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Published: August 6th 2007
Gotcha!!!!!
50 tonnes, yet so graceful!! our second sperm whale waves good bye as he dives back to the depthsChristchurch...where am I??
Christchurch, our first stop as we flew into New Zealand, is around 11,000 miles from the UK and considering that the world is about 24,000 miles around its middle we really couldn't have been much further from 'home' - so to be greeted by 5 members of my family as we arrived from Sydney - having spent exactly (to the day) 7 months on the road was a little strange and disorientating.
We had been looking forward to meeting up with my Mum, Dad and brother (aka Winn, Mozzer and Weener boy...yep they are a little bit crazy, but I love em) for months now after they planned their 2 week holiday to coincide with our time on the New Zealand's South Island - but when my Aunty and Uncle stood waiting for us at our first night's accommodation my bearings were thrown completely out and for a moment we could have been at a family 'do' back in Manchester (even the weather was doing a fantastic impression of 'oop north'). After drinking until 6pm my confusion worsened as we all went out for a curry and if it wasn't for the stamp in my passport
The Parrys (plus one Lyons-Davis) on tour 2007
Kaikoura beach, just after our succesful whale watch trip L-R Matt, Mozza, Carla, Winn, Chris that looked at before we hit the sack I would have gone to sleep not knowing where the hell I had spent the last 24 hours.
The following morning, after our goodbyes to Jim and Jean we headed to Christchurch - which does a fantastic impression of 'middle England' with it's punting friendly River Avon and Eaton-esque Christchurch college - before heading out into the vast, unknown countryside and the mountains, fjords and glaciers we had all come to see.
Our East Coast adventure in Australia had made us old hands at the campervan experience - so the thought of another 2 weeks on the road excited us both - and when we collected our 'van' on day 2 the contrast to Martha couldn't have been greater. The sheer size of the thing meant that we immediately christened her 'Geronimo' and after marvelling at her 3 double beds, plasma screen DVD player, shower/toilet room and integrated air freshener unit, we hit the road heading for our first stop Kaikoura.
3 hours later (30 minutes of which was spent trying to navigate our way out of Christchurch itself) we arrived at our first campsite and booked ourselves onto
Queenstown and the Remarkables
A beautiful town, in stunning surroundings with everything from crown green bowling to bungy jumping the following days whale watch tour before spending our first night in the luxury of Geronimo, awakening to a family of ducks and worsening weather approaching from the mountains which backdropped Kaikoura.
At this point we exercised the freedom that campervanning gives you and decided to cancel the trip into what would have been an angry Pacific Ocean with force 10 gales and headed instead to Hamner - a small settlement in the mountains built around natural thermal springs. After checking into campsite number 2 we headed to the springs where we rested our bones in 41 degree outdoor pools which smelt like eggy farts beacuse of the sulphur which naturally occurs.
That night we ate New Zealand lamb shanks and awoke the following morning to bright blue skies and headed back to Kaikoura to what proved to be one of the most unforgettable days of our whole trip.
After I had doubled the reccommended intake of sea sickness tablets we all jumped aboard our state of the art catamaran and after a briefing from our Maori guide headed into the mighty South Pacific in search of one of the biggest animals on Planet Earth. At over
Extreme gnarley to the max dude...or summit like that
We get into the XXXtreme spirit on top of Bobs peak overlooking Queenstown 50 tonnes the Sperm Whale isn't quite the biggest of all the Whales, but of the group which eat using their teeth it's the biggest (a Sperm Whale can actually catch and swallow a 4m long shark....apparently!) oh, and it also has the biggest head in the animal kingdom, which early fishermen thought was filled with Sperm (?), hence the name.
All these facts were great, but at 32 knots on a choppy ocean I must admit I may have missed a bit, so when we stopped and the Captain stuck a satellite dish on a pole into the water - announcing a whale was 800 metres below and on his way to the surface (all this from clicks?) I was glad to get out on deck for some fresh air. The couple of false alarms that followed only added to the excitement before a shot of water rose skyward and a long black back as big as our 50 seat boat arrived at the surface.
It was breathtaking but also humbling to be in the presence of something so huge and when we caught a glimpse of our second and even larger (50 tonne) Sperm Whale the boat
Now I know NewZealands meant to be cold...but this is ridiculous
Matt marvels at his Chilli Vodka and passionfruit cocktail in minus 10 conditions - Queenstown got right behind him to give us the prefect view of that massive tail as he dived back to the depths below.
The poor old seal colony we passed on the way back to land didn't get much attention after that, although they certainly had a stronger aroma than the Whales - and just as we had returned inside content on a succesful trip we were alerted to one more sight and sent back outside for what proved to be an even greater experience than the whales themselves.
We have seen a few dolphins already on our trip so the cry of "dolphins" didn't send me outside too quick - but when I got there 3 of them sped past the boat in formation. 3 quickly became 10 and 10 quickly became 50 until eventually there were well over 100 dusky dolphins swimming around the boat, all seeming to want to attract the attention of the people onboard. Some of them leapt alongside the boat, some did somersaults and some even started mating - and the strangest thing was that there was no food in the water, they all just turned up to entertain 50 tourists on a
Home sweet home
Geronimo, Winn, Carla, Mozza and Chris boat, as if it was something they all loved doing - I swear that if I had held a hula hoop over the side of the boat they would have all lined up to jump through it....thank god for sea sickness tablets!
