New Zealand - Land of the Long White Cloud

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New Zealand - South Island

Thursday 1st May I fly from Hong Kong to Christchurch New Zealand via Singapore and Sidney. It is my final day in Asia and having travelled through India, Nepal, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, China and Hong Kong I reflect the many highlights of this incredible trip offering me many amazing experiences over four months…and I must say that I am feeling a little sad to leave this incredible continent.

Little did I realise when I embarked on this adventure that I would enjoy the whole experience so much and in additional to the amazing places I have seen…it is the remarkable people I have met along the way that has made this trip so special.

Alas as I finally touch down in New Zealand after a 22 hour journey I am without my luggage...left behind in Sidney during the transfer from one airline to another. The baggage officer assures me that it will be found and flown overnight to be ferried to my hotel the following day.

As I make my way to the airport departure gate dressed in just a t-shirt and summer trousers, I am greeted with the familiarity of a western world with British type weather - a cold, windy, rainy day. As I take the shuttle bus into Christchurch (reported to be one of NZ most English of towns) I for the first time on my travels start to feel a little home sick.

I am dropped off near the town centre and through the driving wind and rain I search for a bed for the night. Heading out of town and passing the police station I come across a small guest house with a sign reading vacancies and having explained to the receptionist of my luggage plight I am up-graded to a double room and ‘Marie’ even found and washed me a left behind fleece giving me some much needed warmth for the evening.

And what a find…as well as being treated well by my landlady, I discover that I am staying right opposite Christchurch’s theatre arts centre and a warm welcoming pub called Dux de Lux.

After a warming Seafood Thai Curry (just can’t lose my love for Asia quite yet) I head off and buy myself a ticket for a two hander play called ‘Skin Tight’. This NZ play charts the love and downfall of a volatile couple who lose their farm during the depression…with a poignant dramatic ending, the wife plays out her dieing wishes by taking her cancerous last breaths naked in a tin bath in her husbands arms. Starting with a brilliantly choreographed mimed dance of tenderness, violence and passion this play reunited me with the pleasures of western theatre, rejuvenating my love for the performing arts, which I was to take full advantage of during my stay later in Wellington.

I finish the evening by returning to Dux de Lux to listen to a Queenstown reggae/soul band playing live on an award winning stage. But after a long days travelling and little in the way of good music to hold my interest, I retire to the comfort of my double bed.

I take a unfamiliar lie in the following morning to around ten, after which I head to Hotel So to meet up with my next Intrepid tour group. As promised, on arrival, I am greeted by my lost luggage. I then make my way to what I can only describe as a modern hotel bedroom in a boutique style with the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in, with all the mods & cons required for a pleasurable stay. A flat screen TV hangs at the bottom of a bed which hangs a metre and half off the floor. A beautiful concaved shower and toilet unit sits in the corner of the room and even better I am supplied with free internet coverage for my laptop.

Before I meet my new leader and fellow travellers and in response to a wet sock due to the local weather, I go unsuccessful in search of a cobbler to repair my beloved well worn ‘Boggola Truro’ walking shoes. Finally spending the afternoon dodging the rain in search of a new pair and a warm pullover to equip me better for my ‘winter’ down under travels.

At 6pm I meet Jo our leader for the two week South Island tour and my first small Intrepid group being Simon a 32 yr old Chinese Londoner; Andrew a 19 yr old Medical Student from Berkshire and Angela from Canada who I had already met while travelling through Malaysia.

After the initial introductions the group leave Angela to the comfort of the hotel to head off to ChCh best fish & chips restaurant served in traditional newspaper wrappings. This followed by a night of NZ beer and live music at the Yellow Cross entertainment area.

The following morning we all rise early to complete a six hour coach journey to the southern alps. On arrival the boys are taken to our shared triple room for two nights and we are shown around the hotel with a beautiful lounge with mountain top views and a well equipped kitchen/diner in which I would cook myself my a Salmon salad…being the first meal I had prepared for myself since leaving home. This was swallowed down with a NZ red cabinet sauvignon wine. That afternoon Jo takes us out for a short forest walk where we pass snow covered paths and treetops. Andrew, Simon & I finish off the day by walking to the end of a glacier to view the sun setting on Mount Cook.

