Day 16: Rain, Rain Go Away

The rain caught up to us in Christchurch.
We had to stick to indoor activities. We went to the Art Centre and the Museum. Both were free and wonderful.
Then we headed out to the airport where there is a new Antarctic Exhibit at the Antarctic Center. All flights to Antarctica's Scott Base leave out of Christchurch. All the US, NZ and English teams have there main research stuff in Christchurch as well.
We went in a snow storm simulator that blew winds at -17 F. We were given boots and coats but Chris and I both had shorts on. There was one crazy guy in there with his shirt off. I climbed in the igloo to hide until it was over. We saw replicas of the equipment they use and learned about the conditions there. They also have a great penguin area.
They have actual blue penguins which are the small ones we saw in Akaroa and live in NZ.
I fell very educated in the ways of Antarctica.

Day 15: Like Being on a movie set

It was still raining when we woke up in Franz Josef. We started off down the road to the glacier but the road is dirt, winding, and had a ranging river on one side and since we could only see about 10 feet in front of us we turned back.
Again we drove through rain forest and then over rocky mountains and then through tussock (looks like dead monkey grass) fields and green mountains. Then we were in Christchurch. I can see why so many movies and shows film here. You can reach almost any kind of landscape you desire within an hour of a city. It is almost incredible to watch the landscape change.
Once we got into Christchurch, we picked up Anna's key and drove out to Sumner to the beach. It was so beautiful. Then we road up the Christchurch Gondola to check out the view.
It was great.
We ordered Hell's pizza with Anna and Oscar who is her Siamese. Chris is the cat whisperer, no doubt. Although his hands look like he got into a bar fight because Oscar is too fast for Chris. It is skinny like Chris who is too accustomed to playing with Snoopy who won't always play if you are out of her reach when she is lying down.

Update on our progress

I am looking back on my list of links and seeing what we have and have not done.
We through in the Akaroa Dolphins on day 1. Weather prevented us from seeing Mount Cook but we went by. We didn't go to the Haka on the top of the Gondola because there was a free one at the Kiwi Bird Park. We didn't do the Central Otago Wine Experience, instead we ate too much and went shopping.
It was too early for a pint when we were in Arrowtown but we did pan for gold. Also, Chris took a Bungy jump on that day. And alas, the bra fence has been removed. According to lonely planet the town had asked the farmer to take it down in 2006 but he had refused. I guess they won.
Also instead of staying the hotel tomorrow we are staying with Anna (see the only photo I got to load back on our arrival day). Chris is going to call her in a few minutes and take her up on her offer. That will save us enough money to go out to a nice dinner and take her with us!

I think I have proved my own worth as a travel agent and that if you spend over a month preparing for a trip it just may be worth it.

Day 14: This is the reason no one lives here

Rain! Rain! Rain!
Our next big driving day started out nice. We had an awesome breakfast in Queenstown and then headed north. We stopped at Puzzling World for some fun and games. Then as we moved up through the rain forest and Haast Pass - Rain! We actually ate our picnic lunch in the car pulled over on the side of the road. It rained in the mountains and rained on the coast. We saw the most amazing waterfalls but couldn't take pictures through the wet car windows and didn't want to get Richard's camera out in the rain.
We stopped at Fox Glacier despite the rain and took a few quick shots. We then hauled it on over to Franz Josef Glacier to check in to the Glow Worm Cottage. It is another shared toilet (Kiwi for the entire bathroom) backpackers hostel but is very clean. There is a great kitchen and lounge where I am blogging from and a hot tub, although I think no amount of convincing will get Chris into the hot tub.
We are both cold and wet and the continued rain prevents us from getting our luggage out of the car. Chris is grabbing a power nap and I am in here blogging. In 30 minutes the kitchen serves free vegetable soup.

Day 13: Milford Sound

This post will have to be pictures only. We saw mountains, pastures, Alpine rain forest, temperate rain forest, a fjord and the Tasman Sea.

Day 12: This is the place that invented thrills!

