New Zealand 1988

Tuesday 23 February — Lumsden to Oamaru (421km)

The Southerner at Dunedin

It was dry when I left the hotel just before eight, but the rain started by the time I got to Gore where I stopped for breakfast, cash and petrol in that order. I left town heading north on the road to Alexandra but turned right at Raes Junction for Dunedin. The rain slackened on the way north but started again and got heavier as I approached the coast.

At Dunedin, I watched the late northbound Southerner acquire a third engine, then decided that it was too wet for the half-mile walk to the Otago Early Settler’s Museum so drove out the coast for a quick look around Port Chalmers, not exciting, the back to Dunedin where the weather had not improved so I headed north to Oamaru where I saw one of the original two engines off the Southerner in the station yard, attached to another engine, but just as I was thinking of getting my camera out, off they went.

After booking in to the Red Kettle (the YH), I went off to Bushey Beach in the hopes of seeing some penguins, which nest in the bush behind the beach. They go out to sea in the morning and return, sometimes, at dusk. The surf was “energetic”, the tide was high, and I was beginning to think I was on a fool’s errand when, just before eight o’clock, one appeared at the edge of the surf, lurched to it’s feet and was into the bush before I got the camera out. (The camera was zipped inside my jacket out of the way of the occasional raindrops.) About ten minutes later, another one appeared and this time I did get the camera going, although the light was marginal and the bird was a fair distance away. Still, we’ll see what develops.

Wednesday 24 February — Oamaru to Timaru (253km)

The day dawned sunny and bright, and I spent most of the morning wandering around Oamaru, much impressed by their Public Gardens, where they have fitted a pleasing diversity of flora and feature into a limited site. The local Oamaru stone used for public buildings (of a certain age) is almost white in the sunlight.

On leaving Oamaru, I drove up the south bank of the Waitaki River whose waters are tapped for a significant share of the South Island’s hydro electric production. There are power stations on the way up the river, at Waitaki, Aviemore and Benmore, and four more on the rivers and canals linking Lakes Tekapo, Pukaki and Ohau to the Waitaki above Benmore. There is an aquatic recreation area just below the Benmore dam with a visitor centre and conducted tours of the power house, of which I took advantage.

Road bridge near Kurow

Back down the river, crossing to the north bank over a wooden bridge at Kurow, then turning north through Waimate to rejoin SH1 and head north to Timaru where the YH boasts the only bath in all the hostels in New Zealand.

Thursday 25 February — Timaru to Christchurch (288km)

Was a constructive day, achieving much of little consequence. I hit the road just before eight, dropping a US hitch-hiker at the end of SH8 on the outskirts of town and shortly after, I picked up two “locals” en route to Christchurch. Both physiotherapists, one an English lassie who’d been working in Christchurch for two years, they’d been sitting in a hut at the end of the Copeland Pass for two days waiting for the weather to clear sufficiently to allow a crossing. Having finally given up and headed for home, the weather immediately improved.

When I reached Christchurch, I looked up the ICL office in the phone book and went there to send off my petrol chits to the administrator in Wellington, and to find out which local garage I should contact to get the car serviced. When I went round to the garage, they offered to do the car immediately, which pleased me greatly as I had expected to have to hang around for a day or two.

So I set off on foot to admire the sights in the city centre, not much changed from my last visit in 1979, and lunched in an Irish pub called Baillies, just beside the Cathedral. For the first time in New Zealand, the pints came in a straight glass (rather than a dimple). A shower of rain arrived so I had another pint before going along for a look around the Postbank Computer Centre where there was still a real live (just) 7905.

Returned to the garage to collect the car, they’d replaced a rear wheel bearing, there are some loose baffles in the “muffler”, everything else normal, then I set off for the Banks Peninsula and the Pigeon Bay Hostel. On the way, I picked up a German lassie on her way to Akaroa, which is not much further so I took her there and bought some provisions. Akaroa is a French settlement, the houses are a bit fancier, or rather, a bit more ornate, than elsewhere, and there’s a few Rue this and Rue that. Otherwise it seemed the same as anywhere else.

Returned to Pigeon Bay where I found an English lassie in residence (her third night), spent a quiet evening listening to the rats in the roof, and went to bed.

Friday 26 February — Christchurch to Tekapo (400km)

The day dawned fine. I started slowly, pottering around and drinking tea, and it was almost half past nine before I got going. I took the back road from Pigeon Bay over to Diamond Harbour, another road unsuitable for caravans and trailers, but quite scenic whenever I could take my eyes off the twists and ruts in the road, before cutting up to the Summit Road along the Port Hills between Christchurch and Lyttleton Harbour. The view was clearer than in 1979, I could see right across the coastal plain to the mountains inland.

Down into Christchurch and round to the transport museum at Ferrymead, where they keep some old trains and other things. It was very quiet there, no trains on weekdays, only trams and only one of them running, Dunedin City No 11. One of the engine sheds, the one holding most of the working engines, was closed, but there were a few other engines scattered around. Reasonably interesting but obviously better at weekends. Perhaps I’ll manage another visit.

