Queenstown - Auckland (6)

ENGLISH VERSION BELOW WELSH VERSION:

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i chi gyd!

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda/ Happy New Year

Ar ol y ddyddiadur diwethaf yn Queenstown, fe ddarganfyddes i 'Radlers' - yr unig cwrw'n y byd fyddai'n yfed o nawr mlaen, a mae pob dim ychydig o blyr ers hyny, ond fe geisiai gofio'r cyfan!

Fuon ni'n ardal Milford Sound, a chymryd cwch i weld y mynyddoedd mawr a'r rheadrau.  Fe ges i tonsilitis am gyfnod a methu siarad (dim byd i weneud gyda'r cwrw, dwin siwr!).

Yna teithio i fyny ochor gorllewinol yr ynys, yn stopio i gael salmon chowder cyn cyrraedd Fox Glacier (fel y mints!). Fuon ni i weld y glacier anferth yno, sydd yn ei hun yn anhygoel, ond dyma ni'n sbasho allan a mynd ar 'heli-hike', oedd yn golygu mynd mewn helicopter a chael ein gollwng ar y ia.  Reodd cerdded ar y ia yn deimlad rhyfedd dros ben, a'r ogofau ia yn anhygoel, ond gan mae dyma'r tro cynta i ni fod mewn helicopter, roedd y profiad yma'n wych! Ces i fod drws nesa i'r peilot yn y blaen a John yn y cefn. Sain credu fy mod i wedi dal mlaen yn fwy tynn i unrhywbeth yn fy mywyd, yn enwedig pan ddwedodd y ferch wrhai i beidio gorfwys yn erbyn y drws!  Reoddwn i'n falch dros ben i fynd i eistedd yn y cefn ar y ffordd nol! Yn anffodus, mae rhywebeth wedi digwydd i'n disg ni o'r llyniau yma - felly dwi wedi amgau rhai Jane i chi gael gweld rhywbeth o leia!

Ar ol hyny - ceisio arbed peth arian a gwneud lot o gerdded ym mhob man.  Stopio mewn sawl pentre bach a mynd i weld ogofau  'glow-worms' ganol nos.  Deodd y tywydd ddim yn arbennig, gyda lot o law ar adegau, ond yn sydyn, un diwrdod - daeth yr haul allan, ac ry'n ni wedi cael heulwen braf ers hyny!  Dyma ni felly'n penderfynnu mynd i ardal Abel Tasman sydd yn mwy fel Fiji na ZN - 'torpical' dros ben gyda tywod gwych. Yr unig wahaniaeth - tymheredd y dwr, brrrrr!  Fe ddalion ni dacsi dwr i man gogleddol yr parc, ac yna cerdded am ddau ddiwrnod yn ol i'r man cychwyn!  Fuon yn aros ar gwch dros nos, a gethon weld machlud anhygoel.  Ond fel pob cwch, does dim lot o le, a dim ond dau deodfedd oedd rhwng ein gwely ar nenfwd. Gorweddon ni'n hollol llonydd drwy'r nos!

Nol i ynys y gogledd dri diwrnod cyn Dolig, a stopio mewn lle or enw Waitanamo Caves ar y ffordd.  Dyma lle gethon ni wenud 'absailing' am y tro cyntaf erioed.  Y broblem oedd, doeddwn i ddim wedi meddwl fyddai rhaid i fi wendu y peth ar ben fy hun, ac ar ol edrych lawr i mewn i'r ogof tywyll, ges i tipyn o sioc ( i ddweud y lleia!) Ond reodd John ar y gwaelod yn barod, a doeddwn i ddim yn mynd i adael iddo e cael y gore ohonai, felly cau llygaid a off a fi! I fod yn onest - doedd e ddim yn annodd o gwbl a fe wnes i fwynhau (wrth edrych nol).  Fuon ni'n cerdded yn yr ogofau am ychydig a gweld miloedd o glow worms cyn cael ein cario i nol lawr yr afon ar ben ryber ring, a wedyn dringo nol allan o'r ogof.  Gwelir o'r lluniau fod y wisg oedd rhaid i ni wisgo yn 'hi-tech' dros ben!

Daeth ein ffrind Jane i gwrdd a ni'n Raglan, a roedd hi'n braf cael cwmni i wilio John yn cwmpo oddi ar ei surfboard! Nol i Auckland i ddathlu'r Nadolig gyda Jane, ai ffrindiau (Dom a Sue) a'u ci ciwt dros ben (Sparky).  Mae dydd 'Dolig ychydig o blur (fel dwi'n siwr ei fod wedi bod i rhanfwyaf ohonoch chi!) ond fuodd Sion Corn yn ffein iawn a prynnu tocynnau Criced i ni am dranoeth (dwi'n credu mai ar rhestr John oedd y tocynnau).  Felly diwrnod San Steffan, buon yn gwylio ZN yn curo Sir Lanka mewn gem 20/20!  Dwi dal ddim yn gwbod pwy ennilloedd!

