My music players are dying

My sony mp3 player last week. Now my ipod is dying too. 

My sanity is being threatened. If the ipod dies too and I find myself here with no music I'll have to come home. Fact.

Northward. Again. Glaciers, a horrible beach and the 'misty mountains'

I told you she was crazy





*Sigh* This is a lot of typing I'm doing today but I plan to bring you competely up to speed with the goings on over here in Kiwiland. *Sigh*
It's not easy you know, this freewheeling travelling life.

So after Fiordland we headed back North. Stopping for a day again in Queenstown. From Queenstown we made our way back along the highway that runs first through and then along the southern alps. A range made famous by the Lord Of The rings movies. They were used as the Misty Mountains. Given that namesake quite a lot of the time its hard to see them but when you do... Amazing. Biggest mountains I've ever seen. The tallest being Mt. Cook. Which is over 12000 feet. It towers over the smaller mountains around. Completely snowcovered, at first glimpse I thought it was part of the clouds. Its summit just reaching over edge of the clouds. On our way back to the glaciers we camped in a little place called Gillespies Beach. Was pretty cool. At one side the wild Tasman Sea crashing up the beach and then at the other over a small band of vegetation the alps looming in the distance. The atmosphere was ruined a bit by sand flies thoguh. For those of you who don't know, the sand fly is an evil little creature. Kinda like the mosquitoes smaller more evil cousin. They bite, a lot. And there was millions of them


on this one beach. It's not nice walking through a haze of flies trying to eat you alive all the time. So after a brief somewhat restless stay at the campsite we worked our way up to the Franz Josef glacier. Meeting up with Eva, Lisa, Pauli and Kadi again. Went to the thermal hot pools(at the expensive of a pair of my jeans). Terribly boring, like taking a bath with loads of people just without toys or bubbles. Had a night out, good night. Entirely uneventful, no people attempting to throw me out. Then went for a a guided glacier walk in the morning. Day started out pretty crap, miserable rain. Though in my oppinion the mountains around look much better and more dramatic in the rain. Just not too nice hiking up a glacier in it. The glacier itself was nice. It's a big pile of ice. With crevasses and caves and such. When I say a big pile I mean it's about 12km long and moving. Though you don't see it moving, it changes constatly. So they say, not before your very eyes or anything but from week to week and such. So for all we know they could be lying really...
Oh fine thats a bit ridiculous.
It was good though.



After this we spent another in Franz Josef and then headed to Greymouth for a last night with Eva and Lisa. Greymouth as it name might suggest is not very exciting. After 5 in the evening the entirity of its population flees to thier homes. Honestly looking at the deserted streets you expect a posse of rampaging lunatics to come storming through at any point. So we hung around there for the day, then had a few drinks in the hostel bar. The next day we said goodbye to Lisa and Eva.

Eva is unfortunately being shipped off to a new more modern mental institute in Australia. The cells here in New Zealand failed to hold her. And Lisa is gone back to hang around the North Island for a while. They figured without Eva's influence she was okay to realease into the public again. Have spent the best part of the past week travelling with those two (and being forced to be roomates with Eva). I must say I'll miss the pair of them, even though one outrightly refuses to come and visit me and the other has the mental age of a 9 year old(and is insisting on coming visiting me. Probably to "plate" my hair again)
Anyway good luck to the pair of ye if you're reading. Til we meet again.

So after Greymouth we headed back up the west coast to the Pancake rocks of Punakiki. Coastal limestone place with rocks in layers. Maybe more impressive if you don't come from a county with like the best coastal limestone landscape ever...
Area was much nicer this time. The west coast is pretty impressive. The forest clad mountains come right down to the sea, where they are met by huge waves. Reminiscint of the west coast back home on bad days. The whole coastline is dotted with golden sand beaches. Here we camped again and spent our time hanging around with Pauli and Kadi. We went our separate ways the next day. Though I'll be meeting up with them again. And that was yesterday. So after that we came over Arthurs pass and to Christchurch. From the west coast to the east. And here I am now. So I reckon that'll do ye for now. Maybe not the most interesting two blogs but I've filled you in as much as humanly possible I believe.
So until I've something more interesting to write thats it.

