Marie Et Alex Sont Arriveé! (June 20 - 22)

On Monday we handed in our secateurs and ended our (bad pun alert) budding pruning and wrapping careers. The people at Montana seemed genuinely sad to see us go – they were appreciative of any warm bodies they could get to do the necessary work in their vast vineyards. We also bid a somewhat-sad farewell to Chris and Martin; their hospitality made it easy to want to stay even longer.

Leaving Blenheim, we again made the drive south along the eastern coast towards Christchurch, into which Marie and Alex were flying. We had earlier arranged to stash our extra gear with Kieran and Belinda, our Wwoofing hosts in March, which gave us a great excuse to catch up with them again. They kindly agreed to store our stuff and offered us a bed for the night (and a bed for Marie and Alexis if they would also like to stay). We enjoyed a great evening catching up and look forward to a return visit when we retrieve our stuff.

The next morning, we headed to the airport in Christchurch to collect Becky’s sister Marie and her Belgian boyfriend, Alex. They’ve just finished up their PhD’s in environmental engineering at Yale, and are slated to move to Barcelona later this summer for work, so I guess you could consider the trip a bit of a graduation present to themselves. Maybe it’s because we’re used to being so far away from home, but it seemed a bit surreal to have guests arriving from the States, as home sometimes seems like a world away. But here they were in the flesh, and they had no problem getting through customs, so we were quickly on our way and out of Chch.

The mountain view at Hanmer Springs

Reviewing the weather forecast, we saw that the South Island wasn’t looking particularly good anywhere, so we rolled the dice and headed a short ways away to Hanmer Springs in the mountains north of Chch (as it’s home to a natural hot pool resort, Becky was behind this plan of action all the way). Hanmer Springs was really enjoyable – we went on a good short hike and spent the evening lounging in the hot pools. It was pretty cold running from one pool to the next, but the time in the hot water was really enjoyable. Fortunately, Marie and Alexis arrived without much jetlag, so they didn’t seem to mind us running them around that first day.

Becky looking incredulously (or adoringly?) at Andrew at the top of Conical Hill

Andrew, Becky, and Marie make their way down a muddy trail in Hanmer Springs

From Hanmer we headed west through the Lewis Pass and on to Westport. Heading to the west coast is always a risk as the weather there is notoriously bad, and our first few days there was no exception. We don’t mind cloud cover, but were hoping that it wouldn’t be raining full-on all day. Fortunately, we got a few dry moments for picture-taking at the Cape Foulwind seal colony and the Punakaiki pancake rocks, though our pictures may suggest otherwise. By the end of the night we were totally drenched and happy to make our way to our backpackers for the evening.

Alex and Marie enjoy a brief respite from the rain at Cape Foulwind

Marie, Becky, and Andrew unsuccessfully wait for the blowhole to blow at Pancake Rocks (Becky had seen it blow only moments before. Of course, no one believed her...)

We dry out and warm up with a cuppa at Te Nikau Retreat at Punakaiki

The next day the rains continued unabated as we drove south through Greymouth and on to the Fox Glacier. In Greymouth we stopped and took the brewery tour at Monteith’s, the famous west coast brewer, and had a good time. Unfortunately the tour was better than the tasting as their black beer was the only one of seven on hand that we enjoyed. By the time we made it to Franz Josef Glacier in the late afternoon, the temperatures had dropped even farther and we found the glacier park covered in snow. We had the place to ourselves, which was a nice change from Becky’s and my previous visit where we had to contend with busloads of elderly tourists.

We wander through the winter wonderland at Franz Joseph Glacier and marvel at the complete absence of other tourists.

To get to our hostel we then had to drive in dusk to Fox Glacier, which is only 24k away, but which took a ridiculously long time to get to. The roads were slick and barely plowed, which made for really slow going through the torturously windy mountain pass, and when we made it through unscathed we all breathed a sigh of relief. When we arrived at our hostel for the night the owner was surprised to see we’d gotten through, as the road had apparently been closed for the past few hours, but we must’ve missed the signs as the park was beyond the town by a few kms. We were actually lucky as the southern half of the South Island was in the midst of a great icy and cold winter front, dumping heaps of snow and covering roadways with ice throughout the Southern Alps, Otago, and Southland areas. There were tons of accidents throughout the island, and Queenstown had most of its winter festival shut down. Jokingly, we like to blame Marie and Alex for bringing an Antarctic blast with them to NZ.

Marie, Becky, and Andrew pose safely next to the beware of avalanche, tidal wave, and drowning sign.

Driving through the country over the past few days, we have to say it’s great to have Marie and Alex here. They provide a good injection of enthusiasm to our travels, which truth be told has been quite nice to have. If we can just convince them to do some reading in their travel guides (or provide us with more direction on what they’d like to see), we’re sure that we’ll have a great couple of weeks. We’ve also been enjoying sharing meals (and especially cooking duties), and just hanging out with them. We’ve met some great folks here in NZ, but it’s always nice to see a familiar face from home. It also makes you appreciate the NZ landscape anew when you get to see it through fresh eyes. It really is beautiful here, but sometimes you start to take it for granted once it starts to become familiar. Good on ya, Marie and Alex!

Please Hanmer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em (Feb. 21 – 23)

Leaving Blenheim, we decided to head down the east coast of the country towards Christchurch. In the spirit of not rushing through the country, we stopped first in Kaikoura, which seems to be a major destination for most tourists coming through NZ, and based on the number of hostels found in such a small town, backpackers as well. As we left Blenheim, the dry hills and relentlessly sunny skies quickly gave way to a coast road shrouded in fog and bounded closely by a dark blue sea and steep green mountains.

"You lookin' at me?"

Kaikoura is a small, seasonal seaside resort town, and is a major center for whale and dolphin-watching tours. It also seems to be Crayfish Central in NZ, with heaps of stands and restaurants schlepping the little buggers at wildly expensive prices. A typical crayfish dinner runs about NZ$70 (equivalent to a $50 lobster dinner in the States), so yeah, we decided to skip that local delicacy. Like Paihia, another tourist trap-type town, we weren’t totally charmed by Kaikoura, especially since it was a bit gritty in places. Our backpackers there would probably be best described as South Pacific/Barton Fink style accommodations, with a screeching train running by several times a night right past our window. Other than that, it was marvelous!

Becky's attempt at an artistic photograph

It wasn’t all bad in Kaikoura though, as I got a chance to practice my selling techniques, and we did a cool shoreline walk outside of town. Re: selling beer, I approached a couple cafés that advertised ‘boutique beers’ and basically stopped in, found their bar managers, dropped off a few samples and information, and that was it. Having never really done cold calls before, I was a bit nervous on the first one, but it went pretty smoothly, so that seemed alright. The second went even better, so bully for me I suppose.

Andrew's attempt at an artistic photograph

As you can see from some of our pictures, great weather didn’t follow us from Blenheim, but we still made a go of it. As you can see, I’m wearing pants for the first time in weeks. Pants and a polo shirt was pretty much the only concession to professionalism I could make given my backpackers’ wardrobe. Even that outfit doesn’t look that great, since it’s been rolled up in my bag for a good six weeks now. Sorry, Brian and Andy, I’m trying to look like a pro, but it ain’t easy!

And you want to be my Renaissance Beer salesman?

Kaikoura, we headed southwest inland to Hanmer Springs. Leaving Kaikoura, it gets even more rural, even for NZ, which is saying something. Mountain highways with few cars on the road and even fewer visible houses were the rule along this stretch, though once we got to Hanmer, it was much more developed. Even with that, it was a picturesque and sleepy little town set in the mountains with not much happening. I soon found out why Becky was so keen to go to Hanmer: a hot springs park. If you could be addicted to lounging in hot water, she would absolutely have it. But since she’s a good sport about going to every little brewery in the country, I of course acquiesced, and so we went and had a good soak that evening. Navigating, after all, is tiring work, hehe.

Seal on the beach