Advertisement
Published: August 8th 2010
Edit Blog Post
In the afternoon of the 19th July we arrive on Kiwi soil to be greeted by sheer cold, a sharp contrast from the humid climate of tropical Cairns. We check into the Base hostel in central Christchurch to begin our Kiwi Experience the next morning and the ever so familiar time of 7.15am.
The next morning we depart on our way to a small town named Kaikoura with our first driver named 'Zippy', who informs us that the Maori people, who are indigenous to New Zealand, original named the country 'the land of the long white cloud'. The Maori people also have many stories describing how the land was formed, which I will try and inculde along the way if I can remember them! Though they are completely implausible, they are much more exciting and magical than their equivalent scientfic explainations. Not long after leaving the city we are hit by stunning coastal views and tall, tree covered mountains, and with a little bit of good luck the sky remains blue and sunny for us all the way to Kaikoura. Just before we get off the bus at our hostel, Zippy takes us to a small carpark outside the town on
the edge of a fur seal colony. Walking along the wooden paths along the coast you can easily get within touching distance of dozens of seals chilling on the rocks and among the grassy areas. Many of them completely unaffected by us humans coming up to them to grab some photos. Soon enough we are back on the bus and on our way to 'The Lazy Shag' where we are staying for the night. A wicked little hostel with a lovely kitchen and an oven! (A rarity on the backpackers trail.) Not only that, but all the dorms have large french doors all with a view of tall, snow capped mountains in the distance. A massive contrast from Australia that I can definately appreciate.
While cooking some chicken flavoured, cardboard noodles we meet Jess, Naomi and Paul who are all heading round the south island on the Kiwi Experience at a similar pace to us so we decide to form ourselves a crew and head out to a pub, which seemed to be owned and run purely by pommies. We got involved in their tuesday night quiz which involved boat races for extra points and shots for the leading teams
after each round. Free drinks are gooood.
The next morning we head off up to a town called Picton, where we leave some friends who are travelling by ferry to the north island. We also get ourselves a new driver to take us down the west side of the south island, with our first stop at Nelson, named after Horatio Nelson himself didn't you know! Much like the start of our Oz Exp the start in NZ is relatively slow in terms of activites during the day, however the views and much more impressive. Towns surrounded by mountains created by millions of years of tectonic activity, some covered in grass and forest, others snow capped. At some lookouts it is possible to see snow become trees that become beaches covered in seals. I will need to mention the amazing meal we had at the hostel in Nelson though as it was so good! Full on roast with yorkshire pies and everything, followed by a ridiculously tasty pavlova all for a backpacker price of 12 dollars. A small taste of home for sure.
On the 22nd we head out of Nelson to the Nelson National Park where we make
a short stop at Lake Rotoiti for a Kiwi Experience tradition taken on by only the hardiest of backpackers. The water in the lake flows down from the nearby glaciers and is obviously very cold, 2 degrees celcius I think it was when we arrived. The challenge is to get your swimming stuff on and jump off the jetty into the freezing waters, getting a photo as you leap off the edge with the stunning mountains and beech forests reflected in the still waters in the background. Swimming back to land feels like a lifetime and I couldn't feel my toes for a good few hours but it was totally worth it for the awesome photo we have, which we are even considering to send into Kiwi Experience for their monthly photo competition. After drying off we jump back on the bus and head on to the Buller Gorge, following the Buller river down the coast where Paul and I decide to get involved in jet boating. This involves getting into some serious waterproof clothes, jumping into a boat and being driven along the river at 60 odd kph. The awesome thing about these jet boats is that they have
the ability to cruise over 4 inches of water and carry out 360s at speed because they don't have propellers. In the early evening we are dropped off at our hostel for some food and Team America before some sleep, as from here things start to get interesting... and sometimes a little crazy. Stay tuned.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.101s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0539s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb