Santa's In Jandals: The Holidays Way Down South
We've been a couple of home bodies making the most of our lives down in Dunedin.
After months of relentless traveling around the South Island Meredith and I were feeling ready to call a bit of a travel hiatus over the holidays so we could really get into the swing of things down here in Dunedin. There's a lot to love about this little city clinging to the edge of the world that we couldn't appreciate being out on the road three or four days a week, plus Meredith needed some actual in town time to get a job sorted out. So, the past three weeks have likely been the most relaxing of our time down here...if also the least entertaining to blog about.
But let's start with the big news: Meredith got a job, at a castle no less! After a couple weeks of solid searching, Meredith got in as a tour guide at Larnach Castle, an 1800s manor out here on the Otago Peninsula.
The first thing to know here is that you should be seriously jealous of her commute. It's 15 minutes up the high road to one of the peaks of the peninsula. Whereas our typical route to town follows the shore the high road takes off from Portobello and turns straight up; what follows is 10k of narrow, twisting, diving pavement that criss-crosses the ridge of the peninsula. On any given drive you'll see waves cresting far out in the Southern Ocean, ships cruising up and down the harbor, low clouds spilling over the mountains to the north, and sheep (oh so many sheep) occupying some of Otago's most scenic hills.
I just got my first tour of the castle with Mere as my trusty guide, and let me tell you...it pushes the boundaries of the term "castle". A large estate built on a (then) excessively remote patch of the peninsula by a wealthy gold rush banker and politician, the building was dubbed "Larnach's Castle" by the press as it grew into an increasingly elaborate display of his wealth. It certainly is an impressive home in an insane location, but I'll go ahead and say it, putting crenelations on your roof does not make your house a castle. Nonetheless, the place has been lovingly restored, after being abandoned for the better part of a century, with great original pieces, interesting historical tidbits, and some truly awesome gardens. In all, mom you'd love this place.
As for Meredith, she's picked up duty as a tour guide walking guests through the house on hour-long jaunts filled with factoids about the estate, it's construction, and it's proprietor. After that, she'll serve them one of the various forms of tea the nuances of which I'm likely never to understand. In the summer this mainly means catering to the cruise ship crowd, and yeah that's a very big factor of Dunedin summers. Given our location on Otago Harbor Dunedin is a regular stop for New Zealand cruises as the port is one of the largest and most sheltered in the country. So, while we both have to do our best to run the tourist gauntlet a couple times a week, we do get to enjoy watching the ships cruise in and out of port across the harbor every day.
The holidays down south are a different breed. There's no need for extravagant light displays, kitschy decor or ritual festivities when you're living out the best and brightest days of the year. The complete change of holiday pace certainly has helped us beat the worst of holiday homesickness, plus we've made a pretty good showing of it in our own way.
It began with a Thanksgiving feast that defied all the ingredient availability odds, we put together a huge (and hugely creative) spread that fed us in true Turkey Day spirit for a full week and a half. Then, after a couple wrapped presents had made their way to the house our roommate, Gavin, decided we needed a tree to really get us in the holiday mood. So, he tromped up the hill behind our little farmhouse and cut down a likely New Zealand pine. All in, we had a pretty good showing on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, Meredith was on top tour duty at the castle Christmas Day as several cruise ships full of tourists came to town. No matter though, I was able to slip out for a hearty Christmas surf and build up a big appetite for the spread Gavin put together for us all. In the end, it was no match for a proper white Christmas at home but we still ate a ton, gave a few presents, and laughed the night away. Isn't that what the holidays are all about? ... Even if these crazy kiwi's think that Santa wears shorts.
After all that city shopping we did over the past couple months reality has set in over how we want to break up our time here in New Zealand, and in the end, a year really isn't all that long. A little time to hang out, make friends, ride, surf, eat, and yeah even do a little work has us feeling more engaged in the Dunedin life. It's a bit of an enlightening commentary on adult life that adding a little work to your working-holiday is actually the key to feeling more satisfied. So we've made the decision to not high-tail it out of here at the end of January and will be here at least a month longer...hopefully that extra time will see me actually learn how to catch a proper wave.
South Island Select
Time goes on down south and so do the adventures. Recently we've taken off to check out Wanaka and Nelson!
I Wanaka, Do You Wanaka?
It's tough to believe that we're already creeping up on the 1/4 mark of our yearlong visas here in New Zealand, and the traveling (aka. perma-vacation) schedule hasn't abated yet. For just a couple of small islands tossed out in the South Pacific there sure is an overwhelming amount to see. With that in mind, it was never our intention to spend the whole year in Dunedin, so our city shopping continues as we aim to head to our next town at the end of January. The natural next stop? Wanaka.
Wanaka always comes up in discussions of New Zealand's best towns, and for good reason. Like it's bigger, and more hectic, sister Queenstown it sits beside a large mountain lake amongst the Southern Alps. It offers much the same access to mountain biking, hiking, skiing, and other adventurous activities a junkie like me just can't get enough of. But that's where the similarities with Queenstown end. Wanaka is far more chilled out and is truly built to support a thriving local community. Needless to say, we loved it.
