From the majesty of Milford Sound we travelled back down the Milford highway for about 40kms, through the 2km Homer Tunnel to a small and very rural little campsite called Cascade Creek, run by the DOC. to say it was dark when the sun went down would be an understatement of mythical proportions. You could not see a sausage. Also, due to parking up with no one around and next to a large, dense forest seemed to give the whole thing a bit of the Blair Witch effect. To compensate for the lack of any light the night sky was simply staggering, a superlative justified on this occasion as we saw satellites, constellations and shooting stars. Back inside the van, after settling down for the night trying to ignore the various unsettling noises surrounding the van I noticed out of the corner of my eye, whilst we watched a movie, a small friend had joined us. A small and not-so-timid mouse. I thought I was seeing things but knew what I had seen. And so started the worst night I can think of. Seven hours of trying to hit a small rodent in my pants with a wooden spoon. I'll leave you with that thought for a while. The next morning, with our little friend seemingly on board (he had probably fallen after all his excitement sleep bless him) we headed onwards and towards Queenstown, stopping briefly in Te Anau for coffee. After a couple of hours and after passing at least two Lord of the Rings film locations we reached Queenstown. We had heard about Queenstown a lot both in the guidebooks and from other people, essentially based around it's popularity as an adventure sports Mecca. What no one mentioned was how stunningly beautiful it was too. After spending a night in a horrible campsite that had both the look and atmosphere of a building site crossed with a drug-fuelled youth club we ventured out the next morning and out into Queenstown to explore it's salubrious surroundings. It was beautiful, and made even more so by the time of year. With it being Autumn the trees had turned a multitude of different colours and leaves littered the floor and gathered in big clumps. The smells were amazing.
Anyway, despite it's beauty, Queenstown is, as mentioned, a place where exhilaration is what people come for. So with that fact in mind we scoured the vast array of activities on offer and decided that as a treat we would pay for a jetboat ride that would take us at insane speeds across the lake and along an adjacent river. It was unbelievable, roaring along at around 60mph in water no deeper than a couple of inches. Awesome stuff. From there we took a self guided tour around the town then headed west through another stretch of truly amazing road until we reached Twelve Mile Delta, a stunning conservation campsite situated next to lake Wakatipu. Just another in the long line of stunning locations we have been fortunate enough to wake up in. The next morning, after a brief visit into Queenstown for coffee we headed north down a half-forgotten dirt road for around half an hour until we reached Lake Moke. It was another perfectly sunny day so we whacked on the walkers and started out on a 8km lake walk. We even had the energy to run the last two or three kms together, Shell running-believe it!
We ended up staying around the lake that night as it was just too beautiful to move. The lake, almost split in two by a jut of land was two separate colours on each side and was circled by pristine hills on both sides. Unfortunately, it's geography, come night time, was it's ultimate downfall. The way the hills enclosed the valley and lake meant that cold air being pushed down became trapped. This meant that an already cold night was made so much colder. The ranger the morning after told me that it had got down to -4. Not record breaking I know but when living out of a metal box it was painful, literally. The next morning we left the beautiful Queenstown behind and headed for Arrowtown, a small but perfectly formed little place that seemed to have everything just right, maybe too right. Almost like a show home. It was a complete humdinger for tourists but then hey, it was beautiful. After drinking coffee in another great little place we took a walk around the town finishing down at the Chinese settlement. These little stone cottages, almost 150 years old were used by Chinese gold prospectors who not only had to compete with the brutally cold winters but also a local population who despised their presence. Fascinating stuff.
From there I convinced Shell to go for a hike, one mentioned in the guidebook as moderate to hard that would take 3-4 hours. I can safely say that in nearly nine years of our relationship I have never seen Shell so momentously pissed off. To be fair, once again the walk started steeply. In fact for about an hour we snaked up hill through a gorge in between two mountains until we reached a plateau at the top. By this time Shell was convinced that we were lost and were going to have to call the mountain rescue or something but we kept walking and eventually got to the end. We even passed a couple of seasoned hikers who looked at Shell in one of those 'are you a little bit insane' kind of ways. Anyway, from Arrowtown we once again headed north towards Wanaka, another stunningly beautiful town set beside a large lake, lake Wanaka. After travelling so hard for a few days it was really nice to relax for a day so decided to stay an extra night and check out Wanaka's most famous thing to do, Puzzleworld. It was astonishingly good. Essentially two halves, one was dedicated to illusions and tricks of the mind (we will try to attach videos) and the other half to a huge fenced maze. We had a great time here despite the hoards of irritating children (NZ Easter holidays) and totally rolled back our inner child once again.
Before leaving Wanaka we decided to drive the tedious 40km down a very rocky gravel track to a small car park deep within the mountains. This would be the start of the Rob Roy glacier trek, 10km of paths of which over half were uphill. At the end lies Rob Roy Glacier, a huge foreboding arc of ice surrounding by dramatic rock formations. Once again we pummelled our way through the trek, the first half was a good workout but we made it to the top to be met by yet another stunning vista. They are never ending. From there we drove for around three hours to catch a sight of, in the late afternoon, Fox Glacier. We parked up then set off on the 2km walk to the ice terminal (front of the ice shelf). Although mightily impressive, it had that same dirty tinge that we had seen at the other glaciers we had visited, probably the worst time of year to see them. Still, to see such momentous examples of the power of nature literally a couple of kms from the roadside and more amazingly, from the sea, is something which makes it even more remarkable. The next morning, after our usual coffee fix at one of the little alpine cafes (real coffee snobs by now) we headed out for part two of glacier watch, this time to Franz Josef. Arguably more impressive than Fox due it's size it was amazing to see and even more impressive how these beasts had gouged out huge valleys, with sheer, jagged rock faces on each side. We could only get 500 metres away from the shelf due to safety concerns after two Indian tourists jumped over the fence to 'get a closer look' at the glaciers in 2009. Turns out a piece of ice, about as big as my mum and dads 4x4 landed on them. Only one body was recovered. Idiots.
From the glaciers we once again followed the road north, this time for almost 300kms up the lonely and desolate west coast stopping briefly in small Coastal towns including Hokitika. What we haven't mentioned yet, I don't think so anyway, is the royal nuisance that are sandflies. They are pretty much everywhere in NZ but especially along the wetter west coast these demons are just horrible. Smaller than mosquitoes, they only bite during the day and are, fall all of their nuisance, slow as f**k. You feel a tiny bit of pain and see the little black buggers enjoying a bit of leg. Fortunately, if you are walking, which is pretty much all the time here, you can outpace them as they are incredibly slow. Our legs have literally been covered in bites from these pests though and they itch more than mozzie bites, arrrrrggh! Anyway from the West Coast we then drive inland and over the desolate and foreboding Arthurs Pass, a remote wilderness area that connects pretty much the entire west coast with Christchurch, on roads you wouldn't want to take a soapbox down in. We even passed the remnants of a huge accident where a huge lorry had smashed through the barriers and down a sheer drop. The roads here are crazy! Just so you know, Shell did an exceptional job of winding our way through the slalom roads and delivered us, after stopping for the night next to a lake, in beautiful Christchurch. So there we go, pretty much full circle of the south island before we head up to Marlborough and all that wine! We've had to come back to Christchurch to swap the van as old mousey I was telling you about, well, he just doesn't want to end his free trip. Anyway, as I'm sure you can tell we continue to drive, jive and thrive in this wondrous land. Ta ta for now. Love Tommo and shello xxxx
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