Killing time in the mountains

500 km and 6 days, is what separated us from Peel forest and Te Anau, our next planned adventure in the form of the The Milford track and the whether was looking like a mixed bag.
The weather was looking good for a day at Mt Cook and we couldn't resist a view of 'The Cloud Piercer', so headed along a very scenic road, which traversed the shores of Lake Pukaki towards the seamlessly increasing lump of Mt Cook.
$20 brought us a campspot at the end of the road with a 360 degree mountain vista; Mt Wakefield, Mt Oliver, Mt Cook and Mt Sefton, cocooned us with an alpine evening glow from their glaciers, ridges and summit.

Mount Cook 

Mt Cook

A startling alarm clock woke us early with the rumbling and crashes of the steep icefall from the Tuckett Glacier, below Mt Sefton. With the illusion of being able to reach out and touch the cascading snow and ice, gave us a 10 by 3 kilometre TV screen as we sat, cooked and ate breakfast.

Alarm clock, in the form of Mt Sefton Icefall

We had a forecast of one fine day, turning into 100kph winds and rain for two days, and after researching most of the classic two day trips from the village we managed to settle on two different day walks. Lucy went for a pleasant walk to Kea view point and the Hooker Glacier viewing area, spotting ice bergs, Mount Cook Buttercups and bouncing on suspension bridges. I must have picked the shorter straw and went for the endless staircase up to The Mueller hut, but managed a traverse of the fake summit of Mount Oliver, needless to say we both had amazing views and spent ten minutes showcasing our photos to each other.

Iceberg

Swing bridge

Mt Oliver ridge

So with the weather turning, we decided to head to Wanaka and see what we could find to entertain us for the next couple of days, and we found a bit more than a couple of days worth of entertainment...
Wanaka was described to us before we left the UK as having the "Wild West sorta' feeling", but when we rocked up and into a hot tub at the Mount Aspiring holiday park, we lost any wild west expectations. Googling, skimming lonely planet and a long browse through the mountaineering guide book, raised the expectation of the chilled out, lake side town to a new level and we seemed to be bombarded with single and multi day trips, but of course the weather and maybe the hot tub and sauna dictated our days. Two days chilling and exploring the town and one day hiking up a steep slope with ever expanding views. Managing to ascend the height of the UKs highest mountain, Ben Nevis without even reaching the summit of the very impressive looking and aptly named Shark Tooth Peak, but decided to call it a day at 1,685m and head for the tub...

Wanaka Frisbee golf

Mt RobRoy

Unlike Queenstown, it looks like Wanaka is going to leave a burning desire to return and explore the hidden and not so hidden adventures in the area, with a list that's already too long, we'll have to make sure our next time here is a lot longer than we first considered.

Wanaka tree

Comfort in what we know

"Sam I'm going to chop some wood so we can get tea started" Lucy informs me, as I tap away at the computer trying to find the more interesting videos we've filmed over the past month. Our gas has ran out, so we're cooking on the wood burner again.
We have two more days here then it's back into the unknown again. Here, being a cabin quite literally in the middle of the woods, albeit a small woods it seems just as spooky as wannabe Blair witch project shack. It's one of Peel Forest Outdoor Pursuits Centres eco lodges, an off the grid cabin powered by solar panels, heated by fire and hot water from solar tubes.
We've been here for three weeks volunteering; painting, gardening, rafting, painting, kayaking, walking, filling in pot holes and more painting, but another three would easily pass by if we didn't have somewhere to be and by then we would be semi professional painters! A lot of the work has been the standard maintenance upkeep of the centre; of gardening, sorting and storing of kit and also the painting of a new eco lodge. It's the same as the one we're staying in; with 8 bunks, solar power, solar water, kitchenette, wood burner and a compost toilet. These cabins have a very modern feel, despite being a five minute walk into the woods and our stay has been very comfy with only two of us in an eight person cabin.
The location is great, two hours from Christchurch, thirty minutes from a decent sized town for the essentials but in the sticks enough to have the 'detached from the world' feeling. It's also on the door step to a variety of adventures and since being here we have walked up little mount Peel, kayaked and rafted down the lower Rangitata river, abseiled through some jungle and waded up a stream to a back country valley. Working with groups, but not having the overall responsibility of the activities has been refreshing and comfortable, as has the introduction of raft guiding from the very friendly staff of the centre. I could image nothing better than on a nice sunny, warm day, sat on the back of the raft helping some clients find their way down some fun and interesting rapids, wooping and wailing as we bounce from rock to rock. Just another qualification to chase I suppose...
With only one gas hob and a hot plate on the wood burner we've had to be organised with our meals, but I can comfortably say that this is the healthiest we've ate in a while. No oven, means no pizzas or chips, only fresh veg, pasta rice and stir fry's, and because the shops are 30 minutes away the junk foods of chocolates, cola and crisps are rationed instead of scoffed.
Now it's 9:30 and it looks like it's going to be an over cast night, meaning that the trees won't cast their werid and wonderful shadows into the room, which always seem to play with the imaginations, on top of the racket of the pesky possums that like to play on the porch. I hope I don't dream about painting...

