What a week! I am so glad that this was not my first stop, I would've gone broke lol.
This isn't gonna be a huge blog but I really think that the people I met in QT deserve a blog and wanted to give them a big THANK YOU!!!
Queenstown was the longest I stayed in one place my whole time in New Zealand, and because of that I really got to bond with people for the first time. I met up with people I had met along my way and got to spend an awesome week with all of you! My time in Queenstown is definatly a memorable one and even though I have only been in Melbourne for a few short hours I already miss you all. I couldn't of asked for better dormmates, room 112, I definatly was lucky to end up in that room. The guys I met in Nelson that I partied with pretty much everynight, I had a blast though my liver will be happy to take a rest lol. Paige my Canadian sister from another Mr. I'm gonna miss you girl. I can't wait to see you again because I know we will I can promise you that. Take care and don't worry you will be fine, <3 you.
To Ferg Burgers, sprained ankles, Grandma Pearl, table dancing, hiking with a hangover, buying a watch, getting tattoos, World Bar, karaoke, Ferg Burgers, me getting cut off from Ferg Burger, replacing my Ferg with McDonalds, cheap wine, going to make dinner and coming back drunk, toothpaste, not making it back at night (Jess lol I know I know I did it to), Canadians, Ring of Fire, yelling at German guys for budding in line, Paige staying in the hostel for free, Ferg Burgers, rum and coke in a bottle, book exchanges, clothes exchanges, "i'm on the bus!", "aren't you like born in the 70's?, your older then MTV!!!", a crazy Canadian who gave us all a bad name, rolling cigarettes, if we turn the lights out they will think we are sleeping and last but not least Room 112.
Thanks for a great week everyone!!!
Emmie - AKA Mother Hen
xox
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Enjoying some Pancakes on the Coast while Walking on the Ice, and some Drukeness in Party Town!
I spent 2 nights in Punakaiki. It was really beautiful there. I stayed at a quaint little hostel right on the beach...so the constant sound was of the ocean hitting the shore. Other then that you didn't hear anything. The hostel was quiet...almost too quiet. No tv, no music, and everyone sat around either on their laptops or reading a book. It was almost felt like you had to whisper so as not to disturb so as not to disturb anyone. Yet it was a really relaxing place and gave me some time to just have ME TIME and an early night which was perfect because I was planning on going to see the Pancake Rocks which was one of my main reasons for stopping in Punakaiki.
Pancake Rocks. I set out about 10 am and headed up the road to go and see them. After walking and snapping pictures for about 10 minutes I come to "Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes" sweet as, I was pretty excited but quickley disappointed. It was only a 20 minutes walk through this trail, I thought you got to walk along a beach and see them, but there is no beach at the Pancakes, just cliff and rocks and crazy ass angry ocean water. To be honest I don't know what I was expecting but I guess I had built something up in my head and didn't get what I was expecting. Now don't get me wrong. It was really beautiful I guess just different then what I thought. They rose high out of the water, flat layered rocks making it look like they were pancakes piled one on top of the other. The blow hole, well, you could definatly here it, it made a huge loud thud almost like thunder before the water came up except that I was there after high tide so all I got was a spray of mist and that was it. Then it was over. Thats it...what I had come out to see took me only 20 minutes :( . I wanted a bit of a day trip not a walk around that took all of 20 minutes that I literally could've just hoped off the bus went to go see them and hop back on to the next town. Now what. I wasn't staying at the most lively hostel and it cleared out in the morning so at this point I think there was only 5 of us staying there. I decided to cross the street and go to the I site to book my bus and hostel in Greymouth. I had to go there for a night as Loni and Brooke (dormmates in Nelson) had my glasses. I found out at the I Site that if I walked about 45 minutes (it was 30) I would hit the truman track and I could go right down to the coast and that the best time to go would be after lunch.
