NZ: Is it a bird? Is it...

Hello again. Apologies to the loyal blog followers it’s been a while since the last update, I have been suffering with a severe writer’s block. But things have cleared up, so Allez hop!

Out of nowhere we drive into a snowy mountain environment. Lake Tekapo is our end point for the day when dusk falls.

Lake Tekapo’s turquoise waters.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Well prepared as we are we find out the whole town’s accommodation is completely booked out. This is one of those moments that I know from experience will take much effort, moments of despair, stress, and then relief will come as eventually I will find something unexpected, and somehow have a bed.
But as we keep on ringing every B&B and hotel in town, I slowly come to terms that it might be a car-sleep-in for tonight. Ward, however, rather drives 100km further to try our luck in the next town; ‘No way!’ this world traveler is sleeping in a car (sigh…).
But phew! An angel intervenes and a clash between the egos is avoided, somebody knows somebody who knows somebody else who has a room that they are willing to rent out. Hurrah! We’re saved and sleep in a fantastic house at a lovely elderly couple including extraordinary mountain views (for a sheer 150$ I might add, besides being lovely they also excelled in commercial dealings grrmbl).

No it’s not a painting; it’s the view from my unexpected bedroom window

My intentions are for this area to take a scenic flight over the highest mountain tops NZ has to offer. Unluckily the next day is too windy for all the flight operators, instead we climb Mount John and meet a few of NZ’s famous inhabitants.
*Sweet as, bro* thinks the sheep

Lets move on, lets drive to Mount Cook's base, the highest mountain in NZ of approximately 3500m.
 
Mt. Cook and his buddies seen after a 2 hour climb.

At mt Cook the weather is better and I get my desired helicopter flight. The views are exhilarating.

Helicopter view over Mt Cook and Franz Jozeph glacier.

A glacier landing at 2500m, and its freakin’ cold in shorts I can assure you

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
But it’s not only flying around and utter luxury, even the rich and the famous hike around. We go on a 4 hour track along Hooker River towards Hooker’s glacier (guess whose choice that is).
Ward looking out for Hooker’s glacier.

Enough of these mountains, we are living at 31 December that means we have some serious drinking to do tonight in Queenstown, a 4 hour drive away.

And what a drive it is.

Road shot 1

Road shot 2

After a long drive it’s a long….. long night.

Happy New Year!

And after a long long night, a long long... long hangover follows. Is it just me or does it get worse the older you get? It feels like a sponge has been thrown in my bowl of happy juice, I’m drained of all my appetite to do anything really.
It takes a while before the evil sponge is squeezed out again and the happy juice is back above sea level. We have learned that we both seem to enjoy the mountain bike adventures and we seem even above average good at it. So we join a guided bike trip through Skipper Canyon. Wow! A must for all of you visiting Queenstown, this is great biking at fantastic speed. Brought by jeep to the mountain top, and off you go. Jeehaaa!

Part of Skipper Canyon biking trail seen from above

Going steady

Gaaaaaf man

Who visits NZ may not leave without seeing the Milford or Doubtful Sounds. We choose for the latter in a over crowded touristy cruise, nuf said.

Rainbow over the Doubtful Sounds

Time flies and before you know time’s up. We end the last day in style. An hour before check in time of our flight back to Auckland, we are standing on a bridge strapped with elastic cords around our ankles. Indeed, we nearly chickened out but here we are ready for our much feared bungy jump.
I find this of all adrenaline things we have done the hardest one to do. It goes against all instincts to jump off that bridge. But what has to be done, has to be done.

The 50m Kawarau bridge over a river gorge.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s me falling like a stone.

And that jump finishes the NZ chapter. Ward is heading back to winter in Amsterdam and the main character of this blog is moving on to the Philippines for the last episode of this trip.

NZ: cruising along

The road through New Zealand continues. The NZ we are experiencing is all about its amazing landscape. And it IS amazing. We grow a habit of acting like American tourists and scream ‘Oh my god’ and ‘Wow’, on various occasions when the car passes through various examples of NZ natural wonders.

Lunch spot by the road

In Wellington Ward and I take a day holiday of each other’s company. I enjoy the peace of my own thoughts in an I-pod walk ‘n climb along one of the bays.

Ocean bay in Wellington

‘Last Christmas, I gave you my heart’ lalala. It’s X-mas time and honestly I don’t really care. X-mas in summer is a bit surreal, and we spend it on a boat from the North island to the South island to enter Chapter 2 of our NZ trip.
On the boat we pick up hitchhiker what-was-her-name who texts to her father she met ‘nice folks’ referring to us. There I am: independent, original, standing out, world traveler, on top of the lot…. in a sudden moment simply demoted to ‘Nice folk’… well I have never….

