Heading back home

It’s bright and early when the alarm comes on this morning, and it’s time to get up, get ready and get going. After having completely lost the day of April 12th a couple of weeks ago, today April 28th will last a full 43 hours … with a big chunk of that going towards travel time.

By 8am we are at Queenstown Airport, dropping off our campervan and checking in for our flight to Auckland.

As we land in AUK just before midday (aka noon), we will have about 8.5 hours to kill before our onward trip to SFO and what better time to sum up our honeymoon experience!

The Highlights (in order of appearance):

• Sky Tower in Auckland.
• Seeing a Kiwi bird in the wild at Aroha Island Kiwi Preserve.
• Seeing Pukeko birds all along the road.
• Spotting Hunderwasser toilets in Kawakawa (a touch of home).
• Experiencing full force rain and wind while hiking Karangahake Gorge (feeling the effects of the strongest storm in decades for the South Island!)
• Visiting Craters of the Moon in Taupo, finding Taihape – the gumboot capital of the world.
• Visiting the Mauri Sea Cave.
• Experiencing the Punakaiki Rocks and Blowholes.
• Watching Kea birds attack the soft parts of our camper at Arthur’s Pass.
• Hiking to Fox Glacier.
• Exploring the sights along Haast Pass scenic highway.
• Having a blast at the Shotover Jet Boat Ride.
• Getting a rush on the Nevis Swing in Queenstown.
• Plus running into Sam Wang, a celebrity in Taiwan, and his film crew three times.
• …and last but not least seeing approximately one-third of the country’s sheep population!

All this in about 16 days, with 11 days that included driving for a total of 2,487 km (approx. 1,554 mi), using 276 liters of petrol (diesel) for a gas mileage of 20.2 MPG.

What did we miss on our trip:
Getting a photo of a Pukeko bird, getting a photo of a Kiwi bird road sign, buying gumboots in Taihape, and seeing a sunrise in the Southern Alps (or much sun at all).

And what’s left for our next visit to NZ?
90-mile beach, Milford Sound, whale watching, penguin watching, many more hikes, plus a nearly-full tube of DEET 80% sand fly protection.

Speaking of sand flies… If your guide book does not mention them, throw it away. If it does warn you, take it seriously serious. Bring DEET. Use DEET. Don’t be fooled by their looks (like little fruit flies). Or the fact that they don’t make a sound. Or the thought that heavy rain will keep them away. Or that long sleeves, pants and socks will protect you. Or hair. It won’t. Their bites itch. Like hell. For days and days. And when you think you’re over it, a couple more bites will pop up and start to itch. Believe me. I speak from experience.

Sand flies are horrible!

But otherwise, this country is safe! Safe to walk barefoot even in the cities. Safe to be out in the dark. Safe to forget your wallet on a counter – someone will bring it to you! And the Kiwis (the people here) are genuinely friendly. Gotta love that. Almost makes you forget the itchy ankles. Almost.

Here is a view from the platform of the next pair that dropped.

Getting ready for the Nevis Swing

It’s our last day here in New Zealand (with the exception of the trip home tomorrow) and Queenstown still has one more thrill ride waiting for us!

After an earlier start than normal we pack up the camper for the last time and check out from the campground, heading to town. As we get a bite for breakfast at Ferg Bakery, we run into the film crew around Sam Wang yet again – it’s barely 10am and the Taiwanese celebrity already checking out Ferg Burger next door! (I think he’s following us!)

Then it’s time to check in at The Station for today’s adventure with AJ Hackett Bungy at the Nevis Swing: the world’s biggest swing! After a quick time-to-go note on Facebook, we’re off in the 4WD bus that will take us to Nevis Bluff, approximately 40 minutes east of Queenstown, where we will get to “drop.”

It’s a rattly metal swing bridge that gets us from the terminal to the platform to where the swing will drop from. It’s quite a ways when you look down at 175 meters between the supporting cables and the canyon floor. The swing drops us about 60 meters (including a couple seconds of free fall, before the cables catch) into a 300 meter arch just above the canyon floor and up on the other side.
Once past the scary as $#it free fall and head-first rapid descent, the swing is actually a ton of fun offering beautiful views of the canyon in its autumn colors.

Be sure to check out the video, but turn the volume to low … someone’s screaming like a little girl!

After the swing, we’re glad to have firm footing again as we get off the bridge. Since a group of high school exchange students from Germany were heading out to the swing, we head back to see when it’s like from a different perspective. Check out the video in our next post which shows their swing (and screaming).

The bus ride back to Q-Town is uneventful, and after a quick bite to eat back in town it’s time to pack up, clean up and gas up the campervan to have it ready for tomorrow morning’s drop off.

It’s just before dark when we check into our hotel (the Novotel Lakeside) for our last night in NZ and time to pack for our trip back home. Then it’s dinner time, and we choose the Halo – Forbidden Bite restaurant just around the corner for our last meal out. New Zealand cuisine, very tasty. Especially the dessert!

