New Zealand – Day Nine from Greymouth to Christchurch via Arthur’s Pass

On our ninth day we awoke in a very sodden Greymouth. We replenished our car snack stockpile and got some breakfast, happy to move on. Initially the drive was slow due to heavy winds and rain. I took it pretty easy after driving past a large 4WD being pulled out of a ditch by two tractors.

A couple of hours in and we reached Arthur’s Pass, an alpine road which winds through a mountain range right in the middle of the South Island. The last leg of the pass was very slick with ice and snow.
As we all remained mesmerised by snow, I pulled over into the one spot I could, a (closed) snowfield carpark. The three of us jumped around a lovely river-side clearing and mucked around in the light snow for a while. I still can’t believe we got to our last full day and finally got to mess about in the snow – it was my sister’s one goal for the trip and a great note to end on. 
The remainder of the car trip was quiet and contemplative quite rowdy as we were so chuffed. Upon reaching our cabin for the night, we made some hot drinks, then headed into Christchurch for dinner.

Our final day was spent packing, going into the city to eat and buy a couple of presents, then bidding our trusty rental car farewell. Tired, we were all quiet on the plane. Time went quickly (3 hour flights are such a treat) and before we knew it, Sam’s dad had kindly picked us up and driven us to my mum’s house.

(Photos from an iPod – too wet for my camera!)

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New Zealand – Day Eight at Fox Glacier, Franz Josef Glacier and Greymouth (Fail Day)

Unfortunately, just like the day, this post is a bit disappointing, but since not all things go to plan I decided to include it. Sorry about the distinct lack of photos!
From Wanaka we planned to check out Fox Glacier, Franz Josef Glacier, and finally get into Greymouth in the early evening, after about 6 hours of driving. Apparently typical of the West Coast, it poured for most of the drive. Undeterred, we donned our raincoats and checked the conditions before commencing the 45 minute return walk. We walked most of the distance before coming to a sign which said the rest of the walk was closed due to rockfall. It was too misty to see anything, so we turned back and drove to Franz Josef Glacier.
On the drive in we saw the glacier for about two minutes before clouds obscured it. As we pulled into the car park rain started belting down, showing no signs of stopping for the next twenty minutes. Between my sick and hungry companions and the need to keep driving, we admitted defeat and I grudgingly drove away from the seemingly absent glacier. I don’t know if it’s because I was sick and tired or because of the inclement weather, but Greymouth didn’t really grab me.
It did have roundabouts with train crossings on them though. Weird.

New Zealand – Night Six/Day Seven in Wanaka and Aoraki

After riding, we meandered back into Queenstown and spent the early afternoon there before leaving for Wanaka. The drive was a bit slow through the ice-slicked alpine passes, but we got there in just over an hour and immediately set out to find food (priorities).

Settling on variants of fish and chips, we sat by the lake and enjoyed the quiet afternoon and magnificent scenery. As it goes with chips, it didn’t take long before we had some avian stalkers. Gulls, sparrows and ducks soon flocked around us, and my sister delighted in throwing a few chips skyward. The ensuing bird acrobatics made for fun photos! Still chilly in the evenings, we scoffed some ice-cream as the sun went down and headed back to our accommodation.

I was feeling off again the next day, but we had planned to drive out to Aoraki/Mt. Cook and I didn’t want to miss it. The road winds alongside enormous jewel coloured lakes before reaching a flat valley bordered by the Southern Alps. Not feeling up to any walks, we hung around for a while, took photos and drove to a couple of different points. My sister managed to drop her iPod and smash the screen (I realised days later I got a photo of the crucial moment!), so between that and everyone being a bit sick and grumpy, we drove home, thoroughly impressed by the scenery but lacking the verve to explore it.

Next time I guess – it was probably a good idea to get some rest anyway, as we had a big drive coming up the next day.

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New Zealand – Day Five in Queenstown

On our fifth day we grabbed a quick breakfast in Te Anau before commencing the drive to Queenstown. Another beautiful day, we were spoiled with quiet roads and lush, undulating scenery on all sides. I drove, and once we got to Lake Wakatipu we stopped at nearly every lookout point. The lake is such an incredible colour, and the winding drive alongside it was quite fun.

We had lunch in the bustling centre, then drove up to Arthur’s Pass to leave our bags at our accommodation. This was one of the places we ‘splashed out’ on – private bathroom woohoo!
Early in the afternoon we drove back down to Queenstown, where my boyfriend (henceforth Sam) had booked his big adrenaline-pumping indulgence – a go on the Hydro Attack, a strange jet boat shaped like a shark. The boat seats the driver in front and one passenger behind, whizzing them around the harbour and jumping above and under the water for 20 minutes or so. After his session, Sam returned grinning widely. Once he had his land legs back, we all walked up to the Skyline Gondola and jumped on a cable car up a mountain for a great view of the lake, town and bordering mountains.
Ever the child at heart, Sam opted for a ticket with two runs on the luge track included. I sat with my camera, waiting for him to fly around the corner and managed to get distracted by something and only get one photo. Whoops! It looked like great fun though, my sister and I regretted not going but needed to save for our indulgence activity which I will write about tomorrow. Until then!

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New Zealand – Day One in Christchurch

Last night I got back from my first trip to New Zealand. How have I never really considered travelling there before? Despite sickness in the ranks, my boyfriend, sister and myself had a great time. I’m going to do a post for each one or two destinations we travelled to in our stoic rental car.

Day One: Christchurch
After getting into Christchurch late the night before, we arranged a shuttle to the rental car depot and picked up our Jucy ‘El Cheapo’ –  a Nissan sedan. After some boring things like getting a sim and exchanging money we drove into the CBD (or what remains of it after the 2011 earthquakes). The damaged facades and crumbling buildings were covered in scaffolding, others surrounded with colourfully decorated chain fences.

We drove over to the coast, and had a (cold!) walk out on the pier at New Brighton, where locals were pulling up cages and cages of crabs, gulls flocking around them. All slightly sick, we drove home (caravan park) and prepared for the drive to Dunedin the next day, before collapsing into bed.

My sister

Massive gull

 

 

Absence

Just a quick explanation of my absence – I’m on a road trip around the South Island of New Zealand! Stay tuned for photo posts, probably coming up next week. Having a blast so far. The featured photo was taken in Milford Sound, Fjordland.
Until then!