Milford Sound (March 25)

The Columbia gorge where we live is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Milford Sound dwarfs the gorge. It is like the gorge on IV steroids!!! We were welcomed by classic fiord land weather. It rained for 36 hrs straight. We hunkered down in the camper, read and did schoolwork. The road to Milford was closed due to the weather/possible rockslides. When it opened we drove a short 30km into a land of immense beauty; 5000ft vertical granite walls, thousands of waterfalls cascading down and daiquiri ice colored turbulent rivers. One drop dead gorgeous view after the other. We boarded our boat and headed out into the sound. We learned how fortuitous the rain had been. When it rains only 4 hrs later the waterfalls begin. In 12 hrs they are gone. Even the largest waterfall was just a trickle the day before. How lucky we were. Milford Sound is amazing, words and photos do not do it justice. Nigel

Queenstown -Bungy!

On our second full day here we watched Liam jump 43m off of a perfectly good bridge (like jumping off a 13 story building)!! I had done the same bungy jump 20 years ago and now here I was watching Liam do this crazy thing!! He did a better job of it than I - he didn't scream at all and he actually jumped off the platform when they counted down from 3!! He even said it was 'Fun in an exhilarating kind of way'! (And he has the video to prove it!!)
Afterwards we drove up 13km of gravel switchbacks to the Remarkables ski area. The Remarkables, which form the backdrop to the city of Queenstown, are a very impressive mountain range; jagged, craggy, steep and rocky. We hiked up beyond the chairlifts to Lake Alta, crystal clear and ice cold. Rory was too busy catching grasshoppers to even consider a swim! Nigel and I scrambled up another couple hundred meters, through a scree field, to the top of the ridge surrounding the lake to get some even better views.
Finally back down, we enjoyed a drink on Lake Wakatipu's waterfront, watching the TSS Earnslaw, the last remaining coal-fired passenger vessel in the Southern Hemisphere, take its evening cruise.

Queenstown

The first night here we went out for dinner at the Fat Badgers pizza place- that was just the beginning of our financial hemorrhage, followed by the 3 nights at the campsite, the jetboats, the bungee jumping and a fiord-land overnight cruise still to come.... We enjoyed eating out for a change and the next day all three boys had a blast jetboating on the Shotover river! These boats can do 360's and be inches from canyon walls, all the while only needing 4 inches of water beneath them! Afterwards we hiked up Queenstown Hill for awesome views of the town and lake. The roads leading up to it were even steeper than the path - I don't know how people can drive on these steep roads when there is snow and ice!

West Coast to Wanaka

Leaving the west coast and the rain behind, we drove east over Haast pass, along the Haast river, Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea. We arrived in the town of Wanaka, at the base of Lake Wanaka, early enough to spend the afternoon at 'Puzzling World'. This place was great fun! Rooms full of illusions, holographs, mind benders of all sorts, including the room of 1000 faces where all the faces followed you as you walked, or the room where one person looked tiny and the other gigantic, or the room with the angled floor where balls rolled upwards and water appeared to flow upwards! We had a blast, laughing lots! Once outside, we tried the maze: wooden fences built to trap you at dead ends at every other turn. We must have walked 4 or 5 km while trying to find the four different towers and then the exit - and it took us over an hour!
When we finally found our way out of there, we treated ourselves to a giant gelato, sitting on the beach, looking out at the lake....

Wanaka

We spent two more days in Wanaka and would have stayed even longer but for the desire to see the rest of the country! We really enjoyed the beauty of the lake, surrounded by the mountains and the small ski town community feel of the town. We hiked up the towns local hill, Iron Mountain, where we had great views of the surrounding lakes and mountains. The next day we rented bikes and cycled around the west side of the lake for a couple hours of up and down, cliff side hills right on the edge of the lake. Even Rory made it up some tough climbs!
That afternoon, after another gelato and a cup of coffee on the beach in the sun, we decided to head down to Queenstown via the Crown Range road, the highest paved road in New Zealand, with more great views.

March 17th, 2013

March the 17th was a happy day! Rory turned 9 years old! New Zealanders were also happy on this day because the skies finally opened up and it poured!! We have been here for two and a half months and are finally getting some rain. We drove to Franz Josef Glacier and did a hike to the glaciers 'snout' - in the pouring rain. We were all drenched and had seen enough of glaciers, so we drove on and camped south on Lake Paringa. There we cooked Rory's birthday dinner (schnitzel!) and celebrated his birthday with cake and ice cream afterwards!