An action packed kiss!

It is cold in QT. Very cold. But as the sun is making an appearance this morning, we are getting up and out rather quickly.

After a great breakfast at the Red Rock pub we are on to our great adventure of the day: a Shotover Jet Boat Ride down the Shotover River through its canyons with narrow rock walls and plenty of other obstacles. But if the Duke & Duchess of Cornwall can do it (a couple of weeks ago), we can do it too!

Our driver Wayne gives us an experience of a lifetime! While certainly not cheap, the ride is worth every penny, and the beautiful weather plus the autumn colours along the river’s edge are only adding to the great time we have.

After we get back into town, we head out to explore the shops, sights and restaurants that Queenstown has to offer. Located on Lake Wakatipu, any water sport or similar is offered to visitors from around the world.

After warming up a bit and more strolling around, it’s time for pre-dinner drinks at the 5 degrees Ice Bar. Quite a cool treat!

For dinner, we have picked Public Kitchen & Bar, which serves NZ cuisine family style. The leg of lamb, skirt steak and fida tart are delicious, as is my kiwi crush drink and Kirk’s Killarabbit beer. Dessert finds just enough room in our stuffed bellies, and the chocolate cheesecake with fresh berries is not to be missed.

As we stroll back towards the campervan park, we suddenly see a familiar group fussing around outside the Ice Bar. It’s the camera & production team-with-reporter group we ran into at the Craters of the Moon near Taupo (on the North Island, on Day 6)! Turns out the “reporter” is Sam Wang, a celebrity from Taiwan on a 21-day filming/reporting of NZ attractions. What a coincidence!

With that encounter we head back to the campervan to call it a night. However Kirk steps out for a bit to take photos of the night sky. We don’t get to see the Southern Cross from back home.

Looking at the road behind us

It’s our 13th day in New Zealand and 11th on the road. We begin the final leg of our left-side-of-the-road journey to Queenstown today.

Haast, last night’s stay, is the entrance to Mount Aspiring National Park which has over a dozen stops along the way for views and hikes. The downpour of on and off rain from last night continues through the morning part of our drive.

While the rain puts a bit of a damper on many of the great views we would have seen, it makes for really impressive and powerful waterfalls. There are hundreds of them right along the edges of the road. Some are cute spouts of water, while others are absolutely enormous and gushing onto the roadway. Workers were making repairs to one section near Haast Pass due to major road damage caused by the storms. They’ve been closing the road overnight to make repairs.

We stopped at several of the highlighted stops through the park: a half hour walk to Roaring Billy waterfall (in full force), followed by a quick stop at Thunder Creek Falls and the Fantail Falls. On the Eastern side of the pass, the scenery changes drastically and we stop for one more bush walk at Cameron Creek, before reaching Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea.

Once past the town of Wanaka, we follow the Cardrona Valley Road to Crown Range (pass at 1,076 meters) from where we see the snowcapped peaks of The Remarkables mountain range, while getting hailed on in the blustery, freezing wind.

After making our way down the steep switchbacks we finally arrive in Queenstown, our final destination of the trip, and check in at our last camperpark: the Top 10 Holiday Park Creeksyde.

Andrea meets a local

Our fellow neighbors here at the campground surely get up early! But once we take a peek out the window, we understand why: the sun is out and the mountain tops are clear … It’s time to pack up & get going!

Already in town for our next adventure, we stop quickly only to get some shots of the sheep … only a handful of the estimated 9 million in NZ. No way Kirk can leave this country without some quality shots of the famous furries!

Fox Glacier is definitely more impressive than yesterday’s FJ, but in part also because it’s not raining. While clouds have pushed in front of the sun in the last half hour, we get to hike dry and happy along the river towards the glacier’s snout. The walk is fairly easy for the most part, but the last few hundred meters are a steep slope up for a breathtaking view.

Had we come about 6 years ago, that climb would have been unnecessary, as the glacier only retreated that far in the past few years. (The signs along the road leading towards the glacier carpark showed where the ice had reached to back in 1935 and in 1750 – it’s moving faster and faster!)

Fox Glacier is an absolute must-see for any West Coast traveler, and we’re happy to have spent the time to make it here. Soon enough it’s time to get back on the road and head further south on Hwy 6, as today’s final destination is Haast Junction.

On our way there, we stop at Bruce Bay for a nice photo op. We quickly realize why the beach is so deserted: it’s the crazy sandfly attack that has us running back to the van in no time! Little buggers … now we know what the warnings in the guide book were all about! There is no escaping them! They’re relentless! And everywhere! So I guess having had plenty of rain all these days had sheltered us from another plague: the South Island’s sandfly. Not sure which one is the lesser of the two evils.

On we go and briefly stop at Knights Point for another photo break. The afternoon sun is beautiful. Then we’re off to the last stretch to Haast Junction, where we fill up the gas tank, fill up our bellies (yum!) at the Hard Antler restaurant in town and call it a day at the Haast Top 10 Holiday Park.

