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Published: October 9th 2007
Abel Tasman National park
gorgeous scenery, and a gorgeous day- beaches and a beautiful turqoise sea wasn't really what I expected to see in New Zealand!Last day in New Zealand- eek!
Not really wanting to leave at all, because that means it's nearing the end of my trip...though at least I'm leaving on a high I guess. Sorry mum, that does mean I've got plans to leave again quite soon, or at least as soon as my credit card starts to look a bit healthier!
New Zealand has been the perfect place to come to end up- its tied up all lose ends. I've done all the activities I wanted to- skiing, snowboarding, abseiling, caving, white water rafting (thought bailed on the bungy I'm afraid...). I've met loads more cool people, travellers and locals (actually found the Kiwis among the most friendly people I've met). And have used up all excess funds! waste not want not, eh!
Starting In Christchurch (pretty much the only city on the south island), and ending In Auckland (the biggest city of NZ- with its population of 1.5 million being nearly as much as the entire south island!), I travelled down the west coast of the south island, with its amazing mountainous scenery. Up through Wellington, New Zealands capital, and in my opinion, its nicest city, I then journeyed
Abel Tasman
Our view at the end of our walk- we had the opportunity to do another 2 hours, but figured relaxing on the beach and waiting for our boat seemed a better option! through Taupo and Rotorua, amazing for their natural hot springs and volcanic activity, to my final destination at Auckland.
Christchurch, although I'd been warned, didn't offer a great deal for a traveller to do, was pretty cool as a first destination. As soon as I came from the airport, it seemed so much more like England than anywhere since I flew out from Manchester. First of all, it was a pretty miserable rainy and cloudy day- straight away it seemed quite homely! And then entering the city there were tree lined streets and little rivers and fields. It's referred to as the most English of New Zealand's cities and I can see why.
I didn't stick around here for too long- having booked myself on the Kiwi Experience hop on- hop off bus, I hopped on and travelled through Kaikoura to Nelson. Although being a pretty cute town, there wasn't a great deal going on here, and the highlight was definately the walk I did into Abel Tasman National Park. (named after the first European to come to New Zealand, although the Dutchman never actually landed after the Maoris greeted his crew by killing and eating them!) The national
Lake Rotoiti
one of the most beautiful spots for a hungover picnic!
does anyone recognise this scene from a poster? im convinced i recognise it! i always thought it looked a bit like Lake Placid...! park was gorgeous, walking along the cliffs with gorgeous views of the sea, it seemed more like the Caribbean than what I'd expected of New Zealand, although, granted, a little chillier! This was also where I met Chris, JD and Barry- three Irish lads that I ended up travelling with for most of the rest of my trip.
The next day was when we met the rest of our bus and we all pretty much stayed together until Queenstown. The main group of people I stuck with consisted of 3 girls from Leeds uni (one of which, Nina, I actually had been at high school with!), the Irish lads, 2 American girls- mel and camille who i spent loads of time with, and a dutch girl, Miranda. Was a pretty cool group and we became quite close over the next 2 weeks down the west coast, sharing in cool adventures, pretty entertaining nights out...followed by pretty horrendous hangovers! the group of people i was with definately made a difference to my trip 😊
The Franz Joseph glacier hike was definately one of my highlights- it was pretty tough going, but really rewarding, and just beautiful. And then followed
Fancy dress at Lake Mahinapua
we stayed at a pub owned by New Zealands oldest publican- 80yr old Les, and had a fancy dress party...followed by a midnight swim in the (eel-infested) lake...not my finest half hour! by our trip to Queestown, and our skiing and snowboarding, it was quite an action packed couple of weeks! I really enjoyed the skiing, but must say that the snowboarding was even better-at least for me anyway, though I did have quite a few bruises afterwards! the mountains were beautiful in their own right though, and the views were amazing from the slopes, especially from The Remarkables (which were actually some of the mountain ranges used in the Lord of the Rings). I wasn't even gonna give skiing a go before, but decided to due to peer pressure, and am really chuffed I did. Queenstown is pretty renound for its nightlife and adventure sports too. I gave the first a good go, and a lot of my friends did the bungee, but I'm afraid i didnt...I know, its a poor show!
Heading back up towards the North Island, i headed up with just Mel, Camille and Miranda, for a girly few days, and a bit of drunken behaviour in Kaikoura. This 'town' is in the middle of nowhere, and although being really good for whale watching tours, doesn't offer a great deal else...apart from a winery...what else were we
going to do??! And then after hitting Wellington, we chilled out in Mirandas flat for a few days before meeting up with everyone else again.
