The Possum Pie Travelogue-blog

Day 17 - The Sound of the Sounds

2006-09-23T20:28:00.000+00:00

What exactly is a sound? This was one of the questions I'd asked our pilot the night before as we flew over Milford Sound. I actually asked what the difference was between a sound and a fjord.

He told us that the sounds within Fiordland were produced by a glacier carving out a valley on the coast then receding. The glacier produces a sound that often has steep, near vertical, sides that extend deep under water. He explained the problem was that these aren't really sounds, they're really fjords. A sound is actually the term given to a water-filled valley that has been carved out by the sea and the sea alone, leaving a valley with sloping sides that also form a sloping sea floor.

The reason that Fiordland has its fjords incorrectly labeled as sounds can be blamed on a certain Captain Cook. When he discovered these wonderful lands named them as sounds, the reason for this being that he'd only encountered sounds before in Denmark and the term fjord did not exist yet in his vocabulary.

It was another early start today as we'd booked ourselves on a 9:30am cruise at Milford Sound. It takes around 2 hours to drive from Te Anau to Milford so we set out once again before the sun had shown itself.

As usual we'd planned a stop or two along the way and by the time we found the first one the sun was just coming up.

Mirror Lakes is a short stop off which is literally at the side of the road. It's a picturesque little place which is said to offer a near perfect reflection of the mountains in the lake due to the calm nature of the water. In fact somebody has even place a sign here which when reflected in the water reads "Mirror Lakes", funnily enough.

The going here is good as a boardwalk has been provided which runs parallel with the road alongside the lake. You should allow around 10-15 mins to soak up the atmosphere here before moving on and I'd recommend coming here first thing in the morning as later in the day it becomes quite busy.

Quite a bit further along the road our next stop off was pretty short too, well really we only stopped for as long as the traffic lights took to change!

The Homer Tunnel is a man-made feat of engineering set amongst the natural glory of the Hollyford Valley. It's a rough-hewn 1200m long tunnel with a 1 in 10 gradient which was begun in 1935 and took 18 years to complete. Before 1953 there was no way for traffic to get to Milford and the tunnel was heralded as a success.

Driving through it is an experience in itself. It really is like no tunnel I'd ever driven through before and I think this was mainly due to the rough, hacked out nature of the walls which drip and ooze water from every pore. You will need to use your windshield wipers in here, that's for sure. It's also narrow, dingy and dark with only a few passing places. Luckily the traffic light system operates for most of the day so you shouldn't have to worry about any oncoming tour buses taking you out.

The section of road immediately following the Homer Tunnel is one of the world's most avalanche prone and often gets closed due to snow at just about any time of year. As a precaution it's always best to listen to the local radio in the morning before you travel on the road, at least then you'll know if there are problems before you set off.

Milford Sound itself is a very small place with very little on offer apart from the allure of the sound itself. There is a cafe here but it's a bit of a tourist trap and appeared to be very pricey. The same goes for the petrol here, if you need fuel get it in Te Anau before you set off.

Parking at Milford Sound is not a problem so you don't have to worry about leaving your car on the street for the best part of a day.

The single biggest thing in Milford is of course the ferry terminal, which in all accounts to my mind seemed bigger than the one for the crossing between the north and south islands. It's here you'll find all the tour operators which have a license for trips on the sound itself.

There are 3 tour operators to pick from; Mitre Peak Cruises, Real Journeys and Red Boat Cruises. We chose Real Journeys as they offered a 3 tour discount which included a half day on Milford Sound, a full day on Doubtful Sound and a night tour of the Te Anau Gloworm Caves.

Real Journeys seem to be the biggest tour operator in the area and as such they offer all kinds of tours. They also run some of the biggest tour boats on the sounds and we were a little worried that that would be too large, too impersonal and too full to get a decent view. Luckily they also run a much smaller boat, the MV Friendship which only holds a maximun of 40 passengers so we decided this was the tour for us.

Sat alongside all the other monster ships the MV Friendship looked like a plankton compared to a whale but we were pleased with our choice and climbing on board it was soon apparent that everybody could get a seat if they wanted it, which was great and unheard of on many of these tours.

Today we'd been sensible and brought a bundle of food along with us, but if you so desire you can book a lunch in advance to be provided by Real Journeys, for a price of course.

Lunch for many would not be served until a couple of hours into the trip, but we'd brought enough food for the whole day and caught quite a few hungry glances as we began to tuck into our boysenberry danishes! There is free tea and coffee for all though and there is a constant supply of it too which you just help yourself to.

Milford Sound itself is stunning. It's truly difficult to imagine the immense scale of the mountains each side of you as the boat slowly makes it's way out towards the sea, you feel dwarfed, floating amongst a sea of giants.

The tallest giant is Mitre Peak which stands at 1694m. Sitting at its base in our tiny boat it was difficult to see the resemblance to the bishops mitre that it is named after, humbling as it may be.

I'm not going to write any more about Milford Sound, as it really is all about the scenery and we have a bunch of pictures that explain visually what I could never type. Yes I could talk about Milford Sound's underwater observatory, but we decided to stay on the boat to look at more scenery instead of going there so I have nothing to say on the matter anyway apart from the fact that it exists.

Clouds just seem to hug the mountains here at Milford Sound

One of the Red Boat cruiseships head out into the sound

Our boat gets itself under one of the fantastic waterfalls and catches a few passengers out. They'll learn!

Waterfalls don't come much more spectacular than this.

Mitre Peak in all its glory.

Heading back from Milford in the early afternoon meant we had the rest of the day to explore some more highlights of the stunning Milford Road. As so often happens in both Milford and Doubtful Sounds it had now begun to rain and what had started out as a sunny, clear day had now turned into a drab grey one instead.

After going back through the Homer Tunnel we pulled into a car park immediately after the tunnel's exit. There is a short 30 minute walk here which we really wanted to do but the weather was so miserable by now that it had put us completely off the idea.

We did get out of the car however to inspect the information board at the head of the tunnel and whilst we were doing so noticed a bit of a rucus going on at the front of the queue of traffic waiting for the lights to change. Sitting atop the first car was a kea, pecking at the roof. The people in the car tried everything to get the clever bird off but it was having none of it. Concerned for the birds safety the driver pulled the car into the car park with a view to getting rid of the bird, what he failed to see however was another 2 keas waddling along after the car into the car park.

The Homer tunnel is apparently a favourite home for the keas, the main reason that I could see for this is the fact that they prey on cars and their passengers until they get fed, which is a big no-no as the more you feed them the worse they get.

After driving around the car park a few times the keas got bored and moved onto another car further down the queue. Fortunately they didn't pick on us, I guess we just smelled bad or something because they seemed quite happy to pick on everyone else.

We drove around 10km further along the Milford Road and parked up at another car park, this time sans keas. Here we did a short 15 min return walk to a unique waterfall called The Chasm. By this time the rain had pretty much dried up again, thankfully.

A bridge takes you to a viewing point above the Cleddau River where The Chasm itself roars beneath you. The rock around The Chasm is very soft and the water has bored its way through it over time creating a swiss cheese kind of look, with water still gushing out of the holes it's made over the years. It's an amazing spectacle.

A bit futher along the road and we found our final walk of the day. Walking up to Lake Marian is about a 3 hour round trip, if you're fit that is. This is much more of a scramble than a walk, particularly for us. The going here is definately not easy and there's even one point in the walk where you jump across a river bed and then literally haul yourself up the side of a tree to get out the other side. It's hard going but it is worth it in the end.

Lake Marian is a glacier lake cut into the top of a mountain and even though it's a popular walk it is really peaceful up there. The trouble is it's so nice, particularly after the tough trip up there we really didn't want to leave. My advice is that when you do the walk make sure you have enough time rest, enjoy and to get back down again before it gets dark as this is one walk you really can't rush.

Driving back to our pretty little cabin we could feel the weight of the day starting to take its toll, but I did still stop the car one more time at the side of the road to take a shot which really just about summed the day up.

Day 16 - The road to Te Anau

2006-06-27T11:49:00.000+00:00

The sun was up today before we hit the road, not before we got up but before we hit the road at least. Today was all about the drive you see, with little to see en-route as such save for Queenstown and the surrounding area which we would be coming back to at the end of the holiday.

The journey from Haast to Te Anau is around 5 hours, longer if you stop off somewhere like we did.

The first stretch of the journey is between Haast and Wanaka and is known as the Haast Pass.

For the most part it's a really pretty drive and there are a couple of short stops along the way, not that far from Haast which are worth a quick look.

Thunder Creek Falls is a short 10 minute, easy-going walk from the side of the main highway about 20-25 minutes south of Haast. It's easy to find, you can't miss it and a waterfall is always worth a photo or two.

Shortly after Thunder Creek you come across the Roaring Billy. Located on a corner just before a bridge this is quite a busy tourist spot and there is limited parking as some people park here for a while to do a walk to the bottom of the falls. It's one of those places where if you stop briefly just to have a quick look there isn't really a kodak moment, to get that you need to do the walk but then there is that incredible noise. I should explain that 'Roaring Bily' is the name of another waterfall which gushes from a man-made spout out into the Haast river way down below. The sound is deafening, much like the Huka Falls only somehow more 'tuned'.

We didn't make anymore stops until we hit Wanaka, which was our early lunch port of call for the day.

The lakeside town of Wanaka has the feel and vibe of the upcoming Queenstown but without the hustle and bustle. It's relaxing atmosphere is somewhat calmed even further by the shores of the Lake Wanaka watched-over and protected by the Mount Aspiring mountain range surrounding the lake itself.

Wanaka has a high concentration of cafes, restaurants and curious shops. It's a great place to stop off for a couple of hours to break the journey. In truth you could actually while away an entire day here, particularly if the weather is nice as there are plenty of walks and activities which begin here.

After lunch we got ourselves on the road again and it wasn't long before we brushed along the outskirts of Queenstown. The first evidence of being in the heart of adventure kingdom came from Mr. Adventure himself A.J. Hackett and the roots of his empire built upon the edge of the Kawarau River.

The bridge that spans the river is home to the worlds first commercial bungy jump established in 1988. Entry is free for all and there is a viewing gantry which enables the public en-mass to watch the "lemmings" chucking themselves off the bridge one after another but if you want to jump that'll cost you around $140. It's fascinating to watch and the more you watch the more that little adventurous person trapped within your mind tell's you "go on, have a go, you know you want to". As the draw of the edge of a clifftop drags your curiosity towards it, the same can be said of A.J. Hacketts bungy, yet for us the sane part of our brain kicked in and we quickly scrurried back to our car before we changed our mind.

Strangely my fear of heights was part of my brain's encouragement to do it, maybe it would have been the ultimate way of conquering a fear. Certainly as people walk towards the edge with their ankles strapped onto a very stong bit of elastic they don't get a chance to change their minds, oh no, by that time it is too late and after the guys do a countdown from 5 if you don't jump you get a helping hand so that you don't hold the queue up for too long with your dilly-dallying.

Here's a lemming taking the plunge.

Just around the corner from here is Queenstown and the main road cuts between Queenstown airport and the town itself. The holiday had been so quiet and peaceful until now. As we passed over the roundabout at the top of the main street we suddenly realised where all the tourists in New Zealand were... they were here, in Queenstown. We didn't stop in Queenstown this time as we would be returning here properly in a few days time, we just stopped at the side of the road when we saw a breathtaking view of Queenstown in the valley below.

The road leading out of Queenstown is spectacular. It skirts the bottom of The Remarkables, the mountain range surrounding Queenstown, and it would be the first time we'd really appreciated snow-capped mountain peaks this holiday. As a result of this we stopped frequently for photos. On the other side of the road is Lake Wakatipu providing yet more glorious views.

The road from Queenstown to Te Anau is yet another pretty drive taking you through beautiful scenery and little 'frontier-style' towns. Many people choose to stay in Queenstown and then do a day trip to the Sounds and Te Anau. Let me tell you these people are mad. Insane. Nuts. It's a five hour drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound, you'd spend most of the day just travelling! If you can, and time will afford it you are much better off staying in Te Anau which is a good halfway point between the 2 places and also close to Doubtful Sound if you are planning to do that as well.

Based in the heart of Fiordland we worried initially that Te Anau would be a small town with very little to do, particularly as we'd be spending 4 nights there but let me reassure you that isn't the case. With all the things there are to do around here you'll never get bored, plus there are plenty of places to eat and drink. Heck there is even a cinema.

We stayed just outside the township at a place called Blue Thistle Cottages. This is a small collection of individual cottages built on top of a little hill overlooking Te Anau, and as we drove up the driveway Kate was wishing that we would be staying in the cottage right on the edge of the hill with the best views. Our wishes rarely come true but this time they did.

The view from outside our cabin.

What a truly fantastic place to stay. The cottages are immaculately decorated, each with their own kitchen/diner, lounge (with free Sky and internet access), bedroom and bathroom. It's owned and run by Annette and Peter Gardiner, two of the friendliest hosts we met over there.

Yes, it was expensive but the price does vary depending on the season and it is worth every penny. This was our favourite place to stay in all of New Zealand, if you are planning to stay in Te Anau have a look at Blue Thistle first, you won't be disappointed.

After quickly settling in it was such a glorious evening we decided to go straight into town to get a feel of the place. After a few minutes wandering around Kate noticed a tourism office offering scenic flights over Milford Sound. Now as you may remember from yesterday we'd missed out on the glacier flight due to bad weather and Kate was determined that it wasn't going to happen again. How right she was too as the rest of our time here would be a period of unpredictable weather that the tours would not fly in.

The tour office overlooking Lake Te Anau was very helpful and they got us booked on a flight due to board in just 30 mins with a company just across the road called Wings and Water. These people don't have a website and to be honest you don't need to book in advance mainly due to the problems with the weather. Just turn up on the day and make a booking. Even though the weather was good there was still one other little thing which may have stopped us from getting in the air and that was the need for more people. These are little planes and at maximum capacity can only hold 5 passengers, and any less than 4 meant they wouldn't run the tour.

The tour agent said she would do her best to find more people and told us to go and wait on the pier where the plane was kept. We duly did this, hoping to not get our scenic flight dreams canned again. Once there the pilot greeted and informed us that they were still waiting for another couple to buy the tour and gave us the option of doing a Doubtful Sound overflight instead as he had people waiting for that one already. As tempting as the offer was, especially when he dropped the price that tour wasn't the one we wanted and we stuck to our guns. At the 11th hour our ship came in, in the form of a couple and their young son who like us had seen the weather when they arrived in Te Anau and dashed down to try and get a flight.

Our luck was in and as we took off from the water we couldn't help but feel sorry for the other couple not getting their Doubtful Sound flight but as it turned out they would get lucky after all later that evening.

The flight itself was truly spectacular, if a little hairy at times. With the plane being so small it doesn't take much before it gets buffetted around in the wind. I found this quite fun but I did feel sorry for the other male passenger who was looking a little green around the gills.

The tour felt very personal and we all had headsets with microphones so we could talk with the pilot and ask questions but mostly our jaws were constantly agape looking out across the mountainous areas that form the Sounds. It really is a vast area, something you don't fully appreciate when doing just a boat tour.

A tiny speck of a large tour boat on Milford Sound.

Things like lakes high atop mountains, the treeline which magically stops 200m below the mountaintops and feeling of the immense volcanic power which forced these huge rocks out of the earth.

We were so pleased that we'd missed out on the glacier flight as if we'd done it we couldn't have afforded to do this one and I just got the impression that the Milford Sound overflight was 100 times better. A gut feeling I know, but when we came back down to earth we'd left our hearts in the sky above Milford.

Dinner that night was just a simple pizza in a cafe. Nothing special, then again everything was suddenly pale in comparisson to our experience that day.

Day 15 - Fox's Glacier Stint

2006-06-21T20:13:00.000+00:00

It's dark, it's all so very dark. 4.45am the alarm goes off, disoriented I roll out of bed... straight into a wall. The woman on the reception had warned us it was a small room, how right she was. We had a 5:45 deadline to be at the Mirror Lake for sunrise (even though sunrise wouldn't be until 6:30... yeah I know, all will be revealed), and with a 30-40 minute journey ahead of us there was no time for anything. Showering - luxury. Clean clothes - luxury. Breakfast - erm, well ok I made time for a quick snackette and hey the tiny little room even had a fridge! What it lacked however was any eating implements so I ended up spreading manuka honey on my bread using the tools God attached to the end of my palm. Either way it was better than nothing. A shower would wait as we would be returning to the hotel later that morning.

With no traffic on the road it took us only 30 minutes to get to our destination, a route which took us through the outskirts of Fox Glacier which would be a stop-off later in the day. There would be a lot of re-treading of trodden ground on this day.

We arrived at Lake Matheson, aka the Mirror Lake around 5:30. Surprisingly we weren't the only fools out at this time of day, some people had camped here. Not that they were up yet, and who could blame them as it was still dark outside. Sunrise wouldn't happen for over an hour but we knew from our research that it takes around an hour to walk from the car park to get to the best spot at the side of the lake to take photos.

As we pulled into the car park and turned the engine off we were greeted by a blood curdling squealing. It was all around us, kind of like the built-in sound demo you get with a surround sound system, sitting in the car we didn't know quite what to make of it. Eventually curiosity got the better of me and went to the boot/trunk to get our torch. As I leant into the trunk something scurried past my leg, closely followed by something whizzing past my ear so close I could feel a breeze.

