End travels, part 1

At the time of starting to write this its 7.06am, before the first day of my new job. I woke up really early for no apparent reason, probably nerves, and have some time on my hands, so am starting to write this up. At the end of writing this, it is 13.48, 6 days later.

So, continuing from where I left off. Emily booked us all onto a party bus, which is essentially a bus which drives to obscure bars before dropping us off in town. It was a lot of fun, and most people ended up pretty drunk. I managed to leave my phone on the bus which sucked massively, especially seeing as I was leaving early the next morning and had no way of getting it back. I said my goodbyes to everyone, and then Danielle and I went back. We later got a call from Sharon, who had locked herself out of her room… I climbed around her balcony and got in through her window, good times!

The next morning I woke up fairly early, and Dan gave me a lift to town and the bus stop; it was pretty emotional. The coach to Kaikoura only took a couple of hours, and when I got there I booked into a hostel and went and bougt some food to use on the Queen Charlotte track the next day. This is important, as it served as my first lesson in travelling (explained later). Kaikoura is famed for its paua shells, which are highly colourful shells in blue and green which can be found on the beach, if you look in the right places. The best ones are picked up by divers and look incredible, but seeing as I wasn’t doing that it was the beach for me. I turned a 3.5 hour cliff walk into a 5.5 hour beach and cliff walk, and found some lovely shells. There are literally thousands of the shells in the town, and they’re made into exquisite jewellery. That night I had made tea and got an early night; I was exhausted and slept for 11 hours. The next day I got up and left and learnt lesson number one; remember whatever you left in the fridge! I realised I left my meat and cheese at the hostel later in the day when I was on the Queen Charlotte track, which I took a coach and boat to get to, so no way of getting them back!

I got the coach from Kaikoura to Picton, stopping on the way to look at seals. The weather was awful, and the road is literally just above the beach, so it was beautiful in a chaotic kind of way. I got into Kaikoura and booked everything for my time on the track, including the first nights stay and my boat which left in an hour. The track is a ‘luxury’ track, meaning that the boat companies pick up your pack each day and drop it at the next place you’re staying so you only have to carry a day pack. I thought this would ruin the point of a big hike, but it was actually great as you could enjoy it so much more.

The Queen Charlotte track is on Marlborough Sound, which has its own weather system. Apparently the wind is always southerly, and it rarely gets any bad weather as its all taken to sea/into the mountains before it reaches the sound, meaning its almost always good weather. The day I got there it wasn’t so good… I had originally planned to do a 15km hike before getting to the homestay where I was staying that night, but ended up just getting the boat straight there.

I got to the homestay around 3, and met my host, Noeline. She was eccentric; her dog was called tuppence, the first was called pence, and she spends 2 months of the year travelling alone, which she can afford by letting people stay for 10 months a year. This year she’s going to Hungary and Romania. She only goes to town once every two months, and she’s 80 years old. Inspirational. Two others were staying there, Liz from Holland and Dorian who was cycling the trail. We spent the evening in the warm and dry, and got an early night. This is also where I realised all of my food was in Kaikoura…

Woke up early the next day and set out with Liz at around 8am. We left our packs on the jetty at Noelines, and just took day packs for the 25km hike ahead of us. The previous night it snowed on the track, which only happens about once year, so it was pretty special. The hike was just incredible. Every corner you turn yields more incredible views, I have hundreds of pictures from the few days I was there that all look really similar to anyone who hasn’t been there! Each inlet had perfect blue water, lush green foliage and stuck into the sea in a haphazard manner. There is no way for me to describe the beauty of it. That night I camped and Liz stayed at another homestay. I was the only one camping which was nice, and in the evening I went to Portage, a luxury retreat which also had a bar. I sat there by myself drinking a beer and eating wedges for 2 hours, and only saw 4 other guests; definitely the quiet time of the season. Portage also has the best steak pies EVER, they were incredible!

That night I slept for 13 hours, I only had a small hike the next day, so there was no reason for me to get up early. Another pie later, and I set off at around 11. That night I was o be couchsurfing with a guy who lives on the track, and he was about 8km away, so no hurry. This time I carried my pack, hiking is so much harder with it on! A few beautiful hours later and I arrived. I’d also like to note that on this few hours I breathed the purest, best feeling air I have ever breathed. It was just awesome. After staying there for a while and bashing out some sketches I carried on to Peter Cowell’s. the guy I was couchsurfing with. His house was around 45 minutes off the track, and amazing. Just before his house is a rope swing that swings out across the sound, and just sets the tone for the place. I arrived at around 3, as the sun was starting to go out behind the hills, and after some quick introductions he told me we were going out fishing on his boat to catch the sun. So, we headed down to his boat via a cart he made that traverses about 100m of steep hillside. He took some snails off his jetty, and we went out on his boat. The snails were then used to catch snappers, which were then used as bait for bigger fish. Sadly we didn’t catch anything else, but it was great staying in the sun and talking.

