#NewZealand17 Franz Josef

I will describe Sir Cedric's "Chateau Franz" as a luxury hostel. Free soup, free breakfast, charging points by the beds, a hot tub, and curtains around your bunk. The mattresses were even comfortable!

At 5am I woke up to a funny noise. I opened my curtain and there, less than a metre away, was a haggard white face, looming out from under a dark hood, looking directly at me. How I didn't scream, I don't know. The elderly Scottish man in the bunk below me continued to look at me for perhaps half a second, before ducking into his bunk, I assume removing his hood as he did so.

I did not really sleep after that, but soon daylight came and I scampered out to get my free breakfast.

I waited an hour and a half for the boys to come and join me, by which point I was getting unusually hangry, and fighting the urge to smash my empty plate over the heads of everyone in the queue in front of me. Luckily I resisted, and in time I got to the waffle machine, where I made the most pathetic sloppy breakfast waffle known to man (and eaten anyway). Two slices of toast and a better cooked waffle later, Max headed out on his big trek, while Blake and I began a leisurely wander around Franz Josef village.

Franz Josef is just beautiful. This is illustrated by the view from the petrol station. The fact that a view like this is wasted on a petrol station demonstrates that this is a village where such a privilege is taken for granted.

The village is small, and Blake and I soon came to the hot pools, where we decided to spend the morning. 

It was very indulgent but so relaxing. There were three pools, at 40°, 38° and 36°. The last feeling barely walmer than the hot summers day around us, and the first feeling like walking into a dreamy bath, instantly relaxing (although I couldn't stay in it for long.) All of this was shaded by huge canvas sails, but there were no walls, so the ferns from the forest around us leaned in over the pool, and all around we could hear cicadas. It was absolutely beautiful.

We couldn't stay all day though, as this was a big day, with the first of our major excursions of the trip! At 12.30, Blake returned to the hostel to change, and I went to the only shop in town, to buy us a tear and share bread for lunch. I also bought icecreams, which was a mistake, as I had underestimated how long Blake would take. Then when he did return, I realised that the bread I'd bought was stuffed with meat, so I had to exchange it for a herb bread, and we had a piece each (and our melted icecreams) before checking in for our glacier hike and helicopter flight.

We had to wear their special boots (which for some reason made me very anxious) and little bags with crampons in, with little room for anything else. Blake and I had brought suitable coats. Everyone else had to borrow those as well, and some borrowed waterproof trousers. When we were all kitted out, we had a safety briefing and then went to our helicopters. I took a little longer than the others putting my bag away, and when I joined the group someone slapped a pink wristband on me and told me I was in the front seat! I began to ask if Blake was too but the man had gone. Blake explained it was to do with weight distribution and he would be in the back. I had never forseen that we would be seperated.

 I was just overwhelmingly excited. I wasn't really nervous. I figured it would be a great way to die if anything went wrong! Blake had told me the helicopter would be really jerky so I was braced for the worst.

As the pilot started up the machine, our guide (who was unsettlingly similar to an old flame of mine) buckled me into the front seat, and soon we had the amazing sensation of taking off in a helicopter. So much smoother than a plane! We flew over beautiful mountain scenery, following the glacial stream up into the mountains above Franz Josef, to find the previous group's helicopter was still parked in our spot, so we were taken on a quick tour of the mountains. The pilot circled at what felt like a 45° angle which was so much fun, and we flew over a hiker outside a bothy which looked like a dolls house, before eventually landing (again much smoother than expected) on the ice.

 I have put a lot of text in this post, so here are some pictures to break it up:

It was absolutely fantastic. Blake said he's only ever had three experiences which have bowled him over like this glacier hike did. I would like to thank my grandparents who gave me holiday money towards it. If they hadn't I think I would have been put off by the expense and I'm so glad I didn't miss out!

When we returned, Blake and I enjoyed some more of his birthday cake in the hot tub, and then I dfied off and went for a walk out of town to see the glacier from the ground. It was a pleasant walk with scenery like this

Apparently it is one of New Zealand's best short walks (1 hour each way). I also got to wander through some New Zealand forest, which I think is awesome:

 And the hike ended at what should have been the end of the glacier.
However, in the last nine years, since 2008, the glacier has shrunk by the same amount as it did in the previous hundred years. Therefore there was barely any glacier to be seen from the viewing point.
An information board showed the Glacier's progress as it shrank up the mountain, and the predicted size for the year 2100 looked almost exactly the same as what I saw before me.

