Blogs from South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Trans Alpine Railway and Kaikoura. We left Franz Joseph by 0900 hours after collecting the video of the Kayak session. Our aim was to get to Greymouth by 1300 hrs. On the way we stopped at a few view points to see some waterfalls, a bridge where you could get a magnificent view of the snow capped moutains, and again at a sea side supposed to be a surfers paradise (only a couple of people surfing). Again the scenery on the way was unbelievably beautiful, I keep repeating that, between the mountains, rivers and the rain forest. Then we stopped at a small seaside town, Hokitika, famous for works in jade and we had a chance to see the craftsmen at work. Some of the group bought small items as souvenirs which were symbols of Maori ... read more

Dear all, After my last message we stayed the night in Kaikoura and then left the next morning to head for Hanmer Springs. We arrived there and the small little town was packed solid as it was Saturday. We spent the day exploring the small town and enjoying the beautiful sun. Sunday morning we got up early and went to the springs. They are natural volcanic hot springs that range in temperature from a lovely 36 degrees to a slightly too hot 42 degrees. The sun was out and we spent a couple of hours there. Apparently the water is very good for your skin. Sunday evening the sky went a black colour and soon it was raining, it hasn't stopped since. All of last night it rained really hard and our journey back to Christchurch ... read more

My life from October 8, 2012 - May 7, 2013: Explored Waiheke Island on foot with a hilarious Canadian (Christie) and a gorgeous German (Max) and drank wine out of the bottle with two Maoris on the beach Rented a car with my favorite Canadian (Christie) and cruised through the North Island Spent a full day in the Taupo and Rotorua hospitals after having the hood of our rental car fall on my head Kayaked for three days through Abel Tasman National Park with three Germans Had my first waitressing job Hit my first guy Got my second tattoo done from an unconfirmed Nazi lover Hitchhiked Swam in Tasman Bay Did the rope swing in the Maitai River Spent Christmas in a swimming pool Hiked to the Japanese Gardens, but then actually never mad... read more

Queenstown and Activities Once in Queenstown as most activities were cancelled due to inclement weather all we could do was to go out, familiarize ourselves with the town, get back, have dinner and get ready for the trip to Milford Sound early tomorrow. Queens town is little picturesque town on the lake Wakatipu but more importantly it has become the center of activities for tourist. There are numerous daring and not so daring activities organised from here. Starting with the serene Milford Sound Cruise, bungy jumping, gondola, paragliding, jet boarding, parachute jumps, scenic flights, flights to glacier and glacier treks.. the list just goes on and on. In our case we had put everything to the day after as the full day would be taken up with Milford Cruise. We had an early start as we ... read more

Christchurch and Lake Tokapi There was small delay in the connection at Sydney. There were only a couple of flights to Christchurch. I was booked on a 1930 flight with a flight time of three hours. With the time difference of two hours I landed in Christchurch at 0030hrs. With the fog at the airport it was a touch and go affair, the first landing had to be aborted. But then it seem to have lifted slightly and we landed safely only a few minutes late. At that hour the only option to get to the hostel was by airport transfer service. The coach took you to the hotel door. Greg (owner) had left the front door open with instructions on the desk how to get into the room. The room was spacious and only next ... read more