Leg Five: Auckland to Paihia and back again (4-9 April 2010)
Auckland (4-6 April 2010)
Arrived in Auckland exhausted after our action-packed week and thoroughly nonplussed to be in yet another city. By way of protest, we spent the whole afternoon sitting in the TV room watching bad made-for-TV-movies.
Got up the next morning still feeling uninterested but willing to give New Zealand's biggest city a shot. Headed down to the harbour and wandered along the waterfront browsing the menus of restaurants we couldn't afford to eat in, ending up at Victoria Park which, incidentally, did nothing to cure my dislike of this city. It is just one big scruffy brown playing field hemmed in my some lifeless trees. Despite our better judgement, we tried to sit down and read our books but so many bugs kept feasting on us we were soon forced to admit defeat and head across town to Albert Park which turned out to be a lush green oasis in the midst of this oppressive urban sprawl. It's the perfect suntrap, with manicured lawns, huge tress providing shade and beautifully-maintained flower beds. Spent a lovely afternoon basking in the sunshine, reading and just generally being lazy. Just what we needed after such a hectic few days of "activity". Besides, it's not as if we have the pennies left to do anything exciting! I still refuse to like the rest of Auckland though, it's just so uninspiring, a city built on functionality with no concern for aesthetics, a city where lovely waterfront restaurants stand side-by-side with huge container units. We were definitely pleased to head north to the Bay of Islands the next day.
Paihia, Bay of Islands (6-8 April 2010)
Paihia is a charming little seaside town situated in the Bay of Islands, right at the northern tip of New Zealand. We passed a couple of days here doing not much at all really other than sleeping in, sunbathing, walking along the beautiful coastline looking out at the little forested islands bobbing in the bay and relaxing in the hostel hot tub. Idyllic. The perfect precursor to two weeks of island hopping in Fiji.
Auckland (9-10 April 2010)
Back to Auckland on Thursday evening in time for our free Kiwi Experience day trip the following morning. We were collected at the entirely acceptable hour of 10.15am and taken out to the Harbour Bridge where we put on little harnesses and trekked out under the traffic to watch the bungy jumping.
After enough people had flung themselves from the bridge, we headed north out of the city to Devonport, one of Auckland's oldest suburbs. Here, we had lunch - fish and chips served not on plates, but appealingly on a huge tablecloth of newspaper. Tried hoki for the first time, a delicious white fish with meaty flakes and a delicate flavour. I must admit that I missed the British classic of mushy peas though.
We then headed up the ancient volcano Mount Victoria for panoramic views of the city and surrounding gulf. This distance did much for the city's appearance and it turns out I quite like Auckland when viewed from afar! We arrived back into the city centre mid-afternoon and walked straight to Albert Park. And so I spent my last afternoon in New Zealand sitting in my favourite spot in Auckland, despising the city a little less, writing my blog and reflecting over my time here. It really is the incredible country I was hoping for - a real land of opportunity, where you can do everything from hiking up a glacier and trekking through a volcanic national park, to jumping out of a plane and white water rafting, to sunbathing and surfing. I'll definitely be back. But for now, it's on to the next, and final, stage of our adventure. Fiji.
Friday, 9 April 2010
New Zealand: North Island
Leg Four: Wellington to Auckland (28 March - 09 April 2010)
Wellington (28-31 March 2010)
Wellington came at just the right time, winning me round despite my determination to be bored of towns and cities. Not even the fact that our first day there was officially the most stressful of the trip so far could put me off this compact capital. Waking up with the threat of a hangover after a night drinking in the hostel bar and along Courtenay Place and wishing desperately that the hostel had invested in double glazing, it was possibly the worst time to discover that my phone was broken, having seemingly decided to adopt its own screening method and only accept certain text messages. However this was just crisis number one. I later tried to make a transfer from my current account over the phone only to hear the dreaded words "I'm sorry, that's actually been declined". Rang the fraud team who promptly transferred me to customer services which is where the frustration which normally accompanies any interaction with your bank began. A automated voice asked me to enter various details ending with my telephone banking pin. I don't have one. Naively, I pressed the button for "further assistance" only to be asked to "enter the four digit pin I selected for my telephone banking account". Clearly, the automated lady had failed to grasp that it was not my unfamiliarity with the term pin number that was troubling me. Having no alternative, I just entered anything in a desperate attempt to get through to an actual human. I shouldn't have bothered. The automated lady informed me again in her monotonous drawl that she had been unable to identify me correctly and as punishment I was put through to a human being who clearly thought that answering the phone to me was as irksome to him as finding some dog poo on his new designer shoes. I was unceremoniously advised that since I had entered the wrong pin, my account was now blocked. I went for what I hoped to be a reasonable response, explaining that I didn't have a pin. He replied that they had sent me a form which hadn't been returned. Trying to remain calm, I explained that since I was in New Zealand it would have been tricky for me to return said form. Clearly this was too difficult a puzzle for his one brain cell to tackle so I was simply informed that my account was now blocked anyway, nothing could be done until 8am and that I should ring back then. Therefore, my first day in Wellington was spent forming a plan of attack for operation "how to get money when your bank is being impossibly difficult". However, it turns out this was all in vain - when I rang back several hours later, I was informed by a chirpy young girl that it was only my telephone banking account that was blocked, not my current account. I had been able to access my money all along. This was delivered in a nonchalant tone as though I hadn't been running around all day worrying that I would never see my money again and would end up selling the entire contents of my rucksack just to pay for the flight home. So it was that poo shoe boy ruined my first day in Wellington.
