The Catlins & Milford Sound

The Catlins (south east of the south island) were indeed beautiful, and I was incredibly lucky with the fantastic weather too. I went to all the usual tourist hotspots: various waterfalls, Nugget Point (to walk along the thin walkway with cliff drop-offs either side, see seal pups playing in the sea and gaze at the fabulous rock formations at the end), Pourpoise Bay (to unsuccessfully look for dolphins), Curio Bay (to see some jurassic-aged petrified wood) and Cannibal Bay (to see sealions - I was REALLY lucky - there were about 15 on the beach!!). But despite just hitting the tourist hotspots, it was simply beautiful, and not at all crowded. The Catlins offers such unspoilt beauty, and has more 'scenic reserves' than I've encountered anywhere else. More nature + less people = winning formula!! :)

 Purakaunui Falls

Nugget Point

Some petrified wood

Slope Point 

About 7 or 8 of the sealions playing / fighting in the surf

I carried along the 'southern scenic route', heading to the southernmost point of the south island at 'Slope Point', where I got the mandatory photograph. Heading towards Invercargill, the plan was to head over to Stewart Island the next day to do a tramp. Uh-oh... what was that word? 'Plan'? Well that wasn't going to happen was it?! ;) The weather was turning for the worse, and I already knew from experience that I'm more of a 'fair weather tramper'. So I decided to head up to Milford Sound for a day or two, and come back down to Stewart Island later.

So I went up to Milford Sound, which is actually a fjord. It's quite magnificent, with huge mountains coming out of still lakes and waterfalls everywhere. Or at least that's what I've heard. Unfortunatley the day I decided to do it, there was no rain meaning no amazing waterfalls, and there was quite a lot of low cloud, meaning limited mountain viewing. It was lovely none-the less though. I'd also read that the drive there was meant to be one of the most beautiful in the world... but please refer to my previous sentence to see why I'm not completely convinced of this. I've seen far more spectacular beauty elsewhere - maybe I've just been spoilt by NZ's beauty, so it takes more to make me stand agape in awe?? Or maybe I just need to go back on a day when there's better weather!

We went under the waterfall :)

The fog was rising...

So after that, I got back to Te Anau (south of Milford Sound), I looked at the weather forecast (which, to be perfectly honest, doesn't really mean that much in NZ - the weather can change extremely rapidly!) and decided that Stewart Island probably wouldn't become sunny for a while. What other ones are there? Aaaah - the Routeburn track - that was recommended to me by a gut on the Heaphy track. And it starts up in Milford Sound!! Ok - I'll do that one! The weather's not meant to be amazing, but at least there'd be waterfalls to gawp at! And Queenstown (where it ended) looked to be sunny the day I arrived there.

So I booked myself into the huts, organised some shuttle buses to take me to and from the start / end of the tramp, packed my backpack and charged my camera battery! And that's where I'm at now. I'm in a hostel in Te Anau, aiming to wake up tomorrow before sunrise to catch a bus up to 'the Divide' where the Routeburn track starts (I'd better get to bed soon then!) I'll then spend 3 days traversing the most varied of the NZ Great Walks, and get back to my car Monday evening. Then... well I have no idea. But let's be honest - what does that matter?? ;op

To see the rest of my photos from Milford Sound, go to: https://picasaweb.google.com/104325393129888199376/201104NZMilfordSound?authkey=Gv1sRgCIaU8uam1IzHogE#

Mt. Cook & Down the East Coast

I left Hanmer Springs with the intention of going down the east coast to Oamaru. Whilst I was driving south, I saw a sign to Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in NZ. It would take a day to get there, but why the heck not?? So I traversed the beautiful mountainous roads, heading west (yet again), passing past Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukake, both of which have a beautiful blue hue from (I think) the rock minerals within the water.

Lake Tekapo & Lake Pukake

Whilst at Lake Pukake, I enquired in the I-Site as to whether there are any horse treks, as I feared that everything is coming to an end at the end of April, so if I was going to do one, it would have to be now. There was a horse trek place on the way down to Mt. Cook. Perfect! So I booked myself in on a 2 hr trek, and happily made my way up there. The road was absolutely glorious, with Mt. Cook dominating the view for the entire way.

I found the horse yard, and met Hannah, my trek guide. I was on 'Georgie', a rather large dark bay horse who didn’t seem to have a lot of spirit in him. I guess that when your life consists of taking beginner horse riders out and just plodding along, life can’t be too exciting for you. Half way through, after having not had even a taster of anything more than a walk, I asked if this was just a walking trek. And I was very disappointed with the answer of ‘yes’. Apparently, because most of their business comes from beginner horse riders, if a horse thinks he can canter on the trek, he may get used to it and bolt off with a beginner. But none-the-less, Hannah could see my obvious disappointment (you all know I’m rubbish at hiding my feelings!) and said that Georgie was a bit dim, so it wouldn’t matter if we cantered, as he wouldn’t then expect it next time (I’ll take her word for it!). So we managed a couple of canters through the beautiful mountain ranges, with Mt. Cook and the Southern Alps to one side, and Lake Pukake to the other. ‘Twas rather lovely!

It was really great to be back in the saddle. Of course it was different to how it used to be… I had to follow behind Hannah, as that’s how the horses were used to trekking. Back when I had horses, we used to go out two abreast, cantering on whatever grass verges we could find! I was a very lucky lady back then – thanks so much for giving me that opportunity, Mum & Dad!! :)

After the trek, I carried on towards Mt. Cook. I got to the lovely alpine village and went for a little walk up a hill to get to a viewpoint. I didn’t end up getting a better view than I had at the bottom, bit it was a nice little half hour walk all the same. Then I found the campsite and settled down for the night.

I was awoken early by the DOC officer, as I’d forgotten to pay the previous night - whoops! So as I was awake, I tried to plan out as best I could my 2 ½ weeks that I had left before starting work. I thought that as I was practically on the west coast again and so close to Wanaka, I’d go and have a gander at my future home, and then travel anti-clockwise around the southern part of the island. I went on a 3 hr walk to the Hooker Valley, which was very nice, and by the time I’d come back, my ‘plans’ had changed again. I was going to be spending MONTHS over in Wanaka / Queenstown area. Why on EARTH would I spend some of my 2 ½ weeks there?! So after my walk, I headed back to the east coast, and ended up in Oamaru.

Mt. Cook

I booked in to a hostel (it was about time I had a shower!) where some friends of mine were working, but before heading there I decided to have a drive around town. I happened upon a carpark and wharf with a sign saying ‘penguin colony’, so I checked out what the Lonely Planet said, and I was indeed at a penguin colony, whereby blue penguins could be seen at dusk. Hang on… it was just about dusk now! So I wandered out and lo-and-behold, there was a little baby blue penguin!! I was walking and chatting with a couple when we saw it, and as we approached the area that it was in, the little penguin came up to the guy and started snuggling up to his leg, as if it was a protective mum! I guess it was lost... It was really very cute but sad at the same time (photos coming...).But then a load of Asian tourists saw us, bounded over with their huge telescopic lensed cameras, and proceeded to get the cameras right up in the penguin’s face, cameras flashing everywhere. Poor little thing – it must have been terrified! At one point it tried to waddle away to the rocks, and one of the men actually blocked its path so it couldn’t get away! I was absolutely furious. But my comments were inconsequential. In the end the baby penguin managed to get away and hid under a rock.

I went away to try to see some yellow-eyed penguins at another coastal area, but was evidently far too late to see them. I went back to the carpark, and found the baby blue penguin still in the same place. I went back again the next day to check on it and it had gone… I can only hope that its mother / father had found it…

After that I headed to the hostel and had a glorious shower and lovely time with my friends working there. I still slept out in my car as it was the cheaper option, and I wouldn’t have to share a dorm room with 7 other people. I love sleeping in my car anyway – it’s comfy and (touch wood) I’m warm enough with my 2 sleeping bags and duvet!


I also met up again with Martin who had just arrived in Oamaru, so we had a lovely day strolling through the historic part of the town. We then headed down to the Meoraki boulders, some huge near-perfect spheres of rock, scattered about on the beach like marbles. They were awesome!!! I took LOTS of photos, and then agreed to meet Martin at the campsite nearby. I'll post some photos when Picasa decides that it will upload them to my online photo account...

