South Island, NZ

Hello from the South Island!  SENSORY OVERLOAD!  It is so beautiful.  I can’t say it’s more beautiful than the North Island but it is jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, and just plain awesome (not a word I use often).

Crossed over from Wellington to Picton.  The crossing takes 3 hours and is AMAZING.  Fabulous views but not for the faint of heart – it was, as the captain put it, “strong”.  It went from strong, stormy waters to calm, serene waters, with a prevailing wind.

A seal welcomed us in Picton Harbour, showing off a bit.

   

 

 

 

 

Spent a night in Picton and then drove to a little cottage that we had pre-booked for 3 nights.  It was rustic and sweet on an estuary with lots of bird life and mountains in the distance.  Very quiet, except for the birds.  Most of the property on the peninsula used to belong to the owners of the cottages.  At one time her parents ran an apple orchard but as they got older they severed the land.  The wee cottage that we stayed in used to be one of the workers’ cottages.  The owners now run an organic farm and they hire workers from all over the world to work on the farm, for food and board – the organization is called WWOOF – check it out if you’re interested:  http://www.wwoof.net/.  We didn’t work on the farm ourselves and there didn’t appear to be any serious farming being done (I think it’s early in the season still).

At first when we drove out of Picton the scenery appeared to be similar to the North Island but all of a sudden we could see lots of big, high mountains with white peaks – BEAUTIFUL!  NZ certainly awakens all of our senses: visually, of course – colours, textures, mountains, lakes, green pastures- as every turn of the head shows us something different; smells – just walking through a wooded area or even someone’s garden provides you with such a variety of smells from the amazing assortment of trees and bushes.  Sounds:  the birds are the most obvious of all the sounds, especially the time that we spent in the cottage the first few nights in the South Island and on our hikes.  Also, depending where we are, the waves and the wind.  And then taste:  wine, wine and more wine, and in Gary’s case, beer as well!  And I can’t remember if I mentioned the oysters when we were in the North Island.  My nephew, Marco, encouraged us to try oysters about 5 years ago when we went to visit him and his family in New Jersey and I was really hesitant, but when I finally agreed to try them, I was hooked!  So I couldn’t wait to try some NZ oysters when I got here and when I finally did – YUCK!  No offense to their oysters but they were HUGE and way too briny for me, so no more oysters unless they have some small ones hiding somewhere.  But for the most part, the food has been great.  Oh, and one more thing I’m not having any more:  whitebait.  Look it up.

Going back to the visual, we went on a coastal hike in Abel Tasman National Park (NZ has a LOT of national parks).  This was a pretty easy hike, about 1.5 hours long each way, and it was beautiful!  It had a little bit of everything – ocean, beach, mountains in the distance, bush (forest).  NZ sometimes reminds me of Costa Rica meets West Coast Canada, without the bears or monkeys.  I’m especially happy about that since I don’t care to meet either of them on a hike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving our wee cottage we headed south along the west coast.  It is so wild and rugged.  The sky and sea are so dramatic here.  We stopped off at a place called Cape Foulwind (VERY windy, but not foul at all), where there was a seal colony.  And then down to Punakaiki which has an amazing rock formation called Pancake Rocks, with blow holes as well.  A highlight for sure.

We then continued south to Franz Joseph Glacier.  We were quite excited to get here since we’d heard so much, but the rain and more rain and a little more rain, and low cloud cover prevented us from seeing anything.  Could not see Mt. Cook which is the biggie here.  And if we hadn’t seen pictures we would have sworn that everyone was lying about the mountains. Here’s a photo of me holding a photo of what should have been behind me where I’m standing (Fox Glacier area).

We did however manage to get a short hike in the next morning while still in Franz Joseph and saw the glacier.  So………..definitely not like the glaciers in Alberta, Canada – these ones are receding by the year and the pictures we saw of how they are receding were quite scary.  But nonetheless, it was great.  Mother Nature is  strong and determined!  Here is a link about Franz Joseph Glacier if you would like to read about it:  http://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/west-coast-glaciers/.

We were going to spend more time in the area but due to the visibility factor decided to move south and inland, towards Queenstown.

We were initially going to make our way to Milford Sound, which was highly recommended and we were very pumped to go there, but we kept our eye on the weather radar and it wasn’t very promising and we knew it would be a big tourist attraction (bus loads, finding a place to stay), so both of those factors made our decision to move on. However it was a VERY long drive; not too much between Glacier Country and Queenstown.  But visually, no regrets – have a look:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed for a few nights just outside of Queenstown in a hotel called Nugget Point Hotel to relax for a bit.  The food in this area is great and so many restaurants.  This is Otago wine region, known for the Pinots and Chardonnays.  The other little town, Arrowtown, just 15 minutes drive from where we’re staying is so quaint with fantastic restaurants.  It’s an old gold mining town.  Definitely worth a stop.  We had some of our best meals here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drove the short drive into Queenstown and took the gondola up to the top for the great view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re winding down in our stint in NZ and gearing up for Australia.  We’re meeting Gary’s brother, Bill (who lives in Perth), in Brisbane and he will show us around the area for a few days.  Excited about that as we are going just north to the Sunshine Coast and Bill knows of a fantastic Thai restaurant – woo hoo!  Bill, you know our soft spot – food!  He’s also got us booked into a few great places.  See you soon, Bill!

And while we’re on family:  Sue, we hope you aren’t working too hard, and remember, you’re suppose to meet us somewhere so start asking for that raise.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian friends!  Hard to believe we’re into week 5 of our journey.  Some days it feels like we just left Canada and other days it feels like we’ve been traveling for a long time.  Loving it!

And just when we’re nearing our end in NZ I’m just getting used to driving here – left side and all.  Gary’s gotten very good at it, minus the few reminders from me to stay left……..

Until next time.