I am pleased to say though that the next day was a roaring success. Spent the afternoon in the Te Papa Museum. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be one to rave about a museum but this one is an absolute gem with its inventive and intriguing exhibits and, best of all, it's free (believe me, every penny is starting to count). We saw the only colossal squid on public display in the world which was impressive simply because it has earned this title but, in my opinion, should be ten times bigger is its going to prefix its name with the term "colossal". We also crawled inside a plastic replica of a blue whale heart and took part in an earthquake simulation - in short, we made a beeline for all exhibits aimed at children!
We followed this with an afternoon relaxing in the rolling hills of the Botanic Gardens, the highest point in the city, where we soaked up the peace and quiet and the spectacular views out over the city before taking the cable car back down to the bustling centre. From here, we reluctantly headed back to the hostel from hell where the keys lock you out when you go to the toilet in the middle of the night, the lifts smell of old milk, the kitchen has just two working hobs and fridges resembling a game of cool bag jenga, and the internet crashes just as you're sending your email.
Lake Taupo (31 March - 2 April 2010)
Day one
Unfortunately, I can't say I saw much of Lake Taupo, unless you count the incredible birds-eye view I got of Australasia's biggest lake as I fell through the sky. Oh yes, I did a skydive! It was amazing, unlike anything I've ever done before which is hardly surprising since I don't make a habit of flinging myself out of planes at 12000 feet. We've been umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether we could afford to do it throughout the whole trip and kept reaching the decision to "wait and see how funds are looking when we get to Taupo". Then suddenly, we were on the bus to Taupo and writing our names on a clipboard to jump that afternoon!
We got picked up from Wellington early and made a quick stop in Bulls, a novel little town where the establishments have signs punning on its name - hence the police station is where you will find the "consta-bull". Then we pushed on to get to Taupo before the weather - which was apparently perfect for skydiving - turned. I didn't feel nervous like I expected; I think the adrenaline was going. Even when the plane took off with us packed in like sardines, I just chuckled and said "no going back now". It was only when I had my feet dangling out of the plane that I thought "oh god, I'm really doing this". I had my tandem master in my ear shouting "arch like a banana" and all I could think was "just get on with it and jump, will you - if I arch my back anymore I'll resemble a folding deck chair" shortly followed by "where is my little tub of vaseline when I need it". Turns out you don't know squat about chapped lips until you've done a skydive. My mouth was so dry I felt like I'd swallowed a sack of flour. In hindsight, this was probably largely to do with the fact that my face resembled a balloon mid-inflation (so glad I got the DVD, if only for the entertainment of everyone at home). The rush was incredible though, complete sensory overload as you tumble out of the plane and start your 45 seconds of freefall, plummeting towards the ground with the wind in your face. Then just as suddenly you feel a sharp tug and you're pulled upwards as the parachute goes up. After that, it's a leisurely three minutes of floating down, taking in the 360 degree views. It's simply amazing, so quiet and peaceful. We were on such a high afterwards, not even the fact that we had to be up at 5am for the Tongariro Crossing could bring us back down the earth.
Day Two
Tongariro Crossing - aka a day in the life of Frodo Baggins
Tongariro National Park was used as a filming location for Mordor and Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and its 16km alpine crossing is considered to be the best one day hike in New Zealand and one of the top ten in the world. It's easy to see why. It's an ever-changing landscape, a vast desert of black lava rock and scree, blasted craters, scorched volcanoes, lava flows and geothermal lakes. Similar to how I imagine Mars.
We started the hike at 7.45am (the 5am get-up wasn't as painful as expected - worryingly my body seems to be adjusting the sleep deprivation) following a rocky track and watching the sun come up, burning away the stubborn clouds for our first glimpse of Mount Doom looming in the distance. We soon reached the devil's staircase, a steep 5km climb up to the base of Mount Ngauruhoe, 2500 years old and New Zealand's most active volcano. From here, we crossed the barren south crater and began the steep rocky climb up to the red crater, the summit of our hike at 1886m above sea level. This ascent was more rough and ready, along a ridge with no stairs, just unsteady rocks and rubble. Worth it though for the incredible view at the top, real Lord of the Rings territory for miles around. Afterwards, it was scree-sliding through the dust down the other side of this vividly red crater to the aqua blue and highly sulphurous Emerald Lakes where we stopped to photograph the geothermal steam. Next came the perfectly tranquil Blue Lake after which our alpine surroundings gradually grew greener and we descended into native forest. After six hours of trekking (two hours less than the time recommended to complete the hike, I'll have you know) we emerged from the trees into the busy car park singing old motown hits at the top of our lungs, hopped onto a bus and headed back to Taupo to celebrate our achievement with a classy combination of spaghetti carbonara and cider.
Rotorua (2-4 April 2010)
Day One
Having had both air- and ground-based adventures over the past couple of days, it was now time to take our adventurous selves to the water - white water rafting through the grade five rapids of the Kaituna River. Arrived in Rotorua, the town famous for its wealth of geothermal activity and resulting distinctive smell, early in the morning and headed out for rafting that same afternoon. We started with a 2.5m waterfall, toppling over a 1.0m drop almost immediately afterwards. Then came the big one - 7.0m high! We landed the right way up, a tribute to our faultless rafting skills of course. However, we did go completely under, forced down by the sheer power of the waterfall. It's such a buzz - clinging on for dear life, feeling the raft fly off the edge, hearing the water thundering down, realising you're under the water then popping up suddenly in a calm lagoon. Loved every minute. Before I knew it, it was all over though and I was "rapid surfing" - sat at the front of the raft, face down in the freezing cold water while the back end of the raft stuck straight up in the air.
