New Zealand

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19th March 2012, Auckland

Hey guys! Right now we're couchsurfing in Auckland, enjoying a few tranquil days before the next leg of our trip to South America tomorrow!

We thought it'd be a good time to reflect on our time in New Zealand, and update you guys on our little adventures on the other side of the globe! We're half way through now, and although it sometimes feels like we left yesterday, we have already packed so many good moments and memories that it also feel like ages since we said our goodbyes in Birmingham and France.

Writing about New Zealand proved really easy - it's such a beautiful country! It has surpassed our expectations, even though we knew how beautiful it was supposed to be.

What we loved about this country is that you see and feel the Earth's activity below your feet: from the tremors in Christchurch, to the avalanches opposite our camp in the Mount Cook region, to the hot earth and fuming gas in the volcanic Tongariro region, and the mud pools bubbling in Rotorua - NZ is a country where you witness the powers of nature.

As for the kiwis, they are an active bunch, always looking for an adrenaline fix! So we had to get involved - we were lucky enough to do a skydive over the glaciers and went kayaking on the violent sea in Abel Tasman NP.

Anyway, we had an awesome time in NZ and the list of highlights is too long to enumerate here. Just read on and you'll see what we mean!

SOUTH ISLAND

Christchurch and Bank's Peninsula

We started our NZ experience in Christchurch. At the airport, we had a similar scenario to when we landed in Australia: the staff was being really cautious about food in our bags and dirt on our boots. In fact, they went as far as cleaning Ori's boots to make sure were not introducing some kind of foreign germs into their country!

We were shocked to discover on our arrival that most of the Christchurch city centre was out of bounds due to the earthquakes they'd had in the last 12 months or so. Obviously we knew there had been some pretty bad earthquakes during the last year, but we had no idea that the whole city centre would still be closed off! There is still plenty of evidence of last year's quakes - some roads are closed, others are really bumpy, some buildings seem to have shrunk by a metre or so, others are waiting to be demolished (in fact a lot of people come here to find demolition and labour work). It's a lot different to see all of this for real rather than on TV.

Because of the state of the city, it proved a bit difficult to find a hostel; we ended up in the last room available in a hostel in New Brighton, a Christchurch suburb. It was pretty cool and right by the beach. We spent almost a week there, taking a good few days to sort out what we were going to see in our new surroundings and how we were going to do it!

In our hostel, there wasn't a room without a notice explaining what to do in the event of an earthquake. Pretty freaky. We were actually in Christchurch for the one year anniversary of their largest earthquake, which killed 185 people (mostly in one building - the CTV building). They still have regular earthquakes now - we had two tremors while we were there, but only relatively small ones! Still pretty scary! The ground was just shaking sideways as if an enormous worm has just passed below us (a bit like in Tremor). Apparently they've had 7,000 earthquakes since December 2010 - "how can you live in such a city?" we kept asking ourselves. Some guy in a local pub told us that "We're not going anywhere. This is our home". What do you make of that? Fair play to him!

We hired a car from Christchurch and took a day trip to the nearby Bank's Peninsula to get a flavour of what NZ held for us...and we weren't disappointed! Literally as soon as we turned onto the 'scenic tourist drive', we rounded a corner for a spectacular view over green rolling hills which plunged down into the bright blue sea-water below. And from then on we had to stop the car every two minutes to take a photo, it was so scenic!

At the end of our drive we reached Akaroa - a town that was established by the French many years ago and still has a sort of French feel to it - in that many of the streets and restaurants have French names...and that's about it! On our way back to Christchurch, we stopped at Le Bon's bay and lyied on the beach for a while (it's far too cold to swim!). It was a beautiful sight, with the clouds forming above the sea and lifting up to the hills around. Bank's peninsula was our first sight of NZ scenery,and it was absolutely gorgeous! It didn't take us too long to realise that we were in for a treat!

The next day or so we managed to secure ourselves a relocation car - we had 4 days to return the car to Queenstown at a very cheap rate of 15$/day. Yes please! What we didn't know is that the car was a Subaru 4 wheel drive!!! Very posh! We loaded up the beast with cheap camping gear we bought from the Warehouse (the best shop ever in NZ!) and local charity shops! And off we went!

Around Lake Tekapo and Mt Cook

And so we drove the Subaro to Tekapo. First we stopped by Lake Tekapo, renowned for its turquoise water, apparently due to mineral deposits from the glaciers grinding the rocks as they pass down the valley. It was such a gorgeous lake, with the mountains in the background and yellow hills all around.

Less touristic and just in the corner of our campsite were Lake MacGregor and Lake Alexandrina. Lake ALexandrina was our favourite. We meandered along the banks of the turquoise water until sunset, climbed some trees, and paused every few minutes to admire the beauty of the scenery. There were boathouses on the shore, fishermen out on the waters at dusk, and cute little holiday homes overlooking the lake. What a peaceful place to be! It seemed as if time had stopped for a few hours. At night the sky was so clear we could see the Milky Way. In fact the sky is so clear in Tekapo, away from the lights of the cities, that they built Mt John Observatory up there. We wandered there the next day to enjoy a 360 view over the Tekapo region. We could see all three lakes and some mountain peaks rising above the morning clouds.

Later, we drove to Mount Cook. We stopped several times on our way to catch more glimpses of the spectacular scenery, and found ourselves standing by Lake Pukaki with a massive snowy peak in front of us. Here it is, we thought, Mount Cook, the highest mountain in NZ. The sky was so clear, the snowy peak felt like a dream, like if it was floating up there. A local told us he'd never seen it so clearly! We were very lucky with the weather, and as they say here, you've got to make the most of it when the sun is out.

So we embarked on the Mueller hut trek, one of the hardest treks we'd done so far! It's only 3 to 4 hours to get up there but I've never seen a track so steep in my life - it was a relentless 1000 metre climb!

We had planned to set up camp by the hut (free, unlike staying in the actual hut!) but what the tourist centre failed to tell us was that the terrain is very rocky up there! Ouch! And so we found ourselves digging out rocks and clearing some space for our ridiculously thin roll mats. But it didn't matter. The view on Mount Cook from up there was stunning. There was a glacier in front of us and we saw several avalanches from our camp. It sounds like thunder and looks like a waterfall! Even though we knew we were far away and they couldn't get to us, we couldn't help but being a bit scared each time the sound of an avalanche woke us up during the night!

The next morning we got up to watch the sunrise from nearby Mount Ollivier. We're usually pretty lame for sunrises - this was only the second one we saw in our entire trip! It was hard work making our way over the rocks so early but it was well worth it. Below us the clouds were forming across the valley floor.

Later that day, as we walked back down to the valley, it was a completely different view to when we walked up it, as this time we were above the clouds! And it was so beautiful! We sat on a rock for a while, gobsmacked by the sea of clouds that was expanding in front of our eyes. It definitely had a bit of a Lord of the Rings feel to it!

Queenstown and Milford Sound

Queenstown itself is a bit of an 'adrenaline junkie' capital in NZ, known for its bungee jumping, skydiving, mountain biking, street luging...you name it. But we saved our big adrenaline experience for Fox Glacier (see below!), and didn't do a great deal in Queenstown itself except avoid the rain, eat a massive burger at the infamous Fergburger in the middle of town, and pick up the little rental car that would be our mode of transport for the rest of our time in NZ.

Milford Sound is a really remote area in Fiordland, in the SW of the South island, and as it's so remote, it's a pretty lengthy drive to get there. In fact, people say that the drive to Milford is actually nicer than Milford itself, and we can agree with that. We zoomed along winding mountain roads through the deep valleys, with the scenery changing with just about every corner we turned - broad plains in the middle of the valleys, steep cliffs either side, snow-capped mountains in the distance.

At one point we had to pass through the Homer Tunnel, a 1 km long tunnel that's been bashed through one of the mountains. Then we reached Milford itself and were a little disappointed (which tends to happen when people bang on about somewhere so much!). It was nice enough, but pretty touristic and the view was nothing special compared to some of those we had seen throughout the rest of the drive.

The Glaciers

We next made our way to Fox glacier town. Whilst being stupidly crowded, the campsite there is set in one of the most beautiful locations - within a few metres of our tent, we were on the beach watching the sun disappear across the ocean, beaming its last rays onto the Fox glacier and the three snowy mountains standing behind us (including Mount Cook again!). Pretty unreal!

We had heard that Fox glacier town is one of the best locations for skydiving so the next day we went to enquire about prices etc. We found ourselves signing up for a dive in the next hour! The sun was shining, the sky was clear; we had to make the most of it!

We got into what felt like a crappy little plane, and sat on the lap of our respective instructor! And we started ascending into the sky. The view from the plane was breathtaking! On one side there was a range of snowy peaks, including the mighty Mount Cook; the Fox glacier looked absolutely stunning from up there – it’s actually quite a clean glacier (compared to Franz Joseph anyway) in that the ice is not dirtied by mud and rocks. On the other side, we could see the river bed making its way through the sand and leading to the ocean. And all around there were rainforests and lakes.

Lee jumped first. It happened really quickly, in a microsecond he was gone. I was next. My legs were shivering. We jumped and I felt like an immense weight lifting from my body, it felt amazing, I felt free! The free-fall from 17,000 feet lasted for 70 seconds, at an approximate speed of 200km/hour! My face was flapping away, my eyes were wide open, taking in as much of the scenery as they could. It was fantastic, such an amazing experience. I couldn’t stop screaming and laughing all the way.

