Uluru/Ayers Rock Road Trip Day 2
13. huhtikuuta 2025, Australia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Today was a VERY long driving day. We drove over 1200 kms today... roughly 12 hours on the same road just about.
We left Port Augusta relatively early to account for the long drive. We didn't want to get caught driving in the dark for too long with the myriad of wildlife that tends to run across the road.
Driving through the outback was interesting. Every now and again there would be long stretches of nothing but dirt and some grassy shrubs. At other points it was incredibly green with bushes and small trees. Being on the same road for so long was a little bit boring, but you couldn't fully relax because at any point a kangaroo, emu, goat, or cow would appear in the road! And there was sadly so much road kill.
We stopped off in Coober Pedy for gas and the bathroom. On the way up here, and after it, we saw mounds of dirt all over the place. Turns out, opal mining is a main event in Coober Pedy. We also learned that 90% of the world's opals come from Australia, a third from Coober Pedy area alone!
After Coober Pedy, our drive continued. We stopped at the border of South Australia and Northern Territory for a break before continuing on. We got a pretty good sunset from the car which was nice, but did mean we had to drive about an hour in the dark on wildlife watch. Luckily not too much came near the road, just an occasional cow.
We got to Ayers Rock Campground just before 8pm. We got parked, has some showers, and then made some dinner. This is a pretty nice camper, and is redeeming the campervan life for me after the last couple. Because we have a powered site, we even had the A/C on! Tomorrow we are up early for sunrise at Uluru.Lue lisää
Uluru-Kata Tjuta Day 1 (Road Trip Day 3)
14. huhtikuuta 2025, Australia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Today we got up before the sun to get ourselves ready to go and over to Uluru with plenty of time before sunrise. Allan was determined to get a good spot. We drove about 25 minutes, scanning our passes on the way into the park.
We parked at the sunrise viewing spot and walked a short distance to the viewing platform. We didn't get the best spot, but we still got a pretty good one. This was my first look at Uluru (Ayers Rock). As the sun came up, the rock changed varying shades of red and brown. After the sun was up, we headed back to the car and drove over to the Mala parking lot where the Mala Walk starts at 8.
As soon as we got to the Mala parking lot, we planned to have a quick breakfast, but that plan was dashed when several fraudulent credit card payments began coming through on my American card. We had to call them, through my mom, to get everything taken care of. Then we rushed out of the car just as the walk was starting.
The Mala Walk was lead by an aboriginal ranger. Throughout the walk he took us to a few sights. Unfortunately, I don't think I really learned very much beyond, white people are ruining the land and he wants aboriginal people to have more of a presence in the national park. He also told us that some sights are sensitive and we shouldn't take pictures of them. Some areas of the rock were used by men, and others by women and those stories are shared by male or female elders, but only with the young people of that gender. He also told us the Mala story about the Mala people that came to the rock, held an inma, ceremony, and were attacked by a nearby tribe when they didn't leave their inma and join the other one. That story was interesting, and we learned more about it when we read the signs at the start of the walk.
After the Mala Walk, about 2 hours later, we went back to the car and finally had some breakfast. The heat and the flies were starting to pickup so it was nice to get some sustenance. We made some breakfast, got a bit distracted and uploaded some Facebook pictures, and before we knew it, it was 1130 and we hadn't even started the Uluru Base Walk, 10.6 kilometers.
We went back to the start of the Mala Walk to begin the Base Walk. This time, we got to spend time reading the signs and actually learn a bit about the area of rock we were looking at. One of the first sections of rock, the Itjaritjarik Yuu, looked like a large mole, and the aboriginal people believe that the marsupial mole woman built it and dug it out as a shelter. It really did look like a mole! A little bit further on was Kulpi Nyinkaku, a reaching cave with rock art to help teach young men about the world. Women were not permitted here.
Our next stop was the kitchen cave where women would grind seeds and make bread and men would bring things that they hunted to be made I to meals. Families would gather here for meals and fellowship. It was a pretty large natural cave in the side of the rock, and interestingly had a huge footprint-like carving...
Our walk continued to Kantju Gorge, a watering hole around the corner where a large waterfall sometimes falls off the side of the rock and empties into a pond. Animals gathered here as well as humans. You can tell where water falls from the top of the rock because those parts of the rock are black. I especially liked being able to see all the different patterns that falling water made on the rock as we walked around it.
Our walk around the rest of Uluru didn't have as many explanations of the different parts of the rock face or caves. There were a couple sections with cautionary tales, like myths, about how the rock sections were formed, such as a strong woman turned rainbow snake and thieving emu hunter. They were interesting to read as many traditional tales and origin stories can be. The other signs we did see as we walked around denoted if it was a men's area or a women's but didn't elaborate. It was a nice walk, albeit hot after stopping in the kitchen cave for about half an hour to work out some travel from Adelaide back to Sydney. It was cool to see Uluru up close. At points I thought it was a bit like Swiss cheese with all of the holes in it. I also liked how close and personal it felt to get near Uluru after seeing it from further away.
After we finished the base walk, we drove back to the campsite. We had a little less than an hour to make and eat some lunch before Allan went out on his helicopter ride over Uluru. While he was gone, I walked to the supermarket for some matches and a fly net (the flies here are INSANE) and I cleaned up and organized the van a bit so it was less chaotic. When Allan got back, we drove back to Uluru for sunset.
The sunset viewing area is right at the parking lot, so we backed up so we could open the back doors and sit on the bed while we watched sunset. The actual sun was behind us, but we were watching Uluru change color as the sun went down. It was crazy how red it got about 10-15 minutes before sundown. It was a really nice way to end our day. We stayed and made dinner here as we watched the sky change once the sun dipped below the horizon. It was one hell of a dinner spot. We also stayed until the moon rose over Uluru. It was pretty magical it watch it slowly rise and come out from behind. Being a full moon, it was also incredibly bright.
After sunset and the moon rising, we went back to the campsite. We had showers and then spent some time just talking and sitting together. With all the camper relocations, things have been pretty crazy, and we've been so tired that we haven't just spent time devoted solely to being in each other's company without distractions or driving or phones. It was nice and we definitely needed to take a minute to chill, even if it was just a small minute. Tomorrow it's up early again for sunrise at Kata Tjuta, or The Olgas.Lue lisää
Uluru/Ayers Rock Day 2 (Road Trip Day 4)
15. huhtikuuta 2025, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
We were up before the sun again and on our way to Kata Tjuta, or The Olgas. We parked up at the sand dunes that look into both Kata Tjuta and Uluru in the distance. More people were looking towards Uluru and the sun rising right next to it rather than Kata Tjuta right in front of us. As the sun began to rise, we were treated to some lovely colors with the clouds and the silhouette of Uluru. Kata Tjuta has some color change as the sun came up, but like I said, not many paid any attention to it.
.after sunrise we drove a further 15 minutes or so to the parking lot for the trails. We decided to do the longest trail, the base circuit. The trail led into the rock structure and then made a small loop while in and amongst the rocks.
The walk was shorter than the base walk we did the day before, but it wasn't a flat path. There were some small hills and chunky rocks to navigate at times. It was still a fairly easy walk and a nice one with more rolling valleys and different rocks to see instead of just walking around one, like at Uluru. We enjoyed the walk, but I think Uluru I enjoyed more because the rock face changed as you walked around, whereas Kata Tjuta you just walked in between smaller (I say smaller...they were still big) and similar rocks.
Once our walk was finished we drove to the Kata Tjuta sunset area, but after a walk around, we decided that Uluru sunset area was better so we headed back that way. We stopped at the bus parking lot opposed to the car parking lot because there were bathrooms and some small trees we tried to seek shelter under. We made some lunch and then had sweaty naps because it was pretty warm. Allan definitely slept better than I did.
At 4pm we had to leave that parking lot as it was buses only so we drove across the street and parked at the far end of the parking lot for the viewing area we were at yesterday. We stayed and enjoyed sunset while having some dinner. It was cloudier today which changed the way the sun hit Uluru, but we still had some brief moments of very red rock.
Once sunset was over, we drove back to the campground and had quick showers before getting on the road to head to a rest stop near Curtin Springs. Because it was dark, we were on a wildlife watch and had to stop a couple of times for cows on the road. Other than that, it was uneventful and we got to our rest stop with nobody else around! We got ready for bed and couldn't do much else because we had no service!Lue lisää
Uluru/Ayers Rock Day Road Trip Day 5
16. huhtikuuta 2025, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
Our morning started about 2 hours later than the last few days, we slept in until 7am! Then it was time to get up and get ready to go. We put away the bed, Allan packed, and I made some breakfast.
After breakfast and making sure most things were put away, we got back on the road. We only had about 350 kilometers left in the drive up to Alice Springs. We didn't encounter any wildlife on the drive today, and only made a couple bathroom stops.
Once in Alice Springs, we dropped off the van and they checked it out. We then had to wait longer than expected for a taxi to the airport which was not ideal. Once we were within two hours of the flight and still 20 minutes drive away with no taxi prospects, my anxiety must have been radiating off of me because Allan called a different company and they came within 5-10 minutes of him calling. Much quicker than the "4 minutes" that the other taxi the company summoned was taking.
Once we got to the airport (finally) check in and security were slow, but pretty smooth. We shared a wrap for lunch and then it was pretty much time to board our flight. It was a short hour and 50 minutes back to Adelaide with some turbulence at the beginning of the flight. Other than that, it was a pretty standard trip.
When we got back to Adelaide, we waited a while for the bus, and then Ian came to get us and got caught in the same traffic as the bus! We eventually got picked up and stopped at Hungry Jack's (Aussie Burger King) for some dinner. We walked to the grocery store after we dropped our bags at Ian's and then needed to sort some admin for the next few days. With Good Friday coming up, and Easter weekend, a lot of things will be closed so we had to change our plans a bit. It certainly won't be my normal Easter weekend, but sometimes these things happen.Lue lisää
Barossa Valley
17. huhtikuuta 2025, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Today is wine tasting day! I've been looking forward to exploring the countryside and getting to try some amazing Australian wines. We got up early, had some breakfast, and Allan walked over to pick up the rental car while I had a shower and got ready. We drove about an hour over to the Barossa Valley. It wasn't a difficult drive.
Our first stop was Seppeltsfield. Ian recommended this one. When we walked into the tasting room, we were surrounded by an open, light room with a few circular bars with stools. We were directed to our table where a friendly barman talked us through how the tasting works. There were 12 wines in total from a list of whites, reds, and fortifieds. We got 6 samples each with our tasting. Allan and I decided to alternate and share so we could taste them all. We had some Riesling form a couple of different years as well as some Shiraz and granache blends. Red wine seems to grow the best here, predominantly Shiraz. We had chatted a fair bit with the bartender, so he gave us a taste of a 20 year old tawny and the 10 so we could compare the two. The tawny was nice, but so smooth with the extra ten years. Sadly, much too high in price for us, so we settled for the ten. Our last wine was a sparkling red, another bonus from the barman, and it was definitely one of my favorites of the Seppeltsfield wines. We spent more time than expected at Seppeltsfield but it was time well spent.
