Let's do this!

Back in Qtown now. I am searching quite in depth for a car now.. I have decided to take the plunge and purchase a car to take me the rest of the way around this beautiful country. I have located one in Picton that is actually owned by a French couple I met in that great YHA in Punakaiki. I have to just try and find my way up there to check it out...
Well, continuing on from my last post, I made my way to Hanmer Springs on Wednesday. Within minutes of arriving, walking down the seemingly peaceful and safe streets, I was coerced into a moving vehicle full of strangers and whisked away to some unknown destination. Turns out that the vehicle was actually a four-seater bicycle (technically a quadcycle), and 'whisk' meant rode sluggishly down the road at about 10km/h. Great fun though..
And what a coincidence it was that I happened to bump into some people there I believe I had seen before.. Nic and Jode! They were up there admiring the views, the thermal springs and, of course, me. On Thursday, we did venture into the hotsprings, but not before I purchased some boardies (for some reason I didn't think I'd be doing any swimming over here..?) and a new pair of thongs (flip-flops for those uneducated folk among us). There are several different temperature pools in the complex, determined by the volume of cold water running through each spring, from 26 to 40 degrees C. It doesn't seem very natural here, however, with the pools having been moulded in cement and tiled. I thought we'd be chilling out in a swamp or lake-type setting, not a commercial swimming pool. A little disappointing, but still made for a relaxing day.
The next day, we parted ways again (briefly), both cars heading in the direction of Christchurch. We happened to both take a detour down the Inland Scenic Route and ended up in a place called Sefton! I had to find a park there somewhere, and was pointed in the direction of the local Domain where several pictures were taken. Moving on, we bumped into each other again in Sheffield (the girls' home town back in England) where more pictures were taken.
After all the pictures were taken and reminiscing done, I headed back to Christchurch and then onto a quaint little sea-side town called Akaroa, about 90km South East of the city. This town was one of the first French settlements in New Zealand, and they like to keep it that way with street names such as Rue Lavaud and houses such as the Langlois-Eteveneaux. I stayed in a place called Chez la Mer, with English translation: at the sea. The entire settlement is based, along with several other towns, around the edge of a volcanic crater which now forms a magnificent sound.
Yesterday morning, I did a bit of swimming with the dolphins at the mouth of this sound. Definitely not one of my most distinguished moments.. The dolphins were fantastic: more than 20 or so Hector's Dolphins came well within arms reach of us. However, my feelings of discomfort with being in the open sea, equipped with only snorkelling gear were far too great for me to bear, and I eventually climbed back into the boat to watch the others from the deck. This tells me one thing: I need to get out there more often! Was a great experience though, if only brief..
I stopped off at the massive Lake Tekapo before arriving at the Mount Cook township (Mt Cook being the highest peak in NZ) a good 6 hours after setting off from Akaroa. Most of the afternoon and night was plagued by high winds and rainfall, so no outdoor activities such as scenic walks were undertaken. I did manage to watch the New Zealand vs Great Britain Rugby League match being played in Christchurch on TV. And wouldn't you know it, on screen, among the crowd of 17,005, was Nic (even if she doesn't believe me)! This girl is stalking me! ;)
This morning, I made my way back to Queenstown to drop the car off. Luckily, the guy didn't notice the sheep stuck in the grill. Phew!! Some quite Lord-of-the-Ringsesque scenery around this area, which isn't surprising as some of the surrounding areas were used in the films.. Well, I'm back in the same room as I had before, and have met up (again) with Andrea as she is working as a cleaner in the same hostel.
Tonight, I think I will be trying to catch up on my travel diary again: I am still over 2 weeks behind..

Photos:
1. The offending vehicle
2. Nic, Jode and Nigel
3. One of the thermal pools - Ooooh so warm..
4. Look what I found, Ma
5. In the park in Sefton.. Steam train or tractor?
6. Aquaman
7. In amongst the dolphins, Akaroa
8. Attempting to stand in front of Lake Tekapo. My heels are actually off the rock in this pic, it was so windy..
9. I thought I needed to put a picture of sheep in here somewhere (the white specks).. On the way to Qtown
10. For Lee

12000ft and FALLING!

