Author: Cat

New York to Chicago

~ Cat ~ Leave a comment

And so the final leg of my 6 month trip begins…super-excited but also slightly sad about it. I am travelling with Trek America, doing the Grand BLT trip (info here: http://www.trekamerica.co.uk/tours/gnb.html). I have previously travelled with Trek America in 2006 when I did a camping trip. It rained solidly for 2 weeks and put me off camping for life. This time I’m in hostels and hotels.

We started from the Hilton at Newark airport on Monday morning.

  
There are 10 of us plus Jay, the tour leader. 9 Brits and 1 Swiss. We had already gotten to know each other a little bit via whatsapp and Facebook so it felt like we bonded really quickly.

We left Newark in the morning and drove to Woodbury Common Outlets for a spot of cheap retail therapy. Would have bought the whole of Aeropostale if my bag wasn’t already stuffed!

We had lunch there and then drove on to Watkins Glen State Park to check out some really cool waterfalls.

   
   
Then we headed to our overnight stop on Auburn, NY, in the Finger Lakes region. We went out for dinner at Prison City Brewery – good, reasonably priced food. I headed to bed but a couple of the others went out after for a drink.

The next day was up early to head to Niagara Falls. We arrived mid morning and did the Maid of the Mist tour which was a lot of fun.

   
 
We then headed over the border to Canada for the afternoon. I had poutine for lunch – chips, gravy, cheese and pulled pork. This was a starter portion!!

  
We went on the big wheel, and walked along to the top of the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side.

  
We then headed back to the border where Jay had bad news for us. He had a detached retina and needed to get it fixed ASAP so he would be leaving us the next day. We were pretty bummed out by this, but these things happen.

We headed to Buffalo to our hostel for the night, and after a quick shower and change, we went to the Anchor Inn, home of Buffalo wings. I had a few of these for dinner (when in Rome and all that…):

  
We went out for a few beverages afterwards…a good night.

The next day was a late-ish start as we were waiting for JD to fly in to take over from Jay. We went to IHOP for brunch though I was not up to eating…

JD arrived at midday and we said farewell to Jay. We headed through Pennsylvania towards Ohio. We had a brief stop in Cleveland at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Our overnight stop was in Sandusky, OH at a campground, though thankfully we were staying in cabins. We headed out for dinner and while we were out there was a massive thunderstorm. It rained hard for most of the night, and I had to wade through a large puddle to get from the cabin to the road.

The next day we headed to Shipshewana, Indiana. This is an example of an Amish/Mennonite town. Somewhere where a horse and cart will pull up to the gas pump.

  
After wandering around and grabbing lunch, we headed for Chicago. We were slightly delayed leaving Shipshewana when a guy who looked like Santa Claus started chatting to JD about the van. Santa kept chatting despite JD being sat in the van with the engine running. We were probably delayed for a couple of minutes. Later up the road, there was a 5 vehicle accident just ahead of us. 1 or 2 minutes earlier and we could have been involved in it. Santa was sent as our guardian angel!! The road was closed for over an hour. It was really warm so we sat on the road to catch some sun while we waited for the road to reopen.

  
When we got going again, we headed to Gary, Indiana to see Michael Jackson’s childhood home. It was a tiny house, and unbelievable to think that he lived here with all his siblings.

  
 Because we were delayed by the accident, we ended up hitting Friday rush hour traffic. Usually you’d expect the traffic to be heading out of the city in the evening rush hour but on a Friday everyone is heading into the city for the weekend. 

We arrived early evening and then went out for Chicago Deep Dish pizza.

  
Most of the group went back to the hostel, but I went out for another drink with JD and one of the other guys in the group.

The next day we got up and went to the Willis Tower Skydeck. Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) was the tallest building in the USA until the new 1 World Trade Center was completed. As we were there early, there weren’t any queues. Some really good views from the top though.

   
 
We also braved the Ledge – which is a glass-bottomed viewing platform.

  
JD then took us to see the Bean in Millennium Park.

  
And an art installation which has images of faces of people of Chicago. 

  

And also the Buckingham Fountain, before we headed out to Wrigley Field to watch a ball game (Chicago Cubs v Pittsburgh Pirates). I’ve seen a couple of ball games on my previous trips and enjoyed the atmosphere and experience, and I was really excited to go to Wrigley Field as it is such an iconic venue. The temperature was about 8C though and it was absolutely freezing. I had the obligatory hot dog and beer. The game started slowly, but got going mid way through, and the Cubs hammered the Pirates 8-2.

  
After the game we headed back to the hostel, and we had a couple of hours to spare before heading out. I used the time to do laundry. Regular readers of this blog will be pleased to know I’ve found the new cheapest laundry of my trip! $1.50 for a wash and $1.25 for a dry.

In the evening JD took us on a walk up towards the Wrigley Building and the Chicago Tribune building. JD knows his architecture and has a brain full of facts which I love!

The Chicago Tribune building has stones from other famous buildings around the world in it, including Westminster Abbey and Edinburgh Castle.

  
We then walked out towards Navy Pier to admire the skyline as the sun set. After grabbing a burger on Navy Pier, it was then dark so we got an awesome view of the Chicago skyline at night.

  
We then went to find a bar, and ended up in a great, chilled bar called Streeters. A bar that sells decent cider, and played awesome music. We played a little foosball as well, and I had a great night.

