We have compiled a list of our favourite things to do in NZ,ranging from FREE to $$$- very expensive!
1. Milford Sound ($$$)- The 8th Wonder of the world is not really a 'sound' but a fjord as it was carved by a glacier as opposed to water, millions of years ago. 11m of rain falls here every year as unsuprisingly it rained whilst we were there but the thundering waterfalls made up for the lack of blue sky.
2. Whale Watching, Kaikoura ($$$)- After waiting for 3 days for perfect whale watching weather we were rewarded by seeing 10 sperm whales in 2 hours! Only 10% of their body is visible above the water but our boat was dwarfed by the size of their 45tonne bodies as they dove.
3. Baby seal waterfall, Ohai (FREE)- A chance encounter with a friendly Kiwi led us to a crystal clear waterfall where douzens of baby seals were left by their mothers to play whilst they went hunting for fish at sea. The babies were unafraid of humans and came up close to have a good look at us!
4. Killer Whale Kayaking, Cathedral Cove ($)- Marky Mark guided us through Catheral Cove where we were suprisingly greated by 4 huge Orkas that chased us and came up for a good view of our boats. The only time I've ever seen Roo terrified!
5. Boulders, DOC site (FREE)- The best campsite we stayed at! A drive that lasted for ever took us to a small site with a compost toilet and a river that NEEDED to be played in! Roo went for a river walk up to her armpits but I watched from the side!
6. Penguin Watching, Dunedin (FREE/$$)- We paid to watch little blue penguins swim ashore at Dunedin at night but it was really worth it! hundreds of tiny penguins (less than a foot tall) brave their way through the rocks and onto the beach every night during breading season. We were there when a seal decided to have a nap on their ramp up to the breeding grounds. After the penguins attempted to walk around and over the seal, the staff shooed him away with a mop! We also saw a handful of Yelloweyed penguins (the rarest in the world) after waiting patiently in the rain for a few hours!
7. Waiheke Island, Auckland ($$)- We spent our last day in NZ on Waiheke Island, a 35 min ferry trip from Auckland. We hired Mopeds and whizzed around the Island (Roo whizzed, I ambled) and had a gorg Spanish meal at a local vinyard! Perfect!
8. Kerosene Creek, Rotorua (Free)- We got a bit 'hot springed out' whilst in Rotorua. Everything was so expensive, hence the nickname we gave it, 'Rota-rip-off'. These cute little springs however were free and secluded, and despite the rain we spent an hour soaking our limbs in a foreset-fringed warm waterfall. It smelled a bit or turps but you cant have everything!
9. Fox Glacier, West Coast-South Island ($$$)- Again, it was raining when we decided to splash out on a touristy activity! The only way to walk on a glacier is to pay for a guilded tour. It was cold and wet but it was fun. Tranversing a massive river of ice, moving at half a meter a day is always going to worth the money!
10. Trip to Eden Park ($$$)- An expensive 80 minutes of our lives and whilst the game was pitiful, and we were surrounded by French, Eden park has a brill atmosphere and it was a fun day out. We dressed like fools, just a shame the score line wasn't different!
11. Great Coastal Walk- Able Tasman National Park (Free)- We almost walked our feet off during this 22km walk but it was worth it! A perfect day spent exploring deserted golden beaches, waterfalls, streams and rainforest. We met some seals, one of whom we went for a paddle with and we managed to do it in under the recomended time! Unlike us!
12. Te Paki Sand Dunes, Northland (FREE-ISH)- We hired boards and hurlded oursleves down 100ft sandunes, the only complaint was the walk back up and discovering sand in unspeakable places days afterwards!
13. Cathedral Caves, Karamea (FREE)- A drive all the way up the West Coast of the South Island was worth it to explore the deserted caves discoved in 1980 and marvel at the enormous stalegtites.
14. Devils Marbles, Dunedin (FREE)- Enourmous balls of limestone scatter the beach in an erie fashion! They look like they've been rolled there by some giant! Fun to climb on and rockpools to explore.
15. Te Anu Glowworm caves, Te Anu ($$)- Was that water dripping on our heads, or glowworm poo? We'll never know! Beautiful boat trip into the depths of a cave system where Glowworms illuminate the walls and cielings making the place look like the nights sky.
