A very long way

Week 3

South Island

Lake Pukaki to Banks Peninsula

Wednesday 6th February 2013

We woke up once again to those fabulous crystal blue skies & matching blues of Lake Pukaki.  The views across the lake towards the mighty Mount Cook were awe-inspiring & boy, were we lucky in having such clear views of the snow clad mountain.

Anyway, striking camp after breakfast our route would take us through the Southern Alps & her foothills & out across the vast Canterbury Plains.

As had been the case throughout our travels, the highways were deserted, a few cars near settlements & towns & then vast emptiness.

Hamlets named after local sheep drovers, sparsely covered parched slopes, pine copses slipped past as we headed down from 'sheep country' down in 'dairy country' that is the Canterbury Plains.   Fairlie, the epicentre of dairying, was a long sprawling town of wide grass verges, cattle yards & tractors.

As we drove on wards, paddocks filled with black & white Holstein cows, grazed on the heavily irrigated pastures,  swishing their docked tails in an efforts to remove the flies.

After observing some tourists leap from a hire vehicle & then watched in amazement as they proceeded to take 'selfies' of themselves with round bales of hay, we stopped off in Geraldine at the Vintage Car & Machinery Museum.

We spent 3 hours here.  There were tractors.

There were cars.

There was a Harley Davidson hearse.

There was even a small bi-plane attached to the ceiling like a butterfly specimen.

Then there were the 2 old timers who enthused about all of the machinery, cars, tractors, screw, bolts etc
etc.

Eventually l managed to drag Husband away & we returned to our route to meet up with friends in Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula, turning right off Route 1 shortly after crossing the bridge over the Rakaia River & its many 'braids'.

The plains gave way to hills, whilst the wide straight roads became twisty & narrow as we headed onto the Banks Peninsula, & thanks to it being Whaitangi Day the roads were chocked with day trippers heading back to Christchurch.  Close encounters however with hair pin bends provided some spectacular views across the parched landscape down to the inlets below.

After a long day's drive through diverse scenery we eventually pulled up into the drive at Mount Vernon Lodge, Akaroa to be warmly greeted by firends & fellow Yorkshireman & his partner who had swapped Uk dairy farming for New Zealand dairy farming & now were embarking on a new adventure.

Today's mileage = 200miles

An amazing drive

Week 3

Tuesday 5th February 2013

Arrowtown to Lake Pukaki

Sunshine, Tuesday morning the grey leaden skies returned to a glorious blue, the rain from yesterday only remembered by the large puddles.  Well, l tell a slight lie, the weather had improved by the time we rolled into our overnight stop, thus enabling us to meander through the restored mining village with a distinct Lake District feel doing a bit of window shopping, huge selection of all things wool for some reason?

Anyway, l digress;  we were the only rental unit on the site, and after much conversation with local motorhomers, we packed up & set off for the day's journey with the wild or free camping site at Lake Pukaki the end goal.

Today's scenic route took us along deep valley bottoms, over raging rapids & to the car park at a bungee jumping attraction.  Now,  those who know me, know that l have a serious problem with sheer drops; before leaving home l had thought that jumping off a bridge attached only by a large length of rubber band might cure me of the problem.  Did it hell, whilst Stephen marched across the bridge, l just about managed to leave the camper, cross the car park then, very carefully making an effort to keep breathing, managed to get into the souvenir shop, even that was traumatic as the large windows looked out towards the jumping bridge & then down in to the gorge below.  Needless to say, l kept my feet firmly planted on terra firma.

Our route continued through devastatingly wondrous, wild country.  Past vineyards, through mountain passes, true sheep country & on into Cromwell.

As we approached the town, the fields became flatter & wider with rich agricultural land, home to large dairy herds, fields irrigated by enormous irrigation units & ongoing drilling bore holes for water very much in evidence.

