Wanaka!

12th June

After arriving in New Zealand a month ago, we are now in Wanaka which is where we will call home for the next 4 months.

We took the scenic drive to Wanaka from Queenstown on a beautiful blue sky day via the the Crowne Range which is New Zealands highest tarmaced road.  Driving up to a 1000m, we had incredible views of the surrounding mountains, valleys and ski fields, all of which will be our playground over the next 4 months.

The scenic route may be blocked with snow over winter, and unpassable, so we thought we'd drive this way at least once. Tight twists and turns up the steep sided pass was about manageable for the van - on the final bend we passed a cyclist - quite mad - but gave him an encouraging toot of the horn as we blew exhaust in his face.

The road took a gradual descent, and meandered through the Cardrona valley road and before we knew it we passed a sign which said "Wanaka". We both just said "wow, we're in Wanaka!".


Since arriving, It's been quite hectic, starting new jobs and having to adopt a routine that sees us out of bed at 6am when we've had a month of relaxing is a bit of a shock.  However  we are still having a lot of fun, living with some great people and getting to know our new colleagues.  We spend our days laughing, surrounded by blue skies and snow packed peaks, going to the pub after work and enjoying the après atmosphere.  Needless to say, we are thoroughly enjoying our time so far in Wanaka.   

But, whilst everyone had told us how beautiful it was, it's only been this last week that i've really started to admire it's beauty.  

It feels like we're in the Alps, which i guess we are. So far we've enjoyed good climbing, nice walks, stunning views and apres ski.  As the temperatures drop and the snow begins to fall, we're looking forward to getting out skiing. 

Our new home - Wanaka! 

Our new neighbourhood 

the view from Rob's caff!

Mount Cook

11th June

So we went to visit the biggest mountain in New Zealand to enjoy the spectacular views, but all we saw was a lot of cloud.  It was a bit disappointing, but luckily it's only a 3 hour drive away from Wanaka so we'll head back up that way on our weekends when we know there is going to be plenty of sunshine! 

It's not surprising - Ben Nevis spends over 200 days a year in cloud, and Mount Cook is 3 times higher.

Nevertheless, we made the most of what we had and took a low level valley walk up the Hooker Valley.  Despite the limited views, it was still an incredible walk crossing over swing bridges, gushing gorges and at the end we were surprised to see a glacier and icebergs floating in the lake! New Zealand never fails to suprise me, just incredible.

As we headed back, brief glimpses through the cloud showed huge rocky towers rising higher and higher, giving glimpses of what lies up in the clouds.

Lake Takepo

10th June

The best thing about arriving in the dark is the suprise you get when you wake up in the morning.  Sliding the door of the camper open this morning I looked out at a pristine mirror lake.   After breakfsat we took a walk alongside the lakeside up to the summit of Mt John.

It was another picturesque walk, surrounding by mountains but the low lying cloud was hiding the snow capped peaks that surrounded us.  At the summit of Mt John we were pleased to see the cafe was open and ordered delicious tea and cake  and enjoyned the breathtaking views of Lake Tekapo. 

The following morning we visited the perfect location for our wedding...it's was The Church of the Good Shepherd. Most importantly, it has the right name, a statue of a collie dog nearby, it's on a lakeside and surrounded by mountains - perfect!  Now all we need to do is find a replica in the UK!

Akaroa

9th June

Keen to escape the bleak city of Christchurch, we headed out towards the Banks Peninsula and the french town of Akaroa.

The Lonely Planet described the drive as a "absurdly beautiful drive", but once again the cloud came down and we couldn't see a thing!  The town was a quaint little harbour town with quaint french road signs, bakeries and boucheries.  No doubt the place would be a hive of activity and tourist in the summer, but the day we visited it seemed like a ghost town.  Keen to make the most of our last few days on the road, we decided to hit the road and took a 4 hour drive to Lake Tekapo and kept our fingers crossed for some better weather.

Approaching Akaroa 

Christchurch

7- 8th June

We arrived in Christchurch on a cloudy afternoon and managed to navigate ourselves to a parking space beside the Botanical Gardens.  

After a couple of hours drive, we were grateful for stretching our legs especially as we'd already hiked a mountain in the morning then hit the road again.  We found a pretty little boatside cafe where you can hire boats and go punting down the avon, but with the cloudy weather and a chill in the air, we decided to have tea and cake instead. 

