Annwyl gyfeillion, Amser hir wedi pasio, dwin ymddiheuro. Ac yn anffodus, ddim llawer o sgwennu i'w gael yma. I fod yn onest, mae'r blog wedi cael ei sgwenu ar ffurf rhestr, yn ceisio rhoi blas o'r holl lefydd y gwnaethom ymweld a nhw. Gymaint o lefydd, cyn lleied o amser. Dwin gobeithio bod y lluniau'n adrodd yr hanes sydd ar goll o fewn y blog.

Wow. wedi cwympo mewn cariad hefo'r lle yn syth. Tra'r oeddem dal yn hongian yn yr awyr dechrau gweld topiau gwynion y mynyddoedd yn pigo allan drwy'r cymylau. Dipyn oerach yn ynys De seland newydd . . .ond yr awyr mor ffres, popeth mor wyrdd, dim sbwrielun i'w weld. a chip or mynyddoedd yn y pellter, o feddwl mai flight tair awr y cawsom ni, mae'r lle yma yn hollol wahanol i'w gymydog Awstralia!

3 diwrnod yn cael ei dreulio yn crwydro o gwmpas christchurch. Ymweld ar siopau swfeniyrs di-ri, ymweld hefyd a'r ardal gelfyddydau, ynghyd ar ardd fotaneg. gymaint o adloniant hefyd ar y stryd. boed dawns macarena i hysbysebu cwmni teithiau, dynes yn rhoi ei hun mewn i focs bach plastig, neu blant bach wedi'u lleoli o gwmpas y ddinas yn canu neu chwarae offerynau cerdd . . a threulio trwy'r dydd yn gwneud hynny - wir.

Dyma'r fan hefyd lle y gwnaeth Julien ddod ac ymuno hefo ni. ffrancwr gwnaethom gwrdd yn Townsville. Ac yn bwysicach na hynny, dyma lle y cwrddom a Bluebird, y car nissan automatig oedd i'n cymryd o un fan i'r llall ar hyd y ddwy ynys.

Ymlaen i Akaroa, a Lisa'n gwireddu breuddwyd yma wrth nofio hefo dolphins. Tra'r oedd hi wrthi'n troedio'r dwr oer Julien a minnau yn dod i nabod yr ardal. Rhai or golygfeydd o fewn y gorau dwi erioed wedi'u gweld. wir anhygoel. Gobeithio y gallwch gael blas o hynny yn lluniau'r blog.

Yn dilyn akora mlaen at Mount Cook, yn trafeulio drwy llun tekapo, llun pukaki, (ddim yn trafeulio drwyddynt yn llythrennol!!). trekio i waelod y rhyewlif cyn parhau at queenstown.

Queenstown, y fan lle'r oeddwn am ddathlu fy mhen blwydd, a hynny mewn steil . . . . gan neidio allan o awyren, dyn wedi i strapio i fy nghefn a hwnw ar swydd bwysig o wybod sut i ryddhau'r parasiwt. y tri ohonom yn glanio'n saff ac yn rhannu peint neu dri y noswaith hynny wrth wylio Cymru'n chwarae rygbi ar y teledu.

Ein stop nesaf, Dunedin. Dipyn mwy na'r disgwyl. Ardal tlws yn llawn anifieliaid gwyllt, yn anffodus, heb weld Penguins, ond digon o 'sea lions' yn cysgu ar y traethau!! dyma'r fan lle gwnaethom brynu tapiau i'r car gan nad oedd y radio yn gweithio : sister act, land of my father a 50's rock album!! joio.

Gyrru trwy'r caitlins, yn wir stopio bob yn chydig filltiroedd i ddal ein hanadl wrth weld golygfeydd godidog. Anffodus roedd glaw ond wir y dyfyniad: "the trail of the winding rural roads coastal cliffs, beach side caves, waterfalls and forest tracks." yn ddigon gwir, ac fe gawsom flas ohonyn i gyd!!

