New Zealand Day 13

So it was a long day yesterday - early start and hard work on the slopes for the kids.  Holly and Christopher excelled and can't wait to try it again, but Alex who is not quite so adventurous decides to give it a miss.  I'm just happy that she gave it a good go yesterday and did ok.

So today, Adrian, Holly and Christopher have gone up the mountain again, I've stayed here with Alex. We got up, got showered and decided to walk into town - it's about 2 miles - so was a fair walk.  We mooched around the shops - Alex chose some new books.  Holly has had quite a few treats in the form of mostly bits and pieces of jewellery while we've been here, but Alex hasn't been too worried about getting anything.  As books are her thing she was more than happy to browse the shop and choose a couple more titles.  Her only dilemma has been which to start first!

It was a lovely walk - the mountains around the lake, browsing the shops.  We stopped for lunch at a lovely cafe by the lake and then walked back to the campsite.  I'm sitting here in the lounge with a bottle of wine, watching the olympics (just seen team GB win the equestrian silver) updating my blog while I get nice and toasty by the log fire.  Life is good :-)

I should have some more pictures of Holly and Christopher skiing when Adrian gets back.

Alex can't wait to start her new book!

New Zealand Day 12

So we arrived in Wanaka late in the afternoon (after the glacier and the Pancake rocks) and the business of the day was to get organised for skiing for the following day.  We were advised not to drive up the mountain ourselves but rather to get transport up there, which is what we did.  I have to say, I'm bloody glad we did!  Once we actually got to the base of the mountain, the bus had to stop to put snow chains on the tyres, then we began the slow climb - very slippy slush covered roads, very narrow roads with hairpin bends and big drops on either side - driving through a blizzard!

Christopher was lovely - he doesn't remember snow at all - doesn't remember being cold either.  He was absolutely beside himself when we got there "It's snowing...it's snowing" he was shouting.  He then was amazed at how it 'crunched' when you walked on it (it was nice fresh snow) and then went on to ask if he was allowed to touch it!  Talk about sweet!

So we went to book the kids in - we hired everything and went for an all day ski-school for them.  All three did brilliantly - Chris was very lucky to bag himself one to one tuition as he was moving along much quicker than the others in his group.  Considering it was minus 10 degrees up there, I think he did brilliantly.  

Adrian was going to ski with them (he did quite a bit of skiing with the school in his teens) but his knee has been aching and popping and cracking over the last few months.  What we didn't want was to bugger his knee up and end up needing hospital treatment and more or less bringing the holiday to a close, so we decided for him not to ski.  What a shame - we have to settle ourselves in the cafe overlooking the slopes with a nice hot lunch and a bottle of red :-)  Dreadful afternoon!

Christopher skiing!

Holly skiing

Alex Skiing

It was difficult to get many pictures or videos of Holly or Alex as they moved on to a bigger slope quite quickly - Adrian managed to get a video of Christopher though, here it is :-)

New Zealand Day 11

So we were driving from Franz-Josef to Wanaka today - it's a fair old drive (between 4 and 5 hours).  It was a pretty miserable day - low clouds and drizzle and very cold.  On the way we decided to stop off and have a look at the glaciers.  It was a nice walk to the bottom of the glacier - I don't like rope bridges at the best of times though, and this one was a cracker.  I turned into a snarling beast "DON'T BOUNCE IT!" was my manic chant.

Hmmm - 'nice' rope bridge

This is the Fox Glacier coming down off of the mountain.

So this was another stop along our way - Pancake Rocks, because yes, unusually, the rocks look like layers of pancakes on top of each other.  Another nice walk :-)

Enjoying the walk

Pancake Rocks - look at the shadow on the right, I think it looks like a man hiking with his rucksack on his back and wearing a wide-brimmed hat!

Alex finds a 'natural' chair!

New Zealand Day 9 and 10

Not much to report today.  Yesterday Adrian walked with the children along the beach and we found a nice pub 'The Denniston Dog' for a pint of ale and a lovely meal.

Today, we have spent most of the day driving to Franz Josef - we are hoping to go and see the glacier tomorrow.  When I nick Adrian's camera later - I'll put a couple of pictures on.  Hopefully more exciting news to report tomorrow after we see the glacier :-)

Looking for shells...Chris came home with a pocket of rocks!

Busy climbing!

Beautiful scenery here :-)

He has this thing about sticks!

Looking for seals :-)

Holly has her Grade 5 violin a couple of weeks after we get back so she has been trying to 'keep her hand in' as it were!

