Steve and Diane's New Zealand Adventure

We’ve made a point of trying different foods and flavours while we’ve been here.  This is one colour we won’t be trying again!

It rained most of the night, but by morning it was bright and sunny and the wind had died down.

We left Oamara heading for a lovely camp site at Waikouaiti via several places down the coast.  The first thing we noticed was the change in our surroundings.  Wooded hillsides had replaced the mountains and lakes of yesterday.  Although we were on the main road from the North to South of NZ, it was like driving a country road in the UK.

Our first stop was to see the Moeraki boulders, huge natural rock spheres on the beach at Moeraki.  This was disappointing; the tide was in, very few were visible and they didn’t look that impressive.  We were also unimpressed by the fact that the only way down to the beach at this point was via a walkway owned by the café and gift shop, who charge you to for the privilege.  We drove to Moeraki itself, but we couldn’t see anything from there.

We’d then planned to go to Katiki Point, to view the lighthouse and maybe the yellow-eyed penguins.  For some reason, we couldn’t find it on our satnav and there were no signs from the road, so we never made it.

Our third stop was Shag Point.  After taking a track down towards the beach, we found ourselves at the top of some cliffs with great views of the bay and an audience of furry seals and thousands of very vociferous birds of various designs.

Our last stop for the day was Palmerston, to see the Butterfly and Bird Haven, but we were again disappointed.  We walked the length of the road twice and failed to find it.  As it was getting close to lunchtime, we called in at a coffee shop and each ordered a “Big Brekkie”.  While there, we asked the waitress if she knew of the Butterfly Haven; she told us they’d closed down because there’d been some problem with the breeding programme.

So, much earlier than planned, we set off to find our campsite.  When we got there, we had our third disappointment of the day – it was horrible.  We decided to head for Dunedin instead and checked into the Leith Valley Holiday Park, which was more to our liking.

As it was still quite early, we parked up and caught a bus into the centre of town.  Dunedin, which is Gaelic for Edinburgh, was the largest city in NZ until fairly recently and is full of grand Victorian and Edwardian buildings.  It is noticeably more cosmopolitan than Christchurch, with all manner of foreign shops and restaurants in the centre.

After a quick look around we headed for the Speight’s Brewery tour.  While we learned nothing about brewing, the guide was quite entertaining and we finished in the tasting room.  So a much better afternoon than morning.

What have the Romans ever done for us?

Our learning point for our first night at Twizel is that it gets very noisy in the van when it rains!  And rain it did.

We had planned to go back to Lake Tekapo and then up to Mount Cook, but it was still raining on and off in the morning.  In the end, we decided to take the Twizel Trail, a 9km walk around the town.  This took us along the riverbank, through some pine forest and up Manmade Hill, from where you get amazing views of Mount Cook.  Well, you do when the mountains aren’t shrouded in cloud!

Wet and weary, we walked back into town and stopped off at Poppies Restaurant, which was far better than we had expected.  Their daily special was a delicious oven-baked sole with tomato risotto and home-made hollandaise sauce.  Diane might just have a new favourite wine, a Chard Farm Sauvignon Blanc from central Otago – which we are now planning to visit.  And here’s the dessert, a sticky date pudding with toffee sauce, ice cream and fruit coulis.

Twizel also has some interesting street names.  We came across Nuns Veil Road, Two Thumb Drive, Hooker Crescent, Jollie Road and Irishman Drive.

Overnight a strong wind got up and it continued to rain on and off.  We decided there was no point attempting Mount Cook, so we set out for the Clay Cliffs of Omarama.  These are tall pinnacles made of gravel and silt, left behind by ancient glaciers.  And they are at the end of another gravel road, this one only 4.5km long, but with bigger corrugations and not much gravel.  Plus two single lane bridges, two gates, an honesty box and a 300m uphill walk.

At the end of the road you find yourself in a flat plain ringed by mountains with the clay cliffs on one side – it was quite spectacular.  We were lucky to have got there quite early.  As we walked back to Ermintrude we passed another couple heading up the track, followed by a minibus-load of tourists.  At the first gate someone stopped us to ask if you can drive further up – the way he’d just watched us come down – and we passed about a dozen more cars before we got back to the second gate.

Not long after leaving Omarama we drove round yet another massive lake, Lake Benmore.  Looking straight up the lake we think we might have seen Mount Cook in the distance.  It was definitely a mountain, anyway.

