30.11.07
Posted in
Cycling, New Zealand, Travel
at
8:58 pm
by
Andy
We met this friendly Belgian couple on the Milford Sound cruise only to discover that they too were travelling around New Zealand via camper van and actually had planned pretty much the same route as us. We said our goodbyes expecting to bump into each other somewhere on route. More by chance than by planning we actually spent time with them on everyday of the following nine.
Most evenings we spent in the same camp / rest areas and ended up playing some unique Belgian card games (anyone heard of Boonanza?) over food and drinks while getting to know each other and swapping travelling tips. We were happy for the company and they were happy to get out of the confines of their tiny Juicy Camper. It was a true pleasure spending so much time with these two and for any of you who can speak Dutch (a surprising number of my loyal readers do), check out their blog at www.brendaenbruno.be/.
We rarely set off in convoy, but sure enough, every lunch break, sight or camp area we met up for yet more boonanza and chat. In the beautiful Queenstown we shared experiences such as Jetboating in the shootover canyon (think very fast boat and narrow unyielding rocks) and several earthquakes!
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In Queenstown there are so many outdoor activities to do. This is true of most of New Zealand, but Queenstown is the adventure activity capital. There are so many things that appeal, multi day treks, parachuting, horse riding, jet boating, fly by wire (planes), off road adventures and also some that don’t appeal at all like bungi jumping. Unfortunately these all work out expensive so we had to skip most of them. Living here in NZ would be great though. What the small cities lack in culture and liveliness is made up for by all the things you can get out and do. I did at least manage to get out for a day’s Mountain Biking. Unfortunately I tried some downhill slopes that were too difficult for me. Getting up the mountain nearly killed me through exertion, coming down nearly killed me through out of control steep slopes, falls and wild jumps and on top of that it rained really hard all day leaving every item of clothing fully saturated and covered in mud. I did, however, manage to get a good run in half way down the mountain that was a lot more suited to my skill level which turned out to be immense fun. I want to do more of this mountain biking stuff.
After Queenstown we moved onto Wanaka, playing spot the luridly green coloured camper of Bruno and Brenda. It only took half an hour before we found them or they found us (can’t remember which) and like our last visit, Wanaka treated us to a lot of rain.
Checking my email I discovered that Admiral Car Insurance had helped themselves to £200 from my account. Dealing with companies in the UK while the other side of the world can be quite a chore and generally works out quite expensive. I called HSBC in England, got routed through to a call centre in India and proceeded to get wound up by a phone operator and then his supervisor who had no idea about tactfulness when dealing with annoyed customers. Winding me up more as they went they took details of my complaint as I explained that I didn’t want further car insurance as I had sold the car and that Admiral had taken the money without my permission on a debit card that had expired. Once all the details had been taken and I was ready to hang up from expensive international call the supervisor tried to sell me the latest HSBC product which was, of all things, car insurance!
The following day the weather was good and Espe, Bruno, Brenda and I tackled a stunning 4 hour walk climbing 800 metres or so to an incredible viewpoint with Lake Wanaka below and snow capped mountains all around. An excellent way to spend a day.
Crossing over the Haast pass into West Coast region we had the coldest night of our trip. The temperature dropped below zero giving us icicles inside the van and freezing the washing up left in the sink. I was afforded great frost covered scenic views though, once I’d managed to coax myself out of bed, thermals and all.
Our last port of call together with Bruno and Brenda was in Hokitika where we treated ourselves to a proper campsite, which as it happened had a hot tub. We celebrated with some final games of Boonanza and some beers. The following morning before saying our goodbyes for the last time we sat down over breakfast to watch the rugby world cup final, during which I tried to explain to Bruno and Brenda about rugby (difficult with my limited knowledge) while at the same time seeing my country defeated.
This however, was not before the obligatory visit to the incredible west coast glaciers, Fox and Franz Josef. Truly incredible geological features enhanced greatly by the wealth of information on hand to explain their formation, growth and change of recent history. These two, in fact buck the current worldwide trend, and are advancing rather than retreating.
With the threat of rain we rushed up the coast to Fox Glacier town where we checked out all the scenic flight options. An English guy I’d met in Te Anu highly recommended the flights here as they weren’t as expensive as elsewhere and gave incredible views as well as a glacier landing. We settled on a company who offered a glacier fly over and a fly by of Mount Cook, which also happened to be the cheapest. With the cloud cover closing in we were worried that the flight was going to be a bit meagre, but the staff encouraged us to go immediately as the cloud cover was just forming and was still very low.
