Here we are, in Christchurch airport waiting to board. I am now on the iPhone. Looks like we get 15 min of free wifi here.
We woke up again in the jail backpackers and this time we had proper breakfast: the sausages that we still had and the beans ;)
We finished the bread and the orange juice and we checked out. We left everything in the car and walled downtown. Again we did not use the car a lot today. We visited the botanic gardens, walked around the park and then around 2.30 we had lunch in a sort of fast food japanesse. Very nice sushi. After that we went back to the jail where the car was parked. We cleaned it up (just the mess inside) and we put the gps to guide us to jucy, where we left it. It was a sad moment. All these Km together. Finally 6.989 Km. Woooow.
No problems at all with jucy. All smooth. They even reinboursed us the 5 dollars that we paid extra to have a clean car and the car was dirty…
They drove us to the airport and here we are. We take the flight to Auckland and then 12 hours to Hong Kong.

  We woke up this morning in our cell in the jail guesthouse and after having breakfast we decided to spend the day in Christchurch, so the car would rest for a day ;-)  The original plans were to drive to Hanmer Springs, a thermal village where nuria wanted to go to soak in hot waters and she also hinted that she would have a massage, of course, that and Japanese restaurants are something that you can be sure will always bring a big smile in her face.

We walked following the Lonely Planet walking tour (more or less, as somehow the interpretation of the map was mistaken 50% of the time) starting by the end, following the river. We started at Cathedral square which is the place to meet friends and where all the meollo is. We failed to visit the Cathedral as they were in mess and I think is disrespectful to go on admiring the architecture when the priest is giving his sermon. Very nice walk and very nice weather. When the sun is not shining it gets a bit cold otherwise is fine. We visited the Arts Centre complex which was actually part of the Canterbury College and later University. For the art aficionados it is Gothic Revival. You could enter old classrooms and the faculties which are full now with art studios and craft outlets, restaurants, nice cafes ( we had a tea and a coffee and met a group of Spanish ladies who were on a 22 day tour). Nuria went on her own to visit the Rutherford’s Den exhibit that celebrates the life and work of this kiwi who first split the atom in 1917. At 13 hours nuria felt suddenly terribly hungry and then the search for a suitable restaurant started. Given her high standards, we spent nearly one hour going around, and as most restaurants kitchens close at 14.30, the pressure kept on mounting. She thankfully found an Indian that satisfied some of her criteria and looked actually more like a very fashionable bar than an Indian. Our conclusion is that the previous business went bust and the Indians bought it and added a small kitchen in the back. We postponed the Botanical Gardens visit for tomorrow as I did not quite feel like reading the 10000 different varieties of plants and trees they have, and this is the intention of my other half.

In the afternoon, we felt like walking with a stone in our stomachs, we explored the interesting shops, bars, boutiques, design stores and galleries in High Street area. Some of the stuff is very very nice, and nuria would have bought many of those having it not been for the fact that we have some 24 hours air flight before arriving back home.

It has been a quiet day, just walking, having a couple of coffees here and there and walking again.

Tomorrow is our last day, and we will probably do the same, but this time in the botanical gardens area. At 5 we will have to give the car back to jucy near the airport and then wait for our flight to Auckland and then to Hong Kong. We have already booked our guesthouse for the 3 nights, after some 10 failed telephone connections to another one, so second option is good for us also. We might meet with Beth and Paul who are going to be there, on business trip. What a coincidence!!

After a long sleep for the driver (near 11 hours) in the Queen bedroom we went straight to the kitchen to fry our beef sausages for breakfast. We escaped a fine, as in NZ you have to park your vehicle in the sense of the traffic, and we always have parked where we saw a spot, so we have been quite lucky apparently not to get a fine, according to the owner of the backpackers. We had decided to spend the day in the Peninsula, inspecting every single little bay marked in the map. The windy roads took us to several beautiful bays, and the most amazing thing is that there was none in any of them, no tourists, no locals, well in Diamond Harbour, at the Jetty there was a woman walking her dog. Otherwise you visit these tiny villages where locals are gardening or are sat outside in their yard talking and watching birds fly around. In one of these communities, I got all excited at what I thought was an extraordinary encounter with a kea, the indigenous parrot. I made dani stop suddenly ( but at the fast speed of 20km/h, our teeth did not risk biting the windscreen), caught his camera and run outside to catch the famous bird which also run away. I took at least 5 photos of the poor animal, all equally bad, only to realize when I read the description of the kea, that this one was more a chicken style animal… We continued up and down the hills around the peninsula to get to a point with another road sign which read “film crew”. As we did not think that it was a movie, we were wondering how we could relate seal with film in terms of road work. The lady with the stop sign came to tell us it won’t be long and that we should drive slowly by the car they were filming. And yes, the new Porsche Cayenne Turbo without a dusk particle was shining 200 meters away with the front plate German and the back one NZ. So we were in the primacy of the ad shooting!! The car is beautiful, so if you are not concerned with the environment, your parking place, the amount of petrol it consumes and maybe the price, buy it and let me drive it!

We went to the next Bay, and suddenly the road converted itself in a a gravel one and half the size of the previous one. Fortunately for us, we only crossed with one other car coming in the opposite sense, so we have to go backwards for a while and then get the closest to the rock ( they had to get closest to the cliff). In Diamond Harbour we stopped for a tea break at a fabulous place with views to Littleton at the other side of the Peninsula. We could breath serenity and calm here. We stopped again at Littleton which is the Commercial port of Christchurch and apart from London Street, nothing really interesting, so we decided to continue to stop some 5 km further in Sumnet for the 30th time in the day. Another short walk and back in the car to the liveliest town in the South Island. We had booked our last two nights in NZ in Jailhouse, which was a jail some 50 years or so ago. But the backpackers did not appear in the GPS, so dani armed himself with patience to follow the copilot instructions and reading of the map…

We got there and with no mistakes! I am very proud of my orientation, though it was proven later on that it was a question of chance. We left our things and went to the car to drive back to the city centre, as the pleasant 30 min walk, was probably more of a pleasure with sun. We walked around to have a sense of the city, me starving, and dani fine. So we could not quite agree on the restaurant we were going to visit. I am always fixed with Japanese, and dani wanted steak. So in the end, Thai won and we both ordered Satay (chicken for me and beef for dani). Ummmmm, delicious!! Now we are in our cell, reading and writing with 2 duvets on, as it is terribly cold in this country as soon as the sun goes down. It is definitely a place worth staying, it looks like a real old jail, same style as the Rock in SFO.

We woke up in the “Tailor Made Tekapu Backpackers”, had breakfast and put our backpacks in the car, that this time was completely frosted in ice. Tekapo is at 760m of high and is probably the coldest place in NZ. The idea was to go up Mount John where on top there is an observatory and apparently a very nice 360 degree view bar called Astro Cafe. The walk up should take about 3 hours. What happened then? We did not ask and we ended up on top of the Mount John with the car… dammed. We wanted to walk and we were already up in the peak with the car! and it was early so the 360 degree bar was close, sure. Anyway, the views were amazing! From there you could see Tekapu lake and city, and even Mount Cook. Very very nice.

We went down and we refilled the tank, we took a couple of photos of the little historic church that has incredible views over the lake and the monument to the collie dog without which the grazing of this area would not have been possible. We started our way to Akaroa in the amazing Banks Peninsula, and is known as the Riviera of Canterbury due to its sunny and tranquil days. This peninsula is literally a volcano. If you see the map where we are now, in Akaroa was part of the crater some 6 million years ago.

To come here we drove through part of a tourist route, and at the end the highway 1, that has nothing of high way. Is like a Spanish “comarcal” with two lanes, one on each way so like every other road. What makes it a highway is that you have passing lanes in a while.

