The End of the Adventure!!!

After 4 weeks of travelling the holiday that we had planned for so long has now come to an end!

We arrived back in Ireland on Tuesday 20th after travelling 19,067km from Christchurch. We had clocked up 3445km on the car during our 3 weeks in New Zealand, and saw quite a bit of the South Island. Our lasting impression is of a wonderful country - beautiful scenery & friendly people - well worth the effort and distance to travel there. If you ever get the opportunity, go there!

Thanks to Shane, Megan and Aidan for having us over in Melbourne - we really enjoyed our visit. Till next time....

Finally, a few memorable images from our trip!

Our final adventures in New Zealand

View from the Queen Charlotte Track

Picton is a nice little town, 28km north of Blenheim. Its got a port from where the Interislander ferry departs from to the North Island (Wellington). On arrival there on Friday 16th, we checked into our motel room, then went for a stroll along a short track to Bob's Bay which overlooks Picton. Afterwards we took a stroll around town, and then cooked our dinner.

The weekend's weather was predicted to sunny and warm, perfect conditions for a walk. We booked a taxi-boat from Picton to Torea Bay, a 15 pleasant minute journey. The Queen Charlotte Track is 71km in total, along a peninsula, which is usually walked (or cycled) from Ship Cove to Anikiwa. From Torea Bay to Anakiwa is 20km, so we chose this option (to walk the full track you'd need to stay overnight in hostels or camping).

The flower of the Manuka Tree

The Met service was correct, and after an overcast morning, it turned out a beautiful day. The first hour or two of the walk was uphill, but after that it was mostly downhill. We started walking at 9:30am and reached Mistletoe Bay around 12pm. We were advised by the boat's skipper that the water here was warm, so we decided to go in for a swim, but it wasn't quite warm enough, so we sat in the sun and had our sandwiches.

Not a tree you see at home - Silver Tree Ferns

The final 3 hours of the walk were through bush and forest, but was quite scenic. We reached Anikiwa at 4pm, plenty of time before getting our boat at 4:30pm back to Picton. Back in the town we enjoyed a few drinks in the sun!

On Sunday we visited the Edwin Fox museum, which houses the world's 9th oldest ship (built in India in 1853). It was a worthwhile visit and we noticed many Irish names among the immigrants that it carried from England to New Zealand in the 19th century. We were also able to go on board the ship.

Later we drove about 295km to Hanmer Springs, the South Island's thermal pools resort, and we enjoyed the Sulphur and heated pools in the evening sun. The perfect way to end our trip.

Today we're heading back to Melbourne and catching our connecting flight to Heathrow, then on to Cork!

From Akaroa to Blenheim

Larnach Castle

Our pretty B&B in Akaroa

View from Akaroa on way back to Christchurch

On Wednesday we travelled along the north east coast from Akaroa to Kaikoura. We stopped off at the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch. There we experienced the storm room with temperatures of -5 and a wind chill of -18. Brrrrrrr. We also saw little blue penguins in captivity as they were injured and would not survive in the wild.

We then headed north to Kaikoura. It's a popular place for whale and dolphin watching. Unfortunately, it's mountain Mount Fyffe (over 1600 mtrs) was covered in cloud. Hopefully on our way back down we will get good views of the scenery there. On Thursday morning we decided to continue northwards to Blenheim as it was raining in Kaikoura.

Blenheim had the sun! All the major wineries are also located there. What more did we want!

Today we are heading to Picton where we plan to walk part of the Queen Charlotte Track on Saturday.

Lillian at Clifford Bay Winery

From Queenstown to Akaroa

On Saturday we made for Queenstown where we started our return trip back up the East Coast of the South Island. From there we made a detour west to Glenorchy where some scenes from the film "Lord of the Rings" were shot. We did a nice walk around the Glenorchy lagoon and took some photos of the "misty mountains".

Dunedin was our destination on Sunday, a four hour drive from Queenstown. Dunedin is a popular university town although it was quiet as students had not yet returned from the summer holidays. Monday we visited a Penguin Reserve on the Otago Peninsula where we saw, albeit from a distance, some blue penguins (the smallest species of penguin) and some young yellow-eye penguins. All the adults were out at sea feeding and return at night full with food for their chicks.

