Kia ora tatou te aotearoa

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Which I think means 'hello everybody from the land of the long white cloud'. Yeah, I know it's corny but you try thinking of a witty title after 7 months on the road! My brain, my body and my bank balance are all in pretty poor shape but it's been well worth it, especially the last four weeks in New Zealand. There's still a lot of world left to see but it's difficult to imagine that there is anywhere else on the planet that comes close to this county in terms of raw physical beauty.

I started my lightening tour of the country in Christchurch just over four weeks ago and have barely stopped moving since. It's a short, 3-hour flight from Sydney across the Tasman Sea but what a difference those 3 hours and 1,300 miles make. After 8 weeks of parched, dusty, brown and orange, the lush green Canterbury Plains were quite a surprise. As we literally dropped through the clouds (turbulence from the southern Alps causing the plane to make one of those sickening 4-second plunges that has a few chapters, if not all, of your life flashing before your eyes), all that green was like a smack in the eye. Not to mention the snow-capped mountains away in the distance: it was all very disorienting.

Even more so once I got into the city itself, which is often dubbed the most English of all New Zealand cities. The first thing to adjust to was the size of the place. Considering it's New Zealand's second city it isn't much bigger than Southampton, with considerably fewer things to do and see, which was a bit of a disappointment. But from the street names to the style of the houses, to the botanic gardens and the Boots products in the shops, it was difficult to believe that home was so far away. In fact being in Christchurch wasn't so much being 'down under' as 'through the looking glass'; not upside down but life as we know it flipped by 180 degrees. The gardens and hanging baskets were all planted up with spring bulbs, the banks of the River Avon (!) were flanked by thousands of daffodils while ducklings whirled and twirled down the river itself. Everything screamed springtime and Easter - but the shops were beginning to fill up with Christmas stuff!

After a couple of days I was pretty glad to get onto the Magic Bus and hit the road. First stop was the beautiful but tiny town of Kaikoura. A former whaling and seal-hunting town it's now a tourist destination and popular weekend getaway for people from Christchurch. Inhabitants still make their living from the whales, dolphins and seals that visit and live along the coastline but it's strictly look, don't touch these days. From Kaikoura it was a 5-hour trip across the top of the South Island to Nelson. It's a pretty enough town, popular with arty folk who have set up galleries, textile workshops and ceramics workshops, however there isn't much to see so I used it as a base for a trip into the Abel Tasman National Park about an hour up the coast.

Apparently Nelson gets the most hours of sunshine on the south island but it didn't look like it was going to live up to this reputation as the minibus trundled its way through pretty fruit-growing countryside towards the national park. Once at the village of Marahau, the last stop before the park itself, we transferred to a water taxi that whizzed up the coastline of the park, depositing me and two others at a place called Torrent Bay. From here we began a 4-hour walk back down the coastline and through a series of small bays to our starting point. No sooner had we started out than the clouds lifted and sun came out, making it one of the most enjoyable hikes of my entire trip. With all it's familiar culture and language (not to mention weather), it's easy to forget that New Zealand is actually a pacific island, but not on this walk. Bay after bay of clear, sparkling jade green water and soft yellow beaches backed by lush palms and beautiful, curling ferns. It was really idylic.

Working our way down the coast to the township of Franz Josef a few days later, the scenery couldn't have been more of a contrast. From the soft bays of Abel Tasman, the landscape became more and more dramatic, with snow-capped peaks rising up on our left and the rugged pacific coastline to our right. And everywhere water. Enormous lakes, waterfalls, streams and rivers, all sparklingly clear like a mineral water advert. New Zealanders may complain of water shortages but there's little evidence of this as you drive around either island. It's easy to see why Peter Jackson chose New Zealand as the background for the Lord of the Rings films: it's so beautiful and other-worldly, CGI simply couldn't do any better.

The main, in fact the only, reason for visiting Franz Josef was to see and hike the famous glacier located in Westland National Park. With the exception of the Fox Glacier about 10 miles away, it's a unique ecosystem: a massive great big chunk of ice (13 km long and several hundred metres deep) descending to only 250m above sea level and surrounded by the greenery and lushness of a temperate rainforest. It rains or snows on the glacier one day out of two on average and although it literally comes and goes (when the township was established in the late 1800's the terminal face was only a kilometre or so away, now it's about 4km away), it's currently advancing at the rate of a few centimetres a week. The glacier got it's current name in 1865 when the German explorer Julian Von Haast who did the usual kiss-ass European thing of naming something amazing and beautiful after somebody important, in this case the Austrian Emperor. However, its original Maori name is much nicer: Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere or 'the tears of Hinehukatere'. Hinehukatere being a young woman who loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Tawe, to climb with her. Unfortunately, if a little predicably, an avalanche swept Tawe to his death and a broken-hearted Hinehukatere cried and cried until her many tears froze to form the glacier.

