Dunedin and Otago peninsula

According to the bus driver, Dunedin is the Gaelic name for Edinburgh, and that a lot of street names have been copied from there.

The vineyard exchange host has this to say about Dunedin:  "Dunedin has Scottish origins; the locals won’t let you forget that.  It is legend that Scotsmen have a formula for finding the perfect wife and only seek out women who meet the criteria which are:  Strong Legs for hill climbing; Good Broad Hips for child bearing; The Personality and Training of Mother Teresa for raising the children correctly and; The Bedroom Skills of a high class prostitute!!"
 
As far as scotish influences go, I think I only noticed it from one scotish store at the city centre. My own first impression of Dunedin was that the city is uphill both ways.

Scottish influence or not, the city is charming and unique in its own right. It does have its own fair share of Gothic architecture which is nice to look at, but what I liked the most is the hilly streets. the multi level landscape is just something special.

As I was walking aimlessly through the city street, I came across a chocolate factory. A CHOCOLATE FACTORY! I mean, who am I not to go in and realise a childhood dream.

I did overdo it though with the sampling and ended up going back to the hostel and not doing any more walking for the rest of the day.

School for boys

University of Otago

The train station

On my last day in Dunedin, I went into the tourist centre and booked myself on the next excursion to the Otago peninsula.

Maori meeting place

We boarded some Canadian made offroad vehicle....

I gotta say that it was well worth the drive as the seal colony was so close to us! Fur seal puppies are one of the most adorable creatures I've seen!

We did spot one little blue penguin (the smallest penguin in the world). Apparently they only come out in the evening and love to live in rocks.

There were also yellow eyed penguins, but far away down on the beach.

Fur seal pups

Yellow eyed penguins

Little blue penguin

Vineyard exchange and Lyttelton

My next stop was to be a vineyard exchange in rural Canterbury.
I got picked up from my overnight hostel by the host and got driven to this posh house surrounded by fields, horses, sheep and the vineyard.

The place itself can be described as charming, but in the middle of nowhere. Though there are neighbours (the sheep farmer, for example), the closest supermarket (in Rangiora) is about 20 mins away by car.
There I learned how to train vines, how to finely chop onion and garlic using the motion of the knife, how to prepare la roux and bechamelle sauce (and several other sauces that use it as a base), and as promised I learned how to taste wine.
I tastes several varieties over my two week stay there, and my favourite so far is the green ginger wine. It is a sipping wine. Dark red and heady, it is sweetish and spicy.

I had 3 days off, so I was working only 4 days out of 7 in the week. I spent my days under the warm sun in a t-shirt and shorts prunning and tieing down vines, taking care of the dishes, keeping the kitchen spotless, setting up the table and helping to cook. I used a lot of my father's recipes at the time - and the host seems to like those a lot. Other times we would  do a recipe that the host decided upon and that was yummy too (but generally involved using a lot of pots)
Since the host was actually british, we did do several classic british recipes such as mash and bangers, fish and chips, yorshire pudding and roast.

While the novelty of domesticity was fun for a few days it did wore off. I guess as much as the host liked it, and I liked learning something new, I have no desire to become a domestic godess of any sort at this point (or at any other, if I can help it) in my life.

During the meal, and for the entire evening afterwards (often till midnight) we would spend it listening to classical music and talking about all sorts of stuff - from politics to lifestyles to art and movies. It felt like such a traditional household. So much that one weekend we even went to a dinner party!
It is a bit unreal for me. I mean I never thought I would be sitting at what is basically a strangers home, at the other side of the world, sipping expensive wine (Cabaret! with chocolate dessert) and discussing themes of madness and hell in art (Heirnymous Bosch, Goya, I must thank thee for making me look like I have a lot to say on the subject).

Again though, nice as it was, and different! I don`t think this sort of conventional lifestyle grabs me enough to want to strive towards it. But I am glad I got to try it out for size!

A day before I was leaving, the host took me to Lyttelton, which is what lies on the other side of the mountains you see from christchurch. Located in the center of what is a volcano crater is a small town and oneof the largest ports on the South island. And it does look like a crater. Surrounded by walls of mountains in a circle, at the center of which there is water. Apperently at some point in the very distant past, the sea burst through oneo f the walls pof the crater and filled it in with water.

I even spotted a few Russian Ships (Ivan Galubetz, heh), and according to the host a lot of them stop here for refuelling and what not, especially since it's the last stop before Antarctica. Like Christchurch, the town was very heavily hit by the earthquake and evidence of that is everywhere.
Note to self: Download China Girl album by Vanessa Mae - it has a nice chinese style violin. And try out the Planet suit (classical music).