So we get up to go to Shotover Jets (see links in post: South Island Adventure), I had to convince myself that this would be a good idea. It is the only thrill in Queenstown that doesn't involve jumping from something.
So the first time that our boat came mere inches from the cliff face, I decided I was probably going to close my eyes and cry through the whole trip but I didn't at all. It was so much fun! I took some 15 second video clips on my camera and I will get those up so you can see how crazy it is for a boat to spin 360 degrees in one spot. Videos at the end of this post.
Chris and I then went to Arrowtown which is an old gold mining community. Chris panned for gold while I ate the best meat pie ever! If you ever visit Queenstown then you need to drive over to Arrowtown and go to the Postmaster's Deli for a Steak Pie!
As I said in the title of this post, thrills where invented in Queenstwon. The first shotover jets were made of wood, downhill skiing has been going on since the great depression and in 1987 the year of the market crash - AJ Hacket opened the first commercial bungee jump site. Well, with his impending 30th birthday Chris Vogel has added his name to the list of those who have jumped off the Kawarau Bridge.

That's Chris in the next picture!

If your fiance jumped off a bridge, would you do it too? I thought about it but we all know I just would have paid the money to stand up there and cry and run away.
We had a nice dinner after. The most popular pizza here is chicken, cranberry and brie. I had some and it is really good.

Day 11: The Life of a Kiwi

*The NZ Wood Pigeon is the largest pigeon in the world. Wouldn't Fat Boogas love to get her paws on one of these.

After a nice cereal breakfast in the motel, we headed across town to the Kiwi & Bird Life Park. It was really cool. We saw a lot of native birds including the Tui (which we now have a painting of), the Wood Pigeon (which is the 2nd largest pigeon in the world - boy wouldn't Boogas like one of those) and the Kiwi bird! Kiwi birds are nocturnal so we went in a dark building and their enclosure was lit with red lights. They are really big! Like a basketball and their beaks are about 6 inches long. One of them was being hyper and running around, it was so awesome. We also saw the conservation show and then a Maori dance including the war chant the Haka. I think I should learn the poi.
We then went up the skyline gondola which actually goes up a really steep incline. At the top we watched someone do the Sky swing which is like a bungy jump but you sort of sit in a harnass and they release you and you swing. I told Chris I would do that since it is not upside but I decided I can find a better way to spend 100NZDs. - And I did! We road the luge at the top which are those sleds on the concrete path. It was steeper than any of the others I have been on and fun.We went back to the motel and ate lunch of leftover Indian food and peanut butter. Then, we had a power nap.
We have come back into Queenstown and done some shopping. I got a Kathmandu fleece and bought Chris one for his birthday. I also went to another NZ store and got some shirts. We just finished shopping and decided to pop in an internet shop and get everyone caught up. We have activities booked the next few days and then will be driving so this will probably be the last post until we get back to Auckland. I will backtrack and add pictures to all these posts then.

Day 10: The Long Haul

Everyone acted like we were crazy for trying to drive from Akaroa to Queenstown but we made great time. We got on the road and not to far in we saw a grocery store and stopped for supplies. We marched on to a small town Geraldine were we looked around and bought a nice print of a local artist's painting of a Tui (NZ bird) sitting on part of a Maori war canoe. Chris had said earlier that day that he missed the sound of the Tui in the morning.Then we went my Lake Tekapo which is turquoise, more turquoise than even the Caribbean. It has to do with some sediment from a glacier. We stopped and had a picnic lunch of tuna and cheese from Barry's Bay Cheese Farm. Not far from Lake Tekapo is Lake Pukaki which is an even brighter turquoise. I can't wait for everyone to see the pictures. I could live there and just look out the window all day. Chris and I got out of the car to walk down and touch the water and some ocean birds (smaller than sea gulls) got rilled up and started swooping down at us. One came within 5 inches of Chris's head! We had to move down the beach a little. From Lake Pukaki is the vantage point to Mount Cook, unfortunately it was cloudy and you could only see the foot of the mountains. We chose not to make the trek down the road to the main vantage point because we would have only seen more clouds.
We got into Queenstown about 6 o'clock. We stopped at the bridge were the first commercial Bungee jump site happened in 1987. I think Chris may try it tomorrow. I don't like to be upside down.
Our motel is not a place I would normally stay but it is an efficiency with a little kitchen and has an awesome view of the lake here. We got our bearings around town last night before going to Freiya's Indian Restaurant and going to bed.

