To Phil and Barbara Tanner!

Waking in Kaiteriteri we had another beautiful day on the beach of the usual sunbathing, swimming, diving, ice creams and all that. We left in the afternoon and headed Nelson way camping roadside on a gravel path. The next day we headed for Nelson City, where we plan to spend New Years. It's quite a cool cosmopolitan place in the North of the South with Peruvian pan flutes, French accordian and German restaurants in the high street. As the Sun was beaming we headed slightly south to Rabbit Island where we chilled in the shade, trying to protect our sunburn. We ate and had to be out of Rabbit Island when they shut the bridge gates at 9pm.

Needing somewhere to stay, we headed down a small road near Rabbit Island. It was just a road with a few houses and a lot of empty land so we thought we'd pull over nearby on a bit of grass. We were quite near a house and didn't want to park too close to their land like Gypsies so Ian thought he'd knock on the door and request permission to park up. Me and Jan weren't to optimistic but Ian went ahead anyway and shortly returned to the van with a Kiwi Gentleman. He was ever so nice and invited us to park right on his drive as well as inviting us into their home for a beer! We were so taken back by how friendly and hospitable this guy was. He was Phil Tanner and introduced us to his wife Barbara. He had spent the last 40 years (Barbara, the last 20 years) in England around the Maidenhead area and now having enough money to retire, returned to their native country getting a custom home built. Their house was marvelous! Glass windows where windows would be, it was a very contemporary house. Phil now put on some blues music and kept the beers coming! We spoke about England and New Zealand, their family, Orcas, travelling, football among other things. They gave us chocolate and made us feel very much at home in their humble abode. By 23.00 they went to bed and left their doors open for us to use the toilet as we need to. Walking out we continued with a few beers up the road so as not to disturb them. Phil and Barbara were so welcoming we felt overwhelmed and made a toast to them.

The next morning we woke at 7am speaking to Phil just before he left off to play golf. We expected to leave then but little did we know Barbara was cooking us breakfast! Eggs, bacon, hash brown, toast, tomatos, mushrooms and coffee!!! What a start to the day! We chatted to Barbara for ages where she then offered us a tour of the house. They had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, one had 2 showerheads. The whole house walls were windows which could be opened which was amazing! It became an outdoor house straight to the decking. Barbara now turned on their HD TV and said we were welcome to watch it. Flicking through I found the live match between Aston Villa V Liverpool! I was soo happy as i've missed football. Here I was in this beautiful house enjoying some live premier league football in the sun! Next she made us a cup of English Tea with fruit cake!

FOOTBALL, TEA + FRUIT CAKE = A HAPPY ASHLEY!

Our tea lasted for ages as we chatted and chatted about all manners of things. By 11.30 we were still there so thought we'd better go. It was really sad leaving the lovely house and the great people in Phil and Barbara Tanner. They had been so great and rare luxury in our trip so far. They said we're welcome back anytime, it would be great to see them again and return the gratitude!

West Coast to Cape Farewell and back down to Motueka

After another great time in Wanaka it was now time to head up the West coast of the South Island. A woman at Skydive Wanaka had told us the West coast is nicknamed the 'Wet' coast as it rains all the time and true to form as soon as we neared the West it started pouring down. Our first night we pulled over in Haast which seemed a miserable grey place, parking up under a bridge we were stuck in the van because of the immense rain. Little did we realise opening and shutting the van door, we filled the van with mosquitos and sandflies! With a spatula we attempted to kill as many as possible to let us get some rest in peace. Little way into our sleep we awoke and the van roof was full of at least 50 mosquitos, at 2am Ian took the steering wheel with windows down to blow mosquitos out which barely worked. Basically put, this was our worst night yet; rain, insect bites and no sleep.

Heading further up the West coast we realised we'd left pots and plates outside when Ian drove off but we were too far to turn back. We just wanted to be rid of the Wet coast! We stopped at Fox Glacier and Franz Josef but we didn't really appreciate the views with rain pissing down and fog everywhere ruining our view! Bombing it up north we passed through Hokitika and the aptly named Greymouth which seemed a very Grey drab town! A few kilometres north of Greymouth we stopped at Rapahoe to stay in a campsite. This was great actually as we met a super cool Kiwi couple who shared great music taste with me and we got chatting about football and Kiwi culture, they even made us a lovely cup of tea! The next morning we met some surfer dudes from L.A. who were pretty cool. Also the weather finally got better, I guess we're heading north from West coast towards the equator.

