Barry McKnight & Roger Cowland take a look at the differences between Australia and New Zealand……………………….
The year is 2002. This is the year we decided to forgo our usual holiday in Bali and try something different. After many years of ignoring our close neighbour, New Zealand, sometimes known as “The Land of the Long White Cloud” or “The Shaky Isles”, we decided finally to give it a go and hired ourselves a motor home to tour the North and South islands for three weeks. This was originally a letter that Roger wrote to his sister Doris in England.. I, Barry, have got to it and expanded it a little…..
The North Island
The New Zealand trip went exceptionally well. It seems that we were very lucky weather-wise as we only had one day of rain in the thirty days that we spent there. There were other days when showers came but they were mostly while we were driving. We arrived in Auckland around 3.40pm on Oct 2nd after a pleasant 2hr.20min flight in a 747 jumbo. Here we had to pick up our Maui motor home which was to be our home for the duration of our holiday. This took longer than expected and it was getting dark by the time we left the Maui depot. Now, driving a strange vehicle in a strange city after dark is bad enough but when that vehicle is a cumbersome motor home that we had no experience with before, can be rather frightening. Especially when we had little idea of where we were going. After doing the grand tour of suburban Auckland and frightening a few motorists, we eventually found the caravan park at Manukau and set ourselves up - with the help of the guide book!. The motor home looked almost new and had a three way power system. This consisted of 240v when in a caravan park and 12v backup battery and LPGas for travelling. It was designed to sleep four, had a four burner gas stove, fridge, microwave, water heater, electric water pump and a rather noisy room heater, plus a shower and toilet. Motor homes are very popular in New Zealand so there were plenty of motor camps and caravan parks to service our needs. Manukau is actually classed as a city and has a very large population of Maoris. It's about 30 mins from the airport, (if you know the way and it's not dark!) and about 1 hour bus ride from Auckland’s downtown area. On our first night in Manukau I was chatting with an Australian family who were just heading home. They had just done three weeks touring in the south island and they got the lot, wind, snow, hail, fog, rain and, our main fear, icy roads!. Their holiday was a complete washout, so what had we let ourselves in for we wondered. We spent another three days in Auckland which were sunny, windy and cool. The Skytower, tallest building in the southern hemisphere, provided some great views of Auckland, its harbours, and the America's Cup yacht trials which were taking place over the next few months. Another interesting attraction was Kelly Tarlton’s Undersea and Arctic World. Here you ride in a heated, snow cat that takes you through a sub-Antarctic landscape, where the temperature is zero, and you can observe, at very close range, colonies of King and Gentoo penguins. They also have a wonderful display of cold water fish which is viewed from a moving walkway that takes you through a long glass tunnel with fish swimming above and on each side. On the 6th we headed north to the Bay of Islands. We were pleased it was Sunday with less traffic about, which made driving the manual motor home less traumatic. Here we had our first night on the road at a place called Paihia. The camp area had a number of huge coral trees where beautiful blue/black Tui birds were sucking at the bright red flowers and chasing each other about. These are rather unique birds as they appear to be wearing a white lace collar with a little white fluff ball at their throat. Of course out came the cameras!. Paihia is a pretty little port town with an old stone church and a huge Kuari tree in the main street. A late afternoon walk on the beachfront presented some beautiful harbour views with sunlight splashed across a volcanic mountain landscape. It is very popular with backpackers with heaps of accommodation provided for them. It is also the gateway for cruises around the one hundred and fifty islands that are in the bay. We booked a half day cruise for 9am the following day, but got caught out with daylight saving. Nobody told us that the clocks went forward one hour, so when we got to the jetty we just watched our cruise boat sailing away into the distance. Fortunately there was another at 10am, what they called the mail delivery ship, and it was a full day cruise. We took it and just as well as we were in for a treat when a large pod of Dolphins decided to frolic around our boat. Never seen so many, and they were really enjoying themselves leaping out of the water then diving under the boat. We even got to see a bunch of fur seals lazing on rocks and an Orca killer whale, plus assorted seabirds. It was a sunny day but very windy and cool. Lunch was on a remote island called Urupukapuka (why can't they have names you can pronounce!). Here a short climb offered some stunning views across the islands. One of the other highlights was the hole in the rock. This awesome rock formation has a hole large enough to allow a fairly big cruise boat to travel right through it. Unfortunately the windy conditions caused the sea to get rather wild, and although at one time the captain almost decided to go for it, he pulled back at the last minute. We and many others were pleased he did as it looked like a massive washing machine in that channel. I could see the boat being smashed into matchwood on those jagged rock walls. Still we got some good shots and it was a great day.
Next day we did the long drive south to Rotorua with lush green vegetation everywhere, that was nothing at all like Australia. We had to drive via Auckland again but the motorways are really good and get you through the city very easily. Auckland city looked stunning as we approached from the north and travelled over the elevated bridge that gave great views of the city. We arrived at our Blue Lake camp at 7pm. This camp was chosen because it is twenty minutes from the city and is free of the awful sulphur pong that is ever present there. Rotorua sits on the edge of Lake Rotorua and was quite spectacular with its main streets sporting mass displays of very colourful tulips. Here we awoke to our first frost, but at least it was clear and sunny (top of 15cel). and we spent the day at the Whakarewarewa Maori Arts & Crafts Centre. It is also known as the Maori thermal village or just the "Whaka" for short. The place is a very active thermal area close to the city with spurting geysers, boiling mud pools and lots of steam from numerous pools of almost boiling water. The rotten egg pong (hydrogen sulphide) gets a bit much though and didn't help the egg sandwiches Barry made for lunch!! Unfortunately the Maori concert at the Whaka didn't allow video cameras and this was one thing we wanted to get on tape. Not to be outdone, Barry sneaked some footage by sitting his camera on his knee, pointed it in the general direction and left it running. By doing this we got all the music and some of the dancing. It was an interesting look at the Maori culture. Here we had it demonstrated how they can cook their food in the thermal springs. Almost anything can be cooked by just wrapping it up and placing it in the near boiling water for a suitable time or by placing it in a thermal oven contraption. What a great way to save on gas or electricity bills! A bit of a worry though is that they seemed to have been a bit of a warlike race in the past judging by the weapons that they had on display there. However, they also had some beautifully carved masks and statues also on display. The main big geyser "Pohutu" was in the next property, so we climbed a fence or two to get some closer shots. The next day we went in search of more old geysers. This time to Wai-O-Tapu about 45 mins from the city. The main attraction there was the Lady Knox geyser which erupted at 10.15am everyday. How can a natural occurrence happen at the same time each day? Well, as we found out it is helped along a bit. At 10am a ranger arrives, dumps 1kilo of laundry powder down the geysers spout, gives a little talk and about 15 mins later steaming water shoots up to a height of about 20 metres, and continues to do so for the next couple of hours. The story behind it is that when the country was just getting settled they had some low risk jail inmates there clearing the land and planting a pine forest. One hot day they decided to wash their clothes in the hot water that came from the spring. They put carbolic soap into it to make it sudsy and after a while the geyser reacted with the soap and sent all their clothes flying into the air. This 17 sq kilometre thermal wonderland has walking tracks that take about two hours to cover. The strange volcanic landscape has many craters, caverns, boiling water, much steam and some very colourful lakes, waterfalls and bubbling mud pools. A rather scary fact is that the Earth’s crust, which is normally about 35 kilometres thick, is only 16 kilometres thick here at Rotorua. Which is less than half what it should be. That explains all the geo-thermal activity. We decide that this place is best viewed in the rear vision mirror travelling at top speed!!
Next day we visited the Waitomo Glowworm caves. Our cameras were banned again, but this time there was a good reason because the camera flashes would disturb the Glowworms. A tour of these deep limestone caverns revealed some amazing formations that have evolved over thousands of years. Highlight of the tour was the Glowworm caves. Deep down in the chilly earth you board a boat in almost total darkness and the guide pilots the boat through the caverns. As your eyes get used to the dark, thousands of little glowing blue lights appear on the roof above, just like a starry night sky. It's an amazing sight, but one that was impossible to capture on tape so we bought a few postcards as a memento of Nature at its weird best. We had planned to spend the night at Waitomo but as the tour was short we decided to head south to Ohakune. The country was exceptionally green with lots of sheep, newly born lambs, cows, turkeys and deer. We encountered our first snow capped mountains and volcanoes but it was too cloudy to see them properly. Ohakune is a ski-field town that provides access to Mt Ruapehu, one of the active volcanoes in this region. This is a great area for walks, or tramping, as they call it here. These walks can be anything from one to six days. We like to walk but these are a bit out of our class! Anyway, you must have the proper gear as the weather can turn very nasty in just 15 mins!…It was now October 13 and the weather for our drive to Taupo was rainy. It did not matter much as the sombre weather seemed to suit the nature of the Tongariro National Park with its many volcanoes shrouded in mist and low cloud. The sun did peep through occasionally and the rain ceased long enough for us to get a few shots of what would have been magnificent scenes in full sunshine. On arrival at Taupo we had a walk around the town and on passing a Newsagents were quite shocked to see all the newspapers on display carrying front page headlines about bombings in Bali. A bar well known to us, the Sari Club, and the opposite Paddy’s Bar had been targeted with a heavy death toll expected in both bars. This is shocking news! One things for sure is that the Balinese would not have done it. The news sent a cold chill down our spines. We were glad that we changed our holiday plans that year or we may have been caught up in it.. Outside in Taupo main street life went on. In the large parkland in the city a Gypsy Fair had set itself up with all kinds of entertainment. It seemed just the thing to divert our gloomy thoughts to something so colourful and lively. They had the most bizarre collection of caravans and motor homes that we have ever seen. We doubted very much if they would be allowed on Australian roads. Anyway, out came the cameras again and we lost ourselves in the joyous eccentricity of a Gypsy Fair….Taupo is situated on the shores of New Zealand’s largest lake, Lake Taupo which is fed by the Waikato River. A rather disturbing fact is that Lake Taupo is actually the crater of the Taupo volcano which existed prior to AD 186 when it blew apart in a massive eruption, leaving behind the huge crater which in time filled with water and became Lake Taupo. The lake is now very popular for summer water sports. Does anyone give a thought to what lies beneath them we wondered!..The first place we visited here was the nearby Huka Falls where a raging torrent of water flows through a narrow gorge with such force that it literally explodes out into the river below. While some kayakers remained upstream and paddled about in the calmer waters, jet boats were thrilling passengers by speeding about below the cascading waterfalls. We were glad of our umbrellas that day as the showers persisted, although a few sunny breaks allowed us to film some of the action. The next day we awoke to a sunny day with very cold winds. We went to a lookout hoping for views across the lake, but due to heavy distant cloud the volcanoes were still not visible. Later we drove to the Ariatiatia dam to check out kayakers on nearby rapids. A 4k dirt road took us to their practise spot. Fortunately our luck was with us here and the next few hours were spent getting footage of these highly skilled guys and girls shooting the rapids. It all looked rather dangerous as the wild river often rolled the kayaks over and over plunging the occupants into water that was only 12cel. A real bonus here was the Jetboat that came speeding up the river to then go leaping up the rapids. Quite a thrill for its passengers who screamed with delight, or was it terror, when the boat hovered partway up the rapids. This boat did four passes up and down the river so we were able to get some really good shots. Back at the lookout, the clouds had cleared to reveal the volcanoes across Lake Taupo, their snow caps shining in the afternoon sun. The wind made it extremely difficult to film, and at times it was so strong it threatened to topple our tripods and cameras!
