Nathan's Insights

World Traveller: 7 Continents, 90 Countries, 871 Days Overseas


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  • World Trip 2009-2010: Day 65 – Greymouth to Hanmer Springs to Christchurch, New Zealand

    Saturday 30 January 2010
    Highlights: Thermal Pools at Hanmer Springs, A-League Wellington Phoenix Vs Adelaide Match

    Our last day of major driving saw us stop off in Hanmer Springs for their famous Thermal Pools. Basically you get to move between a lot of different pools at varying temperatures. The hottest ones smell due to the sulphur, however there are several normal heated pools. They are all outside. Erin in particular seemed to enjoy them and I thought she was about to fall asleep floating in the water with Kara a number of times. I think I ended up with a little bit of sunburn on my head.

    Later in the day I borrowed Andrew’s hat after I ‘retired’ my Essendon one back in Greymouth. After the pools we walked about a local Saturday market but strangely both Kara and Andrew left empty handed. Once we got into Christchurch we walked into the city centre.

    There was a world busker’s event on but I didn’t really watch must. After an early dinner we hurried back to the hotel so Jason and I could go to the relocated Wellington Phoenix Vs Adelaide (A-League) match. Strangely enough this was my first A-League match and it was in New Zealand. Wellington won the match 1-0 in front of a 19,000 crowd and I enjoyed the night but the weather did turn very cold.

    Later that evening I settled into the hotel to watch Serena Williams beat Justine Henin in the Ladies Australian Open final which finished at midnight local time. Now for 3.5 hours sleep before dropping of Jason, Kara & Erin at the airport.

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  • World Trip 2009-2010: Day 64 – Fox Glacier to Greymouth, New Zealand

    Friday 29 January 2010
    Highlights: Hiking around Franz Josef Glacier, Shantytown Heritage Park

    We started today with a small hike to the Franz Josef Glacier which was actually more impressive than Fox Glacier, maybe due to the clearer weather.

    From here we set off for Shantytown Heritage Park. Now Andrew didn’t really get into the mode for this pioneer style Amazement Park – this is despite even having a go at panning for gold! Erin liked the stream train ride and I enjoyed seeing the Chinese Town setup.

    shantytown_heritage_park__0x0_i

    A short time later we arrived at what we thought was our accommodation in Greymouth but they lost the booking. Kara quickly resolved this by finding a better place for only a little more money. It turned out for the better because it gave Erin a chance to visit the beach, play on the trampoline and swim in the pool.  The group managed to walk 15,000 steps today after doing 20,000 steps yesterday. Since I bought the pedometer on the first full day in Christchurch I have managed at least 15,000 steps a day. This is the start of a new health kick leading up to the Easter tennis tournament.

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  • World Trip 2009-2010: Day 63 – Queenstown to Fox Glacier, New Zealand

    Thursday 28 January 2010
    Highlights: Historic town of Arrowhead, Lake Matheson, Fox Glacier

    With the trip winding down we said goodbye to beautiful Queenstown and left for Fox Glacier but first we stopped off at Arrowhead a historic town set up during a gold rush era with lots of old wooden style house. It was a very picturesque place but also setup for tourist and they charged as if we were all American so we skipped breakfast at the local cafe and went back on the road.

    Arrowhead Township
    Arrowhead Township

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  • World Trip 2009-2010: Day 62 – Queenstown, New Zealand

    Wednesday 27 January 2010
    Highlights: Jet-boating on Lake Wakatipu, Gondola Ride, Queenstown Casino

    Today it was me and Kara on a jet-boat on Lake Wakatipu and beyond. We just missed the 10 am ride but got onto the 11 am for 1 hour of thrills. Kara bravely sat on the side of the boat and got wet as a result. Super views of the surrounding area when we weren’t pulling 360 spins 🙂

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  • World Trip 2009-2010: Day 61 – Milford Sound, New Zealand

    Tuesday 26 January 2010
    Highlights: Milford Sound Boat trip

    Today saw a 5 am alarm and my first day of driving in New Zealand. With a 600 km round trip to Milford it would have been very unfair for Jason to drive the entire distance. I took the first driving shift and before long Andrew, Erin and Kara were snoring in the back. To his credit Jason stayed awake for the entire trip.

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  • World Trip 2009-2010: Day 60 – Dunedin to Queenstown, New Zealand

    Monday 25 January 2010
    Highlights: Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Factory Tour

    After a visit to the steepest road in the world, Baldwin Street, we headed off to the Dunedin Cadbury Chocolate Factory. As the tour wasn’t suitable for children Jason and Erin went to a local park after getting breakfast. The happy three; Kara, Andrew and me, waited for our tour to start at 10 am. Andrew seemed to not suffer too badly from his drinking record from yesterday, I was worried about how the chocolate would go with the excess alcohol but it turned out fine.

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  • World Trip 2009-2010: Day 59 – Dunedin, New Zealand

    Sunday 24 January 2010
    Highlights: Dunedin Aquarium, New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, Speight’s Brewery Tour

    Unfortunately we woke up to more rain today, I’m still hopeful of better weather in the near future. We started the day with a visit to the local Aquarium which is a working research centre. In order to get to the aquarium we had to ride around the bay which gave us some great views although Kara was concerned about the road and the drop off into the ocean.

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  • World Trip 2009-2010: Day 58 – Christchurch – Dunedin, New Zealand

    Saturday 23 January 2010
    Highlights: Historic buildings at Oamaru

    Andrew again today struggled to get up which turned out bad for him as Jason, Erin and Kara were ready early. Our drive out of Christchurch was uneventful even if it rained for the better part of the day. The Highway No. 1 is well made and has lots of good views of the countryside (especially when the rain lifts).

    We did a short stop at Temaru for breakfast and a bigger stop at the historic city of Oamaru.  We had hoped to see some penguins but unfortunately they only return to land at night. However the 120-130 year old buildings built in Roman / Greek style with limestone made up for this disappointment. We even got to watch a short film on the bloom and blast of the city port.

    Oamaru
    Oamaru

    From here we went onto Dunedin and after a few false starts managed to find our hotel. Andrew settled into watching the tennis while the rest of us visited the beach and checked out the area. On finding mini-golf we went back and got Andrew so we could start the Dunedin PGA Championship. Jason won easy, Andrew came second when I fluffed the last hole, and Kara came fourth while Erin just enjoyed hitting the ball around the course.

    Dinner was a KFC Family meal; I’m really getting into bad habits. Somehow I comforted myself by saying I was having Spirite Zero yes I have fallen so low. At least I did more than 10,000 steps. Tomorrow we are planning on visiting a brewery and hopefully an aquarium and a few other local attractions. As the weather finally cleared up late in the day we are hopeful this is the start of some good weather not that you need it at a brewery.

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  • World Trip 2009-2010: Day 57 – Christchurch, New Zealand

    Friday 22 January 2010
    Highlights: Harness Racing at Addington

    Around 8.45 am Erin headed in Andrew and my room to try and wake up Andrew, now this is a very difficult task, some would say near impossible. After Erin yelled his name about 14 times and jumped on the bed she had some success.

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  • World Trip 2009-2010: Day 56 – Auckland to Christchurch, New Zealand

    Thursday 21 January 2010
    Highlights: Erin’s delight in seeing us after so long away

    We cleared Customs very quickly. New Zealand treats Australians as residents for Custom purposes so it almost felt like being at home. After clearing Customs we heard ‘Andrew, Andrew’ which was Erin shouting for joy seeing her older brother again after so long.

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