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There is an amazing
310
travel-log entries on
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
16 March 2006
at
04:03
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Day 260 (15th March 2006)
It's my last day on the South Island today and I left Blenheim and took the scenic drive to Picton. I didn't realise though that the scenic drive involved driving on a winding gravel road for 35Kms, ofcourse after driving for 20 mins I wasn't going to turn around. I should have figured that the road was gonna be bad as it was marked in white on the map and not yellow like the others. Anyway after an hour or so of painful driving I arrived in Picton, a nice little place but such a boring one. There is nothing at all going on here, it seems like it's more of an old peoples place or retirement town. Although it is also the gateway to the north island as all the inter-island ferries leave from here so there are a lot of people just passing though. I arrived at Picton at lunch time and after finding a campsite and pitching my tent I was really stuck of things to do. I spent most of the afternoon reading my new book. Tomorrow I will be on the ferry to Wellington, hopefully there should be more to do there!
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| Matt is currently in
Picton, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
16 March 2006
at
03:56
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Day 259 (14th March 2006)
Another shortish drive today to Blenheim. Again when I arrived I had a browse around the township. I really liked this place, the layout of the town was cool and the place was really modern and clean, I could live in this town! Although it's only a small place it seems to have everything there, I bought myself a new book - "Immediate Action" by Andy McNab after recently reading his book "Dark Winter" I find his books quite interesting. I also found a cinema here and it was still showing "Wolf Creek" (which I have wanted to see for a while) so I bought a ticket for that and went in the evening. You must see that film it's one of the scariest I've seen in a while!
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| Matt is currently in
Blenheim, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
16 March 2006
at
03:46
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Day 258 (13th March 2006)
I left Motueka this morning for a nice 2 hour drive to Nelson. When I arrived I had a wonder around the town. Nelson is a strange place it seems quite busy but it's not, it's like half and half. As I wasn't shopping I didn't spend much time in the town centre. I located a camping ground 5 Kms outside Nelson in the Brook Valley, it was a nice little place, very quiet and by a stream. There were a couple of walks you can do from there, so being bored, as I was, I decided to do them. The first was a 40 min walk to a dam that was the original water source for the whole of the Nelson district, however it's not in use anymore but the dam still remains. I then did the other walk up to the Brook Valley lookout, 20 mins and all up hill, I was knackered by the end of it. On the way up I saw a strange looking creature on the pathway, when it saw me it bolted real quickly, it looked like a black goat but it was kind of weird to see it on a track where both sides there is forest!
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| Matt is currently in
Nelson, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
11 March 2006
at
08:10
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Day 256 (11th March 2006)
First thing this morning I headed into town to get my kayaking trip booked. There were so many options to choose from but in the end I decided on a full day kayaking, I'll tell you how it went in tommorows log. I thought this trip was probably a little better than some of the others as you get to see more of the national park, so I got that all booked up for tomorrow. I then decided to drive north from Motueka. The first place I stopped at was the Pupu freshwater springs which apparently are the biggest springs in the world, I can believe it as the spring itself is like a massive lake, you can see the water bubbling up from several locations. The water was so clean and pure I was tempted to bottle some up and have to drink! Next I continued heading north up to a place called Collingwood and then up as far as Farewell cape - which is the most northernly point of the south island. I thought it a good idea to go there seeing as I went to the most southernly point of the island. I then did a 30 min walk to Wharariki beach which is an amazing white sand beach with no-one on it! There are massive sand dunes here but they didn't really compare to anything as big as the ones I've seen in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria. After that it was time to start heading back to Motueka for some dinner. I've got an early start tomorrow as I've got to drive to the kayaking base in Maharua. I'm looking forward to the kayaking as I've wanted to do it for a while now...sweet as!
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| Matt is currently in
Motueka, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
10 March 2006
at
07:08
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Day 255 (10th March 2006)
Left Greymouth at 10 o'clock sharp after filling up with gas. I headed north up State highway 6 until I came across Punakaiki. Punakaiki is renowned for it's pancake rocks and blowholes so I had to check them out. There is a small 15 minute loop circuit that takes you around to see the attractions. I got to see a blowhole in full action, pretty cool stuff! The pancake rocks are also pretty smart. After that it was back on the road and a while later I came to Westport. I decided to have a quick drive around the town and I got to say there is nothing going on there either! It looks like a town full of inbreds if you ask me. It was back on the road again heading towards Nelson, after driving through the Buller gorge I arrived at my next stop - the longest swing bridge in NZ. I walked across it, did a walk the other side and then did a superman on the flying fox wire back to the other side - well cool, you actually get up quite a bit of speed. After my bit of fun for the day it was more driving. I eventually ended up in a place called Motueka near the Abel Tasman national park, I am spending 2 nights here. I'm going to go kayaking on Sunday, then on Monday I plan to go to Nelson for 2 nights. After that it will be on to Picton for 1 night and then get the ferry across to Wellington on the north island around the 16th. I'm nearly pretty much done with the south island, I have seen a load of stuff here and it's all been amazing. Oh, I fixed my tent too and I found where the water was leaking into the car and taped it up with some heavy duty duct tape , I knew there was a reason why I bought that stuff with me - sorted!    
