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Published: November 9th 2008
Hi everyone,
We hope your all well. You'll be happy to know that the last few weeks for us hasn't been sun, sun, sun! It has in fact been sun, snow, rain, cloud, just about every season in the last 2 weeks!!
It falls to me unfortunately to try to put in to words the last few fantatstic weeks we've had in New Zealands south Island. I'm not sure you can really do it justice, the views, scenery and how away from it all we've felt.
We arrived in Christchurch, staying briefly overnight to update our blogs, play on the internet and have a kebab. We had booked a Wicked Campervan a few weeks before hand when we were in Bangkok and had got a top deal on it. As you can all tell by now, i was more than happy, although with a little trepidition we went to pick it up not quite knowing what it was going to be like, a clapped out old banger was what we had in mind so we were pleasently surpised when we were given a Toyota MPV, with the back ripped out, table and storage installed with a little kitchen in
the back, 2 collapsable chairs and table, and ittle gas cooker all supplied. The only minor problem with it was the girl like graffitti all over the van proclaiming us 'top shoppers' and 'if women could rule the world, we would, we just don't want to, we want to shop'. I was a little deflated having seen photo's of Ross in his campervan in Australia. I wanted lewd comments down the sides, colour etc etc. I actually got shopping bags and wrapped gifts. Carol of course loved it and we drove in 'I Shop' with me hunkering down in the passenger seat hoping people wouldn't think we were the budget equivalant of Thelma and Louise.
Within an hour we had shopped (as the van dictated to us) for our groceries, filled with fuel collected our bags, and made out of Christchurch.
We had decided on our first destination of Kaikoura, a small town around 3 hours north of Christchurch , attracted by the promise of seals, Whales, Orca, and dolphins. We headed out of town, ably directed by my (inaccurate) sense of direction south. After some hasty turns and choice swear words we were on our way again. After
New Zealand Fur Seal
At Kaikoura pennisulaless than an hours driving we were soon out of the built up areas and out into the green rolling hills of the countryside. Oohs and aahs soon filled the car pretty much like a cheap fire display. After a few hours driving we had discovered that our fellow 'Wicked Campers' hit the horn and waved when passing, the rival campers like Escape, spaceships would resolutely look ahead and ignore the fact we were driving by. Apparantly we were in the midst of some campervan snobery!!
Some 3 hours later we had found a campsite sandwiched between the mountains and ocean. We had fur seals off the shore basking on rocks, bright sunshine and a new toy to play with! As it was late afternoon we unpacked trhe van, stowed all our gear, sorted out our kitchen units and set about cooking some dinner. Unfortunately at this point it started to rain so we spent the night in the van playing scrabble and drinking a bottle of wine. I also discovered that for me in was the commencement of a lot of headbanging. Thats not the sort Kit enjoys, but rather me hitting my head on the roof.
The next day we drove back up to Kaikoura (we stayed 16km south as it was cheaper!!) and went to have a look at the various activities the whale watching and dolphin swimming were the same price so it was no contest, Swimming with the dolphins was the way forward! Unfortunatley because of the weather all trips were canelled on that day, so we would have to wait overnight and go the next day. We decided to go on the 5.30am trip as the women said the dolphins were more playful early in the morning. We agreed, as much as we could then get an early start on the road fterwards!!
We explored town, drove up to the point to watch the seals at the colony, and went to a sheep shearing show to pass time. It does turn out that 50% of the sheep population of New Zealand (thats 8 million) are actually Romney sheep from our very own Romney Marsh. We felt more at home in New zealand than before!! The show was quite entertaining, i got a new wig, carol hugged and would not let go of the lamb and we got to see a boit of
NZ's biggest industry!
We stayed that night just a bit out of town ust by the beach and built a fire out of driftwood on the beach, and ended up eating Paua (a type of mollusc $100/kg!!) with a New Zeland Politician who had sunk his boat because he hit a whale. It was a little bizarre, but the Paua was lovely, cooked with butter and Garlic on our fire!!
