Feb 2007

Absolutely love New Zealand, why did we only allocate 1 month to explore this beautiful country?!?

13/02/07
Rose early (final time in the camper – hurrah!!!) to sort out our rental car for New Zealand...we thought we'd sorted it out before we left the UK, but Qantas had changed our flight times and we were unable to collect the car at our stated time. Since we've chosen a cheap rental company they fail to offer such luxuries as 24hour reception, so we had to arrange to collect the car from a hotel car park upon arrival. $15 later; after numerous phone calls and fax correspondence, we THOUGHT everything was OK: the rental company had phoned to confirm, so we checked out of the campsite and headed in search of the garage we had been instructed to return the camper van to. No easy task with an inadequate map, but we'd left plenty of time so the odd wrong turning or two didn't create too much tension. After a 30 minute argument over the phone with the Cairns rental company (what legit car rental company makes the customer wash the vehicle before returning it!!) we were on our way to Melbourne airport and arrived 5 hours early...I don't know how I ever earnt a reputation for being late??

Arrived in Christchurch around 11.30pm but didn't get through passport control until after 12.30am, primarily due to poor management: 5 officers allocated to 'Australian and Kiwi' stations, 1 officer for the rest of the world! The line moved unbearably slowly – there were a lot of angry tourists, mainly impatient Americans (as you can imagine: we didn't suffer in silence). Only benefit: luggage was out before the owners so no waiting around the carrousel's. We managed to find a pay phone in arrivals and rang the hotel so that they could come and collect us and take us to our car...only problem - they didn't have any keys to a rental car! AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! We tried to ring the rental company to find out what they were playing at but no-one was in the office until the morning. Without a guarantee of reimbursement we reluctantly caught a taxi to our pre-booked campsite, where thankfully a key HAD been left for us in a safe and rolled into bed about 3am. Noticeably colder here – these rooms have heating instead of air con.

14/02/07
Forced ourselves out of bed at 7am and rang the rental company – no help, advised us to go back to the airport office. Caught yet another taxi and 'politely' explained our predicament to a guy on reception. They were extremely apologetic and realised that their Auckland office hadn't informed them of our new arrival time. We managed to get our taxi rides reimbursed, a day knocked off the rental price and a reduced ferry crossing fare from the South to the North island. Since they were so accommodating and apologetic we let the fax fees slide in exchange for a free road map – result!

Stocked up on grocerys before returning to the cabin and finally made it into Christchurch city centre by lunch time, where we ate our picnic lunch on the banks of the Avon River. Very pretty place (often described as the most English of NZ's cities) but by mid-afternoon our tiredness kicked in and we had to go back and catch up on sleep. Awoke about 7pm and spent the evening planning our NZ itinerary. Realised that we haven't got nearly as much time as we'd like here: we are going to have to move on every day so that we can fit in as many places as possible.

15/02/07 – CONGRATULATIONS ANG + ANDY ON THE BIRTH OF YOUR NEW BABY: KEIRAN ANDREW BUNKER – we can't wait to meet him.
Left Christchurch and headed down Arthurs Pass through glorious scenery to the West Coast. The landscape here is so majestic: snow-capped mountains, bright blue skies and lush green forests – I don't think you could ever get bored driving around. We planned to reach the glacier region by late afternoon so that we could take a guided hike on a glacier the following day. Although we did manage to book ourselves onto the 7.30am hike we couldn't find any accommodation for that night: all fully booked! Stopped off in Hokitika and found a tourist information centre to ask for their help. Here we learnt that you 'must' book your accommodation in advance, as NZ is a popular tourist destination, especially at this time of year. Whoops – this was a new revelation as we had simply been turning up at places in hope of a bed/spot of grass for the last 5 months. After a number of attempts the helpful tourist info lady managed to find us a motel room in the tiny hamlet of Hari Hari (1 hour north of the glaciers). It was perfect, stunning views and very quiet so we couldn't be taunted by people getting ready to go out (a 'no no' for us in the late stages of our trip: we are now trying to survive on 19GBP a day!) Since there was no phone reception at the motel we drove down the road and parked outside an independent garage for 2 hours, so that we could sort out accommodation for the following 2 weeks - no easy task as many places were fully booked. In fact we had phoned so many places our phone credit ran out. Bookings could only resume after we'd driven back to the local shop and purchased some more phone credit. After dinner we returned to our phone spot and rang Wayne's mum for a baby update...thinking surely Ang must have had had it by now?!? Our hunch was confirmed....'a little boy!!!' So once again, congratulations Ang and Andy (and Tia: now officially an older sister – tough job T but I'm sure you'll be up for the job – plenty of role models!) Don't let Keiran grow too much before we get back!

16/02/07
Up at 5am and drove into Westland Tai Poutini National Park at dawn – stunning 'Lord of the Rings' like scene: mist hovering over the water in front of a beautiful mountain backdrop...photographs just couldn't capture it. We arrived in Franz Josef village around 6.45am and waited around for 45 minutes before the office opened and were then kitted out in a gortex rain jacket, waterproof over trousers, woolen gloves/hat/socks, leather boots and attachable Ice Talonz for grip. We caught a bus to the Franz Josef Glacier car park, walked to the terminal face (about 45 mins), attached our ice talonz and were good to go. The Franz Josef glacier is the 3rd largest in NZ (11km long) but is the World's steepest and fastest flowing glacier (1-5m/day – 10 times faster than the average glacier!!)

The guide carved steps into the ice as we climbed and we soon got used to walking normally (initially I found it hard to put trust in the spikes of the talonz). It was an amazing day but felt very surreal: we were standing on a massive body of ice but could absorb fantastic views of forests and lush mountains! We spent 4 hours on the ice, but it only felt like an hour (at the time – later that day it felt like we'd spent 10 hours on the ice as our knees started to ache.) The dangers surrounding these natural formations were brought home towards the end of our trek...we'd heard a crack and ice crumble 10 minutes before reaching the terminal face but weren't sure what had happened/where the ice had fallen. It was only when we'd made it back down onto solid ground that we realised what had happened. The opening of a glacial cave on the face had collapsed and some idiot who hadn't bothered to fork out the money to go on a guided trip had decided to explore the glacier alone (despite rope barriers and numerous signs warning of the dangers). He'd been knocked over by some ice and thrown into the freezing melt water. A few guides who were about to take people up the glacier had seen him and fished him out (lucky guy), but his legs were badly injured and a helicopter ambulance had been called. By the time we got there he had been wrapped in foil blankets and the guides own fleeces. Another older man had also fallen onto the ice (due to the vibrations) and injured his head.

By the time we got back to the car we were exhausted and plans to walk up to the Fox Glacier (2nd largest in NZ) face were aborted. Instead we drove down a viewing road and walked 5 mins through some rainforest to a lookout point. We then drove 40km down he highway to another motel room in the middle of nowhere (no reception again – we were trying to ring to congratulate you Ang – promise!) Spent the evening talking to some guys from York – reminiscing about Asia and comparing our glacier trips...they'd spent 5 times the amount on a helihike, where they were flown to the middle of the glacier. Sounded excellent but they didn't have as much time on the ice.

17/02/07
Rose early and drove from the Fox Glacier to Arrowtown (30 mins north of Queenstown.). We stopped off in Wanaka enroute and ate lunch on the southern tip of Lake Wanaka: beautiful (sorry I think I have exhausted this word now). The entire journey was once again stunning: snaked along the Haast River and up into Mt Aspiring National Park. Arrived in Arrowtown, a picturesque ex-gold mining town, early afternoon. Wayne was determined to pan for gold so we spent 2 fruitless hours knee-deep in river water whilst an elderly Norfolk gentleman (on holiday with 3 other ladies – he kept dropping this into the conversation) demonstrated his gold panning skills. I had no time for this activity – kept trying to remind Wayne that it was an 'EX-gold mining town' but was kept entertained by Waynes' chum who professed his entire life story...and found the gold-digging ex-wife chapter quite ironic.

