New Zealand South Island – 26th – 30th January – Picton to Franz Josef Glacier

Firstly…

NOW I UNDERSTAND WHY PETER JACKSON CHOSE NEW ZEALAND TO FILM LORD OF THE RINGS

Secondly... we have had some 'photo issues' and many of the 'stunning/awesome' photos are currently inaccessible, so the best shots are not being shown. We have since purchased a new SD card, which hopefully has fixed the problem. 

I am not going to try to describe the sights of the South Island in a barrage of superlatives, it would be pointless, as there really are not enough of them available to adequately describe what we have seen…so far. Suffice to say I now understand why New Zealanders only use the word ‘awesome’. They’ve given up trying to find numerous words to describe their countryside. I used the word ‘stunning’ and they thought it was an ‘awesome’ word to use to describe the scenery!

26^th January –Wellington to Picton on the Interisland Ferry

I’ve read this ferry trip described as one of the most beautiful ferry trips in the world. This is a bold statement to make, but in reality, I have to agree. Heading out of Wellington from the south of the North Island, the grey cloud and mist covered the headland, but we can see the sun is shining over the Cook Strait. Our ferry is a typical roll on roll off car ferry, with the usual assortment of cafes, restaurants, bars and seating areas both in and outside. We head up to the top outside deck (pronounced ‘dick’ in New Zealand dialect, as in “will those parked on dick 3 return to your vehicles”).

The first part of the trip is calm and picturesque and the boat makes it way out of the large bay and around into the Cook Strait. Many islanders have warned us that this can be a rough crossing, and our Captain informs us (although we had already checked…well, what did you expect from us), that we have a ‘brisk northerly wind along with a reasonable southerly swell’. As the boat turns to starboard, the ‘brisk’ northerly presents itself and those of us on the top ‘dick’, move swiftly to the port side for protection from the wind, or in our case, downstairs to the ‘Ocean View Dick’ for a coffee. As we do, the fog bank we had seen ahead comes closer and those of a nervous sailing disposition are now feeling happier as they can no longer see the white capping seas ahead. To be fair, the boat hardly moved. Fortunately, as we near the Marlborough Sound, and the protection of the mountains, bays and inlets, the fog lifted, the sea calmed and we quickly secured a spot back on the top ‘dick’ to take in the wonderful view unveiling itself at every turn. It is a shame we will not have time to explore the Marlborough Sound more thoroughly, as I am sure there are some wonderful boat trips to be had here.

Our planned stop for the night is ‘Top 10 – Picton’ and we are once again greeted with a friendly lady who points us to our ‘spot’, and the swimming pool (oh and the BBQ, toilets and laundry). Having settled in, done the laundry and had lunch, we head into town to check out the surprising little town of Picton, which has a port big enough to cater for not only the ferry, but as we found out the next day, numerous cruise ships. There is a delightful marina, full of motor boats and yachts alike, and the town has everything you need, shops, supermarkets, restaurants and bars, and yet, there’s something not quite right about this pretty little town. As we sit watching the sun drop in the early evening, with chilled glass of ‘Sav’ (as it’s known), the town has this almost ‘too clean’ feel about the place. It’s like it has been especially built for the tourist, it feels like it’s missing a soul. That’s not to say we didn’t like Picton, but one day was enough.

Wednesdy 27^th January – Picton to Motueka, via the Queen Charlotte Drive

“The Queen Charlotte Drive is the best-known road in the Malborough Sound, it is a scenic route connecting Picton and Havelock. With stopovers, it can take up to half a day to complete the 21 mile journey on the narrow and winding road.”

We heeded the advice of the guide, and took our time, stopping at numerous lookout points to take in the stunning views of the Marlborough Sound’s beautiful inlets and villages tucked into corners of narrowing ‘legs’ of the sound. Havelock is famous for its green lipped mussels, and it shows off its wares with a large array of cafes and restaurants, most of which have large green lipped mussel models atop their roofs to entice you in.

One of the other “things” we have been warned about it, are the one way bridges, of which there are many. They are single track bridges are normally crossing a river, or gorge. Most of them have dramatic views, but unfortunately you cannot stop to view, as you are on a single track road. Some of them also run parallel with a railway track. Fortunately, we have not yet gone across one alongside a train. However, some of them are very high above the gorge/river/stream, are very narrow, and not very tall, which is interesting when you are driving a vehicle that is 3.3m high (approx 11 ft in old money).