Yr haul yn lwcus ddisgleirio wrth i ni adael ein cartref yn te anau a chrwydro tuag at milford sound. Milford yn enw a tharddiad cymraeg, gan bod boi ddarganfyddodd y lle wedi ei eni yn milford haven. Cyffroi wedyn wrth gerdded a gweld y cleddau . . .dylawnad arall y boi o M.H!! Gweld llyn Marian hefyd. Synnu bod dodo Mar heb ddweud dim chwaith . . . . . . . . .

Nol i queenstown i weld mwy o'r lle, heb neidio allan o'r awyren. Glaw trwm yn arwain at orfod gyrru i'r siop, yn arwain at adael golau'r car ymalen, yn arwain at camperfan ffrengig yn jump startio'r hen bluebird. Da de. Hawdd chwerthin am y peth rwan.

Ymlaen at rew lif, Frans joseff. Anhygoel. trek 8 awr yn ein harwain i dop mynydd a golygfeydd godidog . . yn ol y son, yn anffodus, niwl yn golygu bod dim, a dwin meddwl dim iw weld. Lisa'n ffeindio'i hun yn ol am ben ceffyl, flash, wrth grwydro treciau a nentydd yr ardal.

Ar hyd glan y mor, noswaith yn westport cyn gyrru at Nelson. Ardal del, cyfeillgar oedd yn rhoi blas o gymdeithas trefol unwaith eto. Cyfle hefyd i weld Tasmen bay a golden bay, traethau enwog Seland newydd. Del iawn. Ond eto, cyrraedd rhy gynnar i weld penguins.

Bron iawn a methu'r fferi, ond chwarae teg i Julien (merci) am roi ei droed lawr wrth fflio ar hyd ffyrdd troellog, mynyddig ynys y de am y tro olaf, a chyrraedd mewn da o bryd ac ymuno hefo'r ciw i lwytho'r fferi. Wedi gweld gymaint mewn cyn lleied o amser, ar amser hynny wedi fflio heb os . . . . . ond rwan yn edrych ymlaen i fynd ac ymuno a byd y llosgfynnyddoedd ar ynys y gogledd.

Y mor roeddem yn ei groesi 'cook straights' yn bwynt lle mae'r mor tasmin a cefnfor pasiffic y de yn cwrdd.

A dyna ni, yn fras ein taith prysur o gwmpas ynys y de. Anyhygoel. Godidog. blinedig. . . .

Sawl gwen,

Sgityl & L.S
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I'm afraid a long time has passed friends, and we've been a bit slow on the blog front. No excuses . . but we have had the busiest, most amazing 5 weeks possible. Saying that, there won't be much words or letters written here. Too many things have been done and explored for me to even start comprehending how to compress it all into a blog. This will be a short list giving a taster of the places we visitied and so forth. If you'd like to learn more, buy the book!! hehe. You could also view the pics . . . once we've uploaded them!!

Actually fell in love with the place while still hanging out in the clouds. You could see the white tips of mountains smiling at us, tempting us closer. i just knew at this point it was going to be a good trip! It was a little colder here in the south island than in OZ, but christchurch offered such a homely town feeling that we didnt care! With it's grassy parks, clean streets and crisp air, it was a welcomed difference to it's neighbour which coincindently was only a mere 3hours flight away.

3 days were spent in christchurch, browsing the many souvenier shops, walking around the botanical gardens and being entertained by a load of street performers, be it a group of blokes advertising a travel company by performing the macarena, a woman trying to fit herself into a tiny glass box, or the load of children stuck onto street corners playing musical instruments or singing carols. We actually saw one little girl play in two different locations on the same day.

Christchurch was the location where two became four. Julien came to join us, A rugby / football fan from France, whom we'd met while at Townsville, Australia. The fourth, not so little (but cheap) bluebird, an automatic Nissan car which was to carry us around the Country!!

Our first stop. Akora, the point where Lisa was going to fulfill her lifelong dream of swimming with dolphins. And while she ventured into the cold water, Julien and I browsed this little town before setting off along the coast to find a nice spot to enjoy our lunch. We did so, On a mountain offering awesome views of the area below us.