18/02/07
Drove from Arrowtown to Te Anau (Fiordland) via Queenstown (NZ's adrenaline activity capital – we surfed the web). Since there wasn't a lot to do there unless you had big bucks to spend we moved on to Te Anau; a very quiet town in a magnificent location. Wandered down to Lake Te Anau (53km long, 2nd largets in NZ) and watched the sun go down. Te Anau is the gateway to Milford Sound, an apparently stunning fjord (once described as the 8th natural wonder of the world) – we'll see and judge for ourselves tomorrow...

19/02/07
...Breathtaking!! Majestic mountains (including Mitre Peak 1700m) covered in thick forest despite the absence of soil, glacial striations, waterfalls and even a deep fault line was evident on the mountainsides surrounding the fjord lake. Our cruise boat pulled up near some young mail fur seals basking on rocks in the wind (to keep the sand flies at bay) and up to Stirling Falls (approximately 3 times the height of Niagara Falls – but obviously not nearly as wide!) where we were soaked by the spray. The ship just seemed dwarfed by the scale of the surrounding landscape. The trip around the fjord only lasted 2.5 hours but it was a constant photo opportunity and we had to endure a brutal editing session later that day. Beautiful part of the world. Our return trip was held up by a rouge tree that had fallen earlier that day and was subsequently blocking the highway. Tree surgeons were already at the scene (apparently – we were over a mile away so relied upon Chinese whispers!) so we only had to wait about an hour for the traffic to clear.

20/02/07
Drove to Dunedin; home to NZ's longest running university, the World's steepest street and NZ's Cadbury's World (none of which we had time to visit.) Instead we spent the afternoon in search of the cheapest frying pan and saucepan in town, as contrary to our original belief (and hopes) many campsites fail to provide cooking apparatus (we have been microwaving baked beans in non-microwavable bowls – not a very balanced diet!) Dunedin looked like a lovely town and if we'd had more time in NZ we would have probably stayed longer. Unfortunately time isn't on our side so we stopped here primarily to break up the journey from Te Anau to Mount Cook...

21/02/07
...woke up too early due to unbearably low room temperature (no linen provided so we only have our own sheet) and hit the highway in the direction of Mount Cook. Paused at a number of interesting sights along the way (mainly large rocks!):
1.Moeraki Boulders – bizarre spherical creations formed millions of years ago around lime crystals within the surrounding mudstone. Way too many tourists on the beach – 3 coach loads!
2.Elephant Rocks - surreal landscape: massive boulders (originally sand hardened to limestone) scattered around a grassed mountainside. Setting of Aslan's camp in the recent Chronicles of Narnia film (according to the Lonely Planet – I couldn't recall it??)
3.Lake Pukaki – just stopped very briefly to take some snaps of the unusual colour of the water: milky turquoise -gorgeous.
Eventually arrived at Mount Cook (Australiasia's highest mountain) but we couldn't find our pre-booked accommodation?? Gave them a ring and they politely informed us that they were on the East coast -close to Christchurch (we were sitting in the middle of NZ). WHOOPS!! My fault – in our hast to sort out the accommodation for the south island (2 hours outside the garage) I must have highlighted the wrong number. Unfortunately the entire village was fully booked, bar The Hermitage Hotel (NZ's most famous hotel) who had a room for $800/night, but were prepared to drop to $500 – Wayne was actually considering it!!! Mount Cook looked stunning covered in snow and was very inviting, but we decided (very quickly) that paying $500 to explore the area the next day wasn't worth it, and reluctantly moved on Lake Tekapo, knocking a '0' off our accommodation bill in the process.

22/02/07
Spent all day driving and ended up in a hostel in Hanmer Spring, which was probably the best place we've stayed: massive bedroom with French doors in an old house with a lounge, dining room and huge kitchen. So nice in fact that we spent the rest of the day there – reading in the garden.

