New York state of mind

Seven years ago I tramped the streets of NYC with my friend Caoimhe (not unknown to this blog!), underage and unprepared for the biggest smoke. My most abiding memory of the trip is of a woman working in the subway handing us a wet wipe, because according to her our faces were dirty. But they definitely weren't! It was weird and embarrassing and pretty funny in retrospect. What the hell was she up to?

So older, wiser, only very marginally wealthier and with a bit of more of a clue, I took it on again. Our journey was a bit of a proverbial 'mare, immigration took us two hours to get through, the massive queue culminating in a bored looking woman asking us if we knew which side of Central Park the upper east side was on. Eh I dunno, the left? Convinced that we had missed the connecting flight from San Fran up to New York we raced through the airport, only to find it was delayed and we would make it. Sweet! I got a drink and some fries before boarding and the woman in front of me asked for a diet coke, "with a splash of regular coke". Oh America, you're gas!

So finally we got to JFK, felt the rush on seeing the lights of Manhattan, the density, the life of the city rising up like a million eyed monster in front of our knackered eyes. And there are only two things that can be a tonic to the soul at a crazy hour in a crazy city, a slice of doughy pizza and the melodic lilt of a familiar Donegal voice.. and well maybe a few cold beers! Another friend not seen in over a year, we all found it hard to quit chatting and give in to sleep.

The next day, one by one they arrived.

Kev's here!!!!

First came Cian, then Kev, then John, all jetlagged, but excited and full of news and craic and after finally making it out the door to a bar we found another actuary, Damien's ex colleague, and his girlfriend, and sure then we were a raucous lot altogether! At the end of the night, we stumbled into a brilliantly New Yorkish diner, where a lady with an unusual accent (part Pole, part Bronx) dished out burgers and beers at alarming speed. Yum.

The next morning we did what all unemployed travellers with rapidly contracting bank accounts should do on a hungover Friday morning.. go for mimosas and brunch dahling! To be fair, we have a lot to learn from the restaurant industry in NY, a huge entree and two mimosas for $14?? Take note Dublin!

After getting schtuk into the drinks we all felt way better and took off rambling through Central Park, down to Times Square and round a few shops. I was curious to see the World Trade Center site as the last time I was there in 2005 (dirty face et al) it was a gaping hole in the ground, fenced off and ugly. The finished monument is stunning, carefully and thoughtfully conceived and reading the names of the lost souls engraved in the black stone around the waterfall chasms somehow brought you closer to the real people whose lives ended that day. There's a deep hole in the ground where each of the towers stood, with water gushing into two containment pools endlessly.

The next few days were brilliant, we did bus-tours and rooftop bars and brunch every freakin morning (because that's how we roooooll!) but our last day in NY was my favourite, hands down. Early enough we took off and walked the high line, a dilapidated old train line that has been regenerated and turned into a gorgeous stroll through the lower west side of the city, with views out over the river and down the busy streets. A mingle of tourists, lunching professionals and arty types meant an interesting crowd and an enjoyable walk.

Then it was lunchtime and at Damien's request we were hitting up one of New Yoik's oldest and most legendary Jewish delis.. Katz's. Featured in loads of movies and TV shows, visited by loads of celebs, AND with a pastrami sandwich the width of your fist, we were all quite happy to add it to the itinerary! The decor hasn't changed in decades and even though it's unashamedly a tourist spot, it's authentic and the cold meats are just cracking.

Please note my "Katz" tee-shirt. Ha ha! (Well I thought so anyway)

Obviously eating huge sandwiches builds up a thirst and so Seamie took us to an amazing bar overlooking the river for lengthy sundowners.

Then not satisfied with the awesomeness of that, we went and climbed the Rockerfeller Center and took in all the twinkly winking lights of the city from an amazing height! I felt a bit sombre by that stage, our last night of hundreds, in different countries, looking at different skies and it was ending momentarily. All good things, I guess.

Then the final final FINAL day arrived. Luckily we had an evening flight, so in the morning we separated and I had an extremely enjoyable few hours wandering and marvelling at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the second time in my life. It is an incredible place, I happily could lose a day there. We said our goodbyes to Seamus in the same diner we patronised at 4am in the morning of our first night out! I think a tradition has been firmly made, so we'll see you there soon Seamie.

