Kia Ora from Wellington
As I did with the Australia trip, here are some highlights and lowlights of the New Zealand visit;
Highlights:
A Taupo (North Is) expedition - a personal challenge and triumph achieved
2 great Kiwi-Ex drivers, for different reasons - Spud (North Is) and Dave Race (South Is)
Quad biking in the pouring rain(!) in Westport, South Is. HUGE puddles to splash through :)
Kayaking in Abel Tasman NP, South Is, and seeing seals, sting-rays and blue penguins all in one trip
Luge in both Rotorua (North Is) and Queenstown (South Is). Zorbing in Rotorua - crazy idea, like being in a washing machine and getting a shower and hairwash at the same time!
Photographing fungi (inc fly agaric in the woods above QT) and flowers all over NZ
Bathing in hot mineral water springs at the Polynesian Spa in Rotorua
Seeing the bubbling mud and geothermal activity at Wai-o-Tapu, Rotorua
Seeing the Tasman and South Pacific Oceans meet in a V-shape in the Ocean off Cape Reinga
Amazing scenery all over both islands
Getting some perspective on my current and previous life, and future plans brewing
Lowlights:
A period of depression and self-doubt at Franz Josef
Devastatingly acute homesickness and missing special people at home
Pain flare ups - totally unexpected and unprovoked (e.g. not by doing mad activities)
Rain in the places I wanted to see and do things, which cancelled planned activities
Not being able to do the Franz Josef glacier walk due to my deformed feet not able to get into the required footwear (the first time they have stopped me doing an activity)
Overall NZ has not been the wonder (for me, that is) that it is marketed to be. I guess if you had a lot of money and a lot of time, and were young enough to be able to work and stay here for longer than 6 weeks, I would view NZ differently. However, on a limited budget, and with medical issues which banned me from the bungy, the Canyon Swing, the skydiving and the glacier walk, my activities were limited. This is not saying that the kayaking and the Taupo expedition, the Rock 'n' Ropes, and the zorbing (still a totally crazy idea!!) were not fun, but I would have liked to do a lot more. I wish also to be able to walk for the rest of my life - however if I had done the bungy etc above, my spinal cord could have been irreparably damaged, and so I wasn't able to do those things!
Scenery: it was interesting seeing the huge variety of scenery, some of which is found no-where else, but I can't say I was totally blown away by lots of it, like I was in Australia. The scenery around Taupo in the mountains, and that around Milford, were the exceptions.
Travelling: I must be getting old as I would never have thought this when younger. Travelling is very tiring - even when you would think sitting on a coach or ferry all day would be relaxing, it isn't! I am on my knees this evening, and could hardly get off the coach again. The Kiwi Experience is a brilliant idea - a hop on hop off bus, stay as little or as much as you like in places, get accomodation booked for you (at least for the first night) and have access to cut-price activities (www.kiwiexperience.com), BUT the early mornings are a killer, especially over a long period of travel, when you are on the go all the time.
The accomodation is of course at backpacker level (cheap, in other words), but some of the places that Kiwi Ex has deals with (to hold beds for the whole bus e.g.) leave much to be desired. I know of 2 people who picked up bed bugs in Base Backpackers in 2 different cities and I would not have put a dog in the Hot Rocks Base accom in Rotorua. However, there are some really good places around - Treks in Rotorua (www.treks.co.nz) and the Base in Taupo (brand new, only open 2 months) were like 5* places. All the YHAs I have stayed at have been brilliant - especially this one in Wellington which is again 5* rated and it shows.
OK, this is probably my final post from NZ. I hope you have enjoyed reading about it all, and some might have helped plan trips here for you.
I am off to India (Rajasthan) on Sunday. I don't know what the internet access will be up at the teaching project, so will update this when I can. If I can't get on a computer, I will update the whole month's activities in one go when I get back to the UK in the week commencing 31st March
best wishes and Haere Ra (goodbye) to all
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Last couple of weeks in NZ
Hi, back in Wellington, North Island for the final 3 days of NZ. A quick update since Milford and then highlights and lowlights for the next post:
Still on the Bottom Bus I got back to Te Anau and joined the Milford Explorer for the trip to Milford Sound on Friday. Well I thought I had seen big mountains in Queenstown but Milford was BIIIIGGGGG. Absolutely classic glaciated fjordland scenery - with mountains 700m high - that's nearly a kilometre, with sheer sides, some sparse vegetation, mostly bare rocks, mostly snow covered with baby-glaciers hanging off the edges - bright blue ice shining despite the cloudy day. The cruise in the Sound was amazing - Mitre Peak is the classic postcard view and with the cloudy day I got pics of the scenery in muted blues, greys, pastels. I got the postcards to get the "sunny day pics!"
Back to QT - a 4-hour coach journey and I was totally shattered when I got back in. The hostel was full of bright young things, all going out clubbing and all I wanted to do was sleep - makes me feel very old when that happens! Anyhow I had to be ready for the trip on Saturday to Christchurch - 8.5 hours on the coach, but it was worth it when I got there. Had a day to myself, when once again I amused myself in the Botanic Gardens and got some amazing flower pictures. GT you will be interested to see them all, including a swallowtail butterfly sipping nectar from dahlias - beautiful
Kaikoura yesterday: on the east coast and on a beach, and so had full hot sunshine all day, and yes, Nina went on the beach to sunbathe and relax.
Back to Wellington today via the Interislander ferry. I think all this travelling is catching up with me as I feel totally worn out, and will be having a quiet night, I think. Tomorrow I have to do boring stuff like posting stuff home, laundry etc, to prepare for my flight to India on Sunday.
