New Zealand - South Island
Trip Start
Aug 25, 2009
1
9
Trip End
Dec 12, 2009
Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The ferry crossing between the north and south island of New Zealand is beautiful. There were rumours of dolphins following the ferry but we didn’t manage to see any. Out first stop was the muscle (from the sea, not humans) town of New Zealand for some huge green lipped muscles. They were yummy if not a little too big for my mouth (I know hard to believe).
We spent our first night in the South Island in a town called Nelson. All week the kiwis had been advertising a big boxing match between an older NZ boxer at the end of his career and a younger NZ fighter showing promise so we decided to sit in a bar and soak up the atmosphere. 3 hours later and having sat through some rubbish fights it was time for the big match to start. Lots of excitement, shouting and the fight ended in the second round. Can’t believe we sat and waited for the quickest match of the night.
I have stayed at a few campsites in all my family’s years of Eurocamp but the fact that this site had sky sports which enables me to watch Sunderland nearly beat Manu U at 5am in the morning has to be the best yet.
We headed down the coast to Hotikiki via a seal colony and some amazing blow holes where the sea would rise through holes in the rocks.
Hotikiki is a strange little town where everybody knows everybody and people walk around with tights and shorts on and that’s the men. We had a sunset walk along the beach. I thought I had seen enough seals through America and NZ but nothing could match coming face to face with a baby seal making its way back to the Sea. I am not sure where its family were but to be close enough to touch (we didn’t) and watch it move along the beach in to the sea was amazing.
Having spent some of the previous evening watching the seal and seeing some glow worms we moved on to Wanaka, a lovely lakeside town with a campsite on the lake. We had an amazing meal in a little restaurant next to a big open fire. The owner was quite eccentric and knew alot about wine which helped me to select a lovely bottle of red to go with our fantastic food. A very memorable evening with my gorgeous new husband.
With not too much of a hangover from the red wine we made our way to the very beautiful and my favourite place in New Zealand, Queenstown. Queenstown is a ski resort in the winter and has a very nice small friendly town feel to it. We took a trip up the gondola with Steve worrying about the heights. We rode the luge and when it came time to come back down I subjected Steve to the Talbot tradition of walking back down the mountain rather then catching the gondola. A tradition Sarah and I had been subjected to numerous times by our parents and as much as we moaned we secretly loved it.
Steve being Steve decided to try and find a short cut. We both ended up on different tracks but met up again down the bottom. He had found a waterfall which he took me back to show me the following day. Separated for over an hour it occurred to me that this was the longest we had been apart for nearly 7 weeks. Very strange being with someone every second of the day and I know I probably couldn’t do it with anybody else but I guess that’s why I married him!!!!
Anyway walking, beautiful mountains we finally worked out that the ski season had four days left and there was snowboarding available locally so we took our first of two lessons. We both loved it but it is so hard and Steve defiantly got the hang of it alot quicker than me. I think he is hoping that the school might organise a ski trip next year so he can go and try it again!!!
We had planned to go back for a second day but the threat of heavy snow and no snow chains for the camper meant we had to head to Christchurch to make sure we didn’t miss our flight.
A day in Christchurch sightseeing and I think we were both glad to give the camper back. We really enjoyed our time spent in the van and I loved being back on a campsite but there is only so much time in a cramped van that a person can take especially in the wet and very cold evenings.
New Zealand is gorgeous and I would recommend any to visit. I became obsessed with all the animals especially the mini cows. Steve assures me these are calves as its spring but I just wonder why they would be separated from their mothers?
On to what we hope will be a warming Australia.......
