Fiordland, the Catlins, and Otago Peninsula

On our way south from the Wanaka region, we stopped in Old Town Cromwell for a break. We found a cute little historical village, no cars allowed, on the edge of the lake. [This is apparently a section of the old town that was moved and preserved before the town flooded after the construction of a dam.] We also found Armando's Kitchen, a very pleasant coffee shop/cafe/produce mart. We lingered over some flat whites (beans ground to order) and conversation with Armando. Afterward we took a wander around Old Town and the mix of art shops and museum pieces. A little further down the road we took a pit stop in Arrowtown. This has a much more built-up "historical" district but is still pleasant to walk around.

We blew past Queenstown since we can't afford to skydive, jetboat, or otherwise pay to fling ourselves through space. Instead we stopped for lunch at a picnic site along Lake Wakatipu between Queenstown and Kingston.

A short drive later we found ourselves in Te Anau, the base for Fiordland. We got a space at Fiordland Great Views Holiday Park, though there were only views of a hedge (and the sheep on the other side of the bush) and all the extra "amenities" they advertise cost more, from the spa (where an extra cost makes sense) to the forks and laundry pegs (huh?). We had a chill day there, walking to town to get groceries for the trip into Fiordland and booking a kayak trip on Milford Sound. We left Te Anau and drove to Gunn Camp along the Hollyford, about 40 km from Milford. We quickly found out that the Hollyford Valley is famous for its sandflies.

After figuring out accomodations, we took the trail to Lake Marian, situated in a hanging valley amongst the mountains. The trail was steep for much of the way and very rocky, necessitating some clambering. Fun!!! Along the way we passed Marion Falls and stopped for a snack. We arrived at Lake Marian to bits of sunshine and a beautiful lake, with views of glaciers and snow.

The next day we woke up super early to arrive in Milford at 7am for our kayak trip. The road was dark and deserted, and we got to drive through the Homer Tunnel without seeing another car. After a short trip from the meeting point to the launch, we donned our neoprene skirts and fancy yellow mist jackets and set out into the fiord. [fjord? what happened to the j?] The day was gorgeous, with no rain, light wind, and only spotty clouds. Apparently Milford was having a bit of a heat wave, and it got to about 20 C. The water was calm and clear and we had a great time paddling about 18 km from the bay at the base of the fiord to the Tasman Sea. A few sea birds were about and we came across lots of NZ fur seals. A boat met us where the sea surge starting to knock us around (gently, whee!) and took us back to Milford.

After a short rest and lunch, we took the Routeburn Track a short distance to the trail to Key Summit. Many, many switchbacks later we arrived at the top (918 m), where a strange and beautiful alpine forest/marsh sat. We also got views of Lake Marian, where we had been the day before. The nature trail at the summit was the best one we've done yet.

It was windy that night, which kept the sandflies mostly at bay. Even more wind in the morning meant we barely got eaten at all as we packed up to leave the fiords. We stopped again at Te Anau for gas and a snack at the friendly Sandfly Cafe. After that we continued along the Southern Scenic Route and picked up a couple sausages in Tuatapere (the sausage capital of NZ, apparently) and stopped for a nice ocean/mountain view at McCracken's Rest along the coast.

A short drive later we were in Invercargill, where we found the Invercargill Brewery and had a very lovely (and free!) tasting. Their beer was great (and they contract brew stuff from all over NZ) and we picked up a 1.25 L rigger of their NZ pils, a bottle of Boysenberry, and a vintage 2008 bottle of their Smokin' Bishop. We picked up a site in the park across the river for the night and enjoyed the pils with dinner after a walk/run through the totara forest in the park.

The next day we took another park walk through forest and along the estuary. Then we headed for the Catlins. We took the coastal route and stopped at Slope Point (the southernmost point on the island), Porpoise Bay, and Curio Bay. We got to see the super-rare Hector's dolphins that live in Porpoise bay jumping around--the resident pod numbers only about 20--and the most-rare yellow-eyed penguins at Curio Bay among the petrified trees the litter the beach. Pretty cool!

