Party Heaven!

Walking along the streets of any larger town in NZ, you are guaranteed to come across a store (including some convenience stores) selling what are known as "Party Pills". The many types of pills available (with names like Euphoria, Charge, Rapture, Blast, Nemi, Jump, ESP, Exodus and Frenzy) are considered herbal alternatives to the illegal "harder" drugs such as methamphetamine, speed, ecstasy, etc... The active ingredients, however, are benzylpiperazine (BZP, an amphetamine-like stimulant) and 3-trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine monohydrochloride (TFMPP, its effects alone being not well known), which are entirely synthetically produced. The funny thing is, some of these legal pills (also readily available on designated websites such as wickedhabits.co.nz) appear to be even stronger than those more common unacceptable drugs - I've heard stories of people not being able to sleep for a couple of days after taking just two of these "Herbal Highs"! In fact, researchers have shown that frequent and severe side effects - including seizures recorded at potentially fatal intensity - arise from the drug's use, and also that dependance is becoming an issue among some users. Even more concerning is that up until last year it was legal for those under the age of 18 to purchase them.

Only now is the Government beginning to take the issue seriously. They have been advised by a Cabinet committee to make illegal the sale of these drugs and give them a similar classification to cannibis. A final decision on whether a recommendation to ban BZP is to be made is not expected to be reached until at least March next year.

Annual industry sales are estimated at around $NZ24 million, with individual pills sold between $NZ1 and 20.

Party hard... while you still can!

www (Windy Wicked Wellington)

At the moment, I am sitting at my desk in He Wharekura-tini Kaihautu o Aotearoa - The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. Yes, I have found a temporary job working in data entry for their enrolments department. 'Enrolments Officer' is my official title. Pretty cruisy (but very tedious) stuff, they even have a table-tennis table, pool table and dartboard for us to amuse ourselves with.. Nic has also found a job working as a PA for the CEO of the Hutt City Council. What's more, Nic and I have now moved into a flat for a couple of months while we're working, just to save a little more money (and maybe lead a little more of a homely existence rather than sharing a room with 6 others and a kitchen with 30 others - in the last hostel here, Rowena's Lodge, this was quite a problem as there was only a total of about 6 forks and 1 decent-sized saucepan that didn't leak!) The flat we found, funnily enough, is on Adelaide Road. Our other flatmates (a Swede, a Canadian, a Sri Lankan, a Fijian, and another Australian - very multicultural!) seem pretty cool so should be a chilled time here in Welly.
It was great meeting up with Nic again when I arrived on the 30th. And what a great city Wellington is! Not sure what I find so alluring about it, maybe it's simply the fact that it is the closest thing that I've found to a city, as I know them, since arriving in NZ. Who knows. All I know is that Wellington is one of the windiest populated areas in New Zealand - it is almost impossible to get though an entire day without a breeze, if not strong-to-gale-force winds. The weather the past two weeks has been fantastic though, with minimal wind and maximum sun (although we had a bit of a downpour this morning, it's clearing up quite nicely)! Shame I'm stuck inside on a computer most of the day. The good thing about this time of year around NZ (especially in the South Island) is that it doesn't get truly dark until around 2200hr or later and it gets light well before 0530hr, so plenty of sunlight. Earthquakes are also a nice little addition to the character of this region, through which the Wellington faultline passes from Wellington city to Upper Hutt - in fact the New Zealand Parliament Building sits directly atop the faultline which, as one author points out, many people find no fault with. I have yet to experience an earthquake, but apparently this time of year is when they are most likely to occur so we'll just wait and see.
About a week after I arrived, Andrea passed though Wellington on her way up to Auckland for her flight back home, after having been away for about 11 months. We met up and had a necessary 'last pint', and again it was fantastic catching up with her.
Since I've been here, I haven't done much touristy stuff apart from heading to the lookout at the top of Mt Victoria, only about 300m in height. We have taken in a few films at the cinema too, including Borat - hilarious! I hope to do and see a lot more in the coming months. Our plan at the moment is to spend around 3 months or so here before taking off around the North Island. Again, plans seem to be changing all the time so that's not necessarily indicative of what will actually happen. An update will be in the works shortly after the Festive Season has ended.

Photos still coming.

Photos:
1. Tug-of-War at the Polytech's Xmas party. We lost :(
2. 0640hr, waiting to board the Bluebridge ferry to Wellington
3. Posing in the rain..
4. Why do I do these things?!?
5. A passenger taking in the fresh air and views
6. For Ryan
7. Floating balls.. well I never.. Wellington
8. Beach against the city.. Or is it a city against the beach?
9. The view over Welly from Mt Vic
10. Cute little guy loves sunbathing in the Polytech carpark

Goodbye South Island, Hellooooooooooo North Island...

According to Māori mythology, the legend Māui used the jaw-bone of his ancestress Muri-ranga-whenua as a fish-hook to haul a great fish up from the ocean. Māui left his brothers in charge of the fish while he went to fetch a priest to perform the appropriate ceremonies and prayers, but the brothers were greedy and started cutting it up before he had returned. Immediately, the fish began writhing in agony, causing it to break up into the mountains, cliffs and valleys that now form the North Island; the Wellington region at its head. And so here I am, standing jubilantly upon Te Upoko o Te Ika a Māui - "The Head of Māui's Fish".
I realise there has been somewhat of a delay between posts, but that's what I'm here to fix. Going back a couple of weeks, we (Nicole and I) did end up heading out to the Otago Peninsula the night I last blogged. But instead of Yellow-eyed Penguins, we actually saw the very small, very rare Blue Penguins coming ashore. They walked within a metre right past us and to their inland burrows where their month-old young were waiting anxiously (and noisily) for their nightly feed. It was quite calming to see these beautifully fragile creatures going about their business, completely unperturbed by the eyes of the many onlookers - filled with wonder - watching their every move.
We left early the next morning as there was a huge trip ahead of us - over 550km to Kaikoura, with a few points of interest along the way. The first of these stops was that damn "tallest tree". We found it! Turns out that last time we had missed the bluntly obvious gate signalling the entrance to the track and walked for 2 hours through someone's private farming land.. Whoops! It appears as if it's only the tallest tree in New Zealand though, not the entire Southern Hemisphere, but that's ok.. Another adjective maximised. It was (as expected) quite tall, 69.1m tall to be exact. Eucalyptus regnans is its genus, providing a strong boost to the Aussie male ego.
After this we passed by a spot wishfully named Shag Point. There were some more seals down this way, lounging around, and a beach where you could view the elusive Yellow-eyed Penguin. We were initially a little skeptical about seeing them, but eventually spotted two standing by their nest on the beach. Sneaking 50m or so amongst the shrubs brought me quite close to them before they spotted me and waddled back to the safety of their nest. Shag Point was also the site where an almost complete skeleton of a seven-metre long Elamosaurus, a member of the plesiosaur family, was found - a rare find.
Further up the east coast is a place called Moeraki, just south of Oamaru. It is on the Moeraki beach and shoreline that the very unusual and very interesting Moeraki Boulders are found. These rocks are known as septarian concretions. Basically, they are almost perfectly spherical formations of around 2 metre diameter, cemented in shape by calcite deposits with cracks lined by scalenohedral calcite crystals radiating outwards from the centre (called septaria). Maybe try Wikipedia for a more in-depth explanation. Did I mention very interesting?
I had planned to get to Christchurch's award-winning Antarctic Centre on the way through, but their opening times were different than advertised in the Lonely Planet book so we arrived a little too late. So onwards to Kaikoura. Kaikoura, the home of whale-watching I had visited when I first arrived in NZ, also proved to be a place where I could experience something I had never contemplated before. Sitting behind the instrument panel of a Cessna 150, something not dissimilar to the plane from which I skydived, I was taken up to cruising altitude over the Kaikoura Peninsula and then left to take over the controls.. I actually flew a plane! For half an hour I was the pilot of this 2-seater light plane, taking my first flying lesson. I now have 0.4 hours flying time towards my solo pilot's licence! Maybe if I can get some money together I might consider this... It's only about $NZ8,500 in total.
By about lunchtime we had reached Blenheim, NZ's main grape-growing region. We had a bit of a drive around the vineyards yet I recognised only one out of about 50 wineries that had grapes grown in the area. This was Nobilo. And Lee, I found out that Stepping Stone is actually a South Australian wine, from Padthaway, not NZ as you suggested. Good to see all those years of wine marketing going to good use ;)
By the end of the day I had reached Picton after having dropped Nicole off at her friend's house in Blenheim. Picton is quite a nice town, and is the gateway to the South Island as the ferry across Cook Strait (between the North and South Islands) arrives here from Wellington. There was not much to do especially as the weather was not crash hot, but I did meet some great people, including a funny and very chatty German (yes, they are all funny and chatty!!) named Christoph and we shared photos and stories of our South Island experiences. Turns out Christoph had bumped into another German guy that I had also met for only a day a couple of months ago, very odd. And because I had never caught this German guy's name, we had to figure this all out by description. Small world.. But I guess more accurately, small country!
In the morning, I drove Tana into the vehicle holding bay of the Bluebridge ferry and said my goodbyes to the South Island. Three hours later, following a very relaxed journey across Cook Strait, I had arrived in Wellington just before midday.

