Day One
After staying at Manapouri last night, being in the wintery
climate we woke up to quite chilly weather! Mum had actually hung some socks
outside that she’d washed and found them to be struck with ice!
We left the camp and saw this straight away, not a bad way
to start the day. We’d also seen the Lands End/John O’Groats style sign also,
detailing the distances to all the nearby location. Due to it being in the
Fiordlands, all the sounds were listed which was really interesting!
Also we spotted a familiar name, not sure whether it was the
one we were thinking of though!
We then went to see the Te Anau Wildlife Centre which was on
a voluntary donation basis to see some exotic birds from the local area. We saw
the most intelligent bird there is (youtube it!), the world’s only alpine
parrot, the Kea. There were also other types of birds which all had their own
fun facts to them, and personalities!
Here we saw a funny looking mushroom, fancy trying it
anybody?! Haha!
From here we made our way over to Queenstown, the New
Zealand place-to-be for amazing slope sports and winter activities...and the
odd extreme sport!
We saw some amazing scenery on the way. When people say the
country is beautiful, you will see by these pictures, which don’t actually do
it justice, that it is absolutely spectacular!!
We also came across the New Zealand’s most westernly major
villiage, Garston! Be proud Garston, be proud!
We had been driving for a while when suddenly we came across
the most amazing viewpoint you could possibly imagine! Devil’s staircase is one
of the most must-do (if that makes sense?!) viewpoints in the whole of New
Zealand. We were the only ones that had pulled off into the viewpoint area and
it was so worth it. Just wow!
After struggling to drag ourselves away we hit the road
again towards Queenstown!
When we got to Queenstown we went to the first usual spot, I-Site
Visitor Centre and asked for details about campgrounds in the local area,
paragliding, bungy jumping, skydiving (much more expensive than Lake Taupo!!)
and all sorts of things. It was definitely becoming obvious this was a much
busier spot than anywhere we’d been so far. As I said, plainly due to the
summer AND winter potential it has to accommodate tourists and all the
different types of activities anybody would possibly want! Plus the pure beauty
of the place and the scenery around it.
We had a look around and enquired about prices in the
Skyline Gondola. We fancied doing the luge down but wanted to see what packages
were available. We got abit sidetracked though and entertained ourselves with
the signs that were there!
After deciding to visit the Skyline Gondola tomorrow we took
a walk around the main streets. Visiting an absolutely magnificent gallery with
artwork that was possibly the worlds most beautiful scenic paintings for not
cheap prices but worth every cent! We had some testers in an ice cream shop of course
hehe, and then we headed back to make tea and to get ready for a fun day
tomorrow. Very excited!!!
Last night we stayed at a campsite, and on every door there
was a sign. Written and published by an extremely academic and intelligent
lady. This lady was called Chloe and she...cannot spell at all!!
Here is proof;
After having our breakfast and leaving the camp we parked at
an indoor crazy golf car park, to play a competitive game of crazy golf! In the
Ellis family, we like our crazy golf parks, and this had to be the best
prop-wise one of them all. It was a place just next to the Skyline and we couldn’t wait
to have a go on the 18 holes. The thing is at the start, before you set off, we
think ‘right, this is it!!’ then we start and do a few holes where it takes 8-9
shots to complete and then our confidence drops. It doesn’t ruin our effort and
enjoyment though, as it’s such a lovely thing to do all together as a family
and really good fun!! Plus its indoor so much warmer than outside. The place
was called Caddyshack City and is highly recommended! :)
After I beat everybody by 20 shots, hmm hmm, Dad may have
won!, we headed for the gondola. Me and Nat decided to get a 5 luge ticket
because we wanted to have a go and for the price it seemed worthwhile! We jumped
in a gondola and headed up...passing some sheep on the way!
When we got to the top we were totally surprised at the
expansion of the facilities. There was a cafe/restaurant, shops, souvenir shops
and lots of other things I can’t even remember! We found the main viewpoint and
took in the magnificent view! Looking down we could also see the bungy jump
area where crazy people jump off a platform attached by a single rope...ha!
We finished up and headed to on the chairlift, it was great
fun as we had a lovely view from the lift and were so excited to try the luge
track!! Hopefully no injuries :S
When we got to the top there were 2 tracks, a scenic track
(basically the easy one) and the harder one which was the advanced track. The
instructors gave you a great introduction, how to brake, steer, stop and made
sure you got the hang of it before letting you go. Here are a couple of
pictures of us going down the advanced track, which had some pretty big hills
on them, great fun though!
We had 5 rides and were loving them. But the only thing was
the queuing. It took us maybe 4 hours to do our 5 rides, due to the main reason
of having to queue in a giant line every single time. We did though have an amazing
time and again would highly recommend this!
