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Kayaking in Fjordland
Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound, which are actually both fjords, but were mistakenly named Sounds by the early European settlers, are one of the top natural tourist attractions on the South Island. After checking out the various sightseeing options of the usual boat trips etc, we decided (in our wisdom) that the best way to see both Sounds would be to take a kayaking trip. We booked to go for a day’s kayaking on Milford Sound, and then another two days on Doubtful Sound.
So, on our first day, after it had rained most of the night and the rain was still battering the roof of the camper van when the alarm went off at 5.30am, we were not particularly thrilled at the prospect of getting up to go kayaking. However, we made our way to Milford Sound, hopeful that ‘it might clear up’! Despite the weather the scenery on the way there was awesome, and as we didn’t have time to stop we made plans to break our return journey in the evening with a few photo stops at the various viewpoints along the way.
We arrived at Milford Sound and got kitted out, only to be told by our guides that the forecast was for lots more rain and wind during the day. However, they also stressed that the Sounds are much more impressive in the wet weather than the dry, and although we wouldn’t be able to get picture postcard photos, we would see…
The Kepler Track
The forecast was bad… but we were booked on to the track on the 2nd January and it was our only chance to go so there was nothing for it but to don our oh-so-uselss waterproofs and get on with it. Those who know Giles well will understand how tempted he was to go and splash out on a shiny new waterproof jacket for the occassion, but he finally made do with a new base layer instead - bought on the premise that it was ‘warm when wet’
The sun was shining when we were dropped off at Brod Bay by the water taxi so we were hoping the forecast was mistaken. For most of the day we were sheltered from any rain by the dense bush that we were walking through. The track was proving to be quite pretty and we were enjoying being out in the wilderness until… we had just about reached the bushline and were looking forward to seeing the views over the lakes and mountains when we heard thunder. And then the hail started. We arrived at the first night’s hut 40 minutes later looking and feeling like drowned rats. However, the Luxmore Hut did have a nice glowing fire, and we were soon nicely warmed up. Plus, this time we had remembered the chocolate!
The next day the weather was worse and we awoke to a covering of snow. The track lead us up and over the ridge, which should have been the highlight…
Happy New Year!
For us, 2005 was an eventful year. 2005 was the year ....
- that we ‘recklessly’ kicked in our jobs
- that we sold our house, got rid of our car, dumped all our gear on some very understanding, very, very good friends, and disappeared off into the sunset
- that we failed to climb a very impressive looking unclimbed peak in Nepal
- that Lea climbed (and fell off of) her first grade IV Scottish ice
- that Lea also completed her first Alpine 4000-er with a stinking cold (cheers John!)
- that Giles was entrusted with 16 teenagers for a trip to Bolivia and came back almost still sane
- that between us we visited 6 continents, 15 countries, 21 airports… which equates to 174 hours in the air!*
(*all calculated on one very rainy New Year’s day when we were stuck in a camper van in Te Anau!)
- and finally that Oscar insisted on finding new servants and after many interviews settled on Kerry & Scott. He got straight to work putting them through a strict training programme and we are told that he is now more than happy with the level of service that he receives - sorry K&S!
All in all we’ve done tons of stuff that we hadn’t even dreamed off this time last year. We’re not sure where 2006 will take us but we’re looking forward to it!
We would like to wish everyone…
Christmas and New Year Down Under
We had booked to go kayaking on the Mueller Lake on Christmas Eve, so we were very pleased to wake up to blus skies and gorgeous sunshine the next morning. The lake, which is formed at the base of the glacier, is surrounded by ice walls, steep slopes of moraine and awesome views of Mt Cook and Mt Sefton. These are the views that we had missed out on on the previous days on the tramp, so we were very pleased to be able to get the camera out at last…
When we’d finished kayaking we checked into the Hermitage for our 3 nights ‘luxurious’ break from Maisie! We spent the afternoon exploring the village and making the most of the sunshine until we found a cafe with a happy hour, and things went rapidly downhill from there. I’m ashamed to say that I don’t remember much of the rest of the day, but I am assured that we enjoyed some very nice Marlborough wine and Giles cooked us a very nice meal
We spent Christmas day eating, drinking (more), watching old films and enjoying looking out at the rain that had started again rather than being in it All in all a very nice relaxing few days in Mt Cook village.
After Christmas we headed for Queenstown , where Giles had a go at river surfing, which involves throwing yourself down 10km of grade IV rapids on a body board, and I tried my hand at paragliding off Coronet…
Mueller Hut Tramp
The Mueller Hut tramp - this is where we found out how poorly equipped we were for the extremes of tramping in New Zealand. We have brought our summer walking gear and light waterproofs with us, leaving all our heavy duty wet/cold weather gear at home as were not expecting to need it, but we had not bargained for the rain and the cold….
Day one of our tramp started well, with the sun shining and some really pretty views up the valley. For about an hour. And then it started to rain. And it continued to rain. We were wet through pretty quickly, but we perservered with the idea that it must clear up at some point. How wrong we were! We finally arrived at the Mueller Hut to find no lovely fire as we’ve come to expect from our stays in the huts in the European Alps, and we were freezing. To make matters worse, we hadn’t carried up any chocolate. Miserable!
Anyway we made the best of the evening, comforted by the fact that others were turning up looking much more ill-equipped than we were! And it turned out that the hut warden was from Sheringham - so the evening turned to reminiscing about the Norfolk, the UK and Giles and the Warden confusing all other occupants with their strange Norfolk dialect and phrases!
