Kiwi humour and soggy cows and sheep!

As we travel along, we get to see some funny sites. The Kiwi sense of humour is nowhere more evident than on its road signs. Often hard hitting and straight to the point, like the one that shows two sides of a road. The left (i.e. the side they drive on), is shown as "Live" and the right hand side as "Die".

The road sign below takes the prize so far!

South island is generally much greener than North island. Normally this is because they get more rain than the North but this summer has been exceptionally hot and dry all over New Zealand and several areas in the North have been declared drought zones. The poor farmers are suffering as milk, lamb and beef prices fall because the animals haven't had enough good stuff to graze on. In the South they appear to have much more water and most farmers seem to be irrigating their pasture. Everywhere we go we see huge irrigation machines - they look a bit like old fashioned planes hovering over huge fields. Normally the fields that they are watering are empty so we were amused to pass this field of sheep recently, happily grazing while being watered!

Sheep grazing while being watered

And also some water loving cows!

Watering the Cows

Lots of cows in this field but pretty typical numbers

Travelling North for our first spot of sunbathing!

Wed 7th - Sunday 10th March

Time to travel back to the North of South Island. Sadly it was time to say farewell to Jo and Arthur in Christchurch and for the first time we went back over some route that we travelled before, including an overnight stop in Hamner Springs but no time to dally in the thermal springs on this visit! 

Spent a couple of days in the delightful market town of Nelson. This included a long walk on the strangely named "Rabbit Island". A long sandy beach in a conservation area. 

Rabbit Island

Everyone had told us what a lovely sunny, laid back spot Nelson is and so it proved  to be. Good sandy beaches up here, lots of vineyards and loads of fresh fruit from the many local orchards. They even grow hops - apparently a rarity in NZ. For most of our travels we've enjoyed fresh peaches and apricots, particularly the latter, but here we've also feasted on fresh strawberries. Very yummy!


Popped to Nelson market on Saturday before we left. This is a delightful mixture of arts and crafts, local groceries, honey, beer and wines. Most of which you can taste before buying! A great joy for Mags was the cheese stall that sold delicious sheep's cheese and yoghurt. It has proved difficult to get non dairy yoghurt on much of the trip so this was a great treat to go with the strawberries. 

Nelson market -you can buy almost anything here

Before leaving Nelson, we couldn't resist a trip to one of the many arty studios. The Point Studio is opposite a lovely bay, no problem seeing where Nikki Johnson the resident artist, gets her inspiration from. She makes all sorts of unusual pieces of jewellery and wall art and we succumbed to a rather fabulous "gecko" which we'll hang on a wall either in Herefordshire or Cyprus as a wonderful reminder of this magical place. 

The Point Studio, Monaco, Nelson

Travelled up to the golden bay area next. The road here from Nelson is one of those interesting ones full of pressy pusses.  Takaka Hill between Motueka and Takaka is very steep with loads of tight bends with staggering views over forestation. We were both glad to get to the plain on the other side.  

Again everyone had told us what a lovely area this is and it's true! Staying on a camp site right next to a huge sandy beach with practically no one on it. Very windy when we arrived yesterday but today dawned gloriously sunny and with very little wind. So for the first time on the trip, we were able to do some sunbathing on the beach. Fabulous as we need to rest up for a while! As a treat we've also moved from our faithful camper van into a little cabin for a couple of nights. So nice to have an en suite bathroom rather than trekking to the communal "ablutions"!

Pohara Beach - a stones throw from our camp site

Catching up in Christchurch

Sat 2nd - Wednesday 7th March

Stayed a few days in Christchurch with Jo Sharpe, a childhood friend of Maggie's.  Really great to catch up and see something of this area. 

Jo Sharpe and Mags

Jo lives in New Brighton. The sea is just across the road. Great beach, rather more sandy than Brighton beach in the UK. 

New Brighton beach, Christchurch

New Brighton Pier

Visited Akaroa, an interesting little coastal village with a French feel. For once the weather was cool that day, hence the clouds!

Fascinating to get an insider's view of the impact of the recent earthquakes in Christchurch. You hear about earthquakes and feel sympathy for those involved but until you see the devastation at first hand, it's difficult to appreciate just how big an impact it has had on Christchurch. Jo took us on a "devastation" tour around the city. The damage is extensive, both in the City Centre and surrounding suburbs, partly because there have been lots of earthquakes - the big three and another 2,700 and counting. There are streets and streets of housing that's been or will be demolished, much of the the infrastructure (sewers, roads etc.) is shot. Some communities have been completely dispersed and homeowners without insurance and or financial resources have pretty much no help to rebuild their home somewhere else. The long term consequences could therefore be very "interesting".

From a property/town planning perspective, it's a huge opportunity to rebuild a city but goodness knows whether there will ever be enough cash. It's estimated that it will take $40 - 60 billion to reconstruct the housing alone, let alone the infrastructure, commercial and other buildings. 

As always there are lots of hard choices and some controversial decisions such as spending at least $6 million on a temporary "cardboard" cathedral. Could rehouse lots of displaced families with that money! But despite the huge impact there's still a feeling of optimism about this place. The pop up mall in the city centre is made out of containers and is a lovely space with interesting shops. The strong Kiwi spirit is very evident here.

Site of former CTV building where there were a number of deaths

City Centre

Remembrance chairs for the 100+ people who died

Catholic Basilica badly damaged

Temporary Cathedral under construction

Restart - the Pop Up Mall 

Whiskers galore, fab Fleur and little Blues!

1st March

March started with A Wow day!  

Went to the North end of the Catlins first of all. Beautiful and deserted beaches and lots of young seals lolling on the rocks and playing in the sea. We were able to get pretty close, within a few metres today. Could see their long whiskers and watched in fascination as one of them scratched his nose. Hadn't realised that they have long "claws" at the end of their flippers. 

Fur seal

Then on to a long and fantastic lunch at Fleurs Place in Moeraki. Guess this is a non commercialised version of Padstow. Rik Stein has been to Fleurs Place and loved it and we completely understand why. Moeraki is a tiny fishing village with an active fishing fleet. Fleur specialises in fish (though meat is also on the menu) and she serves whatever came in on the boats that morning. We had a shared plate of the fresh fish of the day and steamed vegetables and it was gorgeous! All in a very quirky little building with Fleur herself overseeing the action. Busy place, serving all day and into the evening yet a very relaxed atmosphere. Huge thanks to Bruce Blomfield for recommending this place.

Selection of fresh fish

retro hand cooler in the loo!

Fleur herself

Our next stop was at a group of curious spherical boulders in the sea just up the road from Fleurs. We needed the walk on the beach and the boulders were interesting! The Maori legend is that they were baskets of food sent in by the gods but there is a more complicated geological explanation! Suffice to say that these malteser shaped rocks have been around for a while and more may form over time. 

The boulders

Boulders close up

Boulders when they crack

Mags in a boulder

Great day thus far but it was to get even better. In the evening we put on lots of clothing and went and sat in a cold, open air stadium by the sea in Oamaru. Just as dark was descending, groups of tiny (about 10" high) blue penguins came waddling out of the sea and up the rocks to their nesting boxes. They are so cute! This is a conservation project which has succeeded in increasing the breeding numbers have four fold over the past few years. These tiny penguins can live up to about 19 years old. They come back every night, relying on their hearing to find their way to their nest. We were only able to see them as there were sodium lights which the penguins can't see, so as far as they were concerned it was pitch black! Unfortunately no cameras allowed so the picture below is from a commercial source.

 

We'd been to see blue (or fairy) penguins before in Australia but this time the nests were much closer and the noise the penguins made was incredible! A sort of mix of baby cries and snoring. 

Fantastic day with lots of wonderful things to see and eat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Natural nuggets and a meeting of far flung rellies!

27/28 Feb

On 27th we stopped over in a place called Balclutha whose main claim to fame is a large river! Lovely welcome to the fairly basic camp site from Leanne, the owner who's married to an Englishman originally from Stoke on Trent.

Visited the Northern end of the "Catlins" today. Beautiful deserted beaches and a very rough road leading up to "Nugget Point". Certainly shook, rattled and rolled us and the contents of our van. However it was worth the shaking. After a good walk, we were able to view some amazing rocks (nuggets) which grow out of the sea. Rather like the 12 Apostles in Australia. Could hear lots of squawking from the seals below but only spotted a couple.  

Sea near Nugget Point

Our rather dusty van having mastered a rough road!

Roaring Bay - home to yellow eyed Penguins and Fur Seals

Lighthouse at Nugget Point

Nugget Point

"Nuggets" in the sea

Highlight of the day was our visit to Dunedin where we met Ann Culy, one of Mike's Kiwi cousins. She wasn't expecting us but greeted us very warmly. Seems a lovely lady and talented too. In 1995 she set up a jewellery workshop and gallery that makes and sells works from all over NZ. Dangerous place as there were some very attractive and unusual pieces! She'd just returned from a family wedding so was able to show us pics of other members of the Culy tribe that we hope to meet in the coming weeks. It's remarkable how these links are coming together and really good to get to know more about our respective family histories. 

Ann Culy and Mike (Ann had broken her arm before our arrival!)

Dunedin's an interesting place. Made most of it's money in 19th Century from gold mining and the town is full of what were once rather grand buildings, all rather reminiscent of Edinburgh (the Scottish influence is strong in these parts). Unfortunately many of the buildings now need some TLC.  

Wow Ometer Update!  
3 star WOW's:
Meeting up with the Blomfield and Sherlock clan again
Whale watching at Kaikoura 
Flight across Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers, Mounts Cook and Tasman and surrounding area
Milford Sound cruise 

2 star WOW's:

Matheson Lake walk (free)
Wine tour in Blenheim 
Watching the seals just outside Kaikoura (free)

 1 Star WOW's:
Duder Regional Park (free)
Whitebait at Curly Tree Whitebait Company
The Mussel Kitchen, Coromandel Town 
Keplers  Restaurant, Te Anau (great seafood and meat and delicious dairy free sorbet)

Pressypusses and Geographical Confusion!

24 and 25^th Feb Southland to Fiordland

One of the nice aspects of travelling around a country for the first time are the things that you come across by accident.  When looking for a coffee and pee stop we happened to arrive in the tiny hamlet of Kingston about 2 minutes before the local steam train pulled in beside us! Amazing beasty. Think I might have seen a ginger headed train driver at the helm (sorry, in joke about my paternal grandfather who was a train driver).  

Kingston Flyer

  

      

Parents have many ways of amusing bored children and one of Daddy (Brian) Sherlock’s was to drive at James Bond speeds around twisty roads with steep drops on either or preferably both, sides. All the time he would say “Look Mags  there’s a pressypuss” (i.e. precipice).  My brother’s thought this hilarious and it no doubt explains my fear of heights!

Two of the roads travelled in the past couple of days brought back these memories. The road between Wanaka and Queenstown features a very steep bit that is allegedly the highest metal road in New Zealand. Going up is bearable but the steep descent made me shut my eyes several times – luckily Mike was driving! Strangely this stretch of road was full of cyclists, all presumably out to show off their macho credentials. 

