Bevan the Big Kit Camper goes for a tootle around NZ's south island

[bPeteb]

We followed the road we’d already driven back to Wanaka




and again got a terrific site as walk-ins at Wanaka Lakeview Holiday Park Wanaka Lakeview Holiday Park - Wanaka Accommodation



site 224 maybe





Finally had the opportunity to sit in the van on the bed with the doors open. What a view!






Nearly every campground we’ve stayed at looks to have used the lockdown to upgrade their facilities. Wanaka Lakeview is not new but its kitchen/dining/bathrooms definitely are.

 

[bPeteb]

A walk along the lake with a nice sunset before beers and dinner at Water Bar Restaurant | Water Bar wanaka | Wanaka










Another first for us - pork belly ends. Yum, again

 

[bPeteb]

Day 15 Wanaka to Lake Pukaki

Another day with a bit of a where will we stay question to be answered.

Very cold night with a decent frost.





Made great use of the super good kitchen. I’ll say it again. What a great view from our site and the park in general. I understand why so many people like Wanaka so much.

 

[bPeteb]

Initially bAl wasn’t a yes to visit Aoraki again but he now says he was. The issue was he still wanted to free camp and I wanted a powered site and heating. Two free camps to consider - the DOC site at Aoraki up at Whitehorse and another somewhere at the other end of Lake Pukaki. I wasn’t keen on either. My vote was for Glentanner on the shore of the lake but much closer to Mt Cook village.

The drive to Aoraki








pulled in to Twizel and a couple of food vans, one selling coffee, the other bacon butties. Perfect!





glorious Lake Pukaki

 

[bPeteb]

Whatever we chose we were going to Aoraki to walk.

Lake Pukaki. Bluest of blues. That word yet again - spectacular no matter what way you look. To add to the actual landscape, what another amazing day.








We parked at Whitehorse and started up the Hooker Valley trail. My initial assessment of the camp ground - absolutely bloody not. Snow everywhere and more forecast for tonight. No, no, no.

 

[bPeteb]

I’d read the DOC description of the walk Hooker Valley Track and it read pretty easy but again a little outside my one hour limit if three hours is more than one It took us less than three hours including many stops and a very necessary visit to the loo on the return.

What a terrific walk. What amazing scenery.

 

[bPeteb]

bAl amused us both with his little snow people

 

[bPeteb]

we found some very funny snow people at the end of the track. The round one had clearly lost it's head and someone had decided to make it an all in one




It was really cold by the time we finished the walk




so it was two votes for Glantanner. No problem getting a powered site - again, pick your own. Only three other campervans when we arrived.



We came back from a walk down to the lake






and someone had chosen to park less than three metres from us. Out of the 50 odd empty sites, they chose the site right beside us. Someone else did the same to one of the other vans not far away from us. Clearly the concept of space and privacy isn’t understood by some travellers.

 

[bPeteb]

Enough of yet another whinge.

Stay here. It’s beautiful. It looks across Lake Pukaki. The alps are all around it. It has a common room off the amazingly well stocked kitchen (with lots of previous traveller stuff for use) with a fire that the staff of Glentanner make sure is lit and pumping out heat.





We finally cooked up the salmon and pasta we’d bought in our first shop. It was delicious considering it was nothing more than the salmon, pasta, a tin of tomatoes with herbs and some olive oil.



Sat and played cards and drank a bottle of pinot bought from the shop when we’d arrived. Witnessed another beautiful sunset looking right back at Aoraki that looked far better in real life

 

[bPeteb]

Day 16 Lake Pukaki to Lake Tekapo

Breakfast with quite the view




Glentanner offders both helicopter and fixed wing tours



We hadn’t had time to visit the Edmund Hillary Centre at The Hermitage the afternoon before so after breakfast drove back up to Aoraki. Lots of ‘hotel closed’ signs around the hotel. Something was on so I called and was told the hotel complex was fully booked out for a private event. Apparently there was something on the website. I said if there was it was well hidden. Pretty poor.

Why not have a huge sign at the bottom of the drive saying ‘hotel and Edmund Hillary Centre closed’ so you don’t waste your time wandering around trying to work out what’s going on?