Still on the Bottom Bus I got back to Te Anau and joined the Milford Explorer for the trip to Milford Sound on Friday. Well I thought I had seen big mountains in Queenstown but Milford was BIIIIGGGGG. Absolutely classic glaciated fjordland scenery - with mountains 700m high - that's nearly a kilometre, with sheer sides, some sparse vegetation, mostly bare rocks, mostly snow covered with baby-glaciers hanging off the edges - bright blue ice shining despite the cloudy day. The cruise in the Sound was amazing - Mitre Peak is the classic postcard view and with the cloudy day I got pics of the scenery in muted blues, greys, pastels. I got the postcards to get the "sunny day pics!"
Back to QT - a 4-hour coach journey and I was totally shattered when I got back in. The hostel was full of bright young things, all going out clubbing and all I wanted to do was sleep - makes me feel very old when that happens! Anyhow I had to be ready for the trip on Saturday to Christchurch - 8.5 hours on the coach, but it was worth it when I got there. Had a day to myself, when once again I amused myself in the Botanic Gardens and got some amazing flower pictures. GT you will be interested to see them all, including a swallowtail butterfly sipping nectar from dahlias - beautiful
Kaikoura yesterday: on the east coast and on a beach, and so had full hot sunshine all day, and yes, Nina went on the beach to sunbathe and relax.
Back to Wellington today via the Interislander ferry. I think all this travelling is catching up with me as I feel totally worn out, and will be having a quiet night, I think. Tomorrow I have to do boring stuff like posting stuff home, laundry etc, to prepare for my flight to India on Sunday.
Thursday, 21 February 2008
South Island from Franz Josef to the bottom of NZ
Wednesday 13 to Thursday 21 Feb
This last week has been a mixture of good and bad.
Once we left the beauty of the deserted long beach at Lake Mahinapua, we headed up into the *rainforest* of the West Coast. There is something of a hint there, as we then got torrential, rainforest, monsoon, total downpour (you get the picture) rain for 2.5 days, all the time we were in Franz Josef. I had wanted to do the heli-hike, where the helicopter takes pax way above the top of the glacier, to the pristine blue ice, ice bridges, ice caves, crevasses etc, but 1. the cloud base was too low and so no flights were going up, and 2. (which to me was distressing) I could not fit into the hiking boots with crampons attached to be able to walk on the ice. Once again, my d...ned feet were stopping me doing things. I tried to make up for it the next day by walking as far as I could towards the tongue of the glacier, in a break in the rain for about 1/2 hour, but then the monsoon returned and I squelched back to the hostel ... and cried. The rain was unremitting and non-stop, the tops of the mountains were covered in low cloud, and so Anita, Gill and I (some now-good friends from Edinburgh) sat in cafes and drank tea and ate chips. Such is our experience of the beauty of Franz Josef.
Thursday 14th: Valentines Day. Good for me this year for the first time in my life. Usually I am the one not getting any greeting, but it was different this year :).
Yep still raining. Gill and Anita and I wasted the day. I wrote up my diary and rested, and we all treated ourselves to dinner at the end of the day - bangers and mash for me, and vino.
Friday 15th: still raining!!! Huge blobs and globules of rain, trickling down my neck when I took my case out to the bus, mists and curtains across the valleys and on the mountain tops, huge puddles to ?play? in, and yet it also made the NZ vegetation very "Jurassic Park" if you get my illusion.
HOWEVER, as we drove south, we got clear of the rain/monsoon. We stopped at Lake Matheson and the lake was so still that we got perfect mirror images of Mts Cook and Aoraki in the lake. My pics came out monochrome and very effective - they could be turned upside down and the image would be the same. We also had a good squint at Fox Glacier, which is more accessible than Franz Josef and so I kinda had my fix of glacier scenery.
Hooray the weather cleared to blue skies and puffy clouds. We cruised along the West Coast Highway and the beaches and cliffs were amazing. Lots of waterfalls coming down from the cliff sides, wide river mouths carrying white silt and rock flour into the estuaries, the water emerald green or sapphire blue, especially in the river estuaries. We stopped at Ship Creek, and it was sand-fly city - their bite is very subtle, but very quick and suddenly you are covered with red, maddeningly itchy bites, which take weeks to heal and leave yucky raised scars. Yes, ankles and legs got well and truly attacked and I am still scratching now. The beach here was wonderful, backed by the Southern Alps and soft, large grain sand, the waves were huge and I got some good pics of the surfing rollers falling over themselves and curling inside.
From the coastal area, we moved up into the alpine scenery up the Haast Pass. Deep blue sky, soaring mountain tops, white-capped with recent snow, deep green of the treees and vegetation, , blue-white sparkly rivers, deep rivers from both tectonic movement and glaciation, hanging valleys and waterfalls (more geomorphology lessons for you!). Reached Wanaka and had a good accommodation at the Wanaka Hotel - NOT a backpackers for once, and so had the best night's sleep for ages.
Saturday 16th: first stop today was at Puzzling World. Yeah, kids stuff, said the whole bus, but it took Cuddles (Dave the driver) a winch to get all these adults out of this great place!! There was an illusion room, where it was at an angle of 15degs and so the balance system in the ears goes wonky - I kept toppling over sideways, and then the eyes see the mirrors and the balance goes even more haywire. A sliding-chair seemed to go uphill, as did water, and when trying to stand on an angled-step, my body constantly wanted to fall backwards and not forwards. Really difficult to explain, but the photos do it justice. The "public toilets" were a mural of Roman toilets, and Gill amused herself by apparently sitting on the loo, er, with no trousers on - funny. In the Shrinking Room, we all played at Alice Through the Looking Glass - it was curioser and curioser as we all seemed to be tiny in one corner and giant in another - great fun. Then the whole bus played at the kids puzzles and mind-benders in the cafe, and, as I said, Dave had to drag us all out of there reluctantly! A good, cheap way of having a lot of fun in a small area, without chucking oneself off a bungee or doing shotover river rides in Queenstown.
