Day 13-14
We woke early in Old McDOnald's campsite to go and pick up out kayaks. After stuffing the tent, sleeping bags, clothes and food into our two man kayak, we were out in the water. Our plan was to kayak up the coastline, making stops at any little beaches we fancied along the way, eventually dropping t...
Day 10-12
It started raining as we got up in Wanaka. It didn't stop for a while. The walk we'd planned - from Fantail Falls to Brewster Hut - we abandoned due to a river crossing that may not be possible any more. We briefly considered, and even started, another walk but after half an hour we were both soaked...
Day 9
6.30 am - wake up 8.30 am - coffee and a sausage roll in Wanaka 10am - jump out of a plane 12.30 pm - get lost in a maze and enjoy some optical illusions at puzzling world 3pm - check in to an awesome airbnb 4.30 pm stand-up paddleboarding on Lake Wanaka 6 pm - lamb steaks and veggies for dinner 7.1...
Day 8
I think we must have been tired from a pretty hectic first week because we didn't get put of bed until after 10 today. We spent the morning playing Frisbee-gold in Queenstown's gardens, while also admiring the sequoias and other giant trees. Frisbee-golf is like regular golf except the ball is a Fri...
Day 7
We woke late. Breakfast was from 6.30 to 8 and we got put off our beds at 8! Thankfully we still managed to get some today and coffee and sit on the deck as Chris whisked us back to deep voice, pointing out hanging valleys, waterfalls, island and other features of note along the way, as he'd done fo...
Day 6
Wajing up to the sound of the lake outside the tent and the view of the mountains past the beach and water is something I could get used to doing a lot more often. A quick breakfast on the beach and back into Manapouri to board a boat across the lake. The lake is expensive and up to 450m deep in pla...
Day 5
Apologies for the radio silence for a few days. We were out of reliable internet coverage until now. Friday morning in Dunedin we both went for a little run before checking out and heading to a cafe in town called The Perc for some deliciously strong black coffee. Reading the local newspapers we dis...
Day 4
Today began with coffee and a deliciously gooey jam and custard doughnut at Tees St cafe in Oamaru before a visit to Steampunk HQ. Located in an 1800s cube of a limestone building, with a fire-breathing stream train cab out the front, the New Zealand headquarters of this Victorian, sci-fi futuristic...
Day3
Today we woke to the sound of rain in Mount Cook village and felt very lucky to have been doing the big hike in the sun yesterday! Cathal started off the day with a little run along the glacier track whilst Nicole slept off a bit of minor sunstroke. Turns out living in Scotland for so long makes the...
Day 2
We walked to the Mueller Hut today. An elevation gain of about 1100m, bringing us up to 1816m. It was steep. The first part to sealy tarns had 2200 steps, plenty of which were twice the height of regular steps, giving Nicole ( 5ft 3) a nice single leg squat workout on a very regular basis! After the...
Day 1
After leaving Glasgow at 8am Saturday, we landed in Christchurch this morning (Monday) at 5am, bleary-eyed and not knowing which way was up. At 7.30, the car rental place opened and we got on the road by 8. I found an article in the New Zealand press recently with the results of the annual pie award...