Wellington - 9th-14th March

Wellington

We've finally left the South Island, it feels like we're going to a new country. We stay one night in this great hotel opposite the Te Papa Museum. Interestingly the hotel use to be exactly where Te Papa now is, but they moved it on rails across the road. Supposedly the black concrete building was "heritage" and worth saving! The next day we meet up with Grant (friend from Nik's Falmouth days).




Nobody has seen or heard from him for years .. but I can confirm Grant is alive and well. You can see he hasn't changed much and still drives himself round in a beaten up old wreck. He lives with his lovely girlfriend and their cat on the outskirts of Wellington. Their house is in the most beautiful spot with views over the pacific ocean. This is the view from his front room.


Of course we abused his hospitality, outstayed our welcome and watched The Sweeney. I can't say we explored Wellington in any great detail - except for several bars - but we had a very relaxing time. We did find out that the local parks have gas BBQ's that anyone can use. They're a provided as a free facility along with the swings and slides ! That'll never catch on back home.

Queen Charlotte Sound - 3rd - 9th March

Queen Charlotte Track

Our last thing in the South Island is this 4 day track in the Queen Charlotte Sound. We start at Ship Cove which is where Captain Cook stayed on several occasions. It's a beautiful walk and although we are camping, we don't have to carry our bags - there is a boat that does it for us! Our first camp site is in the orchard of a farm. There are pigs, sheep, cats, rabbits, dogs and a possum. The walk was a bit of a rollercoaster and really steep in places. On our last day it RAINED for the first time - got to use our wet weather gear though. We stayed for a couple of nights at this eco lodge on the edge of the Sound, great food and free kayaks.










We've met various types of tourists on our travels - each of them doing the ENZED trip their own way. Backpackers, Flashpackers (the same as backpackers but with more cash), cyclists, people in campervans .. one couple sailing round in their yacht. But on the QCT we met two people doing something very different. Their preferred mode of transport is to RUN round New Zealand. They've taken two days to run the 54 km we took considerably longer to walk. They've got another 18 km to do tomorrow. I wish them well.

Renwick - 1st-3rd March

The Wine Trail

The 1st was a strange day. Morning swimming with dolphins and by lunch time we were in the vineyards. We find a fabulous B and B in the middle of a vineyard and the owners point us in the direction of Allan Scott for a fantastic lunch. That was the start of 2 days of great food and even better wine!!! The 2 best things about the wine trail are firstly that there are over 40 vineyards (most with cellars open to the public) all within easy cycling distance of each over, and secondly that the wine tasting is FREE!

Kaikoura

1st March 6.45 am - about 2km off the coast of Kaikoura

I can already see dolphins, one or two of them, swimming up to the back of the boat. I point them out to our guide who just shakes her head. I'm thinking,"there are some dolphins in the water, we've paid to go swimming with them, so lets get our money's worth and jump overboard." But we just motor on past them, heading further out into the ocean. About five minutes later we all see what our guide was looking for and realise why we didn't stop earlier. The sea around us has been turned into a soup of dolphins. They are everywhere. Our guide estimates there are about four hundred of them in the pod. Four hundred ! Now it's time to go swimming. So we slip off the back of the boat and into the water. We were told at the dolphin encounter briefing earlier in the day that we were there to entertain the dolphins, not the other way round. The best way to attract them to you was to make silly noises, swim round in circles and dive down. But given the vast numbers of dolphins around us that wasn't strictly necessary. It helped to bring 3/4 of them right up close. About 2 feet away, but otherwise you could just bob around, mask/face down in the water and watch wave after wave of dolphins swim past.

Franz Joseph Glacier

26th February

As the crow flies we were only about 50km from Franz Joseph Glacier, but no one's built any roads over Mount Cook, so we have to drive about 600km around the country!!!! The reason for this epic journey (done in one day)......... Glacier Hiking.


There's 9 of us in our hiking group, our guide Jason looks about 17 yrs old, but seems to know what he's doing. We walk along the valley to the "Terminal Face" of the glacier, where we put on our "talons" (crampon like things). Then we climb up around 400m of ice stairs into the cravasses. Our guide cuts ice steps for us with his pick axe along the way. We walk through the cravasses and some ice tunnels - which are beautiful, completely smooth blue ice and dripping. We also squeeze through narrow blue ice gaps, getting very wet in the process. Some of it is quite hard work, especially for those of us with shorter legs! Quite often you don't see the big hole or cravass until after you've stepped over it - scary stuff. A fantastic day and well worth the long drive. Only down side in the return of the sandflies!!!

Mount Cook 21st - 25th

We thought it was time for a bit more flight-seeing. So we took a ride in this.

Now that's what I call a chopper.














That's Mount Cook on the left

Snow Landing

It's behind you !

Shotgun on the way home !

The Rail Trail Central Otago + Dundedin

16th - 19th February

The Rail Trail is an old railway track which became redunant when the gold ran out and roads were built. It's now run by DOC (Department of Conservation) as a 171km cycle and walking track.