After that we drove along and wound up at a cute little holiday park near Surat Bay. We took an evening stroll along the river mouth toward the ocean, but never got there as we were blocked by the (also rare) NZ sea lions that were a little agitated after the previous group of tourists got a little too close. The sunset still looked nice from the river.

The next day we drove to nearby Jack's Bay and took a walk to Jack's Blowhole. As we keep finding in NZ, things are not really what they are named after (see the lagoon incident in Bay of Islands). The "blowhole" was more of a sink that was connected to ocean, and it didn't really blow despite our being there at high tide. It was an impressively large hole, though, and the surrounding scenery was great. We then stopped off at Nugget Point to see the lighthouse and watch the sea birds fly around.

Then we headed north for the Otago Peninsula just outside Dunedin. We got a spot in the town of Portobello (not sure about the relation to the mushroom) and drove out to Pilot Beach near sunset. There we and a ton of other tourists all stared at the one blue penguin on the beach for quite some time. And we waited, and waited, and then after about half the folks had begged off due to darkness a little group (flock?) of penguins came swimming in from the ocean. They popped out, waddled through the gulls, and headed for their burrows in the sand. Blue penguins are the smallest in the world and they looked really cute walking around the beach with their bright white bellies and grey/blue backs. After they got to the burrows, they started making little cooing noises, fully cementing the "cutest penguin in the world" title.

The next morning we headed for the Dunedin farmer's market. We're now 3 for 3 for visiting farmers' markets in the rain. It was a really nice market and we picked up food for a couple days, including some nice looking local beef and some truly beautiful kale. Time to head north and back into the mountains.

Southern Lakes and More Glaciers

We spent several days in the Wanaka/Hawea area, continuously deciding in the morning to stay one more day, and one more day. This area is gorgeous. We kept our camp at Lake Hawea, which is much more chill than Lake Wanaka about 15 km down the road. Wanaka is a crazy tourist town full of tour operators, overpriced restaurants, and jewelry stores. Hawea has just a couple restaurants, one of which is also the town general store and coffee shop, and is just a friendly place. We stopped at the hotel/restaurant/bar/bottle shop after finding only expensive beer at the general store/cafeteria/restaurant and were able to buy just 4 bottles of beer after a complimentary sample from the tap to see if we liked it. So nice! [side note: as in South America, here "cafeteria" means "place that makes coffee".]

Aside from the nice town and the awesome site we got for our car along the lake, this area is chock full of walking trails ranging from leisurely strolls along the lake or river to multi-day hikes in the mountains. We took a lovely walk from our car through town and the surrounding farms & sheep to the base of the mountains east of the lake. There is a trail there leading to some views, but since we had walked about 7 km just to get to the trailhead, we only walked about 1 km further (through the cows) before turning around. On our way back, we took the trail along the lake shore. Beautiful and windy!

We also drove through Wanaka and up the lovely Matukituki Valley. After 30 km of gravel roads full of sheep and cows, we got to the Rob Roy Valley trail that runs along Rob Roy creek and to a view of the Rob Roy Glacier (Hil note: the glacier pics are for you, Mom, since we got rained out in glacier-land when we were here together). Now this is a spectacular glacier, with not just a river rushing away from it but a thousand sparkling cascades plunging down the sheer mountainside. Wow! If you're visiting NZ, do this walk.

(Hil note: the road sign is for you, Dad... the only difference being that we did not run ourselves into a hole and did not break our car... )

We were also gifted with a clear night and the awesomely bright full moon rising over Lake Hawea. To the south we could see the Pointers and the Southern Cross (it looks more like a kite...), despite the brightness of the moon that blocked out a huge portion of the stars. Stupendous.

Though we could happily spend another year here doing all the different walks, we've decided to head south and get to the "walking capital" of Te Anau, which is also the base for exploring Fiordland.

Glaciers!

