31st October – Mckee Reservoir to Nelson to Picton

We had a nice last morning in the campsite, going through the map and being given hints about where to go in the north island.

We planned to get a few mainly car-related chores done and Matt wanted to see Nelson so we headed there. We found a new indicator stalk at a breakers so we could get finally get rid of the one which was held together with cardboard. Feeling like we were on a roll we thought we should also get round to getting the wheels aligned since Matt has been complaining about the car pulling to the left since we set off.

Pulling into the mechanic’s, they immediately pointed out that one of the tyres needed changing because it was all worn on one side. We kicked ourselves for having left it so long but it wasn't safe to drive on so we had no choice. By the time we’d finished discussing it, the half hour slot they were going to squeeze us into had dwindled and so we needed to leave the car with them for a few hours.

Since we were looking at spending $500 in car stuff and ferry tickets for the day, we wanted to avoid the shops and so took a walk to the ‘centre of New Zealand’. It was a nice, steep, zig-zagged walk to the top of the hill and a 360⁰ view of the city looking like it had crawled out of the sea and spread out over the land. All of the cities we’ve seen in the South are low-rise and look less built up than UK towns. The only one that wasn’t was Christchurch and that has certainly changed now.

We circled the hill and came out at the other side of town near the Japanese gardens. We’d just finished a very pleasant look around when we got the call to say that the car was ready. We wandered back past rows of beautiful cottages, decorated with resplendent, colourful flowers and creepy Halloween decorations.

I just couldn’t get my head around having Halloween in the bright sunshine but it didn't seem to dampen the spirits of the groups of people out trick or treating later in the evening – though I do wonder if it puts more of an emphasis on having a decent costume when people can actually see them.

The day had flown by and we lost a few hours of the evening on the never-ending road to Picton. It was well signposted so we didn't use the map and only later realised that the main road took the most circuitous route possible. With a 5am start for the ferry, we didn't waste much time in getting to bed.

30th October – Mckee Reserve

I’d planned to spend our day of sunshine running, relaxing, reading and walking and it started off well with a nice jog.

After that though I’m not sure what happened. A ‘quick springclean’ of the car ended up somehow taking up the vast majority of the day and an awful lot of campsite space. I had our bedclothes airing on walkway handrails, the bed propped up against one picnic table, the tarp drying off draped over another, and all of our stuff spread out all over the grass.

Meanwhile, Matt was happily extending a lighter socket to the back of the car so we could plug our cooler in now the weather has heated up.

I’m sure no-one wants any more details about that and, other than a funny conversation with a fella who I thought was part of the family business but turned out to be doing community service, that was pretty much the whole of the day. Although we did get invited over to the neighbours’ to eat fresh bread, made in the wood-burning stove.

We spent the evening around the fire with Helen, Ken and Phil, making pancake letters on the stove in a cast-iron pan and generally listening to Phil as he told us ‘interesting facts’, comically -crappy jokes and showed us time-lapse videos of Maori ‘haungei’ – which we narrowly escaped watching all huddled together around a plug socket in the toilet.

29th October – Kawatiri to McKee Reserve

After so many days of rain recently, we were planning to head to Picton and get the ferry to the north island but today was so sunny and pretty that we just had to go to Abel Tasman national park.

Now I am sure that you are all tiring of me saying that the landscape and views were incredible but they were. Every single day we have been in New Zealand we have seen something spectacular. Sometimes I have found it hard to write the blog simply because I can’t wrench my eyes away from the beauty of what is outside my window.

Yesterday we followed the coast, looking past enigmatic cliff formations into the haze cast by unsettled seas striking stubborn towers of rock that had broken from the land and were dispersed far from the shore, We followed windy roads between ocean and rainforest and saw whisps of clouds lingering amongst the dark hills, suspended in vertical trails or wrapped cozily around smaller peaks.

Today, what we can see is much closer to the UK at the height of summer. Many more trees I can recognise but not name and even more I wish I could see more often. The umpteen greens I’m becoming accustomed to but with some now being totally overwhelmed by flushes of red, orange, yellow and pink. It’s like the Wizard f Oz where everything turns Technicolor.

