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Published: September 25th 2012
Taken a while, but here's what we got up to in New Zealand, from 26-08-12 to 16-09-12. I've attached some pictures I took on my phone but have hundreds more to upload from my camera when I can find a PC.
My flight from Nadi, Fiji, was
at 8am so was up n packed by
5.30am ready for my 4 hour flight.
Annie on the other hand, had 4 seperate flights to get to Christchurch to meet me. Poor girl, for someone that hates flying too. I think she likes me ;-) Actually, probably not after about 30 or 40 hours flying from Hearhrow to Singapore to Sydney to Auckland to Christchurch!! Glad she did though, we had such a brilliant time!!
After so much travelling and bearing in mind we were going to spend the next 3 weeks living in a camper van we decided to splash out. For our first night I'd booked us into The George hotel, a 5* luxury hotel in Christchurch. It didn't disappoint, really nice relaxing hotel, top room service and a massive comfortable bed!
Next day we went to pick up our home
for the next 3 weeks. We'd booked a camper van from 'Wilderness' travel as they seemed to be one of the only ones that had vans with seperate rear heaters. 'Who cares' I'm sure you're thinking, well, as we're road tripping in NZ almost winter it's quite a big deal not to freeze yer bits n bobs off! (we did talk to a couple on one of our walks that didn't have rear heater, they had ice on the windows...inside the van!!). So we get the van and are given a what's what run through on how it all works..how too fill up water, empty toilets, turn on gas (all were obviously my fun jobs!), the tv/DVD and radio..was a really cool van to spend 3 weeks in!
We decided to stock up on shopping and ended up getting Sopranos season 3 to carry on from where we got to back home! Love it, it's no The Wire, but still gotta love T!
Found a camp site and caught the bus into 'town'. I say town, not a lot going on at all. I never realised how devastating the earthquakes
of a couple of years ago were/are. The whole of the city centre is still cordoned off as a Red Zone not accessible by anyone except the construction workers. We walked down a street that had loads of information on Christchurch history right upto current day. Really interesting to read about and actually be in the city, puts it all into perspective big time. Working in the construction industry I was interested to find out that it's taken so long to start the rebuild again because of aftershocks and insurance payouts. There's no point in building again if aftershocks will just destroy it before its finished. Plus the land geology has changed so what was once useable land is now unsafe for future use and the drainage system is pretty jumbled up down there. It's a lot longer process than I ever imagined.
The bus driver told us one of the places that would still be open was the casino! Headed there for dinner and to gamble away some dollars! We hit the roulette table and began to slowly fritter away our $20 worth of chips (high rollers!!)..we had a couple of wins but were down to
one $2 chip before leaving. I said just stick it on black 8 as its one of my favourite numbers...Annie drops the chip on and we notice the football replays on the big tvs..next thing the guy calls 'black 8' as the winning number!!! 35:1, who'da thunk it!! Went an cashed in and headed back to the van with our hard earned $70 :-)
(just realised if I go on this much detail I'll be back in the uk! I'll shorten some bits!)
On Tuesday we drove to Lake Tekapo and walked up Mount John. Stunning view of the mountain as you walk around to the second swing bridge!
The benefit of having our rear deisel heater was so that we could use the dirt cheap Department of Conservation (DOC) campsites. They dont have power and rarely had water but if you fill up somewere the van lasts about a day or if lucky 2 without connectig up. We looked for our first DOC in the dark. Not there!! Only so many times you can drive up and down a road before convincing yourself to go somewhere else!! So we used satnav to head
to Lakeside View campsite. That evening we went to the local Hot pools. Awesome to sit in after a days driving and walking. After that we went on an Observatory night tour. Learned about stars and solar systems n that. It was really interesting, shame the constellations they taught us are only visible in the Southern Hemisphere!!
Wednesday - drive to Mount Cook. Went for a walk in the Hooker Valley. At the midpoint of the walk we saw a glacial lake with mini ice bergs in. Then we drove to Oamara to stay in Top 10. The Top 10 holiday parks became our luxury camp sites. Nice and clean, hot showers, underfloor heating in shower blocks! This one was very quiet!
