Advertisement
Published: November 11th 2009
Looks fake its so good!
just couldnt afford to camp!Hey from New Zealand!!!
So we figured we would tell you about each island individually...this does mean that this blog is going to be alot longer than the North Island blog as we have spent much more time on the South than we will on the North.....first off though just to confuse matters, we actually arrived on the North Island, Auckland but made a quick journey to the South!!!
We arrived in Auckland after a smooth airport entry and found our third musketeer waiting patiently for our arrival - for those of you that don't already know a friend from back home (Kate) has been made redundant so decided to join us on the New Zealand leg. It was great to see a familiar face and you may remember us mentioning Kate from back in India - after a quick catch up we were collected by Mirjam (a friend of a friend from back home who i had actually only met the once, and for about 15 mins!!! but never the less had contacted me after she found out i was on the way to New Zealand - her home). Mirjam had invited us to stay at
Black sand beach
4WD fun near Auckland her's whilst in the area, she lives about 40 minutes from Auckland city itself so we went back to hers and had a great evening chatting, drinking and trying to make a plan!!! At this point we had realised that neither Kate nor us had done any research into NZ or in fact got a guide book to work from.
The following day was filled with rain but we did manage to take a drive with Mirjam's boyfriend to a black sand beach on the west coast where we saw our first seal - the beauty of having a 4WD! The beach was unbelievably long and like nothing we had seen before - not a soul on it (except the seal who was not particularly happy to see us!) After this we stopped at a local pub where we spoke to a couple of locals who gave us lots of tips on what to see and do during our trip! everyone seemed so friendly and laid back.
The following day we went to pick up our van from wicked which we were to have during our time in New Zealand - and we were all a bit mythed to be
given 'THE LIGHTNING LOVE WAGON' for three people! It was definitely the most colourful one of the bunch!! The van was exactly the same as the one we had in Oz but this time they had chucked an extra 'makeshift' seat in the front...but apart from that it was exactly the same. so no toilet or shower, just a pump tap and a small gas stove for us!!! and three of us all squashed in the back at bedtime!! cozy!!!
So here is where the real adventure began!! We took all advise on board and heading straight for the South island as the weather was meant to be better there with more sights to see. We took two days to drive down the South Island stopping overnight at a place called Waitomo, here we got to see Glow worms at night clinging to the cave walls. Most people pay for this experience but we had been told about a good free spot - the only downfall was....the downpour!!! we got drenched!!! not so good when there is three of you staying in a tiny van with nowhere to dry your wet clothes!!!...trust me the smell of wet clothes was
Dinner!!!
Ami will eat anything!! only gonna get worse over 6 weeks!
Next morning we drove straight down to Wellington, where we caught an evening ferry over to the South island. Whilst on the ferry we managed to wangle a tour of the 'bridge' to you and i the cockpit area! radar's, binoculars and switchboards galore!!! all very exciting! The ferry took about 4 hours in total so when we reached the other side (Picton) we just found a suitable spot to camp for the night. In the morning we woke up to a nice view of a little lake with hills in the background - a good start for our tour but other than that not alot else to say about Picton.
We had decided that the best approach was to complete the South Island in a figure of 8 as to not miss anything.
So we then drove our 'home on wheels' down the east coast to a place called Blenheim, which is one of the largest wine regions in New Zealand (Marlborough region for those wine buffs amongst you!) Here we parked up the van and explored all the wineries on foot...tasting as we went (don't worry we didn't waste any
Ram!!!
loved the horns!! by spitting!) However by the last one the weather had caught up with us again and we were soaked but luckily the Kiwi generosity came into play again and the owner gave us a lift back to our van.....not wanting to sit it the van for the rest of the night we made it to a local pub to dry off.....and local it was!!! it was like stepping back in time, with everyone staring at the 'new people'!! however we now are in possession of a couple of pool trophies...and we didn't even have to play!
Next stop on the Lightning love wagon tour bus was Kaikoura, where we arrived in the rain again!!! our first day was spent just looking around but the weather was pretty miserable, we did however manage to see sheep being sheared and got to feed a couple of lambs (or should i say 'feed up a couple of lambs'......). The next morning we woke up to a bit of a surprise.....as soon as we poked our heads out of the van we were greeted with picture perfect snow capped mountains!!! obviously they had been there the whole time only we hadn't been able
to see them through the bad weather....it really was an amazing sight! That day we went on a 3 hour walk all around the coastline where we got to see a seal colony (such lazy animals!), one was hiding in a broken tree trunk and growled as we disturbed its sleep whilst walking past....nearly gave us a heart attack!!