We were now heading back towards the East Otago coast.  We stopped off at the Aviemore dam, the largest of its kind in NZ, and a disappointing vineyard in Kurow before arriving at our overnight stop, Oamara.  When we checked in we asked if it was always this windy and were told they were having a weather bomb.

Oamara is apparently the steam-punk capital of the world and is famous for its blue penguins and Victorian heritage.  We explored the Victorian Precinct and harbour but the penguins were all out fishing.  We did see seagulls, cormorants and some seals, but my favourite find of the day was a Dunedin whisky tasting bar – I had no idea they even made whisky in NZ, but it was very welcome on a cold afternoon!

And what have the Romans ever done for us?  Well, ever since we set out for Mount Sunday we’ve been driving on dead straight roads that go on for miles.  I think the Romans must have discovered New Zealand and built the roads before even the Polynesians arrived!

Mount Sunday/Edoras

I’m a couple of days behind, so as it’s raining I’m going to try and catch up.  Apologies if this is a long one.

Our next destination was Mount Sunday, which was the location of Edoras for the filming of Lord of the Rings.

When we first picked up Ermintrude we were told that we’d learn something every day.  What we learned on the day we left Akaroa is that you shouldn’t fill the ice cube tray with water just before driving away!

I was more successful in coaxing Ermintrude into the right gear on the hilly bits, so we made good time back to Christchurch.  The area we travelled through was mainly flat farmland, crops and the odd field full of spindly legged cattle.  Apparently, there hasn’t been enough rain this year, so a lot of watering was going on.  A couple of times they were watering too close to the road and the windscreen was sprayed with water as we passed.  I found this quite irrigating!

It was another lovely sunny day and we really appreciated not having to be anywhere at a particular time.  So, after stopping for blueberry smoothies, coffee and pastries and shopping, it was quite late when we got to Mount Somers – which isn’t a mountain but a small town.  This is the last place before Mount Sunday, so we decided to stay at the Mount Somers Holiday Park.

After the hustle of the previous places, this was heaven!  It’s only a small site, mostly cabins but with some camping and powered sites, and hardly anybody about.  There was a little herb garden around our electricity and water point with chives and mint growing in it – I feel a tzatziki coming on!

We cooked our dinner in the camp kitchen and sat and chatted to a self-styled “mad Aussie woman with blue hair” who is cycling around NZ.

Next morning we got up, turned left and drove for 43km in a straight line!  The last 21km was on one of NZ’s famous gravel roads.  We had been a bit uncertain about getting up there in a motorhome, but the holiday camp owner told us Mount Sunday is only a hill and lots of people do it every year.  We forgot to ask if they came back!

Driving on a gravel road is a bit like driving over corrugated iron covered in stones of various sizes.  If you can stay on the bits covered in gravel you get a reasonable ride but tend to slide around; if you can’t, everything shakes!  And just in case you do find it too smooth, there were a few cattle grids along the route for good measure.

Still, we got to Mount Sunday and all we had to do was walk a 1.5km track to the summit.  The views were spectacular; a deep blue lake on one side, mountains on the other with what looked like rivers of stone running down the sides – the camera can’t do it justice, at least not in my hands.

Then we had to drive back along the gravel road.  On the way up we’d noticed some huge pens full of sheep.  As we came back the pens were empty.  I was just saying they must have needed a lot of trucks to take them away when we noticed all the dust in the air.  There were the sheep being herded down the road by a land rover and a load of dogs.  Except that the dogs were more interested in jumping in and out of the back of the landrover.

Eventually the farmer waved us through; there was a large verge on the right at that point and the sheep seemed to think it was safer to stand there than in the middle of the road while we passed.

Getting back to Mount Somers, we had another first to look forward to – emptying the “black water” tank.  All things considered, this went very well, and I’m not going to go into any detail!

After washing my hands, we hit the road again until we found a convenient place to stop for a picnic.  We’d decided to stay for two nights at a place called Twizel for the sole reason that we liked the name of the town!  As our ETA was 4:30, we rang ahead to check they had vacancies – which was just as well, as we got the last pitch.

As another first for the day, we stopped on the way to refuel.  I couldn’t remember which side to fill up from, so I hedged my bets and drove between two pairs of pumps.  I then spent a very embarrassing couple of minutes looking for the filler cap!  Then Diane got out and we both went round the van a couple of times, before I spotted it – not on the van body, but on the cab!