After a 1000 curves (Nuria was already feeling seek of my Fitipaldi driving) we arrived to Akaroa, a lovely little town in a bay. We landed in a backpackers called Chez la Mer, that is run by a couple of New Yorkers that came here long time ago in a sabbatical 2 year trip (after selling their house and quitting their jobs), so few years latter they bough this place. There were not regular doubles this time so we have the “queen” room, with toilet!! wow!

After leaving all our stuff in the room we went out for a walk. This town is lovely. Quiet, relaxed…. very nice. Then around sunset time, we came back to have our rigorous glass of wine with peanuts and this time olives. That is a constant in our trip ;-)

After a cold night at Omahau Downs (but with heating in our room ;-) ) in Twitzel we had breakfast and left direction to Mount Cook, around 50 Km of where we where. The earlier evening in the living room we had to light fire. It can get pretty cold here in this area, even if now is the end of summer.

The drive towards Mount Cook is just amazing. We follow a pretty flat land with the mountains at the end. Beautiful. Closer to the town you go by a huge lake and finally Mount Cook town. The mountains there are all with snow, and it is not that high in altitude. We went to the Information centre to see which walks were better for such a beautiful day like the one we had today, with not even a cloud in the sky. The one they recommended was the Hooker valley, where you have a view over the the valley, mount Cook and the lakes that the glacier has when it melts.

We drove to the parking and started our walk. It was a 3 hours walk and we took it easy. We crossed two hanging bridges and at the end we reached the lake, with pieces of ice floating around. Beautiful. A bit chili there, but very nice. We had lunch and then we had a siesta. After that we went back to the parking. I have recorded this path in the gps.

Because is was still early we decided to make another walk. This time to the Tasman Lake, also with many big blocks of ice floating. In fact there were 3 walks there and we made them all. This was the l onger glacier in New Zealand with 29 km that is flat at the end, so instead of melting like the rest of the glaciers it melts from the top. Then back to the car and we headed to Tekapu where we are now at the Tailor Made Tekapu Backpackers. It is a backpackers place too.

After getting here we went to the tekapu lake, which is superblue, and had dinner (salmon) at “the” local restaurant (315 inhabitants…).

By the way, I have edited the post of Nuria’s skydive (embrace the fear) of the 15th of May and I have uploaded a video ;-)
Mont Cook Glaciar in New Zealand GPS Garmin Oregon 300

EveryTrail - 

Saturday morning, raining like hell, good thing we went yesterday to the lovely Otago peninsula. It stopped for 2 minutes just to give us the time to load the car, and continue the road trip. Direction the Mackenzie country, NZ’s treasured highland. On our way, the weather started clearing up and timid sun shone. We stopped in Moeraki to go to the beach and the weird boulders formations, there were no panels by the public car park, so I do not know why and how they formed, but they are something special. Our next stop was Oamaru, the city dedicated to the penguins. We did not see them in the Otago Peninsula, or the West Coast, so I counted very much with this city with historical buildings and concentrated on the small mammals to see them. Well, for your information, penguins do not go ashore but after dusk, so too late for us. We visited all the buildings in the area, bought a nice tomatoes and olives bread, another panetone-style cake (the Italian version is much better) and two spirals al pesto for the visit. We went into the communal local radio where they showcased an astonishing collection of all radios and music gramophones and we also visited a place in the old town where they do whisky. Our plan for the day was to reach Mount Cook and sleep there, but there is a similar problem as in GVA anytime, too few offer for too much demand, so when I phoned, the “sorry, we are fully booked” sounded familiar and we decided that we were not going to pay 300 USD for the only other nice hotel probably available. So we booked at Twizel in the B&B, cottages, doubles, backpackers and all other possible segments of tourists. On our way here we were amazed by the views: mountains on the right, on the left, the Alps in front of us, and in between all these, nothing, just a road and a few cars, no houses or tiny villages all over the place. Such a fantastic landscape and noone. It is so amazing to be really in the nature with nothing else to disturb the contemplation. We detoured at Lake Ohau, and there you have a beautiful lake and a beach and we are the only humans around. We were there for 30 minutes, throwing stones to the lake and we did not see another soul.  Dani won by far the stone-further-in-the-lake competition. We continued and checked in at Omahau Downs, the place is very nice and our room has good views to the Southern Alps. And then we went to the city center to see what we could do. Ha ha ha. The guide at the information center did not feel like working or talking to a foreigner, so he briefly answered my questions and we left. We walked around for 5 minutes, see the city center and the conclusion was to go back to our nice accommodation and relax.

We have already booked the accommodation for tomorrow night, impressive as we normally do it either on the spot or a few hours before our arrival. We are lucky it is no high season.

We woke up in the house with great views over the ocean (hilltop backpackers) that we had for ourselves. We had breakfast and we took the road in the opposite direction to go to a couple of places that we missed in our way here: two waterfalls (McLean falls and Purakaunui falls) a lake and then we continued to a beach where the sea lions are. There we say a big one! Finally close to kaka point (yes…) Nugget Point, where a famous lighthouse is, with astonishing landscape and a lot of fur seals. Beautiful. All small and playing around.

After that we continued to Otago peninsula and we stopped at Dunedin, a major University city, and we are staying at Elm Backpackers. This is where I am now, writing because I found that they have wifi (yupi!) paid of course, so I am going to post the last 4 days… After leaving our stuff at elm’s we went to the Otago peninsula where we followed a crazy road to the far end, where the albatross and the supposed penguins are (we did not see any though).

Latter one we went back to Dunedin and we walked a bit downtown. Nuria wanted to have dinner at a Japanese so we did, Yuki Izakaya. Very nice. After that, to bed. The day after we have a long way to go to Mont Cook. We have already driven 5300km…. And if you want numbers, yes I have already taken 2334 photos with the nikon ;-)

We overslept today, at 8.15 when the alarm went off, I did not want to get out of bed. I could heard the rain furiously hitting the roof of our nice place. Dani got up complaining about the many bites he had all over his body, saying that he woke up twice cause of the itching. We had again another fantastic English breakfast, we forgot again the beans in the car…

All packed and ready for the Southern Scenic Route, leaving the blue Kepler mountains behind. The quiet road passes alongside farming lands and yes we finally see where all the 40 million sheep are, until now we have mainly seen cows, but Southland and Otago is were they keep them. We passed Invercargill without stopping and after a few incredibly inconsistent turns right and left we entered into the enchanted Catlins. According to the Lonely planet, in a clear, sunny day there is nothing more beautiful than this coast, surrounded by forest green, ocean blues and rugged bays. Unfortunately today was grey, Antarctic windy and raining, so we did not cross many tourists. We stopped at Fortrose to think about our planning for the day and go to the information centre. The village itself has nothing but this bar-restaurant-information place in a beautiful location. We were not hungry but decided to have the seafood chowder, delicious with local ale and local pinot gris, ummmmmmmm. By the time we finished it had stopped raining, so we felt already energized for the myriad of stops and walks ahead. Not much civilization, so no mobile network, so no accommodation yet for the night. We took the coastal road to Waipapa point and the historic lighthouse. We walked to the beach in search of the sea lions, apparently they were either surfing or sunbathing on a different beach. By the way this area could be very appropriately renamed Windland, as the wind blows you away if you are not watching your steps.  We escaped the rain for 1 minute, which could have been soaking wet given the wind. We continued to Slope Point, the most southern point in NZ and the closest we have ever been to Antarctica. We followed the yellow markers for 20 minutes crossing someone’s farmland to reach a sign with the name, and the km away from Ecuador and the ice continent. If winds were strong in the previous spot, they were superman-only-can-fly type in here. Cliff views up and down the coast, dani took the compulsory photo and we were pushed back (by the wind) to the car. Another common feature of this area are the windswept trees which let you no doubt of the direction and intensity of the wind, another photo taken. I am so happy dani has a digital camera!! Back on the road until Curio Bay, which is a curious place where there is a petrified forest. According to the scientists, fossilized trees similar to kauri lie embedded on coastal bedrock. They are remnants of a 180 million year old Jurassic era forest. They were petrified in a period of 2 months due to a mud flood which covered them in silica, I reckon I read. There were also signs here explaining that you could see the yellow-eyed penguin here, how to behave in such case and bla bla bla. Obviously the penguins were playing cards with the sea lions, somewhere else, I think the kiwis (birds) were also with them. We had a few more stops in our way, but as it was 17.45, we decided to go shelter searching instead. In Papatowai we found another fantastic place where we are right now. In a house with 4 bedrooms but only two souls in it, with great ocean and hills views, is called Hilltop. Really nice!! This one beats the one in Te Anau, really beautiful, cosy, and decorated!! It is called hilltop backpackers and apart from the stunning views over the Pacific Ocean is ranked by “the Observer” as one of New Zealand’s top 10 great experiences and wonderful memories. 

