Whales, Wine and Walking. 21st – 28th May

Kaikoura is famous for its Whales, however we were unsure whether to do a whale watching trip or not as we had heard of some extremely rough seas, with lots of seasickness. Luckily for us, the weather was perfect and the sea was flat. We ventured 6 miles from shore and immediately found a sperm whale, about 20 metres long! He swam around for a while before lifting his tail and diving under. So we went in search of another. At this time of year, you are only expecting to see sperm whales, so when we found a hump back, the guide was excited. The hump back was surrounded by hundreds of dolphins splashing around and doing somersaults. This was a great sight. At one point the whale swam directly towards our boat, came within touching distance, dove underneath us and resurfaced at the front – amazing. We stayed and watched for what seemed a long time before going in search of more whales. We found two more sperm whales and another hump back, they were all huge. We felt really lucky and impressed.

The next day we went to Blenheim, which is the centre of the New Zealand wine region. We had heard that the next day’s forecast was for rain, so we quickly hired ourselves some bikes and went on a cycle tour of the local wineries. This was a most enjoyable day, netiher of us had ever been to vineyards for wine tasting, let alone on bikes. All of the wineries are set up for wine tasting and all seemed to be expecting us. At each winery we tasted between 4 and 8 different wines, before jumping back on our bike and heading off to the next one. What a brilliant idea! We loved it. We had met some folks earlier who owned the local golf course and insisted that we stay in their car park and they opened up the facilities for us to use for free, very nice!

True to form it was chucking it down the next day and we were glad to have done the wineries the previous day.  We spent the day travelling to Motueka, the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park and the location of our skydive. Once we arrived here, we rang up to enquire about the skydiving but ended up booking for the very next day! Cool.

Skydive. We drove to the airfield and saw a plane taking off with two scared looking beings. We wrote our name on a piece of paper, put on some jumpsuits and went outside. The two beings we had just seen were now falling through the air and in a matter of minutes were back on the ground again. “Right, you two now!” we were told and as simple as that we had been introduced to our tandem instructors and were getting on the plane. Jonty’s bloke looked the part, exactly like biggles! My guy was from Essex!! The plane was smaller than our camper inside and the 6 of us (2 tandemers and 2 cameramen) squashed in together. The plane rose quickly and within 15 minutes we were at 13,000 feet and the door had opened! The view was amazing although we were not really taking much in. Jonty was nearest the door, so was booted out first! You have to shuffle your bum towards the edge and then swing your legs so that they hang outside. At which point you are told to smile at a camera and you are not allowed to hang onto anything! With a couple of rocks forward and back Jonty was gone and Lou was left staring at the open door! Jonty however was somersaulting forwards through the air before leveling out. Lou was told to shuffle forwards and was then also hovering 13,000 feet above ground. Her instructor did her a treat by rocking forwards just once and then toppling out, she was expecting the same as Jonty!

With 55 seconds of freefall at 125 mph the power of the air is immense and you can’t help but enjoy every second. Once the ripcord is pulled it is like someone putting the brakes on and you finally have the time to relax and look at the views around you. We floated around for a while before accelerating into a landing, Jonty on his feet and Lou sliding in on her bum! Brilliant!! The DVDs are quite funny to watch. It was a fantastic experience.

Our adventures continued as we entered Abel Tasman National Park for some sea kayaking the very next day! Abel Tasman has a tropical coastline and we were lucky as the sun was out and we could really appreciate the clear water and sandy beaches. We kayaked for 7 and a half hours by the end of which we were very tired but had seen some great views and had fun playing hide and seek with some seals.

Next, we went for two days of walks. The first day we had two small walks broken up by some lunch in the sun. On the second day we decided to try one of the longer hikes and ended up walking for 6 hours, most of which was uphill and we were absolutely shattered by the end!  The walk took us along some outstanding beaches and we had a good clamber/hang on some rocks to get around the high tide that was rushing in! Wet feet all round. Abel Tasman is a beautiful place.

We have 4 days left in the south island before starting to explore the north.

West to East 12th-20th May

There are two glaciers on the west coast, Fox and Franz Josef. We arrived in Fox Glacier after another scenic drive and decided to do our glacier walk there. So, the following day we checked in and were given hiking boots and crampons. Our guides took us to the front of the glacier so we could appreciate the size of it. It is one of only a few glaciers to be accessible by land and is surrounded by rain forest.