I got up early on our final morning in Chicago as I’d noticed that the Terracotta Warriers were displayed in the Field Museum. They were incredible and that’s one off the bucket list that I wasn’t expecting on this trip!

We’re heading towards the national parks now, can’t wait to see them.

New York, New York

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After one last day in Auckland it was time to bid farewell to New Zealand and set off for the States. I had a 12 hour flight to San Francisco and then a 5 hour flight to New York. The queue at passport control in San Francisco was insane. Fortunately, having been to America previously, I was able to use the automated machines, but not before standing in a queue which didn’t move for 25 minutes! I was worried about missing my connection at one point but thankfully it all turned out OK.

I arrived at JFK airport in New York at around 1am and eventually got to my hotel near the airport at 2am. I crashed out for 8 solid hours and was only woken by my alarm going off. Probably the best sleep I’ve had to this point. 

Then it was time to work out how to get to Manhattan. The hotel wasn’t particularly near any subway stops so I had to take a bus for about 20 minutes to the nearest station, and then it was about an hour on the subway to Manhattan. I was staying in a hostel on East 34th Street which was only a couple of blocks from the subway.

After dumping my bags I went in search of some food, and then headed to the TKTS booth in Times Square for discounted same-day Broadway tickets. As it was a Tuesday, the queue was pretty short and I managed to get a ticket for Jersey Boys in the orchestra for $80 (regular price would be around $140). Jersey Boys is my favourite show and I’ve already seen it twice. There were different leads this time compared to when I saw it last year on Broadway but it was still really good.

The next day I had a lazy morning before queuing for just under 2 hours for tickets for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which is a daily (Monday-Friday) late night talk show. Kinda like Graham Norton or Alan Carr but 5 times a week. Full disclosure at this point – I am a big fan of US late night shows including The Daily Show, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Conan, and if you pay close enough attention to my previous US travels, you’ll see that I’ve been to some of the shows before. 

  
After a couple of hours we were issued with tickets and then told to come back in another couple of hours for the actual taping of the show. I used this time to go to the Museum of Modern Art which was only a couple of blocks away. I saw some Andy Warhol paintings, and some Henri Matisse and I was really pleased that I recognised some George Seurat from across the room.

The TV show itself was amazing. It’s filmed in the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway and looks more like a theatre than a TV studio. The guests on the show were Anthony Mackie, Rob Reiner and Buzz Aldrin. I even got myself on the TV at one point. It was a great experience, especially for a big Colbert fan like me.

The next day I went on a tour of the NBC Studios in the Rockefeller Center. This was pretty cool, we saw a couple of the studios including the one where Jimmy Fallon’s show is filmed, and saw what it’s like behind the scenes of a TV studio.

In the afternoon I went to see a taping of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Nowhere near as hard work as tickets used to be when Jon Stewart hosted. Minimal queuing now to get in. Trevor Noah is a funny guy, and I’m still a bit gutted that I missed out on seeing him do stand up in the UK last year. I had tickets but then it was cancelled when he got The Daily Show.

Judy arrived the next day. It was so good to see a familiar face after 4 months. It also meant it was time to stay in a hotel! The weather in New York up to this point had been cold and miserable, and my bag got totally soaked as I walked from the hostel to the hotel. Thankfully it had a couple of days to dry out.

Judy arrived in the early afternoon and we headed down to the Financial District to see Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. The weather was so miserable that the top of 1 World Trade Center was lost in the clouds.

  
The next day we got up early and headed into Brooklyn for breakfast. We probably didn’t choose the best diner (half the breakfast menu wasn’t available, and they had no fruit or yoghurt for smoothies) but eventually had a bagel for breakfast. Then we had a brief wander around before heading to Greenwich Village and the West Village. I’ve not been to either of these areas in any of my previous visits but they were nice, upmarket areas. We had a look in an estate agents and the average rental price for a 1 bed apartment was around $3000 per month – yikes!!

We then headed to a cat cafe, Little Lions, in SoHo for afternoon tea, and to play with the cats. The cats are rescue cats and get rehomed through the cafe.

After that we walked through Chelsea Market and onto The High Line. A really cool idea, which has converted disused rail tracks above street level into a nice planted walkway between 14th Street and 30th Street.

  
We then headed to the madness that is Canal Street and Chinatown, where we had dinner.

In the evening we went to see An American In Paris at the Palace Theater, right in Times Square. It was really enjoyable, and the first time I’ve watched this much ballet.

Afterwards we took the obligatory pictures of Times Square at night.

  
The next day we got up early to head down the Battery Park for the ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. We had been down the previous day but the queue was insane. It was cold and miserable so much shorter queues. The ferry goes to Liberty Island first before heading on to Ellis Island.

  
Ellis Island was where immigrants were processed into the USA in the first half of the 20th century.

  
We then headed back towards the hotel and went for sushi for lunch. We then decided on the spur of the moment to try for some more theatre tickets. As it was quite late when we got back to Times Square (4pm), there were only a couple of Broadway shows with tickets left, so after chatting to one of the sellers we opted for a play called Incognito. Charlie Cox was in it. It was probably the weirdest show I’ve ever seen, but was very well acted.

We walked back to the hotel via Rafio City and the Rockefeller Center which were all lit up at night.

  
The next day was Judy’s last day. We got up early and headed for the Empire State Building. We were there at about 9am and there were no queues at all. When we came back down about half an hour later, there were longish queues forming.

  
After that we walked towards Central Park, popping into the New York Public Library on the way.

