BULA!

We finally departed Christchurch, Fijian time, one hour late! Flight, again, bought no real dramas but it did bring our first taste of the South Pacific in the form of Fiji Bitter. To you and I, lager. Not too bad.

Five hours later we reach Nadi, westcoast Fiji. Fiji is made up of 333 jewel-like islands of which about only 100 are actually inhabited all set in the tropical South Pacific. Fiji is the real meaning of a pacific island paradise.

It's said that the one thing people love the most about Fiji is it's enormously friendly, smiley people. At our arrival into Nadi airport this was certainly a clear case as we couldn't remember the time, or even ever come to think of it, when we'd received such a greeting as we did arriving here. The greeting was of soft Fijian sounds, a quartet made up of a ukulele and 3 guitars as we approached the normally very dull baggage reclaim. All involved in this impromptu band were dressed in traditional Fijian suku's and pacific flowered shirts to boot. As you finally cleared the security desks you're handed shell necklace and 'BULA!' is hailed as a cheery smiley welcome greeting which gives you your first taste of native lingo. Oh and then there's the humidity, something we haven't felt for a while, but come on we are back in the tropics.

Fiji is renowned for it's coups. The most recent being back in 2006 where the Fijian military drove from the Queen Elizabeth barracks into downtown Suva to stage a entirely peaceful coup in a drive to oust overt government racism and corruption linked to out of control government spending.

The next few days are going to take a bit of getting used to as for the next week we'd booked an island-hop tour deal with everything covered, from transfers to food to island accommodation. No thinking required for this latest destination, just a pair of sea-legs for many, many boat rides up and around the Yasawa isles. All we had to do was roll-up, roughly at the times and dates given, remembering to always add 'Fiji time' into the mix and all would be taken care of. Hoping that we should be able to pull a bit of timekeeping back into order.

The Yasawa islands are made up of some twenty islands of volcanic origin. They lie in a chain slightly north of the west coast. Made famous by the film 'The Blue Lagoon' (you know, the Brooke Shields one). The islands have white sandy beaches with crystalline waters, lush tropical rain forests and soaring volcanic peaks.

So once we were done with the airport it was onto a very full bus that was ready and waiting for us. You couldn't have got another rucksack in the bus if you tried, not even with a run-up. Our transfer to Newtown Beach was only 10 odd mins from Nadi. Nothing flash, a beachside hostel, with talk of a good restaurant next door.   Met a lovely couple called Daniel & Annie, who were just coming to the end of their 5 month trip spanning India, Oz then NZ. We met for supper and talked travel tales.

Next morning we were collected by bus at 7am sharp which headed us up to the port where we boarded the boat that would get us most of the way to the Yasawa isles. Although Fiji has over 300 islands and we were only staying on 4 of them during our first week. After 4 hours and 8 brief stops we arrived at our first island, Tavewa close to the top of the Sasawa isles. This catamaran style boat runs twice a day, up to the top of the Yasawa island and back down into Nadi, each day, everyday and seemed to be a well polished operation. This service acts like a water taxi so people can hop on and off at the chosen islands they wish to explore. Here the boat is king as there are no other forms of transport throughout the islands. The boat doesn't actually dock at each island, it stops close by and then smaller skif boats dart out from each island and zip up alongside of the larger boat. While passengers gingerly jump on and off one side, provisions and oversized stuffed rucksacks are precariously loaded and unloaded off the other.

So having left the big boat and successfully made it onto a smaller style boat without us or our bags taking a dip, we cruise up to our island. Because of the coral, when we reached knee height to the shore you then jump out and wade the last 20 or so metres. All very Robinson Crusoe like.

Island staff were lined up on the beach singing, smiling and frantically waving as we arrived, each one wearing a flower behind their ear. Our digs, bure (a traditional fijian hut) number 1, was simple. It came with the obligatory dodgy plumbing and electrics that you'd expect for an island hut sat in the pacific. Its seems the only urgency here is the hurry to slow things right down. Think we should be able to cope.

We'll meet again

It was our last night in the van (small note to self: work hard and buy another van pronto) and we agreed we were going to miss the independent gypsy way that a van gives you.  We had to prize ourselves away from Kaikoura, under much duress. It really is a great spot. A perfect full stop on a great 2 months in NZ. We slowly headed south on the alpine pacific highway whilst discussing our up and coming lists for 'miss and not miss' on New Zealand. The 'not miss' list proving to be pretty tough.

