Day 207- Thursday 4th May 2006 - Sam's Account

HOORAY! No, double, triple HOORAY! We are in New Zealand.

No matter how much we've loved discovering all the other countries and cultures, it is so wonderful to be in an English speaking country after 7 months. Phew! The task of deciphering so many different languages, alphabets and symbology has been left behind us, for the time being at least. Welcome to easy street!

I know it sounds silly, but it is so just great just to be able to read sign posts, newspapers, mags, brochures, leaflets etc... I now know what it must feel like for people who can't read. Absolutely awful, it closes down such a large part of your world.

Anyhow, that aside we are both over the moon to be here. Customs and immigration were fairly hefty. Firstly a large surly immigration lady officer shouted "GO AWAY" in no uncertain terms to some poor Indian chap, who had dared to approach her booth with his passport before she was ready. Also, they have bio safety screening here and having answered a very detailed questionnaire regarding our possessions, previous activities and movements, they decided that our boots needed to be inspected from our mountain trek near Mt.Fuji, a few days ago. I felt sorry for the customs official who had to check our boots - they have been very well used!

Once given the all clear our bags were re-scanned and then we were through. We hopped on the free shuttle bus to take us to United Campers, where we had reserved our little campervan the day before from Tokyo.

Having been given a fairly detailed briefing about the vehicle, signed all the paperwork and taken oodles of brochures, we were given a complimentary bottle of NZ. red wine and sent on our way, We were so excited, like kids on their first camping expedition!

Our first stop was the Supermarket to stock up on our favourite grub. Pure bliss! Although we have absolutely loved all the various cuisines we have tried and tasted over the past few months, we were looking forward to cooking up our own little meals the way we like them.

Once stocked up we were off to our first camping site in Northern Auckland, Takapuna beach. The owner got us parked in a fantastic spot, just metres from the sea, overlooking downtown Auckland and the volcanic islands around.

Dinner was NZ lamb with stir fried veg and a little too much NZ wine. I had to try the Hawkes Bay Chardonnay, and just keep checking it was still just as good!

We ended up dancing "rock n'roll" somehow in our little van, A great evening.

Day 208 - Friday 5th May 2006 - Colin's Account

We woke up to the gentle lapping of waves outside our window and having made a fairly late start, as we were tired from yesterdays travels, we headed for Takapuna town and the bus stop.

When we are in a campsite we have mains power, but otherwise only 12 volts, so my first job was to buy a step up 12 to 240 volt transformer. This allows us to charge computers etc when on the road.

They offer a great value one day travel pass in Auckland that allows you to travel on all Stagecoach and Link buses plus Fullers ferries. It's $10NZ and as the ferry on its own is $9NZ return, it's great value. The other good value item is the huge number of discount vouchers that are thrust upon you continuously. I don't think there is a single attraction or activity on the whole of the North Island that I haven't got at least a 10% off voucher for.

The ferry runs from Devonport to the main town and takes 12 minutes on a Catamaran. Once in town we decided to head for Kelly Tarlton's Artic Encounter and Underwater World, situated in a superbly converted underground sewage works in Mission Bay.

It was conceived and built by Kelly Tarlton, a famous NZ diver, who sadly died in his sleep at only 47 years old, a mere 7 weeks after realising his dream.

The first section is a replica of the various huts and base camps of Scott between 1910-1912, during his Antarctic expedition. Full of contemporary objects, clothing etc, it is very authentic. There is an Antarctic section, full of Penguins, where the temperature is artificially lowered and they produce up to 2.5 tonnes of snow every day, just to keep the penguins happy. Another part is full of Stingrays, who are basically just flat versions of sharks (not a lot of people know that!). There is also a 110m long Perspex tunnel, where you can see various sharks swimming over and around you, some of them man-eaters. Some Piranha and giant Crayfish complete the display.

Back in town, I took my duty of reporting on the world's beers to you very seriously and ducked into a Lion Red pub. Lion Red is also the name of a brewery and a beer, there are tours available, but sadly they had already shut for the day. Smoking is banned inside, just like Ireland and a pint is about $6NZ.

We were a bit weary to go up the Sky tower, which is tallest building in the southern hemisphere, but we had a great night time view of it decked out in purple neon. Maybe on the way back.