Squeal! Squeal! Squeal! Hurriedly I switched the torch on and was completely amazed by what I saw. Scurrying around the ground were 20-30 Possums, being chased by airborne prey in the form of as many Kias! Now as far as we could make out the kias didn't seem to be attacking the possums, really all they seemed to be doing was playing with them, chasing them, bowling them over and then letting them struggle to their feet before it would start all over again. I couldn't believe it, the kias were just trying to have a bit of fun at the possums expense!

Seeing the devastation possums do to the vegetation over there I'd never have thought of myself siding with a possum but after seeing one mentally tortured by a kia I actually felt sorry for the little blighters... if only for a moment at least.

Leaving the trauma behind we headed off into the darkness only to be given yet another fright as we left the car park, "Going to catch the sunrise?" said a voice from nowhere.

"Erm... yes..." we replied cautiously, peering into the pitch black to see where the voice was coming from. Suddenly a bobbing light appeared from the darkness, attached to the head of a young man, "Good morning for it!" he chirped. It turned out he was traveling around NZ too albeit in a slightly more haphazard fashion and last night he'd slept in an old shelter at the side of the car park. He explained that wherever he stays he has to leave before the sun rises to avoid being caught. He'd already seen a sunrise and also a sunset here and gave us a couple of tips on where the best views were before we left him to his packing.

As you walk down from the car park the path forks, one direction leads into the woods and the other to the right across a small bridge towards an open space. Stay on the main path (the left fork), as it is a quicker route to the best views and if you end up doing the full lake circuit you'll end up coming back via the right fork anyway.

It wasn't long before the ambient light level started to improve and we quickened our pace to get to the first photo stop before the sun crested. At a brisk pace this journey took us 25 minutes, but at a normal pace this could easily be 40.

We arrived just at the right time, whipped the tripod out an settled down for 10 minutes to watch the glorious colours forming across the lake. It's easy to understand why this place is called the mirror lake, the water is just so still and peaceful.

The changing colours of the surise over Lake Matheson.

After filling our hearts and our memory cards we moved on. The walk from here isn't quite as easy going but it still wasn't bad and again at a quick pace we managed this next leg in around 20 minutes.

This place is known as Reflection Island, so called because a man-made deck takes you out to a viewing point in the middle of the water. It's incredibly peaceful here and on a really clear day you would get magnificent reflections of Mount Cook in the water. It was a little bit misty for us so unfortunately this wasn't a view we could make the most of. Even so it was still very pretty and there was seating here so we could rest for a while and take it all in.

The rest of the circular path is pretty uneventful, it's a nice walk and that's just about it. As we headed back to the car the day's tour parties started to arrive and a flood of people began to descend on the area. I couldn't help but wonder what they would make of it because as the sun rose the whole area seemed to lose its magic and even the water wasn't so still and reflective anymore.

For the tired and hungry traveller there is a cafe located next to the car park which should be open by the time you get back from your sunrise walk. Unfortunately for us that didn't figure in our plans for the day, and after a slightly longer 40 minute drive we found ourselves back in Franz Josef again.

It was turning into a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky and we'd decided on the previous day that if the weather was good we'd try and book onto a flight over the glaciers and Mount Cook. Mt Cook was somewhere which unfortunately we couldn't fit in for a closer visit as even though you can see it from the west coast the only access road to it begins in the east.

So upon arriving back in FJ we found ourselves a tour company that did such a flight. Mount Cook Ski Planes offer a number of different scenic flights at quite reasonable prices and as they only operate small planes you are guaranteed a window seat with a total of around 5-6 passengers. After enquiring we were told that there was an 11am flight which covered the glaciers and Mt Cook, so we booked it thinking we'd have plenty of time to check out of the hotel and maybe have a short walk somewhere.

A quick shower and a freshen up later we headed off for our first walk of the day. The Canavans Knob track is 20 minute easy climb through rainforest, culminating in supposed glacier and coastal views. Surviving the forming of the glacier 9000 years ago the knob is basically an ancient granite lump with deep soils covering the rock which have allowed and supported the ever growing rainforest canopy.

The walk is located some 2km south of FJ. Head over the bridge south of the township, follow the corner round to the right and you should find yourself on a very straight road, Canavans Knob track is found 1km along on the right hand side.

Whilst the walk is quite nice, the views are somewhat overgrown and unspectacular with the final view looking out towards the Tasman sea being a particular disappointment. There are better walks in the area but not many that are so short and to be honest it's only a disappointment compared to the amazing sights we'd been seeing in the area, stick this walk anywhere else in the world and it would be recommended.

One last thing, the walk gets its slightly bizarre name from a prominent businessman at the height of the gold rush. Richard Canavan walked through Franz Josef in 1872 with Sir William Fox, the New Zealand Premier at that time, somebody who we won't be hearing the last of on this day.

11am back in FJ and disappointment struck again as our scenic flight had to be cancelled due to bad weather. Bad weather?!? It was glorious sunshine, with no wind nor sign of rain! Apparently a front had moved in over Mount Cook and was causing a crosswind, thus ruling out that part of the flight. As that was the bit we really wanted we decided not take them up on the offer of just a glacier overflight. Finally the changeable NZ weather had stopped us doing something, which as it turned out was all for the best as you will discover on the next day.

Disappointed we headed back to Fox Glacier area again to a lovely viewpoint about 2km down Glacier rd (just off the main road at Fox township). On a clear day from here you get fantastic views of the glacier and also Mount Cook in the distance, there's even a handy large compass here to help you get your bearings.

Whilst the sun was still shining we headed off to do our first walk at Fox, the Fox Glacier Valley Walk. You can find this walk 2km south of the township, the entrance to the car park being on the left just before the Fox River bridge. Driving down into the car park looks like you are driving into the heart of a quarry, especially with all the heavy machinery that was there doing renovation when we visited.

For the most part this is quite an easy going walk, if you can make it past the steep incline which leads out of the car park that is! There were many people struggling on this slope, particularly with it being slightly wet and slippy, getting up is one thing, coming back down again is quite another and it's definitely not recommended for those people who are a little unsteady on their legs.

It takes 5 minutes to get to the top of this incline, but once there you are treated to a spectacular view of the glacier. Walk for another 25 mins and you reach the end of the track, right at the terminal face. It's stunning. The guide books say it's a 1 hour return trip but really on a nice day when you get there you are just going to want to stay for a while to appreciate it fully. We found a spot on a handy rock (of which there are a few!), and sat at what I would guess to be around 30-40m away from the terminal face. The silence here is deafening, only disturbed every 5 minutes or so by a cracking noise and then a thud as lumps of ice randomly plummet off the edge. We could've sat there forever in complete awe at the spectacle we were witnessing... plus we really didn't fancy skidding our way down the slippery slide back to the car park.

At the glacier terminal, with the glacier mouth on the bottom right

The "mouth" of the glacier in all its glory.

Lunchtime and Fox Township has its fair share of eateries, well 4 or 5 at least. We chose Cafe Neve mainly because it served light lunches and a good range of toasted sandwiches. The wind had suddenly picked up which meant we didn't fancy eating outside, luckily we found ourselves a window seat indoors and watched out of the window in amusement at the other patrons trying to keep their napkins and everything else on their tables. We knew is was getting bad when the shop sandwich board collapsed and pirouetted into the road.

After lunch we hit the shops in Fox... which took about 10 minutes. It really is a small place, even more so than Franz but it is unique and quite charming too, in a small frontier town kind of way.

Back to the activities: our next walk would be the last of the day. The Chalet Lookout track car park can be found on the left just after the Fox River bridge and is a tough at times 1.5 hour return. The strange wind which had whipped up so suddenly had disappeared now in much the same manner, even so most of this track is covered by rainforest so we would've had ample protection from the elements.

The walk begins easily with a steady climb along an old glacier access road built in 1937. About 20 minutes in we came across a massive bolder, mystically lodged into the mountainside, defying any kind of gravitational pull the earth can muster. Known to it's friends as 'Bivvy Rock', it actually provides a natural shelter beneath it's hulking mass for walkers and climbers, evidence of which can be found around the bottom, more sheltered underside of the boulder.

Another 20 minutes on and we came across a surprise, a large, mainly dry riverbed. When I say large I mean large, large and wide. We stood looking at it, particularly the wet, fast flowing bit in the middle not quite sure how we should get across, if indeed we should be getting across when we saw an orange arrow far away on the other side showing the way. Crossing was not an easy task, even though most of it was dry we still had to attempt the stepping stone technique to get across the wet and still quite deep portion. We wondered just how the heck you get across in the wet season. Maybe you don't, who knows?

Then not 5 minutes after crossing one river we came across another one, even wider and even more awkward. This is another track which isn't as easy as the guidebooks may have you believe but if you can make it, it's worth it in the end.

The last stint takes you through another covering of rainforest before finally you come across a wooden stairway up to a deck with a stunning, almost unreal view of Fox Glacier. In fact here's a picture of us in that very location but it looks so fake that it could've been taken in a photo studio anywhere in the world. In reality the flash on the camera is to blame for this but with all the tree cover it's so dark that if you want a picture of yourselves you need to use it.

Oh I almost forgot, why is it called Fox Glacier? Well it's all to do with that chappy I mentioned earlier, William Fox. In 1872 the then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Sir William Fox named the glacier during a visit. Obviously unable to come up with anything else he named it after hiself, thus removing the glaciers Maori name forever. In Maori times the glacier was known as Te Moeka o Tuawe, which derived from an ancestor named Tu Awe who fell to his death while exploring the area.The riverbed here was his final resting place and the legend has it that as his lover Hine Hukatere wept, the bed of the valley filled with her everlasting tears of ice.

Although retreating throughout most of the last 100 years, it has been advancing since 1985 at an average of about a metre a day.

Back-tracking away from the viewpoint you can find the historic Chalet Hut site. The chalet doesn't exist anymore and is marked at a clearing where, less than 100 years ago you could look down at the glacier from within the chalet itself. Explorers and travellers such as William Fox would've stayed here and enjoyed wonderful hospitality whilst looking out upon the majestic glacier. Lucky, lucky people.

Returning to our car we hit the road again, heading towards our final destination of the day, Haast. Haast is a 2-2.5 hour drive from Fox, with only a couple of places of interest along the way featuring mainly coastal viewpoints. Looking out to the Tasman Sea from here goes to show just how rough the waters can be off this particular stretch of coastline. This is a good habitat for the Fiordland Crested Penguin and if you are visiting during breeding season between July-December make sure you have enough time to stop and check out the "locals". Needless to say we didn't see any, but I guess that's what you get for going when the weather is better!

Haast looks like a reasonably big place on the map, maybe even a major town as you head into the south-west. However arriving in Haast we were surprised to discover possibly one of the smallest, middle of nowhere places we had seen on our journey over in NZ. There is nothing here save for 2 hotels and a filling station. On arriving at our hotel, the World Heritage - Haast we were told that the restaurant wouldn't be opening that night as there wasn't enough guests in the hotel to justify it and the only place we could grab a meal would be in the bar. We were also warned to eat early as there was a big rugby game on that night and the bar would get busy. We didn't hold out much hope but rushed to our room, dumped our stuff and quickly ran to the bar as we didn't fancy missing out on a meal.

The bar felt very "local" and there was even a mass bunch of bikers having their weekly meeting outside on the veranda. We had no reason to worry though, as always everybody was really friend and most suprisingly of all the food was outstanding, much more like restaurant food than pub fare. The presentation was fantastic and the portions were much more "bar-sized", it was a winner all round!

Haast is a stop off point, nothing more. If you are into wildlife then it's located in a massive nature reserve and there is plenty for you to get your kicks from, if however you're like us and have somewhere else to get to it's a good place to get a nights kip.

Day 14 - Hokitika to Franz Josef

2006-06-11T08:03:00.000+00:00

This was the day I'd been looking forward to all holiday, even so my feelings were a mixture of excitement and apprehension. Today's main event was a heli-hike on Franz Josef Glacier. I'd never been in a helicopter before, nor walked on ice so it would be new experiences all-round. That's later though.

Today was another pre-dawn start to catch the sunrise, the weather was dry and calm so we were expecting a good one.

Lake Kaniere Scenic Reserve was our first port of call for the day as it is only a 15 minute drive from Hokitika. We'd heard little about it but it was mentioned in the Rough Guide as an area featuring some of the best bush scenery around. As all we wanted was a lovely setting for a sunrise we figured we couldn't really go wrong, plus we were looking for something to fill enough time but enable us to still drive comfortably to Franz Josef in time for our heli-hike at midday.

The scenic reserve offers visitors opportunities for picnicking, walks, swimming, boating and camping. We arrived just as the sun was cresting on the horizon. The difference between this place and some of the other places we'd traveled to for a sunrise was that it was deserted, not a soul to be seen. The feeling that we had a whole scenic reserve to ourselves was somewhat humbling, yes there were houses dotted at one end of the lake but with the occupants not yet risen we felt like the only people on the planet.

There's a gravel road which runs around the perimeter of the lake, which we chose to follow. We knew because of the road surface and size of the lake that we wouldn't make it the whole way round but there was a couple of short walks that we wanted to do. Now I should mention here that the road surface, whilst being quite new and well laid is in fact created from large stone material which is normally used as a base layer for asphalt.

The problem with it is that unless you have a 4x4 you really can't travel on it above 5mph as it can be pretty damaging to both tyres and suspension, and if you're anything like us you really don't fancy knackering your vehicle mid-holiday.

So be warned, a trip around here can take much longer than anticipated. There are no other roads, this is the only one so make a note of the time you start on the road, then you can at least work out how long it will take you to get back to the beginning.

Some 20 minutes along the road we found our first stop. Here a small lay-by has a short path opposite which culminates in a pool at the base of the Dorothy Falls. The light levels were too low for any real photo opportunities, and we'd left our tripod in the boot of the car. I did manage to get this shot by resting my camera on a handy rock though.

It's a 5 minute return trip.

From the same lay-by is another path which leads to Canoe Cove, a pretty little area at the waters edge, looking back towards the beginning of our trip. 10 minutes return.

People bringing animals here should be warned that the forested areas had vermin control in the form of poison. This is well signposted and was our first experience of NZ's great possum "damage-limitation" plan.

We drove on for another 10 minutes and then realised it would take another 30 to get back to the start and sadly at this point we had to turn the car around and head onwards to our next destination for our appointment. It's about an hours drive from Hokitika to Franz Josef.

Franz Josef is a tiny little town dominated and overlooked by a towering glacier. Situated each side of the main through road FJ is mainly a handful of restaurants, a supermarket and a bunch of tourism agents. In the back roads is a range of accommodation and residential streets.

Most importantly there is a fuel station here. Take heed of this as from this point on filling stations are few and far between, and it's wise to fill up when you spot one in a slightly larger town as the ones that you do find dotted along the highway are always over-priced.

We had a little time before our booking, but not enough to go sit in a cafe so we bought a couple of pies and a drink from the supermarket. Whatever you do don't do the same as the pies from here were truly awful and can only be described as plain dirty.

The heli hike was probably the most anticipated highlight of our NZ trip. There is only one company offering glacier walking tours, the long established Franz Josef Glacier Guides. They offer a whole range of different trips to the glacier, from 3 hours to a full day hike. We chose the 3 hour one, mainly due to our usual time limitation and our relative inexperience, not that this would have been a problem as we discovered later. It had been recommended by some friends of ours that had done it two years previous and our itinerary had deliberately lead us down the west side of the South Island to give us this opportunity which we will probably never experience again.

The concept is simple and thrilling. You are flown midway up the glacier by helicopter and are dropped off just below the main iceflow. Here you are guided around some spectacular and unique icy terrain on foot. The tour is very dependent on good weather conditions, it doesn't have to be sunny but the slightest bit of wind or rain causes them to cancel it. As the weather has been so terrible in Hokitika the day before we had slightly resigned ourselves to the fact that there was a strong possibility that the trip might have to be cancelled and we were prepared for this disappointment. However, on arrival at the tours main office in FranzJosef we were thrilled to find out that although the weather was not ideal and visibility might be reduced on the glacier, it was still going ahead.

There are two places to do a glacier heli-hike in NZ, and both of these are within spitting distance of each other, with the other option being at Fox Glacier. We had researched the best heli hike tour for us to partake in and following recommendations from various sources we were informed that the Franz Josef Glacier was the place to do it.

We had come prepared for the cold with our warm thermal tops and even thermal trousers. As it turns out this was a little over the top for summer months but a few layers on your top half is definitely advisable. If the sun is out on Franz the temperature up on the glacier is sweltering.

From the office in Franz Josef you hurriedly board a bus... which takes you all of 100 yards to the air strip where we started to kit ourselves up for the adventure.

You are supplied with thick socks and boots, crampons (spikes for your boots), and if desired hat, gloves and waterproof coat. Be warned that the water-proof coat Kate borrowed smelt like a wet dog but it was a godsend nonetheless.

It was a mixed group that was joining us on the trip, different nationalities and differing ages. We were talking to one mother, who with her son and daughter had come on this trip after the death of her husband. I would guess that this lady was in her early 60s and shortly after the start of her holiday had been hospitalized due to an allergic reaction of some short - nevertheless since that point she had done any dangerous sport activity going including throwing herself out of an aeroplane. Whether it was grief spurring her on or not you couldn't help admire her bravery. She wasn't that great on her legs either but managed all the same. This was all the more proof of the tour guides great ability both at finding the easiest path and also cutting a safe passage across the ice.

