Dusty - the gutsy little van for 2

On 19 December 2010, we packed everything including the kitchen sink and set off on a hippy trip – going where the road went and stopping where we fancied.

The forests of central North Island

We headed south, meandering backwards and forwards across the North Island, visiting places with fascinating names!

Whatakane & Whirinake:

Whakatane - basically the whole town

Waterfall in Whirinaki forest

Rainbow Mountain:

Rainbow Mountain red cliffs

Rainbow Mountain blue pools

Yellow and red rocks, blue and green pools, bubbling mud and grey skies – great name!

Only the pink terraces were missing as they were destroyed in the last volcanic eruption of Mt.Tarawera.

Rotorua – Just mix Jurassic Park and Lord of the Rings together…!

The eerily primitive Rotorua

This is an eerie place, smelling of the sulphurous gases escaping from every crack; pools of bubbling mud and geysers shooting into the air every few minutes.  Is this what earth was like during the age of the dinosaurs?

Next installment: Part 1b!

Maori carvings

The Maori traditions are still very strong in this area and they were very obliging to show off their heritage.

Lake Taupo - hiding its dark secret

Here we visited Lake Taupo, which is another huge crater lake.

The bottom temperature is hot enough to boil an egg, and the surface is too cold even to swim!  This is one massive  amount of water.  This volcano is also still active, if it erupts – goodbye to most of the Southern hemisphere!

Mount Ruapehu is somewhere in the mist

Next came Mt.

Ruapehu.  We didn’t actually get to see this mountain as it was so heavily shrouded in mist.  This is another active volcano which erupted last in 2007 and is at the moment rumbling again.  The crater lake temperature has risen dramatically.

We drove on through Tuarangi, Desert Road (which is a huge desolate expanse of volcanic lava), Okahung, Wanganui, and two quaint, sleepy little towns:  Levin and Foxton.

Foxton Beach

Wellington waterfront

Eventually we arrive in Wellington which, according to Lonely Planet,  is the best little capitol in the world.  Obviously they use different criteria to measure this than I do; to me it was just another city – clean and pretty, but not much else to for me to tell.

The waterfront is interesting in an arty sort of way and the museum looks like it could be worth a visit – we were too late by the time we found it to see much more than the entrance.

Our adventure continues in the next post…

But the main reason we are here is to catch the ferry across the Cook Straight into the Marlbourough sounds and onto the South Island.

our ferry

This is the highlight of the trip so far – never having crossed anything on a ferry before, let alone with a van.

Cars on the ferry

This was exciting until, while sleeping in the drivers seat of the van, at 02h00 we hear the ferry is delayed by yet another hour. Somehow the humour went out of the situation…  However once we started boarding they worked like clockwork and packed us on tighter than sardines in a can – it was an amazing experience.

We then spent a relaxing three hours in the lounge and were able to see the sounds as we entered: -

Entering Marlborough Sounds

- and the very little town of Picton.

Picton Village

This is the first town anyone sees as they reach the South Island.

We didn’t find much to see or do here, and we didn’t stay long.

From here we crossed to the West Coast and travelled all the way down South.

Stay tuned for the next installment…

This seemed to me to be the poor man’s option to the Able Tasman Reserve, and just as wonderful.  We can highly recommend the Pizzas at the local bar as well as the wonderful vibe.  The town was full of backpackers and other wanderers like ourselves (we wanted a hippy adventure, we got one).

The next day we made a very early start in the rain again, and started heading South.

Punakaki

We travelled via Murchison, then Westport and across the scenic Buller gorge, Punakaki – which, in English, means pancake Rocks!

Geologists are not sure how or why these rocks formed just in this place and nowhere else on the Island.

On we travelled, through Greymouth, which is still reeling after the terrible mine disaster a few months earlier; Hokitika, Ross and Hari Hari.

Just as we began getting a bit bored with all this mind-bogglingly beautiful landscape (lol – were we spoiled or what!…), we came around a corner – and there were the Southern Alps in all their glory!

Southern Alps

They take Christmas very seriously down South and there were hardly any shops open.

We were told that this is the law here.  We did however find an Indian-owned dairy where we were able to buy a few small items.

Just outside Frans Joseph we found our next campsite,  and decided to spend Christmas Eve at McDonalds Camp (which is open all year round).

Being Christmas eve also meant that not many people were about, and we were able to take in the icy splendour of the Frans Joseph and the fox glaciers in relative solitude.

Fox Glacier

Thereafter we continued South, along the coast…

As we turned to come inland we passed the ‘Gates of Haast’, which, I am told, “if kayakers dreamt of heaven then this would be it”.

I will take their word for it, anyone crazy enough to get into that water would see if there was a heaven sooner rather than later!

We then spent Christmas night at a rather overcrowded campsite in Wanaka and had to make do with a greasy take away dinner – again from an Indian owned shop – he w as m

aking a mint that night.

The main reason we came to Wanaka was for a special place called Puzzling world.

Here nothing is as it appears – water runs uphill, gravity works the wrong way round and level, well that’s up to your imagination.  We spent half a day at this amazing place and I need to go back there!

We then pushed onto Queenstown via Cromwell and saw ‘The Remarkables’  flash past, quick stop in Queenstown then Lumsden, Mossburn and on to Te Anau (pronounced Tea- Ah-nee-ow according to the locals).  Tonight we sleep in a proper bed and get some washing done.  Dusty was not so happy so we stayed here a few days

until we could see a mechanic – they are also not allowed to open on holy days.  So we met some of the locals and watched a local made movie (the movie maker was so impressed with his movie, he built his own movie house to show it!).