From the township, the glacier looks like a big mass of soft snow being squeezed through the gap in the mountains like so much toothpaste. This perception persists as you hike along the Waiho River valley that has been formed over millennia by the progression and regression of the ice and through which melt-water from the glacier now flows to the sea. After about an hour, you reach the terminal face of the glacier, from where you can clearly see that you have been labouring under an illusion; far from being a soft environment of gently sloping snow, the glacier is a spiky, icey, rock-moving machine, dragging everything from gravel-sized pebbles to enormous boulders from the back of the valley to the river floor. It's quite a daunting sight, but armed (or rather footed) with a pair of fearsome looking ice talonz and an ice-pick, and in the capable hands of our guide Andrew, we began our assault on the ice. There are several companies operating hikes on the glacier and the guides have cut a series of steep steps in the ice to get groups up the terminal face. If you think you're going to be cold walking on that much ice then think again because you soon work up quite a sweat! We tramped along and squeezed ourselves through crevices and marvelled at the beauty of both the glacier and the surrounding mountains for about 4 hours before stopping briefly for lunch perched somewhat uncomfortably on a pile of rocks. From here we could see how little distance we'd actually covered - you spend most of your time walking up and down the peaks and crevices in the ice rather than actually making progress along the glacier's length - and also some rather ominous black clouds that were heading our way. The rain began soon after and we began our soggy descent. Annoyingly, from our elevated position we could see that the river valley and township were bathed in sunshine; the glacier really does exist in a world of its own.

From Franz Josef it was a pretty straight run down to Queenstown, the self-styled adventure capital of New Zealand. I had planned to take a snow boarding lesson here but the ski slopes were closing the day we arrived so it wasn't possible. Unless you can afford to stay in one of the many fancy hotels in the town, it's all a bit Club 18-30 and as bungy jumping and sky-diving really aren't my thing I decided not to hang around here but to just overnight before moving on to Dunedin over on the East coast. Dunedin is a university city, founded largely by Scottish settlers in the 1800's and the name actually means 'Edinburgh of the South'. Both the weather and the surrounding landscape reminded me very much of the scottish highlands so it's easy to see why the original settlers felt so at home here. There are two main reasons to visit the city (three if you're into trains and want to take a trip through the Taieri gorge); an enormous Cadbury's factory and the Otago Penisula.

A visit to the first of these attractions fulfilled two functions, firstly using up some pretty dead hours on a Sunday afternoon and secondly giving me access to the factory shop. So, fully laden with cheap chocolate the next day I went out to the Peninsula with the excellent Elm Lodge Wildlife Tours to have a gawp at some of its inhabitants, namely Royal Albatross, fur seals, Hooker sea lions and Yellow-eyed penguins. Because most of the action for these animals happens at the end of day when they either get back from hunting or head out for their evening meal we set out at 3pm. It was a pretty overcast day with temperatures hovering around 13 or 14 degrees in the sheltered city centre but by the time we got out to the albatross colony it was colder than a gnats chuff and blowing a gale. However, our guide, Sean, assured us that this was perfect conditions for spotting the royal albatross who need strong winds to help them gain enough height to return to their nests up on the headland. I'm not much of a bird fancier but it was a surprisingly awesome sight to watch these giant seabirds (the largest on the planet) swoop backwards and forwards over our heads on their 2 metre wingspans, gradually gaining altitude. They're pretty incredible birds all round in fact, flying for the first time on the day they leave the nest to head out to sea for up to 6 years (yes, 6 years!) before returning to land to breed and nest. Unfortunately, after about 10 minutes we were all so cold that we'd ceased to be impressed so headed back to the bus for a short trip further along the peninsula to where the seals and penguins have made their homes.

The seals and penguins live in more or less perfect harmony (except for the odd penguin-based sea lion lunch that is) on a headland that has to be reached across some private farmland. This meant parking the bus about 700 metres away and walking down to the beach. Well, if we were cold before! By now it was so windy that it was hard to stand let alone walk and if it hadn't been an on-shore hooly then I'm sure we'd have lost at least one person over the edge. But it was worth it in the end. The fur seal colony consisted mainly of breeding females and last year's cubs; fluffy balls of blubber with big, round puppy-dog eyes that made you say 'aaahhh' every time they turned them on you. There were a few males around, waiting for the females to be hot-to-trot when the breeding season kicks off in a few weeks time. Of course, they made all the noise, facing up to each other and screeching at anything that dared enter their self-designated territory. Further around the headland were the sea lion and penguin colonies. It was only male sea lions on this beach because they're notoriously grumpy and occasionaly eat their own young so the females very sensibly take themselves off to another beach until the breeding season begins. In the meantime the breeding males keep themselves occupied by gathering up a hareem of little boy sea lions on which to 'practice' for the real deal. Despite this, they're pretty butch animals, growing up to 3 metres long and 60 stones in weight with fearsome looking teeth and breath like the fishy depths of hell itself. Seeing them lying around on the beach like sumo wrestlers in wet suits it was difficult to believe that they can run (or waddle) up to 20km/hour across the sand but we were happy to take Sean's word for this and to keep him between us and them at all times.

