Joe’s travel blog

To the South, I land

The north island had been great, if a little marred by the unpredictable weather, and now it was time to cross the seas to the south. Having dropped off a third of the group, the van we had been travelling in is decidedly more spacious.

Let’s quickly talk about the transport during the trip, I think the term for the type of vehicle is a “commuter van”, and has a very typical layout of one side being 2 seaters, and the other side with singles - where both Hebs and I held onto from the start (except that one day, people on the tour would be aware of that one day when I was not in my seat!). The van is towing a cargo carrier to house our luggage bags, and eskies with our breakfast. I also found out that esky, or eskies in plural, is apparently an Aussie term not used in New Zealand, and it’s called a “chilly bin” there. Anyway, while some thought this was quite an uncomfortable ride, I’ve travelled long distances in enough cars, vans, and buses to know that it wasn’t the worst. Matthew can probably back me up on this, based on the amount of time he slept through it all.

Umm, so I’ve just blabbered on a little too much about a van. But, here’s a relevant picture of me (looking cool with my headband) on top of the cargo box with the van in the ship that took us from the north to the south.

When we departed Wellington port, we mostly stayed inside the ship - I actually took a little nap, but once we got closer to our destination at Picton, it became a surprising highlight of the trip thus far as we entered Marlborough Sounds.

Seals and silliness

After disembarking the ship, it’s not long until we arrived in Kaikoura. It’s probably important to note that this was Christmas Eve, so we also had to prepare ourselves for shops and restaurants being closed the next day when we get to Christchurch by taking a pitstop at the supermarket to ready to cook our dinner for the first time. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, we still have the afternoon and Christmas Day morning to enjoy Kaikoura.

Another thing to note is that Hebs and I are both walkers - if we can get there within 30 minutes on foot, we’re walking. I can’t really remember what went on, but we were dropped off in town to get ourselves acquainted with it, and since the hostel was only 20 minutes away, we opted to walk back, whereas the others hopped on the van. Then not soon thereafter, the van came back passed us, and we were now on the way to see some seals.

At the tail end of the region at the Kaikoura Recreation Reserve, there are seals lazying about on the rock beach. We saw a couple one staying put in a spot and took some photos, but when we walked further away, there is a seal colony that is roped off, so when we kept walking until the rope eventually ran out, and we were able to sneak in from the edge. Loop hole!

When we got back to the car park ready to be taken back to the hostel, we had a bit of time for silliness. Well, Hebs suggested it first, and put sea shells over our eyes for some funny pictures.

Kayaking, the sequel

Who knew I’d be doing so much kayaking on this trip! At the start, I think Grant told us that we had to book activities through Haka Tours, but given how lacklustre they had been in that regards, he stopped caring, and we’re looking up and booking activities by ourselves; as was the case with this kayaking tour.

Instead of paddles, we have pedals! The kayaks have pedals for moving and a little knob to rotate the rudder for steering. This made moving a whole lot easier.

Did I mention that we’re dumb goofballs? So of course, we’re pedalling around really fast like kids…to the point that Hebs broke his pedals, but luckily we were near the end of the tour, only metres away from the shore. Honestly, it was not the most interesting tour, but we made the most out of it by being immature. When we were on our way back, the guide also stopped us to see the crayfish that was caught in a cage under water. Hebs disclosed to me that he’s never had crayfish before, but unfortunately, we were already going to be leaving Kaikoura that day, so we’ll have to find him some for dinner somewhere else!

Christchurch Christmas

Not too far into the drive to Christchurch, we saw a group of dolphins swimming around each other, which was cool to see, but no big deal, right? Then I remarked “I’m not getting out of the bus unless they start jumping”, then lo and behold! Swimming, dancing, jumping dolphins. I grabbed my DSLR camera, with my zoom lens extended to its fullest to capture the action.

Well, it’s Christmas Day in Christchurch, and after checking into the hostel, some drama happened that I won’t bother going into details for. New Zealand is already quite a quiet country, but on Christmas Day, it’s like the apocalypse had happened, even in a major city like Christchurch. It was actually cool to see and experience how empty it is, giving very much London-in-lockdown vibes.

When the evening came, it was time to make some dinner for ourselves the first time in New Zealand (we had been eating out every day up until then). Every morning, there are 2 chilly bins filled with breakfast stuff - bread, spreads (Nutella specifically), fruit, yoghurt, tea/coffee, and cereals. After a week, Hebs and I are already a well-oiled machine in working together to get food to the table - he’ll make the tea, I’ll toast the bread, etc. For our Christmas meal, given that he’s the Italian, I asked him to cook (some pasta). Knowing him more now, it was the right decision - he likes to take charge, and has certain ways he likes to do things. So, I ended up helping him with the prep - slicing up stuff and making the salad, but also topping his glass up with wine while the pasta is cooking. Speaking of the salad though, oh man, I had forgotten how big and nice the avocados are in this part of the world!

