Walking and Driving.. All I Ever Do Anymore!

   What a crazy day I had Saturday! Sunday was much more chill. We drove most of the day. We had to get to Wanaka, which was about 3 ½ hours away, and do all we wanted to do there. So, we woke up early, made some breakfast in the van, and got on our way. We drove to the Fox Glacier, which was just 20 minutes down the road. We didn’t have time to walk to the glacier, unfortunately, so we just drove as close as we could get. If only we had more time!

Perfectly exposed forest...

And perfectly exposed glacier.

   We kept on driving, and stopped at Lake Matheson along the way. It’s also called the reflection lake, because it reflects Mt. Cook so perfectly when the weather is good. It was beautiful, even though the water wasn’t totally still!

Our walk through the rainforest!

The Reflection Lake with Mt. Cook on the right.

   From Lake Matheson we carried onto Wanaka. The drive there was SOSOSO beautiful. We were winding through the Southern Alps the whole time, along a river until we ended up at Lake Wanaka. The views were incredible! We would be driving through forest, then it would clear and we would see huge mountains in front of us! Wow! After following Lake Wanaka a ways, we then made it to Lake Hawea and followed that for a bit. It was so pretty to see huge mountains across the lakes. We eventually made it to Wanaka, after crossing back over some mountains from Lake Hawea to Lake Wanaka. Such a beautiful town!

Sheep and mountains. Typical.

Cows don't belong on the road!

A cool turnout we stopped at. Like another world!

Look at that snow line!

Looking one way...

...and the other...

...from our ugly van!

I'm in love.

75 kilometres per hour, not miles!

   Mt. Iron is a little rocky knoll carved out by glaciers in Wanaka. It’s surrounded by a valley and eventually mountains all round. The view from the top is incredible, so Thomas and I wanted to hike it while we were in Wanaka. The walk is supposed to take about an hour and a half return, but it took us much longer because we stopped to take so many photos! The walk started right in town, wound up the knoll, and took us back down the other side. It was so muddy and snowy the whole walk up! The view from the top was definitely incredible though. We could see for miles in all directions, and it was so cool! We planned our journey so that the sun set while we were on top of Mt. Iron. Seeing the sun set over the mountains was so pretty. We booked it back down to the van afterwards – it gets cold after the sun goes down! The moon was still almost full, and was so astonishing.

On our way up!

The shadow of Mt. Iron! So cool!

<3

Watching the sun set atop Mt. Iron.

This is only half of what I could see 

   We found a holiday park to camp at for the evening in Wanaka, since we needed to plug in for heat. We hung out for a bit before getting ready and going out to dinner to celebrate my upcoming birthday. We had the yummiest pizza and beer at a little Italian restaurant – the perfect way to celebrate!

   Thomas was scheduled to fly out of Queenstown just as Mum was arriving on Monday afternoon... perfect timing! I wouldn’t have to be alone for too long! So Thomas and I woke up early Monday, packed up, cleaned up the van, and drove to Queenstown. It only took about an hour, but we stopped a few times along the way. It was such a gorgeous drive! All the driving we’ve done has been through absolutely breathtaking scenery.

   We got to Queenstown, got petrol, and went to McDonald’s like we did just about every day! We took advantage of McDonald’s free wifi as much as possible : ) We dropped off our Jucy van at the rental company, and it was so bittersweet! It was good to be rid of the big, ugly, bright van, but sad that our adventure was over! Thomas and I then went to the airport. I saw him off at 3ish for his flight back to Auckland.

   Mum’s flight from Sydney was supposed to arrive at 3:30, but I didn’t see her until almost 5! It was so good to finally see her! Her luggage had been lost somewhere along the way, so she had to talk to some airport people to try to figure it out. They had no idea when it would arrive, but we would have to hang out in Queenstown to pick it up. We picked up our rental car, then drove to our backpackers and got settled. It was a cute little hostel, but it was so busy! Queenstown is a huge skiing city, so a lot of people were in town to enjoy the new snow.

   Mum and I both wanted a good dinner, so we drove around the city a bit before stopping at Speight’s Ale House for dinner. We sat next to a warm fireplace, the food was delicious, and it was good to be with Mum after so long. Both of us were exhausted, although I’m sure Mum was way more tired than me after flying for a couple days! We headed back to our hostel and turned in for an early night.

   I had such a fun time with Thomas in the van, and it flew by! I hope traveling with Mum doesn’t fly by too! We’re supposed to hang out in Queenstown, see Te Anau and Fiordland, go to Invercargill and Dunedin, then fly up to Auckland before flying back to Wellington for a few days. It seems like such a long time to be traveling!

I Flew!

