The last bit of New Zealand

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Well in Melbourne now, that’s my time in New Zealand wrapped up. Really enjoyed it and had an amazing last few weeks.
After I finished work I headed to Franz Josef on the West Coast. Really nice here, it’s like the West coast is stuck in a time warp or something which is really cool. All of the scenery and houses just seem to be battered by the harsh weather that it gets, wish I had a surf board for some of the completely empty beaches with really nice waves. When I was in Franz I walked out to the Franz Josef glacier which was pretty cool, its quite strange though because the glacier is surrounded by rainforest.
Next I headed to Hokitika, which is right on the coast. The beach Is really cool here, with loads of driftwood washed up on it and huge waves. The next day was Easter day, I headed up the coast to Greymouth and had my easter egg when I got there. Greymouth is pretty much how the name sounds, grey.
I then hitched up to a place called Motueka, right on the North coast close to the Abel Tasman National Park. Stayed one night here and the next day I met up with Nicki, one of my friends from school. It was pretty weird as I hadn’t seen anyone from home in around 7 months and then to meet up with someone in NZ was strange. We went up to the next town, Maharau, which is the beginning of the Abel Tasman.
The next day we got up early and went for a walk on the Abel Tasman track. We walked as far as we could in a day then back to the hostel. It was pretty cool having someone from home to talk to as we could talk about people who we both new, which you can’t ever do when your travelling. The scenery was absolutely beautiful.
We hired out a two man sea kayak the day after and spent a day kayaking around and out to an island. It was much better than the walking because you could see the coast the whole time whereas when you’re walking you are in the bush for a lot of the time. After these days we were both so knackered, so went for an early night.
The next day Nicki got back on her tour bus on the way to the West Coast, and I hitched up to Takaka in Golden Bay. Takaka is a really nice little hippy town, definetly only a one day town though. While I was here I hitched out to Cape Farewell and the Farewell spit, this is the most Northerly point of the South Island. I didn’t have time to walk right up the spit, it goes on for about 40km! But I did climb up on the sand dunes, the view from here was incredible, you could see mountains surrounding the bay and the sand dunes and beaches stretching on and on for miles and miles.
The day after I attempted to hitch to Picton, unfortunately I only got as far as Havelock and then it got dark so I had a night there before going onto Picton the next day. The following day I got a water taxi out to the end of the Queen Charlotte track, a place called Ship’s Cove. I had a day walk on the track and then got the water taxi back to Picton. The Marlborough sounds, which is where the track is looked incredible, and I could just about see Kapiti Island and the Kapiti Coast of the North Island. In the water taxi on the way back we had a pod of about 6 dolphins following the boat for about 10 minutes. There was a mother, calf and a few huge bull dolphins, they were all jumping, it was amazing!
I then bussed it on to Kaikoura. Only had a day here and didn’t have enough money to do the whale watching which Kaikoura is famous for, but did do the Peninsula walk, on which I saw loads of seals asleep on the rocks.
The next day I hitched on to Hanmer Springs. I hired out a mountain bike and went out for a ride, which was amazing because I haven’t riden in ages. There was a load of single track through a forest then it came out to a cleared piece and there was a fun bit with a few jumps and banking turns. After this I relaxed my muscles by going into the Hanmer Springs thermal pools, which was pretty lush, was so chilled out afterwards.
The next day was my final full day in New Zealand. I bussed it to Christchurch. I had a walk around the fence of the ‘red zone’ which is basically the whole CBD, and looked inside the cordon. Its pretty creepy really, seeing the heart of the city completely deserted, also when you’re walking down the street you see empty spaces where houses used to be, or churches without spires. It’s quite a weird feeling.
The next day my New Zealand trip came to an end. I had an amazing time here, had such a good time, saw some incredible scenery. I think New Zealand must, be the most beautiful country in the world. I’ve met so many cool people as well, kiwis are great! In Melbourne now and loving it as a city.

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