Blogs from Mount Cook National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 2

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Oops, We’d only had the hire camper 24hrs and already broke it. Another car flashed us and I looked in the mirror only to see the power chord trailing along the road minus the connector. We were looking forward to flying into New Zealand. After months of trains and buses we were excited to have our own transport, a Toyota HiAce camper. We pre-booked this in the UK and because of the good price we received, didn’t expect too much. But it turned out to be newer and more spacious than we expected. As we were in Christchurch, a major NZ city we chose a campsite just a bus ride away from the city centre. Back in 2011, Christchurch suffered a major earthquake which killed a 185 people. I remember seeing the reports on the news ... read more
Lake Tekapo
Christchurch Trams
Overlooking Akaroa


R : After Queenstown, it was into the Central Otago region. It's autumn time here now so the trees are turning a wonderful mixture of oranges and reds and it's really cooling down. We headed into Gibbston Valley first, which is home to the first of the regions wine producing valleys. The first winery was closed for a wedding, but had great views over the autumnal valley. We stopped for a picture and headed on to Gibbston wines where we began our wines of the day. Luckily Dave was driving and he doesn't really drink wine, so he was mainly occupied taking photos and eating cheese. The region is known for its Pinot Noir and its different from those you find in the Malborough region. At Gibbston Valley wines we had a four wine taster, and ... read more
Survey of barrels
Müller Hut
Hooker Lake


My buddy Dan and I cancelled our second day in Wanaka and headed out to the highway to hitch a ride to Mt. Cook. The bus there is absurdly expensive (101 dollars for a three hour trip), so we had to figure out another way. We knew it would be difficult, since there were two of us and Mt. Cook is more of a resort than it is a town. Just when we were giving up hope (after an hour and a half) three French girls picked us up, and after telling them what we'd heard about it, decided to check it out for themselves and drove us all the way there. Captain Cook and Abel Tasman named half of the country after themselves, so the Tasman River runs near Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in ... read more
Valley
Highest lake
Suspension bridge


Our adventure started in Oamaru where we had arranged to pick up our bikes, van and trailer from Geoff Omnet at Smash Palace. An unusual name for a place that rents out bikes! It turned out that we were his first group through for the Alps 2 Ocean. Eight of us with an average age of 65 had started planning this trip in August 2011. We wanted a relatively easy bike ride but with exciting scenery and not too crowded. We had completed the Otago Rail Trail three years prior. There was little information at that time about the route except a website that claimed that it was 80% completed and hoped to be fully finished by March 2012 – just when we chose to go. All seemed to fit well and I found Geoff on ... read more
Bikes arriving on the other side saftely
Ready for off
Beautiful scenery on way to Breamar Station


Okay, behind in blogs and now too far out, so abbreviated end of NZ blog. Gimme a break fools. (Music: album; With a little help from my fwends - Flaming Lips) For our last full day, we set out to do a hike by the very elusive Mount Cook. We have been trying to see this mountain top from multiple cities and look outs, but clouds, timing and weather has prevented any real view. So in our minds, it doesn't really exist yet. So we drive to Mount Cook from Wanaka, and arrive at quite a posh little resort community. There's a 5 star hotel and a really nice museum at the trail heads and a gift shop. There are exhibits on the history of the mountain, including the longest, deadliest, and highest rescue efforts of ... read more


So we survived night one...just!! It was much colder than we expected so took a lot to get used to. It took us a while to get to sleep and I think we woke a bit in the night but at least we survived! And we got the most stunning view to wake up to overlooking the lake and mountains it was pretty breathtaking really. We both showered and had breakfast, brad making himself a bacon and egg sandwich on the trusty stove lol and me sticking with cereal. We had to be out the camp site by 10am and headed to Mt Cooke for trek number 2 it took us a couple of hours to get there but I just can't believe how beautiful the drive was. The place is just so so beautiful it's ... read more
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Vrijdag 28 Maart 2014: Als de wekker gaat, weet ik dat het mooie leven voorbij is. Vandaag ga ik terug de baan op. Ik bedank Ro en zoef dan de helling af richting stadskern. In de jeugdherberg haal ik men kaartjes op die ik later wel eens zal vernietigen. Ik doe nog inkopen voor ik naar het station ga. De fiets en men bagage gaat in een apart ruim. Het rijtuig waarin ik zit, is oud en van hout. De trein zit goed vol want er is een cruiseschip geland. Als we doorrijden wiebelt da trein dooreen, het is duidelijk dat het een oud model is. Vooraleer we Dunedin uit zijn stopt de trein regelmatig om groen licht te krijgen om door te rijden. Eens we op ons eigen spoor zitten, vlot de rit. We volgen ... read more
Treintje
Op de Rail Trail
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Monday 17th March - on the road in glorious sunshine as we make our way to Oamura. We stopped for coffee at Tarras which is a small community famously known as being the home of Shrek the Merino Hermit Sheep (Molly & Ellie will know all about Shrek). Our journey took us across the Lindis Pass which is one of our favourite roads - my description is 'plumped up duvets' which gives you an idea of the topography and they were a lovely golden colour in the sunlight. I had phoned Jane (my cousin Gytha's daughter) and arranged to see her for coffee in Oamura tomorrow morning. On our way we detoured over the Ben More Dam which is the biggest earth dam in the Southern Hemisphere I.e. It was constructed entirely if earth and granite ... read more
With Jane and Keegan
It's a hard life being a Sealion on the beach
Mt Cook from the bedroom balcony


I left Christchurch on the 3rd anniversary of the earthquake. After much trepidation about driving on the other side of the road, I picked up my car at the Christchurch airport and drove off to Mt Cook. For some reason I was more nervous about driving on the other side of the road than I was for my first plane solo. I figured it would just be part of the adventure. Turns out, it was somewhat anti-climatic and really didn't take me too long to adjust to driving on the other side of the road! I had been wanting to visit Mt Cook ever since the day my friend Laura drove me to the airport to leave for this trip. I had been too busy and still hadn't gotten around to buying a guide book. Laura ... read more
Lake Pukaki
Hooker Valley Trail - 1st Swinging Bridge
Hooker Valley Trail - 2nd Swinging Bridge


Almost four months of living in New Zealand and I still haven't been to the South Island. Hell, I can see it from Wellington. So close yet so far. Good thing Nimarta and I have booked an Air New Zealand grab-a-seat deal to Christchurch for the Wellington Anniversary weekend in January. Flight to Christchurch on a holiday weekend for $98 round trip. Yes, please! I don't even have to leave work early, since the flight is 6:45 from Wellington. We are trying something new today. The bus from the city to the airport takes a while and costs $9 each way and parking at the airport is highway robbery. So we are going to park in a neighborhood near the airport and walk to the airport. Brilliant, right? Actually, it is brilliant. We find a road ... read more
Container City
Road to the Southern Alps
Towards Arthur's Pass




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