NZ South Island Road Trip......

We arrived in Christchurch on a sunny Friday afternoon and picked up our Car Rental.  After  sussing out how to actually get the car into gear (my first automatic car) we were off.  The first leg of our South Island road trip would be out west from Christchurch across the Canterbury Plains following the Trans-Alpine highway.  We would then start climbing into the Southern Alps to the village of Arthur's Pass before descending to the west coast.
South Island has a real familiar feel to it - it felt just like a Friday night after work driving up into the Scottish Highlands.

Where are we? New Zealand or Scotland?

It was a beautiful drive up to the mountains.  The first place we stopped at was called Castle Hill.  It has lots of interesting limestone rock formations and is popular with climbers and boulderers.

Into the Mountains.

Castle Hill and some cows !!!

Climbing on the rocks.

Gillian nearly gets stuck.

Gillian on the rocks.

Looking out from Castle Hill.

We drove on a bit and  set-up camp at Craigieburn Forest Park.  It was a pleasant spot by the river, complete with Midges to make us feel right at home !!

Dean cooking dinner whilst the midges have their dinner (i.e. Dean !!!).

We then went for a night tramp (what Kiwi's call Hiking) over into the next valley.

Looking up the valley.

Full Moon over Craigieburn.

We were woken early the next morning by something trying to get into our tent!  I looked into the porch and saw a curved beak trying to steal our food - our first encounter with the famous NZ Kea, or Alpine Parrot.

The thief caught red handed.

The very inquisitive and comical Kea.

Kea decided to vandalise the Hire Car !!!!

Looks like I'll need to wash the car now.

I then took a trip down memory lane.  We went on a tramp up to the Ski field at Craigieburn.  This was where I spent a couple of months snowboarding when I was in New Zealand back in 2004.  It was the same as back then, except no snow this time.  It was quite a tough hike as we went up to the Lodge at the top of the mountain.  There wasn't a soul around and the silence up there was perfect.  We did however have a couple of inquisitive Kea's who escorted us up the mountain.

Looking toward Craigieburn. 

We crossed some pretty steep shale slopes.

The first Rope ski tow, had much fun on these back in '04.

IMG_8105 Looking up the tow.

Our escorts.

The Orange plummage under the wing.

Up Close.

At the Ski Lodge.

I Snowboarded down that slope behind.

At the Lodge.

Craigieburn ticket office

One for the skiers/boarders.  These are the Nutcracker belts you need to wear to ride the rope tows.

Looking back up at the ski field.

Gillian and a giant Moa.

Best not run over a Kiwi !!!

Who you looking at ugly??!!

Weka’s and Kiwi’s
Our next camp was at Goldsborough, just outside the town of Hokitika.  It was the site of an old goldmining area and there is still a lot of  fossacking going on till this day.  We did a good hike along  some of the old miners trails in the forest.  At this campsite we had another inquisitive NZ bird to deal with - the Weka!  The Weka is flightless and much braver than the Kea. It  would actually come into your tent (whilst you were inside) and steal anything!!

A Weka

A gold fossicking cannon.

Gillian in the rain forest.

In the evening we went down to Hokitika and had a stroll along the driftwood beach.

Hokitika Beach.

Hokitika Beach.

At Hokitika we saw our first Kiwi.  It wasn't in the wild, but in a Kiwi house.  It was an amazing looking bird.  Much bigger than we thought - about the size of a rugby ball covered in very fine feathers that looked more like fur.  Kiwis are nocturnal so it was dark in the Kiwi house, and as their eyes are very sensitive to light, you weren't allowed to take photos.


Glaciar country
Our next campsite was at a remote village called Okarito.  We went for a good evening stroll through the rain forest hoping to catch a glimpse of a Kiwi in the wild as the area was a Kiwi conservation zone.

Our Camp at Okarito

Some late night blogging !!

The next day we drove into Glacier country and visited the Fox and Frans Josef Glaciers.  It was a pretty wild day and raining hard, so we had a couple of quick marches to the Glacier Terminals.  The glaciers seemed a bit dirtier and smaller than the ones in Patagonia, but I'm sure on a nice sunny day they would look more impressive.

A wet day at Fox Glacier.

And even wetter at Franz Josef !

After the soaking we got at the Glaciers we visited the Hot Pools to warm up !!

Hot Pools at Franz Josef.

