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Published: March 6th 2006
Due to Popular Demand This Blogspot has Been Updated Ok I just got lazy and didn't have the time!!
A big chunk of my time in Brisbane was left out because the last blogspot cocked up!
Anyway I decided that i was unable to find a job in Brisbane, and wouldn't have been to keen on working there anyway. Its not that i didn't like the city, it just didn't feel like a place i would have wanted to spend a fair chunk of my time. On a spur of the moment i decided i may as well go over to New Zealand while i still had the money. I booked the flights and the Kiwi Experience tour. As with tradition in such circumstances i had my Brisbane leaving party - we had a few bottles of cheap wine in the room, and then went out on the town for a few bevvies. Why i do it is illogical - you have to check out by 10 and when you have been partying til 3am it kind of makes you feel a bit crappy the rest of the day!
On arrival at Brisbane Airport i went to
Monument to Women
When settlers came to ChCh, women had to carry all the stuff/children up these mountainscheck in and got the shock of my life. The bloke at the Check in asked my if i had my itinerary handy, and i said that i had a reference number for the flight. He then asked me whether i had a return ticket - and i said i hadn't got one because i wanted it to be quite flexible so that if i wanted to stay longer/cut my trip shorter i could. He then responded, "New Zealand Immigration won't let you in without a return ticket". I was slightly panicked at this, but luckily i was able to book my return on the desk (return flight to Melbourne on the 20th of February). I hoped this wasn't a bad omen and a sign of things to come. The flight was only about 3hrs long into Christchurch, for much of it i was resting my eyes anyway! I landed in Christchurch at about midnight, and was relieved that the immigration part went without a hitch (although i was asked why i had booked my return flight on the same day i flew). At this point i was feeling completely shattered and could barely keep my eyes open (the 'couple
Prince Charles
This cracked me up when i walked passed a clapped out car with Charles in the back. of drinks' the previous night didn't help), so i was glad when the shuttle service was there and ready to take me to my hostel. The drive into Christchurch itself reminded me of the drive into Cambridge via Hills Rd with its leafy suburban streets and its British looking suburban houses. Christchurch is essentially founded on the principle of looking English so that the immigrants (the British) felt at home when they arrived.
After having a bit of a lie-in i proceeded to explore the city. Christchurch is a quaint little city, with little to see or do other than lie back and relax. The square houses the Cathedral and plenty of busker performances throughout the day. I decided that i wasn't going to pay the $12 to do the tour Tram, so i decided to follow the route of the Tram on foot instead. I'm glad i did this as there really wasn't much to see on this route other than an arty museum/gallery thing, and the Botanic Gardens. The biggest tourist attraction is the Antarctic Centre - NZ is the launching pad for Antarctic expeditions - NZ is only 3000km away from Antarctic compared with 13000km away
from London. I didn't do the centre but decided to do the Gondola ride up the side of the mountain. I'm glad i did, as the views from the top were absolutely stunning, and they had a number of walks. I did 3 or 4 of these walks and was totally taken by the landscape - which set me up really well for my stay in NZ. I thought i would see what the nightlife in Christchurch is like, and walked the city looking for the rare thing called a bar that has people in. Over here the Subways even close at 7pm - and 8pm there was hardly a soul moving on the streets. I decided to have an early night so that i could enjoy my first day on the Kiwi Experience Bus.
I was up bright and early (6:45am - i'm supposed to be on holiday for **** sake) and looking like the Living Dead when i checked out. After waiting for a bit the Green Kiwi Experience Bus turned up, and i was greeted by the cheery bus driver called Smiley. There is a fair bit of banter between the tour buses they call our bus
Marlborough Sounds
Pictures from the Picton - Wellington Feryy the "Big Green F**k Truck" (it has a bit of a reputation of getting drunk and more than one person occupying a single bed), the Stray bus is known as the Gay Bus, and the Magic bus is known as the Tragic bus.
The bus left Christchurch and headed towards Kaikoura. We stopped at a servicing town called Cheviot for breakfast (i had a Pie), and then made our way to Kaikoura for midday. Kaikoura is a small coastal town which specialises in Dolphin swimming, Whale watching (of which there were afew in our hostel), and Seal swimming (come on who wants to swim with those smelly buggers and actually pay for it). When arriving in Kaikoura i fancied doing the Whale watching as Dolphin stroking isn't really my fancy. Unfortuantely the weather wasn't right so it was all cancelled - i dont know why because i'm sure bloody whales dont look to the heavens and think i wont surface today because it looks like there may be a few spots of rain! We made the best of the afternoon by walking down the coastline where we came across a group of seals everyone was going upto and getting
Marlborough Sound
Pictures from the Picton - Wellington Ferry into touching distance (although i got way to close and got a smelly growl of one of them). The Israeli bloke we were with was a bit of an arrogant tosser (something of a trend amongst travelling Israelis), Olivia and Verena got particular anoyed with him, and i certainly wasn't endeared to him! The hostel itself is small but very homely. Our driver cooked us up the BBQ which was v.good if it wasn't for the rain and the cold (yes NZ isn't as hot as everyone reckons in the UK). I was pleased with my group and met some great people. We played the circle of death, which is basically a drinking game so everyone was rather merry by the end of it. We then headed to a bar in town for some more beers and pool, where we played Killer Pool - i won one of the games!
In the morning (early) everyone was looking a bit worst for wear. Des was the only person to go Dolphin swimming at 5:30am, and there were some very pissed of girls (i found it hilarious). Our next destination was Picton and the ferry crossing to Wellington. Picton is a
Wellington
Fountain in the Harbour quaint little port with massive hills either side and some stunning views - slightly better than the white cliffs of Dover! Verena and myself were the only 2 to get on the ferry with our driver Smiley, as everyone either continued around the South Island or flew into Wellington. I decided to get the ferry for the views and the photographs. Marlborough Sounds is the stretch of water the boat leaves in, and the easiest way to describe it is that it reminded me of the pictures of Norwegian Fjords - absolutely stunning. The ferry took about 3hrs, and on it there was a band which is huge out here in NZ called Fat Freddy's Drop. Our driver was in awe, and offered them a lift into Wellington when we arrived we some of them accepted. On arrival at Wellington we collected our bags and boarded the shabbiest bus in town - god knows what the best band in NZ thought (they probably didn't with the amount of fumes seeping in). Wellington seemed quite nice, although we didn't have long - so we decided to goto the recomended Tu Papa museum - Verena and Des soon got bored so we
left in search of some much needed sustinence. After a few beers in the bar we headed to the incredibly small room with the incredibly annoying English bloke who rabbited on and on about nothing in particular!
