Fox Glacier, Lake Matheson and Tauranga Bay

On our way to Fox Glacier we picked up a hitch-hiking couple, Lila and Scottie, who had been waiting for ages after having done a 3 day hike. We chatted to them for the while and discovered they were Kiwi, exploring their own country and realised we do not do enough of that ourselves, so vowed to do it when we get back. This completed our good deed for the day.

When we arrived at Fox Glacier it was late and dark, so we checked into Fox Glacier Holiday Park on the cheap. To describe our accommodation as Ikea on a budget would be generous, but at least it was clean, convenient and even more importantly; en-suite.

The next morning, after lots of convincing from Andrew, we embarked on a guided hike across the Glacier - see pic and vid(if Andrew managed to upload it properly)

For two people with a fear of heights, we did not do too badly, navigatimg steep climbs, sheer cliff drops, walking through streams and across make-shift foot bridges. The hike took 4hours non-stop, but was worth it for the views and experience. Plus we got a certificate to prove it!

Arriving back into Fox we then headed to Lake Matheson and had a very much earned lunch in the cafe there, overlooking fields and mountains. The walk around the lake was awe-inspiring and definitely one of the most picturesque places so far.

Following an earlier recommendation from Emma and Simon we made our way up to West Port on the coastal road, but headed to stay at "The Great Beach House". We arrived under the cover of darkness and struggled to find "The House" so popped into "The Bay Restaurant" to ask for directions. The friendly chap Peter, told us it was his parents place and pointed us in the right direction. The Great Beach House is owned by Michael and Yvonne, who welcomed us into their absolutely gorgeous home with fantastic Kiwi hospitality. We went back to The Bay House Restaurant and had the best dinner, then retired to Beach House. We awoke for breakfast on 5th May and had breakfast with our hosts; the best breakfast we've had on our journey so far. (The home-baked bread was the best thing since sliced...... you get the picture!) Michael then kindly dropped us off for a walk around the bay, which finished a fab start to the day.

Queenstown (cont.), Milford Sounds & Arrowtown

After updating the blog last time we were absolutely starving, so went to place called Ferzburger, where Shivani had a politically incorrect, but delicious, burger called a "Bun Laden". We carried on exploring Queenstown and stopped of at a bar called "Monty's" with a roaring fireplace - see pic.

On 1st May we left Queenstown and drove to Te Anau, checked in to a charming Japanese B&B and settled in for night ready for our journey the next day to Milford Sounds.

2nd May took a scenic 2hour route to Milford Sounds and joined a cruise around the sounds out to The Tasman Sea, with spectacular views. We stopped of at an underwater observatory, where Andrew was in his element looking at all the fish and crustaceans 3 floors down. We both decided that when we got back, Fish & Chips had to be on the menu!

We then drove to Arrowtown - a beautiful village outside of Queenstown and were told how lucky we were to see the town during Autumn, as even native Kiwis (that's New Zealanders, not the birds!) plan their holidays around seeing the amazing colours in Arrowtown at this time.

It has to be mentioned that during our time in New Zealand and all the driving around we have been doing, there have been some amazing views of snow capped mountains, aquamarine lakes, rivers, streams, rapids, waterfalls, rain-forests and birds of prey. Simply breath-taking!

3rd May, after having brunch with the locals and walking around Arrowtown, we left; destination: Fox Glacier

Top Tips

Click on the individual photos to enlarge and truly appreciate.
Have a look at the map for our journey so far, blue dots represent where we have stayed.

Christchurch, Twizel, Queenstown so far.....

Hi Guys

We thoroughly enjoyed Christchurch from 24th - 27th April; staying in our own spacious apartment, just walking distance into town.

Whilst there we visited the Botanical Gardens, Art Centre, Street Market and generally chilled and slowed the pace down a bit.

Andrew bought his Indiana Jones that he's been hankering after for a long time and Shivani now calls him Andiana Halford!

Drove to Twizel on 27th April and stayed in an amazing farm, with floor to ceiling windows and views across open farmland to Mount Cook. Went for a "World Famous" roast with 7 veg and we both decided it should had read "infamous", it was really poor!!

Whilst in the beautiful communal lounge with roaring log fire, we met a lovely Kiwi couple, Emma & Simon, on their honeymoon - Hi if you've managed to log on.

They gave us lots of tips on place to see and not see on our travels, which funnily enough consisted of lots of vineyards to see!

On 28th April we drove up the majestic road leading to Mount Cook, met Emma & Simon again and we all went for a bush walk at the base of the mountain. We then headed further south again to Queenstown, staying for one night in a place called Glenorchy. Rented a DVD, curled up on the sofa with a cup of PG Tips and relaxed.

On 29th we woke up and everywhere was surrounded by fog and it was raining heavily. We made the drive to a place called Paradise, which involved driving through streams, forests, across farmland and cows in the road (don't worry we didn't drive through the cows, they kindly moved out of the way). Unfortunately, due to the rain and fog the view along the road was obscured, but still looked eerily stunning.

Continuing south we arrived in Queenstown for about midday, did our usual visits to potential place to stay and negotiation, finally settling happily for another nice place with great view. We had lunch by a roaring fire, whilst it rained. After lunch, by miracle the sun came out so we took full advantage and went for a gondola ride up into the mountain. We had fun at the top in a luge race, which Shivani drove the same as the car over here - very slow!

