Game Night!

Aug. 15

I know we are terribly behind on writing and posting this blog. At first we were getting up really early in the morning and seemed to have more free time. With long busy days, we have been getting lazy.

The next days drive was much more pleasant. We gave ourselves plenty of time and stopped for a picnic lunch along the way. Getting into Auckland while never pleasant, was definitely less stressful than leaving it the first time, even with the camper van. We stayed in Avondale Motor camp which was pretty good, although there wasn't much around it in the way of stores or restaurants that we could see. The great thing about this park was that it was quite near the train station to get to Eden Park for the Rugby.

Another nice bonus was that train tickets were free for ticket holders. The trains were pretty full and a bit behind but we made it to the game in plenty of time. Great atmosphere and a really nice stadium. I think there were about 49,000 people there that night but it was easier to get around in than when we attended the Women's FIFA game in Winnipeg where there were only 25,000 people. Most of us there were cheering the All Blacks but there were pockets of Wallaby supporters in yellow scattered around. It was quite apparent that we did not have more than a basic knowledge of the game, especially compared to our neighbours but that did not diminish our enjoyment. A couple from Hamilton were kind enough to explain some of the finer points to Geoff during the game.

They started the game with the Haka which was interesting to see unfortunately they were facing away from us but oh well.

At the beginning, it looked like the Aussie's were dominating in ball possession and did score first but the AB's came back and then they never had a chance! Some very exciting try's for the All Blacks. I'm no sports commentator so I won't embarrass myself by trying to describe the game and players, but suffice it to say it was most enjoyable and exciting. Very ardent Rugby fans in NZ!

Ferry and a Mad dash North

Aug 14

I don't know if we mentioned that we were lucky enough to get tickets to an All Blacks rugby game in Auckland on the 15th.  The required that we high-tail it up to Auckland from the South Island in a little time as we felt we could spare.  We were told to be at the ferry at 9:30 for the 10:45 crossing. We are there at 9:15, and first in line for the campers.  It felt like it took ages to unload and load.  First the train cars were driven on, then the trucks, cars and finally the campers and a few stragglers.  The crossing itself was very uneventful.  We sailed out of a very long sound with plenty of scenery on either side.  The open ocean had very minor swells and in no time we were curing around the point into Wellington Harbour.

Off the ferry - onto the motorway and out of Wellington bound for a campground in Turinga at the bottom of lake Tuapo, about 3-4 hours North.  We picked it because it was about where we thought we'd get when it was just turning dark.  We had to cross an infamous piece of highway called the desert road.  It is the road that will close if any nasty weather is about.  We drove the curvy, slippery road in the dark, in the driving rain, but at least we were able to follow a truck.  Trucks are good omens for driving.  You can blame the truck if you're driving too slow.  And, as confirmed by locals that night, truckers know where to go and when to slow down and speed up.  We survived, but it a nail biting evening.

Goodbye to the South Island

Aug 13

We camped at a surf town near Kendra's house in Pegasus (north of Christchurch) called Waikuku. It was a fairly basic campground, but near the ocean.  (Not that we could tell in the dark, but we could hear it)  It turned out that the beach was a short walk and we spent some time there in the morning,  It was a beautiful expanse of pale sand and big crashing waves.

After a bit of grocery shopping, and another beach (this one wilder and rocky), we headed in search of the famous crayfish of Kaikoura.  Kaikoura is a fairly large town along the east coast of the south island and is home to seafood, surfing and whale watching.  We traveled from one end to the other inquiring at a fish shop and a hotel about lunch.  We arrive after 2pm, so everything was shutting down for lunch, to re-open at 5pm.  We did find the "Original World Famous Kaihoura Seafood BBQ" at the south end of town. The BBQ was a roadside stand with some tables and umbrellas and lots of parking.  We bought several things to sample including the last half crayfish the manager/cook had.  Everything was quite good and the plates were stunningly presented. Crayfish looks like small lobster and tastes sweeter perhaps, not quite like lobster or crab.

