Spectacular New Zealand
We arrived into Christchurch in late November to visit our daughter who has been living there for the past few years. After a welcome barbecue to meet Eileen’s friends, we headed off on a whistle stop tour of the South Island.
First stop was Nelson, gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park. We drove out to Marahau and took a water taxi out to Anchorage Bay. From there, we did the 4 ½ hour gentle hike back to Marahau. We passed beautiful, white, sandy, deserted beaches with crystal clear water surrounded by dense rainforest. There are lots of different routes you can take - the water taxis will drop off at all the main beaches and you can choose to walk back or they will pick you up from another location after your trek. The tracks were easy to negotiate – in fact, the entire country is geared to healthy, outdoor living with well laid out walking tracks and cycle paths everywhere. No matter which route you take, the scenery in this National Park is just fabulous.
As time was of the essence, we chose to do the long drive from Nelson to Franz Josef Village in the one day. It is a 6 hour drive but we took 9 hours as we could not help stopping several times along the route for photographs. A definite ‘must-see’ along the way are the pancake rocks at Punakaiki and the Hokitika Gorge. The gorge was situated 33km from Hokitika off the road we were travelling. That meant an extra 66km onto our journey but my daughter assured us that it would be worth the extra travel. And she was so right - never have I seen water in such a beautiful, turquoise colour which was enhanced by the surrounding greenery. Of course, time permitting, I would recommend an overnight stop between Nelson and the Glaciers either at Punakaiki, Greymouth or Hokitika.
The highlight of our trip was the helicopter ride over the Glaciers and Mt Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand standing at 3,724m high – more than 3 ½ times as high as Carrauntohil. We were lucky in that the sky was a clear blue that day and there was no wind. We landed on the Glacier and in our shorts and t-shirts, we were knee deep in snow! This tour is well worth the money but unfortunately, can often be cancelled due to weather conditions – we had the perfect day.
We then headed to Wanaka and after all the driving, our 2 night stay was a great idea. We didn’t do much in this area apart from climbing the Mount Iron track but we relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful scenery around the lake. Wanaka was very quiet with just a handful of bars and restaurants in the town centre and we recharged our batteries before our arrival in Queenstown, the adventure capital of the World! I had previously been to New Zealand 27 years ago and at that time, Queenstown was just one street. Now, the centre has spread out by up to 10km in all directions. Our hotel was in a fabulous location less than a 10 minute walk along the flat lakeside promenade from the town centre. The town was full of great restaurants and bars and if you were looking for outdoor active wear, there were some fabulous shops. We took the gondola up to the top of Bobs peak and were once more rewarded with a fabulous day of clear blue skies. The views from the top of Queenstown, the Remarkables and Coronet Peak were stunning.
There is so much to do in Queenstown for the more adventurous – choose from bungee jump, white water rafting, mountain biking, jetboating and sky diving. In the winter season, Queenstown becomes a big ski resort and of course, the Southern Alps are capped with snow all year round. We made a visit to the Gold Rush town of Arrowtown, a short 25 min drive from Queenstown. The town is also in the heart of ‘Lord of the Rings’ country. The main street was lined with heritage buildings housing gorgeous cafes, galleries and souvenir shops. Arrowtown is famous for its walking trails and there are 15 listed tracks in the area. We chose one of the easier ones and spent a lovely hour admiring mountains, rivers, forests and lakes and watching other tourists panning for gold.
Our final stop before arriving back to Christchurch was at Lake Tekapo. En-route, we visited Mt Cook Village situated under the highest mountain in New Zealand. We just did the short Kea Point Walk to the viewing platform where the views of Mt Cook were stunning. In Tekapo, we visited the Church of the Good Shepherd and the St Johns Observatory, arguably the best star gazing site on Earth.
Once back in Christchurch, we were able to see the damage caused by the big earthquake back in February 2011. The city is still in recovery and there are big tracts of land where once office and hotels stood tall. In other parts of the city, these high rise buildings are now derelict waiting to either be repaired or demolished. However, slowly but surely, the life is coming back into this city. In recent months, several hotels, shopping malls, bars and restaurants have opened and the process is ongoing.
New Zealand is definitely NOT a once in a lifetime holiday for me. We cannot wait to get back and explore more and we have promised ourselves a return visit in 2 years and plan to spend a bit longer there. I need to explore some of the North Island, in particular Bay of Islands and the Coromandel Peninsula and I most definitely want to return to the Abel Tasman National Park and explore more of the fabulous tracks there.
On a score out of 10, I give New Zealand 11!