Week 12 - 8th & 9th Dec.

9th Dec. - Mount Maunganui - hiked the trail. Saw a freighter leave the harbour and travel through the narrow opening out to sea. Saw a stingray along the shore. Lots and lots of jelly fish. Also, we saw school camping trips that were hiking the trail and playing on the beach. They were camping at the base of the Mount.

The New Zealand Christmas tree is called the Pohutukawa. They are in full bloom all around the mountain and all over NZ.

In the downtown we saw these christmas trees!

Also, the palm trees are quite spectacular with their orange clusters of flowers.







8th December - Mount Maunganui - hiked up to the top. We took the difficult stair climb up and walked back on the easier track. What a spectacular view! On the way up we passed a grade 10 class hiking the mountain...they were exhausted as it is a diffiult climb. At the top we met their bus driver who said it would take that group ages to get to the top.

At the top we find the California Quails.

Below are pictures of the views from the trail as we climb up then down Mount Maunganui.

Us at the top!

This is one of the easy stair cases in the sheep's field as we climb up. They have these fields to act as a fire break, protecting the top of the mountain.

Week 11 - 4th & 5th Dec

Ohakune to Taupo
Saturday Dec 5th, 2009
Morning arrives and we have had a great sleep at Ohakune. Once packed we take the advice of the inn attendant and drive up the mountain. It is a long 16 km’s up and the weather looks nice in Ohakune, but as we get farther up the mountain the fog starts to come in then it begins to rain. Finally, at the top, we meet a fellow directing traffic. It seems there is a round the mountain half-marathon today, what a terrible day for a run! We ask him if there is anything to see and as we can pretty much figure out for ourselves with the rain and fog you can’t see a thing. We turn around and head back down the mountain.
We spend the day driving to Taupo.

Made a couple of stops on the drive through the desert. We found a quiet stop in the dessert, to have our lunch. The water and wind has carved some interesting scupltues into the rocks. Also, I found many unusual tiny alpine flowers growing in the rock.

This is the prettiest town we have seen on our travels... We booked into the cabins, unfortunately they didn't have our $55 per night special. We turned to leave and the manager agreed to give us their $120 a night for $90. Later I found out we have the deluxe cabin that goes for $150 a night. We can certianly tell as we have a 28" flat screen tv, fridge, microwave, queen bed, full shower, table and chairs and all the kitchen necessities. It is also brand new!

Wellington to Ohakune
Friday Dec 4th, 2009
This morning we are up early to drive to Ohakune. It is a long drive. We stopped in Graytown which caters to the antique hunters. There are many antique stores here. We stop for a quick cup of coffee then off to Masterton.

Alan and I walked around the downtown of Masterton before carrying on to Palmerston North.
Tonight we are in a motel as there is no backpacker’s accommodation available. We walk up the river trail to the old coach road and discover that there is much more town than anticipated. One house is quite cute, it is made from steel roofing that is bent, much like a Quonset hut, only artistic.

We still have to find accommodation in Hawaii! Tomorrow we are off to Taupo.

Week 10 - 27th - 29th Nov

Christchurch, Market, Kaikoura
Sunday Nov 29th, 2009

This morning we are having our usual toast, fruit and coffee for breakfast, pack, and then we are off to Kaikoura. We make a couple of stops before we leave Christchurch. We plug into the GPS, Rotary Race track, and head off to the market to see what it is all about. This market is just like Peterborough’s market only three times the size. What fun we had. There are over 300 stalls selling new goods, used goods, food, vegetables and just about everything you could think of. We purchase a couple of little presents and a large bag of onions for $2.

We continue on again and stop along the way for coffee then continue our drive to Kairkoura. In town we found chili and pepper gluten free sausages for dinner

Tomorrow we are heading to Picton.

Christchurch, Papanui Coffee, Shopping
Saturday Nov 28th, 2009

Saturday morning and there is water on the ground so it looks like it is raining today. We get up and have breakfast, toast without any butter, and find out that there are others in the park with missing food. It now seems from our conversations with others that the park has not cleaned out the fridge as someone went yesterday to talk to them about their missing food. It seems that there is someone stealing food and unfortunately we do not know who.

We decide to drive to Papanui to have a look around the suburb and we find this nice little bike shop. I stop in at the sewing shop next door and find out that there is a quilter’s café around the corner.
It is a cute little shop with beautiful quilting and appliqué.

In Christchurch most roads have bike lanes. At the intersections they have used red stone in the pavement to keep drivers aware that they must leave room for the bikers.

Tomorrow we are heading to Kaikoura.

Christchurch, Crater Drive, Akaroa, RSA Dinner
Friday Nov 27th, 2009

Today we take a drive up to Summit Road, the rim of the crater. The drive is beautiful and at the top we stop at the Centennial Memorial to the Pioneer woman of Canterbury. Woman arriving by boat in the Port of Lyttelton had to endure a long and painful climb to the top of the crater rim to get to the other side and begin their new lives. It is at this point on the mountain that the monument was raised to celebrate their perseverance. We talk briefly with a couple of Christchurch ladies who have walked up the hill path. They do this for a bit of exercise, and as the hill is quite steep a bit of exercise is what they get. They say the downhill part is the best.

Further down the road we stop and climb to the rim of the volcano. Across the opposite side of the road, and up the hill is a beacon. We decide to climb to the top and take our lunch with us. The beacon is a geodetic position marker and we are able sit on the concrete base and have a picnic lunch. We can see the surrounding countryside. The wind picks up and we feel like we are going to be blown off the top!

We are travelling to the small town of Akaroa. The road is again very twisty and windy as it follows the Pacific shore. The wind is picking up and we are nearly blown off the road as we travel along then climb the hill once again towards the volcano’s rim. Akaroa is located inside the remnants of an old volcano and we have to climb to the top of the rim and down the other side to get into the town. At the top, the view is once again beautiful and we drink in the scenery. In the town, we park and do a walk about. It has a French flair as the early settlers arrived from France and brought their creative flair to the area.

There are lots of little boat houses in this area.

Opposite the car, is a nice little house with a beautiful rose garden. We admired this garden on the way into town, but now a lady has now come out of her house and is feeding a small dog an ice cream cone. We chat with her for a while and find out that she has a daughter in Canada. She is married and has lived in Edmonton for many years now. We tell her what beautiful roses she has then we hop in the car and head back to Christchurch for dinner.

This lovely horse came when I called it...makes me think of Dancer with those ears up!

Tonight we are not cooking! Dinner will be at the Papanui RSA (Returned Services Association). Alan had a lovely roast pork dinner and I had lamb shanks…Wow…just like Mum’s roasts!

Some of the birds we see are this little brown and grey one...it likes the peanuts and raisins we were having as a snack. Also, this black and white bird reminds us of the magpie in Alberta. It is about the same size, but it isn't noisy!

Week 9 - 16, 17 & 18th Nov

Te Anau & Milford Sound
Wed Nov 18th, 2009

Our alarm goes off at 6:30 and we get up to get ready for our day away. Today we are going to Milford Sound on the Go Milford bus from our Top 10 Park.

The road to Milford Sound is 119 km’s long. It runs along Lake Te Anau (60 kms long, 300 m’s deep) then rises through farmland, over mountain streams, through beech forests, past mountain lakes and into the divide. At this point, a tunnel cuts through the 1270 m of mountain to emerge on the other side and drop through a series of switchbacks to the edge of the fiord. We decided not to drive as there was a bylaw stating you had to have chains for your tires and then we saw that you had to pull over and prove you can use them. I think the bus was the way to go.

Our bus driver, Russ, takes every opportunity to tell us what he knows of the history of the area, the topography, tidbits of the strange mountain parrot, the Kea, and he warms us with his stories of history of this road. It is a wonderful drive and we enjoy every moment.

On the track we make a few stops….Eglinton Valley, to view the first great look at the mountains, mirror lakes, to view the mirror like water collected in the body of the mirror lakes, knobs flat, to have a biobreak and read the literature on the displays provided, lake Gunn, to take pictures of the mirror like surface in the lake (a rarity says Russ), the flats, to take more mountain pictures. At one point Russ says “look at that” and out of the front of the bus we can see a duster sliding off the mountain (small mountain avalanche). This is also a rarity as they usually happen when no one is around. In our case we see two of them in the same trip (wow!!). Also along the road we can see evidence of many other avalanches that covered the road.

Further along the trek, we make an additional stop at the entrance to the Homer tunnel. The Homer Tunnel is the road link to the Sound. Without it you would either need to cross the mountain top or sail in by boat.

