So we hit the road heading toward Wanaka with Dom's words 'guys it's just about to get exciting' ringing in our ears, the clouds were hugging the mountains and safe to say we didn't get far before we had to pull over and take some pic's.....
Just amazing like nothing we'd seen before in flat old Norwich!
When we pulled over here we noticed in amongst the clouds and tree's there were small waterfalls flowing through the mountains, they were pretty hard to capture.....
Here's one....
Little did we know this was nothing compared to what we were gonna see in the next few days...
The roads wined around the mountains and the small waterfalls turn into bigger ones joining the water beneath, here's a pic of the road, you didn't wanna get too close to the edge which was hard when we were constantly looking out the window at the scenery!
We saw a sign for a waterfall so stopped off to find it....here's Dan with his sexy grey outfit complete with socks to protect from the sand flies - they were out in force near the water!
These are sub-tropical rainforest's. They get so much rain out here we think that's why everything is so green and just grows like no bodies business, check out all the moss on the trees!
Yay we found a waterfall that's more like it!
check out the turquoise water, they say this is because the water comes from the glaciers....
Iit was a bit cold but we both thought it would be amazing to swim in this in the summer, maybe we'll take my Mum and Dad for a swim when they come out here ;)
Couldn't resist getting in this little hidey hole!
Snow capped mountains in the distance....
We drove a bit further to find Waterfall number 2
Everywhere we looked we came across more rapids, streams and lakes amongst the tree's & mountains....
Drove a bit further to find waterfall number 3...
Wanaka almost in our sights....
Lake Wanaka....unfortunately it was cloudy so we didn't get that gorgeous turquoise effect we've seen in so many postcards but still pretty amazing and just massive!
I've always got time to hold up a building when needed ;)
or not you work it out. Daniels really showing off with the camera now
Finally arrived in Wanaka which was such a cool little town right by the lake with lots of cool shops, cafes, restaurants. We checked into a lovely campsite which offered free Internet, 2 Jacuzzis and the best kitchen/tv room, which safe to say we commandeered for the evening - sweet!
Woke up to the most gorgeous sun rise so I hot footed off around the site in my pj's to get some shots....
After breakfast, Dan took advantage of their free van cleaning bay, Jonah felt super happy after a hoover, we set off to see if we could find some more sites.
Ever the kid at heart Dan found a tree he just had to climb...
As Dan was taking this picture I noticed we had a friend....
Oooeeer!
Here's Dan bravely seeing the beast off!
OMG this was one of my favourite spots, just stunning...
Bit of an action shot of Jonah off roading!
Just a pic of our view as we drove....
Just loved how the water reflected like a mirror....
We took so many pictures but we didn't want to bore you (we probably still are) but here's a few...
You can see it's Autumn the leaves are starting to turn....(how old do I sound!)
Dan got attacked by a giant hand!
Then it was time to head to Queenstown you can just see it in the distance..
More pic's on our drive in....
Queenstown is renound for its love of adrenaline sports and the home to many crazy activites including the first ever AJ Hacket Bungey, these days they have a choice of 4 bungey's and canyon swings. Dan decided he wanted to try something new so as he's done a bungey before he went for the Nevis Arc Canyon Swing, sadly it was $50 just to watch so we decided that money would be better spent on a new top for me :) So we don't have many pic's but here's the bridge you had to walk on to get to the pod where you got tied up and well you gotta watch the video to really understand....
You need to be signed up to facebook to see the video I did try attaching it to the blog but it took so long to download I had to give up! Safe to say it looked very scary and Dan is officially mad! So pleased I didn't have to do it and got a nice new top instead - money well spent :)
You can just see the pod for the Nevis Bungey jump
The night before we stayed at a DOC campsite and while we were chatting about Dan's pending adrenaline fix a couple camping nearby overheard, they were also debating whether to do the bungee so came over and that was the begining of a wonderful friendship with our Welsh pals Ryan and Kim, we decided we'd go out the next night...after a few pre-drinks at the campsite we hit Queenstown....
Breaking the rules those crazy kids!
then someone mentioned shots....
Oh dear....Ryan still thinks he has a straw moustache!
What happened to those sensible people??
Did someone say the roof was falling down, never fear Kate and Kim are here....
don't ask!
We had a fantastic night out with the Welshies and were sad to say goodbye the next day :(
These are called the remarkables which were quite remarkable...they have snow on them in the winter and even more remarkable!
Here come those clouds again, so cool loved them...
Milford Sound in the distance....
Mirror Lake...
There are just so many places to stop off and take pictures....If we remember correctly when we got back to the Van after this the key got stuck in the door, naughty Jonah playing games again! After much brute force Dan got it out but it meant using the passenger door to un-lock the van from now on, add it to the list of things we needed to get fixed!
Loved this tree...we tried to camp here later that night but so did a lot of other campers and there was no room, darn should have taken Dom's advice and started looking at 3pm everyday...mmm maybe not!
More streams...
As we stopped on a bridge we could see this to our left....
and this to our right....
This is when it defiintely started to get exciting check out all the mini waterfalls...
and more waterfalls...
That's a massive bit of ice at the bottom!
This is the only route into Milford sound, the lights change every 7 and half minutes...which is quite handy as it gave us plenty of time to take even more pics!
Driving through the tunell
Out the other side..
This is a Chasm well we didn't know what one was but pulled over and now we do, a Chasm is basically where the water over millions of years makes holes in the rocks...that's not the technical scientfiic explanation but you get the jist!
More sub-tropic rain forrest....
When we arrived in Milford Sound we booked up for a boat trip which is the best way to see it, we thought it was shame it was raining and debated staying the night in the hope it would clear the next day but were reassurred the more it rainted the better it would be!
Ok so now it's started to get very exciting this was just out of this world and so hard to describe even with the help of Dan's fantastic photography, all I can say is if you ever get the chance to visit NZ you have to go to Milford Sound on a rainy day it's out of this world!
At this point we've stopped counting the waterfalls but here's the first of many many waterfalls on this boat trip....
They provided free tea and coffee - score!
Wow
I'm in waterfall heaven!
check out how close the boat get's to the waterfalls!
OMG
Stunning...
All of these waterfalls reminds me a little of when I went to Ayers Rock and it's rained which is really rare and it had a similar effect of loads of waterfalls so cool.
How about we throw a few seals in - can this day get any better :)
So cute!!
The captain (who incidently only had one arm and was steering the boat with his feet for most of the trip) took us so close to this waterfall he warned us on deck we were gonna get wet so what did all the pommies do, well we stayed to see what would happen.....
Well of course we got wet!! check the guy out at the front bless him, that's his wife in the red running for cover!
Stunning
Safe to say we took a lot more pic's and it was so hard to choose the best ones, it was the best boat trip we've ever been on and one of the highlights of our trip so far....
Safetly back on dry land we headed back to find somewhere to camp for the nigth so time to head back through the tunnel...
Not a bad spot for the night.
We woke up early keen to get moving.......
Please tune in for the next episode of Kate and Dan's Adenture
Same time
Same place
Oh and please don't have nightmares 'it's just about to get exciting' :)
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