Subscribe to this blog30 November 2008
Planes, Trainz & Buses in Christchurch
This was our last stop, before heading back to Auckland to catch flights leaving New Zealand. The "The Garden City" - or: Christchurch is the south island´s main hub for tourists. It´s a wonderful place bustling with shops and restaurants. The evening we arrived, a downtown festival by the Indian community did set us in a perfect mood right away: We ate from the inexpensive food stalls alongside the square where many locals and Indians were dancing and cheering.There are a numerous attractions in and around of town. On top of my list was the Antarctic center. This comes at no surprise for those who know my Antarcticaphilia. However, upon picking up the leaflet at the information center, I found out that this was more kind of an amusement park, with the associated price ticket. Not really my thing. Therefore, we decided to go to the Air Force museum instead, which is located a bit out of town. A lot of dedication went into the restoration of the various objects displayed and the guide meeting us at the entrance was an enthusiastic retired Air Force pilot. Next to a lot of interesting historic objects, the main exhibition hall draws the crowds. This is where old planes are on display. The atmosphere in this dimly lit hangar, did remind me of the airfield from the movie "Casablanca".
Another nice sight was the beach near the New Brighton pier, just out of Christchurch. There, we spent the afternoon chasing seagulls (a polite way to state that in fact we were the chased one´s - by trying to avoid their poo landing on our food). Walking back into town along the Avon river was a long walk. However, it was interesting to walk through the beautiful neighborhoods and parks in the suburbs of Christchurch. The history of Christchurch as such is very recent. Only around 1840 the European settlers started building here - although much older traces of Maori settlements date back to the 11th century. Pilgrims from Canterbury wanted to create a city around a central cathedral and a college. They were influenced by the Christ Church (hence the name) back in Oxford.
Another historically loaded city lies about 75km away from Christchurch. It is the town of Akaroa - a former French settlement. Going there by a bus tour is a typical day trip for most tourists, since the town is located in a scenic setting near the shores of the Pacific sea. Many of the street names in Akaroa still are French today. The hotel would be called "Le hotel", the bakery shop "Le boulanger" and the gaz station "L'essence". Moreover, a French flag sits dominantly on a pole in the harbor and some memorials remind visitors about various French politicians who visited the place. Although I was humming "La Marseillaise", nobody replied with a connoisseur smile. Consequently, I had to abandon my project of trying to talk in the language of "la Grande Nation" for one day here in New Zealand. I would have starved to death ordering my food in French. 
Then came the day, where Michi cringed with his teeth in anticipation: Going for a ride on the scenic train TraNZalpine. It runs from Christchurch to Greymouth and this excursion was on my short list - but not really on Michi's. Since he's a nice guy, he agreed to come along - no matter how bored he would get. Although the weather was picture perfect on the eastern side of the island, rain and heavy fog started to set in, once our train arrived at Arthurs Pass, the station on top of the pass. Nevertheless, we've got sometimes good glimpses of the scenery and I enjoyed the 470km round-trip like a small kid. The route takes the train over scenic bridges and viaducts - as well as a couple of tunnels. The longest of these, the Otira tunnel, is around 8km long. Since the engines are diesel powered and the ride from Greymouth to Christchurch is a climb with engines at full power, there are a lot of fumes getting into the passenger cars. After a while, half of the people in our car - which consisted mostly of retired men - started to doze away as if the had smoked pot. Oddly enough, the railway company changed from an electrified system to the present diesel power system only about ten years ago.
After this beautiful stay in Christchurch it was almost time to say goodbye to New Zealand. We did fly back to Auckland, from where Michi left for Europe. His itinerary went through Los Angeles. Since he came into New Zealand through Asia, this means that he accomplished a round the world trip, too. In only four weeks.
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posted by Reto at
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28 November 2008
Invercargill's fast Indians and Dunedin's obliquely buildings
Driving from Te Anau to Invercargill would take us through Tuatapere, which is affectionally called "Land of the last light". However, the southernmost town is Invercargill, where we stayed for two nights. At 46°25′30″ South, 168°18′36″ East, this site was definitely the most Southern place we ever have travelled. But this record came at a price when we visited: It was very cold, scattered rains and icy winds blowing through the streets. Even in high summer (January), average temperatures reach 14°C. Nevertheless, we made most out of our time and strolled - in between the rain showers - through the streets and visited the numerous sites in town. Absolutely underrated by the Lonely Planet guidebook, I definitely enjoyed seeing the Queens Park, Watertower, First Presbyterian Church and other sights along the downtown heritage trail.
