Of dolphins, seals, kiwis and Kiwis. 

New Zealand is awesome. Period. It is all the synonyms of ‘stunning’ sewed together in a sentence.

The 10 days I spent there last month passed a little too quickly for me. I like to call it the degustation plate. I could only briefly touch both the north and south island,but now know at least enough to know where I want to spend my time when I go back. (Yes, when, not if…)

Auckland is lovely. Landed there to a gorgeous 27 degrees and had to change out of my boots and woollen dress, the weather forecasts had warned me against. Drove around the city…Viaduct, Mission Bay and Mt Eden. And a lovely dinner to round it off. NZ gave me a very warm welcome.

Next day, inspite of the rain, decided to go up to the Waikatara ranges and do some hikes. I’ve always thought there was something romantic about being in the forests during rains. And being there with a long lost friend made it all the more special. Spent more than an hour sitting by a waterfall talking about life and lost loves, relationships and religion. And everything else in between.

One always yearns for friendships one can savour, ones where you can be away for years and then pick up the threads where you left them. I am lucky and grateful to have more than a few of those… And this rainy afternoon filled with laughter and emotions proved that once again.

From that unknown waterfall, we walked straight onto another planet. Or so, it seemed. KareKare beach was my first black sand one, and I wasn’t prepared for this when I entered it after a walk through dunes and bush for about 20mins

All of a sudden, the grass cleared and I was looking at what Earth might have looked like at the start of the planet. No other human being could be seen as far as we could see, and the dead skeleton of the tree somehow added to the eerie beauty of the place. I must have stood spell bound for minutes, taking in the high cliff, the angry waves, the black sands and the complete isolation. I will not deny, I had goosebumps. 

Next day was quite different. Went to the Sunday market, and walked around nibbling on blueberries and baked treats, tasting manuka honey at every other stall, and looking at local handicrafts. As the rain turned heavier, headed to the car for a quick drive around the city and up to Takapuna and Devenport. Takapuna beach had completely encroached the banks and there was no beach left! Walked around some more, talked some more and ate some more. Including one very delightful stop at the ‘Sweet Chimney.’

With the north island adventure over, headed down south to Christchurch. Living in Australia, I thought I was prepared to see CHCH as an earthquake ridden city. But renting the car and driving into the city, I realised I wasn’t. The CBD is still cordoned off and had to take a detour to get to the motel. Sobering drive. And enough to pique my interest to go see more of it.

After a slight delay in the motel, headed off to see what damage had actually been caused to this lovely garden city. And let me tell you, it was a lot. Several sections of the main city were gutted. Buildings with gaping holes, and wires pulled out by the ferocious tremors were proof enough.

Christchurch was like a beauty scarred. Inspite of how badly her face was hurt, you could see how beautiful she must have been. The river, the old cathedrals, the bridges and the gardens. It hurt just thinking how a few minutes could change that, and a year later, with no one on the roads, made it clearer that unfortunately, she was being abandoned.

To shake off the sober mood, went off to hunt for some local clumsy birds! Being the oldest island to have been been discovered, NZ has been able to maintain its endemic wildlife, before the rats and rabbits took over, meant there still are some birds there that are quite rare and not found anywhere else in the world!

Now, you will notice a similarity in all birds of NZ. They all waddle and personally, I think, they would all make exceptional cartoon characters. True Story! I think the road runner had it easy as they didn't have to compete with a 'Kakapo Show!' 

Having no natural predators, most birds here do not fly. But being quite big birds means they are all quite entertaining and adorable!

It was kinda awesome, as we walked around the Willowbank park looking at all the different bird species we hadn’t seen before, and almost treasure hunted the Kiwis, which were hidden away almost at the end of the trail. As the birds are nocturnal, they are kept in dark cabins and very hard to see. I earned my dinner by spotting one first. Yay me!

Next day was reserved for dolphins in the cold and freezing Akaroa. The hector dolphins are small and live in twos and threes. As I was freezing in my two layers already, did not even contemplate going into the water to swim with them. Also, to be honest, they were kinda boring. I had seen lots of dolphins before and these weren’t any different, except for the fact that they are quite rare.

Almost as if the dolphins heard me and at the Daily All Hands decided to make me take my words back, they sent out the dusky dolphins in for a charm attack. The attack was to take place the next day at Kaikoura. …And wow, did they win! Dusky dolphins live in super pods of 100-300 and are very very frisky and playful! They are a thrill to watch. I got some amazing shots of them, though I was mostly just watching them with my mouth open..

Oh, yes, and retched. It was a bad day to be on the sea, and the entire boat was sea sick. The swells were high, though of course, that didn’t stop the dolphins from having their fun. They sped, glided, and twirled all around us.

So, ok, yes, dear dolphins. Here's a written apology: You win. You are awesome, and I am still smiling as I write this out!