It is now day 13 with a cloudy start and very cold. However as we left Taupo and travelled south along the desert highway the sky cleared and we got the best views yet of the volcanoes yet with the sun glinting off their snow capped peaks. The desert highway ( the main highway 1) is aptly named for here we left the lush green fields that we had been used to, and for many kilometers travelled through a desolate red/brown landscape where nothing much grew except red tussock grass. Probably the result of lava flows and volcanic ash in times past. Eventually we left the desert region behind us and we found ourselves, once again, back in green countryside. The contrast between the two was amazing, The road now took us through some high mountain scenery with lush green rolling hills and stunning views of waterfalls. The Raukawa falls were spectacular and the sunlight briefly illuminated them just as we arrived. We found that NZ roads are rarely straight and this one to Wanganui must be the most bendy, and hilly on the island! There were 52 kilometers of sharp bends on mountain roads with some sheer drops below, which were a bit hair raising to say the least! And with a top heavy, underpowered van the going gets tough as the speed drops and travelling time gets longer. Eventually we reached some nice flat road again that eventually took us into Wanganui. Along the way here we were greeted with a most amazing sight. Across the lush green fields in the distance it looked as if someone had created a huge pile of crispy white meringue- or was it a giant Bomb Alaska or a pile of flour? Later we decide that the pile of flour may be Mount Tongario. This certainly is a weird country! The next day we drove to Wellington where it was very windy and quite cool at only 14cel. From the top of Mt Victoria we got some great views of the city. Tree branches scratched the van on the narrow roads up to the summit but luckily they were lessened with a bit of polish, so we were very relieved as we had posted a $5000 deposit against any damage caused to the vehicle. It was now day15 and we boarded the Inter-Islander ferry for the 3 hour journey to Picton on the south island. Despite the strong winds the crossing was quite smooth and remained fine until we neared the heavily clouded south island.
The South Island
There was a fine drizzle at Picton but once we hit the road we soon left the clouds behind for a pleasant sunny day. Picton was where we decided to give the west coast a miss. The weather report for the west wasn't great with snow falling in places, and our only route through the mountains at the southern end was the Haast Pass, and that could be closed due to snow. It's a main highway and would have been cleared quickly, but there may still be ice on the road, and we didn't want to risk it, so we decided that it would be best to remain on highway 1. This followed the east coast, in fact the winding road (yes, another one!) was right on the edge of the ocean and presented many spectacular views of the rugged coastline with snow capped mountains in the background. Our first stop was Kaikoura, which is known for its whale watching cruises. This pretty little town sits at the foot of snow capped Mt Fyffe. Next morning Mt Fyffe was a fantastic sight with the sun shining on its white peaks. We went out into the fields for some shots of sheep and lambs against the mountain backdrop, and then returned to the lookout for some magnificent views overlooking the town. (I'm rapidly running out of descriptions for all this wonderful scenery). The temperature rose to 18cel, so we better watch out or we'll get heat exhaustion! We even found some seals basking on the rocks with one lying on the sand in front of us as we walked along the beach. We reluctantly left Kaikoura at 11.30am and headed towards Christchurch. On the way we stopped at the beautiful, clear, Huruni river for lunch with masses of yellow flowers covering the hillsides around us and a rare Double Banded Plover trying to lure us away from its nest. The great thing with the van is that you can stop anywhere for lunch or a coffee. We usually pick a great scenic spot and park the van in such a way that the dining area windows overlook the spectacular scenery.
