New Adventures In Backpacking

One of the great things about stopping off in a city be it for an extended break or to work a little is the ability to explore the destination in great depth, meet a few locals and get a real feel for the place. I have been in Wellington for the past six months now and have tried to explore every nook and cranny as they here. I have written a list of things to do whilst in Wellington that is not the obvious visit Te Aro and the go on the cable car type list which is perfectly fine but here is a bunch of activities you probably won’t find in the Lonely Planet (disclaimer – I have never looked at a NZ Lonely Planet)

Red Rocks

A short bus journey from central Wellington, is balmy Owhiro Bay. One of the jewels of our south coast. See the Kaikoura Ranges, which weigh down the nearby South Island, and chat with coastal birdlife. Head west towards the local landmark, Red Rocks: the supposed site that Kupe’s daughters cut their breasts, in anguish over their legendary father’s presumed death. The protected area is equally revered for the pongy fur seals, which lounge along our brown-crumb coast. This is an excellent walk which gives you a real sense of space. There are a host of nice cafes at the start of the route if you want to make a day of it.

Watch or join the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra

I’d seen the Ukulele Orchestra play and enjoyed it very much but my friend Rachel went one step better and joined them! She kindly wrote down some of her experiences for me.

What better way to get culturally happy and chase away the NZ winter blues than to join a beginner’s workshop to learn the ukulele, with none other than the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra? Not only do you get to play the happiest instrument alive, but the members of the orchestra actually teach you. You might think the crazy kiwis teaching the course would get sick of hearing 50 odd people strumming off beat and asking random questions, but they somehow manage to keep a smile on their faces the whole time. They even welcome silly questions by awarding you with a gold star for your efforts. It also helps that the workshop happens in a tramping club with fake flowers adorning the stage at front. At the first lesson there was a little girl who must live next door, marching outside with her powder blue ukulele chanting about how much she wanted to play. If that isn’t incentive, I don’t know what is. Even as a traveller, carrying around the tiny instrument feels like nothing, and is sure to delight all your backpacker mates.

Te Aro Farmers Market

Going to the supermarket is an expensive affair in New Zealand, A lack of consumer choice and high import fee’s means that it’s very hard to go to your local supermarket and not spend more than you had hoped. The Victoria Street Farmers’ Market, with around 35 stalls, takes place at its location in the Victoria Street car park every Sunday that ensures that in nearly all cases, the produce comes directly from the grower or producer – which often means lower cost and fresher produce. Markets place much greater emphasis on quality and organically grown produce, or at least growing methods that don’t rely too heavily on chemical fertilisers or environmentally unfriendly practices and you save some money.

Watch Backbenchers live

Across the street view of parliament buildings and grounds The Backbencher Pub and Cafe is literally and figuratively the heart of political satire in the Capital. The walls are dawned by impressive spitting image like figures on Kiwi politics and it’s a nice place to go for a drink or two. Backbenchers are a politics show that is filmed before a live pub audience every Wednesday. What’s particularly good about this show is that it’s open to the public and anyone can go along and watch. It covers both Kiwi and world affairs so you don’t have to worry about not knowing who the people are. Even if you have no interest in politics it’s interesting to see how live tv is made. Audience participation is sometimes mandatory so be prepared to be thrust onto live national tv. I’d liken it to sitting in the front row of a comedy show. This is a very Kiwi experience. MP’s and TV people stay at the bar after to the show to chat. Could ever imagine British MP’s, random members of the public mixing together on live tv?

Hot Yoga

Wellington is packed with yoga studios more so than any city I have lived before. I’d taken up yoga last year after a nasty sports injury left me with the mobility of a 60 year old man and found the results invigorating. Hot Yoga or Bikram Yoga as it otherwise known was a new concept to me and I was keen to give it ago. The yoga room is heated to 34 – 38 degrees. At first it’s a nasty shock to your system but heat and humidity soon become your friend and in short time feel almost feel bullet proof. Be prepared to sweat like never before but afterwards you will feel completely refreshed. If you are completely new to Yoga is fairly simple as long as you have the stamina to stand the heat. I would consider this one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Your first lesson is only $6 NZD and it’s a unforgettable experience that you won’t be able to replicate elsewhere.
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Freyburg

Even when I am traveling I like to keep fit and in Wellington there is a host of different option to keep fit on the cheap. Freyburg sports complex is based on the sea front on the Oriental Parade side of the city. For a mere $9 NZD you can use their Olympic size swimming pool. Spas, sauna, steam room, fitness centre and aerobics studio. A very cheap way to spend an afternoon. The basic monthly rate for me was a mere $60 NZD which when I was living in the hostel was the perfect place to come and relax and have some time to myself.

Tags: Backpacking Wellington, Freyburg pool, Red Rocks, Things to do in Wellington, Wellington Hot Yoga, Wellington Ukulele Orchestra

I have finally reached that point in time where it is time to head off on the road again. The time when my last pay cheque has hit my account, when sensible people would think about putting the money away for a rainy day or a first payment on a mortgage (never gonna happen), the time when my bank balance looks so healthy that I am expecting a call from my bank asking me in for some coffee and biscuits over a chat about an ISA. Most importantly, the time when the money will only decrease and I will spend the next few months studying my internet banking religiously.

The money that you save for months disappears relatively quickly even before you have started your trip. Despite this now being my fifth big trip I’m always shocked by the hidden costs that you don’t really take into account when you start planning a trip. Backpacking is the cheapest form of travel, but only once you get to your destination can you finally start to live on a small budget. In reality it’s quite an expensive lifestyle.

Flight costs. My flights back home from New Zealand via Asia in total cost around $600 GBP, even booked with relatively short notice. This was booked after painstakingly trawling through all the cheap airlines I know and try to match them up. Most British backpackers head off to Southeast Asia or to Australia and New Zealand. A quick search on Expedia shows that the cheapest flight on the same day, leaving from London would cost me £560 to Bangkok, £820 to Sydney and a massive £1,316 to Wellington. Of course you could fly to Auckland but no one in their right mind would want to go there. I booked my series of flight via Emirates (they had a sale on), Air Asia and Ryanair If you are lazy then you will pay top dollar.

Then there’s saving money. I’m always asked ‘How much money should I take?’ I think it’s different for every person. Are they a high maintenance backpacker? Have they experienced backpacking before? Where are they going? I remember I took a lot of money to Australia on my first trip, but I have no idea what I did with it all but I had a good time. I do now know that only a year later, with a lot more experience and confidence to boot, that the money I spent in two or three months in Oz would have lasted six to eight in Southeast Asia.

Before anyone goes travelling, they know that they will have to pay for flights (always book one way folks) and take their savings money. But in the past week or so, doing everything that needs to be done I am reminded of how many hidden costs are involved before going on a big trip. Tonight after work I went to Boots (other pharmaceutical companies are available) and purchased what I’m sure you will agree are basic essentials for undergoing a trip such as this.

Sunscreen – £8.99
Alcho-Hand gel – £2.99
Razor +2 razor blades – £8.99
Shaving Gel – £2.99
Multi vitamins – £6.99
Shower gel – £1.99
Moisturizer – £3.99
Cleanser – £2.99
100 mg Ibuprofen – £2.69
Insect repellent roll on – £4.99
Roll on deodorant – £2.99
Toothbrush – £2.99
Toothpaste – £1.99
75ml Shampoo – £1.99
75ml Conditioner – £1.99
Wax ear plugs – £5.99

Total £65.00. Nasty, huh?

Then of course there are injections required for going to certain parts of the world.. Fortunately I have most of them from previous trips and it only cost £22. However, bear in mind that if you want to go to South America you MUST have yellow fever injections, In India you require Anti-Malarial tablets which cost me $40GBP

No backpacker should leave home without some form of travel insurance. Whilst I have never been robbed or lost any valuable possession it’s something that has to be considered something that will one day happen to you.