The following day was to be Good Friday and when we arrived 200km further north at Blenheim we were told that the wine tours we had travelled there to do wouldn't be operating over the Easter weekend. Based on this, as well as the fact that Blenheim and the campsite we were on had been taken over by Military vehicle enthusiasts we decided to change plans and after one night we left what felt like wartime France, bound for the West Coast and Glacier country.
Franz Josef Glacier
The drive across the South Island, although long, gave us our first taste of New zealands mountain country which basically consists of 3 types of scenery - beautiful....amazing...and breathtaking. One minute you are driving alongside azure blue fast flowing rivers and the next you are passing through and above the clouds
The south islands glacier country lives up to expectationsover single lane bridges spanning vast
Sunset over Frans Josef
The south islands glacier country lives up to expectations gorges. We arrived at the settlement of Fran Josef as the sunset and got Chris to hide in Geronimo reducing the cost of our site by a tenner (we vowed to treat the two weeks with my family as a holiday from budgeting, but old habits die hard).
The following days low cloud scuppered our plans to take a helicopter to the glacier so instead we took the walking trail giving us a close up view of the glacier face. Glaciers have pretty much shaped the South Island over the last million or so years so it was good to see one of the few remaining examples before global warming claims yet another victim.
After another long drive we arrived in Queenstown - a small yet lively town built around a section of the lake Wakatipu and a destination that is touted as the best place to base yourself on the South Island. It didn't dissappoint so we immediately booked 4 nights on campsite number 5 and set out the following morning to explore.
With it being Easter Sunday we pushed the boat out by all having Easter Eggs Benedict and bowls of coffee in a lovely cafe
Thats entertainment
on of the hundreds of dusky dolphins who performed for us in Kaikoura near the lake.
Believe the hype folks, Queenstown is stunning!! It's picturesque town centre lies between the crystal blue lake and the massive 'Remarkables' mountain range which turn deep red as the sun sets and later in the year turn white with snow, becoming one of New Zealands top ski resorts. It may be because of this that Queenstown has a quaint Alpine ski resort feel to it and it's amazing that considering it's the home to so many extreme sports including the World's first bungy site (still in operation) it still has a lovely laid back, relaxed feel to it.
We made full use of our 3 full days and took the gondola (a small but very steep cable car) up to Bob's Peak for the fantastic view and luge track - which is like downhill/freefall go karting. Me, Carla, Chris and Mozzer also went white water rafting down the Kawarau river (which was used in one of the Lord of the Rings films) with a load of American 'Spring breakers' (cue generic whooping, OH YEAHS!!! and paddle slapping). The time of year meant the rapids weren't as 'extreme' as after the snow melts in Spring -
Anybody remember that East17 video
Carla aka Brian Harvey at the minus 5 bar in Queenstown but when they allowed me and Chris to dive in and take the third set of rapids floating on our backs we both nearly didn't make it back and had to be dragged back into the raft still coughing up water and last night's beer.
That night we all ate Japanese at one of Queenstown's many restaurants and then went to the Minus 5 bar, where they supply gloves and a huge Eskimo coat and allow only 30 minutes in a bar completely carved out of ice with a temperature constantly between -10 and -5. The vodka cocktails were served out of solid ice tumblers and only 3 per person were allowed due to the carbon dioxide levels at such low temperature, needless to say we all emerged a bit pissed and upon returning to Geronimo me and Chris rewrote and performed the classic Right Said Fred hit 'Deeply Dippy' (extract 'Deeply, dippy about your table lamps, oh my god whip off your pantry pants')
The hangovers that followed were cured as we went on our third wine tasting tour of the trip where my now expertise not your average family night outpicked out a Merlot from the
Excuse me ! this drinks warm
brightly coloured vodka in minus 10 conditions! not your average family night out much more commonly grown Pinot Noir (this much impressed and surprised our guide Kirstey). After 4 wineries, a huge gourmet lunch and not a single pint to be seen for my wine hating Brother we returned to Geronimo and all lay down for a bit!!!!
next stop Fjordland and Milford sound, where the scenery is meant to get even more spectacular!!!!... cant wait !
peace
MandC (plus 3)
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Trev
non-member comment
End Of An Era
Great Blog!The scenery looks breathtaking.I new New Zealand was supposed to be beautiful but it sounds even better than I had imagined and you have lots more to come.It must have been great when you all met up after so long(wish we were there)must have been some experience in the ice bar. My old Granada alas has now given up the ghost after 16 years of loyal service the gearbox has finally coughed its last cough.Although still driveable its last journey will be to the old knackers yard in the sky.Think about it,Carla was 12 years old and Chelsea were a crap football team when we welcomed it into the, family, so many holiday trips,camp sites and airport journeys have now been resigned to the history books. Love Ya All Trev X