The final days of 2008

Well, the last update for this year! Left Christchurch this Boxing day morning after an emotional few days saying goodbye to my very good friends, who all buggered off to Australia! How rude :o They left me a First Aid Kit though as you can see, filled with chocolate, chips and dip, and various other useful things so I can cope without them! MISS YOU GUYS!

Arrived into Kaikoura and there's some fairly nice weather going on which I took advantage of :D Actually went and did some whale watching from a small plane out over the Pacific. Was fun, although we didn't see any whales!

The bus is fairly empty too, the rather large coach in the picture contains a grand total of 2 passengers! Wee!

I refer you to the picture of shock horror Lea and I are posing in - this is the exact moment we discovered Santa Claus clambering down the chimney. Happy Holidays everyone!

Southern Loop

Just completed a loop around the very bottom of New Zealand, and as you can see from the pictures the weather was fairly terrible, which sucked! But oh well! We made the best of it I guess :)

Am in Christchurch right now debating what to do with myself, probably time to head back up north in a few days.

And I miss Fergburgers :<

Kepler Track day 3

Spent most of today in forest, but were rewarded with some lovely river views (and some sunshine) towards the end.

Absolutely fantastic 3 days. Am quite sleep deprived now, and my camera has literally NO space on it, lol, but was such a great hike.

More photos available on facebook!

Kepler Track day 2

The pictures really don't do it justice.

Fantastic second day, except for the long downhill march at the end, which hurt!

Kepler Track day 1

Undertook the Kepler track on Wednesday, a 60km mountainous track in the heart of New Zealand's southern alps.

This was probably the place with the best views I've been to so far - our hut on the first night was at 1400m (about 4000 feet) above sea level and gave a real sense of living in the clouds.

Also for any LOTR fans reading, the first hour and a half of day 1 is spent walking through the same forest they filmed Amon Hen in at the end of the first movie. Beautiful!

Milford Sound

Spent Tuesday in Milford Sound; incredibly beautiful as you can see, but the amount of tourism here was fairly sickening. We felt like sheep herded onto an overcrowded boat, and then whizzed around the place quickly so they could fill up the boat with sheep again.

Oh well, worth seeing. If anyone reading this ever plans to see some of the Sounds of New Zealand however, I'd recommend Doubtful Sound. Just as impressive as Milford, and a lot quieter.

Mrs Jones's Rose Garden!

Well, thought I'd add something for Cathie combined with something for Dad - a lovely rose garden combined with me jumping off a bridge!!!

Ahaha fortunately for us both Dad, it's not me jumping - tis a buddy from the bus! He gave us some loud screams :)

This post shows our arrival into Queenstown, had some fun there for a few days then headed out, check next post for details!

Wanaka

Ok so am finally up to date with my photos; there's just so many amazing things to see at the moment the blog is going to be inundated with a lot of posts!

Stopped here for lunch today, a picturesque little town a few hours outside of Queenstown. Fantastic.

The road to Wanaka

Stunning!

The road to Makarora

Again, many scenic bus stops on the way to Makarora where we stayed last night. Some really beautiful landscapes here.

Knight's Point

Another very scenic stop at a lovely place named after a dog! :o

Lake Matheson + Mt Cook

Had a short stop yesterday at Lake Matheson, with Mt Cook fully in view (pray the good weather continues!)