South Island, The west coast

Well I've managed to stop driving for long enough to catch up and so far South Island is very good but I must say that North Island gets a bum rap. I actually think north Island is very nice,very diverse and has some great sights towns and people. It's much more cosmapolitan and has great weather up north. Also there are the Maoris who are lovely and who I have missed in the south as they are few and far between. I have been mistaken by the Maoris as one of their own many times now which is funny and the true Maoris often look very Iranian. They often come up in a bar and say 'Hey Bro, you from round here' and are very surprised when I reply in home counties English with hint of London init! The conversation has even ended in some nose rubbing! True Maoris look very different from Islanders once you know and then you realise that there are so many Islanders (Pacific Islanders) in New Zealand and not as many Maoris as you first thought.

Anyway onto South Island. It's 10 days since we boarded the night ferry to South Island at 1.30am and arrived in Picton at 4.30am. It's much cheaper to travel at this time and also saves a night in a hostel but there is not really anywhere decent to sleep on the ferry and I had to stop in Picton to try and sleep at the side of the road. Maartje snores worse than my dad and grandad put together though so there was no chance of that. I gave up at 5.30 and started driving towards Nelson through Marlborough Sound on the very windey clifftop road in the dark. I was so tired though and pulled onto a cliff top lookout with the car pointing at the sunrise so if I couldn't sleep I could at least watch the sun come up. The part before sunrise was eary and wonderful but I soon fell asleep.

After a couple of hours I started driving again and made it to Nelson by midday. I had heard a lot of good things about the place but have to say I really don't see what people love about the place. It's small, dead and not particularly attractive. The hostel we checked into was fantastic however and it was a good town to go and watch the Lions play the Maori All Blacks in the pub. We had a couple in our room who seemed nice enough and who were heading south and I offered them a ride down the West Coast as they wanted to get to Dunedin to watch a Lions match. So the next morning I had a full car. This was good as I didn't have so much in common with Maartje and found her not the best of fun to travel with. We headed to Able Tasman national park and Golden Bay to do some tramping, that's kiwi for trekking, on the coastal tracks which are famed for their beauty. It was a steep windey drive for a while and we pulled into Takaka and went up to Golden Bay to see the Farewell Spit, the longest natural sandbar in the world. It was really beautiful and very remote with few people. The beaches look tropical up here but you are wearing a hat, thermals and ski jacket which is quite nice somehow? Later we pulled into the Muscle Inn which was a lovely wooden lodge with great food that we couldn't afford but really good beer. If I pass that way on the way home I will have to eat there. If all looked yummy.

A hostel called Barefoot in Takaka had been recommended to us by some girls who we met on a scenic lookout on the road earlier that day. They said the owner made a huge comunal meal for everyone if paid a few dollars. That sounded great to us so we checked in and planned our walk. I really liked the hostel. It had a very homely feel and Maralyn who runs the place was very sweet organised and friendly and baked delicious home made bread every night. She also knew a lot about New Zealand and the local area and was a great source of information. We had planned to do the 6 hour circuit of Able Tasman and a waterfall the next day and sure enough Maralyn offered to make a roast for everyone the next day when we got back.

In the morning we checked out the Murchison falls which is accessed via a swing bridge. That was fun and very beautiful and although we had made a late start we felt confident about the walk which began a bit further along the road. A Dutch chap called Robert had asked if he could join us over breakfast and so the five of us set off up the steeper than anticipated start to the walk. It was already very beautiful and strangely very similar to first part of the hilltribe trek I had done in northern Vietnam. The climb was long and weather fine and the descent the other side equally long and steep. We would go over 3 or 4 hills like this before the end of the day, each separated by clean untouched golden beaches will clear turquoise water. Even in Thailand I had not seen beaches like this. They were beutiful. The walking was tough though and we added another hour onto the walk by taking the optional path to seperation point, the most northern point of the Able Tasman park.

As we finished the walk some 7 hours after starting, the sun was setting over Golden Bay and the Farewell Spit which we were afforded an amazing view of. We were tired and getting very cold but it was spectacular. Getting back to the car the last rays of sunlight had gone and the thermus of tea in the car was very welcome. Back at the hostel Maralyn had a full roast with ginger sponge cake and ice cream waiting. The hot spa tub in the backyard, a very popular thing in South Island hostels, was hot and ready for our aching muscles too. The Barefoot is a great place to stay and Paul and Colin (long term residents) may seem like a couple of missfits at first glance but are lovely guys. Maralyn is fantastic and has some great travel stories from far flung places.

