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Highway 6
Lake Manapouri-Queenstown
From Lake Manapouri the now less spectacular route of Highway 94 with the Takitimu and Eyre mountains gave way to plains by the time we reached H6. The journey to Queenstown gave a chance to see the Kingston Flyer in action, a short stretch of preservation line with a 1925 vintage locomotive pulling four green equally ancient American styled coaches. We stopped overnight in Queenstown. An evening stroll around the centre soon made clear that it was the most commercialised resort town we had encountered so far in our trip.
Queenstown-Fox Glacier
The scenic and windy Crown Terrace route to Wanaka from H6 west of Queenstown was well worth taking. The Pisa Mountain Range looked glorious against the blue sky as we made our way up the rather narrow and twisty route to the peak, which gave unrestricted views back to Queenstown. On dropping into the valley we saw our first real sign of Autumn with the tall poplars and many smaller trees in changing state of golden, yellow, rust colours. The landscape continually changed as we moved through the small but increasingly commercial resort of Wanaka with its picturesque lake. From there we came across Lakes Hawea and Wanaka, the latter offering peace and tranquillity with a lot of bird song and mirror like finish reflecting constantly changing colours in sympathy with the light fluffy clouds and sun glistening off the adjacent layered mountain scenery. The journey through Haast pass was different again as we came through dense forest, stopping of for a 20 minute walk to see 'The Roaring Billy Falls. On reaching the coastal section of H6, the mountains gave way to less dense forest as we crossed over the wide, but fairly dry, River Hasst. The rest of the time was spent trying to keep awake as we continued our 359 km journey to Fox Glacier, arriving just before 6pm.
Fox Glacier
We opted for the half-day glacier walk here rather than at the busier Franz Josef. Assembled into two groups of 12 for the afternoon walk the first part of the climb was straightforward but as we approached the glacier, we encountered the start of some 600 steps taking us up the steep sided rock face skirting the glacier. After a number of stops we finally reached the glacier entry point, where we put on an extra clothing and crampons on our boots. The hike up the glacier itself was nowhere near as impressive as our Mount McKinley Alaska experience four years ago, but it felt good to be on the jagged ice, some of it blue. After taking numerous pictures along the way, we retraced our footsteps in the now dwindling light accompanied by a light rain shower. As the views of Mount Cook were by and large obscured by low mist we returned to our B&B and later that evening had an excellent meal at The Plateau Café with what later turned out to be the best fillet steak during the holiday.
Fox Glacier - Kaikoura
The H6 coastal route continued to be interesting and varied as we passed Franz Josef and towards Greymouth for an overnight stop near Shantytown. We stopped off at Hokitiki to visit a Kiwi Centre, which would have been interesting if we could have seen the kiwis.... This was put to rights when later visiting a centre at Rotorua.
South of Westport was very scenic, parts of the coastline were hazy due to the permanent sea spray from the many wide sandy blustery bays. Along the way we came across Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki, unique to that part of NZ, rock formations built up some 35 million years ago of limestone layers, similar to stacking slate. and well worth the stopover. The scenery changed again as approached Westport and moved away from the west coast through the Paparoa Mountains eastwards. Now deep gorges, wide rivers and dense forestation the journey was continually varied. Around 15km from Springs Junction we stopped off at a remote motel around 2pm to enjoy a relaxation in the outdoor thermal pools. Apart from the pesky flies, it was very soothing and a different experience to that enjoyed at the Halcyon Springs in BC Canada 2004. The latter was more preferable but this was unique and quiet. The rest of the 430km journey to Kaikoura was fairly tiring as the road in many parts was windy and demanded appropriate concentration. Mountains came and went, as did rolling hillside, farms, trees with leaves changing colour as Autumn approached.
Kaikoura - Blenheim
Our main reason for visiting Kaikoura was for the Whale Watch trip. However, the weather had become blustery overnight and we had been told that the tour was postponed. On checking later with the operator the swell was down to 2m and was now back on. Thinking that was OK, we agreed to go ... bad move. The boat was a cruiser with a 40 knot capability and even at 25 knots you felt every wave. All was well until the boat stopped to view albatross and by then the pitching was too much for my stomach to handle ... consequently exit one cooked breakfast big time. I managed to miss the close up of a sperm whale, it's dive, the pod of dusky dolphins, NZ Fur Seals etc etc!!. The trip was shortened due to the weather conditions but at least Lynn got to see some of the wildlife that had been promised on this trip. The 130km journey to Blenheim was not noteworthy, save for one spot just north of Kaikoura where we saw hundreds of NZ Fur Seals on a cluster of rocks, with the seal pups playing in the rock pools as children would.
In Blenheim we visited Lawsons Vineyard, where we had an excellent welcome by a cheery lady and seven wines to sample, not a bad start for 10am.... Next was the Aviation Heritage Centre at Omaka opened in late 2006, pioneered by the producer of 'Lord of the Rings' This was an excellent museum, full of quality memorabilia in spacious and creative setting with a good number of WW1 vintage and replica aircraft, many of them having flown at some point in their life. We managed two other vineyards, Highfield Estate and Kathy Lynskey The latter had an interesting selection of wines from a small producer, the former had an Mediterranean style observation tower overlooking the extensive vineyard. We also called in at the chocolate factory producing similar style to Thornton's Continental, but much more costly! The final trip of the day was to Renaissance Brewery where we had a five glass sampling tray for $15. The beers were quite different to UK, more gassy, lighter fruitier flavoured apart from two that were chocolate/liquorice malted.
Having taken an early decision to fly from Blenheim to Napier to quickly get us someway up the North Island, we arrived at the small regional airport only to find the flight had been cancelled! After a short reschedule we eventually got on a flight to Wellington and onwards to Napier arriving two hours later than planned. That said, it was a nice experience just to get on a small regular service plane manned by friendly staff and no more trouble than boarding a bus - no frills, no painful security checking - just get you there service.
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