| Day 0/1 - Arrive into Christchurch, travelled to Pleasant Point for a Home Stay. |
| Day 2 - Sightseeing around the Pleasant Point district. |
| Day 3 - Travelled to Timaru, Oamaru then Dunedin. |
| Day 4 - Sightseeing around Dunedin then travelled to Gore. |
| Day 5 - Travelled to Lake Manapouri then Milford Sound. |
| Day 6 - Milford Sound tour then travelled to Lake Te Anau. |
| Day 7 - Lake Te Anau tour then travelled to Queenstown. |
| Day 8 - Queenstown sightseeing then travelled to Arrowtown then Wanaka. |
| Day 9 - Travelled to Haast Pass then Fox Glacier. |
| Day 10 - Fox Glacier sightseeing then travelled to Franz Joseph, Hokitika then Punakaki. |
| Day 11 - Travelled to Westport then Hamner Springs. |
| Day 12 - Hamner Springs sightseeing then travelled to Kaikoura. |
| Day 13 - Kaikoura sightseeing then travelled to Cheviot. |
| Day 14 - Sightseeing then travelled to Kaikoura. |
| Day 15 - Whale watching then travelled to Christchurch. |
| Day 16/17 - Sightseeing around Christchurch before returning to Pleasant Point. |
Another trip worth including is a day trip around the "Lakes" - Pleasant Point, Tekapo, Twizel, Mount Cook, Omarama, Oamaru, Timaru, Pleasant Point. Jeff and Sarah had done this on a previous visit.
Other options worth including are Nelson and/or Akaroa.
Pleasant Point is 20km inland of Timaru.
Lake Manapouri is just south of Te Anau.
Fox Glacier is between Haast and Franz Joseph.
Punakaki is between Greymouth and Westport.
Cheviot is between Kaikoura ans Waipara.
We arrived into Christchurch at 11:25pm and were greeted by Irene and Neil (friends).
Irene had to work so we slept in to lunch time. Wandered into and around Christchurch. Each Friday there is a crafts market in the Cathedral Square so we had a look.
When Irene got home from work headed down to Pleasant Point stopping off at Ashburton for dinner.
Slept in again. Went food shopping and packed the campervan.
Went for a 2˝ hour drive around the district - Hanging Rock, Raincliffe , Pioneer
Park, Rockwood. Very lush and green when compared to Australia. Pity it was raining so
hard so we could not go walking.
After a cup of coffee we went for a 2nd drive to St. David's
Pioneer Memorial church. A beautiful old church constructed from river boulders as a
memorial to Pioneers of the region.
After dinner we went and visited my Sunday School teacher. He is still very much an interesting man. Sarah enjoyed hearing about all the mischief I got up to.
Another lazy start to the day. Took advantage of the sunshine to take some video and
photos of Mum's garden before heading off to Dunedin at 2:30pm.
Went the back way into Timaru to show Sarah the farm where Dad grew up.
Stopped in Oamaru for Macca's and a doctor's stop (Sarah had stomach cramps - a couple other friends had similar problems then too - must have been something they ate before we left Australia).
Stopped off at Moeraki to look at the boulders on the beach. The boulders vary in size
from 3-6 feet in diameter and are scattered along the beach between high and low tide. It
was bitterly cold so we didn't stop very long.
Finally got into Dunedin at around 8pm.
Went into the Dunedin information centre and grabbed a heap of pamphlets. Decided to go
out to the Royal Albatross colony out at Taiaroa Heads. The weather was bitterly cold and
miserable so we decided not to take a tour of the Albatross colony but instead visited the
Shag colony (it was more sheltered).
On the way back into Dunedin we stopped a couple of times for photos and went to
Larnach's Castle. The castle was spectacular. Each room had new and wonderful designs in
the wood panelling, ceiling and furniture. It has all been restored and maintained.
Unfortunately no photo's or video was allowed.
The weather took a turn for the worse so we decided to head across Lake Manapouri direction stopping at Gore for the night. The strong winds made travel difficult as the camper was being blown around the road. At Gore we were greeted with sleet and hail.
During the night the weather abated. I remember waking up to the smell of coal smoke. Very unpleasant sulphury smell. Made it difficult getting back to sleep.