At this point in preparation for our helicopter journey we were divided into smaller groups of 6-7 people and all asked to give our weight so that they could calculate an even spread of people not only in the groups but also actually within the helicopter itself. They were actually very particular about these calculations and after dishing out a high factor sunscreen (seemingly important on sunny days), we were eventually geared up and ready to fly.

The advantage of flying in a helicopter is a relatively smooth take off and landing, unlike a conventional plane. As soon as we were up in the air the friendly pilot offered us the opportunity for a scenic or more exhilarating flight up to the glacier. Kate remained silent but the rest of us opted for the latter suggestion so she quietly tried to hold on to her stomach. In fact it was rather exciting as we swung from side to side along with some informative commentary about glaciers from the pilot. It was awesome (sorry, but it was), and now I can't wait until the next time I get to go in a helicopter again.

Here's a bit of video I captured during the flight.

We landed on the "helipad" on the glacier. This consisted of a 3 metre square of scraped ice which they carved out every week or so, the reason for this being the glacier is constantly moving downhill at a rate of 2 metres per day. Upon arrival our first task was to attach our spikes to our shoes and start to gain our confidence for walking on the ice. Amazing enough even after 3 or 4 steps you start to realize that with the spikes you really are very secure in your footings and we had no hesitation in walking, running and jumping on the ice - to varying degrees of course.

Walking on the glacier was truly magical and breathtaking - there are no other better ways to describe the experience. Until you actually stand on the glacier you really don't get any appreciation of the true scale of it all. We were dwarfed by it, like ants trying to scale an ice spillage from the freezer.

Every photo of us features large soppy grins on our faces and child-like excitement in our eyes.

Look very closely at the image to the right and see if you can spot the "ant" tour party (for those who can't be bothered to search they're in the lower right third).

The guide took us through the basics of the glaciers, how it had retracted and had growth spurts over the years, history of tourism on the ice etc... At the same time with a pick ice he carved steps (yes, real steps!), in the ice for us to walk on and showed us marvelous formations in the ice which included us walking through ice ravines, squeezing through ice caves and posing for photographs as we went along. The glacier changes so often though that a wonderful cave he took a party through on the previous day could quite well be gone and a new one formed elsewhere.

There are always a number of guides out on the ice at any one time, so if one makes an interesting discovery they radio all the others to let them know.

Two different ice caves, both large enough for us human
types to walk through.

Kate navigates an ice tunnel, one which we had to pull ourselves up through a small hole to reach the other side.

The colour of the ice is an incredible aquamarine blue, apparently the reason behind this is the way the sunlight reacts with the densely compacted ice. To the naked eye sunlight looks white, however we all know from our school days that light is really made up of all the colours of the rainbow. Each of the sun's colours have different amounts of energy in them and when the sunlight tries to go through the solid glacier ice crystals the sun gets broken up into lots of colours. Red and yellow have very little energy and the thick ice absorbs the red light more than it does the blue.

Just like with water, more red light is absorbed compared to blue and the blue light has enough extra energy to reflect back from the solid ice crystals without getting absorbed. This is why the only color people see is the blue color that escaped. Now, I'm a lighting cameraman and I know a fair amount about light but that was something I'd never thought of before this trip.

Long distance visibility was not great and got progressively worse over the 2 hours we were on the ice until right at the end it was drizzling with rain but this did not dampen any spirits. On the return trip we spied the full day hike making its way down the glacier as the rain started to get more heavy. It was at this point we were glad that we had opted for the half day excursion. On the return trip Kate got to sit in the front of the helicopter whilst old fatty and another couple were placed in the rear (it's all about weight distribution you see, and a helicopter needs a lot more weight in the rear).

I recommend this trip for everyone, it's not too hard going, there's spectacular scenery, and you'll experience things which you never dreamed of. It was worth every penny and the memories will last a lifetime.

After coming down from the hike we had a coffee in a simple Swiss chalet like cafe and then headed back to our hotel for the night, The Rainforest Backpackers Retreat.

On arrival the lady at the desk told us matter of factly after looking us up and down "You do realise it's only a small room?", as if to try and convince us to upgrade but continued to say regardless that there weren't any other rooms available anyhow. The room was actually fine for our needs but probably the smallest on the holiday. It was our only stay at a hostel during our time in NZ and despite the small room was pretty good. It was slightly noisier than most of the places we'd stayed at but then there are many more young people at places like this so it's expected.

There is not much to do of an evening in Franz Josef apart from the nightly screening of Flowing West - The Glacier Movie at the IMAX inspired HELIMAX. We decided to go to an early evening performance. Tucked away in the back of the Alpine Adventure Centre the cinema was of a reasonable size but there was only about 12 of us in the auditorium. The movie was by no means spectacular but there was some stunning imagery and a perspective of this area of glacier country of New Zealand that you can not appreciate from the ground. From a professional point of view though it is a little dated, with a hint of the 80's about it. If they asked I'd happily shoot a new one for them ;-)

After this we made our way straight to our intended eating location the Blue Ice Cafe. We got down there around 5:45pm and it was already getting busy, if I remember correctly they don't take bookings either so you really have to get there early to ensure a table. The reason for this is there aren't that many places in FJ that serve food at night so the ones that do get packed. We had a traditional lamb dish and it was not too shabby, however what looked really nice were the pizzas.

After dinner the weather was still a little wet but we decided we should walk the food off anyway, particularly as it was still daylight.

We drove to a deserted car park not far from the base of the glacier. Here there are a number of walks but as it was starting to get dark we chose the Sentinel Rock Walk as it was only a 20 min return.

This was an easy walk, some of it with stairs, which culminates in a viewing platform offering spectacular views of the glacier terminal (where the ice turns to water at the base). It's definitely worth it, particularly if you're at a loose end like we were.

After this we headed straight back to our accommodation, full but completely exhausted.

Me with a big soppy grin on my face (again), trying desperately not to slip and make an idiot of myself, and Kate with a big soppy grin and her coat featuring eau de wet dog.

Day 13 - Arthur's Pass

2006-05-29T17:54:00.000+00:00

6:30am. Another early start as we had an extremely long drive ahead of us and many places to stop along the way.

Today we were setting out across Arthur's Pass which is essentially the road that links Greymouth and Christchurch and goes through the village of Arthur's Pass which is famous for being New Zealand's highest town. It is reputed to be one of the country's most scenic drives and at and is the starting point for many spectacular short walks - a couple of which we hoped to tackle ourselves today.

A single-track bridge crossing what would be an expanse of water in winter:-

The clouds were high and some sun was breaking through which showed promise for being a dry day. I imagine at different times of year this drive would be breathtaking. Don't get me wrong it was still fantastic but I imagine the grandeur of the pass covered in a frosting of white snow would be an altogether humbling experience. As it stood on the day of our passage there were parts of the drive that were great vistas which were then interspersed with barren patches and interesting rocky formations.

The picture to the left shows a rocky part of Arthur's Pass which just had to have been a location for 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy. We have no proof for this but it did look all so familiar.

The following 3 images show how we were tracked and hunted down by a mysterious cloud during the early part of our journey across Arthur's Pass. Three separate places, same cloud. Weird.

Sometimes the road here just seems to go on forvever...

... It did eventually turn a corner, albeit only when it came across some water that it couldn't cross.

We arrived at Arthur's Pass around early lunchtime. Disappointingly by this time the weather had turned and it was starting to rain.

Arthur's Pass village consisted of two cafes, a ranger station and a general store with just a few other buildings offering accommodation spread sporadically around the vicinity.

Today it was a hive of activity - helicopter landings, parties of rangers, police and sniffer dogs. This was not the norm in Arthur's Pass, rather they were all here searching for the English woman I mentioned in yesterday's post. The alarm was raised when her rucksack was found on the trek but no sign of her whereabouts. It was certainly causing quite a commotion in the area and I was determined not to let Kate wander off out of sight in case foul play was involved.

The update to this story was that sadly a week or so later the woman's body was found and it is believed that she simply must fallen to her death.

As an attempt to shelter from the rain we headed straight for one of the cafes for a bite to eat. It was nasty and expensive and packed with tourists, but with very little choice what can you do. To make matters worse I bought Kate her favourite chocolate Dairy Milk to make up for the dismal lunch but this tasted foul also. Another bar at the tail end of the holiday was the same leading to the conclusion that somehow it was made differently over in New Zealand.

Unfortunately the rain didn't stop but we didn't come all this way to be deterred by rain - we're English of course! So we chose some short walks to tackle and were resigned to the fact that we were going to get very wet.

Our first walk was to culminate in the Devils Punchbowl Waterfall. This is a 1 hour return tramp and not too difficult. There are however quite a few steps to negotiate so don't expect it to be a complete breeze.

This is obviously one of the most popular walks and as a result much of the pathway here is properly maintained and some of it even has a wooden stairway. The end result is a reasonably dramatic waterfall the top of which can actually be seen from the main road, but a walk to the base of the waterfall is well worth doing in any weather, at any time of the year. There is even a viewing platform at the end, which when we visited was full of an adventure tour party having their photos taken in front of the gushing water. Not a peaceful tramp this one, but a good starter at least.

Returning back from the falls the path forks to the right just before the bridge back to the car park. This walk leads to Bridal Veil Creek and is approximately 1-2 hours return depending on your ability.

The claim from the literature you get in the ranger station is that it's an easy valley walk, but be warned there are some difficult, narrow and slippy parts to navigate. We bumped into an elderly gentleman with a walking stick (not literally, we're not that cruel), and he seemed to be doing ok.

The track starts by going through mountain beech forest before starting to climb alongside the mountain. There are a couple of small bridges spanning valleys to cross and about 25 mins in there is also a view back to the village from a lookout, we couldn't see back though as it was too misty.

It's a nice walk but I think the disappointment came for us at the end when we discovered it doesn't really lead anywhere apart from branching into another couple of tracks (day long ones mind, so there was no way we could carry on).

After a thorough soaking we continued in the car over the remainder of the pass. The weather remained bleak and the mountains shrouded in dark clouds. We briefly stopped at the Viaduct viewpoint and observed our first sighting of the infamous Keas before pushing on once again. No pictures here though as we couldn't really spend long enough out in the rain to get a decent shot of the birds.

The journey from here onwards was interesting but wet. As we continued beyond the viaduct the road steeply drops into a valley, cutting through the rocky mountain sides as it does so. What I found interesting here were the permanent waterfalls cascading down the mountains towards the road, whereby their flow is diverted over a man-made aquaduct. This carries the flow of water above the road and the flow of the traffic and allows it to cascade once again, continuing it's journey down the rest of the mountainside.

We had a couple more photo stops along the way but the rain pretty much put paid to the rest of our en-route sight-seeing and we eventually reached Hokitika around mid-afternoon.

Hokitika is a town which was first settled in 1860 after the discovery of gold on the West Coast. Although it still retains a frontier town look with its buildings it is now more famous for its greenstone or New Zealand Jade.

Our accommodation for the night was to be our cheapest in NZ. The Shining Star was an odd complex comprising of a mixture of motel, cabin and holiday park accommodation set overlooking the Tasman Sea. We booked a small ensuite cabin for the night. The first thing that struck us was that we were given a key to unlock the bathroom. It turns out that the same cabin is also rentable at a cheaper price but the toilet door remains shut. I wondered how many people had crumbled in frustration when confronted with the sight of an ensuite that they don't have the key for, and ended up paying the extra. I also wondered how many people had smashed the lock through sheer toilet desperation in the middle of the night.

The log cabin was very much reminiscent of a shed or a summer house but is was beautifully clean and spacious enough for a table and kitchen sink. It was a little on the chilly side but we found an electric radiator in the cupboard which soon warmed the room up. It was in fact fantastic value for money.

On the complex there was also the added extra of a miniature farm - complete with Alpacas, an Emu, Sheep, Goats, Ducks, a Newfoundland and an Old English Sheepdog. Mind you we saw little evidence of life as most the animals were taking shelter from the rain in little huts and barns built for them.

Despite the rain we thought we would head straight into the town centre to see what it offered, which was actually not a huge amount to be honest. We started with a cup of coffee in a tea house before looking around the more touristy shops selling mainly jewelry made from jade or the cheaper but similar looking greenstone.

To make up for the terrible weather I bought Kate a heart shaped necklace for her birthday, made of extravagant greenstone of course!

As the rain fell heavier we wandered around some of the restaurants to make a decision as to where we were going to eat that night. This took about 10 minutes as there really was only 3 or so that were worth looking at. There were a couple of nice ones but as we looked down the menu of a French-style restaurant the heavens really did open and made the decision for us. Tonight we'd be going no further than our cabin.

Grabbing some good old fashioned fish and chips from the local chippy (not a British homage thing, they really do have chippies over there), and a bottle of NZ red wine we headed back to eat at our cabin. I must mention before I move on the wealth of different kinds of fish available in the chip shop, much of which we'd never heard of and as there was no cod on the menu I had to embarrassingly ask the owner for advice. I really don't know what it was he recommended in the end, a "blue" something or other which was catch of the day but we took his advice and went home with it wrapped up in newspaper just like back in England.

When we got back to the cabin we set about dishing up the fish and chips, opening the can (yes a can!), of ketchup and pouring two large glasses of white New Zealand wine. Outside the wind was howling and the rain pouring but inside our snug cabin we felt stuffed, drunk and content as we watched 'The Blues Brothers' on the supplied TV.

Whilst we're on the subject of ketchup I must warn you of the most common brand you find over in NZ. 'Watties' ketchup has the look and branding of Heinz Ketchup but without any of the taste, it really is quite curious but ultimately cheap and nasty. Heinz can be found over there but it is often hidden in the supermarkets behind the locally produced Watties. Looking into it further it would appear Watties is part of Heinz World.

After the food the rain had slowed considerably so we thought we would take the opportunity to walk on the beach and enjoy the sunset. The beach was made from a dark sand and covered in an array of driftwood and stones, but what made it remarkable that night was the wind that was whipping up the sand into near enough a sand storm. You could barely walk unless you turned your back against the direction of the wind and the beach was littered with like-minded people walking backwards against the wind. A few photos of the setting sun later and we were hurrying back to the warmth of our cabin.

This video shows just what a sand storm was blowing across the beach.

The late movie, 'Aliens versus Predator' had now begun on the TV and we watched a little of it whilst we waited for the night to fall completely before venturing out again.

When it was dark enough the day was rounded off by a quick trip to the major tourist attraction of Hokitika - a visit to the local Glow Worm Dell. Well perhaps I exaggerate by calling it a MAJOR attraction but it was worth the visit for three reasons; it was free to enter, it was only across the road from our cabin and there is something truly magical to the experience.

It's a little weird and we felt a little uncomfortable walking into a pitch dark hole at the side of the road but we had at least armed ourselves with a torch first. The walk begins in a lay-by on the main road marked by a large signpost with a few critical details about glow worms i.e. Why do they glow? For those of you that are interested in the answer to this I can tell you from my vast knowledge acquired from the board that glow-worms only glow when they are hungry, the more hungry they are the brighter they glow. This attracts all kinds of insects into their waiting traps, they feed and then the glow disappears. The glow is caused by their digestive system giving off gases.

On with the walk, you then proceed up a fairly steep path in the pitch black. Even with our torch it was still an eerie experience as you can see very little and if you run into other people like we did you're bound to scare the crap out of both you and them as well.

At about 50m you abruptly come to the end of the path and a steep embankment. At this point switch off your torch and as if by magic as your eyes slowly become accustomed to the dark and what looks glittering stars appear from the darkness all around you. Glow-worms look similar to bright green LEDs but after closer inspection we convinced ourselves that they were in fact authentic glow worms doing as nature intended.

If you're lucky and you are the only ones there you can stand for hours in the peaceful silence just staring at the flickering lights in a hypnotic trance... We on the other hand soon got cold an went back to the warmth of the cabin and 'Aliens versus Predator'.

Day 12 - The Banks Peninsula

2006-05-26T11:50:00.000+00:00

This was a day of stunning scenery and changeable weather. During the course of the day we went from cloudy, grey and wet to bright glorious sunshine with blue skies. Doesn't make for great sightseeing conditions as such but it was a photographers paradise with dramatic skies around every corner.

By this time I had realised that breakfast was never going to be on the agenda and had stocked up with things like manuka honey and bread. When you have so little time in such a beautiful place a thing like breakfast does become a bit of a luxury, so whatever I could cram into my mouth before leaving the hotel/motel/cabin was all I was ever going to get.

We had researched our route around the Banks Peninsula in advance of our arrival in NZ. Not knowing what the roads were like in general in NZ we had been concerned that some of the roads around Banks were described as unsealed and only suitable for large 4-wheel drive vehicles. Kate was concerned that these might not be well signposted as such and we might end up down a dirt track in the middle of nowhere with just sheep for company. Yet despite this trepidation we set off, eager to explore.

The first stop was Lyttelton Harbour. Lyttelton Harbour is a tiny place consisting mainly of docks and very little else. We only stopped briefly here at the side of the road. Nothing was open as it was still before 9am but the working docks had just begun to kick into life. Lyttleton harbour cannot exactly be described as picturesque but it did have character derived from its rough and ready nature. For us Lyttelton was a nice to see and we were only there really because it linked up with a coastal road which would take us the pretty route down to Banks.

