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New Zealand- South Island
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Welcome to the South Island! Arrived by ferry from Wellington into Picton and then caught a bus to Nelson... and wow it is cold down here! The floaty dresses are gone and back out with the jeans!!!
From Nelson we went to Abel Tasman National Park where we did a half day hike combined with kayaking! Wow it is such a pretty place! We got a boat out to Stillwell Bay which is a deserted beach. We were the only 2 hopping off the boat to start of walk from there. It is so so pretty. I'd just love to live here! We walked along until we found another deserted beach and had our picnic with our new friend.. mr seagull who loved my cashew nuts! Do seagulls eat them? Anyhoo after that we followed the path along by the beaches, not really meeting anyone on our travels. In the afternoon we were brought out onto the sea for a half day kayak- just me and sara, 2 trainee guides and our own guide and there wasnt a wave in sight and we just paddled around for a while, then stopped off on another abandoned beach while the guide whipped us up a surprise picnic off orange and cookies and we then explored some caves!! It was really cool and i'm thinking of taking up kayaking back in Ireland although i'm just thinking the waves in Ballydwan are like fecking mini tsunamis and i think your picnic blanket would either get blown away or drenched by the tsumani!!!!
Stillwell Bay, Abel Tasman
Just us two on the beach...
After Nelson we headed off on the bus again to a place called Punakaiki where we checked out some pancake rocks and blowholes and went on the Truman Track which is a nice little walk down onto a beautiful beach. We saw a few dolphins flying by aswell!
Me on the Truman Track
Prob not supposed to be sitting on the pancake rock?
What can you see?
This?
Next stop, Greymouth where we went... BEER tasting! Yipppee! There is a beer in New Zealand called Monteiths and we checked out the brewery tour and we got to taste loads and loads of beer.. There was original beer, darker beer, beer with honey and ginger in it, beer with lemon and lime, every beer under the sun! We were given an open bar for about half an hour and we could pull our own glasses! Wow! My favourite was the Monteiths Original coz i found the others a bit fancy and who in the name of god would want what tastes to me like 7UP mixed into their beer!! Actually, i forgot to tell ye in South America that Sara went up to the bar once and asked (or thought she asked!) for a Fanta in a beer glass! What she got was Fanta Beer!!! Beer and Fanta in one glass! Mank-City!
Pulling my own pint!
Yum yum!!
After Greymouth we drove towards Franz Josef where is home to the Franz Josef glacier.. It's not that big! We werent impressed at all at all. The glaciers in South America are way more spectacular and you can get an awful lot closer to the glaciers to check them out. Some people went on a heli hike where you get a helicopter up to the top of the glacier, get off an throw snow all over each other.. All for about $400! I'd rather head into the freezer and feck a bit of ice all over Sara for free!!!
Franz Josef glacier. It's not that big!..
Next stop, Queenstown! What a cool city! Really liked it. For once, we had a 2 day stop rather than just an overnight stop (we cant afford to stay longer than 1 night in most places coz we need to fly out of Auckland on 10 may) So seen as we had an overnight stop- we went on a session!!! yippee! Went out for a few drinks and met up with an irish boy, an english boy and a kiwi boy and had a great awl laugh and spent the night boozing till the early hours of the morning and we were supposed to go on a nice date with the kiwi boy who was going to bring us up on the gondelas over Queenstown but we ended up sleeping in till about 3 in the day so missed out on our one and only date! Feck sake!
It started with watery cocktails in Queentown!
After Queenstown we went to Dunedin- our main reason for stopping was the Cadbury chocolate factory! Wow wee! There was a chocolate fountain and free chocolate bars for all! Yummie! I was also supposed to head to a place called Invercargill to see one of our relations but turns out the bus called the Knightrider was a bit dangerous coz they travel by night and have a reputation of falling asleep at the wheel and crashing over cliffs and such like and one time a passenger had to take the wheel and save the rest of the tourists from getting mushed so after i heard that, i decided against it seen as it was at the start of my travels and i still valued life and all! Took a free day and went shopping and sara got her hair cut and just did general girlie things!
Hugging the Cadbury Bunny!
From there we went to Lake Tekapo which has nothin much going on apart from the church where i want to get married in, lookin out over the lake! Beautiful scenery though! Next stop, Christchurch where we did a bit of punting on the Avon. Twas quiet posh i must say. We were wrapped up in a warm blanket while a little boy lead us down a river in a boat! Jolly good.
Lake Tekapo
Where i want to get married!!!!!!
Punting on the Avon! Jolly good day!
Ohh my favourite part of New Zealand was Kaikoura where i went swimming with the dolphins! Best fun so far! You dress up in an extremely tight wet suit where a man complimented me by thinking i was a size 10! Made my day! Anyhoo, we headed out on a boat with our wetsuits and our flippers and set off in search of some dolphins and my god did we see them! Everywhere! They basically follow the common and dusky dolphins and then when you come near them, you jump off the end of the boat and snorkel around the water and then the dolphins arrive... They shoot past you, over you, and under you only an arms length away! Sometimes if they are bored they even play with you! Not that day though.. i think the common ones were impressin the dusky ones so there was a whole lot of showing-off to be done so the dolphins had no interest in us! We then jumped back on the boat and followed them for a few more miles and then leapt off the boat again for another gawk! It was hard though coz as soon as i would see a dolphin under me i would start laughing and then my snorkel would fill with water and i'd start coughing and spluttering everywhere! It was absolutely fantastic though and then we watched the dolphins swimming infront of the boat while we sipped on hot chocolate and ginger nut biscuits. ahh..
The dolphins swimming by the boat!
Another cool thing i did was travel from the South to the North island in a 8 seater plane. It was crazy coz the pilot was the one loading up the bags and then when we all hopped in, the plane wouldnt start (something about not being able to spark it???) Anyhoo, worryin as that was, we waited for another plane and then off we went! The sound coming from the engines was so loud! We had to wear earmuffs. Actually it was one of those planes you see them getting on in Home and Away and not making it off the plane again and getting stranded in the bush.. That didnt happen to us so it was deadly flying over the ocean and seeing dolphins and being so close over the mountains! Great fun!
The little plane that brought us up North!
Once we got back to the main island, we more or less travelled back the same direction to Auckland and stopped off again in Rotorua but this time for a spot of zorbing! The deal with zorbing is you jump into a huge plastic ball at the top of a hill (similar to a hamsters ball but way way bigger- about the height and a half of me!) So the two of us jumped in and the ball was filled with a little bit of water. Your man then seals the ball and then tells you to start walking forward. The ball starts rolling and you start falling all over the place and your legs are in the other persons head and you're drenched and just tumble tumble till you reach the end of the hill! Best fun ever!!!!
Zorbing down the hill! We were in the ball!
And off we go!!!
From Rotorua we headed to Auckland again and finished off New Zealand where we went all cultural... Sara went to Fiddle on the Roof and me.. well i went to Ed Byrne! Hilarious little fecker!!!
Latest Comments (2)
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kayaking (reply)
May 9, 2007 08:15 EST by elainecgough
hey amarie!imagine that while u were kayaking away, i went and bought one from the internet!its inflatable so can bring it home next time were back together and well go cave exploring round ballydwan!yipee doo!
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Message from the Lough (reply)
May 2, 2007 08:17 EST by superterence
go Girl, finally registered onto your site. The beer sounds excellent, however, my body is a temple of virtue (I know, me?? sounds weird)and such things are not part of the new regime. Nothing new here. Beautiful weather and no more kids............ how are teh boys over there?????????
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