For some reason we had a mega early departure this morning, the bus leaving at 7.20 from outside the hostel. The driver yesterday said that this was to get to our next stop in Kaikoura nice and early for activities in the afternoon which was fair enough. After a quick shower and toast for breakfast the bus arrived bang on time and we made our way out of Christchurch, easier said than done! There were many hostel pick ups as there were a lot of people starting there bus pass from here, and there were also road works everywhere and at one point a normal road got to a dead end and we had to reverse for ages just to get back on track. We got onto the highway eventually though!
With another relatively cruisey day as many Kiwi people say, it was a pretty relaxing morning. Driving through the Canterbury Plains, our driver sent back what felt like an endless supply of clipboard of things ranging from Kaikoura activities to accommodation bookings to ferry bookings. This took us a good hour to complete on the once again half full coach and it was timed just right when arriving into our first stop of the day, Cheviot. With little more than a single street dotted with shops, cafes and houses, it was all a nice little stroll. I even treated myself to an egg and bacon sandwich here, arguably my favourite sandwich.
From here it was one last push into Kaikoura, arriving at 11 due to our slow departure out of Christchurch. I am staying 3 nights in Kaikoura because I couldn't do 2 nights here and 2 nights in Christchurch, so I chose to spend longer in Kaikoura. The buses all get very confusing! Before checking into my hostel, our driver took us up to the lookout over the small town and the views were pretty impressive seeing all the mountains in the Kaikoura ranges as well as the town and sea on both sides as Kaikoura has a peninsula attached to the mainland. After leaving the lookout, it was straight to the hostel called the Lazy Shag, which despite the name was actually a really cosy little place run by a very vocal Asian woman.
Little more than a small fishing town until recent years, Kaikoura is perhaps most famous for its abundance of wildlife with things like whales, dolphins, penguins, seals and albatross amongst the things living here. This brings with it lots of tourists with local operators running cruises and even flights to see these things. These didn't really appeal to me however as they were so expensive, although the one activity that caught my eye was the seal swimming, although it was cancelled apparently due to murky water. The other tour I was interested in was this fishing trip where you go fishing and catch lots of fish, then go back to the organisers house for a few beers, before staggering down the street with a bag full of fish to the local chippy to fry up and eat! This was also cancelled as it has shut down for the year which was a shame.
With not many other appealing options left to do Kaikoura, I headed into town to check out the shops and the beach which was covered in this grey sand. With a beautiful day I walked as far as this whale rib walkway which was pretty impressive, I headed back the same way via the i site to see if I had missed any potential things to do during my time here. The only other interactive thing that appealed to me on offer was a day trip llama trekking, although I soon lost interest when I heard the price. With just sightseeing trips on offer for mental prices, it appears I will be doing the two major hikes round Kaikoura in my two days here!
Heading back the hostel, my next stop of the day was the local new world which is my free WiFi hotspot for the duration of my stay in Kaikoura. Apparently this is newly built and despite being out of town has been a huge boost for the town. Walking back along the seafront to the hostel, I then opted to spend the afternoon geocaching. I decided to head more out of town however as there was a trail round the local farmland with a high density of caches.
Walking back along the main highway we drove in on, I walked all the way to the outer suburb of ocean ridge, finding 3 caches en route based in and around the coastal area. In terms of ocean ridge it was a new housing development although as with so many other areas they were selling by patch of land so people could build what they want. It is always nice seeing peoples idea of their dream home, as well as thinking how I would develop each piece of land which had such varying profiles.
I then headed up through the empty streets with land patches for sale to begin the short caching trail through farmland and up hills. Apparently Kaikoura has had a lot of rain recently which made the paths slightly wet and muddy, although I guess it is good to stuck straight in with my new trainers! In all I found all but one of the caches I hoped to find up on walking comparable to the UK countryside, although it started to drizzle by the end which signalled my time to head back to the hostel.
Arriving back by around 6ish, I just cracked straight on with dinner which this evening was steak casserole with rice which was nice and easy, mainly because this kitchen actually had pans! From here it was all a pretty relaxing evening, checking out the town briefly before heading back to the hostel to fulfil a promised Skype call. When finishing I just went to my room, although it wasn't all relaxing as the girl in my room dropped her shampoo out of the window which meant I kindly volunteered to go round the back to retrieve it!
Thursday, 17 April 2014
Wednesday, 16 April 2014
April 14th... From Lake Tekapo to Christchurch
I was up bright and early this morning despite a later bus departure, even emerging into the lounge area first. I don't know why I woke up so early but this gave me a free tv remote where I put on the NZ breakfast show, although all they were going on about what the royal tour and Paul Potts! Whilst relaxing and watching this morning show comparable to Daybreak I went between the kitchen every so often to do myself some toast for breakfast. Due to the fact I was up early I didn't want to wake everyone in my room up packing my bag which meant I packed as late as possible when they eventually emerged.
With a 9.30 departure this morning to our next stop in Christchurch, I found out I had a driver which I had earlier on my trip. He has done a lap of the south island and caught up with me! Driving out of Lake Tekapo bang on time, our first stop of the day was in Geraldine which was nothing exciting. With a few shops, cafes and a supermarket, this was simply described to as a breakfast stop by our driver. With just a short drive today we then continued straight on to Christchurch, driving through the many suburbs en route. So many place names we drove through on the way had the same names as British places which was funny.
By around 1 we arrived in Christchurch, passing the royals on our way in. The reason I know it was them was because a series of police cars passed us, then these posh cars with flags, followed finally by more police cars! When driving into Christchurch it looked pretty fine and I was just thinking what all the fuss was all about over the earthquake, although apparently it was the other side of the city which was worst affected. When checking into the hostel which was a chaotic check in, I headed straight out to look round the city. I'm only staying one night here as there are only five buses a week now which meant I couldn't spend two here.
Widely nicknamed the garden city due to its array of open spaces, Christchurch was devastated by an earthquake in 2011. When leaving my hostel I got my first taster of just how badly affected Christchurch has been from the earthquake. The CBD was amongst the most badly affected areas and to try and modernise the city much of this area is having the both damaged and even old buildings demolished and rebuilt. After passing the old war memorial which was cordoned off to repair and landscape the area, I worked my way through the streets covered in road works to the CBD to check out the many features.
First stop was the Re:Start Mall which is a shopping centre made out of shipping containers stacked on each other and painted all colourful. You could see the old main shopping centre here which is in the process of demolition, as well a new structure emerging behind the containers. The toilets here were even portaloos! Amongst the things here was a museum which explained the events leading up to the earthquake. I then continued round to the cathedral which was just a shell surrounded in boards. During the events of 2011 the historic spire collapsed, and as far as I can make out they are in the process of refurbishing this iconic city building.
One of the big emphasises put on by Christchurch is colour and there were so many little features like mosaics put on the building railings and temporary structures painted in bold colours. The cathedral even had a small house with a garden constructed around it. In addition to colour, whilst the rebuild takes place Christchurch has lots of little things called space fillers. An example of this was the oversized armchairs which were these chairs covered in AstroTurf a little bigger than normal. Nearby here was this sound garden which had lots of interactive musical instruments made out of things like fire extinguishers. There is even a crazy golf course of 18 holes spread round the city to fill in little gaps!
I then continued round through a park, seeing more developments in the process, to the cardboard cathedral. With no place of worship after the destruction of the historic cathedral, an alternative was made out of cardboard! The outside structure is primarily plastic however but inside all the internal decorations are cardboard tubes and cardboard that everywhere. The chairs were even made out of mdf! Nearby the cathedral was a memorial called the 185 empty chairs to represent the lives lost during the earthquake. With each chair being different, it was recommended you pick the chair that represents you most and sit down to take a moment to remember those who lost their lives.
After returning back to the Re:Start mall, I had a good chat with a local about the future of the city, before heading off to Hagley Park and the Botanical Gardens to go geocaching. By far the biggest green space in Christchurch I ended up caching round here until dark! Perhaps the highlight was the botanic gardens which were just teeming with plants and unique structures, although I nearly got locked in not realising it closed at half 6! Luckily the hostel was nearby which meant I could go back quickly ready to relax after a full on afternoon round the city. It's hard to talk about everything because Christchurch has so many little things to fill up the big gaps left behind, mainly emphasised around things like sculpture or colour.
Dinner this evening was originally going to be rice based, although there were no pans in the kitchen which was annoying. This meant I went out into town, heading for the out of town mall where I went to the supermarket, and also by the off chance the warehouse discount store where I got a new pair of trainers to replace my destroyed current pair for just $12! I then settled down in burger king where I used the free wifi which couldn't quite sustain a skype call before demolishing a big eat meal. It was then back to the hostel after a fair while in here through the drizzle and darkness back to my hostel, where I just opted for an early night as the hostel was called the ymca. This meant there wasn't really any on sight night time facilities!
With a 9.30 departure this morning to our next stop in Christchurch, I found out I had a driver which I had earlier on my trip. He has done a lap of the south island and caught up with me! Driving out of Lake Tekapo bang on time, our first stop of the day was in Geraldine which was nothing exciting. With a few shops, cafes and a supermarket, this was simply described to as a breakfast stop by our driver. With just a short drive today we then continued straight on to Christchurch, driving through the many suburbs en route. So many place names we drove through on the way had the same names as British places which was funny.
By around 1 we arrived in Christchurch, passing the royals on our way in. The reason I know it was them was because a series of police cars passed us, then these posh cars with flags, followed finally by more police cars! When driving into Christchurch it looked pretty fine and I was just thinking what all the fuss was all about over the earthquake, although apparently it was the other side of the city which was worst affected. When checking into the hostel which was a chaotic check in, I headed straight out to look round the city. I'm only staying one night here as there are only five buses a week now which meant I couldn't spend two here.
Widely nicknamed the garden city due to its array of open spaces, Christchurch was devastated by an earthquake in 2011. When leaving my hostel I got my first taster of just how badly affected Christchurch has been from the earthquake. The CBD was amongst the most badly affected areas and to try and modernise the city much of this area is having the both damaged and even old buildings demolished and rebuilt. After passing the old war memorial which was cordoned off to repair and landscape the area, I worked my way through the streets covered in road works to the CBD to check out the many features.
First stop was the Re:Start Mall which is a shopping centre made out of shipping containers stacked on each other and painted all colourful. You could see the old main shopping centre here which is in the process of demolition, as well a new structure emerging behind the containers. The toilets here were even portaloos! Amongst the things here was a museum which explained the events leading up to the earthquake. I then continued round to the cathedral which was just a shell surrounded in boards. During the events of 2011 the historic spire collapsed, and as far as I can make out they are in the process of refurbishing this iconic city building.
One of the big emphasises put on by Christchurch is colour and there were so many little features like mosaics put on the building railings and temporary structures painted in bold colours. The cathedral even had a small house with a garden constructed around it. In addition to colour, whilst the rebuild takes place Christchurch has lots of little things called space fillers. An example of this was the oversized armchairs which were these chairs covered in AstroTurf a little bigger than normal. Nearby here was this sound garden which had lots of interactive musical instruments made out of things like fire extinguishers. There is even a crazy golf course of 18 holes spread round the city to fill in little gaps!
I then continued round through a park, seeing more developments in the process, to the cardboard cathedral. With no place of worship after the destruction of the historic cathedral, an alternative was made out of cardboard! The outside structure is primarily plastic however but inside all the internal decorations are cardboard tubes and cardboard that everywhere. The chairs were even made out of mdf! Nearby the cathedral was a memorial called the 185 empty chairs to represent the lives lost during the earthquake. With each chair being different, it was recommended you pick the chair that represents you most and sit down to take a moment to remember those who lost their lives.
After returning back to the Re:Start mall, I had a good chat with a local about the future of the city, before heading off to Hagley Park and the Botanical Gardens to go geocaching. By far the biggest green space in Christchurch I ended up caching round here until dark! Perhaps the highlight was the botanic gardens which were just teeming with plants and unique structures, although I nearly got locked in not realising it closed at half 6! Luckily the hostel was nearby which meant I could go back quickly ready to relax after a full on afternoon round the city. It's hard to talk about everything because Christchurch has so many little things to fill up the big gaps left behind, mainly emphasised around things like sculpture or colour.
Dinner this evening was originally going to be rice based, although there were no pans in the kitchen which was annoying. This meant I went out into town, heading for the out of town mall where I went to the supermarket, and also by the off chance the warehouse discount store where I got a new pair of trainers to replace my destroyed current pair for just $12! I then settled down in burger king where I used the free wifi which couldn't quite sustain a skype call before demolishing a big eat meal. It was then back to the hostel after a fair while in here through the drizzle and darkness back to my hostel, where I just opted for an early night as the hostel was called the ymca. This meant there wasn't really any on sight night time facilities!
Tuesday, 15 April 2014
April 13th... Lake Tekapo
I was up early this morning because everyone in my room was leaving for their next bus journey whilst I was staying an extra night. I had originally planned to spend an extra night in Lake Tekapo to get get the shuttle out to the Mount Cook national park and do one of the many walks beneath the mountain, which requires ice picks and crampons to climb. Yesterdays weather meant I was reluctant to commit however which meant I instead planned an alternative walk round the lake instead. It was just my luck when waking up that it was sunny day, although the mountains were still covered in cloud!
Breakfast this morning was just my last remaining rolls which I toasted up before heading out for a walk which included some geocaching. My first find of the day took me into the shopping based area and I took the opportunity here to both look round the gift shops, but also visit the information centre for a map. Despite only having a handful of shops, there were some real quirky places for such a small place.
I then headed round to this little old church which is one of the most popular places to get married in New Zealand. On a warm summers day you can get cracking mountain views over the lake, aided by this glass window on the back wall of the small isolated building. Whilst here I found another cache nearby this statue of a dog which I can't remember what for, but was famous for doing something. Continuing on now out of town, I found a further cache before joining the main road to head to the nearby park.
Only opened to the public in recent years, the Lake Tekapo Regional Park is a coniferous forest following the lakes edge one side and the foot of the imposing nearby mountains on the other. Nowadays this area is popular with both cyclists and dog walkers, but it also the perfect area to hide geocaches as the tree interference can make it challenging. I found this out with my first find as my gps was going all over the place before I eventually found what I was looking for! All in all I found 3 caches in here, frustratingly not getting one which was meant to be inside this old shack.
After going up to this viewpoint to see the snow capped mountains surrounding the area, I worked my way through the forest down to the lake. Whilst here I just took a gentle stroll, seeing these really weird mushrooms on the way! Briefly going via town, I had two more potential finds along the canal. The walks itself was really nice starting by this dam before gently climbing through these quad bikes tracks right up a hill. Luckily I got the find here which came with some alternative views of Lake Tekapo and the flat plains heading out the other way.
My last find of the day had extra significance being my 900th find, and I well and truly had a trek to get to it being the wrong side of this fast flowing river. Luckily I found a dam of large rocks holding back the water at the nearby HEP plant which I managed to get a across before heading back through open land to get a quick find. From here, being rather content with myself, I headed back to the hostel back along the other side of the river which was basically one big hill.
Arriving back at like 1, my early start had created an early finish which meant which meant I just spent the afternoon relaxing. Come late afternoon I headed out to the Tekapo Springs which were these hot pools and sauna. I found out though that the ice rink and snow tube doesn't open until the 18th though which was frustrating! It was a nice and relaxing evening in the outdoor based pools of 36, 38 and 40 degrees. I even got to so relaxed the cool evening air which was in the dark by now didn't feel cold! I also spent my time rotating between the sauna room too which I was effectively using by relaxing inside the sauna for a while, then jumping into their 8 degree plunge pool after!
All in all it was a pretty well spent evening, heading back to the hostel by gone 7 in the end! Dinner this evening was Lamb Rogan Josh and rice, which took ages to cook for some reason. It was then films again all evening which was the same as yesterday to start with, although they showed Harry Potter after which was a welcome alternative. I went to bed after this film as it was slightly chilly inside despite having the fire going!
Breakfast this morning was just my last remaining rolls which I toasted up before heading out for a walk which included some geocaching. My first find of the day took me into the shopping based area and I took the opportunity here to both look round the gift shops, but also visit the information centre for a map. Despite only having a handful of shops, there were some real quirky places for such a small place.
I then headed round to this little old church which is one of the most popular places to get married in New Zealand. On a warm summers day you can get cracking mountain views over the lake, aided by this glass window on the back wall of the small isolated building. Whilst here I found another cache nearby this statue of a dog which I can't remember what for, but was famous for doing something. Continuing on now out of town, I found a further cache before joining the main road to head to the nearby park.
Only opened to the public in recent years, the Lake Tekapo Regional Park is a coniferous forest following the lakes edge one side and the foot of the imposing nearby mountains on the other. Nowadays this area is popular with both cyclists and dog walkers, but it also the perfect area to hide geocaches as the tree interference can make it challenging. I found this out with my first find as my gps was going all over the place before I eventually found what I was looking for! All in all I found 3 caches in here, frustratingly not getting one which was meant to be inside this old shack.
After going up to this viewpoint to see the snow capped mountains surrounding the area, I worked my way through the forest down to the lake. Whilst here I just took a gentle stroll, seeing these really weird mushrooms on the way! Briefly going via town, I had two more potential finds along the canal. The walks itself was really nice starting by this dam before gently climbing through these quad bikes tracks right up a hill. Luckily I got the find here which came with some alternative views of Lake Tekapo and the flat plains heading out the other way.
My last find of the day had extra significance being my 900th find, and I well and truly had a trek to get to it being the wrong side of this fast flowing river. Luckily I found a dam of large rocks holding back the water at the nearby HEP plant which I managed to get a across before heading back through open land to get a quick find. From here, being rather content with myself, I headed back to the hostel back along the other side of the river which was basically one big hill.
