New Zealand - South Island's West Coast (Day 10)

This day was all about taking it easy. We were coming off several long days with lots of activity and heading into several more of the same, so we wanted this day to feel relaxing. We had about 150 km (2 hours or so) to drive from Westport to Lake Mahinapua (outside of Hokitika) and a whole day to do it. Allyson was promised she could sleep in a little bit and we had to do some grocery shopping, so we didn't leave Westport until a little after 10am.

First stop was Punakaiki Pancake Rocks, a short walk through the most interesting limestone rock formations that began forming 30 million years ago. There is also a magnificent blowhole here, but you have to get here at high tide to really appreciate it. We ended up here at low tide, so we only saw a little bit of what it could be like with the largest waves of the morning. 

The Maori people have long used flax to weave baskets and mats, along with many other uses. It grows abundantly in New Zealand. We came across many random flax plants that had been weaved into art while still growing strong. Loved the little mohawk guy above!

We saw many signs we'd never seen before. I wasn't very good at capturing them. Penguin crossing is the one I wish I'd gotten. But I enjoyed the train exempt sign a lot. Basically, you should know that a huge train has the right of way. 

After Punakaiki, we were getting hungry and decided to find a beach for our picnic lunch. Who knew we'd find a beach that absolutely no one else was at! Very different from the beaches we are used to in So Cal and the Carolinas. Beware of the killer seagulls though. These guys were way more aggressive than the ones in the States (if you can even believe it!)

We went through the town of Greymouth, and I had read in a guidebook about Monteith's Brewing Company - the leader in New Zealand's craft beer market. We couldn't resist stopping to check it out. Unfortunately, our GPS took us to a closed down brewery and we were super bummed. We took off for the next stop on the road, and on our way out of town Allyson happened to see a sign pointing to Monteith's. We followed the sign to a beautiful, huge, brand new brewery!

We ordered the beer tasting menu, which included 6 rather larger tastes of the following beers: Crushed Apple Cider, Original Ale, Radler Bier, Pilsner Beer, Golden Lager, and their IPA (we replaced the black beer with this one). They were all great, but my favorite was the Radler Bier (which surprised me because I'm an IPA girl!) We each picked one to finish and then proceeded down to Hokitika.

Barrels for seats and pallets piled up for tables. Dig it!

Talk about a messy roundabout! There are about 5 stoplights in all of New Zealand it seems. Mostly, you have to navigate roundabouts. 

We stopped in Hokitika because we'd heard that is where we had to buy jade (Pounamu in Maori). Pounamu is very important in the Maori culture. We had heard that you are not supposed to buy it for yourself but give it as a gift to others. Many people in New Zealand, Maori and otherwise, wear pounamu necklaces. The different symbols bring the wearer different strengths. For example, the spiral (koru) represents peace, personal growth, positive change, and tranquility. 

Other than jade shopping, I didn't feel like Hokitika had that much to offer. We had planned on going to Hokitika Gorge, but decided it was taking on too much for the day. Instead, we just went to Lake Mahinapua, where we enjoyed a relaxing evening by the lake. 

Some guys fishing at Lake Mahinapua. 

Enjoying a easy, short walk to Swimmer's Beach. New Zealand was full of foxglove. 

View from Swimmer's Beach

I highly recommend camping at Lake Mahinapua. Quiet campground with plenty of space for $6 a person. It's only an hour and a half drive to the glaciers, so easy to get there for any booked trips the following day (this was our plan but the weather screwed us up!) Overall, this was a very pleasant day and I felt very rested for our helicopter glacier hike the next day!

Nelson Lakes National Park (Day 9)

This day began with one of my favorite moments of our trip. Allyson was mostly asleep through it, but I most certainly had a spiritual experience before the sun even rose on this morning. So here's what happened (and I already know, based on having told this story to people already, that I can't fully articulate the true awesomeness of this moment)...I woke up to a song. Not just one song really, more like many songs sang by what had to be a thousand birds. They seemed to echo each other but that could have had something to do with the valley we were in. All I know is it was the most beautiful chorus I've ever heard (and I've heard and been part of many a beautiful chorus!)