Cooked for only the 2nd time in months and it still feels a bit strange, but enjoyable anyway.

Day 209- Saturday 6th May 2006 - Sam's Account

Woke early and saw the run rise over the sea and mountains while drinking a cup of tea from our campervan bed. Great!

Went for an early morning walk along the beach in the sun. Lots of cheerful and friendly "good mornings!" later from my N.Z. co-beach walkers I made it back to the campervan and avoided our tiny shower by using the camping site facilities.

Soon we were off on our next discovery travelling north to the Bay of Islands. We stopped just outside Whangarei for lunch, before carry onto Kawakawa to spend a penny in the famous Hundertwasser's loos. Hundertwasser was an Australian born artist who lived in Kawakawa and designed these loos which are the most famous loos in N.Z.! They are very funky, mosaics and windows made from wine bottles to allow the light through. Have a look at the N.Z. photo section.

We then finished our day's journey right on the coast again in Paihia. It is beautiful here if not a little too touristy and we managed to find a quiet and secluded spot along the beach to park up for the night.

Made the error of buying a 3 litre box of wine. The wine and food here is really just too good. My diet is definitely suffering!

It is great to have the liberty of the campervan and not be bound to trains, planes and buses. We are both loving it here and although N.Z. is now going into its winter we are still very lucky with the weather with lots of sunny days so far.

You can feel that this country does not really have much history but they are really determined to make some. The New Zealander's love of rugby seeps onto the high streets with various sports shops and national advertising campaigns. Their buildings range from ultra to old modern and although their housing architecture is not really my cup of tea it is fairly original. There are only 3.95 million people living in N.Z. and apparently about 40 million sheep! The people are very friendly and down to earth, as well as hugely proud of their country. Rightly so, it is really very beautiful from what I have seen so far.

Day 210 - Sunday 7th May 2006 - Colin's Account

Woke up to the sun beaming in through the windows and Herons wading around the shallows looking for breakfast. Having hired our campervan, we were a bit annoyed to find that here in Northland you are only supposed to park overnight at designated campsites, which kind of negates the whole purpose of being independent and not having to pay for accommodation.

Fortunately, this rule is largely ignored and we were advised by several locals that, as the town policeman is hardly ever here and the traffic wardens only work two days a week, it is very seldom a problem.

So we woke up on our own private bit of beachfront, tucked well in behind some bushes and less than 5 metres from the sea and yes I did check the tides first.

After doing a few domestic chores we took the ferry to Russell, one of the first towns colonised by the British. It used to be full of escaped convicts, whalers etc, but is now a well to do small town full of old colonial buildings. The church here is the oldest in NZ, complete with the odd hole from fired muskets.

Next to the Police station, which looks anything but, is a 135 year old giant fig tree, planted by the very first customs officer in Russell. Captain Cook also visited here on the Endeavour in 1769. Sometimes dolphins and very occasionally a killer whale swim and play alongside the ferries, but regretfully not today.

We are really enjoying NZ and plan to hire a speedboat for a couple of hours tomorrow to see some more islands and hopefully dolphins and whales.

Day 211 - Monday 8th May 2006 - Sam's Account

Alors, quelle journee!

It started in a little camping ground in the Bay of Islands. We went for a brisk morning walk along the coast for an hour in the sun and then went back to the camp for a shower. An unfortunate incident followed involving a lack of hot water tokens and a necessitated dash across the camping ground in a towel for more!

Once clean and spruced up we went to the jetty and hired a motorboat to go out and see the Islands and dolphins for ourselves. We weren't disappointed, it was fabulous. We ended up with a 90 horse power engine as it was the only boat left and we managed to negotiate renting it for the price of a 60HP. Not bad. We whizzed in and out of the Islands with the sun, wind and sea spray hitting us and huge grins on our faces. On our way back to Paihia jetty we noticed a large tourist boat circling an area of water slowly we went over to have a look and were soon surrounded by at least 10 dolphins. They were right up next to our boat and jumped out of the water somersaulting and flipping as they went. WOOAAAAHHHH! It was the most fantastic experience seeing them so close up in their natural environment. The motorboat was also really good fun, but I got ticked off over the radio channel by another boat for driving too fast. Nancy boys!

