Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Further Adventures in New Zealand

We have spent 4 weeks in New Zealand and we have done a lot of cool things. My favourite was the luge track in Rotorua. Another thing we did was walk the costal tail in Able Tasman National Park; we walked about 35km over three days. Each day we took a sea shuttle to the beginning of our walk and to get back to where we were staying.

"Split Apple Rock" in Abel Tasman park:



On a suspension bridge in Abel Tasman park:


Getting on one of the sea shuttles in Abel Tasman.



The Luge track in Queenstown was a lot of fun! Luge is basically driving a little 3-wheeled plastic sled down a paved track. The sled gains speed by going down the hill like a bike; it has no engine, only a brake and handlebars. The tracks are at the top of a hill. You have to take a gondola up to the top of the hill, then a chairlift to the top of the luge track. There are usually 2-3 tracks to choose from, and they are typically 0.8 km-2km long.  



 In Dunedin we went on a tour through the Cadbury factory and saw, smelled and tasted all kinds of chocolate.



We took a 3 hour cruise through Doubtful Sound in Fiordland.  I was the only passenger who got to sit in the captain's seat!



Bubbling mud pools in Rotorua; these pools are created by thermal activity under a very thin layer of Earth's crust. They had a really nasty sulphur smell (like rotten eggs).



The old Rotorua Bath-House where you could bathe in water heated by the thermal activity. However this Bath-House was closed around 50 years ago: 



The Luge track in Rotorua; this one was way better than Queenstown, because the tracks were longer and more challenging.



   The kiwi is a flightless, endangered bird in New Zealand. It is also the national bird of New Zealand, but they are incredibly rare. We visited a conservation and saw baby kiwis being hand fed. (This one is stuffed.) 



Next time I'll tell you about Australia!
Jonathan
=P




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