Two hours of twisty roads later we arrived in Picton.  Our first campsite choice was closed for renovations and the second... well it was OK.  We camped near a train viaduct that was running freight trains to and from the ferry terminal most of the night.

K-K-K KEA!!!!!

Aug 12

This morning. since we had to face Arthur's Pass, we didn't want to start too early. We wanted to let some of the ice melt off the roads before we ventured out on them. After breakfast, we washed up and said our final goodbye to the friendly Weka and started out. It was only 30k to the village from our campsite but 30k over twisty windy roads feels a lot longer. The drive started out fine, nice views and only moderately scary. We did encounter one bad patch of ice through a avalanche tunnel where it felt like the van wasn't going to make it up the slope. Needless to say, I was sitting in the back and Sam was rode shotgun.

When we got to the village we went to the visitors centre first. Very nice lady inside who gave us the best spots to see the Kea. We headed out to the General store first. No Kea, I think we should have eaten outside as they are plainly attracted to food. Not seeing any birds we headed out to the second possibility and found them high up on a light stand. When they flew off down the street, we followed them back to the store. There were more people sitting outside and the Kea were working the crowd. I will point out that there are all these signs saying not to feed the Kea and a "fed Kea is a dead Kea". I was bad 'cause I didn't listen. I was concerned for their health however and did give them a few pieces of apple. I noticed this was one of the fruits they gave a captive Kea so I thought it was ok. When we first came upon them one was eating a marshmallow!

 One of the men having lunch outside said one Kea actually made off with a whole meat pie once! They seem totally unafraid and are quite amazing.

 I love the way they walk with a slight waddle and little hops mixed in. It's hard to believe people once killed these magnificent parrots for being pests. That being said, I guess they can be annoying if they keep pulling the rubber parts off your car. If I lived there, I think I would be making problem solving parrot toys for them. I guess I can now leave New Zealand happy; I have seen the Kea. One other neat thing about the Kea is their call: it really does sat Keeahh. I guess that's why the Maori called them that.

I would really have liked to spent more time poking around Aurthur's Pass. There are some good walks to do and it's a fun place to be especially when you see the flash of green and orange as a Kea flies by. There was a lot of snow there, but it was fairly warm and melting while we were there.

We made it safely through the pass and started heading toward Pegasus to visit an old friend,Kendra, from work. On the way we passed Castle Hill and decided to stop. The rocks here were used in the first Narnia film (battle scenes) . It was good. Still a lot of snow here. We walked up the hills to the rocks and got some good views. It's popular with climbers who like bouldering on the large rocks.

We spent a bit longer then we intended there, but Kendra was ok with that. She made extra spaghetti  for supper and invited us to dinner. It was great to see an old friend and nice to talk to a fellow Canadian! Kendra and her husband moved here on a 2 year visa with their 4 kids. I think that is such an exciting and brave thing to do. The kids seem to be having a good time. Kysen (the second oldest) already talks with a Kiwi accent! Kendra showed us the lovely beach and the lake nearby that's biking distance away from them. I think their summer will be very fun!

Left Coast Day

Aug 11

We are really sorry we don't have more time along the West Coast as we all really like it here. It seems to really be off the beaten track and the landscapes and sea coasts here really appeal to us. We are now heading towards Arthur's pass to hopefully make an acquaintance with a kea before we leave the beautiful South Island. Kind of a long driving day - we decided to head towards Jackson's Retreat which is 30k away from Arthur's Pass.

Next stop the Fox Glacier. Being tight on time, we decided against any of the glacier tours (expensive as well) and just went for the viewing. At the parking lot, there were signs with all the dire warnings, cautions about having good footwear all for a less than 10 minute walk to a viewing barricade. The Glacier looked like a bank of snow -completely underwhelming! Oh well, I suppose it would be more interesting if you went on it.

