Rivendell & Masterton

"What?! You want to go to Mordor???"

On our way out of Wellington, we passed by Rivendell (film location from Lord of the Rings). Continuing north, we decided to spend the night in Masterton. We stopped at a motel where we took the last available room...because all of the other rooms are taken by Aussies who are in town to compete in the Golden Shears sheep shearing competition! Unfortunately the competition doesn't start until Thursday, so we will have to settle for streaming it online (https://www.goldenshears.co.nz). The finals are supposed to be quite dramatic - 6 finalists, 20 sheep each, shearing for both time and quality. How exciting!

Onwards!

With 2 weeks left and all of the North Island (beyond Wellington) left to see, this 2007 Nissan Wingroad is our ticket to making the most of the rest of our trip. Goodbye Wellington, hello...something on the way to Napier!

Australian magpie

It would appear our campsite's mystery tuxedo bird is an Australian magpie. We thought it might be a tui bird, which is a bird native to New Zealand and nowhere else, but it does not appear to be so. According to wikipedia, the Australian magpie is an introduced species that is now considered to be a pest.

Mikado

What to do in New Zealand's capital city? See a British opera set in Japan, of course! Well anyway, it should be good and we can't wait for the show to begin!

Busy tourists

As Neil's gps tracing of our day indicates, we busy tourists today. We secured a rental car that we will return to the Auckland airport (and as Neil noted, this means we can start buying souvenirs!). Over the course of the day we visited two markets (the underground market which is quite literally an underground car park turned into a craft/food market), and the Wellington night market. We visited parliament (the executive wing of parliament is the "beehive" building from the earlier post) and two museums - Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand, and Space Place, the planetarium. We only had one hour prior to Te Papa's closing; we will return tomorrow. The planetarium provided us with an overview of stargazing from the southern hemisphere. Fun fact: place one hand on the tip of the southern cross, place another hand over the bright star Achernar, clap your hands and now you've found due South! We rode the historic cable car up to the planetarium and roamed all around the waterfront and the central business district. We'll be back in town tomorrow or Monday, for more of Te Papa, Queen Victoria lookout and some of Wellington's famous coffee :)

Parliament

New Zealand's parliament is made of up 121 MPs. The voting style is mixed member proportional, where electors
cast two votes - one for their party of choice and one for their local representative. There are 7 different parties represented in government, with the National Party currently forming a minority government. 2017 is an election year (MPs are voted for 3 year terms) and the elected prime minister, John Key, resigned in December for family reasons, so former deputy prime minister Bill English is now the prime minister. The house doesn't sit again until Mar 7 so we didn't catch any action on our tour, but we can always watch it on tv or online!

Ack! A major city!

Wellington is the first major city we've been to since our two days in Auckland at the very beginning of our trip (6 weeks ago!). At this stage of our trip it's like culture shock all over again. We aren't surrounded by tourists. The locals are busy going about their business. There are more roads and highways, so navigation is more confusing (just figuring out how to leave the ferry terminal took some time!), and all of the roads are busier. We are no longer on the South Island, so some brands (though admittedly not too many) at the supermarket are different. Some of the birds at our campground are different too! There is one that looks like a black and white seagull (literally like a seagull wearing a tuxedo) and makes a curious sound like an 80's robot noise.

We are staying in the suburb of Lower Hutt, which has its own downtown. Riding here seemed too scary (there might be a cycle trail but we aren't sure) and the ferry stop nearby was damaged in November's earthquake so the commuter rail was our best option. So many public transport options! Refreshing and completely overwhelming all at once.

Adding to the mental stress is the fact that we are lacking a solidified plan for the rest of our trip from here on out. Seems like a rental car will be most efficient to string together the stops we desire, but we haven't been into the city to make our reservation yet. There is an interesting cycle trail that starts here (the Rimutaka Cycle Trail), but we don't have solid intel on track conditions in certain sections that are rated more for mountain bikes, and whether the road that links the end of the trail back to the start (since the trail forms 7/8 of an oval shape) is rideable. So, we have a number of fact finding missions on tap for tomorrow (we will take the train or bus into the city)...but first we're going to sleep in!

No interesting photos to share just yet; we were too focused on reading our maps and figuring out the train and finding our campsite and then reading our maps some more to get out to tourist information (they were, perhaps unsurprisingly, not very helpful with or obscure cycle track questions) and out to the grocery store and back again. But now we have a better handle of where we are and what's going on, so we'll have more interesting news tomorrow :)

Onward to the North Island

We are currently on the 3.5h Interislander ferry ride to Wellington, with our bikes tucked away (and tied down!) on deck 3 along with other vehicles.

