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Published: August 3rd 2006
Hello and welcome to the latest enstalment of Jonnys New Zealand adventures, and one which sadly says farewell to the South Island. It sure has been a memorable three and a half weeks there of which I have seen and done shit loads!!
I last left you in Dunedin. Leaving that place was not despairing as, although ok, I found it to be quite dull. Driving out, however, we were faced with a snow storm across the hills along the northern road. Thankfully, in my hungover state, I managed to battle through. Our destination that day was Mount Cook, the little town at the foot of the tallest mountain in Australasia, and is one of the remotest place we have been to on our trip, literally miles from anywhere and there is only 1 road of about 30miles to get there. Crazy! After muchos relaxation and reading time, I re-energised my batteries for our 5 hour bifter walk to the foot (or near foot) of Mt Cook. The landscape was incredible- as the pictures show- snow capped mountains surround the valley, with a path well trodden into the snow all the way. That didnt stop us missing our first turn
off and adding on about 45mins onto our journey. The trek followed a path up a valley across 2 ropebridges which zigzagged along a valley river. The views were phenomenal and even my 'vast' use of the english language wouldnt be able to fully describe it!! Except, when the sun went in (about 2pm) behind a huge mountain it did get a bit nip tuck on the fingers and toes! We eventually arrived home thoroughly knackered but suitably happy that we had romped to our intended destination. The YHA we were staying at was class too, with a sauna and risk! Enough said on that front I think, as I cocked risk up big time! Shit game anyway!
Up early the next day, we headed to a little town called Methven, a base from which I was to able to go skiing the day after. After sorting my skis out, I promptly joined pissheads will and mike for a few sociable pinters, but even their drinking habits were overshadowed by a complete and utter Australian loser/alcoholic in the local as he continued to talk to himself whilst trying to play pool with us- by the time we were finished
Indiana Jones esk ropebridge
Luckily these 2 scamps got across before the evil Indians chopped the ropes (tone it!)at 6pm he was onto the red wines and tried to give us all his money! Reminded me of Jeff the tramp back home, poor man! Anyway, after that tangent, i went skiing the next day! My shin was really sore from the Mt Cook trek, so i took it relatively ''easy'' (and Ive since remembered my insurance doesnt cover skiing so well done me for not breaking a leg!). And it was incredibly windy up the top too, but I still enjoyed every minute of it, and proceeded to do numerous alberta tomba runs skiing like a fruitnut! The runs were probably better than at Coronet Peak, near Queenstown, and so overall enjoyed the day a bit more. Having said that, putting and removing snow chains is a mission in itself and took me bloody ages to sort them out!! Was so unbelievably knacked when I got back to the hostel, I slept for a bifter 11 hours that night! Woah!
We left Methven and via Christchurch, we ended up at Karkouri, a little nature town up the east coast. Here it is famed for its whale, dolphin and seal watching tours. We found a small hostel of
Dicknose
Enough said! which we were the only people there, and was hosted by a Maori family- the little 5 year old boy was sweet but a bit of a shit as he continually wanted us to either play snap with him or make him paper aeroplanes- i could never be a primary school teacher I dont think! The next day, as the dolphin swimming was cancelled, we ended up at a vineyard, where we did a spot of wine tasting and wandering around the celler. Was great fun and for 3 in the afternoon, a little giggly. We even tried a desert wine which is something ive never done- but perhaps liked it more than all the other- just means I can drink more at restaurants! That evening we did a local pub quiz and in honour of our good friend Geordie Daves birthday our team name was "happy birthday Cookie". We came last. Devastated I was! The next day me and Scotty were booked on to the Whale watching tour, whilst mike went swimming with the dolphins- he said it was an amazing experience and perhaps I would have liked to do that more! But hey, thats life! So off we
went trundelling along on our whale watching tour. The seas were really rough and a woman next to me was horrendously sea sick- dont think she took her head out of a plastic bag all trip!! One lad was impressive, as mid tour he vomitted profusely, then sat back as if he was fine- good on him! The tour was great, as we managed to see 2 whales, and loads of seals sitting on a rock. The whales were sperm whales and when they come up for air every 40minutes just sit on the top of the surface and blow air out- the size of them is tremendous too as they literally are massive. The guide would tell us when they were about to dive, so we could line up our cameras for the ''money shot'' as their tales rise into the air before going under- sadly Im no photographer so did as best as I could. A great experience and one which will be remembered!!
That afternoon, we bombed it up the coast to catch a ferry to the North Island from Picton. The ferry took 3 hours and at one point i thought i was going to
be sea sick but luckily they all survived. We arrived in Wellington quite late and slept. It had been a long day and lots of boat jaunts, but crikey what a day.
