New Zealand Day 24 – Pancake Rocks to Fox & Franz Josef Glaciers

Blowhole!

Thankfully, both for our morale and for sightseeing we woke to bright sunshine and blue skies! We went straight to the Pancake Rocks viewing area, but hadn’t really researched it at all so had no idea what to expect. They also had blowholes there too so we were immediately cynical after out last viewing experience of those…

The carpark was pretty busy with campervans and tour busses, not being the biggest fans of crowds this also worried us. We followed the path around and after 10 minutes or so finally got to see the sea. Again, we weren’t really sure what we were looking for, so just assumed that the first view we came to was the pancake rocks. We could see a huge stack of rock that had been isolated from the cliffs on the beach, it reminded us of the Great Ocean Road back in Australia – except there was only one apostle.

Rainbowtastic.

We continued around the corner and came to another lookout – this time of rocks closer to the cliffs and we realised we’d jumped the gun a little and the whole system of rocks continued around for another 500 metres or so. The place got it’s name as the rocks are layered from top to bottom in a fairly regimented fashion, and in most places have been rounded at the edges – looking like pancake stacks.

We rounded another corner and then came to the main showpiece and found the occupants of all the busses at the front. As you come down there is a bridge leading to the edge of the cliffs, under you the sea is flowing into a narrow channel and has undercut the base so you can’t see how far. After a minute or so of enjoying the view, just to our left a huge (for want of a better word) ejaculation of sea spray burst out from a hole in the side of the hillside, shooting out about 10 feet into the air and looking the close up of a humpback whale spout!

We waited and it went again, only this time bigger than before – and the droplets in the spray were catching the light just right so it kept making rainbows right in front of us. Up the steps on the other side there was another narrow canal, only this time the waves were being driven up the walls of it with the swell so every couple of minutes or so they would smash together and spurt up and way above everyone’s heads. It looked pretty cool, so we hung around watching it for a while taking pictures. It felt so good to be out of the van and in the sunshine actually doing something for the first time in a few days.

We wandered around and came to a sign in front of an area of flax which just said “Sudden Sound” so we stood there and waited, and waited for a good 5 minutes and nothing happened… Then without warning it shot out an almighty whoosh and scared the crap out of both of us, but was gone within a second! It’s pretty cool because you can’t see where the gap is in all the flax for the blowhole, and it doesn’t go off as frequently as the others so it was just us stood there enjoying it.

After an hour or so of rock and blowhole admiration, we had to head off as we were planning on ripping down the west coast in time to see some glaciers that afternoon as the weather was good. Unfortunately the road moved inland so our sea views disappeared, but were soon replaced with that of snow capped mountains again so it wasn’t all bad. We both felt pretty happy that we’d come in the Spring shoulder season as it wasn’t all that busy, there was still snow about and when the sun came out it was almost warm!

The Pancake Rocks

It took another three hours or so to reach first Franz Joseph, and then Fox Glacier. We broke up the drive with a stop in Greymouth for supplies (I’d broken some glasses in the van that needed replacing), but other than that it was a particularly ugly town.

Epic trudge to the terminal

Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers are the main attraction on the west coast of the south island. Thousands of years old, they are apparently the most easily accessible glaciers at sea level in the world (I think). As Fox was another 15 minutes down the road we headed for that one first. We made it to the carpark at around 4pm, and it takes about 90 minutes to walk from there to the nearest viewing platform and back, provided you don’t get avalanched on.

As you walk down the slope from the carpark, you can already catch a glimpse of the mountains and glacier – it was almost unreal. There is a marker halfway up the drive into the parking area that says something like “Fox Glacier Terminal Face – 1936” so the pathway you walk along has been carved out of the mountains by the forming and retreating glacier.

Boom - a Glacier!

Underfoot it is all mostly giant pebbles and to either side the rock face stretched up into the clouds so high we couldn’t see the top – but it is all part of the same range that Mt Cook is in, and is just the other side of the glaciers (if you are feeling flush, which we weren’t unfortunately, you can do a scenic flight for 30 minutes covering all three for about $500 each). Waterfalls cascaded down from on high, and you could see precariously balanced boulders the size of houses at the top of some, just waiting to roll down and squash a few tourists.