16. Queenstown Icebar ($)- After deciding that most things in Queenstown were either out of our price or age range, we opted for a little visit to the local bar- made entirely on ice. We enjoyed a cocktail or two from our ice carved glasses whilst trying not to get stuck to the ice seats!
17. Rowing to the lake within a lake, Wairoa ($)- A hilarious few hours, going in cicles messing about on the water. We could see the island but getting there was a different matter!
18. Watching NZ Vs France at a fanzone, Wairoa (FREE)- A brilliant atmosphere where we witnessed NZ trounce the French, we even started supporting France at one point we felt so sorry for them! We saw the local kids doing the Haka.
19. Incredible Pacific Views (FREE)- everywhere we went in Ol, we had spectacular scenery. There's nothing like spending every night for 3 months on a beach!
20.- Meeting people (FREE)- Kiwis are friendly and funny, the people we met really made the whole journey much more fun and their local knowledge helped us to get off the beaten track and see things most tourists can't be bothered to get to.
Saturday 19 November 2011
Most Recent Photos
Fox Glacier Photos:
http://s1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff385/workerbee30/New%20Zealand/Fox%20Glacier/
Queenstown Photos:
http://s1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff385/workerbee30/New%20Zealand/Queenstown/
Soth Island- West Coast Photos:
http://s1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff385/workerbee30/New%20Zealand/West%20Coast%20-%20South%20Island/
Waiheke Island Photos:
http://s1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff385/workerbee30/New%20Zealand/Auckland/Waiheke%20Island/
http://s1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff385/workerbee30/New%20Zealand/Fox%20Glacier/
Queenstown Photos:
http://s1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff385/workerbee30/New%20Zealand/Queenstown/
Soth Island- West Coast Photos:
http://s1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff385/workerbee30/New%20Zealand/West%20Coast%20-%20South%20Island/
Waiheke Island Photos:
http://s1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff385/workerbee30/New%20Zealand/Auckland/Waiheke%20Island/
Olive's adventures in Wonderland!
After travelling 11,000 kms we had to say a sad goodbye to Olive last week in Auckland.
For the most part, Olive has been the best car ever - no she really has. She's not just been our car, she's been our laundry, kitchen, bedroom, entertainment system, dining room, shelter from the storm, our lauder, fridge, storage system, in short, our first, our last, our everything. Without Olive we would have died ages ago, many times over, we owe her our LIFE!
She only ever let us down 3 or 4 times in 3 months. Once with her bottom, which refused to close. The second time we were discussing having to buy her a new pair of shoes as the other ones were getting pretty worn out, when she was forced to the limit of her tolerances on a gravel road and her shoe disintegrated there and then!
Roo and I had never changed a tyre before, but I have watched Chris Simpson change several of mine - (thanks Christopher!) so we decided to give it a bash. We discovered the spare whilst trying to find the place to put the oil - I know what you're thinking - but it's located in the bonnet and oil goes in under the driver’s seats, which involves dismantling the dashboard and removing all but one of the seats.
When we first discovered the flat tyre, we did sit there for a few minutes hoping that a nice young man might come to our rescue. Unfortunately only an elderly lady with a Scottie dog came to help, with suggestions of where to find a young man from. Manning up (I hate that expression!) we jacked Olive up, Roo jumped on the turney thing to loosen the bolty things, then we jacked her up a bit more, took the tyre off and shoved the other one on.
Half an hour passed quickly as did 6 cars filled with men who waved and gave a thumbs up, to which Roo responded in kind - we must have looked like we knew what we were doing. I have to say we were pretty good, within 35 minutes we were back on the road, but having little faith in our work I reduced my speed from 48 kmph to 35 kmp, infuriating the already road raged kiwi's further.
The only other time that Olive let us down (well she didn't really, it was our own fault) was when we flattened her battery whilst listening to the final of the rugby world cup on her radio. It was a tense game and as usual at times of stress Roo was asleep, otherwise we would have gone to the pub like the rest of New Zealand. Leaving the light on tipped Olive over edge and cost us any chance of starting her in the morning.
As I'm the communicative one and Roo is the organiser, I was assigned the task of finding a man with some jump leads. We had stayed the night by a canal, as a fortune had it, it was popular with the local fisherman so I set off, desperately in need of the loo but confident that we would find some in no time. Three quarters of an hour later and 2km away from the car, I still hadn't found anyone who had any. No longer caring about disturbing the fish and without a bridge for miles, I shouted across to a fisherman on the other side. Mercifully he had some. I had to explain where Olive was located as he was at the other side of the canal and off he jumped in his car to our rescue.
