New Zealand – South Island

So… My time in New Zealand is up, and I’m about to head back to Hanoi after spending two (exhausting) days as a stopover in Singapore to catch up with old friends.

I had an amazing time in New Zealand, it is a really beautiful country, and I loved being with Will and my family, and though I am excited about going back to Hanoi for more of my elective, I would almost like to be going back to the UK with everyone (almost… but then I remember the Vietnamese Spring Rolls, the Pho Bo, the weather, the bustling streets… okay, scrap my initial thoughts, everyone else is going back to work and winter… I’m the lucky one!) However, it was sad to have to say goodbye to everyone all over again.

Anyway, since my last entry, I’ve been up to lots and lots. I left off when we had just arrived in Te Anau.

We were staying in a place called Lakeside Motel (and despite the word Motel, it was actually a really nice spacious place. Our unit had two bedrooms, a double bed in the living room, and a proper kitchen, plus it had a great view over the Lake. Sadly it didn’t have a playstation, so we couldn’t continue with our PlayStation SingStar competitons! I don’t know if I wrote about SingStar in my last entry. But Meg, we have to buy a PlayStation and play SingStar… it’s a 2 person Karaoke game where you battle to score the highest points singing songs! So much fun! We played SingStar Party and SingStar 80’s… so cool. Despite my shocking efforts at Karaoke in Vietnam, with some of the songs on SingStar I was scoring pretty high (that’s not saying much though, because Will scored highly in one song without singing a single word correctly..).

Back to Te Anau though… Te Anau is in the Fiordland area of New Zealand. It’s on Lake Manapouri, and is right next to the Doubtful Sound. In Te Anau, on the first full day, Jonathan, Will and I went on a 8 hour trek on the Keppler Track (another of New Zealand’s great walks). It was a really good walk (although we were all a bit ill, and Jonathan’s knees/hips didn’t enjoy the steep inclines). We were lucky with the weather (Te Anau has over 250 days of rain a year…). Here’s a photo of Jonathan and I at the top of Mount Luxmore.

The day after the trek, we were all feeling in the wars… We’d all managed to come down with the lurgy! I won’t go into all the details… on top of the lurgy, Jon’s knees and hips were killing him, Will’s back had gone into spasm from carrying 15kg of camera equipment in that silly bag, and although my parents had been spared the lurgy, my Dad was still fighting off a cough that he’d caught in the UK… and it was almost funny how many ailments we had between us. Will and I have travelled all over to some really grotty places and have avoided illnesses, and it was well developed, clean, perfect New Zealand that brought us down!

Determined not to let this spoil our fun, we went on a Doubtful Sound trip the next day. It was just what everyone needed, great sights, but sat on your bum in a boat/bus for the whole day! The doubtful sound was spectacular! We saw more wild bottlenose dolphins and fur seals! Here’s Jon and Dad on the boat:

The next day, Will went diving in the Milford Sound, and the rest of us took a leisurely drive to Milford Sound stopping at all the scenic spots on route. Unfortunately it was POURING with rain that day (Milford Sound has over 300 days of rain a year!)… but it was very atmospheric with all the low clouds!

After Te Anau, we drove down to Invercargill/Bluff, and made our way over to Stewart Island. Jon, Will and I took a light aircraft over to the Island, whereas my parents opted for the ferry. The weather on Stewart Island was glorious, which was a welcome change from rainy Fiordland. We were staying in a place called Kaka Cottages, which was a cottage with three bedrooms, a living room and kitchenette. That day we all went over to Ulva Island (a small predator-free island off Stewart Island with squillions of birds who enjoy life without rats, stoats, cats, possums etc). My Dad’s attention span is shocking, and he misbehaved on the trip, but everyone else loved it! Here’s a shot from Observation Rock on Stewart Island:

Our first night on Stewart Island was actually New Years Eve… I booked us a table at a lovely restaurant called Church Hill Cafe on the top of a hill overlooking the harbour. We had a long leisurely meal at the restaurant, and then made our way down to the main beach at about 11.30pm. There was a big bonfire on the beach, and live music coming from the South Sea Hotel, the atmosphere was really fun! Just before midnight, all the locals (sailor-folk) let off their flare-guns, and when it turned midnight, the sky was alight with red flares falling down all around us. Will said it was how he imagined the Somme would look! We let off party poppers, and the whole beach sang Auld Lang Syne (spelling?)… it was such a nice way to see in 2008. Here’s a photo of the whole gang in the restaurant before we went down to the beach:

On our second day in Stewart Island, we took an underwater explorer boat in the morning… and Will and I walked to Ackers Point in the afternoon (with a break on the way for some Oyster Catcher photos). I was left sat on a cliff above the beach while Will mingled with a family of Oyster Catchers. I got the cutest photo of him squatting with his new friends!

 

That night at 9pm, the three of us went on a Kiwi Spotting trip to Ocean’s Beach. There were 15 of us on the trip, which is run by a Stewart Island old-timer who was very sweet! We were lucky and got to see 5 Kiwi’s that night… Kiwi’s are the silliest things, I love them! I haven’t put any wildlife photo’s onto my blog, because they’re all taken with Will’s big camera, and I can’t get those photo’s onto my computer, but throughout the trip, we (Will) got some really nice wildlife shots too.

