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The Little One

January - May 2023
After a short break here we are on the road again and we want to share it with you once more! Read more
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  • The Little One
    2
    1131141
    Day 27

    Windy Welly

    February 4, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Known to the Kiwis as the Windy City, it is nestled in a natural harbour and surrounded on all sides by hills. At only 200,000 people, Wellington is one of the smaller capitals but definitely one of the Windest. The main waterfront has been mostly opened to the public with lots of bars, shops and cafes replacing the old dockyards. The northern end of the town still has a full working container Dock as well as the passenger ferry to the south island and the occasional Cruise ship, a bit of a blight on an otherwise lovely coastline.

    Our first stop in town is Zealandia, a large private conservation park just on the outskirts of town that is trying to boost the natural flaura and fauna. They have put up a huge 'pest' resistance fence along the perimeter of the park to keep out all of the non native animals that have been killing the local wildlife, rats, mice cats possums and weasel. It seems to be working, the endemic species are flourishing, with lots of Kaka and Tuatara calling this place home.

     Next morning it was a little cloudy so we stopped of the Wellington museum to avoid any potential rain. It is free, which is always nice, this one covered some very similar ground, tectonic plates, volcanos, endemic species and the ruin introduced pests have caused. There was a very moving exhibition on the part New Zealand played in World War 1 at Gallipoli with some very detailed histories of the young men that fought and died along the coast. Not a bad museum considering the price.

    Next up is the Weta workshop, most famous for their work on LotR and The Hobbit, Weta is a Movie and Television Prob and Set Design specialist. They have been in business for more than 3 decades and have worked on hundreds of shows. For LotR they were heavily involved in a lot of the design from the swords, axes and armour that the characters used right up to the design and creation of the largest sets such as Helms Deep and Minias Tirith. As part of the tour we got to see up close some of the props used in LotR as well as the miniature sets they have created for their current run of the Thunderbirds show. Really impressive to see the level of intricate detail that goes on behind the scenes.

    We also managed to stretch our legs around Mount Victoria, a small belt of park that sits up on the hill to the east of town. Aside from the great panorama from the town, the park is also popular with LotR fans as a few scenes were shot here, notably the first time Frodo and the Hobbits see the Nazgul. We spent a little while wandering around to find the exact spot, the whole area looks quite similar but we think we got it and tried to recreate the picture as best we could.

    We didn't spend long in Wellington, but we both really liked the little town. It is very compact because of the landscape but it uses its space well and has a lot of delicious restaurants!    Read more

  • The Little One
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    Day 29

    Abel Tasman National Park

    February 6, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    We left Wellington having had a few nights sleep in a hotel with a real bed and some delicious dinners cooked by someone else, back in the van and back on the road, well sort of. Our time in the North Island has come to an end and we are heading off to the South Island. Anyone who knows some basic geography will realise its time to catch a ferry. Luckily the Cook Strait ferry leaves right from Wellington so we didn't have far to go. The arrival port on the south island is a tiny ocean town called Picton, I'm sure no one would go there if it wasn't for the ferry, it is located at the end of a stunning sound (similar to a fjord but created differently). The views as we were coming into dock were subliminal. South Island is already looking good.

    As we got the late ferry we had to have a night on the road before our next destination, we found a little farm an hour away from the ferry port, a cute little camp spot which had fresh baked muffins on arrivals, food to feed the sheep, pigs and goat as well as a little forest walk up to a waterfall. Shame we couldn't stay here longer.

    With a fair bit of driving to do so we hit the road early the following morning, stopped for a walk and lunch with Real Fruit Ice Cream for desert, Armelle made quite a mess but we unfortunately didn't get any pictures, we'll have to get some more.

    Next day and we're walking the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. For those not up on their History Abel Tasman was a 1600's sailor who is credited with 'discovering' New Zealand. The trail named after him is suitably epic, a 60km 4 days walk from end to end it meanders along the golden beaches and lush coastal native bush of the North Island. We won't have time to do the whole thing so we are getting a boat to drop up a little way up and will be walking back to camp.

