Oamaru to Christchurch

All the way back in Picton our most helpful I-Site lady of the trip had marked dozens of sights on our map and even now, as we headed north out of Dunedin we still had more of them to see. Today  was the Moeraki Boulders which are a collection of amazingly spherical rocks found by the sea. There wasn't a lot to do other than climb on them and once again fulfil my apparent need to be 10 years old. The boulders were rather impressive as they had started from tiny pebbles and grown to these massive sizes while underground for thousands of years, however they will be remembered for Linz’s comedic attempts to mount them. In case I haven’t been clear, the boulders are literally just rocks on a beach but somehow a cafe is allowed to charge people to walk down some stairs to see them. We were never going to do that so we found our own way onto the beach and walked the longer way round to avoid the paying the £1 fee.

I almost moved it

North of the boulders we stopped briefly in Oamaru which turned out to be much more than we expected. Despite only being here for an hour or so we still felt the need to visit the I-Site as there was the possibility of seeing some penguins or sea lions, but once again we were thwarted by them choosing to emerge only in the evening.

From Oamaru we continued our journey back up New Zealand towards Mount Cook, with a quick stop in Twizel on the way for some lunch. Just like Oamaru, our time in this town was brief, but will be long remembered, however not for the same reasons. Never has a town’s lack of sausages caused such commotion. We must have visited every supermarket in town looking for sausages to the standard Linz required, and even then failed and had to settle to something else.

Our drive to Mount Cook took us past even more incredible scenery, stunning lakes and back into the snow. Our destination was the tiny township at the base of New Zealand’s highest peak, which is little more than a few hiking shops and a hotel, and just the other side of the mountains from Fox Glacier we had climbed a week earlier.

Heading to Mount Cook via yet more stunning lakes

The recent snow had blocked the road to our planned DOC site and, following our Queenstown experience, we decided it was probably best to adhere to the warning signs and look for somewhere else to stay. Annoyingly as the township was so small there was no where we could hide our van for a cheeky free night’s sleep, so ended up driving to the next town and it’s campsite. It was either that or shell out on the only hotel in town.

The next morning we drove back into the township to start our walk up to Kia Point. All the recent snow meant the path was hidden so we had to forge our own, but that only added to the enjoyment. Kia Point offered a great view of Mount Cook over the top of a frozen lake and we even caught a small avalanche on the far side. The walk back to the van was slightly quicker as I managed to avoid powering through 12 inches of snow by using my jacket as a makeshift sled.

The view from Kia Point over the frozen lake

It was sad to leave the township as it was so quiet and surrounded so closely by amazing scenery, but we had to push on as we still had three towns to visit and were starting to run out of time.  Our next destination was Hanmer Springs but we weren’t going to make it there in one day as we planned for a quick stop at Lake Tekapo. As you may have gathered by now New Zealand has produced some incredibly blue lakes, but Tekapo goes way beyond this, as it almost seems filled with blue paint rather than water.

The bizarre blue of Lake Tekapo 

We stopped in the town for lunch before heading up a very steep and winding road to Mt John’s observatory. This offered all-round views of the lake, the town and a remarkable wall of mountains that made up the entire horizon. We couldn’t stay up at the observatory long as it was unbelievably windy, and we wanted to get down to the lake itself, where we found the quaintest little church we’d ever seen right on the water. By this point the sun was beginning to set so we headed off for our planned DOC site just north of Geraldine.

The Church of the Lost Shepherd

It was dark by the time we arrived, so we did find ourselves slightly on edge as we came off the main road and drove for quite a few miles along a dusty track without seeing any signs. However, we did eventually find what we assumed was the DOC site, and parked up in the clearing. Once we were sure we were in the right place, we could appreciate how nice a spot we were in, until Linz came across a particularly big spider which brought her Australia fears backs. I would understand if the spider was in the bed or one of the cupboards, but it was outside!

In the light of day the next morning, we wondered why we were ever nervous about driving along the dusty lane for so long, as it was running alongside a farm we just couldn’t see. To get to Hanmer Springs we could have taken the main road past Christchurch, but as we would be coming back that way, we opted for the Alpine Pacific Triangle. This would take us first to Hanmer Spring, then onto Kaikoura then back to Christchurch whilst avoiding main roads.

