New Zealand South Island by Campervan

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New Zealand, Christchurch. We got here eventually and completed the formalities with the Campervan company just after lunch. We were now in possession of a long wheelbase 'transit van´ that would be our home for 16 days as we toured around the South Island. The inspection revealed that we were to be living in relative comfort with hot showers, toilet, fridge, and hobs all running on Gas (the loo was gravity activated not gas). Should we feel the need to 'hook up´ we would then be treated to the delights of a microwave, toaster, heating and plug sockets.

The first stop was at Lake Tekapo in the Southern Alps, the scenery was a sharp contrast to the North Island and so was the weather but maybe that came with the change in season. Snow capped mountains were soon surrounding us, we were all the more aware that the campervan may end up been a bit on the chilly side this time of year. Mount Cook was next on the agenda which offered several small glaciers walks and the Hermitage Hotel, an old establishment where Sir Edmund Hillary (the first bloke to conquer Mt Everest and also on the $5 bill) based himself in preparation for his first attempt at it. We could not help but be seduced by the huge open log fire in the Hermitage post trek to the Hooker and Tasman glaciers, calling for a celebratory beer. The weather was beautiful for the walks, blue skies and a few white clouds made for some postcard picture photographs and a cold night in the van, so cold infact that the windows were frozen on the insides by the morning along with our noses!

Queenstown, billed as the adrenaline activity capital of the world was our next stop for 4 days and luckily the ski season had not quite started so the place was relatively quiet. The township is set on a lake surrounded by snow capped mountains, the only trouble is that the mountains are so steep that the sun disappears by 14:00 and then what ever warmth there was quickly dissipates. The scenery more than makes up for it though. We decided to take a bus journey to Milford Sound which is a bit like a Norwegian Fjord. It was just the other side of the Mt Cook mountain range but there is no road directly to it hence the 5 hour each way road trip from Queenstown and the reason why we got a tour bus. The driver told us some really cool stuff about New Zealand prior to European settlement.... Apparently there were no native marsupials like Rats or Possums that would eat bird eggs so the birds became the master predator and grew to huge sizes, the Moa was 3 meters tall. Then the Europeans arrived and along came the rats, this was the beginning of the end for the birds as the master race. We took a short cruise on the Milford Sound in the rain which turned the tall cliffs into gushing waterfalls, it was quite spectacular and we were also greeted with Dolphins and Seals chilling out on the rocks....extra bonus!

Queenstown is also home to the first commercial Bungee Jump from a bridge at 54 meters, it also hosts the 3^rd biggest in the world, the Nevis Bungee at 143 meters, we opted for the big one and booked the tickets. There’s no words I can put here that describe the feeling as you look over the edge into the valley below, I also cannot repeat the expletives that were discarded on the way down. 10 seconds later and it’s all over, £130 down and a t-shirt up, still well worth it. The nerves brought on by the impending doom of the jump meant we missed lunch and were starving by the time we got back to Queenstown, time for the famous Fergburger!

Wanaka was the next place on the list about two hours north of Queenstown. It’s a smallish place with a lot less tourists than Queenstown but still as beautiful set exactly the same around a lake surrounded by mountains. A spot of Downhill Mountain Biking ensued in the Sticky Forest which was surprisingly dry followed by a nice curry which we rustled up in the van and yes it stunk for days but...... the smell was intentional as we had done some fish a few days back and the smell was now rancid and lingering. The smell of curry for the following days was like a breath of fresh air!

We had heard rumours of a bespoke cinema just outside of town called Cinema Paridiso. It only showed 3 or 4 films a day on the one and only screen but to do it justice it was the best place to watch a film EVER. The seating was on old sofas, armchairs, aircraft seats or even an old morris 1000 with no roof. Mid way through the film there was an interval for some homemade ice cream and cookies or a pizza (pre order only). It beats the Cineworld any day.

After a long drive we eventually made it to the west coast, specifically Fox Glacier which is the town’s name as well as the physical block of ice. Franz Josef Glacier was 30 minutes north and was fed from the same mountain range, between them the catchment area for the snow fall was about the size of Christchurch. If that fresh snow survives one summer without melting then it get converted to blue ice and starts its journey in the glacier. 50 years later the ice makes it to the terminal face at the bottom of the mountain where it cracks off and melts into the glacial lake / river. We walked to the terminal face of both the glaciers which was not as cold as it sounds, so we decided to book on to do the 4 hour glacier tour at Fox. Once on top of the thing the cold really sets in, the cold air rolls down the ice at a steady 18Mph day and night, it’s not long before the toes are numb. The ice is 400 meters thick in places and there were some amazing ice caves and tunnels to explore, there are also some deep crevasses which seem to be bottomless. We stayed well clear, except Nat who got told off for wondering.

We left the West Coast behind and headed north again up to Nelson and later into the Abel Tasman National Park which is on the northern end of the south island. The draw to this particular region is a 4 day hike around the coast, luckily for me it wasn’t the time of year for it. However, we still managed to fit 20km in a 6 hour extravaganza. Despite its National Park status there are still several collections of houses dotted around the trail. These lucky few were here before the park was a reserve and are allowed to renovate / modernise, some of them are really new. The only issue is that the homes are not accessible by road so all the materials need to be shipped in. We finally arrived back at the van just as dusk was creeping in, we could taste the curry when we opened the door.......!

Out of the Abel Tasman and east to Motueka where we discovered the Sprig and Fern pub. With over 20 craft ales to choose from and a warm log fire we could have stayed there all night, little did we know but this was to be the beginning of a new friendship.....Craft Ale and the brewing of it.

Anyone who has drunk a glass of white wine will have probably tasted wine from the Marlborough region of New Zealand which is noted for its Sauvignon Blanc in particular. We spent 2 days here meandering through the vines and wineries so I’ll fill you in on a separate blog....

Christchurch, following the earthquakes is a little desolate; the whole city centre is declared a red zone and is fenced off. The buildings are classed as unsafe until they can be made safe or pulled down; the issue is there are 3 or 4 tremors every week and some require the buildings to be re-assessed. We were woken up by one in the night, apparently a 4.2 magnitude jolt was common place, it was like the one in the UK a few years ago but a bit stronger. It felt like someone had been shaking the bed for a few seconds. We did manage to find a Pub outside the red zone, PommyRoy’s where we were treated to a live Jazz jam session and more craft ales.

The returning of the van was a pain as there were more fees to pay. It appears that the reason the diesel is so cheap is because its tax free as usually only farmers use it. They worked out how many miles we had done and charged us $150 in tax. I was keen to point out that I had rolled 50% of the way down the hills so their rate of MPG could not apply! Unfortunately it was in their T’s & C’s which I had not read as usual.

On the ferry to Wellington in the Queen Charlotte Sound (as in Milford Sound) there were even more dolphins following the boat for a while, there was not a ripple on the water. Once we reached the end of the Sound and reached the Cook Strait the Captain was keen to express concern on the state of the sea, which he classed as choppy (why do all captains underestimate the roughness). Choppy in this case was 15 foot swells....bring on the sick bags. We were fine but a fat trucker bloke sounded quite distressed 5 minutes after he staggered past us.

Wellington atop the Victoria lookout we could see all around the city. There were displays showing how the many earthquakes have shaped the land over the years. This place is the most like home we have found over the travels so far, one of those nice places where you simply walk around and find somewhere to eat and drink, and loads of craft ale breweries. We made our way through the North Island once again to Auckland where we left for Santiago in Chile, South America.

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