Sunday 17th: late start today due to a well-needed TLC call from home (thanks for that). The rest of the day I amused myself on the luge (see the Rotorua entry for similar crazy adventures), and then walked up round the Skyline Loop walk, and found some great pics of fungi - fly agaric in all stages of growth and size, and brown capped ones, and yellow-undersided ones. I didn't touch any of them, but the macro-images of the gills of the fly agaric - well I am very proud of those images, as they came out so well.
Monday 18th: Late start again, but that was cos I deliberately overslept. Went to Arrowtown - the gold-rush town, and had an archaeological/historial lesson going round the Chinese settlement, of when they were gold-miners in the area. In the afternoon, I (yet again) exhausted myself by walking up Tobins Track, but the reward of the views at the top were amazing. Couldn't put one foot in front of the other when I got back to the bus, but at least I got up and down OK. Said goodbye to Dave the Driver today - he had been so helpful with carrying my bag in and out of inaccessible accommodations, and for moral support when I was so down last week, and I hope that he had a good trip back up the islands to Auckland. Also received a picture of my little nephew - he is adorable and giggling and cute - and I can't wait to see him in April.
Tuesday: up early today to meet the Bottom Bus. This is a partnership with Kiwi Experience to go right to the bottom of NZ, and into Milford Sound, and I got it as part of my Kiwi Ex ticket. The trip to Dunedin was ok-ish, nothing special. Nice city, full of fresher students, and Hot Sun - amazing
Wednesday 20th: We had a good day today cruising around the coast of Southland and the Catlins. On a deserted beach at Kaka Point, I found lots of shells, saw many seals playing in and out of rock pools, and in the afternoon, at Surat Bay saw sea-lions!! Huge, 6-8 ft tall, whiskered,, lolloping around the beach and flicking sand over themselves, but then when another male came along, one of them reared up and they spat at each other and fought. We got pretty close to them all and loads of good pics. What a privilege to get so close to them in such beautiful scenery. We visited a Petrified Forest, but unfortunately didn't see any yellow-eyed penguins. However I had had my penguin-fix in Abel Tasman, when one was just drifting along in the tide, about 2 ft from the side of my kayak. Wonderful.
Invercargill is right at the bottom of NZ (only Bluff is more south) and it seemed like a place where nothing really happens. I was too exhausted to go out and explore and I was in bed by 9.00. All the stress and distress of this week (not being explained in this blog) has caught up with me, and I was totally shattered. At least the accommodation was decent, with nice beds and so I got a nice nice sleep.
Thursday 21st: visited a paua carving place today and could carve our own pendants. Some of the group had a go at shearing a sheep but I, and many others on the bus, opted to just sit in the sun and drink tea/coffee. Spending the night here at Te Anau - the YHA is great, very comfortable and highly recommended by Lonely Planet - a good choice for me.
That's it for now. Up to Milford Sound tomorrow and then back to Queenstown. Then I start my northward bound journey back to Auckland for my last week in New Zealand. See you soon
This last week has been a mixture of good and bad.
Once we left the beauty of the deserted long beach at Lake Mahinapua, we headed up into the *rainforest* of the West Coast. There is something of a hint there, as we then got torrential, rainforest, monsoon, total downpour (you get the picture) rain for 2.5 days, all the time we were in Franz Josef. I had wanted to do the heli-hike, where the helicopter takes pax way above the top of the glacier, to the pristine blue ice, ice bridges, ice caves, crevasses etc, but 1. the cloud base was too low and so no flights were going up, and 2. (which to me was distressing) I could not fit into the hiking boots with crampons attached to be able to walk on the ice. Once again, my d...ned feet were stopping me doing things. I tried to make up for it the next day by walking as far as I could towards the tongue of the glacier, in a break in the rain for about 1/2 hour, but then the monsoon returned and I squelched back to the hostel ... and cried. The rain was unremitting and non-stop, the tops of the mountains were covered in low cloud, and so Anita, Gill and I (some now-good friends from Edinburgh) sat in cafes and drank tea and ate chips. Such is our experience of the beauty of Franz Josef.
Thursday 14th: Valentines Day. Good for me this year for the first time in my life. Usually I am the one not getting any greeting, but it was different this year :).
Yep still raining. Gill and Anita and I wasted the day. I wrote up my diary and rested, and we all treated ourselves to dinner at the end of the day - bangers and mash for me, and vino.
Friday 15th: still raining!!! Huge blobs and globules of rain, trickling down my neck when I took my case out to the bus, mists and curtains across the valleys and on the mountain tops, huge puddles to ?play? in, and yet it also made the NZ vegetation very "Jurassic Park" if you get my illusion.
HOWEVER, as we drove south, we got clear of the rain/monsoon. We stopped at Lake Matheson and the lake was so still that we got perfect mirror images of Mts Cook and Aoraki in the lake. My pics came out monochrome and very effective - they could be turned upside down and the image would be the same. We also had a good squint at Fox Glacier, which is more accessible than Franz Josef and so I kinda had my fix of glacier scenery.
Hooray the weather cleared to blue skies and puffy clouds. We cruised along the West Coast Highway and the beaches and cliffs were amazing. Lots of waterfalls coming down from the cliff sides, wide river mouths carrying white silt and rock flour into the estuaries, the water emerald green or sapphire blue, especially in the river estuaries. We stopped at Ship Creek, and it was sand-fly city - their bite is very subtle, but very quick and suddenly you are covered with red, maddeningly itchy bites, which take weeks to heal and leave yucky raised scars. Yes, ankles and legs got well and truly attacked and I am still scratching now. The beach here was wonderful, backed by the Southern Alps and soft, large grain sand, the waves were huge and I got some good pics of the surfing rollers falling over themselves and curling inside.
