New Zealand

I've been in NZ over a month now but have done a phenomenal amount in the time.

I arrived in Auckland on the 20th december and spent a great week with Sue and Ant. The highlights were christmas eve and christmas day. On xmas eve my cousins chris and peter, myself and a friend of peters went canyoning - we spent a few hours walking down rivers, jumping of water falls, jumping off cliffs and jumping out of trees. It was pretty intense. After that we went to the beach for a bit of lazing in the sun and swimming in the sea. All in all awesome fun.

Christmas day we all went up to a house in Shakespear national park which was a superb location. We went down the beach early afternoon, had a superb christmas dinner cooked by my aunt Sue and then played sing star into the night. Great company, great food, great weather (hot and sunny)!!!

On the 27th the next stage began when me my cousin chris and his friend Michael flew down to Christchurch in the South Island to begin our 3 week odessy. We got a very early flight to CC where we picked up a rental car and after a brunch with Chris's aunt and uncle headed off into Authurs Pass. It was a pretty stunning introduction to the south Island with huge mountains and rivers. We stopped at a cave early on that you can walk through. You have to wade though icy water that sometimes reaches up to you waist though this amazing passage carved by the river. There was the odd waterfall you had to climb up as well. We stopped a few more times as we went for the odd walk and photo stop. Me and Chris went for a swim in one of the mountain streams as well but the water was so cold that it burnt. We finished off in Punakaiki on the West Coast. It was amazing to think that we'd started the day in Auckland and had finished on the West Coast after a full day of sight seeing.

The following day we went to see the pancake rocks, an interesting rock formation, and continued all the way down the west coast stopping to do some short walks, take in the views finishing at Fox Glacier. The next day we did a day walk on the glacier which involved donning crampons and pointed sticks and marching as far as we could up the ice and then down again. We saw loads of cool crevices and a few very small caves. In the early afternoon it became very overcast and started raining and became very cold. In the evening we did a glow worm walk which was stunning, hundreds of glow worms in the ferns and tree roots.

On the 30th of jan we left Fox Glacier and continued South to Wanaka. The first glimpse of the lake takes your breath away (so much of NZ does though) the vast deep blue lake surrounded by the mountains, it reminded me of the lake district. We met up with Jason, a friend of Chris's who took us to a gorge where there were a couple of really good cliff jumps into a mountain river - yes a bit chilly - his dad the took us on his boat which is a fantastic way to see the lake and the surrounding mountains. On the way down to Queenstown we had some food and a pint at the hotel Cadrona. The drive into Queenstown is spectacular with Lake Wakatipu and the mountains.

The 31st of January was a big day, obviously it was New Years Eve, but it was also the day me and Chris were doing the 134m Nevis Bungee jump and the equally impressive arc swing (the biggest in the world). It was a fair drive to where the bungee and arc swing were, in a valley outside of Queenstown. The bungee jump is done from a platform hanging from cables suspended across the valley. After getting harnessed up you take a cable car to the platform where you can watch the people in front of you jumping thanks to though the glass panels in the floor while listening to Kings of Leon and other good music pumping away. Then your name is called and you get strapped and bungeed up in full view of the drop, when your done your have to hop to the edge (your ankles are tied together) where you wait with the 150meter drop below you. Then the supervisor commences the countdown ...3.......2........1...... and then you jump (get pushed out). For a split second i though what am i doing then all you feels is freedom and the wind rushing past your ears and then then before you know it your slowing down and being pulled up. It was an awesome experience albeit far less intense than i thought it would be. I can barely remember jumping to be honest.

The arc swing was good fun, i did it with Chris, upside down. Once your in position your suspended, just hanging and waiting for the guy to press the button. Then woooosh a 70 m free fall then you swing for 400meters. Again it was good fun but over far to quickly. And as if that wasn't enough excitement for one day we went to a huge cliff jump just outside the town called 'little thailand'. I will point that thanks to a bitterly cold wind and inadequate clothing i was frozen to the bone, but that didn't stop me stripping down putting on my togs and running of a cliff to fall a long way (12 odd meters) into a nippy lake Wakatipu. It took me quite a while -and a hot tub session- to warm up again.

That evening we headed back into Queenstown for the New Years festivities. There were two stages by the lake, one with a really good live band and another with some good dance music so we spent the evening flicking between the two (raving was a very good way to warm up) There was a fire works display at midnight and we hit a bar after that. The next day we went north up to Glenorky to have an explore, amazing scenery as per usual but a very strong wind.

On the 2nd we drove down to Te Anu and on to Lake Manapourie where we camped. We planned to go on a kayaking adventure but couldn't because of the weather so we did a lot of tramping instead. We did a good chunk of the Kepler track as well as another.

A few days later me and Chris headed further into Fiordland with a rugged camp by lake Gunn (very cold very wet) and did a cruise on Milford Sound. I had been told by everyone that Milford Sound was spectacular and we weren't disappointed heavy rain the previous day, night and all that morning simply meant that there were even more water falls and they were all far bigger. We left very early so there were no other cars around and it was like the lost world driving though this valley in the cloud with sheer cliffs either side and thousands of waterfalls everywhere. The boat we were on to tour the sound wasn't too busy so it didn't feel too touristy and after 2 hours cruising around the only word i can use to describe it is stunning.

After another night in Manapourie we drove down to Invercargill which is definitely NOT my favorite place in NZ and i don't really have anything to say about it. It was however our jump off place to Stewart island.

The Stewart island trip stared of quite stressfully, we had originally planned to tramp across for Oban on the East side to Mason's bay on the West in order to see the Kiwi's. This would have been hard work given our limited time. Severe rain meant that the track was very muddy, waist deep in places according to the DOC wardens which would have made the going even tougher. So instead we decided to do the Rakiura track in 2 days and then spent another day on the Ulva island bird sanctuary. The Rakiura track was good, the weather was temperamental, it rained for the first few hours and then began a patten of rain, hail sun, rain, hail, sun until mid afternoon when the cloud disappeared and the sun came put for the rest of the day. We had the most amazing campsite, right by a perfect beach in a large bay where we had a swim. It was dry, warm and sunny........perfect. It was a very cold night and the following day was a muddy, wet, cold slog but i would be lying if i said i didn't enjoy it.

We returned to Invercargill for just one night before driving along the coast to Dunedin. We went to the most southern point in NZ and all the way though the Catlins but like the last 2 weeks it was cold wet and windy. We stopped at nugget point and got drenched walking to the light house but it was worth it to see the impossible rugged coast line. Dunedin itself was probably the nicest city in the South Island and the sun cam out while we were there which always cheers you up.

After Dunedin we continued up the East Coast to Timaru where we had a fantastic dinner with Chris's aunt and uncle, Lyn and Nigel. Before heading to their equally fantastic batch on the edge of Lake tekapo. It was the kind of place where i could easily have spent a week. Only one other house near by (no one there) lake Tekapo on the doorstep and mountains all around. We did some clay pigeon shooting and target shooting with rifles, we swam in the lake, ate a lot and just enjoyed the last few days of our trip. It was a superb location to end out 3 week odyssey around the South Island.

Chris and Michael (the other travel companion) then flew back to Auckland whilst i stayed in Christchurch and caught a bus the next day up to Nelson and then onto Marahau in the Abel Tasman where i camped with Michael and Gillian.