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Published: January 13th 2007
Inland Road
Just a taster of the amazing scenery - my photos just don't do it justice.Back in the little camper again and on the road. It felt quite good actually and armed with some burned CDs from Natalies IPod we set off for Hanmer Springs, down the coast and in a bit. After leaving the Marlborough hills behind, we followed the coast down until we came to a place called Kaikoura. Just before we came into town, we passed a caution road sign with a picture of a seal on (someone with a GSOH had added a circus ball to it's nose!) and then saw about 90 campervans abandoned at the side of the road. Logic told me this was where the seals would be and funnily enough, there were thousands of them all over the rocks. We also stopped for a looksee although I do have to say Riks parking was better than most, and Kiera was really thrilled, especially at the baby ones. It was a nice sight and we will probably stop again on our way to the airport. Kaikora was a lovely little town, right on the sea front and had a really nice seasidey feel, again we will stop there in a few weeks as they have pods of Orca living
in the bay and another whale watching trip will probably be in order. Drove then along a beautiful route called the inland road (inspired or what?) and I felt we had been transported to Bavaria - lots of mountains, alpine streams and gorgeous views - lovely to be back to the greenery after the dryness of the Marborough region. We arrived in Hanmer Springs after crossing the infamous Waiau river gorge bridge (I was very proud of myself and only sneaked a look over once!) settled into the very posh Motel room we had booked and awaited the arrival of Mike and Gail. They had left Blenheim about 3 hours after us and arrived only half an hour after us; does Mike drive fast or do we take it easy ???
With some fantastic weather over the next two days we went to the Hot Springs for a few hours, played MiniGolf with Kiera, all had to pedal missy around Hanmer in one of those "family" bike/pedal thingies (that wasn't hard work at all with no gears!!) and generally had a really good time. A spooky thing also, we went to the Asian restaurant for tea and while waiting for
a table, Mike and Gail started to talk to an Airforce couple they knew and worked with. Turned round and it was none other than a girl called Jo Matthews (now Hammond) who was a WRAF with me in Hong Kong. (For those of you reading this who know her, she says hello). Small world eh? After doing some catching up, it also transpires that my first boss in HK, Simon Amos, is also now in the NZ airforce and works near Mike; we are hoping to meet up with them all when back in Blenheim.
After saying goodbye to M&G Friday morning, we decided to head inland and go over the mountains and the Lewis Pass driving the width of the country from East to West. A spectacular, sometimes hairy journey, but well worth it for the scenery. We ended up in a site near to Lake Brunner, which is reportedly the best trout fishing spot in the world. We didn't go fishing for trout, but we did get up early the next morning and walk over the swing bridge with the lake looking quite stunning at that time of the morning. Another long days driving followed which saw
Hanmer Springs
View of the bridge over the Waiau River us again traverse the country but this time from West to East across the famous Arthurs pass. This road follows more or less the same route as the TransAlpine Rail Journey, which I had wanted to do, but found out you can only do it from Christchurch and back again. This is the wrong side of the country for our plans, so drove it instead. The first part was through the stunning Otira Gorge with the road clinging to the cliff edges and then once on the top, the scenery was stark with huge gravel river beds, flanked by the Southern Alps on all sides. I don't think I have managed to capture the magnificence of it on film, but I've had a good go! We then slowly wound our way down from the mountains into Christchurch, back on the East coast. This is classed as the "capital" of the south island and a nice, very english looking city. We stayed out of town the first night in Brighton and then hit the factory outlet shops the next morning. In the afternoon we went to the Antartic Centre which was fab and all had a great time. Christchurch is the
main resupply airport for the antartic research stations so there is a big scientific community here. The centre itself was great for kids (and adults!) and we all learnt loads about the antartic region; we even got to dress up and go into the snow room where we went on iceslides and experienced a snow storm (quite scary but not as bad as the Falklands!!!) They have a new exhibition of Little Blue Penguins so we were able to see those being fed but unfortunately the big furry penguin took a bit of a shine to me and I felt like I was being stalked!!!
Next day we headed out of Christchurch via a trip on the Gondola (Cable Car) for some fab views of Christchurch (pity the smog was hanging around) and then drove around the coast to Banks Peninsula. This is an area which was formed by 3 volcanoes exploding thousands of years ago and the stunning Akaroa Harbour is in fact the crater of one of them. We had read that the smallest and rarest dolphins in the world (Hectors dolphins) are found in this harbour, so we went off on a boat cruise to find them.
With temperatures hovering around 28 degrees and the sea extremely calm and the most amazing colour, we had a fantastic afternoon and got to see lots of dolphins, seals and a little fairy penguin swimming around. Topped off with Fish and Chips and a beer on the harbourside, it was a very good day.
We retraced our steps the next morning (one road in and out again!) and headed inland towards Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook. We got as far as a place called Fairlie which was a really sweet little town and as the weather had deteriorated, we decided to stay put. Wednesday, we stayed where we were and had a break. The weather had turned into a typical English day (grey and rainy) and we didn't want to see Lake Tekapo or Mount Cook in the horrible weather. It was a bit better the next day and we were able to see Lake Tekapo (although it was only fleetingly the brilliant colour it normally is because of the cloud) and carried on up to Mount Cook. You drive alongside Lake Pukaki for 62kms before reaching the village called Mount Cook. MC is the highest mountain in New Zealand
and forms part of the Southern Alps. There was still some snow on the tops and some very precarious looking snow ledges; they had a big avalanche in December. Unfortunately because of the low cloud we didn't get to see the very top, but maybe when we drive up the West Coast we will be able to see it in the distance. Would you believe as we were driving back down the road the sun kept coming out, which is always the way, but at least we could see Lake Pukaki in all its glory. The southern Lakes (as they are known) are the most amazing colours I have ever seen and apparently this is to do with the snow melt and minerals contained within. They are the most brilliant milky turquoise colour and I could have sat looking at them all day. Not surprisingly, rik & Kiera were not up for that so we carried on, finally stopping at the side of Lake Benmore for the night, which we shared with millions of flys - Nice!
On the way yesterday we stopped at a little place called Duntroon where we went to the Vanishing World Fossil Centre. Again, very
interesting (especially as me and Rik are old fossils ourselves!) and we looked at (and dug) out lots of 25million year old fossils - puts things into perspective a bit about just how long humans have been on this earth! We finished this off with a drive out to the Elephant Rocks, which was used as Aslans Camp in the Narnia film. We are now back on the East Coast at a place called Oamaru. It is famous for having colonies of penguins, but we haven't seen any yet as the weather is again miserable. We went to pictures this afternoon to see Happy Feet , so at least we got to see some penguins that way!
Right, I have gone on long enough, so will close now until the next time. Thank you for all your comments and messages, it is really good to read them and know this diary is not just floating around cyber space with noone to read it!! Take good care of yourselves, don't get blown away in the winds and see you soon.
Lots of Love Nicchi, Rik & Kiera xxxxx
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Jules and Mickey T
non-member comment
We want to be penguins too!
Hiya intrepid travellers! The Antarctic Centre looks fab, bet it was great fun getting dressed up and sliding down the ice!! And how marvellous to see the world's most smallest and rarest dolphins, you're so lucky! Missing you all, as always and looking forward to seeing you THIS year! (We can say that now!). Happy travels! Lots of love, Jules and Mick x