Day 23 (18th November)

Okay, so we're just a tad behind on the blog and by now you will have received an email Christmas card from us tandem hang-gliding. We have to come clean and confess that although Kate looks like the competent instructor, she was in fact Chester's instructor with Kate's head stuck on. Almost had you all fooled! Anyway the 18th Nov was when we actually flew for real. Our flights were postponed from 11am to 3pm as the weather was chilly and they had to wait for enough thermals to form. In the mean time we mooched around Queenstown, had lunch in the sun in a waterfront cafe and discovered some fantastic art in the local shops. At 3pm we were bundled into a minibus headed for Coronet Peak just north of Queenstown. Chester was strapped in rather clumsily by a rooky trainee who had to be corrected on where he had the straps (not something you want someone to be 'trying out' on your husband) and before I was fully strung up he was off the edge and flying! Eeeeeeeeek! I hadn't time to wonder how he was doing before I too was instucted to take one step, two step, runnnnn and whoooosh! We soared along the ridge for a while then the instructor said, 'Can I scare you now?' to which I answered, 'Okay just a little'. He then nose-dived the wings, sent us wheeling in circles and I screamed a lot!
A few more of those brought us down to a safe landing in the field below and after laughing face down in the grass, got up and wanted to do it over again.
That evening we drove our van on a long dirt track to the top of Lake Wakitipu to a fabulous spot called Kinloch where we were alone in watching the sun set across the lake to the sound of frogs singing.

Day 22 (17th November)

Sunshine! Hooray! Let’s drive back up the Cardrona Valley to see the view we missed out on yesterday! It was worth the climb. Back in Queenstown we sat in Vudu Café to work out how much money to blow on adrenaline trips. We booked hang-gliding for tomorrow and took a speedy trip up the Shotover River on a jetboat that performed 360 degree spins and dodged the canyon walls. This very professional operation presented us with a short video, photos and postcards of us in action as soon as we climbed back on dry land. It was fun, but even more fun was to be had on the luge! You can take the Queenstown gondola ride for fabulous views of the town, Lake Wakitipu and The Remarkables mountain range beyond. Then at the top you can hop in a go-cart and race down various tracks wearing a very silly helmet and an even sillier grin! A chairlift takes you back up to the start and as their slogan says: ‘once is never enough’…

Day 21 (16th November)

We discovered the lovely, laid back town of Wanaka – cute boutiques and cafes to brighten up an otherwise soggy morning. We needed to get to Queenstown and our anti-clockwise route around the South Island was chosen because the drive through the Cardrona Valley that links these two towns is best done from Wanaka due to the fine views. We set off in low cloud which deteriorated to heavy rain and, halfway along the road, piled into the Cardona Hotel for a hearty lunch of venison and fish ‘n’ chips around their log fire. The hotel harks back to the gold mining era and the bar has an entrance to one of the old mining shafts. From there we descended on Arrowtown as the rain descended on us and the views were obliterated. We tried to dodge the downpour from shop to shop and spent a good long time in Craig Potton’s photographic gallery talking to an English lady who emigrated to NZ four years ago as well as admiring Craig’s amazing pictures.

Day 20 (15th November)

Today we fancied doing a ‘tramp’ as the sun was shining and we drove to Wanaka to check out weather report at the ever-helpful DOC Info Centre. It looked set to be fine so we headed east along the bumpiest 30km track following Matukituki River upstream, over nine fords to Raspberry Creek car park. The walk was so worth it though: ferocious winds whipped us up the valley and made crossing the river on the long swing bridge a bit scary. Ancient beech trees afforded protection from the worst of the gusts as we climbed above the tree line to spectacular views of Rob Roy Glacier. Here huge waterfalls were tumbling down over ledges but were swept away by the wind seemingly not to reach the bottom. We witnessed an avalanche and made friends with a kea – a clever alpine parrot that has adapted to its harsh environment by begging and often helping itself to food carried in rucksacks. Clouds gathered as we turned tail and were blown back through the forest, passed skipping lambs in the fields and kicked up more dust on our return drive to Glendhu Bay. As we set up camp at Lake Wanaka the rain started.

Day 19 (14th November)

Drove to Fox Glacier information centre to hear people being turned away from booking helicopter rides due to low cloud. Smugly we headed for Wanaka, stopping to take a walk through bush to Monro beach where we saw three penguins waddle from the rocks down to the sea before clouds of sandflies drove us back into the bush. The sun came out as we turned inland to follow the course of Haast River and we saw some lovely black and red butterflies as we paused by a waterfall. We travelled through countryside reminiscent of the English Lake District and arrived on the shores of Lake Hawea to watch the moon rise from behind the mountains across the lake. It was a beautiful, warm night.