Following Akora we made our way towards Mount Cook. A quick one night stop off in Ti maru we visited Lake tekapo and pukaki, I will leave the pics to do the talking here. The views actually left us breathless. Arriving at the mountain base we were able to wear our trekking shoes for the first time, and walked towards Hooker glacier, which flows from the base of Mount cook. Again, amazing.

We jamp into the car as soon as we reached the carpark, and made it towards Queenstown, the location which was chosen by us to celebrate my birthday. Chosen partly for one reason, for it's reputation for sky diving (hence why we didnt climb the sydney harbour bridge!) With the sun finally breaking through the clouds, a man strapped himself to my back, flying steadily at 12,000 feet we gently slid towards the open door. Rocking back and forth, one . . . two . . . . . and he pushed us out of the plane, hurtling towards the ground at over 200 k/h, expected also to smile for photos. AMAZING!!! Having landed safely, we decided it was time for beer, and having changed our underware (hehe) we made our way towards a sporting bar, which incindetally allowed us to watch Wales beat Samoa in the autum internationals.

Dunedin was the next stop. A town which proved much bigger than what we expected. A really beautiful area, which gave us the opportunity to see some wild sea lions sleeping on the beaches, unfortunately we'd arrived to early to see the penguins. This is the point where we bought some decent tuneage to substitute the rather dodgy radio of the car. Sister act, 50's rock and roll and land of my father!!!

Driving through the caitlins, we stopped almost every few miles to stop and look at the amazing scenery. The quote: "the trail of the winding rural roads coastal cliffs, beach side caves, waterfalls and forest tracks." describes the journey perfectly, and we made the most of everything offered for us to see and appreciate.

Luckily the sun shone as we left our home in Te anau to travel towards the famous milford sounds. Again, stopping every possible opportunity. Seeing the mirror lake, trekking for 3 hours to see beautiful sceneries of 3 valleys, as well as viewing marians Lake - funny, my aunty Mar didnt mention it.
Incidentally, as mentioned above, the road trip ended at Milford sounds, an area named after milfrod heaven in Wales, which is the place the man who named the area originated from. Y cleddau, another scenic stop off, also offers a welsh influence.

back to Queenstown, so we could actually appreciate the place without jumping from an Aeroplane. It rained non stop, which meant jumping in the car to get food, which meant needing to turn on the car lights, which led to leaving the car lights on overnight, which meant having to jump start little bluebird using a campervan. We laugh now . . . .

On to Frans Joseff, another glacier. WOW. An 8 hour trek led to the top of a mountain, which offered amazing scenery of surrounding mountains etc etc. Didnt see any of it. We sat, eating the peanut butter sandwiches in the middle of the clouds. Nothing to see, Nothing. Lisa consequently had found herself back in the horse saddle, and went trekking with Flash through rivers and New zealand countryside.

Continuing along the coastline, we spent an overnight stop in westport before arriving at Nelson, our last stop in the south island. A really cute and friendly area. A day was spent visiting the famous golden bay, arriving again too early to view any penguins. We did however see a cave as a break due to the fact that we all felt terribly car sick due to the windy roads . . . .

A big Merci to Julien who managed to guide Blubird and us rather quickly, but safely over and through the mountains to the ferry terminal. The guide books do not joke when they tell you to allow longer times to travel due to the windy roads. hehe. We made it, and were sitting in the loading que with literary seconds to spare. . . .waiting for the next part of the journey, to visit the volcano island. exciting!!!! 3 weeks has just flown by, with so many memories, experiences and pictures already taken.

Incidentally, we crossed the cook straights, which is the point where the pacific ocean and the tasmin sea meet.

And that's it, our journey around the south island of new zealand in a nut shell. It's already been an amazing journey . . hard to imagine how the north island is going to top it.

Take care, peace and Love,

Sgityl & L.S
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