Milford Sound

One of the best things I found about going to Milford is that you have to drive along the Milford Road to get there, 120km long and the only way in and out. From Te Anau it winds its way past beautiful mirrored lakes and steep sided mountains. About half way along it becomes a dense temperate rainforest, the roadsides scattered with waterfalls and avalanche scars.

Rather than complete the journey in a day we decided to spread it out over three, nicely situated informal campgrounds are dotted along the road, they’re rather basic but very pretty nonetheless. Consisting of 10 or so spots to park a van or pitch a tent in amongst the forest, a couple of long drop toilets, and a river for water, all anyone could need. We have a van full of food, gas and warm clothes so we were good to go. Our first night was spent tucked in a private spot amongst some old beech trees that backed onto the river, a very friendly black bird made some good company as it hopped around our campsite eating the infuriating sandfly that feed on animal blood, including humans. We somehow still managed to be bitten despite wearing long trousers and fleeces with our hoods up.

The next morning we continued our drive to Milford, our cruise was not until 4pm but we left early so we could stop along the way and do a few short walks before getting there. We stopped at various lookouts and waterfalls to snap away like good old fashioned tourists before arriving at the entrance to Homer Tunnel, just before the tunnel we parked the car and went for a half hour stroll through the boulder strewn landscape beneath the impressive hills. We then drove through the tunnel. When I think of a tunnel I picture a well laid road with a tiled wall and ceiling and strips of fluorescent lighting along the roof. This has none, a handful of low powered light bulbs are dispersed along its 1.5km length, I’m sure there were more leaks in the tunnel than lights. The sides and roof are rough rock and still show the marks and scrapes from whatever monster drill bore it out. On the way to Milford the traffic flow through the tunnel was controlled by a set of traffic lights, however on the way back it was a free for all, and for some unknown reason the lights were out. No road markings and a variable width made passing oncoming traffic a fun game which I allowed Lauren to play as I hid behind our road atlas.

When we arrived at Milford we were instantly impressed by the scale of it, mountains rose straight out of the sea and carried on for over 2000 metres. At the time we arrived it seemed very busy, coachloads of Japanese tourists would be lead out of their busses, into the terminal, onto the boat and then back again. We decided to go and have lunch and avoid the hustle and bustle for a while. After eating lunch in a nice café and going for a wander around the boardwalk along the shore line it was time for our cruise. It was a miracle, all the coaches had left the terminal car park and we were directed to one of the smaller boats in the fleet, going for the 4pm time seemed to have paid off. Most people like to go for the lunchtime cruises because it gives them time to get in and out in a day. We were in no such rush. We were happy to find that our boat was less than half full, which made for a much more intimate experience.

The boat left the terminal and we were instantly greeted with the magnificent Bowen Falls. It snaked its way along the south shore of what we were told is actually a fiord not a sound, skirting waterfalls and finding rocky points with sleeping seals on. It gradually worked its way past the point at which most of the shorter cruises return and entered the Tasman Sea. After a good look at the fiord from further afield and an encounter with the world’s second rarest penguin, the Fiordland Crested Penguin, we began our 20km journey back towards the wharf. This time along the north coast of the fiord, with snow-capped peaks in the hills to the north it was no surprise that the north side was dominated by several spectacular waterfalls, one of which the skipper decided to park directly underneath giving the handful of us that stayed on deck a thorough soaking. On the return trip we were given a great view looking back as the clouds rolled in creating some fantastic patterns around the mountains. After over 2 and a ½ hours we rounded Bowen Falls again and returned back to the wharf. We drove back to our campsite and battled once more with sandflies as we cooked our dinner, we were defeated however and were forced to eat inside our van.

We awoke to rain the next morning so decided to be very lazy and sleep in, our first lie in for quite some time. At 11 o clock we decided to make a move and head back to picturesque Te Anau so we can shower and freshen up. This afternoon we will head to Lake Manapouri to the south which is NZ’s second deepest lake before heading back inland and preparing our assault on the West Coast.

Not sure when we will have chance to blog again so here are loads of photos from Milford to keep you going.

X x x

Finished With Fruit

Ok let’s get on with it before I forget what’s happened.

On the 9^th of Feb our van had its lock fixed by a very friendly mechanic who charged a mere $20 for the repair which we were very happy with. So Maggi only had to go 5 days with a chopping board wedged in the door panel and the bottom of a coke can glued to the door to prevent wandering hands popping the lock open. (This was my way of securing the van but it’s very hard to describe in a blog so I’ll explain more when I’m home and have props and things)

A few days later Lauren was attacked in a moment of sheer terror, her attacker… a praying mantis. Not so terrifying I thought. She also got roped into playing a game of touch rugby for the orchard team, I've never seen someone try to avoid the ball so much, although when she was given the ball she did a pretty good job, and she didn't let any of the other team get past her so I thought it was a very good effort. I have video evidence for people to see when we get back.

