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Planes, Trains & Taxiwallahs

a travel blog by phileasdogg

I'm travelling to some places, taking some photos, eating and drinking local stuff, trying to keep it down, talking to people then travelling somewhere else. Oh, and writing about it. Maybe. If I remember.

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Onwards...

Dunedin, New Zealand

So I caught the bus down to Dunedin today and had half a day there. Which was about a quarter of a day more than I needed. Admittedly it just rained for the whole time I was there which didn't improve my image of the town. But even with good weather it would still be a bit of a dreary provincial town, reminiscent of what I imagine small towns in the mid-west of America to look like. Functional. But with limited character. Somehow my brother and his wife managed to spend a whole year working at the hospital here - I can only imagine they achieved this by spending as little time outside of work in the town. Looking forward to getting on two wheels tomorrow and pedalling as fast as possible outta here!

permalink written by  phileasdogg on November 25, 2008 from Dunedin, New Zealand
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Solitude

Queenstown, New Zealand

Had a very pleasant 2-day journey between Dunedin and Queenstown. On Wednesday morning I took the Taieri Gorge railway from Dunedin to Middlemarch. It's one of the world's most scenic train rides and was indeed quite beautiful. And then I picked up my mountain bike and took to the Otago Rail Trail, a 150km route to Clyde that follows the route of the old railway line. It's a beautifully scenic ride for the most part, interspersed with some long, mainly agricultural stretches, but is still relatively unknown outside of New Zealand - I must have passed no more than 30 other bikers for the whole two days. I overnighted in a hotel in Ranfurly which called itself an 'Art Deco' hotel, but it quickly became apparent that that just meant it hadn't been refurbished since 1930. But it had food and a bed so that did the job. 92km on day 2 was a bit of a push - definitely some saddle soreness towards the end of that stretch. But a very nice ride. Then a shuttle bus took me on the Queenstown, New Zealand's 'adventure playground', where I'm meeting up with the legend that is Keith Graham Potter, of DHL Vauxhall fame.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on November 27, 2008 from Queenstown, New Zealand
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KP

Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown is a beautiful town, on the shore of Lake Wakatipu and surrounded on all sides by towering mountains. And it was made even better by the arrival on Friday of my old mate from the Rose of the Shires, now resident in Auckland, Keith Potter. In spite of hearing from a lot of people that all the "adrenaline" activities in Queenstown are better done in other parts of the country, we felt we had to do something, and as a bungy was out of the question after KP had a ledge bail-out at the one in Lake Taupo, we opted for whitewater rafting on the Shotover River. It was pretty tame to be honest, not a patch on the Zambezi. The scariest thing about it was the drive to the river along a narrow ledge in the mountains with nothing between the bus and a very long drop down into the gorge.

That was followed by a long evening in the many bars of Queenstown, biding time until the England-NZ rugby match kicked off at 3.30am. The less said about the game the better. But it probably wasn't such a great move to hike up Ben Lomond the next day after KP had left. But in spite of a rather sore head I made it up there, and it was worth it for the view from the top. There's no doubt there are some beautiful landscapes in this country - just hope I don't get scenery fatigue too soon!

Off to Te Anau tomorrow, the main access point for Milford Sound.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on December 1, 2008 from Queenstown, New Zealand
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Inclement weather

Te Anau, New Zealand

Te Anau is a sleepy little town on the shore of Lake Te Anau, with a permanent population of just 2500. But that more than doubles during high tourist season, because it's the entry point to Fiordland, home of the Milford Track and Milford Sound. Milford Sounds is one of a number of fiords along the south-west coast, but is the most spectacular. It was uncharacteristically missed twice by Captain Cook when he circumnavigated New Zealand in 1770 and 1773, and was only discovered in the early 1800s by a Welsh sealer who named it after his (and my dad's) home town of Milford Haven.

Sadly it was a very English day weather-wise when I went out on a cruise there - grey skies, mist and persistent rain. It did mean there were a lot more waterfalls in full flow, and you still got a sense of the scale of the towering mountains all around it, but I imagine it would look stunning on a sunnier day. The mountains rise straight up by between 5500 and 6500 feet on either side of the water, and descend for 1000 feet below it, but you have to see it to get a sense of the scale of the place - photos don't really do it justice.

This part of the world is also famous for the Milford Track, a 56km path from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound that takes 4 days to walk. I didn't have time for that, so just did a day trek along the first section. It's mainly a bush walk through rainforest, and is beautiful. The forest is really dense, and about 10 people a year wander off the track and are never seen again. All a bit Blair Witch.

Also received the splendid news yesterday that I'm an uncle for the third time, to Oliver Walter Jones.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on December 3, 2008 from Te Anau, New Zealand
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Ice cubes

Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

One of the problems with NZ being a fairly large, mountainous country with not many people is that public transport doesn't run especially frequently. So even though it's only quite a short distance as the crow flies, it's taken me two days to get from Te Anau to Franz Josef, via Queenstown. The plus side is that the 8-hour coach ride from Queenstown to Franz Josef was a beautiful drive up the west coast past mountains, lakes and rainforests. And the coach driver gives a running commentary, and makes regular stops for photo opportunities. Can't really seeing that happening on the National Express from London to Newcastle - "and if you look to your left you can see a Moto Services, famous for being the site of the first Little Chef in England..."

