Day 283 – 286: Catlin’s Coast (Penguins and Dolphins)

On Wednesday morning, we were up early and on the road by 8am. The campsite was in a lovely setting but with no facilities (ie kettle) we couldn’t be bothered making tea on our little stove so we were on our way. A brief overnight stop in Invercargill and we were on our way down the Southern Scenic Route to the Catlin’s Coast. For the first time in New Zealand we managed to get lost (they don’t have all that many roads so n it is usually quite difficult) and took a slight detour through some very remote farm country. We also came across a slightly forlorn Israeli bloke who needed a lift. God know how long he could have been waiting because we hadn’t seen all that many cars for a while. We initially stopped at Slope Point, the southern most point of the South Island for a photo opportunity and then made our way to our base for the next couple of days over in Curio Bay.

What a lovely little campsite. We had an individual bay set in amongst the flax bushes. On one side, there was Curio Bay, a rocky shelf with a petrified forest and a small colony of very rare yellow-eyed penguins. On the other side was a wide sheltered sandy beach which had its own family of Hector Dolphins and a few Fur Seals. It was just beautiful and we spent a happy couple of days just wandering the coastline, binoculars in hand, looking a amazing stuff.

We left this morning and decided to explore the rest of the coast, all of which is equally beautiful. This is one of those funny places in New Zealand that, although it is really quiet and you barely see a soul on the roads, as soon as you decide to stop at a look-out point or waterfall, there will undoubtedly be a couple of campervans already there; I suppose this is the price of touring a country that knows how to advertise itself. Anyway, there were still some huge untouched beaches that may need exploring in a couple of weeks time when it gets a bit hotter. For now, we are in Dunedin making our way slowly up towards Christchurch to Meet Karen and Lydia.

Day 280 – 282: Te Anau (manging to avoid Milford Sounds – this time)

By the time we left Queenstown the weather turned! We were delighted when we got to Te Anau and the campsite we were staying at had a roaring fire in the TV room (very ski lodge style) and they had the All Blacks v Ireland match on the TV – we were settled for the afternoon! In the evening we decided to treat ourselves to a Sunday roast (what a luxury) but I was slightly upset about the distinct lack of Yorkshire pudding (with beef even). Anyway, we befriended the barman and got to have happy hour all night. The next day was a bit of a write off – but I was enjoying the opportunity to sit on a comfy sofa and read a book (next to the fire)!

As we are doing Milford Sounds when Catherine and Karen arrive in NZ we did not head up to Milford this time (nor did we decide to do the Doubtful Sounds overnight cruise, which sounded lovely but we could not afford to do both the sounds so decided to wait until we did Milford). We did head up to the Milford Road though and stopped off at some of the sights on the way (Mirror lakes) as well as being stopped by a film crew shooting a commercial for Mercedes.

Half way up to Milford is where the Routeburn Track starts/finishes, we stopped off here and walked some of it and then walked up Scott Peak (a fantastic walk up to a peak where there some amazing views of lots of mountains). The night before there had obviously been some fresh snow on some of the peaks!

After a good long walk we then decided to head down towards Invercargill – we got as far as Monowai Lake DOC campsite and camped there alone in the woods. The bathroom situation was a little primitive to say the least but it was free, secluded and in amongst some beautiful woods. We had a good fire going and a nice BBQ dinner before an early night to escape the pesky sand flies.

Day 274 – 280: Fantastic Wanaka, Arrowtown and a quick squiz at Queenstown.

Wanaka is a lovely, lovely place (especially that the sun is shinning) – huge lake and lovely cafes to visit. We thought it was a bit like Banff in Canada but ‘newer’! We spent 5 days here which was fun. We managed to relax a lot in the sunshine (boy it was hot) at the campsite and by the lake. But we also did quite a lot of fun stuff. We went horse riding in the Cordrona valley, this was fantastic and made me realise how much I love riding (even though I’m not too good at it). The weather was really good and the horses well looked after – 2 hours was enough though (sore bottoms)!