Glacial Newlyweds

Day 11 starts out a bit sunny as we’re getting our 2-monthiversary date heading into the town of Hokitika.

With the National Kiwi Centre located here, we make this the first stop. Right on time or the giant eel feeding, which seems to be more of a highlight than the 2 kiwis they house, we check out the place (a bit dinky). After the eels, we are excited to see the kiwis running around in their dark enclosures. The one male and one female had to be separated due to her getting a bit aggressive … but in any case we’re getting to see both of them (and Kirk snatches a no-flash photo while no one is watching!).

After a couple of hot chocolates and some souvenir shopping we hop back into the van and get on the road. We head further south on Hwy 6 along the West Coast to Franz Josef Glacier. While our guidebook states that after the recent years’ fast retreat of the glaciers, the next one on our list will provide better views than FJ. And since rain hasn’t stopped us so far on this trip, the fine drizzle that is steadily increasing will not stop us now. Rain poncho for me, umbrella for Kirk (each one’s choice), finally-dry-again hiking boots on and we’re off to the 1 1/2 hour round trip hike to the glacier view.

And it rains. And it’s also a bit windy. And definitely chilly. You get the picture. But the glacier is waiting for us, and so we hike on. Along the valley, always slightly uphill, past the Trident Falls and many other beautiful and splashing waterfalls, until we reach the final point of the trail. We can finally see the glacier (somewhat in the distance).

If you’ve never seen a glacier, it’s great. If you have seen others or even been on one, this is just so-so. But it’s Franz Josef! The name alone makes it worth it (for all my Austrian monarchy fans!).

On the hike back out, the rain now hits us from the behind, giving us nice 360-coverage. Chilly, but nevertheless happy, we return to the van and quickly turn up the heat to full blast.

Once in dry clothes again we get back on the road and head south. Just a bit further today to Fox Glacier, the next town down the coast. We finally check in at the Fox Glacier Holiday Park and call it a night.

Shopping Man… Man of Action!

Today’s adventure began as we left Greymouth and headed south on Highway 6. Eager to get away from the rain, we took a detour towards the center of the island to Arthur’s Pass along Highway 73.

Highway 73 is a beautiful drive starting at the coast where the drive is flat, up to the sharp mountainous peaks New Zealand is known for.

Clouds seemed like fluffy cotton candy sticking to the alpine trees. Vegetation is green and very lush like you’d expect in a tropical climate, however this isn’t a tropical climate. It’s windy, damp, and quite cold. Just ask Andrea if she was cold.

The highlight of today is an unexpected friend we met just before Arthur’s Pass. A friendly Kea perched on top of our van as we stopped at a scenic outlook. It’s amazing at how curious and brave it is. We ended up playing peek-a-boo as I’d pop in and out of the van while it peeked down at me.

Turns out a few more kilometers up the hill near the peak of Arthur’s Pass, is the home to Kea. Kea are the world’s only mountain parrot and are endangered. It turns out they also really like to chew on things, especially all the trim and doo-dads on top of everyone’s cars. We parked and took a few more photos at the Kea’s home, where a half-dozen snacked on our campervan. Destructive little boogers. Read more about the Kea on Wikipedia.

We reached the summit and headed down the mountain a little bit where we stopped at Arthur’s Pass Village for a bite to eat. Pizza, L&P (a New Zealand lemonish soda), and Tui (a New Zealand beer).

Since our plan was to stay on the west coast, we retraced our steps back Highway 6. The sun was getting ready to set, so we ended today’s journey in Hokitika. The backdrop of tonight’s campground… a milk factory.

At least we’ll have fresh milk.

Maori Sea Cave Kiss

Today’s weather forecast calls for a mix of rain and sun, and we’ll get both. Plus gusty winds … and not just at our starting point here at Cape Foulwind (pun intended). The breeze was to be expected since we’re right at this sandy beach on the Tasman Sea.

After breakfast and a short walk on the beach, we’re heading south on Hwy 6 towards the Fox River just south of Charleston. Here is where our guide-book highly recommends stopping to check out an undisclosed Maori Sea Cave. We park as instructed, walk across the old wooden bridge (past the “do not enter – unstable bridge” sign) and check out the carved tunnel, before crossing under the highway bridge, along the river, to get to the cave. It’s amazing! Definitely worth the stop!

As we’re approaching early afternoon, we head on towards the Paparoa National Park, where we stop for lunch at the Punakaiki Tavern before getting to the main sight of the day: the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes! As we follow along the walkway, we get to see the majestic power of the high tide waves, crushing against the rocks, pushing the water deep into the cracks and the mist through the holes to create the famous fountains of drizzle.

We timed our visit carefully to be on location right around high tide, which is when the show is on. And not to be missed! (In my opinion, the #2 sight of the trip – right after the kiwi, and before the glowworms!).

As nothing can top Punakaiki today, we head south just a bit further to Greymouth, where we check in for the night at the Kiwi Holiday Park and wrap up the day enjoying the sunset at the rocky beach.