Napier

We set off on 1st March with an aim to reach Napier, an Art Deco styled town on the East coast and spend the afternoon cycling around the vineyards.

Our plan was right on paper - except that we hadn't reckoned on how long it would take us to get from one side of the island to the other.
We arrived in Napier by 4pm.On the way the main road was closed just after North Palmerston, and sent us on a long detour where we found ourselves in the midst of a large Wind Farm - we simply had to stop and take some pictures - the noise those turbines make is terrifying.

Random wind farm en-route to Napier

When we finally got to Napier we checked into the nearest campsite to town and booked ourselves on to a wine tour with a difference. Instead of cycling to the vinyards, we went to a cinema for a fly through wine tasting and managed to sample six glasses of wine in about 20 minutes - needless to say we were incapable of purchasing any wine and spent so long in the aroma room that the owner shut the shop any way.

However, she did reccommend a very good turkish cafe around the corner where we headed for a wonderful dinner before calling it a night around midnight!

Wine tasting in Napier

Wellington

28th February

From our beautiful spot by the sea we could see all around us - and watched the sun rise first thing across the harbour. I was busy making a cup of tea when I got a bit of a scare. A police car pulled up along side us, stopped and drove off.

I made Paul pack the bed up, and I got dressed in a scramble thinking we were about to get moved on or fined for Freedom camping somewhere we shouldn't have. Then there was a knock on the front cab window. I opened one of the back windows and called out to be greeted by and Emergency Civil Response officer.

He was very apologetic for disturbing us, and said:

" Do you know there is going to be a tsunami?"

Our response I cannot publish as it involved quite a few bad words. He reassured us after we had apologised, and told us that the wave would be no greater than 20cm but that we should not take our breakfast down to the waters edge or go fishing off the rocks, he then bid us a good day.


Well, we were a little shaken and of course had not heard the news - then we checked our phones - yep - everyone back home was panicking - oops. Sorry.
We had our breakfast in the van then drove into Wellington where we spent the rest of the day, visiting the Te Anau museum and walking along the promenade.

We didn't see the tsunami  and can only imagine that because it was so windy it came and went without our detection. However, we did listen to the radio that evening, and every day after, as in some parts of New Zealand many people had been evacuated, and waves were reported that had been one metre high, plus the sea was behaving very erratically with freak waves being caused by aftershocks.

Te Anau Museum, Wellington

Colossal Squid at Te Anau Museum

Walking around Wellington

From Wellington we spent the night at a town on the West coast, so as to avoid any more scarry moments with tsunamis and stayed at a place called Paekakariki.
Parking on the sea front and freedom camping we had a wonderful view of the sunset.

27th February

From Nelson we had about 150km to cover before we reached Picton and our ferry crossing for that afternoon. We drove towards Marlborough Sounds and through the vineyard region before stopping at Picton. We arrived early and I had read about a giant squid on show, so we visited the very small aquarium. Luckily, we arrive just as it was feeding time and there was a guide on hand to talkabout the animals - he was extremely informative and took time out to show us some of the hidden sea creatures.

Killing time before the ferry in Picton Aquarium

Picton to Wellington (South to North Island)

Travelling out through the Sounds was breathtaking and the ferry was very smooth - we arrived in Wellington about 6pm driving through the city adn finding a place to park on one of the peninsulars looking back towards the city. We cracked open a bottle of wine and celebrated arriving on the North Island.

Moonrise and Sunset parked by the sea near Wellington on the North Island - 

The 8.8 Chilean Earthquake would've struck about the same time as this photo was taken

25th February

We made our way to to the main office and were given a run through on the safety equipment, where to put our stuff, how to put a life jacket on and how to hold the paddle. We helped to load our kayaks onto a trailer and then it drove off, with all our stuff!  We followed in quick pursuit to the waters edge in the very hot morning sun - which was fortunate as it was expected to rain. ( same old story)
Paul took control and opted for the steering role whereas I sat up front and reminded him to steer - we weren't having a domestic, not yet any way!

 

Captain Suzy in the 2 man Kayak -

Abel Tasman National Park

The sea was totally still, you could see the clouds reflected in their entirety it was so calm. Once the group had established a pace the guide began to take us into the rocks, weaving around outcrops and pointing out manuka trees, and tea trees, orchids and the nesting cormorants in the trees overhanging the water - it was spectacular.
We paddled for ages and pulled in to a small bay where we had hot coffee, ice cold apple juice and chocolate chip cookies, whilst we chatted about how far we had traveled and met the rest of the group. We made a quick sprint to the toilet on the adjacent beach which was only accessible as the tide was going out and were the last kayak to get back in the sea - it didn't matter, I didn't want to leave the empty beach.

