Adventure Land - South Island

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Sat 6th Dec - Friday 12th Dec

Sat - Drove down the West Coast to Wanaka stopping at Knight’s Point and Ship’s Creek where we stood on the beach and watched Hector dolphins swimming in the sea just a few metres from shore. Chatted to English couple at campsite who had lived in Australia for a couple of years and were travelling before they returned to the UK. They gave us some top tips for things to see in Sydney. Went down the pub in Wanaka in the evening and had a boogie to a live band.

Sun - Hired Mountain bikes to cycle by Lake Wanaka. The weather was really hot and we nearly ran out of water - Alison went bright red like when she’s been circuit training and we had to paddle to cool down. The scenery was awesome and once again we were frequently completely alone. After the cycling we swam in the swimming area in the lake, which although freezing was lovely after the intense heat of the cycle. Alison dived off the diving platform tethered in the middle of the swimming area. It was so hot we completely dried off within half an hour.

Mon - horse riding in a town nearby called Cardona. Where we even trotted and cantered several times. Alison’s horse wasn’t taking any notice of Alison’s attempts to control it and kept wandering off to eat. Chris found this hilarious - Alison was continuously moaning about being hungry and the horse seemed just as bad!
- We then made the short drive to Queenstown to stay the night, which included a hairy drive down a twisty road from the mountains.

Tues - Drove onto Millford Sounds, the superb weather we’ve been having finally abandoned us to rain. This worked out well near Milford Sounds as there were literally hundreds of waterfalls along the mountain sides. Had to drive through Homer Tunnel which is about 2k long. It is cut through rock and is surrounded by waterfalls and glaciers and is a mere one lane wide. The traffic is controlled by traffic lights that change every 15 minutes. It’s a bit disconcerting but quite an experience. After this the road takes some hair-raising turns down the side of the mountain. We stayed at the only accommodation at Milford Sounds - it was the most isolated place we’d visited in New Zealand.

Weds - We went on a diving trip around Milford Sound.
- There were two dives planned but they were both quite short and would be over early because of the effects of driving at quite a high altitude on the way back.
- It’s a unique place to dive because the top two metres of water are freshwater and so murky you have to hold onto your dive buddy and then the water underneath is salty. The buoyancy is really different in both waters - we were heavily weighted up to sink through the freshwater but then sunk like stones in the saltwater. It was very disconcerting - Chris didn’t like it at all and Alison took a long time to adjust. Probably should have got more dive experience before attempting it.
- Underwater wildlife was cool - all very colour co-ordinated! Lots of sea urchins and sea stars and huge crayfish. There are black corals, which are white and loads of kelp. Everything was orange and white. The dive guide handed me a sea star, but when I tried to put it down, it wouldn’t let go of my hand. It was suckered on!
- Saw a yellow-eyed penguin (which look like Rockhoppers).
- Saw more seals, really close up for a change, lying on a rock having a kip
- Alison got absolutely drenched when the boat sailed right up to a waterfall - everyone else had the common sense to move out the way.
- It was like being back in the Lost World again except this time it was misty and rainy, any minute you expected a Pterodactyl to fly out… but none did of course.

Thurs - Drove back to Queenstown and went canyoning in the afternoon. Did a 6ft jump from a rock into the river below - bloody hell, Ali did a 10ft jump - what a nutter!!!
- In the evening 7 of us from our canyoning group went out for the evening for food and drink, so that was pretty cool.

Fri - Adrenalin of Adrenalin Day Number 2 - Wake Up Call - Jet Boating in the Shotover river - wow,a terrifying and exhilarating boat ride through the Shotover canyon, involving close encounters with rocks, driftwood and river banks and 360 spins, wow!!!
- Snooze Alarm - White Water Rafting in a different part of the Shotover river, this was quite tame compared to the one we did in Rotoura, was a grade 4 but really should be a 3+ or something as there was only one grade 4 rapid. It was long and really quite slow. There was one cool bit though that made it worthwhile, where we rafted through an old mining tunnel dug through the rock. Alison had to sit on the front and help steer the boat while everyone else crouched down inside. Was a bit scary.
- In the afternoon, paragliding, wow again!!! Now this was my compromise to not doing a bungee or a sky dive and I loved it. So did Ali and so we’re now both hooked on this and can’t wait to go again someday. Still not up though for a bungee or sky dive though. The views over Queenstown were amazing.
- Finished the afternoon by luging down the mountain, awesome stuff. The advanced track was actually possibly even more crazy than the one in Rotorua. Chris got carried away and ignored the slow down sign at the end and fell of his luge cart and had to be given first aid!
- A few deserved beers in one of the pubs that does its own award winning beers. The one Alison liked the most was called Ginger Tom and was, unsurprisingly, ginger flavoured. A real winter warmer. We watched a reggae band and tried to work our way through the whole beer menu, but had to bail out before we completed the challenge.

