Rocky Pancakes

* Tuesday.  Around 08:30, we left Jacksons and set off on probably our longest drive of the whole trip.  7 hours in total but it's not too bad shared between 3 drivers.  It got off a great start with misty low clouds over looking Lake Brunner (unfortunately the photo's didn't do it justice so none are included!).

After a quick shop in Greymouth and a long drawn out phone call creation to mother from my father, we were well and truely on the road to the North of the South Island.   The west coast is so beautiful and a joy to drive.  Look at these clouds!

One of our only scheduled stops was to be the Pancake Rocks and Punakaiki.  Geologists are unsure why they are so layered.  They were stunning.  NZ is full of natural wonder.

We also had yet another gorgeous stop by a Lake for lunch on route.  After a lovely drive, we arrived at Kaiteriteri. 

We were greeted by some familiar friends!  Keith and Veronica are my parents friends who live 4 doors down on their street, and I have grown up with all my life, are in NZ for a month tour.  Our schedule coincided and so a chance drink and dinner took place.  It was lovely and sunny.  Also good fush and chups (Kiwi pronunciation!).  We all felt pretty knackered after the drive so it was an early night to get ready for our kayaking trip the next day.

A Birthday Retreat

* Monday

Today was my birthday.  We had kept today completely free which was rather a novelty.  We didn't wake up until 8am, had brek, I opened some birthday cards and then we headed up in our own time over to Arthur's Pass, a mountainside national park.

Because Arthur's Pass isn't one of the most famous NZ sites we felt the pressure was off and that we could explore at our will.  The best bit is that there is loads to explore and it is all really pretty. Our first venture was the steep climb up to Devil's punchbowl falls.  Now, Rob and I have seen quite a few waterfalls on our trip but we both felt these were the most majestic. Their fall was broken on the way down, resulting in many cascades and air filled with water vapour.  The sun caught the vapour and gave off a ghostly impression.  The effect was captivating and we stayed and watched them fall for quite a while before we headed back down.

Our next walk was the bridal veil falls circuit which lead us through the beech forests.  Because of the wet climate the forest floor is moss covered and this time the sun streaming through the trees onto the mossy roots gave the impression of an elven forest (clearly our imaginations were on overdrive today).

This walk was longer than the first and by the time we returned to the village we were ready for lunch.  And Arthur's Pass store did us proud with a comfy window seat, pies and then coffee and cake (we needed to make sure we more than covered any calories we might have burned off, plus you can eat what you want on a birthday!)

While we were fattening ourselves up the weather took a turn for the worse and so with our washing in mind we headed back to rescue it from the line. However on the way back we couldn't resist the scenic lookout at death's corner and so we innocently pulled in.  On arrival we were besieged by three Kea birds.  We had heard about these cheeky mountain parrots and encountered a few in town however these three were of a different class.  As we opened the door of the van they ran over and gave us threatening looks, as we stepped out they got closer and as we walked about they stalked us and squawked!

Back at camp our washing had to visit the drier, Rob had a little snooze and Eric and I had a little read of our books.  We got a little bit told of by the owner of the camp because we moved site and because Rob started his snooze on a sofa in the living area, but eventually we forgave her.  Then as the weather was starting to brighten up just in time for the evening, we got our walking shoes on for the last time and walked the 1km to Jackson's historic tavern for a couple of pints (with only a few stops on the way to take photos of cows and bees).

Rob kindly cooked the bday bangers and mash dinner tonight and wouldn't let me lift a finger. I took charge of eating the olives, drinking the wine and then after dinner I got the eating of chocolate underway.  What a peaceful, nature filled, food filled, happy, chatty day.  An excellent way to spend a birthday, though I did miss all my special people lots I have to admit.

Flying Fox

* Sunday. 

Today we woke up to the exciting but slightly scary knowledge of our helicopter treat from mon papa!  Our flight was at 09:30 so we had a 07:30 lie in which was really nice.  We got transported about 100m up the road to the helipad and there was our retro, small, nippy, green little helicopter!  So in we got.  Me and Ame sat in the back and dad sat in the front with the driver and one other bloke.  The flight we bought was a 30 minute flight over the Franz Josef Glacier, then over to the Fox Glacier with a landing on the top of it, and then a trip back to the Fox helipad.

