Final Days down South

You know you are in wine country when you travel along with vines planted on both sides of the road.  We were heading for Blenheim, where there are vineyards galore.  The vines have been pruned back hard for winter, waiting for the spring growth. 

Vines growing everywhere

Our stop for the next couple of nights was the Waterlea Racecourse.  Some of the grassy areas for parking had been roped off, but we found a suitable gravel site.  This CAP (charges apply parking) has water, dump station, and toilets available, but no rubbish bins.  

There we are, not far from the grand stand

The weather was a combination of rain, showers and occasional sunshine.  We took the opportunity to visit the local laundromat early one evening.  Our cunning plan was to take care of the laundry, then buy fish and chips from the shop next door for our dinner.  That worked well.

The next morning we drove out to Renwick, the home of Burleigh Gourmet Pies.  We discovered this bakery when we were down in December 2022, after reading about the famous Burleigh pies.  We bought one each for lunch, and some frozen ones to take home with us to enjoy later.

Who doesn't love a great pie!

Then it was back to where we started, Koromiko.  This camp has now been purchased by NZMCA after quite some time spent on negotiations.  New signage has been installed, and shortly the main road will be extended to add a turning bay into Freeths Road  in time for the summer traffic, we were told.  The weather was wet, with strong wing gusts shaking the caravan.  

The lasted NZMCA park

Just a few vans on site

The weather had been overcast over the last few days with little sunshine charging the batteries so Robin set the generator running for a couple of hours.

Generator time again

A storm came rolling in as the day wore on, and was fully fledged by night time.  We could swear that the thunder was right over head, and each noisy clap spooked Gemma.  She ran around the van looking for a hiding place, hunkering down on the carpet at the foot of the bed, with the overhanging duvet giving her the illusion of cover.  Lightening cracked around us, torrential rain came down, and the caravan was buffeted all night by strong wind gusts.  Dear oh dear, what would our sailing be like the following day, we wondered.

Luckily the storm had gone the next morning, just leaving the wind gusts behind.  Time for the final part of our journey, crossing Cook Strait.  We were hoping the return trip would not be too rough, after all that bad weather the previous day.

Boarding Blue Bridge again

Gemma stays in the caravan

We had a light lunch in the cafe as the trip got underway.  Gliding through the Marlborough Sounds, I went out on deck to take a photo or two.  This part of the journey is sheltered and usually nice and calm.

Marlborough Sounds

The remainder of the journey was surprisingly calm, hard to believe after the terrible weather the previous day.  A friendly Irishman (yes, we have traveled to Ireland, we told him)  saw my camera and asked if we would like a photo.  He and his wife were very impressed that we made such good use of our caravan and traveled far and wide around our beautiful country.  "You two are enjoying life and living the dream", he commented.

Two happy campers

Oh look, we are almost in Wellington.  Time to head down to the car deck and get ready.  Off we went, passing the Sky Stadium, known locally as the Cake Tin, and we got on to the motorway.

Sky Stadium

We decided to stop at Plimmerton NZMCA Park for the night, as it was getting dark, and we didn't want to arrive home and unload the van at night time.  A quick meal, and it was early to bed, it had been a big day and we were exhausted.  The next morning after  breakfast we hooked up for the final leg of the journey.

Our final night at Plimmerton

Driving up the Coast Road there was no sign of Kapiti Island, it was was out there somewhere but hidden away under the cloud.  All I could see was the rocky coastline as we drove along.

No sign of Kapiti Island

Home at last we unpacked the van, put the first load of washing on, and sat and relaxed over a late lunch.  Phew, it's good to be home again.  We had 10 days away this trip, and traveled 1110 kms.

Kaiapoi – brand new NZMCA Park

With Cyclone Gabrielle wrecking havoc in the North Island, and not being sure if she would travel down south, we decided to stay in the Christchurch area for a few more days.  This seemed more sensible than our earlier plan to travel up the coast to Kaikoura.  Staying at Sunley House Pop with all those tall trees surrounding the property had me worrying if they would blow down on us in the strong winds.  So we moved 10km or so up the road to Kaiapoi.  The brand new  Kaiapoi NZMCA Park had just opened the previous day, so we were delighted to be one of the very early customers.

This new park is built on the substantial red zoned area, (previously a large subdivision)  from the massive 2011 Christchurch earthquake.  When the Sunday evening earthquake rocked the caravan, you can imagine that we were a little nervous, until we read that the quake was situated in the North Island, and not down here in Christchurch.

This new camp has a one way circular road, with gravel parking around the edge, or parking on the grass in the middle.  Being a former housing area there are many trees dotted around.  Fresh water and rubbish facilities are available, and there is a dump station in the next street, just a short distance away.  We arrived on the second day it was opened, and there were 12 vans on site that evening, with 20 parked up on the following night.  Not too bad for the first few days, we reckon.

