New Zealand Summed Up...

New Zealand was an amazing place full of adventure and peace! No matter what you are looking for, you can find it in New Zealand. It is beautiful landscape with a rich culture and since NZ government took away the right to sue for personal injury, you can find any extreme sport you like here. I spent about a month here and it was not nearly long enough. I wish I had planned to stay for 3 months, that is the way to do it there, take your time and hang out in some of the smaller towns and get to know the people better.
As I was only there for a month, I spent most of my time on the road, but this is half of the reason people go to NZ, to see the sites from the road. I spent each night in a new town. As fun as this is, it is also a little hard on the body, a different bed every night! I met some good people and made many traveling friends. I would love to go back someday.
As for the rich culture, NZ is definitely a unique place in this regard. First of all it is Polynesian culture in a cold climate... a bit odd if you come from Hawaii. Another thing that was cool from the perspective of a Hawaiian resident was seeing their faces. The Maori (NZ indigenous people) are from the same place that Hawaiians are from and look so similar. Because they are from the same place their language is very similar, but yet different. The pronunciation on everything had a weird twist I couldn't quite get a handle on. But the thing I found most amazing about their culture was how it wasn't lost. I mean the Hawaiian culture isn't lost per say, but it is buffered and not really upheld in the day to day living styles of most locals. Where as in NZ the culture is preserved and very much still in the daily practices of most villages. The Maori's were able to accept colonization and melt it in with their culture as to not loose themselves, but also let the king and queen of England believe they were following by their rules. This allowed them to stay true to themselves and keep their culture rich with newer generations when they were pulled to new age luxuries. It is very interesting how they are so at peace with colonization and lived with it in harmony. Today it shows through because everyone there, Maori or not, are educated in the Maori ways and feel they are part of their culture. To be fair, these days the cultures are so intertwined, that most New Zealanders have a little of both in their blood and take pride in knowing the ancient ways. New Zealand is truly beautiful, inside and out!
Below are the accounts of my daily activities through New Zealand. They are in chronological order with the most recent at the top, so start reading from the bottom up! The dates of each post are inaccurate as I forced them to be as if I posted them in April when my tour through NZ ended as to keep the events of my travel correct in the navigation bar to this blog. However, as I have been a bit slack with getting time online, south island was only posted today (6/1/08). I hope you enjoy reading my adventures as much as I enjoyed writing them, reliving each moment! :)

South Island of Kiwi Land! a.k.a New Zealand

APRIL 4-6, 2008
Christschurch, last stop for New Zealand!
Christschurch was a great way to end a very active and exhausting tour through New Zealand. This is New Zealand's second biggest city, but it doesn't feel like it. I did not do much while I was there except sleep in for the first time in a month and catch up with the girls. 'The girls' being a group of girls I had befriended doing my tour through the north island. They went on to the south island before I did and I was able to catch up with them at our last stop. We were all there chillin until going on to Australia. We just had a couple quiet nights drinking wine in the hostel and sharing many laughs! It was a good time. I did go to the botanic gardens which were serene, huge and beautiful. It was nice to stop and smell the roses before heading off to a new adventure in another country!

My last night I spent the night at the airport as I had to be there at 3 am and didn't see the point in paying for a hostel at that point. Much to my amazement, the airport was full of travelers all doing the same. I slept behind the check-in desk of Air New Zealand and woke up the next morning with a ridiculously soar throat. I got on the plane and waved good-bye to what was now one of my new favorite countries! I LOVE NEW ZEALAND!!
APRIL 2-3, 2008
Milford Sound and the rest of Queenstown
I was in Queenstown for a total of 3 days. This is a great little backpacker town that is anything but sleepy! It is the mecca of extreme activity. All I did was The Nevis, but there are many other things to do there if you possess the guts. While I was there though I did take a day trip to Milford Sound, which is actually a fjord and not a sound at all. If I am correct, the difference is that a sound is a sunken river bed and a fjord are cuts made by glacial movement. In any case, Milford Sound is beautiful. We took a 3 hour bus ride there, then a 2 boat trip through the fjord and stopped at an underwater observatory where we could see a unique environment of species that need very cold and dark water. For this reason it is odd that these species could be seen at 15 m of depth. But because of the unique setup the fjord setup introduces, these creatures could be seen at shallower depths. Afterwards, we took a 3 hour bus ride back to Queenstown and went out for another night on the town. I left the next day for Christschurch.