There are rivers winding around valleys and segments of the land given over to growing kiwis, oranges, pears, asparagus and apples. There are hills of corrugated slopes, hills of evergreens and hills of scrubland set against mountains of snow. And the sunshine, tripping though it all and bouncing off rock, water and leaf, makes all the colours far more intense.

We stopped briefly in the town of Motueka and roundabouts to pick up bags of fruit from little stalls with honesty boxes. We bought golden kiwis, pears, tangelos and saw kumara, asparagus and more that we didn't spot in time to stop

We took the windy road to Marahau, which is at the end of the road in Abel Tasmin National Park and has a lovely beach where groups of kayakers start their voyages deeper into the park. We sat around for a while, enjoying the view and then went to the information centre to find out about walks. Even the walks involved catching water taxis or kayaking and we considered our options before deciding that it would be too expensive considering our recent splurges and that maybe we’d just find a nice campsite and chill out in the sunshine for a change

Heading back to Motueka, we stopped at the Monkey Wizard brewery and had a taster of some local beers before purchasing a couple for our day of proper camping. The lady who owned it was sulking because she wanted to spend the day paddling in her kayak in the sea opposite her house. I had to suppress a giggle when she complained that she didn’t get away so much because she had to make use of her home pool and spa. My heart bled.

In Motueka we paid a visit to the very informative I-site office where we found out that the next few days were due to be glorious. The lady told us about some nice walks and campsite and gave us some more information about different kayaking options so we decided to hang around for a few more days.

Matt had been complaining about his size 16s falling down already and we found some men’s Columbia walking trousers for a bargain $5. We also spotted a book on bushcraft for him and another one on grammar (not quite so adventurous) for me and so we were set for a good few days of proper camping.

McKee Reserve was unlike any $6pp campsite we've been to so far. Sandwiched between ‘bush’ and the huge blue expanse of Tasman Bay, it had several blocks of actual flushing toilets, cold showers, lots of water points, BBQ ovens and a conspicuous lack of the little blighters that have not only plagued our waking hours but also kept us at night tearing at our flesh – the dreaded sandfly.

I went for an explore and got chatting to a lovely, positive local couple called Helen and Ken, who had an impressive camping set-up and were busy cooking up a whole leg of lamb over the open fire.

Helen made adorable fur-lined slippers that she sold at local markets. They had both worked together until business had slacked off and Ken had to get a job. Ken worked in mental health and was full of praise for the financing and execution of the provision of services. He supported men in sheltered accommodation and it was really interesting to hear about his work and how different it sounded from the stories I've heard at home.

Also hanging around nearby was a slightly odd but interesting fella called Phil, who lived in his car at the site. He liked to park in the shade ‘to keep the chilly bin cold’ and so was permanently tucked away in the trees rather than out on the pitches. 

When I wandered back along the beach to our camp, Matt was still absorbed in his bushcraft book but insisting on pancakes so I got to work. I hate eating pancakes but love making them so he was already feeling queasy when I got overexcited and moved onto making them ‘American-style’ with a strawberry and pear syrup.

When I took some to our neighbours, they had a big pot of delicious veggies roasting in the pot and so I handed them over and cleared off to cook up some noodles before I got too envious. Matt was still stuck in his book and not feeling too sociable though so I went over later to spend the evening sitting by the fire and chatting to Ken and Helen. We had a good giggle pretending that I’d actually made Matt up and talking about how they’d met at a funeral (!).

28th October - Goldborough to Kawatiri

We were relieved when the skies had cleared a little in the morning and we achieved the first 10 minutes without rain for what already seemed like a long time. We stretched our legs and had a nice chat to some American girls who had been working and travelling and had been invited to stay under sponsorship.

