Hitched a ride out of Queenstown

Sunday, May 30. Last night I overheard a guy talking to reception about going to Christchurch. So I butted in and asked for a lift. Score, I've got myself a ride to Christchurch. I immediately went to the Internet cafe and booked a flight out from Christchurch to Auckland for June 2nd. Sorted, I'll be flying out from Auckland to Hawaii on June 3rd.

Today, I left for Christchurch pretty late, at 11am. A Brazillian couple gave me a lift. They were lovely to talk to... when I was awake. It was an 8hr drive and I slept for 6hrs of it. I do wake up to take photos every time we stop at lookouts though.



We stopped at this shop for some snacks. There was no one there to take our money though. It ran on the trust system, you were responsible for putting the right amount in the box. There was also a plate for change.




On our way to Christchurch, we stopped a few times to take scenic pictures.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Friday May 28. Too much alcohol, loud music and screaming on Monday night. My body had to give me another message: get some sleep.

I was not feeling to good in the last few days so I stayed in to help my body recover quicker. I watched loads of movies in the last two days, including all three Lord of the Rings movies.




Anyone recognise this? You would have come across this if you did the Tongariro Crossing. It's also where Frodo must take the ring to be distroyed: Mount Doom.

Queenstown Hill

Monday, May 24. Yesterday I was a nice and relaxed day spent strolling by the lake front.





A view of the lake with a ship passing by.

Today I decided to go on the Queenstown hill hike. It was a very cloudy day and started to rain just as I took the first few steps.

I had the thought of turning back but resisted the urge. I felt out of shape again because there was alot of uphill. I must lay off those tasty evil biscuits!







A pond on the top of Queenstown hill.





I came across many red mushrooms on this trail. I was told that they were poisonous, so no eating.

The hike took nearly two hours. Afterwards, I went over to the Nomad hostel to warm up in front of their fireplace.

Later in the day, I met two guys from Holand and a girl from Finland. We went out in the evening, first to the Altitude bar for some karaoke. Then to The World Bar for some dancing. Music was too loud though. I had to scream to be heard. Ouch, my throat started to hurt!

Jetboating through cannons

Saturday, May 22. We were looking for a third person to go jet boating with because we came across a 3 for 2 deal. Suddenly a guy came into our kitchen and asked if I wanted to buy his shotover jet voucher for half price. I paid only 60 dollars. He had won it in a competition and would rather have the cash. Lucky me. I booked it immediately.




This was the dock for the jet. It was about 5-10 minutes drive from the centre of town.




We went though these cannons at speeds of up to 80km per hour. We did 360 turns at high speed. It was an exciting 30 minute ride. Some parts were really shallow. We were inches away from the rock face. There were some deaths in the past. One was when someone stuck their head out. So best not to do that.

Jen was due to take the bus at 15:00 to Christchurch airport today. It would probably take her 7hrs to get there. She was flying really early in the morning the next day so she decided to sleep in the airport for a few hours.

Today I must meet new people because everyone I knew had left Queenstown.

I've checked myself out of the worst YHA in NZ and checked into the Southern Laughter, a BBH hostel. Louis stayed in that hostel so I've been going there daily.

There is another YHA in Queenstown located in the Lake front. It's a bit further to walk into town but it's alot nicer.

Skyline Hill - Me out of Shape

Friday, May 21. The other day, I bumped into Louis, the American and Willemijn in Queenstown. I first met Wille in Auckland. She was my roommate. Then a few days after that, she was on my Stray bus and we travelled parted of the north island together. A few days ago, I bumped into Wille in Wanaka on the south island. Ain't that weird? Anyway, turned out that Louis and Wille bumped into each other on the top of Skyline hill. They told us that they hiked up and took the gondola down. So we've planned to do that today.


Jen and I recruited two other girls and hiked up the Skyline hill instead of taking the gondola. It took us nearly an hour without breaks and we were all huffing and puffing the entire way up. I felt so out of shape. I think I've been eating too much junk food like chocolates and biscuits and not exercising much. I hope you guys still recognise me when I get back.