We had a good hour hike to get to the foot of the ice, this was where it got interesting as we put on our crampons and started walking like John Wayne! You have to have a good stance otherwise you catch the picks on your shoes and fall over and slide off somewhere! (As one unfortunate girl in our group did!! We did try not to laugh-honest!) Our guides led the way by hacking at the ice with their axes, creating stairs for us to walk on. (An impressive skill. We attempted this, but not with much success.) We spent about 4 hours on the ice, marvelling at the colour, size and shape of the glacier. The sun was out as we sat and ate lunch on some huge ice-rocks and it was a pretty sight to see it glistening. We hiked our way up the glacier towards the top, which by the way is the size of Christchurch city-very big indeed! As we descended we walked through crevices and ice tunnels, these were often dark, cold and wet, but also good fun.

Our tour group were mainly English and as the day went on, we shared our experiences of NZ and had a good laugh. We decided to meet up in the local bar after our return for happy hour. This was indeed a happy hour, that turned into about 6 more hours and subsequently we had to stay in the car park opposite! But we were not alone as this seemed to happen to a few of our group and it became a make-shift campsite!

The next day we drove up the west coast stopping at Punakaki where there are numerous blow holes amongst rock stacks that look like piles of pancakes. We were lucky enough to encounter a rough sea which made the blow holes gusty, throwing sea and spray 30 foot in the air. Enthralling. After this we viewed a cave, accompanied by our headtorches. When they were extinguished the roof was covered in glow worms. An awesome sight.

During our drive we often had to cross railway tracks giving us the warning “Check for trains” as they were unmanned crossings. We never actually saw any trains, but always checked as you never know. We followed the track for quite a way but suddenly saw a bridge that we would have to cross. Unusually, this bridge also bore the sign “check for trains” and we discovered to our slight horror that the bridge was both road and rail and it was not straight so you could not see the end. How you could check for trains we were not quite sure. But we braved it and were ready to slam the van into reverse at any point!

We arrived at the isolated Karhurangi National Park where we walked to two rock arches over rivers. The first, was the highest arch in Australiasia at 43 metres. The second was more beautiful and equally impressive. We then entered another cave, but by now it was pitch black outside too. This area has the country’s biggest spiders at 15cm in diameter. We entered, Jonty wowing at the sheer size of it and Lou running out as the spiders were not only present, but jumping ones!! It wasn’t long until Jonty too exited!

The next day was wet and miserable. We do seem to time our travelling days well. We journeyed to Hanmer Springs, natural thermal pools surrounded by mountains. We seized the opportunity to relax in the pools that ranged from 29 to 43.c and had a free sauna too! We drove a little way on from here and started our return journey to Christchurch. We camped up overnight and awoke early the next morning to find that a building site had been erected around us!! We made a hasty retreat!

 Back in Christchurch we were treated to 2 games of entertaining hockey and another excellent night at the Taylor’s.  We watched 1 local warm-up game and the international between NZ and Australia. The standard of the matches was outstanding. The power of the passes and the speed of the overall game was of a different class. The girls were very strong and at points it was a little like an ice-hockey match with all the dropping of shoulders and barging going on! There is definitely no love lost between NZ and Australia! The Kiwis lost 1-0.

We left the city for the final time of this trip and headed for the north east coastal town of Kaikoura. We were on the lookout for some whales!

Fiordland to Queenstown 6th-11th May

There are 10 different fiords in the south of New Zealand. Only two of these are accessible; Doubtful and Milford Sound. After much deliberation we decided to take a day trip to Doubtful Sound. This involved us getting two boats and a coach. The first boat took us across Lake Manapouri, a speedy crossing. We then jumped on a coach and visited the Power Station, this looked very much like a scene out of an old Bond movie or Austin Powers! We learnt all sorts of things about Power Stations that we have already forgotten! From here the coach took us to the start of our day cruise around Doubtful Sound.

Amazing scenery, mountains rose directly out of the sea and shot straight up. Waterfalls cascaded and we saw dolphins and seals jumping around. The cruise took us to the edge of the Tasman sea, which was very rough. An enjoyable day, our first ever fiord,

 We drove from Manapouri to Queenstown, stopping overnight under a tree!

We arrived in Queenstown and parked up in a campsite which had showers and everything! We chose not to shower, but instead climb up the hill close by to get to the luge ride. (There is a gondola up the side of the hill, but we thought that a 40 minute steep walk was the better option!) At the top we caught our breath and then grabbed some lids/helmets and raced down the track on our luges, (much like the old ones that Windsor Safari Park used to have-only much faster.) This was brillilant. Lou was the fastest as she didn’t brake on the corners, Jonty nearly tipped over from trying to catch her, whilst shouting out “You don’t brake, you lunatic!” Three times down the track was not enough, but a shower called… so to add to our unclean state, we ran back down the hill (30 mins down), thus saving the gondola fee and meaning that we would have a great night out in Queenstown, (after a shower first of course!)