Fiordland is sliced by numerous deeply recessed sounds, technically fiords and since 1986 it is one of the 300 World Heritage Areas because of its uniqueness that must be preserved. The famous Milford Track has been described as one of the finest in the world, pity that was fully booked. So we decided that as we could not walk it, we will cruise it, and given the fantastic day we had yesterday, we expected the same for today, against all forecasted predictions. So up again at 7.00 am after a noisy night with a male big deer shouting out loud for a female to love him. And shit, it was raining!! So we started the Milford highway (a NZ highway is basically a sealed road with some 2-10 one lane bridges or unmarked areas of the road enough for a car). As the lonely planet said, the 119 km road is a top road trip for sheer scenic wonder, and I think that by now we have gone through definitely all the “one of the beast road trips in NZ”. But I confess that this one is for me, so far the best one. The trip takes 2 hours, but given my tendency to stop everywhere with a tourist sign post and something to read, and dani’s tendency to stop everywhere he could take a good photo, it took us more than 3 hours and this sprinting in all the spots to visit, overtaking slow Japanese tourist on the left, upssssss! We stop at Mirror lakes and could not quite understand what was the beauty about it, but it was raining heavily, as on the way back we stopped ans admired the reflection of the mountains in the lake. We continued our way stopping here and there to read the signs and take more photographs, so far 2000 until we reached the Divide, the lowest pass in the southern alps. And there we should thank the rain, as wherever you look, we could only see waterfalls, one bigger than the following one, all different, all special, all amazing. I had read that it rains 7 meters ( not cm or mm) per year, or approx 180 day a year. But that makes water cascade everywhere and the small streams become raging torrents. It was so beautiful, and so wet, I think my trousers got completely wet and then dried ( thanks North Face for the techno-fabric) a minimum of 4 times. And just 18 km before Milford, the Homer Tunnel, surrounded by a spectacular high walled, ice-carved amphitheater crowned by a glacier. After the 1200 m long tunnel, the fabulous Cleddau Valley with yet even more waterfalls emerging from every possible place. Afterwards, Pop’s views, with zero visibility thanks to the rain, but we did stop on the way back to see the Routeburn track, the Hollyford river and the divide. The last stop was the Chasm walk, ( a 30 min for tourist or 12 min for sprinters) where the forest cloacked cleddau river plunges through a narrow chasm, crating deep falls and eroded rocks. The noise and the strength of the water beating the rocks was quite scary. And then we arrived at Milford, 10 minutes before the expecting reporting time by the company counter. Before getting out of the car, we bathed ourselves with the repellent roll-on we bought yesterday in the pharmacy ( as I forgot ours in the restaurant in Kinloch and got two bites in my nose and cheek, plus uncountable numbers in my legs and ankles). As soon as we were out, we were welcomed by a thousand sandflies flying around trying to find a spot of our skin without the repellent, and they got dani’s ankles again as he forgot to apply the roll on there. Milford sound is stunning, with dark waters out of which raise rocky cliffs with beech forest. The supernice photos that you might see in the blog is dani exporting them from the nikon…. not the mobile phone… And just in front of the port Mitre Peak which is the highest mountain raising directly from the sea. The cruise is amazing, and I must say that probably is more spectacular with rain, as the waterfalls double in size and number. The whole 90 minutes cruise was heavily raining, getting very wet to film short videos and take photos of the waterfalls. And then as soon as we got back to the wharf, sun shining!! Well we had it all, rain with fantastic waterfalls and sun for the beautiful photos. We had lunch at the only possible place in town, the Blue Duck cafe, the eggplant (anyone, difference with aubergine??) soup and the samosas were quite good. Well, we went back for another 3 hours and a half trip with numerous stops and short nature walks to see rivers, waterfalls , beech forest… We got back to our lodge and cooked a variation of the menu, which is regularly either pasta and salad (lettuce and grape tomatoes) or fantastic NZ beef and salad. We enjoyed very much the curry chicken brochettes, with thick ham and garlic pita bread. The two constants of the dinner equation remain the same to keep it healthy: salad and red NZ wine!

After a succulent English breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon and fantastic beef-tomatoes-something else sausages we started driving back to Queenstown and then to Te anau. I started the routine of phoning 2-3 guesthouses, BBH backpackers to find a place to sleep. Te Anau seemed to be fully booked, so I continued phoning from my list without reading too much the description of the place, just the ranking. The 5th one was available so I booked, and only when I fully read the paragraph did I realize that it was not actually in Te Anau, but 9 km away. Dani’s look could have converted me in stone… We continued the road to enter Fiordland, NZ’s rawest wilderness area. So 15 km before Te Anau I entered the name of the place in the GPS, Barnyard Lodge and the very intelligent machine took us around the quickest, yet again another unsealed road. Dani did not say anything but I bet you he was thinking where the hell I had booked us in, and I was starting to get worried. But then 10 meters before the place a proper road!! We were so excited that we missed the entrance!! And then what a fabulous view in front of us. This is our Saint Patrick’s day gift: a rustic charming spacious log cabin, sitting on a hillside just opposite the Kepler mountains. I could not stop saying how lovely the view was, and our bedroom was at least 30 square meters with a decent bathroom. I have gained another medal! It was only 1pm, so we left our things and went to town, this time by the road, not the gravel path that all GPSs apparently send their brainless owners.

Lakeside,peaceful Te Anau is a beautiful place just to sit around and do very little. We aimed to have lunch, so we walked up the main street looking for nice restaurants that were not Italian style, no mistakes, I love Italian, but I always insist to eat local. We got to the Fat Duck and as it was, against all predictions, an incredibly sunny day, we sat outside. We ordered the fish of the day with a mango salad and white wine, of course. The wine was delicious, and the food imaginative, tasty and big size. Great choice of the guide reader!

At this point we already knew, as we had enquired in Queenstown, that we could not do the Milford Track as it was fully booked until 27 April!! A shame, taking it from the pictures and the commentaries, but given that is fairly easy and the amount of tourist doing it, it must look like Hyde Park at the New York marathon. What else can one do in the place that defines the boundary of two very different countrysides: to the east the flat and pastoral central southland and to the west the rugged forested mountains of Fiordland. Well, the Glowworm caves came to the rescue, so we booked the boat at 20.15. The 200 m long system of  caves is a magical place with sculpted rocks by the water and dioxide carbon with waterfalls, whirlpools and the glittering glowworms. Very nice until you get the explanation and the fast video with the worms in life, well bugs are not really something I like. We got back to our fantastic room at 11.00pm, straight to bed as Wednesday is Milford Sound, and the cruise in the fiord, already booked on Monday.

