NZ in 43 Days, 30 Beds and 3600 Miles

Old Feb 11th, 2010, 11:49 AM
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Days 16-20 The Milford Track

The Milford Track was very challenging for me, but a truly beautiful walk and I'm very glad I did it. Ultimate Hikes provides an extremely well organized experience, and their lodges (I hesitate to call them huts) are very comfortable with a range of ensuite rooms to 4-bunk rooms with shared bath. Dinners are 3 course sitdown events, so you're not exactly roughing it. Every day starts with making your own lunch from a large selection of food, and a breakfast buffet to stoke you up for the track.

You carry a 10-15 lb. pack with your lunch, water, raingear and your nighttime clothing, so not a really heavy load. I found hiking poles to be a lifesaver, as did DH and our friends. The trail ranged from fairly flat dirt tracks to really uneven boulders to clamber over and the second full day of walking takes you up 2400 ft. and down 2700 ft. as you go up and over the MacKinnon Pass. The waterfalls, mountains, glaciers and rainforest views were great, and I never tired of them (except when I was cursing and wondering when the next %&^$#ing lodge was going to appear). My favorite spots were the lush green forested areas with mossy stones and branches and gushing streams where it looked like a troll was going to appear any second. We were very lucky that the heavy rain forecast did not appear until the last 2 hours of the whole track. Then it poured like I have never seen before (2 days later we read in the paper that hikers had to be helicoptered over the flooded areas).

The next morning was sunny, so our cruise of Milford Sound was really pretty and there were loads of waterfalls from all the rain the night before. We were bussed back to Queenstown through the Homer Tunnel and that was a lovely drive. If you can't do the track, at least you get to see some of the great scenery on this drive.

We drove to Wanaka for the night at the Lakeview Motel, reasonably priced self-contained units with beautiful views of the lake. We strolled (make that hobbled, as my feet had had it)around the town and our friends went out for dinner while we got some takeaway and wine which we ate at our balcony table watching the sun go down over the lake.

I highly recommend the whole Milford experience and would be happy to answer any questions about it.
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Old Feb 11th, 2010, 02:48 PM
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You've definitely piqued my interest in the Milford Track susncrg. We've talked about trying it, but we tend to visit NZ in the off season (among other excuses). We walked part of it as a day walk and had a great time, but walking the entire track is a different animal altogether as you well know. I doubt my dodgy knee is up to McKinnon Pass from the sounds of it.

I enjoyed your description of the track and I'm glad to hear you had good weather for the most part. You should be proud of yourselves!
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Old Feb 11th, 2010, 03:31 PM
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Thanks! I definitely was proud of myself and hope you'll be able to do it yourself. I'm thinking of trying the Queen Charlotte, or just part of it. Have you done any of that?
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Old Feb 12th, 2010, 04:09 AM
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susncrg -

I've walked about 2/3 of the Queen Charlotte Track over the years, always off season, always on day trips (freedom walking). I've done the Ship Cove to Endeavour Inlet section a couple of times and would do it again tomorrow if I could. I love the Queen Charlotte Track - it just speaks to me for some reason. The views of the sounds are incredible - all of that glorious blue...
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Old Feb 12th, 2010, 04:17 AM
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susncrg -

Some photos of the Marlborough Sounds taken from the Queen Charlotte Track (to whet your appetite):

http://www.worldisround.com/articles...6/photo68.html
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Old Feb 13th, 2010, 09:17 AM
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Day 21 - From Wanaka to ???

Woke up to a rainy day in Wanaka, and after some good coffee and muffins at a cafe, we stopped at an upstairs art gallery down the street. We chatted with the owner about places to stop on our way to Franz Josef. She suggested a detour once we hit the coast, to Jackson Bay and the Cray Pot, a great place for fish and chips. We hit the road and going through Haast Pass saw literally hundreds of waterfalls caused by the heavy rains. Three of the waterfalls came down right onto the car and over the road! The river was an absolute torrent.

We took the detour and her 15 minute estimate out there was at least double that, but the road was pretty and the lunch worth it. It's a funky little trailer right on the beach serving really fresh fish and huge portions. We got back on the road and stopped at the Visitor's Center at Haast, where we were told that the road had washed out just south of Fox Glacier and no one could get through. We called our hotel to cancel and they said the report was wrong. So we decided to see if we could get through, but quite a way up the road we found out that not only was it closed, but most of the motels on the road were filling up fast. We had made a tentative reservation at a really dreary little place near Haast as a back up plan, but didn't really want to stay cooped up there the rest of the day. The extremely expensive sister resort to the Wilderness Lodge at Arthur's Pass is at Lake Moeraki not far from Haast, and since we were likely going to miss the heli-hike we had reserved for the next day, we decided to splurge on this instead. I'm glad we did.

