I’m back in Picton Wellington after a teaser tour of the South Island. I hopped on the ferry and headed north earlier today; Sarah and I will be headed back to the kiwi island Wednesday.
Though the journey by ferry to Picton was shrouded in rain and fog, the skies opened up for the end of my stay there. I stayed at the super cozy Sequoia Lodge, which provides chocolate pudding (a NZ favorite and not the boxed kind) every night. After meeting some people from around the world (Germany, Latvia, and Portugal) and coming to really like Picton, I knew I had to go before I got “stuck” there. I decided renting a car was my best choice for my mini tour, as I didn’t really have a plan. Hitching or taking buses would have been fun, but my photo opps would have been quite limited.
I headed to Nelson via the scenic drive since the weather was nice. The curvy roads throughout the Sounds area are fun to drive, if not a little nerve-wracking when a crazy kiwi driver comes around the corner. After a night of relaxing at my new hostel (with an OSU Buckeye… we shared some words about our mutual dislike of Wolverines), I visited Cable Bay, which is the site of NZ’s first overseas cable link in 1876. The hike involved steep walking on a farmer’s property. The cows and sheep made for shy company, but what can you do? After finishing up there, I drove out to Abel Tasman NP to walk the end of that Great Walk (which I will be doing later). Geez was it hard to turn around and go back to the car! While I was in Nelson, I also visited the “geographical centre of NZ.”
From Nelson I headed to Westport, which was not the plan. I was quite low on gas at the junction for Reefton (left) or Westport (right). I was so low that I stopped to ask some locals which way I should go for gas. (*Note: mapbooks make all towns on the South Island seem large enough to have gas. Not true!) I was sent to Reefton and made it to fill up, but my plan to head to Punakaiki (famous Pancake Rocks) for sunset was blown. Westport became my evening destination. As I approached it, I pulled into a driveway to look at my hostel options. I turned off the car and soon discovered that was a bad idea as it wouldn’t restart. Luckily a woman pulled in and said she’d send her husband down to try to jump the car. Praise God, it worked! He sent me off to a hostel with a word to not turn off the car until I arrived.
Westport proved to be a pretty boring, flat, industrial town. A Kiwi Experience party bus was staying at my hostel, which meant a lot of people were drinking a bit. I just stayed out of the way and left before most of them were up the next morning. Surprisingly the car did start, but I knew I should head to a mechanic. I figured out which place in town used my rental company’s insurance and ended up getting the battery replaced at no cost to me. On to Punakaiki!
The drive along the west coast is quite rugged. I wish it hadn’t been raining, but there’s nothing to be done about it, I guess. I got there and found on/off rain and high enough tide to see the blowholes in action! Pretty awesome.
The weather wasn’t ideal, and the Kiwi Experience bus showed up, so I headed to the Truman Track just north of Punakaiki. I’d been told at an i-Site, one of NZ’s super helpful visitor centers, that it was rated one of NZ’s top short walks, and I did love it. I walked through a couple plant communities and down to the beach, which I had all to myself for awhile. Soon a Swiss came along and provided me with this lovely photo! I was there!
From Pancake Rocks I headed to Greymouth, where I picked my hostel based on the presence of a golden retriever. 🙂 I spent the evening talking to a very friendly couple from Ireland since the tours of Monteith’s Brewing Company were all full that night. (insert dad’s laughter and mom’s eye roll)
I could have done some things in town the next morning, but I had blue skies and Arthur’s Pass to drive over. I’d been told that’s one of the prettiest drives in NZ, and I was told I should get out of town to take my time on the drive. That’s my kind of advice!
Arthur’s Pass connects the Greymouth area to the Christchurch area and heads through the Southern Alps. I could have pulled off for sooo many hikes. I headed down the Otira Gorge trail before making myself turn around. Once again, it was painful.
Part of the fun of this road trip was being my own navigator. Since it’s Father’s Day-ish right now, I’d like to thank Bubs for being such a traveler, map lover, and navigator! I probably would not be in NZ right now without seeing that and enjoying it while growing up. (Yes, mom, you’re a traveler, but you can’t deny that Bubs is the map fan!) I’ve enjoyed having a mapbook to look at as I drive and taking on the challenge of navigating to my hostels – especially in Christchurch.