Marlborough sounds

Picton is where you catch the ferry to the North Island (which we will be doing tomorrow). It is also the launching point to Marlborough sounds and the Queen Charlotte track, a 72km trail through the sounds. This morning we caught a shuttle boat out to Motuara Island, a predator-free (ie no mammals) bird sanctuary. We saw South Island saddlebacks, South Island robins, bellbirds and checked in on a few penguin nests (no penguin sightings though). Then we took a transfer shuttle boat to Resolution Bay, hiked 10.5km to Furneaux Lodge and boat shuttled back to Picton. Some of the lodges along the Queen Charlotte are actually more like resorts; with boat and luggage transfers available this is the most luxurious hiking I've ever seen. Sounds very pleasant to hike/stroll a few hours per day, spend a night or two at the lodges with good food and wine...something my parents might even be interested in sometime :)

Wine wine wine

We are in the heart of New Zealand wine country! It was so hard to choose a winery from the gigantic list of available options, but here we are at Forrest Estates. There is one Forrest sauvignon blanc available at the LCBO (it's not on the tasting list but we can try it when we're home!).

Blenheim

We have arrived in Blenheim. The drive was uneventful but was notable for being Neil's first time driving manual transmission on the left side of the road! Our Corolla hatchback (do those exist at home?) handles the twisty turns roads much better than the RAV4!

Nelson airport

We at the airport but we are not flying out of Nelson. We biked here to pick up a rental car that we are relocating to Picton (the cost of the rental car itself is free). Nelson airport however, is impressively equipped for bikes, including a designated spot for people to build their bikes, as well as signage for cycle hire ("cycle hire left lane, car rental right lane"). Once we get our car we will have 24 hours to deliver it to Picton, which gives us just enough time to make a quick side trip to see Blenheim!

Back to Nelson

Leaving Mapua, we hopped on a short (10 min) ferry that runs purely for cyclists riding our trail (in fact the ferry is run by a bike rental company). We rode along the beaches of Rabbit Island on our way back to Nelson. This evening we watched the New Zealand movie Pork Pie, about three accidental outlaws journeying from Auckland to Invercargill. A silly but entertaining film with lots of kiwi inside jokes and humour (including a cameo by the mayor of Invercargill!).

Mapua

Yesterday we rode 40km from Kaiteriteri to Mapua. With rain clouds chasing us the whole way, we didn't stop to loiter at any of the tantalising cafes (including one with tame eels that you could feed!). This is the first campsite that we've been to that offers a restaurant/bar, so we ordered some refreshing beverages and then returned an hour later for dinner. After dinner we took the low tide route into town, walking through clay and clam shells to the cute town centre. Today was our lazy day - we lounged around until the heat and humidity chased us out of our cabin. We started on a 30km wine route that passes by 5 wineries, but we didn't get past the first one! At Mahana Estates we tasted 9 different wines, ate a delicious mixed platter of cheeses, charcuterie and antipasto and topped it off with dessert since the shady patio with live music an excellent view was exactly what we were looking for!

Kaiteriteri kayak

Us in front of the Tonga arches.

Indeed, Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania in 1642 and then sailed east and discovered New Zealand, arriving not far from where we are currently (but then he was chased away by the Maori, and gave the name "Murderer's Bay" to what is now known as Golden Bay).

Kaiteriteri

We are now in Kaiteriteri, a one street town on the beach and a launch point to Abel Tasman National Park, which we will explore by kayak tomorrow.

Ginger Dynamite

This little container-turned coffee shop serves up award-winning coffee and pies and was recommended to us when we were in Takaka. We rode 50km by 1pm...now it's time to sit and enjoy some food and the cafe's comfy couch before continuing onward. Neil is sitting in the corner of the container on the left but it's hard to see him in the photo.

Tapawera

Tapawera is just a blip on the map. We drove through it three days ago in the way to Motueka and it barely registered. But the local proprietors of the campsite filled us with interesting local information and history - there is a symbol on the hill made of white rock that depicts a stag with the lettering "12XIII", which commemorates the 12th and 13th army battalions that were stationed here. There is a carved gate in the town centre that symbolises European and Maori cooperation, and what can be accomplished by working together. We will have to find it tomorrow; we were too focused on finding food when we passed through earlier!

Tapawera is essentially surrounded by mountains on 3 sides and the sunset and clouds are absolutely gorgeous. Also the campground is spacious and quiet with beautiful fan-tailed birds, yummy plum trees and something mysterious in the woods that scurries away whenever we approach. Everything you could ever ask for after a solid day of biking!
Also, we rode through a 1.35km long tunnel today, built between 1891-1893 and then retired in 1955. It is the longest disused rail tunnel in New Zealand.

Rest stop in Brightwater

23km down, 37 or so to go. Time to refuel with a flat white and a berry smoothie!

