Leaving Singapore for a 2 week trip to New Zealand in winter was always going to be laughable. The Lobsters arrived in their happy place on the 12th of May (which was a Saturday) ready to drive ourselves to the ends of the earth! After a brief stint in the earth-quake battered Christchurch, we flew down to the adventure capital of South island, Queenstown. Our expectations were exceeded immediately upon landing over the most breathtaking, snow laden 'Remarkables' one ever did see.
We gladly donned our second long sleeved t-shirt and headed to Avis where we took possession of our Toyota - the sweet bird of freedom after 6 months of no driving in Singapore! Pure bliss! First things first, we needed to get warm! With a daily high of around 8 degrees Celsius we quickly found our way into the shops of Queenstown and purchased ourselves a goose down jacket each - basically a Jo-burg puffer with sleeves! After my dreams of a city-chic coat had been shattered I realised the time had come for me to get up close and personal with this 'winter-camping-experience' that we were about to embark on! We were in New Zealand, the Blackberry's were off and 3 cold fronts were rolling in! BLISS!
It was love at first sight! Queenstown blew us away with its quirky mish-mash of artsy-cafes and high end restaurants and pubs. Slightly irritated that we were 2 weeks early for the ski season, Nick decided that golf was medicine and manged to get 2 rounds in at Kelvin Heights and Jack's Point. He did his new Singapore bought golf shoes justice shooting lower scores than he has ever managed in Joburg with an 83 on Jack's Point on possibly the coldest and wettest day we could have imagined.
We braved the cold and went ahead with a jet boat ride over the Shotover River which was quite simply, RIDICULOUS! Freezing cold and lots of fun! Completely worth the dollars :)
In short, the highlights of Queenstown were the Atlas Cafe, serving insanely good food (at half the price everywhere else) and the Gondola ride to the top of the hills overlooking town while the snow came down and covered us all in white. Such a beautiful spot! Was great to catch up with Geoff Parr over the 3 days and be reminded that Economics can be fun!
After 3 days of fixed-roof accommodation we traded in our Toyota for a 7.2m long, 3.5 ton Maui 2 berth ST (a Mercedes Vito converted into a motor-home). The instruction video is compulsory viewing and takes up 20 mins of your life that you will never get back but at least we knew how to change a tyre and roast a turkey in the Maui if needs be. After an interesting grocery shopping experience at New World we were off on our 10 day South Island adventure!
Our first stop was Te Anau (which we soon learned we were pronouncing completely wrong and may have been the reason why nobody knew what we were talking about). We had booked the Milford Sound cruise and were not disappointed! The Sound was more spectacular than we could have imagine - dramatic, mystic and prehistoric are the words I'd probably choose to describe it. We headed to Manapouri for our second campsite night so as to be ready for our all day Doubtful Sound cruise the following day. We were checked in by one of Frodo's direct relatives and were the only camper-van in the entire park which freaked me out completely as there were strange little statues dotted around all facing the lake. I couldn't help but let my imagination get the better of me and barely slept a wink......It was all worth it though as we set sail on the graceful Sound the following day. Breathtaking and simply beyond expectations. And that only describes the cruise across Lake Manapouri. We still had the Sound to discover.....Why have we never heard about this place before?
I haven't mentioned the driving between each of these 'destinations'. Perhaps the easiest way to sum it up is incessant 'wow' moments. There is not a SINGLE dull (or straight) section of road on the whole of South Island. It is beyond 'Travel Channel's' descriptions as 'beautiful' and certainly had me marveling at God's handiwork in a way I don't think I have ever done before. What a privilege. We kept remarking to each other how lucky we were to be experiencing this and how we wish that our families were with us to see it all. The drive from Manapouri through to Wanaka was simply breathtaking in a way that I'm not sure I have the words to describe. I took 237 photographs over the 230km stretch which took us most part of the day. On average, a kilometer takes you a minute to drive which means that 120km's takes you 2 hours. The blessing is that you don't want it to take longer. Thankfully, the Maui Ultima 2 berth ST was surprisingly nimble and cat-like under Nick's enthusiastic driving. I took the wheel for a total of 30mins....the rest I've left up to him.
After Wanaka we headed to Glacier country and were awed by our first glacial encounter. Fox and Franz Josef are simply awesome and their scale is beyond comprehension. In addition, you have to walk through virgin rain forest and dry river beds before you reach the foot of each glacier. The walks could be an attraction in their won right with views and vistas far surpassing your general expectation. We decided after much deliberation to drop the dollars and do a helicopter flip over Franz Josef Glacier. We were spoilt to be the only 2 in the helicopter with our trusty and friendly pilot Lance. We even had a landing on the sparkly snow atop the glacier with a classic photo op. Wow!
We headed north towards Carters Beach and spent the night a stones throw from the Seal Colony that, in summer, boasts hoards of seal pups and their lazy mums. Unfortunately there were only a few seals lazing on the rocks but were gorgeous to see regardless. We spent a night in the metropolis of Nelson and got our 'City fix' of overpriced food and drinks but in a gorgeous setting before heading through Blenheim and down to Kaikoura where we are now. Reputationally this is 'whale-watching' country and we are planning to head out tomorrow to get our fix, weather permitting of course. With the gorgeous afternoon we had today, we busted our the gas bbq and enjoyed a rib-eye steak and a bottle of NZ's best shiraz on the grassy lawns just beyond our van. I've just bought a book about 'understanding dogs' from the local bookshop and shed a tear over a glass of wine about how much I miss my pooches. Weird to think that in 5 more sleeps we'll be home in Joeys with our pooches, family and friends! Can't wait.
