New Zealand

After an hour and a half drive, i arrived in Invercargill, i'd heard an amusing anecdote about when the Rolling Stones visited here in the early '60s. Unimpressed by Mick Jagger's lip pouting and hip shaking, the crowd pelted the band with tomatoes, leading Jagger to refer to Invercargill as "the arsehole of the world!" The city's reputation isn't much brighter some 40 years later, with ex-England rugby captain Brian Moore labelling it "the Chernobyl of the South Island."

Consequently, I didn't have high expectation levels for the place, but to be honest it was no worse than say, Ashburton. The glorious sunshine probably clouded my judgement (so to speak), but my main reason for being there was to organise myself ahead of Stewart Island. It was back to reality after a week of no mobile phone signal, and very little internet. So I spent time updating my journal, and contacting people who were probably waiting with bated breath (not likely!) for a sign that I was still alive.

I had heard from a fellow traveler that if you contact Stewart Island Flights late in the day, it is possible to get standby fares at a much reduced price. Sure enough, I ended up getting the return journey for just $95 - a saving of $50. It's not a journey I'm looking forward to, but 20 minutes of terror will be worth it as Stewart Island is a tramper's heaven by all accounts. With 85% of the Island made up of bush, and only 500 people living there, it sounds like my kind of place... Not that i've ever done anything like this before, but, nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say! I've managed to find storage for my car, So i'm good to go! Stewart Island here i come! I can't imagine there are to many internet cafes there, so might be a while before i'm next on here.

A new day, sunshine, petrol in the tank. A four hour drive later, and i'm in Arrowtown a leisurely pace and it's quite a lovely place to visit.
Its a historic mining town with trendy shops and restaurants.
There is a park with restored mining houses of Chinese miners who came for the gold rush. The town has a 'western' feel, and Queenstown is much like Whistler or Banff. Both towns have artsy, small theatres that promote alternative/good movies. We went to theatre in Queenstown that had about sixty seats and a beautiful silk patch ceiling to watch a Steve Martin black and white film. Last night we went to Arrowtown to watch movie about Tolstoi in a theatre of 30 seats. The bars and restaurants are very nice in Arrowtown because you don't have the throb of tourists in the streets.
When in Queenstown, look up and you'll see hot air balloons, para-gliders, helicopters and small planes. The streets are filled with skiers now. A perk about the ski slopes here in New Zealand is no trees.

After the 6 hour drive to Dunedin i boohed in to a hostel called Hogwartz, a new hostel with a very good BBH rating. It was well deserved too, as the lady at reception was very friendly and the rooms were huge! The TV lounge was well stocked with DVDs too, and I was delighted to see a ramones documentary in there - apparently an Irish couple had left it behind a few months beforehand...shame!

While Dunedin itself has little to offer in my opinion, I was eager to do a tour of the adjoining Otago Peninsula which is famous for its wildlife. I had a star next to the Elm Wildlife Tour in my Lonely Planet, so somebody must have recommended it to me at some point! The weather, which seems to be getting colder the further south i go is freezing, but fresh, perfect for that walk! So i booked it! Just as i did, the rain started to fall. Typical! lol.. So in the meantime, I spent time reading in the library and watching movies at the hostel.

I was pleased to see fine weather when the day of my trip came around, although the tour didn't start until 3.30pm so as to coincide with the penguins coming ashore. I'd already seen all the wildlife that we were due to encounter before, but the sea lions, seals and penguins were supposedly more numerous on the peninsula...and I'll never get bored of watching them

Besides, the journey itself was worth the money as i got to see the scenery.
I got sat next to Brittany, a quiet Scottish girl who'd packed in her job to come travelling, and we talked until we reached our first stop...the albatross colony. You could pay something like $30 extra to go to a special viewing area, but I declined as it was quite windy, meaning that a lot of the albatrosses would be flying above us anyway. Sure enough, we saw quite a few swooping from left to right, gaining altitude until we got a great view of their enormous wingspans.

Apparently Taiaroa Head has the only mainland royal albatross colony in the world, and they certainly made for an impressive sight. That said, we were there for too long as we had to wait for the people who'd gone to the other viewing area. I was more interested in the penguins and sea lions...

A 40 minute drive over the top of the misty hills brought us to our destination...we were going to do a 2 hour walk to get up close and personal with the wildlife. The great thing about this tour is that they have exclusive access to a large area of farmland and a wonderful beach.Quite simply, you're not allowed to go there unless you are on the tour, so it makes for a peaceful excursion (and consequently, more wildlife).

We could see the sweeping beach below us, and so we set off walking immediately to try and warm up.

Just before reaching the beach, we got our first glimpse of a yellow eyed penguin - he was keeping warm in one of the hides. We soon saw another one in the lake, and another one in the grass looking out to sea. As we made our way along the beach, we saw lots more waddling to shore, and the binoculars we'd been provided with were really helpful in getting extremely close up views. We even went to a hide at the far end which had a TV screen showing CCTV footage of the newly born penguins! They were all very cute, and at times we were within a metre or two of them - it doesn't get much better than that!