We next went from Wellington to Taupo. Taupo is famous for having the largest lake in the Southern Hemisphere (apparently you could fit Singapore inside and still get a boat around the edges) as well as the cheapest sky dive in the world at $150 which is about 60 pounds! The bus stopped of at the skydive spot on the way into Taupo and most of us got off. It seemed like i was the only one that seemed calm and collected, i was with 2 Irish blokes (Paddy and Dave), Verena, English girl (Angela) and a couple of other people. Angela said before hand when she gets nervous she talks alot - but i could not hear much talking from her anyway - they all had faces of fear! Even as we were getting kitted up i couldn't wait, and was cracking jokes and being a bit of a clown (no change their), and soon we were walking to our plane
Top Gun style (without the shades, music, good looks, good aeroplane etc etc...). As the plane ascended i looked around at everyone else, and all i saw were panic stricken faces and people grasping onto the bar with clenched fists - i have to say Dave was by far the worse, i didn't think he would go through with it. Once reaching 12,000ft the door was opened - people have told me this was there worse time, but for me i didn't really have time to think. As i saw the people all jump out ahead of me the adrenaline started to flow and within seconds i was shuffling up to the door and the drop below. My Instructor dumped me on the edge of the plane - i was hanging all the way out of the plane with just him to go. All of a sudded he pushed out and we were free falling. The free fall lasted 45 seconds, but felt like 10secs, it was absolutely exhilirating and something i suggest everyone does! The only point i was a bit nervous was when he clicked a button and i came forward a bit when the parachute was opened.
The scenery was good with views of the lake and the surrounding hills and town, and i was absoluetly lost for words - the instructor pointed out things like Mt Tongariro ranges (Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings). As i came into land the camera man filmed me looking like a fool pointing directly at the camera. We all got a free ground DVD, with us getting ready, boarding the plane, on the plane, and then coming into land and at the end we all had to jump in the air as a group. After we watched the DVD, everyone agreed i was the class clown - but it was only because i was the most relaxed of everyone!
We were later driven into Taupo and to our hostel Urban Retreat. We had a good bunch on our bus and we had some munch and then arranged to go for a few drinks. My adrenaline rush had taken a hell of alot out of me so i opted for a quick lie down which turned into an hour power nap! After i walked into the bar and everyone started laughing - i had said i would be 5mins, and
Mt Maunganui
View of the town a sandy beach from the summit. they asked me if i was asleep and i responded with "just resting my eyes" - i was later told i was snoring like a pig! We had a few in the Hostel bar and then went onto Mulligans bar, followed by the Holy Cow nightclub/bar! The Holy Cow was good as a free barrel was on offer. Unfortunately i wasn't feeling the best, but still managed to get about 5 pints down me. The polite chat soon turned to dancing and it wasn't long before myself and a Scottish Lass instigated a dance on the tables...everything else gets a bit hazy!
Taupo - Auckland: After waking up a bit worse for wear, i headed to the kitchen to see some right old miserable faces - the pictures from the previous night were quite revealing and provided some entertainment on the bus - especially of the usually shy Paddy with girls playing with his revealed nipple! The bus journey was a bit of a grind until we reached Rotorua (20min stopoff). As it was a Sunday, nowhere was open, and i desparately needed brekkie. Myself and the Irish guys walked up the main road and found a little place
run by a pensioner and his Asian Slave. I ordered Chicken and Chips + Coleslaw (yes for breakfast) and the rest had pies! The C&C has to be the worst thing i have eaten in a fair while, and i was tempted to take it back - it wasn't really what i needed after a heavy night out and a sickly coach journey! The bus stopped at a place called Matamata, also known as Hobbiton - alot of the Lord of the Rings stuff was filmed and sorted out around here! I had my picture taken with the sign, but decided against having my picture taken with the 'Hobbit House', because it had a big 'i' sign behind it indicating the information centre!!
The locals call Auckland 'The Big Smoke', and alot of people hate it because its big and ghastly (so they say). But to me it was just another city and i neither hated or liked it overly - although i did decide not to spend much time there! Because it was Smiley's last bus journey for a week, we all went down to the bar and he got in a round of shots. Myself and the Irish
Matamata
Lord of the Rings Country - hence the sign! lads also entered a speed pool Comp - we all got knocked out in the 1st round although i lost by one ball to the eventual winner!
I didn't do much in Auckland apart from go up the Sky Tower which is the biggest building in the Southern Hemisphere. Bearing in mind i had done a skydive the previous day - the skytower absolutely terrified me! At the top there were transparent platforms to stand on and look directly down to the street below - i only just managed to summon up enough courage to walk across the platform right at the end of the trip! The view from the Skytower was quite good but i'm not sure it was good value for money! From one of the top bits of the Skytower their is a thing similar to a bungy, but you are held by 2 cables - needless to say i didn't fancy this much!
Auckland - Bay of Islands: Another early start so that we got up to Paihia about 2pm! The Bay of Islands are renowned for having some of the best weather in NZ, it is also one of the hottest places in the
Auckland
The skytower is the needle looking building country - so of course i get up there and the weather is...well...crap! It was cold, raining, windy and most of the activities were cancelled! I decided i hadn't come all this way to sit about in the hostel, so i opted for the jet boat option (i was going to get wet anyway). I could see the attraction, because even in the crap weather the coast line was still gorgeous. The Jetboat squeenzed through narrow arches in the rock and tossed and turned everyone (one women in front of us was spewing all the way around)! Its amazing seeing all the shoals of fish around - there are sharks and whales aroiund here also due to the plentiful supply of food - although i didn't see anything of the kind (Mark picked up a small dead shark on the beach up in Cape Reinga)! After the jetboating we headed back for the BBQ in the rain, which was still very nice - and i met a group who i have stayed friends with while i have been travelling NZ. After the BBQ we had a few drinks a partied in the bar for a bit although Sally and Christian's
dance-off went down like a lead balloon - i didn't bother with the dancing - i didn't fancy putting them to shame! The following day the weather was even worse as the Cyclone had hit. Everyone was huddled indoors around the TV, but i decided i wasn't going to waste my time doing that so i headed out into it = what a bloody idiot! After 20secs i was soaked through but i still persisted a little while until it got a bit to much, and then came back in as everyone turned and erupted in laughter at my sorry looking figure! Later on the bus took us up to some of the hot pools (Geothermal baths). We were warned not to put our heads under water because of Amoebic Meningitis - i covered my face with the brown mud without a care in the world - they did say its supposed to help ailments - but i think i was asking to much when i jumped in as a frog and was expecting to come out as a prince! Unfortunately the BoIs was a bit of a let down with the weather, but people have been keen to tell
me that when the weather is good it is an awesome place!
Auckland Again: On the return bus to the City of Sails I hardly knew anyone because my group had gone up to Cape Reinga from Paihia! It was a quiet journey as the person i sat next to was a girl of very few words! On arrival at ACB i checked into a room with a bloke that was on the bus, his name was Adam, and from early on i could tell i wouldn't see eye to eye with him! A few days earlier i had arranged to meet Verena at a place in town because it was her last day, so i went along there and said my goodbyes! I then went back to the hostel bar to meet Adam, who completely blanked me (i think he was pissed off i went off without him) so i met up with a girl i had last seen in Rotorua and spoke to her for a good while, before heading in relatively early for a good nights kip before the early start!
Auckland - Whitianga: The bus i got on had to be the best group
On the Skytower
These transparent platforms looked to the streets below - these are my feet - so scary!! i have been with so far. Their was Team Canada (2 Erins, Janine and Becky), Mark (Wycombe), Conor (N.Ireland), James (Manchester), Kris (M'boro), Katie and Rosie (S.E. London) and Team Sweden (3 Swedish girls). Also the bus unfortunately contained Adam and a few other idiots!
I was sat next to the quiet but pleasant Chavaunne on this journey, but it was the people around me in which i had the most fun with. Behind me was Conor and Katie, in front were the lovely Victoria and Chris and adjacent to me sat James. After initiating conversation with the boys about football - which seemed to last a fair bit of the journey, Conor and myself sussed out that Katie may be a bit ditsy! Most of the bus journey was then taken up with us both absolutely baffling and winding up the poor girl - seriously what does she expect (she didn't know what CBD meant)! I was the particular wind up merchant, and had a classic with "in Oz you need to worry about all the animals that want to kill you, in NZ it is the wild Maori warriors who will stop a bus and then kill everyone
Top of Mt Eden
Overlooking Auckland on board, finally eating the remains, that you need to worry about". Conor followed this up with "The Kiwi bird nests on the Kiwi fruit because the eggs of the bird and the look of the fruit are very similar"! She fell for both of those wind up comments - everyone in the vicinity of hearing was in absolute hysterics!
Back to the trip - we left Auckland for a short drive up to the top of Mt Eden, here we got some pictures overlooking Auckland before headin on our way! We had nearly arrived at our destination, but stopped off at a place called hot water beach. Here we were supposed to dig holes in the sand to get to the thermal outlets and therefore have a warm sit down in the beach, but even though there were tide timetables our bus driver still managed to cock up the timings of the tides, and thus we could not participate in this activity - the beach was quite nice though! We were also supposed to stop at a couple of other places along the way, but this didnt happen as the weather wasn't great and our bus driver couldn't be
Hot Water Beach...
...it would have been had our driver not cocked up on the tidal times. arsed (lard arse)! Whitianga or Mercury Bay as it is also known was a nice quiet town, but really had nothing to do! We arrived there and settled into our hostel - which was clean and homely, before having a few beers in the hostel bar and a few games of Killer pool - i again got knocked out early! The youngsters (18yr olds) were talking about hitting the town and going out for more drinks til late - i was the last one left up with Katie, and i certainly wasn't going to hit the town with just the 2 of us! The youngsters had crawled off to bed long before i managed to find my way to bed!!
Whitianga - Rotorua: By now we had all worked out that our bus driver was a big fat lazy ****! Today's journey was supposed to be good, because we were stopping at a swing bridge and going on what was known as a beautiful walk in an old gold mining track! The weather was overcast but not particulary wet, but our bus driver piped up "due to the recent bad weather, the track is to wet to walk on".
We took his words with caution but all understood, until of course i found out from the bus that was in front of us, they had done the walk the previous day in torrential rain - i was not a happy customer and nor was anyone else that is for sure! After another pointless stop in Matamata to see the pointless Lord of the Rings sign, we headed straight towards Rotorua.
Rotorua: Although the place absolutely stunk (sulphurous geothermal activity) i loved Rotorua. Rotorua is the Maori capital of NZ, and therefore has an above average population of the generally kind and helpful Maori people. We all booked into a hostel which had its own sulphurous pool (it is supposed to help with ailments such as bad back and aching limbs). The pool room absolutely stunk and in turn stunk the hostel out - but i still tried it out and ended up sweating half my body weight in water out! A few of us had decided to do the Louging - the Louge is basically just a bit of plastic with wheels and a brake which sends you hurtling down a mountain side track. We were all pretty
Maori night
Unfortunately no pics of me as the Chief! dissapointed that we were forced to go on 'The Scenic Track' first, but this proved to be less than scenic. I completely underestimated this track and decided i didn't need to use the brakes, so when the first corner came up and i was hurtling down, i came slightly unstuck. As i tried to turn the corner the Louge tipped up sending me sliding across the concrete and then over the small barrier at the end. At the time my main priority was to get back on as quickly as possible to continue - especially as the Canadian girls had re-taken there positions i had just taken from them! Once i had finished the circuit i looked down to see my leg and elbows bleeding a fair bit, and found out the James and Chris had done exactly the same thing as me, with James being in a far worse state than myself. The next time we went on the Advanced track, and raced. I got off to a good start although Rob was still ahead of me after cheating at the start. I overtook Chris with ease and caught up with Rob on the steep down hill and took
Rotorua from Bike track
Brilliant Mountain Biking - gorgeous view of Rotorua the inside line (the steepest section) easily passing him - he cried out "you bastard" as i flew passed and took 1st place! We all decided for our own safety it was best not to buy anymore rides and headed back down the mountain on the Gondola.
Later in the evening a few of us had booked ourselves onto the Maori Hangi feast, although the majority of the group fancied a night of getting lagered up. We got on the bus and our driver informed us that a member of the bus had to be the Chief (no females allowed). All the blokes fell deadly silent - so i piped up "Adam will do it", a few of the girls agreed and started saying "yeah Adam you do it", but the little twerp started getting really embarrassed and looked like he was on the verge of tears, so rejected the proposal! A deadly silence again fell over the bus until Katie piped up "Paul you do it", the whole bus then erupted chanting my name and clapping - how could i refuse after that! I was informed that as chief i would lead my group (40 people) into the Maori
camp and deal with all the official ceremonial stuff. What i didn't realise until i got there, was that there were 5 bus loads and about 200 people there. The 5 chiefs (all the other Chiefs were Grandad's, so i felt slightly out of place) led our bus loads into the arena, and then us Chiefs had to step forward away from the main crowd to distinguish ourselves. The next stage involved Maori warriors charging out and trying to intimidate us by dancing about a bit and sticking there tongues out alot - we were told not to laugh at any circumstance - the Maoris take great offence to this - i decided it was best to bite the inside of my mouth until i was on the verge of bleeding! After the little war dance, one of the Maoris pointed at a chief (which wasn't me luckily) to accept a token (a leaf). In old days if the token was rejected war would be declared, and if accepted a state of peace would exist - i heard that a Belgian bloke had stamped on the offering a few months earlier, and the Maori warrior responded by punching him -
Te Puia
Geothermal Reserve it went to court and the Belgian lost because it is a customary activity (so understandably i was praying that the Grandad chief accepted the token gracefully, following the accepted method). After the token was accepted, the remaining Warriors stepped forward and we had to perform the nose kiss or "hongi" which also involved us screaming out the greeting of "Kia Ora" in front of the 200 people. Afterwards we then led our tribes into the camp (it was odd being told i was chief of 40 people) to watch Maori cultural experiences such as the activities they used to do working and playing. After a brief moment of talking to my friends the other chiefs and I were summoned to lead the way crowd into the 'Maori theatre' to watch the traditional dances and music (i cant see it breaking into the top 100). After this we had to lead everyone out to the dining hall in preparation for the Hangi or feast. I was a bit dissapointed to see that the Chief's were not given priority in respect to getting our food before anyone else, but once we sat down with our food it was well worth waiting
Te Puia
Geothermal pool for. The meal was a bit like a roast with other bits and pieces thrown in (definetly not a traditional meal i'm sure), i was scoffing as much down as possible and had 2 full plates - in fact so much that i didn't have space for desert! By the end of it I cant have been far off the festively plump Maori warriors weight for weight wise! As i thought my duties as chief were all but over, i was summoned again in front of the 200 people dining. This time we were to do the 'Haka' (the Maori war dance - as performed by the All Blacks). The Haka requires the individual to look as scary and intimidating as possible - i did stick my tongue out and probably looked quite disgusting, but far from scary - i couldn't help myself having a big grin on my face throughout the whole of the dance! At the end of it we were treated to a standing ovation, and then i was presented with a Maori necklace, which i was really touched by, and proved to be the icing on the cake! As i got onto the bus my tribe
Te Puia Geyser
The 10:30 showing of the Geyser in action greeted me with another ovation - i couldn't help but blush. Everyone (people i didn't even know) was saying that i did a really good job and congratulating me! Just as i was getting comfortable and reminiscing about the evening, our bus driver said it is customary for the chief to start a sing song on the bus. I thought "O ****, but what the hell". I couldn't think of anything to sing so i asked for requests and got a cheery number that i cant remember for the life of me. I went upto the front of the bus and started singing/shouting and fortunately everyone joined in to the point i didn't have to continue singing. The rest of the journey was light hearted and full of banter. On arrival back at the hostel we went to join the others who were getting lagered up, and all in all it turned out to be a brilliant night!
