Warning: This blog contains adventure sports!

But first, we left the the traditional home of extreme sports, Queenstown, and headed around beautiful Lake Wanaka an past Lake Mapourika. Unfortunately we had to admire the view from the comfort of the van since we were behind schedule due to the snow.

Moody Lake Wanaka

Early morning - Lake Mapourika

Our next stop was Franz Josef Glacier, a very unusual place where the glacial ice has flowed down almost to sea level making it one of the most easily accessable glaciers in the world, which suited us just fine. (It's unusual, except that there's a similar one a few miles up the road- Fox Glacier) We joined a guided walk, as that's the only way you're allowed onto the ice. We were given a pair of crampons each (a metal plate which ties onto the sole of your boot, with large spikes sticking out) to help us stay upright on the white stuff. We walked for 30 minutes over a dry rocky valley that was full of ice 10s of metres thick just 10 years ago - the glacier grows and shrinks regularly. Once we got to the edge of the ice we got cramponed up and walked gingerly onto the ice. The crampons weren't as cumbersome or as lethal as they looked. We visited ice caves, crevaces, waterfalls and flights of steps the guides had made with pickaxes. It was such a surreal landscape, with amazing shades of blue ice just below the surface. It was a fantastic experience.

Franz Josef Glacier - It's MUCH bigger than it looks in this picture

Intrepid ice explorrer

In one of the ice caves - The ice is blue because the ice is highlycompacted

Following the glacial trip we were ready for some serious R&R. Luckily our glacier hike included a pass to the hot springs across the road from the campsite, and for just a few extra dollars we were able to upgrade to a private pool. It was great, sitting under the stars with the steam billowing skyward from our little pool, maybe a bit too relaxing, as we were comatose afterwards. If the hot tub had not drained out automatically once our time was up we might still be in there now!

After Franz Josef, we headed over a mountain pass in the middle of the island. The camper proved surprisingly wieldly over the snaking mountaineous roads, and Liz proved to be a surprisingly good passenger! On route we had a sugar craving and headed for what we thought was a shop, it turned out to be a youth hostel but a super-kind youth leader gave us a very large bar of yummy chocolate - oh the Kiwi's are a smashing bunch :). Just one example of the kindest, friendliest people anywhere. Our destination was Hanmer Springs, a town dripping in adventure sports. Neither of us quite commited to a bungy jump, but we chose an alternative each; jet-boating and horse riding. You should have no trouble guessing who picked which one!

The jet-boating was great fun, in a 55mph boat with two big V8s that can turn in it's own length like a jetski. The driver took us through a narrow, twisty, steep sided gorge, which made for a great place to show off what the boat could do. Liz thought she might be a bit scared, but spent the whole time with a huge grin on her face!

The horse-riding was rather more sedate. You might not think of it as an extreme sport at all, but for Marc, it was more scary than anything else we've done. And it wasn't helped by the fact there was snow on the ground and the horses kept slipping on the loose ground (Liz says horses often 'trip' whilst walking :/ The scenery was spectacular, nonetheless, Marc was very glad to get off at the end! Liz said I did very well for his first time EVER on the 'devil's creatures' as I like to call them!

Jet Boater Keates

The beautiful scenery that blurred past our jet boat

Marc on one of the devil's creatures

We celebrated with a night out - a very late one which ended with us being taught the Haka by a part-Maori Kiwi and his friends in a car park.

We left next day with sore heads, heading for Kaikoura. This town is in a beautiful setting, on the coast where the mountains meet the sea. We saw seals basking on the rocks and even sunbathing on a boardwalk in a car-park.

It's a hard life being a seal

A beautiful stretch of Kaikoura coastline

But our reason for visiting was to swim with dolphins. We were nervous of doing it as it's the middle of winter in NZ so the sea was 10 degrees! We togged up in thick winter wetsuits, balaclavas and boots as well as snorkel masks, we looked more like cat burglers than snorklers!! After our disappointing experience of kayaking with dolphins in Oz, we hoped we would at least see one this time. So imagine how we felt when after just a few minutes at sea, our boat was surrounded by literally hundreds of Dusky dolphins! What a sight for hungover eyes lol. Duskies are smaller and even cuter than their bottle-nosed cousins. With some trepidation we flung ourselves off the back of a catamaran into the freezing cold water. It was an amazing experience to see the dolphins swimming below and aound us. They came really close, even brushing against our wet-suits and jumping clear out of the water right near us, blatant show offs ;). We followed them round for an hour or so, getting in and out of the water until the cold got the better of us. Thankfully we were greeted by a hose pipe with hot water to warm our wetsuits and mug of hot tea to warm our stomachs. It was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience. Can't wait to do it again!

