New Zealand - South Island

Hi all,
We arrived in Picton around 9.30pm on the 27th May and drove south to Bleinheim, a wine region in Marlborough. We drove around for a few hours looking for somewhere to park outside the town but with nothing but vineyards to be seen for miles we returned to the town and pulled in outside a small park. Time conscious and money poor, in the morning we made our decision to cut out visiting the north coast and Nelson and instead headed straight through the wine valleys and accross to the west coast. Marlborough is New Zealands premier wine producing region with fertile Wairou plains and is home to most of the countrys most famous wines including the Montana winery, the changing colours of the Autumn vine leaves and mountainous landscape made the drive accross truely beautiful. We drove over towards Westport, down to Greymouth and Hokita and finally reached Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers that same day. On the drive we stopped around Kaipakati point on the west coast and wandered around the beach to stretch our legs and look for penguins after seeing a penguin crossing sign just back up the road. Failing that and determined to reach the glaciers by night we hit the road not long after. We also passed the giant stacks of pancake rocks at Punakaiki just before Greymouth, these are amazing limestone columns with seawater blowholes. This had to be the most scenic drive to date, it was just captivating. From the camper it looked like a fine day outside with the sun shining but similar to at home once we stood outside a chilly breeze would remind you where you were. We reached Franz Josef by night fall but decided to continue on the short journey to Fox before looking for a camping park. A maniac in a flashy Porche passed us out on a dangerous bend at what had to be miles above the limit, we were sure we would see him again in the ditch a few miles down the road, alas, we found him pulled in by cops just a few miles ahead, serves him right we thought, until he raced passed us again a few minutes, the chancer!. We stayed at a camping park in the middle of the town ready for an early start to go and see the glaciers in the morning, we just about had time for a nice shower and to wash some clothes.
Friday, we woke eagerly to find it pouring rain, misting and the morning with little visibility. That changed our plans quickly and instead we visited the information centre for some advice on what way to best spend our precious time. The guy at the desk with his very happy to see you dog suggested we stay away from the glaciers on a wet day because we wouldnt enjoy a good view of them and chances were the roads would be closed due to flooding, he suggested some indoor glacier climbing or the hot pools. So on such a wet day the idea of soaking ourselves in some hot pools in a tropical rainforest setting sounded superb and off we headed to the Glacier Hot Pools in Franz Josef. After a morning soaking and relaxing in the pools and listening to the rain pouring down outside we left feeling revived and more alive than ever (also looking a little shrivelled like peaches!). Amazingly the day had cleared up and we drove straight back to Fox Glacier as quick as we could. We drove up a track that marked spots where the glacier had been at different points over the last couple of centuries to show how quickly the ice actually melts. We parked the van just down from the glacier and headed on up the trail to get a closer look. When it first came into our sight it was another one of those jaw dropping moments and a wave of curiosity forced us to make our way up without a guide to get as close as possible. Wow, it was such a great feeling to see this captivating river of ice in reality. We looked for ways to climb up but it was just too dangerous without a guide, we didnt know where the weak spots were and particularly after heavy rain parts of the melting edges could collapse at any minute. We explored the melting fragments and admired in awe until dusk and slowly made our way back to the van and camped just down the road from the entrance in a car park by the road.
On Saturday morning we travelled down to Haast and on to Wanaka and finally accross the Lindis Pass to Omaru. The drive accross was another of immense beauty. We drove through the southern lake district, past Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea which are the most beautiful blue sparkling lakes nestled amongst the most spectacular alpine scenery. The roads although were very narrow along the side of the mountains through a stretch called the Teat Ridge and this made it difficult to stop for long or take many photos. We noticed we were running a little low on diesel by the time we reached Wanaka town, but on seeing the displayed prices per litre, we refused to pay the outrageous mark up and continued on our journey through the Lindis Pass. Oh so regreattably so, the fuel gage lowered and lowered as we drove passed barron lands and up into snowy mountains and then the red light came on. The sweat and panic was unreal, there were miles and miles of nothing ahead of us, no houses, no traffic, no diesel. We resorted to turning off the engine and free wheeling as many of the hills as possible, the miles felt like hundreds and the minutes like years. Over one final hill, we could just barely make out a town on the horizon, not sure if it was a mirage, we pushed on in desperation and gasped in relief as we finally saw a garage. Lesson learned the hard way and we filled her up to the brim!!.
We quickly drove on as we had to get to Omaru that evening to see the fairy penguins before they came in from the sea. We arrived in Omaru in the late afternoon and headed straight for the harbour where the penguin colony was, a little early we confrimed our booking and waited patiently for the event to begin. In the summer months up to 250 penguins can be seen coming in from the sea at a certain time in the evening but in the winter usually only around 20 come in per day. We saw an unlucky number of 13 but it was still great, these penguins are beautiful little creatures with amazing habits and methods of protecting themselves from threats. We watched the penguins come in from a granstand with a commentry from one of the family members who owns the colony. The little penguins came in over the rocks, got swept away by the waves and attempted it again, it was a hilarious sight and on the way out we saw them up close calling out to each other in a high pitched cry.
It was dark when we tried to find somewhere to camp that night, Diarmuid was pulled in by the cops and breathalised at a check point probably because we were driving around and around the town for ages. We finally found a spot in a car park with a no camping sign but tired and fed up we decided to hide the sign with the camper. The following morning we went for a walk and it started to pour, we ran back to the camper to find the battery flat once again. In the rain we pushed and reversed and pushed but to no avail. An odd couple after watching us from the comfort of their own car for ten minutes finally decided to assist and she eventually started, we didnt stop again until Christchurch.
On up highway 1 we drove for about 3 hours and reached Christchurch around 2pm. The city is known as the garden city and is generally used by tourists as a base for exploring other parts of Canterbury and going skiing, it is actually a nice city and seemed a rather quiet place. With only a few hours there although we decided to visit the Botanic Gardens where we saw the one and only New Zealand wood pidgeon. We also visited the arts centre and browsed around at the different Maori wooden crafts and some painting by local artists. We stayed in a Top 10 camperpark that night just outside the city that night and spent our final hours making notes for the blog before we forgot everything.
The next day when we drove around and around for hours trying to find the place to return the camper, upon realising we were actually looking in the wrong area altogether we dropped it back with little time to spare and the owner gave us a lift to the airport. Regrettably we had to leave this awesome country but will without a doubt in the world be back again at some point. We made our 2.30pm flight to Sydney and waved goodbye once again to another one of the worlds most wonderful places. (we want to stay, we want to stay, we want to stay!!!!)

---

---