South Island Scenery – Lakes and Mountains

Mark and I are making good use of our camper van and are enjoying this particular style of traveling. We work first thing in the morning, drive to our new destination(s), do some sightseeing or exploring, run some errands in between, freedom camp based on where we end up that afternoon, and are exhausted after dinner. It’s a little bit like living on a boat, except, we don’t have to worry about the weather as much and we can just step outside to visit places. But, we still go grocery shopping, cook our own meals, buy diesel (way more than on Irie!) and are careful with water and electricity.

While we knew it would be relatively cold in New Zealand (escaping FP’s heat was one of the reasons we wanted to come here in the first place), we didn’t expect or realize it to be as chilly as it is. Yes, we have become wimps after eight years in the tropics! Although, sleeping in a metal box when it is freezing outside and seeing your own breath when waking up in the morning, would be considered cold by most. It is ironic, how in French Polynesia we wanted to stick our head in the fridge, because it felt nice and cold, and here, we want to do the same, because the temperature in the fridge feels nice and warm!

Enough talk. Here are some photos of our first week’s camper van trip in New Zealand’s South Island.

The Banks Peninsula:

Monument, palm trees and French street names in Akaroa

Decommissioned lighthouse in Akaroa

Akaroa's big, protected bay

The Banks Peninsula near Christchurch

Lake Tekapo:

Lake Tekapo

Church of the Good Shepherd

View of Lake Tekapo and surroundings from the Mt. John Observatory

Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook NP:

Along the drive to Mt. Cook National Park

Hooker Valley Walk - snowy peaks

Hooker Valley Walk - swing bridge

Hooker Valley Walk

Hooker Valley Walk - 2nd swing bridge

Hooker Valley Walk - Mount Cook and the river valley

Hooker Valley Walk - popular trail with amazing views

Hooker Valley Walk - end destination: the glacial lake

View over Lake Pukaki and Mt. Cook from our free campground

Camper view at dusk

Lake Wanaka:

Salmon farm on the way west to Wanaka

Peaceful Lake Wanaka

Lake Wanaka and the resort-like town, seen from the top of Mt. Iron

Visit to our friend Garth's parents in Alexandra

Back to Usual on Irie

From the moment Mark and I arrived back to Irie in Tahiti from the United States, where we spent over three months for health reasons, we have been extremely busy. First, we had to get the boat ready to be lived and sailed on again, then we had to do massive shopping and cleaning, and get back to the daily errands. In the meantime, Mark was - and still is - working extremely hard on a new line of the Wirie products (more about that in a couple of months) and I keep up with writing articles.

Taha'a, seen from Mt. Tapioi

After a few weeks, we finally visited Moorea, which alluringly laid on the horizon for many months while we were in Tahiti. We had a fabulous (but still busy) time there, something we had been looking forward to for half a year. In the beginning of October, we prepared our boat for visitors (cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, stocking up on water and fuel …) and moved back to Tahiti, where we awaited the arrival of my cousin Griet and her husband Wim. With them, we saw a lot of sights and quite a few islands, while we sailed west all the way to Taha’a in the Leeward Society Islands.

Loading up the Maupiti Express

Unfortunately, we did not make it to Bora Bora, due to un-cooperating weather and the fact that we don’t like to motor if we don’t really have to. Plus, after hosting and entertaining two guests for two weeks, while moving the boat a lot, keeping up with the daily chores and boat errands, and dealing with work stuff, Mark and I were pretty exhausted. Which doesn’t mean we didn’t have a great and special time with my family, of course!! They are the perfect boat guests and it is always a pleasure to have them on Irie!

Our visitors on their way to Bora Bora

With the silhouette of Bora Bora visible just across 25 miles of ocean, Griet and Wim took a ferry there (Maupiti Express – 5500 xpf/person/one way) and left us on October 24^th to spent the last days of their holiday on the “Pearl of the Pacific”. Mark and I stayed on the city dock of Uturoa, Raiatea, to change Irie back from “vacation mode” to “living and maintaining mode”: the tools came back out, the guest bunk filled up with stuff again, the computers appeared permanently, and Mark and I focused back on errands and work full time; this time it is Bora Bora luring on the horizon!

The wind totally dropped for almost a week. The days on the dock became intolerable with the heat and the mosquitoes. On Sunday, we woke early and finally climbed Mount Tapioi ourselves to enjoy the expansive view over the lagoon and the surrounding Leeward islands. Even on the way back down, we dripped with sweat from the sun and the humidity. 

The following day, we moved to motu Aito across the channel to anchor in 6 feet of clear water and sandy bottom. The (unmarked) entrance to this beautiful anchorage is a bit tricky, but doable with a shallow draft boat and in good light. The lagoon is super flat and the anticipated breeze is holding off for a few more days, but Mark and I are very happy to be back at anchor and to be surrounded by peace, blue skies and a tropical environment of breaking reefs, a little islands, and azure waters with black tip reef sharks, puffer fish and stingrays! 

Griet and Wim ready to leave with the shell necklaces we gave them for a "happy return to French Polynesia" in the future

Uturoa, French Polynesia's second biggest "city", with the marina and motu Aito

Motu Aito, our destination after Uturoa - a very nice anchorage!

Taha'a (with Bora Bora to its left) and the lagoon, seen from Mount Tapioi

The east side of the lagoon, Huahine under the clouds and some motus, seen from Mount Tapioi

Weekly cruise ship in Uturoa, Raiatea

VERY flat lagoon during the "no wind" days

Stingray in the shallow anchorage seen from Irie

Huahine to the east, during sunset

Romance in the anchorage

Huahine on a hot and clear day

Laundry day on Irie - in a nice setting!

Thai papaya salad; a time consuming endeavor

Rainbow over the Aito anchorage

Charterers walking on the (calm!) outer reef - a normal thing to do here, apparently...

Orangeband surgeon fish

Picasso trigger fish protecting its hole

If only all of these pretty shells were empty...

Stingray under water - no coral here, but lots of life

A Stop in “the City” – Atuona in Hiva Oa, Marquesas

The summer vacation in Belgium and the US recently came to an end and so did our month long “holiday” in Fatu Hiva. But instead of running to the store to buy fresh food and alcohol for BBQs and parties, like our friends back home, we made due with canned meals and started “brewing” our own drinks. The results were some kind of liquid resembling lemonade – with the same taste and alcohol content! – and the need to move to Hiva Oa, where supermarkets were to be found!

Once safely and comfortably anchored near Atuona after a fast and fun day sail, we walked an hour into town to check out the stores. Sure, they have much more stuff here than anywhere else we’d been the last six months, but the choices are a bit disappointing (a lot of different goods, but no choices or off brands within the goods) and the prices even more so. While we expected groceries to be cheaper than in the Gambier or Fatu Hiva, they mostly are not. So, instead of spoiling on brie cheese, salami and snacks, we – once again - stuck to the subsidized goods and filled our baskets with crackers, pasta, rice, flour and corn kernels to make popcorn (I will miss chips and nuts the coming year!.$7 for a medium bag of Lays chips or a decent size can of peanuts is just too much!), some expensive frozen meat and a stray can of pâté. Luckily, the baguettes only cost about 70 cents US, so we are expanding our bellies with fresh French bread again, one a day each!

The first five days, it was sunny weather and while Irie’s bottom became dirtier and dirtier in the brown, murky water of the harbor, Mark and I stuck to a schedule: heading into town to do some shopping in the morning (most of the time securing a lift with a friendly local), and catching up on emails and internet research during the afternoon. The evenings were spent with new made friends or in bed watching an old TV show. Laundry was done ashore, where unlimited water and a cold shower are available. Earlier this week, we walked to the town’s cemetery up a hill, to visit the graves of the Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel and the controversial French painter Paul Gauguin. Their museums are also in town, but a bit too pricey for our budget.

After a full day of rain, we risked a walk in search of the “Smiling Tiki”, on the road to the airport. The idea was to walk there – wherever there was - and hitch a ride back to the harbor. As soon as we turned off the main stretch of pavement, the road climbed and climbed, while sweat gushed off our faces and bodies. With the altitude, the humidity kept rising. I wondered out loud why we wouldn’t hitch there and walk back, downhill. Mark didn’t want to have anything to do with that, reasoning that I wanted to go for a walk, right? And, it was a nice walk with some good views. I snuck a few pointed thumbs in the direction of passing cars, but none of them slowed down. After about an hour and a half of following the airport road, a small jeep stopped to ask where we were headed. Both of us could use a little break at that point and the friendly Marquesan driver dropped us off at a dirt track. We followed his good directions and a muddy path and trail until we found a small rock, depicting… a smiling tiki with glasses. Quite unique and worth the hike there… until it started to rain and rain.

Our flipflops became useless in the muck. We heard a car in the distance, revving his engine, and decided to check it out, trotting barefoot through the thick mud and climbing up a ditch to another watery track. A jeep was stuck in the mud. Mark and I tried to help, flattening some areas and gesturing directions, but it was not to be. While the rain fell down in buckets, the driver decided to leave the car and get help. We made our way back to the main road, hoping to catch a ride, but seriously doubting it, considering our drenched mud splattered bodies. After a while, Vincent, a friendly French guy our age, who has been living here for ten years, took pity on us. Despite our wet clothes and muddy legs and feet, he picked us up and dropped us off by our dinghy! We made it home with a fresh baguette, right in time to shelter for the next downpour.

The shady grave of Jacques Brel in a tropical setting

The last resting place of painter Paul Gauguin

New try to distill alcohol, with a homemade contraption, this time. Hopefully it does have more alcohol than lemonade when the "bubbling" has finished!

4am arrival of the cargo ship Aranui - no more sleep with the "real" harbor sounds that followed.

The smiling tiki, which is off the beaten track and hard to find

Stuck in the mud. Unfortunately, Mark and I couldn't help, but sloshed through the mud anyway...