Fraser island saw us spend 3 days flashpacking at the lovely Kingfisher Bay Resort. Most people take a 4×4 tour of the island, but instead we decided to relax and enjoy the various ranger activities on offer. On several walks around the island we learnt about bush tucker (and then sampled a whole load that evening including emu, crocodile and kangaroo), the night wildlife and took a sea kayak into the mangrove lagoon. Not too many photos, but a few good ones of the spectacular sunset enjoyed from the beach.
Once again a little behind with uploading the photos… At the moment we are already halfway up the east coast of Australia. (More photos coming very soon!)
We had a great few days in Sydney. Climbed the Sydney harbour bridge (thanks for the tip Neil!) which was fantastic. We also went to a concert at the Sydney opera house, went up the Sydney tower and met up with friends of Friedis, Karl and Lydia (great meeting you guys!).
So here come the last photos from New Zealand.
Dunedin - We saw penguins, seals and albatrosses (only the baby ones, but they were still bigger than any bird i have ever seen!). The penguins were great! They swim individually into the beach, have a quick look around for sea lions (who eat them) and then make a quick waddle up the beach. Then a quick hop over some rocks (they are surprisingly good jumpers!) gets them to the bottom of the hill. Here there is a little path that they all follow until they are about halfway up and then they stand there with their wings open to cool down! If any penguin ends loitering on the path, a little squawking contest breaks out.
In Dunedin we also went to an All Black match against France. Great game, with lots of tries. Just a pity the French won.
Christchurch - We stayed in a pretty cool hotel. Hotel So. Apart from that we just visited a science museum and had a walk around.
Just a very short entry. We visited Queenstown and Wanaka recently. In Queenstown we had another go at Luging, and saw some great views of the lake and played the most amazing mini golf ever! In Wanaka we went to Puzzle World where we got lost in the infuriating maze as well as visiting a fantastic independent cinema (cinema paridiso).
Visiting the Franz Joseph Glacier was definitely one of the highlights of the whole travels! We were extremely fortunate that we had a day without a cloud in the sky, meaning that we could visit the glacier via a HeliHike rather than a walk from the bottom. A HeliHike means a helicopter ride up and over the glacier, followed by a landing around halfway up. For those of you who know what sissies Friedi and I are when it comes to flying you will probably realise that the helicopter ride was quite an undertaking in itself! Especially when we got the “crazy” pilot who managed to scare even the staff! Once we landed on the glacier we got to add spikes to our boot and were then equipped with a pick axe. Our guide then took us around various parts of the glacier “carving out steps” along the way with his axe (check out the video below!). He took us to see ice caves, some of which you had to slide through “penguin style”, others that were 40m long and were a mix of upright walking, clinging to the sides to avoid the water in the middle and climbing up ropes to get back out. These caves were absolutely stunning, and our very basic camera really doesn’t lie when it comes to the colours! They were really that blue. The other amazing thing about these caves is that they only last for around 3 weeks before the ice collapses and then forms caves in new places. We also got to see the majestic “ice towers” as well as witnessing huge ice collapses further up the glacier. Overall this was a stunning trip and we are both so happy we got over our fears and took the helicopter ride!
The Photos:
A panoramic video of the Glacier form our landing place:
And a video of our guide carving out the ice steps (you might need to turn your head on it’s side for this one):
For the first time in a long time we haven’t been taking many pictures! It started in the Glow Worm Caves (which were amazing!!) where you were not allowed to take photos. Then we took the overlander train (9 hours) to Wellington. 2 Days in Welly was followed by an exciting ferry ride over to Picton which again saw us only taking a handful of photos. Then we took the tranzcoastal train down from Picton to Christchurch followed by the tranzalpine across the Southern Alps to Greymouth. Both train rides provided stunning views with an outdoor viewing platform on the carriage at the rear of the train. In Greymouth we only spent 2 nights, taking a walk to the beach (it was very cold) and a tour around Montieths brewery.
We are currently at the Franz Joseph Glacier which has been amazing!! Photos to come soon…
The the mean time here are a few of the few photos we took since Waitomo.
We only ended up spending 2 days in Rotorua, but we managed to squeeze a fair amount into them. Tuesday morning we spent on the “luge”. It was much more fun than we anticipated with Friedi fairly flying down the slope by our 5th go! Then a quick trip to look at some Kiwis (the birds). That evening we had took part in a Maori experience where Friedi learnt how to use the Poi and I learnt a small part of the Haka. This was then followed by a traditional Maori dinner, cooked in a Hangi (not sure how to spell that one…). The evening was topped of with getting to view a very impressive geyser sending water about 15m high! On Wednesday we spent the day in the local Museum before heading to Hells gate in the afternoon. A walking around the impressive bubbling mud pools was great, but nothing compared to the Mud bath and sulphur spa we enjoyed at the end! The only problem is that we still stink like sulphur!
Hot Water Beach is amazing. There are 2 underwater (hot) streams flowing beneath the beach that become uncovered 2 hours either side of low tide. Then all you need to do is search for the hot spots by digging in your feet (they change location slightly from day to day), and having found them dig yourself a little spa pool. The perfect activity for a couple, as I got to be a boy, digging in the sand and building things, and Friedi got her own spa pool. The water was exceptionally hot, with the top end of our pool actually burning our feet at some point! We stayed for 2 nights (to make sure we caught the tide times right), and then took the bus onto Rotorua.
After our 2 day stay in Whangarai we moved further north to the Bay of Islands. We stayed in the tiny little seaside town of Paihia where we visited the Treaty House where we brushed up on our New Zealand history. The next day we took a boat trip out to watch the dolphins and sail through the “hole in the rock”. We also took a day trip up to Cape Reinga, right at the northern tip of New Zealand. We got to travel along the Ninety Mile Beach, go “sand boarding” (not quite as hardcore as Peru) and see the lighthouse out at Cape Reinga.
Back in Auckland today after our little trip to the inventively named Northland, which is… you guessed it, up in the north of New Zealand! For the first 2 days we stayed in Whangarai and took a day trip out to the Poor Knights Islands. There we had a couple of great snorkelling sessions, at one point swimming through a giant sea cave where the light shone through to display hundreds of fish! The next day we took a scenic walk out of Whangarai, through a Kauri forrest and out the Whangarai falls.