    After completing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing we were suitably knackered but content in the knowledge we had done the longest day of walking (19km) we would have on this trip, how wrong we were, due to the tide times and bridges being closed we ended up this time walking just just over 28km! It had a very different feeling though as we did two stops to swim in amazing bays and the walk was not as steep. We were very happy with the experience and also happy to not have had any sunburn! Some in our campsite were not as diligent on the sun cream and it looked painful!    Read more

  • The Little One
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    Day 31

    Cape Farewell

    February 8, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 16 °C

    We drove further North along the coast to reach the top of the West coast at Wairariki beach. On the road we did a couple of stops which were well worth it.
    First one was a visit to the Ngarua cave. A cave that has been only properly researched in the 90's. They created an easy walkway of 350m up to 25m deep. Along the way we saw all sorts of stalagmites, stalactites and columns. We discovered straws stalactites which are very pretty and look very fragile. In this cave they also found bones of Moas, a type of bird which is now extinct. They were a big ostrich like animal. We held its tibia which was quite heavy!

    Next stop was the little town of Takaka. Similar to most towns on the main road, the shops are on the main street and we found a little café with tasty treats. Looking around us we realised that Takaka is full of hippies and hippie shops. This might be explained by its proximity to the sacred place of Te Waikoropupu Springs. Around 14,000L of water per second bubble up from the underground vents making it the largest freshwater spring in the Southern hemisphere! Even without this title, it was magical. The colour of the water and the vegetations around are vibrant. The photographes speak for themselves.

    Finally after another hour drive we arrive at our campsite near the Wairariki beach. We decided to have a quick look at the beach before dinner as it is a little 1km walk. The beach was beautiful but what struck us was the wind! It was so powerful that James had to run twice to get his cap back! So strong that it was hard to walk against it. We managed to take a couple of pictures and went back to the calm of our campsite.
    Next day and we woke up with the happy news that the wind had stopped! Quick breakfast in the sun and here we are again on the beach. A lot nicer experience this time! We didn't linger to much though the currents are so powerful it's dangerous to swim there. We continued walking along the coastline and managed to get some nice views of the cliffs and the farewell spit. This spit is 35km long and is a renowned bird sanctuary. Although we just saw seagulls and swans it was impressive to walk a bit on the spit and cross some nice dunes.

    We head back the way we can along the coast for our last night on the Cape, a cute little campsite right on the beach and this one isn't as windy so we managed to have a little aperitif on the sand before dinner.

    As you can see on the pictures we were very lucky with the weather again, beautiful blue skies, which helped to make this experience perfect!    Read more

  • The Little One
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    Day 34

    Lake Rotoiti

    February 11, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Heading south again our first stop just near our campsite was at the Grove Natural Reserve to see the stunning limestone boulders draped in tentacle like roots. Not sure who put them here but clearly someone very large! It made us think of the temples in Cambodia that are taken over by the trees although without the temples!

    Back in the van and after a very winding road up and down we arrive at our destination, Lake Rotoiti ('small lake'). We are now at the Nothern end of the Southern Alps so we can see impressive mountains and a very different landscape. Our campsite is just by the lake which is great but also means that there are a lot of sandflies. Luckily, we met a couple on the road which had a nice little trick for a DIY mosquito/flies net. We can now open the windows without worry!

    By pure coincidence we were at the lake while the Maitahi's Annual Regatta was taking place. This is a Waka Ama (out rigger canoe) boat race and it was nice entertainment to see some of the boats going as fast as they can.

    After a simple dinner with some nice company we went to sleep. The nights here can get are cold and we were not prepared, it went under 10°c and our sleeping bags are not thick enough to protect us.

    Next morning we woke up a bit tired but the sun was up and we had our breakfast watching some more Waka Ama races which reinvigorated us! We got ready for a long but flat walk around the lake towards a waterfall. The path was alive with birds it was a very nice sound to walk with but also some times a curious bird would 'walk' just in front of us. We learnt later that it was to catch some insects that our heavy steps would scare away. As said in previous posts New Zealand is the country of birds. We're starting to recognise a few of them and that day we had quite a good view of a Tui. Difficult to take a picture of it but it is quite a recognisable bird with white feathers on his neck. His singing is very peculiar as well but he decided to stay silent when we were close by. There is apparently a big conservation scheme in place on the eastern part to the lake which would explain why we saw and heard so many birds! Not our longest walk, only 20km but we did however work up enough of a sweat to warrent a dip in the icy cold waters of the lake.

