Real Life Adventures
by Alex Hannah
Welcome to the magical landscape of New Zealand.
You
can immediately appreciate why it was chosen for the Lord of the Rings films:
the landscape is breathtaking at every turn.
While
the North Island has its own golden beaches, volcanoes and the green English
“Shire”, enough to occupy a whole trip in itself, South Island
steps up the drama considerably. 
The
Southern Alps dominate the centre with the tropical paradise of the Abel
Tasman park to the north and the jewel in the crown of Fjordland to the
south.
Arriving
on the ferry from Wellington, we sampled the rich sauvignon blanc and pinot
noir wines of the world renowned Marlborough wineries. It was hard to resist
the temptation to stock up but we reminded ourselves that we would have
to carry what we bought.
Although
New Zealand has enough beaches to fill countless sunny afternoons even
in the winter, the best are in the Abel Tasman national park.
We
spent a day walking to and on one of the many deserted beaches but we would
have stayed longer if we had been able to.
The
sparsely populated countryside (only 4 million people in a country only
slightly larger than the UK but 40 million sheep!) means that it remains
unspoilt and wildlife such as the yellow-eyed penguin can waddle up to within
feet of you on its way back from a day at sea. 
Queenstown
sits as the gateway to Fjordland. The town is well known for its adrenaline
activities such as bungy jumping from bridges and jet boating.
In fact you can experience a variety of adrenaline rushes throughout New Zealand.
Our
favourite was sky diving from 12,000 feet above the volcanic Lake Taupo.
No time to rationally consider why you have chosen to jump out of a perfectly sound plane as you are already hurtling towards the ground at 200 km per second, or was that per hour as you seem to fall forever before the parachute opens.
The
road into Fjordland and towards Milford Sound takes you through a spectacular
valley with snow-capped mountains channeling you toward the serenely spectacular
Milford Sound.
Cruising around the Sound on a large cruise ship, dwarfed by the huge sheer cliffs of rock, was breathtaking.
Luckily
for us, the All Blacks were all conquering in the Tri-nations series and
we arrived too late for their humiliation at the hands of England.
Watching the All Blacks in the local pub, you feel as if everyone present is restraining themselves from performing the Haka as well as the players on the pitch and in fact you feel like joining them … ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora …
