Hello everyone and welcome to our final blog post…

Since our last post, where we had just arrived in Te Anau, we visited the Fjordlands and in particular Doubtful and Milford Sound. It took 2 bus rides and 2 boat trips to reach Doubtful Sound, which was all carved out by ice, it was stunning and we were very lucky with the weather as they get something like 6m of rain per year…more than home!. We had a really interesting tour with 2 very knowledgeable and friendly guides. One of which was from Ireland but now lives in southwest NZ hunting deer, catching fish and taking tour groups out to the Sounds…what a life. On the way out we stopped at Manapouri Hydroelectric Power Station, where Andy spent most the time firing questions at the tour guide…just like an excited school boy!

We sailed out of the sound to the Tasman Sea, stopping to watch a group of fur seals basking in the sunshine and to grab some piccies of a playful group of dolphins.

The following day we drove up to Milford Sound, which was full of sandflies, so we didn't stop long! We stopped at Gertrude Valley for a quick lunch and then walked into the valley itself. It was much bigger than it first appeared, with huge peaks on either side, towering over us and waterfalls flowing down the cliffs. It was beautiful and very secluded…like a lot of NZ!

From Milford, we got back to Queenstown, where we went out fishing on Lake Wakatipu. It was a gorgeous sunny day and so we were happy to be out on the quiet water just chatting and sunbathing…although it was a little disappointing to catch just one fish! The following morning I went hang gliding from the Remarkables (mountain range just east of QT), while Andy went back out on the water in the hope of catching something extra for dinner and to avoid getting nervous at watching me jump off a cliff!

It was a brilliant experience with amazing views over Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding hills. Unfortunately it was over far too quickly and I was back on firm ground wanting to do it all over! Again Andy didn't have much luck with the fishing, although he did catch another good sized rainbow trout, so guess what we had for dinner…yummy!

Neither of us wanted to be leaving QT (again) and felt a little sad to go, but with just a week left to see the east coast and get back to Auckland for our flight home, we had to press on. From QT we drove north to Mt Cook National Park, where we stayed on the shores of Lake Pukaki with views of the snow capped peak of Mt Cook itself. We did a good walk up the Hooker Valley, passing snow and ice topped mountain ranges, lakes and rivers and ending at Hooker Lake at the toe of the Hooker Glacier. This glacier wasn't as stunning as Franz Josef as it is mostly covered in debris and therefore looks a bit unsightly, but the view across the lake with pieces of ice floating in it looking up towards the glacier face and Mt Cook towering over was fantastic.

Next stop was Christchurch, which is a small city and nice enough, but no where near as great as QT. We continued north along the east coast to Kaikoura, from where we went out on the open sea in the search for sperm whales. We had a very early start and the sea was a bit rough, but we had the best day…first seeing three separate sperm whales, which we pulled up relative close to and watched as they came up for breath before diving back under the water, flashing their trademark tail fin on the way down. They are enormous but so graceful. After finding our feet back on dry land and grabbing a delicious seafood lunch, we were back at the harbour and heading out for a fishing trip. The sea was still quite rough and we felt it even more in the tiny fishing boat, but we didn't care as we watched a pod of about 2000 dolphins swimming past our boat, jumping out of the water and showing off a little as they went. We think they were keeping on the move and trying to escape a predator, because soon afterwards we came across a group of about 10 orca (killer whale) heading in the same direction…and chasing their lunch! These were massive creatures (although smaller than the sperm whale), but so beautiful and graceful in the water. They were so unphased by our presence, despite getting within about 5m of our boat…I felt like we could almost reach out and touch them.

We were both in awe and considered ourselves extremely fortunate to have experienced these beautiful creatures in their natural habitats. We also spotted a lone seal and blue penguin which was tiny. We finally got on with some fishing and were much more successful than our attempts in QT. We went home after one of the best days of our trip with 2 crayfish the size of lobster, as well as blue cod and perch fillets…and what a delicious fish supper it was.

Back on the north island, we managed to break up our journey to Auckland by visiting the west coast, walking on the eastern slopes of Mt Taranaki and trying some black water rafting/caving at Waitomo. This made the homeward journey a little easier to manage!

We ventured into Auckland on our last night for dinner and a few beers and had a look around the city centre the next day, before reluctantly packing up Charlie and handing him back.

So now we're home after what was a very long flight and missing our adventures but looking forward to seeing you all soon,

Love Gem and Andy xxx