Our next stop, based on the barman's recommendation, was Kalleskes. They had a very extensive wine list and a lot of different tasting options. It was hard to choose! In the end I went for New and Exciting and Allan went for Big and Bold. The wines were all amazing, but mine definitely stole the show. One that really stood out was an amber wine made with white grape skins that gave it a really unique flavor. I had another that used stems rather than oak barrels to develop tannins. They also told a story with each of the wines and how they got their names. It was like a history of the winery and family through the bottles. The sparkling red at the end of my flight was also amazing. Sparkling red is a dangerous wine to drink. At the end of our tasting we paid, and reluctantly left all of the delicious wines behind.
Down the street from Kalleskes was Murray Street Vineyards. This was probably our least favorite winery of the day. It was a relaxed atmosphere and we did the tasting on comfy chairs and they had a nice garden, but the wines didn't particularly stand out. The woman doing our tasting also appeared to be trying to get some admin done while running our tasting so we stood up to pay at one point and she said we still had two wines each to go! We drank our wines, but weren't even tempted by anything here to take home, unlike the previous two wineries.
Once we finished at Murray Street, we rushed up the street to Alkina. We arrived past the final time to do a tasting, but they let us do one anyway which was nice. The bottles at Alkina had some lovely designs and each bottle had a story that went with it which was lovely, similar to Kalleskes.
After Alkina, we were pretty hungry, and Allan managed to find a winery that stayed open after 5 that also did some pretty decent charcuterie boards (lots of choices on them not just cheese). We went to Z Wines and got a large platter and shared some more wine. The sparkling red stood out to me, same as in Seppeltsfield and Kalleske. We ate so quickly, and definitely should have eaten earlier in the day.
It was about an hour to get back to Ian's. The drive went pretty quick though and we were back before we knew it. We cracked open the tawny from Seppeltsfield when we got back and shared some with Ian while talking about our day of wine tasting before heading to bed.Lue lisää
Adelaide
18. huhtikuuta 2025, Australia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Today we explored the city of Adelaide. Ian's house isn't far from the CBD so it was a short 15-20 minutes bus ride into the center.
Our first stop in the city was the Art Gallery of South Australia. With today being Good Friday, not many things were open, but luckily the art gallery was! It was bigger than expected with a variety of art from European artists as well as a strong focus on Australian and Indigenous artists as well. We walked around seeing the collection of paintings and sculptures for about half an hour before joining a free tour with a very passionate volunteer. He pointed out some more religious themed artwork to keep in the Easter theme. There were a lot of different kinds of art from sculptures of human, baboon mother hybrids, to portraits of aristocrats and, of course, many Renaissance religious motifs and altar pieces. There was something in the art gallery for everyone, especially the big red room of strings all over. That was especially memorable. Apparently it was only meant to be in the gallery for a year, but it's still there six years later!
After the art gallery we walked over to the botanic gardens and happened upon an outdoor exhibit of ChaSOMETHING glass throughout the park. During the day it's free to walk around the gardens and see everything, but at night the glass is lit up and it's a paid event. We made our way around the gardens enjoying the sunshine and fresh air as well as the beautiful sculptures. The sun on the glass really made the colors shine. I especially liked the one with the boat and the sun at the end. It was a really nice way to spend a couple of hours wandering the gardens in search of the 16 sculptures. At the end, we popped into a building with some botanic samples and also saw some designs by children of creatures that would live in the habitats inspired by the glass sculptures. It was a nice touch to the exhibit.
We left the gardens and headed back the way we came, jumping into McDonald's for cheap cones for a snack. We did a short walk over to the river near the Adelaide Oval, the cricket stadium, and over the bridge. The sun was going down creating a nice sky and the lights were on at the stadium and on the bridge. We got a nice view of the CBD skyline lit up.
With our walk finished, we headed back towards the bus stop. Again, it was a short trip back to Ian's where Sunny was busy at work making homemade Chinese dumplings. She even made some veggie ones for me which was very kind of her. We enjoyed our dumplings and nice conversation. We ended up staying awake until almost midnight! We have an early wake up tomorrow to get a two hour bus down to the McLaren Vale for wine blending. Sadly, no rental cars were available with it being Easter weekend. Who knew Easter was such a huge thing here! The whole place pretty much shuts down!Lue lisää
McLaren Vale
19. huhtikuuta 2025, Australia ⋅ 🌬 21 °C
After not being able to find a car to drive with today, we were up a bit early to get a bus down to McLaren Vale. We took three buses to the Visitors Center and then waited about 20 minutes for an Uber to get to D'Arenberg. Luckily we weren't late for our wine blending experience.
To shake up our time in this beautiful wine region, we decided to blend our wine instead of just do a tasting. We walked up to the cube shaped building with all glass windows and some Dali statues out front. The fun continues inside with colorful and eclectic decor. We took the elevator up to the top floor and headed into a private room, again, all glass, for our wine blending.
The woman talked us through one of their signature wines, Dead Arm. She explained that it was a blend of single vineyards, similar to what we would do today. We had three Shiraz wines in front of us. Our next step after tasting Dead Arm was to taste the three base wines. Base A was fruity and acidic. Base B was earthy and spicy as well as heavy in the tannins. Base C was the most well balanced of the three.
After we tasted all the base wines, it was time to start blending. We were using 40ml samples. We had to decide what percentage of each base wine we wanted in our blend, and then use a table to determine how many milliliters of each to put in. I went about 50% on base C, followed by 30% base B and 20% base A. It was a bit too earthy for me, so in my next trials I dialled up Base C and then evened out Base A and B. Allan went a bit heavier on Base B, but they were all almost equal compared to my percentages.
Once we decided on the percentage of each base, we used the table again to measure for the bottle. We got to pouring in larger quantities rather than sucking it up through the small syringe. This was surprisingly tricky for me, and I made a bit of a mess... Allan did much better pouring from the bottle. Dry ice was added to our bottles to stop the wine from oxidizing and preserve it for about two years. We each named our wine, I named mine Dànachd Ùr, new adventure in gaelic, and Allan named his Galbraith MMXXV. We finished off the wine we didn't drink and then headed out to the main tasting area.
Unbeknownst to us, the tasting is included in our blending experience! We found a spot at the bar and tried five wines each, I got the white flight and Allan got the red. We shared of course to maximize trying it all. The whites were really nice, and there was a pretty funky one that tasted like sweet jalapeno, but was made with only Sauvignon Blanc grapes. We also got a bonus try of their sparkling red which I really loved. Sparkling red wine has definitely been a highlight of the tastings in South Australia.
After all the wine tasting we went down a level to the Dali Exhibit and saw a lot of statues and some paintings. There were so many statues with the clock in them. We didn't linger too long here though because we had to walk back to the main town to get to the next winery!
The walk wasn't ideal, and it drizzled for most of it. We got into town after about 35 minutes to Hardy's. We recognized the brand from back home and thought we'd see how it tastes straight from the cellar door. It was predominantly red wines that we tried in Hardy's with only a couple of whites. Red wines like Shiraz and granache seem to be the main wine in McLaren Vale just like the Barossa Valley. Between the two wineries today, D'Arenberg definitely won the day.
We needed to get the bus back to Ian's, but we had time for a quick bowl of sweet potato wedges on the way to the bus stop. Some of the buses stopped running to Ian's, so we ended up heading to the airport to pick up our relocation car and drove that back to Ian's. The bus journey was long and bumpy with several changes, but the car pickup was pretty smooth.
When we got back to Ian's, we fired up the grill and grilled some kangaroo burgers and fillets. Like other red meat, we had to be mindful not to overcook it so it didn't become tough. It didn't take long to cook everything, and then we enjoyed our kangaroo and salad with some steamed vegetables that Sunny made. We also had some local beer and more tawny to cap off the night.
Once we had cleaned up, we didn't stay chatting long so that we could pack our bags in preparation to get back on the road tomorrow. We were also getting up early again to get to Mass for Easter. Our time in wine country has come to an end!Lue lisää
Great Ocean Road Round 2 Day 1
20. huhtikuuta 2025, Australia ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
Happy Easter! 🐣🐰
We got up early, had some breakfast, and then finished some last minute packing before heading out to church. We went to Easter Mass at St John the Baptist in Plympton before starting our road trip back to Melbourne. Just as we were about to get on the highway, Allan remembered we wanted to go to Penfolds, a winery a short drive from Ian's house. We diverted through Adelaide Hills back to Penfolds.
After about ten minutes, we arrived at the winery. The skies were gray, and it was a bit drizzly, so we took a couple pictures outside before making our way in. The tasting room was a rectangle with a bar in the middle, smaller tasting rooms along a long wall, and then a myriad of different sized circle and square tables for walk in tasting. There was also a long bar area behind the serving bar for guided tastings after tours. There were glass cases with expensive collector's bottles including a long case of 'The Grange,' a bottle for each year since they'd been making the wine range. The most recent bottle sold for more than $160,000 (Aussie dollars, but still pretty crazy).
A lovely man served us our first wines, two whites. He was really knowledgeable about the wines and the winery, and just had good chat. Many wineries served us Riesling from vines in the Clare Valley north of Barossa and Penfolds was no exception. We also had a Chardonnay, which Allan enjoyed. Then we got to the red wines, and we had a special tasting menu because it was Easter! Out of the wines we tasted, the St Henri Shiraz took the day for me. It was oaky but smooth and fruity. The last wine, a Shiraz, sells for $200 a bottle, so to have a taste felt pretty special. And it was a lovely wine, but not for that price 😞.
We left Penfolds behind retracing our steps a bit back onto the highway on our way south. Our plan was to get onto the Great Ocean Road today passing through Mount Gambier again to maybe see a sinkhole we missed our first time through. This plan didn't happen.
Driving along the road the 4 and a bit hours to Mount Gambier, Allan saw a sign for a World Heritage site, and it was caves. He quickly tried to Google about it, and we pulled off to investigate further. In the end, we booked an hour long fossil cave tour at Naracoorte Caves in the Victoria Fossil Cave.
The tour didn't start for another 20 minutes or so, so we walked around the visitor's center and then grabbed a quick cup of coffee before heading down to the cave entrance down the road (the weather was pretty chilly and the drizzle and damp made it feel cooler. Our tour was the last one of the day at 4pm, and it lasted an hour, so we definitely weren't making it as far as Apollo Bay like we planned tonight. We had a full tour group for the cave (plus a couple people extra who fibbed about their ticket time).
We walked down into the cave and didn't have to go very far before there were stalagmites and fatalities and crystals everywhere. Apparently part of the rock/crystal in the cave looks a bit like Queen Victoria, hence the name. I could see it, Allan couldn't. We walked through the cave marveling at all the different rock and crystal formations, some that had lighter and darker waves like bacon, and plenty of limestone.
Our guide, a paleontology student at the local university, talked us through the history of the cave's discovery. A guy came down looking bat guano (to make dynamite and gunpowder) and instead found the cave! Future cave explorers and paleontology students a decade or so later further explored the cave and stumbled upon all of the bones and fossils. Apparently the area is known for holes that open up in the ground and animals, megafauna, fell down into the caves and over time the bodies became fossilized. It was all pretty interesting, and my description isn't near adequate enough, but it's worth a Google!