The following day, after a bit of a lie-in Conor and i decided to go and do some Mountain Biking. We hired out a couple of bikes and headed to the forest (a few Ks out of Rotorua). The forest tracks
Marokopa Falls
Running through a gorge were absolutely brilliant (I later found out that it hosted a world championship event), although Grade 3 is all we dared to venture onto (we did try a grade 4 - but that would have been near enough suicide). One of the tracks, the Repco, was excellent with its steep banked corners and the superb down hills requiring a fair bit of effort and concentration. Luckily i only slipped off once or twice, but with some of those precipices you didn't fancy falling off. After a few hours around the varying circuits we headed back to drop our bikes off and go for a much needed dip in the sulphorous pools to cure our weary limbs!
Later that evening myself, Dave, James, Chris, Conor all decided to eat out before our last night out in Rotorua. We had a Mexican meal in town which everyone really enjoyed after stuffing ourselves silly. Later on we headed to a couple of bars in town before heading back to the hostel bar!
Waking up in the morning i was greeted to Adam running passed me out of the hostel room as quick as he could and Katie approaching me seconds after saying "you
never guess what happened last night?". Adam, Rosie and Katie had been out til the early hours and i was asleep by the time they returned, but i did know that when i left the bar Adam was already a complete and utter mess! Anyway after Katie finished with her giggling fit, she told me that Adam had come back and urinated all over this Canadian girls clothes (even though we had an ensuite in our dorm) and then proceeded to try and get into this other Canadian couples bed - the bloke of which was quite firm with him! After she told me this the Canadian girl woke up and verified the story - she said she had put all her clothes in the shower to rinse and was mighty pissed off - although if it was me i might have been in court for assault at the best! After hearing the story in full and being told by Katie not to say anything, i met Conor in the corridor - i'm sorry but i couldn't help myself (i never liked Adam in the first place)! By the time we had reached our first stop after leaving Rotorua, the
whole of the bus knew what happened (courtesy of yours truly - Adam didn't know we all knew...YET!!).
Rotorua - Waitomo: Shortly out of Rotorua itself is a place called Te Puia. This is NZs most well known thermal area containing Geysers, boiling mud and a couple of Kiwi birds (what a mix)! Due to Katie and my need for food we lost our group and headed for the Cafe - unfortunately we missed our bus ride to the Geysers! Not to worry though because we hooked up with another group - over 70s! We arrived just as our group were taking the photos, and they all looked round to notice myself and Katie (21 & 18) with a group of cadavers - we were told that we had to use the traditional Maori greeting before leaving the bus (nose kissing a 200yr old is quite a terrifying experience - i was scared that if i tocuhed to hard her face might crumble!). After getting away from the elders we had a wander round and soaked up some of the smell and watched some of the splurting before headin to the Kiwi Bird sanctuary. These were the only Kiwi
Abseiling @ Waitomo
Putting on a brave face birds i saw on the entire trip and it wasn't exactly breathtaking - we were told not to take pictures because the flash startles the birds and they enter a stage of shock (A Swedish girl we bumped into had a picture of the birds on her camera - they didn't look particulary startled)! It took about 5mins of waiting before they even emerged, and by the time we had seen them we were told by the group behind to move on!! At 10:20 we were told the main Geyser would come to life (this wasn't brilliant as our driver had told us to be back by 10:30 - retard) - so everyone had left, apart from it seemed a small handful of us that were late back for the bus! I thought it was well worth waiting for, even though i thought it was strange they had a timetable of spurting so to speak (it was like Dave the cleaner was turning a tap on down below - and on this particular day he was running late!).
On arrival in Waitomo we stayed at our first YHA on the Kiwi Bus and my second all together (what a waste
that $40 for a YHA card proved to be), being a YHA member i was priveleged to be told that all i got was a duvet and sheets - not bloody money off which would have been ideal! Conor and i shared a twin room (nice to get away from the Dorms) which was very nice. Conor, myself and unfortunately Adam (he latched onto our idea) decided to go and do an abseiling, Black water rafting to see the glow worms, caving and finishing up with rock climbing experience
(note for me: bus driver ridiculous comments - "cant guarantee you safety", "people had to jump out quickly on the skydive")!.
