Day 168 to 170 - Mt Cook and Christchurch

Leaving Queenstown was hard, partly because of all the amazing people I was leaving behind, and also because there is so much to do I would love to stay longer. However, the drive up to Mt Cook was another breathtaking journey. We stopped at Lake Pukaki where you get a perfect view of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman in the background, and the water is the bluest you have ever seen. It's unique because of the particals that are carried down off the mountains blah blah blah - it's big and sparkly :-) . After taking a few essential photos everyone just didn't move because you know you'll never remember exactly how blue it was. It was pretty cool where we stayed at the base of Mt Cook too. There's a 2 hour walk to a lake at the base of the glacier which has a couple of streams feeding it and huge blocks of ice just floating around. The only down side is that all the dirt and rocks get washed off the moutain sides so the ice has a layer of grey/brown covering it. After a rain storm I imagine all that dust would be washed away and the ice would no doubt look spectacular.

After an amazing nights sleep - and a bath! (Baths are a luxury travelling) - we headed for Rangitata. The hostel however had overbooked itself and so a few of us volunteered to stay in Christchurch instead. It was a bit of a fiasco to be honest. First we got to the hostel we were NOT staying at and it was lovely (luckily we had a couple of hours there so I didn't miss out on much in the end). Then on our way to Christchurch we had the most miserable driver ever who told us, when it was too late, that the hostel we were going to was a dump, right in the middle of nowhere, and he couldn't understand why we wanted to go there. Well Mr Miserable, we didn't want to go there, we just didn't have time to really search around, but thank you for stressing us out and then refusing to drop us somewhere else. Anyway, in true 'Up Yours' fashion I went and had an amazing night regardless of what he'd said. Oh, did I forget to mention it was St Paddys day :-) . I had only been in the hostel about half an hour when I found myself playing f*** the dealer with the people already staying there, and naturally I ended up being the dealer who got f***ed the most and drank my entire bottle of red wine in about 10 minutes. Sweet as. Then it was onto some good old Irish whiskey, a trip to the local regae bar, and then back for more whisky. It was an awesome night! The guys were all a good laugh and after speaking to everyone that stayed in Rangitata, in the cold, watching telly, I am fairly confident I made the right decision going to Christchurch.

Anyway... as much as I love recapping on drunken antics I also have to say a little about Christchurch itself. Driving in you can almost feel the change in the atmosphere. There are orange cones and work in progress signs literally everywhere you look. A lot of roads are closed, and the ones that aren't have settled into a kind of wave formation. Closer to the centre of town there are barriers up around buildings, whole blocks of buildings in fact, because they're not safe anymore. We drove past one block that looked OK, until we moved around to the back, and it's just rubble. Even the headstones by the graves have cracked or fallen over. It's just a very sad sight.

Day 166/167 - Queenstown gets even better

So Queenstown really is as lovely as Jane said. Its the adventure capital of the world but that only applies if you can afford it. For the cheap skates of the world though there is the luge (mini bumper car style contraptions that you ride down the hill over and over again). Then there is Milford Sounds, where I went today, and it is even more stunning than the amazing views you get travelling down the west coast of the South island, and trust me, the coastal roads are fabulous. The landscape is breathtaking and you can't help but stop and stare in wonder all day long. I have come to realise now that New Zealand has an amazing ability to make you feel tiny, and insignificant, and it's one of the best feelings in the world.

Now... onto the news my fingers are itching to write about. Yesterday I had a fabulous surprise. I came into my room midday and did a double take when I saw an extra suitcase sitting innocently at the end of one of the beds. There is only one person that could go travelling with that bulging beast of a case with a cute hair bobble tied to it just in case it found itself with a twin in the airport. So I then spent a while running around like a lunatic looking for the owner of said case and eventually gave up realising later in the day the owner would no doubt return to the room with the suitcase. So... I waited... I enjoyed my day... and when I walked back into my room... Rachel was there, with a scream matching mine as we met each other for the first time since Oz. Oh what a glorious day! I can not even begin to describe how excited I was. Naturally we talked each others ears off for a few hours or so before calming down (slightly) and venturing out for the night. We hit up Fergburger first - an amazing burger shop in the centre that is constantly bulging at the seems with customers dying to taste there enormous feasts. I had a "Sweet Bambi" burger and if that's what dear can taste like i'm not sure i'll ever feel bad for bambi's mum again. From there it was drink time, Rach and Cass style :-) . Lots of different bars, lots of drinks, lots of dancing, and even more laughter :-D .

Day 164/165 - Franz Joseph to Queenstown

Hello, Jane here, today I am the writer of this blog, you know to mix things up. In today's episode I shall tell the story of how Cassie and I (or shall I say Cathy ; ) ) made our journey from Franz Joseph glacier to Queenstown. First off however we spent two nights in Franz Joseph- basically just a very small town where there is not much else to do other than spend all of your money on walking towards/climbing up/flying over and falling towards the glacier, still it's pretty beautiful and who wouldn't want to spend some quality time with essentially a huge block of ice. Anyway we spent our day in Franz Joseph doing a one day hike through the glacier valley and onto the glacier itself which was pretty cool, the weather was kind of cloudy so we couldn't really see the mountains which was a shame but navigating and climbing through the ice was fun. 

