Kiwi Experience: Seals, Sea Lions and Spectacular Scenery

7th - 8th June 2014

Back onto the bus then with some new people and a new driver, Roger. We left Dunedin and headed south to the Catlins and our first stop was Nugget Point, one of New Zealand's more iconic sights.

Nugget Point

There were a lot of seals along the rocky coastline as well as on the 'nuggets' which is quite impressive as they are quite steep. We spent about half an hour here walking along the coastline and watching the seals.

Nice

We went further down the coast to look at the sea lions. I thought seals was an abreviation of sea lions but they are actually different animals. Sea lions have longer front flippers and move around on the back flippers whereas seals move around on their bellies.

I was surpised by the size of these animals. They were bigger than a person and weighing a hell of a lot more, they could easily knock you off your feet if you get too close like some of the more stupid people on my bus were doing. This family of sea lions seemed quite happy chilling on the beach. They weren't bothered by us at all. Well at least until a couple of french girls basically chased them into the sea.

After lunch in a cafe we visted a couple of waterfalls the second of which were quite impressive. It had been raining the night before so there was quite a lot of water coming over the falls.

I should have at least waved!

The last stop of the day was at a petrified forest. On a Tuesday for a few thousand years ago there was a forest here that got fried and all the trees turned to stone which I didn't even know was possible but there you go. You can still see the lines of the tree truncks in the rocks.

Stone trees

Stone tree

This place is also home to the yellow eyed penguin, the rarest penguin in the world. We saw one straight away looking for his mates who had gone fishing - im guessing. We arrived just as the sun was setting which is the best time to see penguins coming back from a days fishing. When I was in Melbourne we had to wait till twilight but the driver wanted to leave about 10 minuites after sunset so we missed the best time really which was a bit annoying. Just as we reached the bus we saw another one crossing the rocks from the sea to the bush.

One of the worlds rareest penguin

Dramatic sky

We spent the night in Invacargill which has been described as the 'arsehole of New Zealand'. It didn't seem all that bad but we were only there for 12 hours. We went to the bar next door to watch the All Blacks narowlly beat England and then when to bed.

Mirror Lakes

The next day was our trip into the Milford Sound, something which I have been looking forward to for a long time. It was a really foggy start to the day and it wasn't any better when we met up with the main Kiwi bus which Mangee was driving. As we got closer to the mountains, however, the fog started to break up. It gave this very dramatic picture of the mountains from Mirror Lake. If you look in the picture you can see they put the sign upside down so that you can read the reflection.

Huge!

Around every corner the mountains just got bigger and bigger until we found ourselves in a steep valley which a large mountain in front of us that they had blasted a tunnel through. We stopped off at a creek which had worn away the rock to make it look like a water slide through a deep canyon.

Shame about the bus

Long way down

We arrived in Milford Sound and jumped on a boat to go on our tour around the mountains. The Milford Sound is not actually a sound its a fiord, the difference being that a sound is carved out by a river and a fiord is by a glacier.

Milford Sound

Fiord or Sound it doesn't really matter, the place is stunning. We were really lucky with the weather. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the low winter sun made the mountains look very dramatic. Its one of those places that no amount of pictures or video can really capture the immenseness of this valley

Awesome

Super Awesome

Super super awesome

On the way out to sea we went up to a cliff face where was a waterfall and stuck the front nose of the boat in it so that people on the front viewing deck would get wet. Its supposed to make you look ten years younger. There was a larger waterfall on the other side that we would visit on the way back and you can see the size of it compared to the boat thats infront of it.

Steep

Rainbow in the waterfall

Big waterfall

From the sea

Super awesomeness of awesome super

We went out to sea turned around and came back. It was such a good trip and I was so glad it had been sunny for it given that the west coast is a very wet place! We jumped back on the bus and made the long trip back to Queenstown where I had a very exciting week ahead of me!

