Day 9

Glacier Day.  We started off going to Franz Josef Glacier.  Very impressive, even beautiful (although once again the constant drone of helicopters was a detractor).  Also very interesting, how the glaciers form and progress.

From there, on to Fox Glacier, also very interesting and beautiful.  We did a third hike today, up to a “glow-worm” tunnel.  This was a tunnel carved through from one valley to another to divert water for use in gold extraction.  Not too successful, because they failed to find any gold to mine!  The tunnel is narrow, very wet, and once you’re in the middle and turn off your torch, it is possible to see the glow-worms on the roof.  The glow-worms were much less interesting than the history of the tunnel.

^{Mark and John: the guided walk up to the Franz Josef glacier is not too hard, so long as you take is steadily and slowly.  Actually it might perhaps be best to avoid a guided walk, so that you could set your own pace.  The walk to Fox Glacier I would not recommend on grounds of how steep it is, and how rough the track is.  Dinner we had at The Matheson, at Matheson lake. Good food, not expensive, great location, and Mischievous Kea available.}

Day 10

We started with a lovely walk around Lake Matheson.   It is billed as a mirror lake for its reflections but there was too much wind and consequent ripples for the mirror effect to be seen.  Nevertheless beautiful, with lovely scenery and birdlife – Tuis and others (see picture).

We then had a long drive down to Haast, then over to Waneka and back to Queenstown.  Interesting drive down the coast: a good road but very steep and winding as it goes over the promontories arising from the very steep mountains.  There is no in-between land here: its either steep-sided mountains or very flat floodplains down to the sea.  The rivers are opaque grey water, with all the “rock flour”.  As this precipitates, the broad floodplains are formed.  An interesting consequence of this is that the road bridges are all semi-permanent single-lane bridges, because they are easily raised to accommodate the rise in river-bed level 20-30cm per year!

We stopped at “Puzzling World” in Waneka.  Very amusing and well worth a visit.  All sorts of optical illusions and tricks.  Also †he best maze I have been in. It took Nick and I about 35 min. to complete the challenge of reaching all four corners and then finding our way to the exit.  Average is apparently 60-90 min.  “Is it an unfair advantage that there are two of us” Nick asked.  Yes, if the two are Nick and David Coulshed.  Now there is a challenge for you.

Back to Queenstown.  Fill up the hire car with petrol.  Buy the Altitude “Mischievous Kea” and Renaissance “Stonecutter” beers to take back with us.  We fly back to Sydney tomorrow morning.

Overall

New Zealand at this time of year is lovely (Mark and John take note, this could be he best time to plan for).  It is amazingly similar to England in the summertime – the temperatures are similar, the long days are great, it’s not too hot.  There are a lot of other similarities.  The countryside looks very similar, with deep green foliage on the trees, green grass (as compared to the brown/yellow grass of Australia).  The birdlife is similar even without the feral imports (we have seen blackbirds and chaffinches).  There is a similar smell in the woodlands from the damp leaf mould, I think.

Day 7.

On to Christchurch.  A long drive through Otago, confirming just how like England it is in many respects – although I suspect that it would be a lot drier without the almost ubiquitous irrigation systems in the fields here.  It is very green and fertile-looking.  When I was outside the car for a while, there was even the constant sound of songbirds in the background.  I have had to buy myself a hat, there has been so much sunshine here, which I suspect is not typical, so we have been pretty fortunate with the weather so far, also.

Christchurch is an interesting city.  Much was erased in the earthquake of 2001 (?) and much not yet rebuilt – cash flow is the problem.  Even the (Anglican) cathedral has not had restoration commenced.  The council are doing a good thing though and cracking down on high-rise development naw that they have a chance and excuse: nothing more than 28m high (6 storeys).

^{Notes for John and Mark, coming here soon: there is an excellent tram which can take you on a circular tour of the middle of the city for NZ$25.  Ticket valid all day, as many trips as you want.  We went an absolutely superb fine dining place – Twenty Seven Steps, on New Regent St., highly recommended.  However it was NZ$180 for 2 people (three courses, with drinks)}.

Day 8.

Started off in Christchurch, following the transalpine route over central South Island.  First stop was to look at the waterfall in the Devil’s Punchbowl on Arthur’s Pass, then to climb up the walls of the pass to the Temple Basin.  This is well above the pass, and it was stiff climb for us up a very rough track.  We were puzzled because there was a ski area shown in the Temple Basin.  We could see no chairlift, and as the track up became rougher and rougher we speculated: did everyone get up by four-wheel drive, then did everyone get up by snowmobile, finally did everyone get up by helicopter ?!?!  We reached the top, and the ski area was tiny – three buildings and just two drag-lifts, neither of which was very long.  The building turned out to be run by an university ski-club from Christchurch/Canterbury – so I guess that they all walk up!  Enthusiasm knows no boundaries, is all we can say.

We then followed the road on down Arthur’s Pass.  This is the route of the transalpine railway also.  Single track and very little used these days, I fear.  We didn’t see a moving train at any point during the day (although it could have been in the 8.5km tunnel in the highest section).

We then went on to the Hokitika Gorge, which is very impressive.  The suspension bridge to get up the gorge and the pathways/boardwalks are very well done – the NZ Dept. of Conservation do a very good job, I believe.

^{Notes for John and Mark: the transalpine express might be fun to do.  Perhaps drop a hire car in Christchurch and pick up a new one in Hokitika?  Or a return trip?  We had a good and inexpensive meal at The Kitchen in Hokitika.}

Day 5

I (David) am exhausted as I write this.  Nick and I drove from Te Anau to Wanaka, arriving about 1pm, at which point we started the climb to “Roy’s Peak”.  The sign said the return walking time was six hours, and that was pretty close to being right for us.  It was a relentless upward climb, going up more than 1300 metres, covering about 8km.

