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WE WENT AROUND THE WORLD IN 247 DAYS
Tuesday 16th March 04
Today we woke just gone 8.00 am and set off for the airport for our domestic flight to Brisbane. Both flights that we needed to catch today had been rescheduled to a later time, so the majority of the day was spent in various airports departure lounges!
We finally landed in Christchurch around Midnight, and took a taxi to Stonehurst Backpackers to be told that our beds had been given away! Luckily we got them back!! However, we got the worst nights sleep yet due to roommates sleep talking, sleep fighting and snoring - create your own picture - not much fun!!
Wednesday 17th March 04
St Patrick's Day!
Awoke after 2 hours sleep maximum, to find out that all hostels in the area were full to the brim because of a Meat Loaf concert! Luckily, we found a 7 bed dorm in a spacious board room in the Pacific Park Motel! We met James (whom we had met in Chiang Mai) who had travelled from Wellington to meet us, and bumped into Adam whom we had met in Rainbow Beach!
After catching 40 winks we headed out to an Irish bar with James around 4.00 pm in the afternoon, Adam and Louise joined us later in the evening! We went to the nightclub called The Bog and eventually got home around 4.00 am!! Pretty good days drinking! We also met a Kiwi who tried stupidly to teach us the Haka!
Thursday 18th March 04
Today we awoke slightly hung over around midday and headed into Christchurch. After a little research we hired a campervan for 59 per day for the whole of New Zealand! Now the road trip begins! In the evening we popped out for a curry with James and took a much needed early night!
Friday 19th March 04
After a quick trip into Christchurch to check our emails, we tried to book ourselves onto the dolphins trip in Kaikoura, where you swim with wild Dusky dolphins, to find out we couldn't get in until Tuesday, so we headed North up to Nelson first, and then we will have to head South again to Kaikoura!
We drove for the whole afternoon stopping just passed Kaikoura for dinner where we saw 3 seals resting up on the rocks near the car park! We continued driving North and ended up sleeping on the road in a place called Havelock - very Naughty of us!
Saturday 20th March 04
We sneaked into a campsite in Havelock to do our washing up, refill the water bottles etc and drove to a nice picnic area just out of town for breakfast! We spent some time looking around Nelson and then decided to head further North to Abel Tasman National Park and stayed the night in Marahau car park! We had a drink in a local bar and watched the sunset, which was bright pink and purple, but unfortunately we left the camera in the car!! Oops!
Sunday 21st March 04
This morning we snuck into a backpackers to grab a free shower before stopping for some breakfast at a picnic area in Marahau. From here we headed to Nelson for a quick email stop and continued driving south towards Kaikoura.
It started getting dark quite early so we stopped for dinner in the midst of very strong winds - interesting to cook to say the least! After the sun fell millions of moths lined the roads making it look like snowfall whilst we were driving!
Monday 22nd March 04
Today we awoke at 7am and drove half an hour to Kaikoura and booked into a campsite, so we are able to have a proper shower and charge up the batteries for the camera! After doing ALL our laundry we walked into town to have a look around the shops - Dan bought a fleecy Quicksilver jumper to keep him warm!
Tuesday 23rd March 04
We had another look around the shops today and Nat bought a jacket in preparation for the trip down south on the west coast of South Island, to the glaciers! At midday we began our swimming with dolphins trip.
We were fully kitted out in full body wetsuits (7mm thick) and a hood to try and keep out the 16-degree water (and that was a warm temperature according to the guides!) We sailed out towards a pod of 200 or so dusky dolphins (the most playful of all the dolphin species) and we were in the water swimming amongst them! It was an amazing experience being so close to them! We were told to act like dolphins by keeping our arms by our sides, make squeaky noises and swim in circles, which apparently attracts them - Dan had a dolphin flip in the air above him (and nearly land on him) and Nat had 2 dolphins circling her - it was great!! Such a surreal experience!
After the dolphins had swum on by, we boarded the boat again to follow them and in again for a swim with them - we did this approximately another 5 times. Sometimes the dolphins swam straight past, but the majority of times they stopped curious of what we were doing and played with us!!!!
On the way back to shore the boat followed them once more and we were able to get some pictures of the dolphins flipping in the air and swimming at the bow of the boat. We felt really lucky to have experienced this! After we returned to hot showers and began driving towards the west coast in search of a place to stop for the night.
Wednesday 24th March 04
Once on the west coast, after passing through Hamner Springs, we stopped at the town of Greymouth to stretch our legs! We then drove to a great waterfall! From here we drove to Hokitika where after walking around the town we drove to a DOC (government free) campsite, which was right next to a beautiful lake!
