We'd packed up most of our items the day before, so we were ready to make a break for it first thing in the morning. There were just a couple of things we had to do before we finally escaped Kaitaia, for what we hoped would be the final time. First up was to cash in our cheques that we had saved up over the final 4 weeks of picking mandarins. This did slow us down slightly as we had to wait for the bank to open at 9am. It took the teller a fair while to count out the large wad of cash, it made me feel slightly worried about walking back to the car with all of it in my pocket. Fortunately, Charlotte was parked pretty close and I wasn't mugged en route. Secondly, we had arguably the more important task we had to do before we left the town, buy a pin badge. For some reason, we hadn't bothered to get it done in the previous 8 or 9 weeks. Again, it was a nice simple in and out and we were on the road. Our next stop for the day was in Auckland, which was a 4 hour drive south from Kaitaia. The drive was pretty uneventful apart from us seeing about 50 rainbows along the way. When we finally made it into the city, we left the highway and stressed ourselves out while trying to find a parking space. Our stop turned out to be briefer than we had anticipated, partly due to our desperation to only have to pay for one hours worth of parking. We had to swing by the hostel we had stayed in when we first arrived in town, in order to pick up some mail and then drop the wad of cash that was burning a hole in our pockets into our bank account. We got back to the car with plenty of time to spare and made short work of merging back on to the highway heading south. We were heading for a town called Port Waikato, which is on the west coast and about an hours drive out of Auckland. Turned out to be slightly longer than an hour for us though, thanks to someone's car deciding to set alight on the motorway. We made it not long before sunset though and settled in for our first night out of Kaitaia. We'd decided to splash out on a cabin for the night due to the weather being rather unpredictable.
Friday 1st July
Stupidly, we'd decided not to leave the heater on overnight, so it was fairly damp and pretty chilly when we pulled ourselves out of bed. We tidied up our things, packed them back into the car and were back on our road trip down New Zealand. Port Waikato had seemed nice but we didn't really have a chance to have a look around town, which was a shame but we did promise ourselves that when the time came to head back north, we'd come back and have a stay for more than one night (and pick up a charger that we stupidly left in the cabin. Our drive south took us in land past the town of Hamilton and then back out towards the west coast towards our destination, New Plymouth. The drive after Hamilton turned out to be very scenic, passing through a gorge that had tiny one way tunnels. After about 4 hours on the road, New Plymouth's main attraction suddenly appeared on the horizon. Mt.Taranaki dominates the skyline (or what there is of a skyline) and it's hard not to stare constantly at its wonderfully conical shape, dusted nicely, with a sprinkling of snow. We hunted down the campsite we were staying at and ignored the funny look that was given us when we asked for a tentsite for the next couple of nights (it was understandable, it was winter!). Thanks to it being winter, we had our free pick of campsites, so we plumped for the one closest to the toilets and kitchen. We got back into setting the tent up again and then set off for a wander along the seafront, which was only a 5 minute stroll from the campsite. Rather than head into town at such a late hour, we headed in the opposite direction towards the Ta Rewa Rewa bridge. It was roughly 20 minutes along a walking track that followed the coast and it was well worth a visit. It seemed a modern bridge that looked like a crashing wave but it's selling point wasn't its looks. From one end as you looked through it, the bridge frame perfectly framed Mt.Taranaki off in the distance. We admired the view for a few minutes, carried along the coastal walk for a mile or so and then started home in order to get our dinner. We'd noticed that it was a pretty clear night and with a clear night in midwinter, comes the cold. It was actually freezing, the coldest we had been in years, bearing in mind we'd pretty much travelled with summer since leaving home. Despite our reluctance to brave it, we eventually crawled in to the tent to see if we could get through the night.
Saturday 2nd July
We did. Despite a duvet cover and a woolly blanket we had, we were still freezing and didn't have the best nights sleep. We were already dreading the next one. After braving a shower we chucked on some warm clothes and started walking into New Plymouth. The coastal track we had walked on the night before went all the way into town and further and made for a great Saturday morning stroll. It passed along the black sand of Fitzroy Beach and past some cliffs before revealing the town of New Plymouth and Paritutu Rock in the distance beyond the port. We had planned to walk all the way to Paritutu Rock but it was much further than we had expected. By the time we were just past the town centre, we were starving and decided to turn back in order to hunt down some food. Seeing as we were on the seaside, we fancied some fish and chips. We couldn't find a fish and chip shop in the town centre of New Plymouth for love nor money though and after about half an hour of looking and getting hungrier, we gave up and plumped for Subway instead. We'd had our look around town and decided to have a look in a shop for a little extra something to keep us warm at night, seeing as we'd be camping for the next week or so. Luckily, there was a but 1 get 1 half price on sleeping bags, so we we picked up one each and kept our fingers crossed that it would actually make a difference come the night time. With our new purchases, we headed home to get them set up. It had actually turned into quite a pleasant, warm day so when we got back to the campsite, we grabbed the camping chairs out of the car and enjoyed the afternoon. It didn't take long after the sun dipped below the tree line for it to turn chilly, so we tucked ourselves up in the living area for the evening.
Sunday 3rd July
The sleeping bags worked an absolute treat. We were warm, almost to the point of keeping us too warm but it was certainly worth the money we'd spent on them. We had a long drive ahead of us, so we packed up our tent and extensive bedding collection, crammed it all into the ever growing collection in the car and hit the road. Our destination today was as far south on the North Island as one can get, New Zealand's capital city, Wellington. We had planned to go for a walk around Mt.Taranaki in the morning but when we weighed it up, we felt it would just be too much to squeeze in a walk and a 4 and a half hour drive down to Wellington in one day. Again, we decided to leave it for when we returned back north and kept an eye on the mountain as it passed us by. We went straight down, only momentarily distracted by the town of Bulls, which had loads of fantastic bovine based puns plastered all over their town. Even funnier after a quick Google, I've found out that it's twinned with the town of a Cowes in the Isle of Wight, how very apt. The rest of the drive down was farmyard animal free and instead had a great coastal road driving in towards Wellington. We arrived early evening and we're pleased to have a cabin booked for the night as there was a strong southerly wind blowing in across the harbour making it very chilly. We'd also gone for the cabin because we had a very early start the next morning, with a ferry crossing booked for 8am, so we didn't fancy packing a wet tent away at 6 in the morning in the pitch dark. To warm ourselves up before sleep, we finally had our fish and chip fix that had been hovering for a few days and got ready to sail to the South Island the following day.
Monday 4th July
We awoke early and repacked the car before driving round to the ferry port in Wellington. We thought we'd left with plenty of time but it didn't take us long to be stuck in traffic and hardly moving an inch. For some reason, most of New Zealand's roads are single lane and as the population has increased, the poor road infrastructure has struggled. We crawled through the suburb of Lower Hutt, where we had spent the night, eventually merging on to the highway and picking up some speed. What made it slightly more of a struggle, is that there are 2 different ferry companies doing the crossing and while the 'Interislander' terminal was easy to find, the 'Bluebridge' one we were sailing with, wasn't. My keen eyes finally spotted the tiniest signpost for it and we entered the docks and joined the queue to board. After our rough crossing from Melbourne to Tasmania a few months preform, I'd done a bit of research on the body of water we'd be crossing to get to the South Island. I wasn't impressed when I read that the Cook Straight was considered "one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world". Once we'd boarded, we found a seat, orders ourselves a big breakfast each and braced ourselves for a wild ride. It did look a pleasant and calm day out of the window and fortunately, it turned out to be and we had a very calm crossing, which was a relief. A week or so later, we saw on the news that one crossing hadn't been so lucky. It had been incredibly rough, with waves so strong, they had broken down barriers on one of the ferries and washed a couple of lorries and trailers in the depths of the Cook Straight. Anyway, back to our millpond of a crossing. About an hour and a half in to the 3 hour journey the ferry turns into the sounds at the top of the South Island, where the water is much calmer and the scenery is well worth braving the howling winds out on the decks for. We cruised in to the ferry terminal at the small town of Picton on time and ready to continue our drive south.
