Waiorau Homestead Wanaka

... the largest volume in NZ). It is all goldfield country and has an interesting history of wealth and gold discovery. The railtrack was used up until the early 60's but has now been made into a cycle route.

Next morning moved on to Wanaka where we decided to chill for a day. Dave decided to play golf at Wanaka Golf Club (83, 83). This cost him a hair do and a nice dinner in the ...

... trip on the Shotover River which entails zooming along in a Kiwi designed jet boat that can still shift in 10cm of water meaning it can take you right up against the sharp and nasty rocks with just millimeters to spare at high speed. Throw in some 360 degree spins and you’ve got a pretty good ride! We had good fun holding on tight and making embarrassing noises as Steve sneakily made some videos on the waterproof camera. Back on dry land we decided there was a ...

... disturbing when Tim locked the car into neutral for the entire decent (in order to conserve petrol). Luckily we made it down in one piece and all the way back to Wanaka without running dry.

Day two promised a great deal more when we broke through the clouds at the top of Treble Cone. Unfortunately there had been a few days of sun and the melt was setting in. Water could be heard running under the crusty layer of hard pack snow. The entire population of skiers and boarders ...

... the last of 40 spots with my name and my word. Only $15, it was held in the upstairs of the wine shop, a room that only wine-lovers get to see. The walls are covered with signatures and notes from worldly wine people and the atmosphere is relaxed, people friendly. I sat at a table with a couple who gives wine tours in France, a retired painter/musician, and a quiet couple (man in business suit, wife without smile) who seemed bored with life. The artist ...

From Mount Cook we drove onto the west coast via Wanaka leaving tons of snow behind and actually been able to see more than 10 feet ahead of us which was a pleasure. Eventually, we even got rid of the snow chains. If you've ever had to fit snow chains to your tyres - which are like a 3-dimensional puzzle - you'll know that the quickest way of doing this is to say you're British and one of the locals will take pity on you ...

Tomorrow is the day we return to North Island after this brief South Island Adventure. Before ending our stint here, we decided to experience a few more things that define New Zealand.

The first activity was jetboating in the Shotover River Canyon. This basically involved riding a boat that can reach speeds of up to 80kph (they don't use miles here…) in waters that can be as shallow as 10cm. We walked to the river from our campsite and after putting on a ...

... that was it. No concrete inside apart from the road. I am sure it looked just the same 100 years ago.


We stopped every other kilometre to take photos. We just cant stop. Sean is a real Japanese at heart. We stopped next to a bus full of Nippons and Sean went into the bushes to climb on rocks on the river to take "the money shot" and they were just following him! It was so funny. I even saw one ...

... the boys went off River Boarding and the girls went shopping for food. Once Sherri returned from her Skydive we cooked tea and then had a kip until the boys got back at 6.30pm, we then all got ready for a night out on the town. Tonight was a PJ party so the girls dressed up whilst the boys gave it a miss. 1st April 2009 After a very late night and rather a lot to drink we all lied in until the desire for food became too much. Laura and Sherri went to buy some lunch but ...

Today was a great day.

We did absolutely NOTHING of any interest whatsoever.

The weather was cloudy & rainy, so there was no point doing any 'tramps' (why does that make me think of American Psycho?), and instead we decided to have a day of catching up on all the things we haven't had a chance to do for a while because we've been travelling.

I spent about 6 hours uploading ...

... I'm looking forward to it. I finally feel settled here, New Zealand phone number, bank account, tax number, address and job. Even in this small amount of time I've realised anyone can do anything if you really want to (or have to) whether its starting a new life as a backpacker not knowing where you are going next or what you are going to do or committing yourself to another 3yrs of education by going to uni.