The next day was one of the great highlights of the 2 weeks we headed out to sea just gone 6, clad in full wet suits, gloves, boots, hoods, mask and flippers to try and find some Dusky Dolphins to jump into the cold pacific ocean with. The storm that had come in when we arrived in Kaikoura had completely passed leaving us with bright sunshine and warm sun as we headed out, the snow capped mountains framing the rising sun. Within 20 mins we had reports that a pod had been found further inland so the boat turned and headed back down the coast. We soon saw the ocean literally alive with dolphins! Jackpot! we had over a hundred in one big group. It turned out the bad
weather had been in our favour as they all wanted to come and play in the morning sun. They were jumping out the ocean, side splashing, back splashing, spinning 360 deg in the air, what a display!! I have to admit we were a bit nervous jumping in after all the Pacific at this point is swarming with life due to the cold antartic currents hitting the ram pacific water in a dep ocean trench. Didn't really fancy looking down and seeing a massive killer whale, sperm whale or whatever beneath us! However in we went, the boat dropping us in in the pods path. They gave us some very handy tips in the briefing to attract and interact as much with the dolphins as possible. We had to
- make noises like a dolphin (squeek, squeel and emit high pitched noises)
- Swim like a dolphin (bad butterfly swimming!!)
- swim underwater (it was fckin cold!!)
- Sing (i can't)
- maintain eye contact whilst swimming in circles, sounds like multi tasking to me!)
The next hour was spent jumping in and out of the cold water, moving in front of the pod and jumping in again. there were points when our
Carol and the lamb
She wouldn't let go. Notice child in background after being swatted out of the way!! vision underwater was filled with dolphins swimming towards you, around you, past you, under you, maintaianing eye contact worked as they played longer with you and diving underwater and snorkelling with them was superb, as long as you didn't choke on the cold water! The display on the surface was a sgood, if you looked up you could see fins shooting around (a little nerve wracking some times after growing up with Jaws) and then dolphins jumping up and out of the water all around. For the both of us it was a brilliant unforgetable experience that will long stay with us. Good Advice from Karen, thanks for the tip!! We finally got out for the last time, cold but with high spirits.
An hour later we were back on the road heading north for the Marlborough sounds. We arrived early afternoon, stocked up on some supplies and started down the Queen Charlotte drive. WOW! The views were soemthing else, bright blue fjords (sounds) stunning forest scenery and brilliant driving roads winding up and down, around the hills. We decided to head into the sounds off the main roads and eventually made it to a DOC campsite (department of
Me so Horny
complete with hair. First time in years, yes, I know. Conservation) 50km off the main road. The DOC sites were basic, with just toilets and tap water available. They arent' staffed so there is a 'honesty box' for the camp fee.
We quickly parked up by the waters edge, struck up conversation with some fellow wicked campers and whilded away the evening attempting to fish, having a camp fire, and have a few cold beers.
We spent the next day at the campsite due to some car problems, and headed out late in the afternoon to the main road staying again overnight in a DOC site but with hot showers this time! This sort of set the trend we would stay on basic campsites every other night and then pay for a better one the next night to shower and clean up. The last few months of dusty travel have made us used to this kind of living and to be honest some of the views when we wake in the morning have been more than worth it!!
Following this we decided to have a days driving to get onto the West Coast, the thing is driving in New Zealand is an absolute pleasure. All the roads lead through
Me and my fire
I shop hiding in the background national parks offering esquisite views, springs, brooks, forest, majestic waterfalls and mountain vistas. We meandered through Rai national park, stopped in laidback Nelson for a few hours and made our way down through Nelson Lakes National Park. We stopped at Bullers gorge, walked over the longest swing bridge in NZ, walked through the sesmic fault of the 1939 earthquake, whizzed back across the gorge on a flying fox and then wound our way along the Bullers gorge until we hit the coast. At this point we still had some sun left so we headed south towards Punkaika for our overnight stop. Along the way Carol grew in excitement as we encountered road signs warning us of Penguins on the road. We didn't see any (probabaly a good thing!) but enjoyed the sight of the Tasman Ocean crashing in with giant waves hitting the shore, apparantly it's like California (the Big Sur??), i've never been so have no idea, and Carol was confused as it didn't!!
