Wednesday 16th October 2013 – New Zealand, Auckland
Awoke in our dingy, lightless room – and without a window did not know if it was 10am or 4am. Headed out for breakfast after fighting to use the single toilet and shower for the 12 people on our floor. Went up Victoria Street (corner of Hobson Street) to Denny's. We had eaten here back in May 2008 before heading away to Sydney, and had stolen a stash of sugar sachets to live off, and survived in the cafe by ordering their $1 menu at the time. Was more expensive this time, at around $13 each – though we ensured the young Asian waiter kept our free filter coffee top ups coming. As it as an Americanized cafe, we felt inclined to leave a tip, so only left $2 on the table and departed quickly.
We then spent most of the day heading out between the shops (Warehouse, Number One Shoes, Postie, Cotton On) and the hostel as we spent a few hundred dollars on clothes and further travel supplies. Last stop was a Chinese $3.50 variety store by Event Cinema. Was a surreal shopping experience with that weird incessant pop music blaring out, and rows of aisles with this confusingly colourful, plastic tat in Chinese writing. Tall one found a hard case for his sunglasses, but only one had floral designs, also found some insoles for the new shoes – which we put on in the store and then paid the friendly Chinese girl who suggested that we come back soon.
Like the last 3-4 days, this was just another transit stop day, did not do any sightseeing, other than briefly passing through Albert Park, and a stop on the harbour front – to sit on a bench next to a Chinese tramp. Shopped in New World for dinner and for food for the 12 hour Jet Star flight to Singapore tomorrow (as they wanted an extra $50 per head for the food). Back to our cell at the hostel to eat and pack our bags. Went for the free macaroni cheese dinner in the rough bar – did not pay for the upgrade this time. The locals seemed in good spirits, one of them seemed to have lost half his front teeth between now and yesterday.
Tuesday 15th October 2013 – New Zealand, Flight to Auckland
Checked out of that filthy hell hole, Rucksacker Backpackers at 7am. Super (Airport) Shuttle collected us just after 7am for $15 for the 2 of us. The rather posh lady sat infront of us on the minibus sat with one of her hands held up bizarrely – with her arm and hand held upright next to her like she had a puppet on – but just sat there staring out the window needing her fingers together. Dropped at the airport and after trouble at Jet Star's self check-in, we went to the desk and dropped our bags. Tall one's knuckle was bleeding from scraping it on the bed side cabinet back at the hostel, leaving a blood stained – poka-dot tissue wrapped around it, which he realized was getting odd looks from other travellers.
Had an expensive (healthy) breakfast – half a breakfast roll each, a coffee (rotten) and some muesli-yoghurt-fruit. Found the airport wifi was very strong and free, and sat on the laptops for an hour. Boarded around 10am, small one got the window seat for a change, and tall one was on the middle seat ext to a quiet, stern looking woman. Behind tall one a father sat with a toddler on his lap, who was attempting to climb over the seat infront on to tall one, or at least grab tall one's beanie. Was a straight forward hour and a half flight, some good scenery leaving Christchurch, then lots of clouds. Things went pear shaped nearer Auckland though, as there had been a big storm round New Zealand this week, which only a day or 2 ago had blown down a building site in Wellington and Clare (from the old office job) had barley landed in Wellington airport, with neighbouring passengers suffering panic attacks from the turbulence. The Captain came on the intercom of our flight and said we were holding our position as currently there was 50km winds on the runway which no plane could take, and we would wait ten minutes and if it does not change we would return to Christchurch....the passengers groaned.
Fifteen minutes past and no more announcement, then we noticed the plane was descending. Had some turbulence on the way down, and small one was not very happy at all, especially as the Captain had not told us he was going to land. Was a bit bumpy but we got down without incident, though small one believed the fire engine on the runaway was there for us.
Collected our bags and hopped on the Airbus Express into the City. Checked in to Fat Camel Nomads Hostel, into our private 'windowless' room for $65 a night. Was a bit grim, though not to the toilet like standards of the Rucksacker in Christchurch. Headed into the City and brought a kebab combo for lunch, the turkish fella giving tall one dirty looks when he had the nerve to ask for the bottle of drink that should have been included in his combo. Soon went shopping in the Warehouse for supplies and clothes for Asia trip.
Tall one decided to get a haircut and small one escorted him to an Asian run barbers in a small mall off Queen Street (by the Recycled Clothes Boutique). The sign on the door said $15 haircuts, though when we asked the somewhat camp Asian fella inside how much for the haircut, he told us $20. The Asian fella asked if we wanted a haircut.... Tall one said yes (that's why we came into a hairdressers). Tall one sat down and the Asian lad asked what he wanted, Tall one said just a trim round the fringe and sides, to which the Asian lad said 'show me' and produced a bizarre scrap book. Tall one took the scrap book which was filled with aged magazine clippings of celebrities, arranged in the book with the love and care of a stalker. Tall one opted for the number 11 (vague celebrity male haircut), though was tempted to go for the Jared 'Toadfish' from Neighbours photo. The haircut soon began, and so did the questions. In his very soft voice and bad english the lad wanted to know numerous questions; “when did you last wash your hair? When did you last get it cut? Where are you from? Where abouts in the UK? Where is your friend from? How old is your friend? (to which small one piped up, 'don't be telling him my age), How long you been in New Zealand? What did you do back home? How did you save money? Have you been to Japan? Have you been to China....? (tall one said he was about to go to Singapore), Have you met any Korean people? Have you been to Sydney? Have you been to Asia or Singapore? (i've already answered that one)?”. During this line of questioning numerous other customers came in to the door, to which his first question to them was, “do you want a haircut?”, and then usually he would tell them it was $20, to which they would looked confused having past the sign saying '$15 haircuts'. Eventually the haircut was over, and he did a pretty good job – and Tall one was pleased to be leaving, though he was a nice enough lad. Throughout the haircut small one sat using facebook on his phone, he thought he was chatting to Stacey from The Corkman, until the reply came back, “sorry to disappoint you but this is Dennis”. He then had a conversation with Dennis (on Stacey's facebook) until a further message appeared “Dennis Courtney what are you doing on my facebook??” - Stacey had logged on to the same account from another computer – small one then preceded to chat to them both on the one account, and never knew which one was replying as both replies were under Stacey's name.
