Dunedin & Christchurch, New Zealand

January 29, 2016 ~ L&D ~ Leave a comment

Dunedin is immensely proud if its Scottish heritage (the first permanent settlers were Scots who arrived in 1848). Apart from the local tartan and haggis sold in a few chip shops the weather was the only real giveaway of the link to Scotland from our perspective! We did visit NZ’s only castle, Larnach castle, which had a very interesting story behind it (we won’t bore you) and spectacular gardens.

Larnach Castle, Dunedin, NZ

We also stopped by the Cadbury factory in Dunedin, quite frankly it would have been rude of us not to! So we had the hour tour and nibbled on the freebies dished out on the way! Our only qualm was that we were both lucky enough to visit the Cadbury factory in Birmingham as kids which was truly brilliant. We remember actually seeing the factory workers in action and not just the touristy bits. Maybe health and safety rules have meant changes these days? Also (yes another gripe) the NZ choc bars are not the same, obviously we gobbled down all that we were given but a marshmallow fish and pineapple bars just don’t cut it (not in my book anyway!)

Dunedin, NZ

As you can probably guess the chocolate tour was mainly for my benefit so in return we booked ourselves onto a Speight’s Brewery tour for Dean (fairs fair). It was actually pretty interesting walking around the ancient factory (they have been churning out beer since the late 1800s) with a guide that was utterly mad (must have been an alcoholic!) Dean obviously sampled enough types of beer for the both of us (just to make it worth while!)

Dunedin, NZ

Finally in Dunedin we walked up the steepest street in the world! I can’t imagine living on this street but people do, I had a back ache just walking up it! Apparently once a year Cadbury sends 100,000 Jaffa balls (yuk!) down the hill for charity.

Dunedin, NZ

Christchurch is our last stop in NZ and where we leave our temporary home (the camper van) for a flight to Fiji (we can’t wait and are hoping to enjoy some vitamin d again). Christchurch is a city in transition coping creatively with the aftermath of two earthquakes (2010 & 2011). As you can imagine there is A LOT of building work going on, but we liked it and think one day it will be great once again. We managed to entertain ourselves in the beautiful rose filled gardens of the local park and a touch of shopping at the famous Ballantynes department store!

Crazy Wanaka & Quirky Queenstown, New Zealand

January 28, 2016 ~ L&D ~ Leave a comment

Both Wanaka and Queenstown have beautiful lakes and mountain settings. The main difference is in size and buzz. Wanaka was our first stop and had more of a laid-back, small town feel but still had plenty to offer with the outdoor activities that we have come to expect from NZ. In this vein we decided to book our first skydive! We spent a few weeks umming and ahhing about it but decided to bite the bullet, so off we went and jumped out of a little plane at 12,000 feet! Whilst Dean loved the experience and his favourite part was the 45 seconds spent free falling at over 100mph before the stranger your strapped to gets the parachute up, I on the other hand was not a fan and enjoyed it more knowing we were floating down rather than falling as such! We celebrated after with a pub lunch (needed as we had not managed to eat breakfast due to nerves) before moving onto Queenstown.

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In Queenstown it continued to be grey but the silver lining was that we stayed in a lovely campsite close to town where we made more friends with the local ducks and their babies (they loved us all the time we had bread to feed them!) Queenstown had the most energy of anywhere we have visited in NZ so far. It’s made up of tourists but is also known as the ‘global adventure capital’ with every kind of adrenaline inducing activity you can imagine from bungy jumping to paragliding. After our skydive we decided enough was enough and we chose to enjoy the buzz of Queenstown in the array of lovely restaurants and bars as well as admiring the stunning views via a trip up the Skyline Gondola. It was in one of these restaurants (Coyotes) that we met up with Stephen (Lauren’s brother) where we enjoyed a delightful Mexican meal followed by one of his cocktails of the month!

Queenstown, NZ

From Queenstown we drove for 4 hours to Milford Sound. Here it is all about the waterfalls and the scenery which is made up of huge rocky cliffs, lakes and forests clinging to the steep slopes. Unfortunately for us the weather was terrible, but I think you need to be lucky as on average the area gets 7m of rainfall a year, although it’s this very rainfall that creates the cascading waterfalls.

Milford Sound, NZ

Next stop is the Edinburgh of NZ, Dunedin.