Today we left Queenstown and we headed to Glenorchy, not very far (around 45 Km) were we are now in a camping site, in a little bungalow. The scenery from Queenstown to Glenorchy is just amazing. Again we had perfect weather. Latter in the afternoon the clouds started to come but the rest of the day, just perfect.

Following the edge of Lake Wakatipu, the road that goes from Queenstown to Glenorchy is ranked as one of the most scenic highways in the world. Once we reached Glenorchy and we left everything in the bungalow we continued to Paradise (yes, the place is called like this). Paradise was a major location for “the lord of the rings”. At the very end of the not paved road there is one of the ends of the Dart Track. We stopped there to have lunch but the Sand Flies just killed us… horrible. We took a couple who was waiting for the bus after 5 day trekking in the dart track and then went direction to Routeburn, where we did a trekking on the lake Sylvain. Amazing forest and nice lake.

After that we went to Kinloch, just in front of Glenorchy and we had a te and a coffee with a home made ginger cake at the Kinloch lodge (actually the only building in the “town”).

Just to mention that the way to Paradise our little Daihatsu Sirion had to cross 4 rivers… yessssss. Now is like a dune. After running all day in non paved roads…

After the tea in Kinloch we returned to Glenorchy where we just had spaghetti for dinner. Now to bed. Tomorrow to Te Anau where we will go to Milford Sound. The weather there is not going to be good, but this is when we can go… we will see.

“I must no fear, fear is killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain” Frank Herbert.

Sunny again!! Yeap, today is the day. Breakfast and off we go to the NZone shop to pay (the visa card did not want to get out of my pocket) and for our briefing. We were quite a bunch of people, only 3 guys and about 15 girls, Girl Power!!

We signed the disclaimer ( if you are injured or killed, you cannot sue the company, and although they do everything to avoid this, shit happens) and watched the sample video. Then another tough decision for my friend visa. Do you want photos or a DVD with a video. Dani had it clear, no thanks, that is fine with the jump. But I was not sure, it would be cool to have the video, but the photos as well. Umm at 179 dollars each it was a little bit expensive, and that has to be added to the 299 that was the jump. Ummm, this is once in a lifetime, so go for the combo, and I will send some cool postcards and post the video for posterity.

After a 30 minutes drive, we arrived to the aerodrome and the girl in charge told us that dani, myself and Cloe ( a small french girl from Bretania) were to jump in approx 30 minutes. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I was so so nervous, jumping up and down, looking around like a paranoid being followed by 1000 penguins, and dani cool, as if that was his normal routine. And then we heard a noise like a whistle and there he comes at 100km/hour, a guy just landed in no time. F_ _ _ , I am going to break my neck!! The girl in charged smiled and said not to worry as those were the cameramen who were enjoying the perfect weather conditions and doing crazy things like that. We were supposed to land much more slower and with our bottom on the grass. And yeap, we saw 3 tandems landing easily like that. After the terrible waiting, she came again to tell us to get prepared. Ahhhhhhh!! Inside the hangar, we got our Skydiving suit, helmet, googles and the arnes. My tandem dive master comes, ” Hi, I am JPO, how are you?” Ji, ji, scared to death, but fine and with a big smile. Cool. Dani’s dive master was not there, and Cloe and I were already all prepared, so we asked the girl and someone came to fix dani’s gear. His dive master arrived last minute, late for his first jump of the day, oupsssssssssss

All ready, we followed Cloe’s divemaster who gave us the 10 second briefing. Ok, you have to do the banana, that is, your legs up and your head backwards looking for the camera man, take your arnes with your hands when you jump and wait until we touch you to release them. That is it? I asked. Yeaaaah. Ok, fine. And off to the tiny tiny plane, taking off from a cow field. The tiny plane had place for 8 guys sitting on the floor and with approx 3 cm of free space around us, like sardines in a tin. 15 minutes of flight with an incredible view, and some instructions from our masters. JPO had jumped 12000 times, and I had to ask him if he had double check the parachute. Not to worry, so far the previous time it worked fine. We started to get prepared, the helmet, the goggles, the gloves. Then he attached us together from 4 different points. Last minute instructions and the red that was red, turned to green. JPO showed me his watch that said 12, so supposed it was the time.Dani was the first to jump and in no time, the door was open and he was hanging out of the plane. I did not have time to say anything, he was out, my cameraman was on the aisle of the plane waiting for my scary face and JPO was pushing me to the door. Ahhhhhhhhh. And there I was, hanging to the void, and off we went. Huge scream of terror, turning up and down, I see the ground, the plane, the mountains, the lake, the plane again, blue…

It is an amazing experience, fear and happiness, purity and empty space, total freedom and adrenaline. JPO touches my shoulder, so I can open my arms. Obviously I forgot to look up for the cameraman, just looking around to the amazing space around me at 200km/h, the scenery is impossible to beat. And then 10 seconds of photos, and video, pulling funny faces and trying to move your arms around, which is extremely difficult. You can feel the air entering directly to your lungs, and you do not know if you should breath through your nose or your mouth, your cheeks moving with the air. After 45 seconds of free fall and without further notice a big tiron (look it up in the dictionary), scream as I though that it was the end of my life until I realized that JPO had opened the parachute. Ufffffffff, that is better. And then slower motion, we started a nice 5 minutes conversation about the mountains: the Remarkables to your right, Mount Aspiring in front of you, no you cannot see from here Mount Cook. Conversation turned to dani, who was just below us, aahh, your boyfriend there, or is it your husband. No just boyfriend but for over 10 years. Ouau, and he has still not proposed? No, we are not interested, we are fine this way. Ok, so do you feel like rollercoasting? Shall I do a few turns? Ok I said, try and see. And he turned to the right, ouuuuuuuuuu, and then to the left, ouuuuuuuuuuuuu. He said, you are brave!! Ha Ha, Shit not I am damned scared I though, but it was fun. So he continued and then he said, now your boyfriend is up there. Ahhhhhh. When approaching the ground you have to put your legs up, so we land easily ok? Yes, you tell me when, right? Sure we still have couple of minutes, enjoy the view. Ok, now we are going to land, that is the cameraman, so just by his side, put your legs up. And apparently they were so up, that he decided not to land on our bottoms, but on our feet, what was cool. Big smile for cameraman, and brilliant fantastic answer to the how was it?

After the brilliant jump and with the tummy completely upside down, we went to have a walk by the lake, it was warm and beautiful. By the pier 19, there is a park and because is Sunday, there were posts with arts and crafts. And two korean girls giving shiatsu massage, yupie!! I go for one, I need it. So 20 minutes of massage listening to live music, pink floid version of the Wall. Fantastic.

Then walk through the Queens gardens and back to the main street. Had lunch in the KFC terrace listening to the pre-San Patricks day from the Irish pub in front. And it was time to collect my photos and DVD. So here you have a couple of them. Before and during. We went to put some more clothes on, take the laptop and go back to the beach where a DJ was mixing chill out music. And that was the perfect sunset and brilliant place to write this post.