New Zealand fetish-wear expo 2011, or preparing to swim with dolphins?

Show-off!

Up close with Dusky Dolphin

With our adventures on the south island at an end, we drove to Picton, a quaint old harbour town, to catch the ferry to the North island.

Picturesque Picton

Kiwis here we come

Our flight to Christchurch was delayed so we had to wait until the following day to collect our campervan! The following day happy with our van and excited to be on our way, we headed for the city, aware that it would be mostly closed following the earthquake. We both found it sad to see the whole centre cordened off. Along with a few other tourists we looked at the demolished buildings, from behind the safety fenses. The most damage was to the beautiful old buildings. Typical.

Demolished church in Christchurch

As we ventured further afield we discovered that our campervan had quite a significant leak under the sink so we had to return to Christchurch, luckily we weren't too far out of town. We changed vans which meant unpacking and transferring all our belongings to van No 2, which was a pain, but once completed we headed south through the flat Canterbury Plains. Nothing like the Canterbury of Liz's youth! The scenery was already great, with snow capped mountains to one side and the Pacific to the other. Our first stopping point was Dunedin, a very Scottish-feeling town. We later discovered that much of the South island has a feeling of Scotland as many Scots moved there over the years. We were surprised to see a Cadbury's factory there. We made a bee-line for their coffee shop, only to find there wasn't one :(

Van 1, 2 or 3?

Dunedin Railway Station

From the Otago Peninsula we got a great view of Dunedin. Taking the coastal road on the way up and the high road on our return to the city we got a fab views. When we arrived we pretended to be twitchers as we went to view the baby Albatross and Penguins which nest on the headland. Did you know that Albatross live to be 80, and spends it's first 7 years living at sea without ever setting foot on land, until they return to where they were born? Neither did we, but we do now!

Yello-eyed Penguin

Otago penisula at sunset

We then set off around the Caitlin Coast - the southern tip of the island, and learnt how big the island is and how low the speed limits are in the process. We stopped off at a few lovely spots along the way, visiting waterfalls, cliffs and beaches with crashing waves . We stumbled upon a particularly magical beach where semi-precious gemstones get washed up. Liz filled her pockets and mine with an assortment of colourful stones including red jasper. Eventually we arrived at our next destination, Te Anau.

Gemstone Beach

After a chill-out/planning day, we went to Milford Sound, the main attraction in the area. We braved the snow and ice to drive over the mountain pass from Te Anau along an amazing road. Once we arrived, we took a boat trip along this stunningly beautiful stretch of water, leading into the sea, with snow-capped mountains on either side and waterfalls along the way. We saw seals and a couple of penguins. The weather was beautiful too, so we got some cool pics. On the way back we stopped off at a few of the lakes, waterfalls and viewpoints, but there were almost too many to choose from. The biggest danger on the road was not the ice, but the amazing views at every turn and the risk of running over a kea. These are the world's only alpine parrot, which lives nowhere else, and seems to like nothing better than landing on camper vans and staring through the windows, hoping to get fed. But as requested, by the sinage, we didn't feed them, which was actually quite difficult as they were very social and cute!

Road to Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Tea at Milford Sound!

Breathing in the very fresh air of Milford Sound!

Our little friend the Kea on our campervan door!

Milford Sound

Reflections on our return journey

Snow was forecast the following day, so we decided to delay the next leg of our journey and go to the glow-worm caves instead. Big mistake! The glow worm caves were great (very dark, hundreds of glow-worms), but the snow didn't arrive until late in the day, and it was the worst snow-fall in New Zealand for 50 years. It was so bad it trapped us in Te Anau, with all roads in and out closed off. We tried to make the best of it the following day,driving to a deserted forest and going for a lovely walk . But on the way back disaster struck - I (Marc) pranged the van on a canopy overhanginging from a building. I was driving at about 1mph, but the canopy smashed through the side window of the van. Not cool and probably very expensive, especially as I'd declined the additional insurance! As it was late in the afternoon and no-one could get in or out of the town, there was nothing for it to spend a night in a chalet on the campsite.

Wibbly wobbly birdge!

The following day we headed to Queenstown, along yet another beautiful road, with snow chains on and the broken window taped up to keep out the cold. We finally made it to Queenstown, 2 days late after stopping to swap the van yet again. That was fun in an airport carpark with a foot of snow on the ground! It was a challenging couple of day but with Campervan No 3 we headed into Queenstown in hope of entertainment to cheer us up :) We weren't disappointed.