Tall one and Small one then went to the Events cinema a n d saw 'Gravity' in 3D, watching Sandra Bullock and George Clooney essentially float around in the air for 2 hours, leaving small one confused after we left and headed down the steep escalator – he felt the urge to float down. Back at the hostel and the attached bar advertised a free 'snack' dinner between 7-8pm. The bar was a bit odd, a pool table in the centre and about 5 chairs between all the customers. A gormless fella hung on a bar stool with his arse cheeks poking out the back of his baggy jeans. Small one enquired about the free food from the kitchen counter, to which this smarmy, wise cracking American fella told us how great his food was, and how you get a small spoonful for free or for $8 get a house beer (Camel Beer) and a huge plate of his Carbonara Pasta. We (for some reason) opted for the $8 option. Got the free beer from the arrogantly laid back bar man, wearing his grey pork pie hat at a kooky angle, and then tried to find some cutlery for the dinner which wasn't plastered with filth. The girl on the dishes with her top off the shoulder and back covered with tattoos said that the cutlery was clean it was just washing up suds. Small one pointed out that all the forks were essentially covered with shit. It was safe to say that none of the staff were particularly like-able. We were given the pasta, which was adequate, and as the man had said an enormous portion. We ate about half and left the rest for the bin (though presumed they would just scrape it back into the cooking pot to be served again). Small one didn't like the beer, so tall one necked both of the pints so they could leave as soon as possible. A young (presumabley German) backpacker sat down next to us to eat his pasta, and after saying he had not eaten for 11 hours – somehow devoured the whole pile. We went back to our lightless and airless room, to do laundry and listen to the storm outside.
Monday 14th October 2013 – New Zealand, Akaroa-Christchurch
Breakfast in the lounge, surrounded by hairs of the hostel owner's Jack Russell (that apparently is recovering from an operation following an argument with barbed wire). Went to the libbrary for most of the day using the adequate free wifi, surrounded by school children learning story writing. The front of the library was covered with little shoes, which the school children had been told to leave outside – and we were a little uncertain if we were to do the same. Walk into the main high street and was very windy today. The tide was in and the water was so choppy that the waves were splashing over the path. Ate a $10 lunch deal (toastie, chips and coffee) in a cafe served by a miserable waitress. Tall one squeezed the ketchup bottle and it came out the nozzle as well as the side – squirting all over his trousers. Waited in the bus stop out the rain, using the Telecom Phone Box free wifi until 4pm. A couple sat next to us in the bus stop and small one was humming the tune to Ronan Keating's 'Words' (?), and the woman started humming it along with him. Bus arrived just after 4pm, and it was Murray the ex-policeman driving, who brought us up on Saturday. On the way back we stopped at a cheese factory, tried some small samples and brought nothing. Back to Christchurch by 6pm, and checking back in for our final time to the God awful Rucksacker Backpackers. The same nervous girl was on reception (as Friday) she checked us in but could find no key to our room. Luckily it was unlocked so we are just sat in the room waiting for a key (though don't plan on going out anyway). We are hoping they changed the bedding since are last 2 stays, though those blood stains and pubes on the quilt look all to familiar.
Sunday 13th October 2013 – New Zealand, Akaroa
For breakfast Small one went round the corner and brought a $5 sausage roll for each of us from the snotty cafe. The Kiwi couple in the only other room in our building got up and the girlfriend was vomiting in the toilet. Ignoring the many signs saying '9.30am' checkout, they sat on the doorstep at 10am smoking, and asked the Hostel owner what time they had to be out by, the owner said “ten would be nice”.
Small one and Tall one packed their day bag and headed out for their planned day hike. On the way out filled their water bottles in the hostel kitchen sink, and the hostel owner (who was doing a clean) told them “that water's not great for drinking.... but it's wet”. We weren''t quite sure how to take that. Headed in to town and brought supplies in Four Square then headed up the road past BNZ to start our hike into the surrounding hills.
The whole hike was poorly sign posted, and we were too cheap to purchase the $2 A4 hand drawn map from the I-Site. The first hour was walking up a very very steep road in the sweltering sun. Was an hour before we reached the actual start of the hike, and were already exhausted. Rationing our water bottles and rolling up our long trousers to keep us cool – we headed up the steep 'Purple Peak Stock Route' path towards Stony Bay Peak. A few walkers past us (in both directions), we were over taken a few times as we stopped a fair amount (we're a little rusty). Made it to the saddle of the hills, and after a break went up into the Stony Bay Peak. Amazing views looking down across the harbour, with it's blue waters and surrounding rolling green hills and islands – with snow topped mountain range on the horizon. Sheep scattered over the field, thick gorse bushes, and rugged rocks – and despite the heat their was a lot of thick mud on the track and the ground was still covered with dew at midday.
Started down the otherside of Stony Bay Peak on the Skyline Circuit. Bit confusing the direction to go, but finally made it to Stony Bay Road – an unsealed road which looked like it wound endlessly down through the rolling hills below. Walking under a tree a magpie decided to screech at us and come flying down at our heads – it did this three times and small one armed himself with a big stick, but it didn't come back. We then held up to try and watch the father and daughter walking behind us get attacked, but it wasn't interested in them.
Finally back on to the tarmac road, and past the filthy, some what loopy young horse which seemed desperate for attention, but at the same time seemed like it wanted to head but you. Back into town and brought breakfast supplies and an ice cream. Small one was wrecked (had ended up being a 5 hour hike) and slept for an hour, before we headed out for fish n' chips and a seat by the harbour as the sun went down.
Saturday 12th October 2013 – New Zealand, Akaroa
Burger King for breakfast (of course), and checked ourselves out of the dirty, Rucksacker Hostel in Christchurch at 8.15am. Waited at the bus stop on Bealey Ave (thankfully only a 5 min walk this time) for the Intercity Bus we had booked to Akaroa. A small shuttle turned up at 8.40am which said 'Hamner Tours' down the side. An old fella with white hair popped out and said for us to get on, but we would have to transfer for the Akaroa service. We were wondering what was going on, as Hamner was a good few hours drive in the opposite direction to Akaroa. The driver (Richard Clayton) explained that he was driving us to Rolleston Ave (Arts Centre) bus stop to get our bus to Akaroa. This was a five minute drive, and a bit confusing, as this was the usual stop we would have taken for the Naked Bus services (to Tekapo and Blenheim) – but saved us the half an hour walk at least. Chatted to Clayton on the way down, who said his ancestor's had left Lurgan, Ireland during the famine, and he was hoping to go over and explore Galway to try the Clayton Hotel's porridge breakfast with a jug of whisky on the side. Dropped at the second bus stop we changed to another shuttle (neither had been Intercity), this driver was named Murray, and was apaprently an ex Policeman. Both had been very friendly, ad Murray drove us the 1hr 45 min to Akaroa – providing an indepth commentary for the whole tour – which was very good, and kind of relaxing.
Drove down the steep green hills into the vast harbour of Akaroa, created by a mass of volcanic eruptions hundreds of years ago. Akaroa had New Zealand's only french settlers, and this weekend (by chance) had the annual French Festival. The shuttle got stuck in the town waiting for a marching band to go by, so we walked to the 'Dolphin Backpackers'. Was a small 5 bedroom hostel in two neighbouring houses. The front door was unlocked and a chalk board on the doorstep told us which room was ours. The room door was open, key in the lock, and a note on the bed saying welcome and that they would catch up with us later. Was all very trusting, but quite nice and hassle free – plus a big help to check in early.
Left our bags and walked into the small town. The weather today had started very cloudy with drizzle, but by the time we arrived it was very sunny, with a few scattered clouds. Stopped in a cafe and treated ourselves to a decent lunch and coffee (French Soup) from a quite unfriendlly waitress. We then booked a Harbour and Dolphin tour with 'Akaroa Dolphins' (Black Cat tours had an unfriendly person at their desk). The tour was $72 each, but turned out very good. Cli,bed aborad the small boat with a middle aged fella from Cork who was quite laid back as he looked after 4 young girls on a fast boat. Was only a few other tourists on board, a Japanese man who lost his baseball cap as the boat sped out – but to his suprise the Captain turned around and fished the hat out the ocean with a long net. The husband and wife running the tour were very good, apparently the wife is a direct descendant of one of the first two French settlers, and the family still reside on the 5 acres of land the British government aloud each French settler's family to keep. Also on board was a small long haired, brown terrier – with a mini life jacket. It was named Hector after the dolphins in the harbour and referred to as the Captain. It was quite a stubborn little dog, and ignored all advances from tourists and children to be stroked and carried on regardless as it prowled the boat. The 2 hour tour set off, everyone was provided a free drink (small one a Steinlager, tall one a Sauv Blanc that apparently the tour family make). The boat followed the rolling green hills over the very steep, rugged cliff faces of the harbour walls, past a small Mauri village and out into the ocean. Just outside the harbour walls we spotted the Hector's dolphins – apparently the world's smallest and rarest dolphin. A strange, stubby little dolphins, with black circled fins (described as Mickey Mouses' ears), and markings similar to an Orca. There was about 3-4 at a time, which circled the boats, and came up very close to the bow. Spent a good ten minutes with them, and stopped later for a few other groups. Captain Hector (the dog) also aided with any dolphin sightings by running around the boat excited and barking, apparently he could hear the dolphin's high pitched calling, and helped with spotting their directions. The boat also sighted some sea lions, where some large males were keeping the females penned in. Lots of scattered Blue Penguins (With white fins) were out swimming on the Ocean, and we also saw a loan yellow eared penguin up on a rock inlet (apparently quite rare to see on the tour). Headed back to the harbour for about 3pm, via a floating Salmon farm, the kind of sight you'd expect to see in Vietnam – with floating walkway surrounded by little netted pools below – with two men and a dog on the central floating raft/path.
Back into town and into the main village for the French Festival. Around the town green some stalls were setup and a stage show. The field was deep with wet mud due to the early rain in the day. People walked around in stripey t-shirts, with bureaus and curly moustaches – obviously exactly as the french would. We stopped in St Patrick's Church and dipped our wedding rings in the holy water, and alsos topped in another church in town where small one started to ring the church bells as no one was there. Waked out to the lighthouse, and also round the Tane Gardens. Weather was clouding over by now. Also stopped in the Information Centre, where they were quite unfriendly and unhelpful. Wanting to charge $2 for a one page leaflet on one local hike. The lady from the dolphin tour had recommend we ask at the I-Site about going on the postal run on Monday, as its a great way to see the local areas and other harbours (as the post van does its run). We assumed that this was just joining an actual van service the way she had worded it, but asking at the I-Site they said that this costs $70 per person to join?!?! Stopped in the Four Square supermarket and brought a frozen pizza and a ready made meal each, then back to the hostel (where our bedroom door handle fell off). The hostel hosts and other guests asked us about going out for the night for the bands that were on for the festival, we said we were not 'going out' people – and stayed in and cooked our pizza and watched Ice Road Truckers.
Friday 11th October 2013 – New Zealand, Tekapo - Christchurch
A greasy breakfast from the Asian cafe bakery, then internet time in the hostel lounge and back down to the same bakery cafe for a greasy lunch. Naked Bus arrived at 1.30pm, and was filled with an eclectic array of passengers. We were the first there waiting for the bus to arrive, but were soon joined by this lone 8 year old Mauri/Asian looking boy, dressed in green trousers and a green hoody. He stood right next to us and start spitting on the floor, then start kicking and throwing stones about next to us. He was soon joined by a little ginger boy dressed in blue shorts and a blue hoody who shared his cookie with him, we were waiting for the green fella to hit us with a stone. He seemed to get on the bus alone, and we never did see who (if anyone) was looking after the little rat bag. Next was the 2 Japanese (Chinese) girls from the hostel, and an array of other backpackeers. An asian woman with a little toddler who sat on her lap holding a toy truck. A leathery skinned, bald man in his 50s wearing just a pair of denim shorts, no shoes, no belt, no shirts – walking round chatting with his gut hanging out and nipple rings on (he even walked bare foot into the men's public toilets). There was also a very old, fragile white haired old lady, who had a crowd of about 12 other white haired little old ladies wave her off, and they continued to wave as the bus turned around and drove off. The little white haired old lady shed a tear as we drove off and then started knitting – we stopped in Gerladine and another liittle white haired woman got on (identical) and sat next to her.
