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Published: June 30th 2007
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Kia Ora, campers!! I'm continuing my trend of blogging approximately 3 months after the event. Indeed I'm heading towards 4 months with this one.
We took just over a week off work at the end of February to do our long-awaited campervan tour of the lower South Island which we’ve been dying to do since we mover here in March 2005 - yes, it was over 2 years ago.
The last time we toured the South island was on our honeymoon in 2004 and this time we were determined to learn the lessons from that trip - in the main, take your time and don’t try to cram too much in to too short a timeframe.
We also decided to try the campervan as it was going to work out cheaper overall than paying for accommodation each night and eating out all the time. It would also be trying something new, which we were up for.
After careful consideration by yours truly, we plumped for the ‘Spaceship’, which is not so much a campervan but more of a converted Toyota people carrier. It was way cheaper than the larger campervans that most tourists travel in and
also turned out to be so easy to drive and more efficient - whilst they were clogging up the roads with slow white monstrosities, we were over-taking them in our intergalactic ‘Spaceship’!
Our ‘Spaceship’ went by the moniker of Buzz but we couldn’t decide whether it was named after Lightyear of Aldrin - either way, we figured ours had the best name (although secretly I was longing for the one we saw in our campsite in Wanaka which was called OB1). The ’Spaceships’ come with fridge (very small, fairly ineffective and murder on the battery), good CD stereo and a wee TV and DVD player.
After the 40 minute flight from Wellington down to Christchurch, we picked up Buzz, stocked up with essentials on the supermarket and headed off on our road trip.
We had 10 full days of touring ahead of us and we already had a plan of where we going to stay each night because it was still a busy time of year and booking ahead is advised especially down in that area which is the most popular with visitors. I hope the photos will show you why!
We drove a few hours
and through the flat Canterbury Plains and then entered McKenzie Country which is named after Scottish Immigrant, James McKenzie born in 1855 who has bizarrely become a folk hero in New Zealand lore largely due to his exploits as a prodigious sheep thief but also because of his pioneering in opening up some of the best sheep grazing land anywhere in the world.
Our first overnight stay was to be in Twizel but first of all we stopped at a couple of beautiful lakes the first of all was Lake Tekapo, which sits at an altitude of 707 metres and is said to have the clearest air in the southern hemisphere. Not sure who says that but it’s in our Rough Guide so it just has to be true. Its also known for its charming wee church called the Church of the Good Shepherd.
After a few photos, the hordes of tourists pouring off the buses got too much and we headed off to the next stop - the wonderful Lake Pukaki which has fantastic views over its blue-green waters to Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain standing at 3,754 metres (12,316 feet). After some significant photo taking
Mount Cook close-up
well as close as I could get anyway we were off again to find our campsite in Twizel.
According to our Rough Guide, Twizel was created in the mid-1960s as a staff hostel for people working on the nearby hydroelectric scheme and it certainly isn’t a beautiful town or even slightly quaint. However, it had a good campsite and that was good enough for us.
It was also a bit noisier than we expected due to the National Rowing Championships taking place at a nearby Lake. We had an interesting first night in our rigged up bedding arrangement (go to www.spaceships.tv and check out the picture of the Spaceship and you’ll see what I mean) during which we were disturbed by some plastered rowers celebrating the end of their racing by infiltrating the campsite in the middle of the night. One of the girls stood outside the back of our spaceship where the canvas of our bed stuck out the back of the van and shouted to her friend “What the hell is this thing?” as she slapped the canvas. She got a bit of a shock when a gruff Scottish voice bellowed back at her from about a foot away “It’s our *****ng bedroom, ***k
off!” Sorry for the language Mum, but I think it was understandable considering the circumstances!
After cooking up some bacon rolls on our fold out stove, we headed off on the road to wonderful Wanaka (pronounced Won-a-ka in real life but Won-a-ka-ka-ka on Shooting Stars). We took a brief diversion to check out Lake Ohau, which was looked foreboding in the windy and showery weather.
It was still blowing fairly hard when we arrived in Wanaka and we parked up at the campervan park and headed into the town for a look around. Then we took Buzz out to secluded Glendhu Bay and cooked up dinner by the lakeside - lovely.
The last time we’d been in Wanaka was on our honeymoon tour and we arrived in the dark, stayed one night and left in the morning before the sun was up. This time we had 3 nights and we were going to make the most of it.
It was still windy the next day but the sun was shining so we headed out for a walk around Diamond Lake and up to the top of Rocky Hill. It took about 2.5 hours all in and
was a very good cardio-vascular work out so helped negate the bacon rolls we had for breakfast.
Apparently they filmed a fair few scenes from Lord of The Rings - the Two Towers on Rocky Hill but we had no idea what scenes and weren’t able to work it out when we were there. Still the views were wonderful especially down to the Lake and across to the famous Treble Cone ski fields (the best in NZ) and up the valley of the Matukituki River. We topped it off with Jo-Ann laying a ceremonial stone on the cairn at the top. Considering the name of the hill, I had planned to run the last few steps to the top and jump and down punching the air in the manner of Mr Balboa but I forgot.
The next day also featured a brisk walk up a hill but this time with no wind so it felt much hotter. We went up Mount Iron on the opposite side of the lake and again the views were well worth the effort. That night we went to a gig in the Lake Wanaka Centre - I had noticed a flyer in the
local record shop about The Black Seeds South Island Tour and saw they were playing that night. They’re a great reggae/dub/funk band from Wellington and it was one of the best gigs I’ve been to in a long time. Watch out for them and go see them if you get the chance.
The following day was our last in Wanaka and we spent the morning relaxing on the beach at the sheltered and remarkably mosquito free Dublin Bay. The water was very shallow for a long way out so it was great far paddling. After cooking up more lunch on the fold out cooker, it was off through the Cardrona Valley to Queenstown - Aotearoa’s adventure capital/main tourist trap and featured destination for the next blog!
Wanaka was amazing and if we ever come into a ridiculously large sum of money, we’ll buy a house down there! Toddle-pip....
P.S. In case you’re wondering, Jo-Ann has a very large bump indeed but is keeping very well!
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