We stopped at Kahurangi Estate winery on our way out of the Nelson region. Neudorf was better, but we had some good wines and picked up a very interesting Sauv Blanc with fun grassy, asparagus flavors. We drove some more, making a bit of a wrong turn in the mountains and ending up along a valley instead of the coast. Oops. We'll hit the coast road on our way north. We stopped in Greymouth to check out the holiday parks, but prices there were high, so we moved a bit down the road to Hokitika and got a nice $25 spot for the night.

The next day we made the much shorter drive down to the glaciers. Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are only about 30 km apart along the west side of the Southern Alps. They are unusual in that they come so close to the ocean at such a latitude. We stopped in the town of Franz Josef, but again the prices were high so we moved down the road to less-glitzy Fox Glacier. For some reason, in this town tent sites were rare and quite expensive but actual rooms at the holiday park were plentiful and cheap. We took the opportunity to get ourselves a place to stay with walls and a bed, a first since leaving Auckland. The timing worked out well for us too, since Hilary was nursing a small blister from our ridiculously long Abel Tasman walk and, it being the west coast, it was raining steadily.

The next day, it was misty, foggy, and occasionally rained. We waited until a little later in the day, when the fog lifted enough to see half the mountains, to drive back to Franz Josef. We took the short 2 km walk to the terminal face of the glacier, with the official viewing conditions being listed as "good". Cool glacier with an awesomely-scoured valley all around it.

The next day it was actually sunny! We packed up our car and drove west toward the beach to reach the Peak Viewpoint, from where you get a nice shot of the Fox Glacier and Mts Tasman and Cook behind it. Then we parked near the glacier and took the short walk to its terminal face. Fox looks a bit different, and the valley around it is a bit steeper and straighter. It's totally weird to walk to a glacier in a short sleeved shirt and sandals and see ferns all around you.

After our visit to the glaciers, we continued down the coast, stopping here and there to check out the ocean views and a swamp just north of Haast sporting some large trees. We took Haast Pass through the mountains and popped out near Lakes Wanaka and Hawea and got a nice secluded spot at the Lake Hawea Holiday Park, right on the lake.

Nelson & Abel Tasman

After a short walk along the Queen Charlotte Track in the sounds right off the ferry (we will return to this area later), we drove on to the Nelson region. Nelson in NZ's major hop-growing area, and also the center of craft beer. The area also has wine, apple orchards, Abel Tasman park, and sits on the coast will all the related coastal fun of shellfish, kayaks, boats, and whatnot. To cap it all off, it's supposedly one of the sunniest places in NZ. Basically this is an awesome place to be.

Sun we didn't get much of, but we had some great fun in the area. We stayed at Eden's Edge in Riwaka, and quickly extended our stay from 2 nights to 4 to be able to catch some of the greatness that Nelson has to offer. In not at all chronological order...

We tasted a lot of beer. Given our location, we were obligated to give the best that NZ has to offer a try. And it was good! We stopped first at Traveller's Rest just outside of Nelson, which is not a brewery but features an all-local tap list. We got a 6 drink sampler and enjoyed everything, most of all the manuka honey beer from Mussel Inn and the cider from somewhere we can't remember. [lots of the breweries here make cider. hell yes!] Next we visited Golden Bear in Mapua, run by a Californian (though apparently he's not from Berkeley). The pale ale wasn't quite up to CA standards, but it was close and much better than anything we've had in a long time. We also tried Cimmaron, a 'smoky hoppy' beer. Not quite hoppy enough for the amount of malty it had, but the smoke was interesting. Golden Bear also sells wort, for fermenting at home. How cool is that?

