Sand and Ice in the South Island

---

Hi everyone! Hope you enjoyed the last blog and especially the crazy zorbing photos. Wow, that was fun! Lots more adventure to come in the South Island though! We arrived in the South Island to the sad news that Sir Edmund Hillary had died. The whole country was deeply upset by this news and flags flew at half mast for the following two weeks. It was a very sad affair, but one which gave me the opportunity to read up on Sir Ed's incredible life in the Sunday newspapers. He has always been a hero of mine, and even more so when I discovered that he had accomplished so much more than the first ascent of Everest in 1953, and the founding of the Himalayan Trust. It was fascinating to read all about his trips to Antarctica (by tractor!) and his ocean to sky jet boating adventure in Asia. For Mark and I, it was a very special time to be in New Zealand and to join in the celebration of such a remarkable life, especially since we will be in Nepal and the Khumbu region in April. We watched his funeral on tv on a rainy day and I even shed a few tears... a very sad day for New Zealand.

Anyway, on a much lighter note, we have had an amazing few weeks so far in the South Island. We jumped on the Interislander Ferry from Wellington to Picton and excitedly planned our route for the coming weeks. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Picton the weather was pretty dull and cold- a pity since the drive from Picton-Nelson- Motueka is supposed to be stunning. However, it didn't dampen our spirits too much and Marlborough Sounds still looked really impressive. Motueka is a small town on the fringes of Abel Tasman National Park. We set up camp there at a really nice hostel and cooked ourselves a scrumptious risotto. (We made way too much and in my determinism to save money, I ate risotto for dinner that night, dinner the next night and lunch the next day!, Mark crumbled after one risotto dinner and splashed out on kebabs!). The next day we headed off on a kayaking trip around the National Park. The weather turned out to be bright and sunny, much to our relief! There were two retired American couples with us, who were good fun. The only way to get around the Park is by walking, or water taxi. Our guide loaded us up onto a water taxi and off we went speeding and bumping our way across the Tasman sea until we reached a remote cove where our kayaks were waiting for us. We spent a beautiful day kayaking through the crystal clear waters of Abel Tasman, dining on deserted beaches (an extremely tasty packed lunch was provided, including real coffee, and homemade carrot cake... Mark and I indulged as usual, and pretty much devoured all of the carrot cake!), snorkelling, watching sea lions basking in the sun... A perfect day! (followed by more risotto).

Next stop was Nelson Lakes National Park. We set up camp for the night at one of the most beautiful settings you can imagine... (see the photos). The weather was fantastic and we spent most of the afternoon sun bathing by glistening Lake Rotoiti. Despite my persistent nagging of Mark to apply sun cream every morning, sometimes he forgets... This was one of those days. By the end of day he was sporting, what can only be described as the most ridiculous looking sunburn I have ever seen, with the shape of his sunglasses imprinted on his face. (again, see the photo!). We watched the sun set over the lake and I took some lovely photos, and fell asleep to the sound of the water lapping outside our tent.

The weather deteriorated again the next day as we headed towards the west coast. This didn't really detract from the rugged beauty of the West Coast, however, and we decided to stop over in the town of Hokitika for the night. We stayed in a gorgeous hostel overlooking the sea and enjoyed a bottle of sparkling Lindauer (we love this stuff, its so cheap and tastes so good) over our home cooked dinner. We were up bright and early the following morning to drive the four hours down to the town of Franz Josef, at the foot of the Franz Josef Glacier. This area is really unfortunate weather wise, and receives 6 meters of rain every year! The town itself is tiny and has an alpine ski resort feel to it. It rained heavily for the whole day so Mark decided to try his hand at ice climbing. Franz Josef boasts the only indoor ice climbing wall in the Southern Hemisphere and the 3rd biggest in the world. He absolutely loved it and flew up most of the routes like a pro. For his last climb he wanted to try the most difficult route, which entailed negotiating a rather precarious looking overhang. He fought at it for a while, but was defeated in the end... a very impressive attempt nonetheless, especially for a beginner.

