I landed in Auckland without really any kind of plan as to what I would be doing. I had a flight in and a flight out as well as a few days accommodation to start off with. The flight and everything went pretty smoothly and eventually I was checked into a nice quiet hostel just outside of town (minus a slight confusion about what room I had actually booked). Quite a bit of my time was just spent doing some research about the best ways to see New Zealand (and the West Coast of the USA) in the relatively short time I had available to me. I had a bit of a wander around the city and down to waterfront as well as visiting the (quite impressive) Auckland Museum which is set in the Domain (basically a botanic garden) which was especially nice considering the lovely weather as well as heading up to the top of the Sky Tower and catching a film as part of the Auckland International Film Festival (at the suggestion of my cousin). I also met up with my cousin Katherine for lunch which was great as it had been a number of years since I had last seen her. Unfortunately she was extremely busy at the time so we decided that we might try and catch up again before I flew out of Auckland in a few weeks. Eventually I decided that I quite fancied a simple trip through New Zealand where I wouldn't have to make too many decisions about things like where to go and where to stay so I would use a hop-on hop-off backpacker bus service. In New Zealand there are three main options, Magic Bus, Stray Bus and the Kiwi Experience. After a bit of research I established that Magic Bus is mainly older people and very relaxed, Kiwi Experience attracts a lot of Gap Year people and is more lively and Stray is somewhere in between. I had heard from some people that Kiwi Experience could end up being a bit of a party bus and can be full of people whose only aim is to drink as much as possible so I opted for Stray (especially as they had a sale with several hundred dollars off the majority of the passes) and booked to leave on a bus that Thursday.
I wasn't really 100% sure what to expect from such a trip so it was with a little trepidation that I boarded the bus early on Thursday morning. It seemed that quite a few people on the bus were not morning people so it began slowly, with our driver Tutu (nickname, clearly) trying to convince us to be sociable. I needn't have worried though, since by the time we reached a waterfall (the first of many) called Bridal Veil Falls we were all getting along nicely. It turned out that the vast majority of our bus were either English, Irish or German, a theme that was to continue throughout the trip. In winter Stray operates smaller buses (seating 24ish) which was really nice because it made it a bit more cosy than having 10 people on a 50-seater.
Our first proper stop was in a place called Raglan on the west coast of the North Island which is a hotspot for surfing apparently (although there wasn't much of a surf that day). The weather was less than stellar so no-one really felt particularly energetic and we ended up spending the evening watching films and getting to know each other (accompanied by a fine bangers & mash cooked by Tutu) while we watched the rain outside.
It was another early-ish start the next day as we headed over to Waitomo for some exciting cave-related activities. The majority of people picked to do a caving adventure named Haggis Honking Holes (or something) and it wasn't long before we headed off in a minibus down to near the cave entrance to get geared up in our wetsuits, harnesses and wellies. After a quick rundown on how abseiling works we got down to the business at hand. It was an awesome experience, and quite different to my last caving adventure in the Philippines (there I was dressed in shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops). There was some abseiling, some rock climbing, some crawling (and almost swimming) and lots of getting wet. We were constantly emptying our wellies which kept being filled up by waterfalls and large pools in the bottom of caves. It was really good fun and we also managed to spy a number of glow-worms (after we had turned all our torches off and were in the pitch black). Once we had made our way back up out and had showered and changed, we were back in the bright orange Stray bus to make our way over to Maketu where we would be spending the night in a marae. A marae is a traditional Maori communal building where they would meet and socialise. The one we were staying at was only a family one, but we were still expected to follow some of their traditions. On arrival we were greeted by Uncle Boy who is in charge. He invited us into the kitchen/dining room for a chat and some dinner before that evening's activities. As part of understanding the Maori traditions our bus was essentially treated as a visiting tribe which meant that we would have to undergo a kind of ceremony of greeting. There were only two guys on our bus (other than Tutu), and since I was older I was to act as chief for the purposes of the evening, which was certainly a new experience. It began with one of their tribe issuing a challenge which was a little disconcerting as he danced around with a spear-like thing being intimidating (although he was only 10) and then placing a token (a leaf in this case) on the floor which I had to pick up without breaking eye contact, which meant we could then be accepted as friends and then go and greet each member individually by touching noses and saying 'Kia Ora'. With those formalities out of the way we watched some demonstrations before us guys (all 3 of us including Tutu) went off to go and learn the Haka. After stripping down and putting on some inadequate grass skirt things we got straight into it. As chief I was supposed to lead the Haka and after a lot of shouting and thigh-slapping (we had massive bruising on our thighs afterwards and for the next few days) we had mastered enough to perform to the girls. Once we had finished they performed what they had learned with the poi (basically a ball on string) before we were treated to some traditional Maori songs. When it was over we chilled out and caught the end of the NZ v. Fiji rugby match on TV before heading to bed on mattresses which we had laid out on the floor of the marae.
