After the biking, hiking and paddling it was road trip time before heading back to Auckland.

The first stop was Queenstown where I felt I deserved a post hike soak at Onsen Hot Pools and a slap-up mean at the waterfront.

Queenstown isn’t the type of town where you get the day off from outdoor adventures so it was time to get back on the bike and go exploring. I rented a gravel bike and am thinking for sure there is space in the garage for a new style of bike as it was a lot of fun. The hill called Sharp Rise or (C**T Hill had scratched on the sign) set me up for a stop for fish and chips and then a brewery before dropping off the bike.

For the final day in Queenstown it was time to get the hiking shoes back out and tackle Ben Lomond. I think the pictures say it all for this hike. Note the scenic outhouse toilet on the way up 🙂

After the slog up Ben Lomond it was time to unwind at the waterfront with some beers in the sun and then pickup some Lamb from the famous ‘Pedros Lamb’ (famous in NZ at least!).

I had fun in Queenstown but it is well known as the adrenaline capital of the South Island and my biking and hiking didn’t quite tick the adrenaline box but this was about to change when I drove to Wanaka and signed up for a Via Ferrata adventure!

Via Ferrata (iron path in Italian) is climbing whilst clipped in to steel cables, rungs and steps (with a waterfall thrown in!). There were three options on how long you want to keep climbing with the extreme one involving 450M of climbing and it was rated as hard with warnings on exposure. I was thinking how hard can it really be and I guess they have to big it up and should be fine……

Things got ‘interesting’ after the level 1 and 2 tour groups dropped off and hiked down and just myself, the guide and one other guy (also out of his depth like me) continued up, over, through, behind and finally above the waterfall. For the next couple of hours as we continued up with exposed overhangs and sheer drops I flip flopped from this is amazing to WTF!

The good news is if you sign up for the extreme tour you get picked up at the top and helicopter back down! It was a much much much quicker trip down than it was up.

The climbing and stress of the day certainly had me burn through some calories but not to worry that lamb dish from Pedros just kept on giving for multiple nights in the camper!

First off lets set the record straight that technically it should be Milford and Doubtful Fiords rather than Sound but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. The Welsh explorer John Lort Stokes misnamed it in 1851 but the whole area was renamed Fiordland so all is good I guess.

I was lucky enough to be able to paddle both Milford and Doubtful ‘Sound’ and although they were two very different trips both were awesome.

Doubtful Sound was definitely harder work to get on the water. You start with a bus to a boat, you then take the boat across Lake Manapouri and it is time to get wet suited up. You then get onto a bus to get yourself to Doubtful Sound with a rather cool view point along the way.

Milford and Doubtful get over 23 feet of rainfall each year and are the wettest inhabited place on the planet and it lived up to the hype by the time we made it down to the water and got into our waterproofs (on top of wetsuits!).

The waterfalls really are spectacular and given how much it was raining and how wet we were we ended up just kayaking through some of the smaller falls as we hugged the coastline.

And before we repeated the bus, boat, bus trip in reverse to get back we took yet another boat ride but it was a lot quicker than paddling back!

Doubtful Sound is a remote and quiet place and our hardy group had the place to ourselves which was in contrast to the much easier to get to Milford Sound were I paddled next. Whilst it was busy in Milford Sound once we paddled out and away from the hustle and bustle of the other trips it was still an amazing experience.

The Milford Sounds trip was a much shorter trip that Doubtful and so short I hardly got any pics! But rather than resort to stock pictures of Milford Sound I will hold off as we will be coming back on the Seabourn cruise in a few weeks!

The Routeburn track is a three day hut-to-hut walk starting from near Milford Sound and crossing the Southern Alps over to the Queenstown side. As it was a two night trip it needed a two hip flask level of packing.

Day one was hiking up to Mackenzie hut and was a lovely sunny afternoon hiking through alpine gardens and waterfalls and ending with a ‘refreshing’ dip at the lake next to the hut.