An enthusiastic staff member from the local tourist information centre equipped us with tour maps and accommodation guides, so we set off to our modern holiday park fully equipped with a drive through check in, indoor pool and spa. 

After a welcome hot shower and a change of clothes, we embraced the public transport and headed off in to the city for a night out on the town.  The bus terminated at Central station where we got off, looked around and then realised the utter devastation this city has suffered.  It was like an apocalypse, there is almost nothing but eerie abandoned buildings, evacuated and then declared unsafe.  Those that have been torn down, are now empty building plots.  

Whilst it has only been 3 years since the Earthquake, it was still quite a shock to see the devastation.  I just don't know where you start to re-build after an entire city's central district has collapsed or been demolished.

Despite the main city hub being either condemned, demolished or in the process of being re-built, you can't help admire the creativity of the locals to re-build the city.  Shopping malls made of shipping containers, colourful Muriel's on wire fences and a sight seeing tour on disaster zones goes to show they are making the best of what they have whilst they re-build the city.

Out towards the coast, the destructive effects of nature are no less apparent.   Whole suburbs have been evacuated and abandoned whilst other building projects take priority. Those that lived there either moved away from Christchurch, or relocated if they could.

These suburbs were damaged by soil liquifaction, where the sub-surface soil acts like a liquid whilst the ground is shaking, bubbles to the surface to many inches or feet deep, but then sets almost solid when the earth tremors stop.   The stuff has been mostly cleared away, but many suburbs are just a permanent building site.  shocking, but the communities somehow battle on with the regeneration.

With the central area no longer hosting restaurants and Cafes, and an England Vs All-blacks game on the screens, getting a table for something to eat wasn't easy.

We had cocktails whilst we waited for food at Mexicano's - and it was worth waiting for!

Not sure what most of it was, but it sure was tasty.  Quesadillas, and the house special fried chicken are recommended.

ChristChurch heritage tram back up and running

ChristChurch Cathedral still in ruins following the 2011 earthquake

re-start mall - a shopping area made of porta cabins 

Hanmer Springs

6th June 2014

Back on the road again today after an extra night in Kaikoura (and a new clutch..another story!) and we left the coast and headed back in to the mountains to Hanmer Springs. 

My first impression was that it was just like Betws Y Coed, apart from there are more mountains and the town is dominated by the thermal hot springs. 

We decided to spend the afternoon soaking in the pools, before dinner at Monteiths and my first ever Boysenberry ice cream.  Whilst Rob and I enjoyed the freshest fish and chips in Kaikoura, the fish and chips at Monteiths is ranked as the best so far! Blue cod and light tempurar batter made them a melt in the mouth sensation! 

The following day (7th June) we took a bumpy mountain road up Jack's pass and hiked Mount Isobel (1365m) where we enjoyed beautiful views over the Molesworth Range.  We watched the storm clouds rolling in from the horizon and made a quick descent and hit the road to Christchurch. 

Chillin' at the springs 

View from Mt Isobel

An unexpected and extra night in Kaikoura

5th June

After a lovely day out on the ocean and fun evening socialising and eating lobster, we ended our evening sleeping illegally in the local car park last night!

We woke up to lovely views from the car park! 

As we got in to the camper to head to the holiday park, Rob struggled to get in to gear and the van wouldn't budge

Having had too many glasses of wine to remember, I didn't really take much notice.  It wasn't until the following morning when rob drove to the garage at 7am in first gear, that I sobered up to the severity of the problem. 

We pulled in to the garage and waited half an hour for a mechanic, called Dicko to turn up to work.  After a test drive, Dicko told us the clutch was screwed and it was going to cost us $500, combined with 2 new back tyres that were also on the verge of blowing, today was going to turn out to be an expensive day, costing us $800.

We went off to town for Breakfast and took a walk along the beach to walk off the hangover. Looking out at the views, it's really not a bad place to spend an extra day.  As our bedroom was due to be in the garage for the night, we checked in to a cosy backpackers and enjoyed beautiful views from our bedroom.

We looked like the "flash packers" in our back packer kitchen as we tucked in to our freshly caught lobster from yesterday's finishing trip!

Kaikoura

3-4 June 2014

The drive from Nelson lakes took us through the Marlbrough vineyards, glacier valleys, alongside rugged coastline and soaring snow capped mountains.  

It was strange to see mountains right along the coastline that hold snow even when it's nearly 20 degrees on the beach.