On the weekend of the 11^th we had picked all the fruit that was ripe and had nothing to do by lunchtime on Saturday so had the rest of the day off. We went to Queenstown and had a nice afternoon going to the cinema and having a ridiculously huge meal at a pub right on the wharf. I had a pork belly and Lauren had a full rack of ribs (which I ate half of). And there was premier league football on in the pub, which Lauren made me sit with my back to. It’s hard watching tv in the back of a spoon. After dinner we drove a few miles out of Queenstown to a campsite on the banks of the Lake and settled down for the night. In the morning we checked the price of the campsite, $7 each, reasonable we thought. I looked in my wallet $10, ahh slight problem there. I came up with all sorts of elaborate plans of how to get around the problem, and still maintain that me hiding in the back under the duvet would have been the best way to deal with the situation. But Lauren opted for the ‘honesty is the best policy route’ and it turned out we could pay by card. Unfortunate, I was quite looking forward to saving $7.

That day we drove to Arrowtown and wandered the old Chinese settlement, tiny stone huts that the chinese miners lived in. Afterwards we ate a ludicrously big ice cream and paddled in the River Arrow, I tried to catch a trout with the sophisticated technique of throwing a stone at them but to no avail. Then it was back to the orchard for another 2 weeks work before finishing for good. The last week of which Lauren got to work in the packing shed which she enjoyed because she didn’t have to climb ladders any more. I got two involuntary days off because of rain which gave me time to plan the next portion of our trip.

Yesterday we drove south, past Queenstown beside the beautiful Lake Wakatipu and  alongside The Remarkables mountain range, to Lauren’s auntie and uncle’s house  in Winton. Only 100km from Te Anau (gateway to Fiordland) it seems like a good jumping off point for our trip into the Fiordland National Park and up towards Milford Sound.

When we arrived in Te Anau we let spontaneity get the better of us and booked a trip across Lake Te Anau to the famous glow worm caves, which we have just finished as I write this. It was fantastic, 2 and a ½ hours including a nice boat trip around the lake and walking tour of the cave system, and finished off with a boat tour of glow worm grotto, an underground lake with a ceiling full of tiny points of blue light. We also booked a nature cruise of Milford Sound for tomorrow so we will let you know how that went when we have done it.

Lots to do must dash!

Bye x x x

Ups and Downs...

Last time we spoke we were going to Arrowtown, so I'll start from there.

After a nice drive from Queenstown around Lake Hayes we arrived at Arrowtown and after dodging the throngs of Japanese tourist groups we got into the heart of the small town. The town retains much of its appearance from the late 19th century, the wooden buildings adorned with decorative awnings and shuttered windows. We wandered the high street going in souvenir and jewellery shops as Lauren looked for the perfect necklace, which she eventually found. After sampling the shopping and having a huge ice cream we went for a walk along the nearby river which used to be panned for gold, and is still done to a smaller extent.

After our trip to Arrowtown it was back to Cromwell and work in the Orchard for another five days. We must have impressed the family that own the orchard as they asked us to stay until the end of the stone fruit season towards the end of February, we agreed to do so as the extra money would allow us to experience so much more. In return however we asked for a long weekend off so we have had from the 4th to the 6th off work. On the Thursday after a particularly hot day at work the boss brought a few cases of Speights into the packing shed and all the staff, probably around 15 in all, gathered around and relaxed with some cold beers. It was well needed.

We planned a trip to Wanaka and to climb Roy's Peak. On the friday after work we drove 50km to Wanaka and stayed in a DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite right on the banks of the Clutha river. As nice as the orchard is it was nice to spend some time away from there. We had a bit of a lie in, waking up at 7:30, and after breakfast and bag packing and a short drive along the shore of Lake Wanaka came to the car park for the track leading up to Roy's Peak. The track was relentless and didn't ease up in any place, we pushed on and reached the 1578 metre summit after 8 km of walking and some 3 and a half hours. The one thing that kept us going was the view which kept getting better and better until we reached the summit and had a full 360 degree view which took in Lake Wanaka, the town, and spectacular views across Mt Aspiring national park including Mt Aspiring, the only 3000 metre peak south of those near Mt Cook. We were knackered, but very proud of the fact that this was the highest mountain we had ever climbed.

