Working hard to take it easy

We've now been running around this country for a month in a slightly hectic pace. It's definitely rewarding given all the things we get to see and the experiences we're having, but it does take a toll eventually. So we were supposed to rest. And what do we do?! We climb a mountain (se below).

At least we are now carried around by ourselves in a lovely Nissan Sunny rented in Christchurch so we don't have to walk everywhere or take hysterically expensive shuttles to all the "encounters" and "adventures".
Right, I was supposed to tell you about the seal swim. It was fairly cold water indeed, and unfortunately the seals were a little bit bored that day so there were definitely more people than seals in the water, but I did get to swim with two moderately playful ones on a close range, so I'm happy. Maybe it was highly overpriced, but how many chances do you get, really?!
Well, here are the things we did up until now on our "vacation":

Here's The Wizard in Christchurch. He's a former english lecturer who now stands in the main square of Chch every mon-fri lecturing whoever is willing to listen on war, women and life in general. He sounds really smart, he's funny and he's got some weird ideas on womens role in the world. But definitely worth listening to!

In Kura Tawhiti, on the way across the Southern Alps through Arthurs Pass we stopped for a look at some seriously weird shapes of lime stone. It was a short and nice, imagination triggering walk. they actually used this site for something in "The Lion, the Witch and the Warderobe" (yes, they were here too...).

I wasn't comepletely satisfied with the placing of some rocks though, and I did my best to correct these mistakes.

In Hokotika on the West Coast we stayed for a little indoor activities since the weather wasn't so kind to us anymore. Steve here taught us a bit about bone carving and we worked on our pieces for about five hours before we were satisfied. The results might be shown later, or when we're back home again :)

Despite the rainy weather we went on a little tour around Hokitika and saw this amazing gorge in the middle of nowhere. And again it needs to be pointed out: NO Photoshop! It was really that crazy blue!

On our way down the coast we passed the two glaciers, Franz Joseph and Fox. We voted against any trips onto the ice because of the grey weather but we got close enough with the car and some view points. I'm here waiting for something to happen (the cold winds from over the ice eventually made us go back to the car and turn some heating on). It was truly an odd feelig walking through rainforest and then suddenly bump into a glacial river with huge ice blocks floating along and at its end a fairly large glacier. This country makes no sense.

Once again heading for the mountains, from Haast towards Wanaka, we stopped for a few walks in teh rainforest to look at all kinds of waterfalls. Funnily enough it was always the sidekicks that were the most interesting things, like this swinging bridge for instance.

Once we reached Wanaka we were supposed to rest for a couple of days to have the energy to start running around again, but the sun was shining... so we climbed Mt Roy. 1100 metres ascent to some fantastic views, but no - we didn't feel very rested when we got down again. Roi got a phonecall from home somewhere in the middle that granted us a needed stop.

The views though were all worth it! 360 degrees of beautiful mountain panorama including two lakes, a glacier and alps as far as you can see. Nice and sunny weather didn't ruin anything either.

So this is where we are now. All is well (except for some sore leg muscles), the future is booked, and we are actually resting today. So now it's off for some ice cream!

Take care!

The north of the south

Another week has passed. We are now in the great city of Kaikoura (pop.: 4000, name translation: "delicious crayfish") and heading down to Christchurch later today. So, week III, here we go:

Wellington is a truely charming city. It's a shame we didn't have more time to spend there but in NZ you have to book everything in advance, so we had to rush to the ferry...

The Queen Charlotte trek in Marlborough Sounds. I'm trying to think of something funny to say but I guess you'll just have to be OK with the landscape.

Still on the Queen Charlotte. Not a bad spot for dinner, eh?

Kajsa and friends.

Still on the Queen Charlotte (it wasn't that grey, but even great cameras have their limitations)

Eventually we had to act like civilized people and take a wine tasting tour since Marlborough is one of the best wine regions in the world. In the picture is the funniest vineyard owner ever. We weren't really that impressed with the Sav Blanc, or in her words: "there's only so many times you want to be smacked in the face with a gooseberry branch". Our discovery: we love NZ's Pinot Gris.

This is Kaikoura, where I'm writing from. No, it's not the ugliest place in the world. Sort of what Switzerland would look like if it was sitting by the Pacific ocean.

Kaikoura is, more than anything else, for whale watching, swimming with dolphines and swimming with seals. The sea conditions didn't allow but we got pretty close anyway. Here I am with our favourite seal, Stewart, just chillin'.

And the reward for a good day's walk. This is Monteith's Celtic Red, the best Kiwi beer so far.

Kajsa is now taking another shot at the seal swim. I decided to pass as 15 degrees water are way past my insanity borderline. I bet she'll tell you all about it in the next post.

Heading south

We reached Wellington on our slow journey south. Since we wrote last time we've seen some fantastic nature and met some more super friendly people. Everyone here is really friendly! But you're probably mostly interested in photos anyway, so here are some new ones:

Maori culture experience in Rotorua. This is the chief, and his tattoos are real.

Giant supermarket in Taupo where we got some food for the two nights we spent there. Had some tasty lamb...

A trip up along a river to the Huka Falls. It was real mountain biking on small forest tracks and real fun! I got us a bit lost in the forest though, but we made it.

Huka Falls, just north of Taupo.

Hitch-hiking to the town called National Park. It was occasionally boring, but our longest waiting time so far is only 45 minutes, so we shouldn't complain.

Climbing up the Tongariro Crossing, aka Mordor. It was a harsh climb just like expected...

Enjoying the sun (that actually shines also in Mordor, despite film evidence that it's one very dark place) next to the Red Crater.

Roi is considering climbing Mount Doom, actually called Ngauruhue, but after seeing how hard it was for poor Frodo we voted against it. Anyway we didn't have any ring to throw in there.

On our way to the Whanganui River some sheep decided to interfere with our progress. Oh, yes. They have a sh*t lot of sheep here.


The Whanganui river.

We were paddling for three days, and spent the nights in huts along the way.

In the second hut we unexpectedly ended up in a completely authentic Maori cultural experience where we were asked to take part in their traditional welcome, Marae, and join them for dinner, just adding whatever food we had. So we added our instant noodles and pastas and got a real feast in exchange.

After those two days in Mordor, and three days on the river it's nice to be back to showers and internet. Wellington seems like a really nice city and it's almost a shame that we're not more interested in cities, otherwise we might have planned to stay here longer. But tomorrow it's off to South Island for the remaining five weeks of NZ.

Get back to ya from there.

PS. If you didn't know/didn't realise so you can click the pictures to see them bigger :) Enjoy.

First pics

As advertized and promised here's a first short batch of pictures from Kiwiland. It's a bit hard to choose from all we have and under the time pressure of a steaming hot internet cafe but we hope it will be ok for now. So here we go:

Oneroa beach, Waiheke Island, near Auckland

Bay of Islands, Northland

The Hole in the Rock, Bay of Islands, Northland (the water is not photoshoped!)

Moturua Island, Bay of Islands, Northland (no photoshop here either...)

Right now we are in Taupo which is the lake in the very center of the northern island. We passed in places with exotic names (that won't tell you anything) as Paihia, Whangarei, Waitomo and Rotorua and we had some weird rides with strange people, including a road builder from Newcastle, a teethless Maori Reggae dude, an old sheep farmer and a very nice laid back white power couple... We've seen dolphins (with baby dolphins), glow worms, Maori Hangi and some gigantic ferns all over the place. And not even one week has passed. So now we're trying to take it easy, but I can't promise anything.

Until next time,

Good on ya...

* We strongly encourage you to google any word or name that you don't understand. It's not like we do.