Icy shower anyone?

4 hours from Invercargill lies a breathtaking part of NZ, Milford Sounds. Unfortunately the heavens had waited for us to arrive before chucking liquid dream killer all over the magnificent landscape that we had all hoped to get that perfect picture of. Earthquakes cause disasters, floods can be devastating - all too often nature wins – WELL NOT TODAY! After a pretty hair raising drive through an avalanche highway we decided to stick two fingers up to mother nature and take the rain head on!

Once on the boat into the fiordlands the rain subsided a little and we were presented with an impressively dramatic landscape. The rain had caused waterfalls to swell to 4 times their usual size and the captain was kind enough to nudge the boat close enough for any nutcases who fancied a free icy shower – All the best things in life are free, particularly cold fiordland showers! An opportunity Nay and I were not prepared to miss! 

 

Next stop – Queenstown.

A wondering Woofer

After already racking up over 1500 kilometers in the van a few days on Stewart Island off the southern coast provided a well earned break and a chance for some R&R….Yeah Right! No time for lay-abouts on this train! Caught the walk-on ferry over to the Island, which has a population of just 400, most of which only ever return to the mainland to go abroad. There is one resident policeman to keep all the OAP’s in check as rumor has it they get pretty rowdy after a few. Checked into the only hotel on the island and decided the best way to explore most of the 23km of road on the entire island would be on two wheels. Bikes rented, little did we know they were “pump your own” which was a bit of a bastard.

4 hours on the saddles took us out to the east of the island and back across to the west side in one afternoon The Island is world renowned for its purity. Spectacular birdlife and crystal clear waters, real picturesque beauty. Interestingly we read in the local community newsletter that the Island is currently home to a small group of “Drillers” who seem to be celebrities to the locals, but their cause is heavily scrutinised by all accounts. They are currently searching for signs of oil. Not sure weather Conservation Paradise and Dirty Oil Rigs can live in harmony really, but I guess everything has a price?

After several nights sleeping all squashed up in the back of the vans it was great to stretch out in a proper bed. Not for long though, as I dragged my dreary ass out of bed at 5:30am to catch a mind blowing sunrise over the harbor from the balcony of the hotel. 

Made a friend on a walk later in the morning, a Tasmanian fella in his 60’s called Woofer. A 6ft plus trawlerman who bumped into us on the way up to one of the island lookouts, and seemed particularly interested in what I was going to do about the euro when I got home… not sure if he thought I was a politician, or weather he just doesn’t usually converse with anything that isn’t flapping with gills. Seriously, he was a lovely bloke and very kindly broke all my fingers with his massive hand as I cried a tear and he trundled off into the bush shouting “Good on ya Dean, say hello to the queen for me!”…

Before we left the island we were all bitten by sandflies and I lost two games of giant road cone chess to a very gloating dad, which was pretty frustrating. I’m not a gracious looser, surrounded by natural beauty or not.

King of the castle

Larnach Castle is the only castle in New Zealand. Built on the Otago Peninsula by wealthy Australian William Larnach. Tradespeople were sourced from all over the world – Plasterers from Italy, Stonemasons from Scotland, carpenters from France all to build a Scottish styled castle in honor of Dunedin’s links to the city of Edinburgh. The Castle has been lovingly restored and still retains the original 1 tonne solid stone bath on the third floor bathroom. Bit of job hoisting that up the spiral staircase I would imagine!!

The Larnach family history is a little twisted - littered with corruption, inheritance scandals, suicides and suspicious deaths. For a country that is comparatively light on history it’s a pretty unique place.

We left Dunedin after the castle visit to head on down south through a region known as the Catlins towards the country’s most southerly city, Invercargill. On route, the obligatory stupid picture was taken at the most photographed waterfalls in New Zealand, Punakaiki falls 

Tricky to concentrate on writing this at the moment. I’m rocking around trying to type on Nay’s macbook whilst the van swerves around the road pumping out Nicki Minaj…clearly not getting a look in on the playlist today.

Wonka Busts a Gut

Dunedin proudly boasts to be the founding city of all that is chocolate down under, and is home to the country’s only Cadburys factory. Jess was predictably high as a kite before even consuming a single E number. 

We were blessed with our very own umpa lumpa for our guided tour. A small limping creature on a power trip, with a striking resemblance to Roz from monsters inc, showed us round the process as we donned shockingly unflattering hair nets. Dad was pulled to one side as Roz singled him out as a “special one”, providing him with his very own mustache guard…

Not a single scrap of lickable tasty wallpaper could be found. The tour climaxed with the spectacle of watching one tonne of liquid chocolate cascade down a waterfall…but no little candy boats or lollypop trees. Cadburys make a sweet down here known as a “Jaffa”, small balls of chocolate covered in a crunchy orange flavored shell. Recently a charity event was held to roll 50,000 numbered Jaffa’s down a street with the first one down winning a prize. The street used was the steepest street in the world (Guinness book of records 1998) called Baldwin Street in Dunedin. After hearing the Jaffa story Dad and I felt it only right to head straight over and take it on. 

It’s a bit of beast. On the climb up we spotted an elusive wild postman crisscrossing the streets pouncing through all the hedgerows. We caught up with him and asked him what he was doing. “It drives the Chinese camera crew crazy!” he said. “I hide in the bushes so they can’t catch me!”. 

Every year they run an event on Baldwin Street known as the “Gut Buster”. The name speaks for itself. The objective? Up and down as fast as you can…no official record of how many guts have bust.