Familiar Faces

Over the past week I've made my way back from the South Island, to Auckland, ready for my flight to Melbourne later today.
In Wellington I had a chance to catch up with a friend, Jillian, who is about to leave New Zealand after a year and a half here. Jillian kindly treated me to dinner. Note to anyone else meeting me on this trip, this is greatly appreciated.
We had a lovely evening eating great sushi, discussing visa's we'd like to apply for and generally putting the world to right!

My cousin Ian moved to Auckland a year ago, although as is often the case with families that live close to each other we hadn't seen each other in years. I had Ian's mobile number and gave him a call to arrange a meet up. We agreed to meet in a pub on Queen's Street (the main drag), later that night.
I entered the pub a little nervous, thinking would I recognise Ian. Thankfully we had no problem recognising each other.

Thankfully Ian no longer winks for photographs. I still like to eat.

Some years later, Ian and I at Mount Eden

We went to a great Japanese restaurant, The Cave, that was lively and fun. After that Ian took me to a couple of bars around the city centre. It was great to have the chance to get to know one another, but also have some common ground to start from.

We shared the beer.

Ian suggested a trip to Mission Bay for fish and chips and that's exactly what we did last night. I also got to meet friends of Ian's and we finished the night at a great ice cream parlour, where I ate far too much.
It made for a lovely end to my time in New Zealand. Being able to catch up with Jillian and Ian, made for a lovely change of pace. The only problem with travelling, although you meet lot's of people, conversations always tend to begin with "So where are you from?"

Kaikoura

Dorm with a View, YHA Kaikoura


Sea Lion on the rocks.

Milford Fjord

Milford Sound

On arrival in Te Anau I had intended to spend a few days exploring the town and local area, but more abysmal weather changed my plans. So after just one night in Te Anau I left for Milford Sound. Part of the Kiwi Experience pass includes a two hour boat tour of the Sound, well actually as we were all informed it's a Fjord, as it was formed by glacial activity. The tour also included a buffet lunch. I was incredibly excited by the lunch, I mean the fjord.
Kiwi Experience seems to have a monopoly on annoying drivers, it's imperative they all have a nickname, I mean how will the passengers relate to someone called, heaven forbid, James?
Our driver introduced himself, at first I thought he said his name was Jess, I thought how restrained? That was until I heard someone call him "Cheese". Yes Cheese. From that point on I decided I wouldn't need to ask the driver any questions.
The drive out to Milford Sound is incredibly long and surprisingly perilous. The road cuts through high mountains, where avalanches are common. Only a week before the road had been closed for two days after an avalanche. The snow banks on either side of the road were several feet high. We spotted several small avalanches as we drove along.

The snow banks on the road to Milford Sound

We stopped at the last photo opportunity, further on it's too dangerous to stop in because of avalanches. As we stepped from the coach, snow began to fall. Before I arrived in New Zealand I knew I would be out of season, but I had no idea how far. From talking to locals, I now understand warmer days don't arrive until mid January.
We were fortunate as we pulled into the small ferry terminal, the sun shone through the clouds and for the whole two hours on the water it remained rain free. There is an advantage to being out of season, all the recent rainfall had created some great waterfalls, that in turn created rainbows as they hit the water.
Being typical backpackers we all dug into the buffet before taking a look at the scenery. Once the food had settled I wandered onto the deck to take in the views. The scale of the place is hard to take in. Cliffs looms up high out of the water. The ship's captain took us close to one waterfall and explained it was three times as high as Niagara. He also took us close to some seals, although I think this is a shame, surely they'd prefer to be left alone.

A Rainbow


The two hours passed quickly and we were soon back on the coach making the four hour return trip to Queenstown.

The Bottom Bus - Part II

Kim collected me from my hostel in Invercargill. He informed me I would have four fellow passengers today. The four had been over to Stewart Island. Rather than sit up front with Kim, I climbed into the back. Kim used his mic, it suddenly became very official!
Unfortunately the four passengers where all really young lads, who seemed to like nothing better than to complain. As soon as we made a stop Kim whispered to me, "if you want to sit up front with me, I'll make some space." So that is exactly what I did.
We drove a large part along the coast from Invercargill towards Te Anau, the night's stop. From Te Anau I was signed up for the trip to Milford Sound.
Our first stop of the day was at the fishing town of Riverton. Normally we would have made some jewellry, but the guy who runs the workshop was away. So instead we had a wander around and then Kim showed us his favourite surf spots along the coast.
We stopped further along the coast at McCracken's Rest. Given the name, hordes of Kiwi Experience passengers normally line up to "pose" on the sign. But the boys were very shy and I had on the wrong type of trousers to pull a mooney (always a good excuse), so Kim kindly posed for me. I told him not to worry, it's not like I'd post the photo on my blog or anything....