From the coastal area, we moved up into the alpine scenery up the Haast Pass. Deep blue sky, soaring mountain tops, white-capped with recent snow, deep green of the treees and vegetation, , blue-white sparkly rivers, deep rivers from both tectonic movement and glaciation, hanging valleys and waterfalls (more geomorphology lessons for you!). Reached Wanaka and had a good accommodation at the Wanaka Hotel - NOT a backpackers for once, and so had the best night's sleep for ages.
Saturday 16th: first stop today was at Puzzling World. Yeah, kids stuff, said the whole bus, but it took Cuddles (Dave the driver) a winch to get all these adults out of this great place!! There was an illusion room, where it was at an angle of 15degs and so the balance system in the ears goes wonky - I kept toppling over sideways, and then the eyes see the mirrors and the balance goes even more haywire. A sliding-chair seemed to go uphill, as did water, and when trying to stand on an angled-step, my body constantly wanted to fall backwards and not forwards. Really difficult to explain, but the photos do it justice. The "public toilets" were a mural of Roman toilets, and Gill amused herself by apparently sitting on the loo, er, with no trousers on - funny. In the Shrinking Room, we all played at Alice Through the Looking Glass - it was curioser and curioser as we all seemed to be tiny in one corner and giant in another - great fun. Then the whole bus played at the kids puzzles and mind-benders in the cafe, and, as I said, Dave had to drag us all out of there reluctantly! A good, cheap way of having a lot of fun in a small area, without chucking oneself off a bungee or doing shotover river rides in Queenstown.
Sunday 17th: late start today due to a well-needed TLC call from home (thanks for that). The rest of the day I amused myself on the luge (see the Rotorua entry for similar crazy adventures), and then walked up round the Skyline Loop walk, and found some great pics of fungi - fly agaric in all stages of growth and size, and brown capped ones, and yellow-undersided ones. I didn't touch any of them, but the macro-images of the gills of the fly agaric - well I am very proud of those images, as they came out so well.
Monday 18th: Late start again, but that was cos I deliberately overslept. Went to Arrowtown - the gold-rush town, and had an archaeological/historial lesson going round the Chinese settlement, of when they were gold-miners in the area. In the afternoon, I (yet again) exhausted myself by walking up Tobins Track, but the reward of the views at the top were amazing. Couldn't put one foot in front of the other when I got back to the bus, but at least I got up and down OK. Said goodbye to Dave the Driver today - he had been so helpful with carrying my bag in and out of inaccessible accommodations, and for moral support when I was so down last week, and I hope that he had a good trip back up the islands to Auckland. Also received a picture of my little nephew - he is adorable and giggling and cute - and I can't wait to see him in April.
Tuesday: up early today to meet the Bottom Bus. This is a partnership with Kiwi Experience to go right to the bottom of NZ, and into Milford Sound, and I got it as part of my Kiwi Ex ticket. The trip to Dunedin was ok-ish, nothing special. Nice city, full of fresher students, and Hot Sun - amazing
Wednesday 20th: We had a good day today cruising around the coast of Southland and the Catlins. On a deserted beach at Kaka Point, I found lots of shells, saw many seals playing in and out of rock pools, and in the afternoon, at Surat Bay saw sea-lions!! Huge, 6-8 ft tall, whiskered,, lolloping around the beach and flicking sand over themselves, but then when another male came along, one of them reared up and they spat at each other and fought. We got pretty close to them all and loads of good pics. What a privilege to get so close to them in such beautiful scenery. We visited a Petrified Forest, but unfortunately didn't see any yellow-eyed penguins. However I had had my penguin-fix in Abel Tasman, when one was just drifting along in the tide, about 2 ft from the side of my kayak. Wonderful.
Invercargill is right at the bottom of NZ (only Bluff is more south) and it seemed like a place where nothing really happens. I was too exhausted to go out and explore and I was in bed by 9.00. All the stress and distress of this week (not being explained in this blog) has caught up with me, and I was totally shattered. At least the accommodation was decent, with nice beds and so I got a nice nice sleep.
Thursday 21st: visited a paua carving place today and could carve our own pendants. Some of the group had a go at shearing a sheep but I, and many others on the bus, opted to just sit in the sun and drink tea/coffee. Spending the night here at Te Anau - the YHA is great, very comfortable and highly recommended by Lonely Planet - a good choice for me.
That's it for now. Up to Milford Sound tomorrow and then back to Queenstown. Then I start my northward bound journey back to Auckland for my last week in New Zealand. See you soon
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
More crazy stuff
Sunday 3rd Feb
Had a decent lie in today for the first time in weeks, and in the afternoon went on the Rock 'n' Ropes course. It is a high-wire walking course, and with my poor balance and uneven weight distribution on my deformed feet this was a real challenge. However the guide was great - he didn't take no for an answer and encouraged us all to do each wire-walk. I started on the one-foot-wire-two-hand-wires and, held on by my belayer, did very well to get to the end. The single-foot-single-hand-wire was more of a challenge as my left foot didn't want to balance anywhere. The rickety bridge and log crossing were worse as my balance was terrible, but all the time you are held on by your belayer below and I got over these. The final challenge was an upward-facing obstacle course where I had to go through, over and under tyres, logs of wood, wires and obstacle and thankfully, due to my upper body strength with all the swimming I do, I could do this one the best out of all our team. What a great afternoon and a non-stressful inexpensive way to have a great deal of fun.
Monday and Tuesday went to River Valley accommodation. The setting was lovely and peaceful, set in a deep river valley with no mobile reception, but unfortunately the beef roast meal had er, moving protein in it, and so this rather destroyed the experience of being in that place. I booked out as fast as I could and got on the bus to Wellington rather than staying 2 nights.
