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Published: March 28th 2008
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I take it back. YHA hostels are fantastic. At least this one in Wellington is. It's what all good hostels should aspire to be. There are endless lounge areas with more couches than Harvey Norman could shake a stick at, two huge spotless kitchens, giant mugs from which to drink my coffee, M&M machines everywhere, a tv room with the comfiest sofa from where I just watched Dr Phil and Oprah, and a rather lovely notice board in reception with 100 Free Things to do in Wellington. How thoughtful! And it gets all this praise despite the fact that we are staying in a shoebox with no windows that smells like a teenage boy's armpit. How the tables have turned.
However we didn't just jump from Ross to here; along the way there was a lot of driving, a ferry, one hump backed whale and even a bit of puking....where to start??? Our last destination on the South Island was Kaikoura, which is whale watching central. New Zealand is perfectly positioned along the migratory path for many different species of whale, so there are plenty of opportunities to catch a glimpse of a Free Willy or two. On the drive over
we stopped off at Hamner Springs, which is famous for its natural hot spas. We had a dip (it would be rude not to), but I wasn't all that impressed really, as it was all set out like a swimming pool complex, so I didn't really feel like there was anything "natural" to it. Plus the eggy smell (from the sulphur) and the heat kinda makes me feel queasy after a while. So on to Kaikoura....I was expecting it to be a lovely little town, buuuuuuuut it's not. It's grey and weird, and the weather was miserable the entire time we were there. We stayed in a cheap little motel just outside the centre (yet again all the hostels were booked out), and there really was nothing to do but pursue some whales.
Sibs wasn't really interested so myself and Claud hit the whale watching centre the next morning, and waited for our bus to the port. Alarm bells should have started ringing when we saw the "High Sea Sickness Warning" signs behind the info desk, but Claud said she was determined to go anyway. Uh oh. The boat was very impressive, and as usual I was completely underdressed (in
my defence it was a lovely morning before we went to sea!), and I was utterly frozen in my flip flops in no time. The boat bashed and bounced over the waves for about twenty minutes until we were over waters of great depths, by which time Claud had turned several shades of green. Poor Spuddy. She really is a puking champion, and she covers all the spectrums; nervous puking, excited puking, dodgy-smell related puking, hangover puking, car sickness, plane sickness, and of course, sea sickness. She spewed a total of three times before we were safely back on shore, the poor dote. But she was very polite and discreet each time! And god, she wasn't the only one - I can't remember the last time I saw so many people look so close to death. In between all the vomit we did manage to see a hump backed whale, and it even flipped it's tail up above the water, but my photos are crap and the whole experience was a little more like an endurance test than a pleasant excursion. Glad we did it, cos I would have been endlessly curious otherwise, but it was a tad over priced all in all.
The next day (Paddy's DAY!!!!) we got ourselves on the road and headed straight for Picton to catch the ferry to the North Island. We had decided we would spend our Patron Saints day in Wellington, NZ's capital, because surely if there was going to be an atmosphere anywhere, it would be there. The only problem was the only ferry we could get was at 1.15pm (even though we booked a week in advance), it takes at least three hours for the crossing, then we had to drive to the city and find our hostel, check in, and get ourselves out! So, LONG story short, it was 7 o'clock before we were in the pub (Molly Malones - where else??!), and not a speck of green amongst the three of us! We were an absolute disgrace to the nation, I must admit. And I have no excuses; it was a complete lack of planning. When we arrived in the pub we were surrounded by a sea of green tack - and I wouldn't mind but at least half of them weren't irish!!! I'm talking green beards, green hats, green face paint, green dresses - green EVERYTHING. And the three of us in the middle looking geared up for a normal night out. What a disaster. I can't count the amount of times someone asked me "Are you actually Irish??" Yes I feckin am! To add insult to injury, we ended up chatting to a group of English blokes for the night.... So not an entirely Irish Paddy's Day, more an international one, but a great night all the same.
Wellington doesn't seem to have all that much to offer, aside from dodgy irish pubs and good YHAs. Like all cities in New Zealand, it's small, and nothing would make a lasting impression on your memory. We took it fairly easy on the 18th (for obvious reasons) and just had a bit of a stroll around the city centre.
Over the next few days we'll be heading for Lake Taupo and Rotorua, which are two of the main attractions of the North Island. There's lots we want to do and see, so we'll be busy busy busy, but we're hoping we'll have a chance to throw ourselves out of a plane at some point......
The time for excuses is running out.....EEEEEeeeeesk!
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Eileen D
non-member comment
River Island Lodge
Well Chic, Great to get all the news, feel like I'm there too!! Thought I'd give you a name of a girl I know that runs a place in NewZeland called River Island Lodge not 100% sure town but I know it's north in the South Islands. Anyway if your passing by........... drop in her names Carol McKeever she's originally from Ardee!! Keep up the blog, great reading........... Eileen xoxo