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Road to Wanaka
We took the long road to Wanaka passing straight over the mountain ridge- there were so many switchbacks that I didn't know which way we were goingAs our time passes in NZ we decided to take a week long road trip to see the rest of the South Island. We crammed 2300kms into a week of travel.
The first day we shot over to Wanaka, only 1 hr from Queenstown, to have a light lunch and to take a look around. Wanaka is similar to the mountain town feel as Queenstown just without all the tourists. It's also located on a beautiful lake- with lots of ducks. After a not so yummy lunch (no, not the ducks much to Josh's dismay) we proceeded north along the west coast.
The drive through the country and along the coast was breathtaking. The center of the south island is a mountainous region with lakes and waterfalls all over- and not many people. A few hours and several mountain ridges later the surroundings changed - lush trees lining huge cliffs that reached through the clouds. The area is called the Roaring 40's (referring to 40 degrees longitude) where the moisture coming off Australia hits NZ on the west coast dumping tons of rain. This creates a rainforest while the Alps in the center of the country stop all the
rain to create an almost dessert in the center of the country.
It rained all day once we got into the rainforest. It did make for spectacular waterfalls all over. Some even fell right out of the mountains onto the road. Deanne was sleeping during most of the drive, but I was sure to wake her up for each waterfall.
We stopped at a great look-out point which looked out over the ocean. There were several large rock formations in the middle of the ocean. It was a cloudy day but the waves still made us miss our surf board.
Our next stop was Franz Josef. There are 2 valley glaciers which kind of look like a snow capped mountain, but really it's a valley filled with ice and snow that dates back thousands of years. The face was quite dirty- rock and sand has been added in to the mix as the glacier advances and retreats over time, but at the top the ice is blue. Even the glacial run-off has a blue tint to the stream. The next morning we were scheduled to do an guided ice climb on the glacier to get a closer
Knight's Lookout
It's easy to see why this is such a popular stop along the west coast look. Unfortunately it was rained out (the combination of lighting and metal cramp-ons/axes didn't seem to be conducive to our safety). The weather forecast was anticipating 130mm of rain that morning and more for the following day. We decided to move our journey up a day and to come back through the glacier on the way home. It took some finagalling to change our train tickets and hostel reservations, but Josh's patience and good phone manners got the job done.
We took our time driving up the west coast stopping along the way at a couple beaches and towns to take it all in. We arrived in Greymouth an hour before the TranzAlpine train would take us over the Southern Alps to Christchurch. To kill some time we headed to the bar across from the station to get in a beer and a couple games of rummy before getting on the train.
The train took 4.5 hrs to reach Christchurch. We had our own little booth on the train so we were able to stretch out and enjoy the ride. Some parts were really steep and it felt like the train was on the edge of the cliff.
One Lane Bridge
This was a bit scary- and it wasn't the only one. Here the train even shared the bridge. The views were stunning although it rained for the first half. The guide said that whenever it rained on one coast it was sunny on the other. He was right -as soon as we hit the top and began coming down the east side the views improved and the sun came out.
We arrived in Christchurch in the evening with time to get to our hostel, eat and then go out to check out the town. Christchurch is the biggest city on the south island, but not really a top tourist destination. We only spent one night there walking around downtown- the Cathedral looked pretty at night and we walked along a little stream that winded through the city. We hit a few pubs with great music, but called it an early night (well, Josh escorted me out after I had a few words with a dumb college girl- ah, to be young and drunk)
We continued up the east coast of the south island. I know we've said that before, but the scenery was amazing. The mountains came right up to the coast- there were snow capped ranges to the right and blue waves crashing on the
The Perfect Rainbow
We drove through some pretty heavy rain, but this was waiting at the other end (no pot of gold though) shore to the left. I tried taking pictures as Josh was driving, but they really don't capture how unreal it is.
At the top of the south island is known as the Marlborough region. There are over 50 wineries in the area. We didn't stop for any official tours, but most of the vineyards are right along the road so we still got to see them. It was nuts how many rows of grapes we passed. The leaves had started to change color which added to the scenery. New Zealand produces some pretty tasty wine- I might become a connoisseur after all the glasses we've gone through.
