Christchurch

We finally found a pub that serves real beer. It was too damn good. Oh, and I had my hair cut, which, due to a misunderstanding regarding international clipper blade size conventions, ended up being much shorter than expected. Ho hum.

Franz Josef > Hokitika > Akaroa

Well the glaciers were absolute stunning.....really, like nothing we've ever seen before. Just an enormous frozen river, appearing as though the end has been sliced clean off to display the cross section. Fox glacier is probably less impressive - a little dirty at the front and with less scenic surroundings, but Franz Josef (see photos) was absolutely magnificent. These two glaciers are reputed to be the most active in the world, advancing or retreating by up to a metre a day. There was the option to walk on the glaciers themselves with a guide, but, again it was expensive and no one we spoke to who had done it seemed to be particularly over whelmed by the experience so we gave it a miss. If you have $320 to spare you can even take a helicopter up to the top to hike in the bright blue ice, through incredible caves and crevices, which would be a great experience I've no doubt.

After two nights in Franz Josef we headed north to Hokitika and stayed in a great place out in the country called the Blur Spur Lodge. With it being winter and with no ski fields nearby, we had the whole hostel to ourselves, which was fantastic after the last few days in the busy mountain towns. We drove out to Hokitika Gorge (30km from Hokitika) to see the swing bridge and turquoise waters, before doing a bush walk near the lodge. The Blue Spur area was a gold mining community so there was lots of interesting mine shafts and tight gaps to squeeze through (we got filthy).

Next day we drove across Arthur's Pass (notoriously treacherous in bad weather, but fine at the moment) and past Christchurch to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula. Stayed in a really nice hostel called Chez La Mer for two nights. Unfortunately it rained solidly all night for the first night and the next day we tried to go walking but after a few hairy stream crossings we were basically scrabbling up a muddy hill in the rain so we decided to turn back. On the way back I fell over and got covered in mud, so we went back, put some washing on and went to the pub next door for some much needed medicine.

We're now back in Christchurch, with only one full day here tomorrow before flying to Brisbane on Thursday afternoon.

Queenstown & Wanaka

We made our way up to Queenstown from Te Anau. Queenstown is NZ's activity capital where you can throw yourself off or out of just about anything, with or without something tied to you. As it's the ski season it was pretty busy, with lots of snowboard kids (I didn't know they made trousers that baggy?!) and skiers in expensive cafes, wearing expensive sunglasses, drinking expensive coffee. Whilst we would have liked to have a go at skiing we don't really have the time or the money on this occasion. We walked up to the Skyline complex (an hour's steep uphill hike) and went on the luge (not as tame as it looked!) and then rode a gondola back down again, which was fun. As for all the various activities on sale (bungi, sky diving etc) we decided to decline for various reasons and crazy golf was our most adrenaline fueled experience.

Despite it's unfortunate name, Wanaka is prettier than Queenstown and a lot smaller (certainly more our cup of tea), but once again it was full of skiers due to the nearby peaks, so we went on a half hour walk that turned into a 3 hour hike (and we had to ask for directions to get back!) and left the next day. The weather here has been consistently spectacular, changing in a matter of minutes from hot sunshine to pouring rain. The cloud/mist/rain/snow that hangs in the sky over the mountains is pretty impressive. The drive down to Franz Josef this morning was quite special - bright blue lakes, enormous snow capped mountains, waterfalls, torrential rain, rain forest, icicles... Tomorrow we may go walking on the glacier.

With just a week to go, we are looking forward to moving on. NZ has been amazing, but it feels a little like a long holiday rather than travelling, and it is much more expensive than we had budgeted for. Looking forward to staying with friends in Oz and not having to get up and check out by 10:00am!

Milford Sound

We stayed a couple of nights in Te Anau in a great hostel called Barnyard Backpackers. The place is on a deer farm 9km South of Te Anau and is comprised of a row of cabins facing the mountains and a big communal building with big kitchen, pool table, sofas and two roaring fires. To top it off there was only 6 of us staying there so we had the run of the place. We met an Irish couple called Craig and Fiona, with whom we went on a cruise of Milford Sound yesterday (and will hopefully meet up with in Australia). There is one road leading to Milford Sound and it's a 3-5 hour return journey depending on the conditions (the road is regularly closed this time of year). The boat cruise lasted two hours and went right out to the Tasman Sea and back, we saw waterfalls, dolphins, seals, all in all it was great. Milford Sound is actually incorrectly named as it was created by a huge glacier and is therefore technically a Fjord, not a Sound. Basically, everyone should go there (see pictures).

