New Zealand/South Island part two.

Everyone has told us, watch the West Coast, it gets very wet, a lot of rain, flooded roads and closed roads. Despite being billed as being the most beautiful coastline, we are happy to chase the sun and follow our own paths. In this case, Arrowtown, followed by Wanaka.

New Zealand

Arrowtown, a cute little place dating back to the Gold rush era. Leaving out the gold part, and the lake this town is Ambleside or Bowness all over (sorry for any confused non Brits who read my blog). Pretty little overpriced tourist shops albeit made of wood not slate or stone, small artisan shops, a few boutique shops, an excellent bakery and an even better sweetie shop. We paused there for a while, spent a whole 5 minutes in the Chinese Village. It would appear that the local New Zealanders were non too keen on said race, (fancy that...) but anxious to reflect on all aspects of local culture, good and bad, the Chinese village remains as a tourist interest. Onto Wanaka.

Wanaka, the town with `That` tree !! Every sign, everywhere, refers to the tree as `That Wanaka tree`. It was here that we decided to take some down time, we booked an electric pitch site so that we could quite literally recharge our batteries, both human and electronic. Showers !! Yeah !! Whilst we had a shower available to us in the bunny bus, we had neither the inclination to wait a full 30 mins to heat the water, nor the energy to shower in such a petite and bijou space. This site had real showers. Oh the luxury. Day one was a little damp, but with energy levels running on empty, it was nice just doing nothing. well apart from rescuing a baby bird that had fallen from its nest, and was replaced into said nest by Mr B with the aid of the motorhome bed ladder. Little birdie we hope you survived. By late afternoon the damp morning turned into a glorious evening, so we decided to wander into town, see `That Wanaka Tree` and visit the best cinema ever for a night of much overdue entertainment.

That Wanaka Tree. In a nutshell, Lake Wanaka is stunning, like every other lake, but on the edge of Wanaka town, a small tree is making its mark by growing out of the lake itself around 8-10` from the lake shore. Like the gloriously situated Church at Lake Tekapo, this tree hogs the limelight. When in Wanaka you take a picture of said tree. Mission accomplished.

Paradiso Cinema. What a wonderful little cinema. From the entrance with its little cafe of food to order, for now or the interval, to the posters that adorn every wall of popular modern films, the bathrooms that are akin to your cute wooden cabin bathroom at home, wood log burning fire (not heated now, as its summer) and the cinema itself with 2 or 3 seater settees, single arm chairs, a couple of rows of regular cinema seating, love bug cars at the back, home from home cinema at its very best. A cinema manager who commanded respect by his most cheering and hearty `are we all ready for the film guys?`.. and absolute silence followed. Gladiators Ready!! (number2)

Queenstown. Oh my golly gosh, just when you think there is absolutely no way South Island could get any better, you reach Queenstown. How and why this town is so much nicer than anywhere else is hard to say, but within 5 mins of arriving any of us could quite easily of scoured an estate agent to price up a house. We have a friend from years ago, an old band friend, who came to New Zealand for a short working holiday, fell in love, and stayed. We had plans to meet up with Emma after sampling the towns very famous Fergburgers. A burger place that is so easy to find, simply look for the shop with a queue half way round the building. Worth it?? Absolutely !!! We had a short walk around the town, to the harbour area, but with Emma promising us a tourist tour, we kept our wanderings short. At the end of the beach/lake side was a children`s playground, with a very adult sized slide. Yes, Yes I did. Several times. In fact all 3 bunnies had a turn. We started a trend, as by the time we left, at least another 5 adults had a quick whizz down this slide. We met Emma at the large Supermarket, and it was lovely to meet up again with a woman who was always a pleasure to be around. Emma took us around the town, pointing out all the little quirky places, especially the towns silly monument, which some clown decided that a boat was a good idea. True to form, as Emma pointed out, there were several traffic cones in said boat. One nice touch for the day, we met a bagpiper, who on request played Highland Cathedral. Happy memories.

