Back to Kaikoura (on me own)

Mandy headed back to work in Sydney on Tuesday so I'm now left on me todd for the next week. My first plan is to head back to Kaikoura and do some whale watching.

I reach the whale watching centre and they place me on stand-by, in case someone doesn't turn up. Luckily enough they don't and I get on the boat.

We spend a couple of hours hunting them down (not literally), and are rewarded by 4 separate sightings of sperm whales resting on the surface before they descend back down to the depths of the Kaikoura Gorge to battle it out with giant squid.

My puny camera wasn't capable of capturing the beasts so I just soaked it up.

Got up early the next morning to get shots of the sunrise and the lava beach down at the seal colony.




Next stop is Nelson.

Queenstown - Luge and Jetboat

Perched above Queenstown is Bob's Peak and a short, steep cable car ride takes you up to the Skyline Gondola on it's summit for breathtaking views of the lake and the 'Remarkables'.



This is the bungee jump from Bob's Peak, no chance of either of us even attempting that one. However, there is a 'luge' track around the mountainside and that definitely looks worth a go. Fortunately enough this luge doesn't involve throwing your lycra clad body down a bob-sled track on a skateboard. It's more of a downhill go-kart ride, mercifully lycra free.


I of course take to it with Michael Schumacher style aplomb..
Whilst Mandy adopts the 'Driving Miss Daisy' approach, whilst wearing a melon on her heid.

After a couple more runs we head down to the harbour for a jet boat ride. We are of course obliged and quite willing to wear life jackets...But I can't help feeling that the spray capes are just for to cheer up the crew...Why am I thinking of the BetaMax monster from the Mighty Boosh?

Jet boating is definitely the way to get around on water. 700 of chevrolets finest horsepower pushes 20 of us through the water like a knife through butter. 50 miles per hour may not seem like much but in 6 inches of water it's a lot of fun. I'm not sure if these videos will give any sense of the speed or the mobility of these machines, but I can guarantee that this put a big smile on everybody's face.

Bridge Near Miss

360 degree

Franz Josef to Queenstown

With aching legs we begin the drive down to the adrenalin capital of the world, Queenstown. Passing through pretty towns like Wanaka we stop briefly at another mirror placid lake, where I find a gnarly twig and succumb to the inevitabl apalling Gandalf the Grey impressions.



Every sphincter clenching activity associated with New Zealand was either invented or improved upon in Queenstown. Bungee jumping, jet boating, sky diving, luge-ing, zorbing etc.

But since it's evening when we arrive we take on the more sedate pursuit of watching the All Blacks take on Ireland in the rugby. The Celts, as usual, put on a good show but are inevitably beaten, so we partake of some nacho and sour cream topped pizza as consolation.

New Zealand food is on the whole pretty good but it does have its quirks. Chief amongst these is the habit of putting fruity sauces on savoury items. Like grilled chicken with apricot sauce for instance. Not bad, just different.

Franz Josef Glacier

Since we have been mainly driving for the past couple of days it's time to take in some of the local scenery.

The Franz Josef Glacier is one of the fastest moving in the world and we opt to take a guided hike up it. The company kits us out with crampons, boots, socks and gore-tex jackets, so even though it's quite cold and wet, we should be pretty cosy.

After a flat hike to the river bed we get a first glimpse of the rubble strewn end of the glacier. It looks a bit like walking into Helm's Deep. It's not exactly pretty but still quite awe inspiring at the same time.

We then put on our crampons and start hiking up the glacier itself.
We make regular stops and our excellent Maori guide gives some info about the scale, age and history of the glacier. I almost score some points with mentioning that it was named after the uncle of Archduke Franz Ferdinand whose death was responsible for World War I, but my smart arse comments fall mostly on deaf ears as the rest of our party only know the band.

Mandy is triumphant however as she remembers the Maori legend of how the glacier came into being.

From here we hike up through ice tunnels whilst the guides hack out steps with their ice picks. And we pause again to get a view of the surroundings and take some lunch.

The interpid Howie/Todd exploration of 2008 continues.

Our guides find a little ice tunnel and decide to see if they can squeeze through it. Our maori guide makes it and then asks if anyone wants to try it. Emboldened by adrenalin or maybe brain freeze I step up. After all it's only about six feet long and he was quite a bit bigger than me, so I reckon I'll get my beer gut throught it no problems.

Witness the intrepid exploits.

A few more crevaces and descents later, we return to Franz Josef village for some well-earned nosh and booze. Thoroughly knackered.

Hanmer Springs to Franz Josef

From Hanmer Springs we make our way to the Franz Josef Glacier via the not-so-pretty town of Greymouth, and the prettier town of Hokitika, famous for its wild food festival which we've missed by about 3 months, but here's a poster which gives you an idea of what it's about.
The roads here are punctuated with lots of one lane bridges which could cause hassle if there was anyone else driving here. However to solve any problems with boredom some of them you have to share with trains! Which is quite an unnerving experience.

The scenery changes again to lush rainforested peaks and placid lakes, King Kong country.

This is the Iceman in Franz Josef village, and Mandy for scale.

Kaikoura to Hanmer Springs

The whale watching is cancelled due to rough seas and we can either wait until tomorrow morning and try again, or head off elsewhere.

We mull the options over brekkie and decide to head on since Mandy only has a week here, and she's done the whale watching tour before.


These little house trucks are all over the place in New Zealand, some of them lovingly crafted from driftwood and anything else you can think of.

Hanmer Springs is our next destination, right in the heart of the north end of the mountains.

As its name implies its the sight of natural hot springs. These have been converted in a complex of public swimming/lounging areas, with pools of various sizes and temperatures dotted throughout the complex.

It's the perfect way to relax after a day's driving, soaking in 37 degree water whilst the ambient temperature is about 2 degrees, surrounded by snowy hills. Highly recommended.

Christchurch to Kaikoura

After getting a few essentials in Christchurch we head off up the east coast with a view to reaching Kaikoura and the chance of some whale spotting.

Initially the scenery is very reminiscent of Scotland until we pull off onto the scenic route and head along the coast for a bit. It's here that we get our first taste of the diversity of the south island. We stop at a beach and from here you have the green waters of the pacific pounding against the volcanic beaches. The beaches then rise up to forested cliffs and worn limestone formations, which back up onto the snow capped southern alps.

After a few more miles inland the road heads back to the coast, I briefly consider parking up at one of the camping spots right next to the sea, but it looks like it's getting a bit rough so we head onwards to Kaikoura and we take a break to wander along one of the ashen beaches.



About 20km further we hit the town and head up to the lookout point nestled between the north and south shores.

It's about 3 in the afternoon so the mist and sea spray vignettes into the mountains and it looks very ethereal. This is how I imagined New Zealand to look, especially through Lord of the Rings tinted eyes.

Mandy recalls that there is a fur seal colony at the end of the town and we drive down there to peer at them from remarkably close.

We grab our camping spot and head into town for refreshments and food. At this point the Lonely Planet guide lets us down quite badly. They recommend the Strawberry Tree as a good place for nosh at a reasonable price and quite honestly the food sucks. We have microwave defrosted and re-heated chowder and fish and chips which they couldn't even have paid me to eat. Mandy feels a Ramsay moment coming on but we're both too tired and disappointed to bother complaining.