New Zealand

Road trip from Auckland to Wellington 1-5-2007

It took a while but here is than the update. 

It was pretty nice when I flew over New Zealand it was so green and there are so many hills. I arrived during lunch time in Auckland, I explored the city a little and looked around if there were some people who offered a lift. Later that day I met a Dutch guy (Maarten http://vanbenthemopreis.waarbenjij.nu ) who wanted to do the same things in the north Island in the same speed! Both we didn’t had a car so we decided to rent one! That night we plant the trip what to do and where to go!

The first day we drove from Auckland to the Waitomo caves. We made some stops and enjoyed the nature! It was so green and beautiful. Also we saw a lot of sheep’s (there are like 40 million sheep’s and only 4 million people in NZ).

The second day we did black water rafting in Waitomo caves by a tour! It was pretty nice but we thought it should be a little bit more extreme/adventure. But it was nice to see the glow worms and the caves!

 

The same day we drove already in the direction of Rotorua. But we made a little mistake and drove the wrong direction, in the end it wasn’t that bad because we saw a very big waterfall and beautiful nature and in the evening we arrived finally in Rotorua a vulcanic town in Las Vegas style (a lot of neon lights). Also the sun set was worth it to see during our evening meal (cold, we didn’t had any cooking posibilities because we slept every night in a car and not in hostels)!

 

The thirt day we made some walks in a vulcanic area near Rotorua and saw a geyser, mud pools, a lot of smoke and other vulcanic activity! It was a nice walk but the geyeser was a little fake because they put once a day some soap in it and than it gave the reaction to erupt.

 

The same day we saw the sun set by lake Taupo the biggest lake of NZ! It was very nice. Lake Taupo is actually a big vulcano.

 

Next day we did the Tongarino crossing a day walk from 18km with very steap parts. It was nice and the weather was also good we saw also a place that they used for the lord of the rings movie! The area was very beautiful and variated! I think it will be in the end one of the nicest places in New Zealand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we wanted to do an other track but the weather was to bad (first rain day) so we went to a thermal pool and made a pizza on a maori oven (thermal heating because we were still in a vulcanic area) in the evening we went Palmerston North and saw there a movie in the cineama’s.

We went the next morning in the directon of Lower Hutt and made on the way a walk and went to two black sand beaches. The landscape was again very nice! The car ride was also pretty cool because the road wasn’t sealed everywhere and it was pretty steep.

 

 

The last day we went to Wellington our final destination. The weather wasn’t that good so there was not that much to do. We went to the national musea (te papa), we learnt some things about New Zealand and Maories. For example that there was a lot more bush before the first Europian people arrived. (They burned everything to put grass there for the sheeps).

 

Today I looked for a travel mate for the South Island because Maarten has a lot more time for that, so we split up. I went to the three biggest hostels and put a note on the notice board. That evening I met an American girl in my room and she had almost the same planning as I have so we diceded to rent a car for the day after tomorrow. Later that evening I took some night shots from a look out over Wellington!

South island tour (Abel tasman) 5-5-07

Today I came back from a two day walking track. I did a big part 30km from one of the nine great walks from New Zealand. It was the Abel tasman coastal track, the track is famouse because of the nice beaches and the grean and blue sea!! I did the first day of the walk alone because my travel mate, Tracy she wanted to do some kayaking and she kayaked that day wath I walked. So we ended that day in the same hut and hiked the second day together! We were very lucky with the weather, not to hot or cold and a nice sun! 

From the Nelson Lakes to Queenstown (13-05-07)

I want to do a fast update now with some pictures, later i make the update more complete! I traveled with Tracy after Abel Tasman to the Nelson lakes! It was again a gourious place to be. The only thing i didn’t like was that my boots are broken. My sole came for the second time loose in a very short periode. (The shoe makers can’t paste it because one of the materials is in a bad condition R.I.P shoes after New Zealand).

The lakes are so beautiful, like a miror! We were again prety lucky with the weather! That night we drove to Westport a little town on the Westcoast. The drive was pretty special because we died our battery, we let the lights on while we had dinner! We were lucky that some police car drove past us and helped us out of this situation! (saved us a lot of money because we didn’t had to call the road service!) So we are maybe the only ones but we like the New Zealand police! We started the morning our travels along the coast. We saw some seals and the pancake rocks (the rocks look like a stock of pancakes). The onlything was that day the weather was foggy and a little cold. We drove till we arrived at the Franz Joseph Glacier we slept that night in the car (front seats down, in the sleepingbag and close your eyes)!

 

In the morning we took some pictures of the glacier and went to an other Glacier the Fox. We did there a guided day trip, the weather was perfect again! It was very cool to walk over the glacier and the guide was funny but also profesional. We came pretty high on the glacier (the highest this year but probally they say that to every group).

