NZ - Road trip of the South Island (Part 1)

Hello folks, and Kia Ora from NZ!

We arrived back in Christchurch last week to stay again with our friends Rich and Vick for a few days before they handed back the keys to their flat and we all set off for a road trip of the South Island in their big Subaru estate.

The night before leaving ChCh, we went out to an excellent local Mexican restaurant and a few bars for a bit of a 'leavers do' for Rich and Vick. It was great to meet some of their friends they had made whilst being here, they really are a great bunch of people.

The first stop on our road trip was Kaikoura, AKA 'whale watch central'. Unfortunately, our whale watch trip, booked for the next day, was cancelled due to poor conditions at sea, but the next day we were in luck. After a very early start, we set out in search of the local sperm whales that kick about around there. We were in luck. We managed to see 4 of the blighters, and impressively big they are too! Clare was delighted, this is something I think she's always wanted to do. We also saw a pod of maybe 100-odd dusky dolphins larking about in the water on the way back to port, an awesome sight.

Our next cool place to visit, via a few stops in Blenheim (only interesting if you're into wine) and Nelson (very funny looking cathedral!) was Abel Tasman National Park. We did a day walking along the coastal track there, and what a bobby dazzler it is too!

Whilst we were in the 'hood, we went for a trip to Pupu Springs, the largest natural springs in the world, churning out 14,000 litres/minute of the clearest water you've ever seen. Randomly though, you can't drink the water for fear of contaminating it with Didymo, some kind of very nasty bacteria that seems to get about a lot round here.

Our next stop was Nelson Lakes National Park, another beauty of a place, very reminiscent of the Lake District back home but with a lot bigger mountains. We got a log cabin to ourselves on the shores of Lake Rotoiti, and very nice it was too.

We're now in Greymouth, planning the next phase of our trip, including visits to Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, and, more importantly, the local brewery here. Eventually we're heading towards Queenstown, where we have a couple of caravans booked down by the lake there for a week or two. Plenty of opportunity for me to learn to snowboard hopefully...

I'll hopefully be posting some pictures up very soon!

-Si