For our final night we opted to camp 33ks just north of Christchurch. Whilst tucking into our supper, around 7:30ish, the van started to shake. A kind of general side to side movement that lasted for a good few seconds. We both looked at each other thinking it must be kids outside mucking us around. It then dawned on us that it was one of the many aftershocks (we later heard it was an earth moving 4.9!). The region had been experiencing daily aftershocks since the quake. Obviously it was a very gentle rocking with Christchurch being 33km away but nonetheless rather disturbing. We had heard that Christchurch had had something like over 5000 aftershocks since their September 2010 quake. We just can't imagine what it must have been like.

Once at the airport it seemed it was almost as difficult to leave NZ as it was for us to enter. The check in desk couldn't find our ticket details on the system! A clear case of computer says no.  Sat in departures overlooking simply stunning landscapes, snow-capped mountain ranges piercing through the low rain threatening clouds. After all that check-in nonsense the body was crying out for a longblack. On asking for the regulation glass of tap water we got a very unfamiliar reply of 'sorry guys not available at the mo as it's thought to be contaminated'. Not your normal reply from your friendly coffee shop staff in a well developed country. Then we sat back and felt the caffeine hit our eyes wondered over the building and it didn't take long to spot the reasonably sized surface cracks that appeared to be present throughout the departure lounge at every change of angle. Although nothing too severe going on a past theory of a wise old surveyor colleague back home ''not a concern Davey unless you can actually fit your fist into the crack'.

Taking into account this is by far the most beautiful country on the road trip so far we've somehow managed to pull together some sort of list that actually does include some 'not misses'.

Miss:

D: The pure uncrowded beauty, unassuming modest characters, Hokey Pokey ice cream, the Whitehouse (aka our north isle camper), Anderson pies, the mountains.
F: Neatly farmed countryside, ansac biscuits, tramping, glaciers, the wildlife (of which non are deadly).

Won't miss:

D: the high costs incurred when jumping from bridges.
F: hungry sandflies.

A whale of a time

The arrival of autumn was making itself known bringing a chilly start. A cool 6 degrees greeting van folk this morning. We certainly felt it in the non-insulated Toyota. By mid morning though the suns height had made it to the mountain valleys which returned a more toasty temperature in the mid twenties.

Giving Christchurch some room our new route up to Kaikoura took us inland though some great flat plain farmlands surrounded by mountain ranges. Neatly arranged tree lined paddocks spanning out for mile
after mile.

Fyffe House is a little pink but well turned out house on the edge of Kaikoura's peninsula. Named after Robert Fyffe who sailed to NZ from Scotland at the mere age of 19 back in 1836. 6 years on he'd set up a
very successful whaling station within the bay. Wisely he knew full well that this catch wasn't a sustainable one so he also set up a sheep farm on the peninsula.

Once the whales were caught and gutted, blubber from these mammoth mammals was boiled up in giant cauldrons on the beach to extract a fine oil. The oil was then transferred into wooden barrels and shipped all the way to the UK to be used as fuel for early street lighting. In his first season he sent 130 barrels to Wellington for shipping onto the UK. One whale alone would produce 18 barrels of oil!

He built the foundations of the house using whale bones, the vertebra. The story behind it's pink colour is a simple one. It's the resulting colour of mixing the whale oil and red lead oxide that was commonly used at the time. He built an extra wing on the house purely for his cooper, providing living quarters and a workshop for this vital trade of the whole operation. His priority being to keep the cooper sweet as no barrels equaled no oil export.

The curator at the house took great delight in telling us the age of this lovely pink house knowing how us Brits love our old stuff. We didn't have the heart to tell her that we actually live in a house of a similar age! All the while though she did give us some fantastic info on the colourful history surrounding this adorable little house.

The whales he hunted in the bay were named the Southern Right Whale, they had a high percentage of blubber so once killed floated making life easy! They would kill calves knowing their mothers would always
follow or stay nearby making it easy to then harpoon the mother. All this culling though came at a price as once all the reproductive mammals were being killed the species was in danger of becoming extinct.
 
