We arrived back in Auckland a few days ago and thought we had better have a proper look around this time, instread of just mooching up and down Queens St (in the centre). So yesterday we booked on the free city tour with Stray (the tour operator that we have been travelling around New Zealand with). Dribbles turned up to meet us with his bright orange bus and it was hugs all round.
Auckland is actually a very nice city, gorgeous harbour and scenic views of dormant volcanos. We stopped at an ice-cream shop to try the hokey-pokey which is a vanillary tasting ice-cream with some crunchy bits in it. This is when the day went a bit wrong for an american girl on our bus - she was too busy eating her ice-cream and not looking whilst crossing the road. So she got hit by a car!
I obviously went to have a look, but she told me that she didn't need any "candy stripper/dr wannabe" helping her. I left her then with her mate as it turns out they were both ICU nurses, but I did tell her that she was going to need an operation for her broken foot, which she didn't seem to chuffed about. She really was a horrible person, all we can think of is KARMA!
That little incident spoilt the rest of the day,so Dribbles took us to the pub for the remaining few hours. This turned into a large one for our last night in New Zealand. We are off to Melbourne in a few hours.
We love New Zealand and will definitely be coming back - especially as we may have blagged ourselves a couple of free Stray passes for next time. Last night we ended up having a few beers with the owner of Stray (who set up and used to own the OZ and Kiwi experience) Neil, who was very lovely and showed me some pictures of places that Stray were going to be using next year. I was obviously outraged that they were going to be staying in nicer places and I had now finished my pass (although it doesn't expire til next march), so he offered us free passes whenever we come back to New Zealand.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
Kaikoura
Kaikoura was one of the stops we had been looking foward to for the whale and dolphin watching. Whilst on the bus on the way there we were given the bad news that due to high winds out at sea the trip had been cancelled for the day. We were gutted! Still we got over the disappointment with a trip to the local vineyard for some wine tasting (mostly white to my relief). It was a mere $4 for trying eight wines and a wine version of Baileys which was so nice we bought a bottle.
Just across the road from the hostel there was a pub quiz that we decide to enter. Despite our self appointed team name of Clueless we didn't do too badly in the end with a little help from other recruits, didn't win though.
About half an hour after we had gone to bed someone came banging on our dorm door, thinking it was just someone messing around we replied with a few expletives. The banging then got louder to our suprise so I went to open the door, one of the guy's from our bus and a large police officer were standing there. The guy then ran straight in to the room and grabbed his mate from one of the top bunks.
After a lot of commotion we figured out that a group of lads had had a few too many drinks and had broken a car mirror on their way back. We then heard the policeman shout "if you don't pay $800 then your going in the bin" (which we were most amused by and had to keep our laughing quiet). To our misfortune they arrested the wrong guy as the guy from our room came back and proceeded to snore the whole night like a freight train.
Just across the road from the hostel there was a pub quiz that we decide to enter. Despite our self appointed team name of Clueless we didn't do too badly in the end with a little help from other recruits, didn't win though.
About half an hour after we had gone to bed someone came banging on our dorm door, thinking it was just someone messing around we replied with a few expletives. The banging then got louder to our suprise so I went to open the door, one of the guy's from our bus and a large police officer were standing there. The guy then ran straight in to the room and grabbed his mate from one of the top bunks.
After a lot of commotion we figured out that a group of lads had had a few too many drinks and had broken a car mirror on their way back. We then heard the policeman shout "if you don't pay $800 then your going in the bin" (which we were most amused by and had to keep our laughing quiet). To our misfortune they arrested the wrong guy as the guy from our room came back and proceeded to snore the whole night like a freight train.
Christchurch
The journey from Queenstown to Christchurch was an 8hr epic. The bus was full which meant that for the some of the journey we didn't have seats to ourselves. I like to spread out and ignore Alan for long bus journeys, read my book, eat ginger biscuits (for motion sickness) and listen to my MP3 player.
We stopped at Lake Tekapo for lunch and a photo.
Finally we arrived at Christchurch around 6pm and I wasn't in the best of moods. As we were checking in my sleeping bag cover got ripped and I was about to lose my temper BIG style! The lovely scottish desk girl offered me the use of the tanoy if I wanted to vent my frustration, I declined and she gave me quite a few 2 for 1 drinks vouchers. My mood instantly improved.
Christchurch is basically a british city. It was modelled to resemble one and it felt very familiar. We rode the tram for free as a very nice lady gave us her tickets, it took 25mins to do the whole city centre circuit, so we went around many times. We had a little mooch around the art gallery, art centre and the botanical gardens (not much there as it was the wrong time of year).
We stopped at Lake Tekapo for lunch and a photo.
Finally we arrived at Christchurch around 6pm and I wasn't in the best of moods. As we were checking in my sleeping bag cover got ripped and I was about to lose my temper BIG style! The lovely scottish desk girl offered me the use of the tanoy if I wanted to vent my frustration, I declined and she gave me quite a few 2 for 1 drinks vouchers. My mood instantly improved.
Christchurch is basically a british city. It was modelled to resemble one and it felt very familiar. We rode the tram for free as a very nice lady gave us her tickets, it took 25mins to do the whole city centre circuit, so we went around many times. We had a little mooch around the art gallery, art centre and the botanical gardens (not much there as it was the wrong time of year).
The spaceship roadtrip
The weather took a turn for the worst, in a big way for our remaining days in the spaceship. Our vision of camping by the beach in the Catlins were dashed by severe gales and rainstorms. Let me tell you that sleeping in a converted people carrier, in what feels like a hurricane is not fun, especially when its swaying alot and there are pea-sized hails stones rattling off the window. I asked Alan several times on our second night if it was possible for the car to be blown over.
The Catlins aren't particularly stunning, not compared to the rest of the south island. But they are well known for their wildlife. When its not such hurricane-like weather, you apparently can see penguins, sea-lions and seals. But we didn't get to see any of them unfortunately.
We drove through Invercargilll and spent a few hours in Dunedin bumping into previous hostel roommates and fellow Stray tour passengers.
We spent our last night on the spaceship in a little town called Ranfurly. A sweet little place which appeared to be totally deserted until we found the pub, everyone was in there for the rugby (crusaders vs highlanders) and happy hour. We felt it rude not to join them.
We were a little sad to say goodbye to the spaceship, which had been our home for 4 nights and 5 days. I was pleased that I wouldn't be having to drive the bloody thing anymore. It was an automatic and it was my first time driving one. Lets just say that once or maybe twice when stopping I went to find my non-existant clutch and both feet hit the brake pedal rather hard.
The Catlins aren't particularly stunning, not compared to the rest of the south island. But they are well known for their wildlife. When its not such hurricane-like weather, you apparently can see penguins, sea-lions and seals. But we didn't get to see any of them unfortunately.
We drove through Invercargilll and spent a few hours in Dunedin bumping into previous hostel roommates and fellow Stray tour passengers.
We spent our last night on the spaceship in a little town called Ranfurly. A sweet little place which appeared to be totally deserted until we found the pub, everyone was in there for the rugby (crusaders vs highlanders) and happy hour. We felt it rude not to join them.
We were a little sad to say goodbye to the spaceship, which had been our home for 4 nights and 5 days. I was pleased that I wouldn't be having to drive the bloody thing anymore. It was an automatic and it was my first time driving one. Lets just say that once or maybe twice when stopping I went to find my non-existant clutch and both feet hit the brake pedal rather hard.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Milford Sounds
After taking delivery of our spaceship and making away with the agents whole bag of DVD's (when we were only meant to have two) it was straight off in search of the legendary Milford Sounds. Bizarrely although Queenstown is relatively close to Milford you have to drive in a 300km U shape to actually get to it.
As soon as we got to the Sounds it was obvious why people rave about it so much, the views were truly breathtaking (or maybe that was the cold).
We opted for the Encounter cruise (basically a longer cruise for only a few dollars more). It took us closer to the best parts of the Sound, mainly the waterfalls. There are only three waterfalls that remain year round but on a rainy day there can be as many as ten thousand of them.
The boat was quite small but there was still room to stand outside or to sit inside. Surprisingly Samantha spent all her time inside in the warm drinking tea looking at all the sights, whereas I was outside taking pictures and experiencing the waterfalls (except when I got too cold and went inside for free coffee).
Toward the end of the cruise we were dropped off for half an hour at the underwater observatory where you were able to see fish and coral only normally seen in the deep ocean. This is due to the two layers of water, the dark fresh water that runs off the mountains on top and the clear sea water that sits underneath giving a unique environment.
After our trip had ended we beamed back aboard our spaceship and zoomed off round the bottom of New Zealand.
As soon as we got to the Sounds it was obvious why people rave about it so much, the views were truly breathtaking (or maybe that was the cold). We opted for the Encounter cruise (basically a longer cruise for only a few dollars more). It took us closer to the best parts of the Sound, mainly the waterfalls. There are only three waterfalls that remain year round but on a rainy day there can be as many as ten thousand of them.
The boat was quite small but there was still room to stand outside or to sit inside. Surprisingly Samantha spent all her time inside in the warm drinking tea looking at all the sights, whereas I was outside taking pictures and experiencing the waterfalls (except when I got too cold and went inside for free coffee).
Toward the end of the cruise we were dropped off for half an hour at the underwater observatory where you were able to see fish and coral only normally seen in the deep ocean. This is due to the two layers of water, the dark fresh water that runs off the mountains on top and the clear sea water that sits underneath giving a unique environment.
After our trip had ended we beamed back aboard our spaceship and zoomed off round the bottom of New Zealand.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Happy Easter
Happy Easter from Queenstown!
We have spent easter in Queenstown, a gorgeous town which is by a crystal clear lake and is surrounded by mountains. We have had blue sky days everyday so far, its warm in the sunshine but really cold once you step into the shade. It is so beautiful here that at times the scenery just doesn't seem real, it looks painted onto the sky.
On easter day we went for a little walk around the town, after changing hostels for the night. We sat by the lake and marveled at the fact we could see the bottom (where in the UK can you see the bottom of a lake?) and watched the ducks. Then we had a rest in the afternoon before trying to find somewhere to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix.
New Zealand isn't a particularly religious country, we haven't seen many churches. However, we arrive in Queenstown of good friday and find that all pubs are closed and don't reopen until midnight (because then its saturday), they are also closed for general drinking on sunday and monday. The only way to buy a pint on sunday and monday is to go to the pub for some food and only then are they allowed to serve you alcohol - MADNESS! It worked out quite well in the end because we had a lovely sunday lunch (roast lamb, mint sauce, roast potatoes and peas) whilst we watched the Grand Prix. Well done Alonso and Hamilton - Mclaren 1 and 2!!!!
We are renting a spaceship on wednesday for 5 days and taking a roadtrip down to Milford Sounds and then the bottom of the South Island. Then its back to Queenstown for the night to get back on the Stray bus and go up to Christchurch.
However, if we disappear off the radar, don't worry, we'll be in Queenstown.
We have spent easter in Queenstown, a gorgeous town which is by a crystal clear lake and is surrounded by mountains. We have had blue sky days everyday so far, its warm in the sunshine but really cold once you step into the shade. It is so beautiful here that at times the scenery just doesn't seem real, it looks painted onto the sky.
On easter day we went for a little walk around the town, after changing hostels for the night. We sat by the lake and marveled at the fact we could see the bottom (where in the UK can you see the bottom of a lake?) and watched the ducks. Then we had a rest in the afternoon before trying to find somewhere to watch the Malaysian Grand Prix.
New Zealand isn't a particularly religious country, we haven't seen many churches. However, we arrive in Queenstown of good friday and find that all pubs are closed and don't reopen until midnight (because then its saturday), they are also closed for general drinking on sunday and monday. The only way to buy a pint on sunday and monday is to go to the pub for some food and only then are they allowed to serve you alcohol - MADNESS! It worked out quite well in the end because we had a lovely sunday lunch (roast lamb, mint sauce, roast potatoes and peas) whilst we watched the Grand Prix. Well done Alonso and Hamilton - Mclaren 1 and 2!!!!
We are renting a spaceship on wednesday for 5 days and taking a roadtrip down to Milford Sounds and then the bottom of the South Island. Then its back to Queenstown for the night to get back on the Stray bus and go up to Christchurch.
However, if we disappear off the radar, don't worry, we'll be in Queenstown.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Franz Josef Glacier
I don't know much about glaciers, apart from the stuff I learnt in geography at school, so I was really excited about seeing the Franz Josef glacier. We arrived in Franz Josef township quite late so all we had time to do was book our half day glacier hike for the next morning. Nearly everyone on our bus was doing either the full day, 3/4 day or half day glacial hike, so it was early to bed.
After a hearty brekkie of bacon and eggs, it was off to the glacier. I admit I was terrified, I was even thinking of ways to get out of doing it, because I am more than a little accident prone and was worried about going arse over tit on the ice and needing to be airlifted off the glacier. I was also wearing 4 layers because I didn't want to get cold, but at the guiding place, they gave us big, heavy boots, a raincoat, a woolly hat and gloves so I had plenty of padding.
When we got to the terminal face (fancy name for the front of the glacier), our guide split us into 2 groups; the confident group and the nervous group. I was in the nervous group with the lovely Jules and Alan went in the confident group, which meant he went up the glacier first and went around it faster, whereas us nervous people went around a bit slower and had deeper, sturdier steps cut out for us.
It was also nice because we had 2 hours apart, considering we have spent the last 12 weeks glued to each other.
I was shaking as I climbed the ice steps of the glacier, but became a little more confident with each step because my ice talons attached to my big boots stopped me slipping. I found it easier to climb up the ice steps than to climb down them, but Jules told me to walk behind her and hold onto her backpack. She was so lovely and reassuring that I bought her chocolate to say thank you when we got back into town after the hike.
Being on the glacier was fantastic. It was a white/grey and blue colour. There were blue ice caves further up the glacier but we didn't have time to see them on the half day hike. But we'll definitely do one of the longer hikes next time, so we'll get to see them then. It was chilly but not absolutely freezing because the sun was shining and keeping us reasonabley warm. Walking on ice is hard to describe, but the simplest way is to walk like a bloke (legs apart, so you don't trip over your feet) and stamp your feet with every step.
The half day hike was long enough for me this time, after 2hrs on the ice I was ready to come back down. Alan felt it wasn't enough for him and he should have done the 3/4 day hike.
After a hearty brekkie of bacon and eggs, it was off to the glacier. I admit I was terrified, I was even thinking of ways to get out of doing it, because I am more than a little accident prone and was worried about going arse over tit on the ice and needing to be airlifted off the glacier. I was also wearing 4 layers because I didn't want to get cold, but at the guiding place, they gave us big, heavy boots, a raincoat, a woolly hat and gloves so I had plenty of padding.
When we got to the terminal face (fancy name for the front of the glacier), our guide split us into 2 groups; the confident group and the nervous group. I was in the nervous group with the lovely Jules and Alan went in the confident group, which meant he went up the glacier first and went around it faster, whereas us nervous people went around a bit slower and had deeper, sturdier steps cut out for us.
It was also nice because we had 2 hours apart, considering we have spent the last 12 weeks glued to each other.
I was shaking as I climbed the ice steps of the glacier, but became a little more confident with each step because my ice talons attached to my big boots stopped me slipping. I found it easier to climb up the ice steps than to climb down them, but Jules told me to walk behind her and hold onto her backpack. She was so lovely and reassuring that I bought her chocolate to say thank you when we got back into town after the hike.
Being on the glacier was fantastic. It was a white/grey and blue colour. There were blue ice caves further up the glacier but we didn't have time to see them on the half day hike. But we'll definitely do one of the longer hikes next time, so we'll get to see them then. It was chilly but not absolutely freezing because the sun was shining and keeping us reasonabley warm. Walking on ice is hard to describe, but the simplest way is to walk like a bloke (legs apart, so you don't trip over your feet) and stamp your feet with every step.
The half day hike was long enough for me this time, after 2hrs on the ice I was ready to come back down. Alan felt it wasn't enough for him and he should have done the 3/4 day hike.
But I'm a Laydee!!!!