Arrived in Christchurch around 5.30pm, and checked back into our same pokey little hostel. Walked up to Merivale suburb hoping to find cheap pub food or pizza takeaway or decent supermarket food for dinner, too save having another Burger King. In the Fresh Co supermarket, tall one recognised a security man he knew from working in Christchurch back in late 2008 (Home Detention unit or Chubb). The man seemed to be watching a dodgy homeless looking fella pushing a trolley round which had a pair of crutches in it. Tall one did not say hello. We left and walked back to Burger King and had the $5 stunner meal, and tall one tried the new Jaffa cake milkshake.
Thursday 10th October 2013 – New Zealand, Aoraki (Mount Cook)
Went to buy the $6 breakfast pack from reception (2 slices of frozen bread, 2 spreads, 1 butter, yoghurt/milk, mini cereal box and a teabag) – only they had run out of frozen bread – only had 2 slices, but she gave us 2 eggs instead. Into the kitchen and small one started making scrambled eggs to go with the one frozen slice of bread/toast each, only we couldn't use the toaster. There was only one toaster for the whole hostel and one tall, lone Japanese man was systematically toasting 8 slices of bread, one after the other (this was obviously why reception were out of bread). A queue formed to use the single toaster, and in the end we had to grill the bread in the oven. We sat down and ate, and a few minutes later the Japanese man sat down with a stack of his 8 toasted slices, and a bowl of fried onions, and then preceded to make 4 fried onion sandwiches and eat them himself (we had first thought he was toasting all that bread for a family, but apparently not). After breakfast walked in the drizzle and fog to the Sir Edmund Hilary Gallery - $20 entry was a bit steep, but managed to see one 20 minute headache inducing 3D movie about Aoraki, and a 1hr 15 min documentary of Edmund Hilary. Whilst waiting for the screenings to start we looked around the Museum 3 times (it was only 2 small rooms). Stopped in the Heritage Hotel cafe for lunch and brought tall one some polarized sunglasses (small one brought some there yesterday) and we couldn't help thinkng of Tom from Zodiac Whale Watching in Nova Scotia. Back to the hostel around 1pm, to watch 'Whale Rider' and await our shuttle back to Tekapo at 4pm.
Halfway through the move 2 excited young Japanese girls came in and ask us if they could take a photo of small one and tall one. Apparently it was their countries birthday and she wanted a photo with us whilst she held up this bizarre wallet type thing with a stitch on flag. After we posed for this bizarre photo, they went to some poor old fella using the Internet PC and asked him for a photo. Shuttle arrived not long after and we left early, at 3.40pm. The tall Japanese '8 pieces of toast' fella was at the back of the bus, along with the 2 Japanese girls (with the camera). One of their phone's started ringing, and it was the sound of a cockerel crowing, but they just left it ringing and ringing (or crowing and crowing), no one knew what was going on. We drove down the side of the large Lake Pukaki, and as the sun was now it – we saw it in it's fluorescent turquoise colours (on the way up yesterday it was quite dull in the fog). Meanwhile small one had a bleeding thing on the side of his nose and spent the whole trip dabbing it with a tissue (by the end of the trip covered with little red poka-dots).
Dropped off at the hostel we went into the village and ate at the restaurant we left early the other day. Ordered a beer each, a pizza type bread for a starter, a pork roast each (great, but lacked the crackling) and an amazing steamed fig, ginger and date pudding with ice cream in a chocolate cup and other creams and sauces on the plate. Been waiting to have a decent big feed since our travels started (as been living off little meals or takeaways), and we rolled ourselves back to the hostel to sit infront of the wood burner sweating on their Internet, listening to some very very loud Germans in the kitchen. The two Japanese girls from the bus and YHA Aoraki (with the camera) obviously forgot that she'd already got a photo with us, and came up asking for a photo with her flag thing. It took a while to explain that she already had our photo, and we helped her find it on her camera (also in fairness, I think they were Chinese, not Japanese??). Spoke with German lad Frederick, he found work as a barman in the Tavern down the road, they had him doing a 12 hour shift today on his first day. Around 9.30pm headed out for a walk down to the lake in the dark. Tekapo is famous for the best night sky viewings, and apparently the Southern Aurora Lights were here last night after Midnight. Walked round the back of the village, over looking the lake – the stars and moon were out in full, and the sky looked amazing. Tall one saw a shooting star, but no southern lights. Sat outside the hostel on a bench with a mug of coffee, looking up at the stars and the moon, listening to the frogs.
Wednesday 9th October 2013 – New Zealand, Aoraki (Mount Cook)
Woke up painfully early (well, 6am) and small one went to buy toasties from the cafe for our breakfast – before our shuttle to Aoraki / Mount Cook at 9am. Small one opened the curtains and was shocked that it was snowing outside. Sure enough it was still falling, and the ground was covered with an inch of snow. We had breakfast and small one tried to lit the wood burner (cut his poor finger on a pine cone). The irish couple came in and said they may not bother driving up to Aoraki as the weather was bad, but small and tall had already booked the shuttle.
Shuttle picked them up at 9am, and were told that small and tall were the only two going to Aoraki, there was one other passenger – a miserable woman going to Twizel. Stopped on route to Aoraki to look at some very very large blue lakes. Outside of Tekapo there was no snow at all, though the sky was very foggy. Arrived at the fairly small Aoraki Village, which was mostly made up of accomodation, there was no shops – and only the YHA and the Hotel sold a few little groceries (two mini pizzas for $6, a tea bag for 30 cents). There was also a Sir Edmund Hilary Museum. Driver dropped us at YHA and we had one of their breakfast packs by a heater in their kitchen / lounge. Their kitchen was like a primary school – with a series of large, laminated ABC posters on the wall, and some large children's art work above the fire place. There was a very small school in the village (1 teacher and 7 children), which apparently small one had spoken to through his job.