The yellow-eyed penguins, who nest up in the scrub behind the beach were altogether prettier to look at, although Sean assured us that they can also be very grumpy and aren't too keen on humans. From a distance though, they looked cute and comical enough, labouring up the beach and headland, heads down, wings outstretched and tongues protruding with concentration and effort (ok, I made that last bit up but it would have completed the picture perfectly). By now it was getting dark and I was so cold I literally couldn't speak - well I could but it sounded like I'd been to the dentist for a filling and hadn't recovered from the anaesthetic. I've never been so relieved to get back into a minibus in my life!

After Dunedin it was a four-day run up the east coast, stopping overnight at Lake Tekapo and then again at Christchurch and Kaikoura, before getting the ferry across the Cook Straight from Picton to Wellington. This stretch of water is notorious for being very rough and in fact the two previous crossings had been cancelled due to bad weather. However, lady luck was with us and the sun came out and the waves calmed down making it a very easy 3 hour journey across to the capital. Despite its status, Wellington is only the 3rd biggest city in New Zealand with a population of 160, 000, well behind Christchurch (330,000) and Auckland (1.5 million). It's a pretty nice place however and I was surprised to find it a relief to be back in an urban environment. A visit to the fantastic Te Papa museum and the City Gallery to see a Sam Taylor-Wood exhibition nicely filled my time here before it was back on the road to Napier about 5 hours up the island.

Napier is quite an oddity in New Zealand. For a start, it gets over 2,000 hours of sunshine a year and as a result the climate ressembles that of southern california. Secondly, it doesn't look like New Zealand. This is because the original town was destroyed by a massive (7.9 on the richter scale) earthquake in 1931. Those building that didn't fall down, burnt down in the subsequent fires leaving a scene of total devastation. However, within just a few years, Napier had been totally rebuilt and was one of the newest and most modern cities on the planet. This is because the town council employed some of the leading architects of the day, who designed buildings based on the then-new and ultra modern styles of art deco and spanish mission. According to the guidebooks, only South Beach in Miami rivals Napier for the variety of 1930's style buildings in such a concentrated area and it would be easy to imagine yourself in Miami, with the brightly colourful buildings set against a background of clear blue skies and tall palm trees. The town is rightly proud of this unique heritage and looks after itself very well, which makes it a very pleasant place to while away a couple of days.

Rotorua, the next place on my itinerary, couldn't have been more of a contrast. The town itself (I think) is a bit ratty. Most of it is geared towards catering for the hordes of tourists who flock to the region and its full of all the usual US embassies (Starbucks, Macdonalds, KFC etc. etc.) plus a smattering of grubby bars and clubs for the pull-my-finger brigade. However, the region itself is fascinating: a cauldron of geo-thermal activity that fills the air with strange eggy odours and colours the hills with mineral deposits. It's been a tourist attraction since the 1860's when people travelled from all over the world to see the famous pink-and-white silica terraces. Then considered to be the 8th natural wonder of the world they were completely destroyed by a massive volcanic erruption in 1886, which neatly demonstrates the main reason for all the geo-thermal activity that pulls in the punters, i.e. the town's proximity to the faultline between the Eurasian and Australian tectonic plates. This faultline slices across New Zealand from the top right-hand corner of the north island to almost the bottom left-hand corner of the south island but because the earth's crust is relatively thin in the Rotorua region, heat and gases from all the science happening down below escape, forming volcanos, craters, fumeroles, bubbling mud-pools, hot-water springs, geyers and exotic looking mineral deposits. It really is a very strange place. I spent my first afternoon in the town lounging around in the four naturally heated pools of the world-famous Polynesian Spa. Set next to Lake Rotorua and as a result quite eggy on the nose, it was none-the-less a very relaxing experience. The pools increase in temperature from 36 degrees celsius (perfect), to 38, 40 and finally 42 degrees celsius (pretty unpleasant) and the soft, faintly alkaline waters are supposed to provide relief for all sorts of ailments from muscular aches and arthritis to rheumatism. I don't know whether they had any medical effects on me but I was perfectly relaxed afterwards and my hair retained a faint whiff of egg sandwich for several days despite repeated and vigorous shampooing!