Golden Bay

We logged a lot of distance in our rental car over 48 hours!

After arriving in Motueka on Sunday night, we spent Monday exploring Golden Bay. We drove the stomach-churning switchbacks out to Takaka, then continued to the northern tip of the South Island.

Along the way we stopped at:
- some lookouts on Takaka Hill

- Pupu Hydro Powerhouse, which is a hydro station that fell into disrepair in the 70s but was restored by the community
- Te Waikoropupu Springs

- Wharariki Beach, which involved walking through some farmland before arriving at the stunning beach (with seal pups!)

- Farewell Spit, though the beach was closed due to a recent mass whale stranding

We tried to fill up on gas in Collingwood on the way back, but the credit card machine at their single gas station wouldn't read any of our cards and the station was no longer staffed, so we had to continue onwards. We made it to Takaka with the fuel light on and the dashboard showing 24km to empty, which is a little closer than we wanted to cut it! Thankfully their gas station was able to read Neil's chip-and-pin card (it was ~8pm so none of the stations were staffed). We ate a delicious dinner at the ominously named Dangerous Kitchen (but it was great! no danger at all!) and decided we didn't want to drive another hour back to Motueka. At the recommendation of our waitress, we checked in at the bar of the local hotel - which was hosting pool night for the locals - and were surprised to discover that a) they had availability for the night and b) it was very reasonably priced. The hotel dates back to the early 1900s and looks like it hasn't been updated in the last 30 or so years, but it did the trick and we were very pleased. And the cafe served up a mean coffee in the morning!!

Today we checked in early to our campsite and dropped off all of our stuff, returned the rental car and spent the day casually roaming around Nelson and planning the next few days on the Great Taste Trail

Greymouth -> Motueka

Yesterday we finished the last 29km of the west coast wilderness trail, returning to Greymouth. We spent the night in a place called Noah's Ark (formerly a rectory) where all of the rooms our animal themed. Our room was the cat room.

Today we picked our rental car back up, and drove the 300 or so km to Motueka. We are no longer on the west coast and are now in the Tasman region at the northern end of the South Island. After a day or two of touring around in the car we will ride the Great Tastes Trail, and sample the wineries and orchards that we pass!

I don't have any good photos from today on my phone, so here's a photo from Sunset Point in Hokitika that I meant to post on Wednesday.

A blur of cyclists before dawn

The Coast to Coast race is a 243km race across the country from Kumara Beach to Christchurch. There is a two-day version that started yesterday and a one-day version that started at 6am today. The race is a 3km run + 55km cycle + 33km run (up a mountain!) + 15km cycle + 67km kayak + 70km cycle. Here is a photo of the lead pack of cyclists, whizzing by the local hotel. There were about 10 other people scattered along our stretch of street, including one photographer with a tripod, the parents of a competitor in the 1st chase group who yelled "hi Ma and Pa" as he passed, and the person arranging road cones to block side streets before the race. And now...back to sleep :)

Hokitika to Kumara

On the highway, the distance between Hokitika and Kumara is only 20km. However the West Coast Wilderness Trail took us inland today, for a total of 73km. We could have spread it over two days, but Kumara is humming with activity due to the Coast to Coast race happening today and tomorrow (more on that tomorrow!). This trail truly lives up to its name. Here are some pictures from today. Not sure if they will post properly, but they are:
-curious roadside cow who was watching us adjust the seat heights on our bikes
-weka bird, a flightless bird that looks a little like a kiwi but walks like a chicken
-video of Neil crossing the stream (luckily we did not have to circle back and take the high water detour)
-one of a few signs warning us not to veer off the path due to mine shafts
-our well-deserved lamb dinner, with an apple cider and a "kiwi green" (midori, run, lime, apple juice & sprite)

Hokitika -> Ross -> Hokitika -> Greymouth -> Ross -> Hokitika...phew!

We were all over the place today! We arrived in Hokitika last night. This morning, we drove down to Ross (26km south) to drop off our bikes at the start of the West Coast Wilderness Trail. Then we headed back north, spent some time exploring the Hokitika beach and shops, and then continued further north to Greymouth. 

In Greymouth, we returned our rental car, secured accommodation in Greymouth for later in the week, and caught a bus back to Ross to be reunited with our bikes. From there, we set off on the first leg of the West Coast Wilderness Trail (33km from Ross to Greymouth), which so far lives up to its name quite nicely. Tomorrow, on to Kumara and then back to Greymouth on Saturday.

Glaciers by helicopter

We woke up this morning to blue skies and sunshine (and the sound of many helicopters) and knew we had to try to fit in an aerial tour. We saw the Fox & Franz Josef glaciers, Mt Tasman & Mt Cook, and landed on the Franz Josef glacier for photos. Totally awesome experience!!

