The story starts here...

Kia Ora. Welcome to the story of the Balancing Walcheros world tour 2011. Use the Blog Archive (to the right) for the full story. A full set of photos is available on Flickr.

The full itinerary

Booked through Discover the World. Flights Air New Zealand. Self-drive car rental Hertz.

Auckland - stayed at the Sky City hotel; dinner at the Sky Tower buffet; wilderness experience trip (Bush & Beach tours); Sky City casino; Auckland harbour.

Whakatane – stayed at the White Island Rendezvous ; day trip to White Island volcanic island.

Rotorua – stayed at the Amora Lake Resort ; Kiwi Encounter at Rainbow Springs; geothermal features at the Te Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley at TePuia.

Wellington – stayed at the Novotel; dinner at Dockside.

Picton – stayed at the Mercure; drive down through the Marlborough vineyards ; Spy Valley winery; The Store eatery at Kekerengu .

Kakoura – stayed at Hapuku Lodge; whale watching with Whale Watch; Maori experience with Maori Tours. 

Methven – stayed at the Methven Motel; scheduled to do a hot air ballooning breakfast with Aoraki Balloon Safaris but this didn’t happen due to high winds.

Oamaru – stayed at the Highfield Mews Motel; yellow-eyed penguin viewing, Bushy Beach Road.

Queenstown – stayed at the Copthorne Resort; Dart River jet boating and wilderness safari; dined at the Queenstown Skyline; scheduled to fly to Milford Sound with Real Journeys but this didn’t happen due to high winds.

Franz Josef – stayed at the Puna Grove motel; dined at the Alice may Bar and Restaurant; glacier valley walk, Franz Josef Glacier Guides ; helicopter flight onto the glacier, Franz Josef Glacier Guides.

Punakaiki – stayed and dined at Punakaiki Resort; walked to Pancake Rocks.

.

Nelson – stayed at the Kershaw House Boutique B&B; dined at the Three Rooms; Lunch at Waimea Winery. 

Would we go back?

Absolutely. The arrangements made by Discover the World were perfect and made everything so simple, and the Air New Zealand flights made such a long journey a comfortable experience. Combined with the enthusiasm of so many kiwi folk, their culture and their stunning beaches, mountains, moors, whales and penguins and nature, we’d love to go back.

Bloody jet-lag

"Sorry Murray, dropped off there, bloody jet-lag. What day is it? Yesterday?" “No Prime Minister,” it’s today.” Brian, NZ Prime Minister - Flight of the Conchords.   

As previously mentioned, we didn’t suffer any noticeable jet lag on the way out. However, we were still prepared, if only from watching Flight of the Conchords for it. On arrival at Los Angeles the time warp hit us. We wanted to send texts to friends and family back in London but, having flown east “backwards” in time over the international date line, could we work out what day and time it was in London? No.

It therefore came as no surprise when we got home that it took us another week to get back to UK time! But it was worth it.

Around the world in fifty hours

Two facts – (a) NZ is effectively diagonally opposite the UK, so the journey time is roughly the same whether flying east or west. (b) Air New Zealand is the only carrier who currently circumnavigates the world. So we couldn’t miss the opportunity to continue flying east, returning home via LA having flown right around the world.

Our journey started at Nelson airport, a small local airport that feels like a throw-back to the fifties or sixties with young boys standing with their fathers on the observation deck - all that was missing were the tweed jackets, ties and pipes. The flight, in a fifty seater twin-engined turbo-prop plane was a pleasant contrast to the usual jet airliner.

We then had a five hour wait at Auckland airport, so we took the opportunity to buy ourselves access to the Air New Zealand Koru lounge – lounge access isn’t included in premium economy fares. For the price of a couple of drinks and a sandwich, we were able to relax, enjoy wi-fi, a hot buffet meal and an extensive choice of premium NZ wines and drinks. By the time we boarded our flight at 10.45pm, we informed the cabin staff that we didn’t wish to eat and were ready to go straight to sleep.

Flights via LA are on Air New Zealand’s 777-300 planes, featuring their Spaceseats, effectively leather armchairs with copious amounts of space – and, as ever, attended to by very friendly staff. On arrival back at Heathrow our bags were already off the carousel waiting for us at priority collection.

All in all, a pleasurable experience for twenty five hours in the air with a one hour refuelling break.

What’s 100% Pure minus 1080?

NZ takes pride in its nature and scenery, marketing itself as “100% Pure”. However, there’s one number that doesn’t appear in its marketing - 1080.

Until the arrival of the Maoris in the 1300s, ground mammals were unknown in NZ, hence the abundance of flightless birds. The arrival of the Maoris and, more importantly, the European (and Euro-Australian) settlers and the animals they introduced, saw an explosion in the number of ground pests affecting NZ wildlife.

Back in the late 1950s government departments introduced the use of 1080, a water-soluble and biodegradable sodium fluoroacetate-based pesticide. NZ uses some eighty per cent of the world's supply. Controversially, the poison is spread from planes and helicopters in what opponents consider to be blanket usage, affecting wildlife other than pests and entering water courses.

This is a tricky one. Clearly it’s a very effective way of tackling the major environmental disaster of ground-based pests killing off native NZ wildlife, especially the national symbol the kiwi. But what are the side-effects and what other wildlife also suffers? The debate and controversy will doubtless continue for years to come.

Stand aside David Attenborough and Brian Cox

We arrived in Franz Josef late afternoon after a very wet and cloudy drive from Queenstown. However, the next morning started beautiful as we began our walk along the glacier valley with a tour guide. While this brought back memories of school geography field trips, the scenery and information were of another order – it certainly beat trudging around damp Dorset beaches. After returning to the UK, we were comparing photos of the trip with someone who’d visited NZ and Franz Josef fifteen years ago - as glaciers are “living”, changing shape and form, we were all shocked to see how much the glacier had receded in that time.

All the time we were on the walk there was a background clatter of helicopters flying up the valley to land on the glacier. Disappointed that we’d missed out on our hot air balloon trip and the flight to Milford Sound, when we returned to the tour building, we checked for availability to take a flight. Stand aside Brian Cox and David Attenborough, it was our turn to see nature from the air. This was our first time in a helicopter and we were both surprised at how smooth it was. In the morning from the ground, the glacial terminus had looked very dirty as a result of rock breaking up and discolouring the snow and ice, but landing on pristine snow was such a contrast.

It was only that evening, as I was reviewing my photos on our laptop that I noticed some “marks” on the glacier. Blowing the photo up, I realised the marks were actually people making their way across the crevasses – it suddenly dawned on me the sheer scale and size of the glacier. Telling Sue, she commented that the pilot had remarked about people down on the glacier looking like ants, something I’d obviously missed at the time.

Hapuku Lodge

Rated one of the top lodge stays in NZ, three nights here was our special anniversary treat. The location consists of both tree-houses and accommodation within the main lodge where we stayed.

Where to start? How about coffee in the bedroom? Kiwis like their coffee, as do we. At Hapuku Lodge bedroom coffee consisted of coffee beans, a grinder and cafetiere. See what Ben Fogle has to say. How cool is that!

After freshening up by relaxing in a Japanese bath, we went to dinner. The Lodge is on a deer farm but non-meat eaters should have no fear - we’d previously contacted the Lodge and had been assured this wouldn’t be a problem. They were true to their word - a brief chat to determine preferences and dinner was served far exceeding expectations. After dinner entertainment consisted of relaxing on the sofas in front of a massive stone fireplace chatting with other guests.

Breakfast was another must-do, although our first one was a “take-away” due to the early start for whale watching. Let’s be clear, though, a “Hapuku take-away breakfast” is a delight in itself and was well received despite the rolling of the boat. Next morning at the Lodge breakfast consisted of a range of home baking and local jams and honeys and other scrumptious goodies, as well as the traditional cooked fare. The side-board of baked goodies looked so good it was almost a crime to touch it.

The whole Hapuku Lodge experience was in a class of its own. From the moment we arrived until the minute we departed, the service was very personal and nothing was a problem, with staff always having time to talk and share their love for the area. While a stay there is not cheap, it’s truly memorable and a special treat.

Sorry about the weather, bro

The weather only impacted us badly twice, forcing cancelation of airborne bookings. The first was a breakfast balloon flight over the Canterbury Plains and the second was a flight by nine-seater plane from Queenstown to Milford Sound, across the lakes and mountains of Queenstown and Fjordland.

We had two days of rain, neither of which particularly marred our trip mainly due to good fortune - the worst of the two days was when we drove from Queenstown to Franz Josef. The first part of the day was unfortunate as we drove most of the Crown Range Road, a scenic mountain drive just outside Queenstown, in thick mist and cloud. However, later in the day driving through the gorges that form the Gates of Haast on the west coast, the heavy rain added to the drama of the gorges, mountains and waterfalls.

The rest of our stay was good weather-wise, days mixed between requiring a fleece and others when shorts and T shirts were adequate. Whether it’s true or not, we’d heard that if you drive clockwise around the South Island and start with good weather, you’ll stick with good weather - it certainly held good for us.

Bro? NZ slang for mate.

A good night’s sleep

So what were our favourite hotels? Top of the list has to be Hapuku Lodge but that was so good it has its own blog entry. Other good accommodation included …

The Amora Lake Resort, Okawa Bay, a short drive north east of Rotorua. Sadly we only had one night here. A peaceful lake-side resort that was somehow reminiscent of the hotel location in Dirty Dancing. A wonderful dining room and meal was preceded by a soak in the bath. So what’s so special about a bath before dinner? Unusually, our room had shutters that opened out into the room with a view through the French Windows and across the balcony to the lake beyond. The dining room was reminiscent of an American mountain lodge with huge fireplace and sofas to take after-dinner coffee in, a great place to wind down after a busy day.

 

We also stayed in simpler self-catering accommodation. One recommendation would be Highfield Mews Motel in Oamaru. A short drive from the town centre, the relatively new motel accommodation was of a high standard in a quiet area with all the usual motel facilities of a kitchenette, wi-fi, and TV. Equally importantly was the enthusiasm of the owners and their extremely helpful advice – people make all the difference.

 

We ended our trip with two nights at the Punakaiki Resort hotel at Punakaiki Beach, followed by a final night at the Kershaw House Boutique B&B in Richmond, Nelson. Punakaiki Resort was just what we needed after two and a half weeks on the road. A beach-side location (but watch out for the sandflies) and an easy walk to Pancake Rocks made this a delightful stay. Dining watching the sun setting across the Tasman Sea made for a memorable experience. We chose to dine in, which did limit options a little, but after so much driving it was nice to take a short walk through the rainforest to the restaurant. Oh, and the chance to have another glass or two of wonderful NZ wine.

 

Our final night was at the Kershaw House Boutique B&B in Richmond, Nelson. Another memorable experience, run by Pete and Jill, the accommodation was great and the breakfast was wonderful. They also pointed us to the Three Rooms restaurant, within walking distance, and a wonderful end to our stay.

Queenstown – NZ’s playground

If Kaikoura is the eco / nature/ Maori experience, Queenstown is the adrenalin experience. Visitors have plenty to choose, from water-based activities to aerial adventures – or both, falling through the air to the water on the end of a rubber band or under a parachute. We’d scheduled three nights here -  Mother Nature planned to give us some spectacular experiences as well as thwarting others.

Blue skies set the background to the early start of our first day. Picked up by mini-coach outside our hotel, we headed off along the shores of Lake Wakatipu for Glenorchy. En route we stopped to take in the breath-taking – dare I say, awesome - views of the snow-capped mountains. As the guests of Dart River JetSafaris we transferred to a four wheel drive vehicle and headed off for Paradise – literally – a hamlet on the edge of the Mt Aspiring national park and the location for the Hobitt film set, Hobittland as Mr Stephen Fry describes it. Pausing to take in the film set from a distance, our guide described the numerous films and adverts made in the area which was had also been a popular location for the Lord of the Ring film.