Onto a lighter note. As NZ is renowned for its tasty lambs we chose an afternoon of getting up close to these little fellows. Peter Smith, a staunch Kaikourian, hold 300 lambs on one hundred acres. In his words 'creating a hobby farm'. His family once used to farm the whole peninsula some 600 acres housing around 1000 sheep. His breed, the Drysdale, need sheering twice a year. Unlike the meat, the wool doesn't fetch such a high price. He gets $3 for a kilo of the good stuff (ie not the wool from the head or bottom! That only fetches a dollar). One bag holds around 150 kilos of sheered wool from around 60 animals. The wool and shaved lamb had a distinct oily texture, this obviously makes the coat and lamb waterproof. This oil is extracted from the wool and added to beauty products. Within a week of the shearing a 5 mm growth will grow and within 6 months it's back in for the once-over.

Fe had a cuddle with one of Peter's lambs, she was so cosy and so warm. The world record for sheering is 866 one year olds in an 8 hour day (so that's one every 37.2 seconds!). 18 years ago NZ used to have 80 million sheep. That figure has dropped to 32 million. Many farmers are finding it tough and selling up to vineyards or golf clubs etc.

Sperm whales frequent this coast in greater numbers than anywhere else on earth! They are the largest toothed mammal and can grow up to 60ft in length and 70 tons in weight. They are found here because of Kaikoura's huge deep underwater canyon. Lying hidden just offshore, the 2km deep Kaikoura Canyon is one of the world's great undersea wonders. Two strong sea currents converge in this enormous trench and draw vast quantities of plant and animal nutrients to the surface in a great upwelling.  This is the catalyst for a population explosion of small fish and crustaceans that in turn attract an astounding food chain of larger marine life, the most famous being the giant sperm and southern right sperm whales, bottlenose, common and dusky dolphins, wandering albatross and fur seals.

As Kaikoura was a pretty small town we booked the only tour option available which runs out of Kaikoura to the deep Kaikoura canyon. After a lecture on safety which seemed to strongly lean to the sales of seasickness pills we climbed onboard oblivious of what was to come.

With 1500cc of power, 49 seats (filled with eager tourists still full from breakfast) and a 2 metre rolling swell we had ourselves a real interesting open water Saturday morning boat tour on our hands! The boats primary function is to chase and track marine life, sperm whales in particular. Which happen to be as long and 3 times as heavy as the boat itself mmmmm. Thoughts of 'maybe we need a bigger boat' ran through our heads.

Jim, our captain, took the boat off at some pace, as we pulled away from the wharf it was time to take our seat and hold on to whatever necessary. We reckoned about at least 40% of our fellow ocean goers had turned green. All of these numbers making full use of the accessible, thankfully, onboard small White paper bags. (Free of charge with full user instructions found in the bottom of the bag, hee hee). On this smallish sized boat there wasn't really any place for these bulging paper bags to hide. Our health and safety officer (vomit collector to you and I) had seen it all before. We took along a packed lunch! Tuna roll anyone? We agreed, lottery win or not, a boat wasn't making the bucket list! Looking out the window was interesting, sky one second, ocean the next!

Forget Jona, this was Feona and the whale! We saw one just diving down, catching a glimpse of his tail. They can hold their breath for up to two hours so we didn't wait for him, we kept on looking. The boat slowed up again and we road alongside another whale. We obviously took photos but it doesn't translate to what it was actually like being so close to this giant (plus taking photos and hanging on for your life isn't easy!)

Roadtrip swansong

The final leg of our NZ journey took us up the east coast to Kaikoura. Our original plan was to stop off at Christchurch to split the journey but nature's powers had forced us to can these thoughts. Next time Christchurch, next time. We now had what seemed time-on-our- side. We'd been reading up on the quakes devastation in the press and keeping tuned to local radio. It all sounded a real tragic mess. A sort of situation that you can't really appreciate unless it's directly affecting you. This is the second quake to hit Christchurch,
an area not normally renowned for quakes, within a year. There's talk now from the Earthquake Commission that a whole new fault line has shown up within the Canterbury area. Some Canterbury residential areas
are still in the state of repair from the previous earthquake which struck back in September 2010. This time though the quake had really left it's mark by leaving some central and eastern areas resembling what can only be described as war zones. It's exposed how important the simple things in life can be. Things that we all normally take for granted, like basic utilities. Take away power, running water and drainage facilities and you find yourself in a pretty sobering situation. Hard for healthy folk to deal with but then factor in the very young, the old and not so healthy and it brings in very tough times. Over the past week we'd heard so many stats and figures, one that stuck was that 10,000 Canterburians per day were fleeing the Christchurch area either through fear of aftershocks or just simply through wanting to get away from all the madness that the quake has so selfishly left behind.

