New Zealand
New Zealand was absolutely breathtakingly AMAZING. I am so glad that we decided to go with a tour group instead of back-packing, because we got to meet a diverse group of people from all over the world, learnt about local stories and history and didn't have to worry about accommodation and food.
Clockwise from the bottom left: Piritta (Finland), Roquiea (Oman), Corinne (Switzerland), Ahakori (Japan), Nick (NZ & our tour guide), the guy hiding in the background, and the only other guy on tour - Sergio (Spain), Sally (China), Carol (Ireland), the two girls in front of her are from Korea, but I've forgotten their names because I didn't speak to them that much!, and lastly in the bottom right is Tania (Aust).
The ratio of girls to guys was pretty shocking - 11 girls to 1 guy. hahaha poor Sergio (or you could say lucky him) Nikki and I were by far the youngest (and was time to time reminded about it i.e. I was the only person who came loaded with junk food) Most people had already finished uni and settled into their jobs. Piritta and Sally were both in their mid-20s, Carol and Sergio in their early 30s and Corinne 36, but they all looked so young. Roquiea and Kori were both in uni, with Roq studying to be a midwife, she had already delivered 5 babies and watched many other births.
By the end of the trip, we had driven around the whole of the South Island (1760 miles) and I had taken 540 photos.
NZ Day 1
Leaving sydney
First hitch - no accomodation despite Nikki's double confirmation of our booking. we were given a full refund and the ultimate joy of sleeping on the rock-solid couches of the youth hostel - 1 hr of sleep + 5 hours of back pain = $33 refund (later to be taken away by the stupid customs in australia, but we'll get to that part)
Driving across the Canterbury Plains
Lake Tekapo
Church of the Good Shephard
Lake Pukaki
In the arvo, we went on a 1.5 hr walk in the national park to get a close-up view of Mt Cook.
It was so hot, that people were stripping down into their underwear, including this crazy bunch of oldies (it wasn't a pleasant sight)
Mt Cook + glacial river
Sunset at Lake Ohau (our resting place for the night)
Wuthering-Heightsesque landscape
NZ Day 2
Mrs Jones' fruit market and garden in the Cromwell district
Te Anau
Eglinton Valley view point - behold our mini-bus
Mirror Lake
The drive to Milford Sound
To get to Milford Sound, we had to drive through the mountain via the Homer tunnel (carved through 1.5 km of granite).
Overnight cruise through Milford Sound, quite possibly the most beautiful place in the world
Kayaking on one of the lakes at MS - we were lucky enough to see and approach really close to the dolphins. One asian man got so excited he capsized and had to be towed away.
NZ Day 3
Sunrise on the Tasman Sea
Returning back to Milford Sound after cruising on the Tasman
On the way back to Te Anau
Try to spot Roqueia - Nick nearly had a heart attack when, as we were about to drive off after a brief kodak moment, he saw her standing next to the steep mountains. She had been so excited to see and touch the ice that she had missed the "danger" sign.
short walk at The Chasm - the holes in the rocks were carved by the strong current
Lake Wakatipu
In the arvo, we arrived at Queenstown and had 3 hrs to kill since three people were going hang-gliding and we had to wait for them before we could drive to our hotel. Nikki and I had planned to go up on the gondola but there was no way we were going to pay $20 for a five minute trip.
I came up with the ingenius idea of WALKING up that 400meter hill/mountain to save those 10 bucks. Boy was that a STUPID spur-of-the-moment decision. My legs have never ached so much in my life! There was NO down, only up, up and more up and more rocks, and omg more steps and more road and more steps. Along the way we bumped into three Israeli guys who were equally as dazed and tired as us, but on the other hand, we were also overtaken by many other avid mountain hikers who were RUNNING up the hill.
Glimpses of Queenstown as we trekked through the bush
Despite the pain, it was so rewarding to reach the top
Incidentally, bungee jumping also takes place on this hill. It's a 45 meter jump, but because the hill is 400m high, it's like you're falling that WHOLE distance. Next time I come back, I'm going to do it (so I tell myself)
Back down the gondola
NZ Day 4
A whole day in Queenstown to do whatever we liked - bungee jumping, canyon swinging, hangliding for those others who didn't quake in their boots at the thought of heights, jet boating and horse riding for me, safely on the ground. I went on the shotover jet, described as the most thrilling jet boat ride in the world. I had gotten myself so worked up for an adrenalin rush, that it actually fell short of my expectations. Yes, the boat was extremely fast, dodging rocks and veering through the narrow canyons at 80kmph with water splashing into your face and the engine motors roaring in your ears, but I never once felt that giddying rush. In fact, I was disappointed that I had paid $100 for a 20 minute ride. I then noticed that were A LOT of middle aged people and young kids around me - it then occurred to me that if I had been seeking a dose of adrenalin, I was certainly at the wrong place!! It was the perfect activity for families, who had the money to spare and wanted some fun, but didn't want to do any extreme/dangerous activities. DOH. So lesson learnt, don't do it, unless if you're uber rich and have tried everything else!
Shooting through the Shotover river
Passing through the bridge (you can see the canyons below it)
360 degree spin (I paid $20 for this and some other photo, what a rip-off) Sally and I are sitting at the back, Carol is in the 2nd row from the front on the very left.
Later, Sally went bungee jumping and Carol tandem hang-gliding and both came back with glowing reviews. Tandem hang-gliding sounds particularly appealing because you don't have to free-fall and there is another experienced person with you controlling the flight. The scary bit is running off the mountain ledge, but once you're in the air, you have this awesome sensation of weightlessness.
Horse-riding in the arvo was EXCELLENT. Because there were so many of us doing it (stereotype of girls and horses is quite valid) we got to ride on the Lord of the Rings tour at the cost of a normal horse-riding expedition. Since I was the second-to-last person to be given a horse, I assumed I would have the worst of the lot. And in some ways, that was true. When Oscar wasn't trampling past other horses to be at the front, or biting them, he was chomping on the grass, shrubs or his bit. He just never stopped MOVING. But halfway on our 2hr ride, I found out that he was one of the horses in Lord of the Rings and immediately, everything was forgiven, of course. So by being last in line, Roqueia and I had landed jackpot :)
Riding up the mountain
Dart river and mountain range in LOTR
That flat green patch was where Iseengard (sp?), the white tower for the evil dude used to be
Sam (the other horse in LOTR) & Roqeuia (sadly beheaded by the camera)
Oscarwinner SORRY SORRY SORRY
View from our hotel in Queenstown
Twilight
NZ Day 5
More driving and stopping points, on the way to Fox Glacier
Lake Wanaka
Thunder Creek Falls flowing into Haast River (World Heritage area)
Fox Glacier - one of two places in the world (the other being Chile) where there is a rainforest and glacier at the same place. Initially we were going to go on a heli-hike, that is the helicopter would take us further up the glacier so we could explore some ice caves, but because of bad weather we had to downgrade to the half-day hike. This hike involved 4hrs walking (3hrs through rainforest and 1 hr on ice) To get onto the actual glacier, we had to go round on its side through the rainforest because it was so high up. The views were just breaktaking. Funnily enough, the walk wasn't as bad as that climb up to the skyline gondola!
Starting point
The trek through the rainforest (pretty dangerous, one man had an epileptic attack and fell 7 meters down, dragging another woman with him)
To take this photo, my tour guide had to stand on a protuding rock ledge that dropped straight down. I was having a stress attack for him!
Looking back at the glacial river
Finally on the ice
crevasse - you can pretty much eat this 100yr ice - very clean
Going back home on a 70s bus
NZ Day 6
A pretty relaxed day, with some strolls around Lake Matheson, and long drive down the West Coast back to Christchurch
Swing bridge - apparently if 16 people all walked to the same rhythm, the pressure would make this bridge collapse
Lake Matheson, shame about the clouds - behind them, are the two tallest mountain peaks of NZ. But the water is still crystal clear
Lunch at Hokitika
Arthur's pass
kea - largest alpine parrot
Just managed to catch it as it flew off - check out the colour of the wings
Back on the Canterbury Plains - how could we forget the sheep. The sheep-human ratio in NZ is 10:1 hahaha
Our tour ended in Christchurch, where it was pouring in buckets. This time round, the youth hostel had our accommodation all sorted, and Nikki and I spent the rest of the arvo shopping for souvenirs. I finally bought myself a pair of gloves and beanie made out of possum/merino wool (preparing for winter yknow) and some photo albums made out of natural plant matter. Who would have known those photo albums would give us so much grief!! When we tried to take them through customs in Australia, they said that even though it was fumigated, there were still potential bugs and diseases on there which had to be killed via gamma radiation. Now that we had brought it all the way from NZ, we were not about to throw them away, and so had to fork out 60 megawhopping bugs for treatment! The only comfort I have is that if some world-disease were to break out, at least Australia as a loner island would be the last refuge.
Finally, Christchurch from above
The alps
I'm glad to be back home, but don't really want to think about the years of uni ahead. GAH. Travelling is amazing, it's addictive. I definitely need to go to other places - Europe and South America is on the agenda. Now I just need to figure out how the hell I am going to pay for it.
