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Hi everyone,
Been a bit of a while since the last blog, apologies,,, expensive, slow internet in some places.
To catch up from last time we'd just arrived in
New Zealand to a slightly colder place than the rest of the trip. After picking up a car from the airport (christened J-Lo, because it had a massive boot) we spent the night nearby at a little place called
Sumner on the
Banks Pennisular. Gorgeous spot. The backpackers had its own bar as well, Awesome dude (as they say here!) The next day we drove down the coast to
Oamaru where we went to the nearby Penguin (the town is mad for them) Sanctuary. We watched about 30 'Little Blue' penguins come ashore into their en suite appartments. Very Cute.
After warming up the next day we headed in land through some of the most spectacular scenary and driving roads we'd ever seen. Pretty much just us and a few thousand sheep, cattle and birds. Awesome! On the way we drove a tiny town called
Naseby where the local pastime is Curling... yes they have a huge indoor Curling rink for a tiny place, on the outskirts of town.
GOLD in them there hills!!!!!!
Kev had the fever, but didn't find any in ArrowtownMost of the cafe's were closed due to the Curling championships, or just because they'd gone Curling.
We spent the next couple of days in
Arrowtown. A scenic gold rush town on the Shooter River. Here we went for a bit of a tramp throuh the mountains and around. Also did some panning for gold in the river where they filmed parts of the Lord of the Rings. We found some Gold, but Kev put his finger on it and it dissappeared... just like he does with money. The Cinema was very cute, large sofa style chairs where we thought it was great, as we could drink wine and watch the film on big fluffy cushions... even the interval was good.
Queenstown was next. Having spent some time here before with Kay we didn't intend staying long. But just long enough to go Luging at the top of the mountain again. We considered the Paragliding, but the moment was lost as we had to get down to
Te Anau that evening ready for
Milford Sound.
An early start at
Te Anau before we drove 119km of the 120km to the Homer Tunnel on the way to
Milford Look at Maria!
Look how tall she is! And she's not even wearing heels! Sound. At about 115km it started snowing! It then got heavier, heavier, the road got steeper and steeper..... until basically the car was sliding trying to get up the mountain. Gutted,,, we turned back (what no chains, and only the 1km away from the tunnel) passing all the other cars, vans, and coaches who obviously made it through after we had failed. Sniff Sob. A Movie afternoon it was. BUT.... next day unperturbed we did manage to get through (via a coach tour) and had the most fantatic weather, scenary and brilliant cruise through Milford Sound. It was obviously meant to be this day!
Heading back through Queenstown we arrived in
Wanaka. One of the places we only fleetingly visited last time we were in NZ. Simply gorgeous little town on the edge of Lake Wanaka. We went for a lovely walk around the lake, sampling local hospitality at the backpackers too. Next day - 'Puzzling World' - an eclectic place that had loads of different puzzles to solve, a huge maze and loads of illusion rooms that made it look like you were sliding uphill on a chair. Bit freaky really, but great fun.
Next was
Franz So Strong
Having eaten her weetabix Maria holds the place together! Joseph, after turning West and heading to the coast over many bridges over the several rivers by the superb mountains we arrived at the Glaciers. More Sheep, Cows, birds too! We'd booked for an afternoon helicopter flight over the two glaciers and to Mount Cook, but due to the poor visibility (big drops of rain,,, everything is big!) we couldn't go up. Luckily though we managed to get on the next day flight. We got to sit in the front with the pilot and the views over the coast and up through the glaciers were stunning. It did get a bit choppy at times (Kev no like) as there were winds coming off the mountains, which also meant we didn't get to fly to Mount Cook. We did get to land on top of the glaciers though, how cold!!!! Great pictures though (see attached).
Following the thrill of the heli ride it was back to the road. Up the coast and turning East again through the mountains over the viaduct bridge to
Arthurs Pass. A tiny, quaint collection of houses, hostels and lots of trampers. It even had a pub that we managed to end up with a German
Our trusty Helicopter
On top of the Glacier in -2 wind chill and Kiwi. The next morning we did a short walk through to Devil's Punchbowl waterfall with great views up the pass with the snow capped mountains. Moving through the rest of the pass and the mountains after was unforgettable. We are running out of superlatives here to explain the scenary, but believe us.... Just Stunning! Having passed through several ski field areas we arrived at
Hanmer Springs. A luxury resort that had thermal springs popping up all over. We stayed in a nearby backpackers where Maria made friends with the resident cat, and nearly brought her home. That evening we went to the Thermal Pools,,, very nice. All different rock pools with increasing temperatures as you moved through. Though Kev didn't like the Sulphur one,,, it stank!
Kaikoura - for those of you that know, this is famous for having one of the best spots for Whale Watching in the world. We had a really clear day for the trip, although the warning was that there was a 2 metre swell and sea sickness was probable. Great! Almost undaunted, we hopped on the Whale bus to the quay. Heading out to the 2km deep canyon that runs beside the
View from the Cockpit
Looking over the mountains at Franz Joseph coast wasn't too bad in the end. Right from the start the spotter on the boat began pointing out the large black objects that turned out to be Sperm Whales. With some we got within 50M's, and got several pics of their tails majestically flipping over as they dived to the depths to feed. After an hour or so we had seen 7 Sperm Whales,,, a really unusual thing as the guide mentioned they would normally only see 1 or 2 on a trip. A really special and unforgettable day for us.
A few days later were in
Nelson right at the Northern tip of the South Island. It has its own kind of micro climate and so was warm and sunny every day we were there. We stayed at a great little backpackers called Shortbread Cottage, recommended to us by Cathy and Pete, where they provide homemade shortbread every day on your pillow. Yum. Again we tried to do paragliding here, but no joy, just too windy up on the hills. So we went drinking instead.... on an educational and interesting wine tour! No, it really was educational. We decided not to spit and after 30 different wines
The Stunning Drive
A view back down the road whilst driving through Arthurs Pass we were ready for the shortbread and a lie down. The little town market was really good too. Another trek took us out to the
Abel Tasman coastline. Again stunning (how many times can we get away with that word?) views along the coast and out to the many islands. A refreshing walk that was topped off by Big Burgers at Hot Mama's Cafe! Mmmm.
So we are almost done with the South Island. A trip through
Queen Charlotte Sounds lead us to
Picton that houses the ferry terminal for the
Cook Strait Crossing. The wet, windy, overcast,,, and windy weather was making us a bit nervous. Last time Maria had crossed this stretch of water it had a queezy affect. Luckily we got the boat that had stabilizers. So after dropping off J-Lo at the car returns we jumped onboard heading for Wellington.
So there you go. NZ South island done n' dusted... amazing place. We are a bit behind with these blogs at the moment because we're actually nearly done on the North Island too. Only a week or so to go before we fly to South America. Just to tease you though for the next
Kaikoura's Big Fish
Sperm Whale diving to get some fish n' chips installment, (just like Lost/Heroes/Corrie), we meet up with Kev's familiy in Wellington, begin the Golf Tour of the Southern Hemisphere, play spot the Kiwi (bird that is), drive up a Volcano and come down into a really smelly place....!
Its been great to hear what you guys are all up to as well. Please do send updates to us as well as its really nice to hear what's going on back with you all too!
Big Shout out to Delia and her bump,,, getting very very close now! :-)
Maria and Kevin.
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Sarat
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Hi Maria, It's good to see you are enjoying and having fun. NZ looks beautiful (from the pics), I’ve put NZ on top of my list to visit places. My wife and daughter are back in the UK, they like it here as the weather is ideal, they’ve acclimatised so quickly. Look forward to your next post. Take care and continue to have fun! Sarat