Ahh yes, Christchurch. Even though 2 quakes hit it this past Monday and made the situation even worse, I was very curious to see what the city looked like. I had heard mixed reviews from fellow travelers in hostels. Some said it was a disaster not worth visiting while others said that there were places to visit. I had a tight trip and only spent about 24 hours in Christchurch (Thurs-Fri), so I decided to just devote my stay to seeing the damage. (what a set up for depression)
I was woken up by a 4.4 quake just after 6:15 and then stayed awake because it really worried the Chinese woman in my room, and I could tell she wanted to talk. 4.4 was nothing compared to Monday’s 5.8 and 6.3, according to a pastor in the one undamaged church I saw.
I hadn’t realized that the CBD (central business district/downtown) was completely cut off from access. When I looked through fences into what used to be the heart of the city, it really broke my heart. I never had the chance to see what a beautiful city Christchurch had been, and I know it will never be the same. Monday’s quakes broke the famous rose window from the Catholic Cathedral, and it also cracked the spire basically beyond repair. Where before there had been talk of restoration, it sounds like it’s virtually hopeless now. I saw the “other cathedral” that’s less famous, and it’s not in good shape either. I talked to some civil engineers (?)/construction people and learned that lots of buildings have to be torn down. I wasn’t the only person toting cameras around the border of the destruction, and we all felt the somber atmosphere. I got more depressed from a day in Christchurch than I did in 4 years of winter darkness of Fairbanks. I wish I could just go back to Christchurch to help out somehow.
That’s probably enough sadness for one post. I was really surprised at how much seeing the rubble affected me. Anyway, I headed north from Christchurch on Friday evening. South is the direction I wanted to go, but I had to get back to Picton for Sunday. Kaikoura was my next stop, and it’s a place known for wildlife!
I stayed at the Dusky Lodge, as that had been recommended to me earlier in my trip. It had a sauna, hot tub, and pool, which made it feel more like a hotel than a hostel. I decided to check out the hot tub and found nobody using it! It was mine. I figured the sauna would be a fake like most of those in US hotels, but I checked it out and found that – to my delight – it was a real sauna in which I was supposed to pour water on the rocks!!!!! I was sooo happy and settled down to read The Hobbit in my own sauna. The only things missing were family and Lake Superior just out the door for a nice dip. 🙂
It was fantastic until management decided to close the area 15 minutes early and locked me in the pool, hot tub, and sauna enclosure. They didn’t check to see if anyone was in there! I tried to catch whoever it was before they went back inside, but I was unsuccessful. Luckily there was a party going on at a house next door and I was able to call out to someone who was leaving the party. She happened to have worked at the hostel before and said that one side of the fence was lower and could be jumped to get out. Since she couldn’t find any manager, I ended up having to jump off a nail-studded fence onto a chair to get out of the enclosure. Always more adventures to be had!
I spent the next day in Kaikoura exploring the area near the seal colony. At first I was slightly disappointed in the number of seals. Seeing St. George kind of spoiled me when it comes to seals. (I can only imagine what St. Paul is like!) Luckily there were more around the corner outside the region of the parking lot. I hiked north up the Kaikoura Peninsula and got some sweet views of the coast. I also finally met some Michiganders! One of them works in the Penguinarium at the Detroit Zoo! I just met them by chance as I asked one of them to take a picture for me and detected the American accent. We ended up hiking back to the parking lot and then eating lunch together, which is always nice to do when you’re a solo traveler.
All too soon I had to leave Kaikoura to drive north to Blenheim for the night. I almost missed out on seeing a neat sight of baby seals playing in water at the base of a waterfall. I’d heard about this from many sources and caught it at very poor light = no good photos. 🙁 I can’t really share it, but just picture baby seals doing flips and playing in the rocks. It was awesome! Unfortunately some people were testing the limits with how close they could get to the seals. I should have told them that Northern fur seal pups like to bite and that NZ fur seal pups are probably pretty similar!
Blenheim (main town in wine country) was full of rain when I pulled in at night and the next morning. I visited a couple stores and the farmer’s market in town before driving the final 30 minutes to return the rental car in Picton. I didn’t enjoy giving my wheels back! From there I returned to my homey Sequoia Lodge and filled the manager + 2 German guys in on my trip. Being back in Picton was great. It feels like a sleepy town, but it’s very important as the southern terminus for the N-S Island ferries. Considering the number of people who pass through there, it doesn’t try to boast about itself the way many touristy towns do. I really liked the relaxed pace of life there. (+ there’s a really good Dutch bakkerij!)
Now I’m back in Wellington and headed north to Palmerston North to stay at Sarah’s tomorrow before we head back to work with the kiwis. I know I’ll have fun back on our island – especially because I won’t be spending money – but I’m already contemplating where to go for my next break!