And then Kev and Damien and I hopped in yellow taxi and made our way through the streets of Manhattan, over the flyway to Queens and onto an Aer Lingus flight back to the green fields of home, the drizzle and the very welcome faces of two sets of parents and real life.

The North Island

On disembarking the ferry in the capital Wellington, it was clear that the north island was far more densely populated than the south island. For once we were competing with actual traffic and roundabouts. In fact nearly 75% of New Zealanders live on the north island, this is despite it being far smaller than the south island. Our first stop was the WETA workshop where the special effects team behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy are based. 

We signed onto the behind the scenes tour which granted us access into the studios where cameras couldn’t go, because the WETA prop teams are working on films yet to be released. I’d love to tell you some of the things we saw, but then I’d have to kill you. Lord of the Rings daily fix over it was time to find somewhere to stay, there were a few options in town, but only one that was in walking distance of downtown so we rocked on up. To say it was a glorified carpark is an understatement, it was a funny sight seeing Cora running to the showers in her PJs, towel under her arm, while people walked by on their way to work. Picture camping in the IFSC and that gives you a idea!

Wellington was a nice little city, we caught the cable car up to the summit in Kelburn which afforded great views over the city. This enabled me to recreate the famous postcard I’d seen in every shop since we’d arrived, of the cable car with Wellington in the background. What do you think? 

The walk back down took us through the botanical gardens and we finished in the main shopping district for a coffee. It’s a tough life.

We stayed in Welly for a couple of nights, but got out of there just in time. We left our campsite at 12.30pm, did a bit of shopping and hit the road. At around 2.30pm the city was rocked by a massive earthquake measuring 6.5, a near miss on our part!

Our next stop was the Tongariro national park where we had planned to do the Tongariro alpine crossing. This gruelling 20km hike passes over the volcanic terrain near the volcano Mt Tongariro and is widely regarded as the best one day hike in the world. As it was winter, the only way to do the hike was with a professional guide rented gear to get you through the snow. The mountain was a no go on our first day because of poor weather, so we drove to nearby Lake Taupo and visited some geothermal fields and Huka falls.

Back in Tongariro and with a 7am start time we were both anxious as we waited for the bus to pick us up. Disappointingly the guide told us that there was a good chance that the hike wouldn’t happen today because the weather was still rough. With no more days to spare, this was our last shot! The bus dropped us at the start of the trek where the guides would make the final call. Immediately we were met with a “Danger! Considerable avalanche warning” sign. This made up my mind really, but the guides studied the mountain and the clouds before deciding to abandon the hike.

The mountain we didn't climb

Feeling a little down, the guide suggested a nearby trek we could do on our own. With the lunch and water packed, hiking boots on and time in New Zealand running out we thought why not! The 18km hike took us through vast wilderness where we felt like the only two people around for miles. It started off on flat open grassland, with the occasional river crossing to contend with. 

Then the terrain got far more rocky and suddenly it felt as though we were on the moon. All the while the vast snowcapped peaks nearby kept us company. We were promised that we would see some lakes towards the end of the hike, and boy we weren’t disappointed. We passed two lakes on the way both a beautiful emerald green colour, we sat at the top for a few minutes and had our lunch in utter isolation. On the walk back the cloud cover started to clear and I finally got some good snaps of the famous “Mount Doom” for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Looks much different when it doesn’t have molten lava spewing out of it eh?

Our walk in Tongariro was a fantastic experience and a highlight for me, and on the plus side it didn’t cost a penny! We couldn’t rest for too long, well at least one of us couldn’t. We had some serious driving to do before it got dark if we were going to make it to Rotorua that evening.

Rotorua is one of New Zealand's most popular tourist destinations for two reasons. It’s home to many geothermal fields with geysers and hot mud pools where people come to be healed. It’s also home to some of New Zealand's most richly preserved Maori culture. We thought we’d hit two nails on the head and go visit a traditional Maori village which was built right on top of a geothermal area. The town of Whakarewarewa is not what I expected a traditional Maori village to look like. But then I was a bit naïve in thinking that Maori tribes lived in log cabins and wore traditional clothing and spoke only Maori. The village was very normal looking apart from the sulphuric smell coming from the steam rising all around us. 