Whatevs. Drove back down the length of glorious Lake Pukaki




and had an early lunch at a free campsite where someone had not so wisely left a fire going




We’ve stayed at Tekapo before but gee has it changed. Couldn’t actually work out where we’d stayed until I asked someone and they explained after the tavern burnt down five years before the redevelopment began.



Dark Sky Project

 

[bPeteb]

When we’d booked at Home » Lakes Edge Tekapo Accommodation only powered grass sites were available. We added a comment if a shingle or sealed site became available we’d take it and a shingle site is what we got when we arrived. Most expensive campground of the trip - $56 but gee what a beautiful campground and what a view.



The reason for Tekapo being so busy - a marathon and a mountain bike race. It was packed!

After a beer in the sun with the ducks







we walked up the road




to Tekapo Springs - Lake Tekapo, New Zealand Definitely not Hanmer, and expensive, but it was a gorgeous afternoon and it was just so nice sitting in the sun looking out at the snow capped peaks

 

[bPeteb]

We walked into town



and had dinner at the Ramen Tekapo Thai Tekapo (Ramen Tekapo)🏔 (@ramentekapo) • Instagram photos and videos a Japanese/Thai. Love a giant jug of beer!






We’d come to Tekapo for Dark Sky Project (formerly Earth & Sky) - Stargazing in Tekapo
Dark Sky Project in Tekapo is in Aoraki Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve, the largest gold standard international dark sky reserve in the world.



We booked our Summit Experience at Mt John Observatory - Dark Sky Project
before we left home but sadly received an email while we were in NZ saying that due to operational issues at the observatory (until the day after our booking) our tour would not be possible. We could change the date, swap to the crater experience or get our money back. We’d come to see stars so we chose a partial refund and went on the Crater experience Crater Experience at Cowan's Observatory- Dark Sky Project

It was a crystal clear and perfectly still night. The night before it had been cloudy. The weather gods were on our side again.

Maybe it’s just my multi focals but they didn’t seem to work that great with the telescopes. It was pretty darn amazing to see the lines on Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn, and the huge but blurry to me triffid (?) nebula, but I got just as much just out of staring up at the incredible sky. We could have done that anywhere away from the light of town without paying for it. The Summit experience up at the Mt John observatory is what we really wanted to do and we’ll go back one day and try to do it again.

 

[bPeteb]

Day 17 Lake Tekapo to Christchurch

Another freezing night. Bevan was coated with frost.



We let him warm up in the morning sun and got ourselves packed. Another campsite with wonderful facilities. We had access to a small kitchen



and bathroom but there were also much larger versions of each the same distance away. A really beautiful campground

Best of all for us was the dump station (yep, the dump station) being just down the drive from us. We did what we needed to do - emptied the loo and the grey water and filled up the fresh water and once we’d filled the gas bottle Bevan would be ready to hand back.

Marathoners





We took the inland scenic route back to Christchurch



Stopped in Geraldine and had a wander before grabbing a sausage roll and a Belgian slice



Q Anon is alive and well in NZ. This place even had speakers outside pumping out US loony tune propaganda. Gee there are some idiots in this world.

 

[bPeteb]

Stopped in Methven for a late lunch of Blue cod and chips at the Blue Hotel, across the road from the Brown Hotel. Last weekend of the snow season so Methven was also busy as it’s the closest town to Mt Hutt.





bAl has a business in Methven that he forgot to tell me about





I’d booked another Zilch for us to drive to the airport. $16 an hour for a one way to the airport. So $32 for use of a car for two hours that you just leave in a parking space or $60 for a taxi or Uber. It’s a no brainer. Got myself a little confused on Christchurch’s one way system but eventually got to bAl at Kit’s office to say goodbye to Bevan.



He was super easy to drive. Much easier than the huge Sprinter we’d driven in Tassie last year. I suppose a similar size to the Sandpiper hired out by Cruisin’. Wheel in each corner, heaps of power. Nice gearbox. I suppose economical but we just closed our eyes each time we filled up. Cheapest we paid for diesel was $2.53, most expensive I think $2.69.

Yes the bed was too short for both of us but the mattress was way more comfortable than the Apollo Sprinter. Really high quality bedding. Great pillows. The kitchen was fully, and we mean fully, equipped including spray cleaner and dishwashing liquid. There was even salt and pepper. The chemicals for the loo weren’t an added cost like with Apollo. The loo didn’t use the fresh water supply, it had its own easy to fill tank. The aircon was super warm. The gas cylinder had clearly been overfilled after the last hire as despite us cooking and making hot drinks quite a few times the servo guy wasn’t able to get any more gas into it when we went to get it filled.