Then I set off up the road towards Arthur’s Pass, intending to turn left when I reached the foothills and head back down to high Otago and the Mackenzie Country. About twenty kilometres before the junction, I picked up a couple of lassies heading for Arthur’s Pass and took them as far as Springfield, mainly because I went belting past my turning before I recognised it. So I dropped them and had a quick look at the deserted railway station before resuming my intended route. Stopped at Geraldine to buy some tobacco, milk and a pint of beer.

Leaving there, I picked up two New Zealand girls on their way to Mt Cook and dropped them at the far side of Lake Tekapo township before finding the YH and booking in for two nights. The wind had been getting up a bit for most of the afternoon and when I stopped at the Rakaia Gorge to take photos, I had to brace myself against a fencepost, and now it was flexing the walls of the hostel, a fairly new building.

I went into the local hotel bar but it was very busy, apparently there is a water-skiing competition on the lake this weekend, and the bar staff were going round in circles so after about five minutes with no sign of getting served, I left.

Plans for the morrow will have to wait until I see the weather, showers forecast. I fancy a scenic flight round Mt Cook, hostellers get a cheap rate on standby seats, but that would depend on cloud cover and wind strength. There’s a nice hill called Mt Edward just down the road, over 6000 feet with two nice long ridges enclosing a narrow valley. We’ll see what happens, I might just spend the day in the pub.

Saturday 27 February — Tekapo

A beautiful morning, the wind had dropped so I decided to try for a scenic flight. The warden phoned the operators, Air Safari’s, but they didn’t know what conditions would be like up in the mountains and would phone back after they’d had a look. I loitered. When they did phone back, conditions were marginal but they were going to fly anyway as they had a number of people off a coach who wanted a look then taken to Ashburton where their coach would pick them up again. This was good for a German couple who were interested in a flight before hitch-hiking to Christchurch, as Ashburton is halfway there, the only problem being how to get their packs there. Perhaps on the coach?

I gave the Germans and a Japanese lad a lift out to the airstrip to see what was what. After much confusion, the Germans and their packs got in a large (28 seat) plane with the folk off the coach, to end up in Ashburton, and the Japanese lad, myself, and four middle aged North Americans got in a small plane returning to Tekapo.

We took off first and headed up over Lake Tekapo and the Godley River where streams of glacial meltwater have created a fantastic braided pattern through the millennia of deposited gravel which forms the flat bottom of a wide valley. There was a fair amount of turbulence when we turned into the mountains and the pilot decided to cut short the usual route and just flew through the fringes. Still a magnificent experience, the mountains and glaciers were very impressive.

When we landed after about forty-five minutes in the air, one of the North American ladies was not too bright and the Japanese lad, who had been quite ebullient earlier, was now very quiet. Now, I never have liked flying but I thoroughly enjoyed this flight and felt no ill effects, perhaps it has something to do with being in a small plane, having plenty to see and spending most of my concentration on keeping the camera steady amongst the sudden ups and downs in flight.

I decided it was too late to start a large mountain, particularly as the forecast was for increasing cloud and showers, so I went over Mt John, past the Canterbury University observatory (at 44 degrees south, the southernmost professional observatory in the world), and on to Lake Alexandrina, Lake McGregor and back part of the way along the shore of Lake Tekapo until a rocky stretch of shoreline forced me back up onto Mt John. A leisurely six hours in all, the terrain was very dry with thin, sparse vegetation and multitudes of rabbit holes. I started quite a few rabbits in the course of the day but, despite this supposedly being sheep country, not a single sheep did I see. I think it might take about ten acres to support one sheep and the beast might still starve while searching for the next nutritious blade of grass. So much for the Mackenzie country.

There is a church (the Church of the Good Shepherd) built here in the Thirties of local stone to commemorate the early settlers in the area. I think it must be Anglican as it was dedicated by a Bishop, but outside there is a statue of a sheepdog with the bottom line on the plaque “Beannachdan air na cu caorach”. It doesn’t quite add up, perhaps the settlers were Scottish Episcopalians.

In the evening, the hostel seemed to be full of Japanese persons, including three girls which seemed odd, most independent Japanese travellers that I’ve come across have been male, especially in the back blocks.

Sunday 28 February — Tekapo to Alexandra (370km)

Alexandra

The increasing cloud and showers had not materialised yesterday, so I had a bit of sunburn to add to my tender feet this morning, enough to decide against another day’s walking and to hit the road south towards Alexandra. As long as I was on the main road, the weather was fine and sunny, although there was some mist and cloud obscuring the mountains, but, when I detoured up the side of Lake Pukaki to the settlement (hotel, hostel and campsite) at Mt Cook, it started to rain.

I had a look around the visitor centre, indoors of course, then bought some petrol (with relief I might add, as I doubt if I could have made it back down the road to the next pump). The pump attendant was quite definite that the rain would stop, but I didn’t wait to see when. I emerged from the rain at much the same point as I had entered it, and at the last viewpoint, the mountains were still shrouded while out on the plain it was sunny for the rest of the day.

In Auckland, the town of Twizel has the reputation of being the most boring town in New Zealand so I stopped there for a look around. It was built in the middle of nowhere for the headquarters and staff housing for the complex of hydro-electric schemes in this area which finally drain into the Waitaki River. There certainly wasn’t much happening, but it was a Sunday after all.

I carried on towards the Lindis Pass, stopping at Omarama for lunch, and at various other places to admire the scenery. Not very exciting but quite pleasant. The weather forecast for tomorrow is not encouraging so I’m not sure what I will do, the most likely thing is a sail on the Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu at Queenstown, then on to the West Coast, but Queenstown is not my favourite place so I spent the night at the hostel at Alexandra

Monday 29 February — Alexandra to Wanaka (175km)

The weather turned out to be quite reasonable, some cloud, dull in the late morning and early afternoon but then clearing to a fine evening. I drove down to Queenstown (after a pleasant chat with a lad called Bill Grey from Aberdeen who reappears in Wanganui) and bought a ticket for the morning cruise on the Earnslaw and had a short walk around the town while waiting for the departure.

The TSS Earnslaw is a twin screw steamer, built by McGregor in Dunedin and brought up by rail for final assembly at Kingston. She was launched on the same day as the Titanic but is still afloat. Most of her working life was spent carrying people, goods and livestock amongst the settlements and sheep stations on the shores of the lake, now she is a major tourist attraction.

The morning cruise was quite short, only an hour, up the Frankton Arm of the lake and I spent most of the time watching the stokers shovelling coal for the two boilers and admiring the clouds of smoke coming out of the funnel. Then I hung around to watch the afternoon departure for a cruise across the lake and a visit ashore at the Mt Nicholas sheep station.

After taking a few photos of the Earnslaw diminishing with distance, I headed off to try out the Gondola, an aerial cableway up a hill at the back of the town with a restaurant, giftshop etc. at the top. The views were definitely good. A late lunch in the town (which I still don’t like much) then off by the back road to Arrowtown before setting of again over the Cardrona road to Wanaka.

This time, the YH was fairly empty and consequently rather more pleasant than on my last visit. The night was clear, but the moon was bright and the stars a bit bland, not like some nights I’ve spent in the car. There was a girl from Newcastleton in the hostel.

Tuesday 1 March — Wanaka to Fox Glacier (286km)

In the morning, the weather in Wanaka was fine but it looked a bit grotty towards the Haast Pass. However, off I went after refusing a lift to a couple of Yanks who were going to Franz Joseph, on the grounds that I had no idea how far I would get today, and the warden person’s daughter was driving that way anyway.

I stopped at various interesting points along the way, mostly waterfalls. As I approached Haast, the sky over the sea was blue so I decided to stop at the hotel for a bit. When I came out, the blue had reached land and everything was very pleasant along the coast, although there was low cloud shrouding the hills just a few miles inland.

I picked up a Swiss girl about eight kilometres north of Haast. She had got a lift that far and then decided to walk for a bit. I was aware of some sort of a bundle at the edge of the road and as I was passing it, a thumb came out. She had been in the ditch picking brambles. Anyway, we got to Fox Glacier and went into the hotel, then she went off to the Backpackers and I drove down to Lake Matheson for the night, to get an early start to see the reflections. The clouds had cleared during the evening and in bright moonlight, the snow-capped peaks of Tasman and Cook seemed to float in the sky among the stars.

Wednesday 2 March — Fox Glacier

Well, I didn’t get up early enough. By the time I got to the end of the lake, the ripple had started and was spreading quickly across the surface. I spent the morning climbing Cone Rock, recommended by the hotel barman as a good place to view the glacier, which it certainly was, and then in the afternoon I tried to join a helicopter trip to land on the glacier but there was insufficient interest and I had to settle for a guided walk on the bottom. The ice was filthy but fascinating.

Mt Cook above the evening mist

In the evening, there being not much else to do, it was a few beers in the hotel and, having failed to get a bed at the Backpackers, back to Lake Matheson again. The morning had been fine and clear, cloud developed at lunchtime but it did not rain, and the cloud cleared again in the evening. Apparently this is a frequent weather pattern in this area.

Thursday 3 March — Fox Glacier to Okarito (65km)

Lake Matheson again

Still missed the best of the reflections in spite of being there at half past seven. I took the road to Franz Joseph to see the glacier there. It would have involved a lot more climbing to get a view over the glacier here so I just walked up and looked at the end of it. Unguided persons are not allowed on the ice because of the unstable nature of the structure. Bits keep falling off it.

Lunch in Franz Joseph then down to Okarito again in the early afternoon. I washed my socks and went for a walk along the beach, picking up some driftwood for the fire on my way back. Made some tea and went for another walk along the beach, in the other direction, picking up more wood for the fire. Only three other people present, and no beer in the boot, so a very quiet evening before I drenched myself in Dimp and went to bed.