After my usual ham n cheese sandwhich for lunch (sometimes its tuna and cheese) I headed towards the truman trail. I didn't mind a half hour walk, infact I wanted to do a little tramping but my foot was hurting. I must've had done something to it when I went tramping in Abel Tasman, it started hurting my last day in Nelson. It was an injury I had never felt before, it wasn't my ankle or one of my toes it was right under the arch of my right foot. I was limping and it was really hurting to walk but I pushed through it (painfully). It was a really cloudy day and was drizzling a bit so it was kind of yucky out and the 30 minute uphill walk seemed to take awhile. I was relieved when I saw the sign for it. it starts of going through the trees (like most trails in NZ they either start with forest or end with forest. The forest opened up into a path with high bush lining the way. Over my iPod music I could here it. It almost could be mistaken for rush hour traffic, but when I took my earbuds out you could here the distinct sound of the waves crashing against the shore. I was getting close. Another minute and the Ocean was in my view and I started to smile. The trail ended at a set of stairs that led right down to the beach part. I got to the bottom of the stairs and to my left there was a cave like area in the rocks where everyone had written their names. I picked up a stray stone and signed my name right in the middle - Emmie 2011 ( I even did it at the hostel on the bunk bed.
It was so beautiful! I was standing in the picture from my Lonely Planet the picture that got me to go to Punakaiki. The tide was pretty high and the water was rough and it was a grey day out...it actually had started raining a little bit when I had hit the trail. It didn't seem like the type of beach that you would lie on to suntan or anything due to the high tide and the granular stone like sand but I could've spent the whole day there. Crazy Ocean on one, high mountain wall on one side and crazy od shaped rocks in the middle of the sand, and little waterfall that came off the top of the wall and splashed down onto a rock on the beach. Other then the sound of the crashing waves it was quiet, I was the only one there. I walked around, took some pictures. I was actually a little upset. There were some spots I would've loved to get a picture with me in them but unfortunately when traveling solo you sometimes have to miss out on good photo ops.
The weather was a little shitty and it looked like there was going to be some major rain so I decided to start heading back to the trail and I didn't know when high tide was and the water seemed to be coming in high and I didnt want to get stuck down there. Plus my foot was hurting so it was a good time to head back. On my way back to the trail I stood for a good five minutes trying to get a picture of the waves crashing over this one rock, but my camera would either take it to late, I snapped at the wrong time or I just missed it completely so I just gave up and headed to the stairs. I took one more look from the top of the stairs, took one last picture and headed back up the trail.
It was a laid back night at the hostel. There were only about 9 of us staying there so it was pretty chill. Most people were solo travelers which was really cool. I ended up playing cards with one of my dormmates (Xavier from Paris) for the night and then I crawled into around 11pm and went to sleep.
The next morning I hoped on the bus and made my way to Greymouth to see Brooke and Loni (dormmates from Nelson). It took maybe about an hour to get there so it was a pretty easy ride.
The hostel was...I dont know what the hostel was it just seemed really sketchy and it smelled funny. The rooms were all right. The beds were single beds (no bunks) with a hot water bottle, towel and a mint on them lol kind of funny for the vibe of the place. The beds were on wheels so as soon as you bumped into it they would roll into the bed next to it. Oh dear me? Where are the girls? Knock knock. It was Brooke at my door. I was so happy to see her. We head down to the tv room to go see Loni. The room was huge with an aquarium of turtles, a couple couches, computers, a tv and a pool table, a horrible smell and an older man with long hair sitting on the couch in a dress and stuffed bra. You have to be kidding me! Oh well to each his own (his name was Rosemary).
I really don't have much to say about Greymouth.. Its a small quiet town with not much going on .The only reason I stopped there was because I had left my glasses in Nelson and Loni and Brooke had them for me and were heading to Nelson because they got a job at one of the hostels The girls and I went for a walk and then headed to the local bar for a few drinks where we met a really drunk Kiwi guy who wanted to come back to the hostel with us lol. We then went back to the hostel for drinks. Everyone was great and we met a lot of people and played drunken twister. We had such a blast and everyone was really cool, it I was almost sad to say goodbye. I really need to not drink when I have to be up super early in the morning because I was a bit of a mess the next day at 630am when I had to be up and catch my bus, but I made it! Next stop, Franz Josef!!!
I was really excited to get to Franz Josef to do the glacier trek. It's a small town with a population of 300 but it's really beautiful and you can see the mountain with the glacier from everywhere in the town considering there is one main road and a street with all the hostels. I booked myself into the all day trek, cooked up some dinner and went to bed nice and early.
I had to be at the meeting point for 815 to get signed in and get all my gear and then a shuttle took us about 10 minutes up to the glacier. We walked through some bush (as usual) and ended up at the base of the mountains where it was about a 3k walk to the base of the glacier. I ended up in a group with the Americans I had met the night before in Greymouth so it was nice to know a couple of people. Away we go.
By the time we got to the bottom we trekked for about 6 hours but it was well worth it and I was not in pain like I was when we did Tongeriro so that was a plus. I got back to the hostel, showered and went to meet up with the Americans for some drinks at the pub for happy hour. Once again drinking when I have to be up at the crack of dawn to catch a bus, but once again waking up on time to head to Queenstown.
It was a really long day as I had a 9 hour bus ride. It doesn't take that long to get there but the bus stops for lunch, at a fruit market, toilet breaks and photo ops which I really liked! But I was getting to the point where I felt like we had more time off the bus then on the bus I really just wanted to get there. Though there really were some fantastic places we stopped. One place was called Alber Bay. The tide comes up so high there is this wall made out of rocks to stop the tide, on this rock people leave little trinkets or sign rocks just to show that they have been there, I thought that was really beautiful. If I had known I would've written something myself. We got to stop at a really pretty waterfall and take pictures. We drove around this lake surrounded by mountains but everything seemed almost the colour of pastel. We stopped by a salmon farm and a really awesome fruit and vegetable market where everyone stocked up. Finally at about 5pm we arrived!
Queenstown! What a place. It's basically an oversized Blue Mountain Village with cars driving through it. It's all shops, bars and restaurants with beatiful mountains and a lake and the famous Ferg Burger. I was told in Queenstown I have to go to Ferg Burger because it's the best burger ever. Ya whatever, but I tried it. OMG! Best burger ever. The thing is $11, its heavy when you pick it up but its massive, you dont even need fries with it; oh and the taste was like nothing I had ever tasted. It should be an orgasmburger, infact I think I burgasmed having one. I have had 3 in the past three days. I am going to have Ferg babies when I leave here lol. The have a tropical one, a veggie one, a breakfast one there are so many to choose from. It's a good thing I am leaving soon. The mountains on the other side have houses built on it like in Cali so it's kind of cool, Cali and Blue Mountain all in one!!!
It's a party town. I partied hard my first two nights. The first night we started with the Game Ring of Fire in our room and then headed to World Bar where are hostel buys a $1000 bar tab for us (doesn't last long). I ran in to some of the guys I had met at Nelson and I also saw Paige! It's really cool running into people you have seen in other parts through your travels.
The next day I wandered around a bit, grabbed a Ferg, looked in some shops, headed back to the hostel and ran down to the liquor store with a couple of the girls to start the night off again with some Ring of Fire. We ended up singing some kick ass karaoke (where I had a cheering section lol - I love you girls), table dancing and then dancing at World Bar where one of the guys tried to shine the front of his jeans on my ass, oh dear. It was a blast. I met some really cool girls here, Jess, Cat, Doriin - Grandma Pearl, Alessandra, Alexandra and a crazy Canadian who will remain nameless because he almost gives us a bad name lol. With the time change I got home about 1am so it wasn't too bad.
I was up at 730 the next morning to say goodbye to Jess as she was heading out and really just spent the rest of the day chilling out as I was so exhausted from drinking the previous three nights. I met up with Paige for a little bit, ran into Xavier and then had an early night with the rest of my room. Half the room was in bed reading by 9p and the rest were in the tv room lol.
