2 Crazy Sheilas

I just back from my twelve day trip to New Zealand’s South Island and I suppose its no better time to tell you all about it! But before I do that I thought I would add a little quote I saw in a hostel bathroom wall on my journey…..

“Like all great travelers I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen” (benjamin disreali)

So with that in mind bear with me, it was a twelve day trip and therefore I cannot tell you all the special details, but mostly just what I did while there. To give you all a little backround information, the South Island of New Zealand only has a total population of around a million people and is cut almost in two by a mountain range, the Southern Alps, going straight though the middle of the Island in a north-south direction.  This means that there are a lot of beautiful mountains with many lakes and river-systems along them.  To finally get to my journey I guess I’ll start off with day one.

Day 1: Today I arrived in Christchurch in the afternoon and went to my hostel (while narrowly missing an accident that would have been caused by an idiot young male driver)! It was a pretty lazy day, and as I literally did not go to bed the night before, in leu of packing, going out with friends and having to be at the airport early, I didn’t do much.  I walked around Christchurch a little bit and got some dinner, and then went to bed. 

Day2: Today was the start of my Connections tour around the South Island.  I had to get up REALLY early and board the bus with about 30 other student travelers.  We left Christchurch shortly after and headed toward our destination for the night, Lake Ohau.  On our way there we all got to know each other while snapping hundreds of pictures of the scenery.  When I say hundreds I really mean hundreds, as I think I have a picture of one mountain at all different angles! :) It was hard to control myself because the scenery of the South Island of New Zealand is amazing, more beautiful than I have seen in a long time, or ever for that matter! Okay back to the journey, we drove through many small towns and stopped at a lot of picturesque lakes set with a mountain backdrop with low-lying clouds. We got a really good view of New Zealands highest mountain, Mt Cook and took a lot of pictures of it! After a days drive and a lot of stops we finally arrived at our hotel, called Lake Ohau Lodge, which was literally in the middle of nowhere and at the banks of the huge Lake Ohau.  A few of us decided to take a dip in the outdoor hot tub and enjoy the scenery after dinner and before bed.

Day 3: After waking up before dawn, as the sun rises a bit late due to the very southern latitude of New Zealand, I grabbed brekky quick and headed to the coach for another day of traveling.  We travelled through the mountains and got to see many Lord of the Rings and Narnia sets for the movies, which many people were very excited for, except me, as I have never seen either of the movies!  We stopped for lunch at a fruit stand and I bought a kiwi from “kiwiland” and a lot of other fruit for snacks later on.  We then drove a bit while making a stop at the Mirror Lakes for a photo shoot and then traveled through the Homer Tunnel toward our destination on the Milford Sound.  

When we arrived we boarded our boat for our overnight cruise on the sound.  On our way out to the spot we were to stop for the night we watched the huge mountains (which were around 5000 feet tall) and admired the many waterfalls coming down from the snow capped peaks and into the water.  It was probably the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen and pictures really couldn’t do it justice, although I did take many!  With the mountains being so tall and the water so low, and clouds resting at the middle of the mountains, it really was a sight to see!  When moored I went kayaking with a few new friends, at which point I found out the Milford Sound is actually a fiord, meaning that it was carved out by glaciers in the last ice age, therefore a fiord. After kayaking I got to eat a really good dinner, play cards, and have a few drinks while getting to know the people on my trip. 

Day 4: The next morning the ship cruised the Milford Sound and out the the Tasman Sea, and back into the fiord to the wharf.  We hopped on the coach and headed east to the adrenaline mecca of the southern hemisphere, Queenstown! Once arriving I went to eat with a few friends and went out for a night on the town! We went to an ice bar, which was literally a bar made completely out of ice and we drank out of glasses made from ice as well! After our cold time at the ice bar we headed to another bar and decided to warm ourselves up with a flaming shot! After a really fun night on the town it was time to go to bed, as I had to prepare myself for my big day ahead!

