New Zealand North Island

New Zealand

The South Island

Montana Wine Tasting
Tuesday 2nd August 2005

Today we awoke from a good night sleep feeling refreshed and happy. As usual it took us ages to get ourselves ready. I had a good clean out of the shoes and towels that just seemed to be piling up around the campervan. Where do they all come from? Did I really pack all this stuff?...and why? The kids have lived in their wellies since day one. NOTE TO SELF: ONE PAIR OF SHOES IS PLENTY. Anyway, Court took Jazz and Blue for a play down the park while I put the Hoover over.

The park had one of those swing things with a foot push bar (looks more like a hanging see-saw). Jazz thought this was great, she’s always trying to swing herself (unsuccessfully). She was over the moon when she realised she could actually do it by herself. She called me to witness it. She was pleased as punch. I took photos.

The shower facilities were rubbish, I’m glad I bathed the kids in the van kitchen sink. They thought it was great fun. I remember doing the same when I was little. The shower I had was nice and warm, but a very slow drizzle. It took ages to swill the soap suds from my hair. I could have urinated with more pressure than this shower.

Clean and refreshed, I changed my clothes and put on my new green shoes. Today - I decided it was my turn to drive. I don’t think Court was too keen on this idea………..but I insisted!

It took ages to get here (Kaikoura). But the journey was interesting. After leaving Picton, it wasn’t too long before we came across a winery “Montana”. I asked if Court would like to visit, but before he had chance to answer, I had already pulled over. I stopped because Court loves this sort of thing, but I think he lets the fact we have two little ones get in the way of him doing things (coming to NZ obviously not being one of them!). Jazz and Blue played on the climbing frame while Court went and did a little wine tasting. He didn’t say too much when he returned, he just had a smile on his face and said “your turn”. At the time, my suspicious mind thought that maybe he was a little tipsy!

Then I had my turn - very nice. I tasted just three wines starting with a lovely white peachy tasting wine, then moving on to a Rose that had pungent after tones of strawberry and raspberry. Finally - the cheeky red, very oaky and woody; the wine tasting lady assured me that it would be perfect with a nice mushroom risotto. I bought a T-Shirt designed with wine spills all down the front which is really handy for me because the last time I went wine tasting I rather uncouthfully spilt most of it down my nice crisp white t-shirt. From now on I have the perfect attire for wine tasting.
Then we had some lunch in their very posh restaurant. Both Jazz and Blue were the model children, behaving perfectly………………right up until the point where Jazz shouted “Yuck” and spat a mouthful of chewed up food into her mineral water. Those pesky kids !!!

Court went back to the shop and ordered his case of wine to be delivered back home…….Hope Laura and Drew don’t think it’s a present!

Journeying on, we got back on the road.

We drove over the most amazingly cronky bridge only wide enough for one vehicle. It was made of rickety wood and convinced we were going to fall through it, I shut my eyes for most of the crossing… which wasn’t really sensible considering I was the one driving! Can you believe that this road is the equivalent of the M4?

After Picton the SH1 travels along the east coast. The scenery was out of this world. The sea was calm and a beautiful colour blue. The mountains were huge and intimidating. As we approached Kaikoura I looked in my rear view mirror to see an amazing site. Nestled behind the huge mountains we had driven along , the cloud lifted to reveal an expanse of even bigger , more outrageously enormous mountain range covered with snow.

Jazz amused herself today on our journey by listening to war of the worlds on the head phones. She’s really digging it. Blue is petrified of the Martians and what he calls the “gobble gobble music”.

Whale Watching at Kaikoura
Wednesday 3rd August

The top ten site we slept at last night was GOD AWFUL. Jazz and Blue slept terrible. Not only did the camp sit next to the SH1, but it was sandwiched between the motorway and a train track. It made for an earth moving night - for all the wrong reasons!

This morning we made our way straight to the whale centre or the “Whale way station” as the locals like to call it. They had no bookable seats until 12:30 but said if I stuck around they would fit me in at 10:30 if all the party didn’t turn up. They didn’t turn up - so I was on. Great!

I have waited my entire life to see sea creatures like this outside of captivity. As a child, my bedroom wall was covered with nature posters. I can not begin to explain how excited I was to be going on this trip. I felt really strange going out on the coach ready to get on the boat. I think I felt quite emotional, ecstatic and excited all at once. Court wasn’t keen on going and said he would stay behind with the kids because Blue was too young to go anyway.