After arriving at the office, we thought what had we let ourselves in for - it was a ramshackle of a place, and we had to do rock climbing and abseiling with these people!! To be fair the whole experience was brilliant - we were kitted out in wetsuit and all the abseiling/climbing gear before heading to the remote cave network! On arrival we were hooked up to the safety lines so that we couldn't fall down the hillside even if we tried, and then we walked to the precipice
Caving in Waitomo Cave
'look fatty has spotted that runaway M&M' and the bit we had to abseil down. Adam started saying "i dont think i can do it" and getting more and more irritating, so i decided i would go down first (to get it done and to have a breather from Adam)! The worst bit was actually putting yourself over the edge - knowing that a fall is certain death onto the slippery rocks below. Once on my own in the bottom, i jumped into the water and had a bit of a swim while i waited for the others. Once everyone was down we all grabbed an inflatable ring (lorry innertube) and headed upstream with our miners lights on into the dark cave system. After a bit of a walk our guide told us to turn our lights off, and as we did this the cave roof lit up with a really great view of the glow worms. It looked like the night sky in the middle of nowhere (i was told this is the effect glowworms go for). The flies (prey) naturally head towards the 'stars' and then get caught in the glowworms silk web - the glowworms then gobble the flies down! Glowworms are just larvae,
Water fight @ Waitomo
Look at the anger in my eyes and after this they turn into flies themselves - unfortunately they do not have mouths and so cant feed (evolutionary nightmare), and therefore their primary aim of the fly stage is to reproduce! As we continued to walk down the cave network, our guide pointed out eels in the water. He then proceeded to put his hands nearby one and it bit him - the fool was getting a bit cocky! After seeing countless eels we also managed to see areas where the cave roof had caved in - this didn't fill me with much confidence! After reaching the bottom of the cave network we were told to get on our rubber rings and let the current take us out of the cave network while we admired the glowworms! After getting back to the start we headed through the other end (downstream) to do some caving. Some of the gaps we had to go through were absolutely ridiculous, and it just showed me i needed to lose a couple of pounds (or just the beer gut)! And of course when we got to the first one (you had to go under the water to get through the gap) Adam was
Stalactites @ Waitomo
The worst posed picture in the history of photography! again acting childish, so again i decided to go first! Caving was great fun, even though i had a few bumps and bruises from it, and was slightly reluctant to rock climb down from one of the exits to a cave without safety equipment when i saw the drop below! As we were walking back we all decided to have a bit of a water fight as we hadn't really got wet all the way round (black water rafting is nothing like white water rafting), and eventually we all decided to give our guide a good soaking - but of course i was the only one that went through with it, and his nice dry t-shirt turned wet and soaked him all the way through - luckily he saw the funny side of it though! Once again we made our way out to the exit, but this time it was to climb the rock we abseiled down - i wasn't looking forward to this. I went second and found it alot easier than i thought, even if i felt i was slipping a couple of times! Once all up we got showered and changed before heading back to the hostel.
Rock Climbing @ Waitomo
Yours truly emerging from the abyss Waitomo isn't what you call party town (they had 1 pub) so we all got a pack of cards and saw out the night with a few games! In the morning i reached new lows with a breakfast of Tortillas + Con Carne - leftovers from the night before, but to be fair it was a really good hearty brekkie!
Waitomo - Taupo: We headed out quite early which was quite pointless. We went to a black water rafting cafe 2 miles down the road to wait for the people doing the rafting! I wouldn't have minded if we waited for 10-20mins but to wait for 2-3hrs was just ridiculous - it would have been far better to pick us up from the hostel (so we could have a lie-in) when we were actually leaving to Taupo! Just before arriving in Taupo we stopped at the Huka falls which is located on the Waikato River, so took some snaps and then got the bus into Taupo! Myself and Mark had checked ourselves into the Urban Retreat unlike everyone else who had chosen another one with a Jacuzzi (i was a bit gutted!). We got a room with a girl
called Jessie who was slightly strange, but loveable in a weird kind of way (maybe i'm only saying that because she offered me some of her dinner!). Conor, Mark, Jessie and myself headed down to the Lake with the Canadian girls for a swim and a sunbathe. The Canadian girls headed off early, but were soon replaced by a gorgeous Swedish girl i had spoken to a couple of days earlier. When she went into the lake us boys were all gawping, but when she exited throwing her hair about, it reminded me of the James Bond moment - Jessie just sat there looking on at the 3 Pervs! We decided that it wouldn't be a heavy night as we had the Tongariro crossing to do the next day. It turned out to be...well, a heavy night! After a few drinks in the hostel we all headed out to Mulligans for a few quick ones! Katie got chatting to a local, and then rushed up to us saying "he said we could all go back to his and have a few drinks there", i looked at her and then over at James with a bit of a shake of the
Glow Worms @ Waitomo
The thin threads trap the flies - the worm is situated above the threads! head, but as the local was at our table i could'nt exactly say no. While he was in the toilet i told Katie that she was a complete idiot for taking up this strangers offer and that i would not be going and also insisted she did not go along either! Luckily it turned out that she listened to what we all had to say and said goodbye to her local friend. We then headed to Holy Cow Bar/Club. After a while i was starting to get bored with it all and Katie collared me and asked to join her for a cigarette outside and a chat! At the bottom Mark appeared following us out behind and thought we were heading back to the hostel. He said "do you fancy doing something free?" and i said that i was sick of the club and didn't want to spend anymore money. He then suggested a skinny dip in the lake. A few minutes later we were all undressed (Katie didn't go all the way) and freezing our arse off in the lake. Getting out of the lake started a calamitous chain of events. I lost my watch in the blackness (only
my cheap Casio), and Katie had insisted on wearing Mark's boxers, but he refused and so she threw them in the lake. On returning to the club Katie discovered that her necklace had dissapeared. She started balling, and i must admit i found it comical and was in fits of laughter - Scottish Dave wasn't helping! I was then slapped by Katie as i searched in vain for the necklace - by this time Dave and Mark were also in fits of laughter! Katie insisted Mark walk her back (as she blamed him for the loss). On the walk Mark was looking through his recovered boxers and then pulled out the necklace!
Tongariro Crossing: Getting up at 5:30am wasn't as bad as i thought - even to do an 8hr walk up a mountain! Mark just about managed to crawl out of bed, but then started with the complaints about a pain in his foot. The funniest thing it that he had cooked up about 30 sausages for the walk and made sandwiches, he even got fully changed ready for it! He paced up and down - testing his foot for about 20mins before our pickup and then finally decided
he wasn't going on the walk! There was an old women on the bus who was hacking up and really sounded like she was on the verge of death - i said i would be very surprised to see her finish, and everyone else started joking and commenting! We had a good group of us on the walk - Chris, Janine, James, Mikkel and Conor. It started off ok for the first half hour and then we reached 'The Devil's Staircase'. It was unbelievably awful and i was out of breath with my leg muscles aching within seconds. We struggled on for about an hour on the loose rocks interspersed with huge boulders, and then we had a respite! Fortunately the rest of the journey was ok - the shingle gradients up and down were quite tricky (especially wearing my pub shoes) - i was on my arse 4 times to the hilarity of everyone else, and ruined my shorts and pub shoes in the process. At the top we were greeted with a huge crater coughing out sulpurous fumes - we had been told to sit down on the ground to warm our backsides. We had all purchased a
Tongariro Summit
We all brought a beer along to celebrate! celebratory beer the previous day, and these were soon whipped out and seen away. The whole of the Tongariro Crossing was awesome with some great views (it would have been better if it wasn't so misty) - we were told not to drink any of the water as it was either 95oC or containing happy substances like arsenic! I was a relieved man when we got to the end and promptly lay down and slept while we waited 3hrs for the bus (we did the walk in really good time). The old lady whom we all thought was lying stricken near the foot of the Devil's staircase appeared about 1-2hrs after us - still hacking up and spreading TB or whatever she had - i was amazed! On arrival back in Taupo i decided i would go over to the other hostel to make use of the Jacuzzi and rest my weary limbs - luckily we had it to ourselves, although a Japanese man loitered around a bit to long for my liking. Later on myself and Conor treated ourselves to a pizza - bought from 'Hell' - the actual name!