On our final day on the Island, the three of us went back to Ulva Island so that Will could get some more pictures of Stewart Island Robins, Kaka’s, and other birdies. Then in the afternoon, we made our way back to the mainland on the ferry, and headed off to Dunedin.

Dunedin was my final port of call… and it flew by very quickly. In Dunedin we did a tour of Speight’s Brewery. Here’s a cheesey shot of Dad and I at the beer tasting after the tour!

My final excursion in New Zealand was a trip out to the Otago Peninsula to see the Royal Albatross and the Yellow Eyed Penguins… and that was the end of my holiday! Will has all the nice photo’s of the albatross and pingu’s…

I left Will in New Zealand with my family (flights got messed up, so everyone else got to spend more time in NZ than me!), and I flew to Singapore… I was really tired after the 9 hour flight, and had a shower and put my jammies on, and then called some friends to make a plan for the next day… but it was actually a friend’s birthday that night, and I was persuaded to get dressed and get my butt over to Clarke Quay for a night out!! It was a fun night out, and it was so glood to see lots of old faces again, and be reminded of my youth out in Clarke Quay (although it’s almost unrecognisable to the Clarke Quay of my young nights!)… Here’s a flavour of how the night went!

The next day I met up with more friends, and after a day with Louise, I met up with all the boys again and went for a more sophisticated evening at a really stylo-milo bar on Dempsey Road. And here’s a photo of all of us there:

I realise this blog entry is a bit of a bullet point list (and then I did this, then this, then this)… but I just needed to get it all down. I probably won’t be writing for a week or so, because as soon as I get back to Hanoi, I’m heading out to a district hospital called Ba Vi, it’s about an hour outside of Hanoi… I’ll be spending a week out there to experience healthcare outside of the capitol. Should be good, but I doubt there will be much internet. But after that, I might get back into my day by day account of my adventures!

New Zealand – North Island

It’s been a long time since I last wrote! New Zealand has less wifi spots, and I haven’t had any time to visit internet cafes…

New Zealand is a great country, it’s so beautiful… the weather is a little bit erratic, some days the sun blazes down (the sun is sooo intense), and other days it’s been pouring with rain. We’ve tried not to let the weather get in the way of things though.

After Wellington, Will and I drove to the Kapiti coast (up the west coast about 45 minutes from Wellington). We went to Kapiti island where we saw lots of birds (Kaka, Kea, Tui, other birds I don’t know the names of), and did a nice walk. When the boat dropped us back on the mainland, the heavens opened, and the rain continued for the next 2 days (grrrr…).

We drove from the Kapiti coast inland to Tongariro National Park, but our plans to do the Tongariro Crossing trek had to be postponed because of the rain. On the day we were meant to do the trek, we drove to Taupo  insteadwhere Will managed to entertain himself by doing a bungy jump (nutter)!

 

Luckily, the rain started to ease up the next day, and we got to do our 8 hour Tongariro Crossing. It was such an amazing walk (it’s described as the best one day walk in NZ). It’s the set of Mordor in Lord of the Rings, and the scenery was stunning… I’ll upload a video of us at the Red Crater/Emerald Lakes soon. Here’s a photo of me after the trek at Discovery Lodge (where we were staying in National Park town).

Straight after the trek we set off for our next stop which was a little town called Reporoa (near Rotorua). We were the only guests at this amazing hotel called River Lodge. The hotel is usually for large groups, conferences, weddings and things… but the owner didn’t have any bookings when I first emailed him to enquire, so he agreed to let us stay there. We had the whole place to ourselves… 40 acres, river, jetty, tennis courts, petanque, obstacle course… it was all a bit bizarre, but lovely! Sean (the manager) was really helpful at suggesting things for us to do, and on our first night we went to a local hot springs for a soak, which felt great after our 8 hour trek and 3 hour drive. (We did read later in Lonely Planet that you can get Amoebic Meningitis from the hot springs in the Rotorua region, especially if you dunk your head.. and I do remember dunking my head and forcing Will to follow suit because it felt so nice… no symptoms have appeared yet!)

During our stay in Reporoa/Rotorua, we tried to visit as much geothermal stuff as possible… it was all so different to anything we’ve ever done before, and we loved it. My favourite was Orakei Korako, which has lots of sulphur pools, bubbling mud pools, and the largest silica terrace in the world. Here’s a photo of me on a walkway at the silica terrace.

Another one of my favourite geothermal spots was at a place called Wai-o-tapu, which has some great geothermal pools including one called the Champagne Pool. Here’s a photo of us in front of it.

After Reporoa, we had a 6 hour drive up to Tutukaka (Northlands) where we were reunited with my parents and my brother. We rented a house in Tutukaka for over the Christmas period. The house was perfect for us, it had a hot tub (which Will and Jonathan refer to as the not-so-hot hot tub), a barbeque, a playstation (we played a lot of games in the evening, such as SingStar which is a fun karaoke game (I don’t mind Karaoke in the company of my own family, who are all worse that me I must say!)). Here’s a photo of Jonathan and I in the not-so-hot hot tub.

