Haast to Methven, under pouring rain

We'd been too lucky, sun, snow & fun for 5 days....and NZ is not perfect, specially not with the weather !

The light rain that surprised us in the evening in Mount Cook did nothing but intensify during the following 2 days that we ended up spending in the car, driving close to 900km in lonely roads under the pouring rain.


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Hardly had we driven for 100km from Haast in the morning that we found a huge trunk that prevented us to carry on !



Luckily for us, another car showed up within 5 minutes and they had a strap that we hooked up to the back of our car .... (again, we were happy to have a 4WD!)



And after several trials on either side of the trunk,



We made it !


During this trip, the variety of sceneries we saw was incredible. From west to east, the seashore fades into jungle which itself gives room for the mountains and huge plains, with barely any trees around...

So we rushed back to Methven, hoping that all the rain that we got would mean snow up in the ski fields....but we were wrong. Most of the ski fields were closed on the day after so we ended up in Christchurch for our last day.

We highly recommend the national museum (free or donation) if you find yourself in this british looking town that is actually one of the most important cities in the South Island !

Skiing in Kiwiland !

As soon as we landed in Christchurch, we grabbed the rental car, got familiarised with the left-handside driving and drove to Methven, where we would base-camp at least for the first few days.

To warm up, we headed to Mount Hutt the next day, a commercial ski field similar to what we are used to in Europe, with ski lifts. We got there pretty late after renting the skis and crossing many many people that where coming down from the field due to abd weather.

A nice surprise to start with :

Chains even for 4WD needed to go up !

Sooooooooooo, how does this worrrkk ?

Luckily some guy who probably saw us (or rather Ben) struggling with the chains came to give us a hand...

Only two of the 4 ski lifts were open ( i tot aixo pel modic preu de 89NZD, uns 50€, que no hi ha preu de mitja jornada!) but at least the sky cleared up as soon as we reached the parking lot and we had enough time to enjoy both the skiing and the scenery !

It was probably the first time I saw the sea from the mountains while skiing !

PS : In Methven, we stayed at the welcoming Alpenhorn Chalet, a warm nice hostel that we strongly recommend !