Next we walked the 5 km from Riwaka to Motueka to visit one of Sprig & Fern's pubs. There are a bunch of these in the area, but after tasting the beer it's easy to see why. Everything here was good, including the burger, and we thoroughly enjoyed our 4 beers + 2 ciders sampler. The berry cider was too good, you'd go through a lot of that. On our way back from Golden Bay we next stopped at the Mussel Inn. We didn't get the mussels, though they looked awesome at the table next to us. We did however try some really interesting stuff. The apple cider was ok, not as good as Sprig & Fern or the anonymous cider from Traveller's Rest. The 100% feijoa (a local fruit) cider was quite good. And we had Lambigreeny: a barrel-aged feijoa gueze. Say that out loud: a barrel-aged feijoa gueze. How cool is that? It was also quite good, though almost less tart than the feijoa cider despite the lambic-ness.

Our last stop was Monkey Wizard, the local-est option down the street in Riwaka. Apparently the brewer is a grumpy guy (we didn't meet him), but he's good at beer. The wheat beer was excellent; the raspberry wheat was even better. There was an IPA that was quite good, and several beers with local hops (some grown in Riwaka and some Nelson Sauvin variety) that we didn't care too much for. We walked away with a bottle of cider--hand-pressed local cider variety apples fermented with the natural yeast. How cool is that? The cider was quite good.

Aside from beer, we stopped at a winery: Neudorf. Lonely Planet says it's the best in town, and everything we tried was excellent. We got a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and enjoyed it very much with the soup we made. We plan to hit another winery on the way out of town tomorrow.

We also visited Abel Tasman, Golden Bay, and the Farewell Spit, to offset all the drinking. Our day at the spit and bay was a cloudy one, with a bit of rain here and there. We took a short walk along the bay side of the spit, and spent some time drinking tea at the overlook. Most of the spit is off-limits to protect the migratory birds. The bay was similarly grey and rainy, though our stop at Mussel Inn was very nice.

Abel Tasman was a much better time. We got a good bit of clouds, but sun peeked through especially over the water. We took a 27 km walk from Marahau to Torrent Bay and back, perhaps a bit of a long walk but it was nice. We thought about kayaks, but for more than $100 we decided that the free walk was a better bet. Same for the water taxis that drop you off/pick you up in various spots. Our walk hugged the coastline and the many bays with sandy beaches and blue waters, offshore islands, tons of streams coming off the hills, and other general beauty. We stopped for lunch on the beach at Torrent Bay after crossing the flats at low tide, then turned around for the return journey. Excellent walk.

South to Wellington

After leaving Ohakune, we took some small roads to reach the Whanganui River Road. The Whanganui river is long (the longest navigable river in NZ, apparently), and full of great views and little villages. The road itself is also a bit of a destination, being one-lane (but two-way) most of the way, often gravel, and an active logging truck road. Oh and it's ridiculously windy, so we said a small prayer going around every blind curve that a big truck wasn't going the other way.

It was a very pretty river, however. Lots of operators do tours on one or another kind of boat down the river, or combo boat-walk tours to fun places like the Bridge to Nowhere (that is its official name) or the easier to find Bridge to Somewhere (also the official name). We would recommend one of these to anyone who could afford it.

At the mouth of the river is the town of Whanganui (aka Wanganui). We stopped at Rapido Espresso House for a coffee and some chile fudge. Whanganui is quite a nice little town and one could spend some quality time there. We, however, headed further south along the coast, cutting through the mountains north of Wellington on Akatawara Road to the suburb of Upper Hutt. Akatawara was another one-lane but two-way road entirely composed of blind turns, and an active logging truck road. What a day for roads! We survived this road as well and arrived at Harcourt Holiday Park, where they apparently filmed the Isengard Gardens scenes in LOTR (the parts before the hole-digging and tree-burning). There we took a walk along the Hutt River (Anduin in LOTR) and up a tributary stream into the bush. The area was very pretty, and lots of LOTR filming was done here, e.g. Rivendell was just north of where we stayed. The holiday park was our least favorite so far, however, with little charm and grumpy operators.

The next day we woke up early for the short drive into Wellington to catch our ferry across the Cook Straight. The plan is to do the South Island and we'll leave a few things we wanted to do in the North for the end of the trip, time allowing.