- The tour -
After Abel Tasman national park we headed down the west coast of the south island towards the glaciers in the southern alps. On the way we stopped off in a real local pub for local people for a beer and a burger. Everyone inside was very friendly but there were a few funny looks and it was difficult to tell the men from the women. But nonetheless the publican told us of a sweet beach to spend the night at, we were keen for it as it meant less driving and we didn't have to sleep in the cold high altitude of the southern alps.
We stopped off to look at the Franz Joseph Glacier, impressive, you don't see a glacier everyday but once we'd seen that we thought we didn't need to spend another
few hours walking to see the Fox Glacier as well so we sacked it off and got in the car for a mammoth drive to Arrowtown to see Jenny. So after a kip I took over the driving and what a drive it was. The weather had turned for the worse and lots of the driving was slow with poor vis, but a little intervals and then more consistently later on the weather cleared to reveal the stunning scenery of the west coasts mountains and rivers. It turned dark before we crossed the Haast pass over the southern alps and into Arrowtown to meet Jenny.
We had a few days in Arrowtown, was good to chill with Jen and see Queenstown. There was a compulsory bungee jump for the boys, but Emma didn't have the stones for it and now has to live with her regret. The jump was pretty awesome but over too quickly - going to save up and come back to do the more expensive 134m 8.5 second free fall version in the new year.
Dave gets ready to take the plunge, and the view from the top.
We left Arrowtown and headed for Te Anau where we got a bus and boat trip to and round Milford sound. Once again the scenery stole the show, the rain the night before and that morning created thousands of waterfalls over the solid bedrock which only exist for the few hours after a heavy rainfall. (Although being in one of the wettest places in the world this is still quite common.) As we moved into the sound (misnamed as it is actually a sea loch or fiord) the clouds hung over everything giving the whole place a very moody atmosphere. Our boat trip took us out into the roaring 40's (much to Emma's displeasure who struggled bravely with nausea) and round the sound to see some fur seals. As we travelled back up to the head of the loch the clouds parted to reveal Milford Sound in all its glory for a photo op.
Now suffering from with drawl from the scenery fix we decided to head up the coast towards Christchurch. But we got bored on the way so made a detour back into the Mountains to spend some time living by a lake.
From here we did a day trip to check out the Mount Cook national park and Tasman Glacier. Another day of stunning scenery as the postcard perfect snow capped mountains towered above lakes which had been turned Sapphire blue from the melting glaciers. The whole landscape was littered with textbook examples of glaciation that would have got any geography teacher excited and Dave and I spent the day spotting moraine, hanging valleys and arrettes. More exciting than it sounds.
However, the mountain life was too cold for Emma and we had to return to civilisation, So now we're in Christchurch having spent more time on the tiles and lot of time in the sun.
- Krystal -
let me set the scene - we were cruising into Te Anau at five on a Friday afternoon when we heard a disconcerting clunk and pulled over to investigate. When we pulled away again it was to the rather off putting sound of metal grinding against metal. We drove around and found the only mechanic in town just shutting up shop for the weekend. This was lucky as we were considering just continuing on to Milford and just risking the breakdown. Mr Mechanic told us a few things that were useful. The fist that our gearbox was "f*cked" and it would be unlikely to travel another 30ks without falling out of the bottom of the van. The second was that within 5ks of Te Anau we would run out of mobile reception and not be able to contact the AA for pickup. The third was that the road to Milford was a hilly one and that such a road would be a death wish with a van in as poor shape as ours. We reluctantly settled for the bus to Milford and parked Krystal up for the night in a campground car park.
We were then faced with the conundrum - wait around for two days in TeAnau till the mechanics open up or risk it on the open road. The latter of these two options carried the extra risk that if we broke down within 60ks of TeAnau then we would be taken back to TeAnau by the AA retrieval man who just happened to be Mr Mechanic that told us not to drive in the first place. (thus rendering our AA cover void).
We were impatient so took the risk - drive at least 60ks on a gearbox that's been given 30 to live. 4th gear caused least metal on metal noises so we thought, low revs, 4th gear, don't stop till she breaks, pray it doesn't happen on a roundabout.
Then Krystal came through in fine form - 300ks, all the way to Dunedin with just one stop for fuel, and a few risky moments involving right turns, roundabouts and traffic lights, traffic laws become harder to adhere to without 1st or 2nd gear.
She was renamed Krystaal in honour of her outstanding performance.
It turned out that bearings had all been destroyed thanks to a complete lack of oil in the gearbox.
Most of our time in Dunedin was thus spent locating a new gear box and getting it fitted without getting ripped off, which we eventually managed thanks to a man named Clint.
We were hoping that was the end of it and all seemed well, but two days ago we noticed oil dripping from the gearbox and our windscreen was chipped. This has turned out to be a loose screw which a man kindly tightened for us for free. the windscreens getting fixed tomorrow. fingers crossed...
- Wildlife
The albatrosses we impressively large as expected but no penguins by day. we were advised to go out at dusk to see them. We did this - about an hour waiting about in the freezing cold until it got so dark that you could barely see your hand in front of your face and then we were told enthusiastically by some volunteer for the department of conservation that the vague indistinct shapes that were slowly meandering past our feet were in fact penguins. So far I have been unimpressed by the wildlife of New Zealand - although their pigeons are prettier. 
This is a Kea, apparently the worlds smartest bird, we watched this one start to piecmeal dismantle some unfortunate guys car. The guy stood and watched though, which suggests that the bird may even be smarter than individuals of our own species. 