Throughout our time in New Zealand we had been turning down opportunities to visit hot springs, as we had heard Hanmer Springs offered the best in the country. Unfortunately when we got there on a Saturday it appeared to be the favourite spot in town for all the Hanmer children, and even more so, we could see water slides over the top of the fences. It seems the springs had become more of a water park than what we had been hoping for. We decided not to enter the springs as it seemed a bit childish, so instead went for a game of crazy golf. We found a place called A-maze-n-golf, which surprisingly offered a maze and golf, but we decided just to play the golf, and ended up following a group of drunken elderly folk round eighteen holes.

I wouldn't say this shot was definitely going to go in

Our nights stay came courtesy of a campsite just outside town where we could charge up the van, and shelter from the unrelenting wind which had been building over the last couple of days. The next day we got back onto the Pacific Alpine Highway to drive to Kaikoura, which was a town Linz especially had been looking forward to ever since arriving in the country. It was the most common spot in New Zealand to see dolphins and there was even the chance of swimming with some. We had left early so we could get onto the 12:30pm boat, but having made it in time the boat was called off due to the wind. We couldn’t blame them as we were finding it difficult to even walk down the streets. Kaikoura was a pleasant small town, so we spent the day wandering round before the wind got the better of us and we sheltered in an internet cafe, desperately trying to get our blogs finished before the trip did.

That night we drove a small way along the shore to find a seal colony braving the wind. I briefly got out the van for a photo-op, but realised very quickly that the only reason these seals weren’t being blown into the sea was because the weighed about a ton. That night would be our last in a DOC site, so it was nice that it was a free one, as we would need a powered site before returning the campervan.

Fighting the wind

Our dolphin trip was due to leave at 8:30am the next morning, and thankfully the wind hadn’t picked up yet so we got the green light. Linz had decided to put aside financial concerns at this late stage in our travels, and fork out the money to swim with the dolphins, so consequently woke up like a kid in a candy shop on Christmas morning. On arrival at Kaikoura Dolphin Encounter, Linz was taken away for a wetsuit and snorkel fitting which, at that time in the morning, I was rather pleased to be missing. From there we had a quick introduction about the dolphins, then headed out into the South Pacific Ocean.

I'm not entirely sure if we weren’t actually in the Southern Ocean, which borders Antarctica, but either way it emphasises how keen Linz was to swim with dolphins that she would even consider getting in the water. Everyone who was swimming was told to make a lot of noise whilst in the water as the dolphins enjoy it and are more likely to come over to you. I feel the temperature of the water was in reality the main reason for most of the noises.

Linz being eyed up by a dolphin

Within seconds of entering the water Linz was already being welcomed by a few of the 200 dolphins that were stretching out from all sides of the boat. Apparently the dolphins were getting as much entertainment out of Linz as she was out of them, but seeing Linz spinning round in circles making a whole array of weird noises through a snorkel would amuse anyone. Over the course of the morning, Linz would re-enter the water about five times, as the boat would move positions to go with the movement of the pod. It never seemed to get any easier jumping off the boat.

Swimming along with the boat

Back at the Temples of Angkor I made us chase a man up a temple because I thought it was England cricket captain Andrew Strauss, and today I spent a good while following a man round the boat because I thought it was New Zealand cricket captain Daniel Vettori. It wasn’t.

Busted trying to take a photo of the fake Daniel Vettori. Very Embarrassing

We returned to land both very pleased with our trip, as even though I hadn’t swum with the dolphins, I had never seen such a large amount of them and we even had to joy of having them swim alongside the boat and entertain us with a few flips. We headed back to the internet cafe to power through some more belated blogging, before finding what would be our last campsite. Even though we had a couple of days in Christchurch still to come, we felt sad packing up our campervan as it was feeling too much like the end. We used the campsite kitchen to make pizza and chips, and reclined into their sofas to watch our first episode of Friends in six months, which happened to be on TV.

Our campervan in Australia had been our little cosy home for six weeks, and our van in New Zealand had seemed like a palace in comparison, but both had been our base for our time in these countries and it felt odd to be leaving it all behind. The one issue with our New Zealand palace had been the shocking quality of our windscreen, as we had more chips in it than I had eaten for dinner last night. So before returning it, we would need to find a branch of Smith & Smith to get it fixed.