I was not disappointed. I love helicopters, I love mountains and I love looking down on areas, map style spotting all the places I’d been too. We soon passed through the clouds as we ascended above the glacier. Snow capped mountains were visible in every direction and we got close up views of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman before we flew over the massive 27km long Tasman Glacier and touched down on a peak the other side staring across at New Zealand’s longest glacier and highest mountain. This was especially cool as we were able to see where we’d been trekking alongside the Tasman Glacier not two weeks earlier. The return journey was even better as we swapped into the front seats giving clear views in every direction except behind.
I can safely say that this was my best experience in New Zealand and probably in the Southern Hemisphere for that matter. Riding in a helicopter (man’s greatest invention - if anyone wants to sponsor me to get my licence please get in touch via the comment box below) and taking in the surroundings, I just can’t begin to describe how I felt.
Here are a selection of photos from that day. These, compared with the experience itself, are rubbish, and hopefully that speaks volumes.
26.11.07
Posted in
New Zealand, Travel
at
9:04 pm
by
Andy
Continuing on from the Otago Peninsula we traversed the Catlins Coast. Anywhere else in the world and this would be stunning with an abundance of beaches, waterfalls, wildlife and walks (several of the best were closed for “Lambing”) but after already seeing so much natural beauty on this island it kind of paled in significance. Due to time constraints we also rushed through here ticking off the attractions yank style and not giving much time to appreciate them. The miserable weather didn’t help much either. Worth a mention though are the Cathedral Caves, tall narrow caves in the cliff face only accessible at low tide and the Petrified Forrest, a collection of fossilised trees in the rocks further along the coast.
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Fjordland however is a different story. Dubbed by many as the most beautiful part of New Zealand, with countless fjords, sounds and inlets with steep soaring mountains all around it is easy to see why. On our way to Milford Sound, blessed with half a day’s good weather we took the opportunity to take a scenic flight over Doubtful Sound, the bigger and less visited brother of Milford.
Taking off from Te Anu lake in a tiny water plane we were treated to quite incredible scenery. Although the weather closed in giving low cloud and poor lighting the views were quite stunning. The steepness of which the mountains rose out of the water, the lakes (some of them frozen) hundreds of metres above sea level and the huge sheer drop water falls really were quite something. I can only begin to imagine how incredible this place must look on a clear day.
The following day we made our way onto Milford Sound passing recent avalanche sites, many a twist and turn and a long dark and steeply inclined tunnel, all which served to illustrate just how inaccessible this place really is. The drive is a great one as are many of the sights on the way, most of which are waterfalls. Of particular interest was The Chasm which showed the awesome power of the water that has cut and formed fascinating circles, pools, columns and arches in the rock.
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Finally came the prime attraction, cruising out on Milford Sound. One can really take in the scale of it all chugging along on a small boat with more of the wonderful sheer mountains rising rapidly upwards with waterfalls all over spewing into the Fjord (apparently Milford Sound is a Fjord not a Sound, but the gentleman who named it obviously hadn’t visited Norway and as a result didn’t know what a Fjord was). Once again, the weather was not great. No sun, no rain and believe it or not the rain really enhances a visit to Milford boosting the waterfalls some.
The cruise, all the same, was a great way to see this unique area and as it happens it was here where we met a lovely Belgian couple that we were to see quite a bit of over the following days.
17.11.07
Posted in
New Zealand, Travel
at
3:53 am
by
Andy
Returning back to the sea to tour around the east and south coasts of the south island we took in Oamaru and Mauraki with their penguin and fur seal colonies briefly stopping to see the bizarre Mauraki Boulders. A collection of almost perfectly spherical boulders lying on the beach.
We covered quite a lot of ground in this region, often camping beside the sea, however the true highlight was the Otago Peninsular. A particularly stunning outcrop of land. One side has still calm waters throughout the harbour, the other has long sandy beaches, while the interior is blessed with deep blue inlets, rolling hills and, of course, thousands of sheep.
Before commencing our exploration of the peninsular we had the good fortune to run into a Spanish couple, Salva and Delia, at the campsite we stayed in at Invercargil. I missed the introduction but apparently Salva and Delia were talking in the kitchen and Espe’s head spun round upon hearing her native language at which point Delia and Espe stared at each other. “Española?”, “Si”. We started talking and were over an hour late checking out of the campsite before touring the peninsula in our camper van convoy (they’d booked through Backpacker Campervans and had been given a Britz, while we’d booked a Britz and were given a Maui).
Salva and Delia are pretty much the same route as us. They have a round the world ticket and they’ve been to every country we’ve been to including India and the Philippines (not included on the more standard RTW itineraries) and in Australia they drove pretty much exactly the same route as us in a camper van. They will be arriving in Fiji a week before us and then move on to the Cook islands… Just like us. Spooky.
