I am hearing about beach weather in Denmark these days, which – I must admit – makes me a bit jealous. Here I am, on New Zealand’s South Island; and it is freezing cold at night ! Why would anyone be crazy enough to travel so far, just to experience autumn ?
So, it must be time for an update from New Zealand. I have now been away for a little over two weeks, of which five days were spent in Tokyo and a week in the North Island of New Zealand. The last two weeks I’ll spend here in the South Island. And it has been an impressive two weeks, so far !
It started out with the 11 hour flight to Tokyo, and straight into the Shinagawa Prince hotel, room with a view on the 30th floor. The first day was a bit jet-lagged, but I managed to get out and see a bit of town. The Ropppongi district was like an eye-opener to the immense city, and I felt like a dumb tourist as I walked around just looking up at the skyscrapers. The coming days I covered what I feel is only small parts of an enormous metropolis, but I did manage (for those who know Tokyo) to cover the Yoyogi park, with families on Sunday outings and young garage bands showing off; Shibuya, with so many people that poor little Simon got all confused (and a parade, where a guy showed off...); Omote-sando, the Frederiksberg of Tokyo; the Ginza shopping district; the imperial palace; Asakusa, with pagodas and a shrine; a river cruise and the Onshi park, with a little cute tea house in the middle of this bustling city. I also managed to disturb some locals with my appetite for sushi at a standing sushi bar – and to have a White Russian on the 39th floor of my hotel. Puha, that was a lot – I really felt like a tourist !
So, my honest opinion about Tokyo ? An impressive city, no doubt. It has everything – and then again, it lacks something ! I don’t know if it is soul or what it is. It just doesn’t have the beauty and charm of a Paris or the city-that-never-sleeps of New York. Many will disagree with me – and granted, I may be biased towards particularly Paris and New York. But I just didn’t feel that ‘thing’ for Tokyo – it was all too hectic and impersonal. Perhaps (or most likely) I just need to spend more than five days there, live there – and not ‘just’ be passing through...?
On to New Zealand, to visit the Kiwi’s, as the locals call themselves. All went well getting off the flight, finding the rental company and getting the camper van (as they call an autocamper downhere). I’d been told that for every week on the North Island, I should spend two on the South Island – so that has roughly been my aim. I started out going north from Auckland, wanting to reach the famous Bay of Islands, supposedly a little treasure bay with bounty beaches, lots of islands in the bay (voila; hence the name) and plenty of little sailing ships, diving etc etc. When I arrived there the day after flying into Auckland, it was just pouring down...! So much for autumn in New Zealand. So I decided to skip the northern part of Cape Reinga and instead go south again. Down along the west coast, through beautiful landscapes to Waitomo, famous for its caves. On to Rotorua, which just mainly smells like burnt pop corn all day long (actually it’s the sulphur from all the thermal geysers in the region).
And then, what must have been the best day so far, in the Tongariro National Park. I arrived at the camp site in Taupo at night, and was tired enough to not think, but just book the so-called Tongariro Crossing for the next day. I was up at five the next morning, ready to be picked up at six – to be on the trail in the national park at eight. Had I known what I was going to go through that day, I would have stayed in bed - I guess you can call it blissful oblivion...? 18 kms in about 7 hours; through desolate, rugged moon-like landscapes, up The Devils Staircase, to the South Crater (again, like being on the moon, except now the sun was coming through the clouds), up the Red Crater Ridge, finally to the top of the mountain. The ascents was tough for a city-boy like me – and I think that Snickers on the top of the mountain is the best I’ve ever had ! Then downhill – great, I thought, that’ll be easier ! But it is actually surprisingly hard going downhill, mainly on the knees and the heels. Down past the Emerald Lakes and Blue Lake (again, the stench of sulphur), a stop at the Ketetahi Hut and then the final trek to the end station. I thought I was almost there – but my watch showed me I still had three hours to go. Like I said, had I known it would be like this, I would have never gotten out of bed in the morning ! Finally down, I managed to sit for a full hour in the outdoor heated swimming pool at the camp site that night – just sitting, resting my legs...! But of course, looking back, it has been an amazing experience, the best so far !
The next day, I just spent driving down to Wellington, where the ferry would take me across to the South Island. I passed through a little city called Dannevirke; the most Danish thing I saw there was the city sign with vikings on it – and a street named Alexandra Street.
Finally over on the South Island, I have spent the first three days just enjoying the northern part of the island at a slow pace. From Picton to a little camp site on the Marlborough Sounds, where I went swimming (you have to !); then on to Nelson, a cute little city, with stops on the way to try a so-called Flying Fox and some horseback riding (I know; just call me a tourist !) and then finally on to Westport, where I am staying tonight. So far, the South Island is incredibly beautiful – and I haven’t even seen the west coast with the glaciers, the Milford Sound or Fiordland (viola; with Fiords...) National Park or Kaikoura with the whales and dolphins yet. And....I have yet to try bungy jumping !
More about that in the next episode...
Simon-san
PS – mom, I haven’t had any accidents and been driving carefully, don’t worry ! ;-)