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We also visited Larnach Castle, which stood on the highest point on the peninsula. It is New Zealand's only castle as was built by William Larnach, a banker, for his first wife in 1872.

We then continued on our journey up the coast to Timaru, an industrious port town. There we stayed at the appropriately named "Bay Watch" Motel. No Pamelas or David's around though!

Today we drove to Akaroa and and visited Peel Forest on the way where we saw a very old Totara tree, which is between 800 - 1000 years old. It has a circumference of 3 metres.

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The first settlers in Akaroa were French and it is a quaint town with some pretty buildings. The French arrived here in 1841. We will be off for a glass of wine shortly! Tomorrow we head for Kaikoura.

One of the pretty houses in Akaroa!

Milford Sound

We travelled to Milford Sound on Friday after finishing the Kepler Walk. We had a quick breakfast and freshen up and set off for the 3.00pm scenic boat cruise. It was a 2 hour drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound, which brought us through the Homer Tunnel. This tunnel is about 1km through solid rock and the traffic is controlled by lights as it is only one lane wide. As it is so dark in there we had to put on the full head lamps. It was very exciting. Few pot holes to miss along the way also!

We got to Milford Sound in good time and set off on the cruise (1hr 45mins duration) as scheduled. Contrary to it's name, Milford Sound is actually a Fjord as it was gouged out by a number of glaciers. All the Sounds along the south west coast of this island are in fact Fjords.

The cloud was starting to rise as we travelled along making for a beautiful and mystic journey. The top of the Mitre Peak was covered but the solid black granite rock rising from the water was fantastic. The rain they had the night before had created some beautiful waterfalls falling more than a hundred metres into the sea.

Seals basking in the sun.

Our boat travelled out as far as the Tasman sea and back. On the return let of the cruise the captain called out for adventurous people to get "up close and personal" with Stirling Falls. Sure wasn't that what we were, "adventurous" after doing the Kepler Walk! So off we headed to the front of the boat and got soaked. Great craic!!!

We spent Friday night in Te Anau and travelled to Queenstown on Saturday. Next port of call is Dunedin on the East coast. Our current plan is to make our way up along the East and we will keep you updated!

Arrival at Te Anau & the Kepler Walk

Starting off at Brod Bay

We arrived in Te Anau from Queenstown on Monday 5th, and spent a busy evening preparing for our great walk. We had 3 nights dinners to cook, and we also had to pack our rucksacks with 3 days worth of clothes and provisions.

We decided to start the walk from Brod Bay (about 200m above sea level) by getting a water taxi at 9:30am across from Te Anau (saving ourselves about an hour's walk) . We started off by putting on plenty of insect repellent!! The first day's walk was all uphill to Luxmore Hut (1085m), and we had about 3 hours walking through forest (or "bush" as they call it). Once we emerged we walked along an open slope to Luxmore Hut, which we reached at 2pm.

Walking to Luxmore Hut

Since we arrived at the hut so early we decided to walk up to the peak of Mt Luxmore (1472m). This took about an hour and a quarter, and was made tough by the heat. However, the weather made for great viewing with mountain ranges all around us, including the Livingstone and Murchison ranges.

On Luxmore peak - 1472m

Back at the hut we freshened up and prepared our dinner. The warden of the hut then gave a brief talk about hut safety, and she also gave an informal talk about the flora and fauna of the area. The huts each have a solar panel which powers lights in the kitchen but not the bunkrooms, so most people went to bed for 10pm.

Having a chat with a cheeky Kea

Next morning (Wednesday 7th) was misty outside, and the morning weather report said that this would clear off to give a fine clear day. After breakfast we set off at 10:45am on the 2nd stage of the walk, back up the path towards Mt Luxmore. The walk today was high level, and wandered along ridges and hilltops. The mist wasn't long clearing and we had a fine hot summer's day (we drank plenty of water today). Again the views were spectacular, with plenty of snow covered peaks, and good views of Lake Te Anau (the south island's largest lake - by water volume) and Lake Manapouri. For the first hour or two the peaks sat on a sea of mist, which was amazing.