Oh, we changed cars today. The registration had run out on our trusty steed Sam the nissan Sunny so we swapped him for Sam II. Now much cooler in Navy Blue.

Heading down south a while. Part 2- In the land of Fiords and Penguins

Right it seems I begin every post these days apologising bout how long it's been since I've written a proper post. So for a change I'm not going to apologise. I'm terribly busy down here and post writing takes hours you know...

So I will endeavour to bring you up top date somewhat on my travels. A brief overview, I am in Christchurch. Although I suppose you'll want to know what I've done between Queenstown and Christchurch. Quite a bit in fact so I'll start at a little town called Te Anau.

The drive to Te Anau was really nice, the road flanked on either side by rocky mountains and sometimes lakes. And briefly passing through the golden brown hills of Otago. Oh I've also realised that every time I try and describe anything here it all sounds the same. Mountains and lakes. So I reckon I may be giving the wrong impression of the land. It's all very diverse... Really it is.

Te Anau was a great place, we arrived there on a miserably rain day. So we decided we'd go to the cinema. I've really wanted to see the Imaginarium of dr parnasus(I've no idea how it's meant to be spelt). So we looked up the cinema times for Te Anau in our hostel. Which had dial up internet. Actual dial up. The kind that you can't use the phone at the same time with. It was amazing, and amazingly slow. Eventually we found that there was a cinema. It was only showing the one film, a documentary about the local area every hour. We decided not to go and see it, I think it was a terrible mistake. On another note at the hostel in Te Anau we stayed with the most horrible person I've come across in my travels. A Belgian. About 60 maybe more. It was just my group and him in the room. At 9.30, when it was still bright we were all sitting around listening to music. He comes in. Gets undressed (right down to his unpleasantly tight tighty whities). Then asks "So are you guys gonna stay around here or go somewhere else, cause I am going to sleep". None of us answered. He said "Maybe you should have thought about getting a private room". The he got up turned off the light and went back to bed. We made a point of staying there talking for a bit even with the light off. A horrible individual who I can say with absolutely no regret that I hope terrible things happen to him..

So from Te Anau we went on to Milford Sound. An epic car journey through, The Fiordland National park. The road winds through towering mountains with sheer cliff faces. When we were passing through it was raining pretty bad. You'd be forgiven for assuming this was a bad thing. Not at all, during and after heavy rainfall the mountains produce hundreds of cascading waterfalls. Some working their way down the less steep hills, others just crashing down from the cliffs. Very cool to see. Kind of thing you can imagine in a fantasy novel. Anyway the road winds along through these mountain and into a steep valley. (Again all surrounded with these waterfalls) Where it then goes straight through the mountain, there's a great big tunnel there. The tunnel only allows one lot of traffic through at once. It was here I had my first encounter with the Kea. The Kea* is one of New Zealand many very strange birds. It is the worlds only alpine parrot i.e it's a parrot that lives up in the mountains. It's a great big green thing, with red under its wings. They have no problem approaching people. And stealing things. I saw one take a woman's flip flop somehow. When you park your car you're very likely to get 5/6 of them landing on it and pecking around. I fed them some bread. Which is apparently a very bad thing to do. Luckily there was an American man there to correct me. (Who was a bit bitter I think cause when I took out the bread they all left him and he couldn't take pictures with his ridiculously over sized camera). "You shouldn't feed them you know, then they'll become too dependent on people and won't be able to fend for themselves". If only he had been around when people started feedin ducks bread imagine what a world we'd have today.

