Hanging about with a bunch of Strays

Last time I wrote it was Christmas Eve and we had a good night, the nibbles turned out to be a BBQ and that I had been misinformed about Christmas Day.  But not to worry after phone calls, sending emails, eating drinking and the Shawshank Redemption that was Christmas Day over, a bit of a non event but that was fine and didn't really do much until 27th December when I caught the Trans Alpine Train from Christchurch to Greymouth.

It took 4 hours to get to Greymouth, the first hour was a bit dull but after that we climbed into the mountain and were soon chugging along past huge gorges with turquoise water flowing through them, over vast viaducts and miles and miles of tunnels.  Up into alpine territory where there were towering mountains, pretty pink and purple lupins, more rivers and river beds.  We reached Arthur's Pass after about 2 hours where we went through an 8km tunnel to get to the West coast.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't great on the day and when we got over to the west coast it got even worse.  Lonely Planet says that the only thing that can spoil this trip is bad weather ... marvellous!!  But it wasn't spoilt for me it just could have been even more spectacular than it was.

It was a long day, 8 hours on the train but worth it.  I think if I was to do it again I would only go as far as Arthurs Pass and then perhaps do a walk before catching the train back to Christchurch as it seemed that part of the journey was the best.

Once back at the hostel the lovely Ivana who I met in San Fran was there (this was prearranged) and her and her lovely travelling buddy Rebecca had cooked us dinner (including chocolate dipped fruit for pudding - how great to come back to a home cooked meal) so we sat and chatted over a few beers and a bottle of wine until it was time to hit the sack as I had an early start in the morning catching the Stray bus, but it was great to see Ivana even if it was only for a short amount of time.

Monday 28th December I was up early and walked down the road to catch the Stray bus (for those of you that don't know this is a bus company that does guided tours for backpackers round New Zealand, you may have heard of Kiwi Experience or Kontiki they are similar).  I won't lie I was very nervous as those of you I spoke to about this will know, fearing that my next 17 days would be spent with a bunch of 18 year old alcohol fuelled idiots and not really seeing New Zealand ... I needn't have worried and in fact know I have made some friends for life and some of you will be amused to know I will probably be speaking with an Irish accent by the end of the trip, all will become clear as we go on.

So we set off from Christchurch heading north up the east coast to Kaikoura, amazing coast line and we stopped to take pictures of sea lions just lolling on the rocks on the beach. En route we played our first game of the trip which was facts about New Zealand I was partnered with Mandy (a Kiwi - bonus) who is form Auckland and was travelling with her friend Anna for their 2 week summer holiday, brave girls.  I spent most of the next 2 weeks with these 2 girls.  Anyway we arrived in Kaikoura to find the hostel we were meant to be staying in had mucked up the booking so instead we were staying at a hostel called Dusky Lodge - I lovingly (yes that is sarcasm) dubbed it Dusty Lodge, it was the worst placed we stayed on the whole trip, ten bed dorm that stank, the sheets smelt dirty, the bathrooms were horrible and the kitchen had no cups or glasses to drink out of so we had to by plastic cups well wine glasses but same difference ;-)

In the afternoon Mandy, Anna and I went Whale watching which was amazing, seeing those giant mamals on the surface adn then watching them dive and their tails swoop into the air was breath taking.  We saw 4 Sperm whales in total which was pretty good giong apparently and then on the way back we came across a pod of approximately 500 dusky dolphins who were swimming and leaping about all over the place.  There were a couple of little ones just learning to jump who kept flopping in the water and then other more experienced audlts who were doing somersualts and all sorts of acrobatics for us, it was magic and I just couldn't get my camera to work properly to get some really good photos but I got a few good ones.

After that we hit the nearest pub for a beer and some hot chups (chips to you and me) and so the fun began we eneded up with enough chips to feed about 12 people as the baskets were huge and we ordered one each ... we had to cancel the fourth basket as we all felt sick.

The next day after a bad nights sleep we couldn't get out of the hostel quick enough we headed up to Picton and checked into the much better hostel The Villa. I spent the afternoon on my own wandering around the town, went to see the Edwin Fox which is the only surviving ship that transported convicts to Australia, brought settlers to both Australia and New Zealand and served in the Crimean War, its falling apart not surprisingly and then after this I went to the very quaint museum run by a an old couple who have obvisouly written some of the signs by hand themselves.  I found some of the whaling exhibition quite distrubing especially the harpoons and also the "triumphant" photos of the whalers with their catch.

The rest of the day/evening was spent having dinner and playing scrabble and doing a 1000 piece jigsaw of 2 tigers ... the jigsaw also continued the following morning through to lunchtime when it was time to go again and we still hadn't finished it.

It was now 30th December and today "Nipples" - or Alistair for anyone who couldn't face yelling Nipples down the bus or across a car park - became our new driver and we had the bst day we had had so far.  The sun was shining and we were heading for Abel Tasman National Park (or Table Asman as I kept calling it) on the north west coast of the South Island.  First of all we stopped off to do some wine tasting in Malborough (where Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc is from), we then had a quick stop at the Mussel Pot in Havelock to get some mussels for dinner which Nipples cooked for us (YUMMY), we then went to Nelson to pick a few people up and drop a few others off and whilst we were there popped in to the Tasman Brewery a great little micro brewery doing some great but strange beers which you could only buy in either 1.25ltr or 2ltr bottles so I got a 1.25ltr bottle of Tasman Larger (6.5%) which I still haven't drunk because its been too cold!!

From there we made our way down to Motueka again past just beautiful scenery which my camera cannot do justice to.  Here we stopped for supermarket to stock up for New Year as the next time we would be near a supermarket would be on 1st Jan.  We then made our wy over the hill to Marahau where we were told about soem of the actiictives we could do the following day and water taxis were boked and eventually at just after9 pm we were ensconsed in Old MacDonald's Farm tucking into mussels, steak, sausages and salad with a camp fire roaring.  Collapsed into bed about 11pm exhausted but so happy it had been a fab day.

Up bright and early on New Years Eve and headed out to do the Coastal Walk from Marahau to Anchorage (11.5km) which I had been told would take me 4 hours ... now boys I know I'm old but really, it took just over 2.5hrs and I stopped to take loads of photos on the way.  Gorgeous walk and great to do it on my own and recharge my batteries.  Once in anchorage I sat and ate my lunch on the beach and watched the catamaran come in and met up with Bernie, Mandy, Anna and Emma D on the beach and then we all sailed back to Kaiteriteri together (took about 4 hrs) which was great very relaxing and then they dropped us back at the farm where we showered and changed and had a few drinks and dinner before the festivities really started.  Again had a camp fire going and we played silly drinking games and then just before midnight we went down to the Park Cafe where they had a reggae band playing of all things ( I felt like I was in Anguilla) and we saw new year in dow nthere.  Anna and I walked back with a few others an hour or so later and after a few more drinks and chatting we finally hit the hay about 2am, another great day.

Early start on new years day we left the farm at about 9.30am once everyone was dragged from bed and put on the bus, today we were heading for Barry Town which isn't even on the map I have let alone in the Lonely Planet guide, where were we going we all thought.  Anyway this drive had to be one of the most spectacular drives we did of the whole trip the west coast is awesome!!!

We drove through where the Kahurangi National Park and Nelson Lakes National Park meet and saw the moutnain where the caves scene with Golum from Lord of the Rings was filmed ... my precious ... down through the Buller Gorge where we saw some people jet boating (Anna and I decided we wanted a go) and fianlly hit the west coast at Westport where we stopped at Cape Foulwind and walked up to the lighthouse and just beyond to get our first views of the rugged west coast.

From there we headed down to Punakaiki and the Pancake Rocks where we stopped for a walk around and finally rocked into Barry Town about 6pm.  We had been forewarned that tonight was party night and the theme was pirates so we had managed to pick a few things up in Motueka that morning from the 2 dollar shop but we needn't have worried as they have a whole room of dressing up clothes, you know you're in trouble when you discover that.

