Road To Fjordland

Day 184

"Give me all the peace and joy in your mind
I want the peace and joy in your mind
Give me the peace and joy in your mind"

So last entry was written in Wellington with annoying flu. 7 days later I am in Te Anau, gateway town to magnificient Fjordland suffering some kind of nasty bacteria or virus. Tuulia and Sami are atm both sleeping in Motel with 38+ fever suffering from same thing. Typical that my immune system works so weirdly that I have no fever but extremely sore throat. Needless to say that this virus kinda ruined our New Year in Queenstown since everyone was more or less sick and out of strength to do anything.

After last entry in Wellington we wandered around in town for half a day during Christmas Day and ended up in local National Museum. I'm not a big museum fan but that place was fantastic. 6 floors of exhibitions and best of all it was FREE. Excellent place alltogether so we spent there most the day since everything in town was closed. We also stopped at hill to grab some city pictures.

Overall, Wellington didn't look that bad. It was quite decent city compared to horrible Auckland. But I wasn't weeping when we left there at 4:30 next morning on a ferry towards South Island. Sun came up just as we left Wellington and after 2h of sleepy ride we arrived to South Island and gorgeous Marlborough Sounds.

As the boat arrived to Picton in South Island we just hit the pedal and sped away, Picton was that ugly :) Our first destination in South Island was Abel Tasman National Park up in northwest corner. We were blessed with beautiful weather all day and managed to see most of the famous landmarks in clear blue sky. It was funny though, Abel Tasman Park is not even near tropical zone but place certainly looks like it could be there.

After day in tropical Abel Tasman park we started heading towards south and small place called St Arnaud, gateway to Nelson Lakes National Park. This is a relatively small place which I might have skipped, but because some of the pictures I had seen of that area were so gorgeous that we decided to do small sidetrack. It was definetly worth it.


Yet another beautiful location in New Zealand. At that point I had only about 4 weeks behind me and already I was constantly blown away by the scenery, again and again. Unfortunately we didn't have too much time there so we kept pushing on the next day towards south. But not before I got a physical memory from Lakes that I still carry, sandfly bites. Sandflies were insanely aggressive there and for some reason they targeted me all the time. I still carry nasty looking infected bites from them.

Our next target on trek towards south was small alpine village little out of the beaten track called Arthur's Pass. What a stunning location it was. Place was literally "a pass", a gorge in surrounded by high mountain lines.

On way there we had weird episode with a Kea. Kea is near flightless bird which is listed in New Zealand on endangered species list. What an annoying and stupid wanker that bird turned out to be. We stopped on a lookout 10km from Arthurs Pass and there we saw 2 Keas. One was chewing concrete asfalt and other iron fence(!).

Hmmm...ok, after minute other Kea jumped on our car, climbed to roof and started chewing on our roof!

We started to move the car a bit but still the bird wouldnt move...no wonder this dumbass was close to exctinction. Finally I stepped out of the car, roared like an ogre and the bird jumped away.

Arthur's Pass was fantastic location. It was clearly out of the beaten track and very very small. Yet it had nice amount of tourists and most were trampers and trekkers seeking to do various hikes in the wilderness. No partying 20-year old brits at all.

We had only one day there so I decided to do the most popular and hyped day walk called Arthur's Peak. Steady 1100m climb to Arthur's Peak(1800m above sea level). Oh...my...God...it was by far toughest and hardest walk I have done during this trip, tougher than Mount Sorrow in Cape Tribulation. Walk itself wasn't long, but it was constant uphill, not even 1 meter wasn't climb and most the time it was 30-45 degree angle. Afterwards I couldn't understand how I did it...especialy since climb was rated hard and was suppose to take 4h for average tramper...I did it in 1 hour and 45 minutes :) Was it worth it? Most certainly, since I have never been to Alps, I have never seen view like this

After I had finished walk in 3h40min that was suppose to take 6-10h we took off towards south and world famous glaciers, Franz Josef and Fox. Hehe, these pitiful little icefields were propably biggest disappointments in New Zealand so far, and in so many levels. No wonder there aren't any good areal pictures of them...because otherwise people would see how pathetic they really are. As we arrived to first glacier, Franz Josef we encountered first shock. Village was...literally a copy Las Palmas, Torremolinos, Rodos, etc. Stripped of originality and filled with partying teenagers and bars to fill their needs. At same time there were all the time atleast 3 helicopters flying around village taking people up to glacier every 5 minutes or so. Peace, chill, relax, enjoyment were definetly last words that came to mind as when thinking of Franz Josef. On top of that village was full, and I mean literally full. Every single hostel, hotel and motel was fully booked so we happily escaped Franz Josef and headed 20km south towards Fox Glacier.

