First stop was Kaikora to see the sperm whales
that feast on giant squid 2km below the sea.
Abel Tasman 3 day kayak trip
Kayaking with the queen of directions was interesting.
I did all the work and the steering, Holly did the navigation
- "a bit closer to the shore. Turn left down this bay".
No washing for 3 days.
Abel Tasman - the chef
Oh, and I did the cooking. The equipment we
hired was a Swedish kit which consisted of a candle and one
easy-stain aluminium pot. I managed to make paraffin flavoured
chip butties.
A fair trek to the Franz Josef Glacier near
the west coast made me realise that a whole term of glaciation
in Geography would have been more interesting with field trips.
Completely awesome!. This picture shows the leading edge that
goes right back up the mountains for 4 kms.
We couldn't get onto Franz Josef Glacier because
of the weather, so at the last minute we were able to get a
heli flight up the Fox Glacier instead.
On the Glacier
A 2 hour trek around this wierd and wonderful
landscape was incredible. The glacier is constantly changing
structure, so we were the first people to see some of the ice
canyons, and ice holes.
Heli trip to the Fox Glacier
My first ever trip in a helicopter. Complete
madness when the pilot immediately went straight towards the
side of the mountain. The relief when he pulled 3 Gs to miss
by a "whisker" was warming to my pants. This was taken
before take-off.
I had injured my hand when I freaked out jumping
over a 200ft deep canyon. Not shown here is my left hand hanging
off and pints of blood pouring on the snow.
What the hell is this pole for?
The blue ice hole ended up at another scary
juncture.
Milford Sound is immense and we
travelled right down to the to the Tasman Sea where the calm
waters turn into torrid seas. Captain Cook was doubtful he could
navigate down here.
With an annual rainfall of over
250 inches a year, we were extremely lucky to have such a great
day. Some of the cliffs where over a kilometre high and rained
spectacular waterfalls.