On day two, I took a trip out to Wai-O-Tapu, which means Sacred Waters in the local Maori language. Billed as a geo-thermal wonderland, it's certainly a pretty weird place. From the 20 metre high Lady Knox Geyser to the big, gloopy mudpool and the bubbling waters of the champagne pool, it was easy to see why this place was a spritual place for the local Maori tribes - it isn't often that you actually get to see the inner workings of the planet.

From the weird and wonderful Rotorua, it was a relatively short trip (via Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty) to my final destination, Auckland. By far the country's biggest city with over 1.5 million inhabitants (that's nearly half of New Zealand's total population), it's known as the City of Sails due to it's passion for all sports water-based. The America's Cup regatta was famously held here 3 years ago since when Aucklanders have been trying to recover from the shock and ignominy of losing to the (land-locked) Swiss conglomerate. They've already begun preparations to win it back, however, and the New Zealand team are regularly out in the bay practising their grinding and hoisting, or whatever it is they do on those big boats. The weather has been pretty grotty since I arrived on Monday and to be honest I'm feeling quite travel weary so with the exception of the Skytower I've avoided all the main tourist attractions and have simply pottered around trying to get a feel for the place. The Skytower itself isn't a particularly attractive building; the massive TV mast on the top makes it look like a chunky concrete hypodermic needle especially when compared to the slender and elegant Sydney skytower. However what it lacks in glamour it makes up for in height, beating it's fancy Dan rival across the Tasman Sea to the title of tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere by about 24 metres. As with most tall things in New Zealand there are a number of mind-numbingly scary ways to throw yourself off the Skytower, but I opted for the much more sedate option of a trip up to the two viewing platforms 180-odd metres above the ground. Despite the lowering clouds, these afforded fantastic views of the city, the harbours and the surrounding area and it was a very enjoyable way to end my trip around New Zealand.

In fact it also marks the end of my 7 months as a traveller/tourist/lucky sod because all that's left to do now is pack my bags and order a taxi to the airport. All being well, I'll be back in lovely old Winchester on Friday morning where I'll spend the next 6 months unpacking and uploading the 1000+ photos that I've taken since leaving on that very cold morning back in March. It's been an absolutely fantastic trip that's fulfilled and exceeded all my hopes. I don't know whether I've learned anything important about life or myself and I don't know whether I've changed at all, but I've definitely had a great time, met some amazing people, seen some beautiful things and enjoyed the experience of a lifetime. I'm pretty sure I won't miss living out of my backpack, or travelling by bus, or packing my worldly possessions up every couple of days, or sleeping in a dorm (with people who snore and leave their smelly shoes next to my bed) or having to use communal showers but forgive me if I temporarily turn into a member of the 'when I' tribe and bore you stupid with tales of people and places that mean nothing to you. It's going to take a little while to decompress and get back to the real world but if I'm honest, I can't wait. God knows what the future holds but I'm excited to find out and I'm looking forward to seeing you all again soon and catching up with what's been going on in your lives since we last met.

Thanks for all your support over the past few months and for your e-mails and messages of encouragement. I hope you've enjoyed the blogs and photos and I'll see you all very soon.

Lots of love,

Kit xxx

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Photos

Beautiful Kaikoura
Snow-capped mountains and clear blue waters - archetypal New Zealand.

I think they're trying to tell us something...
Just in case you didn't realise that the Fraz Josef glacier is quite a dangerous place to go for a stroll.

Mount Cook
The tallest mountain in New Zealand across the bluest lake in the world (actually I made that last part up but it could be true).

The world in action - geothermal activity at Wai-o-tapu
The earth's crust is particularly thin around Rotorua, accounting for all the unpleasant eggy smells and weird geo-thermal activity.

A silver fern
The emblem of New Zealand.

Perfect reflections in Lake Matheson
Mount Cook reflected in Lake Matheson.

A magic tree!
Ever seen a tree without a trunk? I'm not sure what the explanation is for this optical illusion but it's pretty cool.

The terminal face of the Franz Josef Glacier
13km from front to back, this is the front of the glacier as it pushes its way down the valley at the rater of a few centimetres a day.

Oh I love to go a-wandering...
Hiking on the glacier itself.

Fluffy little baby fur seals on the Otago Peninsula
Can you imagine what a bastard you'd have to be to club one of these fluffy little cuties over the head just for its fur?!

The Church of the Good Shepherd overlooking Lake Tekapo
Every guidebook on New Zealand includes a photo of this church so here's my effort.

Anbody interested in the rugby world cup?
If you are, then Auckland can tell you exactly how long until it starts!