Once again the scenary is beautiful, but different from anything we've seen before. It looks like the Wild West. We cycle over enormous open plains on a dead straight track as far as we can see. There's dry grass everywhere - no greenery - with grazing sheep and mountains on either side of the valley. It's one of the hottest places in NZ - and the coldest in winter. It's hot while we're cycling, and there is NO shade. We hid under a bridge for lunch on our first day.

We cycle through the old gold mining towns, now they thrive on tourism so there's always somewhere to sleep and get a cold drink. Our first night we spend at the Otago Central Hotel, which is a beautifully renovated old house. There's only 2 other people staying (cycling in opposite direction) and the owner can't be bothered to do anymore work so she's put the closed sign out the front.

The second day is the big up and over! But we also go through the gorge, so the scenary changes and there are viaducts and tunnels. There are 3 tunnels in total, and some of them go round corners so you can't see the end at all!

The strange thing about the rail trail is that the whole thing looks dead flat ... but it isn't. The first two days we're cycling up hill, ever such a small amount, about 1metre incline for every 100 metre along. But it means we're having to pedal the whole way. It's a weird sensation. And there's no satisfaction about having conquered a massive climb once we get to the top (615m) , because looking back, it still just looks dead flat. But the best part about getting to the top is going down the other side. I say other side, as if there is a side to go down. But there isn't - because it looks dead flat. But we know we're going down hill ... because we're hardly having to pedal at all.

Oturehua Tavern on a Friday Night
I'm not sure whether the band members knew, perhaps they should've checked but that Friday night was not the best of dates on which to be playing to a pub full of farmers. Their music was fine and under normal circumstances I'm sure the clientelle would've appreciated it. However, there was something else on that night the drinkers were more interested in.... the rubgy. A huge T.V. sat in the corner of the bar, directly opposite where the band was playing. It was showing some or other game. The poor singer had to perform to a room full of people who had their backs turned to her. Nobody paid a blind bit of notice to the music. She had to compete with the cheers and shouts of the drinkers watching the game - not her. She struggled on regardless. U2 could've been playing. It wouldn't have made a scrap of difference.

Dunedin

This is the world's steepest street. It's called Baldwin Street. People do live up it. Can't remember what the gradient is - 1:2 in places we think. Somebody look it up in the Guiness Book of Records.

The Catlins

9th-13th February The Catlins

Curio Bay
What Curio Bay campsite lacks in facilities it more than makes up for in the beauty of it's surrounding landscape. You pitch your tent on a spit of land that edges out into the pacific ocean. The spit is narrow enough that turn your head one way you see a massive crescent shaped golden beach, the other way a rugged and rocky stretch of coastline bashed by the waves. It gets better because the crescent shaped beach side has a pod of resident dolphins - spend any five minutes looking out to sea and you'll find them. And they're not shy of human contact either - or putting on a two hour display surfing up the beach in the waves for anybody who cares to watch. A truly amazing experience. We were so transfixed neither of us dared get the camera in case we missed another volley of acrobatics. When I did eventually make a dash for it the show was nearly over ... hence the lack of photos. There was just as much entertainment on the other side of the spit. The crashing waves would occasionally send up a 50 ft fountain of water up the side of the cliff face. At low tide you could walk across this weird flat rock landscape made up of a forest that was fossilised 180 million years ago. For me the most amazing part is how two totally different landscapes were separated by such a narrow strip of land. I'm only glad we got here before the visitors centre is built. One is on the way in a few years time. i'm sure it's gates will jealously guard this natural treasure from the kind of unfettered access we had. It's probably a good thing but all the same I'm glad we got here first.

Surat Bay
Another amazing place in the Catlins, Surat Bay is like the best of the British Countryside but right next to the ocean. In the distance we can see sheep grazing in a green field on top of a hill. It could be anywhere in the Lake District. Except at the base of the hill is a massive expanse of golden sand and blue sea. You'd think after all the landscapes we've seen we'd be getting bored but there's always something new to take your breath away. And where we're stood it's the sea lions that are doing that. They are massive, intimidating and unpredictable. Dozens of them appear to be sleeping on the beach and a couple are trying to find some space to swim ashore. When they're lying down on the sand they look pretty harmless. But when they heave themselves up onto their flippers - you start to get pretty nervous. You don't get a proper impression of how big they are from wildlife shows on T.V. The big ones we saw were at least 6 feet tall when propping themselves up. And they've got big teeth .... and we're stood only a couple of feet away from a group of about six of them. It appears as if a nearby rampant male has outstayed his welcome .. of course we're guessing, but whatever the reason the group has come to life all of a sudden to try and scare him off. As an observer you start to feel pretty vulnerable. It's high tide so there's only a narrow strip of beach to walk on - so there ain't too many escape routes. (The rest of the beach is littered with more sea lions and there's a huge sand dune behind us.) Fortunately we soon realise - to our great relief - the sea lions couldn't give a stuff about us. Even so, from then on, we decided to keep our distance.