Hobbit Wanders Five: Te Wahi Ponamu

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Hobbit Wanders Part Five: Te Wahi Ponamu

I am so excited about showing Moka the South Island.

We are being more than a little ambitious with our itinery: sail from Wellington to Picton where we will hopefully hitch, (funds are quite tight) to Christchurch, we will then bus it to Queenstown to meet Sarah to hike the Milford track. After which we will return to Queenstown and hire a car so we can drive up the West Coast to Hokitika and come back again. Finally, fly out of Queenstown up to Auckland where we depart for Oz. We only have two weeks.

The journey across the Cook Strait was chilly but clear and picturesque as possible. We messed about on the ferry walking around the decks and taking photos then snoozed in chairs and watched bits of movies. The Queen Charlotte sounds are breath taking.

Approaching Picton I begin to get nervous. We are planning to hitchhike to Christchurch and I am the ‘Leader’. YIKES! I used to hitch from here back when I was at University and visiting Helen in Christchurch or going to the Gathering, but it has been a while and I just hope like hell that it pans out. I splash water over my face to freshen up after the crossing and tell myself it will all be fine. Turns out it was more than fine. I had chosen a place to stand just after the round about so vehicles would have slowed down and had time to see us and there was enough room for them to stop just in front of us if they decided. We were waiting for all of five seconds before the first vehicle came along - a massive truck - and stopped! We climbed in and off we went. Oli was a typical Moari guy in his 40s that had a big heart and great stories.

We cruised past the lush vineyards of Blenheim and spotted crayfish sellers and thousands of seals in Kaikora, arriving safely in Christchurch late afternoon.

Tana and Mika, Katy’s dogs are just adorable and Katy’s hospitality is in a league of its own - thanks honey! With punters drifting down the Avon river and architecture right of Cambridge we could easily be in England. We explore the city by foot wandering through the botanical gardens, stopping in cafes and disappearing down small lanes. Later Vanessa takes us on a road tour over the Port hills: pretty much the only hills on the Canterbury Plains. They are dry and brown speckled with imported trees like poplars whose yellowing leaves add to the barren appearance. It’s funny how one pub stop can lead to another and before you know it you have also had a bottle of wine with dinner in Lyttleton and all too quickly it is 3am and time to hit the hay. (Had a great time thanks guys-Vanessa, Andrew, James, Penny and Dylan! )

This was my first time in Queenstown, I was expecting a big ugly town, but instead we were greeted by a town with character by the buckets and scenery that you can just sit and watch all day - wouldn’t mind finding a spot for my rocking chair here in another 30 or so years! The Lakeview Holiday Park has great facilities and we were able store our extra gear here while we went down to do the Milford track. The staff were super helpful and the German Shepherd is pretty friendly, I would recommend it as a sweet and affordable place to stay.

(I will post the Milford Track blog separate to this one, so be sure to keep an eye out for it - Hopefully once you read it you will be on the phone to The Department of Conservation, (DOC) to book a place. You will never experience anything else like it in your life - honest!!)

Back in Queenstown we head for supplies: A cask of wine and bag full of laughs.

Dragging ourselves from peaceful slumber the next day we set about preparations for our road trip: collecting the car! Those who know me will be astounded that I managed to locate and catch a bus to the airport, where the car was, all by myself without getting lost! I returned triumphant with DYNAMITE - a wee little car that found its way into our hearts forever by the end of the week.

After saying farewell to Sarah we get ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Lake Wanaka is so startling blue, it does not seem real. The intensity of the waters colour is mesmerising and it takes real effort to stop taking photos and head to Cadrona. Not much more than the location of a ski field Cadrona is the place where we purchase a couple of CD’s at a yard sale to act as our sound track when the radio cuts out. Bring on Britany and Christina! Scarry I know, but ‘TRUE STORY’.

The Haast Pass is stunning and when we pull into one of the many waterfall stops we are over run by cairns - the little piled up stones to indicate where hiking tracks are. Only these ones are all watching the waterfall. There are hundreds of them and I can’t help rebuild some of the fallen to their previous glory.

