From Beach to Glacier

Before I left the UK I was convinced that one blog post a week would be a good amount. Not too often that it would start to annoy people and not too sparse that it would end up missing things out however, I have realised that a lot can happen in one week exploring New Zealand, a country I am falling more and more in love with by the minute. I would write more often but because so much is happening it is hard to find a time to sit down and write, but here I am sitting in the campervan in the shadow of Franz Josef Glacier finally being able to type some things up. 

Last time I wrote a post we were in Nelson enjoying beautiful weather (and company). The next morning we woke up early (but not as early as originally planned, classic Naefs) and began our journey to Takaka, where we would be spending Christmas. As with any journey here, it is hard to get from point A to B without stopping somewhere amazing along the way. In this case there were two places that could not be driven past, the first being Hawkes Lookout and lookout point that gave spectacular views across the scenery to the sea.

The next stop was the delightfully named PuPu springs. Despite the name this really was a worthwhile detour. An area famed for its spirtual importance for the Maori people (which is unsurprising when you see its beauty) it is found close by to Takaka centre. We were lead around the site by a winding path that took us through woodland, over babbling brooks and finally to a open pool of the clearest natural water I have ever seen. That day was an especially hot one and so the signs reminding us that there should be 'no taking or contact with water' were almost impossible to abide by. 

We arrived in Takaka and found our accommodation, The Rocks, which was a great little open plan cabin with a double bed (which Bonnie and I shared, naturally) and a fold out double sofa bed (for the lads). That evening we ate at the restaurant in the accommodation and were pleasantly surprised with how delicious it was!

The next day, in true christmas eve style we had a huge lie-in and relaxed until the afternoon when we finally decided to get outside and have a look around the town. Firstly we stopped in at the i-site (information centre) and the woman behind the desk warned us that the town was very 'hectic' that day. Takaka, as it happened was extremely quiet compared to the 'hectic' we are used to at home. Some shops had a bit of a queue at the till (shock horror)! The town is full of little hippy shops selling lots of Indian products, organic food shops, tourist souvenier shops, cafes and galleries, lots and lots of galleries! Oli was espeially affected by one gallery which hosted a painting called 'Turquoise' which was composed of squares of different shades of blue and would cost you 1,500 NZ dollars. He still gets angry if the word 'turquoise' is mentioned now, 6 days later (and I would not be surpirsed if this is a reaction that will continue for many years to come). That evening we thought it would be a good idea to have our dinner at one of the many beautiful becahes nearby (they don't call it the Golden Bay for nothing) so we packed the van and headed for Liger Bay. This idyllic plan however was spoilt by the extremely aggressive seagulls, so we ended up sat in the camper eating our meal, looking out longingly at the beach instead.

CHRISTMAS DAY ARRIVED. And although the setting was not at all festive (even if we did put some tinsel in the room and bring a little tree with us) Santa still managed to find me and Bonnie and provide us with a stocking full of chocolate, some strange New Zealand chocolate, but chocolate none the less. We all jumped in the van and tooted along to Patons Rock beach wearing santa hats and singing Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You as we went. The weather, once again, was stunning as we walked along the beach attracting some attention with our Yule tide hats, including a friendly, enthuiastic German girl. The day was spent mostly relaxing. We had a BBQ with salmon, potato salad, sausages, vegetable skewers and haloumi, we went swimming in the not-so-freezing sea and had the traditional afternoon christmas nap, this time in the sun instead of in front of the fire. We ended our time on the beach by spreading some of mum's ashes into the sea. I know she would have loved this holiday, the campervan, the sun, the exploring are all much like the holidays in France we used to have when we were growing up so it was nice to take time to remember her in this beautiful setting. We went back to the cabin and skyped Sally and Alice, who had just woken up on Christmas morning and rang Grandmere and Grandpere to wish them a Merry Christmas!

On boxing day we got up early to skype the rest of the Naefs, who were in the middle of watching the doctor who christmas special and then left the cabin and drive to Motuaka, a town which a national survey found was the number one town that Kiwis would like to live in the whole of New Zealand. Once again the drive there was breathtaking, lots of winding mountain roads which exposed incredible views and managed to throw me and Bonnie around in the back of the campervan quite a bit. Dad had rented a bach (the word Kiwis use for a holiday home, small house thing) right by the beach outside of the town for Oli, Bonnie and me to stay in while he rented a motorbike and did a little tour of his own for three days. When he left on the bike the first day the three of us walked into town (a task that took a lot longer than expected) to help us decide what we would do to amuse ourselves while dad was gone. We went to the local i-site and with the help of a lovely lady called Sheryl and much umm-ing and ahhh-ing booked the activities for the next couple of days. We walked back to the bach after lunch at a cafe and not long after dad returned too. The bike he had been using that day was having trouble starting but luckily he had booked to use a Triumph Bonneville (the motorbike my sister was named after) for the next two days.

