Hi everyone,
We've
been in New Zealand for a week now and have decided the locals are
really rude. They've got all this fantastic scenery and yet they keep
it all to themselves! Outrageous. They could at least donate a few
mountain ranges and lakes to Grimsby or Middlesbrough some other needy
place!
Seriously though the scenery here really has to be seen to be
believed. It's by far the most beautiful place either of us have ever
been to. On this trip we've seen St Petersburg in the snow, the Taj
Mahal at sunrise and the Yangtze in the morning mist but New Zealand
tops it all. And we've only been here 7 days!
What's all this fuss about then?
We hired our campervan
in Christchurch and set off round the island on Saturday evening and
made our way about 50 miles east to the small town of Akaroa on the
coast. It's the first and only French settlement in New Zealand and
still has mainly French street names but that's really where the
comparison with Europe ends.
The town is in a gorgeous natural harbour
surrounded by rolling green hills and mountains. We camped there
overnight and went into town in the morning before driving south via
the tourist route through the mountains - stopping for a picnic by a
lake on the way down the coast - before turning inland to head for Lake
Tekapo.
We camped overnight by the Lake Tekapo and watched the full moon
from the shoreline before getting up early for a walk up Mount John and
down the side of the lake and back. At the risk of over-using
adjectives, the scenery was again amazing. The lake is an
incredible deep blue colour and surrounded by mountain ranges (see photo at the top of the page and the 4 below).
The lake
is already quite a way above sea level so it only took about half an
hour of walking to get to the top of Mt. John, which is the site of New
Zealand's main observatory, and then it was about another 2 hours
winding our way back down the hill and along the shoreline. We spent
most of our time gawping, taking photos and repeatedly telling each
other how beautiful it all was.
In the afternoon, we drove further
inland to the Aoraki National Park and Mount Cook (New Zealand - and
Australasia's - highest mountain at 3750 metres high) and more
wonderful scenery.
Two cookie monsters - can you spot the difference?
The National Park begins at Lake Pukaki which
provides an incredible view of the mountain from its southern end. The
lake is an amazing pale blue colour (apparently caused by fine rock particles which come from the glaciers that feed it) which makes the
view all the more special.
We camped by the lake about 40km south of
Mt Cook overnight and got up in the morning for two (count em, two!)
walks into the National Park and towards the mountain. The first took
an hour and was to a viewing platform that gave great views of Mt Cook
and the receding Mueller Glacier. The second walk took three and a half
hours and took us closer to the mountain and to the edge of the Tasman
Glacier, where there are pieces of broken off ice floating in the lake. We've probably waffled about the scenery far too much already,
so we'll leave you to check out the gallery...
We also indulged in a spot of stone skimming at the lake :-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUEmMp_Hcms
(for some reason Sarah didn't want her efforts immortalised on the journal...)
After the walks, we drove three hours south east back to the coast and the small town of Oamaru and camped there overnight.
After
stocking up on more supplies at the local supermarket, we had a wander
round Oamaru in the morning and early afternoon. The town was
established in the 1850s and thrived thanks to the frozen meat
industry!
All that lamb they exported helped them build some very grand
Victorian buildings. We went in a couple and then headed for the
whiskey brewery. It was a great old warehouse building with an artist's
studio and gallery at the top. We didn't actually sample the whiskey
because they were offering a free tasting of port! It was really nice
but we could only have the one as we had to head back to the van to
find some yellow-eyed penguins.
The penguins have nests among the
rocks on the Otago coast in Oamaru but are notoriously shy and won't
come ashore if they see people. They only come ashore between 3pm and
6pm and we'd been warned that we might see anywhere between none and
10. We headed to the viewing point above the beach at half past three
and were really lucky to see six waddling penguins in half an hour.
Here's ol' yellow eyes himself:-
It was
very cold and windy up there though, so once we'd seen our penguins we
hopped back in the van and headed about 80 miles south to Dunedin. The
city is the second largest on the south island after Christchurch but
feels much bigger and is extremely hilly. In fact, it claims to have
the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street.
Though according to
Wikipedia: "Baldwin Street's claim to fame has caused some controversy
after it emerged that the original entry in the Guinness Book of
Records was based on a typographical error, claiming a maximum gradient
which would be impossible to walk up." Anyhow, it's steep and apparently
the road is made of concrete because tar would melt down the road in
summer!
We've had a walk up and down the city today and been to the
Botanical Gardens, the art gallery and Otago Museum which is fantastic
and has loads on New Zealand's history and the history and
people of the Pacific Islands, including a huge Maori canoe and some
very scary looking masks and spears.
We're planning to drive out
onto Otago Peninsula tomorrow to see some of the wildlife, hopefully
including Royal Albatrosses, seals and more Penguins.
After that, we're
heading round the Southern Scenic Route via the Caitlins, Invercargill
and Milford Sound. Then it's inland to Queenstown, Wanaka and Franz
Josef Glacier before we head up to Abel Tasman National Park and
Nelson. We should be getting the ferry across to Wellington and the
north island in a week to 10 days from now.
We're sure you can tell
from the amount of superlatives and the length(!) of this entry just
how much we're enjoying New Zealand and we've already decided to spend
four weeks here, instead of the intended three. South America will have
to wait....
Love Sarah and Phil x