Life On Pause

16th May - 7th June 2014

I overheard a conversation in the hostel between the new owner and a woofer asking him to stay and work for a bit longer as a night manager. He didn't sound too keen and as I'd heard that there was zero jobs in Queenstown at that moment, paid or otherwise, I thought I'd stick my ore in. I told them I had worked in similar roles before and they seemed quite happy so I ended up staying in Dunedin a few weeks rather than just a few days.

Manor House Backpackers

Whilst this was great, as I would be saving a lot of money on accommodation and any potential nights out and activities in Queenstown, it did mean I was incredibly bored. There isn't a lot of stuff in Dunedin and as my foot was still causing me to limp everywhere, I couldn't go on any long walks. This meant I mostly did nothing for the 3 weeks I was in Dunedin.

View from 'my' office

The hostel itself is a very unique one. It was essentially an old house that had been converted which meant it felt more like a communal house than a hostel. It even had a super old till that you had to wind to open. This made me laugh when it pinged open the first time!

Stone age till

My hours where 5-9 everyday plus I had to keep the phone on me all night in case of emergencies like if someone is locked out. In exchange for this I got my own private room with a double bed! I mostly watched TV and played Lego Harry Potter whilst I was "working" as there was very little to do. The boss was quite happy for me to do this. She told me my main responsibility was to 'be available'. I'd have to check one or two people in everyday, take the bins out once a week and the rest was just handing out internet cards. Very easy.

The Octagon

Other than that it was just a case of trying to fill my days. I explored the city on my first day before I even started working at the hostel. Dunedin is gaelic for Edinburgh and there are a lot of ties to the city's scottish routes. When graduating from Dunedin University, for example, the guys must wear a kilt as I found out when the centre of the city was cut off for the graduation parade.

Whats all this?

Band playing some scottish music

Probably the most iconic building in Dunedin is the railway station which is quite impressive inside and out.

The railway station

That would take some effort

I went to Otago Museum which was described to me as second only to Te Papa in Wellington. It was a good museum with lots to see but to compare it to Te Papa is miscalculated as its nowhere near that good. Auckland museum would probably be the one that's second to Te Papa. I had a look around the ship section and the natural history bit. I was surprised by the size of birds that used to roam around the South Island relatively recently, easily over 8ft.

A boat for the borrowers

Whale

Huge birds!

I met up with Emily for a few hours whilst she was in town. We drove around the peninsular for a bit and went for a KFC. It was nice to catch up and hear the goings on in Franz Josef - not much had changed!

On my last night before I started work I got chatting to some people in the hostel and we attempted a night out. That failed when we found there was no one in town and all the bars shut early. I thought this was a student city?! We ended up drinking a few beers in a campervan that a couple of them were staying in.

Picture of a selfie

I went to the Settlers Museum which tells the history of the city of Dunedin. It was interesting but I didn't spend very long here. My favourite bit was the box that contained a smart phone, a USB and an Ipad! Apparently these things are in museums now!

Old campervan

Makes you feel old!

There was a day of real excitement when I woke to find a couple of centimetres of snow on the ground. I hadn't seen snow in 2 and half years so this was very exciting indeed! I walked to the shop and back but that was it. It was already really wet and slushy so it wasn't too fun but it looked nice! Queenstown had had about a foot!

Snow!

Snow snow snow!

Dramatic sky

I did my medical at the doctors in town so that I can apply for my second year visa. My first year will expire about half way through the ski season so I needn't to extend. It cost me nearly $500 and the visa will cost another $165 so it was pretty expensive. I'll only get another 8 weeks use out of it but at least I'll earn back what I spent.

My foot was slowly getting better. Well it was getting a lot of rest! I decided to test it and went for a walk around the botanic gardens. There had been some decent weather for a while and it was another fine day. That seemed to go well so I walked to the beach a couple of days later. It may have been sunny but it was far from warm so there was no chance of going for a swim.

tree

St Kilda Beach

In my last week in Dunedin I went for a much longer and harder walk up to Signal Hill lookout. This was quite a climb along BMX tracks through a forest but it was worth it. The view from the top was really good. It nearly killed me getting there and back as I had basically been sat on my arse for weeks. There was a rock at the top that had come from the very hill that Edinburgh Castle is built on which I thought was cool

The forest

Dunedin from up top

Rock from underneath Edinburgh Castle

War memorial at the top

That was my time in Dunedin. I said I didn't do that much! All of the above could have been done in three days but I managed to spread it out a bit. It served its purpose though. I didn't spend any money and I left closer to the start of my next job. I still have a few weeks but it was time to see what there is left to see on the South Island then head north.

