Travel Tips

Tuesday We slept until 8.00 and then had breakfast and headed out to explore Wellington. The skies were blue and the sun was out and out of the shadows of the high buildings it was not even too cold. We decided to go up with the cable car to see the view over Wellington. There is three dollars for a return ticket. Once we had taken our photos we had a coffee while sitting in the sun, it really was a beautiful morning. We decided to not take the cable car down to the city centre again but to do the walk through the botanic gardens and down to the city centre. The gardens are really beautiful and really worth walking through. It takes about a half our to walk down to end by the parliament buildings which are known as the Beehive, it is a name that fits it well. We decided to have an early lunch before walking through the Queens wharf and walking across the waterfront to the Te Papa museum. We spent some time there it is a marvellous museum. It costs nothing to get in but you can give a donation to help it, which we did. Then we headed back to the shopping centre and looked n the shops for an hour before going back to the hotel for a cup of tea and to freshen up before going out to dinner. I had a lovely fish dinner. Then we went back to our room and showered and then packed because we are off on the ferry to South Island tomorrow.Wednesday. We were up at 7.30 and dressed and we checked out and got a taxi to the Interislander ferry terminal for our trip to the south island. We got out boarding passes and then had breakfast at the terminal. The Terminal was a 10 dollar taxi ride from our hotel, it was quite busy there, busier than a normal October Wednesday I think because the Lynx crossing had fallen out due to technical problems and those passengers had been transferred to this ferry. The sea was calm but it was cold and windy. We had expected rougher seas crossing the Cook Sound though. We found seats next to a window, which was nice, Koos could go off and go on the top deck and I could stay with the things and still see the world going by. It was very overcast as we got nearer to the south island. We arrived in Picton at 12.40 and of course we were quickly off the boat. We did not have to wait for luggage so we went to the rental car area. A lady from National was waiting for us and she was so friendly and we quickly had our second car. We got a free upgrade for the car, which gave us a Suzuki Baleno. We took the Queen Charlotte drive to Nelson. It is a wonderful twisty road along the coast. It was lovely today and we had mist and rain so it must be marvellous in good weather. Although it was misty and wet it really was not cold. We checked into our hotel in Nelson, which is very nice. The hotel is full this evening, in fact all the motels and hotels we saw had no vacancies. We went to the Big Fresh supermarket and got things for our dinner. Koos chose noodles and I went for the Thai pumpkin soup and sandwiches. We got fruit, yoghurt and bread for tomorrow as well because we are going into the Abel Tasman Park tomorrow. We had a cup of tea and a Chelsea bun (we had had no lunch) before going into town to have a look around. I fell for a lovely jacket in a sale at an outdoor shop and bought it. The weather got better in the later I was woken up afternoon but then the clouds came down again just before bed time.

Thursday Just before 5.00 by a woman talking in the corridor outside our room woke me up, but I fell asleep again. I had slept well even though the bed was so soft that it was like sleeping on jelly. We were up just before 8.00 and had breakfast before setting out to go along to Takaka and then climbing all the time on very twisty roads to the Hawkes look out where we stopped and walked to the actual lookout point which gives a wonderful view over the whole area. Before driving further we had a cup of tea. Our next stop was the Harwood lookout and that was also a short walk from the parking area to the lookout but again it was certainly worth the walk. We saw snow on the mountains not too far away. We drove through Takaka and on to the Te Waikoropupu Springs, here thousands of litres of water bubble up from underwater holes every second. We parked and walked along the riverside, it is very quick flowing. We found a lovely spot for our picnic lunch looking out to sea and it was lovely in the sun there. Then we moved on again going on smaller roads along the coast to the Abel Tasman memorial. It was a climb up from the car park and although the memorial was not worth looking at (a long white concrete pillar visited by Queen Juliana) but the views were wonderful. We continued further until the roads became gravel and then we turned back. We looked in the outdoor shops in Nelson and got things for dinner. We heard this morning that the Dutch government collapsed yesterday!

Friday We woke up to rain and low dark skies, the worst weather so far this holiday. We had breakfast and checked out going back towards Havelock and then the road to Blenheim and on to Kaikoura. We had forgotten to fill up with petrol before leaving Nelson so when we were on the twisting roads and climbing higher and there was absolutely no sign on a village an I saw the petrol indicator going towards empty I was not very happy. I had visions of us in the pouring rain walking to the nearest petrol station. Koos assured me we had enough and advised against looking at the indicator while we were climbing because when we were on the level it said we had almost a quarter of a tank. We stopped for coffee in Blenheim and by that time it was dry and the sun was coming out. By the time we reached the coast it was sunny and quite warm. We stopped for some time by the seal colony at Ohau Point and getting some lovely photos. Then we drove on to Kaikoura and checked into our hotel, we then drove to the seal colony where you can walk amongst the seals. Unfortunately the tide was right in so we could not do that. Instead we climbed the cliff for the view. The snow capped mountains raise up almost from the seashore. In fact these mountains are the only ones except the ones in Fjordland that raise up so close to the sea, they are also the fastest growing mountains in NZ thanks to the fact that they are close to a fault line. The views were wonderful and the weather was marvellous ... we were in T-shirts. We went and checked out our booking for the whale watching tomorrow. The trips today all came back early with the people terribly seasick because of rough weather so we had to keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow. We got our dinner and then went back to the seal colony, which was about 10 minutes drive from the hotel. The tide was out and we walked a long the rocky shore we were just saying there were no seals when we rounded a bend and there was one lying peacefully asleep in the evening sun. Well he was not bothered at all about us and we got some lovely photos before walking back to the car park - where there were seals lying along the grass edge of the shore. They took no notice at all of the people who were taking photos although everyone was careful of them and did not disturb them. All we got was the occasional yawn and one eye open!! I ended up with about 40 photos of seals. When we were on the Galapagos Island I came home with a full film roll of photos of seals but to day I beat my own record. It is their big brown eyes and the air of being cuddly which makes me melt! I would have loved to have taken one home but we left then there in the cool evening.

Saturday We were up at 8.30 and had breakfast before going to the seal colony again. To start with we thought that there were no seals on the shore but they were there in the grass. There was one sitting beautifully on a rock near the shoreline. We of course took more photos! We had to tear ourselves away because we were booked on a whale-watching trip at 10.00. We went to the check in office and heard that the trip was still on although there were strong winds forecast and it would reported that there had been whales seen right on the edge of the area the boats could get to. We saw the safety video and then took the bus for the 10-minute trip to the wharf. The boat was hypermodern with all indoor comfortable sitting because the boat travels very fast to the deeper waters. There were five crewmembers and they gave very good commentary and were very friendly. Then suddenly they told us to get out on deck because there was a whale on the left-hand side of the boat. We were so close and we could see it beautifully. The crew had told us that if they said that the whale was going to dive we were to just point our cameras at it and click and true enough they sad it just at the right time! Then we had to get back to our seats quickly because another whale had been sighted, it to was easily photographed and we had to get back in our seats again. The sea was very rough but we stayed out and went further because they had heard that there were two whales close by and there they were basking in the sun and we watched them for a while before they dived. We saw five sperm whales before turning back. We also saw albatross and as we weregoing back to the wharf “the blob of cream” on the mornings trip a group of dusty dolphins. This was absolutely the best whale watching trip we have ever done and the crew were fantastic.... funny entertaining but knowledgeable. We had a whale of a time! We had a picnic lunch before going on south. Tonight’s destination was a farmhouse stay at Staveley. We got there just about 17.30 and had a welcome cup of tea before Alan took out us to show us the farm. They had sold some of the farm but we still breeds deer and has a few sheep which we fed. Then he showed us some the area around the farm. Then it was time to return to the farm where we had a drink before the lovely dinner that Lorna had prepared. We chatted the evening away.