However, being out on the seas in bad weather meant, it was an early night, but not before some really nice food at The Green Dolphin, and a visit to the seal colony we stumbled upon. …And NO, we didn’t keep going back and looking at them, again and again, who says we did? Who says? ....Ahem.

Talking about seals, if looking at them lazing on the beach is awesome, it is awesomer to be kayaking around their colony! In one of my most memorable days of the trip, we went around the seal colony, kayaking over the much calmer waters now, bobbing up and down as the fur seals waddled around, or swam looking for food, or simply lay on their backs, thermoregulating themselves, by sticking their flippers out of the water. … Yes, they do that!

By now, I was falling in love with Kaikoura and thought it was timely to walk her cliffs and beaches to make the bond stronger. There is a lovely hike that goes up to Point Kean from where you can see stunning visages of the ‘sky meets earth’ type. The sun played its part well, by coming out for a bit, and showing us what NZ is all about.

To round off a great day, it was time to go across the country onto the west coast, through the much famed Arthurs Pass. (which apparently, the Maori knew about, but didn’t tell the colonisers until much later! ..Ha! Now that is one of my favourite stories, I have to tell you! )

Talking about stories, here’s one for you. The one where I almost died. 
You see Arthurs Pass is the only pittstop you can take if you are driving across the country. And you see, the village consists of one motel, 2 restaurants and 1 convenience store… All of which close at 8pm. (which BTW, Lonely Planet reports it as 10.30 pm) So, if you arrive at 8.45 pm, it essentially screams, NO FOOD! ..And as you can imagine, after a 4.5 hour drive, that is not good news.

Thankfully, for my rich imagination which always assumes I will go hiking some day, lose my trail, and will have to spend a night in the woods, I always carry nut bars with me. I have often been made fun of what my tiny day pack carries, but mind you, my friends, if I am writing this today, it is because of those very nut bars!

So 2 nut bars, a few swearings and lots of wingeing later, it was time for bed. After impeccably planning that we need to get up at 6.30am, have breakfast at the iconic Arthurs Pass café at 7.30 before heading to the Franz Josef Glacier. Turns out I am not a good learner..coz turns out the café (or anything else for that matter) didn’t open until 8.

Hence, with more swearings and a grumbling tummy, we left the Pass to head off into the Kiwi wilderness again, hoping to find some place which served breakfast soon enough. Or else, it might be time to either knock on some farms, or simply butcher a cow or sheep, which seemed to be plentiful anyway.

Thankfully Hokitika came soon enough. After some food, and making amends with my tummy, it was time to conquer the blue glacier of Franz Josef! It was my first time seeing one, even if it was slightly weird walking through a rain forest to see one. The ice was blue, and it was quite intimidating thinking how old the ice in there must be.
As interesting the whole experience was, (and quite educational for my nerdy self) I have to say it didn’t quite do it for me. It could have just been how touristy the place was, and the way the place is run. I was slightly disappointed at the almost cookie cutter style of tours running in the place. But then, I wouldn’t know how to do it any other way. All in all, interesting but not a very fulfilling day.

Getting to Mt Cook national park which was the next stop in my itinerary took almost a day. Pitt stops at Lake Matheson (which was slightly disappointing..) and Wanaka were necessary to break the journey.

With that said, this was the most gorgeous day scenery wise. High mountains, ultra marine blue and turquoise lakes, rolling hills, wild flowers on the road side, gushing rivers and undulating plains..New Zeland was everything the LOTR promised us. I might have spotted a few horsemen of Rohan racing through the fields. This, exactly, was the dramatic scenery I had come to NZ for. 

Hiking in the Mt Cook National Park and seeing the Tasman Glacier was another highlight! The park is absolutely gorgeous. Its an experience to be had, and I would not be doing justice, no matter what pictures I post, or words I write. It’s a shame I had only a day to spend there, and staying in the park next time I’m there is definitely a good idea. Lake Tekapo, for all its great reviews, missed its mark with me.

Of course, it could have something to do with the 3 bedroom house, and basement with an axe, of a ghost house we stayed in. But that’s a story for another time.

Now, I know I am guilty of an overuse of the words beautiful and lovely in this post. But I had run out of words to define the stunning, jaw dropping loveliness of the country. It is unspoilt, and diversely landscaped. Not to mention the amazing Kiwis. They are extremely gracious hosts and genuinely nice and helpful people. (except when driving, and to Aussies, as it is claimed ;-)) It seems to be the kind of country that just makes everyone happy to be there.

I also happily noticed that the Maori were better intertwined with the Kiwi life. Much much more than the aborigines in Australia. I know my Aussie friends will be uncomfortable with me saying this, but its true. I’ve noticed that from all the streets, cities and ranges that have Maori names to how easily they are a part of the working society.

I only hope Australia can do the same some day.

All in all, I am definitely going back. So much more to see and do. 

For my complete set of pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150550896391682.372008.543981681&type=3