The next day we had decided to hitchhike to queenstown, well I had decided to hitchhike and Cassie kind of had no choice, the reason being that the stray people had decided that Cassie was no longer worthy of being on the bus that she had paid for and deleted her from the list instead. Sweet as! So being the good samaritan I am I decided to donate my own seat to another person whom had also been deleted and accompany Cassie on a hitch hiking journey. It was a much more appealing option to be honest as that meant we could sleep in and not have to stop the bus a million times over to take pictures or go to the atm or get coffee or stop for the toilet etc etc. So after a good sleep and some brekkie we set off and picked a spot just 5 minutes down the road where we would get our thumbs wiggling (like I said it was a small town). The sky was so clear and blue and the mountains looked quite amazing, these kind of days have been a rarity so far so it was certainly a mood lifter for the sun to make an appearance. After feeling a bit daft about sticking my thumb out I began to feel more comfortable and after only around 20 min we got a lift, direct to Queenstown, score! The guy was some middle aged kiwi who was heading that way to pick up a boat, there was some chat about him owning a farm and whatever but I wasn't really paying attention, the chat was a bit awkward but he was nice enough and we appreciated the ride. We also passed the stray bus a couple hours in (suckerrs) and arrived in Queenstown 2 hours before them. We also hitched another ride into town to where we were going to stay by a little old man, this time it took approximately 2 minutes... why the hell have I been paying for buses!! OK I think I may be writing too much of an essay. To conclude the drive here was really stunning and Queenstown really is as lovely as people say it is.

Tomorrow I shall be leaving Cassie to head further south so thanks pet for letting me share the food :P x

Day 157 to 163 - Wellington and across to the South Island

I fear I have left it way too long to update this blog. There is just so much going on over here that the minute I stop running around I fall asleep almost instantly. Having so much to do also means that there is a lot to write about so I am having to be very selective and only writing about the most superb moments. One of which was a small town called Bulls that we passed through after leaving Tongariro. It was unforgetabull - get it?! For some unknown reason the town is obsessed with bulls and so likes to get the word into anything and everything. We stopped at the I site where it is 'park-a-bull', 'inform-a-bull'. The bins all ask you to be 'respons-a-bull', if you need the police you can go to the 'const-a-bull station', and the estate agents advertise 'No Bull'. They even have a sign post directing you to Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, just in case your bull is feeling lonely. Like I said anything and everything.

From there we hit Wellington where you can do an amazing Lord of the Rings tour and pretend to be a hobbit :-) . Oh yeah, I was a happy little geek that day. The national museum, Te Papa, is also amazing. It's got some amazing displays, including the worlds largest squid, and there is a lot of interactive displays so silly children like me don't get too bored :-) . Also, it's free, bonus. In the evenings I got to enjoy another stray family meal, a few drinks around town, a free mini circus in the rain, and midnight projections on the side of the museum.

Next stop, after a horribly long, rough, and cold, ferry crossing was Abel Tasman national park. The start of our south island trip, and what a start it was. The north island is beautiful, but the south island is just more dramatic. Larger lakes, beaches, mountains, open spaces, etc. Since i'm once again running low on money we decided to avoid paying for trips and just went for a relaxed walk through the rain forest and found a lovely little beach to chill out on for the afternoon. Then in the evening we were treated to another free barbeque, followed by drinking around the fire, and finally retiring to our tents. Yes. Tents. No nice warm hostel rooms tonight. We thought we'd get back to nature a bit (and save money) and freeze our bums off. It was good fun though, and it made us way more appreciative of all the dorm rooms we usually stay in.
The next big stop from here is Franz Joseph however that is a very long drive so stray stops half way in Greymouth. It's a tiny town, with not a lot happening. So it's the last place you'd expect to have an awesome and crazy night. Then again, travelling has taught me to expect the unexpected. The bar in our hostel had a deal on drinks IF you came dressed in bin bags :-) . Everyone looked amazing (that is everyone that took part :-P ) and needless to say there were a lot of drinks consumed. There was also an outing to another bar in town, a skate park, a good old bit of lamp post climbing, and finally a raging hangover as punishment.
On top of the hangover this is where stray failed :-( . A simple mix up with paperwork and the people at stray decided I never got on the bus on the south island and so cancelled all further bookings and gave my seat to someone else. Leaving me a little stranded and with a strict travelling schedule to keep to. Great. The solution... hitch hiking with a canadian guy who was also abandoned by stray. It is here then that I leave you. I am in Franz Joseph waiting for the stray bus to arrive (apparently getting lifts off three different people is quicker than getting the bus), HA :-D .

