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Published: October 18th 2016
Kia Ora everyone!!
We arrived in New Zealand after a 12 hour flight from Los Angeles (where we happened to see Robbie Williams no less!!) and having lost a day over the pacific somewhere, very careless of us, a bit dishevelled and into the pouring rain. So brollies up to prove we are British and always prepared and into Christchurch we head. We were lucky enough to visit New Zealand about 3 years ago and did quite a comprehensive tour so for this trip we just picked out a few places that we had missed before to go and see during the country's spring. Christchurch is apparently the most English like town outside of England. Amazing when you think it is literally on the other side of the world but oh, we have to say, it was a bit like going home. Apart from the rain there were spring flowers everywhere especially in residents' well tended gardens. There were daffodils, tulips, snowdrops, camellias and rhododendrons all over and beautifully laid out in Christchurch's Hagley Park. But even more importantly we found Branston pickle in the supermarkets!! Bliss!! Our lovely airbnb hosts picked us up from the airport and even lent
us a spare car all at no extra charge. We did a bit of touring around including one very hair raising journey where we appeared to go off piste and ended up on a muddy track rising higher and higher around very tall hills into the clouds and beyond. The sat nav got a black mark for that trip!!It was then time to catch a train. Kiwi rail have some great scenic journeys. This one was from Christchurch going north along the coast to Picton where most people then catch the ferry across to the North Island. We put that journey on hold for a week and picked up a hire car (probably the oldest and certainly the cheapest in NZ) and meandered along the main route west to a town called Mouteka just outside Abel Tasman National Park. We were staying on a fruit farm in a little self contained chalet, perfect for our needs and very cosy. Our hosts here were very well travelled Kiwis and extremely helpful with our plans. Just a side note - we thought getting our clothes washed
and more importantly dried in NZ might be trickier than in the US as they are not quite so keen on the environmentally unfriendly dryers that helped us so much in the States but we were pleasantly surprised by the fact that if you are staying on a fruit farm you can hang your clothes in the poly tunnels to dry alongside the bee hives and fruit trees!! Never done that before but it worked brilliantly!! Abel Tasman NP was beautiful. We set out for Kaiteriteri, our water taxi pick up point, in slightly drizzly weather but we had layers on and lunch packed so we didn't let the weather dampen our spirits. There are about 4 or 5 water taxi companies that sail up and down the coast of the park and drop people off at various beaches so you can walk different parts of the coastal track. It's very well organised and if you wanted to walk the whole trail there are campgrounds along the way. We were lucky enough to see a whole pod of dolphins up really close and it was brilliant to see them in their own environment. We walked about 2hours through the rainforest
every now and then coming to another empty beach with spectacularly clear water. New Zealand works very hard keeping it's surrounding sea's as clean as possible and it is evident they are doing an excellent job. By now the weather had cleared up and the sun was starting to peek through and we saw a native bird called the Tui singing high in the trees. It's a fantastic area and understandably gets busy in the summer but in early spring it was quiet and secluded in parts. We had a really enjoyable day and would highly recommend going there if you get the chance.We then went across the Cook Strait on the Interislander ferry, about a 4 hour journey on calm seas and arrived in Wellington, NZ's capital. This city is built on hills, nearly every house has a view and an almost vertical drive to get to it and it is not called the Windy City for no reason. It was pouring with rain and blowing a hoolie when we got to our very nice bed and breakfast so we looked a lot
like drowned rats but that didn't stop our hosts very kindly inviting us into their enormous living room with glass walls overlooking the bay, for a very welcome glass of wine. We had a nice chat with them and got a brilliant recommendation for what must be the best Italian meal we have ever had, thank you Niccolini's. We only had one night in Wellington and wished we had booked another night because there are quite a few sights to see. However we did visit the very prestigious Te Papa museum where there was an exhibition on NZ's part in the Gallipolli battle in WW1. It was fascinating and there were enlarged wax work models of soldiers that were incredibly life like, it was an awful period for their military and they lost many men.After leaving Wellington we made our way to Lake Taupo and then onto a beautiful spot called Tairua on the Coromandel peninsula. We had been here before (and loved it) but only for a day and a quick whizz round. This time we had a week and we were so
glad. We had booked a wonderful little motel at the foot of Mount Paku with a view over the bay where the tide flows in and out and people wander out onto the sand bars. It was like a little bit of heaven. We had planned to take advantage of the local golf course's 'friendly Fridays' where 18 holes and club hire would have only cost us NZ$20, to be followed by a happy 2 hours in the bar, but unfortunately for us the course was closed as most of it was under water due to heavy rains in the previous few weeks. It was pretty soggy in places but we donned our rain wear and took to mountain climbing instead! Mount Paku to be precise and the view from the top was amazing, well worth the climb of about 2 million steps! That evening looking for somewhere to go out for a meal we were recommended the local bowls club which apparently did a very good lamb shank so along we dutifully went and yes, it was excellent along with some very nice NZ wine and a chat to the locals.
The kiwis definitely have the same sense of humour as us Brits and they love their country which is completely understandable, it is a beautiful place to be. We toured around the Coromandel peninsula and saw plenty of waterfalls and scenic beaches and coastlines. There is a beach called 'Hot Water beach' where you can dig a hole which fills up with very warm water and you can sit in it just like a bath, great fun! Nearly forgot to mention the 30 million sheep and 10 million dairy cows and cattle that you see too!! They far outnumber the population of around 4 million. Farming is big here!If any of you are thinking of a trip to this beautiful country make sure you see the Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Napier, Queenstown, Arrowtown, Milford or Doubtful Sound, Dunedin, Lake Wanaka, Kaikoura for the whale watching and all the places we have mentioned above. You will have a wonderful time especially if you come here in the summer, January or February are good months to visit.We condensed
our trip to New Zealand as we will when we go to Australia. Originally we had planned a couple of months in NZ and around 9 months in Oz but our plans have now changed. You may or may not know that we will now be back in the UK in January as Dave has accepted the job of General Manager of our local golf club, Felixstowe Ferry, where we have been members for many years and he is really looking forward to it. So just a few more months of travelling for us which we are sure we will enjoy immensely in Australia, watch this space! Hae ra ra from New Zealand 😊
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Di Heg
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ConGrats
Well done Dave on your new job. That should put an end to your wandering lol. Next time you speak to Kim ask her how she robbed me of a prize at the AGM!!