 One bar in QT had an open fire and was toasty warm, but all of a sudden we were cold. We both looked around and then up. The roof had disappeared!! It was a peaked roof that opened out, a great gimic-would be brilliant in the summer,but a bit fresh for the winter, good stars though.

The next day we went on a jet boat along the skippers canyon. This included a ride in a tank/jeep. A huge 4 wheel drive vehicle that took us along skippers canyon road. There are only 5 roads in New Zealand that we are not allowed to drive on as that would make our insurance invalid-this is one of them! The road was really a track that hovered over giant drops deep into a canyon-a little bit hairy, but our driver loved it and told us tales of old times as we drove along. The jet boat was cool. An extremely fast boat that had a flat bottom and could drive over water only a couple of inches deep, we were only inches away from the side of the canyon as we went along the river. All this makes for an exciting ride. The driver threw in a few 360. turns every now and then to soak us with the ice cold water. Great fun! On the way back we stopped at an old bungy bridge and someone’s eyes lit up!!

So it was, Jon Taylor was booked on the next available bungy. A rope 134 metres long with his name on it. The jump, the highest in New Zealand, was called the Nevis bungy after the Nevis mountain it stood by. I say stood, but really it hovered. The bungy pod was reached via a cable car, which was more like a shopping trolley. The launch site hung over the canyon below suspended on cables from the mountains either side. We arrived at the scene and were told to harness up. Lou was asked if there was any chance she would jump and gave a swift reply of, “No chance!” Everyone put on their harnesses and someone else came and told Lou to harness up, and she quickly informed them that she wasn’t jumping, but was told that everyone needed one if they were going across to the pod. It soon became clear why. We had to board a shopping trolley style cable car across to the pod. We boarded it and were instantly able to look through the glass floor to the 134 metre drop below-very scary.

Jonty’s legs were bound together and hooked up to the bungy. He shuffled forwards to the edge and we’re not sure who was the more nervous!

As you stand over the edge you have a brief moment of…what am I doing?! However, the instructor shouts 5,4,3,2,1 and you immediately become focused and dive off! What a feeling! The first 3 seconds of the fall are very scary as your whole body lurches and your stomach jerks. But then for the last 5 seconds (you had 8 seconds of freefall in total) is pure enjoyment. The wind flies past your face and the buzz is immense.

He returned to the top, having been winched up, with a great big grin on his face! Wanting to do it again!!

We spent the rest of the day slowing the pace a little. We drove to Glenorchy and went for a walk along the routeburn track. This is a track that you can hike for 4 days to reach Milford Sound. We lasted for about 3 hours and returned to the camper for some hot chocolate! (Well left Lindy!)

Wanaka was our next stop on the following day. We visited PuzzleWorld. A place with illusion rooms, a giant maze and a cafe with tables full of puzzles for you to do. It was just like christmas! We spent a happy 5 hours here. Quite an amazing place. After this we visited the cinema-it had been recommended to us by Laura and we were not disappointed. We were warmly greeted and were offered beers, wines and food; to eat now, at half time (a classic old school interval), or after the show. We saw Spiderman 3, but the choice of film was insignificant really as we just enjoyed being in the actual cinema. As we entered we saw that all of the seats were sofas, comfy armchairs and even an old morris minor! During the interval we bought hot, home-baked cookies that were large and had melting chocolate oozing out of them-delicious! The best cinema ever! We really like Wanaka-a great place.

We are off to explore some Glaciers now…

Lake Tekapo to Fiordland 28th April-5th May

Lake Tekapo is renowned for its scenery, colour and views. We enjoyed our first New Zealand hike (or tramp as they call it) up to Mount John. The views were obscured by thick cloud, but it was a good stretch of the legs after driving in the campervan. We took the classic postcard picture from the church overlooking Lake Tekapo. The colour of the lake is a stunning turquoise/ice blue. From here, we drove along the tourist canal route, which is literally along a canal, but has surrounding mountains and great views of Mount Cook. Today the sky was filled with sunshine so the drive was very enjoyable.