The evening started slowly until the queen came out and then it all went wrong.  Bascially the queen is a coin with the queens head on it and if it gets dropped into your glass someone yells god save the queen and you have to down your drink to stop her drowning .... well all was going swimmingly until Irish Anna said the Queen could drown for all she cared so we had to move on to something less emotive ... out came the fertility god of the cook islands and this seemed to 'work' much better, that combined with the Jaeger bombs that Nipples was dishing out to everyone (there is a game you play on the Stray bus that when you see one of the stray camper vans called speaceships you have to yell spaceship and you get a drink or if the driver yells it we have to buy him one).  The party ended at 2am for me when I siddled off to miss the trip to the beach.

Up early the next morning as Kiwi Anna, Irish Anna, Clive, Kerstin and myself were bone carving, so glad I did it but I did feel rough.  It wasn't so much carving as sanding your piece of bone into shape with various sanding machines and lots of different pieces of sand paper.  All in all it took about 3 hours to get to the finished article and we were all really pleased.

Back on to the bus and the weather had turned to rain unfortunately we headed over a bridge called the tin opener, bus drivers don't like it as its a bit tricky hence its name and we were in Greymouth before we knew it.  Pick ups and drop offs done we headed to Hokitika the home of the New Zealand green stone where we had an hour or so to have a look round and do some food shopping.  Next stop was the Bushman centre and by now the weather had cheered up.  In we went to watch a video about deer hunting New Zealand style called "Bambi was a Terrorist" (the guy who ran this place was a bit of a character which you can tell by some of the signs he had on the wall) and I finally got to see what a live Possum looked like, bless they are actually quite sweet looking.

On to Franz Josef and by the time we got there the weather had cleared up and the sun was out.  Went off to book in for our glacier hikes for the followng day to be told there was about 100% chance it was going to be cancelled as they were expecting heavy prolonged rain that would cause flooding.  I as well as all the other was really disappointed.  Mandy, Kiwi Anna, Bernie and Irish Emma had managed to change their helicopter flight to that evening and told me there was a spare seat if I wanted it so I ran back and got myelf booked on and boy am I glad I did.

So at 7.30pm we took off and flew up over Fran Josef glacier which is just spectacular, we then landed on the neve at the top which was unreal and the snow up there was really coarse and despite the pilto telling us it was 5 degrees it didn't feel cold at all with the sun out.  On the way back we flew down over Fox Glacier and over the National Park before landing back in Fran Josef township.  It was then we discovered that we had lucked out big time.  We had only booked and payed for the Franz Josef flight and to do both glaciers cost NZ$100 more than what we paid but because it was an office error we didn't have to pay the extra.  This brought to an end probably 5 of the best days of my life so far - I'd seen whales and dolphins close up, driven and walked through some of the most breath taking scenery I've seen to date,  sailed on boats, flown in helicopters, stood on a glacier and most importantly met some brilliant people who had experienced it all with me - what a way to end 2009 and start 2010.

The following day (3rd Jan) the heavens opened at 6am and rained solidly and heavily for 12 hours, the car park was flooded at the hostel, we all got very wet and very bored as there was nothing to do. I thought I had lost my rain coat the previous day so went and bought another one as praying to Saint Anthony (recommended by the Irish) hadn't worked and got soaked right through my clothes on the way back.  At 3pm we decided ti was time to hit the bar "Monsoon" whose slogan was "it rains ... we pour" but they didn't until 4.30pm so we went back and had a nap before retunring to sink way too many pints of Monteiths Golden Ale and play pool.

Next day we headed down through the Haast Pass stopping at Knights Point, Thunder Falls, Roaring Billy Falls and the Blue Pools to name a few of our stops on the way to Makarora.  Makarora was gorgeous surrounded by vast hills and mountains we all had individual beds and I had my first roast dinner in a long while and after 4 days of quite seriously heavy nights I hit the sack before the sun even went down.  Up at 7am I took myself off for a walk along the Mount Shrimpton track to the river where I sat and watched the river for a while.  The light on the mountains was beautiful and it was a cold, crsip sunny morning which blew the cob webs away.  Wandered back for a bacon and egg sandwich and hopped on the bus for our last day with Nipples as our driver.  We were on our way to Queenstown but first stop was Wanaka where those that weren't sky diving went to Puzzling world which got a mixed reception - I loved it as we got the opportunity to be a big kid again finding our way round the Maze, went in the slopping room which made me feel sick, into the room where you look big at one end and small at the other and finally round the exhibits of puzzles, was great.  We then headed into Wanaka for lunch by the lake and started hatching our plan for Nipples present form us all.

