24th - 30th April. Hello Oz

Today, Saturday 30th April, is a 'not doing very much day'. We pottered around a huge shopping mall in the morning and during the afternoon Tom went to the library 'to use a proper computer' leaving me to catch up on 2 weeks blog.
Since arriving in Australia a week ago we have been on the go the whole time, seeing as much as we can in the short time available. All the trips we have done, or are doing next week, were pre-booked in the UK before I left.
On Friday 29th April we had a really long day. We were collected at 6.20am for a day trip to Kangaroo Island, the 3rd largest of the Australian islands. It was a 2 hour coach ride to Cape Jervis, south east of Adelaide, then 45 minutes on the ferry. We were met by yet another coach for a tiki tour of the south part of the island which is 155km long and 55km wide.
Kangaroo Island was not given that name for nothing - there is a large population of these native creatures and, sadly, we saw numerous dead ones alongside the road. If a kangaroo jumps out of the bush in front of you there is very little you can do about it Although with a driver like our coach driver who thought he was a recycled F1 racer, it's not surprising there is so much roadkill!
The first stop was Seal Bay, the home of the Australian sealion. There were many cubs, so cute

It was a great experience seeing these wonderful creatures close up, not too close though as the wardens made sure we stayed at least 6 meters distance so as not to disturb them.
After lunch we were treated to an Australian bird of prey presentation then we drove to the eastern end of the island to the Remarkable Rocks


and Cape Du Couedic to view 100's of yet more New Zealand fur seals and lovely coastline views





The day finished with a visit to the Hanson Bay Sanctuary where we saw kangaroos, wallabies and koalas in the wild together with beautiful coloured native birds such as galahs and crimson rosellas


We did not get back to Adelaide until gone 10.30pm, somewhat tired!

Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th April were taken up travelling by the Indian Pacific train from Sydney to Adelaide, a journey of 24 hours. I had booked the Gold Service which meant we had a compartment to ourselves which converted to bunk bed accommodation at night. Full en suite facilities made it somewhat cosy! http://www.gsr.com.au/site/indian_pacific/services/gold_service.jsp. We departed Sydney at 3pm on the 27th and arrived Adelaide at 3pm on the 28th. The scenery varied along the route starting with the Blue Mountains where we saw quite a lot of scenery we missed due to the bad weather during our day out there, then ranging from red desert outback to cultivated farmland. We had just over an hour at a mining town called Broken Hill. We took a 'city tour' by coach. I am still wondering why .....!

24th to 26th April were spent in and around Sydney





The 24th was taken up with a full day's city sightseeing tour by coach. Morning coffee was at Bondi Beach and lunch was on a harbour cruise. Fabulous. That was our only fine day in Sydney.
On Monday 25th (which was ANZAC Day) we were booked for an early morning backstage tour of the iconic Sydney Opera House followed by breakfast. Because everything seemed to close down that day we were unsure as to whether the trip would actually take place or not. We could not get in touch with the Opera House to find out nor to arrange our coach pick up. So we took a chance, got up really early and made our own way there to find that all was OK for the planned 7am start. It was a most interesting tour and you will note that the Sydney Opera Orchestra has booked a new conductor:


For our pre-booked 4WD day in the Blue Mountains on 26th April the weather could not have been worse.


We suffered a complete fog white-out for most of the day so the anticipated wonderful views did not materialise. The day ended with a visit to a wildlife park where I just had to have the obligatory photo with a koala bear.


and a kangaroo


I learned yesterday from our recycled boy racer coach driver on Kangaroo Island that koalas are not completely spaced out all the time (as I thought) due to the narcotic content of eucalyptus shoots (there is none), but because they have no carbohydrate intake whatsoever they have absolutely no energy and sleep for 20 hours a day.


Maybe I should try that diet...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

16th - 23rd April. Farewell New Zealand.

On Saturday 23rd April I departed New Zealand for Australia. I arrived in Sydney around 5.30pm local time (another 2 hour time difference to get used to) where Tom was there to meet me. We have met up for a 12 day whistle stop tour of a bit of Australia.

Tuesday 19th/Friday 22nd April.
Terry and I have covered 4100 kms in 4 weeks on the South Island (+ whatever we drove on the North Island at the beginning of our tour) and seen and done some amazing things over the last weeks, but all good things come to an end and on 19th April we said goodbye and I headed up to the Auckland area again to spend my last few days in New Zealand with Carolyn - the same Carolyn that I spent a week with in Pokeno on arrival in NZ on 19th February. But since my first visit she has moved to Papakura, nearer to both Auckland and her workplace. So the days with her until my departure for Sydney on 23rd April were real 'down time' for me, much needed relaxation after the fabulous but strenuous weeks travelling. On the first evening we met her daughter, Julie, for a meal on the Waterfront in downtown Auckland and, as a surprise for me, Carolyn had arranged secretly with Leigh (Terry's son) that he join us. It was a lovely surprise. Thank you Carolyn, and thank you Leigh for playing along with the idea. We all had a great evening.
As before, Carolyn headed off for work during the mornings but this time arrived home earlier due to the closer proximity. We spend the week either browsing shops, eating takeaway or drinking wine! On Good Friday Carolyn drove me out to the Thames estuary on the Coromandel for a 'tiki tour' and we stopped at Miranda Springs http://www.mirandahotsprings.co.nz/ for a relaxing dip in the naturally hot spring pool. It was great.