I enjoyed Wellington, as I'd heard people say there wasn't much to it, but I thought it was a pretty chilled out and cool place to spend a few days.
heading further north, we visited Lake Taupo and Rotorua. I went my own way for a bit to the east coast to visit some relatives, and had a really enjoyable couple of days in Napier. This town was destroyed, completely flattened to the ground in an earthquake in 1931. Completely rebuilt in a very distict art deco style, it was different to any of the other places I saw in New Zealand (and it also gave me a chance to relax with some homely comforts again!- Kiwi's are notoriously welcoming and friendly, and my relative Bruce was no exception)
Whilst leaving my friends in Taupo though, I missed out on the volcano eruption!!! Right overlooking the town of Taupo is the cone shaped mountain of Ngauruhoe...Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings, and it erupted. ALthough someone was really hurt by flying boulders, there
Glacier walk!
franz Joseph...bt from a sligtly different perspective!- we got absolutely soaked! it was a gorgeous day and we had to squeeze through such tight tunnels of ice, which were melting on us...was well cool :) wasnt any actual lava, but Chris saw glowing red coming from the top- am jealous, wish I'd been able to see Mount Doom erupt!
Rotorua was where i tried White Water Rafting and Caving (in Waitomo- home of millions of glow worms), both of which I thoroughly loved and would definately recommend. What rotorua is most well-known for though is its hot springs. the whole of the town completely stinks of sulpher, its disgusting, but the hot pools are so cool that I reckon it makes up for it. the volcanic activity around that area, has made the earths crust so thin that in pools of water or mud, they can heat up so much that they'll bubble and steam. Rotorua is also very famous for it's Maori culture, and you can get a real insight into their beliefs and customs through the shows here, and through the stories that they have surrounding the natural hot springs and volcanos.
We headed from here, straight up to Auckland, and being aware that we had over a week here- far to long in what is just really, just like any other large city- we decided on a detour! Me, Fran
Me, Nina and Laura
Lookin pretty trendy in our hiking gear! fairly pleased with ourselves, but absolutely knackered and ready for happy hour at Blue Ice bar! and JD and Chris hired a car for a few days to head to the very beautiful Corromandal Peninsular. After a very relaxing couple of days, seeing some remote areas and cool beaches, we returned in order to get the bus to the Bay of Islands (a.k.a. 'the 'winterless north'. We had some gorgeous weather for our last weekend, and this area is beautiful- although far more touristy than the Corromandal was. It was a perfect place to chill out on the beach for a while though, and do a bit of sunbathing (not something that I'd expected to do in new Zealand!)
So now, here I am, back in Auckland after waving off everyone else this morning 😞 ...
I'm gonna be really sad to leave New Zealand as I've really enjoyed it. Out of the countries that I've gone on this trip so far, it's been the only place that I could imagine wanting to stay and work/ live in. Australia was cool, but I prefer quite a few things about new Zealand. I've found the Kiwi's to be really friendly (if a little obsessive over rugby...they were so not impressed when Chris started cheering the
French the other day! AND they had already written a book about how the All Blacks won the 2007 World cup! a LITTLE prematurely as has been shown!). The Maori presence is everywhere and there's none of the race conflict that is so evident with Australia's native population of the Aboriginals. It's a very peaceful country- something that they seem to be really proud of and I've hearrd them bring up a lot. It's also just stunning, and I've seen some amazing sights- very dramatic scenery of mountains and waterfalls,which I love. With such a small population, the landscape is relatively untouched and most of the country is very rural and remote.
So now, I'm leaving for my last week and a half to vancouver where I'm staying with some family (I really am very fortunate with my well- placed family members 😊 !)
This may well have been my last blog- unless of course i do find a sloth in vancouver zoo, as hoped, and then I may rant on for several pages about that one incident!
I've loved my trip so far, and i guess it's only a good thing that I don't want it to
Lake Wanaka
The first ski resort town we passed through- beautiful, though with slighty less of the apres-ski nightlife we sampled in Queenstown end...
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Carrie
non-member comment
Wow - I think you should work for the New Zealand tourist board! It sounds amazing I wish I could go now, as the ear trauma seems to be worsening back in London!! Can't wait to see you in less than 2 weeks. I know you're excited for the sunny sights of the Uk really. Take care, Carrie.