Day 18 (13th November)

Low cloud postponed our trip from 9 to 11.30am. But when the sun came out we were up, up and awaaaay!! We had a fantastic flight: Chester and I were in the front seats near the pilot and there was another couple seated behind. We traversed along the side of the Southern Alps to ascend Fox Glacier, up to Mount Cook and over the divide to view the long and almost horizontal Tasman Glacier. We landed at on a wide snowfield, jumped out of the helicopter to throw snowballs at each other and make blue footprints all in hot sunshine, then zig-zagged over the crevices of Franz Josef Glacier on our descent. Just the most tummy leaping experience – it was 40 minutes of fabulousness, a real highlight of our trip! We felt even luckier after hearing that about one in three trips to Mount Cook are cancelled due to the poor weather the Tasman Sea conjures up and throws at it. On a high we drove out towards the coast to take in the reflections of the great mountains in Lake Matheson but the wind had crept up and we continued on to Gillespies Beach/ Here we free camped (with a few others) and watched the sun turn the Alps pink behind us as it set into the sea.

Day 17 (12th November)

Got up at 8am and fed the fat ginger camp cat (or the camp ginger fat cat – Ian?) the remains of our steak dinner. It was a grey day with low cloud as we set off down the west coast which proudly advertises itself as the ‘Grey Region’ (well that should pull in the crowds!). We took another quick peek at Pancake Rocks to see if the difference in tide height could impress Chester, but alas, there was not much more activity than on the previous evening. As we continued, the coastline got more and more bleak until we landed in Greymouth for supplies. I am not sure why anyone would choose to live here: it has the greyest weather, it is miles away from civilisation, the buildings are dull, the people are frighteningly ugly and the river inundates the town on occasions. However, not wishing to totally offend, the people here were also amongst some of the friendliest and most helpful we’ve met! Encouraged to move on we headed for glacier country and pitched up at Franz Josef Glacier as the sun came out. We booked a helicopter trip for the following morning and spent the evening feeling very excited!

Day 16 (11th November) – the West Coast

There’s some seriously odd bird behaviour in NZ: this morning Kate had her toes pecked by seven ducklings as mummy mallard looked on and black swans were seen swimming on the sea! It may be to do with the fact we rose at 6am to make the most of the day and hadn’t yet got our brains into gear but I’m pretty sure we didn’t both dream it. The cold shower at this horrid campsite awoke the senses pretty sharply! We needed to start covering some distance so today we drove from Parapara in Golden Bay down the centre and out to the west coast to take the last site in the campground at Punakaiki. On the way we stopped for lunch and took a woodland walk by Lake Rotoiti in Nelson Lakes National Park. The trees are covered in what look like tiny strands of white cotton threads with droplets hanging off the end. These are the anal canals of a scale insect that feed on the trees and produce a sweet honeydew substance that birds love (tasty!). The birdsong here was lovely and we would probably have enjoyed more had we not been chased around the walk by a coach load of very noisy Americans. We also stopped further on near Murchison to cross the longest swing bridge in New Zealand (don’t look down!) over the Buller River.
Before finding camp we had a peek at Pancake Rocks. These are amazing limestone formations that have been eroded to look like stacks of pancakes and when the tide is high and the wind is up, the sea booms into the caverns below and creates spectacular bursts of spray forced up through blowholes. Chester, however, was underwhelmed!

Day 15 (10th November) – Golden Bay

This morning we met a pukeko! This is a pretty blue bird the size of a hen with a bright red beak. It very elegantly strutted through the long grass but when I threw it some bread it picked it up with the ugliest gnarled red claw I’ve ever seen! We stopped off in Takaka for supplies and headed up the coast to Collingwood, the place of Rosy Glow Chocolates: lovingly hand made and sold from a wee pink cottage by the beach. Yum! The rain cleared as we reached Farewell Spit at the very top of South Island. This is a renowned bird sanctuary and protected wetland area with a 26km long beach and huge sand dunes which can only be reached through a tour company. The café at the top was closed so we took photos of as much of it as we could see alongside the skeleton of an unfortunate beached pilot whale. Travelled a further 7km along an unsealed road to take a walk across farmland onto a dramatically remote windswept beach. Here we encountered the unlikely meeting of sheep, seals, horses and blue jellyfish-like sea creatures.

Day 14 (9th November)

Awoke to cloud which deteriorated to mizzle as we set off across the estuary for the walk to Separation Point. This was a brilliant walk mostly through misty, bush covered headlands dropping down onto the golden sandy bays of Anapai Bay, Mutton Cove (where we were attacked by a nesting oyster catcher) and, finally, Separation Point (where we watched fur seals napping on the rocks nearby). On our return route we saw a bottlenose dolphin catching its supper and more seals playing in the water. Eight hours later, back at our remote campsite we lit another fire and watched the stars appear.