Got back to the hostel late afternoon with no time to rest - we had a Maori cultural experience to get to. Headed out of the town a few kilometres to Tamaki village, a replica of a traditional Maori village from the 1600s, for the Journey of the Cultural Ages Experience. It was a fantastic evening; we had to nominate someone from our group to act as chief. He was then to face the challenge of the warriors and win us the right to access their village. It was an eerie and impressive ceremony, conducted in a circle of sand before the entrance to the village, three paths constructed from tree trunks and partially concealed by the surrounding forest like an ancient fortress. The warriors came out, challenging the chiefs and showing their weaponry skills, while the women stood on platforms above chanting. We then accepted the proffered fern leaf and proceeded into the village which was fascinating - huts decorated with elaborate carvings, roaring fires and the villagers in traditional Maori dress. After learning about their warrior training methods and food capture and preservation techniques, we proceeded to the concert hall where we watched a concert of beautiful music and the iconic Haka dance. Although I could have stayed all night listening, I felt it could have been more rich in terms of storytelling - I went away wanting to know more. Dinner followed the concert, a delicious Hangi - a meal steamed in the ground over hot rocks. We ate soft carrots, lamb and chicken so tender it fell apart, potatoes with a distinctive smoky flavour, stuffing, gravy and bread. I went back for seconds and would have been tempted for thirds but they brought out dessert: pavlova with fresh fruit salad or steamed pudding and custard. Naturally, I had both. We then learnt how to prepare our own hangi meal, listened to the staff sing one final time and watched a presentation of beautiful carved necklaces to our chiefs before heading back to the hostel. There was something so moving about the whole evening, the pride and ferocity with which these people respect the past and preserve their heritage is not something you see very often. I don't think we have such determination in the UK, but then perhaps that is because our cultural identity has never really been under threat? I guess you don't strive to protect something unless you fear losing it?
Day Two
Waitomo today and black water rafting. Hopped on our bus at 7.15am, greeted by a very friendly driver originally from Southampton who wanted to chat to us a lot more than was appropriate at such an unsociable hour! Arriving at Waitomo, we sat with our guide for half an hour listening dutifully to his dramatic "five near-drowning" stories and promising to try our best not to break a leg because he wanted a quiet day at work. We then wrestled our way into wetsuits designed for borrowers and headed down to the caves. It was brilliant, although despite our guide's dramatic tales, the only real danger I felt was the threat of hypothermia.
We started off walking, ducking the stalactites and stumbling through the rocky shallows. We then jumped backwards over a waterfall - previously described as death-defying but which actually turned out to be no more than a couple of metres high - formed a long chain on our rubber rings and floated idly downriver in the dark, looking up at the ceiling twinkling with the light of thousands of glow worms. To finish, we turned our head torches off and had to navigate our way out in the pitch black (clearly these guides had little regard for health and safety; the tales of "near-drownings" begin to fall into place). Emerging outside, blinking and shivering, we headed back for hot showers, soup and toasted bagels. Just what the doctor ordered. Then, just when we thought things couldn't get any better, we discovered that the clocks go back one hour tonight so we get an extra hour in bed. Jackpot!
I am pleased to say though that the next day was a roaring success. Spent the afternoon in the Te Papa Museum. Ordinarily, I wouldn't be one to rave about a museum but this one is an absolute gem with its inventive and intriguing exhibits and, best of all, it's free (believe me, every penny is starting to count). We saw the only colossal squid on public display in the world which was impressive simply because it has earned this title but, in my opinion, should be ten times bigger is its going to prefix its name with the term "colossal". We also crawled inside a plastic replica of a blue whale heart and took part in an earthquake simulation - in short, we made a beeline for all exhibits aimed at children!
We followed this with an afternoon relaxing in the rolling hills of the Botanic Gardens, the highest point in the city, where we soaked up the peace and quiet and the spectacular views out over the city before taking the cable car back down to the bustling centre. From here, we reluctantly headed back to the hostel from hell where the keys lock you out when you go to the toilet in the middle of the night, the lifts smell of old milk, the kitchen has just two working hobs and fridges resembling a game of cool bag jenga, and the internet crashes just as you're sending your email.
Lake Taupo (31 March - 2 April 2010)
Day one
Unfortunately, I can't say I saw much of Lake Taupo, unless you count the incredible birds-eye view I got of Australasia's biggest lake as I fell through the sky. Oh yes, I did a skydive! It was amazing, unlike anything I've ever done before which is hardly surprising since I don't make a habit of flinging myself out of planes at 12000 feet. We've been umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether we could afford to do it throughout the whole trip and kept reaching the decision to "wait and see how funds are looking when we get to Taupo". Then suddenly, we were on the bus to Taupo and writing our names on a clipboard to jump that afternoon!
