Tuesday 20 January 2015

The Tongariro Crossing

Leaving Wellington we had a nice half empty and relaxed bus again. Our bus  driver (Nancy boy) had been on the job for 14 years and had huge reserves of cynicism and sarcasm to draw on.
"it's good for pissing in and nothing else" On a toilet stop in Levin.
"this place is just disturbing" Going through the pun infused town of Bulls.
"get ready for the highlight of your New Zealand trip" just before going past a sculpture of a giant wellington boot.
He was still filled with fun, wisdom and a love of Queen. We had a good sing along to bohemian rhapsody and princes of the universe. Plus there was an extensive discussion involving politics and religion.
Our destination was Turangi which was the closest stop to the Tongariro crossing. Our hostel owner Ian dropped us at the end of the track at 5am. The only way to avoid the crowds is to start before the crack of dawn at the other end of the walk. One does not simply walk into Tongariro national park. We started in moonlight and had sunrise on the way up. I see why Ian wished to spare us the crowds because when other people did eventually appear they were in huge numbers. It's understandable why the track is popular because there's so much to see. This active volcanic area has so many attractions I'll have to list them.
Steaming sulphurous volcanic vents.
The black desolate landscape of Mordor
"it's a bit of a female mountain"
Crater Lakes
Red rocks
An yellow/orange section that resembles Venus
Treacherous skree slopes
Mt Ngauruhoe/Mt Doom
Potential seismic activity
We hitch hiked back with an Australian family. The next day was my first day working for accommodation at the hostel and the Departure of Marielle. It was an emotional moment. She gave me the tent along with all the camping gear. I walked her to the bus stop and bade her farewell.
Working for accommodation mainly involves changing sheets and vacuum cleaning. It isn't much work and takes place between 10am to 11am. Filling the rest of the day is hard. I've done some reading, talking to backpackers and bread. I realised the main attraction in the area is the Tongariro river which is renowned for trout fishing and has some nice swimming spots.
The town of Turangi itself is probably the first town I've stayed in which isn't full of tourists. It has a large Maori population and a lot of barking dogs and horses dotted around. It has a suburban and faintly rural vibe.
So the reason I've stayed here a week is the owner has offered to let me run the place which is tempting as I don't get this kind of offer everywhere I go. The problem is that after finishing work I find hanging around the hostel too mundane and end up spending the day by the river. I plan to head to Palmerston North on Thursday to give living on a sheep farm a go. I'll find out how much money I'd get as manager of A-plus lodge to help me decide if I want to return after the sheep farm. If not I'll head back to Auckland as I'd originally planned.
Being here has provided me with good photo opportunities and the chance to get this blog up to date. I think the last time I've finished my blog in the present was in Motueka. I'll let you know how it all goes in the next edition.

Sunday 18 January 2015

Picton and Wellington

Due to the Kiwi experience bus not running on Sunday we had to arrive in Picton a day earlier than we had booked our accommodation. We were told the place was fully booked and it was likely that everywhere in the town was as well. Then we explained we had already booked a room for the next day and we were given mattresses in the TV room. Our main purpose in Picton was to do the Queen Charlotte track which takes you through the Marlborough sounds. We needed a water taxi there and back plus a land pass for the private land we were going through. Our hostel owner recommended we be Anarchists and get a 1 day pass instead of a 2-5 day pass. Being from Yorkshire I don't think Rob really approved of paying money simply to walk over unused land.
Our water taxi dropped us off in a bay that captain Cook had anchored at and met the Maori. After reading a few information signs we were walking through lush native bush in the full heat of summer. The water taxi also did a luggage carrying service making this our most luxurious tramp yet. There were fabulous views of forest and sea. It even had an honesty box with cold ginger beer on offer. The area is full of naughty weka. These flightless birds wander around people in the hope of getting fed. A bag of bananas I left outside the tent for a few minutes was ravaged by these cheeky animals.
The second day we were on the first bit of private land. I was curious if we would have our tickets checked but of course that would happen on the last day on which we weren't covered. We first saw the quad bike with the land abbreviation on it and I felt that oh no feeling. I had my pass on the outside of my bag with the inside facing inwards in the hope the details wouldn't be checked. We were walking past the old man checking the passes and we were asked, "so how long do you think modern civilization will survive for". This of course was the start of a fascinating conversation. Charlie talked about how it's good to get out into nature where things are real rather than being virtual or social constructs. He also told us how Doc signs were too governmental and he much preferred making his own signs with pictures and symbols. At one point he did want to see my pass but only to tell me it gave a discount on the ferry. He finished by giving us some homework which was to list the 4 most important things in life and to get an ice cream from Tanya.
Being good students we did our homework and came up with friendship, money, health and purpose. As all these things are interrelated there is no particular order and we wrote then inside a circle. In addition we decided a walking stick and nice smelling sun cream were also good things to have in life. We handed our homework to Tanya at the finish and had a well deserved ice lolly.
Back in Picton we told Rob our tale. He told us Charlie was a nightmare to deal with and he thought Doc should buy out the land owners so the track could be run properly.
We surprised the kiwi experience bus driver at the ferry terminal. He told us it was too late as he'd already booked the tickets. I told we'd tried to ring the office but they wouldn't pick up the phone (your 3rd in the queue). After some more talking with Marielle he relented and got us on the ferry.
In Wellington we were staying with the lovely Kate and Penny who took us in for the weekend and gave us every home comfort imaginable. They went out of their way to provide us with good food and beer. They loved hearing all our traveling tales and shared their own experiences. We baked a kiwi fruit cake which was so good I felt it needed its own blog entry. Then there was the free tour of parliament which was interesting and good fun.
The highlight was a night tour of Zealandia which is a predator free sanctuary for native plants and animals. Bio security is maintained by a predator proof fence which cannot be climbed, jumped or burrowed past. We spotted kiwis including a baby. Then there were the tuataras, wetas, glow-worms and various birds. It was particularly delightful seeing kiwis after failing every night to spot one on Stewart Island.
It was great being made to feel so welcome and having a chance to see things in Wellington we had missed the first time round