I'm now in Glacier country, and spent the day out at Franz Josef Glacier. Recent rain meant I couldn't hike on it, but it was pretty impressive just to walk up to the face of it. Apparently it's very unusual to get a Glacier in a temperate, rainforest-heavy landscape, but it makes for a spectacular sight. They've had 3 water surges in the past 10 days, where a build-up of water bursts through the front of the Glacier, so our guide was a bit nervous, but you get about 10 minutes warning between a booming sound and the water coming through, so there's enough time to get to higher ground. Nothing happened anyway.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on December 5, 2008 from Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand
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Horatio

Nelson, New Zealand

Looong day's drive to Nelson in the north-west of the north island, gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park. Pretty rubbish weather, but went out for a day of kayaking round the coast followed by trekking along the coastal path anyway, which was all very good. Although my knees are giving me a bit of grief - don't think they've fully recovered from the 2-day bike ride a couple of weeks ago. Ageing, it's a terrible thing.

There seem to be an inordinate number of Germans in New Zealand at the moment. Even a German guy said to me that Germany must be empty at the moment. Not that it's a big problem, they're not strutting around barking orders, and most of them seem to be travelling in buses rather than Panzers, it's just a bit of a change from the usual travelling crowd of Brits, Aussies and Americans.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on December 7, 2008 from Nelson, New Zealand
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Repetition

Picton, New Zealand

Hmm, these blog entries are starting to get a bit repetitive. Travel somewhere, admire scenery via foot/bike/kayak, move on. I guess that's the thing with NZ - beautiful country though it is, there's not a great deal beyond that. And because I've been doing the south island on my own, I haven't got any particularly amusing anecdotes about fellow travellers either, because you only really have time to talk to people long enough to establish country of origin, time away from home, places visited/to visit, and a few other bits and pieces. Anyway, that'll all change when I meet up with KP in Wellington to tour the north island - he's always good value for a few stories.

So Picton was my last stop in the north island. Just time for a day's mountain biking on the Queen Charlotte Track before jumping on the ferry. It was great biking though, with some great single-track downhills (obviously preceded by rather unpleasant climbs).

permalink written by  phileasdogg on December 9, 2008 from Picton, New Zealand
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Windy Welly

Wellington, New Zealand

Came across to Wellington on the ferry a couple of days ago. The journey out of Picton through the Marlborough Sounds is beautiful. And I've finally found somewhere in New Zealand that has a bit of dynamism and vibrancy to it (admittedly that's what people normally come here to get away from). Although Auckland is the commercial centre of NZ, Wellington is its cultural capital, and it's got a nice feel to it - some cool bars and cafes, a nice waterfront strip. Still can't get a sit-down meal between 2pm and 6pm though. NZ opening hours are a bit archaic!

Met up with Sophie a couple of days ago, an ex-colleague from Leo Burnett, and she showed me round the sights of Welly accompanied by 9-week-old Monty. Then the legend that is Keith Graham Potter arrived from Auckland yesterday, so we hit the city bars and pubs for a Saturday night out, NZ-stylee. From what I can remember it was a highly entertaining evening. We've now got 8 days to do the north island before KP has to be back at work, so it's back on the road today - after bussing round the south island, it's good to have a more flexible transport option. And a chauffeur to boot. Music selection is poor though - he's only got 6 CDs, 3 of which are 'Best of 80s'. Not good.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on December 12, 2008 from Wellington, New Zealand
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Ghost town

Napier, New Zealand

Had a fairly long drive up the east coast yesterday to Napier, a city that was flattened by an earthquake in 1931, and has subsequently reinvented itself as "the world's leading art deco city" as a result of the rebuilding style. I don't know whether they're expecting another earthquake imminently, but there was nobody here as we drove into town. We expected to see tumbleweeds blowing across the road and saloon doors swinging in the breeze. Even when we went out for dinner there was nobody bar a couple of waitresses in any of the restaurants. But in spite of that all accommodation options seemed to be fully booked. Very strange. So we ended up staying in Napier Prison, which thankfully has been converted to lodgings now. Although sleeping in a cell less than 20 metres from where 4 people were hanged didn't make for the most peaceful night's sleep. Anyway, it is the most architecturally attractive town I've seen in NZ, not that it's got any stiff competition for that mantle.

Hired some bikes this morning and headed out round some of the Hawke's Bay wine estates to sample their wares. At the first place we visited, it didn't take our host long to figure out we were no connoisseurs but did know our cricket and rugby, so he proceeded to regale us with tales of his playing days, and how many famous sportsmen he knew etc. Thankfully accompanied by several wines. The bikes weren't looking such a good idea. But managed to wobble our way around another 3 estates.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on December 14, 2008 from Napier, New Zealand
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Weather issues

Waiouru, New Zealand

The plan today was to do the Tongariro Crossing, supposedly the best one-day hike in NZ, and judging from the photos, a pretty spectacular one around volcano craters and Bright blue pools. So we got dropped at one end of the trail and set off in sunshine. But as we climbed the edge of the volcano the mist started to descend and the winds got up. Then about 2-3 hours in we hit a Ridge between two craters where the wind was whistling across at about 40mph. Everyone on the trail ground to a halt for about 20 mins hoping it would clear, but to no avail. And as nobody was prepared to be the Guinea pig and see if they could make it across in one piece, we had to decide that discretion was the better part of valour and go back the way we'd come. Which was a bit of a sod as all the best scenery was on the second half of the trail! I've got to say that considering this is supposed to be summer, the weather out here has been bloody awful. If you were leaving the UK to escape the weather there, I wouldn't be heading to NZ - it's exactly the same here.

So onwards to Lake Taupo, where hopefully we'll get better weather, and might even see more than 5 people in a pub at one time.

permalink written by  phileasdogg on December 16, 2008 from Waiouru, New Zealand
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