Again a great drive to Queenstown past even more spectacular scenery and once the Remarkables (mountains) were on our left we were nearly there.  We styed at Nomads in Queenstown which was bliss after some of the places we stayed, clean, tidy, modern and fluffy white towels!!  We dumped our bags and Mandy, Anna and I went off to find the t-shirt shop to get a t-shirt made up for Nipples which read "Sweet as ... eh!" Nipples favourite saying and then his name, the tour and date underneath, we also got a card for us all to sign and we ended up with enough money in the pot to get him 3 Jaeger bombs as well..  Dinner was a Winnie's Pizza place that evening where we had a table for about 15, Nipples was delighted with his present and after dinner quite a lot of the group went speed dating which was hilarious as most of the speed daters were from our group so they ended up dating each other.  Next stop World Bar for cocktail tea pots which are lethal and I left them to it about 1am.

Finally a lie in the following day 9.30am, I know I should be careful getting so much sleep ;-)  Leisurely morning and then Anna and I went off jet boating which involved an hour long trip through some very scary mountain passes with sheer drops over the canyon.  The jet boating was great, doing 360 degree turn in the water, speeding very close to the rocks as well as getting to see a few sights along the way.  On the way back we didn't stop and we just raced down the river with the current and we reached 85km per hour, exhilarating, especially when you are having to hold on and are not strapped in!!  After a painfully slow journey back Anna and I ended up being late for our spa treatment but bless them they managed to move some things round to make sure we still got our hour treatement of a back massage and a mini facial.  I did ask for the massage to be firm but I did nearly have to ask her to stop at one point as she took my breath away with the pain but boy did I feel good when I came out!!  That night we had dinner at the hostel before having a few drinks in the hostel and then I had to go to bed as was exhausted and we had an early start in the morning.

Next day and a new driver "Python" we headed to Milford Sound via Te Anau.  The weather was awful but actually it made the Sounds seem very eerie and quite mysterious and there was water pouring down the mountain sides.  Through the Homer Tunnel and we were right into the sounds where we caught a ferry out to the Tasman sea through the sounds.  The weather was so bad on the way out we could hardly see a thing and going on deck was like taking your life in your hands.  Luckily on the way back it cleared up so we managed to get some good views and photos.  The trip took about 2 hours and then we headed back through the Homer Tunnel on the bus to a little quirky place called Gunns Camp where we spent the evening.

This has to be one of my favourite places that we stayed.  It was all wooden cabins with old ranges in them.  Mandy, Anna and I were sharing a cabin so we got our fire going pretty quick and we cooked our dinner on the range, ate in our hut, played ludo (this is where I discovered Anna competitive streak) and listened to music until the lights went out about 10.30pm and we weren't allowed candles as the building are listed.  If you ever go out this way try and stay here!

To stay warm in the night the fire had to be kept going so I stocked it up before we went to bed and then at 3.20am got up to put more wood and coal on it and luckily it was still going when we got up at 5am!!!!!!  I say luckily because it had snowed in the night over the mountains and whilst there was no snow exactly where we were it was perishingly cold.  6am we were on the bus and on our way to Invercargill via Te Anau where we dropped a few people off.  In Invercargill the Irish gals and Jimbob got off the bus with a few others and the rest of us went to Bluff and caught the ferry over to Stewart Island.  Quite a bumpy hour long ride on the ferry which Anna and I loved Mandy didn't however ;-)

Once on Stewart Island we dumped our stuff at the hostel and went to book a tour of the island and then went in search of soup and warm drinks which we found at the Just cafe.  After showers we had finally warmed up and the weather had picked up nicely for our tour of the Island with Stewart (apparently his last name wasn't Island and no it wasn't his island either ... I wonder how often he hears those jokes).  Stewart Island is lovely very cute and quaint with lots of character we went over to Half Moon Bay and saw (from a distance as you're not allowed in) the reserve that has been created on two thirds of the island by an American organisation called the Dancing Stars before heading up to a number of look outs one looking at some of the smaller islands of the south east coast.  Stewart very kindly dropped us at the pub on the way back where we headed for our obligatory southern most pint in New Zealand and we timed it perfectly as at 6pm on a Friday night they bring out free food in the pub so we got a lovely plate of crayfish, mussels, cod, chips and mini pies to share ... so we had another pint ;-)  Back to the hostel where we ate a small tea before Anna, Emily and I headed out in search of penguins.