The following morning Jo and the team embark on a six hour hike to the foot of Mount Cook and to enjoy a pre packed lunch around a glacier ice covered lake. It is quite a long and hard walk, but the views and environment make it worth while.

The next morning we head for Queenstown…the adrenaline high energy capital of the world. And although I opted for a more sedate and relaxed approach to the town with highlights being a trip up the gondola & chairlift and down by luge, along with a hill top walk. Simon and Andrew approach the whole experience at full throttle as they jump out of airplanes at 12,000 feet and Simon bungee jumping from Nevis‘s…a high wire cable standing at 134 metres high, plus a spot of white water rafting!

One of the more remarkable events for me was to bump into fellow traveller ‘kiwi’ Nick from Auckland in the high street who happened to be working in Queenstown. After sharing a chat over coffee on the delights and downfalls of our Malaysian experience, we agreed to meet up later for a beer at a pub whilst enjoying a local live band whose guitarist had bungeed with Simon earlier in the day…just goes to show what a small world it really is?!

Our next adventure took us to Te Anau a small lakeside town from where we would take a day trip to Milford Sound to kayak beneath the iconic Mitre Mountain personifying NZ beauty. After a hard day in the water Jo & the boys finish the day by enjoying a full banquet at a local Chinese restaurant.

Our next destination - Wanaka is rather more relaxed and I take the opportunity to visit a local dentist to repair a cracked tooth damaged from the evening before. After which I take a tour around the magnificent lake admiring the surrounding snow topped mountains. Before we depart Wanaka I visit their quaint little cinema famed for their comfortable sofas and Morris Minor seating to watch Dan - In real life…and share an evening of pool at the Shooters bar with the boys.

The following day we make our way to Franz Josef and the Fox Glacier region where I was to experience my most challenging and rewarding day so far in climbing the worlds fastest moving glacier Franz Josef. Equipped with crampons and wet weather gear we make the short journey by bus to the foot of the Glacier to walk with our guide for the day Mike.

Walking on solid ice we pass ice tunnels, glacier pools, ridges and crevices before reaching a distance of around 500 metres above sea level, where we discover a magnificent ice cave…this being a real highlight of a very rewarding day.

At the pub that night we chat to Glaswegian Jim who appeared to be on a dope smoking world tour having confessed that by signing off sick he was able to continue his travels around the world over 7 years?! Later enjoying a plate of Nacho’s and the a beer or two with Jo at another the local pub.

Our penultimate destination was the small coal town of Blackball where we stayed at the Blackball Hilton, a small dark museum like hotel who had contested its name with the global Hilton group in New York! A hearty breakfast and our final supper as a group was enjoyed here before taking the Tranz Alpine scenic train back to Christchurch returning to Hotel So for one night with my Blackball spicy sausage in hand.

That evening we say our goodbyes to Angela as we head off for a curry at the Two Fat Indians…unfortunately, having to wait an hour and then receiving cold food…we made a hastily exit for the door before finishing our evening at a Cuban Salsa Café…we then ended the evening dancing the night away to the live sounds of a rock/punk band at the Yellow Cross pub complex.


New Zealand - North Island

Having said my goodbyes to the Intrepid group, I make arrangements to leave my enormous and heavy (30kgs) suitcase at the Hotel So, which I will return to after extending my NZ adventures to the North Island travelling alone ‘Back Packer’ style.

I take only a number of clean t-shirts and underwear in my day pack and head off to Christchurch airport to take just an hours flight at 11.30am to Wellington…NZ’s Capital. The main attraction of Wellington for me was to enjoy its performing arts culture and having booked myself into the YHA I soon start to explore the city and its theatres. In just two days I manage to fit in two plays and a musical, as well as spending a morning at Tu papa - NZ’s National museum.