Now, only a few kilometres north of Rapahoe was Barrytown where we had been told by other travelers about knifemaking which we wanted to do but you had to book and we missed the Sunday slot, they were closed Mondays so Tuesday was the day for us. With this in mind we needed to stay in the area the next few days so we headed for Westport where the weather was great. Here, we had a Sunday roast with beef which was amazing! Oh, how I miss roast dinners. There was an odd thing on the plate though which I assumed was sweet potato but it wasn't, it was pumpkin! We've later found out that Pumpkins are essential in a kiwi roast, they sell them in all supermarkets too. I'm not sure if I like them yet though... Looking for a place to stay we saw Cape Foulwind (named by Cpt. Cook) on the map which we looked to camp. We ended up at a lovely beach spot around there called Tuaranga Bay where there was a Seal colony! Loads of seals on rocks in the wild! We camped next to another Wicked Van which were 2 friendly girls from Switzerland who shared travel stories.

The next day we spent in and around Westport checking out the shops then went to a small beach location called Granity. The weather was absolutely great now! No wet weather and for some reason I forgot to put sun cream on my legs, the result later that day..... sun fucking scorched legs! My legs were so burnt it hurt for days. We headed back south now towards Barrytown for knifemaking the next day.

Knifemaking was run by Steven and Robyn Martin at their own house with a workshop out the front. There was us 3, an English couple and 2 German guys. We got straight into with a length of steel which we had to heat and hammer into shape on an anvil. We then marked it up, made the handle from a native NZ wood. We spent the whole day sanding and shaping the knife and protecting it. It was an awesome day, the fact that we made a knife from scratch is unreal. It made me feel very manly!! hahaha. For lunch they invited us in their house where they had food out so we could make toasted sandwiches and tea! They also had a huge swing that took 6 people to pull. Knifemaking was a highlight of the trip! If you're ever in Barrytown, NZ make a knife! The end knife is amazing and you've made it from scratch!

At the end of the day we got talking to Tim, the German who has been hitchhiking around NZ. He needed a lift and we were going in the direction so we gave him a ride. Driving inland on route 69 we pasted Reefton and stopped at Lyell to camp. Another epic landscape of New Zealand! We were basically surrounded in a full circle by mountains coveredin forest!

The next day we drove further with Tim on board and dropped him off in Kohatu as he was heading to Nelson and we were to Cape Farewell. Through Tapawera we arrived in Motueka where the weather was still beautiful. Through here we found the beach location of Kaiteriteri. This place is the best beach i've ever been to so far. The sand is golden, water is clear with mountains as a backdrop. Out in the middle of water is a floating dock which you can chill at and dive from. None of us are strong swimmers but we all went for it. Jan made it first (as he's the best swimmer) with Ian struggling and thinking he was going to drown so Jan had to pull him out of water onto the floating dock. I made it last with the slow and steady approach to pace myself. We were now in a problem now as Ian didn't think he'd be able to swim back to the shore. Waiting out in this part of the sea a good while from the shore we didn't know what to do. I thought I could swim back so I went for it, I did panic slightly in the middle of the deep water but I made the shore and found a guy on a boat. He was super nice, I jumped aboard and we picked up Ian and Jan from the pier. We aren't strong swimmers so we really shouldn't swim too far out of our depths in future! We enjoyed the rest of the day and came back to Kaiteriteri again and loved it, but didn't swim out the floating dock this time!

So, Xmas eve was spent on Kaiteriteri so later in the day we bought some burgers for our disposable bbq and headed north to Cape Farewell (furthest north of the south island). Reaching the point we camped for the night for Christmas the next day!

Our first Christmas Day in the Southern Hemisphere was glorious! The sun was shining and it was hot, and this is Christmas! It felt far from it especially knowing theres snow back home! We headed slightly south from here to a perfect beach in the Golden Bay called Patons Rock. We got our tinsel and wrapped it round a branch we dug in the ground then typically as you do on Xmas, we swam in the sea :) Out in the sea we noticed all these shells on rocks. A Kiwi guy told us they were mussels and are great to eat if you steam them. So we did, and had mussels for lunch on Xmas! Most the day we spent in the water as it was too hot to sunbathe, the sun burnt my feet. Some nice Kiwi dudes came on the beach with cake giving it out which was super nice! Coming up to dinner time it was time to have our BBQ! We had BBQ burgers with new potatos and salad! We bought too many burgers and were so bloated yet still had enough room for mince pies! By 9pm it was 8am English time so we found phoneboxes and rang home to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! It was really nice speaking to the family for the familiar voices of home. That night we parked up at Waikoropupu Springs, the largest spring in NZ, and the clearest freshwater spring in the world. It was dark now so we slept to checkt it in the morning. This Christmas was one to remember! It's not the same without the turkey and family but it was still bloody great!

