West Coast to Ohakune      New Zealand

2923-E Olney-Sandy Spring Road Olney, MD  20832 Phone: 301-774-4646 Fax: 301-774-3610

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October 9, 2000

I was probably about 2:00 PM and we headed out still not knowing our plan from here on.  Leaving north up the west coast you come upon Mount Hercules which was another Hana like road.  It might have been the worst road so far since we had stuff flying all over the back of the camper and you could hear the constant clanging of the plates and silverware in the drawers and cupboards.  We even hit our first 25 kilometer per hour speed limit signs.  We cross the Wanganui River that has a riverbed of the gray rocks but it looks like they have all been painted red.  Driving through Hokitika we have our first run in with New Zealand law.  Two police have radar set up at the end of town while leaving.  Scott is driving over the speed limit so they point to the ground three times to make him slow down.  Lucky we aren't in Singapore where he could have been caned.  New Zealand justice at it's best.  Actually that has been a huge story down here.  A habitual sex offender was let out of jail and immediately raped and killed a young journalist and was only sentenced to 18 years.  The families and pretty much everyone we have talked to are outraged.  The guy even said he didn't want to leave prison when he got out and committed the crime.  It's really a sad story.  Anyway, outside of town Scott gets behind a little old lady with a sheep skin cover over her front seat.  All we can see is a little bun bobbing back and forth.  It looks like a sheep is driving the car.  We stop in Greymouth to have lunch and a beer at the Hogs Head.  I had a seafood basket and Scott had rubber fish.  Typical pub food.  They had a rock on the bar that had written on it Please, turn me over.  When you turned it over it had written on it Agh, That's Better.  I thought it was cute.  They also had a map of the world on the wall with pins in it of hometowns of people who had been in the bar so I stuck one in Rockville's approximate location. 

 We made a quick stop at Punakaiki to see the pancake rocks and blow hole.  The walks to the pancakes are through these bright green tall thick grasses.  The pancake rocks are exactly what they sound like the erosion of the sea had made an effect that looks like stacks of pancakes.  They erosion had also formed some open topped caves that you could look down and see the blow hole effect in one spot.  The area was a lot bigger than I expected and a lot higher off the ocean some 30-40 feet in spots.  We had a long drive in front of us so didn't stay long.  We got gas in Westport where I bought a postcard that was exactly like the view we saw right down to the huge red cargo ships in port.  Heading inland the road started getting really bad just switchbacking up and down these mountains we had to get over.  We ran into a couple of spots where going around the bends of the mountains they had only built one lane roads and had mirrors up to get around the corners.  This occurred above the Buller River which was coffee with cream colored.  There were points where the tributaries would come into the river and the Buller color would win out. It was a neat contrast sort of like the Kawarau and Shotover earlier.  Driving up the river we saw the most incredible rainbow.  The rainbow started at the dark cloud level and was a full half circle.  Underneath the dark cloud level was blue skies.  Off in the distance, since we were going through mountains was a low level of fluffy blue skies that were behind a hill.  The hills had the Buller River running below.  It was a remarkable site that we followed for quite a while.  This was near our turn of between routes 6 and 69.  When we turned one corner we were right at the bottom of the rainbow but found no pot of gold.  This whole drive was just brutal.  For the third time today Scott displays his incredible psychic powers.  He says we should time how long it takes us to see a car after we spot the next one because we have not seen one in about an hour.  Five seconds later a car comes down the road.  The second time we couldn't remember exactly but I do remember giving him the why can't you use your powers for good not evil line.  I think it was when we came to one of the one lane bridges and another car had the right of way and he said I haven't had to Give Way to anyone yet.  At that point the car made a U-Turn giving in the right of way.  He was creepy this way all day.  The drive was a lot like the road that takes you up and down the New River Gorge.  We finally saw Nelson from the top of the mountains and got to Nelson about 9:15 PM.  We were told that the ride from Greymouth would be about 3 1/2 hours it was more like 4 1/2 to 5 hours even with Scott driving like a man possessed.  Every once in a while I would look over and he would be leaning into turns like he was still on the luge in Queenstown. Driving through Richmond outside Nelson we saw our first stop light since Christchurch and of course hit it. 