What-was-her-name and Ward on the ferry

In Nelson we visit the Abel Tasman National park by sea canoe. Again Mother Nature has been kind to the area.
Discovering deserted islands along Abel Tasman’s coast

We are told there are male seals around the islands, and if we come across one on land we should stay a few meters clear as they might get aggressive. I explore the island's coastline and nearly trip over a sleeping bull. Good for the blog, bad for my heart. Luckily the stinking monster (my god they smell!) is not interested in a fight and turns over annoyed to continue his sleep *just like Ward anywhere before 10am :-)*

Sleeping seal: ‘Wha-evah’

Continuing the tour in a crystal clear sea.

X-mas is over and we hit the road on our way to Christchurch. I’m not sure if these scenery pictures are boring you, but to us it feels like driving on a different planet, a wild rough planet of natural ecstacy.
Road to Christchurch

In Christchurch we are back to City life again, so that means social expert Ward arranges new drinking company in no time for evening entertainment.

Us and two Ozzie girls half way through the evening

Time to move on with a slight hangover I might add. We drive towards Banks Peninsula, a beautiful area created long long time ago by the lava of a local volcano (hmmm perhaps you figured already the lava came from a local volcano, but still... just making sure).
A near crash at a perfect picture spot. But driver Ward assures it’s all under control, good for the blog bad for my heart again :-)

Viewing over Banks Peninsula

A quiet river walk follows from the beach, AND I’M HAPPY TO BE ALIVE, as demonstrated on this picture.
*it only took 351 tries on my camera's self-timer*

When we continue away from the coast within a few hours time the landscape changes from garden green and sunny beaches to high rising mountains, glaciers and snow. The ‘Oh my Gods’ and ‘Wows’ are being heard miles away.
Peaceful sunset along the way

This is the last of flatness we will see, as from now on mountains will be in our sight wherever we look. In the coming few days I will learn that it is possible to land by helicopter on a mountain top glacier and that if you jump from a 50m high bridge you don’t necessarily get hurt... Next post I’ll tell you all about it.

New Zealand's rollercoaster *by Ward*

Ok as asked and promised I’ll write something on Roland’s block as well. Don’t know if I can come close to Roland’s writing skills but I‘ll give it my best shot. I mean when they have streets, islands and towns named after me…

As Roland wrote I was very tired on the beginning of our trip and every plan seemed a to big effort to me. As well Roland tried every time to persuade me to come along. And when I said “no I rather stay here and do noting” his basic reaction was like a puppy who can’t play with its favorite toy. But that’s all in the past and eventually the moment is there and I say “well let’s do something active”. At this point I’m not quite prepared what comes next…

From roturora we drive Taupo to do a skydive. Unluckily the weather is not on our side.

So we deside to head straight on to Mt Ruapehu to a place called Whakapapa (pronounced f***apapa) here we spend the night at the highest hotel in New Zealand. ( Funny anyway that in every country u go to there are always places which are like here, the highest, the lowest, the oldest, the best, the we are so unique and for u it’s so special that you’re here kind of places).

After a tranquillo sleep Roland wakes up early and we’re on our way Mammen’s rollercoaster. First we’re biking down a hill on a great mountain bike path with extraordinary views.

Unluckily both our bikes brake down, and we have to walk on, luckily we’re picked up by the guy, jumping straight in our car and racing back to Taupo to catch the last skydive flight of the day booked on the spot by Roland.

Arriving in Taupo there I’m immediately squished into a suit, pushed in to a plane, flew up to 4,6 km height (For those still using medieval measurements: 15.000 ft) and pushed out with a guy on my back.

Ok must be said it’s great to freefall. Not scary at all, spectacular great views.

W: ‘ Ok that was cool Roland what’s up next?

R:“well we haven’t seen the other side off mt Ruapehu so let’s go there’
w: huh? Well ok I’ll drive then
R: Aargh. Not you again! Please

Ok this is why: roland is a bit scared with my driving style. When I just drive very smoothly (my revenge hehe)

We’re just passing the 3rd corner and roland says go left here. We arrive at a natural hotspring. Just before I have to jump in “nice for the photo” I hear Roland say.

And the water feels very nicely warm. It’s so hot as you making your own bathtub, just warm enough to stay in for 15 min. very special that this hot water just comes straight out of the earth at 40 degrees Celsius.

Moving on

This night we stay in a backpackers and we sleep in a dormitory. After a quick sleep we’re off again. Now we’re going for a mountain walk with more scenic views of the highest waterfall of Tongariro National Park (here we go again).

