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Published: December 15th 2011
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Having travelled down the east coast of the South Island, we planned to make our trip back up the spectacular and rugged west coast. Before we left Dunedin we stocked up on food and petrol and Cat made me get my haircut. Our first stop on the long drive was back in Wanaka and we found a cheap little campsite just outside the town. Freedom camping is no longer an option for us anymore as we don’t have a portable toilet onboard and this is strictly forbidden to stop people from dumping waste into the natural environment. We ate dinner with a nice couple from Perth and listened to their amusing tale of how their hire bikes had firstly been ripped off the roof of their hire car while exiting a multi-story car-park, and then again had blown off while driving down the highway a day later.
We drove over the Haast Pass the next morning to get over the mountains to the west coast. This area is very remote and there are only a few towns around and very expensive petrol as we found to our displeasure. The ecosystem here is also very unique, with rainforests bordered with glaciers,
snow topped peaks and all next to a dramatic coastline. It certainly was an interesting drive and before we knew it, we had arrived at Fox Glacier and set off for our self guided tour to the base of the receding glacial wall. As we walked nearer there were marks to show where the glacier had been a number of years ago and we were surprised how quickly it had receded (it can move metres in a day!). You are not allowed to go onto the glacier unguided, but we had already booked to go up onto the Franz Joseph Glacier the following day so this visit had whet our appetite. We treated ourselves to a luxury(ish) campsite and booked ourselves into a private hot-tub where we sat relaxing while drinking Captain Morgan’s Spiced and coke.
We had an early start the next day for our Glacier adventure. We got kitted out with our crampons and warm climbing gear; I was a little disappointed to find out that we didn’t get our own ice pick or axe however. We set off on our walk up to the glacier and found it remarkably difficult to walk on rocks with the
crampons on. I was in a constant battle to stop going over on my ankle. When we finally hit the ice we were rewarded with a surreal landscape to play in and a striking blanket of white that stretched up to the mountain peaks in the distance. We spent our time on the glacier exploring caves, walking through ice chambers and climbing over ice walls. The experience was awesome and we walked back quite tired (due somewhat to the weight of the steel toe capped boots) and were very much looking forward to the final part of the trip, the thermal spas, where we relaxed and regained our strength before pushing on up the coast. We had aimed to get to the pancake rocks slightly north of Greymouth before dusk and made it just in time to catch a glimpse of these strange layered rock formations and also to watch the force of the sea escaping through the nearby blowholes. We were especially intrigued by the sound hole which made a thunderous sound whenever a certain wave entered the cave below. The next short stretch of coast was driven with the sun setting over the sea. It was a serene
end to an adventurous day as we lay up in our basic camping spot in the small town of Charlestown.
The next day we drove past Westport and made our way along the Buller Gorge. This is gold mining country and we considered panning for some in a local river to pay for lunch. Instead we decided to cross the longest swing bridge in New Zealand and check out an impressive fault line created by tectonic pressure that had pushed one side a couple of metres higher than the other in an earthquake 100 years ago. We had a quick lunch and drove on to Motueka so that we could book our adventure on Abel Tasman the next day. We found a little gem of a campsite next to a kiwi farm which had lots of fruit that we could help ourselves to. The lemons came in very handy for our G&T’s and pancakes. The next morning we kayaked out onto the glorious Abel Tasman national park. The water was crystal clear and the weather was gorgeous. We kayaked from Marahu a couple of hours up the coast deep into the national park and had lunch on the beach.
We then tramped further north up to Pitt Head and were rewarded with some amazing views of the surrounding bays and coastline. We finally caught our speedboat back to Marahu and reflected on what was yet another astonishing and completely diverse part of this country.
The next day was England’s third game of the tournament against Romania. We had already sold our tickets to our Milford Sound guide the week before, as we had decided to miss the game to allow us time to get back up to Auckland from Dunedin. The other game that evening was also a big one with France taking on New Zealand in what is somewhat of a grudge match. We chose a campsite in Richmond that had a bar on site and when we arrived we found that it was some kind of old persons social club, however the beer was cheap and it showed the rugby, so that was fine by us. We decided to celebrate my birthday a day early as my actual birthday was going to be spent driving and catching the ferry the following day. We headed into nearby Nelson and treated ourselves to some freshly cooked “fush and
chups” where we chose the fillet ourselves. We also bought a nice bottle of local white wine and a birthday cake. To offset some of this indulgence we hiked up to the centre of New Zealand (the geographical centre marked by a statue on a hill above Nelson). We then spent the evening watching rugby and having a few beers… what better way to spend your birthday?!
The following morning I opened my presents in the back of the van. I got some nice little new Zealand goodies that I had been craving from Cat and a monkey hat that James and Claire had bought me. Apparently it really suited me when I tried it on (I’m just glad they didn’t get the kiwi one). I had a special breakfast of bacon and eggs and a banana pancake and then set off for the drive to Picton to catch our ferry back to the North Island. The journey was another gorgeous coastal drive along an extremely hilly and winding road. Cat just managed to keep down breakfast until we made it to the ferry terminal!
We had arranged to meet my Uncle and Auntie in Wellington for a
pre-match drink before they headed off to see the Scotland v Argentina game. The Ferry was slightly delayed however and when we arrived at our pre-booked camping spot (in a hostel carpark) the only space they had left was one on what looked like a sideways 45 degree angle. Not wanting to sleep crushed up against the side of our freezing cold van door we made the decision to return to the campsite that we had previously stayed in just outside Wellington. This meant we could only have a couple of drinks with Steve & Catherine and we made our way to their rather posh hotel. It was great to see them as we hadn’t seen any friends or family for nearly 3 months. We drank wine while chatting in their penthouse apartment room feeling somewhat jealous of their luxurious surroundings. After a couple of small glasses we made our way to the stadium with them to soak up some of the pre-game atmosphere and then said our goodbyes until Auckland and the England v Scotland game. We climbed back into our cosy little campervan and sped off into the night to our campsite to enjoy the bottle of wine
I had just been given for my birthday.
Beard Update: (Week 3) With my newly cropped hair and developing beard its starting to look like a choice rather than a tramp.
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