Saturday 12^th February

Queenstown from the Skyline Gondola

We agreed with Peter and Margie to visit Queenstown separately so Bill and I packed up the camp and drove into town. Queenstown is described as the adventure capital of the world and one of the brightest diamonds in New Zealand’s jewel studded crown – humm, I’m not sure I would go that far but it certainly had a lot going on.  Nestled on the northeastern shores of Lake Wakatipu Queenstown was formerly a gold-mining town but now relies on tourism.  It offers a host of exhilarating activities from jet boating to bungy-jumping and skiing in the winter. 

Local church’s farmers market

After parking the car the first thing we came across was the local church’s farmers market.  These are always very well organised with lots of examples of local produce on display and for sale.  We bought some locally growth fruit and homemade cakes.  The church had a beautiful flower display inside. 

Gardens on the Peninsular

We walked along the waterfront to the peninsular gardens established in 1867.  Trees and flower gardens cover a small promontory with paths leading through the gardens out onto the waters edge.  There were fabulous views across Lake Wakatipu to the Remarkables range. 

TSS Earnslaw in harbour

We watched the TSS Earnslaw arrive on the waterfront.  It offers trips across the lake but as with a lot of things in New Zealand it’s beyond the cruising budget.  We walked along the waterfront and watched the jet boat going out onto a fairly rough lake as it was blowing a good F5/6, which was creating quite a chop.  It was only out a few minutes before it came back in to let someone off who had already been seasick.  We decided with that and our bad backs it wasn’t for us neither was bungy jumping.  (Sorry Paul and Derry we failed!)

Mountain bikers going up on the gondola

One thing we did treat ourselves to was a ride on the skyline Gondola.  Opened in 1967 you are whisked up 450m in small gondolas that takes just four minutes.  The views from the viewing platform across the town and lake to the Remarkables were breathtaking.

The majestic Remarkables

Chair lift to the luge

There’s a further chairlift that takes you higher and you have the option of walking back down or taking the Luge ….

…. So we had a go

I had to have a go

Ryder Challenge Plate

During a conversation with Thomas while we were on our tour, we learnt that we had been awarded the WOA Rayner Challenge plate for our ‘Epic Voyage’.  This is the Association’s oldest and most prestigious accolade awarded by the association to anyone they consider has completed a voyage that stretches them and their crew well beyond their usual cruising plans.

Our names have been engraved on it

We were very flattered to be awarded this and touched that people at home still think about us.  Our thanks go to the committee that considered us, Dick Leedham for paying our subs and accepting the award on our behalf and to Liz Roberts for sending me the photos.

Friday 11^th February

A street in Arrowtown

In the morning Peter and Margie went for a walk while we made the most of the campsite facilities and had showers followed by a cooked breakfast in the camp kitchen.  It was very well set up with individual workstations and communal tables.  The kitchen also had internet access so we made use of it and called the boys on skype.  Peter and Margie returned with tales of their walk along with an invitation to lunch with some local people.  We packed up and had a look around Arrowtown in the morning. 

A really good shop …..

I really liked Arrowtown, I could live in Arrowtown, with its stone cottages and non-native trees like oak and sycamore, it felt very homely.  The main shopping street of this charming old gold-mining town is delightful to stroll along.  The town still retains much of its original character, with many of its old shops still in use today.  Needless to say this was one of my favourite shops.

…. And inside

One of the old stone cottages

Lunch with Sue and Toddy

We spent a sunny morning wandering around the local farmers market (delicious cherries) and in and out of the shops but sadly not enough time again.  We drove to outskirts of Arrowtown to meet Peters new friends Sue and Toddy.  His parents had brought Toddy here when he was 8 and he’s lived here ever since.  Sue was a born and bred kiwi and they were both really hospitable people.  We all brought various things to the table and had a delicious lunch.  Afterwards they walked us around their 20acre ‘hobby’ farm showing us their pigs, cows and market garden and the most fabulous views across to the Remarkables range. 

Toddys lake and garden

Bill making friends with one of their friendly cows

Camped next to Lake Wakatipu

Afterwards we continued the short drive into Queenstown and camped just outside the town next to Lake Wakatipu, the South Islands largest lake.  It was an amazing spot.  Peter and Margie were parked just behind us.  The ranger later told us that we shouldn’t be that close to the water but he let us stay and we had a peaceful night.

Thursday 10^th February. 

View across Lake Wanaka

We had a wonderful evening watching the last of the sun go down over the mountains but it was a very cold night.  We woke up to 8C, not good for a bad back.  We packed up and continued on the Haast pass.  Up to this point we didn’t have a mobile signal but as we got nearer to Wanaka the phone burst into life.  We had a message from Peter and Margie to let us know they were in Wanaka and suggested meeting at midday.  This worked out well because that’s the time we had planned to arrive there. 

Beautiful cloud formation across Lake Hawea

We sat back and enjoyed our drive along the captivating shores of Lake Wanaka, the crystal clear waters sparkling on our right hand side.  The road continued over a short rise and then we had Lake Hawea equally magical on our left side.  New Zealand is stunning beautiful.  Every corner brings a new vista more breath taking than the last.  We arrived in Wanaka and met up with Peter and Margie.  It was a lovely day so we had a picnic by the lake. 

'I can't hold it up much longer' (look at the clock)

Wanaka is home to Puzzling World, which provides teasing entertainment for all ages with its challenging maze and mind-boggling illusions.  This tower is at the entrance – look a bit closer at the clock!  We all decided to try the maze.  On entry we were faced with the instructions ‘Make your way to each of the four coloured corners, one by one, then make your way out’.  Well this was easier said than done.  Bill and I stayed together but Peter and Margie separated. 

The maze at Puzzling World

It was a three dimensional maze because there were two lots of stairs over the top that lead to different part of the maze, it was really intriguing.  This photo shows only about a quarter of the maze.  We managed to find 3 of the towers but couldn’t get to the fourth.  By standing up in the towers you could see how to get to the next entrance but there were always twists under the stairs that you couldn’t see.  There were emergency exits into the café in the centre and I have to admit, after an hour and a half of wandering around trying to find the fourth tower, I took.  Bill continued and found the fourth tower but decided against going half way round again to get to the exit.  Well done to Peter and Margie because they both did it. 

Peter made it to the Green tower

This is Peter in one of the towers with their camper just sticking out from behind and the next photo is one of the illusions!

One of the optical illusions

Sadly we left Wanaka without having time to look around it but we needed to press on.  We drove alongside Lake Dunstan which was just as beautiful as the ones we had passed earlier.  We headed down to Arrowtown passing the 45º latitude on our way.  We all camped at an organised campsite just outside the town which had showers.

Mount Cook on the right of the picture

Wednesday 9^th February

We had a good nights sleep in the hostel and the next morning we awoke to blue skies.  We packed our stuff up quickly and headed towards Fox glacier but stopped at Lake Matheson on the way.  Lake Matheson is also known as the mirror lake because if you get there between 6am and 9am before the wind starts up it’s possible to see beautiful reflections of a snow capped Mount Cook.  We made it by 8am and almost ran around to the viewing point.  The reflections were there but a cloud covered Mount Cook just as we arrived – doh!  We continued the walk right round the lake, thankfully the rain seems to have gone.

Beautiful reflections of Mt Cook (behind the clouds)

Our shadow

We walked back to the car for breakfast and then continued into the village to walk to Fox Glacier.

Fox glacier

The spectacle of this giant river of ice as it cuts through dramatic glacial valleys is captivating.  The Fox glacier grinds its way down onto the glacial moraine at a rate from 1 – 4 metres a day and while many glaciers have been retreating Fox glacier still flows almost to sea level. 

Walkers on the Glacial moraine

In the last ice age the glacier would have filled this valley, if you look carefully at this photo it’s possible to see how small the people are walking across the glacial moraine. 

Crossing a river on the walk to the base

It was an interesting walk to the bottom of the ice. 

As close as we could get to base of glacier

The river flowing out from under the ice was running very fast with large lumps of ice in it, which were being deposited further down the moraine.

Large lumps of ice just laying around

Haast coastline

Mount Aspiring national park

We continued to drive south on the coast road to Haast, southern gateway to the West coast.  It’s one of the most scenic drives in the country.  We passed so many shades of green and blue in a variable landscape of rainforest, wetlands and glacier fed rivers.  Our camp that evening was at Cameron flats in the middle of the Mount Aspiring national park on a raised area looking north over the Haast river towards a snow capped Mount Hooker. 

Washing up with a view

We had it to ourselves and it was just stunning but we had our first introduction to Sandflies.

