Well one more country down and another to go. On the 18th of August we after much anticipation we touched down at our next destination of New Zealand. As with our flight from LA we flew with Air Pacific from Nadi to Auckland. We were sad to wave farewell to Fijian shores but being such huge Lord of the Rings fans to be able to finally visit 'Middle Earth' was something we had both been so eagerly waiting for since we left England. I know you are not meant to summarise a visit before you write the review, but, New Zealand was everything we had hoped for and so much more. A little colder than we had expected, but it's worth enduring.
We decided to book a campervan whilst back in the US, but thought before exploring the country we would take some time in Auckland. Our first impressions of Auckland were that if it weren't for the American street signs we would have thought we were driving through Leamington Spa or a similar sort of city. We arrived at our hostel on Albert Street, just a short walk from the Sky Tower (the tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere) and also a stones throw from the harbour. It's a nice city, but a city at that. We were told of the 4 million people that live in New Zealand, about 1.2m live in Auckland. Hey don't get me wrong it was a great city, but we have grown a little tired of visiting cities now. We walked around the cities parks and gardens, and took in the architecture, very English but we were so eager just to get out to see the real New Zealand.
On the Monday we headed down to Escape rentals to collect our campervan so that we could head out of Auckland early. Escape are pretty unique, the campervans are all personalised with graffiti. Well, to our amazement in true fitting with our trip we collected 'Woodstock'. The name should speak for itself, but let me assist your imagination. It was based on the flower power era, so donned with the peace sign, the word 'LOVE' and a silhouette of Jimi Hendrix amongst other brightly coloured symbols reminiscent of the love generation. Of course our parents would remember it well. So, we though the theme was relevant, given our 'Hippie' tendencies of late. Anyway following our time in Auckland we picked up some food and headed South towards the town of Thames and north from there around the Coromandel Peninsula. This was our first exposure to real NZ and it wasn't before long that we saw the famous multitudes of sheep and cows. In fact we thought we saw more cows than sheep, but anyway. The Coromandel was beautiful and took us about 6 hours to our first camp site in Whitianga. We were pleasantly surprised by the facilities at the camp site as they are more than us Brits would expect. Clean and hot showers, fully equipped kitchen facilities and lots of things to do around the site although given the cold that we had not yet acclimatised to, we declined and cooped up in the warm van.
We headed South towards the city of Tauranga to stay with Claire and Derek Warren, friends of the Smallman family from South Africa who now live in NZ. Although so soon into our trip we appreciated the opportunity to indulge in a lamb roast and a warm, comfortable bed. Thank you Claire and Derek your hospitality was much appreciated. Tauranga is in the Bay of Plenty on the North shores of the North Island. We awoke to sunshine and decided to head off for a walk up a volcano, Mount Munganui, which gave us awesome views of the bay and out to sea. After a walk that took us a few hours we headed South towards Putaruru where we were to stay on the farm of Maralyn Short who we had met in Fiji. Again we had a delicious home raised lamb roast along with Maralyn's home grown peaches. We also got to ride on Kelly a dressage horse that belonged to Steph who we had also met in Fiji. The hunt was now on though as this is where we picked up a copy of Ian Brodie's Lord of the Rings filming sites and began our quest to find the locations nationwide. We were awoken the next morning by a gunshot killing one of Maralyn's cows for dressing (to a non farmer this means that the meat is prepared).
We then took a drive about 45mins East of Putaruru towards Rotorua. Rotorua is very famous for a few things, mainly the smell of sulphur from the active hot springs in the area. Basically the area is one great big bubbling volcano. It's the main tourist town on the North island so we took a few days to take a few tours and really taste our first experiences of cultural New Zealand. We arrived in the town and basically there is steam coming from all over the place and every now and then you get a stonking whiff of rotten egg. We decided that we would really taste some of the Maori culture so decided to book an evening at Mitai Maori Village, and we also got a free ticket to visit Hell's Gate. So, we decided to head off to Hell's Gate that afternoon. It is the most amazing place, bubbling mud, mini volcanoes and hot water lakes. It's quite eerie being in a place where the earth is so active. We took our time walking around and then made our way to the campsite for the night which had 5 natural hot spa pools.