Then my instructor opened the parachute and we suddenly lifted up by a few meters. And then we were floating in the sky, we even got the opportunity to navigate the parachutes ourselves. It was good fun. Skydiving isn’t just about the free fall. Floating in the sky and feeling the pressure of the air on the parachute and the emptiness below your feet was awesome too! What a day! I never wanted to land!

After the dive we were obviously feeling pretty high and ecstatic to say the least. My legs felt like melted cheese. What do you do with the rest of your day after a sky dive?!

First we went for a beer in a local pub, big grins on our faces. Skydiving is the best thing ever! We wanted to go again! I even asked how to become an instructor – you need 750 jumps! Ok well better start saving!

We then went for a brief walk along the Lake Matheson and back to the campsite. It sounds a bit strange but I was starting to feel a bit low then. I guess we packed too much emotion into such a short amount of time!

The next day we drove to the nearby Franz Joseph glacier and went onto a walk to its terminal face. To be honest that was a bit disappointing. We were actually pretty far from it and couldn’t really see much.

West Coast - Pancake Rocks and Oparara Basin

After the Glaciers, our route had us pretty much pinned to the West coast for ages. And once again the views were amazing - we couldn't believe our eyes by this point, it seemed that pretty much everywhere you go on the South island of NZ you get glorious scenery that you could have only dreamed of before!

Between the towns of Greymouth and Westport was particularly stunning, with the road winding up and down the hills around the coast, giving us glimpses of enormous unsploit bays and beaches. It was on this stretch that we came to Punakaiki, also known as pancake rocks. What a random place - massive pillars of layered rock stretch high out of the ocean, giving the appearance of stacks of pancakes! Apparently geologists can't quite understand how this place came to be, given that the rest of the nearby coast is so different. It's kind of intriguing really, how by a mix of events and circumstances, such a quirky feat of nature takes place.

We continued north until literally the end of the road (as happened quite often in NZ!), past Karamea and a load of other dead coastal villages, up to a quiet campsite right on the beach where we had a massive fire using wood that had been washed up on the beach, and fended off countless sandflies!

The next day we went to the Oparara Basin, a set of caves and tunnels nearby. On the way there we had a minor mishap as Ori managed to spin our tiny little car off the road into a ditch! That's what happens when you get a bit comfortable on the dirt roads - you start thinking you're a rally driver! After 10 minutes stress and pushing the car back and forth in the ditch we managed to get it back onto the road with no damage, visible or otherwise! Get in!

At Oparara we walked to the Moria Gate arch - a massive archway that has been carved in the limestone rocks over time by the passing river. Then we walked on to the even more stupendous Oparara Arch - about 200m long and 40m high! Immense! We were gobsmacked how the seemingly tiny river had bashed such a huge hole through such a rock. Must be crazy to see this place in the wet season!

Abel Tasman

In Abel Tasman, we decided to embark on a 3 day adventure: we were going to spend the first day in kayak (without a guide) and the next two days trekking on the coastal track.

On our first morning, we packed the kayak with all the camping gear and food we needed for the next three days. That was quite a challenge already! The guy from the kayak company was good fun, and he went through all the safety stuff with us, teaching us how to get back into the kayak in the event of it collapsing, and how to empty it of water. OK well let’s hope this doesn’t happen!

It took us a couple of hours to kayak to Adele island where we stopped for lunch. We'd both only kayaked a couple of times in our life and the sea was much more agitated this time, which made it hard work but great fun. After lunch, we went back into the sea and onto what they call the ‘mad mile’ - a stretch of the coast known for its strong winds and currents! Bring it on! On our way there, we kayaked past a guide from a tour group. He asked us where we were going and said not to hesitate to paddle back if we felt the sea was too dangerous. WTF was he on about?

We quickly found out that the mad mile was particularly mad on that day, we were paddling our way through 2 metre high waves and I can tell you we were not feeling too good about it. Personally, I was panicking. I kept remembering the safety talk, and I thought "what if we capsize and I can’t get out of the f*cking kayak?" The sea looked scary. And there was nobody around, just a few water taxis zooming past us. Two of them stopped and asked if we were ok, and again reiterated that we shouldn’t hesitate to turn around if we feel it was too dangerous. It was nice of them but it didn’t exactly calm me down! After 2 or 3 hours of fighting against the waves, we finally got on shore. We hugged each other, relieved to have made it. I am a bit of a drama queen I concede but come on! This was shit scary! So scary that we later heard that all the kayaking tour groups turned around! And a water taxi had its windscreen smashed! We felt like heroes. Bring on the goon, tonight we celebrate!

