Queenstown to Auckland!
Ola!
On the 20th July it was time to join a new bus load of people, I was sad to leave queenstown for the third time, but time to move on, otherwise there was a small danger I would begin to resemble a fergburger! Next stop is Lake Tekapo. We pick up the hungover lot from Nomads and we are off......the road taking us through yet more beautiful scenery, including the old gold mine, the river running along side the road is stunning deep turquoise surrounded by a rocky riverside. The trees with the red tips begin to make an appearance and the snow capped mountain becoming even more apparent as we approach Twizel. Then the mist sets in and we can't see anything, even out driver Maa was a bit concerned! This also meant we had absolutely no chance of seeing Mount Cook. We arrive at Lake Tekapo, and it's just amazing, more lovely snowy mountains and pine trees, looks just like a postcard, the trees and mountains reflecting in the glassy like water. We visited the Good Shepherd Church which was shut, so off to our hostel we went. A very nice place and a very very clean kitchen, this makes a very nice change! I was due to do the stargazing trip but the weather was very hit and miss so I knocked that on the head and did my own stargazing outside the hostel which was much much cheaper!
We depart on the green bus at 9 am the next day bound for Christchurch, passing more mountains and rivers, it still amazes me how clear the water is and the turquoise colour but apparently that's what you get from glacier fed rivers - fact for the day! Having left the icy conditions of Tekapo we head onto flatter land as we enter the Canterbury Plains. We arrive in Christchurch at lunchtime where our driver informs us that the ratio of blokes to women is 5:1 so the blokes have little or no hope of pulling, but the girls on the other hand we are told are in for a good night! We are staying at the YMCA tonight. I go off for a little explore which takes me to the restart mall which is a number of shops and eateries made our of shipping containers. The effects from the 2011 earthquake are evident everywhere and made me feel quite sad. The cathedral had been torn apart in places. There is a huge construction effort ongoing to get Christchurch back to normal. Then it started to rain so I went in search of my new favourite drink ( not a pint or litre of beer as some of you may be thinking) hot chocolate. Then having located the supermarket, it was back to the hostel for an early night as another early bus tomorrow.
We leave christchurch to go to Kaikora where we are due to do some whale watching, but this is cancelled due to the weather. On route we stop at a sealion colony and saw loads of sealion pups, they were so so cute and some not so cute huge male sea lions who don't like backpackers, particularly when trying to get a sealion selfie!!! everything is pretty much shut except for one bar and a few shops, so I did some shopping, had a beer, bought some chips sat on the beach and then got chased by the seagulls, and had to retreat back to the fish and chip shop to eat my chips. By this point boredom was setting in, so time for my favourite past time, washing. A real shame that all activities were cancelled here, but that is the risk you take when coming out here at winter.
So the next day we leave in torrential rain for Wellington. First stop being the waterfall where all the sealion pups play, this was brilliant, they were all showing off to us rolling around in the waterfall, it was great to see. From here we drove along the Kaikora coastline, waves crashing onto the rocks, where lots of sealions were sitting. This apparently could signify that they know there is a predator in the water, Maa reckoned it could be a Great White !?! We start passing rolling green hills again and soon reach the ferry terminal. We board the ferry and for the first hour it was fine, but as we leave the sound and make our way onto the cook straight, the name of the ferry changes from the inter islander to the inter vomit ferry. To say this was a bit of a bumpy journey would have been a small understatement. Good job this journey had been on the way back up and not north to South given the acute hangovers being suffered. Having avoided vomiting passengers we got off the ferry and got on the bus for the short hop to the hostel. I'm staying at the nomads and it's lovely and I have fab room mates - result!
After a nice lie in I treated myself to breakfast and then spent a good part of the day in the Te Papa museum, New Zealand's national museum. I'm not usually one for museums, but really enjoyed this. The museum itself is pretty impressive, spread over 5 floors, showcasing native wildlife through to earthquake exhibitions and interactive maps that you walk on - pretty cool. Then it was the wardrobe skype with mum, having submitted the list of clothes and other stuff I needed bringing out the US, it was time to see how accurate my descriptions had been and if anything was actually in the place I thought it would be. This went surprisingly well - thanks mum:). Then the West Ham contingent started to rock up. The bar was going to be busy tonight!
Having actually woken up on time today I was able to take advantage of the free pancakes for breakfast. It was then time to head off to Mount Victoria. An absolutely perfect day for it. The walk round the water was lovely, the sun really strong, at this point I really wished I hadn't forgotten my sunnies. Anyway having got a bit lost I made it to the top, the 360 degree views of Wellington were fab, and a plane took off right over my head whilst up there. After a brief lunch stop back at the hostel it was time to head to the Botanical garden via the cable car, which is actually more like a train. Well, it would have been via the cable car had I have not missed the station and ended up up at the top! Like I wanted to walk up another steep hill today. The gardens were nice, but I preferred the ones at Dunedin. I boarded the cable car for the journey down with the West Ham continent. I claimed my free dinner at the bar with a pint for good measure then went back to hostel, then headed back out for a few beers in the bar that was playing proper music which was great, especially As I had been subjected to a load of pop crap over the last 4weeks on various buses.
