John and Clare's New Zealand Adventure

15 degrees, windy/sunny/cloudy

Still very strong winds this morning as we drove up SH1 towards Dunedin which we reached at 11ish.  We took a drive up to the end of the Otago Peninsula where there was an Albatross colony.  It was about a 20km drive round a very winding narrow coast road, a lot of which had slipped away and was undergoing repair.

When we got to the colony they wanted $120 (about £60) to go in to see 3 Albatross sitting on nests and MAYBE some flying, so we decided to give our bank account a rest and went out to the lookout point close by to see if any were flying around.  Not an dickie bird to be seen of the Albatross variety, quite a few gulls and a couple of seals but that was it.   So we drove back on the high road across the hills and found Dunedin town centre to look at some ‘old’ buildings.  ‘Old’ in New Zealand means about 90 years.

Dunedin was quite a nice town with a lovely train station and cathedral and worth a wander around for an hour or so.

18 degrees, rainy

We woke to a rainy day which is why we had rushed to see Milford Sound yesterday as we knew rain was forecast.  We did a bit of motorhome maintenance and shopping and headed out back towards the East coast over long straight roads of rolling farmland.   After about 6 hours driving we reached Gore which was where we had selected a campsite for the night.  But when our lovely sat nav proudly announced “You have reached your destination”, we both said “oh no we haven’t” and drove straight passed the very run down, sad looking campsite.

The next one we picked was a council run facility in Milton which didn’t look too bad from the road but was run by a very smelly man from a very smelly caravan and we both hesitated when he asked us to step inside!  By this time it was pouring down with rain and we didn’t fancy driving any further so we paid our $31 and parked up.  Actually it didn’t turn out too bad really.  The facilities were clean, although a little dated, with plenty of hot water in the showers.

The rain stopped briefly so we went for a little walk around, but not much to see and then the wind picked up in the early evening, strong enough to buffet the van quite a bit.

20-28 degrees, Sunny

We left the campsite at about 9.20 (having left a note for the warden regarding the disgraceful toilet) for the 60km drive to Milford Sound as we were booked on a 10.45 boat trip.  The sat nav said arrival at 10.30 which was cutting it fine but we made up some time on the high plains road as there was nothing in front of us all the way.  Until we reached the tunnel, that is.

There is a 1.2km tunnel cut through the mountain which is only one way traffic and is traffic light controlled with a  potential wait of 6 minutes – we hadn’t built this into our calculations.  We used the time waiting getting ourselves ready for the boat trip and then after about 5 minutes went through the rough hewn tunnel and out other side to a completely different world.

We were heading down to sea level through many snow capped peaks and waterfalls and vistas, but we had to push through to the visitor centre and couldn’t afford to stop.  We reached the visitor centre car park at 10.28 only to see signs indicating it was park and ride, which meant we would definitely miss our boat.  But the car park attendant took pity on us when we told him our boat time and let us go through to a closer car park but with the warning that we probably wouldn’t make it.

Thankfully we didn’t have to search for a parking space so rushed out of the van towards the centre which signs told us was a 15 minute walk away!  Run!

Arrived 5 minutes later very puffed out but we hadn’t missed our boat, we were the last passengers to arrive and got to the back of the queue just as boarding started.  Phew!

The trip through the sound was excellent.  We had chosen the smallest boat operating so that we could get close to seals, waterfalls and anything else of interest.  Wonderful scenery and snow capped mountains all around – it was jaw dropping at times.

Stirling Falls entering the Sound.  The wind created by this fall was incredible and the captain drove the boat right into the spray.  Clare got very wet, John used her as a shield!

Fur seals basking on rocks

When we returned to the dock we spotted a water taxi running across the harbour to take a walk to Bowen Falls,  the main fall in the Sound from which they draw their power and water supply,

We could get right up to the falls and again the draught created by the waterfall was incredible.

We left Milford Sound at about 2pm and took a much more sedate drive back to Te Anau, stopping to look at all the sights we had missed on the way there.

Found ourselves a lovely campsite in the town with views across the valley and it was now scorching hot, so we sat in the sun for a couple of hours admiring the view with a few drinks.

25 degrees, sunny

We left Wanaka for the long journey towards Milford Sound.  Fortunately the road was through some high plains and was quite straight, driving through vineyards, farm land and finally thousands of sheep.  Drove through Queenstown without stopping and followed one arm of Lake Wakitipu for 40km.  An enormous body of water without a single sailing craft on it.

We passed through Te Anau (pronounced apparently, Tea Are Now) and drove up the Milford Road about halfway to the Sound and stopped overnight on a DOC campsite.

Unfortunately this was not the best.  It had an awful toilet with the extractor vent missing – not a good thing on a soil based toilet.  John had a quick peek and was beaten back by the flies, and many a passing car left in a great speed to find alternative facilities!  It was great fun watching them approach the door and then hastily back away.  Thankfully we are rest-room equipped!