Although I was held back by the language barrier (I think they, along with Espe, were very happy to not have to speak English), it was a real pleasure spending time with them. Both are very confident and open minded people although very different in their ways but they seem to complement each other very well. I would love to spend more time getting to know them but it looks as they will be leaving Fiji as we arrive and will be in the USA before we even reach the Cook Islands. Maybe I’ll just have to wait until Barcelona.
Through Delia’s curiosity and confidence to speak to anyone we found ourselves surrounded by sheep as some farmers were completing one of the many tasks that take place during “lambing season”. We witnessed how they added an elastic band to the tail which cuts of circulation causing it to fall off within a few days (apparently they are more hygienic without the tail), feeding them some nasty looking anti worm liquid and tagging their ears. An arduous task given the number of lambs that needed to be processed. The constant almost deafening bleating was quite something, as was watching the lambs jumping and headbutting fences in an effort to escape.
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While on the peninsula we were treated to a wide variety of wildlife doing their thing in their natural habitat (and all “for free”). We saw more penguins, fur seals, sea lions and a whole host of sea birds but not the elusive Royal Albatross. An incredible and rather large species of bird that mates for life. Every couple of years the pair set off to circumnavigate the globe, in opposite directions, returning just under a year later to the exact same spot. As if that wasn’t impressive enough the couple normally arrive within a day of each other!
The true highlight of the peninsular was the spectacular Sandfly Bay. Sliding down the huge sand dunes to a large beach, we were the only people there to witness a very impressive display of Sealions battling it out right in front of our very eyes.
The beach was littered with the beasts however at one point the was a huddle of about eight or so. It became obvious that this was not a peaceful gathering and over time we were able to figure out that the dominant male (who was understandably the biggest there, a really huge specimen well over two metres long and not far off that in height at full stretch) was preventing any other of the males come close to his three females. A forth female was also in tow but the dominant male didn’t seem to care if any other sealion came close to her. The males would often come in closer only for the biggest one to flop its way over barking and aggressive trying to strike out. The signs of blood on one of the sea lions showed how serious he was taking this. Interestingly it wasn’t only the males that were at it, with the three females occasionally battling it out amongst themselves, handbags and all.
This was truly an incredible experience and unbeknown to us, two and a half hours passed as we were on the beach taking it all in. In fact, the only thing that was missing was a commentary from David Attenborough.
I am particularly happy with the above picture. I was about ten metres away from the female sea lion (they don’t recommend going any nearer) when she moved closer. It almost seemed as though she was posing for the camera. After a while the male took objection to me being so close and started for me, barking in anger as he flopped towards me at a surprising rate. Not a pretty sight. Hearing calls from Espe and Delia at the same time as realising what was happening, I knew I had to move sharpish but first I wanted a photo of the beast coming straight for me… “Memory Full” flashed up on the display.
15.11.07
Posted in
New Zealand, Travel
at
2:54 am
by
Andy
Moving onwards towards Mount Cook, we spent the night at the side of the spectacular Lake Pukaki. Not only was the camping was free, but we had one of the best views in New Zealand outside our “room”. I was hoping to wake up to sunrise over the opaque blue lake with snow capped mountains in the distance. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be as the wind became so strong over night rocking the van so much that we had to retreat behind the trees at about 2 am.
Taking the winding road up to Mount Cook the weather deteriorated. With heavy rain we spent the morning in the informative visitor centre hoping it would improve in the afternoon. It didn’t, and as a result we spent several hours in the van with snow falling all around. Reading, writing, drinking tea and watching the snow settle to pass the time, with no heating it was pretty cold and by late afternoon we ended wearing pretty much everything we had including the duvets.
Thankfully the next day was fine and we had the added bonus of fresh snow fall. We started off with a couple of hours walking up to and along side the massive 27km long Tasman glacier through virgin snow. Our view was obscured by large stony ridge (dumped there incosiderately by the glacier) but climing this at a couple of spots afforded us breathtaking views.
I remember walking along and thinking that at that moment things just couldn’t get any better. It is hard to describe my feelings but it something I tend to get whenever I’m above the snowline surrounded by towering peaks, all illuminated by a bright sun and clear blue sky. The lack of people around, apart from my darling girlfriend (on hand to keep my hair under control), only added to the feeling.
After lunch walked up past the Mueller Glacier, then towards the Hooker Glacier. A great walk in itself, crossing two precarious suspension bridges with the sky clearing as we went, culminating in wonderful views of the impressive Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain at 3754 metres. Truly an incredible sight.
With more rain and snow forecast for the following day we decided to move on from Mount Cook, changing our plan and next destination with the idea of getting another day’s snowboarding near to Wanaka before all of the resorts closed for the season.
Unfortunately on the Thursday it rained. Friday it was clear on the slopes, raining below, but due to gail force winds the resort was closed. The Saturday we’d been promised great conditions, which it turned out there were, but the road to the ski slope was completely closed due to the heavy snowfall. Gutted. Having waited around for three days we decided to move on, but not before we did the wonderful Mount Iron walk which afforded us such views as this…
Our time in Wanaka was not a complete waste of time though. Among other things we visited Cinema Paradiso, and excellent little Cinema full of character. Along with a fabulous cafe / bar serving wonderful freshly baked cookies along with a beverage of your choice. The cinema was itself offered a random collection of comfy sofas to choose from including the front bench seat from a Morris Minor (Morris Minor still attached).
With the rain pouring we saw Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others. A fascinating and moving film about set in the German Democratic Republic. Watch it!
11.11.07
Posted in
New Zealand, Travel
at
9:39 pm
by
Andy
Hooray for Virgin Atlantic! We missed our original flights from Sydney to Christchurch and as a result Air New Zealand kindly cancelled all of our subsequent flights with them. Visiting Virgin Atlantic (our Round the World ticket issuer) in Sydney to see what they could do about reinstating our cancelled tickets, they not only reinstated our cancelled tickets and changed the dates to suit but actually provided us with a replacement flight from Sydney to Christchurch for the one we had missed. All free of charge. Absolute legends! The serving of frozen fruit, broken entertainment system and rude hostesses on our London to Delhi flight is forgotten.
So here we are in New Zealand and I guess if anywhere was going to make me feel homesick, it was going to be here. Welcomed to Christchurch by crisp spring temperatures and overcast skies, the surroundings of pleasant low rise buildings could have placed me in many a rural English town. Old trams, fish and chips, green parks, bargain roast beef at the local carvery, an old fashioned family run bed and breakfast with a full English for breaky all served to remind me of home.
We spent two days in Christchurch recovering from the madness of trying sell the Matilda and preparing for our time here. After the freedom that our van granted us in Oz, there seemed like no better way to travel here. Due to our time scale, though, buying was not on the cards so we spent the best part of a day checking out all the rental companies to see what was on offer. Just coming out of low season there were supposedly some good deals to be had.
We suspected that we would have to settle for one of the old Wicked or Awesome Campers which are decoratively painted but old, basic and quite small inside (after the pop top of our Matilda anything which I could not stand up in would seem cramped). As luck would have it Britz had a price freeze on their winter prices and they offered us a Toyota Hi Ace hi top for $49 (nz) a day. That was a mere $4 (less than two euros) more than Wicked and actually cheaper than Awesome. Awesome!
It gets better though. Upon arrival at the hire centre I was upgraded to a Maui camper for free(same company, sort of, but with a much newer fleet). So we set off on our journey of the south island in a 2005 Toyota Hi Ace, a beast that is 25 years newer than our beloved Matilda, and I can tell you the difference is incredible. It wasn’t long before she was christened Mauilda.
We’d originally expected to arrive in winter, but due to our extended time in Oz it is actually spring here. That gave us limited time to get up into the snow and strap some planks of wood to our feet. Thankfully the distances here are minuscule (at least compared to where we came from). Seeing three figures on the distances to towns on the road signs is a rarity here. In Oz distances were often four figures!
Thanks to this, on day two in Mauilda we found ourselves driving up a breath taking gravel road to some 2000 plus metres above sea level to Mount Hut, one of the south island’s better ski resorts. The road was incredible, hairpin bends, alpine scenery, sheer cliff faces to either side all on a narrow dirt track got me thinking about the Pikes Peak Hill climb. For those that know what I’m talking about, yes, the temptation to rant a rear wheel drive hire car sideways up the mountain Ari Vatanen style was all too real, but I managed to refrain. Probably something to do with the large insurance excess on the van, my girlfriend sitting beside me and the several hundred metre drops less than a tyre’s width away from the side of the road.
We were blessed with beautiful weather. Clear blue skies and bright warm sunshine left us overdressed with all the ski gear on. There is not much more to say other than that I really enjoyed the day hurtling down the mountain strapped to a snowboard, then returning to the top via the lifts taking in the magnificent views. I need to get on the slopes more often.
We followed this up with several relaxed days trekking in the mountains at different locations on our way towards Mount Cook. We took in Rakaia Gorge, Shraplins Falls, Woolshed creek and Lake Tekapo. 4 days, 4 treks. At this rate I might actually get fit.
This place is truly stunning. The first taste of which came as we passed over the southern alps on our flight from Sydney. I’ve not seen an ugly sight yet with beautiful snow capped mountains, shimmering blue lakes and wonderful driving roads. On top of that, this camper van lark seems even easier than Oz being able to stop pretty much anywhere and camp. The roads are empty (the population is one quarter that of London in a country bigger than Britain) and we are covering short distances giving me plenty of time to read and attempt to get this blog up to date.
