the powder room

25th October 2006
Dusky Lodge, Kaikoura

Today is our last day in Kaikoura and the sun has come out. This may not seem a big thing for you folk, but the rain has been the bane of our travels so far! We arrived in a gloriously sunny Kaikoura and filled with excitement (but a singular lack of funds for that week), we eagerly signed up to a week of cleaning in exchange for accommodation at what we thought was the luxurious Dusky Lodge.

Oh how wrong we were.

{mosimage} So, pleased with ourselves and having soaked in the hot tub, we awoke the next day to head off whale watching – possibly the only saving grace of our experience in Kaikoura. Saw 2 sperm whales, dolphins and stuff, but that’s not the point of this entry.

We returned to the delights of bed making and bog cleaning, using little more than old rags and what can only be described as milky water (or multipurpose cleaner as they seemed to call it…).

Anyway, it rained for 5 days. When I say it rained, imagine someone pouring bucket after bucket of water over you. And then switching on the hosepipe and a wind machine.

We made the most of it though and joked with our cleaning compadres about how we kept on bringing the bad weather with us and when we left it would clear up, ho ho bloody ho.

So, I hope you can understand our somewhat mixed emotions at the sight of blue sky and oh, were those mountains always there?

PS We went to Hanmer Springs and Christchurch too.

18th October 2006
Big Red Internet Bus, Franz Josef

In a random London bus with internet access in Franz Josef on the west coast, having spent 5 very wet nights here!

Our plan was to arrive, helihike the glacier and buzz on through, but I guess arriving on Friday 13th was never going to be a good sign! Torrential rain, even for the notoriously wet West Coast, flooded the glacier and stopped us from doing anything (again!). It proved to be a blessing in disguise though, cos we decided to stay and sort ourselves out a bit. Found a great hostel (Glowworm Cottages) that was just what we needed to take stock and relax a bit.

Anyways, eventually the rain cleared and Jen and I went ice-climbing on the glacier – absolutely brilliant fun, but tough work! Jen’s got some great photos of us stuck to sheer ice walls! Dead impressed with it all really, me being scared witless of heights and Jen never having done anything like it!

10th October 2006
The Milford Road

Milford Sound is 121km from Te Anau down the Milford Road – a spectacular alpine road running through undulating farmland, towering mountains and heavy forest. Quite possibly, the most beautiful road I’ve ever been down. It takes about 2 hours to drive, but with all the stops along the way, it took us nearly 3.

First stop was Te Anau downs, the launch point for the Milford Track. Next up were Mirror Lakes, perfectly still oxbow lakes that looked like something from Lord of the Rings.

We stopped for lunch just before the Homer Tunnel looking out over two valleys and miles from anywhere. Two keas (mountain parrots – reknowned for their cheekiness) joined us and hopped around curious at our presence – trying to get at our lunch!

The Homer Tunnel was quite an experience, it’s preceded by the most amazing avalanche carved landscape, really steep mountains with avalanche debris scattered around. The tunnel itself is 1.2km of steep downhill, narrow, unlit road under the mountains. A near brush with a rather large coach led us to safety on the other side and a sight to which adjectives simply don’t do justice – we were in a massive valley with hundreds of tiny waterfalls gushing down to the floor like veins. The snow that had prevented our kayak trip provided us with a pretty unique spectacle. A steep descent led us to Milford Sound itself.

I have to say that in the end, the Sound was a little disappointing – I preferred the drive down!. We decided not to go for the package coach and cruise, because it felt too processed and like a sausage factory – the thought of cramming onto a coach full of camera wielding tourists, piling off every half and hour, before piling back on, was just a bit too much. We’d opted for the sea kayak trip to do it differently and to get a real experience. Unfortunately, that meant we didn’t get out into the heart of Milford Sound, which I’m sure is very rewarding, but we’ll keep that for another day.

The drive back involved a stop at the imaginatively titled Chasm, a huge chasm (unsurprisingly) carved out by water and rocks. It was probably more spectacular than the Sound and one of the most amazing natural features I’ve ever soon – the sheer volume of water passing through, the noise
and the scale of it… words and photos can’t describe it!

Sunday 8th-10th
Te Anau and almost Doubtful Sound

Unfortunately, our night was a bit spoiled by noisy neighbours blasting out bassy tunes until 4am! Doh! Morning greeted us with a calm sunrise, followed by gale force winds. Not really wanting to hang around too long, we packed up and headed out to Te Anau, about 2 1/2 hours drive south and west of Queenstown.

Great drive down, with beautiful views, but the winds made driving a little tough and it took a bit longer than expected!

After a bit of hunting around, we camped up at the Top 10 Mountain View holiday park. Nice little spot with good facilities and close to the centre.

The weather continued to worsen into the next day, with heavy rain and winds. Undeterred, we booked up 2 day sea kayak trip round Doubtful Sound with Fiordland Wilderness Experiences, run by Daphne and Bill, a lovely couple who really seem to have found their calling.

Quite excited and a little daunted by the thought, we bought some supplies ready for the adventure. Jen was understandably a little worried about the thought of it all, particularly having cold wet feet for 2 days!

Unfortunately, the next day, the weather continued to worsen and the trip was called off. But determined to make the best of a bad situation, Jen and I fuelled up Doris and trekked off to Milford Sound.

7th October 2006
Queenstown

So we left Wanaka on Saturday and headed for Queenstown over the Crown Range road – the highest sealed road in New Zealand. Bit of struggle with Doris and quite hairy on the way down, but fine!

Queenstown was beautiful, but quite built up and hectic after the serenity of Wanaka. It felt heavily commercialised and every second store was an extreme sports booking office. All in all, it was a little disappointing, but we headed on through and down the road to Glenorchy. About 15 minutes out of Queenstown, we pulled over at a neat little Department of Conservation (DOC) campsite, where we got to camp right by Lake Wakatipu, looking out at the Remarkables. The perfect spot for our first proper night in Doris.

2nd October 206, 19.51
Bits and Bytes

Well, it’s all change here, we’ve moved out of Alpine Resort and back into the Mountain View Backpackers, but most importantly of all, Jen’s arrived! Finally, we’re back together again, I didn’t quite believe it would happen, but she’s here and we’re loving it!

We’ve got a lovely little room in the Mountain View and we’ve made it all cosy. Really quite enjoying being back there, it feels like home. Been up at Cardrona for the past 2 days, teaching Jen to snowboard – I think it went OK, she did really well and managed to link turns after only 1 day (personally, I put it down to the high quality instruction she’s been getting ;p), plus she’s still talking to me, which is a result!

It’s been quite sad too cos everyone’s been leaving over the past few days. Pete and Claire disappeared off on Saturday and Ryan left today, so it’s been quite mixed. Still, it doesn’t feel like a goodbye, cos I’ll see them all in Colorado!

On other news, Doris failed her Warrant of Fitness (equivalent to an MOT) – her suspension and brakes need work, it’ll cost about NZ$500 to fix, quite a lot and a bit of a pinch, but in the grand scheme of things it hasn’t cost that much to have her and it’ll make it easier to sell her.