At the end of the day we got mum on the chairlift, we snuck
her on and she enjoyed the ride bless her. Mum really enjoyed the views and it was
lovely having her try it out and join us on the top top top of the hill!
We also made a friend in the form of the jelly belly man! He
was a lovely man, not very chatty though which was abit rude though...
We finally made our way down back to the gondola and down
the hill, it was lovely going up seeing the scenery and then going down we saw the
mountains in a whole new light and also the town was lit up beautifully showing
the hustle and bustle of the streets below.
Day Three
The campsite we stayed at had a strange feature....the
toilets were unisex. The ladies door was locked and said, ‘USE GENTS’, so as
weird as it sounds, we went to the gents toilets. Yes that is true!
This morning was a lovely frosty morning. Yes it’s a little
chilly been in a campervan however it really puts you at one with nature.
Waking up and the first thing you see when you open the door is snowy
mountains, dewy grass at your feet and the sun shimmering on the white fields
full of wildlife. It really does give you goosebumps, in a good way!
We headed into main street Arrowtown and went for a look
around. Window shopping is great! I loved the classic feel to it, like an old wild west town full of character.
The people were absolutely lovely too, as are all kiwis. Coming from the crowds of Queenstown made Arrowtown so peaceful and quaint. We really enjoyed
this look around, it is definitely worth a visit for its pure history and character.
From here, things took an extreme turn...we got to the Kawarau
Bridge or many people know it as the 43m bungy jump! It was such a chilly day
there were spiders cobwebs that had frozen with the temperatures.
Also the man in the boat looked to me as to being too ‘chilled’...get
it? Oh my! Terrible!
We saw about 6 or 7 people do the jump from outside.
Conveniently there was a big screen playing the jump live inside but we saw it from
outside to get the full true feel of it. We took a walk up to the jumping
platform to watch the people that were about to jump. People handled it
differently, some nearly didn’t do it, some just went for it actually HOPING to
hit the water and some weren’t too sure but were up for it when the time came. We
enjoyed watching, definitely!
We came across a mining location that had been used years ago as
a major gold mining location and now was an exhibition about it. We were
literally in the clouds, the moisture from the water beside us made the
atmosphere so peaceful.
Instead of wasting the vouchers we decided to distribute
them amongst the leaflets at the entrance, waiting for some lucky people to get
10% off. Or people who have just paid full price to see the vouchers and get really annoyed about not seeing them before hand! Ha ha!
There was no traffic at all, we stood there and it was dead silent. Absolutely no noise whatsoever, other than a sheep doing the odd baaa which if I’m honest made it even more prominent as to how quiet and peaceful it was. Take me back !!!
Sadly we had to leave here to make our way to the start of
Haast Pass. This is a singular stretch of road, about 25km long, in which half
way through a landslide took place. Last year, in 2013, a couple were driving
past one of the thousands of dangerous alpine roads up in the southern alps.
Sadly as they were driving by they were caught by a horrendous landslide which
sadly took their lives. The area where it happened it very much in land but
somehow the car and only one of them (other body never found) was found in the
sea miles and miles out from where it happened. Due to this event, every day at
4.30pm the Haast Pass is closed due to the workers, who are trying to stabilise
it (they escort you through) leave the site giving no option but to close it.
At the point of closure there was a campsite, conveniently, and we obviously
had no choice but to camp here for the night. To be honest we were ready to
settle down and after finding out it was relatively cheap we were happy to
stop.
Even the sheep welcomed us with happy expressions...
Day Four
This morning we woke up to the most beautiful scenery, snowy
ground, frozen flowers, borders with ice on the metal wire and most importantly
the water to fill up our water tank had frozen. Thankfully we did it last night or we wouldn’t have had water!
We went into one of the communal areas and found this map
showing the Haast Pass. Its a great map as it shows the mountains around it and
shows how this is the ONLY road to enable you to get to Fox Glacier and Franz
Joseph on the West Coast of the South Island.
The road opened at 8.30am so after breakfast we headed off on
our journey. We left it until about 10am to enable the morning ice to clear as much as possible and also for other traffic to help it become safer
too. It was going to be a dangerous drive so for some reason I volunteered
haha.
We also saw a lovely waterfall on the way, the Fantail Falls.
On arrival to Fox Glacier we went on a walk that took us to
a bridge viewpoint. The glacier was quite far away, not as accessible as we initially
thought to be honest but still amazing to see.
From here we headed to Franz Josef and had abit more of a
view of the glacier. It was really amazing to see but sadly the helicopter
rides were booked up for when we were there so unfortunately we didn’t get
chance.
We arrived and settled at a campsite in the centre of the
town and headed out shopping. Mum found a chicken which she enjoyed (side note:
we have chickens at home!).
We also saw ‘The Press’. At home in York, England our local
paper is called that so it was quite funny to see the same named newspaper on
the opposite side of the world!