Photos to follow, along with another post.

Photos:
1. Freak hail storm in Dunedin
2. Standing on top of.. Huh? - "The Pyramids", Otago Peninsula
3. View from Mount Cargill, Dunedin
4. Nicole looking up at the million-year-old Organ Pipes. What is that in her bag?
5. Bloody huge! NZ's tallest tree.. Phew, finally found it!
6. Their eyes really are yellow!
7. The Moeraki Boulders
8. Cubby house..
9. Brilliant sky over the Kaikoura region
10. Eerie trees, on the way to Kaikoura
11. Top Gun!
12. Cessna 150 - the plane they would have you believe I flew
13. The plane I actually flew...
14. I love those signs, they have them all over the country: this one and many others like it..

A brief lesson in Road Rules

I found this interesting: The road rules here are exactly the same as in Australia, except for one small difference..
If you are turning left onto a road and another car coming the other way is turning right onto the same road, then you have to give way to them..
This actually makes sense, because you can squeeze off the side of the road to let other traffic past, but sometimes it's not always possible for the car turning right to get out of the way of traffic flow in their direction. The idea is to get the car out of the middle of the road as soon as possible. Good thinking!

South, south, and away!

Monday, I worked my way down to Invercargill, NZ's southern-most city. An interesting place in that it has all the amenities of a modern city, but a very low skyline, which makes it seem a little larger than it actually is. It had a bit of a sea-side town feel. Nonetheless, it was very quiet and not much was happening. There were quite a few shops that had closed down, and after about 1800hr there was noone on the streets. But, I was really only using this city as a base for my travels to Stewart Island/Rakiura, although I did manage to take some time to peruse the museum and art gallery on Tuesday.
In the morning on Wednesday, I drove south to Bluff, where the ferry to Rakiura departs. What a run-down town this one is.. A big port, some mussel processing plants and a small industrial area form its crux. The ferry across Foveaux Strait was rough enough that it made one lady sick, but certainly not as rough as it can get from what I've heard - this Strait lies right in the middle of what is called the Roaring Forties (indicating the wind speed and latitude south). As soon as we arrived, I made my way by water taxi across to Ulva Island - a bird sanctuary where all pests have been eliminated and some endangered species have even been re-introduced. Just sitting and listening to all the bird calls was so relaxing.
I'm not sure what I did that day to disrupt the environmental balance, but I started getting attacked by the animals there! Firstly, I came across this very out-of-place sealion along one of the tracks, at least a kilometre from the sea. She didn't look too happy and I thought she may have been dying; laboured breath, lack of energy, etc. She watched me taking photos for a while and then decided she didn't like how close I was, so she jumped up and roared. Man, I ran even faster than when that seal growled at me.. I mean if this thing wanted to it could have seriously done me some damage, especially if she wasn't feeling too happy anyway! Next on the list, on one of the beautiful, yellow, sandy beaches a little, seemingly harmless bird known as an Oyster Catcher flew up and tried attacking my face! Turns out I was loitering near her nest of 2 eggs. Then a short while later, a few other birds I was attempting to photograph decided they'd like to give me a swoop. I now have a healthy fear of anything that lives in trees, or on the ground..
The next day I went on an undersea adventure in a semi-submersible, one of only two in NZ. It was OK, but the night before there had been some strongish winds that stirred up a lot of silt from the harbour floor, and so visibility was not ideal. Saw lots of seaweed though!!! After a few more walks around (including one to a location known as Fern Gully - 10 points to the first one who guesses correctly what lies there) I caught the evening ferry back to Bluff, with the same rather tame weather providing a slightly bumpy ride. Turns out I couldn't live upto the promise I made in my blurb that I would make my way to Stewart Island's South Cape, but that is due to the fact that there is no track access out there. So sorry to all who I have disappointed..
I travelled east from Invercargill on Friday, passing through some lovely rolling countryside, to Slope Point, the most southern point of the South Island. So cold, wet and windy! Then it was off to Dunedin, geographically NZ's largest city, which is where I am now. Very very hilly! There seems to be a lot more to do here than in Christchurch though which makes for a more interesting stay. Yesterday I visited some museums and art galleries, bumped into Nicole again, then walked (and ran) up and down Baldwin St., the world's steepest street, which at its maximum achieves a gradient of 1:2.86 (Yes, a lot of NZ's attractions seem to be based upon the biggest, the longest, the fastest.. Pretty much think of an adjective and they have maximised it somewhere here). Unfortunately, Tana had a little less success with this.. She nearly made it to the top, but practically stalled with about 10 metres to go (I think she, and the rest of the neighbourhood got choked with the amount of smoke pouring from her exhaust!).. Poor Tana..
A little later on, Nicole and I tried to find the tallest tree in the Southern Hemisphere. With the emphasis on TRIED. After about 2.5 hours of driving around looking for the start of the track, we finally found it, but then after another a further hour of walking aimlessly around the extremely poorly signed forest we decided to give up and walk back. I think we're gonna give it another go tomorrow on our way up to Kaikoura. We also passed through Aramoana, the site of the tragedy portrayed in the movie 'Out of the Blue' that I mentioned several posts back. Couldn't really see any familiar landmarks from the movie..
This morning we took a tour through the Cadbury factory. Lovers of chocolate, prepare yourselves!
I've tried really hard to organise a flight over those rogue icebergs floating near Dunedin, but with little success as the helicopters and planes of the region are booked out with over 400 on the waiting list, unless of course I wanted to pay a small fortune.. I'm sure I'll make my way to Antarctica one day so I'm not too disappointed, but it still would have been a great experience.
This evening I'll be venturing across to the Otago Peninsula to check out the Yellow-eyed Penguins coming ashore to their nests for the night, passing by NZ's only castle on the way. Then tomorrow it's off to Kaikoura, and onto Picton the next day ready for my ferry across to Wellington on the North Island on the 30th. It will have been just over 10 weeks that I have spent in the South Island, and it has been great fun but I'm looking forward to the change.. The next chapter of my trip! I've gone through a little more money here than I had planned and so I'm going to get a job in Wellington for a little bit to fund the remainder of my travels around the North Island. Nic (the Northerner) is up there at the moment and looking for a job also. We are planning on travelling the North together once we are both satisfied with our financial situations. See how it goes...

Photos galore! Last 2 posts.. Check it

Photos:
1. Aaaaargh!! - In the Clifden Caves
2. Road block - On the way to Invercargill
3. Feeling right at home on Monkey Island
4. I think I can see Adelaide! - End of State Highway 1, Bluff
5. Weka on an Ulva Island beach
6. Human on an Ulva Island beach (the only two buildings on the island in the background - including a Post Office!?!)
7. Superman
8. So cute, if it weren't trying to kill me!
9. Crazy bird! That Oyster-catcher
10. Watching over Halfmoon Bay
11. Baby Weka, awwwww...
12. I'd like to order a pepperoni pizza please..
13. Underwater adventure
14. Cool trees, Ulva Island
15. Battling the wind at Slope Point
16. Great view - Nugget Point
17. Almost there! - Baldwin St.
18. Not here.. Looking for the tallest tree in the Southern Hemisphere
19. Cool railway station!

What an interlude!

Well... What a great past week this has been! Te Anau is a beautiful little town by the lake of the same name. Monday night, I sat on the lakefront and watched the clouds pass over the sunset. Tuesday was all go with organising food, equipment, etc. for the Track and also booking some other transport and activities. Wednesday morning, I set off with a couple of other people on our first (sunny) day on the famous Milford Track. We needed a boat to take us 2 hours up Lake Te Anau to the wharf where the track begins. This first day was actually lighter than I had hoped being only 1.5 hours walk to Clinton Hut, our first night's accommodation. By the end of the night, a total of 40 trampers were taking refuge in this huge hut. Obviously there wasn't much to do in the huts so we had to amuse ourselves, mainly playing card games.
The next day.. Rain, rain and more rain (I was told to expect it!).. We walked for about 6 hours through steep valleys riddled with raging waterfalls (more than I could count!), waded though knee-high rivers, mud, slippery rocks.. You name it. I was so glad to finally see our next stop, Mintaro Hut. The metal rack attached to the roof turned temporarily into a hanging department store with everything from boots, socks, tops, underwear and backpacks to cameras and sleeping bags all fighting to catch every last bit of warmth from the log fire below. I tell you though, the rain certainly made for a much more interesting day of tramping, thoroughly enjoyed by all (well.. most). That night.. more cards including Hearts, Nadia's game (a version of Hearts; we didnt know the name of it so just named it after the gal that showed it to us), Rummy and my favourite, Kings and Assholes (or just Asshole, or Shithead, or any other crude word you want to throw at me).
OK, the third day was the big one, the one you are supposed to have brilliant clear skies for... The rain had stopped and the skies were clear so a couple of us left just after 0700hr. We climbed to the highest point of the track, Mackinnon Pass (1073m), where on a clear day you can see down the entire length of the Clinton Canyon you had just traversed and also over the cliff's edge, cryptically named '12 second drop'.. However, soon after we left the hut it had quickly become overcast with clouds sitting well below the treeline. And I don't just mean your ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill cloudy, but visibility to maybe 30 metres cloudy!!! That was definitely disappointing (made worse by the fact that I didn't have the time or energy to come back up the next day when the weather was in fact fine) because I would have loved to have seen that, but my disappointment quickly faded when I started my descent down the other side of the Pass where the cloud had dissipated somewhat to reveal a beautiful valley and mountainous landscape before me (again plenty of waterfalls, still fuelled by the last night's downpour). The rest of the way down that mountain was simply spectacular, and I can definitely see why they could claim that this walk is the 'finest in the world'. After descending around 1000m we eventually arrived at our last hut of the track, Dumpling Hut, but not before taking a detour to one of NZ's largest waterfalls, Sutherland Falls. At 580m with only 3 tiers and an average volume of 11 cubic metres/second (the maximum recorded is a whopping 142 cub.m/s!), the power of this waterfall is just awesome: the wind being created at the base actually sounds like an aeroplane in flight (not to mention the drenching I received from getting so close).
Saturday, the last day, and the sun was shining again. We had another 5-hour walk ahead of us. This was relatively relaxed, although the rocks were no less slippery and I nearly went arse up.. Nearly.. We made it to Sandfly Point just after 1300hr, and had to wait there for an hour for our boat to pick us up and take us to the Milford Sound township. I now know why the place was given it's name, luckily I was prepared with the insect repellant this time though. Apparently there used to be a jail around there (they probably used the sandflies as a torture device), but we couldn't find any remnants of it.
It was also interesting to see the difference in quality of accomodation provided for the independent trampers (like myself) and the guided groups.. I guess that's to be expected though since they are paying around $1800 each for their 4-day experience! For that, they get their backpacks helicoptered between huts, refreshments, breakfast, dinner, lunch all cooked for them, beers, hot showers, etc. What a life hey? I almost felt sorry for them that they had to walk in the rain... Even more interesting was the fact that there actually was a bit of anonymity displayed between the two 'classes' whenever our paths crossed. Some inherent form of tribal allegiance...
When we returned to Milford Sound, I said goodbye to the great people I'd been hanging out with those past days, and then caught a cruise on the actual sound (which is in fact technically a fiord - a valley carved out by glacial movement, as opposed to a river valley back-filled by the sea). The sheer might of these mountains rising out of the sea.. Amazing. Although I've heard it's even better when it's raining as the waterfalls are out in force, but I think I've seen enough waterfalls to last me a lifetime now.. On the way back to Te Anau, we passed through the 1.2km Homer Tunnel. This tunnel, which slopes downward with a gradient of around 1:10 towards the sound, was dug through a granite mountain known as the Homer Saddle and the walls to this day remain unlined granite! A slightly eerie experience.
The next day, I drove down to Manapouri, just south of Te Anau, and hopped on another boat. This time, I was being taken to Doubtful Sound (again, another fiord) for an overnight cruise. Not only was the scenery fantastic, but we got to go kayaking, wildlife watching, and had a beautiful buffet dinner and breakfast with the lot! Mmmmmm! I especially enjoyed this after having just come off the Milford Track and eating tiny servings of packet pasta each night. I met a German gal by the name of Nicole here, she was great to speak with and we did so for most of the night and the next day. I was up until just after midnight watching the stars and clouds against the magnificent forest-covered mountains, then up at 0500hr to watch the sunrise (even though it was cloudy and no sun was actually seen) against the same stunning backdrop. At one point on our way back to shore, the captain shut off the engines, the generators, everything so that we could all sit in silence on the deck and just take in the sights and sounds.. Magical.

Just breaking this post up, but here's the first part. Much more to come (including pictures)...

Photos:
1. In the beginning... (1st day)
2. Just spectacular, VERY wet! (2nd day)
3. The Mackinnon's memorial on top of Mackinnon Pass (3rd day)
4. Looking over 12-second drop. Doesn't look too bad.. Does it?
5. Over the pass, we were hit with these beautiful views
6. Passing by one of the many rivers, I couldn't help but capture this
7. Sutherland Falls. Huge!
8. A bunch of Kiwis on the track - great guys (4th day)
9. Phew!
10. Milford Sound (see the boats?)
11. "My heart will go on" - Doubtful Sound around 0600hr
12. Found this stowaway on the deck after we had anchored for the night
13. Nicole and I
14. So colourful, so peaceful
15. Silence.. As the engines were switched off