south island

Previously I had a two week break, where I traveled to the South Island of New Zealand. I flew from Auckland to Christchurch with two friends, Lara and Mark, where we preceded to rent a car and go on a two week road trip throughout the island. There is far to much to say, so I am going to give a cursory overview of what I did.

We arrived late Monday night, where all we did was sleep. A thrilling start

On Tuesday we picked up our car and drove to a town called Kaikora. Kaikora is known for its seal colony. Before we even got to the seal colony, we went for a short walk after a quick lunch, and literally ran into a seal. It was so close, and so cute. I have about 30 pictures of it, but will not make you look at all of them. We then went to see the seal colony, which most of them were too far to see very clearly. We then hopped back in the car and drove to the town Nelson. Nelson is a cool hippie town, where we spent the night at a hostel that was more like a village than a hotel. We went to a local bar that only served the local brew. There were a few beers that were absolutely amazing, and we took two bottles to go.

On Wednesday we woke up early and headed off to Abel Tasman National Park. We joined a kayak tour, where we loaded our kayaks into a boat, and our boat onto a trailer. The Trailer drove us in the low tide area until it was deep enough for the boat, which then took us far up the coast. On the way there we stopped by another seal colony, where we saw baby pups learning how to swim. The cutest thing I have ever seen. We then started out kayak trip, 5 people, 1 guide, 3 2 person kayaks. We became great friends with the old British couple in our group, Leslie and Malcom. We were later joined by a group of three Israelis. The kayak trip was gorgeous, relaxing, and fun. It rained only at the end of the trip. We spent the night on a house boat, which was a lot of fun to dive off of. We had a BBQ on the boat, and I am proud to say I ate as much as I could when it was all inclusive, aka 6 sausages, 3 steaks, and lots of sides. We spent the night getting to know our kayak buddies, which was interesting in itself.

Thursday: The day started off with a hike in the rain. We hiked with our friends Leslie and Malcom. We also ran into a small group from BU, which was unexpected and hysterical. Mark and I decided to do this hike barefoot, to give it an extra challenge. I thought the hike and the park were gorgeous, but the kayak experience was much better. At the end of the hike we drove to another brewery, where me tried their excellent mussels and beer. A really great place. We skipped dinner and drove straight to Nelson Lakes where were camped for the night.

Friday: We went on a five hour hike in Nelson Lakes. We were told by our kayak guide that this national park was below average, so our expectations were extremely low. In fact, it was GORGOUS, and I think very underrated and much better than able Tasman park. It was a gorgeous blue lake that was surrounded by mountains. After our hike we went on a long and scenic drive through mountains to the coastal town of Punakaiki. Punakaiki is known for its “pancake rocks” which are rock formations that look like pancake stacks. We raced time in order to make it there to see the sun set over the rocks. It was the best sunset of my life.

Saturday: this was relaxing day, were we did a short hike to Truman beach, which had amazing rock formations. We spent the rest of the day at amazing beaches, then at night headed to a small town called greymouth. We rented bikes and biked to the lighthouse and watched the sunset. There we made a friend from Latvia and due to sporcle we were able to trick him into believing we were intelligent Americans because I knew all the border countries of Latvia. We tried to go out that night, since greymouth was one of the bigger towns on the west coast. There was no one on the streets at 11pm on a Saturday night. We went to the recommended bar (which was the only bar) that had a sign out “open from 3 pm to late”. There was no one there, so we just ordered tea. While we were drinking our tea the cook came out to join us, and he was a genuine Tibetan monk. Such a bizarre experience.

Sunday: We drove to the town called Hokitika, which is famous for the new Zealand jade. Only the Maori are allowed to sell the jade. We went to a really cool gorge and lake then drove to our beach campsite. There were built a bonfire on the beach and had dinner and banana boasts (banana with chocolate in side wrapped in foil).

Monday: This day was amazing. We went on a full day guided hike on a glacier. The pictures explain it all. Afterwards we drove to Queenstown.

Tuesday: Spent a relaxing day at Queenstown, and ate the world famous Fer Burger. Delicious.

Wednesday: We started our two day hike of the Routeburn. The Routeburn is a 32 km hike that is suppose to take 3 days. We did it in 24 hours. We hiked most of it the first day, and then woke up really early the second day and made the 10:30 bus. It was gorgeous, and amazing, but it rained the WHOLE time. By the end of the first day we were freezing, everything in our packs was wet, including our clothes and sleeping bags. We begged the warden to let us sleep in the lodge instead of tour tent, but there was only room for one bed, so Lara and I shared it. That hike had its amazing moments that felt like you were in a piece of heaven, and then right next to the most basic earthly worry of being cold wet and hungry. Overall a good time though.

Thursday: we just finished the hike, got a bus back to our car, and then drove to Milford sound where we sent the night in the lodge. Oh, and we ate at fer Burger.

Friday: we woke up early and went on a kayak trip in the Milford sound. It is actually a fjord, not a sound. The best day in New Zealand so far. Rainbows, sun, calm waters, and a slight breeze made for perfect weather (which we needed after the Routeburn). We took a boat 2/3s up the fjord, and then kayaked back. As soon as we were in the water we were surrounded by dolphins. We kayaked into a waterfall. The cliffs rising out of the water were stunning. There is actually the highest sea cliff in the Milford Sound. That night we drove to the town of Twizel, but on the way stopped at Queenstown and ate at Fer burger.

Saturday: We saw and hiked near Mount Cook, which is the tallest mountain in New Zealand. We went to lake Tekapo and hiked and sun bathed. Finally we drove back to Christchurch where we had dinner, and spent the night in the air port because we had a 6:00am plane ride on Sunday.

An amazing trip. Ps. the pictures are in reverse chronological order, sorry.