Christchurch to Queenstown in a day

Today I'm going to try and keep the blog post fairly short, the topic being the road between Christchurch and Queenstown and the main attractions on the way. We've driven this road several times, in both directions, most recently with Giigan's parents in March. After the transalpine train journey to Greymouth on the West Coast, we traversed the 490 kms from Chch to Qtown in just one day together with them.

We left Christchurch early in the morning, just before 8 am, and arrived at our first stop at around 11 am. This was Lake Tekapo. Lake Tekapo is perhaps most well known for its small stone church, the Church of the Good Shepherd, overlooking a heavenly panorama of turqouise water and jagged mountainridges. On a clear day, with the mountaintops covered by shining snow, it's probably one of the most peaceful views on Earth. No wonder the church sports a 1,5 by 3 metre window towards the lake instead of an altar painting.

Lake Tekapo.

If Lake Tekapo is just a brief stop-over, a visit to the church and a coffee at one of the cafes in the village will suffice, but if you have a couple of hours, or a day, there are many walking tracks around the lake. A brand new spa has also been recently constructed on the outskirts of the village right next to the lake. It's actually very good. Giigan and I can totally recommend the sauna and the cold water pool.

20 kms after Lake Tekapo you'll drive past Lake Pukaki, from where you have a clear view across 50 kms of lake water towards the highest mountain in NZ: Aoraki/Mt Cook (3754 m). We had a pot of luck handed to us when driving past with Giigan's parents, as the weather was quite clear and we could see the top of the mountain. Aoraki was at its best; giving testimony to its Maori name, meaning "Cloud Piercer". It is possible to drive to the foot of the mountain and go hiking in the national park (which Giigan has done), but we didn't have time for that with Jaakko and Eeva-Inkeri. We had to be happy with just the mesmerizing view.

Aoraki/Mt Cook - "Cloud Piercer".

Wanaka is a largish town about an hour's drive before Queenstown. In many ways it resembles Queenstown - it also lies by a beautiful lake surrounded by high mountain peaks - but is a lot more tranquil than the never-sleeping party town. A must-visit is the Rippon vineyard, and it's not just for the free tastings. The vineyard not only produces some of the best wines in the country, it also occupies one of the most amazing spots overlooking Wanaka, the lake and the crown of mountains shredding the horizon. On a sunny day, it's the perfect spot to enjoy a bottle of wine and a platter of cheese - which we did!

The Rippon vineyard in Wanaka.

On a previous visit to Wanaka Giigan and I visited the Wanaka Beerworks brewery, which is located by the airstrip out of town. How we found out about this brewery is in fact a funny story. In short, it goes something like this: In February when we were still on the North Island driving from Taranaki to Wellington, we picked up a flyer in a town called Whanganui. We thought the brewery was located there and followed the instructions on the flyer to drive to "the airport 6 km out of town". Well, we found the airport next to Whanganui, but no brewery was in sight. Then we started looking at the road number on the flyer. It didn't match any around Whanganui. Then we looked up where a town called Wanaka is in our Lonely Planet. Imagine how stupid we felt when we realized Wanaka was on the South Island and we wouldn't get there until a month or two later!

Anyway, Beerworks produces some very good European style lagers. The brewery is very small, but the friendly staff will take you on a personal tour and let you sample the beers for a small fee.

From Wanaka you can drive to Queenstown either over the mountains or along a river. Over the mountains is a better drive, shorter, and a lot more exciting (go for the Cardrona ski field). It's also better for all trigger-happy cameramen and -women.

Jaakko and Eeva-Inkeri at a lookout crossing the mountains between Wanaka and Queenstown.

That's that for now! MORE PICTURES available in our picture gallery.

Marlborough

In this blog post we'll continue from arriving in Picton (3rd Feb) on the South Island together with our first Finnish visitors Kaisa and Sanna. During our first few days on the South Island we drove around Marlborough, the northernmost region of the island, most famous for its wines. Besides wine tasting, we also had time to enjoy the stunning beaches of the Abel Tasman National Park, visit the beer festival Blues, Brews & BBQs, and see some museum cars in Renwick. This blog post is for a change again in Finnish, however, the image gallery is in English as usual. You can find links to a couple of videos too if you look carefully in the text below.