Mount Cook is the highest mountain in Australasia (or Oceania, as they call it). It is spectacular. We took Lindy’s advice and went to the Hermitage hotel for endless free refills of Hot Chocolate-very tasty indeed. This fuelled us for our tramp to Hooker Valley, to see our first glacier close up. It had iceburgs floating in it and you had to cross two Indiana Jones style bridges to get there-brilliant! We parked up overnight in a field, which overnight became filled with the noise of sheep! The surrounding mountains provided a beautiful backdrop.

We awoke full of energy and decided to go for a morning run along one of the tracks. This took us to another glacial lake which we had to ourselves and we spent a while there skimming stones over the frozen water. NZ has lots of good amenities for campers and Mount Cook has a shelter with hot showers and kitchen-the people are also extremely friendly and helpful, we have had lots of good advice and benefited from it. We left Mount Cook and the  great views behind us in our rear view mirror on another gorgeous day, a great drive ahead of us. We look forward to all of the changing scenery-NZ is a real adventure as a few kilometres changes everything.

We found ourselves on the east coast at a place called Moeraki where there are some unique and odd shaped boulders on the beach. These boulders are close to perfect spheres and just drop out of the cliff with the erosion. Pretty cool. A good lunch stop.

We drove onto Dunedin (apparently the 4th biggest city in the world-but we’re not sure about that claim) we immediately smelt Cadbury’s! (They have a factory here) It was miserable weather so we spent our two days here meandering around the Cadbury’s factory and surrounding bars! We also managed to watch the Champions league matches! We went to a great leisure centre with about 4 pools inside, so we moved from the wave pool, to playing volleyball, to swimming lengths, to the jacuzzi! They even had plugs for your hairdriers!!

The weather brightened up after our swim and we drove on to the Catlins (the far south of NZ). Another amazing drive encompassing stops at waterfalls, caves, beaches and forest walkways (great for hide and seek!). After a night on the cliff overlooking the sea, we started the long journey to Fiordland. Here we are going to spend a couple of days exploring the sounds.

White Water Rafting – 27th April

We headed for Geraldine and Peel Forest because the Lonely Planet told us too! Here there was supposed to be NZ’s best White Water Rafting Company, it said so. We were not disappointed.

Our day began with free food-always a bonus. We were then kitted out in wetsuit, boots, thermal top, fleece and helmet. This was amusing in itself. Jonty had a nice pink lid and I had a bogey green one! We were driven to the river and met all our fellow rafters.  The water was crystal clear, an ice blue colour from the glacier just above us, this also made it freezing cold! In our boat was a Kiwi who had just completed the Iron Man Competition-fair play!! (He was a big dude and called everyone by their nationality!) He was good entertainment value. Just the man to have in your boat.

We went down grade 4 and 5 rapids (FYI grade 6 are unrideable).  On encountering our first grade 5 of the river we managed to get the boat stuck by what is known in the lingo as ’surfing’ the rapid. This basically means that we were being sucked back into it and the boat was filling up with water, nearly capsising. We all had to dive onto one side to try and prevent this. It was brilliant!! We were rescued by the accompanying cameraman, who waited until he had some good shots before throwing us a rope to pull ourselves out.

After steering through a number of grade 4 rapids, we approached our second grade 5 rapid. We were determined to get it right this time. This one was 400m long, the last was only 40m. After the first cascade Lou’s paddle was sucked out of her hand and went zooming off downstream. The guide started tapping her on the shoulder to see why she wasn’t paddling, he was faced with a pair of empty hands and a shrug, so he filled them with the boat’s spare paddle. Within 2 strokes, this paddle had been hit against a rock, (it was me or the paddle!) and the end had snapped off, it hung there, and more paddling was attempted, but that too detached and went downstream. Lou was now left holding a stick!! The guide started tapping again, not impressed at the lack of paddling, but was this time gobsmacked to see the clutched stick. He had to do a double take before he could fully comprehend and could only say “two?!” That left Lou holding on for dear life, laughing all the way to the bottom, while the others paddled as hard as they could to steer us to the bottom.  They could not quite believe what had happened when we arrived safely at the bottom. A rescue mission took place to retrieve the first paddle. Then we were back on course.

Part way along the trip, we left the boats and climbed to the top of a ridge, 10 metres above the water. We then took it in turns to jump in! Brilliant!! (A surprisingly long time in the air.)

At the end of the 2 hour trip we returned to the ranch to view the photos of the day’s events whilst enjoying the barbeque provided for us. It was a good day.

We drove on in our funbus to Lake Tekapo, where we camped up with the mountains in the distance.