Queenstown jet boat. Mrs Bunny is a slight coward, and despite making promises to do anything and say no to nothing, boats are just not my thing, they have a jet boat ride called Shotover, it is the most famous trip offered in Queenstown, however ridiculously expensive, 150 dollars plus expensive, but on Lake Wakatipu a similar jet boat ride was so much more affordable, just as fast and not quite as scary. all the bunnies went on the jet boat, and it was crazy fun. We loved Queenstown so much. I could add that it is the home of bungee jumping from the nearby gorge bridge, and it was a place that we freedom camped for one night. Did we watch the bungee jumpers?? Yep, did we.....what do you think lol psst maybe the 300 dollar pp is the clue.

Blue Penguins!! Who knew that penguins came in blue as well as the Lakes? Not quite the same shade of blue, but blue non the less. These little guys inhabit the town of Oamaru, which was to be the next town we hit. Unfortunately, literally. At the time we were not aware that the penguins from the reserve were out at sea all day, returning home to nest in the early evening. We got offered entry to see the newly hatched chicks, but when the receptionist showed us the chicks on the penguin cam, it seemed a little odd to pay another 60 dollars to visit them in person. that and the fact the penguins were under a red light? We cut our losses, accepted that penguins were not on todays agenda, and continued our journey north in our search for bigger fishy things, the Sperm Whale. With the bunnybus running low on oil???, a quick stop was in order, and here we bumped into a something, not a someone. A brief lapse of concentration, the need to get the bunny bus butt off the busy road, Mr B ducked left down the wrong side of the petrol pumps, and crash bang wallop we were stuck. Wedged firmly at the edge of the petrol station building. Obviously it was necessary for the petrol station worker to point out that we should have driven down the middle aisle ( no sh.t sherlock!) and so stuck are we. Naturally Mr B has the all events covered insurance, and a quick call to the hirers meant that the tow truck arrived within an hour to drag us free. With the bunny bus free, and sporting only a few minor war wounds, we drove along the coast road until the sun was nearly set, then freedom camped to lick our wounds for the evening.

Kaikora, Whale Watching.

Watching the Whales has always been on Mr Bunnys bucket list, not so much Mrs B, as those silly whales tend to prefer open water, which invariably means a boaty mcboatface thing. I did try ! I promise. We booked three tickets to see the wet whales in the water, but on booking in it was advisory that passengers took sea sickness tablets, as the waters were forecast choppy. Mrs B, already green and wobbly from walking along the solid and exceptionally stationary sea shore, grabbed the option for a refund with both bunny mitts, and charged her bunny butt back to the bunny bus for a brew and biscuits. The relief was palpable I assure you. The two whale watching bunnies returned around 4 hours later happily excited to have seen a whole tail come out of the water. Pardon the lack of enthusiasm, but you wanted me to spend 4 hours on a boaty thing to see a bloody tail?? Ive seen Jaws you know, If I was doing a wet boaty thing to see fishy stuff, I want the whole darn shebang, teeth, fins, the lot not just its sodding tail!!! Pretty confident I got the better deal that day, with my tea, chocolate and mountain view, all from the comfort of the bunny bus.

Abel Tasman. the Jewel of the South Island. An area of South Island that we had been looking forward to the most. Prior to driving everywhere else, and realising that just about everywhere is glorious. Abel Tasman is a national park with reported exceptional beauty, and guess what,? mostly accessed by sea taxi! We booked yet another electric pitch, showers, showers, showers, the wet soapy variety, yeah baby. We were almost at the start of the Abel Tasman hiking trails, (two days, three days even 5 days) but lucky for us, there was a lovely coastal walk to the next sandy bay. This short (an hour) walk, was deliciously easy, and landed us at a picture perfect paradise beach. Palm trees, white sand, driftwood logs, blue seas, it had the lot. We stayed there for a couple of hours, on a beach, in November ! it was heavenly. Little bunny really fancied the water taxi ride to a further point, (arranged for the next day) and it was agreed that we would meet up for lunch at the beach we were on. The next day, bright and early, little bunny set off on her water taxi, and rang us an hour later shouting and screaming, I could hear water, and muffled words like xxx in the water. I kid you not, my heart ran cold. It was Mr B, hearing the conversation from further away who explained to me that she was screaming that she had seen an orca pod. Orca! off the coast of New Zealand. Little B was still grinning 4 hours later when we met up.*( This evening I rang my mum and dad, it was late in the evening and for peace and quiet we chatted from the camp laundry. Little bunny came to join me and told them all about seeing the Orca that morning. We giggled that night as recalled the usual good natured banter between my parents as neither could decide which way up to hold the phone. ) This conversation would later

