The Untamed West Coast

After we picked up Black Betty, we started our adventure for the untamed west coast of New Zealand. This is Lake Rotoiti near St. Arnaud in Nelson Lakes National Park.

No elk or deer on the road here!

The star of Paparoa National Park is the Pancake Rocks. These are limestone cliffs that are slowly being eroded and shaped by the Tasman Sea.

During high tide, the Tasman Sea sends sprays of water through the blowholes. Many people watching get wet!

John battled the fierce sandflies twice so we could have yummy spaghetti for dinner!

This is Lake Mapourika, we camped here. It's just north of Franz Josef.

The Southern Alps from Franz Josef.

There is a permanent snow field high in the Southern Alps feeding down to two easily accessible glaciers. The first one is Franz Josef. An hour hike led us to a point about 60 meters from the terminal face of the Franz Josef glacier.

The second glacier is Fox Glacier. We hiked through a very dense rainforest to the viewing platform on the south side of the Fox Glacier.

Then we hiked to the dramatic terminal face of the Fox Glacier.

There was a rainstorm a few weeks ago. A huge chunk of the terminal face of the glacier broke off. There are still pieces floating in the river. John was lucky enough to find one of these floating ice chunks.

Lake Matheson is known for its reflections of the Southern Alps. The water wasn't calm enough for us to get a million dollar reflection photo, but we still got a good one of the lake and mountains.

Rock slide detour.

Driftwood on the beach at Bruce Bay.

We turned inland at Haast, where we went over Haast Pass and onward toward Queenstown. This was our camping spot at Cameron Flat on Haast Pass. What a view!

On the Road Again...

These were our accommodations while Black Betty was getting fixed. Good thing the tent made it through customs. Quite cozy!

While Black Betty was in for her repairs, we took advantage of our location close to the beautiful Abel Tasman National Park. We found an awesome company for a kayak and hiking trip. They even picked us up at the campground!

Half way through the trip we stopped at Apple Tree Bay for morning tea. Our guide, Ben, claimed to make coffee "better than Starbucks". I'm not sure it was better, but is sure was tasty! We enjoyed our mochachinos:)

This is Watering Cove, were we traded our kayaks for hiking boots.

Hiking the trail between Bark Bay and Torrent Bay.

The water taxi took us back to where we started that morning. The tide was out, so a tractor with a trailer attached came to get us and pulled us to shore.

We hired (kiwi for rented) a car and ventured to the north part of Abel Tasman National Park. We camped right by the beach in a little place called Totaranui. This is a sea star we found washed up in the sand.

From there we hiked the northeastern part of the coastal track to Separation Point. This beautiful hike followed the coast line. We went up over a ridge then down across a beach, up over a ridge and down across a beach.

We're not sure why it's called Separation Point. But it sure was pretty!

The trees in this photo are called New Zealand's Christmas Tree. It always flowers red around Christmas time.

We drove to the farthest northern point on the southern island, Farewell Spit. Thousands of tons of sand gets collected here each year from the winds and the currents of the Tasman Sea.

On our way back to return the car we stopped by Te Waikoropupu, the cold springs. This is the clearest springs in the world! The only place they have found clearer water in under the ice shelf in Antarctica. Wow! No, they don't let you swim or dive in it anymore.

Broken Black Betty :(

We were enjoying a nice leisurely drive from our camp site by the beach, jaming out to Christmas tunes when all of a sudden.....

John says, "Do you hear that? I'm in second gear and the gas pedal is on the floor. It sounds weird." Ang says, "Hum...that does sound weird."

Then Ang says, "Honey why did you turn off the car?" John says, "I didn't turn off the car. Something is wrong, it just shut off." "Oh no!" says Ang. So we coasted to the side of the road.

Luckily a very friendly kiwi (no not the bird) stopped to help us trouble shoot. Then he went back to town to call the local garage.

The local guys came to the rescue and Black Betty was towed 9km to the garage. The teeth on the cam shaft belt were stripped. The belt is getting replaced and the garage guys gave us a ride (3km) to the closest town.

Thankfully we brought our tent half way across the world and now are getting some use out of it! Black Betty should be up and running in a day or so.

The Adventure Continues...South Island

From Tauranga we drove down the coast to a little town named Ohope. We camped in the grasses right along the beach. This was the sunset! Ok I may have done a little fancy camera work for the intense color, but it was pretty amazing :)

We drove straight south through beautiful Te Urewera National Park where Lake Waikaremoana is located. This is the biggest national park on the North Island. This is also a pretty isolated national park. Even though a state highway goes right through the middle of it there are several km of unsealed (dirt) road.

For example..... Windy mountain road? Who needs guard rails? Not kiwis!

On the way to Napier down State Hwy 2.

Napier is known for it's Art Deco architecture. After being destroyed by a massive earthquake in the 1930s they rebuilt the city with some spunk. We enjoyed a picnic along the beach in downtown Napier.

Hawke's Bay, where Napier is located, is known for it's wineries. So of course we made our way to one that Fodor's claimed as a "must see". This is Mission Estate Winery the oldest winery in New Zealand, established in 1851. It used to be a seminary. When the boys weren't working on their studies they worked in the vineyards.

The view from the balcony was amazing! I bought a bottle of Merlot that you can only purchase at this location.

Cape Kidnappers is about 15 miles south of Napier. This location got it's name after a local Maori (the native people) tried to kidnap Captain Cook's interpreter. Legend has it that the boy escaped only after plunging into the sea from these rocks.

About 10km (one way) from Clifton, the town farthest out on Cape Kidnappers, there is a huge gannet colony. This is the largest gannet colony on a main land. This large white seabird has wings that can reach a span of 6 feet! We hiked 2.5 hours each way to see these amazing birds. It's an easy hike along the beach. You just have to time the tides right or there isn't any beach left to hike on!

We took the Interislander Ferry across the Cook Strait from Wellington, on the north island, to Picton on the south island. Yes, Black Betty got to go too.

Driving onto the ferry. It's cold and rainy.

Driving off the ferry. It's cold and rainy here too!

There is a beautiful drive down the east coast from Picton to Blenheim called Port Underwood Road. We did most of the drive during an overcast day, but came back to some of it the next day when it was sunny. Quite a difference the sun makes!

We did a day hike along the Queen Charlotte Track. This track goes for about 42 miles along the Marlborough Sounds. In our short hike we saw beautiful native bush (forest) and nice sandy beaches.

Evidently the latrines along hiking trails don't like trash. :)

If you ever travel on any "off the beaten path" roads in New Zealand, you should just assume you'll be going through some farm land. This beautiful location was the road to French Pass.

French Pass is the location where the waters of the Tasman Bay meet the waters of the Cook Strait. This narrow stretch of water moves at up to 9 knots during the high tides and makes boating through very dangerous. It sounds like white water rapids on the river.

Laundry Day at a campground near Nelson.