Day 13 (8th November)

Planned to get to Totaranui by road and do the walk up to Separation Point as it was sunny, but got side-tracked in the local hippy town of Takaka (or rather Kate fancied the galleries and boutiques!). Another trouser purchase later (!) we headed up Wainui River to navigate a very bouncy swing bridge to view the waterfalls. After losing each other in the woods temporarily we walked from Wainui Bay towards Taupo Point but the high tide cut off our route and the sandflies prevented us from resting on the sand too long. Drove to a remote campsite run by the Department of Conservation (DOC) where you pay the honesty box a minimum fee for the use of their adequate facilities and a spot to park. We had a paddock to ourselves, lit a campfire and opened a bottle of native plonk…

Day 12 (7th November) - Abel Tasman National Park

One of the ‘must sees’ on our list, Abel Tasman boasts beautiful golden beaches and clear turquoise waters backed by lush pristine native bush. It didn’t disappoint despite a rather panicked start to the day when we had to catch a much earlier water taxi than planned in order to complete our desired ‘tramp’ (NZ for ‘hike’ and our new adopted word). The sea shuttle picked us up on (a sunny – hoorah!) Kaiteriteri beach, taking us along the coastline as far north as Totaranui before dropping us off on the return loop to Bark Bay at 11.30. We then had until 3pm to march through fabulous forest and over a swing bridge for the return pick-up at Torrent Bay. The tree ferns and native beech trees are huge and lush!

Our pick-up boat nearly beached itself but delivered us back to our campsite where word had gotten round that this campervan fed ducks. Soon we were surrounded by sparrows, blackbirds, thrushes and some very territorial mallards all dancing around our feet for the next crumb. The birds in NZ are exceptionally tame – until the Polynesian and European settlers’ relatively recent introduction of mammals such as rats, rabbits, stoats and possums, the native birdlife had few predators and the likes of kiwi and the (now extinct) moa, became flightless. Children gradually replaced birds (historically as well as outside our van) and we found ourselves in the centre of a football game! Watched the sun set across the bay and chatted to a couple of local families who were fishing on the beach.

Day 11 (6th November)

Today spelt VICTORY! Six years of searching and a journey to the other side of the world finalised Kate’s epic quest for a pair of jeans! Celebrations in Nelson.

A visit to WOW! – museum of the World of WearableArt complemented today’s findings with such delights as the Dali Bra and an automated catwalk of other extraordinary creations. Look up www.worldofwearableart.com for one of the most creative and imaginative exhibits we’ve seen in a long time.

Took an atmospheric, blustery walk along Rabbit Island beach, again just missing the rain, before taking the bendy forested track into Abel Tasman National Park.

Day 10 (5th November) - Nelson

Awoke to sunshine and took a quick march to the top of the view point for magnificent views across the Sounds, complete with rainbow. After breakfast we set out for Nelson.

Nelson has the highest sunshine record for all of New Zealand and also a very high number of British immigrants! There is a thriving art scene here and the Marlborough wine growing region nearby helps to keep those creative juices flowing. We spent the afternoon exploring the cathedral and cute old cottages of South Street; wandered the shops and galleries we discovered Jens Hansen jewellers – the Lord of the Rings ring designer. At the end of the day we set up camp by the beach and took a breezy stroll, getting back just before the rain.

Day 9 (4th November)

The strange clicks and beeps of the native Tui bird woke us this grey, cold morning as we set off to discover the South Island. Took the cheaper (and stinkier) Bluebridge ferry from Wellington to Picton. Couldn’t decide if it was better to endure the lashing rain on deck or the urine stench below. Our favourite announcement: ‘Pissingers needing left axis go to the sickund floor’ finally gave us a breakthrough into understanding the kiwi accent – they’ve got their vowel sounds mixed up! So, after picking our way through the tiny waterways to land in tiny Picton harbour, we drove the windy bendy scenic Queen Charlotte Drive around Marlborough Sounds, finally parking on a viewpoint above Havelock for another night free camping. The weather forecast on our little TV said winds of 140 kph expected but even parking in the most sheltered corner didn’t protect us from the frightening gusts that shook our little home on wheels into the early hours. We were even more spooked when an air raid siren went off in the town below at 1am in the morning! (Turns out it’s how they summon their firemen.)

Day 8 (3rd November)

Spent nearly the whole day in the capital’s Te Papa Museum which is excellent. We learned about the making of these fabulous islands: the movements of the tectonic plates, volcanoes etc. We experienced what it would be like to be in an earthquake, discovered plants and birds we’d never heard of before and got chucked out before having time to finish the massive collection of art. Froze as we braved the chilly winds along the harbour and headed for shelter in the shops. From there, we took the cable car up to the extensive Botanical Gardens but it was so uncomfortably cold we quickly headed back down the hill for a warming curry.

DAY 7 (2nd November)

Awoke to clear skies and sunshine. Gave the town of Wanganui a second chance and were thoroughly impressed with their museum and the Sargant Art Gallery. We ate delicious pasties outside a café whose owner had emigrated from Ireland and was able to afford a farmstead as well as the Celtic pasty shop, before making the long drive to Wellington. The west coastal area here is flat with dramatic seas rolling onto long wide beaches. We took a walk on Foxton beach, collected shells and made footprints in the sand. Booked into a campsite at Lower Hutt, around the bay from Wellington city, as the sun set. Drove back around the bay and treated ourselves to Asian posh nosh at ‘Chow’. Yum! Ahhh but chopsticks here require great skill – wery swippery.

DAY 6 (1st November)

Hooray - got the docs okay to continue on our travels! Drove straight towards 'Mount Doom' from Lord of the Rings in Tongariro National Park planning to do the amazing Tongariro crossing - a 6 hour walk around volcanoes and lakes. However, thick low cloud as well as the manky ankle persuaded us to abandon that idea and after suffering a half lit presentation of volcanoes at the Visitor Centre, we found a better display from nature at Tokaanu. Here we encountered hot water seeping out of the ground and stinking pools of mud plopping and steaming (not unlike Chester’s morning ablutions). We talked to some local Maoris who were clearing a pit in the ground in which to cook their dinner and another woman who was boiling flax in one of the pools in order to make rope. Then we motored south on the Desert Road. It was raining. Foreboding volcanoes invisible. Tsk! A slippery boardwalk at Rankawa Falls stretched our legs and disappointing first impressions of Wanganui moved us beyond the town to spend the night on the shores of a little lake called Wiritoa. We were the only ones in the field and it rained so hard in the night we wondered that the lake might expand to include us!

DAY 5 (31st October)

Woke to a cool sunny day having spent many of the early hours at the local hospital receiving excellent free treatment for the aforementioned bite. Was told to rest my fat foot and come back later so we hung around the sleepy town, got haircuts, bought DVDs, did laundry, drove to the shores of Lake Taupo and back and discovered emails from home.

DAY 4 (30th October)

A nasty looking Fijian mosquito bite on Kate's ankle sent us back to New Plymouth in the morning to find a doctor. A bottle of antibiotics later we headed down the 'Forgotten World Highway' and armed with the wrong leaflet, we've forgotten we were meant to see. We did get our passports stamped in NZ's only republic in Whangmomona while stopping at their infamous pub for a swift half. Ended up in Taumarunui where the campsite owner sported a fabulously large moustache and an equally large sense of humour!

DAY 3 (29th October)

Seriously awful weather as we drove into New Plymouth town to get supplies and 'put mulk en the frudge, Brudge' (Mindfields joke). Visited the local art gallery called TART and was impressed by the standard of creativity. Took off inland towards the volcano that shapes the south western corner of North Island - Taranaki or Mt Egmont. It was snow capped and at 2518m, attracting cloud. Freak gusts of wind almost flipped us off our feet as we climbed above the tree line to take in the views before returning through tropical forest to the melodious tune of a pair of bell birds. This was after the back doors of the van had slammed back in the wind, smashing the van key into many bits and spending a couple of hours piecing it back together before finding another part on the tarmac to add in. The cloud formations were spectacular as we settled down to our first night 'free camping' finally feeling buffeted enough by 3am to move the van to a more sheltered spot.

DAY 2 ( 28th October)

Armed with an itinerary, tips and books on New Zealand we said farewell and motored south. Stopped at the Kiwi House and saw our first kiwis (the feathered kind) and a tuatara - an ancient dinosaur lizard. We commented on how like England the rolling green countryside is, camped on a bluff in New Plymouth and watched the wet weather roll in, just like holidays in England.

DAY 1 (27th October)

Landed in hot, sunny Auckland and taken to pick up our super new white house on wheels in Auckland. Emptied our suitcases into it and drove straight to Hamilton to land on the doorstep of Kate's Aunt Ruth, her husband Gavin and their three children, Angel, Ryan and Luke. Angel made me my first friendship bracelet, we enjoyed a lovely dinner, had a great time catching up before spending our first night camping in a van on their drive.

News at last

At last, time to begin telling you all about our adventures whilst upside down! Don’t forget to click on the picture button on the right for additional beautiful (and more sensible) shots of all things New Zealand.