South Island II

It was a while ago now but I'll continue from where I left off in my last entry, asssuming I can remember the stuff we did by now! So after the sperm whale exploits of my last entry, there was a southern right whale with calf swimming along the seashore in Kaikura's bay the next day! We meandered along the pebbly beach keeping up with the whale's progress for quite a long time, fantastic, it wasn't that far offshore at all either. Easy to see why this place is famous for its whales now! Many of the buildings in the town are decorated either with large paintings of whales on the walls or with big tail fins on their roof making it look like a whale is diving into the building.

Eventually we tore ourselves away from those whales to continue to our next destination, which we still hadn't decided on at the time; the choice between Christchurch, or a stretch further down the coast to Omaru where penguins lurk. We ended up in Omaru finally via a quick stop for lunch in Christchurch and a look around the city centre. We decided to press onwards immediately, not that Christchurch wasn't nice at all - just different priorities in limited time.

There are 2 colonies of the birds in Omaru apparently, blue penguins and rarer yellow-eyed penguins. I was dissapointed to find you have to pay to watch the blue penguins (not mentioned in our Lonely Planet), its a bit like having to pay to see pigeons in Edinburgh or Komodo dragons in Indonesia - Oh wait I did have to pay for those! Apparently the penguins were regarded as a nuisance before they became a tourist attraction. There is a viewing stand facing the colony where you can observe blue penguins coming back ashore in the evening. We would have gone to see them anyway if we hadn't been misinformed by our motel owner telling us the wrong best time to see them. (Early evening is the best time, not too late. Grr) We were lucky to find a couple of yellow eyed penguins the next morning tho, huddled up in a cranny at the base of a cliff on this lovely beach nearby the town. By the time we retraced our way back along the beach they had gone, waddled off to the sea for a spot of fishing presumably.

Not having enough time for the famed Milford Sound and Fiordland thing, we went inland to Wanaka in the mountains next. The drive through the mountains of the Southern Alps was awesome with its moutain views. And the serene beauty across lake Wanaka was captivating. We sat and gazed at the lake as the sun set, mesmerised by the changing light and reflections.

We also had our first encounter with Kea's, nearby at the at the triple cone ski resort. These large alpine parrots - keas, definately live up to their reputation, very cheeky, bags of character. Maria had been dying to see them ever since we arrived in New Zealand. They were hopping around and squawking their 'kea' call looking like they were up to no good, reminding me of naughty disney vultures.

Our next port of call was the isolated West coast and the glaciers. There are two main glaciers, the Frans Josef and the Fox Glacier, both of them snaking all the way down the mountains to quite low altitudes. You really have to see these things to appreciate the immensity of them I think. They held my fascination in a similar way to that of volcanoes, with that capablity of transforming and shaping the landscape. I was dying to walk right up to the glacier face and put my ear to it. I wanted to hear if it creaks and groans the way I imagine it to. It was from here that you get the amazing views of Aoraki too (the highest mountain in Australasia).



At night in Fox Glacier town Maria and I went to the forest to see gloworms. Its really strange you are in pitch darkness except you see bright constellations of pinpoint lights shining like stars, all around you. When you shine your torch on one you reveal it to be a thin wormy, caterpillar type thing with a glowing dot in its tail.


Heading up the west coast there is plenty of rainforest, it looks amazing the dense foilage of ferns, as Beck said, its a bit like tropical jungle. There are some pretty savage biting insects (sandflies I think), the bites take ages to go, I still have mine now. Its a lovely place to drive tho, the roads are very remote and quiet. There are several long, single track bridges to negotiate, a couple of which are shared with the train aswell. There didnt appear to be a way to tell if a train was coming either so you just have to put your foot down and leather it while hoping for the best.

Comin to the end of our trip we went into relaxation mode. As we headed back inland we stopped in Hamner springs for a couple of nights. You can bathe in volcanic hot springs surrounded by snowcapped mountain views. Ahhh nice! Great for relaxing and recuperating. The only annoyance was we couldn't go back for our second session we'd been looking forward because of a power cut in the town.

