One giant leap for freedom!

We are safely in the North Island and starting our travels up the east coast which is full of authentic Maori culture. We are just at the start of the coast after visiting our friends back in Plimmerton, the starting block of our New Zealand adventures.

Before leaving the South Island we spent our last few days in the Golden Bay and Abel Tasman area on the north coast. After a visit to the magical Takaka we rested at the highly recommended and renowned, Mussell Inn, just outside of Takaka. We continued our research, tasting their local, organic beer and ales, yum. We had a handle for you all!

Farewell Spit, the northern most part of the South Island was stunning and very, very windy. Cape Farewell looked out onto amazing cliff formations, arches and a lot of sea! Coastal views were ace.

The photos of Angie and I throwing ourselves down huge sand dunes was at Wharariki Beach, a few km from Cape Farewell. It was seriously windy which helped us feel like we were flying over the dunes and come out covered from head to foot in sand. The wind took the top layer of sand over the beach, like a film in fast forward.

The beach was awesome; massive sand dunes, limestone arches, caves and islands and the cherry on top, we were joined at the sea edge by some very inquisitive baby seals. No zoom used in the photo's, these dudes at one point were 2 inches from our feet, splashing about and looking up at us with their huge marble like eyes. Totally amazing experience. We've been warned a lot about safety with the seals and the damage they can cause, there might be a whole world of blubber with these bad boys but they can
move fast and squash you with one blubber bounce.

How embarrassing would that be..."I'm sorry to say Mr and Mrs Dykes, your daughter has seen seriously injured by seal blubber!"

Where there's baby seals, the mother is always close. We were really lucky this time and big mumma was chilling on some rocks at a distance, really not interested and contented with someone else doing the baby sitting. We stood watching them play around our feet until we thought they were eying up our toes and we backed away.

Before getting our ferry across from Picton to Wellington we spent an evening in Abel Tasman National Park and visited the spectacular Wainui Falls. We've seen a lot of waterfalls on our travels but this one definitely has been the most powerful, the sound was awesome as the water thundered down.

We've spent a lovely few days back with our homies in Plimmerton! Exhausted, the South Island adventures had caught up with us and a well needed rest in Moana Lodge before heading up the east coast. Again we were greeted with such warmth and kindness. Helen and John who helped so much at the start when I was ill continued their endless generosity by arranging for us to stay at Moana, in the best room, totally free. An offer we were not going to refuse-hot showers, double bed, sofa's, a kitchen and fantastic company. Everyone there seemed pretty impressed that we had lasted so long in the back of Vinnie and were still smiling. Also, I think, Helen did not want us around their hostel, putting off fellow travellers with our smell!!


We stuck around for a couple of days, spending time with Stef and Amber, friends who work at Moana and who we spent Christmas with, wandering around Wellington city, particularly seeing more of the Te Papa Museum and having some needed down time at a Buddhist Monastery near Wellington.



We've still not completed Te Papa museum, it takes a life time to complete. There's a really cool exhibition on Pacific Islanders, Pacific Islanders culture and settlement in New Zealand. There is a huge amount of art exhibitions there which we only just touched on. One we looked at, 'Art that's not meant to be framed' was awesome. Artists exploring culture, identity, social construction, sexual orientation and gender. Lots and lots of feminist artists, Alexis Hunter, feminist photographer, is amazing. Her exhibition explored the objectification of women. Try and Google her if you're interested. I've not tried so there may not be any information on her?

I'll leave you with our first stop along the east coast, Castle Point. Quiet and off the tourist track, another gorgeous coastal area with great views up the East coast, amazing fossilised low level reef and great coastal walks.



Looking forward to absorbing the Maori culture first hand, I'll update on all our adventures when we meet again! Take care and sending all my love. Missing you dudes as always and think about you lots xxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanks so much for my letters Sarah, love you. When are you coming to see us, come on then, come on then!!! xxxxx

Rongo

Hey

I'm back, I'm not sure how you have all coped in my absence from the blog, it must have been terrible for you!! To leave you hanging, waiting in anticipation for the next installment!

We've done so much over the last few weeks that if I blog about it all now I will run the risk of sending you into a coma. So I will be kind and give you the best bits, which is pretty much most of it anyway!

