South Island Experience 7th – 25th February 2010

We started out tour of the South of the Island by spending two nights at Lake Tekapo, walking and exploring the countryside.

From there we moved on to Mount Cook, an awesome spectacle.  We camped for two nights at a nearby campsite and Norman walked to the Muller Hut and climbed Mt Ollivier near Mt Cook, with views of the Tasman Glacier.

We spent the next night at a backpackers hostel in Alexandra before moving on to an area called the Catlins. This area has beautiful coastline and beaches, with abundant wildlife, including sea lions and yellow eyed penguins.

On one of our coastal walks, we nearly tripped over a sleeping sea lion, thinking it was a large lump of seaweed! We spent two days there before moving off to take the ferry to Stewart Island.

 

We really enjoyed our stay there. The Island is very quiet and peaceful, with lots of interesting walking tracks. Kiwis inhabit the island. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see any, they are nocturnal and rarely seen during the day, but, on one of our evening strolls we did hear them in the woods.  

During our stay on Stewart Island, we took a ferry across to Ulva Island, which is famous for its variety of birds seen nowhere else. We saw saddlebacks, tomtits, kakas, and parakeets amongst the trees, together with very tame robins. The NZ robin has a white breast as opposed to our own native redbreast.

We then moved on to Te Anau, which sits by another beautiful lake,where again we enjoyed some lovely walks.

Our next stop was in Milford Sound, which has the most spectacular scenery and is situated at the end of a fiord. We took a boat trip down the Sound and out to sea to experience the breathtaking scenery.

 

Our next stop was Wanaka, another lakeside venue surrounded by mountains, a couple of which Norman climbed while we were there. 

 

Our last port of call before heading home was the Franz Joseph Glacier.

 

The whole trip was amazing. We were lucky with the weather with only one half day of rain, so we were able to make the most of our time down South.

Abel Tasman Trip 17 – 26 January 2010

Again time to see more of this incredible country and so we left Cass Bay via Arthur’s Pass at 924m, one of only three passes crossing the Southern Alps to the small town and sea Port of Greymouth on the West Coast.   Four hours later we are in Punakaiki, located half way between Greymouth and Westport, known for: Pancake rocks, Blowholes, and outstanding landscape.    For our lunch stop we walked the Truman Track through lush subtropical forest featuring Rate trees, and Nikau palms to reach a lovely beach with rocky outcrops before continuing North to Westport staying for two nights at the YHA Hostel.      

The following morning we drove to Tauranga Bay on Cape Foulwind ( named by Captain Cook for the difficult or “foul” winds he experience in this area) after a short coastal walk we were looking down on a colony of NZ fur seals, and very young pups just born between Nov and Jan, with stunning views over this rocky coastline.   

We stopped at Ngakawau to visit Charming Creek, a three hour walkway.   This was an historic railway track passing through a gorge of features, massive boulders ,waterfalls and sheer cliffs, including railway tunnels, mining relics, and old timber works, this was an excellent day with sunshine all day.

 Today, off to Abel Tasman National Park with miles of golden beaches and tidal estuaries and inviting ocean for all water sports.   Night stop at Marahau backpackers lodge before starting on our two day tramp from Bark Bay to Totaranui, with our night stop at Awaroa Hut.   Carrying all but the kitchen sink on our backs we took the local river Taxi to Bark Bay. Our walk included both river and tidal crossings and walking over cliff tops through forest paths.  Our first stop was at Tonga bay for a coffee, and on for a few hours before our tidal crossing at Onetahuti and well earned lunch stop.     Continuing on over the headland and tree forest we arrived at Awaroa hut our night stop.   

 That night we had very heavy rain ,thus making our twenty five minute Awaroa inlet crossing the following morning  a serious undertaking, as the crossing can only be made 1 hour 30 min before and 2hours after low tide. However, with the rivers in full spate and the advice of the hut warden we managed to cross with the water waist high .   The rest of the walk was good ending up at Totaranui bay to catch our water Taxi back to Marahau.

Following a change and shower we left on route to Collingwood over "The Hill" to Takaka, 27 kms away, a journey of about 2 hours.

Collingwood is in unique Golden Bay, close to Wharariki Beach and Farewell Spit, at the top of the South Island.

We spent two days here walking and sightseeing before our departure to Nelson for one night and some excellent mountain walking at over 1000 metres, and on to Picton for two nights.  Picton is the South Island terminus for the ferries that cross Cook Straight. The scenery around the town is quite breathtaking, we explored via many narrow winding roads leading out to the Marlborough Sounds, and the Queen Charlotte walking track.

