New Zealand mark 2!

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So I gratefully left Wellington and shook off my boredom and got the ferry to the south island. I have to say that arriving through the Marlborough sounds was breathtaking. We arrived at Picton then caught the coach to Nelson where I stayed for 3 days. On the way in I went quad biking and on the skywire, which is a 4 seater chair attached to a line across the rainforest and you freefall pretty much right the way across forwards, then backwards at approx 90km/hr! Its awesome and i went on it 4 times for the one price. Bargain and I have to thank Leigh our guide for that, as I cheekily asked to go again and again! I had booked in at Paradiso hostel and this is a word of warning...DO NOT STAY HERE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! Im not kidding it was dirty and grotty and the brunette manageress, Hannah, is rude and mean. OK heres the story. I arrived and was put in an 11 bed dorm. I left early in the morning to go kayaking in Abel Tasman and left my t-short, towel, eye mask and ear plugs on the bed. When i got back that night, i saw that my bed had been stripped and re-made with someone elses bag on it (for the 2nd time!! (what is it with people wanting my bed??), my t-shirt and towel had been dumped on my bags and the mask and ear plugs vanished. They then proceeded to deal with the matter ineptly and dismissively, which just proved to exacerbate the situation. This culminated in the manager, Hannah, being very rude to me and only after further pressure from me for money to replace them, begrudgingkly giving me $5 only which was clealry insufficient. So, i get no apology at all over the 3 days i was there; the rooms and bathrooms were dirty (squashed insects on the floor were never cleaned up etc etc) the cleaners were not spoken to and clearly dont know how to tell an occupied bed from an unoccupied one and she is rude and mean. I have obviously mentioned this to other travellers as you are want to do and they have the same opinion. So heed my advice and dont stay there. I have to say in hindsight, you may be thinking, just replace them. but its not the cost and its not the fact that its time out to find somewhere that sells them (which is not easy when you're on the go all the time) but its the fact that when you are in a 4 bed dorm, never mind an 11 bed dorm, these items are not important, they are ESSENTIAL. anyway, moan over on with the good stuff....

so the quad biking was awesome! so much fun and Leigh saw that I was keen to go faster and do turns etc, so after we'd spent ages up the mountain on the skywire free wheeling it over the rainforest, and despite it being the longest tour she'd ever done (its sposed to be 2 hrs, ours was 4!) and despite her missing Coronation st (which is huge over here!) she allowed me 4 laps on the fun track which involved turns, jumps, tight corners, water, sheep, the lot! Covered in dirt we were delivered at the hell hole that is Paradiso, to check in and share a shower with dead insects. Wonderful.

I then booked a full day kayak trip down in Abel Tasman just outside Nelson, which is the national park and beautiful. It was another gorgeous day and I shared the 2 man kayak with a japanese girl, who promptly told me that she'd never kayaked before. Ah well, I reckoned i could do with the exercise. During the day she kindly said that I was doing all the work (rightly so) and that she was just playing with the water! ha! she was funny, esp when she mentioned that she couldnt swim.....I replied that she was either brave or stupid to therefore be doing a full days kayak trip! ha! She said she didnt realise quite what she had booked until she arrived! ah well. we had a fun day and the scenery was spectacular.

The following day I took myself on a winery tour and it was great. The first place we had 4 wines and a huge food platter and it was this guy Craig's bday so we got free cake as well! I also found a little shop on the vineyard that did Schnapps tasting so snuck in a few of those as well. The strawberry and vanilla was to die for! Obviously and really it goes without saying that I was pretty darned merry by the end of it and the woman in charge, Jenny, took to me so well, that dropping me off last, she gave me a great big hug. bless her. great day.

I would at this juncture just like to make mention of the kiwi accent. It's the vowels more than anything, so that "a" is an "e"; "e" is an "i"; "i" is a "u" etc, so you buy "fush n chups". and believe it or not my name is in fact pronounced Jinny. great! and no amount of saying it back to them with the emphasis on the "e" is gonna get me anywhere. im over it. however, i was having a conversation with jean and francie and they were talking about this pit shop that a cousin owned. I furrowed my brow, "pit shop, whats that?" a pit shop, you know where they sell pits. pits? what like coal pits? they sell them in shops? i just couldnt work out how they would do this. no, pits...kits and dawgs etc. oh, pets! now im not stupid but that really flumoxed me! so live and learn...when listening its less about translation and more of actual interpretation. 😊

So, from Nelson, I went with my hangover to Greymouth, which is a stop over more than anything on the way to Franz Josef and the glacier. Its worth a mention because it has to be the BEST hostel I have stayed in yet! All the rooms are animal themed and amazingly, I was given the Tiger room!!! Weirdly ( and i told him this) I was going to ask for this room if available. And what a room. Tiger wall paper; curtains, pictures, bedspread, and cuddly toy!!!! I was in my element. I have also discovered that my lovely Montreiths Regal beer is sold all over the place (this being the one made with lime, just as i like it!), so off out we went for a few down at the local pub. We were supposed to be on a Montreiths brewery tour, but typically as it was easter (who knew???) no-wheres open, bar a few select places. so we went for the $6 all you can eat bbq...but ohdearlord, the sausages were made of something i really dont want to put that much thought to to be honest. i stomached one and made do with the salad and beer. eugh.