West Coast

We left Abel Tasman stopping at Wainui Falls on our way out - beautiful, but so cold that only Nigel was up for a swim! Heading southwest through the Buller Gorge to the west coast, we freedom camped on the beach in Westport and the boys built another driftwood and sand shelter. The road from Westport to Greymouth was an impressive coastal drive. It reminded us of the Oregon coast and the weather was similar to Oregon's as well - grey and blustery. We stopped to watch the terrific blowholes and crashing waves on the strange, layered rocks at Punakaiki -the pancake rocks, before driving south of Hokitika to camp on Lake Mahinapua, where the boys went swimming.

Abel Tasman, south

We headed up the coast from Nelson and booked a campsite in Kaiteriteri for two nights. Some consider this to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, we tend to agree! The sand here is golden - like light brown sugar, but more orangey. It was like that on all the beaches in Abel Tasman National Park, which we were at the southern end of. The next morning we took a boat ride up the coast of the Abel Tasman Track - the most popular track in New Zealand, and were dropped off at a pristine beach. From there we made our way along the track, hiking for a few hours, stopping at more beaches and swimming holes on the way and ending up at a bay from which we were picked up about 6 hours later for a boat ride back. It was a wonderful day!

Abel Tasman, north

From Kaiteriteri we drove west and climbed one of the highest, curviest roads on the island over to Golden Bay, to the town of Takaka. What a cool place, I could have wandered the shops for hours here! We made use of the library's free wifi, had lunch and the headed to Totaranui, the northern end of the Abel Tasman Track. It's quite a road - very narrow and only single lane in many places due to landslides from massive rainfalls in the last couple years and only two thirds of the way is paved. Nigel got us there safely and we parked for two nights, right beside an estuary and across from the sea.
The skies threatened rain the next morning but we set out anyway, north on the Abel Tasman track from Totaranui up to Separation Point. We hiked over headlands and down to golden beaches, the boys even found a stream to dam up early on. We ended up at a steep rocky climb down to a lighthouse where we ate our lunch while watching seals play on the rocks! The tide was out on the return trek making it much faster and easier to get back to our camper 6 hours after leaving it! It had been another great day of hiking and it never ended up raining!

South Island , Picton to Nelson

The ride over on the Interislander ferry was beautiful! We had a clear, sunny, warm day for our journey from Wellington, across the Cook Strait into the Tory Sound and down the Queen Charlotte Sound. Rory and I saw a couple of little penguins swimming near the boat, otherwise we saw coves and bays and hills of green framing the blue of the sounds. We arrived in Picton and headed west, stopping at a little campsite called Aussie Bay for our first night, right on the water. The next day we headed further west and camped on the Pelorus River. This was a gorgeous green river with great swimming holes with little rapids to boogie board down and smooth granite rocks to jump off! There was a little waterfall we swam under that will be in the next Hobbit movie when it comes out! This was also our introduction to sand flies - tiny like blackflies of Ontario only nastier! We hit Nelson on a Saturday which made me very happy - Saturday Markets! Rory and I wandered around the booths while Liam visited the library and Nigel explored the town.

Traveling South

After our wonderful weekend with the White family, we finally headed south in our campervan, en route to Wellington to catch the Interislander ferry on Thursday March 7th. We spent our first night parked on Lake Taupo with the lake forming the backdrop to our dining/bedroom. The next night found us at Waikenae Beach right on the ocean looking out at Kapiti Island. We arrived in Wellington the day before our ferry was scheduled and spent the entire day downtown on the waterfront. We really enjoyed this bustling city! It reminded us of a smaller version of Vancouver, B.C., with its vibrant waterfront and accessibility. We spent a few hours at the Te Papa Museum which the boys even found to be entertaining due to all the interactive exhibits, and in the evening we lucked upon a circus type performance called 'Campground Chaos' that was great fun, in a little park on the waterfront. Nigel and I took a walk along a pedestrian only street, Cuba street, which was filled with music, bars, cafes and young people, reminding us of our single days of traveling in the past.