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I don’t think there’s enough superlatives to describe the South Island scenery so you'll find a lot of “stunning”, “beautiful” and “amazing”s in this entry! I remember when we came to NZ in 2000 thinking that whilst the S Island was lovely, it seemed to be mainly forested mountains without much variety. Well... I take it all back! With a lot more time, we really had the chance to appreciate the views and found that, unlike Australia in particular, the landscape changes around every corner, constantly giving something new to gasp and wonder at.
After the mad panic to get a ferry (and get reimbursed for booking the wrong day) we arrived safely at Mark and Steph Hislop's farm in Kaikoura. Our first day on the South Island started pretty well. About 10km out of Kaikoura town is a small sign for a place called Ohau Falls. Fortunately we had local insider knowledge (ie Steph and her mother Jan) that this is a nursery for baby seals whose mothers leave them here to play whilst they go out to sea to fish. It was amazing! There were 30-40 baby seals swimming, flipping and chasing each other. They were also very
inquisitive and came almost close enough to touch. Later we walked the Kaikoura Peninsula, sea on both sides and mountains in the background - a great combination.
Joe and I managed a walk on our own the next day - up to Hinau Falls on Mt Fyffe, where we were followed by some cheeky fan-tail birds. Saturday, we got up early to “help” with the milking and after breakfast Mark and co took Joe for his first sea-fishing trip, whilst Steph and I took the kids to feed the huge eels in the local creek. Joe had a great time, and the best catch of the morning - 1 blue cod, 1 barracuda and some perch. In the afternoon we went out whale watching, and despite only seeing one sperm whale (which doesn’t do a lot - just sits on the surface “re-ozygenating” for 10 mins before flipping its tail as it dives), we did see loads of dolphins, both Common and Hector’s, which swam all around the boat for ages, as well as a seal eating a barracuda and an island full of spotted shags.
On Sunday, after church, we took our kind hosts out to a
Thai restaurant for a thank you lunch, and I went to bed early to ensure I would be up for THE NEXT DAY - the long awaited DOLPHIN SWIM!!! Owen, our guide, asked me how many dolphins I was expecting to see. I replied that we had seen about 25 on Saturday so thought about that number would be right. He announced to the other dozen passengers that “Esther thinks there will be 25 dolphins, but on our first trip this morning we had nearly 400!” That was very exciting news! Plus the dolphins had kindly settled in the next bay over and were very close to shore which meant we found them quickly and had an hour in the water with them. We were told that it was our job to entertain the dolphins not the other way round so we had to keep singing and diving around them, which must have looked very strange to any observers. 400 dolphins swimming almost close enough to touch is an awe-inspiring experience. They were really playful and responded well to my yodelling. When they came close, I also tried to make eye contact and get them chasing me in circles. Needless
to say, I was very happy.
We left Kaikoura the next day, stopping again at the baby seals on the way, and eventually arriving at Nelson on the north end of the South Island, where we stayed for a few days. First day we headed up the coast to Golden Bay, stopping at a lookout on Takaka Hill which had great views and unusual rock formations, before heading on to a salmon farm. After a few problems with casting off and lines getting tangled we got the hang of it and managed to catch 4 between us. We had them filleted and smoked which provided us with meals for the next couple of days. Next stop was the Labyrinthe Rock Maze, a natural maze where kids have left various toys for others to find. Finally we stopped at Pu Pu Springs which dispenses apparently the purest water in the world (although you’re not allowed to drink it) - 40 bathtubs per second!
The next day we visited Founders Park - a recreated early village from the 1870s, complete with church, bank, fire station etc. On Friday we caught the 10:30am shuttle boat from Kaiteriteri and headed into Abel
Tasman National Park, another beautiful part of the world! Highlights included Split Apple Rock and Pinnacle Island complete with more playing seals and lots of cormorants. We got off at Tonga Bay where we wandered along the beach and I climbed up the headland a bit, before catching the boat back. Another day we went to a “Touch the Sea” Aquarium with a big ray that kept swimming by wanting to be stroked (feels very slimey yet muscular) and snapper that seemed to enjoy a belly rub!
On Monday we headed towards the Nelson Lakes, and did a walk at Lake Rotoiti before deciding to take a 4WD track to another lake, Rotoroa, instead of the highway. It looked fairly short on the map (about 5 miles) but it took us an hour to negotiate the very bumpy, rocky, narrow, winding and steep path!! It was fun although we were nervous that we were going the right way. It was worth it though for the beautiful views of the lake at the end.
Tuesday we drove through the Buller Gorge, stopping at the Swingbridge (the longest in NZ) before heading down to Punakaiki, otherwise known as the Pancake
Rocks (look at the photos and you’ll see why, although Charlie said he couldn’t!) which we explored on Wednesday, before calling into the kiwi house at Hokatika. Here the kids fed yet more eels (they were HUGE - all female, up to 100 years old and all barren as interestingly eels die after they spawn!) and we saw 2 Northern Brown kiwis, which are actually much larger than you think.
By Thursday we had got as far as Fox Glacier (about half way down the West Coast) and did a fun walk as close as we could to the actual ice since they won’t let young kids go on it. On Friday morning I got up to try and see the early morning reflections in Lake Matheson, which are supposed to be lovely and can include Mount Cook, but unfortunately it was raining and foggy. Instead we headed further south to Wanaka, over the Haast Pass and past some great waterfalls and more lovely lakes. In Wanaka, we went to Puzzling World which was really interesting, particularly the room showing the different illusion and perspective tricks as used in Lord of the Rings (see the photos). Beautiful autumn colours
and hanging cloud down by Lake Wanaka.
Next we drove to Queenstown over the lovely Crown Ranges, the highest sealed road in New Zealand - more amazing views! Unfortunately it rained quite a bit in Queenstown so we went indoor mini-golfing and swimming. It was a bit brighter by Tuesday so we ventured out to Arrowtown and the Chinese Settlement. On Wednesday we went for a drive into the stunning Skippers Canyon, which is quite narrow with steep sides and long drops (apparently doubled as the Road to Mordor). We headed from there up to Te Anau but had to detour 20km due to flooding on the road. It continued raining all the way to Milford Sound, and for the first day we were there, but that made the many waterfalls cascading down the mountains absolutely awesome. And the sun came out for our last day - the day we had decided to go on the boat trip - hoorah! Beautiful clear blue skies which gave us great reflections. More amazing views on the drive out including fantastic reflections on Fergus and Mirror Lakes.
Will conclude the second half of the South Island soon...
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