Lord of the Rings Edoras tour

Today we went to Edoras in Middle Earth, which is a couple of hours outside of Christchurch in NZ. The first picture you can see is from the actual movie Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
After a few hours of driving in a not a 2, not a 4 but a 6 wheel drive Toyota Land Cruiser we ended up at this beautiful location.
We took some movie like poses, the first pose is of me as Gollum holding one of Farrah's rings ("My Precious"). The next picture is of us holding the Edoras flag after climbing the mountain/rock. If you saw the first pic this is where the Golden Hall was placed. The next pic is of a random cow standing in front of the beautiful scenary... what the? Ok... The next picture is a real life representation of Farrah and mine's first real fight...

It was such a nice location we learnt a couple of facts about the Edoras location; it took them 8 months to build the set, they filmed for less than 3 weeks then it took them 3 months to pull it all down and restore the site back to normal. Now when they restored the site back to normal that included putting in the tufts of grass back in the exact spots they had moved them from, this involved recording the exact location of each plant and storing it in a nursury at the bottom of the mountain. It really blew us away at the amount of effort taken to make this movie as well as the cost... lol. Anyway we hope you enjoy all the photos as much as we enjoyed taking them.


Wayne and Farrah

Exploring Christchurch

We're gonna make this blog short because we didn't really do much today. We returned our beloved rented car which we became attached to, it's so weird not to have it. We then explored Christchurch and did a lot of walking around, we saw 2 cathedrals both lovely. There's a main shopping strip on high st but it's pretty small and Farrah didn't really buy anything but Wayne found skate shoes that fit his gigantic feet and he was so excited.
We found a few lanes, very similar to Melbourne there's a few hidden restaurants and bars and interesting deco with grafitti. We thought it would be cool to have dinner there but we got lazy at night and it was raining so we ended up having pizza hut delivered to our hotel room...classsy!

Tomorrow it's Lord of the Rings tour! bring it on.

Much love,
Wayne and Farrah

Christchurch

So we're in Christchurch and we're not very impressed. It's maybe too early to judge but it looks quite boring!
We've got a couple of days of exploring the city centre but there's not much! the pictures in the brochures lie!!!
But luckily we do have some tours booked for the rest of our stay here, we've still got Lord of The rings tour and swimming with the dolphins.
But for now we're going to walk around and do some shopping in Christchurch.

We're staying at the Rydges hotel and it is the worst place we've stayed at so far. It's quite noisy and we can hear the people next door which is pretty unfortunate. Our view from our window is basically a roof with bird poo all over it...so in terms of spoiling honeymooners they definitely failed in that aspect. Peppers bluewater in Lake Tekapo was the best stay,they upgraded our room which was AMAZING. Novotel in Queenstown gave us a nice room as well with a little congratulations card and a free bottle of wine IF we go to their restaurant haha good try.

We can't really complain though, we didn't really book any extremely luxurious places because we wanted our money to go towards activities, as you can tell we've done quite a lot so far so we're pretty pleased.

Travelling together as husband and wife has been A LOT of fun, we really enjoy eachothers company. Even something as simple as enjoying the driving across the Sth Island and singing along to songs that we both know and love and laughing at stupid jokes that only us can understand...these memories we'll never forget.


xoxo
Wayne and Farrah

Hanmer Springs day 2 - Quad bikes and water rafting

We woke up to a sunny day in Hanmer Springs ready for some adventures. At 10am we headed down the river to do water rafting and to our surprise it was just us 2 and the guide on the boat which was pretty fun.
The actual river was pretty mellow but we did have a few fun tides. Whilst still rafting we stopped near a huge rock formation and were given the opportunity to jump off the rock into the river. Wayne was brave enough to do it from 3 metres high but I could only do it from about a metre! haha I chickened out in the end because I'm not such a confident swimmer especially because we had to swim back to base against the direction the tide was going.

Our guide was heaps of fun and we got to chat a bit during the slow tides and I got to jump off the boat and swim a bit in the water. It's really weird swimming in a moving river, you don't have to do anything but float on your back and let the water move you.
So after about an hour of rafting we got driven back to the base by a jet boat and we rested and had lunch and got ready for the quad bike.

The quad bike was a lot of fun, a very muddy and wet experience. I think Wayne enjoyed it quite a bit, he was showing off driving around heaps fast into corners. I was pretty good as well, I felt so confident at one stage that I nearly fell off my bike but I made it. We drove through rivers, lots of muddy puddles and gigantic rocks, and of course it was all backed up with the lovely scenery of Hanmer Springs.

So from 10am till 3pm we have been flat out! Tomorrow we're driving down to Christchurch and staying there for a few nights.