Sat 13th Dec - Wednesday 17th December

Sat - time to leave Queenstown, we would have liked to stay a few more days but nearing the end of our NZ journey.
- Our next destination was Mt Cook, but along the way we stopped to look at the captivating Lake Pukaki which is an iridescent blue. We’ve never seen anything like it - it was absolutely beautiful. We decided to spend the afternoon chilling out in the sun (as it was back out that day) by the lake, enjoying the isolation and incredible view.
- When we reached Mt Cook we stopped at the historic Hermitage hotel for a drink, but were disappointed to find the main bar closed for a function. Feeling quite out of place in our scruffy jeans and trainers we went for a pint in another of the hotel bars.
- We parked up for the night at DOC campsite at the foot of Mt Cook where we had clear view of it and the surrounding mountains. We watched a huge avalanche at the top of one of the mountains and amused ourselves watching the antics of some local geese and their goslings. Waking up the next day, we found that again the mountains were completely engulfed by clouds as if they weren’t there. This scuppered plans to again undertake a walk where we would have had superb photo opportunities.

Sun - within 5/10 mins from driving away from Mt Cook it was completely clear in front of us with the sun shining but looking back the mountain area was still cloudy. Bizarre stuff with how the weather can be so different in NZ in such a close proximity.
- Our next destination was Akaroa, a French town on the Banks Peninsula. The drive took us out of the mountains and into the biggest plain I’ve ever seen. The wind was blowing hard and sometimes it took quite a lot of effort to keep the van straight on the road. We saw some fantastic views of Akaroa harbour as we drove Postman Pat style across hill and vale on the peninsula and arrived in the late evening at the campsite, which also had splendid views. We saw a lovely NZ Fantail in the trees by the van.

Mon - We began our day out in Akaroa a visit to the local museum. This was my perfect kind of museum - totally relevant to the area where it was, full of local residents old belongings such as dolls and china and jewellery, and small enough that you can see it all in some depth fairly quickly. There was an interesting video about the discovery of the area and two of the original village buildings in their original condition. There was an incredible bronze model of a local Maori’s head that showed all of his tattoos in relief. There was also a selection of underwear from through the ages and Chris’s favourite(?) exhibit, a collection of historic clothes hangers!
- We then went on a dolphin cruise round the harbour, which was interesting but again we didn’t get to see many dolphins, so don’t ever go on one of these with us as we have bad timing. We did however see more seals, including a seriously cute pup, and got some excellent views of shags nesting on the sides of the cliffs. We also saw some cool rock formations and a huge, multicoloured cave. The harbour is basically the crater of a volcano, created by an explosion thousands of years ago that blew out the side of the crater, letting in the water. And there was free wine!
- We finished our day with superb fish and chips, where the fish was elephant fish, no idea what fish that it is but it was yummy!
- In the evening we drove to Christchurch ready for our last full day in NZ.

Tues - We spent our last day taking a look at the historic town of Christchurch, known as the most English town in NZ. Unfortunately the weather was horrible, so we didn’t see the city at its best, but we still took a look at the cathedral (which is interesting because of the use of local materials in its decoration and the gifts donated by early settlers wanting to give thanks for a safe sea voyage), took a tram round the city, visited the arts and crafts centre in the old Christchurch university building, and saw the Scott memorial, touchingly sculpted by his wife. We also went to The Dux de Lux pub, which was the same chain as the one where we went in Queenstown, and Alison had another pint of Ginger Tom. Wish we could get that in the UK.

Weds - time to hand back in the campervan and leave NZ to fly back to Aus. We couldn’t believe it was that time already and were sorry to be going although relieved that we would have a break from driving. As towards the end it became a bit to relentless as nothing in NZ is as the crow flies as you are forever driving around mountains to get somewhere, but at least the roads are empty most times.

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