So I realise we have been silent for quite a while now - thanks to those who have sent messages of concern, v nice! To be honest I think I'm finally getting into the fully relaxed (lazy?!) mode necessary for this length of journey. And a big reason for the silence is that there has been so much to do and see in New Zealand. Lots of travelling from place to place too - it's not a huge country but roads are not fast, speed limit 100kph and even that isn't possible most of the time as they are fond of hairpin bends and one lane bridges! So here's my attempt to fill you in on the last 24 days...
After our enthusiastic romp round the Kepler Track we had planned a relaxing day of sailing the Milford Sound (much needed - tired legs, especially on my part). Sound sailing was a top recommendation of Giles and Lynne Henderson, and we opted for the afternoon trip at Milford.
The weather couldn't have been more beautiful as we set off out into what is actually a fiord (carved by a glacier, not by a river, which is what a sound technically is...apparently...). Lots of waterfalls and impressive peaks rising from right next to the water's edge, but on the way back to harbour the best part: dolphins - loads of them arrived alongside the boat of their own accord; jumping and splashing and swimming really quickly alongside us. Magical.
The next day Tom decided to take on another tramp - the Routeburn. This is a one-way track which goes from near Milford across to north of Queenstown, and is supposed to take at least 2 days. This of course didn't deter him from taking it on in a single day, so an early start and Tom went off with a backpack full of food and emergency supplies and Fran (the campervan) and I hit the road - there's only a long way round, no straight roads. So in the end it took the driving party longer than the walking party to reach the other side (the rumours that i stopped a few times en route for tea, shopping, etc. are of course true). Happily reunited without untoward incident we spent the night at Glenorchy which is at the north end of Lake Wakitipu and connected to the popular tourist spot of Queenstown by a breathtaking lakeside drive. This we did the next morning, stopping for extended lunch at the lake shore and enjoying the peace down there with just water lapping. Gorgeous, but shame about the ever-present sand flies...
We enjoyed Queenstown, backpacker haven, largely because it was our first proper town stop for a while. Having been advised many times that we shouldn't miss the famous Fergburger establishment we duly headed there for tea - after much debate we have decided that those burgers are in fact the finest we have ever consumed. Hard to say why - it's the combination of the excellent perfectly cooked meat, the cheese, the top quality house relish, and the general juiciness of the whole thing. Suffice to say, we pass on the recommendation - if ever in Queenstown, don't miss it! Also don't miss Patagonia chocolate. We visited for ice creams (after significant wandering around town to aid digestion of the cows) but the hot chocolate also smelled amazing. Having tracked down some decent live music in local bars that night we felt confident we had seen the best of Queenstown, so next morning we headed out, staying just long enough to make a few purchases at the farmers market. Next stop the local bungy jump where we spent a strange hour watching crazy people part with wads of cash to be pushed off a platform (mostly, only a couple were brave enough to actually jump) down into a gorge (several opted for the optional dunking into the river at the bottom too). It's all set up there with a big spectator gallery. Very odd, but quite entertaining!
Next stop was to be in or around Wanaka, so we drove through the Cromwell wine region - mile upon mile of vines along the way, and lots of farm shops with tasy fruit etc. In the end we carried on to nearby, and quieter, Lake Hawea, where we settled into the camp site hosted by Mike who lent us Whale Rider on DVD for the full NZ experience (oh yes, Fran is fully equipped with DVD player as well!). Next day was wet - rare for our trip so far, so we decided to have a lazy one and stay put. When we tried to stray as far as the local village we got so soaked in 5 minutes of walking that we gave up - the fishing license we were going to get seemed a bit unnecessary as neither of us were keen to stand out in the deluge using it (although Mike's offer of smoking any salmon we caught was tempting...). Another quiet night later we were ready to move on - getting near the time for Tom's sister Diana to join us for a while so starting to head back towards Christchurch to meet her. On way we stopped by Wanaka's Puzzling World - fabulous cheap entertainment as we spent ages in the 3D lifesize maze trying to find each corner tower in the correct order...got to keep the little grey cells ticking over somehow... (they also had a bit of a thing for optical illusions, including in the loos, hence the photo...) We ended the day in Geraldine planning a walk for the next morning.
Our walk was to be the Mount Somers sub-alpine walkway. A long round tamp (again, should really be a couple of days, but why not attempt it in one?!). The only mistake was not setting out on the track till nearly 11am. It was unintentional of course, but didn't get going as early as planned, and of course we didn't let that stop us. One steep climb later we had gorgeous views of the surrounding area; again beautiful weather, so sun cream on! The next stage was a bit harder - a long climb through swampy ground with lots of prickly plants (foolishly I had worn shorts) leading to a rocky canyon crossing and on and on and still no sign of the half-way hut. When we eventually reached the hut (after another gorge with a fairly unstable suspension bridge across) we discovered we had accidentally taken the not-really-recommended short cut route. Oops.