It did however have a traditional meeting house at the heart of the town covered with intricate carvings. The tour ended with a traditional Maori song and dance show, where we were treated to the famous Maori Haka among other things. All in all an interesting learning experience.

It was also in Rotorua where I celebrated my birthday! This year Rotorua NZ, last year Santa Marta, Colombia. Next year who knows! What better birthday present than a trip to Hobbiton. For those of you who haven’t seen the movies, it’s where Bilbo and Frodo Baggins live, and in real life is located half way between Rotorua and Auckland on a lovely working sheep farm.

It wasn’t the easiest place in the word to find and given that we had to have our campervan back in Auckland that evening we were running tight on time. We signed onto the tour and suddenly I was giddy as a schoolgirl on prom night. The tour took us through the entire set, which has recently been reconstructed for the Hobbit movie. The attention to detail in the set design was amazing, even down to the fake moss on all the wooden posts. It looked exactly like it did in the movies, so I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

The tour finished with a free drink in the Green Dragon pub, which is now a fully functional old pub. It was a great experience and a must for anyone who is a fan of the movies. With no time to waste it was back into the campervan and the mad dash ensued!

We had two and a half hours to drive the 170 kilometres to Auckland to get our camper back in time. In a country with no motorways that’s harder said than done, we had to go through every single town on the way and crawl along at the speed limit. With the keys finally handed back and bills settled, we grabbed a taxi to our guesthouse. I cannot tell you how good it was to have a room again and a bed that you didn’t need to assemble each night and take apart in the morning! We didn’t exactly do much in Auckland except hit a few bars, and Cora took me out for a lovely birthday dinner.

Our time in New Zealand came to an end too soon. We were there in winter and I would love to return again in summer to see and do a bit more. We were really lucky with the weather though and apart for the odd rain day, we had mostly clear skies to take in the beautiful scenery. The Kiwis have to be some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met, everyone seems to love striking up a conversation with you. They love to hear about where you’ve been and where you’re going and will give you tips on what to see in their country, it’s as though they all work for tourism New Zealand which is great.

Two more flights and we’d be in New York City on our final stop. We had some friends coming to visit aswell, so it was gonna be epic!    

     

Queenstown and beyond

We were really starting to enjoy the freedom of having our own campervan. For once we didn’t have to rely on other people for getting around, and we were no longer at the mercy of outdated bus timetables or crazy Indonesian drivers. We were however at the mercy of Cora's diabolical map reading skills! The next stop on our trip around the south Island was the millionaires playground of Queenstown, so called because you can basically do any activity you want there (for a price!).

Lovely Queenstown

The drive from Tekapo was one of the best scenic routes I’ve ever driven, it was hard to stop ourselves from saying “WOW”, all the time. The windy road carved its way around the vast snow covered peaks and through wide open grassy plains as far as the eye could see. Each time we passed another camper we got a wave so I had started to wave like mad with a big grin on my face the whole time. Arriving into Queenstown there was suddenly a real bustle about the place, lots of folk milling around the bright streets, sitting in the many bars and restaurants and looking like they were enjoying themselves.

We stayed in the nearest holiday park to town and it was probably the best one we’d stayed in on our whole trip through New Zealand. The people who worked there were very helpful and the facilities were top notch, not to mention we could walk to all the bars and restaurants in 2 minutes (which is the most important thing of all!)

Settled in we set off to book some ski gear for the following day. I couldn’t believe that I was going to get the opportunity to do a bit of snowboarding while in New Zealand, it was August after all! Cora did her best to feign excitement about our impending trip to the slopes, but I could tell she was a bit nervous. She needn’t have been as (after remembering how to put the skis on) she wasn't all that bad! We spent the whole day on a set of slopes appropriately named the “Remarkables”, we may not have looked the part, with our hideously ugly rented ski gear -none of which matched or was made in the last 10 years- but who cares!

After a rowdy night out with a somewhat far from home Kells head (hi Podge!) we spent our final morning queueing for a Fergburger, the famous burger place on the mainstreet. Since we’d arrived there had been a constant queue outside the place day and night, and people have been known to get their breakfast here. On our last day we rocked up and patiently waited in line for what was an epic burger I must say!

Putting some miles behind we made towards the west coast, but not before a sudden rush of madness caused me to veer of course and head for a 45m high bridge on the outskirts of town. This was where the famous AJ Hackett hurled himself off in the 80s attached to a bungy chord, and the sport of bungy jumping was born! I knew if I thought about it too much I wouldn’t go through with it, so within 10 minutes of pulling into the centre I found myself with harness attached perched high above the freezing water below.

What the hell was I doing!! Was I mad! I never thought I would do a bungy, but here I was, and with a quick countdown of 1, 2, 3, BUNGY! I picked a point on the horizon and leapt off! It was the most exhilarating feeling I have ever experienced, for those few seconds it felt like I was free falling to the water below. I was relieved when I felt the tension in the rope and hanging there it was hard not to let out an enthusiastic “WhooHoo!!” It wasn’t cheap, but it was well worth it and we jumped back into the camper, me with a smile from ear to ear!

Our next stop was the town of Wanaka located right on a crystal clear blue lake with beautiful mountains in the background. Wanaka was kinda like a baby Queenstown but as it was winter it was very quiet after all the madness of Queenstown it was a perfect place for a quiet couple of drinks and to stock up the camper.

Lake Wanaka

With no time to waste and with glorious sunshine beaming down we followed the main highway out to the west coast and had our first sight of the great Tasman sea. We drove over large gushing rivers and through enormous pine forests, stopping as often as we could for some photos and to walk in the countryside.

The country itself is so well set up for tourists, every attraction is really well signposted, and all the trails are well marked and maintained. They also have toilets.. everywhere! It was a vast contrast to travelling around some countries in Asia. We arrived in the small town of Fox Glacier in the as the sun was going down, and decided to leave it until the morning to go visit the huge glacier nearby.

The glacier is located about 10 minutes outside of town and unlike most things in New Zealand you don’t need to pay to go and see it. The walk to the glacier was along the old glacial valley was like something out of Lord of the Rings, almost eerie. It was much colder here, as if the glacier was cooling all the surrounding air, so the woolly hats were on! It took us about 30mins until we got a full view of the glacier and it was pretty awesome!

At Fox glacier

I still don’t think that the glacier was on a par with some of the ones we had seen in South America, but the fact that New Zealand even has glaciers I find amazing. They really have everything here! There are actually two glaciers, but because of crappy weather and a rather scary thunderstorm we didn't get a great look at the second one.

Sharing the single lane bridge with a train, safe?

We continued up the west coast past the famous pancake rocks and into Westport where we visited an old abandoned mining village. After Westport we finally got back to some civilisation in Nelson, voted recently as the best place to live in New Zealand. It was nice to see a few faces in the bars for a change! On a whim we signed up for some white water rafting on the famous Buller river and luckily got a beautiful sunny day for it. Two dudes who looked like aged rockers showed up and took us on an extremely professional but very fun and fast paced trip down the river. At one point we all jumped into the water (which was FREEZING!) and let the rapids carry us down. Not quite a bungy jump, but still a good rush! The cup of home roasted coffee at the end was a welcome treat for the cold hands.

Our last stop in the south island was in a town called Picton from where we would board the ferry to the north island in a couple of days. But before our imminent departure, there was a wine region nearby to drink our way through! Marlborough is one of NZ's premier wine areas and produces a lot of white wine, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay mainly. We visited around five vineyards in all, each of them differing in size and charm. Some were big businesses with no personal touch, others were small co-ops who were more than happy to entertain us for ages. We had most of the tastings to ourselves and could take our time. Feeling slightly pissed, it was nap time back in the campervan!

Can you tell we've had copious glasses of wine?

The following morning we packed up the camper and reported to the dock for the 10am sailing of the interislander ferry. The trip was smooth and the views were amazing, and we both sat and hoped that the north island could live up to our time in the south island. Time would tell..

Time for a spot of roadside lunch!

  

New Zealand! Whales! Awesome!

It was with a somewhat heavy heart we said goodbye to Lou and Tim and carried on our way. When you only see your friends once a year at most, whatever time you have with them is precious and always passes too quickly. I think we were also both aware that we were making towards our last country, and that the shadow of the real world, of jobs and apartments and responsibilities was encroaching, a little bit every day, like an oil slick towards a beautiful beach.

So we flew out of rainy Melbourne and into battered Christchurch. I was already warming to Kiwis when the guy sitting beside me on the plane offered us a lift to our hostel. We accepted of course! On the way there he pointed out areas that were affected by the 2011 earthquake, great gaping holes where homes and buildings once stood.

Memorial: an empty white chair for each of the 185 people who died

We spent a day wandering around the eerily quiet downtown area. I was astounded at how much of the city has been demolished and how much is still to go. The famous name giving cathedral stands with one wall missing, like a vengeful god tore it out in a terrible fury. 

There’s a new shopping area in shipping containers which is pretty cool, but deserted like the rest of the CBD. Most businesses have moved to the suburbs so I assume there’s more life there.

A day was more than enough in Christchurch so with much excitement we went to pick up our home for the next three weeks.. this bad boy!

Having conveniently, I mean totally accidentally, forgotten my driver’s licence, Damien was going to be our sole driver. The van came equipped with all you could need, bedding, crockery and cooking stuff, a microwave, toaster, kettle and heater. We filled her up with food, gas and love and set off on our way.

A word of warning about NZ blogs, I think I’m going to run out of superlatives really quickly. The landscape is so freaking incredible that you gasp at it several times daily. Also the blogs we write here are going to have less of a cultural insight (because let’s face it, they’re just like us!) and more of a “oh this thing is cool to do in New Zealand” focus.  

But back to the trip, we arrived in Kaikoura, on the north east coast two hours from Christchurch, marvelling at how well paved the roads were. These are the type of things you appreciate after three weeks in Indonesia!

Kaikoura beach

Kaikoura is a sweet little town, but very quiet in the wintertime. Didn’t matter to me, I was here for one reason and one reason only.. whales! Whale watching in Argentina was one of my highlights of South America and I just wanted more whales, more! (In fact if anyone would like to buy me a pet whale it would be much appreciated.) If you want to read about whale watching in Argentina, here it is! http://coraanddamien.blogspot.ie/2012_11_01_archive.html

The trip was eye wateringly expensive ($139) but regardless we flew out to sea on a catamaran with a handful of other tourists. The first whale we encountered was a huge sperm whale (the ones with the bulbous heads) and she relaxed just in under the water, sending a spurt up every few minutes. Then she lazily dived under, giving us a beautiful shot of her elegant tail. Incredible!

The crew couldn’t seem to locate any other whales so we went in search of dolphins. And lo and behold a few kilometers away there suddenly was a commotion in the distance, lots of splashes and grey shapes popping above the water. 

We edged closer and saw that it was a huge pod of dolphins, well over a hundred, jumping in and out of the sea with speed and agility. They came right to the prow of the boat and swam alongside us, darting under the boat and resurfacing the other side, flicking splashes of water up at the delighted passengers on board.

We followed them for a while and then en route back to shore caught our first whale diving under again. What a trip!

Although nothing could compare to whales, we were lucky enough to see some baby seals in the bay also, and we took a breathtaking walk over the cliffs.

Leaving Kaikoura, we drove down the spine of the South island and stopped in Tekapo, a small town beside an icy blue lake. The incredible colour of the lakes in the South Island stems from some mineral that the glaciers cause, it makes them look like they belong in a TV commercial for toothpaste or something!

Whilst there, we climbed the mountain to see down over the gorgeous plains below, punctuated with more blue lakes. Damien would not stop singing the Lord of the Rings theme tune though; it was beginning to get more than a little headwrecking!

We also went ice skating and relaxed in some hot pools. Already the freedom of having our own wheels was such a welcome change from being restricted by bus and train schedules, and there was no more haggling with taxi/tuktuk/rickshaw/boat drivers/any transport related official in India anymore thank god!

I also was delighted to be able to cook again and know exactly what was going into our meals, in Asia often you do not know and probably don’t want to either..

Cooking with Cora...

So we carried on South, making our way to Queenstown, adventure capital of the world, and general awesomely cool city. Choice!