Wine and Dolphins? - What more could you want!

We had a very civilised time up in the north of the South Island as we approached the end of our time there. In particular, our lovely afternoon wine tasting in Renwick. We hired bikes and with our trusty vineyard map, began our route around the countryside. It was such a beautiful day and although neither of us had been on a bike in about...well a long time anyway...it was such a great way to travel! We went to four wineries in the day, I'm not sure if you're up on your wines but I'll name them just incase. We began with Forest (my favourite, their Pinot Noir was delightful and their desert wine I could have drunk with a straw in the bottle.) Then on to Framingham, Seresin and finished with Isabel. It was a really interesting day, and we both felt quite educated by the end of it. So much so that in a bar the other night, we asked the waiter to recommend a wine and he started describing one to which Emma said 'the Pinot Gris?' and she was spot on. How cultured are we.

In total contrast to that day, when we were making our way back to Christchurch we stopped in the town of Kaikoura, famous for whale and dolphin watching. We went out on a boat trip to swim with the dolphins and I dont think I was quite prepared for what we got. We dived in and were immediately surrrounded by dusky dolphins, it was the most incredible experience. We were told that to make it fun for the dolphins, we had to act like them so the would interact with us. That was a fairly amusing sight in itself. And you have to believe me when I say that I was swimming right beside them, and there were about 300...I've thought about how to describe this experience in my blog and I really dont have the words, it was just awesome.

Frans Joseph Glacier

It's time for my latest update but after just reader my brothers latest blog, I must confess I'm rather uninspired to write mine. Never the less I shall go on.

Much has happened since my crazy jumping in Queenstown. From there we went to Dunedin, Te Anau and a cruise along Milford Sound, back to Queenstown (where the craziness hit me again and I did a bungee jump. Seriously, there's something in the water there.) And then we began heading up the West coast stopping to explore the glaciers.

There are two in the area, Fox and Frans Joseph, however it was Frans Joseph which we would be exploring. Our glacier walk began about 2km from the base of the glacier, when our group had to trek through forests, cross many streams, climb up and down several ladders placed rather worryingly against rock faces and eventually made it to the glacier. We had a wee stop then once we put our crampons on our boots we were good to go. It was a strange sensation walking and climbing up steps of ice, and not having to worry about sliding about.


We climbed up and down, literally squeezed through tiny walls of ice, and explored lots of little parts of the glacier. You'll have to excuse my lack of technical terms.

It was so much fun and although we were only able to see a tiny part of the glacier, it was pretty spectacular.

I hope the photos can give you a good picture of what it was like, as I said, my brains not really functioning this morning!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!........

For most of my trip I have been dithering on whether to do a bungee jump or not, and as arrived we arrived in Queenstown, my time was up, I had to decide. After a wee look at some of my options, I thought, stuff the bungee I'm going to do something different...the Canyon Swing.

Along with 6 other idiots we were driven out to the canyon and saw for the first time what we had let ourselves in for. 109m up from the river, there was a platform where we would jump from, then a freefall of 60m and then a lovely swing across the river once at the bottom. Sounds rather nice doesn't it?

So after getting all my gear on, I watched two people ahaead of me do the jump and survive, I was good to go. The staff began hooking me up. chatting away to me (clearly trying to distract me but it was a hard task when all I could think of was jumping off this darn platform!) Then the time came. I had to jump. I had a very brief moment when all I thought was 'you're not going to die so just do it!' And I did. My feet left the edge and I was gone...apart from my lingering scream echoing through the canyon. After the freefall, I swung a little which was actually quite relaxing as the scenery was beautiful, plus it gave me some time to get my breath back. I was pulled back to the top and released from my harness. I was on such a high. After a chat with my fellow thrill-seekers, there was no doubt in my mind that I would do it again. My second jump was a little more scary on the scariness scale (my first was a 2, my second a 5. Eeek!) I could tell you all about that one too but its best if you just take a look.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wXq4Pwb4asI

As you can tell, I was petrified. But it was awwwwesome!