I tried running back to where Roo waited with Olive, with only flip flops to protect my feet from the stony ground. The fella arrived and loitered around the general area that Olive was, unnerving Roo. I knew all this would be happening, I could see it in my mind. Eventually he figured out and so did Roo that this was the help we'd sent out for and before you could say New Zealand 8 France 7 we were up and running!
We sold Olive at the Ellerslie Car Market to two Israeli boys called Tom and Omu. We had so much interest in Olive we managed to sell her for the asking price! She is Brill! They seem to fall in love with her just like we did and I'm sure they'll look after her, but it was still sad to have to say goodbye! :(
For the most part, Olive has been the best car ever - no she really has. She's not just been our car, she's been our laundry, kitchen, bedroom, entertainment system, dining room, shelter from the storm, our lauder, fridge, storage system, in short, our first, our last, our everything. Without Olive we would have died ages ago, many times over, we owe her our LIFE!
She only ever let us down 3 or 4 times in 3 months. Once with her bottom, which refused to close. The second time we were discussing having to buy her a new pair of shoes as the other ones were getting pretty worn out, when she was forced to the limit of her tolerances on a gravel road and her shoe disintegrated there and then!
Roo and I had never changed a tyre before, but I have watched Chris Simpson change several of mine - (thanks Christopher!) so we decided to give it a bash. We discovered the spare whilst trying to find the place to put the oil - I know what you're thinking - but it's located in the bonnet and oil goes in under the driver’s seats, which involves dismantling the dashboard and removing all but one of the seats.
When we first discovered the flat tyre, we did sit there for a few minutes hoping that a nice young man might come to our rescue. Unfortunately only an elderly lady with a Scottie dog came to help, with suggestions of where to find a young man from. Manning up (I hate that expression!) we jacked Olive up, Roo jumped on the turney thing to loosen the bolty things, then we jacked her up a bit more, took the tyre off and shoved the other one on.
Half an hour passed quickly as did 6 cars filled with men who waved and gave a thumbs up, to which Roo responded in kind - we must have looked like we knew what we were doing. I have to say we were pretty good, within 35 minutes we were back on the road, but having little faith in our work I reduced my speed from 48 kmph to 35 kmp, infuriating the already road raged kiwi's further.
The only other time that Olive let us down (well she didn't really, it was our own fault) was when we flattened her battery whilst listening to the final of the rugby world cup on her radio. It was a tense game and as usual at times of stress Roo was asleep, otherwise we would have gone to the pub like the rest of New Zealand. Leaving the light on tipped Olive over edge and cost us any chance of starting her in the morning.
As I'm the communicative one and Roo is the organiser, I was assigned the task of finding a man with some jump leads. We had stayed the night by a canal, as a fortune had it, it was popular with the local fisherman so I set off, desperately in need of the loo but confident that we would find some in no time. Three quarters of an hour later and 2km away from the car, I still hadn't found anyone who had any. No longer caring about disturbing the fish and without a bridge for miles, I shouted across to a fisherman on the other side. Mercifully he had some. I had to explain where Olive was located as he was at the other side of the canal and off he jumped in his car to our rescue.
I tried running back to where Roo waited with Olive, with only flip flops to protect my feet from the stony ground. The fella arrived and loitered around the general area that Olive was, unnerving Roo. I knew all this would be happening, I could see it in my mind. Eventually he figured out and so did Roo that this was the help we'd sent out for and before you could say New Zealand 8 France 7 we were up and running!
We sold Olive at the Ellerslie Car Market to two Israeli boys called Tom and Omu. We had so much interest in Olive we managed to sell her for the asking price! She is Brill! They seem to fall in love with her just like we did and I'm sure they'll look after her, but it was still sad to have to say goodbye! :(
Thursday 10 November 2011
Water, water everwhere!
Hi everyone,
I'm really sorry for not posting anything for such a long time! We have been on the move for so long and having to move so quickly that we haven’t really had time to stop and write anything! Now our NZ road trip is officially over and we are back at the original Olive's, trying to sell our Car Olive, we have time to update you on some of our adventures in the South! We have a few funny moments to tell you about, but putting them all in one ridiculously long post would be mind numbing for all involved. Instead, we'll take turns to tell you about some of our fav times over a few posts! This is a story that's not particularly exciting but you'll just have to put up with it!
