The South Island....part 1

So after all the fun of Wellington it was time to pack up and leave Hotel KrissAndy and get back to some travelling! So we started the search to find a camper van and after what felt like weeks we found one. Meet Jonah...

Unfortunately after a day of owning Jonah decided to P all over the car park while we were busy shopping for wood for the bed! We took him back to the guy we bought him from and he was very fair in getting it fixed as well as new break pads and a tyre which needed replacing - we were happy with that!

Jonah was a originally a people carrier so we or should I say Dan needed to convert him into our home for the next month...which meant taking all the seats out and dumping them in Krissy and Andy's conservatory (sorry about that guys)...

The bed starting to take shape...

and then we were good to go....

We left Wellington on a gorgeous sunny day with only an inkling of how good this trip was gonna be, for those of you who have been to the South Island I don't need to tell you and for those that haven't well it's hard to put it into words and even the pictures don't do it justice but don't worry we took around 800 so we'll try our best to show you a little bit of Lord of The Rings Country....

Here I am on the ferry with Wellington in the background....

Goodbye Wellington....

After about 2 hours the ferry has to make it's way into the north island which is just amazing and one of the top 100 things to do in NZ, the ferry takes you through the Marlborough Sounds and the scenery is amazing (Dan took so many pic's of this part of the trip I realised at that point I should have brought an extra memory card for this trip!)

I'm sat on the chair catching some rays....

Finally the ferry docked in Picton and we were let lose on the south island, we decided to head around the island anti clockwise and we'd been told to take the Queen Vitoria drive we were glad we did it was amazing...

The drive took twice as long as we had to keep stopping to take pictures, we couldn't believe how much warmer it was as well - considering it was Autumn (I was very happy about this bring on the sun bathing!!)

After a slight detour trying to find a campsite down a very long dead end road we found a fab campsite and set up camp.....

Spot of star gazing...

The lady was so friendly and as well as giving us 2 freshly baked muffins when we arrived told us about a really nice walk to a water fall......and you know us, love a good waterfall...thought we'd go for a run to find it...this has gotta beat the treadmill at greens any day!

After making our way through their fields of sheep and cows (Dan didn't enjoy that bit) we followed the signs through some rainforest, it was like Disney there were birds singing in the trees and as we made our way across the steams it almost seemed to be following us, think they were just waiting for us to fall so they could laugh at us!

Then we found it, you can't see lots of water due to the lack of rain but it was tricking through the moss and leaves it was amazing and you can see how big it was in comparison to Dan..

There were these cool rock towers so I had to have a go with Dan trying to advise me, anyone would think he was a builder and anyone who knows me will know I didn't listen and did it my way ha ha!!

Here I am very proud of my construction - mmm maybe I should've listened to Dan!

Then it was back on the road to heading along the very North of the Island...another amazing view..

Found ourselves a campsite this place had a lot of people actually living there in some very random looking camper vans, check out our camping spot..

Went for a walk in the evening this was runnig along side our campsite...

A pink stream :)

After another good nights sleep in the van it was up and on the road again...we didn't get far before we had to stop for pictures...

To get to Golden Bay our next destination we had to make our way over a large mountain when we got to the top we stopped for yes more pictures, the great thing about NZ is they know how amazing it is so they cater for tourists with view points and places to pull over everywhere..

We left Jonah here while we went to check out the view when we came back the little b#gger had p'd everywhere again!!

Luckily after the last p'ing incident I'd decided to take out AA cover! So then it was time to sit and wait at the top for a mountain for the AA to send someone out! Not a bad view to take in while we waited..

After about 2 hours a young lad arrived in a Ute, had a look agreed it was losing water but couldn't tell us much more....mmm helpful!! He advised we fill it up with water and drive it down the mountain and if it does it again take it to a mechanic! I was starting to question why I'd got AA cover!! As it was Sunday there wasn't much else we could do so we drove into Takaka Golden Bay and found a campsite by the beach, it was quite embarrassing every time we parked up Jonah was leaving big puddles!! So we were a little worried about this but also happy to have found a beach and the weather was a amazing, so warm, we were told by the locals it was the hottest and sunniest place to be in the south...

Another nice camping spot..

After T it was time for a bit of sun set action on the beach...

We took the docking staton, some beers and wine couldn't ask for much more...

Some of you may know in the South Island they get sand flys and we stupidly thought there wouldn't be any as it was so windy on the beach, er Kate what are they called 'Sand Flys' what are you standing on?? I learnt my lesson no bare skin near water or sand again....

The next day we took Jonah into a local garage and they confirmed a pipe needed replacing they would have to order it from Auckland so it would hopefully arrive the next day. I called the AA and luckily I'd paid for the premium cover that provided accommodation if your camper breaks down, so after 3 nights roughing it we were checked into a motel, which we didn't relaise at the time would be for 3 nigths! The job turned out to be more complicated than they had thought and they had to pull the front seats out - poor Jonah!

I didn't take any pictures at the motel but it was great it had it's own kitchen, sofa, tv and dvd so we chilled and watched movies which was good but we really wanted to get travelling and were worried the van wasn't gonna get us around the South Island, this picture reflected our mood at that point....

