    It's always nice to see large mountains rising up out of a lake. While we didn't attempt the epic hike up the hills to see the view out across the mountains we really enjoyed the change of pace with our flat little bird watching hike along the shore.    Read more

  • The Little One
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    Day 35

    Hokitika

    February 12, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    We left the mountains to stay one night on the West coast. We are very lucky at the moment with our planning. Another cyclone, Gabrielle, is close to hitting the North island and there is rain and wind pretty much everywhere except on the West Coast of the South Island, all thanks to the big Southern Alps ridge line.
    On the road to the West coast we saw a sign for the longest suspension bridge in New Zealand, we could not miss this and went for a little walk in the upper Buller Gorge. It was cute and we saw New Zealand fanciest pigeon the Kereru.

    After a short drive we spied the sea and finally arrived back on the coast where we made a quick stop at a view point for sandwiches. The different blues in the sea are just wonderful. A bit further south we stopped at 'pancake rocks', they say that these rock look like stacks of pancakes but we couldn't really see it. You can be the judge thanks to the pictures. It was the first site in New Zealand where we saw a crowd of tourists, lot of cars, vans and some buses. We still managed to enjoy the view without problems!

    Finally we arrive at our destination for the night the beach town of Hokitika. A cute little town that has apparently good restaurants and cafes but as we are Sunday, there is only one restaurant open. It was very busy but we enjoyed a nice restaurant meal. This was also the first place in our trip that we could watch the sun set on the sea! And what a sunset, amazing colours.

    Next day and we headed in land slightly to explore Hokitika Gorge, a short walk along the Gorge and across the two bridges which give stunning views of the unnatural looking milky turquoise waters. Years of glacial waters grinding down the rocks into a fine powder. We dipped our feet in the water but as it flows right off the glacier it was very very cold. Nice for soothing our mosquito bites but we didn't dare go all the way in.

    Hokitika was always meant to be a lit stop on the long drive down the west coast but we were enchanted by the quaint little town and magical surroundings. Very happy we took the time to see it.    Read more

  • The Little One
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    Day 37

    Franz Josef

    February 14, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Franz Josef is mainly famous for its glacier. The glacier is now 19km inland but it used to go to the sea. In the last 10 years alone it has receded by nearly a kilometre.
    To see it at its best we traded in our 4 wheels for blades and went for a helicopter ride! 🚁 We hopped aboard our little machine down in the valley and flew up to the mountains to get a close up look at the Franz Josef glacier and then went on to see Fox Glacier. It was impressive! We also landed at the top of a mountain on the snow, quite fun to be there without any hiking effort! After what seemed like seconds but was actually 35min we landed safely back in town . It took us a bit longer to land emotionally and we had to sit down for a coffee and let the adrenaline and excitement wear off.

    Back down to earth we went for a short walk around Franz Josef that involved testing if our shoes were really waterproof, walking through a man made tunnel used to divert water to a gold mining area, which has now became home to a colony of glow worms. We also stumbled across some weird sculptures during our forest walk.

    Next day we drove to the nearby town of Fox Glacier and went to see Matheson lake. It is famous for its perfect postcard worthy reflection of the two highest peak of New Zealand: Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. We were not so lucky with the mirror reflection and the clouds but it was an amazing view still. Back to Franz Josef we went for another little walk to see the glacier from the bottom. It was interesting to learn about the history of this glacier and how quickly it is receding due to global warming.

    We had an amazing time in Franz Josef and we met really nice people in our campsite which made our dinners even more enjoyable!    Read more

  • The Little One
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    Day 39

    Wanaka

    February 16, 2023 in New Zealand

    After driving down the West Coast its time to journey in land again to get up close and personal with the mountains and glacial lakes that make up the southern Alps range. Our first stop on the way to our next destination is to see huge waterfall and blue pools. Both incredible colours thanks to the freezing cold waters coming down from the mountains. A few people braved the chilly waters but we gave it a miss this time.