The final area in the cave was the area with all the fossils. There were some skeletons out together with bones from the cave, and one recreated skeleton of an animal who's bones they did find. It was pretty wild to see all the bones on the floor of the cave that they've partially excavated. They've dug as far back as an Olympic swimming pool and as deep as 7 meters and barely scratched the surface. It is sad that so many animals fell and got trapped in the cave, but wow, I've never seen so many prehistoric bones in one place naturally.
After we came out of the cave, we got back on the road and finished the hour and a half back to Mount Gambier. We stopped off for Easter dinner at an Asian fusion place and had some duck and pork with rice. It was tasty, and better than ramen noodles or McDonald's for Easter. Once we finished dinner, we went a further 2 hours to the Twelve Apostles because we knew you could sleep there. We got there pretty late, and it was past midnight when we managed to get ready for bed (bed being relative...I slept along the back seats and Allan slept in the trunk). A long day, but we got on the Great Ocean Road, even if not as far as planned, and had some nice stops along the way.Lue lisää
Great Ocean Road Round 2 Day 2
21. huhtikuuta 2025, Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Today I drove the Great Ocean Road, and boy was it busy! I guess this area is popular for tourists and locals alike when they have a day off.
The day was gray and a bit rainy at times, so it was nice that we had good weather the first time we came to see it at peak sunshine. We drove from Twelve Apostles to a nice beachy lookout to stop and have some breakfast before continuing to drive. It was much easier and more pleasant to drive with an automatic car rather than old manual campervan. The goal today was just to enjoy the drive having stopped at most places along the way we wanted to already. One place we didn't manage though was the Cape Otway Lighthouse, so we decided to head down there again.
Cape Otway Lighthouse hadn't even opened yet by the time we got there, the opposite problem to the last time it was closed when we arrived! (And probably a first for Allan to arrive somewhere before it opens 😜). When it finally did open, we walked the grounds past the Telegraph House, a house with old equipment and some information about the house and how they signalled with ships. Further on down the path we passed the Lighthouse Keeper's house and the Assistant Lighthouse Keeper's house. And finally, down at the coast was the lighthouse.
The lighthouse was smaller than I expected for being such a perilous area of coastline. It was white with a red railing and balcony that we walked around after climbing up a couple small flights of metal steps to the top. It was very windy, but the views from the top of the lighthouse were beautiful. Even with slightly gray skies, the water was still blue. Inside the lighthouse was some information about a Scottish guy who designed special lenses to better project the wasted light of a lighthouse that goes back inland. It was a bit confusing to me, but the lighthouse worker was very impressed by his design and said it was clever.
We climbed back down the lighthouse and headed up towards the Assistant Lighthouse Keeper's House where there was free tea and coffee. We sat for a bit looking out at the coast and the lighthouse before heading back to the car. We officially hit all of the planned stops on the Great Ocean Road (but not nearly all the stops you can do on it).
Coming off the GOR we planned to have a quick lunch at Bells Beach before finishing off the drive to Melbourne. When we drove down to the beach, we were stopped by road closures signs. Apparently the Rip Curl Pro was happening, so the beach was closed. We started the drive back to Melbourne and pulled over at a rest stop to eat quickly before getting back on the road.
The drive took longer because of traffic heading into the city, and instead of getting there just before 2:30, we arrived at 3. It could've been worse, but a couple of Allan's Aconcagua mates were waiting for us, so the delay felt very inconvenient. We parked across from Flinders Street Station and met Con and Martin at the station.
They, mostly Martin, took us on a small walking tour of the city stopping at places like Hosier Lane to see the graffiti and passing by some busy shopping streets. We popped our heads into the Old Treasury Building which has a small museum in it detailing the gold rush in Australia that made Melbourne the richest city in the world at one point in the mid 1800s. We walked past the Parliament and took the free tram down to the river where we stopped for a couple of beers before carrying on towards all the sports stadiums. While on our way to the stadium we made a pitstop at Martin's office which had some great views of the CBD.
The stadiums are all clustered together with nice park land all around them. There were a couple of tennis courts, but Martin has his eye on the MCG, the stadium where cricket, rugby, and Aussie rules football are all played. We missed the end of the game, but the stadium still has people pouring out of it, so we snuck inside to get a glimpse of the interior and the field. It's an impressive stadium, and the round field with all the different lines for different sports was interesting, if not confusing.
We left the stadium with the last of the supporters and headed back through the park to a pub for some food. We had a goat and buffalo cheese pizza as well as a parma, which Con assured us was an Australian staple. We talked for a while before going our separate ways. Con drove back to his house, Martin walked us back to our car before cycling home, and we then drove to Con's house as he kindly offered us a bed for the night. Then it was just a case of packing and rejigging the bags before our flight to Sydney tomorrow.Lue lisää
Melbourne
22. huhtikuuta 2025, Australia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Today was the closest we've come to a chill day while in Australia. For the first time since arriving in Sydney, we slept in past 8:30 and didn't rush to get out the door. We had our breakfast, finished tidying up, and then left for Mount Dandenong.
We drove about 45 minutes outside the city towards Mount Dandenong. Once we got there, we walked around the various viewpoints and balconies. In the distance we could see mountains and the river as well as the CBD sticking out clearly in the middle of the city. It was hazy and cloudy, so the view wasn't as good as it could've been. We didn't stay for long before getting back in the car and driving about an hour into the city.
We stayed on the other side of the river from yesterday and visited the Shrine of Remembrance. The stone building is shaped like a pyramid with the top lopped off. We walked around the outside looking for the way in, realizing it was near where we started walking around trying to get in 🤦♀️.
Once we got in, the ground floor was a gift shop and visitors center. We walked around the foyer before heading up the stairs. The first level has galleries and information about the two world wars. I mean, it wasn't nearly as extensive as the memorial in Canberra, but we saw some nice things. The next level up was the crypt with a statue of father and son to symbolize the generations of the two wars. It was a very poignant room.
Continuing on, the next level was the honor roll in books along the outer walls. The inner wall had a plaque commemorating lives lost. There was also a doorway that led out to a balcony all the way around the building. The balcony gave great views of the CBD across from the shrine. We took some pictures before heading back through the building and to the car.
When we checked in for our flight earlier in the morning, Qantas offered us an earlier flight due to potential bad weather, so we headed to the airport just after 3 (the drive was estimated to take about an hour) to drop the car off and get our bags checked in. It was a quick process and security wasn't busy, so we breezed through.
Our terminal wasn't very big, and there were no lounges, but we did have restaurant credit, so we got some food before walking to our gate. The flight to Sydney wasn't a long one, but we still got warm beef and onion pies and complimentary drinks (including alcohol). I was surprised because the flight was less than an hour and a half!
Once back in Sydney, Rosemary and Brad kindly picked us up from the airport and brought us to Little Bay so we could catch up about our travels. We said goodbye to them and went upstairs to rejig the bags (again) so that all the wine was in big bags to be checked. (Domestic flights in Australia don't have liquid requirements in carry on luggage).
Before we went to bed, we needed to decide what we were doing our first night in New Zealand tomorrow night. Because Australia has been so go go go, we've not planned New Zealand. Many hours later, around 02:30 we had the first couple days mapped out and we went to bed. New Zealand looks like it's going to be just as busy and sleep depriving as Australia to try and see as much as we can.Lue lisää
Sydney to Auckland
23. huhtikuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Today was a travel day, and an unnecessarily stressful one at that.
Last night after going to bed incredibly late trying to organize our first few days in New Zealand, we woke up to emails about expensive charges on our car rental due to undisclosed out of hours fees. When we went to try and sort it all out, we had no internet. For some reason, neither of Allan’s phones were working despite both suggesting he had data. The other issue with that is we didn't remember which buses and bus stops to get to the airport (it was nearly a month since the outward journey).
In the midst of trying to work all of that out, Allan had to pack and I had some last minute things to finish putting in my bag.
We also needed to get some breakfast and planned go to the post office (that definitely wasn't happening now).
Luckily, Allan still had phone signal. He called Rosemary to ask if she could look up the bus route for us, and instead she kindly offered to take us to the airport. I think he secretly knew that’s what would happen. They've been so helpful during our time in Sydney.
It was still a mad scramble to get everything organized and cleaned up before they came to pick us up, but we got there in the end and made it to the airport.
There was no line to check in and drop our bags which was great, and no line at security so we breezed through. We checked some duty free shops for opal on our way to a lounge, but saw nothing in our price range.
At the lounge we got some pretty decent food and some wine. Later on the bar opened and we got beer and prosecco. It was a pretty good lounge in the end. We quickly sent some emails now that we had internet to try and organize the car rental fiasco before we had to head to our gate.
Allan sent off some emails and we managed to get it cancelled without any cancellation or no-show fees. While we walked onto the plane and found our seats, I managed to book a new car with a different company that would be open for a few hours after we arrived.
Our flight with China Eastern was uneventful. It took a while for the A/C to come on, so it got pretty hot at one point. They had some entertainment options, but they were severely limited and pretty shit to be honest (no offense to anyone who really loves Garfield and the Lego Movie). For such a short flight, we were still fed a meal which was nice. We had beef and potatoes with some vegetables, fruit cup, and potato salad. I couldn't eat it all after having nice food in the lounge!
Immigration in Auckland was a kerfuffle. Allan was half asleep, so didn’t read the text on the screen at the end-passport gate properly… twice. Due to being flagged as a dodgy guy, he was directed to the human. Not realising his error(s) at this point (I told him afterwards), he responded in the same manner as the questions from immigration:
NZ: “Do you have a visa?”
A: “No…”
NZ: “Do-“
A: “I have an eTA.”
NZ: “So you have a visa?”
A: “No, I have an ETA. That isn’t a visa. I don’t need a visa because I have an eTA”.
A shows passport and eTA on phone.
NZ: “How long are you planning to stay in New Zealand?”
A: “We leave on 14 May.”
NZ: “How many months/weeks/days are you here?”
A: “Until 14 May”.
NZ: “What are your plans while you are in New Zealand”.
A: “To travel round and visit tourist sites”.
NZ: “Ok. Can you be any more detailed with your plans?”
A: “No. We are on a big trip and plan as we go”.
NZ: “Where will you go?”
A: “We will go to different places”.
NZ: “Will you go to the South Island?”.
A: “Yes. And since we are in Auckland, we will also be visiting the North Island”.
According to Allan, if you ask cunty questions, you’ll get cunty answers.
Anyway, biosecurity was more straightforward. We declared our hiking boots, but he didn't seem too concerned when Allan said he'd cleaned them and not worn them in the mud. Then they went through the scanner and we were on our way to collect the car!
We got the short shuttle to Snap!. We managed to check in online which expedited the process. We got our little Toyota and got straight on the road to Waipu.Lue lisää
Waipu Caves
23. huhtikuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ 🌧 15 °C
We arrived at Waipu around 22:30 and the weather was pretty crappy. I was tired, and not keen on an outdoor adventure with no access to a building or shower. But, the fear of missing out on the glow worms motivated me, as well as the fact I could change my mind if things declined weather wise. We maneuvered inside the car to get into backpacks and changed into shorts so that clothes wouldn't get wet when submerged in the cave. I also put my sandals on rather than get soaking boots.
Once we were dressed, we walked about 50 meters to the cave entrance. Once we walked into the cave, wind and rain were no longer a factor which was a plus. However, the cave floor was a shallow pool of water that got deeper and shallower at different points in the cave.