We got picked up from Wellington early and made a quick stop in Bulls, a novel little town where the establishments have signs punning on its name - hence the police station is where you will find the "consta-bull". Then we pushed on to get to Taupo before the weather - which was apparently perfect for skydiving - turned. I didn't feel nervous like I expected; I think the adrenaline was going. Even when the plane took off with us packed in like sardines, I just chuckled and said "no going back now". It was only when I had my feet dangling out of the plane that I thought "oh god, I'm really doing this". I had my tandem master in my ear shouting "arch like a banana" and all I could think was "just get on with it and jump, will you - if I arch my back anymore I'll resemble a folding deck chair" shortly followed by "where is my little tub of vaseline when I need it". Turns out you don't know squat about chapped lips until you've done a skydive. My mouth was so dry I felt like I'd swallowed a sack of flour. In hindsight, this was probably largely to do with the fact that my face resembled a balloon mid-inflation (so glad I got the DVD, if only for the entertainment of everyone at home). The rush was incredible though, complete sensory overload as you tumble out of the plane and start your 45 seconds of freefall, plummeting towards the ground with the wind in your face. Then just as suddenly you feel a sharp tug and you're pulled upwards as the parachute goes up. After that, it's a leisurely three minutes of floating down, taking in the 360 degree views. It's simply amazing, so quiet and peaceful. We were on such a high afterwards, not even the fact that we had to be up at 5am for the Tongariro Crossing could bring us back down the earth.
Day Two
Tongariro Crossing - aka a day in the life of Frodo Baggins
Tongariro National Park was used as a filming location for Mordor and Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and its 16km alpine crossing is considered to be the best one day hike in New Zealand and one of the top ten in the world. It's easy to see why. It's an ever-changing landscape, a vast desert of black lava rock and scree, blasted craters, scorched volcanoes, lava flows and geothermal lakes. Similar to how I imagine Mars.
We started the hike at 7.45am (the 5am get-up wasn't as painful as expected - worryingly my body seems to be adjusting the sleep deprivation) following a rocky track and watching the sun come up, burning away the stubborn clouds for our first glimpse of Mount Doom looming in the distance. We soon reached the devil's staircase, a steep 5km climb up to the base of Mount Ngauruhoe, 2500 years old and New Zealand's most active volcano. From here, we crossed the barren south crater and began the steep rocky climb up to the red crater, the summit of our hike at 1886m above sea level. This ascent was more rough and ready, along a ridge with no stairs, just unsteady rocks and rubble. Worth it though for the incredible view at the top, real Lord of the Rings territory for miles around. Afterwards, it was scree-sliding through the dust down the other side of this vividly red crater to the aqua blue and highly sulphurous Emerald Lakes where we stopped to photograph the geothermal steam. Next came the perfectly tranquil Blue Lake after which our alpine surroundings gradually grew greener and we descended into native forest. After six hours of trekking (two hours less than the time recommended to complete the hike, I'll have you know) we emerged from the trees into the busy car park singing old motown hits at the top of our lungs, hopped onto a bus and headed back to Taupo to celebrate our achievement with a classy combination of spaghetti carbonara and cider.
Rotorua (2-4 April 2010)
Day One
Having had both air- and ground-based adventures over the past couple of days, it was now time to take our adventurous selves to the water - white water rafting through the grade five rapids of the Kaituna River. Arrived in Rotorua, the town famous for its wealth of geothermal activity and resulting distinctive smell, early in the morning and headed out for rafting that same afternoon. We started with a 2.5m waterfall, toppling over a 1.0m drop almost immediately afterwards. Then came the big one - 7.0m high! We landed the right way up, a tribute to our faultless rafting skills of course. However, we did go completely under, forced down by the sheer power of the waterfall. It's such a buzz - clinging on for dear life, feeling the raft fly off the edge, hearing the water thundering down, realising you're under the water then popping up suddenly in a calm lagoon. Loved every minute. Before I knew it, it was all over though and I was "rapid surfing" - sat at the front of the raft, face down in the freezing cold water while the back end of the raft stuck straight up in the air.
Got back to the hostel late afternoon with no time to rest - we had a Maori cultural experience to get to. Headed out of the town a few kilometres to Tamaki village, a replica of a traditional Maori village from the 1600s, for the Journey of the Cultural Ages Experience. It was a fantastic evening; we had to nominate someone from our group to act as chief. He was then to face the challenge of the warriors and win us the right to access their village. It was an eerie and impressive ceremony, conducted in a circle of sand before the entrance to the village, three paths constructed from tree trunks and partially concealed by the surrounding forest like an ancient fortress. The warriors came out, challenging the chiefs and showing their weaponry skills, while the women stood on platforms above chanting. We then accepted the proffered fern leaf and proceeded into the village which was fascinating - huts decorated with elaborate carvings, roaring fires and the villagers in traditional Maori dress. After learning about their warrior training methods and food capture and preservation techniques, we proceeded to the concert hall where we watched a concert of beautiful music and the iconic Haka dance. Although I could have stayed all night listening, I felt it could have been more rich in terms of storytelling - I went away wanting to know more. Dinner followed the concert, a delicious Hangi - a meal steamed in the ground over hot rocks. We ate soft carrots, lamb and chicken so tender it fell apart, potatoes with a distinctive smoky flavour, stuffing, gravy and bread. I went back for seconds and would have been tempted for thirds but they brought out dessert: pavlova with fresh fruit salad or steamed pudding and custard. Naturally, I had both. We then learnt how to prepare our own hangi meal, listened to the staff sing one final time and watched a presentation of beautiful carved necklaces to our chiefs before heading back to the hostel. There was something so moving about the whole evening, the pride and ferocity with which these people respect the past and preserve their heritage is not something you see very often. I don't think we have such determination in the UK, but then perhaps that is because our cultural identity has never really been under threat? I guess you don't strive to protect something unless you fear losing it?
