Whales and things

New Zealand, the land of sheep, beautiful scenery, adventure sports and one lane bridges. Where else in the world do you get to share a bridge with a train!

We landed in Auckland on Dec 5th, paid a quick visit to mum and dad, packed up the car and headed off down the South Island to avoid the holiday rush.

We caught the ferry from Wellington to Picton and wound our way along New Zealands main highway 1 to Kaikoura. Yes this is the main road – Highway One

Kaikoura was a last minute idea to go whale watching. We arrived late in the day but luckily the booking office was open umtil 8pm, so we got booked on a 9am whale watching tour in the morning.

We found ourselves a nice hotel for the night right on the waterfront.

We got up early to go see the whales. It was a miserable day and bad weather was forecast for lunchtime. I took my seasickness pills and thank god I did as there were people vomiting all around me.

Luckily we saw two sperm whales and it was awesome.

Franz Josef Glacier

Quad Biking

We arrived in Franz Josef a little nervously because today we are going heli-hiking. The reason I am a little nervous is that it is really windy and you hear about helicopters
crashing on the glacier all the time.

Luckily the trip is cancelled due to wind, so we decide to book in for tomorrows trip. To fill in the rest of the day we decided to go quad biking (I had to talk Mike into this one, he was adamant he wasn’t going to do it) .

It was the best fun, riding across rocks, mud, streams and through trees. And guess who was the one kicking up all the mud and the biggest smile on his face?

Yes that’s right, it was Mr “ I don’t wanna go quad biking” Everard!

We stopped in the forest and had a cup of coffee and biscuits. The other couple on the ride were from Zurich and he just happened to work at UBS, the same company as me. Small world.

At the end of the ride they hosed the mud off us.

Heli Hiking

Ah , a glorious day for the heli-hike. No wind. We rugged up warm and jumped in the helicopter. Certainly not as new and flash as the sundance helicopters in Las Vegas, but hey, it didn’t crash.

It was awesome flying right over the glacier and then landing right on it.

We put on our crampons and off we went, exploring caves and watching this funny guy in front of us falling over all the time.

Its funny, most of the people doing this were English, I guess because the pound goes a long way here.

Milford Sound

The road to Milford sound was very scenic until we got to this horrid little dark tunnel. I said to Mike, surely we don’t drive through that? It was pitch black, the road surface was horribly rutted and it was dripping all over the place. I don’t like tunnels at all and there was no way I was driving through this one.

While we stopped and debated whether we should drive through the tunnel we were visited by were some local birds. These Kia’s have no fear and are cheeky little buggers, landing on the car, jumping up and down and chewing on the windscreen wipers. I want one!

I decided to let Mike drive through the dreaded tunnel. It was so dark and wet in there and we crawled through at about 5 km/hr. At the other side we saw another car debating the same thing. It turns out they turn the lights off in the tunnel after 6pm.

Milford Sound is in the middle of nowhere. There is one pub and the only accommodation is a hostel/backpackers which has to be booked up months in advance. We were lucky to get in due to a cancellation. The facilities were really basic and the generator goes off at 11pm, so if you don’t have a torch handy you really are left in the dark.

It rains in Milford sound 99% of the year so it was a bit of a surprise to find a gorgeous day when we arrived. Insect repellent is a must though. We got eaten alive by sand flies.

We went to the pub and had a nice meal and got conned into a trivial pursuit night. It was a bit of fun but I had to take it easy on the alcohol due to our big kayaking trip day the next day.

Kayaking in Milford

We awoke to rain. Great! But of course the odds were against us.

We arrived for our big day out on the sound where we were likely to see dolphins and seals and all sorts of interesting sea life. The day was miserable.

We spent about an hour getting all dressed up in our skirts (yes this is about the only time you will see me in one), went through all the training on how to paddle, had silly photos taken, then went and got undressed again as the weather was too bad to go out. Darn it.

We decided to go out on a cruise instead. It was wet and miserable and even the giant waterfalls spewing out from the mountains didn’t compensate for being wet and miserable.

Doubtful Sound

This is our second chance to go kayaking in the sounds. But this is Doubtful sound, far larger and more remote than milford.