The core of town is situated on an esplanade along the lakefront looking west to the mountains; we pulled right in, strolled around, grabbed a stellar breakfast, and headed out on the lake via kayak. Now Lake Wanaka is huge so we only explored a tiny portion but that was enough to head out to the very picnic-friendly Ruby Island (they have grills gassed up and ready to go out there, what's not to love?!) there we slipped under the ether with a vineyard rolling down to the shores on our left as the peaks of Mt. Aspiring Park rose in front of us. It's a tough place not to love. Side note: with the proximity to Mt. Aspiring tons of businesses were named Aspiring ______, which led to some hilarious names like Aspiring Avalanche Dogs (one day they hope to be avalanche dogs, but for now you'd better get the trained professionals).
After a rosy day one, we snuck over to the stellar campground in neighboring Albert Town for the night. We pitched the tent right along the Clutha River (which drains Lake Wanaka) in between a rope swing and a trailhead to some of Wanaka's best mountain biking trails. Clearly, I was in hog heaven.
The riding in Wanaka was one of the key selling points for me. They have several connected trail systems right outside of town that after riding for several days I just began to touch. It's not quite so lift-haul and gravity-centric as much of the riding in Queenstown, and due to the town's position in western Otago is quite dry. Much of it actually felt a lot like the smooth-sailing trails of Eagle!
In the name of doing a little area exploration, we packed up the next morning and drove north. First stop: a hike up Isthmus Peak. Well at least for me, Meredith had the much more enlightened agenda of swimming and relaxing lakeside rather than toiling under the Otago sun. And toil I did. The mountains down here may not be very tall for the most part, but man, are they steep. The view from the top paid big dividends though, with vistas over both Lakes Wanaka and Hawea as the snow-capped Southern Alps formed nearly a full circle around the shorter peak. It's important to note at NZ mountains are frequently so close together you really do have to hike to get the best views!
We finished off our sightseeing with a trip up the famous Haast Pass, the most southerly of the three major Alps-crossing passes. The road winds its way up the river that feeds Lake Wanaka as it rises up to a low, but scenic pass. Along the way are the famous "blue pools" sections of the river with white stony bottoms and utterly still waters attract every campervan within 50 miles. I'll go ahead and say it, the pools are overhyped; with so many of NZ's rivers having that iconic grey stony bottom and clear water you can get plenty of beautiful river to yourself in other places.
After a day of stressful sightseeing, we figured we deserved a treat, in the form of a trip to the vineyard we had seen from our kayak the day before. Turns out the vineyard is called Rippon, and while the tastings may be free (side note: how do I get a job hosting wine tastings?) any visit won't be complete without buying a couple bottles for later. We fell in love with their ostiner picnic wine.
Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was dinner served up from a food cart lot (or the breakfast crepe cart the next morning), maybe it was the locals coming out to play beer-league cricket in the evening, but Wanaka really felt like the kind of place we could lead a happy life. That said it is still very much a resort town with expensive rents and competitive job markets to match. All in though if the stars align we won't hesitate to move to Wanaka.
The Full Nelson
In our city-shopping mode, naturally, we asked just about every kiwi we could find which towns we should be checking out. One that consistently pops up, despite never previously being on our radar, is the small coastal city of Nelson. The phrase "If I could live anywhere else in New Zealand, it'd be Nelson" is not uncommon amongst the natives and it's hard to fault them. Nelson is situated on almost the exact opposite side of the South Island it enjoys a balmy climate (perplexingly as it's just south across the Cook Straight from the notoriously rough weather of Wellington) and is encircled by endless towering mountains and national parks (including the famed Abel Tasman park). Oh, and did I mention it's an absolute mountain biking mecca? Naturally, we had to investigate.
Now Nelson is a loooong way from Dunedin (10+ hours going the fast way) but it presented a good opportunity to check out some crucial parts of the country we haven't seen yet, namely the West Coast. We loaded up and took off right after work on a Saturday (had to make the most of my rugged 2 days on 5 days off schedule) and beelined basically right back the way we came in our last trip through Wanaka and over Haast Pass...We may be getting a little too familiar with all the routes through central Otago.
We made camp just over the top of the pass and at the beginning of the country's most scenic drives: the West Coast. It's 5 hours of New Zealand's most rugged and remote landscapes along this stretch from Haast Pass to Greymouth (the only thing resembling a city in the entire region), and it surpassed the hype. All along the West Coast, the Southern Alps descend from their highest points directly down to the Tasman Sea providing ceaseless, staggering panoramas around every bend. A highlight, as many people will tell you are the two main glaciers in the area that descend from the Mt. Cook highland areas. We took a little detour to check out the view up to Fox Glacier, it was particularly striking because the flora is quite tropical on the West Coast with palms and ferns in abundance, but you look across a valley and there is a gargantuan pile of shifting ice carving it's way thousands of meters down the mountain. That's New Zealand for you tropical and alpine all in one view.
After hours cutesy townships, remote parks, and secluded tropical beaches (enough to have us ready to come back and spend some more substantial time on the West Coast) we wound our way through the mountains to one of New Zealand's best-kept secrets: Nelson. If Dunedin's like Boulder then Nelson is like Golden. It may not rightly be called a "city" but it's a big enough town to have everything you need and then some. Indeed, while we immediately enjoyed the warm tropical breezes, light humidity, warm ocean waters (holy cow, how can the ocean be so much warmer up there?!), and mountain views the town had us seriously impressed. Walking around downtown had us debating if Nelson (at less than half the population) has a better food scene than the mighty Dunedin. It felt as though every little alley we walked down had a restaurant we wanted to try out, a key city selling point for a couple of gluttonous yanks like ourselves.