 On our travels we stopped in Hokitika. Geoff heard it was a good place to go for Jade. I'm glad we stopped as we were able to stock up on groceries and buy a couple pieces from the Jade carver himself. We looked in a few of the shops but many seemed kind of touristy. One place we stopped at, Heritage Jade, was closed but the owner and Artist, Colin Davidson, was just next door having coffee with some buddies and he let us in.  He gathers his own jade from local sources and crafts really beautiful pieces - all different kinds/shades. Went out did a bit more shopping had a talk then came back and bought 2. Geoff rarely sees something he wants for himself so I'm glad he got a jade fish hook there. I got a small spiral too.

 Almost missed the turn off for Jacksons Retreat but I'm glad we didn't. Definitely one of the nicest campgrounds we have stayed in. As we were coming in the welcoming crew came out- some brown flightless birds around the size of chickens. Geoff asked and I looked them up. They were weka. I think they look to campervans as a source of food. Sam said one of them  jumped up on our step to look in the van! Yes we are bad; we did feed them. It was hard not too as they were cute and persistent.

 Also saw our first South Island Robin and we did hear more Kaka although we didn't see them. There are many longer walks in the area that I'm sorry we didn't have time to go on. The owners of the campground did have a small forest walk along their bubbly stream and a grotto where you can see the glow worms at night. Nice clear night so we got a great view of the stars as well. I guess we visitors from the North Hemisphere are always impressed by the way we can see the Milky Way here. It is incredible the amount of stars you can see too.

As we were the only guests that nice, we took over the kitchen and lounge area. No logs for the wood burning stove but a gas heater made things cozy. It was a treat to cook in a large kitchen again! Made sausages, baked potatoes broccoli and peas. Not fancy but good. The owners are very eco conscious. They have replanted the land with native species of trees and shrubs, have compost bins, and even free herbs for guests to use!

We tried out the heat unplugged and the bugger worked! I don't what was wrong the first night.

Queenstown to the Westlands

Aug. 10

After leaving town about 11 ( didn't want to leave too early as the passes can be icy) we headed out west via the Haast Pass. There was a walk we wanted to do where we could possibly see our 3rd kind of penguin the Fiordland crested.  We drove through Wanaka and stayed around there unproductively a bit looking for a store. Our campervan ticketed for "in courteous parking" which was a complete crock as we were in-between two other big caravans. Yes it's possible to park in between lines with these beasts but then it leaves 2 other spots useless on either side. Park in the middle and only 2 are used. Besides, the lot was mainly empty. I guess parking "parking authorities" are dicks wherever you go.

Our "in courteous" Van

The River Anduin

After that we headed out to our destination, the Munro Beach Walk, a bit north of Haast as we got there it was getting a bit late-ish and the days are shorter here. We made sure we all had flashlights or headlamps before we started out. Beautiful trail to the beach. The path itself was paved, board covered or bridged over the wetter parts and the surrounding trees ferns and mosses made it look positively primeval. We were going at a good clip in hopes of maybe seeing penguins but it would be nice to go back one day and take a more leisurely walk and do some more photography along the way. We got to the beach just as the sun was setting; alas no penguins. Didn't hear to many birds at all. Maybe we were too noisy. The beach was beautiful and would be great in summer. Even if it was a little cold we did wade in a little bit. Hey you gotta... it was a new one for us... the Tasman Sea.

By the time we headed back it was full dark. Since the path was so great it wasn't a problem. We still had to find our DOC site, Lake Paringa, somewhere up the road though. This is a bit more challenging at night since there is only one small sign and if you miss it.....We did find it though. One camper there ahead of us. Couldn't see what the spot looked like at night but that's ok. It was kind of a chilly night already and then unfortunately the heat in the camper van wouldn't work. Kept sounding and looking like it was trying but nothing warm coming out at all! It was a long cold night but we did have extra blankets so nobody was freezing but the air felt really cold on your face and head. Geoff started the engine up a bit in the morning to give us a bit of heat to get going and once we made tea/cocoa everybody felt a lot better. The next day turned out to be warmer as well which was nice.