Our guide told me that 95% of the world's glaciers are in decline. I found this quite disturbing.

I walked back as the sun set over the mountains, stopping to drink from the river on my way. Apart from the volcanic, sulphurous rivers, almost all of the rivers in New Zealand seem to be good to drink from.

I returned to our hostel where a campfire was burning. I made myself up a pasta dinner and we were shortly joined by a wild possum!

It was extremely cute, but they are not a native animal to New Zealand, and cause havoc for ground nesting birds, including kiwis, so are regarded as a pest to be killed at any opportunity.

We had two in our camp that night but I'm glad to say both survived.

#NewZealand17 Westport - Franz Josef Roadtrip Day 2

We woke late on Blake's birthday. I called and provisionally booked the three of us in for surf lessons, but ultimately Blake wanted to spend his birthday as chilled out as possible.

We went to the supermarket and bought prossecco and cheese to toast the "champagne birthday" which is the Australian notion that when you turn 26 on the 26th (for example), it must be celebrated with champagne.

Our first stop off was to see the fur seal colony at the beautifully named Cape Foulwind. From up on the viewing platform we really did see some seals, there appeared to be only half a dozen at first, but as you watched, more and more could be spotted, playing in the waves and on rocks out to sea.

 As we watched, I felt something tickling the back of my arm and brushed away what I thought was a hair, only to feel a large insect, which immediately caused me a lot of pain.

I didn't know whether I'd ben bit or stung, and luckily the boys had seen enough of the seals, and I'd already decided to splash out and have icecream in honour of the special occasion, so I asked the lady at the kiosk (luckily a native) what was wrong with my slightly swollen arm. She assured me it was nothing to worry about, that I had been stung by a paper wasp (Max had seen the perpetrator and given her a description) and she gave me a block of ice to soothe it. I was very grateful, and we enjoyed our icecreams before returning to the road.

Next stop down the west coast was Punukake pancake rocks. These were a pretty impressive bit of geography where the cliffs looked like this:

And in typical NZ style formed just a part of a stunningly scenic panorama

As a birthday treat I bought Blake and I lunch in the pancake rocks cafe, which felt really special after several days of supermarket bread. Excitingly for me, the cafe offered pancakes, so I celebrated shrove Tuesday early and in style!

From Punukake we continued south down Route 6 towards Franz Josef, experiencing a terrifying rail bridge with a single track shared by trains AND cars, in both directions... I nearly had a meltdown when Blake joked that a train was coming

This should not be a thing.

In Greymouth we picked up a lovely frenchhitchhiker called Floriane, who chatted away in the back to Max, and agreed to come with us when we stopped off at the Kiwi centre in Hokitika.

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos of the kiwi birds (and we did see two of these very strange creatures!) But we could photograph the aquarium, which was a fun bonus

These eels are all 80-100 year old females. The sign on their tank said that this was so that they didn't breed. I had to delicately explain to Floriane what the word 'breed' meant.

Blake got a birthday kiss from a very friendly fish

It was a long hot drive, but eventually we arrived on the outskirts of Franz Josef, where we stopped to take in some more epic scenery, in particular a spectacularly blue River,

 before dropping Floriane in town and checking in at our hostel.

#NewZealand17 Picton to Westport - Roadtrip Day 1

I had believed I was overcoming my jetlag, until I woke up at 3am on 25th February.

I lay still and quiet in my bed until 7.15, then got up, showered, dressed, woke Blake and headed down to breakfast.

This hostel was even better than the night before, they seemed to be gradually improving day-on-day. Tombstone Backpackers was situated on a hill by Picton cemetery, overlooking the town which was about 30% ferry port. There was a free hot tub, gym equipment and table-tennis and snooker tables. We even had free towel hire so I didn't have to get my own towel wet and put it back in my backpack after my surprisingly decent shower.

Best of all though was the free breakfast of toast and freshly baked hot cheese scones, which were absolutely flawless. Blake and I ate ours out on the terrace. For the fourth day in a row I reflected that life could not be better than it was at this precise moment.