We set up camp and made a big fire in Anchorage. We met again with two German guys, Eric and Jenz, who were kayaking like us. It turned out their rudder broke on the mad mile! We shared our exploits of the day over a few drinks. And that's when we realised that the cheap wine we had bought was fake wine! Only 5% alcohol! Oh well!

The next day we walked to Bark Bay. The walk wasn't particularly hard but our bags were heavy! We were lucky with the weather again, and were rewarded with great views over the sea and beautiful sandy beaches. We set up camp by the sea and had a pretty early night!

The next day we walked again to Waiharekeke bay. We went through two tidal crossings. We never saw such big tides before, where the sea comes about 500 meters inland! In the campsite, we had yet another campfire where we met a couple of french guys, JB and Gabriel and a quirky Hungarian girl Judith.

We woke up in the rain the next morning, packed quickly and walked to Totaranui where we caught a water taxi. It was pretty good timing with the weather! We walked for an hour or so in the rain back to the carpark, and found the car with a flat tyre! Oh well, we thought - that's what you get from a rally driving on the dirt roads near Karamea!

After a lengthy shower, we were back on the road. We camped between Blenheim and Picton and killed the car battery trying to dry our sleeping bags with the heating!

NORTH ISLAND

Wellington

We took a motherf*cking boat from Picton to Wellington. The view from the deck was gorgeous. In Wellington, we managed to find a tiny camping area at the front of a hostel! There we bunped into our German friends Eric and Jens again. We had yet another good (and messy!) night in their company.

The next day, we ventured into the city centre of Wellington. It's a pretty cool place actually, right by the sea, and pretty hilly. The centre itself isn't very big, we walked along Cuba street with its vintage shops and arty cafes and made our way to the Te Papa museum. There was a section dedicated to geology, earthquakes, tsunamis and the formation of New Zealand. That was really interesting. They even have a little woodhouse in the middle where you could experience an earthquake! There was another section about animals, where they had a giant squid conserved in some kind of gelly, a mahoosive fossil of an ammonite (like a huge snail) and we noticed later that there was also the skeleton of a whale floating above our head. Pretty cool stuff!

Tongariro NP

Tongariro national park was the next step of our trip. There we could get a chance to get closer to three active volcanic mountains, namely Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe, and Tongariro in the centre of the national park.

We arrived at our campsite pretty late at night. On the way, we got stopped by the police for speeding. Oops! It's so tempting in NZ, the windy roads are a treat to drive on, and the speed limit is only 100km/h!

The next morning we bumped into our French friends JB and Gabriel. That was perfect because in order to do the Tongariro alpine crossing walk we needed two cars!

The scenery on our way up to the craters of the volcanoes was a landscape of desolation. It was as if we were walking through a battlefield. The previous lava flows were clearly visible down the slope of the volcanoes and made up of black rocks. There was little vegetation of course, just some greyish moss on some of the rocks, resembling ash, and one or two pink flowers here and there.

When we arrived at the top, we realised that we were actually standing on the crater of one of the volcanoes! It felt like we were on the moon! It was pretty crazy to try and imagine what was going on under our feet at that moment! We walked among lots of craters and lava flows of years gone by, some very dark, others reddish. The sky was clearing up at that time too, making us feel once again pretty lucky with the weather!

And then, we saw the emerald lakes. Three turquoise lakes standing in between the volcanoes. Gorgeous. There were a lot of fumes as well, propelling stinky gas into the air. Stinky but beautiful. It was kind of like being in a fantasy world. In fact Tongariro NP was where Mordor (for the connoisseurs of Lords of the Rings) was filmed. At one point, we touched the floor and could feel the warmth escaping from it. Crazy stuff!

Rotorua

On our way to Rotorua, we stopped in Taupo for some relaxing time in some natural hot springs in a local park. The water was so hot!

And we knew we had arrived in Rotorua when we could smell its infamous stink - the place reeks of sulphur/eggs from all the nearby thermal activity. We ended up chillaxing in our campsite for a whole day - it was set in a beautiful location near Lake Okareka, where we could even have a swim - the water was suprisingly warm. The next day, we ventured into the local park in town. There we found puddles of bubbling mud, fuming gas vents, etc, ...just to remind you how thin the earth's crust is around here!



That's it for now. Hope all is good back home. Miss you all!!! xxx

Ori and Lee

PS: to see more photos, check out our Picasa albums (29 to 35) on

https://picasaweb.google.com/112472737075833456645

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Comments

[Bruno MIOTTI]

l apothéose
Génial cette sensation que vous décrivez lors du saut dans le vide, et que dire de ces lacs turquoises. , de la faible épaisseur de la terre... Quel bonheur de nous faire partager toutes vos émotions'Bises à vous deux Papoune