Overlooking Queenstown from the top of Skyline hill.

We spent a good hour up there and took load of photos. We also tried on the manuka honey facial moisturiser. Apparently they are only produced in NZ and are very good for your skin. So I gotta get me one of those.

After we got all warmed up, we proceeded to take the gondola down. We were all nicely sat in the gondola when a guy came out of the booth and asked us for our tickets. Needless to say, we got kicked out.

Three of us decided to walk down. About a quarter way down, we saw two canadians walking up and had a quick chat with them. We probably should have taken the gondola down because about halfway down, it got dark really quick and we could hardly see what was in front of us. Luckily Sarah had a flashlight. One area was especially dangerous because it was quite steep with lots of uneven rocks. We took it slowly and eventually got down safely.

Shortly after we got back to the hostel, the two Canadian guys that we saw earlier showed up. They managed to take the gondola down without paying. Were we that obvious?

In the evening, Jen, Sarah and I had a night out with Louis because he was leaving the next day to Christchurch.

Fergburger in Queenstown

Thursday, May 20. I have decided to part ways with my travel buddies on the south island, Fafa and Chin. They were good company but they must get back to Christchurch to catch a flight and I wanted to stay in Queenstown a bit longer.

Jen and I will be each others travel companion for a few days. We checked into YHA Central because it was right in town. It was the worst YHA I've stayed in through the whole of NZ. I wish I didn't book two nights there.

Before parting ways with the girls, we had our last meal together at the Fergburger burger joint.




For some reason, everyone that goes to Queenstown must try a fergburger. I've tried it now. It's a burger everyone. How special could a burger be? It was a huge burger though, took up almost the circumference of a small pizza. The taste was pretty good.

Milford Sound

Wendesday, May 19. We got up quite early today for a day trip to Milford Sound. Fafa stored her luggage in the lodge so that we could fit Jen in the car as well. Jen was a Canadian girl that Fafa and Chin met in the north island. Then we bumped into her again in Nelson, Franz Josef and Wanaka.

It took us 5 hrs to drive there. We stopped at Te Anau for a toliet break then I took over the driving. The road winds around mountains. So many twists and hair pin turns. We drove through a mountain on one section.

We quickly booked a cruise when we arrived. Jen managed to haggle us a really good deal. Good job Jen. Power in numbers during the low season she mentioned.




This was one of many pics taken on the cruise.





Our ship took us right up to this waterfall.

There were also loads of dolphans that started to swim with the ship and a few were jumping beside us. There were a few that jumped in front of the ship too. They were really fast in the water and kept up with us.

On our drive back, Fafa didn't want to hand over the wheel. Driving at the speed limit, I think I was too slow for her. It took us only 4.5hrs to get back because the rally driver was back. This time, Jen's eyes nearly popped out of her socket as Fafa was tailing cars and passing buses on the wrong side of the road. Did they not teach the 2 second rule in France? No one was a backseat driver and nothing was said.

We checked back into the Pinewood lodge. It was really affordable this time because Jen joined us and we took the room with a double and two bunk beds. In low season, we only paid $60 for the room. By far the least I've ever paid in NZ. Cheap as chips!

Wanaka to Queenstown

Tuesday, May 18. I was too cheap to go skydiving today. But Chin booked herself in so Fafa and I walked around town and waited for Chin to finish.




A view from our hostel. We drove in at night yesterday and didn't notice how beautiful the view was from out kitchen window.




We walked around Lake Wanaka and took loads of photos.




On our way to Queenstown, we stopped a few times to take some more photos.




Another photo taken on our drive toward Queenstown. A scene from Lord of the Rings?

We also made a quick stop in Arrowtown and walk around there. No pics to show cos my hands were freezing and too cold to snap any pics on the iPhone.

