NZ Travelogue: Marlborough Sounds

Just in case you have not yet been to New Zealand, but have read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - do you remember that scene where that one designer of  Earth was so very upset about Earth being blown up to make room for the Intergalactic Highway, because he had worked so hard on the New Zealand Sounds, and he thought that especially the Marlborough Sounds had turned out so extremely well...? Here is an illustration of the point he was making.

Queen Charlotte Sound

Elaine Bay, in the evening sunlight...

Elaine Bay, in the morning

the other side of Elaine Bay

on the way to French Pass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used to say Lake Wanaka was my favorite spot in New Zealand - and I admit I did not get down to it this time around. But for the moment I think I have changed my mind and fallen in love with Marlborough Sounds.

NZ travelogue: Going up St. Arnauds Range

Yesterday I finally crossed Cook Strait on the Ferry.

Waiting for departure

In the middle of the Strait - a very calm and easy crossing!

Approaching Picton, looking back onto the Sound we have come through.

Then I picked up the rental car, took the scenic Queen Charlotte Drive which I had last gone the other direction on my bike seventeen years ago. At that point I thought it is so much nicer to go by bike, you can stop anywhere you want, whereas with a car you have to really watch out for suitable stopping places. But after leaving that road I was kind of happy that I could the the 90 km straight road towards St. Arnauds in Nelson Lakes National Park in just over an hour instead of having to commit a whole day on the bike in order to cover that distance!

This morning I then set off to go up to St. Arnauds Range.

Rotoiti Lake looked promising in the morning.

But getting up to the Range from the level of the Lake was indeed hard work. Had to keep myself distracted by taking lots of pictures of little details along the way.

And still the last thrid of the stretch before you get out above the tree line was not a whole lot of fun at all! The view from Phantoms Rock was magnificent, though. However, at that stage I thought I'd had enough, especially since clouds were going up the hill.

So I thought I might just rest a little and then go back down. However, by the time I'd finished my apple and a few handfuls of trail mix the clouds had disappeared and I managed to motivate myself to keep going. More details along the way.

And then another point of  'come on, just turn around', when Phantom's Rock was already far down, and the top of the Range, which had not seemed that far away from the Rock did not seem to have come any closer at all:

Phantom's Rock far below...

... and the range still far up there!

But I kept going. And it was well worth it.

Going down was slightly easier, and I found more interesting details along the way.

And when I was back down the mountains looked like this:

So I had been really lucky with the weather. Now I have sore feet, not sure I will be able to go the track I wanted to go tomorrow...

NZ travelogue: Pouakai Circuit

Last Sunday we took off to our long-planned 'tramp' (NZ-English for what Americans call 'hiking' and in England may even be called a 'walk') of the Pouakai Circuit, in the Mt. Taranaki region.

We had hoped to go swimming somewhere along the coast on the way north, but decided on a quick walk along here as it was too windy and the water seemed just a bit too nippy to make it 'comfortable'. Plus a danger of undertow...

As we were approaching the area, the mountain slowly came into view - here it is still too far away for my camera to focus properly:

But it got better with only a few more kilometres down the road.

We stayed at the Camphouse at the foot of Mt. Taranaki, from where we could even see Mt. Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe in the distance just before sunset.

View of Mt. Taranaki from directly below,
with a slice of Camphouse thrown in.

 In the morning, we set off in the mist.

Some serious climbing included on the way.

 But before lunchtime it cleared, and Janet and I even took a side route to Bells Falls waterfall while Tony and Rose already went ahead to the hut where we were going to spend the night. We had found out that a whole gang of Germans was going to arrive behind us and we wanted to secure bunk beds for us as we did not have any air mattresses so that anybody of us could have slept on the floor.

 Next morning it was clear from pretty much when we left and we kept the mountain in good view at all times. The concept of the Pouakai Circuit is that it gives you a lot of wonderful good views instead of taking you 'round the mountain' for real.

This swamp we had traversed the day before and now got to look down on, from the top of Henry, a smaller summit along the way.

The way back to the Camphouse and Visitor Centre included some heavy bush walking with lots of roots to clamber over and climb down. Nothing for the faint-hearted, but absolutely wonderful.

A swinging bridge as we are getting closer to the end of the walk, which did not scare me at all when there, but certainly entered my dreams the following night!

By now a Southerly has blown in, we are back in Wellington and drinking lots of cups of tea.

NZ travelogue

After getting over the worst of the jetlag, I tried an excursion to Napier. But I should have listened to the weather forecast and saved me that trip. It was very wet, pretty cold and really not much fun. It's hard to look up and see or even appreciate the nice architectural details adorning the houses when the rain is driving at your face straight on, the sky is gray and you are miserable and cold. And there are just so many dollars you want to spend on souvenirs and gifts from boutiques you would never walk into if the weather were better. These pictures have already been enhanced a little in terms of brightness:

So I changed my bus ticket and came back to Wellington one day earlier, which was a good decision.
On the way, the bus went along Kapiti Coast and I was very tempted - islands lying 'within reach' on the close horizon, like Kapiti Island here (picture taken from the bus) have a strong draw on me...

But making plans yesterday and comparing prices I finally made up my mind and go south next week as I had originally intended.

Gorgeous day yesterday - afternoon bike tour 'around the bays' with Tony.

Off to our walk in the Takani region tomorrow.