Christchurch to Perth via a day trip to Sydney

So we managed to get out of Christchurch after our shaky night and our next stop was Sydney where we had the day to explore. Tim had never been to Sydney and as we were going via there thought it would be a great opportunity to spend the day there. Albeit we were exhausted after a sleepless night we did our best to keep busy. We checked our bags in for our return flight to Perth and just put a couple of small bags in a locker then caught the train into Circular Quay to see the Opera House and all the other sights. There was a massive cruise ship in the docks so that was an amazing sight and the Sydney Harbour bridge is amazing.  We spend a few hours around there then had a walk up Pitt street and had a look at the shops and then headed back to Circular quay.

Franz Josef to Christchurch

We left Franz Josef on Saturday morning and it had been raining all night but was only drizzling for most of our drive back to Christchurch via Arthur's Pass. Made it in good time and arrived at our accomodation about 1.30pm at Amore Motel. Unpacked and there was a huge Westfield shopping centre down the road so went and explored that. The next day we went into Christchurch to have a look around at all the damage from the 2011 earthquake which looked like it had just happened yesterday as there was still so much damage and buildings boarded up and the church in the middle occupied by pigeons and held up by big metal support beams. Very sad. We got on a tram which we thought would be interesting $25 each and that was a bit of a waste of money. So that night we went to the movies and saw The Accountant - awesome movie and then we thought we better go to bed about 10.30 as had to be up at 4.00am. There was some noisy neighbours which Tim was not happy with and then at 12.00pm we were awoken by the bed head shaking and the wardrobe doing a crazy dance and I thought either the neighbours were really having a good time or Tim had got so cranky with them that he was shaking our bed head but none of the above - we were in our own earthquake 7.2 on the richter scale!!!! We chucked some clothes on and rushed outside into the carpark as we were on the bottom floor of a 2 storey motel. Everyone was out in the carpark and the ground was still rolling. What a surreal feeling that is. So that went on for a few minutes and then seemed to stop but we had several after shocks so it was back out to the carpark so not a lot of sleep was achieved. We were worried that maybe the planes would not fly but we headed out to the airport anyway and luckily flights were still happening.

Franz Josef Glacier hike

Today was our first rainy day but it didn't damper our hike up to see Franz Josef Glacier which took 1 and half hours to do. Great track and so beautiful and tropical Forrest and the Glacier is impressive but nothing will compare with flying up to the Fox Glacier and trekking around on it - amazing!!

Fox Glacier

Well today was the big day for our tour of the Fox Glacier (cost us $850 so had big expectations) so we headed off from our lovely accomodation Franz Josef Oasis and headed back to Fox Glacier which has the windiest roads up and through the mountains. On our way there they were cleaning up an accident and a car had crashed and gone down the hill so they were pulling that out and held us up for about 10 mins but we had left it with plenty of time. We got booked in then up on to the helicopter for about 5 minute journey onto the glacier. Wow,wow,wow amazing !!! We then went on a tour of the glacier with a guide and saw all the different things of the glacier and the waterfalls.

Queenstown to Franz Josef

Our last day in Queenstown we went for a huge walk and the drove around where e Hilton was as that was where we were going to stay but it was really far from the town. We had dinner "again" at Pub on Wharf so yummy and the the next day Wednesday 9th we had brekki at the Mecure then headed off for for our journey to Franz Josef. Another amazing drive through Wanaka, Haast and past Fox Glacier town and on the way we want to look at the Blue Pools - which unfortunately weren't blue but still good. Got to our accomodation Franz Josef Oasis and it is very nice about 5 min drive out of the town.

Shotover jet with KJet Queenstown

Today woke up to the beautiful sunshine so decided to go for a big walk after breakfast around the Queenstown Gardens and up the river and then back through the town. Then we went on our Shotover ride which was awesome. Such a thrill in such a picturesque place. Went to cafe 19 for lunch and that as a little disappointing so off to our fav Pub on Wharf for dinner enjoying the fact that it doesn't get dark til 9.30pm - love it!!!