Leaving Franz Joseph we headed up the west coast to a small beach side area called Punakaiki – famous as the backdrop for ‘walking with dinosaurs’ and Jurassic Park II. The scenery is wild and prehistoric – palm trees, exotic ferns and steep cliff edges leading down to a crashing sea and white sands. The small resort has little to offer except scenery and a short walk to the Pancake Rocks – limestone layers of rock jutting out from the coastline forming layers like pancakes stacked on a plate – no-one can figure out how it was formed. the hostel we stayed in was beachfront and very basic but nice. I spent an afternoon at a locl workshop making my very own Maori style bone carving necklace – it took 3 hours and I loved it! I have a white pendant in the shape of a fishing hook – it means new beginnings apparently. After the session making jewellry I had a session in a bar with the rest of the trek tour – we drank for quite a while into the night and dressed up in silly clothes – and yes…. I do have some strange photos I’m not sure I can show my parents……. none of me of course!My Trek tour ended on Nov 28th with a hangover in Christchurch after a drive from Punakaiki via the stunning Arthur’s Pass and one brief night of luxury in a hotel on the edge of town. Our final dinner was a slap up curry – really good and a long night of sleep. The next day it was back into the YHA for some ‘backpacker’ accommodation and sharing a twin room the size of a broom cupboard with no window – bummer! I am now going to spend a week in a hotel by myself near the sea in Akaroa to rest up before making plans for my final few weeks in New Zealand before leaving to return to Sydney and on to Thailand. Christchurch is a very English city with familiar buildings and the River Avon – complete with punts and ducks – very quaint. The trams at the moment are all decorated with festive trimmings but I can;t feel christmassy out here – it’s just not right. The botanic gardens are nice and Cathedrasl Square is a square with a cathedral in it – not much else to say. I think after so much time in wide open spaces I am not used to cities and don;t really feel comfortable here with traffic and noise – good coffee shops though! New Zealand is about the great outdoors and for one day I shall take a trip to Mt Sunday – the location for EDORAS in the Lord of the Rings – the hilltop capital Rohan. Then I’ll head north to Auckland and a tour of the Bay of Plenty by myself in a hire car and the open road……..
Archive for November, 2007
Here I am in the Franz Joseph glacier region of south western New Zealand. As usual on this trip we have been blessed with weather so the sun is shining bright on the glacier and I have just returned from a 5 hour hike on to the ice – fully equipped with crampons and loads of peanut butter sarnies! The hike itself was pretty challenging with steep crevaces and sink holes across the glacier. This is a unique glacier for many reasons: 1) it is in a temperate climate so the ice flows down into a valley of a rainforest – very wierd! 2) it is growing – when most glaciers in the world are in retreat. It’s about 11km long and I only managed to walk for maybe 1km as the incline is steep – Check out the photos. It was awesome to be up there and amongst the ice features on a moving glacier – parts of the ice flow move 5m per day. That’s about it from this part of NZL – next stop West Coast for some bone carving!