Our aim today is to get to Motueka, and base ourselves there for a boat and hiking trip up the Abel Tasman Park the following day. Our guide tells us the following…

“Motueka has a diverse horticultural industry and is the country’s most prolific orcharding area. Kiwi, apples, berries, hops pears and grapes are some of the produce grown here. The town is also a base for trips to the Abel Tasman national park. New Zealand’s smallest national park at 224 sq km, has a mild climate, golden beaches and sandy estuaries fringed by natural forest. The park is best known for its coastal track which can be walked one way, with a return trip by water taxi.” And this was our plan the following morning – booked and paid for, collection at 08:20am…or so we thought.

We woke to the greyest, rainiest day yet, and a marine forecast for the Cook Strait and Abel Tasmen coastal area of gale force winds. Now, we are not shy of a bit of gale force winds, but when you are paying a lot of money for the privilege of hiking through it, I for one am not up for it. Fortunately, if you cancelled an hour before collection you got a full refund. Now, as we are on a tight schedule, it did mean that although we would have to forego the Abel Tasman park, it does mean that we now have a day in hand if we drive through the pouring rain to our next destination, Greymouth, which, like its name, we believe is going to be a  bit dull…

…on they way we decide to make two stops – firstly the seal colony and then The Pancake Rocks, both of which are on the West Coast Road, renowned for being exceptionally beautiful. Our first diversion to the seal colony is set just off of Cape Foulwind – they say everything is in a name, I wonder what this one is trying to tell us. “On the Cape Foulwind Walkway at the edge of Taurana Bay is a breeding colony of fur seals. They haul out on rocky shorelines at several sites, where pups can be seen in spring and summer.” Having walked by another beautiful bay, we did indeed, see numerous fur seals of all ages, including some very cute cubs doing what David calls the seal version of butterfly stroke on land…! 

After this, we drove down, up and along the West Coast road, taking in every jaw dropping sight of coast and rainforest as it passed us by in almost a blur. 

We stopped at the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes at Dolomite Point. “Bands of limestone, separated by thin bands of softer mudstone, which has been worn away by thousands of years of rain, wind and sea spray, have created the layered formations of the Pancake Rocks. Over hundreds of thousands of years, caverns have also been formed as carbon dioxide-bearing rainwater has gradually eaten into cracks in the limestone. During high seas, these subterranean caverns become blowholes as the waves surge in under huge pressure and explode in a plume of spray.” ? A truly magnificent sight.

From here we continued our journey to Greymouth, which as the name suggest is at the mouth of the River Grey. (“The largest town on the West Coast, Greymouth occupies the site of what was once Mawhera Pa. Although colonial government agents purchased the majority of the West Coast in 1860 for £300, the land under modern Greymouth remained a Maori reserve. Around this time, gold was being found in large quantities in the area and coal 17 years earlier. When the gold boom ended, coal mining ensured the district’s continued survival. However, the Grey Mouth River has also delivered misfortune. Repeatedly throughout its history, Greymouth has been submerged by flood waters, including twice in 1988.”). However, although there was not much at Greymouth, the sunset that evening over the Tasman sea certainly was not grey.

Our stop the next day was the Franz Josef or Fox Glacier, we had not decided yet. Although there are 140 glaciers flowing from the Southern Alps, only the Franz Josef and Fox reach the lower rainforest, and are within easy walking distance to see their spectacle and wonder. 

“The huge tongues of ice cut through valleys and sown through temperate rainforest to just 270m above sea level in an accessible wilderness. The Franz Josef Glacier in Maori is named Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere or the tears of she was broken hearted. Her tears flowed down the mountain as a river of ice and formed the glacier as a reminder of her grief”.

That night we stopped at the Rainforest Retreat Campsite, which to date has been the most diverse. Parked right in the rainforest, minutes walk to the ‘ski-like’ village, and a really good bar/restaurant to boot, we had a fab time.

David and I have been fortunate in our past to have been to glaciers in the Alps, but to reach them we have had to fly. This one you can reach the edge of in an hour and a half reasonable hike, or if like us, you are on a schedule, you can take the 30 minute walk up to the viewing platform which gives you a fantastic view of the glacier in it’s entirety, from mountain top, to river bed. After taking in the incredible sight of nature at her rawest, we had to move on to our next destination – Wanaka – where we plan to go flying around the southern alps…but that’s for next time.