Susan's visit - The Whanganui River Road

In Wanganui, Seán and I took a look at the map to see where to go the next day. We had been planning on going skiing the next day, but it was going to be a Sunday and, as it was in the middle of the school holidays, we decided it would probably be better to go skiing on Monday instead as the slopes might be a bit quieter. We didn’t have far to travel to the slopes, so Seán suggested we go down the Wanganui River Road, though the next day he protested that I had misinterpreted him… I had wondered why he was suggesting going down such a long unsealed road!

Either way, we set off on Sunday morning and started going down that road. There were great views with the river on one side of us some distance down, and great cliffs on the other side. Also, the road started off as sealed so it was all going quite well until we came around a corner and saw a slip in front of us. With all the recent rain bits of the cliffs had come loose and slipped down onto the road. In this case two pretty big rocks had fallen down and were perfectly placed in the road just far enough apart that you couldn’t get past them. As the surface of the road wasn’t good enough to hit the brakes Seán opted to go around them on the side of the road, which was very muddy but fine until all the wheels left the hard surface and we just glided slowly over until we came to a gentle stop against the cliff. Thankfully it was of a similarly slippy muddy surface and did no damage to the van, other than getting it very dirty!

As the van was stuck in the mud, we got out and started trying to work out how to get it out again. We tried pushing, but the pushers couldn’t get purchase on the mud with their feet to get a decent effort in. Then we tried putting mats at the tyres to give them something to grip on, together with some strong grasses we cut out. We were just about to try that combination when a 4WD truck arrived around the corner! With next to no effort the van was toed back onto the road and we were off within ten minutes of arriving there. Given that this is a back country road we were pretty pleased with that result!

After that excitement we drove on a little bit until we arrived at the end of the Atene Skyline walking track so we put our boots on and set off up the hill with our cameras. The track started going through woodland and was beautiful and sheltered. However, soon enough we hit some nasty steps and then a whole lot of mud. We made it up the hill to a good viewpoint in about half an hour though and made the most of it before heading back down. I was taking my time and being careful and was quite glad I was doing so when I heard a shriek behind me that was Susan almost falling over in the mud on the way down! Though she didn’t fall all the way she ended up with very muddy trousers! After that adventure we decided it was lunchtime so parked up at the side of the road and made ourselves tea (or coffee for Susan, she doesn’t do tea! Silly!) and sandwiches and dried out a bit in the sun.

The slips weren’t done with us yet though. As we continued down the road (which turned out to be sealed for a lot of the way, but still with some impressively potholed dirt sections) we encountered a few muddy slips that we could just drive carefully through, a tree that we had to get out and break some branches off so the high roofed van could get through, and another tree trunk that had been sawn off at the spot where you could just get past it and keep your tyres on the road. The most impressive was the last one though. We had driven over 50km down this road and were nearly at the end of it when we came around a corner and saw a massive slip that had covered a large section of the road with a couple of feet deep of mud. There were a couple of diggers working there and a big truck set up on the other side. We couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that we’d come so far and now it looked like we’d have to go back past all those other slips again! However, one of the workers told us to carry on and drive through on the basis that there was sealed road underneath all that mud, so we drove on thinking that at least there was enough machinery there to pull us out if we got stuck this time! By some miracle we actually made it through and got to the end of that road in one piece, even if the van and the three of us were all pretty muddy! It took two goes at washing the van before it started looking respectable again!

Back on proper roads again we drove to Okahune in the hopes of getting somewhere to stay there for the night near the ski slopes. Everywhere in our budget range was booked out so we carried on to Whakapapa and got checked into hostel type accommodation there where we had a tasty dinner and laughed at our day’s mini adventures!

Susan's visit - back in Wellington

Having missed out on the Beehive tour before, Susan and I got up early and got the bus into town, but yet again we were a little late so instead we went straight to Old St. Paul’s Cathedral. When we’d called in there the other day there was a lunchtime concert on, which we enjoyed for a while before having to leave. As a result we hadn’t seen the war display that is in the old church. This morning Susan and I spent some time there watching a video of people’s memories from war times.

We made sure to leave in time to get to the Beehive early for the next tour and finally were lucky enough to get on it. As the school holidays were still on there was a big group of about 30 of us and we had the same guide as Seán and I had previously. Once we’d finished we met Seán for lunch and carried on to the country’s main museum, Te Papa where we split up each going to see what we wanted, arranging to meet when it closed. It’s a massive museum so Seán and I were able to see parts that we had not seen before. The best bit about it is it’s free to go in, so you can come and go as you please and don’t have to see it all in one day.

The next morning we decided it was time to move on up the country, though with the pouring rain outside we weren’t even keen on leaving the house! When we finally got moving we drove up to Palmerstown North where we stopped for lunch and to finally meet Anne, a downriver paddler that Seán had been in touch with since we arrived but never managed to meet. She happens to be the only person in New Zealand who is doing downriver paddling at the moment. She was just back from the Worlds in Europe where she did pretty well and had met the Irish team. She and Seán talked non-stop for well over an hour and then it was time to hit the road again. We carried on to the town of Wanganui and got set up in a cabin at a campsite on the banks of the river, which we could tell was pretty swollen, even in the dark!