We left Queenstown for one night to visit the very beautiful and eerie Milford Sound. a 5 hour bus ride through winding roads gets you to the most visually surprising area of steep craggy mountains and waterfalls set in lush rainforest with views to die for. Milford Sound was named after Milford Haven by a welshman who came here in a storm and found shelter in the fjord. It’s not actually a ’sound’ it is a fjord. The whole area of Fjordland National Park in New Zealand is huge – bigger than Wales, and was carved out by Glaciers into a magical network of narrow and steep inlets with deep water channels over one mile deep. Our journey into the sound took us through Homer Tunnel – blasted out of solid rock at the top of the pass, and with over 200 days of rain every year we didn’t miss out on getting wet – it rained and rained all day! Another fun attraction of the park are the wild ‘Kea’ birds like parrots who pop up whenever a car stops to see who you are – very curious and colourful. We boarded a boat called Milford Wanderer at around 4pm and cruised the Fjord of Milford Sound until 7pm when dinner was served – pork chops and pavlova for pud! The cloud was low and it carried on raining but the scenery was awesome and spooky – it felt like something prehistoric or Lord of the rings ( There is a scene where the hobbits and Gollum climb a steep cliff and it felt liket that). Talking of movies, an area outside the park called Knob Flat was the location for some Jurassic Park filming with Mr Speilberg. He used it for the scene where they hide behind a log to avoid the herd of dinosaurs running past them on an open plain of grassland. Anyway, back to the boat – with the weather so wet and darkness falling we played cards until about 10pm and bed. My bunk was really narrow and on top so it was tricky getting up to it via a wooden ladder with less than 1m width between beds. Having said that I slept really well for the first time since my cold started. The following morning we were woken up by the sound system playing an excerpt of Gollum from lord of the rings “wake up sleepies – time to get moving”! Breakfast was great, then we motored on a bit out to the Tasman Sea. This is a rough patch of ocean and it felt very pitchy and roly – not great after breakfast! Back in the safety of the sound we saw some seals playing on a rock and one or two penguins – the highlight though was a pod of bottlenose dolphins who chose to join us and play alongside our boat, jumping and riding the bow waves – magic! there was even a small baby having fun and doing barrel rolls next to his mum – they really seemed to be enjoying it – the crew said it never happens like that so we were really lucky. Back on dry land and dry weather we got a real treat as the scenery opened up above us, we saw the snow line, glaciers, waterfalls and the visible signs of glacial erosion from millions of years ago – hard to comprehend the passage of time and the sheer power of ice. Our bus drive then brought us back to Queenstown via a pie shop along the way to break the journey. The sun is shining again and saw yachts sailing on the lake ….. such a lovely spot New Zealand has everything!
I forgot to mention that I also went to Mount Cook on the way to Queenstown! The Southern Alps of the south island are simply gorgeous at the moment with recent snow and the bright spring days giving blue skies. We made a stop off at Lake Tekapo, where there is a lovely stone church on the edge of the lake reminicent of the Scottish Isles. Driving into the national park for Mt Cook we passed more green glacial lakes and steep sided glacial valleys. The hostel was located in the very end of the valley underneath Mt Cook and Mt Tasman with glaciers all around – it made you feel really small! Before the sun set, we made the 10km hike into the glacial area via Hookers Pass crossing several amall wooden suspension bridges along the way. Our halfway point was the glacial lake which had some small icebergs floating on it and the majestic backdrop of Mt Cook. I paddled my feet but it was pretty cold! then it was back to the hostel and dinner in the local pub. The next day we left and headed to Queenstown (see below). We have really been lucky with the weather and been able to see loads of fab scenery with blue sky and sun – not at all what the Kiwis usually have at this time of year.
20th November we arrived in Queenstown via the scenic route through the Southern Alps – just stunning! We still have snow on the peaks and sunshine in early spring so the weather is like a fine May in England with the scenery from Switzerland. Along the way we called into a Salmon farm to see the fish being reared and bought one for $30 to eat for dinner that night. I was in the cooking team so spent the afternoon on the bus thinking about how to cook it. the fish was as long as my arm! Queenstown is a lively little town on the edge of Lake Waikatipu with the Remarkables mountain range as a backdrop. It feels like the Lake district in places with Swiss homes and a ski culture. This is also the capital of Kiwi adrenalin with bungy, white water, canyon swings and heaps of other mad and crazy stuff to do. With the sun shining and blue skies we headed for the top of the gondola cable car to get some views over the Lake and mountains – amazing. At the top is a ‘luge’ which is a kind of gokarts for grown ups type thing with a mile long track winding down the mountain and a chairlift to take you back up (see photos). It was hilarious fun! The accommodation we have here is similar to a ski chalet with an apartment for our use over 3 days. We have our own kitchen and dorm rooms so it’s comfy. Anyway – you want to know about the salmon? Well we stuffed it with herbs and lemon then wrapped it in foil and baked it for 40 mins. It was just about cooked – and the kitchen drove me mad ‘cos everyone wanted to get involved in the meal ’ too many cooks’ …… it tasted good though. I have a stinking cold so I’m not at my best, but the following day I got up early to go for a full day riding in the Glenorchy region nearby, in a place called Paradise. This was used for the location filming in Lord of the Rings and the horses we rode were also featured in some of the scenes. The Dart river flows through Paradise and is really beautiful, in the afternoon we rode through the river surrounded by awesome mountains and heather with wild lupins in all colours blooming marvellous! After so much fresh air it was all I could do to stay awake that night after dinner so it was an early night for me and my cold germs! The next day I had hoped to try for a hangliding session from Coronet Peak but sadly the wind was too strong so it was cancelled. Queenstown has a lot to offer and now I’m thinking of how to spend the rst of my time in New Zealand with just one week of my formal itinerary left. Accommodation might be an issue, but I’m hoping to sort something out before the best hostels are booked up for christmas and new year. I might even treat myself to a swanky hotel! With my budget overdrawn I may as well give up on trying to save money!