I found myself kicking myself again. I always intended to work and travel in Australia and New Zealand and would sometimes love to turn the clock back 14 years and have a word or two with myself. Hindsight doesn’t reflect an alternate reality though and I have to try to learn from it instead of torturing myself. Matt feels similar in many ways. There’s so much we both want to do yet before we have to grow up and I spend a lot of time thinking to try and reconcile what we’d like to do with what we may have to do. I have a constantly expanding list of skills I want to develop, and hobbies I want to take up, and things that I’d like to do, and things that I want to learn, and stuff I want to do better, and it just goes on and on and on. I want more people, more places, more knowledge, more life. Sometimes I can’t wait to come home to get started and sometimes I’m too scared to come home because I cannot see how reality can possibly work like that. Surely I couldn’t have been doing all of these things all along? Maybe the magic only works while we’re away? It’s hard to not spend too much time scrabbling away in my mind for a way to somehow make it all work.

But in the end I don’t like to talk about it because it all sounds too corny. I just know that I have never been so relaxed and happy but how could I not be? I don’t have to do any of the things that used to fill me with anxiety and self-doubt. I don’t have to teach or drive or please anyone other than Matt and myself. I don’t even have to pay bills or clean the house or do the boring stuff in the same way. I’d be stupid to still be such a wreck all of the time.

Back in the not-so-real real world, we tried to start Garry and found he had a totally flat battery and could barely muster a splutter. Almost everyone else had already left the camp site other than a large hired campervan and a man with a caravan who was searching under the trees using a metal detector.

Not wanting to disturb the sacred haven of a person’s posh camper we opted to ask the treasure-seeker if he had any jump leads instead. He was friendly enough but Matt and I soon found ourselves somehow dismissed until he was ready to stop searching for whatever he was searching for and check to see if he could help us out.

When we got back to Garry however, he seemed to have mustered some life from somewhere and started straight away. Magic.

Glad to be on the move and reasonably dry, we headed to pancake rocks where, due to a geological process that isn't completely understood, the rocks form in layers like pancakes. The sea has worn away at the rocks and made chasms, blowholes and other interesting features that can be seen from specially constructed viewing areas. They’re best viewed in stormy weather (yesterday would have been perfect) or at high tide for their full effect but we still saw the sea having a good slosh and a few blowholes blowing.

Keen to be outside as long as possible, we followed a walking track along the banks of the Ponorari and Punakaiki river for a few hours. The vegetation was totally different from our last few walks and we wandered from temperate rain forest to grassy meadows. It seemed a long time since we’d just walked through plain old fields.

We went over the swingbridge and past some pretty ponies and back to the rocks to take some pictures before setting off to cover a bit more ground.

We drove along the dramatic coastal road for a while but Matt got sleepy so we pulled over in a DOC site for him to have a rest. Matt had a little sleep and I met Phil Solid. I introduced the pair of them when Matt woke up but Matt found him a dirty disgrace so we left him there and moved on back into the rain. I’d explain more about Phil but he was spectacle probably best recalled verbally.

We spent the night at Kawatiri , a camp by the main road. It was a bit noisy and full of bitey critters but it was free so we’re not complaining.

27th October – Lake Mahinapua to Goldsborough

Woke up to torrential rain so we made the most of it while we could and went back to sleep to avoid nagging urge for a wee. Traipsing through the rain to the bathroom is not a very nice start to the day and I like to put it off for as long as possible.

Unfortunately the rain had no intention of giving up and continued to pour all day, changing only from driving to drenching to lobbing it down and then back again.

Matt thought that the indicator would be good to go with just a bit of soldering and so we thought we’d ask around for somewhere to do it. Despite the fact that everything other than supermarkets are closed after 5pm in the week and over the weekends, we managed to find an op-shop open until lunchtime. A bloke there offered to help out so Matt disappeared into the back with him while I sat looking at the books. Matt reappeared a short while later. Apparently the guys soldering iron was too huge but they had managed to ‘fix’ it with cardboard. It still didn't work properly but at least it reduced the risk of anyone piling into the back of us.

The rest of the day was a grim drizzle of not so interesting stuff. Being in the car in the rain is just not much fun. Getting wet means hours of trying to dry off and get warm again and constantly changing clothes from wet to just damp ones. It is incredibly frustrating when I don’t like being cooped up and want to be out exploring. I hate the rain at home but it is something else to be in a situation where to stand up means going outside and getting soaked.

