Monday, December 18, 2006
West Coast, up to Picton and back to Christchurch
The South Island of New Zealand has the landscapes of several countries rolled into one. Once we emerged from the alpine mountains of the Haast Pass, the scenery changed to rolling hills, tropical palms and beaches with dark grey volcanic sand. This is wine country and vineyards with neat rows are everywhere. Fruit is grown on a giant scale and we passed endless fields of plum trees under netting or massive polytunnels.
Despite the rain and generally unpredictable weather, New Zealand does the outdoor thing really, really well. At every bend in the road we came across another activity: kayaking, hill-walking, sailing, cruising, skydiving, bungee-jumping. Half the farmers seem to have quad bikes for hire as a sideline business. Every hill and forest has walking trails marked out by the Department of Conservation; routes lasting 5 minutes; routes lasting 20 minutes; routes lasting an hour. It’s obvious that tourists who come here really don’t care about the weather. When it rains, they put on their raincoats and keep moving. It’s an impressive lesson from which Irish tourism could learn a lot, when it seems the best we can do for the youth market is to sell them excessive quantities of alcohol and fleece them in every restaurant.
Whatever we thought about the sun in Australia, it seems worse here. Combined with the wind, it burns with no mercy. Even on cold days, there is no release from Factor 30 plus. Even with Factor 30 plus, we still got burned. We saw some horrendous skin damage, particularly on women and, more worringly, on children. We decided the worst, slow, most painful death in New Zealand would be to lie in a field for 12 hours without sunscreen. Just like the traditional Irish summer, day trips require sunscreen, hats, raincoats and long trousers. Barbecues are never cancelled because of rain and New Zealanders are remarkably cheerful and resilient about the weather and don’t seem to spend their lives complaining about every drop of rain like the rest of us.
We travelled back up the West coast, staying at Hokitika (Prestons = best greasy spoon cafe in New Zealand) and Westport (not very nice) until we reached Picton at the very top of the South Island. Picton is pretty and has a nice marina and Hazel and myself paid a visit to the quaint museum with its shell collections, Maori carvings and transcribed local histories.
Back down the East coast, we spent a couple of days in Kaikoura and made the voyage across choppy waters for some whale-watching. We were lucky that day and got to see four different whales raise their magnificent tails before diving down into the giant depths of the Tasman Sea. At the time when people didn’t know any different, New Zealand had a thriving whaling industry and Kaikoura had whaling stations until the 1950s, wiping out practically all traces of blue whales. The remaining sperm whales have thankfully been repopulated to a degree and the boat crew made a good plea for us all to take action against whaling in countries that still carry out this barbaric practice. We saw dozens of dolphins and seals and umpteen varieties of sea birds. It’s hard to believe that this is the first time in my life that I’ve seen seals in their natural habitat, instead of a zoo.
We bathed in the hot waters at Hanmer Springs where the pools are marked with their temperature: 37, 38 and even 40 degrees. Despite the merciless sun, it was cold that day and the hot springs were like a comforting bath. Back in Christchurch, it rained – relentlessly - for a full 24 hours. To avoid cabin fever, we headed to the local mall and were amazed at how calm it all was with just a few days left before Christmas. It was busy, but such a pleasure not to be stuck in the throngs of the Henry Street bunfight for a change.
So, we not only survived three weeks in a camper van, we thrived. The children were remarkably good travellers and the are-we-nearly-there-yet(s) were few in number. The campsites were mostly well-serviced, usually clean and always safe. The roads were narrow and winding, but well-marked and every bend was tagged with its own safe speed. The scenery was stunning and abundant. The South Island of New Zealand will stay with me for a long time.