Weather improved as we progressed towards Manapouri. Sarah was amazed with the speed at
which the weather changed.
Stopped at Manapouri and enquired about the Doubtful Sounds tour (A full day tour across Lake Manapouri, a tour of Manapouri hydro power station, by coach over the mountain pass and 3 hour cruise of Doubtful Sound). At $150 each we decided it was too expensive. Decided to go on to Milford Sound instead.
Stopped at Te Anau DOC (Department of Conservation) for information on the various
sights along the way to Milford.
Mirror Lakes - Pity the ducks kept rippling the water. But still very beautiful.
Pop's View - Overlooking Hollyford valley.
Homer Tunnel - Kea's wasted no time in attacking the van. Amazing the scenery
difference between the "East Coast" and the "West Coast" (Fiordland
actually). Areas in Fiordland get an average annual rainfall of around 7m hence the rain
forest.
The Chasm - Spectacular waterfalls and rock formations caused by water erosion.
Finally, into Milford Sound to see Mitre Peak with sun.
Although the weather consisted of occasional showers and added to the beauty of the
Milford Sounds. We did the "Observatory Tour" of the sounds - a two hour boat
cruise followed by a half hour tour of the underwater observatory. For $55 each (included
a light lunch) it was excellent value.
Before the cruise we did the 20 minute walk out to Bowen Falls - one of the few
permanent water falls. Definitely worth the views.
Because of the rain, most of the temporary waterfalls where flowing. Truly impressive -
it makes more of an impact than the photo's or video can possibly capture. The mountains
rise directly out of the sea covered with native forest starting only a couple of feet
above the tide mark. Amongst this are waterfalls cascading from the mountain tops. One of
the cliffs is vertical from the sea to more than twice the height of the Empire State
building. Because of the high rainfall and their slope, the mountains are solid rock. The
forest is merely a mantle of tangled roots resting on the rocks.
The observatory in Harrisons Cove was definitely worth the extra $5 over a standard cruise. The environment is completely natural but we where lucky that there was plenty of marine life (we have heard that some days there are not as many fish around). The observatory is a floating platform near one of the cliffs with a large pipe and stairway extending down 10m (lots of perspex windows). The guide was great at point out the different kinds of fish/coral etc.
Headed back to Lake Te Anau for the night stopping off at Lake Marian and Christie
falls.
Arranged with the motor camp to have a later departure time. This meant that we could sleep in and catch up on our laundry.
Went on the 2pm tour of the Ta Ana-au glow worm caves on the
other side on lake Te Anau. A little disappointed in that for a 2˝ hour tour we only
spent ˝ hour in the cave. The cave itself was very young; the only stalactite was 1 inch.
The glow worms themselves were great. However, I have seen better displays in other caves.
Made our way towards Queenstown stopping the night at Kawarau Falls Lodge (just before Frankton).
Spent the morning in Queenstown looking around the shops. The prices were noticeably inflated. It reminded us of Surfers Paradise on Australia's Gold Coast - the shops were only there to pass the day whilst waiting for the night to party.
Went on to Arrowtown and spent a lovely day wandering around the shops. The main street
of Arrowtown has been restored to reflect the original building designs. The weather was
nice and warm so we lay down in the park for an afternoon siesta.
Continued on to Kawarau Gorge and watched the bungy jumping. Saw a few people leap from
the historic bridge with an oversized elastic band tied to their ankles!
Stopped the night at Wanaka.
Stopped at the 3D maze just out of Wanaka (Adults $6, Child $3). I remembered one summer having a great time getting lost in the maze when I was about 10.
Stopped a few times on the way through Haast Pass on our way to Fox Glacier. It was
amazing to watch the scenery (and weather) change so quickly as we went through the pass.
Again the weather was drizzly on the west coast - which was expected because of the fine
weather east of the mountains. For a quick meterology lesson click
here.
Weather drizzled/rained most of the day. Walked out to Fox Glacier in the wet. For
safety reasons people are not allowed onto the glacier unless accompanied by a guide. But
still, it is impressive to see this huge wall of ice with large crevices. And to think -
it is currently advancing (ever so slowly though!).