Thursday - drive to Queenstown. It was time for Annie to do a bit of driving. I trust her. Even though she's not been behind the wheel of a car for 10 years! Her safety instincts kick in a treat, 80% of the time going at least 10k under the limit asking me if she's driving okay..The note we wrote down for this period just said 'Annie burn out car'. Does what it says on the tin really.
Pulling out of the parking space in 1st gear until dogs in queens town can hear the high potched revs before changing gear swiftly followed by a funny burning smell. She stuck at it though and was actually a really good driver, especially as it was the equivalent of a big transit van!!
Stopped in Queenstown for lunch. Everyone i'd met in Fiji that had been to NZ had banged on about a burger joint called Fergburger. Awesome massive things I'll never forget!!
I bought a quicksilver jacket having not packed anything waterproof!!
Drove to Te Anau...
That night we went on a trip to the glow worm caves. We had an ace tour guide, really funny kiwi dude who got us all in a small boat and killed the lights at the entrance of the 300m long caves. In the pitch black he pulls us through the caves in this boat to this large cave. The view was so cool, like looking up at bright green stars clustered all over the roof of the cave.
Found Te Anau Top 10 to sleep!
Friday - drove to milford sound. I got a speeding ticket. Caught red handed doing 69 in
a 50 zone with a $120 fine. Stopped at historical village which was a bit random in that it looked like hardly anyone would go visit but there was a little old lady in the 'gift shop'! Next we stopped at the Mirror lakes, so called as you can see the perfect reflection of the mountains opposite in the lakes. On the way down to Milford Sound the roads were amazing to drive on. All windy through mountains with hairpins and stunning views..shame we were in a transit van! Went through a big tunnel through the mountain popping out to more amazing views of the valley in front of us. There aren't any words to describe Milford Sounds.. beautiful, breathtaking and amazing barely do it justice. Truely one of the nicest places I've seen. We took a boat cruise out on the sound all the way to the mouth where it meets the ocean where it got really choppy and Annie started giggling like a 5 year old, something I'll never forget ;-)
Camped on Te Anau - Milford Road at Lake Gunn DOC site.
Saturday - drive to Queenstown. Booked into Lake View holiday park 5 mins walk from
town, ace location. Headed to coffee shop called Patagonia for free WiFi and to plan some activities...
We went to an Underwater observatory in the bay and saw diving ducks and massive old trout that looked like they had proper old man wrinkled faces!
In the evening we took a Gondola ride into the hills above Queenstown which had really good views of the town and lake. We went on the luge ride and watched the Haka..I volunteered to be Chief! I had to stare out the Maori warrior while he did his war dance which was fucking hard not to laugh at..its disrespectful to laugh at them doing the ceremony! We have videous if each other, me learning the Haka and Annie using the Poi's in a dance!!
Had pizza and tasty garlic loaf in the Cow, quick drink in Minibar, a guy showed us where it was after spotted us looking in our guidebook like proper lost tourists in the rain!!
Sunday=bungee!! I did the Nevis 134m bungee..never been so scared, amazing feeling once you leap off head first!! Some good pics and a video too.Back to town, pub on wharf for a drink and some planning, winnies
for garlic loaf (better in Cow!). That night we went to Onsen hot pools and had our own private pool. This place was brilliant, your own hot pool and a retractable roof so you can enjoy the scenery and the stars. Back to town after they turfed us out all too suddenly.. Xtreme sports bar for Liverpool v Arsenal...shite result.
Wednesday - In the morning we found out that the heli hike trip was cancelled due to the weather, gutted, really wanted to go in a helichopper...one day!!
