Welcome to New Zealand

Sad to be leaving Oz, we arrived in New Zealand in Christchurch to cold and wet weather. Thinking that we had seen the end of the sunshine we prepared for the six weeks ahead by buying more long sleeve tops, jeans and even some hoodies. The two weeks since then have been glorious with lots of sunshine and nice weather. NZ is having one of the best summers on record! The best way to see NZ is by car so I had searched on the net for the best deal we could get. We picked up the car that is to get us around both the North and South Islands from a small rental company in Christchurch. We weren't expecting much for nine pounds a day and weren't disappointed. Our motor is a very small Toyota Starlett, has done over 100k, is looking very battered and bruised and hardly fits all our bags in it. That said, it's actually quite a good motor and I'm thinking of buying it for Tree as a Christmas present. Christchurch is the largest city by far in the South Island. However, it's pretty small and is more like an English town. We were lucky that it was the International Buskers Festival when we there as it was pretty lively. Many of the streets are named after English Cathedral cities like Salisbury, Durham, York, Canterbury and Winchester. On our way back one night we decided to walk down Manchester street and just like back home it was the least pretty and we counted 10 'ladies of the night' touting for business.
We set off to Lake Tekapo which is one of the most beautiful places we have been to. It's hard to describe how beautiful the backdrop to the town is. The water in the lake is a pure blue colour with the mountains reflecting in the surface. After a couple of days we headed south down the coast to Dunedin for a night. Nothing exciting happened apart from me reversing our little motor into a large motel. We headed into the Catlins which is a lovely remote area at the very south of the South Island. We saw plenty of seals and a penguin. The highlight was Curio Bay where our room looked out onto the ocean. Walking along the beach we could see dolphins in the sea surfing the waves. Despite the water being very very cold I dived in and the dolphins swam within a few metres of me, definetly one of the highlights of our entire trip!
We then walked to the southernmost point of the south Island and probabaly won't ever go further south than this in the world. It's still amazing to think that we were still only just about nearer to the south pole than we were the equator.
For some reason when planning this trip I thought it would be a good idea to book us on to the Milford Track. This is described as 'the most beautiful walk in the world' but it is 33.5 miles and takes four days to complete. Also we had to take all our own food, sleeping bag and clothes. We both therefore had a backpack weighing about 15kg. We were also warned that it 'always' rains heavy for at least one day of the walk and you often need to wade through waist high water. The first day was only a couple of hours and was easy enough. On the second day we had a longer walk of about 10 miles but the track was pretty good. The third day was really tough. We had to climb up a steep mountain over rough ground and then back down the other side which was even steeper. However, none of this mattered as the scenery was the most amazing we had ever seen. For me, it surpassed anything in the Lake District. We walked though valleys that were surrounded by massive, snow covered vertical mountains. We went underneath the highest waterfall in New Zealand and had amazing views from the tops of the mountain. Having to carry all our own food, we opted for packets of rice and pasta dishes. On the second day Tree made the porridge but got it a bit wrong. There's nothing better to start a ten mile walk than hot lumpy water! After a bad breakfast we were looking forward to lunch. Four hours later I was disappointed to find that my new flask had managed to chill my lumpy minestrone packet soup to just above freezing. Still, in six hours we could look forward to a packet rice dish (ate out the packet). At night we slept in basic cabins (no hot water) which we shared with the other 38 walkers that were allowed on the track each day. Obviously sharing a bunk room with others can be a bit noisy. One night was particularly bad with loads of loud snoring and non-stop farting keeping the walkers awake. Most people are reluctant to wake strangers up to ask them to stop - but I volunteered. I managed to wake Tree and she at least stopped snoring for a while but it must have been the porridge that kept her going from the other end. The last day was really tough as we had to walk 11.5 miles and our feet were really hurting by this stage. Still we managed to get to the end and were really pleased with what we had seen and done. We both agreed that it was definitely worth it. After finishing the walk we treated ourselves to an overnight cruise. It was brilliant to have a hot shower and a roast beef dinner. We also saw more stunning scenery on the cruise and the clearest night sky ever.
After our tough last few days the next stop was Queenstown. This is the 'adventure capital of the world' and we budgeted to do loads of adreneline activities. Queenstown is an amazing place and we were lucky to get some fantastic accomodation overlooking the town, lake and mountains. To get us warmed up for the next five days we started with a bungy jump. We choose the Kawarau Bridge Bungy. This was the first commercial bungy jump in the world and we both jumped off without any hesitation. It was exciting but not as scary as the tallest bungy we had already down in South Africa. At lunch time we took the gondola in the town and had a few goes of the luge. This was good fun and quite fast in places. The best bit was overtaking Tree. Her 'safety-first approach' was no match for my 'close-my-eyes-and-think-of England' style. In the afternoon we both went hang-gliding. We had fantastic views and it was really peaceful. The next day we stepped up the pace with a ride on the Shotover Jet. This is a fast boat that needs only two inches of water. It speeds through the canyons getting nice and close to rocks before spinning 360 degrees. In the afternoon we did the 'fly by wire' which is my favourite so far. You're srapped into a mini-jet and attached to a giant wire and can contol how high and fast you go. We are having a great time in Queenstown and Tree will continue to tell you about our adreniline activities if we both make it through the next few days alive!