  
We walked a loop through Central Park through Strawberry Fields and across to the Met.

  
After an hour or so in the Met (which is not nearly enough time, you could easily spend a couple of days in there), it was time for Judy to head to the airport, and for me to head to the starting point for my Trek America trip at Newark Airport Hilton.

New York is a great city, and can easily sustain multiple visits. I’ve been 3 times in the last 3 years and I’m still not bored of it.

Relaxing Rarotonga

~ Cat ~ 1 Comment

This wasn’t on my original itinerary but I figured that whilst I’m in this part of the world, I might as well go and see another Pacific Island.

Rarotonga is the main island in the Cook Islands. The Cook Islands are a self-governing part of New Zealand, and a 3-and-a-half-to-4-hour flight from Auckland. The Cook Islands are also across the date line from New Zealand, so despite leaving Auckland on Monday morning, I arrived in Rarotonga on Sunday afternoon.

I had booked into a self catering bungalow about a kilometre outside of Muri, on the east side of the island. A nice change from dorm shares.

As I arrived late afternoon, I went to the local shop for a few essential supplies (wine, cheese, crisps), and then went to Muri, to the local night market for food. The night market is on 4 days a week, and has lots of different food stalls selling hot meals. That was dinner sorted for several evenings!

The next day I went and sat on the beach at Muri lagoon. Rarotonga is surrounded by a reef, and so a lot of the shore line is dangerous for swimming. The lagoon, however, is sheltered and perfect for swimming, snorkelling, paddle boarding, and kayaking.

  
I spent most days at the lagoon, chilling out on the beach. I’m not normally one for sitting on a beach all day, especially not in the last few years, and I didn’t have enough to keep me entertained on the first day. But I sorted myself out on the second day and took books, magazines, earphones and a crossword book which kept me entertained on the other days.

On the third evening in Rarotonga, I went to an ‘Island Night’ at Te Vara Nui. This is like a Cook Islands ‘village experience’. We had a 2 hour tour of the ‘village’ (several huts each with different themes) and learnt about the history of the Cook Islands, how it relates to the New Zealand Maori, about traditional foods and medicines, and traditional methods of fishing. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences to both New Zealand, and to Fiji as another Pacific Island.

  
After the tour, we had a buffet of both traditional Cook Islands food, and western food. I wasn’t keen on the paw paw salad, but everything else was nice, including spinach in coconut cream which I’d also enjoyed in Fiji.

After the food, it was time for the show. This was quite similar to shows I’d seen in Fiji, with dancing and more fire dancing.

  
I was expecting it to finish with slightly more of a bang than it did, but it was an enjoyable evening.

I didn’t spend every day on the beach either. I caught the round-island public bus one day. The buses are really easy to use. There’s basically one road all the way around the island, and one bus that goes clockwise, and one that goes anti-clockwise. They will pick up and drop off anywhere. You just have to signal the driver. I got on a clockwise bus, and went the long way round to Avarua, the capital. There was a camera crew filming the bus driver. I may well end up in a tourist video promoting the Cook Islands!

  
The scenery around the rest of the island was just as idyllic as Muri.

A had a walk around Avarua, and some lunch before getting back on the bus and completing the loop.

After another couple of days lounging around, it was time to head back to Auckland for the long journey to New York.

I had a lovely, relaxing few days on Rarotonga. It’s very laid back, a different vibe to Fiji, and I’m glad I decided to go.

Kaikoura, Picton and Wellington (again)

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I was picked up from Christchurch airport at about 10am the following morning. Only got lost once driving back to the airport…

We arrived in Kaikoura in the early afternoon. As I was spending 5 nights in Kaikoura, I had quite a leisurely afternoon buying food and chilling out. I had intended to do some laundry but as there was no dryer at the hostel, I decided against it.

The next day I went whale watching. I’d done this when I was in Kaikoura in November 2014, but was being violently sea sick at the crucial photo op point when the sperm whale did its dive. Having sussed out the weather forecast (gloriously sunny) I decided to try my luck again. Having had my sea sickness tablets, I arrived at Whale Watch Kaikoura at 9.30am and checked in. After watching a short safety video, we boarded a coach for the short journey to the dock on the south side of the peninsula.

We left the dock and headed out to sea. Whale Watch Kaikoura pretty much guarantee that you will see a whale as they have listening equipment to listen for the unique sound waves that sperm whales emit. On our way to the location of the whale they were tracking, we were lucky enough to spot some orcas (also known as killer whales). 

  
(Bad picture but you get the idea).

As someone who is very prone to sea sickness, I was feeling a little bit queasy at this point, despite the medication, having an ear plug in my left ear, and making a conscious effort to focus on the horizon. We headed off towards the supposed site of the whale and waited for it to appear for its roughly hourly poke on the surface.

Sperm whales have a characteristic spout at about 45 degrees

  
This whale came to the surface quiet quickly, and we had a side-on view when it dived.

  
We then headed to another site where another sperm whale was due to make an appearance. We waited there quite a long time, during which I became increasingly nauseous. Just as we were about to leave, the second sperm whale made an appearance, this time we were front on, and I got a picture that I’m very proud of.

  
After this we (thankfully) headed back to dry land, and arrived back shortly before 1pm.

As I had not been well, I spent the rest of the afternoon in the hostel, using the fastest wifi so far.