ChristchurchToday I am 37 years old so to mark this milestone I woke up at 6am to get dressed in a wetsuit and jump off a small boat into 13 degrees of pacific ocean off the continental shelf one mile deep (that’s as deep as the Grand Canyon) to swim with wild dusky dolphins in Kaikoro. What can I say – it was amazing! They swim all around you and play, jump over you, swim toards you – look you in the eye – run circles round you… amazing.. amazing… amazing. The sun was shining and the ocean was calm. Perfect conditions, I feel very lucky. I only hope my photos do it justice. I took an underwater camera and banged it against my snorkel to attract the curiosity of the dolphins – and it worked! I had so many of them come and see what I was all about – it was ace! Other people in the water were singing and making funny noises in their mouths, but I think the tapping thing worked better. I played with one dolphin for a few minutes on my own – I think he was testing me to try and keep up with him in a tight circle – I managed it for a while – keeping eye contact with him but soon ran out of puff and stopped, at which point the dolphin swam off. After we got back into the boat and dried off we followed the pod and took photos – there must have been over 200 and babies too ! lots of them leaping and flipping doing sumersaults – amazing (I keep saying amazing!) – Come to New Zealand – visit Kaikoro and do this for yourself – it is … well…. amazing!
I am on the Mainland! as the Kiwis call it! A very bumpy crossing between North and South Islands lasted 4 hours, but it was worth it for the scenery that greeted us in the Fjordland of the St Catherine Sound – simply gorgeous water inlets and mountains. With the sun shining it made the water glisten. It was a long drive to our first stop in Nelson – a town on the edge of the Tasman Sea and close to a wide sweeping bay of shallow tidal waters. This area is fertile and has plenty of fruit and wine growers. I spent the afternoon wandering the town, towards Trafalger Street and then back at the hostel for some thai food from a lady in a trailer unit in the carpark! the next day I joined some trek people for a day of Kayaking on the Tasman sea around Abel Tasman national park.. It was a pleasant way to see the coastline and a few seals, with lunch on the beach. In the evening I met up with Helen from my Western Australia trip for dinner in a local Italian place and a good natter since we said goodbye in Darwin some 8 weeks ago. It was good to see her again.