Tuesday 8^th February

It was quite a cold night but we slept well on our airbed with a duvet and Grannies crocheted blanket keeping up warm.  In the morning I made the mistake of trying to walk around inside the tent while bending over and suddenly felt a tweak – I had put my back out again.  We packed up and continued to drive down the west coast but my back was feeling painful.  I was cross with myself for doing something so silly.  We stopped at Whataroa so I could get out and stretch my back.  There was a very nice museum of Maori artefacts that we wandered around. 

We continued on our drive heading for the Franz Josef Glacier.  Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers, 15 miles apart, are the only glaciers that descend as low as 300m above sea level any where in the world.  The Franz Joseph descends from the top of the Southern Alps and cuts through dramatic glacial valleys to flow into temperate rain forest and out towards the sea.

The closest we could get to the glacier

Unfortunately when we got there it started raining but we still walked across the glacial moraine to come face to face with billions of cubic metres of solid blue ice. 

The rain created the most stunning water falls which enhanced our walk in the rain.  We drove back into the town and spent several hours in the Glacial hot pools which varied from 36C to 40C, did my back a power of good.  With the combination of the rain and my bad back we decided to book into a back-packers hostel for the night.  Very nice and comfortable.

Route of tour

Peter and Margie left first thing the next morning and I spent the day re-sewing the cockpit cover while Bill finished off his varnishing.

Moving sheep on highway 63

We got up early on the Sunday morning and loaded everything into the car and drove back to the boat.  We quickly unpacked the car and repacked it with all our new camping gear, some food, and a few bags of clothes, so we could leave the next day on our tour of the South Island.  Monday morning arrived with the sun and we set off for the west coast.  We headed south to Blenheim where we turned onto highway 63 passing vineyard after vineyard on our way to St Arnaud where we stopped for lunch.  We had cloudy skies and the weather wasn’t as warm as it had been in Picton – was this the norm for the west coast?  We joined our first traffic jam.  NZ has a ratio of 15 sheep to each person, these sheep were being moved to different grazing, holding up the cars as they went. 

The longest swing bridge in NZ on the Buller Gorge

We continued to Murchison on the Buller river.  The Buller Gorge offers spectacular scenery and is home to New Zealand’s longest swing bridge. 

Old Greymouth buildings

We turned onto highway 69 and headed for Greymouth, the largest town on the west coast.  The boom time for Greymouth came in the 1860s when the gold rush brought the development of road and rail links.  Many of the old character properties still exist including Monteith’s brewery started in 1868.  The town has a selection of café’s and restaurants as well as numerous jade galleries.  The Tranzalpine train leaves Greymouth for Christchurch. 

Sharing the road with the railway

Just outside Greymouth we had to share the road with the rail track, fortunately there weren’t any trains coming.   We continued to Hokitika for our first campsite.  The campsites here are very nice.  There was a communal kitchen as well as the usual shower block and it was next to the beach. 

Our first campsite

After putting the tent up we went for a nice walk along the beach to end the day.

The mossie and sandfly proof inner layer

Our little home for the next few weeks

Bill on the black sand beach

Peter and Margie with Akarao harbour behind them

3rd February 2011

 43º48.1 south

 172º 58.0 east

Today we met Peter and Margie, our American friends from the BWR off the boat Peregrina.  They flew in from Brisbane, Australia where Peregrina has been based since leaving the rally in August.  We had a great time catching up with each other’s news over lunch then we drove into Christchurch to have a quick look around.  As the weather wasn’t very good we spent quite a bit of time in the museum.  We decided to have a proper look around when we return in a few weeks time… We all drove back to Kate’s where we enjoyed one of Barry’s delicious barbeques for dinner. 

Looking across Okains bay out to sea

The next day was hot and sunny so we followed the summit route across the top of the Banks peninsular to Akaroa.  Perched on the edge of a deep volcanic harbour, Akaroa is South Island’s oldest town.  Within days of the British declaring sovereignty over NZ in 1840, a shipload of French settlers founded Akaroa and it has remained French in spirit ever since.  The four of us strolled through the picturesque seaside village. 

Peter and Bill at craft fair

The local church had a craft fair, so we wandered through the stalls of hats, honey and homemade wine.  The foreshore is lined with cafes, art galleries and boutique shops many with a French theme.  We walked along the waterfront looking out at the boats bobbing around on buoys.  If we had brought Camomile further south this is one of the places we could have visited but the amount of beautiful days like the one we were experiencing were few and far between.  We drove back along the coast road.

