We're out of New Zealand and just in time - we karmically changed our plans to end up in Auckland on the North island on the 22nd instead of Christchurch on the South island exactly where the earthquake hit. We were boarding our plane when all flights were stopped to assess the fallout and allow flights bound for Christchurch to land. We seem to have a knack for dodging natural disasters, so we hope our luck continues.
New Zealand was an incredible "side" trip, probably one of the best decisions we've made so far on this jaunt. Our campervan rocked us across both islands in comfort (fortunately, Suzanna was in charge of emptying the toilet cartridge each day since I managed to dry-retch on the first day while merely observing the process).
The South island proved to be the most scenic and driving wasn't much of a task, although somehwat laborious at times winding up and down cliffs without much in the way of guardrails to stop idiot tourists from creating a new dive site in the ocean below. Considering we were hauling a living-room-on-wheels with everything on the opposite side (you try driving a manual with your left hand) we fared quite well. Not eating out in restaurants for every meal was also a nice detox.
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| Shotover River Jet Boating - No Seatbelts! |
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| Tongariro Alpine Crossing |
While in NZ we pushed ourselves as much as we could and are quite proud of how sporty we pretend to be now. Suzanna came up with the idea to hike a volcano on a 19 km climb ominously titled "Alpine Crossing" - it was really tough but our intense preparation by doing absolutely nothing ahead of time really made us look like pros.
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| Franz Joseph Glacier - Still Intact? |
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| Red Crater on Alpine Crossing |
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| Photos don't have audio |
I jumped off the original bungy bridge in Queenstown which ended with a refreshing (and unexpected) plunge into the river below. Amazing how much you have to pay someone to take a dive off of a bridge. To round out our adventurist posturing, we went caving in an ice cold underground river, hiked to two glaciers, and raced in a jetboat through a canyon. Oh, and I saw Suzanna eat a berry from the side of the road. Funny, can't recall signing any waivers.
Throw in a couple of wine trails, beaches, geysers, and mud pools and you've got yourselves quite a trip.
Anyway, we're in Kuala Lumpur, on our way to Cambodia to tour Ankgor Wat...
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| Camping for Yuppies |
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| Milford Sound |
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| Come on in, the water's warm! (100 deg C) |
We're out of New Zealand and just in time - we karmically changed our plans to end up in Auckland on the North island on the 22nd instead of Christchurch on the South island exactly where the earthquake hit. We were boarding our plane when all flights were stopped to assess the fallout and allow flights bound for Christchurch to land. We seem to have a knack for dodging natural disasters, so we hope our luck continues.
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