Immediately upon entering the cave, we saw the glow worms. There was a huge cluster of them in an oval shape on the ceiling of the cave. There were smaller patches of glow worms in the first cave, but that big group was the main event. We decided to go further into the cave and as we walked through the cold water, which got past my knees at one point, I had a spark of fear hoping that water levels wouldn't rise any higher. Luckily they didn't and that was the highest we had the water. It normally stayed just above ankle height.
The cave ceiling got lower on our right hand side as we traveled into the next section, but opened up high on the left. This section has an incredible amount of glow worms everywhere. They were close to head height on lower areas, but high up like stars in the higher areas. It was almost like standing in the middle of the sky with twinkling stars all around. It was pretty spectacular and a moment I'll surely never forget. Because there were so many here, we just stayed and took it all in.
We had been standing in the cold water this whole time, which was starting to make me feel cold. Unfortunately we took this as a sign to go, but we had been in the cave over an hour at this point. We made our way back to the entrance, stopping at the large group of worms before heading out of the cave.
We weren't dirty (I wasn't because my sandals were pretty handy, Allan was a tiny bit from the walk out of the cave) so it was more a case of drying off and then setting up our sleeping bags to sleep in the car. It was about 00:30 by the time we went to bed, but it was worth it.
(Turn up brightness for better potential to see the worms in the pictures)Lue lisää
Waipu to Waitangi Treaty Grounds
24. huhtikuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Our first full day in New Zealand was a busy one with lots of things seen on our way from Waipu to Whangarei.
The first stop on our way was A. H. Reed Memorial Kauri Park. In this park we walked a short trail through a small forest and I saw my first kauri trees. The older these trees get, the wider their trunks become. They are native to New Zealand and very special. We walked over the canopy walk, a bridge in the middle of some trees over a stream which was a nice addition to the trail. A further 10-15 minutes in had us at a small waterfall before we walked back to the car.
The next stop was Whangarei Falls, a waterfall in the middle of a park area. You walk across the grass to a viewing area to the falls and then the pool directly down beneath you. Then, we walked across a low bridge over water that flows over the rock face to form the waterfall. It looks like that bridge could be dangerous when it rains because it's not far from the water. We went across to get a view from the other side, but the vantage point was better at the first spot.
After the falls we stopped at the Natural Soda Spring at the side of the road on our way to the Hunterwasser Toilets. The spring is right next to the road and bubbles up in an area no bigger than a soccer ball. It flows down a naturally carved ramp into a stream below. Allan filled up his water bottle here and had a good drink. He was surprised by how naturally carbonated it was. I had a small sip, but it mostly tasted of mineral water to me, which it probably is full of. Not long after the spring we stopped at the Hunterwasser Toilets. The toilets are designed by a German artist who was found of the village. They had colorful glass and different colored glass bottles to form windows. We also walked to a colorful building and I loved the decoration and designs on the sidewalk all around the outside of the building. They were so colorful and playful.
We were finally on our way to Watangi and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. The treaty grounds are very culturally and historically significant. It was at this location that the treaty between Maori and the British was signed on February 6, 1840. The grounds have the original house of a British man who mediated with the Maori and in front of the house is where the treaty was signed. There are also two museums and a Maori meeting house. Across the bay is Russell, where a bustling shipping port used to be in the 1800s and was rife with bad behavior and debauchery. It was Russell and the poor conduct of the British there that prompted the Maori to reach out to the British government to get its citizens in line.
The first thing we did at the treaty grounds was walk around and view a short film about the grounds and the unique nature of the Maori and British relationship. After the 20 minute film, we walked up to the Meeting House past the Busby House. Inside the Meeting House we were treated to a short half hour cultural performance which brought me back to my Hawaii days. There was singing, dancing, poi, and stick games. The building was also beautiful with intricately carved statues of Maori warrior totems and red, black and white all around. As we sat on the cushioned benches in the meeting house, I felt a small sense of home and understanding. Even though it's not my culture, it's familiar to me and a part of my own history.
After our cultural performance we went on a guided tour. Our tour guide was great. She was passionate and very knowledgeable about the treaty and conflicts between Maori and the British. She walked us from the Meeting House and took us through the grounds past the Busby House giving us the historical context for the treaty. British missionaries had formed relationships with the Maori and were equally unhappy about the debauchery across the bay in Russell. The missionaries also helped the Maori establish written language to match their oral language. Also, when the Maori first started to trade internationally, their goods were seized as if they were pirates because they didn't have a recognized maritime flag, so the missionaries also helped create a Maori flag. This flag flies on the grounds level with the British flag with the New Zealand flag in the middle above both of them.
We continued through the grounds, our guide constantly explaining the complex history and relationships between the peoples (it's really fascinating). I still find it so interesting how the Maori managed to gain some respect and equality with the British during colonization when all other aboriginal and indigenous peoples didn't. I mean, their rights were still unjustly trampled after the treaty signing, but they had that document to fall back on. They are also the only peoples that the UK monarchy has made formal apology to.
Further down to the lower grounds we saw Maori war boats, wakas. One of them is the largest in the world crewed by over a hundred men. It was made out of 3 kauri trees which are apparently great for boats because they soak up the salt water and become very buoyant. Every year on Waitangi Day, February 6, the boat is brought out and paddled around the bay by descendants of the original members present at Waitangi in 1840. It's a great honor for them. Also in this area were the remains of a great kauri tree. It was huge! I can only imagine what it would have looked like when it was alive. They are very majestic trees. During the British invasion in the 1800s, and onwards, over 97% of the kauri trees were cut down. Very sad.
Our tour continued over a small bridge where eel live and back to the gift shop near the entrance. The guide gave us so much information I could never write it all down here, but it was a very worthwhile experience. We walked back up to the main area to take pictures now that most of the crowds had left. We also walked around the Busby House and learned more about James Busby, who had the unfortunate job of trying to sort out the unruly behavior and treat with the Maori. He was given no weapons, no authority, and no soldiers, so in actuality could do fuck all to make things better. However, he did his best and had an open door policy for grievances and formed good relationships with the Maori helping them with the flag and their Declaration of Independence a few years before the treaty. He did also have a hand in organizing the treaty.
After we took our pictures and had a good wander around the grounds, we left and went back to the hotel to get checked in. On our way to the hotel we stopped at Haruru Falls, a short but long waterfall less than five minutes from the hotel. The sun has set, and it was a bit drizzly, so the waterfall looked extra moody.
After we got checked in, we went to the grocery store down the street, got some supplies, and went back to cook dinner. We watched a bit of Netflix while we ate before having showers and spending the next several hours on admin and trying to plan. Unsurprisingly, we went to bed past one, much later than planned and wanted. One of these days we'll go to bed early 🤦♀️.Lue lisää
Waipoua Kauri Forest & Waitangi
25. huhtikuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
Today we drove across the island and then back again to see the kauri forest, use our second day at Waitangi, and attend the Anzac Day ceremony at the treaty grounds.
The Waipoua Kauri Forest was full of kauri trees. Our first stop was Tane Mahuta, the largest, by volume, kauri tree. We walked the short distance along the boardwalk to the tree, there was a woman talking about the kauri trees when we arrived. She told us that the trees live for 8,000-10,000 years and begin to hollow out from the middle as they get older. This tree isn't the oldest which is why it has a higher volume than the oldest tree in a different part of the forest. This tree is also known as "Lord of the Forest" and has over a dozen other plant and tree species living in its branches.
We got back in the car and drove a short distance to a different part of the forest to see the oldest tree, The Matua Ngahere, "Father of the Forest". The path was gravelly with occasional boardwalks when kauri trees were nearby the path. The kauris have shallow feeding roots that are easily damaged by walking over them, so the boardwalks help protect them. It was about 15 minutes walk to reach the tree through the kauri forest where we saw lots of kauri trees of varying size, height and width. When we got to The Matua Ngahere it was obvious. The tree is huge at the trunk. Many of the limbs have broken off, so it didn't look as majestic and tree-like as Tane Mahuta, but it was still an incredible sight.
We walked back through the forest and got in the car to head back to Waitangi. Along the way, tragedy struck and a water bottle spilled in the back and seeped through the bottom of the backpacks...we noticed it with Allan's bag first, and then mine. The water has reached the edges of the scrapbook, which made me sad. The rest of the journey back to Waitangi was a quiet one while I drove and Allan tried to fix it.
When we got to Waitangi, he stayed in the car to eat some noodles, and evaluate the damage of the scrapbook, while I went back into the museums. The first museum I went into was all about the treaty and relationship between the Maori and British. I was a bit distracted after the scrapbook incident, so I didn't take as much in as I normally might have, but it was a very interesting museum.
Throughout the first part of the museum, information was running parallel with the Maori side of the story and the British to compare. Things in the beginning seemed amicable and that a positive relationship was beginning to form, and the parallels continued to the display about the treaties. However, the English version and the Maori version are different, and intentionally so. When the English treaty was written, the missionary who helped create written Maori language with the Maori, was asked to translate it into a document they were more likely to accept. Certain terms were changed to make it more agreeable for the Maori to sign, and the majority of Maori leaders signed the Maori treaty (hundreds) whereas only 39 signed the English version. The British were definitely trying to be sneaky with Maori land and governorship. The Maori were made to believe that they retained their land and right to govern themselves, but came under protection of the British and that the British were to govern their own people. Definitely some dodgy dealings from the British, but it was still an agreement unheard of for any other aboriginal peoples in the world. (My pictures can provide some better details).
That being said, after the treaty was signed, unsurprisingly, Britain took advantage and began to break the promises in the treaty mainly around land and rights of the Maori. There were wars, and blood shed on both sides, and mainly the Maori who lost out on their native lands and traditions. There was so much in the museum about the New Zealand Wars and how horrible the Maori were treated after the treaty, always harkening back to the treaty and being reminded of it by the British who kept breaking their promises. Eventually, the attention was brought back to the treaty and the Maori began to claw back some of the promises made, but the damage was done by then.
The second museum was about the World Wars and the Maori soldiers who aided the war effort. The museum is called The Price of Citizenship, because despite the treaty, Maori were not citizens until after their dedication and lives lost in the wars. The government didn't even want the Maori at first, but recognized them as strong warriors in the past and they needed men to fight and citizenship was the price for the Maori.
After a quick walk around the war museum, we got a cup of coffee while we waited for the Anzac Day service to start. It was a bit windy and chilly, but a nice service with hymns sung in Maori and speeches made by former soldiers about what it means to be Maori and to be a soldier. It was a bit disorganized, so the haka and reading of names didn't happen because someone lost the list, and the laying of wreaths was inside the museum at the memorial, and only wreath layers were allowed inside first because there were too many people. After the ceremony that took place outside, we headed out and started the drive back to Waipu Caves where we were sleeping for the night. We stopped at a McDonald's for some dinner and planned some campervan stuff for the South Island before finishing the drive to the caves. We got there later than planned, so just got ready for bed instead of going into the caves again.Lue lisää
Auckland to Christchurch Road Trip Day 1
26. huhtikuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
Waipu Caves to Napier
We were up before the sun today after a rough sleep in the car at Waipu Caves. We were on the road by 7 headed back to Auckland.