The next day was yet again a fairly early start (definitely felt like one anyway) as we headed off to Rotorua, famed for it's geothermal activity. All the girls had opted to go for a spa session in the mud baths and hot springs (surprise, surprise), but Ed (the other guy on the bus) and I decided we would instead just go for a walk around the lake and some of the geothermically active areas. It was quite a nice stroll in the end and it was amazing to see the volatility of the earth and smell the sulphur being spewed out of bubbling pools. It was quite spectacular really. After a spot of picking up/dropping off people (I had in the end decided to stay on the bus for the entire time because I was a little pushed for time and wanted to see and do as much as possible) we were off to Taupo and the biggest lake in New Zealand via Huka Falls (another waterfall). There was the option to go skydiving in Taupo which a few of us were quite keen to do, but on arrival the weather wasn't great so we decided to save it and go somewhere else with hopefully better weather. That night we were staying the centre of Taupo and after a nice (and cheap) dinner in the hostel we had a pretty good night out, which was really good for getting to know each other a little better.
Unfortunately the next day was yet another fairly early start but we managed to rouse ourselves for the journey to a place called Blue Duck Lodge, a 9,000 acre environmentally minded working farm up in the hills in one of the remoter parts of the North Island. It was quite a beautiful place, only slightly less so because of the overcast weather. Most people had either opted to go walking by themselves or on a 4WD safari, but Tutu, Ed, Kerry (who we had picked up in Rotorua) and I opted for something a little bit different and went out to shoot goats. On the farm goats are a pest because of the damage they can cause to the environment. As such, most people on the farm carry a rifle with them when out working and will shoot goats if they see them. It was definitely a new experience, I had used a rifle before but never in a hunting context. We didn't have the best luck finding goats (although apparently there had been loads earlier) but we still did pretty well and managed to get 7 or so in the afternoon. Everyone got at least one (except for Ed who seemed to strangely struggle to see down the scope properly) and we saw a few of them being gutted out in the field before we took them back with us. On our return we had a tasty goat curry (not the same goats as we shot) before eventually heading to bed for an even earlier start the next day.