We went to Lake Matheson for quick walk and I put the Maori chief peace offering from Queenstown Haka in the lake - supposed to be good luck..maybe should have done it sooner to get the weather for a heli hike?!. Lake Matheson cafe - Lovely cake! Next we went to Fox glacier to walk on the glacier..Amazing scenery! We were shown how far the glacier had retreated in the last 40 or 50 years and how high the ice levels used to be. A Kea bird had followed us all the way up onto the ice, funny parrot looking bird. Walked in an Ice cave and a hole in ice which was draining melted glacier
ice down to the estuary. Had to use crampons and hiking pole on the ice, lot harder than I thought it would be. Drove 2 hours in mad rain to near Hokitika. DOC camping Lake Mahinapua. Driving in rain like that is fucking horrendous, knackers you out concentrating and trying to keep the van in a straight line from the wind!!
Thursday - Hokitika jade shopping & postcards. Jade is a semi precious stone the Maori's discovered and is carved into sumbols etc and Hokitika is where the jade industry was set up many years ago. Drove up coast to Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and blowholes. This stop off was really amazing! We were very lucky to get there at high tide! It's a section of coast where the rock formations look like giant stacks of pancakes really high and it's not really understood how they formed like that. There are blow holes from caves formed under the cliff where at high tide the water is pushed up and bursts out 10's of feet above the coast, really did look amazing at high tide. Drove on further to Murchison - middle of nowhere backwater. Pulled into a scary cemetary campsite, found
reception and payed up. Drove round to our pitch but really hated the place...drove off to look for somewhere a bit less morbid!! Found somewhere not much better, Kiwi campsite, the receptionist was a bit mad talking to her Parakeet Bluey, and there were massive ostrich birds just roaming about the place staring you out, thought I was going to get rutted whilst standing there filling the water the next morning!!
Friday - drove to Marahau. Very nice scenic sunny drive. Lots of fruit stalls and blossoms and daffodils. Feels like another country and very spring like. Lucky to get there for last water taxi at 13.30. We got a water taxi to a place callee Anchorage Bay. Only us and an older lady in the taxi. Turns out she owns a house on the cliff side over looking the bay. Wowzer!!! Gorgeous sun and turquoise sea looked a bit like Croatia. We walked 12k back to Marahau from Anchorage. Nice walk through coastal track lovely secluded beaches. That night we stayed in Marahau campsite. Booked North Island ferry for
Sunday morning. and planned our last week. I decided to bring my flight to Thailand forward 5 days because I'd spent
so much money in NZ and my cash would last longer in Thailand..
Saturday - drove to Nelson. Rainy rain. We looked around Nelson which was quite small but pretty cool, think the market would have been busier if it wasn't raining so much! We checked out the museum to see Nelson way of life when settlers came which was really interesting. In the afternoon we went indoor rock climbing. I've been doing it in London for the past year, time to get Annie involved, see if she can hang tough! Really good fun, Annie loved it so told her I'd take her in London, bit of competition is always good ;-)
That night we drove to Picton for ferry, stayed in Picton Top 10. Very nice, as always!
Sunday - up and at 'em..got the 10
am ferry to Wellington. Lovely view of Marlborough sounds on the way out of Picton. Wellington very windy. Do walking tour, go to Te Papa museum - very good museum, very big with loads of exhibits..After the museum we went for a drink in a fancy French bar called Hippopotamus with good views. Went for Pizza on Cuba st for dinner. Stayed in city
centre car park camper van park. Bit strange just camping in the middle of town but very convenient!!
Monday - we went and found Sopranos Season 4! We went in a cable car up to the botanical gardens for a quick look around and to check out the views then got on the road and drove a loooong way to Okahune to DOC to find out about Tongariro. Found out Thursday will be best day weather wise to attempt the part Tongariro crossing. Can't do the whole crossing at the moment as it erupted a month or so ago leaving some paths unuseable and dangerous risks..Drive up to campsite in Turangi. Very quiet. Chatty campsite man tells us a bit about Christchurch rebuild and insurance against natural disasters...