Saturday afternoon, I said my goodbyes to Nic and Jode, and hired my car from Qtown. A little silver AWD Toyota Starlet to take me on my first real (albeit short) solo tour around the South Island. And how good it feels to be free to go wherever I want, whenever I want.. So much so that I've contemplated selling the rest of my Magic Bus ticket and buying a car instead. Not sure if that's actually going to happen, but it's looking very appealing to me at the moment.
A short scenic drive later, I was in the lovely lakeside town of Wanaka. Another beautifully relaxed settlement, with magnificent views of the abutting Lake Wanaka and distant towering Alps.. It was here I met two North-Islanders, Jesse and Yannick, on their way back to work after a 3 month stint in the South. Sunday morning, the boys and I made our way to an eccentric alternate Universe known as Puzzling World. Pretty much a whole bunch of interactive optical illusions, holograms, and one big friggin' maze called the Labyrinth (1.5km of passages on two levels!). You can even slide uphill if you like in the Tilted House (a room tilted at an angle of fifteen degrees). Some very clever constructions here, and a lot of fun, even for such a mature and conservative citizen (correction: resident) as myself.
Later, we ventured along an admittedly moderate 4WD dirt track, in the boys' 2WD stationwagon, to a location known as Matukituki, just past the triplet mountain peaks named Treble Cone. The entire area, complete with grazing livestock, waterfalls and the extremely clean (and cold) Matukituki River is so very serene and unspoilt by humans.. It makes me wonder why areas such as this aren't more accessable to the general public! We climbed up part of a rockface to simply sit next to a 30m waterfall (and watch the young family below toast [well, smoke] marshmallows over a makeshift fire).
Onwards that evening to Haast, another small community; the first real town you pass after entering Westland. This place is apparently not large enough to warrant mobile coverage. In fact, I'm finding along most of the West Coast that coverage drops off whenever you are not within 2km of a substantial town. Several things, including this anomaly, make it very clear that they are quite happy living relaxed, country-town style lives over here in Westland. A lifestyle I respect, but not sure I could uphold for long.
I watched the sunset over the Tasman Sea that night.
Moving on quickly from this deserted town in the morning, I set out for Fox Glacier. On the way to the township, I stopped off at the glacier and walked about 2.5km up to the terminal face (I had to jump the fence to do so, as did many others). On my way back to the car, I put my hand in my pocket and.. Nothing! My car key had fallen out somewhere amongst the millions of crushed stones and rocks in front of the glacier! After about an hour of frantic searching, I was lucky enough to spot the white tag attached to the key, and my heart could then drop nicely back into my chest cavity. Lesson #2: Ensure keys are safely secured in a pocket or backpack before venturing near a glacier.
Due to a lack of mobile reception at Fox, I thought best to head 25km up the road to Franz again. Upon arrival I realised that Andrea, a Northern Irish gal I had shared a room with for that week in Christchurch, had just rocked up on the Magic Bus and was staying in the room just around the corner from mine. It was great catching up with her again.
And now the fun part.. This morning I was picked up at 1100hr and taken back down to Fox. We drove down a stony driveway, amongst cattle, to a little office in a shed. I signed a legal waiver, put on a red and black jumpsuit, and a tight body harness. I climbed into a lightweight propellor plane with my tandem master Mel, and we took off, heading for 12000ft above the Fox Glacier and the Southern Alps. That's right.. Skydiving!!! This time, anxiety did kick in around 8000ft, but only for a few moments until I was hanging completely out of the side of the plane, with the straps attached to Mel the only thing keeping me from falling. And then Mel wasn't even keeping me from falling... He had pushed out and we were in freefall.. A little longer than the bungy, this time at around 45 seconds before the cord was pulled. And boy did it not feel like 45 seconds. It was over in a flash. But the scenery from up there... You could see over the Alps, the plains, the forests, the weaving rivers, right out to the ocean. You think they look amazing from the ground, but just wait until they're coming up at you around 200km/h. Another unforgettable experience made possible only in New Zealand! Mel had a handycam strapped to his arm the entire way down, and the footage is just fantastic.. I've watched it a few times already, feels like I'm right back up there doing it every time.
I have now finally worked my way up to Reefton (remember that bike ride again?). A very small quiet town, but I believe an Australian mining company will change that with a goldmine due to open here around December this year. I also have a double bed all to myself (first time since I left) which is nice, I'm looking forward to that in a few minutes. Tomorrow, I head to a place called Hanmer Springs, a town built around a popular hot spring which was discovered in the late 1800s. This town also housed the South Island's leading rehabilitation centre for sufferers of drug addiction, until it was controversially closed in 2003. Sounds like a fun little group of people...

Lots of pics this time, sorry if it takes a while to load up.

I've now changed the way you post comments so that anyone can do it, even if you don't have a blog. Drop us a note if you like...