So with this said we gave it a wide berth as we were pretty sure the last thing they needed was a couple more tourists hunting round looking for land marks like the now sadly ruined cathedral.

Up from Dunedin on the east coast, is Moeraki Beach. Home to perfectly spherical like boulders that are dotted randomly along the beach like giant marbles that are steadily rolling from the dunes to the sea. Two
bucks gets you up close and personal with these giant like marbles. We had a great time messing around on them as the threatening incoming tide did its best to get us and fellow tourists and their camera gear as damp as possible. Once off the beach a fine example of the classic 'exit through the gift shop'. Our American friends can't get enough of it as many bags of 'treasures' were loaded back onto the many buses waiting in the main carpark.

Ohmaru is penguin HQ. After much local talk and many guide book entries we decide to rise above the hype and skip the drawcard which is the big 'pengiun tour' as we both agreed that it just wouldn't come close to what we'd experienced the previous night, for free. Instead we headed for Graves headland Track and a meander around this harbour based town. The town being a real charmer with some lovely old Victorian buildings filling the main high street. Pretty impressive architecture for a small seaside town known previously as a sheep station.

After 215 days away from home, we stumble across a good contender that resembles a good old English bitter. After much enjoyment and thorough extensive research spanning many states in many countries we find this possible contender: Monteiths Original Ale. A west coast brewery established in 1868. Typical just as we are about to tee up and leave!

Timaru is the first real sized town 2hrs South of Christchurch. At present the population has swollen by some 20% as it was housing around 6000 Christchurch residents now being referred to as 'refugees'. Our campsite had over 50 checked in all now categorised as homeless. Some pretty strong thoughts go through your head when you start thinking that the very person stood next to you at the sink cleaning their teeth maybe someone who's lost absolutely everything.

'Old times' in Dunedin

The Butlers = Mike, Wendy, Nick and Justin, Toby the dog and not forgetting Magic the horse.

We'd roughly worked out that I'd not seen Mike since 1998! Back then we worked together in the UK whilst they were completing their OE (overseas experience), local lingo for travelling, which took them
through Asia, Russia, Europe and up to the UK. Travels completed Mike & Wendy flew home after being away for around 2 years and made home in the idyllic spot of Sawyers Bay on the Otago peninsula. Once back they married and 2 kids shortly followed.

We parked the van out back near the paddocks. Looking forward to a nice couple of days being based at a place with a home feel. Not long after we had arrived it was off up to the farm as Sunday night is the
customary family 'fish and chip' night at the Wendy's parents dairy farm. We were delighted to be invited and enjoyed meeting Wendy's family, the chips weren't bad either!

Monday, Mike off work for the day, well he is the boss so why wouldn't ya, we were shown the sights and even taken out for lunch. 'Good as gold' Mike. St Clairs beach had a good looking swell and a shark bell when required! Then onto Lanarch Castle - NZ's only castle. We walked the beautifully manicured gardens, the castle itself looked more like a large hotel than what we'd call a 'castle'. On route back to Sawyers we drove the steepest road in the world. Ever!

Richard Tilsbury, another old work colleague from the UK who is now living in NZ, joined us for supper. We had a good night talking about old times.

Tuesday morning gave us a chance to catch up on admin, blog and skype. The calls home were well received following the recent earthquake. The afternoon bought Mark, the Farrier, he came by to sort Magic out with two new pairs of shoes. It was great to watch a very old trade that we'd never witnessed before. Toby the dog gobbled up the toenail cuttings, dogs love them, yuk! Not that we are superstitious or anything but Mark gave us a horseshoe, a lightweight racehorse shoe no less, for good luck for the rest of our travels.

