Blogs from West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 11

We're doing well - this is our second blog in two days. It's all very well dashing about NZ doing amazing things, but at some point one has to organise domestic stuff and, as Harry says, "domestic stuff is too hard for men". The motel at Wanaka was blessed with a laundry and, as luck would have it, it was a gloriously sunny day so we did our 4th big wash of the trip (just to rassure you that we're keeping ourselves tidy). Whilst watching me hanging out the washing, Harry saw a Tiger Moth flying overhead towards the local airport and he decided it was incumbent upon him to organise manly pursuits. So off we went in search of the Tiger Moth. We had an inkling that if we followed the signs to the airport ... read more

Well we hit the road early on Thursday for our two day road trip from Queenstown to Picton via the west coast. We had already planned our half way point to be Hokitika and covered 550 km to get there. First of all we stopped into Wanaka to collect our wedding photos only to find that they had already been sent on to the wedding planner in Nelson. We carried on and stopped at Makarora for our packed lunch and then on to Franz Josef Glacier where we did 3 of the walks to get views of the Glacier. One of them was walking the Glacier valley to get as close to it as possible, which wasn’t a tough walk but did get colder and harder to breathe the closer we got. My trusty grey fleece ... read more

You might remember a while back I mentioned that I'd joined a scheme called WWOOFing - Willing Workers On Organic Farms. The scheme allows travellers to go and work on farms in exchange for food, accomodation and farming experience. I joined up and managed to find a nice sounding dairy farm on the West Coast of the South Island in a little village called Whataroa. The job description was ''Milking cows, shearing sheep, some horse riding and general farm chores'' I decided it sounded okay so I set off to give it a go. When I arrived at the farm I met the family and the two other WWOOFers that were working there. There was Pete the farmer, his wife Sonia, their daughter Laura and a couple from the Czech Republic called Ivana & Joseph. First ... read more

After leaving Cromwell, we drove past Lakes Dunstan, Hawea and Wanaka, on our way to the Haast Pass. These are beautiful lakes. Paua decided that Lake Hawea was her favorite of all the ones we had so far seen. After passing the end of Lake Wanaka, the road wound upwards through bush to the Haast Pass. It didn't feel so very high up, due to the towering mountains which now surrounded us, and as we were in the midst of native forest cover. But soon the rivers were now flowing the other way, towards a hidden West Coast, so we had definitely crossed the divide! Having been robbed of a few falls viewings by bad weather on the trip south, we jumped at an opportunity to see Fantail falls in an unplanned stop. After a brief ... read more

Overnight at Murchison Follow Buller River thru gorges etc down to Westport. No time for suspension bridge / slide wire trip! Lunch picnic at Carters Beach Down coast to Greymouth, Hokitika and then Lake Kaniere where Jim & Margaret were waiting to meet us. The house is now finished (apart from the odd cupboard door) and a great place to stay. we were lucky that it was fine and next day went with them to see the Hokitika Gorge with fantastic blue water. (pic to follow)... read more