Marlborough Sound Region

Son unas 3 horas de pasaje para unir las dos islas, de las cuales 1 me la pase desayunando y las otras 2 durmiendo...Una vez en Picton, fuimos conduciendo bordeando la costa por el Queen Charlotte Sound . A pesar de que este lloviendo, aun asi los paisajes son impresionantes. Nos paramos en Nelson para pasar la noche. Tenemos un problema, aqui todo cierra a las 5 como tarde asi que nos sorprende llegar a las 5.30 de la tarde a una ciudad de 10 mil habitantes y de que no haya ni un gato en la calle. Desde Nelson nos bajamos hasta Richmond y bifurcamos hacia Motueka para ir hacia el Parque Nacional de Abel Tasman. Aprovechamos de una parada en Kaiteriteri para comer y seguimos hasta Marahu, punto de entrada al parque. Aunque la lluvia nos echa un poco para atras, decidimos aparcar e ir a caminar por el parque. Fuimos una horita hacia el interior del parque, hasta Coquille Bay. Entra la lluvia y las Sand Flies (ni idea de como se dice en castellano, pero basicamente son como mosquitos pero peor...) nos volvemos a nuestra casita con ruedas y nos preparamos una buena cena calentita. Aunque por aqui no dejan dormir fuera de los sitios de pago, nos metemos en una callejuela y nos aparcamos discretamente debajo de un arbol a ver si cuela. A la mañana siguiente nos dimos cuenta que acababamos de pasar la noche delante de un camping site...si nos han visto habran pensado que les estabamos provocando.

Decidimos bajar hacia el Sur, a ver si con un poco de suerte nos toca mejor clima. Asi que vuelta a Richmond y desde ahi vamos conduciendo direccion a Westport.

Marlborough Sound Region

Monday morning started early as we had to get up at 6.30am to get the three hour ferry from Wellington (North Island) to Picton (South Island). Thankfully the ferry was nice enough and didn’t move too much so we literally spent one hour of the journey having breakfast and the other two asleep. Picton is just a small port town so once we arrived there we didn’t hang about long and instead made our way west following the scenic coast road. We passed the Queen Charlotte Sound which has some great walks but since it was raining we decided to just sightsee from the camper. Arriving at Nelson around 5.30pm we decide to spend the night there. One thing that does take some getting used to in New Zealand, especially in the less populated South Island, is the fact that everything closes really early, by 6pm the town is a ghost town, even though it is supposed to have 43,500 people living there?! It isn’t a big problem though as we fill our nights eating and playing cards….could be a lot worse! We started a Jane championship (type of card game) which we found went well as an aperitif with some cold local beers and the best crisps in the world ever…Coppers Lime and Black Pepper. From Nelson we drive towards Richmond and on to the tiny beach village of Kaiteriteri (you gotta love the place names in New Zealand!!), a stop over for lunch before we arrive in Marahu, the access town to The Abel Tasman National Park. Although it is still raining, feeling brave we go for a walk in the national park to find the sheltered Coquille Bay. It’s a gorgeous little bay facing the rugged Tasman sea, however given the fact that the rain was still falling we called it a day and went back to Sammy for our beers, crisps, cards and eventually dinner. It was hard to find somewhere to park for the night as every available space had no camping signs, this is an attempt to force people into the paying campsites. However we rebelled and parked along a residential street, only to find out the next morning that we had literally parked right outside one of the paying campsites. Luckily they didn’t spot us or we may have been facing a heavy fine!!  The next morning it was still raining so we decided to head further south in search of better weather.

Wesport - Greymouth

Llegamos justo para apreciar el atardecer sobre la playa. Pasamos la noche aparcados detras del hospital. Por la mañana vamos a una tiendecita que vende un poco de todo y entre estas cosas, libros. Por fin podemos cambiar nuestros libros. Zarpamos hacia Greymouth que esta como a un par de horas. De camino nos paramos para bajar a la playa por el Truman Track. Son solo 15 minutos para llegar hasta la playa pero una vez ahi nos tiramos como 1 hora explorando los alrededores. Mas allá por la carretera, nos paramos a las cuevas de Punakaiki y nos damos una vuelta subterranea por donde antes era territorio marino. Ya antes de llegar a Greymouth, parada obligatoria en el Parque Nacional de Punakaiki con las famosas formaciones rocosas en forma de pancakes. Es original pero tampoco extraordinario por lo cual damos una vuelta rapida y nos volvemos al camper.

Llegada a Greymouth, vamos al i-site a por informacion turistica sobre la zona. Salimos de ahi direccion a la piscina municipal. 1,5 euros para los dos, piscina + ducha caliente: un acierto.

Westport – Greymouth

Yes our prayers were answered and after three days of rain we managed to find the sunny, dry weather again! After a relaxed day driving, taking in the sights, stopping for picnics and coffee breaks, and clambering over New Zealand´s longest rope bridge at Buller Gorge, we arrived at Westport just on time to watch the sunset over the Tasman sea. Then we parked up for the night behind a hospital….as you do!!. The next morning found us having a quick stroll around Westport before heading in the direction of Greymouth. The trip to Greymouth took longer than expected as we found a few interesting stops to make along the way. Our first stop was a 15 minute walk along the Truman Track, which opens out into a beautiful deserted beach. Although the Tasman sea is too rough there to go swimming it was worth a look as it had different caves and rocks to explore. I`ve never seen so many starfish or crabs before in my entire life. Stop number two was to wander in the Punakaiki caves, large underground caves which were formed by the sea many years ago. Although Im slightly claustrophobic I actually enjoyed some random caving. You can´t beat New Zealand for always finding something fun to do. Then the third and final stop before Greymouth was to visit the well known Pancake Rocks at the Punakaiki National Park (thankfully we have this blog to remind ourselves of all the places we have been as there is no hope that we will ever remember the place names here in New Zealand…you try remembering a hundred names that sound like Punakaiki!!). By the time we arrive at Greymouth we are tired and sweaty (too many details?) so make a quick dash to the local swimming pool for a swim and a hot shower. 1.50 euro for our weekly shower, not bad! J

Hokitika 

A solo unas horas de Greymouth, la ciudad costera de Hokitika tiene mucho mas caracter que las ciudades anteriores por las que hemos estado.

Tras la primera noche aparcados cerquita del mar , (primera noche en la que pasamos un poco de frio) nos levantamos y nos vamos hacia el lago Kaniere. Vista rapida a la cascada Dorothy y aparcamos para iniciar un trecking supuestamente majete. 7 horas ida y vuelta para ir arriba del monte Tuhua. Desde arriba teniamos unas vistas preciosas. El lago a nuestros pies, el mar en frente y lo que llamas los Alpes, mas allá hacia donde iremos mañana. Antes de volver a la ciudad de Hokitika recorremos los 30 kilometros para ir hasta la garganta de Hokitika en la que se supone que el color del agua es impresionante. Efectivamente, ni en Chile ni en Argentina habiamos visto un agua tan azul sostenido. Si no fuera por la temperatura del agua, me hubiese pegado un chapuzon...

Puesta de sol increible en Sunset Beach, pegado al centro de la ciudad. Dia completito, lleno de paisajes increibles. Estamos los dos cansados pero felices. Somos concientes de la suerte que tenemos de haber podido hacer realidad nuestro sueño de partir asi para viajar y lo estamos disfrutando mucho.

Hokitika

This is definitely one of our favourite little towns in the South Island, it has way more character and things going on than the ones we had visited so far. Although it is also the place where we first experienced some cold at night…the fact that we parked right in front of the beach probably didn’t help! The weather the next day was really hot and sunny though so we decided to get active and attempt a 7 hour hike up to the top of Mt Tuhua. In the end it only took us 5 hours to get there and back, but with a lot of very steep uphill. However it was without a doubt worth the effort as we had some amazing views from the top. On one side we could see the Southern Alps, below us we had the crystal blue Lake Kaniere, and on the other side we had a clear view of the west coastal plains and the Tasman sea. We had a picnic lunch on the top and absorbed in as much of the gorgeous views as we could. Before returning to Hokitika we drove another 30km to see the Hokitika Gorge, it was described as having the most stunning, milky, turquoise blue waters ever, so we had to find out if that was true. Yes it was! We have never seen water this colour before in our lives, it was really something special. Even in Argentina and Chile, where we saw loads of glacier lakes, we never came across one as impressive as this. You would think that we would have been tried enough after all that hiking during the day but we still had energy left that night to go to Sunset Beach to see the…yes you guessed it…sunset....and visit a gloworm dell just outside of town. It was the perfect end to a great day and as you can imagine we needed no rocking to go to sleep that night!

Franz Josef 

Muy cerca del glaciar Franz Josef se encuentra el pueblo que lleva el mismo nombre. Como hemos pasado frio las dos noches anteriores, decidimos pagar para ir a un parking en el que podemos enchufar el camper van y tener electricidad. Tenemos un pequeño radiador electrico que deberia calentar bien los 5 metros cuadrados de nuestra casita sobre ruedas. Y efectivamente, pasamos una noche calentita pero cortita. Nos levantamos prontito para ir a escalar sobre el glaciar. Nos acercamos a la agencia donde conocemos a los guias y al resto del grupo. Pillamos todo el material y salimos hacia el glaciar. Despues de una media hora caminando para llegar al glaciar y otra media hora sobre el hielo, nos enfrentamos a nuestro primer muro del dia. Solo son 8 metros pero aun asi impresiona. Aunque no es la primera vez para nosotros, escuchamos atentamente las indicaciones de como clavar los piolets, posicionar los crampones para llegar ileso arriba. Despues pasamos a muros mas grandes, hasta 20m para el mas grande. Volvemos a nuestra casita bien doblados pero encantados. Aunque en mi opinion no es tan divertido y completo como la escalada en roca, aun asi es una buena experiencia y se la recomiendo.

Despues de una buena sopa caliente, conducimos la media horita que nos separa del pueblo Fox donde esta el Fox glacier.

Franz Josef

Franz Josef is the name of the famous glacier and also the little village nearby. Since it was a tad chilly there at night we decided to give in and for the first time on our whole NZ trip pay for a campsite. We didn’t regret the decision as we were able to plug in Sammy and use our little electric heater to keep the camper warm that night. That meant we got a good nights sleep and were in top form the next morning for our full day of ice climbing. Since we both love rock climbing and had got a taste for ice climbing in Bolivia, we were both really excited about spending the day in crampons and climbing up high ice walls on the glacier, not to mention abseiling down them as well. We set off early that morning and with our group of 9 people and two guides we walked the half hour to the glacier. Once we get to the glacier we put on our crampons to walk another half hour on the ice before reaching our first ice wall. The first wall was only 8 meters but still tough enough. We listened carefully to all the instructions about putting your two ice pikes (piolets) and crampons into the ice before pulling yourself up, and then it was our turn. Thankfully we both got the hang of it pretty quickly and had a lot of fun. Once everyone managed to tackle the 8 meter wall the rest of the day was spent climbing 20 meter walls. I have to say that there were a few moments of panic, like once when my ice pike slipped out and I was praying that the guide was holding the safety rope as I felt myself falling, but it was a lot of fun and definitely something I would do again. However we both agreed, Antoine and I, that rock climbing is harder than ice climbing as it has more variety. That night after a hot soup we drove to the neighbouring town and glacier, Fox, where we spent the night. If you ever get the chance to do some ice climbing, do, it is well worth all the New Zealand dollars that it costs!!!

Fox, Ruta entre Fox y Wanaka

Visto el frio que hace, pagamos para poder conectarnos y tener electricidad. A parte de poder poner la calefaccion, aprovechamos para ver un peli. Toca “Into the Wild” que dura un poco mas de 2 horas. Quizas no estabamos en las mejores condiciones para ver una peli de este estilo pero aun asi nos gusto bastante. Da que pensar...

Enfin, por la mañana decidimos ir al lago Matheson desde el cual se puede observar el reflejo del Mont Cook y Mont Tasman. Se supone que para que la foto salga bien, el agua tiene que estar muy tranquila y para nosotros no fueron las mejores condiciones pero la foto salio relativamente bien.