Wendy took Fe on the back of the quad bike up to her dad's paddock where he was haymaking to collect the boys, they love riding with Grandad in the tractor after school. Then us, Wendy and the boys went
up to the Taiaroa Heads. The sunset was fantastic and the boys loved playing in the soft sand and rock pools. We were trying to spot seals and we saw a few playing in the waves. A group of lads were fishing and had managed to catch a few wrass. Wendy then told us to head for Spit Beach near Aramoana while she took the boys home to bed. We got to the beach just before dusk to do some penguin spotting. As the light faded we were lucky enough to see 3 exiting the sea. They looked very funny, almost like old men as they made their way up the beach and into the dunes. As the daylight moved into night skies we were the only ones left on the beach with penguin cries echoing off the rocks that lined the dunes. 3 sightings may not seem many but watching these chaps in their natural environment made it real special for us.

A dip into fear

Queenstown, globally recognised as the 'home of bungy'. Way back in November 1988 two Kiwi thrill seekers opened the world's first bungy site on the historic Kawarai bridge just slightly north of
Queenstown.  So with us two now being in the home of bungy we headed to the original jump site and the 'Secrets of Bungy' centre high above the Kawarau River - we both knew at least one of us just had to try it - Bungy jumping - NZ style.

So with one of us safely positioned on the viewing deck it was over to one of us to get acquainted with a small-ish blue towel, some velcro strapping and many many long elastic type bands. All this gearing up happens very calmly whilst you're asked the most random questions. Then you're up on the platform, 'toes on the nose' longboard style. You hear some final checks going on although you have no clue at this point what's really going off. Then the obligatory 3-1 countdown starts and then you're off amid chants and cheers from the crew who are stood fully secured to a very old looking bridge high above the Kawarai river.

All resulting in………

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AYbz6_tMTY

Like we said, we were in Queenstown so one of us just had to.

One hell of a shake

Ahhhhh Christchurch more looks like a scene from a terrorist attack or war zone than a beautiful cathedral city. Our thoughts go out to all affected in this tragic natural disaster.

Is this another step forward to Nostradamus predictions of our melt down in 12-12-12?  Or quite simply another tragic natural occurrence.

But outside of Christchurch the of New Zealand is very much open and as beautiful as ever.

Two go tramping

 DOC (Dept of Conservation), bit like England's National Trust, look after all the National Parks on NZ. The Routeburn Track is a very a popular 3 day tramp that traverses 33 km of Mount Aspiring and Fiordland national parks.

The Routeburn is a one way tramping track with a 350km / 4 hour drive separating the start from the finish so we had to figure out how we were going to get ourselves to the start and then the van to the finish whilst we merrily tramped the track.

Introducing Mike, a crazed fit Queenstowner whose genius idea has built up a well known local business that has the solution to such a problem. Once parked up at the start he collects our van from the car park (key under the wheel hub surf-style and cash only, so that's safely tucked in the glove box).  As we tramp off he then drives the 4 hours round to the finish line and then runs the 33km back home along the track! Fit, mad and becoming pretty well off. Not really too sure on how much of that cash Mike is declaring! But either way good on him, a great guy with a great small, local business doing a fair battle with the big coach party top guns. As it happened our running man, Mike, was at the start carpark from a previous job so we exchanged keys and cash there and then and as we left we just hoped our van would make it round to the trek finish some 33kms east in 3 days time.  Prior to our parting we couldn't help but ask him a few job related questions. The most he had run the track was 4 times in 8 days, his quickest time was a respectable 3 hrs 40!!!!!!!! And there was us taking 3 days! This was one fit Kiwi.

Along the Routeburn they are 4 cabins, we booked ourselves into the 2 that had spaces left (this is a popular trek). Not your normal cabin though, no hot water/showers/heating, lighting on demand, you get the picture. On the plus side though all did have flush loos which is some going given their remote locations. We had to carry everything we would need for this tramp: food, cutlery, cook-up pans waterproofs, bedding and the odd clean pair of pants! The tracks come with a strict 'pack in pack out' for all equipment taken into and onto the track. This includes all generated rubbish.

Day one wasn't far as it was the nearest but only hut we could squeeze into on day one, Lake Howden Hut. We even managed to get there before the rain started. Only 28 single bunks but almost full bar a few late drop outs.  Each hut has a manager that lives there during the summer months . DOC don't just pay these guys to live out in the wilderness drinking coffee, these guys also have to work during the day repairing tracks etc. John, the Howden hut manager, gave a short talk after we had all had our supper, also informing us of the earthquake that had just hit Christchurch that afternoon. These huts have no electricity or phones so not much information was coming in and none was able to go out.  Fe said she felt like she was back in Girl Guide camp sleeping in bunks. Luckily only the one snorer but we had packed our earplugs so no worries. We met 2 couples that were doing the same route as us so was good to know we could meet later at hut 2 and compare achy muscles.