From here we followed the road which lead us past Govenors Bay and on to Diamond Harbour. The road takes you on the opposite side of the harbour to Lyttelton and allows views back across the water towards it. It's actually a very small area of coast as the crow files but when driving it could take 45 minutes to an hour with stops for photos.

The dramtically changing weather during this part of the day allowed us to get some fatastic shots across the bay, which we would have missed had we gone the quick route from Christchurch to Akaroa (route 75).

Disappointingly there isn't actually that much to see and do when you get to Diamond Harbour, particularly for us as when we reached there it had begun to rain. There are a few short walks and this is apparently a hotspot for spotting the worlds smallest and rarest dolphin, the Hectors Dolphin (I dunno who Hector was but he's got a bunch of Dolphins named after him), so on a clear day I'm sure it would've been better. If you have a 4WD vehicle you have the opportunity of continuing along the road here, and following it all the way around the peninsula to Akaroa. Our vehicle was nowhere near capable enough for this journey so we headed back the way we came, capturing a few more photos along the way.

I mentioned it fleetingly before that ultimate destination for the day was Akaroa which lies at the heart of the peninsula. Now here's a tip for people planning on doing the same journey. To get back onto the SH-75 without going back to Christchurch, as you head back instead of taking the road back towards Govenors Bay take the fork in the road signposted Gebbie's Pass. This is a great shortcut and can shave 30 mins off your trip.

Back on the SH-75 our journey took us through many beautiful bays and tranquil villages. We stopped every hundred yards or so to take photograph after photograph of the landscape which was formed as a result of violent eruptions from three ancient volcanoes.

Travelling along the SH75 the first town of note we came across was Little River. Little River is a very small comunity, with only a smattering of tourist facilities. There's a store which features a cafe, bar and bakery and also an arts and crafts shop. Other than that there isn't much on offer apart from the fact it's a pretty little town.

Carrying on from Little River the road eventually crests at the Hilltop Tavern and I recommend that everybody should just pull over into the car park for a moment and admire the view. From here you get your first real glimpse of what Banks Peninsula has to offer, and you can see exactly where your journey will take you in the next half hour.

The steep descent from here takes you down into Barry's Bay, at the beginning of Akaroa Harbour. Here you can find Barry's Bay Cheese Factory, a traditional dairy which had it's roots planted right after the original settlers moved in. Here you can sample some of the many cheeses on offer, there's nowhere to sit and eat which is a shame but you can buy a few provisions and eat them on the way back to you car, just like we did. It's worth a stop at least.

Here's another tip. Don't leave your left over cheese rind in the car, sorry Ezy I don't think we ever took ours out of the ashtray.

Finally we reached Akaroa, the site of the only attempted settlement by the French in New Zealand. By this stage the weather turned for the worse and it started to rain. We therefore decided to park up and find somewhere dry to get some lunch and a hot drink.

Up to this point we'd met very little traffic on the ever-winding roads which snake uphill and then downhill like a giant rollercoaster track. However everyone on the peninsula was in Akaroa. It took a while to find a parking space and then by pure chance we found a table in a popular little cafe which was otherwise filled with a senior citizen coach trip and residents from a local care home (harsh but true).

Akaroa is a bit of a tourist trap and gets very busy. We were lucky to find a table anywhere, and on a sunny day this wouldn't have been a problem. Akaroa is full of French-style cafes and deli's, getting a take-out and finding somewhere pretty to sit isn't usually a problem here.

We wandered through the rest of Akaroa which was pleasant enough despite the weather. The French influence is still evident in the street names and cuisine of many restaurants but I suspect it was a tourist draw rather than any real sense of French pride. Nevertheless the buildings were very quaint, vibrantly painted and featured an array of art galleries and gift shops to wander around. In nicer weather it is possible to take boat trips around the harbour and adjoining bays which I imagine to be worthwhile. However, today they were all cancelled due to the wind and rain. Again Hectors Dolphin can be found around the bay here and there is a couple of tour companies which leave from Akaroa Harbour and allow you to swim with the dolphins, if you missed it in Kaikoura that is.

Akaroa is a pretty little place and very different to anywhere else on NZ.

We popped into the local store here for some breakfast provisions, and whilst we were queuing up to pay got into a conversation with a local about a missing British tourist. Apparently a middle-aged woman had gone on a day-hike in Arthur's Pass, and simply hadn't turned up at the other end. She'd been gone for a few days now, and it was a mystery as to what had happened. Locally it was all the talk, and people were genuinely worried as things like this never seem to happen in this part of the world. It was a bit of a concern for us too as Arthur's Pass was to be tomorrow's journey.

Our route back to Christchurch followed a new set of twisting roads around the north side of the peninsula, known as the Summit Road.

The Summit Road is a fully sealed road but unlike the SH75 much of it is single track. This is a stunning drive and time should be allowed for it. We were very lucky in that the weather made a sudden change for the better and we could fully appreciate the amazing vistas on offer. If you are anything like us you'll be stopping every few minutes to admire the view and grab a sneaky photo. The road here climbs so high you get a real birds-eye view of what the shape of the peninsula really looks like, it's truly incredible.

There is even an occasional house built right up here on the peaks, and it has to be said they must awake every day to one of the most spectacular views the world has to offer.

There are a few roads that adjoin this one, many of which led down to some spectacularly deserted bays. If you fancy a bit of quiet time out here in NZ these are the bays to head for, I can almost guarantee that you'll either be alone on these stunning beaches or have one other couple so far away on the same stretch of beach that you'll never know they are there.

We visited Okains Bay, Little Akaroa Bay and also drove around the clifftops in the surrounding area.

Heading off down these roads travellers should be warned that they are unsealed roads (loose stone), and a 5km trip down to each of them could take 20-30 minutes as you have to drive so slowly and carefully.

Okains Bay is a pleasant beachy cove, with houses lining the edge of the grassy dunes which overlook the sea itself. You could spend a while here at this almost tropical looking beach and it even reminded us of a past holiday we enjoyed in Tobago. At this point in the day the sun had decided to come out with only a few white fluffy clouds in the sky. We dipped our feet in the ocean and wished we had a hour or two (and a picnic) to sit and truly appreciate this bay but alas we had to move on.

5 minutes back up the road there is a turing off to the right which leads to Little Akaroa Bay. This is a windy, cliff top drive which overlooks a couple of private bays, one with a farm right on the beach and is a nice, slow drive.

Little Akaroa Bay seemed slightly larger than Okains and as a result there were at least 3 people to be found sunbathing. Again it's a very pretty cove and time could be well spent there.

If you are desperate for a toilet break there are some "amusing" facilities down at Little Akaroa Bay. The "open air" toilets on offer here have no roof as such, but there is a tin sheet over the one cubicle. I was amazed by how clean the toilets actually were.

The rest of our journey took us through farmland that rolled out to the ocean, where cows and sheep had the greatest views imaginable, and past houses which perched alone on gently rounded hills overlooking spectacular coastland.

It was a long, exhausting drive but worth it in every way. There are a number of scenic drives you can do around Banks Peninsula, which are signposted along the way. We chose to create our own but if you want more details of the four scenic drives available you can check out the Banks Peninsula website.

We arrived back in Christchurch early evening time and headed straight out to an Indian restaurant 5 minutes down the road. We wondered if we should have booked in advance but our fears were not justified as apart from a couple that came in half way through our meal we were the restaurants only patrons. The food was reasonably priced and of a good standard. A good end to the day.

Day 11 - Christchurch

2006-05-21T13:23:00.000+00:00

Another early start but not quite like yesterday but our aim was to reach Christchurch early enough to give us most of the day to do the main sightseeing around the city.

It's a short trip really between the two places, not more than about 2 hours (and that's at NZ speeds). The drive south of Kaikoura is spectacular, probably one of the best drives we did over in NZ. For about 20 miles the road hugs the coastline and takes you alongside rocky beaches and through tunnels hollowed out of the mountainside. It's unmissable. We stopped a few times during this stretch with a whimsical idea of spotting some more dolphins but alas this wasn't to be the case and all we saw was the Dolphin Experience tour boats jetting across the water.

We had one "official" scheduled stop along the way at Cheviot and Gore Bay. Here we drove up he hill at the southern end of the beach to a view point overlooking "The Cathedrals". The Cathedrals are a set of cliff faces which through erosion were said to resemble pipes of a cathedral organ. They do as well. It's a bit like Bryce Canyon on a very small scale. It was a pleasant enough stop but nothing spectacular so we continued on our drive to Christchurch.

Our choice of motel here in Christchurch was perfect, both in terms of location and affordability. Bella Vista is a chain of motels over in NZ, but each one is a franchise and I guess some are great and some not so great depending on the owners.

We arrived at the motel around 10am but were fortunate enough to be able to check in straight away. As usual we were given a pint of milk from reception and had a nibble of the biscuits in the room. This was perhaps one of the smallest rooms we had during our stay but we were careful not to unpack much and for two nights it was hardly a problem and still had more than enough facilities - fridge, kettle, TV, ensuite etc... Actually the bathroom was almost as big as the bedroom, that is to say the bathroom was actually huge and we could've slept in there instead.

Christchurch is often described as reminiscent of the old English towns of Oxford and Cambridge with the Avon River flowing through the city centre. Almost every guide book features the stock image of a straw-hatted boater punting his passengers up the river, floating through the beautiful Christchurch Gardens. However we knew that we had a lot to see and do in our time here as although we were staying for two nights in the city we intended to drive out on an excursion on our second day.

Town was a short 15min walk away and with a map in our hands we decided to head straight out. Actually we didn't really need a map as we'd been told by the motel owner that we should just look out for the catherdral spire and head towards that. With that good advice we ended up in the main square of Christchurch, funnily enough named Cathedral Square.

Cathedral Square is a hive of activity. It reminded us of the style of square you get in a European city, particularly as the glorious weather had tempted the locals to find a nice spot in the square for a long, lazy chat.

The cathedral itself was just as beautiful inside as it was outside. Entry is free here but donations are recommended.

It was lunch time before we knew it, and we hadn't even made it out of the square before finding a fantastic little bagel cafe in a shady corner. The Yellow Rocket Cafe is a favourite of locals and tourists alike and even though there isn't much seating here the array of bagels (both savoury and sweet), on offer is awesome (hey I haven't said that in a while!).

Despite queuing for 15mins before being served we were lucky enough to get a table in the shade outside overlooking the square, which enabled us to watch the city's famous trams come and go whist enjoying our lunch.

The Christchurch Tramway is probably the best and most enjoyable way to see the city and straight after lunch we hopped aboard.

The trams follow a 2.5 kilometre loop around central Christchurch taking in the main sites. These include Cathedral Square where we caught it from, The Arts Centre, Botanic Gardens, Canterbury Museum, Punting on the Avon, Victoria Square, and New Regent Street to name just a few. The tram is a delightful way to get your bearings with insightful and light hearted commentary (supplied live by the over-heated drivers), and as we had an unlimited pass we did the entire circuit before deciding which stops we wanted to get off at. An Unlimited Pass means you can get on and off as many times as you like within the day. To get yet another discount we combined this with a gondola pass, which is also run by the same company. More on that later.

The first stop we alighted from the tram put us on the doorstep of the Christchurch Art Gallery. This is a free attraction and we can highly recommend it (hey it's free!).

We checked in our bags, picked up the guide and started our wander. We don't know much about art but there were some magnificent pieces on display as well as some unusual modern art pieces and installations. You could have easily spent an afternoon wandering around the building (the building itself is a work of art), but we had to push on after just over an hour.

Christchurch is a city that encourages its art and just over the road from the Art Gallery is an arts institute. Subsidised by the local university this is a large building sub-divided into little craft shops selling woollen products, wood crafted gifts, pottery and the usual tourist guff. It's more entertaining than seeing yet another Starbucks!

Back outside we were on the food trail again and we discovered a whole new way of making ice-cream. Whilst waiting for the next tram we found an ice-cream vendor who basically makes the ice-cream live before your very eyes. The concept is simple; he has a selection of fresh fruits (we picked boysenberry), and some home-made vanilla ice-cream, he takes a scoop of each, whacks it in the top of a machine, pulls a handle and hey presto it all gets mashed up together into a lovely cone. Now I know what you are thinking... what the heck is a Boysenberry? We were thinking the same too and yet with no knowledge of the afformentioned fruit we managed to enjoy it immensely. If you are curious as to what a boysenberry is you can check it out here.

We were only on the tram about 5 mins before we disembarked again at Christchurch Botanic Gardens. We spent a very pleasant hour walking around the immaculately kept gardens with flowers, herbaceous borders and shrubbery. We watched as couples punted down the Avon and slowly strolled along to the water garden through the scented gardens before eventually finding the exit. It was a lovely park and we were surprised how quiet it was really.

The next stop on the tram was New Regent Street. This is a pedestrianised area which was built in the Spanish Mission style in 1932. The trams are the only traffic on this street and it is full of small old-fashioned and quaint shops selling nick-nacks or delightful coffee shops with chairs and tables outside. The area proved an interesting distraction for half an hour and we bought a silver charm and thimble. Again there was no Starbucks in sight.

By this stage it was late afternoon and the shops were winding down and the restaurants and bars gearing up for the night ahead.

Heading back to the hotel we were suddenly struck by strong gusts of wind which came from nowhere (yes it was that unpredictable, instantly changable NZ weather kicking in again). From bright sunshine and blue skies the weather changed dramatically and it looked as though a storm was a brewing.

Now at this point sensible people would not head off for a gondola ride up the side of a mountain in a howling gale. However we are not sensible people and, more importantly this was our only opportunity to visit Christchurch's Gondola. The ride takes visitors up to the summit of an extinct volcano so we had no intention of missing out.

It was about a 15 min drive from the centre of Christchurch to the gondola station and by the time we got there it was already late afternoon and in a hour or so the sun would be setting - ideal for photographic opportunities.

Now, if you've been reading this blog from the beginning you'll know that I am not of fan of these gondola devices so you can imagine my worry standing at the bottom, watching the little carriages being battered around the the high winds.

The first third of the ride up the volcano in the gondola was pleasant enough and any reservations were distracted by taking photographs of the cable car, scenery and the obligatory couple shots. But as the gondola got higher we started to realise that the wind had become much stronger and the car started to sway to-and-fro whilst the wind whistled through the cracks in the seals of the windows and doors. This was a horrific experience for both of us and the worst bit was yet to come.

As we came out of the protection of the valley and onto the last third of the journey we were hit by gusts of wind so strong that our little gondola was being buffeted around like a leaf in a tornado. How the gondola held onto the cable we'll never know but the relief we felt as we crossed the threshold into the upper gondola station was immense... but this was soon shattered again by thoughts of having to go back down in the bloody thing.

We decided to try not to think about the situation that we were in. We thought they might have to shut the gondola down because of the weather but to our amazement although practically deserted at this time of night at the summit, those staff working did not seem the least bit concerned.

As the locals were so non-plussed about the whole affair we decided to take a walk along the summit path. Being such awful weather we thought we'd better play by the rules and stick to the paths so we followed the sign out the gondola building which pointed to the summit path and it lead us straight back into the building via another door. Confused we retraced our steps to see where we had gone wrong - but nothing. We eventually asked one of the guys operating the gondola who look disinterested and told us to jump over the safety rope guiding the path and walk where we liked but not to go too near the edge. In these windy conditions we had no intention of that.

The views from up here were magnificent, a full 360 degree vista of Christchurch, the Canterbury Plains and Lyttelton Harbour could be taken in. The weather was not initially ideal for great photographs but as the sun set the clouds began to form into interesting shapes and patterns. It was spectacular, particularly over the area known as the Banks Peninsula where we would be heading out to the next day.

As the light continued to drop we took shelter out of the wind in the closed cafeteria with a few other hardy travellers determined to stick it out to the end. As it happened fear overcame Kate and she was determined to leave before it got too dark. I on the other hand was convinced that as it dropped darker the wind would drop also, and with Kate firmly stuck in the cafe I took the opportunity for a few more shots.

Eventually we could delay it no longer. It was almost dark now, the wind hadn't dropped and the journey back down seemed even more horrendous but we placated ourselves in the thoughts of what wonderful meal could be waiting for us at the bottom.

We've been to the USA a number of times now (yes I know it's the wrong country but stick with me on this), and each time over there we track down our favourite diner - Denny's. Imagine our joy when we discovered one in Christchurch! We just had to go.

Denny's is a traditional American-style diner serving traditional American-style food in American-style quantities. It's fantastic at a value price, and the Denny's of NZ is no different.

For the meagre sum of around £12 we got 2 burgers, a chilli fries to share, coffee (bottomless!), and a pudding each. Very inexpensive and delicious. Plus the only place open this late as New Zealand likes it's early closing hours.

As we walked out to our car it was apparent that something had changed since we'd gone into Denny's. Yes, just as suddenly as it had arrived the wind had disappeared.

Day 10 - Flipper meets his match

2006-04-30T20:04:00.000+00:00

4:15 am. The alarm goes off. I get out of bed only to discover that once again there is no breakfast. At this time in the morning that's the least any guy can expect. I did find some hotel "biscuits" however, so those would have to do... for the time being at least.

We had an early call this morning of 5:15 for a trip we'd had booked for a very long time and we didn't want to miss it, even though it was only a five minute drive down the road. Neither of us had slept a wink for fear of not hearing the alarm and missing such an important event.