He hand built the two houses on his land, and has lived there for 23 years. The one I stayed in he rents out for $200-$300 per night for a third of the year. The rest of his income comes from doing odd jobs for neighbours, such as mowing lawns and painting. There are around 50 homes in the inlet, and only 3 or 4 habited year round. In the rest of his time he reads, hunts and maintains the forest. He catches all his own meat, grows fruit and veg, and has water direct from a natural spring. It is impossible for me to describe how idyllic this was.

So, after fishing he asked what I was doing for tea, and when I said noodles he told me he’d made us stew and was going to make dumplings. It was awesome. We ate, and he then asked if I’d like a beer. I said sure, and he came back with a few litres of beer, which he brews himself. It was good stuff. He then asked if I wanted weed, which I declined. He said he grows it himself, truly self sufficient! We spent the evening watching trashy TV, and relaxing, which was lovely. He was a really interesting guy to meet, with a lot of stories, too many to include here!

The next morning we went out into the forest and collected a couple of bags of pine cones for his fire, and he made us a fry up. A great start to the day. He then had to go into town, and after giving me a bag of passion fruit he left on his boat. I stayed around the house until around 1, just hanging out and being in the sun. One more go on the rope swing, and I set off for my next destination, a campsite only a few miles away.

The next few hours were again, magical. A side track took me up to the top of a hill that gave 360 degree panoramic of the whole area, I’ll try and upload the video somewhere, it’ll show it far better than I can explain.

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnYfNE0QFNA

That evening I arrived at my campsite, which was at Mistletoe Bay eco lodge, or something along those lines. I camped, and spent the evening reading in a cooking hut which was also populated by about 50 10 year olds and their school teachers. I’d picked up the Kite Runner at Portage, and got a fair way through it.

The next morning I got up, dried off the inside of my tent (its cheap, and condensation builds up on the inside, it sucks), and left my bag on the jetty for the water taxi to pick up. I had around 4 hours of hiking ahead of me, and I gave myself 6 hours to do it in so I could take my time. Again, another day of ridiculous scenery and beautiful weather. At one point I rounded a corner and the entire sea was covered in mist; it looked as though you were on top of a mountain far above the cloud line. I finished with two hours to spare and spent some time reading and sketching on the beach before the water taxi picked me up. Over the 4 day I have around 50km, 25 of which were on the first day.

I took the taxi back over the calm waters, and arrived back in Picton. I booked into a hostel which had free chocolate pudding each evening, and free breakfast, pretty good if you ask me! I met a guy from Bath there, and spent the evening talking with him, a guy from Essex and an American, who couldn’t understand a lot of what we said. I had this the whole trip with the Americans; they couldn’t understand me a lot, and it was nice to talk to a couple of English guys who could! I also booked my Ferry ticket; the next day I was going to the north island.

I feel as if my blog has got less descriptive over time, which is probably a good and bad thing; I’ve already written masses and only covered a week or so, and there’s another two weeks at least to write up, but I also feel like there’s probably a lot of bits I miss out. Its impossible to describe how awe-inspiring everything was without being there, the pictures really can’t begin to show what it was like, and they also can’t incorporate things like the wind or the smell or the feeling of being alone in such a beautiful place, which sucks!

The next morning (Friday now) I got up and got ready to leave the south island forever. Sad to be leaving, but also excited to see a new part of the country. The ferrys are huge, and damn slow. They also go through the sound to get into the straight between the islands, and I felt like I should be outside the whole time, but it was actually fairly cold, and after being in the sound I didn’t feel like I’d be seeing anything that I needed to. So I took a nap, and awoke half an hour later for the scenery to be pretty much the same, but now with dolphins included! A fair few people have swam the straight between the islands, and it’s a fair way. I just tried googling the distance, but couldn’t want to find it. I’m writing this as the youngest person to do it was 11, epic!

After arriving in Wellington I headed along the water front to Te Papa (the nation in Maori), where I was meeting Danielle, Sharon, Brady and Mark who I would be travelling with for the next 10 days. I’d like to say it was an emotional reunion, but it really wasn’t more of a ‘hi, hows it going?’!

Right, this is the first section of my end of NZ adventure, and if you’ve read this, props! I’m writing this both for other people if they’re interested, and for myself, so I never forget the times I had.

Next entry to come soon(ish).

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