It was tough.  Even Nick thought so, and we were really glad to get to the summit after over three hours serious effort, with a couple of rests en-route.  Once there, the views over central Otago were unbelievably impressive.  The only down side I would comment on about all the beautiful NZ scenery is that it is not enhanced by the constant drone of helicopters.  There are so many in use, and the atmosphere is rarely truly peaceful as a result.

This was probably the walk that has taken the most out of me since I walked to Macchu Pichu with Sue and developed mountain sickness.  I’m going to sleep now …..

Day 6

We have had a very good day, starting off at Lake Waneka and ending at Lake Tekapo. Both are lovely lakes, dammed at the outflow but look natural. This area is just like the Lake District in England, but larger, higher, and with many fewer people.

We walked up to a moraine lake at Mount Cook. This was a tame walk compared to yesterday: 80m rise over 5km instead of 1300m over 8km. However the total rise did not tell the story of all the ups and downs.

Note the icebergs!

Three suspension bridges (seriously wobbly) built just for tourists to walk up to the lake.

(as ever, click to enlarge)

Then on to Lake Tekapo where we had an excellent Japanese meal.

Now I am drinking a Mischievous Kea beer.

We’ve seen a Kea. They are Australian King Parrot sized birds and have “attitude”: taking a liking to all sorts of bright objects. They’ve been known to pull bits off cars. Tourists feed them but shouldn’t. “Don’t XXX, it only encourages them!

Day 3.

Nick delivered Sue and Andrew to Queenstown Airport while David did the final tidying of the AirBnB which Nick had arranged.  Then N and D set off for Te Anau.  It was a rainy low-cloud day, highly reminiscent for David of travelling through the Lake District of the UK.  Deep Lakes, green vegetation (lots of rain per year in the South island), low cloud and rain.  Rain, rain, rain.  Milford Sound has over 12 metres of rain in some years.

We went via Kingston, at the western end of Lake Wakatipu, where we found a remnant of the old metre gauge railway, once the lifeline to the area, now derelict (of course).  We arrived at Te Anau in time to walk some way up the Kepler Track – one of the three world-renowned walking tracks in this area.  Clearly it was not an undertaking for us to do now, as it takes several days, and has to be booked months in advance it is so popular.

Sign seen in Te Anau: is this just me, but if I go a helicopter flight, I do NOT  want to become “part to the scenery” !!! ?

 ^{Notes for John and Mark, coming here later this year: we stayed for two nights at the Luxmore Hotel, not a standout but a safe choice.  On the main street (not on the lake and so less expensive).  Dinner was at a place called La Dolce Vita, near the hotel, and was good but not outstanding.  However see Day 4.}

Day 4.

Milford Sound.  This needed a start at 0800 from Te Anau.  There is little accommodation at Milford Sound, which is 115km from Te Anau.  We were booked onto cruise at 1020, and the guidebooks (etc.) say it is two hours drive fro Te Anau to Milford Sound.  Kiwi estimates of the time something will take you are usually accurate – unlike in England, for instance when if a walk is predicted to take two hours, one to one-and-a-half is a better estimate.

Anyway, after a swift drive through spectacular scenery, we arrived in time for our cruise.  It was absolutely worth the effort: MS is unbelievably beautiful and impressive.

On the way back there are lots of things to see or do (i’m sure you could see them on the way there also, but we were too much in a hurry).  Mirror Lakes, waterfalls, and we did Key Summit – a 2 hour walk up to a summit looking over “Fjordland” – the area around the western coast of the South Island.

It was a wonderful day and we finished it off with a great meal at Redcliffe in Te Anau.  An unexpected fine-food experience much to be recommended.

The family holiday is in New Zealand this year, instead of Niseko (Japan).  This is for a number of tedious reasons, and meant that it has been and uneven holiday with only about 3 days when all four Australian Coulsheds were together.  We have now moved on to a phase which is a “road trip” for Nick and David.  This ‘blog will largely cover that phase.  This is the first couple of days where all of us were together.

Day 1.

I (David) flew over from NSW to New Zealand on Jetstar.  Not the most comfortable airline, but simply to get from A to B, that’s fine.  Sue, Nick and Andrew had already been in Queenstown for a couple of days.  Queenstown is lovely – situated on a large lake, surrounded by the most beautiful scenery in the form of mountains.

The others had already done several things (including mountain biking!).

They had also been on a trip up and down the lake on a coal-fuelled, steam-powered boat – the TSS Earnslaw.

My first full day here we decided to climb Ben Lomond mountain.  This involved getting a gondola (!) up to the place where there is a “luge” (basically unpowered go-carts going down a steep winding track), and various other attractions.  We walked from there.  It was quite a tough and long climb, but the views from the top were superb.

We then returned to the luge.  Sue and David had three runs down, Nick and Andrew had five.  It was very good fun.

^{Note for John and Mark, coming here next year: we stayed in an Airbnb place, so not much help for you there.  Dinner was at a place called The Pier, which was OK, not special, but right on the wharf.  Note for John: there is a thriving craft-brewing scene.  Look out especially for Renaissance brewery and Altitude brewery, both easily available in supermarkets or “Bottle-O” shops.}

^.

Day 2

This was a pre-arranged lunch with David’s colleague Sonya (a New Zealand-born cardiologist).  We had a degustation lunch at Amisfield winery in Arrowtown, just out of Queenstown.  Highly recommended if you are ever in the area, and like fine food, fine wine, or both.  It took about three hours!

.We returned to the AirBnB which Nick had arranged.  It was a superb locations, see.  Queenstown is so beautiful.  I said “can we come here to live” and had the usual reply for Sue ….