Queenstown

First glimpse of Queenstown

Sadly, the only photo of the camper van to rental car transfer. Where's the overloaded trolley?

Not for the faint of heart!

Another gorgeous view.

The sad day arrived when it was time to trade in our lovely Maui camper van for a compact car. Attempting to consolidate the many rocks, sticks and shells collected along the way was challenging to say the least. Plus we were hoping to transfer at least some of our food/beverages to take to our Queenstown condo. It was not our most elegant moment in travel.   Fortunately, all we had to do was pile everything outside the camper van drop off, load it into the shuttle and pile everything onto a trolley which are helpfully provided free of charge at the airport. After a short walk to our seemingly tiny car we headed to Queenstown. We had barely settled in when it was decided that we needed to do at least one adventure activity on our first day in Queenstown. After all, Queenstown is THE adventure capital of New Zealand! So, off t the Shotover Jet we went. I've done jet boat rides before so I figured it was just a fast cruise on the Shotover River. What I didn't know was the boat narrowly misses crashing into the rocky walls of the canyon (on purpose) and the boat does 360 degree spins in very narrow passages that don't appear capable of accommodating the boat's length. All this happens while the boat is going really fast. Afterward you get to watch video of your ride...for about the first ten minutes my headed was bent down and my eyes were closed....fun!
On day two, we were headed to The Doubtful Sound for another tour...this time a bus ride through the Manapouri Hydroelectric Power Station and a boat cruise in the sound.  The power plant tour involved riding on a giant bus on a winding road that took us on a 2km below ground. The power station was completed in 1971 and involved blasting and drilling to excavate 1.4 million tons of rock.   Grueling labor. A second tunnel was completed in 2002 to increase the station's capacity. The boys enjoyed the dark, somewhat spooky bus ride below ground and were impressed by the amount of machinery in the main hall.  After the brief tour, we headed back to the bus and took a cruise over the Wilmot Pass, descending very steeply to the dock where our boat awaited.
It was a perfect day to cruise through the sound and the sights were awe inspiring. Many sections of the valleys surrounding the sound were carved out by huge glaciers millions of years ago. It is an area largely untouched by humans and pretty much inaccessible unless you are on a boat. At one point the boat captain turned off all the engines and we got to hear a minute or so of complete silence. Very tranquil. No dolphins or penguins were sighted on our ride but we did see a large colony of seals on rocks just as we came out of the sound into the Tasman Sea.   

Look at all those cool machines!

Very windy on the top deck.

One of NZ's long white clouds. 

Jackson got this pic!

How long do we have to stand here, Mom?

Seals!

Continuing South

Wanaka was probably my favorite stop. The camper van park was perched high above the city, surrounded by mountains with a great view of the lake. Plus, as an added attraction there were sheep right next to the campground. Probably not something most people would be excited about, but the novelty of seeing sheep everywhere hasn't worn off.

Sheep!

Beautiful Wanaka sunset

 

 

  Before pulling in to the Top Ten park, we made a stop at Puzzling World, which is a famous tourist attraction with mazes, illusion rooms and other quirky wonders. I was expecting it to be hokey but it was actually a lot of fun. Our favorite parts were the "Ames Forced Perception Room" that created the illusion of short and really tall people. From the viewing window it looks like a normal room but inside the shape is totally distorted. We also liked the wall of 3D faces that follow you as you walk around and the tilted house.    The last thing we did at Puzzling World was "The Great Maze". This is a 1.5 K maze outside with different levels that takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour to complete. The goal is to get to all four of the different colored posts in the corners, then back out through the exit. We successfully navigated all the corners but got stuck trying to get out and had to use one of the emergency doors.     

We decided to go out to dinner in downtown Wanaka and found a really good restaurant called Relishes, then headed back to camp. Next stop Queenstown!

Next stop Wanaka

Lake Matheson on a cloudy day

The "view of views" if it had been sunny (from a postcard picture).

A stop to throw stones in a river.

One lane bridges are tricky in a camper van.

Even more narrow!

We probably drove over at least 10 of these every day!

Normally full of water....definitely a drought in NZ right now!

Beautiful Lake Wanaka

First stop after Franz Josef was a hike (or "tramp" as they say here) around Lake Matheson. This area if famous for gorgeous views of Mt. Cook when it's sunny. There's actually an area on the hike called the "View of Views" that has the potential for a perfect photo of snow capped Mt. Cook reflected in the lake.   Sadly, the clouds rolled in and we didn't see the ultimate view. We continued on, the sun came out and we drove over bridge after(one lane) bridge after bridge....something you can't avoid when driving on the motorways of south New Zealand. After almost running out of gas (!), we finally caught our first glimpse of Lake Wanaka.