Dolphin Encounter Kaikoura was our destination at this un-godly hour, a long established excursion company whose trips allow you to swim with the dolphins, should you wish it.

We arrived at the HQ ahead of time and even then there were other bleary-eyed people hanging around for the place to open.

Before long there was sign of life, the doors swung open and we were herded in like sheep. We had a brief introduction and register taking before those who would be swimming on today's tour were invited to go through to the changing rooms to be kitted up. At this point I should explain that on every Dolphin tour there are a restricted number of swimmers who will enter the water with the Dolphins. Children and those who cannot swim would remain as watchers on the boat. I fell into the latter category along with only one other lady and we were left alone in the cafeteria.

Being the only two people left there we soon began to chat and started finding out a bit more about why we were both here at this un-earthly time of day. Her name was Helen, she was an American and as it turned out she was a regular visitor to both NZ and the Dolphin Encounter as she owned a holiday home just down the road from there (lucky thing!). She was so dedicated to the cause that she had even been on the tour the day before to do the swim but today her plan was to stay on the boat and take pictures (the other love in her life besides her husband and NZ). With our common interest being the same she soon declared it her task to look after me and help me to get the best photos, particularly as it was my first experience of trying to photograph such things.

Whilst I was making a new friend, Kate was having her own pre-dolphin "experience". What follows is Kate's own take on what was happening.

"I queued nervously waiting to be handed my wetsuit, flippers, snorkel and mask by a man that would look you up and down and apparently instantly know your intimate measurements and foot size. I think perhaps he was a little out with my wetsuit size as although I appreciate that it was meant to be tight it was however like squeezing an oversized sardine into a small tin! Nevertheless I did what was necessary and was reunited with Shaune for our full briefing. At the start of this we were warned "This is not a Flipper like experience" You will not go riding on their backs or sail through the water holding onto their fins -these were wild dusky dolphins who would be more likely to bite you if you held out your hand. As they rightly point out we are there for the dolphins entertainment and not the other way round. During the remainder of the session we learnt the basic snorkelling and safety requirements - i.e. the hand signals to suggest that you are in distress or the ones to say that all is well. I hoped that Shaune was paying full attention to these as my life was in his hands while I was in the water. Being not a strong swimmer I expected him to watch me as much as any dolphin activity that we might come across."

So immediately after Kate's "quart into a pint pot" experience we were shepherded all onto a minibus with what could only be described as a laminated inside. Everything was plasticised so that any extraneous salty water on people's bodies after the experience would run immediately off into the gutters which ran the length of the bus.

It was still dark outside and we were starting to wonder if our first meeting with the dolphins would be under the cover of darkness.

It was a short 5 minute bus trip which took us to where the boats were moored up that would ultimately take us out to sea. There were two boats and as we'd left the briefing we had been split up into two parties, luckily we were put in the smaller of the 2 teams.

Obviously this isn't a picture of the boat in the dark as it was too dark at that time of day to take any photos.

As we got onto the boat we were warned that due to yesterday's high winds that there was a moderate swell and were advised to take precautions - we had already come prepared with seasickness tablets after being warned by a friend of ours back home that her entire trip consisted of her head in a bucket and thank goodness we did otherwise goodness knows how bad we might have felt. The swell of the ocean wasn't agressive but it was constant and it was this unrelenting action which ultimately caused a couple of people to be ill.

It took about 40 minutes before we reached our first pod of dolphins and suddenly our crew were hurriedly trying to get everybody into the water, shoving them off the edge of the boat like lemmings off a cliff. The sun was just cresting on the horizon, but it was still quite dim lighting conditions. As I scrambled around to get Kate's digial SLR ready, she was preparing herself for the water. Over to Kate again.

"I was the last one off the boat - scared for my life and dreading the coldness of the water. However the water whilst cold did not dampen the experience - but almost as soon as I was in the water we were called back onto the boat as the pod were moving too far away from us so we would have to catch them up. Before long I was clinging to the back of the boat as we speed through the waves tracking the dolphins. About 5 minutes later we stopped and we all jumped in once more to be surrounded by numerous Flippers and what an experience that was!"

The sun was now rising fast, filling the sky with glorious colours and tones. What a dilema, there was suddenly almost too many things to take pictures of. On top of this Kate was expecting me to point her in the direction of the dolphins.

Meanwhile back in the drink...

"It is very difficult to describe the experience. First there is sheer panic caused by a mixture of initial fear of the dolphins as they swim under you and even occasionally knock into you and then there is the fear of being kicked in the face by flippers of other excited swimmers all eager to catch a glimpse of these majestic creatures.

"I actually found it a much more rewarding to swim away from the crowds and head around the other side of the boat, usually following Shaune's directions as to the movement of the dolphins and found it an altogether more serene experience which you could truly appreciate. Here you could just float while sometimes 5 or more dolphins swim under and around you.

"This continued for a good hour while Shaune took photographs and observed from the deck. Eventually we were called back to the boat where we had a chance to shower, change and have hot chocolate and cookies to warm us. All three activities were a disaster!"

Actually I think the biscuits were ginger nuts, the purpose of which is to calm unsettled stomachs down before the trip back home. Anyway Kate's on a rant and I'd be a fool to delay that any longer.

"The brochure reads "All vessels are fitted with hot showers and toilets for passenger comfort". Do not be deceived. It is a small boat with a toilet the size of a plane toilet (hey it's better than going in your wetsuit, surely! - Shaune), and the showers consist of three hoses that you put down your wetsuit that provide moderately warm water. There are no changing facilities. Instead you struggle to maintain your decency whilst removing a tight wetsuit, drying yourself and re-dressing on a boat that is swaying precariously from side to side. By this stage you feel so seasick that the mere mention of hot chocolate and cookies create spasms in your stomach. However, it is most definitely worth it. At this point the boat races over the open water with the dolphins frolicking alongside, jumping and somersaulting in the air - everyone scrambling to take photographs, including us".

At this point Kate took over the operations of her camera and I moved back to my own and squirted off a couple of minutes of video.

For the journey home Kate sat motionless in the cabin feeling very green about the gills at this stage. I on the other hand tried to fake the fact I wasn't feeling sea-sick when really I was struggling inside to keep the raging volcano in my stomach from erupting. If I'd been sick, Kate would've followed suit. Luckily we both survived, but it was probably one of the longest, most unpleasant journeys back to dry land we've ever experienced even though it only took 45 minutes.

It was 9am by the time we stepped off the boat. At the beginning of our excursion we had talked about going whale watching in the afternoon but feeling like we did that idea was well and truly out the window. The weather also appeared to be making a change for the worse too. At this point in time we just felt incredibly lucky that not only had the weather been fantastic, but the dusky dolphins had chosen to make an appearance as well, both of which cannot be guaranteed.

So we headed back to the Bed and Breakfast and had a well earned sleep for an hour or so. The rest of the morning we pretty much spent recovering, but we decided to take this opportunity to do some necessary laundry (very expensive but convenient). It was not till lunchtime that we ventured out again.

Lunch was a modest affair today as we had big plans for a decent meal that evening. I'd promised Kate the local delicacy of crayfish/rock lobster as she'd been so brave, so lunch would have to be small. We found a small, but popular self-service cafe, sat ourselves outside in the courtyard and enjoyed a slice of pizza and a steak sandwich.

We'd taken so many photos this morning that we'd used up most of our supply of memory cards, so without too much on the agenda it seemed like a good time to get some of them transfered onto CD. There were a couple of shops in town that offered this facility and we chose one which claimed they could do it in less than 2 hours, which meant we could wander around the town and browse the shops before going back to collect our discs. It wasn't the cheapest place but it did offer a PC on which to check the transfered pics.

Getting back into our vehicle we toured around a few of the recommended eateries with a plan to book one for the evening (we're not always thinking about food, honest), before finally settling on the restaurant formally known, and still registered in many of the travel guides as Mussel Boys (which wasn't as camp as it sounded). It is now an establishment called "Pipi's".

With the evening food sorted we went to visit the seals on the peninsula. We were able to get really close...too close really. One silly girl got too close and while posing with her back to the seals was chased for a short distance by one particular restless and agitated creature. Amusing for those who were watching. All the signs warn tourists about pissing the seals off, and this was yet further proof that tourists just don't listen. Seals are big, vicious, yet harmless almost placid looking creatures, it's easy to see why people take their chances.

Next we headed to a picturesque viewpoint (recommended by the owners of Lemon Tree Lodge), where you get glorious 360 degree views of Kaikoura and it's surrounding area. It's a quiet spot too, a little off the beaten track for most tourists particularly if they have no form of transport. I tested my camera's panoramic landscape feature out here for the first time this holiday, it really was the only way to capture such a wonderful view.

Our final destination for the day was the Kaikoura Winery. Billed as the most scenic of all the wineraries in NZ with stunning views of the ocean, the Kaikoura Winery sits atop a magnificent hill overlooking the ocean.

We decided that we didn't really have an interest in doing a tour of the winery and underground cellars but instead headed straight for the shop where we had a couple of free tasters and choose a bottle of wine for Kate's dad. In the shop there was a massive picture window with amazing views of the coastline.

Outside is a lovely seating area for customers to sit and enjoy their purchases with a bunch of cheese and biscuits, it's really very civilized. Unfortunately it's a little way out from the township and really the only way of getting there is by car and seeing as wine and driving don't really mix it was with great heartache that I couldn't enjoy this place exactly as it was intended.

There is a viewing platform however and the lady from the shop kindly lent us her binoculars and with promises of seeing dolphins and possibly even whales from this vantage point, in fact she claimed she had seen a couple of whales already this day. We weren't quite as lucky and saw nothing but the weather was glorious and the views fabulous so we didn't feel too let down.

The evening soon came and we found ourselves in Pipi's before we knew it. As a name for an eating establishment I'm not sure what is actually worse, Mussel Boys or Pipi's. Both seem just as bad as each other and neither really set the scene for a classic culiary experience. Luckily the place goes above and beyond the imagery its current and former names conjour up.

Pipi's is really more of a cafe than a restaurant, and passing trade could be put off by its long benched tables, smaller tables with plastic chairs and its brightly coloured decor. To those people I say they should look beyond its outer coat and give it a go as they really wouldn't know what they'd be missing out on.

Pipi's delivers fantastic simple food in a simple surroundings, plus it's a lot cheaper than some of the places directly in the heart of Kaikoura.

I had a fisherman's basket and Kate had a Seafood Platter (with the rock lobster as promised), which as you can see was truly amazing.

The meal was topped off with Kiwi Pie. This was a very simple desert made all the more complicated and confusing by the waitresses disclaimer when I ordered it. She made a point of telling us that it did not contain Kiwi - neither bird nor fruit varieties and this was a common misconception by people who ordered the pie. Yet it arrived with Kiwis on top (again not the bird) so we were even more confused. Still it tasted good and that was all that mattered.

The evening was finished off by another trip back to the viewpoint above the peninsula to watch the sun setting.

Day 9 - The High Seas

2006-04-27T21:17:00.000+00:00

Got up early this morning. No breakfast today. This could become a nasty habit, one which I would have to squash sooner or later before it became an addiction. There had to be a way round it. We weren't particularly sad to say goodbye to Abel Tasman hotel, although it served its purpose well enough. The hotel has seen better days and it was a little lacking in character but you can't fault it's price-to-location ratio.

Even though we were looking forward to leaving, the hotel had other ideas. It's one of the few hotels within the city that has parking facilities (if you can call 8 spaces facilities), operated on a first come, first served basis. The car park is actually a glorified washroom/service entrance and is sealed tight via an archaic sercurity gate. Driving in is OK as you buzz through to reception and they identify you and let you in, driving out is a different experience entirely. As you approach the gate from the inside there are 2 buttons on the wall with a big sign directly above which reads "Press button only once. Be patient. Repeated pressing causes gate to jam". Ok, fine but which bloody button should we press? We chose the top one and waited... and waited... and then waited some more. The temptation to press the button again was excruciating. Eventually, almost 3 minutes later the gate lethargically rolled into action. Painful was not the word, especially when you consider why we had gotten up so early this morning - a 9:30am booking on the Interislander ferry which requires you to check in from 8:00. We didn't want to miss our chance to get across to the South Island.

To achieve its capital status, Wellington features the obligatory confusing major city one way system and it took some canny navigation from Kate to get us through it, so canny in fact that we arrived too early for the boat and ended up first in line for the next ferry whilst they were still boarding the last vehicles onto the 7:30 sailing.

I hate being first in the queue for any ferry, visions of driving up the wrong ramp and straight into the drink always run through my head.

Actually, taking the car across on the ferry is another big thumbs up for Ezy as many of the rental agencies require you to leave the car at the terminal in Wellington, travel as a foot passenger and then pick another car up when you get off the other side at Picton. This can be a real pain, and we bore witness to many people struggling with their luggage whilst we sat and sipped coffee in the terminal building safe in the knowledge that our 5 bags would be contained in the boot of our car for the journey.

It was a clear and sunny day but also a windy one. At this point we also took the opportunity to down some sea-sickness tablets as we heard that the voyage could be a little treacherous in poor weather conditions and the strong wind did little to comfort our fears. However, we had been assured by friends who had made the crossing that the stunning scenery on the crossing would be enough to distract from any nausea.

We took the opportunity to catch up on our emails and a final toilet before we headed back to our car to embark on the second part of our NZ adventure. - THE SOUTH ISLAND.

The journey across the strait is 92km, takes about 3 hours and was in fact extremely enjoyable - although windy, the sun shone and we stood for the majority of the crossing on one of the open decks taking photographs and blowing the cobwebs from us. Any nausea we had was strangely settled by half a croissant, half a pie and half a sprite - a great combo, particularly with no breakfast inside us.

Inside the ferry was the obligatory tourist shop, games and fruit machine area, canteen, restaurant and numerous seating areas with TVs playing something like "Top Ten Fighter Planes" or "Amazing Ferry Disasters of our Time", I forget which.

The scenery of the Marlborough Sounds was very beautiful. The North Island was fantastic but even on this plain old ferry crossing the scenery bar had suddenly been raised. There was far too much to look at and we really needed to be on both sides of the boat at once. Rolling volcanic hills swoop down to the sea, houses nestle in valleys in middle of nowhere which can only be reached by boat, all facilitated by private jettys and beaches. It's idyllic and not that expensive to live there either.

Strangely enough just before you round the corner into Picton harbour we encounted a floating "salmon farm" which somehow contained its fish within a few fenced-off squares of the sea, although that could be disputed as we heard on the news later in the holiday that the salmon had broke free and caused the ferry to run off course.

Our crossing was pretty good and we were lucky. A week later the weather turned on this side of the island and crossings were cancelled for a day and a half, we really hadn't considered the implications of this happening. Of course when it does happen there is nothing you can do apart from watch precious days of your holiday slip away. Poor people.

The ferry arrived in Picton harbour and as you drive off many travellers are faced with a choice, there are two roads to explore from here and whichever one you take means that unless you have a couple of months here you are going to miss something out. Head immediately west and you go to the Abel Tasman National Park via Nelson. We had desperately wanted to go to Abel Tasmin on the North most tip of the south Island as its beaches are meant to be spectacular. However, despite numerous itinerary changes there was no way that we could incorporate it into our trip on this occasion. Yet another tick on the list of reasons to come back. Indeed if we had had the time we would have also liked to have investigated Picton and the winegrowing areas around the Marlborough Sounds - but alas it was not to be. Instead we headed straight out of Picton and on towards Kaikoura - about a 3hr drive away.

The road here is quite desolate and it all feels kind of remote, a bit like a desert... hey wait a minute didn't we travel on a road earlier that was meant to be like a desert only it was green, lush and raining? I think somebody must have mixed up the road signs.

The barren landscape did allow us to take a couple of nice pictures though.

This is a single track road bridge with a railway track running above it. Being on the main road from the top of the South Island to the bottom this was kind of weird but single track bridges would become a regular occurance now we were down in the south. The one is different to many as it has traffic lights to control the flow of traffic, other bridges do no share this same luxury and some even share the road with the train tracks!

The first stop we made on the way was The Lake Grassmere Saltworks. We hadn't really intended to visit it after seeing a clip of the travelling chef TV Show "Anthony Bordain - No Reseverations" which was edited in such a way to portray it as the dullest place on Earth. Working in the industry we know a TV lie when we see one and Kate had noticed a quote in the guide book that "the ponds turn coral pink in late summer".

On the off chance that we were not too late in the season we made a quick detour. Not expecting great things we found ourselves confronted by an amazing spectacle of colour over the expanse of salt flats. We were the only souls around for miles, which was kind of weird but maybe everyone else had seen the TV show too. This proved to be a fantastic photographic excursion.

Shortly after our stop of salty goodness the weather began to change and this all new desert road gave us some of the most dramatic shots of the holiday.

Pulling over at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere I grabbed Kate's camera and legged it out of the car, leaving her to wonder what the heck I was up to.

Driving along I'd seen this out of the corner of my eye and was determined to get a decent photo before moving on.

The next stop was the Ohau Point seal colony, located 26 Kms north of the Kaikoura township. However, by this stage the weather had closed in (sunny one minute, raining the next), and it was now dull and raining, this was to be our first taste of the dramatic weather shifts the South Island is famous for.