The drive back was an uneventful 2 and a bit hours, and traffic was lighter than expected so we got to EZU Rentals earlier than planned (if only we'd done that yesterday). We were able to pick up the car early which saved us some hassle and time. Looks like we're swapping a little Toyota sedan for a bigger Toyota hatchback. The Corolla seems to be the car of choice for rentals in New Zealand.
We took pictures of the car, moved bags over, and then drove 5 minutes over to Snap to drop off the other car. Then it was back the way we came for a quick trip into the supermarket for some snacks for the road. There was also a Taco Bell across the parking lot, so we decided to check out the prices and ended up buying a couple cheap things for an early lunch. After that, it was time to get back on the road to Napier.
The drive to Napier took about 5 hours. We stopped an hour or so in to call Capital One (thanks mom) and then kept heading south. The landscape here makes driving a much nicer activity (despite me staring at my phone catching up on blogs for most of it). The rolling hills with green trees are really nice and sort of similar to Hawaii, minus the pine trees. I liken it more to Scotland than Hawaii because of the foliage and rolling hills.
We got to Napier just after sunset. In a surprising turn of events, Allan drove the whole way without stopping for the bathroom! We stopped at Bluff Hill where the sun has just dipped below the horizon and was still shining enough to light up the clouds directly above it. Bluff Hill has great views over the ocean and Napier below. Unfortunately, you also get views of the dockyard and timber yard which aren't as pretty. We walked around the gardens and sat on a bench while the sky changed to a nice pink, orange and blue. Once the colors were almost gone, we drove the five minutes to Crash Palace Hostel, got checked in, and then drove to the grocery store for supplies and Dominoes for dinner (the kitchen at the hostel was rammed!).
After some dinner we went back to the hostel and had some showers before going into town for beers and to explore. We went to Rogue Hop Speakeasy and shared a raspberry plum sour and a coffee stout. The place didn't really have much of an atmosphere for a Saturday night which was weird and disappointing. Once we had finished our beers, we walked along the streets that had some nice art deco facades. This town really does look like it was pulled out of The Great Gatsby. (After a devastating earthquake in the early 1930s, the whole town fell apart and was rapidly out together, hence the art deco buildings). Even the street names have the same art deco font.
Post beers and exploring, we went back to the hostel for some much needed (small) down time before bed.Lue lisää
Auckland to Christchurch Road Trip Day 2
27. huhtikuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Napier to Kaitoke National Park
We woke up around 8 and lazed around for another hour or so before we packed up and checked out. We also had some breakfast before we set out to explore Napier in the daylight.
The sun was shining and it was a beautiful autumnal day. We went back to some of the iconic art deco buildings like the Art Deco Center (where I declined to play dress up despite Allan insisting), and we took pictures of the Masonic Hotel before going in to have a coffee. The restaurant inside was gorgeous with comfortable seating, dark wood walls, and a couple of greenish blue and pink orange color pallettes throughout the different rooms.
Once we finished our coffees, we went back across the street to the MTG Hawkes Bay. Inside was a museum spread across three levels. On the ground level was an exhibit about Maori culture. It was beautifully laid out with nice accents from paua shell colors on signs. There was a lot of great information in there about notable Maoris including the first female Maori MP. The exhibit also included some traditional stories all of which involved the ocean.
After the museum we walked along Marine Parade on the hunt for Seawalls murals (go to seawalls.org for all the murals around the world based on country and city). There weren't any on Marine Parade, so we started walking down the side streets back towards the center of town. That was when we started to see them in random walls of businesses and parking lots. They were all ocean themed. Some also had themes around pollution in the ocean. Each one was tagged with the artist's name and they all had unique styles. Some murals we saw weren't a part of the Seawalls, but were still cool, like the Alice in Wonderland one that seemed to spill off the wall and into the sidewalk.
We kept walking back to the car. We decided instead of staying in a free campsite in a bit so great location, that we would pay about £8 to stay in Kaitoke National Park, the filming location for Rivendell. Not only is it somewhere I'd like to see, but it's a secure campsite and much closer to Wellington for our drive tomorrow (less driving and more time in New Zealand's capital city). On our way, before we left Napier, we stopped at the National Tobacco Building which is a stunning art deco building.
The drive to Kaitoke National Park was on a state highway most of the way, occasionally cutting through small towns. There were also a lot of vineyards along the way, as well as one brewery, God's Own Brewery. We couldn't resist and pulled off. It was a cool place with picnic tables and a place for a large fire pit in the evenings. We had a hazy pale ale and a mango jalapeno ale. They were both nice and the mango and jalapeno was subtle and easy to drink. With all the little towns we were able to stop for food and the bathroom without having to divert from our route which was handy because we were cutting it close to get to the park before the gate closed at 18:00. The last 20 km or so of the drive were winding through the mountains with lush green trees and palm trees all around us and sheer cliff drops to the right. The sun went down while we were driving here and it was beautiful.
We made it to Kaitoke at 17:44, just in time. It has a lot of campsites, but with school vacation ending today, the place was dead and out of the 16 varying sized campsites, we not only had our pick of sites, but they were all empty so we had area 8 all to ourselves right next to a small river. We parked up and luckily had internet so we were able to do some things on the computer to organize our trip.Lue lisää
Auckland to Christchurch Road Trip Day 3
28. huhtikuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ 🌬 19 °C
Kaitoke Regional Park to Wellington to Picton
We woke up in Kaitoke Regional Park and after putting away sleeping bags made our way up the road to the parking lot for a few different walking trails. One of these trails was to the film location for Rivendell. It was a short 15 minute loop through a small section of the forest. Along the way there were different signs to help recreate, with some very strong imagination, the scenes from the movie. I found it quite challenging to look at tree number 119 and imagine all of the waterfalls from a different area of New Zealand and elvish buildings surrounding it. Further in near the river I focused only on the nature around me; I could imagine it as Rivendell in the foresty sections, not the grandiose waterfalls and buildings parts of the film.
We did another short walk through another part of the forest nearby before we got in the car to finish our drive to Wellington. Our first stop on Wellington was Mount Victoria, a hill in a suburb almost in the center of the city. We parked and walked up a small incline to a circular viewing platform that offered 360° views of the city and harbor. It was a bright sunshiney day and a nice way to start our day in New Zealand's capital city.
After our time at the viewpoint, we decided to walk the half hour or so down the hill into the city center. Allan ended up squeezing onto a tour at Parliament so his walk was extended by another 15 minutes. We hadn't eaten any breakfast and it was 11:00 at this point, so we scarfed some granola bars and he raced ahead to make sure he got to Parliament in time for his tour at noon. I took my time walking into the city stopping at the wharf for some pictures before walking to Hannah's Lane to see some of the trendy shops, cafes, and restaurants. I then walked back towards the wharf to a cafe called August for a lovely Nutella and hazelnut honey pastry and a coffee. Breakfast or lunch at this point, I'm not sure when it's a pastry at noon!
After my coffee and snack, I completed the walk back to the wharf to the Te Papa Tongarawa Museum. The museum is a top sight in Wellington. Allan has visited the museum before, but there's always something new, so he met me here after his tour in Parliament. Before he got there, I explored 3 of the floors. The first area I went into was about nature in New Zealand. It was beautifully done and very interactive for children and adults alike. There was a large screen explaining about mana and Maui and how they contributed to the formation of New Zealand. Many class cases had native New Zealand flora and fauna, including 5 different varieties of kiwis and a large wall of different marine creatures. A touch screen has all the different creatures and animals to provide more information about anything you want to know in cases or on the wall. If you walk across a yellow bridge, it connects to a garden area outdoors with the different plants native to New Zealand. There's also a bird nest area I enjoyed that tells you about native birds, endangered and extinct. Towards the back of the section there was an area devoted to volcanos and earthquakes. New Zealand is uniquely positioned on two tectonic plates, the north island on one and the south island on the other. The way they interact creates interesting, but also devastating effects for New Zealand. Finally, there's a marine biology section and it has a giant squid! I only spotted that while on our tour later on, but it was pretty crazy they've got a dead squid preserved there (definitely looks like it's seen better days).
The next floor up is the Blood Earth and Fire exhibit about human impact on New Zealand. It has displays about New Zealand prior to Maori settlement as well as after and New Zealand after the white settlers came. The difference is pretty stark in the amount of natural forest that's been destroyed. Slash and burn was common practice in New Zealand for new white settlers. It sadly destroyed many forests and many kauri trees were cut down during this period too. The floor showed how agriculture impacted New Zealand for better and for worse. This floor also has a display about pests and quarantine practices that New Zealand has used to stop non-native species impacting the habitats for the native plants and animals.
Continuing on through the museum, the next floor was the Maori floor. This one has a lot of hands-on displays. There was a cool section all about Polynesian navigation and Waitangi Day which we learned about when we visited Waitangi. There was also a treaty section that was beautiful with a huge almost stained glass treaty and pillars. It was great to know all about it before walking through that section. There were 3 different types of buildings in the Maori exhibit: a sleeping house, a meeting house, and a food store. The sleeping house was a grass shack with windows where people would crowd in for sleeping together. The meeting house was gorgeous with intricate carvings and some nice colors. The house is still used if you book an appointment. Finally, the food storage was also surprisingly intricate with detail and carvings. There was a ladder that led to the inside at the center of the food store. It was also on stilts to keep the animals and water (floods and such) from impacting the viability of food.
I left the Maori section to head back down to the entrance to meet Allan. Our tour started soon after he arrived, and it was a private tour because nobody else was booked on! The woman took us around the different areas of the museum briefly explaining the purpose of each section and some of the main highlights in some of the exhibits. For example, we visited the tectonic plates display, the squid, and the meeting house. She also took us into a foyer area off the side of the Maori floor. Here she showed us the modern meeting house and beautiful stained glass window that can be opened up to allow entry to a courtyard. The non-traditional meeting house came under some criticism, but I can see what the architect was trying to achieve by including all different peoples that have come to call New Zealand home. One of the final stops on the tour was an iron anchor that looked more like wood hanging on the wall. I hadn't noticed it on my way in despite it hanging in the main foyer. After this she bid us farewell and we went back down to the second floor.
The second floor has the nature area, but also has a special temporary exhibit about Gallipoli. Peter Jackson and the Weta Studios put it together with the museum and it was pretty incredible. The huge statues and interactive displays made it all very real and our things deeply into perspective by making you feel a part of the whole event. There was a timeline running along the floor to keep you updated with how far into the battle campaign you were and there was a ton of information to read from first hand accounts to historical video and science displays with how some of the bullets and shrapnel entered and impacted the body. It was a lot to take in, and if we'd had more time I easily could have spent half a day in just that one exhibit alone. The ticket to the museum does give you two days to visit which is great, but we sadly were moving on from Wellington and I wouldn't be coming back tomorrow.
After leaving the museum, we walked through the city to Fortune Favours Beer and had some burgers and a couple of beers. The burgers were meh, but the porter and sour we shared were nice. Not many craft beer places were open today, so choice was severely limited on a Monday afternoon. We finished our beers and began the walk back towards Mount Victoria where we'd left the car.
On the way to the car, Allan spotted some Lord of the Rings locations on Google maps, so we stopped at them along the way. The first one was Frodo's reading tree. This was a huge tree with a perfect book towards the bottom to sit/lie and enjoy nature (and a book of you have one!). We continued the walk up the hill to the Hobbits Hideaway where the Hobbits hide from the Nazgul early on in their journey. The tree isn't there, but the ledge is with a dedicated LOTR bench to mark the spot.
