Hi there
I got back on the evening of 28 February. Wow, what a scary/exciting/enjoyable/cloudy/sunny/splotchy two-week holiday. I arrived by plane in Queenstown where I had two nights. Road works everywhere, and blocking off my motel from the main road. I had to go around two blocks and up a steep hill to get to the motel. About a dozen motels all over the town were similarly blocked off.
Buffet lunch at the top of the gondola. And a lovely hour or so's walk along the Queenstown to Frankton track. This track is between the lake and the main road so no chance of getting lost, and it's very safe. I swam in the lake.
I moved to Lake Wanaka for five nights. I hired a kayak. And I swam in the lake on my first day. That evening I discovered angry red splotches on my torso. A pharmacist told me it was duckage (swimmers' itch). It comes from being in calm lake or pond waters, where ducks are. Something about the feathers carrying lice-type thingees that burrow into a swimmer's skin. If the swimmer towels off instantly, it's okay. I always towel off but, obviously, not under my bathing suit. I stretched out on the foreshore and sunbathed.
I don't know whether I caught the duckage from Queenstown or Wanaka. But after that first day swimming in Wanaka I shot off to Lake Hawea about a quarter of an hour away and with the most beautiful untouched view in the whole of New Zealand (in my opinion). No ducks, seagulls, or many people. The water was crystal clear every day. I was glad I'd taken my swimming booties because the foreshore was nothing but pebbles to walk on. My duckage splodges are still on my body, but to a lesser degree...
Then... the scary stuff.... I drove my hired car up the wild West Coast. The area has a reputation for being wet, misty, and did I mention wet? With scary curvy roads, and cliffs on one side and sharp drops into the lake on the other side. With no safety fences.
As I was about to round a cliff corner, with Lake Hawea on my right, two sheep suddenly bolted out in front of me, from the other side of the cliff. I had to brake fast. Good thing I was going slow.
My hands were glued to the steering wheel the two days it took me to get to the top of the South Island. My eyes were focused like lasers on the road ahead. I kept repeating over and over "I am alert, I am alert" (no jokes about calling me 'A Lert' please; my friends have already done that about ten times). The curves, narrow roads, and one-way bridges spooked me no end. However, I was very lucky insofar as there were hardly any vehicles heading the way I was heading; the traffic was all on the other side of the road. I was petrified driving over Haast Pass from Wanaka but because in total there were only six cars that passed me during the two hour trip, I could tootle along slowly, at my own pace. And, anyway there were loads of pulling over places to allow care to pass me. I n fact, during the entire two days, there were hardly any cars going my way. A woman later told me that when she went over Haast Pass from Wanaka, it was bumper to bumper.
The Automobile Association on their travel guideline website estimated my first day travel to Hokitika would take 6 hours, and the same for the next day to Motueka (prior to Kaiteriteri). Instead of 6 hours a day, the actual driving took me 8 hours each day. Maybe because I was so scared and drove 60-80 most of the way. Of course practically every time I turned a corner there was a notice saying I could only go 65 kph.
On my second day I stopped off at Punakaki to see the pancake rocks. My goodness, spectacular scenery in this area.
Then I stopped off at the top of the Buller Gorge and walked along the longest swing bridge in New Zealand. I didn't mind the height over the thunderous river but the journey across seemed to go on...and on....and on.... About 15 minutes. Underfoot there was a slat, a space, a slat, some space, a slat, etc, etc... There was some netting nailed under it all. But I didn't have to do a return trip over the bridge because I returned across the river on The Comet (Flying Fox, High-Wire, Zipline, whatever name other companies call it). I've been on such flyings before but they've always been, whoosh, and they're over. This flight was lovely and leisurely. I yoo-hooed and waved to people below me on the swing bridge, and I admired the river view.
I figured I would be scared driving along the Buller Gorge but it was the easiest part of the journey.
I finally arrived at Kaiteriteri, on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park where I stayed for seven nights. It was cloudy every day, however I did swim every day (no ducks!). I walked four hours return along the Abel Tasman track. I took a boat to Anchorage Beach where myself and three others got marooned by the King tide and we had to wade thigh-deep across a sudden torrent of water to get to the boat for the return journey
The beach at Kaiteriteri is fantastically beautiful. But the sand isnt that silky darker sand that we have in the North Island. This sand was golden and reminded me of (and felt like) kitty-litter. I stayed at the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve (it's a holiday park). I had a big en suite/kitchen cabin and I was less than a one minute walk to the sea.
above: about ten minutes into the Abel Tasman National Park Track (from Marahau).
above: the South Island's wild West Coast, past Hokitika. Raining. Of course.