Clockwise from the bottom left: Piritta (Finland), Roquiea (Oman), Corinne (Switzerland), Ahakori (Japan), Nick (NZ & our tour guide), the guy hiding in the background, and the only other guy on tour - Sergio (Spain), Sally (China), Carol (Ireland), the two girls in front of her are from Korea, but I've forgotten their names because I didn't speak to them that much!, and lastly in the bottom right is Tania (Aust).
The ratio of girls to guys was pretty shocking - 11 girls to 1 guy. hahaha poor Sergio (or you could say lucky him) Nikki and I were by far the youngest (and was time to time reminded about it i.e. I was the only person who came loaded with junk food) Most people had already finished uni and settled into their jobs. Piritta and Sally were both in their mid-20s, Carol and Sergio in their early 30s and Corinne 36, but they all looked so young. Roquiea and Kori were both in uni, with Roq studying to be a midwife, she had already delivered 5 babies and watched many other births.
By the end of the trip, we had driven around the whole of the South Island (1760 miles) and I had taken 540 photos.
NZ Day 1
Leaving sydney
First hitch - no accomodation despite Nikki's double confirmation of our booking. we were given a full refund and the ultimate joy of sleeping on the rock-solid couches of the youth hostel - 1 hr of sleep + 5 hours of back pain = $33 refund (later to be taken away by the stupid customs in australia, but we'll get to that part)
Driving across the Canterbury Plains
Lake Tekapo
Church of the Good Shephard
Lake Pukaki
In the arvo, we went on a 1.5 hr walk in the national park to get a close-up view of Mt Cook.
It was so hot, that people were stripping down into their underwear, including this crazy bunch of oldies (it wasn't a pleasant sight)
Mt Cook + glacial river
Sunset at Lake Ohau (our resting place for the night)
Wuthering-Heightsesque landscape
NZ Day 2
Mrs Jones' fruit market and garden in the Cromwell district
Te Anau
Eglinton Valley view point - behold our mini-bus
Mirror Lake
The drive to Milford Sound
To get to Milford Sound, we had to drive through the mountain via the Homer tunnel (carved through 1.5 km of granite).
Overnight cruise through Milford Sound, quite possibly the most beautiful place in the world
Kayaking on one of the lakes at MS - we were lucky enough to see and approach really close to the dolphins. One asian man got so excited he capsized and had to be towed away.
NZ Day 3
Sunrise on the Tasman Sea
Returning back to Milford Sound after cruising on the Tasman
On the way back to Te Anau
Try to spot Roqueia - Nick nearly had a heart attack when, as we were about to drive off after a brief kodak moment, he saw her standing next to the steep mountains. She had been so excited to see and touch the ice that she had missed the "danger" sign.
short walk at The Chasm - the holes in the rocks were carved by the strong current
Lake Wakatipu
In the arvo, we arrived at Queenstown and had 3 hrs to kill since three people were going hang-gliding and we had to wait for them before we could drive to our hotel. Nikki and I had planned to go up on the gondola but there was no way we were going to pay $20 for a five minute trip.
I came up with the ingenius idea of WALKING up that 400meter hill/mountain to save those 10 bucks. Boy was that a STUPID spur-of-the-moment decision. My legs have never ached so much in my life! There was NO down, only up, up and more up and more rocks, and omg more steps and more road and more steps. Along the way we bumped into three Israeli guys who were equally as dazed and tired as us, but on the other hand, we were also overtaken by many other avid mountain hikers who were RUNNING up the hill.
Glimpses of Queenstown as we trekked through the bush
Despite the pain, it was so rewarding to reach the top
Incidentally, bungee jumping also takes place on this hill. It's a 45 meter jump, but because the hill is 400m high, it's like you're falling that WHOLE distance. Next time I come back, I'm going to do it (so I tell myself)
Back down the gondola
NZ Day 4
A whole day in Queenstown to do whatever we liked - bungee jumping, canyon swinging, hangliding for those others who didn't quake in their boots at the thought of heights, jet boating and horse riding for me, safely on the ground. I went on the shotover jet, described as the most thrilling jet boat ride in the world. I had gotten myself so worked up for an adrenalin rush, that it actually fell short of my expectations. Yes, the boat was extremely fast, dodging rocks and veering through the narrow canyons at 80kmph with water splashing into your face and the engine motors roaring in your ears, but I never once felt that giddying rush. In fact, I was disappointed that I had paid $100 for a 20 minute ride. I then noticed that were A LOT of middle aged people and young kids around me - it then occurred to me that if I had been seeking a dose of adrenalin, I was certainly at the wrong place!! It was the perfect activity for families, who had the money to spare and wanted some fun, but didn't want to do any extreme/dangerous activities. DOH. So lesson learnt, don't do it, unless if you're uber rich and have tried everything else!