We finished the walk back up the hill to the car, stopping to check out the view of Wellington at night at the Mount Victoria viewpoint, and then headed down the hill. We arrived at the ferry check in with plenty of time. We drove up to check in, and then sat in the loading lane for about an hour before we drove into the ferry. It was oddly dead so it took no time at all for all the passengers to get loaded. Once we parked, we grabbed some things to occupy our time for the next 3 or so hours. We spent most of the time planning our trip around the South Island and fleshed out the route and some things to do along the way. It was a draining three hours, but with it being dark on the ferry crossing, there wasn't much else to do anyway.
Just before midnight, we were due to arrive, so we packed up and made our way back to the car to drive off. Luckily, disembarking was just as quick as coming in and we were away without much trouble, or traffic, as we made our way through Picton to our hostel for the night. We arrived at Atlantis Backpackers and were welcomed by an oddly cheerful woman at 12:30 at night. She showed us where the bathrooms were and explained about breakfast in the morning before showing us to our room. She also gave us a couple of good stops to hit on our way down to Christchurch tomorrow. Once she said goodbye, we both had quick showers and turned in for the night. The bed was pretty comfortable, but I might be biased after sleeping in the car 🙈.Lue lisää
Auckland to Christchurch Road Trip Day 4
29. huhtikuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
Picton to Christchurch via Ward Beach and Kaikōura
On our way from Picton to Christchurch, we took the recommendation from the nice woman at the hostel and stopped at Ward Beach on our way to Kaikōura. It took about an hour to drive there and when we walked down to the beach, it was full of smooth pebbles, just like she said. We tried skimming some of the bigger, flat ones, but the waves were too choppy. We did manage to find some cool rocks as well as the green jade that New Zealand is well known for.
We walked further down the beach where it turned from rocks and pebbles to sand. It was here that we started to see paua shells. They were smaller at first, a little smaller than the palm of my hand or smaller, and they were light in color, almost white. Then, Allan found a big one with the purple coloring that we've been seeing on paua shells in stores. The outside was rough and, obviously, not the smooth and shiny color that matches the inside like the ones in the store that have been sanded and treated.
We spent a further hour or so exploring the beach and finding shells. I also enjoyed climbing over rocks and looking in the little ride pools for creatures. It was a great way to spend our morning and we ended up coming away with quite a few beautiful paua shells (good thing we didn't buy any!).
We left Ward Beach behind, thankful for the woman's recommendation, and carried on towards Kaikōura. The coastline was stunning with craggy cliffs and ocean to the left and large rocks occasionally jutting out of the water. We pulled off the road just before Kaikōura and saw a decent sized fur seal colony lazing on the rocks and playing in the tide pools. There were a few baby seals as well as adults.
We continued on after our seal stop until we reached Fyffe House in Kaikōura. We stopped here and got out to see one seal moulting on the rocks. We got back in the car and drove around the top of the peninsula parking the car at the end. We walked from the parking lot over the rocks to the sea. We saw a handful of seals here, but nowhere near the amount we saw when we pulled off. It's been the unplanned stops winning the day today!
With no further plans, we started the last 2 and a bit hours down to Christchurch. With the stop in Kaikōura not taking as long as expected, the ETA showed that we could get to the car rental place to return it before they close today to save a job in the morning.
Along the drive to Christchurch, we had a bit more of the cliffs and coastline, pulling off to see some seals swimming and an orca in the far distance (too far for a picture). Other than that, after we moved inland, the terrain was much the same with rolling green hills and some trees starting to turn autumnal oranges and yellows.
We made it to Christchurch with plenty of time to drop off the car. The campervan place, Spaceships, was a couple minutes walk away which was great. We waited a bit to get the keys from the key box and then started to acquaint ourselves with our home for the next two and a half weeks. It's a bit small being just a converted minivan, but needs (and budget) must. Before we made our way to our free campsite for the night we stopped for a bit of dinner and to charge the laptop since we have no outlets in the car like previous vans. It was raining, and there's not a lot of room to stand or move around inside the van, so we got a bit wet setting up the bed. I'm sure we will get quicker at all this as well as storing the bags at some point in the next two weeks 🙃.Lue lisää
Christchurch to Lake Tekapo
30. huhtikuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ 🌧 6 °C
Today has been one of our worst weather days in Australia and New Zealand so far, and maybe the top 5 for our whole trip. It poured with rain all night and all day. Night slightly turned into the day, but it was so dark and gray that we managed to sleep well past sunrise, because the sun never showed its face.
We spent the morning trying to work out where to store some of our things to make them more accessible. It took some creativity, and some patience, as there is not a lot of storage space or room to move around. With the weather being horrible, we couldn't get out of the van to move around, but it did give us an excuse not to wander around town and try to organize the van without feeling like we were wasting time exploring.
Once we were a bit more organized, we ventured into Christchurch for some lunch and to get some groceries. It was still chucking it down, so exploring Christchurch on foot was off the cards and the traffic was horrible. We'll be back in Christchurch in about a week in the evening, so that might be a better time to check out some of the pretty buildings.
Fueled up and food put away, we were on the road to Lake Tekapo, a little village on the edge of, you guessed it, Lake Tekapo. Unfortunately, it was raining there too, and a few degrees colder. We ran out to get some pictures of the church and the lake, which looked a bit gray rather than glacial blue like it would without the rain and clouds. It was still picturesque with the cute little stone church at the side of the lake and the mountains as backdrop.
A few paces from the church up a gravel path was a sheepdog memorial. It was erected by the villagers to commemorate all the yardwork that sheepdogs did to help the community. It was a really cute memorial, and had us thinking of our own sheepdog. We got in the car and drove around the corner into town, about 5 minutes. Allan walked across a short foot bridge to get another picture of the church from afar. Then we were on our way to our campsite for the night.
We camped at Lake Pukaki, about half an hour from Lake Tekapo. It seemed like a good jumping off point to Mount Cook in the morning and a nice place to camp right next to the lake. It was still raining, so we had to navigate in our close confines of the van to make wraps and boil some water for tea with our camp stove. It's not ideal, but I suppose it could be worse! We had some cell signal, so we hotspotted the computer and managed to watch an hour of Netflix before getting ready for bed. By now it was very cold, so extra layers and huddling together for warmth were necessary. Based on the weather forecast this should be our coldest night in the van (1°C) and I hope it stays that way!Lue lisää
Aoraki/Mt Cook
1. toukokuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ 🌫 0 °C
It rained all night and all day yesterday, all night last night, and is set to rain and be a wintry mix all day today. It's also very cold which doesn't mix well with very wet when you have no heating. What would normally be beautiful light blue glacial lake waters, are gray and bleak reflecting the weather. Based on the temperature and forecast for snow near Aoraki/Mount Cook, we decided to drive up to the visitor center to see what was still open and if the weather has impacted any of the trails.
We were a bit slow to leave the warmth of the blankets, so didn't get up to the visitor center as early as planned. The drive started off with rain turning to winter mix to snow. The terrain gradually got snowier as we got closer to the mountains. The clouds were lying low and you could see a decent blanket of snow lying on the top half of all the mountains. We could see Mount Cook in the distance at one point on the drive it was a blanket of white and clouds. Lake Pukaki stayed on our right pretty much the whole way up and the mountains stayed on the left. As we got closer to Mount Cook the snow was lying thicker on trees and mountains. It did look quite magical.
When we got the visitor center, it wasn't busy and a helpful ranger explained that minus Hooker Valley Track (closed around Easter time and we knew it was closed), all the trails were open. With the fresh snow and low lying clouds, we ruled out our plan B, Sealy Tarns. The 2,000+ steps in fresh snow to see absolutely nothing didn't appeal to either of us. Plan C was to walk to the first bridge at Hooker Valley and to back track and walk to Kea Point. It was then a short drive from White Horse Hill Campground to Tasman Lake, so we put that in the plan too.
We got back in the van and drove up to the campground for the first half of our plan. We got all layered up and hiking boots on. With all the foot traffic on the Hooker Valley trail, most of the snow was slushy or compacted and a bit slippery. We started walking through some bushes along the gravel trail. There were a couple of small things to see just off the main trail. The first was Freda's Rock, a large rock where a woman, named Freda, has a picture taken after being the first woman to summit Mount Cook. Further up the trail was the Alpine Memorial dedicated to people who have lost their lives on the way to/from the summit. It was first made for people who died in an avalanche in the early 1900s, and since then small plaques have been added to remember others.
We continued along the trail until we saw the first swing bridge, unfortunately fenced off, going over a glacier river. The clouds were still pretty low and it was clearly snowing at the tops of the surrounding mountains. We went off the main trail and up some rocks to get a higher view of the glacier lake and what would be Hooker Valley in the distance. We also thought we could see the second broken swing bridge in the distance.
After getting some pictures of the lake and mountains, we walked back the way we came and through the parking lot to the second walk, Kea Point. This trail is named after the Kea bird, the world's only alpine parrot. We were hoping we would see one because they are lower down when it snows and therefore easier to see. This walk didn't have much scenery until the end at Kea Point. We had a different view of the lake, and would have been able to see the valley and mountains on a better day. We also would have had more named mountain views like Mount Sefton, but the clouds were just too low. We walked slowly to the parking lot always keeping an eye out for the Kea, but sadly didn't see any.
Once we got back to the van, we got in and drove about 10 minutes up to Tasman Lake. There's a few different tiny walks for different views of the lake and glacier here as well as a longer one along the lake to get up close to the glacier. We took the path that led to the Tasman Lake Glacier Viewpoint. Along the way there was a short branch off the path to the Blue Lakes, no longer blue because of the lack of glacier water flowing into them. They're green now because rain water is what fills them and that causes algae to grow. There were three lakes in a line and easier to see from up the Tasman Viewpoint trail rather than the Blue Lakes trail. The Tasman Lake Glacier Viewpoint trail was mostly steps up a hill for about 15-20 minutes. Once at the top there's a platform allowing you to see the lake and glacier. It was up high and therefore probably the best view you'd get of both of them. We could also see the Tasman River that flows out of Tasman Lake and into Lake Pukaki. It was raining when we first arrived, but luckily turned into a little drizzle while we were up there. We had to be careful on the way back down because of the small patches of compact snow turned ice and the slush from parts that had melted. I slipped a couple of times, but thankfully didn't fall.
Back down at the bottom, there was a picnic hut, so we quickly made some wraps for lunch before leaving Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park behind. We headed back towards the East Coast traveling south towards Moeraki on the way to Dunedin. With our late start, we weren't going to make it to Moeraki until just before sunset, so we hit some small stops along the way.
In Takiroa, just off the road, there's some Maori rock art. Apparently there's a fair bit of rock art at different locations in that area. We took some pictures and then got back in the car. It was a quick stop. Then we stopped at Elephant Rocks. These are huge limestone rocks coming out of the ground that have been weathered to sort of look like a herd of elephants. Allan has a great time here running around and climbing, and trying to climb, the rocks. There was a lot more than I expected when we pulled off! And it was quite reminiscent of Scotland because it was on someone's farm and there were some sheep around.