I went off for a drive, and as I often do, just followed a dirt track to see where it led me. I assumed it would be to a lighthouse, as it was lighthouse road! (Duh!) When I got there, there were quite a few cars there. Huh? The dirt road was a good 10km long – why would these people have just randomly driven here too? So again, I consulted my Lonely Planet. Ahhhh… I see. This is the yellow-eyed penguin colony in Meoraki! How very fortunate to have yet again stumbled upon an area to see them at the correct time of day!!

As I walked over, I realised that this was the place some friends had actually told me about, but I had thought that it was I the Catlins, not here. They said that there was a viewing area, but if you just carried on, you could see them in the wild, just waddling about. So I wandered down to the fields, and they were right! I saw 2 uber-cute yellow eyed penguins, just waddling about! These penguins are one of the rarest breeds in the world, with only about 2,000 pairs believed to be in existance worldwide. I therefore know how fortunate I am to have been able to see them up close like this. The first one I saw was walking up hill, and kept having to stop to catch its breath! See the first video below, which doesdn't actually show the gradient... The second was just in the middle of the field, and was just SO cute – it didn’t seem to mind my presence, but I tried not to stay around it for too long.

Yellow-eyed penguin #1 walking uphill (press play)

Yellow-eyed penguin #2 shaking its bum at me (press play)

I made my way to the campsite, and en-route checked my phone. Ah – a text from Martin saying the campsite’s closed and he’s heading back up to Oamaru. Hmmmm. I wanted to check this out for myself! Even if the campsite’s closed, I’d just stay on the side of the road nearby – I didn’t fancy back-tracking all the way back to Oamaru. When I got there, he was right, and it was closed. Very strange. No sign or anything! So I just camped next to the gate… it was dark and I was tired.

I awoke early, so went back to the boulders for sunrise. I was a little late, so didn’t catch the best colours, but it was a beautiful sunrise none-the-less! Even at that time in the morning, there were still the people ‘hogging’ the boulders taking photos of them standing / sitting / jumping / dancing on them. But luckily the boulders were so scattered around the beach, I was able to take LOADS of photos… just not of (what I considered to be) the best looking clump of boulders, on which one group wasn’t offering more than a 5 second gap when they weren’t on them. In the end I had to bite the bullet and actually ask them to please let me take a photo of the boulders before the sun-rise was over! I felt mean doing it, but they’d managed about 15 solid minutes of photos, so they must have got some good ones! Unfortunately the sun had practically risen by this point… Shucks.

 

Note: Picasa's having a bit of trouble with my photos and has only uploaded these. I'll post some better ones when it's sorted...

I drove down to Dunedin (thought of you & Gram, Ted!!), spent a few hours there, including walking up the 'world's steepest street', and then went over to the Otago Peninsular to see some albatrosses, and actually managed to see one. It’s an incredible bird! I waited to see if I’d see anymore, but unfortunately one would have to be enough, unless I wanted to pay $40 to go on a tour of the nesting area. I was happy enough with my one view.

Baldwin St, Dunedin - the world's steepest street

I carried on down to the Catlins where I am now (or at least where I was a few days ago when I was drafting this blog post!!). I arrived at the campsite in the dark, so whilst I know that I’m parked on a cliff next to the ocean and that I can hear the ocean, I haven’t seen how beautiful the area is yet. I guess I’ll see it in the morning! I doubt I’ll be up for sunrise again tomorrow though – it’s past midnight now, and I’d very much like to get my full 8 hours of sleep tonight!! ;)

I managed about 7 hrs – slept like a baby! When I awoke and looked out of my ‘bedroom window’, I had to laugh and verbally say ‘oh wow’. I’m in an ABSOLUTEY BEAUTIFUL spot!! I sat up (still in sleeping bags & duvet), slid my door open, and took this photo. Not too bad a sight to wake up to on a Tuesday morning!! :)

Today I’m going to just stick around the Catlins – maybe tomorrow aswell. It’s meant to be gorgeous, but I’ve as yet only seen it in the dark. There are a few walks I want to do too. Then I’ll head down the Scenic Highway route to Invercargill, where I’ll probably stay in a hostel, before heading off to Stewart Island to do a 3 day tramp in the lush national park there! YAY!

