Road Trip!
19 January 2019 | Inland, near Mount Cook New Zealand
Larry Green
South Island, New Zealand. One of the reasons we came back to NZ this cyclone season was we did not really have any time last year to explore this extraordinary country and committed to doing so this year. As I write this, we are about a dozen kilometers north of Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand at 3724 m. It is part of a mountain range known as the Southern Alps, which runs pretty much the length of the South Island.
Perhaps it would be better if I started at the beginning. As is usual, the boat needs some maintenance every year and we had a great experience with Bluefix marine last year, to the extent that I entrusted them to do the work required this year absent my day to day supervision. Having done that the opportunity to spend nearly a month travelling around became available, and the planning began. Several circumstances influenced our decisions on where to go and how to travel. One major influence was the shipboard animals, Buzzy and Bobby the cats. After arriving in NZ they spent 14 days in quarantine so we thought it best to take them with us. Most hotels and motels are not animal friendly so we looked into "campervans" known in the US generally as RVs or motorhomes. They are not especially animal friendly either but presented a far better opportunity to seek forgiveness instead of permission. Thus, a plan was hatched.
We wanted to visit the South Island (or as it is known locally the mainland) and our friends, Steve and Michelle who sailed with us from Fiji to New Zealand are natives of Christchurch and offered their hospitality as well as some invaluable trip planning advice. The plan that evolved included flying from Bay of Islands to Christchurch, with the cats, staying at the hostel Michelle and Steve own then picking up the campervan. The loading of luggage and animals would take place at the hostel presenting the possibility of, if necessary, seeking forgiveness. We flew to Christchurch, arriving late Tuesday evening, and started our trek south Thursday.
What we have seen so far is breathtaking. From Christchurch we drove to Methven, a small community that currently appears to prosper mostly from the skiing in winter months. Charlene has family history from the Methven located in Scotland. As her family lore includes the Great or Great Great Grandfather Lord Archibald Douglass Methven who seems to have lost the castle and his Lordship in a card game. That event prompted the family to emigrate to North America. Our visit to Methven was inspired by a desire to discover if any of the clan ended up in New Zealand. All we could determine was that Robert Patton emigrated from Methven Scotland in 1839, soon became the largest landowner in the area and named his new home after his old home. No one admits to knowing Archibald Douglass Methven or his descendants, yet it is a quaint delightful town.
From there we drove south then east to Lake Teakapo, which is in what I would consider the foothills of the Southern Alps. That drive is where the breathtaking landscape starts. It was perhaps a 4 hour drive and I don't recall passing through a single town or village, though there may have been a crossroads along the way. Cattle, sheep, deer, birds and farmland were the only sights beyond the cloud shrouded mountains, the geological remnants of volcanoes and glaciers. That is except for the occasional car or truck.
These roads are tough to drive. Especially in a campervan which is a bit wider than a full-size car and a bit longer. It is much taller so more influenced by wind. Today's drive to Mount Cook was about the same amount of time as yesterdays. The greatest difference is we could, for some of the drive see the Southern Alps with their snow-capped peaks. Along the way, off in the distance there were a couple of mountain peaks that appeared to have a cloud running slightly below the peak th the valley between the two. Turns out it was not clouds, but one of the many glaciers around here.
Tomorrow we expect to head east to a place called Oamaru, which is known to host a large population of Penguins along with other infrequently encountered wildlife. More road trip later.....