Taupo - River Valley: After a few scenic
Tongariro - Poisonous Pools
Arsenic filled - strong blue colour against a sparse landscape stops on the way - to see a few more waterfalls, trees etc etc, we headed to a place called Whakapapa - a place i had longed to visit since i heard about it! No, not because it had anything of interest but because of its name! The 'Wh' in NZ is pronounced as an 'F', which makes Whakapapa, Fucka-papa (yes i know its immature, but small minds and all that). While stopped here we had the option of going on a walk! As Conor and myself were still feeling weary from the Tongariro Crossing we decided against it, instead finding ourselves the only bar in the village! After a quick drink we headed to the information centre and read up about the eruption of Mt Tongariro a few years back (the mountain we walked up the day before) - they say it is due for another eruption! We wasted time playing with fluffy kiwi birds and annoying the locals before the bus journey to River Valley.
River Valley was by far the most unexpected part of the Kiwi Experience. I had expected it to be a pointless stop of absolute no interest - i was still less than impressed
when our bus couldn't get down a big hill to drop our stuff off at the hostel - we had to walk! The walk was worth it - we were greeted by towering cliffs and bush clad hills surrounding our lodge, with the Rangitikei River running adacent to the lodge. We checked in and found that we were in a 30 person dorm - a very intimate room!! All that the room had was one huge bunk bed (two giant platforms) which held people side by side - Chris slept next to me and at one point i had my arm on him (not out of choice - honest!!). The extra-ordinary sleeping arrangments did little to worry me as the place was absolutely stunning and exuded adventure. We all headed out to the river to swim and do rock jumps/diving. There was even a cart on a cables across the river to get to the overhung rock on the otherside - i loved every second of it. Mark suggested we swim/get taken by the strong current downstream and to the rocks at the end - what a mistake! As we approached the rocks we could clearly see that they were
Whakapapa
Pron: 'fuc-a-papa' rapids and the rocks underneath us were sharp and very slippery - we were in serious trouble. We tried to swim against the current - not a hope in hell. Then tried to just stop ourselves, and finally came to a precarious halt about 2 metres before being badly injured - we were still stuck in the middle of a fast moving river - one slip and we would have entered the rapids! I gradually edged my way across slowly but surely, wedging my foot under rocks to stop myself slipping, and eventually got to the bank. Mark was still in serious trouble - he had been nearer the centre and the strongest current. I shouted to him that he should edge his way carefully over to the side like i had done, just as Chris started coming downstream to see what we were upto. I shouted to Chris not to go any further as it was dangerous, he stopped and then proceeded to laugh at mine and Mark's predicament (i still needed to go back upstream as the bank led to nowhere). Mark eventually made his way to the side and we both slowly came back. We were told
Important WC Instructions
This sign was in a toilet showing you how to go... that the owner of the lodge had come out and said "tell those two idiots not to go down there" - a bit late as we were already 'down there'.
After more diving and mucking about in the river, i headed back for a shower before a lovely roast dinner. The lodge had a volleyball court, so we all decided to have a game. The lovely Canadian girls challenged us to a game - Janine, Erin, Erin, Becky and Katie v Myself, James, Mark, Conor and Chris. Our team talk was short but sweet "we cant lose, especially as we are playing the opposite sex". We were slightly concerned that the girls all played volleyball back home, and we were complete amateurs. The game didn't start well either we were down 3-0 and not looking like scoring - there were some embarrassed looking faces, even James and myself performing the Haka failed to intimidate our opposition! Eventually we clawed our way back and came out the eventual winners - not a proud victory that is for sure! We had a few drinks and played some cards. Conor, Mark, Myself and Adam then participated in a nail hammering competition - one
hit and its the first person to hammer their nail all the way into the log. Chris was victorious and Adam was last (to our amusement)! After a cosy night sleep and a bit of a lie in we headed to the river for one last swim, and then played a game of volleyball before the bus left at 1pm. I would have liked to have stayed in River Valley for one more night at least - it was laid back and was really enjoyable and good fun - definetly a highlight of the trip!
River Valley - Wellington: After a fairly subdued departure from River Valley, we headed to a place called Bulls. It was an incredibly strange place because all the shops and alot of the buildings were 'bull' related. Such as Consta-bull for the police station or Cash-a-bull for the ATM. We had a bite to eat here and were dissapointed when a shop wasn't bull related, the town even had a wooden Bull on wheels (similar to the Trojan Horse). I thought that this town wasn't anything special (looked a bit in-bred) and that some wise crack had decided to try and put the town
River Valley Fun
Group jump off rock - i'm the pastey looking chap on the map!! We arrived in Wellington quite late, so we didn't have much time to do anything other than go down to the bar! Mark and myself entered into another pool competition, but unfortunately the locals who were used to the table soundly beat us! The following day we all headed into town for a look around. That weekend it was the arrival of Rugby 7s into Wellington, so there was a parade of the teams who were chucking out freebies (sweets/minature rugby balls etc). It was a good atmosphere in the town, myself and James picking up some comedy wigs! We all headed up yet another mountain on the train - pretty pointless really as the train didn't take long! The top gave some of the best views over Wellington, and it was enjoyable just walking with our group and having a laugh. Later after lunch everyone was feeling tired or had bits and pieces to do so myself and Conor headed up to Mt Victoria. As we got on the bus, the rude driver just snatched the money from my hands and then slammed the change back into it - nearly taking my finger off in the
process, he did this to every passenger - even an 80yr old lady!! Once he stopped at the summit, i stood up and shouted down the bus in my most sarcastic voice "cheers mate thanks for the lift, have a good day" - this did not go down well so when i approached the doors he slammed the closed on me - i looked back to see him staring in his rear view mirror and uttered a few words to him! The summit was another excellent vantage point of the city and the surrounding port! We watched the aeroplanes coming into land at the airport (watching them at the top of a Mountain is slightly better than watching them at Stansted Airport). We then headed down to mountain via the track wearing our flip-flops/thongs/jandels - not a good idea - we quadrupled the amount of time it would have taken us to get back! It was our last evening with our group. In the morning Team Canada and James would stay in the North Island and the rest of us would get the boat to the South. As is traditional with goodbyes, drink was on the menu. We played some
Centre of NZ in Nelson
- absolutely pointless games of cards and had a few boxes of wine in our room, and also played the "I have never game". This turned out to be amusing, as it was the night Adam found out that we all knew about his little accident in Rotorua. The game is as follows - a person says "I have never..." it could be something like fantasised about a mates mum. If anyone in the group has ever 'fantasised about a mates mum' (for arguments sake) they have to take a drink from there glass. The game got a bit stale as nobody could think of anything more - until i piped up, "I have never got completely slaughtered, staggered back into my dorm room, and pissed all over somebody's clothing" - the room erupted into laughter - except Adam who was as red as a cooked lobster! After a few drinks we headed down to the bar and then out on the town. On arrival back to the hostel, we found all our bedsheets had been tied together and tied onto and across the bunkbeds. We knew that it was those devious girls from Canada who were in the room next door! I
was not pleased as i needed some sleep as soon as i got back, but i later saw the funny side of it! I did not enjoy the Base backpackers hostel in Wellington as everyone (especially myself and Mark) were absolutely eaten alive by Mozzies/bed bugs!
