So the day we had been waiting for finally came, the arrival of our 1966 VW campervan. We were very excited to hit the road and continue our South Island adventure. Bertie (our self-appointed name for the little red van) was a little beauty and got a lot of attention on the roads as we drove him through some of the most beautiful scenery in New Zealand.
We had a few trials and tribulations though, notably breaking down when we ran out of petrol even though Bertie showed that we still had a quarter of a tank. A hitchhike to the nearest petrol station and back averted disaster of spending half-a-day walking to find the nearest petrol station in the middle of nowhere (p.s. I told Mike to fill up the day before but he assured me we were fine - imagine how well that went down!).
Bertie also didn't like mornings so much so we had a job getting him started every day, much to the joy of the of the campsite.
We had such a good time it will be hard to sum up our two week experience but I will try and showcase the highlights.
1) Arthur's Pass
We started off on our trip from Christchurch travelling to the West Coast via Arthur's Pass. We decided to take our time about it - we had two weeks after all and, after a few hours of driving, parked up at our first campsite right under the mountains just south of Arthur's Pass Village.
This is the moment to mention the Department of Conservation (DOC) campsites we stayed at throughout our trip. They are really cheap, some free and in the best locations. All of them have toilet and picnic facilities , although none of them have showers - more about that later. Anyway if you ever travel NZ by campervan they are by far and away the best places to stay.
After stopping at our site we walked around the area and then set about sorting our first dinner, a lovely chilli-con-carne, cooked in Bertie chased with a couple of beers.
As our first night descended we were reintroduced to the 'devil' that is sand flies. Our traumatic experience in Colombia had not been in vain and we were well-prepared. Tropical strength fly repellent on, long trousers (with elastic at the ankles/or socks over them - very stylish) check, and what was to become a nightly ritual, 'The Kill' was born.
'The Kill' simply put was a competition between Mike and I to see how many sand flies we could splat in our campervan when the windows and doors were shut, before we went to bed. From that day on I took on the title of 'Mr Miyagi' of sand fly killing as I swotted them with my bare hand clap.
2) Franz Josef
From Arthur's Pass we continued on the next morning into glacier country to Franz Josef, a small town with a great big glacier renowned for being able to hike on it, despite the fact that only six months ago a major part of the ice shelf collapsed and the fact that Franz Josef sits on NZ's major fault line so if an earthquake occurred the whole area would disappear instantly.
So... we obviously decided to do just that - take a walk on the ice. However because of the recent slide the only way to access the glacier now is to land by helicopter. Mike and I had never been on a helicopter so when we found this out it only made the trip more enticing.
All booked up we waited until the next morning for our trip, fingers crossed that the cloud level wouldn't be too low so we could go.
Morning came and we 'cramponed' up and headed out to the glacier.
We were the first group on the ice that day and so our guide, Sam, spent extra time as he carved our path through the ice.
We spent about two hours hiking, going through ice caves, crevices and gorges. It was a fantastic experience.
After we were back on the ground we headed to the local hot springs to warm our cockles after being on the ice.
The warm feeling wasn't to last long though as we headed to camp for the night and decided that after two nights we really needed to have a wash.
Our bath - the local lake - that runs down from the glacier. The experience - beautiful but very very cold (although we were soon to learn there were much colder lakes to wash in).
The only way to warm up after was of course a nice cup of tea. It was then I discovered something unsettling about my husband. I cannot believe that after 32 years on this planet Mike has never, no never, dunked a biscuit into a cup of tea (or coffee for that matter). I, of course, instructed him on the merits and importantly the logistics of doing this (you don't have the last gulp of tea no matter what - soggy biscuit debris in cold tea - ughhh!) Now he knows the art, all is well with the world.
3) Queenstown
After a brief overnight at Lake Wanaka, we headed onto Queenstown, the adventure capital of NZ for a few days.
First and foremost the most important thing to mention about Queenstown is Fergburger. This burger is immense, as is the queue outside the door and up the street to get it. The wait was worth it as you can probably tell from this picture.
What wasn't so great was eating it just before exercise - a three hour downhill mountain bike session (Mike) and a one hour pure vertical climb uphill climb to the top of the Gondola (Me).
As you can see Mike went all hardcore going hell for leather down some of the best downhill mountain bike tracks in the southern hemisphere (where many of the pros's train). Meanwhile I enjoyed a leisurely afternoon reading my book taking in the views of Queenstown after my 'wheezing inducing' climb.
The next day we decided to have more of a chill out day, sorting admin, doing laundry and even popped in a luxury trip to the cinema.
At our campsite we endured more washing in lakes (also very cold), drank more tea and dunked more biscuits. We did cook in most nights but it wasn't a particularly healthy evening when we opted for a family size pizza at the local take out. It took us two day and two meals each to finish it. Note to self - time to hit the gym.
We had planned to do more at Queenstown but time and money prevented it. We did go and watch the bungy jumpers and were tempted for a split second. The skydive remains on hold only.
4) Milford Sounds
From Queenstown we drove down and across to Milford Sound staying the night at Lake Gunn, the furthermost north DOC campsite to Milford, the night before.
Like all the other sites the camp was beautiful, and like all other stops we had a quick dip and a wash here too.
We had a few hours to kill at this stop so turned to our trusty bottle of Captain Morgan's to whip up a couple of 'dark and stormy's,' our staple drink of the trip.
Next morning it was an early start as we headed into Milford to catch the 9am Juicy boat into the Sounds.
The scenery was stunning and as the cloud lifted we got to enjoy great views of the fjordland.
On our way back from Milford we returned the favour that had been given to us when we broke down and picked up a couple of hitchhikers. After I got over my initial 'Wolf Creek' moment we got chatting to the two Canadian girls we had picked up who were thankfully very normal.
5) Mount Cook
Our last main stop on the trip was Mount Cook. We arrived all geared up to climb LOTR 'Mount Doom' only to find out when we arrived that this was not Mount Doom and we had actually already driven past it. Doh!
Nonetheless we decided to climb it anyway.
We settled in at the campsite and went for a short walk in the afternoon along the Hooker Valley (which did feature in a LOTR scene).
After our walk we cleaned up, had dinner, finished our bottle of rum and settled in for the night as we had to walk to the summit the next morning, an eight hour round trip.
In the morning at 6am I woke up to a very grumpy Mike. Both of us were freezing and tired. We decided there and then that we didn't need to do the hike after all - I mean we had done longer and harder hikes in South America and it wasn't even Mount Doom :). Instead we had a snooze and a leisurely breakfast watching everyone else do it. A much better idea.
We had pretty much come to the end of our trip and were very sad to say goodbye to Bertie at Christchurch airport. I don't think he wanted us to leave him either as he decided to breakdown as we stopped for petrol ten minutes away from the airport. After twenty minutes of false starts we had to get a mechanic involved to make sure we didn't miss our flight. Good try Bertie - don't worry we will always have the memories.
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