    After the thrills of Franz Josef we are now staying in the chilled and relaxed town of Wanaka, or at least that's what we'd thought. A big sporting event is being held, triathlon and iron man. There are a lot of people training and running and cycling. We just decided to walk slowly and first of all see THE tree. We were warned that a tree was Instagram famous here and we were not disappointed. It is indeed a strange sight, seeing a tree on its own growing in a lake. The landscape around it also helps to make it extra special. We appreciated it as long as the sand flies let us. Just next to the this tree was a little park with a lot of bigger trees. Quite interestingly most of them were planted by humans, so not native to this area. We saw a few giant sequoia that reminded us the ones in California.

    Next day we went for a little walk up to Mount Iron. It is really just a hill but we got a nice view from the top of the lake and the town. The town is quite small although we can see a lot of development starting and it will look very different in a few years time. After the walk we sat at the beach to have our delicious sandwiches. Some of the ducks wanted a piece but we weren't in a sharing mood! Unfortunately we forgot our swimsuits so we couldn't go for a dip, quite a lot of people were in though! Luckily our camp site had a spa, sauna and hot tub, so we had a dip back there instead.

    The inconvenient of sleeping in a van is that we need to get out to go to the toilet, however at night time it is quite an experience. The sky is definitely not the same as our European sky and even this close to a town we were able to see so many stars. It is quite incredible!

    Close to Wanaka we visited a lavender farm, this was better than expected as it was also home to some farm animal happy to be scratched. This visit allowed us to take nice pictures and gave us ideas on what to do with our lavender at home!    Read more

  • The Little One
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    Day 41

    Mount Cook

    February 18, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    We ventured further up the valley and closer to the mountains, staying right at the foot of Mount Cook, the tallest Mountain in New Zealand. Dwarfed by its size and the surrounding range, we are definitely feeling very small right now.
    Our campsite for the night is right by the glacial lake which flows down from the Mount Cook Glacier. We thought we would get our feet wet before dinner but to our surprise it wasn't too cold, we managed to go for a decent swim and we stayed in the water at least half an hour.

    After the sun went down we were treated to an amazing sky full of stars. This area is world renowned as one of the best places for star gazing and we were lucky enough to have a clear night with no moon. A few caravans had some pretty huge outdoor lights but we were able to escape their glare and look up at the Milky Way, always a nice treat for two city dwellers.

    Next day and its time to tackle the Mountain! It is quite a bit bigger than we had anticipated standing at 3724m, so we settled for a walk up the valley to see the glacier instead. It was a very windy but rewarding walk. The glacial lake right at the base of the mountain always has a few icebergs floating as the glacier breaks apart and retreats. We also stopped by to see some blue pools that have now turned green. Once fed by the glacier and its milky turquoise waters they were blue, but as the glacier retreated up the mountain the pools are now filled by rain water which has allowed plant life to flourish and changed their completion to a muddy green instead. Someone should really change the name.

    This feels very isolated place, despite the huge number of tramplers we saw on the walk (one of the busiest we have done), maybe it's just vastness of the mountains and the lakes here. A really great spot to spend the last few nights in our van.    Read more

  • The Little One
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    Day 44

    Christchurch

    February 21, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Time to return the van and sleep within 4 walls again. We haven't finished our New Zealand adventure quite yet but unfortunately we have to pack up our bags and say farewell to our four wheeled friend who has looked after us for the last 30 days. When we originally planned our trip we weren't sure how long we would need in the van so we opted for a 30 day rental, turns out we needed longer but by the time we had figured that out we were unable to extend the van. We will soon be getting a little car to finish off the South Island, but first we are exploring the bars, restaurants and maybe some museums in New Zealand's second 'biggest' town, big is not really the right word to use here though, as its only around 370,000 people, so a bit smaller than Liverpool, or a bit bigger than Lille.