We stopped overnight, and rose early to get to the Pancake rocks just down the road. Through some marvel of geoology the rocks are formed in stacks, looking much like.........yes...........pancakes. The weathering process and
Dusky Dolphins in the sea
after we swam with them they put on quite a show the constant pounding of the ocean has formed these stacks into some weird and wonderful shapes, complete with blowholes where at high tide the ocean surges through the caves and out above the waiting tourists for a free shower!
We started to notice at this point the rather imaganitive and graphic roadsides the Kiwis seem to favour to discourage people from driving whilst drunk. The words 'DRINK DIE' were plastered along the roads and graphic images of crumpled wreckage and bodies at what seemd like every 20KM
We hit the road again heading further south to reach Glacier Country, the
Franz Josef and Foz Glaciers reach down from the southern alps towards the ocean to an altitude of only 300m above sea level. Apparantly they are 2 of only 3 glaciers that reach down through temperate rainforest. The other is the Morino Glacier in Patagonia which we will be visiting in a few months! We arrived late early afternon in Franz Josef and quicky learned about the Glacier rivalry in the area when we started asking questions like 'which one is best to climb' 'which has the best views' 'best experience' etc etc. Turns out they each love thier
own glacier more than the other!! We decided on Franz Josef half day hike, the steepest glacier of the 2.
We found a quality campiste with free hot spa, good bar and TV lounge, Carol set about winning the Bingo for the $50 bar tab and a good night followed. However we also had in mind the 7am rise to get to the glacier plus all the exertion we were to go though the next day. So we didn't stay up too late and woke up fresh the next morning (thats cause it was cold!!) and headed into town to get ready for the tour.
Before we knew it we were decked out in big waterproof trousers, jackets, snow boots, holding our clampons (ice grips) and looking half like we knew what we was doing! We got on the bus, headed up towards the glacier and started out on the 45 in walk to the ice face. We were soon there, clamped on the grips to the bottom of our boots and started the climb up the front face of the glacier. We got quite high on the galcier face but both of us wished we had done the full
day hike and got right up into the glacier. However we got plenty of good shots and saw some brilliant ice features, guliies, cracks where the ice was spreading inot the wider vally, and climbing the glacier was fun as well as a good bit of excercise.
We finished off in the early afternoon so promptly headed down to Fox Glacier 20k fuether down the road. It was just as fascinating and we could get closer to the Ice from the road. From here we headed further south to get some good views of Mount Cook from Matheson Lake. We lunched and waited at the lake for the clouds to lift so we could see the mountain reflected in the lake. It wasn't to be as it stayed gloomy and we're going to be leaving NZ without seeing the biggest peak Mt Cook. Ah well, plenty of other fascinating things to see! We hit the road south late in the afternoon deciding to head out for a Penguin colony out at Jacksons bay. We thought we had enough fuel for the 48k drive trhere, 48k back but it was tight! We gopt there quite late and with no camping
options we stopped at the side of the road by the ocean and cooked some dinner before turning in for the night.
From here it started to rain heavily for the next day for the drive south to Queenstown. We made it back to the main road so we get some well needed fuel for te run south through the 2 biggest lakes in new zealand. We stopped at a couple of waterfalls on the way, running from the car to the falls, taking a photo and back again!
Luckily by the time we hit Queenstown we had clear skies and sun again! We stopped just on the way to satisfy my geekiness and see some Lord of the Rings Locations, to be honest we got there and looked confused as we didn't have a clue. It seems that a book is needed as we managed to sneak a look at one in shp and figure the scenes out at last! Carol is of the opinion that giant hoardings should be put up with details!! I agree!
So Queenstown is the Extreme sports capital of New Zealand, but to be honest all the activities are available at most locations.
We toyed with a number of things before realising that we was probabaly spending the money here, because we were here and settled on seeing some sights and saving the money for South America instead! We got the cable car to the viewpoint and raced on the luges downhill (same as sentosa, but i won!!!) and went out for our first meal in a a while sitting in a a decent pub with good food was a great way to relax and was well deserved after cooking on a gas bottle for a week!