And just when I think now I’ve had it all… There comes the Flyinng Fox. We’re strapped into some kind of back-to-the-future suit, attached with our back to a cable face down, roland smiling next to me, so it’s ok.

The fence which was first securely in front ofus slides away and we’re going down with 160km/hour into a fantastic gorge for a 2km long ride, YIHAAAA

Ok now it’s time to relax, we arrive in Wellington. Solid grounds city environment. I feel save, time to party!

New Zealand: Aaaarrrghhh

I’m quite excited about New Zealand. NZ is supposed to have alien nature settings and unbeatable adrenaline adventures, things so crazy you would only do them once in a lifetime and only here in NZ. I intend to do them all.

For this trip I will bring 3 main travel components, the 3 T’s:
- Travel bag: on wheels of course, a bag pack is sooo 1990
- Travel companion: Ward, my loud friend from Amsterdam
- Travel transport: a Nissan rental car, a model categorized as ‘El Cheapo’ by our rental company.

It’s good to see Ward after such a long time, we meet up in Auckland for a uniting beer.

Brugklas mates Ward and me catching up

I’ve got a busy schedule lined up for racing through the amazing nature of New Zealand in the timeframe we have, and I picture myself screaming along the way while jumping from planes, bridges and cliffs.

Ward, however, is yet-lagged, overworked (haha) and very tired. His über-priority is sleep, rest and slumber. We agree to first spend a few days on Waiheke, a small island off Auckland’s coast, to chill out and relax before we jump on the rollercoaster of Nouvau Pays de Marine magnifique.

Auckland by boat

Peaceful settings of Waiheke

Waiheke is a small boring island mainly known for its wine. While I do the necessary nose picking and ball scratching, Ward keeps up his promise and sleeps on every possible occasion.

Afternoon nap

But then it’s time we hit the road in our lovely Nissan El Cheapo. We pick up our vehicle in Auckland and the trip will take us all across both main islands that make up New Zealand and hopefully we will end up in Queenstown, from where we fly back to Auckland.

Our new 4-wheeled friend will bring us to viewpoints like these. Road adventure coming up.

Destination numero uno is Rotorua, an area known for its numerous hot springs and geysers, as well as its Maori villages. As a bonus there are various sporty activities along the rivers and forests.

Looking over Lake Rotorua and its central island

On the first day I go on a full day of Sledging and White Water rafting. For now Ward prefers the sleep-in option and stays at the hotel.
When you go Sledging you swim on a sort of body-board with flippers on your feet and you speed down a powerful streaming river. The highest rapids in this sledge are grade 3 (the highest being grade 5, grade 6 means 'not raftable').
Back in the days Sledging was considered one of the most extreme activities for visitors, because any participant is completely in control and responsible for his own actions. After a few accident, it got more regulated.
We get thorough safety instructions and we hit the cool river along with 3 instructors. Although I understand how this can be very dangerous, it is so well organized it feels comfortably safe all the time.

Sledging action on the lower part of Kaituna river

Then the main dish follows, a white water raft is on the menu. In this raft on the upper part of the Kaituna river we go down the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world, a heart stopping drop of 7 meters… obviously a grade 5 rapid. Chances are 50-50 the raft will flip over at this part of the raft, instructions we get are mainly about what one should do in case we flip over…

The Kaituna river 7 meter waterfall in all its glory

Some fools in a rubber raft going down the fall (sound: ‘AAAAAAAA…’ to be continued in the next pic)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Will we make it without flipping over? Enlarge picture by clicking on the photo, the facial expressions are fantastic. (Sound continued: ‘…AAARRRGGGHHH’)

Made it! Again, our ecstatic expressions say it all.

The second Rotorua day Ward seems to come alive and together we explore the area.
A Cultural visit to Maori village Whakarewarewa (que?) is easily digested. All modern Maori are as Western as any of you reading this blog. Still to keep in touch with their history and for tourism purposes I reckon villages like these are kept alive.


Masters lodge

Maori performance

We see the necessary exploding Geysers around the area.

Mysterious boiling mud, that stinks of rotten eggs. The whole area has this smell btw hmmm

The day ends in action when we hire mountain bikes and speed through tracks in the Whakarewarewa forest. This is sometimes more challenging than we thought, but perhaps our daily 10km bike ride to school from back in the days gave us enough experience to return the bicycles without any damage done.

Ward awake (!) and in action.

It looks like Ward is now permanently back in the land of the living and we head on south for more new experiences. One of them involves jumping from an airplane….
Ward will update you in the next post, if all his bones are still in tact, that is :-)