It was an early start this morning to catch the bus to Milford Sound.  Again it was another of these times where I bumped into someone where I had met already.  This time it was Lisa who I had met at the Greymouth YHA.

[thumb:1416:r]First stop on the way out was Te Anau for coffee.  We had a nice clear view of the lake there and various boats tied up on it.  However this was all I had a chance to take with no time for the glow worm caves as we were off to Milford Sound.  [newline]

Second stop was a brief one to use the last toilets before Milford Sound, shortly after this we stopped in the Eglington Valley to take in the hills and the native trees.  Climbing higher, with the weather now having changed to rain, we had another stop to take a path through the forest to look at some waterfalls carving beautiful smooth depressions out of the rock.

[thumb:1419:r]Pressing on we passed through the first tunnel which at certain times of the year is closed due to avalanche risk.  A brief on the way was in Monkey Creek between the two road tunnels that give access to Milford Sound.  This is one of the two safe places where it is safe from avalanches.  The driver made the point to us that the spring water from here was giving him his youthful looks.

 Arriving at Milford Sound it was out of the bus and into the ferry terminal to board the Monarch for our cruise on the Fjord.  There a lots of beautiful waterfalls falling into the Fjord with the rainwater feeding them.  Most of the distant hills were lost in the mist however.[thumb:1426:l][thumb:1427:l][thumb:1435:l][thumb:1438:l][newline]

No dolphins, whales or penguins on this trip though.  Obviously too wet for them and they were keeping out of sight.

Trip back to Queenstown was quite uneventful.  No one on the bus wanted to stump up the $550 for the 40 minute flight by helicopter back to Queenstown.  All in all quite a 4 hour journey each way to see some beautiful sceenary.

I left Wanaka at 9 am this morning and got picked up to go White Water Sledging with Frogz over on the Roaring Meg this morning. I didn’t bump into Lisa, Calum and their Dragon Wagon this time though.

It was fun surfing down ths river, first time I did it on a sledz and the second time on a body board. I would have to say overall that I much more enjoyed the canyoning of the day before.[thumb:1396:l][thumb:1397:l][thumb:1404:l][thumb:1408:l][newline]

After this I got a lift to Queenstown where I managed to get booked onto the Shotover Jet Boat. That was fun with it’s high speed jinxs. However the Canyon Swing was fully booked which was a disappointment.

In the evening I managed to catch up with Briony, Roxie and Megan. I found the Briony in her three days in Queenstown had become a bungy junky having done the bungy quadrilogy. At the end of the evening it was sad to say goodbye to Briony and Roxie as they’re going to be a day ahead of me from now on.[thumb:1414:l]

This has been the best day of my holiday so far having been canyoning for the first time with Deep Canyoning near Wanaka.

Having spent a night in the Wanaka YHA I ended up having a late start with only needing to be picked up at 9:15 am as opposed to the usual Magic Bus early starts.  Waiting outside the YHA were three other people, a couple who had been in Australia for a few months and had moved onto New Zealand for a few weeks before having to go back to Australia for a Muse concert and Eliss a Belgium girl who had been Woofing and travelling in New Zealand.  Chatting away with them I told them how I was going round on the Magic Bus and kept bumping into a couple, Lisa and Calum driving a Bright Red Dragon Wagon.  Then the bus for the canyoning rolled up carrying Lisa and Calum.

All of us were very surprised to see each other again as I’d expected them to have already started to head north but they’d changed their plans to come south round the Southern Alps instead.

Canyoning itself was a great. A bit of a demanding trek 20 minute up the hill to begin with but the three hours we spent coming down the Niger Stream didn’t feel like that. The abseils, jumps, slides, drifting, climbing and death slide kept me wondering what was coming up next. I wished I tried this sooner. Once we got to the bottom the picnic lunch was much appreciated with all the energy I’d expended.[thumb:1485:l][thumb:1489:l][thumb:1493:l][thumb:1496:l][newline]

 Whilst Calum and Lisa were still there I took the opportunity to snap their Red Dragon Wagon. [thumb:1502:l][thumb:1499:l][newline]

In the evening I took another walk out under the stars trying to spot the Southern Cross.

