After the Milford Track, we decided to head to the Global Adventure Capital, Queenstown. Surrounded by the soaring peaks of the Remarkables Mountain Range and located on Lake Wakatipu, the stunning scenery is home to delicious, hip restaurants, an art scene, vineyards, and of course, a mountain of activities for any adrenaline junkie. In Queenstown, you can start your day with a cappuccino, hit the AJ Hackett bungy jump of 132 meters (over 435 feet), enjoy a wild 50 mph ride through narrow canyons on the infamous Shotover Jet boat, and hang-glide your way down Coronet Peak; all in the same day! You can wrap it up with a nice glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc on a veranda overlooking Lake Wakatipu.
We arrived to enjoy the adventure, buzz, and energy of this bustling town and headed directly to the infamous ‘Fergburger’, considered NZ’s best mega and tasty burger; I opted for the falafel burger called the ‘Bun Laden’ [
Adam here-these burgers were tasty and the size of a small child! I had the ‘Southern Swine’-New Zealand prime beef, bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, aioli and tomato relish, OMG!!]
After enjoying a ‘Ferg’, we headed to our hotel to drop our stuff and figure out our next adventure. On our itinerary, the Shotover Jet boat. As I climbed into the boat I have to admit, I was a bit nervous when I thought about speeding through a narrow canyon so close to the walls that I could reach out and touch them. However, once we were on the move, it was awesome! Our driver would whip left and right, drift around corners like we were ‘racer boys’ in a modified street car, and spin 360’s that would spray us with water, it was a blast!!
We celebrated Valentine’s Day during our visit and decided to head to a local favorite Dux De Lux brewery and restaurant to enjoy our favorite beers, the Ginger Tom for me and the Black Shag for Ad. Along with these great beers, we had a delicious gourmet pizza. As the sun shined down we enjoyed the gorgeous day; we knew we had found our favorite town in New Zealand.
After Queenstown, we made our way to Wanaka, via a quick side trip thru the small and quaint town of Arrowtown. Known for its discovery of gold in the Arrow River, this small town is beautiful with its tree lined avenues and original stone and wooden buildings. Leaving Arrowtown, we continued to Wanaka, a small lakeside town located on the southern end of Lake Wanaka with a beautiful view of Mt. Aspiring in the background. We enjoyed a few days of relaxing and checking out the town, tasting some local wine, walking along the lake, and simply taking in the spectacular views of the mountains.
Leaving Wanaka, our journey took us over Haast Pass and to the west coast. We headed north from here to Westland Tai Poutini National Park, home to both Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers. The smaller of the two (neither of these are small at all) is Fox Glacier where you can stand as close as 80 meters from the glacier. As you get up close, you can see the blue-grey water flowing from under the glacier, and every once in a while chunks of ice falling off the side. It was a pretty amazing sight to be taking all of this in only 80 meters away.
About 28 km north, is the Franz Joseph Glacier. The Maori legend tells that the glacier was formed by a local girl who lost her lover when he fell from the peaks, and her flood of tears froze to form the glacier. Similar to Fox glacier, Franz Joseph is roped off 200 meters away to prevent people from being caught in the icefalls and river surges. It’s amazing to see pictures of both the advances and the retreats of the glacier that date back to the mid 1800’s.
After Westland National Park, we continued north along the west coast to Punakaiki National Park, known for its ‘Pancake Rocks’ and blowholes. Through a layering-weather process, the limestone here makes the rock look like stacks of pancakes sitting on top of each other, and when the sea surges into the caverns the power of the ocean booms through the blowholes; pretty cool. As we enjoyed the views, we also got a chance to sea dolphins frolicking around the bays [yes, they were frolicking]
Including the area around Punakaiki and further north is what Lonely Planet describes as ‘one the planet’s 10 best coastal road trips in the world’. As you follow the highway north along the coastline of the Tasman Sea, the views of the sea and coastal cliffs, the mountains of the Paparoa Range, rivers and unique bird colonies are truly stunning.
After enjoying the west coast, we headed north-east to the artsy town of Nelson and then onto Abel Tasman National Park. Within the park there are several coastal walking tracks that spread over 51 km. Ad and I decided to do a 15 km hike only accessible by boat that started in the Tonga Bay and took us south to Anchorage Bay. As we cruised along the beautiful track, we enjoyed the photogenic views of the Tasman Sea, passing through bays with golden beaches and gleaming blue-green water; it truly was a postcard come to life.
When we finished our hike and were heading back on the ferry, an announcement was made letting us know that another earthquake had struck Christchurch, and was much worse than the first one last September (7.1 Richter scale). We would come to find out that this earthquake was a 6.1 on the Richter scale, but was only 5 km below the surface (unlike the 7.1 which was 33 km below the surface) and caused catastrophic damage to the city and the surrounding area.
Sadly, many lives were lost and many are still missing; the devastation in Christchurch is horrible. It was estimated that roughly 50-60 percent of the homes are either in ruins or deemed unsafe and the town will take months if not years to rebuild. If you can take a moment to send them a prayer, please do so. It’s incredibly sad yet their resilience, compassion and spirit through such devastation are remarkable and inspirational.
After Abel Tasman we headed to the Marlborough Wine Region. Home to well known wines such as, Cloudy Bay and Alan Scott, we decided to nose and taste our way through the area. Our first stop was Cloudy Bay, known for their Sauvignon Blanc. As we tried some of their wine, a unique Sauvignon Blanc Sparkling and few Pinots, we were surprised to not have been blown away and decide to head to Allan Scott, conveniently located across the street. After a tasting of few their wines we decided that the search for a worthy bottle to buy just hadn’t happened for us yet.
Next, we stumbled upon a small, boutique vineyard called Domaine Georges Michel with a female winemaker. After trying a few Sauvignon Blancs, a chardonnay and a Pinot, we were blown away by all, yet the passion fruit flavors in the chardonnay were hard to pass up along with the fresh floral taste of the Sauvignon Blanc, we bought them both. Next, we began to plan our menu around the Sauvignon Blanc: fresh seafood with pasta, herbs, garlic, white wine and parmesan. It was so delicious!
After the wine country and realizing that lodging was becoming more challenging to find in the South Island, we decided to catch our car ferry to Wellington (North Island) a few days early. We were sad to say good bye to the South yet are excited to explore the North.
Love and miss you,
Cathy and Adam
