Rob Roy Glacier Track

Let me just start off by saying today was AMAZING!

I read in my guide book that there is a popular track 30-45 minutes west of Wanaka that is 3-4 hours return. Jon and I set off out of town in my car to the west on a road that quickly turned from tar sealed to gravel. After driving for 30 minutes on the gravel and not seeing any other cars, I came across this amazing herd of deer. Check out the video here:

We kept driving for another 20 minutes on this road that then turned to dirt with river crossings. I said to Jon "If we don't come to a sign for this track in seven minutes(because then it would be a round number on the clock) we must have missed the turn off and we will turn around". When the seven minutes had passed in the distance we could see a green sign, we drove to it and it told us we only had four more kilometres of driving before we could get started. For a popular track this thing was poorly signed.

The track itself was really nice, it started in a field with sheep in the distance and a river running to our right. We followed the river to a suspension bridge (which you can tell from my previous post that I really like crossing) into the woods. One side of the woods had trees and winded up the hill, the other side was a sheer cliff face. On the cliff was this giant waterfall:

At the end of the track were views of the Rob Roy glacier. After the hike we drove back to Wanaka and stopped at the lake to take some quick pictures and came across a guy who was taking his hovercraft out on the lake. Check out the video of that here:

Jon and I drove through a town called Arrowtown, where all of the trees were changing colors for fall and looked pretty spectacular. There was also an elementary school with a jungle gym obstacle course that Jon and I raced on and you can see from this photo who the victor was!

I have one last video today of some sheep running in the street followed by all of the pictures from today.

Click on the picture below to see all of today's pictures:

2012-04-19 Rob Roy

Way to Wanaka

Up until now I have mostly been travelling by myself and finding it hard to meet people at the hostels. The people I have met at the hostels in New Zealand are very different from those I encountered in Europe. There tends to be more couples or groups that aren't interested in socializing with anyone outside of who they are travelling with here.

I met a 22 year old British guy at my hostel the other night and have been having a good time hanging out with him. He was also heading south and I offered him a ride in my car down to Wanaka. Along the way to Wanaka I took a 3 hour round trip detour to Jacksons Bay where my guidebook(Lonely Planet New Zealand) said there would be spectacular views of the Southern Alps and penguins. As we got close to Jackson's Bay, I saw this sign and got very excited:

Sadly the only thing in Jacksons Bay is a small fish and chips shop that over looks the pretty bay.

At night Jon and I went to an Irish pub and saw a really fun band called Assembly Required. They got everyone up and dancing and did a good job of mixing songs together in a really fun way. Check out a video they posted of themselves online here:

Tomorrow Jon and I head to Queenstown. Check out all of my pictures from today by clicking on the picture below:

2012-04-18 Wanaka

Fox Glacier...crossing the rope

Click above to see the video, Click below to see the pictures:

2012-04-17 Fox Glacier

Alex Knob Track - Franz Joseph Glacier

Click above to see the video, Click below to see the pictures:

2012-04-16 Franz Joseph & Alex's Knob

Drive to Franz Joseph Glacier

I was pretty sad to leave Arthur's Pass as it was really pretty but quite excited to get to Franz Joseph Glacier. When the GPS says its going to take three hours to get somewhere it usually takes me more than five hours to get there becasue I pull over at every sign that I see along the way.

Arriving in Franz Joseph, I checked into my hostel and then drove to the parking lot for the Glacier and walked the 40 minutes to get to the base of the Glacier. There are a bunch of ropes up blocking people from going too close to the Glacier. The only way to get any closer is to pay a guide to get you closer, which seems like a real scam to me. Particularly because they make you stay so far back, unless you pay. I'm sure there is an element of danger, and there are a lot of dumb people out there, but still. The glacier was cool, but it was also a bit disappointing that I had to stay so far back.

At night I walked down a trail in the dark and saw some glow worms sticking out of the root of a giant tree that had fallen over. I tried to take pictures but they look like stars in the sky with the flash off and you can't see them when the flash is turned on.

Check out all of today's pictures by clicking on the picture below:

2012-04-15 Drive to Franz Joseph Glacier

First Video Blog

Check Out my first video Blog above, I know its really rough, but I think it will get better.