Back on the green bus again, this time our bus driving is Bods. We have quite an empty bus now, not many people heading back up to Auckland. We stop at Bulls on the way to Taupo, Bulls is famous for its number of signs that feature the word bulls, like relievabulls for the toilet sign..... You get the idea, Read-a-Bull (library) Const-a-bull ( police) anyway, moving on.....after a fairly long drive we reach the Hukka falls where we get to see this from a different angle. We reach Taupo for the 2nd time, I'm here for 4 nights this time. Tomorrow is the Tongarirro crossing take 2...
Alarm goes off at 5 am, we get picked up at 6am, it's the same lady as before but this time we have two guides ( one is very nice). We get kitted out with our ice axes, (the first thought is what the hell am I going to need this for, help!!!!) crampons and loads of extra layers. On route to the crossing start we got to see mount doom by sunrise which was pretty spectacular. The hike begins, and yes the devils staircase is still indeed a devil. Suitably knackered, we then hit the snow and ice, essentially making this seem like a completely different walk from before, little did I know was HOW different it was about to get! Me and my stupid determination to do this again. One we reached the flat bit before the really steep bit, on went the crampons, by this point I already couldn't feel my fingers. The crampons were great, piece of cake walking on the snow and ice. Then the wind picked up, oh my good god, it was bitterly bitterly cold, it took your breathe away, now I couldn't feel my feet and my hands were actually in pain because they were sooo cold - this was not fun!! Now begging to feel quite unwell, thinking I might either throw up or the more girly option of fainting, I have a little sit down and am then told to get up and keep moving as we can't stop. And so I drag myself up to the top, the views were great, but we could barely stand up straight due to the 60kmph bitterly cold wind. We take shelter on the top of the volcano behind a ridge, the rocks really warm. We are the told we are unable to continue on this route as it's too steep and dangerous so we have to head back into the wind, crouching down as we walk. Then we have to walk down an ice hill, yeah, feeling really safe at this point!!!! We the have to get the crampons off and have to slide down a hill, using our ice picks to stop ourselves - at this point I was close to really throwing my toys out of the pram.. I've since found out this skill in mountaineering is called a self arrest - blog fact no. 2. I actually found this quite fun, once in realised I could stop. We stopped for food and soon after I walked onto solid ice and like Bambi ended up on the floor, at this point I did lose it and threw my rucksack on the floor and swore a lot. Having eaten my lunch which was now frozen we set off again, minus the crampons. This was where it got really stupid, the path had totally disappeared, so the lads helpfully cut footings into the side of the mountain, yes the side of the mountain, as in right on the edge. So to say I was terrified at this point was an understatement, remember at this point we don't have crampons on, and are walking on compacted snow which is soooooo slippery, and the footings were tiny. To cut a long story short, I couldnt get any grip, my ice axe didn't make me feel safe and I fell. So our rather fit guide had to come to my rescue. Sod doing that again. I wouldn't mind but I'm usually alright with stuff like this, and was getting more and more frustrated with myself grrrrrrrrrr. After 6.5hrs we made it safely back to the car park. Quite an achievement I think. Although there were points that I hated and though I might actually fall off the volcano, the experience was well worth it and the scenery was great, it was good to see it differently. It was then off to hell pizza for a massive pizza and beer!
The next few days were spent planning stuff for America and just chilling and going on little walks to the hot pools as I was knackered after yesterday. I also had to visit burgerfuel or Fuelburger, can't remember which way round, to sample the infamous 'b******' burger which is huge! But very tasty. I don think I have ever eaten so many burgers! Good job I get my skates back soon.
On the 30th July I board the final green bus ( which is white today!!!) for the final journey back to Auckland where the kiwi experience first kicked off. Feel quite sad that the kiwi experience road trip is over, it's been amazing and the bus crews have been awesome. So I have 6 nights in Auckland to get myself sorted out for the Americas part of my trip which I'm very excited about. So that's it, the whole of New Zealand done in 2 months. It's been immense, I've thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed it, and I will be back!!!
See ya later Rugby country you've been awesome and I've loved every minute even when I've been terrified up a volcano, jumping out of a plane, or hurling myself off a cliff! And in particular, Queenstown I salute you! ( my nerves don't though!)
Next stop Los Angeles via Brisbane ( for less than 2hrs) to see mum and dad and to get my skates back.. The name of this blog then makes more sense again........
Sweet as! ( I'll stop saying this now)
Lou x