Fruit farms became plentiful, & the whole area was a veritable Eden of fresh fruit & dairy.  Cromwell, according to the Rough Guide, has an old town that was moved after the completion of a large dam.  Unfortunately, the historic site, [think Beamish],  was not as you might say, well signposted, in fact there were more signs directing you to fruit farms.  well, we did eventually find the place which is obviously an ongoing project but interesting never the less.

Lunch was spent in one of the en site cafes before plunging onwards towards even more jaw-dropping scenery.

Leaving the plains behind, the landscape became more & more rugged, rolling mountain, sheep stations that seemed to be slightly lacking in sheep thanks to the down turn in the market, those sheep we did spot were mainly Marino.

We drove ever deeper into McKenzie Country until on our approach to Omarama we spotted some rather dramatic-looking cliffs, the sort of colour of kaolin & morphine medicine.   After a quick study of our tourist map, a detour along back roads took us to the gate & entrance to the clay cliffs.  Attached to the gate post was an honesty box with some slightly confusing instruction regarding payment, together with a group of French Tourists struggling to make sense of what to do next.

 The outcome, they followed us along the bumpy, dirt track which seemed to go on for miles & miles taking us up to almost the foot of the cliffs.  The final ascent was a short, steep tramp to the clay cliffs themselves, from which the views across a meandering river plain was just truly awesome.

The afternoon stretched on, the open road beckoned us once again, the feeling of remoteness was every present.  We filled up at the isolated town with the intriguing name of Twizel which rhymes with Bridle, with its breathtaking views of the snow capped Mount Cook in the distance.

Finally,after a day of scenic overloads we pulled off the road to the Freedom Parking site at the alpine Lake Pukaki.  The evening's backdrop was the cobalt blue waters of the Lake backed by Mount Cook.  Absolute bliss.

By nightfall, there several other motorhomes had parked up, both local vans & rentals all of us drinking in the views, & as the sun finally set, were privileged to be able to enjoy the unspoilt night skies

today's mileage = 123 miles

in which we find rain, NZ style

Week 3

Monday 4th February 2013

Milford Sound to Arrowtown

We had booked places with Mitre Peak Cruises back in Te Anau, so Monday morning, bright & early was the day for a scenic chug down Milford Sound to gasp & be awed by the spectacular scenery of the Sound.

We were woken up with plenty of time to spare by the sound of heavy rain bouncing off the camper roof. The day's forecast was talking of a mere 15cms of rain, l was so relieved that at this point we had not chosen to kayak down the sound.  The rain was still coming down in stair rods when it was getting up time, so decided to give the quick trip to the shower block a miss.

The check in time was 15 minutes before sailing [8.55am] so, intrepid travellers that we are,  proceeded to drive the camper through puddles, or should l say, floods, past spontaneous waterfalls crashing from every ledge & gully by the bucketful.

Now, the walk from the car park to the quayside is about 10 minutes the bulk of which is undercover, so after kitting up in wet weather gear, we took the plunge [literally], & proceeded to splash towards the covered board walk.  On arrival we quickly checked in then all 15 of us were herded to the vessel by its skipper.

 Despite the truly awful weather, Milford Sound gave off an eerie atmosphere.  All swirling mists & low clouds, mighty vertical cliffs soaring into the clouds with numerous waterfalls in full flood crashing into the sea below.  Being a small vessel, the captain took us right inside several of the larger waterfalls & in close to the walls of the Sound which dripped in greenery.  Fish could be seen swimming in the shallows at the base of the rocks, whilst sat out posing for the Tourist, were large numbers of fur seals.

The cruise lasted the morning & despite the weather, was wonderful, whilst the journey back to Te Anau was equally impressive.  The dry landscape & draught-stricken rivers had become a torrent of waterfalls & wild, white water rapids.

Milford Sound is a one road in & the same route back as are many of the destinations in New Zealand, so we retraced our route back past Lake Wakatipu, through Queenstown finally pitching camp at the Arrowtown Holiday Park.

today's mileage = 184 miles