Missed attempt at Mount Cook

We left Christchurch on June 20th and headed towards Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand. Still very flat on the way out of town, we stopped a few times on the way to try to find some other place to stay and work. It didn't work out that time but we still had some nice scenery on the way. It got colder and colder, especially where we decided to stop, in Lake Tekapo. The fog settled all around the area and we didn't even get a chance to take a look at the beautiful spot. We parked the van in a big parking, next to a bar and a few shops. Surprisingly, we found a nice piece of lamb for 5$ and cooked a good meal inside the van.

After a relatively decent night of sleep, we woke up with frost on the ground and trees. The van almost didn't start but we managed to get out of there after a few tries. Still foggy, we stopped many times to take unusual pictures of the frosted landscapes. We drove next to a giant turquoise lake (Lake Pukaki). The minerals released by a melted glacier are the reason for thsi particular color and it turned out to be really special. Even with the bad weather, we took the road heading all the way to the village of Mount Cook but got some snow half way up. We stopped at an information center to get the latest weather update but by the time we got out, there was almost 10 cm on the ground. It suddenly really looked like home and I had to quickly get back my winter reflexes. We never made it to the top as it became more and more dangerous to keep the van on the snowy road. I even got stuck trying to make a u-turn but got some help from a bus driver and his assistant moments later. Very disappointed, we safely made it back to the highway. We then tried to get out of the area as fast as possible as we heard we might be stuck in a small town (Twizel) for the next two days. A bit nerve wracking, I drove very slowly out of there and was lucky to find rain about 50 km later. Some people had put chains (!!) already and they were selling them for over a 100$ for two!?! At that time, we had decided to head down to Oamaru, before Dunedin, on the east coast.

photo section:

a mountain peaking out of the clouds

a view of the intense fog

frosted tree in front of a barn

close-up of the frost

view of lake Pukaki

people taking pictures

Christchurch

We arrived pretty early on June 15th, after sleeping in Springfield and spent the day visiting Christchurch a bit. We had previously booked another place to stay at in exchange for work, but we had to arrive around 6:00 p.m. The city is very pretty, with a lot of history about the birth of the region (Canterbury) around 1850 and the Maori people living there prior to the settlement. Many, many churches are visible on every main artery, most of them made of stone, and the most famous is the one in "cathedral square", as seen on the picture. At night, we met Patricia and David White around a nice dinner and started to work for them the next day. I helped him in the garage for about 2 hours, and I had never seen a filled garage liked that before in my life. They had moved back in the house a few weeks before our arrival, so that explains all the boxes and stuff David and I had to sort out or rearrange. We then went on the road to run other errands. Dana was assigned on the computer once again, doing data entry this time. On the other days, she cleaned up the bathroom, hung the clothes outside where it really started to be cold (3-4 oc in the morning, frost a few times), and we both cooked and did some gardening twice. I vaccumed the whole house, cleaned the floor in the kitchen, cleaned the greasey stove and hung some clothes as well.

We decided to do a recommended walk one afternoon downtown, and it was pretty nice to stop here and there and read about the history of the buidings or parks. We visited the Canterbury museum for about 2 hours, which was lovely. Lots of information about Maori people and the settling of the first Englishmen in town. Queen Victoria is mentionned a few times for sponsoring some of the operation, which surprised me a bit. She has an important part for Montreal's history as well....
Finally, we climbed the big hill that runs between Christchurch and the harbour (with the van), and took a nicve look at the whole plain where the city sits. A bit hazy, but some good footage nonetheless. We kept some stuff for later, as we will probably go through Christchurch on our way back from the "deep" south. As the second biggest city in New Zealand and its definite english style, Christchurch is a must for anybody visiting the country. Big but not overwhelming, it is hard not to like it and there are plenty of places to go out at night and during the day. Different from Wellington, the bus is also a good way of travelling, unless you want to try the tramway, only there to catch tourists though...

photo section:

the view when we woke up one morning

a familiar name...