The helicopters clattering around filming for the Hobbit were in sharp contrast to the rainforest we subsequently wandered through where everything was so peaceful. However, the peace was soon shattered when we donned waterproofs and lifejackets before heading off up river for the thrills, spills, and inevitable soaking from riding in a jet boat. In-between soakings, we stopped to take in the peace, quiet and wonder of the mountains. I’ve no idea what a Hobbit might look like but I can understand why they like living around here. Fantastic.

Dinner was taken at the Skyline restaurant, reached by cable-car and overlooking the Remarkables mountain range.

Overnight and next morning the wind had risen dramatically against the backdrop of another sunny day. We were due to fly to Milford Sound for a cruise along the Fjordland coast. The alternative to flying is a seven-hour drive or coach trip; while the views are “the usual” stunning vistas, the prospect of such a long drive, and other people’s advice, prompted us to opt for the plane. Unfortunately, while we watched jets coming and going from Queenstown airport, the winds were too high for the nine-seater plane we were due to fly in.

We ended up taking a drive around the area and seeing some of the alternative sights. Driving east, we started by watching mad folk throw themselves from a perfectly satisfactory bridge across the Kawarau River at AJ Hackett’s, the original bungy jump site. While in NZ filming Hobbits, Mr Fry visited and partook. Sadly for us, the queues were too long and we didn’t have time to participate – well, that’s our story. From here we drove to Arrowtown, a local settlers town where the main road looked more like a street in Disneyland. After lunch we drove up to the Coronet Peak ski resort. While the resort building was closed (bearing in mind this was early summer), there were still splatterings of snow and splendid views all around. A week before we headed out to NZ, Queenstown had endured a massive snowstorm

Food and wine

Being non-meat eaters, even before we left the UK we knew that NZ was not the ideal destination. As to be expected, the eating experience was mixed.

Pies, and to a lesser extent chips, were the big “eat on the go” in NZ; and, as you might imagine, most of those pies contained meat. An alternative was quiches, but while they may not have contained meat, they were very thick and doubtless contained lots of egg, making them an unhealthy regular eat. Unlike in the UK where, in the past fifteen years, there’s been an explosion in pre-packed sandwiches leading to so much choice, sandwich choice in NZ was very limited. Eating on the go was quite a challenge.

However, we did find places that had a range of vegetarian dishes and the Queenstown area was good, possibly helped by the greater number of visitors to the district. We found The Tap in Arrowtown and the Surreal Bar and Restaurant in Queenstown good.

 

One thing you will need to be prepared for, compared to the UK, is slow service. Kiwi’s will probably say “What’s the rush?” but we did find it frustrating at times when the service - especially the drinks service - was extraordinarily slow.

Naturally, the only wines we came across throughout our travels were NZ wines, but who would want anything else?

Great eating experiences

Some of our eating experiences are covered elsewhere in the blog - Wellington Dockside, Amora Lake Resort, Hapuku Lodge, Punakaiki Resort.

No trip to Kaikoura should be without trying Crayfish. While we stopped at Nin’s Bin on the way to Kaikoura – all the classic photos of the area include a shot taken here – we didn’t get to sample the crayfish until a couple of lunchtimes later, after we’d been whale watching. A short trip out of town along the peninsula past Fyffes Wharf gave us the opportunity for a perfect lunch overlooking the bay.

Another of our must dos was the Queenstown Skyline restaurant buffet. Before we’d set off for NZ we’d read a review that rated this as one of the most stunning views for a dining experience in the world. We agreed. The food was fine – better that Auckland’s Sky Tower – and combined with a window seat on a glorious evening, we couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Our last night was spent eating at the Three Rooms, Richmond, Nelson. A very homely restaurant which was excellent value for money and a great place for our last dinner. The next day we had a simple lunch at the Waimea Winery outside Nelson, although we weren’t able to try the wine as we were driving. It seemed bizarre to us Brits to be sitting in the shade, overlooking the vineyards, while around us diners we enjoying their office Christmas lunches in shirt sleeves.

Another personal first…

In nearly forty years of using an SLR camera I’d never managed to drop a camera until…

The east coast railway line dissects a simple road running from Hapuku Lodge down to the ocean-side. As we stepped over the line, my camera fell, lens-first, straight onto the track. I’ve always advocated use of a skylight filter to protect the lens and that decision paid off big time. The filter ring was severely dented and buckled but the lens was undamaged - a £20 filter avoided the need to replace a lens worth significantly more.

