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Published: March 7th 2009
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New Zealand - Part II (Nelson to Christchurch) (18 - 26 February 2009)
Travelling through New Zealand is easy: you either rent a car, get on a public bus that brings you straight from A to B, or you choose one of the hop-on-hop-off bus companies that serve the whole country and stop at scenic points of interest during the day and drop you off directly at your accommodation at your destination. I was travelling with MagicBus which turned out to be a good choice since the average age was probably in the mid/late twenties compared to Kiwi Experience (aka Kiddy Experience aka F*ck Truck…) with an average age of maybe 17…
Anyway, MagicBus was really good, and the drivers gave us lots of useful information throughout the day. Also, since I travelled the north-south route, I found myself with more or less the same bunch of people or at least bumped into familiar faces when staying longer than one night at one place.
The hostels I’ve stayed at in New Zealand were all absolutely great, usually not directly in the city centre (but never more than 5 minutes away), had lots of charm and very often a
little swimming pool and/or jacuzzi. Since the weather during my second half of the trip was rather let’s say challenging (quite some rain, and cold temperatures) a hot spa bath upon arrival was most welcomed.
So after Nelson and the Abel Tasman National Park I headed further south along the very scenic ‘wild west coast’ (Cape Foulwind, Paparoa National Park, Punakaiki Pancake Rocks) to Greymouth (nothing special, but we had to stay there for one night due to long driving times, so we visited he local and very kiwi Monteiths Brewery which involved free drinks afterwards…). However, it was great to meet Jon, the Englishman, again after having been travelling with him through parts of the northern island, and together with Craig (Aussie), Elsa (French), and Sandra (Swiss) we spent a great time from Greymouth onwards.
After Greymouth we headed further south along the coast (absolutely fantastic views - e.g. on Mount Cook - and little scenic paths!) to Franz Josef, via an old gold digger village (Ross). The vast majority decided to hike up the world famous Franz Josef Glacier, however, I did not but went on a great late afternoon / early evening kayak tour on
the nearby Lake Mapourika. Fantastic!!!
On Thursday, we continued on from Franz Josef to Fox, another village nestled next to a glacier, before stopping at Lake Matheson. Often called the ‘Mirror Lake’ it is famous for it reflections of the Southern Alps. Unfortunately, the weather was not that good, but still the pictures we took are amazing! Heading inland away from the west coast via Haast and Makarora, the scenery changed from dense tropical forest to vast plateaus when entering the Central Otago region. After a quick stop at beautiful Lake Wanaka we continued on to Queenstown, stopping at Kawarau Bridge, the world’s first commercial bungy jumping site. Queenstown reminded me a lot of some resorts in the French Alps (e.g Chamonix): artificially built and lots of - adrenaline releasing - summer & winter sport activities (bungy, rafting, abseiling, canyon swinging, etc.). Not to forget is the (in)famous Ferburger hamburger shop, where ‘Big Al’ (AU$ 16) probably weights half a kilo or so… Yummie!!!
The next day, Craig, Jon, Sandra (from Switzerland), Tayuko (a Japanese lady) and I took a very long day trip to the Milford Sound, travelling through the fantastic Fjordland National Park (high mountains, narrow
valleys, wild landscape). The Milford Sound itself we discovered on a boat, and apart from the dozens of waterfalls we saw many eals and birds, but unfortunately no dolphins. On Saturday the weather was rather miserable, so I decided to sleep in and organize some stuff on the internet before meeting up with Martina from Geneva (after not having seen her since Sydney), and after a delicious ice cream we - once more - ended up at the Buffalo Bar where we had 2for1 drinks until midnight…
On early Sunday morning we all continued on the Dunedin, a Scottish influenced rather large town at the south eastern coast. Since Saturday evening in Queenstown was a long one (…), I needed to get some sleep in the hostel before meeting up with Linda Berney-Meyer, a friend from my hometown Wettingen who I went to he scouts with for years, and her husband Michi, their son, and their friends that were squatting their house for a month or so before leaving to France. With a kiwi cheese we managed to have a very good raclette, and it was so good to chat with them about the good old times (I
Wild West Coast
Elsa (FRA), Craig (AUS) and I hadn’t seen Linda for at least 7 years or so)!!!! Thx a lot, mates, for inviting me over to a very Swiss evening!
The pouring rain next day made me go to the tropical forest at the Otago Museum, a soooper-humid and hot hall with thousands of butterflies covering you after only a couple of minutes inside. Very cool! Afterwards I did a boat trip out to the Elm National Park at the Otago Peninsula to spot fur seals, sea lions, albatross, and the random yellow-eyed penguin. In the evening, I met up with Jon at the Speight’s Brewery’s restaurant for some food and - obviously - beers…
After ‘climbing’ up the world’s steepest street (no pictures, since my battery went flat…), we left Dunedin on Tuesday morning to see the Moeraki Boulders, huge great rocks scattered across the seashore renowned for their unique spherical shape. Passing the Benmore Dam, the largest earth dam in the southern hemisphere, we soon got amazing looks on Mount Cook again, this time from the east. Great! And we stopped at a salmon farm where we bought some very cheap and freshly caught salmon which we BBQed after arriving at beautiful Lake
Tekapo and after having been to the local public spa there. What a feast! I had also bought some minced meat to which we made rice, spaghetti and a texmex sauce, but the salmon was by far the best part of it! Oh, and I forgot to mention our visit of the little idyllic Church of the Good Shepherd, also situated in Lake Tekapo. Lovely!
On Wednesday we were continuing around the edges of the stunning Mackenzie Country, crossing Burkes Pass and the foothills of the Southern Alps, stopping at the picturesque towns of Fairlie and Geraldine for a quick food/toilet stop. The coach then headed through the Canterbury Plains, the largest area of flat land in New Zealand, and after a quick stop at the factory outlet of a cookie factory, we arrived in Christchurch, a lively and sunny (!!!) town where I met up with Martina again to do some sightseeing, shopping (Sweet As, Brough) and later to have a great meal at a recommended Thai restaurant before finishing the day in a nearby pub.
And on Thursday - after getting up at 4h30am - I boarded my plane to fly over to Melbourne! And that
was the end of my New Zealand trip. A short, but very, very good trip. A perfect teaser since I for sure want to return there and spend at least 2 months or so to really explore the country!
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