New Zealand 4

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Day 20 - Wednesday 3rd

It’s a pleasant morning, sunny and warm with some cloud. We head around Queen Charlotte Drive and Marlborough Sound to Nelson. The scenery is spectacular but Doreen doesn’t like the winding roads close to the edge of steep ravines, especially as the timber barriers seem too flimsy to save anything. We stop at a fantastic viewpoint near Havelock. David takes a walk to the summit through native bush but finds that he left the anti-midge cream in the hotel. Don’t panic! Fortunately, he gets the photos and didn’t get bitten so we survive for another day. The views around here are sublime, fantastic vistas all round.

We drop downhill to the town famous for green lipped mussels. We can’t enjoy them because we’re not staying here. Drat! An old man, in his electric buggy, his baseball cap slanted to the side is just arriving near the viewpoint, joggling along the roadside. How his machine gets up the hill we’ll never know.

As we move through the forested hills, down comes thick rolling cloud and some rain. Along come the huge logging trucks. It’s a bit spooky on tight bends. Off come the sunglasses and on go the headlamps and windscreen wipers. As we drop down to Nelson, the weather improves dramatically. It’s a lovely town on the edge of Tasman Bay. It’s surprisingly large, busy, clean and easy going. Lord Nelson gets centre stage around here in street names, like Trafalgar and Hardy. We walk around town and the gardens. Doreen gets some presents for the family, and we head back to Picton stopping for photos en route.

As we return through Havelock there’s our man in the electric buggy again, downhill in town, still weaving around. Some batteries he’s got in that vehicle!

Back at the Motel, David enters our third blog to update family and friends but again the wireless internet won’t send out our emails. They flood in well enough but we can’t respond. It’s really annoying. Sorry folks! We don't know why this is. Only once on a cable broadband connection have we managed to return emails. Honestly, we are not ingnoring you.

Day 21 - Thursday 4th

It’s another bright and sunny morning and we head south following the main railway. The road is straighter than of late. It’s not long before we are passing through the largest winery region in New Zealand, Marlborough and the town of Blenheim reputedly the sunniest town in the country. It’s more scenic than we expected with the snow topped Inland and Seaward Kaikoura Mountains. It’s warm and very dry.

There’s so much good scenery but the lack of lay-bys hinders the photography. At one spectacular bridge view, David gets out, walking back but there’s no space on the bridge to get the vista and huge trees block the view at the side. He walks quite a distance up a track near a farmhouse but still can’t get a decent view. Out comes a lovely lady at a remote farmstead to post her mail in the freestanding mailbox, USA style, and tells David he can drive up the track and get super views, which he does and there are. She asks where we are from and states her father was from Inverness but she has not been there. We tell her about Inverness and that she’d like the place.

Near Kaikoura town we come across some seals dozing in the sun. One of them is spread-eagled high on a rock that looks impossible for it to climb but it got there somehow. Beautiful gulls in a picnic spot swoop for morsels and the boss man squawks and bullies all the other gulls. It’s hilarious because he misses opportunities for food while fending off the others.
We drive a spectacular almost traffic-free route to Hanmer Springs, a delightful little town nestled amid forests and mountains. It is famous among Kiwis for its hot thermal pools and spa.

Our motel, the Settlers Inn is situated in a quiet side street but very close to the town centre. David cooks a slap-up nosh of two large Porterhouse steaks bought at the local shop for £2.84. Our motel has all the usual facilities you expect of New Zealand motels plus an electric hob, canopy extractor and air conditioning. It’s terrific value.

Our host Sally notices that David’s accent is not an Edinburgh one. He tells her he's a Geordie and she thought she recognised the link. Most of her relatives are from Hartlepool! Well! That’s the second time on holiday that David’s been linked to Hartlepool. The last time was at the historic mining town of Jerome in Arizona, USA. The volunteer at the local information office noticed and he'd also been to Hartlepool. It’s a small world.

Day 22 - Friday 5th

Our initial plans for today depend on the weather. The west coast has had some high winds and heavy rain. If the rain had remained, we were going to reverse our itinerary and head down the east coast then move west. We need not have worried because the forecast is for most of South Island to have good weather so we stick to our plans.

We set off for the west coast town of Hokitika via Lewis Pass and Greymouth. The air is clean, weather sunny and roads empty. All around are mountains, some snow topped, vast river beds, forests and exquisite vistas. You just cannot take it all in. As we near Lewis Pass the clouds increase and we experience some rain but not for long, then it’s sun all the way.

Before our brief stay in Greymouth, we stop at the derelict Brunner Mine that once provided New Zealand’s coal. Our eyes are attracted to the words ‘Tyneside Propriety Company’ who managed the mine. There must be some connection with the Newcastle upon Tyne area in the UK, because the nearby town, Dobson is a surname of north east England and the town has a working men’s club?

As we head south, we traverse two rickety single-lane bridges that also have rail lines for trains. We wonder what happens if a train comes the other way because there are no traffic lights and no place to pass. Crickey!

We find another great motel, the Bella Vista at Hokitika, all mod cons and free broadband internet. Our hosts are very friendly and helpful. Unfortunately we still can’t send emails. There’s something blocking them. Yet the spam piles in. There’s no justice.