Awesome

Everywhere we went the locals described things as awesome…it was hard to disagree.

Geocaching in NZ – hidden treasure

Don’t know what geocaching is? It’s a global treasure hunt using GPS. We’ve been geocaching since 2004 and, throughout that time, NZ has been a major location for caches – hardly surprising with such spectacular scenery.

We just had to find some caches in NZ. However, attempts in Auckland came to nothing and it wasn’t until we headed south to the Firth of Thames that we finally found our first cache at the site where James Cook landed and named the Thames River – known these days by its Maori name Waihou River. It seemed very appropriate that we, as travellers from the Old World, should make this our first caching discovery.

Other unique or unusual caches included a volcanic island, a glacier, bubbling mud, the Moreaki Boulders, the original bungy jumpsite, and Pancake Rocks. We even had a trip down memory lane, finding one cache with no GPS or map, simply using our “cachers eye”.

Fellow cachers are welcome to contact us for more information about our finds or look us up (balancingwalcheros) on geocaching.com.

Like Scotland only further

The caption on the poster of the New York office of the NZ Cultural Attaché in Flight of the Conchords extols New Zealand as “Just like Scotland, only further”. During our drive around both islands we felt it also looked like Wales, the Lake District, and the New Forest - but all on a grander scale. We can see how NZ attracted so many Scottish immigrants.

Steam punk and penguins

We journeyed to Oamaru to see one thing – penguins. We weren’t disappointed – in fact we were ecstatic.

Our host at the Highfield Mews Motel suggested we sought out the yellow-eyed penguins on the beach by Bushy Beach Road, the alternative being the blue penguins at the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. While there’s less chance of seeing yellow-eyed penguins and blue penguin sightings are virtually guaranteed, the yellow-eyed ones are viewed completely naturally whereas the blue penguins are seen as part of a tourist attraction. We spent three hours waiting and watching - it was such a delight to see the adult birds come in from the sea and their day fishing to waddle up the beach and then climb the cliffs to the nesting young ones – yes, penguins can climb cliffs!

Another “attraction” we’d wanted to see in NZ was the southern night sky. We’d booked an evening in Kaikoura with Maori astronomers but the cloudy nights put pay to that. However, the same night that we saw the penguins, we parked up down the road in total darkness view - while this night wasn’t perfect, the mass of stars was spectacular.

Steam punk? We didn’t get to visit the steam punk visitor attraction though we saw some examples of steam punk machinery in the streets. A striking contrast to the penguins.

I could drive for miles and miles and miles…

Hertz made things very simple. Friendly and very helpful staff at all locations and all the arrangements straightforward. As they drive on the left in NZ, it was home from home with only very minor deviations from the UK Highway Code. Occasionally the straight roads did get tedious and there was the occasional friendly tussle to decide who was going to drive the next leg, but the Mondeo–sized automatic cars with cruise made driving bearable. And many straight roads end with slow and very winding challenging gorges, preventing too much tedium.

Small tips. (1) Be aware that the police are strong on ticketing speeding drivers. (2) On the South Island, ensure you keep your tank topped up as petrol stations can be few and far in-between, and (3) be prepared for the main road suddenly becoming a dirt track where recent land movements have destroyed the road surface.

Bumped into somebody I used to know

One of the delights of waking early when abroad is listening to local radio stations, whether English or  foreign language stations.

 

Numerous times in NZ I heard the distinctive music and lyrics of Gotye and Kimbra’s Somebody I used to know which had reached the NZ number one spot two months previously; simultaneously, Kimbra’s own debut album Vows was big. And then, sitting on our flight from Nelson to Auckland in early December, the distinctive Vows album cover featured on the front of Kia Ora, the Air New Zealand inflight magazine – understandably NZ is proud of a global home-grown talent.

It’s been interesting watching Kimbra’s career since, including Somebody I used to know topping the UK charts, and her jetting around the world. Now, why didn’t I buy a copy of Vows in NZ instead of having to wait for the upcoming UK release…?