Back on land we set off on the road again to Auckland, where we hoped to be able to catch up with some family friends; Graham and Laraine Walters. Luckily they had just got back from a week-end away and although our arrival was totally unplanned they accommodated our spontaneous visit with a welcome of champagne, nibbles, excellent new Zealand red wine and lamb. It felt so luxurious and decadent after our last few months to be in the 1st world "guest" environment. So civilized, it felt a little odd at first but we took to it like ducks to water of course!
 

Day 212 - Tuesday 9th May 2006 - Colin's Account

Having left Graham & Laraine's house about 10.30am, where we were made very welcome, we headed south towards the Coromandel peninsula. Kicking off with the town of Thames which is an old gold mining town full of quaint 19th century wooden houses, we then headed off to the Kauaeuranga valley along a 12km unsurfaced road, full of potholes, for some hiking. Our intention was to take two steep walks marked as an hour each, but we are obviously a great deal fitter than we thought, from all our hiking and mountaineering as the first only took 25 minutes and the second 30 minutes. Even so the views of Table mountain (849m) and the river valleys were beautiful.

Heading north along the coast road, which is practically in the sea at times, towards Coromandel town, we turned off at Tapu towards Coroglen. The road is unsurfaced most of the way and runs from the bay in the west to the south pacific coast on the east.

The road climbs and climbs and reaching the summit, we decided to pull over for the night, where the views of the sea and the valleys were stunning. It certainly beats the usual view from your bedroom window. We were soon feeling the cold as most of the time we were actually inside the clouds. Only one car every hour or two passes by so it is very peaceful here, even a bit spooky.

New Zealand is the only place I have ever been where they have real free range chickens. By this I really mean homeless or even better, wild chickens. They have obviously learnt that campers equal food, as often when we stop, they suddenly appear on the scrounge. What's interesting is that there is no way they can have just escaped from the local farmyard as often we are truly in the middle of nowhere, with no houses for miles and miles. It offers up the potential of creating a bird flu disaster for New Zealand, but as far as I know there is no bird flu here at present.

By the way the speedboat and dolphins yesterday was fantastic. We really enjoyed whizzing around all the islands and then finding a school of dolphins. We followed them for about 40 minutes as they leapt in the air and sometimes swam alongside us so closely that I could have reached out and touched them.

Day 213 - Wednesday 10th May 2006 - Sam's Account

Woke up quite cold and peeking out of our campervan windows, I could only see thick bright grey cloud surrounding us. Our breath was steaming out of our nostrils even in the campervan, so getting up and dressed took a lot of courage! The scenery driving over the Coromandel mountains is just sickeningly stunning.

Our first stop that day was near Hahei, where a famous hot water beach draws visitors to dig holes in the sand with shovels and hop into the 65 degree centigrade hot water for a steamy soak. We arrived as the tide was coming in and many of the dug-outs had already been filled but we managed to get a feel for the heat by simply digging our toes and wiggling our feet into the sand beneath the cool sea water. In some spots it was too hot to keep your toes under the sand for more than a few moments as the heat was so intense. The beach is also beautiful and as the sun came out from behind the rain clouds it was a great way to start the day. The heat is generated by geothermal activity which you find everywhere in the North island as it was pretty much just one big volcano a few thousand years ago.

The next stop was Rotorua, via a roadside picnic area for lunch where we were assaulted again by the picnic-area chickens which seem to have colonies on all the picnic areas in N.Z! At Rotorua we found our camp for the night "Cosy Cottages Campers". And, no they didn't wake us with a "Hi Dee hi campers!" in the morning - although I wouldn't have been surprised if they had. We didn't really have much time to look around the city once we arrived as it was late and dark so we saved our main explorations for the morning.
 

Day 214 - Thursday 11th May 2006 - Colin's Account

So we are in the city of smells today, otherwise known as Rotorua. We stayed at a campsite last night on the edge of a trout stream, which was ok but not a patch on some of our previous venues. The rules were a bit strict with opening and closing times, gate closing times, check out times and I even had to register. On the plus side, they have hot mineral springs available free for guests and the owner is friendly, she even gave me a discount on the night's fees.

As we are only spending half of the day here before heading to Taupo, we chose to go to Te Puia, which is part of the Whakarewarewa geothermal valley or Whaka for short. In fact even Whakarewarewa is short as its full name is Te Whakarewarewatanga o te Ope Taua a Wahiao. In English it means 'the gathering together of the Wahiao war party'.

