Zoe Harrison Travel Web Site

After a month in a campervan it was time to have a little bit of R&R and time out. Akaroa was our base, the site of the first French Settlement which continues to strive to create a "French feel". Aside from the French street names and shops there's no doubting you are in New Zealand. It's probably the most popular weekend retreat for Christchurchers. The most amusing thing is that when the French first settled here and bought the land from the Maori they headed back to Europe to collect a few supporters. On their return they found that their recently purchased land had been taken over by the English! Still seems a bit of a sore note.

After a couple of days of walking and scenic drives (and the exciting news of the arrival of my niece Lovelia) we left Akaroa and passed through Lake Tekapo and on to Mount Cook (a second for me and a first for Jason). Our night in the YHA in the small village of Mount Cook was an unnerving experience ... with storm force gales and horizontal rain the building literally shook. Little sleep to be had and no chance of our boat trip out to the glacier. Fortunately, we got some fantastic views from the Hermitage Hotel (a well frequented place by the famous Sir Edmund Hillary) when we arrived.

Oamaru 20th to 21st November 2004

Oamaru is a pretty little town that appears to be full of eccentrics. Meant in the nicest possible way! Sometimes on our travels with little or no planning at all we manage to stumble upon festivals and celebrations. Arriving in Oamaru we had to take a double take. Was this place for real or was there some celebrations going on? It turned out that we had fallen upon the Heritage Weekend where everyone dons their costumes and roam the streets pretending to be Victorian. The worrying thing is that everyone truly seems to enjoy it. Even the grown ups! In fact if you're not part of a club then you're not part of the gang. There was penny farthing racing, pole dancing (to which I was volunteered on a misunderstanding), morris dancing, wood sawing and ..... best beard contest. Now which club would you see yourself joining? (www.historicoamaru.co.nz) .

Aside from the frivoloty, the biggest and best reason for visiting Oamaru is to hang out with the yellow eyed penguins. They are among the world's rarest penguins ... and we were able to get up right close to a male nesting. Continuing the penguin theme we went to see the more common blue penguin arrive back on shore after a day out at sea. Lovely to see so many arrive home and make their way up the rocks from the sea - but the experience was slightly marred by the "showtime" kind of style...a "grandstand" stadium with a commentary from a woman with a headset and microphone, and the penguins retreating to their purpose built concrete homes. I suppose this is what you call mass tourism. You can even take a peek at the nests through their live webcam ... www.penguin.net.nz .

Dunedin & the Otago Peninsula 21st to 25th November 2004

Dunedin is to New Zealand as Edinburgh is to Scotland. In fact Dunedin is Celtic for Edinburgh. Eerily, as you pass down Princes Street and past Robert Burn's statue, you can't help but feel like you are in another country. It even still has haggis ceremonies. It's also home to NZ's first University and Jason took advantage of the School of Dentistry to have his cap on his tooth fixed!

The biggest thrill about the city was to experience our first earthquake! Yep! For real (as the the Kiwis say). At around 9.30am the lamp shade moved the curtains fluttered and the door rattled. That was it. A recorded 7.3 on the richter scale ... the biggest in NZ since the 7.8 in 1931 which flattened Napier in the north island killing 250 people. We were just thankful our earthquake was just off shore and not on the mainland.

Did I mention how cold it is down in the south???

From Dunedin it was only a short journey to the Otago Peninsula. In our search for a more natural experience we were rewarded with our night time visit to Pilot's Beach where we saw the blue penguins come ashore, with no commentary, no lighting and no seating. It was beautiful. We were also priveleged to see the magnificent Royal Albatross at Taiaroa Head. It's the only mainland breeding colony of albatross in the world (www.albatross.org.nz) .

Whilst on the peninsula we also clocked up our most novel accommodation so far ... a converted bus!

The Catlins to Invercargill 25th to 28th November 2004

The Catlins area (even further south and colder than Dunedin) has a stunning coastline route is rich in native forest and rocky bush. Not to mention even more wildlife! We stopped off at Nugget Point to see the seals (the only place in NZ where fur seals, sea lions and elephant seals cohabit), Curio Bay petrified fossil forest, Porpoise Bay for dolphins and the most southernly of the South Island Slope Point. (www.catlins.org.nz) . We had an overnight stay in a freezing cold cottage (we spent most of the night huddled around a wood fire and a small fan heater) only to be woken by mice tucking into our food!

We carried on further along the Southern Scenic Route to Invercargill, another town with significant Scottish influence. The Lonely Planet has described Invercargill as "full of check shirts and bad haircuts". It has had to defend itself about this but actually in all honesty the quote hits the mark. It's a non-offensive kind of place but seems to resemble Scotland about 30 years ago. And lucky us ... we just seem to keep stumbling on local festivities. Invercargill has treated us to the Southland Christmas procession...complete with Santa Claus!

Invercargill to Queenstown 28th November to 6th December

A familiar and still as spectacular journey was in store for me when I revisited Te Anau and Milford Sound with Jason. Although this time the weather not as good, we ventured onto the Kepler Track for a spot of rambling in the rain. The Kepler Track is a massive 67km from the southern end of Lake Te Anau through the Kepler Mountains. You can rest assured after our Inka Trail experience there was no way we planned to repeat the ordeal so just opted for a leisurely 3hour round trip to Moturau Hut for a spot of lunch.

