New Zealand: On an Adrenaline High

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My flight to New Zealand from Melbourne was not the easiest. The flight itself was fine, in fact it was so empty that there seemed to be more crew members than passengers aboard so after take off I excused myself to the lovely Kiwi bloke sitting next to me and went into a row of my own so I could get some sleep. I had arrived at Melbourne airport so early that I had to wait for 2 1/2 hours before the check in desk opened 2 hours before my flight as my hostel bus could only drop me off at that time. New Zealand is 3 hours ahead of Melbourne, my flight left at quarter to 10 at night and it was a three hour flight. This means I landed in Christchurch airport at 5am and had only 2 hours sleep that night. I then had to wait in the airport for my free hostel shuttle to pick me up at 11am and so I tried my best to twist my body into some half comfortable position in the chairs that all had arm rests, making sure I woke up every twenty minutes or so to contort myself into a different position as not to lose limbs due to severe blood loss. I got through it and then gave myself an hour to sleep in my hostel bed when I arrived, conscious that if I slept too much that afternoon I would screw my body clock up even further and not sleep that night.



I met an almost mute, young German guy (had excellent English, Just didn't want to converse with the rest of us) an Irish lad and a Kiwi teacher from the North Island who was on school holidays and decided to take a look around the South Island for the week. Anna, the Kiwi and I got chatting and decided to go for a walk and a bite to eat around Christchurch together that afternoon. The hostel was only a short walk from town and I stupidly said as we got into the centre "goodness me, there's a huge amount of road works here" forgetting that they are still massively re-building Christchurch after the earthquakes around four years ago. I had been to Christchurch 8 years ago and so I could see the devastation that still exists there. It is like a ghost town there, very few people in town and loads of diggers, cranes and building works going on. I can't say it was my most favourite of places before, it didn't really endear itself to me but now it was like a different world. The locals are pretty chippy though and they have a fantastic attitude to it all. The great thing that has come out of it is there is a whole load of cool art projects and make-do things around the city. There is a 'cardboard cathedral' while they decide whether to rebuild the original, interesting and colourful displays and walkways and a 'Re-Start Mall' where shipping containers are being used as shops, cafés, banks and all sorts. It is really quirky and gives the place a charm that I felt was lacking before. When all the building work is completed I'm sure it'll be an interesting place to visit if they keep all that stuff. That being said, there's not a huge amount to do in Christchurch at the moment. Anna and I strolled along, popping into little local shops and had a bite to eat and a drink in a little cafe where we could wrap up in blankets outside as the old tram passed by on its sightseeing rounds. Some more strolling and a bit of grocery shopping on the way back to hostel and I was done for the night. When we arrived back in our 6 bed room, we found Tim, an Englishman and Diego from Argentina had also joined us for the night so we all had a good chat before turning in for the night. Diego was leaving for his flight in the early hours of the morning and was very keen to make sure we all knew that he had packed ready and was going to be as quiet as possible to not wake us all up. In fact, he told us a few times too many about how quiet he was intending to be. He needed to leave at 4am and so he said he'd put his alarm on for 3:30am. He then said he was going to read in the lounge for a bit as he didn't want to go to sleep for fear of missing his plane so we all said goodbye and got our heads down for a bit. In the early hours of the morning we were all woken up by the clanging and banging of Diego's bags as he dragged them through the room and clumsily out of the door, whacking every bunk bed in the small dorm as he did so. Even I woke up, which is no mean feat I tell you! I opened my eyes, saw Anna and laughed. I could hear Tim giggling above me too as the light of his phone now lit up the room. "What time is it?" I half whispered. "Half five" Tim replied. Half five?! Diego was meant to leave by four apparently, little wonder why he ran out of there like a bat out of hell! So much for his protesting of keeping things quiet as not to disturb us, he was the loudest person leaving a hostel ever, for a minute I thought we'd all been robbed! I messaged him a couple of days later to ask if he'd caught his flight; he did, he just cut it quite fine...I should say, he left an hour and a half later than planned!



I didn't leave my hostel till gone four the next day, I'd seen most of what Christchurch has to offer the day before and I was happy chatting in my room with my new friends. I'd booked the bus for first thing the next morning and so I wanted a chill out day. I woke early the following morning and got on my bus that would take me through the heart of the South Island to Queenstown, my main destination in NZ. The journey took nine and a half hours, with a couple of stops on the way. It wasn't too bad, I mean I slept most of the way anyway as I tend to do but I was really excited as we pulled into Queenstown as I could see my friend Owain from home waiting for me at the side of the road. I've known Owain for over 10 years and I had originally tried to get a working holiday visa so I could live and work in Queenstown for a few months. When the visas had all been allocated particularly early on in January I had to change my plans to just visit NZ, giving myself just three weeks as it is an expensive place to be. A great place though and I knew the minute I stepped off the bus and hugged Owain that I would love it there.



