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Published: February 10th 2010
South Island Map
Ok, again try not to laugh too much, this was our route round the south islandWe arrived in Picton on the Interislander Ferry. Picton is at the top of the South Island and is a small town sandwiched between the hills and the deeply placid waters of Queen Charlotte Sound. We picked up our new car and after a few days stay in Picton exploring the town, we headed west through the hills to Nelson.
Nelson is a lovely seaside resort with a warm sunny climate. It was a very pleasant town so we stopped here for a week as we had found a very nice and quite cheap holiday park to stay at so we relaxed on the beach and took in the sites of the town. We saw Jens Hansen Jewellers where the “One Ring to Rule Them All” was made from Lord of the Rings, we visited the Christ Church Cathedral, Richmond Mall and Nelson Market where we marvelled at the hand made jewellery, crafts, and food stalls (where we tried some of the local delicacies which were delicious). We played mini golf, went to the beach and went jogging, all in all we liked Nelson quite a lot.
From Nelson we drove northwest to the town of
Lamb
(if you hadn’t guessed) Moteuka which we used as a base for exploring Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand's smallest National Park - just 20km by 25km but one of the most popular. It has golden sandy beaches, crystal clear water and lush green bushland and forests. We visited the famous 'Split Apple Rock' which is an interesting rock formation about 100m off the beach, It looks exactly as the name suggests but the highlight for us of Abel Tasman National Park was a visit to 'Harwoods Hole' and 'The Viewpoint'.
We had to drive 11km on an unsealed road (more off roading) to get to the start of the walkway to Harwoods Hole. We drove through amazing countryside where there were tonnes of sheep and cows roaming free and were quite regularly strolling in the middle of the road. For all you Lord of the Ring fans there was a spot beside the road leading to Harwoods Hole where the scene with Strider leading the hobbits from Bree through Chetwood Forest was filmed. When we reached the car park it was on with our hiking boots and off we went. After a 30 minute hike through a dense silver beech forest and
scramble along a boulder strewn dry river bed we reached our final destination 'Harwoods Hole' which is a huge vertical shaft 176m deep and over 50m in diameter, which links up to a vast cave system below.
Unfortunately there was no way of getting down down into the hole and cave system without abseiling equipment and a guide (both of which we didn't have) so we made do with looking down into the vast chasm below. From the hole we backtracked a couple of minutes then took a side path and scrabbled up a very steep trail for about 15 minutes. When we reached the summit we came to a sheer cliff top viewpoint which overlooked the Takaka Valley and the coast. We estimated we were about a kilometre high and we could see for miles down the valley and into the distant mountain ranges. The viewpoint/shelf was marble under foot and had eroded into what looked like micro-mountain ranges which were razor sharp (see picture). The views from the cliff top were truly breathtaking and really can't be described in words. Unfortunately the pictures don't come close to capturing the beauty so the only way your going to
take it in fully is to go and have a look for yourselves (which I would recommend to everyone visiting New Zealand). Needless to say we stopped here for a good hour in awe of the sight that beheld us, absolutely incredible!!!
From Able Tasmin we headed south to the old gold mining town of Murchison where we stayed for a couple of days. When we booked into the holiday park they said that they hired out gold panning equipment and that the river was about 30 metres from our cabin so we thought it would be rude not to give it a try. The next morning we picked up the tools and headed to the river in our flip flops and rolled up trousers (looking very stylish). When we put our feet in the river it was absolutely freezing but we had already committed ourselves to finding a fortune that day so we took the plunge and stepped in. The pain only lasted for about 10 minutes and then our legs went numb so it was ok after that. We had read a leaflet on 'how to pan' and watched a video at the local information centre but
no matter how hard we swirled and sieved we couldn't quite get the technique right so we re-wrote the book and designed our own way of doing it. After about 5 minutes of doing it our way we were successful - we found a fleck of gold (about 3mm by 3mm) and we were on our way! We panned for about 4 hours and by the end we had 5 flecks (only joking) we had 75-100 flecks of gold which we were quite pleased with. Admittedly we hadn't found any nuggets the size of your fist as we had hoped for and we hadn't made our fortunes but we did have a lot of fun. I think it's worth mentioning that throughout the day one of us (not mentioning any names Dianna) fell in the river twice and ended up with a very wet and muddy behind!