Day Two
Waitomo today and black water rafting. Hopped on our bus at 7.15am, greeted by a very friendly driver originally from Southampton who wanted to chat to us a lot more than was appropriate at such an unsociable hour! Arriving at Waitomo, we sat with our guide for half an hour listening dutifully to his dramatic "five near-drowning" stories and promising to try our best not to break a leg because he wanted a quiet day at work. We then wrestled our way into wetsuits designed for borrowers and headed down to the caves. It was brilliant, although despite our guide's dramatic tales, the only real danger I felt was the threat of hypothermia.
We started off walking, ducking the stalactites and stumbling through the rocky shallows. We then jumped backwards over a waterfall - previously described as death-defying but which actually turned out to be no more than a couple of metres high - formed a long chain on our rubber rings and floated idly downriver in the dark, looking up at the ceiling twinkling with the light of thousands of glow worms. To finish, we turned our head torches off and had to navigate our way out in the pitch black (clearly these guides had little regard for health and safety; the tales of "near-drownings" begin to fall into place). Emerging outside, blinking and shivering, we headed back for hot showers, soup and toasted bagels. Just what the doctor ordered. Then, just when we thought things couldn't get any better, we discovered that the clocks go back one hour tonight so we get an extra hour in bed. Jackpot!
Sunday, 4 April 2010
New Zealand: South Island
Leg Three: Queenstown back to Kaikoura (26-28 March 2010)
Our return to a life of 'bus-ing' around the south island began again abruptly at 6.45am and we were eased back in by a day-long stint to Christchurch, with brief stops at Cromwell - the town furthest from the sea in New Zealand - and Lake Pukaiki where we attempted to get photos of Mount Cook (aka the cloud piercer) but failed because, ironically, it was obscured by cloud. Our final stop was a very quick lunch break in Geraldine, a nondescript town whose only claim to fame is being the location for the knitting of the world's biggest cardigan. I say no more. The fact that it was the best weather we have seen since arriving in New Zealand only served to heighten my disgruntlement. Think I am starting to get cabin fever from being on this bus, starting to feel its restrictions. Every five minutes, I want to call the great lumbering vehicle to a standstill, hop off and go exploring. There seems to be so much more to this country than the location for the knitting of the world's greatest cardigan and I desperately want to experience it...frankly all these towns and cities are becoming something of a hindrance to this ideal. There is something so liberating about a country in which you can be so far from civisilation, it seems to me to be a rare luxury in today's world. I think I can safely say this will not be my only trip to New Zealand and that next time, I will go it alone! Nothing for it now though but to accept my fate as a prisoner of the Kiwi Experience bus, hope for better things in the north island and head into Christchurch to spend the afternoon in the admittedly beautiful Botanic Gardens.
Our second stop in Kaikoura the next night was no more eventful than the first and we were therefore happy to be on the bus again in the morning (for once) and heading back to
Picton where this time we boarded a ferry and headed over the high seas with high hopes for the north island...
New Zealand: South Island
Leg Two: Nelson to Queenstown (17-25 March 2010)
17 March 2010
Managed to bag the last two seats on the bus heading south, disgruntled to be sacrificing our Abel Tasman hike but relieved to still have enough time to fit in both islands. Our first stop of the day was glacial Lake Rotoiti, nestled at the northernmost tip of the Southern Alps amidst dark beech forest. Despite the shining sun, the icy wind made swimming an unwelcome prospect - those who did brave a jump off the jetty quickly made their exits - so we just soaked up the tranquil setting, trying very hard not to let a demanding troop of hungry ducks spoil it!
The afternoon was spent driving to Westport through mountains carpeted in lush green forest and occasionally interrupted by winding gorges channelling turqoise waters over the pale grey rocks towards the sea. In true St Patrick's Day style, we then passed the evening in the only pub open in the small town, drinking cheap beer, listening to the irish band and making laughable attempts to perfect an irish jig.
18 March 2010
Started the day with a walk at Cape Foulwind, Westport's coastline, so named by Captain Cook who struggled to land there due to bad weather in March 1770. Our next stop en route to Lake Mahinapua was Punakaiki where we walked to the pancake rocks - stratified limestone eroded to resemble stacks of pancakes - and became addicted to watching the blowhole! Lastly, we stopped at Greymouth to purchase our fancy dress outfits for the "poo party" that evening. The poo party is an infamous event on the Kiwi Experience bus circuit where people dress up like idiots and drink copious amounts of alcohol in the bar of Hotel Mahinapua, a musty room with caps hanging from the ceiling and the history of the "poo party" adorning the walls in the form of polaroid photos.
We arrived at the hotel with just enough time to wander down to the lake before dinner - it was actually the perfect time to see it, with dusk falling over the calm dark waters and the empty jetty stretching out towards the surrounding forest.
Headed back for a delicious dinner of rare steak and venison stew before getting ready for our themed party. We were given the infuriatingly broad theme of "are you really wearing that?" and a restrictive budget of $2. In the end, in addition to Roz's dress fashioned out of a binbag and various gift-wrapping products and my pillowcase cape and head torch, we had a human pass the parcel, a shopping bag, a scuba diver and someone simply wearing their own rucksack (obviously they decided to put the $2 towards their beer fund instead)!