an english phone booth

an old government building

from a park in Christchurch
a picture of Christ college

an overview of Christchurch

view of the port, Lyttleton

On the way to Christchurch

After finishing our stay with Rory, we had decided to take the road leading on the west coast, where the scenery was said to be very pretty. Two relatively big towns were on the way, Westport and Greymouth, and we chose the first one as the place to stay one night. On the way, we stopped for a quick hike. we paid 5$ to walk over the Buller river on a long swing bridge, which was 18 meters above the water. We learned some interesting facts about the region, and some major earthquakes that have happened there before. The water level went up so high after those events, it is almost unbelivable; more than 10 meters!!!
We then arrived in Westport where I must say, there wasn't much to see or do. Probably the biggest surprise so far, nothing to really write about. The next morning, we headed straight for Greymouth and the scenery was worth stopping for; the beautiful coastline and the blue sky made for nice pictures. Some areas were very humid and it flet like a tropical climate at times.
Definitely one of the prettiest roads so far, I stopped more than 5 times to look or film. It was nice to get some warm weather for a few minutes. We tried to go see the pancake rocks, famous for the way they look and the water erupting out when the tide is coming in.
We then stopped in Greymouth, and the city opening after the mountains was a particular site. We checked at the local city centre what were the activities in the area, but they all cost a lot of money (white water rafting, kayaking, caving, jumpimg from a plane) and the weather was cold, and it was a bit too late..... so we decided to start crossing the land again towards Christchurch, on the east coast.
We took a less crowded road to again enjoy the scenery and we were once again served with beauty. Mountains with snow on top, green plains, animals and really open spaces, you have to come to New Zealand to really get how pretty it is. Arthur's pass ended up being the most difficult part of that drive, as it is pretty high between the mountains, on a very steep road. I had the van struggling to go up at 20km/hour, I was going slower than 18 wheel trucks!!!
Finally we got through and slept in our van in a city called Springfield (about an hour away from Christchurch). We cooked a nice spaghetti and woke up the next morning with ice on the ground and fresh snow on the mountains...

photo section:

new zealand's longest swing bridge

watch out for the penguins' crossing
the beach on the way to Greymouth

close-up of the west coast

Greymouth's history (mural)

approaching Arthur's pass
Arthur's pass

Nelson region

Rory is a nice man we stayed with for 5 days. After our brief stay in Blenheim, we decided to do the HelpX experience another time to save up a bit of money and try to do some kayaking in the area. Rory was a good fit for us, having hosted a few people before us and knowing the drill. The only down point was that we had to sleep outside again and not in a comfortable bed as is usually the custom. He had his own van to offer as a shelter and we experienced the arrival of winter big time!! The temperature went pretty close to 0 oc a couple of nights but we sucked it up with lots of blankets and got a nice preview of what it will be further south. Good sign though, we realized our van is better insulated than we thought at first with all the carpet on the inside walls.

We had some nice conversations with Rory, who was born in Sri Lanka from English parents. His family had gone there during the colonial period and his dad owned a tea plantation. They had to move when times changed over there and British settlers were not welcome anymore. He then travelled a lot, going to over 30 countries in a span of a few years. He now runs a transport business, driving hikers to the foot of mountains and trails and picking them up at the end of their journey. He was laid back with us and made us do all sorts of chores during our stay. Dana sat in front of the computer most of the time, helping him update his website with abundant information on each trail. She did have time to help me with reorganizing the compost section the first day and move some stuff from behind the house to the new shed Rory put up. I dug a ditch (a meter or two every day) so he can bury some electrical wires, washed his little boat and a big work table in the shed, screwed a long shelf to a wall and helped him move around a wrecked van. I did manage to put that damn van right in the ditch I had just dug up a bit, but more scare than harm. We laughed about it later, especially after Rory got out of his van a bit confused about what I had just done and then had to run to stop his vehicule slowly going down the hill…
That Saturday night, we all went to the local pub to watch the “rematch” of the All Blacks vs France rugby match. Of course, as a french speaker, they all associated me to the French squad, but nobody gave me a hard time inside the place. Luckily for me because Les Bleus managed to do worst than the previous week and got a severe beating, 61-11 the final score…… The worse loss in France’s history, I was very quiet for a while… Doesn’t matter, All Blacks against CANADA next week!!! I couldn’t believe it.In our spare time, Dana and I went to the beach one morning to grab some mussels we could eat that evening. We checked out the best time to go, and the low tide was right around 10:30 a.m. We parked where Rory had told us and wandered a bit on the beach before finding the perfect spot. We found so many big mussels, I was so happy; we ended up with 99 in the bucket, not even knowing that the limit is 50 per person!!!. We looked up on the internet for a mussel chowder recipe and Dana cooked the best Boston style chowder (tomato creamy sauce instead of white creamy). I thoroughly enjoyed that meal and we popped up the bottle of Chardonnay we had bought in Renwick. Delicioussss, we watched movies with Rory that night, and almost every night we spent there as a matter of fact. The weather ended up being a bit too cold for kayaking, but we still had a good time in the Nelson area. The last day before we left, we visited the city in the afternoon and parked the van in front of the park where the first Rugby match was ever played in New Zealand, in 1870. We walked a little bit through some streets and stopped in a few stores in town. The sunset was pinkish on the horizon, and we drove back along the coastal town.