As this site was close to a river there were also some serious sand flies around so we sat in the van from 5pm and watched the fabulous sunset from the windscreen and went to bed early.

28 degrees, sunny

We’re getting the hang of packing up the van now, pillows and towels stuffed into the crockery and utensils cupboards, upper cupboards emptied of their contents so we can leave the doors open (they make a horrendous racket otherwise) so now we can have a conversation when driving along.

Today has been a day of stunning scenery overload!

Left our campsite at 9.30 am and arrived at Wanaka at about 4pm having stopped in numerous places to admire the world.  Driving down towards Wanaka every bend in the road revealed a fantastic scene, either snow- capped mountains, turquoise rivers, waterfalls, deep blue lakes, etc.  Unbelievably beautiful.

Paddled over the stream to get closer, the water felt like it was cutting my legs off below the knees!

This shows how clear the water is, taken from a road bridge, looks like liquid glass flowing over the stones.

But the best view of all was the reflection of the mountains into Lake Hawea just before we arrived at Wanaka.

Could have sat there all day looking at this.

28 degrees, sunny

Today we continued making our way southwards towards the Glaciers (Franz Josef and Fox) and Mount Cook.   We had decided to miss the Glaciers as we had been told that they have receded quite a bit and you can’t get onto them unless you fly up in a helicopter which was far too expensive.  Also the only bit you can see when you hike to the edge (about 750m away from the edge) is the terminal moraine which is just a load of stones and messy ice being pushed by the glacier, so not a particularly attractive sight.

However, we stopped to look at a stunningly blue river running alongside the road

and met up with an English couple who said we should go the Lake Matheson at Fox Glacier as there was a lovely view of the mountains and glacier.  So we did!  The 10 minute walk they said turned out to be a 1.5 hour circular walk but the views were beautiful although the lake wasn’t quite still enough to get a perfect reflection photograph.

Camped at Lake Paringa, another DOC site on a peaceful lake.  Spent a nice evening chatting to some Australians spending 5 ½ months in NZ and an English couple from Cornwall doing the south island in 10 days.  One extreme to the other

 

25 degrees, sunny

After such a downpour yesterday we woke to clearing skies and warm weather so we spent some time drying out, doing some necessary van housekeeping (you don’t want to know, Sue!), stocked up in the supermarket and then drove south towards Hokitika.

Reached Pancake Rocks at about 12.30 pm.  We were just going to carry on through but decided to have a quick look as we were passing.  So pleased we did.  The rock formations were completely different to anything we’ve seen before.  Followed a walkway round the headland to see these rock formations in the sea, literally looking like stacks of pancakes, with arches and blowholes to add to the scene, along with long views down the coastline.

After lunch we drove to Hokitika which was a nice town on the coast but didn’t have anywhere suitable for us to stay so we drove on to a Department of Conservation campsite at Lake Mahinapua.  The DOC campsites don’t have much in the way of facilities, no power or water and only rudimentary toilets but are always in lovely locations and only $26 (£13) for the night.  We had a lovely lakeside pitch and only a few neighbours which made for a very peaceful evening.

15 degrees, cloudy/heavy rain

Today we drove about 100 miles to Charleston on the west coast of the South Island.  We had no food in the van and there wasn’t a shop in Murchison and we didn’t pass a single store on our journey either.

We got to Charleston for about 12.30pm to see if we could take the 2.00 pm Glow Worm Cave tour.  There was space so we booked on and had lunch in the café there.   We were to assemble for 1.30 pm for a briefing before departing for the caves.  Not the most organised or well-staffed outfit and having been kitted out with a hard had and light, at 2.30pm we finally managed to get on the coach to take us to the railway which took us to the track which led to the cave entrance!

These caves are completely undeveloped – no lighting, pathways or guide ropes – just a guide and the light from our headlamps to show the way.  There were 11 in our group and the trip was about 1.5km there and then back again.  The caves had stalactites & stalagmites in pretty formations but we had to scramble under some very low ceilings and narrow passes to get the different chambers – you would have loved it Dad!

After about 1.5km we reached the other side of the mountain to a huge entranceway draped in greenery with the light shining through – it looked very romantic in the humid mist – very Lord of the Rings.

Then we went back into the cave system and branched off to the Glow Worm cave and turned out our headlamps.  There was an amazing display of light from the glow worms on the ceiling, they produced enough light for us to vaguely see the others in the group.  We moved round into another area where there weren’t so many at first, but when we clapped our hands and made a noise the ceiling lit up magically as the glow worms thought the air disturbance was the prey flying past (mozzies and sand flies).  It was quite a sight.