Travelling out on the coach, I think I had the opportunity to feel what it would be like to travel by myself. I have come across so many people who are just travelling around with no friends and family with them. At times I felt jealous of that freedom and wished I had done more before I had a family. But, sitting on the coach all by myself I was quite sad they weren’t there with me. Don’t get me wrong it was also very nice to just sit there with no “Mam, can I have an ice cream? Mam, can I have an ice cream? Mam, can I have an ice cream? Mam, can I have an ice cream?” It was also a nice thought that I would see them all again in just 3 hours.

The boat trip out took about five minutes. The water depth was shown on a plasma screen at the front of the boat from the GPS system.. It was amazing. Leaving the harbour the GPS started gradually showing depths of about 3metres to 30metres. All of a sudden the GPS is showing 1000 metres - ONE THOUSAND metres. WOW. I was gob smacked at the depth. We had just hit the continental plate. This is why the whales are attracted here.

Within minutes I spotted my first sperm whale. The tell tale sign being the blow of air and water. They have a saying on the look out boat. “If there’s no blow, we don’t go”. People are convinced they can see whales all the time and they often turn out to be seals, dolphins, seaweed, drift wood or small boats. Sperm whale blow at rest approximately once every 10 - 15 seconds.

On the first sighting I rushed to take my first glances and snaps. I felt quite tearful. I’m still not quite sure why - silly really! This mammal was huge, about 9/10 metres long. Although, sitting along side him we could only actually see from his blow hole to the dorsal fin. When he dived you really got a feel for his size as his massive tail came up and out of the water for the last time. All told I saw five different sperm whales.

We also came across a school of dolphins (about 300). Again I felt quite emotional! The dolphins were beautiful. They were diving and leaping out of the water. I’m sure a couple of them were showing off with some real acrobatic moves and somersaults. They seemed very playful and happy.

I felt really happy and honoured to have seen such a natural delight. It is easy to let things that are going on the world get you down, with bombings, suicides and paedophile stories in the news nearly every day. But for a couple of hours I forgot about all the bad……didn’t once think “oh my god, what world have we brought two children into?”. I just sat looking out at the sea awash with wild life I had never seen before, feeling a strange combination of feelings such as exhilaration and peace.

Next to giving birth, this whole New Zealand trip is an experience I will never forget…..and I am lucky enough to be doing all this with my loving husband and our two beautiful children.

Skiing at Mt Lyford
Friday 5th August

We went up Mt Lyford today, right to the top, to the ski school. It was a bit of a rush to get ready in time, but our kind escort Don waited very patiently for us to finish our breakfasts.

The 4x4 drive up was very interesting. The road was little wider than the truck we rode in and was dangerously perched right on the edge of DEATH GORGE. Turns out our driver spent a couple of years in Wales and was a 4x4 driving instructor. Never the less, his driving skills and portfolio didn’t make me feel any more comfortable as I clung to both the children and prayed we’d survive the drive.

Eventually, and in one piece, we reached the top. It was surprisingly warm at the top. At base camp we had spent most of our time wearing our fleecy jumpers, but at the top we were just in T-shirts.

Jazz and Blue had a great time. They were really good at skiing; they had both the control and balance that I was severely lacking. They were really quite cute all kitted out with their ski’s and gloves. They just glided along happy as Larry, only really having trouble when they fell over; having a little trouble getting back on their feet.

I was terrible and had more or less injured myself within the first 5 minutes of being on the slope. I couldn’t coordinate the turning of my feet or anything. Finally I managed to ski for about 6 or 7 metres and lost my balance. Try and imagine………..my feet are firmly on the floor and so is my back, my knees are bent - and I’m just skidding along the floor with all the snow and ice collecting under my T-shirt.