After 30 minutes or so of flat, riverbed walking you have to climb a hill – then it leads to a river crossing which merely consisted of five rocks strategically placed across the eight feet of rapidly moving water, although half of them were semi-submerged. Oh and just to the right of the crossing is a small waterfall over about a six foot drop onto more rocks. Ever the eight year old boy I bounded across to make sure it was safe, and surprisingly didn’t get washed away. Lisa was in her sling, and less keen so I returned and we made it across with only a mild panic moment halfway when I though I was going to lose her.

Sampling the glacial mountain water.

Onwards to the glacier terminal! Or at least, 150 metres from it… apparently it is rather unpredictable and is constantly shedding icebergs (one the size of a campervan each day), and all over the viewing area are news cuttings from an accident that happened in 2010 when two tourists hopped the barrier to touch the glacier and were subsequently killed when a huge chunk fell off onto them. The only way to actually touch it now is to pay a rather extortionate amount of money for a guided tour – we saw four or five groups of 30 or so coming down just whilst we were there. Had Lisa been less incapacitated we probably would’ve gone for it, but they give you full on ice boots, crampons and a big backpack which would never have worked.

Reflection pool

The glacier was pretty spectacular, but it was getting late and we still wanted to visit somewhere else nearby – Lake Mackenzie. It was only a quick drive away, but another 90 minute walk although about halfway around we both regretted going all the way around! We’ve discovered that NZ walking trails rarely give any indication of difficulty and their timings are often pretty unrealistic. The lake itself is very pretty, and the walk through the rainforest felt like you were in a grimm fairytale – unfortunately it’s main drawing point is the reflaction you can see from the far side is usually the peak of Mt Cook and makes for some rather cool photos, but not with the clouds that had now moved in over it so all we got was a cloudy lake, and rather exhausted!

Lake Mackenzie

We drove back into town, but the campsites and pubs looked a bit rubbish so we went back to Franz Joseph – got a cool campsite which was effectively in a cave cut out of the rainforest, then headed straight to the Hot Pools around the corner, managed to blag a two day pass for half price and soaked our weary bones for an hour…it was most welcome!

New Zealand Day 21, 22, 23 – Kaikoura to Malborough Sound & Abel Tasman National Park

Once we had recovered from the dolphin fiasco we hit the road and headed further north towards Marlborough Sound and the Abel Tasman National Park. We didn’t really have too much of a plan for what we might do there, but it is meant to be some of the prettiest scenery on the South Island – plus Nelson, the main City up there is famous for its food and wine.

Magical Marlborough Sound

It took about three hours to reach Picton, which is the spot where the inter-island ferry terminal is located, so it is understandably touristy and not all that interesting. By the time we’d got there it was getting fairly late, so we had a scout on the campground AtoZ and picked an area to aim for in Marlborough Sound about an hour away – there was a day spa there too which featured claw-foot baths overlooking the sea on an open deck which appealed but we weren’t sure if you could reach it from the road as there is a popular walking track (Queen Charlotte) which spans the area.

Driving from Picton the scenery quickly became amazing again, and reminded us of when we first arrived in Christchurch and the Banks Peninsular. Seemingly endless amounts dead calm bays with the hills plunging directly into them from above on all sides – each would have a small town or a campsite at the waters edge, it looked rather picturesque.

I risked it.

After some awful map reading from me – we realised the day spa was actually far to far away to make that night, so we settled on a campsite in Momorangi Bay run by the DOC. It was pretty cheap, but had powered sites right on the waters edge. It’d been a pretty long day as we were up at 6am for the dolphins, but we did manage to stay up long enough to stroll through the inland part of the site into the bush to see a glow worm dell which the owner had told me about when I booked us in.

It was incredible – it took a while for our eyes to adjust to the pitch blackness as we crept up the pathway, and initially we thought he was just having us on. But after a few minutes of scanning the bushes as we went further in, you suddenly saw one… then two… then 100,000 little glowing bugs twinkling away. They stretched way back into the bush, and further up the path for as far as we could see – they flickered like LED Christmas tree lights. We stood and watched them for a while, then realised we were exhausted from the early start so headed back for some much needed sleep.

