New Zealand - Hokitika to Nelson

Today we made our way from Hokitika to Nelson through Westport.



First up was the beautiful milky turquoise waters of Hokitika Gorge. The water is just so unbelievably blue!










The Pancake Rocks looked like lots of little pancake stacks coming out of the water, with some really cool "mermaid hair" seaweed at the bottom of each stack that looked like long hair being swept around in the waves. The blowholes weren't blowing since the tide wasn't up high enough.





We had lunch in Westport at Donaldo's by the beach. Andrew tried whitebait for the first time, which came in a little patty but you could see the little eyes so I didn't try any even though Andrew said they didn't taste fishy at all.





The drive on the west coast was absolutely stunning. It was a tropical paradise forrest on one side, the beach on the other, and snow capped mountains in the distance. I've never seen anything like it. The drive inland to Nelson slowly saw the landscape change into country side with palm trees interchanged with lambs and cows.



Tomorrow we're heading to Picton to catch the ferry to Wellington. I'm really excited! I'm interested to see if I get sea sick for the first time.

New Zealand - Wanaka to Hokitika

Yesterday we drove from Wanaka to Hokitia with a few stop offs along the way. After a morning run around Lake Wanaka (to the tree and back) we had a quick breakfast at the motel enjoying the view of the lake then headed out towards Hass Pass, stopping of at the Blue Pools on the way.



The Blue Pools were an easy short walk from the road lined with moss covered trees. There were a couple of wobbly suspension bridges that took us to the bottom of the pools where we enjoyed the stunning blue of the water, and the serenity of the stacked rocks. There was no explanation for the stacks, but we decided to contribute to the mystery by adding a couple of stones to some stacks, and found that it was very satisfying.













Lunch at the Hard Antler in Hass Pass really hit the spot, so we only made a couple more stops (a lookout, and Fox Glacier township for a coffee) before arriving at Hokitika. The drive was really safe and beautiful, which was a relief because this is the part of the trip we were worried we might need snow chains for. Not a snow flake in sight!









We made it just in time to see the west coast sunset on the beach, which was familiar to but different from our Perth beach sunsets. The Hokitika sign, driftwood, pebbles, and recreation of a "moored ship" were a lovely foreground to the sunset, and we were pleased to find that there was plenty of parking, just like the TripAdvisor reviews suggested (the TripAdvisor reviews of Hokitika beach are unintentional comedy gold).











We picked up some pizzas from Fat Pipis Pizza, and some beer from the New World then enjoyed a cozy night in at the hotel watching Tickled with the sound of the waves crashing in the background. Tickled was wicked! I really want to watch the followup to find out more.

New Zealand - Coronet Peak, Queenstown to Wanaka

The drive to Coronet Peak was lovely and relaxing, so much more enjoyable than the intrepid drive to The Remarkables. 

When we got to Coronet Peak we went up the chair lift to the Big Easy green run. The snow was… well Andrew put it best, asking "is this even snow?" I think the answer was no, no it was corrugated ice. I guess we understood why some people call it Concrete Peak. One thing Concrete Peak had going for it was the sweeping views of Queenstown and The Remarkables. We decided it was going to be a good day regardless of the ice; the sun was up and the view was amazing.

The first couple of runs were so painful that by the end of the run my feet were completely asleep and my knees were shaking. However, after the day warmed up the ice melted into "snow" and the green run was actually really fun! We stayed from 9 until 12, and it was a great way to end the skiing part of our trip.

Next we headed to the Onsen Hot Pools, which is my favourite thing we've done so far. Honestly, how good are hot baths after a long day of skiing. We enjoyed the view of the Shotover Canyon, got to see the jet boat running, all while relaxing in our private hot pool over a beer, some Proper Crisps and chocolate. This was the most relaxed I've been all holiday.

After returning our ski gear in Queenstown and getting a cookie at Cookie Time we started our drive to Wanaka through the Crown Ranges, which was a beautiful 1 hour mountain drive. We checked into the Lakeview Motel at Wanaka then decided to walk through town and try and find the famous Wanaka tree. 

It was starting to look like another repeat of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo (which we never managed to find and are convinced doesn't really exist), but in the end we finally found it sitting quietly a few meters out into the lake. It's an OK, semi dead tree in the water, but we were a bit confused about why it was so famous given the surroundings. 

Dinner was take away Thai with lake views from our motel. I could get used to this! But I won't since we're only staying here one night.

New Zealand - Queenstown, Skiing at The Remarkables Day #3, True South Restaurant

Yesterday we made the brave decision to drive to The Remarkables rather than catch the bus. Well, Andrew made the brave decision, I mostly just did a lot of whimpering. It was a bit daunting since the view from our room showed the mountain range swallowed by clouds. The drive was very safe but was still terrifying even though the visibility and conditions were fine. I can't imagine what it's like doing it with snow chains!

The visibility on the mountain was ridiculous. It got worse throughout the day as a cloud came in, and at one point you could only see about 3 chairs in front of you on the ski lift! Andrew did another couple of lessons, and I spent the day getting in mileage on Turquoise run. I'm getting quite confident in my ability to turn even at high speeds now, but I called it at around 3:30pm when it got so cloudy that I only noticed a fallen snow boarder just in time to not trample him.







The drive down was a bit more scary than the drive up, but it was definitely all in my imagination because the conditions were fine. Most of the drive has barriers, but the scariest parts are where you're driving on the outside edge of the road, there's no barriers, and then a bus comes the other way. Andrew really enjoyed the drive even though he had to keep reassuring me throughout. When we got lower to the bottom he even noted cheerfully that if we fell of the edge then we probably wouldn't even die!



Dinner was at True South restaurant, the beautiful and awarded restaurant in the Rees hotel. There was a lot of local produce (we had the lamb leg to share as a main), and a lot of Japanese inspired dishes that fittingly reminded us of our last ski holiday in Japan. Dessert was really beautiful, my favourite part was the liquorice ice-cream that perfectly complimented the vodka soaked cherries which were very similar to Mina's visinata. A special thanks to Georgia and Krystal who gave me some NZ cash for my birthday to spend on a fancy dinner! We absolutely loved it, even though there were only three Petit Fours.









We're about to enjoy one last breakfast with the Rees Hotel view, then we're going to try a different mountain, Coronet Peak. I'm literally aching for the Onsen Hot Pools that we have booked afterwards!