What happened to the blog for Central OZ??

What happened indeed!

Unfortunately we had very little internet access to be able to complete the blog so it just didn't get added to.
On the day we were set to return to Melbourne, our trailers axle broke, flipped and was dragged upsidedown for 20 metres. Sad face!

Now nearly December some progress for it's repair has happened but there is still more to do.

Central Oz - Day 3
A solid days driving yesterday got us from Port Pirie to just south of the SA/NT border. It was a cold night - around 2 degrees - and a slower start but with only 350ks to get to Alice Springs so we weren't worried. We arrived in AS at lunchtime, settled into a nice caravan park just south of town, and then rested and had a bit of a look around AS. We plan to catch up with a friend (Lisa) tomorrow night. She has lived up here for some time and the last time we saw her was 11 years ago when we were here last time.

Tomorrow it's off to the Desert Park just west of town and to check out a few of the closer sites in the Western MacDonnell ranges. We are now feeling much more realxed and are happy that the long drives are behind us (until we have to head home).

Here's a video of us just missing a Wedge-Tailed Eagle on the road south of Alice Springs.

Exploring Central Australia

Day one of our 3 week tour of Central Australia has begun. Not a very exciting day however. Driving from home to Port Pirie (north of Adelaide and nearly 1000k's). It has been a long days driving but very smooth. The new rear suspension on the car performed well. Our plan for tomorrow it to drive, then to drive a little more until we get to Coober Pedy where we plan to stop and have a quick look around. The next day will see us aim for Alice Springs. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures.

Day 21/22 NZ - 21-22/1/2011

We the holiday is all but over. Our last day consisted of a slow start up as we only had a couple of hundred k's to do and we didn't have to have the car back until 4pm. The weather looked OK at the start of the day but it quickly turned quite cold ready for our drive through one of the coldest areas of NZ - Arthurs Pass. There are only 3 or 4 places in the South Island where you can cross from the east to west and Arthurs Pass is one of them. The road is very windy as it makes it's way up and pover the pass. The most impressive part was the 'viaduct' which, although the photo doesn't show it, it very steep. It is a pretty impressive engineering feat. Another section of the road had a 'cover' over the road and a waterfall diversion. That section was VERY steep.

The town of Arthurs Pass was freezing and it is the middle of summer! There is also a railway line that goes through AP and it's the main freight link between east and west. It has a 8.5km tunnel in it which took 37 years to build starting in 1886! Quite amazing really.

The drive into Christchurch saw the waether turn colder and wet which was fine given that it was our last days drive. We spent ages trying to find a place to empty the toilet and waste from the camper which we had to do before returning it. Finally we found one and returned it on time. Our motel for the night was next door which made that whole process easier and the motel was next door to the airport which made our transfer for our flight a piece of cake.

We spent that last night in our room relaxing, having our meal delivered to our room. We set the alarm for 4.30am to make out 6.50am flight and all went well today with the flight and we arrived back home at about 11am Melbourne time.

Thanks for reading and if you want some help preparing a trip to New Zealand, let us know! 

Day 20 NZ - 20/1/2011

On the Neve b/w glaciers

Whoa!!! That was sensational!!!! Our 30 minute helicopter ride which cost us plenty was worth every cent! There were 5 of us stuffed in a small cockpit. We were up the back to start with so could only see out the side but the view of the glacier was amazing. It is also massive! Fox is 13km long and Frans Joseph is 11km. We flew up FJ first and the actually landed on the neve between the 2 glaciers close to the top of the mountain area. Interestingly you lose all perspective of distance up there. There was a peak which looked like it was about 3-500 metres away and the pilot said it was more like 3 km. Sure enough when we took off later, he was right. It is easy to see how people get lost in the snow. He also spoke about what pilots call a ‘flat out’ where the perspective is even more distorted and they might try and land on a slope which just looks flat. At the landing site we were standing on solid ice about 150 metres thick. To be standing up there after that sensational ride was incredible. Have I used enough superlatives yet?

Top of Fox Glacier

Frans Joseph Glacier

We got to do the second half in the front albeit quite squashy. At one point I lost my stomach when we flew over a ridge which dropped away. I remember when we flew over the Bungle Bungles in WA how you don’t realize how fast you are travelling until you come in for a landing. Suddenly you gain some perspective of the land moving beneath you and you realize that you are travelling quite fast. A helicopter ride itself is an amazing experience but to do it over these glaciers and in amongst the mountains was unbelievable. DEFINITELY worth doing!! We had planned to do the 90 walk to the foot of the FJ Glacier but it seemed like it would be an anticlimax so we bailed.

As our flight was so early we got off to a very early start today so we spent time souvenir shopping. It was then time to say goodbye to the glacier area and head for Hokitika. There was more interesting scenery along the way and even more rainforest. NZ really is a beautiful place. We took a drive out to Hokitika Gorge which was rather nice but the colour of the water wasn’t as good as expected due to the heavy rainfall recently.

