Cool for cats

Monday, 20/08/2012 - 66 A.D. 

Morning! You see the big red building in the picture above? It’s where the kitchen and toilets are situated at Haast Riverside Campsite. It looks like some kind of old aircraft hangar, although it might be a converted barn, but an aircraft hangar seems cooler. Whatever that red building used to be, this place gets the award for best toilet block so far. Just take a look…

You could eat your dinner off those shiny sinks. And the showers look a little like passport photo booths, don’t they? Alright, maybe they don’t, but the basic message I’m trying to put across is that I enjoyed the facilities here (even though the so-called Sky TV in the main lounge couldn’t pick up Premier League highlights). I’ll be doing a full list of awards for the campsites we’ve stayed at in a later post, so be sure to tune in for that one as it’ll be a cracker!

We passed the village of Haast fast. It was to be a day of travelling on the Haast Pass, essentially highway 6 through Mount Aspiring National Park, surrounded by lofty, snow-covered peaks. And there was many a stop-off en route, the first being Roaring Billy Falls…

[The approach through the bush.] 

[We couldn’t actually get to the falls because the Haast river was in the way, so here’s a picture of Tim about to skim a stone across said river (he loves his stone skimming).]

Next along the way was the excitingly-titled Thunder Creek Falls, which we could at least get to…

…followed by a sheer gorge known as The Gates of Haast. Fans of pools of blue water would have loved the imaginatively-titled Blue Pools that were at the end of a 30 minute tramp through the forest…

[I did love the pools, even though I’m turning away.]

…and then we parked up for lunch beside the north end of Lake Wanaka (read that right).

An aside – remember the caption competition from a while back? I didn’t get that many entries, so kind of forget about it. Anyway, here’s the winner, as selected by Tim:

"Did the Earth move for you, darling?"

Wanaka is a happening little town at the bottom end of the lake that takes its name. This is snowboarding and skiing country and everyone sitting outside the various bars and cafes looked like they’d just come down from the slopes. Around every corner was an outdoor clothing shop and most of the vehicles passing through had some kind of alpine logo emblazoned on the side. As our insurance does not cover us for any winter sports, we had a quick stroll around, stocked up at the supermarket (New World – first time in there), and went on our merry way.

Now then, you may remember that yesterday I was feeling a bit ropey. I woke up this morning feeling a bit less run-down and decided that I could go about my business as normal, just take things a bit easier. So, to finish up our time in Wanaka, what did we do? Climbed up a ruddy great, back-braking, front-knackering hill called Mount Iron, that’s what.

The view was worth it though…

Nowadays we have until about 6.15 until it starts to get dark, which gives us a bit more time to search for a sneaky place to stay in. Tonight we were hoping to find somewhere between Wanaka and Queenstown, but there was too much open agricultural land for our liking. When we did find a potential spot, it was up in the southern end of the Criffel Range of mountains, and we didn’t fancy freezing our bootlaces off.

  

And so we descended into the valley and drove down a little farm track where the weather was not so chilling to the bone and we still had a good view of the glorious mountains.

Hope all is well with all of you out there. I’m having peppered steak soup again tonight – yum!

Tuesday, 21/08/2012 - 67 A.D. 

Weather was kind to us this morning – dry and not too cold – but we still allowed ourselves a little lie-in, because our beds were so snug and warm. Tim took his second berocca after two cups of tea and I knocked back my third Morrisons Max Flu Strength, but on the whole I think we’re on the mend. It takes more than 20 days living in the back of a camper van to kill off the Grayboys! Probably about 22.

There was only one place on our minds today – Queenstown! It may not be a metropolis, but it’s the adrenaline capital of the southern hemisphere. And here’s some of the stuff you can do while you’re there:

If I thought Wanaka was happening, then this funky place beat it by a mile (sorry, a kilometre – they use the metric over here). The British stag parties would be here like a swarm if it wasn’t such an expensive flight. All around were enthusiastic folk in ski jackets and with snowboards under their arms. I couldn’t see the fear in their eyes because they were hidden behind the coolest shades that outdoor adventurers can buy. And I felt a bit old, to be honest! But still cool, in my own unique little way. Yep, although the slopes were still some kilometres away, Queenstown definitely had the feel of an alpine resort, and it was all the better for it.

The most refreshing thing about Queenstown was being in a resort that still had plenty of life in the winter, rather than deserted streets and closed-up seasonal businesses. Ropey or not, I was never going to do any of the adrenaline-based stuff (wasn’t in the itinerary from day one). I know that people back home thought I should do a bungee jump, and to that I simply say….HA! NO CHANCE! I may be crazy, but I’m not ker-aaaaa-zy! Plus I don’t trust myself keeping the old peppered steak soup down. And relax, mum, Tim didn’t either…though he’s threatening to do one in Australia. 

Above is a stone representation of the giant moa that I bumped into (the moa is on the right). This creature was native to New Zealand and at seven feet tall it was the largest bird to ever live. It was also hunted to extinction by the Maori settlers by about the year 1450. As the giant moa never had any predators in its natural environment, it regarded humans with friendly curiosity, even as they raised their spears and bellowed their war cries. Wonder what Darwin would have made of that one – survival of the fittest? Err, nope!

Shortly after this historic meeting between bird and beast, the clock struck 12 and my eyes glazed over as I was afflicted by terrible hunger. Many moons ago, back in the office, Jenny G advised that if I was ever in Queenstown then I should seek out a place called Fergburger. As luck would have it, this establishment was right across the road when hunger struck.

Popular place – had to wait 30 minutes for our food! And was it worth it? Well it wasn’t bad – I had better in America, but it certainly plugged the gap and made me feel very sleepy. But there was no time to kip as we had to get on the road to Te Anau on the fringes of Fiordland National Park. Oh and remember a couple of posts ago I was flummoxed at not having seen another Happy Campers vehicle? Well since then we’ve seen at least one a day, and today we even followed one out of Queenstown!