I asked a forest ranger and she suggested that I was either hearing bellbirds or tuis or a combination of them, which is what I suspected. Tuis imitate Bellbirds, so it's hard to determine what you are hearing. I'd been hearing these lovely birds all over New Zealand up until this point, but never so many at once. Usually just one that seemed to tease us along the trail, always stopping their song whenever we stopped to try to find them in the trees. 

Just me, the ducks, and Lake Rotoiti

We took a great day hike up Mt Robert, the mountain you see to the right in the pictures above. The hike is a 9.7 km (6 mile) loop combining Paddy's Track on the way up and Pinchgut Track on the way down. The climb up was no joke. The sun was shining and is switchbacks the whole way up. However, the views are incredible the whole way up and you get breaks of shade in some incredible forests full of super cool lichens, moss, and other ground cover. The Department of Conversation says to allow 5 hours to complete this hike, but that's insane. It didn't take us more than 3 hours, and we stopped to have lunch on the top.

A tip for people traveling to New Zealand...bring layers! We were shedding layers heading up the mountain (climbs 900 m or nearly 3000 feet!) but put all the layers on and more when we were at the peak. Highly highly recommend this hike. Thinking back on this day, and Nelson Lakes in general, is definitely making me consider another trip back soon. I'd like to spend several days backpacking in Nelson Lakes.

Speaking of birds...this is the best picture of a Fantail I could get the whole time I was in New Zealand, and it isn't due to a lack of trying. They are feisty little guys but they are so pretty. Because I couldn't get a good picture, I justified buying the cute ceramic bowl seen below.

Artist: Jo Luping Gallery: Kapa New Zealand Design Gallery

On our way up Paddy's Track. We saw one person on our way up, a group of four when we were at the top, and one person on the way down. Basically, we had the place to ourselves!

We had to hike right over this gigantic landslide. This was no joke. One thing we felt strongly when we were in New Zealand is that the land is always changing....and not in a slow kind of way. 

After the intense hike, one of us took a short nap (not going to name names) while the other one patiently (or not so patiently) waited to jump off the end of this dock into that magical lake. We both did and it was freezing. Like take your breath away and make your muscles freeze up cold. But I loved it!

Unfortunately, we had to keep on moving. I was disappointed we couldn't spend more time here, but there is always next time. We drove to Westport and stayed at Seal Colony Top 10 Holiday Park. We really needed to do a load of laundry at this point. I would recommend only staying at a Top 10 Holiday Park if you need laundry or to plug in your campervan. They are always nice and clean, but super crowded and much more like camping in a parking lot than I would ever, ever do in the States. But this one is close to the beach and a great starting point for a trip down the West Coast, which is what Day 10 had in store. 

Hot food and a cold glass of wine...it's about 8pm and the sun is still blasting us. 

Abel Tasman National Park (Days 7 and 8)

Day 7

Day 7 is the first day that I would change if I was giving someone advice about a trip to New Zealand. I had estimated driving times using Google Maps and they majorly failed on Day 6! Our plan was to spend the next two days in Abel Tasman National Park. We had a reservation at Totaranui Campground, on the northern portion of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. My reasoning for this was that I had read the track is less crowded on the northern portion and I equate less crowded with more enjoyable. So we planned to drive out to the campground, get there in the afternoon, and hike the northern part of the trail up to Separation Point and back that evening. Google Maps said it was about an hour (52 minutes to be exact) from Motueka to Totaranui campground. In actuality, we had to drive up and then back down on switchbacks of Takaka Hill and it took us closer to 3 hours to get the campground. We never ever would have decided to do this had we know it was this far, especially because we had reservations to kayak at 8:30am the next morning back on the other side of the hill!