Well, that wasn’t the end of the night, was it? We had a few bottles of Asahi beers in the fridge, and we end the night at a playground where I enthusiastically (read, slightly drunk) went down some slides while Hebs watched on. For many points during the tour, I felt like we were having more fun than anyone else in the group, and it was probably true.

New members hop on

The next morning, we met some new members in our tour group, replacing those that had left in Wellington. When I was booking this tour, I had thought about only doing this latter half, and navigating the north island by myself. However, I remembered that whenever you join a group mid-tour, it’s always harder to break into existing groups, as was the case when I visited Jordan and joined a group that had spent the previous week in Egypt together.

If you’re keeping tabs on the date, you’ll know that it’s Boxing Day, but any hopes of doing some bargain hunting were dashed as we had to depart in the morning before the shops open. However, as early-risers, we managed to have some time to go to the Botanical Gardens. Coincidentally, the next time we come back to Christchurch, it’ll be another public holiday - New Year’s Day!

Onwards, and southwestwards, we stopped overnight at Lake Tekapo, which is a fine town, albeit quite a bit of a tourist trap and was probably when I started saying “town with a lake” - we already had one in the north island with Taupo. And this won’t be the last one…there will actually be 3 more towns with a lake that we stay at.

We spent most of our time laying on the beach to get some tan, and attempted to hop into the water for a brief moment - I stayed in the waters a little longer than when Hebs went in, who essentially walked in, and out immediately.

The lowlight of Lake Tekapo (and the reason I call it a tourist trap), is that when we were unable to get a table at the Japanese restaurant, we went to a Chinese one next door instead. However, we had to wait an hour for our food to arrive, and the prices are double of what I would normally pay a Chinese meal for. Should have gone with the pizza.

A (rough) plan was made

Before continuing on, a plan was starting to form even before we reached the south island. Hebs told me that after the tour, he’s going to hire a car and travel for a week - which is understandable, since it takes him more than 40+ hours to get him from where he lives in Italy to New Zealand. I, on the other hand, had only left 3-4 days to do some of my own travelling afterwards. Since I didn’t really have to be anywhere specific at a specific date, he agreed for me to join him, so I changed my flights to a later date.

Why is it important to mention this now? Because, once again, not being able to book in advance, neither of us booked a Milford Sounds tour departing from Queenstown. However, this ended up being a blessing in disguise - the whole tour takes up basically the entire day; involving 8-10 hours of sitting in a coach to do a 1-2 hour cruise. Instead, when we will have our own car, we can stay at a closer town, and only drive 2 hours each way.

Going to Milford Sounds became our first solid plan for after the group separates.

A town fit for a fit queen

Without the burden of spending a whole day for Milford Sounds, we got to enjoy what Queenstown has to offer, and apparently that was hiking. Well, I did say we were walkers.

Hiking is one of those activities that in my mind is enjoyable, but actually isn’t in real life - a little similar to how I feel about camping. After you get down from a hike, which tends to be easier than going up, you’re high on the sense of achievement that you’ve forgotten how hard it was going up, and when you’re deciding to go on a hike the next time, it’s like “let’s do it, I had so much fun last time!”.

The afternoon hike of Queenstown Hill we did on the day we arrived ended up being a training session for the next day - conquering Ben Lomond.

A wonderful day

Yes, the lede has been buried, this was one of my favourite days in New Zealand. We started the morning cheating a little by taking the Skyline (gondola) up the mountain to start the hike. As a part of the ticket, we also get 2 times on the luge (in this instance, a go-kart doesn’t have an engine, and only uses gravity to move) which we will use when we get back down from the hike.

Going uphill is always a struggle for me with my short stumpy legs, especially with my lack of physical ability. Additionally, apart from the start where we went through a short section of trees, the rest of the hike is out in the open with the New Zealand sun beaming down on us. Having grown up in Australia, I know that the sun in this region of the world hits much harder, and stronger.

After 3 or so hours, we reached the top and are awarded with a panoramic view of the lake on one side, and layers and layers of mountains on the other.

I made the remark to Hebs that hiking is like cooking - you spend potentially hours to make a meal, but it only takes minutes to eat it all. Which is what we did, we had just spent 3 gruelling hours hiking up to the peak, only to spend 15-30 minutes to take some pictures, enjoy the view, relax, and rejuvenate before heading back down again.

