March 15th: Driving, helicopter flight, and gold panning
Yes we did all of that in one day
We have obtained a vehicle! And now we are driving on the wrong side of the road..or is it the right side? No the left side, that's it! Either way its weird...but I like it.
Thank you to Paul for suggesting transfer car, Cody and I would never have been able to afford a rental car, and this way we were able to get one for free and tour the country for two days.
We also booked a helicopter ride on bookme.com and got a pretty good deal on a flight over the Cromwell basin. We planned to get the car in Queenstown and drive it up the west coast and down the east to Dunedin. We only had two days to do it, and somehow we had to squeeze a helicopter flight, and any other miscellaneous adventure in there before our time was out in two days.
But back to the car... I had lost my glasses in the previous town Te Ana so drivng was going to be particularily challenging since I wouldn't be able to see little things like street signs or animals in the road. So if I was driving signs were being ignored and animals were going to have to hurry out of the way.
Some interesting facts about our rental car and driving in New Zealand in general
*In our agreement with the rental company (Jucy) I would pay up to $2,000 in damages if the rental was totaled. However if I flipped the car and the roof was damaged I'd have to pay $5,000. So if we flip the car we must set it on fire and shove it off a cliff.
*There are no straight freeways in the South Island, only very narrow windy mountain roads
*Most bridges are one lane, and there are lots of rivers to cross
*There are more traffic circles that street lights (These are particularly challenging for Americans)
*Local Kiwi's are very ill tempered and impatient behind the wheel and drive very reckless and fast. They also love to tailgate. This is weird because outside of the car they are the nicest people in the world
*Drinking while driving is illegal, but culturally accepted so everyone does it
And of course they drive on the left side of the road so right turns are the awkward ones now.
*Pedestrians don't have the right of way
*Chinese tourists often have never driven before and will purchase fake licenses before renting cars in New Zealand. Reticently there have been a lot of horrific accidents in the news
We were already pre-armed with all of this information because of our experiences hitching and walking the Te Araroa trail.
Because of my partial blindness I had Cody drive first out of busy Queenstown. His first adversary was a roundabout right out of the rental parking lot. This was very exciting since it was the first time being on the left side of the road for both of us. And neither of us have much experience with roundabouts. He took it beautifully though and soon we were on the way to our pre-arranged helicopter flight in Cromwell.
On the way we saw an old gold mining town outside of Cromwell, we made a mental note to see that on the way back.
We made it to the airfield just as the bird was starting to land. We were flying in a Heliview MD 600N
Cool fact about this bird: NOTAR (no tail-rotor system) Makes it quiet, safe, and very stable
Cody really wanted to fly in a little bird, but this was going to be even better by the sound of it. Also, I'm really prone to motion sickness, and this one sounded like my kind of flight. I hadn't ever thought much about helicopters but Cody had really wanted to do it. So off we went!
And so we boarded and took flight, it was better than either of us had expected. It felt like you were really flying, the ride was so smooth and quiet.
It was a very windy day and we easily glided through the air, heading for a high alpine landing. You couldn't tell just how windy it was until we touched down and the pilot let us walk around the mountain for a bit.
The view was stunning from the top
Both Cody and I were grinning ear to ear the whole time
We flew over vineyards, and orchards
The river in Cromwell Basin, and the gold mine
Amazingly I never experienced motion sickness, I was very happy about that
Both of us thoroughly enjoyed our flight. I think more helicopter rides will be in our future
After the chopper ride we headed back to the gold mines to try our hand at panning for gold.
First we toured the machinery and listened to old gold mining tales of NZ
Apparently miners were panning pounds out of the river daily. Once the rush had settled in though it became harder and harder for anyone to make a living. It seemed like most miners were either starving to death or killing each other for potential spots.
This was as close to gold as we got. We never really found any while we panned, and both of us discovered that panning was very tedious and painstaking work.
We pocketed rocks that might have had some gold flake in them, but for the most part we left empty handed.
But we had to keep moving, we had a six hour drive ahead of us and it was getting on to be late afternoon.
We drove through Mount Aspiring National Park and saw many impressive mountains on the way to the West Coast.
The further west we went, the greener it got. The Te Araroa trail really did go through a giant section that was in the rain shadow of the bordering mountains.
The Coast was very tropical by contrast, we had finally arrived! And it was more jungly that ever.
The sand flies were murderous as well. They are bigger, more aggressive, and in great supply. Neither one of us were happy with this new addition. Everything else we loved.