Yet we pulled into the parking bay where you can view the seals from the road and got out for a closer view. Just like the weather the seals were miserable too but we were entertained for a moment or two by the journey of little baby seal who had been swept away from it's mother somehow.

His struggle up over the rocks and down through the pools was somewhat endearing, a bit like watching one of those old Disney nature films as he/she approached numerous seals in the off-chance it may be it's mother only to be turned away to continue its quest.

We arrived in Kaikoura and found our accommodation for the night. This was actually one of the most expensive places to stay in New Zealand as we had struggled to find somewhere within walking distance of the town as it was at the weekend in their peak season. However Lemon Tree Lodge certainly had all the luxury and class that our previous hotel in Wellington lacked. Describing itself as a boutique B&B, Lemon Tree Lodge is a fantastical haven which overlooks the township. Featuring just four rooms, all of them quite secluded, a garden and a hot tub which sits atop a deck overlooking the town this place is quite simply perfect. The hosts Andy and Tricia Pike offer a personal and friendly place to stay, and are eager to help and advice on how best to spend your time in Kaikoura.

We unpacked and headed straight out to check out into town to find somewhere for us to eat that night. We were given a number of recommendations only to find that many were very busy and would need to be booked. In the end we made our choice and booked a table at The Olive Branch Cafe (situated on the main rd), for later on in the evening. We spent the rest of the afternoon just driving around the coast in Kaikoura and walking around the shops.

The evening meal was delicious - bread and dips to start (pesto hummus, red looking hummus and a balsamic vinegar one), Kate then had the best lamb shanks of the holiday and I had local fish.

After that we were soon to bed as we had a VERY early start planned for the morning.

For a certain somebody, tomorrow would be the day she had been dreaming of for many years...

Day 8 - Martinborough to Wellington

2006-04-22T12:33:00.000+00:00

A nice early start today, headed up with a hearty breakfast created from some of the nice fresh produce left for us within Croft Cottages kitchen (the preserved apricots were of particular note, especially as we knew they were harvested from the orchard straight outside).

Many of the winery tours had been recommended to us but we decided it would be a much better use of our time if we were to get ourselves to Wellington by mid-morning as we only had a single day to explore New Zealand's capital. So after a quick stop at one of Martinborough's wine shops, and a couple of purchases to be drank a good few months after we got back to England to remind us of our time here, we hit the road.

What a road! The road between Martinborough and Wellington is twisty, turny and narrow, all this at high altitude too. It's a spectacular drive and to reward yourself when you get to the top you can have a lovely breakfast at the cafe pearched right on the peak before heading on down the other side into Welligton.

Wellington is indeed NZ's capital, and has a bustling atmosphere unlike any other place within NZ, however it's actually quite a small place and unlike any capital you'll encounter the world over.

We were staying right in the centre, in the Abel Tasmin Hotel. It was a decent enough place but in need of a little attention, the location was fantastic though and allowed us the chance to explore Wellington to its fullest with the timescale we had.

The view from our room window revealed this charming yet somewhat out of place church.

The city itself has a bit of a European atmosphere and when viewed from the coastal area could be compared to somewhere as lavish as Monaco, with its clustered houses and apartments nestled comfortably on the sharply rising coastal cliff face. It's pretty.

For a city which is a country's capital though it's absolutely tiny.

It was beautiful weather again so taking this opportunity by the horns we decided to pay a brief visit to the internal world of New Zealands national museum!

Te Papa museum houses many of the nations treasures. Spread over 5 floors it's a truly massive place, with plenty to see and do and the really good news is it's all free of charge. Incredible.

Of particular note is the wealth of ancient Maori artefacts that are house here, including a 200 year old full size meeting house featuring some of the most intricate carvings I've ever seen.

We didn't have the time to take it all in fully but the highlight was the canteen. Yes with all this ancient history arounds us we still were more impressed by the food being served here than anything. We ate possibly the best pie we had all holiday here, a Guinness and venison pie to be exact. Good canteen food is unheard of back in England, especially in somewhere like a museum so you can imagine our surprise to find reasonably priced freshly prepared, home-made style food in such a place.

The afternoon featured more strolling, some sights and some scoping of possible places to eat for tonight's meal. A walk along the sea front allowed us to admire the harbour from a bit more of a distance and from a mile or so away the place became much less city like and much more akin to a rickety old shanty town with many homes balanced precariously on the side of the rockface leading up from the shore.

This is particularly surprising when you consider the areas reputation for earthquakes. If you didn't know already New Zealand is built on a massive fault line cutting right up through the centre of both the south and the north islands. Tremors are regular occurances, whilst quakes come by once in a while and leave a tour of devastation in their wake.

A while was spent shopping on this particular afternoon, not that we bought much but we did find a nice, not too ornate Maori jabbing stick which now adorns our sitting room wall.

Shopping over we climbed aboard the cable car which would take us to the top of Mount Wellington. The cable cars operate at 45 degrees, a bit like a funicular train and slowly travel up and down the mount whilst making a few stops along the way.

The view from the top is impressive, and gives a good impression on the size of the place (not too big), and its also nice to watch the cable cars trundling up and down the hill.

If you time it right you can also gain a good view of the Interislander ferry making a crossing between the islands from here.

Something to maybe miss whilst you are at the top is a walk around the botanical gardens as they offer no really great views, sights, or intrigue. This is a shame when you consider they command such an impressive view of the whole of Wellington

Get the cable car down again and leave it well alone.

Night was coming fast and so was another meal time. A quick refresh in the hotel, a revision on places to eat from within the pages of the Rough Guide and we decided to head out to eat in Uncle Chang's. See if you can guess what kind of food they do there.

In all honesty it was probably one of the most expensive meals and also one of the worst meals of the holiday. Compared to a Chinese back home, it was very sub-standard.

Shame. Evey meal can't be a winner, I suppose.

Day 7 – The Desert Road

2006-04-15T21:56:00.000+00:00

Weather was miserable, not terrential just miserable so we did not have breakfast on the terrace as planned the night before but instead at the dining table in Liz and Stu’s lounge on the first floor.

Breakfast was the now usual array of cereal, muesli, full cooked breakfast and in this instance freshly baked bread straight from the oven served with a selection of marmalade, jam and pretty much anything you could have asked for would have been provided. It was all delicious.

Straight after breakfast we said a farewell to our hosts and headed out of Taupo. Our destination was Martinborough “unofficial heart of the wine region” on the north island. There were two possible routes, one which would have taken us east towards Napier – "home of Art Deco" but this would've meant an additional stopover or the quickest route straight down the centre of the North Island on what was known as the Desert Road.

Again time being our only demon on this holiday we decided to take the shortest route. So we started on our adventure and followed the eastern edge of Lake Taupo to reach Turangi.

Of course it wouldn't be right for us to leave the shores of Taupo without at least one little paddle in its waters.

Shortly after Lake Taupo disappeared from the rear view mirror we hit the Desert road and just to keep with tradition I feel a bit of a rant coming on. I think it is worth explaining that we were not exactly traveling through a real desert as such. After all there were no rolling sand dunes and the sun did not beat down on us. In fact it was bitterly cold and windy and the skies were filled with dramatic rain clouds as we sped on trying to avoid the showers. Desert road my arse!

Rant over the desert road was in fact strangely scenic in its barren-ness. Unlike a normal desert there are trees, brush and scrubland flourishing but just like a desert the whole place feels somewhat remote.

The road itself is long and straight, with amazing views of Tongariro National Park’s volcanoes. The infamous Torongariro Pass walk which takes the best part of a day to complete would be firmly high on our agenda should we ever return to these parts but on this trip would not be feasible due to our total inexperience in hikes that last over 3 hrs and once again time restraints.

Coming out the other side of the Desert Road we hit the charming little town of Taihape. Now we'd heard that Taihape has some of the best eating to be found on the SH1 (State Highway 1), between Taupo and Wellington. Hey it was lunchtime so who are we to argue. The Venison Kitchen had been recommended to us but we discovered it to be closed so we ended up in some brightly coloured little cafe with modern and intriguing paintings adorning the walls. I think it was called The Soul Food Cafe. We kept our choices simple here and had a nice bowl of curly fries with an aoli dip and a milkshake for Kate and a smoothie for me. Again we can recommend this place.

Leaving Taihape we decided to take a slight detour from our direct route to head out and see with our own eyes what the Rough Guide describes as one of NZ's most quirky towns - Bulls.

Bulls was founded in 1872 by James Bull and basically it's name allowed the townsfolk to let their immagination run riot with a simple in-joke.

Allow me to give you a couple of examples of this in action. The Bulls medical centre has been named Cure-a-Bull, the bank has been called Bank-a-Bull and the Bulls Police Station has the affectionate moniker of Const-a-Bull. The list goes on, in fact there are currently 97 different "a-Bulls" and you can view them all here. My favourite has to be the utterly rubbish McValue-a-Bull, which is obviously associated with a certain restaurant with a clown as its mascot.

The town is fun, you won't spend long there but it is worth just passing through as what they have done is pretty unbelieve-a-bull (sorry, couldn't resist).

All bulled out we got back on the main route and onto the next stop, the city of Palmeston North.

One of New Zealand’s largest provincial cities, Palmerston North has an attractive historic heart. Many of the original stores built in the 1920s and 1930s have been restored and now function as boutiques, cafes and restaurants. We parked up for about an hour or so to stretch our legs and grab a coffee, unfortunately we didn't have that long so the simple option was to go to Starbucks.

Our other reason for stopping here was to find a cash machine that could confirm our balance. Whilst in Taihape we had withdrawn some money from a Bank of New Zealand machine and out of curiousity had checked our balance at the same time, only to be shown that our funds had diminished down to about 1/3 of what they were the day before when I'd last checked. This was not good news, and had us worrying about what could've happened for next next few hours until we got to another machine. I came up with a theory though that maybe the machine had shown us the amount in UK pounds and stuck a dollar sign in front of it. The more I thought about it the more it made sense, especially when you consider that at the time there were about $2.6 to the pound. This was confirmed to be the case when we finally found a machine in Palmerston North that would tell us the truth. What a relief.

Here's a tip for the rest of you travellers; avoid The Bank of New Zealand machines as they are slow, fiddly and worse still they seem to get confused between pounds and dollars, not something that you want to happen. Good banks to use are The National Bank (Lloyds under a different name), and Westpac.
Both of these banks machines gave us accurate information every single time.

Assured that we had enough money to continue our adventure we drove along to our final destination for the day, Martinborough.

Tonights accomodation was to come in the form of a cottage, Croft Cottage to be exact. Now you know how I've said on previous days that people in New Zealand are incredibly friendly, well what happened when we arrived at Croft Cottage surprised us a little. After knocking a woman opened the door a tad cautiously and before we could tell her who we were she accused us of being Jehovah Witnesses, explained she'd sent an email containing all that she wanted to say and then tried to close the door. Luckily Kate shouted quickly that we were renting the cottage off her that night and suddenly we were welcome again.

Croft Cottage itself was situated right next door to the main residence and was beautiful. It's a 1 double bedroom cottage with a romantic queen size country-style four poster bed. There was also a living area including – as billed on their website – a state-of-the-art electric log fire which the owner seems particularly thrilled about and insisted on getting it lit despite the fact that it took around 10 minutes to do so.

Other extras were TV, Video, CD player , microwave, electric frypan, fridge, tea, coffee, homemade biscuits and special continental breakfast supplies which often includes their own apricots. In fact the cottage was situated behind a good-sized apricot orchard.

We made ourselves comfortable and then prepared for our walk into Martinborough Square.

Now I was really looking forward to getting to Martinborough. From what we could gather from the website and from talking to people who had been there before it is a sleepy little town/village which happens to be at the heart of a serious wine growing region. Sounds great, right? Now I'd probably over romanticised the place in my mind and as such I'd conjured up images of a beautiful square at the centre of the village, cobbled and pedestrianised, with colonial style buildings surrounding it and people sitting outside cafes and bars sipping local wine as the sun went down. I was completely wrong, but in my defence I think the map from the website helped with the magic in my mind.

What is actually in Martinborough is not a lot. There are 4 restaurants, 3 of them almost deserted and the square itself was like a big traffic roundabout with a bit of green and a few trees in the centre and one bar with seats outside on a corner. It's pretty bleak, and felt like it should be located somewhere on the Desert Road with a bit of tumbleweed blowing across it. I was distraught. I had dreamed about this place and it looked nothing like what I'd expected it too. The first and possibly the only disappointment of the holiday.

Moody and sulky (me that is, not Kate), we decided we'd pick a restaurant and then have a walk around the vineyard areas. We settled on Peppers at the Martinborough Hotel (a colonial looking place!), but had a wait of over an hour before we could sit down to eat so it was the perfect time for that walk.

As we strolled through the town the sun came out and by the time we got to the neighboring vineyards a rainbow had appeared.

We took quite a few picture of grapes on the vines, with what sounded like gun shots ringing in our ears – this was the automated bird scarers doing there scaring every 10 minutes or so. It truly was a glorious evening stroll and it really helped me to see the beauty within the place, something that we could've missed if we'd gotten our meal straight away.

Heading back to the restaurant I started to realise the error of my judgement, yes Martinborough wasn't the place I wanted it to be but it is a really nice place in its own rights. However unless you want to do a vineyard tour there is little more than an evenings worth of things to do here.

The meal was great, and in a classy establishment too. Oil and balsamic vinegar dip and bread to start, with lamb once again for Kate and fish for me. The best thing here though was the wine I had to accompany my meal, a lovely local pinot noir which was beautifully fruity and quite possibly one of the best red wines I've ever tasted.

Slighty merry and feeling much better about Martinborough in general we walked back to the cottage in the pitch black and struggled to find the drive as there were no streetlights. Luckily there was some light given off from the night sky and that helped, something else that seemed even more incredible than back home, in fact I was quite mesmerised by the sky that night.

Eventually after fighting our way through the orchard we stumbled through the front door and into bed.

Day 6 - Rotorua to Taupo

2006-04-14T14:18:00.000+00:00

Day 6 was hot, very hot. With the weather being so unpredictable in NZ this was a pleasant surprise to us when we arose this morning. Unfortunately Day 6 was also a travel day, albeit with a few stop-offs along the way.

Our first point of call took us in the opposite direction to which we needed to go. Okere Falls is part of the Okere Scenic reserve, it has some spectacular rapids and as such is a great attraction for canoeists. Neither myself or Kate are canoeists (although Kate has had her fair share of white water rafting), and we just chose to watch the fools being carried down the rapids like twigs. White water rafting schools operate here and it can be pot luck as to whether you'll see anyone on the river when you go, we were lucky and managed to snap a couple of nice photos before moving on.

To be fair today wasn't much of a travel day really as Taupo wasn't that far away from Rotorua, in fact it's less than a 2 hour drive but you could spend a pretty full day stopping at attractions on route.

We wanted to stop at 2 places along the way, Huka Falls and Craters of the Moon. We'd planned to stop at Craters of the Moon first as it seemed to be the closest, however it eluded us for a while and our next port of call took us to a place which we thought might have been Craters but it turned out to be something completely different. After following the directions we found in the Rough Guide we ended up at a place which looked a little bit like somebody's back garden, which just happened to have some geothermal activity in it. I forget the name of the place but we chose to do a walk around it anyway($12 each), and probably regretted it in some ways. Yes it was a thermal park, but it paled in comparison to what we had already seen. It needed a bit of love and attention to bring it up to the standards of everywhere else, and there really was nothing special to see hear.

Of course we did manage to get a couple of nice photos.

By the time we had finished the walk (about 1 hour), we were feeling pretty hot and sweaty in the hot sun so it was time to cool down at Huka Falls.

Huka Falls is primarily a hydro-electricity generation facility, but you wouldn't know it to look at it. Bright blue watter hurtles beneath you at 220, 000 litres per second as you stand on the bridge which spans it. Bright blue is not an understatment either, this water is the most unnatural looking blue you've ever seen. Apparently it's not artificial colouring though it's something to do with trapped oxygen and extreme pressure. I say it still looked like somebody had tipped a pot of blue paint into it.

Underneath all this natural beauty are the turbines for the powerstation itself but you really can't tell. Originally the powerstation was built to provide power to a local hotel but this expanded to supply power to the whole area after it was discovered just how much power could be resourced from the natural energies of this powerful river.

For the adventurous the infamous Hukajet can be found a couple of miles downstream. These high speed jet boats offer its thrill-seeking passengers a high-octane impression of the Huka River, taking you right upto the base of the falls. Great fun, but we chose not to do this activity here as we had planned to do it somewhere else much later on in the holiday.

After leaving Huka Falls it was a short journey to Craters of the Moon. Yes we finally found it.

Entry to Craters is free, but the park is completely run by volunteers and they do greatly appreciate donations. The park is well kept and managed and is well worth a few dollars.

The walk here takes 1.5 to 2 hours and there is hardly any shelter, so if like us you do it on a day which has the sun baking down on you make sure you have both a hat and some water.

The pathways here are well-formed throughout the park, and many of them are elevated to keep your feet away from the incredibly hot ground. Do not stray from the paths, this is an active geothermal park and if you go where you are not meant to at best you may end up with a burnt sole, at worst you could finish your days in the bottom of a crater after a unnexpected eruption.