This is a pleasant town under a cloudless sky, with a backdrop of the gorgeous central alps.

Day 23 - Saturday 6th

We decide to take a long drive to Wanaka today because it’s the weekend, we’re nearing the peak holiday season and there’s a motel of the same franchise as our hosts. They book us in advance, for two nights.

It is a good decision, there’s almost nothing on the roads for most of the journey. The views are spectacular for the whole journey with snowy mountains to our left, rainforest all around and coastal scenes. En route we stop at Franz Josef and walk to near the Glacier. We can’t get too close because floods have wiped away the path and bridge over the river. We meet a lovely couple from South Wales who are travelling in the opposite direction. We swap photo taking, travel stories and have a good laugh.

We also intended visiting Fox Glacier a few miles further south but both access roads have no entry barriers. The damage here must be worse than Franz Josef. We stop for lunch at Lake Matheson that we’ve learned normally offers fantastic views of Mt Cook and surrounding peaks but high cloud is just obscuring the view.

While there are intermittent bends, the road has long straight stretches that make driving a pleasure, except for the numerous single-lane bridges where some drivers don’t observe the priority pass rules, and the uneven bumpy sections that jolt your spine. The road repair arrangements are a joke if they weren't so dangerous.

We enter Mount Aspiring National Park, travelling along the Haast River, a fantastic drive. There are so many photo opportunities you just can’t keep up with them. No photography can record the real picture of the area.

Wanaka is a delightful little town so clean, laid back and surrounded by spectacular mountain scenery. We’ve clocked up some miles today but it was a pleasure, apart from David's dodgy back!

Day 24 - Sunday 7th

We’re now ahead of our planned itinerary and we intended taking it easy in Wanaka today. The weather, however, is forecast to deteriorate so we head for Glenorchy via Arrowtown and Queenstown. We take the Cardrona Valley and Crown Range Road. The roadside is a kaleidoscope of colours generated by wild lupins and broom-like shrubs. The area reminds us of the Scottish Borders and Northumberland but when we reach Crown Range Pass the views over Queenstown are dramatic. Our decent to Arrowtown via numerous hairpin bends spooks Doreen a little. At one viewpoint we notice a Boeing 737 coming in to land at Queenstown Airport between the mountains, a spectacular sight, especially when the plane is landing below us. Further down the road, another airplane on a different flight path, banks over tightly around a big hill to land. The passengers must be either exhilarated or messing themselves!

Arrowtown is an interesting little village with strong links to the New Zealand Gold Rush. There are reconstructed historic Chinese Gold Miner hovels, stores and external earth toilets. Part of the town has an historic main street of buildings either conserved or built in the architecture of the Gold rush. It’s a lovely place and so easy going.

We move quickly through Queenstown and head for Glenorchy. The road is bendy, hilly, has shear falls to the lake and is tight in places. Doreen is not enjoying this so David cuts short the journey and we return to Queensland. We find the Skyline Gondola. Doreen heads for shopping in the town and David climbs in a gondala and gets to a fantastic viewpoint quickly, takes the essential photos and video, including a shot of the steamship Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu, returning to Queenstown from Glenorchy, he thinks.

We meet at the car park and head back to Wanaka via the Kawarau Gorge and Cromwell. People are queuing to bungy jump off the famous Kawarau Bridge. It’s not for us. Cars go hurtling past us at passing places and we are doing 100km/hour, the maximum allowed! We pass miles of wineries and fruit farms, stopping at the Jones’s Family shop, where all the bus tours stop. We can’t get to taste the local honey because a big group of Japanese gentlemen have commandeered the tasting session.

The road gradually clears and we are drifting along enjoying the views when a police car coming towards us flashes us down, turns around and the office gives David a speeding ticket for exceeding the 100km/hour (63mph) limit. We’re really surprised because we’ve had people up our backside for miles, most overtaking and here he is branded a criminal. The officer knew it was a hire car and provides no proof of our speed as they do in the UK. David apologises and states he was unaware of exceeding the limit.

The officer is very affable and chats about us being from Edinburgh and intending to visit Dunedin. He also gives advice about where we intend visiting and the best distances to travel. But he fills in his form and we get done for $120NZ. Come on officer, give us a break, we’ve just driven 2500 New Zealand miles in a few weeks and had no problems. David takes the ticket and says “I’d like to thank you officer but I won’t.”

Bloody hell, this is more of a police state than the UK. A little warning or a rap across the knuckles might not have gone amiss? Empty straight road, downhill in an automatic, you struggle to control the speed. We aren’t a danger to anyone including ourselves. Doreen doesn’t even complain about David's driving speed and that says a lot! We’ve over 96 years of combined incident-free driving, Doreen being an ex police patrol driver! What the hell is going on? The car we hired on the North Island had cruise control which we set to the required speed limits religiously. This one doesn’t have it and it costs us dearly.

Officer, we will have spent a fortune by the time we leave this lovely country, mostly driving on fairly poor quality roads with occasional dreadful signage and appalling road repairs. You have left a bad taste in the mouth. No doubt we have contributed to your crime statistics and to New Zealand government coffers. A little savvy is sadly amiss here. What have you done about all the drunken youths leaving wheelie marks over the whole country? According to locals, the police are never around when this happens. Our motel host states that the local police give no leeway to motorists. Right!

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