The next day I decided to do the Kaikoura Peninsula walk. This was a 4 hour walk around the Kaikoura peninsula, and back to the centre of Kaikoura. I bumped into some more wildlife on the way.

   
   
It was a lovely walk and a very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I still had 2 days lefts in Kaikoura. I had originally contemplated some more sea kayaking as I had enjoyed it enormously in Abel Tasman, but after being quite ill on a relatively calm day, I decided against it. I spent the next couple of days pottering around the town, looking in the local shops and enjoying numerous chai lattes (I think I’m addicted). I also went for my first run in over 2 months. Not terrible but not great. I’m quite pleased that my stamina seems to have improved with all the walking I’ve been doing (though I still hate hills and steps), but my speed is sloooooooow.

On my final morning I got up early to watch the sunrise. 

  
Pretty awesome.

We were picked up from Kaikoura at 9am and then headed up the coast towards Picton. We stopped briefly at Ohau point to look at the super-cute seal pups. This place is like a seal-pup kindergarten as the parents go out to sea during the day and leave the pups to play in the stream.

  
We arrived in Picton at lunchtime. Some people were catching the early afternoon ferry, but I had decided to stay the night. I took a nice walk along the Snout Track to the Queen Charlotte lookout, over the Queen Charlotte Sound.

  
New Zealand, it seems, just carries on getting more beautiful.

The following day, I caught the early afternoon ferry to Wellington. In the morning I went to the Edwin Fox maritime museum, and the aquarium. The Edwin Fox museum houses one of the boats that convicts were sent to Australia on.

It was a perfect day for a ferry crossing. The first hour of the 3 hour 20 minute journey is through the Marlborough Sounds.

   
 
Eventually we made it to the head of the Sounds and out into the Cook Strait.

  
We arrived in Wellington at around 5.20pm, and as it is now definitely autumn, it was already going dark. I headed to the hostel for a chilled evening.

I now had 2 days left in Wellington before heading back to Auckland.

On the first day I took care of some admin – sending stuff home that I don’t need, and hunting around for a printer. In the afternoon I went to the Great War Exhibiton at the National War Memorial. Learnt quite a lot, including that the British, German and Russian royal families were all related (I’m sure I most have known that before but evidently I’ve forgotten how pally Kaiser Wilhelm was with King George and Tsar Nicholas), and the origin of ‘bangers’ as in ‘bangers and mash’.

In the evening I went to see The Boss at the cinema. Very entertaining.

The next day I was struggling to find something to entertain me in Wellington. Having been here for a couple of days 5 weeks ago I think I’ve done almost everything. I had a wander around the Saturday underground market, and some of the shops. Wellington claims to be the ‘coolest little capital’, but I think Cardiff definitely challenges it on that front 🙂

I ended up in the cinema again in the evening. This time it was Eddie the Eagle. I have been to the cinema a lot while I’ve been in NZ, but I never go at home, so why not? This will probably be my last trip to the cinema as America is going to be too packed (I think) to fit anymore trips in. Also, it was an excellent opportunity to see Hugh Jackman looking fiiiiiiiiine.

An early-ish night followed as I was up at 5.45am to catch the bus back to Auckland. Or was I? The bus drove straight past me. Minor panic ensued, and $220 (£110) later I find myself at Wellington airport waiting for a flight toAuckland. Assuming all is well, I’m off to the Cook Islands in the morning for some time travel and some R&R. 

Christchurch

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After my 2 day road trip, it was time to spend a day in Christchurch.

Christchurch was very badly damaged in 2 earthquakes in September 2010 and February 2011, and as a result, tour companies seem to bypass Christchurch, or warn you off going there. Stray, for example, only pick up and drop off at the airport. I thinking that is increasingly the wrong attitude.

When I was here in November 2014, I was surprised and saddened to see the mess it was still in. This time, I was prepared. There are still large parts of the CBD that are derelict, or have buildings boarded up awaiting demolition. But there is also a lot of construction work ongoing.

   
 I went to the Quake Museum, which is harrowing at times, though not quite on the scale of the 9/11 Museum in New York. Among other things in the museum, there was a video presentation showing the vision of Christchurch that they are rebuilding. Lots of the architecture that made Christchurch the most English city outside of England has been lost, but in its place is going to be (at least by the looks of things) some really great modern buildings that will take Christchurch onwards and upwards.

I visited the ‘Cardboard Cathedral’, which was erected as the famous Christchurch Cathedral was very badly damaged in the quakes.

  
I feel that the original cathedral may be beyond repair, which is a great shame as it was a very fine building which I was fortunate to be able to see when I was here in 2004.

   
 
That there are still so many buildings boarded up over 5 years since the earthquake is shameful on some fronts. The pace of rebuild is staggeringly slow for a developed country, but I understand why the cathedral is still there in its delicate state. It was such an iconic piece of Christchurch that it should try to be salvaged if at all possible.

One of the positive outcomes of the earthquakes are the innovative ways that the people of Christchurch (Christchurchians?) have come up with to rebuild their city. One of which is the Re:start shopping mall, which is constructed out of shipping containers. Very Shoreditch. I hope they will keep it in some form once the main shopping areas are rebuilt.

  
I also visited the art gallery, which seems to have only recently reopened, and the Canterbury Museum. I was very pleased to be able to visit the museum as one of the things I remember very clearly from my first visit in 2004 was going to a museum which had Satsuma-ware ceramics. Mum and dad have similar ceramics at home and I remember recognising them. I was very pleased to discover that they are still here!