Today I actually slept in 9am lol that is amazing for me I have been up early every morning. It snowed a bit last night as the mountain tops have snow on them, and the air is very crisp today, but I dont mind so much, it's really beautiful. Met up with Paige and Xavier. We went and grabbed a Ferg (yup thats three in 3 days and it was before noon), checked out some of the shops and then went to the tattoo parlour to get some ink. I got a really cute little tattoo of the NZ map on my arm done in red! It looks really sweet.
xox
Pancake Rocks. I set out about 10 am and headed up the road to go and see them. After walking and snapping pictures for about 10 minutes I come to "Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes" sweet as, I was pretty excited but quickley disappointed. It was only a 20 minutes walk through this trail, I thought you got to walk along a beach and see them, but there is no beach at the Pancakes, just cliff and rocks and crazy ass angry ocean water. To be honest I don't know what I was expecting but I guess I had built something up in my head and didn't get what I was expecting. Now don't get me wrong. It was really beautiful I guess just different then what I thought. They rose high out of the water, flat layered rocks making it look like they were pancakes piled one on top of the other. The blow hole, well, you could definatly here it, it made a huge loud thud almost like thunder before the water came up except that I was there after high tide so all I got was a spray of mist and that was it. Then it was over. Thats it...what I had come out to see took me only 20 minutes :( . I wanted a bit of a day trip not a walk around that took all of 20 minutes that I literally could've just hoped off the bus went to go see them and hop back on to the next town. Now what. I wasn't staying at the most lively hostel and it cleared out in the morning so at this point I think there was only 5 of us staying there. I decided to cross the street and go to the I site to book my bus and hostel in Greymouth. I had to go there for a night as Loni and Brooke (dormmates in Nelson) had my glasses. I found out at the I Site that if I walked about 45 minutes (it was 30) I would hit the truman track and I could go right down to the coast and that the best time to go would be after lunch.
After my usual ham n cheese sandwhich for lunch (sometimes its tuna and cheese) I headed towards the truman trail. I didn't mind a half hour walk, infact I wanted to do a little tramping but my foot was hurting. I must've had done something to it when I went tramping in Abel Tasman, it started hurting my last day in Nelson. It was an injury I had never felt before, it wasn't my ankle or one of my toes it was right under the arch of my right foot. I was limping and it was really hurting to walk but I pushed through it (painfully). It was a really cloudy day and was drizzling a bit so it was kind of yucky out and the 30 minute uphill walk seemed to take awhile. I was relieved when I saw the sign for it. it starts of going through the trees (like most trails in NZ they either start with forest or end with forest. The forest opened up into a path with high bush lining the way. Over my iPod music I could here it. It almost could be mistaken for rush hour traffic, but when I took my earbuds out you could here the distinct sound of the waves crashing against the shore. I was getting close. Another minute and the Ocean was in my view and I started to smile. The trail ended at a set of stairs that led right down to the beach part. I got to the bottom of the stairs and to my left there was a cave like area in the rocks where everyone had written their names. I picked up a stray stone and signed my name right in the middle - Emmie 2011 ( I even did it at the hostel on the bunk bed.
It was so beautiful! I was standing in the picture from my Lonely Planet the picture that got me to go to Punakaiki. The tide was pretty high and the water was rough and it was a grey day out...it actually had started raining a little bit when I had hit the trail. It didn't seem like the type of beach that you would lie on to suntan or anything due to the high tide and the granular stone like sand but I could've spent the whole day there. Crazy Ocean on one, high mountain wall on one side and crazy od shaped rocks in the middle of the sand, and little waterfall that came off the top of the wall and splashed down onto a rock on the beach. Other then the sound of the crashing waves it was quiet, I was the only one there. I walked around, took some pictures. I was actually a little upset. There were some spots I would've loved to get a picture with me in them but unfortunately when traveling solo you sometimes have to miss out on good photo ops.
The weather was a little shitty and it looked like there was going to be some major rain so I decided to start heading back to the trail and I didn't know when high tide was and the water seemed to be coming in high and I didnt want to get stuck down there. Plus my foot was hurting so it was a good time to head back. On my way back to the trail I stood for a good five minutes trying to get a picture of the waves crashing over this one rock, but my camera would either take it to late, I snapped at the wrong time or I just missed it completely so I just gave up and headed to the stairs. I took one more look from the top of the stairs, took one last picture and headed back up the trail.
