Short NZ Vacation #6 - Franz Josef, Golden Bay, Wellington, Napier

Feb. 20 – March 2

Another long vacation! These cots are getting harder and harder to sleep on each night, and 10 nights will be a lot. Even though we’d just had 10 days of paradise, we splurged for a private room at a hostel for 2 nights while on the west coast. This was mostly due to the fact that every piece of literature about the west coast mentions the nasty (and abundant) sandfly. We’d already had a few quick encounters at various roadside stops, being swarmed within minutes of stepping out of the car. Not something we wanted to deal with while trying to enjoy our stay at the wonderful Franz Josef Glacier – our first stop. We made the long drive from Queenstown, stopping briefly in Wanaka for a look at the equally stunning (and less touristy) lake and mountain scenery. Further along the drive, we found the wondrous Blue Pools, Fantail Falls, Thunder Creek Falls, and an amazing glacial valley through Haast Pass.

The Blue Pools, perfectly clear stream water pooling in several places. Capable of seeing several meters to the bottom and even make out fish from above.

Having been disappointed with our whale watching tour in Kaikoura, we decided to go all out on our last big adventure trip at Franz Josef. We booked the full day (8 hour) tour, which claimed 6 hours of ice time. It didn’t disappoint. It was a clear, blue day as we set out on the 2km walk to the terminal face. We broke into groups of 11, attached our cramp-ons, and got to climbing. The first 20 minutes was virtually straight up. Stairs were cut in the ice, and then a winding path through rock, dirt, and ice led to the first flat section where we got a history lesson from our guide. Breathing recovered, we continued up the glacier. It was completely different than it looked from down below from a distance. Up top, with close-up views of the ice, we found hundreds of small streams, pools, caves, peaks, valleys, and enormous crevasses. It was pretty rugged terrain even though some stairs were cut into the ice along the trail. Our guide constantly had to remake the path since it changes/melts/rains so often (up to 12 meters of precipitation per year!).

The long walk to the base of Franz Josef awaits.

Cramp-ons... check!

Ice pick.... check!

Pure glacier stream water. Yum!

The first obstacle we shuffled through was a large trench with high, sheer blue ice walls. It was so small at the bottom you had to shuffle your feet along as you hugged the ice walls. Shortly after, we found a long ice cave. It was incredible to have 20 feet of solid ice overhead, and still have plenty of light in the cave, illuminating your surroundings. By the time we reached the end, we were crawling on our bellies, and getting quite wet. Stopping shortly thereafter for lunch left us a little chilly. We layered up as the clouds built, and we were off again to explore. We were nearly halfway up the main part of the glacier when the terrain became very rugged. Huge peaks of ice loomed overhead as we clamored in and out of large crevasses. The view of the valley below was incredible, and the ice at the top of the glacier was sparkling with each gap in the clouds. We snapped tons of photos along our journey. We found a second ice cave that turned up and twisted in a giant block of ice, exiting midway up the wall and requiring rope to get back down. Franz Josef glacier was definitely a highlight of the trip, and we certainly needed another night with a bed to recuperate after making the short drive to the city of Fox Glacier.

A view of some of the terrain.

One of the ice caves we climbed through.

And another ice cave. We had to get down on our bellies and crawl a bit through this one. Wet and chilly, but no flashlights required since the light penetrates the ice. It was glowing deep inside the cave.

Ice wall climbers we saw along our hike.

A view of the valley below during lunch

The final steps down the terminal face of the glacier. Pretty steep and slow going.

Day 3 – Having stayed the night in Fox Glacier, we were able to sleep in a bit before heading out to Lake Matheson. This incredible lake has virtually no inlet of water, and thus often maintains a very calm surface capable of reflecting near perfect images of Mt. Cook and the surrounding mountains. Again, we were blessed with crystal clear skies, but we may have delayed too much in the morning, as the large tours had already descended on the lake and small ripples on the lake surface were enough to blur the reflections. Supposedly, the best time to go is first thing in the morning or late in the evening. We passed on the chance to actually see Fox Glacier (we had our fill the day before with Franz Josef) and set out on the long journey to the north part of the island. It proved to be too far for 1 day’s drive, so we pulled off for the night just before reaching Tasman Bay. We found a cute little country holiday park (equipped with adventure course, water slide, great swimming hole with rope swings in the river) and pitched our tent. Beer and nachos for dinner, we skipped the other amenities.