Sunday 17th/Monday 18th April.
We drove to Richmond, near Nelson on 17th to Terry's son Aaron's house where Terry is spending the next 6 weeks or so house/dog sitting while Aaron, Jo and the twins visit Ireland. We sadly said goodbye to our trusty Toyota Corolla at Nelson airport when we took Aaron etc for their departure flight during the afternoon.
On Monday 18th we paid a brief visit to Nelson. On the way we called into the WOW Exhibition. http://www.wowcars.co.nz/wearableartgallery. Amazing stuff. Nelson seemed a really nice place but I guess both Terry and I were 'toured out' by then so apart from seeing South Street, we didn't do much else.

Saturday 16th April we drove up to Farewell Spit but visibility was bad and it was pouring with rain so we didn't get to see much.


But at least I can say I was at both the very bottom and very top of the South Island. We left that area after morning coffee and took our time driving back to Shirley and Margaret's stopping for lunch at the lovely seaside town of Kaiteriteri on the way.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

13th - 15th April. Ever Northwards

On Friday 15th April we left Margaret and Shirley's house at Tapawera to drive to the northernmost town on South Island - Collingwood. Weatherise our luck of good weather ran out as it was raining hard and low cloud covered the hilltops. I was driving and had to negotiate Takaka Hill, again a steep climb with many hairpin bends. We rose above the low cloud level so we were unable to see what I am sure were beautiful views nor did I have to drive through fog as I expected. At the top of 'the marble hill' as it is called we visited Ngarua Caves. They were pretty impressive with many incredible stalactites and stalagmites, and weddings are frequently held in the enormous 'cathedral', the biggest area within the caves.
We stopped in Takaka for lunch and during the afternoon checked into the Beachcomber Motel in Collingwood, a very small township situated on the famous Golden Bay. Unfortunately, it wasn't 'golden' for us today, more like grey.
Whilst out for a short walk between showers we were lucky enough to see a Great Egret, or White Heron. These are not seen in Northern Europe. It was big, and a joy to see.

On Thursday 14th April we left Westport for Tapawera, a small town in Tasman where friends of Terry live. We followed the Buller River most of the way, and through The Buller Gorge. Yet again we passed through stunning scenery - high forested cliffs and wide blue river. At one point the road passes through Hawk's Crag, a very scary bit where the road has been cut out of the cliff face with a deep drop to the river on one side. I remember going through this in an Inter City bus in 2006 and it was scarier then than it was in the car this time.


Quoted from the internet: "The almost vertical cliff at Hawks Crag posed a challenge when building the road through the lower Buller Gorge. The solution was to cut a narrow slot across the cliff face, which had to be negotiated with care by wheeled vehicles. Shown here in the late 19th century, the road was only just wide enough to take carriages and carts." Rather them than me!


Our next stop was The Buller Gorge Swingbridge, the longest in the country.


We walked over it with some trepidation as it was high and very wobbly, and my return journey was not on foot, but on 'the comet line' ie a death slide! I didn't feel at all nervous and enjoyed in immensely, as this photo shows:


Further along the road we passed a massive scar on a mountain which occurred as a result of the Inangahua earthquake in 1967. We had previously called into Inangahua to see photographic evidence and newspaper reports of this. This earthquake dramatically changed the local landscape.
As we were not due to arrive at Margaret and Shirley's house until gone 3.30 we had time to kill we so left the highway on a couple of occasions to visit Lake Rotoroa, and Lake Rotoiti near St. Arnaud in the Nelson Lakes National Park. They were both beautiful with mountains as a backdrop.

Wednesday 13th April was a 'rest day' in Westport. I am sure there are far better places to relax in but we were both pretty tired and just fancied a day off. It has been a long and tiring 4 weeks and perhaps it is beginning to take it's toll. But neither of us would have changed anything. It has been just amazing.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

12th April - The End of the Road and lots to tell

Today we clocked another 230km on the car by travelling to the furthest point available by road up the west coast. That means that we have travelled the South Island west coast highway from bottom to top.
Our first point of call was to a disused historic coal mine at Denniston. Getting there involved turning off the main road and driving to the top of a mountain - steep hairpin bends and narrow roads. The reason for the visit is that Terry has read a couple of novels set in and around that coal mine so she was interested to see what it was like. There is not very much left there now apart from a few derelict buildings and lots of old rusty artefacts. The Dept of Conservation have taken it over and prepared a walking track around the site with information boards etc. From the coal mine atop the mountain the views along the coastline were quite staggering as we were really high up. It was once again a hot sunny day with wall to wall blue sky.
The furthest township north is Karamea, around 95km north of Denniston. It was at Denniston we realised that we were a little low on petrol - the computer thingy in the car told me we had 128kms of petrol left. Realising we were going way out in the wopwops with no petrol stations until Karamea we decided to take the chance and drive on knowing that at the end the petrol tank would be very low, hopefully not empty.
It wasn't long before we wanted our morning coffee and after a while we came to a village which actually had a cafe - but it was closed. Although the owner was there, he obviously didn't want to make us any. So we drove further and came to a bit of a dilapidated pub. The bar was open, but not the adjoining cafe. The man there obviously took pity on us two desperate ladies and offered to make us one. He really didn't know what he was doing and we had to tell him how much instant coffee to put in the mug and even how much to charge us for it. Then he asked "Do you want a cake? There are some here somewhere". We chose a shortbread each and again had to pay what we thought was the appropriate amount! We left chuckling but refreshed (even though it was yucky instant coffee)
Ever northwards, we continued our journey happy that the petrol situation would be ok as we were driving along a long straight road beside the coast. What we didn't know was that, a little distance ahead, we had to drive over high mountain pass thus using low gears and thus consuming more petrol. The climb upwards seemed to take forever and again I had to negotiate many steep hairpin bends and narrow roads We eventually reached Karamea with about 20kms of petrol to spare. Phew!
After a lovely lunch at the appropriately named 'Last Resort Motel' we proceeded a further 16km north up a gravel road to Kohaihai car park, the very end of the road. This was alongside the beautiful Kohaihai river estuary where

the swing bridge marks the beginning of many walking tracks, some 8 or 9 days long. We did a shorter one - 30 minutes up a (small) mountain among beautiful Nikau palms


to Scotts Lookout. It was quite a climb but the view over Scotts Bay was worth the effort


The 'end of the road' was paradise. This is the 'mountain' we climbed. It looks bigger in real life!


On our way home we stopped at Mokihinui to see the river and the estuary. This had been featured on a popular national TV programme a couple of weeks ago as an energy company want to build a huge dam on this beautiful free flowing river thus creating a lake which would cover acres of native forest and decimate many endangered species http://www.wwf.org.nz/?4120%2FMokihinui-river-dam-plan-poses-ecological-disaster---WWF.


We had 'afternoon tea' at a pub/cafe in the village. I do not think the staff there serve much more than beer because I was asked if I wanted milk in my 'flat white' coffee!
We really did spend the day in the back of beyond.
I will finish this long blog with something else I saw today that made me smile. The Ladies and Gents loos at The Last Resort motel were called 'Mangoes' and 'No Mangoes'. Very original I thought.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

11th April - Shantytown and lots more

Today we drove further north up the west coast from Hokitika to Westport. It was again a beautiful day weatherise.
Our first stop was Shantytown http://www.tourism.net.nz/new-zealand/attractions/sightseeing-and-leisure/theme-and-leisure-parks/west-coast/shantytown/. This replica village really brings to life what conditions were like during the gold rush 150 years ago (minus the picnic tables of course!)

We had the obligatory ride on the steam train. The locomotive (known as 'Gertie') was built in Bristol in 1877.
From there we drove to Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki. These are incredible limestone rock formations, like pancakes stacked on top of each other. At high tide, when there is a stiff breeze






the seawater spurts up through blowholes. Unfortunately while we were there it was not high tide nor was there a stiff breeze. From there we visited Mitchell's Gully historic gold mine at Charleston. This was a bit of a disappointment after reading a huge write-up in a local tourist newspaper. But it was nonetheless interesting. We followed the track and walked through


several old tunnels. Terry said 'look out for cave wetas, they are sure to be in here'. Not entirely sure what they were I asked 'what are they and how big are they?'. Her answer somewhat disturbed me and made my quicken my pace 'a sort of grasshopper that would probably span a saucer'. Luckily we didn't see any!
Whilst we were riding on the old steam train at Shantytown earlier in the day the 'guard' told us of a hidden gem in the Paparoa National Park so we duly followed his advice and drove down a narrow gravel road to the Nile River, not exactly sure where we were headed. At the end of the road we were not disappointed. It was stunning - a beautiful river flowing at the base of huge limestone cliffs


and there seemed to be an entire miniature forest growing atop this island in the river


