Leaving NZ speechless and sailing into sunset
Wow! what a long title now can i write up to it? Sorry for my slackness as of late, i have been up north in the land before email. Ok, its been so long i struggle to remember myself. Rotorua; the evening after my last entry I went to a Maori feast evening in a village that been reconstructed to appear as it was before the evil english came on the scene (Pfield people, think butser ancient farm). The feast is called a Hangi (i have no idea of the spelling). Pronounced HANG GEE (thats GEE as in GEEzer). Which roughly translates into english as 'all you can eat roast dinner' always good when the taste of meat is just a distant memory. Naturally, I employed full Harrison all you can eat tatics (don't be conned into eating the potatoes/veg, stick strictly to meat), the object of which is an attempt to bankcrupt the party that was foolish enough to challenge one to eat more than a fixed cost of food. There was of course a cultural element to all this, with guys in traditional dress doing traditional things like the haka, swinging pom poms and twiddling sticks, all of which was pretty impressive. (Let me reitterate AS MUCH MEAT AS YOU CAN EAT!) yummyAlso in Rotorua I sampled the delights of a hot bath, naturally after a month and a half.... They've got loads of hot springs which are fed into spa pools, so we spent an afternoon sitting in one. This leaves you smelling beautifully of sulphur, meaning i could practically pass as a local. Next up was Auckland where i spent a couple of days before heading up to the bay of islands. Auckland is what they affectionatly call a big city in these parts, housing about a third of the whole population of NZ. Its built on a number of volcanic hills and around a harbour and does make available some of the defining elements of civilization (ie a copy of the economist). There is a volcanic island in the harbour called rangitoto which i wandered up, this is well worth it, as it gives great views over the whole area.Then i hopped on a bus and headed up to Piahia in the bay of islands. The bay of islands was where Cook first landed in NZ, and is a very nice spot, what an amazing sense of direction that fellow had! The first night there I was out with a bunchof guys i met on the bus, one of whom had his guitar with him, so he banged out some classics in the bar, accompanied my enthusiastic (if perhaps not always tuneful) attempt to remember the words. This voice damage was compounded the next night with kareoke, (personally i blame everything on andy williams and wet wet wet) me and matt scooping 2nd prize, this having nothing to do with the highly partisan screaming coming from our supporters. A birthday bash the next day and by friday the only sound i could make was a slightly self pitying wimpering noise, i suspect much to the relief of the local musical community. In all i spent about 5 days exploring the local area, going all the way north to cape reinga where '2 oceans meet' (1 of only 3 places in the world, see photo below...) This included sand boarding, where you walk up MASSIVE sand dunes and then dive down head first on a modified boogie board, and also 90 mile beach. I also spent 2 days learning to sail a yaucht which was great fun - next plan, sail around the world! I'm sure there is more but starting to experience writers block...Oh, there have been requests for a photo with me in it (hold on, there is method in this madness) to prove that i'm not just downloading them. Its a lovely one of me and a tree. This is my last day in NZ so in my next installment i'll be in sunny sydney!
Whales Tails and Two Crossings
Well, its been sometime since i left QT, can't remember when exactly, losing track of time these days. My Journey up north has really been pretty quick, so seem to have spent much on the last 'however long its been' on the coach. Before leaving the South Island however i did spend a day on the Kaikoura Peninsular.The I have filed a complaint with the relevent authorities invoking the trade description act with reference to the activity of 'whale watching'. This should in due course be renamed 'whale tail watching' as this is really what its all about. On most days you see and average of 3 whaletails as the mamal in question dives to catch lunch (or was it elevenses?). As you see the tail for about 3 seconds each dive it works out about $10 a second for tail viewing. Its actually pretty good, the Kaikoura Peninsular stretches out towards a deep sea trench which is only a couple of km offshore, but is over 1 km deep, because of this it is one of the only places you can see sperm whales so close to land. Also on the trip we saw a pod of around 200 dolphins swimming and jumping togeather aswell as a few wandering albatross (the biggest kind, wingspan up to 4m). All this has an amazing snow covered mountain backdrop. It was then time to leave the south island, so jumping on a ferry from Picton we cruised on over to Wellington. We had a stunning day on the boat, clear blue skies and the Marlborough sounds were bustling with sail boats. Yesterday I did the Tongariro crossing, this is described as NZ's greatest day walk. Its 17 km in all (which meant a 5am start, after going to bed at 4am this can be a little hard to bare) and journeys past several volcanic peaks and through a number of craters (some of which are visibly active). Again the weather was perfect, some god or other clearly taking my early hours jiggling in the holy cow bar to be a sun dance or something. The landscape of the crossing is almost martian, with sulphorous fumes hanging in the air and ice cystals sheltering from the sun behind each boulder. The whole landscape of this area was remade only around 100 years ago, the ash and frozen laza around you look and feel like they are from a newly born world. At the highest point, through the steam rising from the rocks, you can clearly see both east and west sides of NZ. Past the Emerald lakes (don't dive in they are full of arsenic), a quick zig zig down the mountain, through beach forest and I was are at the car park. Time for a nap....
Understanding Tramping is
Ha ha, thought you'd got rid of me, well 'fraid not, although this is the last message from QT that i'll be doing as i'm leaving tommorow (plaintive sob). Have spent the past week tramping over the routeburn, cruising on Milford and partying in QT. The Routeburn is an ancient (well old) path (route) following a stream (burn) from one side of a bunch of mountains to another. Spent a day getting my gear togeather, ie pots, pans, freeze dried food (yum) alot of chocolate (yum (without irony)) and far too many apples (why? they are HEAVY!) and wet weather stuff. The forecast was for rain and unseasonably cold weather - so perfect timing for a Harrison..... Setting out from Glenorchy in the poring rain on friday morning with a heavy pack and a mountain range in front of me that i would presently be climbing it struck me that maybe this wasn't my finest idea. Well, i was wrong, the walk was spectacular. The first day was spent winding through beach forest, and up the valley side to hut perching on stilts at 1000m. Just to clarify for you pedants out there - No, the stilts where only about 4m high the other 996m comprised mountain.... The forest was full of a multitude of gushing streams that had to be crossed by way of ropebridges that make the millenium bridge seem set in stone. On the 2nd day it was an early start to beat the worst of the weather so fired off a couple of photos and head up the mountain. Climbing to 1200m ish I reached the snow line and a mountain lake hemmed in on all sides by snow capped peaks. Then the decent began along precipitous mountain side. With rain growing heavier and being taunted by mountain parrots, we were glad to spy our hut nestling in a valley below my lake Mckenzie, set in forest on all sides. On the 3rd day the weather was glorious, blue skies and more amazing scenery - i think the photos do more justice to it than my words + running out of time b4 internet place closes....Amazingly we also had a good day for Milford sound. Doing a boat trip in the morning (the best time apparently) we had a great view of the fjord. During the cruise we were joined by a pod(?) of dolphins so yours truly (in an attempt to bring the real story to his readers) hung over the side of the boat taking pictures from about 1m away. That evening I was back in Queenstown. Since then I have been hangin out with Fi mostly, out on the town, jet boating and out walking/driving the area.