Stu managed to get some mountain biking done as well which he loved (I had a walk round the lake in the sunshine while he was doing that and it was nice to have some time on my own).

We also did a really great walk just outside of Wanaka. We drove to the end of Mount Aspiring NP (a very, very bumpy unsealed road with lots of fords to cross) and walked through the Rob Roy Valley to Rob Roy Glacier. It was amazing and we got to see some avalanche action as it was so hot there was lots of snow melting, we spent ages at the top and had a picnic up there. The walk itself was just long enough and steep enough not for it to not too easy but not too hard!

Apart from a visit to another winery (one next to the campsite we were staying at), a ‘night out’ (dinner and a few beers in town) and some time on the internet that was pretty much it.

We decided to spend a night in Arrowtown as it is supposed to be lovely. Indeed it is in the sunshine. We arrived there after doing our glacier walk and decided to make use of the English stylie public house with lovely beer garden – it was lovely sitting there watching the world go by.

We just spent the next morning in Arrowtown – wandering round the town (well the 1 street it has) and went to see the Chinese settlement (where the Chinese gold miners used to live in the 1800’s). I can imagine that the place is heaving in summer with bus loads of grannies visiting!

After Arrowtown we drove through Queenstown (we are planning on seeing Queenstown properly when Catherine and Karen arrive so we just zipped through). We did stay in on a very windy campsite (Moke Lake) just outside of Queenstown though which was beautiful and a good place to spend the afternoon in the sunshine. As it was a basic DOC site we decided to make use of our solar ‘ shower’ as the weather was so nice. It felt rather liberating taking a shower in the open air……(no photos of this though as we thought it was rather indecent)! The next day we did spend the morning in Queenstown but only had a quick wander then did some internetting (we had lots of piccies to upload).

Day 268 – 273: Punakaiki to Fox Glacier (rain forest, greenstone and ice)

You may not believe us, and if you do, I doubt you will be very sympathetic, but travelling can be hard going at times. Especially these past few days when the weather has not been great, we have tended to see what we wanted to see and then move on – no time for relaxing and chilling out. With that in mind, the two night we spent in Punakaiki were pure bliss. Everyone, who has ever been near the West Coast on New Zealand has told us we must get to Punakaiki. No doubt it is beautiful and the Pancake Rocks and fascinating but what made it for us was the chance to stay at this lovely hostel called Te Nikau Retreat and get out of the van for a couple of days. We generally haven’t planned too far in advance but we knew we were going to stay at this place before we even left England, it has that good a reputation.

The weather being what it was (rain), we made the most of our stay there, hardly leaving the house. We had booked into a room in a house separate from the main building, hidden away in the rainforest, with a big kitchen and a roaring log fire. Although on both nights there were other people staying in the house, until the evening it was entirely our own, so we could relax at leisure, and Gem could sit by the fire adding log after log, while we heard the rain and wind lashing against the window.

We did, however, venture out to have a look at the pancake rocks; cool limestone rock formations that look like stacks of pancakes and have archest and blow-holes, that are pretty dramatic at high tide.

As much as we would have liked to stay at Te Nikau for longer, our budget demanded we get back in our little van so, after a pleasant walk by the river, off we went down the coast to Greymouth, had a quick look around and did the Monteith’s Brewery Tour and decided that was about all the time needed there.

We stayed a little further south in Hokitika, which is full of little shops selling Jade Jewellery. you can actually find jade pebbles on the beaches of the West Coast if you wander them for long enough. Unfortunately,the piece Gem wanted was in a shop back up in Greymouth. back up in Greymouth so we had to pop back there before going on to Okarito.

Okarito is a lovely little town off the main road, with a basic campsite by the beach but the reason to go there is to explore the lagoon, which we did on kayaks (with these guys). The sun came out for us and it was beautiful morning to wander the little channels viewing the scenery and wildlife (and trying not to get stuck in the mud).