Sunday Up at 8.30 having slept very well and had breakfast with Lorna. Then we took a photo of Alan and Lorna and they took our photo for their book. Then we headed south again under bright blue skies towards lake Taupo and lake Tekapo and our next overnight stop in Twizel. We spent a little while at lake Taupo looking at the shops and I got a lovely red merino jumper and Koos got a fleece and two "icebreaker shirts". They are made in New Zealand and so much cheaper than in The Netherlands. We checked in to our overnight address, which is owned by a lovely couple Jan and Bob. There was a Belgian couple in for the night as well. We went into the "town centre” to look for a restaurant but it was a little early to eat so we decided to go back to lake Tekapo for another look. We were driving along a empty road when a red car overtook us an at the same time crossed the road went onto the grass verge, ditch and then slowly overturned over the fence and bounced head over heels into the field. Of course we and the car behind us stopped and we raced to the crashed car. A metal spike from the fence had pierced the bonnet and the windscreen was smashed and the roof was flattened down. Three of us had to push the car up a bit so that the driver could get out (having checked he could feel his legs etc). He only had a small graze on his head. Another man called an ambulance for him; he had fallen asleep or rather felt sleepy at the wheel. We left having checked that he had the help he needed. We had a lovely meal before returning to the B&B. It started raining very heavily while I was writing up my diary in the evening.Monday We were up at just after 8.00 and had breakfast at 8.30 with the Belgian couple. It had rained in the night and early in the morning and it was cool and there were heavy skies. There had been a fresh fall of snow on the mountains around Twizel in the night. Jan and Bob told us that some of the second part of Lord of the Rings was filmed in the hills just behind Twizel and that Ian McKennen (Gandalf) had stayed in the motel they had had at that time, so of course being a fan of Tolkien I had to take a photo of the area. We went along the road to Mount Cook and had some beautiful views the nearer we got to the visitors centre at Mount Cook the worse the weather got. When we arrived at the centre it was raining well it was more like wet snow and it was cold. So we decided not to start on the walk we had planned. So we turned back and headed towards Wanaka where we are staying for two nights. We drove through the McKenzie valley and over the Lindis pass. The view from the summit at 965 metres back over the pass is so impressive... just tussock grass and mountains and this twisty road. Then it was on to Wanaka, we did stop for a coffee at a merino shop where Koos got a lovely icebreaker sweater and I got some gloves. The hotel is lovely and just a little out of the centre of the town. We checked in and then went out again to explore the town and to shop for our dinner. The weather was lovely this evening.

Tuesday We were up at 8.30 and had breakfast before setting off towards Diamond Lake for a 3,5 hour walk along the Diamond Lake trail. The weather was wonderful and it is a lovely walk. It is easy to see why this trail is one of the most popular shorter walks on the South Island. We saw several other people doing at least part of the walk. There are in fact several walks a short one to the lower viewpoint; the lower circuit walk which we did and the longer higher circuit walk to the top. We went back to the hotel for lunch and a very welcome drink. We of course cannot sit still so had to g out again. We decide to go to Puzzle World, which is on the outskirts of Wanaka. It was fun with really weird illusions of sloping floors, things going antigravity, and a room that looked very low in one corner and very high in another. There were also masks of famous people, which seemed to follow you around the room. I was really dizzy at times and had to get out of the room at one time. Then we went back to the lakeside and sat in the sun with an ice cream. Then we went shopping again for a T-shirt and I found to merino jumpers in a sale and Koos got a jacket he had seen in Wales and loved. It really is lovely. Then it was time to go back to the hotel and have a warm bath to ease my aching back.

Wednesday We were up and away by 8.30 this time to our most southern destination Dunedin. It was lovely day and the trip south was lovely. To start with the mountains were bare and very rocky and then we followed a lake ending in a hydroelectric dam, it was there we stopped for coffee. We had lunch along a lake as well although we had to keep our coats on because it was quite windy. We checked into our hotel in Dunedin, it is in the centre only a short walk to the shopping centre. There we booked a trip to see the Yellow Eyed Penguin for the afternoon. We had to drive out towards the Peninsula... about 50 minutes. It could have been more as we got behind a VERY slow driver on the twisty roads. He did not go into the slower traffic lane when possible either. We did manage to overtake though.... we only have another weeks holiday to go so no time to waste! We got to the penguin place in time to do the 2.15 trip. We went with a rickety old bus to the cliff and then walked through the area. This reserve is a private conservation effort to save the world’s most endangered penguin. It is funded completely from the profits of the tours operation. A local farmer found these penguins on his land and he became very determined to protect them. He built covered lowered walkways so that the visitors could see the penguins without disturbing them. We saw the penguins from so close by. They are so beautiful; their bright yellow eyes and lovely yellow feathers around the eye are so attractive. The numbers of the penguins have decreased around the coast in the last year and still no-one knows why. The farmer these two beach areas, one where the visitors go and one which acts as a control area which is completely undisturbed. There were only five of us on the trip. Then it was time to go back to the hotel. There I phoned to confirm the seats back to Amsterdam next week. Then it was time to go out to dinner, we walked to the centre for it. Luckily the shops were shut by then so it was safe to walk along the shops!