Kaikoura is home of the 'Crayfish' (similar to a lobster)..so it would have been rude to leave without trying it...we managed to find a cute little stall on the side of the road selling it but still we could only afford to have half between us as its pretty expensive but sooooo good!!!
We then moved onto Hanmer Springs, where all the thermal spa's are, so we had a day of relaxation and finally a shower!!!! such luxury!
The area was pretty, once again with snow capped mountains.... still we had the bad weather following us!!
Next we drove along the Lewis Pass (crossing through the middle of the island) to a place called Greymouth... one of the least visually exciting places we had been to but we were given a bag of white bait by a group of
drunken fishermen.....White bait is mixed with egg and flour in NZ and eaten as an omelette, again quite expensive so we decided we would eat it even though we were slightly concerned after seeing the 'no fishing and sewage signs' where the fishermen were!!! verdict.....average!!! (prefer our white bait!) and at least we are still alive...and it was free!!!!
The following day we wasted abit of our hard earned cash visiting a place called 'Shantytown' - a reconstructed village set in the days of the gold rush...all very boring but we did get to pan for gold and we are bringing some home!!! if it really is gold that is!!!
Quickly moving on we headed for Hokitika, a small place with an amazing rugged beach, absolutely full of driftwood (dad - you would have been in heaven!!) Only problem we discovered here was SANDFLIES.....if you have ever been bitten by one you will know what i mean....its not pleasant...still got the lumps 3 weeks on!!
We then drove down the west coast to the glaciers (Fox and Franz Josef), here we got to walk pretty close to the glaciers themselves and it was surreal to see in the
Lazy seal
during one of our walks flesh...as it really was not that cold as you would imagine. The pools fed by the glaciers were so clear, some people even fill their water bottle up from them.
We then headed towards Wanaka, discovering a beautiful camp site along the way surrounded by two lakes (Hawea and Wanaka), we almost stayed there but soon realised that you had to pay so on we moved!! Ami disappointed as she wanted to make a camp fire!!
However Wanaka itself was a pretty good consolation! in a word spectacular!!!, we arrived quite late so didn't get to see much the first day and just decided to park up in a car park next to the lake to explore the following day....however we were woken up a little earlier than expected (5am) by the council - moving us on "NO FREEDOM CAMPING ALOWED!!", issued with our first leaflet and told to leave.
Next day we headed back into Wanaka and discovered the best 'Picnic spot' in the world!!! picture this..... sitting on a bench, on a hill, surrounded by vineyards, overlooking lake wanaka and the snow capped mountains...free wine tasting thrown in for good measure! brilliant day! we even got friendly
with the girl who worked there, she even offered us a place to park our van for the night....we accepted and before we knew it she let us in to use the shower and took us to the cinema and picked us up at the end!! Very cool cinema where all the seats were old couches, they even had a Morris minor to sit in!!!
From Wanaka we drove to the Matukituki valley on a recommendation from Mirjam....what we saw was beautiful but unfortunately our van was not up for the road conditions (couple of small water passings, after the first one we decided not to attempt the second!!)
So on to Queenstown - again first day wasted as it was chucking it down but the second day was brilliant as we climbed up a mountain called Bobs Peak where at the top we went on a Luge (similar to a go cart - except not motorised), we laughed all the way through the track....with once again 'the standard' amazing scenery!
On our second nights stay we were yet again woken up by the council and moved on - this time though it was 8.30am so a perfect time
Driftwood beach
its a long way to bring it home for you dad! to get up! thanks Dave (council man).
Next - we drove to a place called Milford Sound - where the cliffs rise out of the sea. Very unusual drive as you have to go through Avalanche zone!!! scary!! Whilst here we went on a boat trip so we got to see the scenery up close, and we were also very lucky as we had dolphins swimming along side our boat!! simply wow!
The following night was spent in a place called Te Anau, where we cooked Sausage and mash by yet another lake and got moved on by the council before we had even had chance to get into our Pj's!!! ended up sleeping in a dark forest some 20k's away! spooky!
The next few days was spent exploring the Catlins coast, a very rugged stretch of coast line where we saw a fortified forest under the sea and the rare yellow eyed penguins, all the beaches were deserted and great for long walks. We also stopped by at a Gypsy caravan where this crazy inventor man had created a whole new world out of recycled goods!!
We then checked out the city of Denedin, which
Fox Glacier
nothing to do with the sweet! is usually full of uni students but it was not term time so the place was pretty empty. We visited the Cadbury's factory (and discovered that there chocolate is not as good as ours!!). We also walked up the worlds steepest street (Baldwin street) and couldn't believe people actually live on it!! After this we started making our way up the east coast to Christchurch stopping off to see the Moeraki boulders along the way (strange large spherical rocks sitting on the beach!).
