South Island!

I have just returned from traveling around the South Island for the last 5 days. I think summer has finally arrived and I am in shorts and a t-shirt. I wrote each of these posts after each day but I didn't have internet to post them so here they are now. Enjoy!

Day 1: Dunedin to Queenstown
After staying up pretty late from celebrating New Zealand’s victory in the Rugby World Cup, I slept in on Monday morning. Luckily our bus to Queenstown was not until 1:55pm. After quickly packing and getting some things sorted out, I headed over to Julia’s and then to the bus stop. The bus to Queenstown was quite pleasant and we arrived while the sun was still up. We walked around before settling at an Indian Restaurant for dinner. We then headed back to the hostel where I attempted to study. The hostel was very nice and clean. We were placed in a six person room but there was only one other person there. All the sheets were green, which is always a plus. They also provided free tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. Both Julia and I opted for hot chocolate, which as INCREDIBLY watery. This was easily remedied by adding two more packets of hot chocolate mix and a ton of sugar.

In front of Lake Wanaka

Day 2: Queenstown to Franz Josef
We woke up around 7am, and tried to dress and pack quietly as there was another girl staying in our hostel room. We headed downstairs for breakfast and to pack lunches. We met up with two guys, one from Italy and one who used to study at Otago. They had been hiking for 17 days and the Italian guy almost had a blocked neck. We conversed a bit, they commented on my five toed shoes and then we were off to the bus stop.

Thunder Creek Waterfall

The 8 hour bus ride from Queenstown to Franz Josef was actually the most comfortable 8 hour bus ride. There were only about 6 or 7 people on the bus, which makes me wonder how the bus company isn’t at loss since gas is so expensive. Anyways, we stopped almost every half and hour to 40 minutes or so to take pictures. We stopped by Lake Wanaka where Julia and I took advantage of the playground for 10 minutes and went on as many things as possible. We drove by Puzzle World and sadly did not stop or I could have easily spent another few hours there. We also stopped at a fruit stand where there was so much dried fruit, but it was expensive. Sometime around noon, we stopped at Thunder Creek where we took a very short hike to the look out point. It had started raining but it was still beautiful. We also had a bunch of Mustangs follow us for a while. They were pretty cool looking. One had a license plate with “USA” on it. This was obviously another picture opportunity.

At Thunder Creek we switched bus drivers and since it was heavily raining we did not make as many stops. We drove through Haast Pass which was pretty cool and kind of like a rainforest. As a result, we arrived in Franz Josef earlier than expected and the bus driver was nice enough to drop Julia and I off at our hostel. After checking in I decided to be studious and started studying but this only last for about an hour and a half before we were eating the free soup that they provide. It was another early night and I was in bed before 9. 

Can't seem to stay away from playgrounds...

Day 3: Climbing Franz Josef

Climbing Franz Josef was by far one of the coolest things I’ve done in New Zealand so far. After a night of heavy rain, the sky began to clear up during our bus ride to the glacier. We geared up with boots and crampons, hats and gloves and headed our way. One thing that I’ve noticed about the west coast is that there are there beautiful majestic grayish black mountains with lots of trees and have waterfalls just spurting out everywhere. It is beautiful. The hike to the glacier is just over a mile and the paths are pretty smooth and well cut out. Upon arriving at the ice we put on our crampons and the exciting adventures began. I basically lost track of time, but we went up and down ice stairs and through narrow crevices. Our guide told us that just in the last couple of years the ice had receded quite a lot. Another really cool aspect of the climb was when we went through the ice tunnel. I went through the tunnel pretty easily, even with my turtle like backpack but the taller people had some more trouble. The tunnel was the ONLY place the entire day where my height helped me. Everywhere else there were really high stairs that were each above my knees and thank goodness for the ropes along the sides that helped me pull myself up. The entire climb was so much fun though.

It was amazingly warm outside and our guide Jess told us that it was much bluer than usual since it had rained so much the night before. Our hike was also particularly exciting because since it had rained the night before some of the trails had washed away. Also, approximately a week ago there was a rocky landslide that covered much of one of the paths the guides usually took. Therefore, they had carved out a new path for us to take. While the new path was very exciting, it also posed some interesting moments. Because of the weather, many new crevices opened up and I found myself hopping over these less than comfortably wide crevices. (I was hopping, I’m sure everyone else was just taking large steps) There was also a rocky portion of the glacier. The way up was not too bad except that hiking on rocks with crampons isn’t great. However, the way back was a little more treacherous and there were more guides there to help us. One of the guides took my hand at a slippery gravely part and I still managed to fall forwards, and then keep on falling because the gravel was so loose and also pulling the guide off the rock, since he was still holding onto me. Both me and the guide are okay, though something seems to have popped in my knee and it hurts now along with the scratches and bruises. I actually felt safer walking on the ice than on the rocky gravel parts. All of it was good though. We returned to the glacier office around 4pm and returned our gear. Julia and I went to the grocery store next door (so I thought Queenstown was small because it is only about 4 blocks but Franz Josef is about 2 blocks) and bought pesto and tortellini to make for dinner. There was also delicious free soup that had pumpkin in it. More excitement happened after dinner as we had free passes from our glacier tickets into the hot pools down the road. We walked in through a fancy building that was (and probably is) a spa but the hot pools were outside in a rainforest type environment. There were three pools, one at 36C, 38C, and 40C. Julia and I started at 36 and slowly moved into the warmer ones. And we quite literally moved very slowly as the pools were so nice after a whole days hike that we spent over two hours there. Finally at almost 10pm we headed back to our hostel. We stayed at a hostel called Chateau Franz Backpackers and we decided that we would choose the cheaper option and share the room with other people. The receptionists were really nice and said they would put us in a room with only girls but as it turns out, we don’t have any roommates. So Julia and I have just been enjoying the privacy, and the nice big room.

 

Day 4: Franz Josef to Nelson

Self exploration began this morning after Julia left to return to Dunedin. I left Chateau Franz at 8:30am to catch my 9:05am bus even though the bus stop was less than a 2 minute walk from the hostel. It was a warm morning so I just sat on the bench basking in the sun. I was happy when the Irish fellow on the glacier hike yesterday also turned up to wait for the bus. I found out that he is also a computer scientist and is currently working for GE in Melbourne, Australia. After some friendly conversation I realized that it was past 9:05 and our bus had not come yet. I called the bus company to re-re-confirm my ticket (I had already called once that morning) and they told me to stay put. Thank goodness the nice Irish man was there otherwise I would have started majorly panicking because there is only one bus out of Franz Josef every day. Anyways, the bus finally turned up sometime near 9:30 and we boarded and were on our way.

One of the first stops we made was in Hokitika. All of the brochures I had seen of Hokitika had made it look really eerie so I didn’t really know what to expect. Upon arrival though I realized it was a small (not surprising) and cute little town that is very artsy. There were numerous jade factories and stores. There was also a glass blowing factory and other crafts stores. Another store I really liked was an artists cooperative store. There were tons of cute things inside made by different artists. The ceramic pieces were quite nice, especially this teapot. Next time I’m in a studio, I want to attempt one of these.

Generally the town was only a few blocks and just about every store was a gallery type art store other than the supermarket and pharmacy. I would have liked to spend more time there as I basically went into each shop and walked around rather quickly.

My journey continued along windy west coast roads. There were mountains and lakes and trees and for parts we even drove along the coast of the Tasman Sea. I have noticed that there are calla lilies growing along the roads everywhere. I had always thought that calla lilies are really rare flowers but they just grow everywhere here. So pretty.

Another very fun stop was at the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki. There was a trail (about 20 minute loop) that took you around to see all these really interesting rocks that look like stacks of pancakes. On the track I also saw this wingless bird, that looked like a kiwi bird, and it might have been one, but I think it’s the bird that everyone confuses for a kiwi bird. I don’t know the name. The pancake rocks made these interesting formations in places and the water from the sea would get “stuck” in these little formations which basically were waves that shot up and turned into mist. I think pictures may describe it better.

Also, during another one of our stops I bought a venison pie. I had never had venison before and it was actually quite good. A bit like lamb. Generally the bus ride was again, very pleasant. In the second half of the ride we passed this area where our driver told us was where the NZ government in the olden days sent the Chinese people when they came to look for gold. They had given them that particular area because it was very difficult to reach. They needed to either swim or take a boat. The Chinese later built a swing bridge that people can now pay to cross. It is one of the longest swing bridges, about 400 meters. There is also a flying fox (zip-line) option if you don’t want to cross both ways. It looked like fun.

The bus dropped me off at the Nelson YHA around 7:45pm and I headed onwards to my room. Sadly my room is not as nice as the other two hostels I was at. I am in a 5 bed co-ed room where all 5 beds are taken. Since I was the last to arrive I have the only top bunk. Usually I love the top bunk but I am also usually with people I know. Now, I’m on top of a stranger (people, it sounds weird no matter how I phrase it, so deal) and I am probably going to wake up the other four people at the crack of dawn tomorrow and then bug all of them for the next 20 minutes while I scurry down the ladder and get dressed. Bah, as I am writing this I am realizing I can’t even change in there because I don’t know any of them. Anyways, it’s about 9:30pm now and I’m thinking its bed time.

Day 5: Nelson and around

I went to the noodle canteen for dinner and bought some curry laksa since I was a little tired of ramen, bread and Nutella, and apples. After getting a little lost for 20 minutes my soup is still too hot to eat so I will write about today’s adventures.