APRIL 1, 2008~ hAPPY aPRIL fOOLS dAY!
The Nevis!
134 m drop in the middle of a dried up gorge, that is what the Nevis is! This doesn't sound fun to most people, but then you tell them you are attached to a bungy and everyone wants to do it, at least every backpacker. This amazing feat can be found in Queenstown, which is where we traveled to after Puzzle World the day before.
Doing The jump is a question of courage though. Once you get out there, you do not think you could ever make the jump. When I did it I was determined not to scream, kept my cool the whole way out there, while everyone openly admitted their nerves. I just remained quiet and thought I can do it! I just wanted to gracefully soar through the air like an eagle, enjoying every bit of the 8 second free fall. Ha, that was a funny idea. Once it was my turn and they put the gear on me, I screamed before I even left the platform! I had to scream and get it out. At first I couldn't even let go of the dude who was setting me up. He told me to let go of his shirt and I said 'Ok', then he said, 'No really, let go of my shirt'. Then i gave one more scream and jumped. I actually didn't scream on the way down. I had requested Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' to be played in the background and I just kept thinking 'Another brick in the wall!' I soared through that sky with my arms open, almost like an eagle, but hey, close enough :) They say that at The Nevis, at least one person a day chickens out. I'm glad it wasn't me because it was so exhilarating! There is a video, but to big to be put online. If you want to see it, my parents should have it by the end of August. I'm just glad no one played an April Fools joke on me while I was out there! I'm the tiny gray thing in the pics to the left!







MARCH 31, 2008
Puzzle World!
Puzzle World is an awesome place full of puzzles and optical illusions! I met up with the Kiwi group after getting to Wanaka the night before, and before we left the next morning we went to Puzzle World! The first thing I did was the human maze! You had to start in the middle, make your way to each corner with a colored tower and then back to the center to get out. Most people do it in anywhere from 30 - 90 min. I did it in 44 min! After walking in through the puzzle I went inside to the room of optical illusions. There was a room full of famous faces that would follow you around. I lied down on the floor in front of Abe Lincoln and he looked down at me! There was a room that was the Lorn of the Rings illusion, making people on one side of the room look small and people on the other look gigantic! There was a room where it looked like water and balls traveled up and when you sat on a seat you went up, due to gravity! It was crazy. There are some more cool pics of all of these and videos in my web album. You should check it out and watch the videos! http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/find.barlow/PuzzleWorld
MARCH 30, 2008
My Bluetaview day with Jojo and David :)
This was an unplanned, totally sporadic day that was another one of the best days in New Zealand. I left Franz Josef in the early morn with my Kiwi Experience friends, and bus, we were headed towards Wanaka for the night, with a long day of sightseeing planned along the way. However, the first place we stopped was this beautiful lake. When we first got there it was still quite early in the morning and there was a foggy haze everywhere. As the haze lifted, it revealed a beautiful panoramic view! There was a massive lake that acted like a mirror to an amazing snowcapped mountainess view. Perfect mirror! The bus was only stopping there for half an hour and you needed an hour and a half to walk around the whole lake. At the first 'view point' I met 2 Dutchmen by the names of Jojo and David. They were cool and going to Hawaii after NZ, so I was telling them where to go when my half an hour ran up. I didn't want to go and they were headed to Wanaka as well and offered to take me. So I got my stuff off the bus and put it in their car. Then the 3 of us hiked around the lake taking awesome pictures and enjoying the day. We even saw blue mushrooms on the hike! As most of you know, I have been wearing a glass bead with a glass blue mushroom in it around my neck for years now, I never knew a real thing of such a sort really existed! It was awesome to see.
After spending some time there we made our way down the road. There were beautiful views all around, mostly of blue skies and lakes, this is how the term 'bluetaview' came to be! That is how a dutchmane says beautiful, blue, and view all at once! It was a great ride, felt nice to get off the bus, like I could breath again and casually enjoy the sites instead of being on osmeone elses schedule. It was a great day and much to my surprise I would being running into Jojo and David again, not to far away :)

MARCH 28-29, 2008
Franz Josef Glacier!!!!
This was by far my favorite part/activity in New Zealand! Now I know what some of you must be thinking, 'What beats skydiving and bungy jumping?' The answer is my 8 hour glaicial walk, the last half of which was in the pouring rain, and I still loved it if that says anything!
We arrived into the town of Franz Josef on the night of March 28 and got our first glimpse of the glacier. It was miles away but still a magnificent sight. After a sit in the spa at the hostel, we turned in and had an early night, thoroughly exhausted from staying in a different town each night! We were happy we could unpack a little and do some laundry as we had two nights here. We got up at the crack of dawn the next morning and headed to the tour office.

