At 8.00am on Tuesday morning I left Wellington by taking the Bluebridge ferry which sails back and forth between the north and south islands of New Zealand.
The 3 and a half hour journey was a smooth ride and pleasantly scenic.. looking back at the capital as the ferry departed was pretty cool, as was seeing the morning winter sun beam down on the instense blue waters of the Marlborough Sounds when making our entrance into the South Island.
Picton is a small port town on the northern coast where the ferry docked and I disembarked ready to start the mini adventure I had planned.
First things first, was collecting my hire car from the port terminal. I'd scored a ridiculously cheap deal online, the equivalent of £35 for 4 days, which I later found out to be an error on the car rentals website and should have been at least triple the cost, yet they had to honour the contract. Sweet!
However, this motor was nothing flash, in fact it was probably the most ugliest of cars I've ever seen.. a Nissan Tiida. But it had 4 wheels and it moved, which is all I required.
The majority of people I had spoke to never stopped harping on about how amazing the South Island was and how I must get there as soon as possible due to its "incredible beauty", and that driving would present me with the perfect opportunity to witness all this for myself. So by now, I was obviously excited about my little road trip.
From my starting point in Picton, I'd be driving through a large portion of the South Island to eventually arrive in Queenstown in a few days time where I'd arranged to meet Nicola.. when exactly depended on whether I fancied stopping overnight in a few places in-between.
It was noon when I set off.. my aim was to drive across the country in a westerly direction until I hit the west coast where I would then drive south to hopefully arrive in a place called Franz Josef.
After only a few hours drive I came to realise how sparse the South Island was.. I barely saw another car for miles on end, and this pattern would continue throughout the whole of my journey. At times I wouldn't see another vehicle for at least half an hour.
I drove through miles of countryside dominated by vineyards, sprawling snow-capped mountain ranges, valleys carved open by rushing rivers, sleepy towns which I was in and out of before I knew it, and an insane amount of.. well, plain land.
It was all nice enough, but for me there was nothing spectacular about it, which once again left me feeling rather underwhelmed. Listening too much to other people's opinions can also overhype certain situations. But maybe I've been spoilt with all the scenery I've already seen on my travels. Although driving south along some parts of the west coast was pretty cool.. the waves of the Tasman Sea crashing against the coastline were furiously wild!
There was a handful of places I could have stopped off at on my journey south, such as the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki and the Blue Pools of Makarora, but I wasn't too fussed.
I had my sights set on Franz Josef. It's location isn't far inland off the west coast, however nearby mountain ranges mean a detour is necessary. Not ideal because by now I was driving in absolute darkness.. there were no road lights and the pitch black screen before me meant I had no reference point, only road reflectors to guide the way. Those last 2 hours were a real struggle so I was relieved to finally reach the tiny town of Franz Josef at 8.00pm after 8 hours driving and 550km's on the clock!
I had no hostel booked so I feared I'd be spending the night in the old Tiida when I bobbed my head in at the first hostel and their reception was closed. Fortunately the Rainforest Retreat down the road was more accommodating despite its reception also being closed. I managed to charm my way into booking a full dorm to myself with an ensuite and Sky TV.. just what I needed after a marathon drive.
I woke up on Wednesday morning surrounded by mountains which the night before had been invisible to me.. a pretty sweet setting in what is known as Glacier Country.
The main reason people visit Franz Josef is to see the Franz Josef Glacier, and nearby Fox Glacier.. so I decided to have a look for myself. I checked out of the retreat and drove to the beginning of the Franz Josef one.
Almost straight away at the start of the trek while looking down a rugged open valley, with climbing mountains on either side that were emanating sporadic soft falling waterfalls, the glacier can be seen.
For the next half an hour or so, on approach to the viewpoint, the glacier is a permanent fixture in your eye-line, growing larger with every forward step.
