Saturday, November 26, 2011

Life in the South (Island)

Hey gang! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I'm having a blast still and will try to recap some of the highlights here for you. Cheers! : ) 1. WWellington (last North Island stop)
On my last night in Wellington, I had dinner with old family friends, the Blowers. It was SO nice to get dressed up, be in a fancy restaurant, and eat yummy food! Living life as a backpacker, this is a very big rarity, and I constantly feel like a fraud when going out. Like I'm wearing a big scarlet "B" (backpacker) on my forehead and someone will discover this and kick me out of nice places! Besides the delicious food, it was nice to catch up with friends and just feel normal. It's not often that you meet like-minded people who understand the life of a traveler, pay it forward to fellow travelers, and don't make me feel crazy or odd for choosing this path in life. THANKS, BLOWERS! After dinner, Tim (the son and my brother's friend) drove me up to Mt. Victoria to see some spectacular views of downtown Wellington, including views of the Rugby stadium. To cap the night, we went back to the bar at the Base hostel and played pool with some Stray friends (Stray is the bus company I'm using to tour NZ with). 2. Ferry to Picton
The ferry from North to South island is full of magnificent views. We were lucky to catch some of them as we had to leave at the crack of dawn to catch the ferry and were so tired throughout the 3 hour journey. To get there, we had to take a shuttle bus from the hostel to the ferry terminal. We had asked around for 2 days how to catch the shuttle and were repeatedly told there was no shuttle. So come that morning, we awoke, headed outside to figure out how the heck to get there, only to find a shuttle waiting and ready to go. Not sure if we "borrowed" someone else's shuttle but since there was room for 10 passengers and we were precisely a group of 10 of us, we took it as a sign and hopped right on and to the station.
During the ride, we slept, ate breakfast, read magazines, checked out views, sat both inside and outside (it was windy and cold for most of the ride). We also did a little exploring around the ship to see the cargo of trucks and cars, the bow of the ship, etc. The ferry arrives in the port town of Picton where we were met by our new STRAY bus. The bus was full of new passengers and driver, "Trouble" as most of our old bus crew had left for South Island days earlier. It was nice to meet new people (although weird being the "newbies and odd ones out at first") and have a different feel on the bus since each driver has a unique personality which sets the tone on the bus. Trouble, for example, blasts local Kiwi music on the rides which I personally feel is a much nicer vibe than the previous bus. Luckily, there were still a handful of us from the "old bus" so we stuck together until we made new friends. : ) We stopped for lunch in Picton and I was impressed with the charm of this little town and wish we had more time to explore it a bit.
Our next stop was in Nelson, although it was just to drop off and pick up passengers. That's a shame because it seemed like I would have loved it here and really wished I had had a chance to visit. Following Nelson, we stopped at the famous Marlborough vineyards. Some folks did wine tasting (I didn't because it cost money), but I did have some free fudge tasting. There were also little shops there and I got some NZ wool yarn and a crochet needle to give me something to do on bus rides. Made a few hats and gloves and found myself a few clients on the bus had I had more time to make hats for them. I enjoyed being productive on the bus plus it gave me a warm hat and souvenir all in one! 3. Abel Tasman National Park
Our final destination on that first day was Abel Tasman National Park. It's a stunning rainforest area with miles of desolate beaches to explore at your liking. There were plenty of money-spending opportunities here, but my fellow-brokeasajoke-traveling partner in crime, Chad, and I decided against sailing or kayaking (even though we really wanted to, but we justified it both from a financial standpoint and the fact that we've both done those activities plenty), and spent the first day hiking to a deserted beach and hanging out all day. There were so many deserted beaches to choose from and we literally just walked until we felt like it was a good spot to stop. I guess we picked a good one since a few people got boated into the beach and dropped off. After constantly being on the go and changing cities daily, it was nice to be in one place for two nights in a row and to not have plans and JUST BE!
