Day 23 – Queenstown to San Francisco

Departure day always comes with a few errands: packing, cleaning, filling the propane, filling up with diesel, emptying the gray water and refilling the fresh water tanks and feeding the ducks the last of our bread. Once those were done, we figured we had 90 minutes of free time. Hmmmmmm what to do? How about we hop on a bus to a raging river, climb into a jetboat with 12 other people and speed through a narrow slot canyon at 80km per hour, skimming over 10cm of water, while purposefully coming as close to the canyon walls and rocks without killing anyone? That sounds great….Sign us up!!!

Jetboating on Shotover River was insane and so much fun! The canyon was gorgeous and while everyone was gripping onto the safety bar with white knuckles, I could not help but also notice the gorgeous fall foliage. With the recent weather storms, the river was high, rough, and choppy with major white water in spots. The trip down the river was like a 30 minute rollercoaster ride complete with full 360 degree spins and cold waves crashing over the jetboat. Everyone got soaked. The drivers train on the river for 120 hours before they are allowed to carry passengers. If a driver grounds his boat while skimming over the shallow spots, he has to buy all the drivers a case of beer. It’s odd that the driver’s job is to make everyone on board feel like they are about to die by crashing to smitherines against the rocks. Glen, our driver said he loved his job! He’s one of only 10 people on the entire planet licensed to drive a Jet Boat in the Shotover River Canyons.

Once back on the dock, it was a return bus ride to city center and to our camper. Doing the Jetboat was a great way to end the trip. The camper was returned without even a scratch. Matt was an excellent driver! It was hard to say goodbye to our little house on wheels. We had a wonderful time in New Zealand. It is a beautiful country and will remain one of our favorites.

THE END

Day 22 – Queenstown

POURING rain pounding on the camper roof seems to be nature’s alarm clock. By 10am the rain was tolerable and with our full REI raingear to keep us dry, we walked down to city center. Everyone downtown was loading up on the Adrenalin buses heading off to experience some new death-defying activity. Last time I bungy jumped off the Auckland Bridge, so no need to do it again.

After some window shopping, we walked back to the camper and just made it before the next downpour hit. This type of rain is so heavy, there’s not much you can do but stay inside and read. Also, Matt’s not able to fly us around today because of weather. That’s a real bummer, because we were both looking forward to that. Finally we got a break in the rain and went up the Gondola and stopped at the cemetery along the way. The headstones date back to the early 1800s. The top of the gondola had great views of the mountains, lake, town and bungy jumpers. The weather was changing so quickly up top that it was like watching time-lapsed photography. I got a rainbow though! By the time we came down, the rain had returned. Back in the camper we packed and had our last meal of what food was left…ham & cheese sandwiches with peaches. Tomorrow we pack up the camper and head home. However, we might be able to sneak one last adventure tomorrow morning if the weather cooperates.

Day 21 – Invercargill to Queenstown via The Catlins

Last night it rained so hard that it sounded like marbles were hitting the top of the camper instead of raindrops. It rained for most of the day as we made our last push home to Queenstown where our journey began 3 weeks ago. We set out this morning to explore the The Catlins. It’s the coastal area at the bottom of the south island. The southern most point of New Zealand is Slope Point. I think the trees describe the fierceness of the Antarctic winds that pummel the point better than I could.

From there we just explored all the little towns and countryside along the coast. I think the majority of the sheep have been hiding out in the Catlins. They were everywhere! We stopped at Curio Point and got lucky since it was low tide. The entire area that is exposed at low tide is not made up of rocks, but of petrified trees from the Jurassic Era. 65 million years ago, there was a forest there and now it is fossilized. Sounded kinda lame in the Lonely Planet book, but it really was quite interesting. Ranger Jim was there to answer all of our Petrified Forest questions.

There are two towns separated by 44km. The first town is Clinton and the second town is Gore. The stretch of road between the 2 towns is called “Clinton-Gore, The Presidential Highway.” I just thought that was great! I wonder if Al and Bill know about the Highway?

We got into Queenstown just as the sun was going down over the lake around 6:30. Our day had started at 9:30am. It was a lot of driving, but there was always something beautiful to look at.

Day 20 – Stewart Island

It was an early morning flight on a little plane that sat 9 passengers and 1 pilot. As we flew from Invercargil to Stewart Island, the waves below were really choppy and we were so happy not to be on the 1 hour ferry boat crossing! The total flight time was only 15 minutes and flying over the island helped us appreciate how dense the forest is and how “wild” the island still is. There are very few roads and the ones they do have are in a very small area. The rest of the island is reached only by multiple days of hiking or by boat. The only town is Oban. It’s a very peaceful fishing village. We spent the day hiking the trails that were within reach from town center which took us about 5 hours to do.

When we popped out onto a small paved road at the end of the first trail, we were instantly greeted by black lab puppy. She decided we were suckers and ran to fetch a stick. Her name was Kiki and we played fetch for a long time down at the beach. Then her buddy, another black lab named Snow, came to join the fun and started to dig up the beach. As he dug, Kiki would jump up trying to catch the sand. It was a beautiful bay, so we did not mind hanging out and playing with the dogs for awhile.

