It’s strange how the weather on this trip has been just right for some activities and just wrong for some! Our enjoyment of the vistas of the Coromandel Peninsula had been diminished a bit by the rain, but we saw a different side of it. On this first day of 2011 I was able to enjoy wonderful panoramas of Lake Tekapo and later of Mount Cook from Lake Pukaki, yet the weather the following day was such that I was advised not to venture up to Mount Cook Village but to move towards Dunedin. That was a disappointment, but as I drove through the highways and byways towards Dunedin even on the east coast the skies were grey and some of the photographs I took at the Marbles look as though they were captured in black and white, though they were actually in full colour! More about them later.
Although everyone who has visited New Zealand has raved about the country I was surprised to find such variety so close together and found it difficult to be the driver with no photographer in the passenger seat: maybe I need to find a chauffeur for my next adventure! Then I can concentrate on being the photographer!! As it was I either used the small Canon and shot from the car or pulled off the road and got the Nikon out. I confess I deliberately kept it out of reach when I was driving as I knew I would be tempted to use it…. willpower! Fortunately, Lake Tekapo had plenty of viewpoints and there was parking near the Church of the Good Shepherd, a small stone built church completed in 1935, the first in the Mackenzie Country, described by Wikipedia as probably one of the most photographed churches in New Zealand. It reminded me of the tiny St. Govan’s Chapel in Pembrokeshire that we used to walk to as children and its window with the central altar cross and lake view took me back to the church on the Mount of Olives whose altar cross can be superimposed over the Dome of the Rock.
Because tourist numbers in the Christchurch and Canterbury Region have been depleted as a result of the earthquake and aftershocks Lake Tapeko was the first place where I found myself fighting for roadspace with the multitude of rented campervans that are everywhere as tourists opt for the ability to park overnight in lakeside or coastal laybys as well as in the huge number of camp sites available throughout the island.
The splendour of the scenery in this area was such that I would happily have spent a night in the open!! However, rain was forecast and I was driving a car not a camper, so settled later for a hotel in the small town of Twizel.
I had just begun to make that decision when I saw a whole queue of cars and campervans pulling off the road ahead of me. We were on a slight incline and, looking to the right, I realised why everyone was stopping. As they rounded a corner and drove up the hill, Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain, had come into view and the whole mountain range seemed to be totally covered in snow. It was glorious!
Honestly, I could have stopped many more times, but resisted! There were miles to be covered!!
I reached the small town of Twizel around 6.00p.m. and headed for the filling station to ensure that I had fuel for the morning – everyone seemed to have had the same idea and the small central area with the filling station and supermarket was heaving with people, most of whom were not local. this meant that all the accommodation was bursting at the seams, but one hotel still had rooms available and I made for that. The Mackenzie Country Inn was really comfortable, especially as they upgraded me! It was only later in the evening when I decided that the weather made it preferable to eat in the hotel restaurant than to venture back into the centre that I remembered it was New Year’s Day and slap in the middle of New Zealand’s school holidays – that’s why everyone was on the road and why the hotel was serving a buffet dinner instead of the a la carte trout I had my eye on…
One final sight from Twizel: the sky when I went back to my room was not only amazing colours but also contained amazing cloud formations:
My hopes of a day enjoying the grandeur of the Mount Cook area were dashed the next morning when the receptionist was advising everyone not to go up to the village ( a distance of about 52kms) as the weather was bad and getting worse. The glorious skies of the previous day had been replaced with low cloud, heavy rain and limited vision. I took her advice and set off towards Dunedin. Initially, I had thought I would not go that way but I wanted to see the Moeraki Marbles and also the Otago Peninsula. Dunedin seemed a good choice for overnight accommodation.
The morning’s drive was mainly through countryside and, as I had been warned, I couldn’t even find a coffee stop! So I made straight for the Moeraki Boulders. Along the way I was disappointed that the advertised Maori Cave Art was inaccessible – but didn’t fancy the idea of rock falling on me so kept travelling….
I reached Moeraki and followed the signs to the clifftop cafe and car park where there were stairs down to the long, sandy beach which is home to these unusual spherical rock formations.
Some of the images in guidebooks are lovely, with the sun reflecting on the stones – not for me, but the greyness of the scene contrasted with the liveliness of a group of tourists who were clearly enjoying themselves despite the damp and chill. A warm coffee and fish and chips put me right for the drive to Dunedin. Once again, I had not planned accommodation but it was not a concern. There is a very useful NZ AAGuide distributed free at tourist information centres and it provides complete lists and prices. Combined with the GPS facility on the phone, ipod or ipad I felt confident that I could find my way to something appropriate.
As the weather was clearing a little and the drive to Dunedin was quicker than I had anticipated, I made my way straight out to the Otago Peninsula to visit the penguin sanctuary and the albatross nesting grounds. The Otago was a surprise: basically a lump of rock jutting out from the mainland with a road build onto the edge of it. A NARROW road! Not my favourite drive – very few photos, therefore, as there were so few places to stop without being an obstacle to other drivers. I really loved being on the edge of the land, but just had a constant fear of being pushed into the water by some other careless driver: silly, I know, but nonetheless real for that, especially with some really sharp corners to be manoeuvred.
By this time, I was feeling I should find somewhere to sleep, so did a quick drive up to the albatross breeding area and then headed straight back to the city. The timing was great! The rains came as I decided on a place to stay and found it! It was warm and cosy and the waitresses in the restaurant were really welcoming and friendly, making a difference to my enjoyment of the meal which, in itself was one of the best I had in an hotel there.
Living the Journey 