Susan's visit - Christchurch

Back in Christchurch again we met up with another Irish paddler, Mike and his Chinese wife, Alice, who he met and married in New Zealand, but who had just returned from a year in Canada. International? The next morning we got up early to see as much of Christchurch as possible before our flight back up to Wellington that evening.

We started by following the Lonely Planet walking tour from Christchurch Cathedral to the Botanic Gardens ending in the Museum, having seen all the sights along the way. After lunch Susan went back to the museum to see their special display – the Da Vinci machines that Seán and I had seen previously in Nelson. Unfortunately the school holidays had started that week, lasting for a fortnight of Susan’s visit, meaning that most places we went were pretty busy with parents and children making the most of their holidays.

Before we knew it, it was time to get back to the airport to fly back up to the North Island. Although our flight was delayed a small bit we made it back to Wellington without any problems. It’s pretty amazing how relaxed security is for internal flights here. So far we’ve taken five internal flights and on none of them have we had to produce any ID. When our flight from Auckland to Christchurch was delayed for the day we were free to go in and out of security as many times as we wished. For this flight back up to Wellington we didn’t go through any security of any sort! There was just a short corridor with the shops at one end and gates at the other end and no metal detectors or anything else to slow us down!

Susan's visit - The TranzAlpine: Christchurch to Greymount via Arthur's Pass

It was late in the evening when we arrived in Christchurch but we got a shuttle to our hostel and then went out for pizza. We were booked on the TranzAlpine train tour over Arthur’s Pass to Greymouth and back for the next day and in the hostel we were told that a shuttle ran to the train station every morning about 7am and we just had to wait outside for it.

We had a quick breakfast before going outside to wait for the bus at 7am. At 7.45am we were very cold and getting worried, as the bus had still not arrived and our tickets said that we had to be checked in before 7.45… However, the shuttle company obviously knew differently and finally turned up and got us there just in time. We had hoped to get a bit more substantial a breakfast while waiting in the station but there was nothing there bar a dodgy coffee machine so we got on the train, found our seats and settled in for the day.

The trip claims to be one of the world’s greatest train journeys and starts along the flat of the Canterbury Plains with the Alps looming in the distance, getting more beautiful the closer we got. There had been some awful weather over the country while we were in Hawkes Bay, the only place to be missed by said bad weather. As a result the mountains were perfectly snow capped. Also as a result we ended up being quite delayed along the trip as the points along the track were frozen and the driver had to keep stopping the train to get out to move them.

Once we got to the mountains we started climbing through gorges and tunnels, up the “Staircase” and over several viaducts making our way to the small settlement of Arthur’s Pass. We stopped there for some time while waiting for the air to be cleared in our next tunnel, the longest on the trip at 8.5km, through which a coal train had just passed. The delay was again as a result of the bad weather, which had caused one of the two extraction fans in the tunnel to break. It gave us plenty of time to take photos though!

Having enjoyed the scenery all the way we arrived in Greymouth an over hour late, just after the time that the train was timetabled to leave. The train had to be cleaned and refuelled regardless of the time so we were still allowed an hour to go into Greymouth. As it is not a very interesting town we used that time up finding somewhere that was still open for lunch and eating.

Back on the train again it was a similarly beautiful trip back up into the mountains again. It was still daylight when we went into the “Otira”, the long tunnel I told you about. It is at quite a steep gradient so, while it hadn’t taken us long to go through that morning, it was a slow trip back up. When we emerged the sun had set! I had been hoping that morning that we’d get to see the sunset when we were just leaving the mountains but with all the delays that was not to be. However, when we stopped at Arthur’s Pass there was still an amazing pink glow to the sky as per the photo here.

We hopped back on the train when the siren sounded and were glad of the heat inside. We carried on to Christchurch in darkness, unfortunately missing out on the last bit of sightseeing for the day. It was a really good trip with beautiful scenery that you could relax and enjoy fully without having to worry about driving or anything else so it’s worth doing if you want to see the mountains in comfort.

Susan's visit - Wellington, briefly!

We drove down one of the few main roads that Seán and I had not already been on from Hastings to Wellington. It wasn’t a very exciting road though, which is why we hadn’t been on it before! We had arranged to stay at Alan’s house and were treated to a tasty lasagne by his housemate, Carmen, when we arrived. They had a full house this time so Susan got the couch and Seán and I got the floor.

The next day Susan and I got a bus into the city and went on tour. First of all we got the cable car from the city up to the Botanic Gardens, where there is a great view. We walked through the gardens back down to the Parliament Buildings. The main building is nicknamed the Beehive due to its shape. They run a free tour through it every hour and, as we had just missed a tour we carried on to the New and Old St. Paul’s Cathedrals before meeting Alan and Seán for lunch. After lunch we tried to go on the parliament tour but were too late again, so we walked back along the main street to the information centre where we booked accommodation for Christchurch that night. We got the bus via Mount Victoria back to the house and packed up our things and got ready to hop on a plane to the South Island!

