Where do we begin?…Christchurch - the South Islands biggest city. We spent six nights here; two at the central hostel and the other four “couch surfing” with friendly locals. We couch surfed with Nat and Blair and their dog Holmes. They were a very nice couple and we thank them a bunch for cooking dinner and providing a bed for two nights. Blair was quite an interesting fellow – never willing to let ‘The Man’ get him down. Blair took us to a beautiful spot to do a short hike and take in some beautiful NZ scenery. We drove around the Port Hills and marveled at the breathtaking mountainous landscape surrounding the city. He then dropped us off downtown where we met up with our next couch surfing host, Andrew. Andrew is a green stone (Jade) craftsman. He is very passionate and knowledgeable concerning the native Maori culture and it’s connectedness to green stone, which is sacred to Maori people. We spent two nights filled with good food and interesting conversation including all the “hot spots” to find green stone in nature. We did end up stopping and searching at some key riverbeds and beaches but to no avail. We had some time to kill before our camper van would be ready so we decided to rent a car and head north to beautiful Kaikora. This is by far is the best place to see seals up close in nature in New Zealand. A seal barked at Tim when he got a little too close for comfort. We did a short hike up a steep incline where we had farmland and mountains to our right and the magnificent waves of the Pacific crashing on our left. This was our first magical taste of the vast differences in New Zealand’s landscape. Before leaving we tried Paua burgers (a type of clam in a dough batter and fried). This NZ favorite came highly recommended by our NZ friends; we were not big fans, they aren’t as good as our yummy New England clam cakes! On our way back to Christchurch we decided to soak in the hot sulpher springs in Hamner Springs. These springs were nice but they did not compare to the ones in Hot Sulpher Springs, Colorado.
On Thursday May 14th we picked up our camper van, which we would have for the next 20 days. The particular company we rented from (Escape Rentals) has a fleet of 170 vans completely covered in unique artwork. We really loved our van! Our first stop was Mt Cook – the tallest peak in NZ and where Sir Edmund Hillary (first person to climb Everest) trained. Unfortunately the weather at Mt Cook was rainy so we only stayed one night. We headed south towards Queenstown passing what were the most beautiful lakes we had ever laid eyes on (Lake Takapo and Pukaki). The water was a bluish green color that glistened in the afternoon sun overlooked by snow-capped mountains – such amazing beauty.
Driving into Queenstown we were surprised with the quaintness of this little city. It had the appeal of a small ski town. We walked around and had a quick dinner at “Fergburger” before departing to our camp destination near Lake Te Anau, in Fiordland National Park. So sad, the weather was complete crap so we missed the beautiful Milford Sound and settled on a 25 minutes mini film at the information center. We will be back to NZ and spend more time in Fiordland, and in warmer weather. We decided to head north and hopefully find a break in the cold rain. We were following our very beloved ‘Lonely Planet’ NZ guide book to the “must see” spots; the Franz Joseph Glacier was our next intended destination. To get there we had to drive through Wanaka and the ride there was quite memorable. Deciding to take the more ‘direct’ roadway we embarked on a small mountain pass and regrettably began a very steep climb. It was dark and rainy at this point and we were not looking forward to the very windy drive this would be. Maybe 20 minutes into the climb we saw warning signs with pictures of boulders crashing down the mountain. We thought this was kind of funny at first until we saw huge boulders in the middle of the very narrow road we were on! It is funny how you feel when real danger is quite possibly going to crush the life out of you but you have no choice but to keep driving. At the top we started to see signs that said “school bus zone” - good comic relief (If kids are routinely transported here it can’t be too dangerous). Finally we arrived safely at our campground.
Waking up in Wanaka we learned that the only road to the west coast glaciers was closed due to icy conditions. While we waited for the road to re open we went to “Puzzle World” which is a huge complex of mazes, games, all sorts of optical illusions and puzzles galore. We played with some brain teasing puzzles for a while, until we found out the road was clear so we were on our way. We stopped at Fox Glacier (near Franz Joseph) to spend the night at our third and far from our last camper van park.
In the morning we went for a hike at Franz Joseph to see the glacier. The great part about having our own car was being able to stop at various little spots, whether it was to gaze at a waterfall or look for green stone beside a babbling brook off the side of the road. We pulled into the first town on the West Coast, Hokatika, where we went to Serpentine Beach (on the advice from native jade expert and fellow couch-surfer, Andrew) to look for green stone and hopefully view some penguins nesting at dusk. No luck on both accounts. We drove towards Punakaki where we were excited to see the spectacular “Pancake Rocks”, massive limestone rocks that look like stacks of pancakes, the cause of which remains a scientific mystery. We were so impressed by them and the blowholes that shot water hundreds of feet up in the air. Our pictures really don’t do this site justice, so if you’re ever in New Zealand, it truly is a must see. After Punakaki our next stay was in Golden Bay – the most northern part of the South Island. We stayed at a very quant YHA run by a fellow named Alan who had to “chomp the last bit down” before showing us around. While in Golden Bay we went to a natural spring reservation. The water here is so pure and clear (claimed to be the clearest in the world) that no contact of any kind was allowed. We took pictures. We left Golden Bay and set out for Picton. Picton was our last stop in the south and where we would catch our ferry to the North Island. We did a pretty intense hike on ‘Snout’s Trail’, which at the end opened up to a clearing overlooking the beautiful sounds. Tim climbed down to the rocks and made friends with a lone seal looking to play. We contemplated taking some mussels from the shore to cook for dinner (the legal allotment is 50 per person) but decided against it because of the long hike back. We stayed in Picton one extra night than planned because the ferry was cancelled due to rough seas. Finally, after hours of waiting in the ferry line we boarded on Sunday evening and embarked on a three-hour journey across Cook Straight. It was a bumpy ride.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment