Last few days in NZ :-(

Hi again. Still in New Zealand at the moment but only for another 6 days before we move on to Australia. This is one place I will be very sad to leave!

Since the last entry, we have been making our way up north slowly. From the glaciers we followed the coast up towards the North Island, stopping at Westport (a weird little place that seemed to have more churches/ religious centres than houses, and no people!), then Kaiteriteri (a cute little beach town where we enjoyed doing nothing for a couple of days) then Nelson (stayed at a hostel here for the first time in NZ, full of pretentious, annoying people half our age, one of who "wanted to live life the way nature intended" - Nature, it seemed, intended for the moron to lounge about in the jacuzzi all day in his fancy Billabong shorts. Needless to say we got the hell out after one night.) then Picton (quite a boring little place, but we needed to be here to catch the inter-island ferry).

We then made the 4 hour ferry crossing over from Picton into Wellington (accompanied by a lorry-load of cows whose smell was overwhelming and didn't do much for my sea-sickness!). We stayed in Wellington for 4 days. It was the first place in New Zealand that really felt like a city, and as cities go, it was a really nice one. It's full of culture and has all the shops, restaurants and everything you'd expect from a city, but it's also very scenic and clean and friendly. I'm sure I could live in Wellington.



But our main reason for visiting was to see an old university friend of mine, Emily. Emily moved over to NZ at around the same time as Mikko and I moved to Finland, and we haven't seen each other since. So it was great to catch up with her, and to finally meet her lovely husband Leigh. The two of them were really great hosts, giving us a personalised tour of the city, and taking us out for meals. We really didn't want to leave but we knew we had to as we still had the rest of the North Island to see.




From Wellington we moved on to Tongariro. Tongariro has a lot of volcanoes and is supposed to have one of the most interesting and scenic day-walks in the country. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the information centre to check the route details they were warning of very severe weather conditions (wind and rain) for the next few days so unfortunately we had to move on as we no longer had enough spare time to wait around for the weather to clear. The next day was indeed the most attrocious weather we had encountered in New Zealand and we felt quite glad to be warm and dry, playing cards in the back of Kylie the van, and not cold and wet and lost in fog in the mountains!

The day before yesterday we arrived in Rotorua which is a nice little place although a little bit touristy. It has a large Maori population, and as a result a lot of Maori tourist attractions. We booked ourselves in on a Maori cultural evening which included some singing, tribal war-dance, a trip through the bush to see some glow worms and a large feast cooked in the traditional Maori way (food is cooked slowly, underground, over hot rocks). It was a delicious meal and a really entertaining show. It was very commercialised, but then, how else were we going to see all these ancient rituals?



Besides the Maori culture, the whole Rotorua area is famous for its geothermal activity; every hotel seems to have thermal pools and spas and the whole place smells eggy! But you do get used to that. We had to check out the huge geysers and the bubbling mud pools in the Te Puia park. Really impressive stuff!



The park also had a Kiwi house (the Kiwi is a native, endangered bird which can't fly) and so after hearing so much about these birds we finally got to see a few of them.

Today we'll be moving on up North to the Coromandel peninsular for a few days before we finish our NZ trip in Auckland. We will also have to return Kylie there, which will not be easy as she's been such a lovely little van. A few of you commented on her in a previous post: you'll be pleased to know that we've been looking after her really well; she developed a squeak at one point but we took her into a garage and the nice mechanic gave her some oil and she was much happier after that! But we did have a small mishap the other day when we accidentally left her lights on and 6 hours later the battery was completely flat. But again, someone came to the rescue with some jump leads and after running her around town for a while she has completely healed! Oh, and Mikko and I are both fit and healthy too :-)

Kaukana kotoa

Otetaan valilla talla toisella kotimaisella. Taalla maailman aarissa ei valitettavasti aakkosiin kuulu meitin pistehiset kirjainten paalle, joten tolkun tulkinta jaa lukijalle.

Tahan mennessa reissu on siis kulkenut maitse lapi Venajan, Mongolian, Kiinan ja Kaakkois-Aasian. Bangkokissa jouduttiin ensimmaista kertaa lentokoneeseen, muuten olisi edessa ollut parin kuukauden seilaus Uuteen Seelantiin.

Kaikista kolutuista paikoista tama uuden karhea Seelanti on kaikkein lahinna kotiseutujen elamaa: taalla syodan pottuja ja juodaan viinia. Aasialaisen riisiyliannostuksen jalkeen perunat katoaa kitaan hirmuvauhtia. Mustaamakkaraa ei kuitenkaan ole missaan tullut vastaan, eli ei tama sentaan mikaan sivistysvaltio ole. Uuden Seelannin suuri kulinaristinen lohtu on "Moro"-suklaapatukat, joita mutustellessa ei voi olla muistelematta maailman ainoaa paikkaa. Niiden ostaminen on myos lystia kun voi vain kavella kauppaan ja murahtaa etta moro, selvalla tampereella, eika kukaan katso kieroon.

Uuden Seelannin elaimet herattavat meikalaisessa kummastusta: linnut eivat lenna (Kiivit ja pingviini) ja hylkeilla on turkki (fur seals). Olon tekevat hieman kotoisemmaksi santakarpaset (sand fly), jotka ottavat pirullisuudessaan vahvasti mittaa kotoisista hyttysista, usko vaan etta syyhyaa!

Maisemiensa puolesta Uusi Seelanti ei juuri kotia muistuta, taalla kun on vuoria, vuonoja ja sademetsia vahan turhan tiheaan. Ihmisetkin ovat kovasti puheliaampia kuin kotopuolessa, kaupantaditkin aina kyselee, etta mites menee ja mista tulee? Vaan kaikkeen tottuu, hidas hamalainenkin.

