Departure time

After a final few days getting to know Sydney, it's time for my flight home to England. I'm currently sitting in Sydney International Departure Terminal (thanks to Expedia for the free wi-fi).

Sydney has been a good transition on the way back to London...a chance to get used to the scale of a city with more than a million people (Wellington is about 300,000).

Over the last couple of months several people have asked me how I feel about going home. It's a hard question to answer. I'm definitely looking forward to catching up with friends and family (particularly you local blog-followers!). It will also be good to get back to London, my flat and the life I 'put on hold' for a year. Against this I have the feeling that living and working abroad gave me so many new experiences and I found New Zealand such a fantastic country.

It's too hard to try and predict what direction life will take and half the fun comes along the way as you find out how things will unfold. All I know for sure is that I definitely made the right choice to come out to New Zealand for the last year.

North Island - last week in NZ

Over the last week and a half, my experiences and the places I’ve visited have been folded over one another like some kind of origami kiwi. It’s been an exciting but kind of emotional send off from New Zealand.

After leaving Wellington I drove up to Taranaki, which I visited with mum backin November. My original plan was to climb Mount Taranaki with Carina and Angela; a combination of fresh snow on the summit and Carina being unwell put paid to that. Instead I travelled up on my own and, after a nice sleep and a quick surf I carried on up the coast towards Raglan, New Zealand’s premier surf spot.

On the way I made an unplanned stop when I saw signs to Mike’s Organic Brewery. Always up for a brewery tour, I popped in to see what they were up to. I’m really glad I did. The brewery is owned by Mike and his family, who are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about brewing. They literally work in the shed, which they are slowly expanding, and much of the equipment is adapted from dairy industry hardware. This doesn’t stop them producing some really tasty drops. Ron (the son), showed me and three other people around, describing how they brew and what they are currently working on in detail. We also got to taste a whole selection of different brews at each stage in the brewing process. After that I decided to take some time to enjoy the sun in their garden before carrying on with my drive!

I arrived in Raglan after dark. I checked into the Raglan backpackers, an awesome hostel with rooms arranged around a central courtyard filled with hammocks and a hot tub. It was a really sociable place and while I cooked dinner I found a couple of people to go surfing with the next day (having a car gave me the trump of being able to offer lifts to the breaks).

On Sunday the swell was pretty small, so we drove to an exposed beach called Ruapuke. The route along an unsealed road around a mountain made it feel like a proper surfing adventure. One of the people I who came along on Sunday was an American called John and we discovered we were at a similar level of surfing and so became regular surf buddies. On Monday we went to the much closer ‘main’ beach and fitted in both a morning and afternoon surf.

By Tuesday we went one even better than this. We started with a surf on main beach and once we were out of the water decided to drive round to see Manu Bay, one of the famous Raglan breaks where serious surfers hang out. The conditions looked so good and not too intense so we ended up getting back to wetsuits and jumping in the water for a second time before lunch. Late in the afternoon we then went back to main beach for a third surf…exhausting but such a good day!

John checks out the surf at Main Beach

Surfer at Manu Bay

More surf at Many Bay

And again

Wednesday came round all too quickly and it was time to move on again. As I left Raglan I drove to the see the Bridal Veil Falls, around 50 metres high and another impressive waterfall. Rather than getting back on to the main road afterwards, I ended up on 30 kilometres of unsealed road winding through the countryside by the coast. It left Lafayundai very dusty and can't have done her suspension any good.

Bridal Veils Falls

When I eventually rejoined a main road, I drove down to the Waitomo Caves. These are a network of caves filled with glow-worms and underground rivers. The tours take you down into the caves to go ‘blackwater rafting’ – essentially sitting in a rubber ring paddling down these rivers in the dark and jumping backwards off underground waterfalls.

I arrived in Taupō, a lakeside town right in the centre of the North Island and met up with two Germans, Alice and Philine, who I had got to know in Raglan. They had hoped to do the Tongariro Crossing (which I did in January) on Thursday, but the weather was against them so instead we took a walk to some waterfalls, hot pools and a geothermal site called ‘craters of the moon’.