We stopped along the way to admire New Zealand fur seals, an enormous colony of thousands of Seals, occupying many miles of coastline before arriving late afternoon in to Kaikoura.   Before we had even explored what was beyond the road side,  we were already impressed by Kaikoura. 

The following morning we decided to explore what Kaikoroa is famous for - an abundance of sealife and booked ourselves on a fishing charter with the anticipation of catching something and enjoying the local marine life.  The skipper had told us of that they saw a pod of 200 dolphins being chased by an Orca the day before, so we were excited to be going out in to this unique area of the Pacific. 

It felt like we were going out to sea with a Pirate when we met our skipper, Nick. He had one leg,  walks with a limp, has less fingers than one would normally expect, but instead of a parrot he has a shaggy black dog called Captain Sparrow! 

The ride out to sea was a bumpy one and no sooner had we cast our lines into the water, Rob was greeting his breakfast for the second time that day!  

The whole day was just amazing.  I bashed an Albatross on the head with my fishing rod as it tried to steal my fish, caught a spotted shark, Rob caught our lunch (5 Sea Perch), we watched rare blue penguins metres from the boat and ended the day pulling fresh Lobster from the bottom of the ocean. 

Once we got back ashore, our skipper passed us our freshly caught and filleted fish, invited us back for dinner to cook our Lobster and Don (who runs a local takeaway) offered to fry off our fish for lunch.  

After eating our freshly caught fish,  battered and fried within 20 mins of landing, and served with hot chips, we went to play with baby seals  before heading back to the skipper's for a lobster supper.  We got merrily drunk and continued on to the pub where we experienced the amazing kiwi hospitality and were invited to stay with newly made friends in Hanmner springs the following day.   

The great Albatross - their enormous

My first catch - a spotted shark!

fishing with Albatross

Rob's double catch of perch

Crayfish for dinner!

Playing with wild baby seals beside the boardwalk!

Our freshly caught fish ready battered and served with the perfect accompaniment! 

Nelson Lakes National Park

2nd June 2014

We took the scenic route to Nelson Lakes National park, which is surrounded by the northern most part of the Southern Alps.  It was great to be in the mountains we were looking at from the beach yesterday, but this time we weren't looking back at the beach, but the endless chain of mountains that continues in to the distance.   We headed up the St Arnaud Range track, a 5 hours hike, zig-zagging steeply uphill for 3000ft,  through the bush and immense beech forest from Lake Rotoiti and popped out at 1660m on the ridge, where we were rewarded with jaw dropping views and a taster of what to expect as we head further south towards the Alps. 

Back to the van before the sun dropped and the chill set in. We quickly found ourselves in sleeping bags at about 6pm with the temperature plummeting, but keeping cosy. As we pulled on extra gloves and layers to go and make tea in the camp kitchen, we were rewarded with an astonishing show from clear night sky - the milkyway shining brightly amongst a star filled sky. 

Quite spectacular.  

Camping beside Lake Rotoiti

Abel Tasman National Park

1st June 2014

It was an early start this morning, particularly hard as it was both below zero (both inside and outside the van) and pitch black

Swapping cosy sleeping bags for icy socks and hugging cups of tea we shiverred in the car park waiting for our lift to the pretty little seaside village of Kaiterteri, the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park.  

Split Rock, Abel Tasman 

With the day getting warmer, seeing us shedding our many layers, We explored much of the coastline by boat, which took us up as far as Golden Bay and we admired the rugged and beautiful coastline from the boat before hopping on to shore at Medlands Bay. 

We took a picnic and walked 10km of the Abel Tasman Coastal track to Anchorage bay.  To have thought the other morning we were wearing in thermals and had crampons in our rucksack and today we were strolling along golden sands and paddling in the sea.  

It was a brilliant day out and felt like we were walking in Paradise.   It's definitely a place I'd  love to come back to in warmer weather to camp and kayak along the coast. 

A bus ride got us back to the campsite after dark and we wandered the streets looking for fish and chips.   We saw a guy squeezing into a Ninja Turtle costume getting out of a car - We joked that there was a Pizza place further up the street, but didn't catch his response.  Walking back along the pavement having failed to find the fish and chip shop, we found said turtle stood outside attracting patrons to the aforementioned Pizza shop.  I then thought my joke wouldn't have been appreciated as he would clearly be on minimum wage and it was freezing cold - even at 6pm.  Not many tourists out though - it's the first day of Winter - so at least he was spared from a torrent of crap jokes. 

We found the fish and chip shop and walked/ran back to the campsite before they got cold.