I'd love to say what I saw was incredible when I arrived at the viewpoint seeing the glacier in all its glory from only 200m away. However, it's literally just a big lump of ice which slopes down the mountainside! It's going to take a hell of a lot more than that to amaze me. It appeared more impressive from afar than up close, and its surrounding areas were definitely more interesting.
I traced my steps back to where I'd started and joined onto another short trek which had an elevated platform over the valley and presented the scene of how the glacier had receded over years gone by.. a little more interesting. I was more enjoying having a wander around with my tunes on.
I jumped back in the car and drove to a nearby lake named Mapourika. This could have been beautifully peaceful had it not been for a few groups of the Japanese kind taking part in their favourite pastime - snapping as many photographs as they possibly can of the same object!!
I was in two minds whether to stick around in Franz Josef for another night and maybe visit the Fox Glacier, or to get back on the road and head down to Queenstown.
While parked outside the front of a random hostel stealing their wifi, the owner came out to me, so I had to pretend I was interested in staying a few nights. After speaking for a short time he told me some bad weather was heading this way later in the afternoon which would last for a few days and that I should get back there before it hit. Jeeez! Maybe it was a ploy to make me book there a few nights? Crafty!
My mind was made up.. I sacked off seeing Fox Glacier, I'd had enough of those things already, and I sure didn't fancy driving over the supposedly treacherous Haast Pass mountain road in bad weather conditions over the next few days.. so I told the nice chap I'd be back in a couple of hours to book in at the hostel, jumped in the supersonic Tiida and drove 5 hours to Queenstown while it was still daylight ;)
The scenery enroute to Queenstown became more and more mountainous, but also quite bleak. Driving on the Highway 6 from upon high between the two huge lakes of Wanaka and Hawea was the only major point of interest that I'd consider to be a pleasant distraction throughout the journey.
Having clocked up over 1,000km's in just 2 days I arrived to the bright lights of Queenstown around 6.00pm where there was finally evidence of substantial human life.
I checked into the Flaming Kiwi Hostel, threw my bags down and went straight out to meet Nicola in a pub down by the lake. She'd arrived just a few hours earlier and was staying with her friend Tom who was from Manchester, and his girlfriend Lexi, from Bristol. Both of which are currently living out here on a holiday working visa.
I immediately hit it off with the both of them and they kindly asked if I'd like to stay at their apartment with them for the duration of my time in Queenstown. Nice touch!
The town is sandwiched between the meandering Lake Wakatipu, the rolling mountain range of the Remarkables and the dizzy heights of Coronet Peak. Needless to say, Queenstown is a skiers haven which draws in hoards of tourists from far and wide. With plenty of other adrenaline fuelled activities on the menu such as bungy jumping and skydiving, this is definitely the outdoor adventure capital of New Zealand.
I checked out of my hostel the following morning and moved my belongings into Tom's pad. Nic returned from a job interview in which she is also hoping to grab herself a move to the South Island.
The day was now ours.. Nicola and I are the perfect example of two people being known as "chalk and cheese". Our interests couldn't be more different but miraculously it somehow works when combined with some comedy and wining (mainly from my end). She's a very outdoorsy person and loves trekking!! But me on the other hand.. if you've read my previous blogs you'll already know the answer to that. I enjoy the end result where there is something worth seeing, just not the part in-between. So Nicola being here was always going to give me that friendly nudge I always need to convince me the treks are worth doing.
Thankfully the couple of treks we did weren't too long in duration, although they were quite steep so we got ourselves a decent work out. We tramped to the summit of Queenstown Hill and the Skyline Gondola.. both views overlooked the whole of Queenstown and it's surrounding areas, so they were definitely worth the effort.
On Friday evening, the four of us were supposed to go night skiing on Coronet Peak. The last time I'd been snowboarding was several years ago at the Chill Factore in Manchester.. I remember enjoying it back then but obviously not enough to keep on going.
