Tongariro Crossing!

The alarm sounded at 5.30 am! Ah! We had a very early start to get to the beginning of the Tongariro Crossing. The walk started off quite gently but soon got more difficult as we reached the Devil's Staircase. (The name says it all!) Despite the steep climb, the views were stunning and the photos could never do it justice. On the bus on the way there, we had been given a leaflet to read which described the route and gave warnings to be careful in particular areas of the walk. Our favourite was for the ridge over the Red Crater- "Do not walk too near the edge. If you fall in the crater, you will not be coming back." Classic! It was in fact extremely windy at the top and you did have to watch your footing to avoid being blown off the mountain. (See photo of George being blown away!) We saw some amazing Emerald Lakes which looked incredible but smelt awful! (Sulphur..clearly.) For the first half of the walk, we were walking through volcano craters and past "Mount Doom" (see photo) and saw some amazing pumice rock formations. The walk was 19 km in total and we climbed 600 metres so we will no doubt feel it in our legs tomorrow! Oh and we seemed to be a lot dirtier than anyone else on the bus...maybe due to our fantastic skiing technique through the ash down the side of the volcano! See photo of our "tanned" legs. Slightly hobbit-like we think... It took some serious scrubbing in the shower!

On to Taupo

We had a bit of a boring bus drive for the first half of the day, but luckily got to watch a film. We then got great views of the 3 volcanoes (including the one used for Mount Doom in LotR) in Tongariro National Park where we will be doing the crossing tomorrow. It has been a scorching hot day, and we have been swimming in the lake here, which is the biggest lake in New Zealand (it is like a sea!). It was strange sun bathing with a snow-covered peak of a volcano as a backdrop! We are going to walk to the Huka Falls this evening (waterfall with largest volume of water in NZ), and then have a dip in one of the hot pools on the way back.

Our time in Wellington

Our first lie-in for what seemed like ages! First things first- food. We both stocked up in the supermarket, buying a mountain of veg. On to the Te Papa Museum which was very impressive but huge! The main attraction was a giant squid which was 4.2 metres long and had been accidentally caught by some fishermen off Antarctica. We also enjoyed the History of New Zealand (all 200 years of it!) and the Maori section as this made us feel cultured. In the afternoon, we explored the city and found...ANOTHER botanical garden! We caught the cable car up to the top with wonderful views over the harbour. The gardens were very pretty and we were even treated to some "Hippy- style" music on our way! More exciting still (no jokes), we found a human clock! (See picture.) We cooked an amazing meal of veg and..more veg. (In fact we cooked so much I had to run to the supermarket to buy a tupperware to store the next 3 nights' meals!)

Wellington

Just arrived in Wellington. We are going to the museum tomorrow for some culture. The ferry over was ridiculously long, but we passed the time sleeping, and playing cards with our Essex friends. Wellington is quite different from the places we have been to so far, with high rise buildings! We are currently waiting for our much needed laundry to finish. We feel quite pleased with ourselves because we managed to get the v.nice Sanctuary bit of the hostel (girls only) for less than the normal dorm price thanks to the nice receptionist who took pity on us.
Hope everyone is well!
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kaikoura

We travelled back to Christchurch- what a mission of a journey! It was a really hot sunny day though and we got to do a bit of sunbathing by the stunningly blue Lake Tekapo on the way up. Guess who we shared a room with in Christchurch? Yes, 4 Swedish guys! Its obviously meant to be...

On to Kaikoura. And the rain came down! Harder than ever! Luckily we were staying in a cute little hostel with a tv room, so the whole bus packed in for a marathon DVD session. In the middle of 'The Perfect Storm' the roof started leaking. Good times. We stayed in a room with people from.. no, not Sweden, but Amersham! The guy went to Challoners but had been expelled in his last year...

We stayed an extra day in Kaikoura, and luckily the weather was fantastic. We went on a lovely walk along the cliff top around Kaikoura peninsula, and saw fur seals! Finally had AWESOME meal (pasta, beans/tomato, tuna and cream cheese). We met two guys from Essex and went to a pub quiz which we were doing well at until the Saints section, and finally current affairs finished us off.

The stars were absolutely amazing and you could see the milky way really clearly. I (Amy) swear Orion was upside down but no-one else will believe me.

Our time in Queenstown

We have spent the last three days in the world's adventure capital, Queenstown!! The first day was very chilled as we had our first lie in and spent most of the day catching up on some sun bathing and finally reading our books! We did venture to the Botanical Gardens where we played Frisbee Golf...which involves hitting a post with the frisbee- harder than it sounds as we soon discovered! We gave up after 3 holes and went to get a Ferg Burger (a famous Queenstown burger- absolutely enormous!) It was our last night with our new found friends who were leaving the next morning so we decided to celebrate by joining a bar crawl- good fun!
Yesterday we went to Milford Sound which was stunning and worth the long drive to get there. We went to the underwater observatory and made the most of the all-you-can-eat buffet! Even smuggled some food back with us. Noodles for dinner. Again.