The 27th was the day we had booked to go on a walk 12km down the Abel Tasman coastline from Anchorage to Marahau so we started the day by getting a coach from Motuaka to Kaiteriteri beach. From there we jumped aboard a water taxi to Anchorage.

When we arrived at Anchorage the trek started straight away, without a warm-up the path lead us straught up steep hills, the plus side being that we were able to enjoy views right from the start. We kept a good pace during the walk as we passed through parts that could be mistaken for rainforest, over rivers bubbling down the hills and onto white sand beaches, some completely empty and others with people sunbathing, swimming, sailing and doing watesports on the unbelievably blue sea. 

We reached Marahau just as our legs began to ache and ate some well deserved wedges at the cafe there. Bonnie and I had a look around the outdoor gallery across the road from the cafe which boasted large carved wooden statues of Maori figures, traditional jewellery and many other interesting items. We caught the coach home, feeling absolutely knackered and frustratingly burnt our pizza in the unworkable oven. Luckily no amount of burnt pizza or aching legs could ruin the great day we had just had.

Getting out of bed at 7am for kayaking the next day was understandably challenging but we managed it. We caught another coach from Motuaka to Kaiteriteri this time with a great coach driver called Mark who doubled as a tour guide for the local area. He told us about points of interest such as a lake nearby which had the best underwater visibility in the world. He taught us about local trade like the fruit growing business which grows a new hybrid of apple and keeps it under red awning while it grows to protect it from hail but also help it to grow evenly and turn red. He informed us that Moutaka gets more that 2,300 hours of sunshine a year and my favourite fact, that sandflies, the horrible biting insects found in the south west, according to Maori legend were created by a goddess from the spirits of warriors to keep people moving and to stop people staying anywhere long enough to have the chance to destroy the landscape. We arrived at Kaiteriteri beach once again and grabbed a coffee to help ease the early start. We were then given an introduction to the kayaks and headed off up the coast to a landmark called Split Apple Rock, which was a huge boulder just off the beach which had somehow been split down the middle making it look like a cut open apple. We explored the caves on the beach then Bonnie and I swam over to the rock, meeting a very friendly seabird along the way. We managed to climb up to the rock, even if the rocks did cut our hands and feet a little bit (worth it). 

We swam back to the beach and had our sandwiches with Oli and headed off in the kayaks back down past Kaiteriteri beach to a bay just a bit further on. On the way back to Kaiteriteri I swapped with Oli and took the single man kayak which turned out to be much harder than I had expected. I am sticking to blaming the kayak for this because the rudder was stiff (it's not because I am weak at all! How dare you!). Back on the beach, after spending some time sunbathing, we bumped into Zoe and Rex which was really lucky as Rex was due to be staying with us at the bach that night in order to go on his two day kayaking trip the next day. We got home, debated dinner and watched rubbish films on TV. Dad returned from his bike trip, which he seemed to throughly enjoy, dressed head to toe in waterproof yelow clothing (what a dude) then we all watched some more episodes of Rick and Morty (which I highly recommend) and went very easily to sleep.

Rex left for his trip before we woke up and dad went to return his bike while we packed up our stuff. The campervan wouldn't start (classic) so we had to get a jump start but then we were on our way to Hokitika.

 When we got there we went straight to see the Hokitika gorge which was gorgeous (pun intended) however was completely overrun by sandflies who would bite at any given opportunity. We found a campersite nearby, parked up and made fajitas. That night we went to see the glow worm dell which was a part of woodland with hundreds of glow worms. They were mesmerising but the experience was slightly runined by some people using torches and believe it or not FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY to take photos of glow worms! I learnt that glow worms were actually larvae, they glowed to attract prey and that they would sometimes turn to cannibalism, not so innocent after all!

Today we visited the National Kiwi Centre in Hokitika which houses some native animals of New Zealand including eels (aged between 80-120 years) and kiwis which turn out to be one of the cutest animals in the world. The Centre as a whole had a bit of a makeshift feel to it, the fish tanks looked fragile and some of the information about the animals were printed out on low grade A4 paper but that just added to the charm of the place!

We left Hokitika after agreeing that the Tree Top Walk was way too expensive and headed to Franz Josef. As we neared the snow-topped mountains there was a moment when the road was surrounded by palm trees but we could see snow in the background, this country really is four countries in one. Tomorrow we are booked to go up to the glacier in a helicopter but when we went to the glacier info centre at Hokitika they told us it was unlikely to be happening because it is forcast to rain, which would be massively disappointing as it is something we have all been looking forward to. This evening we went to some hot pools and are now parked up at the campsite with the unwelcome rain pitter pattering on the campervan. Fingers crossed the weather improves for our glacier walk tomorrow! 

Another long post, (it was light when I started to write this and now it's pitch black) but I hope you enjoyed it! 

Thanks for reading!