Had 2 days in Wellington: one was exploring the Botanic Gardens, via the Cable Car, and lots of pics were taken. The rest of the city was my type of town - small, compact, friendly, lots of places to rest and people-watch and yet do a lot of photography in a small space. It was also very clean, a complete contract to Auckland. The YHA was also spotless, and full of the best amenities - highly recommended. After this walking day the pain in my feet and legs was horrendous - I only just made it back to the YHA and couldn't put any weight on my feet at all so on the 2nd day, as it was a clear blue sky day I sunbathed and swam on the town beach, and had a thoroughly lazy day.
Friday 8th: the ferry crossing to South Island on the Interislander was like a Norwegian cruise. The scenery was stunning: flooded river valleys, deep green conifer covered mountain ranges, a scintillating deep blue sea and clear blue sky. Wonderful and a great introduction to South Island. Picton was the landing place but we stayed in Nelson, an industrial town, but with ok-ish accomodation
Saturday: before the rain came in, I did a whole day of kayaking up in the Abel Tasman NP. An aqua taxi took us up to Bark Bay and then we had to kayak 20 km back to Kaiteriteri. I was partnered with a seasoned kayaker from Canada and so it was easy for me, although I certainly did my bit and we raced the other crews across the expanses of water between the bays. On the way we saw seals basking in the sun, cormorants shaking out their wings, a little blue penguin pootling along in the dead-calm sea, and listened to the bell-bird and tui singing in the trees of a deserted island. Only us two in our kayak saw a sting-ray glisten as it crossed the sand-bar, and we floated gently past the Split Apple Rock. My shoulders and back were aching like crazy by the time I had finished, but it was a lovely day and I didn't have to walk anywhere for a long time, which was a great bonus for the huge pain in my feet at present.
Sunday: I had a lie in most of the day. Did boring stuff in the afternoon like finances, laundry, schedules, and then met the new driver, Dave, who is SO good and helpful to an older (and decrepit at the moment) Kiwi-Ex-er
Monday: the rain came down ALL DAY, but I did quad biking in the afternoon and got SO wet right through. It was great fun and again thankfully could use upper body strength rather than walking anywhere.
Tuesday: got to Lake Mahinapua on the West Coast. The accommodation was 200m from the deserted beach. I watched my first NZ sunset over the sea and got some great pics which were nearly as good as at Uluru, but not quite. We had the Poo (Mahinapua) pub party in the evening and the fancy dress theme was the letter P. People came as priests, parcels, plants, Pocahontas, Pink Panther, but with my fondness for bears, I bought a little Pooh Bear and hung him round my neck. Everyone loved that and I am sure someone special I know who is very little and only 3 months old, will love to hold and chew Pooh when I get back.
Wednesday (today): reached Franz Josef and its glaciers. Unfortunately it is still raining and so the scenic flights won't be going up tomorrow. It will be a day of kicking my heels for me, but I may be able to do a short walk or so. Depends on the pain in my feet and everywhere else. ggrrrrr
Also feeling very homesick and missing family and friends. It is hard travelling on your own, even if you do get talking to people on the bus and in the hostels. I feel very far away from home and sometimes wish I could change my itinerary. We'll see, but until and unless I can I will have to contain my sadness and get on with the trek as planned.
Had a decent lie in today for the first time in weeks, and in the afternoon went on the Rock 'n' Ropes course. It is a high-wire walking course, and with my poor balance and uneven weight distribution on my deformed feet this was a real challenge. However the guide was great - he didn't take no for an answer and encouraged us all to do each wire-walk. I started on the one-foot-wire-two-hand-wires and, held on by my belayer, did very well to get to the end. The single-foot-single-hand-wire was more of a challenge as my left foot didn't want to balance anywhere. The rickety bridge and log crossing were worse as my balance was terrible, but all the time you are held on by your belayer below and I got over these. The final challenge was an upward-facing obstacle course where I had to go through, over and under tyres, logs of wood, wires and obstacle and thankfully, due to my upper body strength with all the swimming I do, I could do this one the best out of all our team. What a great afternoon and a non-stressful inexpensive way to have a great deal of fun.
Monday and Tuesday went to River Valley accommodation. The setting was lovely and peaceful, set in a deep river valley with no mobile reception, but unfortunately the beef roast meal had er, moving protein in it, and so this rather destroyed the experience of being in that place. I booked out as fast as I could and got on the bus to Wellington rather than staying 2 nights.
Had 2 days in Wellington: one was exploring the Botanic Gardens, via the Cable Car, and lots of pics were taken. The rest of the city was my type of town - small, compact, friendly, lots of places to rest and people-watch and yet do a lot of photography in a small space. It was also very clean, a complete contract to Auckland. The YHA was also spotless, and full of the best amenities - highly recommended. After this walking day the pain in my feet and legs was horrendous - I only just made it back to the YHA and couldn't put any weight on my feet at all so on the 2nd day, as it was a clear blue sky day I sunbathed and swam on the town beach, and had a thoroughly lazy day.
Friday 8th: the ferry crossing to South Island on the Interislander was like a Norwegian cruise. The scenery was stunning: flooded river valleys, deep green conifer covered mountain ranges, a scintillating deep blue sea and clear blue sky. Wonderful and a great introduction to South Island. Picton was the landing place but we stayed in Nelson, an industrial town, but with ok-ish accomodation
Saturday: before the rain came in, I did a whole day of kayaking up in the Abel Tasman NP. An aqua taxi took us up to Bark Bay and then we had to kayak 20 km back to Kaiteriteri. I was partnered with a seasoned kayaker from Canada and so it was easy for me, although I certainly did my bit and we raced the other crews across the expanses of water between the bays. On the way we saw seals basking in the sun, cormorants shaking out their wings, a little blue penguin pootling along in the dead-calm sea, and listened to the bell-bird and tui singing in the trees of a deserted island. Only us two in our kayak saw a sting-ray glisten as it crossed the sand-bar, and we floated gently past the Split Apple Rock. My shoulders and back were aching like crazy by the time I had finished, but it was a lovely day and I didn't have to walk anywhere for a long time, which was a great bonus for the huge pain in my feet at present.
