Liz G
Elizabeth Garrett Joined: October 16th 2008
Logged in: August 21st 2009
Logged in: August 21st 2009
Travel Blog Posts
Tree ferns in Rai Valley
The (almost) 6 months that I never got around to mentioning on this blog have been and gone, and I fear it is just too late to resurrect them now. So I'll give you a quick summary - Christmas and New Year in Melbourne, which was brilliant........ the return to NZ in January, a few days in Wellington, then across to Nelson......... January and most of February doing very little except settling in to life in Nelson and enjoying the summer sunshine, and thinking that I really ought to get around to finding a job at some point......... most of March and April working at a small vineyard just outside Nelson, which was a fantastic experience, plus a couple of weeks working at a hostel/rainforest retreat on the West coast, which was a lot of fun........ ... read more
Boulders on Moeraki beach
I'm getting progressively more behind with this blog, it's over 5 months since I was at this stage of my NZ journey. I'm not sure where the time has gone. Anyway, this part of the story was really the last chapter in my circuit of South Island - it was almost time to fly to Melbourne for Christmas. We left Dunedin and drove along the coast, stopping for a while at Moeraki to see the boulders which are strewn along the beach - my lonely planet tells me they were formed millions of years ago around lime crystals within the surrounding mudstone, for which I will just have to take their word. After Moeraki we arrived in Oamaru, which looked like an interesting town, with lots of impressive old buildings built from the local limestone - ... read more
at University of Otago campus
Hi all. I'm sorry it's taken 4 months to get this onto my blog. (I've dated it December as that's when I was actually there!) More to catch up on after this too, so keep an eye out for further updates! I finally escaped from the mayhem (well, compared to the rest of south island) of Queenstown, and took the bus to Dunedin. Dunedin means 'Edinburgh of the South', but apart from various street names (Princes, George, Corstorphine amongst others) it doesn't bear too much resemblance. Except perhaps for the cold wind that was blowing, and the sound of bagpipes. A kind of tourist fatigue overcame me as I arrived here - but luckily for me I had people to catch up with, which was great - Clare's dad Rob, who gave me a great tour ... read more
Eglinton Valley
Not a theme park, but the Fiordland national park, part of the South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. (Called Te Wahipounamu in Maori, which means 'the place of greenstone'). I took a trip here out of Queenstown to visit Milford Sound. Most people do a crazy day trip which involves 4 hours on a coach there and back, so I decided to do it over a couple of days, and stayed overnight in Te Anau - not much going on there, it's a small place on the shores of Lake Te Anau, but I did walk around the lake and onto the start of the famous Kepler track - even if I don't end up doing any of NZs 'great walks' I'll at least be able to say I walked a bit of one of ... read more
Lake Matheson
Still heading south, past Fox glacier and Lake Matheson, famous for it's mirror reflections of the mountains on a clear day - it was cloudy when we got there though, so no sign of Aoraki/Mount Cook (NZs highest peak). We drove down the coast for a while before turning inland and following the Haast River up to the Haast Pass and onto Wanaka. The scenery just takes your breath away, and the further I venture into South Island the more amazing it seems to get. I'm already planning the return trip, we passed by so many beautiful places without having time to stop. Wanaka is a small town at the southern tip of Lake Wanaka, and a great place to relax for a couple of days - I spent my time just walking around the lake ... read more
The magic bus
Leaving Nelson we had a long day on the bus, heading down to Greymouth. The road winds through the Buller Gorge before reaching the wild west coast. It's a fabulous journey through rainforest and past wave-swept beaches. We made a few scenic stops en route, at Tauranga bay to see a seal colony, then a walk along the Truman Track, down through the rainforest to the ocean, and later a stop at Punakaiki to see the famous pancake rocks. Photos of all attached....... I'd already decided by the time we arrived in Greymouth that I had to come back and see some more of this part of South Island. The bus is a great way to travel for lots of reasons, but the biggest downside is the feeling that you are just skimming past all this ... read more
Nelson Cathedral
Uh-oh - I've got a lot of catching up to do. I'm in an internet cafe in Christchurch, the night before I fly to Melbourne for my Christmas holidays. You might think I don't need a holiday, but you'd be wrong :-) So, backtracking about 4 weeks now.....the bus took me from Kaikoura to Nelson via the Montana vineyards for wine tasting at 11 in the morning. This was good and bad, good for the obvious reasons, but bad because I hadn't had any breakfast (due to getting up too late, due to drinking a wee bit too much the night before), so after a sauvignon blanc, pinot gris, reisling and pinot noir I staggered back onto the bus for the windy road to Nelson. Nelson is optimistically described as a city in the guide books, ... read more
Christchurch Cathedral
Flying from Auckland to Christchurch was very much like flying from London to Edinburgh - about 10 degrees colder, and there are shops selling Scottish stuff. I walked past one on the way to the hostel. Actually, Christchurch feels English more than anything, many of the road names are named after our towns and cities, and people punt their way down the River Avon - all very reminiscent of home. I also found a grocers shop which imports food from the UK, and became ridiculously excited at the sight of Green and Black's chocolate. Penguin biscuits and Heinz baked beans. Anyway, I'm getting away from the main point, which is that, as everyone had promised me, South Island is AWESOME. And I haven't even seen half of it yet! I spent a day wandering around Christchurch, ... read more
view from Raglan hostel
My last couple days on North Island (for now....) - I took the naked bus (NZ's cheap fares bus) to Raglan, via Hamilton. Nothing too interesting to tell as far as Hamilton is concerned, but Raglan is a great place, and NZ's top surfing spot. I stayed in possibly the best hostel yet, right by the waterfront, with spas, a sauna, electric blankets on the beds, and hammocks strung around the gardens. Mostly populated with American surfers, but that made a refreshing change from the hordes of German students who outnumber all other nationalities travelling around NZ by at least 3x. Spent most of my time walking along the enormous windswept Ngarunui beach. Then back to Auckland yet again, but only for a night, before heading for Christchurch, on South Island.... read more
Cape Maria Van Diemen
Back to Auckland in time for Halloween...... but Auckland is no place to hang around in when the rest of NZ is waiting. I got back on the Magic bus and went up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands, about 3 hours north of Auckland. It's yet another beautiful coastal area, and even more interesting as it is the place where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, so it's a historically significant place to visit. (google if you're interested!!) I stayed 5 nights in the end, and took a day to travel up to the very northern tip of NZ, Cape Reinga - an awesome day out, with amazing scenery (a theme developing here?!). Just outside of Cape Reinga we stopped at some giant sand dunes to go sand boarding - lots of ... read more