Christchurch was nothing special, just a large city - similar in looks to Cambridge (even had punting!) here we just took a look around before getting back on the road crossing over Arthur's pass to greymouth (back on the other side). Arthur's Pass is meant to be stunning - but yes you have guessed it!! rained the whole way!!
Having already done Greymouth once we drove straight through it and up the coast line seeing Punakaiki along the way (here they have pancake shaped rocks and blowholes).
On our way to Motueka we stopped at NZ's longest swing bridge and although it was shut we managed to sneak on, it was very high....and swayed alot!!!!
Within seconds of arriving in Motueka we managed to bump into Andy the Hitch hiker (who we met in Oz), it was great to see him and he told us all about the sky diving he had been doing.....which leads us on nicely to.....we jumped out of a perfectly good plane!!!!! and loved every second of it!!!! such an incredible feeling - just cant describe it!
Also in Motueka we went on a walk and came across 'crystal pool', it looked so irresistible that we decided to jump in........ absolutely freezing, paralysed your legs!!! but we still managed to jump in 4 times in total as we wanted to wash and condition our hair!!! the extremes you go to for clean hair!
We took a walk (or should i say 'tramp' as that's what they call it over here!) around a National park called Abel Tasmin where a water taxi dropped you off and you had to walk back.....all 20 miles of it!!! really enjoyed it but was glad when it was over!!!
So Andy decided to give his thumb a rest for a while and joined us as he too needed to head back to the North island,
with that we did a quick pit stop in Nelson but not a lot to report from there then it was 4 in the van over on the ferry having completed the South Island.
As you can see we have seen and done alot during the last 3-4 weeks, and it has been fantastic having our own wheels, highly recommend it to anyone, and New Zealand is the most spectacular place we have seen on all of our travels so far....truly breathtaking!
So hope you all enjoy this blog as much as we enjoyed the South Island of New Zealand (not possible!)
Love to all xxxx
Hey from New Zealand!!!
So we figured we would tell you about each island individually...this does mean that this blog is going to be alot longer than the North Island blog as we have spent much more time on the South than we will on the North.....first off though just to confuse matters, we actually arrived on the North Island, Auckland but made a quick journey to the South!!!
We arrived in Auckland after a smooth airport entry and found our third musketeer waiting patiently for our arrival - for
The love wagon!
outside the crazy gypsy place those of you that don't already know a friend from back home (Kate) has been made redundant so decided to join us on the New Zealand leg. It was great to see a familiar face and you may remember us mentioning Kate from back in India - after a quick catch up we were collected by Mirjam (a friend of a friend from back home who i had actually only met the once, and for about 15 mins!!! but never the less had contacted me after she found out i was on the way to New Zealand - her home). Mirjam had invited us to stay at her's whilst in the area, she lives about 40 minutes from Auckland city itself so we went back to hers and had a great evening chatting, drinking and trying to make a plan!!! At this point we had realised that neither Kate nor us had done any research into NZ or in fact got a guide book to work from.
The following day was filled with rain but we did manage to take a drive with Mirjam's boyfriend to a black sand beach on the west coast where we saw our first seal
Baldwin Street
pretty steep!!! good job there was a drinking fountain at the top! - the beauty of having a 4WD! The beach was unbelievably long and like nothing we had seen before - not a soul on it (except the seal who was not particularly happy to see us!) After this we stopped at a local pub where we spoke to a couple of locals who gave us lots of tips on what to see and do during our trip! everyone seemed so friendly and laid back.
The following day we went to pick up our van from wicked which we were to have during our time in New Zealand - and we were all a bit mythed to be given 'THE LIGHTNING LOVE WAGON' for three people! It was definitely the most colourful one of the bunch!! The van was exactly the same as the one we had in Oz but this time they had chucked an extra 'makeshift' seat in the front...but apart from that it was exactly the same. so no toilet or shower, just a pump tap and a small gas stove for us!!! and three of us all squashed in the back at bedtime!! cozy!!!
So here is where the real adventure began!! We took all advise
Moeraki Boulders
Why they are there - who knows?? on board and heading straight for the South island as the weather was meant to be better there with more sights to see. We took two days to drive down the South Island stopping overnight at a place called Waitomo, here we got to see Glow worms at night clinging to the cave walls. Most people pay for this experience but we had been told about a good free spot - the only downfall was....the downpour!!! we got drenched!!! not so good when there is three of you staying in a tiny van with nowhere to dry your wet clothes!!!...trust me the smell of wet clothes was only gonna get worse over 6 weeks!
