Blenheim & Kaikoura Seal Pups

After we collected our new camper van in Christchurch and had another nice visit with Tony & Helen we headed north along the coast to Blenheim and most importantly wine country!

 A BBQ picnic lunch by the beach!

On the way we stopped to see the Kaikoura Seal Colony and most importantly the Kaikoura Seal pups. From April to October there can be up to 200 seal pups that swim up the creek to a waterfall and stay there until they are big enough to survive on their own in the sea. They swim down the creek to meet their moms for milk every couple of days and seem to know when their moms have returned from hunting. It was incredible to be able to walk up and stand right at the edge of the pond and see these pups play. They ask obviously that you don’t touch them and that you give them room to move. A few of these pups were quite curious however and came towards us; one came right up to our feet. They were fascinating, adorable and the best part was it was all natural, nothing man made and no admission fees or souvenir stands. In fact it isn’t even mentioned in the guide books for New Zealand, if my cousin Tony hadn’t mentioned it we easily would have driven right by. Check out the video and pictures below!!

We then made it up to Blenheim where we stayed for 2 nights. It rained the day we had planned on doing a bike ride/ wine tour. Thankfully, Neal knows how much I love my New Zealand (Marlborough) wines and he offered to drive to some of the vineyards, so I could do the tastings. (I know such a great husband!) We first went to Brancott Estates who is the original Sauvignon Blanc in the region and we tried quite a few of their wines.  

We then visited Allen Scott and had a very entertaining tasting with a very chatty and funny girl named Kathy. We had a delicious lunch of chicken carbonara that was perfect on a drizzly and damp day. 

My two favorite wines to drink at home are Kim Crawford and Oyster Bay; unfortunately neither brand has any tasting rooms in their vineyards! I found a cellar door that did Kim Crawford tastings and we bought some wines we can’t get at home. 

After the 3 vineyards I was a little tipsy and since the weather was still awful we went and saw the Batman movie; which was really good.

Blenheim itself has a cute town centre and the wines were great. It was the first time we felt a little sketchy walking home at night though. Not much else to report.

We are now off to Abel Tasman!

All the best,

Laura

Milford Sound, Te Anau, and Mt Cook

July 16, 2012 to July 18, 2012 – Te Anau

We  arrived at our most southerly location, Te Anau, at about 8pm in the pouring rain.  After checking into the holiday park (Te Anau Top 10) we headed into the town center to look for a place to eat and recharge.  The rain started lashing, and we came upon a restaurant called Baileyz so we gave it a shot.  This place looked like an old beat up Smittys, but we were welcomed by friendly staff.  The food was outstanding too, but the portions were unreal.  Laura and I could have easily shared a main course meal.

Of a town with a population of only 4000 people, Te Anau has four different Italian restaurants, and two Chinese restaurants.  I’m trying to figure out why anyone would travel to the south of New Zealand’s south island to get their Italian fix… and can’t.  Oh well.  If you’re in town, check out the Fat Duck or The Ranch (across the street from each other) for a good meal.  Te Anau is also very quiet in the winter, so don’t expect any night life.

One of our goals while in Te Anau was to take a tour down to the Milford Sound.  We ended up staying an extra two nights so we could time out Milford tour with some clear weather.  The west coast of NZ’s south island gets a ton of rain, so we were lucky to find a window without.

During our extra couple days, we got caught up on some blogging, worked on some photos, and took a trip out to Mavora Lakes in search of some Lord of the Rings scenery:

South Mavora Lake

When the day for our Milford Sound arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that we were the only two people on the bus.  The tour (with Southern Discoveries) drives us for about 2 hours from Te Anau to the docks in Milford Sound, we then boarded a ship for a 2 hr cruise, and then took the same bus home.  Since we were the only two on the bus, we basically had our own personal tour with Reece (the bus driver) and his wife.  Here are some pictures from the trip:

 

Mirror Lake

 Topping up with some glacier fresh water.

 

July 19, 2012 – Drive to Twizel

After spending an extra night in Te Anau, we decided to spend a day driving to get back on schedule:

 Another Mirror Lake (Near Cornwall)

 The Clay Cliffs next to Omarama

 My GB

 An unreal sunset in Twizel.  No adjustments in Photoshop.  It only lasted for about 7-8 minutes.

Out smoked salmon platter!

If you end up in Twizel, try out the Hunter’s Café on main street.  We had the Smoked Salmon platter ($22 NZD) and it was amazing!  There are several salmon farms nearby, so the salmon is nice and fresh.  It was delicious; I want more!



July 20, 2012 – Mt. Cook Hike

Out next day trip was to Mt Cook National Park for a hike.  There are great views of Mt Cook (The south island’s tallest peak) while driving into the park for about 50km.  Funny enough you can’t actually see the peak of Mt Cook from the town of Mt Cook.

The hike we choose was into the Hooker Valley.  Yes, we were getting dirty tramping through the Hooker Valley.  Here are some photo highlights of the hike:

  Mt Cook from afar

 Hooker Valley and Glacier.  You can see the icebergs from the calving glacier on the lake.

July 21, 2012 – Lake Tekapo

We had time for one night in Lake Tekapo on our way back to Christchurch.  It’s a popular weekend vacation spot for a lot of locals.  We didn’t have much time to give it a full tour, but did manage to fire up our BBQ for the first time.

Next stop is Christchurch to exchange out camper van for one with a working Diesel Heater.   I must say that Wilderness (who supplies the van) has been fantastic trying to get this sorted out for us.  They even offered to drive a van out to us to swap vehicles.

Thanks for reading!
-Neal & Laura