Being somewhat a stoic ignorant when it comes to people's birthplaces, I was greatly surprised to discover that Invercargill is the home town of the "Worlds Fastest Indian", Burt Munro. At the age of 63, he set the world record speed on a motorbike to 288 km/h. This was in back in 1962, the year I was born. His subsequent record (for an under-1000cc motorbike), established later in 1967, still stands as per today: 295.453 km/h! Burt is - rightfully - still a local hero in Invercargill, where souvenir stores would have little statues of his bike on sale or small factoids plastered over walls can be found in some pubs. One of the hardware stores in town actually has numerous historical push bikes and motorbikes on display. One of them is the Burt Monroe "Fast Indian". The movie, which I had seen on board a Greyhound bus back in Australia, isn't so much a story about breaking speed records as it is about the friendship, kindness among strangers and the ultimate road trip. Needless to say that I enjoyed the story a lot and the film ranks among the better ones I've seen lately.
Further up north, we visited the town of Dunedin. Throughout our journey we overheard other travellers mis-pronouncing the city's name. And sometimes I pushed them purposely down the wrong end of the pronunciation cliff (my preferred one was "Dune-Din", since most of the people fell for it). Quite a bit warmer than Invercargill, the location is still lower than 45° South. Upon arrival in our hostel, we picked up their city walk brochure. It first looked like one of these "see the town in two hours" leaflets and we casually left, taking time to explore every item on the list. Most notably, the Railway Station caught our attention, listed as the "most photographed building in New Zealand". So we had to contribute and take our pictures of it, too. Soon we realized that, after three hours walking, that we weren't even halfway through the brochure's list of places to see. Needless to say that Dunedin (why not actually pronounce it as "Done-ay-Din"?) has a lot to offer for tourists. Therefore, we bypassed purposely some museums and sights, since we decided to visit a lot more on the next day.
Among our itinerary was Baldwin Street, a must see for people in architectural design of obliquely buildings. Well, not really - but I just could not resist in looking at the houses siding this officially "steepest street in the world" from a different angle (see photo). There is some controversy, whether Baldwin Street would technically really be the steepest street on the planet. However, this does not impact the fun in walking through this cul-de-sac. Moreover, there are annual competitions ("Baldwin Street Gutbuster"), where hundreds of athletes are running up and down this street.Dunedin is New Zealand's oldest city, and is considered being the best preserved Victorian and Edwardian city in the Southern Hemisphere. Since Dunedin also offers a good range of tramping, we started the second day with a short round trip to a lookout. To relax and round our day off, we went visiting the Speight's brewery. The tour was quite informative, although the advertised possibility to "have the opportunity to bottle, personally label and cap your own Speight's beer" was nonexistent.
However, we've already grew accustomed to the annoying fact that advertisements (and prices quoted on brand new leaflets being handed out at tourist offices) are not considered as binding statements here in New Zealand. Consequently, we learned to take promotions with a grain of salt and did second guess many offers. But hey, so far this is the only let down encountered in this - otherwise great - country. And how could we be upset at a tour guide, since we got to drink as much beer as we could during the beer tasting which concluded the tour. Cheers!
Labels: New Zealand
posted by Reto at
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26 November 2008
Determined in Doubtful Sound
Practically untouched by man, the "Doubtful Sound" is the deepest of all fiords in New Zealand's Fiordland. The English explorer, Captain Cook did name this area "Doubtful Harbour", since he was uncertain whether he would get enough wind in his sails to return to the open sea. Michi and I did choose the small town of Te Anau as our base, from where we then would explore the Doubtful Sound, located in the Fiordland National Park.Although the weather forecast was not very promising, we did take our chances and booked a tour for the next day at our hostel's desk. Although the place was very welcoming and charming, there was an unusual influx of group tourists. Being a bit elderly, they were debating loud about politics - something quite unusual for a hostel. Moreover, their statements were obviously geared towards accidental listeners in the lounge. Probably, they wanted to educate "youngsters".
There is actually a code of conduct that applies whenever being in public - especially in international waters: Avoiding the topics of religion, sexuality and politics helps to avoid offending inadvertently conversation partners or other people overhearing the discussion. While not really being offended - the sheer absurdity and loudness of the old folks' talk went to the point where Michi, I and some other bothered backpackers left the otherwise cozy lounge.Being forced in such a way to stroll around Te Anau, I spotted repeated advertisings for "Gluten Free" food. Actually, I have been seeing this particular food diet outlined a couple of times in shops and bars throughout New Zealand. Even after reading through several medical papers - and the "Wikipedia" (If it ain't in Wikipedia, it ain't true), I still don't get it as to why so many people here depend on food without the gluten. Probably there is also a good proportion of misunderstanding in the public perception involved, since promotions in the shops mix the terms "Gluten Free" and "Organic" food (voluntarily?). There might also have been a television show or newspaper story about the benefits of such a diet?