We borrowed the hostel's free bikes to collect our Toyota Allion from down by the port. The lady who ran the rental place was a character. Like many Kiwis, she came across a bit rude, but I realised that this was just the New Zealand sense of humour, and she meant no offense by it. I quite liked her, and she shared her conspiracy theory with us that everyone in Picton was sick because of the chemicals sprayed on the vast quantities of wood that were exported in the port. She specifically warned against the tap water, which I had already drank, so that was cheery.

 The car was an automatic, which made me uneasy at first, but I quickly adapted to (with a little guidance from Blake) as I drove back to collect our bags. At 10am, with Blake driving, me in the back, and Max riding shotgun, we departed Picton for Abel Tasman national park. Within minutes we stopped to take in the awesome view of Picton and the bay, and this would be a regular occurrence in this journey!

As the person who not only had the big camera, but also the only smartphone which took decent photos, I was designated photographer. We pulled over in a number of places, for photos such as these:

And after a few hours crosses a river which the car hire lady had described to us, which apparently featured in The Hobbit movie. It was extremely beautiful, so we pulled over to take a walk along it, and then we saw people swimming in it, and on impulse changed into our swim gear, grabbed our towels from the car, and jumped in!

After our refreshing swim we spotted a couple of hitchhikers and stopped to pick them up, but sadly we didn't have enough room , so they got in another car which had also pulled over.

We continued on for many miles of stunning scenery until eventually we arrived at Nelson. We bought lunch at a supermarket and ate it in the carpark. I looked at the map and decided we didn't have enough time to visit Abel Tasman national park. One for next time! We continued to Richmond where we stocked up on dinners at the Pack'n'Save (a bit like Costco) and I took over from Blake to drive us South-west on route 6 towards Westport.

It was evening by the time we arrived at Westport. The sun was setting over the pink flamingos in the garden as we cracked open the beer and cider we had bought at Pack'n'Save, beginning what was to be a heavy night of drinking. 

#NewZealamd17 Wellington and the Interislander

I was relieved to wake at the surprisingly reasonable time of 6 o'clock on Friday. After contemplating sleep in my bed for a few minutes, I decided to get up and catch dawn breaking over Wellington harbour, which fortuitously faces East.

Unfortunately for Blake, what I thought was quiet rustling was actually loud enough to wake him, so I told him that I was going out, and he volunteered to come with.

Unfortunately all my photos were taken on my camera, so until I can access a laptop, you will just have to take my word for it that they were fantastic, and the sunrise was a privilege to witness.

There was an awkward moment when a well-intentioned jogger stopped as she passed us and offered to take a photo. "Do you want one looking into the sunset or posing together or kissing?" She asked. "Not kissing!" I yelped. She took a couple of photos of us standing together but I think we're silhouettes. I thanked her and she continued on her way.

There were lots of people out at 7am on a Friday morning. Towers were training on machines outside the boating club. A man glided idilically across the golden water on a paddle board. Three groups of men and women skulled a narrow canoe back and forth beneath the pale sky. I took a LOT of pictures.

After sunrise we bought breakfast and lunch from a supermarket opposite the hostel, packed our bags and checked out. We had a minor drama with the lockers as after putting all of our bags in, the locker refused to either take our money, or give our bags back. Luckily though one of the reception staff agreed to release our bags for free on our return, so we headed out into the hot sunshine of the world's southernmost capital city.

Our first destination was Wellington's famed Te Papa - the national museum of New Zealand. However it was closed until 10, so at 9.40 we headed to the botanical gardens on the other side of town instead. En route we bumped into Max by chance, so the three of us walked up to the cable car.

I made a Google maps whoopsie, and accidentally directed us to the far end of the cable car (funicular railway to the Brits among us) which meant a lot of steps like the set above, but on the plus side, we saved money!

The view at the top was so spectacular we had to use the cafe just so we could enjoy the view. I had a slice of carrot cake big enough to feed a family of four, and bought Blake an iced coffee, as we sunbathed and tried to absorb that I was really here.

We took a stroll around the botanical gardens and I amazingly used my orienteering skills to take us back to the centre of town (along an active earthquake fault line) and on to Te Papa. We saw an aeroplane display overhead, and the sun shone so brightly, I almost felt like I was on a traditional sunshine holiday.

Te Papa, when we got in, did live up to the hype. We visited an exhibition on earthquakes, complete with a shakey house earthquake simulator, animations explaining the earth's composition, and trigger warnings for survivors of the Canterbury and Christchurch quakes. We also heard the Maori creation story, saw hundreds of stuffed native New Zealand animals (including a Kiwi bird!) And a giant squid, apparently the only one on exhibition in the world, which really freaked me out.

