Now I am beginning a min-series of blogs from my 7 week New Zealand adventures, NOT because of blogger pressure (ahem Teapot, mr Eb & Mrs Sheep Lover!) but because of the sleepless nights resulting from said pressure! Haha Also it makes a refreshing change to Facebook which, I must be honest, is becoming rather addictive!
So Blog 1 takes me from November 6th to 13th, from Christchurch to Te Anau on the South Island. This journey (in our Green Mitsubishi Lancer hire car with absolutely no power up hills!) took us across Arthurs Pass through Narnia/LOTR country (Pic 1) to Greymouth. Here we drove up the West Coast to Punakaiki where there are Pancake Rocks (Pic 2 - sadly Id left maple syrup, sugar and ice cream at home), the weather was beautiful so we thoroughly enjoyed the coastal drive.
We drove up treachourous ‘metal roads’ (unsealed, dirt-roads) to the old mining village of Bendigo, through Cromwell and arrived in Queenstown where we stayed for 3 days. (Pic 7 = Queenstown from top of Gondola) This is THE adventure capital of New Zealand, Bungee Jumps (Pic 8), Shotover Jet (F1 Car on water), sky-dives, mini-golf, lake cruises, mountain walking in The Remarkables etc etc. I enjoyed the hot-spa in our hostel! 
So Blog 1 takes me from November 6th to 13th, from Christchurch to Te Anau on the South Island. This journey (in our Green Mitsubishi Lancer hire car with absolutely no power up hills!) took us across Arthurs Pass through Narnia/LOTR country (Pic 1) to Greymouth. Here we drove up the West Coast to Punakaiki where there are Pancake Rocks (Pic 2 - sadly Id left maple syrup, sugar and ice cream at home), the weather was beautiful so we thoroughly enjoyed the coastal drive.
From here we drove down the West Coast from Greymouth, via old Shanty Town, to the 2 World Famous Glaciers, namely the Fox & Franz Josef Glaciers (Pic 3 & 4).
This then lead us onto Haast Pass where there are many wonderful waterfalls, rivers and lakes (Pic 5 = Blue Pools) including my new favourite Lake Wanaka (Pic 6). 
We drove up treachourous ‘metal roads’ (unsealed, dirt-roads) to the old mining village of Bendigo, through Cromwell and arrived in Queenstown where we stayed for 3 days. (Pic 7 = Queenstown from top of Gondola) This is THE adventure capital of New Zealand, Bungee Jumps (Pic 8), Shotover Jet (F1 Car on water), sky-dives, mini-golf, lake cruises, mountain walking in The Remarkables etc etc. I enjoyed the hot-spa in our hostel! 
One drive we did was to a place named ‘Paradise’ (Pic 9) but to me the scenary didn’t quite fit the name!
The week ended at Te Anau, via the Famous ‘Kingston Flyer’ steam train (Pic 10 - weird-shaped tender), where of course you drive to Milford Sound (Pic’s 11 & 12) 
for a lovely entertaining cruise round ‘the sound’ out to Tasman Sea and back. I particularly enjoyed driving back through the Homer Tunnel (yes Homer Simpson built it! Lol).
The week ended at Te Anau, via the Famous ‘Kingston Flyer’ steam train (Pic 10 - weird-shaped tender), where of course you drive to Milford Sound (Pic’s 11 & 12) 
for a lovely entertaining cruise round ‘the sound’ out to Tasman Sea and back. I particularly enjoyed driving back through the Homer Tunnel (yes Homer Simpson built it! Lol).The weather wasn’t amazing, cloudy/wet from Glacier’s until Queenstown when it cleared up to allow me to burn my neck then jump 43m into a river!
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