Franz Josef - Glaciers

Sunday, May 16/17. We spent two days in Franz Josef. On the first day, we walked to the base of the glacier.




This was the start of the glacier hike, but we didn't do it because a guide was required to go further.

The next day, Fafa went on a half day guided glacier walk. I slept in and enjoyed every moment of it.

Chin doesn't drive manual transmission vehicles so I drove us to the start of our hike, the Douglas Track. This was suppose to take an hour to complete, but it took us two hours because we were stopping to take lots of pictures.




About 20 minutes into our hike, we came across this scenic view. We stayed here for ages taking photos. Doesn't it look like a painting eh?

We drove to Wanaka after Fafa finished her glacier hike. It was a long 4 hr drive and because we started late, the last hour of the drive was in the dark. I doubled and tripled checked that I was buckled in and I was holding onto the "holy shit handle" tightly.

Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes

Saturday, May 15. We checked out of our hostel in Nelson and had a long drive to Greymouth.

We stopped by Punakaiki where we saw the pancake rocks and the blow hole. We arrived at the wrong time so the blow hole wasn't spectaclar. Best time to go was during high tide.




On our way to the pancake rocks.




Pancake rocks

Then we took a detour to see a seal colony in Tauranga Bay, Westport.

Eventually, we made it to Greymouth and checked into a cute hostel called Noah's Arc. It's a BBH hostel.

Abel Tasman

Friday, May 14. We went on a day trip to Abel Tasman today. It took us 1.5 hrs to drive there.



This is Fafa behind the wheel. She drives like we're in a rally. I guess this is how the French drives?

We decided to hike to Appletree Bay and back. It was an easy 5.5km stroll to the bay. Fafa and I walked ahead and arrived at the Appletree Bay turn off first and had to wait for Chin because we didn't want her to miss the turnoff. After a short few minutes, Fafa was yelling out for Chin but received no response. She was freaking out and wanted us to walk back to find her. I was like, "Dude, she'll be here in a few minutes, she's just taking lots of pictures along the way. There's no way for her to be lost. Maybe we'll go look for her after 10 minutes if she ain't here yet."

Less than 5 minutes later she was walking back and yelling for Chin. I'm thinking that this girl needs to chillax. At the end of the day, Chin was less than 10 minutes behind us.




A view of the beach while hiking in Abel Tasmen. Way too cold now to go for a dip.

We stopped at Appletree Bay for an hour for lunch then started our hike back. Fafa took off ahead of us while Chin and I spent alot of time taking pictures. About 2kms into our hike back, a huge down pour started. We were soaked within a minute. That's when we started to jog back.

My pants and socks were soaked all the way through. Thank god that I bought that goretex jacket. My top was totally dry. When we got back to the car, I quickly got out of all the wet clothes. However, Chin was soaked from top to bottom and stayed in those clothes the whole time. When we got back to our hostel in Nelson, The Paradiso, Chin looked ill. I hope she recovers after the hot shower.

Hooked up with two girls

Thursday, May 13. I was woken up by a phone call at 8:30am. Someone responded to my ad on gumtree about traveling to the south island. I met them at 9:00 for a two way travel buddy interview. It went well, so I checked out of the hostel and booked a ticket on the ferry to the south island with them. For the next few days, I will be travelling with Fafa, a French girl and Chin, a girl from Hong Kong. Both are in their late twenties.

I thought it was going to be a quick ride on the ferry. Little did I know, it was a 3 hr trip! I was on the observation deck almost the whole time. It was cold and extrememly windy. But I didn't throw up.




When we drove into the car storage area in the ferry, it smelled like poo. We found out why after we saw this. That's right, there were live cows on the lorries that were parked in front of all the cars.




A view from the observation deck.

