JRO - NZ

Sue here doing todays blog on behalf of the girls. After a long and very wet drive the previous day we awoke to beautiful blue sky and sunshine which meant no postponement of the Glacier hike - dam it!!

After signing our lives away (and that of our children) we kitted up with boots, socks, raincoats, waterproof raintrousers and crampons (for those of you like me who had no idea what these were, spikey accessories to put onto your boots to stop you slipping - apparently).

Short 10 minute drive later and then a 2.5k walk we were at the bottom of the Glacier. After bypassing the 'Danger' sign climbing over the security fence by this point I was feeling pretty nervous but there was no turning back now. We elected to go in the second, slower group in the very capable hands of Zack (in shorts and pick-axe in hand) and crampons securely attached, we began our climb up some rather helpful stairs made of ice.

I have to admit that at this point I was having second thoughts and rather worried about how the hell I would get down but needless to say it was definitely not as bad as I thought it would be and it was certainly worth having a go. It was (as the girls would say) awesome. We walked on the ice, upwards for around 2 hours stopping for a quick snack and some pictures but then it was onwards and upwards. By this point I was beginning to realise why Zack was wearing shorts and began to question my 3 layers of tops, plus jacket and two pairs of trousers!! The girls were really careful (apart from a small slip from Jess who tripped over her crampons and now has two lovely large bruises on her knees) and they were even allowed to have a go with the axe.

This was definitely the highlight of the holiday for me as not only have I never seen a glacier I have never hiked up and down one. At the ripe age of 40 I can now tick this of my 'to do list' and can only thank Steve for the odd push up the backside for making this happen.

The sight of the bus was very welcome and I was still feeling the effects of the walk the following day but it was worth every step.

After a quick bite to eat and some liquid refreshment it was off to our next destination.

Hi again everyone it's Rebecca here and we're on day 5 of our really amazing trip around New Zealand.

We have seen so many waterfalls, creeks (all individually named - we passed Smiths Creek yesterday, and the next one was Docherty Creek!) and way too many one-way-bridges!

Throughout today it has been quite boring driving on and on from Queenstown to Franz Josef (just for those who don't know thats a very long way!). On the journey just today we did see some really cool things including the biggest water fall I have ever seen and a really long one way bridge. We started our journey at around 10:30 and drove over the top of the Crown Range (between Queenstown and Wanaka) - we got an amazing view of the whole of Queenstown (though Dad wasn't looking - he was concentrating on keeping us on the road!).

Eventually we made it to Franz Josef Township - and booked our glacier hike for tomorrow! Really looking forward to that!

Hello All,
I am glad that you seem to be following our blog! Today, I have to say, was one of the best days of our trip so far! Once all dressed and ready we all walked for 5 minutes to get to the Gondola.

As we got closer and closer to the Gondola, Mum was getting really anxious about going so high in a small cart. So up we went, Mum had to sit facing up, because of her 'extreem feer'of heights, but when she did look around and saw the lovely view of the whole of Queenstown, and Lake Wakatipu. But we got up there, and went outside to see more mountains and get more pictures.

After having a coffee, we went outside to go on the chairlift, to take us to the Luges, these were small carts with a handle like bike. To make it work you had to pull the handle towards you to accelerate, and even further to make it stop. So we sat in the carts and got a bit of a briefing on how to use them. Then we were off, Bex and Dad in the front, then it was Me, then Mum and Liv! We were all going at our own speed, and mine wes extremely slow!

When we got off at the end we all wanted to go again, except Mum; so Dad, Bex, Liv and me went down again, but a lot faster. We loved it and even Mum was glad to have gone on it. We took in some more of the views and then went back down the Gondola, and had a wander in town. We walked and had a drink and had a sit and raved about the Gondola and Luge.

Then we went to the Shotover shop, to go and book a trip on the speedboats! After a 10 minute bus ride we arrived at the Shotover river. As we got on the speedboat, Mum was really nervous (as per - usual!). And we went out on the boat for about 40 minutes, and we all loved it! It was so cool! We were going at 80 kmh through really tight canyons. And the best part was the 360 spins! They were awesome!

Everyone loved it and I think it was so cool what we did. We are having a great trip!

Jess
:^)

Hey it's Olivia here, on the 3rd day of our trip we woke up in Lake Wanaka, so all of us just got ready and away we went. First all of us went into town where we saw an amazing timeline. It started in the year 0, and finished in the year 2000 (when i was born!!!!!!).

We all went wandering and found ourselves looking at tikis and bookmarks. I bought a bookmark and so did bex and jess also got a bookmark and a gift for her friend. We hopped into the campervan and away we went to Puzzling World. Dad insisted on taking more pictures outside of the building, there was a Leaning Tower of Wanaka and if we stood in the right place you looked like we were lifting it up, look!

When we got in the first thing i noticed was the ceiling it was like a mirror but it looked all squiggly. So we got tickets and went through the door, first thing to do was the holograms where you look at a picture thing from three metres away and it changes like there was a women that wasn't smiling and you move side to side and she is smiling, so cool. My favourite thing was when there is a room and you stand in a corner and on one side you are tiny in the other you are so big, did you know they used the technique in the Lord of the Rings. Look how much taller than Bex I am!

We then did the maze - with a competition to see who could find all four towers first. Not sure who won - but I know it wasn't Dad (he would still be in there if it wasn't for us!).

There were lots of rooms with optical illusions - including rooms where it appeared as if water was running up hill!

Great fun!

Hey everyone it's Rebecca here. It's the second day of our trip - and we have spent most of our day at Lake Tekapo where we had a lovely time and saw some amazing sights. In the morning we all got up and ready for the day we wore our swimming costumes because we were told there were some very cool places to swim here. As we drove into Lake Tekapo the view was absolutely breathtaking we couldn't believe it! We stopped and took many pictures of all the snowy mountains and the beautiful blue lake and the stoney beach. The lake is so blue because the glaciers crush and grind the rocks - causing rock flour to be formed in the water. This gives the blue appearance.

Once we had had enough of smiling for the camera we all got back into the campervan to head to our swimming destination. When we arrived we went into the change rooms and got ready for something really cool and im not going to lie and say it wasn't! Because once in the pool we realised they were hot spas big ones with little fountains in and seats to relax on in the water. Once settled in the pools something really strange happened when I saw
a girl in year five from my school! It was really weird and funny and it was cool because she was doing the same thing as us travelling round in a campervan! After we had a really nice relaxing swim we all had a drink in the cafe and were on our way. We then travelled to a local church with a really cool view of the lake and got yet more photos!

Later we headed to the campsite where we stayed the night and got some well earned rest ready to face another day!