Franz Josef & Fox Glaciers, New Zealand

January 24, 2016January 24, 2016 ~ L&D ~ 1 Comment

On route to the Glaciers we spent one night at Westport and another at Greymouth. Both of which were small villages that have a history in gold / coal mining. These were handy ‘stop offs’ but not a lot to write home about. We did manage to amuse ourselves with just how seriously some people take camping! The guy on the pitch next to us lived there full time and was most certainly a sandwich short of a picnic and then there are other extremes like this…

On our drive to Franz Josef we stopped at the Pancake Rocks. Now whilst I was hoping for some sort of sweet treat, it was in fact a ‘Mother Nature’ special of huge limestone rocks that have formed over millions of years. What is usual about them is the stacks they have formed which look like neat piles of pancakes (it’s actually due to a weathering process called stylobedding).

Pancake Rocks, NZ

At the snow capped Franz Josef Glacier we manage to get a good look via one of the set walking tracks. It was here we also had a mooch around Lake Matheson where the water was so still it reflected the mountain scenery perfectly!

Next stop was the Fox Glacier which is slightly smaller and quieter. Here we were lucky that the weather gods allowed us to go on a Heli Hike tour (www.fox guides.co.nz) in the morning as the afternoon session was cancelled due to cloud coverage. The trip was a 4 hour ice-hike which included a return helicopter ride where we were able to explore a remote and pristine part of the glacier on foot. We even had a private guided tour as a lady in our original group was not able to continue. The ice on the Fox Glacier is amazing, underneath the surface it is brilliantly blue which is something to do with it being the only colour that makes it through the softer white surface. The pictures don’t do it justice but because the ice is constantly moving it creates spectacular ice caves, arches and tunnels! Check out our 2 videos from the Heli Hike, you may need to copy and paste the links into your browser https://youtu.be/V3KzEGJkCbc and https://youtu.be/Z8vvMHNLOlU .

Fox Glacier, NZ

Front Seat! Fox Glacier, NZ

Fox Glacier, NZ

Our guide. Fox Glacier, NZ

Fox Glacier, NZ

Wanaka is our next stop which is a 3.5 hours down the west coast.

Wild Kaikoura, New Zealand

January 23, 2016 ~ L&D ~ Leave a comment

From Nelson we drove to Blenheim and stayed the night before moving onto Kaikoura. Not much to report on the agricultural town that is Blenheim in all honesty, apart from the black sandy beach.

Blenheim, NZ

Crabs! Blenheim, NZ

Blenheim, NZ

Black sand, Blenheim, NZ

Blenheim, NZ

Kaikoura on the other hand is known for being a wildlife magnet with whales, dolphins, fur seals and apparently penguins too! As a result we booked with one of the big operators onto a 6.45am trip with Whale Watch Kaikoura. It was a miserable morning with lots of rain but the trip went ahead regardless. They kept telling us over and over again about sea sickness and whilst we thought it might be a bit choppy, it was in fact pretty horrific. Even those who didn’t know they suffered from it were unwell! Despite all of this we did after a few hours on the water get to see a Sperm Whale surface. They are humungous measuring on average twelve meters (the length of the boat) and weighing roughly 15,000kg! They spend 45 minutes upwards under water and only surface to replenish their oxygen supplies, so I guess we were pretty lucky to spot one!

Sperm Whale, Kaikoura, NZ

The captain, listening for the whales, Kaikoura, NZ

Getting wet waiting for the whale to appear, Kaikoura, NZ

Sperm Whale, Kaikoura, NZ

We also stopped at a seal colony and took a snap or two! Overall we agreed how amazing it is to see these things in real life and not on an Attenborough documentary!

Fur Seals, Kaikoura, NZ

Our final stop in Kaikoura was a beautiful lavender farm! The whole place smelt delicious but it was a little too close to home for Dean who hated the bees buzzing round us!

Lavender Farm, Kaikoura, NZ

Nelson, New Zealand

January 20, 2016 ~ L&D ~ Leave a comment

We arrived on the ferry in the South Island at Picton but drove the couple of hours to Nelson straight away as believe or not we do have a rough route planned for this part of our journey! In this region there are so many vineyards we thought it would be rude not to stop in at least one. Hunters Vineyard was where we had a little taster of the goods and a delicious platter for two. We felt very sophisticated until Dean’s strawberry milkshake came out!

As well as vineyards the region is also known for its production of craft beer, so off we went in search of a brewery or two! One of these was based in Founders Heritage Park, which was actually a pretty walk that ended up with Dean having a tasting session in their cafe!

Founders Heritage Park, Nelson, NZ

On our second day here one of the locals told us to visit Abel Tasman National Park. The drive alone was breathtaking as one minute we were near the top of a mountain surrounded by clouds and the next we were at the bottom with the sheep winding round bends in the sunshine! The coastal walking track is what people go for as it has a combination of coastal forest and golden sand. We didn’t fancy the 5 day trek but we did do the shorter hour long walk.