Kim

The Bottom Bus - Part I

My pass with Kiwi Experience included, the "bottom bus". Oh that wacky marketing department, they know how to appeal to the kids. Well as it turns out they don't. I was the only passenger. I was collected from Queenstown by Jason, after a terrible night of sleep, well actually of no sleep. I was sharing a dorm with some people from my West Coast bus, who decided to talk all night and then around 5am one of them locked himself out of the room. After that I gave up on sleep, I thought I can sleep on the bus to Dunedin tomorrow. I felt sorry for Jason, the "tour" from Queenstown to Dunedin takes about four hours. I managed to chat for a while, but before long I was asleep. This blog seems to be turning into my version of how I slept my way around the world. Jason still felt it necessary to stop at the required points, so he'd wake me when we approached a dam or a field. I would groggily get out of the empty 20 seater bus and take a photo and then drop back off to sleep. I think Jason finally realised I wasn't interested in seeing anymore dams, so he drove straight through to Dunedin. I'd arranged to stay at the Manor House hostel where a couple I met in Hawaii where working, while they looked for something more permanent. I arrived earlier than expected and Sarah gave me a tour of the hostel and told me about the washing machines that don't really need tokens to work. We arranged to go out that evening to a small Moroccan style bar, where her boyfriend Iain works. I'd pretty much caught up on the sleep I needed, so I hit the very streets of Dunedin. Unfortunately it rained the whole time I was there. However I didn't let this stop me from taking a tour of the Cadbury's factory in Dunedin. Yes something else the Kiwi's have stolen from the English. But I can honestly say it doesn't taste as good, although I will continue to test chocolate for the good of mankind. The tour of the factory was a little bit of a let down. I had imagined it would be like the episode of the Simpsons, when Homer visits some kind of Candy World (I need my favourite skinny animator to confirm this) and eats everything in site, dogs, houses, lampposts, everything. Well I thought Cadbury's would at least have bowls of chocolate and the odd Umpa Lumpa. Unfortunately, the guide was a woman in her 60's who only seemed to give chocolate to small children. I think I came away with 4 chocolate bars, which considering the entry fee is pretty poor. After a good night out with Iain and Sarah, I set off on the next leg of the "Bottom Bus". Jason wouldn't be my driver, but he had told me more people may join the tour. He was wrong. Kim collected me from Manor House at 7am, so we could start the two hour drive to the Catlins nice and early. Naturally I had my reservations about being the only person on the tour, but thankfully Kim is a really guy and struck the right cord, of being friendly but still informative. The day before Kim had taken tourists on a tour of the Catlins and it had poured with rain the whole day and they hadn't seen any seals, sea lions or penguins. He hoped today would be better. The Catlins are one of New Zealand's best hidden treasures. It's an area of natural bush, rugged coastline, antarctic waters frequented by sea lions and penguins and wild fauna, waterfalls, petrified forests and spectacular nature trails. Kim explained to me for many years the Catlins was only ever frequented by those living in or around Dunedin, looking for a weekend get away. But word is getting out and the Catlins are starting to appear in all the obvious guidebooks, but hopefully the local council will find a way to deal with the extra tourists, without spoiling the natural beauty of the area. Our first stop was at a lovely pub/cafe at Kaka point for a hot drink before we headed to the world's most southern lighthouse, at Nugget Point. The vertical lines on the land show the incredible pressure beneath the surface to create the land. Kim explained the lines would have originally run horizontal, would the incredible force had turned them. The lines on Nugget Point Kaka Point As you can tell from the photographs the weather at first didn't look very promising, but we were in fact very fortunate, as the sun broke through the clouds later in the day. Kim then drove to Cannibal Beach. He explained it got the name, when European sailors found human skulls on sticks as either a warning or from a ritual, planted into the sand. Thankfully we found a handful of tourists on the huge expanse of sand and a sea lion taking a nap in the reed at the edge of the sand. Kim explained it's important to keep one's distance from a sea lion, they can easily out run a man and inflict a nasty bite. Kim said it was okay to sneak up on the sleeping sea lion for a photo, but if it stirred slowly walk backwards.