Before our Takaka Hill adventure, we enjoyed a few hours in Nelson, home of the first rugby match in New Zealand. This town was super cute! It's on my list of places I'd like to live. We had a great breakfast at Lambrettas Cafe and Bar. I had a rocket omelette (discovered that rocket is a leafy green vegetable used like spinach but a little more bitter in my opinion). 

Ally getting ready to play some rugby at the location of the first match played in New Zealand. 

We left Nelson around 1:30pm, because we had no idea the drive was going to take as long as it did. We didn't get to Totaranui campground until around 4:30pm. This wouldn't have been a big deal except then it rained the whole night. I may feel very differently about this bump (more like Takaka Hill) in the road if it had been a gorgeous evening. As it was, we walked a bit on the trail but came back after we made it to the first beach because the rain wasn't stopping. We spent the rest of the night in the campervan playing cards. Here's my recommendation after spending the two days in Abel Tasman: either 1. give yourself a few days (more than 2) and spend a couple days on the other side of Takaka Hill (go out to Farewell Spit, hike to Separation Point, etc. and then a couple days in the southern part of the park OR 2. spend a couple days in the southern part (it was NOT crowded. It was gorgeous. And we would've enjoyed our two days a lot more if 6 hours of it wasn't spent driving up and down Takaka Hill...as much as I enjoy saying Takaka.)

Day 8

Allyson and I disagree on the greatness of Day 8 and this is because we have very different comfort levels in the water. I'm a water baby. I grew up swimming competitively and just generally wish I could spend most of my life in or by the water. Allyson enjoys it but has a healthy fear of water as well. I highly recommend doing what we did on this day; however, I think you should do it with a guide if you don't have any kayaking experience. 

Anyway, we woke up at 5am on Day 7 in order to make it back over the hill and to Kahu Kayaks by 8:30am. We got the safety walk through by one of their guides and were transported in one of their vans down the road to the beach. 

Map from Kahu Kayak website

A billion snails

The day started out nice and calm. It was cloudier than I was hoping (the color of the water in Abel Tasman is world famous but that is mostly when the sun is helping it out!) but I was grateful it didn't rain on us. There are lots of little beaches to stop at along the coast and Adele Island supposedly had a seal colony around the western side, but the waters seemed awfully rough so we didn't venture around that way. We had a very peaceful paddle in the morning, stopping at Stillwell Bay for an early lunch. Then we paddled over to Adele Island and that's when we realized the waves were picking up. We kayaked back over to the main land and stopped at Observation Beach before heading out into the Mad Mile (named this because there are no beaches to stop at or anywhere to stop for a mile and there are no islands to shelter the water). 

This is when it got ugly. The winds were coming from the north and were strong. The instructor told us about the Mad Mile but said "it's no big deal...just sounds scary." I cannot believe they had people out kayaking in this without a guide. There were huge swells and big waves. We were in a two person kayak and Ally was in the back. She says I would go down and she couldn't see me and then I'd pop back up and be way above her. We were soaking wet and really scared. We had to keep our kayak faced out, away from the land, because we had to be perpendicular to the waves to not capsize. Therefore, we felt like we kept going farther and farther from safety and out into the Tasman Sea. 

Eventually, we saw a beach and made a plan for how we'd get there. We overshot so we could then turn and ride the waves in (so they weren't coming at our side). We got to the beach safely and only realized once we beached that it wasn't the end! We still had to go around a point and get to our final destination. We honestly considered ditching our kayaks at this beach and just walking back from there. However, we decided we knew what we were up against now, and if we just stayed as close to land as possible we'd be ok. And we were. We made it to Anchorage Bay and have never been so glad to be off the water. This would have been enough adventure, but we still had a 12.4 km (7.7 mile) hike back out of the park. 

After our swim in Anchorage Bay

The hike back out is along the famous Abel Tasman Coastal Track. Again, I'd heard that it is always super busy with day hikers (during the summer months...December, January, February.) Maybe my definition of crowded has changed slightly since living in Los Angeles, but I'd say seeing 10-20 on the whole 8 miles out did not feel crowded. And it was a great trail with good footing, lots of beautiful ferns and views, and several little waterfalls (because it had rained the day before).