Wednesday 14 January 2015

Dolphins and Fireworks


We had the wonderful rubber duck as our bud driver again. It seems no one wants to leave Queenstown so we had a less crowded and more relaxed bus. I felt the time was right to play some whale related music which confused the people at the front while everyone at the back was asleep anyway. First stop was Lake Tekapo which has a small church being photographed by bus loads of tourists. The east of the South Island is much dryer than the West and has vast tracts of hilly grassland with mountains on the horizon. This empty landscape is the perfect place for a dark sky park. The sky was too cloudy at night but we still had a climb up the windy nearby mountain/hill to eye up the landscape.
Our next stop was Christchurch. We wanted to go to the Doc centre but our map took us to some ruined buildings instead. Christchurch is famous for the recent earthquake which resulted in loss of life and destroyed the city centre. The city has been in a state of rebuilding ever since. After a trip to the supermarket and other shopping we were back at the hostel and ready to celebrate New Year. Rush (a party girl we were sharing a room with) and some others were going to the Casino to lose a load of money. We found an Australian man to take to a family park event with us after some hostel beer we departed. There was a live band, merry dancing and conga lines. At midnight we had fireworks and the Christchurch wizard intoned a spell for 2015. We got back around 1am to find Rush passed out in her bed. She had drank an unknown quantity of vodka and didn't even make it to the Casino. We don't really know what happened because she has no memory beyond drinking vodka in the hostel.
We had an early start to 2015 and had to board the bus at 7.30. Rush got up surprisingly well despite being in such a state. The bus didn't materialise at the stated time which confused everyone until a girl told us it was waiting out of site around the corner (obviously). I got all our bags aboard and then had to quickly find Marielle as the driver was threatening to leave without her. I found her blissfully unaware in our room. "I didn't see the bus out the window". I quickly got her on the bus before the driver carried out his empty threat. Marielle assures me the bus can't leave you if your luggage is aboard and there was no need to panic.
Our destination was the famous Kaikora. A deep ocean trench passes right by the coast carrying nutrient and food rich waters from Antarctica. This makes it very popular with sea mammals and is the best place for spotting whales and swimming with dolphins. The best time to see dolphins is early in the morning when they are feeding. We woke up at 5 and ran to the dolphin centre to be kitted out with snorkels and wetsuits. We saw an albatross on the way before being dropped in a huge pod of dolphins
We were told to splash around and make noise to get their attention. The dolphins were taking turns to swim up and investigate us. Groups and dolphins were swimming past and some would even circle me. After getting too cold to carry on I went back onto the boat. We then got to watch the dolphins from the boat. It is unknown why dolphins leap out of the water but I think it is clearly because it is such good fun.
After the excitement of seeing dolphins and being sea sick I was feeling a powerful urge to sleep. Marielle was as sparky as ever. This is because she had taken sea sickness medication which is banned in The Netherlands but available in Belgium. "I don't like most sea sickness pills because they make you drowsy where as this is more like speed". After I had my sleep I met Marielle again to try some Crayfish/Rock Lobster. It was a good meal but it was sitting outside by the sea that really made the experience

Saturday 10 January 2015

Kiwi and banana cake

11 oz flour
7 oz caster sugar
7 oz butter
2 eggs
2 tea spoons sodium bicarbonate
6 ripe kiwi fruits
2 ripe bananas
1 table spoon of honey


Mix and the flour, sugar and sodium bicarbonate in a mixing bowl and add the melted (it mixes much easier when melted) butter and eggs.