Named for its other-worldly atmosphere, Craters of the Moon sprang up in the 1950s, when the nearby power station lowered underground water levels. It really is just like walking through a barren lunar-landscape, which just happens to be smouldering.

There is a nice, but slightly arduous climb to the top of a hill here which really shows off the devastation of the area. It's spectacular and scary at the same time, especially when you notice the new areas where they have cleared the bush away to make way for new eruptions.

Hot once again we returned to the car and headed straight into Taupo to find our B&B for the night. Here we'd pre-booked ourselves into a B&B which is run by a couple who came from our home town of Bournemouth, so we were very much looking forward to meeting them.

Swanmore B&B can be found in Acacia Bay, Taupo and is run by Elizabeth and Stuart Smith. They are lovely people and we spent a while having an enjoyable chat with them about back home and NZ. They were currently trying to sell their home to move up to Auckland but they'd had very few parties interested. This came as a surprise to us as we sat upon their rooftop balcony looking out over Lake Taupo. It's a beautiful place to live.

After settling ourselves in we headed out into Taupo itself. Again there are lots of things to do here but it was getting very late in the afternoon and we chose just to take it easy for the rest of the day.

We went and viewed the lake itself for a while. Lake Taupo is pretty, and feels a little bit like you are looking out onto a sea (it's vast). Here you can do tours and excursions out onto the lake, one in particular (Barbary), takes you out on a sailboat to view the maori rock carvings. Now you might be thinking that these carvings are of ancient and historical origins, they are not, in fact they were carved into the rocks in the late 1970's. There are a few myths about why they sit where they do, the most famous is that they were carved by Maori carvers who had recently graduated from carving school. The purpose was to protect Lake Taupo from any negative activities that may go on underneath. Why these myths exist who knows, something that was built in 1979 must surely have been commisioned as unlike grafitti these things must've taken time to hack into the rockface.

You can also vist the carvings by canoe, but again time was not on our side for any of these activies so from looking out at the lake we headed into the town itself.

Taupo town is a pleasant little place which serves both tourists and locals alike with just enough shops and restaurants for both. It was a busy little place too so we did a quick tour of restaurants that our hosts had recomended and then made a booking for fear that we would miss out on a meal that evening! We chose Pimentos Restaurant on Tamamutu St.

Our booking wasn't until 7:30 so we killed a little more time first of all in an internet cafe (there are plenty of these in Taupo), and then we had a lovely stroll along the shoreline of Lake Taupo.

Our meal that night was amazing. It was our first taste of proper New Zealand lamb in the form of slow roast shanks. It was awesome (oops there I go again), and the meat was so tender it just fell off the bone. In fact it's not just us that liked Pimentos, check out some more reviews here.

If you find yourself in Taupo you just have to find the time to go to Pimentos.

Day 5 - Rotorua: Revenge of the Thermals

2006-04-10T21:04:00.000+00:00

It was our last day in Rotorua and morning revealed it had rained over night and fear struck us down as we looked out of our motel room at the damp floor outside. Somebody had warned us that the rotten egg smell associated with Rotorua doubled in its toxicity after heavy rainfall. With great trepidation we slowly opened the sliding door...only to find it wasn't actually that bad at all, in fact it was still quite bareable! Don't believe the hype, yes Rotorua stinks but the stories of the smell lingering on your clothes for weeks after you visit are completely misguiding.

Today's first stop - Whakarewarewa Thermal Area within the Te Puia Maori cultural park.

This place was very quiet when we first arrived but it always gets busier from mid-morning onwards. This is where all the tourists go who come to visit Rotorua, to get a flavour of everything Maori and it can get packed with tour buses later in the day but we got there early and for the first half of the walk around the parks geothermal area it felt like we were the only ones there.

Initially we felt slightly underwhelmed to say the least at this park compared to yesterdays sights. The mud pools appear a bit lack lustre, the bubbling pools were not so impressive and the vegetation not so lush.

However, there were some nice Maori carved sculptures dotted in the undergrowth and some listening posts recounting Maori Legends in the local area. These provide a further insight into the culture of NZ’s natives and are worth listening to as they were pretty enlightening.

We felt as though we had a long time to kill wandering around the area as we intended to stay for the Midday Maori concert at 12pm and really wondered how we could lose a few hours. Just as we were getting desparate we turned a corner both in the park and in our fortunes for gushing into the air in front of us was the parks main attraction. This spectacle was the answer as to why we'd spent so much of our time in this park alone, all the other tourists had just come straight here!

Pohutu is the parks resident geyser, and hey this one goes off for 20-25 mins an hour without the need for a little man with a bar of soap - it's all natural. In English the word Pohutu means "big splash" - and it doesn't disappoint. This spectacular geyser can shoot its steamy waters upto 30 metres into the sky.

As the overcast clouds split a glimmer of sunshine gave Kate her first truly dramatic photo series of the holiday. It was breathtaking. This is what we'd come here for.

Time slipped away and it was 12pm before we knew it. Gathering at the grassy area at the front of the Maori Meeting House within Te Puia we waited patiently to be introduced to our first taste of real Maori tradition (no not like we saw in the supermarket 2 days back!). As the crowd built so did the tension and nobody knew quite what to expect. Rumour had it that a couple of weeks prior to our visit somebody had laughed with gusto at the Maori warrior as he played out his traditional greeting on the lawn, the warrior had not taken kindly to this and had headbutted the man and knocked him out cold. We were told by our guide that no matter how funny he looks we must not laugh...not a chance of that happening!

We were informed that we were a tribe ourselves and as such our tribe needed to elect a chief to communicate with the resident tribe. She asked for volunteers and it wasn't long before some brave/stupid Brit stuck his hand up. Our guide thanked him, whispered a few etiquette pointers in his ear and then placed him up front to wait for the warrior to challenge him.

The greeting ceremony began with a warrior from the Maori tribe doing what can only be described by our uneducated eyes as a bit of a hop skip and a jump towards the crowd. Our unflinching chief had to stand and stare the warrior out as he jumped, prodded and yelled before finally accepting a leaf/branch to symbolise a peaceful visit. Once this was done we could proceed forwards, following our chief into the meeting house where we had to remove our shoes before crossing over the threshold.

A Maori meeting house is a traditional hall designed for sharing songs and stories with their new found friends. These meticulously crafted halls are carved out of wood and are sacred places for the Maori.

Here, surrounded by the carvings of ancestors, visitors are treated to perfect harmonies, the seductiveness of the Poi dance, the ferocity of the haka (war dance), and the complexity of Tititorea, the stick games. At times, batons fly from four different directions. The receiver must deftly catch and flick the batons on and do so in timing with the song. It is a dance within itself.

The songs were far more tuneful and pleasant to listen to than you might imagine after the aggressive and fierceness of the Haka. Once again we were reminded of Disney, mainly due to the fact that the songs sounded so tuneful that they could be very much at home within a Disney movie. Which came first Walt Disney or the Maori I wonder? Heck those Disney guys have to get their inspiration from somewhere.

Next stop on the list was Ohinemutu, a traditional Maori village.

The village of Ohinemutu was the region's original Ngati Whakaue settlement and still retains strong links to Maori heritage. It really is a strange but endearing place that doesn't feel like it's there for the tourists, in fact it's still a proper settlement and as such we entered it with a great feeling of respect.

A feature of Ohinemutu is St. Faiths Church, built in Tudor style in 1910. Its interior is richly decorated in woven and painted wall hangings and decorations. The main attraction here is a window looking out over the lake which shows a Maori Christ, in a traditional Maori cloak, who appears to be walking on the water.

There is also a Maori burial ground here which again looks out upon the lake, a fitting and peaceful place to be laid to rest.

Again the main feature here is another meeting house which stands tall and proud and looms protectively over the settlement.

After leaving Ohinemutu the rest of the afternoon was spent trawling the shops around the town of Rotorua. Here you find a small cluster of what is mainly tourist shops interspersed with outdoor shops. Before long one Maori souvenir shop blends into another and you are left with a feeling of being sick of the sights of carved wooded beating sticks and so on. The truth is though the further south you go in New Zealand the less likely you are to see Maori memorabilia so take the time in Rotorua and buy what you want now before moving on.

Last stop of the day was at Kuirau Park. This free entry geothermal park is situated within the junction of Ranolf Street and Lake Road, only a 5 minute walk from the city centre. Here you can see boiling mud pools, hot steaming crater lakes and sulphur vents.... if all the steam doesn't get in the way that is.

The amount of steam this place gives off is incredible, the biggest culprit being a boiling hot lake which has a walkway right across the middle of it. It was so steamy at times we couldn't even see our hands in front of our faces as we walked across the walkway.

Scarily the last time this place erupted was in 2002 when a number of houses lost their gardens forever under an eruption of mud. All that is left now is a crater and yet more steam. Freaky stuff.

So having just about done everything else in Rotorua there was only one thing left that every self-respecting tourist must do here before they move on, yes it seems tacky and "touristy" but nobody can really say they've done New Zealand without going to a traditional Hangi Feast.

We chose Mitai, one of the newer Maori feast experiences as it was recomended to us not only by the motel staff but also in the Rough Guide. According to what we'd heard Mitai was the best experiences of the 3 main Hangi feasts in that it has more of a traditional feel than the others and also it apparently had the most exciting show which included weapons displays, and we certainly weren't disappointed.

All of the main shows offer a collection service which picks you up from any hotel within Rotorua city, we can recommend this as it saves the hassle of getting there yourselves, it means you can enjoy a drink, and most importantly it means you are arriving with other people and you get assigned to a mini-tribe for the evening. Our bus driver was a nice guy named John, who not only drove us there and back he also hosted the whole evening - these guys have to work hard!

It was quite a busy venue and I would say there was probably close on 200 people there but bear in mind this is one of the smaller and more personal hangi feasts so just imagine how busy the other ones are.

When you enter and pay for the night you are allocated a table to share with like-minded people, or should I say similar nationalities. We sat with an English couple and discussed our individual NZ adventures and routes we were taking around the country, there was always something in common that we could talk about.

The evening here is split into 3 parts; firstly you watch the show, sencondly you eat the food and finally you get a tour of a glowworm forest. Cruely they sit you at the dinner table first and make you think you are going to get fed, this isn't the case and even worse they then take you to see your dinner being lifted out of the ground, telling you again that it's going to be another hour before you eat! Yes, you read it right they cook your dinner in a big hole in the ground with some hot rocks beneath it. Din-dins gets lowered into the hole on a hungi (not a hangi, that's the food itself), covered with soil and left for 4 hours before it's finally ready to be served.

So whilst the food is being dished up we were treated to a show. This was basically again the traditional Maori greating ceremony that we'd seen earlier combined with demonstrations of skill and ability.

Oh yes, I almost forgot we needed a chief to lead our tribe in the ceremony. We'd heard that volunteers for the role of chief normally come easily but when John asked for a volunteer tonight he really had to work the floor to get someone to stick their hand up for the job. He was getting awfully close to me too so I was worried that I was going to get picked by default but the relief flooded in when we finally got our chief.

Now something I was worried about was the level of participation a member of the audience might be expected to go to. We'd heard and read all kinds of things about these Maori shows and we didn't quite know what to expect. The biggest myth is the tradition that every male member of your tribe must either sing a song or tell a story for the entertainment of the other tribe as traditionally this is what would have happened. This isn't the case at all as realistically there isn't physically the time for a couple of hundred men to sing a song or tell a tale. Having said that you do have to sing a song as a group, which isn't bad and your host teaches you a Maori song and leads you in. Also you do have to shout something in Maori, I forget what it meant but you do this as an individual and the person that sounds the most ferocious gets a prize. It's fun and not too embarassing.

The show itself is spectacular and you will come out the other side of it with a smile on your face and smoke in your hair. Instead of being in a meeting house the show takes place under what looks like a reed built shack, with the audience being in a pit and the stage being at ground height. Fires crackle and sparks fly throughout the show and we were treated to some of the best entertainment we had all holiday. We got Maori songs, examples of combat, weapon displays and traditional Maori games all topped off with the now famous Haka.

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Finally it was time to eat, and here came our biggest surprise of the night - the food was actually really good, incredible really when you consider that they were cooking for so many people, and also the fact it was cooked in a hole in the ground!
Food included chicken, lamb, garlic bread, sweet potato, salad items and desert such as chocolate log... obviously not cooked in the ground, at least not to my knowledge. It was all very good, and even better there was plenty for everyone.

The last thing on the agenda was the glow worm dell adventure. Breaking us back down into our groups again and arming us with torches we followed our guide on a trek through a dark forest down to their tribes sacred Fairy/Rainbow Springs. Now I know this all sounds a bit far-fetched, and the truth is it is but who cares. We know it, they know it and they make light of some of it but they never take the mick out of their own traditions.

The walk down to the glow worm dell is a really nice end to the evening and when you see the glow worms twinkling you can't help but feel a little bit enchanted by the whole thing...but with my head also in the real world I also felt that if I'd done the same walk in the daylight the apparently dense forest would seem very thin in the cold light of day and hey you could probably see the Skyline Gondola right which is right next door. This is why they don't do this part of the evening until it really is pitch black.

Climbing back on the bus we noticed that the time was just past 11pm and we were amazed by how late it was, particularly as the Maori show had started around 7:30 we couldn't believe that so much time had gone by. It was very good value for money and something you've just got to do no matter how many reservations you have about doing it.

Day 4 - Rotorua

2006-03-30T14:37:00.000+00:00

Breakfast was a simple affair this morning. Like many motels in NZ the Ascot on Fenton had its own kitchen, this was a luxury for us and we thought we had better make good use of it whilst we had it just in case we never saw one again.

Days are full in NZ, that's if you want to get the most from them in the short time that you have so I'd decided the night before we needed to stock up on provisions as I wouldn't be getting my usual holiday breakfast feast in some diner. Luckily we had a 24hr supermarket on the opposite side of the road to our motel.

Countdown Supermarket is one of the few NZ supermarket chains, (bizarrely Woolworths is another one), and in Rotorua it's a good place to hang out and see the many modern-day Maori people go about their shopping duties. Maoris are large, strong looking people, yes there is a lot of body fat but they are most definately not obese, they are more "well built" for want of a better term. Is this a modern day Maori meeting house? I'm not sure but not only were there Maoris shopping but there was also Maoris working there, and a lot of chatting and hanging around sharing stories just like in the traditional meeting houses. We do the same in the UK, back up in the north of England supermarket aisles are full of people hanging around gassing. Meeting houses indeed...

Digression out the way, breakfast today was simply fruit, toast and marmalade.

Lucky we ate breakfast too because little did we know that today was to turn out as probably one of our most energetic days of the holiday.

The agenda today was simple: hit the geothermal parks and hit them hard.

Billed as "New Zealand’s most colourful and diverse geothermal experience" Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland is like Walt Disney World on acid. As we approached, the entrance appeared shrouded in a mist of pungent steam. The whole place seemed to be on fire. From the minute you walk through the gates you are confronted immediately with the sights of naturally coloured pools, craters, bubbling mud and steaming ground. Unlike Disney though, everything you see here is real no matter how fake it may look.

This is one truly awesome place (oops there I go again, justified this time I feel though).

The trick with this place is to get there early, have a wander around for an hour and then at 10:15am head for the parks only geyser. This is a short drive away so you have to uproot your car from it's nice convenient parking spot and head with the masses back down the entrance road for 2 miles where you then park up again.

Now call me stupid but I figured that a geyser was a completely natural thing and I was prepared to be amazed at the Lady Knox Geyser's strict 10:15am prompt eruptive timekeeping. This isn't the case at all and Lady Knox needs to be aroused before she lets go...errmm.

At 10:15 a park ranger comes out, stands beside the good Lady and chucks a bar of soap into her to get her juices flowing (stop it now), and then procedes to tell you a potted history and exactly why the soap is needed (it acts as a catalyst with the acidic water).

All the time the Lady's bubbling away like an overflowing washing machine and getting more and more erratic until finally she let's go and the earth moves (ok, enough of this!).

The water gushes upwards to a height of around 15 metres in a pretty ferocious manner. Even with human intervention it's still spectacular and unmissable but there is still that slight disappointment that it's not wholy natural.

The whole thing lasts for around 15 minutes and then it's back in the car again to get back to the main park!

The rest of the morning was spent leisurely walking the three routes around the park taking hundreds of photos round every corner - of particular note is the unnaturally bright green pool near the exit. A wonderful sight to end our time here.

You will need to allow at least 3 hours to see the whole park and it really is well worth it.

Without a break we hit the road again...but not for long. On the road leading away from Wai-O-Tapu is a wonderful find - thermal mud pools, and hey these are free!

Here mud, in the form of a pool (errm), bubbles and spits in an erratic and sometimes dangerous manner (some of the biggest explosions shot out right over the fence) and again has to be seen to be believed.

Back in the safety of the car again we headed off to Waimangu Valley, another thermal reserve. This one is slightly different in that it's rather a large one, so large in fact that when you stand at the viewing point next to the ranger station at the beginning of the walk and look out across the valley it reminded us more of an American National Park like Yosemite. It's quite impressive.

$65 gets you a Waimangu Explorer pass which includes a walk and boat cruise. It was 1pm and the guide suggested that we could book onto the 3.40pm boat trip at the far end of the park, explaining that we should have plenty of time to see everything along the way. Satisfied that this would be the case we settled down to a quick pie (have I talked about pies yet? No time here anyway, it'll have to wait until later) and drink at the cafe before we set off.