Had a look round the hotel and the expensive cafe. Brought a pie and half a jacket potato, and a fancy wrap each for the walk (chicken and coconut for small one?? and beef and brie for tall one??). Started the 4 hour return hike up the Hooker Valley Trail. Scenery was incredible, and the fog was lifting over most of the snow topped mountain ranges that surrounded us. Lots and lots of Japanese tourists were doing the hike, and small one recognised quite a few from Tekapo, one old Japanese couple we had bumped into in the Tekapo hostel kitchen, Tekapo's Good Shepard Church, Tekapo's Mt John and now at Aoraki.
After crossing 3 long swing bridges, got to Hooker Lake, which had 2 large, car size ice bergs and several smaller boulder size ice bergs floating around on its milky surface. At the far end of the lake we could see the edge of the glacier – the top covered with black gravel, but the side exposed was light blue. Behind the glacier was a very large mountain ridge obscured by fog and clouds – this was Aoraki (Mount Cook) the largest mountain in New Zealand. After ten minutes of making our way down the slope the the lake, some clouds broke around the top and we actually saw the summit of the Mountain – everyone rushed to get photos whilst they could. We settled down on rocks below to take photos of the ice bergs and have further glimpses of Aoraki – seeing a little more each time, and then it would go again. The surrounding ranges were pretty much clear of cloud now, so only left Aoraki covered. We ate our fancy chicken and coconut wrap and beef and brie wrap.
Left after a good 30-40 minutes and started the walk back. Half an hour into the return walk bumped into the Irish couple who had decided to drive up anyway, we were glad they had got to see Aoraki and that the day had cleared so much. Just after we left them we noticed that the clouds had lifted even more and sat down for ten minutes to look at the Mountain. An hour or so later we made it to the start of the track and looking back, we noticed that Aoraki was now fully exposed (except for a slim sliver of a cloud). We hadn't seen the mountain at all when we started, and now it was there bold as anything seen from the very start of the track. Then we staggered back to the hostel which was another 45 minutes walk away, and settled down with a cheap, frozen mini pizza and a cup of tea to watch a god awful movie, Vertical Limit.
Tuesday 8th October 2013 – New Zealand, Lake Tekapo
A mid morning lie-on listening to our Japanese neighbour's hocking up in the bathroom next door for what seemed like hours. Into town for a hot breakfast from the cheap bakery. Yesterday had been blue skies with scattered cloud – making great photos, but today for overcast and we could not even see the distant mountain range – though the near mountains were in view, covered with mist.
Headed along the Lake walkway towards Mt John. Pine cones all over the ground, and rabbits everywhere. Up through a steep forest track past the Hot Springs, and up the side of Mount John – covered with sheep and sheep droppings (small one also had a sheep chasing moment). Past a Japanese couple sat on a bench looking sat the view, the middle agged man was (for some reason) clutching a very large stuffed Giraffe halfway up this Mount walk. At the top of Mount John were some closed observatory domes, and a very expensive cafe. We over heard some of the observatory staff talking, the older man was telling the younger (presumably new) man to expect to see literally thousands of satellites orbiting through the Observatory scopes – as the Russians had been spying on everyone and everything during the cold war and there all their satellites.
We were shattered from walking, and started our descent don the other side of Mt John to complete the extra 2 hour lake walkway. Down some nice paths among the sheep and rocks, and down to the lake side and a final long path back to town. Past a dead rabbit and a large, strange, light pink, shiny rock – looked like a hunk of ice – was very weird in the middle of a sheep field. On the final path along the lake to the town, we saw two Great Crested Grebes in the lake, and also a New Zealand Falcon (Karearea) land on the tree above our heads with a dead Green Finch in it's claws. It then preceded to to aggressively pluck the feathers out the little body to prepare it for food. Back at the hostel settled down in front of the wood burner with our final cup of Barrys Tea, a sandwich and a caramel walnut brownie from the cafe. A young German lad was making a strange fried bread in lots of weird little strips. When he was done he offered this huge pile of stuff to everybody. Small one thought it was fried chicken, as it was this weird orange – burnt colour, but was actually like a bread/pancake/hash brown thing with lots of herbs. The lad (Frederick) was also baking bread (of course he was, he's German), and had left the pan infront of the wood burner to rise. After the internet ran out we went to eat out in the town restaurant (fancied the Pork Roast). The place was freezing and all the customers were sat at their tables wrapped in their coats. The bar maid told us to take a seat on the sofas, but then we were sat there ten minutes. Only when we asked did they tell us we had to wait for someone to leave before being served – which confused us as there were free tables the otherside of the bar. We said we'd be back in 15 minutes and she said she'd hold a table for us. We then went to the chip shop and ordered takeaway, but unfortunately the bar maid walked past to change the gas bottle. After eating our chips on a wonky bench – and our fingers getting frozen from the wind chill headed back to hostel. Warmed up by the wood burner with a cup of hot chocolate (courtesy of Copthorne Hotel, Wellington) and watched the sky turn pink with the sunset. Chatted to an Irish couple from Meath (Sara) and Cavan (Declan) and small one managed to scare the shit out of the poor girl about the earthquakes (leaving her glued to Geonet when we left).
Monday 7th October 2013 – New Zealand, Lake Tekapo
Another day and another Burger King breakfast. A long walk down the side of Hagley Park with our heavy backpacks, to catch the Naked Bus from Arts Centre, Christchurch to Lake Tekapo (4 hour trip). Thankfully this was a proper coach, and Naked Bus opposed to one of their stand in Atomic Shuttle services – so the seats actually worked and the bus was clean and spacious. The little round faced woman in charge (with a bit of a bowl haircut) was like a little machine. Very militant in her methods of dealing with customers and explaining rules. A poor Indian mother and father got on with a boy of about 4-5 years old. The mother went and sat down with the boy halfway down the bus and the bus driver chatted to the father, “it's only a 4 hour trip, does the boy get travel sick?”, the father thought she was just being conversational and said, “sometimes”, then that was it, she clicked her fingers and pointed to the young girl in the front passenger seat and said, “you'll have to come out this seat is needed for this family....”. The father implored that this was not necessary he really only rarely gets sick, the mother was then hauled up and told to sit in the front, but in the end common sense prevailed and the mother said that they would sit further back (and the poor girl was told she could go back). The us set off and we were told strictly that we could not get off the bus at any of her stops as she does not do any head count until the town of Geraldine. There was also no hot food or drink to be consumed.