Photos:
1. My little runabout
2. The water really is that blue... Lake Hawea
3. People tell me I'm tall, but this is ridiculous! Me and Yannick in Puzzling World
4. I found this plaque quite touching
5. Me and that glacier (it looks a lot smaller in this pic than it actually is). Not the best place to lose a key. If you look closely at my left pocket, you'll see the offending key dangling perilously...
6. Andrea, a mug, and an empty beer handle
7. Matt (the other lucky contestant) and me before our jumps
8. From the plane
9. Dangling.. Just before we jumped
10. Can't quite reach!
11. Crazy Mel and his trusty sidekick
12. A one-way bridge complete with train tracks that disappear around the corner.. Is it safe to cross?
13. Sharp price rise since last week. En route to Reefton.

Until next time

This is my last day in Qtown. It has been a blast (details below), but I must move on.. Tomorrow, I will be hiring a car and travelling back up north, just past Franz to a place called Harihari. This little backtracking episode should take up to a week, before coming back through Queenstown and heading south again into unchartered territory on the way to Milford Sound.
Since we spoke last: I have participated in a few more activities including the Shotover Jet and a day of combination shooting/archery; many more nights of drinking and partying with some real great guys; and a lot more lounging around. Over the past week, I have been hanging out quite a bit with Nicola, a Northerner (happy Nic? Or for those of us unfamiliar with the local politics of the UK: a chickadee from Northern England). It has been nice having someone to hang out with (for more than just a few days) amidst the continual and inevitable change of every other aspect of my surroundings, if only for a brief while. It's amazing the number of people from the UK and Ireland over here.. It's virtually guaranteed that anyone I meet here originated from one of these countries. I assumed that, because NZ and Aussie accents are fairly similar, I would come back speaking like a kiwi. It looks more like I'll be coming back with an English accent.. In fact, since I've been over here, I've even had some British people ask me what part of England I am from!!
Thursday came and we drove up, with Nic's friend Jodie, to Coronet Peak. This is usually a popular skiing destination just out of Queenstown, however by the time we got up there, the snow had all but melted, leaving a mixture of mud and dead ground cover. Still some fantastic views over Qtown, Arrowtown and the surrounding mountains and the huge Lake Wakatipu, so definitely not complaining.
We became a bit trigger-happy on Friday as we decided to have a shot at archery and shooting, in a place aptly named 'Have A Shot', just outside of Wanaka. Of course, I kicked ass at archery, with a total of around 210 as compared with Nic's dismal effort of 95.. Secondly was pellet shooting at a target 20m away.. I blame a crooked sight and bent gun barrel for my defeat on this round. Following this, the last and probably my favourite, was the clay-pigeon shooting. Shotgun style with foot-triggered pigeon release.. Many a clay-pigeon was massacred on this day.. And again I was the undisputed victor. All-in-all, a good day was had by everyone, and a couple of unsuspecting tourists have now been added to the list of the world's trained snipers.
Saturday and Sunday, pretty much a write-off due to hangovers and lack of sleep. Dave, a damn funny Irish dude from my dorm, managed to miss his early-morning bus on Saturday, and so we decided to have a bit of a lazy day before getting back on the piss that night. He was smart enough to have an earlier night than the last though, and so was able to drag himself onto the bus on Sunday. We did manage to catch a flick Sunday night: Out Of The Blue. An NZ film about a massacre of 13 people in Aramoana, near Dunedin, by David Gray in 1990. A very eye-opening film.. Check it out if you get the chance!
Monday was Shotover Jet time. 3 tonnes of metal, floating on 10cm of water.. It was good fun, but I got a mild form of hypothermia from this one. I foolishly sat in the rear right-hand corner of the jetboat, where the spray from the famous 360-degree spins (within the boat's own length) would ultimately end up all over me. The water was freezing, the air was freezing, and the fact that we were travelling at about 80km/h along the water's surface didn't help.
Tuesday, we made our way to Arrowtown, a little bit out of Queenstown, to check out a Chinese settlement from the gold-rush era and some historic buildings.. Thought you'd appreciate that one Nicola :) Enthralling stuff. Damn good pies out there though, even if they were cold!
Wednesday, we thought we'd get a little sadistic and shove some metal bars through our skin.. Well, getting our ears pierced doesn't sound all that exciting now does it? Nic went for "the Nook" and I got "the Industrial".. A bit of a spur of the moment thing, but it suits me, so I'm happy. It friggin' hurt, but NO, I didn't cry (despite popular belief)!
Yesterday was a day for writing journals.. If you call taking 8 hours to write 2 1/2 pages a day for writing journals. Again another write-off.
Today, I've moved out of the hostel that has become my home over the past 2 weeks and have moved (for a night) into Jodie's flat with Nic until we part ways tomorrow. They will be taking their 1984 Toyota Corolla, affectionately named Nigel, and driving through Christchurch onto the North Island.
Well.. I've been writing this for quite some time, so it's best that I stop and put some photos of my time here for all to see..
Until next time, I'll leave you with this thought:

It all works out in the end. If it's not working out, it's not yet the end - Anonymous

Photos:
1. Is this not the funniest face you've ever seen? Dave, Toby and Nic
2. Nic and I. For Nic: "This girl made Qtown for me - She rocks!"
3. Dave looks hot with my beanie-cap on.. A lot of devil's horns that night..
4. Hold it.. Hold it..
5. Now we just need some real pigeons
6. The Shotover Jet performing a patented 360-degree spin.. That poor back row!!
7. The Industrial
8. The biggest burger I have ever seen.. Fergburger (the best burger joint in the world!), Shotover St.

party on down

Queenstown is very much a party-oriented town, with happy hours all over the place, DJs every night, drink specials for backpackers, etc. The place to be (at least for the start of the night before the DJ starts murdering the mood with extreme song-by-song genre changes like Rage Against The Machine's Killing In The Name to ABBA's Dancing Queen) is the World Bar. A good little night-spot which is generally pumping most nights, and which has coincidentally played host to myself and bunch of other guys from Magic every night since we've been here..
Monday night we made it into the Minus 5 bar. As you may have guessed, the temperature in this small room is kept at a refreshing -5 degrees Celsius all year round. Ice sculptures adorn the walls, the couches are made of ice, the entire drinks bar including spirit shelves.. ice.. You even drink from ice glasses. They do provide huge eskimo-type jackets and gloves for the approximate half-hour visit to this bizarre place, which is just as well.
Weather has been a bit hit-and-miss here in Qtown the past couple of days. Monday morning we woke up to snow falling. About an hour and a half later, the skies had cleared and sun was shining brightly. Maybe another 4 hours after that, rain..
Yesterday, the 800m long luge track was calling me from the top of a nearby mountain, so Gus (an Irish guy I met from Magic) and I caught the gondola (the cable-car style) up there to check it out. Man, the luge is some great fun, but quite dangerous if you lose control or concentration around one of those sharp bends in the track.. Right off the edge of the mountain!! Fortunately, they wouldn't let you on the course unless you were wearing one of their barely-secured, flimsy, 3-sizes-too-big helmets, which I'm confident would have saved our lives had we been involved in an accident of that magnitude..
Did you know that if you did every activity in Queenstown, it would cost you about $6,500!! I wonder what else they could come up with to boost that to $10,000? Maybe Extreme Shopping, where you get tied into a shopping trolley, air-lifted in a helicopter to the top of Mount Cook, and dropped out.. Not dangerous enough? You could add in pillars of toilet paper rolls and baked bean cans as obstacles, and before you get to the bottom, you will need to have purchased 10 items to the total of $13.57.. EXTREME!!! I might draw up a business plan, see if I can get things moving..
So I realised, in Franz, that I had lost my new hoodie. Shit! I managed to track it down in a hostel in Westport, where I left it after doing a wash. What to do, what to do? I knew I probably wouldn't get back up there again.. Luckily, Lois, the owner of the TripInn backpackers was nice enough to post it to my new temporary address at the hostel in Qtown. It arrived yesterday, and I haven't let it out of my sight since (that probably has something to do with the fact that it's quite cold and I've not taken it off).
Today, just a bit of light house-keeping, emails, washing, catching up on my written travel diary, and generally chilling out.. As if I hadn't done enough of that the past couple of days..

I've added a few more photos to the below post, so check 'em out.

Photos:
1. How's this for a cigarette dispenser? In the World Bar
2. Keeping warm.. with Lolita from the Minus 5 bar

Bungeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

134 metres above the Nevis Valley River. You stand on the end of a metal platform with an elastic cord, one inch in diameter, strapped to your ankles. The wind picks up and starts to rock the Bungy Pod, which is suspended precariously between two mountains. The music is pumping, as is the adrenalin. You take one final look at the faces watching you in anticipation... then turn to the mountains... and you jump!

What an experience! 8 1/2 seconds of freefall. The Nevis Highwire Bungy in Queenstown is the highest commercial bungy site in the Southern Hemisphere, surpassed only by the (huge) 216m jump in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. That feeling when you first jump and are totally at the mercy of Mother Nature.. Completely indescribable..

Kayaking on Lake Mapourika was such a relaxing experience. And for those of you that know me, you'll know that I'm not particularly partial to large bodies of water, so this was also a good experience for me in that sense. The weather was so calm and the views were spectacular. The almost perfect reflection of the mountains by the lake's surface is facilitated by the slight blackening of the water due to tannins seeped into the water from the surrounding trees. This lake was actually formed by a huge chunk of the Franz Josef Glacier that broke off as it receded towards its present day position. It's hard to picture just how large this chunk of ice would had to have been to form a lake of this size (about 11 square kilometres).
Saturday, not so lucky with the weather.. The entire ice-climbing trip up Franz Josef Glacier (the Maori name for this glacier is Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere — the tears of Hinehukatere — which actually arises from a legend: Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Tawe, to climb with her. An avalanche swept Tawe from the peaks to his death. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many, many tears froze to form the glacier.. how sad..) was accompanied by fairly constant rainfall. Weather aside, the climbing was great fun. Equipped with ice-axes, ropes, harnesses, spiked boots, and of course water-proof clothing, we hiked up this enormous ice formation wedged between two rainforest-laden mountains. After several successful climbs up walls of ice over 10m high, we decided to head back for a much-deserved hot chocolate and a spa bath.
I had met some good people while staying in Franz, so I decided to catch the Magic School Bus to Queenstown on Sunday with them. Again, the scenery along the way was spectacular. It is amazing that I am still blown away every time I look around at my surroundings. Everywhere you look, there's always something new and interesting to see.. Always something to take your breath away! We passed through quite a few towns that I would like to have stopped at, but it's all good. I am planning on hiring a car for a few days from Queenstown and driving back up north along the same route to do some further exploration.
There are so many things I have seen or experienced that I would love to be able to share with everyone, but it's just so hard fitting it all into this little blog. I'm doing my best to put the most important things in.. But that raises the question: how do you classify a certain experience as more important than another?
Aside: Remember that bike ride on the way to Reefton? Well, I was bitten by quite a number of sandflies when I stopped for my lunch break. After hearing that sandflies can be quite nasty (especially on the west coast), I was a little surprised that I didn't have any immediate reaction to the bites. No itching, no red bumps, nothing.. Until 2 days later.. And now, almost a week later, they are still red and still itchy. About 7 on each leg, and a few on my arms. A real nuisance. Lesson learned? Believe the guide books when they say to take insect repellant if you ever come to Aotearoa (New Zealand). Aaaaaaaaaargh..

More pics to follow..

What an experience with the bungy!!!! My God..

Photos:
1. Me, (quite well camouflaged if I do say so myself) plummeting 134m into the Nevis Valley. Reminds me a bit of a jellyfish actually, from this angle.
2. What a view... If something did go wrong, at least you would go out in style..
3. On Lake Mapourika
4. Sub-Alpine view of the Franz Josef Glacier (the day before the climb)
5. Day of the climb. It's hard to imagine standing on a massive ice block in the middle of Spring
6. Me, trying my hand at ice-climbing
7. Perfect Reflection. Lake Matheson, just past Fox Glacier, on the way to Queenstown

Emporer Franz Josef

The forecast for Arthur's Pass on Monday was more of the same.. Rainy, drizzly, overcast, etc. So I decided to make my way back up to Westport, as a base for heading further north to Karamea and the Oparara Basin. There are some great caves and limestone formations in Oparara, and I especially wanted to check out the Honeycomb Hill Caves and Arch. The bones of the now-extinct giant Haast eagle (with a 3-4m wingspan) were discovered here, along with those of 3 of the 5 moa species. These particular natural wonders are protected by DOC (the Department of Conservation; most towns here have a DOC office where they have info on walks, weather and, of course, conservation of the local environment and wildlife. They seem very environmentally conscious over here, it's fantastic to see!) and access to them requires accompaniment by an accredited guide. Unfortunately, on the days that I wanted to go up, the guide had (conveniently) decided to take the day off.
Tuesday, I borrowed the hostel's mountain bike and I started riding a little inland en route to a town called Reefton (which was actually the first town in NZ to have an electricity supply). I must note here that from Westport, the road to Reefton is about 80km over the mountains. Obviously I didn't get there, but I did manage to get about 35km (it rained the entire 2-hour trip) before stopping at an isolated river-side hotel for lunch and a rest. When it stopped raining, I started on my way back and wouldn't you know it, it started raining again, and didn't let up for about an hour. By the time I got back, I had practically air-dried so I was happy.
Car pooling yesterday with Bryan, a fellow backpacker, we did actually get up to Oparara and were able to see the unrestricted Oparara Arch (a massive 200m long and 37m high limestone arch) and the "Crazy Paving" and "Box Canyon" Caves. Even though the Honeycomb Caves were still out of bounds, it was definitely worth making the trip up there.
Again, another beautiful day out here on the West Coast. My first trip on the Magic School Bus was not too touristy so that was good. We did stop off to eat Possum Pie along the way. Yes, that's right, they actually eat possums here! Possums were introduced here from Aussie and they have since become a massive pest, eating the native foliage, etc. So what better way to keep their numbers under control than to eat them?
I am now quite a bit further south, at the Franz Josef Glacier; known simply as Franz to the locals, this glacier and subsequent nearby settlement was named in 1865 by its (European) discoverer, Austrian Julius Haast, after the Austrian emporer. On Saturday, I will be ice-climbing up this huge slow-moving mass of compressed snow. This afternoon, something a little less energetic, but just as exciting.. Kayaking on the huge black-water Lake Mapourika.