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| Matt is currently in
Motueka, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
10 March 2006
at
06:56
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Day 254 (9th March 2006)
Finally left Franz Josef this morning, back on the road with new places to go! Was on the road for a couple of hours before I came across Lake Mahinapua where I stopped for a short break. A short ditance up the road I came to Hokitika, a small little town famous for jade carving and there are numerous outlets all selling jade in various shapes and forms. There was not much else there so I got back in the car and continued driving until I got to Greymouth. I spent a while walking around the city centre, again Greymouth is not such a big place. I later did a bit of grocery shopping and then pitched my tent in the top 10 holiday park where I spent the night.
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| Matt is currently in
Greymouth, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
09 March 2006
at
02:54
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Day 252 (7th March 2006)
Well what is there to say, the weather today has been really bad, it's been raining all day solidly. Everything I own is now wet, the tent is waterlogged, my car has a leaky sunroof and all my stuff and seats are fully soaked! It's not a good day for me! and I've not been able to do anything....
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| Matt is currently in
Franz Josef, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
06 March 2006
at
06:53
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Day 251 (6th March 2006)
I left Wanaka around 10ish and drove for around 4 hours stopping once for lunch. I arrived at Fox glacier and did the 1 hour return walk to the glacier terminal, if you don't know, the terminal is basically where the glacier ends. I managed to get some great shots. I decided not to stay in Fox glacier township but to continue towards Franz Josef. I got there around 4pm and checked into a holiday park to setup my tent for the night. I have booked a full day glacier hike for Wednesday as tomorrow the weather is not looking too good. I don't know what I am going to do as there is not much else to do in Franz Josef, the town itself is pretty small and there is not a lot else going on here apart from the tours to the glacier...
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| Matt is currently in
Franz Josef, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
06 March 2006
at
06:49
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Day 250 (5th March 2006)
Today I took a drive from Queenstown north to a place called Wanaka. It took around 2 hours to get there and then I went to check out Puzzling world. This is a place that has loads of holograms, illusions and also a 3d maze. I managed to complete the maze but it took me around an hour and a half to get to all four corners and then back to the exit. The weather was really good today and in the afternoon I went for a couple of beers at one of the bars down by the lakeside. Wanaka is a pretty quiet place but you can see that there is a lot of development going on and the locals fear that before long the town will develop into a second Queenstown. Tomorrow I head towards the glaciers.
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| Matt is currently in
Wanaka, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
04 March 2006
at
08:36
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Day 248 (3rd March 2006)
I had an easy day today. I didn't end up doing much at all as the weather was still really bad, it's been raining all day again. I'm really hoping that this weather gets better tomorrow.
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| Matt is currently in
Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
03 March 2006
at
04:09
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Day 247 (2nd March 2006)
I met up with Mark and Louise (the couple I met in Oz!). We decided to meet down the pub to watch a replay of the England vs Uruguay friendly match. In the evening we hit the town and went to a few bars. I have now booked my Canyon swing and Shotover jetboating for Saturday, so I am looking forward to that! I am going to leave here on Sunday and head towards Wanaka on my way to Franz Joseph where I want to do a glacier hike. Queenstown is a really nice place, the town has got a really nice feel and there are loads of stuff that you can do here, mainly all adreneline activities! I could spend a fortune here if I had more money but I've had to limit myself to just 2 activities here.
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| Matt is currently in
Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
02 March 2006
at
05:57
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Day 246 (1st March 2006)
Well it's the first of March already and the start of Autumn in NZ. Today I drove from Te Anau up to the very popular town of Queenstown. Arrived here around 1 and I am staying in a camp site only 5 mins from the town centre. In the evening tonight I met up with Helen (the girl I met on the cruise yesterday) and we went for some drinks. We managed to go to 5 different bars in total, one of which was the -5 degree bar. Here you get dressed up in an eskimo coat and gloves and go inside the bar where everything is made of ice. The bar is ice, the seating is ice, the glasses are ice and there are sculptures inside carved of ice, it's really quite cool (literally). I am planning a few things that I want to do in Queenstown. I am thinking of doing the canyon swing and jetboating but I am waiting for a good day to do it, unfortunately the weather has been rainy for the last couple of days.