Sunday: I had a lie in most of the day. Did boring stuff in the afternoon like finances, laundry, schedules, and then met the new driver, Dave, who is SO good and helpful to an older (and decrepit at the moment) Kiwi-Ex-er
Monday: the rain came down ALL DAY, but I did quad biking in the afternoon and got SO wet right through. It was great fun and again thankfully could use upper body strength rather than walking anywhere.
Tuesday: got to Lake Mahinapua on the West Coast. The accommodation was 200m from the deserted beach. I watched my first NZ sunset over the sea and got some great pics which were nearly as good as at Uluru, but not quite. We had the Poo (Mahinapua) pub party in the evening and the fancy dress theme was the letter P. People came as priests, parcels, plants, Pocahontas, Pink Panther, but with my fondness for bears, I bought a little Pooh Bear and hung him round my neck. Everyone loved that and I am sure someone special I know who is very little and only 3 months old, will love to hold and chew Pooh when I get back.
Wednesday (today): reached Franz Josef and its glaciers. Unfortunately it is still raining and so the scenic flights won't be going up tomorrow. It will be a day of kicking my heels for me, but I may be able to do a short walk or so. Depends on the pain in my feet and everywhere else. ggrrrrr
Also feeling very homesick and missing family and friends. It is hard travelling on your own, even if you do get talking to people on the bus and in the hostels. I feel very far away from home and sometimes wish I could change my itinerary. We'll see, but until and unless I can I will have to contain my sadness and get on with the trek as planned.
Sunday, 3 February 2008
2nd week of New Zealand adventures
Hi everyone
Sorry for the lack of updates but I have only just been able to update my own written diary, and not this one. Anyway here goes:
Saturday 26th: left Auckland without a backward glance and went through beautiful mountain scenery towards the Coromandel Peninsula coast - windy, narrow switchbacks of roads, trees, palms, grasses, exposed red rocks, long reaching views of volcani plugs with vertical sides and no vegetation on them. We got to Hot Water Beach where at low tide you can dig a hole in the sand and get the hot thermal waters bubbling up through the sands. Unfortunately the tide was not low enough for us to do this, but I felt the hot water on my feet, before the next wave knocked me over!!
Instead of digging, the whole bus went sunbathing, and I and Zac (from Turkey) and his partner Teresa went swimming in the waves. The rollers were huge and the rip tide pulled and pushed us all over the place, pulling us off our feet and then we had to run up the beach to avoid the next one!. We stayed the night at Turtle Cove Backpackers - almost a homely place to stay and the owners cooked spag bol for the whole bus - yummy. It also made a change for me having to think about, buy and cook food in a variety of different kitchens.
Sunday 27th: up early again (as I questioned before "this is meant to be a holiday?!?!?"). On the road with a new driver to Rotorua, and such is the thermal activity here that we could smell the town before we got to it - sulphur and rotten eggs, yeuk! On the way we had a walk to the Karanagahake Gorge, which for my interest in industrial archaeology, was very interesting. All the old machinery for getting gold processed and out of the hills is still there, including a railway through 1km of tunnels. It was pitch black in there except for my tiny torch's light, and the best pics were with the flash of the camera. The views at the look-out points were lovely with the river running through the deep gorge and the blue sky reflecting in the calmer pools. The vegetation was a mixture of NZ trees ferns, deciduous trees, grasses, water plants - very unusual.
Rotorua: accomodation was dire - dirty, decor stuck in the 60s and not good facilities. However on Tuesday morning I moved over to the Treks Backpackers and it was excellent - so clean and shiny, well kept, efficient check-in, clean and stylish rooms. In the evening we went to a Tamaki Maori evening and saw the traditional Maori welcome (tongues sticking out, eyes rolling, the harsh gutteral "ha") challenging "invaders" to come closer and pick up the peace stick. Our "chief" of the minibus, Rob, went forward to pick it up showing we came in peace and we were allowed into the village, with its learning huts (carving, food-making, fishing, war-making), and then into the cultural meeting house where we were treated to the musical delights of Maori culture as well as hearing their folk tales. Their harmonics and singing are wonderful and they also did a haka (by the men) for us, as well as the women doing a poi dance with the white balls on the end of short ropes. Very colourful. Finally we had a hangi, which is a feast of food cooked in a pit, which was delicious - meat falling off the bones, mussels and shellfish just melting in the mouth, and vegetables done to their best. Yum again!!
Monday 28th: Had a lie in today as I didn't have to get up for the Kiwi Bus or any activities. Spent the morning sorting out trips for the next couple of days and then in the afternoon I went to the Polynesian Spa. I have been promising myself this since I began planning this trip so was really looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint. The adults only pool side consisted of 4 natural thermal pools with an idyllic look-out over Lake Rotorua, ranging in temperature from 36-42degsC, surrounded with native vegetation and lots of rock-features, knee-deep and with plenty of places to lean forward on the arms and er, go to sleep!! I got up to the 40deg pool but the 42deg one was FAR too hot, esp on my feet. I spent the whole afternoon there which, after 9 weeks on the road, was very welcome and relaxing.
Tuesday 29: before I started today I had to move accommodation, but once that was done I could spend the day being a child again :). Went out to the Agroventures site (as it is called) and my first stop was the Swoop. This is a kinda harness into which I had to step and basically be zipped up the back, attached to a wire on the back and pulled up by the bungee hoist. Be assured, Mr P, that this was NOT a bungee! The hoist pulled me up and yikes the floor was getting further away from me, and then *I* had to pull the rip cord. I did, fell about 20ft and then swung like on a trapeze, backwards and forwards and flew like a bird. At the top the pendulum was larger and so the swing longer, but it was such fun doing it.