The next morning was very Christmassy, with snow on the ground and a chill in the air that made us feel like we…
Merry Christmas from NZ!
We’ve been in Wanaka since we were last online, and have been spending more of our hard earned money in the pursuit of thrills and adventure! We spent a day rock climbing with a guide as we were desperate to try the stuff out here but had not brought any of our kit with us (doh!). That was fantastic, although we are not used to climbing in such warm weather and I have never before had to complain that the rock was too hot for me to hold
I was also persuaded by my husband (who I used to love very much) that we should take a day’s kayaking instruction course while we were there After I had spent most of the first hour that we were on the river upside down underneath the water, I realised that I had been right to be a bit apprehensive about the idea! However, our instructor was fantastic and we learnt a lot about how to stay upright on the river, as well as how to escape if we found ourselves upside down. The one thing that made me feel a whole lot better was that by the end of the day Giles had spent much more time upside down than I had
We had another day’s climbing planned, but unfortunately rain stopped play. On the last day that we were in Wanaka our Thurston curse struck again and there were flash floods. So instead we went to watch King Kong at the…
Salty Sea Dogs
We were up horribly early on Friday morning to get ready for kayaking, but for once we managed get somewhere on time
We jumped in a water taxi which took us all the way from Kaiteriteri to Mutton Cove, and then we paddled to Separation Point, which is the very northern tip of the Abel Tasman National Park. We were thrilled to see fur seals and penguins fairly early on (we had no idea at the time just how many seals we would get to see on our way back down the coast). From this point onward we were paddling back down the coast, and so with the current, making our lives a whole lot easier! We had a fair bit of wind and swell, so we were pleased not to have to battle against the current as well. We camped the first night at Onetahuti beach, and we were spoilt rotten by our guides with the food and drink that they came up with. The trip was not turning out to be as tough as we had expected!
Day two had us leaving Onetahuti fairly early in order to paddle round to Shag Harbour. This is a tiny ‘harbour’ which we were hoping to paddle in to as it’s supposed to be beautiful at high tide. Unfortunately we were too late and had to abandon our kayaks and walk in instead. We still got an idea of what it would be like with the water, and got ‘up close…
Tramping, sun, and lots of wine!
We were welcomed into the South Island with gorgeous sunshine, and have pretty good weather ever since - which has been a welcome change since our few days spent in windy Wellington! We’re making the most of it though as we’re told that we’re likely to be rained on a lot while travelling down the West coast over the next few weeks.
We arrived in Picton last Friday, and spent a day wandering around and getting our bearings before heading out on the Queen Charlotte Track on Sunday. Due to the fact that we’re trying to see too much in such a short space of time , we only had chance to do one day’s worth of the track, which usually takes people three or four days to walk the whole length of it. So, we took a water taxi to the start of the route, which was a beautiful journey first thing in the morning, all the way up Queen Charlotte Sound, only stopping to play with a school of dolphins on our way. The boat dropped us off at Ship Cove, and we headed back along the track towards Furneaux Lodge. The track started off pretty steep, but the views were so good that we were able to take plenty of breathers along the way with the excuse of ‘taking in the view’ or playing with the camera!
Anyway, in true Thurston style we finished the walk far too quickly, but that just meant we had plenty of…
Virtual Sheep Shearing in Wellington
For the last few days we’ve been enjoying the sites and sounds of Wellington. We’ve left Maisie on the outskirts of the city, having a rest herself and are currently staying at the YHA. Wellington is lovely place, with the weather not as changeable as Auckland, although it lives up to it’s local name of ‘Windy Wellington’.
We’ve taken the chance to enjoy some retail therapy, probably the last of the trip, plus some of the cultural attractions of the city including the national museum called Te Papa. The highlight of this trip was Lea “forcing” me to have a go on the sheep shearing simulator (see picture below), although both Dad and Norman will be disappointed to hear that according to the machine I “shear like a townie”. My excuse was that obviously a real sheep would struggle but that seemed to freak the spectators out more than reassure them
I won’t embarass Lea by including pictures of her efforts on the water skiing simulator
We’re going to be in the North Island for another couple of days before catching a ferry across Cook Strait to the South Island. The next week or so holds the prospect of tramping and sea kayaking in a couple of the national parks in the north of the south island, plus a tour of New Zealands major wine producing area
More news and photos as we go on but for the time being here are a couple of shots of Wellington
Grade 5 River Kayaking
Well today we both kayaked a grade 5 river including a 7m waterfall! What a fantastic trip although we both had loads of water injected into ears, nose and mouth so have slight headaches.
Before people think we’ve taken leave of our senses and jumped straight into white water rafting on a grade 5 river, well no fear we were both in tandem kayaks along with guides, not that it made the effort any easier. Especially in my kayak where I far out weighed my guide - poor Pete!
The route lasted an hour and the highlight was the 7m waterfall but also include numerous rapids and a couple of other smaller waterfalls at around 4m
Lea was fortunate to stay upright all the way but Pete and I couldn’t manage this under the largest fall. Despite numerous practices in calm water I wasn’t prepared for the violence of the water in the rapids. When we rolled I calmly followed the drill and dropped my paddle and bend double over the kayak and waited for Pete to right us. This he nearly managed to do but lost it at the last minute and we plunged under again. At this point I took a mouth full of water and it started to be less fun. Unfortunately the survival aspect of my brain kicked in and I forgot the drill meaning that we needed help to be righted and then had to empty to boat - sorry Pete!
That aside it was…