This was a very touching area where locals had placed heart felt messages on these naturally white rocks.
yay another one lane bridge
never get tired of these one lane bridges
We stayed at the Franz Joseph glacier that night; having arrived in the dark we still went up to see it. From what we could tell it was a very impressive glacier.
I was more impressed with the fancy room we got at discount. Apparently the previous guest had accidentally left the sink on and flooded the whole room. We took the swampy room at a discount, they even left us a swan made out of towels. I thought that was quite fitting since the room used to be a lake. Fortunately it had dried for us in time and we had a pleasant stay.
March 16th: The long drive to Dunedin
We had to make it to Dunedin to have the car back by 4pm. With a 9 hour drive ahead of us we clamored in the car at 7 am. It was still very dark and both of us were very sleepy from having come in late the previous night.
Cody drove first, I took pictures once the sun came up.
Cows
righthand drive
We both switched on and off but since it was a rainy day I had Cody do most of the driving since it was almost impossible for me to make safe decisions in questionable weather without my eyes. I picked a really bad time to loose my glasses!
We finally arrived in Dunedin with time to spare, and we found a room almost instantly.
Unfortunately there is no public transportation to the international airport in Dunedin, this was a big problem since it was 30 K away from the main town and we were relying on getting a ride back. We decided that since Cody had the eyes he'd be the one to take the car back and hire an expensive private shuttle to get into town.
Apart from Dunedin having the most ridiculous street layout...one way streets turning into two lanes randomly, awkward diagonal intersections, and an octagon shaped city center. Cody navigated it all well and managed not to flip the car over. Thank goodness!
That's all chocolate...are you drooling yet?
We planned to leave the next day for Te Anau and enjoy one last hike in New Zealand. Cody's knee still hasn't healed but had been doing much better after weeks of rest. We decided to take a little risk and enjoy the Keplar Track, a three day Great Walk. We are going to keep gear minimal so that we are as light as possible. Since the trail is so short neither of us anticipate to have any serious problems. Or at least none that Ibuprofen can't fix!
Yes we did all of that in one day
We have obtained a vehicle! And now we are driving on the wrong side of the road..or is it the right side? No the left side, that's it! Either way its weird...but I like it.
Thank you to Paul for suggesting transfer car, Cody and I would never have been able to afford a rental car, and this way we were able to get one for free and tour the country for two days.
We also booked a helicopter ride on bookme.com and got a pretty good deal on a flight over the Cromwell basin. We planned to get the car in Queenstown and drive it up the west coast and down the east to Dunedin. We only had two days to do it, and somehow we had to squeeze a helicopter flight, and any other miscellaneous adventure in there before our time was out in two days.
But back to the car... I had lost my glasses in the previous town Te Ana so drivng was going to be particularily challenging since I wouldn't be able to see little things like street signs or animals in the road. So if I was driving signs were being ignored and animals were going to have to hurry out of the way.
Some interesting facts about our rental car and driving in New Zealand in general
*In our agreement with the rental company (Jucy) I would pay up to $2,000 in damages if the rental was totaled. However if I flipped the car and the roof was damaged I'd have to pay $5,000. So if we flip the car we must set it on fire and shove it off a cliff.
*There are no straight freeways in the South Island, only very narrow windy mountain roads
*Most bridges are one lane, and there are lots of rivers to cross
*There are more traffic circles that street lights (These are particularly challenging for Americans)
*Local Kiwi's are very ill tempered and impatient behind the wheel and drive very reckless and fast. They also love to tailgate. This is weird because outside of the car they are the nicest people in the world
*Drinking while driving is illegal, but culturally accepted so everyone does it
And of course they drive on the left side of the road so right turns are the awkward ones now.
*Pedestrians don't have the right of way
*Chinese tourists often have never driven before and will purchase fake licenses before renting cars in New Zealand. Reticently there have been a lot of horrific accidents in the news
We were already pre-armed with all of this information because of our experiences hitching and walking the Te Araroa trail.
Because of my partial blindness I had Cody drive first out of busy Queenstown. His first adversary was a roundabout right out of the rental parking lot. This was very exciting since it was the first time being on the left side of the road for both of us. And neither of us have much experience with roundabouts. He took it beautifully though and soon we were on the way to our pre-arranged helicopter flight in Cromwell.
On the way we saw an old gold mining town outside of Cromwell, we made a mental note to see that on the way back.
We made it to the airfield just as the bird was starting to land. We were flying in a Heliview MD 600N
Cool fact about this bird: NOTAR (no tail-rotor system) Makes it quiet, safe, and very stable
Cody really wanted to fly in a little bird, but this was going to be even better by the sound of it. Also, I'm really prone to motion sickness, and this one sounded like my kind of flight. I hadn't ever thought much about helicopters but Cody had really wanted to do it. So off we went!
And so we boarded and took flight, it was better than either of us had expected. It felt like you were really flying, the ride was so smooth and quiet.
Our flight time was 40 minutes, Cody got to ride in front with the pilot for half of that time
It was a very windy day and we easily glided through the air, heading for a high alpine landing. You couldn't tell just how windy it was until we touched down and the pilot let us walk around the mountain for a bit.
The view was stunning from the top
Both Cody and I were grinning ear to ear the whole time
We flew over vineyards, and orchards
The river in Cromwell Basin, and the gold mine
View of Cromwell
Amazingly I never experienced motion sickness, I was very happy about that
Both of us thoroughly enjoyed our flight. I think more helicopter rides will be in our future
After the chopper ride we headed back to the gold mines to try our hand at panning for gold.
First we toured the machinery and listened to old gold mining tales of NZ
Apparently miners were panning pounds out of the river daily. Once the rush had settled in though it became harder and harder for anyone to make a living. It seemed like most miners were either starving to death or killing each other for potential spots.
This was as close to gold as we got. We never really found any while we panned, and both of us discovered that panning was very tedious and painstaking work.
We pocketed rocks that might have had some gold flake in them, but for the most part we left empty handed.
But we had to keep moving, we had a six hour drive ahead of us and it was getting on to be late afternoon.
We drove through Mount Aspiring National Park and saw many impressive mountains on the way to the West Coast.
one lane bridge
The further west we went, the greener it got. The Te Araroa trail really did go through a giant section that was in the rain shadow of the bordering mountains.
The Coast was very tropical by contrast, we had finally arrived! And it was more jungly that ever.
The sand flies were murderous as well. They are bigger, more aggressive, and in great supply. Neither one of us were happy with this new addition. Everything else we loved.
This was a very touching area where locals had placed heart felt messages on these naturally white rocks.
passing by the little town near Fox Glacier
We stayed at the Franz Joseph glacier that night; having arrived in the dark we still went up to see it. From what we could tell it was a very impressive glacier.
I was more impressed with the fancy room we got at discount. Apparently the previous guest had accidentally left the sink on and flooded the whole room. We took the swampy room at a discount, they even left us a swan made out of towels. I thought that was quite fitting since the room used to be a lake. Fortunately it had dried for us in time and we had a pleasant stay.
March 16th: The long drive to Dunedin
We had to make it to Dunedin to have the car back by 4pm. With a 9 hour drive ahead of us we clamored in the car at 7 am. It was still very dark and both of us were very sleepy from having come in late the previous night.
Cody drove first, I took pictures once the sun came up.
We got stuck behind these two in Arthur's Pass. a very steep and winding road that we were chugging along 10 miles per hour
we saw to coast in one day driving from the west to the east
We both switched on and off but since it was a rainy day I had Cody do most of the driving since it was almost impossible for me to make safe decisions in questionable weather without my eyes. I picked a really bad time to loose my glasses!
We finally arrived in Dunedin with time to spare, and we found a room almost instantly.
Unfortunately there is no public transportation to the international airport in Dunedin, this was a big problem since it was 30 K away from the main town and we were relying on getting a ride back. We decided that since Cody had the eyes he'd be the one to take the car back and hire an expensive private shuttle to get into town.
Apart from Dunedin having the most ridiculous street layout...one way streets turning into two lanes randomly, awkward diagonal intersections, and an octagon shaped city center. Cody navigated it all well and managed not to flip the car over. Thank goodness!
We stopped by the Cadbury factory for a quick look around
Dunedin is supposedly the sister city to Edinburgh; it has a lot of very old looking, and beautiful architecture. Unfortunately we didn't enjoy it much because we had fowl weather the whole time. Thank you cyclone Pam for hitting the North Island. We were fine, just cold since the old hostel we stayed at had no heating.
We planned to leave the next day for Te Anau and enjoy one last hike in New Zealand. Cody's knee still hasn't healed but had been doing much better after weeks of rest. We decided to take a little risk and enjoy the Keplar Track, a three day Great Walk. We are going to keep gear minimal so that we are as light as possible. Since the trail is so short neither of us anticipate to have any serious problems. Or at least none that Ibuprofen can't fix!
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