Our spot by the lake was beautiful. Lake like glass with perfect reflections of the mountains in it. What was also pretty exciting to us was that there were 2 Kakas in the trees. We heard them first and then saw them, although not too well as they stayed fairly high up in the trees. They are quite unusual to find in the wild.

Still in Queenstown

Aug 9

So this was our crazy, jam packed adventure filled day. Had to get an early start and beetle down to down for our "Ride of the Rings" tour with Dart Stables. Andreas picked us up downtown and then on to Glenorchy. Beautiful countryside around there! We went to the stable and got kitted out in gum boots, helmets and gloves and then went on a 4x4 tour up to Paradise. It was a cold, frosty morning and we were wishing we could have stayed in our hiking boots a bit longer since they were way warmer. The driver had a lot of good info about the LOTR movies as well as Wolverine and Narnia and was kind of neat to go through some roads we could definitely not travel on with our camper. We crossed many streams that go right across the roads here. That seems to be fairly common on many back roads. Water is always flowing somewhere. While it is kind of interesting for people to point out specific movie locations, I think we are looking more for place where you get the atmosphere or the feeling from the movies. While we have done some hikes through forest. I'm looking forward to doing some more leisurely ones and pretend to be a hobbit. Just joking about the last.

After the tour, it was time to meet our horses and our guide Pamela. Geoff had warned them about his soar back they gave him a large, easy ride horse called McCleod. Kinda looked like a Clydesdale to me. Sam got the famous horse, Oscar who appeared in the LOTR ride of Rohan. Apparently this brush with stardom gave a bit of attitude and an air of superiority. Catriona was on Presley and I rode Randall. He had a strange habit of liking to chew the wood fence posts and was also the horse who could get loose from the ropes. The horses all had their own hierarchy and so we were to ride in order. I think this was Sam's first ride on a horse and Catriona really hadn't done much riding either but they both did well. We didn't' attempt anything very challenging though. It was a nice bright but cool morning and the scenery was very beautiful. We crossed some very muddy pasture. rocky ground and even went through the Dart river (a very shallow bit of it anyway). We had a bit of excitement for me and Geoff when Randal and McCleod had a brief altercation. Randal liked a nice drink at the river and was second last when McCleod came up behind him and spooked him. The eats went back on both of them and they looked ready to take off! Resolved peacefully in the end with neither of us falling off!

After our busy morning, it was time to head out for the next thing we were all looking forward to but dreading. The Shotover Canyon swing. It was nice when it was a few days away so you don't have to face looking over that edge! 109 metres down and a 60 metre free fall. We knew going in that the guys there have a really wicked sense of humour and that's one of the things we liked about this particular company. Instead of writing your weight on your hand they draw pictures with coloured ink pens.

Some things are a bit less funny when faced with the long drop though. The little jerk forward then pull back was a bit scary! Catriona and I were going to do the "Cutaway" where they suspend you out aways then release you for the free fall until the swing arcs you out over the canyon. On the the way up there, we were told that way was only for pussies and its better to take matters into your own hands and just do a forward step off the platform. So this is the way we went. I honestly wasn't sure we would cause it really goes against all your instincts of self preservation. Nonetheless we both made the jump. It was hella scary! It did seem like a really ling free fall and even the swing part was unnerving. I remember saying to Cat and she agreed that I was glad we tried it but I didn't need to do it again. Being hauled back up was a bit uncomfortable but not too bad. Geoff and Sam went next doing the same. Sam looked scared and  wasn't sure she would go through with it but she did. And liked it. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go solo for her next jump or with someone, We finally decided to do it together so she chose "Gimp boy does Hollywood" for the style. They suspend you out a bit, face toward the canyon floor, feet along the rope and free hand pointing down, then release. It was super fast and for some reason not quite as scary as the first time. Quite liked it! I think Sam is quite a little daredevil.. the same way Cat is for Roller coasters. 

Lots of funny signs on the way up to the jump. They also had a swear jar with Samuel. L. Jackson on it - most amusing. Under the sign with medical conditions, they wrote in canadian. Not sure if they did that when we got there of it was the benefit of some previous jumpers.