It was a laid back night at the hostel. There were only about 9 of us staying there so it was pretty chill. Most people were solo travelers which was really cool. I ended up playing cards with one of my dormmates (Xavier from Paris) for the night and then I crawled into around 11pm and went to sleep.
The next morning I hoped on the bus and made my way to Greymouth to see Brooke and Loni (dormmates from Nelson). It took maybe about an hour to get there so it was a pretty easy ride.
The hostel was...I dont know what the hostel was it just seemed really sketchy and it smelled funny. The rooms were all right. The beds were single beds (no bunks) with a hot water bottle, towel and a mint on them lol kind of funny for the vibe of the place. The beds were on wheels so as soon as you bumped into it they would roll into the bed next to it. Oh dear me? Where are the girls? Knock knock. It was Brooke at my door. I was so happy to see her. We head down to the tv room to go see Loni. The room was huge with an aquarium of turtles, a couple couches, computers, a tv and a pool table, a horrible smell and an older man with long hair sitting on the couch in a dress and stuffed bra. You have to be kidding me! Oh well to each his own (his name was Rosemary).
I really don't have much to say about Greymouth.. Its a small quiet town with not much going on .The only reason I stopped there was because I had left my glasses in Nelson and Loni and Brooke had them for me and were heading to Nelson because they got a job at one of the hostels The girls and I went for a walk and then headed to the local bar for a few drinks where we met a really drunk Kiwi guy who wanted to come back to the hostel with us lol. We then went back to the hostel for drinks. Everyone was great and we met a lot of people and played drunken twister. We had such a blast and everyone was really cool, it I was almost sad to say goodbye. I really need to not drink when I have to be up super early in the morning because I was a bit of a mess the next day at 630am when I had to be up and catch my bus, but I made it! Next stop, Franz Josef!!!
I was really excited to get to Franz Josef to do the glacier trek. It's a small town with a population of 300 but it's really beautiful and you can see the mountain with the glacier from everywhere in the town considering there is one main road and a street with all the hostels. I booked myself into the all day trek, cooked up some dinner and went to bed nice and early.
I had to be at the meeting point for 815 to get signed in and get all my gear and then a shuttle took us about 10 minutes up to the glacier. We walked through some bush (as usual) and ended up at the base of the mountains where it was about a 3k walk to the base of the glacier. I ended up in a group with the Americans I had met the night before in Greymouth so it was nice to know a couple of people. Away we go.
It was really incredible. When you look at the glacier from far away it looks really flat so then you get up there and realize that you are litteraly walking in between big walls of ice and up and down stairs that the guides make. I was so amazed I kept running my hands along the ice...I know it's just ice but to touch something so beautiful and massive that is a natural wonder I almost felt like I was touching something that was holy. And the ice was so incredibly blue, I couldn't believe it. Sometimes it reminded me of Huka Falls it was so blue. Some of it reminded me of ice cream, blue with white and black from some of the dirt almost made it look like a swirly kind of ice cream. After about a 4 hour trek to a flat area of the glacier we got to sit and enjoy our lunch with a really breathtaking view. We were lucky for the weather. It was really warm with the sunshining down. Some of the guys were in shorts, I had my waterproof pants rolled up over my leggings because I was sweating. It rains about 260 days a year in Franz Josef so we got really lucky.
After about a half our lunch we started treking back down. I was really excited because one of the ice caves we had seen on the way back was something we were getting to go through on the way down. Let me tell you about natural fucking beauty...this was probably one of these most beautiful things I have ever seen. It was blue, like really blue, but if you actually look at it you could actualy see the different shades of blue going vertical through the ice, almost like stripes. The opening into the cave looked like it had been cut or drilled because it was so even and then sheering scissors to give it the wavyness of the walls. It was even bluer inside the cave. I stood at the top looking down. I could've stood there forever knowing I would never have the chance to see this again (the cave was not there the previous week nor would it be there a week from now. The glacier is ever changing so you really have to appreciate it especially when you get to see a natural cave like this). I slowly walked down the stairs as it was really slippery even with the crampons (which by the way I think all boots in Canada should have these, I loved walking on the ice with them). I make it to the bottom safely - surprisingly - and just stood there. I was so amazed. I was standing not just in an ice cave but in a glacier. To the right was a passage but we couldn't go through there so I had to go left up some more ice stairs and out to the light which I didn't want to do. But we had to move on, and it was pretty cold and wet down there. We continued our way down the glacier taking a bit of a different way down. We went through this crazy walkway with tall tall ice walls and the tallest ice stair case you could imagine with the ice just shining blue all around us.By the time we got to the bottom we trekked for about 6 hours but it was well worth it and I was not in pain like I was when we did Tongeriro so that was a plus. I got back to the hostel, showered and went to meet up with the Americans for some drinks at the pub for happy hour. Once again drinking when I have to be up at the crack of dawn to catch a bus, but once again waking up on time to head to Queenstown.
It was a really long day as I had a 9 hour bus ride. It doesn't take that long to get there but the bus stops for lunch, at a fruit market, toilet breaks and photo ops which I really liked! But I was getting to the point where I felt like we had more time off the bus then on the bus I really just wanted to get there. Though there really were some fantastic places we stopped. One place was called Alber Bay. The tide comes up so high there is this wall made out of rocks to stop the tide, on this rock people leave little trinkets or sign rocks just to show that they have been there, I thought that was really beautiful. If I had known I would've written something myself. We got to stop at a really pretty waterfall and take pictures. We drove around this lake surrounded by mountains but everything seemed almost the colour of pastel. We stopped by a salmon farm and a really awesome fruit and vegetable market where everyone stocked up. Finally at about 5pm we arrived!
Queenstown! What a place. It's basically an oversized Blue Mountain Village with cars driving through it. It's all shops, bars and restaurants with beatiful mountains and a lake and the famous Ferg Burger. I was told in Queenstown I have to go to Ferg Burger because it's the best burger ever. Ya whatever, but I tried it. OMG! Best burger ever. The thing is $11, its heavy when you pick it up but its massive, you dont even need fries with it; oh and the taste was like nothing I had ever tasted. It should be an orgasmburger, infact I think I burgasmed having one. I have had 3 in the past three days. I am going to have Ferg babies when I leave here lol. The have a tropical one, a veggie one, a breakfast one there are so many to choose from. It's a good thing I am leaving soon. The mountains on the other side have houses built on it like in Cali so it's kind of cool, Cali and Blue Mountain all in one!!!
It's a party town. I partied hard my first two nights. The first night we started with the Game Ring of Fire in our room and then headed to World Bar where are hostel buys a $1000 bar tab for us (doesn't last long). I ran in to some of the guys I had met at Nelson and I also saw Paige! It's really cool running into people you have seen in other parts through your travels.
I was up at 730 the next morning to say goodbye to Jess as she was heading out and really just spent the rest of the day chilling out as I was so exhausted from drinking the previous three nights. I met up with Paige for a little bit, ran into Xavier and then had an early night with the rest of my room. Half the room was in bed reading by 9p and the rest were in the tv room lol.
Today I actually slept in 9am lol that is amazing for me I have been up early every morning. It snowed a bit last night as the mountain tops have snow on them, and the air is very crisp today, but I dont mind so much, it's really beautiful. Met up with Paige and Xavier. We went and grabbed a Ferg (yup thats three in 3 days and it was before noon), checked out some of the shops and then went to the tattoo parlour to get some ink. I got a really cute little tattoo of the NZ map on my arm done in red! It looks really sweet.
I came back here to just finish up this blog and then Paige is coming here in about an hour as we are cooking up a nice dinner and having some wine, getting some time in before I leave on Thursday as she has a work visa for here and is not going any further at the moment. There is a Blind Bar Crawl tonight at the hostel. Not sure if I am taking part in those festivities tonight. I think my body is enjoying feeling normal today, but we shall see. Though tomorrow I plan on doing an eight hour hike up one of the mountains here so I might save it for Tuesday night.
We shall see.xox
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