I know my pictures make it look perfectly calm out there, but I wasn't about to take pictures when our lives were in danger!

I recommend doing Abel Tasman this way. It was really cool to be on the water, and then hike back out up above the water and see where you had just been. My guess is the weather isn't usually like this in the summer time. If you are the least bit nervous, get a guide. It's a really long day but it was definitely an adventure. 

Don't worry...our day didn't end there. After that we had the best fish and chips of my life at Sprig and Fern Tavern in Motueka (which happens to be voted the best bar in New Zealand but we had no idea that was true until we were there.) Highly recommend a stop at the tavern. 

We then drove 2 hours to Nelson Lakes National Park and arrived in the dark. Too bad because the campground was really nice and peaceful and I wish we'd been able to spend more time there. Overall, it was a memorable day but also a really long day, and it may have felt more manageable had we not started it so early with the drive over Takaka Hill. Back to my original recommendations....definitely make Abel Tasman part of your trip to New Zealand. Give yourself plenty of time here. It's worth not rushing through it!

South Island Adventures Begin! (Day 6)

I think this day was one of my favorites. I had read advice somewhere online that you should do things in New Zealand that you can't do anywhere else (e.g., helicopter to glaciers, kayaking in Milford Sound). For the most part, this was helpful advice. We didn't have time to see everything so we focused on things that didn't seem like something we have done or seen before. However, today was all about wine tasting. Something we've done a lot of, given our numerous trips to Sonoma and Napa Counties (not to mention Temecula, Charlottesville, and other great wine tasting trips). Our reasons for wine tasting were simple....we wanted to do something that felt traditionally honeymoon-y. We wanted something that felt relaxing, because we'd had a lot of packed days so far. Lastly, this area was supposed to be the warmest, sunniest spot on the islands, and we needed sun!

Before wine tasting, we had to take the ferry across the Cook Strait from the North Island to Picton in Marlborough Sounds, on the South Island. The ferry ride was great, especially once we entered Queen Charlotte Sound and made our way to Picton. 

 Queen Charlotte Sound

Picton

We planned on renting bikes at Wine Tours by Bike in Blenheim, about a 30 minute drive from the ferry. The owner of the bike place, Nigel, is absolutely terrific and he offered us a place to camp for the night behind his house. This may have been the most amazing "campsite" we've ever had. Super quiet, all to ourselves, looking out over acres and acres of vineyards. Felt very romantic! 

When we pulled up to the place and got out into the warm sunshine, we knew we were in for a treat today. Nigel set us up on our bikes and gave us some water bottles, wine bottle carriers for our bikes, and a map. He helped direct us to the best wineries to stop at and mapped out a good 18 km loop that passed at least 5 wineries (we only managed to drink at three and got dessert at a fourth). The wineries we went to were Rock Ferry, Hunter's, Cloudy Bay, and Allan Scott. The area is known for it's white wine, particularly Sauvignon Blanc. Our favorite wine of the day was Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2010 and we were so happy to discover that we can get it wine at Whole Foods (for special occasions because it is $30 a bottle!) We had a blast riding our bikes to the different wineries and were shocked by how few people were there. We had the tasting rooms to ourselves at Hunter's and Cloudy Bay! It was a great opportunity to talk to some of the locals and get a "taste" for life on the South Island. 

My favorite trees in New Zealand. Have no idea what they are, but they seem to hang out by themselves in the middle of a fields glowing yellow-green. 

Hunter's Vineyard

Enjoying our hard-core selves in bike helmets

 Te Koko is Maori for "the scoop" which is what they called Cloudy Bay (a bay in Marlborough Sounds)

 Cloudy Bay Vineyard

One of the best things about the day is we rode our bikes back to where we started and we just walked back behind a hedge and there was our campsite! We watched a beautiful sunset over the vineyards while playing cards and eating our poor man's dinner (because we had missed the time the vineyards were serving lunch and they didn't serve dinner!)

Sunrise the next morning