Final Days on South Island

With our departure to Wellington booked for tomorrow we have decided to mark our departure from South Island with a couple of days of luxury in a resort complex at Portage on the Marlborough Sounds - www.portage.co.nz

The timing is good as New Zealand is in the middle of a severe winter storm with masses of rain and gales due over the next 48 hours so the Cook Strait crossing could be fun!

Since the last post we have enjoyed the Golden Bay scenery, observed the pig hunting competition at Collingwood and spent a wet weekend near Nelson giving us the excuse to go to the pictures for the first time in ages.

We then headed out to the Sounds arriving at French Pass where a beach side DOC site provided a remarkable place to stay the night. A highlight was the large pod of dolphins passing through the narrow channel that separates the peninsula from D'Urville island.

Other gems such as Duncan Bay and Penzance gave us more walking and cycling opportunities and an insight in to the lives of people living in such inaccessible areas which we followed up later by taking the Pelorus Mail Boat on its all day run out to scattered homes that look forward to the weekly delivery of mail and groceries. Mussel farms are scattered around as Havelock is the green lipped mussel capital of the world and the whole area is a boaters paradise with the mass of islands, inlets, coves and beaches. Stunning properties mostly only accessible by boat include one on Forsyth Island currently for sale as an entity for only £900k.

A soggy pitch on a DOC site gave us a good excuse to use our winch for the first time to extract us from the mud but no such problems were encountered at stunning Titirangi at the head of the Sounds where we stayed as the only visitors on a remote DOC leased farm reached by a long and winding road.

So tomorrow we move on after a superb six months down here - the variety of scenery has been remarkable and we have a host of happy memories the latest of which are available at the picture link by clicking here

Karamea, Cobb Valley and Farewell

The coast north to Karamea was wild and beautiful and the DOC site at the south end of the Heaphy provided a good base from which to explore the palm fringed beaches, admire marine life and then walk the Oparara limestone basin with superb scenery and features that are very much undersold.

With the move to North Island fast approaching we then headed round to the Tasman area to spend a week in the Cobb Valley reached via a narrow winding road and then a gravel track that crossed the ridge bringing us to a DoC site at the head of the valley from where we enjoyed the Mount Peel Track and our coldest night yet with a severe frost. We were cosy in the well insulated van and the good weather rewarded us with walks to Lake Sylvester and a circuit to Asbestos Cottage where a remarkable couple had lived miles from anywhere for 37 years in total simplicity.

We have just enjoyed a few days at the excellent Wharariki campsite ( www.wharariki.co.nz ) and explored Farewell Spit on foot and horseback - wonderful views, superb beaches and great people.

Limited internet here so a shorter update but hopefully pics at the link as ever.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/TheNorthOfTheSouth?feat=directlink

West Coast Once More

After an enjoyable stint with the pigs for me and a great girls weekend for Sarah we met at Christchurch Airport and headed off to Mount Thomas and then Arthur's Pass once more. Here the walk in to Casey's Hut provided a memorable night and an excellent walk out the following day before we headed to Lake Moana and the coast.

The west coast has a substantial gold and coal mining history which made for several fascinating forays to Waiuta where we spent the night on the former bowling green, Denniston with its steep inclined coal tramway and the Charming Creek coal mine with several relics spread throughout the gorge. The famous pancake rocks were well worth a visit and the young seal pups at Cape Foulwind were a delight.

Greymouth and Westport provided museums and shopping before we headed north towards Karamea stopping a couple of nights at peaceful Gentle Annie's.

Currently we are at 'The Last resort' in Karamea enjoying the space and comfort of a self contained cottage for a night prior to reaching the end of the road and the start of the Heaphy Track where the Oparara limestone area should provide some good walking and even a bike ride on old logging tracks.

Photos at the link

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/WestCoastOnceMore?feat=directlink

Half Way

We are now around the midway point of the New Zealand trip with the last four months spent on South Island which has exceeded all expectations. Signs of the approaching autumn are all around and we intend to head north to warmer climes in late May after visiting the far north of the West coast and then Marlborough and Nelson including Kahurangi National Park.

We left Westland to travel over Arthur's Pass where the change from wet rainforest to dry mountains was rapid and dramatic. Avalanche Peak provided a memorable day walk before we went our separate ways at Christchurch as Sarah has gone on a girls weekend to Auckland and I have spent several very relaxing days ( but frosty nights) near Ashburton keeping an eye on the pigs and enjoying the views across to Mounts Hutt and Somers.

The van passed its WoF (equivalent to UK MOT) which was good news as we have travelled many miles on rough and dusty tracks and it recently passed the 200,000 mile mark so we are now clear to the end of this leg. Preventing the ingress of dust has been an ongoing issue with extra mesh installed behind the fridge and cooker gas vents and the application of some double glazing sealant to the rear doors where slight gaps around the seals allowed the fine powder in.