The Milford Sound was pretty cool, though not as nice as the drive to it I don't think. We went on a 2 hour cruise around it. Oh the "sound" is actually a Fiord, which is a glacier carved valley I think. Something like that. It's kind of like a great big lake linked to the sea with big cliffs and mountain all around.( You see it all sounds the same doesn't it?) The fiordland national park is also home to the Fiordland Yellow crested penguin(Or a penguin with a very similar name to that, I should probably start taking notes. Head like a sieve.) and a whole pile of seals. On this cruise we didn't see very many penguins. And the ones we did see fled almost instantly. I think this was mostly because of our over enthusiastic "skipper". Every time he saw some penguins he would steer the boat within 5 feet of them and continuously blow the horn. To "stop them jumping into the water". Now I'm no Penguin expert BUT I figure if i was a 1ft tall bird and I saw this gigantic white metal thing. Thousands of times my size coming towards me and bellowing menacingly I think I'd want to get away. I certainly wouldn't feel the urge to hang around for some photo ops for the tourists.

So after a somewhat underwhelming cruise we returned to our hostel in Te Anau. Luckily minus the dutch guy this time. The next day we set out for the much bigger(and much more expensive to cruise around) Doubtful sound**. It was much better than the Milford sound. Whole place is much more epic. We saw piles of penguins here too. And on the way back there was dolphins doing flips out of the water and such with the lowering sun playing across the mountains and water. It was like entering some kind of magical land.

Yeah so Fiordland was pretty cool. In fact probably my favourite place I've visited. The park is huge as well. Mostly unaccessible, only by boat or helicopter. Our guide informed us it's roughly the size of Wales too. So not too big eh?

*There's also a darker side to the Kea. They're known to kill sheep. I know it sounds mental but it's true. They used to be hunted here cause they used to eat farmers sheep. The parrot would peck through the animals skull, right to the brain. Kill it and then a flock of them would eat it. Madness eh?

** Doubtful sound is also a Fiord, so named because when it was first discovered the captain said "If I go in there I doubt I'll get my ship back out"

A brief post to tide you over til I am able to write a better one.

Well firstly I don't know why there is such huges spaces in the previous post sometimes blogspot has it's own ideas about how my posts should look. I don't have camera with me and don't really have the energy to write a full post so instead I'm going to tell you of an encounter I had last Sunday.

So I was out, I may have been drunk. That is up for debate, lets just say it was outside the place that serves teapots and jugs of beer so make your own judgement on that.
I was talking away to the two lads and I happened to notice that there was a rather short man next to us. About up to my chin he was. I metioned this them. The way I phrased it may have been something like "Hey look there's a midget over there". The aforementioned man was in earshot and unfortunately not deaf as I seem to have assumed at the time. The conversation went as follows.

"HEY! Hey you just called me a midget!"

"No I didn't" I responded with my typical nonchalance.

And after a brief panto-like exchange of "Yes you did" "No I didn't". He said.

"I'll you what I'm not just a midget, I'm a one handed midget" He then held up his left hand which was a stump with two misshapen fingers. He held it there for a moment for effect then added. "And this one handed midget will kick the shit out of you then take his stump and shove it up your ass"

I'll admit I was taken aback, this was an entirely new threat to me. So I did what any sane person would in such a situation. I apologised. And in short order (no pun intended) we were talking away quite amiably without any threats of appendages being shoved into other peoples orifices. Unfortunately I can't remember his name though, I believe it was something with 3 letters perhaps. So if you ever happen to be reading this, a shout out to you my one handed friend.

Heading down south a while. Part 1- Farewell Spit to Queenstown

So it's been over a week again since I've written anything here. I apologise for that but Internet is not one of New Zealand's stronger points. I have quite a bit to fill you in on so I reckon this will be a post in two parts. Mostly because I am far too lazy to write it all now.

At the moment I am in Queenstown. I feel like something death carries with him in his suitcase.* Terribly hungover. Went to a pub last night called the world bar,(which coincidentally this Internet cafe is under). In this place place they serve a wide array of alcoholic drinks in teapots. So you get a teapot full of spirits of your choice. They also serve jugs of beer. So you see why I am dying today. I have travelled quite a way since last I wrote. Well, when I say travelled I've slept mostly really. Nils has travelled quite a way. I suppose from where I left off is usually the best way to write.

Last Monday we took the ferry from Wellington to Picton. (Not much to say on Wellington by the way, seems like a pretty cool town but didn't see enough to judge.) From Picton we headed North-west to the little town of Motueka. the kayak company we used is based there. Stayed the night in Motueka, a Hamilton kind of place. It was pretty funny though, the first place that had no Germans there when we arrived and shortly after we arrived a busload of German teenagers came along. On tuesday at 9 o'clock we began our Kayak trip, with three french people, an english woman and a korean girl. We also had a guide who's name I cannot recall, he was pretty good though (it started with a c...) Kayaking in the Abel Tasman natioal park is an amazing experience. Completely unique. On the first day we brought up to Tonga island via "water taxi", a boat which is dropped into the sea by a tractor. From Tonga we made our down the coast under the guidance of our eh.. guide who will from here on be called Mr. C. The coastline there is very beautiful, strecthes of forest sit atop the pale rock coast and in places there are long tidal estauaries. That bring to mind places like the amazon or vietnam. The forest reaching reaching down to the water, with some trees hanging over. We were first brought to Tonga island, a short distance from the shore. Mostly to ease us into sea kayaking I think, so we could get used to the boats and waves. On Tonga island there is a colony of seals. Over 150 we were told. We saw 3, though one did swim right beside our Kayak which was pretty damn cool. From Tonga we were led back down the coast stopping by in the lovely Bark Bay, a tidal estuary. Starting in a wide bay and finishing in a rocky creek. Then on down to anchorage where we camped for the night.

Some free advice if you plan to do a two day kayak, bring water and sun cream. These things are very important. Went a small bit insane the second day after about four hours on the open sea in the sun. Paddled constantly for about 2/3 kilometres in a mad rush to get to some shade.

Aside from that it was all good though. On the second day we were left to our devices, we went out to a small off the coasr. Looked like the kind of place where a person would get stranded, was nice though. There was a big seal just lounging around on the beach there.

After Abel Tasman we headed up north to the Farewell Spit.A 26 km sand spit on the northern tip of the noth island. It was a terribly desolate place. The lonely planet guide book describes Cape Reinga on the north island as having a very "end of the world" feel, I don't think so. If you want end of the world go to Farewell spit. At low tide the sea retreats to over a km away. So you're left with this vast stretch of sand only interupted by small pools of water. You can hear the distant rumble of the sea and the beach is covered in broken sea shells and dead trees. On the eastern side of the spit it's eerily calm but on the west gale winds sweep the sand across the beach. It hurts quite a bit when it hits you. On the west side in a place called Fossil point I found a big Sealion kicking back on the beach. Some more free advice, if you go too close to wild sealions they will try and attack you. They are quite big and I would say pretty scary. The whole area makes you feel very lonely. Somewhat similar to the feeling I get in the burren, but much stronger here.

From the Farewell spit we went south to the Nelson Lakes National park. A park set around two lakes, Rotoita and another one that I can't remember the name. Hulking snow covered mountains surround both lakes. It was one of my favourite places so. We hiked to the top of one of the mountains, the name which has thus far elluded me. It was a 5 hour return trip and somewhat taxing but all worth it for the incredible view that greeted us from the top. The photos are on facebook, have no facilities to upload them here for the moment. While in Nelson lakes I was in contact with a friend*from the volunteer group, found out he was leaving soon (tomorrow in fact) so we had a bit of a whirlwind trip down through the south island. Quickly passing the glaciers and the stunning southern alps. So I'll do a proper blog on those after we see them properly. On another note was in Rohan today, one of the locations from the Lord Of the Rings films. Unbelievable, straight out of the movie. Actually felt like it IS Rohan.

Apologies that this blog entry hasn't been very good, will do a better one next time I promise.

*This is a quote from a Warren Zevon songm, that I've always wanted to use.

**The friend is one Mr. Lorenz Grund. Another german of course and a freeloading bum from the land of Nuremburg. He's made his way through New Zealand eating other peoples food and generally hanging around in places where he shouldn't be. But all that aside, I can think of few better men to have a pint(or teapot) with. Looking forward to meeting him on his home soil

One more thing

Who is Kaizera_Maestra? Just out of interest...

