From Kaikoura we headed for Marlborough Sounds, spending a couple of nights in the DOC Cowshed Bay campsite. Before we got to the Marlborough wine region we'd already seen at least a dozen vineyards, with many more to come. We stopped at the Montana Brancott winery to taste and buy a Pinot Noir for dinner.
The drive from Picton to Cowshed Bay was a little longer than we'd bargained for - almost two hours of bendy roads punctuated by one 5-minute stretch that was more or less straight. It was worth it though. We slept between Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds - the former bright blue, the latter equally intense but a bit more greeny - surrounded by lush forest and right by the beach.
The following morning we slept in - our only lie-in of the holiday, as it turned out - then went for an amble on part of the Queen Charlotte Track. The views over both sounds in the sunshine were spectacular and compete for my best view of the holiday.
Having lunch at Black Rock shelter, we met a group doing the Queen Charlotte as a guided walk. Day 3 of the walk is reputedly tough so they were delighted when we told them they were only an hour and a half from their hotel. We met them later eating a slap-up meal in the Portage Resort restaurant - the difference being that while they returned to their en-suite rooms, we had a 10-minute walk to our luxury site ($12 for the night).
Christmas Eve dawned rainy, with no sign of let-up. After some indecision, and helped by the sales skills of the amusing Frenchman hiring kayaks, we took a double kayak for a paddle in Kenepuru Sound. After some leisurely exploration around the mussel farms, we decided the wind had got up and we'd better head for home. Coming round the lee of a point we saw the most obvious wind line imaginable - glassy calm water where we were, chop and white horses a few metres off. Sadly we had to paddle upwind through it to get back. We felt we had earned our lunch though, unlike most of the bored couples in the cafe waiting for the rain to stop.
From there we headed back to Bleinheim, where we were booked at Herzog winery for dinner. Our first shower in four days, at Watson's Way Backpackers, was very welcome and we felt quite presentable afterwards. As soon as we got to the restaurant, however, it became apparent that we were woefully underdressed in jeans and flip-flops. Still the service was impeccable and nobody batted an eyelid. We had a fabulous five-course tasting dinner, each course with its own wine, which cost nearly as much as our week's campervan hire. A fine flashpacking moment.
Saturday, 10 January 2009
21st-22nd December 2008: Christchurch & Kaikoura
On 21st December we set off for our summer holiday - two and a half weeks on the South Island.
The holiday feeling started straight away with a hilarious driver on the Auckland airport bus. He was a very jovial chap who kept stopping to wait for people to visit cash points, not caring that the cars behind him would have preferred him to go when the traffic light was green! He raised a laugh by ticking off a couple saying a fond farewell at the bus stop.
A couple of hours later we were in Christchurch. We spent an hour or two there, catching sight of the Botanic Gardens and the inside of a supermarket before heading off with our camper van. We had a Jucy Crib for 8 days - a converted people-carrier/minivan with a bed in the back. It was rather cosy but served us well, handled like a car and allowed us to overtake lots of larger conventional camper vans.
We reached Kaikoura that night, ate a tasty dinner at the White Morph, and more or less managed to assemble the bed in the dark with a bottle of wine in us.
The next morning we were out early for a guided kayaking trip around Kaikoura's fur seal colony. It was pretty good, but we were a bit hampered by a Japanese couple in the group who spoke no English and couldn't get the hang of making the thing go forwards... Still we enjoyed paddling close to a few swimming seals and admired some more on the rocks.
High spot of the outing was when we brought the kayaks back to the beach. Paddling at the shore we were a few feet away from two huge sting rays in the shallows - one of them must have been 6ft across.
We finished up our Kaikoura visit with barbecued crayfish at a beachside stall, before heading north up the coast - we had a long way to cover in a week.
The holiday feeling started straight away with a hilarious driver on the Auckland airport bus. He was a very jovial chap who kept stopping to wait for people to visit cash points, not caring that the cars behind him would have preferred him to go when the traffic light was green! He raised a laugh by ticking off a couple saying a fond farewell at the bus stop.
A couple of hours later we were in Christchurch. We spent an hour or two there, catching sight of the Botanic Gardens and the inside of a supermarket before heading off with our camper van. We had a Jucy Crib for 8 days - a converted people-carrier/minivan with a bed in the back. It was rather cosy but served us well, handled like a car and allowed us to overtake lots of larger conventional camper vans.
We reached Kaikoura that night, ate a tasty dinner at the White Morph, and more or less managed to assemble the bed in the dark with a bottle of wine in us.
The next morning we were out early for a guided kayaking trip around Kaikoura's fur seal colony. It was pretty good, but we were a bit hampered by a Japanese couple in the group who spoke no English and couldn't get the hang of making the thing go forwards... Still we enjoyed paddling close to a few swimming seals and admired some more on the rocks.
High spot of the outing was when we brought the kayaks back to the beach. Paddling at the shore we were a few feet away from two huge sting rays in the shallows - one of them must have been 6ft across.