The take off was surreal.  It felt so smooth and before you knew it we were zipping through the air over hills and mountains towards the Franz Josef Glacier.  It was massive!  The sheer size of it was amazing!  The helicopter was flying low and you could see all the detail in the scenery.  It felt very adventurous!  We got some good pictures.  Everywhere you looked was incredible. 

We then coptered on to the Fox Glacier and again the size was overwhelming.  We touched down with extreme ease.  The pilot was obviously very experienced.  It was gorgeous and sunny and felt very strange to be stood on top of a mountain of ice.  We obviously took a few pictures...  I even threw a little snowball (quite a good shot at dad I thought!)

So after a brief stop of 10 minutes or so we climbed back in to the helicopter and set off back to base.  But like I mentioned before, the pilot was very experienced.  Experienced enough to scare the s**t out of me on the way back.  He did a few tricks.  We felt the g's.  We left our stomachs in the air.  It was very fun but I have to admit to feeling a little sick at that point.  After that fun we were back to the helipad.  What an amazing experience so thank you very much father for the treat!

So, after a coffee and a good bun I was back on track.  We then drove to the foot of the Fox Glacier and did the 1 hour return walk.  It was very interesting looking at it from another angle.  There was a river flowing out from underneath it, which was flowing from the continuing ice melting.  But as I said before, it is massive.  You could see huge 10m, maybe 20m spikes forming off it.  It would be very hard to walk on.

Next stop on today's drive was the foot of the Franz Josef Glacier.  This time we thought we'd get yet another perspective, this time from Peter's pool, (a Glacier "calling card" - meaning as the Glacier has retreated over time, it leaves pools of water that remain in the area).  This view had the major advantage of the reflection of the Glacier in the water.  Very nice.

It was time for lunch so just out of Franz, we stopped by a lake and had another picturesque lunch.  A 2 hour drive ensued (and I have to confess to falling asleep in the van) and we stopped for a caffeine power-up in Hokitika.  This was a little seaside village on the West Coast.  We also had a little paddle in the sea.

Then it was another drive to Jackson in Arthur's Pass, yet another mountain side national park.  We are staying here two nights; and tomorrow is Ame's Birthday!  We plan to have a nice lunch out and some good solid walks.  She's very happy about that.  The campsite we're staying in is very remote and we are 1 of 3 vans parked here.  Tonight we have used the kitchen facilities and are watching "The Queen" of all things on the public TV.  We have it all to ourselves.  Yet another brilliant and unbelievable day.

Go west

* Saturday

We had a bit of a drive ahead of us today as we were heading all the way up to Fox Glacier.   We started early as we needed to get some shopping in and because we wanted to have the time to make stops on the way up.  The first stop was at Arrowtown (another lord of the rings location) but also a pretty town.  Then onto Wanaker for a midmorning coffee.  As it happened today was the day for the Wanaker challenge; an iron man race.  We had encountered the cycle race on the way down from Queenstown and then came face to face with the road race when we got into town.  The town was a hive of activity and there was a great happy, buzzy, sunny feel around town which we sat and soaked up while inhaling our coffee.



On the road again we traveled a couple more hours before finding yet another stunning lunch spot.

We then realised the route was in fact littered with scenic stops and so we indulged in quite a few leg stretch/photo stops on route.  Below are photos of the Gates of Haast, Thunder Falls and the Poor Knights rocks.

Then our final stop was when we reached the sea at Bruce Bay, a long stretch of white shaggy sea line.  The beach was covered with endless driftwood and a multitude of pretty rock sculptures which people must have been creating and adding to as they visit.   We contributed to the art effort too although the one featured below is not our work).  The only downside of the beach was the invasion of sand flies that pestered us from start to finish and put an early stop to Eric and Rob's stone skimming.

Half an hour later we arrived in Fox Glacier village which I seem to be be quite taken by.  The high street consists of about three cafes, four helicopter ride shops and a hotel but it has a alpine, middle of nowhere feel about it.  Our campsite here is very good too.  The nice lady here helped get some future bookings made, we had our usual early evening beer and then Rob cooked us monkfish whilst we have this amazing sunset over the hills and fox glacier.