We arrived at Christchurch around 4.30pm. One thing you don't have to worry about is catching the shops as some of the big supermarkets are open 24 hours a day, everyday. This is very convenient for us travellers as we can often get delayed by more photo stops than were planned, which is so easy in a country where the scenery is ever changing. Christchurch was a really a very pleasant city with an English feel about it, especially as it has a magnificent Cathedral in its centre. We took the bus into Cathedral Square as motor homes are difficult to park in the city and are a target for thieves. For some good city views we climbed the 132 steps to the top of the Cathedral tower. The botanic gardens tulip displays were stunning. I've never seen so many different varieties and colours. The pretty Avon river, that flows right through the city and parklands, even has men in boater hats who to take visitors for a leisurely cruise in their punts. We noticed that they made a much better job of it than we four did when we went punting in Cambridge, England, many years ago!. Later we took a drive to Arkaroa, a lovely little harbour town on the Banks Peninsular about 80 kilometres away. It was originally settled by the French, and many of the streets have French names, but in 1840 the British signed a treaty here giving them sovereignty, thus snatching the prize away from the French who also wished to claim the two islands for France. We didn't stay long in Christchurch, however, as we had to return there to fly home on the 31st. Our next town was Oamaru where we read that it was possible to see the world’s rarest Penguin, the highly endangered Yellow Eyed Penguin. We managed to get there in time for a tour that took us through an area where they come ashore to their nests. We got really lucky here and watched two come ashore just before sunset. The local guide, Jim, even took us to see a couple of nests and gave an interesting talk on their status and behaviour. Fortunately two of the nests had Penguins sitting on them who didn’t mind people looking at them or taking pictures. Unlike the other Penguins, the Yellow Eyed Penguins are solitary creatures and move about as individuals, thus making themselves a target for predators. Here in Oamaru they have created a special area for them by removing all predators and fencing it in to assure their safety. Later on we wrapped up warm and made our way to the wharf in town to witness the arrival of the Little Blue (Fairy) Penguins after their day out hunting. A grandstand had been erected near the nesting sites so visitors can watch this nightly event. We didn't think many people would be mad enough, like us, to sit out in the cold wind for hours waiting, but it was packed. About 8pm the first raft of about 20 emerged from the sea. They usually have a group leader and assemble at the waters edge until their group are all ashore then they will start their march up the rocky beach to their nests. From the stand we were able to observe some nests, and as the hunters neared the nests the females and the young ones came out to greet them, hoping, of course, that dad’s brought home a feed. For the next hour or so more groups came in and waddled up the beach. They're strange but very cute little fellows. We tried to film the event but our special night vision cameras let us down a bit as the focus drifted due to the distance and dim lighting. A shame as there would have been some good scenes there. We didn't get home till 9.45 and then had to get dinner!.. Needless to say we ate late that night. The next morning was sunny and warm so we went for a stroll around the Oamaru Botanic gardens and did a tour of the city. The gardens had some more lovely tulip beds and pink cherry blossoms adorning a Japanese style bridge, while the city had many grand old Victorian era buildings. After morning coffee we head towards Dunedin…
Dunedin was going to be our base for the next 3 days as there appeared to be a lot to see. However, that was not to be. We got there about 1pm and took a drive along the Otago Peninsular to the Albatross colony. The tourist info place told us that it was a 1 hour drive. That sounded okay, but they didn't tell us that the narrow road had hairpin bends all the way. With the ocean on one side and rock walls on the other it was a terrifying ride and after about 30 mins we turned back!. There must be a lot of damaged and very wet vehicles in this city!. Anyway, the Albatross viewing area was closed for October because they were nesting. This is the only land based Albatross colony in the world so we were keen to get some footage. As most of what we wanted to see in Dunedin was along that awful road, and not wanting to experience that again we decided to head off the next day for Te Anau, gateway to the fiords. After taking shots of their very grand railway station, we left Dunedin in sunshine about 9am with the temperature at 12 degrees cel, with a predicted high of 17cel. The road was good with not much traffic, but a strong gusty wind developed making the van very hard to handle. It was a picturesque drive though, with more snow capped mountains and impossibly green fields of sheep. As we moved further south the snow on the mountains peaks increased with the lower slopes a mass of yellow flowers. It was about 3.30pm when we arrived in Te Anau and we booked ourselves on a coach/cruise sightseeing trip for Milford Sound for the next day. The town, situated on the shore of Lake Te Anau, was surrounded by high snow