   It looks like my luck, and the weather, is finally starting to turn around! It’s still freezing here, but at least it’s not raining or snowing anymore! In fact, Saturday was the perfect day – there were hardly any clouds in the sky. Thomas and I woke up early to get a head start on our big day of driving and seeing glaciers. Since the weather held us back, we only had one day to get there and see everything. We were kind of in a hurry, but we stopped at the pancake rocks in Punakaiki on the way out of town. They are huge outcroppings of perfectly layered rock, and scientists aren’t quite sure how they formed. They were pretty amazing to see, and it was weird to think that those rocks were under the sea so long ago.

So cool!!

Pancakes!

Soo patriotic.

   The walk around the pancake rocks was quick, and soon we were on our way to the glaciers. We got to Franz Josef first, after three hours of gorgeous driving. The township was small and cute, and we could see mountains along the whole drive. We stopped to take pictures a lot! Once we got into the town of Franz Josef, we stopped at the information center and booked a scenic flight of both the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. I suppose it’s a good thing I didn’t fly in Kaikoura, so I got the chance to fly over the glaciers.

I spy glaciers!

Such a beautiful drive. 

We stopped to take pictures a lot.

ANXIOUS.

   We didn’t have long before our flight after we booked. We drove over to the flight center, checked in, and waited a bit. I was so nervous! I’ve never been in a small plane before so I had no idea what to expect. When the time came for our flight, we took a shuttle over to the runway. It was so small! We weren’t so much at an airport as we were at a field full of sheep with a little runway in the middle. We saw the plane, met Tony our pilot, and waited a bit before it was time to take off.

Hey Tony!

   The plane had 8 seats, but Thomas and I were the only ones booked for the day. We chatted with Tony a bit, and he was so so nice! He explained everything to us before we took off, which calmed my nerves a little bit.

   Finally, we were on the runway and ready to takeoff. It was so smooth! I didn’t expect it from such a small plane, but the first 10 minutes of our flight was perfect. We headed towards the ocean first, and could see along the coast line for miles. It was so beautiful so see the river running into the ocean, the little towns, and big hills. After a loop near the coast, we headed over to Fox glacier. Seeing the glacier from above was so spectacular. Actually, seeing a glacier at all was spectacular! It looked just like a big frozen river. From there we flew near some mountains, and could see all the snow and ice on top up close. We then flew to the Franz Josef glacier and circled around there before heading back to the runway. Once we started flying over the mountains, it got pretty bumpy. We hit one HUGE bump, and I jerked out of my seat! Scary! I started to feel sick towards the end because we were hitting so many bumps and the plane was all over the place. It was the coolest experience though, and I’m so glad I did it, even if I was scared! The flight was BEAUTIFUL and I have so many lovely pictures to remember it.

And we're off! 

The glacial river draining to the sea.

So pretty! And not bumpy yet!

We could see foreverrr along the coast.

The Fox glacier township.

Mountains = bumps. 

Fox glacier. Wow!

The bottom of Fox looking out to the ocean.

Mountains! Lots of them!

The Franz Josef glacier.

We got soo close to Franz Josef!

ICE!

Looking out along the coast.

The Franz Josef township. Can you see the runway?

Franz Josef again.

Not as much snow, but still just as pretty!

We made it! We're landing!

   After we landed, Tony gave each of us a “certificate of bravery” as he called it. I guess he knew how nervous I was! He was great though, and has been flying for 17 years. I felt so safe with him.

We survived!

   I needed a little bit of time to settle down after such an eventful flight, and absorb all the gorgeous scenery I had just seen. We didn’t have much time to waste though, because of the silly weather in Christchurch. We wanted to do as much as possible, so immediately after the flight, we drove to the carpark for the Franz Josef glacier and walked to the base of it. It took over an hour to get to the glacier, walking through the river valley. We couldn’t get too close to it for safety reasons, but we close enough to see it well. It was so interesting to see the glacier from air and on land. We saw the sun set on the top of the mountains, and then walked back to our van. Brrr!

Walking to Franz Josef. We felt so small!  

Quite a climb up there. Check out the sun set!

Franz Josef from the bottom. Ranger gave me a high five for walking so far!

   What an eventful Saturday we had! Thomas and I needed to unwind after such a busy day, so we went to the Glacier Hot Pools and relaxed for a few hours. The pools we outdoor, so it was a cold walk out to them, but it felt so good to sit in the 40° pools with the cool air. Just what we needed! We kept relaxing even after the hot pools, by making some popcorn and watching a movie in the van. Such a perfect day!

Goodnight!

Camper Van Livin'

   Where do I start?! I haven’t updated for a whole week, and I have done and seen so much! I’ve spent a lovely week in a campervan driving all over the country. The South Island just keeps getting more beautiful the further South you go. I am in awe! But let me start at the beginning:

The plane I would have flown.