After this we had to settle for beans on toast, which is
what we’re living off at the moment haha. Got to love beans on toast!
Day Five
Today we had organised to go to the Kiwi Wildlife Centre at
Franz Josef and we were so excited to see ACTUAL KIWIS! It is so difficult and
rare to see them in the wild therefore we went through this method. We
originally dismissed here due to thinking it would be like a zoo but after chatting with
the assistant at the reception she informed us it was a sanctuary, completly different to a zoo. They get the eggs from the wild and due to the kiwis many predators
that kill and feed on them, this is necessary for them to survive. The egg is
then hatched naturally and then the baby is taken over to a predator-free
island far north of New Zealand and it remains there until it weighs 1kg. When
this happens, it is brought back to the Wildlife Centre and is nurtured unless it is seen as been able to look after
itself/protect itself. It is then released into the wild.
Obviously you weren’t allowed photography inside however we
took this picture of a poster outside to show you what they looked like.
In the centre, after seeing the kiwis we went into the
glacier area. There were lots of props and we learn’t quite a lot from the
interactive screen situated around the exhibition area. We also were ice
adventurers!
...mum photobombed me!!
There was a final area where the nature of New Zealand was
explained in full, it was extremely interesting and we sat around the tele and enjoyed
this together, plus the couch was very comfortable!
It was now lunch time. We had spotted a bright pink bakery
up the road, the only one in the town and we decided to head on in there. We
were instantly struck with beautiful pies, cakes, pasties, doughnuts...oh my
god it was amazing!
We decided on what we all wanted and so me, Nat and Mum went
for the potato, bacon and cheese pasty (amazing!) and Dad went for the Glacier
(kind of a Cornish) pasty. This was also delicious, bless Dad he gave me a
cheeky taste!
We spotted this bottle and we took the opportunity.
From here we saw a lovely place we could stop for pictures.
It was a jetty just outside of Franz Josef. There were some people preparing to
kayak out so while the water was 100% completely still we grabbed the pictures
we wanted. I also accidently did a handstand.
We headed off and due to needing to book the ferry back from
Picton to Wellington in the North Island we stopped off at Hotitiki I-Site
Visitor Centre (no have not been paid to advertise them!) to book the
tickets. The lady there was extremely
helpful and sorted out the ferry quickly. We had planned to get the 5pm ferry,
getting in to Wellington at 8.10pm but this was sold out. The only one
available was the 10pm one, getting in at 1.45am!! :S that’s what we thought! But
actually, as long we found somewhere to camp when we arrived that would be
perfectly fine and more time in the day to spend looking at beautiful New
Zealand. We booked this and drove to Greymouth which is where we spent the
night.
For dinner we had bought a pie from the bakery we went to
before, and we thoroughly enjoyed that. Nat and I got a mince and cheese one
and Mum and Dad got a shepherds pie. Again, go to that bakery!!
Also we may or may not have had a doughnut!
That made us very happy and settled us down for the night.
Day Six
We decided to head off early this morning as we had to get
to Picton for the ferry tonight. Also we were stopping off at Parklands Marina
Holiday Park due to wanting to let the owners Bill and Helen know all about our
trip. If you are in Picton and want somewhere near the ferry port, this is your
place. They are absolutely lovely people, and it is such a nice campground. Just say the Ellis’
from York say hello! As we set off, Nat was feeling nervous for the day ahead
and I was feeling evil...
We found it on the satnav and made our way there. Him being
a mechanic, it was quite scary how his street was directly in the middle of an
industrial, garage filled, overall a ‘manly’ area.
After Dad’s street had passed, we made our way up to
Punakaiki.
We then made it to Punakaiki, yeyyy, we thoroughly enjoyed it
here seeing in all the beautiful scenery (again, NZ is full of this!) and
seeing it all together as a family.
We also discovered a plant which magically weaved its way
together, didn’t we Nat? It’s just amazing how things do that by themselves
.............haha!! Personal joke there!
We were lucky to be in a prime location to see a beautiful
sunset as Dad was driving. Really pretty!
It was then time to sleep!!!
At 1.45am we were told we were about to arrive at
Wellington, North Island. We had a look and saw all the workers below doing
their thing that makes everything come together. Basically making it possible
for us to dock at the port!
I drove off of the ferry and on our way to Mana Marina,
Wellington. This was a freedom camping spot and we didn’t take long, maybe 20
minutes, to get there. We went straight to sleep at 3am and went off to the
land of nod!
From now on, it was basically a mission of getting to
Auckland for the 8th June. We had a couple of days to do this and we
were up for the challenge. We got up about 9am in the morning and were
surprisingly freshfaced, mainly due to the lovely place we’d woken up to.
We headed off on our mission north and chose the best
location to have lunch...countdown carpark!