We stopped in Ashburton and Geraldine, where the driver then told us we had to be back on the bus in ten minutes... then looked at her watch and said (very seriously) “back in 9 minutes”. People dashed for the shops and toilets knowing this woman WOULD leave without them. Everyone was back on, and lastly the Indian family got on. The boy and mother went and sat down with bags of crisps from the shop, the poor father had foolishly brought a cup of hot wedges. The driver was on him in a flash, “no no no, can't bring that on here i'm afraid”, the father pleaded that he had his own container to transfer the wedges, but the driver insisted “i told everybody no hot substances may be brought no the bus due to health and safety risks”. She was about to leave so the poor man had to gingerly leave his small cup of chips on the pavement and got back on the bus, we were surprised he wasn't then reprimanded for littering, or leaving dangerously hot chips in a public area. The driver was then on the phone to dispatch as her windscreen was steaming up, and the de-mister had broken, when asked when this happened she informed them that this started happening “12 minutes ago...”. Exact as always.
We got in to the amazing emerald blue lake scenery of Lake Tekapo surrounded by the mountain ranges – snow topped and smothered with misty clouds. A small village with mostly motels, but a few little shops, bars, cafes, a great-cheap bakery, post office and an awful lot of Asian restaurants (Thai, Chinese, Japanese...). The reason for this came all too clear when we tried to take photos of the Good Shepard Church and the Sheep Dog Monument, there was suddenly hoards of Japanese tourists swarming the countryside like an army of ants. We had to race in front to get photos of the scenery before they blotted it out with their orange and purple rain coats. Checked into the Hostel ran by a very old man who turned out very friendly (run with a Dutch woman who was either too young to be his wife or too old to be his daughter). Small one spent the afternoon being all irish and bringing Guinness into every conversation with the man – e.g. “I see you have free coffee, but where's the free Guinness?” - the old fella was loving it. The hostel was lovely and spotless, and the wifi here was $5 for 100GB!!? Ridiculous. Small one spent the afternoon napping, recovering from yesterdays marathon Christchurch walk – whilst Tall one lay in a hammock under the sunny sky reading “Sinister Twilight” about the fall of Singapore (due there in a couple of weeks) to the Japanese in WWII. Ironic, as the hostel kitchen and the Tekapo village was literally being over run with Japanese tourists. Tall one nodded at them from the hammock as they walked past. When small one woke up we headed into the Japanese filled kitchen, and sat by the very warm wood burner that the old fella had especially lit for small one. The old fella asked small one (as he was from Ireland), “are you a dairy farmer?”, “nah” said small one, “a Guinness farmer...”, he was minutes away from saying top of the morning to ya.
Sunday 6th October 2013 – New Zealand, Christchurch
Another Burger King breakfast headed towards the city which was immersed in thick fog. As it was so cloudy we dressed in warm gear, with fleece and rain jackets in our backpacks. Walked down through Hagley Park along the river covered with cobwebs and willow trees. Then the fog lifted leaving bright blue skies and a blazing sun on us for the rest of the day – and us carrying a number of jackets we didn't need (and no sun screen or sun glasses).
Had a brief tip round the Botanical Gardens and River Avon then up to the Cathedral Square again in the nice weather. Down to Cashel Street off Columbo, which has been renamed the 'Re-Start' mall, and is essentially a temporary mall setup using colourful large shipping container units stack in ones or twos. The doors taken off and normal door/windows on the front like normal shops. You can then walk amongst the containers and various other marquee stalls and shop. It's a great idea, and even big chain names were there, Kathmandu, and banks like ANZ had their own containers. In the same region was the Quake City museum, the cashier let us both in for student prices of $8 each. Was a small museum, but had a few little pieces of amazing quake footage, as well as artefacts. The show piece being the talking heads interviews being screened, where people discussed their own story of the earthquake from Feb 2011. Including a little lady in the small quiet room of the Cathedral tower – who could not move under the desk as she'd wanted to due to the shaking, so just clung to the window as the roof and walls fell away – then the masonry beams came crashing down on to the desk she had been heading for. Stories of office works freeing their co-works, and one lady losing her fingers which had been trapped under a book case. A husband who was flying back to Christchurch from Auckland whose plan was redirected due to the quake, but his wife was in the CTV building (the worst hit), so managed to get a free seat in an ambulance jet down – and told the story of waiting in Latimer Square for hours until he released that his wife was dead. Very sad stories, moving small one to tears.
We then continued our walk across the city, Tall one remembering all the places and hostel he'd lived or shopped before which were now completely gutted or completely knocked down and rubbed off the face of the street. Some shops had been closed but everything was still inside like it had closed yesterday, but it had been 2 and a half years. Compared to our Christchurch trip (post-quake) in April 2011 (only 2 months after) it was a completely different experience. Last time the whole city was cordoned off with military posts on each street, and you could see nothing of the CBD itself. This time we walked around all the interior streets, looking at all these scarred buildings, rubble or a row of shops which was completely missing it's neighbours as they'd been demolished. A few random bars and hotels were open and scattered around, and a few scattered tourists – so the effect was still quite eery and that of a war zone. As previously mentioned the pockets of art work and re-vamped little streets really help lift the place and provide some signs of growth and hope. There were not many places to eat, and the key spots for any shopping seemed to be upper Victoria Street, the 'new' New Regent Street, and the Re Start Mall.
Walked out of town up Hereford Street, stopping in Linwood Village to buy sunscreen – the same village were tall one used to do his local shop having lived round the corner. This time we did not stop in to his old house and kept walking to New Brighton Beach. Stopped in Lindwood suburb, at East Gate Mall – brought a KFC lunch (healthy eating all the way on this trip). Small one had been hunting for a Medical Centre as his throat / tonsils were now unbearably. Luckily their was one open outside the mall and we were seen to within ten minutes. Small one was delighted that having to fill in the next of kin form was the first time he'd had to refer to tall one as 'husband'. Next door the the pharmacy to pick up the prescription, their was one secure little window by the door with a 'needle drop' box, and the main counter which small one ordered at. As we waited for it to be made up some rough fella came in and asked if we were waiting at the needle drop box, we said no and he went ahead and got his little cup of (presumably) some medicated shot to keep him off the drugs.