Now, LP said that Fox is smaller and quieter of the 2 glaciers...what a load of bullshit. It was same tourist hellhole as Franz Josef. What couldn't stop to amaze me is why? Why would people fill these 2 villages so full. Its not like there is amazing beach or loads of activities to quench your adrenaline thirst. There is the glacier...and thats it. Only activity is to...walk on it, and thats it! Yet for some unknown reason tourists seemed to get stuck there for days if not even weeks.

Oh, needless to say that Fox was entirely booked as well so we decided to move on south. It was little disappointment to me that I couldnt get my single Kodak shots. 25km south from Fox Glacier, in middle of nowhere, we spotted a roadsign "Pine Grove Motel - Vacancy". It was starting to get late, almost 20:00 so we stopped. Place had one cottage available, 2 bedrooms and 1 lounge area with open kitchen for 85 dollars(=40 euros) a night. Not bad price for 3 people to split. We decided to stop there for 2 nights, make our way back to glaciers on next day, grab our Kodak shots and then head back for good nights sleep in same place. Here is picture of the road at the motel.

Next day we headed back to Glaciers and...just stopped at the lookouts to grab our shots. I had originally planned to do day ice walk there as well, but after seeing glaciers and the immature tourist flock there, I just didn't want to. I just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. Here is Fox glacier.

...and here is Franz Josef.

After glaciers our plan was to head to Wanaka for 1 day and then to Queenstown for New Year. That plan was scrapped after we arrived to Wanaka and noticed that town was even more full of partying teenagers than glaciers! After little research, we found out that Wanaka is supposedly the big party place for New Year in South Island, fact that we didn't know but apparently 10000 young brits knew. So we pushed the pedal and headed towards Queenstown. We decided to spend 2 days in Queenstown and head towards Fjordland on January 1st.

Well, Queenstown as almost was full as Wanaka and glaciers but with much more mature folk. After 2h of searching place to stay for 2 nights we stumbled upon a holiday apartments by lakeside and managed to get 2 floor apartment. View from balcony was quite sweet.

Also in Queenstown it was time to visit Post Office and grab my only Christmas gift. Sweet! Even though I cried out in horror after pulling out that ugly...I mean pretty black FE cap, it really warmed my heart to see how people still remember me even after being gone from home for 6 months. Here I am wearing every piece I got :)

We had great evening on 30th but 31st was just horror. We all got some sort of virus(no, this virus wasn't called hangover). Sami and Tuulia developed 38+ degree fever, everyone of us had extremely sore throats and all of us were feeling very weak. Needless to say our New Year was kinda ruined. We were barely able to stay awake till midnight and witness surprisingly quiet New Year celebration in Queenstown.

So now we are in Te Anau, gateway to Fjordland which is advertised as the most beautiful area in New Zealand. Sami and Tuulia are still very sick and they are hoping to recover tomorrow so they could atleast see Milford Sound before they need to start their way back towards Auckland and home. I'm feeling quite good with the exception of sore throat so I'm not heading out to Sounds before 4th. In fact, Te Anau is such refreshing place after tourist infested Queenstown, Wanaka and Glaciers that I'm staying here for next 5 days.

Ok, thats most of the story in past week which has been little too hectic for my taste. But I knew it was going to be like this since Sami and Tuulia had only less than 3 weeks here compared to my limitless time. From now on its time to get back into backpacker life. Life without schedule, life without money and life without worries ;)

Happy New Year to all!

Mount Doom and Christmas

Day 178

"Think of me long enough to make a memory"

Yes, it's been few days since last entry but quite frankly this is my first opportunity to access internet with ability to upload any content for almost week. Last entry was written in Taupo and I wrote how much I was looking forward to see familiar faces again. No, this most definetly didn't mean that I was returning home, not by long shot. If Moses could not go to the mountain then mountain had to come to Moses. So it ment that my cousin Tuulia and her spouse Sami came to New Zealand to celebrate Christmas and New Year with me.

We met in Taupo and continued trip towards south. Next stop was to be one of the most epic locations in entire country, Tongariro National Park and also home of various locations used in LOTR-movies such as Mount Doom and Mordor. My plan was to do the day walk called Tongariro Crossing which is regarded as the best day walk in entire world. I was very lucky with weather since the day I had planned my walk turned out to be amazing, Mount Doom was waiting for me in clear blue sky.

If I would say that walk and landscapes were breathtaking, it would again be understatement. There are no words to describe the beauty of it. So I'm just going to shut up and let pictures speak for themselfs. Be sure to check bigger versions as well and you will get a tiny taste of what it was like.