The next morning we were off again though and headed south for the glaciers Fox and Franz Joseph. Robert was hitching north so I offered him a lift out of Able Tasman and to the highway where he could pick up a lift. The car did struggle over the hills with five and luggage but we got there and Robert got picked up before we had even pulled away. Hitching is a very popular way of getting around in New Zealand and you see many hitchers. I have even seen some people walk to the end of their driveway and stick a thumb up for a lift. We had long drive ahead of us and set off on the short cut Maralyn had given us directions for. It was another great drive through dramatic scenery but I was becoming irritated by the others obsession with music in the car. It's an old car with no CD player and they seemed incapable of sorting it out themselves expecting me to do that and drive at the same time. It was distracting on the long drives and I longed for them to go to sleep. Although we had had fun I had noticed that they were all rather selfish and Neil had been especially irritating with constant music hopping and stupid questions when I was trying to keep the car on the road through the winding roads. His constant indecision was very frustrating too. We usually had a plan and he would then blow that plan out of the water half way down the road when he finally woke up and realised he wanted to do something else. Maartje and Kat who both had an eye for Neil would obviously agree and I was left feeling like I was just a bus driver. They behaved like teenagers sponging a lift to the pub. At first this was ok as we did some cool things. Instead of going all the way to Greymouth (half way to the Glaciers) we stopped in Reefton where we picked up a key to the lodge in the ghost town of Waiuta which is a deserted Gold prospecting town from the 1800's allegedly haunted by several ghosts.

We had the whole lodge to ourselves and fired up the coal stove for the night, made dinner and got very drunk. It was fun but marred a little by the fact that the guys wanted to avoid paying by hiding in the back and so we only paid for 3. It was very cheap accomodation and well looked after. I found it silly and unecessary especially as the caretaker visited twice that evening. It's gotta be travellers bad Karma to do that I recon and added to my frustration with my companions attitude towards travelling. They were happy to spend $30 dollars on wine but not $15 for a bed!?

Our next stop was Franz Joseph glacier which we reached after a very long and hung over drive. The guys had slept all the way and I had had some peace in the car. It was a very impressive drive with the snow capped moutains looming large in the moon light ahead of me all the way there on the dark frosty and sometimes foggy roads. I enjoyed it very much but the roads were very slippery and I was very tired. Pulling into the glacier village we checked into glow worm cottages, a fine resort managed by a French couple. The next couple of days were a little strange as there was little harmony in the group. The others made a big fuss about doing the glacier activities only to be underwhelmed by the glacier. Having seen glaciers before I opted to just do the free walk and photograph the glacier as I find glaciers quite beautiful to observe. This one has retreated dramatically and has a very steep face. I must say that glaciers in Icleand are much more interesting and beautiful. In fact I think the landscape of Iceland is far more magical and unspoilt than New Zeland's south island. Whilst any glacier is beautiful the european glaciers are far more dramatic. The others did their iceclimb in the rain however and after a couple of days we headed off south stopping at Mattheson to see the reflection of Mount Cook in it's mirror like waters.

The weather was not great as we headed to Wanaka and the ski fields of Queenstown but we made good time and checked into a nice little hostel in Wanaka. The others were unimpressed with the hostel but I liked it and there are some nice people staying there. A Belgian couple, An Italian diving instructor and his Kiwi girlfiriend who is a photography student and a British couple. Andy a set and costume designer and his girlfriend who has worked with David Tressider from Arup on an indoor diving complex idea in Milton Keynes (Is that going to happen guys???? I thought it was another Arup pipe dream ;)). Most moved on today but I am still in Wanaka and will give Maartje, Neil and Kat a ride to Queenstown tomorrow where we will part company and I will come back here. I have spent the last few days up in the hills and farm land surounded by sun bathed snow caps and working with the camera which I have thoroughly enjoyed. The others have finally worn me down not letting me sleep with their late nights, fumbled attempts at silent love making which have been torture to listen to wondering when it will be safe to go to the toilet! and the crappy cooking they're so proud of.

I'll be down here for a while and will probably explore further south as the skiing is not very good yet but I will come back when the season is in full swing. Who knows, I may even work here for a while? I'm really comfortable here and have gotten over a bad bout of home sickness which comes and goes. Queenstown maybe another story though. I'll find out tomorrow. I am looking forward to coming home soon.

Lots of love,

Kaveh.