I was all ready and kitted out with some snazzy rented snowboard gear as well as a few borrows off Tom and Lexi. However, the visibility on the slopes was supposedly poor so we had to give it a miss. The others were pretty bummed but I wasn't overly fussed.. perhaps a good thing aswell, it probably saved the emergency services a job that night!
I had to return the beautiful piece of engineering they call a Nissan Tiida earlier that day. I'd taken a risk by not adding additional insurance for damages a few days earlier when I collected the wheels in Picton, which in turn would hike up my excess if anything unfortunate should occur. By the time I'd reached Queenstown I had a wheel trim missing and a chip in the window screen so I was fearing the worst for my bank balance. Oh, and I've no clue how I lost a wheel trim without noticing, perhaps it was due to the Tiida's ability to accelerate from 0-60 in 30 seconds! Anyhow, I digress.. I had some explaining to do, or some pleading.
I actually ended up using neither of those methods.. I went all "Derren Brown" on them instead with the art of distraction. Firstly I parked the side of the car with the missing wheel trim as close to a wall as possible, and then when the young lady began to inspect close to the offending areas I began to ask pointless questions about the mountains in the opposite direction while pointing. Bingo! Sounds stupid but it worked a treat. I waved off the Tiida and walked away feeling chipper! Ha. It may possibly be the ugliest thing on the face of the planet but the plucky little bargain did the job. Great car!
Nicola and I had an early start on Saturday. We'd booked onto a tour of the Milford Sound.. a fiord in the southwest part of the island known for the towering Mitre Peak, rainforests, wildlife, and the impressive Stirling and Bowen waterfalls which descend from sheer-faced drops from upon high.
Queenstown is only 80km in distance from Milford Sound, however, with three large mountain ranges separating the two, a 5 hour detour is the only route. We were fortunate to have some beautifully sunny weather, as the same tour for the previous two days had to be cancelled due to poor conditions which closed the road off for risk of avalanches!
So was it worth it? Yes, it definitely was.. it's the first real time in New Zealand that I'd been properly wowed by the scenery. The whole Fiordland National Park was absolutely stunning. Making a number of stops along the way, we were dwarfed by clusters of huge snow-capped mountains which had crystal-clear fresh-water rivers flowing beneath them, and surrounded by an abundance of greenery and wildlife.
We also made a stop in a huge field within a sprawling valley where the "Lord of the Rings" movies had supposedly been filmed. The Asians went absolutely nuts for this.. tripods out, the lot! But for someone who has never watched one, i.e. me.. it was just a massive empty field.
Our cruise around the Milford Sound was equally spectacular, the unusual surrounding landscapes were captivating, and those waterfalls were as impressive as previously mentioned.. the plummeting mountain waters created some pretty little rainbows for our viewing pleasure. The seals also made an appearance, getting their tan on lazing by the rocks while some chose to fish, but no sighting of the yellow-eyed penguin.. supposedly the rarest on the planet.
It had been a long day by the time we got back to Tom's apartment but a certainly worthwhile one. It was our last night in Queenstown, and Nic and I still had some juice left in the tank, so we wandered into town for a few scoops in a bar to watch the New Zealand All Black's take on Australia in the rugby. I couldn't have cared less who won but by the end I was unusually routing for the Aussies since there were soooo many annoying Kiwis in there.. the Aussies did end up getting trounced though!
I enjoyed my time in Queenstown but to be honest I can take it or leave it. The location is undoubtedly beautiful and there's enough going on to maintain an interest. It is however, yet another ridiculously overpriced tourist trap due to its popularity and location in the middle of nowhere. I was just happy to finally get the chance to see some of the beauty that New Zealand has to offer.
Nic and I will be making tracks in the morning, we've hired a camper van for the next 3 days to go on another mini adventure. It's my first time in a camper van so I'm kind of looking forward to the new experience. Where we'll go I'm not so sure at the moment but in 3 days time we will have to end up in Christchurch to drop the van off.
Kia Ora xx