Makarora and Lake Wanaka

When you are driving through Haast you are driving through and beside steep mountains and rainforests. As you get closer to Makarora and Lake Wanaka you see the land begin to flatten out and get a bit browner.  The trees are also different as you move out of the rainforest.   We stopped at Makarora Country Cafe for lunch.  It’s a grand name for what is really just a roadhouse but it’s well-appointed and has a friendly atmosphere and staff.  We were finding we had to queue up everywhere we go which was getting a bit annoying but was something we would have to get used to.  When I got to the counter I was disappointed to find there were lots of pre-made sandwiches.  I hate pre-made sandwiches.  I decided to ask if they sold dim sims.  The man behind the counter laughed at me and said “you can only get them in a Chinese restaurant”  It was my turn to laugh at him.  I told him that at home we can buy them at this sort of place.  I suggested he might like to sell them.  I’m sure he would find they were a best seller, especially amongst Aussie visitors.I bought a pie and sat down with Carol, Bec and Brad to eat it.  There is a beautiful brand of ice cream that is sold by the scoop in cafes.  We tried it and loved it.  Across the road, sheep and deer were roaming a paddock.  It was the first time we’d seen deer.  Venison is a popular meat on menus in NZ.

From Makarora we drove to Lake Wanaka.  We were only stopping briefly here but it is a beautiful lake with more spectacular scenery.  Families come from miles to stay here, sometimes only a few miles in fact.  Clarke told us that people that live in Queenstown often come to stay here just to escape their busy home town.   You can just relax or join in some of the more adventurous activities such as water-skiing, snow boarding, mountain biking.

 

New Zealand…day 4 – more about Haast

This was the view when we came through the clearing.  Spectacular!!!

New Zealand…day 4 Haast

Haast has some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve seen.  And that’s saying something for New Zealand.  It’s on the west coast with a lot of the area being completely inaccessible.  In fact our tour guide told us that when planes crash (and unfortunately there have been a few) the plane is often never sighted again.  The forest is so dense.  The population of the area is also very low.  Our first stop in Haast was where the ‘gentle’ jet boat cruise was going to start.  Our guide had warned us that Queenstown (where we were going that night) is very popular in Summer so he couldn’t guarantee we would be able to go on the more adventurous jet boat rides.  He suggested we go on this one instead.  I wasn’t interested but a lot of people on our bus were, including some of the older people on the tour because it was considered safer than some of the other similar cruises.

The office of the company is located just off the side of the road and beside the longest single lane bridge in New Zealand.  We didn’t realise it at the time but we were dropping those people off then going to the Haast Visitor Centre then on to pick them up at their destination.

one of the many single-lane bridges in NZ, this one is so long there are bays on the sides where you can allow cars to pass you if you don’t have right of way

area surrounding the Haast Visitor Centre…..this was once just land, now it’s been turned into beautiful wetlands

New Zealand day 4….Knights Point

We got off to a very late start on day 4.  The people who had booked their joy flights over the the glaciers were waiting to hear if they would go ahead.  The weather was constantly changing so the decision of whether the pilots would fly was also changing .  Eventually they all went up and loved every minute of it.  I didn’t go on a flight but they certainly saw some awesome sights.  They were able to land on Fox Glacier and walk around briefly.

Once we left we drove for about an hour to Knights Point.  It’s a popular hangout and breeding area for New Zealand Fur Seals.  Unfortunately they are located off land so we couldn’t see them off the rocks.  I’ve since found out that they also play in the sand on the beach.   The area is very beautiful, being on the west and wild coast.  We were jokingly told we would have been able to see Australia if it hadn’t been so cloudy.

 

 

New Zealand Day 3: Fox Glacier

Our final stop of the day before going to our hotel was Fox Glacier.  It’s not as well known as it’s neighbour Franz Josef Glacier but is more accessible from the road.  A  lot of people hike the 6km from the town of Fox Glacier to the glacier.  We drove through the town through light, misty rain. By the time we got to the glacier the conditions had worsened.  In what I was learning is one of the drawbacks of coach-touring, we were only given 20 mins to walk to the edge of the glacier and back.  As I was the last person off the coach I didn’t have as long to get there so didn’t quite reach the edge.  Visibility was quite poor so the people that did get there said they couldn’t see much. 

Many of the  people on our tour booked in to do the helicopter flight over the glaciers but due to the weather, those flights were cancelled.  Although the forecast for the next day wasn’t much better the flights were tentatively booked for the next morning, even though we were scheduled to leave the town shortly after breakfast.

I was disappointed the weather wasn’t to our advantage as I have seen pictures and tv shows about the glaciers and was really looking forward to seeing them. 

 

New Zealand Day 3: Hokitika

From Greymouth we drove 40km south to Hokitka.  Hokitka’s claim to fame is as a producer of jade jewellery.  The local stone is also called Pounamu.  It’s a stone I’ve loved for a long time.  My grandfather’s side of the family were all from New Zealand and on one of his return trips to NZ he bought me a tiki.  He said it was my good luck charm and I still have it to this day.  It holds great sentimental value to me.  I wanted to treat myself to some jade jewellery while I was there.  Unfortunately we were only given one hour to have some lunch.