In an attempt to get fit(ish) we have been doing a bit of swimming. This allows us to have a MUCH needed shower and pants washing session (unfortunately we didn't have anywhere to dry the pants so they remained hung in the window of Olive above my head as I slept and occasionally I got woken up by a cold, damp pair of pants falling on my face.) Anyway, as part of our 'get fit regime' we decided to go mountain biking in Hanmer Springs. Hanmer Springs is a little town in the central south island, noted only for its gigantic hot springs complex. We decided to venture there as we were waiting for prime whale watching weather, as it was pissing it down we thought a little soaking in mineral pools would pass some time.
We rented bikes and helmets from our campsite and sped along the road in the direction of the mountain bike tracks, aided by an extortionately priced map. Thinking that we'd opt for a 'medium to Expert' track we cycled to the beginning of the woods. Surprisingly after 10 minutes of cycling downhill on a tarmac road our legs were beginning to fail us. Ignoring our pain, putting it down to 'warming up', we pushed on, entering the woods via the 'easy rider' track. Scoffing at its simplicity, I sped ahead sending mud and debris flying behind me. Getting up to top speed, I crashed through puddles, mud and streams, trying to lose Emma. Feeling a bit out of breath, I stopped and waited for her, boastfully showing off my soaking wet bottom (which I later regretted as it soon started to chafe). Getting back on our bikes we started to feel the increase in gradient more intensely than anticipated. After approximately 10 more minutes of traversing small humps and corners and various grades of gravel we had to have a ‘water break’.
It was at this point when a family of 5 including a 3 year old child passed us effortlessly, as we panted and tried to increase oxygen flow to our limbs. Embarrassed, but determined to catch up with these new opponents, we continued on our journey. Thankfully the family had stopped a few hundred meters down the track to attach a tow rope to the toddler’s bike. 'Ah ha' I thought, 'It’s not just us finding this 'easy rider' track difficult'! Feeling reassured we decided to take on the challenge of the 'perseverance' route of the 'easy rider' track which consisted of far too many bumps for my liking! Emma, pointing out the danger of a number of protruding, skiddy roots, opted to get off and push as we had both experienced a few hairy moments. Unfortunately, it was here where our foes regained the lead. Being pulled along by her mother's bike and wearing a pink, starry helmet and Pepper Pig wellies, our nemesis could only stare and jeer at us as we panted along the remainder of the 'easy rider' track and got to the finish line. It was here where we should have started our journey on the 'medium-expert' track. As I was almost vomiting from fatigue and Emma subsequently discovered she had been riding the whole route with her brakes on, we decided to return home a mere 45 minutes after departing. We still blame the bikes for our appalling efforts, I’ve been MBing before and it DEFO wasn't that difficult!
Luckily we spent the next 2 hours soaking our limbs in the hot springs of Hanmer. Unfortunately I must mention the embarrassment of having to go on a water slide with the Brownster. Hanmer springs has 2 water slides, usually reserved for people under the age of 16. Emma, at 39, had never been on such a slide so forced me to go with her. We queued in the cold in our swimwear for 15 minutes whilst children stared at the old people wanting to crash their party. Eventually we got to the front and had to carry a double, inflatable ring up 16 flights of stairs to the top of the slide. Emma was at the front- this was a mistake. As we pushed off and descended into darkness, Emma's squeak escalated into a full blown screech. It was so embarrassing as it wasn’t a particularly fast slide and dozens of Under 5s had traversed the same journey without so much as a whimper. I felt myself needing to push her off but instead opted to clamp my hand around her mouth, muffling her screams and saving our dignity. We disembarked the slide as Emma tried to conquer her knocking knees, she almost fell backwards into the ring- and this from a woman who was seriously considering doing a bungy jump! HA! Anyway, I eventually managed to get back to the mineral pool from where I was dragged, but despite this our legs still ached the next morning.
We managed to go whale watching but Emma will tell you about that another time!