As we passed through Kaikura again on route to the ferry, Maria suggested another look down at the seafront. The southern right whales were back (or still there)!!! :-) Not only that but they were very exhubriant this time, leaping half out the water and making big splashes - breaching I think they call it. Nice birthday pressie for me. Our final activity on route back to Picton and the ferry was a bit of wine tasting and a tour of one of the big winearies in a town called Blenheim. Maria had a few gripes (not grapes) with the 'new world' way of doing things but the wine over here is pretty dam good, I'm a fan anyway. We took away a few bottles for later consumption.

Anyway thats me signing off this blog --- for real this time I reckon.

Adios y besitos

South Island

I was sure this blog ended ages ago. oh well! This one has been prompted by our explorations into New Zealand's South Island. My contract working in parliament has now ended, my new full time job is still over a week away... leaving time for another trip. Plenty of time for the drudgery of work later.

We arrived to Picton, which is in the north of the south island yesterday on the interislander ferry. the crossing is about 3 hours from Wellington and is beautiful and scenic. Especially as you come into South Island waters, you travel up this long channel, the water suddenly eery calm and surrounded by stark remote hillsides.

Armed with our trusty lonely planet guidebook, (generously donated by Beck and Dan, with all the highlights already studiously highlighted for us), we have begun heading South down the west coast and arrived in Kaikoura which is famous for whales. The pacific ocean here seems a wonderful vivid blue, there are huge long grey beaches of small pebbles and a gorgeous snowy mountain backdrop (which has stubbornly remained hidden in clouds so far, except for a tantalizing glimpse we got at the end of our whale watching trip).

We've already been ticking many of our boxes and its only day one. After stopping on the side of the road for a bite to eat at a picnic stop I decided to have a look at the seashore and almost stood right on top of a large fur seal! It was chilling out rather far away from the sea shore on the grass near the car park. So tick, fur seals done. Actually there were loads of fur seals when we looked closer, many rocks not rocks at all but yet more fur seals. All looking cute, yawning and scratching themselves and stuff.

We went on the whale spotting trip at Kaikura, its not exactly cheap ($125 each) but worth it I reckon mainly because you are contributing to the idea of whales being better value alive rather than hunted. And part of the money also goes to the Maoris (its a tribal run organisation) and part goes to the research of whales aswell. Of course you get to see whales too and they are amazing.

We saw two huge sperm whales doing their spouting and stuff. The higlight is when they dive down to the black depths of this huge submerged canyon just off the coast here (over a km and a half down) and battle with giant squid no Nims - I never saw any actual giant squid battles - only the whale starting off its dive.. Their tales rising into the air before finally sinking under the waves, it's quite a sight.

We also saw a few majestic wandering albatrosses (with a wingspan up to 4m). Remember that monty python sketch 'Albatross. Albatross', erm anyway that was our catch phrase of the moment.

Just want to pay my respects to Steve Irwin 'the crocodile hunter'. I'm in shock and deeply saddened by the news of his death. His love of animals was infectious and very inspiring.

Beautiful New Zealand

It seems I can't stop blogging but I thought, hell another one last one might be in order. We have finally managed to see a bit of New Zealand, or a fair chunk of the North Island at least, on our tour with Beck and Dan recently. We had a great time, it was absolutely lovely to see my rapidly expanding lil sis. She is pregnant for those who don't yet know. We actually had the honour of being present when Lygurgus first kicked hard enough for Beck to feel it.

So here are some photos of New Zealand's North Island.

Going from top to bottom, photos are: A snow capped Mount Taranaki looking majestic rising as it does from nowhere. (Worth looking at on google earth too). Dan planning our next move as Beck looks on. Scenery from the 'forgotten highway', where it seems they forgot to put petrol stations too! Tree ferns in abundance near the road. Our cable ride on Mount Ruapahu in the Tongariro national park and finally Ruapahu's jagged crater rim.

Gorgeous scenery in the Togoriro National park, aka Mordor from Lord of the Rings

From left to right: Me being a monkey on the climbing wall at Extreme backpackers in Torangi. A hostel we would all highly recommend by the way. The Craters of the moon, thermal springs with Beck and Dan looking on. Maria and I being tourists in front of the Lady Knox geyser.