Anyway, this meant the next part was easier as we were back on the proper track. We reached the final hut at 7pm and people there told us we were less than 2 hours from the finish car park, but since it was getting dark at about 8 each day that wasn't great news. We had head torches, but reached the follow-the-river-and-look-for-some-stepping-stones-and-small-track-on-other-side part of the walk just as the light gave out and it turns out head torches don't help you see the far bank very well. I won't give you all the details, but it took significantly longer than the two hours, and thankfully all injuries were minor. Have never been so glad to see a campervan waiting in the car park. Ever. Couldn't go anywhere till much sugary tea had been consumed, and then off to spend the night nearer Christchurch.
30th March was the day Diana arrived. We started out slowly (my stiff leg syndrome had returned after the Mt Somers antics the previous day), but eventually made it back to Christchurch and loaded the van with food for the coming week. On the way to the airport we dropped in to visit Christine Fleming again (she who with her husband Paul had looked after us on arrival in NZ). Lovely to see her again and have the first opportunity to bore someone with our photos! At the airport there was much excitable chat when Diana arrived, and we had to stop for tea in the carpark when she started producing M&S tea bags and cookies from her luggage....mmmm.... The plan was to get moving immediately so we went west towards Arthur's Pass through the mountains. Stopped at a holiday park in the mountains and Diana was quickly inducted into our routine - lucky lady was given the spare bed (ie the one only inches from the ceiling of the van) as we all squashed in for a cosy night!
Our first full day all together as 3 took us on towards the west coast - lots of driving but some good views and nice stops on the way. The objective was to reach Fox Glacier that night as we had booked a glacier hike for the next morning. The next day we eventually found out from a friendly local that the chap who invented Fox's Glacier Mints had worked in the hotel in Fox Glacier, but the locals weren't keen on him using the town's name for a sweet so he changed it marginally to try to keep them happy. Not sure if it's true, but it's a much better story than we got from our hiking guide who said there was no connection...
Anyway, the glacier hike required an early start and the donning of many layers, and suitable boots as we would have to wear crampons for the ice walking. Bus to the car park and a walk up to the glacier itself followed, we strapped on our crampons and off we went, behind ice-pick wielding guides who were chopping new stairs for us to climb as we went. The ice was so clear it was fabulous, and Diana even went for an on-the-spot facial with the glacier mud. The experience of walking up there and learning about the glacier's history and changing ice formations was wonderful. Really incredible. When the sun came out over the mountain the whole thing changed again - an amazing experience which we all loved. After a leisurely lunch back down in town we hit the road again, as our main agenda was to explore the north end of the south island in the coming days. A walk on the beach at Hokitika and a visit to its glow worm dell (pretty impressive) was enough excitement for one day.
Next day we moved on up the coast after a bit of a potter round Hokitika in the morning. Stopped off at the pancake rocks for a look around (they have narrow layers like a pile of crepes) and an ice cream (of course - it's holidays after all...). The seal colony at Westport (actually Cape Foulwind, and it was a bit) was a bit more disappointing. More a family of seals than a colony, and viewing from quite a distance made it hard to really enjoy. We travelled a long way that day, but the roads were twisty and slow so we stopped off at Murchison for the night - again a bit disappointed that the local swine were in fact just pigs, not some version of local boar, but that's another story...
Our next destination was to be Abel Tasman national park - another recommendation from Giles and Lynne and another of the vast multitude of national parklands, this one lies on the north coast of the south island and incorporates a series of bays and inlets. It is pretty difficult to access, but after a long drive on a twisty gravel road you reach a Dept of Conservation camp site which is beautifully secluded. We checked in for 2 nights. A bit worried when a storm blew in that night, but with three of us packed in the van we managed to stay cosy and woke up to glorious sunshine. After picnic breakfast al fresco we wandered down to the beach to catch the water taxi which comes a few times a day. Beautiful boat trip down the coast from Totoranui (our bay) to Bark Bay via Tonga Island where we spotted a few more seals.
We disembarked and joined the coastal track walkway, a well maintained path which runs the length of the park along the sea. Beautiful views and lots of interesting forest to traverse (black beech and lots more of the silver fern trees, all growing right down to the shoreline). After lunch we knew we needed to get on to the estuary crossing which can only be attempted near low tide (we had sailed into it at high tide that morning). At 3 pm, while on way, the heavens opened. Rain is technically what it was, but water torture would be a litte more in the spirit of what fell on us. Within 10 minutes we were literally wet through. And then came the estuary crossing which, it turns out, involved removal of boots and socks and wading through the killing fields of shellfish and deep water (up to Tom's knees - deeper on us girls...). (The photo is of the practice run in a smaller stream in the morning - couldn't use camera in estuary was would have flooded lens!) Replacing soggy socks and boots at other side was deeply unpleasant, but an hour later it stopped raining (just as we reached camp again of course). An unforgetttable day in so many ways!
