Our South Island holidayNew Year 2003/04 |
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| Is the L'Oréal Range Rover really in France? Check out this link. | It poured with rain the day we went over to Doubtful Sound on the west coast, causing the rivers and waterfalls to be spectacular. | The wind atomises hundreds of waterfalls before they make it into the Sound. The area has 5 to 7 metres of rain a year. | A very tranquil place. |
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| Fox Glacier is on the West Coast and is one of the most accessible glaciers in the southern hemisphere. in the distance you can see Mt Tasman and Mt Cook (3,754 metres). Check out this link. | On the way to the Fox Glacier ice walk. Here you can see the end of the glacier through the helicopter window. | Fran and Zoë negotiating an ice tunnel. | Marcus down a crevasse... |
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| Looking up the glacier. | Marcus in an ice cave. | Zoë on top of the ice cave. | Fran, Zoë and Marcus on the glacier. |
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| Looking down the glacier towards the Tasman sea (Australia next stop...) | Marcus by a crevasse. | Fran and the kids with our guide. | Time to go back down. |
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| French Pass in the evening light when we arrived.... | French Pass in the morning light when we left. | Here the water races through on each tide at up to eight knots creating whirlpools eddies and currents, a truly awesome passage feared by mariners. Check out http://www.frenchpass.com/ | |
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| A rather different folly. Two Jags, stuck in the ground. | On the way to Kaikoura on the east coast. | Early morning at Kaikoura, with the sun turning the fresh snow pink. | At Kaikoura we saw some sperm whales. Check out this link. |
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| And also many dolphins. | |||
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| Staying in Queenstown, we met up again with a British expat family from Hong Kong. Marcus struck up a friendship with heir youngest daughter, Anna. | Zoë and Fran in the Marlborough Sounds. | ||
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| Great views of the beautiful Marlborough Sounds. | In Queenstown we went for a hot air balloon ride.... | ||
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| Up, up and away... | |||
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| We went up to 7,000 ft, which I thought was pretty high for a balloon.... | |||
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| Going up in the gondola at Queenstown. | |||
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| "Now you know what people see in a Range Rover".... | |||
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| The TranzAlpine is rated one of the world's greatest! The TranzAlpine travels between Christchurch and Greymouth, from one coast of New Zealand to the other. From your carriage you'll see the fields of the Canterbury Plains and farmland, followed by the spectacular gorges and river valleys of the Waimakariri River. | Your train climbs into the Southern Alps before descending through lush beech rain forest to the West Coast town of Greymouth. The journey is 223.8 kilometres long and takes just four and a half hours. There are 16 tunnels, and 5 viaducts, the highest being the Staircase standing at 73 metres. | The view at lunch time | |
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| Marcus actually smiling | On the way back to Christchurch there had been a major bush fire with hundreds of hectares burnt out in the few hours since we had passed that morning. | ||
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| Let me know if you can work these two photos out. Neither has been anywhere near Photoshop.... | So strong, Zoë! |