We were up before 6am the next morning for a short drive over to the Tongariro National Park where a group of us wanted to attempt the hike called the Tongariro crossing. We had been told the night before that it was supposed to be the coldest day of the winter so far and it wasn't particularly likely that we would be able to make it all the way over the crossing, but we were still game to give it a go. After kitting ourselves out with all the proper gear (everything from waterproof jackets and fleeces to crampons and ice axes) and after a short drive into the park we began our trek. The first part was pretty easy, it was mostly flat and a lot of it was over boardwalks, but we slowly climbed up 300 meters over 5km or so of walking. This brought us to the bottom of the mountains themselves. At this point it was pretty overcast and visibility wasn't great but we could just about make out Mt. Ngauruhoe (more commonly known as Mt. Doom from LOTR) towering above us. From there it became a little bit more tricky as we began to climb another 300m, but this time over just 1km. It was made all the harder by a very strong wind and some pretty damn icy patches. We slowly moved forward and eventually made it up to South Crater at about 1700m. Up above us we could see Red Crater, the highest point of the crossing (almost 1900m) but it was decided that we wouldn't be able to make it much further because we had made pretty slow going and the fierce wind would make it quite dangerous up on Red Crater. Instead we carried on along the flat area of South Crater only to discover that the igloo we had been promised for lunch had collapsed in the last few days. Unperturbed we ate our lunches as best we could (and as quickly) before starting our journey back. Amazingly, as we began our descent from South Crater, the weather began to clear and we were rewarded with stunning views down to where we had started as well as across the park. As we descended we could clearly see the main peaks of the park, Tongariro, Ruapehu (ski fields) and Ngauruhoe and the surrounding area, the whole trip was worth it just for those views. The weather had also eased off enough that it was quite a pleasant descent and return to where we were picked up, and after returning our gear we headed over to the place we were staying (which was actually amazing) and where the rest of the Stray bus had spent the day relaxing in front of the open fires. On our way there the weather turned sour again and brought in a bit of a snowstorm which didn't really relent at all that evening. Although there were even outdoor hot-tubs I didn't really fancy braving them and after a hot shower and a good meal passed the evening in front of the fire.
We were on the move again the next day as we continued our journey south to Wellington. It wasn't a particularly exciting day as it was mostly spent travelling, but we eventually arrived in the evening and after quickly dumping our bags in the room where we were to spend the night, Kerry and I hastened over to the Te Papa museum which is supposed to be one of the best museums in the country, especially with regards to Maori culture. It didn't disappoint and although we only had an hour and a bit to spend there we both emerged satisfied and feeling as if we had come to a better understanding of New Zealand, it's history and the Maori people.
Since we were going to have another fairly early morning we turned in reasonably early to catch a shuttle over to the ferry terminal where we were about to leave the North Island behind and head across the Cook Strait to the South Island and Picton. It was a lovely journey with almost perfect weather and some great views especially of the Marlborough Sounds on the South Island. After a few hours on the boat we reached Picton where we spent a bit of time picking up a few people (by this time the bus was getting considerably fuller than it had been) before passing through Marlborough wine country on to the town of Nelson. After a brief stop here to drop off and pick up people (including saying goodbye to Kerry) we headed on to Marahau, located on the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park (via a supermarket stop for supplies in Motueka). That night we managed to take over the communal area and scare off the other few people staying there and had a lovely dinner together including some fresh local mussels prepared by Tutu and a few beers to wash them down.
It made a nice change the following day to not have to worry about travelling anywhere, and a bunch of us headed off on a Kayaking/Walking/Sailing adventure. After being kitted up in the appropriate gear we paired up and began a kayaking trip past some amazing scenery (including glimpsing a number of seals sunbathing on the rocks). The weather was perfect and calm and it was a lovely way to spend a morning. After a couple of hours or so we reached our destination beach where we stopped for lunch and to strip off the kayaking gear. From there we bade farewell to our kayak guide and had a pleasant stroll up over the headland (taking in yet more fantastic views) to the other side where we were to meet up with the sailing boat (although certain members of the group may have found it more hard work than others...). On reaching the beach on the other side we met those people who had opted just for the full day's sailing and it wasn't too long before we were all aboard the catamaran (very aptly named 'Stray Cat') and heading out into the bay. Unfortunately the calm weather that had been so nice earlier in the day wasn't quite so helpful at this point as there wasn't enough wind to run under sail to start with, but after moving further away from shore and out of shelter it did pick up enough for us to enjoy some very peaceful sailing (even if the wind was a little bit chilly) and we headed around the bay spotting some more seals before taking in Split Apple Rock and to our final destination where we were returned to our hostel by minibus. All in all it was a wonderful relaxing day followed by a relaxing evening and a tasty Mexican meal (which was probably a good thing considering the next day's plans).
