When Men Were Men and Sheep Were Nervous

4/22/11     Lake Mahinapua -> Franz Josef

Our departure times have steadily been getting later.  Today it was 9:30.  We took a quick jaunt down the road to the Bushman’s Centre.  Here we watched a video on helicopter deer recovery.  It was really interesting.  These guys were pretty nuts, jumping out of helicopters onto deer before inventing net guns.  The movie even featured some Top Gun music.  Classy.  After the video we wandered around.  There were three possums (alive), two eels, two big ass pigs, a goat, a wallaby, and some deer.  I read some articles about the deer recovery and did the whole tourist in a gift shop thing.

After a brief breakfast we all trooped back onto the bus and resumed our journey.  Our only other stop along the way was at Lake Mapourika for a brief look.  After that it was straight into Franz Josef.  We stopped at the glacier company’s center so those people doing the hike tomorrow could be briefed.  I went inside a souvenir shop.  Kristen lost her phone.  It was a very eventful time.

Our next, and final, stop was the Rainforest Retreat, our hostel.  We were placed in the last open room they had, a 6-bed dorm.  We later determined it must have originally been a 4-bed and they just stuck in another set of bunks.  Overall that room just smelled bad.  The only time it didn’t was when there was no one in the room to say it did.  So basically the room was small and smelly.

Nora, Kaleb, Tony, Travis, and I decided to hike up to the Tatare Tunnels Walk.  The path led to an old gold mine which we trekked through.  Being an old mine the floor was covered in water, enough to reach the ankles in most places.  I decided to go barefoot and save my shoes.  Unsure of how far the tunnel went we just kept walking.  Due to the whole tunnel being pitch black without our torch light thing, we managed to spot some glowworms.  Sadly the pictures of them glowing didn’t turn out.  The pictures of their web things did, though.

Highway to the Danger Zone

4/21/11     Westport -> Lake Mahinapua

There was plenty of driving today, but I feel like there was even more stopping.  We began the trip with an hour and a half hike down the coastline.  We began near a lighthouse and ended just past a seal colony (yay seals!).  Everything in between was beautiful.

Our next stop was a little scenic overlook with a huge view.  From there we drove about another 10 minutes to a small track down to the ocean.  On the walk down we encountered two huge trees, literally in the middle of the path.  It was pretty cool.  Down by the water was awesome as well.  The waves were coming in really hard and it was nice to just sit and watch.

 About 15 minutes down the road from that stop we stopped again, this time at the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes.  This place is amazing.  It’s about a 20 minute trek, but the scenery and the ocean make it a 30 minute trip, minimum.  There is no way anyone can just walk straight through without pausing to check out this force of nature.

Water, Water, Everywhere, But Do I Really Want a Drink?

4/20/11     Nelson -> Westport

Quite a bit of today was spent on the road, and quite a bit of my time was spent sleeping.  Over the past few years I have adapted to bus riding so much that it’s just natural to sleep.  It’s great for drum corps summers, but not so good when the scenery is absolutely gorgeous.  Oh well.  At least the time passed quickly.

Our first stop was the Nelson Lakes.  There we went on a brief walk through the brush.  We walked along the beach on the way back, even forging a stream.  After drying my feet it was time to eat lunch, feed ducks, and watch people jump into the lake, the crazies.

From there we did a great deal more driving, stopping in Murchison for some ice cream.  I signed up to do some jet boating on the way to the hostel.  This place also offered quad rides and horseback rides.  Out of the group of seven, only Tifah and I did anything.  We were dropped off with the others and the bus kept on going to the hostel.

Kayak Chaos

4/19/11     Nelson

The third day of our South Island journey.  For the second day in a row we rose before 6:30.  This time the plan for the day was a kayak trip through Abel Tasman National Park.  We were picked up shortly after 7am.  The first thing the driver, Reagan, said to us was, “Do you want the good news or the bad news?  The good news is that we’re going kayaking today.  The bad news is that the heating in the bus?”  And then he just shook his head.  This was terrible news because it was quite cold out and we were all dressed for kayaking.

So we sat on the cold bus for over an hour, huddling close to stay warm.  When we arrived at Kaiteriteri kayaking, we split into groups.  Six of us (poor Kristen was placed in the other group), along with two Brits, Matt and Jenna, were introduced to Emily, our guide for the day.  We then participated in a brief clothing dress up and a procedure run down.  After that we loaded our kayaks onto the trailer and headed down to the beach.

Before we knew it we were on the water.  We were all in two person kayaks with rudders.  Kaleb was my partner.  He sat in the back and was supposed to man the rudder.  It took him a bit to get used to it.  Even then his multitasking skills were nonexistent (sorry Kaleb).

Our trip started out pretty chill.  We paddled out to where Emily told us.  On the way we watched a gannet divebomb a fish only a couple of meters in front of us.  Pretty cool.  We then paddled over to some caves since it was high tide.  This is when Kaleb and I discovered our talent for rowing backwards.  We were pretty freakin good at it.  We then paddled across some open water to an island.  As we were crossing I told Kaleb I really wanted to see some seals.  My wish came true.  There were seals all over the coast of this island.  So extremely cool.

From there we paddled some more and made landfall to eat lunch.  Our lunch consisted of two sandwiches, a muffin, a cookie, hot chocolate, and apple juice.  Not what we were expecting out of a provided lunch, but totally delicious.  The second group caught up not too long after.  Emily had our group share some ‘talents.’

A Poltergeist is Afoot...

Alright everyone, I’m back.  Back from the South Island and two weeks of fun and carefree travel.  So what I’m going to do to chronicle my journey is the same thing I did for Fiji.  I kept a journal, this time actually writing every day, and I’m just going to write here what I did there.  So let’s get this started…

4/18/11     Palmy -> Welly -> Picton -> Nelson

Our mid-semester break began yesterday with a journey to Wellington.  For some (Kristen, Tony, and Travis) the trip began at nine in the morning.  They caught the bus to town at 9:10, then a bus to Bulls at 10:50, where they waited until about 4:00 to catch the Kiwi Experience bus to Wellington.  For others (Kaleb and myself), the trip began at 3:00 when we hopped into the car of a lovely Kiwi bloke by the name of Nic.  You may be asking, “Why didn’t you all drive?”  The answer is convoluted.  I will leave it by saying that the car ride was a favor we thought of asking for after booking the bus.  Plus, the car was not big enough for everyone plus two weeks of gear.

After rejoining and purchasing ferry tickets, we headed over to Cuba Street to grab some grub.  Cuba Street is this awesome, basically pedestrian, street with a boat load of restaurants, cafés, shops, and bars.  We decided on Indian, against my better judgment.  I only say that because I had curry the night before and it gave me heartburn for most of the night.  I should have listened to myself because again, heartburn all night and into this morning.  The food was absolutely delicious though, so I only slightly regret it.

After trekking up multiple hills to reach our friend Neil’s place (he was kind enough to house five of us for the night) we set about to playing Bananagrams (our new favorite group game).  After almost total domination by Kaleb we gave up and set about sleeping. 

Today began early, 6am to specify.  We were out of the flat by 6:30.  The boys hoofed it through the rain while Nic was again awesome and drove Kristen and myself and all the gear to the YHA hostel.  There we caught the bus to the ferry, upon which we were joined by Nora and Tifah.  The ferry crossing took about three hours.  Of those three hours I slept for about two.  The ride began quite rough, but once we reached the South Island the sea was super calm.

Another two to three hours found us and the Kiwi Experience bus in Nelson.  We’re currently staying in the Fern Lodge, which is connected to the Prince Albert bar.  Great place.