Tuesday - woke up to listen to the US Open on the radio as Andy Murray was in the final... Left to drive to Lake Taupo with only 2 hours gone. Arrived at Lake Taupo and found a pub that put the rest of the Tennis on for us. Andy wins!!!! Glad we stopped to watch history being made!! Next we went on a half hour Jet boat ride to the Huka
Falls, apparently NZ most viewed landmark?!? Not sure I that's true but that's what out boat driver told us! Jet boat was cool, doing 360 spins and cutting so close to trees and cliffs you thought the boat was going to smash into them. Next door was a prawn park at huka falls but we skipped it to go to the thermal museum to learn about volcanoes and earthquakes. After the museum we drove to Rotorua. Or as it's nicknamed, Rottenrua..it really does stink, badly, of sulphur!! Even in the supermarket, I couldn't get used to it, so bad. Top 10 Rotorua. Very very nice. Best one! That evening we went to the Polynesian spa with hot mineral pools, straight into the hottest 42 degree water... Acid and alkaline pools. still smells!
Wednesday - Te Puia thermal village for the Maori 'village' tour. See hot springs and mud pools. Sulphur everywhere. Steaming earth! Unreal experience, magma is only 6km deep here so water is really hot...much saught after years and years ago by Maori tribes, hot water was a luxury! We saw a Kiwi bird. Much bigger than I thought it would be! We booked the Tongariro crossing for Thursday
then went on the Gondola in Rotorua, and of course more Luge rides. Very good! Much better than Queenstown. Have some more goes as one is never enough!! Drive down to Tongariro to stay in DOC near the National Park. As we were driving up through the National Park snow started falling. Weird snow that didn't stick to the windscreen...Big clouds over the mountains/volcanoes and in the pitch black with only the van headlights on i was convinced it had erupted again and that it was ash not snow! Doh!! Very cold out, thank fook for the rear heater.
Thursday - We were up and at 'em
at 6am to call about walk. Couldn't do it on mobile so drove in Icey cold sunrise to National Park pay phone. Walk is cancelled due to avalanche risk 😞(. Go back to DOC and back to bed! Finally woke up and drove to Whakapapa Village - lots of skiers and skidding cars. We went and did the Tama Lakes walk in the snow. Very beautiful with Mount Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom to Potter fans), Mount Ruapehu and Mount Tongariro in the background. We met a couple from the glacier walk and walked as far
as Taranaki Falls with them. Sent my brother a birthday txt from the top with happy birthday written in the snow! 17 k walk in total took us 4hour 40mins. Very snowy. Drive to rotorua for last night in van before heading up to Auckland 😞(( Stayed in our last Top 10. Hot showers all round and I used the hot pool they had on site too.
Friday - woke up to organise van and drive to Auckland. On the way we went down a steep hill and managed to get 140km/hr out of the van...Annie not pleased i celebrated beating previous record of 130...About an hour later - another run in with the law. Another speeding ticket for doing 120 in a 100 zone..Annie got cross! Get to Auckland and give van back 😞(((. Jumped in a taxi to the city - we were staying in The Sky City Grand Hotel. Verrrry nice!! Cool lobby bar with a grand piano and everything. Decided to do the guide book walking tour but I said I'd be the guide for a change...Annie's note about this just said 'He improved as time went on' haha! That evening, at the 222 meter high
Sky Tower observatory were brilliant views in 360 degrees all around. Walked all the way round glass floor looking down at high rise buildings below us! Same feelin looking down through 38mm toughened glass as at the toe edge of the bungee jump!
Saturday - up for massive hotel buffet breakfast. Ate too much! Walked to Auckland Museum which was pretty cool..national history, war memorial and New Zealand/Auckland history. When we got back we had a brilliant massage in East Day Spa. Chilled then had late fancy dinner in The Grill restaurant in the hotel. BIG steak, about 600g of T-Bone EACH!! Packed and got sad about leaving
Sunday checked out and had another good breakfast. Airport. Even more sad and also scared(annie only)....
And that was what we got up to on our 3 week, 3,745km road trip around New Zealand!! We decided that we are coming back in years to come to complete all 7 of the Great Walks in one long holiday, can't wait for that trip...
Mouse (and Annie) x
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Mark Handley
non-member comment
incorrect
"Mount Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom to Potter fans)" sorry bud, its Lord of the Rings.