The McKenzie's Official world tour site
# Tuesday, 26 May 2009
NEW ZEALAND ADVENTURES.........
KIA ORA! Following a very fast two and a half hour flight with a tail wind all of the way – we landed into Wellington (South of the North Island, New Zealand), arriving from Sydney, Australia. We found out about Windy Wellington with that very landing, which was probably one of our most turbulent ever! We were very grateful to our pilot for his skilled landing but nobody applauded when we landed – is that another thing of the past? A short taxi ride in the middle of the night got us safely to a local hotel in New Zealand – the home of the Kiwi! We moved on to Lower Hutt, near Petone and stayed in a pine cabin on site until we could collect our next camper – which we have affectionately named KIWI! Our next ferry trip was about three and a half hours over the Cook Strait on the Interislander from Wellington to Picton, on the South Island! We have been in New Zealand for almost four weeks now and unfortunately our opinions of this amazingly scenic country have been seriously scarred by the overall percentage of wet and windy days – we estimate 98%! We have seen lots and lots of happy paradise ducks and many depressed and soggy campers (we do feel sorry for those who have chosen this time for a three week holiday). We have had to act quickly on those couple of dry days, to get some great pictures! The beautiful autumnal colours and turquoise waters, topped with a back drop of snow-peaked mountains is a huge understatement. These views are only given the very best deserved justice when the sun is shining........ those are the times when we caught glimpses of the most amazing picture postcards and our imagination is swept away by the scenery. The fiery orange and reds glow brightly against the crystal white snow........ Our morale’s are struggling and have hit a low on Macswayround- as we know that all this is out there- at arm’s reach and with many unique wildlife opportunities too - but it continues to rain wherever we choose to go ......we do seem to have lost the sunshine for now- but we are sure we will find it again, later on our travels! Back to the beginning of the South Island – we stayed at Blenheim in the Malborough wine-growing region. We found a brand new camp at Murchison with a handy river to go for a quick fish. There was also a variety of strange looking toadstools down along the riverside. In the evening we got valuable travel advice and happy hour entertainment with Gordon (a very kind Scottish chappy who is now from Western Australia but has also lived in New Zealand) and his lady, Donna. We would like to thank them for their company and hope to meet again some day! On our way along the West Coast to Greymouth we stopped off at Punakaiki and saw the Pancake Rocks and Blow – holes. Through a layering -weathering process called Stylo-bedding, the limestone has formed into what looks like piles of thick pancakes! And they really do! We are sure that Greymouth is a lovely place but for the time we were there it was – guess what – yes, raining! Driving through the scenic west coast we saw spectacular snow capped mountain views and stayed at Franz Josef. There was a break in the wet stuff for long enough to go and see the Franz Josef Glacier and it was very odd to realise just how many thousands of years it had been there! This glacier and the one we saw next (Fox’s Glacier) are said to be the most accessible glaciers in the world. Franz Josef has an ancient Maori legend that tells of a girl losing her lover, who fell from the local peaks, and it was her floods of tears which froze into the glacier. Lake Rotoiti was spectacular and we met Steve who has recently emigrated to New Zealand. We would like to wish Steve and his family well in their new venture. Later on we walked along Pikihi which is one of the only places to see kiwis in their natural environment, had we walked at night, as they are obviously flightless and nocturnal birds. A short walk that night, along a pitch- black local track allowed us to see some intriguing glow worms- doing what they do best! After stopping off at the Fox’s Glacier we trekked to Haast and stayed at the campground there. Just opposite we chanced by a great walk along the Hapuka Estuary, saw a variety of wildlife and got information about the very popular Whitebait fishing procedures that take place seasonally in this area. Our 300th day was spent being puzzled at the Stuart Landsborough Puzzling World in Wanaka. This attraction has many world unique scientific experiments and situations, including the slanting room, snooker balls that roll uphill, water that runs uphill and the room of famous faces whose eyes follow you wherever you are in the room! Spooky! There were challenging mazes, mind boggling illusions and many brain teasing puzzles to be entertained with and we ran out of time to explore! The toilets also need to be visited for a treat but we’ll leave that bit a secret! We helped an American guy who deserved all the credit for cycling around New Zealand- but was delayed with a puncture. We piled his bags and his bike into Kiwi and gave him a lift to catch up with his mate, who had not yet realised the absence of his cycling buddy! We had a good chat and it was strange to think that Geoff had only left Albuquerque, New Mexico, just a few days before we were there at the beginning of this year! He actually lived on the Old Route 66 and we must have driven past his door! We stayed at the Wanaka Lakeview Holiday Park and then trekked on towards Queenstown. On the way there, as we sludged our way through the snow and along the highest paved road in New Zealand – we figured that it was probably our best bet to make friends with the local snow plough and gritting driver! Max had stopped for his break and accepted our offer of a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich! We were then happy to continue our journey as the mist cleared slightly and we were able to follow Max’s valuable work safely! We got our real Kiwi fix at the Kiwi Birdlife Park in Queenstown and found out lots about these unique and flightless birds and other species of wildlife that are native to New Zealand, including the Tuatara. The park had an informative audio tour as we met some of the most endangered species, a conservation show and an Early Maori Hunting Village. It was also good to meet our mate back home’s sister, Liz, in her Outdoor Sports Shop in the town. We stayed at the Creeksyde Top Ten in Queenstown....... Next stop – Invercargill – the most southerly city in the world...........We hope the sun will shine......! “SWEET AS”.....until next time ....
Tuesday, 26 May 2009 08:06:28 (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0]  New Zealand