Sleeping giant

Sea Lion with his flipper in the air.

I jumped back onto the beach, in time to witness another male sea lion coming out of the sea. Kim had explained the population on the South coast is very small because hunters drove the sea lions away and they only started to return 40 or so years ago. Most of the sea lions remain on the islands further south. But there are now seven females who make the trip to the South coast to breed.We watched the amazing spectacle of the sea lion coming ashore. They can be dangerous, but we felt safe as there was an old man watching close by too, who the sea lion would surely catch before either of us. From Cannibal Bay we continued to make our way further into the Catlins. At Surat Bay I was lucky enough to spot one of the female sea lions watching her growing cubs take a swim. Kim had told me earlier how sometimes the sea lions eat rocks and he'd once witnessed a sea lion being sick. Kim explained they bang their stomachs on the beach over and over, until they are finally sick. I couldn't believe when around around corner I spotted a male sea lion banging his huge stomach on the beach. It was quite unpleasant when he finally threw up, while shaking his head from side to side so it went everywhere. We drove further along the coast. It was great being the only passenger, I was able to ask loads of questions and I felt like I got to know Kim. He told me how he was born in Scotland and moved to New Zealand when he was ten. When his new school friends asked him if he wanted to play football he was delighted, until they threw a rugby ball at him. After a lunch stop we drove to Purakaunui Falls. Kim parked the minivan and then we took the trail down to the falls. Kim was able to identify all the birds we could here singing loudly up above. It's hard to imagine the news of the birds in New Zealand when the first explorers, Maori or European arrived. Birds in New Zealand, like in Hawaii had no natural predators. That's how flightless birds like the Kiwi evolved, they had no need for wings.


Kim also took some time to show me native trees, that are now protected. Before Europeans arrived in New Zealand, the most common plant was Flax. Maori's used it for practically everything. Making rope, clothes, a broth and as a natural defense against the weather. Okay I'm not sure they actually made a broth from it, before I didn't have enough examples. I'm sure it would be a tasty broth. This first day tour of the Catlins would be the longest. To see the penguins comes ashore at Curio Bay we would need to wait until around 5.30. After that we had an hour drive to Invercargill. As soon as we arrived at Curio Bay we spotted a yellow-eyed penguin a native of New Zealand. The penguins are extremely shy and if you get too close they panic and freeze. Although I wanted to see this, as it sounds so cute, I realised it would amount to cruelty to penguins, so we kept our distance. The penguin was up on a hillside. Kim explained they can jump to their own height and have surprisingly strong legs. The bay is made up of a 180 million year old petrified forest. It's easy to make out the giant tree trunks, now rock, that form the base of the bay. We crouched down low and watched another three penguins in the bushes. Unfortunately we didn't see any make there way out of the sea. But I felt lucky to have seen so much, especially knowing yesterday Kim had struggled to find any penguins or sea lions. We arrived in Invercargill around 8pm. Kim had explained to me this is where Burt Monroe had raced his Indian motorbikes along the beach. If you haven't seen the film, The World's Fastest Indian, check it out.

Wanaka

From Franz Josef we set out early (too early for me) to Wanaka. The latter is a picturesque town nestled in the Southern Alps, described as Queenstown before it became so commercial.
We stayed at Wanaka Hotel, that has a few dorms at the back of the hotel set aside for backpackers. We all got rather excited when we found we had a TV, balcony, en-suite and mini-fridge in our room. Ah such heady delights. Unfortunately the photo's I have don't really do Wanaka justice, but for anyone heading to the South Island I would highly recommend a stay in Wanaka.

Wanaka Lake

The main attraction beside Wanaka Lake is Puzzling World. They have the world's only two level maze, which we ran about, until we found it was actually really hard to reach all the corners, the object of the maze.

Overview of the maze

The toilets...

They also have "illusion rooms", with slanting floors and 3-d portraits, that make your head spin. Outside Puzzle World, there are lopsided building, just waiting for ridiculous photo's to be taken.