capped mountains. It was particularly pretty with streets of pink cherry trees that were in full bloom.. We didn't know if our Milford trip would eventuate as the main road was closed due an avalanche caused by the warmer weather thawing the snow. Next morning the coach was to pick us up outside our caravan park but it didn't turn up. A Queensland lady who was with us got on her mobile phone to find out what was happening. She was told that the road was still closed and tours from outside Te Anau had been cancelled. To avoid disappointment to those who were waiting out in the cold, a local coach driver volunteered to take us. He explained that the journey normally takes 3 hours and the road may be opened later if the bombing of the snow is a success. Apparently they send a helicopter up and chuck out explosives onto the dangerous overhanging snow and ice. He said he would take us to the various places of interest on the way where we could spend more time than usual. This would allow time for them to open the road and make it safer. If the road was not opened he would return us to Te Anau and we would get a full refund. Sounded good to us... except the bit about the bombing! It was to be hoped that they finished with the bombing well before we drove through!.. The journey was quite breathtaking. Our luxury coach had large glass windows and glass roof panels along each side to allow a great view of the towering peaks as they flashed by. We made many stops overlooking deep valleys with fast flowing rivers, spectacular waterfalls and calm mirror lakes. The mountain Kia Parrots were amusing and playful, but they can be destructive. They delight in pulling off the rubber strip around car windows and quite often a car will drive off with the birds still on the roof. If you offer food, they follow you like puppy dogs. These birds, about the size of a crow, are hard to see in the forest due to their green/brown colouring. It is only in flight that they display the bright red colouring under their wings. They are the world’s only species of alpine parrot and are exclusive to New Zealand.. The higher we went, the colder it got and cloud descended to give us misty rain. The dense forest was all coated in a green moss which gave a rather weird atmosphere. Then came the news that we were waiting for. Due to a rapid temperature drop the bombing raid was cancelled and the road opened - so we were now on our way to Milford. We were really pleased that we chose the coach rather than drive the van up, especially when we came to the Homer Tunnel. This dark circular hole that goes right through the mountain is just big enough, in parts, for two vehicles to pass. The only lights are those on the vehicles. We had to pass a motor home just like ours in the tunnel and the M.H. was so close to us that we held our breaths waiting for the scraping and tearing sound of a collision. Thankfully both vehicles managed to avoiding whacking each other - just! Once through the tunnel a deep valley opens up with a massive sky high wall of mountains rising up on either side. Everywhere you look there are tumbling waterfalls cascading down and the vehicles on the winding road far below look like little toys. We were now running late and in danger of missing our cruise connection at Milford. Our driver phones ahead and alternate arrangements are made and the whole coach load of us are now put on a 2 hour nature cruise. We had paid for a similar cruise but others paid for lesser ones, so they got a good deal out of it all. The cruise boat was the "Milford Mariner". It was quite a large motorized sailing ship with three decks. At Milford there was a bit of high cloud around the peaks and a few spots of rain. The driver informs us that Milford Sound is one of the wettest areas in New Zealand with an annual rainfall of five and a half metres. Maybe it would hold off for us today!. We boarded the ship and were soon travelling through the mighty fiords. The wind had increased a bit but at least the sun came out. The scenery was spectacular with mile high snowcaps and more thundering waterfalls on each side. Our captain nosed the boat right below one of the bigger falls and took us past a group of Fur Seals and a couple of Penguins sunning themselves on the rocks. Thanks to the avalanche, we had a really great day out with many more photo stops than usual, and all for A$118 each. We were so lucky that it was fine and the Captain reminded us again that on average this area has about 200 rainy days per year. The next day, after all that activity we had a leisurely drive around Te Anau and Manipouri. We had a walk along a suspension bridge at Rainbow Beach that gave us superb views of the river and mountains, although the bridge was a bit wobbly! This is another great area for tramping with many tracks leading off through the forest. It was here we met a lone young English woman tramper with a huge backpack. She had walked the 10 kilometers from Te Anau, and was after directions. We weren't much help though as we didn't know the area, so she went off again, heading towards the snowy peaks. These trampers often travel alone in all sorts of conditions. I don't think I would like to go tramping on my own in these extremely remote areas. The next day at Te Anau was an amazing one with a clear blue sky. The lake and surrounding mountains were free of cloud and we got some great shots around the town and lake with the cherry blossoms glowing in the morning sunshine. At 10 am we left for Queenstown.