Arriving back at like 1, my early start had created an early finish which meant which meant I just spent the afternoon relaxing. Come late afternoon I headed out to the Tekapo Springs which were these hot pools and sauna. I found out though that the ice rink and snow tube doesn't open until the 18th though which was frustrating! It was a nice and relaxing evening in the outdoor based pools of 36, 38 and 40 degrees. I even got to so relaxed the cool evening air which was in the dark by now didn't feel cold! I also spent my time rotating between the sauna room too which I was effectively using by relaxing inside the sauna for a while, then jumping into their 8 degree plunge pool after!
All in all it was a pretty well spent evening, heading back to the hostel by gone 7 in the end! Dinner this evening was Lamb Rogan Josh and rice, which took ages to cook for some reason. It was then films again all evening which was the same as yesterday to start with, although they showed Harry Potter after which was a welcome alternative. I went to bed after this film as it was slightly chilly inside despite having the fire going!
April 12th... From Queenstown to Lake Tekapo
With my phone being the other side of the room due to the power socket locations I woke up before my alarm which in effect meant I could take my fully charged phone to bed as I beat it by in excess of an hour. With the hope of some extra sleep, it was short lived with alarms going off all over the place. It really frustrates me however when people don't turn them off, which was the case for a good five minutes this morning. Due to this I was up earlier than expected so decided to treat myself to a subway breakfast before catching the bus out of Queenstown.
With a 9.15 departure this morning I waited outside in what was a gloomy day with drizzle, boarding the bus bang on time. By the time we left Queenstown our bus was barely half full which was weird. Apparently lots of people didn't turn up! When leaving I thought about how much I am going to miss Queenstown because it just had so much to offer. I could have stayed there at least two weeks, although in terms of my bank balance it was probably best I was leaving an area alive both day and night.
First stop of the day today was Cromwell once again, primarily as a supermarket stop. It feels as if I have passed here many times now, although this was the first time I actually disembarked in the town area. Getting a few supplies from the supermarket, it was nice just to take a leisurely walk round the small town which included this big fruit statue to welcome you to town! I didn't stay out for long though, getting back on the bus as it was freezing and a little drizzly outside.
One of the nice things about my bus today was the familiar faces which I have met at various points along, many of which I lost before doing the deep south because barely no one did that section. I even found out someone was going to Fiji at the same time as me, and after lots of persuasion I think I managed to get her to book on the same tour as me! Due to the awful weather today which was just cloud, our driver just tanked it on to Lake Tekapo, stopping at Lake Pukaki for a photo stop en route. On a clear day you can see Mount Cook overlooking this long skinny lake, but we weren't so lucky today. There was a good information centre however which told us about the salmon fishing in the area as well as showing pictures of what we were meant to see!
In the end we arrived into Lake Tekapo by 2, where upon arrival we had a short guided tour of the town which by my standards would just scrape a village size. With an array of shops and restaurants, it was a pretty tourist based kind of settlement. We then checked into our hostel which was pretty modern. Kiwi experience have only been stopping here since the new year, and after dumping my stuff in what was a pretty compact room I headed out to explore Lake Tekapo despite the weather.
With the hostel being a 10 minute walk from the shops, I just opted for the alternative option of going up the hill with a few others I've been on the bus with on and off since Wellington. Passing the hot pools, the path up Mount John which was a little slippery rose at a gentle pace. Zigzagging through woodland we soon arrived at an open grassy area and after going up these rocks we reached the summit. Despite the surrounding mountains being engulfed in cloud we got a good enough view of Lake Tekapo and the town below as well as the flat lands lacking in vegetation in the other direction.
A short walk across we checked out the observatory which is used for stargazing. The sky is meant to be so good here to see space related things that it has been designated national park in effect to protect it! Even the lights in the town are designed to aim light downwards. It was very interesting and a short while after looking round we headed back down, finding three geocaches in the process. We also got a better view of the hot pools and the ice rink with a tubing area going down. I am tempted to go now.
After returning to the hostel and having an awful shower with either really hot or really cold water, I cracked on with dinner. This evening I had Lamb Rogan Josh which was a very generous portion in the end after I slightly misjudged the quantities! With not much going on other than relaxing in the hostel, the evening was spent watching DVDs by the heater as it was pretty chilly inside. In the end I managed to sit through two films before heading to bed, where eventually I settled down and went to bed. Prior to going to bed I checked the night sky although I was not in luck, getting swiftly back inside as it was freezing outside.
With a 9.15 departure this morning I waited outside in what was a gloomy day with drizzle, boarding the bus bang on time. By the time we left Queenstown our bus was barely half full which was weird. Apparently lots of people didn't turn up! When leaving I thought about how much I am going to miss Queenstown because it just had so much to offer. I could have stayed there at least two weeks, although in terms of my bank balance it was probably best I was leaving an area alive both day and night.
First stop of the day today was Cromwell once again, primarily as a supermarket stop. It feels as if I have passed here many times now, although this was the first time I actually disembarked in the town area. Getting a few supplies from the supermarket, it was nice just to take a leisurely walk round the small town which included this big fruit statue to welcome you to town! I didn't stay out for long though, getting back on the bus as it was freezing and a little drizzly outside.
One of the nice things about my bus today was the familiar faces which I have met at various points along, many of which I lost before doing the deep south because barely no one did that section. I even found out someone was going to Fiji at the same time as me, and after lots of persuasion I think I managed to get her to book on the same tour as me! Due to the awful weather today which was just cloud, our driver just tanked it on to Lake Tekapo, stopping at Lake Pukaki for a photo stop en route. On a clear day you can see Mount Cook overlooking this long skinny lake, but we weren't so lucky today. There was a good information centre however which told us about the salmon fishing in the area as well as showing pictures of what we were meant to see!
In the end we arrived into Lake Tekapo by 2, where upon arrival we had a short guided tour of the town which by my standards would just scrape a village size. With an array of shops and restaurants, it was a pretty tourist based kind of settlement. We then checked into our hostel which was pretty modern. Kiwi experience have only been stopping here since the new year, and after dumping my stuff in what was a pretty compact room I headed out to explore Lake Tekapo despite the weather.
With the hostel being a 10 minute walk from the shops, I just opted for the alternative option of going up the hill with a few others I've been on the bus with on and off since Wellington. Passing the hot pools, the path up Mount John which was a little slippery rose at a gentle pace. Zigzagging through woodland we soon arrived at an open grassy area and after going up these rocks we reached the summit. Despite the surrounding mountains being engulfed in cloud we got a good enough view of Lake Tekapo and the town below as well as the flat lands lacking in vegetation in the other direction.
A short walk across we checked out the observatory which is used for stargazing. The sky is meant to be so good here to see space related things that it has been designated national park in effect to protect it! Even the lights in the town are designed to aim light downwards. It was very interesting and a short while after looking round we headed back down, finding three geocaches in the process. We also got a better view of the hot pools and the ice rink with a tubing area going down. I am tempted to go now.
After returning to the hostel and having an awful shower with either really hot or really cold water, I cracked on with dinner. This evening I had Lamb Rogan Josh which was a very generous portion in the end after I slightly misjudged the quantities! With not much going on other than relaxing in the hostel, the evening was spent watching DVDs by the heater as it was pretty chilly inside. In the end I managed to sit through two films before heading to bed, where eventually I settled down and went to bed. Prior to going to bed I checked the night sky although I was not in luck, getting swiftly back inside as it was freezing outside.
Monday, 14 April 2014
April 11th... Queenstown again
After yesterday booking a bungy jump, I was surprisingly relaxed this morning as I dismissed my first two alarms and woke up as late as possible. I had booked an early slot to jump, the theory being just wake and jump. After a dreadful shower due to the fact it was blocked up with hair I ended up having noodles for breakfast which was another one of my microwave meals which left not one bit of washing up. It was then off out ready to check in for my bungy after spending the remainder of my morning using the WiFi I paid for.
Despite being told to check in at 8.50, arriving early, I was told my shuttle bus did not leave until 9.20. This meant I had some time to kill although I think they were just using this time so we could think about what we were doing! Apart from the shop selling all sorts of merchandise, there was a display which showed the different bungees used depending on weight. The heavier you are, the more elastic cords you get. There were also these bean bags to relax on which I did for a while, watching videos of the various things they offer. I am doing the Nevis bungy.
Perhaps the most tense part of the day was the actual drive to the bungy. Driving out of Queenstown the way I came in once again, we went passed the Kawarau Bridge site which is the birthplace of bungy, the first commercial bungy site in the world. At 43m high, it is just a fraction of the 134m I was doing today. Continuing along the road we soon turned off along this gravel track which was a private road. This soon started to rise and we eventually reached this canyon where we got a glimpse of the swing next door, and our first idea of the sheer height of the canyon we were about to jump into!
With just 3 of us jumping this morning there was a quick safety briefing before we were all harnessed up ready to be transported over to the jump pod. Getting the launch pad was no easy journey as we had to board this wobbly little cart thing on a wire to get transported into the middle of the canyon to this launch pad. You could literally see below. When reaching the small booth supported with wires in the middle, we were told the jumping order where I was last up. The pod had a glass bottom floor in places so you could see down just make things more tense.
It wasn't long before the other two had jumped, even missing the first guys whole jump whilst talking to one of the instructors who was a West Brom fan. The reason being was the fact I had attached my Southampton scarf to the back of my harness for effect. They told me to hold it originally! I then had to sit in this chair where I got my ankles attached together with a karabiner and then this weight attached beneath my legs to the bungy cord. They then dropped the cord which signalled it was time to jump.
It was very daunting standing on the edge because it was a long way up, although I went on their countdown, even if I did fall off instead of jump off like they recommended. When you're on the edge there with nothing other than a rope dangling below you turn to jelly! The actual bungy was an amazing thrill and with 8.5 seconds of freefall the feeling was amazing, even if I was rapidly hurtling towards the ground. Before going down I was instructed to pull a cord on my third bounce to detach my feet which would put me in an upright position. I accidentally pulled it on my first bounce which kind of shocked me a bit but considering only 50% of people ever successfully detach themselves I felt good!
After the bungy stopped and I was hanging upright in the canyon, which would have been upside down without pulling the cord, I was pulled back up to the jump pod. The feeling was amazing when finally getting back and I was so glad I did it. I know I would have regretted not doing it, mainly because Queenstown is the home of bungy but also because I had kept thinking about before. The Nevis is the 3rd highest commercial bungy in the world behind South Africa which is dodgy, so I did pretty well!
After getting transported back to proper land by the cable car thing I got to look at the photos and video, the video surprisingly being better. After purchasing these things we hung around at the centre waiting for our lift back to Queenstown. It was nice to watch people on the bungy from the viewing platform after doing it, as well as people on the swing. It wasn't until gone 12 when I got back to Queenstown where when returning I just relaxed in the hostel for a while looking at my photos and thinking about another thing ticked off my imaginary to do list.
Come afternoon I went out into town to look round the gift shops amongst other places for postcards and things. I also took a long overdue visit to the worldwide sweet shop, described as a top 10 thing to do in Queenstown by my base guide. With every sweet you could imagine, it was interesting seeing the British section with things like Wispa and Yorkie bars included, which to be fair I haven't seen until now! When returning to the hostel I happened to fall asleep for some reason, probably because of my late night and early morning catching up with me.
When waking up again it was dark outside, although I liked the reaction to my bungy jump as people were also waking up back home! I soon headed out for dinner at this point which this evening was a venison and Portobello mushroom pie with chips from the fergbaker next door to the fergburger. It was really nice and when returning to the hostel to spend the evening on skype and everything. When finally running out of WiFi I went out for a bit, although the rain eventually put me off and I headed back to the hostel for bed, although I couldn't sleep probably because I fell asleep in the day!
Despite being told to check in at 8.50, arriving early, I was told my shuttle bus did not leave until 9.20. This meant I had some time to kill although I think they were just using this time so we could think about what we were doing! Apart from the shop selling all sorts of merchandise, there was a display which showed the different bungees used depending on weight. The heavier you are, the more elastic cords you get. There were also these bean bags to relax on which I did for a while, watching videos of the various things they offer. I am doing the Nevis bungy.
Perhaps the most tense part of the day was the actual drive to the bungy. Driving out of Queenstown the way I came in once again, we went passed the Kawarau Bridge site which is the birthplace of bungy, the first commercial bungy site in the world. At 43m high, it is just a fraction of the 134m I was doing today. Continuing along the road we soon turned off along this gravel track which was a private road. This soon started to rise and we eventually reached this canyon where we got a glimpse of the swing next door, and our first idea of the sheer height of the canyon we were about to jump into!
With just 3 of us jumping this morning there was a quick safety briefing before we were all harnessed up ready to be transported over to the jump pod. Getting the launch pad was no easy journey as we had to board this wobbly little cart thing on a wire to get transported into the middle of the canyon to this launch pad. You could literally see below. When reaching the small booth supported with wires in the middle, we were told the jumping order where I was last up. The pod had a glass bottom floor in places so you could see down just make things more tense.
It wasn't long before the other two had jumped, even missing the first guys whole jump whilst talking to one of the instructors who was a West Brom fan. The reason being was the fact I had attached my Southampton scarf to the back of my harness for effect. They told me to hold it originally! I then had to sit in this chair where I got my ankles attached together with a karabiner and then this weight attached beneath my legs to the bungy cord. They then dropped the cord which signalled it was time to jump.
It was very daunting standing on the edge because it was a long way up, although I went on their countdown, even if I did fall off instead of jump off like they recommended. When you're on the edge there with nothing other than a rope dangling below you turn to jelly! The actual bungy was an amazing thrill and with 8.5 seconds of freefall the feeling was amazing, even if I was rapidly hurtling towards the ground. Before going down I was instructed to pull a cord on my third bounce to detach my feet which would put me in an upright position. I accidentally pulled it on my first bounce which kind of shocked me a bit but considering only 50% of people ever successfully detach themselves I felt good!
After the bungy stopped and I was hanging upright in the canyon, which would have been upside down without pulling the cord, I was pulled back up to the jump pod. The feeling was amazing when finally getting back and I was so glad I did it. I know I would have regretted not doing it, mainly because Queenstown is the home of bungy but also because I had kept thinking about before. The Nevis is the 3rd highest commercial bungy in the world behind South Africa which is dodgy, so I did pretty well!
After getting transported back to proper land by the cable car thing I got to look at the photos and video, the video surprisingly being better. After purchasing these things we hung around at the centre waiting for our lift back to Queenstown. It was nice to watch people on the bungy from the viewing platform after doing it, as well as people on the swing. It wasn't until gone 12 when I got back to Queenstown where when returning I just relaxed in the hostel for a while looking at my photos and thinking about another thing ticked off my imaginary to do list.
Come afternoon I went out into town to look round the gift shops amongst other places for postcards and things. I also took a long overdue visit to the worldwide sweet shop, described as a top 10 thing to do in Queenstown by my base guide. With every sweet you could imagine, it was interesting seeing the British section with things like Wispa and Yorkie bars included, which to be fair I haven't seen until now! When returning to the hostel I happened to fall asleep for some reason, probably because of my late night and early morning catching up with me.
When waking up again it was dark outside, although I liked the reaction to my bungy jump as people were also waking up back home! I soon headed out for dinner at this point which this evening was a venison and Portobello mushroom pie with chips from the fergbaker next door to the fergburger. It was really nice and when returning to the hostel to spend the evening on skype and everything. When finally running out of WiFi I went out for a bit, although the rain eventually put me off and I headed back to the hostel for bed, although I couldn't sleep probably because I fell asleep in the day!
April 10th... Queenstown
I don't know how it happened but upon waking up this morning my room was even more of a bombsite! I soon found out it was all down to two people which was pretty impressive to cover the whole room in their stuff. To avoid any hassle when waking up I just packed a bag of stuff for the day and headed straight out, going downstairs to try and catch up with my blog which I somehow got behind on whilst doing the deep south despite the plentiful free WiFi. I also had to phone kiwi experience to change some buses which was surprisingly hassle free which made a good start to the day.
Today I didn't really have anything officially planned although I knew I wanted to do the gondola and luge, tying it in with a walk up the nearby 1748m high Ben Lomond. With not a cloud in the sky today it was the perfect day to do these activities. Before heading up I went to the bungy centre to book my bungy, something I would have regretted not doing. I also made a quick trip to the post office to send some long overdue things home, then heading through town on my way up to the gondola.
One of the first tourist attractions established in Queenstown, the gondola is a cable car system taking you up around 500m to the 800m summit of Bobs Peak overlooking Queenstown. With a glass surrounded car all to myself I was able to enjoy cracking aerial views over Queenstown below as I went upwards. It was fun wobbling the cart as well going up! When reaching the top I took a look at the viewpoint overlooking the town and surroundings below, before going past the cafe to begin my walk along the Ben Lomond track. En route I passed all the luging tracks and this interesting sign telling me distances to various places. I am closer to the north pole and south pole compared to London!
Heading upwards through a coniferous forest briefly I soon arrived at this helipad. I had previously spoke to these people who said they had reached this point and said they couldn't find the next path. I found it no problem after finding a geocache nearby. I then headed upwards at a rapid rate until I reached this ridge which I followed for a while. The views were already amazing from here. It did get a little precarious here however as I reached a point which was just rocks which I had to traverse across. Luckily I got across without falling off the hill and continued up and over this small peak, meeting up with this other path in the process.