The whole area is a mass of bubbling mud pools, near boiling water and the world famous Pohutu geyser, which once spouted up to 30m in height for over half a day making it a world record breaker.

Although it was tipping down with rain, eat your heart out Wales, our Maori guide was excellent. After whipping off her Wellies and rolling up her trouser legs she demonstrated, amongst other things, how to roll the plant fibres they used to use for clothing on her bare thigh, Oooh!

We then went in to see a Maori cultural performance which involved a lot of singing and dancing, including the Powhiri (welcome song), tititorea (stick game used to improve their warrior's dextrousness) and the famous Haka war dance. Any of you who have seen the All Blacks warming up for a rugby match will be familiar with the Haka. It involves a lot of posturing and tongue waggling, great fun.

We also had a look at some elusive Kiwi birds. An endangered species, they sleep some 16 hours a day and are nocturnal. We were lucky enough to see one awake as it strode around its cage with a funny rolling gait. They have long beaks with nostrils at the end, so that they can smell their food.

Next we headed for Taupo, some 80km to the south, situated on NZ's largest lake (605sq km), which was formed by a huge volcanic eruption. Big as it is, Lake Baikal in Russia dwarves it at more than 63000sq km.

No problems with camping where you like down here and we found a great spot overlooking the lake, but the weather is awful. It's cold and rainy, ummm actually reminds me of home, funny that.

Booked our flights to Oz from Christchurch and our flights from Oz to Bangkok and then, in mid August, on to Chennai or Madras for those of you who still hold to the days of the Raj, (quite right too!) 

Day 215 - Friday 12th May 2006 - Sam's Account

Woke to another splendid view. This time of the vast Lake Taupo basking in the early morning autumnal sun. We are now in the heart of the volcanic wonderland. Lake Taupo was created 26,500 years ago when Taupo erupted and produced 800 cu km of ash and pumice. For comparison, Krakatoa produced 8 cu km. The Taupo eruption devastated the entire North island coating it in hot, poisonous ash up to 100 metres deep. Even the Chatman islands (800km downwind) were covered in an 11 cm-deep layer of ash. The last eruption was 1800 years ago and was the most violent on the planet within the past 5000 years.

We visited the Huka Falls which were most impressive. The Huka Falls are part of the Waikato river system and forms part of the most highly developed natural electricity generation in N.Z. There are 11 stations on the river system which produce 65% of the North Islands power. The nutty New Zealanders offer speed boat rides up to the falls and we witness a group of fun seekers whizzing up river towards the oncoming falls as we were leaving.

Next we had a quick mosey around "Craters of the moon" which are more steaming geothermal pools. The late afternoon and evening was spent driving to Napier through an area called Mordor to those who are fans of the cinematic version of Lord of the Rings. Unquestionably the scenery was hauntingly majestic and we drove through it as the sun set and the full moon hung brightly in the sky. (no joking) We arrived late after dark in our chosen camp site. Great spot again overlooking the sea and part of Hawkes bay.

Interestingly Napier has suffered it's fair share of natures reminder of its power and was destroyed in 1931 by an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale. Sadly huge damage and loss of life was the result. The city was then re-built in the then-fashionable Art Deco architectural style and now exudes a certain character.

Day 216 - Saturday 13th May 2006 - Colin's Account

Yet again we found a superb place to stop for the night, this time overlooking the south pacific ocean in Napier, which is part of Hawkes Bay, the premier wine growing region in NZ.

After my usual chores involving chemical toilets etc, believe me you don't want to know. We headed for the Church Road Winery who offer tours of their facilities, wine museum and of course wine tasting.

Church Road is the second oldest Winery (Vineyard to you and me) in NZ. The oldest is the Mansion Vineyard right next door.

We learnt a great deal about wine and techniques from Robert who showed us around. They buy almost all their cork from Portugal and all their Oak barrels from France. A single Oak barrel costs 1500NZ$ and is used for a maximum of four years, before being sold on as pots for plants or seats.

Some of the vats or (Cuvee in French) contain 18000 litres or enough for a bottle of wine every day for 65 years! They use all the five main Bordeaux grape varieties in various blends, plus several excellent white wines, such as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. This year will be their first venture into the Syrah grape variety or Shiraz as we know it in Europe.