We drove south out of Kaikoura along the final leg of the Pacific Alpine Triangle, along the stunning coastline occasionally through tunnels cutting into the cliffs. New Zealand had offered every type of scenery available from snowy mountains to bright blue lakes, deep alpine forests and now perfect coastlines.

Our goal was Christchurch Airport where we would be dropping the van off, and doing our best to draw focus away from the windscreen, which still had a few chips despite us getting the biggest ones filled in. We reached the airport just shy of clocking 5000 kilometres in New Zealand; just over 2000km on the North Island and just under 3000km on the South Island. This brought our grand total to about 10,300km in campervans in both countries. Having successfully avoided any windscreen controversy, we were driven into Christchurch by Steve’s Airport Shuttle to our hotel for our last night called The Jailhouse.

Outside our door at The Jailhouse

The Jailhouse may well have been my favourite hotel of our trip, as it was a converted prison and we were staying in one of the cells complete with authentic metal door and bars on the windows. A few doors down from our cell was one which had been left in its original state, when the jail was decommissioned just 12 years ago, and it really wasn’t that different to ours except for the quality of the bed. We chose to spend our last night in the hotel, and save exploring until the following day, so we go ourselves a take away pizza and rented The Social Network from the video shop over the road.

From our jailhouse in the area of Addington, we walked into Christchurch centre the next morning, not knowing what to expect. Just over six months earlier, Christchurch had been torn apart by a devastating earthquake and now so much of the centre remains fenced off. We found our guidebook, which had been so useful all over the country, was no longer relevant as so many of the towns attractions were either blocked off or worse. Cracks in the street were a common sight and so many of the churches and other buildings, which had sat in the town for so long, were now in pieces. We walked back through the botanical gardens, which was the first we had finally got round to seeing, and passed the fanzone for the upcoming rugby World Cup, and couldn’t help but think how nice this town should have been. However the kiwis, as ever, were incredibly positive and determined that life would go on, and even in sight of piles of rubble, people were still punting up and down the rivers in the park.

Some of the worst damage we saw

That afternoon we were picked up once again by Steve’s Airport Shuttle, and were heading back to the airport. It was impossible not to feel sad at the end of a once in a lifetime trip, but there was genuine excitement about getting back home and seeing the family, when not pixelated on a Skype video chat. Despite the constant concerns of my backpack completely failing, going back as far as China, I was able to check it in at the airport still doing its job.

New Zealand had promised a lot and had delivered even more, and our three weeks here could easily be extended to three months. On one day you be driving along expansive plains then up snow capped mountains before spending the night surrounded by dense pine forest. The combination of words and photographs in this blog cannot even get close to describing the beauty of New Zealand. And when you combine the landscape with the people, such as the guys who pushed our car out of the mud before the sun had even risen on the East Cape, then you can begin to see why this is one of my favourite countries in the world. There is still so much we want to see, so we will definitely be back and it wouldn’t even cross our minds to do it any other way, than in a campervan.

From Christchurch we started our 30-hour trip, via Sydney, Bangkok and Dubai, to little North Holmwood. The last thirty minutes of the journey were in the car back home but without Linz, which was strange as we had travelled together and uninterrupted since the airport in Hanoi. This trip was everything I could have hoped for, and so much of that is down to spending it with Linz. Eight countries, four and a half months, thousands of miles and not one single argument!

That brings to an end the best six months of my life. Until next time...

Queenstown to Dunedin

Just driving into Queenstown we could tell we were going to like it. It is quite clearly a ski town and despite deeming going skiing ourselves to be too expensive, we still immediately loved to atmosphere around the place. The town is based on Lake Wakatipu and is one of New Zealand’s most well known towns despite being much smaller than the likes of Wellington and Auckland. It didn't take us long to come face-to-face with the reason it is famous as almost every shop we passed either offered jet boat rides, ski rental or a whole number of activities which involve throwing yourself off heights. Queensland is the adventure capital of New Zealand and we had opted a long time ago that the adrenaline rush we were going to go for was the Shotover Jet, however that would have to wait as we arrived late in the day.

