New Zealand: Glaciers, Seals and Near Death

We arrived in Fox Glacier and booked ourselves into the campsite. The weather was deteriorating the rain that was promised started coming. We booked ourselves in for a Glacier hike the next day regardless. We also went for a short walk to nearby forest after dark to see some glow worms. We arrived a little early and thought it might be another penguin situation. We didn't want to be stood up by glow worms. However, they didn't disappoint us and appeared once it got a little darker. There were loads of them under tree roots and in the moss. It looked spectacular

The next morning we arrived at the meeting centre and were given warm and (sort off) waterproof layers, boots and crampons (boots with spikes on the soles so you don't slip and also the worst word in the English language). We got a bus to the foot of the Glacier and started hiking. Our guide was called Scott and there were four other people with us, a family from Australia and a fella from France.

Before we went onto the ice, we sat down to put on our crampons. The Australian mother sat down to put on hers, only for the guide to look over at her about to put them on the wrong way round. There she was, spikes sticking up in the air, about to put her foot down on them. A worrying start. It's not rocket science. Spikes in your foot equals pain and limping. Sure that would ruin your day all together I'd say.

So once everyone was sorted, off we went to climb the glacier. Steps are chiseled out of the ice every day to make it easier for people to walk. It  was so much fun. Obviously really cold and wet, particularly as it was raining, but it didn't matter really. Some of the ice is really blue and we saw loads of sink holes and tunnels. We walked for a few hours and then had lunch. Once we stopped moving it was freezing! It was only when we got back to the carpark and saw where we walked to that we realised how far we had gone. By the end, we were soaking. The waterproof gear was not so waterproof! The shower afterwards was up there with a post festival shower in satisfaction terms.

We drove to Franz Joseph to meet up with Kate that evening. She was involved in organising a bar bungee for work. We had a few drinks and watched the people running up and down the bar on bungee cord. Until, that is, our names were called out. Emmet was the designated runner, and Niamh was the drinker even though she cant chug. Emmet done well on the running, until the fella holding the bungee pulled him back. This was not obvious to people watching. I thought he was just crap at it. Niamh attempted to chug. It didn't work. Emmet started making me laugh, which cause the beer to come back out my nose. Some of it landed in the cup. Emmet, ashamed of my drinking skills grabbed the cup and before I could stop him chugged the rest, and unknowingly drank my snot. More than he bargained for.

The following day, we drove up to a small town called Hoitika. They have a little place where they keep Kiwi's, so we went to see them. They are really cool little guys, they are bigger than I thought they would be. We had to go to see them, we are in New Zealand after all. There were also giant eels that we got to feed cows liver to there. That was good fun. They are massive. Don't fall in the water folks!

We decided to drive over to Kaikora over the other side of the country a few days earlier than originally planned. It was raining non stop and due to stay that way. We stopped off for the night in Jacksons in a really nice camper site. We had hoped to do a bit of hiking in the area, as the route we were taking is one of the nicest parts of the country. Unfortunately we didn't out drive the rain that day and it caught up with us. So it was a night in the common area beside the heater.

We stopped at a really nice coffee place on the way.

 

Kaikora is famous for its marine life. We had heard about a colony of seal pups that swim in a river just outside the town and that was our first stop. The seals were amazing. There were four of them swimming around, doing flips and balancing leaves of their noses. One of them just sat on rock, slept and then posed for us! On the drive back we saw loads of colonies of adult seals, lazing on the beach and swimming in the sea.

At one stage while we were watching the baby seals we got chatting to a older couple from Australia. They were lovely. The best part of the conversation was when the lady started explaining the difference between New Zealand bush and Australian bush. Apparently, Australian bush is much neater, but in Ireland its just a forest. We struggled not to laugh out loud.

The next stop was a lavender farm which had lovely coffee.

We walked around the town. We had planned to do a cliff walk and see more seals. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, Niamh had an accident. It was probably due, it had been a few days. She managed to bust up her toe on some gravel and had to get first aid from a lady working in a museum nearby.

 

We had spotted a place called Donegal House on our travels and decided to stop in for dinner. We got a roast and mud pie for 15 dollars which is about a tenner. Bargor. It was the best food we have had since we left Dublin. It padded our stomachs for the pub later. We went to a music night in a local bar. The main band were good, although the guitarist kept trying to sing, he had an awful voice. There were a couple of young lads, who were brilliant. We were happier when they got on stage and didn't offend our ear drums.