Crown Pass (we think)

Today’s joy was the final stretch of road up to Milford Sound which was full of tight corners and deep chasms. If the scenery hadn’t been so fantastic my eyes would have been closed for most of this stretch! This road also features the most amazing tunnel. At 1.2km the Homer tunnel took 20 years to complete, not surprising when you see the mountain they had to get through and the fact that they did it all by hand when the tunnel was started in the 1930’s. It’s a one way tunnel with traffic lights at each end. Not well lit and pristine on the inside either - evidence of the hacking that formed the tunnel and quite dark and gloomy! Never again can we complain that traffic lights are slow- the ones at the tunnel take 15 minutes to change! Surreal scene when we were waiting to enter – the passenger on the motorbike in front of us dug into her backpack and got out her I Pad. Who says that you can’t communicate from anywhere!

Traffic lights at entry and exit to Homer Tunnel

The trip to Milford Sound was billed by all the tourist guides as a “must do” so we set off from our overnight staging post in Te Anau (incidentally this is on an even larger lake than Wanaka), in slight trepidation in case the day didn’t live up to expectations. We needn’t have worried! The scenery on the 120 km drive was fantastic, let alone the main event. This is an understandably popular tourist attraction so the road was unusually crowded, particularly with coaches. Helpful though as it showed us where to stop on the journey to take photos! We did wonder quite what the UK police would think of a bus casually stopping in the middle of a one way bridge crossing to let its passengers take photos!

A highlight en route was the “Mirror Lake”. As the name suggests this calm stretch of water perfectly reflects the mountains that tower above it. Very Lord of the Rings (LOTR) as is much of the scenery around here. We're close to several of the film locations but they are pretty inaccessible except by air.

Views of mountains from the Mirror Lake

Having been away from the UK for nearly a month, we are finding it hard to know what day it is, let alone the date so we were increasingly confused today as we approached what we thought was an NZ fiord only to find that apparently we were in Wales! Having crossed the River Cleddau we then got to Milford Sound, originally known as Milford Haven which, as everyone knows, is just across the water from Dad’s house! We went on a very interesting boat trip through the Fiord (it was wrongly named as a “sound”, it is actually a Fiord having been created from a glacier) to the Tasman sea. We gazed in awe at the wonderful juxtaposition of huge granite and quartz mountains, the very deep (400metres), 15 km long lake and the incredible forestation that somehow survives by clinging onto sheer rock faces. All formed by a glacier part of which is expected to be gone by 2020. 

Entry into Milford Sounds (nee Haven!)

Lady Bowen Waterfalls

The amazing Milford Sound

Geographic confusion increased as we passed Lady Bowen falls and Mount Pembroke (the tallest mountain in this area)! (For those not familiar with Wales, these are all Welsh names and places).  The fun continued as behind us on the boat were three very vocal Welsh ladies, all rabbiting away in the Celtic tongue. Now the thing about the Welsh language is that it uses English words and phrases every so often and it was very difficult not to laugh when suddenly one of the trio exclaimed in a loud voice “a blond bombshell, now there was a big ask”. 

The Stirling (perhaps a link to another Celtic ancestor) waterfalls were impressive in itself but from afar the water takes on the colours of a rainbow so it looks even more amazing. 

Stirling Waterfall - coloured like a rainbow

Unusually Milford is in the midst of a drought i.e. no rain for 10 days! Normally it’s very wet, averaging 6.7 metres (264 inches) of rain each year. Sensibly this water is used to supply both power and water locally.  

NZ is pretty serious about conservation and there are numerous examples of this wherever we go. The fur seals basking on the rocks by the lake were one example of how a previously hunted species is now allowed to live naturally. 

Young fur seals basking in the sunshine, gathering energy before the evening food hunt

Rudyard Kipling wasn’t far off when he called this place the “8^th wonder of the world”. It’s stunningly beautiful and shows just how clever nature can be at adapting to circumstance. 

One further bit of news – there was an ancestor of a Hobbit on the boat! Carefully disguised but there was no mistaking the curly hair and beard and the furry feet! This is the closest we’ve got to one of the furry fellows. 

Modern day Hobbit

Rounded the day off with delicious blue cod and chips and green lipped mussels on rice from a take away van. Came highly recommended and we understand why!