5 people, 2 weeks, 1 camper, some sandflies and the most amazing scenery in the world - Part 1

In an earlier post, I mentioned that my initial impressions on arriving in Christchurch were that NZ was very similar to Scotland.  After the last 2 weeks touring the West Coast and Southland in our camper, I can safely say that NZ is Scotland on steroids.

A different level altogether.

It’s that good.

In fact, it’s bloody brilliant.

It’s wow after wow after wow.

It’s breathtaking.

It’s insanely peaceful and quiet.

It’s more beautiful than the beautiful offspring of Brad and Angelina.

It’s greener than Dublin on St Patrick’s Day.

It has Lakes that are bluer than the Bluebells.

It has enough high mountains to keep Marvin Gaye from getting to you.

In short, it’s fantastic and we’re in love.

We collected our camper in Christchurch and headed west.  We had a general idea that we would cross over to the West Coast and head South but our plans were very loose and we certainly had no idea of where we would be sleeping each night.  We would also have to pay attention to the weather but as it turned out, we had 2 weeks of brilliant sunshine, perhaps only 1 day of rain. It took us a couple of days to get into the rhythm of campervan life, the space was limited, it took us two hours on the first morning just to get sorted but pretty quickly, we worked out how to organize and manage life in a van.

So we headed west and our first stop was Arthur’s Pass National Park, spending 2 nights in this glorious area.

We trekked up the Temple Basin Track, a really tough climb which we mistakenly did in the heat of the afternoon.  Guy had to stop after 2 hours so he headed back down with Shoshi while I carried on with Mili and Eyal, reaching the top lookout after another 40 mins and then almost running back down in around an hour.  Really tough trek for us let alone the kids.

The next day we took it ‘easier’.  In the morning, we did the relatively easy Otira Valley, winding through the Otira valley, surrounded by stunning mountains then in the afternoon, we joined a guided trek to the Devil’s Punchbowl, one of the most well-known waterfalls in NZ, standing at over 130m high. Both were nice treks, not amazing but a good end to our time here. As we left Arthur’s Pass, we were lucky enough to see the famous Kea bird, the one’s only alpine parrot, endangered to the point that apparently only 2000 or so remain in the wild.  We were lucky and got to see 3 of them in one spot!

That afternoon we moved on through the pass, a stunning drive through the mountains until we reached the West Coast, stopped for showers and fish+chips in the picturesque town of Hokitika and continued on, eventually camping in a random car park in the village of Ross.

The next day we drove on to the famous Franz Joseph Glacier, apparently the lowest lying Glacier in the world at only 300m above sea level.  The hike there is pretty simple, it was around a 3-hour round trek and we loved it.  Scenery was amazing, the glacier just brilliant to see.  However, all along the trek, there are information boards showing where the glacier reached in previous years, highlighting the devastating speed with which the glacier has receded in the past 100 years.  The most pronounced reduction has been over the past 10 years, so if you are reading this Donald Trump, yes, global warming is real and it is damaging our planet beyond repair.

After Franz Joseph, we headed to the nearby Lake Matheson for a 2-hour hike to see the famous mirror view.  This is the view that has been used on countless NZ tourism campaigns and is the place where, on a perfect day, the mirror reflection of Mt Cook and other peaks can be seen in the Lake. For us, the weather wasn’t quite right, there was some clouds n the sky and a touch of breeze which meant the mirror effect wasn’t too clear.  But still, it is a beautiful place, set in a vibrant and lush forest.

Tired from the trekking, we stopped to sleep in the Copland Pass Trek carpark, with the aim of waking early to do the 20km return trek to the first lookout.  What we hadn’t banked on was the atrocious sandflies that attacked us all night while we cooked, ate and then slept in the camper.   These are notorious on the West Coast but we weren’t prepared and we suffered.  Really suffered.  Worst night in a long time, they ate us all to bits and it took us another 7 or 8 days to recover, physically and emotionally.  Even now, Shoshi still takes a swipe at anything that moves too quickly, resulting in a black eye for Guy and 2 broken ribs for Mili!

So we changed our plans, made an early exit and drove on to Haast and down toward Wanaka.  On the way, we stopped at the Blue Pools and another couple of spots, great places to stretch the legs for 30mins or an hour, beautiful lakes and rivers, fantastic pebble beaches, all wrapped by those towering mountains.  But still, sandflies everywhere and it definitely took the edge off the enjoyment.  We stopped for the night at a quite breathtaking campsite on the shores of Lake Wanaka, certainly the best campsite we have stayed during our 2 weeks in the camper.  No sandflies, stunning views, blue water.  Same old, same old, but it never gets boring (I’m sure it does when reading this, so apologies).

The next morning, we arrived into Wanaka to be met by one of the most picturesque towns you could ever imagine. Mountains and a lake, a Scottish pipe band playing near the beach, quiet and peaceful.  A place I could move to!  

We headed to the local Tourism Center to check what trek they could recommend for us.  The most famous in the area is Roy’s Peak, which at 1588m, makes it 200m taller than the tallest mount in the UK.  “It’s not suitable for kids” said the tourism officer.  She hadn’t met our kids…

We got up at 6am the following morning and were on the trek by 7am, in the pitch dark.  8 hours later, we had reached the summit and made it back down.  4 hours straight up, 1.5 hours for lunch and a rest at the summit, then back down. A tough trek and despite a couple of difficult moments, the kids made it with plenty to spare.  This was proper trekking, no walk in the park and they blew us away with their exuberance and resilience. We didn’t see another kid on the mountain all day, let alone a 5 year old like Guy who literally ran most of the way down and reached the camper before any of us. It set a benchmark for what was to come but remains the toughest trek we have done so far.  The kids were so proud of themselves, they understood they had really achieved something that plenty of adults couldn’t do.

The following day was a well-deserved rest day and we got prepared for the 2^nd week in our van.  The first week had been absolutely brilliant and luckily that was to continue (Part 2 to follow when we get some decent wifi connection, the only downside to remote travelling in NZ!).