New Zealand - The Southern Adventure

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After arriving on the south island of New Zealand on 8th April we visited the following places:

Nelson - Greymouth - Franz Joseph - Queenstown - Dunedin - Tekapo

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After making the calm voyage across to the South Island we headed for the town of Nelson. From there we organised a trip to the Abel Tasman National Park. We had a great day out, half the time was taken up with walking and the second half was kayaking back th way we came, well not quite the way we came. We went back in the sea, and not on a track, but you figured that out right? Sure you did, I'll just get on with the story...

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So After an adventurous two days in and near Nelson we bused it on down to the fabulous waste of time they call Greymouth. We got the late in the day when it was already dark (which I think was deliberate), and booked up on the only event in the town, the Monteiths brewery tour. It was good value and we drunk lots, nothing to complain about there.

Our next stop took us to the high town of Franz Joseph. It was a place of few words, few buildings, few everything come to think of it, but what it did have that not many other places can claim is a nice big Glacier. The Franz Joseph Glacier was only 4km for the centre of FJ and is surrounded by many nice walking tracks. We took a bus which took us up to the base of the glacier to take some nice pictures and then ambled back to town, the little adventure took two and a half hours and was a nice little leg stretch after the bus confinement. We stopped into the museum which is a great way to kill 30 minutes or so in a place with little other entertainment.

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The town of Queens was the next place our adventure took us, or Queenstown as it is officially known. Our first impressions of Queenstown were great. There are high mountains surrounding the town on all sides and everyone we have spoken to have said with regards to activities and location 'Queenstown is Nz's favourite town'. While there we climbed a few mountains & hills, went on a luge and did some white water rafting down the same river that the Lord of the Rings crew filmed The Pillars of Kings scene. Pretty cool hey? The Town of Dunedin takes it's name from the Gaelic word for Edinburgh. The town was founded by Scottish settlers who thought they could break free of English domination. However, they were soon to realise that the number of English settlers greatly exceeded their own poultry numbers and so they were under dogs once more. I can assure you that Dunedin has none of the beauty that makes Edinburgh such a fine city. Come to think of it, it probably has more in common with Port Talbot or Fort William, a sh#t hole surrounded by fine peaks. On the bright side we did visit the Cadbury's chocolate factory which was both interesting and tasty. Our penultimate stay was in a beautiful little place called Tekapo. From the moment we arrived we were struck by its beauty. Even though its surrounding hills were not as nice and dramatic as those in Queenstown which to be honest are hard to beat, the lack of suburbs or people gives this place a real beauty of its own. It is a wonderful place to spend a few days if you like cycling or walking, however, if you do not like those things then its not worth staying. In the evening we went on a visit to the local observatory and was shown loads of interesting things in the nights sky of the southern hemisphere. We had a chance to look through a big optical telescope and saw Saturn, its rings and many of its moons, which was really cool. Finally we stopped at the nice town of Christchurch. We visited the Antarctic Centre and went on some nice walks especially to Christchurch Gardens and along the river Avon. On of last night in New Zealand we splashed out on a really nice meal, in which I had a huge cut of Venison Osso Bucco (yum). Bye bye New Zealand...