Roadtrip to New Zealand

[mistral]

New Zealand is in no way like Mexico! Don't worry about the driving standard: NZ's firmly in the First World.

I can only hope that the roads themselves are a bit better than they look in Streetview! As I mentioned upthread, some of them really do look a bit 'undercooked'!

[mistral]

Just under an hour now from landing in Auckland. Getting properly excited now!! Hoping for some great views & some great driving roads in the next few weeks.

[mistral]

Wanaka is a pretty wee place too.

That must be one of the understatements of the century. Wanaka is just stunning. The view that we had from our balcony was just exquisite; the combination of the lake, mountains, clouds & snow was just eyewateringly beautiful.

When you say you'll be getting a flavour of New Zealand, your itinerary suggests those flavours will be largely of the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir varieties

Very droll.

... but, oh so accurate!! Some of the small wineries that don't export to the rest of the world produce some truly wonderful wine.

The best that we've been into so far has been a vineyard called 'Aitken's Folly' in Wanaka. It's run by a couple from Northumberland, who moved to this part of the world 20 years ago.

What a cracking little vineyard. A proper wine tasting, with wines that are well worth drinking. We finished up getting a couple of their 'mystery boxes', that cost us NZ$ 65 per box. If you don't buy anything, there's a box for a donation, which is to essentially pay for the winemaker's time. Their pride in their product just shines through, and is eminently justified. The wine is just sensational ... I don't even really like Pinot Noir, but the glass that I had here might convert me!!

In summary, this place is tremendous, and well worth visiting if you're anywhere close to Wanaka (or New Zealand). This (IMO) is an honest, well run business, and the type of enterprise that we should all be trying to support.

Fingers crossed that there are more wine producers like these guys dotted across the rest of New Zealand!!

====

As for the roads, I've been quite surprised by the number of different influences that one can see with the markings, signage and layouts. One can see a right old mix-up of styles from Britain, Ireland, the United States & South Africa. Fortunately, it all seems to work quite well, and the actual signposting (so far) has been very clear & understandable.

As I had suspected from what I'd seen on Streetview, there are an awful lot of S2 roads, that have no passing lanes or rest areas. In my first 1000 kms of driving, I've seen less than 10 kms of dual carriageways, and they were all in the Christchurch area.

[Peter Freeman]

Does your north island itinerary include Hobbiton? There's a nice pub there, the Green Dragon, where you might bump into Sam Gamgee.

[Peter Freeman]

As for the roads, I've been quite surprised by the number of different influences that one can see with the markings, signage and layouts. One can see a right old mix-up of styles from Britain, Ireland, the United States & South Africa. Fortunately, it all seems to work quite well, and the actual signposting (so far) has been very clear & understandable.

Of course, by far the largest influence is from Australia. This is most noticeable in Auckland, so you might miss it. There is much harmonisation of standards between AU/NZ road authorities, and much crossover of design ideas.

[mistral]

Does your north island itinerary include Hobbiton? There's a nice pub there, the Green Dragon, where you might bump into Sam Gamgee.

I've never been a big fan of Lord Of The Rings, so any visits to LOTR sites will be purely accidental.

P.S. I've just had a look at a map of the filming locations, and it looks like an awful lot of them will be on the itinerary in the next few weeks.

... markings, signage and layouts ...

Of course, by far the largest influence is from Australia. This is most noticeable in Auckland, so you might miss it. There is much harmonisation of standards between AU/NZ road authorities, and much crossover of design ideas.

Apart from Auckland Airport, I haven't really set foot on the North Island yet. Added to that, I've only been to Western Australia, so my knowledge of Australian roady practice is a bit limited.

What kind of things should I be looking out for when I get to the North Island?

[Peter Freeman]

What kind of things should I be looking out for when I get to the North Island?

Well, apart from hobbits, Auckland Harbour Bridge, bubbling mud pools, Maori hill forts ('Pa') on the tops of extinct volcanoes, glow-worm caves, and beautiful scenery, most of which are probably already on your list (except for the hobbits ...) - not much. Road-wise: fairly extensive ramp-metering on an impressive urban motorway in Auckland.

[mistral]

Today (Friday), I'm finally getting the chance to do something that I've wanted to do since I was 14 years old; a visit to Doubtful Sound!! When I wrote my list of 'Things that I want to do' when I was 14, Doubtful Sound came in at number 4. That leaves two more (Iguaçu & visiting all 7 continents) out of the top 10 to go, and, fingers crossed, I'll get to Iguaçu in April.

What kind of things should I be looking out for when I get to the North Island?

Well, apart from hobbits, Auckland Harbour Bridge, bubbling mud pools, Maori hill forts ('Pa') on the tops of extinct volcanoes, glow-worm caves, and beautiful scenery, most of which are probably already on your list (except for the hobbits ...) - not much. Road-wise: fairly extensive ramp-metering on an impressive urban motorway in Auckland.

If I find a Hobbit, do I win a prize!!

More seriously, I'm hoping to visit the glow-worm caves in Te Anau in a couple of days time, and I believe that the'Northern Explorer' train from Auckland to Wellington runs past several volcanoes. I'm also really looking forward to visiting Rotorua in a few weeks time.

On the food & drink front, I've already shocked myself a bit twice. I've eaten some cherries that were genuinely mouthwatering, as well as drinking some Pinot Noir that was so 'punchy', one would have thought that it was a Shiraz or a Malbec.

Internationally, 80% of New Zealand is stunning to drive in. Just picking one road, the road to Milford Sound is epic, especially the Homer Tunnel.

Yesterday, I drove the section of SH6 from Cromwell to Queenstown. It's not often that you drive a road, where you think that you should really have pace notes for it! It's got a 30 km section, where the longest stretch of straight, level road is about 20 metres. It just seemed to be constantly curving, and/or rising or falling. Fortunately, it was dry & sunny, so it was a great drive, but I wouldn't fancy doing it in the dark or in the rain or snow.

[M100]

Finally found the time to break my 16yr hiatus.

Welcome to New Zealand mistral!

Hope you’ve had some good drives since you arrived, how’d you find the Milford Road trip and did you get to do Crown Range yesterday?

This morning you’ll be going over NZ’s longest single-lane bridge across the Haast River (737m) and a few more interesting bridges up the coast.

Make sure you fill up in Greymouth as you won’t pass a petrol station for 200km afterwards unless you pop into Westport.

And I’m intrigued to find out your routes in the North Island, as based on google maps you might be in for an adventure.

[Chris5156]

Finally found the time to break my 16yr hiatus.

Crikey, welcome back!

[mistral]

Finally found the time to break my 16yr hiatus. Welcome to New Zealand mistral!

Many thanks for that. It's great to be here ... apart from the times when you're getting eaten alive by the midges & mossies!!

Hope you’ve had some good drives since you arrived, how’d you find the Milford Road trip and did you get to do Crown Range yesterday?

The Milford Road is an engineering miracle to be honest. I am astonished that they managed to build a road that can take big trucks & coaches through such a constrained environment. The combination of the tunnel, the hairpins, the roadside cliffs & a lot of cloud was a bit of a winner!

The weather was a lot better for Crown Range (another bonkers bit of engineering, with lots of hairpins!) yesterday. The visibility from the summit was just perfect, since one could see not only the western end of Lake Wakatipu, but also the mountains that lie beyond. It was also great to see the planes landing at Queenstown Airport coming over the hills in to the valley, passing alongside at the summit & making their descent onto the runway.

This morning you’ll be going over NZ’s longest single-lane bridge across the Haast River (737m) and a few more interesting bridges up the coast. Make sure you fill up in Greymouth as you won’t pass a petrol station for 200km afterwards unless you pop into Westport.

I'm looking forward to seeing the glaciers up the road from here (Haast Beach), and very hopeful that there might be some good coastal scenery on the way.

The car got filled up in Wanaka, but it's going to get topped off at Haast Bridge, just before we get back onto SH6. Unfortunately, I've had a couple of dodgy experiences in South Africa, with rural petrol stations that have run out of fuel ...

And I’m intrigued to find out your routes in the North Island, as based on google maps you might be in for an adventure.

As for the North Island, I'm not planning on doing anything that's too 'exotic'. With the car, it's just Auckland (Onehunga) - Whitianga - Ōhope Beach - East Cape - Gisborne - Rotorua & back to Auckland. That'll be followed by a train ride down to Wellington.

[mistral]

I'm now on Waiheke Island, about 30 kms NE of Auckland city centre. Surprise, surprise ... it's properly grey, windy & miserable out there, and it's just about to start tipping down with yet more heavy rain.

I finished up driving 3714 kms around the South Island, on what I'm afraid to say were mostly fairly rubbishy roads. I can only hope that the roads on the North Island are a tad better ...

[jnty]

I'm now on Waiheke Island, about 30 kms NE of Auckland city centre. Surprise, surprise ... it's properly grey, windy & miserable out there, and it's just about to start tipping down with yet more heavy rain.

I finished up driving 3714 kms around the South Island, on what I'm afraid to say were mostly fairly rubbishy roads. I can only hope that the roads on the North Island are a tad better ...

Did you get caught up in any of the flooding? It sounds like it's been pretty biblical over there in recent days.

[mistral]

Did you get caught up in any of the flooding? It sounds like it's been pretty biblical over there in recent days.

We had to leave Nelson a day early, as there were predictions that both our routes back to Christchurch (Lewis Pass or the route via Blenheim & Kaikoura) might be blocked. In reality, only the Lewis Pass was blocked by rockfalls & landslips, but getting caught in that type of disruption would have been very hairy indeed.

We're likely to see more results of the heavy rain in the next few days here on the North Island. Our Waze route from Auckland to Whitianga on Sunday is just shy of 100 kms longer than it should be, due to the road closures (SH 25A etc.) in the Bay of Plenty.

As for the whales, we're doing a boat tour out into the Golden Gate on Tuesday. Hopefully, we'll get to see some there.

In the end, I finally got to see a whale (humpback) and several hundred dolphins in Kaikoura earlier this week.

[mistral]

More generally, I've been a little surprised at how big New Zealand actually is. The distance from the top to the bottom of the South Island is similar to that between the top and bottom of France ...

In a slightly different vein, I'm a little bemused as to how some New Zealanders seem to have a perception that London is just over the other side of Australia. Poor old Asia might as well not exist! All a bit odd ...

Meanwhile, on a completely different topic, it is virtually impossible to buy an egg in New Zealand. We found our first eggs for two weeks in Whakatāne (Bay of Plenty) today, so we'll be having a fry up tomorrow morning before setting off for Gisborne.

Also, on the food front, I can't believe how cheap it is to buy fish and chips here. A couple of days ago, we got two decent sized portions (properly tasty too) of fish & chips from a seaside place in Whitianga (Coromandel Peninsula) for $12 NZ (just over £6). Absolutely outstanding value!

And I’m intrigued to find out your routes in the North Island, as based on google maps you might be in for an adventure.

The adventure has really been about dealing with the weather. We caught the end of the big rainstorms that hit the Auckland area a few days ago, and Cyclone Gabrielle is now well on its' way towards the North Island ... thunderstorms, high winds & yet more rain are on the way early next week ... brilliant!!

I've got to tip my hat to some of the road crews here. We went around SH25 from Thames to Whitianga last Sunday, and the road had already been cleared up after the rockfalls & landslips last Thursday & Friday. Absolutely astonishing work by those guys.