Hi everyone
first of all, apologies for not getting it together to keep the blog updated and also to say that I have got another wonky keyboard so apologies for any typos. I had thought that India is the home of the wonky keyboard but not so!
So where to start..... currently I'm holed up in Wanaka Bakpakas, a really nice backpacker hostel with breathtaking views of Lake Wanaka and only 5 minutes walk into the town (think large village). Well, it would be 5 mins for normal able bodied folk but currently nursing a badly sprained ankle so it's a 10 min hobble for me before I get to the land of flat whites and carrot cake. If you have to be holed up anywhere this is a good place to be! Lake Wanaka is spectacularly beautiful - huge lake with snow capped mountains at the far end and the nearby hills are much higher than Scafell Pike. I have done some great walking prior to injury. Although it is a tad frustrating to up and down a mountain the same way. NZ doesn't have our great tradition of public footpaths and therefore getting access across some land is very difficult. But hey, I am not really complaining - just appreciating our own unique access rights. Anyhow all the walks I have done are all very Lord of the Ringsy and I have been blessed by great weather (dry!). I would love to come back to this area of the South Island and do some serious tramping ie multiday walks staying in mountain huts. Any takers anyone?
Just finished a shortish stint of wwoofing at Hawea Flats, near Lake Hawea close to Wanaka. It was cut short by the injury and it didn't feel right to be sitting in a kitchen eating all their food whilst everyone else was working flat out. Much better to be lounging at the backpackers where there are tons of young people also lounging. It's been an interesting experience to be around young people doing the gap year travel thing...! and made me feel very proud of Edie who was to have been volunteering as a teacher for 6 months, rather than hopping on and off buses, eating, drinking and getting on a bus again. Yes, I know that sounds very judgemental! I have gained so much from this trip because I have been working alongside people and getting to know them, rather than taking a "facebook" approach to being here. However I am just about to have 5 days of doing such that as I am doing one of those relocation deals where you get to drive a campervan from Christchurch airport to Auckland airport in five days for the price of petrol! Feeling very excited about that as public transport outside the main cities is pretty non existant and it's very hard to get to some of the interesting but more remote places.
Since I last wrote on the blog, I left Kauotunu, just north of Whitianga, towards the end of Oct and headed over to Foxton Beach on te west coast of the north island, near Palmerston North. Foxton Beach was one of the most amazing and the most wierdest beaches I have been on. It's incredibly long. I walked for 2 hours and didn't get to the end of it. It was like I imagine walking in the Sahara might be like - you can't actually see the horizon for the land and the air merge into one hazy thing. There were no other people around, just the occasional 4 wheel drive vehicle (because obvioulsy the locals knew better than to walk!) and I can't begin to describe the driftwood. Not just logs but whole trees washed up by the strong Tasman sea. Behind the beach were the most amazing landscapes of huge sand dunes. It all added to the erie end-of-the-world feel. Of course, it would have felt different if the sun was shining but most of the time whilst I was there it was grey and overcast.
A great contrast to Wellington which I was very impressed with - the sun shone and there was none of the famous Wellington winds whilst I was there. Lots going on but still easy access to hills and sea. I took the ferry out of Wellington across to the South Island the day of Edie's death anniversary which was a soulful and nurturing thing to do. It was a grey day, windy and lots of wake from the boat but also a sense of movement and going forth into the unknown. Then sailing into Queen Charlotte Sound (didn't Edie want to be called Charlotte for about 3 weeks when she 6 or so - I feel like I carry half remembered memories - ?) which felt abit impossible. A big ferry in a little narrow sound..... weren't we going to run aground?.... but no, docked into Picton safe and sound.
Then onto the Abel Tasman coastal path - quite rightly very popular. Fortunately I walked it in the spring time with less people on it. Lots of rain the first day so I didn't dawdle and walked what should have been a 4 hour in 2.5hours! Lots of dawdling the next two days as the sun shone and I walked in and out of some stunning beaches (and swam from some of them). I stayed in huts along the trial and carried my own food for 3 days as well as a stove and billy can. I'll try and put up some of the photos from the track just to make you all feel jealous as the cold and dark of Dec sets in over England.
I wwoofed in a couple of great places around Takaka in the Golden Bay area. Both were very interesting in completely different ways. At one I was very near the sea but slightly higher so the house had the most amazing 180 degree view of sea, bay, Farewell Spit, the mountains in the background. Sitting on the deck with a glass of white wine watching the sun go down over the mountains with the sea in the foreground, after a days work of helping some one else clear out their junk. Paddling in a sea kayak around the north end of the Abel Tasman national park. Being eaten alive by sand flies by a clear cold gushing mountain river. They call this area paradise and you can see why.... everyone is very friendly but at the same time, the whole thing doesn't feel real. You have to go over a big hill to get to the region and so it creates this feeling of being cut off from the rest of NZ.
But all good things move on and change and so I was over the hill and back into the land of coaches... travelling down the west coast. I made the mistake of stopping off at Franz Josef which is very touristy... but I did see a glacier and I did do a great walk albeit it totally surrounded by trees and not able to see the view except for a couple of look-out posts. And on to Wanaka.... and time now to hobble into town for a cup of tea and a piece of cake!