Unfortunately the closest we got to penguins was the sign telling us to watch out for them, we found out the following day that this might have had something to do with the amount of noise we were making but anyway we had a good walk as the sun was setting at 9pm.

The following morning we caught the 8am ferry back to Bluff and picked the others up in Invercargill and headed off to Dunedin through the Catlins.  We stopped at a sea lions colony on the way but onyl saw one sea lion but he was a biggy and we got quite close.  We then moved on to the Petrified Forest which is a fossilised forest right by the sea, we had lunch just down the road form here and saw a few sea lions within inches of our bus before heading to Nugget Point in search of penguins ... nope no penguins here either ... hurumpf!

Arrived in Dunedin about 6pm and after Mandy got our room changed (the first one had a smelly drunk man in it) we headed out to do the Speights Brewery tour which was great but boy did that man like to talk but was all worth it when we got to work the pumps our selves at the end and help ourselves to as much of the amber nectar as we liked, I think Speights Distinction was my favourite.  After this we headed for dinner and this is when we first started to notice that Dunedin was a bit odd ... its a Saturday night and there is no one around ... we had the restaurant to ourselves pretty much and it was a good restaurant, there was hardly anyone in the bar and the hotel we were staying in was just freaky, the restaruant was set up for about 400 people to eat in there but we never saw anyone eating in it and the man behind reception told us he never leaves the hotel.


The following day Mandy, Anna, Emily and I headed to the Cadbury factory for a tour, chocolate at 9.30am seemed a little strange but I got over it quickly! Then back on the bus we went to the steepest street in the world before Python told us that some woman killed her husband, his lover and herself in one of the rooms in the hotel we had stayed at the night before and instead of refurbishing the room they just sealed it off and also there are lots of rumours about vampires in Dunedin .... I could not wait to leave!!!!!

Next stop back to Queenstown through gold mining country, the weather was pants again so we didn't stop many places.  We stopped to look at the dam in Cromwell and went to Arrowtown just outside Queenstown which is very cute and very expensive lots of NZ$1million houses here.  Back into Queenstown and we dumped our stuff at Nomads and headed to The Thirsty Ram for the 10 dollar BBQ which was great value and then the queen raised her ugly head thanks to Irish Emma and what was meant to be a quiet evening went down the toilet but all good fun.

The next day it rained non stop so I spent the time sorting stuff out in town and in the internet.  Had lunch with Bernie and Irish Emma, then Jimbob and I went to see Sherlock Holmes at the cinema (thought it was great in case you wondered) and our last meal in Queenstown was at the famous Fergburger bit like Gourmet Burger Kitchen for those of you in the UK.  The evening was finished off by a very expensive glass of wine in front of a roaring fire it was well worth it.

Another early start the next day and the last leg of our trip we were headed for Christchurch again via Twizel and then photo stop at Lake Pukaki of Mount Cook which was completely clear of clouds which apparently is incredibly rare.  We had lunch at Lake Tekapo which again was just beautiful ... I've used that word so much in the last 2 weeks but I can't tell you how appropriate it is. Next stop was a quick one in Geraldine and then we arrived in Christchurch about 5pm, dropped our stuff at the hostel had a quick shower and then headed out for curry at the Tandori Palace and several drinks at the bar in Base and the queen raised her ugly head once more and ended up in my glass in quick succession which finished me off as I couldn't actually fit anything else in my stomach.

So yesterday was fairly quiet got up late, spent some time on the internet, wandered round Christchurch and then cooked dinner with Bernie, Annie, Emma and Jimbob before an early night.  Today Herb Hart who with his wife, Ann, used to live next door to my parents when they lived in Sri Lanka and also we knew when we were in Indonesia picked me up and I am staying with them for a few days now.

So if you're still awake after that marathon firstly well done ;-) and secondly take care and there will probably be one more update before I leave New Zealand on 3rd February.

Hx