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New Zealand- The South Island
Firstly apologies for keeping you waiting on our antics, i won't keep you any longer. The trip started by nearly missing the ferry, after assuring Pat we are always up when we know we have to be somewhere sure enough we weren't- a knock on the door made us physically awake and move as quick as lightening to make it in time for our early morning Blue Bridge ferry, although im not sure i was mentally awake as simple things like fastening bags proved all too challenging! As we left Wellington the weather was non too good, which worked in our favor as we sat outside for the whole trip allowing the harsh winds to wake us up in the most brutal of ways. As south island appeared in the distance the weather changed for the better, allowing us to strip out of our rain macs and jumpers and see the fresh delights on the south island ahead in our ever sunny gear. We arrived into Picton and were collected by our representative of 'About New Zealand' car rentals. The car was not as promised as Mazda6 but was of course a Ford Telstar-a tad newer than stanley but what the hell we'll take it. And off we go down the east coast.
The first thing we notice about our new car is how much petrol it uses so we vow to keep an eye on this after asking for a fuel economy car-anything to save money. We pass many small towns, all quaint, cute, uninhabited. In fact so far we seem to have not passed very few souls and we must admit it is a very strange feeling as we know there are more people here somewhere. The green hills surround us for miles and it is bringing back vivid memories of our 2 week trip to the Lake District mum and dad, not so fond. We stop at Blenheim for a spot of dinner...MacDonald's as it seems the happening place. And head onto our first stop Kaikoura. Kaikoura is famous for the foot hills of the seawards kaikoura's (snow capped mountains) but due to the fog is the distance we couldn't actually see them. We didn't let this spoil our day though, we ventured to Point Kean seal Colony, waded through the sea to the rocks where they all sat . Talk about smelly. Feeling fit we walked along the promenade shoreline which was pretty rugged but had more seals to view ass we walked, good job you bought us a monocular pat and Ali-very handy, or at least it was when i was looking through the right end. Already we were starting to see the canterbury region in a new light. Getting quite late we decided to have a pint at the "Strawberry Tree". The lonely planet quotes this as the liveliest pub in Kaikoura-it had three people in it. Two of whom were watching the NZ V GB cricket, and one reading in the corner. We made it 5 watching the cricket and added to the sales by ordering a couple of pints of 'Sheep Shagger'.
We'd bought supplies earlier , so after a quick snack we head in search of our first nights sleep. And what a bargain it was, after realising we weren't going to have any luck finding a campsite in the dark with a distinctive lack of petrol and no knowing of the next pump station we found ourselves in a small town called Rotherham. Rotherham consisted of one pub, that after enquiring allowed us to camp on its back lawn for free. Perfect.
We woke the next morning, (by the way im back to eating cereals again Denise, in fact i may have told you this in a previous journal, but after the sour milk incident at your house when i was younger i vowed never to have milk again which ruled out cereals...but here i am eating cereals-its great), and decided to head over the Lewis Pass which is 907m high and surrounded with amazing scenery to Hamner Springs-the famous thermal reserve. As tempting as t was to spend the day submerges in salt water warm outdoor pools we declined as there was a distinct sound of waling school children who obviously hadn't quite made it back to school yet, instead we headed onto Christchurch stopping only to view some extreme activity action on the way.
As we headed on it was becoming apparent why Lord of the Rings, King Kong etc had chosen NZ as their destination, the scenery changes often never ceasing to amaze us. having said this we are just about to make the biggest mistake, as it was around here we spoke to Jed and said we weren't sure what all the fuss about the South Island is about, sure enough the scenery is great, but there is only so much you can look at without wanting to blow your head off if you don't see a pub around the next corner, there are no people here and the towns have very little to offer...boy are we about to eat our words. We arrived into the 'Garden City' namely because it is surrounded by the beautiful botanic gardens of Hagley Park. A quick walk around the very arty, capitol of the South Island proved all too much for us and we decide on our first splurge. A motel room with a spa at $105-when we finally got the bank statement it turns out this was only 37 pounds-even better! After Jed's car, and the new hire car not being as comfy as Stanley we rested and relaxed, feeling fit a little later to head to the International Buskers Festival. At a cost of only $2 each we ended up staying the whole nigh. Then a thought entered our heads, we'd arrived at 8pm ish expecting the biggest event in the capitol to be full but not only managed to get a seat in good viewing distance, we managed to get hot food in a reasonable queue, and actually laughed so much we nearly pee'd ourselves, and for only $2. Where in the UK can we do this? The South Island is starting to be seen in a new light.
From here we headed to Lake Tekapo via Geraldine, green fields taking over again, followed by huge snow capped mountains, followed by other travelers appreciations of rock creations on the side of the road, not wanting to miss out of course Nath made one of his own. The river gorges of Waihi and Orari wee tempting to paddle in, but the cold winds of the Mackenzie districts soon stopped us stepping foot out of the car, which is still eating petrol. From over a mile away we could see lake Tekapo. You cant miss it, the water is bright turquoise and the calmest you've ever seen. We read that the intenseness of the colour is due to the 'rock flour' in he water created by glacier movement across the surface that reflects from the sunlight. either way it was awesome. The one single church built in 1935 overlooks the lake 710m above sea level, and really does make the view picture perfect, followed by the monument of the collie dog as a tribute to all sheep dogs-fair enough.
We headed via Twizel, sharing the driving, although not for very long, i was going at a snails space (very unlike me) but if you could see the sheer drops below you'd understand. We stopped at roaring Meg hydro pump of all places to change over, and stopped again at AJ Hackets first ever bungee jump started in 1988 at Kawarau River. Nath decided this one looked tame so we'll investigate the Skippers Canyon tomorrow-Nath's Birthday present. We drove through bustling Arrow town and straight through Queenstown in search of a nights sleep. Tonight we will stay in a DOC camping ground 15km past Queenstown, with a fantastic spot overlooking Lake Wakatipu and surrounded by majestic mountains. With just enough daylight for Nath to have a fresh water shave and back to the basics of brushing our teeth we settled into sleep listening to the water...very romantic until a camper van pulled up right next t us, must've been more poms who seem to do this, there can be miles of space but still they park themselves right next to you-ah well. The camp ranger never showed so another free camp.
Queenstown was bustling, lively and energetic, a really enjoyable town to walk around with a small harbour. It was about here that we phone Jed and say we've made a terrible mistake. It appears that the South Island takes a little time to adjust to..we've adjusted.
After finding out that skippers Canyon was closed and no real details we were unsure what to do for Nath's birthday, a high wire bungee jump or a skydive at double the price? As Nath went back to the car i made a rash decision and booked him on the 15,000 feet tandem skydive. Its his birthday, and i just thought there's something's you have to splurge on, you can skydive anywhere but how unique to be doing it somewhere so special overlooking the perfect views of Mount Cook. Of course Nath was pretty pleased with my splurge, so with little time left we decided to fix the car problem, and head off for a very quick viewing of Milford Sounds. The car as we said earlier was eating petrol and we'd sussed the reason why-it was a 4x4! Any other time we would have loved this car but on a budget this is not so good, after phoning the car company and speaking to a very few lame people we finally an hour later had a new car just as we'd ordered in the first place, much better on fuel. We wont bore you with the details if you are truly interested we'll fill you in over a few beers upon our return. So off we went again.
Milford Sounds is one of the most visited places in New Zealand and the South Island in general. The southland Fiords are 122km long surrounded by sheer cliffs/peaks, all of which are snowcapped. The highest peak being 1695m and most of of which have water cascading down, an amazing sight again, you often have to really focus and just when you think there is nothing there you spot the most beautiful cascade of water hidden behind overgrowth. We drove through the Hamer Tunnel (1207m) that emerges into the Cleddau Canyon-very steep! Stopping at most of the scenic lookouts we camped at Cascade Creek (the park ranger arriving this time but only 410 in total so who are we to complain?), very close to lake Gunn which was already full. The main lake at Milford sounds was quite breezy so didn't have the desired affect of the promised picture clear waters, we weren't so sure it was all it was cracked up to be until we arrived at lake Gunn. Again we eat our own words and you are just going to have to see the photo for yourselves, its hard to imagine how reflective water can be until you see this photo.
Early next morning we set off back to Queenstown, we booked in at a campsite so we could have a fresh shower, explored the delights of queenstown, and with Nath unable to wait any longer we went to see if any of the earlier skydives had availability-they did. Here comes the next huge expense-as i sat in the preparation room with the other skydives i was feeling nervous, nervous because i just knew i had to do it too...checking that Nath wouldn't mind me gate crashing his birthday present we decided id have an extremely early birthday present also. still not sure i was doing the right thing i decided that i hadn't dressed properly and couldn't skydive n flip flops, a really lame excuse it appears as i handed over the credit card! Seen as we'd spent a fortune anyways we went all out and had a camera man each to film the whole experience, and we haven't regretted it since. nerves, excitement, amazement all show on the DVD and help us relive it. The Company we chose, NZone were so friendly it really did make it a special day, and the rush of actually jumping out of the plane was indescribable, besides the fact my tandem instructor forced my arms open to soar through the sky, once i'd relaxed and realised i wasn't going to die it was amazing, Nath took it all in his stride and is determined to go again.
On our skydive plane was Lilian, 62 years old and having been banned from her husband to skydive, she decided on a school trip that if her students were jumping so was she, what did your husband think to the DVD Miriam? Also we met Irish Dave and Miriam who survived the 12,000 feet jump, so all feeling pretty chuffed with ourselves we ended the night with Mame (the bus driver) having a fair few drinks and a damned good meal. Skydiving was the boost we needed, especially me, there comes a time when traveling can become hard work and you start to wonder what else is there to do. How long can you actually spend seeing things and avoiding what inevitably we all have to do and find a job and settle down. Well i guess that becomes an individual thing, after skydiving i feel i can travel again, but i think we both feel we've fulfilled any ambitions we had, i've achieved what i wanted to do in that i wanted to prove i could do it-i have done it, and so far its been amazing, full of highs and lows. So for now we will continue, as new questions pop into our head about what lies in the future, we'll postpone them for a later date, here comes the glaciers.
We made a slight mistake with the map and headed over a very steep winding single laned unsealed road from Arrow town to Cardrona to Wanaka having a near collision with a car pulling a boat who must've made the same mistake, needless to say we both survived but paid better attention to the roads from now on. We passed lots of Pakihi (dried up swamp land) and noticed an instant change in the scenery from the green lush fields to rugged edges and mountains on one side followed by the ocean and rocky beaches on the other-welcome to the west coast, and welcome to the rain.
The rain looked set to never end, and we aren't just talking the pitter patter of rain we are talking torrential down pours! As we arrived at the Fox Glacier we cleared the shop out of hot pies and looked set to be drenched and we were. One thing we've noticed in NZ is how difficult it is to get hot food if you don't arrive at the right time, we are usually an hour too early or an hour too late! Kitted out in jumpers and gortex raincoats we headed for the glacier, quoted as an amazing natural wonder of the world, and it is, besides the fact it looks like it needs a good scrub! As we rounded a corner all we could see was one huge ice block nearing us with each footstep. Unable to get any closer and feeling we'd eyeballed it enough we set off in search of another free camp before we viewed the last glacier tomorrow. Wet and cold we found a free camp at Lake Mapourika, we woke up wet and cold, and with the rain still really heavy thought we might as well view the Franz Joseph Glacier. A short 20 minute along the 'Sentinel Rock Viewpoint' led us to the same amazing thoughts. The Franz Joseph Glacier descends from the top of the Southern Alps to the rainforest 300m above sea level. We are certain we will revisit here, a touch of ice walking amongst the ice caves sounds amazing but for now we are wet, cold and watching the pennies again its time to move on.
We headed on through Hokitika stopping only for a catnap, and finally stopped at Punakoiki and Paparoa NP, we booked a motel at the back of a tavern, got clean, warm and relaxed the night away watching old videos. We awoke to drizzle, an improvement to say the least so explored the underground caverns (well Nath did, after my experience with cave weta's i was non to keen to venture into the darkness). Moving onto explore the famous pancake rocks (layers of rocks that no-one knows how they have become like this?) and blowholes, very similar to the great ocean road, but still fantastic to watch as the waves crashed against the rocks in a fantastic movement. As we arrived at westport the sun had made an appearance, we were amazed to find the town didn't have one named fats food takeaway, not even a subway, delighted in this we settled for a slice of homemade pizza. Satisfied we crossed the longest swing bridge in NZ 'The Buller Gorge', thinking this would be the difficult bit, it wasn't, what was was following the track around on the other side after the rainfall, needless to say i fell flat on my arse again, not quite the bruise i had at The White Cockatoo all those months ago, but still pretty embarrassing having to go back across the bridge rather muddy. Of course Nath finds this the funniest story and im sure will add in a few more details when he tells you.
Having changed my dirty clothes for clean clothes we passed Motueka to Abel tasman NP. One of our final destinations and a well known tramping area. Not that we did any-i told you Jed i wont tramp again! having drove all the way to Totaranui NP to find it was closed (?) we headed back to find a free camp at Tata Beach boat club. Noticing how golden the beaches were next morning we set of back over Takaka via the 'Ngarua Gold caves' to the opposite end of the NP, Marahau. Our first full day on the beach. Surrounded by the beautiful backdrop of Abel Tasman NP, and almost secluded we relaxed and wound down to relive our 10 day trip on the South Island. Our final nights camp was spent just past Mapua at McKee Memorial Reserve, a great spot again over looking the sea. We spent the night away chatting with travelers of all age, including a couple in the late 50's who'd decided to sell up in Auckland-bought a bus and followed the harvest trail, to a 40 year old whose been traveling since he was 19 and had plenty of stories to tell, besides those damned sand flies it was a really relaxed night. The South Island certainly felt a safe place to be, we'd seen so many hitchhikers (not that we picked anyone up) and like minded people that its been a real eye opener to how nice places could be.
With just one night to go and having already decided that we would spend it somewhere warm we booked into a standard cabin at Tahuna Beach Camp in Nelson. Nelson was again a quaint town, including another viewing of the buskers from Christchurch which helped to pass the drizzle that had re-appeared. By night the sun had ventured out into a glorious blaze so we had a short walk around and had a final meal at a very nice mexican restaurant. By morning we stopped only to view the logging export docks, NZ's biggest export, and arrived with an hour spare to explore Picton before we handed the car back, grateful that we'd taken out windshield cover seen as a large rock just happened to crack ours-oops. Not that Maria our representative from the car rental place was bothered, embarrassed by her previous mistake she could'nt get us to the ferry quick enough. With a very peaceful crossing we arrived back in Wellington safely, greeted by Pat who took us for BBQ tea, what a great end to the day.
So we are on our final few days in Wellington, having seen as much as we want for now, and knowing there is plenty more to see and do we feel in a strange predicament-unsure whether we are excited to be heading back to Aus or not? So we pass our final days building cupboards for outdoor seating covers (have they stayed dry Pat?), lazing in and around the pool, exploring the opposite side of the bays to the ones we first explored when we arrived, catching up with the family again to share yet more stories (by the way-good on you Nana and Jim for camping!), fish and chips on the beach, and hundreds of glow worms at night at the botanical gardens which looked like clusters of stars you could reach out and touch. Wellington by night-amazing.
So there you have it, the 6the feb 7.15am and on the flight back to Brisbane . Thanks Alistair for helping us leave in the first place, totally spent up in NZ dollars we'd forgot about airport departure tax! Finally arriving back in Sydney at 1.30pm We made it back to the Blue Mountains by tea time and yes you guessed it we were greeted by the O'briens and BBQ tea-perfect. With Stanley back in our possession the question lies are we happy to be back in Australia? Yes-we'd honestly quite missed it.
So there you have it, 5 weeks in New Zealand, North and South Islands. Which did we prefer. To be honest we both preferred the North Island, but who knows what we may have thought had we not had family to show us the delights, but then again we loved Queenstown and after a few days adapted to the quietness of the South Island. All in all when you venture to New Zealand- our advice would be not to compare the two island in a which one is better but rather to enjoy them both for the differences that they offer. We will definitely be returning. but for now, back in Sydney we have jobs and accommodation to find before the Todd clan make it over and we have the final stretch of our Australian journey to continue, we'll be sure to keep you informed.
Keep us posted with your messages, miss you all lots. Lindsay and Nathan xx
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