Plan B (June
22- Aug 30’16)
Following our sudden change of plans from sailing across The
Pacific (the boat was sold in Tahiti), we
opted to continue on to Austral-Asia and go land-yachting. In short, we
traveled from Tahiti to New Zealand,
Tasmania and ending the trip in Australia.
All told we drove 15,000 kilometres in three “cramper” vans
over a period of three months and absolutely loved it. This is despite the fact
we were travelling in their winter period, when the sun didn’t rise until
“eightish” and set by five at the latest, was very chilly (especially in New
Zealand), and mostly had beaches and camp sites to ourselves.
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| far too many beaches like this |
New Zealand:
South Island: From
the Auckland
airport, we went directly to the van rental depot and quickly experienced our
first surprise. We had booked a van on-line based upon the recommendation of
some seasoned Kiwis, who must still be laughing at the joke they pulled on two
dumb Canucks. The van was very basic, but it was the graphics that elicited the
double take. Sweat bands and cheap sun glasses were provided, but we had to buy
our own weed. This was like our vanning days back in the early 70’s. Needless
to say, we never had any trouble finding our chariot in a supermarket parking
lot.
We covered the southern island in a clockwise direction and
every turn in the road seemed to produce a “wow”! But apart from the heavy
morning frost (which didn’t dissipate until noon where there was tree canopy,
the lack of any straight road was the only misgiving (that and it was all left
hand oriented) and dictated constant vigilance of the white line.
Everywhere, the landscape proved fascinating, but it was the
Fox and Joseph Franz glaciers that topped our list. To be able to walk on the
glacier beds, which only 30 years ago, were ice encased, was spectacular. Our
guess is that the glacier retreat will be complete in 10 years time.
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| Fox Glacier |
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| Franz Joseph Glacier |
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| Fox Glacier bed |
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| Maeraki Beach meter sized marbles |
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| Milford Sound |
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enroute to Milford Sound
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| Milford Sound |
North Island:
The ferry crossing to Wellington
on the north island could not have been smoother.
As before, we tried to cover the island in a clockwise direction,
but frequently found because of mountain ranges – “you can’t get there from
here”. The active geo-thermal area of
Rotarua was a destination not to be missed and was punctuated by the Maori
villages in the area. They still utilize the boiling waters for heating,
bathing and cooking. You only have to get used to the rotten eggs smell.
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| Geothermal Valley |
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| Maori Village |
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| Maori Village |
Unique to the island are the monster sized Kauri trees.
These giants have a trunk circumference of over 15 meters and are over 2000
years old. Fallen trunks that have been submerged in rain forest mud for 1500+
years are highly sought for furniture, because it is impervious to rot.
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Kauri Tree
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The landscape is a gorgeous blend of mountains and pasture
land and while still very appealing, our vote went to the southern island as
having the most eye candy.
The Kiwis have definitely made travelling around their
country easy with abundant tourist information, rest stops, excellent signage and
a welcoming attitude. The four weeks and 5,500 kilometres flew by effortlessly.
We’d love the chance to revisit and walk some of the many alpine tracks which
weren’t open to us at this time of year.
Tasmania
Being smaller in size, we opted to stay only one week and
weather conditions being what they were, this was simply a touring holiday.
Heavy rains closed many roads, which was taken as a common occurrence by the
locals. Such wash out areas are all marked by a permanent depth indicator, so
you can determine if you your vehicle can make the crossing. But generally the
roads are good and distances between points short.
Over 21% of Tassies’s land is dedicated to National park and
much only accessible by foot or four wheel drive. Although Tasmania
is part of Australia, it is
like Australia
and it is not.
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| A good day to be ON a land-yacht |
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| pastoral Tass - hops and grapes |
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| Hobart |
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| Hobart |
Australia:
Like Canada,
Australia
is a big place and distances are large scale. We started out in Melbourne, Victoria,
followed the coast NW up to Adelaide,
South Australia. From there we
turned NE towards Brisbane,
New South Wales. Then headed
south to Canberra and finally to Sydney. Without a doubt, it
is our opinion that Australia
has far more of their share of beautiful coastline and beaches than any where
we have visited.
When we crossed the interior from Adelaide
to Brisbane,
skirting the Outback, we had anticipated vast dusty orange vistas, but found
all to be green owing to the past two years of substantial rain fall. Only once
did we attempt driving on an unsealed road and quickly found ourselves up to
the axels in sticky red mud. Only our experience from driving in snow, saved us
from a hefty tow job.
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typical Outback with a little Mad Max
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typical outback gear with reinforced roo bumper
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| go anywhere outback camper |
Just west of Canberra, in the
Blue Mountains, we visited the Jenolian
Caves, of which there are many such
sites around Australia.
These particular limestone caves are 10 kilometres long and the depth has yet
to be determined. They are also the oldest such caves in the world and contain
limestone formations which boggle the mind. The few pics here hardly do justice
to the depth of colour, size and complexity of the formations.
We could babble on for pages about the sites in the SW
corner and have definitely put a return visit back onto the bucket list. Only the
next visit will be to see the WNW coastline.
Home:
We are now back home in Canada, enjoying the warm fall
weather and summer harvest and thinking where did the time go? We enjoyed
ourselves so much, even in the cramper vans, we wonder - is there a…………
land-yacht in our future?
Before we think any more about that, we need to rescue Two
Moons from the dusty boat yard in Spain
and prepare her for a return trip to the west side of the Atlantic
in 2018.
Best wishes to all…..G’day……….Mike and Grace (mobile 226-600-5051)
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| camp site vermin |
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| cockatoos - make crows sound like song birds |