My last day in the North Island involved driving in the snow down to Wellington – not a lot happened really! The roads are winding and slow so it takes a while but the scenery was interesting – if a little wet. We stopped in a cafe opposite the NZL Army training base – about the only noteworthy thing from the drive. Arriving in Wellington, it was good to see a large city afetr so much underpopulated space. It is a beautiful city in a large bay of greeny blue sea. the sun shone and it was awesome to get a view from the top of Mount Victoria looking out over the city. This area is on a fault line and prone to several earthquakes each year and apparently they are due for ‘A big one’ .. but not today. I stayed at the YHA hostel just a short distance from the theatre owned by Peter Jackson (director) and the location for the movie premieres for Lord of the Rings. With only a few hours in the afternoon I spent time in the Museum ‘Te Papa’. Lots to see – for me it was cool to see the bones of Phar Lap (see Melbourne) and the tartan for ‘Clan Grant’ as part of the immigration section focussed on Scotland. Dinner was in the hostel (chilli) followed by drinks in a local bar along with some folks from the trip. Very chilly and an early night since we were up at 6am the next day for the ferry crossing – I need to spend more time in Wellington I think sometime after the trek ends.
The Tongariro Crossing is a range of volcanoes (still active) in the centre of the North Island. The location for Lord of the Rings Mount Doom but actually called Mt Ngaurahoe. Often the weather is too bad to attempt the 17km hike which has an elevation gain of 2700 ft and involves walking non stop for 7-8 hours. Arriving at the mountain resort of Whakapapa (pronounced as if the Wh is an ‘f’ – funny eh?) – we checked into the Skotel – NZL’a highest hotel. The day after (Nov 13th) I woke up at 6am to get onto a bus and start the hike. 12 people from our tour managed to complete the hike including myself – in under 7 hours – quite an achievement. It was hard, challenging and cold with icy winds blowing at the summit. The scenery was straight out of the movie and very bleak, but also beautiful. At the top of the range, we had lunch at the Emerald Lakes, volcanic pools of vivid green water and took in the sulphurous air coming from the thermal activity below us – these volcanoes are very active but luckily nothing happened today. So after all this excitement of falling out of planes and climbing volcanoes I am quite tired! An evening of food, wine and sleep is planned before we leave to go to Wellington.
Nov 12th 2007 will be forever in my memory! It is the day when I conquered my fears and jumped from a plane at 12,000ft into thin air strapped to a complete stranger with nothing but complete and utter trust that he would get me safely to the ground. I can honestly say this was by far the hardest thing I have ever done. Ever since I saw people on my last tour in Oz doing the sky dive I have imagined myself doing it, but always in my imagination I am unable to get to the point of jumping out. For this reason, I spent many days and nights trying to psych myself up, sharing the same emotions with people here on the trip in New Zealand who also were unsure about taking that challenge. The crunch came when we were asked to commit to booking a place, so I simply said ‘yes’ and before I knew it I was in a Limo along with 7 others from my New Zealand tour making our way to a small airfield in Taupo. On arrival we were shown a video of someone having just jumped that morning – at this point I totally lost control and started to cry and panic. People reassured me that I didn’t have to do it… this just made me cry more – I desperately wanted to achieve the jump but was scared beyond belief. This was my nemesis moment – my chance to do something reckless, brave, out of control and challenge my own limits. So before I had chance to really back out I filled out the forms, met my juump instructor (Steve from Chicago) and dressed up in blue overalls with a hat, goggles and gloves. No backing out now. Strangely my emotions calmed down andby the time the plane took off I was calmly sat between Steve’s legs at the back of the very small, very pink plane (first group of 4 to jump). At 12,000 ft the door opened and I was shuffled forward with Steve tightening the straps which were to keep me attached to him – I hoped! And then within a matter of seconds I was out of the plane.. tumbling … feeling sick… feeling like I was on the worst roller coaster ever for about 3 seconds and then./.. it was just AWESOME!!!! we were flying… it was like being a bird. For 45 seconds I fell to earth at 200 mph taking in the tiny landmarks below and the vast expanse of Lake Taupo and the Volcanoes in the distance – just amazing! The chute deployed and then we floated like a feather for 5 minutes down to the ground and a soft landing on my bum! I will probably never do it again (never say never) but it was the best thing I have ever done and I am very, very proud of myself!!! I have a DVD to prove that I’m not lying and will bore everyone with it as soon as I get the chance! If you want to check out the team that got me into the sky – go to www.skydivetaupo.co.nz
