Blogs from New Zealand, Oceania - page 2529

New Years Eve, lots of people had asked me where I was going to be for New Years Eve, I hadn’t known. It turned out to be Wanaka, the backpackers - the Purple Cow - was nice I had met some nice new people who would also be there for the evening. Chatting after breakfast with Clare, Phil, Laura and Tripp (all English except the American Tripp) we all decided to head off to Stuart Lawson’s Puzzling World. Puzzling World features the leaning tower of Wanaka, the room full of following faces and a three-dimensional maze, plus lots of holograms and other curious things. After wandering around the curious and puzzling section of puzzling world we decided to tackle the maze. The maze is made from large 7ft fence panels, a couple of bridges and four ... read more

We arrived in Greymouth on the 23rd of December, about 6pm. Had a nice meal of spaghetti bolognaise, and drank some wine, getting ready for Christmas. The next day, we went bicycling down to the beach, Robin booked a train to Christchurch, she needed to fly from there on Christmas day. We went to the Warehouse a New Zealand version of Kmart, where everyone gets a bargin. We got each other Christmas presents - I got a Plastic Kiwi Policeman to live on my backpack and a water pistol - Anders got a water pistol and chocolate, Robin who bought the water pistols got wet, she didn’t have one. Got my hair cut, and said goodbye to Robin as she boarded the Tranz Alpine Railway. Went out in the evening with everyone we could gather from ... read more

Marahau is a small village tucked on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park. Due to arriving at short notice all the huts for the Abel Tasman Track were booked out over the next few nights - I wouldn’t be able to walk the three day hike, billed as one of the best in New Zealand. Anders, Joe and I wanted to walk on the track so paid for a water taxi 25km up the coast and then walked back to Marahua. The walk was very easy, very few extended rises or descents. The most difficult parts of the track were the descents down to the beaches. The many beaches were the highlight, golden sand cool clear water, and seals playing just yards from the beach. We met Robin from Boston in the water taxi, ... read more

The Queen Charlotte Track is a 72km tramp from Ships Cove in the north of the Queen Charlotte Sounds to Anawika in the south. One of the nicest things about the track is the native bush that lines the walk for most of the time, the views across the sounds, and the nice places to stay on the way. The easiest way to walk the track is to catch a water taxi up to Ships Cove and spend the next few days walking back to Aniwaka. On the way to Ships Cove we were lucky enough to see a pod of Dusky Dolphins, they played for a while in the wake of the boat. We decided to walk the track over three days and two nights, having purchased only enough trekking food (chocolate, cakes and tuna ... read more

After being ill in Featherston I went to wellington and checked into the closest hostel to the train station. The downtown backpackers, slightly away from downtown but really close to the train station and ferry port. Went to McDonalds, about the only time I eat McDonalds is when I’m hungover - the fat, sugar and salt content of a value meal seem to be just what my body craves when recovering from too much drink. I purchased my meal - super size - walked towards a free seat and dropped the lot. Enough - I was starting to think that my run of bad luck would just continue - but then the nice manager gave me the meal again. I walked more carefully to the seats and started to feel a little better as the junk ... read more