  
I also visited Hagley Park, a large park in the centre of Christchurch, and home to another innovative idea that sprung in the wake of the earthquakes. The Hagley Oval is the new international cricket ground in Christchurch. But I use that in its loosest form. It is actually in the middle of the park, and you can walk right through it. Or you could if they weren’t digging up the square.

  
This is such a cool idea. All the away around the ground are raised banks, and I guess on match day you bring your deck chair and a picnic and find a patch of grass to sit on. Amazing!

On my long walk around the city, you also come across some very sombre sites, including the ‘185 white chairs’, which are situated across from the site of the Canterbury TV building where most lives were lost.

  
185 people died in the February 2011 quake, and this is a pop up memorial to them.

I walked around the city for about 6 hours, and it gave me a lot of time to think. So, my plea to tour companies would be this: include an overnight stop in Christchurch in your itineraries. There is plenty to see in the city, and the businesses would be very glad of the custom. Christchurch is going to be rebuilt, and it is going to be modern, vibrant and worth seeing. I would love to come back one day and see it when it is complete.

Road Trip

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After a short and slightly dull stay in the Peel Forest so that people could ‘enjoy’ rafting on the Rangitata river, we had an early start (6.40am departure) to drive to Christchurch. Stray only stop at the airport, and don’t stay overnight in Christchurch (which is a shame, more on this in a separate blog post), so we arrived at Christchurch airport shortly after 9am. The reason for the early start is that the final destination for the day on the Stray Bus is Kaikoura, and they need to be in Kaikoura by midday for whale watching.

Anyway, Kaikoura is for another day. When we got to Christchurch airport, I gathered all my belongings (4 bags of varying sizes at this point) and found the car rental desk. After wincing at the $3,000 excess and paying for the rental, I got the keys for my wheels for the next couple of days – a 5 door Toyota Yaris (automatic).

 

It was clean when I got it – this is a picture from day 2.

My plan for day 1 was to head out to the Banks Peninsula, about 90 minutes southeast of Christchurch. A few people had mentioned that it was really pretty, and my Lonely Planet describes the scenic drive as ‘absurdly beautiful’. Sadly the weather was not good. The Banks Peninsula was formed by 2 volcanoes, and when I was driving along the top of the crater, I was driving in the clouds. I almost had to stop the car to figure out where the fog lights were!

Nevertheless, I ploughed on, and followed the scenic drive to several bays, including Pigeon Bay:

 
Little Akaloa:

  
And Le Bons Bay:

  
The car got very dirty when I decided to try to get to the Lighthouse, but after a slightly hairy drive down a dirt road, I chickened out about halfway to the lighthouse. It was raining quite hard, and the dirt road was turning very muddy. The poor little automatic was struggling so I figured it would be better to turnaround while I had the opportunity.

After that little escapade, I decided to head to Akaroa and find the hostel. This shouldn’t have been hard as Akaroa is basically one main road, but I drove straight past the hostel to start with!

Akaroa has a lot of French heritage (for example, the roads are all Rue…). I went to the little museum where there was a short video explaining how there came to be such a French connection here. After a short and cold stroll along the front, I bid a hasty retreat to the hostel. Akaroa seemed fairly sleepy, despite there being a cruise ship in the harbour.

The hostel I stayed at was the quietest one so far. I only saw 3 other people there, and had a dorm room all to myself.

I had an early night as I wanted to be off early in the morning as I had a lot of driving planned for day 2.

Obviously the weather in Akaroa was absolutely stunning the following day. As I drove out of the Banks Peninsula towards SH1 I stopped for a quick photo op:

  
If only the weather had been like this the previous day!

My first destination on day 2 was (were?) the Moeraki Boulders which are 4 and a half hours’ drive from Akaroa (hence the early start). They are practically in Dunedin and it might have made slightly more sense to have visited them whilst I was in Dunedin, but nevermind. I enjoyed being back behind the wheel, even if the lack of acceleration in the automatic was annoying.

The Moeraki Boulders are surprisingly smooth, round stones on the beach at Moeraki:

   
   
After a nice walk on the beach among the boulders, and my picnic lunch, it was time to head to my next stop, about an hour back north from Moeraki. When I was in Dunedin, I met a German girl who recommended that I should go to the Elephant Rocks as well as the Moeraki Boulders. The Elephant Rocks are near Oamaru, but are inland. They aren’t particularly well signposted and as I was navigating purely by road signs, I was quite pleased to find them.

   
   
I’m not entirely sure where the ‘elephant’ name comes from, but they are an interesting geological formation.

After this, it was a long drive back to Christchurch. I arrived at the hostel in Christchurch just after 7pm. It only took 3 drives around the block to find the entrance! Weirdly though I had been here before with G Adventures in November 2014. The place has had much-needed spruce up in the intervening period.

Over the 2 days, I covered about 850km. I really enjoy driving, and after almost 4 months of not driving, it was really nice to get back behind the wheel. I will definitely never buy an automatic though – I need to have more control over my speed!

Aoraki Mount Cook

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I’ve just spent 2 and a half glorious days in Aoraki Mount Cook village and national park. The weather could not have been more perfect.

We left Queenstown early on Friday morning. The Remarkables mountain range had a dusting of snow overnight – it’s definitely Autumn now! After a stop in Cromwell for supplies (there are no shops in Mt Cook village), we stopped for lunch overlooking Lake Pukaki. The blueness of the lake is amazing.