It was nearly 5pm when we drove out of the ferry in Picton. We didn't spend any time in this town and drove two hours to Nelson. Chin found a BBH hostel called Paradiso. I think it was one of the cheapest and best hostels in NZ. We were in a 10 bed female dorm and two of the beds were in the attic space. Fafa and I took them. They were so cute. This hostel has free wifi too. This was the only hostel that we came across in NZ that offered it. All the others charged around $6/hr.

Gigantic Squid

Wednesday, May 12. I'm still looking for people to car share and travel with in the south island. I've posted an ad on the gumtree website as well as the YHA notice board.




Went to the Te Papa museum and saw the largest squid ever to be put on display.

In the evening, I had to make several phone calls to my travel agent in the UK to try and sort out my flights. It's a long story and a nightmare. At 1am in the morning I was still on the phone. Ask me about it later.

Poker shark in Wellington?

Tuesday, May 11th. We stayed at a lodge in the Tongariro National Park last night and it was one of the best places I stayed in.




This was the sunset view from our lodge. Shame that I forgot what it was called.




Today drove to Wellington. This is a view of the city from the top of Mount Victoria.

In the evening, I met Michael, a local that I contacted through the couch surfing website. I cooked us a steak dinner in my YHA hostel. Then Michael took me to the local couch surfer gathering to have a cup of hot chocolate, followed by a game of poker.

I haven't played poker and ages and needed a refresher on the rules. It was a fun night. The game had a cut off time because everyone had to work the next day. I came in second after the chip count and won two dollars afters getting back the buy in money.

Tongariro National Park

Monday, May 10. I got up at 5am today to get ready for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. I made steak last night for dinner and today's breakfast. It was a nice piece of scotch fillet cooked to perfection. It was still winking at me when I ate it. Just the way I like it.

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing was 19.4 km and had an elevation of 800 meters. I heard that it was the best hike in all of New Zealand.

Today was an excellent day. The sun was out and there were no clouds in sight. I put sunscreen, sunglasses and was down to my shirt at one point.




We walked on an active volcano. This part was very steep. I felt so out of shape whenever I need to walk up mountains!

I sat on the Red Crater, the highest point at 1800 meters, and it was burning my bottom. There were many volcanic vents in that area. It was an active volcano after all.




I made it down almost in one piece. It was very slippery. I fell in this area because I was running down too quickly and I had to avoid the girl in front of me. The side of my hand was cut and bleeding, but I was alright. No need to worry.




We had this beautiful view while we were hiking down the mountain.

I was falling behind in time and my knees were getting really sore from going downhill, so I tried to jog the last few kms. But after doing about 1 km, there were too many stairs. I didn't want to risk falling flat on my face.

I was late for the bus. But I wasn't the last one there so I didn't feel bad that people were waiting. It took me 7 hrs for the hike which included the hour I took for all the snack and lunch breaks. I was so glad that I finished the hike without any major incidents. I felt so out of shape, but I did it!!! I think I will hurt for the next few days.

Taupo

Sunday, May 9th. Today was a travel day. I caught the bus going from Rotorua to Taupo. After a huge breakfast, Jacko dropped me off at the Base hostel where I was picked up by the Stray bus at 12:30.

This Stray bus was a 21 seater van and I enjoyed riding in those alot more than the massive 35+ passenger bus that I was on earlier.

We got into Taupo in the afternoon and we stayed in the worst hostel that I've ever been in NZ. I think it was called the Backpacker's Retreat. The rooms were tiny and the walls were paper thin.




A sunset view of Lake Taupo.

Bath in Rotorua

Friday, May 7th. I went to the Ohinemutu village with a group of people from Hong Kong. I met them while I was soaking my feet in the hot pools. They had a van so I got a lift there and back into town afterwards.




Ohinemutu was a tribal village but there wasn't much to see there because all the guides were out so it was a bit boring. Not good value for money.

In the evening, my host invited me to take a bath in the Maori communal baths. This area was only for the Maori people, or an invite from a Maori would do. This was way out of my comfort zone, but hey, I'm on holiday... perfect time to do crazy stuff. I was assured that people don't sit there to perv on others.