Walk was rated as challenging, 20km long with 900m height difference and was suppose to take 7-8hr for any average tramper...I did it in 4h20min and managed to take 100+ pics on the way :)

After magnificient scenery in Tongariro we started heading down south towards our Christmas location. There wasn't many things to see on the road...apart from this giant carrot which Tuulia just wanted to hug...

...also I got kicked in the ass by this giant gumboot...

...and this windy gorge.

On way we stopped for one night in place called Palmerston North...less is said about that place the better...again. If landscapes are magnificient here then on contrary cities and townships in New Zealand are really not that pretty or appealing at all.

Finally on 23rd we arrived to Martinborough were I had booked a holiday house which was to be our Christmas location for 2 nights. Reason I chose Martinborough for Christmas was it's wineries and location close to Wellington. House was amazing and I think we really managed to make luxury Christmas from pretty crappy food selection local "supermarket" had. Oh, and I also cut down branch from pine tree nearby to create something resembling xmas tree :)

Now it's 25th and we have reached Wellington. Because Tuulia and Sami are on tight schedule we have only 1 day here. Tomorrow morning at 4:50am we need to check in at a ferry which will take us to south island and towards even more impressive locations.

I was I could write more details, but I'm suffering from annoying and resilient flu and sitting in front of screen aint helping it. Hopefully next entry from south island will have more details in it.

Take care all and Merry (late)Christmas!

East Coast and Skydive!

Day 173

"Fear and panic in the air
I want to be free
From desolation and despair
And I feel like everything I saw
Is being swept away
When I refuse to let you go"

There is nothing like feeling when jumping out of an airplane at 15000ft.

...but let's rewind the clock a bit first, back to East Coast. Last update was written in Whakatane, Bay Of Plenty. From there road led through magnificient gorge all the way to East Coast and Gisborne. Bus trip was exciting in a way, trip was "only" 150km but it still took almost 3 hours because roads were so narrow, hilly and windy. Few people were actually puking in the bus cause of motion sickness. Me...I'm solid as a rock :)

So my first stop in East Coast was Gisborne, the most eastern city in entire world and so the first city in world so see sunlight.

Gisborne area has also lot of Chardonnay fields and 3rd of all Chardonnay's in New Zealand are grown around Gisborne area. So my plan was to take a wine tour and get familiar with Gisborne Chardonnay's. Well, that idea was scrapped because Gisborne is not a tourist town, not by long shot. I arrived to Information Center and asked wheter there are any wine tours going and lady there looked at me with amazement:"Wine tours...hey, Kathy! Can anyone take this gentleman into a wine tour? Is your brother doing anything today?" Ok...at that point I just told them to forget it. So only thing to do was to explore the city a bit.

Hmm less is said about Gisborne the better. City wasn't very nice, it didn't really have anything to hold attention. Captain Cook's lookout hill was ok, but that was it.

So I just sat at hostel, read a book and got good nights sleep.

Next stop for me was Napier, the main hub of Hawkes Bay wine area. I was told that Napier is much more touristy place and booking a wine tour there shouldn't be a problem. Other than wines, Napier is also famous for it's art deco architecture. Most of the houses in town center were built 50-60 years ago and still maintain this art deco style.

Compared to Gisborne, Napier was heaps better place. Much more lively, better designed and overall prettier. My hostel was also awesome, built in old 1930-style art deco house. As I was told, booking a wine tour wasn't a problem here, after looking at the options I chose a guy who had been running wine tours in that area for 16 years, figured that he could tell more about wines there than other guides.

So next day it was wine tour...and oh boy what mess I managed to make within 15 minutes in his bus. It all started with sports, guy was praising how great game rugby is and asked us what did we think about it. Well, me being me I spat out my honest opinion. My reply was something like this:

"Well, I have tried to get it, I really have. I have watched several games...but there is just no skill in rugby. It's 2 teams banging their heads against each other for over an hour and thats it. No skill or talent whatsoever."

Hehe that reply got him visibly angry. He asked what sport did I like then and I replied soccer. After that he gave us 30 minute lecture why soccer sucks...and at that point I just decided to be quiet and not drag it any further. Guy was clearly upset that I "insulted" their national sport and couldn't understand that there are people who just don't have same opinions.

Anyway, other peeps in the bus felt kinda same as I did and came to me at the first winery saying that the guide shouldn't have gotten so upset, he is tour guide after all and they should check their temper. So all in all, tour guide managed to alienate himself from the group, but we as group got tighter and rest of the tour was nice with lots of laughs especially after 2nd or 3rd winery :) Oh, and gorgeous wineries they were.

