Kiwi Adventure Part 1

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Having spent a wonderful time in Australia we arrived in Christchurch in the middle of the day to a freezing cold but bright day. The airport seemed pretty much unaffected by the recent earthquake but as we travelled into town it was clear that the city had been hit hard. The outskirts of town seemed relatively in tact apart from the odd house which was clearly waiting for the demolition process which the earthquake had begun, to be finished off by the demolition team. As we neared the hostel in which we were to stay it seemed that we entered a post apocalyptic zone. The whole center of the town was cordoned off and the majority of the buildings were in the process of being pulled down. Rubble and peoples possessions littered the street and there was an eary silence broken only by the noise of industrial size jackhammer's knocking down buildings. The hostel was one of only 5 places in which you could stay as all the other accommodation was currently unfit for purpose. It was basic but clean and once we had dumped our stuff we set off out to see what was left of the city. The nice french lady mentioned that if we were cold we should let her know. I couldn't see any heaters in the room so I wondered whether she was just going to get into bed with us ... fortunately it was snug so we didn't take her up on this offer. We could only walk around the edge of town and through the botanical gardens which were beautiful and incredibly well maintained which showed that there is still some pride left in the folk of the place. Having walked for miles and seen relatively little we returned to the hostel and got ready for dinner. It wasn't that difficult to make a decision as there was only one place left on our side of town. In spite of the destruction, the businesses which are left are seeming to thrive and the pub/restaurant where we had dinner was packed. The food was great and cheap compared to Australia so that was a bonus! We went home and got an early night as we had to be up at 5 to get the 1st flight down to Queenstown. After such a ball in Australia it was a bit of an eye-opener coming here and personally I was pretty glad to be leaving. Along with the earthquake Christchurch has now lost all its rugby world cup games which means they will also miss out on 400k rugby fans drinking their town dry. Talk about being kicked whilst you are down.



The flight to Queenstown was quick and we could already see the fantastic scenery for which we had come. We landed and headed to the Jucy Camper van hire place and picked up "Dave" our van. Caroline, being female had decided that she needed some new shoes, in fairness it was a pretty desperate need as the only closed shoes that she had apart from trainers had been obliterated in the rain in Sydney so she headed off to buy some Uggs before we picked up some provisions and headed to a camp-site overlooking the Lake just above the town. Having set up we (I) decided that we needed to climb to the summit of Queenstown hill. The walk up was taxing to say the least and that was just to get to the beginning of the hill-walk! The higher you go the better the views get and we were constantly looking back at the lake and mountains. As it was afternoon I thought that it would be best to go as quickly as possible as 1, I didn't fancy the path in the dark and 2, it would be highly embarrassing to be airlifted off a hill on your second night in New Zealand! You always used to hear of some guys wearing flip-flops being helped off Ben Nevis by mountain rescue. That could have easily been us just minus the flip-flops! We made it to the summit and the views were spectacular (well worth the 2 hour hike!!). Caroline noticed a chap with a familiar accent who turned out to be from Rothbury so we chatted to him a bit on the way down ... small world to say the least. The descent was a bit easier and as we approached town we decided that we needed some refreshment so stopped in a pub and sat by a log fire and have a few drinks. It was at this point that we realised that our graduation ball was 10 years before on that date and so we decided to have a few more drinks in celebration!! Any excuse!



We woke early for a change and hit the road, stopping off briefly at Jucy to get a frying pan! The girl at Queenstown hadn't been all that thorough when she showed us round the van in comparison with the guy in Cairns so we were pleased that we hadn't travelled too far. Also when we were in Australia the Jucy vans flash their lights at each other when they pass. We tried to start this in NZ but to no avail. We felt like we were in a secret club when we were in Australia, it was fun. We had decided that we would head to Milford Sound as every man and his dog who has even heard of New Zealand seemed to recommend it. Caroline was excited as she thought this was a Music Festival like Creamfields or Global Gathering, she seemed quite disappointed when she found out it was very much like a loch. Milford Sound is only about 60km from Queenstown as the crow flys but the road takes you on a 300km detour. The scenery was once again spectacular and as we got further south the terrain and road became more and more rugged. We arrived in MS and went to the wharf to see if we could take a boat but they had finished for the day so we booked for the 1st boat the following morning, we also had to go through a particular company as the Jucy van comes with a 2-4-1 offer. We decided to hike up to the lookout and then do the bay nature trail, this goes past Donald Sutherland's grave, he is not as we had initially thought the famous actor father of Keifer (not dead) but he was the guy who discovered Milford Sound in 1888! Once again we rewarded ourselves with a glass of wine and then headed back to camp to get some rest. We woke up, washed, packed and then headed down to the wharf to catch the boat. Sods law it was chucking it down and visibility was limited due to mist. That said the trip was great as we were accompanied by dolphins out of the harbour and the cliffs were alive with waterfalls due to the weather. Fortunately we had got some good snaps the previous afternoon so we were just able to enjoy the ride and soak up the sights. We got back in the van and headed off. We were on a pretty tight schedule and wanted to get to Wanaka by nightfall.



We arrived in Wanaka and got a site pretty quickly, we were just passing through so we grabbed some dinner and got an early night. We we left before sunrise and drove 500km to Franz Joseph Glacier. Having arrived the weather was pretty rubbish but we decided to go for a walk and ended up walking from our campsite to the Glacier and then doing a couple of routes which meant we had walked about 10 miles by the time we got back. We decided that if the weather was better the following day we would head to the Glacier again and get a better look at it and the ice cave. The following morning the sun was shining and so we decided to do the Glacier walk. This time we drove to the base and then walked for an hour or so until we were at the Glacier. As it was so early we were the only people there apart from a Chinese guy with orange hair and an astonishingly fat Canadian who was ignorant to boot! I guess she was probably on her way back from yesterday!! The scenes were spectacular and we both commented that we might have been able to get better grades in Geography GCSE had we visited a glacier like this one when we were studying!



We left Franz Joseph and headed up the coast to Punakaki where we stopped and walked around the Pancake rocks and blow holes after we had eaten some lunch. The rocks were bizarre and the surrounding landscape was completely different from anywhere else we had previously been. It's quite staggering just how diverse the landscape is and how quickly it changes. When you are driving and then look up the whole place has completely changed. We continued to drive along the coast and then headed across to Abel Tasman national park where we stopped for the night. It was at this stage where Caroline took over the driving, we realised quite quickly that we are better as me as the driver and Caroline as co-pilot. Caroline's only downfall is the fact that she doesn't know left from right which can mean when she is navigating it can be a bit difficult to follow her arm whilst she's saying "this way"!



The following morning we decided that we would go for a walk in the park but first we needed coffee to ensure we were fully charged for the hike. We decided that due to a large queue at McDonalds we would drive through KFC and pick up some coffee. Clearly I had not had my usual fix as I managed to miss the sign stating that the max height for the drive through was some 30cm lower than our roof. Queue the van getting wedged under a barrier and a somewhat hasty retreat with both of us in hysterics as we dragged the sign to a new angle with the van. Still it seemed to be the only drive thru without any cameras so we headed next-door to the Mc D's car park with our tail between our legs half expecting to be stopped by the police at any moment!! Fortunately after our coffee there didn't seem to be any sign of flashing lights or the boys in blue so we hightailed it out of town to the National Park just up the coast. Clearly I was not on my A game this day as I managed to miss a sign for a speed-bump and send the crockery and all our possessions flying round the back of the van! Well I just put it down to the great views so technically it was not my fault!



We took a walk around the National Park and along the coastline where you could see some amazing wildlife and great scenery. It started to rain very heavily so we decided that we should drive to Blenheim in Marlborough valley so that we could get some wine tasting action before we caught the ferry to the North Island from Picton. This trip was somewhat akin to a Muslim's pilgrimage to Mecca.



We arrived in Blenheim and headed to Spring Creek which was where we had decided to stay. The site was ok but seemed to be chocka with unusual folk who either drove trucks or worked on the land so they were quite an "interesting" bunch of folk. Having sussed out our route for the following day, sorted bikes and visited the local watering hole where everyone seemed to be related in some way shape or form we headed back for an early night! Tomorrow was WineMas!



Having hardly slept like a child at Christmas we work early and went to get our bikes. We started cycling and headed the 5km to our 1st tasting at Saint Claire. We couldn't believe how welcoming the staff were and the wine was great! Having had 5 tasting glasses we left and headed to our next stop at Hunters. Once again the wine and welcome were great although the woman seemed a little standoffish at some of my questions. That said, nothing asked was rude of untoward but I think she thought we may have been mystery shoppers so seemed on her guard. After about 8 different wines we headed off to Cloudy Bay. We arrived at Cloudy Bay and Caroline was unbelievably excited. On entering we realised that the woman behind the counter was absolutely smashed and could barely string a sentence together. Other than "I really like that one". Shades of one for you and one form me me thinks! Now feeling nicely tipsey we started the journey to our next winery and lunch site Whither Hills. It was at this point that God would try to hamper our fun with a puncture on Caroline's bike. I guess it may have something to do with the Muslim going to Mecca comment!! We decided to split ways with Caroline walking her bike to Whither Hills and me speeding off towards Blemheim to get a puncture repair kit as we were now losing valuable drinking time!! Having located all a puncture repair kit in a shop which then didn't sell a pump I continued until I came across a bike shop considerably further down the road. I got back to Whither Hills and there was no sign of Caroline. I could see a speck trudging along the road in the distance so thought that I would go and investigate. It did turn out to be her and by this time she was now carrying the front of her bike as the front brake had decided to lock!! I think some one must have been naughty in a previous life! We managed to get the bike to the winery and I sent Caroline in to get some food and wine whilst I fixed the puncture. Having done this I pumped up the tyre to find that there were in fact two punctures and I only had one canister of gas to re-inflate the tyre. Nonetheless I managed to get the tyre fixed and borrow a pump, following lunch and a tasting, having eaten my lunch with my hands covered in bike oil and dirt! Punctures and repairing them, took me back to my childhood where you seemed to spend more time fixing your bike than actually riding it! Having done this we were able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon including a trip to Villa Maria. We did however get chatting to the lady who was going to the UK for a wedding and lost track of time (by distracting the pourer you get more), following this we had to cycling back in the pitch black once the sun had set with no lights, which turned into a bit of an ordeal to say the least but we did get off the road every time we saw or heard a car coming. (Mums, that last bit was for you!). We dropped off the bikes to a very concerned and apologetic man (I think he thought we had stolen them rather than being concerned about our wellbeing)! Having done this and being completely sober we decided to head to the pub for some food and some drinks to steady the nerves. Curiously enough we slept like babies that night but I think a day of cycling interspearsed with drinking will do that to you! The days stats finished something liked this: 25 miles cycled/walked, 30+ wines tasted, 6 vineyards visited, 1 lunch, 2 punctures and 2 people who would struggle to sit down for the next couple of days!!! The following day we set off early and caught the ferry from Picton without any issues. The day was beautiful and the views from the top of the ferry were amazing!

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Photos

At the top of Queenstown Hill
"It's not a competition! Honest!"