Wild West --> CHCH

Salutations from the City-Most-Recently-Shook in the Shakey Isles,

That’s right, we’ve made it across the Southern Alps and onto the South Island’s east coast! The last two weeks have been spent cruising around in BAY339 and settling down at various campsites.

We spent a couple of nights (Feb 6, 7 & 8) at a campsite in Kahurangi National Park: probably the most spectacular views yet (although the campsite at Aurther’s Pass gives it a run for it’s money…). The campsite was located in Cobb River Valley which has a river/lake/reservoir running through the middle of it and 360 views of mountain peaks. We had a few friendly neighbors but mostly we spend the days relaxing in the tent (sitting outside was basically offering yourself up as a sacrifice to the sandflies) and exploring the valley and the ridgeline above on foot.

The next stop was Marble Hill campsite at Spring Junction where we spent Stu’s 23rd birthday!! I can’t say that the day was anything super special as we spent most of it driving around looking for pottery studios that all happened to be closed! Although we didn’t find any pottery, we did find a second hand store in Murchison where we were able to find some indestructible cutlery! Back story: We started our travels with 2 plastic REI sporks and a wooden spoon that Stu carved out of drift wood we found on the beach. Over the course of about a week, I managed to snap both sporks in half while trying to get peanut butter out of the jar. That’s right, I broke our only 2 eating utensils in the exact same way on two separate occasions. To celebrate the new cutlery and Stu’s 23rd year of life…We made a pretty amazing burrito dinner (no utensils necessary). We also splurged on some BEER, which is actually a pretty big deal for us in these times of camping, but you only turn 23 once! Marble Hill wasn’t really anything special, especially after the gorgeous campsite we just left, but we had a nice evening and slept pretty well.

After a breakfast of apple crumble (we were too full to eat Stu’s birthday dessert after those burritos, so we saved it for breakfast the next morning…it’s kind of like oatmeal with fruit!) we packed up the car and headed off to Greymouth. We were having a bit of car trouble at the time….not anything major just a few incidents of the car acting funny when we had put a lot of stress on the vehicle (driving for 3+ hrs, driving up a large hill). Anyway, we weren’t TOO worried but we wanted to get it checked before crossing the Southern Alps. The garage where we took it seemed to think the problem was that the fuel filter needed to be cleaned…so we did that and since then no trouble at all! (touch wood) While waiting for the car to get fixed we had a nice walk around the city and went on a tour of Monteith’s Brewery! Greymouth was a nice enough town, though it felt a bit patchy: industrial in places right next to the main, touristy downtown. We did catch it on a beautiful day though. We also met our first North Carolina family….long story there but we hope to meet up with the UNC undergrad now living in Dunedin once we get there!

After a lovely night in a real bed (Feb 10), we woke up refreshed and ready to take on the West Coast highways. This section of Highway 6 really is as beautiful as everyone says it is: amazing views of the ocean to the west including incredible rock formations among the crashing waves and beautiful hills and agricultural landscapes to the east. That day (Feb 11) we drove up to Punakaiki (pancake rocks and blowholes). I wanted to walk around and take pictures with maple syrup and forks and knives but…after some resistance from Stuart we decided just to talk the trail with just our camera. We were there at lowtide so we didn’t really get to see the blowholes going off but the rock formations were pretty cool. Plus the drive along was worth it…that night we camped at a more typical campsite called Lake Mahinapua. It was full of motor homes and old people but incredibly and wonderfully devoid of sandflies. That and the bounty of short, easy walking trails made for an easy decision to stay two nights (Feb 11 & 12). It was so lovely just to actually be able to sit out in our camping chairs after dinner or in the afternoon sunshine and really enjoy being still in the fresh air.

On Feb 13, we woke up to a grey and rainy day, which can actually be quite nice from time to time but not so much when you are packing up gear. Luckily the rain tapered off to just heavy cloud cover around midmorning and we used with window of relative dryness to explore a town very near to our campsite: Hokitika. This place is supposed to be one of the centers of pounamu (greenstone) carvings so we walked around town looking at different galleries and shops full of pendants and jewelry and other crafts. No purchases yet…we still have at least 6 months to try and find a bit of greenstone to take with us.

From Hokitika the course was eastward and upward and we climbed up through the Southern Alps. I’m quite sure we drove past some really incredible views but the clouds were so thick around the mountains that you couldn’t see much apart from the road. The heavy rain did have one advantage though: it awoke and enlivened a thousand little roadside waterfalls that sung to us and cheered us on as we climbed and climbed. Finally we reached the highest point of the pass and after winding through a number of little villages we came to our campsite for the night: Andrew’s Shelter. As we drove the 5ks or so down a little gravel road off the main highway we passed hundreds and hundreds of sheep…were it not for the DOC sign directing us I would have thought we had driven onto someone’s farm by accident! This area is definitely in the running for #1 best south island campsite (from our experiences): the views were incredible, walking trails abound, plenty of sheep everywhere to scare as you try to take photos of them…over all a really amazing sight and a place I was happy to spend two nights! (Feb 13 & 14).

As you may notice, we stayed at this campsite for the day and night of Februrary 14., which is of course Valentines Day. As I said in a recent email to my dad when he enquired about Valentine’s Day: “Stu and I were actually camping near Arthur's Pass (one of three passes through the South Alps on NZ's South Island) and we both completely forgot that it was Valentine's Day! We were so deeply absorbed in the moment (camping, hiking, relaxing, taking in the amazing views, enjoying each other's company) that we didn't even take note of the date! I guess I can't complain though: what more could you ask for than being immersed in nature's beauty in the company of your significant other, enjoying yourselves to the point of forgetting what day it is?”

Next stop after Arthur’s Pass was Christchurch or CHCH as Alice has taught me. I can’t believe we’ve spent 5 days here…it doesn’t feel like that long! It’s been a nice break from camping—I love being able to go for a run and shower afterwards or enjoy the benefits of refrigeration! We have spent quite a lot of time just relaxing and catching up on emails and planning our time with upcoming visitors (the Curme family, April Kirby, Michael Johnston!) but we’ve also spent a lot of time just wandering around the city in the botanical gardens, art center, and art museum. Besides hanging out with Alice and her roomies, we also met up with some Scottish friends we met in Napier and their kiwi friends, which was really great! We had lunch in town one day and then did a bit of surfing out in Sumner. Their friend Riley is a real surfer and managed to get together enough gear for the five of us to have a lovely afternoon/evening of playing around in the waves. We also met up with Helen Thomas (GV 08) and her beaux Craig from drinks and rugby watching (though we didn’t really watch much rugby…) at a pub near Alice’s house last night—it was great to catch up and laugh and meet her new man! Alice and her roommates has been VERY kind to house us for so long (we’ve been here all weekend and Alice isn’t even here!) and I’m sure they’ll be relieved to have their house to back to normal as we say goodbye and head even further south today with three in the car! Michael Johnston flew in yesterday and we are taking him along for a week of touring the SE corner of the south island!

So farewell Chch….looking forward to meeting you Dunedin!