The South Island...

After giving Mr. & Mrs. G (Kathy's parents) some time to settle in and discover some of their new immediate surroundings, it was time to pack everyone up and fly out to our camping adventure on the South Island.

Off we went and in 15 days... we travelled 1922 km in our 6 person camper, visited 10cities and crossed 1437 one lane bridges! I am very happy to report that we would all pack our things and do it all over again. It was absolutely spectacular and magical. No wonder they selected the South Island as the backdrop for the movie "Lord of the Rings". There was no need to embelish the location. It really is as beautiful as it appears in the movie and then some.

First and foremost, we want to thank Margaret and Judith for all of their travel advice. Thanks to them we were able to cover the "must sees and dos"efficiently. Margaret put together an excel spreedsheet timetable for us! My kind of women!

Not to bore everyone with a diary account of our 18 day adventure, we thought that we would give you our Top 10 (not in any particular order).

So here we go:
1. Checking-in at the Christchurch airport:
This one Mr. G will never live down... you need to try to visualize and picture this one - Mrs. G is using a whellchair at the airport to minimize any strain on her bad knee. As everyone fumbles to gather their things after going through security, Mr. G gently gives Mrs. G a push to move her along to free-up the line not realizing that Mrs. G is on the edge of a slope. That's right folks...Off she goes - heading directly for the wall. All you hear is a "Ohhhhh" from Mr. G as he rushes to try and stop her from crashing into the wall. Everyone around is speechless and watches intently wondering whether or not Mr. G will cath-up to Mrs. G before she hits.... Are you laughing yet.. Michael and I were....luckily for Mrs. G, Mr. G was able to cath-up and stop her because, had he not everyone would have been unable to assist because they would have been laughing to hard! Luckily, this event didn't set the tone for the entire trip. Sure wished we had caught it on video... it would have one won Funniest home videos for sure!

2. The entire drive - all 1922 km of it:
This entire drive was absolutely spectacular. If we would have stopped everytime we saw something worthwhile, we would still be driving around the island! Just to give you an idea, here are a few pics that we took while we were driving...

3. Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers:
This was really special since none of us had ever seen or been so close to any glaciers before. Michael actually went up to Fox Glacier and touched it as Mackenzie and I cheered him on. The pictures don't actually show you how far back the glacier really is. You know.. objects appears closer than they actually are...Michael still had a 10 minute jog from where Mackenzie and I sat before he could touch the glacier!

4. Our flight onboard a 8 persons plane to Milford Sound:
Who would of thought that the firefighter who can't stand flying would have jumped on a 8 seater plane and fly over the fiordland! Well he did and we have pictures to prove it! This was undoubtedly the high point of our trip. The views from the plane of the snowny mountain peaks of Mount Aspiring, Mount Cook and of Milford Sound itself will be with us forever. Not to mention the ride!

5. Our day at Milford Sound:
This place is really magical. Milford Sound is a fiord - essentially a valley carved by a glacier during the ice ages and later flooded by the sea as the ice melted and the sea level rose. After arriving on our little plane, we took a boat tour to admire the steep mountains that are covered with thick rainforest and its fur seals. The area receive approximately 9 metres of precipitation annually.

6. Queenstown and Dunedin:
Both these places had something special to offer. Queenstown is a great city! Lot's of fun. To give you an idea, we would compare it to Tremblant.

Dunedin was wonderful! A university town filled with lots of old historical buildings. These old buildings are of particular interest as they were designed to resemble Edinburgh, Scotland. Mackenzie really enjoyed the butterfly exhibit at the Otago University. It just so happens that Dunedin is also in close proximity to the only mainland royal albatross colony (they are black and white birds) which we didn't get to see... the weather was horrible! Gale force winds mixed in with torential rains. Even the birds were hidding our from this one. We've got the video to prove it!

7. Christchurch
Christchurch was a great walking city. You really felt that those who designed the city wanted it to be pedestrian friendly and filled with lots of parks. It was laid out as a provincial capital city back in the 1850s. It is filled with wonderful old buildings. Their botanical garden is quite impressive given the city population.

8. Morning tea in Cromwell:
As you can imagine, after nine days of travelling, sleeping and eating inside the camper, some friendly faces and some home cooked treats really hit the spot. Judith, Brian, thank you so much for having us over. It was really wonderful to spend time with all of you. It was as though we had known each other for years! There's that kiwi hospitality again...

9. The Moeraki Boulders
Just one of those natural wonders. As described in our guide: "They are subject of much legend and curiosity. They are almost perfectly spherical, with a circumference of up to 4m (13ft). They are scattered along a 50m (164ft) stretch of beach. They were formed on the sea bed about 60 million years ago as lime salts gradually accumulated around a hard core."

10. Akaroa
This place was so picturesque. We had a wonderful relaxing time there. We wondered around, shopped and ate. We also took a boat cruise that was a lot of fun. It was Mackenzie's and Kathy's first time seeing dolphins and fur seals in the wild. Mackenzie was so excited. She loved the afternoon cruise around the Banks Peninsula.

As you can see, our camping adventure was amazing.

Mr. & Mrs G are off tomorrow to catch a flight to Sydney, Australia to hop on a cruise. While they are gone, we will try and get into the Christmas spirit ... not easy thing to do when there is no snow:) Cathy D. any tips on how to get into the swing of things?