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chrischarly


700 Blog Entries
6 Trips
5148 Photos
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Trips: Chris and Charly Down Under Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia Chris and Charly's Pacific Island Pit-Stop Chris and Charly's mini trip to The States Chris and Charly's African Adventure Chris and Charly's Indian Odyssey Shorthand link: http://blogabond.com/chrischarly

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Ice hockey

Dunedin, New Zealand

Too expensive, what a rip-off!

Such rubbish weather again today. Definitely does not feel like Summer at all. We left Kaka Point this morning and went to Dunedin. We found out that Aston was playing his final game of Ice Hockey in an international tournament, so we decided we would go see him, neither of us having seen Ice Hockey before. Before that we drove out from Dunedin to the Otago Penninsula to see the Albatross, however the weather was so bad we couldn’t justify the $40 pp charge, so drove back and found a campsite near to the Ice Hockey venue.

Before the game

New Zealand team

Ice hockey game

The end of the game

We made it to the Ice Hockey and met up with Tony, Astons father, and continued to ask lots of questions about the game, before watching NZ U21’s, with Aston in goal, beat Turkey 16-1. It was great fun and good to see Aston play. It was late when it finished so we grabbed a pizza and headed back to camp.

written by

chrischarly on January 22, 2012 from Dunedin, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under

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Sealions, Seals and Penguins

Nugget Point, New Zealand

2 Female sealions

Woke up at our nice campsite, packed up and headed off. We met our new friends at the next town, Owaka, and had a coffee before driving to Surat Bay in search of sea lions.

We headed off along a track before reaching the beach, a short way along the beach the tide was very high and we took to high ground on the edge of the sand dunes. Well Chris, Phillipp and Silja did, I managed a small mound of sand and a big wave came in and soaked me to knee level. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t wearing trainers! I squelched on until we found our first sea lion, which was hard to spot as half buried in sand.

We walked further, for about 2 ½ hours, and we managed to see 6 in total including 1 massive male swimming in the sea.

Just cannot believe just how huge they are.

After returning to the car we took a drive to Kaka Point and our next campsite, checked in, had some lunch then went for a drive to Nugget Point to see the lighthouse and amazing views and then more yellow eyed Penguins.

View from the lighthouse

Along the walk we saw Fur seals and Elephant seals and more sea lions and at the Penguin hide we saw 6 Penguins.

Yellow-eyed Penguins

Yellow-eyed Penguins

Yellow-eyed Penguin

All in all a very good wildlife day! We then headed to the pub for a few beers and to watch Chris beat all the locals at pool………..

written by

chrischarly on January 21, 2012 from Nugget Point, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under

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McLean falls

Curio Bay, New Zealand

We left windy Curio Bay and headed further along the Catlins coast. We made a nice stop and walk at Mcleans falls and then to Niagara Falls before finally finding a really nice campsite for $6.

After a few hours of laundry, we hung our nice clean clothes up just in time for the rain to give them an extra rinse. It wasn’t too bad so we took a track down to the beach, more of a River inlet, and had a long walk in the very strong wind and occasional rain. We were hoping for some seal or sea lion spotting, but all we managed to do was get attacked by two very protective Oyster catcher birds.

We soon realised they had chicks and we were way too close, hence a scene from a Hitchcock classic. We escaped without injury, but just a little scared of these 10 inch tall man eaters. We went back, had a yummy dinner, and got chatting to a nice couple from Switzerland, Phillipp and Silja, before retiring to the warmth of our cosy car.

written by

chrischarly on January 20, 2012 from Curio Bay, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under

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Yellow-eyed penguins

Bluff, New Zealand

The sign in Bluff

Woke up early and headed from our unknown driveway down to the sea for breakfast. After brekkie we headed towards Invercargill which was a medium city, so we passed through after refuelling.

We did head down to Bluff, famous for its Oysters, but unfortunately they are not in season, Chris was most disappointed. At Bluff we did visit a cool AA marker showing distances to various places around the world, showing us we were over 18,000km from London.

What the wind did to trees

After leaving Bluff, we continued east along the coast towards Curio Bay, unfortunately the closer we got the worst the weather was; hence we skipped a 40 min walk to Slope Point, the most southerly point on the South Island.

When we arrived at Curio it was blowing a gale and raining on and off. We checked into a cheap campsite and found the most sheltered spot we could.

Yellow-eyed penguin

Then we headed down to the Petrified Forest which is basically a load of rocks with trees that were turned to stone by volcanic ash millions of years ago.

Penguin trying to get out of river

This was also the spot the Yellow eyed penguins exit the water to feed their chicks, we waited for ages in the cold, windy weather but it was well worth it as we saw 6, some performing hilarious exits from the water and up the rocks.

