Kaikoura / Picton / Wellington, New Zealand

8th – 12th Feb

After my dolphin swim I headed through Christchurch and on up to Kaikoura.

I had to stop off at a cafe along the way for some food and drink. I happened to have my camera with me when I went to the toilet. LOOK! I had to take my bag with me to the toilet - it wasn't for another peeping session in the womens toilet! Anyway I took some pics of the jokes on the wall - I am sure you've heard them all before but seeing them on a toilet wall does make them funnier!





Once I got to Kaikoura I booked myself into another smallish hostel. As I could not go on a dolphin swim I decided that this would be the ideal place to do some Sea Kayaking so I booked myself onto a guided tour the next day.

Early the next morning I headed to the Kayak place and met up with the guide and the other people doing the tour. We were taken out to another bay just beyond Kaikoura were we would be going into the water.

We also met up with the rest of the group which turned out to be a French family of 5. Because each Kayak had to have 2 people we were all paired up. I ended up with one of the French couples kids – their small boy call Artonne or something like that. He was about 6 years old and could not speak a word of English. I nicknamed him R2-D2.

So off we went with me and R2-D2 bringing up the rear. Every now and then he would make a vain attempt to use his paddle but he soon discovered he didn’t have to as I was doing all the work.

It was a nice gentle trip and we seen a blue penguin as well as getting up close to some fur seals (yes penguins and seals AGAIN). No dolphins however although apparently its rare to see them when you are sea kayaking. Another lack of forethought on my account as I had hoped that we would be in the thick of dolphins when doing the kayaking – ah well there is always next time I am in New Zealand.


DM wants to paddle.


R2-D2 at the front of out x-wing - i mean kayak.


Blue penguin


R2-D2 is getting bored


So is he!

After the kayaking I continued my journey up the East coast to Picton where I would be able to get the ferry over to Wellington the next day. I booked into tombstone backpackers (so called because it’s just across the road from the cemetery – very jolly!). I picked this place because it got a good BBH rating and it was right next to the ferry terminal so I wouldn’t have to drive too far.

That night I had planned to go to some pubs in the town (the hostel manager said there was a good Scottish pub with live music) but the weather had other ideas as it started pouring down with rain all night. I ended up staying in the hostel and having an early night.

The next day I took the ferry over to Wellington. It’s meant to be a very picturesque crossing of 3 hours but all I seen was mist as we navigated through Queen Charlotte sound.


Wonderful Picturesque Queen Charlotte Sound!

Once I got to Wellington I discovered I had a large disadvantage in having a car as you had to pay everywhere for car parking. In the end I headed out of the city and found another remote backpackers called Moana Lodge. It was another one of those places were you left your shoes at the front. The place was about 15km from Wellington but you could get back into the city by rail – which I duly did. The weather was still not the best and I ended up in the Library on the internet for most of the afternoon before getting some grub in an Irish bar (an overpriced dish which they called Kerry stew).

Before I started getting too comfortable I curtailed my drinking. I would have to drive from the train station to the hostel at the other end so I didn’t want to be pissed when I did it. I ended up having another early night back at the hostel (I think I was starting to get withdrawal symptoms at this point!) Wellington was going to have to be another one of those places I would do on my return to New Zealand as the next day I headed inland to hopefully kick start my North Island adventure.

Things I have learnt.

I thought the place names in the South Island were bad until I got to the North Island. Most of the Maori tribes lived in the North Island so a lot of the towns and villages are still called by their Maori name. I have never seen so many weird place names - none of which I can pronounce:
Whararoa, Pakakarakarakakra (or something) Wakarara, Turangi, Whanganui, Wankers Wrist, Te Pokwawakaroa, Katikati, Kitkat, Kaik-marks-on-my-pants etc etc

Dolphin Swim - Akaroa, New Zealand

I'M BACK!! I have wifi in my new hostel in downtown Buenos Aires so Its back to the blog. I know now that I will never get fully up to date with it before I go home in 3 weeks but as I have no job to go back to and the world has gone to pot in the time I have been away I am sure I will have plenty of time to finish it off when I get back (of course I can go off and do some more travelling as well!)

First I forgot to add in the glossary update from my last post:

Glossary update:

W
Woofing: Woofing is an acronym which stands for ‘Willing Workers On Organic Farms’. Its an organisation primarily set up initially in Australia as a way of working for room and board on organic farms (obviously). Nowadays its used not only for organic farms in Australia but also in other countries and for other things – in the case of Chillawhile people were just working for their board through Woofing – most hostels have some of their guests doing cleaning and maintenance jobs for their keep anyway.

Here’s the website if your interested - except its now called Worldwide opportunities on Organic Farms (make up your bloody mind!)

Back to Akaroa:

7th - 8th Feb

Akaroa is a small seaside village about 70km south of Christchurch on the Banks peninsula. On the other side of the peninsula is Lyttleton the place I looked down on from the the top of the Christchurch Gondola. The Banks peninsula is actually the remnants of an extinct volcano and if you looked at it from above you could see the conical shape of the area.

I arrived in Akaroa just after 3pm on Saturday to a town full of weekend day trippers. I had not booked any place before arriving so was quite lucky to get a bed in the first hostel I tried called Le Bons Bay.

I was shown to my dorm by a middle aged English woman. It turned out that both her and her husband were themselves woofing in the hostel. In fact they were sleeping in the room next to my dorm. Nothing too weird about that except that in order to get to my dorm I had to go through their room! The whole place had too much of an old feel to it – which was confirmed by my bed linen which not only included sheets and a duvet but also a pair of slippers and a hot water bottle!


My OAP bed linen

I quickly got out of the place and did a roam around the town. First port of call was the dolphin place on the pier to confirm my booking for the following day. I wanted to make damn sure that I was going on this dolphin swim.

After that I walked around the area but quickly exhausted all the sights so I headed for one of the pubs for some grub and a pint. Once I had finished the grub (a healthy sausage egg and chips!) I did a bit more walking and happened upon of all things a sulphur crested cockatoo in one of the trees – not your normal New Zealand bird.


A weird garden - someone has a foot fetish!


Cockatoo

I tried to stay out of the hostel for as long as possible which meant trying to get a compromise between drinking and having a clear head in the morning. The second bar I ended up in was showing the final of the Wellington sevens rugby tournament between New Zealand and England. It was a frantic game which England won in the very last play of the game much to the disgust of everyone in the bar.

Finally I went back to the hostel, through the English couples room (thankfully they were asleep) and into my own dorm which already had 2 or 3 other young people in bed.

Early the next day I got up and out for the dolphin swim. Swimming with dolphins is one of those 101 things to do before you die and this was my second attempt at it. I even paid for a cheap plastic camera with underwater casing – similar to the throw away ones you get but with the advantage that you could actually use it again and again with new films.


Unfortunately DM could not come with me as I might lose him :(

We were soon on our way fully kitted out with wetsuit mask and snorkel. It wasn’t long before we seen our first dolphins – 2 or 3 of them. Boy were they small! Unfortunately these ones were too intent on feeding to bother with us. For the next 2 or 3 sightings it was the same thing – the dolphins came and had a look then swam away.

Finally a group of them decided to hang around and we were in business. We quickly got in the water (there were about 8 of us swimming) and waited for them to come up close. Some people were given stones to knock together in order to make sound waves in the water.

The next 40 minutes (that’s how long you are allowed in the water with them) were probably some of the most comical in my life. These tiny dolphins (about 1,5 metres) were darting in between our group while everyone was trying to get photographs of them. There were only about 10 in total but sometimes it just seemed that every time I looked one way the dolphin would appear just behind me. I actually thought it was like a scene out of a bad pantomime – he’s behind you – no he isn’t – Yes he is.

The experience did not turn out to be the life changing event I had anticipated. For one thing the dolphins were just too quick and the water was too murky to get a good look at them underwater. For another thing my photos when I got them developed turned out to be probably the worst shots anybody could ever take. My only excuse is that with digital cameras these days I am used to having what I see in the view finder on the actual photo. This camera was the old type – view finder at the top, lens in the middle. This resulted in great shots of my fingers!

Worst underwater shots ever

I have to say I still loved the experience and would do it again – with a bloody good underwater camera this time!

Things I have learnt:

Even if you are ‘touching cloth’ as I was after my swim it pays to make sure there are urinals in the public toilets you have just entered. I did not and soon realised I had inadvertently gone into the women’s toilets. (the sanitary towel bucket was another giveaway). Before I could rectify my mistake two Kiwi girls came in to go to the loo. I had images of myself being carted off in a police van to the sex offenders centre so I decided to just sit it out (literally). The two girls both went to separate cubicles – one right beside me – then proceeded to shout a full conversation while ‘doing the business’ – I thought they would never shut up! Eventually they left and I quickly cleaned up (wiped my arse) and ran into the men’s loo so that I could wash up and cooly exit the facilities as if nothing had happened.

Featured Animal:

Hectors Dolphin.

The dolphins I was swimming with are called Hectors Dolphin. It is only found in New Zealand is the smallest dolphin in the world and pretty rare with only about 7,000 in existence. Thankfully New Zealand has set up marine reserves in areas were they are most common – like the Banks peninsula.


Hectors dolphin


There is also a subspecies called the maui dolphin which inhabits just one area in the north island. This species is one of the rarest dolphins in the world with little over 100 specimens. With that number things do not look good for its survival as it only takes 2-5 deaths a year from boating accidents or net entanglements to produce a reduction in the numbers.

More info

End of blog (for the moment)

Things I have lost / broken

I´m afraid that I might have left my usb pen in the computer the last time I updated the blog which means that its gone. So until I buy another one I have no way of updating the blog from my laptop. I should be able to get wifi in Buenos Aries but until then I am going off line - sorry.

East Coast of South Island, New Zealand

4th - 6th Feb

For my last week on the South Island I drove from Stewart’s Island right up to Picton so I could get the ferry to Wellington and have at least 2 weeks to do the North island. As a result I missed out on some places and stayed all too briefly at other places.

Surat bay - 4th Feb

My first nights stop was at a place called Surat bay which consisted of the hostel and about one other house. I had looked at the hostel in the BBH guide and it got a good rating so I thought I would give it a go.

I arrived at around 6pm having had the good sense to get some provisions as the place was stuck out in the middle of nowhere. The manager was quite friendly and the place turned out to be really nice and homely – you had to take your shoes off before entering (Not sure if that was a good thing with my smelly socks! I decided to do a wash to ensure I had fresh ones in the morning). The reason why I picked such a remote place was because it was right beside a large beach which just happened to be one of the only mainland places where New Zealand Sealions come ashore to sleep and rest. After dinner I went out for a walk on the beach to see if I could find any and to watch the sunset.

I wasn’t disappointed on either count. There were several massive bulls sleeping on the beach. You could get right up to them if you wanted but there were warning signs saying not to get too close as they can attack if provoked. I decided to keep a safe distance and took some photos of from afar as well as the sunset. It was a great place to hang out for a night. After I got back I tried to book myself on to the dolphin watch in Kaikoura but was disappointed to find out that it was fully booked for the next 2 weeks. Instead I booked myself on the one in Akora which is not supposed to be as good but is with Hector Dolphins – the smallest in the world and very rare.

The next morning I got up early and did one more walk on the beach to get more shots of the sealions before heading off to my next stop.

People I have Met/Seen

Another good thing about going to hostels off the beaten track is the interesting people you can meet there. I met an English woman who has been travelling off for the last 8 years - 4 of which included living with a tribe in Borneo. I also met a nice American couple who had also given up the rat race and have been travelling for the last couple of years – I gave them a lift to their next town while they talked about how all other Americans seem have lost sight of what life is all about.

The rest of the people in the hostel appeared to all be Germans who were also nice but one of them (a girl) asked if I slept well the night before. I replied tentatively ‘Yes I think so’. To which she replied ‘Yes I know – I heard you!’. The cheeky bitch was talking about my snoring!


Oawaru – 5th / 6th Feb
I wasn’t sure were I was going to book into after Surat Bay. All I knew was I had to be in Akoroa on the 7th and I wanted to get to see Mount Cook. I got to Dunedin in good time and decided to go out to the Albatross colony at the end of Otega Peninsula. On Otega peninsula as well as the only mainland royal albatross colony in New Zealand there is also a Yellow eyed Penguin colony as well as places to watch blue penguins and New Zealand Fur seals.

Unfortunately I found out that in order to see the albatross colony you had to pay $40 for a 1 hour guided tour which I thought was extortion so I declined. There was a very good FREE visitor centre which I perused and you could see the albatrosses flying overhead at a distance – I even got a couple of photos. There was no point in even trying to see the penguins as they did not come ashore until dusk so I had to be contented with seeing some fur seals on the rocks below the albatross colony. (Yes more seals!)

After going back through Dunedin I decided to go to Oawara where you can see both Yellow eyed and Blue penguins. The BBH guide mentioned 3 hostels in Oawara. I decided to try the first one called Swaggers backpackers but when I tried to get in there was nobody there. The other one called the Empire hostel was right in the middle of the town which was good for seeing things but not very good for parking, That left a place called Chillawhile which was quite far out from the town.

This place turned out to be probably the best hostel I stayed in in New Zealand. It was a large colonial house which also doubled as an art gallery. The place was full of all sorts of pictures as well as loads of instruments including a piano. It was also one of the cheapest hostels I stayed in at $20 a night for which I was able to sleep in a massive room which had a king size bed and two sets of bunks – I have been in other places where they would have put 10 beds in the same size of room.

But the best thing about the place was the people. The owner Kerry( or was it Kelly – can’t remember now!) lived in the hostel with her daughter Saul. There was also her live in nanny Louise who helped out with reception. Practically every other person in the place was woofing (see glossary) which left only about 8 or 9 people like myself who actually paid for accommodation. I still don’t know how they made any money. I had intended to only stay there one night in order to get to Mount Cook the next day but I soon decided to knock Mount Cook on the head and stay two nights instead.

As I already said Oawara is another place where you can see both Blue and yellow eyed penguins. I was told by Louise that the yellow eyed penguins come ashore any time between 6 and 9 pm at a secluded beech at the other side of the town. Then there is the blue penguin parade at about 9-10pm which, like at Phillips Island you have to pay to see – but if you go and sit near the car park you can see some of the birds come ashore for free.

I went to the ‘secluded beach’ for the yellow eyed penguins which turned out to be a beachhead complete with cliff from which about a hundred other people were trying to look down from to catch a glimpse of the penguins coming ashore. A penguin parade it most certainly was not. In the hour I stood watching I managed to see 4 penguins waddle up the beach – 3 of which were about 500m away up the other side of the beach. The other one I nearly missed as if came ashore directly below where I was – still about 100m away on the beach below. I think most of the other people watching were very disappointed by the lack of spectacle – I actually loved it – it had a far better ‘wild watch’ appeal to it – better to see one or two than none at all.

Next I drove to the Blue penguin place which was nearer the town. I parked my car near the seafront and waited for the free penguin watch. I was just about to give up when at about 10:15 people started to leave the paid penguin parade and a group of penguins finally made their appearance. They were underneath some shrubs by the water waiting to get across the road so they could get up to the cliffs and their chicks.

There was a lot of excitement as people scrambled to get flash photographs of the birds as they huddled together. I felt really angry at the assholes who obviously thought nothing of scaring the birds with their flashes (which I am sure they were not allowed to use in the actual parade) while the birds were trying to get to their hungry chicks. Eventually the people got bored and moved off which allowed the penguins to finally cross the road and get to the cliffs beyond.

I went back to the hostel content that I had seen everything I had come to see.

The next day I did a lazy walk around the town and then went to the supermarket. I had been told that for this Friday the hostel was doing a Pot luck dinner where everyone who wanted to take part made a meal for sharing with the rest of the people in the hostel. It was another one of the things about Chillawhile that made it a really friendly place to be.

I decided to make some chilli and got all the ingredients ready for putting together for the 7pm feast. The only problem with Chillawhile was their two very small kitchens – one upstairs and one downstairs which were now both full of people all trying to cook things for the pot luck fest. I had to contend with one guy making meatballs and another making fish curry. It all became a bit chaotic but finally I got my chilli on and let in simmer while I put some herb bread in the oven. At around 7pm everybody more or less got their meals to the table. There was all sorts of food from my chilli to muffins and scones. As part of the event each person had to say where they were from and what meal they had created – I obviously said that I made a traditional Irish meal which just happened to look like a chilli!

After the food a large group of us walked into town (which takes about 40 minutes) to go to a place called the penguin club which was has an open session every Friday night. The place was basically a large shed with a stage at one end and a bar at the other. For an open session anyone can go up on stage and play , sing or jam with anybody else they want. It made for a very interesting night.

We arrived to hear a girl singing away and she was very good. That was followed by a 3 guys who at first made a complete balls up of their first song but soon managed to string together a couple of songs. One of the people who came with us, Sven a German ended up on stage doing the drums for most of the night while another guy played guitar. They were both brilliant and were able to jam well with anybody who tried their hand which included a couple on whistles and tom toms.

The whole night was very unusual – I wouldn’t say the music was brilliant but when you realise that some of these people had never met before you get to appreciate just how good they are to make any thing. It certainly made a change from the usual disco or cover band. After another 40 minute walk we all ended up back at the hostel at about 2am and I fell into bed.

The final good thing about Chillawhile is the checkout time which, unlike most other hostels is at 12 or there abouts. I said my goodbyes to the people I had met and started out for Akora and my dolphin swim.

facebook photos

I have included facebook photos in stewart island post as well

Hola

I am now doing my last volunteer placement on my travels at a place called El Eden near Cordoba (well 3 hours from Cordoba!) and this is the first time I have been able to get to the internet for updating the blog.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that I will have a lot of time on my hands to write posts and should be able to download them from time to time so I should be able to catch up with myself (hopefully). I probably won’t have time to download many photos however so you are just going to have to rely on my witty prose for info.

Keep checking for updates.

Adios for now.

Stewart Island, New Zealand

3rd - 4th Feb

Stewart Island was another of my ‘must see’ destinations in New Zealand and one of the reasons why I opted for a car rather than a bus pass.

I drove from Queenstown to Invercargill in time for lunch and after much flapping around eventually managed to find the local Information office where I was able to book the ferry, accommodation and an evening guided tour on the island all for later on that day.

I actually had a whole afternoon to kill in Invercargill which from what was available is a lot of time!

I found the obligatory Irish pub and had my obligatory bangers and mash. In my time of travelling around Australia and New Zealand I was starting to become an expert on Irish pubs and their bangers and mash (I have never found proper champ). This was by far the worst I had ever tasted. The sausages tasted awful – I wasn’t sure if they were actually supposed to taste like that and was pretty sure they were off. Being a true softy I did not complain and tried to stomach as much as I could before leaving half of it (had to finish the pint however!)

I was at a lose for something to do in the afternoon then I remembered that the Information centre was actually part of a museum complex so I went back and asked how much it cost to go in. Nothing was the reply – you can leave a donation at the end of your visit.. Exactly what a backpacker wants to hear.


As well as being a museum and art gallery they also house a rather impressive tuatara exhibit.

Featured Animal: Tuatara

The tuatara is a reptile which has been around for over 150m years. It may look like a lizard but the two species are in fact the only remaining members of a very old line of reptiles and they only exist in New Zealand. The Invercargill museum has been successfully breeding the commoner species Sphenodon punctatus (don’t ask me how to pronounce it!) and have over 50 specimens. It has also been trying to breed the much rarer Sphenodon guntheri which only exists on one off shore island. All remaining wild tuatara from both species are confined to off shore islands due to introduced pests killing off all the mainland animals.

Heres more info from Wikipedia.

As well as the tuataras the museum houses an art exhibitions (mostly modern art and not really my cup of tea) and a rather good exhibition on Maori culture. There were also ones on local history including one about the ‘Worlds Fastest Indian’ which at the time I skipped over but now wish I hadn’t. Two weeks later I happened to watch a movie staring Anthony Hopkins which was called the same name. Its about Burt Munro who successfully set the world speed record for motorcycles (under 1000cc) in the 60’s using a vey old make of motor bike called Indian.

Again more info from wikipedia (hey I’m lazy!)

For the entrance fee of nothing (I did pop $2 into the donation box) it’s a very good museum and deceptively large as I ran out of time walking round it and had to motor down to the Stewart Island Ferry.

The trip over to stewart island took about an hour and was pretty choppy. It also has the distinction of being one of the most expensive foot passenger ferries I have ever been on - $120 return which is scandalous! Once on the island I quickly made my way to the backpackers and booked into a rather small 3 bed cabin – which luckily I had all to myself.

So whats so special about Stewart island? 26,000 Kiwis that’s what (The bird not the people) Stewart island does not have any stoats (it does, however, have rats and possum) this has meant that kiwis do rather well on the island. In fact it is only place in New Zealand where it is possible to see them during the day.

I thought all I had to do was arrive on the island, go on the evening tour and I would see loads of the wee critters. As per usual I had not done my homework. When I went on the evening tour (with an Irish couple from Cork/Kerry and an old American couple) I quickly realised that we were not going to see any kiwis and in fact in order to have a good chance of seeing them you had to go to the other side of the island which takes two days hiking!

Because of that I was slightly disappointed with the evening tour as our guide only managed to show us 1 possum! In fairness the tour does not claim that you will see kiwis or any other wildlife and is more geared towards history and flora – I should have looked more closely before I booked it.

The next morning I had to make the decision to either stay longer on the island or get the ferry back that day. After the disappointment of the previous night I decided to get off the island that afternoon but before going I booked a return boat trip to Ulva island which the Irish couple recommended – and I am so glad I did.

Ulva island is a small island in one of the bays of Stewart island and has been irradicated of all intoduced pests including rats and possums. This means that only birds exist on the island.

The ferry over was actually just a small boat which a local guy charged $20 return for the 5-10 minute trip to the island (again a bit of a rip off but I didn’t care) It went from a bay just over the hill from Oban, the main (only!) settlement . Once on the island you can walk around marked trails searching for the elusive wildlife.

The 3 hours I spent on Ulva made the trip to Stewart Island all worthwhile. It was full of birds which seemed to have no fear of humans at all. I seen loads of Tuis but also some birds I had not encountered before such as the saddleback which does not exist on the mainland and red and yellow crowned parakeets. The Stewart island robins were especially easy to get close to – one hopped right next to my leg at one point.

The only down side to the trip was that as well as the other people who came on the ferry with me there was also another boat with a guided tour and three further lots of middle aged american tourists from a cruise ship anchored in the bay. I kept bumping into at least one of these groups – complete with their state of the art headsets so that everyone could hear their guide. As well as the headsets they all seemed to wear brightly coloured raincoats, walking poles and stupid leggings. I just thought that it would be a nightmare to be on that cruise ship surrounded by such people!

Once back from Ulva I made my way back to the hostel via a marked track around the coast and then headed back on the 3pm ferry to the mainland.

3 hours later I was in my next hostel up the east coast in the heart of the catlins area of New Zealand..

Animals I have seen:
Saddleback
Stewart Island Robin (subspecies of New Zealand Robin)
Yellow crowed Parekeet
Red crowned Parakeet
Kaka (smaller relative of the kea)

Animals I HAVE NOT seen
Kiwi – any species!

facebook photos

Millford Sound, New Zealand

2nd Feb

Milford sound was one of the ‘Must do’ items on my list and one of the reasons for hiring a car because I thought it was off the bus routes. So I had to justify to myself why I ended up getting a bus tour there rather then driving. The justification was easy. It was a 4 hour trip there from Queenstown and a 4 hour trip back. I just would not enjoy doing such a trip in a day and I did not think I would have enough time to do it over 2 days. In the end it was a very god decision.

We all boarded the bus at just after 8am and our very Kiwi bus driver took us on our way while giving us information about various lakes, mountains and towns.

We passed by lake wakitipu and its dramatic mountain backdrop (used in lord of the rings) and on through farmland (a good time to catch some shuteye) until we reached Lake Te Anau and had a stop at the town of the same name for some much needed breakfast.

Then it was onwards to the sound up into the spectacular mountains which seemed to get higher and steeper as we went.

Eventually we came to to the homer tunnel set into the mountainside and only wide enough for one set of traffic at a time. We had to wait for our turn to go through which meant that everyone could climb out of the bus and take in the massive cliffs that surrounded the valley. There was even the obigitory kea trying to scrounge some food off the tourists.

Going through the tunnel was quite spooky as there was only a few feet left on all sides for the bus then we burst out into the other side and could see the long windy road down to the fiord beyond (used in several sportscar ads).

We arrived at the ferry at about 1:30 and immediately boarded and started getting our large free bufet lunch (part of the package). I ate mine as quick as possible (which for anyone who knows means VERY quick) as I did not want to miss a minute of the scenary outside.

We steamed out of the harbour and spent the next 2 hours cruising in some of the best scenary I have seen in my life. The cliffs and mountains rising straight out of the sea were just breathtaking. We even managed to see some dolphins (though I did not get a got photo of them)

Towards the end of the trip we went close to one of the waterfalls and anyone at the front of the boat got a real soaking.

The final part of the trip was to a specially constructed underwater viewing platform. Because of the amount of fresh water that enters the sound there is a layer of fresh water on top of the saltwater with the result that the waters become very dark very quick. The platform was built to show off the black coral and fish that wopuld normally be down at least 50m but could be seen at 10m.

It was quite good but after 15 minutes looking out from the cramped, floating platform I started to feel very queasy and wanted to get back on the boat and back to the pier.

The bus ride back was uneventful and everybody just tried to sleep.

After a quick shower I went across to the Ferg bar with some of the Kiwi Experience crowd and had possibly the largest messiest burger I have ever had in my life - accompanied by the largest chip - I could not even eat half of them. Then it was on to my last nights drinking with the Kiwi bus crowd.

As per usual we started in the base backpackers bar but quickly moved onto the world bar where I decided to indulge in some of their cocktails which came in teapots! you drank the concoction through the spout.

I also seen on the list of shots a thing called an Irish car bomb which was made up of a jameson and bailey shot in a glass of dark ale. You dropped the shot into the beer glass in the same way as a jagger bomb and then drank the nasty result. I thought it was funny at first to see something called an Irish car bomb but then In my drunken haze I started thinking about all the people down the years that have been blown to pieces back home by them and I startd to feel really angry at the use of the name. How would a yank feel if they called a cocktail the 911 aircrash? How would a Spaniard feel about a shot called the madrid trainbomb - its just not right!

I went to bed very drunk and quite angry vowing to give them a piece of my mind the next time I went to the bar - which obviously didn't happen as I left the next day to go to Stewart island.

Here are my photos of the milford sound trip



Glossary update

S
Sweet (as) Kiwi term used in just about every sentence to describe that things are good and ok. Our bus driver used it ALL the time as did every other tour and bus operator. It was actually quite quant.

Things I have lost/broken
Nothing - I actually found a nokia mobile phone charger in my room which had been left there by some other forgetful person so I nicked it for my own use - sweet!

Apology

Another quick post to apologise for not updating the blog for over a week. This is due to circumstances beyond my control.

I am now currently in Mendoza which is in Argentina.