South Island Experience

I arrived in Auckalnd today, my last destination in NZ except for a day trip to the Bay of Islands on Monday. These amazing three weeks all started in Christchurch, where I only stayed one night before hopping on the Kiwi Experience bus and heading to the west coast, on the opposite side of the south island from Christchurch. We rode in a small van, with only 10 or so people in it. On this bus I met two Irish girls named Kate and Louise that I ended up travelling with through most of New Zeland. It was a really senic drive through Aurthurs Pass. We stopped a few times, to look at waterfalls and lakes, and a spring bridge. We also stopped along the way at a place called Bearded Miners Inc. It was just this sort of shack run by these two old mountain looking men. They did some blacksmithing and showed people how they used to pan for gold back in the day. I think it was just an excuse for these two guys to get out of the house and hang out and talk to people, but they were really nice and it was fun. We also got $0.50 ice cream in that town, so that was exciting.

Our first stop was in Westport, where we just stayed one night. The next day we started heading down the west coast, joining a big bus with people heading down from the north. Our first stop was at the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki. They are called Pancake rocks because, well, I guess they look like stacked pancakes. They were really cool, all these towering rock structures that formed blow holes where the water sprayed up. You get pretty wet but it was good fun. After that we drove a ways and stopped at a place called the Warehouse, which is like a Walmart. We were all absolutely freezing, most of us having come from Oz and not having anything warmer than a small sweater. I bought a childs sized fleece pullover, which served me well in the south.

We stopped that night at a hostel sort if in the middle of nowhere, owned by a guy named Lez. He is the cute old man with the huge beard. He made the most amazing dinner for us, huge steaks, potatos, salads, it was such a good meal. There was a bar there called the Poo Bar (not sure why) and they do a dressup night there everytime the bus goes through. Our night the boys dressed in drag and the girls had to make costumes out of garbage bags. It sounds weird, but I was shocked by the amazing ideas that people came up with, using only garbage bags, and with almost no supplies. There was a bride, with a full gown, vail, and bouquet, there was a bumble bee, a nun.. Everyone looked great. Unfortunately since we had just joined that bus, the people that had come over from Christchurch didn't really know what was going on. We were all sitting in the pub drinking wondering where everyone was, and then realized too late that everyone was dressing up. So we missed out on the dress up, but decided that we could still participate by dressing two of the boys that were on our bus in drag. Lez had a huge supply of dress up clothes, and Kate did the make-up. Honestly, they were the best looking cross dressers there.

The next morning we stopped at the Bushman center, which was a werid little place run by a crazy moutain man named Pete. He set this place up to teach people about deer in NZ. They were introduced in to NZ, and roamed all up in the moutains. Eventually they decided to farm them, so they had people go up in helicopters and track down the deer to put them on farms. This guy Pete used to jump out of the helicopter onto a deer and wrestle it to the ground. We saw vidoes of it, it looked nuts. He was pretty funny, he dropped some stuffed animal on these girls sitting in the front watching the movie, it was so random and we laughed our asses off. Then we got to pet this massive pig, after he made a Japanese guy named So feed it, telling him to run or it would bite his arm off. Here is a pic with Kate getting up close and personal with the pig. Pete also had possums, and you could get possum pie. He had anti-vegitarian slogans all over the place, Crystal, it made me think of how much you would have loved it.

That night we stopped in Franz Joseph, and I loved loved loved it there. It reminded me of Canmore. It felt so good to be back in the moutains, it was stunning. We stayed two nights there. Lots of people did glacier hikes, I just walked around and enjoyed the town. This pic is of the Franz Joseph glacier. I didn't hike it, this was as close as I got.

The next day we drove to Wanaka, a cute little town on a lake. We got to stay in a hotel there, it was very thrilling. I actually started getting sick there and debated staying, but decided to head to Queenstown. If Franz Joseph is like Canmore, Queenstown is like Banff. It was gorgeous, and I guess had a lot of the good and bad things that Banff has. I actually got really sick there, and stayed in bed the whole time. I sort of missed it, but I was glad to have a few nights just to stay in bed and recover. On March 8th we headed back up to Christchurch, having done a big circle across the island, down, and back up the other coast.

We stayed two nights in Christchurch, and I decided to get my Lord of the Rings fix there. I took a tour out to Mount Somers, where they flimed Edoras, the capital of Rohan. For thoes non LOTR tivia masters, that is the city on the hill, with the king who Gandalf helps, and then they have to flee the city and head to Helm's Deep. If thats not ringing any bells, go watch the movies again!! I took tons of nerdy pics of me running around with swords and axes, but this is one of the uber nerdy ones of me with Aragorn's sword and Helms Deep in the background.