You can also view all the pictures from the day by clicking on the picture below:

2012-04-14 Arthurs Pass

Akoroa and Castle Hill

I felt bad leaving Christchurch after one night and not really doing anything so I decided to drive 45 minutes in the opposite direction from my destination and and check out Akaroa. Akaroa is a small fishing town Southeast of Christchurch on a peninsula. There wasn't much going on there so I just took some quick pictures and headed out back towards my destination for the night Arthur's Pass.

I'm using Google Maps GPS to get me around and it had me drive down this ridiculous gravel road for 20 KM (12.5 Miles). I kept thinking "This cannot be the quickest way". It was thick gravel that put up this enormous dust cloud. Unfortunetly I didn't take any pictures, I was too focused on getting off the road alive.

Once back on a real road, I came across a place called Castle Hill, with large limestone rocks that you can stop at and play around on. This place was used in the filming of the Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. I tried to take some self takes:

Kinda looks like I'm pooping:

I Fell Off:

I couldn't turn around fast enough:

I gave up and just turned around:

Check out my other silly pictures and the amazing sunset pictures hereby clicking on the picture below:

2012-04-13 Akoroa and Castle Hill

South Island

I decided that I couldn't stay in the North Island forever. Everyone has talked about how amazing the South Island is and I wanted to check it out for myself. I headed down for two weeks of travelling.

New Zealand is great in that it doesn't take itself too seriously and has a happy outlook on life. Some examples I had previously seen are this DB Export commercial: On my Air New Zealand (It would be nice to get a commission for all this name dropping) flight to Christchurch they showed this video as we prepared to take off. It is absolutely hilarious and a great introduction to the Kiwi sense of humor(humour). On the not so entertaining side, I flew into Christchurch which is still reeling from the 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people and destroyed most of the buildings in the center of town, which is cordoned off behind a fence as unstable buildings are taken down by demolition crews. They city has set-up shops, restaurants and bars in shipping containers where some buildings used to stand to allow there to be something in the downtown area.

Here are the pictures I took:

2012-04-12 Christchurch

Tongariro Crossing

We caught the bus at 7 AM to the start of the trail and were told that we could catch a bus back to town at either 3:30pm or 5pm, any later than that and we would be in trouble. The trail is 19.4 KM (12 miles) and we decided to hike two additional side trails for a grand total of roughly 23.4 KM (14.5 miles). "The entire length of the walk (except for the final descent through native forest) is through raw volcanic terrain. The three volcanoes in the area are all highly active and the terrain reflects this. Solidified lava flows, loose tephra, and solidified volcanic lava bombs abound. Large amounts of minerals are brought to the surface and are highly visible in the colours of rocks and ridges. Active steam vents called fumaroles abound on several sections of the walk, constantly emitting steam and sulphur dioxide gas into the air and depositing yellow sulphur specks around their edges. The famous lakes and pools on the walk are deeply coloured by the volcanic minerals dissolved in them. Some areas feature large springs emitting near-boiling water and torrents of steam. The terrain underfoot for most of the walk is either sharp edged new volcanic rock or loose and shifting tephra, mainly ash and La pilli. In some crater areas it is finer ash that has become moist and compacted." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongariro_Alpine_Crossing)

We did amazingly well and finished before 3pm, in plenty of time to catch the early shuttle.

The sun was shining, the skies were clear and it was an absolutely AMAZING day. It is definetly in the top two hikes of my life and was by far the most spectacular in sights.

Check out 127 pictures below:

Easter Weekend

New Zealand has 9 Great walks, which are the premier walking tracks in the country. The best one day tramp/hike/walk is known as the Tongariro Crossing, and is also one of the best single day hikes in the world. The hike takes place in the Tongariro National Park, which is located in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand.

On the way Janelle and I stopped in Tauranga for the night and then headed down to the National Park. We also stopped at Karangahake Gorge and Mclaren Falls.

Check out the video of a surfer in Tauranga here:

Check out the pictures from Karangahake Gorge Here:

2012-04-06 Karangahaki Gorge

Check out the pictures from Mclaren Falls Here:

2012-04-07 Maclaren Falls

Terrible Internet

The internet in New Zealand is not good and is really expensive. You have to pay for it everywhere and its not fast or doesn't always work even when you pay for it. As a result I haven't been updating my blog, it's also partly because I'm lazy. I'm currently staying at a hostel where I have unlimited (super slow) internet and I'm going to take advantage over the next two days and upload all of my pictures / blogs / videos from the last few weeks.

I have also decided to start doing more videos in my blog, which I think is more fun. I'd like to also hear from you what you think about them.