Thursday 25th March 04
After a spot of breakfast we drove to Hokitika Gorge. We walked over a high swing bridge, which took us to some huge rocks by the bright turquoise water - it was great to see! We then began our drive down to Franz Josef Glacier and booked our full day hike on Fox Glacier (30 km from Franz Josef). After walking around Franz Josef town and doing one of the shorter walks to see the face of the glacier (which was a great sight!) we drove to another DOC campground for the night.
Friday 26th March 04
We awoke this morning to lots of rain and mist and decided it wouldn't be a good day to do our hike as we wouldn't be able to see the scenery. So, after checking the weather forecast, we have changed it for Monday so it should improve! As it's Nat's birthday tomorrow we decided to check into a motel at Franz Josef for 2 nights to have some luxury. After checking in and cleaning the van (it was needed!!) we spent the afternoon watching movies due to the awful weather!!
Saturday 27th March 04
Surprise surprise time for Nat today as Dan handed her birthday cards that friends and family had sent from England - great surprise!!!! And gave her a lovely necklace (another surprise!!). But we had awoken to a power cut which was affecting all towns 100km south of Franz Josef due to a storm during the night that had struck a tree, which had knocked down the power lines! We decided that we would drive to Fox Glacier to check into another motel, but after getting there we discovered the rooms were either too expensive or fully booked so we drove back to Franz Josef and booked into the room we had been in the previous night!! The afternoon was spent very lazily watching movies in the room again, eating chocolate and drinking beer - nice and relaxing! Dan then treated Nat to dinner at a really nice restaurant. All in all it was a great birthday!
Sunday 28th March 04
After updating more photos to the website we drove back to Fox Glacier where the weather was fantastic (looking good for tomorrow's hike!). We drove to the nearby Gillespie's Beach, which was black sand and lots of driftwood! We then drove to the Glacier and did an hours walk to the terminal face of the glacier which was great to see! Huge chunks of ice have fallen away into the river below but haven't yet frozen! After admiring the glacier we looked for somewhere to stop for the night.
Monday 29th March 04
We awoke to a perfect day (even better than yesterday) with not a cloud in the sky! After arriving at the hiking office and being given our walking boots and crampons (spikes which you attach to your boots to stop you slipping on the ice!), we set off on our walk up the glacier.
We started by climbing over rocks, streams and up through the rainforest (this was bizarre being so close to the ice and walking through a rainforest!). We then got to the glacier and after putting on our crampons, began walking on the ice, which was being cut into steps by our guide with a pickaxe! We walked higher up the glacier and had great views of the valley below.
We saw 2 ice caves, one of which we had to crawl through which was great! We were on the ice for about 3-4 hours but we were surprisingly warm up there! After returning to the ground we drove to Lake Matheson which is a perfectly still lake and has the reflections of Fox Glacier, Mount Cook and Mount Tasman - it was picture perfect as the sun was setting!
We then drove to find somewhere to park the van for the night - which was surrounded by lots of huge cows that 'mooed' into the night! This was an excellent day and we are well and truly exhausted!
Tuesday 30th March 04
From Fox Glacier we headed towards Wanaka and stopped on the way to see a huge waterfall. We had a walk around Wanaka where Dan bought a hat. We found a close by DOC campground at Albert Town where we met an English couple Kelsey and Mark who we had a few drinks with at the local pub in the evening and had a very late night by recent standards!!!!
Wednesday 31st March 04
We updated the website further today, then went to the famous Puzzling World, which contained a very confusing maze where you have to find the 4 corner towers (and it's much harder than it sounds!) after an hour spent doing this, then trying to find the exit, we made our way to the puzzle rooms which were very puzzling indeed!
On our way round the maze we had met another English couple, Faye and Tom. who we went to an activity centre with, where Dan hit a few balls from the driving range! We then spent the evening with them and went to the local pub again for a few drinks and games of pool, to be in the heat, as it was a very cold night!
Thursday 1st April 04
Today we started off in sight of Queenstown, when we heard on the radio there was a rugby game being played in Dunedin tomorrow night so we decided spontaneously to drive to Dunedin on the East coast in order to watch the game! On our arrival we went to the 'House of Pain' (aka the Carisbrook Stadium) home of the Highlanders team where we bought our tickets for the Highlanders vs Chiefs Super 12s. We then had a look around the city shops and headed out of town to find a picnic spot for the night.
Friday 2nd April 04
Today we checked into a campsite and after doing all of our laundry (and there was lots of it!) we went into the city again to have our hair cut and update the website some more! We then went for a curry and headed to the stadium for the rugby game - which was great, although the Highlanders lost! Dunedin has a predominantly Scottish heritage, so the game warm up was a band dressed in kilts singing songs to warm the crowd up in a Scottish accent, then out came 10 bagpipers to join in the fun! The atmosphere was brilliant!!
Saturday 3rd April 04
We checked out of our campsite and headed to Baldwin Street which is in the Guinness Book of Records as the steepest residential street in the world and trust us it was steep! We weren't allowed to drive up it so had to admire it from the bottom!