Olimmekin jo ehtineet JBB:n kanssa odottaa Etelä-Saarelle rantautumista. Olivathan kaikki tapaamamme ihmiset kehuneet Etelä-Saarta kauniimmaksi ja mukavammaksi! Rantautumisemme idylliseen rantakaupunkiin, Pictoniin, ei olisi voinut paremmin sujua. Sää oli aurinkoinen ja laivamatka sujunut tyynten kelien vallitessa...

Pictonin houkutteleva ranta.

Lounastettuamme Pictonissa lähdimme ajelemaan kohti Blenheimia, joka sijaitsee vuorten suojaamassa laaksossa, muodostaen täydelliset olosuhteet viinin viljelyyn. Laakso onkin nykyisin täpötäynnä viiniviljelyksiä ja koska pari viime vuotta ovat olleet todella tuottoisia on viiniä alueella liiaksi asti. Suunnitelmissamme oli viedä Sanna ja Kaisa tutustumaan viinin viljelyyn ja maistelemaan laadukkaita viinejä. Erityisesti Sauvignon Blanc rypäleestä valmistetut viinit ovat täällä todella laadukkaita.

Suuntasimme siis kohti Satu Lappalaisen viinitilaa Vicarage Lanea, jonne olimme sopineet tutustumiskäynnin. Kiersimme Sadun tiluksilla ja hän kertoi meille viinin viljelystä ja siitä mitä kaikkea pitää ottaa huomioon, jotta lopputulos on mieluisa. Kierroksestammme muodostui oikein onnistunut ja kiitokset siitä Sadulle! Kierreltyämme viinitarhalla aikamme pääsimme maistelemaan viinejä ja totesimme ne oikein laadukkaiksi. Saimme jopa pari pulloa mukaan, jotka löysivät tiensä illallispöytäämme... Vicarage Lanen viinejä taitaa löytyä nykyisin Alkonkin valikoimista.

Seuraavana aamuna oli varsinaisen viinikierroksen aika. Aloitimme Highfield Estatelta, lähinnä sen sijainnin takia. Sieltä aukeaa oikein hienot näkymät koko Marlboroughin alueelle. Toki viinitkin maistuivat :-), joskin nyt oli JBB:n vuoro olla kuskina ja näin ollen hänen kierroksestaan ei tullut yhtä täysipainoinen kun meidän muiden kolmen. Jatkoimme matkaamme Cloudy Bayn viinitilalle, joka kuuluu ns. pakollisiin kohteisiin täällä (ainakin jos on opaskirjoihin uskomista). Ja kyllä laadun saattoi maistaa.

Allan Scottin etupiha. Kyllä kelpasi.

Kolmantena vierailukohteenamme oli Allan Scott, joka kahden edeltäjänsä tavoin kuuluu ns. suuriin, eli ovat alueen lippulaivoja. Emme joutuneet pettymään. Kuulimme myös, että Allan Scottin naapurissa oli Moa niminen pienpanimo, joka on Josh Scottin perustama. Viiden vuoden työkokemus euroopan panimoista toi tarvittavan ammattitaidon ja idea oluen panemisesta shampanjamenetelmällä ainutlaatuisen aseman Uuden-Seelannin panimojen keskuudessa. Ja kyllä lopputulos oli ensiluokkainen! Tämä pysähdys oli enemmän meidän poikien mieleen :-)

Onnistuneen Moa vierailun jälkeen jatkoimme vielä Domaine Georges Michelin viinitilalle ja Saints Clair Family Estatelle. Me rupesimme JBB:n kanssa jo vähän passailemaan onnistuneen Moa käynnin jälkeen, mutta Sanna ja Kaisa totesivat nämäkin vierailut oikein kivoiksi. Täyteläisen Marlborough päivämme päätti vierailu Makanan suklaatehtaalla. Kyllä täälläkin osataan suklaata tehdä vaikkei ollutkaan kotoisan Fazerin sinisen veroista :-)

Auringonlasku Nelsonissa.

Majoituimme viinikierroksen jälkeen Pictoniin, jotta pääsisimme varhain seuraavana aamuna liikkeelle kohti Nelsonia. Nelsoniin ajoimmme maisemareittiä, josta oli fantastiset näkymät Marlborough Soundeille. Majoituttuamme jätimme tytöt tutustumaan kaupungin shoppailumahdollisuuksiin ja menimme jatkamaan harrastustamme: vuorossa oli Founders Brewery. Tämäkin pienpanimo on erittäin laadukas ja vaalii tiukasti oluen valmistuksen perinteitä.

Seuraava päivä (6.2.) oli Waitangi Day, joka on Uuden-Seelannin kansallispäivä (sopimus Englantilaisten ja Maoriheimojen välillä 6.2.1840). Me emme jääneet juhlistamaan Waitangi päivää Nelsoniin vaan suuntasimme Abel Tasmanin kansallispuistoon, joka oli ensimmäinen todella vaikuttava luontoelämys Etelä-Saarella.

Nämä Split Apple kivet löytyvät LotR elokuvistakin, ainakin oppaamme mukaan...

Abel Tasmanin kansallispuisto on vaikuttava merenrantakohde monine hiekkarantoineen ja hyvin hoidettuine kävelyreitteineen. Ja koska se on pääasiallisesti rantakohde niin sää on isossa osassa - Ja meitä onnisti!

Abel Tasmanin kansallispuistossa on useita vaihtoehtoja 3-5 päivän trekeille, mutta koska aikamme tyttöjen kanssa oli rajallinen niin päädyimme valmiiseen pakettiin nimeltään "Great Day Out". Siihen kuului venematkat (! VIDEO !) Marahausta Onetahuti Beachille ja Torrent Baystä Marahauhin. Väliin jäi noin 14 kilometrin kävely, joka on kauneinta aluetta kansallispuistosta.

Leppoisan venematkan aikana näimme mm. Split Apple kivet ja Tonga Island Seal Colonyn. Kuskimme oli asiantunteva ja kertoi mielenkiintoisia yksityiskohtia kansallispuiston synnystä, nähtävyyksistä ja asutuksesta. Veneen jätettyä meidät Onetahuti Beachille, jatkoimme jalan rantapolkua pitkin nauttien trooppisista näkymistä. Ensinmäinen etappi oli lyhyt kävely Tonga Quarryhin, jossa meillä oli oiva tilaisuus harrastaa vesileikkejä ja rantaelämää (! VIDEO !).

Abel Tasmanin luonto on kaunista.

Parin tunnin irtioton jälkeen jatkoimme kävelyä kohti Torrent Baytä, pysähtyen välillä picnicille Bark Bayhin. Lopun matkaa marssimme rivakampaa tahtia ja saimme taas kunnon hien päälle, joten uinti oli paikallaan saavuttuamme perille. Loistavasti onnistuneen päivän kruunasi vesitaxi takaisin Marahauhin.

Lauantaina (7.2.) oli Nelssonissa isot markkinat, jonne menimme aamupäiväksi ihmettelemään. Saimme nauttia jos jonkinmoisista esityksistä. Luultavasti vaikuttavin oli kuitenkin ehta säkkipilliesitys, joka ainakin minulle oli uusi kokemus!

Säkkipilliesitys Nelsonin markkinoilla.

Markkinahumun jälkeen lähdimme taas ajelemaan. Suuntana Blenheim ja siellä järjestettävä Blues, Brews & BBQs tapahtuma.

Eikös ne smurffit olleet pienempiä?

Blues and Brews on varsinainen karnevaali tapahtuma. Useita bändejä on soittamassa ja monenlaista syötävää ja juotavaa on tarjolla (! VIDEO !). Kiweillä on tapana pukeutua teema-asuihin ja nauttia hyvästä musiikista, oluesta, barbequesta ja tietysti hyvästä ilmapiiristä kaverien kanssa - Good Times.

Meidän suunnatessa viettämään mukavaa iltapäivää oluiden merkeissä Sanna ja Kaisa menivät läheiselle rannalle ottamaan aurinkoa. He kun eivät niin oluesta välitä... Mikä parasta sovimme, että Sanna toimii kuskinamme illalla, joten meidän ei tarvinnut kuin rentoutua! Kolusimme seitsemän enemmän tai vähemmän uutta microbreweryä: Brew Moon Brewing, Renaissance Brewing, Three Boys Brewery, Green Man Brewery, Shamrock Brewing, The West Coast Brewery ja Nelson Bays Brewery. Mainittakoon nyt erityisinä herkkupaloina Three Boysin vehnäolut ja Green Manin lager. Yleisarvosana parhaana kokemuksena mieleen jäi Renaissance, osittain myös innokkaan panimomestarinsa ansiosta.

Arr... Tässä merkkareille mallia.