Glow worms taken in the dark

When we got back to the entrance it was seriously raining (this being part of a rainforest).  Fortunately they had told us this was likely before we left the centre so we had our rain gear with us but were soaked by the time we made it back to the train and then back to the centre at about 6 pm.

Then we found out that there was absolutely nothing in Charleston in terms of shops or restaurants as it only has 78 residents (used to be 17,000 in the 1860s due to the gold rush).  So we ended up going back on ourselves to Westport which was the nearest biggish settlement.  It was not particularly salubrious!   The High Street looked like something out of a wild west movie, all low level, temporary looking buildings, mostly in poor state of repair, with a huge mountain range at the end of the road in the distance.  We were recommended a couple of places by the campsite but as it was 8 pm on a Sunday they were closed, so we went into the Cosmopolitan Hotel which claimed to have a restaurant.  Took one step inside and rapidly back-peddled out of the door!  Ended up in the supermarket 10 minutes before they closed and had steak and jacket spuds for tea.

Everything inside the motorhome is damp due to the wet clothes, towels and the fact that we’d left a sunlight open when we were in the caves and the rain had poured in

27 degrees, sunny

Got up early (7.30) for the 9.30 trip.  It was freezing, only 8 degrees – that’s canal boat in December temperatures.  Once the sun rose above the mountains the mist disappeared and the temperature rose rapidly so by 9.30 it was quite warm.

At the white water rafting centre we met the other couple on our trip, a young couple from Germany who spoke excellent English.  Got kitted out with thermal jackets, wet suits, boots, over-jackets, life jackets and helmets and off we went hardly able to move!

The water was lovely and clear and not too cold, which was a good thing as we spent more time in it than in the raft!   After a couple of light rapids our guide offered us the opportunity to get in the water for a float downstream to the next section, so guessing that we were going to get wet anyway we jumped in.  Back in the boat we passed through quite a few sections of rapids, mostly level 3, (on a scale of up to 5) which were good enough for us.

The gentler rapids gave us the opportunity to do lots of different things such as scooting up the bank side like a skateboarder without flipping over, paddling under waterfalls,

and driving ourselves over a large rock in the middle of the current to get trapped in the Iddy (eddy) on the other side.  At this point Clare only stayed in the boat as the guide grabbed onto her foot and hauled her back in and John managed to cling on for dear life as the boat spun round in the eddy behind the rock missing the rock with his head by a gnats whiskers.

We’d had a another discussion about the vowel sounds of New Zealand speech whilst we were waiting at the rafting centre, as the Germans with us said they had a bit of trouble understanding some of the Kiwis

After that excitement and just before we arrived at the waterfall we’d seen yesterday we tipped the raft up on its end and laid ourselves back in the water for a photograph taken from the road bridge above us.

Then we arrived at the waterfall and the consensus was that it was too dangerous to take the raft over as the undertow was too strong should one of us fall out.  Fine by us!  The raft was floated over the fall on its own. So the option was to jump in or take the raft down to the end of the trip.  By this time we’re up for anything so in we jumped!  The water was very bubbly from the waterfall and we shot over (and under) a small rapid before floating swiftly downstream to catch up with the raft.   Dead chuffed with ourselves (well one of us was!) to have made the jump.

The whole morning was a great experience with only us on the river and some nice people to share it with.

After that, quite tired, so we spent the afternoon relaxing outside our motorhome until the sand flies got the better of us and we were driven indoors for a snooze!

28 degrees, sunny

We left Takaka promptly to make the fairly long drive to Murchison.  Back over the Marble Mountain road with John under strict instructions NOT to look at the spectacular views as we headed towards Motueka – he managed it for the most part.  But we did have a lovely view as we stopped for 12 minutes at the traffic lights on the one way section.

The drive followed the Motueka river for quite a long way which was very picturesque and we stopped for lunch at a picnic site about an hour before Murchison (or so we thought).  Five minutes after starting off again we passed our campsite as we drove on to the Buller Gorge.  This is the first time we’ve had to pay entrance into any scenic area in NZ, but $10 each got us over the longest swing bridge in New Zealand which was quite impressive.

There wasn’t much else on the other side of the river (that was free!), so we went off on a walk through native jungle type foliage and a scramble over some rocks to reach a waterfall on the Buller River.  Once there we watched some white water rafters jump into the river from a rock about 5m high on the other side of the river and float downstream in the rapids from the waterfall and some of them got into the raft and went down that way – I know which one I’d do!

However, we decided to book our white water rafting experience here rather than at Queenstown as it was quite a bit cheaper and we’d been told the river was a lot quieter than at Queenstown too.  So booked a trip for 9.30 am tomorrow.

Our campsite is lovely, quite the best one we’ve been on so far, $36 per night, spacious pitches, nice facilities, no trampoline and only three or four other occupants.  And this is the busy season!  Only trouble is there is no phone signal or WIFI so falling behind with the blog updates.