Logistics can be tough with getting from the start/end of the trailhead and for having all the gear you need for a multi day hike. I opted to make it easy and used a company that relocated the camper to the end of the trailhead so it would be waiting for me as well as having them provide the backpack stocked with cooking stuff and camping food. I think it would be fair to say the food was pretty basic. When I got to the hut and saw the list of what was for dinner I was looking forward to the cheese and crackers as I had dragged some wine up. Lets just say it wasn’t a fancy cheese board style of starter….

The next morning was unfortunately not quite such a bright day. Moist airflow was the situation according to the weather report in the hut. The forecast was accurate and it was time to get the waterproofs out and trudge on to the next hut.

As I headed down to the hut it was a reminder there is very much a class system for hikers and I was not in 1st class! You pass the hut that is for the private guided hikers (table clothes, washer and dryers, non-dehydrated food!) and then get to your hut that has a bit of a laundry feel as every tries to dry out their soggy gear.

Luckily I had some spare (dry!) socks for the final days hike down to the trail head. It brought back some nice memories of when Heather and I were here on our original global adventure 20 years ago and we did this stretch as an out and back day hike. Luckily today it didn’t snow this time.

My exploring of the South Island started with a five day Alps 2 Ocean bike ride which goes from Mt Cook down to Oamaru on the coast. It was a perfect way to unwind from work and get into a breakfast, ride, lunch, ride, beer, dinner, bed and repeat mode!

Day one starts up at Mt Cook and follows the glacier moraine bumpy track along the shoreline of the turquoise waters of Lake Pukaki. There is the small issue of the glacier fed Tasman River being in the way and the lack of a bridge. This was easily enough worked around by a helicopter trip! After this trip I firmly believe every bike ride should start with a helicopter ride.

Despite a rainy start to the day, it soon cleared up and I had some nice clear views of Mt Cook to distract me from the rocky ride. The gravel track finally gave way to some nice single track, with a cool little detour to the Mt Cook salmon shop. I was very much ready for a few beers and a nice curry when I finally made it to Twizel to spend the night.

The rest of the trip had scenery changes throughout the day as I left the alpine scenery of Mt Cook and went through farmlands, winelands, lakes and eventually hit the sea. It was a fun mix of tracks, single track and quiet country roads.

Five days of this and it was nice to roll into the victorian styled seaside town of Oamaru. After hitting the must do photo frame at the finish line, there was a brewery straight over the road 🙂

It was fun bumping into other cyclists and groups along with way that were doing various different options and different numbers of days on the Alps 2 Ocean route. I was lucky enough to get adopted by Jon and Karen that were visiting from Oz and doing the same route. We would leap frog each other as we made various pie and pint stops during the day but it mean’t I never had to drink alone in the evening! Cheers guys and thanks!!

After logging off from work and picking up the campervan, I had a day to kill before heading up to Mount Cook to start the Alps 2 Ocean bike ride so it was time to pop over to Akaroa. Akaroa is a small waterfront town a couple of hours from Christchurch and it was a pretty little spot to start the holiday.

It was also time to sample some of the pies that New Zealand is famous for. Veggie curry and pork belly pies were chosen to kick off the pie adventures that would fuel me for the upcoming bike ride.

New Zealand is well setup for campers and whilst the harbor car park doesn’t look that scenic, it was a perfect spot to wander into town and then stagger home.

There isn’t that much to Akaroa but it did have a waterfront gin bar and a curry house so I was pretty much sorted for the night.

The advantage of ‘camping’ at the harbor meant that in the morning there was a kayaking tour getting ready to head out so I tagged along and enjoyed a little paddle to start the day.

After a paddle and a pie (yes, another pie), it was time to head out and get myself up into the mountains ready to start the cycle adventure. It was a particularly nice evening to be camping at the lake with views up to Mount Cook where I would be riding from tomorrow.