What has Andy gone and done now…?

WARNING – VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED – MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES OF NUDITY

Well…where was I…?…oh yes – Bay of Islands in the North Island – parasailing and all that jazz…well things have moved on from there, as you would of course expect from a jet setter like myself…where to begin…I know – the beginning…

After Sal’s dad left from Auckland we were left with a few decisions as to what the flah we were going to do for the next month that Sal had decided to stay…we had pretty much exhausted the North Island (or at least all that I wanted to see for now – I was pretty sick of driving around that island after 3500km!?) so the plan was to head to the South Island, but we wanted to try and do things on as tight a budget as possible, so we decided upon and eventually found a great wee camper van (a proper one this time!) to have for the next month as both our wheels and our home!  There is no point trying to explore New Zealand without a car, because, well…there’s just no point…you need a car..!!..so we flew to Christchurch from Auckland and picked up our new ride…

Our wheels and home for the next month (not a bad spot for our first campsite either – a wee picnic site just south of Christchurch)

The plan is to drive about and see lots of stuff while staying at free campsites or overnight spots as much as possible.  Basically, you pay about $30 for a campsite to get electric, showers and toilets…we don’t really ‘need’ all of these and can normally get by without some or all of the above..though we do stop at a campsite (or at least a shower!) every now and then..!!

So anyway…the plan for the statr was to head south from Christchurch along the east coast, detour towards Mount Cook (the tallest mountain in New Zealand), then head on to Dunedin.  There are a couple of ‘turquoise’ lakes called Lake ekapo and Lake Pukaki which are, as the name suggests, brilliant turquoise blue.  The photos won’t do it justice – just trust me!  The lakes are apparently so turquoise due to the finely ground rocks which give a suspended ‘powder’ in the water which reflects a brilliant blue with the sun.

Lake Tekapo

The water, incidently, is glacial water flowing from glaciers around Mount Cook, so although the lakes look absolutely stunning and inviting to swim in – they are actually FREEZING..!!.. of course that didn’t stop me…

Only one way to do it – straight in, no hesitation..!!

Any Daniel Craig fans..?..ok ok, I can but dream..!!..

Sal and I sitting in front of Lake Tekapo

After staying at Lake Tekapo for a day (and enjoying a great evening in the hot pools and spas with the sun setting over the moutains…) we headed on towards Mount Cook which took us past the other turquoise lake – Lake Pukaki…funnily enough Pete, this was best seen from Peter’s Lookout…

Can’t escape him…

Nice view though – that’s Mount Cook in the background…

Of course I swam in Lake Tekapo so I couldn’t not swim in Lake Pukaki (which incidently was even colder!!)

Did I mention the water was really turquoise..?..

Our campsite at Mount Cook…thats not it in the background – Mount Cook itself was just hidden from the campsite and required a 3 hour walk for the best views…)

Me sporting my new leather Crocodile Dundee hat, sunglasses and beer (only the hat was leather I mean – not the sunglasses and beer)…

The camper van in ‘day mode’…

Sal and I doing a self portrait on our walk to Mount Cook…I love my hat…

Hello!!

That’s me with Mount Cook in the background, and the edge of the Hooker Glacier – the Lake (Lake Hooker) is absolutely freezing – even I wouldn’t go swimming there – there are big icebergs which have broken off the glacier face and are just floating in the water..!!

Some of the aforementioned big icebergs…

We were told Mount Cook apparently goes red at sunset…it does…

We stopped at Lake Ohau on our way to Oamaru  – a town about 100km north of Dunedin where we hoped to see penguins coming on to the beach…the weather was deteriorating quite badly by the time we got to Oamaru though so we gave up and parked up for the night on a cliff by the sea with the wind howling…

A nice we bar in Oamaru…

We had planned to take the drive to Dunedin pretty easy as it was only 100km and there were lots of nice things to see on the way, including penguins and seals/sea lions, but the rain was chucking it down and we just headed straight to Dunedin with just one stop to look at some ’seals’ (according to the sign) that I’m pretty convinced were actually sea lions..!!..someone please correct me if I’m wrong!? (They had ‘ears’ and were walking along with their back flippers tucked underneath..I thought that meant sea lion..!?)

sea lions/seals…the decision is yours..!!

The most recent photo on my camera of the tarmac just outside the camper van…it isn’t all sunshine you know – it’s been doing this ALL day..!?..ok ok, so it’s the first rain I’ve seen in 2 and a half months but still..!?..

So there you are…I’m now in Dunedin…in the rain…we’re going to meet a girl that I work with from Dublin for a few beers later so I best be off to do something constructive…we’re spoiling ourselves tonight – electric, toilets and showers…yesss…