Franz Josef up to Westport

We stayed at our best Holiday Park so far in Franz Josef. It is called the Rainforest Holiday Park and it was right in the town of Franz Josef. The site was beautiful - it did feel like a rainforest. It was right down the street from the Glacier Hot Pools and it had the Monsoon restaurant on the property, where the Lamb Shanks were the best! Rob's Bangers and Mash were first rate as well.  

The Franz Josef Glacier was an imposing view of nature's power. Its extreme vertical has cut deep through the valley.  While sitting looking at this magnificent site another part of glacier slid off the terminal edge.

Our travels took us up the West Coast Scenic Highway to The Pancake Rocks where the tidal force of the Tasman Sea has eroded the limestone rock and created blowholes on this part of the coastline. Witnessing the power of the sea was thrilling.

Travelling to the West Coast

We have spent the last couple of days travelling from Milford Sound to Franz Josef on the west coast. The drive was spectacular, particularly the Alpine Pass from Queenstown to Wanaka, and needless to say the roads are windy and narrow with great lookouts. We walked to the Blue Pools, climbed up to the Haast Lookout, Fantail Falls, Dune walk, where we saw Hector Dolphins, and a great hike to the remote Munro Beach.

 Two nights ago we did our first freedom camping on the beach just south of Haast. Rob noticed little cut out roads through the shore brambles that led right to the beach. The waves were crashing in and there was space for our van, no one else there and we were facing west for a great sunset!  The sunset we got as you can see but we also got sandflies and mosquitoes, lots of them. The walk on the beach at sunset was worth it. 

Milford Sound area

So, we have been in Milford Sound for 4 days without cell or wifi connections. It was heavenly - very relaxing. We camped at the Milford Sound Lodge, the only camping site in the Sound. The Sound was named incorrectly, it is actually a Fiord. The fiord is breathtakingly beautiful. We took the first boat cruise out in the morning when the bus loads of tourists had not arrived yet as advised by the locals and were rewarded with a nice chat with one of the crew from Edmonton, Alberta and a glacial facial courtesy of the Captain and Stirling Falls. There are very few people that actually stay in Milford so there a lot of bus tours that come in for the day. 

In the afternoon we hiked the Key Summit. The views at the top were awesome - I did expect Legalus and Aragon to go running by on the opposite range!

Unfortunately , the downhill was a little hard on my knee so we did not do any other big hikes but did go see Humboldt Falls and did yoga on the beach - again!  The last night we stayed at a DOC campsite on Mackay Creek on our way back from Milford. Mackay Creek is in the valley of the Murchison Mountains. 

The sites are situated beside the creek, where Rob had a swim-shower, there is no power, no water but an abundance of stars!

Otago Travels

Our last two days have been full of adventures - learning the ins and outs of our motorhome, navigating driving here, walking in gardens, seeing incredible historical buildings, attending a professional rugby match, stopping at vistas along the way through this ever changing countryside ... Today we travelled the winding roads of the Otago Peninsula, spending several hours on the beach at Sandfly Bay.

                                                Moeraki Boulders in Oamaru

                                                Prior to yoga on Sandfly Bay

Lyttelton Hike

We hiked the Bridal Path Trail used by the pilgrims in 1850 to carry all of their belongings from Lyttelton Harbour to their newly allotted land in Christchurch. This 2 1/2 hour hike over the volcanic rock mountain gave spectacular views of Lyttlelton to the south and Christchurch to the north.

                                             

Christchurch City Centre

We spent the day walking around Christchurch. The city is devastated from the earthquake of 2010 and 2011. Almost 1500 building needed to be demolished and the downtown core is trying hard to rebuild. The  biggest hit from the quake was the Christchurch Cathedral. It took 40 years to build starting in 1864 and is completely unusable today. Having said that the Kiwi's have done a great job making the downtown interesting and very walkable. There are large murals on buildings left standing and sculptures in random open lots.  

The botanical gardens were beautiful and so peaceful and free!! We found Begonia's the size of side plates. 

New Zealand via Vancouver

Spent 7 hours in Vancouver on the way to New Zealand so we headed out to the UBC Botanical Gardens where we saw a Barred Owl in a giant Western Hemlock. Further on we saw 2 Bald Eagles on the top of a lightning struck tree but the most amazing thing was watching one of the eagles having a bath in a pond.