In the afternoon the sky suddenly cleared up so I rushed to book a sky dive. Taupō renowned as a place to sky dive. This wasn’t my first tandem jump as I had also done one in South America; I’d enjoyed it enough then to want to repeat the experience. I wasn’t disappointed as this jump was even better than my first one as I didn’t get distracted by feeling nervous and we had more time in freefall. I don’t think it’s possible to adequately describe the experience of sky diving, but it is absolutely amazing.

Huka falls

Craters of the moon

Group before me getting ready to set off

One of the group before coming in to land

That week would have made a great finale to my time in New Zealand, however I had more good times in store. I spent Friday night at a bach in Martinborough. Em, who painted Queenstown red with me, organised a weekend away for about a dozen of our (mostly English, mostly Ministry of Education friends). It was lovely seeing them all and then quite emotional saying goodbye and driving off on Saturday morning. 

Dinner in Martinborough

On Saturday I had lunch with Helen and Harry, who by coincidence had ended up leaving NZ at almost exactly the same time I was. It was St Paddy’s Day so I also managed a few Guinness’s with my flatmates Gabby, Matt and Ali who took over my room – although it was a quieter affair for me than last year in Wellington.

My flight was at ridiculous-o-clock on Sunday morning, so I was lucky to be able to stay with Helen and Harry at an apartment owned by Helen’s relatives half way out to the airport. The view over the lights of the Wellington as I waited for my taxi this morning was a lovely final image of a city I’ve loved living in over the last year.

South Island Part 4 - Queenstown to Picton

After the weekend in Queenstown, I needed to get back up to the top of the South Island by Thursday lunchtime for my ferry over to Wellington. I chose to deal with a lot of the drive in one go and get as far as Christchurch by Monday evening.

By now I should have realised that any drive in the South Island would take me through some impressive scenery. The first part of the drive took me past Lake Tepako and several other lakes, all of which are a vibrant shade of blue due to minerals washing down from the mountains. With the sun shining off the surface they are quite a site. Much of the drive is also across big arid plains that stretch out between ranges of mountains that blur in the heat haze rising off the ground.

Lake Tekapo (It really is this colour, no photoshopping)

It was early evening by the time I arrived in Christchurch. While I’ve been to the city a few times because of work this was my first stay. I hadn’t booked any accommodation, but I planned to try and stay out by the surf beach on the coast rather than in the city, unfortunately all the places were easy closed because of earthquake damage or fully booked. After ringing round quite a few places I found a motel in the city centre. It must be a good sign that so many people are staying in the city and contributing to the economy.

The next morning I drove back out to the coast for a quick surf, the conditions were pretty messy but it was good to get in the water and I can now say I’ve surfed both islands of New Zealand. I drove back into the centre as I’d read about an innovative ‘container mall’ that had been opened to replace some of the damaged shopping. For a long time after the February earthquake the entire CBD was shut off, much of it is open again but diversions and buildings that are cordoned off make it a mission to navigate around. The mall was more elaborate than I expected, rather than just being standard shipping containers, they have sections cut out for windows and have been connected together in different ways to make some really clever commercial spaces.

From Christchurch I head up to Hanmer Springs, nestled in the mountains below Lewis Pass, one of the connections over to the West Coast. It’s a pretty little town centred around some natural hot springs. I stayed in a really friendly hostel with loads of nice touches like free fruit and ice cream (Hanmer Backpackers). It was still afternoon when I arrived, so I went for a short hike up to a lookout point then headed over to soak in the spa pools as the sun set.

The next morning I set off for a longer hike to Dog Stream Waterfall, a 42 metre waterfall hidden away in the forest. It was great to get out into the forest for a proper walk.

Hill-top view of Hanmer

Dog Stream Waterfall

In the afternoon I drove on up to Kaikoura. The town is most famous for whale watching tours, but this didn’t really tempt me. I had hoped to surf again, but the waves just weren’t keen to play, so I set off on Thursday morning towards the ferry terminal. On the way I had some time to kill so I stopped in to a museum of WW1 aircraft. It was a great display with a mix of preserved and replica aircraft and a huge amount of attention to detail in each of the displays. They even have a range of planes that they regularly fly for displays, as I arrived a Fokker was taking off.

A pilot managed to land his badly damaged plane by steering it like this!

