I FOUND THE DOWNSIDE TO NEW ZEALAND--DAMMIT!

MONDAY - JANUARY 17, 2011 - Happy Martin Luther King. Jr. Day, USA -  @Wanaka Library using the "Dongle"!

Okay, so I finally found the most miserable thing about New Zealand...

It is the damn sandflies!    Geoff calls them "little biters" and I call them "little bastards" and after the last few days I think Geoff is calling them the same as me!   We started getting bit by them in Franz Josef!   They look like small flies but they must be related to mosquitos because they are blood suckers and then you itch like crazy!

Way back when we first started our travels outside of Auckland at Owera Beach, the German couple next to us were ending their travels so gave us quite a few items including some insect repellent that is for sand flies, mosquitoe, etc...sure glad I held onto it!   Those things are vicious!    At least we haven't seen any around Wanaka so maybe we will be okay for a few days before we hit the Milford and Doubtful Sound areas!  I sure hope so...I hate those "little bastards"!  :)

Staying one more night here and going to go visit a local brewery this afternoon.    Will head to Queenstown tomorrow!  That's it for now, Love, Sue & Geoff xo

My blog notes for last few days:

THURSDAY, JANUARY13, 2011 -  So we left Takaka and headed for the west coast.

·         Went back to Motueka (they grow lots of hops there) and had lunch in the huge valley we were driving through at Tapawera.   Historical place where 9 woman staged a sit in on the railroad tracks to keep the Nelson to Glenhope line running and stop the demolition of the rail station…it worked until they were all peacefully arrested! 

·         Travelled through Kawahiri, Murchison, Inangahua, along th e Buller River 6

·         Then Westport (for fuel—it’s a coal/ore port), then down the west coast along the Tasman Sea to Punakaiki where we camped!  

·         Walked the beach at sunset!   Love, Sue & Geoff

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2011 – FRANZ JOSEF – (Happy Birthday to my brother, Doug!) – What a day we had!

·         Bright blue skies when we woke up..sunny and a slight, pleasant breeze.

·         Headed a few kms to the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes….WOW!

·        Then on down the coast through Greymouth, Hokitiko, Ross, Harihari and just past Whataroa when we pulled off the road by a beautiful river for a late lunch break.

·         They were selling helicopter rides over the Franz Josef and other glaciers…first we said no then  I said I really would like to and so Geoff agreed when the guy reduced the price!   IT WAS THE MOST EXCITING RIDE I HAVE EVER BEEN ON!    The views were way better than any of the pictures I got but it was worth every penny!  I took over a hundred pictures and none of them do the ride and the views justice.   I believe at the summit of the tallest peak  Mt. Cook)it was just over 12,000 feet. 

            

·         We were on a real “high” after that…drove a half hour more into the town of Franz Josef and camped at the Top 10 Holiday Park there!   A quick trip into the small town for a short walk, a beer/cider and pizza at the “Landing Bar” (across from another glacier helicopter ride place) and after the laundry is done it’s bedtime!   Talk about adventurous days!   J   Love, Sue & Geoff xo

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011 – Another unforgettable day for various reasons!

·         Weather is overcast with low laying clouds and rain forecasted for later.

·         Left the campground and drove up towards the Franz Josef Glacier (“glass-e-er” as Geoff says!).   Walked a trail to “Peter’s Pool” where we could see the glacier well and also the reflection in the pool of water formed by the glacier—was beautiful! 

·         Drove further south to the town of Fox Glacier and stopped at Lake Matheson to walk out around the lake and hopefully see the reflection of the mountains (Cook and Tasman) in the lake.  It wasn’t to be—the clouds would not dissipate and there was a breeze that took away the mirror vision you normally get.   Oh well, a nice walk and I managed to find a picture of what we missed, anyway: 

·         Off to see the Fox glacier and drove up a narrow road to a great viewpoint:  

·         We would have had our lunch there but wanted to get a few more miles down the road toward Wanaka (our goal for the day) so headed down the highway to Bruce Bay (lots of huge agates and other interesting rocks on this beach: 

·         After lunch we barely got on the road when the dash lights went crazy and the temp zoomed to “H”!   We kept moving and finally a few kms down the road Geoff pulled over and we could hear the water boiling in the radiator.    We let poor Ruby cool off then went back to where there were a few houses (neither of the 2 cell phones could get a signal to make an emergency call to “AA”—same as our “AAA”).

·         The people living in the houses were on holiday and there were no land lines so their cells didn’t work either but one man looked at the engine and pulled the remnants of a fan belt out.   He and another guy said they thought we could make it 10 minutes down the road to a salmon farm where there was a carpark and a telephone.   They were going to take all the kids down there shortly so if they see us on the side of the road they’ll give us a tow.

·         We gently leave and ride about halfway before poor Ruby totally overheats and an loud noise starts coming from the engine…so we pull over and wait for our rescuers to tow us….which they did.

·         By this time, ExploreMore is closed and we have to wait to 8 AM the next morning to call for aid.   So we park next to the bathroom in the  car park.   The Salmon farm is closing so they give us smoked salmon sandwiches (4 of them that they charge $8.50 each for) since they can’t re-sell them the next day.   They don’t care that we are staying the night in their car park!

·         No one is around…we are about 55 km from the town of Haast and the same back to Fox Glacier.   We eat salmon sandwiches (they were excellent!), drink a bottle of merlot we have stashed and some dark chocolate mint sticks and listen to the radio until bedtime.

·         The downside is the “little bastards” are everywhere so I tell Geoff I think we can make up the bed without opening up the back end—we do and managed to keep any more “little bastards” out!

·         The next morning, Geoff is at the Salmon Farm door as they just opened making a call…they send us a mechanic and because it is “pissing rain” (another Brit euphemism) the man, Shane, decides to load up Ruby and drive us to Haast to work on her in his shop.   Also, the belt location is tricky and he needs some speciality tools that he didn’t bring.   So up goes Ruby onto his truck: 

·         Off we go to Haast…but NOT SO FAST…the “rescue truck” loses power and steam starts pouring out of it about halfway to Haast!   So now we are both broke down alongside the road! 

·         Some hose broke on his engine and he lost all the coolant and water out of the radiator but he was able to fix the hose.   We drained all the remaining water out of our campervan to fill up his radiator but it wasn’t enough so he found a place alongside the road where water had collected from the rain and we used that to fill it up completely and then we were back in business and on our way!

·         3 hours of work to replace that tricky fanbelt with Ruby up and down over and over on the hydraulic life then we were back on the road! 

·         Off he headed for a pie at a local convenience store, a peek at the clothes made out of possum and wool (surprisingly very soft but also expensive) then headed over Haast Pass!  Saw the Haast River: 

·         It was a “lowland pass” and then Lake Wanaka comes into view—the sun is out and it is so pristine!     It is also huge and there are no boats, houses, or development of any kind around the lake until you drive into Wanaka but there is still very little development on the lake! 

·         A left turn around a hillside and Lake Hawea is in sight!    Wow—another huge beautiful, pristine, undeveloped, aqua-colored lake area! 

·         Made it with no problems and camped near downtown Wanaka!

·         A walk into town to try the local brew before bed…a lovely small town!  We just missed the “Wanaka Challenge” an ironman competition!

·         Sunset over Lake Wanaka:

Love, Sue & Geoff xo