Thankfully, Blue got bored very quickly. I made our excuses and we went to the café for a warm drink, leaving Court and Jazz in the hands of Midge the family instructor. I don’t think he had to work very hard because both Court and Jazz took to it like ducks to water. They were great! Jazz too got bored and joined us in the café. Court was like a big kid, we didn’t see him for hours. He just kept going up and down, up on the lift and whizzing down the slope with a big school boy grin across his face. Finally, a good couple of hours later, he ski’d over to where I was tobogganing with the kids; “can’t…..move…….legs……..hurt”. He then collapsed on the floor unable to get up. His hardcore life style of sitting in front of a PC 9-5 everyday was obviously not paying off. His poor wasted muscles hadn’t seen so much activity since 1997 when he made me run out of a restaurant with him not paying the wine bill due to very poor service and over priced wine!

Court, Jazz and Blue had a wonderful time today skiing. The highlight of the day for me was getting a splinter and having to pay a visit to the first aid room where a cool snow boarding dude saved my hand from amputation.

Bicycle riding at Hamner Springs
Saturday 6th August

We left Mt Lyford this morning. We are making our way across to Franz Josef Glacier. Very windy roads. Very beautiful scenery. Stopped umpteen times to take photos of the deep valley river and gigantic snowy peaks as the backdrops. Stopped at a little town called Hamner Springs. A small town that seemed to be made up entirely of cafes, hot springs and crazy golf. Golf was every where - crazy!

Jazz noticed some Japanese people riding on some four man car bicycle type things and was shrieking with excitement……so we stopped and took them for a ride. We took them on some 2 man bikes with child seats on the front. This was great fun, but really hard work. We pedalled like hell round the town thankfully returning them with 10 minutes spare - much to the disappointment of the kids. Cycling out of the town was easy, there was a real gentle slope - hardly noticeable really……except for the way back! Obviously our speed had decreased to a slow snails pace because Jazz and Blue were getting really angry with the effort that both me and Court were putting in. “Maaaaam, your rubbish” were the cries from Jazz, where as Blue just settled for a constant cry of “Faster Daddy, Faster”. I can’t quite remember whether it was before or after my whole lower body had given up on itself, that I realised why the lady at the hire depot said “Half an hour is always plenty for the adults, but never quite long enough for the children!” We were even to tired to play our free complimentary game of crazy golf that we got when we hired the bike.

We rested our poor aching bodies at the mumbles café. They seemed to cook a strange combo of foods like mumble jumble pie. I’m not sure what was in it, but it was really tasty. The owner had never heard of Mumbles, Swansea. It was a name she crated for her apple crumble muffins!

It was hard work for the kids today. We did a lot of travelling. We wanted to make as good a head way as possible. We will not to travel so much tomorrow. We’ve basically been on the road all day and we’ve had to stop now because the kids have had enough. We have just pulled over on to a motor camp on the side of the road in a little village called Hari Hari.

Helicopter ride at Franz Josef Glacier.
Sunday 7th August

3 great things have happened today…..No 4!

1. We found a great little place today (crappy village - nice art gallery). The gallery was run by one of the artists and her Maori family. All of the work in the shop was crafted by the family. The girl there knew everything about her culture and was an inspiration regarding her family ties and legends. All of them were grandmaster crafts people. There was one piece in particular that caught my eye - though not for sale. The father had carved an image out of a 3800 year old piece of sperm whale Jaw. It depicted the legend of the New Zealand islands being fished up out of the ocean to save the Maori people as they travelled from Polynesia.
2. We found A great place to camp at Franz Josef Glacier Village. Its in a Rain Forest. Just outside we are surrounded by the rainforest at the base of a huge glacier. Out of our van window is a little play area and a communal kitchen and BBQ. We sat on the porch this afternoon and had a lovely BBQ whilst the children played on the climbing frame..
3. I have finished my book - which was one of the best books I have ever read. The DaVinci Code - when I get back, I am going to do the Holy Grail Trail.
4. We went on a helicopter and stood on the top of the glacier. I have always wanted to go in a helicopter . We took Jazz and Blue. I sat in the back with Blue, and Court up front with Jazz. This has been a great day. The children are sleeping fast after an exhausting and exciting day. I am merrily sipping on my New Zealand plonk also feeling exhausted and excited. I am starting to wonder how life is going to feel when we finally return home. Whilst I’m missing everyone and often think about friends and family, I can’t help but feel that 1 month in New Zealand is not enough. There’s so much too see and do...............actually................I don’t know if that is the real reason I’d like to stay here longer. All this time, together, just the four of us is very special. I don’t know how we’re all going to cope when we go home, all of us our separate ways.

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