Obsessively, it seems that every nation has it's own approach in labelling certain diets as being healthy. While Americans rave about food without "Trans Fat", the Europeans value "Low Carb" - and the Kiwi's go "Gluten Free". But then I wonder, why obesity is on the rise in all of these countries/continents. Reasoning as such, we decided to order a solid burger with fries and salad in the local pub - after having been reassured that it would contain gluten, trans fats and high carbs. That definitely made us very happy.The second day in Te Anau, we left for one of the journey's highlights: A tour through the Doubtful Sound. It did rain most of the day - as forecasted. As part of the trip, we did a short excursion to the Manapouri Power Station, a magnificent piece of civil engineering which lies in between lake Manapouri and the Sound.
Obviously, given my Swiss heritage, I tend to like anything that comes in tunnels. Therefore, this was playground time for me. The architecture of this hydroelectric plant is both massive and complex as it lies 200m underground in tunnels carved out of granite rocks. The first plans to build a hydroelectric power station here would outline the construction of a (traditional) dam. This would have consequently flooded lake Manapouri and nearby lake Te Anau, with all the known negative impacts on nature in the area.
Consequently, opposition to this project formed and ten percent of New Zealands population signed a petition to save lake Manapouri.
This was back in 1970 and the political pressures to revise the construction plans were enormous. Reading through documents about the public outrage and their environmental concerns is a good school book lesson about how well democratic processes are working in New Zealand. While in other nations lobbyists would be in the driving seat pushing for their own agenda - the public opinion of the Kiwi's finally pressured their government to mandate a different approach in construction. Now, the hydroelectric power is being generated through a 180m drop of water. This drop consists because of the difference in altitude between the lake Manapouri and the Tasman Sea at the Doubtful Sound. Therefore, most of the plant is invisible - being underground - leaving the natural habitat for animals, plants and humans mostly intact.
As if the unusual construction of the power plant wasn't enough, Doubtful Sound itself also has particular features: There are two layers of water which do not mix, as the top few meters consists of fresh water from the surrounding mountains and the bottom of the water is cold and heavy saline water from the Tasman sea. Light does not easily penetrate such water and therefore a lot of deep sea species are growing here. It was absolutely stunning to learn about such special features in a scenic environment, combined with waterfalls, penguins, dolphins and fur seals.
No doubt, the Doubtful Sound definitely made its mark in our memories.
Labels: New Zealand
posted by Reto at
06:11
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24 November 2008
Shouting the Haka in Queenstown
The road from Fox Glacier to Queenstown is a very scenic ride through New Zealand's Otago region. Alongside Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea, the road finally reaches the touristy town of Wanaka. This might be a scenic hangout for people with a car (or camper van). However, since most of the activities in the surrounding areas do require booking a tour or drive to the tramping tracks using individual carbon footprint contributing machines (read: cars), we decided to continue to Queenstown by bus. There, hiking tracks are much more accessible by foot. Moreover, the town itself generates enough entertainment for a day or so.Being almost surrounded by Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown strongly reminded me of the lake and the town of Lucerne. Michi and I found ourselves in the evenings strolling through the malls, where cafes, bars and restaurants were full of good food and entertainment. Some of them were broadcasting the rugby game between England and Australia. Needless to say that a lot of beer was consumed in town for the occasion. We didn't really join in with the crowd, since we wanted to be fit in the mornings - but we participated a bit in having one (or two?) beers.
The New Zealanders' national rugby union team, the All Blacks, are performing the Haka - a Maori traditional dance - before the start of each game. They do shout, roll their wide open eyes and stretch their tongue in front of their opponents. It's a fantastic half-minute spectacle, worthwhile to browse for at YouTube - start with this one minute clip - if interested.On a much, much quieter note - our hostel, the YHA Riverside was definitely a bit of a splurge. Our twin room almost blew my budget, but it did come with its own terrace overlooking lake Lucerne - sorry, I meant: Lake Wakatipu. More importantly, the weather was fine during our stay. Blue skies and warm spring temperatures invited us to sit either on a terrace downtown - or in front of our room. The day we left Queenstown, it started to rain. Selfish as we are, we couldn't care less about that.