It had been pretty windy so there was a good chance the ferry crossing was going to be rough. The ferry was delayed coming over from Wellington due to the waves, which wasn’t a good sign. Luckily the swell was dying down so while it was a bit bumpy it wasn’t too bad, which was good as right after I arrived back in Wellington I was off to dinner with some friends and it would have been a shame to have been feeling too seasick to enjoy it.

I spent a day in Wellington sorting odds and ends and catching up with people. I also went to pick up Hollie from the airport, who is the latest person to come over from the Department to work in the team I was in at the Ministry. Dropping her at the same apartments I stayed at when I first arrived made me think back to all that I’ve seen and done over the last year. I’m jealous of all my friends who have just arrived and have so much ahead of them.

South Island - Part 3 (Wanaka, Queenstown and Milford)

My last post was written sitting in Wanaka, a lakeside town inland from the West Coast that I travelled down last week. The drive from Franz Josef to Wanaka had been impressive, through a landscape so rugged that the road was only opened across it in 1965.

I spent a pleasant afternoon and night in Wanaka, talking a walk along the edge of the lake and tasting some wines at the Rippon Vineyard. The next morning I made an early start to get on the road towards Queenstown, unfortunately I chose the less breathtaking of the two routes, so by South Island standards the scenery was nothing noteworthy.

In Queenstown I was due to meet up with Em, who I know well from DfE in England and who has just started a similar year at the Ministry to the one I did. She was lucky to make it down for the weekend as the North Island, including Wellington was hit by a ‘weather bomb’. This was a new Kiwi-ism for both of us, but it involved storms that grounded nearly all flights and delayed her plane.

If New Zealand is a country of adrenaline packed activities, Queenstown is undoubtedly the capital. Every corner you turn offers a jet-this, bungee-that or para-the other. We wasted no time after we arrived as our hostel had a flyer advertising some low cost helicopter flights. Our luck was definitely in as after initially looking like it was fully booked, we eventually got seats, then got upgraded to a better flight. For around £70, we were whisked up into the mountains surrounding the town, where we landed above the snowline to take some photos. It’s an incredible way to travel, especially in such a scenic area.

From the helicopter ride we went straight in search of our next thrill, which was a jet-boat ride down a narrow canyon. The boats run off two powerful engines and speed along with just a couple of inches of them in the water. The ride takes you right up close to the walls of the canyon and involves brilliant 360 turns that left us covered in spray.

We got back into town too late in the afternoon to head out and visit a winery, which was our original plan. Luckily Queenstown has this covered with a shop-cum-bar where you sit in leather armchairs sampling over 80 different wines. I even discovered (and then tried) New Zealand single malt. We then met up with a friend of Em’s from England who was travelling with his mate and the four of us sampled Queenstown nightlife. We finished the night by getting a Fergburger, a local institution that gets recommended by anyone who has travelled to Queenstown and that lived up to the reputation.

Unfortunately the next morning called for an early start. Fortunately we were off to Milford Sound and we had decided on having someone drive us there rather than driving ourselves. Usually a coach journey of 5 hours each way would fill me with dread. The scenery of the journey is so amazing that it didn’t end up being tortuous, particularly with the interesting commentary from the guide and frequent photo stops. In the end, the journey is just a warm-up for the cruise on Milford Sound (which is really a fjord carved by glaciers). Steep walls of rock rise out of the water and climb high above the boat on either side. The scale is so huge it’s hard to judge, with 150 metre waterfalls looking small until you sail up so close that the spray hits you. We even got to see a pod of dolphins that appeared right beside the boat. The photos below give some sense of how beautiful it all was.

Mountain pass over to Wanaka

Rippon vineyard

Grapes at Rippon

 Queenstown

View from the helicopter

Jumping out into snow

On a mountain (in shorts)

Coming back into Queenstown

Shotover canyon - site of the jetboat ride

The jetboat

Paraglider floating above Queenstown

The Remarkables Mountain Range

Milford

Getting up close to the waterfall

I’ll leave things there for now. I’m currently in Kaikoura, having driven most of the way back up the East of the South Island. Tomorrow I take the ferry back over to the North Island. Here are the last few sections of my drive.

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