Well it was an early start this morning, as the Magic Bus was for 7:30 am. A bit of tooing and froing for me between my room and the outdoors this morning as I nearly left my camera under the bed. I took the opportunity to ring my parents before the bus set off and have been told that the weather is rather cold back in England. With news like that I’m not looking forward to heading back.

Our first real stop this morning was by a kettle lake. As there is no water flowing out of the lake it is mirror like and supposed to reflect Mount Cook in its water. But you guessed it was cloudy so all we saw was a very black lake with some clouds viewable in it. Neverminding that myself, Briony and Roxie got some photos anyway and there was a very nice cafe by the car park which allowed us to refuel for the day.[thumb:1356:l][thumb:1357:l][thumb:1358:l][newline]

Carrying on there was some splendid views from the window of the coach of the glaciers in the distance on one side and the sea on the other. Our coach driver was very good at telling us the history of the area with the rivalry between the Dutchman Hass and John Cameron on who was to get everything named after them.

We had a brief stop off for lunch in Makarora where I plumped for some chocolate cake, which Briony stole a bit of and Roxie munched away on veggie pizza and somasas from our awesomely large meal at the the Franz Josef the night before. Before long it was time to move on again but not without a picture stop next to Lake Hawea.

Finally around 3 pm we arrived in Wanaka where I was sad to say goodbye to my travelling companions of the last few days of Briony, Megan and Roxie. However I will be catching them up in Queenstown so it’s not a final goodbye yet.

Alone in Wanaka by myself I’ve upgraded my room to a twin rather than a dorm in the hope of getting a good nights sleep for a change and booked myself in for canyoning tomorrow with sledging on Thursday morning. Having done this I headed out to Puzzling World.

Puzzling World was a treat. Just approaching it and seeing the leaning tower of Wanaka is intriguing. First of all I tried the Great Maze. Trying to do the Yellow, Green, Blue and Red towers in order. Normally one can follow the walls of a maze systematically and eventually get to the centre. Not this one as the creator, Stuart Landsborough has put in bridges to give it an extra twist. Needless to say I ended up doing Green, Blue, Red and then the Yellow Tower. [newline] [thumb:1371:i]

The next attraction was the Illusion Rooms, the room of the following faces was spooky that it really works. The Ames Room made me realise that the scenes in the Lord Of the Rings could be done without CGI. The Tilted House was so warped that several people I saw had problems handling it. Back in the foyer the puzzles there were quite fun to have a go at. If you go to Wanaka the Puzzling World is well worth a stop.

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Coming back down along the lake I spotted some tiles with writing along the pavement. Looking more closely and it turned out to be a history of the last 2000 years with a Kiwi slant. I also took the opportunity to take in the beautiful vista of the lake overshadowed by the snow capped mountains in the back ground.[thumb:1385:i][newline]

Cinema Paridisio I would have to say has become my favourite cinema ever. It entirely recreates the familar watching a film at home experience in a cinema with the proper treats such as fantastic chocolate cookies. Sitting on a proper sofa to watch a film was such a treat with real cushions and plenty of space to spread out in. I’m sure I’m not going to come across another indoor cinema that recreates the drive in feel by having a Morris Minor for seating. The film, Knocked Up was also very funny and well worth seeing.[thumb:1389:l][thumb:1391:l][thumb:1392:l][newline]

Walking back along the shore of Lake Wanaka the moonlight on water was beautiful. Shame the batteries in my camera choose that moment to go flat.

Today I’ve had an exciting day spending most of it clambering up the Franz Josef Glacier. What amazed me was the size of the glacier once you got close to it.[thumb:1302:i][newline]

Having donned crampons we started to walk up the glacier. I decided to join the front group that was going to go the fastest. In the warm sunshine the guides were having to recut a lot of the paths and. At the bottom the surface of the glacier was covered in rocks but you could see the ice below as the guides cut stairs in the ice. We were lucky enough to find a small ice cavern to crawl through in the snow. The blue colour of the ice was intense. I was told that in a couple of days time it would be likely to be gone with the roof having melted away.[thumb:1319:l][thumb:1322:l].[newline]

The crevasses were beautiful. I can imagine that going up there everyday it will be different with different hazards and new caverns and crevasses.[thumb:1318:l][newline]

Having got back from the glacier I decided that I’d give quad biking. I’d have to admin I’m not the best quad biker in the world but at least I didn’t flip it on our journey across grassland, river bed and forest. Certainly a varied terrain and I wouldn’t mind giving it another go in the desert where’s there’s less ruts and things to hit.[thumb:1353:l][thumb:1354:l][thumb:1355:l][newline]

After having a dinner out with Briony, Megan and Roxie I headed off to the Blue Ice Cafe where Caz was celebrating her birthday with Ruth. I was pleasently surprised to bump into Claire there as well. With the magic bus you can’t help bumping into people again and again. However it was an early night for me as the Magic Bus was leaving at 7:30 am next day.

It was another early start.  Got chatting to Lisa a Canadian girl who had arrived on the train from Christchurch the day before.  When we got on the bus it was quite a change as it was a pretty full Magic Bus with all the extra people that joined us having taken the train over the mountains from Christchurch.  No more being able to hog all the space you wanted and more. 

Another day travelling down the quiet west coast of the South Island.  Another day of single carriage roads spiced up by a couple of single track bridges shared with the railway line.  It was quite amusing to hear the Magic Bus driver ask is there a train coming the other way as he took the bus over the bridge. 

Hass country was very beautiful but empty.  Over the Hass Pass and onward to Franz-Josef.

Arriving in Franz-Josef the first stop was the Franz-Josef Glacier Guiding company to book ourselves onto the glacier hike.  Again another stay in the YHA for me.  Got chatting to two girls, Irina from Australia and Anna from New York. 

[thumb:1296:r][thumb:1298:r]After failing to persuade Roxie and Briony to go horse riding it we agreed on going for a walk up to the Wombat Pool. 

[thumb:1299:l]Got my first view of the glacier on the way up to the car park for the glacier.  The glacier just poking up over the hills.  Had a very pleasent walk up the hill to the Wombat Pool.  When we got there ended up chatting to an American family who had also walked up there.  Did manage to get a cheesey photo of myself posing just in front of the Wombat Pool

[thumb:1666:r]Coming back down th ehill The clouds hanging on the hills near the glacier

Going into the Landing Bar with Bev I was amazed to spot Calum and Lisa drivers of the Bright Red Dragon Wagon.  I knew that they’re plan had been to visit the South Island driving down the west coast but I hadn’t expected to bump into them again.  I was amazed to find out that they spotted me on the Magic Bus as it went through Haverley whilst they were eating green lipped muscles.  Found out that they were planning to go up the glacier the next day by helicopter to take a look at the glacier.  This time I remembered to ask them for their email address. 

So after having a bite to eat Bev, Calum, Lisa and myself headed up to hunt for wetas and glow worms.  Wetas being the giant inscects that had evolved in New Zealand to fill the roll that rodents had filled in other places in the world.  Along the way we stopped off along the way to buy a little torch as we weren’t able to borrow one off anyone. 

Heading into the forest we could see lots of glow worms amongst the trees when we turned the torch off.  Further in it got darker and darker but no signs of wetas.  In the end we had to turn back as our torch lights began to fail and we couldn’t see our footing.  So it was goodbye again to Calum and Lisa at the end of the evening and also goodbye to Bev who was heading off to Queenstown the next day whilst Roxie, Briony and myself went hiking up the Franz-Josef glacier.

Will this morning we got off to a bit of a false start with having travelled for 15 minutes past the last set of traffic lights for the 200 km or so before Queenstown and having stopped to fill the Magic Bus up with diesel we had to return to Nelson to pick up 4 people who had been left behind.

[thumb:1275:r][thumb:1276:r]The best stop of the day was the Punakali rocks.  It was amazing tha the rocks were just layered like pancakes.[newline]

The stop for the night, Greymouth, itself didn’t have much to offer other than it was there and the end of the railway line over from Christchurch. 

Having left my bags at the YHA I went off on the Brewery tour at the Monteiths Brewery joining up with Briony, Roxie and Bev again.  Quite an aroma and a suprise in the amount of caustic they use for cleaning stuff.  [thumb:1280:rl][thumb:1285:r] A surprise for me was that though the hops are grown in New Zealand with some of the barley coming from the Canterbury plains they also import barley from the UK to make Kiwi beer.