A near perfect reflection of Mt. Cook in the background at Lake Matheson

Mt. Cook in the background. You can barely make out the reddish tint on the hillside at the right of the picture which is the Rata tree in bloom. It gives the forests a similar, beautiful red haze similar to that of the Pohutakawa tree. The Rata color and brilliance is better than it's been in over 10 years.

Hey Keris, what's that in your hand?

Oh ya, it's a speeding ticket! Oops.....

Good morning from the communal kitchen. Looks like porridge with jam and hot Milo (like hot chocolate) again for breakfast. We had a few hot-crossed buns for a change of pace.

Some of the fun activities at this campsite out in the middle of nowhere. We really wanted to stay and play, especially at the swimming hole - complete with slide and rope swing.

Keris on one of the flying foxes (zipline).

Day 4 – It took us 3 tries to get out of the campsite the next morning, as we kept leaving food behind in the fridge. Finally, we were on our way to Golden Bay. We entered one of the most fertile regions in NZ – hops, apples, pears, kiwifruit - with lots of roadside stands. We passed through Motueka, a very laid-back, cultural town with lots of local artists. We took a long, rough, dirt road to a view of Harwood’s Hole. The long walk to the site was through another fantastic Lord of the Rings location of Chetwood Forest. It was one of our favorite forest walks yet, with really neat beech trees towering above the sparse forest floor. Harwood’s Hole is the largest cave in the southern hemisphere, and we had no idea our view would be from halfway down. The upper rim towered 500 feet above our heads, and we were unable to see the bottom 100’s of feet below. Aside from a few climbing ropes disappearing into the cave, there was no commercialization of the area. There weren’t even safety barriers setup.

We arrived at the Pohara campsite, running right along the Golden Bay beach. To be honest, it was a bit of a letdown considering how many people recommended the area to us. We found that it was more of a total package (lifestyle, scenery, remoteness) that made the area highly regarded, but we’d been expecting simply a glorious, picturesque landscape.

Day 5 – The next day, we visited Pupu Springs, the purest spring water in the world, pouring out of the ground at over 3,000 gallons per second (largest in Australasia). An entire, crystal clear river flowed from the springs. We took a drive to Collingwood at the end of the paved road along the Bay, the last town at the top of the south island before entering the scenic reserve on farewell spit. Again, not much to see at the beach, so we decided to visit a few local artists on the way home. Potters, painters, photographers, and tilers abound. As if the car wasn’t already packed to the hilt, now we literally had everything we owned and the kitchen sink! Well, almost. We bought a new bathroom sink instead of a kitchen sink. We’re still not sure how we’re getting everything home… As one of the last nights we’d be sleeping in the tent, now it decided to rain. I guess we’ve been lucky to avoid nasty weather during most of our trip, so the sky opened up with rain. No problem for us or our tent though. We still haven’t gotten around to getting good rain gear considering such a long trip in NZ.

Pupu Springs. All that water is coming up from the ground. Incredible.

Another section of the springs. It really is the clearest spring water in the world.

There was an underwater viewing mirror contraption set up. You could see all the way across the springs and see fish with perfect clarity.

Paul Winspear Pottery. We were tempted by a turquoise blue sink similar to the one in the middle, but opted for a smaller, more neutral one that we're still stuggling with how to get home....

Day 6 – We packed up early and made the windy drive back over the mountains to Tasman Bay and through to Nelson. It was certainly a good day for a little wine tasting in a region rife with produce. 2 wineries later (each with many free wines to taste), we needed some lunch, so stopped off at Rabbit Island for a fantastic view of the beach. We were close to our desired camping location, so we foolishly left behind this gorgeous beach and ended up with a more crowded, windy, and somewhat boring one at the campground instead. We weren’t too worried about seeing the whole of Nelson, but made a drive downtown to for a date night out with some tasty local seafood – large green mussels and chowder – YUM. We have to get our fill before heading home.

Our worst night of rain we've had while camping. Luckily we stayed dry inside.

Day 7 – The end of our south island trip is here. We took the scenic Queen Charlotte’s Drive over to Picton to catch the ferry back to Wellington. The Marlborough Sounds were just as beautiful as the day we arrived to the south island. We did a little window shopping and then settled in for the long ferry ride. Smooth sailing and gorgeous, but it was sad to be leaving. It’s good to know that we still have more time, and this will ease us into the idea of leaving for good. But it feels like the adventure aspect of the trip is over, and with our schedule booked up with places we’ve mostly seen before, it really feels like the end is near. Just have to make the most of it. We had a comfortable night sleeping at Louisa’s flat again, exchanging stories about WWOOFing and talking politics til bedtime.