105km Of Winding Unsealed Road

Right so it's been a few days since my last post again. We're in Wellington now. It's been a long trip here with a shitload of driving ( well mostly sleeping on my part, I knew there was a reason I never learned to drive). Been to quite a few places since I last wrote so I'll try to include them all...



So when I last wrote to you we had just arrived in Tairua and we were staying in this place called the Pinnacles which was quite cool. Mostly cause ther sign had Obelix on it. If you have to ask who Obelix is I don't want to talk to you. From there we headed north to Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove. Being honest neither of these were very impressive. If I could do it again I wouldn't be arsed with them. Hot Water Beach is this beach where at low tide you can dig a hole in the sand and it fills up with hot water. Sounds cool doesn't it? The reality, there is only a very small section of the beach where this is possible and that soon gets filled with half naked old people and likewise pasty europeans. So take my word it does not make for a pleasant sight. A hundred half naked people diggin holes in a tiny stretch of sand. They look like lunatics, something akin to one of Monty Pythons stranger sketches. Before this we were at Cathedral Cove. Which is a coastal cave. We have some of those in Ireland I believe. Fair enough they're not such a nice colour but I really don't think that it's worth so much tourist attention. Aside from this Coromandel is pretty beautiful but in my oppinion you get similar elsewhere in New Zealand without the hordes of tourists.



So after this we headed down to Rotorua very briefly and then on to to Taupo where we met up with one of the girls from CVNZ who had left a few weeks ago. Had a few pints here and stayed the night. Liked the town. Somewhere to visit on the way back I reckon..



From here we went to Waiotapu "Geothermal Wonderland". Very cool place. With a geyser (advertised from 20m high more like 5). Muti coloured lakes and bubbling mud pools. Kinda pricey at 30 dollars but I don't know anywhere else where you get a lake thats bright yellow/green/ orange edged and spouts off steam.



From here we went on to Te Urewera National park. Beggining the trip through the park we were met by a somewhat daunting sign "105km of unsealed winding road". For those who don't know what unsealed means (I didn't) it's a very basic gravel road. And when they said winding, they weren't taking the piss. The road we set upon wound its way though steep forested valleys. Sometimes descending to follow along beside streams, other times rising again to follow along cliff edges high above the forest floor with vast stretches of trees in every direction. Te Urewera National park is the largest in the north island and as you make your way through it you can really get a feeling of the scale of it. For periods of hours you will meet no one, and every time you rise above the tree line, all you will see in any direction is trees. It has a felling akin to what I imagine the Western Frontiers in America must have been like. *As you make your way slowly(slowly is the only way you can go on such roads) through this amazing place you really do think "Shit, it can't get much better than this." then you emerge form the forest and unto the steep cliffed edges of Lake Waikremoana. The lake is pristine blue, a perfect reflection of the sky. The deep green of the forest reaches down between the sky and its surface to provide a buffer between the two. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. And all too soon we left Te Urewera national park and still the gravel road winded on for quite a while. Before eventually getting to what people in those parts of New Zealand know as civilisation.



Nothing much interesting has happened since then. We stayed in Napier last night then drove all day to get here, Wellington. We're staying here tonight and tomorrow night. Getting the ferry to the south island on Monday and hoping to undertake a 3 day kayak trip through Abel Tasman National park on Wednesday. Should be interesting I think, especially knowing my natural grace and finesse. So thats about it for now... Oh met some Kiwis tonight who thought I was scottish, they kept shouting "BRAVEHEART!" I don't recall any scottish person ever shouting "BRAVEHEART!". I do seem to recall a film of that name though... Silly Kiwis. On another note. People don't know Fairytale of New York here. Is there not something fundementally wrong with this?

*I promised I'd actually try and describe some of the things I see from now on. It's not usually the kind of writing I'm very good at but I tried. Hope it does ya.

One more note. The forest described is not actually rainforest. Which was a nice change. Was something more like the woods back home. Just much bigger