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Published: December 28th 2008
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You may expect this blog to be a reflective end of year wrap up, containing some of my inner most ponderings on my first Christmas away from home, well if you want those deep and meaningful sentimentalities your in the wrong place! This blog contains the best of New Zealand's geo-thermal wonders: underground caves! glaciers! geysers! and gambling! Lets rock.....
After we last talked I was leaving Queenstown on a bus to Franz Josef, which wouldn't even be a town if it didn't have a massive glacier nearby! You can't just take a walk up a glacier so the guide company organises it all for you, all the gortex trimmings and spikes for your feet (officially called crampons), unfortunately the morning I was to hike the weather was to be 'heavy rain'. For some miraculous reason the rain held off for the whole day, which added to the amazing time I had on that marvelous chunk of ice. It's strange how the glacier doesn't melt stuck in a valley between two green mountains, but somehow it manages to survive. The terrain of the glacier is in waves and the further you hike, the higher these 'waves of ice' get, so
there was pretty severe ice climbing on the go. The guides were great, cutting out steps in difficult places and informing you on fun glacier facts, for instance; the glacier moves about 4 meters every day, so the guys never use the same track, they've got to find old ones or make new ones, would be a cool job. There was a surprising amount of good stuff to see, blue ice, caves formed through rain, pools, cracks, crevices and generally big holes you don't want to fall down. After 8 hours of hiking, I was proper knackered, so took a well earned rest in the hostel spa and sauna!
Next stop, Greymouth, the biggest town on the west coast is actually tiny with not much to do. Apart from get on the tranz scenic alpine express train back to Christchurch, which reportedly is one of the best train journeys in the world. I had a better train journey in Malaysia, but this was nice too, especially the middle section known as 'Arthur's Pass' which opens up into lakes & mountains and is 750 meters above sea level, it also has some sweet bridges across canyons with rivers below. After
Devils Bath
Contrasting colours are amazing a quick overnight stop in Christchurch (making time to get pissed with mates Hugo and Jonny) I arrived in Auckland to visit Fiona Finlay, whom I grew up with back home. She and her boyfriend Paul, are having a couple years over here to work and travel and generally get out of Scotland. We had fun for a couple of nights and was great to catch up and have some Scottish banter, one highlight was Fiona's first (and maybe last) Jagerbomb!
My next adventure was recommended to my by Fiona and Paul; 'The Legen-dary Black Water Rafting Companies Black Abyss' trip in Waitomo. So Waitomo is famous for having caves, with glowworms, and flowing water etc. Combine all this and you get an unforgettable experience, after wet-suiting up we abseiled 40 meters into the cave, starting with a squeeze through a small hole which opens up into a huge cavern, pretty darn scary but was a good rush. Next they surprise you with a zip line through the dark into the next cavern, which reminded me a lot of space mountain as the glow worms that inhabit this cave look like stars all over the walls. This peaceful scene
was shattered by a 6 meter jump with a rubber tube into the black water below, which was freezing! The wetsuit never helped much, but after a bit of splashing around having fun we switched our helmet lights off and drifted downstream in silence gazing at the galaxy of glowworms stretching across the cavern above us. Little did I know the action had barely started, next we hiked through the black water, at times freezing water coming up to your chest, followed by a game naming what the rock formations looked like (I spotted gandalf and jabba the hutt), another game was trying to find your way in the dark (not easy) and a water slide. The end knocked it up a few more notches, the caves got more claustrophobic, the water started flowing faster, we had to climb up a waterfall, navigate tight tunnels commando style, it was amazing! If anyone has seen the movie 'the Descent' it was a lot like that (apart from the monsters that kill you). Loved it.
Moving on to even more wondrous sites, Rotorua, the center of New Zealands geo-thermal activity. Its all to do with the fault line between the earths
Fiona and Me
Spot Fiona's awesome tan. plates, which brings up different minerals and hot temperatures resulting in a whole heap of different reactions above ground. First thing you notice in this town is that it stinks of rotting eggs, due to all the sulphur in the air. All round the city, there are holes releasing steam and bubbling mud pools. The main thermal park was a real treat, apart from the geyser at the start, which is set off by soap and resembled a strong hose rather than a geyser. The actual park consisted of an hour walk through a variety of different coloured pools, lakes and rock formations. It was so easy walking round getting pictures of all the contrasting colours, not to mention how unusual all this stuff was. Rotorua also had a good museum, which used to be a bath house for rich people early in the 20th century set in English looking 'government gardens', it also had some modern art and volcano information on offer. From the same era, the Blue Baths were next door, essentially an old fashioned swimming pool and spa that borrows hot water from deep underground.
Leading us up nicely to the Christmas period I spent in
Lady Knox Geyser
Wasnae that good. Auckland, which in all honestly wasn't fantastic, there is not much Xmas spirit over here and the hot weather doesn't help. The hostel was full of people not knowing what to do on Xmas day, so me and a crowd from the dorm went to the beach, had a paddle, had an ice cream, and eventually found ourselves back at the hostel for drinks long into the night! Boxing day was a very different kettle of kiwi, we made it to the Auckland Races! We were the only backpackers in sight (was a total mission to get there but was worth it), all the locals got themselves dressed up and set up their picnics & gazebos, all drink was BYO, it was a huge party in the blistering sunshine - there just so happened to horse racing on the go as well! Thanks to Australia I have a new found love for gambling, and actually finished the day with a profit! Everyone was having a great time, the atmosphere was amazing, all the locals were really friendly. Despite this great day I would definitely rather spent the holiday period with my friends and family, but the fact that ill be
home in less than a month made it a lot easier - shit! I said I wouldn't get sentimental, ah who cares, I love you all!
Anyway, I had a mission last night to watch the old firm clash, and managed to find the only pub in Auckland showing it, via a laptop and projector organised by a supporters club. It was weird to see so many Scottish people together all wearing green and white jerseys. But was a fun night, the place erupted when McDonald scored the winner, songs were sung and everyone went home happy.
I'm afraid that's all for this year folks, January is round the corner and since I left home last January that can only mean I'll be home soon. Fret not though readers, I still have a few stories and surprises up my sleeve before then.
Bring on New Years Eve in Fiji!
Kevin x
p.s I got a tattoo today.
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Faithur
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a feckin tattoo!!!!!!
please don't get any more tattoos if you get drunk!!