Empty beach for lunch? Be rude not to.

Our last paddle seemed to fly by and we landed at Anchorage by lunchtime, ready for those kayaking all day to stop and for me and Paul to begin the long walk back to camp. We decided after heading off the beach in our flip flops that the steep climb was not possible unless we put on different shoes and more clothes to protect us from the brambles and bushes.

Ferns everywhere!

Four hours later we made it back to camp - it was a long trek, - 13km with the odd glimpse of the crystal blue sea. The wind had picked up but in the trees it was still very hot and muggy - we had a little bit of sunburn but really enjoyed the day.

Nice sunset, considering the forecast said 'rain'

26th February

The next morning we went to the office again - this time to catch the water taxi into the main part of the Abel Tasman Park. We jumped in the boat outside the office which was then towed down to the water and reversed into the sea by a tractor - very surreal.
The minute the boat was in the water the engine was at full speed and we were jumping over the crests of the waves - firstly we went to split apple rock, then dropped passengers off at Anchorage. Our skipper gave us lots of info along the way and pulled into visit a seal colony on one of the island. We ventured all the way up the park with our last port of call being Totaranui before the boat was turned around and we headed back to Bark Bay for another four hour walk in the forest. On the way there we spotted a little blue penguin in the water - sadly no dolphins as Paul went and said the "D" word!
We were quite glad to get out of the water taxi - having to take our shoes and socks off and wade through the water meant that we were no longer being buffeted and bounced along by the boat as it hit down on every crest and fall of the waves! Although, our feet were not happy at the prospect of another 14km hike up and down dale.

Pohutukawa flowers

We made it to Torrent Bay and even managed to find the right place to be picked up - we had unfortunately arrived an hour early, so we took the opportuity to eat our leftover pack lunches and stroll up and down with our feet in the water.

Water Taxi along the coast of Abel Tasman National Park

The tide was on the move with a water change of about 4 meters in some parts this was challenging for the taxis - we got on just in time - other people on our boat got soaked by the incoming waves as the boat got too deep to reach and when we got back to Marahau the same tractor rolled out into the sea - grabbed hold of the water taxi and drove us back to the campsite - very organised and a good day out yet again.

Dragged out by a fleet of waiting tractors

We weren't staying at the campsite that night and drove on along the coast to a town called Nelson. We stopped at a gormet pizza restaurant and had a small feast as it was getting late, then drove on and parked in a car park by the sea for night with about ten other vans.

24th February

We drove in to Murchission to grab a pint of milk for breakfast and decided to aim for the North Coast of the South Island so we could hurry up and get to the North Island.

We found ourselves surrounded by fruit trees, vineyards, fruit stalls by the side of the road - and the smell was amazing - apple blossum and the scent of oranges - yummy.

Arrival at the Abel Tasman National Park - 
naturally it's about to rain

At Moteuka, we found the tourist office where they were so helpful - we booked ourselves in for sea kayaking, managed to book the ferry to the North Island, got ourselves into a cheap campsite at the Abel Tasman National Park and even signed up for loads of walking.

We checked into the campsite at Marahau where we chilled for the afternoon - we had hoped we would get the sunshine we had driven through all day but no such luck - the minute we put our chairs outside it started to rain! We are starting to get a complex!

23rd February

A misty morning on the West coast

We woke up to a beautiful morning with the mist melting as we drove. The top of Mount Cook was visible for a brief minute or two before it disappeared behind the other mountains. We took the opportunity to stop at Lake Lanthe for tea and toast and watched the mist clear over the lake as the sun started to hot up.

Tea and toast break at Lake Lanthe

Hokitika was the next main town to stop in where there was a mass of jade production galleries, and green stone jewelery for sale. We had a wander around the shops and found a photography gallery where Paul and I chatted with the German owner for about half an hour. His pictures was amazing, very clear, crisp - lots of early morning shots.

Hokitika town centre

Making Jade jewellery in Hokitika

We stay so long in the town that we treated ourselves to a whitebait pattie with chips - it was interesting, a bit like an over fried omlette without any flavour.

We headed on for Greymouth and stopped for supplies at the large Pak N Save. It was the first large store we had come across for a while. We got back on the road very quickly when we felt a little overwhelmed by the chavvy nature of the town, plus I even saw a woman with a Burburry baseball cap! ( Mum you would be proud).