Day 9: Akaroa and Barry's Bay

Anna, Chris, Jen and Auntie Sandra
Well, we made it. We had a non-eventful flight and met Chris's Auntie Sandra at the airport. Sandra and her daughter Anna took us to tea - which is coffee and pastries.
We drove from Christchurch to Barry's Bay and checked in at Halfmoon Cottage. It is a backpackers hostel and super cute however, there are no keys for the doors. Your room is just unlocked all the time which doesn't matter since the windows are at group level and there are no screens. We still like it.

We drove in Akaroa and got tickets for a Scenic Cruise of the Bay which offered dolphin viewing. It was so awesome.We saw Hector's Dolphins! They played with the boat and tried to race us.We also saw New Zealand Fur Seals which are the Fat Boogas of the Sea. The first one we saw cleaned his nose, scratched his butt and then put his fat belly up in the air - those are the 3 requirements to being a fat Boogas.We also saw Blue Penguins which are the smallest penguin in the world and sometimes called Fairy Penguins.

I hope to blog again soon. Sorry this is so short, we only had $2 coin for the computer slot.

South Island Adventure

Tomorrow Chris and I depart on our South Island Adventure. I don't know if I will be blogging all week and if I can there still may not be pictures. I know there are places to use the internet but we may not want to stop the adventure to blog. So, I am going to leave everyone with a list of links detailing our daily activities. At least you can log on and check out the official website to where we are each day.


Tuesday, Dec 11th:
We are staying in an area outside of Christchurch called Akaroa. We are staying in place called Halfmoon Cottage which is next door to Barry's Bay Cheese. Guess who is going to eat too much cheese?

Wednesday, Dec 12th:
We will make our way south to Queenstown via Mount Cook. We are just going to do a gentle walk and view the Mountain from The Hermitage.

We are spending a total of 4 nights in Queenstown at the Colonial Village Motel. The room has a kitchenette so we can save money by having snacks and breakfast. There is the most to do in Queenstown but since there are a lot of tourists everything is pricey.

Thursday, Dec 13th:
We made Thursday our free day since we will have done a lot of driving the day before. Our plan is to do a walk around town being sure to include the Kiwi & Birdlife Park (I have to see a Kiwi) and the Skyline Gondola. At the top of the ride there is a traditional Kiwi Haka which is a Maori dance. I also want to do the Central Otago Wine Experience; we are actually not touring the topmost part of the South Island which is where the majority of NZ wine comes from.

Friday, Dec 14th:
This is the big day! We are riding in the Shotover Jet. If you have ever watched a travel special on New Zealand you have seen these boats in action. When the day is over we will head to Arrowtown to have a pint at a bar called The Blue Door which is recommended by a friend.

Saturday, Dec 15th:
We head out on a 12 hour round trip to Milford Sound. There are several tour operators who take buses from Queenstown and then give boat tours of the sounds. We skipped the standard issue bus tours and opted for the "party" bus aka The BBQ bus.

Sunday, Dec 16th:
We leave Queenstown and head to Franz Josef. On the way we will pass through Wanaka and go to Puzzling World. If the weather is nice we will pass by the Cardrona Bra Fence. If I had brought a cheap bra, I would leave one. Once in Franz Josef we are staying at Glow Worm Cottages which has free nightly vegetable soup!

Monday, Dec 17th:
We head back across the island to Christchurch via Arthur's Pass and Methven.
We are staying the night at Colombo in the City.

Tuesday, Dec 18th:
Our return flight isn't until the evening so we are free to explore Christchurch. Things on our list include the botanic gardens, Nga Hau e Wha (the largest Maori village), The International Antartic Centre, the Arts Centre, and shopping at Untouched World.

Then we will be back in Auckland. If I am not able to post pictures until then I will flood you with them the next day.