Dunollie Ranch Hotel Greymouth

... they are really quite nice now I've got the hang of them - Book in a shared dorm - usually 3-4 people sharing - and it works out really cheap, plus you have access to a kitchen to cook your own food and a dining area and a lounge.. Plus they all have internet access.<br>Up early next morning for my eight o'clock crossing on the Bluebridge ferry, a journey of three and a half hours to Picton on South island.<br>I landed in Picton, looked at the ...

... decided to sleep without my 5 layers and 3 pairs of socks. Big mistake, as the heater decided to die during the middle of the night and I awoke freezing all over. Everything was cold: the pillow, the duvet, my skin - there was absolutely no warmth at all anywhere. After restoring core body temperature to normal by taking a wonderfully long hot shower we then left to venture into the heart of South Island.<br><br>The route we took started through the beautiful Motueka valley where ...

Saturday 7th Today is the first day of our NZ adventure proper. We are awoken even earlier than yesterday by bagpipes which seem to be right outside the hostel window. Rising lazily, and wondering if my hangovers are beginning to stretch to two days, we pack and get all our stuff together as today is the day we pick up our long awaited wicked van. We walk to the depot and get lost on the way, but once there we go through all the motions of getting the van sorted ...

... para irmos visitar as famosas Punakaiki Pancake Rocks (Rochas Panqueca de Punakaiki), estas são formações de rocha calcária que se assemelham a pilhas de grossas panquecas (quem diria!). Parou de chover por cerca de meia hora, tempo suficiente para irmos ver as rochas, estas revelaram-se impressionantes e intrigantes, se bem que suspeitamos que num dia de sol seriam ainda mais interessantes. Pouco antes de arrancarmos a ...

... into two sections. I was in the back section. Each of the two sets of four has a buffet, a viewing carriage where you can go outside (with a roof) and take better photos, and it's own commentator who gives interesting notes about what you are looking at out of the windows. The 4 hour train ride is expensive (at $208 for a return over two days), but no more so really when you compare it to the UK, and this is one of only four trains that do ...

... for a split second I thought 'OMG it's a bear' - obviously this would be an impossibility, I must just have bear spotting continually on my mind. It turned out to be a big seal who was keen to keep an eye on us and where we were going. Then we actually went to the seal colony and watched the frolicking about in the water and some little ones lying on the rocks - at least seals are a reliable creature and are actually where they're meant to be ...

... and, as the sun peaked through, headed back to the glacier. The mist broke for about ten minutes after we hiked about twenty minutes into the observation point. Franz Josef is even more enormous than Fox. It took a moment to notice but the tiny specs on the glacier were not rocks because they were moving. There were people out there hiking on the glacier. Not for us. Back in the car, we headed north hoping for better weather. Highway 6 runs along the west ...

Nelson was OK - it is where the exact centre of New Zealand is, I will go back one day. Today though, I travelled from Nelson to Greymouth down the wild west coast! The drive down is pretty scenic cutting through gorges and along the coast, real rugged. The first real stop of the day was at Cape Foulwind, near Westport. Cape Foulwind is where you can find a colony of New Zealand Fur seals. There was loads of them, it bloody stank but it is so ...

... durchsichtige Krabben und riesige Urheuschrecken (die Wetas) sowie Tropfsteinformationen bewundert. Ein zauberhaftes und sehr nasses Erlebnis.<br><br>Dieses Hoehlenleben hat uns so viel Spass gemacht, dass wir es spaeter in Waitomo (gefuehrt) und im Arthur's Pass und bei Whangarei (auf eigene Faust) wiederholt haben. Ich werde versuchen, hier in Australien und auch daheim wieder in die Erde hinabsusteigen. Bitte Bescheid sagen, wer Bock und, oder Kontakte hat!