photo section:

behind Rory's house

on the beach

me looking for mussels

me finding some big ones!!
view from the mountains
nearby a Lord of the Rings location
at the park where the first rugby match was played

The wine trail

We left Wellington before 8:00 a.m., sailing for three hours towards Picton, first town in the south island. We had a good last look of the city aboard the ferry, and enjoyed some free toast along the way. Jumped back in the van a few hours later and started the new adventure by trying to find a place to stay and maybe work (pruning some trees). It was a bit difficult to find the good combination, so in the end we skipped Picton and headed down directly to Blenheim. After a few tries and many inquiries about the work available in the area, Dana and I decided we wouldn’t work more because you need about a week of training to learn how to prune correctly and all the places weren’t very keen to hire us for only a week. Instead, we decided to stay one night at a Backpacker’s guesthouse (still sleeping in the van though), and do the famous wine trail the next day. Renwick, a small town about 15 minutes away from Blenheim, is the host of more than 25 wineries, 20 of them are in a 5 km range. The idea was to rent a bicycle for the day at the guesthouse, and hopefully enjoy a nice day to pedal around from one to the other. We were lucky and it turned out to be a splendid sunny day, a bit windy but nice anyways. We managed to stop at only five wineries, but there were at least seven different types of wine to try at each place, sometimes even more. I must say I had no expectations at all, but some of the wines (90% white wine) were surprisingly good and tastier than one could think. The wineries were pretty small, but most of them sell their wine commercially abroad, sometimes not to the local market at all. The wind really slowed us down in our attempt to visit as many wineries as possible, but it still was a nice experience and good day. We bought one bottle of Chardonnay at the end of the trip, in a really good place called Huia. All their wines were excellent, and by far the best quality in taste. Lots of flavour, even a little touch of vanilla for one wine in particular, truly amazing.
We slept in a parking lot that night and didn’t visit much of Blenheim, which looks like a nice place to live but not too different from any other “large” town visited previously. We called another guy we could go stay with for a few days in exchange of 4 hours a day of work and drove to his place the next day.

photo section:

the mountains and the grapevines in Renwick

Dana ready to cycle

Me on my bike looking really confident

Wellington

C'est avec un pincement au coeur que nous avons quitte Bryan et sa famille le samedi 2 juin pour nous rendre a notre derniere destination avant le South island, Wellington. Le trajet, d'une duree d'environ 4 heures, s'est bien deroule, avec moins de montees et de collines. Nous avons pris notre temps pour arriver en fin d'apres-midi dans la capitale neo-zelandaise. A premiere vue, les flancs de montagnes en arriere-plan donnent un look particulier a la ville, specialement avec toutes les maisons de style victorien. Elles sont bien entretenues et la majorite ont du etre construites a la fin du 19e siecle ou au debut du 20e. Tout a fait de mon gout, certaines sont plus colorees que d'autres et ce doit etre encore plus beau en ete. Le centre-ville est joli, moderne, vivant et pas trop gros. Un peu comme Montreal, il y a plein de restaurants de plusieurs pays differents, plein de bars ou clubs pour passer de bons moments en soiree, et des endroits ou amener sa famille. Par chance, nous sommes arrives en soiree samedi et avons pu stationner notre van gratuitement en toute quietude pour la nuit. Le lendemain etant dimanche, meme chose, gratuit pour la journee et la nuit. Et le Lundi, fete de la reine d'Angleterre, et oui vous l'avez devine, gratos. Donc on a pu dormir dans notre van au centre-ville gratuitement pour les 3 soirees ou nous y etions. Le premier soir, nous avons mange dans une pizzeria et sommes restes pour voir le match de Rugby entre les celebres All Blacks et la France. C'etait d'ailleurs mon but d'arriver cette soiree-la, je tenais a vivre l'excitation d'un match des All Blacks entoures de fervents supporters "kiwis". Malchance pour moi, comme prevu par 95% de la population ici, les All Blacks ont ecrase les Bleus quelque chose comme 47-11... Revanche la semaine prochaine, a Wellington de surcroit.

