South Island, New Zealand

We are in New Zealand and we LOVE New Zealand! What follows is an account of our short week on the South Island.


walking from our bus stop to our hostel in Christchurch

After a very comfortable 3-hour flight from Sydney we arrived in Christchurch in the afternoon. We were immediately charmed by the locals who are friendly, helpful and down-to-earth. We made our way downtown by public bus to our hostel Jailhouse - a historic building that was used as a prison from 1874 to 1999. The place is spotless and we can't help but notice the difference between our fellow backpackers here and those in Australia - people are quiet, don't drink much and go to bed early. New Zealand oozes calm and I like it. Christchurch's CBD is still off limits to visitors due to the many earthquakes that still affect the area, although we didn't experience anything out of the ordinary while we were there. We spent our afternoon browsing the internet and eating pizza in the sun.

The next day we have to wake up early again because we have a bus to catch to Nelson at 7 AM. Although we have been told that we'll be travelling far, it only takes us 7,5 hours to get there, and with views such as these, who would complain?


a scenic break in Kaikoura during our bus ride from Christchurch to Nelson


waiting for our connecting bus to Nelson in Blenheim

My friend Derek, who travelled through New Zealand for 6 months, recommended the Golden Lodge for our stay in Nelson and, boy, am I glad he did, because it wasn't in our Lonely Planet while it is arguably the best hostel we've ever stayed in. It's more like a mansion than a hostel and it feels like a temporary home that you wish you could stay at for a while. We were lucky to get our own room and we were so giddy with happiness over this wonderful place that we bought a bottle of Malborough Sauvignon Blanc 2010 from New Zealand to celebrate. On a side note: while buying this bottle we were checked for our ID because, apparently, we don't look over 25. Since I hadn't brought my ID we weren't allowed to buy it. Jochem had to go back in alone to purchase it without me. Mag, I hopes this makes you feel better, since you're obviously not the only one who's assumed to be too young to drink!


dinner at the Golden Lodge in Nelson

The next day, then, we woke up early once more to catch a bus to Marahau near Abel Tasman National Park, the most popular national park in New Zealand and our #1 must-see on the South Island. Derek had recommended the Barn, but, sadly, they were full, so we headed next door to Old MacDonald's Farm, which wasn't too shabby either.


the view from Old MacDonald's Farm


our camping spot pre-rain

We spent the afternoon at the waterhole there where Jochem was obviously reverting back to childhood. The water in the river was freezing, but since it was so hot, we got in anyway and it was really refreshing.


the waterhole at Old MacDonald's Farm

At night it rained. I was pretty anxious about our never-been-used-before tent, but, luckily, it held. We woke up early for the fourth time in a row to explore Abel Tasman National Park. We didn't have a lot of time and we had a very specific to-do-list in mind, which is how we ended up with Kahu Kayaks. In the morning, we went on a guided kayak tour from Sandy Bay to Observation Beach. We passed Fisherman Island and Adele Island, where we saw wild seals, including a couple of babies. Although travelling by kayak is a great way to see a different side of the national park, it's not really my thing. It was pretty hard and it's impossible not to get drenched, which is something I don't care for very much. It was also raining a lot and, although it wasn't cold, I was wet and welcomed our hot chocolate break in Appletree Bay with open arms.


Abel Tasman National Park


Abel Tasman National Park


Appletree Bay

At Observation Beach we were picked up by a water taxi, which was probably my favorite part of the trip. The water taxis glide through the water at top speed and, due to the rough weather, it was kind of like being in a collercoaster. We were dropped off at Torrent Bay from which we walked to Bark Bay. Supposedly, this is the most scenic part of the Abel Tasman Coast Track and it was indeed really beautiful - at last a piece of wildlife that at least comes close to Nusa Tenggara! Unfortunately, Jochem had left his hiking boots on the water taxi and had to walk the entire way barefoot. Jochem is losing a lot of our stuff lately, so I thought this was pretty funny. We were picked up by water taxi at Medlands Beach and brought back to Old MacDonald's Farm.


Abel Tasman Coast Track


Abel Tasman Coast Track

Back at our camping spot we found the place deserted. The weather report for the next day was pretty bad, but we figured we could at least make it through another rainy night. It turned out that it was not just rain that was coming, but storm - 70-knot winds and pouring rain. Our camping spot was quickly turning into a river. I woke up at 1.15 AM because my sleeping bag was flooding. We somehow managed to move our tent, our backpacks, our rucksacks, our food and ourselves to the common room where we spent some time trying to dry everything. We slept on the couches, but not before we removed three huge cockroaches from the room. I don't mean to exaggerate, but I've been in South East Asia, okay? Cockroaches generally don't gross me out anymore. But these were crazy mutated cockroaches. I was ready to leave by then.


our deserted camping spot post-rain/pre-storm

So, the next day we took a bus back to Nelson and, of course, the weather has been beautiful ever since. Right now we're staying at the Green Monkey and the hostels just seem to get better and better - this one feeds us homemade cake every single night. It also hands out free bikes, so we grabbed a few and made our way to downtown Nelson, where we are right now.


Nelson


Nelson

We don't have much time here either, but we planned it that way. In hindsight, we spent a lot more time in Australian cities than was really necessary and we wish we could have seen more nature. Since we only have three weeks in New Zealand we decided to just skip the cities altogether and try to spend as much time outside as possible, which is why we eventually gave in and rented a campervan for a week. First, we wanted to rent a car and use our tent, but I don't want to spend the week frantically reading weather reports and analyzing each and every cloud. We quickly learned that the weather in New Zealand is unpredictable, so we spent some extra money and now we'll have an actual campervan, including a bed, a kitchen and a flatscreen TV. I'm so excited! Tomorrow morning we are taking a bus to Picton and then a ferry to Wellington. On Monday we take another bus to Auckland and there we will pick up our campervan and we'll explore the North Island from there. Almost everyone tells us that the South Island is more beautiful than the North Island, but we are nothing if not stubborn. We want to see the North Island and that's what we'll do. Our wish list includes: Hot Water Beach, Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, Lake Taupo, Tongariro National Park and Napier, but we'll see how it goes. I can't wait!

If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!