So yesterday morning I left Napier towards Taupo. I had booked my skydive the next day but as I arrived to hostel and told about my plans they asked if I wanted to do skydive same day since weather was better that day. "Sure. Why not?", I replied and 30 minutes later I was in minibus heading to airfield. Nice, didn't even have time to get nervous.

Hour later we were all geared up, I was hooked into my brazilian jumpmaster named Jonathan and in the plane. It was only at this point that I realised what the hell was I doing. I was up in the air inside this pitiful little aircraft and only way down was jumping off from it. All the while we were up I tried to put up my best Arnold impression, german accent and kept repeating "Get Down!" every time someone ahead of me was jumping. Apart from one german jumpmaster...others didn't get it :-/

Wow, just wow! The first 5 seconds after jumping from the plane are undescribable. Its like...brain tells you that this your end, you just jumped from plane that was 5km high in the air towards nothing, but still you feel more alive than ever. It's impossible not to love it. Jumping from 5km also ment 1min freefall which was...propably best minute I have ever had in my life. Feeling was just insane.

As I was expecting, only part I didn't quite enjoy was the parachute part. After jumpmaster gave me the ropes which to guide the parachute I felt more comfortable. Coming down with parachute took several minutes so he tauhgt me how to use the ropes which was pretty cool.

Hmmm, intenet time is ending...too much to write and too little time.

So today I'm just chilling around in Taupo...and really, really, really looking forward to seeing first 2 familiar faces from back home for the first time in nearly 6 months :)

Bay of Plenty

Day 168

"Dead to the world. Alive for the journey.
One night I dreamt a white rose withering,
a newborn drowning a lifetime loneliness.
I dreamt all my future. Relived my past."

It's funny to look my reflection in the mirror now and then look some of the first pictures I took of myself at the start of the trip. Allthough it's only been about 5.5 months, I look like completely different person. Weirdest thing is my hair which is turning more and more blonde each day. I know that sun can bleach hair but lately it has been accelerating for some reason. Check this out.

Last entry was written on first night in Tauranga and I mentioned how nice that city was. What made it great was it's relaxed and chilled atmosphere and all the nice bars, pubs and restaurants at the Strand, next to harbour. Really nice relaxed atmosphere there with mostly people aged 25 to 35 having cold beer in the sunshine. Food was excellent there as well, 4 cheese woodfire pizza was propably best pizza I have bad during this trip(hehe, haven't had many).

Next day I walked all the way to neighbour town of Mt Maunganui(8km) and then to the 235m hill at the end of the town which is called...Mt Maunganui. Views from up there were quite commanding. It was easy to see twin towns of Tauranga and Mt Maunganui on opposite peninsulas. Anyway, here are some areal views from the summit.

After Tauranga I was off to Whakatane, small township on the eastern Bay Of Plenty. My only reason for going there was White Island. White Island is small active volcano island 50km off the coast. They do 3 different tours to there: one being helicopter ride, second being boat trip with opportunity to walk in the island and the third - and my tour - was dive trip where you can actually dive on this island and basically into an active volcano. Now, after getting diving certificate there was no frigging way I was going to pass this sort of unique possibility so there I went.

Day started off perfectly. Weather was beautiful, nearly cloudless blue sky and not much wind. I was also lucky this time with my dive group since this time it wasn't filled with 50-year old couples. We had Swede who had been traveling for 15 months, girl from Switzerland, girl from Germany and guy from UK.

Well, dives turned out to be little disappointment. First of all we couldnt dive the best sites cause wind was blowing from southeast and eastern side had the best spots. We dived 2 spots on western side with only 1 guide and weird thing was that we all had to come up when first person was running low on air(!). Since I pretty much kick ass with air consumption I had half tank left after both dives, which btw was more than even our instructor had :) I guess I'm growing gills and starting to breathe like a fish. Anyway, despite little disappointing dives I can't complain. Diving is always fun and after each and every dive feeling is just great, I guess it's some sort of nitrogen high :) Oh, and the island was gorgeous.

Great group of people though, afterwards we all went to town's Irish pub for beer and see local Jazz band playing(yes, Jazz band in Irish pub, go figure...).

Now I'm still in quiet and sleepy town of Whakatane waiting for my bus which is not going to arrive in another 4 hours so I have some time to kill and get some reading done. Originally I was planning to head back to west from here towards Rotorua, but I decided to scrap that plan. Instead of going to Rotorua, I'm taking the long way around to Taupo and heading towards East Coast and Hawkes Bay wine area. First stop will be Gisborne.

