Travelling to the South Island (New Zealand) part 1

 

So far in New Zealand I have spent my time in the North Island and it was definitely time that I went south to have a look at the island most people recommend you visit when you come here.  I will be travelling south again in March to visit the inland areas and the west coast, but it was looking like we wouldn't be able to fit in the east coast as well so I decided to make a trip there on my own.  I also have family on the east coast, so it would have been a shame to travel all this way and not actually visit them.  I was on a pretty strict budget on this trip so most of the places that I visited were either free or I wanted to see enough to warrant spending the money on them.  

Most of this trip was done on Intercity Bus using the FlexiPass and that actually turned out to be quite a cost effective and easy way of getting around.  It meant I didn't have to worry about driving, factoring fuel costs etc into my budget, and also meant that I got to look at the scenery as we drove by.  I would definitely recommend using something similar when you're travelling, just be aware you can't charge your gadgets most of the time and the WiFi didn't always work. The only problem for me was that this method meant that I only really got to see the towns and cities along the coast.  However, I knew that I was going to get to see more of the wilds later, so this just seemed like the most sensible option.

My first night was spent on the over night bus travelling from Tirau to Wellington.  Needless to say I didn't get a whole lot of sleep until the people sitting next to me got off - then I got to lie down over three seats and got about 2 hours kip.  Not to say that you wouldn't sleep getting this bus, but I've never been particularly good at snoozing when travelling and I was prepared for that.

My first stop was still in the North Island at Wellington.  I really liked this city.  It felt busy without being packed, and actually had quite a relaxed atmosphere.  There are quite a few very fancy shops there (as you would expect for the capital), but there were also some nice green areas.  

I had organised to meet up with some people there to talk paths so I decided to give myself two days there to see everything, and I actually probably could have done with more.

The first day I spent having a general wonder around the city and getting to know it a little better.  Then I headed to the Te Papa National Museum.  This contained a good selection of Maori artefacts and items connected to New Zealand's history in general, including the much debated Treaty of Waitangi.  So far the natural history sections I'd seen in museums here hadn't been great but Te Papa has really very good and, if it hadn't been rammed with people, I would have stayed there for hours.  

They also had quite an intense but important exhibition on Gallipoli during the war and I of course had to visit the Alice in Wonderland exhibition, which was a lot of fun.

Next was the Wellington Museum which contained a lot of maritime and local history.  For such a small area this place contains a lot of artefacts that give you a real picture of the by-gone eras.  My favourite bit was the section where you could see how a cabin used to be.  I always like noseying at the space saving ideas they have and that I store away in the back of my mind to hopefully user at some point in the not so distant future.  

I was pretty tired from travelling so I decided to go back to the hostel (Nomads Capital Backpackers) and relax for a bit before I meet up for some path building geeking.  Then the next morning saw me up early, all bright eyed and bushy tailed (who am I kidding), to do some more site seeing.  I knew that I wanted to spend almost all my morning at Zealandia and so I caught the first shuttle bus I could get there.

Zealandia is a pretty amazing place.  Just 2km west of Wellington it is an ecosanctuary which is, I believe, just under 30 years old and is trying to restore the area back to how it was before humans arrived.  Walking through the trees I couldn't believe how successful the regrowth has been.  

You'd think that it was centuries old, not decades. Some of the birds breeding there have been so successful that they're now moving out into the city, making tui kaka, and kereru pretty common sites now.  

Seeing the birds were pretty amazing and I particularly enjoyed watching a kaka feeding, so unconcerned by my presents that it actually moved to a branch right in front of my face.  Unfortunately no sightings of tuatara though, but there's still time.  

To be honest I could have happily stayed there all day, but I was leaving the next and I still had a couple of other sites I wanted to go to.  So I popped back onto the shuttle bus and headed to the Botanic Gardens.  These gardens don't cover a large amount of land, but they fit in a good variety of species and habitat types into that area.  

I did a good meandering loop around to try and catch as much as possible, but it definitely didn't take me as long as I thought it would.  I then treated myself to a Cable Car trip back down to the centre.

Once I had dropped off some layers at the hostel, the day had definitely gotten hotter, I headed west to walk up Mount Victoria (felt more like a hill to be honest) to the lookout, making a little detour to look at a Lord of the Rings filming location.  

Before you get too excited (like I did) the filming location is a little disappointing, but at least I can say that I went and it meant that I got a much longer walk.  The views of Wellington and the surrounding area were pretty amazing and well worth sweating through the hot weather  After that I decided to call it a day, but there's still quite a bit of Wellington to see, maybe some other day.