We spent the night in Nelson. It's an artsy/craftsey town with lots of cute little boutiques. They were already closed when we got in to town, but I suppose that's just as well - easier not to spend money. We stayed at a spotless hostel- by far the classiest place we've been. We shared a room with 2 people from Boston (what are the chances!)- we didn't really chat much though because we both we planning an early start for the next day.
Able Tasman National Park was the highlight
Rugged Sheep
The sheep where every where- even on the steep cliffs (I didn't know they were so agile) of the trip. The main travel season is Nov-April, which meant that there weren't as many people kayaking or hiking while we were there (and that was just fine by us!) There are many companies that offer guided kayak tours through the park, but we decided to rent kayaks and explore on our own. After sitting through a painful 2.5 hr "safety briefing" (that could have completed in 30 minutes), we got in our two person sea kayak to start our adventure at sea. We had a solid 5 hours of paddling ahead to our campsite. There were lots of campsites along the way, but we found the perfect place to set up our tent for the evening- it was a small little nook and we were the only ones there (well, except for the forest critters that kept us up at night). It was so peaceful to hear the waves roll in as we looked up at the starry sky- not another soul around. There was a small lagoon that filled and emptied as the ocean changed. Low tide also exposed a hidden beach in a little cove. The next morning we saw a few seal prints in the
TranzAlpine Train
It was a bit slow going, but gave us plenty of time to enjoy the trip sand- that was the only mark in the sand- so incredible!!!
We we arrived at the campsite it was high tide so we rowed right up to shore, but when we left the next morning the tide was out so we had to carry our kayak 150m to the water. It was so heavy and I wasn't much help, so Josh navigated it through the sand.
The second day's paddle was so amazing - we were the ONLY ones on the water. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the water was shades of blue that crayola can't even come close to matching. We saw a colony of seals sunning on the rocks and some pups that came over to the boat to check us out. After watching them play for a bit we found a narrow passage through the cliffs. Paddling through the gorge revealed an open lagoon about a meter in depth. We could see something splashing about in the distance and thought it was a bird. When we got closer we saw 5 seal pups playing in the shallow calm water. We stopped paddling and they came over to visit. We spent an hour
Southern Alps
The train winded through the mountain range watching and playing with them.
We began to paddle back to our pick-up location. It would have been quite tiring to paddle all the way back to the start, especially against the rough current. The "water taxi" is a boat that stops at designated campsites and brings us back to the start of the park. There's a lone dolphin that likes to play in the wake of the boat- he was so graceful in the water.
After warming up and drying off a bit, we hit the road again.
That night we made it down to Franz Josef again in hopes to ice climb the next day. After consideration we decided to save the money from the ice climb and go explore the glacier on our own. The glacier guides set up an intricate system of ropes and ladders to get to the base of the glacier. There is a sign saying that it is private, but since the land is all national park there was nothing they could or would do to stop us. We spent some time exploring around the base of the glacier and were happy we didn't pay the 400 bucks to go on
Drinks in Christchurch
There were plenty of fashionable young things about, but we were happy to be just the 2 of us the ice. The views were better from our location anyway.
We stopped for lunch at Lake Matthison- it's one of the most photographed locations. Mount Cook towers over the other mountain ranges and reflects into the waters of the lake. It was quite cloudy that day, so we didn't get the million dollar view, but it was still a nice stop.
We stopped back in Wanaka to catch a movie at Cinema Paradeso- instead of rows of seats, the theatre has random couches, lazy-boys, and even an old VW Bug! The movie wasn't that great, but they had a full restaurant that served meals during the movie. The quesadillas were soo yummy.
We had one last stop that wasn't on the map- it was a lookout on a cliff that looked down on to Queenstown and Arrowtown. Once again the stars stole the show.
Josh continued his explorations to the Chard Farm winery with his friend Rob- they brought me a tasty souvineer! We spent the rest of the day getting ready for the big night- Ramsey's 30th birthday party (70's Theme). We've included a picture of us here for your enjoyment.
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