South Island Trip

After a wonderful two weeks vacation in the South Island I am finally back home in my little cottage in tiny little Marton. It feels good coming back to the daily routine and constant food source that the school offers. Two weeks living out of a backpack and sleeping in a different bed every night is sure an adventure in itself. My trip to the south island took my as far north as the coasts of Golden Bay and down the west coast to Queenstown and the beautiful Wanaka. It was an unreal trip and the scenery was incredible. It was such a change from where I live and it actually fealt like the New Zealand that we all see in books or postcards. Snow capped mountains, green rolling hills and beautiful blue sea. It was incredible.

We started our holiday heading out early September 28 departing Marton and heading south to Wellington to catch the 3 hour ferry trip across to Picton. The ferry ride in itself was incredible and the green hills welcomed us into Picton harbour. The weather quickly turned to heavy rain and hail as we slowly crept our way through the VERY windy roads in the mountains. After two hours we bunked down in a hostel in Kaikoura which is one of the best whale watching places on the South Island. Kaikoura is a beautiful little town on the east coast and it is mostly known for its whale watching and its crayfish dishes. We spent two nights in Kaikoura spending a lot of time on the beach prior to our whale watching escapde where we chased sperm whales. It was a very rough ride but the view from the sea was again incredible. Kaikoura is settled in a small valley and all around are snow capped moutains and blue sea. Its very beautiful. After two nights in Kaikoura, ( one in a hostel and one camping.. which I may add was freezing!!) we headed south to a small town called Hamner Springs. Our convoy of 20 and 5 cars slowy made our way through the mountains.. there is little straight driving on the south island and there are arrows marked on the road to remind drivers to stay on the right side of the road.. all towns are at least 100 km away so its always best you fill up with gas where you can! Hamner Springs is known for its hot springs and the little town reminded me a lot of Jasper in Canada. After a nice relaxing swim in the hot springs and a late night in the hostel we woke up early the next morning to head up to "sunny" Nelson.

Nelson was one of my favorite stops along the way. The city is similar to Guelph with a small downtown square however the activity in Nelson is endless. A group of us went mountain biking and for 3 hours were biking in the mountains and through fields of sheep and cows and then 2 hours later biked to the beautiful white sand beaches. It was an awesome day and we saw lots of Nelson. We stayed in one of the best youth hostels in New Zealand for two nights and had a great time in the night life of the hostel. We then headed north from Nelson to the Golden Bay area. We had one of our best days in this area and we rented a private sailboat for the 20 of us and sailed around the Abel Tasmen National Park for 4 hours. It was incredible. Our morning began with a 3 hour hike ( approx 10 km) through rainforest and moutain. Making multiple stops for photo opportunities on beautiful lookouts. The views were jaw dropping and unfortunatley my camera doesnt do the actual colour justice ( golden sand beaches and aqua water.. it was beautiful) We stopped for a quick lunch on the beach before we boarded our boat. We sailed to a seal colony and breifly watched the seals sunbathe on the rocks. We continued to sail around the park and my camera quickly filled up with repaeated pictures of the same view. It was a beautiful day to relax and just take in the view. It was one of my favorite days. In Nelson Cara and I ( a fellow Canadian) were craving fish and chips and set out in search of soom good deep fried fish. We found a small shop on the Nelson harbour and returned the following night for seconds because it was so good.

From Nelson we headed to a small town called Motoueka and had the entire hostel to ourselves.. it was interesting booking for 20 people and I think we got lucky when hostels did have enough room for all of us. In Motoueka we had a relaxing day where we just toured the town and went to the beach. We needed a day of nothing and a few people went hang gliding while we all just relaxed and chilled out. Heading further north we stopped in Pohara and used this hostel as a base for the day to travel north up to the tip of the Golden Bay where we drove through some of the areas where Lord of the Rings was filmed, the trip was slow going as the roads were not paved and it shocked us all to think that hundreds of cast and big sets were moved up onto the mountains to film the movie.. incredible. We went for a hike and headed to the deepest cave in the couthern hemisphere. again another incredible stop. The pictures that i took are boring in comparison from what it actually was. Through the lens you cant see half of what reality is and in the photos it looks like plain rock.. but it was unreal. Very Cool. From Pohara we headed back down south making a few stops to hike and see some Wanuia Waterfalls. In this area we also made a quick stop to the clearest fresh water springs in the world. You could see everything beneath the water it was very cool.