All too soon it was time to leave. We collected our bags from the hostel, walked to the train station, and picked up the free shuttle to the inter-islander ferry.

The views from the boat were great, and we played around a lot with Titanic poses and the like, before eventually arriving in Picton, and New Zealand's south island, where our adventure would become a road trip.

#NewZealand17 The Long Train South

I awoke at 3am, jetlag up to my eyeballs. Outside the dorm next door, a woman lay unconscious dressed for a night out. I politely refrained from taking a photo but in hindsight regretted not helping her to bed.

I tried to get back to sleep but the bed was just too uncomfortable. The mattress felt like sleeping on a nest of cables.

Eventually 6am came and I woke up Blake. We soon departed for the station, as the sun slowly rose over the city, casting the skyscrapers and tall palm trees into silhouettes.

A helpful kiwi couple showed us the way there and we stowed our large bags and took our seats, buzzing with anticipation.

The journey started slowly, Auckland's suburbs are pretty but not awe inspiring, and there was the usual pattern of ugly industrial units around the train line.

However, after our first couple of hours, we stopped photographing mountains on the distant horizon, as our train plunged through some of the most amazing scenery I have ever seen.we were provided with headphones for an optional audio-guide on which gave commentary on any sites of particular interest, geographically or historically.

Please excuse the window reflection, because it was only at this point that we discovered the open viewing coach - where the windows had been removed so that you could hear and smell the countryside around you, feel the stinging wind on your face, and most importantly, take photos without any reflection!

The twelve hours we spent on that train were very long, but it was absolutely spectacular, and we both agreed it had been an amazing experience.

Blake and I almost immediately took a liking to Wellington, New Zealand's capital city. We checked in at the YHA, an altogether far nicer (and cheaper!) hostel than the previous night, and walked around the corner onto Wellington's main Street for some late night pizza at a place recommended by TripAdvisor, where we were joined by Blake's friend and travel companion from his adventures down Australia's east coast, Max.

After pizza, the three of us went to a bar for a pint, or in my case, a delicious sugary raspberry cocktail that came in a martini glass, before crashing out in bed around 11.30.

#NewZealand17 Auckland Part 1

Auckland and the surrounding area looked disappointingly like the UK I decided as my plane finally touched down on the runway. My 24 hours flight had been made bearable by paid for WiFi on the last leg, but Blake, my travel companion, was not replying to my message regarding airport collection.

My new friend in the window seat, Simon the Italian, offered me a lift "my friend's collecting me from the airport in his lunch break, we can drop you in town" I agreed. I could always change my mind if Blake was in arrivals.

An hour and a half later, after bio-security vetting and a surprising amount of hassle collecting my portable WiFi device, he wasn't. I got in Simon's housemate's old car and tried not to inhale their cigarette smoke as I gathered small insights into their life of 100% alcohol drinks, enormous houseparties and surfing.

 Simon's friend got out at his workplace and Simon dropped me at the hostel. There I met Blake, and after a big hug we walked into Auckland city for a drink.
I bought a delicious icecream pot from a place called Joy, which had two life-size model cows outside which you could milk into a pail. Here's Blake doing just that:

It was overcast but we walked along the marina and got a coffee before visiting Auckland Maritime museum. At the museum we saw lots of interesting boats and models of boats, most of which sadly ended in tragedy, having sunk either in wartime or due to falling foul of New Zealand's infamously treacherous West coast.

The museum also had an extensive exhibition on Peter Blake, a New Zealand yachtsman who won the round-the-world race the year I was born. 

The sun was shining brightly in Auckland harbour by the time we came out. It was hot and beautiful, and I remarked not for the last time this trip, that life didn't get any better than this.

After the museum, Blake and I stopped in an authentic Japanese restaurant for lunch, bringing back fond memories as I slurped my tofu ramen with chopsticks, and then we returned to the hostel, a nasty shabby place called Station Backpackers, where I took a two hour nap to keep my eyes looking in the same direction.

At 6.30 we walked back down towards the Marina, where we met Nic, an old schoolfriend,and her fiancé. We spent a pleasant few hours discussing mutual friends, and cultural differences between home and New Zealand, before tiredness forced us to our respective beds, via a supermarket dash to prepare for tomorrow's epic train journey.