The Swedes turned out to be very pleasant roomies until they played a trick on George and got her to hit the back of her own head. I just laughed! (Amy)

So rude. It was not in the slighest bit funny..well ok maybe just a little bit! (George)

Today we had a lie in till 8.30 (what luxury!) and spent the morning stocking up on supplies etc. but in the afternoon we went Canyoning! Amy is slightly traumstised by her superman jump (belly flop) from a 6 metre high ledge so I will be writing this bit! It was really fun! After struggling into some very sexy wet suits we headed up the canyon to the start. Our first challenge was a zip-wire acorss the canyon followed by an abseil. (and this was just to reach the water!) We then slid down a 8 metre high waterfall, jumped off rocks into plunge pools and were swept along some narrow chasms by some fast currents! Following her near death, Amy revitalised herself with ANOTHER Ferg Burger (what a pig!) [Whatever George, you are just jealous about my Cockadoodleoink. Yum yum yum!] I had...some more bargain noodles. [Ha!] As you can see, I am being bullied and I am leaving Amy in New Zealand forever! [As you can see, the overload of noodles has made her a bit grouchy].
Tomorrow we leave Queenstown and head North to Christchurch.

PS. See romantic picture of us with sunset!

Queenstown!

I managed to escape Wanaka with George this morning as our driver 'Morrie' let me on. Sweet as! We went to Puzzling World first which had an impossible maze and optical illusion rooms which were pretty cool, although neither of us really liked the room where faces followed you around.
We treated ourselves to real fruit icecreams on a fruit farm. They were sooooo good (and absolutely huge!). Then we went on to Queenstown, stopping to learn 'the secrets of bungy' at the first bungy site in the world!
It must have been a good DVD because I decided to do it!! As I launched myself off the edge I wondered what I was doing! But it was awesome and I would do it again (saying that I am not doing Nevis- 3.5x higher!). Sensible George videoed from the side- and caught my perfect technique on camera (!!)
We found our friends! Yay! But also found we are sharing a dorm with 6 Swedish guys.... Oh dear.

Wanaka

We arrived in Wanaka yesterday afternoon after a long, tiring day of travelling. Once again, we were booked to do a skydive but once again the weather meant it was cancelled :( (we were starting to think it may be a warning sign from above...). There was a bbq at the hostel where we were staying and we had a good last night with our Kiwi Experience friends before they would be leaving us in the morning.

We had what seemed like a very short night's sleep with a 6 o'clock wake up for our 3rd attemp to skydive. Amy had had a dream that it had been cancelled again and tried to convince me that it wasn't going ahead! However, the sun was shining! We set off for the airstrip, as it finally dawned on us that it was for real this time! And so, after signing our lives away (and money) we jumped onboard, in our groovy clown-like jumpsuits and then jumped straight out again (from 12,000 feet up in the air). Ahhhh! It was an awesome experience and we both wanted to do it again!

We spent the rest of day on a longer than planned walk around the lake and up a higher than planned mountain. We are now exhausted and disappointed with our bargain pack of noodles which we had been looking forward to all day! Oh and it looks as though Amy might be stuck here for another day as there is only one seat free on the bus tomorrow! Another walk perhaps Amy?!

Franz Josef

Today was exhausting! We went on our full day hike up Franz Josef glacier. We got to see the blue ice after a full morning treking up through the rainforest, past the river and over the scree at the base of the glacier. The glacier is the fastest moving glacier accessible by the public in the world!

The ice was stunning but on the way there George managed to nearly disappear down a crevasse! (Well up to her knee in a very wet hole anyway). The guide found an ice tunnel that no group had seen before, which was great except to get there we had to straddle another crevasse like spiderman!! It was pretty challenging, and we were left wondering if some people made it to the top! I was quite scared at some points especially when there was a traffic jam and we were left hanging over the drop.

The walk was 12km in total but felt like more as we went up and down all day long (10mins for lunch- good thing we are on a budget and didn't have much anyway!).

Unfortunately (although George seemed quite relieved!) our skydive was cancelled due to bad weather- don't worry, plenty more opportunities!

To end the day, my water bottle leaked all over everything including my passport, money and phone which is now being slowly cooked on the radiator (the water inside really doesn't seem to be evaporating). To celebrate our safe return and cheer me up, we had a soak in the hot tub.

I might treat myself to a cookie for dinner. Looking forward to Lake Wanaka tomorrow, although as we are spending an extra day there we will have to say goodbye to all our new friends :(

We celebrated with a

On to Franz Josef

Still raining...even harder! We actually thought the roof was going to cave in! And to make things worse..on the bus, Amy and I were sitting right next to a leak :) so spent the whole journey trying to dodge rain drops! Hardly surprising as apparently it rains 300 days out of 365 here in the West coast rainforest. Our first stop was the Bushman Centre where we met another crazy Kiwi (we are starting to think English people are actually quite sane). We were shown a hilarious video about deer hunting and are now experts on how to capture the "beasts". The best way is to hang from a helicopter until you are above the deer and then simply launch yourself on its back, rather like a rugby tackle from above. Kiwis! Now at Franz Josef and looking forward to our hike on the glacier tomorrow and perhaps (though we perhaps shouldn't be telling you this)doing a 12,000 ft sky dive (just maybe).