Now came a very long long walk up Dyer Road to the beach, the sun was baking and burning us, and then the footpaths ran out. We walked on the grass verge and then just the hard shoulder for a good 45 minutes. Road works kicked up everywhere (though no workers as a sunday), and we had to struggle around various cones and narrow lanes on foot. Some brief views were offered out to the Te Huingi Manu Wetlands, and we could see various Pukeko, Canadian Geese and Black Swans wadding in the reserve. Finally made it to South Brighton Beach.
A very long beach, and very busy as the weekend. Strolled up with shoes and socks off, with ice cream in hand. Not to much to see, but enjoyable just to walk on the beach for a good hour before we headed home along Pages Road. Journey back was exhausting, still a very hot sun and we'd walked near 30km today. Pages Road was mostly suburban, that typical bungalow detachments squashed together and every house seemingly having a dog that they'd let run loose on the streets. Back in to the City and past New Regent Street, and up Victoria Street for an expensive burger van burger. Staggered into the hostel around 6pm, and collapsed, shattered.
Saturday 5th October 2013 – New Zealand, Christchurch
Sat outside the hostel by the river until about 11.30am, then went for the Burger King $5 stunner meal (burger, fries, drink and ice cream). Waited at Blenheim train station and watched some rough fella travellig alone take a big swig out a big bottle of Jim Beam, before putting his bag on the bus (thankfully not our bus). The Atomic Shuttle to Christchurch arrived, the stern, stoat woman driving got everyone onboard and then preceded to drive like a lunatic. She tail gated poor friendly drivers in normal cards all the way up a steep hill, drove practically bumper to bumper when they slowed to obey the 50km an hour sign in a CBD – surely it should be standard car drivers overtaking and getting aggressive towards buses, not the other way around. Tall one's seat fell off the frame and the padding had gone out the chair so he was leaning on a bar for the 3 hours.
Great scenery of the rolling hills and some snow topped mountains on way to Kaikoura, and drove through Seddon where all the recent earthquakes had worst hit. The bus was boiling without air con, and in full blast of the sun. Arrived in Kaikoura just after 3pm, and we were told to be back at the bus for 3.45pm. Unfortunatley “seafest” was on, which (as described by our butch driver) was just a booze fest. Sure enough, young piss heads were swarming round the very small sea front town dressed as Batman or zombies, carrying bottles of beer. We had a brief walk up the beach – and found the great mountain range view we'd seen in 2011, was obscured by thick fog. Got back on the bus in plenty of time, but unfortuantley it now filled up with a large couple of groups of pissed up people returning to Christchurch from the festival.
Four young girls loudly chattering away dressed a cheerleaders got on, along with a middle aged fella on is own, pissed up dressed as Sponge Bob Square Pants. A middled aged woman (again on her own) got on, dyed hair and a plastic beer cup tied round her neck and fell into small one, before settling in the seat by him next to some poor Maori fella travelling alone. The woman then started asking if anyone had a 2 Degress phone for the telephone number 0225..... as she wants to call it??”. She turned to Tall and Small and asked “so where you fellas from?”, Tall one pretened he was asleep and Small one just turned his head away without saying a word. The poor bastard next to her (who had a strange very small flat nose, but a gigantic chin) then had to put up with her constant drunk chat before she fell asleep with her head on his shoulder and her arm wrapped around his crotch.
The rugged, rocky coastline entering Kaikoura and exiting Kaikoura was covered with literally hundreds of sea lions that we could see from the windows of the bus as we drove by. Thankfully the sun eventualyl got blocked out by fog, and so the bus cooled down a bit – as did the cheerleaders as most of the bus seemed to pass out. The driver's erratic driving continued, so much so that we actually arrived half an hour ahead of schedule.
Tall and Small gathered their bags and got the hell away from that bus, then a 2km walk up to Bealey Ave, where in 2011 they had stayed in Kiwibase Camp, but this time were staying opposite in Rucksacker. The hostel was perfectly fine, though the staff were a little unfriendly, and the price had gone up since they had confirmed the price to us a few months back via email.
It was early evening and we took a stroll up into the City as they had since opened most of the streets. Down Colombo Street and we saw the Copthorne Hotel that had collapsed (in the news) a week ago – leaving just the outer walls of the building standing. Cathedral Square was open and we could walk all the way around the damaged Cathedral. Though some hotels were open and some scattered tourist and residents were about, it was all still very eery, especially for a Saturday Night.
Walked up a few different streets, so many building gutted and fenced off for the last 2 and a half years – untouched since they fell. Yet, strange as next to all this rubble is this beautiful River Avon river covered with Willow Trees, or these small pockets of make shifts works of art and sculptures or tributes – so amongst all this destruction there still seems to be some life. Went over to the recently opened New Regent Street – which is currently a cul—de-sac street of refurbished, art deco building – all in a row and all different pastel colours – green, pinks and yellows. Half had shops running, and half still in progress. We were by now starving, and headed out of the City back towards Bealey Ave – very hard to find a pub or anywhere cheap (mostly just fancy bars and big Hotels open). Up Victoria Street we had more luck, a run of more restaurants (expensive) but also some burger vans and kebab stalls. We opted for the Lebanese Kebab / Falafal – which was surprsingly nice, run by a little old Lebanese woman and some young kiwi fella who said this was his second job, and his first one was 60 hours a week....??
Back up to Bealey Ave and we saw the Carlton Hotel had been rebuilt, and a new Burger King in place. Brought a $1 Hot Chocolate from Burger King, though had a strange service system of number calling, and we were given number 59 for our drinks, and then next number they called was 11?? then 15?? we thought it would be a long wait – but then they seemed to skip the 20s, 30s and 40s. We also found the small cafe named, 'Sophies', where we'd had a huge burger back in April 2011 – and where we'd chatted with the Maori owner about how he'd pulled people out the rubble during the quake. Unfortuantley the place had now closed down and there was no sign as to if he'd moved. After our walk headed home as now pretty cold, and found our room was very warm.
