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| New Zealand |
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Christchurch, June 2004 Folks, I started writing a long and dreary email about our last couple of week in Oz but it's already so way out of date. Suffice to say we had a great time in the Outback (loved the dug out opal mining town of Coober Peedy) and Sydney with Sarah's parents who spoilt us for a couple of rushed days and we 'downloaded' our experiences for their amusement - it was hard to see them go again so soon! Arrived in New Zealand Tuesday 7th after a 3 hour flight! Some of you may not know but I've been to Christchuch before, lived here in fact, but it doesn't really count cos I was only 4 years old at the time! All I can 'remember' about my last visit is fishing in Lyttleton Harbour, my favourite game at the time: hiding scrunched up pieces of tin-foil from my sister in the pebble-garden pretending it was treasure, and being forced to have an afternoon nap at school - pah sissies! I was so excited about being back that after checking into our backpacker hotel I dragged poor Sarah off to find the place I used to live! C'mon it's only 4km to Linwood and besides at 11pm everyones tucked up in bed! Took us 40 minutes to find it which has got to be some sort of record? Sarah enjoyed this so much I made her hike out there again in daylight so I could get some photos, but the light wasn't quite right so I went on my own this morning and got the shot I needed. Ahem, anyway, Christchurch - apart from tracing ma roots we've had plenty of fun already. Took a cable-car ride up a nearby mountain and had a fantastic view of the city and mountains beyond to the east. Walked down to Lyttleton harbour on the other side and had lunch. Visted the Antarctic Centre... Been on a spending spree too, getting ready for the glaciers and we bought some thermal tops and a pair of thick socks each! Must dash got to pack cos we're off to the chilly west coast tomorrow on the tranz-alpine train. Aukland, 01 July 2004 Folks, We're in the North Island now and getting ready to take our flight to Chile tomorow Since our last email from Dunedin we've travelled north along the east coast back through Christchurch and hired a car to drive north again via Kiakoura to take ferry at Picton for Wellington. The hostel at Picton was the coldest we've stayed in so far. Haven't had much luck with the wildlife on our travels. We slept in one morning and missed the penguins and then the sea lions had gone fishin'. The Cook Strait between the two islands is said to be one of the roughest ferry crossings in the world but fortunately for us the weather was untypically calm and very sunny. the sea was a bit choppy but thankfully without the swell, even saw a seal swimming past. Had a very lazy few days cafe-crawling in 'Windy' Wellington courtesy of Sarah's Kiwi mate Chris who has a lovely flat overlooking one of the many beachs. Didn't really know what to expect of New Zealand's capital city except for the extreme weather. Wellington is a small city built on a series of steepish hills surrounding a huge windswept bay and harbour. The city proper is confined to valleys and the waterfront with the posher burbs with views perched on the hills overlooking the city and the bay. We've seen a few places here now and it seems that Kiwi cities are a bit grungier and have more of a european/english vibe than those in Australia, and people are out and about enjoying themselves in spite of the horizonal rain and gale force winds! Took a flight to Auckland and then hired a car for our last few days in the North Island. There's so much to see here and its easy to underestimate the distances cos there aren't really many motorways except near the cities. Dashed inland a bit to see the unmissable geo-thermal attractions in and around Rotorua - the whole town stinks of sulphur and the thermal springs below produce hot water and pongy steam which rises from fissures and holes in the ground between the houses and motels - scarey!!! The whole place in incredibly active - apparently it's because the earths crust is very thin and only 8 km think compared to the usual 25 km! YHA we stayed in boasts hot water central heating and a thermal pool. Took a trip out of town to visit one of the many Geo-thermal wonderland's around. The main attraction is the Lady knox Geyser which erupts punctually every morning at 10.15am with a little help from the park warden and some soap powder. He explained and said it was something about realeasing the surface tension of the water in the resevoir below etc.... The rest of the park was equally impressive with boiling mud pools, smoking sulphur mounds, bright green lakes, and huge steaming craters. Headed quickly north again through Auckland towards the Northland peninsula and the Bay of Islands. Captain Cook is responsible for many of the imaginitive names given to New Zealand's coastal and alpine features:- Mount Cook, Black Rocks, Bay of Islands, Long Reef, Gillespie(')s Beach, The Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay, East Cape, West Cape, South Cape, Mount Terrible, Big Bay, Doubtless (a) Sound, Martin(')s Bay and my personal favourite a range of mountains called The Remarkables! After the Bay of Islands we headed West over some spectacular scenery yet again! New Zealands full of great landscapes it's easy to get blasé. Stopped off to see the 'king of the Forest' an enormous 2000 year old tree said to be around at the time of christ (50 metres tall and 18 metres around the trunk!!!). The road out of the forest had to deviate and narrow to avoid a couple of its saplings a mere 1500 years old judging by the thinner trunks. Back in Auckland again waiting for our flight to Santiago rushing to do the usual last minute chores. The weather over the past couple of days has been atrocious (across the whole country): horizontal rain, trees uprooted, yachts broken free from moorings. The hostel we stayed in last night was bloody freezing and we're happy to be heading to wamer climats. Thank you New Zealand :) |
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