Kia Ora – A New Zealand Odyssey in several chapters

Our trip to South Island was going to be lightweight backpacking as we were travelling by bus and train. The Inter City buses in New Zealand run a great service and are relatively cheap. A variety of passes are available and we chose one which gave us 20 hours of travelling time and could be used on the Interislander ferry.

We took an early Sunday morning flight from Tauranga to Wellington and, having a few hours to spare before catching the ferry across the Cook Strait, explored the centre of the City and harbour area. Just by chance we came across the Victoria Street Farmers’ Market and spent a couple of happy hours taking in the sights and smells.

The ferry crossing is just over 90km and takes three hours. About half of the journey is on the open sea with the rest being in Wellington Harbour, the Tory Channel and the Queen Charlotte Sound. It’s definitely a journey which should be made in daylight as the approach to Picton along Queen Charlotte Sound is stunning. We had chosen to stay the first couple of nights in a Backpackers’ Hostel and, as we disembarked from our ferry, there was a somewhat dilapidated minibus waiting. The state of the minibus however belied the hostel itself which very pleasant and clean. The next morning was quite wet so we dropped in to the i-SITE Tourist Information office and asked what we could do on a wet day. A tour of the Marlborough Wineries was suggested and we booked for the afternoon trip with lunch. We spent the rest of the morning in the fascinating Edwin Fox maritime museum. Our tour guide had her own winery and was an endless source of wisdom on every aspect of running a vineyard. As it was still early spring, we were the only ones on the tour and a winery tour with a personal guide is not to be taken lightly! We finally had to call a halt after six (or was it seven) tasting sessions.

We were travelling down the West coast of South Island as far as Franz Josef glacier and, after a brief overnight stop in Nelson to change buses, our first stop was Punakaiki. Luckily it was high tide with a strong westerly blowing when we arrived and we were able to experience the full force of the blow-holes at the Pancake Rocks. If you think the beaches on Arran are littered with flotsam, it’s nothing compared to the huge tree trunks which end up on the beach in Punakaiki, blown across the Tasman Sea from Australia. Travelling by Intercity bus is great fun but you need to be prompt as there is only one bus each day in each direction. So if you stop anywhere it’s another 24 hours before you can move on again. In the morning we had time for a short walk along the banks of the Pororari river before returning to the bus stop and the bus for Hokitika.

Hokitika is a craft town and the centre for New Zealand Jade (Pounamu). It’s also a big Whitebait fishing area. When we arrived it was only a week or so into the Whitebait season, but it was hard to track any down in the restaurants. New Zealand Whitebait is very similar to our British elvers and usually served in a fritter. After a morning in several of the galleries and craft centres and a quick visit to the local library for an update on our email, it was time to board the next bus to Franz Josef glacier.

Franz Josef has an annual rainfall of 5,100 mm which is nearly three times that of the wettest parts of Arran and it seemed as though a lot of it fell whilst we were there! We had hoped to fly over the glacier in either a plane or a helicopter, but the cloud base was too low the whole time, so we had to content ourselves with daytime television, lots of reading and a visit to the West Coast Wildlife Centre. Run by the Department of Conservation, it is the official breeding facility for the Rowi – also known as the Okarito brown kiwi. They are only found in the Franz Josef area and with fewer than 400 birds left in the wild, are the world’s rarest kiwi.

The three nights at Franz Josef were a welcome break in our journey and, despite the rain, it seemed all too soon before we had to set off North again for Greymouth.