My travels in NZ continued from Wanaka to Franz Joseph, a small town with a nearby glacier - it's near the middle of south island. I booked myself on a glacier tour and spent 6 hours climbing around with crampons on. I admit that at the start of the hike/climb, I had absolutely no faith in the crampons but they really do work brilliantly ;) The ice was a beautiful shade of blue up higher on the glacier and I have a couple of photos that I think turned out fantastically well as I've never had much luck photographing snow/ice!! It was a gorgeous day and we shimmied through tiny crevices and up ice walls - I really enjoyed myself though I burned my calves really badly!!! I returned to the hostel to meet a fellow Cdn traveller (my first Cdn woman on her own) who's from Toronto. She and a bunch of other hostelers and I sat around chatting and then went out to a local bar after dinner. It was a great night out ;)
From Franz, I headed up to Murchison where I spent Christmas eve in a whitewater kayak on the Buller River. It was great to be back in a kayak and the water was chilly but not too bad - very comparable with the Ottawa River in the earlier part of the season!! From there, I headed up to Nelson which is on the near northwestern tip of south island. I spent Christmas and Boxing Day in a great hostel with an outdoor pool, hot tub and sauna and a volleyball net. The woman who runs the place had festivities set up for the entire day and we had a Christmas bbq in the afternoon with a gift exchange - I got an inflatable saxophone :) An obviously essential piece for the modern day traveller ;) I can't say that it felt like Christmas but it was a great day either way!! From there, I spend two days in Abel Tasman national park (Abel was a dutchman who discovered NZ years ago, that said, he never actually landed on the country as the Maori fought his explorers off). Either way, the park is fantastic and I spent the first day kayaking up the coast, an overnight in a backpackers on a houseboat which was cool and then a pretty serious hike out the following day. It was a beautiful park with fantastic views and beaches!!
I then headed over to Kaikoura to see whales and dolphins. Unfortunately, due to rough sea conditions, I didn't get to go out ;( (They'd had to cancel most of their trips for the last three days) I spent the day on a patio, sipping beer and writing cards which was relaxing after all of the activities over the last few weeks!! From Kaikoura, I headed over to Christchurch to catch my flight over to Sydney. In Sydney, I met up with Julia and Jocelyn on New Year's eve. We had a fabulous dinner in Darling Harbour (service was poor though ;( and then watched the fireworks from the park just above the opera house. The show was fantastic and the ambiance/vibe amazing!! They estimate that over a million people come in from all over for the New Year's festivities. We spent a day at Bondi recovering and relaxing and then a few days siteseeing.
I am now in Melbourne and was amazingly happy to be home on Thursday night. I really missed having my own space and though I like Sydney, I love Melbourne. I'd like to wish you all a great and prosperous 2008 - may there be some unexpected, pleasant surprises throughout the year. I will be posting photos on Flickr over the weekend for those interested in having a peek the site is : http://www.flickr.com/photos/decouvert2001/
Hugs!
S
