No more stopping for a while!
Trip Start
May 06, 2006
1
69
81
Trip End
Mar 23, 2009
Franz Josef,
New Zealand
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Anyway, leaving Christchurch was actually pretty difficult. I've made some great friends and while the bar work was getting tiresome (I never did find an office job and the bar work was waaay more fun!) I made some great friends who I will miss a lot when I finally leave New Zealand (even if they have inflicted their slightly annoying 'Kiwisms' on me!). The social side of it was great. In fact, I'm already planning a holiday here from Oz for next year! However, drinking nearly every night was getting a bit much and clocking up 50 hour weeks with one day off was getting to me. I felt like I was never away from the place - especially when I was going in for leaving parties or birthdays on my days off! I did manage to save a lot of money though 'cos I don't think I paid for booze in almost 3 months and I went food shopping about twice 'cos we got free food there too! Brilliant! I also had the luck of the landlord selling the house a month before I left and they never gave me details for paying the rent somewhere new so I got a month rent free! Bonus! It did make moving out a little weird though 'cos there was no room check or anyone to take the key so I just kinda... walked out!
And onto travels! I'd decided to hire a relocation car to get from Christchurch to Picton 'cos I missed driving and you can get 48 hours free 'cos they need the cars up the top! I just had to pay about 20 pounds for insurance and the petrol and I had the freedom of the car! Yey! It was so useful that I'd already done 100k before I even left Christchurch dropping my excess baggage off places (I had so much stuff!!) and getting my holiday pay from the agencies and stuff. Man, I've missed having a car! I had planned to leave around 6pm but after saying goodbye to everyone I didn't set off until about 9:30pm! Ooops! It was great driving though and I could break the speed limit knowing the cops wouldn't be around in those remote areas meaning I got there pretty fast. The roads are easy to drive but it's weird that their 'motorway' has such a low speed limit and are just one lane for the most part. They also go through all the towns along the way meaning you can never really just drive at the one speed 'cos it cuts from 100k right down to 50k... it's acutally a little frustrating but still way better than the bus! I got to my next stop, Kaikoura, pretty late and I had to be up for the swim with the dolphins at 5:30am... a killer for me anyway, let along trying it after barely sleeping!
So, at 6:15 we set off on the trip in the dark out in the ocean to meet the dolphins. To be honest, I'd heard very mixed views on this trip and so wasn't sure what to expect. Some had said it was great, others said there were just a few dolphins and they had to keep getting on the boat to follow them. I'm not sure if it was 'cos it was so early in the morning or some other reason but this was not the case with us at all! I can safely say I have never, ever seen that many dolphins in my life. The only thing I can liken it to was a swarm of bees! There were literally hundreds of them. I have a few videos I'll try to upload to show you all at some point. There were just fins everywhere and I still can't get over how many were there! The sun was rising and the boat stopped and in we jumped! We had snorkels and you looked down and were just surrounded by dolphins. It was such an amazing feeling knowing that these were 100% wild dolphins and were there because they wanted to be not 'cos they were fed or trained or anything like that. They'd given us a few techniques to interact with them and they all worked! Eye contact and chasing them in circles and diving down with them to play. The funniest part was they would do it and if you kept up with them they'd dart off then turn around and come back. You could also hear them communicating with eachother underwater and once you played with one you were suddenly joined by a whole group of them all wanting to play too! It was amazing but totally exhausting! A few times I just had to stop and lay on my back to catch my breath! We had about half an hour in total which may not sound long but was definitely long enough. All in all, well worth the money and right up there with my best travel experiences so far!
After that I'd decided to drive on to Picton... about half way there I realised I was about to fall asleep at the wheel so took the next opportunity to pull off and nap for an hour in the car! I woke up boiling hot but rested enough and drove on! So glad I made the stop though - especially with all the horrible adverts they have here for falling asleep at the wheel! I arrived in Picton in the afternoon and basically prepared and planned for the days ahead of me! I stayed one night and then took a drive of Charlotte Sound in the morning which was beautiful and the bendy roads were SO much fun! At lunch I dropped the car off and joined the magic bus at the ferry. It was painful handing the car back 'cos I was loving the freedom but the bus is paid for and hiring a car now would cost a fortune anyway! Oh well!
After Picton was Nelson and after some initial disappointment with hostels I finally found a bed and took an early night for the early rise in the morning and the hike of Abel Tasman. Of course, it hasn't rained for 3 weeks but it decided to when I arrived! It was on and off though and to be honest I think really hot weather would've near enough killed me on an almost 5 hour hike! It was a pretty easy walk - especially after the Tongariro Crossing but at first I though it wasn't going to be at all impressive. I took a side route to Anchorage Bay (even though we were told not to 'cos we wouldn't be back in time!) and I'm so glad I did. It was a beautiful beach and the tough uphill part was 100% worth it for the breathtaking views at the top. I felt like the end was a bit long 'cos you'd seen all the good bits but I'm still glad I did it. Oddly, I still managed to be the first person back and had to sit around for an hour and a half to wait for the coach! I had no idea I was a speed walker!!
That night at the hostel was rough thanks to an impossibly loud snorer in the dorm. For the first time I relocated to the lounge and slept on the floor where there was also another guy who couldn't stand it either! Thailand prepared me pretty well for floor sleeping but I was in agony in the morning - just the calf muscles from walking but man it hurts! I left pretty early and we headed on down to Greymouth. I'd forgotten just how much the damn bus stops and so we took in just about every site along the way. We did a nice little walk called the Truman walk and interrupted a Scottish wedding (in the rain!) on the edge of the cliff at the end of it! I'm sure it would've been perfect in good weather! Poor people! We then went to check out the Punakaki Rocks (Pancake Rocks) which were pretty awesome before heading on the the cowboy town of Greymouth. It's a little known fact in New Zealand that people from the West Coast are a little bit odd and I'm sorry to say I kind of agree with it. Greymouth was deadsville and that was on a Saturday night! We did the Monteiths Brewery tour, drank some free beer then had an all you eat BBQ at the local pub (where I had to pay extra for being veggie, how odd!) where the 'special' people came out to drink! I have to say the coolest thing about the town was the hostel. It's called Noah's Ark and every room is based on a different animal. They're very creatively decorated and one of the most unique places I've seen yet. I rocked up to find that they'd put into the.... yep, you guessed it, tiger dorm room! How funny is that?! Needless to say, I felt right at home!
This morning we moved on to Franz Josef stopping at Hokitika (known for it's Jade) and Ross (known for glad mining) along the way. I'm staying in a pretty nice hostel with a hot tub I already made good use of and the weather is amazing. Apparently they have over 5m of average rainfall a year so I'm thinking this might not hold out which is such a shame 'cos hiking that glacier in this weather would be perfect! Oh well, I'm sure I'll make do! Not much else to update you all on other than that. I'll be travelling for about 4 more weeks so the updates should be more frequent for a while and then I fly to Oz to meet my parents - I can't believe how quick it's come around! For those of you in New Zealand - I hope to see you all again before I leave, for those in Oz - I can't wait to see you and for those at home - I miss you! Hope everyone is well and keep the emails coming to update me on your lives!
