Soggy down under

The weather was kind to us as we continued down the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand, allowing us to take a few tramping forays through lush jungle and along rugged coast.

Our next major stop was the Franz Josef Glacier, which gradually creeps down from the peaks of the Southern Alps, loaded with rocky debris. Here a rain shower rolled in, which barely abated until we left NZ. The powers that be had closed the path to the face of the glacier for some flim-flam safety reasons, so the position from which this photo was taken was the closest we could get. Had we stood on that spot 100 years ago, we would be buried under glacier ice. On the other hand, 40 years ago we would have seen no ice from this point at all, as the glacier had retreated up the canyon and out of sight (pity the scientists who study climate change).

To get a closer look at a glacier, we headed 20km up the road to Fox Glacier. Here, the powers that be had only advised against approaching the glacier, without prohibiting it.

So we clamboured down the valley wall to get our close-up with the ice (the ice is that grubby wall of stuff behind Andy). Incredibly, as we watched for about 30 minutes, we could actually see the grubby mass of ice at the front of the glacier creep down the valley. Occasionally large chunks of rock would slide from the top and crash to the ground ahead of the glacier (needless to say, we didn't stand too close!).

The rain was constant for the next few days. We took a hike to a remote beach to try to spot some penguins, but it seemed they didn't like the rain either and were hiding out. All we saw was this moron impersonating a penguin.

A day and a half after arriving in the town of Wanaka, the rain lifted, and we were finally able to appreciate the tranquil lakeside scenery (as well as the giant hand).

When the sun did finally come out we were able to go on a day's canyoning trip, which we had been postponed from the previous day due to the deluge. We were driven out into the mountains, where we climbed up a steep hillside with our guide and another couple of tourists, before jumping into a canyon.

The first step was to learn how to abseil on a practice slope, before going over the edge to abseil for real down the side of a waterfall.

And then another waterfall...

And so on...

And the waterfalls we didn't abseil, we slid down.

And the waterfalls we didn't slide down, we jumped!

Some of us may have got a little over-excited!

After the thrills and spills of canyoning, we chilled out for a while around Lake Tekapo, whose extraordinary turquoise colour is attributable to sediment washing down from the glaciers. The lupins were also putting on an impressive display for us (beautiful despite being an introduced and invasive species).

When the rain started again, we found amusement in the small town of Geraldine. In the back of his wife's knitwear shop, we met a fascinating amateur mathematician who had set up a cottage industry in puzzle-making. His other crowning achievement was that he had made a half-scale copy of the Bayeux tapestry in mosaic out of pieces of the wife's knitting machines!

Being insatiable geeks, we spent a good couple of hours trying out his geometric and numeric puzzles, with Andy setting a new record for completing one of them in the quickest time ever.

Our time in New Zealand ended with a day in Christchurch. After a pleasant stroll around the botanical gardens and compact city centre, we handed the rental car back and caught our flight to Melbourne.

Christmas and New Year in Melbourne will be coming up next. Happy 2009 my darlings!