We are about finished with the North island and are now heading south to Wellington and the Inter Island Ferry. Wellington is 321km from Napier and after driving for a few hours, we stopped for the night in Greytown, about 75km short of Wellington. We had planned to camp in a picnic area, but when we have no mains to plug into it is a chilly experience as our gas heater is not very effective.

Driving down the number 2 state highway, we saw a sign with a caravan on it and so decided to check it out. It is not a holiday park, but a public park with a section for caravans. There is electricity to plug in to, but no one to pay and no other facilities. There are no camper vans here only caravans and I wonder whether we have tumbled upon a state run caravan park. Either way, as it stands at the moment, it's very cheap (read free) and quiet.

Its bloody difficult  ringing anyone, especially my daughters, as everyone back at home keeps going to bed just as we are getting up. how inconsiderate of you all!

Day 217 Sunday 14th May 2006 - Sam's Account

We both woke early and when I say early I actually mean early; 4.30am. Unable to get back to sleep and after a couple of vats of tea we decided to simply get on the road again.

We drove straight onto Wellington and arrived at around 8am where we briefly checked out New Zealand's capital before our 2pm ferry crossing to Picton in the South island.

One of the "must do's" listed in the Lonely Planet was the cable car which was launched in 1902 and carried 4000 passengers in the first week-end of it's operation. The old cable car is now on display and having looked at the museum we hopped onto the new version (made in Switzerland) and descended into the town.

Being Sunday there wasn't much going on, although there were a fair few shops open and we stopped for a coffee whilst mooching around.

Today is mothers day in N.Z. and Oz and extremely enviously I eyed loads of mum's and daughters out shopping and going for lunch together.

I'll let my scrummy hubby tell you about the South Island in his account tomorrow as I'm drowning my homesick sorrows in a bottle of New Zealand's Sauvignon Blanc!

Day 218 - Monday 15th May 2006 - Colin's Account

Yesterday afternoon, we arrived by ferry at Picton on the South Island. The journey past all the little islands and the Marlborough Sounds was very pretty. It's not often that you are on a car ferry that twists and turns like a motorboat as it navigates its way, but twist and turn it did.

Much of what we want to do is further south, so with a passing nod and apology at Picton town centre, we headed straight for Kaikoura some 150km away. The road climbed over mountains and hugged the coastline at times, as so many of NZ's roads do and it rained nearly non stop.

We pulled into a picnic site in the dark about 30km short of Kaikoura and knew immediately from what little we could see by moonlight, that it was a good spot. We were surrounded by sea on three sides and the waves were pounding the rocks all around us. A serious gale was blowing and I imagine we felt as babies in a cradle as the wind rocked our campervan and us to sleep.

The morning proved us right, for as I peeked out of the curtains I saw half a dozen seals sunning themselves on some rocks not five metres from us. Calling to Sam to come and look we spent half an hour watching them waddle up and down, grunt and generally try to make themselves comfortable, brilliant.

I hopped up on some rocks to take some photos and a bit of film, but the wind was so strong it almost blew me off again. Holding my hat in one hand and the camera in the other I jumped down again mostly wind assisted.

Before long we reached Kaikoura and although the setting is beautiful with rugged coastline and snow capped mountains, it is just another small town and we didn't feel the urge to stay long. It's real claim to fame is for going on Whale sighting trips, but a) they're quite expensive and b) you often only get to see a fin or a tail flipper. So we went to the Whale watching station, on the beach, just on the off chance, but a scan out to sea with the binoculars proved fruitless. We then went for a walk along the coastline, which is backed by cliffs and therefore dangerous if you get caught there at high tide. Seals were just lying around wherever the fancy took them together with mounds of seaweed, which looked just like piles of huge, brown Tagliatelle.

After an Internet cafe tried to pass a virus to my laptop via their network, we headed south again towards Arthur's pass, which takes you from the East to the West coast. After 200km or so we stopped at a Village called Oxford, which is nothing like it's namesake. Turning off the main road to Ashley Gorge, we stopped at a campsite for the night. I really don't know why we bothered, as the setting compared to last night is rubbish and we have to pay for the privilege as well.

Day 219 Tuesday 16th May 2006 - Sam's Account

Today our route took us through Arthur's Pass, which was used by the Maori to reach the West coast. It's European discovery was made by Arthur Dobson in 1864, when the Westland gold rush created enormous pressure to find a crossing over the Southern Alps from Christchurch. The town at the summit of this route is also named Arthur's Pass and is the highest town in New Zealand. To be honest there isn't a huge amount of things to see and do in Arthur's Pass and the main attraction is travelling the route itself to take in some more of NZ's stunning scenery. We did stop briefly, however, at the town settlement to hike up to one of the waterfalls there. Again, beautiful...

Hokitika was our next fleeting stop and having looked around the coastal town, we set off on a hunt for a freebie parking space for our campervan for the night. We found a great spot by a lake and although it was really very cold indeed (ice and frost on our windows in the morning) we settled in to hibernate for the night in our cosy camper.
 

Day 220 - Wednesday 17th May 2006 - Colin's Account

Bloody freezing last night in our chosen campsite just south of Hokitika, set in a forest by the edge of lake Mahinapua. Turned off the gas heater when we went to sleep as didn't fancy ending up a Carbon Monoxide statistic. I guess after escaping last winter by being in Thailand, it's time for you to get your own back as we are now in mid-winter.

We are following the route down the west coast with the Tasman Sea on one side and mountains on the other. Our destination is the Franz Josef glacier, but on the way we stopped at a remote 'rest' stop only to find it is owned and run by a large, friendly bloke called Kevin. Apart from his helicopter he owns 8 hectares of gold claim land at the same spot.

We soon got chatting and he took us down to the river which is unbelievably blue, due to all the mineral deposits. After a quick demonstration, Sam and I were soon panning for gold. Which is deposited in the black grit on the river banks during floods.

Kevin reckons he gets about an ounce or two per week, which is worth anywhere from 700-1400 $US.

The whole area is plagued by Sand flies and the standard (i.e. cheap) repellent is a mix of 40% Dettol & 60% baby oil. It works a treat and they left and hands and faces alone. Unfortunately bending over to pan for gold allowed them to bite me on my lower back and I must say they itch like mad, much worse than Mosquito bites.

There are dozens of glaciers all around us apart from the famous Franz Josef, Fox and Tasman one's and we negotiated a ride in his helicopter to view them from the best angle.

My uncle flies a helicopter and I have had a lesson or two towards my own pilot's license, although in aeroplanes, so this was my first flight in a helicopter and it was fantastic.

We were soon soaring over the mountains, sometimes hovering for a look at ice caves and at other times almost turning 'on a sixpence' for close up views of frozen lakes or ice rivers. We also flew over the spot where they lit the fire beacons in the Lord of the Rings film.

Sadly it was over all too soon (20 minutes) and we swooped in over the gold field to land back on solid ground.

Meanwhile all the gold panning we had been doing was, hopefully, about to produce some results. With us in tow, Kevin took us to a pond with a low wall running around it, where we sat and removed all the excess grit and rock. The result was two small bright red garnets and a few dozens flakes of gold. We poured them into a small presentation bottle and stowed it safely away in our rucksacks.

Then it was on to the small, but lively, Franz Josef village. We are stopping here for the night and will go up onto the glacier tomorrow for a six hour hike, complete with crampons and ice axes.

Day 221 Thursday 18th May 2006 - Sam's Account

Another new adventure today; glacier hiking at Franz Josef.

We had enrolled on a day's glacier hiking with one of the local companies and having been kitted out with all our essential equipment, boots, crampons, socks, rain coats, over trousers, hats and gloves - we all set off on the bus.

The initial walk to the glacier was over 1km even though it only looked 5 minutes away. It is very difficult to get a good perspective of size and distance in the glacier valley as there is nothing to measure it against and the whole area is just enormous. The glacier is 1km in width and to be honest none of us believed our guide until we reached the actual steps which lead up the ice face.

We were split into two groups; The fitness "I've got to prove I'm better than anyone else" lot and the flabby, wusses with sad woolly hats brigade. What a choice?! Well we ended up with the wusses as I wanted to take the time to enjoy the experience and take some photo's without being herded around too quickly. It was a mistake, I underestimated our fitness levels and I think we could have honestly easily out run the most competitive people in the other group, but hey we had a good time and that was the main thing.