2 carloads of us then split from the big group early and headed down south making our way to Greymouth where we would later meet up with the rest of the group for one final night together. We made a night stop in Mirchinson where we were a little spooked out by the hostel but it was here that one of the German boys introduced us to the new slogan of " drinking a place beautiful" basically making the most of a horrible situation.. and that may include a lot of Tui... It was a good night regardless of th sketchy place and we indeed drank that place beautiful. We tried to get our of there as fast as we could the next morning and made our way through westport to Greymouth, stopping at the Pancake Rocks, which were also incredible. The rocks have been formed over the many years of water ripping into the soft stone, and the stones really look like a bunch of pancakes stacked up.

We all met up again in Greymouth at the second best rated hostel in New Zealand. Global Village owned every other hostel that we stayed in, and I know now the difference between real hostel experience and cheap accomodation. It was a neat little place that offered free moutain bike hire and kayake. I went kayaking down the river with a few other girls and although this was the only bad day that we had with weather it was still a fun experience. Something else that I can check off my list of things to do and I would for sure do again.

Taking a break here this is a quick recap of all the things we did and that was only 1 week. To be continued.. for the further trek south to Queenstown and Wanaka and back up!

CONTINUED

We headed out early from Greymouth and headed south passing through the Franz Joseph Glacier and a short hike and continuing on to the Fox Glacier. We got caught in a rain/hail storm on our trek but continued up to the glacier for a few quick photos. We looked like we had jumped into the river and climbed back out again once we reached the car but it was well worth it for the photos. We stayed the night in Fox Glacier and again hit the road to make our way to Queenstown. Along the way we stopped in at Lake Matheson for an hour hike to see Reflection Island. On a clear day you can see an exact reflection from the mountains into the water. We only saw partial reflection because the clouds were fairly low. Regardless it was a nice stop and a good hike. We arrived in at Wanaka after a long drive and just sat on the beach for a bit enjoying the lake and the snow capped moutains that surrounded Wanaka. Wanaka again reminded me of places like Banff. A beautiful little town and amazing views. Continuing on we passed through the highest paved road in New Zealand called the Haast pass. The view was incredible and everything was white leading all the way down the most windy road yet we have driven on ( taking corners at 15 km/hour... We finally made it to Queenstown. . The party center for youth travelers. Queenstown is incredible. After we had a night out on the town the next morning one of the girls I was with went Bunjee jumping off of the highest bunjee in New Zealand. Extremely impressive for someone who had been out the night before! Time was running out and I regret not doing more activities in Queenstown. I know that I will be flying down again to see more of the city however there was so much to do and really it was our last stop before home.

From Queenstown we headed back to the girls placements in Timaru. Along the way we stopped in at the Moeraki Boulders. These are big sphere boulders that are sacred to the Maori culture. They are the only ones in the world formed thousands of eyars ago with lime crystal and mud rock. Very impressive. I stayed the night in Timaru with some of the girls and headed up to Christchurch after a relaxing day. I wish I could have spent more time in Christchurch as it is a very big and happening city. I walked around the whole morning seeing the botanical gardens and the cathedral in the square. I made my thanksgiving call back home to the family while they were all enjoying their turkey dinner and pumpkin pie I was sitting in the sun trying extremely hard to enjoy my sub.. from subway... which wasnt turkey.. and for sure not even close a yummy thanksgiving dinner.. I ended my vacation in Christchurch and flew back home to Palmerston North after a great two weeks it actually was time to head back home to Nga Tawa.

It was a great vacation.. but back to reality..