Not surprisingly, we went hiking - this time in the area around Queenstown. Our selection for a tramp went for the Ben Lomond track. Again, the timings we did spot on hiking signs weren't really made for European speed. Although being quite steep and very windy at times - especially on the Ben Lomond saddle - the trek would take roughly two thirds of the time advertised.However, tramping near a touristic city has its drawbacks: We met people along the track who weren't prepared at all for the trip. At 1790m altitude, wind was rough and I wondered how some of the people - only wearing shorts and T-shirts - would be able to cope. At one instance, we even met an older tourist, who had no map, no water and clearly was lost. Since the walking track signs in New Zealand tend to be ambiguous at times, it is always wise to carry a map or a sketch of the intended route. We were unable to help this lost fellow, since he persisted in wanting to go into the wrong direction. Maybe he still is roaming around the Queenstown hills as I am writing this...
This tourist place also features a lot of variety in food restaurants. New Zealands towns are notorious for having several Thai restaurants. While this might be a good source of food, it is not local food. And the Fish & Chips are maybe a Kiwi's favourite food - but it is definitely far from being their own country's delicacy. The locals try to hide their speciality well from tourists. However, since you are a trustworthy and loyal reader of this blog, I am willing to share the secret Kiwi dish with you (since I seem to have found out what it is). It is called Whitebait and consists of sprats being cooked and then served in various different ways. The most common preparation form seems to be the creation of a patty that is being mixed with egg before it is being fried.New Zealanders love to spend time fishing for Whitebait along their rivers. Seeing men moving large nets carefully out of the water as their wives open the Esky to quickly store the catch of sprats, is a very common sight. As we are approaching the end of the Whitebait season (in November), locals will have to look for another recreational activity (another Kiwi secret to uncover?). Most probably they will also turn again to Fish & Chips or Thai food.
Labels: New Zealand
posted by Reto at
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21 November 2008
Frauleins in Wanderlust at Franz Josef and Fox
Among other major sights in New Zealand's Westland, Michi and I visited the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers - which are about 20km apart. Having seen numerous glaciers in Switzerland, Iceland and Alaska before, I did find both of these New Zealand ice structures quite particular: They are surrounded by green rain forests, aren't particularly elevated and do level out near to the shorelines of the sea.Julius von Haast - a German explorer - named one glacier after Franz Josef I, an Austrian Emperor, back in 1865. This reminded me of a conversation I overheard here in New Zealand while sitting in a bus a couple of weeks ago. Some (retired?) British tourists were very excited to visit one of "their own" historical homeland. There, I realized, that I probably was considered a second class tourist, since I'm a non-British foreigner. But my inferiority complex quickly faded, as soon as I visited the place called "Franz Josef". Now that's definitely not a very British name. For once, I was the one who knew how to pronounce properly a city name.
Surprisingly, and in contrast to Australia, the Kiwi's keep a lot of names - starting with their country name - in the original context. This reflects he true extent of European heritage and settlement history - which was also influenced by the Dutch, French, Spanish and the Germans.
However, European heritage does not not cover the full picture of New Zealand. Obviously, the local tribes (Maori) owned the land before the colonisation. Somehow, it looks (at least to my humble visitors eyes), that the New Zealanders have better managed the process of dealing with past injustices following the Treaty of Waitangi. This legal document - signed between settlers and the Maori back in 1840 - would deal with the ownership of land and sea among the Europeans and the Maori. Obviously, the local tribes were on the loosing end back then. Compensation processes to rectify this situation did begin in the 1960's and are still ongoing. Aside of land restitution and monetary compensation, it is the integration of the Maori people which strikes me.For instance, when walking up to the Franz Josef glacier, we encountered elderly Frauleins from New Zealand. They would reply our casual greeting with a keen "Kia Ora" ("Hello" in Maori). Although they were clearly not of Maori descendant, these women were proud of their country's heritage, which includes the Maori culture. This is in complete contrast to Australia, where Aborigene heritage seems to interest uniquely to the native people (and tourists).
Another important integrations fact is the restitution of place names. Consequently, many sites (including Franz Josef) do carry their names in Maori language. Some sites don't even have any European sounding names anymore. Therefore, it is almost impossible as a tourist to avoid getting used to certain place names, such as Tāmaki, which is the Maori name for Auckland.Having all this linguistic knowledge in our Rucksacks, we did set off for the Franz Josef Glacier, very early in the morning. Our preferred route, the "Roberts Point" track is closed since 2007 due to a walking bridge which washed away. Maybe it's a bit cynical, but we wondered whether the number of professional tour operators in Franz Josef - who get money for hauling groups through this area - would have affected the efforts in fixing the hiking trail.