New Zealand Day 8

So after Kaikoura and the Whale Watching, we headed up to Nelson for a short stay over.  We did nothing there other than get our heads down and prepare for the next day.  So up early ish and showered then heading down towards Westport - a little port town surprisingly on the West Coast of the South Island.

On the way we stopped at Lake Rotoiti for lunch and for a walk around the lake - absolutely beautiful - here are a few pictures of what we got up to.

A beautiful spot!

Skimming stones

Me and my stick!

New Zealand Day 7

So luckily, the day dawned brightly with blue skies all around so we were hopeful that whale watching would be on.  And as luck would have it - all going ahead - although warnings for sea sickness given as the sea was still quite 'rolly'.

We managed to see quite a few whales and it was really exciting watching these great beasts dive down into the depths.  Was a really great day :-)

Rather cold when we got off the boat!

Fish and chip lunch by the sea before we head down to Westport - yum!

New Zealand Day 6

Well, up early and down to the Whale spotting place, and unfortunately because it was grey and overcast (heavy seas) the sailing was cancelled :-(  Bugger - we did have time for breakfast after all!  Come back at 12.45 they say.  So we had a couple of hours to spare, so we went into town to find some breakfast.

Waiting for breakfast

Back to the Whale Way station :-) for 12.45 - cancelled again - grrrr!  So we head out to see baby seal pups at play.  Just outside of Kaikoura there is a seal colony.  The mums leave their seal pups in a pool by a waterfall while they go hunting for the day, so we drove up to have a look.  Very cute :-)

This is where the baby seals were playing.  What you can't see is all the baby seals playing beneath the surface.

Seals lounging on the rocks

New Zealand Day 5

We packed up reasonably early to get going on our way to Kaikoura - away by 10 am.  Some rather steep windy roads in our big van!  We got there safely enough - pity the weather was so overcast - cold and rainy today.

Off we go again!

It was a fair old drive, the kids were good though - it was just a shame that the clouds were so low so we couldn't see the mountains.

Usual posture from Alex - music on - looking out the window.

Holly and Christopher 'as thick as thieves'!

So we finally arrived around 1pm and luckily there was a nice pub opposite the campsite, so book in and straight across for lunch.  We seem to have collected a friendly flock of ducks and seagulls at our van who are enjoying our dry bread!

After lunch a wet and windy walk down into town - bought a couple of trinkets to bring home :-)  We then found the Whale Watch place and we are going out to sea tomorrow to find some whales...hopefully!

Later on this evening we have the hot tub booked at the campsite (another freezing 'scoot' through the icy wind to get there!) so looking forward to that ;-)

Very hot hot tub!  Lovely in the cold weather, although made me feel rather weird when we got out into the cold wind (stripping off right next to the tub - no changing room!).

New Zealand Day 4

So up early-ish to get ready for jet boating today. Was really cold so we head down with some trepidation towards the boat.

Was loads of fun if absolutely brassic!

So after jet boating, it was time for Holly and Alex to face 'the big one'.  They had been begging me to have a go at bungy jumping and I finally gave in and let them have a go.  They were jumping off a bridge with the river below them.

Just about ready to go!

Both feeling nervous at this stage...

All strapped up and about ready to go!

Alex was first to take 'the fall'!

Holly was second along having watched Alex do it.

Alex's jump

Holly's jump

These are videos off Adrian's camera - better views of the jumps!

New Zealand Day 3

So we set off from Christchurch today heading towards Hanmer Springs.  On the way we passed a multitude of wineries and it would have been rude not to stop and sample a few :-)  We plumped for 'Pegasus Bay' which seemed as good a winery as any we had seen.

Setting off again!

Ooh that's a nice one!

So having bought a couple of wines to last for the next couple of days (!!) we were back on the van heading for the Springs.

Alex is nice and comfy behind the driver.

Holly and Christopher comfy on the side seats.

A nice picky of the three of them outside the winery.  

In the afternoon we went to the thermal spas which were absolutely lovely.  Lots of different pools at lots of different temperatures.  The really hot ones were divine with the steam rising into the air.  When you changed pools it was funny to watch people 'scooting' between as the temperature must have been close to zero.  We were there for three hours - until we were as wrinkly as prunes.  It was nice looking up at the sky as it was completely clear and the crescent moon was beautiful and bright.

The sulphur pools were a bit smelly however!

We had a photo taken there which turned out really well, but I need to wait 24 hours before I can get hold of the digital file, so will put that on this page tomorrow probably.

Jet boating and bungee jumping tomorrow!!

I now have the photos of us at the thermal spa...here they are!