We were lucky enough to get a hot day and the lady at the motel told us about Pu Pu springs which is the largest natural springs in Australiasia, she suggested we hire a scooter but we thought we'd walk as Jonah was still being fixed. Well after a 2 hour walk we found the springs and they were worth the walk....

They kick out something like 14 thousand litres a second! The only shame was you aren't aloud to swin in them!

So we finally picked up Jonah to find he had been fixed but had recieved a nice dent and the radio didn't work! They did try to fix it but couldn't so after getting a discount on the price we decided to give it up as a bad job and hit the road! We also then noticed he kept stalling these mechanics did an amazing job!

We set off nice and early on a gorgeous sunny day hoping our luck would change...

Another view point...

and another... (we were constantly stopping to check Jonah wasn't p'ing again!)

Check this beach out it was so long and wide and no one around....

We walked for ages to try and see if the Farwell Spitt was around the corner but misjudged how far it was and in the end had to turn back in need of food and drink!

Dan pretending to be, I mean being superman...

Finally we made it to Cape Farewell the most norhterly point....

Dan got too close to the edge thought I'd take a pic for the blog before I saved him!

You can just see Farewell Spitt in the backgroud - top left hand side of the pic...

After all that excitment it was time to set up camp again...here's one of our many culinary creations...

Dan very proud of his fire :)

Then it was back on the road, we stopped off at cafe and they had a golf competition if you could get a hole in 1 you won $500, you can just see the flag behind Dan in this pic...safe to say Dan did it with his eye closed!

Parked up for some lunch and this Kiwi just didn't wanna leave us alone - for those that don't know a kiwi is a type of nz bird.

There were amazing views around every corner and this pic gives you some idea of what we could see as we were driving...

Dan found a sea monster....oh, no it's just seaweed!

Can you see the elephant....

Amazing scenery...

Here are the pancake rocks, apparently scientists can't figure out why and how they formed like this?

More of the pancake rocks...

As it was getting late by the time we got to the pancake rocks and the blow holes weren't blowing very well, as it wasn't high tide, we decided to set up camp and get up early to try and catch some blowing holes in the morning!

Hey Mum & Dad George is living in NZ - my cat went missnig over a year ago and we never found him :( I think he decided to move to NZ before me!

Ha ha check out Dan's socks this outfit got worse as time went on, all in the name of protecting himself from those pesky sand flies!!

It was raining and dark so we decided to treat ourselves to an evening down the pub...

I think I beat Dan in this game!

then is was up early to catch those blow holes.....

Still somehow managed to miss high tide but you get the idea...

Quite near by there was a walk voted one of the best by lonely planet and it was only 30 minutes so we thought we'd check it out...

Dan at one with nature...

There were some big tree's in the south - I loved them.

Dan's found a blow hole!

We walked down to the beach (in the background of this pic) which was 'at our own risk' not knowing it wasn't quite high tide I thought we were gonna get stuck and had visions of us on the news being rescued by a helicopter (I have an active imagination) but luckily after Dan waited for what seemed like an eternity to get a shot of the waves we made our way back to dry land before the waves covered our exit route...oh there were a few waterfalls coming off the cliffes not sure if you can see them in the background but dont worry there are plenty more to come...

This ones for Ross & Em x

Stopped off at a conservation spot, this was the first bad toilet experiene - long drops, it's a rather windy experience, little unnerving but you get used to it!

By the way this isn't the toilet this was the view from it!

Ok we'd been advised by our good friend Corinne and Rach to do a glacier climb so we booked ourselves on and arrived in Franz Josef the day before, it was really cloudy and raining so we set up camp and hung out in the van.

In the morning we woke to this.....

OMG how excited were we, our first snow capped mountain!

So we got kitted out and headed to the base of the glacier, it was a 45 mintue walk (2.5km) you can see it in the background...

Why not throw a waterfall in for good measure!

Here we are at the base...

Getting my crampons on for a bit of ice action...

Here are some people climbing down.....

Wow this was just amazing I loved it!

Check out the view amazing!

Dan got soaked sitting on that ice, it's cold and very wet! good pic though ay!

It wasn't possible to climb to the top in a day, they were doing helicopter rides which would have been amazing but we kinda thought the hike was even better...

We were so lucky with the sunny day it was raining and cloudy days before and after!

You can just see people climbing half way up to give you an idea of how big it was...

This is at the base of the glacier where all the melting ice gushes out!

After all that excitment it was time to leave Franz Josef and hit the road, we decided to try a DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite which are loads cheaper but only have very basic amenities i.e. a toilet and maybe a sink! This is were we camped for the night....

There was quite few people out on fishing boats and one guy caught a massive salmon we tried to look poor and starving but he didn't offer to share!

We made friends with some fellow travellers here Dom and Luke who were travelling in the opposite direction to us so we shared stories of where we'd been so far.

We thought this was just amazing the water was like a mirror relfecting the sky.

Dom kept saying to us guys 'it's just about to get exciting' as he knew the route we were about to take, we awoke to the clouds hugging the mountains and yes Dom was right it was 'just about to get exciting' (this became the catch fraise of our trip!)

to be continued......