Love
Roo
I'm really sorry for not posting anything for such a long time! We have been on the move for so long and having to move so quickly that we haven’t really had time to stop and write anything! Now our NZ road trip is officially over and we are back at the original Olive's, trying to sell our Car Olive, we have time to update you on some of our adventures in the South! We have a few funny moments to tell you about, but putting them all in one ridiculously long post would be mind numbing for all involved. Instead, we'll take turns to tell you about some of our fav times over a few posts! This is a story that's not particularly exciting but you'll just have to put up with it!
In an attempt to get fit(ish) we have been doing a bit of swimming. This allows us to have a MUCH needed shower and pants washing session (unfortunately we didn't have anywhere to dry the pants so they remained hung in the window of Olive above my head as I slept and occasionally I got woken up by a cold, damp pair of pants falling on my face.) Anyway, as part of our 'get fit regime' we decided to go mountain biking in Hanmer Springs. Hanmer Springs is a little town in the central south island, noted only for its gigantic hot springs complex. We decided to venture there as we were waiting for prime whale watching weather, as it was pissing it down we thought a little soaking in mineral pools would pass some time.
We rented bikes and helmets from our campsite and sped along the road in the direction of the mountain bike tracks, aided by an extortionately priced map. Thinking that we'd opt for a 'medium to Expert' track we cycled to the beginning of the woods. Surprisingly after 10 minutes of cycling downhill on a tarmac road our legs were beginning to fail us. Ignoring our pain, putting it down to 'warming up', we pushed on, entering the woods via the 'easy rider' track. Scoffing at its simplicity, I sped ahead sending mud and debris flying behind me. Getting up to top speed, I crashed through puddles, mud and streams, trying to lose Emma. Feeling a bit out of breath, I stopped and waited for her, boastfully showing off my soaking wet bottom (which I later regretted as it soon started to chafe). Getting back on our bikes we started to feel the increase in gradient more intensely than anticipated. After approximately 10 more minutes of traversing small humps and corners and various grades of gravel we had to have a ‘water break’.
It was at this point when a family of 5 including a 3 year old child passed us effortlessly, as we panted and tried to increase oxygen flow to our limbs. Embarrassed, but determined to catch up with these new opponents, we continued on our journey. Thankfully the family had stopped a few hundred meters down the track to attach a tow rope to the toddler’s bike. 'Ah ha' I thought, 'It’s not just us finding this 'easy rider' track difficult'! Feeling reassured we decided to take on the challenge of the 'perseverance' route of the 'easy rider' track which consisted of far too many bumps for my liking! Emma, pointing out the danger of a number of protruding, skiddy roots, opted to get off and push as we had both experienced a few hairy moments. Unfortunately, it was here where our foes regained the lead. Being pulled along by her mother's bike and wearing a pink, starry helmet and Pepper Pig wellies, our nemesis could only stare and jeer at us as we panted along the remainder of the 'easy rider' track and got to the finish line. It was here where we should have started our journey on the 'medium-expert' track. As I was almost vomiting from fatigue and Emma subsequently discovered she had been riding the whole route with her brakes on, we decided to return home a mere 45 minutes after departing. We still blame the bikes for our appalling efforts, I’ve been MBing before and it DEFO wasn't that difficult!
Luckily we spent the next 2 hours soaking our limbs in the hot springs of Hanmer. Unfortunately I must mention the embarrassment of having to go on a water slide with the Brownster. Hanmer springs has 2 water slides, usually reserved for people under the age of 16. Emma, at 39, had never been on such a slide so forced me to go with her. We queued in the cold in our swimwear for 15 minutes whilst children stared at the old people wanting to crash their party. Eventually we got to the front and had to carry a double, inflatable ring up 16 flights of stairs to the top of the slide. Emma was at the front- this was a mistake. As we pushed off and descended into darkness, Emma's squeak escalated into a full blown screech. It was so embarrassing as it wasn’t a particularly fast slide and dozens of Under 5s had traversed the same journey without so much as a whimper. I felt myself needing to push her off but instead opted to clamp my hand around her mouth, muffling her screams and saving our dignity. We disembarked the slide as Emma tried to conquer her knocking knees, she almost fell backwards into the ring- and this from a woman who was seriously considering doing a bungy jump! HA! Anyway, I eventually managed to get back to the mineral pool from where I was dragged, but despite this our legs still ached the next morning.
We managed to go whale watching but Emma will tell you about that another time!
Love
Roo
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