 
We arrived at our accommodation in Aoraki Mount Cook village at around 2pm. Aoraki is the Maori name for Mount Cook, and means ‘cloud piercer’. In the afternoon we went for a walk along the Hooker Valley Track, which is a walk I’d done when I was here back in 2014. The weather was much better this time, and we got some awesome views of Mt Cook on the walk, which we couldn’t even see in 2014.

   

 

As the sky was so clear, we were treated to a fabulous view of the night sky in the evening. It’s probably the clearest I’ve ever seen the Milky Way, and we could also see Jupiter and Mars really clearly. The views of the night sky that I’ve seen on my travels really have been something else.
On Saturday I took a 4WD ‘Argo’ trip to the terminal of the Tasman Glacier.

  
I have to say that this was one of the most uncomfortable journeys I’ve ever had, 5km up a boulder-strewn gravel track, but it was an awesome view when we got to the glacier.

  
I then spent the rest of the afternoon at the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre, learning about the first people to ascend various peaks in the Southern Alps, along with watching a 3D short film on Mount Cook, and an interesting documentary on Sir Edmund Hillary’s ascent of Everest in 1953.

In the evening i had a vastly overpriced pint of cider from the bar at the backpackers. It was $11 – £5.50 – basically London prices. I won’t be making that mistake again!!

Today (Sunday) was another beautiful day. I walked up the Sealy Tarns track. This was quite challenging. Roughly 90 minutes of walking up steps, though I suspect fitter people could do it in around an hour. The views on the way up, and at Sealy Tarns lookout, were amazing.

   
 
It only took me 45 minutes to get back down, and even with about half an hour for lunch at the top, I was still within the suggested 3 hour time frame for the walk.

I also walked to Kea Point, which was 10 minutes from the start/end of the Sealy Tarns track, and gave another great view of Aoraki Mount Cook.

  
After my long walk, I treated myself to a bath. Yes, that’s right, this hostel has baths! I love a bath, and it feels like forever since I had one, though in reality it was about 5 weeks ago in Rotorua.

Tomorrow we move on to Rangitata, where I will not be partaking in white water rafting (which is basically the only thing to do in Rangitata). The day after that we head to Christchurch where I will be renting a car for a little road trip…

The Deep South

~ Cat ~ Leave a comment

After a quick overnighter in Queenstown, it was yet again early on the road as we headed to Milford Sound. After a stop in Te Anau for Milford Sound cruise tickets and Stewart Island ferry tickets, we drove through part of the Fiordland National Park to Milford Sound. The weather wasn’t great, but they get up to 9m of rain a year here so you’ll be lucky if the weather is good.

  
At Milford Sound we went on a scenic cruise for about an hour and a half. I have to say that this was the most disappointing part of my trip so far. It was raining and the clouds were really low. Now, when I was here in November 2014, the weather wasn’t great either. However, it must have been even more rainy then because there were hundreds of waterfalls on Milford Sound, and it looked amazing. This time there weren’t as many waterfalls, and it was difficult to see the surrounding landscape because of the low clouds.

   
  
I wasn’t the only one who found it disappointing (although I guess a lot of that disappointment was in comparison to last time), others on the bus also found it underwhelming.

We spent the night at nearby Gunn’s Camp. This was originally built as accommodation for the men who built a tunnel through the mountain so that you could access Milford Sound by road. It isn’t your usual type of accommodation. The cabins were heated by wood burners, and electricity was available from a generator between 6pm and 10pm only. The hot water for the showers was also heated by wood burner, and I have to say it was one of the hottest showers I’ve ever had.

The next day was quite a leisurely drive from Gunn’s Camp, back through Te Anau where we stocked up at the supermarket, and onto Bluff for the ferry to Stewart Island. We made a few stops along the way for photos, and this is one of my favourites on the way out of Fiordland:

  
We arrived in Bluff just after 4pm, and after a quick stop at the signposts, it was time to board the ferry to Stewart Island.

  
The crossing takes about an hour, and was apparently a relatively smooth crossing. I wasn’t taking any changes and had already had my sea sickness tablets.

Stewart Island is the 3rd largest island in New Zealand, and is home to a lot of wildlife. It’s also your best chance in NZ of seeing a kiwi in the wild, as well as the aurora australis (southern lights). Unfortunately I saw neither whilst I was there.

I was staying 2 nights, and the ferry back wasn’t until 3.30pm so I had 1 and half days to explore. On the first day I took a water taxi to Ulva Island, which is only a 10 minute journey from Stewart Island. Ulva Island is pest free and home to a lot of bird life. There are a few walking tracks around the island and I spent about 4 hours there walking, trying to spot wildlife, and enjoying the solitude. It was so quiet and peaceful (aside from the birds chirping away) that it felt like I was the only person in the world.

   
   
 
After getting the water taxi back to Stewart Island, I walked back to the hostel in Oban around the coast from Golden Bay. 

The next day I decided to walk in the opposite direction, to Horseshoe Bay, and then back to Oban.

   
   
The weather turned a bit in the afternoon and the crossing back to Bluff was rather choppy. I was even more glad for my sea sickness tablets on the way back. A couple of young kids seated in front of me did not enjoy it at all.

We arrived back in Bluff and then I caught the shuttle bus to Invercargill, where I was staying the next 2 nights. Thankfully only 1 day though as there is not a lot to do in Invercargill. It is not a beautiful town by any stretch of the imagination, and has a certain Wild West (Deep South) feel to it.