A short while later after tanking past these people on this gradually climbing path, I reached a sign indicating an hour to the summit. It was very daunting standing at the bottom seeing what looked like just rocks, but I just went for it and soon met this Canadian who I walked up top with. It was a pretty challenging ascent physically because there were so many rocks to climb, and like usual everytime the top came into sight more mountain appeared. Eventually we did what felt like a loop of the mountain before one last push to the summit!
The views up top were simply stunning with 360 views over Queenstown and Lake Wakitipu one way, and towards the snow capped southern alps the other way. Despite only climbing the 1748m peak from around about 800m it was a challenging hike. There was this interesting trig point as well up top which told you what each peak was in the distance by an eye piece. Whilst up here what started with just a couple of us soon became a crowd as more and more people reached the top! Eventually after a fair while taking in the views I headed down, this time alone.
It took me little over an hour to complete the descent down Ben Lomond, randomly bumping into someone I met in Invercargill coming down! He told me how to use the microwave back in the hostel there. It was nice to take an alternative route back to the gondola after as well, this time going more through the forest instead of going up and over this peak. It was tough my legs though by the end due to the impact on my legs jumping off rocks onto gravel tracks.
When reaching the cafe up top over Queenstown I treated myself to a beef roll and chips for lunch, and also a long overdue first l&p which was actually really nice! It was then time for my luging session where I basically got 5 runs. It was fun going up this chair lift each time, getting plenty of photos before taking the scenic luge track first to prove I could properly use the luge effectively. Luckily I passed which meant I could then use the fast track on my next go's which was much better. I did misjudge some turns, crashing on occasions however. Overall it was a really fun and relaxing end to the day up top of the hill.
Before heading back to the gondola for my descent, I relaxed in the entrance area as there was free WiFi up top. It was also nice to look round the gift shop and also these portraits made out of jelly beans. When finally going back down in the gondola which was just as fun as before I returned straight to the hostel where it was nice to give the room some light for the first time! I ended up relaxing in here for a while.
Dinner this evening was a long overdue Fergburger which is a must do thing in Queenstown apparently. I ended up ordering the mr big stuff in the end which was 1/2 pound of beef with cheese, bacon, bbq sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion and aioli. It was the business despite a half hour wait, the portion being massive! From here the evening was spent in the hostel where I just did a skype session along with a good update on things. It turned out to be a late one in the end although it was nice when returning to the room to see nicely packed bags and a clear run to my bed, ready for bed.
Today I didn't really have anything officially planned although I knew I wanted to do the gondola and luge, tying it in with a walk up the nearby 1748m high Ben Lomond. With not a cloud in the sky today it was the perfect day to do these activities. Before heading up I went to the bungy centre to book my bungy, something I would have regretted not doing. I also made a quick trip to the post office to send some long overdue things home, then heading through town on my way up to the gondola.
One of the first tourist attractions established in Queenstown, the gondola is a cable car system taking you up around 500m to the 800m summit of Bobs Peak overlooking Queenstown. With a glass surrounded car all to myself I was able to enjoy cracking aerial views over Queenstown below as I went upwards. It was fun wobbling the cart as well going up! When reaching the top I took a look at the viewpoint overlooking the town and surroundings below, before going past the cafe to begin my walk along the Ben Lomond track. En route I passed all the luging tracks and this interesting sign telling me distances to various places. I am closer to the north pole and south pole compared to London!
Heading upwards through a coniferous forest briefly I soon arrived at this helipad. I had previously spoke to these people who said they had reached this point and said they couldn't find the next path. I found it no problem after finding a geocache nearby. I then headed upwards at a rapid rate until I reached this ridge which I followed for a while. The views were already amazing from here. It did get a little precarious here however as I reached a point which was just rocks which I had to traverse across. Luckily I got across without falling off the hill and continued up and over this small peak, meeting up with this other path in the process.
A short while later after tanking past these people on this gradually climbing path, I reached a sign indicating an hour to the summit. It was very daunting standing at the bottom seeing what looked like just rocks, but I just went for it and soon met this Canadian who I walked up top with. It was a pretty challenging ascent physically because there were so many rocks to climb, and like usual everytime the top came into sight more mountain appeared. Eventually we did what felt like a loop of the mountain before one last push to the summit!
The views up top were simply stunning with 360 views over Queenstown and Lake Wakitipu one way, and towards the snow capped southern alps the other way. Despite only climbing the 1748m peak from around about 800m it was a challenging hike. There was this interesting trig point as well up top which told you what each peak was in the distance by an eye piece. Whilst up here what started with just a couple of us soon became a crowd as more and more people reached the top! Eventually after a fair while taking in the views I headed down, this time alone.
It took me little over an hour to complete the descent down Ben Lomond, randomly bumping into someone I met in Invercargill coming down! He told me how to use the microwave back in the hostel there. It was nice to take an alternative route back to the gondola after as well, this time going more through the forest instead of going up and over this peak. It was tough my legs though by the end due to the impact on my legs jumping off rocks onto gravel tracks.
When reaching the cafe up top over Queenstown I treated myself to a beef roll and chips for lunch, and also a long overdue first l&p which was actually really nice! It was then time for my luging session where I basically got 5 runs. It was fun going up this chair lift each time, getting plenty of photos before taking the scenic luge track first to prove I could properly use the luge effectively. Luckily I passed which meant I could then use the fast track on my next go's which was much better. I did misjudge some turns, crashing on occasions however. Overall it was a really fun and relaxing end to the day up top of the hill.
Before heading back to the gondola for my descent, I relaxed in the entrance area as there was free WiFi up top. It was also nice to look round the gift shop and also these portraits made out of jelly beans. When finally going back down in the gondola which was just as fun as before I returned straight to the hostel where it was nice to give the room some light for the first time! I ended up relaxing in here for a while.
Dinner this evening was a long overdue Fergburger which is a must do thing in Queenstown apparently. I ended up ordering the mr big stuff in the end which was 1/2 pound of beef with cheese, bacon, bbq sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion and aioli. It was the business despite a half hour wait, the portion being massive! From here the evening was spent in the hostel where I just did a skype session along with a good update on things. It turned out to be a late one in the end although it was nice when returning to the room to see nicely packed bags and a clear run to my bed, ready for bed.
Friday, 11 April 2014
April 9th... Milford Sound
This morning was an early start due to the horrifically long drive to what is widely regarded as one of the most scenic places in the world, Milford Sound. With my alarm set for half 6, I surprisingly beat it as my phone was the other side of the room and when randomly waking up to check the time it was 6.25! After having one of them showers where I didn't want to get out due to the cold air outside, I treated myself to a bacon, egg and cheese sub for breakfast. I seem to be getting a little carried away with the whole not cooking idea at the moment! Still a $3 sub brought no complaints from me.
By half 7 we left Invercargill after seeing an amazing sunrise which coloured the whole sky orange above the city skyline. Saying city in New Zealand is generally like saying town in the UK though. The last few days I have been exploring what is collectively known as the deep south on the bottom bus, however my trip to Milford Sound was operated by kiwi experience. Due to this our driver put his foot down in the minibus heading back north so we could intersect the kiwi bus heading south. Luckily we made the connection smoothly, arriving at a layby at Five Rivers by 9, seeing a few familiar faces on our new half empty coach.
A short drive later we arrived into our first proper stop of the day, Te Anau. Widely regarded as the gateway to the Ffordland National Park, we stopped here for a good half hour. This small settlement lies on the second largest lake in New Zealand formed by glacial activity like most landforms in the south island. I was tempted to stay a couple of nights here to do one of the great walks but they are so expensive with national park fees and hut hire fees which can be around $50 a night! They are also one way tracks and I would have ended up somewhere random. I just thought I would settle for the one day hikes.
Leaving Te Anau we started our drive down the Milford Road rated as one of the top 10 drives in the world. Taking 25 years to construct it winds its way through the national park right down to the Milford Sound. Our first stop off along this scenic road was the mirror lakes which are named for obvious reasons due to the reflections they give off. The surrounding hills were pretty special too with clouds floating below them rather than being shrouded in them which made this area very picturesque.
A short drive later down the road passing 45" latitude, the halfway point between the south pole and equator, we arrived at Knobs Flat. This was a toilet stop, although there was an information centre which was interesting showing the impact of things like stoats on the native wildlife species. New Zealand used to be teeming with bird life which evolved to be flightless in many cases as there were no predatory cycles. That all changed when the Maori people arrived around a 1000 years ago introducing mammals and hunting birds like the Moa to extinction. This was made worse when European migration begun which included the logging of many areas creating loss of habitat. In the matter of a few generations a once thriving country of biodiversity now has some of most endangered species in the world.
The next stop along was at the Holyford creek, which was an area surrounded by snow capped mountains. It was here we filled up our water bottles and had a quick photo stop. I love how so many places have streams which have water so fresh you can drink. Continuing along the scenic road through an avalanche risk zone, we got to Homers Pass. Luckily there is no snow for avalanches yet and the only risk we had was rock falls, although apparently there are tree avalanches here too as the lack of soil round here means trees are loosely attached to the side of mountains. In terms of Homers Pass, this was a 1.2km tunnel created through using explosives to take away the granite. It was a single lane tunnel however which meant we had a little wait before going through.
From the tunnel it was one last push down to the Milford ferry terminal, stopping just after the tunnel for another photo stop. We dropped sharply after this along winding roads before finally emerging at Milford Sound. This world heritage area is not actually a sound as the name suggests but actually a fford. This glacial landform now attracts visitors worldwide for cruises and even scenic flights round the area. We were doing a 2 hour cruise round the area. Before boarding we got our packed lunches which had a sandwich, cheese, crackers, apple, kiwi, cookie and a carton of juice in.
In terms of the cruise we got presented with scenery in all directions for the duration of the cruise. Passing waterfalls cascading down the rugged walls along with snow-capped mountains and endless forest making up the background round the steep granite cliffs, it was truly something special. Perhaps the highlight was seeing this fur seal colony close up on these rocks, although we weren't lucky enough to see any penguins. Our cruise took us all the way out to the Tasman Sea and back the other side. At one point we went into this waterfall which gave off this mist which looked like cloud in the water. The other impressive feature was sitting below this monster mountain. It was a real scenic cruise in the end made better by the fact it was a sunny day.
By 3.15 we started our drive back to Queenstown. We did have the option of flying back though which would have saved about 3.5 hours off the journey home and set me back nearly $700! Our driver pointed out we had been lucky because Milford Sound has on average 2 out of 3 rainy days a year, and we had sun. Going back the way we came, it was slightly worrying when the tunnel sign stated it was shut. Luckily it was only a 10 minute wait in the end and we continued through. It was interesting looking at the scenery outside from the other direction as it felt completely different. En route we home we stopped off at Te Anau again just for any supplies and a toilet stop for the last bit of our journey.
Arriving back in Queenstown by around half 7, getting a cracking sunset on the bus going home, I checked into my new hostel, base. I just fancied a change of scenery for my second stint in Queenstown. To be fair however Nomads was probably better as when checking into my room it was like a bombsite with stuff everywhere. It was also dark which meant I just quietly unpacked my stuff into the drawer which I can't understand why no one else did, and just relaxed on my bed. Dinner this evening was pasta to be quick and easy, although afterwards I went straight to bed as I was knackered. I thought I would give nighttime Queenstown a day off considering I have 3 more nights here.
By half 7 we left Invercargill after seeing an amazing sunrise which coloured the whole sky orange above the city skyline. Saying city in New Zealand is generally like saying town in the UK though. The last few days I have been exploring what is collectively known as the deep south on the bottom bus, however my trip to Milford Sound was operated by kiwi experience. Due to this our driver put his foot down in the minibus heading back north so we could intersect the kiwi bus heading south. Luckily we made the connection smoothly, arriving at a layby at Five Rivers by 9, seeing a few familiar faces on our new half empty coach.
A short drive later we arrived into our first proper stop of the day, Te Anau. Widely regarded as the gateway to the Ffordland National Park, we stopped here for a good half hour. This small settlement lies on the second largest lake in New Zealand formed by glacial activity like most landforms in the south island. I was tempted to stay a couple of nights here to do one of the great walks but they are so expensive with national park fees and hut hire fees which can be around $50 a night! They are also one way tracks and I would have ended up somewhere random. I just thought I would settle for the one day hikes.
Leaving Te Anau we started our drive down the Milford Road rated as one of the top 10 drives in the world. Taking 25 years to construct it winds its way through the national park right down to the Milford Sound. Our first stop off along this scenic road was the mirror lakes which are named for obvious reasons due to the reflections they give off. The surrounding hills were pretty special too with clouds floating below them rather than being shrouded in them which made this area very picturesque.
A short drive later down the road passing 45" latitude, the halfway point between the south pole and equator, we arrived at Knobs Flat. This was a toilet stop, although there was an information centre which was interesting showing the impact of things like stoats on the native wildlife species. New Zealand used to be teeming with bird life which evolved to be flightless in many cases as there were no predatory cycles. That all changed when the Maori people arrived around a 1000 years ago introducing mammals and hunting birds like the Moa to extinction. This was made worse when European migration begun which included the logging of many areas creating loss of habitat. In the matter of a few generations a once thriving country of biodiversity now has some of most endangered species in the world.
The next stop along was at the Holyford creek, which was an area surrounded by snow capped mountains. It was here we filled up our water bottles and had a quick photo stop. I love how so many places have streams which have water so fresh you can drink. Continuing along the scenic road through an avalanche risk zone, we got to Homers Pass. Luckily there is no snow for avalanches yet and the only risk we had was rock falls, although apparently there are tree avalanches here too as the lack of soil round here means trees are loosely attached to the side of mountains. In terms of Homers Pass, this was a 1.2km tunnel created through using explosives to take away the granite. It was a single lane tunnel however which meant we had a little wait before going through.
From the tunnel it was one last push down to the Milford ferry terminal, stopping just after the tunnel for another photo stop. We dropped sharply after this along winding roads before finally emerging at Milford Sound. This world heritage area is not actually a sound as the name suggests but actually a fford. This glacial landform now attracts visitors worldwide for cruises and even scenic flights round the area. We were doing a 2 hour cruise round the area. Before boarding we got our packed lunches which had a sandwich, cheese, crackers, apple, kiwi, cookie and a carton of juice in.
In terms of the cruise we got presented with scenery in all directions for the duration of the cruise. Passing waterfalls cascading down the rugged walls along with snow-capped mountains and endless forest making up the background round the steep granite cliffs, it was truly something special. Perhaps the highlight was seeing this fur seal colony close up on these rocks, although we weren't lucky enough to see any penguins. Our cruise took us all the way out to the Tasman Sea and back the other side. At one point we went into this waterfall which gave off this mist which looked like cloud in the water. The other impressive feature was sitting below this monster mountain. It was a real scenic cruise in the end made better by the fact it was a sunny day.
By 3.15 we started our drive back to Queenstown. We did have the option of flying back though which would have saved about 3.5 hours off the journey home and set me back nearly $700! Our driver pointed out we had been lucky because Milford Sound has on average 2 out of 3 rainy days a year, and we had sun. Going back the way we came, it was slightly worrying when the tunnel sign stated it was shut. Luckily it was only a 10 minute wait in the end and we continued through. It was interesting looking at the scenery outside from the other direction as it felt completely different. En route we home we stopped off at Te Anau again just for any supplies and a toilet stop for the last bit of our journey.
Arriving back in Queenstown by around half 7, getting a cracking sunset on the bus going home, I checked into my new hostel, base. I just fancied a change of scenery for my second stint in Queenstown. To be fair however Nomads was probably better as when checking into my room it was like a bombsite with stuff everywhere. It was also dark which meant I just quietly unpacked my stuff into the drawer which I can't understand why no one else did, and just relaxed on my bed. Dinner this evening was pasta to be quick and easy, although afterwards I went straight to bed as I was knackered. I thought I would give nighttime Queenstown a day off considering I have 3 more nights here.
Thursday, 10 April 2014
April 8th... From Dunedin to Invercargill
With a departure time of half 8 this morning, I was up at 7 and ended up having what was a very productive morning. Typing up a blog and maximising the free breakfast, I just about managed to post my blog before boarding the bus. I did get a bit of stick from the driver for being last one on though but the fact he was a Villa fan meant he soon stopped! With just 8 of us on the bus this morning, it was nice to see some familiar faces including some people I met back in Wanaka and also some people who I met in my hostel room in Dunedin as they just chucked us all in the same room.
After leaving the city of Dunedin, one of those places I wish I could stayed longer, we started our drive down to the Catlins to reach the more southern depths of New Zealand. It was naturally colder due to this, and after a fair drive we arrived at our first stop, Kaka Point. It was here we got a view of our next stop Nugget Point, although more spectacular was our timing to arrive as this rainbow came out spanning from the beach into the hills. We ended up spending a good half hour here in the end inside the local pub where we played some free pool.
Our next stop was a short drive further along to the aforementioned Nugget Point. Here we took a short walk to the lighthouse on the headland, en route seeing these seals on the rocks below. They were really cute making these squeaking noises and there were some little pups there as well. When reaching the lighthouse we got to see what was known as the nuggets which were rocks coming out of the water. I probably should have wrapped here more though as a t shirt just didn't cut it!
Driving back the way we came for a short way, we soon continued our drive south. To give you an idea of the roads we were going down, they were primarily single tracks made up of gravel. We were well and truly off the beaten track, and eventually after passing so many fields of sheep in the rugged surroundings we arrived at Cannibal Bay. Like many other places, this area was named for obvious reasons due to cannibalism which occurred here in the past with the Maori people. Today this area is a cracking place to see sea lions, and we weren't disappointed seeing many of these impressive creatures relaxing on the beach. Ensuring we didn't get too close, we took a walk down the other end of the beach to get different vantage points to see these amazing creatures.
From here our drive took us back onto proper roads to the small town of Owaka for lunch. I treated myself to burger and chips here as they had a special bottom bus menu and it was more appealing than supermarket food. It wasn't anything special however as everything just fell out the bun when picking it up. There wasn't really much else to do here and after lunch our drive took us to the Florence Hill lookout. This was another view lookout, although the more spectacular feature on a day with high tide was the spouting cave which spat out water through this hole, supposedly. We happened to come at low tide.
Continuing along the south coast, our next stop was the McLean falls where we went for a short walk through the beach forest to this impressive waterfall. Cascading down rocks to form something comparable to rapids, with a large backdrop in the background, the intriguing part was the water colour. The water was this swampy brown although our driver said that this wasn't because it was dirty, but because the recent rains had forced the oils and stuff from the plants surrounding the river to colour the water. To prove its freshness he drank it, which I swiftly followed and I felt fine afterwards. Apparently within around 48 hours the water will be clear again.
Our final stop of the day took us to Curio Bay, perhaps the most southerly point I will ever stand. As kiwi experience says, next stop Antarctica. The reason we stopped here was to go penguin watching to see the rarest penguin in the world, these ones with yellow feathers on their head. Like usual with me and wildlife I was unsuccessful after standing there in the cold for a good hour. The interesting thing with this area too though was the petrified forest which were these trees which over many years have fossilised into stone. They had the texture of trees but were literally these stones lieing on the ground!
It was then one last push to Invercargill from this point, stopping at the nearby cafe and hostel just before leaving to pick up a couple more passengers. We didn't end up arriving into Invercargill until gone half 6 in the end, although we got a decent sunset before arriving. Described as flat and suburban and one of the less enthralling places you will visit in NZ by my lonely planet guide, I kind of got the idea as we drove into this grid formation of streets before arriving at our hostel, Tuatara Backpackers in the city centre.
Cracking straight on with dinner which this evening was noodles which was a ready even including a fork to reduce washing up! I then quickly went out to find a cache as Invercargill is the most southern place I stay and I wanted to make my geocaching statistics look as impressive as possible. This also enabled me to briefly explore the city which had nothing interesting other than shops and a war memorial to speak of. I did however get a chocolate sundae for $1 though! The evening was spent inside the hostel, and it was interesting speaking to these people who went shark diving earlier in the day, seeing some of there videos! Before long it was time for bed in the weird hostel.
After leaving the city of Dunedin, one of those places I wish I could stayed longer, we started our drive down to the Catlins to reach the more southern depths of New Zealand. It was naturally colder due to this, and after a fair drive we arrived at our first stop, Kaka Point. It was here we got a view of our next stop Nugget Point, although more spectacular was our timing to arrive as this rainbow came out spanning from the beach into the hills. We ended up spending a good half hour here in the end inside the local pub where we played some free pool.
Our next stop was a short drive further along to the aforementioned Nugget Point. Here we took a short walk to the lighthouse on the headland, en route seeing these seals on the rocks below. They were really cute making these squeaking noises and there were some little pups there as well. When reaching the lighthouse we got to see what was known as the nuggets which were rocks coming out of the water. I probably should have wrapped here more though as a t shirt just didn't cut it!
Driving back the way we came for a short way, we soon continued our drive south. To give you an idea of the roads we were going down, they were primarily single tracks made up of gravel. We were well and truly off the beaten track, and eventually after passing so many fields of sheep in the rugged surroundings we arrived at Cannibal Bay. Like many other places, this area was named for obvious reasons due to cannibalism which occurred here in the past with the Maori people. Today this area is a cracking place to see sea lions, and we weren't disappointed seeing many of these impressive creatures relaxing on the beach. Ensuring we didn't get too close, we took a walk down the other end of the beach to get different vantage points to see these amazing creatures.
From here our drive took us back onto proper roads to the small town of Owaka for lunch. I treated myself to burger and chips here as they had a special bottom bus menu and it was more appealing than supermarket food. It wasn't anything special however as everything just fell out the bun when picking it up. There wasn't really much else to do here and after lunch our drive took us to the Florence Hill lookout. This was another view lookout, although the more spectacular feature on a day with high tide was the spouting cave which spat out water through this hole, supposedly. We happened to come at low tide.
Continuing along the south coast, our next stop was the McLean falls where we went for a short walk through the beach forest to this impressive waterfall. Cascading down rocks to form something comparable to rapids, with a large backdrop in the background, the intriguing part was the water colour. The water was this swampy brown although our driver said that this wasn't because it was dirty, but because the recent rains had forced the oils and stuff from the plants surrounding the river to colour the water. To prove its freshness he drank it, which I swiftly followed and I felt fine afterwards. Apparently within around 48 hours the water will be clear again.
Our final stop of the day took us to Curio Bay, perhaps the most southerly point I will ever stand. As kiwi experience says, next stop Antarctica. The reason we stopped here was to go penguin watching to see the rarest penguin in the world, these ones with yellow feathers on their head. Like usual with me and wildlife I was unsuccessful after standing there in the cold for a good hour. The interesting thing with this area too though was the petrified forest which were these trees which over many years have fossilised into stone. They had the texture of trees but were literally these stones lieing on the ground!
It was then one last push to Invercargill from this point, stopping at the nearby cafe and hostel just before leaving to pick up a couple more passengers. We didn't end up arriving into Invercargill until gone half 6 in the end, although we got a decent sunset before arriving. Described as flat and suburban and one of the less enthralling places you will visit in NZ by my lonely planet guide, I kind of got the idea as we drove into this grid formation of streets before arriving at our hostel, Tuatara Backpackers in the city centre.
Cracking straight on with dinner which this evening was noodles which was a ready even including a fork to reduce washing up! I then quickly went out to find a cache as Invercargill is the most southern place I stay and I wanted to make my geocaching statistics look as impressive as possible. This also enabled me to briefly explore the city which had nothing interesting other than shops and a war memorial to speak of. I did however get a chocolate sundae for $1 though! The evening was spent inside the hostel, and it was interesting speaking to these people who went shark diving earlier in the day, seeing some of there videos! Before long it was time for bed in the weird hostel.
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
April 7th... Dunedin
With the majority of people in my dorm leaving on the bus this morning, I just woke up as their alarms went off. It felt like luxury as I lay there on the bottom bunk on my phone catching up with the goings on in the world. I soon got out of bed however to take advantage of the complimentary free breakfast of toast and jams, which was basically frozen bread! It was a nice touch, although the morning confirmed my point that yha hostels are for old people.
First stop of the day today was Cadbury world, something which I have done back in the UK but thought was worth a look round whilst I was here. It was a slightly grotty day full of drizzle though which was frustrating, which makes me doing indoor things all day a good thing. Before starting my tour of the chocolate factory there was a small self guided museum to look round which explained the history of Cadburys and even chocolate. I was able to taste a cocoa bean here which was very bitter. As well as this, highlights of the museum included this big chocolate bunny, a mountain of crunchie bars and flooring made of chocolate bar wrappers.
Before long we were called over and went through this big door where we were told to wear this hat thing to cover our hair, and where we also got our first chocolate bar, a buzz bar. Before starting the tour we watched a video about how Cadburys came to be in NZ which included the strong British influence. We then preceded to the outside section where I found out I was only person from the UK. Here we got to see these old cars and also many of the factory buildings. The most intriguing one was this purple silo which apparently had a surprise for us.
There were so many little sections of the factory to the point I couldn't remember everything, although the first section took us through the chocolate production room where we learned about the coloured pipes which contained different types of chocolate in. Today they were making chocolate buttons and walking the length of the room led us to see them being made, and then at the other end see them fall off the end of belt ready to be packaged. The next room along we saw how they package things like roses and milk trays which combined human input and this clever machine. We also got some more free chocolate here, a pinky and some jaffas.
The following room was really interesting as we got to see how Easter eggs are made. Despite currently not being in production, we still watched some videos and saw some of the equipment used in the surprisingly simple process. I even know how they get things inside the eggs now! Continuing on through the factory, getting a crispello and freddo en route, the next section took us into the silo. We had to enter in pitch black and then shout we want chocolate. This resulted in this waterfall of liquid chocolate falling in front of our eyes, an amazing sight although chocolate went everywhere!
The final part of our tour took us back downhill where we learned about the production of jaffas and pebbles which are a bit like smarties. We weren't allowed in the actual room however because it was too noisy for us! The final part of the tour enabled us to taste liquid chocolate which was really warm. This brought us to the end of the tour, which was well worth doing as they produced different things to the UK. We had the opportunity of cheap chocolate in the shop after although I resisted temptation!
As I had a little gap between my Cadburys tour and brewery tour I spent the time in between geocaching so I could look round the city. Finding 8 finds in all, I looked round parts including the train station and town centre which had lots of historical buildings in comparison to other parts of NZ. I also found one up the top of a hill which gave me some aerial views of the city. I probably could have spent longer here as it is basically a spread out city.
By 2 it was time for my brewery tour round the Speight's brewery. I wasn't sure about doing this in the first place as I have already done two in the past, although the tour was well worth it. I won't go into the production of beer again, although it what made this one unique is that much of the start focused on how NZ got beer. We then went through all the rooms where we looked at the beer making process, where we were able to taste hops, a very distinctive taste. It was interesting at the end however as we got to see the copper drums used for brewing, installed many years ago. We then looked at the newly built opened two weeks ago steel brewing drums. The reason they've build this is to maintain demand due to impacts of the Christchurch earthquake. The brewery fell down here and they're not rebuilding it, which is where Dunedin comes in.
To finish the interesting tour which was amazing in the end to see how far technology has come with things like energy recycling machines, we were able to taste the beer. The beers on offer were gold medal ale, five malt dark, summit lager, distinction, triple hop pilsener and a cider. The triple hop was by far the best, and it was made better by having an open bar where we could help ourselves! It was nice talking to the predominantly American group here as I was once again by far the youngest person.
It wasn't until about half 4 before I left the brewery where I went back to the hostel. Before relaxing I went into the library to use the free computer access, leaving at dark! From here I went geocaching which was mental as I found two large containers, one under tree cover in darkness with a 23m radius as times! Finding another 5 caches in the end which took me past more university based areas of the city, I returned to the hostel via the supermarket where I just took the lazy option of a ready meal for dinner. The evening was just spent in the hostel relaxing, and it wasn't until later in the evening when we went to bed.
First stop of the day today was Cadbury world, something which I have done back in the UK but thought was worth a look round whilst I was here. It was a slightly grotty day full of drizzle though which was frustrating, which makes me doing indoor things all day a good thing. Before starting my tour of the chocolate factory there was a small self guided museum to look round which explained the history of Cadburys and even chocolate. I was able to taste a cocoa bean here which was very bitter. As well as this, highlights of the museum included this big chocolate bunny, a mountain of crunchie bars and flooring made of chocolate bar wrappers.
Before long we were called over and went through this big door where we were told to wear this hat thing to cover our hair, and where we also got our first chocolate bar, a buzz bar. Before starting the tour we watched a video about how Cadburys came to be in NZ which included the strong British influence. We then preceded to the outside section where I found out I was only person from the UK. Here we got to see these old cars and also many of the factory buildings. The most intriguing one was this purple silo which apparently had a surprise for us.
There were so many little sections of the factory to the point I couldn't remember everything, although the first section took us through the chocolate production room where we learned about the coloured pipes which contained different types of chocolate in. Today they were making chocolate buttons and walking the length of the room led us to see them being made, and then at the other end see them fall off the end of belt ready to be packaged. The next room along we saw how they package things like roses and milk trays which combined human input and this clever machine. We also got some more free chocolate here, a pinky and some jaffas.
The following room was really interesting as we got to see how Easter eggs are made. Despite currently not being in production, we still watched some videos and saw some of the equipment used in the surprisingly simple process. I even know how they get things inside the eggs now! Continuing on through the factory, getting a crispello and freddo en route, the next section took us into the silo. We had to enter in pitch black and then shout we want chocolate. This resulted in this waterfall of liquid chocolate falling in front of our eyes, an amazing sight although chocolate went everywhere!
The final part of our tour took us back downhill where we learned about the production of jaffas and pebbles which are a bit like smarties. We weren't allowed in the actual room however because it was too noisy for us! The final part of the tour enabled us to taste liquid chocolate which was really warm. This brought us to the end of the tour, which was well worth doing as they produced different things to the UK. We had the opportunity of cheap chocolate in the shop after although I resisted temptation!
As I had a little gap between my Cadburys tour and brewery tour I spent the time in between geocaching so I could look round the city. Finding 8 finds in all, I looked round parts including the train station and town centre which had lots of historical buildings in comparison to other parts of NZ. I also found one up the top of a hill which gave me some aerial views of the city. I probably could have spent longer here as it is basically a spread out city.
By 2 it was time for my brewery tour round the Speight's brewery. I wasn't sure about doing this in the first place as I have already done two in the past, although the tour was well worth it. I won't go into the production of beer again, although it what made this one unique is that much of the start focused on how NZ got beer. We then went through all the rooms where we looked at the beer making process, where we were able to taste hops, a very distinctive taste. It was interesting at the end however as we got to see the copper drums used for brewing, installed many years ago. We then looked at the newly built opened two weeks ago steel brewing drums. The reason they've build this is to maintain demand due to impacts of the Christchurch earthquake. The brewery fell down here and they're not rebuilding it, which is where Dunedin comes in.
To finish the interesting tour which was amazing in the end to see how far technology has come with things like energy recycling machines, we were able to taste the beer. The beers on offer were gold medal ale, five malt dark, summit lager, distinction, triple hop pilsener and a cider. The triple hop was by far the best, and it was made better by having an open bar where we could help ourselves! It was nice talking to the predominantly American group here as I was once again by far the youngest person.
It wasn't until about half 4 before I left the brewery where I went back to the hostel. Before relaxing I went into the library to use the free computer access, leaving at dark! From here I went geocaching which was mental as I found two large containers, one under tree cover in darkness with a 23m radius as times! Finding another 5 caches in the end which took me past more university based areas of the city, I returned to the hostel via the supermarket where I just took the lazy option of a ready meal for dinner. The evening was just spent in the hostel relaxing, and it wasn't until later in the evening when we went to bed.
April 6th... From Queenstown to Dunedin
Despite my latest bus departure by far this morning, I was up bright and early to fulfil a promised Skype session. Luckily the clocks last night went back which meant I got an extra hour in bed, although it just confused the time gap with the UK further with me now being 11 hours ahead. I have been 13, 12 and 11 hours ahead all in the space of three weeks of being here in New Zealand! After a quick shower at the bright and early hour of half 6 in the morning I was all ready to skype before my bus.
Finishing at around 8, I soon realised I had way too much time on my hands with a half 10 departure! Instead of going back to bed I just used the opportunity to have a lazy morning. It wasn't until gone 9 when I was packing my bag, although it was frustrating because I accidentally packed my socks at the bottom and only realised I had no new ones when I had done up my bag. This meant I had to wear the same pair as yesterday! As I had to check out the hostel by 10, after checking out I relaxed on the sofas in the reception of the hostel.
By half 10 the bus arrived which was run by a different company called bottom bus. This caused me problems when booking although everything was all good when boarding the small minibus. In all there was just 7 of us leaving on the bus to do the deep south section of the trip! We drove out of Queenstown the way we came in through the fruit town of Cromwell. Despite stopping here on the way in, when driving through we found out they in fact grow things like peaches and kiwis here.
A short drive down the road and we arrived at our first stop, the Clyde dam which was built many years ago amidst controversy. The construction of this impressive dam flooded parts of Cromwell further up stream which did not make the locals happy. This is why Cromwell lies on a lake. We only ended up having a short photo stop here where we had our main lunch stop in the small town of Clyde. Clyde is an old gold mining town and many of the old buildings have been maintained as how they were back then making the single street well worth a walk along. I ended up having sausage and chips for lunch here which was very reasonable.
The next part of our drive took us through what was described as lord of the rings scenery which once again meant nothing to me. The scenery was pretty impressive being rolling hills and rocky streams in valleys. I should probably watch the lord of the rings trilogy when I return to see if I recognise anywhere! From here our next stop was in Lawrence which was a toilet stop, as well as a so called ice cream stop. These are becoming less of a novelty now as they seem to come on a daily basis!
We then made one last push for our final destination of Dunedin from here, and by around 3 we emerged over the horizon to see the industrial city below. With a population of around 130000 people, Dunedin is often referred to as the student town of NZ with around about 25000 students contributing to the cities population! Dunedin is also famous for attractions such as Cadbury world and the Speights brewery, as well as also being known as the wildlife capital of NZ. With a colony of albatross with an average wingspan of 3m living on the nearby peninsula, as well as penguins and sea lions amongst the wildlife here, you can see why it has this title.
Before going into the centre of the well spread out city, we headed to the north to visit Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. With a 1 in 2.86 incline at the steepest, we were able to climb it which was really steep! Each year they hold a gutbuster event here where people must run up the top and back as fast as possible. The record is 1m 56s! Going back down was the fun part as you had to lean back to avoid going into a more running position. Lets say I doubt the bus would have got up the road.
From here we had a quick guided tour of the city by bus, passing the newly built rugby stadium to start with which apparently is the best place to see rugby in NZ. Unfortunately my trip here didn't tie in with a match. We also passed many student accommodation before reaching the main city centre. Perhaps the most distinctive feature we passed was the centre called the octagon. Instead of a city square, there is the octagon shape with shops and bars based around this! We saw many places on our drive round the city which I will explore more on my free day round the city tomorrow.
