New Zealand – 8th Nov 2008 - Day 16

Sun welcomed the day today. We were up at 6.30am as we wanted to get to our next destination and enjoy the sun they had forecast for today. We were out of the house by 7am and drove constantly until we hit the town of Martinborough.

We parked up, found the tourist info office, rented a couple of bikes, had a coffee and hit the wine route. It was not until we had been cycling on flat roads for almost an hour that we realised the gears on both bikes were not working properly. Fiona’s gears were in a poorer state than John’s. So, John being the wonderful husband he is, swapped bikes.

After half an hour we passed a farm where they were grooming some great horses. Within a few minutes, a wee Jack Russell dog had joined us on our tour. We tried to encourage him to go back back he was determined to join in the fun. An hour later he was still with us, running his legs off as we flew down hill. After an hour and a half we were getting worried as he seemed to be completely lost. John flagged a car down and asked the two ladies inside what to do. They eventually agreed to take the dog with them to the local vet, in order to find out where he had come from. Great little dog, with plenty of energy and a cheeky personality.

John became a little tired of the hills as his gears were not able to get him up the hills, so he had to walk the bike up.

After a couple of hours we came across some vineyards, but they were not open. We carried on until we found a vineyard which was open. The Te Kairanga vineyard (see: www. http://www.tekairanga.co.nz/ ), offered a $5 tasting menu which we both opted for. Great wines. We ended up purchasing one bottle and a couple of glasses. The weather was still playing up, with cold grey skies and a cold wind.

We arrived at The Old Manse (see http://www.oldmanse.co.nz/), our next B&B, for about 4.30pm. What a great place, huge lounge, big fire and sky TV. So, we watched the NZ version of Strictly Come Dancing, whilst warming up around the fire. Fiona inserted herself right next to the fire and decided not to move.

After NZ Strictly had finished, we showered changed and arrived back in the lounge for 6pm Happy Hour. We met the other four guests over drinks and finger food, all of them from the UK.

We went to a restaurant called est. Fiona had checked it out earlier and everything looked fine. We arrived at just after 7pm and the restaurant was already full. We waited 45 minutes for our main course to arrive. Fiona’s lamb was just warm and unimaginative. John’s duck casule was awful. Dry and with a piece of duck the size of a thimble. John complained to the waitress who apologized. The chef took half the value off of John’s meal. We were so annoyed we just paid the bill and left. NZ has not impressed us at all with food. Our local pub in Chaddleworth serves food far better than most establishments we have visited in NZ. They have the great looking places but the main reason for eating out, the food, almost always disappoints. Maybe the South Island will be better.

We came back to the B&B, watched a movie and went to bed.

New Zealand – 7th Nov 2008 - Day 15

After a good nights sleep (this B&B is the best so far), we opened to curtains to sunny skies. We turned on the TV and they were reporting the heaviest snowfall on the hills above Christchurch for decades.

After breakfast, we headed for the Panekiri Mountain Range where a place called Waikaremoana promised some excellent walking. As always, the journey took longer than we anticipated due to us hitting a queue in one of the mountain passes where they were laying new tarmac. Towards the end of the drive, we hit the infamous NZ gravel tracks. After three hours we found the visitor centre at noon.

A lady at the centre showed us a 6 hour hike and gave us directions to the start which we double checked. She did not seem to know as much as her colleague, who was on the phone. She assured us her directions were sound, telling us we would reach the lake in just over an hour.

We set off through dense forest, up quite steep tracks. The wind was, as ever, chilly and the track wet under foot. After a while the ever present showers kicked off, falling as sleet at times. Howere they did not last long and the dense forest afforded us some protection.

After an hour and a half of rapid walking we decided we had been sent the wrong way. After a couple of hours we met a group of Kiwi hikers coming down the track. They informed us, with some concern, that we were going up to the lake on the hard track and therefore we would probably not make it back to the information hut until after 6pm.

We carried on up the steep track, stopping for water and fruit on the way. We eventually hit lake Waikareiti at 4.30. It had been a hard hike and, due to the thick forest, there had not been muck to see. The North Island has a great deal of forest walking which gets a bit boring after a while as they have no indigenous animals to speak of. The famous Kiwi flightless bird comes out at night. That’s about it!!

The lake was very pretty, with crystal clear waters. We came across a hut where walkers can rest. There were boats you could row on the lake, but they were all chained up. We began the descent back to the info hut, reaching it for 5.30pm, knocking a full hour and a half off the official time. At the base we met a local guy who had his hunting rifle over his shoulder. He was off to find himself a deer for dinner.

We drove back to B&B in record time, with Fiona doing a very good impression of a rally driver. Once back, we showered, had a very nice ham and chicken salad, watched TV and went to bed, happy and tired.

New Zealand – 6th Nov 2008 - Day 14

fDuring the night, we were woken by very loud cows, mooing at levels we had never experienced before. It sounded like they were in our room! Two of them started at 4am and continued calling to each other until day light. Fiona managed to sleep through most of it, but John had a harder time.

The sun was peeping out of the clouds at breakfast, however, Barbara warned us that snow had been forecast over the mountains where we had planned to go hiking. It turned out that Barbara had separated a mother and calf the previous day and it was these two who were responsible for the endless mooing. She thought it was funny!!!

The Tongariro crossing is a famous 6 hour hike, offering breathtaking views and today was the only day we could hit it. We went to the visitor centre and it became obvious that the weather was too cold. Winter had returned, it was -6 at the top and snowing hard. Sods law! She showed us some other walks near by, that would be OK, so we opted to do them. We went to a sports shop where John purchased a par of extra warm outdoor trousers. They look almost wooly, are not that fetching but do the job. Fiona also purchased another pair of walking shorts.

Whilst at the visitor centre, we used the phone to cancel our planned B&B and book another, as now, we will be driving to a Town called Napier, due to the weather. There is not point staying in this area as the weather is not supposed to improve until Saturday

As we drove to the start of our walk the weather closed in big time. The heavens open and snow began to fly in all directions in the string wind. When we reached the car park, everything was covered in an inch of wet snow and heavy sleet was falling.

We waited for the weather to clear, dressed in our warmest walking kit and headed out. Within 5 minutes the snow had retuned, forcing us to run for cover, into someone’s porch. After 20 minutes, we set out again, only to be hit by more snow, rain, sleet and cold winds. We gave up, walked back to the car feeling very fed up and decided that all we could do was to begin the drive to Napier.

We stopped off at a sports shop in Taupo to purchase some waterproof trousers as both of us had soaking wet legs within five minutes of walking today. We plan to do more hiking, what ever the weather, so these will most probably come in very handy.

We also visited Woolworths, which in NZ, is more of a supermarket chain. We bought enough for two breakfasts and two dinners as the next B&B has a self contained flat with a full kitchen and you can opt not to have breakfast, which makes it cheaper.

The drive to Napier, took another couple of hours and offered some spectacular scenery. Very alp like, straight out of the Sound of Music or Lord Of The Rings, most of which was filmed in many areas of NZ. The weather also perked up and the sun began to shine. We passed areas of mini mountains, covered in deep green grass, some of which reminded us of Austria.

Our next B&B is called The Grange (see: http://www.thefarmstay.com/) We have the self contained lodge, so we can do as we please, which will be nice. It’s great to meet people on your travels, often it’s what makes a visit memorable, but you can grow tired of meeting new faces every day, it’s good to occasionally be antisocial, especially after two days of our last hosts Barbara and Ray. Lovely, warm people, but my lord could they talk and talk and talk and talk…………………….

We arrived at The Grange at 5pm, but could not find anyone to show us our lodge. We eventually found the son of the lady who owns the place. He was still cleaning our pad, so we went down to town for a wander. This town is supposed to be full of Art Deco buildings. We found a few but were not that impressed with Napier. We are sure it would look and feel better in some summer heat.

We headed back to The Grange for 6pm. This place is so much nicer than the previous B&B. It is clean, warm, very large and has great views over the vine yards and down to the bay.

Tonight the showers have just about died out and they are promising a slow improvement tomorrow and into the weekend. Today has been the worst weather so far. The southerly half of the South Island is having heavy, heavy snow and some of the coldest November temperatures on record.