From here we headed west to the coast, made a flying visit at Westport but didn't stop and then headed south to Punakaikai which is the gateway to Paparoa National Park and home of the world famous Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. The Pancake Rocks are layers of limestone that have weathered to
resemble an immense stack of giant pancakes created by 'stylobedding'. The edifice is undermined by huge sea caverns where the surf surges in, sending water spouting up though the Blowholes and high into the air. They featured in the film 'Walking with Dinosaurs'. We stayed about 1km from the rocks and ended up walking to them three times; the first two times we visited the weather was just too nice (rubbing it in again I'm afraid) and the sea was too calm to see the blowholes in action. The third time we visited, the morning of our last day there, it was very windy and the sea was very choppy so we got to see the blowholes partially spout water but not very high as it was not high tide. Still, it was good to see them (kind of) in action. Whist in the area we also walked the Punakaikai Cavern Track which was close by where we stayed and this led into another glow-worm cave. Not as impressive as the Waipu Cave on the North Island but it was good all the same and again our torches came in very handy.
We continued south along the west coast
through the town of Hokitika and onto Franz Josef and Fox Glacier - glacier country! The highway leaves the coast south of Hokitika and snuggles in close to the Southern Alps all the way to the glaciers.
Fox Glacier is a 13km long ice shelf that comes down from Mt Cook and Mt Tasman, at its peak it reaches over 3000m (10,000ft), further down the shelf the glaciers flow over large bedrock steps on the valley floors. This causes the ice to extend and break up, forming steep icefalls that are mazes of crevasses and pinnacles of ice
It was a spectacular drive and very picturesque with snow capped mountains all around us. The glaciers are stunning viewed from a distance but are even more impressive close up. We drove through Franz Josef, the first of the two glaciers and onto Fox Glacier 25km south. We decided we had to see them up close so we booked a full days glacier hike with a company called (funnily enough) 'Fox Glacier' and we were very much looking forward to it. The day we got to the town of Fox Glacier the weather was absolutely atrocious - really heavy rain
and strong winds and our hike was booked for the following day. We were seriously considering canceling if the weather did not improve as it was that bad. It rained all though the night and on the morning of the hike we awoke to amazing sunshine and clear skies. Apparently it rains 1 out of 2 days so we were very lucky to have picked a good day.
We arrived at the Fox Glacier office early in the morning and were provided with hiking boots, waterproof raincoats, thick woolen socks, gloves, backpacks, beanie hats, alpenstocks (hiking sticks) and crampons. We were then driven to the foot of the glacier and off we set with our guide and 8 other people. From the car park we walked about half hour to reach the face of the glacier and then we had to make our way up a very long steep path carved into the hill side so as to be able to drop on top of the glacier. The surreal thing was that the climb up the hill was actually a climb through dense rainforest! This is only one of two places on the planet where rainforest meets glacier (the
other being in South America). The climb up and along took around an hour and once we made it onto the glacier we hooked up our crampons and we were away on the ice. We were guided around the ice for around 5 hours with our guide cutting out ice steps for us with an ice pick as we went. We walked up and down crevices in the glacier, saw underground rivers, saw people ice climbing (same as rock climbing) up 30ft sheets of ice, climbed into underground ice holes and generally took in everything the glacier had to offer. Again, our pictures don't do it justice (we really need to invest in a better camera). It was an exhausting but amazing day and we even got a certificate to say we had conquered the ice!