Wanaka

Wanaka. Oh Wanaka. How you captured my heart with your gorgeous mountains and lake.
I stayed 5 nights at a hostel called Wanaka Bakpaka, and honestly, so far it's been the best hostel I stayed at.

Lake Hawea

  Absolutely recommended.

 Everything was perfection - from the wonderful kitchen to the warm lounge/dinning room with a dramatic mountain & lake view to really kind staff (both the owners and the woofers). I wish I lived in that hostel - that's how much I liked it.

I arrived on a sunny afternoon, and after a walk through town and getting the groceries done, I wasn`t in the mood to do anything (long bus drives can do that). So I went through the book exchange and picked up something by Clive Barker (yeah, the same guy who did Hellraiser). I could never get into this adult oriented books - one part the writing style and the other part is that like a lot of fantasy directed at adults (which disappoints me greatly) it was dark, depressive and dwelling too much on sex. The book I picked up though was called Abarat, and while the main heroine is a teenager (but of course she is, adults don`t really get to do a lot of colourful adventures), I actually ended up enjoying it so much, I stayed till 1 am reading that. Imagine the chances, running into the one book which re-introduces me to a man whose work I liked (movies, paintings), but never could do his books!

Following that, I spent my days hiking and my evenings reading and I was reaching a level of quiet contention and satisfaction. In fact! I was itching to do something useful with myself  other than hike and read. Which is definitely a nice change from wanting to lie on the couch face down and not do anything. But eh, I am not skilled in any arts to really take advantage of the feeling.

My first hike took me to the Iron mountain which is the highest peak in the immediate vicinity of Wanaka. The trail entrance is about 2km from town, and It takes about an hour and a half to hike the entire loop track at low speed (and frequent stops for photos), but it gives you a real nice view of the entire town and the lake.

Yikes! How did I get into a RE4 game?

The next morning I picked up a map, a water bottle and a sandwich and left for Roy`s Peak.
On the way there, I passed what appears to be the rich neighborhood of really posh houses and a vineyard. The vineyard belonged to Rippon, which apparently produces the best Pinot Noir in the country. I climbed all the way up to the "Cellar Door" where I was given a free wine tasting of their wines! (I didn't realize I have to spit the wine into a bucket, heh, so I was slightly happier leaving again towards Roy Peak).

Rippon vineyard

I decided to just walk to the trail, which supposedly only 6k from the town. Took me the better part of the morning and early afternoon, heh. The track itself took me 5 hours.  There were sheep... lots and lots of sheep. The entire mountain side is baaaing.

I made it back in darkness, at about 9 pm (Thanks again to my father for giving me the flashlight). Well worth the return time, as the night sky is gorgeous here. It must be that there is less light pollution - you can see the milky way, and so many stars it`s unreal in its beauty.

Tracks around the lake, which is what I did for the rest of my time there, are much easier as the ground is flat and they are very tranquil. Just mountains and waters and the Autumn yellow trees.

It must be rabbit season because not only the mountain tracks, but everywhere else had tons of rabbits.

Rabbit season?

On the day before my departure, I gave Puzzling World a visit. I loved all the visual illusions. The room of following faces was especially impressive (as well as the tilted house). I didn`t care much for the maze, I admit. Maybe I just don`t like mazes or wasn't in the mood for one. I completed the first challenge (by accident, heh, as I was just looking for the exit) and didn`t bother with the second one at all. Overall just good clean fun.

Franz Josef glacier

I was very much looking forward to doing a full day hike on the Franz Josef glacier, but while on the bus there I get the news: because of global warming or the such, the glacier has melted too much and now considered a too unstable geological feature. All full day and half day hikes and ice climbing have been cancelled. Fox glacier, on the other hand is all systems go.

We came across a temporary road block on the way.

At which point I basically went "rats, shouldn't have listened to all those people convincing me to go to Franz, should've went with my original plans to Fox". But what's done is done and I already booked my hostel.

I arrived afternoon at a very small Alpine town and immediately went asking about glacier tours. I figure, I can take a shuttle to Fox glacier from Franz Josef. But what? because of the sudden cancellation, large tour companies moved all their client's booking to Fox glacier so that when I tried to book anything like ice climbing and full day hikes it was all booked solid for tomorrow, after tomorrow and after after tomorrow.

So I decided to go with the flow and take a heli-hike. For one thing, I have seen a side by side photograph of Franz Josef now and 10 years ago and boy! Did that ice sucker shrunk! So I thought it was worth seeing Franz Josef while it didn't completely go away and taking a heli-hike will make it just a bit extra special seeing as I never been up on a chopper before. If I really like the glacier hiking part, perhaps I could stop by Fox glacier later on if I so choose.

