Wednesday, August 1, 2007

New Zealand

Benefits: Landscape, small population (4 Mill. inhabitants); the haka dance, food - specially the roast lamb;

Concerns: No buses to travel during night; no ski resort at the mountains (therefore from Queestown I had to take a bus); on the southern island it was freezing, especially during the night with temperature below zero!

Places visited (& days): 15 days from 13 July till 28 July - Christchurch (1 + 2); Queenstown (5); Te Anau (1); Dunedin (1); Wanaka (1); Franz Joseph (1); Wellington (1); Auckland (2)

Transport (time or distances): Flight from Sydney to Christchurch (2h40): Christchurch to Queenstown (7h - 486 km); Queenstown to Milford Sound (4h - 291 km); Milford Sound to Te Anau (2h - 120 km); Te Anau to Dunedin (4h - 290km); Dunedin to Wanaka (4h - 276km); Wanaka to Franz Josef Glacier (4h - 287km); Franz Josef Glacier to Greymouth (2h30 - 177km); Greymouth to Christchurch by train (4h30 - 223km); Christchurch to Wellington by air (45min): Wellington to Auckland by Air (50min);

Currency: 1 Euro = 1,94 NZD (New Zealand Dollar)

Funny Experiences : Bus trip from Christchurch to Queenstown: at the Mt Cook all the passenger got off and I was the only one on bord for the remaining trip; 28 of June: the longest day of my life!; Heard my name being called on the speakers at Wellington airport: the flight tag had got lost and therefore they wanted to ask me where I was travelling to (glad that my backpack had my name on it!!!)



This is an incredible country to travel around and I had a great time here. I would have loved to spend some more time, but I had to fly end of the month to US and therefore could just spend 15 days here.

Compared to Australia it is a small country. The first task was to decide how many days I would spend on each of the Islands (south and north). There is no doubt that I preferred the Southern one which is less developed and where the best sights and activities are located.


SOUTHERN ISLAND (12 days)
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From Sydney, I took a flight and land in Christchurch. The view from the aircraft was awesome flying over the Tasmania sea and the NZ's mountains covered by snow. I didn't spend much time in the city since I knew I would be back to get my flight to the northern island.



On the way to Mt Cook (probably 40 km from Christchurch)

So, I took a bus to Queenstown where I spent 5 days. On my way, we made some great stops at lake Tekapo, lake Pukaki and at the Mount Cook. Every site is marvellous and this is what makes NZ really different from elsewhere. On the bus I met, Alex (American) who gave me some good tips for my next stop in 2 weeks - he lives 1 hour from San Franciso.


Lake Tekapo


The Tuga "with" Edmund Hillary (the first person to reach the summit of the Everest)

Queenstown is a beautiful and small resort, with a lot of attractions. I went skiing for 2 days, but the most exciting experience was the bungy jumping. It was not an easy decision. On one hand, I suffer from vertigo but on the other hand I love to challenge myself. Therefore I decided to do it and NZ was the right place since it was here the bungee was born with AJ Hackett
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Queenstown

I jumped from 47 metres. But what makes it really incredible is that they built the bungy site on the top of the mountain at around 450 metres above Queenstown. Thus, it looked more a 500 metres jump!!! To go there I had to take a skyline gondola. What really embarrassed me at that time, was the small cemetery just next to the gondola (I asked to myself - How many guys from the bungy are buried here???)


The Tuga jumping from the Ledge Bungy - Queestown


With the Portuguese flag - of course!

Skiing here is ok but nothing compared to the Alpes. I did one day at Coronet Peak and another one at The Remarkables. Anyway, I had fun specially by doing it at the end of July (at that time of the year I am used to be at the beach!).
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View from the summit of the Remarkables - Skiing Queenstown
 


Skiing at Coronel Peak
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Queenstown has several good restaurants and also an enthusiastic nightlife. I met 2 great Brazilians guys (Fernando and Rafael from Sao Paulo). We had a great meal together enjoying the famous NZ's rost lamb.
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Rafael, Fernando e Pedro


When I met again Alex, in Queenstown
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Next stop was Milford Sound. On my way I met one of my Japanese friends Mashiyama (the last time I saw him was at the Mt Cook) We did the cruise tour together. It was very sunny but also freezing. Great peaks, rain forests and waterfalls.


Milford Sound


Pedro and Mashi (Japan) - Milford Sound
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On my way back from Milford sound to Dunedin, I stopped at Te Anau. I remembered to arrive here at 18.00 pm, having dinner at one of the 3 restaurants in town and at 20.00 pm going to bed since nothing was really happening in town. Anyway I liked it, to lay back at the largest southern island lake (The Te Anau lake).


Dunedin Raiway station view just before a sandstorm!

Dunedin is a student town, on the east coast. Here you can see a lot of wildlife (Albatroz, pinguins, sea lions and NZ fur seals). On my tour I met a Saudi Arabia couple. Those were the first guys from Middle East that I saw travelling around. It was funny because Yasir was wearing a cap from Luis Figo.
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Otago Peninsula - Around Dunedin
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Sea Lions - Otago Peninsula






Pinguins - Otago Peninsula


The Saudi Arabi couple with the tuga

Next stop Wanaka. Another charming town but compared to Queenstown is much smaller. The lake Wanaka has great walks around it with spetecular views!
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The result of the sandstorm at Dunedin was huge snow fall on our way to Wanaka.


Wanaka
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Awesome views from walking trails - Wanaka
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Sunrise - Wanaka

Then I went to Franz Josef Glacier to do some trekking around the glacier. This time, I decided not to climb it. I did it once, in Chile some years ago and will probably do it again at the end of this trip when visiting the Pantagonia.



Franz Josef Glacier



Just next by the Franz Josef Glacier

To go back to Christchurch, I took first a bus to Greymouth and then the tranzalpine train. It is nice but after travelling around the entire island, I was not so suprised witht the views.

My last visit on the island was in Kaikoura. It is the right place to spot the sperm whales. The tour was very well organized, but it is always a risk because nobody gurantee that you will see any whale (if this had happened, they would have refunded 80% of the money - which is fine). We spent around 2 hours on the tour and spotted the whales at least four times and some dolphins as well. It is really worth the visit.


 
Sperm Whales - Kaikoura

From Christchurch, I took a flight to Wellington (already in the Northern Island).


NORTHERN ISLAND (3 days)

I spent 3 days on southern island, which was probably not enough but at least could give me an idea of two pacific cities (Wellington - the capital) and Auckland.

In Wellington I visited the Tapa Museum and walked around the city. The cable car for the Botanic Gardens that gives some good views from the city but the one that I preferred was from Mount Victoria


Wellington view from Mt Victoria

No doubt Auckland is the city of sails - surrounded by water, 2 big harbours and huge boats. The Sky tower gives spectacular views from the city and for the most brave guys there is also a sky jump (just from 192m !!! - of course I didn't try it). Another great view of the city is from the Kelly Tarlton's Encounter Antarctica Encounter spot.
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Sky Tower - Auckland
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Auckland's view from the Antarctic Encounter

I enjoyed the city walking around Queens st (unfortunately with some works going on), the harbours, and having dinner at Ponsonby Road (my favourite one, the SPQR - excellent food, wine, music & atmosphere).

The 28th of July, I would remember it as the longest day of my life: 43 hours! Just because I flew from Auckland to Las Vegas and crossing several time zones!

8 comments:

Lu said...

Olá!!!
Que espectaculo de sitiu, obrigado por o partilhares connosco.
Grande doido, depois de ver o cemitério, eu não saltava.
Beijinhos

Aadil Desai said...

Fantastic pictures!!! How I would have loved to be there too!!!

Cheers,
Aadil.

um Bar Restaurante said...

Olá Pedro!
Pois a viagem e as respectivas notas prometem... mantenho a minha sugestão: tens aqui matéria prima para escrever um belo livro de viagens!
Bj, Isabel

Manuel Salema said...

Pedro grande NZ! Fantástico! Nem quero imaginar a adernalina do salto. Bem, dentro de um mês estaremos em Lima. O lema será:
"Lima to La Paz in 16 days"
Um abraço
Manuel

marina lampreia said...

Querido Pedro
Um gde beijinho cheio de saudades, diverte-te mas volta depressa!
Marina

Unknown said...

Eu sabia que eras louco, só não sabia que eras ASSIM TÃO LOUCO!!!!Saltar mesmo depois de ver um cemiterio?????Big death wish!!!!
estou brincando com 'ocê'!!!!
Tenho adorado ver as fotografias!fantásticas!Faz-nos querer estar aí também.Vai continuando a tirar muitas para vermos mais tarde.Eu fico aqui a roer os "cotovelos de inveja"!!!
Muitos bjs e diverte-te muito.
Teresa

Fernando Moura Machado said...

Caro Pedro:
Tive conhecimento da sua viagem pelo Mundo através da sua colega Isabel Barata.
Acontece que, no passado mês de Junho, conclui a minha primeira volta ao Mundo, que durou um ano.
Dos treze países que visitei, alguns estão também no seu itinerário. O meu preferido é a Nova Zelândia, pelo que foi por este que iniciei a leitura das suas experiencias. Agora, irei ler as restantes crónicas, e acompanhá-lo no resto da sua viagem.
Entretanto, se quiser saber as minhas impressões acerca do que vi e vivi neste Mundo maravilhoso mas atribulado, poderá ver o meu blog, www.fmouramachado.blogspot.com
Para já, desejo-lhe a continuação duma excelente viagem, com as melhores experiencias.

Fernando Moura Machado

Fernando Moura Machado said...

Pedro:
Na mensagem anterior, esqueci-me de lhe deixar o meu endereço de e-mail.
Caso me queira contactar, poderá fazê-lo através de, fmouramachado@gmail.com

Cumprimentos,

Fernando Moura Machado