Kiwi travels by Lemmo

After the peace and quiet of Milford Sound and the Catlins (which was great), it was (however) a nice change to come to Dunedin and experience another South Island city.  We both thought the place was great - so far our favourite NZ city.  We spent our first day wondering around town, having a coffee or two in one of the many coffee bars they seem to have.  On our second day we visited the Otago Peninsula.  In the morning we hopped on a boat for a wildlife tour.  We saw much more than we could have expected - 3 types of albatross, NZ fur seals, NZ sealions, a dozen or so other bird types, some rare and unique to NZ, plus a pod of four Hector's dolphins - the world's rarest.  The dolphins were the highlight - they played in the wake of our boat for about 15 minutes before darting off.  Dolphins never fail to put a smile on the faces of those watching them...  We spent the afternoon exploring New Zealand's only castle (I'm sitting here with the name on the tip of my tongue, but I forget ... ) - Castle Lachen (?or something similar?) - a small, pretty castle with fantastic views over Dunedin and the coast.

The next day we were off again - this time to Wanaka - back in the mountains.  Our hostel - The Purple Cow - was the best yet.  They made our two day stay there very comfortable.  Wanaka quickly became our favourite small town that we'd visited so far.  The vibe was very friendly, homely and welcoming.  The views were (again) absolutely fantastic.  Right in the middle of the Southern Alps and next to a beautiful lake.  We spent our time in Wanaka exploring walks in the smaller mountains around the lake.  Fortunately we were had our wet weather gear because we ended up tramping up and down mini waterfalls due to the rain we'd had over night.  If only we could spend more time in Wanaka - however, the glaciers were our next stop...

The drive from Wanaka to the West coast and up to the glaciers is long at the best of times.  We were hampered by the worst rain storm we'd ever experienced.  Kiwis reading this will know what I mean.  Others won't have a clue unless they've seen it - this puts a new meaning to the word torrential!!  To make matters worse, as we got higher to go through the mountains at Haast Pass, the rain turned to snow.  We were crawling along in our 2WD Toyota Cellica (196,000 km on the clock) trying to keep moving but not wanting to slip and slide off the side of the road.  Although the journey was long and tiring - it was also quite fun!  However, we're hoping the journey North won't be quite as wet.

Frank Josef glacier is one of the two most famous glaciers on the West coast of NZ (the other is Fox's).  A very small township (by the same name) is located near the glacier's terminal face (the bottom bit).  The rain unfortunately followed us from Wanaka and hampered our first day slightly - we had our fingers crossed that it would clear up so we could do a heli-hike...  We made the best out of it and went ice climbing in the new indoor centre the town.  This was great fun.  The two of us were alone with the instuctor, so had her full attention.  She had us on the 10 metre high ice walls climbing intermediate - hard climbs by the end of our 90 minute session.  If anyone has the opportunity - try ice climbing!!  (We promised ourselves we would add mountain climbing to the list of things to do later in our trip).  That afternoon we donned our wet-weather gear and drove to Fox's glacier.  From there we walked as far as you're allowed to see the glacier's terminal face - pretty impressive.  By the time we got back to the car, we were drenched and the walk was promptly being closed behind us because the small rivers crossing the path had become quite large and difficult to ford.

Day 2 in Franz looked more promising.. The first heli-hike was cancelled again, but we finally got the all clear for the midday trip.  Blue skies were finally back.  The helicopter ride was brilliant fun.  The pilot flew all the way up the glacier from the town, banking hard to give us the best view as we flew.  After going all the way to the top, the pilot swooped down and dropped us off just at the top of the valley, on top of the glacier.  We were given ice picks and crampons and we were off.  The glacier was spectacular.  We explored ice pinnacles, ice caves, bridges, tunnels, etc.  The ice was clean and blue.  Have to see it to understand.  It felt like an alien world.  Highly recommend this trip!!

We flew back down - banking and skimming mountain tops - had lunch and started packing for the next stop - Hamner Springs.  Next update likely to be in a couple of weeks after Kaikora (Whale watching and a farm stay), Blenheim (wine tours) and Abel Tasman (tramping and kayaking)...

Tom and Elle x