19-21 March 2010
Next on the agenda was a day hiking up the Franz Josef glacier. After all, it's not every day you get to say you have trekked up the fastest moving glacier in New Zealand, is it? Advancing four feet a day on average, this vast river of ice was actually moving while we standing on it! The only sacrifice we had to make for this incredible experience was to the world of fashion: kitted out in thigh-skimming kagouls, boots a biker would be proud of, waterproof trousers and bumbags so big we could probably use them as sleeping bags, we were hardly candidates for London Fashion Week. It was worth it though when we got to don our cramp-ons (fearsome-looking metal shoe spiders is the best description I can muster) and clamber our way onto this vast frozen river where what appears to be flat, if uneven, terrain from afar suddenly transforms into huge cliffs and tunnels of sculpted ice, glistening in the sun and speckled with dirt. I felt like a true adventurer. Our friendly guide Alex led the way, bounding along with a pickaxe slung carelessly over his shoulder which he used to carve steps through this ever-changing labyrinth of ice. It was not unlike following one of Snow White's seven dwarves and it was all I could do not to start up a rendition of Whistle While you Work.
Shortly after lunch, during which we huddled together like penguins to keep warm, Alex discovered an unexplored thirty metre-long ice cave. It was too small in places to go allow us to get from one end to the other but we managed to get about a third of the way in where the cave opened up below a perfectly round natural skylight, nothing but swirls of blue and the sky heavy with rain beyond.
That night, we rewarded our hard work with a visit to to the local hot pools, situated in the middle of the forest and fed by water from the glacier - the perfect antidote for our soon-to-be-protesting muscles. This relaxation was not to last unfortunately - we spent the rest of the evening drying our rucksacks with a hairdryer in preparation for yet another early departure the next morning.
21-22 March 2010
Left Franz Josef and headed south to Wanaka, stopping at Lake Matheson where the rain eased enough for us to get some photos of the still lake mirroring the surrounding forest and the snow-capped peaks of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. Spent the night in Wanaka where the most interesting that happened was that I bagged a free hotdog from a Christian outreach group (sorry still not converted)!
On our way out of Wanaka the next morning (early as usual), we visited Puzzling World, a curious establishment which is apparently home to the world's first 3D maze (didn't know there was any other kind to be honest). The illusion rooms were well worth a look though with attractions including the tilted house where water appears to run uphill and the Ames Forced Perspective Room which solves the mystery of how Elijah Wood was cut down to hobbit size for the Lord of the Rings films.
22-26 March 2010
Three days of doing not much at all passed shamefully quickly in Queenstown - I think the most energetic thing we did was pick up a microphone for a very sketchy rendition of Ben.E.King's Stand by Me at the hostel's karaoke night.
Queenstown is a great place though, not unlike a buzzing ski resort. Frankly, I was just relieved to be in one place for more than 24 hours, all this hopping on and off buses is starting to make me dizzy. Being confined to it for long periods of time does have the plus point of enforced bonding with your group though so it was never a quiet night while we were here!
We finally had a famous Ferg Burger too. Every mention of our coming to New Zealand so far on this trip has been met with "then you simply must have a Ferg Burger in Queenstown" (not that everyone we met was a toffe-nosed posh twit but you get the gist)! To meet our expectations, this burger would have to be taller than me and served on a silver platter. In the event, it was of normal burger size and served in a paper bag. I don't deny it was delicious...just maybe not quite tall enough...
17 March 2010
Managed to bag the last two seats on the bus heading south, disgruntled to be sacrificing our Abel Tasman hike but relieved to still have enough time to fit in both islands. Our first stop of the day was glacial Lake Rotoiti, nestled at the northernmost tip of the Southern Alps amidst dark beech forest. Despite the shining sun, the icy wind made swimming an unwelcome prospect - those who did brave a jump off the jetty quickly made their exits - so we just soaked up the tranquil setting, trying very hard not to let a demanding troop of hungry ducks spoil it!
The afternoon was spent driving to Westport through mountains carpeted in lush green forest and occasionally interrupted by winding gorges channelling turqoise waters over the pale grey rocks towards the sea. In true St Patrick's Day style, we then passed the evening in the only pub open in the small town, drinking cheap beer, listening to the irish band and making laughable attempts to perfect an irish jig.
18 March 2010
Started the day with a walk at Cape Foulwind, Westport's coastline, so named by Captain Cook who struggled to land there due to bad weather in March 1770. Our next stop en route to Lake Mahinapua was Punakaiki where we walked to the pancake rocks - stratified limestone eroded to resemble stacks of pancakes - and became addicted to watching the blowhole! Lastly, we stopped at Greymouth to purchase our fancy dress outfits for the "poo party" that evening. The poo party is an infamous event on the Kiwi Experience bus circuit where people dress up like idiots and drink copious amounts of alcohol in the bar of Hotel Mahinapua, a musty room with caps hanging from the ceiling and the history of the "poo party" adorning the walls in the form of polaroid photos.
We arrived at the hotel with just enough time to wander down to the lake before dinner - it was actually the perfect time to see it, with dusk falling over the calm dark waters and the empty jetty stretching out towards the surrounding forest.
Headed back for a delicious dinner of rare steak and venison stew before getting ready for our themed party. We were given the infuriatingly broad theme of "are you really wearing that?" and a restrictive budget of $2. In the end, in addition to Roz's dress fashioned out of a binbag and various gift-wrapping products and my pillowcase cape and head torch, we had a human pass the parcel, a shopping bag, a scuba diver and someone simply wearing their own rucksack (obviously they decided to put the $2 towards their beer fund instead)!
19-21 March 2010
Next on the agenda was a day hiking up the Franz Josef glacier. After all, it's not every day you get to say you have trekked up the fastest moving glacier in New Zealand, is it? Advancing four feet a day on average, this vast river of ice was actually moving while we standing on it! The only sacrifice we had to make for this incredible experience was to the world of fashion: kitted out in thigh-skimming kagouls, boots a biker would be proud of, waterproof trousers and bumbags so big we could probably use them as sleeping bags, we were hardly candidates for London Fashion Week. It was worth it though when we got to don our cramp-ons (fearsome-looking metal shoe spiders is the best description I can muster) and clamber our way onto this vast frozen river where what appears to be flat, if uneven, terrain from afar suddenly transforms into huge cliffs and tunnels of sculpted ice, glistening in the sun and speckled with dirt. I felt like a true adventurer. Our friendly guide Alex led the way, bounding along with a pickaxe slung carelessly over his shoulder which he used to carve steps through this ever-changing labyrinth of ice. It was not unlike following one of Snow White's seven dwarves and it was all I could do not to start up a rendition of Whistle While you Work.
Shortly after lunch, during which we huddled together like penguins to keep warm, Alex discovered an unexplored thirty metre-long ice cave. It was too small in places to go allow us to get from one end to the other but we managed to get about a third of the way in where the cave opened up below a perfectly round natural skylight, nothing but swirls of blue and the sky heavy with rain beyond.
That night, we rewarded our hard work with a visit to to the local hot pools, situated in the middle of the forest and fed by water from the glacier - the perfect antidote for our soon-to-be-protesting muscles. This relaxation was not to last unfortunately - we spent the rest of the evening drying our rucksacks with a hairdryer in preparation for yet another early departure the next morning.
21-22 March 2010
Left Franz Josef and headed south to Wanaka, stopping at Lake Matheson where the rain eased enough for us to get some photos of the still lake mirroring the surrounding forest and the snow-capped peaks of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. Spent the night in Wanaka where the most interesting that happened was that I bagged a free hotdog from a Christian outreach group (sorry still not converted)!
On our way out of Wanaka the next morning (early as usual), we visited Puzzling World, a curious establishment which is apparently home to the world's first 3D maze (didn't know there was any other kind to be honest). The illusion rooms were well worth a look though with attractions including the tilted house where water appears to run uphill and the Ames Forced Perspective Room which solves the mystery of how Elijah Wood was cut down to hobbit size for the Lord of the Rings films.
22-26 March 2010
Three days of doing not much at all passed shamefully quickly in Queenstown - I think the most energetic thing we did was pick up a microphone for a very sketchy rendition of Ben.E.King's Stand by Me at the hostel's karaoke night.
Queenstown is a great place though, not unlike a buzzing ski resort. Frankly, I was just relieved to be in one place for more than 24 hours, all this hopping on and off buses is starting to make me dizzy. Being confined to it for long periods of time does have the plus point of enforced bonding with your group though so it was never a quiet night while we were here!
We finally had a famous Ferg Burger too. Every mention of our coming to New Zealand so far on this trip has been met with "then you simply must have a Ferg Burger in Queenstown" (not that everyone we met was a toffe-nosed posh twit but you get the gist)! To meet our expectations, this burger would have to be taller than me and served on a silver platter. In the event, it was of normal burger size and served in a paper bag. I don't deny it was delicious...just maybe not quite tall enough...
New Zealand: South Island
Leg One: Christchurch to Nelson (13-16 March 2010)
13 March 2010
Arriving into Christchurch at around 3pm having had only four hours of sleep and after spending over an hour battling our way through customs, we emerged into the semi-sunshine struggling to get excited about New Zealand. This all changed though when we hopped onto the city flyer and were greeted to the country by the world's friendliest bus driver. Informative, helpful and smiley, he actually waited for new passengers to sit down before pulling away. Revolutionary. Back home, in my experience, you're lucky if you even get two feet on the bus before the driver swerves back into the road, slams his foot onto the accelerator with the same zeal you would apply to stamping on a cockroach and catapults you into your fellow passengers.
Arrived at the hostel, dumped our bags and showered before venturing out in search of somewhere cheap to fill our rumbling stomachs. Christchurch is a very attractive city. It has a very European feel to it, from Cathedral Square with its namesake building holding pride of place and the trams passing silently through, to Oxford Terrace, a cobbled street along the riverfront lined with upmarket restaurants, pavement cafes and trendy wine bars. Luckily, we were in time to catch a restaurant doing an early bird special - I ordered creamy pesto pasta and upon its arrival realised immediately why the price was so inviting. After all, you could hardly charge more than $12 for 12 pieces of penne, could you? It is therefore the fault of this restaurant that we spent our first evening in Christchurch sitting on a bench in Cathedral Square eating the biggest raspberry and white chocolate muffins the world has ever seen.
15 March 2010
Knowing that we would return to Christchurch later on with the Kiwi Experience bus, we allowed ourselves a day of "sorting" on our first proper day in New Zealand. However, the next morning, we were boarding the bus eager to see if the country would live up to expectations. She didn't disappoint us - so fresh and untouched. We headed north over the Canterbury Plains, taking in the rolling hills, the pale golden mountains and the dense forest. I can see why people liken it to an unspoiled England.