You can’t get to the Doubtful sound by road. It is an hours boat ride, then an 45 minute bus ride over a steep windy gravel road (a bit like highway one).

But this sound is different to the Milford Sound. Not only was there a lack of Japanese snappy happy tourists but we actually got to go kayaking.

Again we got all rugged up in our skirts and set off. It was wonderful. So remote and serene. The rain seemed to enhance the setting.

We paddled under waterfalls and into caves. In the afternoon the sun came out and the mist cleared and it was just magic.

A brilliant days paddling that I would recommend to anyone.

Queenstown

Queenstown, they call it “The adventure capital of the world”. There is so much to do here. Bungy jumping, mountain biking, jetboating, white water rafting, rapid boarding, paragliding, skiing in winter, great restaurants and bars, the list goes on.

We were so lucky to be there in December before the holiday rush. We got an amazing apartment overlooking the lake and the Remarkables. It had full cooking facilities, washer and dryer, a spa bath with a setting to keep the water temperature constant, and a separate bedroom. And only $170 per night (usually $300 per night in the peak season and you would need to book well in advance)

Jetboating

We took the Kawarau jet boat ride as it was based in the middle of Queenstown and had a mixture of lake and rapids. As we had both been jetboating before the 360 degree turns didn’t really do much for us, but it was fun laughing at the other people screaming. The driver did manage to drench us and it was freezing.

The scariest bit was on the rapids when we did a 360 and ran aground. The driver couldn’t get the boat started again. It kept sucking up stones into the jet. Meanwhile we were drifting out of control on the rapids. There was silence in the boat. I was not enjoying it one bit. Finally the driver had to drift out into deeper water and thank god he managed to get it started. I must say I lost all faith in his abilities after that and the rest of the ride wasn’t so enjoyable.

Skyline and the Luge

We took the gondola ride up to the skyline. I really hate gondolas as I am always worried they are gonna break down and I’m gonna get stuck in one. Its silly really as I don’t mind chair lifts.

Anyway there was a stunning view from the top. We snapped a few photos, watched the bungy jumping, contemplated a tandem paraglide to the bottom then went for a ride on the luge. The luge is a go kart type thing which you can go as fast or slow as you like. It was kinda fun although little kids kept overtaking us.

Mountain Biking in Skippers Canyon

The drive up Skippers Canyon in itself is an adventure. It’s a perilous winding gravel road with sheer drops down the side. It is a two way road with a single lane. I think the van ride up was scarier than the mountain biking.

We were given a chance of riding down the gravel road first to get used to the bikes, or we could have jumped straight in and gone down the narrow bike track. They got us to ride down a small part of the bike track first to analyse our skill level.

I was told I looked confident and could go down the hard track. Mike however was told he should go down the road track first. So I decided to stick with mike and do the road track first with him.

At the bottom the van picked us up and ferried us back up to the start.

This time we both decided to take on the hard track.

This track was pretty scary in parts. Steep, muddy, narrow, and steep drops off to the side

I was sent off first. I navigated a steep, narrow and slippery part of the track, then stopped at a flat spot. I looked back to see how Mike was doing. He seemed to be doing ok, then he had a little slide, next thing he goes head over heals over the handle bars. Not a good look. Luckily he got straight back up, so I continued on, but now always looking back to make sure he was ok.

To finish the ride was a steep down hill then a river crossing.

Abel Tasman National Park

To finish off our south Island trip we went kayaking and sailing in the Abel Tasman national park. This is in the north of the South Island The weather is generally warmer and the weather is better.

We got all kitted up in our kayaking gear, feeling like total professionals now after out Doubtful Sound trip. Unfortunately Mike’s shoulder is still sore from his mountain bike fall, so most of the kayaking is left up to me. No slacking off in the back like i usually do.

Is is beautiful, but I found it very similar to the Coromandel.

We kayaked for about 2.5 hours, then stopped at a remote beach for lunch. Then we did a 30 minute walk over the hill to hop on our catamaran for our sail back.

The best part of the sailing was seeing some Orcas – also known as killer whales.