We then began our drive back to the West coast on our 420km drive to Milford Sounds in the Fiordlands. We got to within 50km's of our destination and set up camp for the night!
Sunday 4th April 04
Today we had a little lie in and headed to Milford Sounds, the weather is great today which was a surprise as the average annual rainfall in Milford is 5.5 metres a year and we were told you are very lucky to find a sunny day there! After driving the really windy roads we arrived and booked ourselves onto a cruise around the sound, which was well worth the drive there! There was breathtaking scenery of the Mitre Peak and snow capped mountains and a pod of 30 bottlenose dolphins decided to join us and swam at the bow of the boat, which was great! They were about 6ft long - much bigger than the dusky dolphins we swam with in Kaikoura! We then saw about 6 seals resting on some rocks and some very large waterfalls. It was an excellent trip! We then began our drive towards Queenstown.
Monday5 April 04
Today we arrived in Queenstown and after having a shower at a YHA hostel, we had a stroll around the town. Queenstown is situated adjacent to the Wakatipu River, amongst snow-capped mountains - really pretty! After this we drove to the site of the Shotover jet, on the Shotover River and after watching it in action decided to have a go ourselves! It is a small red jet boat seating 12 people which dodges in and out of the canyons and does 360 degree turns at high speeds - certainly an adrenalin rush! We then drove to the Karawau Bridge to watch some mad bungee jumpers in full swing - literally!!! From here we headed back to the campsite, just in time as the clouds opened again!!!
Tuesday 6th April 04
Today we were a little naught and sneaked back into the YHA for a shower, and headed into town to take full advantage of the early morning happy hour internet! After finishing up in town we headed 30ks out of Queenstown to Coronet Peak and played like little children in around 2 inches of snow that had fallen overnight on the ski fields up in the mountains! Living up to custom, we built an amazing snowman! After getting soaked to the bone and half freezing to death we headed to Omarama which is where we settled for the night.
Wednesday 7th April 04
Today we woke and set off for Timaru, which is south of Christchurch. After having a stroll around the little town we continued driving to Christchurch to finally arrive around 6.00p.m!! Nat went back to Stonehurst Backpackers where we stayed when we first arrived in New Zealand to collect some parcels that she hadn't managed to collect before we checked out the first time around! We managed to find a spot to cook dinner and then a little spot on the side of the road to park Betty for the night!
Thursday 8th April 04
Today we woke early and checked into a Top 10 campsite, with a heated pool etc - luxury and it had showers!!!! After taking advantage of the showers we headed into Christchurch to get the underwater camera of the dolphins burnt onto a CD.
The weather unfortunately took another turn for the worse and poured down! We headed back to the campsite with our new South America on a shoestring guide, and began to work out just what we would do upon arriving in Chile!
Friday 9th April 04
After checking out of the campsite we headed North for Picton where we were catching the ferry to Wellington - North Island the following night! On route a Beatles CD became jammed in the stereo player, so we were unable to change song, volume, or CD, and both became increasingly annoyed with the same songs which were on repeat! We decided to stop again at Kaikoura where we had previously done the dolphin swimming at a camp spot where seals frequently leave the water and laze around the vans!
Saturday 10th April 04
This morning we had a slight lie in - up at 8.00 am!!!! After giving Betty a little spring clean we continued with the drive North to Picton! When we arrived we had a game of Mini Golf - which Dan won easily!! Nat says it was a fluke? We also had a Mini Yacht race in a boating park to decide who would buy lunch - and we both agree that Dan won this!
From here we had a spot of lunch and headed out of town to Waikawi Bay where we sat by the waters edge reading and generally trying to pass as much time as possible before our 9.30pm ferry
Sunday 11th April 04
Easter Sunday
Arrived at 1.00am this morning in Wellington, and headed for the first quiet car park we could find for the night to sleep/park in! After getting ourselves together in the morning we headed to a nice new hostel for a sneaky shower and headed into town for a quick butchers!
From here we headed up to Mt Victoria Lookout - which allowed for some great views over Wellington. As we were in the car park we decided to cook dinner and surprise surprise sleep here for the night!!! There was a pleasant and noticeable improvement in the weather between the two islands with the North offering more sun and less winds!
Monday 12th April 04
Today was rather boringly spent driving to Napier, and finding a quiet spot on the way to sleep for the night - Not a lot to report today!!
Tuesday 13th March 04
Today we booked into a holiday park and spent the afternoon looking around Napier. We found a great camping shop with 50% sale on everything so we upped our supplies of travelling essentials! We also booked ourselves onto a 12,000ft skydive over Lake Taupo for Thursday - scary stuff?!!
Wednesday 14th March 04
Today after checking out of the campsite, Dan noticed that his glasses were missing and after searching Betty high and low they were not to be found. We concluded that they were stolen from the shower block on the campsite so we headed for the police station to file a report!