 Take the insides of the kiwi fruit and chop them into small pieces. Place them in a bowl and mush in the bananas. Then add the honey and give it a real good stir to get that beautiful smooth consistency.


Add the fruit mix into the cake mix and merge them into a single entity. You may have to add more flour if it's too runny. We certainly did. Then put into a big well oiled baking tray and put in the oven at 190 degrees for 50 minutes. Well you'll have to use your own judgement for the oven bit. Don't go complaining to me when it's burnt or still soggy inside. It's always better to use common sense instead of blindly adhering to rules.


Take out the oven and enjoy. We ate some as soon as it was made and were unable to resist having seconds. Here is a baby cake we made because we liked the shape of the tin. Don't worry, the real cake is much bigger.

Friday 9 January 2015

Return to Queenstown

Previously on New Zealand Travels...
After surviving a night in a campsite with yellow eyed penguins and the disappointment of not seeing a kiwi we thought we were safe. We enjoyed the

Milford sound cruise blissfully unaware of the approaching danger. Then while relaxing on the bus back to Queenstown we find ourselves stranded in the wilderness. And now for the conclusion...
As you may have already guessed we were in fact at the start of a tramping track and had arranged the drop off ourselves. We couldn't do the Routeburn because the huts and campsites were fully booked. This wasn't a problem for the Dutch guy who hadn't booked a thing and was planning to pay at the huts. He didn't even have a tent but did have six days of food. He strode off along the track before we'd even got our bags on our backs. I asked Marielle how she knew he was Dutch. "I can tell by his accent and he's not German because Germans are organised and book everything in advanced." With the fate of the (probably Dutch) guy in the balance we finally got moving onto the greenstone track. We had a detour up a small mountain to drink wine and eat strawberries. This was the summer solstice and we were intent on celebrating it in style. We put up our tent on the campsite and failed at making a fire as the wood was wet. We still jumped over it because certain traditions must be observed.
The Greenstone is a two day tramping track following a river through a spectacular valley with snow capped mountains in view. The weather was glorious and we did some river swimming. It is also very isolated as almost everyone is one the Routeburn. We met a ranger at one of the huts and he had only three trampers staying the previous night. We also finally managed to make a successful fire with dry driftwood. We started it with lichens we found on the moor. "I've found the purpose of Lichens". Marielle is into lichens so this was a big moment for her.


Where we swam in the river.
Now the interesting part of this trek is we hadn't actually planned how to get to Queenstown from the finish. We were considering camping an extra night and then hitching from Glenorchy the next day. Fortunately at the car park we found a Swiss man with a car. "We Europeans should look after each other," so hurray for being European. He was kind enough to take us to our hostel in Queenstown.
We celebrated Christmas in Queenstown with a big hostel Christmas meal and a jump in the lake. We also met up with Andrew and Emily again to share our tales and experience Queenstown's overrated night life. Ok so it does have lots of drunk people on nights out which apparently is a good thing I'm told. Plus we finally had a place in New Zealand with reasonably priced beer. The first place had good beer at 5 dollars and was perfect apart from feeling the need to play some ridiculously loud music. So we were forced to leave and go to Rhino bar whose house beer is the most disgusting beer I've ever paid for. Then we went to a cowboy themed bar which apparently is amazing but Marielle didn't get let in because she didn't have ID. We could have walked 5 minutes to the hostel to get it but since we are all blatantly over 18 I don't see why we should and it was a good time for going to bed anyway.
While in Queenstown we had the pleasure of staying in adventure lodge which had free hire bikes which are actually really high quality. It also had the perfect kitchen for making carrot cake. We were planning to leave after 2 nights but then Marielle's German friend who she met in Australia was arriving in town so we had to stay longer. Every hostel was fully booked for new year so we moved to an overpriced holiday park which despite charging us 25 dollars each per night just to pitch a tent still felt the need to charge for showers. Top 10 holiday parks are basically greedy corporate scoundrels. We did at least get to meet the lovely Katrin. We had a walk next to the lake with wine and swimming in the full heat of summer. We then departed and were out Queenstown just in time before it got really ridiculous at new year.
So Queenstown is basically crowded and full of drunk people. But it is a good place to met old friends as everyone goes through here and is in very beautiful surroundings. It would have been a great place to fly into New Zealand and be immersed in Beautiful scenery from day one. The real attraction is of course the tramping tramps where you can spend a few days in splendid isolation away from stress and pressure of the modern world.