By half 4 we were all checked in our yha hostel which was full of Asian people! I simply dumped my stuff here and checked out the shops and octagon area before it got dark, which now occurs just after 6 due to the clocks. I also booked a trip to the chocolate factory and brewery for tomorrow whilst I had the chance. It was nice as well to have a decent sized supermarket here which I have been craving! I didn't buy anything but I will certainly stock up at some point due to the cheaper prices.
The evening was spent in the hostel where I was able to relax using the free WiFi, although it was slow. Next door however was the library which didn't just have free WiFi but free internet! I didn't really fancy doing much other than relaxing this evening, although it was intriguing seeing all these students dressed up for the cinema, apparently a Sunday tradition. Dinner this evening was pasta which was rather late for some reason. I then spent my evening under the duvet on my phone until I fell asleep, something I haven't done for a very long time!
Finishing at around 8, I soon realised I had way too much time on my hands with a half 10 departure! Instead of going back to bed I just used the opportunity to have a lazy morning. It wasn't until gone 9 when I was packing my bag, although it was frustrating because I accidentally packed my socks at the bottom and only realised I had no new ones when I had done up my bag. This meant I had to wear the same pair as yesterday! As I had to check out the hostel by 10, after checking out I relaxed on the sofas in the reception of the hostel.
By half 10 the bus arrived which was run by a different company called bottom bus. This caused me problems when booking although everything was all good when boarding the small minibus. In all there was just 7 of us leaving on the bus to do the deep south section of the trip! We drove out of Queenstown the way we came in through the fruit town of Cromwell. Despite stopping here on the way in, when driving through we found out they in fact grow things like peaches and kiwis here.
A short drive down the road and we arrived at our first stop, the Clyde dam which was built many years ago amidst controversy. The construction of this impressive dam flooded parts of Cromwell further up stream which did not make the locals happy. This is why Cromwell lies on a lake. We only ended up having a short photo stop here where we had our main lunch stop in the small town of Clyde. Clyde is an old gold mining town and many of the old buildings have been maintained as how they were back then making the single street well worth a walk along. I ended up having sausage and chips for lunch here which was very reasonable.
The next part of our drive took us through what was described as lord of the rings scenery which once again meant nothing to me. The scenery was pretty impressive being rolling hills and rocky streams in valleys. I should probably watch the lord of the rings trilogy when I return to see if I recognise anywhere! From here our next stop was in Lawrence which was a toilet stop, as well as a so called ice cream stop. These are becoming less of a novelty now as they seem to come on a daily basis!
We then made one last push for our final destination of Dunedin from here, and by around 3 we emerged over the horizon to see the industrial city below. With a population of around 130000 people, Dunedin is often referred to as the student town of NZ with around about 25000 students contributing to the cities population! Dunedin is also famous for attractions such as Cadbury world and the Speights brewery, as well as also being known as the wildlife capital of NZ. With a colony of albatross with an average wingspan of 3m living on the nearby peninsula, as well as penguins and sea lions amongst the wildlife here, you can see why it has this title.
Before going into the centre of the well spread out city, we headed to the north to visit Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. With a 1 in 2.86 incline at the steepest, we were able to climb it which was really steep! Each year they hold a gutbuster event here where people must run up the top and back as fast as possible. The record is 1m 56s! Going back down was the fun part as you had to lean back to avoid going into a more running position. Lets say I doubt the bus would have got up the road.
From here we had a quick guided tour of the city by bus, passing the newly built rugby stadium to start with which apparently is the best place to see rugby in NZ. Unfortunately my trip here didn't tie in with a match. We also passed many student accommodation before reaching the main city centre. Perhaps the most distinctive feature we passed was the centre called the octagon. Instead of a city square, there is the octagon shape with shops and bars based around this! We saw many places on our drive round the city which I will explore more on my free day round the city tomorrow.
By half 4 we were all checked in our yha hostel which was full of Asian people! I simply dumped my stuff here and checked out the shops and octagon area before it got dark, which now occurs just after 6 due to the clocks. I also booked a trip to the chocolate factory and brewery for tomorrow whilst I had the chance. It was nice as well to have a decent sized supermarket here which I have been craving! I didn't buy anything but I will certainly stock up at some point due to the cheaper prices.
The evening was spent in the hostel where I was able to relax using the free WiFi, although it was slow. Next door however was the library which didn't just have free WiFi but free internet! I didn't really fancy doing much other than relaxing this evening, although it was intriguing seeing all these students dressed up for the cinema, apparently a Sunday tradition. Dinner this evening was pasta which was rather late for some reason. I then spent my evening under the duvet on my phone until I fell asleep, something I haven't done for a very long time!
Monday, 7 April 2014
April 5th... Queenstown
After having an expensive day yesterday doing the canyoning, the plan for today was to just level out the bank balance and have a cost effective day. Due to this I opted for having a lie in which worked out pretty well in the end sleeping in until about 8.15! After relaxing in bed for a while I soon emerged to ensure I got the free hostel breakfast of toast and jams before the finish time at 9. Half the time I was having jam sandwiches though because I wanted to maximise my intake of food and that was the quicker option!
Still with no idea of my plans for the day, I thought I would go out for a walk round town. When leaving the hostel however I found out it was a pretty grotty day outside which chucked my idea of having a ride on the gondola to go luging because it can't operate in wet conditions. The weather wasn't that bad however and it didn't stop me having a walk round the shops where I came up with my idea for day, well at least the morning .
Yesterday when walking through the gardens which is based on this peninsula going into the lake which Queenstown lies on, I found out about this Frisbee golf course which they had. I initially started with a stick on the first hole but soon realised this was impracticable and headed back to the hostel where I found out I could hire a Frisbee for free. Armed with all the equipment I needed I headed back to the Frisbee golf course. The course basically worked by having 18 holes which were either par 3 or 4, ending with these metal baskets surrounded by chains which were designed to get the Frisbee in.
I won't waste my time describing every hole in detail, but I can say I had pretty good start by my standards getting a par, and then bogeys and a double bogey in my first 6 holes. Hole 6 was my first one which presented with me with trees and somehow got a par on that one, although from here it all went downhill as the course went through the forest. I had no skilled aim and my shots were basically luck which meant I kept hitting the trees! By the time I hit the back 9 there were some monster holes in terms of length which I couldn't approach to get a par opportunity. I did soften the blow on the 17th though, almost getting a birdie but eventually settling for a par. In the end I finished +35!
In the end the Frisbee golf took me a fair amount of time, and it was nice whilst going round to get views of the mountains by the lake shrouded in cloud. From here I decided to check out this out of town supermarket, and after about a half hour walk I checked out this bigger alternative supermarket, although it wasn't up there with the likes of countdown. I haven't really seen a proper supermarket since Richmond because the west coast just doesn't have any!
It was then back to the hostel where I had by now decided to go geocaching to maintain my record of not spending any money all day. Queenstown didn't actually have that many compared to many places of its size, although I cracked on, heading into the gardens for my first few finds. Due to the recent rain however I got a little wet when searching in things like bushes for the containers which I luckily found quickly. After my 3rd find I ended up having lunch on the bench over the lake which was pretty scenic. Lunch today was cheese sandwiches, crisps and wafers.
Continuing round the gardens, I got a further find before heading back into town where I got two dnfs with the two urban micros. I am really bad at urban caching due to the high levels of people, and also because they are so crafty with hiding places sometimes. Despite my failure through town, I was nice to check out this market which was selling local handicrafts. My personal favourite was this guy selling these crushed beer bottles which were made into clocks!
My final cache of the day was slightly more out of town forcing me up Queenstown hill, one of the hills overlooking the town. It took me longer than expected to reach the summit here, going up roads to start with and then on this woodland track which just zig zagged the whole way. It was interesting going up seeing these information boards about how Queenstown has evolved from just another gold mining town to the tourist capital it is today. I eventually got myself to the cache location which was nice big ammo can next to a sculpture at the base of the hill.
Instead of heading straight back down, I decided to just scale the 909m summit whilst I was up there, up top getting views of Queenstown which were slightly obscured at the cache location. I also got views of Frankton and more of the lake, as well views of the clouded mountains. Before long however these helicopters landed nearby so I moved on back down the hill to the hostel to relax. It was funny seeing these mountain goats when going down!
When returning back to the hostel I relaxed as climbing the hill took longer than expected! I then got myself up for the hostel free dinner which tonight was cottage pie, although I ended up going to dominoes pizza again because $5 pizza is just mental! That's like dominoes doing a £2.50 pizza deal back home! I then headed back to my room where I had a nap before getting back up again so I could watch the football. Lets say I could have enjoyed a few more hours in bed!
Still with no idea of my plans for the day, I thought I would go out for a walk round town. When leaving the hostel however I found out it was a pretty grotty day outside which chucked my idea of having a ride on the gondola to go luging because it can't operate in wet conditions. The weather wasn't that bad however and it didn't stop me having a walk round the shops where I came up with my idea for day, well at least the morning .
Yesterday when walking through the gardens which is based on this peninsula going into the lake which Queenstown lies on, I found out about this Frisbee golf course which they had. I initially started with a stick on the first hole but soon realised this was impracticable and headed back to the hostel where I found out I could hire a Frisbee for free. Armed with all the equipment I needed I headed back to the Frisbee golf course. The course basically worked by having 18 holes which were either par 3 or 4, ending with these metal baskets surrounded by chains which were designed to get the Frisbee in.
I won't waste my time describing every hole in detail, but I can say I had pretty good start by my standards getting a par, and then bogeys and a double bogey in my first 6 holes. Hole 6 was my first one which presented with me with trees and somehow got a par on that one, although from here it all went downhill as the course went through the forest. I had no skilled aim and my shots were basically luck which meant I kept hitting the trees! By the time I hit the back 9 there were some monster holes in terms of length which I couldn't approach to get a par opportunity. I did soften the blow on the 17th though, almost getting a birdie but eventually settling for a par. In the end I finished +35!
In the end the Frisbee golf took me a fair amount of time, and it was nice whilst going round to get views of the mountains by the lake shrouded in cloud. From here I decided to check out this out of town supermarket, and after about a half hour walk I checked out this bigger alternative supermarket, although it wasn't up there with the likes of countdown. I haven't really seen a proper supermarket since Richmond because the west coast just doesn't have any!
It was then back to the hostel where I had by now decided to go geocaching to maintain my record of not spending any money all day. Queenstown didn't actually have that many compared to many places of its size, although I cracked on, heading into the gardens for my first few finds. Due to the recent rain however I got a little wet when searching in things like bushes for the containers which I luckily found quickly. After my 3rd find I ended up having lunch on the bench over the lake which was pretty scenic. Lunch today was cheese sandwiches, crisps and wafers.
Continuing round the gardens, I got a further find before heading back into town where I got two dnfs with the two urban micros. I am really bad at urban caching due to the high levels of people, and also because they are so crafty with hiding places sometimes. Despite my failure through town, I was nice to check out this market which was selling local handicrafts. My personal favourite was this guy selling these crushed beer bottles which were made into clocks!
My final cache of the day was slightly more out of town forcing me up Queenstown hill, one of the hills overlooking the town. It took me longer than expected to reach the summit here, going up roads to start with and then on this woodland track which just zig zagged the whole way. It was interesting going up seeing these information boards about how Queenstown has evolved from just another gold mining town to the tourist capital it is today. I eventually got myself to the cache location which was nice big ammo can next to a sculpture at the base of the hill.
Instead of heading straight back down, I decided to just scale the 909m summit whilst I was up there, up top getting views of Queenstown which were slightly obscured at the cache location. I also got views of Frankton and more of the lake, as well views of the clouded mountains. Before long however these helicopters landed nearby so I moved on back down the hill to the hostel to relax. It was funny seeing these mountain goats when going down!
When returning back to the hostel I relaxed as climbing the hill took longer than expected! I then got myself up for the hostel free dinner which tonight was cottage pie, although I ended up going to dominoes pizza again because $5 pizza is just mental! That's like dominoes doing a £2.50 pizza deal back home! I then headed back to my room where I had a nap before getting back up again so I could watch the football. Lets say I could have enjoyed a few more hours in bed!
Sunday, 6 April 2014
April 4th... Routeburn
I had some kind of lie in this morning after deciding to sleep through my first alarm this morning. The plan of action for the day was to go canyoning, a trip in which I booked yesterday and I didn't have to meet until 9.15 at their main shop. I was originally going to get up at 7 for some reason but I opted for 8 after my first alarm went off. After a quick shower I had breakfast which was toast with preserves, all supplied by the hostel which was a nice touch. It was proper fresh bread from a bakery as well which was a nice change from the value supermarket bread that lasts me a few days normally.
By the time I finished breakfast I still had a fair bit of time on my side, so after walking round the shops I checked out the gondola which is this cable car up a hill. I am tempted to do this in my one of my days in Queenstown. I also passed an indoor crazy golf course which looked pretty cool on my way up here. In the end I arrived at the canyoning centre by around 9 where after completing a fancy check in with an iPad I relaxed on the centres bean bags.
After meeting the rest of my group and my guides who represented France, Brazil and New Zealand, we set off in this little minibus to go canyoning in an area called Routeburn. If you're wondering what canyoning is, it is basically the means of travelling down creeks or streams within a canyon by a variety of means including walking, scrambling, climbing, abseiling, jumping and swimming. What separates a canyon from an ordinary stream is the narrow passages created by erosion into bedrock which created sculptured walls and waterfalls. Our drive took us through the small village of Glenorchy, which had this amusingly small library, and then onto this gravel track to a hut which I think marked the start of the Routeburn track, one of the great walks.
Upon arrival we were given all this equipment and swimwear to put on, which apparently had to be a tight fit. After eventually squeezing into this four part wet suit, we had to put on a life jacket and nappy harness in their words, which was a harness with a coloured piece of material on our bottom. We then had to put on a helmet which had a nickname on. I ended up being called e coli. I swear our instructors were just trying to make us look stupid. Before setting off, we went for a paddle in the nearby stream where we were told to roll around in the cold water. We reluctantly agreed, although it was quite refreshing.
When finally getting everyone ready we went for a walk which was in fact along the Routeburn Track. I found it really difficult to gain any flexibility in my legs as my wet suit was so tight! It was a good half hour walk in the end through the woodland before arriving at this bridge with a waterfall which was the start of our canyoning experience. There were too many sections during our trip to describe everything, so I'll just talk about the bits I remember most.
After a quick safety briefing we clambered up these rocks, aided by a rope in places to this small waterfall. It was here we were told our first section was a slide, and after getting dragged headfirst over this waterfall our guide let go of us and we slid down these rocks headfirst into this small pool below. As we had time on our side we did this twice. Our next section involved us going back to the bridge where we told we had another slide, this time feet first. This was simply a rock however and we couldn't see the water below, so we just trusted our guides here. It was a pretty big drop in the end, a bit like a triple drop slide.
Continuing along what can only be described as dangerous, we scrambled across these slippery rocks aided by a rope before getting to this pool where we were told to jump into back first. That was pretty simple, but then we were told to repeat what we did a few metres off a waterfall. The reason we had to land back first was because the water was too shallow to land feet first. In the end I just went for it and luckily I only just gently touched the bottom!
The next section involved us sliding off a waterfall which was pretty fun, this time having to land on our bums because of the water levels. The reason much of the canyon was so shallow in places is because it is the end of summer which means it hasn't had much water. The canyon gets much of the water from snow melt in the winter and spring months from the surrounding mountains. After completing the waterfall slide which was feet first we were given the option of climbing back up for a rock jump. At 6m high it looked precarious at top because we had to jump a fair way forward to avoid rocks. I managed it though, and I was happy I made it down without touching the shallow bottom.
We then continued through the canyon, the next exciting bit being what I thought was a zip line but what was in fact an abseil along a horizontal rope. Our previous abseils had been done by our guides, but this one was self guided and I just showed off here along the long rope speeding as fast as I could to the bottom. Our next part took us over these rocks what were really dodgy because it finished with a large drop unattached which I landed awkwardly. It was funny after a few more jumps and slides when we got to our next abseil where our French guide just let go of the rope when lowering someone. We soon realised he was lowering us over a pool then letting go so we fell into it. He kept offering the rope to us then making jokes when we didn't take it, thinking it was so funny!
Towards the end of the trip, we got to another big jump which involved landing on our backs again, although by now I had got the hang of the landings and blitzed the landing without touching the shallow water below. I just aimed for the whitewater created by the waterfall. Continuing down through the rocks in the canyon after one final abseil, we got to this big zipline which was the final part of our canyoning experience. As always it was fun although our French guide was more excited that the pulleys we used were made in France. Once reaching the end we got a group photo, although it wasn't as good as the one we got whilst in the canyon which included one of our guides doing a back flip in the background!
To finish off the trip we had to walk through the woodland along less commercialised tracks along the stream. We did have to get one final photo pouring water from our helmets over our heads however! I was pretty relieved when getting back to the minibus however so I could unchanged as the tight suit was uncomfortable! It wasn't long after returning when we begun our drive back to Queenstown, a pretty full on day overall which is what I wanted. After driving back past the lake along the scenic road we finally arrived back into Queenstown by around 4. It was a nice end to the day when arriving at the centre to all relax on the bean bags and look through the photos and videos of the day. I ended up buying the photos in the end.
When returning to the hostel and telling everyone about how much fun I had, I headed out to check out the gardens which were really nice, although I didn't spend long there, heading back to the hostel for my free dinner which was curry. It wasn't very filling though so I went out and treated myself to a $5 dominoes pizza which is so cheap for NZ. After demolishing my bangers and beef pizza it was back to the hostel for one final time, staying in due to the horrific weather this evening. I used this opportunity of a quiet night in to catch up with blogs, even if Queenstown had no free WiFi hotspot. I then went into my dorm room which was surprisingly empty, simply relaxing until I fell asleep.