We are now at Jacksons Retreat in the ‘town’ of Jacksons which is up on a hill overlooking a braided river and surrounded by mountains. Although it’s a bit windy, it’s a nice spot for our last night in amongst the surrounds. Tomorrow we stay at a motel next to Christchurch airport.

I am pretty tired and whilst the distances aren’t significant compared to Oz, the type of driving coupled with the size of vehicle makes the driving more tiring. It’s  now 6pm and tomorrow we go through Arthurs Pass which should be nice and then clean up and return the van by 4pm.

PS – I thought I’d finished for the day but we just did a walk through the rainforest up the hill on an almost well marked track to a waterfall. It wasn’t big by comparison to what we’ve seen lately, but it was very beautiful. On the way back we visited the toilet block and it would have to be the best kept set of facilities that I have ever seen in a ‘caravan park’ and I have stayed in many. The kitchen/lounge (which they seem to have in most CP’s over here), was boarding on luxurious.

Day 19 NZ - 19/1/2011

It didn’t rain all night but we were glad to have the dry camper to sleep in. Our journey today was taking us to Frans Joseph Glacier and a couple of things of note on the way were as follows. 

-          The beach at Bruce Bay (near Haast) – the sign about the debris and then the debris!

-          The scenery – fantastic as usual. We were surprised about how far the rainforest areas spread. We had no idea that it was the predominant vegetation near the glaciers. We would have expected barren landscape

-          Looking at the glaciers – they are amazing things. I was actually quite disturbed seeing the Fox Glacier. Along the road they had signs showing the position of the glacier at different years. Since 1935 the glacier had retreated about 1km! I guess it is summer but the size of the ice chunks floating down the big and swiftly moving river was amazing. They do say that the glaciers are a good indicator of global warming and I found seeing it directly quite shocking.

We booked into a spot at Frans Joseph Glacier – the town – from Haast so we didn’t have to worry too much about our arrival time. It has given us peace of mind while travelling. We arrived at the FJ Glacier for a look and took a walk to a view point called Peters Pools. While looking at the FJG we watched a helicopter fly over up towards the glacier and Mandy said “now that would be good to do!” She still hadn’t decided on a birthday present so I said let’s do it. After a bit of deliberation we decided to do a 30 minute ride over both glaciers and with a snow landing where we get a view of Mount Cook.

We are camped in beautiful camping park which is quite classy but has been left quite natural in amongst the rainforest. We even managed to eat dinner outside. I have now have some dry socks to last me the rest of the trip thanks to $4 and a tumble dryer.   

Something that has been puzzling me is how the lakes get their colour over here. Well Google  to the rescue and “The amazing turquoise blue colour of Lake Tekapo is created by "rock flour": the glaciers in the headwaters grind the rock into fine dust.  These suspended particles in combination with the sunlight create Lake Tekapo's unique water colour.” So there you have it. 9.45 and it’s now time for bed. We have an 8am flight tomorrow!

Day 18 NZ - 18/1/2011

I’ve been having loads of weird and quite vivid dreams for a few nights now and last night was no exception. A text from Jess woke me at 6.38am (it had taken a while to come through) and then another dream that we’d slept in to 9.15 and I’d missed my jet boat ride woke me at 7.20. Thankfully it was just a dream! After packing up, we headed up to Arthur Point – a few k’s from Q – and waited until 9.30am. Mandy – the chief photographer – was on the shore as we set off – I had the front seat to myself (except for the driver thankfully). It was a fantastic experience and it’s amazing how maneuverable the boats are. It was like he aimed for the gorge walls and literally missed them by cm’s. Very exciting. Look closely in the photo's - I am the sunglassed dude in the front seat. They then tried to sell me $59 worth of photo’s and video’s of me and my various facial expressions. Tempting but we had all Mandy’s photo’s. Well worth the $119!

After refueling, food shopping and emptying everything we set off along the Alpine Scenic Drive to Wanaka. It was very steep and provided unbelievable views – again! I would love to drive it again but in the other direction so that’s something for next time.

View from the Gates of Haast Bridge

Alpine drive from Queenstown

We arrived at Wanaka at about 1.30pm – much earlier than we’d expected and it had started to rain with the forecast of heavy rain to come. Decisions to be made! We had lunch (more peanut butter) and looked around the shops for a little while then decided to keep moving into the Mount Aspiring NP where we planned to stop in a rest area somewhere for the night. The 2 sides to situations presented itself again. This time, the rain - not so good -  provided lots of water for the various waterfalls we passed - very good. We stopped at Fantail Falls, Gates of Haast, and Thunder Creek Falls, all of which were spectacular – the Gates of Haast most so.

It’s now 6.15pm and I am sitting in the van with Mandy beside me, keeping out of the rain and away from the sand flies, typing away and waiting for another yummy dinner. As we have got a bit further today we have more time tomorrow to check out the rest of this NP and then the glaciers.