The Murchison Mountains in the mist

Eventually we had to start descending the steep, arduous route to Iris Burn hut (at 497m), and the track zig-zagged down through forest to the hut which we reached about 6pm. I think everyone was knackered today as most people were in bed before 10pm.

The track from Luxmore hut to Iris Burn hut

Iris Burn Hut

Our third day, Thursday 8th, started off with rain, but by the time we left the hut it had stopped. Today's walk was low level, through beautiful rainforest. We made good progress and reached the 3rd hut, Moturau (185m) around 3pm. It stands next to the lake, including a nice sandy beach, but has one negative point - it has sandflies, which are like our midges but worse!

Through the rainforest on day 3

We heard and sometimes saw a variety of wildlife, including Fantails, Bellbirds, Tomtits, Silver Eyes, Rifleman and the Kea. We also thought that we could hear the kiwi at night in Iris Burn, a loud whistle. There are 4 kiwis in that area. It is a constant battle to keep the numbers of stoat down, and there are over a hundred traps along the track. We could also hear lots of very loud insects in the rainforests.

The kiwi's main enemy - stoat

Our final morning of walking was a another journey through rainforest to Rainbow Reach, an hour and a half walk. Overall we had walked approximately 60km, and it was a very memorable experience. We met many people of different nationalities including Canadian, German, New Zealanders, American and Israeli.

Tomorrow we'll give an update on yesterday's boat trip in Milford Sound!

The winding road from Wanaka to Queenstown

Lillian with time on her hands in Puzzling World!

On Sunday before we made our way down the scenic route from the town of Wanaka to Queenstown we visited Puzzling World. This is a great place with a maze, which was "amazing"..hee hee". There we saw great holograms and got totally confused in a room in which, with a floor sloping at 15 degrees, we totally lost our balance. Water even defied gravity by pouring up the slope.

After getting our bearings back we then hit the road to Queenstown. Once again it was a scenic drive with plenty of corkscrew bends up and down through the mountains. The sky was blue and the sun shining. What more could you want!

On board the TSS Earnslaw.

Queenstown is a lovely easygoing city. We took a trip on the TSS Earnslaw this morning, TSS meaning Twin Screw Steamer for those of you interested. It's a steam engine that has been running since 1912.

Oi, Oi Captain!

Today we are off to Te Anau where we will set off on the great Kepler Walk tomorrow. The weather forecast looks good too for it! We will update this site again on Friday after the hike.
Have a good week. :)

The drive to Wanaka

Lake Matheson walk

We spent quite a few hours on the road yesterday as we made our way from Franz Josef to Wanaka, about 300km away. But the views were spectacular with many mountain ranges along the way. Unfortunately Mt Cook (NZ's highest mountain at over 3700m) and Mt Tasman were covered in cloud so we could only imagine how breathtaking the views would have been on a clear day. We did however get to see the snow peaks of NZ's 2nd highest mountain, Mt Aspiring (3027m).

We refueled at Franz Josef before we left as the next petrol stop after Fox Glacier (not far from Franz Josef) is about 150km! There aren't many towns along the way, and those you do pass are very small. We stopped at Lake Matheson, near Fox Glacier, and walked the 1hr circuit around it, a beautiful walk through rainforest. On a clear day you can get spectacular views of Mt Cook and Tasman.

The first main town was Haast, and we stopped for a picnic at Haast beach - where if you didn't wear suncream you'd be burned to a crisp.

Getting a tan on Haast beach

Once thing you notice about NZ roads is that there are a lot of 1-lane bridges - there are a lot of rivers here!

Haast Pass - one of the many views on the way to Wanaka

There were several points where we stopped to view the scenery along the way - they really cater for tourists here!

Knights Point

We arrived at Wanaka around 6pm and checked into our motel. There are Irish influences in this town - the main road in is Ardmore st, and there are also several Irish pubs (including a Scruffy Murphys). The local beer is good - they have their own brewery in Wanaka (called Speights).

Today we're going to the Puzzling Museum (a bit like Willy Wonka's factory), and doing a bit of shopping before setting off to Queenstown, about 120km away.