Le jour suivant, nous sommes alles visiter le musee national Te Papa, s'etalant sur six etages et impossible a tout voir en une visite. Nous avons jete un coup d'oeil a l'etage "sciences et evenements naturels" ayant touche la Nouvelle-Zelande au fil de l'histoire (volcans, tremblements de terre, evolution d'especes, formation des iles, etc.), ce qui fut bien interessant, puis nous avons ensuite ete observe les evenements culturels qui ont caracterise l'histoire du pays. En soiree, bon repas dans un resto coreen et petite marche de retour a la van. Pas tres vivant un dimanche soir, on a du se coucher assez tot.
Le lendemain, nous avons pris le cable car menant au haut d'une colline surplombant la ville. C'est la qu'a ete prise la photo au haut de l'article. Belle vue sur la mer, le port et les montagnes environnantes, il faisait assez froid malgre le soleil. Nous avons parcouru les sentiers et un joli jardin rempli de differentes sortes de roses, tout en redescendant vers le centre-ville. Le reste de la journee, nous nous sommes promenes dans la ville et sommes arretes ecrire sur nos blogs respectifs pendant quelques heures. Rien de special en soiree, mais bien content d'avoir pu passer deux jours dans la capitale. Nous aurons probablement l'occasion d'y revenir apres notre sejour dans le sud.
Le matin suivant, reveil a 6:00 pour prendre le traversier......


section photo:

le musee Te Papa et quelques residences en arriere-plan
en face du musee, dans le port de Wellington
jolie vue du port
jardin visite au centre-ville
rose

vue du centre-ville de Wellington

Tongariro crossing

Suite a notre passage au Mont Taranaki, nous nous sommes diriges vers le milieu du North island, juste en dessous du grand lac Taupo. Nous avons contacte une autre personne afin d'etre heberge et nourri en echange de 4 heures de travail, et nous sommes tombes sur les meilleurs gens possibles. Bryan, sa copine Meriam, et les parents de Bryan, Morris et Mary. Tout a fait aimables, ce fut 4 jours fort agreables apres la semaine bizarre juste avant. Bryan est un gars dans la fin trentaine et il a achete un ski lodge il y a 3 ans. Beaucoup de renovations a faire sur le complexe, nous etions ses seuls invites (avec se parents) et il avait quelques besognes a nous assigner. Pas de stress, des pauses cafes a profusion, Dana et moi avons peint, sable, fait la vaisselle et aide a de multiples taches pendant 4 jours. On avait meme pas besoin de compter les heures ou se soucier de quoi que ce soit, les grands-parents nous jasait tout le temps, bref une belle atmosphere de famille. Bryan m'a meme fait faire un petit tour de go-kart (250cc), le vent bien dans le nez. Il y avait egalement une chevre, un mouton, deux chiens, un cochon et un cheval qui se promenaient sur les terrains en tout temps, et c'etait bien comique de voir les deux premiers courrir ensemble et se frotter amicalement. La chevre se croyait etre un chien, ce qui etait bien particulier. Le cochon se petait des sprints sans raison en grognant, desopilant...
La deuxieme journee, nous avons fait une grande randonnee connue a travers la Nouvelle-Zelande; le Tongariro crossing. 17 km de long, ca prend une journee pour la completer et c'est assez ardu par moments. Montees en flanc de montagnes, le long du volcan Ruapehu (qui a explose en 1995 la derniere fois), passages entre des lacs verts de sulfure et des lac bleus, descente en fin de parcours qui ont teste nos mollets endormis. Il faisait assez frais, manteau, tuque, gants requis en debut de parcours, puis le soleil s'est pointe pour nous offrir une journee splendide et des moments plus doux. Nous etions si haut en milieu de randonnee que nous pouvions clairement voir le Mont Taranaki, partiellement grimpe la semaine precedente. Un chalet est situe aux trois quarts du parcours, et c'est apres de longues marches que nous y sommes arrives. La derniere portion est pratiquement de la descente, et c'est plus difficile qu'escompte car les jambes sont un peu fatiguees suite a la montee.
Une fois termine, nous etions bien content et un brouillard tres epais est apparu au pied des montagnes, si bien que la van nous ramenant au ski lodge fut obligee de ralentir et faire attention aux automobilistes environnants. Je ne regrette pas une seconde etre alle faire un tour par la-bas, apres avoir ete un peu sceptique aux prealables....

Section photo:

vue de la region volcanique

le volcan Ngauruhoe
Dana et moi devant le volcan
Differentes couleurs
le lac bleu

en milieu de passage (crossing), l'horizon s'ouvre