Scenes from the Franz Josef camper van park

Throughout our South Island journey, we always stayed in Top Ten parks. Top Ten is a brand and I really don't know if they are somehow superior to other parks, but they were consistently clean and well taken care of. One of my favorite things, strangely enough, was spending time in the kitchen areas either preparing food or doing dishes. There were people from all over the world at the parks and it was interesting hearing different languages and seeing all the different kind of food being prepared. People prepare real meals when Rv-ing....no cans of Spaghetti-os or ramen noodles!

The Franz Josef park was surrounded by mountains, so there were amazing sunrises and sunsets. Not to mention how incredible it was to go outside every night and look at the stars. We saw the Southern Cross ( ...for the first time....), Orion (upside down) as well as a bevy of other constellations that we are working on getting better at naming.   I do have to laugh because despite the fact that we were in one of the most beautiful places in the world and spent so much time pointing out amazing sights to the boys, their  favorite part of the Franz Josef park was the the trampoline, followed by the cool rental bike carts.   Oh-and also the fact that the check in offices always had coolers with ice cream treats available for purchase.

Well, at least we have lots of photos and when they are older they will have visual evidence of their time in New Zealand. ( But even then they'll still probably look back and think it was so cool about the trampoline.....HA). 

More South Island adventures

Afetr driving back over the Takaka Hill we headed toward the town of Greymouth. Stops along the way included the "World's Longest Swing Bridge" (pictures coming soon) and the famous Punakaiki Rocks and Blowhole. The blowhole happens at high tide so we zipped our way along the west coast to reach the rocks in time. It is another breathtaking area. The colors in the ocean are incredibly vibrant and a nice contrast against the jagged rocks.  At high tide, the waves crash in and water is forced up through the rocks, creating an impressive blowhole. The pancake rocks were formed by layers of dead marine animals and plants and water pressure over the years cause the sediment to harden and form layers. All of this activity was initially happening beneath the sea but seismic activity over time pushed the layers up to form the rocks as they are seen today.

Greymouth wasn't particularly great but it did have a fun beach filled with rocks and driftwood (always a bonus for 8 and 10 year old boys). It also has a ton of stone called pounamu, which is jade. We collected a ton of rocks here...there was a truly amazing assortment of pretty rocks. (Our bags were very heavy when we finally packed up for the flight home).
After Greymouth, we were en route to Franz Joseph. It was definitely cooler here and on the day we arrived, a rain storm came though. The mountains were impressive. We did the glacier walk which puts you within 200 meters of the glacier. You can't get any closer unless you do a guided heli tour ($$$) and in the interest of having funds to send our boys to college, we chose to do the walk instead. The barriers around the glacier base change almost daily due to concerns about falling ice. Apparently in the last few years, tourists have foolishly scrambled beneath the ropes and died. It's not uncommon to have chunks of ice the size of 2 camper vans fall from the glacier.   

The view from the walk was great and as a bonus you get to see a lot of water falls in the surrounding area. These are safe to get close to and we walked up under a few of them.

Camper Van Adventures-The Beginning

We flew to Christchurch to pick up our Maui camper van. The 4 person vans weren't available, so we settled into our roomy 6 person camper. It was clean, efficiently designed and seemed capable of handling 4 people in close quarters over the course of our week long travels.  Pretty much everything is provided...towels, bedding, small TV w/DVD player, pots, plates, even a French press coffee plunger. Our first day's destination was Hanmer Springs....just enough driving to get us settled in and adjusted to camper living. Hanmer Springs is a lovely little town nestled up against mountains, which include the Amuri ski area. There's a town center with just enough amenities plus the Hamner Springs Pool complex, featuring many different thermal pools surrounded by rocks, plus a water slide area and a fresh water lap pool. All in all, it was the perfect place to stay on our first night. In the morning we had breakfast and got on the road to Pohara. We had planned a little detour to explore the Saw Tooth Canyon. The road was listed as a 12k gravel road with gates. What we didn't know was the road was narrow and steep and it was questionable driving in a huge camper. We continued on and on....and the road became steeper and steeper....and more and more narrow. The final straw was a road sign depicting a car headed down a very steep hill...a warning that the road was going to become even steeper. The adventure was over! We managed to find enough room to do a u-turn and headed back to the safety of paved roads. (Little did we know there was more  crazy driving up ahead on the Takaka Hill).
One fun stop along the way was the Ohau Seal Colony...one of the members of the colony is pictured above.

An after dinner swim

Before we came to New Zealand, we found out there was a family living here who moved from our same town in Oregon. Without even knowing it, we booked a rental home that is about 5 minutes from where they live. It has been great to have some American contacts here and even better , all of our kids get along wonderfully and we've been getting together almost every weekend. The rocks and rope swing pictured here are from the little beach just down the street from their house. This is the second time we've met them for a picnic on the beach and then a quick swim.