After a good night out in the capital city of Wellington, we had an early morning to catch the ferry to the south island. After a three hour trip we arrived to the first clear skies and sun we had seen in days. Finding our new bus and driver, we made a stop at a vineyard in the Marlborough valley for some wine tasting before continuing on to Abel Tasman National Park. There, we rode the water taxi, viewed fur seals, hiked along the shore, had a swim, and taught our friends a new card game.
Down to Hanmer Springs where the thermal activity creates beautiful hot pools for a terrific evening soak. Next to Kaikoura where we had the opportunity to swim in the ocean with a pod of around 200 wild Dusky Dolphins. It was surreal to have these creatures circling you, trying to work out what you were, all while you tried to make squeaky noises to keep their attention. Sometimes, you'd have 10 go rushing past a few feet underneath, and other times, you'd be making close eye contact with a curious one for 30 seconds. It was an amazing experience.
Down to Hanmer Springs where the thermal activity creates beautiful hot pools for a terrific evening soak. Next to Kaikoura where we had the opportunity to swim in the ocean with a pod of around 200 wild Dusky Dolphins. It was surreal to have these creatures circling you, trying to work out what you were, all while you tried to make squeaky noises to keep their attention. Sometimes, you'd have 10 go rushing past a few feet underneath, and other times, you'd be making close eye contact with a curious one for 30 seconds. It was an amazing experience.
From Kaikoura, down to Christchurch for the night and to pick up new people. Not much happens in Christchurch on a Wednesday night. Across the mountains then to the west coast and on to the Franz Josef Glacier, where we went for a day hike up, around, and through the glacier wearing truly entertaining crampons. We both loved the freedom of not worrying about slipping on the ice, and seeing what kind of manoeuvers we could pull with our grippy feet. The guided hike took us through narrow crevasses and caves, and up and down many steep slopes. 
Had a day of various hikes and walks through the area, a night of ridiculous karaoke - including Chris's creative rendition of "I'm Sorry Ms. Jackson" - then carried on to Queenstown. Knowing that Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand and home of the bungy jump, we had already planned on taking the plunge, so to speak. Unable to decide though on which of the available jumps to do, we compromised by doing two of them. And so we did a 43 m tandem jump off the Kawarau bridge, the site of the original jump, and followed it up the next day by each doing the 134 m jump off the Nevis platform.
With 8 seconds of freefall, the Nevis jump was truly incredible, and life looked a little different when hanging upside down, suspended by your ankles, after just throwing yourself off a perfectly safe and fine platform. Been there, done that, got the free t-shirt. Also tried out the lugeing, driving a gravity powered kart down a track on the side of a hill, only inches above the track. At that height, everything seemed really fast, and a good jump would rattle your head inside your helmet. But like little kids, after a speedy run down the track, almost flipping over on more than one corner, we'd run to the ski lift to the top, almost shouting "again!! again!!"
From there, on to our cruise through Doubtful Sound. This place seemed to look like mountains rising out of the water and up to the sky. This glacial fjord, formed millions of years ago, is home to some of the most beautiful scenery we've seen in New Zealand. Waterfalls were falling all around you, giant sea birds flew around, and fur seals played in the water. At one point, when the boat cut all of it's engines, all you could do was listen to the birds, hear the water flowing, and look around you and be in awe of the power of nature.
After a night on the town in Te Anau, including closing the bar down with some Norweigans and a South African from our tour, and getting a ride back to camp with the mullet-sporting bartender, we drove through the south western highlands, developed during gold rushes of the mid-19th century. We got a chance to play a game of curling, and felt at home on the ice. Chris wore his best curling shorts, and we had fun playing with a group of people who had never played before.
On our last tour morning, we went on a 32km bike ride through some canyon areas on an abandoned rail line. Rode through dark tunnels, dodged a herd of sheep that went running across our path, and took in some more amazing scenery. Then back up to Christchurch, where another night out was a good way to say goodbye to some great new friends.
In our two days in Christchurch, we came face to face with two kiwi birds at a wildlife park, got lost on a mountain top hike, bought tacky souvenirs, and enjoyed being on our own schedule again. A 3:45 am wake up came all too early, but we caught our flight back to Melbourne, were reunited with Wally, watched the Saints win the Super Bowl, and started to think about how we will ever fit everything we want to do into our last two months in Australia.
Had a day of various hikes and walks through the area, a night of ridiculous karaoke - including Chris's creative rendition of "I'm Sorry Ms. Jackson" - then carried on to Queenstown. Knowing that Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand and home of the bungy jump, we had already planned on taking the plunge, so to speak. Unable to decide though on which of the available jumps to do, we compromised by doing two of them. And so we did a 43 m tandem jump off the Kawarau bridge, the site of the original jump, and followed it up the next day by each doing the 134 m jump off the Nevis platform.
With 8 seconds of freefall, the Nevis jump was truly incredible, and life looked a little different when hanging upside down, suspended by your ankles, after just throwing yourself off a perfectly safe and fine platform. Been there, done that, got the free t-shirt. Also tried out the lugeing, driving a gravity powered kart down a track on the side of a hill, only inches above the track. At that height, everything seemed really fast, and a good jump would rattle your head inside your helmet. But like little kids, after a speedy run down the track, almost flipping over on more than one corner, we'd run to the ski lift to the top, almost shouting "again!! again!!"From there, on to our cruise through Doubtful Sound. This place seemed to look like mountains rising out of the water and up to the sky. This glacial fjord, formed millions of years ago, is home to some of the most beautiful scenery we've seen in New Zealand. Waterfalls were falling all around you, giant sea birds flew around, and fur seals played in the water. At one point, when the boat cut all of it's engines, all you could do was listen to the birds, hear the water flowing, and look around you and be in awe of the power of nature.
After a night on the town in Te Anau, including closing the bar down with some Norweigans and a South African from our tour, and getting a ride back to camp with the mullet-sporting bartender, we drove through the south western highlands, developed during gold rushes of the mid-19th century. We got a chance to play a game of curling, and felt at home on the ice. Chris wore his best curling shorts, and we had fun playing with a group of people who had never played before.
On our last tour morning, we went on a 32km bike ride through some canyon areas on an abandoned rail line. Rode through dark tunnels, dodged a herd of sheep that went running across our path, and took in some more amazing scenery. Then back up to Christchurch, where another night out was a good way to say goodbye to some great new friends.
In our two days in Christchurch, we came face to face with two kiwi birds at a wildlife park, got lost on a mountain top hike, bought tacky souvenirs, and enjoyed being on our own schedule again. A 3:45 am wake up came all too early, but we caught our flight back to Melbourne, were reunited with Wally, watched the Saints win the Super Bowl, and started to think about how we will ever fit everything we want to do into our last two months in Australia.
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