The next couple of days were spent exploring Nelson, including a very tasty dinner which Diana kindly treated us to in lovely restaurant, and some wine tasting in the Wairu Valley - Cloudy Bay came out as top vineyard in our ranking, look out for their Pelorus (named after local dolphin) bubbly...yum... Oh, and Diana, I just noticed on my wine trail map that the nearest coast to the vineyards is Cloudy Bay, so that'll be where the name comes from...!
The last couple of days of Diana's stay with us were marred by a storm. While normally this is no problem to us intrepid explorers, it's a bit unfortunate when you have planned to go whale watching and swimming with dolphins, as it leads to cancellation of the boat trips. So we were disappointed that our stop in Kaikoura (hot spot for these activities) came to nought. The back up plan was put into action - dolphin swimming was rebooked for Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula south of Christchurch and we got back on the road! Akaroa is where the French first landed in NZ, only to discover the Brits got there first, but it's on a fairly remote volcanic peninsula so they stayed and there is a definite French influence on the architecture (and the standard of the eggs we had for brunch in the local bistro...). It's a lovely town, which came in handy when the storm persisted and the dolphin swimming was once again cancelled on the Friday. Very disappointing, but Diana and I managed some pottering and shopping while Tom slept off the mountains of eggs he managed during our commisseratory brunch. The rest of the day saw us enjoy another coastal walk, and a visit to the Barry's Bay Cheese Factory for some sampling and purchases. A well rescued day we thought. Sadly we had to head back to Christchurch again at the end of it, and overnighted at the holiday park next to the airport. As it was Diana's last night we pulled out all the stops and enjoyed beans on toast with our Pelorus bubbly followed by movie night (which was slightly delayed when the DVD wouldn't work, but no holiday is totally perfect...).
We had an early start on Saturday to make sure Diana was at the airport in good time. After coffees in the departure terminal we waved a sad goodbye, the end of a great time of sisterly company. It felt odd to be back in the van just the two of us again, and we were in for a long road trip that day as it was also the end of our time on South Island so we needed to get up to Picton where the ferry terminal is for inter-island crossings to Wellington. Tom drew the short straw for driving what was an all-day journey. We eventually arrived at a holiday park near Picton at about 5pm. We had been planning to go to visit some friends of the Beckett parents that evening, but when we got halfway out there realised that it was a much longer detour than we realised and would be a long journey. Tom phoned them, but Carol Caley kindly insisted that we carry on and have dinner and spend the night with her and Simon, so we did. We set a new record for slowness in driving to their house, but I was at the helm and 27km of windy narrow gravel road in the dark wasn't going to happen quickly! Next morning we could see why the Caleys chose such a remote spot for their new home - breathtaking views of Pelorus Sound. They treated us to a delicious dinner and some rugby on TV, and our first night in a proper bed in quite some time, but the bad news was that one of Fran's tyres had buckled under the gravel road driving and had gone completely flat overnight. A quick change was necessary before we could leave to wind our way back around the coast to Picton and check-in for the ferry. And so, last Sunday afternoon we waved goodbye to South Island and set sail for Wellington and the North Island. We had such a fabulous time during our four weeks down South that i've run out of superlatives. Can't recommend it highly enough. A fabulous island - do not hesitate to visit if ever fortunate enough to have the chance. We are really glad we went.
As I write we are a few days into our north island adventure, but I'll save that for another day as you are probably all asleep already at the length of this, and I really should go and play mini-golf and get back to our hot springs campervan park instead of spending all day in an internet cafe...! Love us xx
On our 11 hour journey across the Pacific ocean we were given exit seats and in flight entertainment gave us a plethera of films to watch. Tuesday, the day of the flight, was a long day, we arrived in Santiago 5 hours before we left and therefore had the longest day of our lives-41 hours! To say the least we have been dazed and confused with this time difference since arriving. We spent the first afternoon in a snoozy sleep followed by a pretty active evening checking our the Bellavista area where we got dinner and a walk around the city which felt pretty intimidating for some British jet lagged semi spanish speaking tourists. We made promises to make the most of Wednesday; I woke up and made an effort for breakfast (even after the horribly wakeful night) but then joined Cath for sleep which continued to 5pm that afternoon! We made it to Museo de Belles Artes which is housed in a beautiful building and then went to the Central Square- Plaza de Armas; however we were out of the museum by 6:30 and not even the Cathedral was open in the Plaza de Armas- ah well!
Today we´ve done significantly better- up for breakfast and the whole day till 5pm when we came back for a snooze. We´ve seen the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolumbino de Santiago, which displayed some interesting but weird facts about ancient South American History which predominantly focused on mummifying the dead and in depth information about the Shamans of the ancient world. It was greatly interestng and well layed out. We headed for the Cathedral Central a beautiful Cathedral about 100 metres long, hugely ornate and then went to the fish market for lunch; a lovely building with shanty style tables and chairs for eating some beautiful fish. We made it up to the Parque Metropolitano cerro san cristobal, a park 400 metres high we didn´t end up climbing and then headed back home. It´s 2am in the morning and we´ve had a great dinner and back for some sleep before we head off the beach tomorrow.