As nice as it was to sit on the beach all day in peace and quiet, it wasn't exactly a "day at the beach" since the wind was pelting sand into us all day. I think I ate about a pound of sand (sorry, kilos—it is, afterall, NZ sand) with my picnic lunch that day. We also took advantage of having down time and the fact that all our friends were still out on tours to shower, do laundry, and catch up on some internet time. Other highlights of Abel Tasman were seeing the blanket of stars at night, running along the beaches and park trails, and free mussel tasting at the hippy café near the hostel. Greymouth
After a relaxing few days at the park, we headed off for our next overnight stop in the town of Greymouth. I won't bore you with details of this place because there aren't many and I have a whole other blog about it that you can read when posted. I will say that on the way there, we stopped at Cape Foulwind for photo ops of a seal colony and at Pancake Rock to see blowholes. I also got a free tour of the medical system in New Zealand. Luckily this time it wasn't for me. My friend had an infected bug bite so I accompanied her to the hospital to get it looked at while the rest of the group had lunch. Fast, friendly and efficient service! I was impressed. Franz Josef
The drive to Franz Josef was very non scenic as it was raining all day long. There were a few activities on the itinerary that we were supposed to see but due to weather we either couldn't, or wouldn't enjoy them as our bus driver Trouble informed us. He did his best to improvise the itinerary so that we would all enjoy the day. First he put on a flick to entertain us all. Wasn't the greatest but the thought counted. He then decided he would take us to Crazy Pete's Bushmen's Roadkill Museum; a good friend of his. We learned that Crazy Pete and his old colleagues used to hunt deer by jumping out of helicopters and wrestling these beasts to the ground. What? Yeah that's exactly what I asked as well. Sure enough we watched a 10 minute movie about how this all came about. We then were given a chance to explore the museum. The store contained nipple and pecker "warmers" made of possum fur. Interesting souvenirs. The lunch menu consisted of a toasted roadkill sandwich, "Boring ol' everyday sandwiches" and other unique and somewhat frightening choices.
After another hour of driving we arrived in Franz Josef (Glacier Country) to our cozy stay at Montrose Backpackers. We ventured off from the Stray group to stay in a similar hostel that was cheaper. Good choice on our part. We didn't have to wait in the long Stray line to check in and we paid less. The hostel offered free internet off of two communal computers. We managed to make it on a few times to check important information such as emails, travel information and schedules…but mainly to check facebook. That night a few of us decided to be somewhat social and attend the nearest bar around the corner Blue Ice. Also we really were looking forward to a sweet bite to indulge in. We immediately found out that the kitchen was closed for the night bringing down our morale. The sympathetic bartender informed us that he could and would call the pastry chef back to work (being that he just had left) to return and whip up a quick dessert. We initially announced that we didn't need our dessert that bad but the bartender insisted that it wasn't a problem at all. Longs story short, we had a delicious Passionfruit cheesecake on the table in less than 10 minutes! That's customer service! After our dessert, a few fun pictures and a game of pool while listening to terrible karaoke in the background, we returned to our hostel in the pouring rain to get a good night's rest for a big adventure filled following day.
Woke up early and headed to the Franz Josef Glacier agency to receive a daily weather report. All things are go. We strapped up in our pants, 3 layers, jackets, socks, boots, gloves, beanies, red fanny packs consisting of our crampons and headed out the door. We arrived at the car park, the port to the Franz Josef Glacier. Huddled in our group and had our first glimpse of the Glacier. Didn't seem too far away now but were told we were about 2k (1.3miles) away. Naturally, upon witnessing this wonderous beauty, my camera decided it was a perfect time to break. Luckily, my friends took pictures so I was stil able to capture the day (as much as possible in the rain and fast-paced walking to keep up our body temperatures). After a nice brisk trek to the glacier, our Tongariro cockiness began to come out again. Starting to strip off layers, complaining that it was too hot, only to remember how terribly wrong we were on Tongariro. Twenty minutes later, all layers were back on as it was not only windy and chilly, but pouring rain.
We stopped right before the ice to attach our crampons to our boots. Feeling confident I stood up to be one of the first in our group next to the tour guide. Being on a slightly high pile of rock and dirt I began my treacherous descent down. Yes , treacherous! My left crampon got caught on my right and I displayed a graceful knee first (onto rocks) tumble down. Yup, I was totally ready for this hike! After bruising both knees and my ego, the lovely tour guide helped me up and decided it'd be best for I to stay first in line. What I wanted in the first place, but not in this fashion. We began our ascent in the windy and pouring rain. We stepped on the ice and were amazed at the surreal surroundings around us. Breath-taking naturally made glacier sculptures in the foreground and multiple astounding waterfalls in the back. Truly a place of natural beauty.--Even when huddled under a tarp to eat our lunch with frozen fingers and shivering bodies. Although it rained for the whole day, we all made the most of the experience (even more so after my guide lent me an extra jacket) and had a great time. Helen especially.