Nevertheless, our next sensible choice for a good day's hike was the "Alex Knob" track. It is being advertised as 8 hour return tramp (starting from the car park 4km away from Franz Josef village). As usual, in European speed, this means a 5h30 from downtown Franz Josef (including the hike to the car park).
Despite the shorter walking time we needed, we found the track to be quite strenuous. Moreover, we were very lucky weather wise: As we enjoyed the view from the top, overlooking Franz Josef glacier and the southern Alps, some dense fog started to develop. By the time we finished lunch, temperatures had dropped slightly and the views were completely gone. While we climbed down, other people - staying in bed late that day - were making their way up the mountain. We felt really bad for them, because there was nothing to reward them after a challenging climb. By the end of the afternoon, however, the fog was gone again. We enjoyed a beautiful spring sunset, having a beer on a pub chalet terrace and relaxing our tired bones.
Next day, we continued another 20km by Intercity bus to Fox Glacier village, where we immediately started another tramp after storing our bags at the local backpackers. Again, the weather was very friendly and some of the hikes took us through lush green forests, which looked like the film set for "The Lord of the Rings". Fox Glacier was definitely beautiful as well, a bit smaller than Franz Josef - but worth the extra stop.As usual, I handed out to Michi the Swiss lookalike cities names for Franz Josef and Fox: The villages reminded me of St. Moritz and Celerina.
Labels: New Zealand
posted by Reto at
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17 November 2008
Going West(land) to Punakaiki and Greymouth
The small town of Punakaiki features the famous Pancake Rocks and Blowholes, along the highway from Nelson to Greymouth. Luckily, our Intercity bus stopped there during the journey, just long enough to visit the park and hop back on the bus. The wheel-chair accessible park features heavily eroded lime stones, some of where the sea spits water through numerous vertical blowholes when the tide is high. The stones were layered through millions of years into a form which resembles a stack of pancakes - hence the name.
Although being crowded and touristy, the geological features were unique and well worth the visit along the Punakaiki park. As soon as our regular "Intercity" bus left from this scenic stop, hordes of backpackers arrived on the "Kiwi Explorer". They behaved a bit like a (stereotypical) Japanese tour group as they left the bus to grab a picture or two and then go back to their seat and continue to nap through the rest of their journey. Definitely an alternative to experience the country - in their dreams.
The weather during our trip was mainly rainy. Fortunately for us - at least for the time being - we only do encounter bad weather whenever we sit on the bus. Good weather sets in as soon as we'd arrive at our destinations. Let's hope it stays that way. Well, the tour operators in New Zealand (obviously trying to sell their "experiences") would argue that there is no such thing as "bad weather" - only "wrong clothing". We gave up on looking into weather forecasts here in New Zealand. They are absolutely pointless and playing the lottery might have better odds to win than predicting the local weather. It seems to be a sport for the weatherman on the evening news to go through the day's weather by detailing how warm or cold it was that day in various cities. Moreover, the official "Met Service" is very good at telling what weather you would see - if you would look outside your window. But the forecast for the next day (we definitely gave up on three to five days forecasts) has a 50 percent chance to be correct or not. Therefore, we take what we encounter - weather wise - and plan without any meteorological predictions.
Although the Intercity buses run mostly on highways, trips take a little longer in New Zealand. The notion of highway on the south island does mostly mean a winding two-lane road. This however, turns out to be alright, since the views are splendid and therefore any of our trips from town to town ends up in being a scenic ride. Having to drive mostly on country roads (as we would call the New Zealand "highways" back home) obviously means that we cover less distance for a certain amount of time. Therefore, covering the key tourist sites in the country in four weeks is quite a challenge - although the distances aren't really that big. Being a challenge also tells stories about how much is there to see. We ran into people who would spend two months exclusively on the south island and who told us that they had to skip places.
Another strange thing in New Zealand (and Australia - to be perfectly correct) is the material of their banknotes. They are made out of polymer with transparent inlets. The material is pretty resistant and most of the bills look quite new. There are actually more than 20 nations using polymer bank notes, because of another advantage: They are certainly very hard to fake. It's a perfect example of plastic money. Unfortunately, it doesn't last longer than traditional paper-based banknotes in my wallet.Counting the remaining travel money after the visit to Australia and halfway through New Zealand gives me headaches. These countries used up all my reserve money. It seems that I will have to fly back home around the end of March. More or less on schedule. But I still hope that I win the Lottery in Chile or Argentina.