On the way back down, which took half the time it did on the way up, we were looking forward to going back to the campsite and watching a film on the laptop and having a glass of wine. Only to find that when we got to the van the lock on the drivers side door was hanging out and after a quick search of the van we found no Laptop and our Ipods were missing.
We had been Robbed!
We were gutted. How quickly happiness and pride can be turned into sadness and anger. In hindsight there were probably some things we could have done to prevent this but none of that matters now, lessons have been learnt and we realise that we are probably lucky that the thieves didn't completely wipe us out or worse yet take the van altogether. So instead of relaxing to a film and glass of wine we spent Saturday afternoon in the police station giving descriptions of our stolen property. We went back to the campsite and decided that on Sunday night we would stay in a hotel, so we booked one that night and made sure it had a spa. On Sunday we checked into the hotel as early as possible. We made full use of the jacuzzi and sauna, ate our fill in the restaurant and watched movies on Sky all night. Isn't it great how simple things can make your problems disappear.

So after a spot of shopping and a rather intense game of mini golf I am sat a few kilometres out of Queenstown on the shores of Lake Wakatipu under the shade of a pine tree typing on my brand new Acer Netbook while Lauren sunbathes in the heat.

Nothing is going to ruin this trip for us :)

Speak to you soon
x x x x x x x x x x

Arrowtown

Roys Peak (Almost there!)

Almost at the summit of Roys Peak..

What a view...(Roys Peak)

The Earnslaw, Queenstown

Mini Golf, Queenstown..What a shot!!

Wakatipu Lake, Queenstown

Me and Sarah rescuing a baby bird in the orchard

One of the Dam's in the Orchard

Mmm Peaches..Yum!

Fast Cars and Fruit

So we've been working in the orchard for 3 weeks now and eating just as much fruit as the first day. Thankfully we have learnt our lessons and had no more close calls on the ladders. We have heard that the weather in the UK is miserable at the moment so we are sending warm thoughts your way, sorry to rub it in.

Last Sunday we visited Queenstown, and had a bit more fun now we have some extra spending money. It was a bit rainy so we did what any sensible person does and went to the cinema to see Sherlock Holmes, some things never change. One of the best things about going to Queenstown is the drive, it follows the Kawarau River which sits in a steep gorge. The edge of the river is dotted with doorways built into the stone walls, these tiny rooms were used by the gold prospectors who panned the river in the mid 19th century. The only thing that has changed in the gorge since then is that people now use the old iron bridges to jump off.

One thing we have learned about the Central Otago district is the weather can change in a flash. Some days, like today, the weather will be clear and still in the mid twenties, but tomorrow we might wake up to snow and it won't get above 12 or 13 all day. This happened a few days ago and let me tell you, it isn't fun climbing an aluminium ladder at 7:30 in the morning with bare hands.

Last night to kick off our weekend we went to the local raceway in Cromwell known as The Central Speedway, this makes it sound glamorous and modern. It was neither. We had to drive across a recently corrugated gravel road to what is essentially just a dirt oval. We were expecting a stadium of sorts, but the stadium is made up by the spectators cars parked around the track facing inwards and the stadium seats are the front seats of your vehicle. We sat on the roof of the van for a better view. The setting was nice, nestled in the valley surrounded by mountains, and the racing (and crashes) were equally spectacular.  We munched on chips and bacon sandwiches as we watched the NZ Sprint Car Grand Prix of which there were 6 races as well as other support races including saloon cars and mini stock cars. All in all it was a great night that went on well past dark under enormous floodlights.

Today we are heading to Arrowtown which is an old gold mining town so we will let you know what its like next time we speak to you.

Bye x x x

Week 1 of Fruit Picking

Time flies when you're working hard!

Our first week of fruit picking has begun and ended, it's twice as hard as we anticipated but also twice as fun. I have eaten my body weight in apricots and nectarines with the odd plum thrown in just for kicks. Up and down ladders with up to 20kg of fruit hanging in a bag from your shoulders from 7:30 til 5:00 isn't the easiest way to make a living, but the pay is good and the fruit is delicious. Not to mention a nice long lunch break and 2 tea breaks a day, where tea and biscuits are personally delivered by Simon the owner. Everyone at the orchard is really friendly, Lauren and I have been enjoying getting to know some of the regular workers including a few Vanuatans who come to New Zealand for half the year, earning in a week what would take them a year to earn at home.