Kiwi Experience: Back on the Bus

11th - 16th May 2014

Whilst working in Franz Josef I formed very strong opinions of the people that are part of the Kiwi Experience. I found that an alarming number people just use it as one giant pub crawl and have no real interest in seeing an experiencing a new country. Now, that's not all of them. I'm not judging everyone. I for one started off on the bus and made friends on it that weren't complete retards.

Jumping back on the bus, however, after dealing with all those morons over the summer did not fill me with excitement at all but it was the cheapest way for me to get around and I'd spent a lot of money on that ticket so I'm bloody well going to use it! I still had the rest of the south island to see and, as I had a ski job starting at the end of June, I had a lot of time to kill.

By some very strange coincidence the driver who took me away from Franz Josef was the very same driver who had brought me, Toddy. He managed to squeeze me on to a full bus by having me sit in the spare seat on the steps next to door. I didn't mind. I hadn't banked on the bus being full given its very nearly winter.

Very Misty

The first stop today was a very misty Lake Matheson where, on a calm clear morning, you can catch an awesome reflection of New Zealand's highest mountains, Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. I was still hobbling due to my foot injury so I didn't make it round to the best viewpoint but the view I did see was stunning.

Which one is the real one?!

Mount Aspiring National Park

We did a few stops at lookouts as it was such a nice day. We drove over the Haast Pass and around Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea which looked awesome in the sun.

Lake Wanaka

Lake Hawea

At every stop I kept meaning to talk to some people on the bus knowing that they can't all be bad but every time I was about to make an attempt I decided against it. I wouldn't be staying with them that night in Wanaka because I had already booked my accommodation separately as it would be cheaper so there was no real need to talk to them. I am aware that I was being very narrow minded but it was just how I felt at the time.

I checked in Base Wanaka for a bargain thanks to a new website I discovered that tends to always have the cheapest rooms in town and I was surprised how good it was. Base backpackers are always a bit hit and miss but this one had a light and plug socket to every bed which is an absolute luxury for a hostel. You would normally get 8 people trying to plug in to one socket.

In Wanaka

I met up with Miesha who I had lived and worked with in Franz. We went the cinema with a guy Miesha had met at her campground called Martin and an American I had been chatting to in the room. The cinema is a rather unique one with sofas instead on normal cinema seats and a couple of cars you can sit in. We opted for the sofas but the whole way through Spiderman 2 I wanted to go sit in the car!

Cinema

The next morning I had my interview for Cardrona. I had managed to convince them to move my interview to the Monday as they had emailed me the previous week asking my to interview on Friday. That would have given me less than 48 hours to get from Nelson to Wanaka which is just not possible without your own car. So I thought I would be the only one interviewing that day as they had originally said that they would be finishing interviews on the Friday before but there were other people there too.

Me and another girl were both waiting to be interviewed by people who hadn't turned up to work yet. When they arrived we went on a walk around the building trying to find somewhere quite to do my interview and we ended up in a storage room filled with staff uniforms. The woman who interviewed me seemed really bored and uninterested. She didn't take any notes or have anything with her.

I left the interview thinking I'll be really surprised if they offer me a job and if they did I wouldn't take it. The whole thing seemed really unorganised and the job itself didn't seem that interesting. It sounded like I'd likely be either sat at a till or stood at the coffee machine every day. I decided to take the job up at Mount Ruapehu as I got such a good vibe from the place when I was there. As it turned out I missed the cut for staff for Cardrona but they put me on a reserve list in case anyone rejected their offer but I told them it wasn't necessary.