Above: The champagne pool, a very beautiful body of clear water soaked in minerals, streams of fizzy bubbles rising up and with a surface temperture of 70 deg C.

Left: Us at the Cathedral Cove. Right: On a local ferry with two nutters on the Cormandal Peninsular.

Breaking news

Well my retirement from blog writing didn't last long did it? I've been prompted to return for one last entry due to some dramatic news events unfolding right now. Jin the otter didn't escape from Auckland Zoo. Yes unbelievably its true, Jin the otter never escaped at all. Jana the otter was actually the escapee, it was Jana leaving poor Jin to cop all the flak. In a final twist to the story, staff are trying to cover up this dreadfull mess by renaming Jana to Jin! But I can reveal the truth exclusively on this blog that Jana the otter was the one terrorising New Zealanders these past weeks.

Its the final entry

Yes its finally arrived to that time - the time to bring this blog to a close. It was never really intended to cover anything other than the trip really, the extension into New Zealand recently wasn't planned in the first instance. It will be a bit odd though - not broadcasting my all my trivia on the internet, I wonder if I'll get withdrawl symtoms? Maybe I could get tempted by Seb's idea of creating a domestic blog in which I'd discuss the merits of draft-excluders... or I could start by discussing humane mouse traps, and if they actually work?

I wrote this blog to try and provide my personal record of all the countries we passed through, and capture some of my thoughts, memories, the frustrations and the highlights of this 'once in a lifetime' (or maybe twice) journey all the way across the world to New Zealand, and to share with whoever may be interested in reading it. I think my blog has mostly accomplished that but also there is so much that has slipped through the net and didn't make it to the blog too.

In the end the route was roughly how we first imagined it. The most notable absence being Laos, though if you examine South East Asia on a map its so easy to find millions of amazing looking places that we never made it to aside from Laos. The world is really a big place. India was the odd one out I suppose, we could have gone from China through Tibet, Nepal and into India that way, or been really adventureous and try to sneak/bribe our way through Myanmar. In some ways its a shame we didn't go completely over land and sea, by the end we were plane hopping a bit. The essence of the overland idea remained though I think.

What would my top three highlights be I hear you asking? There are so many contenders; galloping across the mongolian steppe on horseback is right up there. There are loads of snorkleing/diving possibilities but I'd say snorkelling with around a dozen Manta Rays is another, or maybe the shark adventure, or maybe the sea snakes, though I don't want to put too many underwater ones. Just being in Varanasi again and for so long is probably the another, studying yoga and living with monkeys, dodging cows, all that. But then that missed out the trans siberian rail trip. I could think of a completely different top three very easily in fact.

Any regrets? Maybe just that we had to miss so many other places I'd like to have seen, especially at the end in Indonesia which we only took in such a small part. I'd have loved to see Papua too. However, since I'm now based on this side of the world maybe I will get there at some point in the next few years. Theres lots of places from here that would be great to explore, like the pacific islands, fiji, samoa...

So as for my latest news... I've finally got a job! :-D I start tomorrow in fact. Well actually its only a short term contract helping out with parliment's new website. Its a tentative dipping of my toe in the water of work, which will do for now. Maria has started doing a few hours back at work too, recovering well from the appendix shananigans. We've splashed out on some furniture gradually phasing out the cardboard. The flat is much more homely now; we have some couches (3 seater and a 2 seater), a futon, computer desk and chair, wireless router, you know the essentials. I suppose this means that we are officially settled now, or at least in my case, I certainly feel much less transient.

Just to prove that cardboard chic is still alive though I have made a rather nice cardboard coffee table consisting of the box our computer chair came in and the box our oil-filled heater came in stacked on top of each other.

We are looking forward to our first visitors very soon. Second cousin Lucy gets the honour of being the first visitor, arriving on thursday, closely followed by Beck n Dan who are following hot on her heels a couple of days later. Can't wait!

Just to finish off I'd like to say thanks especially to everyone who commented on my blog and those who enjoyed reading it. And best wishes to all those other travellers we met on the road, we hope to see some of you in New Zealand some time.

