Nelson to Blenheim

We have some time to kill in Nelson because we drop the van off for it's window repair at 7.45am. No paperwork and the guy doing the job, after a chat, throws us a key to the courtesy car, saying 'its the Honda over there - I'll call you when its done'. We like this approach.

Nelson is a nice little town. After breakfast in a busy, slightly eccentric, cafe we walk the town with it's many coffee bars, bookshops and relaxed vibe.

We head over to the World of Wearable Art and Classic Cars.... which turns out to be a really amazing place with around 120 plus classic and vintage cars in top condition. Apart from the usual exotics they have the cars that I used to own and work on in a (failed) mobile car repair enterprise after leaving Uni. That'll be illustrious machines such as Triumph Herald, Morris Minor, Austin A35....... Oh, the memories!

The wearable art is simply weird...

After we pick up the van we head for Tahuna beach to sort ourselves and the van out then, our minds once again in gear, we head off  to Blenheim, stopping at Pelorus Bridge for a two hour forest walk to a waterfall and back.

It's nice to drive back through vineyards and wineries with names familiar from the supermarket shelves back in the UK, arriving at our Blenheim site at a decent time for once.

We've covered 2,810km in South Island - which is a lot more than the official tour suggests but that's not really surprising, given the detours that we can't resist.

Ferry to Wellington tomorrow. North Island here we come.

Greymouth to Nelson

Mmmmm...

Shattering start to the day as I roll off a kerb reversing out of the pitch and catch the rear window on nearby post... BANG! Toughened glass you see. Getting it replaced Wednesday at 7.30am plus courtesy car while the glue dries. Great service from Tour leader and Maui. First caravan/motorhome bash in around 30 years plays on the mind but have to move on....

...... so we move on a long but uneventful journey to Nelson, albeit with a taped-on plastic rear window and a stop to see the famous pancake rocks at Punakaiki.

We also stop at the Butler Gorge Swingbridge - which is a very, very long single path steel wire bridge across a gorge. Brilliant. After a 20 minute walk looking at land slips in previous earthquakes we decide to take the zipwire back. Yes, ZIPWIRE. We travel behind each other across the gorge and approach the end at what feels like 100km/hr but hit a series of springs that bring us to a (sudden) stop. More Please!

taking the quick way back..

Day 2 around Nelson

A relaxing day. A lie-in, chats, then Sue drives us up the coast and we call in at Mapua, Ruby Beach, Motueka and finally arrive at Kaiteriteri, which we decide is so lovely we eat Moule Frites at a really nice beach-side cafe after which we just sit on the beach. Bliss.

Home, tidy up then off to the repair shop in the morning. When it's fixed we're off to Blenheim... after which it's goodbye South Island. Sad, that.

Fox Glacier to Greymouth

A queue for the showers at 6.30 am because all adventurous types have the same idea - lots to do and see, even though the journey to Greymouth is only around 3h 30m. Because we did a lot yesterday, our plan is a little different, although it involves over six hours of driving. We'll both take stints today.

We call at Hokitika on the way for a coffee - a typical low rise sparsely populated town around these parts. Has it's own NZ charm.

Because our pre-tour trans-alpine railway trip was cancelled as a result of the fires around Christchurch, we take a detour to drive some of the trans-alpine highway 73 as far as Arthur's Pass. (Arthur's Pass is a place and a pass - here we go again). Great drive and a great day, even if the weather is mainly showers and cloud. The chips at the Arthur's Pass Store and Café are top class by the way...

We stop by Brunner Lake for a relax for an hour or so as we head to Greymouth on the B road just after Jacksons. Great road, good condition.

So here we are at Greymouth in the rain, with Sue's chicken hotpot thingy bubbling on the stove.

Possibly leaving the official itinerary for a night with a couple of adventurous types tomorrow ... and bit of free camping.

Wanaka to Fox Glacier

To Fox Glacier

Up early because there are places to see on route, it's 265km and we have to check in for our helicopter flight to the Fox Glacier at 4.30pm.

Surprised that the vegetation is so lush on the western coast as we travel. Because population is sparse and fuel stations are few we depart with a full tank and top up on the way. It's a really great drive though, with surprisingly little traffic.

We stop to see Knights Point where the two teams working on the original road construction from North and South met and completed the route north; a monument commemorates this. The view's pretty good, too.

We stop just past Makarora and walk for fifteen minutes or so to see the Blue Pools of glacial water... and very blue they are too. Look, I'm a lapsed physicist and I don't understand this blue glacial water thing. To do with dissolved oxygen I'm led to believe. Have to sort this out.

We arrive at the site just in time to site the van and hotfoot it to the helicopter place. Never been up in a chopper but its a really great big wonderful experience and landing on fox glacier just about tops it all.  Sue was worried given her motion sickness issues but she loved it. Big Smiles all round. Lots of pics of us and fellow adventurers smiling big smiles but those photos don't belong here. How about these?

..and a tiny take-off movie

Day 2 in Fox Glacier

Rain through the night and early morning gives us a welcome lie-in!! We set off late morning for a walk around Lake Matheson which turns out to more than a little surprising. The lake is surrounded by an ancient rain forest: quite amazing. After all, there's a glacier not too far away as we perspire in the humid warmth and lush growth. The still waters reflect the surroundings mountains to give quite a surreal feeling.