Arrowtown, Glenorchy, Wanaka, & West Coast

To reach the West Coast required doubling back to Queenstown. This time we opted to camp at historic Arrowtown which maintains a cute downtown. We then drove to Glenorchy to see the rest of the lake, and swung back and up to Wanaka. We opted for the back road through an alpine pass, including spectacular views.

View from the pass

Wanaka is apparently starting to boom the way Queenstown did. It certainly was alive, but notably not as boisterous as Queenstown. Unique there was Puzzling World, where we competed in a giant outdoor maze (4 flags and the exit), plus explored illusions (including a floor tilted at 15deg).

From Wanaka we continued to Haast and began our west coast adventure. We ended up crossing the Haast pass in driving rain and stopped in Haast for the night (a couple hours short of our goal of the glaciers).

Maze

Happy faces finishing

Roman Toilets... by the actual toilets (random)

Yesterday we did the hikes to Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, and saw a kiwi bird in person! (no photos as not allowed to take photos).

Fox Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier

Upcoming plan is to bike the west coast wilderness trail by Greymouth, then eventually bike the Great Tastes Trail by Nelson. We were going to take the train through Arthur's Pass to Christchurch, but apparently some of the tracks were burned in a fire and the train is out of commission until May.

Fiordland

Everyone told us to visit Milford Sound. We weighed biking, day bus down, flight to get there. We opted to rent a car for a while and drive to Fiordland. We arrived in Te Anau (gateway town) and stopped by the iSite to plan. We opted for a kayak on Milford Sound and a cruise on Doubtful Sound. The kayak required us to be at the dock for 0630 am, and there was no accommodation in Mildford Sound. It was 2.5 hrs from Te Anau…. So we set out for a wilderness campground half way up the high way (Cascade Creek). It was Karen’s first camping experience without running potable water! We had to be up at 0430 the next morning so we tried sleeping in our car (a Rav 4). Karen slept well. Neil didn’t. And  by the time we rearranged luggage inside we’re not sure if it was any faster than putting away the tent.

Our car!

Kayaking was spectacular! It was amazing to be right beside the cliffs, and up close with seals. We even went under a waterfall! We opted for the full kayak experience, kayaking to the mouth and returning by water taxi. Absolutely amazing and highly recommended. Educational note: Milford Sound is a misnomer: as it was carved by a glacier and is connected to the sea it is technically a fiord. In the case of the fiords in Fiordland, they possess a unique ecology as with ongoing rain and a density difference, there is a layer of fresh water on top of the salt water. In addition, the fresh water is filled with tanins from the shore plants. This makes the water very dark and there is minimal light at 10m (closer to ~100m of normal ocean), resulting in very unique flora/fauna for the depth.

Kayaking!

 Seals!

Milford Sound

The rest of our Mliford Sound day was spent walking around and then backtracking down the road. We took a very leisurely scenic drive, seeing the sites we hadn’t had a chance to see that morning (too dark!). We saw the Chasm (a gorge cut by the river), and marveled at the Homer Tunnel (1.2km long through a saddle, built specifically to access Milford Sound).

Feeling leisurely we checked several other lookouts, and an 18km detour to a waterfall hike including dinner at a picnic shelter. Backtracking down the unsealed road passed a camp ground. As it was now raining quite hard we opted to stop if they had a cabin We spent the night in a cabin that was originally a hut for the workers on the road. Hollyford road originally was intended as a works project in the 1930s with a route to Haast. WWII started, labour dried up, and it was abandoned. The memory lives on as an 18km gravel road.

Our camp that night was unique: Gunn’s Camp. Originally a work camp, it has now become a campground which seems to often host long distance hop-on hop-off bus tours. Many other unqiue things at this site… Karen can add more I’m sure :)

Our Hut

Day 2 in Fiordland continued our scenic drive / hikes including a 3hr hike up to Key Summit at the Divide (East/West watershed divide). This included part of the famous Routeburn Track.

Day 3 was a cruise-bus-cruise through Manapouri Lake, across a pass, and out on Doubtful Sound. Pretty scenery, informative guide, but we preferred the kayaks on Milford. We did see an albatross and bottlenose dolphins here though!

From Manapouri we returned to Te Anau to visit the bird sanctuary which hosted Takahe, a bird that was once thought extinct but was found in the wild in 1948?

Speaking of birds, at several stops we met Kea – the world’s only mountain parrot. Super curious and intelligent, they would show no fear and come right up to us / our car. We saw them at all altitudes (including outside Homer’s tunnel where we watched some peck our tires, and one do a memorable dive).

Curious Kea

The bird sanctuary ended our time in Fiordland and it was off to the West Coast via Queentown!