23/02/07
Visited the outdoor Thermal and Sulphur Pools (35-42C!) in the town spa, but only spent about an hour there before the novelty wore off! Started to rain not long after we left so our plans to go for a long walk were aborted. Instead we spent the rest of the day back at the hostel, sorting out our North island accommodation. Glad we did this as I read a newspaper article the other day reporting a massive overseas visitor influx this year – hardly any rooms are available and rental cars are in short supply. In the glacier region up to 25 people a night have been caught sleeping in their cars and in this hostel there are a lot of senior citizens residing in dorm rooms! Tensions were rising the other day...battle of the ages. The older generation get up too early (although me and Wayne are always up with the best of them!) and open the dorm curtains!! haha. Whilst the younger generations have turned green with envy at the smell of the wholesome dinners they cook.

24/02/07 – 25/02/07
Drove to Nelson and wondered around the town centre: ghastly cathedral (art deco = breeze block extreior and interior!!) Did very little. The next day we visited Rabbit Island and spent much of the day lazing on the beach.

26/02/07
Got up early and drove further north to the Abel Tasman National Park. We'd seen so many tempting tourist leaflets: cruises, kayak tours and multiple night stays but decided to just experience a taster of the area on the cheap....we walked. It was an unbearably hot day, but we managed to walk 12km along the coastal track in 2.5 hours (from Marahau to Anchorage Bay). The actual track was very disappointing (not many views – too much growth) but Anchorage Bay was stunning and almost deserted. It reminded us of a Thai beach (but without the crowds), although the sea felt like it was -50C!! Both had a quick dip before frost bite had a chance to kick in and then bathed on the picture perfect sands. This country is fantastic: I doubt there are many places in the world where you can experience sizzling temperatures on tropical beaches and freezing temperatures on icy glaciers within the space of a week!

Wayne decided that he wasn't going to walk the 12km back (blisters- ahhhh...) and ' dragged' me into a water taxi speedboat....the first smile of the day appeared on his face! Suprise, suprise. When we reached land we were attached to a trailer and towed back through town by a tractor (whilst still wearing life jackets!!) The park is very pretty and if we ever had a chance to come back to New Zealand we'd try and visit with a bit of money and take a kayak trip further north for a few days.

27/02/07
Last day on the South Island - time has just flown.
Spent the day in Nelson city again, mostly on this computer. We are catching the ferry to the North island tomorrow morning so will update you in another 2 weeks. Not long left – a serious job hunt looms aghhhhhhh - well for me anyway, Wayne has sorted out his job. Hope everyones well? E

Final Oz entry and to be honest we’re glad to be moving on. Although there have been numerous highlights, the 2 months spent here haven’t been as enjoyable/memorable as our 3 months in Asia. What will New Zealand have to offer?? Watch this space…

01/02/07 – 913 km (not all in 1 day, but we forgot to break down the trip from Sydney – Canberra – Batemans Bay – Lakes Entrance)
Drove all day (7 hrs +) through southern New South Wales into Victoria and finally arrived at the Lakes Entrance late afternoon. Wondered around town, down the Esplanade and over a pedestrian bridge to the sand dunes leading onto Ninety Mile Beach. Watched a kids surf school in action and witnessed the cries of one little girl who couldn’t hack the 3-day course: “Wahhhhhh, I don’t want to do it anymore, I get scared of the waves!!!! wahhhhhhhh” Probably not the best extra-curricular activity to enrol that child in then.

02/02/07
Walked down Ninety Mile Beach and completed a 6km circular route, walking back beside one of the lakes – surprisingly hard work in the sand…our legs were aching! We then drove to Metung to see Lake King, bit dull so no need to elaborate.

03/02/07 - 163km
Drove to and around Philip Island. Even duller than previous day so I won’t bother with any finer details.

