Thursday to Tuesday I went on a whirlwind trip down to the South Island, which is famous for its scenery. I spent most of the time traveling, which was strenuous but definitely worth it. I specially enjoyed the two train rides I took (much more relaxed than taking the bus) and the day I spent at Fox Glacier (I had to compare those Southern Alps with those in Switzerland, after all… *g*). But let's do this chronologically…
On Thursday I took the bus down to Wellington, which was seven hours. But they went by quickly, mostly because I was so tired that I slept quite a bit. And thanks to a wondrous pair of wristbands, that were putting pressure on pressure points at my pulse, I didn't even get carsick! So once I arrived in Wellington I called Denise's sister Ariana, and we spent a couple of hours drinking hot chocolate, chatting, and having a look at the theatre where the last LOTR movie will premiere in December. It's being renovated for the occasion, so that wasn't very exciting – but at least I saw (and photographed) it! LOL
A three hour-ride on the ferry took me over to the South Island. Unfortunately it got dark, so I couldn't see much of the scenery – but at least I didn't get seasick. 🙂
In Picton I discovered that the hostel I had booked had forgotten to pick me up – but a driver for one of the rivaling hostels took pity on me and gave me ride. In the hostel kitchen I met a Kiwi woman with a funny Russian name (which I can't at the moment remember – bad me!), and we had a nice chat.
The morning I spent walking around the Victoria Domain, which offered beautiful scenery – I'm just a sucker for the combination of water and land. Then I went to the Aquarium, to learn a bit about the local marine life, which was very nice, because it was small and the staff was friendly.
Then I caught the TranzCoastal train to Christchurch, which went along the coast in a very relaxed fashion, offering tons of beautiful views, to be admired from the comfort of the coach as well as from an open viewing platform. I definitely loved that day – scenery, sunshine, a bit of walking and a nice train ride… What more could I want?
In Christchurch I just spent the night and didn't see anything of the city. Instead I got talking with a German girl studying in Wellington, who does her Masters thesis in Geography about LOTR tourism, and was also interested in Maori culture, so we had some interesting conversations about both.
In the morning I took the TranzAlpine, which is pretty famous – but truth be told, I was a bit disappointed. It could have been the weather, which turned grey and wet when we reached the mountains, or the fact that I'm spoiled where mountain scenery is concerned – but I wasn't very impressed. Still, it was nice, and at least in the beginning I saw a bit of the snow-covered Alps.
The train ended in Greymouth, where I switched to a bus that took me leisurely to Fox Glacier. It was a very scenic ride along the coast and through the mountains covered in temperate rainforest, and we stopped in Hokatika to look at some Greenstone (jade) jewellery, for which the South Island is famous. Also on that bus I met Jo, a Londoner, who had booked into the same hostel I had, and at some point it was decided that we'd try to coordinate our activities in Fox. Don't ask me how it happened – but that's just one of those travel things… 🙂
The hostel (Ivory Towers) was very nice, and we had a very nice relaxed evening there – I met two Swiss guys (from the region of Basel, too!) and enjoyed the opportunity to chat in Swiss German and exchange travel tales.
In the morning Jo and I booked a guided walking tour on the glacier, which turned out to be a lot of fun, despite the grey and wet weather. We walked up to the glacier (hard work – we all stripped off as many layers of clothing as possible, just to put them on again once we had reached the ice), and then donned crampons (at least that's my guess as to how it is spelled) and walked on the ice. It was fun – and interesting, too, since Fox Glacier moves incredibly fast (almost a meter a day, if you disregard the melting) compared to the microscopic movements of the Swiss glaciers.
Jo and I got back around 1pm and had a little break before setting out to Lake Matherson by bike. The bikes were crap, but it was definitely better than walking the 6km (which is what a Japanese girl from my room did – very impressive! *g*). Walking around the lake was very nice, specially since the weather had cleared up – although not enough to enable the reflexions of the snow-covered Alps for which the lake is known. So all in all this was a very active day, and we ended it with a drink in a pub and a nice dinner in a restaurant.
The next day I had to head back up North, on a bus ride to Nelson that took more than 11 hours, but went through some more awesome scenery. The West Coast of the South Island is incredibly remote and empty, but also incredibly beautiful. We even stopped at Pukekura (if I remember the name of the place correctly) to enjoy the power of the sea crashing against rocks and forming them.
When we reached Nelson, I was really ready to fall into bed, so the hostel was a bit of a disappointment, because it was one of those noisy ones where lots of groups stop. But there was only one other person in my room (and he was downstairs with the noisy people *g*), so I just crawled into bed with a book and a hot tea…
Over night it stormed, and it was still raining in the morning, but luckily it cleared up a bit after my breakfast, so I could go out and explore a bit. I headed up to see the so-called “Centre of New Zealand” (which isn't the center at all – but who cares… *g*), and then walked along the river for a bit before deciding to go to Mizuyi Park (or something like that), which was a very nice Japanese garden. Going there I passed the Founders Park, which sports rebuilt historical buildings – but I didn't feel like paying an entrance fee and then having to hurry through it, so I went back to the hostel instead, relaxing for a bit before going to the airport.
I'd never taken a domestic flight before, and this one was even divided into two parts (I had to change in Wellington, so that much of the time spent in the air was spent starting and landing – not my favorite ways to spent time… *g*) – but it did allow me to get back to New Plymouth in only a bit more than two hours!
That was specially good because it enabled me to go to a camp out on one of the local Marae (Maori meeting places) and spend the night there, which was really interesting. They even had a hangi (a big traditional Maori feast, steam-cooked on hot stones covered in earth), and I had some interesting conversations. I'm still not sure what exactly I'll do with everything I've learned here, because it's not exactly what I came here to learn about, but I'll worry about that when I get home…
Now my time in NZ is coming to an end – I'll be leaving on Monday for Australia. It'll be a long day – first by bus to Auckland, then a plane to Sydney, and then on to a domestic flight to Brisbane to visit Willa, who I met last year in Washington, DC. I'll be sorry to leave here, but I'm looking forward to two relaxed weeks in Australia – I don't plan to rush around too much, but will rather spend time on a couple of beaches and go snorkeling to the Great Barrier Reef (a dream of mine!).
Hope all is well with all of you – I miss you (but not too much *g*) and am sending you some big hugs!
