Our adventure in the South Island begins. We are all finding our places in the campervan. John and I do most of the driving with Jackie as reserve which works well. Syd likes to sit up front with John for a while and help with the navigation while Kath and Jackie are good at planning our overnight stops. We take it in turns to cook, Kath is an amazing cook so keeping Jackie and I on our toes to think of something interesting when it is our turn - we have the gourmet campervan of the South Island. John is IC emptying the used water and toilet things so he is excused all cooking as we think that is a fair exchange.
Our first stop in the south is in Blenheim, it's just an overnight stop to allow us to plan our future journey. The campsite is fine and we all have a suprisingly good night's sleep, even so we are all not too good in the morning and it takes us quite a while to get ourselves underway. First impressions of the South Island are good but the landscape it much browner than the north which is a surprise, it seems that they have not had a lot of rain in recent weeks which is unusual. Water, however, is clearly not in short supply as we frequently see them watering the pasture land. Cows are in abundance, great fields of them which accounts for all that 'Anchor' butter!
As we are travelling along, Kath remembered that a friend had said we should stop at a place called The Store as the view from the deck at the back is just wonderful. We spotted the place almost immediately, stopped, and the view was indeed wonderful, as was the food. We decided to treat ourselves to lunch there. The weather was just perfect, the view was to die for and the lunch a real treat. As I was sat there I was thinking that this is what going away with friends is all about, it was a lovely afternoon.
Driving through the South Island of NZ is to see some of the most beautiful scenery ever. There are tree ferns in abundance, tall trees which have the tropical look of being shrouded in air plants and trailing plants attached to their trunks, there are pine forests climbing up hillsides and arbours of tall trees turning the roads into gloomy tunnels. The gorges and passes are metres deep and miles high, with dramatic roads clinging to the hillsides, these are not for the faint hearted as they twist and turn across the landscape.
Just a few lines about the roads in NZ. After Australia they initially felt quite busy, by that I mean it was rare that you were on the road on your own in North Island. South Island is quieter, the roads are empty most of the time and the driving is easy if a little hairy at times. Most of the roads are single carriageway with passing places however there are narrow stretches, mostly over bridges, where one direction has priority over another as there is only room for a single vehicle. We happened across a wonderful variation on this theme the other day. For the first time we had to give way if a train was coming as the narrow bridge was not only single traffic for cars it also carried a railway line. Thank goodness there wasn't a train coming in the other direction!
Our next stop on this wonderful journey was Kaikoura. This part of NZ is well known for whales as the sea floor is one large undersea canyon. This particular feature allows the cold water to rise to the surface bringing with it all the krill and plankton which baleen whales apparently love. Fish are equally abundant and is the food which the giant squid love to eat and the toothed whales love to eat the giant squid, it is a swimming feast.
K
aikoura is the centre for whale-watching tours so we decided we just had to go. Our first attempt was thwarted as the sea was too rough and the wind too high but the following morning the conditions were much better so off we went. Excuse the pun but we had the whale of a time! We had five sightings of sperm whales, I think the sightings were of the same two whales on five occasions but his did not detract from the excitement of seeing these huge mammals lying on the surface lazily blowing air out of their blowholes and then diving deep into the ocean to feed. The chap on the boat who was doing the commentry was brilliant. He was able to tell when the whale was about to dive and told us when to take our pictures to stand the best chance of catching the enormous tail outlined against the sea. We managed to get some memorable photos, I am not sure what it is about seeing a whale dive but it is just such an iconic image.
Our next stop is at Hamner Springs where volcanic activity results in hot water rising to the surface. We really looked forward to this as the thought of luxuriating in hot springs was just what we all fancied. It was just lovely. There was a swimming pool with a lazy river and intricate slides for the children. Then there were the hot mineral pools, at least six of them with varying temperatures from 36 degrees to 44 degrees. We all had a variety of dips in the pools and had to drag ourselves out after over an hour to go on our way again to our next stop in Greymouth.
The road to Greymouth takes us across the centre of the island and over the Lewis Pass. The journey was very exciting as the road twisted and turned through the hills. However, we stopped at a scenic point by a river for a sandwich and found that whilst we were lunching we were also lunch for a million sandflies that descended upon us. Not the best picnic in the world and we didn't wait for seconds.
Greymouth is an uninspring place, best known for the recent coal-mining tragedy. The area is a mining centre and not only for coal, gold is also found here and that makes the town altogether more interesting.
We had all heard of the pancake rocks and blow holes at Punakaiki. Although this meant that we would have to retrace our steps by going north we decided that this was worth doing. They
were remarkable. The strata of the rock was in small layers at the most about six inches to each layer but these layers were hundreds of metres high. It is unclear how the rock was formed but what was obvious was that something must have separated the layers a long time ago. On the headland the sea had eroded the rocks into weird shapes, leaving stacks and columns standing. Some of these did look like piles of pancakes. The area around the rocks had been cleverly landscaped to allow the best vantage points to see the rocks but keeping a safe distance form the cliff edge. Looking down into the water was rather spooky as the seaweed which was caught inside the pools in the jagged cliffs was awash with long flowing weed. This weed had the appearance of long hair (mermaid's tresses perhaps!) being swept from side to side by the tide; most disconcerting.
Our next stop is at the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers I am really excited as I have never seen a glacier, will let you know if they live up to expectations
Our first stop in the south is in Blenheim, it's just an overnight stop to allow us to plan our future journey. The campsite is fine and we all have a suprisingly good night's sleep, even so we are all not too good in the morning and it takes us quite a while to get ourselves underway. First impressions of the South Island are good but the landscape it much browner than the north which is a surprise, it seems that they have not had a lot of rain in recent weeks which is unusual. Water, however, is clearly not in short supply as we frequently see them watering the pasture land. Cows are in abundance, great fields of them which accounts for all that 'Anchor' butter!
As we are travelling along, Kath remembered that a friend had said we should stop at a place called The Store as the view from the deck at the back is just wonderful. We spotted the place almost immediately, stopped, and the view was indeed wonderful, as was the food. We decided to treat ourselves to lunch there. The weather was just perfect, the view was to die for and the lunch a real treat. As I was sat there I was thinking that this is what going away with friends is all about, it was a lovely afternoon.
Driving through the South Island of NZ is to see some of the most beautiful scenery ever. There are tree ferns in abundance, tall trees which have the tropical look of being shrouded in air plants and trailing plants attached to their trunks, there are pine forests climbing up hillsides and arbours of tall trees turning the roads into gloomy tunnels. The gorges and passes are metres deep and miles high, with dramatic roads clinging to the hillsides, these are not for the faint hearted as they twist and turn across the landscape.
Just a few lines about the roads in NZ. After Australia they initially felt quite busy, by that I mean it was rare that you were on the road on your own in North Island. South Island is quieter, the roads are empty most of the time and the driving is easy if a little hairy at times. Most of the roads are single carriageway with passing places however there are narrow stretches, mostly over bridges, where one direction has priority over another as there is only room for a single vehicle. We happened across a wonderful variation on this theme the other day. For the first time we had to give way if a train was coming as the narrow bridge was not only single traffic for cars it also carried a railway line. Thank goodness there wasn't a train coming in the other direction!
Our next stop on this wonderful journey was Kaikoura. This part of NZ is well known for whales as the sea floor is one large undersea canyon. This particular feature allows the cold water to rise to the surface bringing with it all the krill and plankton which baleen whales apparently love. Fish are equally abundant and is the food which the giant squid love to eat and the toothed whales love to eat the giant squid, it is a swimming feast.
K
aikoura is the centre for whale-watching tours so we decided we just had to go. Our first attempt was thwarted as the sea was too rough and the wind too high but the following morning the conditions were much better so off we went. Excuse the pun but we had the whale of a time! We had five sightings of sperm whales, I think the sightings were of the same two whales on five occasions but his did not detract from the excitement of seeing these huge mammals lying on the surface lazily blowing air out of their blowholes and then diving deep into the ocean to feed. The chap on the boat who was doing the commentry was brilliant. He was able to tell when the whale was about to dive and told us when to take our pictures to stand the best chance of catching the enormous tail outlined against the sea. We managed to get some memorable photos, I am not sure what it is about seeing a whale dive but it is just such an iconic image.
Our next stop is at Hamner Springs where volcanic activity results in hot water rising to the surface. We really looked forward to this as the thought of luxuriating in hot springs was just what we all fancied. It was just lovely. There was a swimming pool with a lazy river and intricate slides for the children. Then there were the hot mineral pools, at least six of them with varying temperatures from 36 degrees to 44 degrees. We all had a variety of dips in the pools and had to drag ourselves out after over an hour to go on our way again to our next stop in Greymouth.
The road to Greymouth takes us across the centre of the island and over the Lewis Pass. The journey was very exciting as the road twisted and turned through the hills. However, we stopped at a scenic point by a river for a sandwich and found that whilst we were lunching we were also lunch for a million sandflies that descended upon us. Not the best picnic in the world and we didn't wait for seconds.
Greymouth is an uninspring place, best known for the recent coal-mining tragedy. The area is a mining centre and not only for coal, gold is also found here and that makes the town altogether more interesting.
We had all heard of the pancake rocks and blow holes at Punakaiki. Although this meant that we would have to retrace our steps by going north we decided that this was worth doing. They
were remarkable. The strata of the rock was in small layers at the most about six inches to each layer but these layers were hundreds of metres high. It is unclear how the rock was formed but what was obvious was that something must have separated the layers a long time ago. On the headland the sea had eroded the rocks into weird shapes, leaving stacks and columns standing. Some of these did look like piles of pancakes. The area around the rocks had been cleverly landscaped to allow the best vantage points to see the rocks but keeping a safe distance form the cliff edge. Looking down into the water was rather spooky as the seaweed which was caught inside the pools in the jagged cliffs was awash with long flowing weed. This weed had the appearance of long hair (mermaid's tresses perhaps!) being swept from side to side by the tide; most disconcerting.
Our next stop is at the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers I am really excited as I have never seen a glacier, will let you know if they live up to expectations
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