By the time I finished breakfast I still had a fair bit of time on my side, so after walking round the shops I checked out the gondola which is this cable car up a hill. I am tempted to do this in my one of my days in Queenstown. I also passed an indoor crazy golf course which looked pretty cool on my way up here. In the end I arrived at the canyoning centre by around 9 where after completing a fancy check in with an iPad I relaxed on the centres bean bags.
After meeting the rest of my group and my guides who represented France, Brazil and New Zealand, we set off in this little minibus to go canyoning in an area called Routeburn. If you're wondering what canyoning is, it is basically the means of travelling down creeks or streams within a canyon by a variety of means including walking, scrambling, climbing, abseiling, jumping and swimming. What separates a canyon from an ordinary stream is the narrow passages created by erosion into bedrock which created sculptured walls and waterfalls. Our drive took us through the small village of Glenorchy, which had this amusingly small library, and then onto this gravel track to a hut which I think marked the start of the Routeburn track, one of the great walks.
Upon arrival we were given all this equipment and swimwear to put on, which apparently had to be a tight fit. After eventually squeezing into this four part wet suit, we had to put on a life jacket and nappy harness in their words, which was a harness with a coloured piece of material on our bottom. We then had to put on a helmet which had a nickname on. I ended up being called e coli. I swear our instructors were just trying to make us look stupid. Before setting off, we went for a paddle in the nearby stream where we were told to roll around in the cold water. We reluctantly agreed, although it was quite refreshing.
When finally getting everyone ready we went for a walk which was in fact along the Routeburn Track. I found it really difficult to gain any flexibility in my legs as my wet suit was so tight! It was a good half hour walk in the end through the woodland before arriving at this bridge with a waterfall which was the start of our canyoning experience. There were too many sections during our trip to describe everything, so I'll just talk about the bits I remember most.
After a quick safety briefing we clambered up these rocks, aided by a rope in places to this small waterfall. It was here we were told our first section was a slide, and after getting dragged headfirst over this waterfall our guide let go of us and we slid down these rocks headfirst into this small pool below. As we had time on our side we did this twice. Our next section involved us going back to the bridge where we told we had another slide, this time feet first. This was simply a rock however and we couldn't see the water below, so we just trusted our guides here. It was a pretty big drop in the end, a bit like a triple drop slide.
Continuing along what can only be described as dangerous, we scrambled across these slippery rocks aided by a rope before getting to this pool where we were told to jump into back first. That was pretty simple, but then we were told to repeat what we did a few metres off a waterfall. The reason we had to land back first was because the water was too shallow to land feet first. In the end I just went for it and luckily I only just gently touched the bottom!
The next section involved us sliding off a waterfall which was pretty fun, this time having to land on our bums because of the water levels. The reason much of the canyon was so shallow in places is because it is the end of summer which means it hasn't had much water. The canyon gets much of the water from snow melt in the winter and spring months from the surrounding mountains. After completing the waterfall slide which was feet first we were given the option of climbing back up for a rock jump. At 6m high it looked precarious at top because we had to jump a fair way forward to avoid rocks. I managed it though, and I was happy I made it down without touching the shallow bottom.
We then continued through the canyon, the next exciting bit being what I thought was a zip line but what was in fact an abseil along a horizontal rope. Our previous abseils had been done by our guides, but this one was self guided and I just showed off here along the long rope speeding as fast as I could to the bottom. Our next part took us over these rocks what were really dodgy because it finished with a large drop unattached which I landed awkwardly. It was funny after a few more jumps and slides when we got to our next abseil where our French guide just let go of the rope when lowering someone. We soon realised he was lowering us over a pool then letting go so we fell into it. He kept offering the rope to us then making jokes when we didn't take it, thinking it was so funny!
Towards the end of the trip, we got to another big jump which involved landing on our backs again, although by now I had got the hang of the landings and blitzed the landing without touching the shallow water below. I just aimed for the whitewater created by the waterfall. Continuing down through the rocks in the canyon after one final abseil, we got to this big zipline which was the final part of our canyoning experience. As always it was fun although our French guide was more excited that the pulleys we used were made in France. Once reaching the end we got a group photo, although it wasn't as good as the one we got whilst in the canyon which included one of our guides doing a back flip in the background!
To finish off the trip we had to walk through the woodland along less commercialised tracks along the stream. We did have to get one final photo pouring water from our helmets over our heads however! I was pretty relieved when getting back to the minibus however so I could unchanged as the tight suit was uncomfortable! It wasn't long after returning when we begun our drive back to Queenstown, a pretty full on day overall which is what I wanted. After driving back past the lake along the scenic road we finally arrived back into Queenstown by around 4. It was a nice end to the day when arriving at the centre to all relax on the bean bags and look through the photos and videos of the day. I ended up buying the photos in the end.
When returning to the hostel and telling everyone about how much fun I had, I headed out to check out the gardens which were really nice, although I didn't spend long there, heading back to the hostel for my free dinner which was curry. It wasn't very filling though so I went out and treated myself to a $5 dominoes pizza which is so cheap for NZ. After demolishing my bangers and beef pizza it was back to the hostel for one final time, staying in due to the horrific weather this evening. I used this opportunity of a quiet night in to catch up with blogs, even if Queenstown had no free WiFi hotspot. I then went into my dorm room which was surprisingly empty, simply relaxing until I fell asleep.
April 3rd... From Wanaka to Queenstown
I slept so well last night, mainly because my relatively new base hostel did not have squeaky bunks. Due to this I needed my alarm to wake up, although it did create a simultaneous array of alarms as everyone else had set it for the same time as agreed last night. With a 9am departure this morning, it was all pretty laid back having time for a long session in the disabled shower, a pie for breakfast and then one last stint on the free WiFi on the lake front.
By 9 we were all ready to leave, although there were 53 people and 50 seats which meant our driver did the dreaded register where he checked us all in formally. Luckily I was on the list and the people not on it had not booked their bus out of Wanaka. In terms of our driver this morning, I'll use my previous drivers description to describe him. A big black Maori beast with long black hair who looks like a gang member, but it is in reality a massive softy. To be honest that was a pretty good description, and after finally leaving Wanaka after all the booking problems I tucked into a pack of wafers which I had been craving since leaving Australia.
First stop of the day was just outside Wanaka to puzzling world which was something well up my street. We had the option of bacon butties here for an additional cost although I kind of wished they had told us before I had breakfast. In terms of puzzling world it was split into a variety of sections and I started with the illusions section. Split over five rooms, the first room had all these pictures of these holograms which were all in 3d. These included a rotating globe and even a bunch of bananas.
The next room was the tilted house which was a room with the floor at 15 degrees, but the objects within at a small opposing angle. Due to this it tricked our brain into thinking all these things were things that they weren't. For example there was waterfall which looked like the water was flowing up, and also this chairlift which when sitting at the top looked like the bottom, although it proved to us it was the top by rolling on it downwards. There was also this pool table which when standing at the end looked like an upwards incline, but when releasing the cue ball it rolled down the other end of the table. To finish the room they had this illusion wall which made us dizzy and resulted in us falling into the wall. The whole room messed with our brains and it felt weird when exiting the room.
The next room was the room of following faces which gave off the illusion that all these faces were staring at us. It was then into the Ames illusion room. The way it was set out meant that if you stood in one corner you looked massive, and in the other you looked tiny. There was a camera on a time delay to prove this and the difference was massive! The final room was the sculptillusion room which was a room full of these illusions in both 3d and pictures on the wall which was all very interesting. The highlights included this phone booth with a never ending drop below, and this big tap which gave the impression it was gushing out water.
When finishing in the illusion section, which had so many little things on the wall along the way, I made my way into the great maze. Designed to take a long time, the aim of the maze was to get to the four corners up the coloured towers, before finding the way back to the start. It wasn't long before I found my first corner, although from here I kept going round in circles and getting to dead ends. The maze was set in a small place although the fact it had bridges as well made it three dimensional. I did eventually find the four corners, although I couldn't find my way out afterwards! I kept going in circles and in the end through frustration I slightly cheated and took the emergency exit out of the maze.
To finish, in the main seating area there were lots of puzzles set out on the table to keep us busy. There were so many although I settled for the distinctive ones including this one with handcuffs, and this one related to writing the date with a twist. This kept us busy for a while, and when finally leaving we had one last chance to see the leaning tower of Wanaka, a tower which I still can't see how it stays standing! In all puzzling world was a very well spent morning and I glad I chose this over the free option of a hike up mount iron.
We then started our short drive down to Queenstown, with our first stop en route being in Cromwell to visit the exotic fruit market. The fruit here was so cheap and after a few samples I got myself a golden nugget (apricot x nectarine), a peacharine, a red peach and a nashi pear. The pear was surprisingly the nicest as it was so sweet. The next stop along was the Kawarau Bridge where we got our free inclusion to visit the secrets of bungy museum. This was the birth place of bungy being home to the worlds first commercial bungy site. It was nice to learn about the history here with AJ Hackett, as well as watching this all happen in action!
It was then one last push to Queenstown, arriving in by 3 to the so called adventure capital of New Zealand. With 228 activities on offer, I have to be very selective in what I do here. Queenstown is naturally the most expensive part of New Zealand as with just 20000 permanent residents it is more or less occupied by tourists much of the time. The first thing to do was check into the hostel, nomads, which was recently voted as the second best hostel in the world. It's hard to deny this to be fair with a decent kitchen, a massive common area, and free breakfast and dinner, even if it is only snack size. The only thing it lacked was free WiFi.
With no plans for the afternoon I just got a feel for the town which was packed full of tour operators and in town activities like a haunted house and maze. The thing the town lacked however was a proper supermarket with just a four square, and also a free WiFi hotspot. There were brilliant views down by the lake though looking over to the mountains, which included a so called beach. It was fun sitting here watching all the people parasailing from the imposing hill which was accessed by gondola.
When returning to the hostel I got my free hostel dinner which was tomato pasta, and I was sneaky enough to get two bowls. It was definitely snack size portions though. Part of arriving in Queenstown meant I got all these wristbands given for free entry and drinks at various places. This was all good although I found the beach to the best place which was really busy, and an area where drinking was allowed. In all it was a pretty good welcome to Queenstown, although it wasn't a late one, instead just maximising my freebies. It was nice to do something outside my hostels facilities for once. It was back to my hostel however eventually where I went straight to bed.
By 9 we were all ready to leave, although there were 53 people and 50 seats which meant our driver did the dreaded register where he checked us all in formally. Luckily I was on the list and the people not on it had not booked their bus out of Wanaka. In terms of our driver this morning, I'll use my previous drivers description to describe him. A big black Maori beast with long black hair who looks like a gang member, but it is in reality a massive softy. To be honest that was a pretty good description, and after finally leaving Wanaka after all the booking problems I tucked into a pack of wafers which I had been craving since leaving Australia.
First stop of the day was just outside Wanaka to puzzling world which was something well up my street. We had the option of bacon butties here for an additional cost although I kind of wished they had told us before I had breakfast. In terms of puzzling world it was split into a variety of sections and I started with the illusions section. Split over five rooms, the first room had all these pictures of these holograms which were all in 3d. These included a rotating globe and even a bunch of bananas.
The next room was the tilted house which was a room with the floor at 15 degrees, but the objects within at a small opposing angle. Due to this it tricked our brain into thinking all these things were things that they weren't. For example there was waterfall which looked like the water was flowing up, and also this chairlift which when sitting at the top looked like the bottom, although it proved to us it was the top by rolling on it downwards. There was also this pool table which when standing at the end looked like an upwards incline, but when releasing the cue ball it rolled down the other end of the table. To finish the room they had this illusion wall which made us dizzy and resulted in us falling into the wall. The whole room messed with our brains and it felt weird when exiting the room.
The next room was the room of following faces which gave off the illusion that all these faces were staring at us. It was then into the Ames illusion room. The way it was set out meant that if you stood in one corner you looked massive, and in the other you looked tiny. There was a camera on a time delay to prove this and the difference was massive! The final room was the sculptillusion room which was a room full of these illusions in both 3d and pictures on the wall which was all very interesting. The highlights included this phone booth with a never ending drop below, and this big tap which gave the impression it was gushing out water.
When finishing in the illusion section, which had so many little things on the wall along the way, I made my way into the great maze. Designed to take a long time, the aim of the maze was to get to the four corners up the coloured towers, before finding the way back to the start. It wasn't long before I found my first corner, although from here I kept going round in circles and getting to dead ends. The maze was set in a small place although the fact it had bridges as well made it three dimensional. I did eventually find the four corners, although I couldn't find my way out afterwards! I kept going in circles and in the end through frustration I slightly cheated and took the emergency exit out of the maze.
To finish, in the main seating area there were lots of puzzles set out on the table to keep us busy. There were so many although I settled for the distinctive ones including this one with handcuffs, and this one related to writing the date with a twist. This kept us busy for a while, and when finally leaving we had one last chance to see the leaning tower of Wanaka, a tower which I still can't see how it stays standing! In all puzzling world was a very well spent morning and I glad I chose this over the free option of a hike up mount iron.
We then started our short drive down to Queenstown, with our first stop en route being in Cromwell to visit the exotic fruit market. The fruit here was so cheap and after a few samples I got myself a golden nugget (apricot x nectarine), a peacharine, a red peach and a nashi pear. The pear was surprisingly the nicest as it was so sweet. The next stop along was the Kawarau Bridge where we got our free inclusion to visit the secrets of bungy museum. This was the birth place of bungy being home to the worlds first commercial bungy site. It was nice to learn about the history here with AJ Hackett, as well as watching this all happen in action!
It was then one last push to Queenstown, arriving in by 3 to the so called adventure capital of New Zealand. With 228 activities on offer, I have to be very selective in what I do here. Queenstown is naturally the most expensive part of New Zealand as with just 20000 permanent residents it is more or less occupied by tourists much of the time. The first thing to do was check into the hostel, nomads, which was recently voted as the second best hostel in the world. It's hard to deny this to be fair with a decent kitchen, a massive common area, and free breakfast and dinner, even if it is only snack size. The only thing it lacked was free WiFi.
With no plans for the afternoon I just got a feel for the town which was packed full of tour operators and in town activities like a haunted house and maze. The thing the town lacked however was a proper supermarket with just a four square, and also a free WiFi hotspot. There were brilliant views down by the lake though looking over to the mountains, which included a so called beach. It was fun sitting here watching all the people parasailing from the imposing hill which was accessed by gondola.
When returning to the hostel I got my free hostel dinner which was tomato pasta, and I was sneaky enough to get two bowls. It was definitely snack size portions though. Part of arriving in Queenstown meant I got all these wristbands given for free entry and drinks at various places. This was all good although I found the beach to the best place which was really busy, and an area where drinking was allowed. In all it was a pretty good welcome to Queenstown, although it wasn't a late one, instead just maximising my freebies. It was nice to do something outside my hostels facilities for once. It was back to my hostel however eventually where I went straight to bed.
Saturday, 5 April 2014
April 2nd... Wanaka
I didn't have to worry about getting up early this morning because I had no bus and no excursions booked for the day. Due to this I attempted to have a lie in although in the end I woke up at half 7ish with all the people leaving this morning for the next part of their journey. I went straight out for WiFi this morning, and after taking advantage of the plentiful supply I went back to the hostel, using the disabled shower which had a seat inside it! Breakfast this morning was toasted french stick and scrambled egg, a nice way to set myself up for the day.
In terms of what to do today I really wasn't sure, although I knew it would probably revolve around hiking or geocaching to make for a cost effective day. In the end I opted for geocaching, and after passing a glimpse of the football en route to the lake front I sat down to plan some geocaches. Due to the fact the geocaches were so sparsely situated around Wanaka and I only had my walking power, I was left with a choice of either walking round the lake then up a mountain, or round the other side of the lake and through countryside to the neighbouring Albert Town. I opted for the latter, mainly because it presented more geocaching opportunity but also because I fancied something other than climbing a hill!
My first cluster of caches took me out of town past the residential outskirts along the lake side. It was a good half hour walk before I arrived where I needed, bumping into a local who knew exactly what I was doing. Despite his expertise, I was unsuccessful to start with although I found it eventually, followed by a good chat with this local about the local area and his passion for bouldering which I had briefly stopped him doing. I then continued through the streets to this big housing development where they were selling plots of lands instead of housing. I had to go over a hill to these mountain biking tracks however which resulted in me going through bushes and then up a cliff before finally getting the find!
Continuing through this cracking area for mountain biking along these dirt tracks, I got a dnf at my next attempt. Despite this I continued on and after dropping quickly through these coniferous forest I got to a point where I had to climb up a really steep hill. It was very hard work with rocks constantly giving way but up top I got some cracking views of Lake Wanaka, this time on the undeveloped side. Whilst up here I found another cache, and from here I began my walk to the neighbouring Albert Town.
Crossing through open countryside and farmland through the rolling hills, I eventually reached the main road which I followed before turning off to the river for another find. The next find took me more into Albert Town through this parkland area and up a hill where I got yet another find. Whilst up here I met a fellow geocacher and we had a good chat about geocaching, although conversation was difficult as he was foreign! My next find proved to be difficult due to the fact I had to navigate out of town with just a gps and no map which took me round in all directions. I eventually found my way to the main road, which led me to the river which was home to my next cache.
I then headed out of Albert Town down the Hawea River where I got a dnf at my next attempt as there were some gypsies a little close for comfort at the final location. They looked a little dodgy, so I continued on to this newly built swing bridge which amuses me everytime, to get yet another find. I ended up having lunch here as I had been walking for over 4 hours by this point. Lunch was cookies and hot cross buns, and I only made it a quick lunch here as the fact I had walked 4 hours out of Wanaka, even if it was the long way round, meant I had to get back again somehow!