Sue and Bill on the pier at Akaroa

French influence in Akaroa

Pretty Akaroa house

View across the harbour

Beach huts in Robinson bay

Sailing is Fun

22^nd January 2011 

41º 06.7 south

174º 13.3 east

Kate and the family joined us on Camomile for a holiday in Queen Charlotte sound.

Bill the skipper isn’t sure about Billy the dog

We had been at Picton marina just over a week when Kate, Barry, Will and Daisy came to join us.  So far the weather has been awful with wind and/or rain most days, one evening we recorded gusts of 43kts.  Not a lot has happened, we just got on with general living, shopping, washing, internet, etc.  Bill has remodelled my fridge by making it smaller using slabs of insulation board so it doesn’t suck so much power out of the batteries.  The tribe arrived on Saturday 22^nd January to more rain.  There was a Maritime festival in Picton that day which we wandered around and the day ended with a wonderful firework display.  The next morning Barry and Billy the dog had to go back to Christchurch to work.  The rain continued.

Daisy with Camomile anchored in Cockle bay

Monday morning came along with a beautiful sunny, blue-sky day.  At last we could enjoy some better weather and we all decided we would go for a sail.  Everyone had showers (might be their last chance for a day or two) and we left the marina at 12.30 to enjoy a gentle sail up the sound with just the Genoa (foresail) flying. We managed a couple of hours before the wind dropped and we motored into the Bay of Many Coves and into Cockle cove.  It was a lovely spot.  The dinghy was lowered and we went ashore to explore the beach.  Bill cooked a delicious barbeque that evening. 

Early morning anchorage

The next morning we awoke to the most perfect scene.  The anchorage was stunning, without a breath of wind there were the most superb reflections around us, the lovely weather continued.  We left the anchorage at lunchtime with the intention of sailing to Ship Cove to see Cooks monument but the wind started to rise and as we got nearer to the open sea it started to get a bit rough so we motored into Endeavour inlet and anchored right up inside.  We had strong winds overnight but the anchor held fast. 

Daisy on the Queen Charlotte track

Will and Kate on the Queen Charlotte track

 The next morning the sun was back so we all got into the dinghy and went ashore to walk part of the Queen Charlotte track.  The track stretches from Ship cove to Anaiwa and passes through lush coastal forest, around bays and along skyline ridges.  It takes three to five days to complete the whole walk. The section around the Endeavour inlet isn’t very hilly and we had a wonderful stroll around to Punga Cove resort where we discovered they had buoys strong enough for Camomile, a bar, showers and a swimming pool ….. we were out voted and Bill and I brought Camomile around to the resort for the night. 

Camomile on a buoy at Punga cove

We all enjoyed the showers.  Bill and I walked further to the top of the next ridge and were rewarded with the most superb views.

Will gets a lesson in the rib

The next day, Thursday, we left at lunchtime again and needed to start heading back towards Picton.  It was very gusty but we put the Genoa out and everyone took turns on the helm.  During Kate’s turn we had a gust of 43kts and it knocked us right over.  Her face was a picture, she wasn’t sure if she should be worried or not.  The kids were holding on tight and we soon bobbed back up. It wasn’t a problem and we continued on down the sound.  We went into Onahau bay, just past the entrance to Picton.  We anchored in Mistletoe bay right at the top.  It had a small campsite ashore with a little shop that sold ice creams.  Bill gave Will a lesson on how to use the outboard while Kate, Daisy and I went to see the local animals. 

Will and Bill watching the seals

On Friday we motored the short distance back across to Picton and Bill drove Kate to Nelson airport so she could return early.  Will and Daisy spent the weekend with us and then we drove them back on the Monday.  We stopped in Kaikoura on the way down to look at the seals as they lay on the rocks in the sun. 

.

Sue with long hair

Having spent the last year in the tropics my hair was beginning to be a real nuisance.   It’s got so long and is very thick.  Washing it with limited water started to become a difficulty not to mention the long hairs being found in the shower trap or around the boat.  When we got to NZ I promised myself I would have it cut.  So while walking through the little mall to the supermarket I walked into the hairdressers and, after having a little chat on styles, I had it cut. 

The new Sue

What do you think?