Tomorrow's main event is our morning helicopter ride over the glaciers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We don't have to be there until 9.15am and so we're going to have a little sleep in to prepare ourselves.  The experience will definitely test Rob's fear of hights and escalate quickly to one of the most exciting things we've ever done.

Riding with Frodo

* Friday

The morning had arrived for me to go horse riding, hurray.  I wanted to go whilst we were in Australia however the right opportunity never arose. Then Andrea told me about the ride they had done in Glenorchy, Lord of the Rings land, South West of Queenstown and it sounded brilliant.  So that's the one I went on, which coincided well as a pre-bday treat.

There were eight of us plus two guides, and as lots of the group hadn't ridden for a while I was given the young hyperactive horse named Frodo.  I do admit that at the start of the ride I was a bit nervously excited but once I got to know Frodo (and was felt reassured his flightiness didn't seem to be leading to any dramatic antics) I relaxed into it and was overwhelmed by the scenery and the gorgeousness of the ride.  Look how handsome my lovely Frodo is and in fact he was very very good, fun and fast but safe and kind too.  (By the way for the lord of the rings geeks Frodo wasn't actually in the film as he wasn't born when it was filmed but his friend Elvis, who also came out with us, did star in the film).

The ride was two hours alongside, and often through, the dart river from Paradise back to Glenorchy which is the other side of the mountains to Milford Sound.  It was an excellently organised ride and they allowed the more experienced riders to get some long canters in without stressing out or scaring the others who were new to it all. And it was really fun riding through the rivers and creeks and sometimes they were pretty deep and we had to lift our legs to avoid filling our boots.  I was able to risk a sneaky shot of one of our river crossings (via horse cam!)

While I rode Rob and Eric went on a long walk in the same area, in fact they saw us crossing a river at one point.  They didn't make it as far as Paradise though and so we popped up there afterwards, but only as far as the start of the unmade road.  You could tell why they had used the area for lots of Lord of the Rings, and lots of other films in fact.  It has the ability to be both imposing and picturesque.

Then on the way back into Wellington we made a final stop at the Twelve Mile Delta which again was some film site at the end of the first LOTR films (not that I care that much).  We had a lovely lunch of poached eggs.  The great thing about the camper is being able to stop anywhere but still have everything you need with you.  Today we chose this peaceful riverside spot.

Back at camp Rob and I needed to do some admin as we've realised there is less than two weeks before we will be arriving in Bangkok and so we booked ourselves a fancy hotel for three nights which came to £50!  We are shamelessly looking forward to moving onto Asian prices.  Once the jobs were complete and we were vaguely tarted up (well clean and dressed) we headed into the hip, hop and happening town centre of Queenstown for a Friday night on the tiles. 

We started off in a fancy bar by the lakeside to soak up the last of the sun and then went to a New Zealand restaurant in town in search of New Zealand Lamb.  We found it and it was yummy!  We had a lovely meal by a wide open window overlooking the mall where we could combine good food, the last of the sun, and spying on people.  Then after a final drink by the lake (this time wrapped up in convenient fleece blankets) we crawled up the hill to our camper.  It had been a fun and leisurely day in Queenstown and we felt suitably revived and ready for a fuller days driving tomorrow.

Glowing Bungy

* Thursday

Before heading off to Queenstown we had one last thing to explore in Te Anau this morning; the glow worm caves over the lake. By 8.30am we were on a boat heading that way and the sun was even burning off the clouds, resulting in a beautiful sunlit atmosphere across the lake.

As it happens we met up with John, our tour guide from yesterday, on the boat as he was heading out to explore the far out of bounds caves with the Department of Conservation.

Some of the caves were formed millions of years ago although the end that we visited was only 12,000 years old. Once we landed at the lakeside we ducked into the low hanging caves, hopped in a boat and tucked in our head and limbs as we succumbed to the darkness. The little boat trip in the cave took about 15 minutes during which the only light was created by the glow of the worms that live there. There were thousands of them and the effect was like a stunningly clear starlit sky. Unfortunately you cannot take photos so that's why none are included.

While we were waiting for the others to have their turn in the cave we sat in the lakeside cabin and learned about how the worms use their glow to attract flies into the sticky threads they dangle below them. Apparently once the worms hatch they only have a two day life cycle of solid mating before they die. And often they don't even make it this far as often they hatch and fly straight into theirs or another worms sticky fishing lines!