Shooting through the Shotover river
Passing through the bridge (you can see the canyons below it)
360 degree spin (I paid $20 for this and some other photo, what a rip-off) Sally and I are sitting at the back, Carol is in the 2nd row from the front on the very left.
Later, Sally went bungee jumping and Carol tandem hang-gliding and both came back with glowing reviews. Tandem hang-gliding sounds particularly appealing because you don't have to free-fall and there is another experienced person with you controlling the flight. The scary bit is running off the mountain ledge, but once you're in the air, you have this awesome sensation of weightlessness.
Horse-riding in the arvo was EXCELLENT. Because there were so many of us doing it (stereotype of girls and horses is quite valid) we got to ride on the Lord of the Rings tour at the cost of a normal horse-riding expedition. Since I was the second-to-last person to be given a horse, I assumed I would have the worst of the lot. And in some ways, that was true. When Oscar wasn't trampling past other horses to be at the front, or biting them, he was chomping on the grass, shrubs or his bit. He just never stopped MOVING. But halfway on our 2hr ride, I found out that he was one of the horses in Lord of the Rings and immediately, everything was forgiven, of course. So by being last in line, Roqueia and I had landed jackpot :)
Riding up the mountain
Dart river and mountain range in LOTR
That flat green patch was where Iseengard (sp?), the white tower for the evil dude used to be
Sam (the other horse in LOTR) & Roqeuia (sadly beheaded by the camera)
Oscarwinner SORRY SORRY SORRY
View from our hotel in Queenstown
Twilight
NZ Day 5
More driving and stopping points, on the way to Fox Glacier
Lake Wanaka
Thunder Creek Falls flowing into Haast River (World Heritage area)
Fox Glacier - one of two places in the world (the other being Chile) where there is a rainforest and glacier at the same place. Initially we were going to go on a heli-hike, that is the helicopter would take us further up the glacier so we could explore some ice caves, but because of bad weather we had to downgrade to the half-day hike. This hike involved 4hrs walking (3hrs through rainforest and 1 hr on ice) To get onto the actual glacier, we had to go round on its side through the rainforest because it was so high up. The views were just breaktaking. Funnily enough, the walk wasn't as bad as that climb up to the skyline gondola!
Starting point
The trek through the rainforest (pretty dangerous, one man had an epileptic attack and fell 7 meters down, dragging another woman with him)
To take this photo, my tour guide had to stand on a protuding rock ledge that dropped straight down. I was having a stress attack for him!
Looking back at the glacial river
Finally on the ice
crevasse - you can pretty much eat this 100yr ice - very clean
Going back home on a 70s bus
NZ Day 6
A pretty relaxed day, with some strolls around Lake Matheson, and long drive down the West Coast back to Christchurch
Swing bridge - apparently if 16 people all walked to the same rhythm, the pressure would make this bridge collapse
Lake Matheson, shame about the clouds - behind them, are the two tallest mountain peaks of NZ. But the water is still crystal clear
Lunch at Hokitika
Arthur's pass
kea - largest alpine parrot
Just managed to catch it as it flew off - check out the colour of the wings
Back on the Canterbury Plains - how could we forget the sheep. The sheep-human ratio in NZ is 10:1 hahaha
Our tour ended in Christchurch, where it was pouring in buckets. This time round, the youth hostel had our accommodation all sorted, and Nikki and I spent the rest of the arvo shopping for souvenirs. I finally bought myself a pair of gloves and beanie made out of possum/merino wool (preparing for winter yknow) and some photo albums made out of natural plant matter. Who would have known those photo albums would give us so much grief!! When we tried to take them through customs in Australia, they said that even though it was fumigated, there were still potential bugs and diseases on there which had to be killed via gamma radiation. Now that we had brought it all the way from NZ, we were not about to throw them away, and so had to fork out 60 megawhopping bugs for treatment! The only comfort I have is that if some world-disease were to break out, at least Australia as a loner island would be the last refuge.
Finally, Christchurch from above
The alps
I'm glad to be back home, but don't really want to think about the years of uni ahead. GAH. Travelling is amazing, it's addictive. I definitely need to go to other places - Europe and South America is on the agenda. Now I just need to figure out how the hell I am going to pay for it.