Heading back on the ferry to Wellington, our last shots of the Marlborough Sounds.

Day 8 – We’d be staying with Louisa for 2 nights, so it was nice to sleep in without worrying about packing up the car again. A few errands around town, a haircut for Stuart, and before we knew it, the day was mostly over. We had big plans for the evening. Wanting to get in a little more culture before heading home, we made our way to Westpac Stadium (also known as the “Cake Tin”), to watch the professional rugby league, Super14, bout between Wellington and a team from South Africa. We’ve picked up a few rules throughout our travels, and we’ve heard that NZ fans are not as fanatical as the European and South American soccer fans. Nonetheless, we were going. Failing to buy tickets in advance of the game, we were bummed to find the cheap seats sold out at the gate. Luckily, a kind family behind us had an extra 2for1 voucher, so we ended up with front row seats in a better section. What luck! Corner of the endzone, field level. Turns out, despite being sold out of cheap seats, the stadium was far from full, despite it being so early in the season. It was an entertaining, heavy-hitting match, with Wellington coming out victorious.

Time for a Super 14 Rugby match at the "Cake Tin" in Wellington.

Front row seats! We were loving this mascot.

Silly rugby, what a crazy game.

Day 9 – We were slow to get out of town, and make our way across the north island to Napier. We’ve driven most of the country by now, so there wasn’t much to stop and see along the way. We toured through Hastings just outside of Napier, and then made our way to our holiday park. The drive into Napier was great, with a long stretch of highway tucked neatly between the art deco buildings of town and the park lining the beach. Tall pine trees lined the road like the palms of southern California. We splurged for dinner, buying a rotisserie chicken after having eaten vegetarian for more than a week. The leftover chicken was packaged neatly into foil for lunch and dinner the next day....

Day 10 – .... Our neatly packaged food packets and rice were stolen last night! Back to vegetarian meals again…. Turns out, several other campers had their food stolen as well and this is a common problem of locals at this holiday park. Sour way to start the day, at least it was sunny and clear as we headed to Bluff Hill for an impressive lookout over Hawke Bay and Napier. We took the self-guided walking tour of downtown, past the numerous art-deco buildings that were a sign of the times when the town was rebuilt in the 1930’s after a devastating earthquake (NZ’s worst natural disaster). Art-deco may not be our favorite architectural motif, but the buildings were very cool to see in such large numbers and colors.

Napier's art-deco downtown

Napier is another vastly fertile region, home to some of the country’s best wines, stone fruits, apples, and pears. We were fortunate enough to find our way to Mission Estate Winery, just outside of town. A huge, old building on the side of a hill overlooking the vineyard and the city in the distance, this property is a prime example of why people want to enter the winemaking business. Here is the dream. And the wines were quite good as well (with free tastings!). Not really the sort of place to have a picnic PB&J lunch, so we ate at our car at the far end of the parking lot before entering. Our next stop was at the Church Road Winery just down the road. Another excellent selection of wines, but we’re close to our allowance for alcohol to bring back to the states (not to mention our suitcases are quite loaded down).

Mission Estate Winery and Vineyard. What a property.

We stopped by a Maori Pa site for a quick look at an ancient tribal ground with palisades, tiered hillsides, and pits for food storage. We opted for a dip in the pool back at camp and a relaxing night – we’d be hitting the beach in the morning.


Day 11 – Our destination lay only 2.5 hours drive north in Gisborne, but we had plenty of time to get there. As such, we took a detour at Mahia Peninsula, and explored the tip for a good beach. We found an empty, black sand beach with decent waves for some splashing around and boogie boarding. It’d been so long since we’d been for a swim in the ocean. It’s a good thing we didn’t end up buying that surf board, we just wouldn’t have gotten to use it as much as planned. The south island, although gorgeous, didn’t really have as many good surfing beaches as we’d hoped for (and it was pretty darn cold in the water). With our fill of the sun for the day, we headed to Gisborne for our last WWOOF.

Once again, we were the only ones on the beach. What a great spot we found on the Mahia Peninsula for boogie boarding.