We Arrived in Queenstown about 2.30pm. It was a picturesque drive with a lot of it being along the shore of a great blue lake, again with high snow capped mountains on either side. We settled our selves into a leafy Caravan Park and went into the city and took a gondola (cable car) to the Skyline Lookout and Restaurant (2500ft). This has to be one of the best lookouts anywhere, with the most spectacular scenery that we have ever seen. Of course it was greatly helped by the bright sunny day.. Helicopters whizzed about taking people on scenic flights, while far below the stately old twin screw steamer "Earnslaw" steamed majesticaly across Lake Wakatipu. The weather the next day was quite the opposite, with showers in the morning. Undeterred by the weather change we went to the local Kiwi Bird Life Park, where we managed to get some reasonable footage of a couple of young Kiwis. What funny, fascinating, little birds they are, unable to fly like real birds, they just wander about the forest at night looking for a few worms or bugs. After lunch, when the weather had improved, we went to Arthurs Point for some shots of the Shotover jet boats. As no cameras were allowed on board we had to content ourselves with some shots from the bank. It sure looked like a thrilling ride as the jet boat skimmed along the narrow gorge beneath the Shotover bridge. We then we stepped back into the past at Arrowtown, a quaint old village from the 1800's. At the Kawarau suspension bridge we went to look at the Bungy Jumping. This is where Bungy Jumping first started. Quite a few brave souls took the leap into the 43 metre deep chasm. A couple of them even plunged into the icy cold river below. Barry’s brother, Claude did this jump a few years ago at the age of 75!. Rather him than me!. Barry was not tempted at all to follow his brother’s daredevil feat. A late afternoon stroll along the city waterfront was rewarding for our cameras. There were lots of young people about in this very nicely laid out area of restaurants, bars and coffee shops, all overlooking the lake with its mountain backdrop. Then the "Earnslaw" sailed in alongside the wharf to make a beautiful scene even better. However, a sudden weather change developed and a very dark and stormy sky made us flee back to our camper. It rained all night and there appeared to be more snow on the high peaks next morning.
After leaving Queenstown the sky cleared a bit as we travelled through a dramatically different landscape. When we stopped for lunch at the top of the Lindis Pass there were no trees in sight and the brown barren hills that stretched out before us seemed to go on forever. Our camp for that night was beside lake Ruataniwha, surrounded by more snowcaps with a thick pine forests on its shores. This lake again had the unusual blue colour, made prettier with the setting sun rippling along its surface. Next day started out very overcast so we decided to drive straight through to Christchurch. However, the weather brightened up and when we arrived at Lake Putaki the sky was clear and we were able to get some shots of Mount Cook, on the other side of the lake. It is New Zealand’s highest mountain with a height of 3,754 mtrs or 12,316 ft. We passed through some fantastic scenery around lake Tekapo and the Rangitata Gorge with lots of red tussock grass again. As we approached Christchurch we could see greenish clouds in the distance and hoped we did run into that!. Later the car radio informed us that a storm with golf ball size hail stones, plus a mini tornado had just flooded a Christchurch mall and cinema. We were relieved that we missed that one, but at the Caravan Park we had just set up camp when another short, but fierce (marble size) hail storm hit, leaving the camp ground covered with a white blanket. They certainly get some wild weather around these parts!. Rain! rain! rain! the next day was a washout and very cold. Wrote postcards, read books, cleaned the van then armed with our umbrellas went to the movies.
For our last full day we boarded the TranzAlpine train for a 9 hour journey from Christchurch on the east coast to Greymouth on the west coast, and back again. This is said to be one of the great rail journeys in the world. The train sped across the flat Canterbury plains, then started its climb up the mountains by way of several viaducts called "the staircase". We spent most of the trip filming from the open observation car. It wasn't too bad across the sunny plains, except for the wind, but as we climbed higher the temp dropped markedly. As we neared the snowline our hands were getting a bit numb, but we had to keep on filming. The scenery was absolutely magnificent. More towering snow capped mountains, vast lakes, gorges and rivers with banks covered in masses of yellows flowers. First stop was Springfield to pick up a very large group of Asians. Arthurs Pass was our next stop. This small mountain village is a very popular ski resort in the winter months. All the Asians got off here. It's a puzzle as to where they were going, as there didn’t appear to be anything there that would accommodate such a large group. A few other passengers chose to spend their day there also, although we didn't see what they could possibly do to fill in the 5 hours till the train returned. We'd be bored stiff, as well as frozen stiff!..(we were told later that they all went tramping.). There were 16 tunnels on this route, and the one we were entered just after Arthur’s Pass was a staggering 8.5 kilometres long, and took about 20 minutes to get through. Once through we started heading downwards again towards the west coast and the dense cloud that we picked up earlier began to disperse so by the time we arrived at Greymouth the sun was shining. It was a very attractive coastal city with a solid wall between it and the sea, so we guessed that they must get some rather large ocean swells in this part of the world. We spent an enjoyable hour wandering about the town before boarding the train again for the return journey. No Asians re-boarded at Arthurs Pass, so we don't know what happened to them! We did however, pick up a train load of old folk but where they came from is a mystery. After another fantastic journey from the west coast to the east coast we arrived back at Christchurch at 6.30pm. It was our last full day in the Land of the Long White Cloud and what an exciting, exhilarating day it was! Despite the intense cold, and numb hands, we stood filming in that open area that the train had for most of the journey. We laughed about it afterwards and how the excitement of the thrilling journey made us forget all about the cold.