The following day we took some time around the town a walk around part of Lake Rotorua and also the Old Government Buildings and later in the evening headed to Mitai Maori Village for a cultural show and got to participate in a Haka which was very cool. We saw some glow worms and then headed back to the marquee for a Hangi, which is a meal slow cooked under ground. The food was delicious, the lamb was the most tender we had tasted, and once again delicious NZ food. We stayed one more night in Rotorua and then headed South on the SH1 towards Lake Taupo and then onto Tongariro National Park. Ok, so this is where things go nuts. Nestled in the heart of Tongariro is Mount Ruhapeau the largest on the North island, it is an active volcano, great, but it is also a ski resort. Yes, Kiwi's ski on an active volcano, and an amazing one at that. It was here that we saw our first Lord of the Rings site. Mount Ngauruhoe was 'Mount Doom' in the LOTR, again a spectacular site. We stayed overnight at the Whakapapa ski field campsite which was freezing cold, and also in the middle of the lava channel had Ruhapeau erupted, nice!
After a 6 hour drive further South we made our way to the Upper Hutt region and visited Kaitoke Regional Park. A really spectacular place and if it hadn't have been for the LOTR guidebook we wouldn't have visited. This was the site for Rivendell of the elves. We made our way to Harcourt Park and stayed overnight in the grounds of 'Isengard' and some of the pathways that had been covered over since filming with grass since filming are still evident. We then made our way down to Wellington just 45mins away. Wellington is the capitol of New Zealand and very similar in it's layout to San Francisco, minus Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. As far as a Kiwi city this is the most liveable we felt. As we drove into the city it was very misty but as the day went by the cloud lifted to reveal Wellington in all it's glory. We decided to head up Mount Victoria for some great views of the city and also some more LOTR filming sites. It's amazing when you recognise them. We spent the next day heading around the coast for some scenery and stopped off to watch some surfers in Lyall Bay next to the airport and then spent a bit of time in and around the city, sending postcards etc. We decided to save a few $ and changed our ferry crossing from 8am the next morning to 2am. So, we parked up in the car park and the beauty of a camper is that we slept a few hours, parked up on the ferry and slept on the ferry. By the time we reached Picton on the South island it was about 6am so we headed straight from there to the city of Nelson.
We drove through some spectacular scenery and took a drive through some of the well known Kiwi vineyards. The terrain became more apparent on the South island as it took it's toll on Woodstock and also the fuel bill. Which incidentally is about half of the price of fuel in the UK. We took some time in Nelson at the campsite a caught a few Z's and then back into the city for a walk around. Nelson isn't famous for a huge amount apart from being the nation's second city for some time. We managed to get some wifi time finally in the town although we must have looked like hackers to the locals sat in the brightly coloured campervan. No bank robberies in that baby! Nelson was pretty famous for it's contribution to the LOTR movies. Harrington Breweries brewed a stout called 'SobeRing' especially for the scenes in the Prancing Pony in Bree, and also the 'One Ring' was crafted here for the movie by Jens Hansen Goldsmiths. We checked out both places and bought 6 bottles of 'SobeRing', but at just 1% alcohol, almost like Shandy. The novelty was fun though.
It was a 6 hour drive from Nelson to the Franz Josef Glacier where we stopped overnight in a very luxury campsite, with sauna's and spa's etc. However, for 6 hours we had seen rain, rain and more rain. In fact driving through some of the passes of the mountains were quite frightening as there was rain running off just about every ledge, we saw some huge waterfalls right next to the road. Sadly although we had driven about 100k's into the Southern Alps all we could see was grey misty skies and rain. We had made our way to Franz Josef Glacier to witness our first glacier but it wasn't to be so, because after a 30min walk through rainforest and torrential rain only the terminal of the glacier could be seen. But, all hope was not lost so we took the 30min drive further down the road to the Fox Glacier. Totally worth it and indeed we got to witness our first ever glacier. The drive to the glacier was amazing, and we witnessed our very first Kea (mountain parrots) trying to rip off the rubber seals from rental cars. We walked towards the terminal and ignored the signs to not cross the barrier for an up close and personal look at the glacier. Totally worth it to stand at the foot of a glacier. Dangerous but we only live one. Well, until you hear the ice cracking and falling down, so, maybe we weren't that daring and turned back to take some pics. What an amazing achievement to walk right up to a glacier.
From hear we headed further south towards a town called Wanaka just an hour over the mountain pass to Queenstown, but we though we would save Queenstown until the next day, despite rave reviews of the town and the sites. Finally the rain had subsided and for the first time in almost 2 days we saw the sun. Wanaka is a bustling town for skiers and snowboarders so we both got a little jealous and wish we had our gear with us, but anyway that's for another trip. We were right in the heart of the Southern Alps now and surrounded by snow capped mountains. This is what we had come for. People, it is without doubt the most spectacular scenery you will ever witness. If you haven't been to NZ and choose Spain over there, you are crazy. Save up hard and go visit, you will be glad you did.
