Ending with a bang

Tomorrow we leave New Zealand, though we'll definitely be back. I still haven't managed to do any diving, for a start.

What have we been up to? After we left Kaikoura and the whales, we drove round the top of the South Island to the Abel Tasman National Park to do some kayaking. After staying in a very bad campsite for the night, we turned up at the centre and the instructor told us that the weather wasn't looking good for the day. What with my not having canoed for nearly twenty years and Triny not having canoed at all, we decided to skip it and try again the next day. Then we drove down the road to a campsite which didn't have hot and cold running cockroaches., which was a much better place to spend the night.

The next day, the weather was much better and we got away in the kayak. The Abel Tasman Park is a fantastic place: crystal clear waters, lagoons, golden beaches, the lot. Unfortunately for us, it also had wind that was blowing straight into our faces for the entire day, and a mile-long stretch of rocks and very high waves that nearly capsized us several times. We finally got to Anchorage Bay where we stayed the night in a floating hostel. Then we paddled further up the coast for the next day, though we did stop paddling at the bay before a second stretch of rough waves and exposed coast, and sat down on the beach to wait for pickup. A much more civilised way of spending the afternoon.

After getting back, we headed further down the west coast to the glaciers, and a guided walk on to the Franz Josef glacier. I wanted to try the helicopter flight that landed at the top of the glacier, but the cost was a bit silly. Next time. Then it was down to Milford Sound, which was spectacular. The sand-flies were pretty impressive, too, if only because the pain they could cause as they took what felt like an entire limb each time they bit you was incredible. We booked onto a boat trip into the Sound, and visited the Observatory halfway round. The floating platform has a viewing section that is eight metres under the water, and you can see all kinds of fish and marine life that would normally be too far down to see.

From the Sound, we carried on driving round the South Island and on to Mount Cook. Through the cloud and almost constant rain, we think we even managed to see the mountain. Though we're not sure. It didn't exactly have a big signpost on it.

We were planning to spend the last couple of days in the van on the Banks Peninsula, near Christchurch. On the drive there from Mount Cook, we were driving through a place called Geraldine when a car pulled out in front of us and we stopped by driving into the side of it. No-one was hurt, thankfully, but Ginger lost his radiator grille and headlights and the chassis was bent a bit out of shape. (The other car came of worse, mind, with a front tyre that was definitely not vertical afterwards.) Thank God we paid the money to get the insurance excess payment right down.

So, with a front door that didn't close as well as it used to, we decided that we'd just head straight to Christchurch and hand the van back a day early. Swapping to a replacement van for the last night just didn't seem worth the effort when all we'd have time to do would be drive to the edge of the city and find a campsite.

We've had a great time in New Zealand (with the exception of the last couple of days, obviously), and it's a shame to be leaving when there's so much we haven't seen, but like I say: It's just a good excuse to come back.

Here's a couple of photos from the last few weeks. The rest of them (including a very fetching one of Ginger and his wounds) are here.