Being known as one of the country's top mountain biking destinations you can bet that I was going to line up some good rides while I was there. As my coworker from Nelson says of his hometown trails "It's all good, and there's a lot of it." Simple words that describe a simply great trail system. That said, I also encountered something I'd never seen before on these trails, "Forest Access Permits" for trail users. In practice, it means that the local mountain bike club has money to have a full-time digger for trail building and maintenance. But that also mean's that they're much more likely to carve up a whole mountainside to build a bermed out track. It runs pretty counter to my preferred system of grassroots trail development and view of cyclists as conservationists. That said there were still miles upon miles of handbuilt trails to satiate myself with, and I had only scratched the surface.
After a good couple days of camping around town, laying on the beach, hiking, riding, and debating where we were going to eat next, Nelson was looking pretty rosy as a place to hang our hats. Another key feature of this seaside town, it's cheap. All in, rents are low and jobs appear plentiful which means, unlike Wanaka, we won't need to have quite so many stars align to make the move to Nelson. The debate continues but I expect we'll head out to one of these two towns at the end of January.
In true road trip spirit you know we wouldn't just take the most direct route back home, right? Having previously knocked out Lewis Pass on our way down we figured we'd complete our tour of Trans-Alp passes and take the route over Arthur's Pass. Let me tell you, if you can only take one drive through the Southern Alps it should probably be the one over Arthur's. Much like Lewis and Haast passes the road winds up a river valley that tightens as you climb. But with Arthur's the valley closes in much tighter and you rise above treeline at the top; at one point a waterfall cascades down the roadside cliff hits a duct that then has it dump over the highway, pretty epic! It all culminates when you hit the viaduct at the top that is a serious feat of engineering swooping above scree fields as you clear the top of the pass. Oh, and once you're over it you'll enjoy a casual drive through the Craigieburn Forest whose lofty peaks are home to many of New Zealand's ski areas.
After a day of epic driving, we made camp at Rakia gorge which pretty much proves my point about the Blue Pools being overrated. The campsite sits in the gorge of a large, braided river with brilliant blue waters running over grey stones. No tourist trap needed! This spot also had the key selling point of being near a critical landmark: Edoras.
Now if you're like me, you believe that the most iconic scenes from Lord Of The Rings were the ones of Gandalf & Co galloping through Rohan over tussock covered landscapes with towering mountains shining in the background. So of course, I was excited to see the center of it all, the filming location for the capital, Edoras.
Be warned, if you go seeking this filming location it is in the middle of goddamned nowhere, but man is it worth the trip. We'd been driving up backcountry dirt roads for nearly an hour when we came over a rise and into the valley that overlooked the set. The set for the city itself was built on a small hill, called Mt. Sunday, in the middle of a wide plain surrounded on three sides by towering peaks. It immediately took the top spot for "most recognizable shooting location". We were glad to learn that LOTR fans are more than welcome to drive right on out there and climb to the top of Mt. Sunday to soak in the views from Theoden's (former) palace. On the whole, we were really impressed that they were able to build something resembling a city on that little hill, not only is it far from anywhere that could supply materials, but it was also incredibly steep. Just goes to show you the chutzpah of that went into making those films.
So here we are. Having city shopped probably as much as we will before our next move, changing to a week on week off traveling schedule, and enjoying the ever improving weather (and life) down in Dunedin. It's amazing that we're already three months in, time really does fly. That said, I'm pretty convinced it's just the summery weather down here that is saving us from real holiday homesickness. Somehow, seeing Santa decorations along the palm-lined beach doesn't beckon "home for the holidays" in quite the same way. Thanks for reading, hopefully that good god Ullr decides to hook you Coloradoans up with some good snow here soon!
Our Route:
Tips For Prospective NZ Travelers:
- The West Coast is known as a stellar drive, but it's an even better place to explore. Leave plenty of time to camp, hike, maybe even helicopter while you're there.
- Arthur's Pass is without a doubt the most scenic pass over the Southern Alps. If you can only do one, do that. Plus the drive down through Craigieburn is insane.
- Rakia Gorge campground is a fine example of what all private campgrounds should aim for. If you're in the area, stay there.
- If you're riding in Nelson you will want to get a forest access permit, and you may not see signs till you're well out on your ride. Love the system or hate it, it'll be best to snag a permit from a local shop right when you get to town.
- Ride the Dun Mountain Trail counter-clockwise (starting at The Brook and ending at the Maitai Reservoir)...I learned this one the hard way.
- The Brook campground is the better site in Nelson for mountain biking, the Maitai site is good but not quite as well located.
- Don't trust New Zealand Mexican food ever...We're pretty much ready to swear it off at this point.
- The Running Duck in Geraldine. It's in the middle of nowhere, and it has New Zealand's best burger. The gauntlet. has. been. thrown. down!
Queenstown & Down
We're really getting in the swing of things down here in New Zealand. Over the past couple weeks, we've visited the Silver Peaks for a power backpacking excursion and Queenstown for a little city shopping.
The Silver In These Near Hills.
After our success on the Kepler Track, Meredith and I wanted to keep the good backpacking mojo flowing-and put our newly purchased hut passes to good use- but we weren't quite ready to line up another big trip. Thankfully, in New Zealand, a good hike is never far away. A coworker of mine recommended we check out the Silver Peaks wilderness, which for a reserve that's just 15 minutes north of Dunedin is startlingly rugged, uncrowded, and secluded. It seemed like just the place to do a quick overnight trip.
The seclusion and lack of traffic made themselves known early on the trip as we had more trouble finding a place right in our own backyard than we've had to find anything else thus far. So much so that some bad directions from Google Maps and a few questionable decisions later we found ourselves stuck in the mud in the middle of a sheep paddock and waving down some friendly farmers for a tow out. Thus we learned a valuable New Zealand lesson, not everything on the map is there on the ground.
Once we got pulled out and got some proper directions we shot right up to the start of the trail. There's not enough traffic in the area for a real trailhead so we just left the car off the side of a logging road and put the packs on. From there we embarked on a true Kiwi hiking experience.
The Silver Peaks are not a high mountain range, but they are steep, rugged and covered in thick bush and slippery mud. For all that, they offer incredible vistas out to the ocean both east and south of Dunedin (with some handy mountains blocking the view to town to help you feel extra remote). Pair that with the fact that we were the only people on the trail, and this was shaping up to be quite the adventure.
Our plan was a simple out and back to the aptly named Jubilee Hut, under 10 km each way, just enough to have a little fun. Sounds easy enough right? The trail began by winding along through thick, overhanging bushes as we climbed higher into the mountains before we passed up onto the more exposed (more silver you could say) peaks. It seemed to be a cakewalk of a day until we came across the final ridge and upon the ominously named "Devil's staircase".
I've wondered quite a bit in recent days how many Devil's Staircases there are in the world, and which one is the most difficult to contend with. Well, this one certainly makes a strong case for itself. After a day of winding along gently sloping ridges and over low peaks the trail plunged seemingly straight down a steep valley wall, all the while Jubilee Hut shone proudly hanging up on the far side. The angle of the trail must deter most hikers because not only did things get steep, they also got pretty undeveloped with a fair amount of bushwhacking to be done. Nonetheless, with some careful negotiation and sore feet, we arrived at Jubilee (both physically and metaphorically).
One of the reasons we were interested in an obscure out and back trip like this was to see if we liked backpacking more than car camping, given the right conditions. Jubilee may well have been the ideal conditions. It's a small hut (10 bunks all in one room with the kitchen and lounge) but quite new, with good facilities and killer views up several valleys. That we were the only people in the joint was just the cherry on top.
The next morning we awoke to a significant change in the weather; low clouds had moved in overnight and began a slow drizzle in the early hours. We didn't mind much though as we had no firm agenda and the low clouds made for some very cool views up the valleys. It was awesome to feel a world away in a place that's so close to home.
Once the rains passed we hit the trail, appreciating cool temps and misty views along the way. About halfway up the Devil's Staircase we hit cloud level and started one of the most otherworldly stretches of hiking I've ever experienced. You see, Silver Peaks is known for its rugged vistas but also for its wind-sculpted rock outcroppings (the locals call them obelisks, even though they're all naturally carved). So, as we hiked along one strange and foreboding rock formation after the next loomed out of the mist as we trekked our way through the still silence of the clouds. It's the sort of outdoor experience you can't really plan or pay for, and after all that we still made it home in time for lunch.
Not bad for a week of sticking around the new hometown.
Feels Like Home.
While we are loving our new city we do know that we won't want to spend the whole year down here in Dunedin. So we're taking a proactive approach and doing a little city shopping here on the South Island to see what other towns have to offer. A natural place to start, if only to check it off the list, was the adrenaline (and tourist) capital of New Zealand, Queenstown.
As is becoming the norm on our longer trips we took off Sunday morning and headed off inland. In a straight shot, Queenstown is only about 3 hours away (it is in the same Otago region after all) but we really weren't in any rush and central Otago is actually Rohan, so we decided to take a longer route. We turned off the beaten path out into farms and rolling hills, quintessential tussock, and stony outcroppings soon surrounded us. It turned out to be a bit of an adventure to get to the actual LOTR shooting locations, as while all the landscape around us looked like Rohan the film crew needed big panoramas without any roads off in the distance. A few closed roads and an encounter with Meredith's new bearded farmhand crush later we reached the lake where several scenes were filmed (you'll recognize it in the pictures). It was pretty interesting to see shanties built around a lake in such a remote area without much to offer, but there they were, living the New Zealand countryside dream.
That evening we headed off to the quiet town (if you can even call it a town) of St. Bathans, which readily supplied a nice camping spot and a photogenic lake (Blue Lake for the curious) for a quick morning stroll. From there we hopped on the highway to complete our journey checking out the mountain towns of Alexandra and Cromwell on the way. From Cromwell (which we loved for its small-town vibe and killer lakeside locale) things take a turn for the scenic as the road heads up the Kawarau Valley, the mountains rise up, vineyards cover every inch of arable land, as the river carves an ever-deepening gorge below. We had hopes of finding the shooting location for the Pillars Of The Argonath scene, but had to settle for watching some bungee jumpers just down river from the spot as the depth of the gorge makes it pretty inaccessible. The bungee jumping operation, however, was just a little taste of what was waiting in Queenstown, it was thrill-focused and very well run, but completely tourist centered and expensive as hell. At $260 a jump we decided to keep our wallets in check for now.