Our next point of interest was Lake Tekapo.  We approached it from above and it looked glorious, a vast lake in a rich turquoise colour.  We couldn’t stop for a photo because, as always, where there’s a view there’s a van.

So, on to the Twizel Holiday Park.  Unfortunately, this was another crowded, commercial camp, full to capacity.  We visited the local 4Square supermarket, bought some food and ate in the van!

After three days in Christchurch, it was time to move on.  We didn’t want to go too far until we were used to Ermintrude and I particularly wanted to see how she’d would perform on steep, bendy roads.  So our next destination was Akaroa.

This is on the Banks Peninsula, just south of Christchurch, an area created by volcanic activity.  On the map it looks like chunks of mountain with water in between them.  Most of the route is quite flat, but there’s also a section of steep roads and hairpin bends.  Ermintrude wasn’t happy with this section!  She never seemed to be in the right gear so you’d get this sudden drop in speed approaching a steep bend as she decided to change down.  But, it was worth the worry for the spectacular views.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop to take any photos because every time we came to a suitable place there was a campervan parked in it!

Akaroa is on the shore of one of the largest bays and has its own harbour.  It’s the only French settlement in New Zealand, and still has quite a French flavour to it.

We quickly found our camp site and then took the track down to the town to get some lunch.  Unfortunately a cruise ship had just come in so the place was full of people.  In the end, we bought some provisions and took them back to the camp site.  But at least we had a great view from our dining room.

 

We’d planned to go back into town to see the Giant’s House, but walking back up the track to the camp site was a bit like taking the spiral staircase at Covent Garden tube – only in a straight line.

In the end we decided to stay and watch people failing to park their vans and to fall asleep in the sunshine.  We both now have bright red noses, mine with a white stripe across it!  After that, I worked out how to deploy our awning, much to the delight of one of the local ducks!

Next stop is Edoras.

Walking around Christchurch with a kettle

Our first night in Ermintrude was pretty good, considering we crashed at 9pm again.  She has a permanent bed, so we don’t have to rearrange the accommodation at night, and it proved to be very comfortable.  The only downside is that there is no space on either side of the bed, so you have to exit at the foot end in the dark.  Which we managed to do , thus also christening the loo!

Next day, our plan was to take the bus into the city centre.  The 60 is the most circuitous bus route ever; it took 50 minutes to get into the bus interchange – about which we are now experts!

Our first task was to buy an electric kettle.  There was meant to be one in the van, but they don’t include them any more because “people don’t want them”.  Well, we want one so we finally located The Warehouse and acquired the cheapest kettle possible.  We then had to carry it around with us for the rest of the day.

Next stop was lunch.  As we were determined to sample all the local delicacies, we popped into a Vietnamese restaurant!

We managed to see most of the big sites in Christchurch including Cathedral Square, Hagley Park and the Botanical Gardens, the Museum and Re:START, a shopping centre built from shipping containers that was set up after the 2011 earthquake.

In fact, everywhere you go you see evidence of devastation caused by the earthquake in the form of broken buildings, empty plots and undulating roads.  Recovery is going to take years.

At some point in the afternoon we realised that there is one thing you don’t see in Christchurch – Starbucks.  Or any other coffee chain for that matter.  Let’s hope that they can make that stick!

Thanks to a heads up from Simon, we had dinner driving around Christchurch in a tram.  The tram in question was converted into a 36-seater restaurant with a tiny kitchen and even tinier toilet!  During three circuits of the city we were served a four-course meal plus coffee.  The chef did a pretty good job within the constraints, although I’d take the web site’s description of it being “the finest service, cuisine and beverages New Zealand has to offer” with a pinch of sea salt.

Which just left us to catch the 60 back to our camp site.  Tomorrow we’re on the move again.

We managed to make it to 9pm on our first evening before finally admitting defeat and crashing out.  Consequently, we were both awake early next morning.  We tried to find some news on the TV, but it was all repeats of UK programmes.

At 8am we went over to find Jeff and take possession of our home and means of transport for the next two months.  Ermintrude is a Seeker motorhome from Bay of Islands Campervans.  She comes with pretty much everything including phone, wi-fi, satnav and tourist radio service.  As motorhome virgins, we had to have the guided tour including emptying the toilet cassette, connecting to mains water and electricity and changing the gas bottle.  Jeff also gave us a useful tip on how to avoid the toilet overflowing if you’re on a rough road!