We parked at the back of one of the jade shops so I quickly went into the shop; intent on buying jewellery before I went anywhere else.  I did a few laps of the large shop before going back to pick out what I wanted.  I gathered up the different pieces I wanted.  I couldn’t find the tiki necklaces so asked one of the staff.  She noticed the sapphire ring I was wearing and started asking me questions about it.  Apparently it was similar to what a colleague of hers was wearing.

After I picked out what I wanted I worked out I could afford all three pieces; 2 necklaces and a set of earrings because the exchange rate between the Australian and NZ dollars works to our advantage. Yay for me.

Having satisfied my need for jade jewellery I began a walk around town.  First stop was the tourist info centre to see what was in the town.  Not that I would be able to see much today but I’d love to come back one day.  I walked in to a cafe to buy a bottle of coke and the friendly man behind the counter asked if I was enjoying my tour.  I chatted with him for a few minutes and when I was leaving wondered how he knew I was on a tour.  Not long after I realised I was wearing my name badge.  It was at that point that I only wore it when I have to.

After a quick lunch at another cafe I hopped back on the bus for the next drive to Fox Glacier.

New Zealand Day 2: Christchurch

January 2nd, 2012

Today was a free day for me as I had arrived a full day before the tour was to start.  After being continually woke by earth tremors during the night I decided not to bother trying to sleep when the 5.5 quake happened.  That’s when I found out that it made the London news. I put the Sky news on and they were talking about it.  You know it’s big when it makes the news on the other side of the world.

After breakfast I asked for directions to Hagley Park.  My Mum had told me it was a must see.  It was further away than I thought which explained why the receptionist looked at me strangely.  It wasn’t that far though.  I love to get out and walk so it was perfect.  It was probably 1-1.5km away.  I didn’t really know what there was to do or see so I stuck to the streets beside the park.  Despite being the middle of summer it was beautiful and green unlike some of the surrounding countryside. I turned down a street and was greeted by the sight of fencing that told me I’d reached the red zone.  That’s when I realised how close I was to the Christchurch CBD.  I took quite a few photos along the way before realising I was getting a little lost.  I wished the receptionist and given me a map of the area.  I would have been more confident and kept walking.  I also realised I didn’t have my purse or any id and credit cards.  I got worried and hoped there were no earthquakes because if anything happned I would only have my hotel key as id.  It’s weird some of the things we think of isn’t it?

I made my way back to the hotel and spent the afternoon watching tv apart from walking down to Merivale Mall but most of the shops were closed.  I didn’t know they have a national holiday on January 2nd.  I got some lunch from McCafe and headed back to the hotel.  Spent a boring but relaxing afternoon watching tv.

At 6pm I went to the bar to meet my fellow travellers on the coach tour.  We enjoyed a welcome drink, meeting each other and dinner.  Another tremor hit while we were having dinner which really shook the restaurant.  You soon get used to them though and we just continued chatting while eating.

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New Zealand Day 1: Arriving in Christchurch

On January 1st 2012 I travelled to Christchurch to begin a 3 week holiday.  The first 9 days were spent touring most of the South Island on an  AAT Kings coach tour.  It was the first time I’d been on one of these tours by myself so was very nervous.  I was also nervous going to Christchurch where the earthquakes had recently started up again.  It had been fairly quiet between July and early December 2011.

After the tour my parents were joining me and we were going to hire a car and tour around the top of the South Island and bottom of the North Island.

I hate the whole act of packing.  I’m always so nervous that I’ve forgotten something even though I can normally buy what I do forget.  My flight was around 9am which meant I had to leave home at 6.15am to drop my car off at the parking place and go to the airport.  Once I was at the airport I could finally relax.

The flight with Air New Zealand was relaxing and uneventful.  Just the way I like it.  Once I arrived I went straight to the Vodafone booth to buy a prepaid mobile phone to use while in NZ.  It was there that I met Carol and her teenage children Bec and Brad.  We realised we were doing the same tour, staying in the same hotel and have remained friends since.    The coach company arranged for us to be taken to our hotel, the Heartland Cotswold Hotel.  It turned out to be a really nice tudor-style hotel.  I had a ‘room’ with a loungeroom, bedroom and the largest bathroom I’ve seen.  Whereas Carol, Bec and Brad had 3 single beds in one room.  It was strange how the hotel allocated the rooms.  I loved it though.

After unpacking I went for a walk down the road but was unnerved by the amount of earthquake-damaged houses.  I didn’t realise that we were only about 1 km away from the CBD and only one block away was where the red zone originally started  (the red zone is the earthquake-damaged CBD.  Gradually the zone has been reduced so it now covers quite a small area of Christchurch).  I decided to turn back and have a rest in the hotel.  At dinner time I walked to the Tudors restaurant which was onsite.  I ate what was probably the most beautiful meal of the whole trip.

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After dinner I watched tv.  At around 10.10pm I felt my first earth tremor in NZ.  At first I thought it was a bit of fun and rang Mum back in Melbourne to tell her.  Unfortunately it was only the first of five I would feel that night culiminating in a biggish one that made the news in London.