I went to the museum, which had an interesting exhibition on sub-Antarctic islands which, to be honest, are part of the world I didn’t even know existed.

After a long walk around the park and a slightly disappointing chai latte in a local coffee shop, I headed back to the hostel to start writing this. (It’s several days later when I finish it!)

In the evening I went to the cinema (again). This time I tried out a kiwi film – The Hunt For The Wilderpeople. It’s got Sam Neill in it, and the kid who plays the lead is great. I can’t imagine it will get a wide release in the UK. Maybe in an arts cinema (maybe Chapter in Cardiff), but if you come across it, it’s well worth a watch.

The next day we went to The Catlins, which is an area on the south coast about 70km east of Invercargill. We spied some dolphins but sadly no sea lions, even though they are quite common in this area.

   After picking up some people from the Stewart Island ferry, we hot-footed it back to Queenstown.

The next day I headed south again, on a day trip to Doubtful Sound. Doubtful Sound is much bigger than Milford Sound, and is more difficult to access. We drove to Manapouri before taking a boat trip across Lake Manapouri. We then drove over Wilmot Pass (which is not connected to any other roads in NZ) before arriving at Doubtful Sound for a 3 hour cruise.

   

I really enjoyed this cruise, we saw bottle-nosed dolphins, and although it was raining a bit, the clouds were much higher than they had been at Milford Sound, so we were able to enjoy the waterfalls and the scenery.

  
We had an eventful journey back to Queenstown. Our bus broke down so we all had wait a short while for a couple of the other buses in the area to pick us up. We got back to Queenstown at 8.30pm, after a 7am start, so it was a long day. And after a long day, there’s only one way to finish it off in Queenstown – with a Fergburger. The best burgers in the world. Also, with it being quite late on, there was no queue!

Time to head north tomorrow, to the Mt Cook region. Fingers crossed for decent weather so I can get out walking.

Easter Weekend

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We arrived in Wanaka on Good Friday. It was extremely busy as there was an air show on in addition to it being a long weekend.

We arrived late afternoon, and after sitting on the lake with an ice cream, enjoying the sunset and a few planes flying by, I went to the cinema. You may think it’s a bit odd to go to the cinema on my one night in Wanaka, and on a Friday night as well, but this isn’t any old cinema. This is Cinema Paradiso, which gets a decent mention in my Lonely Planet. The cinema has sofas, and there is an intermission about an hour into the film where you can buy freshly baked cookies. 

  
I went to see Batman v Superman – a bit confusing, and loads of CGI.

Another reason for going to the cinema instead of sampling the local nightlife is that you basically cannot buy alcohol in New Zealand on Good Friday or Easter Sunday (there are some loopholes along the lines of staying in a hotel and buying a meal at the hotel restaurant allows you to buy one drink). Not that I’m an alcoholic or anything, but being away from home gets me in the holiday spirit, and being on holiday means drinking most day. I’ve been on ‘holiday’ for 3 months now so probably could do with a few days off the booze.

Anyway, the next morning I woke early and was out of the hostel and wandering around town at 8.30am. Wanaka is a really nice little town, kinda like Queenstown but with a more laid back vibe. Probably should have spent another night here in hindsight, but nevermind. The bus left at 9.45am to take us to Puzzling World, just outside Wanaka. Puzzling World has loads of illusions and a giant maze, and is kinda cool. They had a wall of hollow Einstein masks, but your eyes trick you into thinking you are looking at the outside of the mask instead of the inside. I promise you that all these are the hollow inside.

  
We left Puzzling World at about 11.30am and set off for Queenstown, self styled ‘adventure capital of the world’. We stopped off at Kawarau Bridge, home of the world’s first commercial bungy jump. We watched a few people jump, but no one from our bus did it. We also watched a short film on how bungy jumping was invented and became commercialised.

  
We arrived in Queenstown mid-afternoon, and my first task was to go in search of a new pair of walking boots after mine started taking on water from underneath in Franz Josef. With my new boots acquired, I had a walk around the lakefront, and through a local craft market. In the evening we had a boat trip on Lake Wakatipu with a burger and a free drink whilst watching the sunset. It was pretty spectacular to say the least:  

 
  
After a couple of drinks in the hostel bar, it was a pretty early night as I had an early bus in the morning to Dunedin.

I arrived in Dunedin around lunchtime on Easter Sunday, and to say it was quiet was a bit of an understatement. Not a lot was open and there were very few people about. After a little walk around to get my bearings, I retreated back to the hostel to do some much needed laundry. Cheapest so far, only $2 for a wash.

As it was so quiet, and there was little else to do in the evening, I went to the only thing open – the cinema. I’ll be turning into a film buff at this rate! This time it was My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, which I found surprisingly poignant.

Easter Monday was back to something approaching normality. Things were open so I was out of the hostel mid morning to see what Dunedin had to offer. First up, the Chinese Gardens. It turns out that the Chinese have a longish history with Dunedin following the gold rush in the 1800s, and there is a decent sized Chinese population in this area.

The gardens were opened in 2008 (i think, I don’t remember them being here in 2004), and are very tranquil and peaceful.

  
Next, I went to the Otago Settlers Museum, which was an interesting look at how various peoples settled in Dunedin and Otago, including the Maori, and the Scottish. Dunedin has a strong Scottish heritage, which is patently evident from walking around the city. It definitely felt like I was in a city in northern Britain. They even have a statue of Robert Burns in the city centre.