Ows took my backpack and we started to walk up the road to his flat. I say up the road, we seemed to be walking up a very steep set of hills (part of a mountain really). Constitution Hill in Swansea minus the cobbled road. I was absolutely exhausted by the time we reached his gaff. He's done well for himself though, Owain. He's been in NZ for nearly five years now, bagged himself a good job, nice flat and awesome girlfriend, Sarah from England. I had met Sarah in Swansea briefly for one night the previous summer and knew she was lovely but this was my chance to get to know her better. A quick hello to their Irish flat mate, Donal, shower and change and we went into town to meet Sarah for food. It was a nice to catch up, reminisce and laugh with friends. I stayed in their flat that night. The boys blew up the air bed for me and we said our good nights. Everyone went to work the next day and I gathered my stuff together, sorted a few things out on the internet and walked down to town to check into my hostel near the lake. I had booked a 10 bed dorm but as seems to be my way, I was put in a 6 bed dorm with just one other girl, Hannah from Brazil who was studying in Sydney and was on holiday in NZ. I dropped off my belongings and popped to see Sarah and Owain in work. Sarah works in the information centre and Owain for the K-Jet extreme jet boat people.



On my first Monday in Queenstown, Owain, Sarah and Sarah's friend from home, Claire and I went on a road trip to the nearby town of Wanaka. They all had the day off so Sarah drove us the hour and a half to the pretty town. We went there to go to Puzzle World which is a bit like Techniquest in Cardiff. It has loads of optical illusions, games, rooms that make you look really huge or tiny and a room where the floor is at an angle. We spent some time in that room....I don't know why, made me feel sick as a dog but we were all fascinated by the tilt of the room that made it seem as if snooker balls were falling up the table and a Stannah Stairlift type chair seemed to roll up hill...actually it's making me feel a tad queazy just thinking about it now. I needed a serious sit down after exiting the room and if I'm honest, didn't recover for most of the day. We had fun playing the games, working out puzzles and just laughing at each other looking stupid. We followed that with a lovely lunch in town in a small cafe overlooking the lake which itself is overlooked by snow-topped mountains and made our way back home shortly afterwards.



I was summoned to the K-Jet Boat the next afternoon by Owain as he'd booked me on the boat ride for free that afternoon. When I got there I was told to put on a protective, massive jacket so I didn't get my clothes wet and a life jacket and join the group. Being Owain's friend I had special treatment and was sat directly behind the driver. (I realised later that this 'special treatment' was so the driver could soak the life out of me...he even managed to get my t-shirt wet underneath a hoodie, two jackets and a life vest!) The jet boat speeds along the Shotover River pretty fast and we literally skimmed past trees and rocks along the way. The ride was quite a thrill and we all particularly enjoyed it when the driver would hold up his hand and make a turning gesture with his finger which meant we needed to hold on to the heated (yes, heated...I LOVED that) railing tightly as we would be doing a spin of up to 360 degrees. Great fun. By the time I had got back to my hostel room to dry and warm up, Owain had already emailed me the pictures from the day...he's a good boy. 😊



Sarah and Owain arranged for us plus Donal and Claire to go to the cinema that night as Sarah had booked me on a tour to Milford Sound the next morning and needed to be up at 6:15 am for the bus. The cinema was great, we had a laugh and enjoyed the film...but I didn't get much sleep that night. I made it to the bus fine anyhow and found myself a seat, curled up and had a snooze. I woke up intermittently along the way to marvel at the sight of snow capped mountains and waterfalls and then would continue to catch up on sleep. Then around 11am, we stopped for people to use the toilet and we never got started again. The bus had been sounding an alarm for some reason (this sound, filtering into my dreams as I slept) and when we got to the toilet stop, the driver realised the bus was overheating and we needed a different bus. So he went for a walk to get signal to phone for a replacement. That took about another hour and a half. Didn't bother me much; after all, I was sleeping. It did bother me later when I realised I'd missed lunch...one of the girls said "we didn't know if we should wake you up, you looked so comfortable". So I ate my lunch at 5pm instead. We got straight on the boat when we finally arrived in Milford and began our journey on the water. Spectacular scenery there, loads of waterfalls, rainbows and the wildlife was great. We even saw a few penguins on the banks, having fun dipping in and out of the water. I definitely recommend Milford Sound, the area is beautiful and quite breath taking and was worth the VERY long bus journey there.



Claire, Sarah, Owain and I took a trip to the Ice Bar in town the following evening. As you arrive, you are given huge, warm coats and thick gloves to help keep you warm in the minus 5 degree temperature. It was, in fact, minus ??? When we went in to the bar and minus ??? By the time we left. There is a digital reading outside, telling you the temperature inside. It was awesome inside though, loads of huge ice sculptures and you are served your cocktail in an ice cup. Claire, Sarah and I set to work on the cups straight away, trying to lick one side so it melted away. Within about an hour, we all needed to leave as we were starting to lose all sensation in our limbs. After the Ice Bar, we warned up with a couple more drinks in the sister bar The Boiler Room (see what they did there?) and as the others had to be up in the morning for work, we called it a night.