The Mountains over Queenstown

Our first stop took us to the I-Site as, among the usual questions, we needed to find Linz a dentist as a tooth of hers had been causing her trouble for quite a while. We had come across I-Site staff in the past who have been a little short, but this lady didn't even speak to start with. In answer to our dentist question she took a map, marked on some dots and ended with “Anything else?” I contemplated asking if she could also mark on the map someone who actually cared about their job but instead we asked our remaining questions and left only to immediately enter another information place across the road. They were considerably more helpful and, despite getting very similar information, we left feeling much happier. The lady who had served us this time around was Irish and had returned to Queenstown having loved it so much during her travels. She is not the only one to have this idea, as I genuinely think we came across more foreigners than Kiwis working in town.

We set off in search of a dentist for Linz but realising it was the weekend and they were all shut we opted for a sweetshop. Probably not the wisest choice. Having left with a block of fudge and a massive chocolate heart covered in sprinkles we returned to the van. We had researched a cheap DOC sight just outside town, as freedom camping was once again not allowed, and would go there later so we didn't need to worry about checking into somewhere before campsites closed. Instead we headed to Fat Badger pizza so we could spend the evening Skyping home.

Our first day in Queenstown had been great despite having only wandered round the town on foot, and I had had an excellent Skype session with home and James, however the night was about to go horribly downhill. Well, in fact it was the evening going so uphill that caused the problem. By now it was around midnight and we were heading out of town in search of the DOC sight when we turned off the main road and began to climb. We knew the site was 4km along this road however after 3km we reached a gate. It was open but it warned people that four wheel drive cars would only be suitable. For some reason I talked us into investigating, I assume because I thought how wrong can it go in 1km. It turned out it can go very wrong. The road became incredibly narrow with thick snow on either side of us, patches of ice on the track and a rather deadly drop to the left. After about 500m I conceded I had been horribly wrong but no had no choice, due to the narrow track, to reverse the entire way back to the paved road 500m away. This was by far the least pleasant part of our entire travels. At one point we became stuck in the snow but I managed to ease it out while Linz was unable to look as we were both rather nervous. Eventually, however we reached the paved road and were safe, at least to begin with. There was one more road available so we thought we’d try it out seeing as it was well maintained. It continued to climb higher and higher until the point once again where we threw in the towel and decided to head back down. This time a three point turn was required in a 7.2m long van on a road which was probably about 8m wide. Needless to say my three point turn was more like a three hundred point turn but we made it down the mountain and back to Queenstown. Once again the evening could have done without a possum running out in the road again. Stupid creatures.

We ended up finding a Top 10 park which allowed us to pull up for the night and pay in the morning. The next day we had been looking forward to a deserved lie in but now had to check out at 10am. At 9:30am I left Linz in bed and went to the reception where I brought out my best tired look, although I didn't need to put much of it on, and managed to score us a free late check out. We didn't re-emerge until almost midday.

Bombing it through the canyon

We would have stayed as long as possible but the activity we had been looking forward to for so long was upon us: the Shotover Jet. This involves boarding a jet boat which would rocket its passengers at frightening speeds through a canyon while getting perilously close to the edges for the entertainment of those onboard. I had last done it when I was three years old, I can’t remember if I liked it but no mention of the Shotover Jet goes passed without a family member mentioning the ruckus I kicked up as I was being made to wear a lifejacket.

A lot of gear considering we barely got splashed

We arrived in plenty of time as it was a first come first serve situation regarding seats and we wanted the front row. As we arrived so early they tried to convince us to go on the one earlier boat but we had a plan in place and weren’t going to stray from it. When our boat was ready for boarding we were kitted out in waterproofs and life-jackets, which I accepted calmly this time round, before we successfully claimed our front row. The jet boat is an amazing creation as it has an entirely flat hull allowing it to spin on the water like a skimming stone but astonishingly needs just 5cm of water to be able to do the stunts it does. After a few customary action photos being taken of all of us in the boat we shot off towards the canyon where, especially when in the front row, you get unbelievably close to the jagged rock walls. Every so often we would emerge into a clearing only to find our driver would throw us into a complete 360^o spin requiring everyone to force themselves into their seat or else risk flying out. I was a little sceptical that someone could actually fly out the boat but wasn’t prepared to risk it.

We were supposedly on the river for half an hour but it was so much fun it seemed like so much less. Having waited for so long to do it, it didn't disappoint and we were pleased to have done one of Queenstown’s most famous attractions.