Typical coastal view

Queenstown is the capital of extreme sports, where bungy jumping was invented, and where there are hundreds of ways to scare yourself stupid. We opted for a couple of the more sedate options. (Don't be too disappointed, our more adventurous activities are coming in the next blog...!) We tried our hand at the luge, which sadly wasn't done on snow, but was done on a mountain-side track in go-karts without engines. You simply point these little trolleys downhill, and gravity does the rest. You only have to brake an steer. By our third run we were getting quite brave and competitive, so much so that we both nearly crashed. After that we decided to slow down...We rounded off the activity with hot chocolate at the top of the cable car and with the town and mountains draped in snow it was truly a magnificent view!

Queens town from the top!

Marc mentally preparing for the Luge

Luge track

l

Us at the top overlooking Queenstown

We then had a quick stop to see the Kiwi - the bird which gives New Zealanders their nickname. It's rare, black and nocturnal, so there's little chance of seeing one in the wild, but we saw some at the bird-park in Queenstown in darkened rooms. They're a bit like black chickens with long beaks and legs so far back it looks like they should topple over. We were lucky enough to hear the female's elaborate call to her mate, which we were told doesn't happen that often.

A true Kiwi!

To sum up the first part of our New Zealand journey, I'd say we'd had some great fun and experiences, amazing scenery, interlaced with some real challenges thrown in to boot! But that's life, right? Life isn't all ha ha ha, hee hee hee!

Australia Part 2

Our final stop in Australia was Sydney, but first we had to get there as we'd dillied and dallied on the way, as the song goes :)

On the way south from Fraser island we passed back through Brisbane, where we stopped at the Koala Sanctuary. They had kangeroos to stroke, a duck billed platypus - which was even stranger than you'd imagine - and, the main event, lots of koalas. Liz got very excited by these! She had her photo taken cuddling an especially large one called Sumo. Then we fed wild lorkeets, some of which thought Liz's head made a good perch.

Liz and the other Sumo

Liz and bird brain

We also stopped off at a seaside town called Coff's Harbour where we had a lovely meal. It was a beautifully sunny day and the views from the resturant were stunning. We walked along the harbour and up the headland where we admired the stunning views of the golden beaches up and down the coast and watch a (very distant) whale.

Coffs Harbour from the headland

Our final stop before Sydney was a small town on a river called Tea Gardens. It had the feel of a large retirement village, yet tranquil with beautiful lake where we ate very tasty fish n chips and were fascinated by the pelicans swimming by in the gorgeous lake.

Tea Gardens

2 residents of Tea Gardens out for a swim

We finally arrived in Sydney, where we stayed with Matt, Lou, Abbie and Frankie. It was great to see them all again after a few years and spend a few late nights catching up. During the day, Liz and I visited the harbour with the iconic Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. We found out that it's almost impossible to take a bad photo of the Bridge, and almost impossible to take a good one of the Opera House. The Botanic Gardens had some very cool trees, tons of cockatoos wandering and flying around and flocks of huge fruit bats squabbling in the trees - cool. We also visited the Sydney Tower which has amazing views of the city below. We stayed through sunset and the views got even better as the city lit up. Then it was out to dinner with Matt & Lou to little restaurant on Manly beach, where we had an excellent meal, and of course great company!

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Harbour at night from Sydney Tower

The Bridge (of course)

Opera House again

The following day we walked along the coast from Coogee to Manly, taking in the views of the beautiful beaches and houses to match. The day after this Lou joined us for a day out in one of the endless number of national parks,where we saw kangeroos and wallabies in the wild, and walked down hundreds of stairs to a deserted beach - beautiful.

Cool cliffs somewhere between Coogee and Manly

Wallaby

On our last day we all went out together. We checked out Paddington Market and then busy Darling Harbour and the tranquil Chinese Garden. All the walking meant the tasty ice creams we had were well deserved. Finally we went to an award winning pizza restaurant, where the girls nearly falling asleep in the pizzas as they were so tired. But the food was certainly good enough to keep the adults awake.

Frankie helterskeltering

Darling Harbour

The Truman's & us

Marc Frankie & Abbie

Someone loves pizza!

Matt & Lou were wonderful hosts, so a HUGE thank you to them! It was lots of fun spending time with Abbie and Frankie. So a big thanks to them for lending us their play room and keeping us entertained!

Overall we loved Australia. The winter weather was warm and sunny everywhere we went, there were more parks than you could ever possibly visit and the people were great too. But we weren't wanting Jetstar to extend our stay by a few hours by delaying our flight to New Zealand. Seems nothing is perfect after all!

Australia Part 1

We haven't blogged for over 3 weeks and although we started to type this blog in Australia we have only just finished it into our 3rd day in New Zealand. Mostly because we haven't had any long, boring journeys on public transport to complete them. Well, you didn't expect us to delve into our fun time to do it did you?!

