A foxy time

The adventures continued on Sunday when we hiked the Fox Glacier further down the west coast...

Huge thank you's here to Giles, who bought us a ticket for our wedding present... and due to Abel Tasman's weather not allowing our canoeing adventures, we thought this an appropriate substitute... (and hope you don't mind!) so thank you also to Lyn & Spencer, Georgina and Jacquie!

Our Argentinian guide was fab, and our group of hiking buddies provided endless entertainment (seriously, who puts the cramp ons on with the spikes facing into your instep?!) along the way! Ciaran and I tried to come here last time, but due to bad weather the trips were cancelled, so I was thrilled to be back and especially when we woke up to blue skies! Wahoo!

The hike up to the Glacier was about 40 mins, then we very smugly walked past people at the 'STOP here, guided tours only beyond this point' sign, and hiked another 10 mins or so to the entrance to the Glacier... 

The end of the Glacier... Spot the ice climber...

The entrance, for us, to the Glacier... Fab!

And then we were off...!

...sooooooo blue!

Hurray! Good times had by all :)

Next adventure to follow soon! x x x

The Jackman Adventures...

As the title suggests, and as you know, we have been on a few adventures already on our jaunt around the world... well, we've taken exploring to new heights... we found out that Punakaiki had caverns you could explore, by yourself, in the dark... with stalagmites, tights, and well... other cave type stuff... so that's an open invitation surely (especially if you happen to be travelling with an excitable certain person, any guesses?!).

Day 1: Cave 1

The seed is planted

Day 2: Cave 2

Determination is everything

What's that you ask? Oh, just a freezing cold river in Winter that we have to cross TWICE (that's 4 times in total) to get to the cave!!!!!!!!!!! And yes, my jeans are wet. This must be love.

Brrrrrrrrrrr.

Okay, okay... it was worth freezing my footsies!

And here's all the other cool stuff we saw on all the tramps too...

And of course the famous Punakaiki Pancake Rocks!

x x x

6 years and still perfect...

Seeking the sunshine we headed west to Punakaiki... 6 years ago on my intrepid adventure around the globe with Ciaran, aka TB (travel buddy), we discovered the most idyllic backpackers hidden in the rainforest here... a 5 minute walk through the bush to a beach with the most stunning sunsets, and cute little wooden cabins to sleep in amongst the trees and Tui's... paradise! How fitting that for our wedding present my old travel buddy had bought us 2 nights here?! Huge thank you TB! I was so excited to be back and sharing such a special place with my new husband!

The roar of the waves breaking and crashing into the shore here are just amazing... no photos can do this place justice, you all have to come and see it for yourselves! x x x

A fungi to be with...

Since arriving in South Island it's been all about the tramping! We headed west from the ferry to stay with Priscilla (sister of Elizabeth, see previous Generation Game blog!) in Motueka... the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park... and we persuaded Priscilla to join us for a wee hike along the coastline...

Obviously, the hike began sitting in a boat, on land, being towed by a tractor into the sea... as you do... poop poop!

Dropped off at Anchorage Bay further up the coast, we began our tramp back... that is, after a few distractions by pretty shells and starfish of course... ahem, who me?!

Now, I know fungus isn't something generally to get excited about, but, check out these bad boys I found along the way...

Yes, blue! It's blue!

Oooooo, cool eh?! And then I became slightly obsessed...

...until I met this face...

...which clearly meant "stop taking photos of mushrooms and get a move on" ( but I do have more pics if anyone is interested... hehe! )

We loved Abel Tasman, and it's beautiful coastline. Big thank you to Priscilla for having us to stay! Sadly the weather came in and hindered our efforts to get out and about in canoes which we so wanted to do, but we decided to cut and run to the west coast chasing the sunshine for more adventures!

x x x

p.s. here's another cheeky 'shroom pic ;)