Our next stop was Picton which is a grand town. We once again had fish and chips by the waterfront and fed some sea gulls. Feeding the gulls was just wonderful! We played mini golf, Niamh won.

 

 

We went for a hike on the Queen Charlotte walk which has spectacular views of the Marlborough Sounds. It was beautiful. The end was a bit disappointing, just a wooden stump, but as they say its the journey that counts. We managed to walk 25 k in 5 hours but were in bits afterwards.

 

 

There not loads to say about Nelson either. It is a nice town, we got a great baked potato from a street stall, found a great coffee shop and bought delicious cake from the farmers market. We also stayed a night in Motueka which was a nice place to chill in preparation for an epic hike with Keith and Sue.

 

For those that don't know Keith (O'Dowda) is a school friend of Emmet's who lives in Wellington. His girlfriend is Sue. We met them in Marahau and after a brief catch up we started out walking. Abel Tasman is a beautiful national park on the coast of the north of the south island. We done a three day hike staying in huts at night. The huts were really basic, no electricity, cooking facilities or bedding.

The first day we had a four hour hike to the hut at Anchorage. It was quite tough with the big rucksacks full of food and equipment. We decided the best thing was to drink our bottle of whiskey to lighten the load for the next day. It was too cold to sit outside by a fire so we sat in the kitchen in front of the wood burner.

The second day we walked to Bark Bay. We had an early start as there was a tidal crossings, so we had to reach the crossing in a certain time window when the tide was out and we could walk across the sand. We got most of the way across but there was still some water that required us to take off our shoes and socks, roll up our pants and get into the freezing water. Keith "Aqua Man" O' Dowda had his water friendly shoes on, so he was grand.

We got to the second hut in great time. Because we got there so early, the ranger told us of a back room which we got to ourselves.  We chilled out for the day and that evening we chopped up a bit of wood and set up a fire outside. We got out the bottle of rum and a few marshmallows and stuck on a few tunes and had a great night and talked about the good old days of drunken nights as teenagers.

The following day we headed off, with a little faster pace than expected. We found out at the last minute that there was a tidal crossing that we were not prepared for. We had to leg it to get there before the tide came in. Thankfully we made it because of our outstanding hiking abilities. We then came to the lodge that we had heard about and it was better than we could of wished for. It had a bar! Result! We then found out there was yet again another crossing, this time we had missed it though and it wouldn't be open again until six that evening. There was a longer way around, which we ended up taking.

We arrived at the last but certainly not the least hut. Great little spot, which, apart from a German couple which were camping, we had the whole place to ourselves. The ranger came in and told us when the crossing was. He donned a pair of shorts that brings short shorts to a new level. Shorter than a man of his size should ever even attempt to wear. Worrying. He told us not to wake him when we came back from the pub. We joked we'd have a party. He starred at us blankly. Zero craic! I suppose he had bigger problems, like his wardrobe.

We headed over to the lodge in the pitch dark. Torches are definitely needed out there. We chilled out for a while and had a few drinks. When we finally made it back to the lodge, we brought the mattresses out by the fire in the common area and set the fire up. We did have the place to ourselves after all. Cosy.

The following day we were due to head home on a water taxi. Basically a small boat. This would of been fine any of the other lovely days we had. This day though, was particularly rubbish weather. It was lashing rain and really, really windy. The sea was rough and the waves were massive. We stood on the beach watching the tiny boat come to shore, disappearing occasionally behind the waves. Not a confidence builder. The captain arrived to shore and we took some bags off the boat. There was a while where we weren't sure if we would get on the boat. We had to wade out to it as it was thrown about and attempt to get on. Off we went and it was kind of fun at first. That soon finished though when we got a little further out and left the inlet. It was really bad and massive waves were throwing the boat up in the air and we'd crash down and hit the sea with a thud.

We went further up the coast to to collect other people. When we got to the coast, the boyfriend of the German couple was in trouble. His speech was all slurred and his hands had frozen and he couldn't move his fingers. It was really scary, he didn't want to stay on the boat and we still had an hour journey back. Everyone was really worried about him, as we were in a really remote place. Thankfully one of the guys who was getting off there had a car and said he would take him to a medical centre. First we had to warm him up. We started putting our clothes on him. Keith's hat and Emmet's sock were sacrificed and after he was carried off the boat he started to improve a lot. They thanked us for our help and off they went. Turns out apart from shock, he had Hypothermia. Scary.

