Our journey into the heart of Middle Earth continued initially with a rather bumpy crossing on the Interislander ferry. We tried to take our minds off the heaving seas by watching The Cronicles of Narnia which kind of worked apart from the cinema having the distinct aroma of past breakfasts lost (if you get my meaning!). Still, it did give us the chance to spot some of the filming locations we were about to visit.
On the first day spent on the south island we hired some Kayaks at Kaiteriteri which is a popular beach resort in the Abel Tasman National Park. It was a very relaxing way to spend a couple of hours. Paddling slowly along the coast and tentatively nosing about the rocky coastline was great fun. Zaida was in the front of the Kayak whilst Chris sat in the back doing most of the paddling! The scenery was beautiful and although we didn't see any seals (boo) it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The weather was fantastic too! One thing we hadn't anticipated was the huge number of families staying in the area enjoying the end of the summer school break. Our campsite was overrun by children and we were literally surrounded by families with 3 or 4 kids apiece (don't these people have TV's at home?). It was far from relaxing. We lost count of the number of times footballs bounced off the camper. Pesky so and so's....
After sunning ourselves for a couple of days at Abel Tasman we hit the road and headed for the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers, stopping off at some awesome lakes along the way with stunning views of the mountains. The drive was breath-taking; every time you go round a corner you get a completely new perspective. We stopped at Franz Joseph first and walked right up to the terminal face of the glacier - which is tech speak for the crumbly end of it. There were plenty of warning signs not to go past the barriers - good job too as while we were admiring the icy facade a huge clump probably weighing several tons came tumbling down, amazing to think it had taken over a thousand years to make its way to the bottom. We then spent the night at Fox Glacier village which had awesome views of the mountains from our campsite and no pesky kids...which was nice.
Surrounding the glaciers are Fiord lands which are basically deep and very steep sided valleys carved out by glaciers over hundreds of thousands of years. Since the end of the last ice age the glaciers have retreated and left some rather large and spectacular lakes. We took a stroll around Lake Matheson which is now several kilometers from the Fox glacier that carved it, it was a perfecly clear day and the weather was beautiful - well worth the effort. This is one of the iconic kiwi photo opertunities and is apparently the most photographed spot in New Zealand. How on earth you can know that is anyones guess but there you go. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get 'the' photo of the mountains reflecting in the still water. You have to get up pretty early to get that one, and after 5 months at leasure early rising just doesn't happen. Never mind.
Some of the journeys through the mountains are pretty long but never boring with the fantastic scenery and the bluest rivers we have ever seen. This intense blue colour is because of all the minerals and rock sediment suspended in the glacial melt water refered to as glacial milk. Because of refraction the water then looks amazingly blue - so there you go. Whatever the science they are crazy features of the landscape. The rivers are flowing pretty fast too and it's scary to think that the glaciers are melting so quickly, even so they will be around for a few hundred years (go see em while you can). Continuing our journey south we traversed the trecherous Haast Pass, not so scary in the summer but we imagine it would be pretty hairy in the winter months. There were various waterfalls along the way and we even had time for a brief stop at the Fantail waterfall for a paddle.
Still heading south we passed through lake Wanaka town and on past the huge Lake Wakatipu to Queenstown sitting on it's edge. For those of you who don't know about Queenstown it is the self proclaimed adrenaline junkie capital of the world (Wicked!). Nestled in a glacial valley next to lake Wakatipu this year round playground had pretty much every conceivable extreme sport available including some we had never hear of! In the winter months there is wintersports in the mountains and in the summer the beautiful lake provides plenty of options for mucking about in boats, wakeboarding and waterskiing. Year round you can go bungy jumping, canyon swinging, skydiving, hang gliding, paragliding, jet boating, Downhill Mountain biking, etc etc. This place could bankrupt you in a couple of weeks so we decided to only stay 2 days....which of course turned into 4!!!
Take a look at the photos below for a taste of what we go up to. First up it was jet boating on the famous Shotover Jet (wicked!), then a quad biking safari up into the mountains to enjoy the view. After that it was Fly by Wire (absolutely barking! click 'here' for more info), followed by a bit of lugeing and then paragliding. Phew! After all that we had to leave as the buzz was getting addictive!
