I am Linda and along with my husband Richard and our dog Muffin we enjoy our summers on the UK's canal system

Saturday 16 March 2024

The BIG One - New Zealand - Days 31, 32 and 33

 Sunday 3rd March - Cascade Creek Historic Campsite


We were up and away just after 9am.  First stop was the supermarket and the second was for fuel.


We were heading for Milford Sound for another boat trip.  Our journey took us through a glaciated valley and the scenery was awesome, as the New Zealanders would say.  We found the campsite where we were to stay that night and had a coffee before heading off.  The road got quite windy and the mountains became higher and closer!  When we got to Homer Tunnel the traffic light was on green so we were able to go straight through.  The Homer Tunnel was opened in 1953 after taking 19 years to build.  Before it opened there was no road access to Milford Sound.


We arrived at Milford Sound and had our lunch before checking in for our boat.  I was surprised at how many different companies operated boats on the Sound and we got a bit muddled up as there were so many people queuing for boats.  It is a great place for coach trips so you can imagine half a dozen coaches coming in all at one time and disgorging their passengers.  We were lucky as we didn’t have a coach load on our boat, in fact there were only about 25 people so there was no scrabbling for photo opportunities.  We went out as far as the Tasman Sea where it began to get a bit choppy and I began to get worried about sea sickness but we turned and headed back along the Sound.  We stopped by some rocks where a few New Zealand Fur Seals were dozing.  It is an area where the juvenile males hang out so they don’t get bullied by the adults.  Apparently they hunt and eat all night and sleep all day - perfect for sightseers.  Of course we had to do the traditional getting wet under a waterfall!  The skipper did warn us that unless we went down below we might get wet and wet we got!!  We turned into a small cove which is called Harrison Cove after John Harrison who invented the marine chronometer - it was great for us as Richard is a descendant of John Harrison.  The last waterfall was the best I thought.  As the weather has been so dry a lot of the waterfalls were a bit puny, but I think I would rather have dry weather than lots of waterfalls.  We have been lucky with the weather so far 😃 


Back on terra firma we drove back to our camp site for the night.  It was a Department of Conservation site.  It’s a big area and you have to pay so it’s not freedom camping but there is no electricity though there are toilets!  We chose a spot just as we drove in right beside Cascade Creek.  It was a bit windy and the rest of the area looked to be a bit exposed so we thought we were in the best place - we will know during the night!  Third time lucky for camping off grid.
























Monday 4th March - Manapouri


Ha, ha, ha!!  Third time lucky my foot!  We had just got to bed when the rain started and boy did it pour, it seems to make a different noise on the motor home than it does on the caravan and I just couldn’t get to sleep.  I eventually nodded off but kept waking up all the time. I still don’t know if it was the rain or the lack of my sleep machine that caused my insomnia, of course Richard slept through it all.  


We had decided to have a leisurely morning but when Richard woke up about 7am he heard the rain and rushed to the front of the motorhome to see what was happening with our lovely gentle creek and yelled out that it was a raging torrent and that we needed to moved quickly.  Now I’m not a morning person and those were not words that I wanted to hear!  Somehow I pulled my clothes on and got myself ready only to find that the creek was, in fact, at least 18 inches below the bank!  Talk about being over cautious!




We drove towards Te Anau looking for somewhere that was above water level, finally finding somewhere where we could continue getting on with our morning.


We hung around in Te Anau until it was a decent time to have an early lunch.  We found a little pizza place and had really crispy pizzas.


We then moved on to Manapouri where we were to stay for two nights while we took a trip to Doubtful Sound.  Our pitch was a “scenic” one and we certainly had a lovely view over Lake Manapouri but the rain just kept on coming down and the clouds were so low that it was rather difficult to see the view!


Every little stream in New Zealand has a name which is displayed on a board as it goes under the road.  These are very frequent.  I saw two names today which made me smile, Dismal Creek followed by Dizzy Creek!  Then you come across a boring one called Creek Number 128!





Tuesday 5th March - Manapouri


Well if our helicopter flight was a WOW then today’s trip was a WOW AWESOME!  We were up at 6.15 to catch a boat at 7.30 which took us across Lake Manapouri - this was before sun rise!  The journey took 45 minutes. From the other side we took a coach across Wilmot Pass to Deep Cove, this also took 45 minutes. We then boarded our boat for the 3 hour cruise to the sea and back, going into smaller fjords on our way. We were so lucky with the weather after all the rain yesterday and actually saw blue sky at times. Yesterday’s rain had made lots of temporary waterfalls - I have never seen so many waterfalls  before.  We have got quite used to mountains disappearing into lakes but the pure scale of Doubtful was just mind blowing and these mountains were all snow capped thanks to yesterday’s rain. Even our guide was awestruck at the snow at the beginning of March. The sea outside the Sound was rough and we didn’t venture out there thank goodness.  On our way back we were joined by some dolphins who wanted to play (dolphins are very difficult to photograph!).  Today’s trip was more than I could ever have expected, the magnificence of it was just breathtaking. 


Not long before we got back to Deep Cove the skipper said that he was going to stop and turn everything off.  He asked passengers not to take photos or use their phones, just listen to the sound of silence.  It was a wonderful few minutes.


The trip to Doubtful Sound is courtesy of the Manapouri Power Station.  This is an underground hydroelectric power station, the largest hydroelectric power station in New Zealand and the second largest power station.  Construction began in February 1964 and it opened in September 1971.  Everything needed to build the power station had to be taken over the lake by boat, but when it came to the 7 turbines they were too big, so a road was built from the power station across Wilmot Pass to Deep Cove and the turbines were taken by ship through Doubtful Sound.  The electricity is created by a 750 foot drop between the lake and Deep Cove and when the water has done its job it is released into Doubtful Sound.


