Fiordland National Park (Part 2)

After being waylaid for a day holding out for better weather, we set off on a gloriously sunny Waitangi Day on the renowned 119km Te Anau – Milford Highway into the heart of Fiordland National Park. Get ready for a substantial use of superlatives and prepare for some invented superlatives added into the mix too…

THE MILFORD ROAD (DAY 1)

On our way up the Milford Road (the most scenically exquisite road EVER!) we made no less than SIX stops before reaching our campsite. There were just so many awesome viewpoints and nature walks along the way! The grand sight at the U-shaped Eglinton Valley with a rugged mountain backdrop was just WOAH!

The Eglinton Valley

And the Lake Gunn Nature Walk through the mossy forest and river was enchanting – seriously I felt like I was in a fairytale movie set. Even our basic campsite, with toilets of the non-flushing variety, was surrounded by impressive mountains.

THE MILFORD ROAD (DAY 2)

A highly anticipated day awaited us: we were on our way to Milford Sound!

We got up at 6am to reach the end of the road and NZ’s famous sound fiord in time for our 9am cruise (how fancy!) On our way up the road we passed through a long tunnel in the mountain and the wow wow wow Cleddau Valley with unreal mountain views before arriving at the roads end and the shore of Milford Sound.

Early morning at Milford Sound

Although it was a clear, sunny morning it was super chilly – hence the woolly hats! But with a 9am sailing with Southern Discoveries we bagged a bit of a bargain and had lots of room out on the deck which really made a difference.

Sailing out from the ferry terminal we were faced with the iconic Mitre Peak rising out of the inky waters. Further into the photogenic fiord we ogled at the most vertical sea cliffs jutting over a kilometre out the water, with their jagged peaks, clinging trees and waterfalls tumbling down the sides. And below us – an unexpected but INCREDIBLE bonus – a pod of bottlenose dolphins frolicking in the water!! WOW!

Continuing along the edge of the fiord we got SO close to the cliff faces and up to the waterfalls with rainbows dancing on their surface. At Stirling Falls we got really close… if we’d had a cup, we could have sampled the water.

The 1 3/4 hour on the water just sailed by so afterwards we prolonged our experience by taking in the sights along the Foreshore Walk.

 

With the rest of the day ahead of us, we seized the opportunity to embark on the Key Summit hike (part of the Routeburn Track) offering panoramic views of entire valleys and surrounding mountains of the Southern Alps.

It’s places like this that just make me feel so alive.

THE MILFORD ROAD (DAY 3)

Our ultimate day (and I’m so thankful we stayed the extra day) involved a more strenuous hike/scramble up a rocky forest path beside gushing cascades of crystal clear water BUT we were rewarded with wooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww views! Keep-it-cool Rich said it was “spectacular“; I said it was quite probably the most overwhelmingly beautiful place we have seen in NZ. That place is Lake Marian.

A glistening turquoise lake enveloped by snowcapped mountains complete with cascading waterfalls. A picture-perfect “pinch-me” moment.

If you want to see me freeze off my extremities in the lake click here. (Rich did go in too – in his boxers – and I quote, “but they were clean on today” #boysaregross).

Our Fiordland finale came with supper and a sunset over Lake Manapouri (van life is the best!) And so we left with beautiful memories, photos that don’t do the place justice, many itchy bites and a broken washing up bowl.

CAMPERVAN LESSON NUMBER 14 – don’t drive over your belongings.

Emma x

Banks Peninsula

After a Parkrun in Christchurch (Rich smashed his run in 22:01. My “run” smashed me) we mooched around the Saturday Farmers’ Market and balanced out our earlier exercise with a Danish pastry. #secondbreakfastrulesapply

A short(ish) drive from Christchurch – via a long and winding road skirting the edge of two old volcano craters that make up Banks Peninsula {this is the cogwheel-shaped area of land on the east coast of South Island – check it out on a map!} – we descended into the harbour town of Akaroa.

Bonjour!

I can honestly say that I never expected there to be a French settlement in New Zealand! But Akaroa sure enough had an unmistakeable French flare… from the street names (Rue Jolie), to shops, architecture, flags and food. Except macarons. I could not find macarons! Sacrilege! (Rich and I are now considering opening a cafe in Akaroa called ‘Makaroa’).

 

We spent a leisurely afternoon wandering around the charming town admiring the PRETTIEST houses, lighthouse and eating fish and chips (with wine and plastic cups that we’d smuggled in hehe!)

Bon appetit!

The next day we decided to hike the Skyline Circuit with an uphill grind from Akaroa up to Stony Bay Peak .