Warm cabin, funky woods

Our T.V. for three weeks

Cheeky waterfall

Near the top of mt Peel, with the Canterbury plains behind

A true NZ adventure

Our valley for the night

Kayaking down the Rangitata river

Independence comes at a price, and ours cost $1000

It was inevitable, that after experiencing the kiwi roads from the rental car we would buy a car. Even after seeing the extortionate prices of ten year old cars in Queenstown and Christchurch, we still held on to the glimmer that we would cross paths with a cheap and reliable backpackers car.

And on a Friday afternoon on Geraldine's Freshchoice notice board, we saw an ad for a 1994 Ford Telstar for $1200...

Even though we had never heard of a Telstar, we had to at least phone and maybe even take it for a test drive. As it happens, Telstar happens to be the Australian/American version of a Mondeo, which if my childhood memory serves me right, wasn't the greatest of vehicles. We took it for a spin anyway, and despite the drive being short, the car drove well, sounded fine, had everything it needed and although having a few marks here and there, looked good to go.
Again we faced the same questions; car or buses? More independence or reliable? invest and save or safe in knowing we're getting what we pay for?
So when the price dropped down to $1100, our choice was sliding and when it settled on $1000 we couldn't resist. Were we buying a piece of scrap? Quite possibly yes, I would never buy a £500 car in the UK, but twenty year old cars with 200,000 kilometres on the clock seem to be the average backpacker car, and the call of the back country, away from the tourist highways and honey spots is starting to call. Adventure comes at a cost and I'd be happy if it cost me £500, only time will tell.
Anyway, the British couple who owned it let us drive it for a couple of days before any money was handed over, although I'd have to admit that was mostly due to our funds being transfered than it being a prolonged test drive. But we can say that we were as satisfied handing the money over, as they were receiving it.

On our steel horse...

Christchurch ( The Phoenix from the ashes )

  There is no arguement that first impressions are judgemental and unfortunately hard to change, and for Christchurch mine was not the best. Road closures, big empty hardcore lots in the city centre and fenced off buildings looking poised to fall down any minute. Driving through and an early evening walk around the city centre was the time I had to collect for my first impression, and for a city, I guess it's the equivalent of glancing over the cover of a book and maybe a skim read of the back.

Thank goodness for that second day and another chance!

The damage to the Cathedral

There's no getting round the fact that Christchurch is in a transitional stage and that this stage will last a long time, but for the quick visitor or backpacker, this is a city to experience. We spent two days exploring the city and this could have easily been turned into more if we didn't have a date to be somewhere else. Although there are numerous sites where a previous building has been demolished and awaiting a new project, the council have put in temporary art installations. These range from three story grafitti murals to 185 white seats to mark all the people who perished in the earthquakes. A recommended trip to Canterbury musuem, was well worth the free entry and we spent so long wandering through the Maori, Antarctic, bird and other exhibits we missed a chat at the ICE festival we were keen to attend.

Large mural

185 white chairs facing the new cardboard cathedral, to commemorate the lives lost

Head stand on road block sheep

Our time in chirstchurch fell at the same time as the ICE festival and something we had no idea existed, until we were walking straight into it in the centre of town. It's to celebrate the first summer flights to Antarctic and the start of the scientific season down there. There were loads of free talks about everything icy, live music, outdoor films and on the 4th there was even the chance to walk through some of the planes that were flying down south in the days to follow.

Flags at ICE festival

Shops made out of shipping containers

Our tourist-o-meter spiked through the roof, when Lucy was picked to help a street performer complete his act in front of a 'large' crowd at the Antarctic centre. I have no idea the population of Christchurch or of New Zealand but, if that was a big crowd I would hate to see a small crowd! Anyway the guy was very entertaining and had Lucy throwing a skittle on fire, a knife and spanner at him whilst he was on top of a 7 foot unicycle, and if that wasn't enough weird for her, to finish it off, she used a leaf blower to style his mullet whilst he juggled....

After all the werid and wonderful tourist shenanigans, it's time to move on to Peel Forest for some volunteering and after viewing some used cars we decided to stick to the buses, unless a cracker of a deal crosses our path.

'Damn tourist'

Funky sculpture

Moa skeleton, in the Canterbury museum

A Classic short New Zealand road trip

A lot of travelling folks we've crossed paths with seem to have done, are in the process of or are planning a road trip of some kind. We've heard tales of Australian desert crossing, trans American expeditions and even spoke to a guy motorbiking solo around the world with his snowboard. To be honest, although we have done longer drives back home, the road trip idea never really appealed. So much so, that we were quite content with catching the buses, until, all the factors fell in place for us to be driving a cheap rental from Queenstown to Christchurch.

The dollar a day rental

The 400ish kilometre drive, comes down to around 6 hours driving, but we had the car for two days, so why drive straight there? A quick google search and a bookme.com browse, gave us a rough plan of stopping off at the Lake Tekapo hot pools, sleeping in the car and swimming with some dolphins in Akaroa Harbour. This made the trip a bit longer and technically we drove past Christchurch to get to Akaroa, but that's what makes up a road trip.... isn't it?

When we got to our first stop in Frankton, 10k from Queenstown and somewhere we had walked to and from before, we had taken a liking to driving again. Even with our left foot dancing away, looking for a clutch in the automatic 4x4, we had hardly noticed the month and a half without driving and settled in quickly. Passing Cromwell's gaint fruit and turning on to state highway 8, we were into new territories and ready to crunch some miles.

Road tripping in the UK, has always felt like a motorway fly by or stuck behind a slow lorry, awaiting your inevitable time to over take. But not over here, it's different, its quieter, the roads are straighter, wider and all along that highway there seemed to be an open space on each side of the road. There were no drystone walls barricading the traffic in, no trees hiding the views, just open country and mountain back drops.

Lake and mountain back drop

Roughly half way between Queenstown and Christchurch, is Lake Tekapo hot pools and a perfect stop off. Three open air pools shaped to the different lakes near by, at 36, 38 and 40 degrees, makes it easy to relax, and after an hour and some tasty fries we were ready for part two.

40°C pool

Chilling

Crunching down the miles, the landscape changed from upland rolling hills with snow capped mountains, to rolling green hills, to the Canterbury plains and finally in the dark the sea. As we turned up and joined two campervans in the picnic area, the moon broke out and turned our already speical area into an amazing lake side stop over spot. Once the engine was off, all we could think of, was getting our heads down, so we were quick to sort our stuff out and turn out the lights, however once the lights were out the full force of the moon seemed to make its way through all the windows, giving us a 360° night light for most of the night.

Unfortunately we were awoken early by the hard pitter, patter of rain and the car rocking from the wind, and we both knew there was little chance of swimming with dolphins that day. After driving in to Akaroa and chatting with the lovely people at black cat cruises, our thoughts were confirmed, as it was super rough and the dolphins were off doing there own dolphin things, the swim was cancelled. After debating how wet we wanted to get in the rain, we settled on the tourist summit drive and a pop down to one of the bank peninsula bays. After some snow, some cold looking sheep and some sea, we were driving back towards Christchurch and into sunshine.

On the summit road

In a bay

Fairly cold

Akaroa Harbour

Sea side!

Getting into and settled in Christchurch was easy with the big grid road systems and the plentiful accommodation options. We hadn't heard much about Christchurch, apart from the earthquake, and the first thing we noticed was the emptiness of the city centre. There seemed to be loads of empty building lots which had been clearing of rubble and covered with hardcore. After a couple of hours wandering, we were left with the feeling that we had already, came, seen and done Christchurch, but this was only a tired, early evening first impression, which changed half way through the first morning.

Christchurch people must be huge!

So a classic short, road trip from Queenstown to Christchurch via Akaroa, and one leaving us with a lasting urge to buy a car of our own.