For our last day we cleaned up the motor home, took a further look around this beautiful city and then took it back to the Maui depot. We got our $5000 deposit refunded without any problems, and then went off to the airport to catch our 6.15pm flight home. While we waited there we reflected on the differences between Australia and New Zealand. Of course one of the first things that you notice is that they talk funny and mangle their vowel sounds, so that a “biscuit” becomes a “buskit“. Then there are all the volcanoes, the boiling mud pits, wobbly ground and massive mountains. In Australia, once you get away from the east coast the land is mostly flat, and of course is without the volcanoes that add so much drama to the New Zealand lifestyle. There is the occasional underground rumble but severe earthquakes are very rare. However, the major difference between the two countries becomes evident after driving around New Zealand roads for a while. There is no road kill! No little , or big animals spattered all over the roads like in Oz! The mind boggling reason for this is that New Zealand has NO indigenous animals of its own, except one lizard called a Tuatara and a couple of Geckos. Where Australia teems with animals of all descriptions, its close neighbour missed out on that evolutionary cycle completely. Such a fact is quite mind boggling! How did this happen? They do not have any snakes either which is a huge plus when travelling through the forests. Unfortunately they have many introduced animals that have caused enormous problems and threaten its many ground based birds like the Kiwi, and of course the Penguins. Our Possums were introduced to support the fur trade and are now eating their way through the New Zealand forests, and apparently killing native birds. Some towns that we passed through had notices pinned up advertising Possum hunts. Another huge difference between the two countries is the indigenous people. The Maori people were a very much advanced race, weaving clothes, building their own homes and villages, and growing crops. Our Aborigines were nomadic, hunter/gatherers who wore little or no clothing.. One is forced to wonder how two neighbours could be so different?… Well, that about sums up a truly fantastic 30 day adventure. This trip was a test run to see how we liked a motor home as we are interested in buying one for our trips around Oz. Apart from the few negatives mentioned earlier, we found it so well equipped and convenient that we cooked all our meals at home and didn't eat out at all. One thing, if we go ahead, we would like a more powerful engine! We travelled 4160 kilometers and shot about 20 hours of tape, so now we have to file it all in our computer database before we can start editing.
Footnote : When we arrived back home in Sydney there were messages on the answering machine from Barry’s niece Helen who was rather distraught as her eldest son, Aaron, was a victim of the Bali bombing and had been flown to Sydney for emergency treatment. Unfortunately we were not home to be able to help her. Aaron survived with burn scars and a loss of hearing in one ear. All his friends that he went with were killed.
On the 22nd February 2011, the beautiful city of Christchurch was hit by a massive earthquake that killed 185 people and severely damaged the city and surroundings.The damage to the 131 year old neo-Gothic Christchurch Cathedral caused its spire to collapse, and left the building in such a condition that it would have to be demolished.
The Full video version is here
You can also view the separate movies that resulted from the above adventure by clicking on the following links
Bay of Islands
Action River
White Water
Rotorua
Christchurch
Yellow-Eyed Penguins
Milford Sound
Queenstown
Shotover River
TransAlpine Train Journey
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