From Fox Glacier we drove south to Wanaka which is one of New Zealand's fastest growing small towns and is situated at the point where the hills of Central Otago rub up against the dramatic peaks of Mount Aspiring National Park and sits on the shore of Lake Wanaka. It is in a gorgeous setting and the view from our accommodation was of
the lake with the snow capped mountains in the background - truly spectacular. While in Wanaka was visited Puzzleworld and spent an afternoon playing with the puzzles and challenges scattered over the tables in the cafe (hundreds of them). We also climbed up the 549m Mount Iron and were greeted at the summit with magnificent panoramic view of Wanaka, the lakes and the mountains. While in Wanaka we treated ourselves to a night at the movies and went to a cinema called 'Paradiso Cinema' to watch the film 2012. Paradiso Cinema is a cinema unlike any you've probably been in before. Instead of the usual cinema seats in rows, this cinema has sofas, armchairs, cushions, beanbags, airline seats, lazyboys and even a Morris Minor car where you can watch the movie from - we snagged a big comfy sofa and it felt like we were watching a moving in our own home! During the interval (just like the good old days) we tucked into home make chocolate chip cookies. Also worth mentioning that it was here in Wanaka where the blackriders chase sequence was filmed (again Lord of the Rings).
Leaving Wanaka we drove to Queenstown, a nice town
set beside Lake Wakatipu and hemmed in by mountains. Queenstown is the main centre for adventure sports and the sky was littered with paragliders and skydivers dropping into playing fields and parks as we walked by. We spent a couple of days here wandering around the town and seeing the sights. We visited the two casinos whilst in Queenstown and again we didn't win much but had fun spending a couple of dollars!
From Queenstown we drove via Te Anu (a little but quite pleasant town) and down to Clifden where we visited the Clifden Suspension Bridge, one of the longest in the South Island and also Clifden Caves, a 300m long labyrinth lined with flowstone and stalactite formations and dotted with glow worms. We love exploring caves so we grabbed our torches and headed in. Unlike Waipu caves these caves were a lot smaller and tighter to get through. It was pitch black and you have to follow a series of reflective strips to get from one end of the cave to the other. There was a real sense of adventure as the passages were tight and we had to crouch, scramble (sometimes on our bellies) and climb
ladders to get further along. In some places it felt like potholing! Most of the cave could be explored without getting wet but there were several areas where you had to shimmy round large pools of water, climb and also jump to avoid getting wet - some of the 'puddles' were waist deep! Matt managed to stay dry but Dianna slipped twice, landing her foot into water, soaking her feet - luckily that was the worst of it as some people had been known to properly fall in the water. We were underground for over an hour and a half and quite pleased to see light when we finally got to the other end!
Continuing south we came to the bottom of the south island where we stopped briefly in Invercargill but as we did not find it very inspiring we moved on after a couple of nights.
Heading east and then north up the east coast we headed to Dunedin which is New Zealand's Scottish city, the 'Edinburgh of the South' - a very attractive and comfortable town. The hub of activity in Dunedin lies around the Octagon, a green, tree-filled space in the heart of the
city, boarded by historic buildings. While in Dunedin we visited Dunedin Casino (yes, we admit it, we are addicted thanks to Las Vegas!), saw the local sites and climbed to the top of 'Baldwin Street' (the steepest street in the world). Baldwin Street has a Guinness Book of Records verified maximum gradient of 1 in 2.66 which has a slope of almost 19 degrees and it was a bugger to climb!! Every year they have a competition to run from bottom to top and back down again, the record is 56 seconds and it took us about 5 minutes in total to walk it (with a rest at the top)!
On route from Dunedin heading north again along the east coast we visited the famous grey and nearly spherical Moeraki Boulders. Some of which are over 2 metres in diameter. The boulders lie partially submerged in the sandy beach at the tide line and their smooth skins hide honeycomb centres (as seen in the picture of Matt sitting in one). While we were messing about on the boulders getting pictures we saw a pod of around seven dolphins just off the beach (about 5 metres away) which started playing
and jumping out of the water which was quite special.