We arrived in Kaikoura at lunchtime and set out in the sunshine for a look around. The sun soon disappeared but this didn't matter since there really isn't much to see unless you are swimming with dolphins or going whale watching. Since the former didn't appeal and we were out of season for the latter, we just had a walk along the coast and a look around the town (a term I use loosely since it consists of no more than fifteen buildings) which is nestled between the sea and the 2600m high mountains rising steeply out of it. We then headed back to the hostel as the rains closed in and gratefully found the TV room where we spent the remainder of our evening.
16 March 2010
We set out early and headed north out of Kaikoura, with the road hugging the rugged coastline and the mountains sweeping up majestically to our left. We stopped a short distance from town to watch the seals sunning themselves lazily on the rocks and the pups slipping and sliding clumsily over them and splashing playfully in the rock pools.
After that, it was a quick stop in Picton to collect people arriving from the north island and another painful couple of hours on a bus with no air-con before we pulled into Nelson, gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park and officially New Zealand's sunniest city. The sun was not shining on us though it would seem. We had originally planned to spend a couple of nights here to enable us to do a day hike through the national park. However, we arrived to the unpleasant news that we were on a waiting list to leave on the Thursday and that, if we were unable to get on that bus, we might be stuck in Nelson until as late as Sunday. With just four weeks to do both island, we couldn't afford such a setback to our schedule, leaving us with no option but to book ourselves onto the (shorter) waiting list for the bus leaving the next morning and hope for the best. Consequently, we had to abandon our plan to hike through the national park and settle instead for a short meander up to the geographical centre of New Zealand which affords incredible views of the park, the city below and the glittering turqoise bay beyond.
Arriving back at the hostel, we decided to drown our sorrows with their local beer tasting during which we met lots of great people travelling south the next day. As a result, we went to bed feeling all was not lost and with our fingers crossed that we would make it onto that bus...
13 March 2010
Arriving into Christchurch at around 3pm having had only four hours of sleep and after spending over an hour battling our way through customs, we emerged into the semi-sunshine struggling to get excited about New Zealand. This all changed though when we hopped onto the city flyer and were greeted to the country by the world's friendliest bus driver. Informative, helpful and smiley, he actually waited for new passengers to sit down before pulling away. Revolutionary. Back home, in my experience, you're lucky if you even get two feet on the bus before the driver swerves back into the road, slams his foot onto the accelerator with the same zeal you would apply to stamping on a cockroach and catapults you into your fellow passengers.
Arrived at the hostel, dumped our bags and showered before venturing out in search of somewhere cheap to fill our rumbling stomachs. Christchurch is a very attractive city. It has a very European feel to it, from Cathedral Square with its namesake building holding pride of place and the trams passing silently through, to Oxford Terrace, a cobbled street along the riverfront lined with upmarket restaurants, pavement cafes and trendy wine bars. Luckily, we were in time to catch a restaurant doing an early bird special - I ordered creamy pesto pasta and upon its arrival realised immediately why the price was so inviting. After all, you could hardly charge more than $12 for 12 pieces of penne, could you? It is therefore the fault of this restaurant that we spent our first evening in Christchurch sitting on a bench in Cathedral Square eating the biggest raspberry and white chocolate muffins the world has ever seen.
15 March 2010
Knowing that we would return to Christchurch later on with the Kiwi Experience bus, we allowed ourselves a day of "sorting" on our first proper day in New Zealand. However, the next morning, we were boarding the bus eager to see if the country would live up to expectations. She didn't disappoint us - so fresh and untouched. We headed north over the Canterbury Plains, taking in the rolling hills, the pale golden mountains and the dense forest. I can see why people liken it to an unspoiled England.
We arrived in Kaikoura at lunchtime and set out in the sunshine for a look around. The sun soon disappeared but this didn't matter since there really isn't much to see unless you are swimming with dolphins or going whale watching. Since the former didn't appeal and we were out of season for the latter, we just had a walk along the coast and a look around the town (a term I use loosely since it consists of no more than fifteen buildings) which is nestled between the sea and the 2600m high mountains rising steeply out of it. We then headed back to the hostel as the rains closed in and gratefully found the TV room where we spent the remainder of our evening.
16 March 2010
We set out early and headed north out of Kaikoura, with the road hugging the rugged coastline and the mountains sweeping up majestically to our left. We stopped a short distance from town to watch the seals sunning themselves lazily on the rocks and the pups slipping and sliding clumsily over them and splashing playfully in the rock pools.
After that, it was a quick stop in Picton to collect people arriving from the north island and another painful couple of hours on a bus with no air-con before we pulled into Nelson, gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park and officially New Zealand's sunniest city. The sun was not shining on us though it would seem. We had originally planned to spend a couple of nights here to enable us to do a day hike through the national park. However, we arrived to the unpleasant news that we were on a waiting list to leave on the Thursday and that, if we were unable to get on that bus, we might be stuck in Nelson until as late as Sunday. With just four weeks to do both island, we couldn't afford such a setback to our schedule, leaving us with no option but to book ourselves onto the (shorter) waiting list for the bus leaving the next morning and hope for the best. Consequently, we had to abandon our plan to hike through the national park and settle instead for a short meander up to the geographical centre of New Zealand which affords incredible views of the park, the city below and the glittering turqoise bay beyond.
Arriving back at the hostel, we decided to drown our sorrows with their local beer tasting during which we met lots of great people travelling south the next day. As a result, we went to bed feeling all was not lost and with our fingers crossed that we would make it onto that bus...
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