The last parts of New Zealand

This was my third visit to New Zealand and I cannot explain or describe how much I love it there.  It is such a beautiful, diverse country with an amazing amount of things to do.  Needless to say with the planning mentality that I have, I already have the next two visits here in my mind!

Christmas in New Zealand is always odd for me.  When the sun is shining, the sky is a brilliant blue and the temperature is about 28 degrees, it is simply not Christmas!  I had time off from work so I went back to Queenstown and decided to do another 6 day walk.  I enjoyed the others that I had done so much and this particular one had been highly recommended for its diverse scenery and amazing views.  I was not in the slightest disappointed as the walk know as the ‘Grand Traverse’ was by far the most spectacular out of all the walks that I did.  It is a combination of 2 trails – The Greenstone Track and the Routeburn Track.  We were blessed with 6 days of glorious sunshine so the strenuous climbs were rewarded with stunning views across the valleys and out to the Tasman Sea.  The sense of achievement was extremely high, especially the scramble to the top of Conical Hill.

Views down to Lake Howden.

The beautiful Mount Cook Lily.

Views from the top of Conical Hill.

On my return to Queenstown, feeling elated after such an amazing 6 days, I went in search of more adrenaline pumping action in the form of white water rafting and river boarding.  I’m a bit of a white water rafting addict and take every opportunity that arises to do it.  However, I was rather disappointed with the whole thing because the rapids were small and there weren’t actually that many in total. 

Luckily, my spirits were quickly lifted with my first escapade at ‘River Boarding’.  A basic definition of this is that you travel down the river for 7 kms on a boogie board, through rapids classed as grade 2 and 3 (which is the middle as the most you can raft when white water rafting is 5).  It was absolutely fabulous fun and I smiled the whole way down the river, even when I was submerged by a rapid!!  At the end of the 5km of rapids, the guides got the jet ski and whizzed us down the flat 2km of the river to the company ‘shack’.  Before we finished, we took turns on the super fun water slide and equally enjoyable swing.  After initial nerves, I was flying down the slide on my board and skidding into the middle of the river.  The swing proved to be rather more scary and I never quite mastered letting go of the rope and landing properly in the water because I was scared of the freefall.  My landings frequently consisted of a body flop, splat or head plant on the water!!  Certainly nothing graceful!

Rapids approaching, hang on!!

Skidding of the slide into the river!

I enjoyed a lovely few days with my parents and I tagged along as they travelled south down the coast from the top of the South Island. We spent a lovely two days in Wanaka, walking, jet boating and enjoying lovely food. However, the highlight for me was speeding down the luge, racing my mother!!

Going over the hill and mother 
is in the lead!!

Enjoying the views over Queenstown 
from the Skyline Gondola.

After finishing work, I headed up to Bay of Islands for my last few days in this spectacular country.  An area that I had not previously visited, it is at the very top of the north island and renowned for stunning beaches and beautiful bays. 

A day trip to the very tip of the island, Cape Reinga was well worth it to learn a little about the Maori legends and to see the meeting of the Tasman and Pacific oceans.  The tough climb up the pristine sand dunes gave good 360 degree views and was worth all the panting and sore calf muscles!  The pacific ocean lapped along the shores of the extremely long ’90 mile beach’ and delicate cloud formations allowed for some seriously fantastic photos.

Having fun on 90 mile beach.

It was then farewell to one of my favourite places in the world and time to head off to pastures new, meet with friends and carry on this rollercoaster adventure in the previously unexplored area of Central America.

Exciting times lay ahead!!