Next morning we drove straight down to Wellington, where we caught an evening ferry over to the South island. Whilst on the ferry we managed to wangle a tour of the 'bridge' to you and i the cockpit area! radar's, binoculars and switchboards galore!!! all very exciting! The ferry took about 4 hours in total so when we reached the other side (Picton) we just found a suitable spot to camp for the night. In the morning we woke up to a nice view of a
little lake with hills in the background - a good start for our tour but other than that not alot else to say about Picton.
We had decided that the best approach was to complete the South Island in a figure of 8 as to not miss anything.
So we then drove our 'home on wheels' down the east coast to a place called Blenheim, which is one of the largest wine regions in New Zealand (Marlborough region for those wine buffs amongst you!) Here we parked up the van and explored all the wineries on foot...tasting as we went (don't worry we didn't waste any by spitting!) However by the last one the weather had caught up with us again and we were soaked but luckily the Kiwi generosity came into play again and the owner gave us a lift back to our van.....not wanting to sit it the van for the rest of the night we made it to a local pub to dry off.....and local it was!!! it was like stepping back in time, with everyone staring at the 'new people'!! however we now are in possession of a couple of pool trophies...and we didn't even
Oh my God!!!
act cool for the camera! have to play!
Next stop on the Lightning love wagon tour bus was Kaikoura, where we arrived in the rain again!!! our first day was spent just looking around but the weather was pretty miserable, we did however manage to see sheep being sheared and got to feed a couple of lambs (or should i say 'feed up a couple of lambs'......). The next morning we woke up to a bit of a surprise.....as soon as we poked our heads out of the van we were greeted with picture perfect snow capped mountains!!! obviously they had been there the whole time only we hadn't been able to see them through the bad weather....it really was an amazing sight! That day we went on a 3 hour walk all around the coastline where we got to see a seal colony (such lazy animals!), one was hiding in a broken tree trunk and growled as we disturbed its sleep whilst walking past....nearly gave us a heart attack!!
Kaikoura is home of the 'Crayfish' (similar to a lobster)..so it would have been rude to leave without trying it...we managed to find a cute little stall on the side of the road selling
Come on!!!
loved every moment! it but still we could only afford to have half between us as its pretty expensive but sooooo good!!!
We then moved onto Hanmer Springs, where all the thermal spa's are, so we had a day of relaxation and finally a shower!!!! such luxury!
The area was pretty, once again with snow capped mountains.... still we had the bad weather following us!!
Next we drove along the Lewis Pass (crossing through the middle of the island) to a place called Greymouth... one of the least visually exciting places we had been to but we were given a bag of white bait by a group of drunken fishermen.....White bait is mixed with egg and flour in NZ and eaten as an omelette, again quite expensive so we decided we would eat it even though we were slightly concerned after seeing the 'no fishing and sewage signs' where the fishermen were!!! verdict.....average!!! (prefer our white bait!) and at least we are still alive...and it was free!!!!
The following day we wasted abit of our hard earned cash visiting a place called 'Shantytown' - a reconstructed village set in the days of the gold rush...all very boring but we did get to pan for gold and we are bringing some home!!! if it really is gold that is!!!
Quickly moving on we headed for Hokitika, a small place with an amazing rugged beach, absolutely full of driftwood (dad - you would have been in heaven!!) Only problem we discovered here was SANDFLIES.....if you have ever been bitten by one you will know what i mean....its not pleasant...still got the lumps 3 weeks on!!
We then drove down the west coast to the glaciers (Fox and Franz Josef), here we got to walk pretty close to the glaciers themselves and it was surreal to see in the flesh...as it really was not that cold as you would imagine. The pools fed by the glaciers were so clear, some people even fill their water bottle up from them.
We then headed towards Wanaka, discovering a beautiful camp site along the way surrounded by two lakes (Hawea and Wanaka), we almost stayed there but soon realised that you had to pay so on we moved!! Ami disappointed as she wanted to make a camp fire!!
However Wanaka itself was a pretty good consolation! in a word spectacular!!!, we arrived quite late so didn't get to see much the first day and just decided to park up in a car park next to the lake to explore the following day....however we were woken up a little earlier than expected (5am) by the council - moving us on "NO FREEDOM CAMPING ALOWED!!", issued with our first leaflet and told to leave.
Next day we headed back into Wanaka and discovered the best 'Picnic spot' in the world!!! picture this..... sitting on a bench, on a hill, surrounded by vineyards, overlooking lake wanaka and the snow capped mountains...free wine tasting thrown in for good measure! brilliant day! we even got friendly with the girl who worked there, she even offered us a place to park our van for the night....we accepted and before we knew it she let us in to use the shower and took us to the cinema and picked us up at the end!! Very cool cinema where all the seats were old couches, they even had a Morris minor to sit in!!!
