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| Jon's Trip The intrepid traveller, Jon Geilhufe arrived in New Zealand towards the end of July for a two week rampage around the S. Island. We picked him up in Christchurch, headed to Hanmer Springs for some hot springs relaxation, then up to Nelson. From there it was up to Abel Tasman for some kayaking and tramping, then down the West Coast to the glaciers and some heli-hiking. We rounded out the trip with a scramble through Arthurs Pass and a skydive high above Christchurch, to send him on his way to Maui. The trip was awesome and exciting and we're extremely glad that Jon was able to spare the time and expense to come down. It was great fun traveling with him again, and further exploring this adventure-packed country. |
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| Checking the map and taking an undeserved rest at Cleopatra's Pools in Abel Tasman. |
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| Beautiful day of kayaking up in Abel Tasman park. There are seal pups swimming all around us but they wouldn't pose for a good shot, darnit. |
| Taking advantage of a rain day - we toured the Monteith's brewery in Greymouth. The tour sucked, but we got to fill many glasses when it was over. Mmmm, beeeeer. |
| Hanging out at our little cottage/hostel in Franz Joseph before a big night on the town filled with pizza, beer, and absinthe. |
| The chopper awaits. Our takeoff went smoothly until Jon tried to touch the spinning rotor blades with his ice ax. Silly Geilhufe! |
| This was both Jon and Evan's first helicopter ride and it was pretty amazing. Swooping over and down onto the glacier was tres cool. |
| This was an incredible ice cave that our guide found. He spent about a half hour cutting steps through it so us punters wouldn't slip up. Hard to capture with a camera. |