It began with an even earlier start for a few of us (Ed, Mickey and I) as, after the disappointment of Taupo, we were going skydiving. To be honest I wasn't really that nervous about it, maybe because I hadn't really spent much time thinking about it. Upon arrival at the airfield we were shown a DVD, asked to sign our life away, weighed and before we knew it we were kitted up and sitting in a tiny little plane with only space for 6 people making our way up to 16500ft. It felt like we barely had time to marvel at the scenery before we were breathing oxygen from masks and the light was going green. The door was hauled open and the rush of cold air hit me (although I didn't really feel cold because of the amount of adrenaline running through my body). The cameraman got out onto the rail on the side of the plane and my tandem master and I shuffled over to the exit until I was dangling over the edge, held only by my harness to my partner. A quick pose for photos followed before we were out, beginning our 75 seconds of freefall. It was definitely one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Most of the freefall just felt like I was lying on a cushion of air since you don't really get any sense of the ground rushing up towards you. It apparently lasted 75 seconds but to me it felt more like 10 and before I knew it the parachute had been pulled and we were drifting slowly down to earth. The views are almost indescribable, seeing the tops of snow-capped mountains and all the way across the Marlborough Sounds to the North Island was amazing. It was all over too soon and we touched down, adrenaline still pumping through my veins. I do have both photos and videos of the experience so everyone can have a good laugh at my expense...
After such an exciting morning we spent most of the rest of the day making our way over to the West Coast and down to Greymouth including a stop at Pancake Rocks (named because they look like stacks of pancakes; also interesting because of the 'blow-holes' in the tops of some of them). After having checked into where we were staying, most of us headed off for a brewery tour of Monteith's. Unfortunately it wasn't actually much of a tour as they were going through a significant amount of renovations, but we did watch an interesting DVD about the history of the brewery and how the process works. After this there came the most important part, the tasting. The beer wasn't quite up to European standards but it was some of the best I had tried while travelling and everyone got stuck into it. Following this we headed over to a restaurant where I had some of the BEST fish and chips I have ever tried. We hung around after eating for a few drinks but it appeared that some of the more 'mature' locals has started earlier than us and we were soon receiving plenty of abuse for not getting up and dancing, so after a while we decided to call it a night and left.
We awoke to a decidedly better-looking day (it had been miserable and drizzly when we had arrived in Greymouth the night before) but ended up not taking advantage of it and just having a lazy morning before our departure in early afternoon. Our next stop was Franz Josef, home of the mighty Franz Josef glacier and after booking our activities for the next day we had dinner and realised that it was in fact Saturday and the All Blacks were playing South Africa in the Tri-Nations and conveniently the Rainforest Retreat (where we were staying) was showing the match in their bar (called Monsoon; their tagline is 'It rains... We pour...'). That was pretty much how we spent the rest of the evening before calling it an early night to ensure we had enough energy for the exertions of the next day.
Most of the people on the bus had decided that they were going to do either a Full-day or Half-day hike on the glacier, but I decided to spend my Sunday doing something slightly different, Ice Climbing. It's a similar concept to rock climbing except with ice, massive crampons and a pair of ice axes to haul yourself up. I've always enjoyed a bit of climbing so I thought I'd give this a go as I didn't know if I'd ever have the chance again. It was awesome but exhausting and extremely satisfying when you managed to make it up to the top of the ice wall. We hiked up onto the glacier to start with and then spent the day climbing up crevasse walls of varying difficulty. Definitely something I'd do again. After hiking back down and getting back to the town we were pretty exhausted and spent the evening in the bar telling tales of our expeditions and watching a few rather entertaining games of pool.
For most of us it wasn't too early a morning, but some people had opted to go and skydive over neighbouring Fox Glacier (supposedly one of the most scenic jumps but not as high as Abel Tasman) so they were up and gone already by the time we were loading our bags onto the bus. We met up with them later that morning at Lake Matherson, a truly spectacular lake because it is incredibly reflective and acts like a mirror which is especially impressive when you have Mt Cook and Mt Tasman not too far away. After fuelling up on a big breakfast there we moved on through the Haast Pass to a place called Makarora nestled in between mountain ranges. The plan for after dinner (a rather tasty lamb shank) that night was karaoke which was great fun (apart from when the barman/DJ person got moody and told us to leave because we weren't buying enough drinks). Some highlights included Tutu singing Mysterious Girl and almost all the girls singing Don't Stop Me Now. Of course there is also video and photographic evidence of this.
On our way towards the snow of Queenstown we stopped in Wanaka, home of the lake of the same name... at least a few people did... Most of us visited Puzzling World, a crazy place full of mazes, optical illusions and other such oddities. It was awesome fun. We did have a brief 15 minute look at the lake afterwards while waiting to pick up people, but I think Puzzling World wins.
Our next stop was Queenstown which is apparently one of the most exciting places in New Zealand, pretty any kind of adventure sport you can think of can be done there and there's quite a substantial nightlife for when you've finished whatever exciting thing you've been doing. Just outside Queenstown is the A.J. Hackett Bungy Centre which is where bungy jumping first became a commercial activity. We all first watched Dave and Tutu throw themselves off the 40-something metre high bridge before those of us brave (or crazy) enough went and signed up to do jumps of our own. Earlier in the journey Tutu had held a quiz where the prize was 2-for-1 on the Nevis Arc, a 300m swing across a canyon including 70m of freefall. Dave and I had won said quiz so I was always going to give that a go. It wasn't long however (about 20 minutes) before I had convinced myself to also do the Nevis Bungy, the highest one in NZ (134m, with 8.5 seconds of freefall). We booked all this in for Thursday and since it was only Tuesday we put it to the back of our minds for now. On arrival into Queenstown we checked in and then headed over to sort out our ski trip for Wednesday. We had heard that the weather was forecast to be perfect, blue skies, sunshine and barely a breath of wind so the majority of people signed up and hired equipment for the trip up to the Cardrona ski fields. That night Tutu led us on a good night out, starting with pizza and ending up trying 'teapots' (essentially a cocktail mix in a teapot). As always this was well-documented.
We were up at the crack of dawn the next day (how unusual...) to catch our bus up to the Cardrona ski fields and after an hour or so of steep winding roads we reached them. It had been quite a while since I had last skied (7 years maybe?) but everyone says it's like riding a bike, you never forget. With that in mind I strapped on my skies and started off with a couple of green runs (interestingly in NZ there is no red, just green, blue and black which made it a little harder to judge...) and soon it came back to me. That's no to say I didn't have any falls, there were definitely a few (including a spectacular wipeout at the end when I had tired legs and was going over a rather hard, icy patch) but it was great to do it again and remember how much fun it is (when you haven't got snow everywhere). By the end of the day I was pretty shattered (and everyone else seemed the same) although I did have a good catch-up with Tom (from Cairns) on the bus after running into him and Viktoria (not literally) in the queue for a chair-lift. After getting back to the hostel and having returned all our gear we wandered out in search of food and found some really good fish and chips just down the road from our hostel. After eating we did go out to Altitude and then World Bar but we didn't last very long after our epic day on the slopes and retired pretty early to rest up before we threw ourselves out of a cable-car.