We then piled all our worldly goods into the van and headed off into the sunset.  Well actually we headed off to the local supermarket to get some provisions in.  Apparently there are two main supermarket chains in New Zealand.  Countdown is the upmarket one, where they pack your shopping into bags.  We chose Pak ‘n’ Save, where you do your own packing and save money – or so they say.

The place looked like an old warehouse, complete with high-level storage bins, and was full of stuff I’d never heard of before. There were loads of special offers and plenty of variety, but what impressed me most was the bulk bins.  They sell all sorts of things this way, including couscous, flax seeds, rice and sweets.  You just put the amount you want into a plastic bag and write the item code from the bin onto the bag.  No waste, no buying more than you need.  UK supermarkets, take note.

Then we had the problem of stashing all this stuff into the van.  Unless you stow everything, it all ends up rolling around on the floor.  Having carefully arranged our luggage to occupy every available space, we found we had nowhere to put the shopping.  In the end, we just slung it in and went off to find our campsite.

We were heading for South Brighton Holiday Park, on the outskirts of Christchurch.  At reception, they asked if we wanted a sunny pitch or a part shaded one.  Since it was around 28C, we went for the part shaded one and ended up under a eucalyptus tree.  Which is fine apart from the odd sonic booms that occur every time something falls from the tree onto our roof.

At this point our OCD took over – instead of heading back into the city we spent the next couple of hours finding somewhere to stow everything.  We’ll do more sightseeing tomorrow.

Why have we named the van Ermintrude?  Well, she’s quite big and quite slow, just like the cow in the Magic Roundabout!

 

After 18 months of planning, we’ve arrived in New Zealand.  And getting here all went more or less smoothly.

The journey started on Tuesday at 3pm, when Simon from Purely Platinum turned up to whisk us off to Heathrow.  Neither of us wanting to risk getting stuck in traffic, so we got there ridiculously early.  We were flying from the new terminal 2, which is very smart and functional.  A bit like terminal 5 on a smaller scale.

We checked in and were cruising through fast track security when I set the alarms off.  I had to stand in a scanner with my arms in the air and then get a pat down by one of the guards.  Lesson learned: never wear trousers with metal rings and zips in an airport!

We soon found ourselves enjoying Singapore Airlines’ hospitality in their SilverKris lounge – for four hours.  I have to say, the food was far superior to most airline lounges.

Eventually they called our flight and we had to go.  As we got on board the flight attendant told Diane to go down the first aisle.  I went to follow, but I was told to take the second aisle and we’d meet in the middle.  We did, but there was a huge amount of space between the seats.

Changing flights at Singapore went smoothly too, although the lounge was crowded and the food wasn’t as good.  Other than a bit of turbulence as we arrived at Christchurch, the whole thing was fairly uneventful.  In fact, all we seemed to do was eat.  Over the course of 36 hours we had three breakfasts, two lunches, three dinners and several assorted snacks.  And oodles of noodles.  Most of the main courses seemed to have broccoli or cabbage in them; this could account for some of the turbulence!

We were first off the plane at Christchurch and soon got through immigration.  On our arrival cards, we’d said we were bringing walking boots with us, so we had to have them checked over.  This nice man took them away and cleaned them for us.  I told him we’d come back if they got dirty again but he didn’t think that was a good idea.

Even with that delay, we were out of the terminal before Jeff, from Bay of Islands, was there to meet us.  However, we soon hooked up with him and we did a quick tour of Christchurch before he drove us to the motel.

By this time we were pretty tired.  While we did have flat beds on the plane, you have to lie at an angle and the bed tapers down to the foot end.  And there’s the 13 hour time difference.

So to keep us from crashing out, we went straight out to visit the Christchurch Gondola.  Nearly 1km long, this takes you up to the top of the Port Hills, where there are stunning views of the city.  We were hungry again when we go to the top – we hadn’t eaten for at least four hours, so we had fish and chips in the Red Rock Café and soaked in the views, which are dead abundant up there.

On the way back we changed buses at the strangest bus station I’ve ever seen, apparently based on an airport terminal.  The buses drive into one of around 20 gates, people get out into the terminal building and find their connecting flight – I mean bus – at another gate.  The buses then have to reverse out of the gate and continue on their way.

Our challenge now is to stay awake until at least 9pm to avoid the jet lag.

Tomorrow we’ll be introduced to our new home.