Honzee / Oz Tourist

After hearing of the bus crash just out of Milford and 1 or 2 people dying from it, we were very keen on our light aircraft flights from Queenstown to Milford Sound.

After the discomfort of having to disclose our weight to all and sundry (not to mention the shock of now realising just how small the plane is likely to be), we get escorted out onto the tarmac to the waiting of a number of sessnas.

We pile into 2 separate planes, get the run down on the its operation, put our headsets on and buckle up. Next up – can the 300hp single engine get us off the ground?

We got off the ground with ease. Kinda weird being in such a small aircraft and being so exposed but it felt so real. As the pilot dipped us left and right, you prayed the doors with their single latches would hold.

The plane quickly became an after thought as we rose up higher an higher and we started to get above the low-lying cloud. The white mountain tops, sheer cliff faces and deep valleys meant that anyone with a camera suddenly became ansell adams. I kept snapping away, every time thinking that was the best shot I’d ever taken only to see a better opportunity next time I changed my glance.

Some of deb’s that she took on our pocket-sized canon look incredible. As she says, taking photos takes your mind off the sudden drops in the plane or the minor turbulence.

After about 20-30 mins of possibly the most amazing journey we’ve taken, we then reach Milford Sound. Quite possibly the most beautiful and untouched place anywhere. We fly out to sea just to get a better look then come back through the monstrous glacial avenue.

After touching down, we board a good sized boat and head off to see it all from sea level. It’s hard to measure or to get perspective from up in the air so to see it up close was just incredible. The whole cliff faces are granite, there’s no soil, yet plants and trees flourish. The seeds bed in the cracks in the rock, germinate and spring into life. They only stay up by grappling onto each other. It’s an amazing eco system.

For the next 2 hours, it’s literally wall-to-wall scenic bliss. Enourmous waterfalls, white caps on the mountains, blue as blue water and just nature being nature – except for the odd other boat or aircraft, you’d swear other life didn’t exist.

We finish the cruise and back on the plane we go. By the time we get back, we seriously think we’ve overdosed on scenery.

Back in town and we hire our ski gear for tomorrow, have an enormous Ferg burger and check out the town a bit.

Sorry for the long post, if you’ve gotten this far you’ve done well. It was seriously one of the best days I’ve had and beats any of the thrill stuff we’ve done.

There’s photos in the post below if you haven’t seen already seen them. I haven’t filtered any, that is the full list, so apologies for the rubbish ones or the multiples where I tried different things. Deb’s are to come shortly.

Seven hours of driving from Christchurch landed us in a very buzzing and happening Queenstown.

We drove through some incredible countryside on our way here. Tall, snow capped mountains as far as the eye can see. Each taller than the previous. Lots of low lying cloud spoilt some of the views, but once it lifted, just incredible sights.

Once we hit Queenstown, we went straight to our apartment – right on the lake with incredible views. 3 bedrooms, 2 balconies, big living area… Doesn’t get much better than this!

We had a look through town and gave now booked what is possibly our highlight of our trip – a scenic flight to Milford Sound, a cruise and then back another flight back to Queenstown. It saves us 10hrs of driving through some dodgy roads, just don’t ask what it cost!

Christchurch is one beautiful city. Very old, very well laid out and incredible scenery. It’s a bit of a shame we’re here for only a day, but plenty of cool stuff to come.

So what have we done today. Well…

Started out at a local cafe which was the self-proclaimed cafe to the stars. “sophie’s” had wall to wall photos of Sophie with high profile people dining at her cafe. Most looked pretty old, like coolio, boys 2 men, Jonah Lomu and many, many others.

Afterwards, we made our way to the gondola which goes up the side of Mt Cavandish. From the top, you have a 360° view of Christchurch and the snow-capped mountains in the background.

Ben and I chose the difficult way down by way of mountain bike. We suited up, chose our route and headed off across the mountain range. Lots of steep bits, both up and down. I fear neither of us will be joining the Tour de France next year. Half way along, we got off the road and hit the emergency access road which was at a huge gradient, thankfully in our favour.

A great 1.25hr ride – definitely recommended.

From there, we made our way back to the city to have a “punt” up the river “Avon”. They couldn’t fit us in for a bit so we went for a “pint” instead. I so should be a writer…

For those of you who aren’t quite sure what punting is, it’s basically the English version of a Venetian gondola ride. We got to wear ye olde hats whilst slowly been punted up & down the river. Quite relaxing just sitting there learning about the river and botanic gardens that borders it.

From there to complete our trifecta of activities, we took a guided tram ride around Christchurch central. Kinda ran out of time with this one unfortunately. We did get a chance to look around the town centre, Cathederal Square. Photos attached.

Next up is a long drive south to Queenstown.

What a bloody fun day!

Buffet breakfast to start was bound to cause issues, but thankfully managed to keep it down throughout the day.

We went zorbing in the morning which consists of a massive clear ball encased by a smaller clear ball and the air pumped in between. The occupant then sits inside and is at the mercy if gravity.

You can either be strapped in and do a dry zorb where you basically go end over end down a rather steep hill.

We all went as 3 groups, so 2 to a zorb and we did a “wet zorb”. Thankfully they fill the zorb with warm water.

Once you’re in, which involves jumping through a small hole, you’re zipped up and pushed down the hill.

With the aid of the water, you slip around, upside down and every which way for about 20 seconds before coming to a gentle halt at the bottom. By that stage, you’re dripping wet and keen for another run.

Then in the afternoon we headed out to Tikiteri to try our luck on the rapids. The company we did it through, Kaitiaki, were fantastic. We suited up in our wetsuits etc, sadly struggling to find a helmet big enough for moi (apparently my noggin is unusually large!).

We then trek off to the river and get some good instruction on what’s ahead of us. 3 waterfalls, plenty of rapids and some slower bits.

Once the boat was in the water, we headed off on our grade 5 course. We all adapt pretty well, go down some basic rapids and all manage to stay in the boat.

A 2m waterfall quickly followed by a 1.5m one was our wakeup to this being quite the adventure. A few mins later and we were waiting at the top of the big kahoona – the 7m waterfall monster. 7m is the biggest drop you can raft anywhere in the world.

Off we set, with the quick snap of “down!”, we were into position and holding on for dear life. At the bottom we submerge, raft totally underwater. Deb and I swallowed half the river contents between us, everyone else manages to come up breathing ok. We saw the photos later and we were incredibly fortunate to not roll the boat. We all had a big cheer that we survived. Absolutely awesome fun.

From there on, still lots of cool stuff to do, but nothing quite like to brief free-fall from that waterfall.

Liam, Ben and I went for a swim down the next rapid which was damn good fun, albeit freezing.

All in all, definitely one of the coolest things we reckon each of us has done.

Today started off with some unneeded frustration. Apparently the well-known Seinfeld episode of “you know how to take a reservation, you just don’t know how to hold a reservation” is rather true for a car hire company over here called Jucy.

We’d booked a tarago for 3 days, credit card given but apparently that doesn’t mean a car will be available. The guy behind the desk didn’t seem worried or that it was unusual.

Thankfully a car mob next door could help us out.

From auckland we drove to waitomo to go black water rafting. After suiting up in full wetsuit gear, we headed down to near the caves.

We started by doing a practice jump off a small jetty – backwards from a metre into the water whilst having a truck inner tube as our seat.

To say the water was cold is like saying there’s a few sheep around the place. We then made our way up to the caves where it’s a mixture of walking through the pitch black caves, climbing and floating on the inner tubes.

We had our helmets with lights on to see our way but half way into it, the cave roof is illuminated by glow worms. This plus the stallicmites (spelling?), small rapids and some more leaps of faith made for an awesome experience – all whilst underground.

From there we drove to rotorua where we are now. Had a very nice dinner and working out what we’re doing tomorrow. At this stage it’s looking like white water rafting, zorbing or perhaps a swoop.