  Waking up to a surprisingly sunny and cold morning, we turned inland direction Wanaka alongside the Haast river, climbing up to Haast Pass and the Mount Aspiring National park. We missed the stunning Blue Pools as they were closed, but we could admired the views from the no so distant inaugurated road (opened in 1965). After 2 hours and a half of turns to the right to the left, we entered the Wanaka region, crowned with the colossal Mount Aspiring ( second to Mount Cook). We first encountered the twin lakes of Hawea and Wanaka, surrounded by hills and cliffs, amazingly beautiful. We continued till the village of Wanaka where we parked by the lakefront and walk around the small town. We had lunch with nice views, my salmon was delicious, though tiny for a main, and dani’s sheet-thick beef burger looked good but small, or maybe our stomachs are getting bigger… Saturday was the day of mountain bikes race and a big fair of cattle, agricultural machineries, camper-vans, and other interesting stuff. We wandered around with our ice-creams and big smiles, the sun makes us happier. We continued the 100 km to Queenstown, passing the highest pass in NZ at 1000 something meters, spectacular views and yet another windy road. And we arrived to the South Island’s premier tourist town, with a cinematic background of mountains and lakes, charming. This is the place to come  for whatever adrenaline activity you might think of. The offer is so impressive, you could stay for weeks and not finish it, you must have a platinum card with a big limit. We decided to go for a trekking around the area and drove for some 30 minutes along the road to Diamond Track, and easy trek with Diamond lake views and a lookout of the Lake Wakatipu and mountains. Extremely beautiful as you can see with the picture.

And then, the question: to spend or not to spend ( a huge amount of money). Since I was a kid, I wanted to do something: jump off a place with a parachute. In my dreams I never considered the fear, the cost or the need for a tandem dive master or even two to jump with you so you can count it afterwards. Here the opportunity was perfect, fantastic place, with lake, mountains, sun, what else can you ask. I had told dani that I wanted to do it, but he was not very keen on it, he did once bungy jumping and that was the end of the big shocks. After 100 hundreds “I do not know”, I decided that we had to do it. Dani as excited as with the tango, agreed (two things off my things-to-do-before-I-die list), so I phoned to book the 12000 feet jump for Sunday at 10.30. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

We woke up at 7.00 am for a quick shower and the luxurious full English breakfast without the beans. We literally run to the Fox Guides Company to pay for the half day trot in the glacier and got our numbers to change the boats. Our mountain shoes are not high enough for the experience, so I got at least a number 42, the first time, I asked for something smaller and I was given a 41 with the recommendation to wear two pairs of shocks, mine, plus another one suitable for a 45, as the half that should be tight to your talon, was nearly reaching my knee… We were the luckiest ever for the last month, as today was the first sunny day in one month!!  And with a big smile on our face, off we went for an easy-peacey outing. We were also given the simplest crampons ever, to attach to the 50′s boats, making the perfect match. One hour walk up perfectly done wooden steps (800 0f them) and we were in the glacier, following the guide making ice glace with his axe, so even the least unfit could walk. Actually a lady turned back to the car park as she could not follow us up the perfectly done steps. We liked it very much, but we reckon that we could have easily done it ourselves without paying for the guide. Our friend Pep, would have laughed at us. But here is our contribution to the local industry!!

After the 4 hours walk we went back to Fox Village and we returned to the Matthewson lake, as we thought that given the brilliant day, we might get lucky and be able to take a beautiful picture of the mountains reflecting in the lake. So we sprinted the 40 minutes walk in half the time, and we got to the reflection island just to realize that the wind has destroyed the perfect water mirror, so that was it for the luck of the day.

Back to our car, by the way we rented a Daihatsu Sirion in Auckalnd and dani has been driving it since then for 3500 km, and here the roads are not motorways. Quite a few are unsealed, and the one lane bridge is common. So the plan was to drive all the way to Wanaka, but somehow we got diverted in Haast. The copilot decided that it was worth it to continue through and end route to Jackson Bay where apparently you had the most unforgettable views of the southern alps. That was another extra 45 km off our targeted road and destination. Not happy with this, mid-way this first detour, the copilot decided to add an additional one to see the read hills and the Cascade River Valley, so another 25 km. So in a 90 minutes period we reached two end-of-the-roads. In my view it was worth it, the drive along the river was beautiful, with the impressive Red Hills because of the high magnesium and iron concentrations. We crossed another tourist car that was driving double our speed, and we found them at the end of the road. As the Australian said: This is remote eiiiii!! Indeed I replied.

The isolated fishing hamlet of Jackson Bay was also very remote, nice views of the West coast with the mountains in the far end. Apparently there are colonies of crested penguins near the road, and we definitely saw about 3 signs warning us, but to no avail. They must be still passing the summer in Antarctica.

It was already 6.30 pm, so our plans to sleep in Wanaka were changed. Haast would be a more relaxed and calm place to sleep with no accommodation problems. The first one was fully booked, but the Haast Lodge has a room free!! Yupie!

We woke up this morning with an outstanding breakfast: eggs, bacon and sausages, all this with orange juice coffee and tea. We felt like marquises.

After such a breakfast we had 10 minutes to check out. Normally here check out time is 10am. So we packed everything in our little daihatsu sirion (now we know each other better) and headed towards Franz Josef Glacier. We were hesitating where we should do a walk in the glacier, in the Franz Josef or in the Fox. Both are 30km from each other and strangely enough, they both grow every year!! a bit of a contradiction for glaciers that are at less than 200 meters from the sea level… Finally we decided for the Fox, so we booked a half a day trekking in the Fox for tomorrow morning. We also booked accommodation in Fox Glacier at Ivory Towers backpackers, where we are now. 

We parked in the Franz Josef parking and walked for about one hour. We even tried climbing on a waterfall in order to go closer to the end of the glacier far from the stop signal where you go on your own risk, but we decided to turn around as we will be going tomorrow with a guide. After the walk we did a second walk to the sentinel rock where you have a nice view. After that we took the car in direction to Fox Glacier and we stopped at the Matheson lake that has a dark water that reflects the mountains in an amazing way. The problem, of course, was that it was cloudy so we did not see much. We did a walk around the lake.  We ate in a very nice spot. I even took a beer. After that we went to the parking where there was kind of a shop plus food place where we have a coffee in a nice wood terrace facing the mountains (see photo). From there to where we are now. A nice backpackers in a little town (Fox Glacier) with a couple of bars, where by the way, at 8pm they have a jazz concert of a guy playing guitar. We might go ;-)

Tomorrow 8.30 am to the Fox Glacier.

We overslept, ummmmmm that was nice, warm and with a shower at night and in the morning, so different to the cold hut!! At 9.30 we were driving direction to Kaikourua when I decided to phone just to check if we could advance our booked tour a few hours. Surprise surprise, all day tours had been cancelled because of bad weather, the following day was going to be the same, so U turn to the West Coast. We were just a mere 700 km away from the Franz Joseph glacier, and given the windy roads, that could take the whole day. We said, let’s keep moving and we will see where we get. So back again on the same road but in different directions, leaving behind the wineries with that fantastic Cabernet Sauvignon. We were heading to Westport, on the west coast ( the europeans who named these cities did not have much imagination). On its way we traversed the Buller Gorge, with the impressive Buller river snaking around. Then direction to Punakaiki where the famous Pancakes rocks and Blowholes are our GPS decided to get seriously mad. As Dani drives, it is the copilot who tries to understand the map ( I am not very good with directions) and reads the road signals and follows the GPS. So following the map and my common sense I said to dani,next road to the left, and the GPS said to the right, ummmmmmm!!! Weird!! We continued a little bit, I entered the name of the village twice and tried to see what it said. Again, asking for a u turn and continue for another 200 km for the place that was just 40 km away. We pulled over and dani (the expert) had a look. We were on the correct road, the GPS wanted us to give us a huge detour around, as if we were not driving enough, we have so far driven 3300 km!!