For now, I think I might just lie in bed and read my book for an hour or so [edit: I didn't read a single word!]. I’ve hardly done any reading since being in NZ – I guess I’m always on the go! I know I've said it before, but I truly do love this life, just being able to choose what I want to do from one moment to the next. I’m not really sure that I’m ready to start working yet! But I guess we can’t get what we want ALL of the time ;) I can’t sleep in my car in the winter, so I’d otherwise have to pay a fortune to stay in a hostel full time, which I simply can’t afford. And there’s no way I’d be able to land such a cushty hostel job closer to the season either. There’s a reason that I applied for the job: because I needed one. And it’ll be great to be able to make connections and settle myself into Wanaka before the season starts. It really would be 'sweet as' to be just be able to travel forever like I'm doing right now though!! :)

Ski Season in Wanaka!! Yay!!

The first dump of snow came in the mountains in Hanmer Springs the night before last. And the air's cooled down a lot. This means that Winter's a-coming which, whilst not great for sleeping in my car, does mean that we're getting ever closer to the ski season!!

Last week I applied for two jobs in Wanaka, and I get offered both of them - result! One was managing a motel at the weekends, and the other was managing a hostel during weekday evenings. Of course I chose the hostel! It' looks like a lovely hostel called Mountain View Backpackers. I'll be working reception from 5pm - 9pm Monday - Friday. I've committed to one month minimum, during which time I can get a cafe job during the week / bartending job at weekends in the run-up to the ski fields opening in June. I'll also have the option of either working at the hostel during the ski season or moving into a house share with some cool people, and finding a bar job somewhere else for the season! But for now, i'm happy that I'll be in a hostel environment (for free) during the cold winter months, meeting new people all of the time. And I'll have the luxury of being able to go boarding every single day once the slopes open if I choose to!! Oh... I can't wait! :o)

I'm gutted though, as I've missed out on the cheaper early bird season passes by a matter of weeks. But it'll be ok. I'm no longer going to the Rugby World Cup games as they can't hold them in Christchurch, so I can use the money I'm saving on them for my ski lift pass... or snowboard lift pass should I say?? I'm hoping to properly learn to snowboard this season!! Yeah!

So I'll be based in Wanaka from 25th April, when my job starts. The season officially starts mid June, so I'll just have to chomp at the proverbial bit until then - but I'm sure Wanaka will be an amazing place to live, and I should be able to get myself some free perks for being in the tourism industry too!! I shall be milking those for all they're worth, I can tell you! It's fair to say that I'm very happy right now. I'd hoped to get a hostel manager job whereby I could ski during the day, and that's exactly what I've found. This NZ experience just keeps getting better and better.

Now I'll just keep travelling around the south island for the next 2 1/2 weeks which, I'd say is pretty much perfect timing.
Down the east coast I go... where I'll stop, nobody knows! :op

Oh. I've just been told by a pasing cyclist that I've got a flat tyre (I'm sitting in my car outside a library using their internet). Cr*p. Guess I'd better change that before I can go anywhere!!

Yep - flat as a pancake

Oh. Next problem: I've just discovered that I don't have a jack. Great. The cyclist has volunteered to cycle down to the garage for me to see if they have a jack I can use. How very lovely! At least it's a sunny day and I'm not getting rained on.

Hmph. Apparently the garage won't just come and do it - I need to call the AA to get them out to me. But I don't really want to use up my call-outs on trivial issues, in case I really need them one day! I can't drive it over tp the garage, as it'll bust up my tyre rim. Grrrr. So now I'm going to go for a wander and see if I can find any Mitsubishi car owners who might have a jack... wish me luck! :)

I've found an ISUZU owner who has a jack...Doesn't really work though - I can't turn the handle any more.

Another guy pulled up next to me, and had a different type of jack. He jacked the car up for me, took the bolts off, went to pull the tyre off, and... nothing. The tyre won't budge. He thinks it's welded on or something. So I'll have to call the AA out anyway. Grrr. But this is yet another time when a Kiwi has been amazingly kind and helpful! And the lady with the ISUZU also went running around the pubs for me, trying to find a suitable jack. They really are lovely people :)

So I just called the AA and they'll be here within the hour. Actually... looks as though someone might be here now!