Included in the price is dinner, breakfast and 2 activities. A terrific guide named Ben took us out on a glow worm hike that night (the rain had stopped for the most part) and a nature walk in the morning. He was extremely funny and informative and we all ended up happy with our choice. It turned out that none of the helicopters were flying the next day and my feet were still sore, so I'm not sure the hike would have been fun for me anyway. Just another item we can add to our list for the next trip.
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Old Feb 13th, 2010, 03:43 PM
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Fascinating reading...makes me want to go again! I didn't see much the first time!

Waiting now for the rest
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Old Feb 13th, 2010, 08:56 PM
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Thanks Margo. We want to go again too!
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Old Feb 14th, 2010, 11:45 AM
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Day 22 - Franz Josef

The road north was opened promptly and we were able to get through with no problems; in fact, you'd never have known it was flooded the day before except that all the rivers were very high up the banks and it was still raining some. We went to Fox Glacier first, but could not walk the track to the glacier as it had washed out and was closed to all but the guided hikers.

We moved on to Franz Josef and did 2 of the short nature walks to get good views of the glacier. We were staying that night at the Punga Grove Executive Suites (or something like that) and had a nice unit with kitchenette and free-standing fireplace. The balcony backed onto rainforest, but the sandfly situation was such that there was no way I'd sit out on the balcony. My only quarrel with the room was that it was pretty dark in there. We had pizza for dinner at a place that was revving up for some really loud rock music by a local band, so we got out of there before they started.

Day 23 - To Punakaiki

We stopped for breakfast in Hokitika and made a classic mistake. Thinking the town was smaller than it was and not doing a quick driving tour around first, we stopped at one of the first restaurants on the main drag. It was greasy to the max and the coffee was terrible - do not eat there! Of course, after breakfast we found lots of restaurants that looked much better and I would have eaten at Cafe de Paris if I'd seen it in time.

DH had been smitten the whole trip with Pounamu, the NZ jade and also the Maori bone carvings, so we had to stop in about every store to peruse jewelry and learn about how to carve it and what tools to use. If we'd had more time, I'd have had him take one of the DIY workshops where you make your own carving under the direction of a carver. As it is, I think he's going to start doing it at home with tools he's gathering.

We continued on to Greymouth where it was time to say goodby to our friends who were catching the Tranz Alpine train back to Christchurch. They told us later that they really enjoyed the train and the scenery they went past.

We wandered around town a bit and considered doing the Monteith Brewery tour, but we really wanted to hit the Pancake Rocks at high tide, so we had to leave that tour for next time. The timing was perfect for the rocks and the blowholes were going like mad - the Chimney Pot was spouting water high up into the air every few seconds. We spent quite a bit of time there watching the waves and taking video of the blowholes. We were staying just down the road at Hydrangea Cottages. We had a great view from our cottage and settled in with a glass of wine and made dinner.

Note: The folks at Hydrangea Cottages also run the horse treks on the beach and in the national park. It looked like it would be a lot of fun, but they were booked the next day. Another thing to add to the "next time" list.

Day 24 - To Karamea

We headed out after breakfast and as the weather had cleared, we walked the Truman Track through a bit of temperate rainforest down to a wonderful pebble beach. See Mlgb's photos in the link above, for this beach and for the pancake rocks, since I haven't got mine up yet.

On to Tauranga Bay and the seal colony for a nice walk in the sun, at last. We had a terrific lunch at the Bay House. The salmon was perfectly done and accompanied by a lovely view of the beach. We kept seeing people in funny costumes all around and they were Morris Dancers from NZ and Oz travelling around giving performances. At 2 pm they were performing outside the Municipal Building in Westport, so we stopped by to have a look. and to visit the i Site to book a cave tour in Karamea the next day. As with all the i Sites we went to, the people were unfailingly helpful, polite and went out of their way to give us good suggestions.

We continued up the road stopping at the tiny hippy town of Granity and driving out to the Gentle Annie track. This turned out to be farther down an unsealed road than I thought it would be, and after starting out it turned out to be really muddy and DH had not put on his hiking boots, so we turned back and went out to the beach instead. BTW, while the track was not super steep, it wasn't quite the gentle flat track I expected either. The road became pretty steep after that, as well, going up and over lots of hills.