After checking into our motel in Westport we drove to Cape Foulwind (as named by Captain Cook, and it was not misnamed as it was very windy there) to the seal colony. But what grabbed our interest was not the seals, but watching birds (we think starlings) swooping and sweeping before settling on the trees on the small offshore Wall Island for the night. It was an amazing sight but difficult to capture on camera, although I did my best


Following that, we were treated to a lovely sunset.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

9th - 10th April. Hokitika and Arthur's Pass

Today, Sunday 10th April, we planned to do a day trip to Arthur's Pass, which crosses the Southern Alps from the west to east. When I saw the day had dawned somewhat cloudy with hidden mountaintops I was somewhat nervous as to driving there. But nonetheless, intrepid travellers that we are, we set off. As we drove further into the Pass the clouds lifted and we ended up with beautiful blue sky and sunshine. Once we left the flat coastal region and started driving in the mountains our surroundings became spectacular. We stopped for a coffee break at the famous old Jackson's Hotel (est. 1863)

The Otira viaduct has made what was once a difficult part of the road much safer and easier





and a rock shelter has been built to save the road from falling rocks and debris, together with a diverted waterfall





We spent a little time in Arthur's Pass village, and had every intention of walking one of the short tracks but it was very cold there with a strong icy wind blowing.
It was quite a long drive there and back so after we arrived back in Hokitika we went for a walk along the river estuary and beach.

Saturday 9th April we drove from Franz Josef to Hokitika, further up the west coast. It was only a shortish drive and we arrived at our destination before midday. It was a spectacular drive with high bush and forest on one side and the most beautiful beaches and offshore rocky islands on the other.
During the afternoon we took a drive to the Hokitika Gorge with the swing bridge, allegedly one of the most famous views in New Zealand





The river was amazingly blue due to the mineral content of the glacier fed water, even though the sky was a dismal grey.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

8th April - Up, Up and Away

We have been so blessed with the weather on this South Island tour. The West Coast is notoriously wet and, to date, we have hardly seen any rain at all.
Today was no different and should have started with a helicopter trip over Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, but due to the windy conditions high in the mountains our flight was delayed until 3pm. So that gave us the morning to visit the nearby coastal settlement of Okarito. This, like many others, was a booming gold mining town back in the 19th century, but is now a sleepy village consisting mainly of holiday cottages. It has a beautiful lagoon with many birds, especially white herons, so it is a popular place for nature lovers and walkers. The tide was out when we arrived, but we noticed it coming in with great speed

On the way back to Franz Josef we stopped to do the 30 minute each way Pahiki walk. This was uphill through rainforest to a wonderful purpose built timber lookout platform with views over rainforest to the coast in one direction, and over similar forest to the high mountains in the other.





We lunched back in Franz Josef and duly 'checked in' for our 30 minute glacier flight at 2.45pm. It was a staggering experience. We were amazed how quickly we gained height and sped to Fox Glacier. The mountains and surrounding countryside looked magnificent from the helicopter. We landed on the top of Fox Glacier and had 10 minutes or so to walk around and take photos







Other photos are on my Picasaweb site https://picasaweb.google.com/judystevens17/NewZealandFebApril2011#
Sometimes we flew quite low and by zooming in with my camera I was able to get some amazing photos of the compacted snow:





Fox Glacier:





A truly unforgettable experience.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

7th April

Another glorious day dawned this morning. We left Haast and drove north up the scenic West Coast Highway towards the glaciers. Our first brief stop was at Knight's Viewpoint where there were glorious views over native bush and sea.

One of the joys of this drive, as I remembered from my last visit, is the fantastic mix of bush and sea views.
We then drove further north around numerous hairpin bends and up and down hills and had another brief stop at Lake Paringa, so peaceful.


We arrived at Fox Glacier about an hour later and drove to the glacier viewpoint. We did not spend long here nor did I take many photos as both Terry and I have vivid memories of our previous visit in 2006. For that visit the weather was totally different - absolutely hosing down with heavy rain. We had booked a half-day walk on the glacier. It was a wonderful experience, walking for ages through warm subtropical rainforest and then onto the freezing cold glacier. For that we had to fix crampons to our boots and were issued with ice picks. We got so wet we were soaked right through to you know where even though we were wearing thick waterproofs and we were completely exhausted at the end of the walk. This photo was taken on Fox Glacier in 2006.


Fortunately today was a far better day.


After our brief visit we drove half an hour north to Franz Josef where we have found ourselves a nice motel unit for 2 nights.
We then visited the Franz Josef Glacier. It was awe- inspiring. We walked for about 15 minutes through rain forest then out onto the moraine deposited by the retreating glacier.


It took a further half hour to reach the face of the glacier


There was a large cave at the glacier face and we waited for the huge chunk of ice top left of it to fall but needless to say, it didn't! I expect it has looked like that for years.
Finally, here are a couple of photos of the sunset over the mountains behind our motel unit:





Another tremendous day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad