Hey guys, not sure if this is the right area in the forum for this but I'm sure smudge can relocate if need be.
Have not been as active as usual on here recently, work and life has meant my ocean time has suffered a hit. Decided to take 2 and a half weeks and go explore the South Island and wow. Would highly recommend fellow North islanders if you haven't had the opportunity to go see what the South has on offer I would say go do it!
Some of you know, I am a twin. For our 27th Birthday I decided id go see the South Island with my sister (probably the last time we go on holiday with each other we live different lives). Just wrapped up 2 weeks down south, we packed all our junk into the back of the ute and set sails, rocked and rolled our way over from the North island to the South island in a moderate 3m swell. I got really excited when fellow passengers started to turn green and puke their guts out. Thought to myself this it. This could be the first time i've been sea sick. Atlas. No luck. Still not lucky enough to experience sea sickness.
Cracked on for the first night to be at Lake Tennyson, had full intentions of going through Molesworth station to get there. Doc were operating and doing some aerial dropping. Ended up going through Rainbow road and for $60 it was incredible! some amazing country, the fly fishing guys down south are extremely lucky. Absolutely stunning. Was blowing a gail and we had the lake to ourselves at night.
Woke up the following day and started to mosey our way out along the 30km stretch of gravel road. Ute was kicking out on every corner and I couldn't for the life of me work out why, thought this has to be the loosest gravel road in the country until I realised had accidentally bumped the Rear diff lock on.. That solved that one. Next stop Haast! A blimey what a wet n wild night that one was! (and not in the good way, with my sister remember guys)
Quickly learnt that stubbies on the west coast in the south island don't make you a man. I am still scratching like a crackheadd with the mosquito / sandfly bites... Woke up and cracked on down to Jackson River. Was starting to get pretty ripe so had a hot shower.. Had a nice warm 36 degrees coming out of the portable hot water system (My guestimate). Best shower I've ever had.. Paradise and cleanliness. Too good.
Fast forward a couple of days, punched down to Nevis Valley. Reading all about the history and seeing how they had their own little establishment in the middle of no where was fascinating. Found a cute little spot just off the main track to spend the night, was a tropical -4 over night. My sister enjoys taking some photos. She decided to give astrophotography a crack.
Some interesting photos, but I was rather happy I stayed in my warm sleeping bag
Got up at 6am, everything was frozen, it was a bit chilly. Headed on out at 7am after plucking up the courage to leave the warm comfort of the sleeping bag. A couple of the water sections on the road did pop up over the bonnet but nothing major, fair amount of the road had been washed out, Diff lock and 4Lo made climbing up the banks possible. I think open diff vehicles would have had to turn around.
Went on through to Skippers Canyon, absoutely incredible. I have a lot of videos but not a lot of photos. This was the highlight of my trip. Reading about the gold rush. Seeing the School and hotel with the history still locked away inside etc. Awesome stuff. The last main bridge is currently under repairs and the guys working on that... hat goes off to them. My height radar says no!
Next highlight was spending a night at the bottom of the South at Purakaunui Bay.
We arrived fairly early around 9am ish and had plenty of time to kill. Watched the seals come and go on the beach. The DOC lady for the Catlins area was incredible cool to talk with and does a wonderful job at keeping the facilities clean. Asked her about the campfire situation, she had no issues with them provided they are safe and reasonable. Picked up a bag of rubbish around the area as I was disgusted with the state of the place left by others. Knabbed the best spot for the night which later on turned out to be a mistake (long walk to the ****ter). Made some minor adjustments to the fire pit from previous people and sat down and enjoyed the evening, listening to the waves roll in and having a few yarns.
From here we went to the Touristy spots, woopity doo. False representation of NZ, tourists and just snobby folks around the Queenstown area. Go figure (my opinion).
Skip forward to Mt Cook, incredible. Spent 2 nights in the camp ground there. No complaints just the what seems to be usual for the south island trend of rabbit issue. Walked to Hooker Valley. Played the how many Kiwis to Tourist ratio. Said hello to every group there and back. Only 2 kiwis rest were tourists which I found interesting.
Went and checked out the '4WD' track (2wd was no issue at all) at the tasman glacier which has had a small washout.. you can go 2km and come to a rather large drop off. Used to go to a hut which is now tramping / chopper in country only however still incredible!
Now unfortunately making our way to Lake Tekapo after parking up to grab a pie for lunch. The Dmax decided to throw up a check engine light. No dramas. Had a poke around and figured I'll make my way to the branch I work for in Hamilton in Christchurch. Scanned the engine light. MAF sensor or faulty ECM. Cleared the code decided to head up to Picton and cut the trip short. Ute was starting to suffer some power issues and I knew the turbo had decided to pack a sad. Picton parked up at the ferry terminal. Turned the ute off. Got tickets for the ferry (3 days earlier than planned) and check engine light back on.
After a little bit of poking around in the engine bay, spotted the issue. Seals on the turbo are cooked, oil is going through the intercooler and spewing a bit into the intake. Hence the MAF sensor playing up. No worries though 500mls of oil is all that was required, made it back to Hamilton. Isuzu dealer has confirmed turbos stuffed. Awaiting to hear regarding warranty. (Has already been replaced 24,000kms ago with the revised turbo as turbo failure on the 2016-2019 built Dmax is common)
Still have 3 days left of leave, not sure what to do with my self now! Had an absolute wonderful time, bloody glad I dont have to try live out of the ute for a while. The fridge kept playing up on the trip also. Back half was frozen front half at about 4degrees, hard to slice frozen block of cheese...