Getting to the core

We were taking a break in the middle of our hike up Ben Lomond, and having apples. As I was eating mine, I was thinking about where to keep the apple core, and that was when I realised that Hebs didn’t have his anymore. It turned out that he ate it! A little disturbed by this, he assured me it’s fine to eat, and as someone who hardly says no to anything food-related, I relented.

Welp, I’ve been eating apple cores since then!

The fun continues

So, yeah, great accomplishment doing a 5-hour hike, blah blah blah. Now the real fun begins. As promised, a couple of rounds on the luge awaited us at the end of the hike.

The first round, we go down the easy course, which has longer straights, and less tight corners. However, one of the corners, someone must have stopped, making at least another half a dozen people to be stuck as well. I tried to avoid the traffic jam by going around the outside, but that didn’t work, and I, too, was now stationary. To get moving again, I scuttled myself forward slowly until the hill dips more and gravity takes over once more. Hebs, on the other hand, took the inside line, and managed to get through with relative ease. He is a bit of speed hound after all, owning a motorbike, and I’ll later experience his driving.

The second round is a bit more technical - more tight turns, a few more ups and downs, but is also a fair bit shorter.

While we rested back at the hostel, we decided that we should reward ourselves with going to the town’s beach, and a nice dinner. Given that this was the 28th of December, right when everyone is on holidays, I was unable to get secure a booking at a restaurant that served crayfish. However, we were able to find one that had green-lipped mussels on the menu - a NZ exclusive! Along with the mussels, we also ordered calamari, lamb, and a side of polenta fries. Oh, and of course, wine. Everything was delicious.

An ominous end to a great day

For 2 nights now, Hebs had not been sleeping well, as a couple of new joiners who had been sharing the room with us are big snorers - bigger, and more than I am. As a way to solve the problem, he bought a set of earplugs at the pharmacy. However, while lounging in the common area of the hostel, he gave those new babies a try to see how much noise is cancelled out, but by doing so he must’ve pushed in some earwax.

To the left, to the left

When we set off to Wanaka from Queenstown, we got to meet our newest member to the group - Sheree (I think that’s how you spell her name), who is an older woman, that lives in Auckland. There was some booking problem, and she only caught up to us at Christchurch. Also today, was the only time I’m not sitting in my usual seat in the van, because someone decided to stray from the rulebook and took mine. Tsk tsk.

On the way to Wanaka, we went by Cardrona Hotel which our guide, Grant, said is the most photographed pub in New Zealand. However, the significance of this hotel is a part of New Zealand’s history that I don’t think many foreigners would know, so in a van full of tourists, the vote was to not stop, and soldier on. It was not long after this, when I asked what Sheree wanted to see during this trip, and Cardrona Hotel was one on the list! Oops!

#ThatWanakaTree as it is called, is the star of Wanaka, but the general vibe of the town, despite its size, is lively. It seems to be a town that people from other towns come to, to have a good time. There was even a cool food market where we got some burritos for dinner. But before that happened, we took a long walk along the path next to the lake.

Yes, it’s another town with a lake.

During our walk, though, Hebs had to keep telling me to keep to the left of him, as he was essentially deaf in his right ear. On the bright side, he had gotten a couple of great nights’ sleep, but it has come at a price. And then when the next day rolled around, and the situation with his ear had not improved, it was beginning to be worrisome.

Playing it by ear

In the early morning, we went to the supermarket to buy some cotton buds to see what we can do to fix Hebs’s ear problem. He spent a considerable amount of time in the bathroom with his head over the sink trying to get out as much ear wax as he could, and despite getting out what looked like good-sized nuggets, it wasn’t working. He eventually stopped when there was some blood.

We decided to first get some coffee before returning back to our original plan of visiting Puzzling World. However, I could feel in the silence that he was worried, but didn’t want to say anything and ruin our plan, so I started looking in Google Maps for anything/anyone in town that can help him. I managed to find an ear specialist in town, but when we got to the office, it was empty, and closed. We looked around a bit more before we bumped into someone and asked them where the people were, and unfortunately, they didn’t know. Instead, I asked them where the hospital is, and was told that there’s a clinic a little outside of town.

Thinking that Grant, our guide and driver, will be faster to get us there, I messaged him on Facebook Messenger to tell him of our situation, and asked him to take us to the clinic. It was lucky that other people are busy with a boat ride in the lake that morning, as it gave us some time before we had to leave the town. Having lived in big cities in all my life, I was worried that Hebs wasn’t going to have enough time to be attended to by any doctors or nurses.

Well, Wanaka is not a big city, and we didn’t have to wait long before Hebs was called in by the nurse. I had some confusion when the nurse told me that she was waiting on the ambulance, thinking that we had to go somewhere else for Hebs to have his ears cleaned, but actually meant she was expecting one to pull in, and had nothing to do with us.