Waikoropupu or 'Pupu' Springs as shortened was unbelievable! The water was so clear it looked as if the surface of water was clear glass to view the rocks. It was so clear, but only for viewing! If only we could jump in!! What a Boxing day. We now headed for Tata Beach and later Totaranui. We camped in a lovely spot in the middle of a national park where no cars or anybody past us. We took a walk in the night and saw glow worms which was an epic sight!

So today we've been to Takaka and now are in Motueka. We're thinking back to Kaiteriteri beach tomorrow as it's soooo nice. Then to Nelson for New Years!

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Some Kiwi Slang i've noticed so far:

'Eh' - It's like Canada here! Everyone's like 'that's pretty good, eh'
Jandals = Flip flops/Sandals
Heaps = Loads/Lots "theres heaps of stuff to do"
Bach = Holiday Homes
Keen = (you know the meaning, but its used a lot)
"Lets get a feed" = Lets eat
Capsicums = Peppers

Last 15 days....

NOTE: This is awfully written (Just a summary of so much that has happened and I've missed out loads. The guys don't want to spend to long waiting for me to write hahaha Need to get on the road!)

A lot has happen in the last 2 weeks or so, I'll try to summarise. We spent 2 days in Wanaka where we met two nice German ladies and a bloke from Middlesbrough and took them to our beach paradise freeplace to camp, had a super fun night. Next day we headed south to Queenstown which is a nice town in amongst the mountains, the skatepark is amazing and we met our friend from home, Mike Halls whos been out here for a year and 3 months. Was cool to catch up with him, we also all got the legendary Fergburger! From here we traveled south, then west through Te Anau and up the west coast to Milford Sound. Google this place, it's mountains covered in lush green vegatation with waterfalls everywhere and clouds same level as the road!! Unfortunately when we got their the weather was awful and we didn't have much of a view because of the weather but the waterfalls alone were fantastic and we drove through a tunnel under mountain which was dark and somewhat scary.

Heading back south we passed through Manapori then onto the 'Souther Scenic Route'. We stopped at Lake Hauroko, the deepest lake in NZ (the 8th deepest in world!) the view was amazing but sandflies were horrible here, we got bitten so much.... erghh. From here we passed through Tuatapere apprently the sausage capital of NZ hahahaa and then stopped in Riverton (oldest town on South Island) which was cool. Paying to camp at a site we had an amazing leisure area to play pool, watch tv, table tennis etc (a rare luxury!).
Entering Invercargill, the most southern city, we didn't do a great deal but we stayed a couple of days nonetheless and went to the cinema to watch Where the wild things are (which I loved!!). We found a Woolworths supermarket which is cool for the old English shop even though this is different. Here we soon found out our van boot is broken which sucks! We can't access stuff thats in draws blocked in so had to buy new saucepans and stuff. As we were pissed off we indulged in a Domino's, I got the 'Mr Wedge' Pizza. So good, but so filling with meat and potato on a pizza! Hahaha.

As we were so far down south we went to Bluff and then Slope Point (The FURTHEST SOUTHERN POINT OF MAINLAND NZ! We now need to reach the furthest north!!!) Here we camped by a beach where we met 4 kiwi surfer girls that invited us into their tent for beers and ghost stories, they were super nice teaching us NZ slang and stuff about surfing etc.
We traveled through the Catlins staying at another beautiful beach where we met a cool couple (french and kiwi) who got stuck in sand! We gave them a lift to garage to get tyres changed etc. From here they told us about this gypsy caravan near by of incredible inventions! This was one of the highlights of the trip, an old Leyland bus ful of quirky trippy inventions. There was a thoughts theatre for another $5 which was even more mind blowing. It's so hard to describe how ingenious the inventions were.

Next we traveled through Dunedin which was cool although we came across some skatty bogen girls. Stopped In Palmerston and Oamaru where we found some amazing second hand antique shops where I got some $1 flanel shirts and a rad vintage stella glass from 60's with nz import stuff engraved in. Now we had to retrace some steps and go through Kurow and Wanaka again. Driving into Wanaka we passed the skydive centre so we thought we'd inquire. They said we could do it right then, so we did!!! We did it from the maximum height of 15,000 ft! One of the most epic experiences ever! If you have the money skydive, and Wanaka has some of most beautiful scenery!

So now we're back in Wanaka our favourite place so far! I love Wanaka and might try get a job here after we done the north island. Still so much to see but Wanaka is the best!!! Gonna visit a brewery later then head up the West coast and eventually land in Nelson by Xmas!! One week to go!

