From: Bexxoliver@hotmail.com
Sent: 9 June 2004
Subject: Email 4, New Zealand 2ndUpdate
Hi everyone.
Here is an update on our kiwi experience from where we left off on the last email: -
Kiwi Experience continued.
Day 6 - 29th May 2004
Today we stopped at Tongariro National Park and viewed Taranaki Falls which was a waterfall used in Lord Of The Rings episode1 where Frodo was rescued! We could also vaguely see a volcano through the cloud and rain used in the film. The volcano was called Mount Doom in the film!
We headed to River Valley for the evening. Our hostel there was in the middle of nowhere! The Weather there was also cloudy and wet, Andrew played some volleyball in the rain! We spent the evening socialising by a log fire and playing games such as giant Jenga!
Day 7 - 30th May 2004
We set off on a long journey to Wellington. We arrived in Wellington at about 18.00 the weather was a lot better here. No rain, less clouds but still a bit chilly!
Day 8 - 31st May 2004
Our free day in Wellington. We decided to get the cable car up to the botanic gardens, not much to see up the gardens and were only worth the trip for the view of Wellington city. We also went to the museum in Wellington called Te Papa. The museum was huge and free to enter. We sampled an earthquake simulator, which was shaped like a house and we stood in the living room.
Day 9 - 1st June 2004
We left Wellington today to travel to the south island on the ferry. The ferry took us 3hours and coming in to Picton the scenery was amazing! There were lots of Mountains and rain forests. Once we arrived in Picton we got on the Kiwi bus and made our way to Picton. On the way we went through Marlborough valley, which is where New Zealands vineyards are located. We arrived in Nelson and checked out a really nice beach. We decided to stay here an extra day.
Day 10 - 2nd June 2004
Nelson has the most sunshine per year than any other place in New Zealand. Today the sun was shining and it was fairly warm. We decided to walk to the center of New Zealand, which took about 2 hours and got high enough to view the town of Nelson!
Day 11 - 3rd June 2004
We went to Nelson Lakes National Park. Andrew joined in with about 8 others for a horse trek through native bush and the shores of the buller.
Day 12 - 4th June 2004
Today we went to Cape Foulwind and Tauranga Bay where we got to see New Zealand’s largest seal colony. We then went to Punakaiki Pancake Rocks, which look like neatly stacked pancakes, which feature blow holes, these throw out columns of spray at high tide!
In the evening we stayed in a hotel, which only caters for the kiwi experience tours. We joined in on a fancy dress party which should have been a futuristic theme but most of the other guys dressed up as women! We stuck to the theme and dressed up as robots using plastic bags and tape. (Work that one out!)
Day 13 - 5th June 2004
Our first stop today was at Gold 'n' Trees historic mining site. Andrew went panning for gold in the river and found fragments of gold, which he now has in a small tube! We were just leaving the mining site when something really ironic happened! A rainbow appeared directly above where Andrew found his fragments of gold!
Day 14 - 6th June 2004
We both took part in a full day hike over Franz Josef Glaciers. See - www.franzjosefglacier.com The hike involved about 6hrs of climbing and exploring crevasses and caves on the ice. It had recently snowed on the glacier so we were able to even have some snow ball fights!
Day 15 - 7th June 2004
Today we walked around Lake Matheson near Fox Glacier which took about an hour. We then got on the kiwi bus and stopped at Knights Point, Thunder Creek Falls (tall waterfall) and we also made a stop at Lake Hawea. Our journey today took us through many ice-capped mountains, some roads we passed even had a bit of snow! We are now really starting to feel the cold temperatures!
We arrived just before sunset at Lake Wanaka. Wanaka is a small ski resort and the season is just begining!
Day 16 - 8th June 2004
We went to www.puzzlingworld.co.nz There was some amazing holograms, a room
of following faces, puzzles and illusions. We also got lost in a maze and it took us about 45mins to complete!
Our journey took us to Queenstown - the adventure capital of NZ! Before we arrived in town we went to the first commercially operated bungy site in the world. The site consists of a 43m bridge high above the Kawarau River. See www.ajhackett.com
We both took part in a bungy jump and jumped off the bridge! We already booked the jump yesterday and we had been very nervous about jumping prior this afternoon. Kathryn walked on to the platform of the bridge, waved and jumped without hesitating! This meant Andrew couldn't back out! Andrew was next up, stepped out onto the platform, gave a very nervous smile and jumped! We both enjoyed it, it was all very safely operated and there was no pressure to do it! We both got a free t-shirt, certificate and photos. Andrew paid extra for a video!
Before we got to our hostel we had a group photo of the kiwi group taken next to Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown.
We are staying in Queenstown for 4nights. The ski season has just started here, we are surrounded by snow capped mountains and its freezing cold!
To be continued....
Love
Andrew & Kathryn
xx |
