New Zealand Travel Log #01 - 03

Hello everyone and happy new year. I'm coming to you with another series of short logs, this time from marvelous New Zealand. Because my only device to write on is my cellphone (and I really hate to write on a cellphone), the logs are again rather short. But hear the promise: once I come home, I will dedicate a big article with lots of pictures to every country I have been to. I have a lot to share and I'm looking forward to do it.

So here we go:

15.12.2017 Log 01

My arrival to New Zealand was a great culture shock. After ten months spent in Asia one easily forgets the way of life we are used to live in the west. Auckland, where my plane landed, when compared with Asian cities felt lifeless, almost sterile. During my first walk in its streets I could see people sweeping, vacuuming and trimming it, so it looks neat and flawless. The streets were empty; no vendors, no screaming children, no dogs, no cows. No one is walking in Auckland. The city is spread over many hillsides and so it is quite large for walking. I had the possibility to spend my birthday on a beach, which was another of my dreams coming true. It made me very happy that my two Kiwi friends - Daryl and Daniel, who I know from the times when I used to live in London - made it there and celebrated with me. I've seen them after more than five years. Beside them it was my friend's Blood's friends, who were partying with me and it was a great bunch of people and a great party.

After one week in Auckland I looked forward to get away from the city. New Zealand is very expensive country and those seven days cut deep into my budget. Everything was sorted out so I went to hitchhike with Blood like in the good old days. Our first aim was for Tongariro national park. In two days it took us to get there I could discover the nature of North Island from the cars' windows. We rode through "The Shire" (a LotR filming location) and along the shores of Taupo lake, with great views of Ruapehu, the highest peak on the North Island. New Zealand is truly beautiful country. The fact that it's not populated too densely makes sure, that there is enough space for nature that is thriving and overgrowing: wavy hills, deep woods and crystal clear rivers. We got a lift right to Tongariro entrance by cool Spanish siblings.

With sunrise of the next day we were ready to start Tongariro alpine crossing trail. We started early to avoid crowds of people. This trek is so popular that it's being walked by as so many as one thousand people a day. We walked from the other end than the majority of trekkers, so we didn't meet a soul until we came to Red Crater, which is roughly in the half of the one day trek. Here, there was many people who got there from the other side, so we decided for an alternative: get off the main trek and extend our walk by one more day through "Mordor" (yes, another LotR shooting spot). We walked around beautiful Emerald Lakes before descending onto vast wasteland scarred by heaps of ragged black rocks. Peter Jackson couldn't find a better place. After we crossed Mordor (without being ambushed by orcs, fortunately), we pitched our tents by a beautiful mountain stream. From my tent I could see "Mount Doom" and that made me to contemplate how it had to be here for the cast of the movie, if those 25 kilometers were pretty tiring even for us, seasoned hikers.

Yesterday we walked the rest of the trail through an endless moor and left Tongariro behind. The same day we hitched to Waiouru and today - as it seems - we'll make it all the way to Wellington. Hitching seems quite easy and entertaining here, even for two guys. We meet a lot of easy-going people and apart from two exemptions we never waited for more than an hour. Since I left Auckland I like this country more and more.

22.12.2017 Log 02

From Wellington we took a ferry to the South Island and resumed hitching. We were taken to a town called Takaka on Golden Bay by a scenic route hugging the steep hills of northern shore. There we met up with Blood's friends Margot and Anna. Takaka is a well-known hippie town and it has an atmosphere similar to Glastonbury in the UK: the streets are full of shops selling strange clothes and even stranger accessories, that would barely find a buyer anywhere else but here. The very first evening in Takaka we strayed to a barbecue party with locals and after it we went to sleep on a beach. The next day I went to explore sacred Maori streams Te Waikoropupu.

The nature here is absolutely amazing and that is valid everywhere you go. A proof of that was coastal trek in Abel Tasman, where we went with the girls. Four days walk led us over beautiful hills covered by dense jungle and Manuka woods and through virgin beaches with various sea birds. I even saw a seal for the first time in my life and that made me really happy. Two nights out of three we pitched our tents right on a beach, very close to the sea and that was also new and nice experience for me. When you add the awesomeness of night sky that could be seen there, it makes it unforgettable.

Magnificent landscape of the South Island - those perfectly clean rivers, nice smelling forests and turquoise sea - made me to continue walking and so tomorrow I head into wilderness once again, this time on my own and for a week or so. Keep fingers crossed for me.

02.01.2018 Log 03

Happy new year to all of you. I spent the festive period off-grid, roaming in the wild. The inspiration for my first trip into the woods of Kahurangi national park came from an Austrian Sven, whom I met in a hostel in Takaka shortly after our rerurn from Abel Tasman. His description of walking in Kahurangi was so catchy, that I decided to do the same thing as he did: cross the park from one side to the other, using two treks Karamea and Wangapeka and get away by West Coast. And I didn't regret my decision at all - Kahurangi is less visited national park than these we've been to until now and in the week I was there I met only few people. Most of the time my only companions were old sombre wood, birds and eels. During those ninety kilometers I walked there I was frequently carried away by the beauty of nature. Mainly Little Wanganui saddle was place like from a fairy-tale.

After leaving the forest I hitched down south and it was much easier than I could ever dream of. The very same day I made it to Punakaiki, where I briefly visited so called Pancake Rocks, and to make it even better with dusk I arrived to Arthur's Pass, where - two days to New Year's Eve - I caught up with Blood once again, according to our plan. He had to skip the visit of Kahurangi due to a knee injury. We wasted no time and hurried to spend NYE in the mountains. And what celebration it would be without some spirits! Sticking to our tradition we packed up a bottle of whisky that helped us to cheer in one of many DOC huts around the pass. (DOC = Department of Conservation, big government body taking care of all that has to do something with tourism in the nature of New Zealand). To reach a rocky saddle that was on our way the next day was in result a bit painful, but that's just the way it is when you combine boozing and tramping.

Now we continue to a city again. This time it will be Christchurch - the biggest city of South Island - where we want to rest a bit before we come up with next plans. Since my arrival to New Zealand I have nearly three hundred kilometres on account and every single of them was worth the effort. I will repeat myself, but I have to write it again: this country is really beautiful.

Thanks for reading, stay tuned. March is the month when I will start posting more.