Well, I went off topic, sorry. What was this post about? Oh, Greymouth... Yes, it's a good place where buses and trains connect. It features a harbor, an industrial and small downtown area. This sounds not like much and to be honest we had a bit of mixed feelings while strolling around the scenic dam walk. Nevertheless, we did enjoy our one night stay there. Probably, because people were really nice (we were constantly greeted by the locals). Obviously (for any Swiss reading this), Greymouth therefore reminded me of the city of Olten back home. This is the Swiss transport hub which has both - very ugly and very beautiful sights.
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posted by Reto at
08:38
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13 November 2008
Tramping wormhole in Nelson
Our first stop on the south island of New Zealand was the city of Nelson, where Michi and I intended to go for some extensive hikes. The Abel Tasman National Park features several scenic walks. Named after an explorer in the 17th century, the trails draw heaps of tourists to this area. We set off to do parts of the major track, called the "Abel Tasman Coast Track" - from Tonga Beach to Anchorage Bay. To get to the starting point, we had to take a water taxi from Marahau. On the way, we had time to spot penguins and a seal colony. 
The walk through native forest, for parts alongside the sea was definitely spectacular, although the weather was - at times - not that perfect. The walking track itself was well prepared, almost a bit too much. Although not being a sealed path, it looked a bit like a wheelchair accessible path. And I wondered whether there might be Segways cruising along the Abel Tasman Coast Track in a couple of years from now. Well, I admit that this is a bit of a cynical remark, especially since we only have seen parts of this famous tramp. Our hub city, Nelson, was a perfect little New Zealand town and we decided to explore the surroundings as well. Having the habit of handing out names of Swiss lookalike cities, I gave Nelson the name of Spiez. Don't ask me why I came to this particular association, I just felt like being in that Swiss town. In case you are a New Zealander reading this, my "lookalike-list" might therefore probably serve you as a reference, whenever you plan a visit to Switzerland. Our hostel, the "Tasman Bay Backpackers" so far wins definitely the first place of being the coziest and nicest place on my journey. Free breakfast and chocolate cream in the evening come with the dorm. Staff were absolutely friendly and helpful. Which translated into a relaxed atmosphere among all the guests. This place will be hard to beat by any other hostel on my trip.
One of the returning gags seems to be the displays for hiking trails mentioning times that make no sense. We already managed to crawl purposely slowly along the Abel Tasman track in a bit under five hours, albeit the claimed seven hours it should take. Consequently, the walk we did around town - leading to the center of New Zealand - was featuring hilarious times as well. Advertised as an one hour return trip, we made it one way within less than fifteen minutes. There must be a time-warping tramping wormhole along the hiking tracks here in New Zealand - or why else would we be at our destination in two thirds of the indicated times. Nevertheless, we decided to proceed - instead of going back - on the top of the hills surrounding Nelson. This proved to be a wise decision as there were loads of scenic views along this rather improvised tramp. 
Finally, we went down the hills next to the coast line and the "Founders National Park". It features buildings and displays from the pioneering times, altogether with various memorabilia. Although a bit cheesy and touristy, I enjoyed walking through this park, trying to immerse into the times, when living or traveling through New Zealand was an adventure. We left Nelson after three days. The weather would show more signs of spring and somehow we were so far lucky to have picked the worst days (weather wise) by sitting in buses, transferring from one town to another. Quite perfect.
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posted by Reto at
09:48
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12 November 2008
Wag the dog in Wellington
New Zealand is the first country during my journey, where I fully ignored the name of the Capital city. Thanks to Michi and the Lonely Planet I am now in the know: It's Wellington. This gem of a city boasts having a stunning harbour and being surrounded by hills. Truly, it feels a bit like famous San Francisco, in terms of narrow, steep streets winding up and down numerous hills. Stretching a bit the imagination, I would say that it's a bit feeling like back home in downtown Berne (which is the Capital city of Switzerland - should you be as ignorant as I am). In fact, parts of New Zealand started to look like back home to me. And since the "Kiwi" city names sometimes are hard to remember, I just call them by their Swiss lookalikes: This is how Wellington became Berne - for obvious reasons. Michi is a bit bored by that, but he plays along and patiently nods whenever I am referring to "Berne" (meaning Wellington).
