It is now more than a month since I came back from New Zealand – but the New Zealand post service must be very slow, because only now is my post card arriving to this blog.....better late than never, though. Right ? I’ve got a few good stories and some pictures uploaded, so enjoy the rest of my trip.
Where did I finish last ? Yep, I had just arrived on the South Island and spent the first couple of days in some very nice little towns on the north coast. Especially Nelson is very cosy and beautiful with the autumn colours, plenty of cafes, and little outdoor coffee shops on the corners.
Driving down along the west coast from Westport, the weather acted up; heavy rain sometimes and nice sunshine the next. Fortunately, when I arrived at the two glaciers, Franz Josef and Fox, the weather gods were happy. I arrived before noon and looked for a ways to get up to the glaciers. Trekking was out of the question; the Tongariro Crossing was enough for me ! So a scenic flight sounded like the good solution. And it wasn’t difficult to find; basically the town of Franz Josef is made up of one main street through town, consisting of only tourist shops, a cafe and a gas station. So I got on a helicopter with three other people – crammed and not the best view from the helicopter itself. But once you get out and walk on the glacier, up there in the snow, with an astounding view, it’s all forgotten !
I was now officially in the region of The Southern Alps – and they are just as breath-taking as the real Alps, trust me ! I love driving – and when I get to drive on mountain roads, with little creeks, waterfalls and steep roads everywhere, then I’m happy ! After having slept in Franz Josef – and unfortunately missed quiz night at the local cafe – I drove down to the cute town of Wanaka. The alpine setting is beautiful – and even the guide book mentions the incredible autumn colours.
The main town in the region, however, is Queenstown. It is yet another cute alpine town, like Wanaka – with amazing colours, a lake and mountains all around. But it is also the self pronounced ‘extreme sports capital’ – and the town where bungy jumping was born. Bungy jumping is one of the things I promised myself, already before leaving Denmark, that I had to try. So Thursday June 5th was BJ-day (he he he) – I went to the centre early in the morning to book the jump, so I wouldn’t be able to talk myself out of it during the day. The whole experience is well coordinated; you’re picked up by a bus in Queenstown, taken to the jump site at the Kawarau Bridge, where there’s a whole audience just looking at the crazies jumping ! Once you’re out on the bridge, obviously the adrenaline is rolling – and luckily there’s really no way back; you’ve paid for the thing, people are watching you – and you want the damned t-shirt !! So you’re strapped in, asked whether you want to touch water (yes, sir) – and suddenly you’re standing out there, the security guy behind you with a hand in your back. He doesn’t push you....you have to do it yourself. You smile at the camera, lift your arms up and out to the sides - and suddenly you’re hanging in free air – it’s a crazy experience ! At Kawarau, the free fall time is only a couple of seconds, perhaps 2-3 seconds – at another site close to Queenstown, the free fall time is 8 seconds ! 20 seconds later, I was hanging with my head down, being picked up by a little rubber boat on the river. Walking back up to the centre, I’ve never felt more filled with adrenaline – and was wearing a big smile ! ;-) The rest of the day, I felt I deserved a rest. So I treated myself to a massage, a big load of sushi – and read Barack Obama’s ‘The Audacity of Hope’ in bed. It really rules having vacation !
The next day I drove down to Te Anau, the main town in the heart of Fiordland National Park (and three other national parks, I believe) – and where a lot of tours to Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound are organised. In and around Te Anau I could really feel that we were getting into winter here in the southern hemisphere – there were strong winds from the south. I later learned that the Southerlies, as they’re called, are blowing in straight from Antarctica, freezing cold and often dumping a lot of snow. I wanted to try the overnight cruise, but unfortunately we were just out of season. Instead I went with a small company called Trips’n’Tramps, opting for a coach ride down to Milford, a cruise on the Fiord and then back the same night. We ended up only being two tourists, plus our guide and driver, Steve. Steve has been driving for 18 years, so he knows what he is talking about – and I certainly don’t regret not driving down to Milford myself. Steve was knowledgeable, he took us on little tramps into the forests along the road down to Milford, showing us waterfalls and things I would have never seen if I were alone. Down in Milford, we boarded the cruise boat for a two hour cruise. I don’t think I have to say that it was amazing; Mitre Peak is probably one of the most pictured mountains in the world, rising abruptly almost 2000 meters straight from the fiord. We saw waterfalls en masse, steep cliff faces, little coves, the Tasman Sea – and a seal. I’ll let the picture speak for themselves. On the way home, the first snow started falling – and I would see more the coming days.
After Milford, the rest of the trip was more like ‘on my way home’. I would have to drive most of the coming days to get back to Christchurch in time – and I had given up on reaching Kaikoura to go on a whale watching tour. Don’t get me wrong; the landscape is still incredibly beautiful and I love driving – but it felt like just another stops en route back to Denmark – and there’s only so many beautiful mountain tops and lakes you can see, before it feels like you’ve seen them all...! So I drove across the southern part of the South Island in three days, coming through Omarama and Geraldine and finally ending up in Akaroa on the Pacific Coast, just outside Christchurch, the day before I was to fly off. Akaroa is actually worth a mention; a cute little weirdly French town, inside an old volcanic crater, now turned into a bay with dolphins etc. I spent the last night in the camper with probably the best view of the trip (from my camper, that is). And....for the first time, I tried fish’n’chips – and could certainly get addicted...
Next day I started the 36 hours of travel back to Denmark; Christchurch to Auckland to Hong Kong to London to Copenhagen ! I don’t mind the travelling, though; call me crazy, but I like being on the move and I like the busy and international atmosphere of airports. Funny thing, though; from Auckland to Hong Kong I was sat next to an older man from Tonga. I think this was his first trip ever outside Tonga and certainly on an airplane. So he needed help in everything, from turning on the movies to finding his way to his next flight in Hong Kong. And at night, he somehow felt so warm, that he had to sleep bare-chested, until a stewardess came and asked him to get dressed. He he he. Isn’t it just beautiful how we all have the possibility to travel around the world today – you just have to do it, jump into it !
And so endeth’ my trip halfway around the globe, to Tokyo and New Zealand. Even having done it alone, it was a great experience and just what I needed at the time.
