Hi All,
We've made it along the Great Walk, and I've got commentary to include in the blog when I've got my journal with me. I'll stick it in here sometime soon. Suffice it to say that we had an AMAZING time backpacking on the Routeburn/Caples Track. The weather turned out to be fantastic - only one cloudyish day out of five. We felt as if we had beautiful scenery whiplash from trying to look at all the views that surrounded us. It was truly a highlight of our trip. We then drove to Milford Sound which is on the SW coast of the South Island. This area is full of fjords and they run boats down the fjord and into the Tasman Sea. Again, we had a wonderful day weatherwise to enjoy the countless waterfalls, wildlife and inordinately tall walls of rock on either side of the waterway. After our tour on the boat, we hightailed it to the Hollyford Valley to stay at Gunn's Camping ground. Delightfully, we were joined by a GADZILLION sand flies. I awoke last night to scratch the remaining bites for approximately 30 minutes. The gift that keeps on giving.
Gunn's Camping ground was quite quaint and by that I mean odd. It is run by a Charitable Trust and has a stale smelling museum as an added attraction. Additionally, for some reason, there are about 30 pieces of burnt toast hanging from a clothesline outside the camper's kitchen. I didn't read the sign however, because the sand flies were feasting on my ankles so I had to move on. The views were fantastic however and it was neat to stay there since we could see the place from above - looking quite tiny, like Monopoly buildings - as we were on our backpacking trip. Very cool.
We cruised out of Gunn's in the early morning after learning quite swiftly that the sand flies do not abate during the morning hours. We drove up the eastern coastline a bit and ended up in a spot called Curio Bay which is in the Catlins National Conservation area. The beach was quite gorgeous and we saw a number of dolphins swimming with a few folks in the sea. Very cool! Then, we ended up in Dunedin on the Southeast coast yesterday. We were recommended to go on the Tewani Gorge Railway for a tour by some folks we met in our travels, so, we did in the afternoon. It was pretty scenery and an interesting way to see the less traveled areas. But, it lasted four hours and that was approximately 2 hours too long. Oh well. For our Thanksgiving dinner - which was yesterday - we had pizza. But, we ate a lot and we were full like we would be at home for Thanksgiving. The only thing missing was football.
This morning, we went to St. Claire Beach to have a look. The waves were pumping and the sun was shining. It was nice to get into the water again. I must confess that even with our wetsuits on, my feet were icebergs! By my last chance wave, I could hardly stand up b/c I couldn't tell if I'd put my feet on the board! Anyway, it was a good time. It has become a bit overcast this afternoon, but, we just fueled up at the Used Bookstore so we'll be all right!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! We miss you and we love you all.
xoxo,
Kerry & Peter
We've made it along the Great Walk, and I've got commentary to include in the blog when I've got my journal with me. I'll stick it in here sometime soon. Suffice it to say that we had an AMAZING time backpacking on the Routeburn/Caples Track. The weather turned out to be fantastic - only one cloudyish day out of five. We felt as if we had beautiful scenery whiplash from trying to look at all the views that surrounded us. It was truly a highlight of our trip. We then drove to Milford Sound which is on the SW coast of the South Island. This area is full of fjords and they run boats down the fjord and into the Tasman Sea. Again, we had a wonderful day weatherwise to enjoy the countless waterfalls, wildlife and inordinately tall walls of rock on either side of the waterway. After our tour on the boat, we hightailed it to the Hollyford Valley to stay at Gunn's Camping ground. Delightfully, we were joined by a GADZILLION sand flies. I awoke last night to scratch the remaining bites for approximately 30 minutes. The gift that keeps on giving.
Gunn's Camping ground was quite quaint and by that I mean odd. It is run by a Charitable Trust and has a stale smelling museum as an added attraction. Additionally, for some reason, there are about 30 pieces of burnt toast hanging from a clothesline outside the camper's kitchen. I didn't read the sign however, because the sand flies were feasting on my ankles so I had to move on. The views were fantastic however and it was neat to stay there since we could see the place from above - looking quite tiny, like Monopoly buildings - as we were on our backpacking trip. Very cool.
We cruised out of Gunn's in the early morning after learning quite swiftly that the sand flies do not abate during the morning hours. We drove up the eastern coastline a bit and ended up in a spot called Curio Bay which is in the Catlins National Conservation area. The beach was quite gorgeous and we saw a number of dolphins swimming with a few folks in the sea. Very cool! Then, we ended up in Dunedin on the Southeast coast yesterday. We were recommended to go on the Tewani Gorge Railway for a tour by some folks we met in our travels, so, we did in the afternoon. It was pretty scenery and an interesting way to see the less traveled areas. But, it lasted four hours and that was approximately 2 hours too long. Oh well. For our Thanksgiving dinner - which was yesterday - we had pizza. But, we ate a lot and we were full like we would be at home for Thanksgiving. The only thing missing was football.
This morning, we went to St. Claire Beach to have a look. The waves were pumping and the sun was shining. It was nice to get into the water again. I must confess that even with our wetsuits on, my feet were icebergs! By my last chance wave, I could hardly stand up b/c I couldn't tell if I'd put my feet on the board! Anyway, it was a good time. It has become a bit overcast this afternoon, but, we just fueled up at the Used Bookstore so we'll be all right!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! We miss you and we love you all.
xoxo,
Kerry & Peter
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