Friday 4th October 2013 – New Zealand, Blenheim
Blenheim hadn't made a very good first impression, but was now growing on us. The riverway running through the town is very nice, especially on a dunyn day. Today was another bright day (26 degrees!), though started with a depressing McDonalds breakfast. Small one quite run down with soar throat so stocked up on cough syrups before heading out on our Marlborough vineyard walk.
Along the Main Highway – and followed Main Street into the fields. No walkway, but lovely scenary of the green rolling hills and vineyards. Turned off at roadworks don Alabama Road, a more quieter street from traffic. Lots more little pockets of vineyards, and closer to those hills. Stopped off briefly in Lawson's Dry Hills Vineyard and took a couple of photos, but left before anybody could speak to us or offer any wine samples. A lovely walk I the countryside, lots of birds and ducks, but also lots of goofy local election posters and hoards of cement trucks driving past a little too close and fast. Back in the town sat by the centre river front, and fed some of our sandwiches to the ducklings, and aggressive seagulls. Printed off some wedding photos to post home, and relaxed back at the hostel by the riverway, whilst tall one's laptop caught up on downloads with the hostel's 10GB for $5 offer (compared to the Wellington Hottel's of 50MB for $20...!!). Watched 'Blackfish' and episode 1, season 3, Homeland.
Thursday 3rd October 2013 – New Zealand, Cook Strait Ferry
Last morning in the hotel and tall one was awoken at 5am by small one, and put in the comfy chair by the big windows – to watch the city lights as the sun rose. Small one gathered his last free paper and put it with the other 4 (having only read 1 of them – they all then went in the bin). Left at 6.20am and walked with our bags for our final time on the harbour to the Blue Ridge ferry terminal. Check our bags in, and the waiting room soon filled up with a bus of young backpackers on the Stray Bus tour (which tall one had done back in May 2008).
Ferry ride was 3 and a half hours long – and was pretty cold, so were wrapped up in fleeces and jackets. As we pulled out of Wellington, a woman's voice came on the speakers and advised that if you are travelling with little ones that you should always keep hold of them near the edge of the boat (tall one made sure to pass this info along to small one). As we entered the south island region we came through a serious of bays and islands – which looked fantastic as these green rugged hills were surrounded in clouds. Departing in Picton a Blue Ridge shuttle stopped so we could get our bags – our first impressions of Picton was a taxi driver standing outside his bus covered with tattoos, pouring a bottle of VB beer into a glass in a beer cooler jacket. The next impression was when the last traveller got back on the shuttle bus with his luggage, he kept his cigeratte lit between his fingers, and sat down and continued to smoke on the bus (though in fairness there was no actual no smoking signs). Dropped off at the bus stop we then met our Naked Bus (actually Atomic Shuttle) driver. A rough, greasy haired, toothless man – who small one thought drove us back in 2011. Atomic Shuttle was an appropriate name, as the bus looked like it had been hit by a bomb, the inside was covered with black tape patches, dirt rubbed up the very very old fur interiors, thankfully only a half an hour trip to Blenheim.
Dropped in Blenheim and a long walk to the Grapevine Hostel. The sun was baking hot, and we went from being frozen on the ferry in our fleeces and jackets, down to sweating in our shirts. Checked in, and the fella upgraded us to a better room (though not for a better price.... even the 'got married' card didn't earn us anything). Up town we stopped in Burger King, where a 20 minute queue to get served, though in fairness the single cashier was super woman – frying chips, serving drive through and regular customers without getting flustered. Had a stroll round town and found that nowhere seemed to have any proper pedestrian crossings, and had to make mad dashes across the road infront of speeding vans. Back to the room for a snoooze and some New World supermarket dinners. Finally catching up on the blog and photos. Before sitting out in the sun, on a bench by the river – eating our (very leafy) salads, watching the ducks go by.
Wednesday 2nd October 2013 – New Zealand, Wellington
Awoke very tired, but not hung over. Small one collected his free newspaper, and we tidied up the room – finding a host of 'lost property' from various guests. There was a mysterious pair of tortoiseshell patterned sunglasses who we did not know who they belonged to, but after some detective work going through the wedding photos thought they were Saras..... though they turned out to not be a girls sunglasses, but in fact be Joels.
Up town we dropped off the Marriage Register signed by Sally, Tall and Small, with Arran and Lena as witness – and paid for the completed final copy to be sent to Ireland. We also posted our suits, shoes and video camera (That hadn't worked) home in a big box. Postage cost $130 this time round, and the fella at the counter to get pains to explain to us what happened when it got lost. The fella also had what we presumed was leprosy (though in fairness may have just been very bad exma on his hands). Had a dodgy breakfast/brunch in the library cafe and tall one tried too download the final episode of Breaking Bad, though the net was so bad they gave up and ended up paying $5 to use the YHA internet. Arran and Lena dropped by early afternoon and gave us their wedding card – complete with Arran's dinosaur drawings and apology for dressing to our wedding in jeans and a lumberjack shirt. We saw them off to New World and then went and brought tall one a new rucksack, and small one brought two takeaway pizzas from Electric Avenue on Johnny's recommendation. Mark, Will, Clare and Joel stopped by in the evening for some more goodbyes, and then more admin work left for us to do – packing and repacking bags and going through some 203 hundred wedding photos. Tried to do the harbour walk one last time (in reverse), but it was 11pm by the time we started, and bloody windy, so gave up and went to New World and the Whale's Tale.
First day after the wedding, and as we handed in the form today for processing – officially our travels start today as husband and husband. By coincidence Tall one had started to download and watch the old 'Round the World with Willy Fog' cartoon series from 1982. The first episode Fog makes the wager to get round the world in 80 days, starting on 2nd October and arriving back home on 21st December.... the exact days our travels now start and end (all be it not quite 'around' the world).
From Jules Verne's 'Around the World in 80 Days':
"This very evening," returned Phileas Fogg. He took out and consulted a pocket almanac, and added, "As today is Wednesday, the 2nd of October, I shall be due in London in this very room of the Reform Club, on Saturday, the 21st of December, at a quarter before nine p.m.; or else the twenty thousand pounds, now deposited in my name at Baring's, will belong to you”