On Thursday morning we had a lovely lie-in which made a great change from the last couple of weeks. After grabbing a bite to eat we went over to be picked up by the bus and taken out to the canyon where the bungy is. By this point my adrenaline had started to kick in and I just wanted to get up there and do it. Unfortunately they do it in weight order starting with the heaviest, so unsurprisingly I had to wait a while. Once we had been weighed several times and been fitted with a harness we boarded a small cable car to take us out to the bungy platform. There were maybe 12 people in total jumping so it took a while before it was my turn, during which I had the dubious pleasure of watching everyone else go first. Eventually it was my turn so I hopped up onto a reclining seat thing and had my feet fastened together and the bungy cord attached to my harness. From there it was just a short shuffle up to the edge, pausing only for a few photos, before the guy doing it counted down and said jump. With that I didn't think but just pushed myself off the edge. Like skydiving it is a bizarre experience but in a completely different way, you can see the ground rush up towards you but it doesn't feel real. It was such a thrill though, and I would definitely do it again sometime. Afterwards Ed and I got told to go back on the cable car as they could only have so many people on the platform at once. Returning to the main building I convinced Ed to do the swing with me in tandem. So after being weighed again we wandered out across a swaying bridge to the swing platform (quite nerve-wracking when you're almost shaking from adrenaline). There we were again harnessed up (opting to do it backwards) and moved out until we were suspended above the canyon. The operator man was just telling us what to do with our arms when he pressed the release button and we fell, screaming and cursing because it was so unexpected. Having said that it was AMAZING and I was almost tempted to spend the $35 to do it again there and then. It was awesome. I'm going to have to plan my next holiday with the next big thrill in mind...
We had decided that night to go out for a nice meal all together since quite a few of us had been on the bus together for a while and the next day some of us would be leaving while others stayed in Queenstown. It was an awesome night out and definitely a fitting way to part ways (and some great stories were written).
I had grown quite used to Queenstown by the time we left since we had spent 3 nights there, the longest of any stop while with Stray so it was a bit of an effort to convince myself to leave the next morning. From Queenstown we headed towards Mt. Cook, NZ's tallest mountain and were staying in a nice lodge that was once the first hotel in the area in Mt. Cook Village. By this point we were pretty shattered so I spent an afternoon relaxing and starting to catch up with this blog which had fallen far too far behind. It was a lovely place to visit though, and I would be tempted to come back and do a bit of hiking here sometime in the future.
From there we headed on to Rangitata (where you can normally raft, but not in winter) via Tekapo (home of a lake) and lunch at Geraldine. There we had a good vigorous walk before celebrating someone's birthday (and first legal drink) before a tasty dinner of Nachos, meat, salsa and guacamole and an evening watching films, playing cards, being massively beaten at table-tennis by Frank the Dutchman (of the pair Fwank and Wob) and finally watching our skydiving films (not as embarassing as it could have been). It was my last Stray evening and I think it was a great way to end a fantastic 18 days.
For good old times sake it was another early start as we headed straight to Christchurch where farewells were said and Frank and I headed to our accommodation which was actually in an old historic jailhouse. Despite this it was quite pleasant and although it was a brief stay (just the one night), it still left me with a good impression. After arriving, Frank and I went for a walk towards the city centre. You can't actually get into the city centre because of the damage caused by the earthquake but just walking past it gave us a pretty good idea of the devastation caused. A lot of the city felt like a bit of a ghost town, with few people around and no businesses open, showing quite how much it has affected the city and the community. We wandered through the Botanic Gardens for a bit before catching a bus back round to the Jailhouse and basically just chilling out (and reading even more books) for the rest of the day.
The next day was a similarly boring affair, although I did buy yet another book (which of course I have already read) and watched a bit of a film while also doing a bit of a catch up job on this blog. Then, that evening I caught a shuttle bus to the Airport to catch what I thought was my flight. Unfortunately I could tell by the look on the face of the girl at check-in that something wasn't quite right. After a bit of confusion it was established that I had somehow made the booking for the night before and had therefore clearly missed my flight. Feeling like a massive idiot I bought myself a new ticket for the flight that evening and eventually managed to get checked in. The rest of the flight was uneventful and I made it to Auckland where I caught a shuttle to Freeman's Lodge, the same place I had stayed last time I was in Auckland. I had a few days in Auckland, but I didn't really do a lot apart from read, relax, sleep and browse some souvenir shops. I had half-hoped to catch up with my cousin Katherine again but she was unfortunately really busy with work so I amused myself and tried to catch up on the sleep I had lost while with Stray. From there it was then a 12ish hour flight over to LA and the final country on my travels around the world...
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