New Zealand - South Island

Sorry its been a long time and I am way behind with this blog. We are just about to leave NZ for South America!

So, we arrived into Queenstown in the South island of New Zealand and as we flew in the view from the plane gave us a taste of the spectacular mountain scenery we would encounter.

Home for the next 6 weeks and yes we do all sleep inside

Even better was the drive into Queenstown and our hostel for the night, what a great town, very small, compact and a place for adventure surrounded by mountains and situated at the end of lake Wakatipu.

We planned on staying here for a few days, to pick up the ‘Combi’, stock up on warm and wet gear and see some sights but the weather turned to non-stop rain for a day or two so we ended up staying a few days extra.  So we shopped, sampled the world famous ‘Ferg burger’,  up the Gondola for some luge rides and Steve and Bob took a mountain bike ride around the lake.

Bobby enjoying the view from the Gondola above Queenstown

The Luge

Biker boy

We missed out on the Frisbee golf and the underwater centre as  Bobby came down with a wee 24 hour stomach bug so we headed as planned to Te Anau, which is the closest town to Milford Sound. Again we were delayed there for a day extra by rain but luckily the kids needed to catch up with some homework. Finally the weather turned fine and sunny and we took a leisurely drive to Milford, stopping at a few sights on the way before taking a late afternoon cruise on a boat around the Sound. Absolutely spectacular scenery and we even saw some Seals and a school of Dolphins escorted us part way back to Milford. (Milford Sound is like the Fjords) .

Spectacular Milford Sound, pictures don't do it justice

Sarah gets a soaking on the Milford Sound Cruise

Milford Sound from the boat

We then stopped for camp at one of the many DOC (Dept. of Conservation) campsites along the road. We had the whole campsite to ourselves, surrounded by mountains, bush, a nice fire and Sarah knocked up some good camp grub. We even had our photo taken by the DOC warden for the next campsite brochure.

Happy campers and no one else around

Amenities were basic but spotless

After a bit of a tramp (NZ lingo for bushwalk) along the nearby river we then headed back to Te Anau for lunch and re fuel for the Combi and pies for us and then south to the Catlins, Southland. It was dark when we arrived at the Curio Bay Campsite and its signs ‘beware of seal lions in the scrub’ but what a fabulous place. In the morning we could see that most of the camping slots were surrounded by Flax plants, as indeed ours was, making it all very private, although somewhat dark and cold until the sun rose. Anyhow we moved to a perfect spot higher on the hill with a view of the beach and also our own almost private view of Curio bay and the nesting spot of the very rare yellowed eyed penguin .  We did see some of these penguins and also the beach is a sight of some fine examples of petrified trees that are 170 million years old. All very interesting!

A Yellow Eyed Penguin

These petrified trees are millions of years old

From here we continued on north through the Catlins and on route caught a good look at some sea lions on the beach at Waipapa Point, whilst videoing one coming out of the see, it then started to roar and charge towards Steve and some other sea lions on the beach, it was amazing how fast they can move, and me too – it was a real documentary moment.

Some frisky Sea Lions

Again we stopped at one of the DOC campsites at Tawanui and we camped in a grass clearing by a river with no one else within sight nor sound, beautiful!

We left The Catlins, Southland and headed into Otago and Dunedin, first stop the Cadbury Chocolate Factory tour which we had promised the kids as their Easter present. Steve sat in a bar and had a couple of beers whilst Sarah and the kids went for the chocolate tour!

It was a lovely sunny day, about 18-20 degrees but the campsite thermometer said 5 degrees that night – just like camping at home.

From Dunedin we had a long drive north west, our destination Mt Cook (Aoraki) and camped at the DOC campsite just outside the village. The weather was fantastic with clear blue skies and magnificent views of the mountains.  We did a few walks in the area and in particular seeing the bottom of the Hooker and Tasman glaciers. It was an amazing sight to see massive icebergs floating in the lakes at the bottom of the glaciers where they had melted. 

Mt Cook, the highest in NZ

Mt Cook and lake with icebergs at the bottom of the Hooker Glacier

We had to cross a few of these.



Returning from the Hooker Glacier, getting cold, Amber with home made Ponco, Bob not bothered. 

Enjoying the sun by the Tasman Glacier lake

In Mt Cook village there was also The Sir Edmund Hilary Centre where we all learnt about the man himself, climbing mountains plus lots of other ‘awesome’ stuff.

One of the converted tractors used by Sir Edmund Hilary to get to the South Pole



Statue of Sir Edmund Hilary who learnt his trade here

After a couple of days in Mt Cook that could not have been better for weather, we made our way via Puzzleworld (a 3D maze and various optical illusions and puzzles that made our brains ache) in Wanaka to the West Coast. More glaciers here the Fox and Franz Josef and then north and west through Arthurs Pass to Christchurch.

Us and the Franz Josef glacier behind

One of the attractions at Wannaka Puzzleworld

We had planned to stay in a hostel in Christchurch but on arrival the hostel was closed due to earthquake damage last year. In fact half the city was in a state of repair with many buildings and roads closed so we decided not to stay, it was pretty miserable poor Christchurchians, so we had lunch  and continued on towards  Hanmer Springs. With the weather turning to non stop rain and one very wet awakening at a no facilities campsite we checked into a hostel in Hanmer and holed up for the day watching Lord of The Rings films and kids doing homework. The next day the sun was almost shining and we sampled the delights of the hot springs there, multiple heated pools and spa baths from the natural hot springs – albeit with that slight egg sandwich smell.

The hot spings at Hanmer Springs

Clean again, and time to start thinking about getting to the North Island for our last couple of weeks in NZ. So to Kaikoura on the east coast, a place popular for viewing  whales on boat or helicopter sightseeing trips and buying paua shell products . Then onto Picton via a stop at a seal colony, a lovely campsite on Queen Charlotte sound and a very busy (it was around Easter holidays) ferry to Wellington.................................North Island.........