Highlights of the South Island
- Spooky Milford Sound and its stunning rain
- Helicopter flying above the glaciers
- Deep blue lakes and snow-capped mountains
- Whales tails at Kaikoura
Lowlights of the South Island
- The cold
- The rain
- Sand flies with bites nastier than mosquitoes
- Blister in the sun
The South Island of New Zealand has the landscapes of several countries rolled into one. Once we emerged from the alpine mountains of the Haast Pass, the scenery changed to rolling hills, tropical palms and beaches with dark grey volcanic sand. This is wine country and vineyards with neat rows are everywhere. Fruit is grown on a giant scale and we passed endless fields of plum trees under netting or massive polytunnels.Despite the rain and generally unpredictable weather, New Zealand does the outdoor thing really, really well. At every bend in the road we came across another activity: kayaking, hill-walking, sailing, cruising, skydiving, bungee-jumping. Half the farmers seem to have quad bikes for hire as a sideline business. Every hill and forest has walking trails marked out by the Department of Conservation; routes lasting 5 minutes; routes lasting 20 minutes; routes lasting an hour. It’s obvious that tourists who come here really don’t care about the weather. When it rains, they put on their raincoats and keep moving. It’s an impressive lesson from which Irish tourism could learn a lot, when it seems the best we can do for the youth market is to sell them excessive quantities of alcohol and fleece them in every restaurant.
Whatever we thought about the sun in Australia, it seems worse here. Combined with the wind, it burns with no mercy. Even on cold days, there is no release from Factor 30 plus. Even with Factor 30 plus, we still got burned. We saw some horrendous skin damage, particularly on women and, more worringly, on children. We decided the worst, slow, most painful death in New Zealand would be to lie in a field for 12 hours without sunscreen. Just like the traditional Irish summer, day trips require sunscreen, hats, raincoats and long trousers. Barbecues are never cancelled because of rain and New Zealanders are remarkably cheerful and resilient about the weather and don’t seem to spend their lives complaining about every drop of rain like the rest of us.
We travelled back up the West coast, staying at Hokitika (Prestons = best greasy spoon cafe in New Zealand) and Westport (not very nice) until we reached Picton at the very top of the South Island. Picton is pretty and has a nice marina and Hazel and myself paid a visit to the quaint museum with its shell collections, Maori carvings and transcribed local histories.
Back down the East coast, we spent a couple of days in Kaikoura and made the voyage across choppy waters for some whale-watching. We were lucky that day and got to see four different whales raise their magnificent tails before diving down into the giant depths of the Tasman Sea. At the time when people didn’t know any different, New Zealand had a thriving whaling industry and Kaikoura had whaling stations until the 1950s, wiping out practically all traces of blue whales. The remaining sperm whales have thankfully been repopulated to a degree and the boat crew made a good plea for us all to take action against whaling in countries that still carry out this barbaric practice. We saw dozens of dolphins and seals and umpteen varieties of sea birds. It’s hard to believe that this is the first time in my life that I’ve seen seals in their natural habitat, instead of a zoo. We bathed in the hot waters at Hanmer Springs where the pools are marked with their temperature: 37, 38 and even 40 degrees. Despite the merciless sun, it was cold that day and the hot springs were like a comforting bath. Back in Christchurch, it rained – relentlessly - for a full 24 hours. To avoid cabin fever, we headed to the local mall and were amazed at how calm it all was with just a few days left before Christmas. It was busy, but such a pleasure not to be stuck in the throngs of the Henry Street bunfight for a change.
So, we not only survived three weeks in a camper van, we thrived. The children were remarkably good travellers and the are-we-nearly-there-yet(s) were few in number. The campsites were mostly well-serviced, usually clean and always safe. The roads were narrow and winding, but well-marked and every bend was tagged with its own safe speed. The scenery was stunning and abundant. The South Island of New Zealand will stay with me for a long time.
Highlights of the South Island
- Spooky Milford Sound and its stunning rain
- Helicopter flying above the glaciers
- Deep blue lakes and snow-capped mountains
- Whales tails at Kaikoura
Lowlights of the South Island
- The cold
- The rain
- Sand flies with bites nastier than mosquitoes
- Blister in the sun
# posted by Ruth @ Monday, December 18, 2006 