Wellington - Picton - Nelson: After getting up ridiculously early for the ferry and scratching my leg red raw, we said our goodbyes. I really enjoyed my time spent with the Canadian girls and James. It was possibly the last time i would see James but the girls were going to study in Perth and had invited me to stay with them when i get over to Perth! Another subdued journey on the bus to the ferry port , and then on the ferry resulted. The boys had a good laugh at me during the crossing. After i had lost my watch in Taupo, i went and bought the cheapest watch i could find. It looks absolutely awful and is called Aquatech - they joked about its Korean origins and its name, and throughout the remainder of my time in NZ i never lived it down! On arrival in Picton we said goodbye
to Conor who was off to explore the Marlborough Sounds. It was then left to Myself, Mark and Chris to continue on the journey down the West coast of the South Island. On the journey to Nelson we stopped off at a place called the Pelorus Bridge. Here i tried the local delicacy of Mussel Fritters, before heading into the river for a swim and to do a few rock jumps. It was here that we ran into 3 Swedish girls, whom we built a good friendship with.
Nelson is New Zealand's sunniest city and is the gateway to the Abel Tasman national park. The three of us decided to stay here 2 nights as the accomodation was superb (en suite and 3 to a room), and because we needed a break from the intensity of the previous days! We didn't do much here other than walk to the Centre of New Zealand (a dubious claim), which was a complete dissapointment - the view over Nelson was quite nice though.
Nelson - Westport: On leaving Nelson we headed to the Abel Tasman National park. Most of the people on the bus were doing the half-day kayak, but we decided
Fancy Dress Night
Me, Chris, and Mark we would see more of the National Park if we got the water taxi to the start of a 3hr walk. The Abel Tasman was very splendid, unspoilt and relaxing. The walk was good, and the views from the water taxi were also nice, but i felt like i hadn't seen enough of it by the time we left. The drive to Westport was full of scenery and just looking out of the window helped to pass the time. The road runs through the Buller gorge and onto Westport.
Westport was probably one of the most unremarkable places that we went to. Myself, Chris and Mark checked ourselves into another hostel to get away from the Kiwi Experience crowd - we were really getting annoyed with our bus as their were some really annoying people. Westport is a town that is founded on Coal mining - really does not instill images of a fun happy place! Our hostel looked like it hadn't had a refurb for at least 30yrs with its solid pine bunk beds, its chintzy decor topped off by the strange owners who creeped me out a fair bit. But most importantly it was a quiet place where
Me and Les
Les - the oldest Publican in NZ the kitchen was empty and we didn't have the idiots from the Kiwi bus shouting and screaming. Myself and Chris took out a football for a kickabout and a bit of exercise - hoping to drum up support for a game, but it didn't happen. Later that evening we tried to find the lighthouse (supposedly an attraction of Westport) but gave up after finding out it was a fair walk and headed back to the hostel for a cup of tea and a relaxing evening.
Westport - Lake Mahinapua: Leaving Westport we headed a short distance to a place called Cape Foulwind. Foulwind by name and by nature as this is the location of a seal colony. Seals absolutely stink and to tell you the truth i couldn't care much for them. The walk was really nice for the scenery and not for the seals as previously mooted. The waves crash into the coastline with ferocity, and the arches and rock formations are a sight to behold. We then headed onto one of the most over-rated places in New Zealand at Punakaiki. This is the location for the Pancake rocks and blowholes - it was nice to see, but
not worth to much time. The special at the Cafe was unsuprisingly Pancakes and the place even had an information centre!
After leaving Punakaiki we headed off to Greymouth - possibly the worst place in New Zealand. The place is founded on industrial grounds and as with other industrial cities, wasn't a pleasant place. Luckily we were only there to get some supplies in and to sort our fancy dress for the evening ahead. Our destination, Lake Mahinapua, also known as Les's Place was quite an insignificant location. I assume the Kiwi bus stops there as a chill out stop before taking on Queenstown. Les is an old man that has been running his hotel since the beginning of time and is the oldest publican in NZ. Every Kiwi bus that arrives is given a fancy dress scenario - because we arrived on Waitangi day (NZ day) our dress was black and white (NZ colours). I didn't have a clue what to wear so decided i'd go as the ghost of Abel Tasman - i didn't have to purchase anything as i already had a bed sheet. In Greymouth Mark purchased what looked to be a white dress that an
8yr old girl would wear - this later turned out to be hilarious. On arrival in Lake Mahinapua we were greeted by old Les and introduced to his hotel. Before our BBQ in the evening we all decided to head down to the lake for a bit of a swim and some football. The Lake itself was massive and unlike anything we had swum in. The mud on the bottom was squelchy and i imagine its exactly like walking on a massive load of poo (it looked like crap). I decided against staying to long in the Lake and soon we were all out. Immediately after we decided on getting a football match going - the Swedish girls challenged Myself, Mark and Chris to a game. I thought it would be a walkover but we all underestimated there abilities. The most embarassing moment was going 1-0 down and not being able to draw level for a good 10mins - by this time our game had drawn a crowd, all cheering on the girls. We later rallied and won the game but it wasn't my proudest moment on the football pitch that is for sure. One of the girls - Anna,
Tip (Summit) of Alex Knob
We went all that way for this view! was unbelievable. Myself and her had an ongoing midfield battle which was capped when she pushed me off the ball with ease and then punched my hand - I didn't apologise when i stamped on her foot (accidentally of course), this was war!! After a few more gruelling moments we finished the game and headed back for the BBQ. The BBQ was v.tasty - we all got 1 bit of steak each (i claimed 3 for myself as their were leftovers) and a gorgeous venison dish. Afterwards we all headed to our rooms to change for the fancy dress. I tried on my ghost of Abel Tasman costume - it looked absolutely pathetic and the boys had a good laugh at my expense. I decided to change my costume to a 'confused Maori Warrior'. I wore a binliner to cover my torso, a bedsheet around my waist (skirt like) and Maori war paint (eye liner borrowed from Lucy). Chris wore a vicars costume and Mark wore his girls dress and tried the eye liner Maori look! We all looked like a right bunch as we headed to the bar for the nights festivities. Everyone it seemed were getting absolutely hammered
(including myself) and having a really good night.