Once past the gorge, it was just a quick jaunt into the heart of Queenstown, a bustling outdoor mecca that represents the core of the South Island to many tourists. It's nestled up in the mountains right along the shore of the stunning Lake Wakatipu with views up to drastic, bare peaks in every direction. It's a busy resort town with more luxury packed in than we've seen anywhere else in the country. Take Frisco make it a bit bigger, right on the lake, move the mountains a little closer in, add a dash of Aspen flash thrown in for good measure, and you've got Queenstown. Basically, it felt like home.
We quickly learned that there is no real offseason in Queenstown its low elevation means that town dries out and gets relatively warm well before the ski season wraps up. We arrived mid-week, early spring and town was absolutely hopping. What can you expect for a place where you can ski, mountain bike and swim in the lake all in one day? We battled the traffic and grabbed some lunch downtown, where we learned that the bar scene has most ski towns beat by a long shot. After a quick stroll around the Queen's Gardens overlooking the lake, it was time to jet out and find our camping spot just outside of town.
Since Queenstown, naturally, is insanely expensive to stay in we were psyched to make the nearby, and incredibly scenic, Moke Lake our home for the next couple nights. Just 20 minutes away from all the bustle and congestion of town the campsite was welcome refuge sitting on a small lake ringed by mountains. It was so pleasant that we actually stayed two nights there, that's a first!
From Moke we packed up and headed out the next morning towards the small town of Glenorchy for another of New Zealand's most iconic drive. From Queenstown the highway dips, swerves, and teeters on the edge of the lake as the mountains rise up and grow more drastic all the way. It's dubbed the "road to paradise" for a reason (pay no attention to the fact that there's a little township called Paradise along the way). It was a stunning drive but paled in comparison to what we had on deck next, a powerhouse day hike on the Routeburn Track.
Routeburn is another of New Zealand's great walks and like Kepler is known for its high mountain scenery. The whole area is ripe for extended backpacking trips with countless fiords and hanging valleys in every direction, even if the Routeburn itself does get a bit overrun. With no packs to hold us back, we took off like lightning and made short work of the distance to the first hut. It's amazing how fast you can hike with just a daypack. The trail switched back and forth through unspoiled beech forest offering only brief glimpses up to the towering peaks all around. That was until we hit the first hut where the forest gave way and offered jaw-dropping views up three different glacier-carved valleys.
Since we'd made such mince-meat of a whole day's worth of backpacking trail we decided to push on and tackle the climb to Routeburn Falls Hut. We left the open valley floor and wound our way up to perhaps the most audacious hut in New Zealand. It's a Great Walks hut so of course, it's large and well equipped, but the audacity of the hut lies in where it sits. Perched on the edge of a cliff with its namesake Routeburn Falls rushing right by and plunging into the valley below the hut offers spectacular views down the valley. Once more we were treated to the benefit of springtime runoff as every cliff face seemed to have a waterfall streaming off it. Overall, not a bad spot for lunch.
Also at Routeburn Falls, we had our first peek at the infamous lodges for the guided "Ultimate Hikes" that have brought a whole new dimension to the Milford and Routeburn Tracks in recent years. Basically, they took these iconic hikes and pimped them out with upscale lodges and made it so that (for a couple extra grand) you can do a multi-day trek with just a daypack. The lodge at the falls did not disappoint. It was a sprawling complex located right next door to the DOC hut, and from what we could see looked pretty swanky inside. That said, we left feeling like not having to cook, clean, or haul packs would take a bit of the adventure out of the trip and would result in a lot of downtime in the lodge each day. I'm sure I'd be singing a very different tune if I could actually afford one of those trips though.
The next morning we began a busy day as Queenstowners with a steep, yet rewarding, hike up Queenstown Hill to overlook the town and surrounding mountains. We then tried on some of the local "Mexican" fare only to continue to be disappointed once again in our hunt for good Mexican (I don't blame the chefs, legit Mexican ingredients are next to impossible to come by down here), took a stroll around historic, nearby Arrowtown, and took a dip in the cleansing waters of Lake Wakatipu. It's funny how we're staring to feel like 72 degrees is super hot and calls for a dip in a high mountain lake.
Since we were city shopping we decided to pony up and stay one night in town to get a little bit better feel for the nightlife in Queenstown. It felt a whole lot like Vail, with touristy places clearing out early and the local holdouts filling right up even on a Wednesday night. That said, we had some killer cocktails and saw how a good life could be made in Queenstown. In the end though, we've got a couple more spots we need to check out before we decide where to hang our hats next.
Our Route:
Tips For Prospective NZ Travelers:
- In hindsight, this is quite obvious but in New Zealand there are many paper roads (read: not real roads) that show up on Google Maps if you ask it for specific, obscure directions that you need to watch out for. You may need to cross farm gates occasionally, but if it looks like you're going into a paddock, you probably are. Consider rethinking your route.
- AA membership does not cover getting your car stuck, just be aware if you're thinking that's a plus of membership. It's not.
- Related to the above, many roads in New Zealand are seasonal and may be closed due to winter weather or to let ewes lamb. Just be ready to revise your route when you run into inconvenient closures, also I've been surprised at out-there, backcountry roads I've been able to find closure information on just by googling.
- Moke Lake is the silver bullet spot you're looking for to camp close to Queenstown. It may be $13pp but that beats any price in town by a long shot, plus it's beautiful...all just 20 minutes away.
- Not sure why you'd choose the Routeburn Flats Hut over the Falls Hut, but the Falls Hut is far superior and seriously audacious in its construction.
- There's not really a meaningful off-season for Queenstown (yes, Christmas will be the busiest), if you go it will be hopping, just be prepared.
Welcome, This Is Our Farmhouse
After our epic-country spanning road trip we did a little local journeying and settled into a farmhouse by the sea.
Can't find a place to live? Screw it, go camping.
In all honesty, house hunting did not (at first) go terribly smoothly in our new hometown of Dunedin. Perhaps it was excessively optimistic to think that people would be trying to fill rooms mid-term in a college town. So, after several uninspiring days of hunting and burning money at Airbnbs, we decided to do what we do best and take to the country.
Thankfully, Meredith was chomping at the bit to one-up my kick-off road trip planning and laid out a stellar four-day trip around our new backyard. Whatsmore, thanks to lessons hard-learned on the road down here, and a little help from the awesome blog Fresh Off The Grid (seriously if you're going car camping check these guys out), she was also able to seriously step up our campsite culinary game.
So off we headed deep into the heart of Southland to likely the most remote campsite we will be able to access by car, Piano Flats. It was a stunning site, isolated, surrounded by lofty peaks, banked by a crystalline stream, and absolutely fucking overrun with sandflies. Surprisingly, this was our first encounter with the little bitches (we've since learned that the carnivorous ones are the females so yeah, bitches.) and we were caught completely unprepared. Hence we learned an invaluable NZ lesson: bring good bug spray with you everywhere you go.
On the optimistic side, sandflies: don't make noise when they fly around, don't have any interest in your food, don't hurt when they bite, and go to bed at night. On the negative side: they're everywhere, they want to eat you alive, and according to Maori legend they were created by the goddess of the underworld to remind people of their own mortality (a theory we now wholeheartedly endorse).
On the whole sandflies and rain had us beating a speedy retreat from an otherwise epic camping site to head back to Gore (the apparent 'Brown Trout Capital Of The World') to arm ourselves for these new conditions and regroup before we headed to our next spot on the Dunsdale Reserve.
Dunsdale in many ways embodies the beauty of camping in New Zealand to this day. A beautiful, isolated spot, hiking options right by, no fees, and not another soul to be found. It's this ease of access to peaceful isolation that I think will have us constantly heading back into the wilderness all throughout our time down here.
From Dunsdale we headed the scenic way south through an area that's mostly off the beaten track despite being basically on Dunedin's back doorstep, called The Catlins. This wildlife reserve encompasses some of the country's densest temperate rainforest and actually surrounds the southernmost tip of the island. We were a little early on the season for The Catlins so we got an especially solid dose of the RAINforest aspect, but the beauty was inescapable.
We saw the scenic vistas on Porpoise Bay, hiked the many-tiered McLean Falls, got very familiar with the small town of Owaka (and it's chief tourist attraction Teapot Land), checked out the seals at Nugget point, and proved the value of a New Zealand Automotive Association membership. It was an awesome couple of days, as I'm sure you'll see in the pictures, but most of all we're excited to head back in the heart of summer to see a whole new side of this remote area.
Our house, in the middle of a farm.
In all, it seems as though taking a quick camping trip was just the right balm for our lack of housing burn. Upon returning to Dunedin we trekked out to a suburb called Portobello on the Otago Peninsula to a farmhouse with which we promptly fell in love with and immediately moved into.
Otago Peninsula itself is a sight to behold. Dramatic green hills wind into Otago Harbor with remote beaches and endless rare wildlife from Dunedin to the albatross colony at Tairoa Head. Portobello township lies about 3/4 of the way out, and as my boss warned me ahead of time it takes about twice as long as you would think to drive into town on this side of the harbor. That's because the drive out is an absolute hoot. Two lanes barely 5 feet above the surf, winding back and forth along the shoreline. I'm sure we'll eventually get sick of it, but not quite yet.
We moved into an old farmhouse right on the water just outside of the Portobello township with a northlander named Gavin. He's a 28-year-old physics doctoral candidate at the University of Otago, and as we like to say he's 28 going on 68. The man could not be a more classic farm man if he tried, but goddamn if he doesn't know how to keep a nice home.
The home itself is simple. Heated by a log-burning stove, with windows facing the harbor, and positively surrounded by flocks of sheep (the lambs of which you may have seen in recent videos) it is a New Zealand farmhouse to the umpteenth degree. Classical music plays over the radio as the sun streams in through the large windows. A place more given to reading, drawing, and making large meals than it is to watching TV or browsing the internet, it is undoubtedly a peaceful place to live.
Tourists In Our Own Hometown.
With our first proper time off since landing in New Zealand Meredith and I decided it was time to give traveling a bit of a break. So, we played tourist in our new hometown. That meant doing the classics like visiting the public art gallery, having wine and cheese night in the botanic gardens, taking a million pictures at the famous Tunnel Beach, driving the world's steepest paved street (holy shit they weren't kidding, we were legitimately concerned the RAV might not make it up), and spending a good deal of time exploring the coves and vistas of the Otago Peninsula.
But we also did some local exploring while we had the time. We visited the nearby Waipori Falls and the neighboring town of Mosgiel. Suffice to say, while coastal Otago may feature prominently in many guidebooks it is a striking, and stunning place to call home.
Our Route
Tips For Prospective New Zealand Travelers
- You've heard it before. Sandflies are here, they are a problem, don't get caught out without insect repellant.
- If you're buying repellant in NZ pharmacies are the places to look, rather than grocery stores or gas stations (bonus: they'll also have anti-itch cream if you ignored tip #1).
- The bucolic green grass of many campsites is tempting for Colorado campers like us, but these fields aren't always the best spots. Look for elevated patches under trees to stay dry.
- Joining the AA (New Zealand Automotive Association) will save you if you're driving around an old beater like us. Buck up and spend the money, their response time is insanely fast even in remote areas.
- If you'd like to get a New Zealand drivers license while you're down here so you don't have to carry around your passport to get drinks make sure it was issued more than 2 years ago, otherwise you'll need to get a copy of your driving history from the DMV (aka. a living nightmare).
As Far South As South Goes
We kicked off our New Zealand adventure with a trip to the south, the deep south. All the way from Auckland to Dunedin.
A Few Days In Auckland To Get Us Started
Our adventure began with likely the easiest international flight we will ever experience, no joke. Meredith will be sure to expound on the virtues of the Air New Zealand Sky Couch to all within earshot, for good reason. We slept a solid 9 hours of the flight, leaving just enough time to drink a few free Steinlagers, watch a movie and fill out our customs forms. The funny thing about flying around the world, at least this way, is that between sleeping on the plane and a 6 AM arrival time, you weirdly wind up back on the right schedule.
The first 5 days off the plane were to be spent in Auckland with two major points on the agenda: sightseeing, and (somewhat more critically) car shopping. On day one we really proved that while Auckland may have unparalleled levels of suburban sprawl you really can walk around most of downtown in one day. We shacked up with the Airbnb hostus-with-the-mostus, Phil. A designer whose company and trendy place in Grey Lynn made us question why we were in such a rush to get out of the city. On our sightseeing adventures, we got some good time down by the harbor, checked out some sweet art galleries (including the stunning Toi o Tamaki gallery with Phil), and (unsurprisingly) fell in love with the Ponsonby neighborhood- Auckland's RiNo Arts District (TM).
Unfortunately, a good portion of our time in Auckland was spent in used-car-buying hell. We spent a truly unseemly amount of time learning the city's transit system as we visited far-flung suburbs around the area on the hunt for my ever-sought-after Toyota RAV4. I'll spare you the nitty-gritty details, but after rounds of test driving and mechanic inspections we bought a beautiful, cerulean 1995 RAV; we named her Baarbra Ann, and she has yet to miss a beat.
With our new whip loaded up with our heaps of bags (how exactly does one pack for a year of traveling?), it was time to bid the big-city adieu and begin our trek south.
A Verdant Route Down The North Island
First stop, naturally, for any new kiwi explorers. Hobbiton. Yes because we had to, and yes because it was awesome, but also because we weren't sure we'd make it back that far north in our travels. The movie set is just an hour south of the city so it made a pretty good first stop. They have that place running like a clock. Coach buses cart tours on the half hour to the guided jaunt around all the hobbit holes, where you sadly learn that, yes, it is just a movie set. Not much more than a bunch of round doors stuck in the hills. For all that, though there were great touches around every corner, and we got to learn how much of dick Sir Peter Jackson really is on set (Meredith says "he's just PARTICULAR!"). At the end of the tour, they bring you into the immaculately done Green Dragon Inn for a pint of their exclusively brewed beer. We stepped into the inn right as it started pissing down rain, which really added a nice touch to the experience.
Our first night out of the city we decided to ease into the whole camping thing and stayed at the Waikite Hot Springs outside of Rotorua. A mistake, it was not. Turns out September really is winter still in New Zealand and things got a bit chilly. Luckily our tent was pitched next to steaming pools for us to chase away the chill in.
The next day we took a true turn off the beaten track as we headed through Te Urewera (Maori for 'burnt penis', no joke) National Park. This little escapade took us into some of the North Islands highest mountains and past a truly spectacular lake. It also took us far away from sealed roads, into the depths of an unreal hailstorm, and into a full appreciation for our trusty new 4wd whip. I foolishly had thought we might actually be able to camp up there, but the reality of weather sent us quickly scurrying for lower elevations. In all, we wound up at the gorgeous Lake Tutira Campground (arguably the best campsite we've visited) where we got to look back at the snowy mountains rather than sleep in them. Let's chalk that up as a win.
From Tutira we blazed trail south through Hawke's Bay and down to the southern tip of the North Island. After a quick visit to the Martinborough wine region, we headed to the Putanguira Pinnacles. Ya know, the place where Aragorn walked into the mountain to meet the army of the dead? Yeah, we were picking camping spots based on LOTR filming locations - what of it?! It was a cool spot where we earned a healthy amount of respect for the amount movie magic can accomplish (read: it looked nothing like the movie). It all kind of paled in comparison to the next day though where we went to the true southern tip at Cape Palliser and Meredith had a chance to enter seal nirvana with the local colony. It's not every day you get to see seal pups splashing around in a tide pool, the lighthouse in the background was just for bonus scenery points. After that, it was off to lunch in Rivendell (shooting location) where we gained even more respect for movie magic and a fair bit of wonder at the NZ governments willingness to say "Sure Peter, you can cut all those trees down for that shot". Basically, it was sightseeing until we headed to our Airbnb in Wellington.
Wellington, well what can I say? Meredith will tell you it's like if Seattle and San Francisco had a kid, but that kid was a little person. We loved the harbor town in the short time we were there, and we'll likely head back at some point. Very scenic, very hilly, with a ton to see and do in a very small space. We headed out to the (kind of bogus) Weta Workshop tour to get even more of our LOTR nerd on. But even the guide there pointed us in the right direction to Te Papa, The Museum Of New Zealand, where the latest exhibit Gallipoli was causing quite a stir.
Us uneducated yanks quickly learned that Gallipoli was kind of the breaking point for New Zealand and Australia from the British Empire during World War I. Where poor decision-making by British generals cost thousands of Kiwi and Aussie lives in an ultimately pointless, and failed, campaign. To bring this story to life the team at Weta took stories from the battle and recreated the soldiers in stunning detail. And at three times human size. In each room , you'd marvel at these physically larger than life sculptures as their story was told. Even for two people who'd never even heard of the battle it was a powerful experience, and the best museum exhibit either of us had ever seen.
We filled the rest of our time in Wellington sampling local craft brews, putting the finishing touches on our camping supplies and getting ready to take the ferry south.
Sunny Days On The South Island
The Cook Strait ferry crossing is quite the experience in itself. We booked on the early morning sail and arrived with Baabs loaded before the sun was up. The ferries are huge so they'd spent hours before loading passenger cars putting a line of semis onto the parking decks. We just zipped right on and headed up to the passenger deck for the crossing. We luckily got a very calm day with only enough clouds to add a little visual interest to the view. The crossing takes 3.5 hours and only a little more than an hour of which is actually out in the straight, turns out it's not that far between the islands and ambitious folk swim it like the English Channel. The rest was spent navigating the lovely Wellington Harbor, and more notably cruising the awesome Marlborough Sounds to Picton.
After stocking up in Picton we headed into Marlborogh Sounds National Park proper for a doosy of a drive and some spectacular views. Getting anywhere in the sounds takes way longer than one might think when looking at a map, as the roads wind endlessly down the walls of the glacier-carved sounds. Not that we minded, the views around every bend were unreal. Unfortunately, after a clear morning, a heavy storm moved in which sent us running to a backpackers hostel. On the plus side, we wound up in the lovely Mistletoe Bay with a whole house to ourselves and a fire to cozy up by as we thanked our lucky stars that we decided not to brave the rain.
The next day would likely be the most stunning drive of our road trip south. From all the way up in the sounds (basically the northernmost tip of the island) across the Southern Alps and down to the little mountain town of Hanmer Springs. The morning was spent traversing the famous vineyards of the Marlborough region as they reached higher and higher into the hills. A quick lunch at some roadside falls, and we drove up and over the range nearly all the way to snow line before heading to Hanmer for a little warmer camping.
In the morning we got back on the road and strategically took the scenic inland route avoiding Christchurch for more epic vistas of the snowy mountains and VERY Rohan-ish plains. We were really putting the pedal to the metal in trying to keep to our timeline, so mostly we were driving, soaking in the sights, and making pages of notes on trips we would make once we had our home-base setup.
Finally, after two weeks on the road, we arrived at our new hometown of Dunedin, Otago. A college town at the end of the incredibly scenic Otago Harbor near the southern tip of the island. It's a fun town surrounded by stunning (albeit cold) beaches and rolling hills, plus it puts us in a great place to venture around the South Island on long-weekend trips.
So, that's the plan. Work a couple days in a row and then get out of dodge, taking 3-4 day trips to every corner of the island. We'll be taking plenty of pictures along the way and my goal is to keep you updated about every two weeks with where we've gone and what we've seen. More to come very soon!
Our Route
Tips For Prospective NZ Travelers
In case (by some miracle) you stumbled upon my blog and are traveling to New Zealand, here are some insights we've learned along the way:
- If you're on a Working-Holiday Visa, really all you need in hand is your visa to get through customs. Even then it's all computerized so you might not even need that much.
- In customs, you'll hear that they want to take a look at your camping equipment. Declare it all, even if they bring it in for further inspection it only takes like 20 minutes. Also, pack it so it's easy to take out.
- Ubers are WAY cheaper than taxis here, at least in Auckland and Wellington where they currently operate.
- Kiwi Bank will let you open an account from them while overseas, and while it is a pain in the ass it's actually easier than doing it once you're here and have no permanent address. Sidenote: Kiwi Bank is a branch of the NZ postal service so all their branches are in Post Shops, it's weird but actually really convenient.
- When you do need to have items sent to you while you're moving around you can do counter delivery at NZ Post Shops. It works quite well actually. I did it to get my ownership paperwork for the car, worked like a charm. You can even pick a post shop for a place you will be and just roll in when you arrive.
- It takes way longer than you'd think to drive anywhere. Add 1.5-2 hours to any day-long drive from the Google Maps estimate.
- Related, download all of NZ map data to your offline Google Maps while you have wifi. You won't have service in many places.
- September is still winter down here, it will be rainy and pretty cold. Duh.