I think at the end of the day, I definitely made the right decision. The guide (who was actually from Holland, but with the kiwi laid back attitude) was fantastic! Hiking was tonnes of fun, especially where we had to squeeze through an ice ridge.

Blue ice is gorgeous. The best part for me was the helicopter ride, though.
Planes have nothing on helicopters. Just going straight up was amazing! I recommend going up in the craft at least once in your life. Flying is just an amazing experience no matter how you look at it.

My ride's here!

Since the heli-hike was in the morning, I had enough time afternoon to hike the surrounding rainforest and in the evening I went to the Glacier hot pools. they had 3 pools heated to different degrees, I choose the coolest one being at 36C (I can't take being in much heat), and that was just perfect. A perfect end to a perfect day.

So there you have it - I walked on that glacier, I drank glacier waters (before, you know, it gets bottled), and I swam in its waters.

And oh! The day I arrived at Franz Josef, one of the French guys that I played Articulate at Greymouth with, ended up being my roommate! So in that evening, me him and our Japanese roommate all went for a late night hike to see glow worms in the forest. Well worth it! Was pretty magical. Of course, I ended up being the only one with a flash light (thanks to my father), otherwise it would be impossible to walk as it was total darkness there - as in if you extend your arm in front of you, you wouldn't see it. But the small pinpricks of blueish light were quiet magical.

Leaving Greymouth

 Despite really bad allergies, I actually had a really good time in Greymouth.
2 things made it so - amazing sunsets and the people I stayed with.
Those people were pure gold. Thanks guys!

Photos taken by Nynke.

Charleston's glow worm caves and Punakaiki rocks

While staying in Greymouth I took a day trip to Charleston to do some black water rafting.
My day started pretty early, as apart from the caves I wanted to take a hike as well. Charleston is a well worth it stop for a hike if you have the time. I took 2 paths - the first one goes through a really old cemetery and involves going through wild bushes and climbing a cliff. The other path is a 15 minuted looped path which is less wild and far more convenient to walk. both walks give you a spectacular view to the ocean.

As for my glow worm experience. Let me tell you, so far it has been my favourite part of the trip. The Underworld Adventure takes you on a train ride through the now familiar to me rainforest, where you change into a wet suit and pick up your tube. You haul the damn thing through what feels like a million stairs and when you are all good and sweaty and out of breath finally you can enter the cave.

The cave was very user friendly. It was pretty big and walking was very easy - there were no spaces where you had to crouch or crawl through. The cave was just beautiful - it had so many different formations.
Check this one out, doesn't it look like a face?

I actually forgot that I came here to see glow worms until the guide told to turn off the lights and there they were - on the wall, close enough to touch!
The rafting part involves paddling slowly in complete darkness and looking up at the glow worm colonies. This has been definitely one of the most magical things I have seen in my life. It's like... I am not sure what to compare it to even, if you've seen Avatar then the caves look something that came from there!
The trip finishes by floating down the stream, which was fun.

After that, since there was no bus to take me back to Greymouth I had to hitchhike. One of the workers from the Underworld Adventures drove me as far as the pancake rocks.

Originally, I didn't really care if I'll see them or not. But let me tell you, it is well worth stopping for the rocks. It's not the fact that they look stacked which is the cool part, but the blow-hole part is what is going to blow you away. Somehow the entire area channels the waves/tide in an explosive way so there is water spray several meters high. The waves just smash into the blow holes and the pools and the rock sides with this awesome force.
It was far more interesting than I thought it would be.

Greymouth: First impressions and staying there a while

Greymouth is a small town as small towns go, a village really.

The hostel where I stay for a while is called Noah's Ark. Located about 2 minutes from the town's centre and about 2 minutes away from the King Park walkway, it's an ideal location.
Though the animal decor in the rooms is not the height of sophistication, it is a charming place to stay, clean, and has it's perks.

So what does one do in a small town when one is so stay here a while?
Luckily, I have stayed with some pretty cool people so I had a good time in what otherwise is a real sleepy town.

First of all - the hostel. In the backyard there are hammocks. I've been blessed to have good sunny weather the majority of the time I stayed here. Afternoon naps under the warm sun are pleasant, but they also make you feel like you moved into semi-retirement.

Next I went fishing. There is a nice elevated platform that juts out to the ocean from where you can fish, and from where we also watched some amazing sunsets and even spotted a seal! When it is windy the waves crash in a pretty dramatic way and make for a really cool sunset experience.

There were bike paths.

There were also BBQs and Marshmallow parties in the backyard.

The evenings were spent playing Scrabble, Articulate and pictionary with mostly German guests.

Overall yeah, I am glad I stayed here a while.