 

We picked up two French couples at the first beach on the way home. We tried to go in to pick others up at a particularly  rough beach. We couldn't get to them. We took a wave to the side which the captain managed to drive through. Then when we were trying to leave the inlet, he had to turn and turned into a massive wave side on. It towered over the boat and hit us so hard we all thought that we were going to capsize. Thankfully we didn't. The driver apologised after a few screams. We had to keep going though and others had to be picked up. Thankfully the following beaches weren't as bad as that one. We managed to get everyone else on board.

When we arrived back, even the driver was shaken up. It was maybe the most terrifying experience of our lives and we were very, very lucky we got back safely. The driver told us it was a character building experience. Ha. I suppose you have to see the funny side of these things. Also, the German guy was fine in the end. Lets just hope that Emmet's sock and Keith's hat can someway go towards the massive debt the Irish owe Angela, aka....The Merk. Thanks Germany.

Link to Photos
 

New Zealand - brrr, campervans, sessions and bungee jumps!

Our second flight of the trip and our first long haul flight was from Bangkok to Christchurch. The flight had a number of stopovers. We flew from Bangkok to Singapore to Melbourne to Christchurch. The nighttime leg from Singapore to Melbourne was freezing. They turn the heating right down and then charge you 7 dollars to rent a blanket. God dam budget airlines. Brrrr!

Three flights of shivers and screaming babies later, we arrived in Christchurch, tired grumpy and needing some rest. We got picked up and brought to our hostel, Kiwi Basecamp. On top of it all, Emmet picked up a bug in Thailand. He was just beginning to get over it before the flight, but ended up sick again once we got to Christchurch. We were quite worried. He had a temperature, which is not good coming from that part of the world. We knew it wasn't Dengue Fever or Malaria because he didn't have he other symptoms. He rested for two days and just as we were about to the doctor he got better. Yeay. Forty dollars extra booze money!

When we left Bangkok it was in the mid to high thirties. When we arrived in New Zealand it was ten degrees. Apparently, they got a cold snap. Thanks for that New Zealand!

We did venture out and see some of Christchurch though. While Emmet was sick, Niamh peeled off into town to a great museum with an exhibition on the earthquake, which was very sad but informative. Coming from the otherside of the world where a natural disaster is a half a foot of snow, it was sobering to see the impact on a community. They had recordings that people made on the day and videos from some of the survivors. They also had a quake metre which showed all the recent quakes, most of which are small. Once Emmet was fit enough to venture out of his bunk bed, we went to the Botanic Gardens and the pop up mall. As most of the city centre was completely destroyed and is still mainly inaccessible, a temporary mall has been set up in brightly painted metal containers. They have some lovely shops, cafes and restaurants. We got a pizza, which was delicious and spent some time window shopping.

Once we were sure Emmet was fully better, we went to rent a camper van. We had done some research and one of the staff members at Kiwi Basecamp done a ring around and some impressive bargaining to get us a good deal with Jucy.We decided to go with a space wagon rather than a camper van, as Niamh thought it was too big, and off we went on our road trip.

The first place we went to was a town called Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula. It is a really pretty French style town and was really nice to walk around it. We stayed in one of the Top Ten campsites, which we had been told are the Ritz of campsites. It was the perfect start to our camper van adventure.

We then took our first long drive down to Dunedin. We heard of a magical place that had a chocolate factory and a brewery. Sounds like heaven! Unfortunately not, it is a bit crap. There isn't much else to do and the admission charges were ridiculous. The campsite, Leith Valley, was pretty nice though.

We left early and went onto Portobello, a little village on the Otago Peninsula. The area was beautiful. Unfortunately, we have started camping a little too early. It was a little too cold to do any of the outdoor activities we planned. We wanted to see penguins, but weren't willing to pay 50 dollars each to sit outside waiting for them in the rain, wind and bitter cold. Someone had told us about a beach where the penguins come in to sleep and you can see them without having to pay a tour guide. The only catch is that you not really meant to be there, so try not to get caught. They are building a look out point, but you can climb into the construction site and have a quick look. We decided to do that. We stood for 45 minutes and the bloody penguins never showed up. We returned to the campsite disappointed and tried to avoid hypothermia.

