The MON Blogs

This is part two of my NZ trip report from January 2006. You can read part one here.
Enjoy!

Day 9: Christchurch to Fox Glacier

This was a very long day, involving a long drive (about 450km) from Christchurch on the East coast to Fox Glacier on the west via Arthur’s Pass – a road passing through the Southern Alps.

At dinner we were told not to touch the soup. Lest the soup nazi find out…

In the evening we had karaoke run by Foxy Joe – the gay maori guy. yup… Mike and Phil both performed admirably – along with other members of the group. The karaoke continued until late in the night slowly getting worse as the time passed.

Day 10: Fox Glacier to Queenstown

Our morning activity today was supposed to be a glacier helihike – a helicopter flight into the upper reaches of the glacier, several hours hiking then a helicopter back down again. Unfortunately, due to adverse weather the flights had been cancelled. On the upside, we did a glacier hike anyway – and it was $100 cheaper. There is no way to describe the scale of the glacier when seen up close – it is truly colossal. The only way to get more ice would be at the poles.

As we were approaching the glacier a large chunk of the terminal face broke loose – our guide estimated that it would have weighed at least 30 tonnes. Somewhat disconcerting when you are about to step foot on a glacier.

The afternoon was spent travelling inland to Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world!

Travelling to the dinner that evening in Gondola Number 9 the beeping P.A. system managed to freak Andy, Mandy, Mike and I somewhat. As we ascended the mountain a beeping sound got faster and faster – as if it was counting down to something. The large blue canisters under the seats didn’t help either. The attendant at the top didn’t seem interested at the problems though…

I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t do anything crazy here…

Day 11: Queenstown

Well, I didn’t eat anything for breakfast today – a 7:15am pickup from the hotel, a briefing in town, a drive to a private airfield had nothing to do with it of course… You get the idea. Anyway, it’s really cold at 12,000ft and rather windy on the way down

Day 12: Queenstown

Today was really xtreme – it fit well into the idea of Queenstown! I got up late, ate breakfast, did some washing, caught the shuttle bus into town to have lunch, get the bus back to have a nap… Excitement plus.

Lunch was good though, the world famous Fergburger (with swiss cheese).

A few of us took advantage of our gondola tickets and had a few rides on the luge – for those who don’t know, the luge is a concrete track which you ride a 3 wheeled cart down… It’s some good old fashioned gravity driven fun!

Day 13: Queenstown to Milford Sound

This morning the tour departed for Milford Sound making a slight detour to visit the world famous Kawarau Bridge – home of the worlds first bungy! It was great entertainment watching people jump. I was happy on the ground today…

At Milford Sound we boarded the Milford Wanderer a ship used for overnight cruises on the sound (which is actually a fiord and not a sound at all).

Josh and Andy bravely (and foolhardily) jumped into the frigid (but fresh) waters of the sound – only to climb aboard soon afterwards. My quick voyage aboard the tender vessel being far more interesting and warm. The air temperature was in the low teens, the water temperature wasn’t much warmer.
The evening was spent playing cards, board games and chatting whilst consuming warm cups of coffee.

Coming soon: Part 3 of the NZ Adventure!