We then set off on our way to Taupo and after arriving "JUST" due to a lack of fuel and having to buy a petrol can off a shop owner for $20 we hit Taupo literally!!! Yes little Betty gave the car in front a little bump - no damage caused to the other car and a minor dent in the front of ours!!! Oooppppsss!!! To round off a bad day we decided to treat ourselves to a Pizza hut eat all that you can meal before retiring to a camp spot at Reeds Farm on the Huka River!
Thursday 15th April 04
"Sky Dive Day"
Today we reconfirmed our booking and by 11.50am we found ourselves in a Limousine on our way to the dive centre! On arrival after filling out forms, Dan was soon to be suited and booted and getting filmed - all was happening too quickly!! Nat's plane was luckily second to go! Unfortunately the cloud cover increased all morning, but certainly didn't mar the jump, it only made you realise just how quickly we were plummeting to the ground - around 120mph from 12,000 foot, freefalling for 45 sec and the parachute opening at 5, 0000 foot!!
After watching the DVD's of our jumps and guzzling the complimentary post-jump beer we headed back into town in the Limo and made plans to meet up with James and Jo a couple that had dived with Nat in the evening! We parked Betty in the Visitors Information car park all afternoon and decided to leave her in peace for the night - so that's were we finally retired after a few celebratory drinks out in the town in the evening!
Friday 16th April 04
Today we woke at around 9.30am slightly worse for wear after the evenings antics and getting in at 3.30am!! We had a shower at the Super Loo - $1 for 4 minutes hot water!
We then began our drive to Rotorua, stopping at the Huka Falls, which contributes towards 15% of New Zealand's electricity!! We also stopped at the Craters of the Moon and saw lots of thermal activity. We finally arrived in Rotorua and headed for a thermal park where we witnessed lots of bubbling mud pools emitting jets of steam! Drove to a lovely lake where we set up camp for the evening. Rotorua is world famous for geysers, hot springs, mud pool, its lakes and the evil smells, its so nicknamed "Sulphur City".
Saturday 17th April 04
Today we woke and the weather was amazing, so we sat having breakfast by the still lake. After breakfast we headed to the Maori Institute of arts and crafts - to find out that all of the shows etc were booked for the day! After, deciding to give the institute a miss we headed to a local park, and had a game of crazy golf! Dan won again - that's 2-0 now! After watching some local rugby in the park we drove to Raglan to watch the World Rally Championships the following day.
Sunday 18th April 04
We woke at 7.00 am to gather some information on the Rally. After breakfast we headed to the first of two stages where we watched the Rally. We waited 2 hours for the Rally to commence, but it was well worth the wait, we were so close to the action!
After the morning session was over we headed to a different part of the track on a really tight bend, which we watched the drivers negotiate at stupidly high speeds! After the Rally ended we joined fellow spectators on the 120km drive to Auckland o watch the presentation and closing ceremony. Dan managed to get a picture with World No 1 Peter Solberg - Subaru Team! In the Evening we parked Betty outside a luxury mansion and settled down for the night! We didn't receive any complaints!!
Monday 19th April 04
Today we drove to a campsite, and gave Betty a final clean as we were to return it the next day after things started to go wrong with her! The day was spent lounging around the campsite in the sun, sorting out our backpacks and deciding what to send home!
Tuesday 20th April 04
After checking into a hostel we took Betty on her final journey back to the rental company! She had served us well and drove us over 6000 kms in 5 weeks! We made up posters to sell duvet and other bits and bobs that we had acquired and went to the cinema in the evening to watch 50 First Dates! Auckland is a very busy city with an influx if Asians! It reminds Nat of Sydney to Dan's amazement????
Wed 21st April 04
Today we went for a walk around the city and sold all of our books which we had acquired! In the evening we bumped into Tom and Faye who we had met in Wanaka, New Zealand, and went to a pub quiz with them. The quizmaster very nicely made us win because we were the only team not to cheat!! With winning came a $50 beer voucher - so imagine what we did for the rest of the night! After finishing up here we headed back to the hostel and eventually retired around 1.00am!
Thursday 22nd April 04
Today we woke slightly worse for wear and took a while to recover. We managed to sell our Lonely Planet guide for $20!! Result!! After walking around town again we purchased a new digital camera - credit card size and very swish!! We spent the evening packing our box of goods to send home and making final arrangements for our departure to South America tomorrow! It was beginning to sink in!
Friday 23rd April 04
We left N.Z at 5.30 pm and arrived in Chile Friday Lunchtime as we crossed time zones and managed to gain a day - all very confusing!
Well that's all for New Zealand, a great place which we both really enjoyed exploring, mainly because we had the freedom of the van to go wherever we wanted! Would definitely come back and would recommend to anyone!
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