On the road

On the 1st December we picked up the camper van from Wicked in ChCh. Our van is a Nissan and named 'Star Trek' although it is just generally graffiti'd up. It's got three seats across the front with sleeping area/table/compartments in the back. Ian took the wheel first and we headed to a town that caught my attention; Ashley. We popped north of ChCh about 30km to find this sleepy town and went to a very English pub for lunch, we had lunch in Ashley! From here we went through a small town called Oxford and eventually came across the first epic landscape that is Mt. Hutt. Google it, truly a beautiful site. We drove some more through Ashburton where Ian skated a nice concrete skatepark and later camped in a desolate area near a stream where we set up a campfire with a few beers- a rad first night in the camper.

We awoke the next morning on the 2nd to heavy rainfall which wasn't the greatest. Driving through Geraldine we had to stop as I saw a road named 'Cox St'! My names are popular over here! From here we went through Temuka and Timaru. Went in a skateshop where some girl came up to us and chatted for a while about where is nice to go, what the weather is usually like, where is best for weather, places to generally be and the single place in New Zealand with a differing accent to the rest of the country; Gore. We then went to a laundromat for the first time, nice to chill with a book while our clothes were washing/drying. Driving parallel along a river we ended up in a town in the mountains called Kurow which seemed very American. A hidden strip of road with motels, old style banks and pubs, we paid to park the camper here but got hot showers, a kitchen and tv.

3rd December at 9am and the sun was shining! After relaxing by our camper we drove off through some of the most beautiful landscapes ever past the Waitaki river/dam. The lakes here are clear aqua coloured and magnificent. We later drove through the Lindis pass where you can find the Omarama rock piles alongside a long stretch of road. All across the road people make piles of stones alot like you'd make a sandcastle. We pulled over and made our own rock pile to leave our mark on New Zealand. Quite an odd thing, but we fully loved it. Further on we drove through mountains and saw the first snowclad topped mountains! Heading for Wanaka we crossed a quaint little bridge across a river, stopping to take photos a car pulled alongside us. He told us if we pulled down a gravel path ahead we could be riverside which we did. Now rivers in NZ, are somewhat different to in England! Here we were viewing clear aqua water, sandy banks, tropical trees and sunshine. One thing crossed our mind and we did, we got a swim shorts on and jumped in! It was amazing, slightly fresh but worth it.

Driving into Wanaka is strange, it feels a lot like North America, especially the Rockies. Pulling in facing Lake Wanaka, the view was immense. With the beautiful weather the view looked like something straight from a postcard. The mountains, lake, sun, yachts and contemporary houses was truly something. From here we pulled onto a beach part of a lake, having dinner of noodles on beach with a few beers. By the end of today it became apparent I was somewhat sunburnt! In December! That's a first.

So now, we're just in Wanaka taking in the sights and will probably head Queenstown way sometime. Apologies for the bad writing, hard trying to cram a few days into short time at internet cafe.

First few days

Our journey started on November 26th when me, Ian and Jan departed London for Christchurch, New Zealand via L.A & Auckland. It was one long tiresome journey, the first plane to L.A. took 11 hours with a short 1 hour stop over in L.A. before embarking on the 12.5 hour journey across the Pacific to Auckland, NZ. Arriving in Auckland I was quite nervous about whether my visa would be accepted as we had no return ticket but it was a swift process getting the required stamp. Once we got through customs it was great to leave airport and breathe in the first bit of fresh air in the Southern Hemisphere after spending so long in a fuselage, but we still had one more connecting flight to get. Checking in our bags again we got on the last plane, only to have to leave the plane because of a technical fault! The plane was only delayed by an hour and a half then we got on for the last short hour journey by plane.

Arriving is Christchurch was somewhat dismal with grey skies and rain. We knew it was 6.7 miles to walk to the city from airport but the taxi seemed too expensive and we are cheapskates. Jetlagged with massive rucksacks we took on the 6.7 mile in the rain. It was bloody tiresome but fun, the houses here are all so odd/unique. One house looked like something from Star Wars, it seems they get their own plot of land and build their own home. We met some funny people on the way, got slightly lost, walked through the planning of some xmas coca cola festival. Finally making it to the city some 2 hours later it was a lovely place, old architecture, cathedral, trams but it had a strange American vibe. The hostel is super nice, we met some cool guys and girls there. One guy who's always there is John, a 40yr old Polynesian man who's planning on spending 7 months in this hostel. He's quite the interesting character with some cool homemade tattoos.

In terms of goings on, we been dossing about the City, catching buses, getting lost, meeting strangers. We pick up our camper van tomorrow so then the exploring starts! Ian bought an axe yesterday for possible campfires. I think any new people in our room might get quite scared if they see it in our room hahaha. Jan also bought some fishing hooks! This is going to be funny! Hopefully post some photos up soon.