Central South Island

Last Sunday we headed down the coast from Kaikoura to Christchurch. Christchurch is very much like a little piece of England really, with streets named after English towns and punting on the river. Monday we dropped the camper off, managing to explain away the broken safe nicely, and then spent the rest of the day wandering around aimlessly, remarking at the similarities with the UK. Tuesday we picked up the car - a Toyota Corolla (not bad for $32NZD a day!) - and drove to Tekapo. We thought we'd miss the camper but after a days driving it was clear we wouldn't. The drive to Tekapo was incredible - we descended into an incredible mist-shrouded, crispy, white world, surrounded by mountains guarding enormous, sometimes partially frozen, bright blue lakes. We'd never seen anything like it before. After a night in great little hostel in Tekapo, we drove up to Mount Cook and went for a walk in the snow, before heading across to Oamaru on the East Coast. We treated ourselves to Pizza and spent the night in the Empire Hotel (a very traditional old hotel, converted into a hostel). Yesterday we drove down the coast to the Otago Peninsula (just past Dunedin), heading to a hostel we had heard good things about called McFarmer's Backpackers. Turned out the hostel was closed for the winter, but the owners had a small cottage they were renting out (see photo). Astoundingly it was only just over our budget so we're staying in it for two nights. It's really worth it for a bit of privacy and solitude. We're in Dunedin as I write this, heading back to Otago this afternoon to, hopefully, see the Penguins at dusk (they come out of the sea as it gets dark and waddle up the beach to their nests apparently!) Tomorrow we do the long drive across the country to Te Anau, form where you can visit Milford Sound.

Northern South Island

New Zealand is bloody fantastic. We have done so much, I don't really know where to start so I'm simply going to list it...
Saturday - in Nelson in the afternoon, we went to Founders Park where they have preserved historical buildings from all over NZ and transported them to Nelson to set up as a complete village from the early 19th century onwards (including the 1953 Bristol Freighter aeroplane pictured).
Sunday - went walking up Queen Charlotte track in the Marlborough Sounds and then travelled up to Blenheim and popped into Cloudy Bay for a quick tasting of their world famous white wine.
Monday - moved up the road to Renwick and hired bikes for the day. Cycled round the many wineries of the famous Marlborough region, sampling their superb (mostly white) wine and then had a few pints down at the Cork & Keg English style pub.
Tuesday - drove across to Nelson Lakes national park to do some walking in the spectacular countryside. Then we drove on across the country to Murchison to spend the night. We were lucky enough to arrive just as the owner (an ex-farmer) was hand shearing his sheep (kept as pets for the kids). They also had a tame deer which you could stroke! Had a few beers in the local later on.
Wednesday - woke up to a very frosty morning in Murchison before heading down to Buller Gorge. We went on NZ's longest swing bridge across the gorge, hiked up to the falls and then came back on the Comet Line Flying Fox (a fast and exhilarating ride back across the gorge on a harness attached to a big cable). Then we drove to the West coast, stopping off in Westport before heading down to Punakaiki to see the famous pancake rocks and blow holes. A few beers in the local pub to finish the day.
Thursday - pretty much spent the whole day driving back across to the East coast. We considered spending the night in Hamner Springs but when we got there we realised it was just a bit of a nasty tourist trap, with lots of weekenders from Christchurch bringing their kids up to swim in the hot pools. So we went all the way across Lewis Pass to Kaikoura. The last 2 hours of the journey, on Highway 70 connecting Lewis Pass to the coast, was some of the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen in my life. Evening - Guinness by the fireplace in the Strawberry Tree Inn (see photo).
Friday (today) - we got up and went on a boat trip whale watching. The trips have been cancelled for the last few days due to the weather and today was open again but with a "sea sickness warning" in place. We braved it and it was definitely worth it. We saw 6 Sperm whales and a group of about 200 dolphins. A truly magical experience.

We're going to spend 3 nights here in Kaikoura (due, in part, to the 3 nights for the price of 2 offer at the campsite!) before heading down to Christchurch to drop off the van on Monday.