04/02/07
Visited Churchill Island (tiny, tiny island 5 mins from Philip Island), which comprised mostly of a working heritage farm (first crops planted in Victoria were planted here), complete with its own cattle, shire horses, sheep and ‘chooks.’ The 1870s farmhouse was very pretty, as was Rogers Cottage (built by a Cornish immigrant) and the surrounding orchards.
Next stop: the Koala Conservation Centre, back on Philip Island. Not as good as the Koala hospital in Port Macquarie, but we spotted a few snoozing in the trees. Just off the southern tip of the island lies Seal Rocks, but surprise, surprise...we didn't catch a glimpse of a single seal. The views were fantastic though, and we did spot a tiny penguin in its burrow. We watched it peacefully for a few moments, before some Korean kids caught sight of us and started ranting and raving, scaring the poor thing back into the Earth.
At 18.30 we traipsed down to a beach, along with a few hundred others, and sat for a couple of hours, awaiting the ‘Penguin Parade’. We waited and waited and waited and finally, at around 21.30 (nose blue and fingers numb) the ‘smallest penguins in the world’ (according to the visitors centre) emerged from the ocean and waddled slowly up the beach in little groups, to their burrows. It was an awesome sight as there were literally hundreds, if not thousands of these tiny penguins waddling up to greet their young. The visitor’s centre has set up boardwalks and sensitive lighting networks, so you are only a few metres away from the penguins.
Appropriate at this point to note that the nights have become increasingly cooler the further south we’ve come, and recently we have been waking up in the middle of the night freezing cold (1 sheet and 1 blanket full of holes = bedding). Very strange considering we were hanging up the mosquito net in Cairns, so that we could get some air in by keeping the campervan door open.

05/02/07
Drove to Melbourne, grocery shop enroute created confusion and meant that we ended up driving through the city centre rather than around – whoops. Campsite = excellent, complete with a resort-like swimming pool, where we spent most of the afternoon as it was far too hot to venture into town. That evening we caught a tram (yep – case study comes to life Rich) into the city and although we are only 9km from the CBD it took an hour! Pretty place with a similar ‘city atmosphere’ to Sydney, but feels a bit smaller. Crossed the river and visited the gigantic Crown Casino Complex (hotel, showrooms, shops, cafes, restaurants, cinema etc. etc.) which is apparently the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. Most notable parts of the evening: I got asked for ID - which I was quite impressed about as I have been wondering whether or not all this sun has aged my skin! Wayne got tempted by his Cairns win and lost half of his chips – will he ever learn?

06/02/07
Weather turned cold and cloudy, but we attempted to explore Melbourne by day. Visited Federation Square (empty rail yards were revamped into a ‘riotous explosion of steel, glass and abstract geometry’, in other words, the architecture =horrid!) and then caught a tram (free tourist service) around the city centre, although we couldn’t see a lot because everyone else had the same idea. Jumped off at Carlton Gardens, walked past the Royal Exhibition Building and up into Melbourne Museum. We then spent the next 4 hours submerged in all things Australian...from Aussie flora and fauna to a genuine ‘Neighbours’ treasure; an interior set, complete with scripts!

07/02/07 – 387 km
Weather awful again so we decided to stay in the car and drove down the Great Ocean Road. Although the 12 Apostles, London Bridge (now an arch, as part of the limestone structure collapsed in 1990, leaving 2 tourists stranded on the arch!) and Loch Ard Gorge etc. are stunning natural sculptures, we are unsure as to whether the 6/7 hour drive was really worth it? They were great to see, but I think we would have appreciated them more if we’d stopped off en route to Adelaide, rather than spending all day driving just to take a few photos! Stayed the night in a town called Warrnabool, on the southern coast of Victoria.

08/02/07 – 344 km
Headed back towards Melbourne via the A1 (rather than the slower Ocean Road), but diverted to the centre of the Goldfields region; Ballarat, a stunning Victorian town with tree-lined streets and pretty architecture. Our main reason for stopping here was to visit Sovereign Hill (see tomorrow), a tourist attraction recommended by a Danish couple who’d lived in Melbourne for a few months. Since we’d arrived late in the afternoon we decided to stay the night and visit Sovereign Hill the following day.