What made the beach so special was that you could switch your attention from the penguins to the sea lions, as both were numerous and very active. I was really pleased to see one of the sea lions moving towards the water. We later saw 3 more fighting over a different sea lion, and our guide said that this was typical behaviour. It was fascinating to watch as they were completely unaware of our presence, there was nobody else around to scare them off, and we were so close to where it was all happening.

I reluctantly left the hide when it was time to go, but we passed more penguins and sea lions on the way back to the beach's entrance. One penguin was laid down on the track, so we sneeked past him slowly so as not to frighten him. I could literally have reached out and touched him, but of course I wouldn't as he was shaking slightly, obviously aware of our presence.

A quite demanding 30 minute walk uphill followed, and we felt the full force of the wind once on top of the cliffs. We were walking towards a seal colony, where pups were being born daily.These pups were the smallest ones I'd encountered. It was lovely to see a mother sleeping on the rocks with her baby at the side of her, and we stayed there for about 20 minutes, again getting shelter in a hide.

More walking in scenery reminiscent of Scotland brought us back to the minibus, and it was nice to get warmed up again. The trip had definitely been worth the money I'd paid, as nothing beats watching an array of wildlife in their natural environments.

So after a 2 and a half hour drive to Christchurch (the most English of New Zealands cities),well a city consisting of 350,000 people so slightly larger than Watford! With road names such as Manchester Street Armagh Street and a signpost for St Albans I almost felt at home.

I booked into the Chester Street Backpackers a small converted house with an old bus in the backyard that had two beds in it. This is a very small friendly hostel, only 17 beds. Compare this to the 150+ bed YHA or Base hostels in Auckland.

The first day I spent exploring. I saw a very good photography exhibition in the Christchurch Art Gallery (free!) by Christine Webster called Provocations, disturbing nudes, but certainly memorable. In the evening i went for fish and chip (very cheap City Centre, Christchurch.)

The buildings of Christchurch University, the magnificent Botanic Gardens and many coffee houses and restaurants where i visited already. i have tried lots of different New Zealand wines and have not come across one which i have not enjoyed!
The highlight so far has been The Old Crow Medicine Show on Thursday Evening. it was a brilliant concert and the audience loved them - They played all the songs i knew and it was very vibrant and upbeat. I have put some pictures on facebook! I had front row seats -probably the best seats in the house! I think that happened because i booked the tickets so early and online so Thanks Simon!!The support band were great too (The Eastern-with a very lively frontsman and 2 girl singers- what is it about alt country girls - they always wear the most odd dresses!!!
The weather has been good, sunny and warm by day, though now i can feel a little chill in the air in the evenings.

My next stop has been Kaikoura. It wasn't to great weather wise when i arrived, overcast with heavy, grey, rain filled-clouds. Even though it was raining as i drove into Kaikoura it didn't disguise the attractiveness of the town and its fine setting beneath coastal cliffs.I'm staying in a quite a nice Motel right on the front with a view over the bay. Quickly settling in, i was soon ready for my tour with Maori Tours Kaikoura. I've been really hoping to absorb some of the Maori people and their history. I couldn't have had a better introduction and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon with Maurice and Jacqui. Maurice was a very entertaining and knowledgeable guide with a lovely relaxed attitude.He and Jacqui made everyone feel totally at ease and gave us a wonderful insight into Maori history, culture and their family backgrounds. We felt really thrilled and privileged to be welcomed into Maurice's family home to meet his wife Heather who laid on a delicious afternoon tea. The combination of our hosts and the interesting content of the tour and activities made for a wonderful day. The weather improved as the afternoon wore on and the cloud lifted to reveal high mountains sloping right down into the sea right across the bay from our motel.What an unexpected but glorious sight!

The next morning I woke up to find that the mountains opposite were covered in snow! It looked awesome!
It was a nice day, and i'd been told of i good walk round the peninsula via the seal colony at Key Point. with cool southerly wet and windy fronts sweeping over in between clear sunny spells. Really great day, however it felt a little like getting four seasons in one day. lol

One of the delicacies of this area is crayfish and i bought some for tonight. Although i am still eating out more than i should, but when there's such fresh sea food on offer it's mad not to!!

another glorious morning of clear, sunny skies and i decided to have a leisurely day. Along the road towards the end of the peninsula is little pink Fyffe House, an old whaler's cottage now owned by the NZ National Trust. I had intended to go there before or after my walk the previous day but didn't make it. So i headed for this historic building -and a little treasure it was. The history is documented right back to the original owners -George Fyffe originally from Perthshire who unfortunately had a short life in NZ - and the two subsequent families who lived in the house. i then headed to Marlborough country's southernmost winery on the outskirts of Kaikoura where we didn't take the tour (seen enough vineyards) but bought a couple of bottles instead.

I Had a really nice meal! went to the Pier Hotel - just down the road (having been moved many years ago from its original position next to Fyffe House) - for a thoroughly enjoyable meal of scallops, salmon, venison and grouper.Delicious!

I've been here nearly a week now. There is something really relaxed about. I shouldn't but i'm going to stay another couple of days or so.. Then i really must head to Christchurch!!