We had called the Last Resort for a reservation before, but they were full and in retrospect I'm glad they were. We stayed at the Karamea River Hotels and for a very reasonable price had a huge one bedroom unit with our own private cows in their field outside our windows. The owners were very nice and let us set up our laptop in their office to use their connection, since it wasn't strong enough to reach our unit out at the end of the property.
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Old Feb 15th, 2010, 09:07 AM
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Day 25 - Karamea and the Honeycomb Cave

We met our guide for the cave tour up a narrow, winding, unsealed, old logging road in the Kahurangi National Park. If you don't want to drive it, a shuttle van from Karamea unloaded the 4 others on the tour. We set off through the forest with our hard hats and lights on. Bill, our guide, explained the flora and fauna. The cave was interesting and a tad different from others we've seen and the addition of real Moa bones found inside and glow worms added to the fun. After the tour, Bill provided coffee, tea and hommade goodies.

We were then free to walk the trail to the Oparara Arch, Mirror Tarn or other tracks in the area at our leisure. We really enjoyed it all.

We decided to go out to the real end of the road where the Heaphy Track starts (or ends). I had wanted to walk a bit of it, but the wind was picking up and the rain starting, so we bagged that idea and headed back to town. We stopped at the local pub for a beer and my first attempt at a whitebait sandwich, a commonplace local treat. Well...it wasn't my favorite food, but the scoop of chips were pretty good.

After a short tour of the town (there isn't a lot of town), we headed back to our motel to visit with our cows.
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Old Feb 15th, 2010, 02:32 PM
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I'm glad you made it to Karamea - we were there in 2003 and took the Honeycomb cave tour and walked a portion of the Heaphy Track. It seems that few visitors make it to Karamea, other than to pass through after walking the Heaphy. I remember loads of arum lilies, a peacock in the middle of the highway and lots and lots of sandflies!
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Old Feb 18th, 2010, 08:45 AM
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Days 26-28 - To Nelson and some relaxation

Today we drove through the Buller Gorge and on to Nelson, our home for the next three nights. We spent our time visiting wineries, roaming the town, listening to live jazz, visiting the World of Wearable Art, picking incredibly sweet Pick Your Own raspberries and boysenberries, watching windsurfers and birds. They have a really good farmer's market on Saturdays with lots of fresh produce, artisan cheeses, jams and breads, food booths, crafts and music. I gave whitebait one last chance, but that was enough; I still didn't like it!


Day 29 - Kaiteriteri and Abel Tasman

We booked a full day tour and overnight accommodation through the i Site in Nelson, to get a little taste of Abel Tasman. This included kayaking from the beach at Kaiteriteri to Split Apple Rock with a stop at the beach there. We kayaked back, had lunch (either pack your own or order theirs)and took the water taxi up the coast, seeing the Anchorage, a seal colony, and getting off to walk a portion of the Abel Tasman Track for about 2 hours back to Bark Bay where the water taxi picked us up and took us back to Kaiteriteri. We had a good time but got totally soaked as it decided to rain at the end and the low tide route that the taxi man said would be passable at that time of day got me over my knees in water!

We stayed in Kaiteriteri overnight at the Kimi Ora Spa Resort that the i Site had booked for us. We had a great view and warmed up in their indoor hot tub.

Day 30 - To Blenheim

Tonight is our last night on the South Island and we hate to leave. We traveled through Havelock, the Green Shell Mussel Capital of the World, as they call themselves, and sampled some for lunch at the Slip Inn down at the marina. They were quite good. We went to a few Marlborough wineries for tastings and even did a beer tasting at the Moa Brewery. The town of Blenheim itself was underwhelming and looked a little downtrodden. However, we had a very nice room at the Chateau Marlborough.

The next morning we drove into Picton to take the ferry to the North Island.
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Old May 26th, 2010, 04:50 AM
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Great trip report. Will really help in our planning for our trip.
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Old May 26th, 2010, 09:49 AM
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I'm so glad. If you decide to go to the NI, we did some fun stuff there too. Happy to help with suggestions if you need any.
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Old Aug 24th, 2010, 08:57 AM
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hi do you remember the place you did the PYO raspberries..would love to do some fruit picking in nelson area.thnx.
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Old Aug 24th, 2010, 05:23 PM
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I don't remember the name, but there are several right around the road with lots of wineries nearby. In fact, there were 2 right across the road from each other. Once you're in Nelson, I don't think you'd have a difficult time finding one if you ask around.
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