Day 5: Today we got to decide what each of us wanted to do in the adrenaline mecca. Some people decided that they weren’t adventurous enough and decided to do a little shopping and lounging, while others decided to go hoarseback riding (really adrenaline pumping! ), hang gliding, sky diving, and my personal favorite, bungy jumping! I decided that since I was in the birthplace of bungy jumping, which was done by A.J. Hackett, what a better place to do it than in New Zealand, and why not the third highest bungy in the world, behind one in Asia and another in South Africa, with a height of 134 meters, the Nevis Bungy!! Just to give you all a perspective of the height, a normal bungy stands around 40-50 meters, so this one was almost three times as high! I found out that this bungy site was also the only in the world that was suspended on cables!  After getting in a gondola and being taken out the the ‘pod’ which was the bungy site suspended between two mountains and looking at the Nevis river my heart was really pumping! I think the bungy guys were aware of this as they were saying things to scare me, like telling me that my bungy was a little old and run down and they were praying that it had a few more jumps in it! They were not easy on my nerves let me tell you!  After waiting for everyone else to go, as they had people in our group jump by weight, from heaviest to lightest (me, which I will say that was the one and only time in my life where I really would have loved to be heavier) it was finally my turn. My heart was beating out of my chest and I was really scared. I shimmied up to the jump spot and immediately jumped and screamed my throat sore! I free-falled for what they say is about 8.5 seconds (it felt like 1 for me) and the bungy caught, thankfully, and they reeled me back in…all in one piece! It was the biggest rush of my life and I am SO glad that I did it, although once was enough for me for now!

After my eventful afternoon I got together with my friends and we decided to go out to celebrate our last night in Queenstown and our crazy adventures of the day!

Day 6: Today we packed up our bags, boarded the coach, and headed for Fox Glacier.  We drove through the gorgeous Lake Wanaka area and headed for the Westland National Park, which was the home to the two largest glaciers in New Zealand, Fox glacier and Franz Joseph glacier.  It was a long day and we didn’t get to the 8-house town of Fox Glacier until nightfall where we had a group dinner and went of a glow-worm night hike. The hike through the dark temperate rainforest was nothing but soothing as our tour guide kept jumping out of dark bushes and scaring the beejesus out of me! Finally, after being scared WAY too many times, we arrived at a tree trunk that was covered with glow worms! It was as if the fallen over tree had stars on the root system, it was really cool! They were really small and had different values of light, so it really was as if you were looking at a starry night sky!  After admiring the glow worms we stayed in the forest for a little while to tell scary stories and then we headed off to bed.  

Day 7: Today was another early one as I had to get up before dawn and head to the base of the Fox Glacier for a hike up it.  A group of about eight of us hiked through the temperate rainforest for around an hour because the face of the glacier was too unsteady and steep to hike right up on it, so we went around the corner to start the actual glacier hike up at a steady spot.  The hike in the rainforest was really tiring and really beautiful, with glacial streams and waterfalls all along the trail.  When we finally arrived at the point of the glacier we strapped on ice picks to our boots and headed out on the glacier.  It was really amazing to be hiking on a glacier, with the guide carving out steps for us as we went along and took tons of pictures.  The ice on the glacier was really deep blue, which was unexpected, and lines of glacier mud ran though it.  We learned that the glacier mud was a really rare type of mud and it was sold to high-end spas in Europe, Southeast Asia and the U.S. for mud baths and mud treatments for thousands of dollars for minimal amounts. After hearing that I rubbed some on my hand, and then wondered why is was so amazing? Anyway the hike took us though tunnels and up glacial walls and all around the uniquely shaped glacier.  Once we spent two hours slipping and sliding on the ice it was time to head back down the glacier and mountain and board the coach, after lunch of course!

On our way back to the north-eastern coast of New Zealand we made a stop in Hotitika at a jade factory, which we found out to be a legendary stone to the native New Zealand people, the Moari’s, and admired the stone carvings and the process of making jade jewelry and art.  This night brought us to a large sheep farm in the middle of nowhere named Flock Hill Station.  We arrived late, ate dinner immediately, and lounged in front of the big wood-fire for a long time before heading off to bed. 