I met another one of goals for New Zealand, which was to skydive. Actually, it worked out perfectly as I was hoping to skydive over Abel Tasman and that is exactly what happened. I was worried that I was not going to be able to do it since I had been in phone contact with Skydive Abel Tasman the past two days because the weather was not looking too good. The skies cleared up though, and at 1pm, a woman named Emma came to the Nelson YHA to pick me up. We drove out to Motueka with five other people who where in Nelson learning English. Four of them were from Switzerland and the other from France. The drive out to Motueka took about 40 minutes. We soon were at the skydiving base where there were multiple little planes and helicopters in the air. The Motueka airport is also an aviation school. We watched a short clip of other people’s jumps and then geared up to go up in the little plane. My jump suit very conveniently matched my shoes. My jump master (I think that is what they are called) was named Kevin and he has been jumping for as long as I’ve been alive; he actually started jumping in 1991. My camera man James is originally from England and used to work in a bank. He decided to treat himself to a tandem jump 10 years ago and has been jumping ever since. Three jumpers, their jump masters and camera men, and a girl named Megan all piled into the tiny plane. Getting into the plane was like a puzzle, we all sat in a particular position in order to later jump out in the right order. At 13,000 feet Megan jumped out herself. She was a skydiver in training and this was her 22^nd jump. She had recently moved to New Zealand from California and has only been jumping for a few months. 22 jumps seemed a lot to me until I found out that Scruffy, one of the other jump masters had done over 11,000 tandems jumps and that James, my camera man has done up to 23 jumps in a single day. Kevin and James have such thrilling jobs. Even Emma, our driver seems to have had such amazing jobs. During the car ride she was telling stories about her previous jobs and many of her stories started with, “When I worked in the sea kayaking industry…” or “I once had a group of tourists that treated me to a bungy jump…” And James went from working in a bank to jumping out of planes for a living. Good to know I have alternative career options.

Anyways, we kept on climbing and about the time that Megan jumped out we also got oxygen masks. We were told that we would probably not need them but they gave it to us anyways. At 16,500 feet the doors of our tiny plane opened and Kevin asked me to sit on the ledge of the plane. This meant that he was going to sit on the ledge of the plane and I was going to dangle out of the plane. Quite frightening but surprisingly not NEARLY as scary as bungy jumping. I think this is because at 16,500 feet, nothing is really relative in size and also, Kevin was jumping and I just happen to be attached to him. Soon we were out of the plane and floating towards the ground at 120 miles an hour. It really didn’t feel that fast but after seeing pictures I can believe that it was actually that fast because I had an extreme case of flubby cheeks. I was free falling for about 75 seconds but it definitely did not feel that long. From above the clouds I could see our plane in the distance getting ready to land. I saw Nelson from beyond as well as Abel Tasman. Abel Tasman does have really crystal clear blue-green water and gold sand. The Abel Tasman skydive is the only one in New Zealand where you can see both the North and South Island at the same time. I don’t think I could see the North Island as it was still a bit cloudy but still amazingly cool. I only realized how fast we were falling when the parachute came out. Because James needed to be underneath us the entire time (to get picture) he kept on falling after our parachute. Once our parachute was out, James was gone because he kept on falling at 120 miles an hour and we could no longer see him. As we continued gliding, we saw James’ white parachute land on the ground. He landed about the same time as Megan. Kevin then asked me if I like roller coasters and I said “sure” so the next minute or so was him steering us in circles. Quite fun actually. Landing was super smooth and we landed on the field right outside the base. Skydiving is AWESOME and I would recommend it to anyone. And really trust me when I say it’s less scary than bungy jumping. It really is.

Earlier in the day I also explored Nelson. I left the hostel at around 8:30am and first went to Christ Church Cathedral. I then walked around center city and stopped in a Swedish Bakery for some breakfast. I had a almond Danish/croissant type thing. It was delicious. One of the shop owners that saw me walking around with my guide book suggested I go look at Queens Garden, which I did after visiting the cathedral. Queens Garden was a serene little park with fountains and little lakes with ducks. There was also a Chinese Garden inside and I took some time sitting in the gazebo reading my guidebook to see where to go next. I decided to walk along Bridge Street to the other Botanical Garden. At the Botanical Garden I learned that the Center of New Zealand was there too. I’m not quite certain if it actually THE center of New Zealand and after reading some things about it I think it’s only the center depending on how you look at it. Anyways, I decided to hike up to the center, in my flip flops which may not have been the greatest idea but I made it to the top where there were amazing views of Nelson. There was also a group of French people up there with two young children. I realized how much French I have forgotten. I just know the little kids were talking about the Haka, but that’s about it.

After the hike I headed towards the YHA so I could wash up before going to skydive. After returning from the Skydive I stopped by The Sprig and Fern Tavern. Emma had gone on and on about how good their beer and cider was. Since they have free samples, I decided to go in and try some. I had a sample of 3 berry cider and it was actually really good. I did not get any because I didn’t want to sit down to just drink beer, and I didn’t want to buy their food, and the only way I could get the beer to-go was if I got 2 liters of it so I decided to leave after my free sample. I stopped by Penguino, a gelato place where I had smoked salmon and dill flavored gelato. It was kind of a major shock to my mouth but it was quite delicious after the third lick or so.  

Overall my South Island trip has been wonderful. Other than the amazing experiences I’ve had I also think I’ve learned a lot. I had a hands on experience in planning a trip from beginning to end and have also travelled by myself for some of it. As usual, New Zealand is BEAUTIFUL and I think it is officially summer now, just as the first snow is hitting some parts of the US. Tomorrow my flight from Nelson to Dunedin leaves at 7:30am so I’m thinking of going to bed super early tonight.