After Allan was finished trying to climb, we finished the drive to Moeraki to see the boulders. We didn't think to check the tide times, and it was high tide to the point that we couldn't walk on the beach at all; the ocean went right up to the steps down to the beach! We saw the boulders in the distance and decided we'd definitely have to come back in the morning when the tide was lower.
We drove a short 5 minutes to our camping spot at Katiki Beach. The sight was right next to the ocean and it was so nice to hear and see the waves. It was also, finally, not raining. We were able to boil water out of the back instead of being stuck in the van trying to make wraps while being hunchbacked. My mood definitely improved being able to move about outside of the van, even though it was still cold and windy. We also had cell service, so we watched another couple episodes of Netflix before sleeping.Lue lisää
Moeraki and Dunedin
2. toukokuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
We woke up to the sound of crashing waves and the sun just about to come up beyond the horizon. It was still cloudy, so it wasn't a dramatic sunrise, but we could see a change in the amount of light. We enjoyed our ocean view for a bit before getting going. We had some breakfast before leaving the campsite.
Once we did head out, we back tracked towards Moeraki Village and down to Katiki Lighthouse. The lighthouse was short and seemed very inland to be a working lighthouse, but it must still be effective if it's still in operation. We continued down the path until it opened up to the coastline. Initially there was fencing which blocked the view of the seals lazing in the grass, but we continued down the path past the fences and the path opened up into a grassy area with plenty of seals all having a morning snooze. Some saw us and ran towards the water, others didn't care and just looked at us before going back to sleep.
We walked amongst the seals to the edge of the cliff before turning back. We didn't want to disturb them by getting too close or in their way. Back at the car, we drove a little bit further back on ourselves to the Moeraki Boulders. We walked about 400m down the beach until we were amongst the round boulders, most buried in the sand from being on the beach and washed over with sand and sea daily. We also saw some boulders that must have been pushed into the cliffs and burst open. The shards of rock have crystallized along the edges where salt water has gotten in and interacted with the rock. There were a few boulders that hadn't burst open, but the cracks were a honey crystal color, like veins.
With most of the boulders being sunk in the sand, they're easier to climb and walk on top of. There were a few in a line that I hopped across, and just as I got to the lowest sunken one, a big wave came and washed over my feet! Luckily the Goretex on my sneakers still works and my feet surprisingly stayed dry! It made for some cool pictures too. We continued walking along the beach looking at the different boulders and took turns trying to climb the only boulder intact and fully out of the sand. (Although, when I say take turns, I mean Allan ran and jumped on clambering himself and he gave me a big boost and I still struggled and flopped onto it. Took me two tries, but I got up!)
After playing at the boulders, we walked back along the beach to the van and finished the drive to Dunedin. It's about an hour from the boulders. Our first stop in the Scottish settled city was Baldwin Street, the steepest residential street in the world. Being a residential street, a lot of the houses have cute little gardens because they know people will visit the street. A lot of people forgot it was still a street and laid down in the road to take pictures and got honked at and nearly run over 🙄. We walked up the sidewalks to the top of Baldwin Street where there is a bench and water fountain as well as a nice mural behind the bench. There's also a plaque to commemorate regaining the "world's steepest residential street" title from the Welsh in 2019.
After taking some pictures at the top, we walked back down. Allan suggested we drive it. I was fighting a migraine so I didn't want to drive, so he did instead so I could still see what it was like. We drove up, and rolled back down and carried on into the city center. We found a good parking spot in the center of town near the train station which was on our Lovely Planet walking route.
We started the loop around the city at Dunedin Railway Station. This is a beautiful building with black and white brick and looks like a big, fancy gingerbread house. Inside the main foyer was tile mosaic flooring as well as some stained glass windows with a second floor balcony that allowed you to see down to the ground. They have an art center and a Sports Hall of Fame in the building too. Across the street was a similar brick building, but this building was the Law Courts. We couldn't go inside here, but Allan probably would've if he could've.
We continued the walk from the station straight up the street until we hit The Octagon. The Octagon is the center of the city with shops, pubs and cafes along the edges. In the middle is a statue of Rabbie Burns (they called him 'Robbie') as well as some park benches and awnings. Two of the streets that branch from The Octagon are Princes Street and George Street. I was noticing that Dunedin, named for the garlic version for Edinburgh, is a big copy and paste of Edinburgh, but also like if Chat GPT made the copy. It's similar, but not quite right at the same time.
Before leaving The Octagon, we stopped in at St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral. It's an impressive building of gray stone and the inside is plain, but also a bit modern with how they chose to decorate the sanctuary area. There was also a huge organ in the front of the church and some nice stained glass windows. Moving away from The Octagon slightly up the street was another church, this time a Catholic one, St Joseph’s Catholic Cathedral. This building was definitely more impressive than St. Paul's. It had ornate stone carvings at the entrance and when we went inside there was a huge, pastel rose window behind the altar as well as pastel stained glass windows higher up in the church. At eye level were classic stained glass windows.
A short walk around the corner and down the hill was a large brick building, the home of Speights Brewing, the oldest brewery in Dunedin and one of the oldest in New Zealand. It was pretty quiet around the brewery despite the fact that they enrun tours daily. We went into the alehouse, their pub connected to the brewery, and ordered a tasting board of the 8 beers they had on draft. It was a fair mix of different things like the gold medal ale, IPAs, a porter, even ginger beer and cider. We enjoyed all of the beer we drank here, but especially the hazy pale ale and porter. The low carb beer was by far the least favorite.
After Speights we walked along Rattray Street past The National Bank of New Zealand and Garrison Hall which had a unicorn on the front at the entrance. When walking through the small Queens Garden we stopped at the Cenotaph honoring lives lost in WWI. The final stop was an unplanned one after seeing it on a hill on our way back to the car and had us walking back into town. The First Church of Otago was a nice stone building with a tall spire. The inside was closed for renovations so we admired the church from the outside.
During our walk back to the car, Allan made final arrangements to see an old friend, Dave, from his first trip to New Zealand. We made a pit stop for groceries on our way to Dave's house. We only planned on a small stop for a beer and a shower to have a catch up, but when Dave and Emma offered us a comfy bed and dinner, we couldn't resist. We ended up staying and chatting well into the night before heading to our comfy bed and shower just after midnight. It meant we had to get up early tomorrow to drive the extra distance we didn't manage today, but the small breather of the chill evening was nice.Lue lisää
Fiordlands National Park
3. toukokuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C
We left Dave's just after 8, a little bit later than we hoped. It was still the quickest we'd gotten ready and left our sleeping location since getting the van though. We had some quick breakfast and Dave made us a coffee which was much nicer than the last two days when we realized our water hadn't stayed hot and the instant coffee was cold (I mean, instant coffee is crap when it's hot, so much worse cold). The drive to Te Anau was about 3 and a half hours, but we decided to bypass the village to start with and head up towards Milford Sound and do a walk along Milford Road in Fiordsland National Park so the drive was a bit longer. The drive was mostly rolling green hills of farmland pastures with the occasional section of sheep and cows. It also rained the first half of the trip, but thankfully dried up as we got closer to the west coast.
We turned off just before Te Anau and began heading up towards Milford Sound. It's a 2 hour drive to Milford Sound along a winding road through the forest and the mountains. We didn't intend on driving all the way to Milford Sound, but there were some nice viewpoints and walks that were on the road. We decided to do the Key Summit walk after seeing the Lake Marian Track was closed.
On the way to the Key Summit walk we stopped at the Eglinton Valley viewpoint and the Mirror Lakes. The lakes were more like a small pond accessed via a boardwalk. We walked along the boardwalk and saw the mostly still water, mostly still because of the duck that was sticking its head in the water causing ripples. The mirror effect with the mountains was still working though and I got some nice pictures of the mirrored mountains.
The next stop was our hike. The Key Summit walk was a part of the Routeburn Track, one of a few multi day hikes you can do in this area. It was a gradual climb on a gravel path through a beech forest. The mountains and valley were on the left and we'd sometimes catch a glimpse through the trees. When we got closer to the summit, the trees opened up (and so did the clouds, it started to rain a bit) and we had small switchbacks until we reached the top. Despite the switchbacks, it wasn't steep and we got to the top in about an hour.
At the top we walked around for another 20 minutes or so. It was boggy and there was a nature walk supported by small boardwalks. We also continued walking to a second viewpoint where we could see Lake Marian down below. After the lake viewpoint, we finished the loop around the nature walk and carried on back down the gravel path to the bottom. For some reason, it seemed to take so much longer on the way down than the way up! Either way, we were up and down plus the extra walk at the top in just over two hours for about 8.5 km.
After Key Summit, Allan suggested that we finish the drive to Milford Sound. He said we were over halfway there and we might as well finish the trip. The rest of the drive to Milford Sound was pretty incredible, especially the tunnel roughly hewn through the mountain. When we got to Milford, it wasn't long until sunset. We walked around part of the edge before heading up to a panoramic view.
We came back down after the sun had dipped behind the mountains. We did a short walk around the water towards the shore and got some views of the waterfall as well as some great panorama pictures. It was a pretty cool place and I'm glad Allan insisted on finishing the drive to come here. We left Milford Sound around 17:45 and began the drive back down the winding road to find somewhere to camp. We didn't see the Lord of the Rings locations near Te Anau, and it was at least 2 and a half hours to the original place we intended to camp, so we decided to pay for a DOC campsite on the Milford Road and get an early night to squeeze in a bit more tomorrow. The Henry Creek Campsite was nice enough and fairly quiet. It was also dry so we were able to get the camo stove out and make some soup which worked really well and made a nice meal with half a loaf of bread to share. We tidied up our dinner things and then got ready for bed for our early start tomorrow.Lue lisää
Lord of the Rings Road Trip to Glenorchy
4. toukokuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
We were up before the sun, and boy was it hard to get motivated when it was so dark outside. We got up and headed away from Henry Creek Campsite back towards Te Anau. We drove through the village as the sun was beginning to rise.
Just outside of Te Anau were some filming locations for Lord of the Rings. It was foggy this morning, but we still made our way to the different places on the map. The DOC website actually has some useful information and coordinates to help find the exact places. Our first stop was a filming location for the Anduin River (Waiau River in real life). The viewpoint was the opening aerial shot of The Fellowship of the Ring showing the forested banks of the Anduin River. Again, the fog impactes our ability to see the mountains and forest, but the river and it's banks. We also drove around for a bit to find a spot marked as Boulder Reach on Google maps, but it was quite hard to find and was just a different view of the Anduin River spot.
Along the way to the Anduin River spot we passed a filming location for the Dead Marshes (Kepler Mire) where Gollum guides Frodo and Sam through the swamp, saving Frodo as he falls under spell of the dead that seem to float within it. This was fenced off as it's in farmland, but we saw the trees and could imagine the swampy area beyond the fence. We drove past it on our way out, but still couldn't see a way past the fence. We stopped back in Te Anau for gas and to have breakfast before setting off towards Glenorchy.
