New Zealand!

We landed in Christchurch and were met by Sue and Lois, family friends of Poppy's who have emigrated to New Zealand. They drove us back to their lovely home that they have recently moved into, where we met Jess, Sue's other daughter and both of the girls' boyfriends, and settled down for a delicious chicken pie and pudding! It was really nice to have some proper home cooked food as we had been missing it! We were obviously aware that Christchurch had suffered from two bad earthquakes in recent years but were in no way prepared to see just how bad a shape the city centre was still in. A tour of the city from Lois and Jess showed us how many buildings had collapsed and how much work was still left to be done. Apparently the plan to redevelop is scheduled to take around 20 years. Still, we had a fantastic first few days in New Zealand and were treated to many home cooked meals and countless cups of tea...not to mention a trip over to Acaroa which was a picturesque small village on Banks Peninsular. 

Christchurch city centre

Jess and Lois

Acaroa

Sad to move on from Christchurch, with Poppy relishing the time to catch up with the girls and both of us feeling refreshed, we waved off the girls and Sue and caught the bus down to Wanaka, enjoying stunning scenery along the way. Wanaka is a lovely little town right on the lakefront and close to some of the main ski fields in New Zealand. Unfortunately we hadn't planned to ski whilst here and although a day on the slopes would have been nice, we had been told that the skiing is very limited compared to European standards. Our time in Wanaka was very relaxed, with the highlight attraction for us being nearby Puzzleworld, a museum of sorts filled with all sorts of puzzles including a large two story maze.

Lake Wanaka

Moving further south, we arrived in Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of New Zealand! Annoyingly the weather seemed to take a turn for the worse here and it rained for a good part if the week. I'd booked the bungy for the first full day we had there, hoping to get it out of the way early, and due to high winds I had to reschedule till later in the week! We then booked onto a tour of Milford sound for the following day which was again cancelled due to a road being closed along the way from landslides! Not looking too promising we thought! Both feeling a bit fed up we thought we would treat ourselves to a burger at the infamous 'fergburger' in town to cheer us up. The burgers were huge and lived up to our expectations as well as helping us to forget about the miserable weather. Luckily the weather brightened up a bit at last and we were on our way down to Milford sound. The journey there was very long and took us through many winding mountain roads, however the driver was very knowledgeable (ours being his 500 the odd trip to Milford) and was able to reel of numerous interesting facts relating to the scenery along the way. Milford is apparently one of the wettest places in NZ and the world (rainfall is measured in meters as opposed to the usual mm!) and isn't technically a sound...it's a fiord formed by the melting of a glacier. It wasn't raining too much when we arrived, although there was a lot of cloud obscuring the view but this didn't take too much away from the beauty of the place. We saw dolphins and seals while on the boat and enjoyed the dramatic scenery, especially the numerous large waterfalls! Returning late back to Queenstown we were both tired but hugely impressed with the day, a definite must see! 

FERGBURGER!

FERGBURGER!

Mirror lakes en route to Milford Sound

Milford Sound

One of many waterfalls at Milford

Finally it was time to re-attempt the bungy. Fingers crossed the weather would be ok this time I headed up to town before jumping in the AJ Hackett bus that took everyone over to the Nevis bungy. Standing at 134m high it is the highest bungy in New Zealand. Poppy couldn't come to watch as they charged $50 per spectator which we both thought ridiculous to just watch! I arrived at the bungy site and got harnessed up before getting into the tiny cable car that takes you over to the main bungy pod...basically a large gondola  suspended over the steep valley. After waiting for my turn I was put into the 'dentist chair' to be hooked up to the bungy cord and then led over to the edge, which essentially felt like walking the plank, before being counted down to jump! The rest is a bit if a blur although I do remember hoping that I was fully secured just as I'd gone past the point of no return and then just enjoyed the ride down! It was easily the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever experienced and a slightly surreal experience, I loved it! 

Heading over to the Bungy pod

Don't look down!

Woooooo!

After a wet week in Queenstown we were ready to move on up the west coast to Franz Josef glacier. We packed up our things and headed to the bus stop only to find out the main road out had been shut due to landslips and the bus wasn't going today. We then found out that almost every hostel was fully booked! After a bit of running around trying to find where we could stay we managed to find one very close to the bus stop. This turned out to be the nicest hostel we have stayed in yet! The lounge area was very comfy and homely and we spent the day watching films on the sofa, then to top it off we enjoyed a lovely roast for only $8 each courtesy of the hostel owner who had wanted to be a chef in his younger years (it even included Yorkshire puddings!!). Feeling surprisingly well rested we left the next day for Franz Josef and hoped that our luck with the weather would start to improve! 

Upon arrival in Franz Josef the weather was glorious and we began to think our luck was starting to improve. However, arriving fairly late we couldn't book onto any glacier tours for that day so booked onto one for the morning. We awoke to a very cloudy day and were disappointed to find out all the heli-hikes had been cancelled for the day and while we did have plenty of time to wait for the weather to improve, we were beginning to get very frustrated with our luck! Finally the weather seemed to brighten up and we were relieved to find out at long last the tour was going ahead. So, after getting kitted up into our glacier gear, we boarded the helicopter and enjoyed a fantastic flight over and around the glacier before landing on it and going for a two-hour guided hike over the ice. The glacier has started to recede quite quickly in recent years so whereas you used to be able to hike up onto the glacier, the only way to get up onto it now is via helicopter. We had a fantastic day and were so relieved that the tour went ahead! Both in a noticeably better mood, we were ready to head further up the west coast to Punakaike and the Pancake Rocks.

On the glacier

Exiting the ice tunnel

In the ice tunnel

Heli view of the Glacier

Coming in to land