From Mt Cook, along with Rachael and Richard, we headed down the east coast, along the south coast and back up the west coast of the S Island. There, done......you should be so lucky!

We've had a lot of rain, wind and some sunshine. No matter what the weather, NZ still holds magic. That's not to say that the rain didn't get a bit much at times, having to sit in pants because all our clothes were wet yet we still went out to venture come rain or sunshine!

There is one thing though that I'm a little upset about in NZ and need to get off my chest-beefy biscuits. Yes, that's right, beef in some of the biscuits, not any old biscuit but my favorite type, Anzac. I thought lard went out in the 80's. After devouring a hole bag I discovered it has beef flaps in it (maybe not the flaps, I made that up) but you get my drift, that's so wrong. I've started a protest to ban beefy biscuits. Not only that but you have to check every item in the supermarket, including vegetable soup, as for some reason they feel the need to add fish! My latest rant came from the mushroom soup I brought, it too had beef in it. Seriously, what did the veggies do to NZ!! On a better note I have discovered the best toasties in the world-peanut butter and banana. I may well be behind the times with this and every bodies been eating it for centuries but it rocks. Try it, you must. Your life will never be the same!

Back to the adventures. We're still loving the camping and have stayed in the most awesome camp sites, either on the beach, in the bush or next to mountains and lakes. The photo above is of Lake Monowai DOC site in the Fiordland/Southaland area.

Here are a few of our adventures, photo gallery style!

Takiroa, original Maori art of the Ngai Tahu Whanui Iwi (Tribe).

Following the east coast down we went to see the Mouraki boulders, it was like a scene from a Sci Fi movie. The pod like boulders dislodged from the beach cliffs, being pulled back to their mother ship, the ocean! The rain and wind added to the effect!

A visit to Dunedin/Otago region. Dunedin itself is another mix of Victorian buildings and contemporary. Very much a University town with lots of night life, galleries and more cafes. I got my first telling off in the public art gallery, twice in fact, for having a backpack on and got caught touching some art!!

Some funky art from a Dunedin street and student initiation!! Those crazy dudes!







While in the Southland and Fiordland area we went to see some amazing waterfalls and the Limestone Cathedral Caves . Another Dr Who moment, the seaweed there looked more like the colossal squid!!

Further along in the Catlins (south) we went to an amazing petrified forest, it was so scared!! Sorry, really bad......To see the forest fossilised in the stone was pretty cool. It doesn't happen often as usually the wood would decay before being able to fossilize. It was here that we finally found the bad boy penguins, the protected yellow eyed penguins. Apparently the penguins are meant to be shy, not these young dudes. They were happy to show off their moves to us, until one slipped over, then again and again! Picking himself up like nothing happened and ignoring the laughter he turned around and went home!!

We all got a little daring on our way to Doubtful and Milford Sounds. With there being four of us and being braver in a group we went and did a little caving on our own in Clifden caves.
The caves are open the public but I'm not sure they would pass health and safety in the UK! There were times of crawling, climbing, twisting and maneuvering on thin ledges which were under water around big water pools! Despite moments of wanting to poop my pants it was a fantastic thing to do! Rachael took the lead and shouted instructions all the way! When we turned the torches off to look at the glow worms, we were surrounded, it looked like a starry night.

The drive to the Sounds through mountain ranges and Fiordland National park was awesome, despite the rain and clouds. We had a whole world of rain in the Milford Sounds, we still managed some walks but decided to do a cruise on the less visited Doubtful Sounds as highly recommended by the locals. We had to get a boat, bus and then set off to cruise the Sounds.




We were so lucky on the day as the rain decided to take a day off following its presence over the last 2 weeks. Doubtful Sounds as you can see from the pictures was another magical place, vast and stunning. It was breathtaking, its sheer size with its islands, wilderness areas of rugged peaks and dense forest.


It reminded you of how small you are in comparison to mother nature. The tree's growing at such steep gradients was pretty cool. In the rain it still would have been amazing with the hundreds of waterfalls that thunder down from the peaks. Heading further out to the Tasman sea we visited a seal colony who were basking in the sun and showing off their tricks in the water.

The sand flies in this area and down the west coast are like crazed vampires in disguise. Three times the size of the average sand fly, these bastards were taking no prisoners. We were almost eaten alive and no repellent was going to stop these blood thirsty animals. I know they too have to eat, but I'm not very zen or understanding when it comes to them. At points they would actually sit on top of the insect repellent, have a little dance, roll around in it and then drain you of all life force before moving onto the next victim.


I've had to have a few lessons from Rachael when it comes to the mossies and sand flies. I have been taught the art of wafting with both hands while squatting over the drop holes to wee. In some of the sites we have stayed at, no sooner have you pulled your pants down and the mossies would appear from outside and buzzing up from the drop hole, aiming straight for your arse! I'm not sure you want the mental images but you can have it anyway. First few times, wafting vigorously, my wee was sent in all directions! You'll be pleased to know that I have now mastered the art, my bum remains bite free. Bet your glad I shared that!!!


Back to more pleasant things!! Here is a lake Marion, in the Milford area. It was quite a walk there and with my boots being wet from the caving I thought it would be OK to walk in flip flops!! We made it but not the best idea to do it in flippies, for most of the way there it was steep, rocky gradients. Another telling off when I got down by a fellow walker asking me to think about if I fell and the emergency helicopter being called out to find I did the walk in flip flops!! Oops!.

Queenstown was our next stop. Nestled next to the huge Lake Wakatipu with beautiful views of the Remarkables mountain range. Queenstown is the outdoor adventure playground for the adrenaline freaks, every extreme sports are available. We stayed on the outskirts at Moke Lake and thankfully the sun decided to stay for a few days. Queenstown itself was not my favorite place, geared up for the tourists, lots of holiday parks, holiday homes, chalets and apartments, it felt like more of a resort to me. We treated ourselves to a night out with Rachael, Richard and Amanda who we met back at the start of the S Island adventures. We had a great night but it felt more like a 18-30's with lots of organised pub crawls. I think I'm getting too old!


Being in the adventure capital I thought it only right to to try out the white water rafting, on Shotter River, with Richard and Rachael. I loved it, but once I gained some confidence, the rapids were not scary enough! Richard got thrown out of the raft down one rapid, the instructors face went very serious as he pulled him in and shouted at us to forward paddle hard. Later he told us we almost had an epic on our hands as we were heading down the wrong part of the river where the rapids are for the experienced, hence their name, Mother in Law! I was a little disappointed that we didn't go down on the Mother in Law!


North of Queenstown we stayed at Lake Wanaka. We did another stunning walk, Rob Roy valley and glacier walk.

Being totally taken in by the glaciers it was time to head back up the west coast to visit Franz Josef Glacier, this time so we had the chance to lick it! Which I did! The guided half day walk on the lower part of the glacier was totally mind blowing and the whole experience did not fully sink in till a few days later. We got to wear crampons and look the part. Rachael outdid us all by wearing a tutu!!

Sarah, Sue and Lou B Lou, check my explorer outfit, the Pig of Happiness loving the ice and always with me on my travels and my favorite leg warmers finishing the look off! The ice was beautiful, towering above us. The more dense areas of ice shone blue, like the colour of a treble soft mint!








We travelled with Rachael and Richard up part of the west coast, mainly freedom camping. I found a fellow explorer at heart in Rachael and found ourselves exploring deserted old, shacks tucked away in woodland areas. One looked a bit lived in, not sure we should have been there. That didn't stop us.....we caused no damage but but almost got stuck in the window trying to get out. Pip you would have loved it!!

Travelling with the dudes has been a lot of fun and brought new and shared experience. Angie and I left them to travel to the furthest part of the west coast, Karamea, another hidden paradise and it's been lovely to have time alone again.

Karamea reminded me of Takaka in Golden Bay. It has the most beautiful coastlines, amazing rock formations, caves and gorgeous beaches that stretch for miles that are mostly deserted. We walked, ate a lot, camped near the beach and made fires in the evening. We walked to Scotts Beach, a tropical beach. The only shame again, the sandflies. We could not sit down for 2 minutes as we were swarmed, so we walked the beach throwing our hands and arms around which still didn't stop them!!

Our travels around the South Island are coming to an end, we'll soon be back in the north to travel as much as we can in the 5 weeks left.

I hope all is well back at home. I miss you all and hope you are happy and well. Sending much love and hugs. Until next time, take care. Peace out dudes!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx