Leaving Golden Bay was hard, and it took about 5 weeks to peel myself away from there. After staying with my friend Liang for 4 nights, I decided to leave Takaka for Kaikoura and come back for the big party in town on the following weekend. However, I didn't get as far as I thought I would.
I ended up heading back to the Luminate festival site to see another volunteer friend Mark, who had stayed on with 2 others to take care of the land as it had been converted into an informal campground by the festival organizers. $5 got you a spot on the grass to camp, plus a cuppa (cup of tea) and a spot around the bonfire. It was loads of fun luring confused vehicles over, especially away from the official DOC campsite. Also, during Luminate there had been so much going on that I didn't interact with the environment, so this time we went looking for caves and walking through the bush. I felt like a big kid and made myself proud by climbing big trees, bathing in a crazy cold river and walking through a swarm of bees. Our nightly routine involved a fire, 2-4 campers and us caretakers, tea and star gazing. Some shooting star spotting, too. It was absolute freedom in the middle of a beautiful and sacred land.
Three days later me and Mark drove off the hill and camped at Tapua Bay near Abel Tasman. As it was low tide when we arrived, we went out onto the rocks and scavenged ourselves a delicious mussel dinner. The next afternoon we hung out at Kaiteriteri, another beach 30 min. away before rolling into Nelson, where we stayed at his friend's house before parting ways the next day.
That left me two nights in Kaikoura before the party on Friday, so on Wednesday I hitched for about 5 hours to the east coast. It was a tough one, since I started late in the day and not many people were feeling generous despite the rain. Driving into Kaikoura was grey but mysterious, with seals lying on rocks in the misty waters next to the road. Kaikoura's known for whale watching and swimming with dolphins, but I refused to pay through the nose and walked all around the penninsula instead. Perfect weather and views. The hostel was great too, with good communal spaces (and a ukelele!), friendly people and a crepe night. So a successful 48 hr mission!
On the day of the party, it took me 8 hours and 7 car rides to get back to Takaka. It was funny knowing I needed to get somewhere so far away at a certain time, but also stressful in places that were hard to get out of. In Blenheim on the side of the road, I 'ran into' fellow Luminate volunteers headed for Murchison, and with glee we piled inside a French guy's car. He took us to a nothing town making it impossible to hitch for 3, so we had to separate. A few rides later I finally made it to Liang's, with hugs all around, a nice hot shower, some dinner and ahhhh I was back home.
Later we all drove to the party, which was on a 20 acre plot of land and basically Luminate #2 but on a smaller scale. There was a music stage, grassy dance floor, big bonfire, people from the festival, and even an open tent with a guy serving chai! We danced the night away and in the wee hours camped out on the property.
The next afternoon a few of us spontaneously decided to tag along on our friends' male bonding adventure to Kahurangi National Park. Best impromptu decision ever! Never would've found this hidden gem if I hadn't been with locals. We cut through Golden Bay onto the west coast and parked our cars before a river. 8 of us plus a kid and 2 dogs and loads of gear and food piled into two 4 wheel drives and zoomed through rugged terrain of rivers and huge rocks. Once we got to the hut, we were cut off from civilization by high tide and settled in.
The next day was spent fishing on the beach, with a catch of salmon and shark that went directly from our friend's smoker to our bellies (mmm), as well as bush whacking, trying to sand toboggan, and fighting off sandflies. Nowhere else have I experienced swarms of sandflies this bad, not even on the west coast. They get you in weird places, like between your fingers, your ears, whatever they can find. I also experienced my first wasp sting here, no allergies hurray! And more or less learned how to play the didgeridoo.
The next morning a lot of people needed to head back, but unfortunately we were too late for low tide and got stuck until the next one at 9pm that night. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to text the outside world (and looking ridiculous while walking around on reefs waving cellphones in the air), and making/eating too much food back at the hut. We also paid a social visit via rowboat to a group of drunk Aussies on their fishing yacht, who handed us beer and a live crayfish (type of lobster) that wriggled angrily in my hands on the way back to camp. That night the drive back to the mainland was hurried, but we made sure to have a big group hug before splitting off in different directions.
After another two nights at the festival site, the time came to tearfully say 'see you later' and zip zip zip down the west coast...
Imagine leaving a place you've been chilling in for weeks with friends and finding yourself constantly on the road headed to tourist spots again. I wasn't on the west coast for long at all, but it was like merging onto the East Australian Current from the movie Finding Nemo.
From Takaka, I managed to get all the way to Hokitika my first day, bouncing around for 5 hours on two French guys' camper van bed. The following morning they picked me and a German girl (I befriended from my hostel) up, and we trolled onwards. The girl wanted to stay the night at Okarito Lagoon, a half hour before Franz Josef glacier, and last minute I decided to go with her. The guys stopped too far ahead at Lake Mapourika, so we tried to hitch back. It was less than 10 minutes back to the turnoff for the lagoon, but all the cars were following the tourist trail to the glaciers on the opposite side of the road. It took 3 hours to get a ride from a German guy in a camper van who was looking for somewhere beachy to stay the night, and we convinced him that Okarito was the place to be. He drove us to the campground and the three of us camped together, with a magnificent sunset and moonlight reflecting on the thrashing sea as our evening entertainment. Finally a proper west coast sunset!
The three of us rolled into Franz Josef the next morning and I took advantage of the sun to do the Alex Knob track, even though I was feeling a bit sicky. A supposed 8 hr return hike (but really 4.5 hrs for me) followed a wonderful trail up to a view of the glaciers. The alpine air was very refreshing and reminded me of the Great White North, as did the glaciers. I learned long ago that free fun is often more rewarding than say paying $180 to walk on a glacier (or god knows how much for the helicopter tour), and I had a great time tramping up and down the mountain.
Time to move on again, I had only spent 3 nights on the west coast but wanted to check out Wanaka, which I had heard good things about. Luckily I got a ride straight from Franz Josef, and the drive inland after Haast (last town on the coast) was absolutely amazing. Now I understand why people rave so much about the raw beauty of the south island, after seeing those vast foresty mountain ranges that go on for ages. Wanaka was a bit more touristy than I had thought, and the nice new buildings screamed ski resort town. However, it still had a laid-back feel and my hostel had a perfect view of the lake and surrounding hills. Met quite a few fun people there, made some good food (Spanish torilla one night) and watched a movie at the couch and cookie-filled Cinema Paradiso. The last day I spent there was a rainy one, so we treated ourselves to a fieldtrip to Puzzling World, where we got stuck in a maze for far too long, a ginormous burger, and then an obsessive puzzle session back at the hostel for the rest of the night.
Queenstown was the next stop, but it was only an hour away, so me and a few others took our time in the sun. There were 4 of us in clemence's van, with me and Nicola falling sleeping on his waterbed in the back. Pretty much all the friends I made in Wanaka went to Queenstown at the same time, but we were all spread out in 3 different hostels and coordination became annoying. Definitely missed being alone what with that and all the tourists buzzing about. But there are lots of good things about the town: the scenery is awesome (like Wanaka but bigger), places are actually open past 9pm, there's yummy food, and most importantly, it caters to people's different interests. The weekend saw fun nightlife even out on the streets, with street performers lining the lakeside boardwalk.
Here was another place where I experienced some firsts, including my first time playing frisbee golf in the beautiful gardens (I sucked), trying my hand at walking on a slack line (tight rope walking between 2 trees), playing darts and best of all, riding a mechanical bull at a cheesy bar called Cowboys. I think I did pretty good, if I say so myself. And what a quick fix of adrenaline! Forget all that skydiving and bungee jumping BS.
The tourist trail was getting pretty tiring, so I was so glad when I ran into the Spanish speaking people that I had tented with during the Luminate festival. They invited me to stay with them, so on the third day I went and hung out with them and some new friends visiting from Alexandra. We went to someone's house, where there were lots more ex-Luminaters jamming on guitars and African drums, and proceeded to get a pizza and music party going until 3am. It was the perfect break I needed after being a tourist again, to chill with like-minded alternative people. I guess people have a way of finding each other, even when surrounded by the mainstream.
The next day I was planning to book it to Te Anau for 2 nights to see Milford Sound before heading east to go farming, but my ride canceled on me (she was still drunk at 4am) and I wasn't going to hitch in the heavy rain. Instead, we stayed in at the house making food and hanging out, and I booked a bus and cruise tour to Milford leaving from Queenstown for the day after.
Everybody raves about hiking in Milford Sound, but the huts are booked 18 months in advance, so cruise tours around the Sound are more common. It was a 12 hour trip, but the bus drive from Qtown to Milford was spectacular, with leftover clouds from the rainy day before hanging low against the mountains. We made lots of stops after Te Anau to see Mirror Lake and waterfalls along the way. The Milford Sound cruise itself was only an hour, and actually not the climax of the tour, since we didn't see any dolphins (although there were seals) and it was pretty drizzly and wet. I had a great time though, and like everybody else passed out on the way back.
So I ended up staying in Queenstown for 5 nights and hitching straight to Clinton last Tuesday, where I did some wwoofing. Phew! Sorry for blogging about an entire month in one post. There should only be one more update before I leave on a jetplane to Aussieland at the end of the month. It's bittersweet, bitter to leave such a wonderful country, sweet to think about the many adventures waiting for me out there.
Anyway, I'm still here for another 10 days. Live in the moment... so onwards and upwards!