Puzzle world

I went and met up with Miesha who was with Sharn. She had come down for a couple of days for Miesha's birthday. We went to puzzle world which was still fun even though I had been before. I remembered most of the maze but I still got stuck a couple of times.

Miesha squeezing one out

Leaning!

Sharn is the tallest person in the room - unusual

The next day was Miesha's birthday and we had to dress up. Martin came too with his dog and a guy called Phil and Jason who was in Franz for a bit in January. We went to a charity shop I picked out the most random clothes. I had a pair of bright blue trousers that I've kept since because I think they are awesome! Most of the others went for blazers which looked relatively normal next to me but ah well.

Woof!

We had a few beers at the YHA where Jason was staying and then we went to an Irish bar where we had a proper Irish car bomb. Then we went to Mint bar which was empty except for Lefty (stray driver) and a few off his bus. Everyone started pole dancing for some reason.

I'M BLUE!

Just come work ya

Pole dancing

Getting a helping hand

I met everyone next morning a Kai Whaka Pai Cafe (pronounced Kie Fack a Pie. yep!). Everyone was a bit hungover and the waitress was kind enough to take a picture of us in our hungover state.

EUGH!

That was pretty much it for Wanaka. The next day I was back on the Kiwi bus and this time Jess was the driver. She had an overbooked bus so she asked a favour and I once again sat in the spare seat next to the door. You do get the best view of the landscape from there. This time I managed to bring myself to making conversation with people on the bus. We stopped off at a farm shop that sells heaps of fruit (skipped on that) and then we went on to the Kawarau Bridge.

The base at the K bridge

The Kawarua Bridge

Now, I had completely forgot that this was a stop on route to Queenstown and I very much considered not going into the building incase anyone in there knew me. I went in and I saw Welshy who was always in charge of the AJ Hackett crew whenever they came up to Franz. I really wanted to hide because I knew what would happen but I kinda owed her an apology for being a douche the last time I saw her so I had to speak to her.

Not again!

Yep! That's what happened! I spoke to her and of course she forced me to do a jump despite my protests! There wasn't really a reason for me not to do it especially as it was free. She also told the instructor to be extra nice to me! I was told I had to do it backwards. I was surprised to find backwards was actually easier than forwards. You are not looking down and when the instructor gently pushed me on the chest I fell backwards and I didn't have to think about it too much.

AHHH

It wasn't half as scary as the Nevis. I got dunked too which was the 'be extra nice' bit and it was bloody refreshing! The water was so cold, not that I was even paying attention to the temperature of the water at the time. Had I realised we were going to the K Bridge I would not have worn my Nevis t-shirt. Looked like such a nob but never mind. Again, I'm glad I did another bungy, especially without injuring myself this time, but that's enough now. STOP MAKING ME DO THEM!

Dunked

I'm wet now!

woo

Here we go again

After that rather unexpected event it was on to Queenstown which was just how I remembered it, spectacular. I got chatting to a girl in my room, Joana, who was in town interviewing for Coronet Peak for the job I got rejected for! We went to the bar for a few drinks before a couple of her friends came and then had a few more beers. Then we went to The Find which was full of people and I had even more beers. There were a few drivers in there so I was chatting to them for a while. Jess was in her usual state.

The Ramarkables (walls of mordor)

Queenstown

I only stayed in Queenstown the one night as I was planning to stay there until my new job started so I hopped on a much smaller bus on the way to Dunedin.

Clyde dam

We stopped off a little place called Clyde which was like stepping into a retirement village. It was a very small place with seemingly only old people and a dam. I had to hobble to the chippy as I'd pulled my damaged foot the night before.

Clyde

Then it was on to Dunedin where we visited the steepest street in world, Baldwin Street. I hobbled all the way to the top and back and it is bloody steep. I would not like to have to walk up and down that every day, nor drive up it. There's a set of steps on either side rather than a pavement. Then it was on to the hostel.

Baldwin Street

Steep!

I planned to stay in Dunedin for a couple of days as a friend from Franz, Emily, was going to her  home but my plans quite often have a habit of changing.