We continued north straight through Christchurch (bypassed this time as we would be coming back here for Christmas) and up to the alpine spa resort of Hanmer Springs which is set among mountains, forest and rivers and is a scenic wonderland. We stayed in Hanmer Springs for a week as we absolutely loved it there and visited the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa twice (as we were so tired from all of our hard work over the past 6 months lol). The Thermal Pools and Spa are set in breathtaking natural landscape. There are 9 open air thermal pools, 3 sulphur pools, a 25 metre freshwater heated pool and a large activity pool with 2 waterslides. Temperatures in the pools range from 33-42 degrees Celsius - bliss! While we were getting reports of heavy snow in the UK (we were there the week before Christmas), we were basking in the glorious sun getting very burnt and chilling out in the thermal pools! (its a hard life)
We could have stayed in Hanmer Springs forever but had to move on so set off to Kaikoura for a few
days. Kaikoura is a seaside town overlooked by snow-capped mountains - a unique combination! Not far offshore, the seabed here falls steeply away into the 2000m deep Hikorangi Trench bringing an abundance of marine life. The Peninsula is the convergence of two ocean currents - one subtropical, the other sub Antartic which proves a rich habitat for marine mammals and seabirds (whales, dolphins, orca, seals, albatross, petrel). We spent a couple of afternoons walking along the Kaikoura Peninsula which is a cliff top walk where we saw several seal colonies and red-billed and black-backed gulls. We also visited another Seal Colony where you can get up close and personal with the seals basking in the sun on the rocks. You could actually walk up and touch them if you really wanted but it is recommended to keep your distance as they can get quite aggressive.
From Kaikoura we headed south back to Christchurch where we spent Christmas and New Year.
Christchurch, the largest city on the South island is a relaxed city with lots of parks and gardens and is dominated by Christchurch Cathedral and Cathedral Square that surrounds it. On the western edge of the city centre
lies Hagley Park which contains the beautiful Botanic Gardens and was about a 5 minutes walk from our accommodation so we spent many an afternoon hanging out there. Oh and guess what guys, Christchurch has a casino!
For us, the hardest thing to adjust to in New Zealand was the fact that their seasons are the opposite to that of the UK. Therefore, Christmas falls at the height of summer here which to us was unusual as December in the UK is normally freezing (this year proves the rule)! To wake up to blistering sun on Christmas Day was very strange. Everyone celebrates exactly the same as the UK but most people in New Zealand have a BBQ on Christmas Day and our hostel was no different so Christmas dinner consisted of BBQ burgers, sausages and salad. We spent the day chilling in the garden in the boiling sun playing games with the other residents and then went for an afternoon stroll in the park.
We also received a great Christmas parcel from the family which contained lots of cards, decorations, presents and chocolates which was so nice. We had a lovely Christmas, but (and we can't believe we
Kaiteriteri Beach in Abel Tasman
This has been voted one of the best beaches in the world are saying this) we missed being home, missed it being cold as for us, Christmas should be in winter.
As we were desperately missing roast dinners (not had any for 6 months) we walked into town on Boxing Day and found a very nice pub on the river that had a carvery and for £20 we had a HUGE roast dinner and massive desert which made up for our lack of a real Christmas dinner
We spent the last few days of our New Zealand trip hanging out at the hostel watching TV in our room (a real novelty). It was one of the main reasons for choosing the hostel as it meant that while everything was closed for Christmas, we could chill out and watch TV and films. We spent our time in Christchurch chilling out in the park and botanical gardens and wandering around the town taking in the sights before packing our bags ready for the next stage of our trip; Australia.
It's hard to explain unless you have been here but New Zealand is phenomenally beautiful. The pictures we have taken really just do not do it justice and it's quite frustrating for
us. We will be investing in a better camera! It's definitely safe to say we fell in love with New Zealand straight away. There was a couple of things that we missed out on doing that we would have liked to have done, Milford Sound, the Tongariro Crossing, The Trans-alpine express train journey, wine tasting at a vineyard but we are already planning our return trip one day so it will be done then!
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Claire
non-member comment
I am not jealous....
nope, not one little bit. New Zealand look like it is totally and utterly.....AMAZING! Ok, ok I am completely and utterly, 100% JEALOUS. All I can say again is Wow, Wow WOW!!! Love the pictures, well apart from that THING, yuk! Love and miss you guys loads! BBS xxxxxxxxxxxxx