Sophie, 18 januari 2009
Nieuw Zeeland , Christchurch

Kiwis, ice and everything nice

Howdy! I’ve landed in the low lands safe and sound last Wednesday, and I’ll be in touch with everyone real soon, but just to complete the storybook I will tell you aaall about my wicked travels to New Zealand and Indonesia!

Because I’m lazy I’ll copy my kiwiland tour itinerary and give my own comments on their description of each day…

DAY 1: Christchurch to Lake Ohau
Our journey commences in Christchurch where you’ll find grand architecture, historic homesteads and immaculate parks intermingle with the technology and style of modern life. We head across the Canterbury Plains to the town of Geraldine, and follow the southern lakes hydroelectricity scheme around impressive blue water lakes with the ever-present Southern Alps as a backdrop. We then travel onwards to Lake Pukaki to our destination, Mt Cook – known to the Maori people as Aoraki or “cloud piercer” – hopefully no clouds in sight to obscure our view! From here it’s only a short drive to Mt Cook Village.

My view of Christchurch is that of a dull town with bad sushi, bedbugs, lots of shops, no nice places to go out (on a Friday night!), no decent art gallery and an unimpressive cathedral. So there’s that.
Geraldine is awesome because they have the world’s largest jumper (it’s in the GBoR) and because it was made in two weeks by two people.
The lakes were absolutely amazing, I’ve never seen water this blue (turquoise actually), and the views of the mountains with snow on top on this sunny day made it even more magical. My favorite lake was Lake Pukaki, just for the name ^__^ We also had a great view of Mt Cook from our porch, whoop!

DAY 2: Lake Ohau to Milford Sound
This morning’s drive takes us over the Lindis Pass and through the Cromwell district. Our journey continues along the Kawarau River, with its familiar Lord of the Rings scenery, and home to AJ Hackett’s original Bridge Bungy site – the first commercial bungy in the world and into Te Anau. Our cruise tonight in the Tasman Sea is a real highlight!

The drive was beautiful and the bungee scary (thought not that high, I mean it was the first one after all) – but the real impressive thing was Milford Sound. These are the fiords of the Tasman Sea, and we spend the night on a boat cruising through the beautiful fiords. We kayaked in the (freezing) water and even spotted some seals (NZ fur seals that I saw on KI, actually)

DAY 3: Milford Sound to Queenstown
Time for additional cruising this morning before returning to the wharf. We make our way back through Te Anau and onwards around Lake Wakatipu to the adrenalin mecca of the southern hemisphere!! Queenstown has it all – spectacular scenery, great hikes, cafes, shops, and every adrenalin charged activity you can imagine! You can enjoy some free time this afternoon to experience a slice of what the town has to offer. Re-charge with a well-earned meal tonight before we head out and perhaps check out the nightlife – there’s always a party on somewhere in this adrenalin charged town!

In the morning we went onto open sea, which was a bit too much for some of us (I’m thinking of Kate, one of our tour guides who had her 22nd birthday today). Arrival in Queenstown was cool because we had a room with a view of the beautiful lake and mountains, but we didn’t do much the rest of the day. At night we went out to celebrate Kate’s birthday – we went to an ice bar (-5 degrees) and to some other places where things got a little wilder…

DAY 4: Queenstown
Today its time to play and an adventure awaits us at every turn! Try a bungy jump* (or three!) at the home of commercial bungy jumping, raft on the Shotover River* or surf the waters of the Kawarau whilst river boarding*. A shot of adrenalin in the Shotover Jet* as you skim past the canyon walls, or the breathtaking scenery of the Dart River on a jetboat safari* or by horseback*.

Sooo today was free to do whatever we pleased. Some people on my tour planned a sky dive, but they were all canceled due to bad weather (the weather in NZ is as unpredictable as a Spanish woman with a gun *who’s watched ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’ on the plane?*), as well as my rafting trip. I wasn’t too bummed out though, I wasn’t feeling too hot anyways.

DAY 5: Queenstown to Fox Glacier
An early start today as we negotiate Haast Pass and stop at Thunder Creek Falls, which flows into the Haast River amidst rainforest, highlighting the beauty of this World Heritage area. Westland National Park abounds with high mountain peaks and glaciers and this afternoon we'll have a chance to walk on a flowing river of ice!

Another great drive, although we didn’t get out much because it was a long way to Fox Glacier. We settled in our rooms and did nada interesting. I have to say that the food and the people on this trip were great

DAY 6: Fox Glacier to Flock Hill
Let’s hope Lake Matheson’s waters are still and the skies clear so we can get that famous reflection of New Zealand’s two tallest mountain peaks in it’s waters. The scenery will continue to amaze you today as we head once again across the Alps to Flock Hill Station. Flock Hill is a 14,000 hectare working station farming fine wool sheep, beef cattle and red deer all set on a picturesque backdrop that regardless of the time of year you’ll be blown away! Plus if you’ve seen the movie Narnia, things are going to look a little familiar!

This morning we climbed the glacier! Man, it was amazing, and not cold at all! We hiked all the way up to the ice and got on their with ice picks and things on our boots and eeverything. It was beautiful to see the formations in the moving ice and our guide picking out some of the steps as we went along. A really beautiful experience.
The rest of the day I don’t really remember, so it couldn’t have been that special.

DAY 7: Flock Hill to Christchurch
Today you get to explore further a field. Learn about the colourful local history and farming practices of this remote area as well as hearing accounts from the early pioneering days in New Zealand. Watch the art of sheep shearing and sheepdogs work the cattle and sheep. Enjoy morning tea at the property before it’s time to travel back down onto the Canterbury Plains and into Christchurch.

Although the sheep station might sound kind of lame, it was actually really cool! NZ has something like 40 million sheep, so sheep farms are an important part of their economy and culture. We got shown around the station and they demonstrated sheep herding and shearing and we got to touch the different kinds of wool and stuff. The cheap, rough wool they export to the US (for socks), the really fine stuff to Oz and NZ (for Icebreaker travel wear) and the other decent stuff to Italy (for expensive men’s suits). The sheep have endless hills and mountains to go walkabout (Mrs. Boss) on and they are very relaxed during the sheering, so I decided to not boycott wool

Later that day we returned to Christchurch, where I had dinner and drinks with a few of the cool people from my trip, before saying goodbye and getting a total of 1,5 hours of sleep before I had to get up and pack to leave on my 6 am flight back to Oz… I spend two days on airports (Christchurch, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin) and a night at my friend Sianne’s place in Adelaide before I finally got to Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia!

Met HalloBuitenland.nl kun je Sophie in Nieuw Zeeland echt goedkoop bellen!