Nelson

Ferry crossing was fine. In fact, the ride into Picton was pretty spectacular. The South Island is immediately more scenic, everywhere you turn there's another amazing view (snow capped mountains, waterfalls, beaches etc.) When we arrived we drove straight down to Nelson, a biggish town on the north coast, and stayed just past it in Kaiteriteri. Yesterday we went walking in the Abel Tasman national park, before having a couple of beers in Nelson in the afternoon. Today there's a market on in town with lots of local arts, crafts and food and we might go to the cinema again this afternoon.

By popular demand....

Wellington

We went wine tasting around the Hawkes Bay area as planned. We decided it wasn't worth risking bad weather and paid for an afternoon tour which included four wineries and a "gourmet snack". We had a really good time, trying about 30 wines all in all (fairly generous quantities too, so I'm glad we didn't drive it ourselves). Only two other guys in our group - Paul and Paddy, an Aussie and a kiwi - journalists who met while working together in Ireland of all places. There's an area in Hawkes Bay called the Gimblet Gravels due to the dry, gravelly earth. For many years the land was considered worthless and left barren until someone realised it was perfect for growing grapes. Nowadays it is literally covered in vineyards and a single acre changes hands for a small fortune.

Next day we headed down to Wellington. It was the worst day of driving in my life so far, bar none. Really strong, gusty winds and our hi top camper is basically a Toyota Hiace van with a great big plastic roof stuck on top which effectively acts like a sail in strong winds. It was all over the place and it was all I could do to wrestle the thing into a straight line. We did most of the journey at about 70kph, even the lorries were overtaking us! But we arrived unscathed, a little later than planned. We decided it would be best to have a couple of nights in a hostel to get a break form the van and to properly enjoy being in the city. We're staying in a big, old ramshackle hostel called Rowena's Lodge. It's not the nicest in town but is just about the only one with off street parking capable of accommodating a 2.5m high camper, so it'll do. Wellington is really pleasant as capital cities go. It's a tiny place, only the third largest city in the country, but it's size is definitely part of it's appeal. Some parts of it feel like a miniature London (but cleaner and friendlier, obviously). There's loads of bars and restaurants everywhere - the kiwis have a real thing for trying to re-create Irish and English pubs. They do get somewhere close with the design/atmosphere but are sorely lacking on the beer front. In the Irish places you can get an average pint of Guinness or Murphy's, but the "Speckled Hen" I foolishly paid a fortune for yesterday was terrible (cold, fizzy, need I go on....). We went on the cable car today and walked through the botanical gardens before checking out the museum, which was pretty good, especially the earthquake simulator.

Tomorrow morning we're heading to the South Island on the ferry. It's about a 3 hour ride across the Cooke Straight and is sometimes quite choppy this time of year (in fact it was closed only a week or so ago so it could be an interesting ride). We're really looking forward to seeing the South Island - everyone, both travellers and kiwis, seem to think it's a stunning place. We've chosen to spend two thirds of our time in NZ down south, and hopefully it will prove to be the right decision.

Rotorua, Taupo & Napier

In the end, we made it all the way down to Rotorua on Wednesday (400kms), as Cambridge was of little note. There’s so much geothermal activity in the ground that most of Rotorua gently steams all the time, with hot, bubbling mud streams, active geysers and natural thermal spas everywhere. We visited Te Puia to see the biggest and most active geyser in the area and also caught a traditional Maori concert too. Seeing the Haka performed close up was quite an experience, but I managed to narrowly avoid getting dragged up on stage to learn the moves. Next we took a look at the zorbing (basically, rolling down a big hill in a giant beach ball). We wanted to have a go but decided $45NZ was too much for 10 seconds of action. So, instead, we went to the Pig & Whistle pub and enjoyed the local beers and wines.

After a couple of nights in Rotorua, we headed down to Taupo. Taupo is a small town on the edge of NZ’s biggest lake. Again, there’s loads of stuff to do here: sky diving, bungy jumping, fly fishing, watersports, golf horse trekking, quad biking, in fact, just about everything you can think of. Unfortunately, it rained pretty solidly for nearly 48 hours, which put many of the afore mentioned things out of the question. We went down to Haku falls, which was pretty cool and then for a walk down by the lake and then, somehow, we ended up I the pub again. We had our first visitor in the camper today (see photos).

We’re now down in Napier on the east coast. Napier was completely destroyed in the 1930s buy an earthquake and was rebuilt entirely in the art deco style (the museum tells the story superbly). This is the biggest wine producing region in NZ and so we are hoping to go on a tour of some of the wineries tomorrow. This is best done by bike (for obvious reasons) but depending on the weather we may have to pay for transport.