I just realised yesterday that it's only like a week until Christmas. There are Xmas trees around here and some lights but it surely doesn't feel like Christmas when temperature is steady +25 and sun doesn't go down till about 20:30-21:00. Heh, I'm not complaining though. I prefer this sort of Christmas to crappy Finnish version anytime.

Speaking of Summer...I remember clearly comments from many Finns back home that "Oh, but you don't appreciate Summer without Winter", "I really like 4 seasons", "You get bored of Sun within 3 months", etc. Well, all those comments are bunch of bullsh*t. I have now enjoyed Sun away from Finland almost 6 months and I can't get enough of it. Trust me, you don't need to endure 8 months of crap weather to appreciate warm, light and Sun. There is no other mood lifter like seeing Sun high up in the sky every single day - and most mornings. The more I spend time here, the less I miss winter, spring and autumn. Do I really want to come back?

Coromandel Peninsula

Day 164

"Home is behind
The world ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadow, to the edge of night"

Two weeks is almost up in Kiwiland. I have now barely scratched the surface of this beautiful country and I have this feeling like I'm rushing forward. I just don't understand people who say New Zealand is possible to explore in 10 days, yea right...

Last entry was written in Paihia waiting for bus to Whangarei. Well, didn't get to see much of Whangarei since my hostel was located 5km outside in small suburb called Whangarei Falls, named after big waterfall there. Place didn't hold my interest too much since only reason for my stopover there was divetrip to Poor Knights Islands. Oh boy it was so worth it!

Poor Knights islands was one of the first marine reservers in entire New Zealand and because of it, marine life is very preserved and rich there, amazingly rich if you ask me. I never thought subtropical waters had that much life, fish and color in them. It was just stunning, absolutely stunning to see it. Again, I kicked ass with air consumption :) On my both dives I was last to surface with divemaster(=guide) in our guided group. Amazing dives, so far easily best dives I have done in my short diving career.

Next day I was off from Whangarei and headed towards Coromandel Peninsula. Again, the transport system here just SUCKED! After 2 bus changes and 7 hours I finally reached Whitianga, very pretty township in heart of Coromandel Peninsula.

Coromandel turned out to be pleasant surprise where I could have spent 3 days instead of just 2. On the day I arrived it rained like crazy. Hostel was called On The Beach but even though it was within 50m from beach, I couldnt see the beach cause of the rain! Well, thankfully there were lot of nice peeps staying so we played Trivial Pursuit...which of course I won :DDDD Here is pic of the hostel.

Second day I rented bicycle and went to see the famous Hot Water Beach 20km away(yes, 20km with rented bicycle one way!). Special thing about the beach is that there are underground hot springs on the beach and you can dig a hole during low tide and have your own private hot spa. Oh well, place was pretty, no question about that.

...but as I got closer I noticed apparently I wasn't the only one there to dig a hole :(

Ok, so I set to work and started digging...which I did for hour until I started getting blisters on my hands and water in my precious hole wasn't getting any warmer. At that point I gave up, got on my bike and went to see another popular sight nearby, Cathedral Cove.

If Hot Water Beach was disappointment, then Cathedral Cove made up for it. That place was gorgeous even from distance.

After 45min walk through bushes I finally arrived at the sight and was just stunned. Place was amazing. Final entrance to this Cove was through huge cave which made it even more amazing.

Beach around the Cove was amazing as well.

Just amazing location, again. New Zealand seems to have these little natural surprises around each and every corner.

So today I arrived to Bay Of Plenty and its westernmost city of Tauranga after another 5h bus trip and 2 changes. My first impression is...really nice town! Finally a really nice and pleasant town. But more about Tauranga and Bay of Plenty on next entry ;)

Finally some thoughts about New Zealand so far.

New Zealand is beautiful country, there is no denying on that. It just might be the most picturesque country in entire world, yet for some reason I feel something is missing. Wherever I turn my head there is this amazing landscape which just drops your jaw but still for some reason I don't feel anything more, something is missing. I know now what it is, excitment aka danger.

See, in Australia when you started bushwalk there were these warning posts: "Be ware of Redbacks, Funnelwebs, Taipans, Brown snakes, Adders, Tigersnakes, occasional Cassowarys and don't walk too close to riveredge cause there might be Saltwater Crocodiles." Heh, after Oz this country feels like a bloody Disneyland. Tramping here is just ok, you know that you will get amazing landscapes, sceneries and natural wonders...but thats it, its just too easy. I loved bushwalks in Australia so much more because you had to be wary of wildlife, it was always possible to encounter deadly snake or spider and that always made walks much more fun and exciting...atleast for me.

Thats it for now, hopefully on next entry I can tell about the ultimate dive experience in world. It's still not confirmed if it will happen but I'm trying my best.