New Zealand and South America
Thursday, January 08, 2004
OK So tech probs overcome and elbow feeling better so here are the pics. For descriptions read the earlier blog. And on another note its a small world - just bumped into Kim again.
Here is the view from the campsite at Lake Gunn.....
and here is Milford Sound from the kayaks.....click here for a movie.....
and something I forgot to mention..... they released moose into the Fjordlands back into the 50s but they haven't been seen since. There are whole areas that have never been explored, who knows what lurks into the dark interior? Moose was quite excited at the prospect of seeing some relies but as you can see it's a bit of a needle in a haystack job. He bacame a bit upset but we gave him a Worthers Original to suck on and that seemed to cheer him up. I'm just glad we didn't lose him in there.
Here is the view from the campsite at Lake Gunn.....
and here is Milford Sound from the kayaks.....click here for a movie.....
and something I forgot to mention..... they released moose into the Fjordlands back into the 50s but they haven't been seen since. There are whole areas that have never been explored, who knows what lurks into the dark interior? Moose was quite excited at the prospect of seeing some relies but as you can see it's a bit of a needle in a haystack job. He bacame a bit upset but we gave him a Worthers Original to suck on and that seemed to cheer him up. I'm just glad we didn't lose him in there.
Gooday.
No photos today as the technology has let me down and my elbow hurts. The latter is not really relevant but I thought I'd mention it anway.
Its a shame about the pics as yesterday was without doubt the most photogenic day yet. We went kayaking in Milford Sound - A fiord carved out in the last ice age. It rains almost all the time there but yesterday the sun shone and we paddled around for 4.5 hours. We were accosted by more dolphins and sand flies. One of theses two species is beautiful and intelligent and a joy to see. The dolphins on the other hand were a complete pain. In the afternoon we were so taken with the morning that we paddled out to Sandfly Point to tramp up the Milford Trek. This is the most famous trek in NZ and costs around $2000 to do with a guide. We just sneaked up about 2km for free after all the walkers had gone for the day. It was very pretty but mostly we just chatted to people. Our guide Sam was very funny. Apparently he had ridden at the Glenorchy races a few days before and fallen off. He told us all his favourite practical jokes, which I'm not writing here as some of them were really rather good and may come in useful in the future. There was an American couple who when we were all discussing pies said " Who would think to put meat in pies" - the Australians in the party chuckled.
The day before we had stayed at Lake Gunn which is another contender for the "Most Rediculously Picturesque Campsite Award" I skimmed stones for about 2 hours.
Last night we stayed at "Grumpies" in a dorm with 3 other blokes. Nomes was next to the man with a fog horn up his nose.
A little tired today so we stopped in Wanaka and booked into an apartment for the night, to do the laundry, dry the tent and some home cooking. Heading up to the glaciers tomorrow - probably get stuck behind a camper van full of dolphins with our luck.
No photos today as the technology has let me down and my elbow hurts. The latter is not really relevant but I thought I'd mention it anway.
Its a shame about the pics as yesterday was without doubt the most photogenic day yet. We went kayaking in Milford Sound - A fiord carved out in the last ice age. It rains almost all the time there but yesterday the sun shone and we paddled around for 4.5 hours. We were accosted by more dolphins and sand flies. One of theses two species is beautiful and intelligent and a joy to see. The dolphins on the other hand were a complete pain. In the afternoon we were so taken with the morning that we paddled out to Sandfly Point to tramp up the Milford Trek. This is the most famous trek in NZ and costs around $2000 to do with a guide. We just sneaked up about 2km for free after all the walkers had gone for the day. It was very pretty but mostly we just chatted to people. Our guide Sam was very funny. Apparently he had ridden at the Glenorchy races a few days before and fallen off. He told us all his favourite practical jokes, which I'm not writing here as some of them were really rather good and may come in useful in the future. There was an American couple who when we were all discussing pies said " Who would think to put meat in pies" - the Australians in the party chuckled.
The day before we had stayed at Lake Gunn which is another contender for the "Most Rediculously Picturesque Campsite Award" I skimmed stones for about 2 hours.
Last night we stayed at "Grumpies" in a dorm with 3 other blokes. Nomes was next to the man with a fog horn up his nose.
A little tired today so we stopped in Wanaka and booked into an apartment for the night, to do the laundry, dry the tent and some home cooking. Heading up to the glaciers tomorrow - probably get stuck behind a camper van full of dolphins with our luck.
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
The Jet Boat was cool. To recreate this at home drive down a narrow ally at 85kmh, stick your head out the window and get a friend to chuck a bucket of cold water over you. I'm the one on the left hand side three back.
After, we met a very nice GP called Kim and we drank a little too much wine. She currently has a friend on the channel 4 show Shattered. He is called Jonathan. So is it any good?
How did they came up with this format? Maybe at a Channel 4 Entertainment budget meeting some exec said, "How can we make the 24 hour live stream more interesting? All that money we are spending on compliance teams when all they do is sleep. If only the contestants would stay up all night?" Shattered is commisioned. Or maybe not.