Nol yn y fan wedyn 'ny, a lan i ardal y Bay of Isands a chwrdd gyda Emily a Danny(merched cwrddon ni'n Fiji) a gwario ychydigo o ddiwrnodau yn teithio gyda nhw cyn mynd i Russell i wersylla ar darn o dir roedd Dom yn berchen.  Roedd y man yn odidog, ar ben mynydd yn llawn coed cnau Macadamia, ond un problem fach - dim ty bach!  Ond chware teg i Dom, erbyn diwedd y dydd roedd wedi adeiladu un i ni!

Calan - mwy o Radlers, a llwyth o dan gwyllt, ond dim lot o atgofion gwaetha'r modd!  Diwrnod cyfan yn gwely (fel pob calan arall fy mywyd) ac yna nol i Auckalnd.

Erbyn hyn, dim ond ychydig o ddiwrnodau sydd gennym ar ol yn ZN a ry'n ni wedi llwyddo i werthu y fan mewn diwrnod.  Fe gethon ni gynnig o fewn oriau i'w hysbysebu ac fe basiodd y 'mechanical check' heb ddim problem (oedd fwy o sioc i John a fi na neb!) a wedi llwyddo gwneud ychydig o elw hefyd!

Felly, wythnos nesa - De America! Ry'n ni'n dechrau panicio mai dim archebu cwrw ni'n gallu gwneud yn Sbaeneg (dydy'r cynllun o fod yn rhygl erbyn hyn ddim cweit wedi gweithio) ond yn edrych ymlaen yn fawr! Felly, hwyl am y tro!

ENGLISH VERSION STARTS HERE:

Well, we're back in Auckland and still rubbing our heads after a very Merry Christmas and New Year (thats a shock isn't it?).

We made our trip up from Queenstown via Milford Sound, named after Milford Haven - it was discoverd by a Welshman.  Unfortunately Ffi wasn't feeling very well at this time - could be something to do with the citrusy beer "Radlers" that is readily available in New Zealand...or it could have been just a bit of sea sickness as we took a boat trip out on the Sound to take in the views of waterfalls and fur seals. (It was actually tonsilitis, but she's much better now-she can shout again...)

The next major stop was Fox Glacier and Franz Josef where we decided to do a Heli-hike onto Fox Glacier.  This really was a once in a lifetime experience and our first time in a helicopter.  Landing on ice was a pretty amazing experience and the 4 hour walk around on the ice, through ice caves, and nearly slipping down huge holes, was pretty good too!!.

We travelled north to Abel Tasman National Park.  We had heard from other people that you could kayak up and around the coast of the Park, but decided to hike down the coastal path insted.  We caught a water taxi up to a northern beach and walked for 2 days back to the starting point.  We stayed overnight in a floating hostel (boat) about half way down the coast. We made it there on time and enjoyed a swim before eating and having a few beers with the other crew members!  The Park itself has the best beaches in New Zealand and once you start walking you realise that the area doesn't really look anything like the rest of New Zealand. It felt a bit like being in Fiji again with white sand and the blue sea.

Thankfully this walk was much more pleasant than the Tongaririo Crossing - the fact that we didn't have icicles hanging from my ears after the first 30mins was a big bonus!We finished the walk easily the next day and said goodbye to Abel Tasman with a bit of sunburn.

We next travelled to Picton to get the ferry back to the North Island.  We had a bit of a rough crossing, thank god for travel sickness pills that not only stop you from being sick, they make you laugh too!

We had arranged to meet our friend Jane in Raglan.  Amazingly it also turned out to be a great place to surf! (What a coincidence!)  Ffi was quite happy too, because when Jane turned up, we managed to find a pub with Radler on tap!

The next day was Christmas Eve and I'm happy to say I spent the morning showing the locals a thing or two about falling off a surfboard!

We travelled up to Auckland in the afternoon and got right into the Christmas spirit.  Jane was happy to have a couple of Brits around to do a bit of ´Brit christmassing´ with (usually its all BBQ and sun over here), so we decided to sit on the couch and eat and drink on Christmas eve before doing the proper Kiwi Christmas the next day.

Christmas Day was all a bit of a blur, i definately saw Ffi drink a Radler and I remeber Dom(Janes housemate) doing a good impression of John Travolta. The rest was all a mountain of shrimps on the bbq and other food and more food and ....you get the idea.  Needless to say we really enjoyed ourselves - a big thankyou to Jane, Dom and Sue, I'll learn the running man by next time.

We travelled north up to Cape Reinga and met up with Emily and Danni, friends we made in Fiji.  They came with us over to Russel where we met up with Jane, Dom and Sue to camp out on Dom's family farm for New Year.  We had our own little eco friendly camp site and had a great time celebrating the New Year together.  Russel is a beautiful little seaside town where Dom grew up and he gave us the whistle stop tour of his childhood town - it seems he knew the town inside out, however he did forget about that log on the beach just outside the boat house....We saw the New Year in at the swordfish club in Russel and watched the fireworks over the Bay of Islands.

On New years day we travelled back to Auckland and we are now just organising our selves for South America.  We managed to sell the van very quickly and were sorry to see it go - it had served us well.  The new buyers wanted a full mechanical check done on it before they handed over the money and we were a little bit nervous, however it came through with fyling colours, we didn't have to bribe the mechanic or anything!!

So on to the Americas -we hope you all had a very good Christmas and New Year, keep your comments and email's coming - as always its great to hear from you all

Adios

John and Ffionx