It didn’t take long until the nurse was pumping water into Hebs’s ears, and after many pumps later, a huge chunk of earwax fell out of his right ear, and even in his “good” (left) ear produced a sizeable blob.

Hebs’s serious and worried face instantly turned to a smile as if the weight of 2 massive balls of earwax were lifted off his shoulders ears.

Checking the map to see where we were relative to the hostel we need to go back to, it was only a 20 minute walk, and didn’t need Grant’s assistance. We even had time to go to the pub for a pint before we reunite with the rest of the group to go to our next destination.

Joseph does Franz Josef

OK, this post has become quite a beast, and so far I’ve only covered like 5 or 6 days of travel, but we’re very close to the end (of part 2), so let’s get going quickly, and cut right into the meat of it!

You know how I said in part 1 of my NZ post that I have no interest in bungee jumping, but all in on skydiving? New Year’s Eve 2022 was the day. We also considered the option of doing it in Queenstown, but Hebs thought that Franz Josef would offer a better view as it’s surrounded by mountains on one side, while being very close to the Tasman Sea on the other. Plus, we get to go 10k feet higher, and there was a discount for booking with 2 people.

We were a little over-prepared and wore a few too many layers that we had to end up shedding, because the booking notes told us to. First, we had to get weighed and checked-in in town before being whisked away to a small remote airstrip. While the crew got all the gear ready for us, and themselves, they also filmed a little intro for our video package.

I’m free, free-falling

We get very cozy in the small propeller plane with 2 other pairs of people (so all in all 8 at the back of the plane). As we climb higher and higher, we got a glimpse of the view that we’ll have a full panoramic view of very soon. Then suddenly, it goes silent, the engine has stopped and we’re coasting, it was time.

Hebs was the first to jump.

In quite a surreal millisecond, I could see he and his skydiving instructor sitting on the edge of the plane one second, and then the next - they’ve disappeared.

My turn.

Following the procedures of pushing my head back, looking up, hands grabbing the straps, and my legs curled back, my instructor pushed us out of the plane and we tumble out. I let out a quick “whooooo!” as we rolled into position. The instructor tapped me to signal to me that I can spread my arms out to feel the air rushing through my fingers. We free fall for about a minute. All the years of wanting to experience this was finally happening.

The instructor deployed the parachute and we have some time to enjoy the view around us. He even let me take control of the parachute; only to rotate horizontally. There was a lot to take in, and similar to seeing any beautiful scenery, there’s a sense of not knowing how to capture that moment along with the emotions that you’re feeling.

Here’s the “Instagram cut” they provided, but the full video can be seen here.

Ending 2022 on a high

Let’s try to get this over quickly.

In the afternoon, we did some rock carving where I made myself a pendant for a necklace, which you might see in future photos of me. The woman that was hosting the activity was very nice to Hebs and I, and quite flirty calling Hebs handsome, and me cute. I know that if anyone was to compliment me on my appearance, it’s always going to be “cute” - I’m short, and round. It took me a long time to get mine to a shape that I liked, and it turned out well, and was told by the host it was the best so far that day. (I want to say his name is spelt Jaron, but I’m sure it’s wrong; he made a much cooler one later that day)

After a group dinner, we went back to the kitchen to get beers to celebrate the end of the year. We saw Sheree outside the kitchen, and joined her. When it was around 9pm, I remarked that we still had 3 more hours until midnight, and didn’t know how we’ll keep going. But alcohol be doing its thing, and just before the year is about to tick over, we went to a bar that we heard will have fireworks.

With a gin-and-tonic in hand while I danced, the music stopped just before midnight, and a countdown on the screen in the bar starts. The year was over, and the fireworks started popping outside. We bought a couple of more rounds of drinks, and danced some more before retreating back to our accommodation.

The final stretch

Before we all go our separate way, our guide, Grant, who I bet was looking forward to never see us again by this stage, left us at the Greymouth station to take the TranzAlpine train back to Christchurch. It sounds better than it is - I thought we would be snaking through ice-capped mountains and see the them towering around us, but in actuality, it was quite underwhelming and we spent most of the time just chilling, and chatting in our seats. There’s a viewing platform at the back, but because it has no windows, it’s extremely windy, and the metal frame of the carriage make it feel like you’re in a horse trailer.

When we’re back in Christchurch, we got checked into the same hostel as a week ago, but Hebs and I got the room to ourselves when Mandi and Taylor left for the airport early.

We shared a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate the end of the tour, the new year, and the beginning of our own trip ahead.