Only a brief visit, that afternoon,we drove down to Fox Glacier (having a quick look at Franz Joseph, which we will do properly on our way back up with the girls). After a night in a new and almost deserted campsite, we went up to the glacier and were fairly awe-struck. It is pretty massive. Without doing a guided tour you can’t get onto the glacier but the views were good enough for the time being. Believe it or not, there are a group of people at the base of the glacier in the second picture.

Quite a hectic few days; it was time to settle somewhere for a while. Next stop Wanaka.

Day 264 – 267: Arthur’s Pass and Karamea (rain, sun and sandflies)

After our morning’s encounter with the seals, we merrily set off towards Arthur’s Pass. Unfortunately, we got slightly sidetracked on the way (we stopped at 2 wineries for a quick sample but one over eager cellar door kept us there for much longer than needed) and had to stop at a DOC campsite en route. We were woken during the night by over exuberant Halloween possum and rabbit hunters but this was fine.

Our well made plans of having a walk once in the Arthur’s Pass area were scuppered by the fact that when we got up there it was raining so much in the valley that there were avalanche warnings around. We made an executive decision not to go for a walk and continued our drive west. Managed to see some goodish views but I can imagine in the sunshine it would be amazing! After a long drive in the worst weather (not just rain but gusty wind) we tried to make it all the way up to Karamea (about as far north as you can drive up the west coast) but were forced to turn back when we got top a flooded part of the road……we were too scared to give it a whirl in our van so  there was nothing else to do apart from drive back the way we had come. The plus side of this adventure was we stayed at a campsite near to a pub instead and managed to see NZ whop the Auzzies in the rugby (we also met a VERY friendly lady (called Barb) who liked nothing more than leaning on us all evening).

The next day we managed to get to Karamea (the flood had completely gone) and the weather had decided to be kind so we used the time to air our the van and do the washing! Karamea is a tiny place but very beautiful. We headed up to the Oparara Basin for a look around and saw some really nice caves (full of spiders and wettas) and arches, which we were quite amazing (unfortunately the walks there were a bit boring…zzz)! We then drove to Kohaihai (about as far north as you can drive up the west coast) and had lunch on the DOC campsite we were planning on staying at. Unfortunately, the sandfiles of the area had other ideas. We could not sit still while eating lunch as you just got bitten so we had to eat our sandwiches and drink our tea while walking around and around! Needless to say we decided not to stay at that campsite and just do a walk and then leave. We walked part of the the Heaphy track to Scotts beach which was lovely and had some fab views. We stayed that night at Gentle Annies and which was in a lovely setting.

Day 260 – 264: Martinborough and Kaikoura (more bloody wine and seal swimming)

After a drive through Havelock (stopping for a quick peek) we arrived in Renwick early enough to sample one winery (St Clars). We stayed at a lovely little place in Renwick, a smaller town than Blenheim but still in the middle of all the Marlborough wineries). Like all hostels we have camped at so far, Watson’s Way is run by BBH, and was excellent and cosy, so they are obviously doing something right.

Having learned from our extensive experience of wine tours we didn’t set off too early the next day, instead played (tried to) a game of tennis in the morning and set off about midday on our rickety little bikes for another arduous day of drinking free wine. We were very good this time and didn’t succumb to purchasing any (having a van full already), except for the bottle we had with lunch at St Clair’s Cafe. The pick of the bunch that we visited was definitely Huia, although they did ply us with a vast array of tastings, some of which blurred into one. They had some quite unique and splendid bubbles.

We then headed down to the coast to Kaikoura, stopping off to take a quick look at a seal colony and to buy crayfish, which is in such abundance here that they sell it from vans on the side of the road. The pleasure was somewhat diminished by the fact that we had to eat it sitting in the car because it was pouring with rain. When we got down to Kaikoura, though, the weather began to improve a bit. The next day we went for a decent walk around the peninsular and were beginning to appreciate the dramatic scenery that you get down here in the south island. our campsite was on the beach but we were looking up to snow-capped mountains. Very cool!