I've added photos to the past couple of posts now.. Check 'em out

Photos:
1. I found this eerie tree on the walk to the Oparara Arch. It doesn't look real does it?
2. The lovely little sign above the Possum Pie factory. I don't think they look that evil in Australia...

Westland

I am sitting in front of a central wood-fuelled fireplace about 733m above sea level, in a town called Arthur's Pass up amongst the Southern Alps. This is the highest settlement in NZ, and as expected in high-altitude mountainous areas, it is quite cold and the relatively low-lying clouds have been pouring rain all day (hence the log fire). A little bit of (light) tramping was on the activities list today on a track called the Devil's Punchbowl; the main feature of which is a spectacular 131m high cascading waterfall that flows all year round. Unfortunately, part of the track was closed due to "renovations" and so walking to the base of this water feature was prohibited.
Backtracking a few days, the 4 1/2 hour TranzAlpine trip was spectacular. It's amazing the variety of scenery available over only a few hundred kilometres of travelling. From miles of luscious dark green forest areas covering entire mountain sides, to the huge, snow-capped rocky alps up to 2400m, to completely flat farming areas equipped with cows and sheep, to rivers and massive serene clear-blue lakes (sometimes all visible at once). Many a photo was taken.
Greymouth, on the West Coast, was the destination. Not much to do there apart from a walk up one of the huge hills that form the background setting for this sea-side town (looks as though a lot of walks will be undertaken by moi over the next few months.. I'd better seriously consider purchasing a pair of hiking boots as I think my flat-soled converses will not quite cut it on some of those steep, slippery and rocky tracks that I'll be coming across). I did meet up with Amber (the British chick), however she left on the tour coach the next morning, moving south on what I have dubbed the Magic School Bus. I, on the other hand, decided to head up north (along the most beautifully scenic coastal road I have ever seen) to another small sea-side town called Punakaiki. Here you can take a squiz at what they like to call the Pancake Rocks (I know, the place sounded delectable the first time I heard it too). Over millions of years, through a layering and weathering process known as stylobedding, the limestone rocks have formed into what appear (using some imagination) to be huge stacks of pancakes towering out of the sea. Another speccy feature were the geyser-like blow holes that arise around times of high-tide when water surges into caverns and is forced upwards through natural tunnels to the surface. In the middle of forest area was the village-style Te Nikau Retreat, where I stayed that night. I have to say, it would have to be one of the best (and most secluded and serene) backpackers you could hope to ask for.
The next day, moving a little further north to Westport, I hired a bike and rode to a known seal colony about 20km out of town. I know I could easily see seals in Adelaide, but it gave me a good excuse to hire a bike for the day; and what a lovely day it was (I have been really lucky with weather over here so far, apart from maybe today [but it has given me a good excuse to jump on the net for a bit, and will be nice to listen to tonight], let's hope it stays that way.. touch wood).
Unfortunately, this computer doesn't have a USB port so I'll have to wait until I get to my next destination (wherever that may be) to upload some photos. Until then, I leave you with this small, but inspiring quote I found written on a slat under one of the bunk beds I inhabited in Christchurch..

Wisdom need not raise its voice - Anonymous

Photos:
1. Standing in front of the 131m Devil's Punchbowl Waterfall
2. On the way to Greymouth on the TranzAlpine
3. The Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki.. All we need now is some maple syrup