Marlborough Sounds
We spent our first day exploring the beautiful Marlborough Sounds by car and foot. We had been told great things about the Queen Charlotte track around the Sounds, but unfortunately didn't have time for the 4-day hike. So we opted to spend a half-day driving some of the curvy roads into the Sounds, set up camp at a lovely site next to the water, and from there trekked the most scenic part of the track along the highest ridge. The views truly were stunning and the area quite peaceful. Our little campground only had 3 sites available, so we befriended one of our neighbors - a young Swedish couple traveling around in a small camper van - and shared wine and cookies.Wine Country
On day two of our South Island excursion, we headed East for an hour into the heart of wine country. On the way, we witnessed a forest fire not far from the road and of course pulled over like all the other dumb tourists to watch as the 7 plus helicopters retrieved and poured buckets of water onto the flames. It was actually quite a site...we heard later they did finally get the blaze under control.
Once on our way again, we headed straight to the Montana Winery to do our first wine tasting. This region of New Zealand is particularly known for their white wines and also Pinot Noirs.
As we sat in the garden of vineyard number one, we marveled at how much it felt like Napa Valley and how we could have easily been sitting back near home in California. From there we headed to our second winery and did tasting number two...and since they also brewed their own line of beers, what the heck, we tasted those too. It was nearing lunch time by then, so we decided to splurge and have a bite to eat at their noteworthy Twelve Trees Restaurant. I had the seafood chowder and Eric the fancy "bangers and mash," and of course a glass of wine and a beer. We must admit, the food was good and they didn't hold back on the portions. We were having a fabulous time spoiling ourselves, so went to winery number three, Herzog Winery. In addition to our tasting here, we also ordered fancy coffees to liven up again.Let's jus
t say, that despite sharing only 1 portion of "tasting" at each vineyard, I am a light weight. I recall we went to three more wineries after Herzog and I remember getting a bit more "outgoing" and "giggly" at each one. And I can't even remember the names of the last 3. Eric of course is a bit more sophisticated (i.e., can handle his liquor) in his ability to wine taste, so he was just fine. When we finally got back to our hostel (where we were camping), my head was spinning. Eric, being the good new husband he is, took me out strolling to walk off my wine buzz a bit...and made us some dinner, which certainly helped. I still went to bed early that night and had a restless sleep, but was fine (with no morning after issues) the next day and ready for the next adventure.Abel Tasman
On our way to the famous coastal region of Abel Tasman National Park, we drove through some lovely farmland, more vineyards
and quaint towns filled with thriving art communities. We even stopped off in Nelson for an afternoon to enjoy the local farmers market. We made arrangements to do a full-day hiking, followed by a night of camping on the Abel Tasman track. The entire track is three days, but again we were pressed for time because we were due to start a three-day track down South in a couple days time. To be honest, I was partially relieved to build up to our three-day adventure with a couple long day hikes and then our first overnight trip where I'd actually have to carry my heavy pack.
The hike wasn't too strenuous and had incredible views of the coastline, clear aqua blue water, sandy beaches and secluded inlets. We hiked about 6 hours and covered 21kms before we arrived to our campsite at Bark Bay. We set up our tent, made ourselves canned chili for dinner and had a few sweet snacks for dessert. Our entertainment was card playing, book reading, beach walking...and, in general, doing what we could to avoid the sand flies that were hungry to "suck our blood." Thank goodness we thought to pack repellent!The next morning, we rose quite leisurely because our shuttle speed boat wasn't arriving until 11AM. They picked us up right on our beach and we sped back to our starting point in 25 mins...it was cool to get the opposite view from the water as opposed to the coast, but slightly discouraging how quickly we covered the same distance. No matter, it was a great taste of the area and we highly recommend a stop here to anyone visiting New Zealand.
The West Coast
After our stint in Abel Tasman, we headed south by way of the West Coast. Our drive timing was perfect. We'd had virtually all sun until we had to make the long drive south when it started pouring rain. It rained all day the day we drove from Westport to Franz Josef Glacier (about a 5-6 hour drive), which was ok since we were in the car all day anyhow. We could still admire the scenery and made a few short stops including one to see the "Pancake Rocks" in Punakaiki.
When we got to the village of Franz Josef, we
discovered a rock slide a ways up the road was preventing anyone from driving much further, so we quickly reserved ourselves a hostel room before all the tour buses got back into town. While we waited for the rain to clear and the lights to turn back on from the power outage they were experiencing, we enjoyed pizza and beer at the local pub. The next morning, the road was thankfully clear. We took a couple short day hikes up to the Franz Josef Glacier (which is quite a site!) and around Lake Matheson, which on a clear and calm day has amazing reflections of Mt. Cook...it wasn't a completely clear or calm day, so we just enjoyed the stroll. Then we were back in the car and heading South once more towards Queenstown, where we'd catch our shuttle up to the start of our Routeburn trekking adventure...more on that to come...
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