On our way to the mountains…. which mountains?...
Door: Willem & Michelle
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Willem & Michelle
26 Januari 2014 | Nieuw Zeeland, Twizel
Off we go again, to the west for the last time, first up north along the coast, then inland, towards the Southern Alps. Twizel, the gateway to Mount Cook/Aoraki (Maori name which is mostly used by the native people) willbe the goal for the day.
We didn’t see much of the mountains from the other side (we had dreadful weather then) so hopefully we will be lucky this time!
Only today and tomorrow left; on the 28th we will have to return the campervan in Christchurch, so we keep our fingers crossed!
But first we perform our duty…. The guide Carol on the ship in Doubtful Sound (and so many other New Zealanders) said: “There is only one good possum in New Zealand and that’s a dead one”.
There are two recommended ways to help with that:
1. don’t stop when a possum crosses the road (which apparently they often do as seen by all the dead possums on the road);
2. buy plenty of merino-possum jersey
We are not very good in doing 1 ….. and we’re told that the warmest jersey you can have is a possum one so we stop at a shop in Dunedin, which was highly recommended to us, and spoil ourselves with a wonderful warm jersey.
We didn’t have much time to see Dunedin so, before hitting the road, we have a short walk to the main recommended Victorian buildings.
The station is the most photographed building in New Zealand and indeed it’s a wonderful building, outside and inside.
For non-europeans these buildings are very special; we Europeans are spoilt with many of those…
But they are very well kept and with the history and menace of earthquakes we understand that the New Zealanders are very proud of their town.
The weather is getting worse and worse and by the time we start our trip it’s raining and storming. Willem drives and needs to have both hands on the wheel!
When you rent a campervan (at least a Britz one) you automatically get the “Tourism Radio” installed on the windshield. It tracks you by GPS and gives advice on interesting places AND has great music. A DING-DONG notifies that something is coming up, very handy, especially because we didn’t read the guide from A to Z.
We don’t have too much kilometers to cover today so when the DING-DONG sounds for ”Shag Point” where, among other animals, we could see the Yellow Eyed penguins in the wild we decide to make the detour.
In view of the blasting wind and the rain, Willem decides to stay inside, probably a very wise thing to do…
The sea is very rough but that doesn’t seem to bother the seals who play and swim in and out of the water. In the water they sometimes behave like dolphins and then it’s difficult to see the difference. The dozens of Shags, as always, are mostly just nailed to the rocks.
It’s very difficult to recognize a penguin from far on the large beaches. Penguins don’t move much on the land and we learned to look for a “white statue” so Michelle is quite happy that she didn’t face the elements for nothing and finds one!!
Michelle wet and cold but very satisfied, we continue the drive.
Next stop will be Moeraki, a bit further up north along the coast, with its mysterious perfectly spherical boulders. They were formed 60 million years ago. The largest weighs 7 tons with a diameter of 2 meters!
About 50 of those stones lie on the beach and only there, very strange.
We decide to warm up a bit with a soup in the restaurant. This is quite a touristic place and even though the weather is awful there are quite a few people!
From the restaurant we see for the first time real live a stoat, one of the big pests and reasons why native animals like the kiwi's and penguins are endangered.
We continue, this time inland. It could be another beautiful trip, through the Waitaki valley, in which the huge river with the same name runs. This river feeds several turquoise colored lakes, mostly manmade to provide water for power stations. This is what’s written in the guide: “The Waitaki Valley is an unspoiled, untouched paradise with some of the best scenery in New Zealand. A drive through the Valley will inspire you to get in touch with nature, either through camping, boating or picnicking by the beautiful braided river or one of the three lakes or through exploring the fossil trail and other limestone wonders.”
Well, that will be for some other time then… the only thing we see is rain, fog and by seeing the color of the lakes in this weather we can only imagine how beautiful it must be in good weather!
Our “Tourism Radio” helps us find a campground near the village of Twizel. Well, village is a big word…. Don’t blink your eyes because you won’t have seen it! But there is a big supermarket to get us some food.
It’s still pouring when we get at the campground, big flacks everywhere, the place looks a bit sad and abandoned. It’s 13 degrees; the man at the desk tells us that it should be around the thirties now, days in a row… But tomorrow will be beautiful and we won’t see any of the flacks any more.
We can hardly believe that but he tells us that because of the thin layer of soil on top of volcanic rock the water can’t get into the ground and will just flow away. In fact it’s the same principle as we had seen in Doubtful Sound with all the temporary waterfalls.
And now we understand why, on the way to Twizel, despite the heavy rain, still all lands are irrigated at the same time.