For some reason, we had been expecting to drive across mountain tops the entire length of the South Island but it wasn't how it turned out. Just outside of Picton and through to Blenheim it was fairly flat with the occasional rolling hill. Blenheim is a major wine growing area and there were vineyards as far as the eye can see. It wasn't long before we finally got our fix of jagged snow capped peaks as they loomed up way in the distance. Our destination for the evening was the town of Kaikoura about 2 hours drive down the Pacific coast. The second half of the drive down turned out to be a major improvement on the first. The highway gradually got closer to the coast until we pretty much driving along the beach. Had it been a stormy day, the waves would have had no problem giving the car a soaking. To the left was the sea and on our right were steep mountains almost as close to us as the sea was. About 20 minutes north of Kaikoura we found a place to pullover where it's common to be able to spot seals waddling along the coastline. A couple of women pulled up alongside us and recommended a short walk that started on th other side of the highway. We waited for a gap in traffic (which was straight away, as it's pretty quiet on the South Island) and made our way across. The walk followed a stream to a waterfall where, in the pool at the base, a large group of seal pups were frolicking in the water. There was a volunteer there to keep an eye and make sure nobody interfered with the pups but it was a lovely, tranquil place where we could have sat for hours on end. Apparently, the parents drop the pups off at the pool while they go out fishing in the ocean for the day. We tore ourselves away from the entertaining pups and walked back to the car. When we asked for a tent pitch at the campsite, we did get a bit of a funny look but we were pretty comfortable now we had our cosy sleeping bags to hand. We did expect it to get significantly colder the further we headed south though. We set up our tent a settled down to dinner and a relaxing evening in the TV room.
Tuesday 5th July
It was time to move on once again and we just managed to get the tent packed and away before the heavens opened. We were unsure of our destination today. We needed to be down in the Queenstown area by Friday, so when we'd only been driving for a couple of hours and we were just outside Christchurch, we decided to keep on going. We found a cheap cabin in the small town of Geraldine for the night, which was handy, as the weather was still touch and go. We had a quick look around Geraldine before settling in for the night.
Wednesday 6th July
It was another chilly morning when we awoke. This time, we'd had the forethought to keep the heater running overnight though, which made getting out of bed more bearable. We were out of Geralding by 10 and continuing our relentless push down the east coast. Today we did actually have a destination in mind though. About an hour after leaving we were pulling into a campsite in a place called Oamaru. Unlike Geraldine, Oamaru is on the tourist trail. As ever, when we asked for a tent pitch, we got a laugh out of the person checking us in. Unpeturbed, we had out tent up in no time and were heading out to explore the town. Our campsite was attached to the Oamaru public gardens, so we exited that way and enjoyed the walk through to the centre of town. Oamaru is popular for 2 things. The first is that it is one of the only towns in New Zealand that still has its original Victorian buildings. Second is steampunk, which is a genre of Science Fiction that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th century industrial steampowered machinery (thanks google). The town is home to steampunk hq, which is a museum that has various contraptions and exhibits that show off the genre. We didn't go in but there was a huge steam engine out front that can be fired up by inserting a coin into a slot. Luckily for us, somebody beat us to putting a coin in, so we got a free show. After that we had a wander round the newer part of Oamaru town, which was rather underwhelming. We somehow managed to miss the old Victorian part of town, despite being right next to it when we'd been past steampunk HQ. It only consisted of one road but as soon as we entered the street, there was a penny farthing set up for tourists ride. It was balanced and could only be ridden on the spot but that was probably a good thing for our limbs. We both stuck a coin in the honesty jar attached and had a quick photo on it. The street was fairly quiet and everything seemed closed up. With it being winter though, we were slightly out of season. We'd had a look in the lonely planet for Oamaru and found a place that came highly recommended for its pies, the only problem was that we didn't have the book and we couldn't remember what it was called. After some hunting, we came across a bakers and deduced that that must be the place. We went in and had our first (of many) bakers pie in New Zealand. As an extra treat, we picked up a cream doughnut to share afterwards. After a quick stroll along the prom to walk off the pie and doughnut, it was getting dark and significantly colder, so we headed back to the campsite. We didn't fancy sitting in the tent to pass any time, so instead set up shop in the kitchen and watched TV and eaked out dinner until it was time for bed.