Seuraava kohde reissulla on Australia, joten kotiseutukoulun vaihto-opiskelu sen kun jatkuu, mutta ei menna asioiden edelle...

Extremish

Queenstown was full of all kinds of extreme sport opportunities that you can think of. However, we decided to start it easy and went for a walk (can you smell the adrenaline?).

We ended up walking to the summit of the hill overlooking Queenstown and not only had nice views but also found a little kiosk offering paragliding. Julie had always wanted to try it, and it doesn't take that much to talk me into throwing myself off a mountain, so we decided to book ourselves in for a flight the next day.

The next morning we were picked up by the wrong paragliding company, then swapped from one van to another, with equally frightened looking people taking our places. After all this human trafficing we were finally on our way to the launch site up Coronet Peak.

Paragliding was great fun (despite the look of horror on my face in all the pictures), and the views over the mountains and lakes were spectacular. After the run down the mountain side and the leap into thin air the ride got really quite steady and comfortable. We even did a few sharp bends and spirals!





After Queenstown we drove up to Wanaka, a nice little town by a beautiful lake. We stopped there for lunch, considered doing another walk, but then decided to rent kayaks instead.



Next stop was Fox glacier. You can get almost to the glaciers edge by yourself, and we did a couple of walks around the glacier and got some nice views. Apart from the glacier there was not much in the town, and we headed off to the next glacier.



Franz Josef glacier was just 30 minutes drive away, and this time we decided to do a guided walk on the glacier. We opted for the full day walk, which included 6 hours on ice. The walk turned out to be one of the nicest experiences so far. The glacier is massive, and the guides managed to find some beautiful blue caves and nice viewpoints for us. I went in the "fast" group, which turned out to be somewhat slowed down by a chap who was afraid of heights (and he just had to put himself in the most adventurous group, didnt he?). We also had an American lady in our group who sang hymns as we plodded on and quoted glacier facts from "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown". Religion and cartoons can be a dangerous cocktail, it seems.

New Zealand, South island

Hi again, and sorry it's been so long since the last blog. We've been out in the wilderness quite a bit, with limited internet access!
So we're now in New Zealand. It was a bit of a sudden decision to come here which is why we rushed through Thailand so quickly. The reason for the sudden change of plan was that we realised we'd arrive in New Zealand in the middle of winter if we'd carried on travelling south at our current rate. Plus, we found a super-cheap flight from Bangkok to New Zealand and we didn't want to miss out on the offer.

So, we took that flight. There was a small hitch at Bangkok airport when they asked to see our return flight out of New Zealand. We didn't have one (because we didn't know we needed one) but fortunately we had a good hour before check-in closed, and so we went to an internet cafe and found ourselves yet another bargain flight from Auckland to Melbourne! Problem solved. Then we took our first flight of this entire trip and within 24 hours arrived in Christchurch.

New Zealand is a fantastic country. It is a complete change from Asia. Asia was excellent, exotic, beautiful but after 4 months there we needed a change and a rest, and New Zealand seems to be the perfect place to wind down. It's so easy to be in a place where everyone speaks your language, where they eat food you can identify and where you don't have to haggle for everything you buy. It's a home from home.

We had a day exploring Christchurch, which was a nice enough town, but we were eager to get on the road and explore the countryside. So on our second day we went to pick up the van we had reserved. She's a great little van. We named her Kylie (she just looked like a Kylie!), and she will be our transport and our accommodation for the six weeks we spend in New Zealand.




From Christchurch we drove south through the Banks peninsular, inland to Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook, down to Dunedin, along the south coast, through Fiordland and up to Queenstown where we are now. All the way the scenery has been absolutely stunning, from snow-capped mountains to clear blue lakes to alpine forest to fields of deer and sheep to golden surfing beaches.







We've been staying in campsites, most of which have been in really beautiful locations, and have a campers kitchen where you can make your own food. It's been really nice to cook our own meals again and make the things that we craving when we were in Asia. Our first meal was spaghetti on toast with cheddar cheese on top. Strange what you miss when you can't get it!

Fiordland was especially wonderful. We arrived in the village of Te Anau and booked one of the hikes (or "tramps" as they're called here). We originally wanted to do the Milford track which is supposed to be one the most scenic walks in the world, but it seemed that everyone else wanted to do it too and there was no space for us, so we settled for the Kepler track, which is a 4 day (3 night) 65km hike. I found it quite hard going, since we have done very little in the way of exercise in the last few months, and rather too much drinking! On the way from Christchurch to Te Anau we did several day-walks to prepare ourselves but in retrospect it was probably not enough. Still, when we emerged from the forest after an all-day uphill climb and saw the views for the first time we realised it was worth the pain in our calves and shoulders.






The excellent views continued all through the second day as we walked along a ridge between peaks. We met some great people on the walk too, and when we finished on the fourth day, even though I was absolutely knackered and was walking like a penguin, I was sad that it came to an end. I did cheer up in the evening though, when we enjoyed a beer in the campsite jacuzzi!

After Kepler we drove up to Milford Sound. Since we couldn't get on that trek we decided to take a boat trip. The scenery there is undescribable. Mountains rise up on either side of you, into the clouds, and the sun shines through the clouds... it was magical. If we ever come back to New Zealand we are definitely going to book the trek well in advance!





Now we're in Queenstown. Most people come here to do some kind of extreme sport like bungy jumping or skydiving; they have everything here. I didn't really think we'd be doing anything like that but now I'm here I'm a bit tempted by paragliding and Mikko is even thinking about doing a skydive. If nothing else, we will climb the Coronet peak tomorrow and take the luge/ toboggan down. But that's for the next post :-)