Our favorite drive on the whole trip has to be the road to Milford Sound. It's got it all. A crazy tunnel, steep hills, twisty roads and of course those incredible views. You would think that with the consistently stunning scenery it's easy to start taking it for granted but the views are so varied you somehow don't. After driving through the single lane rough cut tunnel that barely seemed large enough to accomodate our camper complete with water running from cracks in the ceiling to form little rivers running down each side, we arrived in the sounds. After a further half an hour of particularly alpine-esqe driving winding down through switchback after switchback, we reached Milford Sounds. We stayed in what was apparently the only campsite in the area perched on the banks of a rocky bottomed river - a great setting, very relaxing with the water gurgling past and pretty entertaining too as we were kept company by Kea birds. These are very large green parrots that are pretty inquisitive as well as bold! David Attenborough says they may be the cleverest birds on the planet and you can believe it when they look at you. After the Kea's grew bored of us it was off to the only pub in town which was predictably chilled before walking back which was very nice if a little scary. When it's dark its really really dark here, especially if you forget your torch. Ever the townies.
The next morning we were up early for our cruise around the Sound. The huge mountains rising out of the ocean are spectacular and even the dreary start to the day added a certain atmosphere. We didn't realise but Milford Sound is perhaps the wettest place in NZ recieving a massive 9 metes of rainfall a year and getting rain on 2 out of every 3 days! On the cruise we passed over the fault line that marks the boundry of the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates - clearly visible as massive cracks in the mountains. Our boat driver also passed under the falls that cascade down the mountain and we finally spotted some seals although they weren't doing a great deal, just lazing about on the rocks - what a life!
After our time in the Sounds we got back on the road stopping briefly to look at a chasm along the way which is this fast flowing river running through big bolder rocks then dropping deep underground. The power of the water overtime has carved holes through the rock to create something like a modern art piece from the Tate.
All the rivers and lakes we have passed on our travels have looked very inviting but we had yet to stop anywhere for a swim. Eventually we managed to brave the icey cold waters and went for a dip in Lake Manapouri. We had the place to ourselves!
Our visit to the Catlins was a bit of a wildlife adventure with the hope of seeing all sorts of creatures in their natural habitat. We did manage to spot some large sea-lions on the beach at Cannibal Bay looking like they had just eaten one of their own. We then went to Nuggets point, which is the southern most point we will visit on our trip in the hope of seeing some Penguins; we didn't spot any but got yet another amazing view, this time out onto the famous nuggets of rock pointing into the South Pacific Ocean.
Dunedin was a bit of a non-event as it was a public holiday. Even most of the pubs were closed, I mean come on that's what public holidays were invented for surely!? Who knows what the Kiwi's do on these days. The main thing we wanted to do in Dunedin(well Zaida actually) was visit the Cadbury’s chocolate factory, we couldn't do this either (closed on public holidays - sorry) so we decided to move on. Rubbish.
On the road again then, heading inland this time to get a final look at the snow capped mountains of Mount Cook from the eastern side. On our way we passed Lake Pukaki which has to be the bluest lake we have ever seen, the rivers on the west coast were amazing but this was even better and the view across the lake at Mount Cook was perfect.
Lake Tekapo was the last place we visited before heading to Christchurch. We found a great campsite right on the lake with breathtaking views all around and in the morning we hired some mountain bikes and went for a bit of an explore. No extreme mountain biking though just some leasurely cycling.
So here we are, our last stop in New Zealand - Christchurch. Compared by some to Oxford and other traditional English/Scotish towns, with the historic tram (great way to sightsee if it's raining - and it has been - alot), old buildings, punting on the river and botanical gardens all giving it a distinctly British feel.
We only have a couple of days here most of which was spent in a great Belgium Beer cafe on the the river sinking hoegardens so not all time was wasted.
So thats it then, time to return our beloved home on wheels ;o) She - according to Zaida, it - according to Chris, has taken us on a 3,500 km journey around both islands in comfort and style(?). A tip for those who follow; you really don't need a big campervan - a basic one is just as good as all the campsites have really good facilities. If you are really brave tents are also an option. (yeah right!)
Our next stop on the grand tour is Raratonga in the Cook islands - really looking forward to that one as it means some serious beach time!