  
Next up was a tour around Cadbury World, and more free chocolate than I could shake a stick at. British people – be warned that Cadburys chocolate tastes weird in Oz and NZ. They put extra ingredients in to stop it melting in the heat.

  
Finally on Easter Monday I had a quick walk around Dunedin Railway Station, apparently the second most photographed building in the Southern Hemisphere. Guess what’s first?

  
After a hectic day I had a quiet evening in the hostel.

The next day I went to the Botanical Gardens, and had a nice long walk around there.

In the afternoon I went to the Otago Museum, which had quite a few exhibits including some personal possessions belonging to Sir Edmund Hillary from the first successful ascent of Everest.

I then had a quick look around Dunedin Art Gallery in the hope that the more I look at art, the more I might ‘get’ it.

After a long day walking around in my new boots, it was time to put my feet up in the evening.

I had one final morning in Dunedin before getting the bus back to Queenstown. I spent most of the morning searching for eye cream and consuming vast quantities of my new favourite drink – chai latte.

After a seemingly never-ending bus journey back to Queenstown, I arrived back at around 7pm, and am bracing myself for another early start as we head to Milford Sound.

Wellington and the West Coast of the South Island

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It’s been a while so strap in for a long-ish update.

After 2 days of rain in National Park village (where I caught up on my previous blog posts), we headed south to Wellington (or Wellie-bobs as mum called it 😄). It was still raining when we arrived in Wellington. I went on a tour around the parliament building in the afternoon. The NZ parliament building is known as the Beehive:

  
It continued to rain after I’d finished the tour so then it was a quick dash to the supermarket and then an evening of reading and watching Dawson’s Creek on my iPad. The dialogue is as wordy as I remembered, Dawson’s hair is terrible, I would totally still wear Joey’s wardrobe, and the soundtrack is awesome.

The next day I visited the Te Papa national museum. It is a massive museum over 6 floors with lots of different exhibits including lots of stuff on plate tectonics (you’ll remember from an earlier blog post that I like all that kind of stuff), wildlife in NZ (lots of which is only found in NZ), and an interesting exhibit on Gallipoli. I spent a good chunk of the day there before heading to the Wellington Museum later in the afternoon.

After being a bit museumed out, I went for a long walk around the botanical gardens the following day. You can take a cable car from the city centre up to the botanical gardens, where you get a great view of the city.

    
After a nice walk around the gardens I headed back to the centre for a wander round, followed by a nice pint of cider. Although it should probably have been a Guinness as it was St Patrick’s Day.

The following day was an early start to catch the ferry to the South Island. The Cook Strait (which separates the 2 main islands) is a narrow stretch of water, but the ferry journey is 3 and a half hours as the ferry has to negotiate its way through the Marlborough Sounds. We arrived in Picton at lunchtime and then drove through Nelson (doesn’t bear much resemblance to either the one in Lancashire or the one in south Wales) before heading to the next stop in Marahou. Marahou is on the edge of Abel Tasman National Park, and it’s not somewhere I’ve been on either of my previous 2 trips to NZ. 

I stayed 3 nights (2 full days) in Marahou. On the first day I did a trip which involved about 3 hours of kayaking in the morning, out from Marahou to Watering Cove, and then a 4 hour (12km) hike back to Marahou on the Abel Tasman Coastal Path. It was absolutely stunning.

   
        
The following day I walked back along the coastal path for about 90 minutes and fell asleep on a beach for most of the afternoon.

The next day we continued our journey down the West Coast to Westport. There’s not much to see in Westport itself, but nearby is Cape Foulwind where there is a sea colony (spot the seals!)

  
In the evening we had a scavenger hunt around Westport. It’s a town where you have to make your own entertainment.

We continued our journey down the west coast the next day. The first stop of the day was at the pancake rocks. Guess how they got their name:

  
After stopping in a rainy Greymouth for supplies, we headed to Franz Josef Glacier where we were staying for 2 nights. One of the best things I’ve done previously in NZ was take a helicopter flight to the glacier and then spent a few hours walking on the glacier. Having done this before, I couldn’t really justify doing it again, and it turned out to be just as well because for the 2 nights we were in Franz Josef it absolutely poured down. Part of the town was flooded when the river burst its banks, and the whole town was issued with a ‘boil water’ notice. It made the national news here.

As the weather was fairly miserable, I had several glasses of wine on our first evening there whilst watching England produce another fine batting collapse against Afghanistan. The satellite signal couldn’t cope with the weather and gave up when we were 85-7.

After a slightly slow start the next day (and with the weather, there was no need to rush!), I went jade carving with one of the girls on the bus, and then we walked to a glacier viewpoint:

  
The glacier is somewhere in the clouds!

Typically, the day we left Franz Josef was a beautiful day. We stopped to look at Fox Glacier (seeing as we were unable to see Franz Josef Glacier):

  
And we also had a short walk to Lake Matheson, which is a mirror lake:

  
Mount Cook and Mount Tasman are the 2 peaks on the right, though I forget which way round they are.

As we drove towards Wanaka, we passed lots more stunning scenery. I will never get tired of looking at these views.

   
    
 
As Wanaka is inland, I’ll talk about that on my next post. Hopefully I’ll get myself organised and post it in the next couple of days.