The internet here has been quite shocking and slowwww to the max and this is why we haven't been able to upload that many photos because it just takes forever and we'd have to try at least 3 times before one photo is uploaded.

We'll try and find better internet providers :P

Hope Melbourne is going well without us!


Lots of love,
Wayne and Farrah

Hanmer Springs - Wai Ariki nature park & thermal pools!

The Sheep that snotted on Farrah

Today we left from Lake Tekapo to Hanmer Springs it was a good drive by that I mean I (Wayne) enjoyed driving all the bends and turns, NZ roads are so different from Australian roads they tend to only be one lane even on the major highways. Anyway we made Hanmer springs in great time and hit up the info centre where I (Wayne) came across something so exciting, a llama petting zoo. This was even more exciting than rafting and quad biking activities that we had just previously booked.

After we had checked into the motel we decided to go to the petting zoo and then to the thermal pools later being eclipsed by the excitement of the petting zoo, LLAMAS! Anywho, admission to the petting zoo was $10 probably the best value for any of the activities we have done on this trip also you could pay another $2 and get food to feed the animals, but we weren't allowed to feed the Donkey or Harley the pig because the food upsets their tummies. I have to mention at this point Farrah was also pretty excited but I think she would agree with me that I was the most excited... obssesed... LLAMA!

First animal we petted was these two lovely Clydesdale Horses that I have named Sally and Brittany because they were both female I think... Then we saw Bambi's mum who actually didn't die but was rescued by the owners of the farm how about that! Then we met the sheep they were quite funny characters the biggest sheep (photo above) was either really excitible or had a cold because he sneezed on Farrah and she had sheep snot on her jumper and in her hair. It was soo funny thankfully so did she despite being grossed out LOL.

Then it was time to see the Llamas! man this was probably the most exciting thing I was even allowed to go in the Llama pen and hug the Llamas. There were quite a few 6-7 I think they were mostly after the animal food I had and when ever I tried to pat them they would freak out and run away from me but that was cool, there was one Llama who let me hug him, I think I will name him Gary, Gary is a good name for a Llama. One of the Llamas was very different though, she was very proud and didn't like the animal food, she refused to eat it, I even tried to feed her the very hay she was eating before but she refused to eat it, probably because she could tell I was Aussie and she didn't like Aussie or some thing like that.
The Llama psychie is a complicated thing... I also got to pat Alpachas which kinda look like Llama but are a bit more hairy they were really scared of me unless I had food in my hands. After feeding and petting the Llamas and the Alpacha and then the Llamas again, the Donkey (who I'll name Don) started to speak up in jealous tantrum, I'm sure this is somewhere along the lines of what was going through Don's mind;
"Why don't they want to pat me, what's wrong with me? Just cause I'm not as exotic as those Llamas or the Yak, I'm still loveable?"
So to cut a long story short I went and made friends with the donkey I brought him some of the Llama's hay because he was not allowed to eat the regular animal food, I thought this might cheer him up because he was getting to eat the Llama's food, the phychie of the Donkey was far more complex than that of even Llama...

After that we went to the hot springs where relaxed and reminisced about the animals for a while, ate some over priced New Zeland pizza and called it a night, I'm hoping to have sweet dreams about riding Llamas to work when I start working in my new job and I wonder if they have Llama parking?
Here is a good song.

Lake Tekapo

Thursday morning we picked up our rented car from Hertz, just wanted to say how much fun it has been driving in New Zealand. It's seriously the best drive ever, you can never get bored!
The drive to Christchurch from Queenstown takes about 7 hours and we didn't wanna drive that much on the one day so we decided to have a stopover overnight at Lake Tekapo. It took us about 3 hours to drive there and We stayed at the Peppers bluewater resort and they upgraded our room, it was amazing. Huge apartment, double storey with 2 balconys looking out to the lake.
Lake Tekapo used to be a stopover to Mt Cook, but now it's a popular destinations for lots of international and domestic visitors. The colour of the water is like a turquoise blue which is very unique and is formed by 'rock flour'. The glaciers in the headwaters of Tekapo grind the rocks into fine dust on their way down to the lake. This 'rock flour' is then suspended into the lake and when the sunlight hits the water it creates this beautiful colour.

Also unique to the area of Lake Tekapo is the church of the good shepherd, which is set in the most beautiful location on a hilltop looking out to the lake. We took plenty of photos of this church, just couldn't get enough of it!

Lake tekapo is also known for its clear and darkest sky and it's spectacular to see the stars at night. There is an observatory which is run by Canterbury University and they run Star Gazing tours at night. We had booked one for that night however it was cancelled due to high wind so we were pretty disappointed.