I was really excited the next day because Sarah, Owain and I were going on a gondola ride (cable car to you and I) to the top of the huge hill overlooking Queenstown where we were to go luging. A luge is a small go cart-come-toboggan which you race down a winding track. It us SO much fun, right up my street. We had an absolute ball up there, riding the gondola and racing the luge and taking loads of silly and cool photos with Queenstown below as a fantastic backdrop. After a few hours of fun up there and a lush meal later, I headed back to my room to say my goodbyes to the lads in my room because they were leaving on the Kiwi Experience Bus. I was actually really going to miss them now.

And so I was on my own again...only for one night though as I was checking out of the hostel the next day and was to stay with Owain and Sarah for a couple of nights as Donal had gone on holiday and so there wad a spare room in the flat. I met up with Welsh friends Laura and Andy who I'd met on the road trip from Darwin to Alice and who I'd really clicked with and had spent time with in Melbourne. (They have to be two of the nicest, most decent people I've ever met.) They had arrived in Queenstown and we met up for a catch up and a few drinks and arranged to head up north together in a couple of days as they had hired a car and were driving around New Zealand.



My last couple of days in Queenstown were spent visiting the AJ Hackett Bungy, going on a wine tasting tour, cheese tasting, visiting the picturesque town of Glenorchy and also the old gold mining town of Arrowtown with Sarah to enjoy a tasty last lunch. I'd had so much fun with Sarah and Owain and had also made good friends with Claire too and so I was pretty bummed to be leaving them and Queenstown which I, by this point, had fallen in love with. But such is the way with travelling, you fall in love with a place and then you have to move on...ce la vive.



The upside was that Andrew and Laura were picking me up and we were going to go horse riding for the morning on our way to Franz Josef. I'd never been horse riding before and so I was feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves. After being supplied with our helmets and horses, we were up and away. (Mine being child size to accommodate my small head...the helmet, not horse; he was fully grown and quite tall if you ask me.) I really enjoyed the ride as we went up and down the hillsides over varied terrain from grass to mud to small streams and fairly steep inclines. I became more confident as the morning went on and began to trot a lot more with Smokey, my lovely horse. Once finished with our horses, we made our way up to Franz Josef. It took us around 5 hours to drive to the small town, all along enjoying listening to and singing to the Beatles songs we had on our iPods. Once in Franz, we decided to shower, change and go out for a well deserved meal.



I rolled out of bed the following morning ready to go on my ice hike. I literally rolled out of bed. I couldn't stand up straight and was stuck in the foetal position that I'd slept in. I had used muscles in my back that I didn't know existed and that together with the saddle soreness, I was in pretty bad shape. I hobbled to the shower (with towel this time) and hoped some pain killers and the hot water would help ease the pain. I was surprisingly nimble by the time I reached the hiking centre and I was raring to go. (I'd clearly brought the strong pills with me.) The ice hike included a helicopter ride to Franz Josef glacier as it has receded up the valley to the point where you have to be dropped off on the glacier rather than walk to it. I'd enjoyed my first helicopter flight in Melbourne a few weeks before and enjoyed this one too, the glacier seemingly getting larger as we approached it. A glacier can only be called so if it is a permanent area of ice, so snow-capped mountains that melt in the summer are just that, a glacier is there all year round. We hiked on the glacier for about two and a half hours, climbing up the ice and walking across narrow ice bridges that connect parts of the glacier that have started to erode. The glacier is in recession at the moment, but just like the Bank of England, it's expected to grow again soon and people will probably be able to walk the valley to it once again. As part of my ice hike package I had free entry to the thermal pools down the road and as I was starting to seize up again, decided to take up the offer. I was glad I did too, the three outdoor pools of 36, 38 and 40 degrees did me a whole lot of good that night.



Andrew, Laura and I drove to Hamner Springs in the morning, again singing to cheesy 89s music on my iPod and laughing most of the way. Hamner is a small, quiet town but is a nice stop off on the way to Christchurch as it has outdoor thermal pools that we could relax in. Again, the pools were of varying temperatures and we spent the rest of the afternoon chatting as we enjoyed the sun and water. It was time to say farewell to Laura and Andy as they were going to explore the north island as I made my way to Christchurch and then over to Sydney. We decided to have a really nice meal as our last supper together and I enjoyed a succulent New Zealand rack of lamb, just what the doctor ordered. I had a nice lunch in the local 'Mumbles Cafe' in town before I got my bus to Christchurch. The bus driver was a real character and insisted on taking me right to the door of my hostel and then gave me his newspaper and two pieces of fruit as a gift as I left...he must have felt really sorry for me! I was staying in the Christchurch Jailhouse hostel which really is the old prison converted into digs for travellers. It has a lot of charm and I quite enjoyed sleeping in a cell for the two nights. (My first time in a cell I promise!) So I had not spent 7months in New Zealand as I had first planned but just three weeks...but what a three weeks it was! I had a fantastic time on the South Island and I can already hear it calling me back....

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