Day 2 was the biggy, 19.9 kms to tramp but this was by far the most rewarding and spectacular part of the trek. Leading you from sub alpine forests up onto an alpine pass ridgeway, known as the 'zig- zags' section, high above the Hollyford Valley giving us great views of the Darran mountains. Harris Saddle shelter acted as a brief lunch spot but as the clouds threatened we both agreed to push on as we knew that we'd been sooo lucky to make it to this point without any real storms breaking. So with our limited gear but high morale we pushed on for the Falls hut passing Lake Harris. This lake gave a jet black appearance giving perfect mirror images of the ranges above.  At last we finally could see our digs, the much welcomed sight of Routeburn Falls Hut peaking through the trees. What a sight for sore eyes, and feet for that matter. This hut was bigger than the last with 48 bunks. Again no welcoming hot shower or bottle of vino here to ease the pain. Just a freeze dried meal for 2. The hut had 2 areas, a bunk room and a kitchen. The kitchen had a great log burner which I adopted for the duration of my stay. But the bunk room nothing, no heat and for some reason there was a drive to keep the door propped open?! Why, it was in the wee small figures, freezing some may say! It was good to catch up with the fellow trampers from our first hut. We sat laughing and discussing the days distances. Lights out at 10pm, sharp, no complaints though it was all off to bed, a cold one at that. Door still propped open as we filed in!

 Day 3. Our last day which brought a sharp edged lazy breeze, you know the type that goes through you instead of around you. There was moisture in the air also. As the DOC rangers say 'you always expect at least one shower on your trek''. So we delayed the off for an hour or so which seemed to do the trick. It was only 3 hours back to our waiting, now seeming luxurious van. That was if the running-man Mike hadn't taken off to the west coast in it with our payment acting as a weekends beer money! With damp shoes and 3 day old socks it took a bit of choke to get us going but once on the downhill section to the flats and the finish point marked by the Routeburn shelter it didn't take long to warm up. We weren't at running pace but let's just say we weren't holding back.

So we'd walked through 2 national parks and saved on a 350km/4hr drive. Routeburn track done. Just can't tell you how good the hot showers felt at Glenorchy campground that night.

Our requests to DOC:
D - what the Routeburn is missing is kissing gates
F - obviously apart from hot running water at the huts I wish there was benches at vista points

The Fiordlands

These majestic lands severely tested those early settlers who tried to tame it. Even back then and todate we can strongly confirm that in these parts the sandflies were and are nothing but 'voracious'. Yes, they are a very useful cog in the big eco-machine but they are a real pain. The Maori belief is that the creation of the Te Namu (sandfly) lies with the goddess of the underworld, Hinenuitepo. As when she gazed at the beauty of what Tuterakiwhanoa had crafted, Tuterakiwhanoa thought to be the original carver of the Fiordland, she became fearful that humans would not want to leave such paradise. So the creation of Te Namu was a gentle reminder to us all not to linger for too long.

The area gets 7200mm of rainfall per year. So much rain that the sea has a deep topping of 20 foot of fresh water. Within this World Heritage National Park there are some areas that have never ever been

explored due to their remoteness.

Kim Hollows, a local helicopter pilot, decided to share the views he gets everyday from his 'office'. Over a 10 year period he shot various scenes which he has now brought together to make a short film about the diverse Fiordland region. At this point mustn't forget to mention that once the film was complete Kim realised there was no cinema in Te Anau to actually show it. So he did what anyone would do with this much passion for his country, he built one. Not shown in any other cinema in the world we sat wowed for 30 minutes. Kim has pulled together some amazing footage of this place. It really just summed up our feelings for this country. Again proving that NZ is stunning. 2 cinema visits in as many days! If we carry on like this we will be film buffs by the end of the year.

Been thinking, the difference with NZ from other places is that it's not just how stunningly beautiful it is, it's that there's hardly anybody here to spoil that beauty. Most beautiful places you visit are rammed, overrun, packed out and like a bun fight. This then can ruin the beauty.

