Saturday 20 March 2021

The Latest Road Trip...Part Two

Day six of our trip dawned cool and clear. The helicopter ride to the glaciers that we had booked was confirmed and at 8:50 the lifted off in clear skies heading first for Fox Glacier, where we landed briefly on the ice before re-boarding and descending down Franz Josef Glacier. While I had seen significantly bigger glaciers in Alaska, I hadn’t seen glaciers this close before, nor from above or from the different angles.








All too soon our chopper landed and we were back on the road, heading north to our next destination - Hanmer Springs. To reach there we had to travel north along the West Coast in gloriously fine weather. We stopped for lunch at Greymouth then turned east through to Reefton and the Lewis Pass. 



We arrived at Hanmer Springs just before 4:00 and quickly checked into our motel. Then before the dust settled we headed to the springs and “took the waters” for a few of hours. We soaked in the pools with temperatures between 36 and 40 degrees C and found ourselves very tired at the end of the session. An early dinner and and early night were needed.

Hanmer Springs is a pretty place and well worth a return visit.



Day seven saw us heading north to Blenhiem, via Kaikoura. Another stunning drive on the inland road, through the Leslie Hills and Mount Culverden and Waiau Valley.




I hadn’t been to Kaikoura for 25 years and had forgotten how stunning the coastline is here. We paused for a picnic lunch at Rakautara.




From the coast we turned inland into the brown hills of the Marlborough region mixed with the bright greens of the vineyards. 



Then about 2:00 we pulled into Blenhiem.

Day eight started with a visit to the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre the only vaguely military thing in this trip. This is a superb place split into a WWI and a WW2 display. The former contains elements of Peter Jackson’s collection and the display work is magnificent.


















The WW2 display was not as extensive (and some aircraft were out in the workshops). Sadly my photos of the Stuka did not come out - although it is not a real stuka. What was particularly impressive was the Stalingrad audio-visual display...a very Peter Jackson-ish piece.





We were sorely tempted to go up in the Fokker (below), but having done the helicopter flight in Franz Josef we thought we would save it for another time.


Having spent two and a half hours at the museum we got back on the road again heading for Nelson, our final destination for this trip.

And the final day of our little trip saw us heading across to Golden Bay. Again this is another place I had never visited, although I nearly did make there once before. Way, way back in the summer of 1972 we had a family holiday in Nelson and attempted to drive to Golden Bay only to be foiled by the car having a radiator issue on the Takaka Hill and us having to limp back to Nelson for repairs. This time the hill (791m at it’s highest point), with its stunning views of the Takaka Valley (below), did not defeat us. 


We drove along the western end of Golden Bay, pausing for lunch at Tata Beach on that seemed more like than a day in early Autumn.



The return to Nelson and dinner at the Indian Café, marks the end of our little trip - not too little at 1,896 kilometers - and we return to Auckland in the morning.















14 comments:

  1. Seems to have been a wonderful trip Mark. I have visited Kaikoura, Hanmer Springs and even stayed a night in Blenheim...all when I worked for ADT and was chacking a project to upgrade the access control on Telecom buildings! One if the best roles I ever had, I got several trips around different parts if the country, including two to the S Island!

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    1. I would have liked to have spent some more time in Kaikoura...this was really a comfort stop before we headed for a quiet spot on the coast for a picnic. I used to get around the country quite a bit in Military Miniatures days to all those conventions, but with my current employer all my trips have been overseas, although those days are gone for good now.

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  2. Thanks for some more wonderful shots of NZ Mark, which were great to view on a cloudy and damp morn in the UK:)

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    1. The weather has been wonderful for us, with just the one wet day. We have been very fortunate.

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  3. More lovely photos. Wasn't Kaikoura the epicentre of all that UFO activity a number of years ago? Japanese fishing boat lights reflecting off the clouds was an explanation I seem to remember. Peter Jackson's stuff is great, and I'll never forget that WWI display at the Wellington Museum which I can vaguely recall his studios were involved with.

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    1. Indeed you are right...the lights fro the squid fishing boats was the answer, but those involved still argue otherwise! The Jackson life sized aircraft displays are superb, right up there with the other display you mention.

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  4. Looks like an excellent trip Mark! :)

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    1. It was thanks Mark. We are back in Auckland now where the temperature is only a degree or two higher, but the humidity is overwhelming.

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  5. Splendid landscapes Mark...and Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre is surely a place to visit!

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    1. Yes it is magnificent scenery, Phil, and you must visit Omaka when you come!

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  6. Splendid images Mark...
    The glacier looks amazing...
    And of course Peter Jackson's WW1 aircraft collection is remarkable.... big boys toys indeed.

    All the best. Aly

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    1. I think of all the fabulous things we saw on that trip the WWI aircraft took the cake...although without question the most valuable thing was the kilo of Golden Bay sand I managed to secure as basing material...I know that is a sad thing to say after all that wonderful food and wine we had, but it is EXCELLENT sand.

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  7. Great stuff Mark... That's quite a collection, great shots of the glacier.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Thanks Stu. There are potentially better shots of the Glacier in the other camera, that I haven’t cleared yet, that was operated by her indoors who had a front seat view while I was in the back.

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