Wanaka

Wanaka is just a lovely place to be. It has a real alpine village feel, and I love its quirky shops and cute bars along the lake front. We have spent three days out here, just because it feels so nice!

One thing we skipped last time was Puzzling World, I know, it's a Shona dream, can't believe we missed it last time. It has a 5km maze with four corner towers. The challenge is to reach all four in a specific colour order. We did complete the challenge, but it took us over an hour, it was fun! :-)

They also have a walkthrough of visual illusions and wonky rooms, which are a bit of a laugh.

And I found a red telephone box!!!! It's not quite a Kirkintilloch Lion Foundry, but I'll take it lol

Day three we have spent just chilling in the campsite, sitting in big comfy chairs by the log fire, drinking tea, and enjoying the mountain view out the big glass wrap around windows.

Mount Cook

Last time we went to Mount Cook, we were snowed in and had to camp in the visitor centre car park. So we thought we would revisit and see it in a different light.
On the way, we had a quick lunch stop at Lake Tekapo with its beautiful turquoise waters. It was blowing a hoolie, but we still saw some crazy young tourists take a dip in the water. We could hear them scream from our side of the inlet!!

 Once at Mount Cook the weather was much clearer than last time. Before, we drove in in a snow storm, and didn't get to see anything until we woke up the next morning deep in snow.

This time though, we got to see Mount Cook village, but only the base of Mount Cook itself. It was hidden up in the clouds somewhere, but we spent a cold night at the bottom of it anyway.

We hoped to maybe do the walk into Tasman Glacier the next morning, but unfortunately it was raining, and the visibility very low, so that idea was soon abandoned. It was still nice to have another look though at Mount Cook, and it's a pretty awesome drive in....worth it!

Hanmer Springs

We just had to back to Hanmer Springs. It's such a beautiful village, and the spa pools are so relaxing. We couldn't resist another chance for a dip.

Feeling in the indulgent mood, we thought we would treat ourselves to a meal out in Ashburton. Stuart went for the pig out option with his MASSIVE mixed grill :-) What a cheeser on his face!!

Ohau Seal Colony

While in Kaikoura, Stuart and I visited the fur seal colony at Ohau stream. The stream walk goes from the sea up to a waterfall via little rock pools. At this time of year, the whole stream was full of seal pups.

 The parents go out to sea by day to hunt for food, leaving all the pups to play in the shelter of the stream. They are so inquisitive, and definitely not shy. They come right up to you. We saw one trying to play with a little girl!!

When up at the waterfall there are so many of them, playing about in the pool. It was awesome to see.

Feeling the earth shake

In the space of five days between the 17th and the 21st of July, we have experienced 3 earthquakes. Nothing too major, but because we are in the van, we feel it a lot stronger through the rocking of the suspension. When in Auckland we experienced a quake that shook the house, now that was scary. These have just been minor, and we're alright, hopefully though they don't develop into larger ones.

Extreme Abel Tasman

One thing I knew I MUST do before leaving NZ, is a skydive!! So when in Abel Tasman, I booked Stuart and I up for a 13,500ft jump! :-)
It was incredible, a total buzz. We went up in the tiniest plane ever strapped to our tandem masters. Once at altitude, you swing out of the plane, and I mean out of the plane lol and launch yourself into the sky. It feels so wrong but so right. The thrill and adrenaline is crazy, but it wasn't as windy and scary as I thought it would be. I was more excited than scared, which surprised me. I can't say the same for Stuart though, I think he was a just a little nervous! :-)

Once down at 5,000ft the tandem master releases the parachute and spirals you to the ground. The force on your body while spiralling is immense, but the feeling of the ground rushing up to meet you is crazy. It feels so relaxing being under the canopy, after just experiencing total freefall for 50 seconds!

 

After landing I was beaming. I couldn't believe I had just been flung out of a plane, even more unbelievable was the fact that I enjoyed it. Now I just have to tell my Mum and Dad lol

We also payed for a cameraman who jumps with you, so we have both jumps on video plus over 200 photos. I will be showing everyone I can force to watch it when I get back to the UK. I've already watched it over 5 times!! It gives me a tingle in my belly each time, totally cool!!

Blasting down the North Island

Back to the present time............

After leaving work, our friends, and our little flat in Beachlands, we packed up 'wee midge' and set off to my Aunt Janette's for a week in Whangarei. The hardest thing about leaving New Zealand will be leaving Janette and Alistair. We thought we would be here for a long time to come, never thinking after only a year we would have to go back. We had a great week up at theirs, but when it came to saying good bye I was a mess. I just couldn't stop crying, and even days later I'm trying not to think about it or else I'll just start crying again. No matter what happens with our future New Zealand plans, I know I will definitely be back out here to visit them, even if it's just for a holiday.

So on to the whirlwind tour down the North Island. We managed to get from Whangarei down to Wellington in two days to catch the ferry to Picton, not bad going.

Our crossing was a lot less dramatic than last time, it was like crossing a mill pond. We want to spend our last weeks here in the South Island re-visiting our favourite spots from the first time around. I've decided to think of it as a holiday, rather than a final blast before returning to the UK.

One really cool sight on our way down to the South was Mount Ngauruhoe covered in snow at Tongariro. Only a few weeks ago I was there with Scott. We had crampons and ice axes at the time, not needing to use them, but they would definitely be needed now. It would make it so much harder to walk, and I probably wouldn't get as far, but I kinda wish I could have experienced it in the snow.

Big Decisions

By June, even though we had our jobs in Argenta, we were still struggling to find ourselves permanent jobs. A must if we were to change onto our residency visas. After some pretty big discussions, and some really hard decisions, we decided we would be better off going back to the UK :-( Sometimes you just need to quit when it's not working out, rather than struggle on. Hopefully this leap of faith will work out for us. So come the 11^th of August, we will be leaving this beautiful country.

Rangitoto Island

Stuart and Lesley planned to go climbing with Finn and another couple from work, not my idea of fun, so Scott and I went out to Rangitoto Island. It is an active volcano just out from Auckland (gave me an excuse to go on another ferry trip :-) I love going out on boats!)

We did the walk up the summit crater, and the weather was awesome. The whole island is made up of lava flows from the last eruption, soaking up the sun and making it sweltering hot. I got burnt in July!! It's meant to be winter!!

The summit crater was pretty cool, and completely covered with trees and bush. I thought all volcanic soil was too toxic to grow anything, but apparently not. The summit was 260m (850ft) and gave beautiful views looking back over Auckland.

We explored some lava caves, without torches, just to be crazy, but luckily didn't trip and break any bones.

Another relaxing walking day out with Scott, and topped off nicely with an ice cream when back in Auckland :-)