Well finally on the right track we arrived to Punakaiki and went pass the city (the three houses) and directly to the main attraction. A 20 minutes tour take you around the coast to see very closely these rocks, which not even the geologists can determine how they were formed. They look exactly like thick pancakes piled up. The explanation was a little bit complicated to write here but basically over the last 100.000 years they have been formed due to the characteristics of the dolomite rock and the action of the tectonic plates underneath. In any case, they are a beautiful phenomenon to admire. Dani took at least 100 pictures, so I guess that one or two will be really good. After a quick snack at the Wild Cafe there we continued our trip down to, Greymouth, Hokitika and finally the Franz Joseph village. For a while we thought that this time we were going to sleep in the car, as all the places where I phoned were fully booked and when I finally found one with a double the connection failed due to poor network. And for the next 100 km no big villages so no network. I kept on trying and finally Montrose Backpacker answer and I booked.

Trying to connect to the internet, with the 2 free computers that are available I met Raul, from Erandio (Bizkaia) who is also travelling around with Lourdes from Santutxu (Bilbao, Bizkaia). What a coincidence!! THey also have a blog: nosgustapasear/blog and something else I have not retained, but we will check it out in Google.

Tuesday at 7 we where up, but I did not want to get out of my sleeping bag, as it was freezing cold outside. In the end I had to go to the toilet, so I decided to get everything packed and prepared for the next experience. At 9.30 our guide, Cam, arrived with the paddles of the kayaks that were sitting in the beach since the day before. We got our basic instructions on how to advance and steer the kayak, what to do if the kayak tip over, plus the weather warning of wind storm (which is not very good when in the sea) and off we went. Me at the front marking the rhythm and dani in the back trying to follow and steering to the right or left. The first half an hour was fun, a little bit windy and full of energy paddling at full speed, we were always the first kayak, and we often had to wait for the other 3. We stopped at another island with seals and we got really close (because the wind pushes us to the rocks) to them, they are so cute!! Then the sea got quite rough and the waves splashed against me, my part of the kayak was flooded with water and I was sitting in a tiny swimming pool…

At 12.30 we stopped for lunch, some cheese and chicken sandwiches, indescribable roll and a chocolate cake plus chocolate cookies made with beef fat ( disgusting, but very tasty). At that point I have had enough, but we were not even at half way!!! This was the longest kayaking in the Abel Tasman National Park ( we maybe should have read the full description). So we continued, my left arm was already insensible, but my fist were getting the shape of the paddle and it was becoming increasingly difficult to open them , my muscles were all tight!! Dani complained that I had to be more regular with the paddle, but I was in pain, and could not concentrate. We got to another bay and a house that had been sold for the bagatelle of 10 million NZ dollars, the poor guy could only get to his paradisiacal home by boat and he was unlucky enough to have his part of the beach designed motor boats recreational area, so imagine the peace and calm with 50 tourists every day queuing in front of your bedroom.

We crossed the worst mile in the area, in terms of wind conditions and possibilities of getting stamped against the rocks, and we arrived to split apple which is a rock that is split perfectly in two. We heard the Maori version of two worries fighting together with the tamahoe and one accidentally hitting the rock and the geologist version which is that water fissured into the rock splitting it in two. This was our last stop before the final, the last 30 minutes were never ending story part 4, but we finally got closer and raced into the beach, we nearly won, Cam arrived 5 minutes early, not minutes but a while before us.

We took the team picture, wash our feet, change clothes and to the car, as the plan was to sleep in Blenheim so on Wednesday we could get to Kaikourua for the whale watching in the afternoon. We had booked it on Monday for 3.30, but ideally we should arrive by 12.30 pm. We were tired so we got to Renwick, which is in the Marlborough area were all the wineries are. A nice place with a match box size bedroom, but at 9 pm we were in bed, already sleeping.

Glorious Sunday ended nicely in Nelson and we went to bed late for again another early morning. We had one hour and 15 minutes drive up to Kaiteriteri the starting point to our Abel Tasman trekking with kayaking. At 8.30 am we were there in the kayak booth queuing to get instructions on the adventure. We went to the beach where we got our briefing on what to bring and what to pack for the aquataxi to take for us. We only took the camera, cheese, ham, bread, 3 apples, 5 cookies, 3 litters of water and the hut booking confirmation. Off we went for 2 hours of speed boat with stops in tiny cute beaches and bays where some passengers disembarked for their own experiences. Mid way there we stopped in Tonga island where a colony of seals live, mothers and their pups, so beautiful, the seals swimming around us and jumping out of the water like dolphins. It was a sunny day, but in the boat we got frozen with the wind and water splashes. We finally arrived to Totaranui where our trekking started, 17 km of easy coast trekking passing little beaches until we got to Awaroa, where the main pass was. In this part of the world they also have tides, as we do in the Cantabric Sea. The difference is that in the Basque coast, when the tide is low you have a huge beach and when is up you have a 1 m beach, not a major thing. Whereas here with 4 m of difference, the low tide allows you to cross places where you had boats sailing before. We arrived before the low tide so we waited for an hour whilst we had our lunch and then decided to remove the legs of our trousers and cross ( the water reached knee level). The beach had literally mountains of clamp shells, that we are unsure from where came. Quite impressive.

We went then to the Awaroa Lodge for a refreshment and relaxing break listening to Norah Jones. The next tide crossing was at Onetahuti, and we arrived on time, we continued through the Abel Tasman National park till our final destination for the day, Bark bay, where we had our hut. We had our dinner outside, again cheese and ham with bread, and went inside before we could not feel our hands any more. The hut was pretty basic, two rooms with 14 bunk beds each, another room with 2 tables and that is it. Drinking water outside and 3 toilets some 50 meters away, not very convenient for my pipi trip every night… No heating, no light, so at 8 pm dani went to bed and after 4 solitaires with dani’s mobile I went. The room was chilly, as some girls in the upper beds left the windows open, grrrrrrrr Our sleeping bags are suitable for 7 degrees at comfort, and -5 extreme. So I guess we were somewhere in between cause I was not comfortably warm inside.

Two day trekking and kayaking in Abbel Tasman park in New Zealand, GPS Garmin Oregon 300

Mouse over to see info about key point for low tides and where we slept.

EveryTrail – Find the best

The backpackers place we stayed in Wellington was cool, but a bit noisy.  They were partying all night and our room was close to the party ;-)

Wellington was a bit like San Francisco, with hills and little Victorian houses. It is far nicer than Auckland. Anyway, early in the morning we woke up, had a shower and headed towards the Ferry that would take us to Picton. We had to be there at 7.30am. It was a bit hard to find but the GPS helped us once again. For those of you interested the gps is a Garmin Oregon 300 with the maps that I found from New Zealand that are Open Source for Garmin. They have proved to be great! All the Points of Interest (POI) are great so every day we put the city where we go, and once in the city the accommodation and we find the backpackers immediately.  The ferry we booked the previous day over the phone. We have a New Zealand sim card in Nuria’s phone and I would say that 50% of the numbers you dial are 0800 so free. The rest are not but is very handy to have a local number and a cheap way to call to the backpackers and other activities to book. The ferry was huge and it takes 3.5 hours to get to Picton in the south island. The day weather today was incredible!. Not a single cloud. We spent most of the trip ouside. The views when you enter the south island are incredible. I took a photo with Nuria’s phone so you can see what I mean. Once in Picton we went to the i-site (information office) and then with all the information in hand we called (a 0800-2-kayak) and booked a 2 day rando+kayak for tomorrow and the day after. First day you drive, they take you with a fast boat up north, then you walk all day and sleep in hut close to the beach. The following day you take the kayak and continue all day until where you leave the car. Cool isn’t it? The weather forecast is good, so we are so looking forward! One full day trekking and one full day with kayak.

After this we drove to the Marlborough wine region where we stopped in a winery, the Highfield winery, where we had first a wine tasting and then lunch, in a beautiful environment. Great food and great wine.

After lunch we stopped in a supermarket to buy some stuff for tomorrow and then we took the “Queen Charlotte” drive and headed to Nelson, where we are now.

Mordor of the Lord of the Rings, the three volcanoes together, the emerald lake and amazing scenery. The lonely planet recommended to do this tramping in one day, exhausting, but we were well prepared with our latest acquisition in Taupo: our Keen sandals, similar to Teva but with a weirder look. This trekking was the other only thing I wanted to do in the North Island together with the diving in Tutukaka, well so guess what, before it was tutu kaka and this time is Tongariro, Tururu! Since Wednesday the weather had not been very good, and actually Thursday while we were in the Coromandel it was pretty terrible. So Friday stopped raining when we left Rotorua, but in Taupo they already told us that Saturday was not going to be good for the Crossing. We headed to the national park and realized that visibility was probably about 10 meters, so not good. The night at the Skotel hotel was one of the best ones. This morning we got up full of energy for the trekking, but it was raining and visibility was nil. We went to the visitor center to enquiry about possibilities and hear and accept the inevitable. It was not advisable to do the crossing and definitely not worth it as we will not be able to do anything. The guide said that Sunday was not going to be better, so morally destroyed for the bad luck we decided to give it a miss and go to Wellington, which is a 4 hours drive alongside the Wanganui river, the longest in NZ. The rally driver was again happy to drive in this mountain roads like one of the locals, who were so impressed with his driving that gave us way to overtake them… In one of the turns a guide in the shoulder road tells us with mimics to slow down, and we did so, just in time to avoid driving over a group of sheeps that were crossing the road.

Some 40 km away from Wellington we found the Kapiti coast so we decided to stop for lunch at Paraparaumo, but the beach was not actually that beautiful so we continued another 15 km to the following nice beach and had a sandwich in front of the sea, with the seagulls waiting for some crumbs.

We found the hotel, and it is again a good choice, I am quite good selecting places to sleep now. This is an old typical house quite close to the city center, with a huge wooden terrace in the entrance and our room ( which was the last one left) looks like it was originally the garage. We left our bags, changed clothes, as there is sun here!!! and went to Cuba street where all the shops and bars are. We followed the walking circuit in the guide and arrived to the civic center where there was a jazz concert as we are in the Wellington Jazz week! So we sat and listened for a while, then continued our walk to stop for the summer ale and the Marlborough Chardonnay in a nice terrace. At 7 we were already starving and found a Japanese which looked good. We had the sushi and sashimi combo and then beef teriyaki and been tepanyaki set ( which came with salad, rice and miso soup, ummmmmmmmm, delicious!! Even better than .

Now I cannot move, I ate too much, so I am going to bed, tomorrow alarm clock at 6 am…

We woke up in the western environment of the cactus backpackers. Our little room was in a patio and the whole hostel was old but cool. We meet some people while having dinner. An Australian guy with an incredible accent and some other.

The weather was crap. It has been crap all day. Raining non-stop. So what to do? No sky dive as we would have liked. We walked around Rotorua and then headed to Te Puia, a Maori thermal reserve. The scenery is unusual. From the car park you start smelling this typical smell from the geysers and hot springs. You approach and you see a forest that looks like it is burning. Even with the rain it looked like burning in dozens of places, but it is just steam.

There was a typical Maori representation and we walked around until about 2pm. After having seen very unusual road signs like ducks crossing, cows crossing, kiwis, we finally saw one kiwi!! Our first encounter with NZ national mascot. It was confined to some 40 square meters, but there it was, in front of us looking for something to eat in the soil. It is a very different bird, more like a mammal than a bird.

WIth the kiwi in mind, we headed towards Taupo where we actually wanted to do the sky diving. It has a huge lake. The biggest lake in the north island. We walked around. Looks like tomorrow they have the ironman competition. It was very busy and crowded. Even if it was raining all times.

We went to see the Huka falls, a very nice waterfall with an incredible amount of water, and then later on we drove to Tongariro National Park. We stopped before to a “save’n pack” to buy some meat and wine for dinner tonight. We also stopped at a i-site information spot to ask whether or not it was worth it to make the Tongariro alpine crossing tomorrow as the weather is really bad and visibility is zero. They told us no. Not worth it. This breaks our plans. We are now at the highest backpackers of New Zealand, in Skotel Apline Resort in Whakapapa and we just had a jacuzzi after a nice steak with salad and wine. All backpacker hostels have kitchen, for those who do not know ;-) The fact is that to me the alpine crossing is one of the best one day trekking in this country (18 Km) in around 7 hours, we should take a bus in one end and another in the other end or the car in one end and the bus in the other.  The information i-site here opens at 8am which is too late, as we should start walking at 7am, but there is no point in walking if it does not stop raining and the visibility improves…. otherwise it is a waste. They say that this is the most beautiful one day trekking of New Zealand. There are 3 volcanoes. The ones from the Lord of the Rings.  If cannot do it tomorrow, there is not much to do here, and that would postpone our trip to the south island with no guarantees that the weather would be better on Sunday…. Sunday was the day we have planned to take the ferry from Wellington to the South Island. We want to spend only one week in the north one, and the rest in the south. Everybody agrees that the south one is astonishing.

We got up in Thames prepared to go around the Coromandel Peninsula with more than enough time to arrive in Rotorua by mid afternoon. Well, we miscalculated the time and did not consider the roads. The day was very grey, not a single spot of sky was to be seen in the whole day, what is even worst it started raining after lunch. I have to say that Mr. Dani Loewe ( for the french rally champion) enjoyed very much the driving. He tried to put backwards gear instead of second gear at least 5 times and excuses himself saying that if everything in the car was on the other side, why the gears follow the same model!! Our first stop was in Coromandel Town which looks pretty much like Thames, but it is smaller and with more heritage buildings, western style from 1873. We bought the original smoked mussels, the ones with garlic, smoked tuna, smoked mackerel and another smocked fish I cannot remember the name but was equally tasty. We snaked around the peninsula and skipped the far North only because we had had more than enough of unsealed roads and we did not want to spend the day driving. So we went direction Whitianga to pass by before the Otama and Opito beaches which are meant to be extremely wide. Well, they are, but with rain and 25 nodes wind, they look somehow very much different compared to the pretty pictures in the shops. Then to Cathedral Cave and Hot Water Beaches. Cathedral Cave was amazing, a cave in the rock, by the beach with the sea entering in this enormous cave from both sides, very pretty. The next stop was this beach were you can dig a hole in the beach and have your own personal spa. There are hotsprings at temperatures of around 60 degrees, from a spent volcano that left a flow of lava underneath. Well, the theory very nice, the practice is that the tide was high so we could not reach the place, the wind was blowing us off to the outer space and rain was threatening to make an appearance. We walked around the beach taking photos of the angry sea and then go for lunch to taste local food and what is even better local wines and beer. I am enjoying very much the NZ Chardonnay. After the fantastic Apple pie with a ristreto for dani and energy tea for me at the cool Hot Waves Cafe we went down to Waihi to drive through the Karangahake Gorge which is one of the best drives in NZ. Maybe, but the weather was not accompanying it, as it was raining and could not appreciate the scenery. And then to Rototua, 143 km more. Dani nearly had a heart attack, as it was already 5.30 and given the windy roads we only arrived at 8.00 pm.

