Deb and Dan's World Tour: November 2006

Kia Ora indeed dear friends, meaning "hello" in Maori but also "to your health" like "cheers". Where to start with New Zealand? There's so much to say about our time there. After Hawaii we were looking forward to NZ for something different. What was very different was the weather. We came from 85 degrees and clear blue skies to well, 55 - 60 degrees and wind and rain. It's fair to say, we weren't prepared for that! Throughout the trip, the weather played a big part, not least in preventing us from doing certain things but all things considered, we fitted an awful lot in and learnt to appreciate good weather again so it was somewhat like being back at home.

For those of you who have been to NZ, you will know how beautiful a country it is. For those of you who haven't, it's definitely worth a look. The contrasts in scenery are amazing. I'm not sure where else you could see such an awesome display of varied landscapes. All in all, we found the South island to be more picturesque but that doesn't mean to say the North doesn't have its fair share of beauty. With snow-capped mountains, sub-tropical rainforest, unspoiled coastline and gorgeous lakes, NZ is definitely hard to beat when it comes to natural beauty.

...and finally, if you were wondering just how long Dan's beard got, here you go

Queenstown was the next destination and didn't disappoint. We booked in at the Creeksyde Top Ten which was only a five minute walk from town. Whilst in Queenstown we went up on the Gondola (cable car), had a few goes on the Luge which is somewhat similar to Go-Karting, went on the Shotover Jet which is hilarious (the jet boat goes through canyons on the Shotover river and appears to barely miss the rocks, you then do 360 degree spins and generally get a bit wet, it's great fun) and most memorable, took a day trip to Milford Sound.

Milford Sound is stunning. You sail through the fiords and almost go out to sea. En route, you see hundreds of waterfalls and incredible rock formations. It's breathtaking. We were also lucky enough to see some penguins and dolphins although the latter were a bit more difficult to spot.

Whilst in Queenstown, we met the very lovely Aoife and Bryan from Ireland. We had some very late and very drunken nights with them, in fact I think that was probably the first time I've been drunk in five months (Dan might disagree). Good to meet you kids, see you at NY!

Shotover Jet, Queenstown

Milford Sound

How windy!!!!

Lady of the Sounds - the boat we took for the tour of Milford Sound

Just before the Homer Tunnel en route to Milford Sound

Fortunately, it was low risk when we were there!

En route to Milford Sound

Aoife, Bryan and Dan enjoying their vodka cocktails at Minus 5

Bryan, Aoife and Deb at Minus 5 - mukkas we met at Creeksyde Top Ten, Queenstown

Deb and Dan at Minus 5 (ice bar), Queenstown

Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown in all their glory

Dan on the chairlift that takes you up to the start of the Luge

Wait for it... "Driving Miss Daisy" aka Deb arriving sometime after Dan on the Luge ride

Deb and Dan try out the Luge, Queenstown

Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown and Deb

Dan on the Gondola in Queenstown

After Fox, we made our way to Lake Wanaka. This turned out to be one of our favourite places in NZ. The lake is gorgeous and even better in the sunshine, yes the sun shone. We took a stroll out, fed a Mother duck and her ducklings and watched dogs retrieve sticks that had been thrown by their owners. We wandered around the craft fair and soaked up the very relaxed atmosphere of this peaceful lakeside town. The Aspiring Campervan Park was our home for two nights and incidentally, was the best site we stayed at in NZ. At the holiday park there were free spa pools so Danny and I proceeded to take complete advantage of them to soothe our aching limbs after the Fox Glacier hike. For the first time, the bathroom floors were heated too and there was a huge kitchen/lounge area with a real fire. This place was heaven!

That's one thing about the Kiwis - straight talking

Getting ready for bed

Feeding ducks at Lake Wanaka

Lake Wanaka

The very beautiful Lake Wanaka

Yet another amazing bedroom view - Lake Wanaka

From our base on the West coast, Greymouth, we travelled to Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks before heading back down South to the Fox Glacier where (again, after waiting two days for the rain to clear) we embarked upon a half day hike. The hike was fairly hard going and it took one and a half hours just to reach the ice. We then spent about an hour on the glacier before heading back along the same route. Our guide took us up inclines, over streams, round and up cliff faces where we weren't allowed to stop as there had been rock fall recently, and finally onto the ice where he proceeded to chop steps into the ice for the group to use. He was very knowledgeable and explained how the glacier came to be and it was quite interesting to learn that in the face of so-called Global Warming, Fox Glacier is one of very few glaciers actually still growing.

Click the pic to enlarge if you don't believe us but yes, those are people!

Dan making his way through one of the crevices in the glacier

Scott of the Antarctic reincarnated and his first mate

Dan squeezing through a little ice cave and Deb not too far behind

One of the other tour groups already on the glacier

En route to the glacier

...and another

One of the signs greeting us as we embarked upon our hike to Fox Glacier

Deb at Pancake Rocks - got a shot like this from over ten years ago, hey Mich?

...and some more

Pancake Rocks, Punakaiki

A Kiwi at Punakaiki

Christchurch came and went without incident. Again, due to bad weather, we didn't venture out. With the weather due to improve on the Wednesday having arrived on the Monday, we decided that would be the day to head to the West coast and to cross Arthur's Pass. The scenery on this journey was amazing and fortunately, the weather held off all day. Arthur's Pass is a small town and also a National Park and is effectively the gateway to the West from the East.

Prior to this, en route to Christchurch, we happened upon a sign for Pegasus Bay Winery. As these wines had been recommended to us by our good friend Helen, we decided to take a slight detour to the winery and buy ourselves some vino. Good choice H!

Arthur's Pass

Post purchase. No wonder Dan's looking so pleased with himself.

Pegasus Bay Winery

Our tour of the South started at Picton. This is where the ferry docked. We found the nearest Top Ten and as we'd heard the weather was going to be good the next day, we booked in for two nights to take advantage. We made friends with the local cat, had a few cheeky ones in an Irish bar and then soaked up a bit of sun before heading to Kaikoura.

As you'll see, the backdrop to the Kaikoura holiday park was pretty impressive. We had every intention of going whale watching from here and as the weather was ok again, we thought it would be possible. Unfortunately, the weather out at sea was grim resulting in 1-2m swells and gale force winds. We stayed for two days in the hope things would be improve but alas it was not to be. We decided to leave and head for Christchurch. We did manage to see some seals en route however so that lifted our spirits.