At their headquarters they suited us up with gear; extra clothes, jackets, rain pants, boots, ice clamps for the boots, gloves, hat, etc. It was there I met Jonny, my tour guide for the day. He heard my acsent and asked what state I was from. I replied Hawaii and he replied, "I'm from Delaware". I laughed, thinking this impossible and said, "No Way! I don't believe you". Well as it turned out, he was from Middletown and we have a handful of good friends in common! During the day we spent the time catching up about our various friends and taking a few photos for them :) It just goes to show, home is never far away and the world is a small place!








When we first arrived to the actual glacier, it was amazing and magical! You really are just standing on a HUGE block of ice. Now, I realize they teach us in school what a glacier it, but the fact that it is a big block of ice takes on a whole new meaning when you are standing on it surrounded by what looks like mountains of ice! It is an intensly beautiful view. I was completely mezmorized by the scene all day! When you were thirsty, you could just put your lips to a dripping part of the glacier and drink. The water was the best I've ever tasted, like a cool waterfall of refreshment in your mouth! :)

MARCH 26-27, 2008
Site Seeing Down the West Coast of South Island

These two days were mostly just site seeing with some small hikes down the coastline. Our first stop was at a beautiful lake where we got to sit and chill for a bit, quite literally, the water was freeeezing! Another spot had an hour walk that started with a directional sign so we could all know haw far we were from home, and which direction home laid. It finished by a massive sea colony! If you look at the pictures to the right carefully, you will seals swimming in the water. The second day finally finished at the place called Poo Pub. I don't know what the towns real name was, but in truth there was not much of a town. Just this little farm with a hostel accomodation setup for Kiwi Ex.





Poo Pub's Bin Bag Night!
You might be asking yourself, what is a bin bag night and what is a bin bag for that matter? The answers are a theme party where everyone wears bin bags, a bin bag is better known to us Americans as a trash bag, the big kind, the hefty kind! The goal of this evening was to dress up in the most creative costume made out of a bin bag; the winner recieves a free skydive when we would getto Queenstown. If you go to the photos in my picasa web album belonging to this night (http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/find.barlow/BinBagCostumeNight), you will see many more costumes, but here are some to get you started. It is amazing what people can do with a bin bag (mine wasn't so creative, but it did not rip or faulter once)!

MARCH 24-25, 2008
Abel Tasman National Park!
Abel Tasman National Park is New Zealand's smallest park, but the most visited. Along its' coastline are several protected marine sanctuaries, making for some great views. On the first day we took a boat out around the coast to the deepest part into the park. From the boat you could see some little islands (big rocks) and wild life making for great scenery, it is a marine sanctuary. When we were dropped off we were meant to hike a 4 hour hike, but since we had to wait until low tide to cross one point (tidal changes in New Zealand can be 40 or 50 m!!) we just sat on the beach at our drop off location for a while and had a relaxing morning. We saw a 4 ft. eel swimming in the estuary near the beach. Then after we had all soaked in some rays for a few hours we began our walk. The hike mostly followed the coast, again giving us more time to see the scenes. Once we reached our destination we set up camp for the night. The moon was full and the night peaceful. Except of course when our friend Jack thought he would go and try and catch his dinner in the ocean. He got cought out on a rock becoase of the huge tidal change in a short a mount of time! Getting him in was another whole adventure!

The next morning we were picked up by Kaiteriteri kayak guides. They came in costume and after debriefing us on the day's adventure ahead of us, set us up with some costumes of our own; I got chaps! We then proceded to kayak out of the park. It was 16 km in all, took 6 hours, plus an hour for lunch. What an unbelievable lunch it was. The guides even had supplies to make us mocha latte's complete with foam to warm us up! Who knew? Camping supplies with style ;) At the end of it, we were all quite exhausted but loving the great day we had just had!

MARCH 23, 2008 ~ EASTER SUNDAY!

Ferry Ride and Vineyards for Easter!

What a way to start any day, let alone Easter! After waking up excruciatingly early, we departed to catch the ferry to the south island. Once on the ferry and on the top deck, beautiful views of sunrise could be seen, fitting since Easter is all about rebirth. Thank goodness the ferry ride was 3 hours long, it gave us all time to catch up on some badly needed sleep after the previous night out and about in Wellington. Towards the end of the ferry ride, we cruised by some beautiful islands and I have never seen greener water, like light emeralds (all though, i was soon to find out that all the water around the south island, and even IN the south island was that green)!

After departing the ferry, we stopped at a vineyard on our way to Nelson. They gave us 3 wine samples and a deal on buying bottles. As it was Easter, I thought I might indulge myslef with a nice bottle, plus it being the holiday, no where would be open later to buy booze for the night :) It was very nice, very nice and still relatively inexpensive!