We arrived in Nelson at about 9:15 PM and stopped in The Victorian Rose Pub because at least there were people in there, we didn't see any more than a couple people in any other bar.  This bar stood out because of its two slogans they used on postcards and t shirts.  Number 1, "Work, The Curse of the Drinking Class" and number 2, " It's all Pretty Pointless without a Good Beer".    They also had a sign in it touting there Guinness 100 Pint Club.  We found the Brook Valley Holiday Park at some serious searching throughout town for a camper park.  They had no one there to collect money so we hooked up and planned to pay in the morning.  In the morning they still had nobody in the office to collect money.  There wasn't even a way to slip money under the door.  We gave it our best effort to pay but we are now probably wanted men in Nelson.

October 10, 2000

Today is a travel day really as we have to get from Nelson to Ohakune which is just outside Tongariro National Park and the volcanoes.  The drive from Nelson takes us through wine country.  Vineyards line both sides of the road.  We stop for gas in Havelock and Scott comes in and tells me the gas attendant was a real gentleman.  It is weird to get full service at the gas stations and the guys really are all just incredibly polite.  We tell him out plans and he says it's a beautiful drive and to take the scenic route.  We are not going to catch the 10:30 AM ferry anyway so we take out time.  It's again is mostly vineyards and I saw a cherry farm as well.  You travel over one last hill and you see Picton.  It is just a charming looking little town.  We go to get our ferry tickets and I'm told there is a travel agent rate but you need to set it up with the home office in advance.  I had taken the advice of the lady who gave us the Maui camper in Queenstown who said we could get a cheaper rate in Picton.  Well, I think it was about $130 NZ originally and it cost us $257 NZ at the ferry.  Screwed again.  We had about 2 hours to kill in Picton and just wandered around town.  They had a cute main street that leads up to their World War I memorial that was made out of the old train terminal.  I have seen a lot of World War I Memorial's but no World War II Memorials.  We stop at the Edwin Fox Maritime Museum near the ferry terminal for the last half hour.  The Edwin Fox is an old ship built in Calcutta and was actually used at one point to transport convicts to Australia.  It is the 8th oldest ship in the world.  For most of the 20th Century it had been grounded and was used as a freezer for sheep carcasses or for holding coal.  The unearthed it and found that the hull was in fairly good shape and transported it by water to Picton where it stays today alongside its museum.  Only the hull is left but it is still impressive. 

Loading Cars & Trucks On The Interilsander Movie (Scroll Over Box For Movie)				Departing Picton Movie (Scroll Over Box For Movie)
Cruising Marlborough Sound Movie (Scroll Over Box For Movie)		Cruising On The Interislander Movie (Scroll Over Box For Movie		Interislander Nearing Wellington Movie (Scroll Over Box For Movie)

 We headed to Interislander Ferry, the Arahura, which was a little late.  I watched off the back as they loaded the last cars and was surprised when after lifting the car ramp they had a train ramp in at a lower level and started loading trains.  Our trip would take us from Picton down the Queen Charlotte Sound, taking a left at the Tory Channel which leads to the Cook Straight and into Wellington Harbor and Wellington.  It was a beautiful cruise.  I had a little lunch, my first meat pie, steak and cheese, and sat at the back of the ship and did my ill fated journal entries mentioned earlier.  I had lost track of Scott after we got on board and was worried that he was not feeling good since he has a history of seasickness and it started getting a little rough in the Cook Straight.  I finally found him looking out the forward windows and he was fine.  He was a little sick getting on the ferry and blamed it on bum chips.  When you come into Wellington it is a little disappointing.  It looks like they have the possibility to make a fantastic harbour but they have the ship yards right in front of downtown and it really takes away from the view.  It was about 5:00 PM when we left the boat and was rush hour.  Somehow we drove up to the part of town that was two blocks of bars.  We stopped to let traffic die down and had a beer each at The Courtenay Arms English Pub where I tried to get on the internet to check in with home but the machine broke down, and One Red Dog, which was beyond foo foo.  We had a plate of bruschetta and headed north.  We showed incredible self control to only go to two bars, but we had volcanoes and a long drive still ahead of us, so we moved forward.  We stopped for gas again at Taihape and again we were showered with kindness.  Scott was not used to this and told me in the camper, "Don’t they know I'm just a tired, grumpy American and I'm not used to this treatment."  The day’s journey ended in Ohakune at the Ohakune Country Hotel Bar at about 10:30 PM.  We really hadn't eaten all day and asked if the kitchen was open, which it had just closed, or any other place in town.  The bartender said no and "Welcome to Small Town New Zealand".    Dinner ended up being a airplane size bag of cashew each.  We spent the night at the Ohakune Holiday Park where for the second night no one was into check us in so just hooked up and went to bed.

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