Yellow-eyed Penguin

After this we retreated to the car, made pasta in the extremely small and busy camp kitchen and hit the hay!

written by

chrischarly on January 19, 2012 from Bluff, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under

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Crazy night with a crazy local

Colac Bay, New Zealand

Chris collecting mussels

Chris and Ricky

Got up and ate trout and eggs for breakfast, left our friends and headed south for the coast. Found a nice spot by the sea at Colac Bay, and Chris went to collect mussels for dinner, then we went to the pub, got drinking with locals and it all went to shit. Ended up sleeping in someone’s driveway. Got drunk, free night, crazy local. Oh yeah and the mussels were a disaster!

written by

chrischarly on January 18, 2012 from Colac Bay, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under

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Enjoying Lake Monowai

Lake Monowai, New Zealand

Chris gong for a refreshing dip

Ron and our brekkie

Chris got up and went fishing at 06.30am and his luck had obviously run out as he came back without anything but a sad face. So cereal it was for brekkie before going for a nice long walk broken up with a little more unsuccessful fishing. Went then made our way back to camp and made a big fire again and Chris cooked a Butter Chicken curry to share with Ron and Mellissa. Then, feeling optimistic Chris and Ron went fishing and luckily Ron was successful twice, so we have nice trout to look forward to tomorrow morning.

written by

chrischarly on January 17, 2012 from Lake Monowai, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under

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Return to Milford

Milford Sound, New Zealand

Finally a sunny day to take some photos!

Reluctantly left the safety and warmth of Hollyford and went to visit an old swing bridge over-looking a pretty River before going back to Milford due to the sun finally deciding to make an appearance!

Waterfalls coming off the mountains

A kea doing what it's famous for- destroying cars

Waterfalls coming off the mountains

So we had the chance to see Milford with clear skies and snow on the tops of the mountains.

To see it properly we would’ve had to go back out on a cruise but that would’ve been a bit pointless so we took a nice walk along the Shoreline and took a million photos on the way back heading south to Monowai lake and camped up next to nice couple, Ron, and Mel and their 1 yr old Max.

Snowy mountains

The road by our camp to see glow-worms

Snowy mountains

Nice view of snowy mountains

Snow and lots of it

Chris went fishing, yes fishing, not “ing”, and came back with a nice big trout for dinner, cooked it up with potatoes and salad, EXTRA yummy. Stayed up drinking and chatting to Ron and Mellissa until midnight.

Chris and his 1st NZ trout

Chris soooo happy!

Finally some fish!

written by

chrischarly on January 16, 2012 from Milford Sound, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under

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A day of snuggling up next to a fire

Hollyford, New Zealand

Manager has a sense of humour

Way too cold for me to face the outdoors today. It was even snowing on the mountains outside our camp thus a plan for me to join Chris on another “ing” expedition failed and after just 5 minutes outside I swiftly turned back around and huddled up next to the fire for the day whilst Chris tried (and failed) once again with catching fish for dinner.

Manager has a sense of humour

I was easily kept entertained though as a 3yr old boy happily destroyed a 1000 piece puzzle almost completed by a Belguim lady whilst she popped out for a few minutes. Completely gobsmacked the boy’s family and myself spent over 5 hours reconstructing it for the devastated lady.

Manager has a sense of humour

In the evening at around 10pm when it finally became dark Chris and I went for a lovely walk up the tiny country road to have a look at some glow Worms hidden in the bushes under a small Cliff face. No photos possible unfortunately so a memory remembered in our heads. They are so pretty though; look just like loads of stars.

Snowy mountains

written by

chrischarly on January 15, 2012 from Hollyford, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under

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Milford Sound, seals and flippin' dolphins!

Milford Sound, New Zealand

Nice view...not

This morning despite the weather took the amazing scenic drive to Milford Sound. It is just a shame that after such fantastic weather over Christmas; the day we decide to go here it pours down. But determined we would enjoy it whatever the weather we went anyway armed with our new raincoats.

About to go on the Milford Sound cruise

The write-ups about the journey there itself weren’t exaggerated. It was simply gorgeous and a positive note regarding the rain there were many waterfalls to be seen along the way.

Once at Milford we booked tickets to go on the cruise and chose to splash out a bit and go for a 3-hour cruise for $115pp including a BBQ lunch and a trip to the underwater Observatory as this seemed like the best deal so we could get the most out of our day.

The Underwater Observatory

Underwater Observatory

Unfortunately the day didn’t brighten up at all so we never got the ‘post-card photos’ we dreamed of but still a memorable experience. The highlights definitely involving spotting seals lazing on the rocks, but even more impressive, dusky dolphins swimming alongside our boat and flipping out the water!

Jumping dusky dolphins!

Dusky dolphins! Awesome!

Dolphins by our boat

Seals on the rocks

So not all was lost and luckily the boat had seating inside so inbetween bouts of freezing winds and rain to take obligatory photographs we could go back in the warmth.

After again a gorgeous drive this time away from Milford we escaped to Hollyford, Gunns camp to sit and dry off in front of a nice warm fire.

written by

chrischarly on January 14, 2012 from Milford Sound, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under

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Satan's spawn...

Te Anau, New Zealand

Woke to lots of rain, so the 5am fishing expedition was cancelled. We packed up and headed out to Te Anau, the gateway to Milford Sound and a refreshing break from Satan's spawn; the vicious sand-fly... We went to the visitor info, before finding a campsite and a nice hot shower. They are always better after three days without one! We then took a stroll into town had a yummy lunch, bought some raincoats (very much needed here) and then went to a little cinema and watched a film called Shadowland, which was made by a helicopter pilot and is about the amazing scenery and nature of the Fiordland area. Rest of the day spent chilling away from the rain and writing this……

Proving my jacket works

Chris' jacket works

written by

chrischarly on January 13, 2012 from Te Anau, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under

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