Abel Tasman, NZ

Seagulls supper, Abel Tasman, NZ

Abel Tasman, NZ

Next stop is Blenheim on route to Kaikoura where we are hoping to spot a whale!

Windy Wellington, New Zealand

January 18, 2016 ~ L&D ~ Leave a comment

After Lake Taupo we wanted to stop at Tongariro National Park which is in the centre of NZ’s North Island. The park is not only pretty big but has three active volcanoes! If we’re honest we didn’t fancy a long hike so we drove around for a bit and moved on. In fact the most spectacular part for us (beside the snow capped mountain) was being held up by a heard of sheep moving fields! Check out our video, you may need to copy and paste link into your browser https://youtu.be/6dgXtAxsbTA

Windy Welly as the locals call it lived up to its name (so much so the camper van was swaying from side to side!) It’s a small city but is NZ’s capital and the gateway to the South Island. Wellington has a built up centre but is surrounded by green bushy hillsides. We had a little look round the shops (if we leave it too long I start to get withdrawal symptoms) before taking a ride on the cable car which took us up the hill from Lambton Quay to Kelburn (pretty views but not much to it).

Wellington, NZ

Beer stop, Wellington, NZ

It was good to visit the capital city but I’m not sure if we missed something big here. Next stop is the 3 hour ferry ride to the South Island where we are hoping it will by a little warmer.

Rumbling Rotorua & Lake Taupo, New Zealand

January 18, 2016 ~ L&D ~ Leave a comment

Rotorua is a smelly town due to its sulphur-rich land which means it has lots of natural thermal springs and exploding mud pools. Whilst pretty cool it didn’t take us long to zoom round the park in the rain where these natural wonders have popped up!

Mud pools, Rotoura, NZ

Rotoura, NZ

As a result we moved onto Lake Taupo where we admired the views over lunch in true camper style!

Lake Taupo, NZ

Around Lake Taupo we stopped at a number of places including Huka Falls (perks of driving is that we can do exactly this). This is where NZ’s longest river, the Waikato is slammed into a narrow opening creating these dramatic falls.

Huke Falls, NZ

It was here that we spotted people riding the Aratiatia rapids at the bottom of the falls, so you guessed it – we signed up straight away for a trip the following morning! Check out our video you may need to copy and paste this into your browser https://youtu.be/MdLruOWe0R0

Our trusted NZ Lonely Planet book had recommended a thermal spa nearby. The Wairakei Terraces had four hot pools nestled in amongst the trees with mineral rich water coming from the Wairakei geothermal steamfield. The hottest of the four pools was 40 degrees and even I, who loves a hot bath/shower could not stay in it for long!

Last but not least in this area was a quick visit to a glass blowing workshop called Lava Glass. It was quite small but we did get to see the production of some of the bits on sale in the shop (in our case it was wine glasses).

Glass blowing workshop

Auckland & Waiheke Island, New Zealand

January 12, 2016January 18, 2016 ~ L&D ~ Leave a comment

We only got ourselves a camper van! A bit of trial and error all round including loading the little fridge with our food shop to turn the corner and have it all tumble back out again (who knew you not only had to shut the fridge but lock it!)

Our NZ camper van!

Planning our trip in the camper!

Dean thinking about cooking!

Planning our trip!

Inside the camper!

The centre of Auckland was busy and everything you’d expect from a town centre. Although it’s not the capital city a third of New Zealand’s population live here (4.5m in total live in NZ). We spent a day pottering around Mission Bay, a lovely beach town, Ponsonby, Parnell and New Market all of which are quite low key suburbs but pretty and village like.

Auckland, NZ

So many traffic lights! Auckland, NZ

Mission Bay, Auckland, NZ

Tanuki’s Cave Japanese restaurant, Auckland, NZ (Al’s reco!)

Mission Bay, Auckland, NZ

We spent another day on the beautifully picturesque Waiheke Island, where we did a Fullers ‘Taste of Tour’. The ferry ride was about 35 minutes from the main port in Auckland and once on the coach the other side we visited three vineyards (Stonyridge, Wild on Waiheke and Mudbrick which was my favourite) and an olive grove (Rangihoua Estate). We tasted wine as well as craft beer and olive oil all grown / made on the island. Apparently the micro-climate makes it perfect conditions for growing grapes and olives and whilst it started a little grey for us it was soon warm with blue skies. Check out our video which was bizarrely next to the olive grove which was to deans liking. You may need to copy and paste the link into your browser https://youtu.be/JO86pEVi7h8

Grapes on Waiheke, NZ