Antes de despedirnos de la region de los glaciares, nos acercamos para echar un vistazo al Fox Glacier. Asi de lejos se parece bastante al Franz Josef.

Tenemos intencion de conducir hasta Wanaka, se dice que de camino hasta ahi hay paisajes preciosos. Y pudimos comprobarlo: Knights Point con unas vistas increibles, Ship Creek, para dar un paseo en la playa y finalmente Haast, con su pueblecito y una playa interminable.

Fox to Wanaka

On waking up to a sunny morning in Fox we go first thing to visit the Matheson Lake. Apparently if you go at the right time you can walk to an area called reflection point (very original!) to see the whole reflection of Mt Cook (highest mountain in NZ) reflected in the lake. We got lucky enough to be there at the right time and we saw exactly that. We had seen postcards of how it supposedly looked and they were spot on, really pretty. I enjoyed the walk around the lake as well to stretch my very sore muscles from the ice climbing the previous day! Once we left the lake we drove to the Fox glacier lookout to take a quick glance at the Fox glacier, as it looked very similar to the Franz Josef, we didn’t waste much time there and started our drive further down the coast. For most of the day we made our way from Fox down along the cost to Haast. The drive in itself is pretty impressive as the road twists and winds along the coast with the rough Tasman sea crashing in on one side and high rocks on the other. There are a number of beautiful places along the way to stop and admire the sea views (Bruce Bay, Knights Point, Ship Creek), from each one you see how the blue blue sea batters against isolated, golden sandy beaches. Looking out into the waves and knowing that between there and the Antarctic, there is nothing but miles and miles of sea is a strange feeling…makes you realise how far away from home you actually are! Our final stop along the coast before turning inland and heading to Wanaka, was the teeny weeny village of Haast, with it´s 295 population. Since the nicest thing there is the beach, we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the last few hours of sun, before driving by night over the Haast Pass and on to Wanaka.

Wanaka

A solo una hora y pico de Queenstown, Wanaka es una pequeña ciudad con el lago Wanaka a sus pies y las montañas nevadas poco mas alla. En invierno se convierte en estacion de esqui y en verano la gente practica deportes nauticos. En nuestro caso, se nota claramente que es otoño. Las hojas de los arboles adoptan todas las tonalidades de colores posibles entre verde y rojo, precioso.

La primera noche nos echaron a las 5:30 de la mañana de donde estabamos durmiendo asi que la segunda fuimos directamente a una zona mas tranquila. Hay que tener cuidado, si la poli te pilla durmiendo en el camper van en una zona en la que esta prohibida, la multa puede llegar a ser de 1000$...haouchhh.

Wanaka 

Wanaka is a really cute little town just a few hours drive from the larger Queenstown. It borders the quiet lake Wanaka, which has deadly views of snow covered mountains in the background. During the winter it is a good base for skiing but since it is autumn we take in the multi-coloured trees instead. You can really feel that it is autumn here as there are leaves of every colour possible falling from the trees. It is like how you would imagine autumn to appear in a Disney film, crisp leaves of very colour crumpling under your feet. We spend a few hours walking along the Waterfall Creek Walkway and have a lazy afternoon along the lake front. However our first night sleeping there wasn’t quite as peaceful as we got an abrupt awakening at 5.30am by the council security man banging on the camper telling us we were illegally parked! Apparently we were lucky that it was him and not the police as we would have been given a 500 euro fine…ouch! Not too scared off mind you, we spent the following night illegally parked once again, but just better hidden this time and more out of the way. It was coming near the weekend and we were due to meet Janet and Gavin in Queenstown so the following day we followed the Crown Range Road from Wanaka, through Arrowtown, and on to Queenstown. The drive is one of the most beautiful in the whole of New Zealand and the towns you pass along the way are like something out of a fairy tale, especially Arrowtown.

Queenstown

De camino entre Wanaka y Queenstown nos paramos en Arrowtown. Del tamaño de un pueblo grande, Arrowtown es bastante turistico y se nota nada mas andar por la calle principal. Tiene bastante encanto, aunque los pioneros se instalaron aqui por las minas de la zona por lo que las construcciones son bastante rudimentarias.

Queenstown sin embargo es mucho mas grande. Se nota que esta cerca de las pistas de esqui. Se respira ese ambiente de estacion de esqui. Aunque desgraciadamente, no es temporada de esqui para nosotros... Janet & Gavin con quienes hemos pasado un fin de semana en Wellington, tienen un piso aqui y vinieron a pasar el finde asi que nos hemos quedado con ellos. Que bueno, vaya pareja mas maja. Tienen un colega que llaman “Quilly” que tiene su propio jet-boat asi que una tarde nos fuimos a dar una vuelta. Es increible la potencia que tiene un barquito de estos y en lo poco de fondo que puede navegar. En serio, creo que a veces ibamos por zonas con unos 5 cm de fondo! Una buen experiencia, lo podreis comprobar en las fotos...

El Sabado queriamos ir a dar una vuelta en bici asi que fuimos a alquilar unas bicis. 15 minutos despues estabamos pedaleando por un bosquecillo detras de Queenstown y de repente Paffff, me meti un galleton de competi. Como? Ni idea...no se como me las apañe pero aparentemente no habia nada raro por el camino...la bicis quizas?? No lo se, el resultado es que devolvimos las bicis, con el casco para tirar a la basura, y yo igual que el casco, hecho un fiasco. Nos fuimos de vuelta al apartamento, me di una buen baño caliente, unos anti inflamatorios y a la cama, a ver si mi hombro en fuego iba a peor o mejor ( si es que uno ya tiene experiencia en auto diagnosticarse las pupas de la bici...). Como los dolores se fueron expandiendo por toda la parte superior del cuerpo, cuello incluido, el Domingo por la mañana nos fuimos a urgencias. Nada roto, si es que es lo de siempre, a punto de dislocarme el hombro, quedandose en una separacion acromioclavicular. 6 semanas de reposo...que bien, lo que me faltaba.

Menos mal que tengo una enfermera de primera clase para cuidar de mi....hacer y llevar mi macuto, conducir, cocinar, todo!

Al  final me llevo un buen recuerdo de Queenstown pero me quedo con las ganas de hacer el heli-bike que habia reservado. Si, eso era el plan para el Domingo, pillar un helicoptero que me iba a dejar arriba de una montaña y luego 5 horas de bajada a lo loco...next time!

Queenstown

It was great to see Janet and Gavin again, and yes, like in Wellington we snubbed Sammy and slept in their Queestown apartment instead. The weekend got off to a great start with some sightseeing around town, before a more lively afternoon on a jet boat. Quilly, a good friend of Gavin´s from Queenstown, was kind enough to give up part of his afternoon and take us out on his private jet boat. Let me just say that that thing can go!!!! On numerous occasions we were zooming along at 60mph (100kmph), going over bumps and flying through the air, swirling around in circles and getting soaked, heading straight for rocks and swerving at the last minute etc etc. Not for the weak hearted! The amazing thing about jet boats as well is that they can go on really shallow water, another thing that gets the sweat beads rolling as you are convinced it is going to get stuck without water and flip over! Quilly loved seeing the terror on our face as he drove like a madman! Saturday night we all have dinner and drinks together to celebrate coming out of it alive, with the adrenaline I think we were all still hyper that night. Things take a turn for the worse though on Sunday morning as our planned bike ride is cut short when Antoine takes a bad fall. Within 15 minutes of hiring the bikes we are back again to return them and Antoine is supporting a very sore neck and shoulder. Unfortunately it doesn’t get any better and the following day we have to go to the emergency medical centre to get him checked out. Thankfully he hasn’t broken anything but he has some whiplash, strained ligaments along his spine and a grade 2 shoulder injury (with grade 3 being a dislocated shoulder). He is going to have to take it easy for the next 6 weeks, plus get some physiotherapy. Since he is very sore we have to make some changes to our plans and instead of going to Milford Sound we stay an extra day in Queenstown in Gavin and Janet´s apartment, they were kind enough to let us stay even after they went home to Wellington. It was an unfortunate thing to happen but at least it happened when he had somewhere nice to rest and take it easy. The next 6 weeks are going to be fun with me carrying all the backpacks!