The Franz Josef glacier is the fastest moving glacier in the world at a phenomenal 5m per day. It is quite dirty in places where the river bed had been taken up with it, but there are also some stunning blue sections with crevasse after crevasse.

Our hippy guide, Cliff, found a new crevasse and as Hayley had been through it first she was allowed to name it. She chose the poetic name "Hayley's Crack" which had everyone in stitches!

I had expected the glacier to be smooth, but it is effectively just a series of crevasses so the whole trekking time we were constantly going up and down. It got quite cold as the real wusses in our group started taking longer and longer to step over 6" cracks - ridiculous. We were all pleased to get back on the bus. It seemed that everyone was absolutely knackered, other than me and Colin and they were all University students on a year out. We stopped in the pub afterwards to celebrate our new glacier experience and the Uni Students all crawled home to bed. Pathetic!

Colin and me went out for our first meal since we left Tokyo and it was a great, well deserved evening out. I had a hot lamb salad and he had venison pie and we shared and excellent N.Z. red. We slept like logs.
 

Day 222 - Friday 19th May 2006 - Colin's Account

It turned out to be an exciting day today, but initially after leaving Franz Josef all I had to look forward to was about a 400 km drive to Queenstown.

We stopped for lunch besides lake Wanaka in the town of the same name and then headed for the airport just out of town.

The reason was Wanaka sky divers, as Sam had fancied sky diving for years. I'm not to keen on heights so didn't fancy it myself, but you never know.

Sam paid to go up to the maximum height, which at 15000 feet (4.5km) high is about the highest commercial jump in the world. The other alternatives were 12000 and 9000 feet.

From 15000 ft you have approximately 60 seconds of freefall at 200 kmh before your parachute opens at 4000 feet and you glide safely to the ground.

Sam enjoyed it so much that I decided to have a go myself, from the same height. The plane was very small and very full. It takes 9 people maximum, sitting on the floor plus the pilot. Apart from the instructor, who you jump with, we both paid to have a DVD made and so we each had another person jumping with us to film the event.

The other two people bailed out with their instructors etc at 9000 ft, leaving just my instructor, camera man or girl in this case and me. This was the most nerve racking bit watching the others jump and then having to wait while we climbed to 15000 ft. Then the green light went on and the door opened.

My camera girl climbed out of the plane and stood on a ledge filming as I sat in the doorway with my instructor. With a quick wave to the camera we were off and that was the hardest part apart from actually deciding to do it in the first place.

Once you jump it's an amazing sensation, obviously you can see for miles, but you can also see the curvature of the earth as you plummet down at 120+ miles per hour. Can't really describe the feeling, but we did a few spins and turns on the way as the wind roared past us and then before I knew it the parachute was open and we glided the rest of the way in, to touch down right next to where we had left from. Wow!

Day 223 Saturday 20th May 2006 - Sam's Account

I prised myself out of bed and trudged through the cold, wet grass and rainy weather with my towel, for a hot shower. I felt a bit more human after the shower although I only managed to shave part of one leg before the hot water ran out. Great. I used the hand dryer to dry my hair whilst crouching on the floor - it's amazing what you're reduced to after 8 months travelling. Although I resolved to buy a hairdryer in town that day, it's just too nippy here to go around with wet hair.

Emerging from the girls shower block I heard Colin in stitches laughing away to himself having hung up the phone from speaking to his cousin Dan. "He's got a kiwi accent!" he pronounced and burst out laughing again!

Anyway, we strolled into Queenstown, which we both liked a lot and Colin had his hair cut and I bought my hairdryer.

Soon we were off to see Dan in Cromwell and arrived at his offices around 4pm. We went back to his place where we settled in and started catching up. There was a lot of catching up to do as Colin hadn't seen him for 10 years or more and they had been as thick as thieves before then. Drinks and nibbles were served and no-one really noticed how much was being consumed as we were all chatting nineteen to the dozen.

Bron, Dan's friend arrived for dinner and we were soon tucking into some steaks as well as some girly chatting, whilst the boys were left to chew the fat. A fantastic evening was had by all and Dan's wine cellar was looking just as forlorn as us all in the morning.
 