‘The best thing about nature is the absence of man’ - and here we find it! The roads here stretch out like ribbon over the landscape and the untouched ruggard Southern Alps echo a quiet life. I feel peaceful. I feel like camping!

Our first camp is a DOC site next to a lake, where you donate $5. A toilet, a tap and a sunset to keep for your desktop. As the sun goes down setting the sky ablaze I can’t help but feel that Gods are blessing us today. Once the sun is tucked up in bed, we make a fire and boil some eggs. (Sounds odd, but they are a great evening snack.)

Although the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers are declining rapidly back into the mountain tops they are still a majestic and awesome sight. Like a swollen river flowing down a steep mountain ridge that has been frozen in motion - perhaps by some playful god. The rivers that come from the melting glaciers are a grey blue crystal colour, that throw reflections so clear they could be the image itself. It is sad to know they are dying because of global warming, but inevitable that one day they will return.

New Zealand’s Highest Mountain, Mt Cook, named after the Captain who put these Islands on the maps is a constant presence in this area. He always seems to be peeking through some trees or over hills everywhere we go. There are lots of short loop walks you can do in an hour or so around here. They are well maintained and usually have information boards about the geography and flora you will encounter - Good ol' DOC!

There are very few petrol stations out here so watching your fuel gauge is a must! One station we came to had a sign reminding drivers that there would not be one for the next 53km.

As we approach Hokitika the ruggardness of the Southern Alps gives way to a turbulent Tasman Sea. We have been told that you can sometimes find greenstone / ponamu, just lying on the beach. It’s a great idea but very far from the truth, although if you love wandering the beach collecting strange and unusual stones you can spend all day here doing just that. I reached the point where I wanted to keep so many that I had to start taking pictures of all the odd stones and keep digital memories of them instead… not such a bad idea in all reality.

The other thing Hokitika is good for is whitebait. Not really a big fan myself - but as the tour guide I must emphasise the ‘when in Rome’ philosophy. While waiting for our whitebait fritters we give ourselves a bit of a brain freeze with a ‘thick as,’ thick shake! Brrrrrr. Sitting in the midday sun I hesitantly, eat these small little tadpole like creatures. Moka devours his and looks a little like Davy Jones - Pirates of the Caribbean style!

Chicken of the forest pie. Otherwise known as possum pie can be bought at the ‘BUSHMANS CENTRE’. It is a great Barry Crump style museum / restaurant / shop full of slap stick moments like the ‘Weta experience’: more about getting wet that seeing an insect! The founder is an avid hunter though, so some of it may not suit all tastes - the possum pies however are delicious. It is a shame the plague of possums that has besieged New Zealand cannot be fought without chemicals. The NZ govt now air drops 1080 to kill the possums, so you may no longer be able to get possum pies….

I have mentioned a few times that we have put ourselves on quite a strict budget: you know hitching some legs of the journey and sleeping in ‘dynamite’. However as you will see by one of the pics below there are some holiday basics that cannot be forsaken: WINE AND CHEESE! The picture in question shows the car draped in our wet clothes - we had to drive her around like this every now and then to catch the last moving rays of the sun - and the picnic table ready for dinner. Still in Hokitika we had been to see Kiwis and massive giant eels earlier in the day. My souvenir from the day was a book on how the kiwi lost its wings, (He sacrafices his wings to eat the insects on the ground who threaten to destroy all of the forest. He is a hero, unlike the other birds who made excuses!) - a perfect dinner time read!



I always thought reminiscing was something that old folks on rocking chairs did. I guess I better get the rocking chair out, because it has been so much fun writing this blog.


Big thanks to Dymanite who ran like a real little adventurer and never failed us!

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Comments

[anne]

i like
the trip sounds as though a good time was had by all yes I agree the scenery around Queenstown is amazing and a must for as many as possible love u both