Lots of love from Ade

caged tigers, mice and kiwis

Um what is there to blog about lately? Unexcitingly its largely about job hunting and not working, hence the lack of recent entries. Maria's mostly at home, still recovering from her appendix removal, I'm still at home, due to continuing unemployment. We've been going crazy cooped up in the flat with shit weather keeping us indoors, at each others throats more than any point in the trip, except perhaps the times we quit smoking. However blockbuster video shop must love us, surely we've been their best customers of late. Still things seem to be picking up, I've had a couple of interviews, might have an IT contract coming up this week - fingers crossed it does, it better do cos I turned down some temping work this week for it. Another application has progressed to a second interview. Just gotta keep at it, the jobs are there.

Also the weather has been lovely the last couple of days, today was fairly hot, bright and sunny. You only notice after leaving our chilly refridgerated flat though. I think its fair to say we won't be keen to renew our lease on this flat once the 6 months term is up. It never sees sunshine! From our large condensation dripping windows we can see the sun tantalisingly beaming down on the houses below us, while we stubbornly remain in the shade, from dawn until dusk. Water gushes from the gutter above splashing all around the glass doors at our bedroom, lovely for mould and fungus, not so great for us.

We have a lickle mouse sharing our living room too. A situation I've sometimes wondered about what might happen between Maria and I in this eventuality coming to pass. I say this because I have a history of being overly soft with these pests, to the extent of befriending the critters and leaving little piles of crumbs for them to scoff late at night, whereas Maria is adamant that they are vermon and definately not welcome. I don't have the heart to kill the little guy, its hard enough resisting the temptation to try an befriend it. We could try those humane traps that catch them alive I suppose, and then give it back its freedom down the hill near a nice sunny house. Maybe we should get a cat to do the dirty work? It'd be a good excuse to get a pet, one which the landlord would be hard pressed to deny. Another advantage of getting a cat is it might help eradicate those dreadful little flightless kiwi birds that scurry around the undergrowth in our garden. Only joking, they are actually fictional, like haggises.

So, some things I like about New Zealand... The lichens on the pavement. I sprinkled lichen spores around Hataitai after we arrived and already many of them have taken, some have grown to bigger than a two pound coin already. Lichens are a great indicator of pure air quality - something that grabbed me when I took my first lungfuls of air when we arrived in Wellington. Really fresh and clean antarctic air here.

Recycling - I was horrified when I found out that the council will only remove specific yellow rubbish bags from the street, they cost like 10 bucks for five bags which is a fair bit. However I was converted when I discovered they also collect normal carrier bags full of paper and cardboard, or full of squashed tins and cans or glass and plastic bottles, from the pavement for recycling. Our vegetable waste goes on a compost heap I've started in the garden. After recycling all that stuff theres hardly any left to go in the big yellow bags, so good value after all one yellow rubbish bag virtually never fills up.

Carrier bags in supermarkets - they don't give you any. Well you can ask for some but I think you have to pay and its assumed you won't use them. Instead you can use cardboard boxes reused from the original deliveries. Or you can buy big reuseable bags made from nice environmentally favorable textiles instead of horrible oil wasting plastics. This is something I whole heartedly agree with. I have long thought that plastic bags and plastic bottles should be banned outright, when we were travelling I saw many examples of the scourge of plastic spoiling otherwise pristine environments. Also I was unhappy at the thought of how many plastic bottles we were personally responsible for during the trip. People are ingenious, we can learn to live without them, refilling and reusing is the way forward.

One thing I don't like here, in common with all New Zealanders I think, is this size of the loose change. It is massive, a 50 cents coin, (worth maybe 15 pence) is bigger than a 2 pound coin. The 20 cents coin is not much smaller, not to mention the 10 and the 5, all massively oversized. Normally I carry change around, here I daren't. apparently New Zealand's coins are about the biggest in the world. However I won't have to tolerate them very long, they are going to be phased out in about one weeks time to be replaced with much friendlier smaller coins.

Almost forgot - how could I? We are now counting down days until Beck, Dan and the foetus, arrive in New Zealand. Crikey its only 10 days in fact, but we won't see them until they get from Auckland to Wellington, so around 13 days time I think, and counting - Eeeeee