I Heart Campervaning

The great thing about our campervan is the freedom we have to stop and go when and where ever we please because New Zealand is just so beautiful we have found ourselves stopping a lot! For those of you interested I will give a little idea of where we have been driving. From Christchurch we went to Methven - Geraldine - Lake Tekapo - Lake Pukaki and Mt Cook- Twizel - Wanaka - Arrowtown and currently we our in Queenstown. So here's a few highlights so far:

Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki are both beautiful, the water is an amazing colour of turquoise and surrounded by hills and snow covered mountains, they are both pretty spectacular. We caught a glimpse of Tekapo in the sun but then sadly the rain came and they just don't look as nice then! But thankfully we were able to see Pukaki in gorgeous sunshine.

Not too far from Lake Pukaki is Mt Cook and near the base of the mountain in Mt Cook Village, is the recently opened (Dec07) Sir Edmund Hilary Alpine Centre. It featured a small museum on climbers, mountain rescue etc and of course Sir Ed. They had some really interesting things and aswel as the museum they had a 3D show on Mt Cook and a planetarium show which was very cool! When we first arrived the weather was still pretty rubbish and we couldn't really see Mt Cook, but just as we were leaving the centre the cloud had lifted and there is was. Pretty amazing.

We had a great time in Wanaka, mostly because we spent an afternoon in Puzzling World! Indoors, are rooms of optical illusions and puzzles and all sorts of crazy fun things and outside there is a maze! In each corner of the maze was a coloured tower and we had to get to all four before finding the exit. Well, we found the first three relatively quickly but the fourth, we could not get to at all! It was very frustrating but funny at the same time because we kept bumping into the same people who were just as frustrated as we were. We finally made it to the last tower but then had the almost impossible task of finding the exit. I have no idea how long we were in that maze for but if felt like hours...and just so you know, we did make it out...eventually!

Another great thing about Wanaka was the cinema. A tiny little one screen place with sofas, beanbags and comfy chairs instead of the normal cinema seats. They also had an old Morris Minor in the cinema which you could sit in, very cool! And half way through the film they have a short break when you can buy fresh out of the oven cookies...and it was the best cookie I have ever tasted, look at the size of it!!We went to see the film 'Once', an understated film about songwriters in Dublin which although a little independant film, won the Oscar for best song 'Falling Slowly'. I recommend you check both the film and the song out.

I should also add that it is freezing here. Quite literally. We left a bucket of water outside our van last night and this is morning, the top had iced over. Just remember that we have no heating in our van, so we are a little chilly at night time. So much so that last night, I wore 2 pairs of socks, my pj's, 4 tops, my hoodie, sleeping bag liner, sleeping bag, blanket, duvet and gloves....and I was just about warm enough.

Kiwi Country

Well I can't beleive it. We are now over half way through our trip...that's just a crazy thought. Only one good thing can come from this though, we're now in New Zealand! It is so exciting to be here because I have wanted to come to New Zealand for such a long time and now that I'm here I'll say it again, I can't quite believe it!

We started off in Christchurch and had only planned on staying here a few days while we got some plans sorted out. In an amazing story, we bumped into some friends of friends at church that I had previously met at a wedding in Scotland. Crazy! So they invited us to stay with them at at their house, and we ended up staying a week! It was such a treat to be in a home (with a fire!) and we were shown such amazing hospitality by Aaron and Emelie.

I also went to my first rugby game while in Christchurch, Crusaders (Canterbury) vs Blues (Auckland) as part of the Super 14's tournament. It was so fun and the Crusaders won, yay!

On our last day in Christchurch, we picked up our van...oh yes, we have a campervan and it is brilliant! We're going to be driving around the South Island in our van for 4 weeks and so far it has been a lot of fun. Here's our wee baby beside one of the amazing lakes we've visited, Lake Tekapo:

This is very brief, but just wanted to give you a wee glimpse at what is to come when I'll write in much more detail! Back soon...