From Wanaka we drove to the Matukituki valley on a recommendation from Mirjam....what we saw was beautiful but unfortunately our van was not up for the road conditions (couple of small water passings, after the first one we decided not to attempt the second!!)
So on to Queenstown - again first day wasted as it was chucking it down but the second day was brilliant as we climbed up a mountain called Bobs Peak where at the top we went on a Luge (similar to a go cart - except not motorised), we laughed all the way through the track....with once again 'the standard' amazing scenery!
On our second nights stay we were yet again woken up by the council and moved on - this time though it was 8.30am so a perfect time to get up! thanks Dave (council man).
Next - we drove to a place called Milford Sound - where the cliffs rise out of the sea. Very unusual drive as you have to go through Avalanche zone!!! scary!! Whilst here we went on a boat trip so we got to see the scenery up close, and we were also very lucky as we had dolphins swimming along side our boat!! simply wow!
The following night was spent in a place called Te Anau, where we cooked Sausage and mash by yet another lake and got moved on by the council before we had even had chance to get into our Pj's!!! ended up sleeping in a dark forest some 20k's away! spooky!
The next few days was spent exploring the Catlins coast, a very rugged stretch of coast line where we saw a fortified forest under the sea and the rare yellow eyed penguins, all the beaches were deserted and great for long walks. We also stopped by at a Gypsy caravan where this crazy inventor man had created a whole new world out of recycled goods!!
We then checked out the city of Denedin, which is usually full of uni students but it was not term time so the place was pretty empty. We visited the Cadbury's factory (and discovered that there chocolate is not as good as ours!!). We also walked up the worlds steepest street (Baldwin street) and couldn't believe people actually live on it!! After this we started making our way up the east coast to Christchurch stopping off to see the Moeraki boulders along the way (strange large spherical rocks sitting on the beach!).
Christchurch was nothing special, just a large city - similar in looks to Cambridge (even had punting!) here we just took a look around before getting back on the road crossing over Arthur's pass to greymouth (back on the other side). Arthur's Pass is meant to be stunning - but yes you have guessed it!! rained the whole way!!
Having already done Greymouth once we drove straight through it and up the coast line seeing Punakaiki along the way (here they have pancake shaped rocks and blowholes).
On our way to Motueka we stopped at NZ's longest swing bridge and although it was shut we managed to sneak on, it was very high....and swayed alot!!!! Within seconds of arriving in Motueka we managed to bump into Andy the Hitch hiker (who we met in Oz), it was great to see him and he told us all about the sky diving he had been doing.....which leads us on nicely to.....we jumped out of a perfectly good plane!!!!! and loved every second of it!!!! such an incredible feeling - just cant describe it!
Also in Motueka we went on a walk and came across 'crystal pool', it looked so irresistible that we decided to jump in........ absolutely freezing, paralysed your legs!!! but we still managed to jump in 4 times in total as we wanted to wash and condition our hair!!! the extremes you go to for clean hair!
We took a walk (or should i say 'tramp' as that's what they call it over here!) around a National park called Abel Tasmin where a water taxi dropped you off and you had to walk back.....all 20 miles of it!!! really enjoyed it but was glad when it was over!!!
So Andy decided to give his thumb a rest for a while and joined us as he too needed to head back to the North island, with that we did a quick pit stop in Nelson but not a lot to report from there then it was 4 in the van over on the ferry having completed the South Island.
As you can see we have seen and done alot during the last 3-4 weeks, and it has been fantastic having our own wheels, highly recommend it to anyone, and New Zealand is the most spectacular place we have seen on all of our travels so far....truly breathtaking!
So hope you all enjoy this blog as much as we enjoyed the South Island of New Zealand (not possible!)
Love to all xxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.124s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 11; qc: 59; dbt: 0.0594s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
mother dearest
non-member comment
EEEEBY JESUS!!..marvellous, bloomin marvellous entry, cant believe how much youre doing, but of course the little cherry on the top was obviously that plane jump!!..OMG!!..what more can you say. NZ looks absolutely gorgeous, what stunning scenery..would make the mornings a hell of a lot brighter taking a look at that from your bedroom window/campervan window!..lovely. imagine going down that steep round when the snow is on the ground (do they have snow there??) ud have some hell of a sleigh ride down heh!!..lol.. lovely entry thanks girls..keep smiling round the world...thinking of you, mummy poos and charlie poos xxxxxxxxxx