Meanwhile I have been researching the complexities of taking the van to Australia where the various states and territories seem to have very different and not necessarily reciprocal arrangements.

We meet up again tomorrow and will head to Mount Thomas and Oxford Forest Parks where we hope to get out on the bikes again as they spent six weeks in storage during our Westland foray.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/MidTripBreak#

Wandering through Westland

After the dry conditions of Otago we have crossed the Main Divide via Haast Pass after a few very enjoyable days near Wanaka including a spectacular storm that washed out roads and tracks towards Mount Aspiring.

After Haast we were in to the wettest side of New Zealand but still managed a number of bright spells enabling us to visit lonely Jackson Point, see the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers and walk the empty beaches and bush of Okarito. Some fun, games and ingenuity were required to repair the sliding door roller which collapsed - gaffer tape and a temporary bush fashioned from 15mm copper pipe have done the trick and with good old VW wanting £200 for the part we hope it will last until a breakers can be found. Otherwise things seem to flow very smoothly - and whilst there are a surprising number of rental vans around on the West Coast Road - mainly because there is no other option it still feels a very wild and unspoilt area.

Again the history of the early settlers is a testament to their strength and ingenuity with various museums providing generally excellent displays and artefacts.

Sarah is off to Auckland in a week and I return to the pig farm near Ashburton - summary justice I fear.

More pics available at the link comme toujours.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/WestCoastWanderings

Autumn Approaches

In early March a short but memorable flight over the area where Sarah had been riding and the slopes of Mount Taranaki took us back to North Island where Sue and Danny spoiled us with an excellent party before we caught the Overlander Train back to Wellington passing through some of the familiar scenery from November last year.

The Interislander ferry and Transcoastal Train delivered us back to Christchurch where a minor repair to the van's cooling system had been effected - eventually.

Thus we were ready to collect Annie, a friend from Pembrokeshire on an Australasian visit who joined us for a week which included visits and walking to Tekapo, Mount Cook and an overnight stay at South Temple Hut near Lake Ohau - all enjoyed in excellent weather. The glaciers and ice floes in the Mount Cook area were especially memorable and we were fortunate to have the S.T. Hut to ourselves.

After dropping her at Queenstown we drove the rough and at times precipitous Skippers Canyon road culminating in a stomach churning crossing of the Shotover River on a 110 year old wooden bridge 100m above the blue swirling waters. This enabled us to spend two nights at the old Mount Aurum station which 150 years ago had been at the centre of the extensive local but short lived gold mining boom.

It was a remarkable place to stay - the more so for the fact that some 2000 people had lived in this remote area and 200 of them many miles up at Bullendale where teams of horses had pulled in heavy generating equipment for the first industrial use of electricity in New Zealand.

Arrowtown provided a service night and the chance to confirm that we have been granted 12 month visas for our proposed visit to Australia as well as the charms of its excellent museum and historic buildings. We now head for the mountains around Wanaka and then the West Coast via the Haast Pass with the fine weather continuing but a definite chill in the air after sunset.

Pics below as ever - usual problems surmounted if necessary by highlighting and clicking although I have recently downloaded something or other which may resolve the problem...............

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/sjarratt5/BirthdayWithFriendsInHighPlaces?feat=directlink

50 NOT OUT

As we are heading to Auckland today for a brief visit we are currently in Christchurch after a week in the Lake Sumner National Park. Almost two hours down dirt tracks this remote area provided excellent walking including a night at Jollie Creek Hut to celebrate my 5oth in our sort of style.

Down at Loch Katrin we met Lem an 86 year old Latvian and his wife who have been visiting their fishing hut for 55 years - we were welcomed in and made very comfortable.

Sarah had a superb four day ride in to the high hills with Alpine Horse Safaris with some of the hardest riding she has ever done and memorable nights under the stars at musterers huts.

On our return to Christchurch in a week we hope to meet up with a friend from Wales for a week as we head south to Mount Cook and then across to the West Coast.

Our good fortune with weather has continued as autumn slowly approaches and the van has performed remarkably given the tracks we have been exploring - whilst we are away we hope to get the slight coolant leak sorted out by the local VW dealer Miles Continental in Chch and have also made enquiries regarding shipping the van over to Sydney - surprisingly not much cheaper than bringing it from the UK as much of the costs are fixed as they cover paperwork and dock handling fees with the transit element less than 20%.

Links below to 2 albums of pics - 1 horse related covering Sarah's rode and 1 more generalised. Again access may require highlighting and then clicking.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/sredir?uname=sjarratt5&target=ALBUM&id=5444286291062428753&authkey=Gv1sRgCOiIj4ekgKrOmQE&feat=email

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/sredir?uname=sjarratt5&target=ALBUM&id=5444342190738088945&authkey=Gv1sRgCK_Yl9ycw8CQ3gE&feat=email