The journey from the Abel Tasmin to Barrytown was a really long one. We stopped at a couple of random places along the way, the first of these was to look at what we all thought were invisible seals but if you look closely at our picture they were just camoflaged against the rocks and the last of which was to look at pancake rocks. We weren't really that bothered about looking at these after seven hours on a coach so we just rushed round and took a few pictures. We then found when we got back to the bus that their was a stall selling greenstone (Jade) carved jewellery. Samantha took a liking to one of the pieces but as we have been repeatedly told in New Zealand, you can't buy greenstone for yourself, it has to be gifted to you, so I decided to buy it for her.
The bar where we were staying had a fixed happy hour from 8-9pm which is the most stingy time period of all the places we've stayed on our whole trip, however we were told that if we dressed up then happy would be extended by an hour. The theme we were given was cross dressing.
This is a public service warning. Barrytown can do strange things to ordinary blokes!
It was a while before anyone attempted to dress up but after a Canadian bloke called Rob kicked things off in a lovely black and white number it was left to me to carry the torch in the worst dress I could find (check out the picture). Before long all the blokes from our bus had dived into the clothing boxes and found themselves a nice little dress. However the girls were much slower until one girl found $3 in the pocket of a jacket.
It was quite a sight but a good night.
The bar where we were staying had a fixed happy hour from 8-9pm which is the most stingy time period of all the places we've stayed on our whole trip, however we were told that if we dressed up then happy would be extended by an hour. The theme we were given was cross dressing.
This is a public service warning. Barrytown can do strange things to ordinary blokes!
It was a while before anyone attempted to dress up but after a Canadian bloke called Rob kicked things off in a lovely black and white number it was left to me to carry the torch in the worst dress I could find (check out the picture). Before long all the blokes from our bus had dived into the clothing boxes and found themselves a nice little dress. However the girls were much slower until one girl found $3 in the pocket of a jacket.It was quite a sight but a good night.
Abel Tasman
We stayed in Abel Tasman for 2 nights as we arrived too late the first day to do or see any of the national park. We were allocated our own, private hut (basically a shed) because we were a couple and couples like to get technical (whatever that means) according to our driver Ali Barbar.
Ali was an interesting character, he has a theme tune for his bus. His theme tune is Hakuna Matata and the bear necessities because all travellers should have no worries and only be carrying the bare necessities.
The Abel Tasman is stunning! We went on a 3hr hike to Appletree bay which was lovely, except I've left the Mossies behind and found the sandflies. Well, they love me! My socks must have slipped down from my ankle leaving a small slither of skin which had no insect repellent on. I have a lovely ring of red bites around my ankle now. I've since bought some new repellent, aptly named OFF! which I call bugger off or when the sandflies are really doing my head in, I call feck off!
Its really difficult to explain the Abel Tasman because for the most part we were walking through rainforest, which was a bit chilly, but we got too warm to wear a jumper. Alan was on some kind of power hike for most of it and I did struggle to keep up, not that I'm unfit or anything. Appletree bay was beautiful, the scenery was amazing, very picture postcard like.
I wish I could tell you we did alot in the afternoon after our hike, but we went for a bit of a kip, in our shed. All this fresh, clean air and hiking is very tiring. If we're not snoozing on the bus then we're off having an afternoon kip to recharge our batteries.
Ali was an interesting character, he has a theme tune for his bus. His theme tune is Hakuna Matata and the bear necessities because all travellers should have no worries and only be carrying the bare necessities.
The Abel Tasman is stunning! We went on a 3hr hike to Appletree bay which was lovely, except I've left the Mossies behind and found the sandflies. Well, they love me! My socks must have slipped down from my ankle leaving a small slither of skin which had no insect repellent on. I have a lovely ring of red bites around my ankle now. I've since bought some new repellent, aptly named OFF! which I call bugger off or when the sandflies are really doing my head in, I call feck off!
Its really difficult to explain the Abel Tasman because for the most part we were walking through rainforest, which was a bit chilly, but we got too warm to wear a jumper. Alan was on some kind of power hike for most of it and I did struggle to keep up, not that I'm unfit or anything. Appletree bay was beautiful, the scenery was amazing, very picture postcard like.
I wish I could tell you we did alot in the afternoon after our hike, but we went for a bit of a kip, in our shed. All this fresh, clean air and hiking is very tiring. If we're not snoozing on the bus then we're off having an afternoon kip to recharge our batteries.
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