West Coast, Blenheim and homeward bound

Wednesday 6 February

Waitangi Day, and we’re off to Haast. It was another beautiful day as we headed off from Queenstown and up over to the West Coast. We drove over to Wanaka via SH 6, which was exciting for the first half an hour or so. It was extremely twisty-turny as we headed up the pass to Cardrona. Thank goodness the whole road wasn’t like that! The thought of meeting a large vehicle coming the other way caused Matt to loose a few more hairs…

Once past the nasty stuff, though, the road was a lot better, and we were able to see more of the scenic stuff. When we got to Wanaka we had a stop for a bit at the lake. Matt decided that the water was so beautifully clear that he’d have to have a quick mouthful. Kathy wishes she could go back in time and say “don’t do it, Matt!!!” He had an upset tummy for the next 2 days. Serves him right.

After a pause in Wanaka (also picking up some supplies for lunch), we pushed on to Haast. You could almost tell to the meter when we moved from the King Country to the West Coast. Everything appeared to suddenly get a lot more lush, and the vegetation changed. You could almost imagine Ents striding across the land.

Haast was pretty lame. We stayed at the Haast World Heritage Hotel, but we think it’s called that because it’s right on the edge of the world heritage area. It’s geared up to coach loads of British tourists, complete with dining hall and a piano in the ‘lounge’ for sing alongs. Our room was terrible. Apparently the Hotel has recently changed hands and is undergoing an upgrade. It seriously needs it. At least the bathroom had been brought in to the 21st century, but the rest of the room was 1960’s West Coast blah. The door to the room only just shut, and there was only 1 light above the bed, and one in another part of the room. The bed was, naturally, in the darkest part of the room, which made reading impossible. There were no chairs in the room, but 1 double and 1 single bed, so we had to sit on beds to read. We did attempt to go outside and read in the evening light (which was beautiful, if chilly), but forgot our insect repellent and were eaten alive by the simply MASSIVE sandflies. They just loved nibbling on Kathy’s ankles, and thought crawling up the legs of Matt’s trousers was a great lark.

The best thing about Haast (apart from leaving the next morning) was a drive we took further down the coast to a small fishing settlement. There were great stretches of straight road, framed on either side by tall trees right up close to the edge of the road. It created a rather surreal tunnel effect, which was really beautiful. The fishing settlement at the end of the road was and end to the journey. We wandered out to the end of the jetty, and watched the black oyster catchers scuttling about in the shale on the beach. While the end of the journey was a bit ho hum, the journey itself was fantastic.

Advice to other travellers – push on to Fox or Franz Joseph townships, unless you are stopping off at Haast to do serious tramping/bush walking.

Thursday 7 February

Today was a big day in the car. We drove to Greymouth from Haast, but had a lot of stops along the way. We went to both Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers, with Franz Joseph being the more spectacular of the 2. As we drove up to both glacier terminals (technical term for the end of the glacier), it was amazing to see just how much both have advanced and retreated during the period of European habitation of New Zealand, and also to see how much the surrounding forests have regenerated over a couple of hundred years. Matt reckons Franz Joseph glacier was exactly what he imagined a glacier to look like, and is glad he got over his disappointment at Fox.

On the way to the glaciers we also finally got to see Mt. Cook – well, the back of him anyway. It was pretty cool to see him poking his head above all of the surrounding mountains (at long last, said Matt!).  "Light the beacon of Minas Tirith!" says Matt

The drive on to Greymouth was pretty amazing, again. It seems like a much warn adjective, but it’s true. The West Coast of New Zealand is just as amazing to look at as the rest of the country. It’s just different scenery, that’s all. We also got to drive along parts of the road which looked out over the Tasman sea. Lots of dead possums on the road as well. This coast has possums as road kill, the other has bunnies. An interesting view to the predominant type of pest in that part of the world.

We were amazed, as we drove along, to be passing many groups of cyclists going the other way. After a little while we found out what was going on. You can now do a guided bicycling tour of New Zealand. You have a support vehicle, which also carries all your kit, and you are sent off as a peloton to complete that day’s ride carrying only what you need for the day. Crazy, if you ask me, but most of them looked as though they were enjoying it!

The closer we got to Greymouth, the more vehicles we saw carrying mountain bikes and kayaks. Kathy wondered aloud if there was a training event on for something daft like the Coast to Coast. Close, but no cigar. When we checked in to the motel we found out that we were there on the eve of the actual race! Matt was astounded to learn what the race actually is. For those who don’t know there are 2 races within the event. Both of them follow the same course, but one is a 2-day event and the other is a 1 day event. What happens is the participants start off on a beach just outside Greymouth, then they run, cycle and kayak over the Southern Alps to a beach just near Christchurch (Sumner beach) on the other side of the Island (hence Coast to Coast). There are mad men and women who come back again and again for this punishment. But, it’s been going for over 25 years, so there must be something to it. If you want to find out more, here’s their website: http://www.coasttocoast.co.nz/ . The motel emptied out the next morning very early, as most of the other guests were either participants or support crew, but we didn’t really hear them heading off. These guys are certifiable. They’re really, really crazy.

Friday 8 February

This was our last day on the road. Blenheim here we come!

After a close encounter of the idiot kind near the petrol station (hey – remember those give way rules, guys – I don’t care if you always pull out that way there, and have done since time immemorial, there are always other road users about), we headed up SH6 towards Westport, stopping off at a couple of places along the way to look at the view. It was spectacular! The coastline along this stretch of road is just stunning – very rugged and windswept. We detoured to Westport to have a quick stretch of the legs and to pick up some food for the rest of the day before heading inland through the Buller George towards Blenheim.

The drive today was one fraught with all sorts of excitement, from Matt’s decision to overtake a campervan just as a truck pulled on to the road from the shoulder (go on – I wasn’t going to hit it, said Matt. Yeah, but you weren’t sitting in the passenger’s seat watching the wing mirror nearly get swiped off the car by the van, said Kathy!  Matt here: nearly in this case means safely)), to one lane bridges at the bottom of hair pin corners. On the approach to some of these you really had to use the Force, Luke, as you couldn’t tell until you got there who was supposed to give way, or see the approach to the bridge at the other end. The civil engineers who designed these roads must have had an absolute field day deciding just how to scare road users! We also had our most amazing escape from disaster this day as well. Driving along at 100km/h on a straight stretch of road and some idiot farmer decides to pull out from an intersection without looking. Thank goodness for all the braking technologies in that car! If it hadn’t been for Matt’s quick reaction time and the assistance of the brakes we could have ploughed straight into that guy. He didn’t even acknowledge that we were there as he drove past us, despite us flashing headlights at him and tooting the horn. The worst of the damage (once we’d recovered from the shock) was a sore neck due to minor whiplash for Kathy, as she’s been sitting sideways in her seat taking a photo of the mountains. Honestly, the driving we saw displayed by what we can only assume were locals in the South Island was horrific. And they reckon tourists cause most of the accidents. Yeah, sure….

Another oddity on the road was rail bridges. These were 1 lane bridges shared by vehicles and trains, with the tracks down the middle of the road. That’s right – not a separate level, or vehicles on one side and trains on the other, but sharing the same span. The signage said “this way has right of way, except if there’s a train – they have right of way regardless”. What the…?!? Ah, those crazy Kiwis!

Once through the twisty stuff, we hit Marlborough and the countryside changed. It almost felt like home it was so dry and flat. Matt was able to play around with the cruise control on the car, which he felt was fun.

After checking in to the motel, it was off to pick up our tickets for the food and wine festival the next day, and drop the car off.

Saturday 9 February

Today was the big day. After an abortive start, we finally got to the Taste Marlborough festival!

The day was lovely – sunny but not too hot, and a gentle breeze when you needed it. We started the day with bubbles you do), and went on from there. Pinot tasting for Kathy, and all sorts for Matt. Kathy did get a bit cranky with people (how was I to know they were in the queue? There was a big gap between them, all huddled in a group, and the next person – I mean, really! (Matt: no cutting, and that means you, Miss Cutter), and the atmosphere on one side of the grounds didn’t match the relaxed feeling on the other. Muttonbirds singer guy was fun though.  There also wasn’t enough shade provided. But the wines were mostly very nice, and the food was great. Favourite food was the roasted shank of wild goat or venison. I’m not sure we had a favourite wine, though.

We headed back to the motel before either of us started getting too messy, and had a palate cleansing ale before dinner and a not too late night.

Sunday 10 February

Our last full day in New Zealand, and the weather went off. We were catching the train from Blenheim to Picton, and then on the ferry to Wellington. Until we got on the ferry, it wasn’t a good day.

Once we got to the railway station, we were told we didn’t need to check in and exchange our travel vouchers for seating allocation or anything and the people at the ticketing office could not, and would not, store our luggage. So we were stuck on the cold, wet and windy and very dirty platform at Blenheim railway station for about 2 ½ hours (or, at my count 1 hour : Matt). Then when the train did arrive, we were told we should have got a seating allocation, and the steward was cranky because he was told there were only 2 passengers at Blenheim, and he ended up with 5.  Hey – not our problem! So we were eventually found seats (and thank you to the lovely couple we sat opposite for continuing to stretch out their legs under the table between us, and putting all their luggage in the luggage racks above the seats so that we had to basically huddle in our seats for and uncomfortable 25 minutes), and were off. The ferry trip, though, was quite pleasant. Although it wasn’t fine it wasn’t a rough crossing, and we made it in to Wellington quite happily. An early night after dinner in the hotel, as we had an obscenely early start in the morning.

Farewell, New Zealand – we had a lovely time.  (Matt: best holiday ever!!!!)