Were Still Here

We just spent the last month waiting out the Holiday crowd by working on Jackson’s Orchard harvesting cherries and apricots.  We lived for free at the Lowburn campground just outside the town of Cromwell on Lake Dunstan surrounded by our little community of fellow pickers.  We headed to Queenstown for New Year’s where we danced our butts off and brought in the New Year with some “sweet as” fireworks. Afterwards we dabbled in some vineyard work, plucking excess growth and tucking wily vines back into their wire home. After this hard work we left the Cromwell area to head out into the great unknown. 

In need of some ocean time we headed to the South tip of the South Island to the town of Invercargill.  We wanted to go there because we had met a lot of interesting characters from there so we wanted to see it for ourselves. It felt as if we were in a Metallica music video. Lots of pale tattooed people dressed in black while old people looked at us with sideways stares.

After rocking out in Invercargill we cruised down the road to go for a hike, at the southernmost town of Bluff. A quant little fishing village with mean oysters unfortunately they weren’t in season.  Our hike took us around Sterling Point.  We caught panoramic views of Stewart Island while looking across the Foveaux Straight.  The sky was calm and clear when we started the hike but half way through it started to storm.  We made it back to our campsite where we got stuck in Frenchy for a day, waiting out the fierce wind and rain.  After the storm blew through we gave Frenchy a little pep talk before heading north towards the Fiordland National Park. She grumbled a bit but charged ahead. 

Our first stop en route was Lake Monowai which was a lovely place until the sun went down and the mosquitoes came out.  We love little Frenchy except for her one flaw….she lets the mosquitoes in when all the doors are shut and all the windows are rolled up!!!  We have no idea how it happens and can only guess that they come through the cracks of where the doors shut!! After a horrible nights rest we got the hell out of there and decided to sleep in the tent for the rest of our time in the Fiordland area. 

If the Fiordland National Park is not on your list of places to see before you die you must add it now!!  The road to Milford Sound is dotted with jagged peaks, spectacular waterfalls, glacial carved valleys, and outstanding views everywhere you look.  We hiked everyday to one of these natural creations and had wonderful weather.  Our pictures just won’t do it justice.  So make a trip and experience this World Heritage Site for yourself.    

After Fiordland we ventured to Mt. Cook/Aoraki, the tallest peak in New Zealand.  It was spectacular.  We lucked out again and had clear skies; we could see it from top to bottom.  This is a rare occurrence considering its Maori name Aoraki means “cloud piercer”. Here we hiked amongst the many tourists to view the peaks and their glaciers. Some of which are melting fast and probably won’t be there in twenty years! 

Then we got back in little Frenchy and drove drove drove!!!  All the way to Christchurch, this was a sad sight.  We had heard that it was still under construction form the earthquakes 3 years ago. That there were lots of jobs and they were putting it back together.   But we were shocked to see so many abandoned houses, broken buildings, closed streets, piles of rubble, smells of chemicals and water pouring into the streets; it was like visiting a war zone.  We didn’t linger too long and now we are headed to the Marlborough region and back to the Northern part of the South Island where we plan to do some surfing, backpacking, kayaking, and maybe some more vineyard work. Go Frenchy go!