Oh. Don't I feel stupid. He just kicked the tyre really hard a couple of times and it came off. Jeez. What a waste of an AA call out!! But at least my tyre's fixed now.
  

Tyre = FIXED!

So now I'm all set and ready to go... destination unknown. Woohoo!!! :)

And Back to the East Coast!!

I continued down the westcoast, bound for Hokitika. My good friends, Henry & Jane had just informed me that they'd finished travelling the south, and were heading back up to the top of the south island (Nelson) to work. So realistically, I wouldn’t see them again whilst we were in NZ, as I was planning to stay down in the south. Nooooo! As I was driving, I came to a crossroads. One road continuing down the west coast, and the other cutting back across the island to the east coast. I had about 3 seconds to consciously decide, and I veered off left. I had only got down as far as Kaikoura on the east coast anyway. So I drove over Arthurs Pass. And it was beautiful. So many mountains everywhere. And great driving roads!

  

  

I stopped off in a DOC campsite for the night, and carried on to Garaldine, a lovely little village south of Christchurch. I popped down to Timaru, and decided to drive back via the back-roads, so that I could pass through such places as: Pleasant Point (which was quite pleasant), Beautiful Valley and Pleasant Valley. Whilst the valleys were, respectively, quite beautiful and pleasant, I must admit that I was expecting more from them. But Kiwi names really aren’t that original – they tell it how it is. And as everywhere in New Zealand is beautiful, I guess that I was expecting something spectacularly beautiful. But maybe in that case, I’ll just need to hold out for a place called ‘Spectacularly Beautiful Valley’. There’s probably one out there somewhere. I also passed a road called ‘Love Road’ in Pleasant Valley. Now that would be a great address: ‘Love Road, Pleasant Valley, New Zealand’. Awesome.

After my (quite significant) detour, I finally met up with Henry and Jane at a campsite. It really was great to see them – it had been 3 weeks since I’d last seen them, which was a long time for us! We chatted away the evening, and went to bed. In the morning, there was a glorious sunrise, but it was cooooold! Where had the sunshine gone??

Beautiful birdsong at sunrise :)

We decided to head up to Akoroa, just east of Christchurch. It was great fun driving there along the windy roads!!

The town itself is amazing – it’s got a real French character, and is so so beautiful. We stayed in a hostel (a real novelty for me!), which meant that we had a warm living room to relax in, whilst drinking cider. I never liked cider until I tried it in Nelson – it always reminded me too much of the brand that I consumed as a teenager, White Lightning. But now I’m definitely a fan. And it will always remind me of the South Island of NZ too – much like my association of tomatoes with Cyprus, and olives with France :)

Lots of signs were in French!!

  

  

The next day, we headed up to Hanmer Springs for our last night together. As the road from Akoroa to Hanmer Springs goes around Christchurch, I thought I'd go and have a quick drive through... I didn't drive into the centre as it's still declared as a significant danger, and I'm not stupid - buildings could still potentially fall etc. But driving around the streets near the centre gave me enough of an idea. Many of the roads I was driving on had been newly repired, but there were still huge bumps and cracks along some. Outside houses were piles of bricks. Roofs had blue tarpaulin where chimneys used to be. There were port-a-loos on the roadsides. Some roads asked non-residents not to drive down them (which I obeyed, of course), and I saw a church that had more or less been completely destroyed. And this was reasonably far away from the epicentre of the February 22nd earthquake. I didn't take any photos - that would have been severely disrespectful. I felt bad enough driving and gawping at the scenes in front of me. I felt wrong being there for 'touristic value', so promptly left - but I would still like to go back there and help at a time that's appropriate for the residents...

We arrived at our hostel in Hanmer Springs, and Martin ended up driving over from the West Coast to join us! We had a lovely evening in a hostel - so much so that we decided to stay for another night! We went to the Hanmer Springs thermal pools which, whilst overpriced, was still a lovely experience with the snow-capped mountains in the distance. That evening I cooked us our 'last supper'. Sob sob.

When it was time to all part ways, it was sad indeed. I'll really miss these friends that I've become so close to and love dearly... Travelling friends will come and go, but I know I've made some very special friends over the past 6 months, and despite my inability at keeping in touch, I KNOW that we'll all be seeing each other again! :)