South Island

My first annual leave in New Zealand was spent in South Island with James' parents.
Early on Saturday morning we got up to catch a flight from Auckland to Nelson. We landed in Nelson at 09.30 and collected our hire car (Toyota Camry) before heading straight out to Renwick in the Marlborough wine region. In Renwick we exchanged our car for bikes and set off on a cycle wine tour around some of the world renowned wineries in Marlborough including Cloudy bay, Bouldevines, Huia and Forrest. Each winery offered an excellent service with plenty of wine offered for free tastings (the idea is that you end up spending a lot of money on their produce - which we did of course). After visiting 6 wineries and feeling a little less steady on the bikes than when we started, we headed back to the hostel. That evening we had a quiet night out in a local pub for food followed by an early night.

The next day we got up after a bit of a lie in and headed down the east coast to Kaikoura driving through some beautiful scenery and along the coastal road. Kaikoura is a quaint town with a town centre comprising of a single street running parallel to the beach. We checked in to our backpackers hostel before heading over to the dolphin encounter centre. Ever since I was 5 years old when I wrote to Jim'll fix it to ask him to let me swim with dolphins it has been a dream of mine, and since he couldn't do that for me, I arranged it myself - and it didn't disappoint! We donned our thick wetsuits and hoods and boarded a boat with 25 other people to head out in to the pacific ocean. 30 mins in to the boat trip we found the first signs of dolphin activity. We then all jumped in to the ocean with a pod of 3 - 400 dolphins! Absolutely awesome experience, they were circling, jumping around and generally being playful - amazing. I also got the opportunity to use the new underwater case for my camera that I got for my birthday managing some close up photos. That evening after plenty of excitement and having spent all our energy in the water we wandered through Kaikoura before heading back to the backpackers for a BBQ put on by the hostel - a great opportunity to hear other travellers stories and a great end to the day.

Monday morning we got up and drove the 2 1/2 hrs to Christchurch. We arrived in Christchurch at around 11am, checked in to our hotel (a weird ultra modern experience in a hotel So..) We then wandered through the city along the tram route to the art centre where we bought a harbourside canvas and Ian and Karen bought us a beautiful ceramic bowl to remind us of the trip. After that we wandered around the botanical gardens and had a lovely lunch out in the sunshine. After wandering round the beautiful Catherdral we headed out to Sumner beach, a small coastal town 20mins out of Christchurch - a place I could easily move to! That evening after dinner in the city Katie and Julia joined us in the hotel bar for cocktails and a good catch up.

Tuesday morning we had a good lie in followed by a big breakfast before setting off on the long drive over Arthurs pass. One of the early stops was in Sheffield, Canterbury, New Zealand (we felt we had to have a photo) we then crossed through some amazing scenery with the dramatic landscapes moving from gorgeous blue sky in Canterbury to the wet and windy west coast. We stopped for cake and coffee along the pass and met some rather friendly Kea (Parrot like birds always on the lookout for food). We arrived in Franz Josef in the pouring rain at around 6pm, went for a pint before getting some food and turning in for the night.

Wednesday was a early start as we split up for a Franz Josef glacier walk. James and I headed off early to get all our gear for a full day glacier hike whilst Karen and Ian left a little later for the half day tour. We were given all our equipment including gortex jacket and trousers, hats and gloves, hiking boots and crampons and headed out on to the glacier. We walked through ice caves, along side deep crevasses and over tall ice waves- an amazing experience. After the full day we headed to the pub for a pint with an Irish couple we met on the glacier before relaxing from the days activity in the thermal spa pools. After food we turned in for the night.

The next day we had a bit more of a sedate start with breakfast followed by a walk around the beautiful lake Matheson, a mirror lake in the shadow of the fox glacier. Following coffee we drove the scenic drive to Wanaka where we had ice cream by the lakeside (back into the beautiful sunshine) before heading over to Queenstown. Once in Queenstown we wandered around the city grabbed a lovely dinner in a good seafood restaurant, had a few drinks then headed back to the hotel.

Friday was spent in Queenstown. We got up early Friday morning and headed out to the waterfront for some breakfast. Our 1st stop in Queenstown was the underwater observatory - a small room underwater where you put a dollar in a machine and it releases pelts in the water - the novelty is seeing the ducks diving for food (bit weird). We then wandered along the waterfront and into the gardens where they have all these memorials to fallen climbers and mountaineers including Captain Scott - a very serene place. We then headed through the town and up the gondola for an amazing view of the city - we couldn't resist the luge (a track similar to a fast downhill go-kart track) and so decided to race ( I won - although I did get a bit of a head start!). After the gondola we were getting hungry so headed down to Queenstown for a late lunch at the infamous Fergburger. After lunch we picked up the car and headed on the 2 1/2 hr drive to Te Anau on route to Milford Sound.

Our final day on South Island was spent at Milford Sound. Words and photographs can't do this place justice, truly one of the most beautiful and amazing places I have been to. There had been a recent storm which meant that all the mountains had beautiful waterfalls streaming down them - apparently these streams only last 2 weeks after heavy rainfall so we got very lucky with the weather - a recent storm, yet blue sky on the day we were there - Perfect! We drove back to Queenstown and spent our last night in an amazing restaurant (only a shame we couldn't see what we were eating due to lights out for earth hour!) We then had a couple of drinks in the Dux de Lux bar before heading back to our beautiful apartment on the lake front in the shadow of the remarkables - the perfect end to an amazing holiday.