Half way through our long drive today we passed Mount
Ruapehu (known worldwide for the Tongariro Crossing hike). We saw an actual
volcano, very surreal when you drive next to it and this, like most things
here, gives you goosebumps. I get goosebumps alot!
I wasn't able to catch the glowworms on film but it was a magical and exciting night time trip! Looking back it felt like a horror movie...and I don't like horror movies!
Day Eight
We woke up to the most depressing task, packing! Dad was
sad!
We then went over to Kakahi Glow Worms, we had visited here
last night in the complete darkness. Going with a lovely couple and it was
quite the experience. We wanted to go again this morning to see it in daylight
and how close their vehicle came to touching the sides of the banks. We enjoyed
a lovely walk down the road and enjoyed reminiscing on last night!
As we left the area on our drive northwards, I took a selfie
with a cow!? Impressed...
We stopped for lunch part way through our journey as it was
becoming slightly more reality that we were leaving New Zealand soon and that
we would have to say bye to Mum and Dad once again! :’(
After lunch, Mum took over the driving. On her stint, we
passed the big apple.....cafe. No we aren’t in New York yet!
We stopped at Huntley for the night and it was a lovely campsite but we were so tired of the driving all day we went to bed early to get some well needed sleep. We always knew these three days would be all day drives however we needed to do this to get up to Auckland in time. Not just for the flight but to visit to friend we know so we needed to get there in plenty of time.
The first stop we made today was Natalie Place. Nat loved it! Haha. We grabbed a few pictures but as we were we noticed that the sign was very bent so either some extremely high vehicle had hit it or Nat’s just ...abit odd.
We then reached the southern part of Auckland, Devonport.
The All Blacks were playing against England tonight so we fancied watching it
due to being in the country and actually it was being played in the same city,
Auckland. We were on the search for a pub!
We parked up at a car park and went for a wander.
Where we were there was a fantastic skyline view of Auckland
and so we took a bit of time to have a good look.
Something smelt good!
We then went to see Ann, our friend. We enjoyed a lovely cup
of tea and biscuits with her and it was so lovely having a lovely chat and
looking at some pictures from years ago. This was in Takapuna so we had to brave the Auckland motorway again. AND add to
it the fact there was the match on IN Auckland so it was very very very very
very busy!
We were now on the lookout for a pub to watch the match
which was fast approaching! We struggled, getting lost twice, been told totally
wrong instructions but in the end we succeeded. We got to a restaurant/bistro
place where we were just parking when we saw the Haka being performed on the
tv. So what did we do...I turned the radio on and the two came together, the
full experience from the driving seat!
We managed to park in a slightly (really!) tiny space and
enjoyed a lovely meal of nachos that we shared over drinks and the match. It
was lovely, but was our last night.
They were delicious!
We then headed to our final campsite of the trip, the
closest one to the airport and scarily was the cheapest of the whole month.
Rather than person, this place charged per vehicle so was extremely cheap.
We enjoyed our final night, reminiscing over the amazing
month we’d had and started to get sad.
Today was it...the end of an amazing month travelling around
the whole of New Zealand in a campervan...all together. We couldn’t believe how
fast it’d gone!
We were flying at 1pm and Mum and Dad were 5pm so we had all
morning to enjoy each others company one last time. We left the campsite and
stopped at an aeroplane viewpoint where you can watch planes take off. You are
uncomfortably close! We saw a plane take off and also saw the Official All
Blacks private jet in taxi too which was cool to see. BUT we saw another
albatross! They are everywhere...free to see. I personally totally disagree
with paying for the pleasure of seeing an animal in its natural habitat and if
you are mean’t to see one, you will see one. In total we saw 5 albatrosses and
all were completely free. So I really recommend doing it properly and playing
your luck. Based on someone we chatted to, she paid $50 to see albatrosses and
she didn’t even see one so it isn’t guaranteed at all.
We also had breakfast in countdown car park...again...for
old times sake!
It quickly got to check in time so we dropped the campervan
off, found out we’d done 5832 km in total...wow, and said goodbye to our
vehicle we’d become to love for a whole month. We then hopped on the airport shuttle bus and got to the
airport.
It was now Fiji time and we couldn’t wait. We only got
properly excited when we got to the security area of the airport. We sat
upstairs after checking in, and thought we should do the inevitable nice and
quick. I hate goodbyes, but this is (like we said in February) see you later.
We had an absolutely amazing month with two amazing people who we love dearly.
We hope you had a brilliant time and it was truly a pleasure to share our New
Zealand and travelling trip with the world’s best mum and dad. Love you both
lots and miss you already <3 xxx
P.S The Fiji blog is on its way due to Nat writing it during
our time there. We hope you all have enjoyed the New Zealand blogs and stay
tuned for ...FIJI TIME!!!!!!
P.P.S Fiji is AMAZING!!!!