Off again early next morning to Franz Josef, arriving to book myself immediately on the 4 hour kayak trip, as i was on the full day hike the next day and you know how i like to keep busy. So 2 hours later, Im being bitten to death by sandflies getting into my single seat kayak and tripping off across this monstrously beautiful lake and down through the channels deep into the national rainforest, surrounding the glaciers. Quite quite beautiful and so serenely quiet, you honestly could have been in the amazon basin and i half expected a giant anaconda to come nudging my boat. It didnt, but a girl can dream...mind you if it did happen i dont think it would have been such an idyllic scene. I slept well that night. Up early again (i told you this travelling lark takes it out of you. It is a vicious mysnoma that all you do is drink and sleep. no chance! early nights after exhausting days and early starts to embark on them! I know I know, its a ahrd life but someones gotta do it!) for my glacier hike. They basically kit you out with everything you need, but i chose this opportunity to break in my new hiking boots...mmmm. Kitted out with my crampons we were taken down to the glacier. It then involves a 2km walk through the rainforest and over rocks to the foot of the glacier, where you then put on the crampons and are divided into 6 groups, from the fastest to the slowest. there are of course always some who regard it as a competition (like the americans), and i was perfectly happy to go with the slow groups. i wanted to enjoy the experience and the scenery. however, this japanese guy kept changing groups as clearly he didnt know what was going on and none of the groups could leave until he was sorted, so i offered to take his place in another group....the group as it turned out, full of the americans who wanted to practically run up the damn thing. Typical. Mental note, do not put yourself out for anybody, it only gets you into trouble. I was the only non-american, apart from the irish guide and i actually really felt the odd one out. They were all students of 18 and 19 yrs old studying in sydney. They were immature, childish and arrogant and I let out a heavy sigh as I realised that the next 8 hours were gonna be a chore. But, I was determined to enjoy myself and with a stiff upper lip (more from the cold than anything else) I decided just to ignore them unless I wanted my photo taken and it really was the best way to deal with it as it turned out. I got some gd pictures and after about an hour of using the crampons and realising that they do actually work and you're not going to slip on the ice and not to think about the huge crevice you're about to step over, I was like a human mountain goat and high tailed it after the guide with confidence. The views were spectacular as you can see, but admittedly was glad to be coming down, as my feet were killing me. I had strapped up my left ankle (the one i sprained just in case) and i think it was a tad too tight and felt like it was going to explode. My right ankle was bruised from the new boot and I was so relieved when i got to the bottom and could release the pressure literally and in excitedly ripping off the tape to my left foot, managed to tear off the skin! sigh i dunno. i was too tired to care by then and just wanted a hot shower. It really is cold up on them thar glaciers. It is a must though on anyones trip here.

Off the next day to Queenstown, where I stayed for 6 days, just to give myself a chance to chill out and catch up with myself more than anything, but ended up going straight out with a girl called Amy and got hammered. Well I needed it as hadnt done it ...well since the winery tour really. It was great fun. We met these 2 irish guys and an aussie and I won at pool; Amy discovered she was quite good at pool; found the bar was 2 for 1 and they served my Montreiths Regal. It was meant to be! We were both staying at Base hostel as there was no other vacancies as it was still easter (who still knew??) and it has the shittest shower I have ever had in my life anywhere. It has a push button that if not kept depressed, stays on for 3 seconds; not a second more and not a second less. So you end up holding the button in with one hand and washing yourself with the other. Yeah like THATS hygienic and convenient. So I booked an overnight stay in Doubtful Sound. I had spoken to many people about Milford and Doubtful Sounds and decided that DS was less touristy and would be more of an experience...and gosh, was it! The trip involved getting a 3 hour coach ride to Manapouri, with a driver called Ben, who seemed to suffer with verbal diarrohea! He was incessant and boring and had such a monotone voice, that he made anything he said sound incredibly dull...and theres only so much you can take in about winter feed and the preparation of swedes before you start having murderous thoughts....my MP3 player came in handy and was working again, which was a huge relief on all counts!
We did stop off for a chance to take a ride on an original steam train called the Kingston Flyer....dad, I did this for you. Take a look at the pics and the scenery! It was great fun and of course I was in the flrst class cabin and the drivers seat!!!

So we arrive at Manapouri and then took a ferry across Lake Manapouri to West Port and another 20 min coach ride to the boat. It may sound arduous, but really, except for the Ben experience, it was very enjoyable. DS is not in fact a sound at all, it is a fjiord, as it was created by a glacier. A Sound is created by sunken ground, caused by movement of plate tectonics and then flooded.
The boat itself was fabulous, as were the cabins, facilities and the food. Oh godd, the food was ridiculous....3 choices of salad; 2 roasts, 5 other chouice of mains, 7 desserts, free tea, coffee, muffins, soup.....I'm starting to seriously take on some insulation around the stomach area, if you get my drift.......!It actually rained overnight and in the morning and it created these amazing free falling waterfalls, that wouldnt otherwise have been there. We sailed down to Hall Bay to view them, turned off the boat engines and all just watched in utter silence as the sheer beauty of nature in its rawist form. This is how the Mauris first viewed Doubtful Sound and this was how we were seeing it now...untouched. It was quite emotional and I will never forget it. Highly recommended. New Zealand really is an incredibly beautiful country.

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Comments

[Amy Phillips]

Beginners luck!
Hi Jennie, I tried again last night and it turns out that I am actually rubbish at pool! Enjoy S America Amesx