Final Travel Map

Our Last Few Days

We don't have long now.......the countdown has begun. We have arrived in Christchurch and are in the process of trying to sell our van. Fingers crossed we can shift it before we fly out on Sunday. Christchurch is still a wrecked city, so not much to do unless you are in the building trade. We plan to just chill out on the camp site, maybe go to the cinema one day, out for a meal on Saturday?? Just filling in time really, and savouring all nights in the van, because soon it will be our last :-(

Police Stop!!

The police stopped us today in an undercover car, and asked for Stuart's details. When he came back to the van after the check he took the keys from the ignition and said Stuart was a disqualified driver for drink driving!! What the hell!!! Total panic set in!!! I think he realised the shock on our faces, and our desperate plea that he had the wrong guy, and went back to his car for more checks. Panicking I tried to think of all paperwork I had and proof I could use to show that it wasn't Stuart. We are flying back in a few days, and it might complicate matters if Stuart was in jail! Luckily the policeman came back after a long heart racing 5 minutes, and apologised for the confusion. Apparently there is another Stuart John Banks with the exact same birth date who is disqualified (what are the chances eh?!) Only by checking up with immigration did he clear up that he had the wrong Stuart. Luckily for us, this other guy was charged before we entered the country. OMG! Might take a while for my heart to slow back down! He said we will more than likely be getting stopped again, as it flags up on the system if you run our vans plates. At least next time we will be expecting it, and we might not suffer from heart attacks. Oh God!!

Moeraki Boulders

Out at Moeraki there are some bizarre boulders that you can reach at low tide. There are both Maori mystical explanations and scientific ones to describe why they are there and their origin. But when you see them you just think.....how weird!

 Typical Stuart..........

There are so many of them dotted along the shoreline, and even more in pieces, showing you the heart of them.

A bit bizarre, but beautiful at that early time in the morning.

We had been told about a 'world famous' restaurant out here called Fleurs Place, so thought why not give it a shot for lunch. When we turned up we drove right past it at first. It looks like an old boat shed, not what we were expecting.

But once inside, the food was beautiful. I had scallops in mushroom, bacon and cream sauce with bread, mmmmmmmmmm. Stuart had blue cod wings with plum sauce, something I have never seen before, but is such a smart idea.

After indulging ourselves, we went out to see more penguins, this time it was yellow eyed, and viewed from a DOC hide giving us shelter from the rain.

A couple of hours before dark, the penguins start to come ashore to their nests in the bay.

A bit of penguin overload the past few days, but you know how much I love penguins (especially the penguin parade at Edinburgh Zoo!), so I'm happy.

Oamuru Penguins

Somewhere we went last year, but I had forgot to write about it on my blog, is Oamuru, and we thought we would go back. They have a Victorian precinct with old world markets, and is the headquarters of 'Steam Punk' in New Zealand. But what we went for are the little blue penguins. They have nesting boxes there, and at night the penguins return from their day of fishing out a sea in small groups. You can view them coming ashore and making their way up the rocks to the nesting boxes. They are so so small. You could fit them in your hands. We weren't allowed to take photos, so I've sourced some from the internet to give you an idea.

It was pretty dark and cold watching them, but they are just so cute, we had to see them again. 

Queenstown

Back in Queenstown. We loved it first time round, and same the second. We took a trip up on the Gondola again to see the views, and we were so lucky with the weather, we could see for miles.

And a Queenstown must is the Fergburger. What a great little place, the burgers are just as tasty as I remember from the last time round.

Skippers Canyon

One thing that you consistently see as you travel New Zealand, is adverts for Jet Boating. Since we are on the final leg of the trip, we thought we would give in, and finally book up for one. We chose to go out to the Skippers Canyon, a famous Gold Mining site with a nice narrow, steep gorge. They picked us up in a 4 wheel drive mini-bus, and to get into the gorge, we went down an old horse track road, hand built by the gold miners over a hundred years ago......and never been updated since! It was so narrow, and pretty scary, Stuart told me to take my seatbelt off so we could jump if necessary! He has a good way with making you feel calm lol The road is one of only two in New Zealand that are off-limits to hire vehicles, and not covered by insurance, but the views were great.

We also came across some newly weds having their wedding photos taken. She must have been freezing.

When filming Lord of the Rings, they used the Skippers Canyon for the gates of Mordor (and a few other scenes that he told me about but I can't remember). They used Queenstown residents as extras in the movie, our guide had been dressed as an Orc a few times, and some other crazy characters, which sounded cool.

On arrival in the canyon we finally got in the jet boat. When you see the depth of the shallow water you think, no way, we can't be going up in that, but we did. It was so much fun. It's like being in a roller coaster mixed with a log flume. The driver gets so close to the sides of the canyon, squeezing through the tiniest spaces, weaving in and out of rocks, and we even did some 360o spins. Didn't think it was possible in such a tight space....but it is, accompanied by some screams!!

I'm glad we finally went jet boating, it is a really good laugh, and a lot warmer than the alternative.....white water rafting!

Glenorchy

Last year we didn't quite make it up to Glenorchy, and we have since been told by others that we missed out. So this time round it was a definite, and boy it didn't disappoint.

You can see why it's named Glenorchy, you could totally believe you are in Scotland by a loch, and it even had sand flies, New Zealand's Midge, which added to the whole effect. Stuart lit a fire by the lake to try and keep them off, but unlike Scotland, sand flies are only out by day, so the fire was more for warmth. And you can't have a campfire without a nice big mug of hot chocolate!

A beautiful DOC camp, have really enjoyed the peace and quiet up here, and am so glad we took the time to see it.

Wanaka

Wanaka is just a lovely place to be. It has a real alpine village feel, and I love its quirky shops and cute bars along the lake front. We have spent three days out here, just because it feels so nice!

One thing we skipped last time was Puzzling World, I know, it's a Shona dream, can't believe we missed it last time. It has a 5km maze with four corner towers. The challenge is to reach all four in a specific colour order. We did complete the challenge, but it took us over an hour, it was fun! :-)

They also have a walkthrough of visual illusions and wonky rooms, which are a bit of a laugh.

And I found a red telephone box!!!! It's not quite a Kirkintilloch Lion Foundry, but I'll take it lol

Day three we have spent just chilling in the campsite, sitting in big comfy chairs by the log fire, drinking tea, and enjoying the mountain view out the big glass wrap around windows.

Mount Cook

Last time we went to Mount Cook, we were snowed in and had to camp in the visitor centre car park. So we thought we would revisit and see it in a different light.
On the way, we had a quick lunch stop at Lake Tekapo with its beautiful turquoise waters. It was blowing a hoolie, but we still saw some crazy young tourists take a dip in the water. We could hear them scream from our side of the inlet!!

 Once at Mount Cook the weather was much clearer than last time. Before, we drove in in a snow storm, and didn't get to see anything until we woke up the next morning deep in snow.

This time though, we got to see Mount Cook village, but only the base of Mount Cook itself. It was hidden up in the clouds somewhere, but we spent a cold night at the bottom of it anyway.

We hoped to maybe do the walk into Tasman Glacier the next morning, but unfortunately it was raining, and the visibility very low, so that idea was soon abandoned. It was still nice to have another look though at Mount Cook, and it's a pretty awesome drive in....worth it!

Hanmer Springs

We just had to back to Hanmer Springs. It's such a beautiful village, and the spa pools are so relaxing. We couldn't resist another chance for a dip.

Feeling in the indulgent mood, we thought we would treat ourselves to a meal out in Ashburton. Stuart went for the pig out option with his MASSIVE mixed grill :-) What a cheeser on his face!!