So, we drove out to the Moutain, and then got to climb up it. They brought swords owned by the King of Rohan, Aragon, Eowyn, and Gimli's axe. So we got to run around and play with thoes. It was really fun. We could see the shot of Helm's Deep, although the scene was filmed in a rock quarry. So it was a great day, and I'm glad I went. The only thing that wasn't great about it was that I was definately more knowledgable about the movies than the guide was. I even knew some of the things he said weren't right, but I didn't say anything. I was disappointed that I didn't learn anything new, but it was fun anyway. I waw also surprised by the lack of nerdiness on the bus, I thought it would be full of uber geeks and we could all talk about the movies. I did meet a cool Japanese guy named Yu who was staying at our hostel, and we stayed up quite late that night talking to him, and he taught Kate some Japanese.

That night Yu and I also went to listen to a Maori named Dave Brennan from the Ko Tane come to the hostel and give a talk about the history and culture of the south island Maori. I was really interested in what he had to say, and we even had a really good discussion after he was done about the settlers in New Zeland and their impact on the Maori, compared to the settlers in North America and their impact on the Native American. He was very well spoken, and I was grateful for the opportunity to talk to someone so passionate about their people and educating others.

On March 10th we headed up to Kaikoura, which was a lovely little beach town. You could go swimming with the dolphins, or go kayaking. We stayed in a nice hostel, and Louise, Kate and I got the 'Love Shack', which looked like a little cottage covered in vines that fit three people. We met some cool people who were, surprise surprise, from England, named Kristian and Kyle. Kyle was about 8 feet tall, and we took some funny pics of Kristian and Kyle trying on each others shoes. These are the kinds of things you do at two in the morning at small hostels in the middle of nowhere. This pic just makes me laugh though, and reminds me how many great people you meet while travelling, and how people can imprint themselves in your memory after meeting people for only a few hours.

The next day we headed to the north island. We had to take a three hour ferry ride, and it must have been the biggest boat I've ever been on. We arrived that afternoon in Wellington. That night was a Saturday, so we went out. Kate and Louise wanted to watch a rugby game that wasn't playing until 4 am or something crazy, so we went to an Irish pub to hang out for a while. I was surprised how crazy the streets were. Wellington is not that big, I think less than half a million, but around the corner from our hostel was the main drag, and it was absolutely packed. I wasn't quite up to staying up till 7am to watch rugby, so I hung out at the pub for a bit, then made my way back to the hostel.

In Wellington I also went to the Te Papa museum. We saw a really beautiful Maori meeting house, but the best part was that they were having a showing of a private art collection that inculded a Picasso, Woman in a hairnet. It was so unexpected to get to see that, and there were some other ones by artist that I have never heard of that I really like, including Collioure lighthouse by Andre Derian, La Ciotat by Emile-Othon Friesz, and Fishing sloop (Red sky) by Emil Nolde. I think my brain was thanking me, it was nice to see a bit of culture. Wellington is a nice city, although I was looking forward to heading north and getting back to warmer climates.

North Island

Right now I am in Rotorua, which is on the Northern Island. I am more than half way done my tour of NZ, and it is flying by. We did the South Island in ten days, starting in Christchurch and heading over to the west coast. We toured around and then crossed over on the ferry on March 11th. Now we are one stop away from Auckland. We should be there for a few days. There is a free outdoor concert, and I am going to do a day trip up to the Bay of Islands. There is just so much to do here everyday that I don't have time to post, but I will definately be putting up pictures when I get home (in less than 2 weeks, ahh!).

New Zeland

I have been in NZ for 12 days now, and it is flying by. I arrived in Christchurch on February 28th, to find that it was absolutely freezing! By freezing, I mean 13 degrees, but compared to Brisbane it was arctic. I got in at 11:30 pm and waited outside for the bus for an hour and a half that never showed up. I finally had to catch a cab, and arrived at the hostel around 1:30am, then I got picked up by the Kiwi Experience bus at 7 am.

So getting here wasn't too fun, but I have had a great time ever since. Sitting on the bus next to me was a girl named Louise from Ireland, and she is travelling with her friend Kate, and it turns out that we are travelling all of NZ together, and then flying to Fiji from Aukland on the same day. It will be great if we can share at least part of our journey together, they are great travelling companions, I am so glad I met them, and that I now have really cool people to share this experience with. I want to write all about what I have been up to, but I am moving around so quickly now that I don't know if I will be able to write all about it until I get home. Which is in two weeks, I cannot believe it!