Some of the power station workers live by the station, but the RealNZ (the company who run the trips) workers go over daily. Everything that is needed to run trips, especially diesel, is taken across the lake by barge once a week.































Wednesday 13 March 2024

The BIG One - New Zealand - Days 29, 30 and 31

 Thursday 29th February - Queenstown


We started our day with a trip to the supermarket. We have decided that we like New World best mainly as it has superb layouts for its fruit and veg!


We then went to Cromwell, which was a town established by gold miners.  However it was decided to dam the Clutha River which meant that the town would be at the bottom of the new Lake Dunston.  Fortunately before this happened some of the properties were rescued and rebuilt on the lake shore.  A lovely spot.


The area is known for fruit growing with lots of stalls along the road side.  There are also lots of grape vines too.


Our next stop was Roaring Meg a hydro power station with waterfalls.  Again the river had the lovely colour of glacial water.  According to the internet, two saloon girls, Annie and Meg asked some miners to help them cross the river.  Annie was calm but Meg was loud and boisterous.  As a result two sections of the river were nicknamed Gentle Annie and Roaring Meg!


Next was Arrowtown.  We weren’t too sure what was there but it seemed to us to be shops built to look old and filled with expensive things!  We were rather disappointed to say the least.  However according to Wikipedia it goes back to 1862 when Māori Jack found gold in the Arrow River and a township of over 1,000 miners sprung up, so maybe the shops were genuine.


Our site for tonight (and tomorrow) was in Queenstown.  I had booked it ages ago as Queenstown is a very popular place.  The campground is very central but oh boy have they jammed everyone in!  We are lucky as we were on an end with a hedge so had our own little enclave.


We walked down in the town for dinner.  I wanted to try a Fergburger!  In the 20 years since it began, Fergburger has become an institution.  It has a wide range of burgers going from 3/4lb burger to tofu.  We had Bulls Eyes which were rib eye steaks. I think we must have queued for about 20 minutes then had to wait another 20 minutes while our burgers were prepared.  We took them down to the lakeside and sat and ate them. They were delicious but very messy, our shorts and T-shirts were covered in dribbles!


We took an Uber back to the site as my back is playing up again.














Friday 1st March - Queenstown


I didn’t sleep well worrying about the washing!  I wanted to get the sheets washed and was worried that I wouldn’t get a space on the washing lines - honestly how ridiculous can you get!


We had a quiet morning and did some housework.


We walked to the Kiwi Park to, hopefully, see a kiwi.  They had lots of birds there but we went straight to the Kiwi house.  As Kiwis are nocturnal the house was more or less in pitch blackness and it took a while for our eyes to get adjusted.  We walked around and were just about to give up when I saw one, right in front of me!  It was a lot bigger that I thought it would be.  I was really pleased that I have been able to see a real Kiwi.


From the Kiwis we walked to the cable car and took a ride to the top of Bob’s Peak (who was Bob I wondered!). The view from the top was stunning but there is also a luge from another cable car higher up and we enjoyed watching them hurtling down.  I was most impressed, though, with the way the participants were able to jump out of the sledges - those days have gone for me!


We walked down into the town ready to catch our boat.  We had a while to kill so had a drink on the boardwalk.  We were going on TSS Earnslaw (TSS standing for Twin Screw Steamship) down the lake to Walter Peak farm where we were having a BBQ.  The boat was pretty full but the organisation in the restaurant at the farm was first class.  We were amongst the first group of diners to go for our food and there was masses of it, from salads to hot veggies and plates piled high with about 6 different meats and fish.  There was a good array of desserts too.


After dinner we watched a guy shearing a sheep and then watched his dog bring some sheep down to where we were.  It was a very good presentation.


Back to Queenstown on the Earnslaw and then an Uber back to the site.














Saturday 2nd March - Te Anau


We got away from Queenstown quite early for our drive to Te Anau.  It was a lovely drive all down the side Lake Wakatipu, lots of mountains going right down into the water.


We stopped at the bottom of the lake for coffee finding ourselves in the middle of a freedom camping area.  What a spot to camp, the view up the lake was stunning.  The spots right by the lake were mostly taken but there were still plenty of other spots.  We sat on a tree stump and had our coffee.


There was plenty of parking alongside Lake Te Anau as we drove by so stopped for our lunch.  The lake is the second largest in New Zealand, Lake Wakatipu is the third largest.  We found our campsite which was very central to the town though the town isn’t very big!


As we checked in to the campsite we decided to book a trip to see the glow worms.  We had missed two free trips and I really wanted to do it.  We set up camp and walked down to the lake where a catamaran was to take us down the lake to the glow worm caves.  It was a lovely trip down the lake though it was a bit rough but the catamaran made short work of it!  We walked into the cave and then got into a boat and looked up, the GWs were like stars in the roof.  It’s strange how they seem to live in small enclaves.


After the trip we had a presentation on the GWs.  They only switch their lights on when they are hungry and as soon as they are replete they switch their lights off!  A moth can take a couple of weeks to eat but they go for the eyes first as they are juicy 😒 The lifecycle of the GW is about 12 months. 3 weeks as an egg and 6 months as a glow worm before turning into a pupae and becoming a fly type creature so that they can procreate.  They only last a few days as a fly type creature so they have to mate and lay their eggs quickly.


Back down Lake Te Anau and to Kiwi where I cooked a meal - first one for ages.