We have both had a few near misses up the ladders, both nearly falling from over 10 feet up, admittedly mine was slightly more spectacular than Laurens as all of a sudden I was dangling from one hand with an apricot in the other and no ladder to be seen. I climbed down the tree hoping no-one had seen my misfortune but the laughter made it clear that wasn't the case. Lauren luckily managed to keep control of her ladder thus avoiding embarrassment. We learnt from our mistakes very quickly.

We went to the racecourse a few kilometres down the road to watch some racing, it was different to the racing we get in the UK. The jockeys were in chariots behind the horses, it's probably just as well as a few of them looked a little out of shape. The weather was hot and has been hot and without rain for some time with temperatures all week around the low 30's, to cool down we took a dip in Lake Dunstan five minutes drive from the orchard, the first time we have swum in NZ without a wetsuit. On Wednesday night however the heaven's opened and it rained for 18 hours solid dropping over 2 inches of rain, needless to say that work on Thursday was rained off, we took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping in the nearby town of Alexandra. Back to work for another hot Friday and Saturday.

In all it seems that fruit picking agrees with us, working outside in nice weather, days off when it rains, and a private reservoir on site, to do a few lengths after work to cool down (which is a hell of a lot warmer than the sea). Much too Laurens delight there is a resident Basset Hound called NATO who seems too like her very much, I think it's the biscuits she sneaks him during tea breaks!

This morning we awoke to snow capped peaks all around, yes snow in the middle of summer! It didn't reach us down in the valley but makes for quite a spectacular view. Today is Sunday and we are in Queenstown for, you guessed it, more shopping, a movie, and who knows maybe even a spot of bungee jumping. Then it's back to work for another week.

We'll try not to enjoy ourselves too much!

Speak to you soon!
x x x

More Pictures

These are pictures from a day trip to Moeraki.
I think they're all of animals...sorry!

Happy New Year!

Christmas and New Year have been and gone. We hope you are all enjoying the holiday season.

I can't believe we've been away for 2 months!

The last few weeks have flown by! Most of it has been spent in a at a small beach town called Kakanui on the east coast between Christchurch and Dunedin. We stayed in a beach house with Lauren's Auntie, Uncle and two cousins with great views of a long sandy beach. We had good weather for the most part which allowed us to make the most of the sea. Surfing, snorkelling and sunbathing were on the agenda for most days, with a few hours fishing in the evening off the rocks just outside the front of the house. To begin with Lauren led the pace with 4 fish to my 0 (even though I set up her lines!) but I soon caught up with 5 fish in one day [Lauren: even though they were much smaller than mine ;)].

Between Christmas and New Year Lauren's uncle and cousins were kind enough to invite me on a 3 day hunting trip in Waimate, while the girls stayed home and shopped. The setting for the hunt was fantastic, rugged hills, steep valleys and winding rivers made it enjoyable enough before we even got to the hunting. We were after wallabies, a huge pest to sheep farmers in New Zealand. I was given a rifle and two boxes of ammunition and told to shoot stuff. Each day we would slog up steep hills and sit for hours at a time on ridge lines hoping to pick up a hint of movement. Then after dark we would jump in the back of a pick-up truck and endure a dusty, bumpy ride back to the hut we were staying in for a cold beer. The hut itself was more of a shed, and the tone for the weekend was set by the fact that I found a small owl under my bed. There were 7 of us altogether in the hut and by the end of the hunt we had killed 46 wallabies (only 3 by yours truly). This was all of course much to Lauren's disapproval.

Lauren: Whilst Robin was away slaughtering innocent, cute, fluffy, hoppy animals, me and my auntie Hilary enjoyed a relaxing few days at the beach house, with the occasional shopping trip in between to break up the sunbathing. The day the boys left we were sat on the decking enjoying a nice glass of Baileys when Hilary spotted what looked like a shark swimming in the Bay, on closer inspection with the binoculars we realised that right in front of us in the bay was a pod of 8 Orca. We couldn't believe our luck, we knew the boys would be jealous missing out on this experience so just to rub it in we grabbed the video camera for evidence:)  We couldn't wait to show them...

We left the beach house on the 2nd day of the New Year to head for Central Otago in an attempt to find an orchard in need of two pasty English fruit pickers. After lots of ringing around and a few days in various towns around the area, we eventually got a result. A family run orchard called Webb's Fruit in Cromwell was after a few pickers for their maze of peach, plum, apple and cherry orchard. Much to our delight it came with accommodation and permission from the owners to pick as much fruit as you can eat! We start on the 9th and will keep you updated on this next step in our travels.

Speak to you soon.

x x x

More Pictures Coming!!!