Franz-Josef Glacier

Had a trip to see Franz-Josef Glacier the other day; unfortunately funds are kind of low at the moment and i couldn' t really afford to go onto the glacier itself (140 bucks? yeesh!), so instead we got as close as we could get....which wasn't that close since the path had been washed away by the river the previous day lol. Oh well, still pretty!

Kayaking in Abel Tasman!

So had my first Kayaking experience a few days ago, was pretty easy at first but got pretty hard after 4 hours at sea! We had a beautiful day for it though and saw some fantastic scenery. Abel Tasman National Park is exquisite.

Skydive!

Just wanted photo evidence of this online, lol.

Argh!

Just a short update to reassure everyone I am still alive and well, but a stable internet connection and a half decent PC seem to be rare things on the south island!

Just left Abel Tasman National Park and heading down the west coast towards Franz-Josef glacier, will be there tomorrow. Have been skydiving, and survived :D Also did a full day of sea kayaking which was exhausting, but fun, and various other things which I hopefully will be able to show you in a few days!

Wellington + LOTR!

Just got down to Wellington today and hopped off the bus onto another one - the LOTR tour bus! Was fantastic for my inner geek lol, went and visited various Rings related locations in Wellington, including the Weta Cave, part of Weta's complex in the city where they design and produce all their props and environments for movies!

Headed then to Victoria Peak where we checked out some of the places where they filmed in the movies - much fun! From there went to a lovely viewpoint and grabbed some nice photos of the city itself.

Been a long day and a tiring week, gonna be staying in Wellington for a few days to recharge - on the 1st of December shall be heading to the South Island, weee! Can't wait!

Tongariro Crossing

Well, just got back from the longest walk ever, turned out to be 19.2km over some fantastic mountains (including going past Mt Doom!), had such a great time but am really exhausted now! Am heading off to Wellington tomorrow and may stay there for a few days, watch this space!

Lake Taupo + National Park

Left Taupo yesterday after being very disappointed by the weather - we weren't able to skydive at all, which sucked! Went on a bit of a sailing trip instead and saw some lovely Maori carvings in the rockface, which was interesting at least.

Arrived today in Tongariro National Park to inclement weather (it pissed it down lol), but it cleared up enough for us to do a 2 hour walk and to get some stunning photos, woohoo! Tomorrow am doing the arduous Tongariro crossing - a 17km hike across some stunning mountain ranges, if the weather holds. Should be fun!