The views of Akaroa Harbour, the Southern Alps and Pacific Ocean were trés magnifique – like a picture painted straight from an artist’s palette.

New Zealand is certainly proving itself to be the land of the lookout! It’s also the land of ‘four seasons in a day’ and before we could count to cinq, the rains had arrived for our descent back down. The pesky weather later redeemed itself with a striking sunset ablaze with rouge tones.

Our view from the van!

With the lure of abundant marine life in the harbour, the following day we seized the opportunity to sail on New Zealand’s oldest gaff-rigged ketch (this might mean more to you than it does to us!) called the Fox II. Check out our borrowed jackets!

Bon voyage!

It was pretty awesome to sail in what is now the crater of an extinct volcano and out into the Pacific Ocean. All got off to a great start (you can probably guess where this is going…) and I was hopeful that things would be “plain sailing” for the 3 hour trip. To begin with we saw lots of seals and even albatross and giant petrel. Then as we ventured further away from the sheltered harbour to view the dolphins, the predicted 10km winds turned out to be 40km winds (damn NZ weather forecasts!) causing a 3-4 metre swell.

Sacré bleu!

As I held on for dear life trying to glimpse a sighting of the dolphins without chundering over the side of the boat, Rich was gung-ho for the motion on the ocean and seemed to be having a whale of a time. (Soz).

 

Anyway, we did see some Hector’s dolphins – one of the worlds rarest and smallest dolphins – and I didn’t chunder… and although it was great to sail back into the harbour powered solely by the huge red sails… let’s just say I think I’ll leave it a while before climbing aboard a boat again. Dry land is more my jam.

La fin.

Emma x

 

A coincidence, a toilet, a drugging and a prophecy. (#weirdhappeningsnz)

A coincidence.

Gusty winds + hightop campervan = watch out all other vehicles on State Highway 10 today!

So the first leg of our decent down the east Northland coast was a little more extreme than we’d bargained for. (Don’t worry, Mum – we’re abs fine). Anyway, we endured the winds and went on our way to meet up with an old friend of Rich’s for dinner. We put on our cleanest clothes and had a fun evening chatting and eating a delicious chilli. Weird coincidence about to be revealed…

Rich’s friend, Cat, married a Kiwi guy from Paihia. This Kiwi guy, we discovered when looking at their wedding album, just happened to be the half-brother of an ex-pupil of mine from Dorset, 18,000km back in the UK. (My ex-pupil was their bridesmaid and I recognised her in the photos straight away.)

The notion of “it’s a small world” just about summed that up – and freaked us all out a bit too!

A toilet.

The next day involved 100% fewer freakish coincidences and we spent it washing our clothes (and subsequently drying them on the roadside), eating our standard pitta/hummus lunch and visiting some public toilets (as you do). But the quirky Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa, with colourful mosaic tiles covering every surface, were anything but crappy. Thomas Crapper himself would be impressed. (Thanks for the recommendation, Shirley).

A drugging.

With hopes of going on a lovely boat trip in the sunshine, I took no risks and diligently took my travel sickness pill after breakfast. Rich and I spent a very pleasant morning exploring pretty Russell (and get this… the town was formerly known in the 19th century as the ‘Hellhole of the Pacific‘) and taking in stunning vistas of the Bay of Islands. After a leisurely lunch on the waterfront, we sat on the wharf and waited for our boat cruise….(I may have taken a sneaky little snooze on Rich’s lap at this point). Anyway, we were both looking forward to getting out on the water and sailing out to see a few of the 144 islands, the ‘Hole in the Rock’ and maybe even spotting wild dolphins swimming in the Bay. But alas! With the motion of the boat combined with the tiny (yet POTENT) travel pill, I could barely keep my peepers open and snoozed through most the trip. On the bright side, at least I was a vomit-free zone that afternoon.

A prophecy.

Moving day. We chose to take the more scenic, coastal road and threw in a detour to a remote headland. We pulled up on seemingly good turf and stopped for a pitta/hummus lunch and Rich’s nap time. When the time to disembark rolled round, what should have been a quick turnaround in the car park turned into a very sticky situation… With wheels spinning on the ground we soon found ourselves entrenched in the mud, with rocking the van back and forth only making it worse. The outcome looked bleak. And with all ideas exhausted, which included jamming drift wood off the beach under the wheels, a glimmer of hope appeared in the form of a JAPANESE BEE MAN! (The weird thing here, dear Reader, is that Rich prophesied meeting a bee man from Japan many months ago…). The bee man, from Japan, dressed in bee-man suit, towed our van to the safe gravelly ground. So reader…

Campervan Lesson Number 8: when stuck in the mud, pray that a Japanese bee man is around the corner. 🐝