Day three of my travels was basically dedicated to travelling from Wellington to Kaikoura.  First was the Interisland Ferry across the Cook Straits to Picton.   This was a pretty smooth, but very windy trip.  So windy in fact they wouldn't let us on desk 10 until we got into the Marlborough Sounds area, and even then it was quite a struggle to move around up there.  

However, it was worth being blown around a bit just to get the views, though wildlife did seem to be few and far between. Based on some advice I decided not to stop at Picton, but now I wish I'd at least spend a few hours there.  I may be coming through here again, in which case I'll put some time aside to have a proper look.

And then it was back on the bus from Picton to Kaikoura.  I had been told that this was a very scenic route but I have to admit that the first half wasn't great as it mainly consisted of a wasteland of areas that used to have trees.  It was only when we passed Cape Campbell that we got views of beautiful aqua seas and blue skies.  Much more of what I was expecting.

Kaikoura is a lovely little town, which definitely has a more hippy vibe to it.  Though, if you're expecting golden sandy beaches you'll be very disappointed.  More of a grey, sort of gravelly beach which leaves a sooty types material on you.  

My main reason for stopping here was to walk the Kaikoura Peninsula with the hope of seeing fur seals, mainly at Point Kean.  They turned out to not be too visible actually at the Point, mainly because the changes made to this coast line by the 2016 earthquakes has meant that they now sit further out to sea.  

However, once I had walked around the peninsular a little bit I saw a lot!  There was even a pup creche I got to just watch for a good hour that was well worth the uncomfortable seating on sharp, jagged rocks.  I also got to see some red-billed gulls nesting and shearwater which was an added bonus.  The views on their own were also incredible.

I did try and go to the Fyffe House, which is located on the route to the Kaikoura Peninsular, but unfortunately it was closed as they were having to renovate after the damage done by the earthquake.

I then headed of to the little Kaikoura museum.  This was a nice, little museum, and had some interesting information about the 2016 earthquake.  I had thought about doing one of the whale or dolphin watching trips, but they were just a little bit out of my price range really and I also heard that there hadn't been a lot of sittings by those who had gone out in the days before, so I decided not to go and keep it on my list of things to do.

I spent the last couple of hours before I had to jump on the bus window shopping and then sitting on the gravelly, grey beach enjoying the sun whilst pretending the chilly wind wasn't there.

Next stop - Christchurch where my Uncle and Aunt live.  I got to stay with them for a few nights, which was really nice and also meant that I could use their knowledge to see some good sites.  Day one there saw me and my Aunt being true tourists in the centre of Christchurch.  

We hopped onto the Christchurch Tram as a way of getting around the centre.  These are restored trams which act as tour guides around the centre of Christchurch.  The drivers give you a running commentary of the area they drive through and you can get off and on again as many times as you like in a day.  It's mainly history based facts, but you do get some more recent information as well, especially about the 2010 earthquakes that devastated the city and from which they are still rebuilding.

I had heard that the Cathedral in the centre was beautiful but that was a no go as it was very badly affected by the earthquake and can only be viewed from behind a fence.  However, we did get to see a few other things I had on my list.  

The Canterbury Museum was really lovely and I particularly liked the Maori displays, the reproduction of Fred & Myrtle's Paua Shell House is a little bit nuts, and it was interesting to walk through the reproduction of a 19th Century Christchurch street.  And who knew that there were penguins basically the same height as me - I certainly didn't.  I also spent a bit of time looking at the Antarctic exhibited that they have as it tied in nicely with the book I was reading at the time, 'I may be some time' by Francis Spufford.  I have to say, those trips have always fascinated me.

Conveniently, the Botanic Gardens are right beside the museum so, after a cup of coffee we had a nice walk around for as long as we could stand as the temperature was beginning to hit 34∘C and I'm certainly not designed for that anymore.  

We also had a look at a couple of markets dotted around the town and my Aunt very kindly brought me a beautiful pounamu (greenstone / jade) necklace.  It's a Toki, which was originally a tool and is associated with great mana (a supernatural power which can be inherited or transmitted), power, and honour. 

We also pottered around a bit to see things like the Dragon in the River Avon ready for Chinese New Year and the Bridge of Remembrance.  It was a lovely day and getting to use the tram instead of walking in the heat was definitely a blessing, but I have to admit that so was getting back in doors. 

We had a little time to spare so we decided to have a quick drive around to have a look at some of the beaches.  We first drove to the very popular and very packed Sumner beach where we couldn't even find a parking spot.  So then we headed to the not so packed, but just as blue beach at New Brighton.  The sea looked very inviting but we opted for ice cream instead and the pier is definitely very different from the ones at old Brighton.

And that seems like a good place to stop with this post (it's already getting long enough).  It had been a pretty good start to visiting the South Island and set me up for all the walking I was going to be doing in the second part of the journey.