Headed up to Franz Joseph for lunch before going out to the glacier. However the rain was considerably heavier this time so we did not walk out to the glacier face.
Stopped at the Hokitika Jade and Gold shop. They had lots of beautiful greenstone (jade) carvings. Took a liking to the Octopus ($7500) and the Turtle ($3500) but had to settle for a large Hei Matu (traditional Maori decorative fish hook pendant). The pendant itself is larger than normal (3 inches) and came with a greenstone stand for display. Also bought a gold chain and whale tail pendant (gold was very reasonably priced).
Travelled on to Punakaki. Checked out the pancake rocks and blow-hole. Unfortunately
the blow-hole was not performing as it was not high tide and there was only a light swell
in the sea. But it was still great to look at.
Carried on up the West coast to Westport and Cape Foulwind seal colony. We were even
lucky enough to see some Weka chicks with their mum's along with plenty of seals.
Decided not to go on up to Karamea - although it is supposed to be very pretty we decided that it would probably be raining up there too. So we headed over to Hamner Springs for an evening soak in the thermal pools. We stopped at Reefton to soak up a little sun on the way.
As an aside - it was interesting to notice the change in the variety of
"road-kill". On the West Coast it is mainly possums, on the east coast it is
mainly hedgehogs and hares/rabbits. Although I am proud to say we didn't run over
anything.
Got up and headed straight for the thermal pools again. It is nice to see that they have now filtered the water and removed the horrible sulphur smell. They have also landscaped and created a thermal "stream" with a few smaller pools. Although you still need to keep you head out of the water to protect yourself from the amoeba.
Visited two quaint craft shops before heading off to Kaikoura.
Once in Kaikoura we booked for a Whale Watch tour for the next day. Kaikoura is known
for seafood so we indulged ourselves with a feast of crayfish, scallops, mussels and squid
rings (calamari) - unfortunately oysters where out of season. North of Kaikoura there are
lots of little roadside stalls which sell freshly cooked crayfish at a much better price
than what we saw in the shops at Kaikoura.
Disappointed that we where unable to go whale watching due to rough sea conditions (a
storm came through overnight). We hung around Kaikoura most of the day hoping the later
tours might have gone out. To pass time, we went out to the seal colony and came to almost
patting distance to a seal.
Finally gave up and booked in for Friday. Headed down to north of Cheviot to the Staging Post - a lovely camping ground we discovered last year when we went horse riding.
The Staging Post is definitely worth stopping at. The accommodation is very reasonably priced with several choices:
We spent most of the day wandering around the property. Checked out the swimming pool,
tennis court, stables, flying fox, concert stage and went for a nice long walk. Very
relaxing!
Later in the afternoon we drove back up to Kaikoura.
Perfect weather for whale watching. As we headed out to sea we overheard communications
on the radio that whales had been spotted from the heads (using a powerful set of
binoculars). So set went to the location where the whales were spotted. When feeding, the
whales normally dive for 40-50 minutes before returning to the surface in the same area
for 2-5 minutes. So we waited but no whales surfaced near us. Another boat was called in
with a hydrophone to help locate the whales but they where no longer in the area. As we
returned to shore they where spotted again 5 miles further out - they had obviously
decided it was time to move on.
We did see a shark (briefly), an albatross and a few cormorants.
Fortunately the Whale Watch company refund a percentage of the money if no whales are spotted. The amount of the refund depends upon the amount of wildlife spotted. In our case this was next to nothing. So we received an 80% refund - the 2 hour boat cruise ended up costing $15 each.
We then headed back down to Christchurch to stay with friends for the weekend. As we had saved on the whale watching we decided to spoil ourselves with a silver service dinner at the Chateau. A la carte dining at it's finest complemented with beautiful wines. They even had a 4 piece jazz band and singer to dance to.
Slept in until lunch time. Then went for a walk through the centre of Christchurch again avoiding the showers.
Went to the Sunday market at the Arts Centre. A good selection of arts and crafts.
After lunch went for a drive up the Port Hills for a great view of Christchurch before
heading south back to Pleasant Point. When we got "Home" dad had caught a large
trout - very yummy!