The first play I saw was an early evening performance of a NZ play called Handy Man…a story about a married couple on the verge of divorce, who head for the coast to empty out their holiday home, only to find their toilet flooded and in need of the help of psycho plumber Dom…this is when their troubles really begin. This is a psychological thriller about isolation, love and a leaky toilet. With a brilliant performance by the actor playing Dom the plumber.

Being a Saturday night I then followed this with a two handed musical called ‘The Last Five Years’ an American play performed and Directed admirable by two New Zealand performers. Reminding me very much of ‘They’re Playing Our Song’ which I myself performing at the Play House Theatre back in 2003, the production was supported by a six piece orchestra joining them on stage, making an enjoyable end to my first day, with both productions taken place at The Bats Theatre.

The next day after making my own breakfast at the hostel, I headed to Te Papa and spent a good four hours looking around the many exhibits. Highlights included the scientific display on the forming of New Zealand and its Volcanic position in the world sat on top the fault linking the Pacific and Australasian Platelets; Its Maori cultural displays and some clever 3D and cinematic offerings.

During the late afternoon I then headed to the Circa Theatre 2 adjacent to the Museum situated on the waterfront, to watch an English Play performed by two NZ TV actors and a young Actor from the UK called ‘Bone‘. Set during the early 2000’s the characters tell their tormented story’s surrounding issues such as the widowed farmers wife during the foot & mouth tragedy; the young Londoner about to head off to fight in the Gulf and the rantings of at deluded Marketing Exec. Having seen the production back in Christchurch also, this for me was the best play I had enjoyed in NZ and for that matter for a long time. Superbly acted and produced by a top notch production team.

The next day I walked to the Railway Station on the other side of town to catch a Coach taking me on a three hour trip to Napier, to stay at the Criterion Art Deco Hostel. On arrival I signed up for an afternoon tour of this intriguing town whose tragic past, being completely demolished after an earthquake in 1931 where 162 people died and has now become quite a tourist attraction in that the whole town was re-built in the 1930’s Art Deco style and remains today the world’s most prolific example of Art Deco buildings in one area.

After a relaxing morning in the coffee house offering me free internet, I head off the following day to catch another coach to a place called Taupo which has NZ’s largest lake, being created by one of the world’s largest volcano explosions recorded in China over 5000 years ago. Not having time to complete the gruelling Alpine Crossing, I only spend 20 hours in this small town before heading to Rotorua for a two night/three day stay.

Booking into the Lake House Hotel over looking Rotorua’s Lake and a living Maori Village. I then head for the town to plan my next few days in order to make the most of a town famed for its Geothermal activity and Maori history.

The first night I attend an evenings entertainment with the Mitai tribal family who cook a Hangi traditional meal undergound for dinner, guide their guests through a forest spring walk where we encounter the arrival of Maori warriors in a canoe and later a nature glow-worm walk. The highlight however is a show put on in an outdoor village setting where the Maori men perform the Hakka , as well as learning some of their songs and dances for audience participation ourselves.

The following day I take an early morning shuttle to Wai-O-Tapu (meaning Sacred Water) billed as a Thermal Wonderland. Amongst the highlights of this intriguing moon like landscapes…is the Lady Geezer, bubbling Mud Pools, coloured craters and pools ranging from blues to greens; reds to bright yellow. Once you get over the stench of the sulphur you soon get to enjoy the sights and sounds of this amazing and unique place.

The finale’ to Rotorua was a couple of hours spent in its museum where I found out a little more of the towns Maori past and of its Thermal bath cures and history. One of the more poinent moments was an exhibition of the Maoris’ contribution to the world war two where just over 3,000 young Maori men took the very long journey around the world to fight in Europe, with over half being injured and with just over 600 never to return.

On Friday 23 May I take a return flight from Rotorua back to Christchurch to stay in my favourite Hotel - Hotel So in order to relax before my next adventure in Australia.

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