We continued hiking through rain forests, climbing up and down the slopes and randomly popping out to see a new bay or flower or mushroom. Most of the time hiking, we were looking up in the tree tops. The Tui birds were everywhere and they sounded like a mix of R2D2 robots, lasers and early Depeche Mode Techno music. When they fly, it is very loud. They rapidly flap their wings and then they glide through the narrow openings along the trail. There were lots of other birds that were entertaining too. However, the Tui Birds put on the best musical performance. We did not see any Kiwi birds. Stewart Island has over 20,000 kiwi, but they are nocturnal and very shy.

While tramping down another trail, we came across a beautiful deserted beach. If it had been warm, I would have jumped right in. From there we just kept exploring until it was time to head back to catch our return flight. The return flight was a lot bumpier with a head wind of 20 knots. I had to find my happy place during those 15 minutes of flying. Once back at the airport in Invercargill, we could see the clouds getting darker. We made our trip ahead of the weather, but just barely. There is definitely a big storm coming tonight!

Day 19 – Te Anu to “I dunno where”

As of today, our travel schedule has been completely changed. Since we had absolutely perfect weather in Doubtful Sound, there was no need to do the overnight camping in Milford Sound in hopes of finding good weather. We went to Milford Sound on the last trip anyway. Matt said he was “fiorded out.” So with that, I looked at the map and chose Stewart Island as our new destination. My plan was quickly shot down by the booking agent who informed me that there was room on the ferry going to Stewart Island, but no room for the return ferry and that we would have to spend the night. She also said that the weather would be “dreadful.” However, there was not a cloud in the sky and I could not image that in one day the weather could change so dramatically. We decided to call their bluff and drive to the town of Bluff to check out the ferry status and weather first hand. If it still did not work out, than we had no idea where we would end up for the night.

On the way to Bluff we stopped in Clifden to admire an old bridge, but the neighbor's pig got most of our attention. We arrived in Bluff around 2:30 and were told the same disappointing news. “I can get you there on a ferry, but you will be stuck overnight until the 8am ferry can bring you back…Emmmm plus the weather shows rain is coming.”

I was totally bummed out. Spending the night made the entire trip out of our budget. Back in the Camper, Matt saw an ad on one of the maps regarding charted flights to Stewart Island. He made a call and to our major surprise, a round-trip flight was only $50 NZ more than the ferry!!! The pilot also said that the stormy weather would not come until the late evening, so the island would be quite nice for the day. So we are flying to Stewart Island on a little plane tomorrow morning at 9am! After all that, we ended up a camper park in Invercargill that is close to the little airport. Today’s lesson: Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Day 18 – Doubtful Sound

Into Fiordland we went to experience Doubtful Sound. The journey to get there starts with a boat crossing of Lake Manapouri, than a transfer to a bus which travels 2km down a spiral tunnel to the Manapouri Underground Power Station, then over the Wilmot Alpine Pass and finally to the fiord itself for a 3 hour boat cruise. This is the only way to get to Doubtful Sound. You can’t travel there on your own at all. We had originally wanted to do an overnight cruise, but it was REALLY expensive and totally out of our budget. The stop at the power station was stupid. All the tours stop there because it is New Zealand’s engineering marvel. However, taking a bus down a 2km spiral tunnel was just dark and the power plant itself was boring.

Doubtful Sound only gets approximately 50 days of sunshine per year. The rest of the time it is a torrential downpour (like our visit to Milford Sound 3 years ago). As we headed over the pass, we saw blue sky!!! I could not believe it. We spent 3 hours cruising the fiord. It gets it’s name from Captain Cook discovering the fiord and making a notion on his map that the fiord was a “doubtful harbor” for his fleet.

Despite the wind, it was really spectacular and the waters were very calm for the most part. The only fatality was my lens cap, which I dropped and it bounced off the boat into the water. Doh!!!!! At least it wasn’t my camera. While cruising, we saw bottle-nose dolphins leaping out of the water next to the boat, a colony of fur seals, kea birds and a bunch of other birds. It was a good day, but a long one and we were both happy to be back in our little camper.

Day 17 – Wanaka to Te Anu

It still amazes me how beautiful Lake Wanaka is, especially since 3 years ago, we never saw even a glimpse of what it looked like due to heavy fog and rain. Before we hit the road, we spent some time by the lakeside. It was a perfect mirror and it was hard leave this area.

Wanaka to Te Anu is about a 3 hour drive and goes through Queenstown. We stopped at the pilot’s club in Queenstown and Matt is cleared to fly weather willing next week. The plane he flew last time was sitting there just waiting for us to take it for a spin.

When we got to Te Anu, we had a few chores to do other than walking around the lake. #1 was laundry. As a pulled the bed apart to wash the linens, everything was wet. The last 2 nights in Wanaka, it was around 34 degrees. It was so cold. The cold temps combined with the little camper heater + plus our breathing had covered the berth ceiling in condensation. The mattress, quilts and pillow were wet. So #2 on the list was to dry out everything. We looked like trailer park hillbillies. The mattress smelled moldy, so I doused it in Frebreeze. #3 was to feed the ducks on Lake Te Anu and #4 was to do some grocery shopping.