Saturday 3 January 2015

Tramping in the deep south

We had only one night in Queenstown to prepare for the adventures ahead of us in the deep south. I desperately needed a raincoat that is actually waterproof and fortunately mac pac had a Christmas sale on and I got a fabulous red raincoat which is tear resistant as well. I also took the opportunity to get a base layer. Marielle was talked into buying some gaiters which surprised me because normally she is very careful and precise with her spending. While in Queenstown we met up with Andrew and Emily who I shared a room with in Auckland. We first met up in the cafe with the finest hot chocolate in town. Then later for a drink in a random bar. Andrew offered to look after our bags while we went on our southern circuit because he is awesome like that. It turned out the hostel could look after them and wasn't charging for the service so all good. Since we were doing some tramping we were taking only the essentials. I practically only had one set of clothes so it's a good job the great outdoors doesn't have a problem with me smelling bad.
So for our trip south we were in a much smaller bus and with less people. First stop was Dunedin and the speights brewery tour. The highlight of this was where we got 30 minutes to sample the beer. It's fun being a lightweight. I also got to run down the steepest street in the world. Don't worry, Marielle recorded it so you'll get to see it eventually.
The next day had us travelling to Invercargill. One of stops was at lake Wilkie where the distant roar of the sea provides the backdrop for the cacophony of birdsong in the lush forest. The lake is over centuries shrinking and being reclaimed by the forest. This is a fascinating and sensitive ecological phenomenon. We also got to see some sea lions on a beach and taste a spicy leaf off a tree which we then used in our evening meal.
The final stop was our campsite at curio bay which was near some yellow eyed penguins. There is a yellow line you are forbidden to cross to avoid disturbing them. So there we were lying in our tent when we heard a rustling sound. "I think the penguin is stealing our food." This is a camping first for me. We brought all our plastic bags in the tent and all was well.
On the morrow we had a surfing lesson on the beach. The surf school assures you that 99% of their students stand and sure enough the conditions were good and I stood while riding a wave. We are the 99%! We were sharing our surfing bay with a pod of dolphins. We took some time out to gaze upon these playful creatures. They swam straight past us and one even touched Marielle's hand. 
In Invercargill we left even more of our stuff before going to Stewart island. This included my razor and phone charger (anything to save weight).  We took the ferry, booked some huts and  we were off on our first tramp. We left our tent at the island hostel.  At this point were storing luggage in 3 separate hostels which felt like a cool statistic.
We had been told to expect torrential rain on Stewart island but the weather was actually warm and sunny. We hauled our backpacks to the first hut along a pleasant coastal path. At night we joined a group at the hut on a kiwi search but to no avail. The next day was an inland route that has been used by the Maori back in the day as they moved with the seasons. Once again we had a look for kiwis at dusk without success. We did however find some mussels on the beach and once again we enjoyed the rich bounty of the sea. We also played the one sentences story game and made quite an impression on the other trampers with our bizarre tale. The third day involved some beautiful beaches and Marielle even found some kiwi footprints in the mud.
When we got back to Oban (the  settlement on the island) we had a night camping in the garden of the hostel. A young local salmon farm worker by the name of Mitch wandered in with a big box of beer. We joined him for some friendly banter and one thing led to another and before we knew it he was taking everyone on a kiwi spotting tour. This took us to every green open space in the area with torches covering all angles. Once again we were disappointed.
So now I realise that despite not being in the deep south that long we still did a huge amount of stuff. So this blog will have to be split in two. But first I'll lead up to an exciting cliffhanger for your reading pleasure. So after Invercargill we went to Milford Sound which isn't a sound but is actually a fiord. A sound is a valley made by a river that has been reclaimed by the sea. A fiord is the same but made by a glacier and is therefore bigger and more impressive.  Milford sound is the most visually stunning part of New Zealand. It has huge rocky walls that reach up into the sky. Then there's all the waterfalls some of which don't reach the sea because they are swept into the air by the strong wind. The water from this area is very pure and the mountains are popular with base jumpers. After our cruise out onto the fiord we were back on the bus towards Queenstown. However, on our long journey back the bus stopped and left us and a guy Marielle assumed was Dutch in the middle of nowhere...