Back on land we had a coffee and cake to soak in the Te Anau cafe culture, did some top up shopping and got back on the road. We only had a couple of hours to do today and so we took it leisurely and stopped for a picturesque picnic and then at some scenic lookouts on the way into Queenstown.

We arrived early afternoon, checked into the in giant in town campsite and headed straight off to watch maniacs jump off a the Karawa Bridge.  This is a world famous bungy bridge and was great to see how public the jumps were.  People are mad.

See below for evidence (and look out for the ginger headed man who is watching from the bridge).

Then it was back to camp for a couple of beers in the sunshine and a nice reheated curry from the night before... There might even be a drink for us in town tonight if we are feeling crazy!

Sounds like a fiord

* Wednesday.  Today was our exciting trtp to Milford Sound.  Now I have to admit to not really reading much about Milford Sound and therefore didn't particularly know what it was or what to expect.  One thing I did know is people rave about it and it is a must.  So off we went at 08:00 on our little bus with John the tour guide and a American-Japanese couple from Hawaii.  We drove on the Milford Road into the Fiordland National Park and the scenery just opened up.  It was unbelievably epic.  Mountains, river, temporary waterfalls falling off the rocks, and a mere glacier hanging around by the side of the road.  

 

The park is beautiful and full of forests as well as all of the tall mountains and hills.  These forests were used to film Rivendale sequences in Lord of the Rings.  It did feel very hidden and fairytale.  Without sounding too much of a hippy, the nature seemed very alive.

We continued along the track until we arrived at the dock for our boat cruise around the sound.  The water was calm and serene with indescribable craggy hills and waterfalls falling down it.  On the boat, I learnt quite a lot of geography (you see I didn't even do GCSE geography so I had a lot to learn!)  For those who don't know, a sound is a series of hills connected to the sea which been has carved out by a river over millions of years.  A fiord is a series of hills connected to the sea which has been carved out by a glacier over millions of years.  So in fact, Milford Sound is an incorrect name.  The European discoverers assumed it must be a sound when in fact it is a fiord.  So Milford Fiord would be more accurate.  Regardless, it was overwhelming as a sight.  

 

On our boat journey, we went right up into waterfalls (getting a little wet by it's mist), saw lots of little seals resting on rocks and playing in the water and yellow crested penguins fishing in the water (no photo though, they were too quick...).

 

 

At the end of water, we approached the Tasman sea.  We didn't really appreciate how good the weather was until we were told by the ship how bad it normally is.  Apparently it rains so much in Milford you can get 1/2 metre of rain in one day.  And the Tasman Sea is mostly super choppy.  We had sun and calm waters.  It was cold, but that is quite fun.  Once you were out at sea, the entrance to the Sound seemed like it had disappeared and was just coastline.  Apparently, James Cook sailed past it twice and never saw the entrance...  As we went back in it was one of the most amazing sights.

 

After mooring up back at the dock, we hopped back on the bus and drove back the way we came so we could do the beginning of the Routeburn Track.  We had a couple of good ad-hoc stops on the way.  

 

 

That was the advantage of our tour with Trips and Tramps is that they stop on request and our super relaxed.  John was really interesting and nice.  Weirdly, we was married to an English woman who went to Essex University and he had spent a lot of time in Colchester and Ipswich.  Small world.

Our walk was 2 1/2 hour return up to the top of  a 1000m mountain side (I reckon we started about 500m but don't tell anyone).  We worked up a little bit of a sweat but it was worth it for the views at the top.  As you sat there, you half expected a couple of Orcs to walk past...  After a little walk around the top, we were unexpectly greeted by John with a flask of hot water and cookies!  So we had freshly picked tea-tree tea and a yummy snack.  Getting down the hill was a lot easier than the ascent as you'd imagine and Ame and I enjoyed a well deserved snooze on the way back to Te Anau. 

 

 

Once back at the campsite, Amy made Chicken Tikka Masala whilst me and dad chilled with a beer outside viewing the Lake Te Anau (it was her turn to cook, I did it the other day before you think we've gone all sexist!).  We were in bed nice and early after our epic day, this time looking forward to our Glow Worm Cave experience the next day...