Just up the road from the canyon we found a much cheaper campsite for that evening as there was no chance we were going in search of another DOC site. After booking for later on we headed back to the town centre and embarked on a walking tour of the town. Just in case the town couldn’t look any better we even found a man playing the piano out by the waterfront making sure it sounded as good as it could as well. Having wandered around the marina we visited the underwater viewing gallery to see what wonders the lake had to offer under the surface. It turned out there were some fish. We didn't anticipate the £2.50 entry fee to see a few trout, however, for an extra 50p you could push a button which released fish food into the lake so we thought we’d try and get a little more out of our time there.

Good duck banter

Despite the button being under a big “Feed the fish” sign this was quite clearly a feed the ducks machine as immediately the water was filled with these incredible metallic silver ducks which easily beat the fish to the food. The ducks are black above the water but as they dive they become an amazing silver colour making them look like metal sculptures and they could dive to the bottom of the lake with ease. This made the underwater viewing a little more entertaining and we left reasonably pleased.

Looking out across the lake

We had a walk up to Queenstown Gardens as fantastically they had laid out a Frisbee golf course. Frisbee golf is played like regular golf except you replace the bag of clubs with one Frisbee, or in the case of the locals we saw playing it, one Frisbee and a six pack of Speight’s. We didn't have time to play which was gutting but we had a restaurant booked fairly soon. As a birthday present my parents had bought us a meal at the restaurant on top of one of the mountains overlooking the town, which you can only reach via a gondola ride. To get to the gondola we wandered through some of the town’s back alleys to find that even these are clean and nice to walk don with bars and restaurants of their own. Is there any part of Queenstown that isn’t nice?

On the way up the gondola passing paragliders and a bungee jump

The gondola ride up the mountain offered some good views but off course the best came from the viewing deck at the summit. The sun had started to set so the snowy mountains were a slightly yellow colour rising above the lake before it. We first headed to the restaurant but realised we were there way before our sitting had began and had to hang around for over an hour at the top. This turned out to be easily worth it as, because we assume we were first there that evening, we were put in unquestionably the best table available. As we were lead towards this table I just kept having to think it’s not going to be ours, but then it was. The table was right in the corner of the massive dining room meaning both Linz and I had a window directly in front of us giving us unblocked views of the town, the lake and the mountains.

Just an amazing view

The dinner was an all-you-can-eat-buffet and seeing as we had been living off mainly pasta and sauces over the last two months we went to town on it. I had a bowl of tomato soup, three bread rolls, roast beef with potatoes, carrots, peas, pumpkin and parsnip mash, corn on the corb, gravy, venison rogan josh with jasmine rise, a crème brule, chocolate cake, tiramisu, chocolate chip muffin, strawberry jelly and a chocolate mousse. But it wasn't unhealthy as I had a Diet Coke.

I had been putting off having a roast dinner for this entire journey as I want to save it for returning home, but the roast beef was just too good to miss out on. I had also never had venison before or a rogan josh curry but the two together was a great way to try it out. Linz had a very similar banquet but replaced the curry with a second roast dinner, albeit a pork roast second time round. Neither of us have ever been anywhere near this full and I had serious concerns that the gondola ride back down may have buckled as we got onboard.

Coming back down to Queenstown at night

We were gutted to be leaving Queenstown the next morning but it had to be done as we still had a lot to see in the country. We had decided not to continue south towards Te Anau and Milford Sound but instead head across to the east coast town of Dunedin. On the way New Zealand demonstrated its ability to change landscapes incredibly quickly as we started in the snowy mountains of Queenstown before entering brown craggy mountains ranges before rolling green hills around Dunedin. Although I was still enjoying the music from our iPods, one entertainment highlight of the journey came from shouting at sheep to get a reaction. They got bored of me quite quickly.

Lunch down by Lake Dunstan

Our arrival in Dunedin brought us yet further parking trouble and we ended up having to fork out for a rather expensive car park as it was the only one we could find. At £1.50 per hour we didn't plan on staying long and made our customary trip to the I-Site followed by lunch at Subway. Having met them in Cairns and then again in Melbourne, we then met up with Clare and Andy and became a group of four for our time in Dunedin.

We were never going to find a cheap nights stay in town so the two-car convoy headed south out of town until we reached Brighton. This would be the most southern point we would ever reach on our travels. Having tried a couple of places we opted for a £3.50 a night place which was little more than a field with the owner’s house/caravan in it. Linz and Clare took the opportunity to down more wine together and we all swapped stories of our time on New Zealand.