The people here are so friendly – we enjoyed a wonderful three days.

We took a bus up to Milford Sound for the day and a ferry trip across the sounds (which are actually fjords but who’s telling).  As much as the rain was a bit of a downside to the trip, it meant we got to see the sounds in all their splendour.  Every single one of the waterfalls were running, it was like wonderland (maybe a little wetter… lol).

The next day dawned bright and sunny, and we decided that instead of going North along the coast we would rather spend more time in the mountains.  So we headed back for a better look at Queenstown and ‘The Remarkables’.

Clay Cliffs from a distance

And then, just before Omarama, we saw some cliffs rising out of the flat plains.  These were so remarkably different from any other cliffs we saw, anywhere, we actually stopped to look.  We couldn’t see any way to get closer, so used the camera zoom to see them better.

We continued on towards Omarama and wondered about the strange cliffs.

After about another hour of driving with the cliffs long behind us, we see a little sign: ‘Clay Cliffs’.
The dirt road doesn’t show on the GPS and appears to be more of a private farm track than a road, but off we head down the track.  The GPS is very worried as we appear to be driving in the grasslands and paying no attention to her telling us to ‘Make an about turn’.  At this point it got very amusing; you know you’re off the beaten track when the GPS waits for you to make a turn, then tells you that you have turned!  So amidst much hilarity we pull up to a farm gate.

Not being sure if we were in the right place, or if we would even be allowed to continue, and still no cliffs in sight, we got out to stretch our legs.  On the gate post we see an old ice-cream tub, and a note saying “$5 admission – please close the gate”.  Opening the tub to deposit our $10 we find the container is full of money!  Now there are not many places I know where you can leave an unattended container full of money, and judging by the fact there are no other people around, the money has probably been there a while – you have got to love this country!

We continued down an ever-deteriorating track until we came to a point where we decided driving any further would be foolish, and hiked the rest of the way in.  This was well worth the effort. 

The absolute silence and the surreal feeling of the place are amazing.  The photo’s just don’ t do i

t justice.

After a few hours clambering around the cliffs we pulled ourselves away and headed back to the road to Twizel.  From there it is a short hop to Mt. Cook.

Aoraki / Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand and a powerful attraction to those who dare – Sir Edmund Hillary being but one of the greats who triumphed on that peak.  There are Maori legends about the mountain and the Alps which are well worth the read.  Aoraki / Mount Cook actually consists of three peaks lying slightly south and east of the main divide: the Low Peak, Middle Peak and High Peak, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier (to name the biggest two out of the 72 glaciers in the national park) to the west.

Mt. Sefton from Camp

The campsite is just below Mt.

Sefton – which is actually only the eleventh highest peak in new Zealand (out of 140 peaks over 2000m); and at night you can hear the avalanches falling off the peak and rumbling in the valley.  It was freezing cold and everyone is in bed before dark (well – it only gets dark here at about 23h00 in Summer, but it is shudderingly cold long before then!).

The Alps from Mt. Cook Village

The next day dawns overcast and raining so we decide to spend the day at the Mt. Cook village.  This is basically a very expensive hotel tucked into the mountainside, BUT the Hillary family have put all of Sir Hillary’s belongings on display at the center.  We are not sure what to expect (it could be a bit tacky), but are gratified to find a very tastefully done display, which includes the history of the whole Mt. Cook region.  The display pays tribute not only to Sir Ed (who was not the first to summit the mountain) but also to everyone else who ever spent time on the mountain.  It also went on to tell Sir Ed’s life story after Everest.  And there is also a fantastic night sky show on the domed roof of the cinema.  We spend most of the day here – very enjoyable.

Memorial to fallen climbers

Here we visited the memorial to all the fallen climbers.  It is sobering to note that it is being added to all the time.

The next day is overcast but dry, so we decide to take the shorter of the two hikes we had planned and head up to the face of the Hooker glacier.

Crossing the Hooker River

This required that we cross the valley

on one of the longest suspension bridges in New Zealand.  Those who know me remember that this used to be an absolute no-go for me as I had an extreme phobia about suspension bridges.  But guess what – I am over it now!!!

Face of the Hooker Glacier

As the valley flattens out, the glacier lake is visible below us, and we continue to the face of the glacier.

Clouds Forming

We can see the wind is picking up in the peaks, and as we watch clouds are formed against the peaks. We’d better not stay in the valley too long, we decide – the weather is changing and we’re not prepared for adverse conditions.  We later found out the wind up there was blowing at 120Km/hr!

Tasman Valley

The next day is glorious so we head out for the Tasman glacier.  This is the biggest glacier in the park and there are times in its past when it has scoured the valley bare.

Head of Tasman Glacier

We hiked to the very end of the valley (my boots are wonderful – I didn’t even have to wear them in!).  From here we would be needing more technical equipment to climb out of the valley.

At this point we could see the start of the Tasman glacier. The whole valley under the gravel is filled with solid ice and the river flows underneath it to Lake Tasman.

The silence in this valley is deafening…

Head of Tasman Glacier

We turn & silently head back for camp.  This was the quietest New Year I have had in a long while, and it was strangely satisfying.