The next stop was Queenstown, which is a really great place. It is beautiful and warmer than Portobello (although not warm enough, where are you Spring?). The whole town is surrounded by snow covered mountains and is full of lovely cafes, shops and very importantly, pubs with decently priced beer. We stayed at the Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park. Our first day consisted off sampling some coffees and renting some dvds to watch while polished off our bottle of New Zealand wine (from a bottle, we resisted the cartons). As luck would have it, neither of the two dvds would work properly, which we only figured out after drinking the wine, which ruled out driving down the video shop and exchanging them. Early night!

The following day we went for a hike nearby the town. It was really nice and we had great views of Queenstown down below us. We didn't get to the top, as Emmets age started to tell. We came to a clearing where there were picnic tables. Emmet made a beeline for one and collapsed onto the bench, which is where him and his knobly knees stayed until Niamh realised he would go no further this time. So back down the mountain we went.

That night we decided to go and do a pub crawl. It was an organised one, which we paid 25 NZ dollars for at The World Bar. And off we went, shots at the door at every bar and discounts on certain drinks in different bars. The main reason we went was to get access to the ice bar. We were given massive coats and gloves and went into a bar which was minus seven degrees. There were loads of ice sculptures, even the glasses were made of ice!It was a good enough night overall but a small crowd. By the end of it, we broke away from the group and went back to our favourite bar of the night, the Boiler Room. They had a live band and that night there was a bunch of people in fancy dress, dressed up as old people. One guy got up on the table and had hanging from his shorts a pair of tights with two balls in it. Basically an old mans scrotum, which ended up in Emmets mouth, along with an English bloke who was on the crawl with us. Alcohol, one minute your sober, next minute your....well.....lets move on.

The following day was right off. Niamh stayed in the car until four, at which point I had to wake her. The town is a five minute walk, we drove to the video store. Ruined! So we arrived back, all ready for a quite night in, when two of the Welsh girls, Kate and Claire, that we met in Thailand and live in Queenstown, arrived outside our car, smiles from ear to ear. We knew immediately our quiet night was now over and it had instantly changed to party night. They are two crazy Welsh girls who love to party. And we love them for it. Couldn't ask to meet two nicer people! So that was that, a time and a pub was instantly arranged after we swapped stories about what we'd all been up to for the last few weeks. Another great night out was had.

Myself and Emmet wanted to visit some wineries but had a dilemma, one of us would have to be a designated driver. This was until Kate offered to be our driver and tour guide. We woke up feeling sprightly considering the late night and headed off with Kate on what we thought was our tour, until there was a short detour...to the bungee bridge. Next thing we knew we were being strapped to a rope and standing over a forty foot drop into Kawarau River!  It was the single most terrifying and fun thing we have ever done. We were well up for some wine afterwards.

Emmet terrified showing our bungee tickets.

 

We drove out to four wineries just outside Queenstown. Some of Lord of the Rings was filmed in the area. It is pretty spectacular. The wine was great too. One of them had a little area for boules set up so we had a few games. Kate won, Emmet was crap. We treated ourselves to a bottle in the last place, Chard Farm, which we will save for a barbecue on a sunny day. After a hard days sightseeing we went back to Kate's where we met Claire and they made us delicious spaghetti bolognese.

The next day, we drove out to a pretty little town called Arrowtown. We walked around, had a coffee in a really cute cafe and visited the Chinese settlement, which is where Chinese gold miners lived during the gold rush in the late 1800s. They were treated pretty badly, completely ostracised, and lived in tiny huts. The houses were restored as a memorial.

Afterwards, we went back to Queenstown, went for a walk by the lake and watched people playing golf frisbee. It has the same rules as golf but you use a frisbee! As it was a Saturday, there was a small market on in the town with loads of handicrafts and food. It made Niamh hyperventilate a little.

After staying a few days longer than planned, it was time to say goodbye to Queenstown. We drove to Wanaka over the crown mountain range and enjoyed some beautiful views. We checked into Aspiring Campervan Park, which we cannot recommend enough. They had a hot tub, internet, a car wash and hot chocolate in the morning, with a marshmallow, all of which was free, our favourite price. After exploring the town, we bought fish and chips and ate them by the lake. We fed the leftovers to the seagulls. We would throw the food in the air and they flew up and caught it in their mouths. Kept us entertained for at least a half an hour!  We went for a walk along the lake and then went back to the campsite to use the hot tub. It was everything we hoped for and more!

We left the next morning happy after facebooking friends, drinking our hot chocolate and with a clean car! We had a long drive up to Fox glacier on bendy roads. We had to stop once for a flock of sheep, once for a rock fall to be cleared and once in Haast, the crappest town in the world, for a sandwich.