Living for the weekends!

We have now settled in Dunsandal, 30min south of Christchurch, for the winter. I have a mixed job in a large cattle practice where the average herd size is 1000 cows! Paul is labouring, helping with the earthquake clear up in Christchurch. Being out of the city we are feeling very few quakes, Paul is sleeping through most and our house is an old style wooden 'NZ icebox'! so it seems to cope well with the shaking, and the open fire keeps the chill of the autumn nights at bay. The pace of life is much slower here, even noticably slower than in the north island, which can be frustrating. Everyone is incredibly friendly and we have both made some good friends through work and have now joined the local climbing club as the indoor wall in the city is amazingly undamaged, so its great for dark evenings. It feels strange to be going into winter again after a brief summer, but we're really looking forward to the ski season. We are only 40 min form the ski fields so have got season passes for the weekends and have started collecting some gear! Even more stuff!!

During the week i get to drive around the Canterbury planes staring longily at the mountains on the horizon, and every weekend we are up there exploring.

View from one of my farms!

And looking back down over the plains from Mt Hutt ski field.

Lots of bouldering to do! Castle Hill in Arthurs pass.

Yes, this was our mountain bike track! Just never look down!!

View down the valley of Arthurs pass

View over Banks penninsular

Amazing sunsets over Lake Ellesmere, 5 min from our house.

Further up the coast we went whale watching in Kaikora. lucky enough to see two large male sperm whales and a huge pod of dusky dolphins, with a few albatrosses thrown in for good measure!

A wet Easter weekend on the west coast, there are supposed to be some mountains up there! We were able to see the Franz Joseph glacier and all the ice boulders flowing down the river.

Ice cave at base of glacier

 

Reflection of glacier in kettle lake, formed as glacier melted

Ice boulders the size of cars!

True steamy rainforest on the west coast.



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Ffordland and the south

Our planned route to Ffjordland was delayed by extreme weather warnings, so we took a detour to Wanaka. Its a quiter place than Queenstown, again on a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains, so we didn't miss out on the rock climbing and mountain biking that was on offer. We also took a day tramp up in to Mount Aspiring National Park to view a glacier and more stunning waterfalls, and spent ages freezing our fingertips photographing Kea that flocked to great people at lunch time!!

Hanging waterfall under Rob Roys glacier

Cheeky Keas playing at base of Rob Roys Glacier, Wanaka

 Stunning Milford Sound! Where even large boats and waterfalls the height of Niagara falls are dwarfted!

Key Summit

Mirror lake on route to Milford

A brief trip to Ffjordland, let us enjoy a few days of stunning hikes into the mountains and a boat trip on Milford Sound. With a promise to return in the winter for a trip on Doubtful Sound.

Our road trip continued south to the bottom of New Zealand and a scenic route along the coast, round to Duneadin before returning to Christchurch for the start of work. We were spoilt with amazing wildlife that doesn't disappear into the undergrowth or sea at the slightest disturbance - such a novility!

More scenic waterfalls!

Petrified forest 160 million years old on wave cut platform

Rarest penguin in the world - Yellow eyed penguin, stranded on land while moulting

Family fun - Hooker sealions on the south coast

Nearly the bottom of the world!!

Perfect climbing location, Long Beach, Duneadin

Southern Royal albatross, Otago peninsula

Travelling South

Wellington - beehive parlament building

Cooks Straight - entrance to Marlbrough Sounds

Torrent Bay tidal estuary on Able Tasmin coast trek

Fur seals

Ski lifts up above Queenstown

Paragliding above lakes and mountains, Queenstown

Mountain biking in Moke Valley

Very Delayed Update!

Well I could spell out a long list of excuses but basically the lack of pictures and news is just me being me and not getting on with my blog, when I’ve had so many evenings relaxing by the sea!

So here is a quick summary of our adventures over the last month: 

We had a luxury few days with friends of friends Jim and Beth at their farm in Matahuru, where we saw the true extent of kiwi hospitality. We were shown the 360 degree panorama from the top of their farm with views out over the Coromandel. The steepness of the terrain was incredible, yet they had cleared the thick native bush and fenced even the steepest ridges. We saw the mobs of horses which they rescue from the knackers yard, running as nature intended and farmed as blood donors for pharmaceuticals. Their son-in-law Frances took us fishing on his boat in the Thames estuary, a really fun day although it was only Paul who got hooked on the fishing! The highlight was that a baby hammerhead shark came to investigate the boat.

We collected our camper van, and although some problems with it kept us stuck in Auckland for a while longer, we managed to get into our surfing, mountain biking, climbing and hiking regime as we explored the Coromandel peninsular.

Hot water beach on the Coromandal, appearences are deceptive! A normal looking beach until low tide when tourists flock to a small area digging pools where the hot springs are rising.

The freedom with the camper has been fantastic, and the coastlines so stunning – think of Cornwall with 30 degree heat, 100 times less people and double the number of sandy coves and surf beaches. The native bush with tree ferns and the endless white noise of the cicadas is full of mountain bike tracts and walking paths.

We entered the thermal wonderland of central north island with hot springs, gysers, mud pools and volcanos. In smelly Rotorua we spent an evening relaxing in the thermal waters of the Polynesian spa on the lakeside in the rain, a perfect contrast.

Famous Lady Knox Gyser

Colourful Champaign Pool of boiling springs

Boiling mud!

Following a weather bomb - 48 hours of torrential monsoon style rain, when we couldn't even see lake Taupo a few meters from the edge - we desided white water rafting was in order! When a grade 3 rapid turn to a grade 5 and throws your instuctor over board, the adrenalin is certainly flowing!

Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings had to be climbed, despite its lethal scree run for 600m on the descent! So we trekked the Tongariro crossing through the desolate volcanic landscape of larva flows and colourful sulphur pools, so completely different from anything we have ever experienced.

Sadly I thought after 2 months off I should actually do some work again, so we headed back to Auckland for a two week locum position in a busy small animal practice ( I thought I’d ease back in to this work thing slowly!!). We caught up with my old college friend Sarah and her fiancé who are doctors in Hamilton for the year, Paul got himself a fishing rod and became a hunter gatherer; and I am converted to smoked snapper on a bbq at Claire and Carl’s (cousin Lucy’s sister in law).

For my birthday I was treated to a weekend sailing in the bay of islands – truly fantastic! With dolphins jumping a foot away beside the boat, and rafts of little blue penguins bobbing in the waves!

So with the Auckland job finished we are now heading south, via surfing beaches of course! Headed for the south island while they still have some warmth, before I commit to another job.

Hopefully my next update won’t be so delayed, but when there is so much fun to be had, the computer screen is not so attractive!! However, I’m still thinking of you all back home and missing the ease of long term friendships. I hope that life is going on well for you all and you’ll keep me updated on your news. Love Taraxx