Next I did the Extreme Freefall. No, NOT sky diving as I could never throw myself out of a plane, but it was being held up on a column of air from a huge fan, and attempting to stay there while the fan got stronger :). Into the jumpsuit, and then laid flat on the wiring, and the fan started. Well I got an instant face-lift! and then was pushed upwards, arms out like I was in a surrendering position, legs bent back at the knees and I was flying!!! I managed to stay on the air column for the full 4 minutes and then when the fan went down, I fell onto the huge cushions at the side, laughing my head off - enormous fun and probably better than skydiving.
Next ......... the ZORB! For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a crazy Kiwi invention, of 2 enormous-sized (like 12 ft tall on the outside) plastic ping-pong balls held together by long lengths of rope and suckers (trust me on this!) a smaller zorb inside into which a small amount of water is pumped, then the Zorbonauts get inside, the seal is put over the door and basically the Zorb is pushed down the hill (only in New Zealand!!!). Well it felt like being in a washing machine, I didn't know which way was up, I was pushed and pulled around by gravity rolling and rolling down the hill, got faster as I went down, and got absolutely soaked, but couldn't help laughing and giggling all the way. And yes I went back for a 2nd go, and loved it even more. Highly recommended for a stress-buster and also if you need an instant shower and hairwash!!!!!!
Well, it was only lunchtime and I had the whole afternoon to "play" with. I went on the shuttle to the Skyline Rides and Luge track. Had a nice, sensible ride up the side of the hill in the stylish gondola - a cube-shaped cabin attached to wires, and then got to the luge track. A luge is not the metal shaped tea-tray that you see on the Olympic games but something pretty close. It is a small black plastic tray, with chopper-bicycle handles on the front, you pull back to stop and push forward to go, and push off with your feet to start, stick them quickly inside and then steer FAST! The scenic route was compulsory, to get the feel of the luge and it was the longest, so I could get off at intervals and take pics. However on the downslopes, I got up a really good speed, and I went wheeeeeee down them, cornering a bit slower and hairing off again. Yee-haaa!!! I felt like a kid again, playing go-carts and had great fun, laughing so much and almost feeling like Mr Toad, going toot-toot as I passed kids going slower on the run! I had 3 goes on this and the final one was on the intermediate track which was steeper and longer, and yes, my yen for speed was satisfied :)
Wednesday 30th: a quieter day today, and practised my photography at Wai-o-Tapu which is a thermal area, with lots of beautiful volcanic waters, pools, steam, bubbles and mud-pools. In the afternoon I felt very off-colour and so did very little except go for a swim in the open-air chlorinated pool (and discovered I am very unfit!!)
Thursday 31st: on the road again out of Rotorua to Waitomo. Was a long trip so only did an above-cave walk today and got to the YHA early.
Friday 1st Feb (already?!): did an in-the-cave walk today and saw glow-worms and pretty rock formations. The others in the bus did Black Water Rafting - however bearing in mind my claustrophobia for small spaces, I didn't do this. When I saw the course that they had to do, I was SO glad I didn't do this activity.
In the afternoon we drove to Taupo "the activity centre of North Island" according to the blurb. I took a ride on the Huka Falls jet, which is a jet-boat that speeds along the river, cutting in close to the banks, and trees and vegetation and doing 360deg turns on the river, and sending spray everywhere, including on the passengers. We also got close to the Huka Falls, which discharge 2 Olympic sized swimming pools worth of water per second through a chasm, and when the water droplets are reflected in the sky the water turns a bright sapphire blue - very pretty and such awesome power of the water, especially when the boat was only about 20ft from the edge of the fall!
See you soon.
Sorry for the lack of updates but I have only just been able to update my own written diary, and not this one. Anyway here goes:
Saturday 26th: left Auckland without a backward glance and went through beautiful mountain scenery towards the Coromandel Peninsula coast - windy, narrow switchbacks of roads, trees, palms, grasses, exposed red rocks, long reaching views of volcani plugs with vertical sides and no vegetation on them. We got to Hot Water Beach where at low tide you can dig a hole in the sand and get the hot thermal waters bubbling up through the sands. Unfortunately the tide was not low enough for us to do this, but I felt the hot water on my feet, before the next wave knocked me over!!
Instead of digging, the whole bus went sunbathing, and I and Zac (from Turkey) and his partner Teresa went swimming in the waves. The rollers were huge and the rip tide pulled and pushed us all over the place, pulling us off our feet and then we had to run up the beach to avoid the next one!. We stayed the night at Turtle Cove Backpackers - almost a homely place to stay and the owners cooked spag bol for the whole bus - yummy. It also made a change for me having to think about, buy and cook food in a variety of different kitchens.
Sunday 27th: up early again (as I questioned before "this is meant to be a holiday?!?!?"). On the road with a new driver to Rotorua, and such is the thermal activity here that we could smell the town before we got to it - sulphur and rotten eggs, yeuk! On the way we had a walk to the Karanagahake Gorge, which for my interest in industrial archaeology, was very interesting. All the old machinery for getting gold processed and out of the hills is still there, including a railway through 1km of tunnels. It was pitch black in there except for my tiny torch's light, and the best pics were with the flash of the camera. The views at the look-out points were lovely with the river running through the deep gorge and the blue sky reflecting in the calmer pools. The vegetation was a mixture of NZ trees ferns, deciduous trees, grasses, water plants - very unusual.