Kaiapoi NZMCA Park

No more housing can be built on this red zoned land, so it is good that other low impact activities like sports fields and a large enclosed dog park are making use of the land.  Another great idea in this area  is the Food Forest, quite a large area built around many fruit trees.  Other items are planted in the gardens, I noticed many pumpkin plants spreading about and just starting to flower, and plenty of thorny berry bushes with not a single fruit on them.  I collected some apples and pears plus a few peaches from old mature trees to take back to the caravan.  All these trees would have been part of neighbouring home gardens before all the houses were destroyed in the earthquake.

Food Forest

Arriving back in camp after yet another visit to the laundromat, we were approached by a reporter who wanted to get our views about the new NZMCA park.  He was interested about our SI trip, and how many of these parks we had visited on our travels.  We told him we very impressed with this brand new one, he took our photo for the article and promised to send us a copy of his picture.  He works for a weekly newspaper, so we would have left for home before the next issue is published, I expect.  

The friendly reporter

Kaiapoi was an important trading hub with the Maori people and the Kaiapoi River and surrounding waterways were used to transport pounamu (greenstone) from the Arahura River, and mutton-birds from Stewart Island.  These days the river is used by pleasure boats and cruise boats, including the Kaiapoi River Queen.  There was a trip scheduled in the weekend after we had departed.  So we will certainly have to return to this town and have a lunch or dinner cruise of the wonderful looking boat. 

I really fancy a trip on this!

We came cross this lovely old footbridge, the Mandeville Bridge.  This was constructed in 1874 to allow school children to walk to the nearby Kaiapoi School, and has  Historic Place Category 2.

The Mandeville Footbridge

Robin had been chatting to the custodian who told him about the Hellers factory Shop, quite a drawcard to the locals it seems.  We had passed the factory in our travels but were not aware that they sold to the public as well.  So before we hooked the caravan up on the morning we departed, we took a quick trip to the Hellers Shop.  My goodness, such a lot of bargains, no wonder the locals go there in droves.  We came away with bacon, sausages, meatballs and hamburger patties, so that refilled our caravan freezer.  Then it was time to move on again, goodbye to Kaiapoi and hello to Kaikoura.

Hellers Factory Shop

Another Day, Another Cruise

While in Te Anau we decided to book another cruise  to visit the Te Anau Glowworm Caves.  Way back in the mists of time (about 35 years ago) we did this same cruise after the completion of our four day Milford Track walk, we were much younger and fitter then, of course.  I must admit I couldn't really remember too much about it after all this time, just vague memories of a boat ride there, and a boat ride through the caves.  The trip was leaving at 4.30pm so we had a lazy day relaxing in camp, then drove down town to find a car park.  There were plenty of people milling about – the boat arrived at the wharf, disgorged the passengers from an earlier trip, and our group climbed aboard.

The trip took us for a 30 minute cruise to the western shores of Lake Te Anau. After the necessary safely briefing we had a commentary pointing out places of interest as we cruised along. 

View along the way

On arrival we walked up to Cavern House.  There was a full contingent of 72 people, and we were split into groups of twelve, and away we went into the cave for a guided tour.

No photos are allowed in the caves, and when in the boat, we must be silent, we were told, otherwise the glowworms take fright and their lights go out!  Luckily there were handrails to help us walk through the cave, and in some parts we had to bend our head and shoulders to get under the low ceiling!  That was a bit tricky.  What I had forgotten was just how loud the rushing water was in the cave, it was so noisy the guide had to shout to get her messages across.  The rushing water exited the caves, and our boat ride thankfully took us across still waters deep inside the caves.  With just a torch to guide us as we clambered into the small boat and then we moved slowly along in silence and complete darkness.  And there they were, tiny dots of light on the roof of the cave, certainly a sight to behold.  The boats have no motors and our guide told us later that she moves the boat along, standing in the front and  pulling on a chain, all in complete darkness. 

From the brochure

After our cave experience we walked back through the wet cave, water drip, drip, dripping down on us, to return to Cavern House where we helped ourselves to a hot cuppa and listened to a presentation on the life of a glowworm.  The pair of us found the cave trip a little uncomfortable with many steps and having to bend to scuttle along under the low ceilings.  Robin also had a problem with bending his knee to get into the boat, but we were certainly pleased we had repeated the trip after all these years.

On our return to shore  we decided to take ourselves out for dinner to the Te Anau Club after our wonderful trip and as it was our last night in Te Anau.  A  beer for him and a bottle of bubbly for her while we waited for our orders to arrive.  The meals were huge, neither of us could finish them.  It had been a great afternoon.