Anyway we are in Te Anu, a town by a beautiful lake. We are on our way to Milford Sound. We have swum with Dolphins, sat with Penguins and now we are going to canoe with sandflies. Here is an updated map...
After, we met a very nice GP called Kim and we drank a little too much wine. She currently has a friend on the channel 4 show Shattered. He is called Jonathan. So is it any good?
How did they came up with this format? Maybe at a Channel 4 Entertainment budget meeting some exec said, "How can we make the 24 hour live stream more interesting? All that money we are spending on compliance teams when all they do is sleep. If only the contestants would stay up all night?"
Anyway we are in Te Anu, a town by a beautiful lake. We are on our way to Milford Sound. We have swum with Dolphins, sat with Penguins and now we are going to canoe with sandflies. Here is an updated map...
Sunday, January 04, 2004
So the new year gets into full swing. We managed to sandwich the festivities with Dolphins on one side and Penguins on the other. We had to go to this grandstand at dusk to watch rafts of Blue Penguins hop out of the water. It was magical. We couldn't take any pictures as the flashes hurt their eyes and would stop them coming back to this colony. We took this instead.....
After camping in the botanical gardens near the penguin colony we drove down to see the Mororaki boulders. According to the Rough Guide one the "dont misses" of New Zealand. I'm not putting up a picture. It's some rocks on a beach - they are uncommonly round I admit but rocks on the beach none the less. From here we turned inland towards Queenstown the Extreme Sports Capital of NZ, the world even! We booked into the YHA and did some laundry.
The next morning we drove up to Glenorchy which is where the Routeburn Track starts. This is one of NZs best treks. We were planning to do the lot but the campsites had been booked out for a while. We did manage to get a pitch for the first stop. The guide advised us that we could then leave our packs at the campsite the next day, walk to the summit of the track, turn around and walk back down again, pick up our packs and make it back to Glenorchy. OK then.
When we arrived in town we discovered the world famous "Glenorchy Races" were on. We had to have a quick flutter. Was surprised that the first race was the "walk, trot and gallop" and the second was the "saddling race". It is a kind of cross between Glorious Goodwood and a school sports day. Loads of fun but we lost our $1 bets. My horse just kept going round in circles and Naomi's jockey couldn't get on his mount.
So anyway we headed up to the fist campground, the Routeburn Flats. It has to be the most beautiful campsite in the ground but you'll have to look at Naomi's blog to see it.
We had it to ourslves for most of the day with others only turning up at around 5 pm. I lit a fire with damp wood. I was very proud and content. In the morning we packed up our tent and headed up smelling like kippers. It was a quite tough and the weather was foul, the views at the end were non-existant but it was still fantastic. A great sense of achievement and chaffing. This is the view looking down on the campground.
Today we were supposed to go out on "Funyaks" - a jet boat ride up the Dart River and then inflatable canoes back. The weather was so bad we cancelled and drove back to Queenstown to mooch and let our legs recover. I'm sneaking in a quick trip on the Shotover Jet boat for 4 this afternoon weather permitting. Well it is the Extreme Sports Capital of the World.....
After camping in the botanical gardens near the penguin colony we drove down to see the Mororaki boulders. According to the Rough Guide one the "dont misses" of New Zealand. I'm not putting up a picture. It's some rocks on a beach - they are uncommonly round I admit but rocks on the beach none the less. From here we turned inland towards Queenstown the Extreme Sports Capital of NZ, the world even! We booked into the YHA and did some laundry.
The next morning we drove up to Glenorchy which is where the Routeburn Track starts. This is one of NZs best treks. We were planning to do the lot but the campsites had been booked out for a while. We did manage to get a pitch for the first stop. The guide advised us that we could then leave our packs at the campsite the next day, walk to the summit of the track, turn around and walk back down again, pick up our packs and make it back to Glenorchy. OK then.
When we arrived in town we discovered the world famous "Glenorchy Races" were on. We had to have a quick flutter. Was surprised that the first race was the "walk, trot and gallop" and the second was the "saddling race". It is a kind of cross between Glorious Goodwood and a school sports day. Loads of fun but we lost our $1 bets. My horse just kept going round in circles and Naomi's jockey couldn't get on his mount.
So anyway we headed up to the fist campground, the Routeburn Flats. It has to be the most beautiful campsite in the ground but you'll have to look at Naomi's blog to see it.
We had it to ourslves for most of the day with others only turning up at around 5 pm. I lit a fire with damp wood. I was very proud and content. In the morning we packed up our tent and headed up smelling like kippers. It was a quite tough and the weather was foul, the views at the end were non-existant but it was still fantastic. A great sense of achievement and chaffing. This is the view looking down on the campground.
Today we were supposed to go out on "Funyaks" - a jet boat ride up the Dart River and then inflatable canoes back. The weather was so bad we cancelled and drove back to Queenstown to mooch and let our legs recover. I'm sneaking in a quick trip on the Shotover Jet boat for 4 this afternoon weather permitting. Well it is the Extreme Sports Capital of the World.....