Surfers Paradise

Marc, Liz, Holly & Beulah

Holly, or should I say Nigella Lawson - Phillips, picked us up from the airport and from thereon in Brisbane became a culinary delight! Nigella Phillips had been baking and for the next four days we proceded to eat m&m and mint choc chip cookies, the best brownies we have ever eaten and delishous lemon tart, not to mention a lovely roast dinner :). Yummy food aside it was FANTASTIC to see Holly after she desserted us (see what I did there :) in London 10 years ago ;). After talking the hind leggs off a donkey our first touristy event was 'Australia Zoo', which was a hoot. We saw tigers, kangeroos, stroked Kualas, and of course watched a croc show - scary little blighters! The next day we went to Surfers Paradise where Marc and I were 'wiped out' by the waves, lots of fun, and strolled along the beach.


We had some fabulous fish n chips in Brisbane, very British ;) and on our final day we walked around Brisbane City Centre taking in the sights and visited an Art Museum (had to do something cultural). It was a chilly day so we gave the boat ride a miss. That evening we went for a yummy steak at a lovely Victorian restaurant, which was really reminiscent of an English pub. Great night! 

Marc, Liz & Holly

After a lovely four days sadly it was time to say goodbye to Holly & Beulah :( What a blast we had, with much chatting, indulgence and oodles of hospitality from the Phillips'. See you in London in 2012 girls!

We then headed north to Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island. Not to be tackled without a 4x4, as the roads are all made of soft sand! We hired an aged Land Rover Discovery - Marc's Mobile Disco - and caught the ferry. We found that the inland 'roads' are soft, dry, rutted sand, but once you get to the coast you are on the 'island's motorway', smooth sand that you can do 40 or 50mph on. Despite this, we seldom saw another cars, maybe because 75 mile beach is just that - 75 miles long and with only a few cars on it. You just have to keep an eye out for creeks running into the sea, which often create steps upto a foot high, over which 1mph is plenty quick enough. Over 4 days, we only managed to get stuck once, but Liz was a dab hand with the shovel and taking a bigger run up at the soft stuff got us through.

Trusty Land Rover

Man and Machine

Some of the island's most amazing sites are on the beach. There's the rusting wreck of a 1930s ship sitting in the surf, occassional dingoes roaming the beach, (we had 4 sightings) kukaburras and the towering Indian Head with views over miles of rugged coastline, sea and a huge sandblow - an inland sand dune.

Close encounter with a Kookaburra

Sand blow

What a beautiful island. The middle of the island is full of forest and perched lakes (lakes above the water table) such as beautiful crystal clear Lake McKenzie. Lake Llamo was full of fresh water turtles, although the water was a kind of rust colour, which Marc discovered was impossible to successfully snorkel in, so he got freezing cold for nothing, ha ha. Lake McKenzie however, was clear as a summers day, yet as equally freezing and had no fish. It took Liz about 15 minutes to pluck up the courage to submerge herself. Very refreshing!

Lake Mckenzie - colder than it looks!!!

Arty shot of Lake Mckenzie

We loved the island so much that we extended our stay to 4 days, but all good things come to an end. The following day we consoled oureslves with a whale watching trip. Unforunately, the whales didn't want to show off, so we only saw them from a distance, but we did have a dolphin playing around under our boat, which was very cool.

Noosa was next and very posh it is too. It has a stunning headland, which we were told remains one of the least spoilt. We stayed in a nice self contained flat overlooking a lake, which was very nice and quiet reasonably priced as it was a kind of 'pot luck/last minute jobby'. The weather was stunning and on the first day we walked along the beach and around the coast where we sat in a secluded spot and watched the sunset. Very romantic. The next day, which was equally as sunny with blue skies, we walked along the cliff walk - stunning! Then back through the rainforest, which was just beaufitul.

Up until now we'd taken our time making our way down to Sydney so off to Byron Bay we went. We both loved the chilled out vibe of BB, which had an esoteric feel to it. We stolled around the shops, and bars Liz wished she had had the money to try out some of their massages and therapies. She settled on a taro card reading! Interesting...but not convinced. We also went on a kayaking trip to spot, and hopefully snorkel with Dolphins. Kayaking in the sea was fun yet very exhausting. A wave caught us on the way back to shore and when Liz ended up wearing the kayak on her head it became clear to us why the guides insisted we wore crash helments! NO Dophins...apparetly there are sightings 95 % of the time, and althought they offered us the opportunity to come back and try again for free we had to move on. Oh well, maybe better luck in New Zealand?

Light House - Byron Bay

View from Noosa Head

As we spent three weeks in Oz and did so many fab things there will be a Part 2 to our blog - tune in next time for hugs with Koalas, Coffs Harbour, Pelicans and our fabulous visit with Matt, Lou, Abbie and Frankie in Sydney!