On Friday morning we did one of the most fabulous activities we have done so far in New Zealand. Kaikoura is famous for high numbers of sea-mammals (something to do with the steep topography and currents just off the coast). We knew we could only afford to do see one of them so we were sat in the tourist office humming and harring whether to plump for whales, dolphins or seals (Albatrosses were also an option). We decided to go with the seals because this is one of the few places you can do it and it was amazing (We went with these guys)! We got fully suited up in the thickest wet-suits possible (8mm including hoods and booties; so buoyant that it was difficult to get under water) and got a little boat out to an island breeding colony. It was cold! Only 12 degrees, which isn’t all that bad but you are not generating your own heat like you would when surfing. Seals are aggressively territorial on land but in the water they are so playful and curious; they would swim round and round us, dart towards you and sometimes just hang upside-down and have a good look. (Geeky seal fact: We swam with the New Zealand Fur Seals. By some twist of evolutionary convergence, fur seals are actually more closely related to cats and dogs than they are to common seals.)

By the time we got out we were numb and shivering but with such big smiles on our faces and after a lovely hot shower and a pie, we headed off south towards Arthur’s Pass…

Day 253 – 259: Golden Bay, Abel Tasman and Nelson (lovely sights but pants weather)

After a non wobbly crossing to Picton (laughing at the sheep on the ferry) we found a really nice campsite and went out for a pint (yes a real pint none of this ‘handle’ business) in a Scottish bar and our out dinner which was a nice treat.

Picton is a very small town (but lovely). The weather was so nice the first morning we were there we made use of it and had a sorting day: internet, shopping, cleaning the van and Stu assembled his el o cheapo BBQ! We also looked into getting a water taxi to enable us to walk some of the Queen Charlotte track but it was so expensive we decided to do a shorter walk the next day to see the sounds and not be in them. Good job we decided not to splash out – the next day it poured so we did not do any walking…..we drove along the Queen Charlotte Drive instead and saw some soggy, cloudy views of the sounds. After lunch we made an executive decision to drive as far west as we could (due to the weather). In the end we got to Golden Bay and stayed at a really cool backpackers called The Innlet with a lovely kitchen and a log stove to keep us toasty (we were still sleeping in the van but we made use of the facilities). It was also a very eco friendly place with compost toilets and the usual ‘hippy’ but lovely hosts!

We had booked some horse treking around Farewell Spit but the weather made us change these plans (yes it was still raining) so we just walked instead. What an amazing place Golden Bay is – we walked to Wharariki Beach (you can only get on the beach at certain tide times) – amazing beach. We spent ages there exploring the nook and crannies of the massive rocks on the beach……..then we got to where some mussels were living! There were thousands of them and they were massive (much bigger than any I had ever come across before)! We did not waste any time and by the time Stu had his coat pockets filled we were sorted for (our free) dinner…..yummy. We also managed a walk up to Pillar Point on the coast which gave fab views of Farewell spit and the coastline (so it was worth the big climb). The weather then turned so we did not bother walking along Farewell Spit (we just had a quick peek then legged it)! We treated ourselves to lunch at The Mussel Inn and I was in luck as Stu was the driver – I sampled some interesting beers, ciders and wines (all made on the premises)!

That night we stayed at a very remote DOC camspite (Totaranui) at the top of Abel Tasman NP which was also on a lovely beach – we had fun cooking (and eating) our hand picked mussels….. As we were in Abel Tasman NP we decided it would be rude not to do a walk  – we picked a loop walk that went some way on the coastal track (and onto some amazing beaches that were very remote) and then up a big hill – unfortunately, the weather had closed in and by the time we got to the top the ‘amazing’ views we should have been experiencing had been reduced to ‘cloud’!  We picked up a couple of Belgian hitch hikers on the way to our next campsite at Pohara. After dinner it started to really chuck it down so we got shelter in the local pub where we met some very friendly Kiwis (and a merry man called Gavin)!