Meal out at the Te Anau Club

Big Day Out

Our  recent longer drives and one night stop-overs were because we were making our way to Te Anau to tick an item off our bucket list.  Arriving on Sunday, we are staying four nights at NZMCA Te Anau Alpine Park.

Staying at Te Anau

On Monday we booked a Southern Discoveries coach trip from Te Anau to Milford which included a cruise through Milford Sound plus a visit to the Underwater Observatory. 

There were several photo stops on the way up, the first being the Eglington Valley. 

Eglington Valley

The next photo stop was at the very pretty Mirror Lakes.  The lakes were just off the roadside, and it was a nice easy 5 minute  boardwalk there and back.  People everywhere, we certainly weren’t the only bus in the car park.

Mirror Lakes

Monkey Creek was the next photo stop, and the passengers were encouraged to fill up their water bottles with the cool, clear water from the creek.  It was so named by William Homer (of Homer tunnel fame) way back in the late 1880s when his dog Monkey splashed about in the creek.  The coach driver kindly took out photo for us.

Monkey Creek

There were roadworks on the way, and we passed workmen and a large machine slicing into the road as they were laying fibre cable for internet.  At the moment this is a black spot for internet coverage.

I was looking forward to going through Homer Tunnel.  It is 1.2 km (0.75 miles) long, and was  opened in 1953. State Highway 94 passes through the tunnel, linking Milford Sound to Te Anau and Queenstown, by piercing the Darran Mountains at the Homer Saddle.  William Homer and George Barber discovered the Homer Saddle in 1889, and Homer suggested that a tunnel through the saddle would provide access to the Milford area.  Government workers began the tunnel in 1935  The tunnel and the associated Milford Road were built by relief workers during the Depression.  The men had to live in tents in a mountainous area where there might be no direct sunlight for half of the year.   Progress was slow, with difficult conditions, and work was also interrupted by World War II, and an avalanche in 1945 which destroyed the eastern tunnel portal. These problems delayed the tunnel's completion and it was finally opened in 1953.

So there we were, waiting at the red traffic  signal to start our trip through the single lane  tunnel.  And out the other side where we drove under an avalanche shelter, certainly a danger on parts of this road.

The Homer Tunnel

Milford wasn’t quite what I expected, I must say, not much there except a hotel, car parks, and a large Visitors Centre.  Several excursion boats were moored up, and we followed the crowd to board our one.  After a welcome and safely briefing we were on our way.

Lady Bowen

Most people had rushed upstairs to sit on the outside deck, but we secured a table downstairs under cover.  First things first, we redeemed the ticket for our picnic lunch.  Wonder what was in them?  We were pleasantly surprised – sandwiches, two pieces of fruit, cheese and crackers, small bag of chippies and a Whittakers chocolate Sante Bar.  There was plenty of help yourself tea and coffee available too.  We ate the sandwiches, cheese and crackers and a mandarin each, and took the rest back to the van for later.

Picnic lunch box

Nothing says Milford Sound more than the iconic Mitre Peak, named by Captain John Lort Stokes of HMS Acheron in 1851, who found it’s shape reminiscent of the mitre headwear of Christian bishops. The Māori name for the peak is Rahotu, and the mountain is 1683m high.  The Captain pointed out places of interest and wildlife  as we cruised along, as we gazed at awe at the shear granite cliffs, then taking us right out to the entrance of Tasman Sea.  

Mitre Peak and a view from the stern

A medium sized cruise ship passed by as we traveled along, and the Captain commented that much bigger ones make their way into the Sounds too. Waterfalls abound, and the Captain nosed into Stirling Falls, giving those on the bow quite a splashing.  Never mind, getting drenched is meant to make you look 10 years younger, we were told.

Stirling Falls

On the way back we stopped at Underwater Observatory, one of the highlights of the trip.  The Underwater Observatory was built in 1995. The construction project involved building the viewing chamber in 3 sections in Invercargill and assembling them in Bluff. This unique floating underwater observatory is the only one of it’s kind in New Zealand.   After an interesting talk about the facility and wildlife we descended the spiral staircase to 10m beneath the water – 50 steps down. 

There were lots of viewing windows, and we all moved around, checking out the marine life.  And to see the black coral, which is actually white.  The fish swimming nearby are not fed, they are just going about their business, and no doubt looking in the windows at all these strange creatures looking out.

Black coral and fish life 10m down

Cruising back to the dock, we all disembarked and made our way to our bus.  This was a non stop ride back to Te Anau and I’m sure several were nodding off as we drove along.  And why not, it had certainly been a big day out, from 10.30am to 6.30pm with lots of lovely sights along the way.  It was a great trip indeed, we would certainly recommend it.