In the morning we decided to head towards the Tasman National Park, again with no real plans – just to have a look. The route was about as windy and hard going as the day before and it took a few hours to get there, and we didn’t end up doing anything all day aside from drive about which wasn’t all that fun. We stopped briefly in Marlborough itself for some fuel and a coffee, but it looked like a bit of an industrial town where a lot of the regions factories and giant wine processing plants were located. To rescue the day, we sought out a Winery on the way to Takaka (where we were aiming for that night). It was a little off the beaten path, but the LP claimed they made “the best Chardonnay in New Zealand” so worth a shot.

Tough life on the road.

After getting lost briefly in amongst all the vines and back lanes we found the place – Neudorf wines. It was just before 4pm and it looked closed when we arrived so we thought we might’ve missed out as it was Friday afternoon. Fortunately, there was still one woman working and she let us taste whatever they had left open and were going to be throwing away over the weekend (as they aren’t open). They were all pretty nice wines, so we got ourselves a bottle of their Chardonnay (a cheapie – not the $100 prize winning one) – and were about to head on our way when she offered us a glass each to drink out in their courtyard overlooking the vineyard. Once we figured out she meant a free one – we pretty much bit her hand off and sat in the afternoon sun figuring out what we should do that night. Opposite us the owners, their family and the employees were all having Friday afternoon drinks – and at one point they came over with one of the bottles and topped up our glasses again! It was completely unexpected as they are usually keen to get rid of you once you’ve only bought one bottle – so we left with a rather warm glow and good impression of them.

The tasting lady recommended a couple of beachside places for us to try out for camping which were closer than Takaka so we went and checked them out after leaving, but didn’t like the look of either so opted for the Old McDonald farmstay which had llamas and alpachas on the property. Unfortunately word was that the weather was going to be closing in for the next two or three days that night, and sure enough just as we got to our site the heavens opened and it started bucketing down – which it continued to do so all evening. We were beginning to regret coming this far north as there  really isn’t much to do inside up there.

Much needed wines.

Next morning the weather was still awful – with the forecast for more of the same for the next two days. We decided to head for Takaka anyway as we had it on good information you could hand feed 100 year old eels Spam nearby, and that is the kind of weirdness we like! Rather annoyingly, to get to Takaka we had to double back on ourselves up a massive hill, continue 60km then climb over another massive hill, all in pretty treacherous driving conditions so it took forever and we weren’t having much fun.

We went into the i-site to see what we could do whilst it was raining and she was about the least helpful person on the planet. She was from Surrey or somewhere similar and just directed us to a bunch of dingy pubs that played drum and bass, despite me telling her when she mentioned it that I hated drum and bass. We left and headed for the eel feeding place – but they were closed due to the weather.

We drove through Takaka and it was a bit of a shit hole to say the very least (at least in the rain anyway), and anywhere to stay on the coast was another hour away. It was becoming clear we’d have to wait at least 2 days up here for the weather to clear, and we still wanted to drive down the West coast to see the glaciers, and do Arthur’s pass on the way back to Christchurch and only had a few days left.

We boldly decided to write off this part of the trip completely, turned the car around and set off for the north of the west coast, about 5 hours away. Rather the long drive than another wasted day – we’d just have to cross our fingers that the weather would clear faster down there.

It’s probably worth mentioning here that we did also go to Nelson at some point and spent a couple of hours sorting out some visa printing, getting fuel and food before heading back on the road. Unfortunately – Nelson was that dull I don’t even remember on which day that happened, or where it even is on the map, so if anyone is actually reading this for travel tips I’d say avoid the place like the plague.

They didn't spit.

We went down through a gorge at one point which was spectacular but had no time to stop and admire it in the rain as we were battling to get there before dark.

We researched en route where to stay and opted for Punakaki as there was a cool sounding natural attraction there called Pancake Rocks. As we eventually got onto the coastal road the scenery changed dramatically – it was such a huge contrast to the sheltered bays and beaches we’d seen down the east coast. The sea was absolutely pumping and ten feet waves were pounding into the seacliffs and beaches. The road hugged the coastline and was providing both spectacular views and heart stoppingly dangerous corners and one lane bridges where the cliffs had collapsed over one lane.