Was a bit sad to leave the South Island after three and a half weeks. It truly is a beautiful island with so many things to do and see. I dont think we missed out on anything at all and with the road tripping we saw all the places we would not normally see on a bus. Class in a glass!
So we had arrived onto the North Island and proceeded to enjoy Wellington in all its windy state! First off was a trip up the gondola to get some nice views over the city. Its quite a small and compact little place but I suppose thats good in a way as no taxi trips. Also whilst in the capital, I managed to get my ginger locks trimmed, visit the Wellington film festival and see a great french comedy called C.R.A.Z.Y, and also go to the Lord of the Rings exhibition, based in the city's main 'Te Papa' museum. It was very good and showed you
Having a whale of a time
Poor poor pun Jonny. Poor!! how the films were made, the production of costumes, the minuatures that were made for closeup shots etc. The most interesting thing I saw was how they invented the armies and the huge battles- put simply (cus I am quite simple) the computer generated armies are all made up of single soliders who all have the potential to do what the hell they want- so the human characteristic of just following everyone else kicks in- although the producers did say that in 'rehearsal' the armies did tend to just run away!! Anyway, it was a good exhibition! (bored are you??!!)
Upon leaving Wellington we literally did not know where we were going. Whilst driving out of the city we decided to head up the east coast to a town called Napier, famous for its Art Deco style buildings. Its quite a nice little town and a single night stop over is enough, but prior to leaving we did enjoy an ''Art Deco tour" of the city! Next destination was a town called Gisbourne, again a smallish town but holds the record for being the msot easterly city in the world. Not too sure about that as isnt Fiji more
Free Willy
Great great Pun Jonny. Bloody Great! east of New Zealand? But as Im not going to Fiji Ill definitely believe it to be in NZ. Whilst in this bit of a dead end town we visited the place where Captain Cooks first spotted New Zealand (did you know he found NZ before Oz? no me neither!) just as the sun was going down. It was actually one of his mates called Little Nick who spotted the island, and he also has a monument on the coast here!
From Gisbourne we headed round the East Cape in a day of pretty much all driving (by the way we have almost done 4500 kms now- a world record in the ''Jonnys book of longest distance travelled in a short period of time" records!) One of the aims for this long distance was so as to reach the ''most easterly point'' in the world, a lighthouse of the East Cape right in the corner of NZ. Was a mission to drive there over a very dogy track, and a bit of a climb of around 700 steps to the top, but it was worth it. From the top of the hill we saw the start and finish of
Whale Protest
Against the Japs killing whales! a rainbow (unsurprising it had been raining) which was, well, just marvelous! Working our way around the cape, we came to a small hostel where we intended to stay. However, after waiiting around for an hour (made myself some lunch) nobody came, so decided to carry on the travelling. Felt a bit sneaky using their kitchen when no one was in, so we left the owners a message saying sorry- Little Red Riding Hood esk! We ended up at a great little hostel in the middle of nowhere, called MAraehako Bay Retreat. Its very good, positioned right on the sea front inbetween huge dropping trees and built up a hillside, with a waterfall just to the right of a wicked spa- one person commented you can fish whilst sitting in the thing. Overall the place was great. Staying for just a night we bombed on the next morning to Rotorua.
So here we are in the little town of Roturua, a place that stinks of eggs! It has natural sulphur pools everywhere so all the drains stink. There are loads of natural thermal pools around too, and has a very Maori feel to it. We are staying at a
Wellington in all its glory
Nice view across the city from the top of the cable car. cool little hostel that has a swimming pool and 2 thermal pools- not bad for a hostel I say! Today we have been luging from the top of a mountain that is basically like go karting. Mike thought he was Michael Schumaker and won the overall ''victory'' award, Will won the award for the best wipeout, and I had to win an award so awarded myself the best overtaking manouvre award (the best one of the lot I think!).
From Monday, I will have been travelling exactly 6 months! How the time has passed! Mike and Will leave me in 10 days and then Im not my own heading to South America. Ive started teaching myself spanish but as I was crap at if before, I do believe I still am crap at learning languages! Ill do my best!
Hope you havent fallen asleep whilst reading this blog! So much to tell as done so much in such a short space of time! Crazeee dayz!
Hope everyone is good back home? It will be Christmas before you know it and Ill be back to enlighten all your lives back up!!
Ciao for now
Jonny x
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Schmane
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good blogging jonny
you really do love a blog dontcha?! they are like a dissertation but a lot more enjoyable! still sounds like you are having an amazing time..i really hope you arent missing burbage-cuz its gay!i am going out for a drink tonite tho-jealous? nar..thought not! ciao for now! xx