The next morning we drove back towards Dunedin but headed first to the Otago Peninsular with the intention of spotting some penguins and visiting Lanarch Castle. The drive was once again amazing but this trip can only go down as a failure as we saw neither penguins nor a castle. The penguins could only been seen in the evening and the castle is cunningly positioned behind trees which you can only go beyond when you fork out the ridiculously high ticket price. Lanarch is the only castle in New Zealand meaning they owners effectively have a castle monopoly and consequently can rack the price up. Despite this we actually had a good morning as the route to the peninsular is a winding  road leading over spectacular green hills with a view back to Dunedin over the bay.

Heading out on the Otago Peninsular looking back towards Dunedin

Having convoyed back to town we utilised a rare free wifi zone in the town’s library and got some lunch at Velvet Burger. This was an excellent lunch leading me to question why there isn’t more mango relish in the world? The main reason for stopping at the library was so Clare and Andy could download a voucher for our next attraction: Cadbury World. Following an anniversary trip to the romantic city of Birmingham the year before, Linz and I had already been to the English version and given the prospect of money off the entry fee we were keen.

We were lead round the factory by an English guide who we all deemed a little odd but who Linz was thoroughly annoyed by. The rest of us were just a little put off by his slightly odd shout-in-your-face style but Linz was fuming because rather than just hand out free chocolate like in the UK factory, here you had to earn your sweets. Every so often he would quiz you on subjects like the percentage of cocoa butter in a Dairy Milk bar and only those who answer correctly got a rewarded. Linz doesn’t like having to work for chocolate but when the guide gave the two children on the tour free Easter eggs she was livid. The grand finale was us all being ushered into a disused milk silo which had been converted into a chocolate waterfall for entertaining visitors to good effect. We left, via the gift shop, pretty happy with the tour including Linz as we had eventually been given free samples without the need to answer any questions.

On board my Cadbury delivery truck

Rather than head back to Brighton for another cheap night we both chose to stay at a powered site in town. I realise that so far today we had only really been to a chocolate factory but I’m afraid it’s all about to get considerably less interesting to anyone reading this. That night consisted of two rounds of The Game of Life (rented from the reception) and a showing of the first Lord of the Rings film. There’s very little that can be added to that except it was a very enjoyable night and if my life turns out anything like it did in the game then i’m in for a good one.

The following day started with a sad goodbye to Clare and Andy who were now heading to Queenstown while we were planning to head north. Although we were both very pleased to have met the two of them, a lot of my sadness was coming from the fact that it was them rather than us who was heading to Queenstown.

Linz’s tooth still hadn’t relented and was still causing her pain so our first aim of the day was to find a dentist to take a look. Interestingly the best option was the dentistry department at the University of Otago and seeing as Linz would have a student working on her it was also the cheapest option. Linz has never been a fan of the dentist and the prospect of having someone not fully educated working in her mouth didn’t help. However, they were actually very good and Linz did really well to get through an hour and a half of drilling etc as they performed a root canal on her. We had initially planned to head north towards Mount Cook that day but Linz had had a stressful day at the dentistry department which had lasted much longer than we both thought, so we decided to have a relaxing evening in the van at the campsite we had stayed in the night before.

Only one sight was left for us to see in Dunedin before we moved on which was Baldwin Street. The street is almost no different to any other residential road in New Zealand except this one is the steepest street in the entire world giving it a spot in the Guinness Book of Records. Linz told me in a rather stern manner that I wasn’t to attempt to drive the campervan up this incredibly steep road, which I was rather disappointed by. However with hindsight, having walked up the road, if I had have attempted this then I would have probably ended up with quite a mess in my trousers. It was insanely steep for a road with houses on it. We were gutted to find out that we had missed the annual Jaffa Roll by just a few days, as each year thousands on Jaffa sweets (orange coated chocolate balls rather than Jaffa Cakes) are rolled down the street raising money for charity.

Stupidly steep street

From Baldwin Street we would drive north through the Waitaki District and then inland towards Mount Cook. Queenstown had been right up with our favourite places so far on this trip and Dunedin had been particularly fun as we had good people to spend the time with. However, we were back to just the two us now and only a few days left before our flight home, but of course New Zealand was never going to stop amazing us...