We had dinner at Chinese Restaurant Jade Palace, it was really good value! We had buffet for 2 and got a bit of everything...definitely recommended considering the place next door which was Pepe's Pizza were selling their pizza's for 30 bucks each!!!! and they only had 6 flavours to choose from....hmmmmmm.

So far this Honeymoon is the best!!!!!

Wayne and Farrah
xx

Milford Sound overnight cruise

We just came back from an exhausting overnight cruise at the beautiful Milford Sound with Real Journeys. Our guide

who was also our bus driver, Gavin was very informative and friendly. Our trip was all up about 5 hours, the bus was

semi comfi for regular size people, being tall for poor Waynie doesn't help. The bus had huge windows on the roof

which allowed us to see the amazing scenery on the way, We jumped on the bus at around 8:30am Wednesday heading

towards our first stop at Kingston, situated at the bottom of lake wakatipu where there is an old steam train and

station worth around 1.2 million if anyone is interested in buying it :P Wayne's dream of course.
Next up we had a very small short break at five rivers, cute little cafe with a gorgrous backyard.

We had a few stops and you realise you're in NZ when you get stopped by a flock of 2000 sheep on the road!!! one stop worth mentioning is mirror lakes, I guess it's quite self explanatory. The lake is like a

mirror, in the back of the lake there is a sign that says 'Mirror Lakes' but it's written backwards and upside down

and can be read properly in the reflection of the water, pretty neat. We then stopped for lunch at Te Anau. They had

an awesome little pie shop, best pies ever! Steak and cheese and pasties mmmmmmm At that stage we were feeling

pretty tired but quite excited to get on the boat.

At around 4:30pm we boarded the Milford Mariner (our boat) and got in our cabins. The cabin and the beds were

actually quite comfy and it was good to have our own space. The crew and the skipper (driver of the boat) called us

up for a first meeting and they went through the saftey rules and we were off to Milford Sound. Out of excitment

everyone was taking photos and getting used to being on the ship. We saw some dolphins and seals and quite sure Farrah squealed a gazillion times, then we spent a while outside loving the fresh air.

When we got to Harrison Cove in Milford Sound, the skipper turned off the engine and that's where we stayed for the

night. We were given the opportunity to participate in outdoor activities and Wayne and I decided to do kayaking. It

was such a good experience to be able to kayak in the most beautiful surroundings, we wanted to stay there forever.


After about an hour and a half of exploring in the kayak we were called up to freshen up and be ready for dinner. We

got to sit with a Scottish Mum and her son travelling together and it was nice to be able to meet new people. The

crew were so lovely and the food was fabulous, they cooked us a huge buffet with lots of salads, roast and pasta

etc.

The night was finished with a presentation from the nature guide and he took us through some of his experiences and

travels around Milford Sound with great photos to accompany his stories.

The next day we had to be up at 7am for breakfast, also great buffet. The boat went by so many waterfalls, at one

point we came across a huge waterfall and the skipper decided to drive the boat right through the waterfall and the

poor people sitting outside at the front of the boat got extremely wet but surely they loved it. Shortly after that

we were off the boat around 9:30am and already on our way back to Queenstown.

We just got back and it's 3:30pm and no idea where we are going to get the energy to drive to Lake Tekapo tomorrow.
From now we are on our own, driving through South Island. We won't have much internet access, it all depends on

where we are staying and whether they have internet. But we'll try our best to keep you updated.


We've got some professional pics of us kayaking at the Milford Sound but you won't get to see that for another week

but for now here are a few snap shots of our cruise.

Lots of love,

Wayne and Farrah

Shotover

Day 3 of Queenstisle (Queenstown), Well yesterday was awesome the activity we emarked on was the Shotover Jet, on the Shotover River/Canyon. Now this wasn't your ordinary boat ride the Jet boat is powered by 2 V6 engines collectivly putting out about 500 horse power moving the boat along the river at about 80kph narrowly missing the rock face and debris in the river.

A random fact we were given about the boat by our friendly driver Matt was that as the boat is moving, it pushes through the engines and out the back of the boat roughly 800liters of water per second which is enough to fill an olympic sized swiming pool in under 1 minute, a totally useless fact but one I will remember for the rest of my life probably more so than some of the stuff I learnt at uni.

Now if you're still not impressed by all this the crazy drivers like to do 360 degree turns in the middle of the river which is intense! Farrah and I were of course right up the front and copped all the water spray from all the "wicked-awesome" driving. The thrill of the Shotover Jet out does any theme park ride in my opinion! However Farrah thinks differently otherwise.

Today we're doing an overnight cruise at the Milford sound, we won't have internet access till tomorrow night. See you then

Wayne & Farrah

ETA: Just heard Farrah's Grandma has passed away. Not the best thing to hear while you're honeymooning. RIP Grandma, going to miss you.