Helllooo,
Hope all’s well.
So we left off waiting to see if it would be a clear night in Lake Tekapo so that we could do the stargazing. Luck was on our side and it was a perfect night (although flipping freezing) and we had an amazing time. We were able to look at the moon, where you could actually see craters, Jupiter, which was a favourite for both of us as you could actually see the layers & 4 of its moons, the Milky Way in super clear detail & the nearest other galaxy to us, and clusters of stars, which were in various stages of their lifecycle. I learnt that Jupiter was actually due to be a star but didn’t have enough energy to complete this and that it goes around space cleaning up debris (so I decided that Jupiter is a female planet!) We finished up here just about 12.30am & decided to try & drive as far as possible towards our next destination, which was Christchurch. However, this didn’t go too well as we were both shattered, I couldn’t even keep my eyes open so Gary battled on for a while but we had to pull over in Geraldine just after 2am. We were then woken up at 6am by someone telling us that we couldn’t park there!
After breakfast & some much needed caffeine in Christchurch we set about exploring. Even though we’d been told that the city was still pretty devastated after the earthquake, we were still shocked at the extent of the damage. I think they only opened up the ‘red zone’ at the end of last year & there are so many buildings empty. Some are really sad as you can tell that things were just left at the moment that the earthquake hit & that no-one has been back since. There was a hotel where you could see wardrobes lying haphazard. We took a walk through their botanical gardens, which were really nice. We also went to a museum called Quake City, which was really interesting & had lots of details about the last 2 big earthquakes that hit Christchurch.
There wasn’t too much more we wanted to do here so we headed towards Franz Josef, where we were due to go on the heli-hike the next day, if the cloud played ball. This time luck was on our side & on our 4th attempt we managed to do it, yay. We’re so glad we went back for it as it was amazing. I’d never been on a helicopter before & found it pretty weird, I definitely felt less safe than in a plane. The journey onto the glacier was stunning though & the hike was really good fun. We got to go in some ice caves & also witness a couple of ice falls down the mountain, which were pretty scary. It’s horrible to think that it won’t be there in 50 years. Before leaving the next day we payed a visit to Lake Matheson, (thanks for the tip Mich) which was gorgeous. It reflects the mountains & has probably given us some of our fave pics. We also took a look at Fox Glacier from a distance which is less steep than Franz Josef but we thought looked a little prettier as the ice is nicer, maybe because less people trample over it. The area that we were viewing it from had a memorial for the 9 people that died in a plane crash on Fox Glacier back in 1995, which was really sad. I found out that they were tourists setting off for a skydive but the plane crashed just after take-off killing everyone on board. This was pretty close to home & made us really thankful for our safe travels so far. On this depressing note we also pulled the van over at one stage to switch over driving and there was a memorial to a 21 year old girl who was murdered hitchhiking & her body was found dumped there.
Back to happier tales! Next stop was Kaikoura to do some whale watching. This is a renowned place to do it in NZ as they have whales year round due to the marine life in the water and because the continental shelf drops off to 1000m closer to the shore than other areas and this is the depth whales like to dive to. In typical fashion this was called off on the first day due to rough seas! We stayed another night though & managed to go the next day. We got to see 2 sperm whales, which grow to about 15-20 metres & weigh between 40-60 tonnes. They only really have male ones here as the water is too cold for females (sensible females!). We learnt that they have x-ray vision and that they use their sonar to kill their food as it’s so loud that it literally breaks every bone in their prey & leaves it paralysed - pretty clever. We were lucky to get these sightings as they spend about an hour under the sea & only about 10 minutes up (the record is a dive to over 3000 metres & 2 hours under). We also got to watch loads of dusky dolphins jumping around, they’re proper little performers. It was a great trip, with the only downsides being that half the boat were sick (including me - at one stage Gary had people either side, in front and behind being sick!) & that Gary fell into his chair when a wave hit & we thought he’d broken something. In an ideal world we’d have done this trip when the humpback whales were migrating so that we might have caught sight of these too, but it’s the wrong time of year.
From here it was on to Blenheim, where we decided that the best way to recover from seasickness & a potential broken bone was to go wine tasting (again!)! The famous Marlborough region is in Blenheim so we checked out 4 wineries & enjoyed some lunch in the garden of one. The next day we hired a tandem bike and cycled to a few more wineries. We’d never ridden a tandem before & it was hilarious. We learnt pretty quickly that Gary was better in the front seat! We were catching the ferry that evening so unfortunately we couldn’t spend all day doing this. We spent a couple of hours in Picton, where the ferry leaves from. It’s really pretty & as the weather was good we chilled out on the foreshore for a while (unfortunately Mich, Picton Bakery was closed so I’ll never know how good their pies are!)
On departing the ferry we were heading back to Tongario National Park to see if we could do the 6-8 hour volcano trek this time around. This is a long drive & we didn’t get off the ferry until 11ish so we had a night sleeping in the camper in a random field. Unfortunately the weather still wasn’t ideal so we had to call this off as there was no point trekking up there with rubbish visibility and it wasn’t due to improve for a few days, which we didn’t have time for. Instead we headed back to Lake Taupo, which we’d liked. We also had to make a return visit here as Gary had left the new Quiksilver shorts he’d bought in Oz, one of many things he’s left at campsites around NZ - his bag is practically empty for the return journey! Whilst here we decided to go horse riding, which has probably given me the biggest laugh of the trip. Gary has never been on a horse & rates the experience as more scary than sky-diving & bungy jumping combined. Every time his horse moved his head he wondered what it was doing & on the two occasions we progressed past walking, he was bouncing around & clinging on for dear life. He says he’s not sure he can have kids anymore but he's still glad that he’s done it! Whilst in Taupo we also got to enjoy the campsites' jumping pillow, which is like a bouncy castle but with no walls. It’s meant for kids but seeing as there were none around we thought we’d take advantage. So much fun but worryingly exhausting.
Next stop was Waitomo, where we did a trip into the glowworm caves, which were fascinating. They’re limestone caves which were first discovered in 1887. It takes 100 years for the stalactite to grow 1cm, which shows how many millions of years they’ve been forming as there were massive ones in there. At the end you got to take a boat ride in the dark with all the glowworms lit overhead. You have to be quiet as noise can affect them so it’s really peaceful. They live a pretty depressing life though as they have no mouth so after only a few days alive they starve to death!
With only a few days left in NZ & much of the key stuff ticked off that we wanted to do, we decided to have a chilled few days & as the weather was on our side we headed to Hahei on the Coromandel Peninsular & enjoyed their gorgeous beach. We then headed back to Auckland as we didn’t really have time to explore it on arrival. We went up Mt Eden where we enjoyed great views of the City, ate fish & chips on Mission Bay beach, browsed the shops and had lunch at the Wharf today whilst soaking up the last bit of sun.
And that’s it. This post is being written in the Auckland Airport Lodge where we’re spending our last night before flying home in the morning. We took Dappy back today, which was emotional as he’s been a great home for the past 5 weeks. We can’t believe that the 3 months are up but equally the stuff that we did at the beginning of the trip feels like a lifetime ago. So we’ll see you all really soon, we’ll try to bring the sun back with us!
G & C x
