Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
I'm in New Zealand... just.
Well I'll start where I left off last time... The Fellowship of the Campervan was broken... The two Bird Nerds headed north to destroy the ring, go whale-watching and fly to Singapore. I set off south in search of lost hobbits, fjords, mountains and general adventure (e.g. a good night out).
Christchurch is a bit of sad place since the recent earthquake, and I didn't find much excitement here to be honest. The weather was good though, so I headed to Sumner Beach for the day, which was very enjoyable. Nice waves. My plan for getting round NZ was something called The Naked Bus. Clothing optional - JOKE! This worked out to be the cheapest option, and also meant I got to avoid the 18-30esque buses that sound horrific. I also booked some tours with the nakedbus for pretty cheap. So it was off down to Queenstown on a 9 hour journey; far from boring though because of the jaw-droppingly-beautiful scenery (here I go again...) The thing with NZ is that you can be wandering along and it can look for all the world like your in the English (or maybe Scotish) countryside and then BAM - there's a 2000m snow-capped mountain (S.island) or a big fat volcano (N.Island). There is so much variety in the landscape. We got to stop off at the incredible blue lakes like Lake Tekapo and saw Aoraki (Mt. Cook) NZ's highest peak glistening in the distance.
I liked Queenstown immediately. Surrounded on all sides by craggy peaks like The Remarkables (named so because of their changing colours and that they run true north-south) and Lake Wakatipu, it's hard not to like it here. Also the adventure sport capital, and LOTS of bars and pubs. I'll get to that...
THE TWO TOURS (Yeah I'm a geek and you're just going to have to put up with my bad LOTR jokes until I leave!)
So it was up at 6am for the first of my tours - to Milford Sound in Fjordland (600 million acres!). Our Nakedbus driver Bruce (only a space away from public indecency) was a lovely chap and very informative. In his kiwi accent he prounounced 'Tourist' like 'Terrorist'. I tend to agree with him. Tour groups are terrifing. This was the first time I had done a proper TOURist trip, and there were heaps of other coaches doing the same. Luckily our huge 'glass-roofed' coach (like an upside-down glass-bottomed boat!) had only 12 passengers, I don't know how I'd have coped if it was full. But anyway, the trip down to Milford was amazing. Here's some highlights... Short-tailed bats, 'The Chasm', The Homer Tunnel, a post-office the size of a telephone box, evidence of tree-avalanches (The Ents will not be pleased), seals, waterfalls (3x the height of Niagara!), Mitre Peak and the boat trip out into the sound. It's such an amazing place, it's hard to describe, so I'm not going to - just go and see it! It's a 12hour round trip so I returned and collapsed into my comfy YHA bed that night.
The second tour was with Dave the Aussie and Greg the Swede. It involved the many fine drinking establishments of Queenstown :) I also enjoyed a loevly walk in the woods above Queenstown and realised how very unfit I am. Off to Franz Josef and glacier country!
Well I got to see the glacier. I also got SOAKED to the skin. Not so great weather at that point. It was amazing though to be up close to such a colossal piece of ice. Even saw a mini landslide. We passed through The Gates of Haast on the way there. I love the dramatic names over here. Had to keep moving so only one night here and then one night in Nelson before getting the ferry back across to North Island. I have spent many consecutive days of buses recently.
ELLIE IN WELLIE
So, Wellington - the capital of New Zealand. Nicknamed The Windy City. It lives up to that. Nearly got blown away - but not really by the city. Gotta say I didn't really warm to the place that much and spent most of the time watching DVDs and drinking coffee in the hostel. Oops. But I did make a special effort to go to the national musuem Te Papa. It's really worth it - so different from other musuems and free! I learnt alot about Maori and giant squid and geothermal activity. Got to keep the brain stimulated you know... I really like the Maori legend of creation. You know the mother and father of creation had to split up so life could begin? hahaha! I also like the one about the glacier - a maori girl who loved mountain climbing dragged her bopyfriend up there oneday and he fell and died. He tears froze into the Franz Josef glacier to remind us all. I didn't get much sleep in the hostel in Wellington. It amazes me how I managed to sleep through aftershocks of 4 points on the richter scale in Christchurch but could not for the life of me sleep through the snoring that occured in the dorm in Wellie. I play the 'Guess-the-Nationality of-the-Snore' game sometimes. Norwegian has a very distinct timbre, but I can tell a good old Brit Snore a mile off. I also occasionally like to cast (or maybe catagorise?) the people I come across in my own little LOTR film. For example there are the Gollums - natural hoarders and possessive to the point of aggression, usually with a love of fish. Travelling alone - yes it's testing my sanity.
ADRENALINE JUNKIE
So next on the journey northwards was Taupo - where I planned to bungy jump. Got to say this was one of the best experiences so far in my travels. SUCH a rush. The Taupo bungy is 47m over the river Wai-something-or-other. Which isn't that high in bungy terms but it is the highest water-touch bungy in NZ, which means you get dunked in the river if you want! Yeah I wanted! The build up is excruciating. The actual will it takes to make yourself just fall is almost painful. It's the most unatural thing in the world and your brain is just screaming "NO NO NO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" but wow is it worth it. It takes your breath away and then your brain catches up about half way down and you scream just in time to get a mouthful of river water. The only downside is how fast it's over. Next time, I'm going higher :D In Taupo I also made some lovely friends (my first Roman!) and experienced an Aussie Stag-Do fishing trip close up. Not sure which was scarier - the bungy or the aussies.
Had to quickly push on though, so up to smelly old Rotorua. Yep it does smell - like bad egg mayo left out on a hot day. Nice. This is due to the geothermic activity in the region, and you can see all the steaming pools right in the town centre. Choice, eh!? And then, just incase I hadn't had my fill of adrenaline that week; I went white-water rafting down the Kaituna river. Loved every minute! Our instructor LB made me co-pilot so I got to sit at the front! I also managed not to fall out, which I was quite proud of, because lots of people do. We did a 7m drop waterfall and class 5 rapids. SO much fun, scary fun. Definately something I'll be doing again.
So now here I am in Auckland, waiting for my flight back to Sydney and get my tan back up to scratch for Xmas and New Year in Aus! I also have arranged to meet up with Jonny, one of my Bali-boys, so excited to have a mini-reunion from asia. I think that is all for now. It's been an AWESOME one in NZ, and I shall most definately be returning to this beautiful country.
SWEET AS!
Els x
- comments