Day 224 - Sunday 21st May 2006 - Colin's Account

Didn't do very much today, except hang out at Dan's house chatting. We did go out briefly to look at a house Dan built a few years ago, all by himself and it looked really good on 2 stories with a separate 2 story garage and studio. We followed this up with a drive into the hills where in the winter you can go tobogganing.

Whatever you do though, don't fall too deeply into the snow as there are numerous spiny plants that are very sharp and lurk just under the surface. Unbelievably there is a runway up here on a steep hillside. It is very very short, but the planes land going uphill, so loose speed quickly and take-off down hill to build up speed quickly. If they were to miscalculate, there is a mountain and huge piles of rocks for them to crash into, obviously quite insane.

They are not at all 'PC' in New Zealand, preferring to tell it like it is and it's very refreshing. Some of the signs we have seen illustrate this point, for example a watch your speed sign read 'You're a long time dead, so what's the hurry?'. Another sign, for manure, read. 'Fresh Nevis Pooh, only $5 a kilo'. Or another for warning you to stay away from helicopters had a picture of a head with chunks flying off it, Ugh!

Day 225 - Monday 22nd May 2006 - Sam's Account

Having slept in until late, we eventually hauled ourselves out of Dan's lovely home and back into the campervan. Having said "Goodbye" to Dan and Barclay his gorgeous, soppy, slobbery dog we hit the road again.

The weather has unfortunately turned and we drove in the rain, intermittent snow and low cloud all afternoon until we arrived at Lake Tekapo. We took the scenic route as advised and the lakes we drove around were the most gorgeous turquoise blue even in the winter weather. Unfortunately we missed the Salmon farm we had hoped to visit en route and before we knew it we had arrived at our planned stop for the night.

It is dark as I write and we haven't really found anywhere nice to park up yet, so we'll have to mooch around Lake Tekapo tomorrow.

Day 226 - Tuesday 23rd May 2006 - Colin's Account

After a cold night in a car park, admittedly overlooking Lake Tekapo, we moved on towards Mt Hut and Methven. The weather is pretty grim at the moment with grey skies and a perpetual drizzle, but Christchurch is almost in sight and Australia.

We feel that we have done pretty much everything we set out to do in New Zealand, although of course, there are still quite a few places to visit another time.

One final thing to do beckoned, but we are sadly just a bit too early and the skiing season has not quite started. In fact the first Ski station will not declare itself open until tomorrow, but not at Mt Hut, where we have stopped on route, despite it being the highest Ski station in NZ. It all looks fairly shut so we decide to head on to Christchurch and arrive around 2pm.

Our first job was to book a hotel close to the airport for tomorrow night as we leave very early on the 25th for Sydney. This done we found ourselves at the International Antarctic Centre and decided to while away the afternoon there.

It is quite an amazing place and is right next to the actual departure terminal for flights to Antarctica. As no one owns it, following an international agreement by 12 countries in 1959, you don't need a passport to go there. Since the original 12 countries, including The UK, signed the treaty, dozens more have joined the accord.

The Antarctic centre has a sealed area maintained at -5°C and every 60 minutes, they simulate a blizzard, where the temperature falls to -25°C and the wind picks up to a level where you can hear nothing else. They provide heavy coats and overshoes, so you don't get too cold.

We also went for a ride in a Hagglund, which is made in Sweden and costs 500,000$NZ. This vehicle is used to get around in Antarctica and can climb 40° inclines, drive over 1.5m crevasses and float on water. It's also very bumpy, so we had to strap in well and we slewed around corners, plunged into ponds and tilted over sideways at alarming angles.

There was a great deal of info about life on Scott Base, which over winter only has 10 staff. From shop and bar opening times, to hydroponics supplying fresh veg, cookie baking days, fire drills and blizzard warnings; you really felt you could understand in a small way what life is like there on the base.

Day 227 - Wednesday 24th May 2006 - Sam's Account

Last day in N.Z. Cold and rainy, spent the day in Christchurch. We are both looking forward to warmer climes. Living in a campervan is not too much fun when the weather is very wet. We got soaked walking back from the campervan depot to the airport and stayed the night in a hotel very close to Christchurch airport for tomorrows early flight to Sydney. I couldn't sleep. We have had the most fantastic time in N.Z., it is such a shame this place is about as far away from England as you can get on this planet.
 

The New Zealand journal is now finished and moves to the Australian journal

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