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| Matt is currently in
Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
01 March 2006
at
02:02
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Day 245 (28th February 2006) - THE 8TH MONTH MARK
Up at 8am today and ready to leave for 9. Todays mission was to get up to Milford Sound, fortunately the weather today was really nice so a good day to go for it. Anyway I started driving towards Te Anau and on the way stopped at only an old suspension bridge at Clifton. When I arrived at Te Anau I had a quick drive through the town and filled up the car with petrol, as there is only one road to Milford Sound, one way in and one way back and it's 2 hours in each direction. On the way, there are some interesting places to stop the first being "The Mirror lakes" and like the name suggests these lakes do actually mirror the landscape perfectly. Further along the road there is "The Chasm" which is a big rock feature that has been eroded by water in a weird way. Also on-route there are several viewpoints where I could get some good photos. I arrived at Milford Sound around 1pm. I was going to do some kayaking on the sound but it was a little expensive so I decided to do a 2 1/4 hour cruise instead through the fjord and out to the Tasman sea. I am glad I did it because it was brilliant, the commentary was very good and the fjord itself is spectacular - there are many waterfalls coming down from the tops on the fjords. We also got the chance to see some fur seals up close. I also met a really nice girl on the boat called Helen and hopefully we are meeting up in Queenstown for a drink. After the cruise I decided to drive back to Te Anau and spend the night there as it is closer for my drive to Queenstown, which will be my next destination tomorrow, it's about a 2 hour drive from here......
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| Matt is currently in
Milford Sound, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
01 March 2006
at
01:23
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Day 243 (26th February 2006)
Got up early again - 9am. Had brekky/shower etc. and left the campsite at around 10ish like usual! First I had to get my photos off my digital camera and burned to a CD as I was running out of space on my memory card. So I popped into Dunedin to do that and then it was back on the road - destination "The Caitlins". A little drive outside Dunedin I picked up the Southern Scenic Route past Brighton, Taieri Mouth, Milton and Balclutha. My first stop point was at Nugget Point. There is a walking path that leads up to a lighthouse from which there are spectacular coastal views and down the bottom on the rocks you can see fur seals, elephant seals, sea lions and yellow-eyed penguins. I had some lunch here before moving on for my next stop which was an old dis-used railway tunnel that had been excavated by hand in 1891-92. All I did here was walk though the tunnel and then back again. The next stop was at Purakaunui Falls and then Matai falls which was again similar to the previous one! I then drove a little bit up the road to a place called Papatowai where I found a campsite for the night, it's only $7 a night - what a bargain! Tomorrow I am checking out some other cool stuff on the south coast, stay tuned!
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| Matt is currently in
Papatowai, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
25 February 2006
at
04:29
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Day 242 (25th February 2006)
Woke up at 9am again today and was ready to leave the campsite by ten. I chose to go and take a drive along the Otago peninsula, again the views here were pretty amazing, there is an albatross colony right at the most eastern tip of the peninsula - it's the only one in the world but I chose not to visit as it costs $25 and I have already chosen to do 2 other tours for the same price. Today I went to the Speight's brewery to do a tour, it was a bit like the XXXX one I did in Oz but I would say a little better. Speight's is the national beer here. After that I did a wicked tour around the Cadbury's chocolate factory, you get to learn about how the chocolate is produced and ofcourse get to try lots of the chocolate, it was a really good tour. Tomorrow I am leaving Dunedin and going to do the coastal drive through the Caitlins area on my way to Invercargill, I might stay in the Caitlins national park for a night, who knows? it's all good.
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| Matt is currently in
Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand |
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Travel-log entry
by
Matt
on
25 February 2006
at
04:25
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Day 241 (24th February 2006)
I got up at 9am today and had some brekky and headed first to Mt Cook village to get some information on a couple of walks. I decided to do the Kea point walk which was a 1 hour return trip to a view point of Mt Cook, the hooker valley and Mueller glacier. I then drove to another location nearby where I did a 40 minute walk to the blue lakes and Tasmin glacier lookout. Both were not too difficult really and were well worth the trek. I then left the Mt Cook National Park heading back past Lake Punaki and then I took the turning off to Twizel. I had a quick look at the village, not much going on here. I then passed through Omarama heading towards Oamaru, on the way I stopped off at a couple of dams producing hydro-electricity for the NZ power supply. After stopping in Oamaru for some lunch I took the road straight down to Dunedin. I stopped once to go and see some yellow-eyed penguins and seals at "Shag point" lol yes it's really called that! I'm camping in the Dunedin holiday park in St.Kilda for the next 2 nights!
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| Matt is currently in
Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand |
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