We arrived at around 8pm and managed to check in to the caravan park in time to head for a beer at the local pub in front of the fire – which I needed after driving for 8 hours that day. The weather was still bad, but with a better forecast for the morning and the tides were lined up nicely to see the rocks at 11am so we felt a tad more optimistic about the next few days, and glad we’d decided to have a long driving day.

New Zealand Day 20 & 21 – Kaikoura

Having done all we wanted in Hanmer Springs (there wasn’t much) we headed north towards the coast to Kaikoura which was about a 2 hour drive away. Rather foolishly I decided to ignore the signs that said ‘via SH1’ – the main road, and opted for the ‘inland scenic route’ as they were about the same distance.

Roughly 10 minutes into the drive I realised it was a mistake as the road climbed into the (albeit very scenic) hills round some wonderfully windy and narrow vomit inducing bends, then down precarious descents into the valleys below – then repeated about a dozen times. Fine if you are driving a little convertible or motorbike but Polly was battling a little and we were getting tossed about salad dressing.

It added an extra hour to the journey, and wasn’t really worth it – but we eventually got to Kaikoura at around 2pm and headed straight to the lookout because I simply cannot resist them. It was pretty amazing, and the sun was out so the place looked beautiful – a huge calm bay with crystal turquoise waters and pleasure boats skimming across the surface, if it wasn’t for the snow-capped alpine mountains towering over it all it would have looked like tropical North Queensland!

We headed for the town centre to have a poke about and see about a campsite for the evening. Kaikoura is a fairly small town – but has a massive draw for tourism because of the unique conditions in the bay. Right offshore, about 100 metres out the sea bed drops off from 50 or so metres to over 700. This has lead to a wide variety of marine life being spotted there on a regular basis, giving rise to a whole host of eco-tours for whale watching, seal spotting and dolphin swimming. It felt a bit like an English seaside town in the summertime as all the kids were off school and everyone was eating fish and chips – so we joined them and pondered our attack.

We decided to book onto a dolphin tour the next day – and pay a rather extortionate amount of money (well, in relation to our already battered budget anyway) to actually swim with the little fellas. We’d reviewed the company and tour at great length and, although there were a few times where people hadn’t even seen dolphins, let alone swam with them their success rate was over 80%  the phrase “best experience in New Zealand” popped up repeatedly so we went for it.

That afternoon we chilled out with a few beers back at the campsite. We picked one about 7km south of town which was cheaper and had spots overlooking the beach, about 30 metres from the sea (an easy choice as the rest were right on the highway in town). The highlight of the campsite however was the kids play area which had a flying fox (always fun) and small sailboat swing suspended from a tree for Cooksey and her broken wing.

We both had a bit of a restless night in anticipation of D-Day (dolphin day) – both through excitement and fear of how bloody cold the water was going to be! We’d both dipped a toe the previous afternoon as the sun went down and almost lost them to the shock of it. We were up almost in time for a change and made our way there with a few minutes to spare. They check you in and then you are lead backstage to pickup your winter wetsuit, gloves, boots, hood, mask and flippers. Poor Lisa could barely carry it all with her dodgy shoulder but fortunately some old dear from Blighty helped her out, instantly playing Mum.

After a brief safety video we were shuffled onto a minibus and headed for our boat. Two or three times both during the video, and when leaving the port the staff had said that there was no guarantee of being able to spot or even swim with them – but our hopes were raised when they then said there was a pod that’d been spotted only about 20 minutes away that we were heading for. Everyone on the boat seemed nervous and excited and it wasn’t long before we had our first spotting – a pod of about 30 dusky dolphins. Feverishly we donned our masks, fins, gloves and hoods and waited by the back of the boat for the dolphins to show some signs of interest. And we waited… and waited… and waited, but to no avail – they were not being playful enough for us to go in apparently, and the operators are very strict about when you are allowed to get in the water with them.

At this point they asked for a volunteer to jump in solo and see if the dolphins would be interested once they saw one person diving under the water and making noise to attract their attention. When no one else was keen I stuck my hand up – so they sat me on the edge with me feet in the water, and again I had to wait for the call. After 5 or 10 minutes of waiting, again – no dolphin activity so we had to abandon this pod and go in search of more… we were gutted, and already thinking this wasn’t going to be our day!

We cruised about for another 20 minutes or so before seeing another pod – and once again, they got me to sit on the edge of the boat with my feet dangled into the icy cold water below. This time however, I got the go ahead – the captain sounds a horn which is the signal to jump in. I braced myself and dived down as far as I could (which wasn’t all that far as the dry suits are super boyant) and made as much noise through my snorkel, simultaneously swallowing a stomach full of sea water in the process. The cold was a shock to the system and I soon re-surfaced, only to see a couple of fins just in front of me so I stuck my head back down and three dolphins whizzed past just under my feet – looking right at me! They were gone before I even had a chance to dive down – and despite another 5 minutes or so in the water, plus another location with me being used as chum, the dolphins would not come out to play.

At this point, you could pretty much tell from the tone of the crews announcements and the fact they kept reiterating that they can't control the dolphins, that we wouldn’t all be getting to swim with them. I was gutted, and Lisa even more so – she’d been looking forward to this experience since before our trip, and especially since she had her tumble and was ruled out of the extreme sports stuff. Sure enough, after another pod of stuck up dolphins refuse to frolic with us the guide announced we were heading back – to a collective sigh of disappointment from the boat.

What can you do? It was such a shame, the weather had been awesome all morning and it seemed conditions were perfect for it but alas, it wasn’t to be. On the bus back they told us we’d have 80% of the booking fee refunded which was some scant consolation but we felt a bit dejected, as we didn’t really have the time to stay another day and risk another trip.

Once we got back we went to see the fur seal colony just around the corner to cheer ourselves up – they live there all year round and hang out on the rocks just near, or actually sometimes inside the carpark so it was cool to hang out there watching them and planning our next move.

New Zealand Day 18 & 19 – Methven and Hanmer Springs

We probably felt the weather move in at about 2am when the temperature dropped so much it felt like the van had frozen and the rain was battering in the roof! Even our trusty heater wasn’t coping well and we were both freezing and struggling to sleep. When it finally got light out it was hard to believe the difference in weather from the day before – thick fog and rain meant if you didn’t know better you’d never believe there were mountains anywhere nearby!

Aaaaaaand no mountains.

We packed up and hit the road – having checked the weather forecast it looked like the weather was set to stay the same for the next couple of days so we checked the map for the most convenient place to stop on our way out and Methven seemed to be the biggest place among a scattering of country towns.

The weather was hideous and the drive was not fun! When we eventually got the Methven it was hammering down with rain so hard that neither of us wanted to get out of the van. We turned to the LP for advice to see if there was any reasonably priced accommodation around where we wouldn’t have to contend with constantly getting in and out of the van in the downpour!

Sheepdog monument near Tekapo

LP’s pick was a place that apparently had a spa, free espresso coffee and free internet with pretty cheap double rooms. We decided to do a drive by to check it out but when we arrived there was no one home – just a sign on the door saying come in and check the place out and that they’d be back later. We went in for a scamp around and there was no one else in sight. It was a nice enough place – a big wooden ski lodge (Methven is skiing heaven apparently) with a wood fire in the lounge and a huge country style kitchen. It became clear that it was a bit more backpackers than B&B but there were signs of a cat so we were keen. We did one more loop around the town to see if there were any other options but the lodge seemed our best bet so we headed back, and when we got there the owner was home to meet us.

I was immediately struck by the fact that the guy was a bit on the odd side but James didn’t seem to notice straight off. He couldn’t look me in the eye for one and would only talk to James, even if I was talking to him…! We discovered after multiple encounters that he was just the most socially awkward person we had ever met, and when his partner arrived home and turned out to be the angriest woman alive it made for an entertaining scenario…

Fortunately he disappeared to go shopping in the afternoon leaving us alone in the house with the spa pool at our disposal. After soaking our aching bones for an hour or so one of the other guests arrived home and decided to join us. He was a trainee ski instructor up on the mountain and had just finished a shift – he was also the biggest snow geek I have ever encountered and spent a good half an hour educating us both on the in-depth workings of the white stuff.

It was still hammering down outside and blowing a hoolie (as James’ dad would say!) so we decided to stay put that evening next to the wood fire. After enduring about an hour of very awkward company with the owner and the snow geek, we were pleased when another couple (one Scottish guy and his kiwi girlfriend) who were staying arrived back and turned out to be pretty entertaining. The highlight of the evening came when Scottish guy turned to snow geek and started asking him if they’d met before. Snow geek mentioned that he’d been at the same backpackers a couple of weeks ago and they’d met then… “That’s right!” the Scottish guy replied, “…you were here with that Asian chick.”

Now, while in the spa, snow geek had spent a fair amount of time telling us about his kiwi wife who was based a couple of hours away in Timaru and didn’t seem to mind his constant being away from home snow training. My ears suddenly perked up at the suggestion of a scandal but then I scolded myself at the thought they were probably just ski friends sharing the dorm…

Living it up in the backpacker spa!

“Yeah you guys were in the double room, hey…” continued the Scottish guy. At which point snow geek went bright red, shot a glance at James and I who were sat not knowing where to look on the sofa opposite and then promptly excused himself to go to bed.

Oblivious to the scandal he’d just unearthed, Scottish guy continued to regale us with tales of past guests, including one girl who’d arrived late at night the weekend prior, gone straight out on the town and arrived back late that night with a guy she’d picked up. Apparently they’d then proceeded to have incredibly noisy sex in the spa tub, at which point the owner had to come down from their property upstairs to kick the guy out and tell the girl she had to be gone the following morning. Both Scottish guy and the owner suitably assured us that the whole spa had been drained as a consequence! I did wonder if the experience had somehow left him mentally scarred – perhaps that would explain the awkwardness and the fact he still couldn’t look me in the eye!

Methven bees (it rained a lot and this was the only pic we took!)

Anyway, by that point it was pretty late and we were exhausted so we said goodnight and hit the sack.

The next morning the weather was slightly better but still pretty damp and cold so we decided to head north to Hanmer Springs, where pretty much the only thing worth visiting is the complex of outdoor hot tubs and thermal pools they have there, but it seemed like a good rainy day option.

It was a couple of hours away and after the drive my shoulder and back were absolute agony. I said to James I’d be keen to see if Hanmer Springs had any kind of massage on offer to see if I could get it sorted. James helped out with a handy google search and we found a massage and chiropractor place amusingly titled ‘All backs’ so I gave them a call.

‘Richard’ was very friendly and said he could see me in 20 minutes! So James drove me over to his home practice and offered to come in to drop me off before shooting off to get a coffee for an hour… or so he thought.

Richard greeted us both in reception, but as James tried to leave he convinced him to come through just for a few minutes while he talked through what he was going to do to me. It became clear at this point that Richard was ever so slightly intense, as he spieled off a heap of technical chiropractor stuff neither of us really understood and then made me strip down to my bra so that he could point out to James where all my wonky bits were!

Hanmer Springs - toasty!

Poor James, there wasn’t even the remotest chance he was going to be able to escape as I got laid out on the table and bent every which way. Every so often James would get called over to look at some other wobbly bit. All I kept thinking is how grateful I was we’d been together for seven years and weren’t in the flings of a new relationship because I think it’s fair to say this would’ve pushed the limits. All that said though, James did get rather excited when he did one of those violent neck-cracking things they do in the movies to kill people…without warning!

After I’d been thoroughly pummeled we were finally free to head to the hot pools. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite the serene haven the photos made it out to be…more of a water theme park with a few screaming children thrown in for extra tranquility. After being beaten within an inch of my life by Richard though I was quite glad to soak my aching bones in some thermal springs. I only wish I’d had the camera to capture James’ excitement when he realised there was a lazy river, practically launched himself beard first into it (much to the terror of the handful of toddlers who were enjoying the ride), and then practically wrestled a giant frog shaped float out of a child’s hand before screaming ‘I GOT THE FROOOOOOG!’ at me so loud the whole park heard it.

Needless to say, after all the excitement it was time for another early night…