Day 8: This morning I was treated to a really good breakfast and then got to watch a sheep-herding show!!! I was a little bored with the whole farm scene being that I’ve grown up in it, but many others found it to be really interesting…where at which point I liked the sheep dogs the most ! After watching the sheep-dogs herd sheep we got into the coach and headed for Christchurch for the night.  When arriving in Christchurch we had a free afternoon and did a little walking around and shopping and headed out on the town for the night.

Day 9: Today we said goodbye to the 7 day tour people where our group was cut in half and the we headed to the small port town of Kaikoura, which means seafood in Maori I learned. In Kaikoura we went to a winery set in the mountains and overlooking the Pacific Ocean where we took part in a wine tasting and a tour.  After which we went on a long hike along the egde of a mountainous peninsula and got to see some really amazing views, including a rocky beach at the end which was home to a pack of sea loins and seals. The afternoon spent in Kaikoura was really relaxing and picturesque, but it was time to hop back in the coach and head to our destination for the night, Nelson.  When we arrived in Nelson I was really tired from the long hike and ate dinner and went to bed.

Day 10: Today was a free day, and a Sunday, in Nelson and raining cats and dogs.  I headed to the city center only to find the small town to be deserted, possibly due to the rain and it being a Sunday, so I found a coffee shop/internet place and had a relaxing coffee and checked my email before heading back to the hotel.  When I got back to the hotel I sat with a few others on the tour and watched the All Blacks, New Zealands national rugby team, play England. The relaxing day was much needed and really liked by me, and a lot others. Dinner and bed was the only thing that made up the rest of my day in rainy Nelson.

Day 11: Today was the last day of the tour for me and it headed from Nelson to the North Island into Wellington aboard a ferry.  It was raining still and the three hour ferry ride was therefore a boring one as standing outside and enjoying the scenery was out of the question for me.  Although inside was a little amusing as I watched many people on my tour become seasick and run to the bathrooms! I know, I know you all are probably thinking I’m a mean person, but hey I was bored and seeing as I don’t get seasick it was a little amusing!  When we arrived in Wellington I decided to go with a group of friends to the Te Papa Museum of New Zealand for the afternoon.  It was a really interesting place and I learned a lot about the country and history of New Zealand, like that the kiwifruit is not actualy native to NZ, it was brought over by the Chinese and they didn’t even call it kiwifruit, but the name was changed and made the national fruit of New Zealand somewhere in history! 

After the museum I went to dinner with the group and said my goodbyes and headed back to my hostel and went to bed as my flight had me arriving at the airport at 4 am the next morning.

Day 12: Today I left New Zealand with many great memories and headed back to Melbourne. 

I know this entry was huge, and probably boring as my typing skills are lack today due to the fact that I am tired and getting ready to leave Melbourne, but my trip was outstanding. Overall, my time in New Zealand was amazing and I saw and did many things that I have never done before.  I met a lot of really cool people and plan to keep in touch with many of them and I am so happy that I got to experience New Zealand. It was one of my favorite trips and now I cannot wait to get to traveling aroung Australia, which by the way starts tomorrow!!

Tomorrow Miranda and I leave for Alice Springs and head though the outback up to Darwin Australia.  Between here we are doing a tour through a student travel agency and stopping and Ayers Rocks and Katherines Gourge, which I am really looking forward to.  After that we are heading over to Cairnes and going down the coast towards Sydney.  Then we are heading to Fiji for some time and at that point Miranda is heading home and I am off to Hawaii and L.A. before heading home.  I am completely exstatic about my travels ahead and will keep you all informed on what I am doing and my time here in Australia.

WOW this entry is huge!!! Sorry about that I hope you all didn’t get too bored reading about my New Zealand trip, as there is much more to say about it.

I am going to be putting my pictures up on facebook and I will post the links on here so you all can have a visual of my travels and the people and places a met and saw along the way! I hope all is well in the states and I will be filling you all in on my travels and be seeing you in August!

~Claire