A Whirlwind Tour of the South Island

(This entry was written 6 weeks after it occurred. Sorry. Writer's block)

I've had a visiter from home recently. One of my best friends' sister has been studying in Australia for a semester and swung by before she went back home. For nine days it's been quite nice to have a familiar face to show around. A familiar face I've known for sixteen years... when did we grow up? We didn't have much time and wanted to cover a lot of ground, so we logged a lot of miles in the ole van. And there's a catch to this as well, we were broke. We barely had enough to gas the van up. Broke.

I was in Takaka (near Collingwood on the map) beforehand, then spent the the next night in Blenheim boozing it up with my friends that I did the Heaphy Track with. I met Carly in Christchurch where we caught up on old times and made a game plan. The next day it was off to Akaroa, formerly a French settlement on the sea. It was very beautiful and had a Mediterranean look to it as you approached from the nearby mountains. During winter in Akaroa you can go on a whale watching trip or go to a cafe, that's pretty much it. We were skint so were only able to watch the whale-watching boat. It was an early night but the hostel had some good movies. The next day there was much driving to be done. We thought we were going to spend the night in Twizel but neither of us wanted to when we got there. It was like one of those horror movies where you drive in to a small deserted town and can't find anybody. Then you come to find out that the kids in town killed off all the adults. We got the hell out of Twizel pretty quick and headed off to Mount Cook. Mount Cook was cool. It's the highhest mountain in New Zealand and a national park. There wasn't much out there in terms of development (which was nice) but the mountains were impressive. We were gonna do some day walks but it was raining (we were at such a high altitude that we were actually in the cloud). I managed to get some good pictures though. The next day we were off to Queenstown. We had both been looking forward to going to Queenstown for some time. My take on the place is that's it's way too commercial. The is a lot of adventure stuff to do: bungee jumping, skiing, jet boating, and much more, but once again, it cost money. We went on happy hour tour and got wrecked. You can go fromm happy hour at one bar to happy hour at the next bar all night in Queenstown. The following day we spent hungover and went to Wanaka. I'll take Wanaka over Queenstown anyday. It's similiar in many wanys, both are on big lakes with towering mountains behind them, both are next to the ski slopes. Wanaka is a lot more laid back, though. We met an interesting English snowboard instructor there who showed us around town and explained how the skiing went in New Zealand. We finally did away with out hangovers with more drinks. The next day we drove thru the Haast area, a UN World Heritage area that simply must be seen to be believed and on to Fox Glacier where we stayed that night. We didn't feel comfortable hiking on the glacier without proper gear unless we took a guided walk and yep.. you guessed it the walk was a bit more money than we had. Man, why did I go so long without working? We were going to dotwo day hik the next day but realized the we werr inequipped for that so we went to Dunnollie (Greymouth) to say hello to the coal-miners. (Carly's comment: "I feel like I'm in Tennesee." Classic!) I enjoyed being back in Dunollie and catching up with some old (new) friends. We spent three nights there 'cause it's a bargain and did some great day walks everday. Then we returned to Christchurch via the ever-so-scenic Arthur's Pass. The next day Carly flew back to Australia, I went to Ashburton for work but decided to continue on to Methven.


PHOTO: See if you can find all the places. We really covered some ground.

WWOOF!

When I finished the Heaphy Track I was in the Golden Bay area. I liked it so much I wasn't ready to leave. So I wwoofed. It stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms. It's a popular thing here in NZ and will probably catch on in other places. Basically you for for a few hours a day in exchange for accomodation and food. It's great for travelers. I woofed for a German couple for a week. The food was excellent and so was the view of the bay. Takaka is a very laid back little town and very new agey. I felt like I was back in Asheville. Actually more like Black Mountain because it was such a small town. If you're thinking of travelling in the future you should check out the WWOOF site (paid membership required to achieve anything) or helpexchange (free.)

UPDATE: A week after I left Takaka, the town's largest employer, some kind of dairy plant, burned to the ground.

The Heaphy Track

I decided not to spend the winter in Dunollie. I like the place, but there's no jobs this time of year. I mean, I could bartend in exchange for accomodation, but then I'd start spending money I didn't have in the pub. I wished all the regulars my best and moved on. My three apple-picking friends and I decided to walk the Heaphy Track. It was 82km (50 miles) long, and took 5 days and 4 nights. The weather was perfect. The last day was spectacular, a long walk along a deserted tropical beach. The day before that we found a cave and explored it. Pictures speak louder than words on these things, and the pictures will be coming soon.


PHOTO: I'm not sure if you call this a "cow jam" or "South Island rush hour".


PHOTO: Maybe these things are more common than I thought.


PHOTO: I was feeling like Tom Sawyer in that cave.


PHOTO: Another shot of the cave.


PHOTO: We stayed here on our last night, the mouth of the Heaphy River.


PHOTO: Miles and miles of isolated beach. You've got to love it!