Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Wine, Surf, and kayak
Saturday, February 22, 2014
East to the West
After driving through the ruins of Christchurch we trucked
it to Kaikoura in search of some tasty waves.
In Kaikoura we found sunshine, fish and chips, and some long gentle waves. We take turns riding our longboard, Eugene goes
first. Later I suit up and swim on out to trade off. On our first day waves
were gentle and allowed us to try some tandem riding. We managed to both stand up and ride at the
same time for a split second!!! After the first day the ocean went flat so we
promptly headed out to the Kaikoura Peninsula to look for wildlife. We saw sea
lions basking in the sun and Hector Dolphins off shore. The next day we drove two hours down a dirt
road to Isolation Hill. Here we hiked
into a valley and up a river to an ancient water carved canyon. Some sections
looked like a Sawcut Gorge. Our hiking boots now needed to be dried.
We woke up the next day to find rain in the forecast for the
next week in Kaikoura so we decided to follow the sun and head to the west
where spells of fine weather were on tap.
We geared up little Frenchy and took off over the mountains through
Lewis pass straight to the other side of the island. In Westport we decided to venture
towards Karamea. From Westport there’s a
one way road to sleepy Karamea town, the gateway of the Heaphy Track. On the way there we stopped at the Denniston
Coal Mines for a walk through history and to view the area from a serious
vantage point high in the bush. Further on down the road we headed to the
Oparara Basin, deep in the Kahurangi National Park. The Oparara Basin holds many hidden
treasures. It’s another long road to the end of nowhere but beautiful bush and
limestone cave/archways await you.
At the parking lot we
realized another flaw in Frenchy. There
are no indicators on the dash when you leave your lights on, no sound, no warning,
just you and Frenchy. So our battery died so we found the flaw too late and
spent the night in the park, at the parking lot. We tried five times to push
Frenchy up the ‘wee’ hill and give her a jump start to get her going. The battery didn’t hold a charge until the
next morning when we tried one more time and got her going to get us out of
there and onto our Heaphy Track adventure.
The Heaphy track is incredible. It takes you through palm
studded beach to moss fringed Beech Forests. One of the best forest walks in New
Zealand. We hiked four days along the
beach and into the foggy hill tops and back down. In the park there are nikau palms, giant tree
ferns, supple jack, carnivorous snails, and feisty wekas. Wekas are native
flightless birds that are curious and a bit pesky when they steal your trash
bag and try to hide it from you.
After the 40 mile walk we decided to check out the Karamea
Music festival which happens once a year on the Estuary. There was a great sunset followed by a clear
night and a full moon rising. It was hard to dance after hiking but we managed
to shake a leg. When we left we forgot
about high tide and had to forge the estuary to get back to Frenchy. We got belt level in water and felt sorry for
the snails under our feet while trudging through the mud. After Karamea we headed back to Westport
where we surfed, recharged and were reluctant to leave the west coast but all
good things must come to an end. With rain in the forecast we followed the sun
back to the east side to the town of Blenheim.
We are in search of a job harvesting grapes, getting Frenchy her next
registration, and of course….finding some tasty waves.
East to west pics
East to west
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Monday, February 3, 2014
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!
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