Back on the road the drive up to Milford Sound from Te Anau was quite simply awesome. An unforgettable journey. The staggering beauty is enough to put anyones head in a spin. It's an overpowering place that leaves you lost for words really. Going to have to learn some new words to help describe the beauty.

Quite literally hundreds of waterfalls cascading down the mountainsides like veins of a good blue cheese. Raging river rapids run right up to the edge of the road. You feel totally surrounded by water, a constant

roar hits you at every twisting turn. Some falls are so high they disappear out of view through the low cloud that hangs over the mountains. The 20 odd km from the Divide to Milford gave us views we have never witnessed before. Pass the thesaurus, 'awesome' and 'stunning' are simply too weak. They just aren't making the grade!

On approaching the face of the Darran mountains you are met by the Honmer tunnel. A smallish looking opening beckons you in to a single lane tunnel that runs for about 1km long. In summer months it causes considerable delays as the traffic lights at either end change once every quarter of an hour. We gave the guys who built it some thought though as it took them 20 years to get through this solid granite mass. Once a year they hold a 'naked run' through the tunnel! All for charity mate. As you emerge from this dark sloping tunnel you find yourself in an amphitheatre of mountains and waterfalls and you can't but help feel that you've reached a spot that you shouldn't have actually got too. Well not by driving at least. We pulled off the road and just sat in a moment of rare silence. This place was 'remarkable'.

Monumental Magnificent Milford

After the darkest campervan night ever, where it rained so hard it's brought up 3 warning lights on our dashboard (and this is without keys being in the ignition!) we headed out early to cruise the famous

Milford Sound. With all the overnight rains the water run off from the mountains didn't make for the clearest of waters on the Sound, never the less though all pretty impressive stuff. It took us out as far as St Anne Point, the point where the Tasman Sea meets the Sound. From sea looking back into the entrance of the fiord it looks just like one solid cliff face. Old Cookie sailed past here twice, missing it on both occasions! Then a Welshman called Captain Grono from Milford Haven came bumbling by in 1823 and finally discovered it thinking it was a good sheltered spot to moor. Thus he named it 'Milford' after the South coast Welsh port. This place is so isolated they are not on the electricity grid. Bowen falls not only looks dramatic it also supplies electricity to the surrounding community via a hydro-plant and also supplies fresh drinking water. The water being so pure no treatment is required just filtering only.  At the deepest point the Sound is around 300 metres deep. The total height of many of the visible mountains from summit to seabed run up to 1 mile. All making you feel very small and insignificant! These solid granite beech tree lined mountains have been carved open by ice over tens of thousands of years ago. We passed the Pembroke Glacier which is over a million years old. Fur seals lazed on the rocks only semi interested in what we were up to. On a windless day they often spend much of their time in the water as like us they are victims if the dreaded sandflies.

Pass the popcorn

It would be rare to find a cinema listed as a tourist attraction but Wanaka's one screen Paradiso cinema is not your average flicks. Not only listed in most international tourist guides it's also listed in Lonely Planets 'must do' category when you find yourself passing through this laid back little town. And yes, it does have an old moggy minor parked inside acting as front row seats.

You won't find any of the trappings of the posh, up market big-city cinema here. Let's just say it was more like watching a movie in your own lounge. All curled up on one of the miss-match sofas, good coffee and warm cookies balanced on the arm. We really could be back at 108!  Thoughts filled my head of maybe I should get my 'film club at home' plans back on track.  This place was so cool. The films stopped one hour in for a 'interval'. And why not, as the smell of fresh homemade cookies fill the main theatre. Popcorn anyone was the cry?

Where is that *!*#**! deet ?

Onward to Jackson Bay we stopped off at Bruce Bay for a spot of beach combing. Fe on the lookout for driftwood to complete a little craft project in the future and I got the odd pebble or three. Lots of sandflies here so we bug creamed up. The west coast is renowned for these little biters.

At the head of the beach a trend seemed to have taken off for writing a message on a white stone and leaving it on the rocks, so we found a suitable contender and added another to the pile.

Whilst combing we bumped into Carlos and Jenny, a German couple that we have been crisscrossing paths with since the top of the north island. We shared a quick coffee and a laugh as they also were heading

for.……'Jackson Bay'. We let them into our reason for heading there - great fish n chips. Well that's what we'd been told.