Amazingly we even got half of our bond back the afternoon we dropped the van back. We had to fight Apollo to get it back last year so the credit landed on our bill before we had to pay it.

bAl is keen to try a Little Kit and we might do that for a much shorter rental. I want to be able to stand up straight and that just won’t be possible in a Toyota Commuter conversion. We’ll see.

We drove Shaun the Zilch Ioniq over to Lyttleton and it was great to see it coming back to life. It’s taking a long time but it’s getting there.

 

[bPeteb]

Then to the airport and our last night.

The concrete shell of the hotel just stood there for years. It’s so nice to see it finished and even better to be able to stay there. A striking building both outside and in







I’d applied for and received the gold status upgrade with Accor and was given an upgrade to an executive room facing the runway. Couple of bottles of water, some chocolates and a personally written card from the hotel manager in the room.





Very interesting bathroom that was so close to working really well. Sliding panels to open it to the room. Why leave it open under the vanity though?

 

[bPeteb]

Excellent dinner up at Food Exchange







tempura goats cheese - delicious



bAl reckons his lamb was as good as at Pedro’s



My monkfish similarly very good



a bolw of expensive and unnecessary green leaves



a terrine that did not look like a terrine but was yummy nevertheless, as was bAls' dark cherry icecream



Wine list a tad expensive.

Finished the meal off with a sheep’s milk and honey gin Sheep Milk & Honey Gin 500mL 42%abv — The White Sheep Co

Varun the restaurant manager had a very difficult time getting the bottle open. He enlisted the help of the chef (open kitchen, so we watched it all) to try to get the top off. The comedy show was great and the gin was amazing, just with soda. Buy some. Better than the excellent sheep’s whey gin from Hartshorn.

 

[bPeteb]

Day 18 Christchurch to Brisbane

Two 6ish QF flights out of Christchurch, one to BNE and one to SYD. Decent queue for economy but apart from that the airport seemed quiet until we got through the very professional and pleasant security. A lot of people in the departures area. Lounge not as busy as we’ve seen it before.

They called priority boarding in the lounge and they were waiting for us when we got to the gate. I was the first person on and seated!

Service was nearly too good. Champers offered again before we took off




and then breakfast order was taken as soon as the seat belt sign went off







Personal greeting to the plats by David the csm. Nothing positive to say about the frittata. It was odd. Too much hard potato. We heard others say the same.



Peter the fa was lovely but definitely liked to be busy. I am not complaining. It’s always better to get great service than indifferent service.



Into BNE a few minutes early. Passport worked perfectly with the return eGate. Neither of us understand why people don’t pause and get a ticket from the machines before they go through to passport control. It saves so much time.

Bags out in first few. We’d declared walking in fresh water so we were sent to the quarantine line. Asked if we’d been to Indonesia - no NZ. We’ve scrubbed our shoes thoroughly. Great work guys, off you go.

Straight into a cab. From landing to cab it was no more than 20 minutes.

My UC was just ok while we were away. I couldn’t have been without access to a loo at night. Losing my breathlessness is still freaking me out in a good way.

It was a most excellent vanventure.

Off to the Mornington Peninsula in a couple of weeks for a long weekend. We’ve hired a Tesla Model 3 through Rent or test drive a Tesla in Australia l Electric car hire | evee Can’t wait to try it out.

 

[Denali]

Wanaka. Might be a summer thing to do but there is a salmon Lake to Plate nearby where you can catch your own and/or hit a really nice onsite cafe. and take away. Hubby loved the sashimi. Spent a lovely few hours watching people catch their fish while sitting in the cafe relaxing

Hook | Lake to plate fishing & pizza restaurant in Wanaka.

Catch a Salmon from our fishing lakes, then relax while our restaurant team prepares it for you! Visit Hook Wanaka today. Local beers and great Pizzas.

hookwanaka.nz

 

[VPS]

Another great TR @bpeteb - it was fun travelling around with you - Thanks

 

[Hvr]

@bpeteb thanks for an awesome TR. Great photos and words, an inspiration to us all.