I ended up following the same path back to the main road when leaving, passing this apple tree which was a welcome source of free food for me. When reaching the main road I followed this, the plan being to follow it back to Wanaka. It ended up being a pretty sizable walk in the end, although before long mount iron came into sight and I quickly realised that my next cache involved me having to climb it! Getting up the hill wasn't anything demanding, it just took me for a big loop round the side of the hill before actually beginning to climb it. After getting the find up top however, the views were simply stunning once again, and it was nice getting views of Albert Town and where I had walked, as well as a birds eye view of Wanaka when beginning my descent down the other side of the hill.
When reaching the bottom, getting another find in the process, I worked my way back into Wanaka after a pretty long day in the end. Despite finding 9 caches, I walked over 6 hours to find them which gives you an idea of how spread out they were. I had a good look round the shops when at the bottom, although it appears I may have to make my hiking trainers last as trainers are really expensive here as they only seem to have specialist outdoor shops in NZ. When getting back to the hostel I felt pretty good although my feet were a black colour like always after a good hike.
After a fair while relaxing in the hostel, I popped into New World to get some supplies for dinner both tonight and in Queenstown as Queenstown doesn't have a big supermarket despite being the tourist capital of the New Zealand. Whilst in here someone who was a member of staff said hello to me, and I then twigged that it was fellow geocacher I had met! Before cracking on with dinner, I took a walk along the lake front to get my final two cache finds of the day. They were both quick finds and it all worked out really well getting the sunset whilst walking along.
Dinner this evening was a steak pie with fried potatoes and onions, something very ambitious by my standards although I somehow pulled it off! It did take longer than expected however. I then spent my evening by the lake front using the free WiFi, although it got uncomfortable after a while with all the sandflys so I went back to the hostel. It was all the same old story in the hostel tonight, although there was a kiwi v stray bus challenge which was rather amusing. Kiwi bus won which was the main thing! It was then off to the bed, falling asleep whilst talking to others this evening to show how tired I was!
In terms of what to do today I really wasn't sure, although I knew it would probably revolve around hiking or geocaching to make for a cost effective day. In the end I opted for geocaching, and after passing a glimpse of the football en route to the lake front I sat down to plan some geocaches. Due to the fact the geocaches were so sparsely situated around Wanaka and I only had my walking power, I was left with a choice of either walking round the lake then up a mountain, or round the other side of the lake and through countryside to the neighbouring Albert Town. I opted for the latter, mainly because it presented more geocaching opportunity but also because I fancied something other than climbing a hill!
My first cluster of caches took me out of town past the residential outskirts along the lake side. It was a good half hour walk before I arrived where I needed, bumping into a local who knew exactly what I was doing. Despite his expertise, I was unsuccessful to start with although I found it eventually, followed by a good chat with this local about the local area and his passion for bouldering which I had briefly stopped him doing. I then continued through the streets to this big housing development where they were selling plots of lands instead of housing. I had to go over a hill to these mountain biking tracks however which resulted in me going through bushes and then up a cliff before finally getting the find!
Continuing through this cracking area for mountain biking along these dirt tracks, I got a dnf at my next attempt. Despite this I continued on and after dropping quickly through these coniferous forest I got to a point where I had to climb up a really steep hill. It was very hard work with rocks constantly giving way but up top I got some cracking views of Lake Wanaka, this time on the undeveloped side. Whilst up here I found another cache, and from here I began my walk to the neighbouring Albert Town.
Crossing through open countryside and farmland through the rolling hills, I eventually reached the main road which I followed before turning off to the river for another find. The next find took me more into Albert Town through this parkland area and up a hill where I got yet another find. Whilst up here I met a fellow geocacher and we had a good chat about geocaching, although conversation was difficult as he was foreign! My next find proved to be difficult due to the fact I had to navigate out of town with just a gps and no map which took me round in all directions. I eventually found my way to the main road, which led me to the river which was home to my next cache.
I then headed out of Albert Town down the Hawea River where I got a dnf at my next attempt as there were some gypsies a little close for comfort at the final location. They looked a little dodgy, so I continued on to this newly built swing bridge which amuses me everytime, to get yet another find. I ended up having lunch here as I had been walking for over 4 hours by this point. Lunch was cookies and hot cross buns, and I only made it a quick lunch here as the fact I had walked 4 hours out of Wanaka, even if it was the long way round, meant I had to get back again somehow!
I ended up following the same path back to the main road when leaving, passing this apple tree which was a welcome source of free food for me. When reaching the main road I followed this, the plan being to follow it back to Wanaka. It ended up being a pretty sizable walk in the end, although before long mount iron came into sight and I quickly realised that my next cache involved me having to climb it! Getting up the hill wasn't anything demanding, it just took me for a big loop round the side of the hill before actually beginning to climb it. After getting the find up top however, the views were simply stunning once again, and it was nice getting views of Albert Town and where I had walked, as well as a birds eye view of Wanaka when beginning my descent down the other side of the hill.
When reaching the bottom, getting another find in the process, I worked my way back into Wanaka after a pretty long day in the end. Despite finding 9 caches, I walked over 6 hours to find them which gives you an idea of how spread out they were. I had a good look round the shops when at the bottom, although it appears I may have to make my hiking trainers last as trainers are really expensive here as they only seem to have specialist outdoor shops in NZ. When getting back to the hostel I felt pretty good although my feet were a black colour like always after a good hike.
After a fair while relaxing in the hostel, I popped into New World to get some supplies for dinner both tonight and in Queenstown as Queenstown doesn't have a big supermarket despite being the tourist capital of the New Zealand. Whilst in here someone who was a member of staff said hello to me, and I then twigged that it was fellow geocacher I had met! Before cracking on with dinner, I took a walk along the lake front to get my final two cache finds of the day. They were both quick finds and it all worked out really well getting the sunset whilst walking along.
Dinner this evening was a steak pie with fried potatoes and onions, something very ambitious by my standards although I somehow pulled it off! It did take longer than expected however. I then spent my evening by the lake front using the free WiFi, although it got uncomfortable after a while with all the sandflys so I went back to the hostel. It was all the same old story in the hostel tonight, although there was a kiwi v stray bus challenge which was rather amusing. Kiwi bus won which was the main thing! It was then off to the bed, falling asleep whilst talking to others this evening to show how tired I was!
Thursday, 3 April 2014
April 1st... From Franz Josef to Wanaka
An early departure this morning meant I had an alarm set for the early hour of half 6 in the morning. Luckily I had packed most my stuff the night before which was pretty lucky as everyone else in my room had literally arrived yesterday. My body had seized up over night for some reason although I managed to walk it off and by 7 I was all ready for the bus. It was a really cold morning which meant I was wrapped up really well for the day as I was shivering, something unlike me!
The coach today was a weird hire coach with sheepskin headrests, and I was on the back seat for once. After leaving our driver spoke to us about the whole hitch hiker incident which happened whilst in Franz Josef, which explained the sirens I heard on Sunday. Luckily I didn't see anything in person, but it just made me think that it is far safer to travel by bus, even if these things are rare. The first stop of the day was on the side of the road by a field of cows. It was here we got out for photos of the imposing Mount Cook and Tasman, nestled behind the impressive Fox Glacier. The reason we had left so early was to see this at sunrise, which was a beautiful sight.
A short drive from here, our next stop was Lake Matheson. This was basically a short walk through woodland to a viewpoint over this still lake. What made this lake so special was the fact on a sunny day the big mountains reflect into the lake. We certainly had that seeing the clouds clearly create an image in the lake, with the mountain range creating this black shadow. Already being covered in snow, Mount Tasman looked higher than Mount Cook but it was in fact just our perspective kicking in as Mount Cook was just further away. After a short while here we went back the way we came and relaxed in the cafe which was in the car park.
When leaving the lake, it took a bit of work to convince the driver we should not tank it to Wanaka and instead do all the stop offs. He said that we could get in early for a nap, but I wanted to see everything possible because that's what I'm here for. Luckily he gave in, and we continued down the coast into our next stop Ship Creek. Our driver thought he was a bit of a joker here saying that the high density of sandflys here were a protected species in NZ! It was here we went dolphin spotting, with no luck, along the shingle beach with a picturesque river mouth. There was even a tower here which was fun to climb and look round the area.
After returning to the bus which had been infested with sandflys, we soon reached the longest bridge in New Zealand. Being a single road, there were two passing points on the bridge. Not long past this point we arrived in our lunch stop for the day, Haast. There wasn't really much exciting here, and we continued up this really remote road past the impressive Gates of Haast which was this cliff by this river. We climbed rapidly here through the mountains here on a dodgy road which is only open at daytime. This is due to the fact there are frequent landslides along the road and they monitor the cliff stability at night.
Continuing along this road, we were told about how two people also recently died along the road and weren't discovered until over a week later. Being the most direct route to Wanaka, apparently the road was closed after this happened for a few months and the kiwi bus had to go via Christchurch and Queenstown to get to Wanaka! A 14 hour trip on a good day. When finally leaving this remote stretch of road we made our next stop off at Pleasant Flat. It was here we got views of the imposing Mount Hooker which was covered in snow.
The next stop was just a further 5 minutes down the road to see the Thunder Creek Falls. This was a massive waterfall which fed into this river full of rapids. We didn't spend long here, instead cracking on to our next stop to see the Blue Pools. This included a short walk through the forest to yet more swing bridges. We tested the strength of one which was a 10 person limit, getting at least 20 people on it! When reaching the second bridge some people jumped off into the water below, which was amusing to watch. Someone dropped their go pro to the bottom though!
We spent a while here in the end, finding out the water was freezing in the process. We then got back on the bus for a stop off just down the road in Makarora. This was a so called ice cream stop which is becoming very frequent, and was more of a toilet stop for me. It was funny when driving down the next stretch of the road which was past farms and fields, because everytime we passed a field of sheep our driver would frantically beep his horn which made them leg it! When he did this to a field of deer though the whole field just lifted their heads! We soon got to the large Lake Wanaka which was a good sign, and after following this for a while we turned off for a viewpoint stop over the neighbouring Lake Hawea. It was a very scenic spot.
During our time here however the Stray bus overtook us, the rival company. Luckily we overtook them again which was important in terms of checking into the hostel, as they can only check in 1 bus at a time. We finally arrived into Wanaka at around 4.15, and after a short guided tour round the small town by bus, we checked into our Base hostel, purpose built a few years ago. From here I had a little look round town which had free WiFi all over, as well as brilliant views of the mountains surrounding the large lake the town lay on. There were plenty of shops here too including a large supermarket for a town of only 7000 people or so, although there were a few too many sandflys for comfort.
Dinner this evening was vegetable lasagne and french stick, all pre prepared as it was a ready meal which was reduced in New World. I was debating between going to the hostel quiz night, or going to the cinema this evening. In the ended I opted for a trip to the iconic cinema paradiso to watch a film called Noah based on the biblical story. What makes this cinema iconic is the layout which was loads of sofas, armchairs and even cars instead of the normal cinema seating! I was proper at home taking my shoes off and putting my feet up on the sofa. There was even an interval in the film which came with the waft of hot cookies which were given out at half time. In terms of the film, let's say it was a twist on the bible that religious people probably wouldn't like. I won't go into writing film reviews!
It wasn't until gone 11 until I got out of the cinema, definitely one more of my more well spent evenings and after going into town for WiFi I headed straight to bed, being quiet as the whole room had already zonked out. It was probably the quiz night that did it, although on my way to my room I heard someone had won a free jet boat ride!
The coach today was a weird hire coach with sheepskin headrests, and I was on the back seat for once. After leaving our driver spoke to us about the whole hitch hiker incident which happened whilst in Franz Josef, which explained the sirens I heard on Sunday. Luckily I didn't see anything in person, but it just made me think that it is far safer to travel by bus, even if these things are rare. The first stop of the day was on the side of the road by a field of cows. It was here we got out for photos of the imposing Mount Cook and Tasman, nestled behind the impressive Fox Glacier. The reason we had left so early was to see this at sunrise, which was a beautiful sight.
A short drive from here, our next stop was Lake Matheson. This was basically a short walk through woodland to a viewpoint over this still lake. What made this lake so special was the fact on a sunny day the big mountains reflect into the lake. We certainly had that seeing the clouds clearly create an image in the lake, with the mountain range creating this black shadow. Already being covered in snow, Mount Tasman looked higher than Mount Cook but it was in fact just our perspective kicking in as Mount Cook was just further away. After a short while here we went back the way we came and relaxed in the cafe which was in the car park.
When leaving the lake, it took a bit of work to convince the driver we should not tank it to Wanaka and instead do all the stop offs. He said that we could get in early for a nap, but I wanted to see everything possible because that's what I'm here for. Luckily he gave in, and we continued down the coast into our next stop Ship Creek. Our driver thought he was a bit of a joker here saying that the high density of sandflys here were a protected species in NZ! It was here we went dolphin spotting, with no luck, along the shingle beach with a picturesque river mouth. There was even a tower here which was fun to climb and look round the area.
After returning to the bus which had been infested with sandflys, we soon reached the longest bridge in New Zealand. Being a single road, there were two passing points on the bridge. Not long past this point we arrived in our lunch stop for the day, Haast. There wasn't really much exciting here, and we continued up this really remote road past the impressive Gates of Haast which was this cliff by this river. We climbed rapidly here through the mountains here on a dodgy road which is only open at daytime. This is due to the fact there are frequent landslides along the road and they monitor the cliff stability at night.
Continuing along this road, we were told about how two people also recently died along the road and weren't discovered until over a week later. Being the most direct route to Wanaka, apparently the road was closed after this happened for a few months and the kiwi bus had to go via Christchurch and Queenstown to get to Wanaka! A 14 hour trip on a good day. When finally leaving this remote stretch of road we made our next stop off at Pleasant Flat. It was here we got views of the imposing Mount Hooker which was covered in snow.
The next stop was just a further 5 minutes down the road to see the Thunder Creek Falls. This was a massive waterfall which fed into this river full of rapids. We didn't spend long here, instead cracking on to our next stop to see the Blue Pools. This included a short walk through the forest to yet more swing bridges. We tested the strength of one which was a 10 person limit, getting at least 20 people on it! When reaching the second bridge some people jumped off into the water below, which was amusing to watch. Someone dropped their go pro to the bottom though!
We spent a while here in the end, finding out the water was freezing in the process. We then got back on the bus for a stop off just down the road in Makarora. This was a so called ice cream stop which is becoming very frequent, and was more of a toilet stop for me. It was funny when driving down the next stretch of the road which was past farms and fields, because everytime we passed a field of sheep our driver would frantically beep his horn which made them leg it! When he did this to a field of deer though the whole field just lifted their heads! We soon got to the large Lake Wanaka which was a good sign, and after following this for a while we turned off for a viewpoint stop over the neighbouring Lake Hawea. It was a very scenic spot.
During our time here however the Stray bus overtook us, the rival company. Luckily we overtook them again which was important in terms of checking into the hostel, as they can only check in 1 bus at a time. We finally arrived into Wanaka at around 4.15, and after a short guided tour round the small town by bus, we checked into our Base hostel, purpose built a few years ago. From here I had a little look round town which had free WiFi all over, as well as brilliant views of the mountains surrounding the large lake the town lay on. There were plenty of shops here too including a large supermarket for a town of only 7000 people or so, although there were a few too many sandflys for comfort.
Dinner this evening was vegetable lasagne and french stick, all pre prepared as it was a ready meal which was reduced in New World. I was debating between going to the hostel quiz night, or going to the cinema this evening. In the ended I opted for a trip to the iconic cinema paradiso to watch a film called Noah based on the biblical story. What makes this cinema iconic is the layout which was loads of sofas, armchairs and even cars instead of the normal cinema seating! I was proper at home taking my shoes off and putting my feet up on the sofa. There was even an interval in the film which came with the waft of hot cookies which were given out at half time. In terms of the film, let's say it was a twist on the bible that religious people probably wouldn't like. I won't go into writing film reviews!
It wasn't until gone 11 until I got out of the cinema, definitely one more of my more well spent evenings and after going into town for WiFi I headed straight to bed, being quiet as the whole room had already zonked out. It was probably the quiz night that did it, although on my way to my room I heard someone had won a free jet boat ride!
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
March 31st... Franz Josef
A fair amount of people I had travelled with down to Queenstown were leaving this morning, although many people were also staying 3 nights in Franz Josef like me. The people in my room were all leaving today and the fact the bus was leaving at 7.30 meant I was woken up relatively early. I was pretty glad they were leaving to be honest because they had their own kind of party in the room last night when I just wanted to sleep because I felt awful. By the time they left this morning I had the room to myself, although they had left me empty bottles which looked bad on me now, as byo is not allowed in hostels licensed to sell alcohol.
I just ignored it all and went downstairs where I did myself scrambled egg for breakfast, and after a nice refreshing shower I packed a bag and went out for a walk. I yesterday said there were many walks in the Franz Josef area, and I had my eyes on the mammoth 8 hour one today which was basically described as suitable for experienced trampers only. I thought I fitted the bill, and the description seemed even more impressive saying you got glacial and even coastal views when up top. Named the Alex Knob track, it was basically a walk which started from the glacier car park which meant I had a 5km walk just to get to the walk in the first place!
Leaving by about 8.15, I stopped off at the supermarket to make sure I had a proper lunch picking up a sandwich and cookie to go with my crisps and apples I already had. I also checked everything with the free WiFi, sitting in the bus stop before following the road out of the village to the glacier car park. I ended up arriving at the turn off for the track by about 9, which was in fact nowhere near the car park which made a shorter walk for me. It was then time to start my ascent up the mountain, simply having views in my head to try and stop my nasty cough I had. The walk itself was basically up a path and then back the same way.
