Simmsy's Photos: New Zealand, South Island Trip 2007-03-22 to 27

In March we travelled to the South Island of New Zealand. One of my good friends (who I shared a house & worked with, when I was working for 15 months in Co. Cork, Ireland) had come back home to visit family and friends. Was a good opportunity to catch up, as well as a quick 7 day holiday?

So across the pond (aka the Tasman Sea) we went.

Landed in Christchurch late afternoon, then very early next morning, caught the scenic train across to Greymouth.

One of the many bridges over the incredably clear water rivers

From Greymouth, we hired a car and drove down to Franz Josef, at the base of one of the Glaciers. Lovely place. Next morning we drove a bit further south to Fox Glacier, where we had organised a heli-hike on the glacier itself. What an awesome experience!!! Flying in the glacier looks huge, and then it gets bigger, and bigger and bigger, till it dwarfs all. Our group then trekked, led by a guide, over, into and at one point through the glacier, until it was time to go. The photos don't even come close to showing how spectacular, incredibly bright and the amazing range of blues that it was. If you ever get a chance to do this, definitely do it!

The Helicopter taking the first group out to the galacier (note the clear sky)

On Fox Glacier itself, it is impossible to show how mamoth it was

A glacial bridge (we didn't cross or go through it)

A shot of looking back down Fox Glacier, you can just see our intrepid guide in the pic

Looking back up Fox Glacier, with our group

Another glacial bridge (remeber this one)

A hole that just went on and on and on with every shade of incredible blues

Remember that photo a few shots before...we here is the group going through it one by one from the other side

Time to leave

Shot from the chopper looking down Fox Glacier. Look at the clouds now closing in.

One of the many 1 lane dual direction bridges that cover the spectacular countryside

From there, down to Queenstown. Next day, started off with a tandem skydive from 12000 feet. So much fun. We went with a company called NZONE. Totally professional and very well organised and run. Made you feel comfortable the whole time. The free fall was a weird & an exhilarating feeling. You knew you were plummeting to earth at around 200km/hr but it didn't feel it, but knew you were from the buffering you got. Not having anything flying past you, you’re not able to judge speed. Probably a good thing. Back down on the ground and the adrenaline is really pumping. Heaps of fun.

Next to the Shot Over jet, again heaps of fun. When they say at the safety talk to make sure that you don't put anything outside of the boat, they mean it. At times the side of the boat got within centimetres of the cliffs. And I do mean centimetres!

NZONE skydiving aerodrome. One of the aerocraft in front, one being loaded up in the background, while another group arrives from the sky

The Shotover Jet doing its thing

See those rockfaces, we got within centimetres of them. Skillful piloting.

Dusk over Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu

Leaving Queenstown, we headed across to the east coast and to Dunedin. A slight detour around Lake Wakapitu to see the Kinston Flyer (luckily we just made it before it left!). Arriving in Dunedin, we did a tour of Speights Brewery and finished off with a delicious meal at its pub. Next morning, checked out the wonderful architecture of the Dunedin Train Station (1906), before heading off for a tour of the Cadbury's factory.

The Kingston Flyer (loco 778 4-6-2) steam locomotive heading out

The old Kingston Flyer (loco 795) looking a bit sad

The name says it all. Speights Beer

Speights Brewery Bar / Restaurant

Dunedin Historical (and still active) railway station

Inside of the lower floor artruim of the station

On the upper floor mezzanine level

Spectacular stained glass window on the upper floor mezzanine

On the leg back to Christchurch and stopping off to catch up with my mate, he suggested we detour off and see the Moeraki Boulders. We would have just gone past this turn off, but I’m very glad that my mate suggest this turn off. These are incredible rounded boulders, on a very nice beach. After catching up with my mate and his family, we finally got back to where we started.

The Moeraki Boulders on the eastern coast

The sand was a perfect surface to write something as some other toursits had already done

Nature can do some amazing things

Christchurch. We had some time in the morning on the last day to explore the city. We checked out the Cathedral, even climbed up the skinny stairs up the spire to the balcony. It was very spectacular. This was damaged as was a lot of the city a few years later in a devastating earthquake.