Jali's Journey: The Journey South

Our recent adventures in the south have seen us encounter some quite unwelcome 'hitchhikers' in the van: a couple of mice and a young goat...

Heading south our next destinations were to be the towns of Wanaka and Queenstown, but not before a night's camping spot at the beautiful Lake Hawea. Here we could enjoy one of our favourite things: swimming in the vast deep lakes of NZ which are surprisingly not as cold as you'd expect. However, that night our lakeside spot was to attract some unwanted guests: mice. When we should have been getting some well-earned rest, Jonny and Ali were kept up until the early hours devising ways of encouraging a mouse (possibly more) out of the van. Cue some comical double-act trying to evict said mouse out from behind the fridge/hidey holes and out through one of the side openings - a spatula eventually helped 'persuade' the mouse out and hopefully back to it's nest. Not the best night we've had in Dougie.

The town of Wanaka was lovely. It sits on the edge of Lake Wanaka and overlooks magnificent views of the mountains. Here - helped by the good weather - we enjoyed eating out, ice creams, playparks, lake swimming and paddleboarding (Ali). We also visiting the fantastic National Transport and Toy Museum - a definite hit with all of us, especially the boys. This was a vast museum with collections of vintage toys, cars, fire engines, planes, spoons(!) and much more. In-fact, it was such a bonkers collection of items, it was hard to take it all in. However, Jonny enjoyed reminiscing about his childhood toys at the Star Wars section and Ali peddling us around in one of the sit-on cars. Sam and Ben enjoyed it all and still like to talk about it now - one of their New Zealand highlights I'm sure.

Queenstown was our next stop - a place we had heard mixed opinions about: a town buzzing with outdoor/adventure attractions or an over-commercialised, over- developed tourist money-trap? Whatever, we enjoyed our relatively short stay there - it is indeed a busy place but it is also stunningly beautiful. Surrounded by mountains such as 'The Remarkables' and overlooking the huge waters of Lake Wakatipu, it is no wonder people flock here to enjoy it's charms. We enjoyed one night at a lakeside spot where we met up with one of Ali's family friends, Andrew and Marika who were so kind and cooked us a delicious BBQ which we ate on the water's edge. The next day, after Jonny sought a much needed haircut, we took a boat trip on the famous TSS Earnslaw, a steam boat cruiser built in 1912 which has now enjoyed over one hundred years of continuous service. It was fascinating not only to watch the views out of the window but to visit the engine room and watch the engineers tend the engine and stoke the fires with coal.

We spent the next two nights camping at a more remote spot just outside of Queenstown at Moke Lake. Jonny had been keen to find this spot after hearing that scenes were filmed here for 'Top of the Lake', a NZ based crime drama shown on the BBC a few years ago (recommended viewing). Anyway, it was a very picturesque spot and well worth seeking out (and the stress of finding the place - we got lost!). A beautiful lake and mountains all around which Jonny enjoyed especially on an early morning walk around the lake when the mist still hovered eerily over the water. We enjoyed a pancake feast here for Shrove Tuesday and we also decided to let Sam (and us) have a 'chill out day' - where he could decide what he wanted to do. After all, the poor boys are often herded around in the van on most days to the next destination spot. Sam decided to spend most of the day in his pyjamas playing games and watching shows on the iPad. And apart from an afternoon dip in the lake on his surfboard, we didn't see him for most of the day. Ben enjoyed playing on his trike/messing with other camper's belongings. Jonny did a painting and Ali managed to read her book whilst having her lunch (a first!). The evening ended with much hilarity when a cheeky young goat from a local farm escaped to the campsite and came to investigate our campervan - bounding over the seats until being chased out by a much-bemused Sam and Ali.

Leaving Queenstown, we headed further south to the small town of Te Anau which is where most people begin their trip to Milford Sound. We had a short 'pit stop' there - quite literally as we discovered we had puncture number 4. Very unlucky but lucky still that we had made it to a campsite before the tyre went flat. Fortunately, the next morning, a mechanic from the AA came out and fixed it for us without any fuss - this time an old innertube to blame. We were now set up for the 119km stretch of road that leads to Milford Sound. This is a beautiful journey, past lakes, forests and then towards the huge mountain range that leads to the Sound - massive lumps of rock that loom ahead and eventually tower above you. We broke the journey by staying at one of the many DOC sites along the way which are very scenic and allowed us to take a magical walk through one of the ancient forests. We had an early boat trip booked to view the spectacular sights which meant an early start the next morning. At 7.30am, the boys were in their car seats bleary eyed and still in their pyjamas for the hour-long drive to the boat. The 2-hour boat journey was really special and fortunately we had pretty clear, dry weather if a bit cold. Apparently they have rain here 200 days of the year so a dry day is to be thankful for. And being an early trip meant that the boat was not too busy with coach parties of tourists. The famous 1692m-high Mitre Peak that rises out of the water really is spectacular as are the many waterfalls that fall dramatically from way up high. Sam said he felt 'a bit sick' on the boat but he still managed to eat his complimentary bacon sandwich and orange juice albeit safe and warm inside the boat.