Wet, wicked and hilarious

Wednesday
White water rafting (grade 5 style) down the Rangitata River with a dreadlocked guide called 'chunky', and with 4 US air force pilots, wasn't really the best way to get rid of a cold but I had to take up this opportunity whilst I was in Christchurch. The Rangitata rapids are apparently the best in NZ.

There were 26 people rafting that day and whilst all the guides were sarcastic and joking the whole time there was a lot of education going on aswell. Kitted up and looking like a seal trapped in a red nylon sheet we were driven to the wilderness and home of Lord of the Rings (2nd film, castle on the side of a mountain) to start the rafting experience on an ice blue glacier fed river.


Chunky until this point had been quiet, but that changed once in the raft. Chunky, the rapids and the willingness of the US air force to stretch boundaries led to no boundaries at all. 'Kiss my cuunt' was our mantra after each rapid (ie. kiss my arse in dutch - the 6th person was a dutch girl) and a mixture of that, spinning the boat going down grade 3 rapids, capsizing, and surfing back up the river into a grade 5 rapid (and then being trapped there 'surfing' by the rapid) was amazing and so much fun.

I'm looking forward now to the Black Abyss in the northern island. White water rafting in a rubber tube in a black cave system with waterfalls!

In there was a talk from Hike NZ which I would like to use for 10 day hikes in a future trip as the images were amazing and they literally do take you off the beaten track. Do you know that there are 3,000 glaciers in NZ and 900 mountain huts?


Thursday
After a dodgy start with the internet and the lack of sleep from 37 sand fly bites (26 on one arm alone), I eventually made my way to the coast to Littleton, a sleepy village/town by the sea and sloping down a hill side and then up a gondala to the summit with amazing views over: 1) the Canterbury plains, and the Pacific Coast and 2) Littleton, which is in fact an extinct volcano crater which has eroded and caused the inlet that is the Littleton harbour.




I finished off today with a trip to the International Antartic Center. This is actually the main base for all explorations off to Antartic and holds a permanent base for UK, Italian, US etc military and scientists. There is also a cool visitor center with simulations of the vehicles used actually in Antartica and of a storm out there together with daily images sent over from the camps and interesting facts, eg. Antartica, South America, Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand were all part of the same continent millions of years ago before it broke up. Before that time it was a hot land inhabited by trees and dinasaurs. Now Antartica has no life or vegetation on it, except for scientists and has a temperature of -5 in summer to -80 actually at the South Pole. I'll stop boring you now.

Tie me kangaroo down boy.....

Arrived at the god unearthly hour of 5.25 but had managed to get used to the time difference by staying awake for 12 hours and then having a kip towards the end. My friend/colleague Fiona was mad enough to collect me from the airport together with a young energetic mad redhead son in tow (he apparently loves early morning starts!). Later on we went for a tour of Mornington Peninsula checking out both the swimming and surfing beaches, a spa for Fiona to relax in, and a sand sculpting competition. The last one is bizarre but amazing. Imagine the detail you get with normal sculptures of animals etc and that is what they are making out of hard sand (sand mixed with water and then compacted).


The next day we drove to the Danadong ranges (eucalyptus forests then gum forests then 'bush' ie rainforests. The 'bush' was full with the sounds of cuckaburraghs(?), laughing away as we ventured into the bush. Unfortunately I didn't get to see one of them, nor the wallabys or koala which the road signs warned us to look out for. The midges did however find me, as always!


I had the last day to myself in Melbourne, checking out their preparations for the Commonwealth Games in March. Including a bizarre arrangement of what initially looks like river cleaners with fish stuck to their sides which is in fact the start of a walkway running the whole way along the river for the opening ceremony runners to run along. Melbourne is a relaxed, green, cosmopolitan, luxurious and sporty city. There's a real mix of modern, eclectic modern, traditional english, even with the Fitzroy Gardens being a mix of english and tropical planting. The view from the Rialta Tower was spectacular taking in the harbour, coastline, F1 circuit, all the sporting facilities, Melbourne below and the various distant hills.

I finished the day with a delicious and filling greek meal with Fiona and her lovely family. Thanks Fiona for everything and for taking the time to show Melbourne to me.

Today we left early in the morning to go to the airport and were treated to the sight of the sun rising behind the Melbourne skyline together with 4 or 5 hot air baloons skirting the tops of the towers.

From only wanting to spend 3 days or less in Australia, I now know I want to go back. However its on with the trip and I've now arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand with the plane flying over Mount Cook, the mountains and the Canterbury plains - can't wait to get into the mountains.


Sunset from Fiona's balcony: