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Published: March 14th 2009
Hi all
Kia Ora!! Maori for be well...and indeed we are.
The flight from Sydney to Auckland was quick and painless, two things that Sharron particularly likes in air transportation!! It took just 2 1/2 hours plus another 2 hours on the clock and so we were soon in the Worlds natural adventure playground New Zealand...
Met by Anna Claire (daughter of Richard Seton) and whisked off to catch a ferry and then a taxi to Richard and Angelas island home on Waiheke....sounded good to us!!
The welcoming party greated us as we rounded the drive to face the fabulous bay of Waikopu....Richard, Angela, Peter & Wendy (also from the uk) Juno the Highland Terrier and his friend Nobu...largest cat on the island!!!
We had a great few days; fishing, swimming, wine tasting, jet skiing walking and generally lounging around eating Angela's fabulous meals!!
Unfortunaley the weather started to turn and it was time to go retreat to Auckland....but not by ferry this time....by helicopter!! We had an excellent trip over the island and Auckland, fantasic views of the city! The famous rugby stadium, the sky tower, the harbour bridge, etc etc...
We had
What a whopper!
Ok actually I had this fish on my line and it decided Richards bait looked tastier and let go of mine and jumped on his line...the truth!a great time in Auckland but the main event as some of you may know was on the 14th Feb.....the big four zero loomed closer and finally struck...we had a great evening in the restaurants and bars of the Viaduct, Aucklands waterfront entertainment zone!
It was a pretty calm, quiet, relaxed evening with no major incidents to write about - "yeah right!!!"
OK so it was time to see a bit more of NZ and to do that we had hired a classic VW campervan for a three week tour....Richard had sketched out our route and itinerary and off we headed....
First destination, Rotorua a short 3 hour drive South East...Rotorua is a city located on a volcanic plateau... 16 lakes and more Geothermal activity than you can shake a stick at! We visited Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, which was one of the most amazing places we have seen on our World tour....and we had only been in NZ a week!! (see http://www.waiotapu.co.nz/ for more info and better pics)....We stayed at a great camp site by the Blue lake...stunning location and great for a swim!
Whilst in Rotorua Richard had suggested a Hangi and Maori concert -
a traditional Maori meal and show (http://www.maoriculture.co.nz/Maori%20Village/Home) a great experiance of the Maori culture, singing (& some shouting!), dance, meal cooked underground....and a bar!!!
Our next destination was to Napier and the Hawkes Bay wine region.... due to a huge earthquake in 1931 Napier was flattened, over 250 people were killed and the landscaped was transformed. The "New Napier" was constructed in the artdeco years and has retained a lot of this style....we were lucky enough to be there during their annual Artdeco Weekend....music, costume, flapper girls & vintage cars etc etc...all in the pouring rain!!!....They had had almost 12 weeks of uniterrupted sunshine, little did they know we were comming!!....Ohh well all good fun....
After Napier we headed south to Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island...or the "mainland" as some would describe it!!! We didn't have time to spend in Wellington and decided to save it for the trip back....
The ferry to South Island took 3 hours, the crossing pretty lumpy although the sun was finally shining! Leaving Wellington the scenery was excellent however as we entered Marlborough Sound and Picton we were blown (literally!!) away with the views...They say the South
Island is the more scenic and they were spot on.
We turned right from the ferry terminal and headed up St Charlottes Drive a steep incline towards Nelson and the Able Tasmin National Park...amazing scenery although it was difficult for me to see as keeping my eye on the road was at that time quite important!
We made our way to Motueke our next campsite and decided it was so good that we booked three nights....all the campsites had excellent facilities....fully fitted kitchens, BBQs, great showers etc, pools, spa baths, but this one was walking distance to an India restaurant!!!
The Indian was excellent and very cheap!!! The following day the weather turned for the better and we decided to drive out to the farewell spit at the most northerly point of South Island...we didnt think it was far...2hours later we got there...but it was well worth it. Stunning scenery amazing views...it is some 35km long!!!
Day two of Matueka was to be Marks sea Kayaking adventure...up early, sun shining, picked up by Mule....only me on the trip!! It was amazing, we had a great day and managed to sea a Penguin, a small tornado, dolphins,
seals and a sting ray....we also enjoyed lunch having climbed the top of a huge split rock. Mule got full marks for making cappuccinos with frothed milk and chocolate (see pic) one thing the New Zealanders are fanatical about is coffee, and they do it very well!
After our three nights in Matueka we drove the Buller pass to the west coast, again more amazing scenery through the gorge and down the coast, pass the pancake rocks to Greytown.....a pretty dull name especially as the sun was still shining!!!
The plan was to drive as much of the west coast as possible in the shortes time and then meander back up the east coast....We just had a night in Greytown despite an other great sight right on the beach.
The following day was a big drive down to Wanaka via the glaciers of Franz Joseph and Fox (Fox's glacier mints?) we had lunch in Franz Joseph looking up at the glacier in the warm sun is a bit strange....why doesn't it just melt!!...We continued south and through the Haast Pass another fabulous stretch of scenery...
Wanaka is a small town on the edge of a huge
lake, as with everywhere in NZ they do all outdoor adventure activities...jet boating, bungee jumping, absailing, hand gliding, helicopter tours, hiking etc etc etc.... and a lot of skiing in the winter....
We only stayed the one night as we were on the way to Te Anau....a short 3 hour drive past Queenstown, home of adventure sports....Te Anau is on another lake, the 2nd largest in NZ...some 64 km long and 400m deep!!....Its also quite near to Milford Sound which is in the Fijordland national park, the largest national park in NZ which covers some 12,500km2 which was our next tour...
Milford Sound, which is actually a Fjord and not a Sound (hope you know the difference!) was amazing...the sheer size is jaw dropping, the waterfalls were great although not as good as normal as it hadn't rained (shock!) for two weeks.....this is the wettest place in NZ with over 240 days of rain a year!!....We had over three hours of boat ride which we enjoyed every minute of.....
We had one more night in Te Anau before heading back to Wanake to meet Rob and Amanda Inkster (ex employee of Dart Marina) we had a great
meal and lots of conversation about travel and NZ.....we cheated a bit and stayed the night in a hotel....a comfortable bed was required!!!
The next day we drove north to Christchurch via a great winery in Central Otago called Mt Difficulty...excellent Sav Blanc and Pinot Noir!! It was an amazing drive, through a place called Twizel, past lakes Pukaki and Tekapo, the bluest lakes you have evamp siteer seen - bright turquoise, amazing!
Christchurch was dissapointing, OK it was raining again and dull but the city was very small and quiet with lots of road works and it just didnt happen for us....the good news was the camp site was near a cinema and we managed to see "Slumdog Millionaire" which was excellent!!!
From Christchurch we drove up to Kaikoura along the coast which was again stunning, to Kaikoura...whale whatching capital of the world...one of the only places whales can be seen year round....also home to hundreds of dusky dolphins...we did the peninsular walk (3.5hrs) and swear we saw a whale way out to sea!!!.....Kaikoura was the best place to buy seafood we had found so we feasted on bluff oysters and cray fish...very very tasty!!!
Up up and away
Sharron had been taking secret lessions in flying helicpoters! From Kaikoura we drove up the Marlborough wine route stopping at Alan Scott winery for lunch and Cloudy Bay for a wine tasting, both excellent....we stopped in Picton for the night before our ferry back to the North Island. Picton is actually a great place with so much on offer, shame everyone uses it for just a night...
The ferry back to the North island was much better than the previous experiance, it was calm....and dolphins followed us out of the Sound, a great experiance....
We decided to do do another night in a hotel in Wellington, the Holiday Inn in the centre of the city was excellent for the price and right in the middle of the action....we had a great day, the sun was shining and we took the tram upto the botanical gardens, walked back down and along the waterfront and into the Te Papa museum - a very contempory and interactive museum....we were then amazed to find out it was the international jazz festival over the weekend and managed to get tickets to see Roberto Fonseca a Cuban jazz pianist and his band at the late night show!!! Wow pretty amazing....he used to play
in the Buena Vista Social Club.....
The next day after a huge inclusive breakfast we made our way up to Ohakune which was about half way back to Auckland, just a night here....its an alpine ski resort...which without snow is pretty uneventful....next day up to Waitomo where we took a trip down the caves to see the glow worms....we saw the caves which were fabulous and created out of limestone millions of years ago when NZ was under the sea...we the got in a small boat (still underground) and made our way into pitch darkness....and the glow worms ...they were amazing.....
Next day was a short 3 hr drive back up to Auckland to drop off the van, re-claim our luggage from Anna Claire and charge to the airport...we had got our flight time wrong so had to make a dash for it!!!
In all we had four weeks in NZ which was not enough, we covered 2,500 miles and saw more great scenery then ever before....if you havent seen NZ we suggest you do!!!
M & S
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Chris Jones
non-member comment
WOW
Mark and Sharron, that was your best blog so far. I so want to visit NZ now after reading about your travels. Jealous!, too bloody right I am. All the best, Chris