We headed further soouth towards Te Anu before making our way North to one of New Zealnds top attractions, the Milford Sound. From Te ANau it's a 200K round trip along some of the best scenery new zeland has to offer. We headed out late afternon kowing that thgere was plenty of camping options along the way. We checked a few sites before settling at a DOC campsite beneath the mountains for an overnight stop. It was so quiet at night, picture perfect!! Thre alst part of the drive was over the moutain pass where we drove below the snow clad peaks before driving through
the Homer tunnel towrds Milford Sound. From here we went out on a cruise out of the sound where the scenery was breathtaking. I'll let the photo's do the talking!! The cruise was superb, but we had to head back as we needed a good shower by this point, so hit back to Te ANau for the night stopover.
We hang around the next day to meet up with a friend from our Travels, Del. He worked the boats on the Doubtful sounds and wanted us to go on an overnight cruise for free. But as wehadn't seen him for a while we declined and instead sat in, had a drink and watched films in the warm! Don't get me wrong camping is brilliant and we both love it, but offered the comforts off home was an offer we was not going to easily give up! It turned out to be a good idea as looking out the window the next morning we saw 3" of snow!! thank god we weren't out in the van, we would of been freezing!
With luck on our side we decided to head south with Del to the Catlins National Park and
WARNING
Penguins crossing the lovley Curio Cove. After a 3 hour drive we found some accomdation which was basically a beach house for 8 people. It was superb! The owners left you to it, came round at 7pm to get the money then left again! What was going to be 1 night quite easily turned to 2! As it was Guy Fawkes night we stocked up on Fire works, some drinks and went about scaring the local wildlife with rockets galore! We had 2 late nights catching up with Del and meeting everyone that came thought he house in the next 2 days. We had a fire in the lounge so that was going both nights, we had a proper kitchen with Carol making a beautiful Venison Chilli Con Carni from the vension Del had brought down with him (he went hunting the week before and had bagged a wild deer) and explored the local national park.
Without doubt the second evening was THE highlight for carol. We went down to the local beach whichj was a ancient petrified forest in the faint hope of seeing a penguin. So we got there and walked to the beach, and there it was, a
Yellow Eyed Penguin wandering down the beach!! WOW! Carol went a little gaga as you can see from the photo's with the penguin at one point jumping over rocks not 3 feet away from here. It seemed completely unfazed by us being there and quite happily (with happy feet) went about his business. Another one popped out of the sea behind us and joined his buddy on the beach. Apparantly there are only about 150 breeding pairs of this penguin in NZ so we were quite happy to see them, especially as it had become something of a quest for Carol. Or obsession, bit of both i think!! Eventually the cold drove us away quite happy!
We left Del the next day with quite a drive in froont of us back to Christchurch heading north something like 400km in 1 day. We stopped at some places along the way. Diverting to Jacks blowhole and hiking for an hour across boggy sheep fields just to get there at low tide and a lack of blowing. Rather dispirited we got back to the car and hit out again for Dunedin to stop for lunch.
Late evening found us finally back
in Christchurch ready to reluctantly give back I shop, our faithful companion after 2 weks on the road, nearly 3000km driven, 1 flat battery, lots of good memories, and people thinking 2 girls should be driving the car.
We washed and cleaned here this morning walking away from the hire place feeling homeless and carless. Which we are. Again.
We've had a absolutley brilliant time here in New Zealand, and are dissapointed not to have a bit longer, but Aukland for a few days and then onto...........South America, a bit of an unknown for us both out of any comfort zone!! But from here we start moving closer to home instead of further away.......doh.
Lots of Love to everyone
Rich and Carol xxxxxxx
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ma and pa
non-member comment
love the car
great great blog ! the car was great colour it realy looked good next to you. nan and ga ga thought it was funny . so whats wrong with pink .? and the bit about shoping should be put on the side of my car.. At least you could not loose it in a car park. i bet carol thought it was o.k , i would. Looks all breathtaking. so still injoy next part of your journy. Love ma and pa nan and ga ga .