Lake Mahinapua - Franz Josef: After getting up to early after the night before everyone was understandably worst for wear. We drove a short way down the road to a place called the Bushman's Centre. A Cafe was situated here which was dedicated the bush life and eating road kill. The speciality was possum pie which i decided against, instead just going for the cup of tea to get me going. They had a horse and turkey outside in the yard - i started riling up the turkey until it finally bit my shoe and started really going for it pecking away. I was pleased when we finally headed on towards Franz Josef.
Franz Josef is home to a glacier and a small town which is built for tourism. Everyone booked up their glacier climb activities, with myself and Chris opting for the free walk with 'great views over the glacier'. Afterwards we were taken to a vantage point of one of the ends of the glacier, it was quite awesome to see especially as we were told that the glacier has been receeding at a rapid rate for years, and
used to spread out over the surrounding lakes. We had a nice relaxing night of cards at our lodge and went to bed relatively early to do the walk in the morning. We woke up to overcast weather with fog around - i laughed as the others had paid in excess of $100 for the glacier walk and a crap day. Myself and Chris set off to start our walk on Alex's Knob - this was its actual name!! The day seemed to get worse the higher we got and the fog was awful. I was soaked through from the rain and generally not feeling to good or pleased with myself. On reaching the top we looked out at what was supposed to be stunning scenery of the lakes and the glacier and all we saw was white - not of the snow but of mist and fog. Visibility was restricted to about 5m. Feeling slightly dejected and annoyed we had lunch and then ran into an obese French man. He asked us if we would accompany him down the mountain in case he had an accident and nobody would know. Chris and myself just wanted to get down as
quick as possible, and seeing this big boned bloke in front of us did not instill us with any real confidence in getting down fast. We said we would walk down with him, which was uncomfortable in itself as his English wasn't very good and my French is non existent. Just as we were approaching the bottom of the mountain the fog started to clear (bloody typical) and revealed some of the view we would have seen further up - we were slightly gutted. The advertised 8hr walk to us just over 5hrs, which i thought was pretty good going. At the bottom the French guy revealed he had driven up here (about 40mins walk to the town), so Chris and I set about trying to get a lift - throwing in the odd comment/hinting. In the end he didn't offer a lift so we just asked him - it was the least he could do after we made sure he was safe. On heading back we ran into Team Beaver who were loitering around the kitchen. I piped up that my shorts button had come off and needed sewing on - i cant sew! Victoria offered to do it
as long as i made a cup of tea - it was the least i could do. In the evening nobody could be bothered to cook so we headed out for a pizza at the restaurant, while Mark informed me that the Glacier walk was brilliant and how i missed out - gives me an excuse to go back to New Zealand.
Franz Josef was a bit dissapointing in that the only thing i did was a walk up Alex's Knob. I had said since doing my Skydive in the North Island that i would do another one over Franz Josef (supposed to be one of the best in the world). Unfortunately the weather in Franz is variable and happened to be pretty bad while we were there so the skydiving was cancelled. If i had known that it would be cancelled i would have done the Glacier walk but unfortunately it was to late by the time i was leaving.
Franz Josef - Wanaka: Our first destination today was Lake Matheson (mirrored lake). The lake sits at the foot of Mt Cook and the Southern Alps near the town of Fox Glacier. As with the general trend of
Jetty @ Lake Wanaka
Mark and Chris ready to dive off NZ so far - the views were incredible and real postcard moments. We scaled the lake and every angle it seemed offered that bit extra in the way of something different. The way in which the mountains are reflected in the still lake adds to the aura. Also the mist coming off the lake adds to the tranquility and beauty of the area...if it wasn't full of screaming tourists of course! After the lake we went to a Cafe to wait for the skydivers, on their arrival one of the blokes told the tale of his parachute failure. He said that the first shute failed and had to be cut off by the instructor, and luckily for him the emergency shute worked - at least he got some more seconds of free fall. I asked him if he would do a skydive again and his response was "this one was enough".
Wanaka is the platform for Mt Aspiring National Park, and is absolutely stunning. People say that it is the relaxed and laid back equivalent to Queenstown, and in some ways i agree. We checked into the Wanaka Hotel and the three of us got a room to ourselves which
was good - it even had a TV (I watched Neighbours for the first time in donkeys). The Team Horse (Lucy and Alison) room were lucky enough to have a bath - so i hinted at a nice soak and my wish was granted - the first bath for 2 months! We then headed out for a walk to the lake, which is another stunner. The mountains surround the lake and the sunset was absolutely breathtaking. The little jetty that juts out so that people can dive off of it was ideal for us and our mucking about. We later headed to the bar across the road for a couple of drinks and some games of pool - whoever was on Alison's team had no chance of winning in the game of doubles!
As i had heard all good things about Wanaka we decided to stay an extra day (and to get away from some of our bus). After sorting out the hire car and accomodation for Milford Sound, we headed down to the lake to do some kayaking. After bartering our Kayaks for 2hrs we set off up the lake. We all had a race on one of the
Ford Festiva
The car driven to Milford sections through the yachts and boats, but that all went to pot when Mark and myself who were leading Chris collided and got held up leaving him to race through to the finish. Mark soon could'nt be bothered to continue any further and just swam around and stayed on the beach. Chris and I continued on hoping to get to a remote area across a bay. Unfortunately with water and mountains, distances can be underestimated - as was the case. Chris came up along side me and said that we only had 50mins to get back and we were not even half way there, so we had to head back. After kayaking solid for about 15mins we made our way back to Mark who was sodding around on one of the beach areas - he tried to tip my kayak up as i approached, but i protested that i had my wallet in my bag so he let me go. After going for a toilet break i returned to see my kayak floating aaway in the lake - Mark had pulled it off the beach and let it go, which meant i had to go and swim after it. As
Milford Sound
Unbelievably Gorgeous i was dragging my kayak along the beach (after i recovered it) i had my worst accident so far on my travels. Mark was also coming in from the lake and threw his paddle towards the beach - unfortunately in the section i was walking at. The paddle fizzed under the kayak, passed my left leg and slammed into my right ankle milliseconds before it would have hit the ground. I immediately felt an agonising pain and went down - i did think something was broke, especially at the force of the impact. Chris who is a nurse was on hand to help out, but after about a minute the pain strangely subsided, leaving only a line where the paddle had slammed into my ankle. I still managed to get my tirade of anger towards Mark out the way, although it generally was an accident - i think i shouted a fair bit of abuse at him! To get him back Chris set Mark's Kayak out on its own to float away, it did go quite far and then we kayaked back leaving Mark languishing. Before we dropped the Kayak off, a Catamaran was anchored down - i thought it
would be fun to kayak underneath it, until i reached about halfway and had to lie completely flat to just get under the thing.
Later on we just chilled out and relaxed - a bit of swimming, photos etc etc.
Unfortunately because this website continually wants to pi$$ me off - my extensive write-up for Queenstown/Milford Sound has been lost and i'm going to have to write it again - COMING SOON!!!
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Ian and Rhoda
non-member comment
Update? It's a novel!
Thanks for the update Paul. We were wondering what had happened to you! Glad you're having a good time. Post more soon. xx