Upon arrival in Wellington, we just had time to put our backpacks in the hostel and head down to the marina to watch the fireworks celebrating the Guy Fawkes day with thousands of other spectators. The event was a nice welcome and the cheering mood of the crowds added to the general warm hospitality of the New Zealanders. However, the local weather was very cool, the added strong winds reminded us of the "wind chill factor". Thus, we didn't stay too long in the city and made an fast return back to the hostel that night.Consequently, we went up very early next morning, being greeted by a beautiful blue sky and ice cold winds. First on our list was the ride on the cable car from downtown Wellington to the botanical gardens sloping the hills overlooking Wellington. The top station also features a museum - but we were too early for a visit and therefore were walking downhill towards the government building area through beautiful beds of flowers and trees.
Politics came for free - at least the tour through the New Zealand parliament and other government buildings. Therefore, Michi and I decided to show interest in this matter. To be honest, our intention was to get inside in a warm area for an hour or so. But the tour turned out to be truly entertaining and the guide was both informative and funny. Although, we (and the government employees) went through some unannounced fire-drills (where we had to leave the building and wait in a safe, but chilly area outside before continuing the tour), there was enough time to learn about the particularities of the New Zealand democratic system. The various government buildings are quite impressive - especially the "Beehive" which was a controversial building project. Rumour has it (according to the tour guide), that the building inherited the name from the shape of the building - not from the speed of politicians working inside. Other fun facts were the Queen's throne in one of the rooms. There is a small hall way behind the door and politicians are supposed to change place in the room through it. This is to show respect for the Queen and the nation of New Zealand. Any politician who would cross the room in front of her would be expelled from parliament and be fined - for treason.
Later the same day, we walked up the Mount Victoria lookout which features also shooting locations of the famous "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy. Contrary to watching the films, I did not fall asleep watching these sights. On the way back down to the city, we witnessed a strange disorderly chaos in the residential streets. They were full of blue buckets. As we found out later, these are recycling bins who were put back by the rubbish truck people after having been emptied. Unfortunately, we had to leave Wellington next day since we wanted to move on to the south island. We booked the "Interislander" ferry from where we enjoyed the scenic views over Wellington's residential areas upon departure. The trip between the north and the south island through the Cook Strait on the ferry lasts for about three hours. The weather was definitely less cold there. Probably because there was less windy than in Wellington, where the winds from the Cook Strait seem to catch.
Labels: New Zealand
posted by Reto at
04:43
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07 November 2008
Jurassic farts in Rotorua
The town of Rotorua was Michi and my first stop on our way to the South Island. We're travelling using a flexible bus pass from the nationwide "Intercity" bus. This gives us plenty of options to hop on and off the bus. Other travellers would rent either cars or vans to visit the country. These come at a slightly higher price, when compared to the Intercity bus. And then, there are various other bus companies, geared towards the backpackers, such as the Magic Bus or the Kiwi Experience. However, these holiday buses feel more like being part of a large holiday tour group. This is definitely no so much fun to explore as we want to discover new grounds on our own. I probably will book the Magic Bus or the Kiwi Experience buses when I'm 90 years of age and will need the comfort and safety of being guided through the sights and points of interest.
The hostel in Rotorua is centrally located and - for some reason - had a number of South American people staying there. That was perfect for me, given the fact that I had not really a detailed plan of the points of interest to visit there. Luis, a guy from Chile, did spend a lot of time showing me a nice route and pictures of his home country - emphasizing that I should skip some of the New Zealand's sights, because the ones in Chile are much more beautiful. Well, I won't be doing that and I don't mind visiting glaciers in New Zealand and Chile. Upon arrival in Rotorua, I looked a bit strangely at Michi, because when we stepped down the bus, there was this wave of strange smell coming up my nose. I found it very impolite of him to fart on the way out of the bus, until I found out later that this was not Michi's odour, but the one from the many sulphur and hot spa's around town. In fact, Lake Rotorua has a high sulphur content, due to the still active geysers and hot mud pools around the lake.
We decided to visit the "Buried Village" (Te Wairoa), which consists of the remains of a holiday resort that was destroyed during New Zealands worst natural disaster, back in 1886. Although there were tours that would enable us to visit the place against a fee, we felt that we could eventually walk the 12km to this site. So we visited the Rotorua Tourist Information to get a local hiking map and information about the best route. However, the answer was a bit unexpected to us: "If you don't have your own vehicle, it is impossible to go there". So we left and set off using essentially the free Rotorua tourist city map and my GPS device. Two hours later we arrived at the "Buried Village", passing the beautiful scenery along Blue (Lake Tikitapu) and Green (Lake Rotokakahi) lakes. We finished our visit by doing a side trip to a viewpoint, from where we spotted Lake Tarawera in a beautiful mountain scenery.