After following this well laid out gravel track which climbed at a gentle pace, I soon arrived at a turn off for Lake Wombat. I remember seeing the sign here which said 7.1km in 3.5 hours. When doing the maths I just thought that it was either very generous, or the walk was very tough. I soon found out it was the latter as I climbed up these steep rocks on a far more dense wooded path. Many of them gave way, and after having to hoist myself up on many occasions pulling on vines, I reached this more defined path which really confused me as it looked like it came the way I should of come. I just discounted this and continued on up.
I left a tracking signal at the turn off from the main path, and following this more defined path I continued up through the woodland in a zig zag manner. It was like this for a fair while, and every so often I would have to stop and find a way to pass these steep sections either made from tree roots or rocks. Despite being classed as a rainforest environment, it felt more like woodland with lots of ferns and vines within the densely wooded forest on the hillside. It wasn't long before I got my first proper viewpoint, looking over at the glacier I yesterday climbed. I also passed the first fellow people climbing the path, tanking past them to keep up my momentum.
Passing another glacier viewpoint, the path began to get slightly muddy and slippery in places, although this didn't stop my moderate pace as I began to get more confident climbing the steep sections, which at some I was now just jumping! After a while of more climbing through the woodland, the path started to open out more and I got my first views of the coast including the river flowing out to sea. It was very deceiving on this section as it kept looking as if I was as the top, then another one of these poles would appear on the now grassy hill top surrounding the narrow and rocky track. It wasn't long before I made it onto a ridge, and I then finally saw a sign in the distance which meant I had made it up top!
At 1303m above sea level, I had climbed the hill in little over 2.5 hours which was only at a moderate pace. I purposely got my gps here to check the altitude which said 1299m which proves it is a pretty accurate little device! I also saw some people up top although they left quickly, so I settled down for lunch. The views were amazing being able to see in all directions from the glacier and mountain tops to the Franz Josef village and coast. Whilst up here someone else came up and we got some photos, although he said he ran up in less than 2 hours to have a nap.
In the end I spent a good 45 minutes up top taking in the stunning views, before heading back down the same way which was slightly precarious in places with the mud and slippery rocks. It was a quick descent in the end only taking around 2 hours, and after following the rock back past the river I arrived back to the village by around 3. When doing the descent however I missed the steep bit I did at the beginning of the ascent, instead following a well defined path all the way down which confused me. After going via the visitor centre I headed straight back to the hostel where I had a nap because I felt physically drained. Franz is a low lying village and I climbed most of them metres, and felt it in my legs coming down such an altitude so quickly!
Waking back up at around 5, I decided to use my free voucher for the hot pools opposite my hostel. Set in the rainforest, this complex consisted of 3 hot pools of varying temperatures. At 36, 38 and 40 degrees there was a noticeable difference between all the pools, although 38 was my optimum temperature. I almost fell asleep relaxing in this outdoor complex, although I had to go eventually so I could have dinner and everything.
When returning to the hostel, dinner this evening was a potato and spinach curry with rice. It was funny watching these people make cornflake cakes opposite though who were doing it all wrong. I didn't say anything though, mainly because I was losing my voice. I then had a long session on the WiFi, although I had to eventually leave as the sandflys were really annoying seeing as I was outside. It was then the same old story whereby I just relaxed in the hostel before bed.
I just ignored it all and went downstairs where I did myself scrambled egg for breakfast, and after a nice refreshing shower I packed a bag and went out for a walk. I yesterday said there were many walks in the Franz Josef area, and I had my eyes on the mammoth 8 hour one today which was basically described as suitable for experienced trampers only. I thought I fitted the bill, and the description seemed even more impressive saying you got glacial and even coastal views when up top. Named the Alex Knob track, it was basically a walk which started from the glacier car park which meant I had a 5km walk just to get to the walk in the first place!
Leaving by about 8.15, I stopped off at the supermarket to make sure I had a proper lunch picking up a sandwich and cookie to go with my crisps and apples I already had. I also checked everything with the free WiFi, sitting in the bus stop before following the road out of the village to the glacier car park. I ended up arriving at the turn off for the track by about 9, which was in fact nowhere near the car park which made a shorter walk for me. It was then time to start my ascent up the mountain, simply having views in my head to try and stop my nasty cough I had. The walk itself was basically up a path and then back the same way.
After following this well laid out gravel track which climbed at a gentle pace, I soon arrived at a turn off for Lake Wombat. I remember seeing the sign here which said 7.1km in 3.5 hours. When doing the maths I just thought that it was either very generous, or the walk was very tough. I soon found out it was the latter as I climbed up these steep rocks on a far more dense wooded path. Many of them gave way, and after having to hoist myself up on many occasions pulling on vines, I reached this more defined path which really confused me as it looked like it came the way I should of come. I just discounted this and continued on up.
I left a tracking signal at the turn off from the main path, and following this more defined path I continued up through the woodland in a zig zag manner. It was like this for a fair while, and every so often I would have to stop and find a way to pass these steep sections either made from tree roots or rocks. Despite being classed as a rainforest environment, it felt more like woodland with lots of ferns and vines within the densely wooded forest on the hillside. It wasn't long before I got my first proper viewpoint, looking over at the glacier I yesterday climbed. I also passed the first fellow people climbing the path, tanking past them to keep up my momentum.
Passing another glacier viewpoint, the path began to get slightly muddy and slippery in places, although this didn't stop my moderate pace as I began to get more confident climbing the steep sections, which at some I was now just jumping! After a while of more climbing through the woodland, the path started to open out more and I got my first views of the coast including the river flowing out to sea. It was very deceiving on this section as it kept looking as if I was as the top, then another one of these poles would appear on the now grassy hill top surrounding the narrow and rocky track. It wasn't long before I made it onto a ridge, and I then finally saw a sign in the distance which meant I had made it up top!
At 1303m above sea level, I had climbed the hill in little over 2.5 hours which was only at a moderate pace. I purposely got my gps here to check the altitude which said 1299m which proves it is a pretty accurate little device! I also saw some people up top although they left quickly, so I settled down for lunch. The views were amazing being able to see in all directions from the glacier and mountain tops to the Franz Josef village and coast. Whilst up here someone else came up and we got some photos, although he said he ran up in less than 2 hours to have a nap.
In the end I spent a good 45 minutes up top taking in the stunning views, before heading back down the same way which was slightly precarious in places with the mud and slippery rocks. It was a quick descent in the end only taking around 2 hours, and after following the rock back past the river I arrived back to the village by around 3. When doing the descent however I missed the steep bit I did at the beginning of the ascent, instead following a well defined path all the way down which confused me. After going via the visitor centre I headed straight back to the hostel where I had a nap because I felt physically drained. Franz is a low lying village and I climbed most of them metres, and felt it in my legs coming down such an altitude so quickly!
Waking back up at around 5, I decided to use my free voucher for the hot pools opposite my hostel. Set in the rainforest, this complex consisted of 3 hot pools of varying temperatures. At 36, 38 and 40 degrees there was a noticeable difference between all the pools, although 38 was my optimum temperature. I almost fell asleep relaxing in this outdoor complex, although I had to go eventually so I could have dinner and everything.
When returning to the hostel, dinner this evening was a potato and spinach curry with rice. It was funny watching these people make cornflake cakes opposite though who were doing it all wrong. I didn't say anything though, mainly because I was losing my voice. I then had a long session on the WiFi, although I had to eventually leave as the sandflys were really annoying seeing as I was outside. It was then the same old story whereby I just relaxed in the hostel before bed.
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
March 30th... Franz Josef Glacier
It was such a dark morning this morning which made waking up a task and a half. I think it was the rooms curtains that did it as after finally getting out of bed and getting ready I was greeted with a stunning sunrise outside. This was brilliant news for me as yesterdays cloud covered hills looked more like snow covered mountains this morning which meant my glacier tour was going ahead! My only problem however was the fact I had picked up a nasty sore throat from somewhere which was frustrating.
After having a quick and easy few rounds of toast for breakfast I got myself ready for my trip up the glacier, packing light as we could only take what fitted into the bag they supplied us which already contained crampons. We were also recommended to wear lots of layers up top and just shorts beneath as apparently it is the top half that it most important and also our bottom half could get damp which meant they were supplying something waterproof for us.
After checking in at the tour centre, there was time to relax in the warm as it was a little chilly outside. I booked the ice explorer tour which basically included a helicopter transfer to the base of the glacier followed by about 3 hours exploring the glacier above. The Franz Josef glacier is the steepest commercially guided glacier in the world, and as recently as 2008 you could just walk up it. It has retreated at an alarming rate in recent years however. Before leaving the centre we had to sort out equipment which included wooly socks and boots, a waterproof coat, fluffy waterproof trousers, and hats and gloves. I couldn't resist taking a bit of red and white up there over their black woolies though! We were certainly not going to get cold up there.
After sorting out my small bag which included just a water bottle, my hat and scarf, we walked to the helicopter take off point. We were not allowed to wear any loose items here for obvious reasons and it wasn't long before we boarded this small helicopter. We had to wear earphones going up due to the noise, and being my first time in one made it all extra special. It was only a 5 minute flight going over the river estuary and into the u shaped valley formed by the glacier. The copter went really close to the rocks at times, and it wasn't long before we had landed on this small ice patch at the base of glacier.
When exiting the aircraft our first job was to put on our crampons which basically gave us grip on the slippery ice. They were pretty easy to put on, but involved lots of straps. We then had a short safety briefing before heading off to explore the impressive glacier which is unique due to the fact it lies between a temperate rainforest. It was slow progress for much of the first bit up the glacier as our guide had to cut lots of steps out frequently, although stability was always not a problem. We got lots of picture opportunity's on the way up, and our guide told us lots of interesting facts, although he made it clear he dislikes Australians. At one point he showed us this crystallized rock which he said he tells Aussie people is fossilised ice!
As the glacier got steeper there became more rope based sections and when reaching the top we saw the people who were ice climbing. I was going to do this but I'm glad I didn't when seeing it because there were 10 people and only 1 person climbing at a time, the rest sitting around. We continued round the group, instead heading through the most impressive section of the tour through these ice walls caused by the glacier moving apart. We then got to this moraine which is a hole in the ice and we were able to climb inside it, although it was very cold. In general though it was actually quite warm up on the glacier.
We then went through some even more impressive ice walls which were this time a blue colour and was dripping with water. From here we did one last push and reached the highest point we were going on the glacier, although it went a heck of a way further up! I won't go into detail about the formation of glaciers. We then begun our descent which was pretty dodgy in places, although our guide had made lots of steps for us which made it slightly easier. Some areas had ropes as well although it broke when I used it and I nearly fell! We reached the bottom after a slow but exhilarating 3 hour hike which was just amazing by around 1. My crampon had come lose when reaching the bottom however although I had made it without any serious mishaps!
We had a short wait for our departure at the bottom due to congestion of people compared to the helicopter space, but we eventually left the glacier. It was nice to take in what can only be described as stunning views when leaving the glacier. It wasn't long from when landing back in Franz to when I was back in the hostel again after another one of them so called once in a lifetime opportunities. I ended up having a little picnic lunch in my hostel room, although I really didn't feel good at this point with a sore throat and light head so instead of getting straight back up I ended up having a little power nap before the next part of my day.
I woke up by about 3 in the end, and despite probably being able to sleep longer, I decided to get up and go for a walk. Franz Josef has many set walks which are well marked ranging from around 20 minutes right up to 8 hours. The one I really wanted to do was the tartare tunnels, and I ended up combining this with the callery gorge walk. Starting with callery gorge walk, this took me through the rainforest along well marked tracks, before descending into this rocky path which took me down to the river. The path stopped here, although I was still able to go on this old swingbridge which was pretty dodgy over the fast flowing river below. The path beyond this was shut due to erosion however.
I then headed back the way I came to the turn off of the two walks and followed another river along a well defined path to the tunnels. The path eventually left the river and quickly rose, zigzagging up a hill to this old tunnel entrance. There was pre warning that you would have to wade through cold water, so I changed into my sandals and went through this dark tunnel. The water was cold and feet deep much of the way through, and at times I saw glow worms on the roof! It took a good 10 minutes to get through in the end and at the other end there were these old wooden supports and a sign saying do not continue which I presume were more tunnels. After heading back the way I came I checked out this turn off in the tunnel, although after crawling through I realised it was just a waterfall access route!
It wasn't until gone 5 when I arrived back at the hostel, and after relaxing in the hostel I made myself dinner which was simply just noodles tonight. I then curled up on the sofa in the common room making myself feel at home and watching tv, although my nasty cough was drawing attention to myself so I decided to go to bed from here. I just thought to myself an early night could do me good because I am always on the go to be fair!
After having a quick and easy few rounds of toast for breakfast I got myself ready for my trip up the glacier, packing light as we could only take what fitted into the bag they supplied us which already contained crampons. We were also recommended to wear lots of layers up top and just shorts beneath as apparently it is the top half that it most important and also our bottom half could get damp which meant they were supplying something waterproof for us.
After checking in at the tour centre, there was time to relax in the warm as it was a little chilly outside. I booked the ice explorer tour which basically included a helicopter transfer to the base of the glacier followed by about 3 hours exploring the glacier above. The Franz Josef glacier is the steepest commercially guided glacier in the world, and as recently as 2008 you could just walk up it. It has retreated at an alarming rate in recent years however. Before leaving the centre we had to sort out equipment which included wooly socks and boots, a waterproof coat, fluffy waterproof trousers, and hats and gloves. I couldn't resist taking a bit of red and white up there over their black woolies though! We were certainly not going to get cold up there.
After sorting out my small bag which included just a water bottle, my hat and scarf, we walked to the helicopter take off point. We were not allowed to wear any loose items here for obvious reasons and it wasn't long before we boarded this small helicopter. We had to wear earphones going up due to the noise, and being my first time in one made it all extra special. It was only a 5 minute flight going over the river estuary and into the u shaped valley formed by the glacier. The copter went really close to the rocks at times, and it wasn't long before we had landed on this small ice patch at the base of glacier.
When exiting the aircraft our first job was to put on our crampons which basically gave us grip on the slippery ice. They were pretty easy to put on, but involved lots of straps. We then had a short safety briefing before heading off to explore the impressive glacier which is unique due to the fact it lies between a temperate rainforest. It was slow progress for much of the first bit up the glacier as our guide had to cut lots of steps out frequently, although stability was always not a problem. We got lots of picture opportunity's on the way up, and our guide told us lots of interesting facts, although he made it clear he dislikes Australians. At one point he showed us this crystallized rock which he said he tells Aussie people is fossilised ice!
As the glacier got steeper there became more rope based sections and when reaching the top we saw the people who were ice climbing. I was going to do this but I'm glad I didn't when seeing it because there were 10 people and only 1 person climbing at a time, the rest sitting around. We continued round the group, instead heading through the most impressive section of the tour through these ice walls caused by the glacier moving apart. We then got to this moraine which is a hole in the ice and we were able to climb inside it, although it was very cold. In general though it was actually quite warm up on the glacier.
We then went through some even more impressive ice walls which were this time a blue colour and was dripping with water. From here we did one last push and reached the highest point we were going on the glacier, although it went a heck of a way further up! I won't go into detail about the formation of glaciers. We then begun our descent which was pretty dodgy in places, although our guide had made lots of steps for us which made it slightly easier. Some areas had ropes as well although it broke when I used it and I nearly fell! We reached the bottom after a slow but exhilarating 3 hour hike which was just amazing by around 1. My crampon had come lose when reaching the bottom however although I had made it without any serious mishaps!
We had a short wait for our departure at the bottom due to congestion of people compared to the helicopter space, but we eventually left the glacier. It was nice to take in what can only be described as stunning views when leaving the glacier. It wasn't long from when landing back in Franz to when I was back in the hostel again after another one of them so called once in a lifetime opportunities. I ended up having a little picnic lunch in my hostel room, although I really didn't feel good at this point with a sore throat and light head so instead of getting straight back up I ended up having a little power nap before the next part of my day.
I woke up by about 3 in the end, and despite probably being able to sleep longer, I decided to get up and go for a walk. Franz Josef has many set walks which are well marked ranging from around 20 minutes right up to 8 hours. The one I really wanted to do was the tartare tunnels, and I ended up combining this with the callery gorge walk. Starting with callery gorge walk, this took me through the rainforest along well marked tracks, before descending into this rocky path which took me down to the river. The path stopped here, although I was still able to go on this old swingbridge which was pretty dodgy over the fast flowing river below. The path beyond this was shut due to erosion however.
I then headed back the way I came to the turn off of the two walks and followed another river along a well defined path to the tunnels. The path eventually left the river and quickly rose, zigzagging up a hill to this old tunnel entrance. There was pre warning that you would have to wade through cold water, so I changed into my sandals and went through this dark tunnel. The water was cold and feet deep much of the way through, and at times I saw glow worms on the roof! It took a good 10 minutes to get through in the end and at the other end there were these old wooden supports and a sign saying do not continue which I presume were more tunnels. After heading back the way I came I checked out this turn off in the tunnel, although after crawling through I realised it was just a waterfall access route!
It wasn't until gone 5 when I arrived back at the hostel, and after relaxing in the hostel I made myself dinner which was simply just noodles tonight. I then curled up on the sofa in the common room making myself feel at home and watching tv, although my nasty cough was drawing attention to myself so I decided to go to bed from here. I just thought to myself an early night could do me good because I am always on the go to be fair!
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