The Cactus Jack lodge is a fun place, thematic ( western) and with interesting people. We met an aussy with a very strong accent, and another  one with a nearly perfect British accent because, he said, that his parents did not want him to learn the bad things in NZ. Well for me, accent is part of your culture and you should never be ashamed of, even when you say Bonjour and they ask you from what part of Spain you are from.

We went to bed quite late after our dinner and conversation with Dominique ( the Swiss) Adam and Jo the British on a tour for a year. We spent another hour trying to find the key of the cozy room we were given, and could not find it anywhere… The night was terribly windy and rainy, it woke me up a couple of times., so when the alarm clock went off at 6.45 took me a while. But it was the day for the perfect diving in one of the 10 best places in the world, finally!

We drove there and got a little bit lost in the middle, but the GPSs ( Dominique was also coming with us as he has missed the previous day because he overslept) helped us out. The sky was all cloudy and did not look very nice, but well not everything can be perfect. We arrived to the diving center at 8.10 ( we stopped over in the petrol station to buy something to eat for lunch), and there was Dominique listening to my friend ( the one who could have worked in the red district in Amsterdam) explaining something about 6 m waves and 25 nodes winds and blah blah blah. It took me 10 seconds to realize that we were not going to dive. She was going on and on about the weather and terrible conditions, and that it was dangerous and not worth it…I thought I was going to cry, the only thing I wanted to do in the North island was to dive in here, and now she was saying that the weather was not going to be good until Saturday. Saturday!! We are going to be close to Wellington on Saturday. I could not believe it, I was so angry, and there she was with her fake smile. Internally, I blamed her one thousand times, but it did not change anything, that was the end of my dream, no diving in NZ, SHIT!! or as the name of the village says for itself: Tutukaka ( Tutu : all in italian and Kaka shit in spanish) All Shit!!

Anyway, instead of diving, we took the road towards the woods. waipoua forest. They have the widest kauri trees of New Zealand. In the first stop you walk 20 minutes through the forest and there you start seeing incredible huge trees. Not because they are extremely high but because of the size of their trunk… In the photo is the widest one with nearly 14 meters girth and about 50 meters high. If you compare the high with the ones we saw near Sausalito in the US it is not that much (those were about 150m high), but this ones, seen from the bottom are something that I have never seen.

After the walks in the forest we headed towards the Coromandel peninsula, where we intended to sleep. We passed Auckland and we got there in the evening, around 7.30pm We slept in Thames, in a nice typical Kiwi house. Nice experience. We went to the supermarket and we had a proper dinner in the house, with wine and pasta ;-)

The following day we would explore the peninsula, but the weather it is not going to be nice.

So after our fantastic nice in Whangaroa, we drove back to Paihia so we could do the full day trip around the many islands in this beautiful bay. This time we had booked, so we had two places for Ms. Piez, close.

We started the tour following the dolphins, so some people could swim with them. These people were put on a net and then carried for some 10 minutes, until a nice spot was found, then off you go, try to follow the fastest dolphins ever…

For those staying on the boat it was quite fun, but I do not think that those in the water were of the same opinion. Then we continued until "hole in the rock" which is exactly that, a huge hole just enough wide to pass our big catamaran. There we saw a huge school of fish in front of the boat, swinging with the waves.

Back to the little islands we stop in a few of them to get an explanation of the story behind it. We had lunc h in Urupukapuka island were we went up to the lookup for excellent views, then back to the wharf and the little beach. I had a swim in these really nice waters, but dani considered that the 20*C was impossibly cold for him. Back to the boat, we continued our cruise with more explanations about the history of NZ and this area. At 16.15 we were back in Paihia and after an icecream and a walk around this lovely village, we headed south. Back to Tutukaka for the diving the following day at the Poor Nights Islands. This time I phoned and booked in advance, so everything should be fine for tomorrow.

We did not want to sleep again in the Holiday Park. It was ok but we preferred to get to know another place. So while dani was driving I was trying to read the guide and all the different pamphlets we have been piling in the car. I decided that Little Earth Lodge sounded nice and it was ranked very high in the BBH (90%) and it was also our guide pick. We got here at 18.30 and the place is beautiful. Set on a farm 4 km from town and next to Abbey Caves. The rooms are decorated with nice Japanese art and Balinese furnishing. So now we are going to have our dinner, noodles and fresh eggs from the chicken here!!

Dani has bought 2 and a half hours of internet, so we will be able to post this one and maybe check our emails!!

After a chilly night at Tutukaka holiday park, we woke up for a shower. Me, hating getting up early in the morning, could not see the machine to enter the 50 cents coin to have the 7 minutes hot shower, so I had a quick cold shower. We went to the diving center to check if it was ok for the day, but surprise, even being 7.45 in the morning we were told that it was fully booked. We could either find something else, but this was the only diving center in the area or wait until 8.30 to see if there were any cancellations. The lady was not very nice, I think, and she did not like us cause dani asked her straight away when she said that it was full, where we could find another operator. Anyway we waited patiently until 8.45, and then she came to tell us that unfortunately it was not possible, so we talked for 5 minutes, I confirmed my opinion about her other possible job in the red district in Amsterdam, and we left.

We continued our trip for 1 hour and a half to arrive to the famous Bay of Islands and we decided to go for a cruise, but being our unlicky day, it was too late for that, so either we waited for the half day one, not that good or the following day. We looked at different options and dani found another very attractive one, which was a 22 hour cruise with over night and fishing included. Obviously it was full for today, tomorrow and only available on Wednesday, way too late for us.. Too bad we had to continue…

We headed north to Cape Reinga, the place where the Ocean and the Tasman Sea collide and sometimes 10 m high waves are formed. It is as well a sacred place in Maori as this is where the spirits go to the everafter. The road there is terrible, no sealed, which means for us, no road, just grave and loads of stones. So that is why our rented car is full of tiny spots where the painting has come off and it is all rusty. And the road officer who signaled the speed limits was called Fitipaldi in NZ. In these kind of roads you cannot overpass 100 km/hour. Obviously if you go over 50 Km/h you seriously risk your life. Any way we arrived to the peninsula and stopped first in 90 miles beach. which in reality is 90 km beach, but still quite a long one. If you do not have a rental car you can go north by the beach, but at your own risk as I read that you can see cars that were swallow by the sand… We continued through the fantastic road and we eventually reached the end. It was worth it, so nice views. You can also see the Three kings islands, funny name but it was because they were discovered on the 6 January.

After the twilight we went back and stopped in the giant sand dunes. Amazing! It reminded very much the mountaineering skiing, when you have to go up a terribly steep slope and you think you are going to slide backwards at any moment. It was good fun, specially trying to slide down with my bottom on dani’s shoes. ( He was not wearing them).

Dani also realised that some of the photos he was taking with the nikon were overexposed and suddenly he understood why (now dani writing): After nearly 20 days of travel I realised that if I leave the bracketing on, it will not only use it when I want but always. That means that 2/3 of the photos I took when not resetting bracketing are not well exposed. I am so mad at myself!!! At least I found the problem with 1 month of trip ahead… Also I have to say that I have driven about 750km in just two days…

We returned via the same road, though this time it seemed that it was a perfect line, who knows… The cows, sheeps and birds were in the same places. We went to a very nice village passed Doubtfull Bay, Whangarei, where we found a nice Lodge to sleep, Sunseeker lodge. The lady who picked up the phone asked me something with the NZ accent imposible to uderstand : do you have a babyhi car?? WHATTTTTTTTTT?? DO not worry , I guess it is no. She is the kindest woman I have met so far in NZ, really helpful and nice. She even asked her son to phone Luke’s cafe to make sure it was open for us for dinner. The dinner there good and the drinks from the bar next door as well, with again a very kind old lady.

And now good night.