About 45 minutes into the drive, we turned off and drove on a gravel road along Mavora Lake. We visited three different places here. The first one was Nen Hithoel (North Mavora Lake) where the Fellowship moor at the side of the lake at the end of their journey down the Anduin. Not far from the mooring location into the forest is where the hobbits hide from the Uruk-hai. I had fun trying to find this exact spot, but I definitely need to watch the movie again and familiarize myself. The last spot was the Silverlode and Anduin rivers (Mararoa River swing bridge at South Mavora Lake). The Fellowship left Lothlórien at this location. The swing bridge is the only one we've come across so far on our walks around New Zealand. I enjoyed walking across the bouncy bridge and looking out across the water towards the mountains. The water was also clear enough to see the fluffy green plants on the riverbed.
Before getting back on the highway, we had one more location after we left the lake. The Fangorn Forest edge of the Mavora Lakes: Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli follow Merry and Pippin's trail from the mound of burnt orc bodies left by Eomer's Riders of Rohan. This spot wasn't as obvious as the others, but there were some human trails through the long grass and we followed the coordinates to a small patch of forest. Again, I'm sure this spot would look more familiar if I'd seen the movie more recently.
We left the Mavora Lake region and carried on towards Queenstown and Glenorchy north of it. This next part of the drive was much longer and took about 3 hours to reach the next spot...but it came with a bit of drama. We passed painlessly through busy Queenstown and up through the quiet town of Glenorchy.
Shortly after Glenorchy, we turned off to make our way further north to Isengard (Dan's Paddock) where Gandalf rides up to Isengard in Nan Curunír. We were behind a 4WD Toyota which was going surprisingly slow considering the type of vehicle it was. Every now and again we had to cross small fords, but they weren't deep or too rocky for our low clearance minivan. It was helpful to have that guy in front of us though to know how deep the water was. Eventually, we came to a ford that we just couldn't pass safely. Not wanting to chance our luck with the muddy sides we (I begrudgingly) started to walk the 2.5 km to the coordinates. When we got there, I could picture the scene that was described as taking place here, and while I wasn't happy about walking when we were pressed for time, I was glad to see Isengard. It also ended up being a good decision not to try and cross the ford. When we for back, that Toyota from earlier, was hauling a blue car out that was small, but had more clearance than us. They had to get towed all the way back to Glenorchy because they flooded the engine and the car was fucked. Better be safe than sorry, even if it did cost us time and a 5k walk.
We stopped twice more on the way back towards Glenorchy. Once at a location used for Lothlorien in the forest and another that was the an Isengard Lookout with a good view towards where Isengard would have been in the distance. We also saw that Toyota hauling the little blue car back along the road after the stop at Lothlorien.
We drove back down past Glenorchy after the three locations almost all the way back to Queenstown. But, before we got back to Queenstown, we stopped for two Ithilien locations. The Ithilien camp (Twelve Mile Delta) where Frodo, Sam and Gollum watch the battle between Faramir's Rangers of Gondor and the men (and Oliphaunts) of Harad. Sam and Gollum discuss coney cookery and I couldn't help but recreate some of the iconic lines "Poh-Tay-Toes" or "Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew". Shame we didn't have any Poh-Tay-Toes with us! Both the scenes were easy to picture and I'm pretty sure I got almost the exact picture to match the scene with the oliphants.
After all of the Lord of the Rings excitement, we drove through Queenstown and to the Kawarau Suspension Bridge where we were camping for the night. The camp spot is the parking lot for the bungee company that runs bungee jumping off of the bridge. Allan finally caved and we rented Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring to start watching. We've seen so many spots the last week or so, and a couple more planned for tomorrow, we couldn't resist the urge to start watching. We'd also started listening to the audio book on Spotify narrated by Andy Serkis, so it's LOTR galore!Lue lisää
Lord of the Rings Road Trip to Paringa
5. toukokuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
We woke up and made some breakfast with our camping stove. It's taken some trial and error, but we've worked out all the kinks with cooking now. After breakfast, later than expected with the issues we worked through, we popped down to the bungee area to see if anyone was jumping. It was much colder today than previous mornings, so I can't imagine what the air would feel like jumping off the bridge! The bungee place was pretty dead, but did mean we could sit indoors and warm up a little and use the bathroom.
Before we drove off in search of our next LOTR location, we walked across the historic suspension bridge, which was a bit icy after the below freezing temperature we reached last night. It was a pretty cool place with the gorge and bridge as well as the autumnal leaves all around. We didn't stray far from the bridge as our first location was just out of the parking lot and up a nearby mountain. This is where the Argonath on the Anduin River were seen as the Fellowship pass the Pillars of the Kings on the Anduin River
(Kawarau Suspension Bridge). This was another iconic scene in the first movie and easy to picture. So far, many locations we've visited have looked like the movie except for Rivendell.
We left Kawarau behind and headed about an hour up a mountain and down into a canyon on a horrible gravel road. Allan did great navigating the narrow road and, at times, dodgy gravel. We stopped about a kilometer or so from the coordinates to avoid a bit of a steeper gravel hill we didn't want to chance not making it back up. These coordinates brought us to the Ford of Bruinen (Skippers Canyon) where Arwen defeats the Nazgûl by conjuring up a flood. If the water wasn't so fast and cold, I would've been more tempted to go into the river and say the iconic line "if you want him, come and claim him". Just seeing the spot and marvelling at the color of the rushing water and shiny shale all around us was worth it though.
After the drive back out of Skippers Canyon, we stopped at the top for some lunch and then headed up to Coroner Peak for a view over the valley. It was similar to our lunchtime view, but a little higher and a wider spread down below us. We drove back down the mountain after getting some pictures and stopped in Queenstown for some fuel before making our way north up the west coast. We made one stop along the way at Wanaka and took a picture at the iconic lake tree. It looked a little less impressive without the water surrounding it, but there were some great views at Lake Wanaka and I can see why it's a popular holiday destination in the summertime.
We continued driving up the west coast, making a quick stop at a viewpoint on the side of the road of some beautiful mountains and a lake. The sun set while we were here so the sky was a nice color. After that, it was a straight shot up the coast to Paringa where we stopped at a salmon farm Cafe to spend the night. It got dark during the drive, and a random black cow at the side of the road made the journey more interesting than necessary, but we got there safely. We also had service so we were able to watch a bit more of the movie! Today was a long day of driving, but we saw some pretty amazing stuff along the way.Lue lisää
Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier
6. toukokuuta 2025, Uusi Seelanti ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C
Today was a big walking/hiking day. The morning started with a drive towards Fox Glacier. We stopped at Lake Matheson first for a nice forest walk around the lake, which in good and still conditions is a mirror lake. It was a pretty walk with moss covered trees and different ferns. Every now and again there was a break in the trees and you got a glimpse of the lake and the mountains. There was a large mountain range here, including Mount Tasman and Mount Cook. We finally saw the top of Tasman, but as we walked around the overcast conditions meant that the summit of Cook eluded us still.
The mirror lake effect was ok when looking out towards the mountains. However, much like the mirror lake in Fiordlands National Park, the ducks were causing small ripples impacting the glassy mirror surface. Away from the ducks at the far end of the lake we got good mirror pictures of the trees (shame the ducks weren't on this end instead!). It was still very picturesque with the lake, trees, and mountains and would be a pleasant wee walk. It was just over four kilometers and took us about an hour with the stops for pictures.
After Lake Matheson we drove about five minutes up the road to Fox Glacier viewpoint. It was off in the distance, but you got a good view that wasn't blocked at all by the forest. It's a shame it's receded so much in the last ten years or so. It still looks impressive nestled between the mountains, but I'm sure it would be more impressive up close (and if I'd seen it years ago).
We left the viewpoint and drove about half an hour to Franz Josef Glacier. Much like Fox Glacier, this one has receded an alarming amount and you can only access it via helicopter now. Allan mentioned he hiked up to it and potentially on to it about 10 years ago. Now, that's not even remotely possible.
We decided to do the Roberts Point Track. Websites suggest it's one of the best hikes to get a good view of the glacier. I was a bit nervous because it's a longer hike and involves some scrambling on slippery walks, but it's been a while since I've done a proper big hike and it's the only way to see this iconic glacier. And who knows, it might be gone by the time I come back to New Zealand, if I do.
The hike wasn't as bad as I expected, but that's mainly down to the weather. The track was pretty dry. It starts with a gravel path on the Douglas Walk before it diverts from this walk over the first of four swing bridges. The walk continued over some bigger, chunky rocks until we got to the second bridge. This one was crazy wobbly! It didn't seem stable in the slightest, but wasn't secured at the bottom so it really wiggled when you walked over it.
After this bridge things started to get challenging. The ice cut rocks stuck out at sometimes awkward angles when trying to walk up and over them, but they were mostly dry with occasional little streams of water flowing over and between them. The track also started to get steep shortly after the second bridge. At one point, we had to climb rocks and tree roots almost like a ladder. The rocks also seemed to smooth out a bit and looked like the top of ice cream scoops at times. If they were wet, they'd be very slippery so I'm glad they weren't.
Almost an hour into the track we came across our third bridge. This was the longest swing suspension bridge I'd seen on any hike ever. It was about 100 meters long suspended over big rocks looking out over running glacier water and a rock field where the glacier used to be. It was pretty bouncy and only enough room for one person to walk at a time so I bet at busy times this can be a bit of a traffic jam area because people can't walk both ways.
Once across the long, bouncy bridge, it wasn't long until we came to Hende's Hut, named after the guy that built the hut in the early 1900s and helped come up with the idea for the floating steps at the side of a cliff just after the hut. The floating steps were pretty cool, and like the long bridge it was narrow and only allowed for one person to go one direction at a time.
After going down the steps, it was steep for a while and involved clambering a bit over smooth rocks. Most of them were dry, but if blogs and route descriptions are any indication, the rocks are normally wet and slippery. Even without the wet, we still took our time and I often used my hands to help. This part of the trail was also more open without trees above us. After conquering the rocks, we were back under the tree cover and walked across our fourth and final bridge. Once we crossed that little bridge, we had to climb some more craggy rocks and walk over some small streams, but it wasn't as steep.
Eventually, we made the last bit of ascent and climbed over a big rock to get to a set of small stairs that led up to a deck area. It was here that we got the view of the glacier. It was a great view of the glacier, but sad at the same time because it's so clear how much it has receded. We also got a lovely view of the cliff across the valley with some small waterfalls running down. We sat here catching our breath and enjoying the well earned view before we started the climb back down.
The way down was tricky, because climbing up rocks, smooth or rough, is easier when your momentum is going up. Going down it's easier to fall, and you don't want to fall forward. Again, it was a lot of hands for support and a more zig zag walk rather than straight up. It was fun going across all the bridges again knowing that certain steep sections were done. We didn't take as long going down as we thought we might, but again, that's down to the lack of slippery stones.
It started to rain after we went over the final (first) swing bridge, which was good timing because all the hard parts were over and it was just the last kilometer or so back to the parking lot on the nice gravel path. Feeling accomplished back at the car, we took off our boots and had some water and a snack. We couldn't hang about long though, because we had to get on the road to our next campsite about an hour or so from the glacier on the way to Hokitika. We stopped at Kakapotahi Beach for the night. We boiled water for some cup of noodle bowls and sat down to watch the last 45 minutes or so of Fellowship of the Ring before the rental expired in a couple hours.
We should have gone to bed after that, but instead got distracted with planning and looking at things to do for the north island in a couple days. Tomorrow is a busy day, and hopefully we can get a shower because we do not smell great 😂Lue lisää