Jackson Bay was the kind of place you feel 'out of place' if you don't fish! A tiny, tiny place with a jetty. Fishing boats were coming in every 30 mins with heavy loads that were hauled off the boats and then fork lifted off the jetty. We had a walk down and chatted to one of the fishermen, they had been catching a variety of tuna that has no limit.

The fish n chips were the best ever! From a shipping container at the end of the jetty. One downside to this idyllic spot, OMG it was sandfly central. These buggers are nasty and hungry. Reckon the mozzie is preferable, their bites are less itchy and they are easy to squat.

Rainforests and Glaciers

Within the Southern Alps sits the Westland National Park. There are more than 60 glaciers in the park, the two famous and very accessible being Fox and Franz Josef. These two glaciers are unique as they reach all the way down to the lower rainforests.  These huge tongues of ice cut through the valleys and flow down through temperate rainforest to just 250 metres above sea level.  The Franz Josef and Fox glaciers are particularly steep, with snow fall pushing ice down through the valley at a very high rate. Flow rates are up to 10 times faster than most valley glaciers. The glaciers are creeping down the mountain sides at a rate of 3ft per day.

08:30 am on the button you're woken to the sound of the first of hundreds of the overhead heli-rides of the day. The purists could easily have a case here. Are these rides the plight of the glaciers?  Combine an active glacier with a rainforest 5kms from a township and bingo, you've got a tourist mecca on your hands - Franz Josef. We decided to start our icy experience with a 5 hour hike up the side of Franz Josef to Roberts Point and then the following day take a guided glacier walk on Fox. A guided tour being the only way you can actually get out on the slippy stuff.

Before you start the ascent up to the point you pass Peters Pool, a small kettle lake. Kettle lakes are formed by huge blocks of ice that are left behind a glacier withdraws. When the blocks of ice melt it leaves a depression hole known as a kettle hole. These are found among mounds of rock debris that is deposited by receding glaciers.

As we crossed Douglas Bridge we spotted large blocks of ice floating by in the Waiho River below. As the trail climbs higher through the rainforest the path crosses over Arch Creek and Rope Creek swing bridges, the latter only able to take one person at a time - very wobbly.  We both agreed that we had never walked such a mix of terrain before. More of a scramble than a walk in parts with plenty of opportunities to get a boot full of icy glacier water.

We were rewarded at the top with a great view of FJ glacier. On rounding the final corner the glacier comes into full view. You're not sure whether to speak or just stay silent as blue lines of ice continue to be compressed by repeated snowfalls. The sun was so hot we had to seek shade to eat our lunch. So weird as we were so close to a glacier. This is one dynamic environment.  Near the top we heard the rumbling of a slip, we could just see glimpses of huge amounts of dust and rock sliding from the mountain. The roar echoed through the valley as large sections of rock tumbled into the valley below. We clambered for a better view, glad all the action was on the other side of the valley!

Our return journey was slightly more eventful, we had a black hawk down. Fe lost her footing and went a cropper slicing her elbow and grazing various other sticky out bits. After 6 months was the first aid kit actually going to be opened?  Not up the mountain as we hadn't packed it!  Even with the slip up we managed the 10km scramble in just under 5hrs.

Our Fox Glacier climb started at 8.30am so that were out early onto the Fox glacier to catch the clear skies. The boot room was our first stop. As we would be wearing clampons we had to kit up with some hobnail style boots. We had about an hours incline to get through first, once complete this then gave us access out onto the base of the glacier, by this point we had all removed a layer as it was a pretty warm morning. Then a quick stop to strap-on clampons and put a layer or two back on, we stepped onto the ice. Our guide,  Llewellyn, made impromptu steps for us with his vintage axe. At one point we had to slide sideways in between two walls of ice. The ice we were stood on was approximately 80 years old!

As the glacier is constantly moving daily ice hackers work the glaciers so that a route to kept open onto the glaciers. Global warming is doing it's thing and shrinking the glacier, the glacier has recessed 100 metres since last February.  Llewellyn pointed out markers where the ice used to be only a few years ago.  The dust storms in Oz gave parts of the glaciers orange stains!

The glaciers in these two valley are the only ones in the world, apart from Argentina, where the glaciers run right down to rainforest levels.  Through the neve you could see the tip of mount Douglas, the highest peak in NZ. This was flanked by Mount Tasman and mount Cook. 

This was an amazing day!