That night we drove to Haast a little town on still the westcoast. I drove almost over 5 living possums, but i could luckly enough avoid them. I only drove over 2 dead ones. There are a lot of dead possums on the road and the Kiwi’s (people) like to see them dead because the kill a lot of birds and trees. (they are not native species).  

In the mornig we took the Haast pass, It’s really cool to drive through the mountains. Better than the borring roads in Australia! We arrived that day in Wannaka, by the Wannaka lakes. It is a real peacefull nice little town! We spent two days there! One of the we walkt along the lake and the other one we spent to hike peak Roy! That hike was GREAT only pretty heavy in 8km 1200m climbing. But the view on the top was terific!

That night we went on advise from some people and the lonley planet (travelguide book) to the cineama’s there. Not because the movies where so good there but because of cookies! We saw a very good movie the last king of Scotland and the cookies were delisious! I advise everybody who is in Wannaka to visit the cinema’s!

After Wannaka we went through Queenstown directly to Milfort Sound. We traveled half in the dark and rain so we missed a lot of the sights. But that was not that hard because the next day we had to go back exactually the same trip! The weather was good again and Tracy did in the morning a cruise and i did a walk around Milford Sound.

After that we started to travel down and stoped at two places to do a walk! The second place is the Key summit. This lookout point is one of my favourites I have every seen!! The views were terific (yes again but i think New Zealand is for everybody who likes the nature a dream).

 

After this little hike we went to Te Anau a little place to spent the night and we went beack to Queenstown. Tracy my travel mate is tomorrow going to leave me. She has to go to Australia and Thailand.. so she has a nice trip in forward! I’ve then still 5 days the car and will visit mount cook (highest mountain of New Zealand) and the for the rest I’ve no idea’s.

Thanks everybody for the reactions! I’ll put later some more pictures on my site if I have some software to coprimise them!

The last days in New Zealand (23-05-07)

The day that Tracy left we met a girl on the street she was looking for a lift up the South Island. I decided to give her a lift to Wanaka. It was a few kilometers more for me to travel through it but it was good to share some costs and fun. That day we met her we were with three persons(Tracy, Angela and myself) we went to deer hill a little hill were peter jackson (lord of the rings) filmed a few sences. There were also a lot of animals on the hill and a nice view on the mountains and Queenstown.That day it was really windy and in the end there was some rain. After that I droped Tracy off at the airport and went with Angela to Wanaka.

The next day we did a little walk to a glacier an hour from Wanaka, it was a nice walk with a lot of waterfalls and nice coloured glacier water (Blue green)! The drive to the walk was also very beautiful and we had to drive trough a few fiords. After the walk a brought Angela to a hostel were she should look for an other lift to go up the west coast (I did that part already) and I drove to Mount Cook village.

 

In the end of the drive I felt a pretty strong wind and when I arrived the weather was stormy and rainy. I hoped that the next morning the wind and the rain should be away. But this time I was unlucky, in the morning it was still rainy and even more stormy (the wind was sometimes 120km strong) so I decided to stay because I thought it wasn’t safe to drive and the next day the weather supose to be better. It was pretty boring that day but I planed everything else for the next day etc.

 

The next day it was still windy and rainy (not that worse) so I decided to go. Twenty minutes out of the village the weather was perfect sunny but a little windy still. I made a walk around one of the glacier lakes. It was really cool to see the diferents between the west coast and this part (the otherside of the mountain range) This part was a lot dryer, all the hills they looked gold in the sun.

 

That evening I decided to drive a little bit in direction of Christchurch (final destination). I ended in a little small countrey town. I spented the night there and in the morning I saw a very nice sun rise after that I left to Christchurch. Between it I did two little walks to some waterfalls in a peel forest (some of the trees were peeling there own bark). 

 

When I arrived in Christchurs it was a big change a lot of trafic and city life again. I went for the night to the beach to see in the morning as one of the first persons the new day (sun rise). But I was unlucky it was very cloudy in the morning so it was not a nice sun rise.

I brought the car back and went to a hostel. It was nice to sleep in a real bed again because the car is okay but not very comferteble etc. It was a very nice little hostel with every morning fresh baked bread and a real family atmosphere. In Christchurch I did a little walk through the city and the gardens. (they have the seconde largest park in the world) But I thought it wasn’t that good because it was a lot of the same and I liked the one from Sydney better. On the next day I went for a walk to the hills to see on the top the see on one side and the other side the city. It was cool only a pitty that it was a little cloudy.

The next day was packing my back and leaving New Zealand day. It was a wonderfull time and I advice everybody to do it when they are in Australia because it is so close. In the end I drove with my travel mates more than 4000km on both islands.

I had a good flight and arrived yesterday in Melbourne. It was strange to be here again after a long time. Almost all the people left I knew (there are still two guys I know) and the hostel is totally empty if i compare it with the Australian summer months (Dec and Jan). I stay here just three days because I don’t want to be again that long in Melbourne. I want to go in the direction of the out back.