Since the most interesting indoor activity without a big cover charge was the sock museum, we caught up on some online stuff and tried to upload the skydiving and cliff jump videos. We ran out of time before they completed so we went to the camp site. It was possible to pan for gold at the site but we since it was still pouring, we got drenched trying to make dinner and then did the only thing that we could think of to do that kept us dry and lifted our spirits – drinking beer, watching/listening to comedy and eating crisps. 

18th October – Invercargill to Lake Monowai

Invercargill had a shower at the bus station so we made use of that and I fell for the helpful, little old man that worked there and provided such a great service for a $1 wash.

Matt went in pawn shop to another look at the binoculars we were considering buying and to see if they had a cable that he needed (some things never change) and ended up buying a miniature guitar.

On the way out of the city, we stopped at the op-shop to look for some walking trousers for Matt again and ended up buying loads of stuff. Everything was $1 and we ended up spending $18 so you can see how unused to the wet and the cold we are these days. Oh, and just out of interest, size 16 woman’s trousers are too big for Matt these days.

The drive to Monowai was beautiful - the snow-capped mountains were back again but this time much, much closer.

We got to the campsite in Monowai and met Gabor, a Hungarian agricultural engineer who was working as a cucumber farmer. We went for a nice walk, adventuring over big swamps and through creeks, and talking about Gabor’s PHD where he spent a year collecting butterflies in isolated areas of Arica.  

We all spent the evening together, outside in the rain, cooking dinner, drinking cider and being attacked by beastly sandflies.  It was all very pleasant until we got too cold and had to go to bed.

17th October – Invercargill

After a day of chores, there were still a few more fun things that we wanted to do in Invercargill and so first stop was the Museum and Art Gallery where the Tuatara lived.

We’d heard that Tuatara are the closest thing do dinosaurs still on earth and the museum proclaimed them to ‘the last representatives of a lineage stretching back 225 million years’. We have to admit that we were expecting something a little bit more substantial than the almost duplicate lizards that we saw. Apparently, even though they do look like lizards, they are a totally distinct species of Sphenodonians that roamed all over the earth many millions of years ago. About 60ish million years ago, along with the dinosaurs, they became extinct in everywhere but NZ.

The art gallery section housed some very life-like pastels, some great photography and some community art. There was a project where teenagers made sculptures from tins of food that would later be donated to the Salvation Army and a room dedicated to raising awareness of mental health issues.

My favourite bit was the museum though. They had lots of exhibits and information but we spent the most time looking at the section of shipwrecks and the people who had (sometimes) survived them.  There were some amazing stories and examples of how resourceful the people had been. There were castaway huts containing provisions on some of the islands, just in case people were shipwrecked, but they could not always be found, were sometimes already empty and did not contain very much in general. One bunch survived 7 years but many were not so lucky.

Less than unlucky were the thousands and thousands of poor whales, penguins and seals that were plundered for their resources for  a number of years. There were charts of how the numbers had dwindled, to nothing in some areas, and pictures of how prolific they had been during earlier times.  There was even an example of a dreadful machine, a ‘steam digester’,  used to process penguins and produce oil. Four machines like that destroyed 3,500 per day (plus an additional 500 birds to help fuel the boiler).

Further on in the exhibition, more gigantic stuffed albatross made us seriously consider driving all the way back to Dunedin to go to the reserve. We made more enquiries and there was no guarantee of seeing them because they were nesting so I reluctantly decided it wasn’t worth the distance, time and money. Guess that means we’ll also have to come to New Zealand again too!

Next stop was Invercargill Micro-Brewery, where they had a fill-you-own pump shop and where we were treated to a taste of all of their creations. They were all so lovely that it was hard to narrow them down but we eventually walked away with a bottle of nice apply cider and some pale ale.

We drove Garry to Oreti Beach where he could actually go on the sand himself. Oreti Beach is where Burt Munroe (The World’s Fastest Indian) used to practice beating the land speed record and so Matt had a play while I went for a good jog. I’d really missed my Oz beach exercise and it was a bit of a contrast to do it next to a grey sea and in wet and windy weather but I enjoyed it anyway.