We finished up our Kaikoura visit with barbecued crayfish at a beachside stall, before heading north up the coast - we had a long way to cover in a week.
Saturday, 20 December 2008
20th December 2008: Bethells Beach
Sophie's friend and ex-colleague Lucy was in town for a few days, so we headed back out to the Waitakeres for the afternoon. This time we drove to Bethells Beach, north of Karekare and Piha.
The surf on these western beaches is always impressive, and today especially so since it had been windy. We strolled north over the warm black dunes and sat playing in the sand for a while. (Tim built a pyramid and a camel. -- Sophie)
Tomorrow we're off to the South Island for two weeks. Christmas in a camper van this year...
Monday, 15 December 2008
14th December 2009: Cycling on Waiheke
We took the ferry to Waiheke and hired a couple of bikes. Waiheke is a good cycling size; you can get round half of it in a day, or all if you're really keen. Sadly I turned out not to be all that keen - I've always said I only like cycling where there are no hills and it turns out to be true. Give me the Thames towpath any day.
It was a beautiful sunny day and we spent some time chilling out by a pretty bay, as well as catching views of some other lovely beaches. Also had a Christmas culture shock moment, passing a gospel choir near the wharf singing carols in the sunshine. It just isn't Christmas. It can't be.
It was a beautiful sunny day and we spent some time chilling out by a pretty bay, as well as catching views of some other lovely beaches. Also had a Christmas culture shock moment, passing a gospel choir near the wharf singing carols in the sunshine. It just isn't Christmas. It can't be.
Sunday, 14 December 2008
12th-13th December 2008: Sydney
It was the CHP company Christmas party in Sydney, so Tim and the rest of the CHPers jumped on a plane for a short jaunt to Sydney.
We had an excellent lunch at Catalina in Rose Bay. We were supposed to go on sea plane flights after the meal but the weather didn't co-operate, so we were forced to continue drinking the excellent wine instead. We then spent the rest of the day drinking beer in various Sydney bars.
Monday, 8 December 2008
6th-7th December 2008: Yacht race to Waiheke
Together with a few CHPers, we joined Thelma for another classic yacht race and a night on Waiheke Island.
The race itself was very cruisy, downwind all the way from Devonport to Patio Bay with just one jibe. By the time we got there, though, Tim was in the bad books of the after-deck crew - he spent the race watching the gennaker and asking if we could just sheet in a bit... now ease off... no, sheet in again...
We spent Saturday evening at an excellent barbecue hosted by a gentleman called Bert, who has an idyllic bach in a bay only reachable by boat. It's a bit like Guy's beach hut but three times the size and with a proper fridge. Sorry Guy :) Rum flowed freely all evening, along with a surfeit of meat and much merriment.
One or two CHPers seem keen to get into sailing after this. We did point out that you don't always get two days of perfect conditions: warm sunshine, 15 knots of breeze pointing the right way, and someone else's fabulous 100-year-old racing yacht. You can't beat it.
The race itself was very cruisy, downwind all the way from Devonport to Patio Bay with just one jibe. By the time we got there, though, Tim was in the bad books of the after-deck crew - he spent the race watching the gennaker and asking if we could just sheet in a bit... now ease off... no, sheet in again...
We spent Saturday evening at an excellent barbecue hosted by a gentleman called Bert, who has an idyllic bach in a bay only reachable by boat. It's a bit like Guy's beach hut but three times the size and with a proper fridge. Sorry Guy :) Rum flowed freely all evening, along with a surfeit of meat and much merriment.
One or two CHPers seem keen to get into sailing after this. We did point out that you don't always get two days of perfect conditions: warm sunshine, 15 knots of breeze pointing the right way, and someone else's fabulous 100-year-old racing yacht. You can't beat it.
30th November 2008: Goat Island
Encouraged by a couple of Tim's scuba-loving colleagues and some fabulous sunshine, we headed up to Goat Island for an afternoon of snorkelling.
Goat Island is a marine reserve about an hour and a half north of Auckland and maybe 100m off the mainland, an easy swim from the beach. We spotted snappers, rays, a crowd of blue mao mao, and some funky zebra-striped fish, and watched the CHP boys get yet another set of interesting sun burn marks from yet another set of funny-shaped outdoor kit (this time sleeveless wet suits).
On the way back we had a thrilling race in which one car sat in traffic for 45 minutes while the other (driven by a reluctant me) skittered over unsealed roads in a hilarious attempt to beat the queue. We just about succeeded too.
Goat Island is a marine reserve about an hour and a half north of Auckland and maybe 100m off the mainland, an easy swim from the beach. We spotted snappers, rays, a crowd of blue mao mao, and some funky zebra-striped fish, and watched the CHP boys get yet another set of interesting sun burn marks from yet another set of funny-shaped outdoor kit (this time sleeveless wet suits).
On the way back we had a thrilling race in which one car sat in traffic for 45 minutes while the other (driven by a reluctant me) skittered over unsealed roads in a hilarious attempt to beat the queue. We just about succeeded too.
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