Renaissance Brewingillä oli tarjolla tunnin mittainen tutustumiskierros, jossa panimomestari itse esitteli oluitaan ja kertoi oluen valmistuksesta. Pidimme kierrosta oikein mielenkiintoisena ja se oli varmasti yksi päivän kohokohdista! Siinähän se päivä mukavasti pyörähti, kunnes tuli lähdön aika ja me pojat pääsimme ensimmäistä kertaa (ja tähän saakka ainoata) istumaan automme takapenkille... Sannalta sujui ajaminen vasemman puoleisesta liikenteestä huolimatta ja pääsimme turvalliseti Kaikouraan.

Matkastamme Kaikouraan valaita ja delffiinejä katsomaan, sekä Hanmer Springsistä kerromme seuraavassa julkaisussa!

The PICTURE GALLERY associated with this blog post is located behind this link!

Cape Palliser and Martinborough

The southernmost point of the North Island: the Cape Palliser lighthouse

After having climbed Mt Taranaki (by now over a month ago) we headed south towards Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. While in the region, we visited the southernmost point of the North Island and the Martinborough wine district. It was a magical moment to stand next to the Cape Palliser lighthouse. After all, now we had conquered the whole North Island. It took us 136 days to explore it!

It was awesome

Cape Palliser is quite remote. As we were driving there, we were suddenly confronted by an unusual road block having passed a blind curve. The road was filled with cows. We had to stop and wait for the pack of cows to wander by while they smelled on our car and marveled at us. Cape Palliser lies in the middle of a seal colony. When we arrived some seals were frolicking in the water just off the shore and tried to get their lunch. It was nice to watch how easily they swam in the turbulent water amidst very sharp and dangerous rocks.

What are you looking at?

There was good surfing waves too but we didn't start our surf careers yet.

JBB having some fun with the seals

After a good morning with the seals we headed to Martinborough - a well known wine district, most famous for its New World pinot noirs. This time we didn't go on a commercial wine tour but drove around some wineries ourselves instead. This time Giigan got to be the designated driver. We improved our wine know-how with four wineries: Murdoch James, Ata Rangi, Te Kairanga and Alana Estate. Of these four we liked the wines of Ata Rangi the most. In fact, it was also the one making you feel most welcome and the one with the best service. After this we felt more confident touring wineries by ourselves. It's typical for vintages from the Martinborough district to have very different flavours. We tasted, for instance, 2006 and 2007 wines of the same producer and grape, and found that they had indeed distinct flavours.

JBB at the Ata Rangi winery sampling its great Pinot Noir

Stay tuned for our next blog post, telling you about Wellington and the arrival of our first Finnish visitors.

Business as usual: MORE PICTURES available by clicking this link (hyvä että tietotekniikkaekspertimme Samikin on päässyt tästä lisäkuvien sijainnista kärryille pienen avunannon jälkeen ;-)).

The East Coast

At the time of writing we are in Dunedin on the South Island. We're driving around the southern part of the island while waiting for Giigan's parents to arrive in Christchurch in a couple of weeks or so. A lot has happened since we left Mt Maunganui (besides climbing Mt Taranaki which we already told you about) so we have lots and lots of stuff to write about. However, due to the trouble our laptop gave us in January, we haven't even had time to write about everything we experienced when we were still living in the Mount. So today's blog post will take us back to the first few days of this year and the road trip we did back then.

Our primary destination was the East Coast (of the North Island); the cities of Napier in Hawke's Bay and Gisborne in Poverty Bay, to be specific. We left from home on New Year's Day and spent four days in total touring this part of New Zealand.

We stayed two nights in Napier to begin with. On the way there we stopped in Rotorua, where Giigan went on the Rotorua Gondola and got some adrenaline kicks out of racing down the mountain side in what is called the Luge (a sealed downhill track on which you ride a three-wheeled cart with steering and brakes).

The gondola in Rotorua

Napier is one of the absolutely nicest towns we have visited in NZ. In 1931 an earthquake more or less leveled the city to the ground. At the same time huge areas that used to be seabed were lifted 2 metres above the sea level. This new land has, for instance, been used to build an airport. The city was rebuilt mainly in the Art Deco style, which gives it a classic look and feel. The architecture radiates adventure and creates a comfy atmosphere. The waterfront location of the town centre doesn't make it any worse either :-) It was also pleasant to notice that all the modern box-like buildings like giant supermarkets and department stores had been built outside the old town centre, and were thus effectively out of sight, but still easily reachable. Good street planning!