We woke up nice and early to the cold and headed up over the mountain pass towards Queenstown and The Remarkables (mountain range) appeared before us, completely breathtaking. Queenstown was nestled in the huge valley. It was at this point we could not believe what we were seeing. We found a parking area and got out to just take in the views. From here we headed into the valley towards AJ Hackett's bungee bridge (the first one in the world). After one look we both said no thanks but took a walk on the bridge to say we had been there all the same. We both agreed that we would sky dive but not bungee. Sorry folks, no bungee stories from us. From here we headed further on to a few more LOTR sites. On the river Kawarau this doubled up as the River Anduin and also the Ardonath or Pillars of the Kings. We then headed onto a little gold mining town called Arrowtown. Just totally idyllic and we both decided that if we were going to live anywhere in NZ this would be it. You are just surrounded by huge mountains and these quaint little town houses which used to be miners cottages back in the 1800's. We checked out a couple more LOTR sites, The Gladden Fields and the Ford of Bruinen. By now no doubt you are saying what a sad pair they are, but quite honestly the movies sites are the best views and scenery of NZ and we would both recommend the sites even if you are not a fan of the movies.
From Arrowtown we headed over the Shotover River which is famous for it's jet boating and onto Queenstown. A busy little year round holiday town with THE most breathtaking surroundings as far as walking out of your home every morning. Again just spectacular and if you want scenery this is the place to be. The town is busy with skiers and has a very young vibe to it. Lots of ski lodges and backpacker accommodation but it has preserved it's Kiwi feel and not sold out, yet, to overseas investors. Or at least it isn't apparent just yet. There isn't a whole bunch to do in the town unless you are there to ski or a boat trip on the lake. But in freezing cold weather we declined a trip on the steamboat that has been in operations for over 90 years. So, we headed out on a 40k road towards the tiny farming/fishing town of Glenorchy. This was the site for another LOTR filming site of Isengard. However on the way we stopped off at a place called Twelve Mile Delta, we dared to cross a flooded area in an attempt to see another LOTR site, where Sam, Frodo and Sméagol watched the Oliphant's in 'Ithilien'. We headed back to Shotover just outside of Queenstown for the night, and finally were able to get onto the internet for some wifi time.
The next day was spent in Queenstown just walking around the town and checking out the mountains all around us. The view of the Remarkables range of mountains is just amazing and has to be seen to be believed. It was at this point that we had hoped to head South to Milford Sound, Invercargill and Dunedin. But, we sadly had time against us so we decided to head North towards Mount Cook National Park. It was a case of we couldn't do both. We were so glad that we made the choice that we did. So, we set out once again in old Woodstock and made a 4 hour drive North towards the little town of Tarras for another LOTR filming site and then onto Omarama where we camped up for the night so that we could have a full day the next day. From Queenstown to Omarama however we had met with gale force winds which nearly blew us off the road. In fact we came across a few massive trees that had been uprooted. We really had faced all of the elements except for snow, well not yet anyway. The wind was so strong it was even causing some of the falcons to nose bomb and crash into the ground. We had never seen wind so strong, yet in good old Kiwi style everyone just gets on with it and goes about their daily lives. You could say the old Kiwi's are pretty hardy people.
So, the next day we awoke to blue skies and a fresh coating of snow on the mountains that surrounded Omarama. It was just totally amazing yet again, another little surprise that awaited us. From Omarama we made our way North towards Twizel, a tiny town that was almost flattened in the late 80's. It was in Twizel that the climax of the LOTR site of the Pelennor Fields in the Return of the King took place. By the time we had got there the sky had gone dark so it was difficult to really picture this site, but took some photo's all the same. We stopped off at the Twizel visitors centre. Twizel was unique in the filming of LOTR as all of the town were involved. They all dressed up as Orc or Rohirrim riders, so I asked the guy in the visitors centre and yep indeed he had been an Orc. How cool a genuine Orc! We chatted to him for ages and he told us all about the filming, it just sounded real fun. Essentially all but the petrol station closed down for the filming, and just to think when you drive into the town, a real sleepy one at that, the little old man walking his dog or the ladies working in the banks, were involved. It was such a surreal feeling, but everything is now just a distant memory for them and life goes on. You would be surprised how many people you see on the road heading to these remote locations to visit the sites. Honestly there are loads of people still visiting.
Well enough LOTR talk for now so we headed up to Mount Cook National Park for the night and drove alongside a glacier lake that was so turquoise you would not believe. We arrived at the visitors centre nestled at the heart of the Alps and decided to take the walk up to the Tasman Glacier. Again just another breathtaking vista, and we watched a snow storm blow in. It was just as well that we were equipped with snow chains for the van. However we did make it to our campsite just in time to avoid the storm. We spent another lazy night in the campervan and I read Tolkien's latest book 'The Children of Hurin', which is real good, and Amy updated our journal. Our next morning was just the best so far. We awoke to a snow covered van, the land and the mountains were covered as far as the eye could see, and the bluest skies we have ever seen. We made an early start for our 3 hour walk up to the Hooker lake and glacier. We donned our winter gear plus some extra supplies just in case and made our way up the mountains. This was by far the best experience of New Zealand. It was true magnificence. It got real cold as we made our way into the mountains, but we endured and got to the glacier terminal. Completely rewarding. We took loads of photo's and by the time we got back down to the van a few hours later most of the lower valley's snow had melted. Sadly we were unable to see Mount Cook, which is the highest mountain in NZ due to cloud cover but we saw the rest of the range surrounding it.
We warmed up in the van and headed out back towards Twizel for some fuel. We decided to drop back to the 'Pelennor Fields' as the skies were blue and we were able to appreciate the view for what it was. En route we finally got our glimpse of Mount Cook from about 40k's away. After we had refuelled we headed North towards the little town of Methven, a ski village for Mount Hutt. We checked into a nice ski lodge that had a campervan site on the side, and had a nice surprise as we had become accustomed to in NZ. Our heater decided to break in the van at about 1am. So, to our surprise we woke to an ice covered inside of the van and by about 5:30am it just became unbearable so we started the van up and used the van's heater to warm us up. By about 6:30am we had thawed out along with the van and decided to make for our last stop before Christchurch. This was to be the pinnacle of the whole trip. We had declined the NZ $240 each to take a 4x4 out to our final LOTR site at the base of Mount Potts and made way in our little campervan. Well the going was good about 20km's into the trip and then we were met with a sign. "Recommended for 4x4 vehicles only", but hey there was nothing 'Woodstock' couldn't handle, so we made our way onward and upward towards Erewhon. We passed a crystal clear lake en route and it wasn't long until the unsealed road took it's toll on the driving. Rocks were flying up everywhere, but hey come on this is a Toyota they can endure anything. We carried on for about another 25k's and then we saw it, the scenery unravelled to reveal Mount Sunday, the 11 month filming site that was totally transformed for the movies into Rohan. If there is scenery in Paradise, this is what it will be like. We hadn't passed a single car on the road, so in our graffiti'd van I would suggest that we were clearly LOTR fans as nobody else does this site in a campervan. We could have done with Matthew's Mitsubishi Pajero, because we got stuck!! I (James) being the Townie that I am panicked but my little hardcore outdoor MacGyver got us out. I guess in South Africa you just find away, but I was almost in tears as I thought it was cost us loads to get us towed out. Well anyway after all the drama, Amy dug us out and a strong Springbok push and we were out. Phew!!!!
We made our journey back up the dirt road which felt a lot shorter, and towards the Canterbury Plains. It had been a little different scenery to what we had become accustomed to for the last week. It was just totally flat and lots of sheep and cattle again. After a couple of hours drive we reached Christchurch, which was to be our last destination in New Zealand before our flight to Brisbane. Christchurch, well basically just another city. We decided to drop back by the rental depot to pick us up a new heater, which was very much appreciated. We made our way into the city to the Arts Centre, and just to see some of the good old city buildings, parks etc. By now we are all accustomed to the standard city layout and they are all pretty similar. There was nothing overly exciting about the city but it gave us some opportunities to send some postcards etc. We finally caught our Jetstar flight on Saturday afternoon and sadly we departed from Woodstock and said our farewells to our little travelling companion.
In summary New Zealand is a stunning country. Hiring a campervan is a must to be able to see all of the scenery, but anyone who is planning a trip should be warned you need at least 4-6 weeks to see both islands. We missed so much and can't wait to go back. You could quite easily spend 2-3 weeks on either island and with an average of 4-6 hours between each destination you can spend easily a day travelling between destinations. New Zealand is not a country to be missed, and don't be put off a flight to the other side of the world. You will be so glad you went. We would definitely recommend the LOTR locations as they really are amazing. The next time we update you will be from Australia and we will give you the low-down on a new country and new culture.
We did have some sad news and some good. I (James) sadly lost my Nan after a brave fight, so we would like to dedicate our journey to Lillian 'Nan' Middleton. However, as we loose one isn't life funny, you gain another one. Well two in this case. Claire and Ben welcomed into the world our little nephew, Jacob Benjamin Lees, so we are a proud Auntie and Uncle again. We also got some news from the US and found out that we will be an Auntie and Uncle again, when the Cooksey's expect a new addition in April 2008.