Upon leaving Picton,  we made our way back to Christchurch, via Blenheim and the beautiful coastal road via Kaikoura, famous for whale spotting, it even has a “whaleway station”!

All in all, a very enjoyable trip. We are now planning a further trip in a couple of weeks, exploring down South, and, hopefully, taking in a trip to Stewart Island.

"Here we are now in 2010"

We had a wonderful Xmas and New Year. On 23^rd Dec we went for a two day walk in the hills, and stayed overnight in the “Pack Horse Hut” on Mt Bradley, returning home the next day, Xmas Eve. We meet up with a few friends before attending our church for more carol singing and midnight communion. 

 

  “Pack Horse Hut”

Xmas Day was hot and sunny.   We had lunch with our landlords in the house above our apartment, together with their two sons and three grandchildren, ranging from 8 years old to 2 years old. We had great fun in the garden, playing water pistol fights and making mud pies!  In the evening we had a meal with one of Norman’s friends from band, Chris, Margot and their family.   All in all, a memorable Christmas day.

 We went for a long walk on Boxing Day in the local “Port hills”, to work off some of the mountains of food consumed Xmas Day!

New Year’s Eve was spent with yet more friends we have made locally across the bay in Diamond Harbor, we caught the ferry which takes ten minutes rather than a half hour drive. We stayed overnight and then had a Barbie breakfast New Years Day with Roy and Jean in the sunshine. It all seemed quite surreal, especially as we were getting constant reports of sub zero temperatures in the UK!

We have now decided that we need to start exploring more of this lovely country, so, on Tues 5^th Jan we are taking off for a few days to an area called Arthur’s Pass, where apparently the scenery is amazing, and there are lots of hills and mountains to explore. Norman has joined the Christchurch Tramping Club who own a hut in the area, so we will be staying there for a few days as a base from which to explore.

A couple of weeks later, we have booked a week in somewhere called Abel Tasman, which is a National Park in the South Island, with, yet again, wonderful scenery. We will try and take some photos of both areas to post on to the blog.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our family and friends a Happy New Year. May 2010 be a “Good One” for us all!

Pre Christmas Update

We have been very busy helping to decorate the local church for Xmas. Neil, the vicar, usually decorates his own house and people pay a donation to view the many different decorations. This year, however, his son is receiving chemotherapy treatment and Neil was advised by the doctors that it would not be a good idea to have lots of people visiting because of the risk of infection. Neil decided therefore to decorate the church instead. It has been a mammoth task, 8 Xmas trees decorated, 50+ singing Santas (all requiring fresh batteries, one of Kathy’s jobs!), numerous animated displays, it was quite an undertaking involving almost a week’s work, but good fun.

We have also visited the NZ Air Force museum out here, very interesting watching the meticulous work that goes into restoring classic aircraft, and the part they played in supporting us in the Second World War.  What was interesting was seeing the Hawker Siddeley MK1 Andover purchased from the RAF in 1976, I flew in these AC from RAF Abington back in the 70’s, and at that time they were used for Parachute training. Also many of the AC used in the RAF Canberra, Devon, Vampire, and Spitfire Etc.

Dakota AC used for VIP by RNZAF

  On Sun 13^th December, Norman played in the Woolston Brass Band, performing a concert in Christchurch Cathedral. The band is the premier band in NZ and the music was truly awesome, especially as several numbers were accompanied by the massive cathedral organ.  It really did make the hairs on the back of the neck stand up! Norman was on cloud nine for quite a while, he felt so privileged to be part of it all.   

Woolston Brass Band, performing theire Christmas concert in Christchurch Cathedral

That evening we held our church Christmas carol service outside this was well attended with Santa arriving after the service on a fire engine with lots of goodies. 

 We also visited a place called Hanmer Springs for a couple of days in the mountains. 

This is a place where natural hot springs issue from the ground, and you just sit and soak up the mineral waters in pools of various temperatures, ranging from 28 degrees to 41 degrees.   Good for the old aching joints!

Of course, while we were there, Norman had to do a mountain, so he climbed Mt Isobel 1323m. He is now a fully fledged member of Christchurch Tramping Club, and is making the most of every opportunity to explore the hills and mountains here.  Kathy takes a slightly more leisurely stance, doing the less strenuous walking tracks, but there are just so many different options out here to accommodate all levels and preferences, and, (the best bit!), the weather is warm and the days long.

Mt Isobel 1323m

We are looking forward to the Barbie Xmas Day! A Very Happy Christmas to all our friends and family. Keep warm, we will be thinking of you with love.

Our little Christmas tree