Redwoods Whakareware Forest

Thursday, May 6th. Today I went to soak my feet in the hot pool in the afternoon. It was quite relaxing. The water temperature was pleasent and not burning hot. Though after 10 minutes of soaking, my legs turned red.

Then I suddendly decided that I wanted to go to The Redwoods forest. I got information from the backpackers and off I went. I caught a bus there and met a german girl and a local boy going there too.

We started the hike at 3pm which was pretty late in the day so we were limited to only the shorter hikes. We did the Pohaturoa track. It was 7.5km so we should be able to complete that before the sun goes down.




View of Rotorua city, Lake Rotorua, and the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve, from the top of the Pohaturoa track.

In the evening, I went to the towns Thursday night Market. I didn't get anything because my bag would not allow it. Jacko picked me up in town afterwards and we went home and had a huge feast.

Couch Surf Rotorua

Tuesday, May 4th. Today I arrived into Rotorua and I was invited by a local Maori to couch surf with him. I think I'll stay for a few days.

Sulphur smelled thoughout the city especially in the geothermal hot spots. Rotorua is known for it's geothermal activity and it's high Maori population.




I went to Kuirau Park in the afternoon where there were lots of geothermal hot spots and a few areas where you can soak your feet in the hot pools. I did just that and it felt good.

Later in the evening, I met with Jacko, my host in Rotorua. Jacko is a lawyer and an active member in the Maori community.

He drove me home, showed me my room then fed me roast pork. My stomach was happy, so I was happy. Then we chatted for hours, past Jacko's bedtime.

Waitomo

Monday, May 3rd. Todays destination: Waitomo. I did the Tumu Tumu Toobing in the Waitomo caves. It was around 10 degrees in the cave. We were given a full body wet suit with a wet suit jacket, socks and boots.

I thought it was going to be very active and sliding down water falls. They did call it black water rafting. But I was quite disappointed because it wasn't what I expected. Though floating in the freezing cold water, watching the glow worms in the cave was cool. I had wet and cold feet throughout the activity so I didn't quite like that part. Sadly, I wouldn't recommend this one. Maybe the other activities are better.

In the evening, we went on a cultural retreat to Uncle Boy's home to stay the night. They put on a show for us, then the boys learned the haka and the girls learned to dance with the ball. It was an interesting evening though it was not covered by the Stray price so it was another hidden cost. Many people that I spoke to thought it was a rip off. But there was free wifi.

First stop - Hahei

Saturday, May 1st. Today I started my bus tour of the north island on the Stray bus. This is like a hop on hop off bus but it also provides other services like making sure that there is a spot available in their hostel on the night that the bus is pulling in and the driver also books activities for you. They obviously get commission if you sign up to the ones they promote because the driver seemed annoyed when I asked about alternative accomodations.




We started the day by heading to the top of Mount Eden, one of Auckland's extinct volcanoes. This was the view of the city from Mount Eden.

We stayed in Hahei tonight. I was last off the bus and somehow got to stay in a small campervan and had the whole thing to myself. I was chatting with one of the girls afterwards and she was in a 9 person dorm.

The campervan was awesome. I took the double bed and made myself toast and tea. I even hosted guests in my crib.

After I settled in we went on a hike towards Cathedral Cove. Initially, we were only planning to go for a short walk, so not the full way to the cove. But then we bumped into Louis, an American on our bus, and decided to continue on. We started the hike pretty late so by the time we got to the cove, the sun was beginning to set.




This was Cathedral Cove. They recently fenced off the section to go through to the cove and put a sign up warning people of the potential falling rocks.




This was the other side of the cove. We decided to ignore the warning sign and go through. There were hundreds of shoe prints onthe path so I guess we weren't the only ones being naughty.

In the evening, it got really cold and the campervan didn't have a heater so I was freezing. I had to sleep with my thermals on and used two blankets!