So after the dolphins we drove up to Nelson back in the North. Explored the dinky town of Nelson the next day: the art gallery, the shops, the local art and sculpture galleries in the countryside all around and ended up on Rabbit Island. This was a long golden beach practically deserted and so we relaxed in the late afternoon sun. The following day we hopped into some sea kayaks, guided by the able Isaac and were led around the coastline of Able Tasman National Park. After a half day kayaking through turquoise waters we had some lunch, bumped into some Swedish buddies we'd met in Wellington on one of the beaches and then headed off for a stroll around the coastline/park. After an olympic sprint into the cold water of one beautiful beach we got the water taxi/jet boat back to the entrance Marahau.
After a Halloween drink in a very English style pub and minimal trick or treaters walking past us, we chilled out before the drive down to Franz Joseph glacier on the west coast the next day. After a long 9hr drive via the Pancake rocks and the longest rope bridge in New Zealand we arrived in Franz Joseph. The next day we set off on a 6hr hike up the glacier to the cleaner bits where there are shining light blue crevasses to walk through and lots of fun to be had with your snow crampons.
Glaciered out and wet at the end of the day we went back to the YHA for a v hot shower.
The next day after stopping off at Wanaka, also a pretty lakeside town for lunch and an ice cream, we arrived at Queenstown - my favourite place in New Zealand. The next day Giles and Emma hit the white water rafting and I decided to do a Lord of the Rings tour, film obssessive that I am and having already rafted in Peru. The scenery in this part of NZ is crazy beautiful and it was great to see where Isengard, Lothlorien and Ithilien were filmed to name but a few. That afternoon we mooched to the shops and gardens of the town and admired the lake which changes colour every time you look at it. Liking it so much we decided to stay for another day. Deciding to break the vegetable slop and pasta for dinner routine in this town may also have helped, thai food and a yummy pizza being far preferable. Spent the next day chilling out reading HP and enjoying the sun doing nothing for the first time in ages. This was mainly due to being woken up by Garry, an Irish dude, at 3am who forced me to get up and have a drink with him while his mate went to bed with a "lucky" lady he had met in our dorm. Hmmmm... Seeing that they wouldn't take no for an answer I surrendered and ended up being reluctantly kept awake and sadly not getting the beautiful, long anticipated lie in I'd been waiting for... poor dorm etiquette I must say. Ha.
Anyway, leaving Queenstown we headed across to Dunedin. Dunedin brought us such delights as the Speights Brewery for beer tasting and the Cadbury's Factory for copious chocolate tasting and finally the yellow eyed/headed penguin reserve for well, penguin watching...
After leaving the Hogwartz hostel (yes we did stay in a place with that name, tragic I know) we drove to Christchurch on Friday. After exploring the cathedral square and attending the famous evensong (mildly impressed with the singing!) we headed back to the hostel for yes, more vegetable slop. Saturday we ventured to an arts and crafts fair and the Antartica centre. A great place to teach you all about the Antartic gateway through Christchurch and the work that is done there. It also included a simulated snow storm and penguin feeding of little blue penguins who've had nasty things happen to them like fishhooks in eyes and being hit by boats etc...
Sunday, we hit the Christchurch art gallery which had some nice stuff in it and some other not so interesting stuff. Then had lunch in a big pub in the sun with all the other New Zealanders excited that summer is coming and then hit the botanical gardens before a fond farewell to Giles. Today has been spent returning the hire car and generally doing admin before we leave for Melbourne tomorrow and quite possibly a cheeky trip to the Neighbours set!!! I can hear the cries of G'day mate and put a shrimp on the barbie as I type...
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