[thumb:1291:r]Afterwards we stopped off for an all you could eat BBQ and a spot of dancing.  However after 4 sausages I knew that I wasn’t up for trying at the record for 36 sausages eaten.

Having spent the night in Nelson I took the opportunity today to visit the Abel Tasman Park. So as see as much as possible I went for the half day walk followed by a half day of kayaking. This meant another early start. My holiday doesn’t seem to have any lie ins involved.

With me were Bev, Claire, Megan, Roxie and Briony. Strange to be the only bloke amongst five girls. But then again this is a Magic Tour and not the Kiwi Experience.[thumb:1258:I][newline]

After arriving at Kiwi Kayaks it was on to a Aquataxi to head up the coast to Torrents Bay for the walking part of the day. On the way we had the chance to take a picture of an impressive rock feature from the boat.  [thumb:1262:I][newline]

Moving on further up the coast it was off the back of the boat it was onto a golden sandy beach. In fact my first New Zealand beach and it was a pretty one.[thumb:1265:l][newline]

The Abel Tasman Park is very picturesque with plenty of greenary and views of the sea. Along our route down to Anchorage Bay and Watering Cove we took a detour to have a look at the pretty Cleopartra’s Pool.[thumb:1256:l][newline]

After lunching at Anchorage Bay it was over the head land to Watering Cove where we met up with Kiwi Kayaks again. Buddied up with me in my kayak was Roxie. Unfortunately for me she decided to that I was going to do all the steering and she would keep a lookout up front.

Our two hour paddle was punctuated by Briony, Roxies travelling buddy and Bev in one kayak and Claire and Sam in another ramming and generally getting in our way and preventing us making good progress. :p The sea however was very calm allowing us to get up to a good speed. Our Irish guide gave us an excellent history of the various coves and how they came to be named and why the Abel Tasman Park existed.

In the trees hanging over the cliffs we spotted a large number of cormorants with some of them spreading their wings to dry them out. There were numerous gulls sitting on the rocks picking on each other.

Eventually it came to an end and out we had to get. There’s still the chance that I’ll be able to get to do some more kayaking this holiday though.

Today I left the North Island of New Zealand behind. [thumb:1051:r]Taking the Interislander ferry Kaitaki the journey took just over three hours. A little bumpy at times whilst crossing the Cook Straits but not worse than some of the cross channel ferry journey’s I had in the past. [thumb:1241:r][newline] What was really suprising is that the Kaitaki is the former P&O Pride Of Cherbourg. [thumb:1242:r]Little did I expect to travel half way across the world and find a ship that has done the same only in recent years.

Whilst driving through Havelock on the Magic Bus I spotted the Red Dragon Wagon of the couple I keep bumping into parked up. Quite distictive it could only be them as one furry die had fallen off.[thumb:1243:i][newline]

Arriving in Nelson I quickly checked into the YHA before heading off to the World Of Wearable Art. I was very surprised to find in the foyer of the gallery a Robin Reliant in the livery of Trotter Independent Trading of Peckham Rye. Again not something that i expected to find half the world away.

The exhibtion of the wearable art was fascinating especially the video of the best bra award from the competition up in Auckland. I’m not sure that too many ladies would want to go out with a bra looking like the heads of two pigs or with a rotating propellor attached to each cup. But then again it is art.

Today I continued my journey south through New Zealand boarding the Magic Bus and leaving Taupo. 

The bus take the same road as the one that I had taken the day before to tackle the Tongariro crossing.  This time Mount Tongariro had a fresh covering of snow.  Clearly today it would not be possible to tackle tackle it without alpine climbing equipment.  Just two days ago people were able to climb both Mounts Tongariro and Ngauruhoe.

Having arrived in Wellington it is clear that is really the windy city.  Having arrived late in the afternoon it was a rush getting to the New Zealand National Museum, Te Papa and having a decent look round.  I guess I only manged to see a quarter of the exhibitions that were on and some of those I was only skimming through due to lack of time but it certainly is an impressive place giving both physical, natural and cultural histories of New Zealand.  I was particulally impressed by the outdoor exhbition of the different fauna through the island.