The pancake rocks at Punakaiki were well worth a detour, we got ther two hours ebfore high tide so didn't get the full on experience of the noise of the blowholes but to be honest I was impressed enough at the dramatic coastline an rock formations.

'Pancake rocks' at Punakaiki - 
with a storm brewing in the distance,
luckily we're heading in the opposite direction!

By 6pm we were back on the road and heading inland to escape the sandflies which were worse than ever. Unfortunately, we didn't drive far enough and the evening stop we made inland at  a DOC site near Murchisson was spent inside the van swatting the buggers!

22nd February


We got to the Blue Lakes by 8.30am and went on a 40 minute walk, crossing two swing bridges and dodging sand flies. The Lakes were very pretty but the water level was surprisingly low.
The plan for the day was to visit the West coast at Haast, wind our way through the beech forests along the coast and get to the glaciers.

The forests were amazing if not a little intimidating due to their sheer scale. We overtook many cyclists who were attempting to travel around New Zealand in the pouring rain.

Driftwood and stones at Bruce's Bay

We stopped several times along the way before we got to the glacier.
Haast beach was beautiful and completely empty - something to do with the sand flies I think - so we travelled on towards Bruce's Bay where the beach was littered with piles of stones all dedicated to loved ones.

The Fox Glacier

The glacier walk we went on was a little hard going to start with, scrambling over piles of glacier melt slurry and areas where the path had collapsed over time when we got our first glimpse of the ice cave we were astounded at the size. The cliffs around us were vertical and the noise of the helicopters and people on scenic flights echoed all around us - combined with the noise of the melt water nothing could have prepared me for the experience.

The Franz Joseph Glacier should have been easy to access but we opted for a challenging view point walk as my guide book said it was the best place to see from - it certainly was but it involved a near vertical climb for about 30 minutes.

Franz Joseph Glacier

A fern that Paul found on the walk

 

My Stevie Wonder impression in awe of the glacier

 

We had driven a long way but pressed on, visiting Lake Matheson - famed for it's magnificent refelction of Mount Cook. Unfortunately, as usual the weather was not helping and the wind had picked up as well as the cloud so we got no reflection - we didn't hang about for long, got back on the road and spent the night at a DOC site at the Macdonald Lakes.

21st February

We were up very early, parked the van in town and waited for collection. We met Roy our driver and were taken out of town to Skipper's Canyon – about a 45 minute drive along a very windy road, past Elephant Rock and Gorrila Head down into the Canyon.

Jet-boat ride down Skipper's Canyon

We were kitted out with a spray jacket and life jacket,and met with the other passengers before our ultimate adventure sport began. What followed was 30 minutes of extreme adventure, travelling through a canyon which in parts we could reach out and touch the sides of - that was if we weren't travelling at ridiculous speeds.

It was back-tinglingly kind of scary, where you feel like the guy driving the boat has done this millions of times but you still aren't quite sure of what is going to happen next. Check out the video!

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and I wanted to go again - but we were freezing cold and had a visit to a bungy bridge planned. No - we haven't lost our minds - we were only going to have a look!

Looking down over Skipper's Canyon

from the bungee bridge

We spent the evening at another DOC site alongside Lake Wanaka, towards the Northern most tip of the Lake. The wind had picked up significantly so we had to tuck ourselves in for shelter - nonetheless Paul ventured down to the lakeside to take his evening shots whilst I prepared a hot dinner for our night in.

Lake Wanaka

Lake Wanaka

20th February

We left the DOC campsite by 9.30am and got on the road. We had a slight mishap on the gravel, with a well held spin that Paul expertly managed to recover from and that was entirely down to the state of the road - we were travelling at about 30km an hour!

At tim-tam o-clock we stopped for a cup of tea next to Lake Wanaka. The water was being whipped up by the wind and the waves were crashing onto the gemstone laiden beach - the water was bright blue and it was just a wonderful place to stop that we considered staying there all day.

The wind started to pick up so we got back on the road, driving around the lake to Queenstown - New Zealand's centre for all sports that are dangerous and wild!

We parked up in town - used the internet, got some supplies and somehow booked ourselves on a jetboat ride for the next day. In the meantime, we found a campsite in town, had a beer each and took the cable car up the mountain side for a bird's eye view of the town.

The view from the top of the Skyrail in Queenstown

At the top Paul convinced me to take luge ride - which to be honest I really was scared about doing particularly as we had to get on a chair lift to get to the top.