Franz Josef Glacier Hike

The South Island was formed by glaciers, creating some very dramatic scenery. It is possible to hike the Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast of the South Island. Everyone I've met who has done this hike recommends it, so with a sore throat and feeling rather sorry for myself I signed up.
The guide company provided boots, crampons, coats, and waterproof trousers, all of it ill-fitting.
Kitted out we headed to the Glacier, five minutes drive from the village of Franz Josef. We hiked without our crampons to the start of the glacier and then fitted the crampons to the soles of our boots.

Franz Josef Glacier


I got talking to our guide Lee, who as it turns out is from Warrington, about 20 miles from my hometown.
The start of the hike is reminiscent of a step aerobics class. The crampons made it easy to get a grip on the ice, but at the start of the Glacier there are also handrails. I was surprised by the number of people working at the ice with pick axes, to keep it safe. Unfortunately it rained a good deal while we were on the Glacier, but Lee explained it is the rain that creates this unusual environment of rain forest and Glacier.


I need to photoshop this to get rid of the bag in the background.

While we on the ice, we were visited by Kea parrots a number of times. They are the world's most intelligent bird, with the I.Q of a 4 year old child. They can identify over 120 different types of berries. They fly up close to hikers, hoping to get some food. We didn't feed them but it didn't stop them from following us. The sight of green parrots on the blue ice was an odd spectacle.

A Kea Parrot

After a short lunch break on the ice (it was still raining) Lee led us to a crevasse. It was a really tight squeeze and required sliding sideways through the narrow gap in the ice. We asked Lee afterwards if anyone ever gets stuck, but he said he'd been sizing the group up to make sure we'd all fit through. He did tell us one lady had fallen in a hole so deep the cold water came up to her neck. From then I was very careful of my footing.

Tom and Gemma in a tight spot.

It was while we were taking a break again that I bumped into Sian and Sarah (they were in an earlier group) and found out they knew two of the girls in my group who I then got acquainted with. Again, it's a small travelling world. That night after a long wet day we all got together to help Sian celebrate her birthday.

The Voyage of Sleep

Having spent a few extra days in Wellington, I was now on a coach with a different group of people and of course a new driver. We drove the ten minutes to the ferry terminal, ready to board the Inter-islander to Picton on the South Island.
The ferry between the two islands takes three hours and can be quite rough. Although the ferry is huge, with several decks, restaurants, bars and a cinema I'd heard the choppy waters can make for a rather unpleasant crossing.
I'd bought some "Sealegs" tablets the day before, and took two the obligatory thirty minutes before we set sail. I found I knew one of my fellow Kiwi passengers from my first bus, so we were able to catch up.
There are many comfortable reclining seats on the ferry and we found a spot and settled in.
This is all I remember until our arrival into the Marlborough Sounds was announced over the tannoy two and a half hours later. I have no idea if the crossing was rough or not, but I had a terrific sleep!

Somehow I managed to take a photo.

Unfortunately I still needed to sleep when we boarded the bus at Picton and made our way to a Vineyard for a wine tasting. I managed to wake myself for this jaunt, only to fall fast asleep as soon as we boarded the bus again.
I should mention, I don't really like sleeping on buses, or planes, or trains, for fear of my ridiculous jerky movements in my sleep. I once fell asleep on a bus listening to music on my headphones and woke up clapping, with people staring at me. I can only assume I woke to hear clapping on my ipod and felt the need to join in.
I imagine I made a bad impression on the Kiwi bus, having slept for the 5 or so hours I was travelling with this new bunch of people.
We stopped in Nelson for an overnight and I'd planned to stay an extra night. As it happens I woke up the next day with a sore throat and was glad of the time out. It was in Nelson I bumped into Sian and Sarah again (originally met in Maui, then Fiji) and took a day trip to Abel Tasman National Park with them. The park is named after the Ducthman who first sighted New Zealand, but never landed, silly Dutchman.
The travelling world is very small, if I'd wanted to avoid Sian and Sarah it would be impossible, we continued to meet up through out our separate tours of the South Island over the following weeks.
Sian and Sarah had hired a car, so we drove out to the start of the Abel Tasman trail and walked the a hour and a half to Appletree Bay. It was another beautifully sunny day.