haunt my soul.

Hokitika. A long drive from Abel Tasman, we planned to do this journey over two days. We originally planned to stay at Greymouth on the coast, but a slight misheard directional call sent us inland, not coastal, causing us to pause overnight in a tree forest, not a sea view. Nothing matters, and it all adds to the adventure. To be fair going the wrong way, put us closer to our end destination. Once at Hokitika we had two real things planned. First, send home our winter and surplus clothes. Two, walk the gorge, and the third unplanned activity, get eaten alive by evil little black sand flies. Box filled, sealed, labelled and ready for collection, we went to walk the Hokitika gorge. It was 38km inland from Hokitika but so worth the visit. Its a good job we gave little bunny the title of `what` as otherwise it would be yet another amazing little gem that we wouldn`t have chosen to go and see. Sand flies aside, (evil little barstools) it was a journey well worth taking.

Arthurs Pass. This long road connects Hokitika on the West coast, to Christchurch on the East. For a long stretch of road, this is a road that you drive along saying, `that`s nice` and that`s pretty, right up to Arthurs Village where you pause and say Wow !! and for a further 30km or so, its just wow after wow after wow. At Arthurs Pass there was a big waterfall, a short 30 minute walk from the car park. 30 minutes my bunnybutt.!!!!! It took us at least 45 minutes and every second of it was up hill and up flight after flight after flight of stairs. We did it, but my poor bunny knees had quite the tantrum for many days afterwards. Whilst at Arthurs Pass village we saw many signs saying don`t feed the Kea. Kea? Beautiful chunky parrot type birds, and quite rare. We spotted two outside the cafe and went Kea stalking, with success, cute.

International Antarctic Centre, Christchurch.

For the last 50 or so years, Christchurch has the served as the main hub for transporting scientists to Antarctica. The excellent Antarctic Centre was a wonderful museum of education for all things snowy and cold. A 4D cinema gave you a tour around the ice caps, the Ice room provided us with a snow storm simulation, brrrrrrr, thankfully they provide you with coats, but I did wish for several minutes that I hadn`t chosen to wear cropped leggings, my ankles were freezing. There was a snow mobile on which to sit and take authentic pictures. From snow room to snow dogs. Huskies, the softest, calmest, most peaceful dogs I have ever had the pleasure of being allowed to cuddle and stroke. Their handler was a Maori guy (Joe) with his beautiful Maori story tattooed on his face. Knowing that Maori tattoos tell a story, he explained his story to us. Quite moving. A man to whom we could have listened to all day. Snow dogs to snow birds, Penguins! and not just any penguins, blue ones, yay. The penguins in the Centre are all rescued birds with extensive problems. One leg, no tongue, broken shoulders or wings. Each bird is hand fed, with an excellent handler talk. Did you know that penguins have hooked bills, get grumpy, and frequently bite. Even the cute blue ones. Outside we rode in Hagglund vehicles, (little 10 men transport machines once used to transport people across the ice), to a nearby track they were put through their paces, up hills, down steep inclines, across bridges, it was the bumpiest ride ever, but a lot of fun, an idea of the sort of terrain and how it feels when you cross the Ice Fields.

Our time in the fabulously awesome country that is New Zealand has come to an end. Just time for one last quick meal, and shortbread biscuit at the Riverside, and its off to the airport.

Goodbye New Zealand, you are without question, the most beautiful country so far. We will return.