June 16

Hi all- let’s see how much I can get down before the boys return from showering and we head off to dinner at the Henry’s in Blenheim. We just got into town after our whirlwind tour of the south island by campervan/RV. There have been some amazing sights- the vistas, the lakes, the snow-capped mountains, rocky glacier fed streams, sheep covered hillsides, rock strewn beaches, seals, seagulls and Josh’s new second favorite flightless bird- the Weka (bush hen). The drives have been a bit twisty turny and bumpy in a big Mercedes RV. So far so good, and it looks like our remaining drives will be mostly by coastal (read flatter) roads. There are no guarantees though. We plan on visiting here in Blenheim until Sunday about noon and then heading to Kaikoura- a whale watching and seal colony center in NZ. We will hopefully get a whale tour in, and then on to Christchurch on Monday to return the campervan and hopefully settle in for a couple of days. We left Queenstown, camped alongside Lake Wenaka at a remote site (no power or facilities). The water is so amazingly clear, and it was so removed that the stars were Unbelievable! We saw the Southern Cross, and Scorpio (which is upside down from how I normally see it!) the milky way was so clear- there was a star map in the paper the week before and it helped us see a great deal. There is even a black spot in the milky way that looks like a kiwi bird! The downside of being remote was not having power for heat, and we were quite cold. We have had spectacularly clear sunny weather for the majority of the trip, but that means cold clear nights as well. It has been getting down to about 32-35 each night. Thankfully the van came with some really nice warm quilts. We stayed the next night at Franz Josef Glacier after hiking up to see Fox Glacier nearby. (I think Josh spoke a little about that). We had hoped to get a soak in the glacial hot pools, but as with most nights, we’ve been pushed for time, arriving at our campsites around dinner, cooking dinner and cleaning up and then heading to bed. Remember it is getting dark at about 5:00 each day as we are approaching their winter solstice on June 21. We try to break up each day with some activities or short hikes, but I’m afraid we have spent much more time in the car/van than we have been running about, but luckily there are great big windows for us to take in the amazing scenery that changes around every corner. We made it through the Haast pass out of the mountains and onto the west coast of the island.

Josh and the Weka

 The Lipscombs stopped at Ross, an old gold mining town, and got a pan and hit the local creek for a little gold dust gathering. We met up with the Henrys in Greymouth and we all stopped at Punikiki for a great sight called Pancake Rocks and blowholes. The rocks look like large stacks of pancakes all piled up and the sea is beating away at them. At high tide, and high seas, the sea rushes into several caves and nooks and blows out of the open space at the top. We mostly just saw the sea rush in and swirl around the caves. This is also where Josh discovered the Wekas too.

Pancake Rocks

Sunset on the West Coast

We were going to spend that night at a roadside ‘free camp’ spot, but George wasn’t too keen on sleeping at what amounted to the side of the road for him. So, we headed on into Westport and caught up with a few of Tracy’s “rellies” (they shorten everything they can- such as relatives). Kevin and Vivian were delightful and treated us to a big spread of fish and chips, which were yummy. The kids loved hanging out and watching TV again. We stayed the night out by the Seal Colony on Carter Beach and got up the next morning to see w few lounging seals and feed left over chips to the seagulls. Back on the road we went inland again and through the Buller gorge (complete with a stop at a swinging bridge and a quick ‘flying fox’ (zipline) across the river for the kids. We ended the day when we arrived at some friends of Tracy’s, Murray and Vanessa Earwaker who treated up to a real farmstay. George will tell you more about that next time. Hopefully I can get Burke to describe some of the foods we’ve been eating and what his favorites are.