Dear all,
Allright, allright, stop shouting – I know its been ages since I’ve updated the site! I’ve been busy, you know!
After our last holiday in Melbourne, Alan went back to work for 3 weeks before deciding that he’d had quite enough of that and we headed off to the South Island for our next holiday. We certainly got to see plenty. We went whale watching (seasick), swimming with dolphins (awesome), climbing mountains (knackering), swimming in lakes surrounded by mountains (cold), dipping into warm springs (relaxing), kayaking in Abel Tasman (knackering AND wet), sunbathing on golden beaches (sunburnt) and sleeping in our campervan (do you have to take up all the bed, move over, no you move. Etc).
As you can see, we moved around quite a lot! We headed over to the South Island on the ferry and really enjoyed seeing Island Bay from a different perspective. We also had a pod of dolphins accompany the ferry round the coast, which was great.
Our first stop was Kaikoura for the night in a campsite with fabulous mountain views all around. I was really VERY excited about whale watching but made some fundamental errors along the way including sitting near the front of the boat (described as being like “a free rollercoaster” by the tour guide. Brilliant). The result was sadly predictable. Let’s just say I saw my anti-sickness ginger tablet again.
However, it was all worth it when we saw this…
Happily we’d planned to go to Hanmer Springs later on that day which (to me anyway) signalled lazing around in a hot pool to recover from my sea-sickness trauma (given that I’m just SO brave). To Alan, it meant going on a nice long walk up steep hills to earn said lazing around in hot pools. Rats. Given that it was his birthday I felt I couldn’t refuse and off we headed in search of more of those views. Happily, we found some.
(And yes, I’m aware that my roots were in desperate need of some attention but I was deliberately looking old to make Alan feel better about being 35).
We also found the waterfall – not exactly massive but just right for a refreshing dip/shower…
(the flow of the water was so strong it nearly took the skin of his head off but he’ll never admit it)
And FINALLY we got to laze around in the springs…
Next up was Akaroa (near Christchurch on the East Coast) for a spot of swimming with dolphins, which was amazing. Alan got much closer to the dolphins than I did - we’ve yet to get our underwater camera developed but we’re hoping he got a shot of one swimming right by him. I must admit that I got somewhat distracted by my buoyant websuit and made Alan spin me round while I succumbed to singing 80’s pop tune “you spin me right round baby right round”. I think it may have put the dolphins off slightly. But despite all that we were surrounded by dolphins who were all pretty keen to play so we got some one or two half-decent shots and some good video footage.
We really enjoyed being in Akaroa itself too which is a very pretty harbour town – also saw a fantastic sunset…
From Akaroa we headed across Arthur’s Pass to the West Coast. We got one of our few crummy days of weather on that travelling day which, if it had to happen at all, was pretty good timing but meant we couldn’t see as much as we’d have liked. The campsite we stayed in wasn’t so much a campsite as, well, a car park frankly. But it did have power so we could fire the laptop up and have a Lost/24 DVD fest.
The next day we headed up a walking track to have a look at Avalanche Peak – it was pretty hard going up a steep track in the heat but in the spirit of Extreme Eaton, we managed it. As per usual, stunning views awaited….
When we got back down again Alan went for his usual dip in a mountain river – I don’t go in. Its far more fun to watch him pretend that he’s not about to have a heart attack….
(The camera didn’t take the first time so he had to get back in again. What a mistake to make! Or was it….?)
We were going to head down to Fox Glacier but as we climbed Franz Josef glacier on our honeymoon we decided to spend more time going back up the West Coast instead. Aside from the ever present sand-flies we didn’t regret our decision.
We particularly enjoyed seeing Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki.
From there it was onto Nelson Lakes – which for some reason doesn’t appear to feature too heavily in the tourist trail. I’ve no idea why as it was spectacular. The day we arrived was absolutely baking and we were really pleased to find that the campsite was right by Lake Rotoiti so we wandered straight down for a cooling swim. Yes, even I ventured in that day.
We’d got a big walk planned for the following day but the important thing was to be under cover as it was SO hot. The walk we planned was a good 5 or 6 hours long but mostly in the trees – by the time we got to the top….well, you can guess what I’m going to say. View, blah, mountains, blah etc. Picture says it all I think.
By the time we got down my legs were positively buckling (Alan had set a storming pace down. The countryside passed in a blur and I had to insist on stopping for regular ginger nut breaks) and we were both desperate to head down to the lake..
After Nelson Lakes we went up to Abel Tasman National Park – first stop was at Kaiteriteri, which had a beautiful beach but way too many people for our liking. That didn’t matter too much though as our main reason for being there was a spot of kayaking. After much deliberation we decided not to go for the guided tour option but to take a kayak out on our own. A good decision I think as we really enjoyed stopping off at little bays and beaches when we fancied it. Which was often - given how weedy my arms are!
We had a few days in and around Abel Tasman – went off the beaten track a little to find a couple of fantastic beaches…
Unfortunately we didn’t see the latter on a particularly good day – overcast and a bit windy but it was like no beach I’d seen before. Fabulous rock formations and white sand dunes as far as you can see.
From there we weren’t really too sure what we wanted to do so we decided to head for Nelson and had a very enjoyable few days relaxing there before treating ourselves to a night in a B&B in the Marlborough Sounds (they had a spa pool – we figured we deserved it!) for our last night. And home!
It wasn’t too long before Wellington had the shock of its life in the form of my mum arriving with her troublesome friends. Alan did his best to organise some desperately urgent meeting in Auckland to coincide with their arrival but to no avail. However, he perked up when he discovered they were going to take me away for a few days. First stop was Rotorua where Alan and I briefly stopped off at on our honeymoon. I remember not particularly enjoying it the first time around but I don’t think I saw it at its best that day. I thoroughly enjoyed it this time – Grahame had booked a great hotel with a fantastic view of a geyser and sulphur pools…
We had a day looking round the hot pools…
…and managed to cope with the rotten egg smell remarkably well!
From there we headed off to Napier, which is known for its art deco buildings. We arrived at the end of art deco weekend and the town (they call it a city!) was full of vintage cars and people dressed in 20’s gear taking tea on the lawn. We felt very out of place in our trainers! It was a fantastic day and a great atmosphere.
We had a tour round Napier the next day and the place is full of wonderful architecture
We also managed to sneak an hour or two of shopping in – and some very nice meals…
The crew came back to Wellington for a night before heading off – sniff! I coped very well though and didn’t cry like a big girl’s blouse AT ALL. Nope. Absolutely no problem. Ahem.
And since then its all been a bit quieter – or at least it was until last weekend when we had a long weekend in the Bay of Islands with Guy and Marny. We found a fantastic place to stay…
…which looked over the sea and gave plenty of opportunities for swimming/snorkelling/water skiing/messing about in boats…
Needless to say, I didn’t waterski. The carnage that would ensue from that would be the stuff of nightmares. I just went for the relaxing option instead – reading and drawing. Much more zen!
Last – and definitely not least – Alice arrived yesterday so am looking forward to showing her round Wellington. Now, what shall we do? Could it be Cable car, botanical gardens and Martinborough?? Where did I put that season ticket…..
Speak soon
Christie and Alan
xxx