There was no time to be scared - we were in the queue, looking down at the view and without even thinking about it I was scooped off my feet onto the chairllift, smiling for a camera and then plonked off at the top. The luge looked a little bit like a kids go cart and the principle was simple, pull down on the bar to accelerate, let go to stop.

Queenstown Luge - involuntary smile

Off we went after passing the safety test - I passed second time it has to be said (not as bad as the driving test).
It was fantastic - I felt like a kid again... Can't wait to try it again!

18th February

We crossed Lake Manapouri by boat. Evading the sandflies we sitting inside out of the cold wind and when we got to the other side of the lake our coach driver picked us up at the visitor centre and drove us down 200 metres below ground to the Manapouri Hydro power station.

Manapouri hydro power station

200m below the waterline

We went down a very steep, 1:10 road to get to the main turbine hall and then made the slow journey out to head up to Wilmot's Pass and down deep into Fiordland.

Doubtful Sound

Our first glimpse of Doubtful Sound was totally amazing. Breathtaking.

Is was so quiet and the scale was nothing like I had imagined. The hills rose either side of the water almost vertically with the trees and plant life hanging on for dear life. 

The wildlife cruise took us along through the sound and out to the sea on the West Coast passing by fur seals and seeing many sea birds. We returned via several arms of the Sound - stopping in one of the main arms where the skipper stopped the engine and the generator on the boat so that we could hear the silence of the sounds - it was beautiful.

Our coach dropped us back to the Lake after again climbing through the beech tree forests and a much smaller boat took us back to the town of Manapouri for the evening just in time to watch the sun go down.

19th February  

From Manapouri Lake we drove Northwards towards Te Anau in order to catch our 10am coach for the two hour scenic drive to Milford Sound. We stopped at the Mirror Lakes on route and wound our way though the mountains up to the Hooker Tunnel through avalanche valley.

The road to Milford Sound

We travelled out along the sounds on a boat called the Milford Mariner. She was quite a large vessel with space for at least 150 guests. We travelled out to the West Coast and we got very close to some of the waterfalls. We were quite lucky as the West Coast is supposed to get nearly 7m of rainwater each year and we had a dry day that was windy enough to keep the sandflies away. Milford Sound is famous for its dolphin displays - unfortunately, although we were lucky with the rain the dolphins did not show.

Milford Sound

We could not freedom camp in Te Anau so we drove inland to a DOC site near Lake Manorva - it was down a 35km gravel road which we trundled along and got there just as the sun had disappeared over the mountains surrounding us.

 17^th February

We took breakfast in our van to escape the masses and visited Riverton Rocks before we left the quaint little town.

Like most days in New Zealand so far, the day had started off bitter cold and then by about 10am it was possible to take off a layer or two of clothing, to the point that by midday you might be able to wear shorts – that is until the sand flies drive to you to distraction and you cover up completely again.

So we stayed in the van to warm up, only stopping when it was pleasant enough to take our coats off at a well named very tiny island called – Monkey Island. Paul scaled the hill trying to beat the incoming tide and not get cut off from the mainland just in-time to claim the island as his own.

Tourist distractions on the South coast

We spotted another of these signs close by the road so jumped out again to do the Japanese tourist thing, stopping again at Clifden Bridge - New Zealand's oldest suspension bridge

Clifden Suspension Bridge

We drove through a very small town whose claim to fame was the best sausages in the area - not hard given it was the only town there - we stopped anyway. With the beef sausages on board we drove the New Zealand's deepest lake for a hot sandwich. to my dismay Paul went to take pictures whilst I witnessed a hoist dropping dead deer carcasses in the adjacent car park. They were loaded onto a lorry after the helicopter landed and I opted not to eat my sausage sandwich! Sorry - no pictures.


We drove further up the West coast and checked into a camp site at Manapouri for two nights. After dinner and my first encounters with the dreaded sandfly and the bites all over my feet - we went down to the waters edge of lake Manapouri to watch the sunset. 

Sunset over Lake Manapouri

It was the most amazing sunset I have ever seen. The sun took at least half an hour to disappear over the surrounding mountains and the colours changed for over an hour afterwards.

 16^th February


We had been so preoccupied with the penguins last night we had forgotten to look at the historic fossils, so we returned to the beach in the bitter cold again. To our surprise there were still penguins all over the rocks. We took some shots of the forest.

Fossilised tree stumps

More Penguins

After a quick cup of tea to warm up we drove to Slope Point, the most southern point of the south island.We walked for about twenty minutes over fields of sheep and past several cows to find the signpost, decided it was far too cold to be prancing about and then proceeded to Waipapa Point Lighthouse for another cup of tea.