And on to Queenstown. Sitting on Lake Wakatipu it is probably one of the most beautiful spots in the world which is no doubt why so many people choose the town as their holiday destination. In fact as I've said before, if it wasn't for all the tourists I could happily set up home here. Our hostel Deco Backpackers became our home from home for 5 nights. With thanks to Tony and Julie this is with out a doubt the most friendly hostel we have stayed in.

Night one and we sampled a spot of the night life with our diving friends from Fiji, Sophie and Paul. In good old Blighty tradition we started in an Irish pub and managed to finish with a curry! Don't ask me how we got home or how I got up in the morning ... I haven't got a clue. Still, it's been a while.

Now the other thing you can't come to Queenstown and not partake in is a spot of "extreme" activity. For us it started with river surfing and ended with a bungy jump! So if you are sitting comfortably let me begin ... River Surfing.

If I'd known how hard you had to work at this I may have opted out. So while I was expecting a gentle float and bob down a river on a body board with an occasional splash of water in the face what really was in store was 6km of grade 3 white water surge with whirlpools and forces that were enough to pull you under. As the guide screamed at us to kick to the left, turn to the board to the right, duck dive, head up, and into the Eddy I struggled to see the fun side to this activity. At one point (I think after my second close to death experience) he even commented on how worried I looked ... and not to worry .... it's only water! Yeah right! If you fancy a go check out their website www.riversurfing.co.nz

After being up all night rubbing deep heat into Jason's aching muscles (shoulders, neck and back only) it was up the Gondola to the Luge. Now this is more my kind of thing ... a gokart and a track, with a safety helmet. Even if you do look like an oversized child, it was well worth it.

And on to Bungy! Well this is one "sport" I always vowed never to do. A girl's perogative I suppose to change her mind! And why not make it the highest jump (134m) in New Zealand? If a job's worth doing then it's worth doing well (learnt this from my dad). So we paid up our cash and headed out on a bus with 9 other jumpers (not the wooly kind) and a "spectator" (aka chicken!). The bus was eerily silent for the 40 minutes out to the Nevis site. Nerves were definitely on edge. As we passed through fields of cows I couldn't help but wonder whether there must be some alarming statistic about more people being killed by cows than bungy jumping? There is definitely one about more people dying from pulling vending machines on top of themselves than being attacked by a shark. I use this one to rationalise diving in an aquarium with a 9 foot shark. Somehow there was no comfort in safety statistics for bungy. Lets face it no-one could possibly be calmed by rationalisation immediately before throwing themselves off a 134m platform with a bit of elastic strapped to their feet.

But hey I did it! And although it was not the most streamlined of styles I did dive, and I didn't scream, and I did keep my eyes open (well for most of it!). Incredible rush. Wouldn't use the word enjoy to describe it. In fact to describe the experience, all I could muster for the video when I returned to the pod was "I haven't got any spit". There we go! It's official ... Bungy jumping temporarily stops your salivary glands.

Wanaka to Glacier Country and Christchurch 6th - 17th December

After the excitement of the bungy it was time to get the heart rate down and we headed for Wanaka for some gentle mountain biking and chilling.

After our few days of R&R, we headed to Franz Josef to "chill out" (get the pun) in a different way by attempting Glacier Walking! The glacier here is one of the worlds quickest moving glaciers at about 2 meters a day and after negotiating the steps onto the first part, you can hear and see the ice move around you. It's the steepest glacier guided tour in the world and it's hard work to climb even with the Ice Talons that you strap to your feet. The views are stunning and the feeling of walking on a glacier millions of years old has been one of the highlights of this part of the trip. It is really an experience of a life time. Glacier Experience Website

A night in Arthur's pass, we returned to Christchurch to await our flight to sunny Australia. Staying in the Polytechnic Student accommodation we spotted a comedy show poster in a window and Jason couldn't resist the smell of the grease paint and a chance to get back on stage and shake of the dust.

The Dux de Lux (the venue) is one of those hidden treasures in Christchurch - a mixture of Art Cafes, bars and restaurants, everyone seems to know its there but unless you do you'll never find it. The barman Matt, got Jason on the bill for that evening show and although it's advertised as a comedy the night was a mix of street performers, comedians and specialty acts. The excellent MC Mulletman and one of the acts Dave Ladderman had been the street entertainment in Oamaru at the Victorian Fete and it was fantastic to see them again and get to know them and the meaning of "sprooking". But it certainly wasn't like the London comedy scene...the night started with crystal ball balancing and bar flare skills and other acts included a Hula Hoop girl, slapstick comedy, Stickboy sticking needles and glass in himself and Shay Horay on a pogo stick with a plastic glove (don't ask but all very good and funny. And Jason's performance was nothing short of being perfect ... he was loved!

So we leave New Zealand behind and move on over the Tasman to Oz for Christmas and fun in the sun!