The campground is very empty and we can choose whatever place we want. So we put the van next to the forest in the middle of playing rabbits and just in front of the service area.
First thing then..…...we put the heating on!!
We didn’t see much of the mountains from the other side (we had dreadful weather then) so hopefully we will be lucky this time!
Only today and tomorrow left; on the 28th we will have to return the campervan in Christchurch, so we keep our fingers crossed!
But first we perform our duty…. The guide Carol on the ship in Doubtful Sound (and so many other New Zealanders) said: “There is only one good possum in New Zealand and that’s a dead one”.
There are two recommended ways to help with that:
1. don’t stop when a possum crosses the road (which apparently they often do as seen by all the dead possums on the road);
2. buy plenty of merino-possum jersey
We are not very good in doing 1 ….. and we’re told that the warmest jersey you can have is a possum one so we stop at a shop in Dunedin, which was highly recommended to us, and spoil ourselves with a wonderful warm jersey.
We didn’t have much time to see Dunedin so, before hitting the road, we have a short walk to the main recommended Victorian buildings.
The station is the most photographed building in New Zealand and indeed it’s a wonderful building, outside and inside.
For non-europeans these buildings are very special; we Europeans are spoilt with many of those…
But they are very well kept and with the history and menace of earthquakes we understand that the New Zealanders are very proud of their town.
The weather is getting worse and worse and by the time we start our trip it’s raining and storming. Willem drives and needs to have both hands on the wheel!
When you rent a campervan (at least a Britz one) you automatically get the “Tourism Radio” installed on the windshield. It tracks you by GPS and gives advice on interesting places AND has great music. A DING-DONG notifies that something is coming up, very handy, especially because we didn’t read the guide from A to Z.
We don’t have too much kilometers to cover today so when the DING-DONG sounds for ”Shag Point” where, among other animals, we could see the Yellow Eyed penguins in the wild we decide to make the detour.
In view of the blasting wind and the rain, Willem decides to stay inside, probably a very wise thing to do…
The sea is very rough but that doesn’t seem to bother the seals who play and swim in and out of the water. In the water they sometimes behave like dolphins and then it’s difficult to see the difference. The dozens of Shags, as always, are mostly just nailed to the rocks.
It’s very difficult to recognize a penguin from far on the large beaches. Penguins don’t move much on the land and we learned to look for a “white statue” so Michelle is quite happy that she didn’t face the elements for nothing and finds one!!
Michelle wet and cold but very satisfied, we continue the drive.
Next stop will be Moeraki, a bit further up north along the coast, with its mysterious perfectly spherical boulders. They were formed 60 million years ago. The largest weighs 7 tons with a diameter of 2 meters!
About 50 of those stones lie on the beach and only there, very strange.
We decide to warm up a bit with a soup in the restaurant. This is quite a touristic place and even though the weather is awful there are quite a few people!
From the restaurant we see for the first time real live a stoat, one of the big pests and reasons why native animals like the kiwi's and penguins are endangered.
We continue, this time inland. It could be another beautiful trip, through the Waitaki valley, in which the huge river with the same name runs. This river feeds several turquoise colored lakes, mostly manmade to provide water for power stations. This is what’s written in the guide: “The Waitaki Valley is an unspoiled, untouched paradise with some of the best scenery in New Zealand. A drive through the Valley will inspire you to get in touch with nature, either through camping, boating or picnicking by the beautiful braided river or one of the three lakes or through exploring the fossil trail and other limestone wonders.”
Well, that will be for some other time then… the only thing we see is rain, fog and by seeing the color of the lakes in this weather we can only imagine how beautiful it must be in good weather!
Our “Tourism Radio” helps us find a campground near the village of Twizel. Well, village is a big word…. Don’t blink your eyes because you won’t have seen it! But there is a big supermarket to get us some food.
It’s still pouring when we get at the campground, big flacks everywhere, the place looks a bit sad and abandoned. It’s 13 degrees; the man at the desk tells us that it should be around the thirties now, days in a row… But tomorrow will be beautiful and we won’t see any of the flacks any more.
We can hardly believe that but he tells us that because of the thin layer of soil on top of volcanic rock the water can’t get into the ground and will just flow away. In fact it’s the same principle as we had seen in Doubtful Sound with all the temporary waterfalls.
And now we understand why, on the way to Twizel, despite the heavy rain, still all lands are irrigated at the same time.
The campground is very empty and we can choose whatever place we want. So we put the van next to the forest in the middle of playing rabbits and just in front of the service area.
First thing then..…...we put the heating on!!
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