Hope to write more soon.
cheers
bee
first of all, apologies for not getting it together to keep the blog updated and also to say that I have got another wonky keyboard so apologies for any typos. I had thought that India is the home of the wonky keyboard but not so!
So where to start..... currently I'm holed up in Wanaka Bakpakas, a really nice backpacker hostel with breathtaking views of Lake Wanaka and only 5 minutes walk into the town (think large village). Well, it would be 5 mins for normal able bodied folk but currently nursing a badly sprained ankle so it's a 10 min hobble for me before I get to the land of flat whites and carrot cake. If you have to be holed up anywhere this is a good place to be! Lake Wanaka is spectacularly beautiful - huge lake with snow capped mountains at the far end and the nearby hills are much higher than Scafell Pike. I have done some great walking prior to injury. Although it is a tad frustrating to up and down a mountain the same way. NZ doesn't have our great tradition of public footpaths and therefore getting access across some land is very difficult. But hey, I am not really complaining - just appreciating our own unique access rights. Anyhow all the walks I have done are all very Lord of the Ringsy and I have been blessed by great weather (dry!). I would love to come back to this area of the South Island and do some serious tramping ie multiday walks staying in mountain huts. Any takers anyone?
Just finished a shortish stint of wwoofing at Hawea Flats, near Lake Hawea close to Wanaka. It was cut short by the injury and it didn't feel right to be sitting in a kitchen eating all their food whilst everyone else was working flat out. Much better to be lounging at the backpackers where there are tons of young people also lounging. It's been an interesting experience to be around young people doing the gap year travel thing...! and made me feel very proud of Edie who was to have been volunteering as a teacher for 6 months, rather than hopping on and off buses, eating, drinking and getting on a bus again. Yes, I know that sounds very judgemental! I have gained so much from this trip because I have been working alongside people and getting to know them, rather than taking a "facebook" approach to being here. However I am just about to have 5 days of doing such that as I am doing one of those relocation deals where you get to drive a campervan from Christchurch airport to Auckland airport in five days for the price of petrol! Feeling very excited about that as public transport outside the main cities is pretty non existant and it's very hard to get to some of the interesting but more remote places.
Since I last wrote on the blog, I left Kauotunu, just north of Whitianga, towards the end of Oct and headed over to Foxton Beach on te west coast of the north island, near Palmerston North. Foxton Beach was one of the most amazing and the most wierdest beaches I have been on. It's incredibly long. I walked for 2 hours and didn't get to the end of it. It was like I imagine walking in the Sahara might be like - you can't actually see the horizon for the land and the air merge into one hazy thing. There were no other people around, just the occasional 4 wheel drive vehicle (because obvioulsy the locals knew better than to walk!) and I can't begin to describe the driftwood. Not just logs but whole trees washed up by the strong Tasman sea. Behind the beach were the most amazing landscapes of huge sand dunes. It all added to the erie end-of-the-world feel. Of course, it would have felt different if the sun was shining but most of the time whilst I was there it was grey and overcast.
A great contrast to Wellington which I was very impressed with - the sun shone and there was none of the famous Wellington winds whilst I was there. Lots going on but still easy access to hills and sea. I took the ferry out of Wellington across to the South Island the day of Edie's death anniversary which was a soulful and nurturing thing to do. It was a grey day, windy and lots of wake from the boat but also a sense of movement and going forth into the unknown. Then sailing into Queen Charlotte Sound (didn't Edie want to be called Charlotte for about 3 weeks when she 6 or so - I feel like I carry half remembered memories - ?) which felt abit impossible. A big ferry in a little narrow sound..... weren't we going to run aground?.... but no, docked into Picton safe and sound.
Then onto the Abel Tasman coastal path - quite rightly very popular. Fortunately I walked it in the spring time with less people on it. Lots of rain the first day so I didn't dawdle and walked what should have been a 4 hour in 2.5hours! Lots of dawdling the next two days as the sun shone and I walked in and out of some stunning beaches (and swam from some of them). I stayed in huts along the trial and carried my own food for 3 days as well as a stove and billy can. I'll try and put up some of the photos from the track just to make you all feel jealous as the cold and dark of Dec sets in over England.
I wwoofed in a couple of great places around Takaka in the Golden Bay area. Both were very interesting in completely different ways. At one I was very near the sea but slightly higher so the house had the most amazing 180 degree view of sea, bay, Farewell Spit, the mountains in the background. Sitting on the deck with a glass of white wine watching the sun go down over the mountains with the sea in the foreground, after a days work of helping some one else clear out their junk. Paddling in a sea kayak around the north end of the Abel Tasman national park. Being eaten alive by sand flies by a clear cold gushing mountain river. They call this area paradise and you can see why.... everyone is very friendly but at the same time, the whole thing doesn't feel real. You have to go over a big hill to get to the region and so it creates this feeling of being cut off from the rest of NZ.
But all good things move on and change and so I was over the hill and back into the land of coaches... travelling down the west coast. I made the mistake of stopping off at Franz Josef which is very touristy... but I did see a glacier and I did do a great walk albeit it totally surrounded by trees and not able to see the view except for a couple of look-out posts. And on to Wanaka.... and time now to hobble into town for a cup of tea and a piece of cake!
Hope to write more soon.
cheers
bee
