today we thought we should do some sightseeing as we are not in Auckland for long.

We went up the Sky Tower which is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere.  The views were fantastic as you could walk round 360 degrees.  Did you know that Auckland has land mass twice the size of London?  After that we wentinto STA as we were having a lot of trouble trying to find out where we were supposed to be picking up our hire car.  The guy was really helpful and ultimately found out which company it was.  STA in England had not given us any information which was a pain.  Having sorted this out we then decided to try to track down Vanessa and Andy (we both used to work with Vanessa in Leeds).

Anne had nocontact details at all for Vanessa so she ended up emailing someonewho still works in LeedsMet.  She passed on Vanessa's contact details and Anne sent her an email.  This bounced back every time we sent it so Anne decided that we could not contact her. Chris suggested using the phone number but Anne was a bit scared to!!  "What if she does not want to see us?"  In the end we left it.

In the evening we went out for a meal to a lovely little Italian.