So here goes....after Doubtful Sound we spent the next couple of days driving up to the glaciers. We stopped off at Lake Wanaka for a little wander but, as it was the weekend it was really busy so we carried on our drive around to the other end of the Lake to camp for the night - a surprisingly long way, its a really big lake! The following day, we stopped of at Jackson Bay, a beautiful bay at the end of the road with apparently a great fish and chip shop which Lizzy sampled gladly before reaching Fox Glacier in time for skydiving!! As we drove we were watching the clouds coming and going, Tiff getting more and more excited and Lizzy getting a little bit more terrified! We arrived with time to go for a wander around Lake Matheson, which sometimes has spectacular reflections of Mt Cook (we were on the other side of it now!), however whilst it was too windy for that picture perfect moment it was still impressive.
Skydiving was AMAZING, anyone who hasn't done one I really think you should put it on your 'to do' list! Attached (securely) to our skydivers we ascending into the sky, 1000ft seeming pretty high and then realising theres another 11000ft to go...at 12000ft Lizzy jumped (assisted by a little push from Tiff - not!) and Tiff carried on up to 15000ft where, after some extra oxygen she jumped. Freefalling through cloud and seeing the mountain peaks above the mountains was breathtaking and as we came through the clouds the views just got more beautiful with the sea on one side and the sun beginning to set over it and then the glacier on the other side with the snow capped mountains surrounding it....wow.
Anyway, enough about skydiving! We spent the next few days at Fox Glacier, held up by the weather as it was too cloudy to get a helicopter right up to the unspoilt top of the glacier which we wanted to do. Instead, we did a full day hike which was like nothing we'd ever done before. Trekking in a group up hand picked ice steps and then using your crampons to follow the guide up and down the massive ice landscape was surreal. Finding an ice slide was definately a highlight of the day!
From Fox Glacier we travelled up the west coast stopping at Punakaiki where there's pancake rocks, yes you guessed it, they look like lots of pancakes piled on top of one another! As the weather turned rainy we drove the Arthurs Pass, a scenic drive back over to the east coast. Whilst it was pretty, I'm pretty sure on a sunny day the views would have been much better. We reached Kaikoura where we spent the next day frequenting the local swimming pool which, much to our disappointment only had a very cold shower and then going on a whale watching boat trip. We saw humoungous sperm whales dive into the depths, other whales breeching and playing, and a huge amount of dolphins leaping around - looks so much fun to be able to jump like that!!
We spent the next couple of days travelling via Lewis' Pass, another scenic route, up to the Abel Tasman National Park. En route, as it continued to rain, we found a lovely town called Reefton with a very tasty bakery serving great breakfasts which we enjoyed before church in the friendly baptist church. The weather turned much sunnier in Abel Tasman where we had a few beautiful days. One day we went on kayaks up the coast through the marine park, was definately an experience in a 2 man kayak with one of us steering and the other directing, amazingly we did make it through the tiny gaps our guide led us - we only got grounded on the rocks once which i think is pretty impressive!! Heading right up to the northern most point of the south island we enjoyed driving along the beautiful coastline and around the winding roads over the mountains.
Making our way back towards Picton, where we were due to get our ferry over to the north island, we stopped at Nelson where, through a contact of Lizzys we were due to stay with the Bishop, Richard and his wife Hilary. We had a fantastic evening sharing a BBQ with them and their friends and have felt really blessed to get to meet such lovely people. As a result we found out about Parachute festival, a huge festival in NZ where loads of christian artists play, and the NZ branch of New wine which happened to be the following week and which Richard was speaking at. Both of these events made their way impeccably into our plans for the North island....the blog for which is coming soon!!!
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