Goodbye Sammy!

Unfortunately we can not stay in Queenstown for any longer as we have to give back Sammy on the 29^th, so on the morning of the 28^th we get back on the road. Since Antoine is still in a lot of pain we break the journey from Queenstown to Christchurch by spending the night in Lake Tekapo. The whole drive is pretty as it winds through the lake district, it feels like every five minutes a new lake comes into view. Lake Tekapo where we spent the night is one of the nicest; it has a milky blue colour due to glacier movement years ago. Then on the afternoon of the 29^th we get to Christchurch on time to dump our bags in a hostel and return our camper by 5pm. Bye Sammy! We can’t believe that the month has flown by so quickly and we are back with our bags on our back again…well at least I am but poor Ant can´t lift anything! We both really loved the whole campervan experience so it definitely won´t be our last. We were already making plans about which countries we could visit by camper in the future, but then we realised that we will need to get back home and work for a while before we will be able to afford that…but some day!

Christchurch

De camino entre Queenstown y Christchurch, nos paramos una noche a orillas del lago Taupo. Los dos dias de carretera se me hacen un poco largo por el dolor generalizado que tengo en la espalda, hombros y cuello. Al menos los paisajes me distraen de mi letargia corporal. La region de los lagos es preciosa. Hacemos numerosas paradas para estirar las piernas y sacar unas fotos.

Llegamos a Christchurch justo a tiempo para dejar nuestras mochilas en un hostel e ir rapidamente a devolver el camper antes de las 5 de la tarde. Sin contar que teniamos que llenar el deposito de gasofa y el la botella de gas. Nos despedimos del camper van... que pena. Nos ha encantado la experiencia de viajar con uno de estos y desde luego que volveremos a hacerlo. Cuando?? Jar, o durante lo que nos queda de viaje o durante nuestras vacaciones de verano cuando volvamos a currar..?!! Norrrrr!

Christchurch es grandecillo pero mucho mas pequeño que Auckland. Tuvimos mala suerte ya que de los 5 dias que pasamos ahi, nos llovio todos los dias, con momentos de sol en los que aprovechamos para caminar un poco. Teniamos intencion de ir a Kaikoura para ir a ver las ballenas y nadar con los delfines. Pero al no poder bañarme ni llevar mochilas, decidimos quedarnos tranquilos para que me recupere. De echo, el sistema de salud en Nueva Zelanda funciona muy bien. Cuando fui a urgencias tuve que pagar para las radiografias y para ver a un medico. En la consulta me dieron un papel de la ACC (especie de seguridad social) con el que podia recibir tratamiento post diagnostico. Asi que durante nuestra estancia en la ciudad, fui tres veces al fisio sin tener que pagar. Que lujo.

Nuestra estancia en Nueva Zelanda llega a su fin, con el mismo sentimiento que siempre cuando toca cambiar de pais: El tiempo a pasado volando! Un poco mas de un mes en estas tierras y parece que era antes de ayer que llegamos a Auckland...

Una experiencia realmente grata y positiva. Mucha gente nos ha preguntado que isla habiamos preferido: ¿Norte o Sur? Dificil de decir. Quizas la isla del Sur tenga mas diversidad de paisajes y cosas que hacer. Entre playas, montañas, glaciares y lagos, el abanico de posibilidades es amplio. La isla del Norte tambien tiene su encanto, cantidad de baños termales y de barro, la playa mas grande de NZ y la ciudad de Auckland que se podria parecer a una megalopolis asiatica... hay para todos los gustos...

Camino al aeropuerto:  Terra Australis para 2 meses y medio...

Christchurch

  
Our first night in Christchurch was spent celebrating my birthday!! J Antoine was still in a lot of pain but put on a brave face and joined me for lots of eating and drinking. With my birthday out of the way, the next day we booked Antoine in for some physiotherapy.