The next day we got up close and personal with the Franz Josef Glacier. Interestingly, Franz Josef is one of the few glaciers in the world which are advancing, rather than retreating. Armed with snow boots and crampons we were guided through the rainforest at the foot of the glacier and up onto the ice. Our guide was absolutely no fun and Mark and I found ourselves pining for our good humoured South American guides. We made the most of it though and the best part of it for me, was finally getting to wear crampons and get a feel for them. I loved it and I am now dying to get on a snowy mountain where crampons are required! We walked through amazing blue ice caves and although it was really cool to get onto on the glacier we kind of regretted forking out on this particular guided trip, as the glacier was just as impressive to look at from a distance and we had both been on glaciers before. The crampons were good fun though!

We had a long journey ahead of us the following day. Our aim was to get to Kaikoura on the east coast in 2 days, breaking the journey in the alpine town of Arthur's pass. The drive across the Southern Alps was absolutely gorgeous, with snow covered mountains and huge valleys spread out before us. Luckily we had decided to break the journey there, as the road to Christchurch (i.e. our road to Kaikoura) was closed down by the police that day due to a forest fire. There is only one restaurant in Arthur's pass, one shop and one hostel. All very quaint, but we really liked it. If we had had more time, it would have been nice to do some tramping in the area, but it was time to move on to Kaikoura.

The day we drove to Kaikoura was one of the hottest days I have ever experienced! This made the 6 hour journey pretty uncomfortable to say the least, but it was worth it, as Kaikoura was even better than we had hoped it would be. We managed to sweat through the scorching heat and pitch our tent in a nice holiday park. Kaikoura is so beautiful and we were so glad that we decided at the last minute to go there, despite our time constraints. Our main reason for going there was to swim with the huge pods of wild dusky dolphins who are quite fond of this area. Its so popular that we had to book it 2 weeks in advance. On our first day in Kaikoura we walked along the coast looking for sea lions. We were almost risking life and limb as we clambered over rocks at the base of huge cliffs while the tide was coming in fast! It was worth it though as we came face to face with giant sea lions lying around on the rocks and making content/disgruntled noises and groans. In the afternoon we went to a "Sheep Shearing Show". We decided that it was high time we met New Zealand's most prolific inhabitants. (New Zealand has a human population of 4 million and a sheep population of 40 million! - 20 years ago the sheep population was 80 million!). The show was run by a local sheep farmer and was really informal and non- commercialised, unlike the big touristy shows in the Rotorua's Agrodome. We got to feed the lambs, feed Ram-man, stroke a sheep dog and marvel at its proficiency at ordering sheep around, and saw a live sheep shearing! Sounds like a strange way to spend an afternoon I know, but we loved it! That evening, it was off to the Kaikoura Seafood Barbeque (for me) and the chip shop for Mark! Kaikoura has an abundance of stalls by the sea selling exquisite seafood for half nothing. I had scallops for 3euro and they were the best scallops I've ever had. The whole affair is extremely classy with beautiful wooden tables to sit at, and the food is presented as if you were dining at a Michelin star... no chips wrapped in Page 3 here. In fact no chips or page 3 at all! So that was our first day in Kaikoura. We headed to bed early as we had to be up at 5am the next day for our rendez vous with the duskys... Stay tuned.

---

Photos

Abel Tasman
Picnic on the beach

Abel Tasman
Our Kayaking group

Abel Tasman
Our guide preparing tea

Comments

[Ronan]

I love the sunburn, the closest thing i've got to that is standing too close to the patio heater a few nights ago. I'm sure Pendry will also be thankful for the pictures of the forigen "Totty" ye posted from the show.

[MichaelM]

The bottom of the world
Fascinating to see the Franz Josef Glacier when one has read so much about it. And yes it was fascinating to see you experiencing climbing in snow and ice when Ed Hillary had just died. Great documentary on TV last week about the Everest Climb. I look forward to hearing about Australia.

[Fiona]

picture
Is that where Paul Daniels disappeared to? Shearing sheep?!