Day 156 - Tongariro Crossing

The day I spent walking the Tongariro crossing is by far one of the best days of my life. We nearly didn't do it at all. The weather had been so bad the day before they had cancelled all crossings and so we had all gone to sleep praying the weather had cleared the next day. It hadn't. All the signs said no crossings. But then... a wonderful man arrived who runs the guided walks. We wern't having a guide because they cost about $300 but he arrived and offered to walk on ahead of us for free to check it was safe. We were exstatic, and luckily he decided we were competent enough and never told us to turn around. This also meant there was no one else doing the walk and getting in our photos, and the weather brightened up almost as soon as we started walking.

It's rated in the top 10 one day walks in the world and I can see why. The walk begins on a small dirt track leading away from the car park and imediately you are awe inspired by the landscape. Here it is fairly flat with masses of vegetation spreading out over the rocky ground and the colours are amazing. It almost doesn't look real, like you are walking through a movie set. Eventually you come to what they call the devils stair case. It's not the most fun part of the walk as the name would suggest, but the moment you feel your legs giving up you turn around to see the view and you forget all about your aches and pains. Beyond this the walk is pretty easy, and you have the view of the volcanoes rising up to keep you going. We were actually very lucky to be doing the walk just after bad weather as it meant the snow was still very fresh, just adding to the spectacular scenery. The terain is just out of this world, because, lets be honest, how often do you walk over active volcanoes? Once at the top you can't help but feel like you are on top of the world. I felt totally free.

Coming down the other side was interesting as the ground is very unstable and the wind was trying desperately to push us over the edge :-\ . A lot of that section was spent on our bums waiting out the wind. At the base of the hill are the emerald lakes and you really can't imagine how green they are until you're there. Even the different colours in the rocks are amazing, including the Red crater, which is, funnily enough, a really bright, rich, red. The final leg of the walk is down through wild alpine vegetation and into the rainforest. This itself would be a lovely walk as you get amazing views over lake Taupo, you walk through fields where the grass is taller than you, and then you come to the beautiful waterfalls in the forest.

Magical, is just one of the words I would use to describe the day.

ps. Staying at the park meant we could jump straight into the hot tubs when we got back :-)

Day 151 to 155 - Straying around NZ

My adventure kicked of with a bang. Which was lucky since anything less wouldn't have overcome how tired I was (5am starts are not my friend). Our driver/guide is called 'Lucky' and she's fabulous. She kept us entertained and awake all morning and then kept us going until the evening with the promise of a free BBQ! - and it wasn't a typical free BBQ where you can have one burger, one sausage, and some salad. There was a ridiclous amount of all types of meat, a range of amazing sides to go with it, and bananas with chocolate for dessert (which I didn't get because I gave up chocolate for lent... bad move).

Our first big stop was Hahei where we took an hour walk to Cathedral Cove. It's the beach used in Prince Caspian and it is very pretty :-) . We even found a little cave to have a peek in, but we got out not long after when the tide threatened to trap us. Then later we took another trip out to Hot Water Beach, which surprise surprise is a beach with hot water :O . Sarcasm aside it is very impressive. There are too hot springs that are pushing up under the beach and at low tide they're exposed so you can go down with a shovel, dig your self a large hole, and bath in the very hot water. Or... you can go a little later and steal the holes other people have already dug :-) .

Day two of my straying and we were up bright and early (normal person early this time) travelling from the East coast to Raglan, on the West coast. The town is very much a surfers town and the place we're staying is right up into the bush. It's hidden away from civilisation and another perfect spot to just chill out and surf. From there we headed to Waitomo with its amazing caves and glow worms - which are technically "maggots with shiny shit", but they're prettier if you think of them as glow worms. I did the tubing adventure through the caves and discovered i'm not as terrified of tight spaces as I thought :-) . Though army crawling over rocks isn't as easy as it seems. When all that was over and we were well and truely exhausted we headed to Maketu to stay in a Maori meeting house. Whilst there we choose a chief and waited for him to accept our invitation into the tribe while a small boy yelled and thrust a spear at him, learnt the Haka and poi, slept on the floor in the meeting room, and woke up to Abba playing through the building :-\ ... yeah, that part just didn't quite fit. The next day was possibly the worst day so far... including the day I had my wisdom teeth out. We stopped off in Rotorua for the afternoon, a place famous for its geothermal activity, and it was disgusting. The smells that wafted around made me feel sick a couple of times. The town itself is lovely and quaint, and there are loads of activities available, but the smell... it's just indescribable. Oh and guess what, on my way back to Auckland I will be staying overnight in Rotorua. Yay. Look forward to that update. Lake Taupo was the final destination for this day and it is pretty impressive. Hard to believe it's a lake when you can't see the other side. Then from here we drove straight to Tongariro national park, which is where I am now, and it is snowing. Yes people, it's snowing. I am currently relaxing in a gorgeous lodge by the fire, with all my amazing new friends, looking forward to our group meal tonight and some classic card games :-) . I feel very much at home right now and it's a fabulous feeling :-) .