Art Deco in Napier

Hawke's Bay where Napier lies is the second largest wine producing region in the country and the principal region when it comes to red wine production. There are more than 30 wineries within a 30 minute drive from Napier. Most of them are open for cellar door sales and tastings. Some wineries even have restaurants or provide accommodation. If you have a car of your own it is an easy thing to tour some of the wineries. Simply collect the region's free winery guide from an i-site and drive to the cellar doors. Usually there is a nominal tasting fee, for which you may taste 4-8 different wines depending on which wines the winery have available for tasting for the moment. The downside of driving to the wineries yourself is, of course, that the driver needs to keep a rein on his consumption.

An alternative is to go on an organised wine tour. It's more expensive (but still not impossibly so) than driving around in your own car, but on the other hand no-one has to mind their drinking--I mean TASTING! Of course you're not drunk after touring four wineries, no, no, ehm...

JBB at the Ngatarawa winery, which used to be horse stables

Anyway, as this was the first wine producing region we had ever visited, we felt more comfortable with going on a real tour. The four hour afternoon tour took us to four wineries around Napier and included (besides the tastings) a cheese platter matched with a complimentary glass of wine. The wineries were Trinity Hill, Ngatarawa, Matariki and Moana Park. The wines of Ngatarawa were overall our favourites. Their Hawke's Bay Merlot and Merlot Cabernet would go excellently with game, whereas the Sauvignon Blanc made from Marlborough grapes lifts a cheese platter to entirely new heights. For those of you with a sweet tooth (like me) I recommend giving the Late Harvest Riesling a go. It's not overly sweet and has "a luscious palate of ripe mandarin with lingering flavours of dried apricots and honey" (at least that's what the tasting notes say).

The members of our wine tour enjoying the cheese platter and white wine at the Ngatarawa winery

The downside of going on an organised tour is that you can't choose the wineries yourself, but on the other hand, the guide is a professional and should thus be able to pick the good ones :-) The nice thing though, is that you may find interesting people on the same tour. Of the six other people on our tour two were, in fact, Finnish! We quickly befriended Jukka and Elina, who were in the same age as us. Elina is, like we are, on a working holiday in NZ, whereas Jukka was just visiting his friend. After the wine tour we challenged them to a game of mini golf with a round of beer in the pot (we were all kind of thirsty for something less wine-like after having sampled over 20 wines). Guess who won? ;-) It was fun talking Finnish in a group and to discuss the cultural differences we had encountered with someone sharing the same cultural background. Siinähän se ilta mukavasti pyörähti!

On our third day we left Napier in the morning and headed north along the curve of Hawke's Bay towards Gisborne.

On our way we strayed to the Te Urewera National Park. Besides vast stretches of rolling hills covered in untouched native forest, the national park is home to many lakes and rivers. Time allowing, we would have done some of the many walks in the area, but we had to settle for admiring the views.

Lake Waikaremoana in the Te Urewera National Park

Our flatmate Matt had recommended visiting the Mahia Peninsula south of Gisborne because of its beach. Despite the cloudy sky occasionally giving us a shower, we also strayed there. It turned out to be very fortunate, as there was a dolphin swimming with the people on the beach! We learned that the beach is its home, it's lonely and likes to swim with people. It's so tame, that it even lets you touch it. Giigan ventured into the cold-looking water and can now boast with having swum with a wild dolphin :-) He reported that its skin is very slimy and that its breathing sounds human.

Gisborne in Poverty Bay was a bit of a disappointment. Sure, the location is quite beautiful and there are endless miles of sandy beaches, but unless you're a surfer there isn't that much exciting to do. The city and the main street are a bit dull. There are, however, a lot of wineries around Gisborne too, but since we didn't have much time and we'd already done a wine tour recently we didn't go for it. Nevertheless, from a historical perspective, Gisborne is quite significant. It was in Poverty Bay that Captain James Cook stepped ashore in New Zealand as the first known European. The year was 1769. To commemorate this there is a statue of both Captain Cook and Young Nick, the boy who first sighted land on board the captain's ship, next to the beach in Gisborne.

Giigan striking a pose next to Captain Cook

All in all, it was once again a very successful road trip! The end of it also marked the end of our Christmas holidays. On Monday 5th January we both had to go back to work. As usual, you can access MORE PICTURES from this part of our journey by clicking this link.