Feb 22, 2017, Wednesday:
From Rotorua we took the Matamata
route...Rotorua-T Poi—Matamata-Tahuna and then Auckland airport [225 kms as opposed to 385 km we had covered on the same route in the opp direction earlier]
This was to avoid the heavy traffic on the Hamilton route.
https://goo.gl/maps/TVuYJBDvVo2KevNt7
Had the photo-op at this info site at Matamata for a Hobbiton moment...
Our YHA kitchen opened only at 6am, Foolishly I had kept cheese, yogurt, juice etc in the fridge and had to wait
to start our breakfast. We started off on our drive only by 7 though
our plan was to take off by 6.30.
We were driving with offline map and
encountered a roadblock where we were diverted a bit. No major
hassles. Reached the rental, returned the car and went to the
airport. As explained in the intro, the conveyor belt was not working
and we wasted some time before approaching the officer to drop our
bag ahead of the line. Air New Zealand allows a carry on weighing 7 kg
and a small personal item. So we checked one bag between the two of
us carrying hiking poles, knife not allowed as carry on.
The flight was scenic from the left
hand side... almost a scenic heli ride... flying quite low. Again
when we landed at 1.30, time got wasted till the luggage belt stopped
and our bag had not appeared. After filing the complaint, we took the
shuttle to the car rental only after 2.30.
YHA CHRISTCHURCH:
The drive to YHA took a while...
streets are cordoned off with orange cones with work going on.
We
checked in, had food and our bag had come. My new headlamp had been
confiscated because of the lithium battery. We bought provisions for
our South island stint and had only the evening left for sight
seeing.
CHRISTCHURCH BOTANIC GARDEN:
We walked to the nearby botanic
garden... very beautiful with awesome huge trees, a kitchen garden with fruit laden trees and pumpkins on creepers, fountains, statues, huge lavender hedges and a lovely rose
garden. It had been started with a single oak planted in 1863 in
honor of a royal marriage.
This is the Peacock fountain (1911)... traditional...
A modernist fountain...
Lovely flowerbeds...
Awesome trees...
Statues...aahh... what a place to sit...
Contemporary sculpture...
Lavender hedge in the herbaceous beds...
Maple bushes..
The occasional birds...
ROSES, ROSES AND.... MORE ROSES....
Peace bell with metal from hundred plus countries... made such lovely music when struck...
Feb 23, 2017, Thursday:
We set off for the famed West coast... via the famous Arthurs Pass. Our destination for the night was Hokitika.
Our drive: 248 km
https://goo.gl/maps/kwQyrqSMTMDTRD5P8
Here's a map with all our South Island destinations underlined in blue...
Castle Hill Rocks
It was a lovely drive and our first stop was the Castle Hill Rocks..ancient monolithic limestone rock formations. We.hiked up and had lovely views...
Arthurs Pass:
Next was the famed Arthurs Pass. The route was
first used by Maori tribes crossing to the west coast to find pounamu
(jade). It's a sophisticated mountain pass, memorable for its
scenery with snow covered mountains.
Arthur's Pass is a base for climbing, hiking, hunting and skiing adventures in the adjacent national park. There's a good choice of short walks.
Arthur's Pass is a base for climbing, hiking, hunting and skiing adventures in the adjacent national park. There's a good choice of short walks.
Then we were off to the Visitor Center, to start our hikes...
Millenium Falls:
First one was Millenium Falls, just adjacent to the visitor center...after the viewing platform, we took a small footpath down for better views...
Devil's Punchbowl:
Next was the much longer, steeper Devil's Punchbowl
There was a kea in the trees when we were hiking back... awesome... we got a good video.
We had missed the Cavestream... but now had to go on.
Otiro viaduct:
Otiro viaduct was the next... very lovely and naughty keas were around...one shy guy there and several naughty ones in the pullout just next...
It had been an AWESOME day and we arrived at Hokitika just before 9pm
Report of Hokitika gorge, Franz Josef glacier hike, Fox glacier hike and the gorgeous drive to Wanaka are covered in the next post... days 7 and 8:
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/03/new-zealand-trip-report-day-7-hokitika.html
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