Thursday 7th July
That was by far the coldest night we'd had in the tent so far. The sleeping bags did help but we were still chilly and our breath had made everything damp. To make things worse the site was right next to a main road, so we had cars driving past all night sounding like they were going to come through the tent and we weren't far from a train line, a couple of time a freight train had trundled through town and it had sounded like the world was about to end. We had hoped the ice in the tent would have started to defrost by the time we'd had breakfast but if anything it had got colder. In the end we gave up, gave it a shake off and put it away wet. We had a look in our book at the pie shop we'd been to the day before and it transpired that we'd been to the wrong one. Not wanting to miss out, on our way out of town we parked up and walked to the new bakers. It turned out to be down the Victorian street, so how we'd missed it the day before was beyond us. We got lucky though as Thursday at the bakers is 2 pies for $7, which is an absolute bargain. We got them back to the car and tucked in to our early brunch. We came to the conclusion that the book had it wrong and that the pie we had had the day before was the better of the 2 but that's not to say that the other pie wasn't tasty though. Nice and full, we drove out of town on to our final stop before settling down a wee bit. Omarama was only an hour and a half away but we took it easy as the roads were very icy as we headed inland and into the foothills. One car hadn't been so careful and was upside down at the side of the road and there was ambulances and police everywhere. They'd been kind enough not to close the road and cause a huge diversion, so we squeezed through and carried on. Omarama seemed like a nothing town. Situated on one road and with mountains in every direction, it was very quiet and peaceful. Knowing it would be even colder inland from Oamaru, we'd opted for a cabin for the night and as there wasn't much to do in town, we headed inside, stuck the heater on and relaxed for the remainder of the day.
Friday 8th July
The frost was so heavy outside it looked as though it had snowed overnight. It was bitter and we didn't fancy getting up. We were heading further south today to the small town of Arrowtown, which is just outside of Queenstown. There we would be working about 4 hours a day for our accommodation and food for a week, with the spare time to do what we wanted around the area. It's called wwoofing and it's not something we'd planned to do whilst in New Zealand but after mulling it over for a while, food and accommodation for a little work seemed like a no brainer. After departing Omarama, Charlotte took it very carefully driving through the Lindis mountain pass to the Cromwell Basin area, as where the sun hadn't quite reached yet, it was very icy. Rather than heading straight down and round to Queenstown, we veered right and headed to the town of Wanaka for a break and to pick up some lunch. After spending an hour or so wandering round town, we stopped and picked up pie number 3 (well I did, Charlotte had a feta cheese slice) and we sat enjoying the winter sunshine and looking out across the Lake Wanaka. We opted to drive the slightly longer way round to Queenstown, thinking that the route across the mountain tops might be slightly icy after the mornings frost. It only took about an hour and a half and we were in town with plenty of time to spare before we were due for dinner at our weeks accommodation. To pass the time, we wandered around a few shops on a retail estate, where I managed to finally pick up a new phone, after losing mine to a river 3 months earlier. The time came and we drove towards Arrowtown to meet Pam and Chris, who we would be working for. They lived just outside of town but we couldn't see much of the land as it was getting dark fast. We were on time but Pam and Chris still weren't home from working down south in a invercargill, so we were greeted by their son Mark and his wife Sian, who were staying in the house whilst their new home was being built elsewhere. This meant that we were out in a small caravan but we were sure we'd be warm enough when we got the heaters going, Chris and Pam eventually got back and we sat down to our first wwoofing dinner. As the dinner was cooked for us, it was our duty to do the washing up afterwards, which was fine by us. Slightly apprehensive about facing the caravan,we sat and watched TV for a while until we were brave enough to face the cold.
James and Charlotte
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