09/02/07
Sovereign Hill (a working 1850s township) describes itself as a living museum representing Ballarat’s first golden decade, following the discovery of gold in 1851. (The second largest nugget ever found was found at Ballarat = 64kg!!) It is set in the open-air (we had a warm sunny day at last!) on 25 hectares of ex-mine sites. After browsing the entrance museum displays we unsuccessfully panned for gold in the creek and then took 2 separate tours in the underground gold mines (evidence that Cornish tin mining techniques were transferred into the gold mines by the independent miners). The differences in general working conditions and mining techniques, between the independent miners and the ‘company miners,’ were highlighted to us throughout the tours (i.e. from what I can remember: the unskilled workers (company workers) received a wage from the mining company and relied heavily on the company-owned steam-powered pump, so that they could use their explosives below the water table. The skilled immigrant miners (independents) carved out mines by hand in the shape of an arch and never ventured below the water table. They were therefore a lot safer – no explosives and little flood risk.)
We then went and watched a ‘gold pour’ demonstration, where liquid gold (heated to about 250C and previously purified by combining with various metals) was poured into a mould and then cooled in water. The result = a 3kg gold bar – amazing process to witness and brought chemistry to life: wish that Dr Smith or Mr Whitmore had offered us a similar practical lesson!! (Haha – Claire, we probably would have bodged that up as well!) Apparently I looked like an ‘honest person,’ so the man demonstrating asked if I wanted to hold the $84,000 gold bar. I gratefully accepted (but was handcuffed first! only kidding) and went up to the front to receive my prize (we are now residing in the Hilton.) The bar was still warm and surprisingly heavy for its mere size.
With the gold bar wedged into my pocket, we rushed out onto the street and tried to mingle into the crowds on Main Street. We visited various 1850 style shops: haberdasheries, grocery stores, jewellers, bakers, and Wayne’s favourite…the sweet shop. We then watched boiled sweets (butter drops) being made with traditional ingredients and equipment…delicious.
The highlight of the day was watching a class full of kids (on a 3-day long school trip, dressed in traditional attire) in the town school. An English schoolmaster was telling them off but they didn’t seem to be taking the ‘role play’ very seriously and were all cracking up. The whole set-up was excellent (street actors roaming around) and we had a fantastic day – definitely recommended trip for anyone in the Melbourne area.

10/02/07
Back in Melbourne and decided to try and explore a bit more of the city…
· Queen Victoria Market: massive 130-year-old market with thousands of stalls selling everything and anything.
· Bourne Street Mall – just shops!
· State Library – free internet too busy so gave up.
· Chinatown – cheap internet access.
· Very old, but cheap cinema – watched Miss Potter, who came across as a bit Potty and the film was probably not worth the pennies!

11/02/07 – HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY BETH!!!! Hope you enjoyed Rome??
Caught the tram to St Kilda (a seaside suburb in the south) where there was a massive weekend-long festival in full flow: music events, BMX and crosser demonstrations and 100’s of market stalls. Lively and entertaining day out, but as A.A. Milne would say, it was a very ‘blustery day’ and a lot of events were cancelled. We managed to catch a tram back into the city, but the power lines were down on a huge section of our journey (north of the city), so we ended up having to walk for about 1.5 hours. We weren’t 100% sure of the way back to the campsite, but just followed the tramlines and hoped for the best! We made it and lived to tell the tale.

12/02/07
Final day in Oz, so we got our act together and after packing up the van’s contents into 1564 bags we headed towards the eastern suburbs of Melbourne in search of Pin Oak Court (a.k.a Ramsey Street). Well…what can I say…we were ALMOST star-struck (by a couple of houses.) Actually we felt like right plonkers taking pictures of peoples houses, but it was fun seeing the street that we so often catch a glimpse of on telly, at 5.35pm, on BBC1! The street is a lot smaller than it appears on TV, but the houses all look the same. Shame we didn’t see any of the fictitious residents.
Journey back from Ramsey Street was an absolute nightmare – we must have missed a turning and ended up in the middle of Sydney yet again. By the time we got back it was 3pm – what a wasted day!
We are now sitting in an internet café in Chinatown, and have just recently treated ourselves to the most expensive meal we’ve eaten in 5 months – 10GBP each.

Congratulations and thank you if you are still reading this sentence – I know this must have been one of the worst entries yet! We drove, drove and then drove again! Anyway, we’ll love you and leave you now and will write again in a couple of weeks once we’ve explored a bit of NZ…. Where’s this new baby Ang???? E and W xxxxx