Blogs from South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

It was always going to a long day on the bus….Christchurch to Queenstown via Tekapo and Twizel. 8 hours in total but the Intercity buses in New Zealand are very comfortable and there are coffee stops every couple of hours.... and we try and convince ourselves that it’s much more relaxing than driving yourself. It was a beautiful drive and we learned lots about the amazing water and power engineers who dared to link natural lakes with artificial canals to generate massive amounts of power without coal, oil or nuclear means. Brilliant. “Mum and Dad you will definitely HATE Queenstown”, said all our young people who claim to know about these things. It seems that we must have been determined to show that are deffo down with the youth by somehow booking to stay in the ... read more

A brush with the Law! After surviving the Clarence expedition Jan and I were due to catch a bus south to Kaikoura whilst Jamie and Ellie drove back to Nelson for work the next day. We had 2 hours to wait for the bus so we decided to try our luck at hitching again. Things were looking bleak after half an hour and few cars, but our saviour appeared in the guise of an old banger which veered off the main highway with some skidding to boot. Jayden welcomed us into his world. As the conversation evolved we learnt that he was currently unemployed. He'd been in and out of prison all his life. Jayden had a perturbing habit of drifting into the middle of the road and then suddenly overstearing into the nearside. He'd been ... read more

"Into the fray" After Jordie's rather alarming words we had further anxious deliberations. There would be no one else on the very isolated river for three days at least and there was no road access for 5 days. We did have a satellite phone to summon a helicopter if we needed it but the thought of flipping the raft and losing contact with each other was a bit alarming. It occurred to me later that in all our joint 188 years we had never been as far away from another soul as we were on the 5 day journey. We had 2 barrels of food and 2 dry bags containing our clothes, tents and sleeping bags. We had a tool box, a pump and a satellite phone. And a shovel. For digging a toilet or possibly ... read more

Tramping the Queen Charlotte Track, and sea kayaking with Jamie Monday morning bright and early saw us on the bus to Picton. The bus driver did a running commentary en route to stop him getting bored. Tales of gold rushes and frost protection windmills in the vineyards as we passed through Blenheim. Great afternoon in Picton visiting the oldest surviving boat that took convicts to Australia. Fascinating construction, amazing what you can do with string and caulk! We were off early on the 0800 boat on Tuesday to start 4 days tramping on the Queen Charlotte track. We felt very intrepid but one of us was a bit nervous! Our backpacks were shuttled daily between campsites by the coastal boat, what luxury (we thought).... Beautiful countryside, all shades of blue and green in the Sounds. Quite ... read more

Knowing that we had to be in Middlemarch, 54kms away, by 1.20pm at the latest, we breakfasted early and hit the trail. After a little confusion of which direction to take we settled into a comfortable rhythm. As the trail steadily wound its way down towards our destination and with the wind at our backs it gave us the opportunity to enjoy the views the countryside was throwing to us. We were off our bikes many times to walk down or up tracks to take in the views. For most of todays ride the trail was in good condition with only a few rough sections. We were warned to be very careful upon exiting the tunnel 3 kms from Hyde as the strong crosswinds could easily throw you off the trail and down the embankment. We ... read more