Nelson is a lovely town and we managed to get there in time to sample the Sat morning market (a collection of all things hippy and organic……..beads and honey). We enjoyed Nelson and managed to visit some wineries in the region (Stu was the official sampler that day) one day followed by a fantastic picnic at Rabbit Island which is a great place – even though it was bank holiday weekend there was hardly anyone on the beach!

WE made use of the Nelson public houses as well while we were there and managed to see the Final of the Air NZ Cup (Wellington v Canterbury) by frequenting one.

Day 247 – 253: Martinborough (yummy wine) and Wellington

After saying goodbye to the Harris kids before school we got ready and drove south (along the surf highway). On the way we were advised to stop for whitebait (not the same as the whitebait as you get in UK) in Mokau – we had whitebait fritters (a bit bland and unexciting but at least we tried it)……….after a stop off at a organic brewery (White Cliffs Organic Brewery) where we, of course, bought some.

WE arrived in Oakura and decided to stay overnight – it has a beautiful black sand beach and the weather was so nice we decided to have a relaxing rest of the day. We stayed at Oakura Beach which was right on the beach. I wanted to stay another day (and we may go back there) but the next day we decided to press on to Martinborough. the journey there was spotted with visits to cheese and ice cream shops (I am going to get fat)!

After a long and windy drive we arrived at Martinborough just in time to visit one winery (Tirohana) before it closed. The lovely lady at the campsite drove us there so it meant we only had to walk back. This particular winery was quite an exclusive one – apparently Mr Ramsay sells his wine at his restaurant!!!!! We had to pay to taste but at $60+ a bottle we did not mind as there was no chance we were going to buy a bottle!

The next day was wine tour day! After Stu went for a run, we rented bikes from the campsite and set off on our merry way with a picnic……it was probably a good thing that all the wineries were not open (it’s still quiet at this time of year) as we would have been very drunk. Instead we were just slightly drunk. The wineries are very small; and are very close together – we visited Schuberts (tasty and reasonable rose), Alana (amazing Pinot Noir – they had just bottled to 2007 and it is already better than the 2006 mmmmm), Te Kairanga, Caradoro and Ata Ranga (although we were a little tipsy by this point, we were still competent enough to be very impressed with their whole selection).

We also managed to buy some really nice bottle of wine (we may even save a couple for Christmas as they were not your average $20 bottle of wines[edit: oops, already gone]).  We did not succumb to the $60+ bottles – they were very lovely indeed but our budget does not stretch to that!

At the end of the day I was feeling rather queezy (I even declined the chance to try the last of the free wine – imagine that people?)……..it had been a lovely day but trying all the wine in Marlborough is hard work (sob, sob).

After a fleeting visit to Martinborugh (there is not much else there apart from excusive B&B’s and posh cafes) we set off to Wellington (NZ’s windy city) for the rugby! After trying to squeeze our van into a space in a hostel carpark we decided we did not want to stay there afterall so parked in town and decided to get to the campsite after the rugby match.

We spent the afternoon in Te Papa museum which was a bit of a disappointment after Auckland’s museum. We still spent 3 hours there and had fun but did find that Auckland’s museum was much better. We had a beer in town before the game and made our way up to the Westpac stadium. It is such a huge place – even though the game was a semi-final (Wellington v Southland) there were loads of seats empty!
I suppose the stadium in UK are smaller and there are lot more people who live in UK. Wellington did their best to try and lose but in the end they were too good. We were then very English and had a kebab and a drink (I had a coke as was the ‘driver’) on the way home and managed to make it to the campsite before midnight!

Wellington was a really nice city; it had a good feel about it, good bars, quite an attractive place in a really cool setting. We spent a couple of days wandering about waiting for our ferry but there are no campsites in town so you have to drive into town.