After meeting up with a few fellow travellers in the nearby coffee shop and exchanging enthusiastic 'wows' and 'wonderfuls' we head off over to the next valley to Franz Joseph Glacier - which is more than a little confusing because there is a Franz Joseph Glacier, if you see what I mean. Anyway, after a tasty lunch in town and a look around, we do a one and a half hour walk up to the glacier and back. The walk ranks amongst the best we have done on tour. Glacial valley with the blue/white glacier looming menacingly at the top. Brilliant.

Which brings an end to our stay in Fox Glacier (confusing, eh? That'll be the town not the glacier...) and an end to this post, because you don't want to know about washing, meetings, dumping waste water, ironing, emptying the loo... obviously.

'Till the next post.... Bye for now.

.......................

PS: Pure unadulterated water (H2O) absorbs red light (electron energies and all that). Water normally contains dissolved oxygen which scatters the light so that what we see when we look at normal water is light that has not had the red frequencies absorbed by the H2O bonds. Looks white, see. Glacial water contains little or no dissolved oxygen and hence looks blue because most of the red has been absorbed by the water electron bonds and not scattered. How does that sound Mutley? But how does that work in crystalline form - ice?

(Researched by a travelling Doc.(ret) who shall be nameless as is blog policy)

Queenstown to Wanaka

A short trip of around 120km but we don't get in until 6.30pm...

After shopping and suchlike, we set off - but the trouble is, we pass the scary shotover jetboat station and our friends on another trip did this. Can't be outdone.

Arrggghh!! We're in there somewhere. Approaching a rockface at around 70 - 90 km/hr, slewing sideways and missing it by one metre or less. Brilliant! Couldn't done in Europe that. Probably a good thing, on reflection.

Movie

The jet boat passes under this rather elegant bridge, dedicated to Edith Cavell

We stop off at the old gold mining town of Arrowtown which is a bit commercialised but not excessively so. Really interesting museum, too. So interesting, I forgot to take any photographs.

We roll into Wanaka quite late - fill up with fuel, park the 'van and realise we should have got here earlier because it's a really nice place. Great bars, restaurants and a lakeside beach, surrounded by mountains. Lots of young people again, having fun.

Wanaka

BBQ some sausages on the communal gas BBQ then chill for the night.

Fox Glacier tomorrow - that's quite a cool place, too, I hear...

Te Anau to Queenstown

A relatively short and uneventful journey to Queenstown where we are packed into a small site with little room to spare - not that it matters as we spend most of our time exploring. Talking of which, we do a brilliant walk from Glenorchy at the tip of lake Wakatipu:



Queenstown is a young people's adventure town and has a great atmosphere (just feel that vibe!). Just about any adrenalin inducing activity is available here, from paragliding to jet boating. We forsake these for more sedate walking activities this time around.

Paragliding in the dusk

Queenstown itself has a great harbour and lakefront area with bars and restaurants catering for all pockets.

We finish a great couple of days with a group meal on the clifftop after taking the gondola to the top. Good end to a good stay.

PS
There are a lot of this brand of camper around - a bigger version is used by the Caravan Club

What do you think?
Amusing? Offensive? Answers on a post card.....

Bye for now..

Dunedin to Te Anau

The Journey

Unusually, a late start because we visit the excellent Settlers Museum in Dunedin and the Cathedral before heading out, detailed in the previous post. So we decide, after a supermarket shop, to take the most direct route to Te Anau. The wind is seriously strong, which makes piloting the slab sided motorhome quite an exciting experience....

...Talking of piloting, we spot an aircraft museum and small airstrip at Gore as we weave along so we call in. Wonderful. They keep a brace of Tiger Moths, a De Haviland Rapide amongst others, all in flying order. They also have radio controlled scale models of the full size 'planes. We spend a while here and move over little friendly cafe and I consume another (gluten free) friand and yoghurt (yo'gurt) with the flat white. They sure know how to live here.

Gore Aircraft Museum

Eventually arrive around 5.30pm, to find the corresponding Caravan Club tour have grabbed the best places. Their vans are all branded 'Jucy Lucy' with a rather suggestive logo. Very non European that.

Te Anau

A really nice little tourist town. We have another night here with a coach and boat trip to Milford Sound arranged and what a great second day it turns out to be.
We get up a 6am, shower, and we're on the coach at 7.15.

We see Mirror Lake on the way but the boat trip on Milford Sound, out to the Tasman Sea and back really is wonderful. Summed up by a travelling companion: ' This beats our cruise through the Norwegian Fjords'. Enough said.

On reflection, not a bad photo... (now, why do they call it mirror lake?)

Our boat

That's a little too close Cap'n...

Mmmm...

We booked a boat trip and 'punt' through the 'Glow worm Caves' on the interweb yesterday with a couple of like minded travelling companions so, after the trip, we are dropped off in the town (Te Anau) in time for a look round and a coffee.. and then to set off to the glow worm caves. Absolutely fascinating. After a fast catamaran ride across the lake, we travel in a small boat through pitch black caves, looking up at hundreds of glow worms and then learn about them from enthusiasts. Great. No cameras, 'phones, Go Pros allowed though, so make do with this from the wall of the centre...

We get back to the van around 8.30pm and I recon that Sue (who doesn't travel at all well in boats or coaches) has been brilliant. Early night!