New Zealand

Oceania » New Zealand
February 29th 2008

Published: April 3rd 2008

Edit Blog Post

Bowthy

Captain Scott

Christchurch

Christchurch to Auckland

Starting in Christchurch,a sleepy city with bags of character and friendly people, and finishing in Auckland, a vibrant town with more of an edge, I cruised round New Zealand, some of the time with my good friends Lana and Stu; me in my 95 model Toyota Corolla, with its 1.5 litre, straight-four beast of an engine under the hood delivering an almighty 104 BHP to its balding front tyres, Lana and Stu in their electric-mauve, passion wagon of a Ford Telstar.

Love affair

My love affair with dormitory accomodation was definitely at an end, the final straw being the snoring competition I was subjected to on my first night in Christchurch. Luckily, Lana's folks have a lovely big place in Kaiapoi, just up the road from Christchurch, and they looked after me a treat,feeding me up with excellent home-cooked meals. They even let me use their washing machine to freshen up my bargain basement, Sally Army camping gear Sweet as, bro. I was made to feel very welcome, joining the family for lunch at Governor's Bay on the stunning Banks Peninsular.

More lakes, beaches and mountains than you can shake a stick at.

As I expected,

Governor's Bay

Banks Peninsular

the South Island was just stunning, and the north island more than exceeded my expectations. There are more beautiful mountains and lakes in this small country than anywhere else I've been. I could bang on for ages about the beauty of the place, but to save you a chore, I'll summarise.

Highlights

The highlights for me were skimming stones on the beautiful volcanic Lake Takepo, but not swimming in its icy cold water; the alien-like Moeraki Boulders; seeing yellow-eyed penguins and sea lions at Nugget Point, but not getting told off by a grumpy German; the Speights Brewery tour, well, the tasting at the end, and the beers we had in the pub afterwards; the albatrosses on the Otago Peninsular - enormous;Papatowai's $7 a night campsite and walking along the bank of the creek with its amazing sand patterns to the ocean;only stopping for one night in the decaying Bluff; the beauty of the waterfalls on a rare sunny afternoon's boat trip round Milford Sound;the incredible downpour that created 50 new water falls round the campsite at Milford;enormous Fergburgers, the pubs,rafting but not doing a bungy jump (are you mad?) in Queenstown - what a backdrop!;Wanaka lake;climbing the Franz

Governor's Bay

Banks Peninsular

Josef glacier and getting stuck, almost, in a claustrophia-inducing crevace;beers in Franz Josef town with Jeremie who I'd met in Coral Bay, a top lad;relaxing in Hanmer Hot Springs;sailing from Kaikoura at 5.30 am to watch the sunrise over the Pacific and watch the dolphins surf the pressure wave off the bow of the boat - sadly we couldn't swim with them as the water was too murky that day;walking and kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park - this was the highlight of all of NZ for me, a truly beautiful place;meeting my parents in Auckland, a great city, and staying in hotels for a while - ahh the luxury - thanks dad;Muriawai and Piha beaches - just gorgeous!;meeting up with JJ and Janey, and later staying in their home - fantastic hospitality and inspiring travel tales - thanks guys;touring the north island with my folks - bubbling and smelly Rotorua, Tongariro National Park's volcanoes;Awakeri Soda Springs - so hot!;beautiful walks along the Coromandel Peninsular;dinner with Chris H in a top-notch boozer - thanks mate;meeting Dan and Laura again;the reggae concert in Auckland Zoo.

Additional photos below

Photos: 99, Displayed: 24