West coast

Another day "cruising" as the kiwis call it. Sweet as! First stop was a walk along the coast up to a lighthouse- definitely a cooler day but stilll great views out to sea. Second stop was the Pancake rocks in Punakaiki by which time the rain was torrential! However we are proud to say that unlike the Dutch who went to the cafe, Amy and I trekked out in the pouring rain to see these amazing rock formations. (My jumper is still drying...)

On to Greymouth. (See photo which says it all). Finally we reached the"Poo Pub", our hostel for the night! And it was still raining..very very hard! We were met by Les and his equally nutty wife who cooked us a feast for dinner. Then we spent the next 3 hours designing our bin bag outfits for the fancy dress party that night!! You wouldn't believe the creativity of some of the people on the bus..costumes ranged from Ninjas to..well um..we will leave that to your imagination! We were fairies! See photo with the incredible hulk and a ninja! A fun night!

Westport

Well...this has to be the most exciting town in the world...! We joined the Kiwi Experience today and had a long trip across the South Island to the West coast. We started as part of a small minibus load and then joined a larger coach half way. One of a our stops along the way was a river in one of the national parks, where we had a swim. The weather was fantastic and we all enjoyed jumping off the rocks into some very refreshing water! (Well actually just us mad English and a few crazy Canadians!) The drive through the mountains was spectacular and it was amazing the contrast between the drier East coast and the lush West.
We eventually arrived in Westport and our expectations were not exceeded! Westport is an old mining town but clearly not a lot goes on apart from mining! However the accomodation was cool- we were in a 7 bed room (and this time with no snoring guys) with a kitchen and living area. An early night for everyone after a long day of travellling.

Hanmer Springs and more!

Today we went on our trip out of Christchurch to Hanmer Springs! These are natural hot springs in the mountains that have been opened to the public. The water was soo warm but smelt quite eggy (due to the sulphur in the water... Clearly).
After our relaxing time in the spa we got Jimmy our guide to cook us up some sausages. Yum yum! Then it was time for our Jet boating trip. Yay! It was fast, exciting and scary at times as the driver went within inches of the rocky sides of the canyon! It was very scenic and the water of the river was amazingly blue (See picture).
Finally we went to Beer School and tasted several local beers whilst being taught about the different hops and barley that was in them.
Very hot and sunny day. Tan coming along nicely (well I (Amy) have a red streak down one arm where I missed with the suncream- ooops!).
Off early tomorrow to Westport on first leg of Kiwi Experience.

We have arrived (finally)!

Hi! We have finally arrived in Christchurch after a mission of a journey both of us won't forget in a hurry! Everything seemed to be going smoothly (perhaps too smoothly...) until we got to Auckland where we had a tight transfer time for our flight to Christchurch. Standing at passport control we realised we were going to be extremely lucky to make it.. and then all hope evaporated when Biosecurity deemed our walking boots "too dirty" and confiscated them from us! (well just for 10 mins while they detoxed with all sorts of chemicals!) Anyway we reached the domestic terminal (very hot and sweaty as we were still dressed for the English winter) to hear our names on the loud speakers..well in short we had missed our flight. However we smiled sweetly and made all sorts of excuses to a nice kiwi lady at "ticket sales" and miraculously we were soon on the next flight to Christchurch just 30 mins later than planned!
On arrival in Christchurch, we checked out our 6 bed dorm in our first hostel (we haven't met our roomies yet...) and headed straight for tourist info to sort out our Kiwi Experience bus pass. After being given a number to ring and buying a NZ sim card, we rang the main office and to our relief they have managed to put us on a bus leaving Christchurch on Friday! Thank goodness...as there is not tonnes to do here, having exhausted the botanical gardens already...The town is very pretty though and there are loads of other travellers here our age doing similar things which is fun. (We have already made some friends!) Oh and whilst treating ourselves to a foot-long subway, we were persuaded to join a tour to Hamner Springs tomorrow, including the possibility of going Jet Boating which we are assured is good value by Jimmy. (the tour leader!)

The day of departure has finally arrived!

Hi everyone!

Welcome to our blog. I'm sorry it has taken us so long to write anything up. Our list of things to do before we set off is still getting longer and we are starting to realise that trying to fit our entire wardrobe into our backpacks is just not possible...
We leave from London Heathrow for Christchurch, New Zealand tonight and eventually touchdown on Wednesday about midday!

Anyway we will try to update the blog as often as we can whilst we are away and hopefully you will enjoy following what we are getting up to :-).

Georgina and Amy