    Christchurch history is synonymous with earthquakes as the city is located reasonably close to one of the the bigger fault lines. The most recent one that did a lot of damage to the town and the nearby area was in 2011. There were actually a few earthquakes in a row at end of 2010 and beginning of 2011. In February 2011 a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit just 10km southeast of the city and 5km deep. It did a lot of damage and the city is slowly rebuilding. We learnt all this in a busy little museum, it was mainly busy because it was raining almost the whole time we were here!

    Luckily our first morning was sunny so we managed to enjoy the beautiful botanical gardens with some big trees and a lot of dahlias. We walked around the city that has remodeled the riverside quite well with good walking pavements everywhere. They have a little tram here, only for tourists we think, but apart from this we didn't see much public transport. As we're staying in the center it wasn't a problem but we could see a lot of car parks for commuters.

    On our second and third day we were not so lucky with the weather but that allowed us to go to the museums, starting with Quake City and followed by the modern art gallery and to finish with the, Canterbury museum. Canterbury is the name of the region Christchurch resides in and we were expecting geological, historical or natural information, perhaps learning about animals like the Moa. To our surprise, at the entrance we found out that the museum was going through a major redesign and all the collections were in storage. However, for the last few months before the building is closed for renovations for at least 5 years, they have done an exhibition with local and international street artists. This was actually really good! They opened all the rooms of the building and let the artists loose to create whatever they wanted. There were 5 floors of different styles, from Graffiti, murals, sculptures and classic street art. We found it was a really interesting idea and a good use of a space for art that is in its definition temporary!

    Christchurch was a good little break in the journey for us. We felt that we needed some days off the road to recharge our batteries and have a bit of time to do nothing and eat some more good food cooked by someone else, not having to do the dishes has become a luxury!    Read more

  • The Little One
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    Day 49

    Banks Peninsula and Methven

    February 26, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌫 18 °C

    Back on the road and we picked up our new wheels, a slightly battered little Toyota. Pushing 15 years old she's clearly seen some road, but she was cheap and seems to work, apart from the odd rattle here and there. We headed out of Christchurch down to the Banks Peninsula, originally thought to be an Island by Cook and the initial explorers, but very much connected to the main land. There are a few little artsy towns, with some interesting galleries and gardens but the main attraction is the main bay which has a pod of hector dolphins, a colony of blue penguins and a clan of fur seals. We took a boat tour around the bay and was lucky enough to see all three, although not quite lucky enough to get many snaps, so you'll have to trust us when we say it was magical. We did manage to get some pictures of the art garden we visited that reminded us of Barcelona.

    Next day we head inland to get closer to the mountains again. We're taking the same road we came in on with the van, but this time we will go even further south. On the road we're surprised to see more snow on the mountains than we remember. Confirmed by someone local, they had some cold weather and a fresh dump up on top while we were in Christchurch, nice little touch on a already amazing landscape! We stopped for the night in the little ski town of Methven. Still not enough snow to ski but we heard of some hot pools nearby and we checked it out. It was an incredible experience. The hot pools is a series of swimming canals filled with perfectly warm water. Cherry on top, they have a swim up bar on the adults only side and a jumping platform on the kids side. We enjoyed both very much and felt very relaxed after.

    The real reason why we stayed in this remote little town in the middle of nowhere was to go on the Edoras tour. For those of you not acquainted with LotR, (seriously go watch the movies 😂) Edoras is the Capital of Rohan, home of the Rohirrim, the horse lords of Middle Earth. The spot we have come to see is the shooting location used in the Second and Third Movies. All of the Houses and the Great Golden Hall were temporary and have since been removed but the rocky out crop they sat upon is still very much here, rising up out of a great plain, flanked on all sides by the mountains and next to a great silver River, almost exactly how Tolkien described it. Our tour guide for the day was none other than Hammond Peek, I posit that none of you, even the most ardent LotRs fans, know who that is, and neither did we. It turns out he was the Sound Recordist for all three LotR movies and worked on set with all of the actors the entire time. He regaled us with very detailed and interesting stories and brought the whole thing to life with his inside knowledge of how the set looked and felt. He also brought along a few props for us to play with 🗡️🛡️⚔️

    It's nice to be back in the road and out in nature again, and back on the Hobbits trail!    Read more

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