Back in the hostel, people were surprised that we walked a total of 24km. Despite being a tramping country and having a lot of visitors being prepared to hike, it seems to be odd to the locals that one would do more than a handful of kilometers by foot. Many visitors drive to the places by car and then would set out for a hike of half an hour or so and then return safely in their warm and weather-proof car. One of the reasons for doing so was probably the seagulls and other birds near the lake. There is actually no way to eat your sandwich peacefully near Lake Rotorua, because the birds are quite aggressive. Hitchcock's movie "Birds" came to mind, while the sea gulls were impatiently waiting and shouting at people eating in their car. But somehow, Michi and I managed to eat and drink - without a car - during our hike and we finished the day in Rotorua having a beer or two.
Labels: New Zealand
posted by Reto at
06:07
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04 November 2008
Holy cow! Auckland!
My visit to New Zealand started in Auckland, which is located on the North Island. Almost all people who I met before arriving here - New Zealanders (affectionately called "Kiwi's") and backpackers alike - warned me about this city being an ugly hole and not representative of the country's beauty. Everybody persisted in urging me not to spend too much time here. However, after arrival - while exploring a bit downtown - I found that the city's residents and shop owners were exceptionally friendly and relaxed. Such was the general consensus upon verifying my impressions in talks with other backpackers in the hostel. The Kiwi's definitely have their way of making you feel welcome and at home. Almost everywhere they will take time to explain things, such as how to setup phone cards, book trips on bus passes and or which of the local beers are the best. Given the fact that 1.2 million people (out of 4 million total country population) live in this metropolis, I was fascinated how laid back downtown Auckland feels.
The Kiwi friendliness was a much needed relief from the stress encountered by "Virgin Blue" airline staff in Melbourne, where I boarded the plane to arrive here. The check-in agent would not let me board the plane without an outbound ticket out of New Zealand. It is one of these rules and regulations that are easily overlooked, since most customs officers don't bother about it. Australia has the same rule, but nobody cared about such a ticket there. My fault, I shouldn't have booked my onward ticket over the phone in New Zealand to save a couple of bucks, because the "Virgin Blue" lady was very firm that I needed some form of proof for an outbound journey or she would close the check-in counter without letting me on board.
Being my oversight and fault, I went with her proposal to buy a "fully refundable" return flight ticket to Melbourne (which obviously came at a quite expensive price, at $A 600 - or: US$480). Later, when calling Virgin Blue, I learned that "fully refundable" doesn't mean to them that they will refund the ticket. They will give me vouchers to use on other flights with their airline, valid for the next twelve months. If I don't use them (which is probably the case, because they don't fly to South America or Europe), my money will finance either one of Richard Bransons' (the owner of "Virgin Blue") next record breaking travel adventures or the his new spaceship. There's nothing much I can do so far to recover the money lost to "Virgin Blue" and there are a number of other backpackers in New Zealand who tell the exact same story. 
It's definitely a perfect and elaborate cheating scheme from "Virgin Blue" to up-sell. I wouldn't go as far as calling it extortion - as mentioned by another backpacker in Auckland - they just put me with the back to the wall. Obviously, New Zealand customs couldn't care less about a written confirmation of my onward flight. Nor would have any other officer in any of all the other countries visited so far. Nevertheless, I picked up my ticket for the onward trips at the Lan Chile office in Auckland. And the Kiwis - as well as the Lan Chile staff - made it easy to get over this incident and move on. More importantly, there was the arrival of Michi which whom I want to travel for a month through the country.
Jet lag is definitely the norm in Auckland and some businesses cater the night wandering Americans and Europeans in town. I had my own minor jet lag, having done Perth - Melbourne - Auckland (2, plus 3 hours) in five days. However, Michi who arrived straight from his 30+ hours flight into Auckland (which was delayed right from the start in London for three hours because of technical problems) had less problems than me to change his twelve hours of timezone shift. So we went right away to explore pubs and food options. Next day, we wandered around Auckland and not far away - actually still in the city - we could find cows on a hill overlooking the city skyline. This made smile everyone - especially the group of Japanese tourists who would delay their tour bus because they wanted to take pictures - and the weather was actually nice with us and warmer than anticipated. We bought our bus passes and planned for the next legs of our journey. So far Auckland was definitely a nice city with very friendly people. Highly recommended!
Labels: New Zealand
posted by Reto at
06:02
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