On the other side of the tunnel, we are in Fiordland and on to Milford Sound. The road drops through steep switch backs and we are back into the lush forests of the sound.

We make another stop at a place called the Chasm. Here water runs from the hard granite mountain to the softer rock creating spectacular pools of water and a water fall.

We board the boat, the Lady of the Sounds, and off we go down the 16 km long Milford Sound. Lunch is served as the boat leaves and it is very nice. As soon as we are done eating we go up to the roof top deck to enjoy the spectacular view on this beautiful sunny day.

Along the way our boat guide proves a running commentary on the sound, its waterfall features, the sea life and its treasures. We enjoy view, the wildlife, and a half hour stop at an underwater observation platform where we can see into the sound at a depth of 10 m. What a great day!

On the way home, at the tunnel stop, we see the Kea up close again. What a large green parrot. I slept on the way back to Te Anau.

Tomorrow we are going to Invercargill.

Queenstown, Kingston, Garston Hotel, Te Anau
Tuesday Nov 17th, 2009

Tuesday morning, we are up at the crack of dawn heading to Te Anau.

The road climbs from Frankton along the side of Lake Wakatipu. This is a huge lake that we have followed for two days now, first to Glenorchy and now towards Te Anau . It is L shaped. It is ringed by mountains on all sides and is just beautiful. Eventually we get to Kingston at the foot of the lake and we say goodbye to Lake Wakatipu.

Kingston was a railroading town at one time and we stop in to find a flat white but there are no coffee shops open to stop at. We view the lake from the end of the town wharf.

The mountains turn into high rolling hills and not far down the road we pass a small hotel called the Garston Hotel. It has an old fashion 20’s and 30s’ look to it, so we turn around and head back to check it out. It is called Al’s Café and has been a working hotel since the 1800’s. Here we have muffins and flat whites…what a surprise this place turns out to be. My savory muffin is served with hot roasted vegetables and caramelized red onions on top of the hot muffin. Alan’s chocolate-blueberry muffin is served hot as well with extra chocolate sauce and rich whipped cream. We didn’t have lunch after this!

Tonight we have a nice cabin in a very packed park. This is one of the spots everyone seems to go to. There were over 100 campervans in the park and the kitchen was packed. We book the all day Milford Sound trip, which includes a bus ride, boat trip and barbecue. Tomorrow we will have to be up early, but at least they pick us up at the park.

We haven’t had a hike so Alan and I walk around the town, through the rugby fields to the harbour and along the beach back to the cabin. The walk was lovely, but there is not much to offer in this town.

Queenstown, Glenorchy, Kinloch
Monday Nov 16th, 2009

Today we drive up through the snow covered mountain ranges to a small town called Glenorchy. This is the area where they filmed the Lord of the Rings movie.

Lake Wakatipu snakes between the mountain range, to our right, and the road winds its way along the side of the mountain. The scenery is breathtaking and we stop many times to take pictures. It is just so beautiful much like the Canadian Rockies.

The road from Queenstown to Glenorchy is 44 kms and it takes a bit to get there as there is lots of construction along the way . There are lots of slips, which are washouts and the road is twisty and windy. We drive around the town and end up down at the wharf where we have our picnic lunch.

After lunch, we wander out onto the wharf and take in the scenery. It is very chilly and Katherine has bundled up in nice woolen hat and scarf. Past the wharf is a lagoon trail. It is beautiful, winding through the trees, along the river then over to this huge wetland. Throughout the wetland are board walks that you follow with benches to sit and view a different mountain scene. There are snow capped mountains all around us. It is wonderful.

Further up the coast is a small place called Kinloch. The road crosses the Dart river. Shortly after we stop a truck pulls up and out hops a sheep famer. He says, that when the weather is bad, the boating company in town, Dart River Excursions, can’t always get back onto the lake or down to Glenorchy. They use his property at the bridge to drop off passengers. Unfortunately, they often forget to shut the gate from the sheep’s pasture. He took us down and showed us around. We had wondered why there was so many loose sheep on the road!

We talk to this fellow for a while about NZ, and Canada. He has been to the Calgary stampede! On his suggestion we keep driving to Kinloch, it is beautiful he says. So we go on. The road quickly narrows to one lane, and turns to gravel, but we continue on. At the end we find a little lodge and stop in for flat whites and chips. It is a quaint place and we enjoy our stop.