Wellington the Windy City

Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, is a really beautiful city with historic buildings, a great harbour, cable car and steep hills that provide dramatic views. At the southern tip of the North Island, it's also the place to catch the inter-islander ferry to the South Island.
On arrival I was nearly blown over by the ferocity of the wind. I spent my first day trying to see as much of the city as possible with Silvia, as she only had the one day in Wellington.
The Te Papa National Museum is the city's main attraction and offers the most comprehensive exhibits of New Zealand's history. It really is a terrific museum, easily one of the best I've visited on my travels so far. It's a huge building (we had 4 hours and didn't see everything), with exhibits and galleries spread over six floors in a purpose built facility right on the harbour.

The Te Papa Museum, so big I couldn't fit it all in frame.

I particularly enjoyed the exhibit on immigration (obviously a big part of the museum), in one video clip an elderly Scottish man talks about his arrival in New Zealand. He and his wife couldn't afford to emigrate to Australia (it cost 10 pounds), but New Zealand was free, so that was that. There was also an interesting display on young Polish children who had survived concentration camps, to be sent on long voyages as orphans to a new life in New Zealand.
They also house a very comprehensive art collection. What impressed me most though was the way all the exhibitions had been put together. Every form of media was in use and yet it didn't feel overwhelming. The artefact's were diverse but never irrelevant. Displays appealed to young and old alike.
From the Te Papa we headed to the cable car that takes passengers from the city centre to Kelburn Village, where the botanical gardens, observatory and small cable car museum are.

Kelburn Cable Car

Botanic Gardens

The weather was perfect for Silvia and I to wander around the botanical gardens, they are spread over a few steep hills. From here we headed to the Parliament buildings. The distinctive Beehive, houses the offices of the Prime Minister, Helen Clarke. Designed by an Englishman it really is quite a hideous building, surrounded by confused looking tourists taking photographs.

The Beehive

Cuba Street is one of the main streets for shops and coffee houses. It unfortunately has the feel of any provincial English town centre, but was on route to the Film Archive. I was keen to watch some films by Kiwi directors but unfortunately I always seemed to arrive at the wrong time to enter the viewing library.
I spent a few more days in Wellington, searching for thermal underwear to take to the South Island. No photo's necessary.

Update

Since arriving in New Zealand (12th September) my posts have been rather sporadic. This is mostly due to travelling on the Kiwi Experience bus. My days have been packed, with excursions, meeting new people and of course travel.
For me the tour finished on Friday and I'm now back in Auckland my starting point, having covered most of the highlights of the North and South Islands. I'm currently trying to get hold of Qantas (harder than it seems) so I can fly out to Australia a week and a half earlier than originally planned. My intention is to look for work in Melbourne (yes it's a budgetary requirement!) and once I have some money together travel a little and really just keep moving about in this fashion. I hope to make it to Sydney for Christmas and New Year, as I have friends planning on doing the same.
So I'm going to try and recall the past 6 weeks or so, factual errors will abound, I'm sure!

Lake Hawea, near Wanaka, South Island.

New Post

There is a new post further down the page, I started writing it a while ago, but only just finished it.

Lake Mahinapua

Les, New Zealand's oldest publican at 83, stepped onto our coach. After berating our driver for not producing a mic fast enough he welcomed us to Lake Mahinapua, his pub and hostel.
The hostel is legendary on the Kiwi Experience circuit, it's been a stop for fourteen years and Les and his staff have catered for 3000 coaches. The inside of the no-nonsense pub is covered with Polaroid photo's of previous Kiwi passengers. Each group stopping usually has a meal and then it's over to the pub in fancy dress to "get to know one another", aka drink the bar dry.
Our driver, Darren asked us all to make costumes from plastic bags, I tried to contain my excitement.
I decided to make an Osama "BIN" Laden costume, from chocolate scented brown bin bags. Some people created pretty amazing costumes and I couldn't help feel they'd perhaps given the evening more thought than I.

I was trying to keep in character.

We had a meal in an extension off the pub, Les was in charge of meat. This included steaks and venison stew. Thankfully there was a vegetarian option. I particularly liked it when Les, trying to offload what was left of the venison, abruptly asked one girl "Do you want some venison?"
With a frightened look she replied, "Oh okay I'll try a little"
Les then covered everything on her plate with a huge dollop of venison stew.
For all my concerns about the evening, it was actually a good opportunity to get to know some more people. I've stopped off at a number of places en route, so keep changing buses and drivers. I remained with this gang for much of the West Coast and we are now all in Queenstown getting ready to go our separate ways.
Travelling around New Zealand isn't giving me much opportunity to get online and update here, so apologies for the lack of posts over the past few weeks.