New Zealand Index

Auckland
Northland
Heading South
Wellington
Traveling again
West Coast
Picking Apples
Road to Qtown
Kinloch
Southland
Queenstown
Heading North
Queen Charlette Wilderness Park
to Taranaki
Central Plateau
The End

So I’m off again. This was very sudden, but the feeling was great. So up to golden bay I was headed. I was just going to go and relax, and take a few days to chill. As I drive north, over the mountains, I come into the valley of golden bay, it’s nice. Golden bay is located at the top of the south island, and is accessible only buy this road. I wasn’t sure where I was going to go, but I thought I’d just drive around see what appealed to me. The first town I come across is Takaka, the bigger of the two cities in golden bay, with two streets, It was a charming little town but I decided to go on and see what the other town was like. This was Cottonwood, and a very picturesque place, but I just didn’t fell like being there, and so I headed back to Takaka. On the way I decided to stop by Pupu springs, The full name is Waikoropupu Springs, and it is the largest freshwater springs in NZ, and reputedly the clearest in the World. It pumps out 14,000 liters of water a second. I took the nice, but short walk in, and viewed them, but some of the nicer vantage points were under construction, so my time here was short. I get back into Takaka, and find a nice little hostel to stay that night. So I just made dinner, soaked in the spa, and read by the fire for the rest of that evening. The next day, I was thinking about doing a walk, and found one on the map that sounded nice. So once I finally leave the hostel, and find the place, I find out that it’s much longer the I had anticipated, and I would need to start very early to do it, so onto plan B. I drive up to the top of the south island, farewell spit. You can’t actually go far onto the spit, unless you go on a tour, because it’s a marine reserve. But you can walk a decent way, which is what I did. It’s pretty much just a beach walk, but it’s nice. About an hour or so on, and there’s the sign that you can’t go any further. At this point I cut across the dunes, to the other side of the spit. Then the walk back. This side of the spit (the northern side) was a much nicer beach, and was a really nice walk. After a while though, I started to get a little worried about finding a path back. I had been walking for a hour and a half on this beach, and there wasn’t any sign on the trail. Just as I started to think about turning back, and going the way I came, I found something, and that led me back. A very nice afternoon. So back to the hostel, where I meet up with some of the others there, and the owner, and that night we go into town for a couple of beers (very nice house brews.) That night, I started to feel that I didn’t really want to stay any longer in golden bay, so I was to be off the next day. And this day was all about driving. This was about 8 hours of driving, I believe the longest I had been on the road in one day in New Zealand. Most of the drive was nice, but it was long, and I didn’t arrive into kaikura until after seven. This was a Saturday night, and I came across something I hadn’t come across in this country, and full hostel. So the small funky one I wanted to stay at was full, so I stayed at one of the larger ones, which was ok, as I really wasn’t looking much. But then I found out I forgotten something important, my swimsuit, back in Takaka. I was gutted. No spa this night, and I lad lost my favorite suit. Then to make matters worse, the town I was in had nowhere I could buy one at this time of night, oh well. The next day I took a look around the area, some nice enough stuff, but the real attraction of this town was whale-watching tours, which I wasn’t interested in, so It didn’t have much for me. And I headed off for Christchurch earlyish. I was pleasantly surprised by this city, many people had told me about how this city was not the greatest, but after I arrived, I though it kinda nice. I just did some wondering this on this first day, and found my hostel, a very nice place, that catered to a little older crowd. I didn’t do much this first day here, just wondered around a bit, checking out the city. That night I was content to just sit back a watch a video, and then it so happened that the girl who worked at the hostel had the return of the king extended addition, which I hadn’t seen yet, so my night was made. The next morning I got up, and decided to go out for breakfast, and do some errands. I then checked about my ticket home, and if I could get anything at all for it, and was told NO. so that’s what I though, but I didn’t give up hope, and would check on it again once I settled down in Queenstown. I then took this opertunity while in a city to see a movie, how nice. As I came back to the hostel to do some web work, I then received a txt from my friend Anne, who I had met in dunnolie. So I went out and met her and her friend for a couple of drinks in the evening. They were going to the Jack Johnson concert, who is huge in NZ. I was kinda thinking about going as G-love was opening, but I couldn’t afford the $60-70 price. So I had a quite night. I liked Christchurch, and thought I would be back on my return trip north, so I wasn’t too sad to go. I really had no idea where I would be going at the time I got to Christchursh, and what my plan would be. Then in looking though a guide book in the hostel I found what I had been looking for. Back in January, Marissa and Malin, and told me about this trek, where you hike up to a hut, and then there are hot pools to soak in there. I had forgotten where they were and their name, until I saw it in this book. So I now new where I was going. After a leisurely morning having a coffee in the botanical garden of Christchursh, I made my way over Arthur’s sass, a gorgeous road over the mountains. I stopped for lunch in hamlet of Arthur’s Pass, and walked a waterfall hike, called Punchbowl Falls. An nice way to break up the driving day. I then headed down the road, and this is where it became really spectacular. At the other end of Arthur’s Pass is Greymouth, so I had now made a loop of the northern half of the south island.