We have basically seen most of what you can see on the South Island of New Zealand. We got our car on the 22nd of January in Christchurch and today, 01st of February, we are back in Christchurch, having travelled more than 3000km on mostly paved roads. I admit, next time a little more planning wouldn´t go amiss, but this way we have seen several spots twice. Also, when in New Zealand, expect road work, and a lot of that. Especially so short after an Earth Quake. It makes a lot of sense, but coming from Germany where this is not something you´d likely ever encounter, we did not think of it. So on our 8th day on the road we were happy thinking that we´d only need to drive down from Blenheim today, then to Kaikoura the day after and then to Christchurch after that...happy thoughts, because compared to our other days, this seemed liked a pretty relaxed itinerary. Until, yes, until we realized that the road between Blenheim and Kaikoura was closed due to earth quake damage. This did not only mean that we had to take a detour, no, this also meant that the detour would be going almost all the way to the west coast (via Murchison) just to go back to the east coast again. Well, we had to do it either way since we need to return the car in Christchurch tomorrow. Instead of our relaxed three hours drive, we got up early and started on what turned out to be an eight hour drive through mountaineous terrain - parts of which we had already seen. It wasn´t too bad to be honest - it was an adventure. But it also shows us that we need to plan more carefully. And below the detour plan from the department of traffic, just so you get an idea:
If you want to check out what the earth quake did to the region click here.
But to start from the beginning. We set of from Christchurch all the way to Te Anau on our second day. Luckily it was raining, as the drive was about eight hours. We arrived just before 8pm, bringing with us a very cold and windy night. The next morning however looked wonderfully changed, and we were happy to set off for our hike along the Kepler track. Instead of the intended two nights, we only spent one night in Brod Bay and hiked up to Mt Luxmore (not all the way to the top - just to about 1100m) without our bags to enjoy the view. Even without the bags it took is a good 2.5 hours to get up and almost two to get down again. Mind you, it wasn´t really far (just about 6.5km) but you can probably imagine the steepness of the slope.
We returned to our car the next day, completely exhausted, but set on travelling on to Queenstown. Queenstown, the party capital of New Zealand. This is what we learned. It´s also supposed to have the best burger in the world - as declared by CNN. I am confident to say that this is not true. Just one day after trying the Ferg, we tried another burger at Velvet Burger in Dunedin (jup, other side of New Zealand) and it was very much better than the Ferg. Maybe it´s due to the over hype of the Ferg or maybe it´s just different tastes, but Velvet Burger is absolutely recommendable!
Apart from eating burgers (which we frankly do way too often here) we used our second day in Queenstown to explore the nearby village of Arrowtown, an old miners and gold rush town. The style is very old/western, as we imagine the Middle West from movies, and one can even try ones own luck gold panning.
After a rainy day in Dunedin (more on that city in later posts, as I will be living there for about 5month) we set off in the direction of Christchurch with the aim of somehow reaching the West Coast. We stopped on our first (appart from the Kepler track) DOC campsite and were positively impressed. The setting was perfect next to a little stream, some but not too many sand flies and a nice spot for a campfire. We had some trouble finding it at first, because we had to pass through a herd of sheep to get there. They are literally right in front of the entrance to the campsite. After we set up tent, all that was left to do was cook a decent dinner and light a little fire, and we did just that! Very quiet, full-of-book-reading evening.
On the day after that we somehow made it from Waihi Gorge to the West Coast (Greymouth), said hi to a friend who is working there, saw the pancake rocks further up the coast and drove inland again to stay at a campsite near Lake Rotoroa. Crazy day with too much driving and many different impressions from rainforest like mountains, to ocean shores, to grey city and fascinating stone formations, to sandflies over sandflies at Lake Rotoroa.
The Pancake Rocks are an interesting formation of layers of limestone and mudstone, where the mudstone washes away more quickly, thus giving it the unmistakable pancake effect.
Our drive up the North Coast was full of new images and every time again the mountainous roads and speed limits of 15-55kph fascinate us. We made it to Pohara and stayed at a campsite right next to the beach, going for a swim and enjoying the sun. It was a good time to relax after all the driving we had done. Nelson, just down the coast (mind you, just down the coast means about 2 hours of driving for about 100km) from Pohara must be the most beautiful little town I have seen so far in New Zealand. Nestled between the vineyards and the coast, the little shops and spacious streets invite for a stroll in sunny weather. So if you have the chance to see the North Coast, check out Nelson.
This is where the loop closes and we get to the realisation that the road between Blenheim and Kaikoura is closed...
Stay tuned for blog entries from our next travel episodes!