Susan's visit - Hawkes Bay

When we arrived in Hawkes Bay we took a quick look at the art deco architecture in Napier in the dying light before going on to Hastings and checking into the Top 10 campsite there. We explained how there were three of us but our van only fitted two and asked what our cheapest option would be. We must have got the guy at a weak moment as we ended up sleeping in the van with Susan in a cabin for $45 total per night!


We had arranged with Philip, our hunting friend, to have a day out with the Hawkes Bay hunt that Saturday and had been planning on staying with Philip and Jane. However, during the week I got an email from him saying that he’d had a bad accident and dislocated his shoulder and lost an eye. I gave him a call and was very relieved when he turned out to be in really good form and was adamant that he still wanted to go hunting on Saturday, but now I would have to drive. I happily agreed to those terms!

On Saturday morning we had a good breakfast and went off to collect Philip, and his car as our van only fits 3! When we arrived at the meet we called up to the house of our hosts for the day, Jamie and Pru Lowry. Pru was kind enough to lend us her 4WD Subaru for the afternoon too; as Philip’s car wouldn’t have had a chance of going up the hills we scaled that day!

As we had done the time before, we drove through the fields getting ourselves up on a perch to get a good view of the hounds and followers. We chose very well at one stage during the afternoon and had the hare and hounds pass right by us. Susan was really excited and couldn’t wait to get back to Dad with pictures and videos from the day.


It was a really cold and windy day but there were clear skies and the hounds showed us a bit of sport. We later found out that the entire rest of the country had terrible weather that day and were freezing with rain or snow. Most of the mountain passes and some other roads were closed over the next few days after the snow that fell. We were pretty glad to get back to Jane’s warm house for a tasty roast mutton dinner that night! It was brilliant to see Philip in such good form and I think Jane also appreciated having an afternoon to do all the things she hadn’t had the chance to since Philip’s accident, and again they were excellent hosts.

The next morning we took a bit of a lie in before going into Hastings to find out where the best wineries in the area were. Apparently over here they distinguish between wineries and vineyards. Wineries are vineyards with shops I think! Hawkes Bay is renowned for its red wine, which Susan loves so she was quite happy to do the tour there. We started off by going back up to Napier and taking a proper look at the art deco architecture and having a bite of lunch. Then we set off for our first winery, Mission Bay. This is the oldest vineyard in the region and has been going since 1851. We asked could we do a tasting and it turned out to be free. Seán drew the short straw and got to drive for the day, leaving Susan and I free to enjoy ourselves. Moving on from there, we went just down the road to Church Road where Susan made the most of the information we’d been told at Mission Bay by repeating it all knowledgably to our hostess there! After that we moved on towards Hastings and to Te Mata and Black Barn wineries before deciding that was quite enough for one day. The best bit of the trip was that none of the wineries charged us for the tasting. Susan finished the day well armed with bottles to bring back home. We later found out that the information site in Hastings had been good to us as those wineries are among the best in the region.

That night we finally met up with Dermot, the brother/son of the family friends from home that we met with in Auckland. We went out for a tasty dinner with him and his girlfriend Vanessa. The next morning we set out towards Wellington for the next phase of the trip.

Susan's visit - Taupo

The lads in our favourite Taupo house were good enough to have all three of us to stay for the night, so we set ourselves up on the spare bed and floor space! On Friday morning we got up early to get out to Aratiatia Dam in time to see a release. Making sure we were early, we waited patiently until after the scheduled time before finding a sign saying that because of the reduced levels of the lake they were only doing a couple of releases each day. There have been strict warnings in place to use as little energy as possible as all the power generating lakes in the country are very low at the moment after the drought during the summer.



As we now had two hours to wait until the next release we went upstream to Huka Falls. Susan was very impressed and instructed us never to paddle it. Admittedly it was quite high that day and there’s no way we’d dream of paddling it at that level. From there we went to the Honey Hive only to find that it was shut for winter – things weren’t quite going according to plan! We had a quick look at the Prawn Farm and convinced Susan that she didn’t really want to go fishing for prawns in ponds! We then drove over to the Craters of the Moon and the Wairakei Terraces to show Susan all the steam that is naturally coming out of the earth in that area. At Wairakei Terraces there is a major power generating operation harnessing the energy in the steam. Later on that day we returned to Aratiatia and got to see the release. Here’s a couple of before and after pictures for you, taken about 10 minutes apart. It’s pretty impressive to see how quickly the river can go from a trickle to a big fast river. Don’t worry – we won’t be paddling that one!


That afternoon we hit the road again, this time heading to Hawkes Bay and along the way we stopped at the Bridge over the Mohaka.