It was so nice to see my family… It was wierd to have said goodbye to them in London a month ago, and then be reunited in a house in a tiny little town in New Zealand! Unfortunately, my dad is a bit ill with a cough/cold. Plus, for the first few days they were all very jet-lagged. But we’re all having fun, and everyone really likes New Zealand.

During our time in Tutukaka, we drove up to the Bay of Islands a few times. We visited a historic Mauri site, and I got a cheesy photo with some Mauri warriors!

We also went on a diving/snorkelling trip to the Poor Knights Islands (world famous dive site), and went swimming with wild Dolphins (which I loved!)!!! In addition, we celebrated Christmas! Mum and Dad managed to inform Santa of our whereabouts, so we still got Christmas stockings and lots of pressies on Xmas morning! Mum and Dad cooked a very yummy Christmas lunch! And on Xmas Day we went for an epic 6 hour drive to see 6 Kauri trees (on the map it looked like it would take about 2 hours, but the roads were very winding). Kauri trees are the largest trees in New Zealand, and the ones we drove to see were quite spectacular, but when averaging a tree an hour, it was hard to keep everyone from complaining!

Anyway, today we flew from Auckland to the South Island.. and we’re now in a little town in the fjordlands called Te Anau. We’ve got lots planned, but I’ll save that for the next blog entry…

In New Zealand – back with my travel buddy!

Hooray! I’m no longer travelling solo! Today I was reunited with Will at Auckland Airport, and our 3 week Christmas holiday has begun!

I left Hanoi on Thursday evening, and arrived in Singapore at 1.30am. I spent Thursday and Friday night in Singapore (I was staying with my relatives, who are very sweet, but I think they still think of me as being a little girl, and spent most of the time worrying and fussing over me!!) I also met up with my cousin Sonia, who is almost 16, and we went to check out the Christmas lights on Orchard Road (haven’t seen them in about 5 years!). We had dinner in a brilliant (and verrry cheap) Sushi restaurant, and then went up to the rooftop at Esplanade to check out the view of the Singapore skyline.

Anyway, early on Saturday morning, I flew out to New Zealand… I arrived at midnight, and spent the night at an airport hotel, because I had to be back there this morning for Will’s arrival – yippee!! So good to have him here!!! It wasn’t a very exciting day, because after the initial excitement at the arrival gate (Love Actually type scene), we had three hours to kill at the airport before our domestic flight to Wellington, and Will was extremely tired from his massively long flight from London! It was nice though just chatting, catching up on the past few weeks, having a cuddle!!

We got to Wellington at 5pm… and it didn’t feel like 5pm because the sun was still so high in the sky! The weather was gorgeous, with perfect blue skies and wispy clouds, a nice warm breeze, and bright bright sunshine. We collected our hire car (managed to get a free upgrade because the el-cheapo tiny car that we had booked had a chipped windscreen, but they didn’t have any others in that size! The upgrade is a really good thing, because our two suitcases didn’t both fit into the boot of the first car!)… 

Now… the place where we’re staying! It’s amazing! We’re staying at the Wellington Club (it’s a posh gentleman’s club in the city centre). Why are we at a private gentleman’s club? Well, I’m a student member of the Royal Society of Medicine in London, which has lots of reciprocal clubs all over the world, and this happens to be one of them. The RSM wrote an invitation letter asking the Wellington Club to kindly extend their services to me, and here we are! On the guest sheet in the club it reads ‘Room 2: Natalie Chew & Partner! We’re paying a heavily subsidised rate for a fab room, and great facilities! It’s very proper… there’s a billiards room, several reading rooms, a self-serve bar, posh restaurant, breakfast room, business centre (free internet, printers etc), gym… The room is so posh, and the bathroom is lovely! It’s a far-cry from backpacker style travelling in Hanoi!

Unfortunately, we’re only here for one night because we’ve got such an action-packed schedule lined up… Will is fast asleep now (he’s shattered), and I thought I’d use the wireless internet to catch up on my blog (sorry for slacking lately). It’s a shame we’re not going to see much of Wellington, we wandered down to the main street this evening (it goes dark so late!), and had dinner at a cute Jazz Cafe with live Jazz music. Anyway, one of the things that I am happiest about now that Will is here is that I have my own photographer back by my side!! No more having to try and capture moments on photo, he’ll be doing that for me… I’m so glad to have my travel buddy back, we always laugh so much when we’re together, and it makes everything more fun to share it with Will! Here’s a photo of me at one of the Quays (taken by Will… therefore perfectly composed, great lighting, no need for me to instruct and say ‘yes, just press down half way to focus, and then fully to shoot… no no not that button…’):

Our first dy together in New Zealand has been brilliant (even though we haven’t done much more than take aeroplanes and eat)… and we’re more excited than ever about seeing and doing everything we have planned. It looks like a great country, and I’m with good company!