The views at the top of the mountain were amazing!

We came back down, had pizza in an open-air restaurant - delicious! Then went back to our accomodation and chatted to our fascinating, well travelled host, before retiring to our room with a glass of chilled New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Taupo, Wellington, Blenheim & Kaikoura

It has been a hectic week since we last posted........

We have to tell you a little bit more about Taupo before we continue.

On the 19th we went to a real life beehive - Fascinating! But even more interesting was that we learnt about `mead` a medieval wine derived from honey and consumed by knights. Andrew bought a bottle, although Shivani ensured it was only a 1/2 bottle - remember that budget?!

Best bit of our travel so far was on 20th, when we went to see `Shaun` the Prawn at a prawn farm. We toured the farm, hand fed baby prawns then thouroughly enjoyed eating the adult ones, with a touch of garlic, in the on-site restaurant. We then went fishing for them, but had no luck - we think all the Chinese that were there had caught them all!

*STOP PRESS*

21st Shivani drove for the 1st time and did a pretty good job, only a couple of people hooted her!

We got to Wellington in one piece - phew!

Stayed on Cuba Street, which is full of trendy bars and cafes, had the best fish n` chips in town for $3.4０（1.30English pounds）.　Did the touristy thing by visiting the local free museum; Te Papa, which was great value for money.

22nd we crossed over from Wellington to Picton on the ferry, we were blessed with good weather, as the crossing is notoriously known for being rough, even on calm days, as apparently 2 tides meet. We based ourselves in Blenheim and headed off for wine tasting to our favourite vineyard; Villa Maria. We tried a number of wines, including a Research & Development one, not yet for sale, purely for research you understand! After the wine we headed off to a chocolate factory, which we had passed on the way. We stayed just long enough to try some free samples and not wanting to end up like oompa loompas, we left.

On 23rd we drove to Kaikoura, stopping on the way at a recommended Cafe called `The Store`, which served excellent cappuccino and homemade carrot cake, it was truly awesome! Once at Kaikoura we stopped in one of the many scenic lookouts, which are signposted along the road. However, this one had seals sun-bathing on the rocks and in the area for cars parking. You could not pay to get this close!

We checked in at a lovely B&B called `The Old Covent` and stayed in The Priest Room. It was an amazing old building with wood floors, panelling and friendly owners, who kept a pet sheep in the back yard. As you will see from the photo Andrew had his usual effect on Females. We had a dramatic walk along the peninsula and stopped off only to have fresh lobster and scallops at an open air barbeque stand on the beach.

We are currently in Christchurch, about to head to Twizel, but we will update you in our next post.

Thanks for listening

Andrew & Shivani

More pics of NZ

Waitupo and Rotorua

The Eagle has landed, flown and landed again!

Hi Guys

We write this update from an internet cafe in Lake Taupo, New Zealand, having done our 3 day stop-over in Hollywood.

Arrived on 12th April in Hollywood and it was as could be expected - every other shop was a fast food joint, extra large portions, obese and nutty people!
We did not let that spoil our fun though and went to Universal Studios and Santa Monica in our short time in L.A. We arrived at the end of a heat wave with the 1st 2 days we were there, breaking all-time records for high temperatures and we have the tans to prove it!

We went to a typical American Diner throwback to the 50's called Mel's Diner, where we had breakfast with Mylene Klass and enjoyed a fantastic blueberry muffin. No really, she was there!

Universal Studios was cool with all the rides, we bumped into King Kong and Jaws to name but a few of the big movie stars.

As we are on a budget we have been travelling around L.A. using public transport (that's how we met most of the nutters!). Thought our luck was in one day when we boarded a bus and were told that the machine was broken so could ride for free, saving $2.50. We soon realised our luck had run out when we changed buses and went to buy a ticket for $5 each, put a $50 note into the machine only to then be told by the miserable bus driver that the machine does not give change!! Total loss $37.50. Oh well, you win some you lose some.....

Santa Monica was worth visiting..... beautiful beach and promenade, or as Shivani called it - pomegranite.

Left L.A. on 15th April and arrived on the 17th April in Auckland, New Zealand at 05.30a.m. Jason Szabo picked us up from the airport and dropped us to our hotel - Thanks again mate!
We then wandered the streets of Auckland, as we could not check in until 14.00.

Over lunch in a hidden gem just off the main strip of Queen Street called 'The Stables', Shivani pointed out that it was not really that different to London, so we went and rented a car to leave Auckland the next day.

So, on 18th April we headed south of the North Island, driving through some truly beautiful scenery and eventually arrived at our destination - Lake Taupo

We have rented a cosy cottage in Lake Taupo called 'Robyn's Nest' and blown our budget, so the deal was that we would not eat out for the next 3 days. We headed straight to Pak&Save supermarket and stocked up, had lovely pizza and salad over a glass of chilled NZ wine.

Today 19th, we drove to Waitupo and arrived by the skin of our teeth to see Lady Knox Geyser erupt promptly at 10.15. We will try and attach a photo to this blog post to show you all, if we can work out how to do it! Waitupo is named 'Thermal Wonderland', as it has bubbling mud pools, geysers, lava lakes and lovely sulphur smell. We then headed to Fartopolis also known as Rotorua, which is also known as Sulphur City, walked around and discovered it's Mauri heritage.

That concludes up to 19th April, we will update again very soon.

Andrew & Shivani