   I told you last Monday that I would be flying a plane Tuesday morning, but that didn’t happen : ( I was supposed to fly at 10:45, so I drove to the aero club around then. The weather didn’t look too good on my drive, and the clouds were looking menacing. I met Murray, the flight instructor, and Venny, a girl looking to do whale watching. Normally, the flights are either learn to fly or see whales, but Murray was going to combine the two of our flights, so we would be in the air for longer and see more. I was so stoked! The three of us waited a bit, but the clouds only seemed to get more dense, so we called it off for the morning. Murray thought the clouds might burn off for the afternoon, so he told us to come back at 1. Venny and I hung out for a bit in the meantime. Murray eventually called the whole thing off for the day, as the weather was not improving. I was crushed! I was relieved though, because I would much rather have flown on a nice day than try to navigate the clouds. Murray and I decided to try again the following morning.

   I felt like I had spent my whole day waiting to fly, so I didn’t have much time to do anything now that my plans for the day were cancelled. It was mid afternoon, so I had a little bit of time to do a short walk around the Kaikoura Peninsula. The whole thing took about 3 hours, and was so worth it! It was beautiful. I was pretty high up on the peninsula, and I could see down to the beach the whole walk. There were so many seals everywhere! It was unfortunate that it was so cloudy, because I would have been able to see the mountains behind Kaikoura. I’m still glad I did it though – but I was exhausted after! I retreated to my hostel for the evening and took advantage of the hot tub and sauna after a long day.

I had to cliiiimb up the peninsula!

The walkway was right on the edge... scary!

   Wednesday morning’s weather looked no better than Tuesday. I was so bummed to hear that my flying lesson was cancelled for good. I guess it just wasn’t meant to happen! I didn’t have time to hang around Kaikoura, as I was supposed to meet Thomas in Christchurch. He arrived around 10, but I really wanted to fly, so I didn’t get on the road too early.

   After finding out about my flight, I packed up and got ready to leave my backpackers in Kaikoura. Katie, a British girl I met in the hostel, was trying to get to Christchurch on Wednesday, so I gave her a ride. It was so good to have someone to talk to, and split petrol costs! We got to Chch around 1, I dropped Katie off, and I met Thomas at Jucy, the campervan rental company. We booked our van from Wednesday through Monday, and planned to see Chch, the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, and Wanaka. Since it’s winter time, van rates are cheap, and I reckon we saved money by renting a van instead of a car and hostels. The van was so cool – it had a kitchen (very small), a television, and two double beds!!

   Anyways, we got our van, I dropped off my rental car, and we decided to see a bit of the city. We walked around downtown, and it was pretty depressing. It’s been two years since the big earthquake, and the city is still pretty torn up. There are empty lots and construction everywhere. However, there’s lots of bright signs and graffiti everywhere. It was cool to see so much color in an otherwise grey city. Part of downtown has temporary banks, cafes, and shops in shipping containers, which were all brightly painted and so inviting! The city was pretty sad overall, but it’s definitely recovered a lot in the two years since the quake.

   Thomas and I didn’t want to spend too much time in Christchurch, because there is soo much more to see on the South Island. We drove to Akaroa that night in the rain. The weather was still not looking too good! It was night by the time we got there, but we hoped to see some scenery in the morning. We found a place to free camp (no camping ground, no power) for the night, got settled in, tried (and failed) to make crepes, and watched ET before shivering all night long in our cold van. No heat in the winter time is no fun!

Akaroa was so pretty...

   We woke up Thursday to lots of rain and clouds. I have been having such bad luck with the weather! It seems to be following me! So we didn’t see much of Akaroa, and headed back through Christchuch on our way to the glaciers. We got a ways out of town until we started seeing snow, and eventually the road was closed to the west coast! We knew the weather was bad, but not this bad. We had no idea what to do from there, so we made crepes. We called the road information people only to find out that most of the roads in NZ were closed, or required snow chains... bummer! There was really nothing we could do except drive back to Christchurch. I felt so defeated, because the weather had been making me change all my plans. We found a campground Thursday night in Chch, so we had power for our little heater in the van. It felt so good to be able to sleep without shivering!

We're stuck.

Frustration.

   Friday morning, most roads were still closed to the west coast. The weather seemed to be a bit better, but I was still worried that we would be stuck in Chch another day. We were supposed to be at the glaciers at this point, but we hadn’t done anything yet! We couldn’t do much that day, so we hung around and got groceries. We kept checking the road conditions, since the weather seemed fine where we were. Finally, in the afternoon, a few of the roads were opened and passable. We drove through Lewis Pass to get to the west coast, and eventually made our way to Punakaiki. The drive was absolutely gorgeous! We went through a forest with all the tree tops covered with snow. We saw snow capped mountains everywhere. We drove through a valley along a stream. It was so amazing. I was in awe the whole time! It got dark as we were driving, and we made it to Punakaiki late that night. We found a campground, because it was way too cold to free camp! The van needed some sort of heat to be live-able and sleep-able! We ended up walking to the nearby beach that night, which was so cool. The moon was almost full, and there were big roaring waves. It was beautiful, but cold!

So much snow!!

I am in the most beautiful country!

   The weather seems to be looking up, so hopefully we can keep on with our plans, even if we have missed a couple days. We’re heading to the glaciers next. It should be amazing!