Of course such confidence in our walking abilities cannot be garnered from our appearance alone, we are average hikers at best both on the inside and the outside! Feeling confident ourselves we set off...

Waimangu Valley is a whole different experience to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland even though it's really just more of the same. The vegetation here is very lush and rainforest like with the valley itself housing curious but incredible waterways within its depths. Sheer rock forms hang over the valley, smouldering gently like a giant having a cigar, water bubbles along hissing streams lapping against copper coloured river sides and tiny holes in the ground spit hot water like it was their dying breath. Again, it's just incredible.

On the way we saw the most remarkable bright blue pool, steaming gently just like everything else. It was very tempting for a dip, so I did...my fingers that is and boy was it hot, not boiling but not far off either. I wouldn't be doing that again in a hurry.

The walk here is tough, especially if you want to get the best views looking out across the volcanic lake, there is a choice though and you can either take the short cut to the lake or you can climb a bloody great big hill and add 45 mins to your journey like we did.

The views are worth it though, our only problem was that when we stood at the top looking out we could actually see how far we had to go and it was at this point we realised that it was a bloody long way to where the boat docks for the lake cruise.

With great regret we barely stopped for a couple of minutes at the top and then quickened the pace to get down again.
Getting to the bottom was only the beginning too and when we reached it we had an uneasy feeeling that we had a lot further to go.

Quickly we hurried past copper terraces and waterfalls with barely time for a photo, then all of a sudden we found a sign, a sign that told us that the boat was 20 minutes walk away and a look at the watch told us that we had 10 minutes to get there. We looked at each other and broke into a sprint.

Luckily the terrain was reasonably flat here and we reached the jetty just in time, hot, sweaty and breathless and glad to sit on a boat for a while and catch the breeze...and hey we weren't the only ones, another couple climbed onto the boat after us in exactly the same state.

Lake Rotomahana is a volcanic lake and is made up of 15 craters formed on June 10 1886 during the Mt Tarawera Eruption. Originally there were a number of pink terraces here, formed over thousands of years and visited by many rich tourists of the day but they were destroyed in the eruptions.

The cruise was really pleasant, and the captain was very friendly. It lasted about 40 mins. Our cruise ran a little over time and a gentleman on the boat was worried that he would miss the shuttle bus which would take us back through the park, but the captain assured him that he felt the driver would wait for him. After getting off the boat we walked upto where the bus stop was and sure enough the bus was there waiting for us but there was no driver to be seen so we all hung around and waited. 5 minutes later the captain from the boat turned up and climbed aboard the bus. He was the driver. No wonder he was so sure the bus wouldn't leave without us.

After a brief stop back at motel we headed off to the Skyline Gondola and Luge.

Now I'm not a big fan of gondolas/cable cars, they feel pretty unsafe to me and I had my reservations about getting in this one but it wasn't really that bad and certainly not our worst experience in a gondola on the holiday...no that was yet to come.

The views over Rotorua City were great but the views aren't the only thing to do up here.

For a start there's the luge. Strapping a crash helmet on your head you sit in a toboggan like contraption with handbars to steer which also act as a brake. After choosing one of 3 levels of track you kick yourself off on a journey which takes you round hair pin corners at whatever speed you dare. Great fun for all ages.

Due to it being rather late in the day, it being our first luge and our bellies being empty we only did the one track here, saving our more courageous attempts for later in the holiday. Luckily there is a rather nice restaurant here which hosts a pretty impressive "all-you-can-eat" buffet, and features a lovely picture-window view across Rotorua. Recommend here is the seafood counter, the hot carvery and the desserts (obviously!).

This filled up our time nicely and was worth the $55 asking price, I say filled up our time because we were waiting for the sun to set before we could take our final photo of the day.

Day 3 - Auckland to Rotorua via Raglan

2006-03-20T23:24:00.000+00:00

After a repeat performance of the previous days breakfast we bid farewell to Auckland and Devonport, it was a short-lived affair but I had the strangest feeling our paths would cross again before too long...maybe I'd read the schedule, who knows.

The road from Auckland to Raglan (our first stop off on the way to Rotorua), was a long one although this was more our fault than the physical distance between the two. You see we kind of got lost along the way, in all fainess for the first and only time during the holiday but as it was just the once we thought we'd do it in style.

State Highway 1 (SH1), runs pretty much from the top of the north island all the way down to the bottom of the south island, calling at many of the major places along the way. Raglan is located around 30kms away from the SH1 so it meant we had to head off the beaten track for a while. It wasn't long before we discovered that the North Island dwellers aren't that big on road signs, so much so they'd rather stick an old sign up that looks like it's sending you in the wrong direction than a new one that sends you the right way. About 30 metres after leaving the SH1 we'd found one of the old signs that lead us in what appeared to be the wrong direction, but we only drove for a mile or so before questioning in our minds the battered old sign and turning around to take the other, more friendly looking direction. Turns out the the battered old sign was indeed pointing the right way but it took us another hour, another 40kms and a loop jounrney to figure that out before we ended up at the battered old sign once more and returned to our original, once thought to be incorrect trajectory...40 minutes later we arrived at Raglan.

Raglan is apparently a surfers paradise, but there's one big problem with Raglan for many surfers...

...there's not too many waves. In fact some might say it's a little bit like a mill pond.

Raglan is quite a strange place really. There is a town here, right next to the sea with stylings which fall somewhere between colonial American and a seaside shanty-town.

It's a nice place to stop for lunch, just like we did. Then afterwards why not take a stroll over the bridge to the Butlins-type holiday camp sitting quietly on the volcanic black sand. Once here you can again search out the lost surf but don't expect to find any.

We were determined to find some surf though, not that either of us surf but it's just the principal of it by this stage. Getting back into our car we followed the coast for a few kilometers and eventually we did find some surf and 3 guys trying to ride it.

It wasn't the best surf in the world, this was obvious by the guys struggling to make the most of it in the water but at least there was some and it even looked like it could get pretty good there if the conditions were right.

Satisfied we turned around and made a short beeline for our next stop just outside Raglan.

Every country in the world seems to possess a Bridalveil Falls waterfall and NZ is no exception, in fact I think we may have seen 3 over there. This one though is around 20kms out of Raglan and after you park the car it's a short, easy going 10 minute walk to the top of the falls and another 5 minute not so easy going clamber down to the bottom. If you do have the ability and the energy though going the extra distance to the bottom is worth it.

The 55 metre high falls are spectacular and if the sun is shining you are guaranteed to see a rainbow in the mists.

Tired from the climb back up we retired to our vehicle, only to be accused of being a couple of pasty-white tourists. We had been spotted by a Kiwi fella who was playing host with his wife to an equally pale couple from the New Forest. Strange that you should meet someone so close to home, yet so far away from it. Again these Kiwis just fancied a chat, they really are that friendly and before long they were setting us straight on our pronunciations so we didn't embarass ourselves too much on our holiday.

Time was marching on and we had a bit of a drive ahead of us to get to Rotorua. Our original plan was to stop in Hamilton but as a friend once said "Time waits for no man..." and we really couldn't fit it in so we just skirted around the edge of it using the trusty SH1, seeing signs for Waitomo Caves along the way (something we wish we could've done, but couldn't squeeze it in no matter how we tried).

As we drove closer to Rotorua we were expecting to smell it before we saw it. People who have visited the place before us have told stories of how the whole place smells of rotten eggs, a smell so bad you can never hope to get it out of your clothes for the rest of the holiday. This isn't the case at all, in fact when we arrived in Rotorua and got out of the car at our motel there really was only a feint smell. I'll explain more about the reason why the city stinks in another post.

Rotorua is not only famous for smelling like eggs it's also famous for it's mineral spas. Everywhere you go in this city has spa facilities and our motel was no exception. Anne (whose Dad was from Halifax and her Mum from Hull), kindly introduced us to our large room, taking us firstly through the lounge, then the kitchen, past the bathroom, through the bedroom and finally out into the courtyard where we discovered our own personal spa.

Tacky, yet nice all the same.

It was our 6th anniversary that day, so after quickly settling into our outsized accommodation we set out to find that special place to eat.

La Vega Restaurant overlooked Lake Rotorua...

...and we had a lovely view of the sea planes bobbing on the water as we endulged in gloriously fresh seafood platters.

Can this country do no wrong? Even if it does smell a little of eggs.

Day 2 - Auckland

2006-03-16T19:17:00.000+00:00

After a bit of an "up and down" jet-lag fueled, hot and muggy night we had our first delightful taste of an NZ brekkie cooked by our host, Shirley at the Bydand B&B. Fresh herbs, fresh eggs, fresh OJ soaked home mixed musli, everything was fresh! My eggs benedict-inspired dish was certainly a great way to kick the "lag" into touch.

The first thing we noticed when we arrived in Devonport was how much the place sounded like a jungle. God it was loud, it was one of the things that had kept us awake a little bit over the night and once again whilst sat at breakfast the true inner-ear decibel imposing level of the crickets, the birds and the general Dr. Dolittle appreciating nature of the place hit home. How could somewhere so close to a major city sound so much like it was in the middle of nowhere?

We hit the road after breakfast, by foot this time though and headed down through "the village" to the passenger ferry to Auckland. A short 15 minutes later and we were on the other side of the pond.

Auckland is an odd city. It's got one main st which slices through the centre of it (Queen St), and it's split up into around 5 different suburbs, all of which are within walking distance of one another. We pretty much walked our way around most of it within the one day.

Our first stop-off was at what is probably Aucklands most famous landmark, the Sky Tower.

Standing at 328m tall the Sky Tower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere and like just about everything else in NZ you can chuck yourself off the top of it via a controlled free-fall style system.

The observation deck offers great viewing for this and even has a countdown to the next jumper so you can position yourself in front of the window for the perfect shot of your loved one as they hurtle past. Actually this isn't quite true, to give the jumper more of an adrenaline rush you hurtle down 30ft and then grind to a halt right in front of the observation deck where they spin you round like a pinata just long enough for everyone to get a photo...

...and then they let you freefall again all the way to the bottom.

It seems if the Kiwi's build it, the rest of the world want to jump off it.

Other more sensible things to do at the top of the tower include having a bite to eat in the cafe, having a full on lunch/dinner in the revolving restaurant, or you can go up another level via a lift and look down on the jumpers as they get strapped in.
Actually it was in this second lift that we encountered for the first time a favoured and well used word within the Kiwi vocabulary - "Awesome!". The Zealanders love this word and use it whenever and wherever they can, and seldom in the right context. In this instance somebody showed their liftpass ticket to the guide in the lift who responded with "Awesome!" I'm sure the ticket wasn't that awesome, in fact I can almost say he sees on average 200 tickets an hour during peak season but it just seemed to be his way of saying "Yep, you've paid the fee so you can ride the lift no problem".

Of course the view from the top was indeed awesome.

Yet the thing that struck us most wasn't the glorious 360 degree views. No, the thing that struck us most was that when you looked down and saw the streets of this mini-metropolis they were almost completely devoid of cars. This was at 11am on a Saturday morning, unbelievable! Where the heck was all the traffic? Not a sight you'd see from the London Eye, or indeed from the Empire State Building. It seemed that here people just don't drive into the city, or maybe it's just that there aren't that many cars. Either way it was pretty weird but also nice.

The view from the bottom wasn't bad either as right across the street was a branch of American family favourite diner Denny's.

Sadly we talked ourselves out of going there for a coffee as you can't go to NZ and go to an American diner...at least not on your first full day there.

After exploring the centre a little more we headed out on foot to the suburb of Parnell. Walking around Auckland really was a pleasure and our journey to Parnell was no exception. Roads are quiet, parks are quiet and there is something different to look at every few hundred yards.

Achitecture is diverse also with building styles ranging from 19th century England to Colonial Southern American. A stroll around Auckland can feel kind of like a stroll around a Disney park, and I mean that in a nice way.

Whilst on our walk to Parnell we also had our first taste of Maori culture when we came across a traditional Maori college complete with a training area and meeting house. It interesting to see such an ancient tradition mixed with a modern society campus.

Like Auckland itself Parnell sits atop a hill. It's best described as a small, late 19th century American mid-west town complete with wooden buildings and picture postcard quaintness. It's pretty. It's also a nice place to stop for lunch, so we did.

There isn't a lot to see here, but if you come to Auckland you really can't miss it out. There is certainly quite a few places to eat, drink and sit out in the sun and it feels like you really just want to stop and enjoy it for a while.

If you head on further down the road like us you'll eventually come across Newmarket. This seems to be where most of Auckland's modern shopping is, complete with boutique malls and outlets. Again there is not a lot to do here apart from shopping but it is nice to actually see where the locals go to do their regular retail therapy.

We realised by the time we had walked around Newmarket that we were pretty tired, in fact we hadn't realised how far we had walked that day but now the centre of Auckland seemed a very long way away. As luck would have it Auckland has a circular bus route which travels around the city both clockwise and anticlockwise. It is $2.50 a ride and that can take you just about anywhere.

We rode the bus all the way back to the other side of the city to a place called Victorian Market, which funnily enough does indeed house a market. It's an old brickyard type place with stalls set within the old factory courtyard and it's pretty touristy but it has to be done.

It was only a short stop here before we hit the shoe leather again and headed for the quayside where we had planned to eat that night.

The quay in Auckland serves two purposes, part of it is industrial and part of it is refurbished with restaurants dotted around the edge. It's a nice welcoming area, particularly after a long day wandering around the city.

Tonights feast was found within a Brazilian themed churrascaria style restaurant called Wildfire.

Here the idea is to eat meat and lots of it. When you arrive the rules are explained to you; Sit at your table and the waiters will regularly bring meat on skewers and carve it off onto your plate, if you want more leave the double ended cylinder on your table with the green side up, if you want them to stop turn it over so that the red side is up. Simple. What followed is what i can only describe as an amazing onslaught of meat, all kinds of meat too it just kept coming relentlessly.

I think I made a mistake here though. Kate suggested that when our plates are full we should turn the cylinder to red and only turn it back to green when we wanted more, I was worried though that by doing this the waiters would ignore us and never come back! Big mistake, the meat just kept on coming until before long it was all over and the cylinder had to hit red, there was no other option.

Packed full of meat now we left the restaurant and waddled back to the ferryport.

Now it just happened to be Devonports annual Food and Wine festival this particular weekend. Here you pay your $20 entrance fee, get a wine glass to hang around your neck and then wander around the stalls filling up your glass for free whenever you get the urge. Now we missed out on this but we did see some of the after effects of the event as people piled off the ferry from Devonport that we wanted to board for our return journey. It wasn't a pretty sight, the water was a little choppy and this mixed with unlimited glasses of wine wasn't a good combo for many and we couldn't help but smile as people staggered off the boat a little green around the gills and a lot worse for wear.

Thanks goodness we didn't feel the same way on the crossing back.

We did get a nice sunset though, which pretty much summed up a great start to the holiday.

Welcome to the Possum Pie Travelogue-blog!

2006-03-16T03:00:00.000+00:00

Me and my infinately better half, Kate went on a brief but fantastic 22 day journey around New Zealand recently and I've created this blog as a way of documenting our travels and also to act as a simple guide for anyone else hitting kiwi-land in the future.

We are both heavily into photography and you'll see a few of the results along the way.

Please feel free to comment and share your own experiences too.

Day 1 - Devonport

2006-03-15T19:14:00.000+00:00

The first day saw us arriving at Auckland International Airport in the early afternoon.

Obviously like just about every traveller we needed some form of transport in order to get around. This had been pre-arranged in the form of a car from the small but perfectly formed NZ rental car company EZY. These guys gave us probably the best experience we've ever had when hiring a car. The friendly guy who picked us up from the airport in a minibus was actually the same person who did all the registration details too, heck he even brought the car out for us and helped us with our luggage! They come highly recommended, the only downside is the car (a 2002 Nissan Bluebird), was around 4 years old with a few miles on the clock but it was very reliable and also a heck of a lot cheaper than the familiar larger companies. For 22 days the car, fully covered cost us just over £600.

Once in the car and armed with a handy free spiral-bound map of New Zealand EZY supplied to us, and personal directions to our B+B given to us by the nice EZY rep we finally hit the road and after short 45 minutes later on a kind-of motorway with nothing like the traffic on it that we see over here we arrived in in our first base - Devonport.

Devonport is a small, sleepy town (they call it a village), on the other side of the harbour to Auckland. From Auckland you can get to it in 2 ways, either over the Auckland Harbour Bridge or via the Auckland to Devonport passenger ferry.

Once settled into our B+B we set out to explore Devonport, it was already 3pm and a trip to Auckland seemed out of the question so the local town, sorry "village" had to entertain us for the rest of the day.

After an hour or so of wandering around it was time to find a nice coffee bar, one that served beer of course and reflect on our 23 hour journey and more importantly plan where and what we were going to eat that night!

Luckily Devonport is geared up for tourists doing exactly what we were doing and has a good range of places to eat, in fact it was here that we first discovered many
restaurants in NZ have a "bring your own" wine policy due to licensing reasons... which is nice.

That night we ate in a salsa bar called Los Incas. They do all kinds of spicy, mexican-style food and we can certainly recommend it, particularly the seafood platter which I indulged myself with!

After the food the jet-lag had caught up with us, in fact I seem to remember falling asleep at the table - not into my dinner you understand. Hey at least it wasn't a first date!