Ok folks, I’m at it again, my good friend Matt Doyle and I are off on ‘The Great Australasian Jaunt’ starting first in Sydney, Australia for 5 days then onwards to Asia starting in Indonesia. When Matt arrived in New Zealand we decided our trip needed a title or theme. While still in the US, Matt came up with J.A.U.N.T. Journey’s of An Unemployed Traveler so it kinda stuck.
Like all my visitors, I like to get them right into the adventures, so after getting Matt from the airport started off at a Wilbank Wildlife Reserve just north of Christchurch with the objective to see a kiwi. Our original plan to go down to Stewart Island to see a kiwi in the wild was quelled because of time and expense. We indeed saw lots of native and introduced species of birds and small mammals, as well as a kiwi in the ‘Nighthouse’, because they are nocturnal. I think the one we saw was a bit neurologic because he kept running the same pattern between a tree, a tussock, and the fence. Even the insane Kiwi’s need a home! We drove out to the Banks Peninsula and had an ice cream in Diamond Harbour then headed down to Ashbuton for dinner and drinks with my friends from the vet clinic. I think Matt was a bit tired by that point but we had a great time!!
The next day was a bit gloomy and cloudy but we headed up to Arthur’s Pass and stopped at Castle Hill for a climb on the rocks and some lunch on top of a big boulder. In Arthur’s pass we walked up to a waterfall instead of going up the track we had planned on due to time and the weather being dodgy. Matt got his first glimpse of the cheeky kea bird, as one climbed all around the porch of the café as well as the campervan and my car looking for any morsel of food that he could con off a person. Back in Ashburton we had been invited to dinner by Jenny and Kate, the mother and daughter that I stayed with for the first few weeks I was in New Zealand. Jenny has a Dexter cow and calf that she raised and had recently butchered one named Mary because she kept jumping out of the fence. So we had Roast Mary and she tasted GREAT!
The following day we headed off on our tiki tour of the south island, but before we left I taught Matt how to drive my manual car and we drove quite successfully down to the Waukanui beach and back. We headed to the Mt. John Observatory near Lake Tekapo for a look around and a coffee, then drove to Mount Cook and camped at Hooker valley campground, making our first dinner with my camp stove and the mess set my parents gave me for Christmas! Thanks Mom and Dad!! It worked bloody great! We hiked out to Hooker Lake which is made from the glacial melt from the Mt. Cook area. Two hours, two swing bridges, and a lot of silly behavior, we made it there and saw the ice chunks in the sooty lake and river that flowed through to the Hooker Valley.
From there we headed to Queenstown where we found a campsite on Moke Lake, a secluded campsite 11km up a dirt road back into a station with lots of sheep. The next day we went white water rafting and had a blast! The water level was down so we didn’t have any class 5’s but there was still plenty of excitement to keep us smiling and hooting! Afterward we made our way down to the Catlins and camped at a very wind campsite in a flax field on the coast. We saw some yellow eyed penguins and some seals before the weather rolled in. With a southerly blowing down and the coastly weather coming off the sea we were hard pressed to cook our dinner on the wee stove. We found a pavilion on the coast that was partly protected but I still nestled close to the stove to keep the wind from blowing it out while we cooked our rice and veggies, with curried lamb chunks. That night it rained quite a bit and we woke up to a lot of water in our tent so instead of sticking around we showered in the coin showers, and pulled up the tent and stuck it in the trunk. We made our way to Dunedin and went to the art museum and the Cadbury chocolate factory where they gave us lots of chocolate as well as a giant chocolate Easter egg!
After our night in the rain we decided we were done with the camping and got a hostel for the night, amazing what a mattress can do for your demeanor after a week of camping! We headed out to the Otago peninsula the next day to try and find some wildlife, more penguins and seals were found but the weather still be dodgy we went on our way. Outside Dunedin we stopped at the Moeraki boulders and took some crazy pictures on the rocks and being giddy in the water and just enjoying being silly, then stopped for some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the boot of the car somewhere around Timaru. I had forgotten about the greatness of peanut butter and jelly! Every other nationality I meet thinks I’m crazy for combining those two condiments!
Back in Ashburton we did our last load of laundry and had tea with Barb and Ross. BBQ chops and spuds, with salad, so simple yet SO tastey! Then it was full on packing and getting everything I owned into a backpack for Asia or a suitcase to store at Amy and Alex’s until I return in August. Amazing how much you accumulate even when you are not trying to accumulate.
The day we left I missed Barb to say goodbye officially, but she left me a little gift. Some compressed NZ towels, perfect for traveling and a little possum finger puppet! It was decided that it would become our traveling mascot and Percy the Possum was going to travel around Asia and we’d document his route. I have Garth, a friend now living on the north island of NZ to blame for this as he suggested everyone should have a traveling mascot
No comments:
Post a Comment