South of the south Island

We read the signs about the history of the timber lighthouse that had been recently restored and clambered over the sand dunes, we looked all around us to make sure we didn’t trample any bird nests but I didn’t expect to find what I did. I screamed at Paul to stop where he was, and he came running only to see me backing very fast away from the beach and a very large male sea lion, who was getting cosy with his Mrs. “Oops – I fell on a very large sea lion” – can you imagine having to explain that one to the insurance company!

Con'seal'ed

Invercargill houses the first successfully bred tuatara collection at the town museum, so after a stop at Pak N Save for supplies, we spent a half hour looking at reincarnated prehistoric lizards which were quite fascinating.

Prehistoric Tautara lizard breeding in Invercargill

From there we drove to the Bluff lookout point on the coast – we didn’t have time to visit Stewart Island.

View point at Bluff

We chose a campsite at Riverton as our stop point for the night – needing to use the washing machine and charge a few items, we initially found we were the only people there, with a large timber community hall, several sofas and a wood fire it was very homely and serene.

At 6.30pm the campsite filled with campervans – the lounge was overrun with screaming children whose parents had disappeared, the kitchen was full of people, using all utensils and cooking everything from pan fried, slightly burnt sausages, to bread, roast sweet potatoes and our very humble chicken stir fry – it smelled disgusting! We quickly washed up, gathered our washing and vacated for the tranquillity of our little van to watch the sun go down.

Curio Bay and the Petrified Forest

15^th February

We awoke to see the sun rise and headed for Toko Mouth – somewhere we took a wrong turn as usual and found ourselves on gravel roads in the middle of nowhere - not difficult on the South Island! We were looking for Cooks Rocks but I don’t think we ever found them – although we did find some very interesting rock pools that we had presumed were the Cook Rocks – nevermind!

From the beach we headed inland for Balclutha, travelling via the Stirling Cheese factory (this was not a tourist attraction nor would we recommend it as a stop off).

When we arrived in Balclutha, we realised it was a small town with a very large tourist information office. We then thought that perhaps we should have stopped for supplies elsewhere, given that there was no-where to buy food in town other than a shop that was a bit of a cross between B and Q, Halfords, and TK Maxx.

On a positive note the I-site did have a very helpful and knowledgeable assistant. She managed to organise for us, in advance, a trip to Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound and all we had to do was get ourselves to Manapouri. We also managed to squeeze a free 30 minute internet session.

Nugget Point

That afternoon, after a short trek, we were at Nugget Point, a place in all the tourist guidebooks which is definitely a must. We walked the 30 minutes track out to the lighthouse where we could see fur seals all sunbathing on the rocks – it was wonderful to see them in the wild. The wind was exceptionally cold so in the pictures we look like Michelin people because of all the layers we were wearing to keep warm.

We drove down the hill a little bit to the next lookout which was a bird hide where you could spot yellow- eyed penguins – officially they are on the at risk register – but we have been lucky enough to see loads due to the fact that they are currently moulting and all come ashore to shed their feathers before they head out to sea until next year.

Yellow-eyed Penguins 

From Nugget Point we drove even further to see the waterfalls at Parakunui falls which were magical and we had them all to ourselves as we arrived at about 6pm. We headed on to the Matai falls and Horseshoe falls, an hours drive along the coast and about a 30 minute walk along a wooded track. 

Parakunui falls

Our final stop was the Florence Hill lookout and from there we found the Curio Bay headland with our evenings destination planned to be the Petrified Forest for a sunset.

To our disbelief we discovered we could not freedom camp here – we went down to the sea and realised why – there was a colony of penguins who had taken residence in the cliffs just below the car park.

resident penguins at Curio bay

Rather fantastically as we headed down to the rocks to inspect the fossilised remnants a yellow-eyed penguin jumped out of the sea and made his way up towards his nest. With the racket that he made about ten other penguins emerged from the banks and we could do nothing except wait for the penguins to move before we  making our way back along the rocks to the car park.

Several more penguins came out of the water and it was great to watch. The waves were pounding the rocks all around us and the cold was unbearable but we were fixated by the penguins.

170m yr old Petrified forest at Curio Bay

Clear age rings in a fossilised tree stump

Only visible at low tide

Afterwards we drove onto the headland adjacent that we think was part of the camp site next door and we freedom camped with the sound of the crashing waves below (top forest photo - far left cliff top). 

Clear skies off NZ's South Coast