Rotorua: accomodation was dire - dirty, decor stuck in the 60s and not good facilities. However on Tuesday morning I moved over to the Treks Backpackers and it was excellent - so clean and shiny, well kept, efficient check-in, clean and stylish rooms. In the evening we went to a Tamaki Maori evening and saw the traditional Maori welcome (tongues sticking out, eyes rolling, the harsh gutteral "ha") challenging "invaders" to come closer and pick up the peace stick. Our "chief" of the minibus, Rob, went forward to pick it up showing we came in peace and we were allowed into the village, with its learning huts (carving, food-making, fishing, war-making), and then into the cultural meeting house where we were treated to the musical delights of Maori culture as well as hearing their folk tales. Their harmonics and singing are wonderful and they also did a haka (by the men) for us, as well as the women doing a poi dance with the white balls on the end of short ropes. Very colourful. Finally we had a hangi, which is a feast of food cooked in a pit, which was delicious - meat falling off the bones, mussels and shellfish just melting in the mouth, and vegetables done to their best. Yum again!!
Monday 28th: Had a lie in today as I didn't have to get up for the Kiwi Bus or any activities. Spent the morning sorting out trips for the next couple of days and then in the afternoon I went to the Polynesian Spa. I have been promising myself this since I began planning this trip so was really looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint. The adults only pool side consisted of 4 natural thermal pools with an idyllic look-out over Lake Rotorua, ranging in temperature from 36-42degsC, surrounded with native vegetation and lots of rock-features, knee-deep and with plenty of places to lean forward on the arms and er, go to sleep!! I got up to the 40deg pool but the 42deg one was FAR too hot, esp on my feet. I spent the whole afternoon there which, after 9 weeks on the road, was very welcome and relaxing.
Tuesday 29: before I started today I had to move accommodation, but once that was done I could spend the day being a child again :). Went out to the Agroventures site (as it is called) and my first stop was the Swoop. This is a kinda harness into which I had to step and basically be zipped up the back, attached to a wire on the back and pulled up by the bungee hoist. Be assured, Mr P, that this was NOT a bungee! The hoist pulled me up and yikes the floor was getting further away from me, and then *I* had to pull the rip cord. I did, fell about 20ft and then swung like on a trapeze, backwards and forwards and flew like a bird. At the top the pendulum was larger and so the swing longer, but it was such fun doing it.
Next I did the Extreme Freefall. No, NOT sky diving as I could never throw myself out of a plane, but it was being held up on a column of air from a huge fan, and attempting to stay there while the fan got stronger :). Into the jumpsuit, and then laid flat on the wiring, and the fan started. Well I got an instant face-lift! and then was pushed upwards, arms out like I was in a surrendering position, legs bent back at the knees and I was flying!!! I managed to stay on the air column for the full 4 minutes and then when the fan went down, I fell onto the huge cushions at the side, laughing my head off - enormous fun and probably better than skydiving.
Next ......... the ZORB! For those of you who don't know what this is, it is a crazy Kiwi invention, of 2 enormous-sized (like 12 ft tall on the outside) plastic ping-pong balls held together by long lengths of rope and suckers (trust me on this!) a smaller zorb inside into which a small amount of water is pumped, then the Zorbonauts get inside, the seal is put over the door and basically the Zorb is pushed down the hill (only in New Zealand!!!). Well it felt like being in a washing machine, I didn't know which way was up, I was pushed and pulled around by gravity rolling and rolling down the hill, got faster as I went down, and got absolutely soaked, but couldn't help laughing and giggling all the way. And yes I went back for a 2nd go, and loved it even more. Highly recommended for a stress-buster and also if you need an instant shower and hairwash!!!!!!
Well, it was only lunchtime and I had the whole afternoon to "play" with. I went on the shuttle to the Skyline Rides and Luge track. Had a nice, sensible ride up the side of the hill in the stylish gondola - a cube-shaped cabin attached to wires, and then got to the luge track. A luge is not the metal shaped tea-tray that you see on the Olympic games but something pretty close. It is a small black plastic tray, with chopper-bicycle handles on the front, you pull back to stop and push forward to go, and push off with your feet to start, stick them quickly inside and then steer FAST! The scenic route was compulsory, to get the feel of the luge and it was the longest, so I could get off at intervals and take pics. However on the downslopes, I got up a really good speed, and I went wheeeeeee down them, cornering a bit slower and hairing off again. Yee-haaa!!! I felt like a kid again, playing go-carts and had great fun, laughing so much and almost feeling like Mr Toad, going toot-toot as I passed kids going slower on the run! I had 3 goes on this and the final one was on the intermediate track which was steeper and longer, and yes, my yen for speed was satisfied :)
Wednesday 30th: a quieter day today, and practised my photography at Wai-o-Tapu which is a thermal area, with lots of beautiful volcanic waters, pools, steam, bubbles and mud-pools. In the afternoon I felt very off-colour and so did very little except go for a swim in the open-air chlorinated pool (and discovered I am very unfit!!)
Thursday 31st: on the road again out of Rotorua to Waitomo. Was a long trip so only did an above-cave walk today and got to the YHA early.
Friday 1st Feb (already?!): did an in-the-cave walk today and saw glow-worms and pretty rock formations. The others in the bus did Black Water Rafting - however bearing in mind my claustrophobia for small spaces, I didn't do this. When I saw the course that they had to do, I was SO glad I didn't do this activity.
In the afternoon we drove to Taupo "the activity centre of North Island" according to the blurb. I took a ride on the Huka Falls jet, which is a jet-boat that speeds along the river, cutting in close to the banks, and trees and vegetation and doing 360deg turns on the river, and sending spray everywhere, including on the passengers. We also got close to the Huka Falls, which discharge 2 Olympic sized swimming pools worth of water per second through a chasm, and when the water droplets are reflected in the sky the water turns a bright sapphire blue - very pretty and such awesome power of the water, especially when the boat was only about 20ft from the edge of the fall!
See you soon.
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