Gillian on a wild west coast beach.

Wanaka
Our next stop was at the town of Lake Wanaka.  It was a nice sunny day and we stopped at the Blue Pools on our way.

Blue Pools.

It was a cracking drive to Wanaka and the scenery was very much like home.

Drive to Lake Wanaka.

We arrived at Wanaka and got a great camp spot at Glendhu Bay by the lakeside.

Our lakeside camp-spot.

We decided to climb Mount Roy (1500 metres) that afternoon.  It was a tough climb, pretty much straight up hill from the road.  It took 3 hours to get to the top and 2 hours back.  The views were sensational.  Once we got back we treated ourselves to a wee dip in the Lake and a Thai dinner.

Climbing Mount Roy.

Some strange birds.

Looking toward Mount Aspiring.

The great outdoors !!!!

Looking down to Wanaka.

At the summit of Mount Roy.

Gillian on Mount Roy.

A post hike dip in Lake Wanaka.

Wanaka Christmas tree.

Next day we went to Wanaka Puzzling world, great fun for all the family !!

Gillian holds up the Leaning Tower of Wanaka.

Ouch !!!!!

Gillian the Giant.

The Wanaka Maze, it took us 54 minutes to complete it !!!!

A Roman Dunny !!!

Christmas at Lake Wanaka.

We then had a long drive to the east coast and the city of Dunedin.  The drive took us through the Teviot valley and rolling hills just like the Borders - lots of familiar towns on the way!

Where am I ? Back in the Borders?

IMG_8337 Roxburgh ?

Selkirk ?

Kelsae !!!!

Rugger !!!

St Kilda beach, Dunedin.

Surfer rippin' it up.

Close to Dunedin is the Otago Peninsula, which is a great place to see wildlife.  We spent a day there spotting Albatross, Sealions and Yellow Eyed Penguins.

Otago Peninsula.

Yellow Eyed Penguin and chick.

Having a stroll on the beach.

A Penguin disagreement.

Sea Lion checks us out.

Yawn !!!

Sea Lion coming out of the sea.

Porty !!!!!!

Dean and the Bard in Dunedin.

A long way from home.

We then spent the next day driving up the east coast.   It was a pretty dreich  day and the thought of camping was none too apealing! However, last night in the tent so we camped at the town of Timaru half way between Dunedin and Christchurch.  We were up early the next day to pack up the now soggy tent and drive up to Akoroa on the Banks peninsula. Today we had a booking to go swimming with dolphins!  The weather was pretty wet, but as we were going swimming in the sea It didn't really matter to us (or the dolphins)!!!!.
The dolphins we were swimming with are called Hectors Dolphins.  The are the smallest dolphins, adults grow to 1.5 metres, but they are extremely playful and like to interact with swimmers.  They are also the most endangered, and can only be found on the marine reserve at Akoroa.

Ready to jump in !!

Dolphins under the boat.

More Dolphins.

Gillian enjoying the lovely warm water !!!!

It was a fantastic experience.  The wetsuits kept us pretty warm and the dolphins (around 10 of them) were darting all around us.  Afterwards we got a hot showers and rewarded ourselves with some fish n' chips.

Blue Cod n' Chips and a Monteiths Beer.

Afterwards to drove to Christchurch were we were staying with some friends of Gillian's -  Colin and Katrina, a couple of Scots who immigrated to NZ back in 1999.  They were good enough to take us out to the pub, put us up for the night, and give us a tour of Christchurch. We went  into the "Red Zone" where most of the damage of the Feb 2011 earthquake occurred.  It was sad to see the damage in the city, most of the high rise buildings and the cathederal are to be demolished and the city center completely rebuild.  However it was great to see the Christchurchers getting on with life and they have build a temporary city center with shops contstructed from metal containers.

All the big buildings are to be brought down.

The Cathederal is also to be knocked down.

The square in the CDB, shattered building behind.

A restuarant abandoned during the quake, everything left as it was as people fled.

Again Burger King left as it was on the day of the quake.  The Spray paint was left by a Rescue team from the USA, building cleared on 26 February.

The new look city center with its temporary container shops.

We really loved the South Island of NZ.  It felt familar and a little bit like home.  Great place if you like outdoor living.  Definately somewhere we could see ourselves living one day, maybe ;-) !!!!

Next time to discover the North Island................