My tip is to shop around and compare a lot. A simple search on Google for ‘backpacker insurance’ will list a whole load of website offering backpacker package. Unfortunately these website are praying on people to lazy to shop around. The first 3 websites on Google didn’t offer me a package cheaper than £140 a year. My bank can offer me an identical policy for £70. It is quite importance when getting travel insurance to read the small print and understand what you need to do if you want to make a claim before you go. I found this out to my cost in Australia when I was told I possibly had a blood clot in my lung, three days before a long haul flight to America and needed an emergency scan there and then. Because I did not pre advise my insurance company, despite having a doctors report and a receipt they would not pay the £560 out. That hurt my trip to the States a lot!

Whilst one of my pet-hates about traveling are people who tote around clutching the Lonely Planet like a born again Catholics about to meet [the pope] they are very handy books. They contain excellent maps for any city worth visiting and good information on hostels and places of interest. That being said, I will always go to a bar that has a sign that highlights it was definitely not recommended in the Lonely Planet. A Lonely Planet for any major tourist country will set you back £18. Pretty expensive, but I wouldn’t want to arrive in Burma without one.

Even backpacking is a highly technological affair and I would not travel without a hard drive with all my files backed up. Having experienced the pain of an mp3 player failure half way through a year long trip without any back up I will never make that mistake again. My portable hard drive cost me £50, which once again seems a little unnecessary, but to me my iPod, pictures and files from travelling don’t have a price.

Most non-European countries require a visa before entry. Most give you a free tourist visa that allows you to travel without working for three months. India however does not, and my visa cost me £37 for six months unlimited entry as a tourist. But anyone traveling to Australia on a working holiday visa for a year can expect to pay around £120. New Zealand was a slightly cheaper £80.

And then there are the little things I needed to get. Head torch (£10), first aid kit (£8), money belt (£4), small padlock (£4), big padlock (£15).

Whilst this is all starting to sound rather expensive, I’m grateful I’m not starting from scratch again. A good backpack is a costly piece of luggage which will set you back anything from £80-£120 depending on the size. I urge that you do not cut cost on a backpack. The entirety of your possessions are in there, you have to carry it for a while, and cheap ones tend to be very uncomfortable and fall apart easily. You won’t feel so smart about saving £30 when all your stuff has fallen out after being tossed around by baggage handlers, nor when your legs and back ache from carrying it everywhere.

Nor do I have to buy a sleeping bag (£20) Swiss Army knife (£15), pay for a new passport like I did last year (£80), nor do I have to buy a new camera (£80-£150); I advise taking a good camera if you want to take good pictures. I took a cheap camera to Australia. I have cheap looking pictures. I certainly don’t need any new clothes. I highly advocate that before backpacking not to buy nice clothes. You won’t need them for starters. However, it doesn’t matter how new or nice and expensive they were when you bought them as after two months of being stuffed in your backpack and being washed in hostel washing machines or at local laundries you will want to burn them and never see them again.

Whilst writing this blog, I have started to total up how much money I have already spent from my savings.

Maybe I won’t be getting that friendly call for tea and biscuits after all

Tags: cheap flights, Cost of yellow fever injection, the cost of pre travels, What to buy before going travelling

With more restaurants per head than New York, Wellington has plenty of choices when it comes to great places to eat. Below are the ones that I have tried and liked/loved. I ate out a lot whilst I stayed in Wellington so I have quite an eclectic list; but they all have two things in common, cheap but tasty. A main meal in any of the below restaurants would not cost any more than $20 NZD. Places like Delux and Fidels are just considered coffee shop but happen to serve some of the best food.

If you are on extreme budget and don’t want to sit and eat noodles in the hostel every night there are a few options. There are quite a few Malaysian take aways in town that offer really cheap curries. I have picked Satay Kingdom (below) as the best of them but they were all well worth the cheap price I was charged. Alternatively the BNZ food court on Lambton Quay has an excellent range of food stalls selling food from around the world for hungry office workers but after 3pm and close to closing time it’s possible to pick up a curry and rice for $5 NZD. Likewise in the Reading Cinema complex on Courtenay Place there are Asian buffet restaurants that will offer an $8 NZD plate come close to closing time that could feed an entire family. If you are not on a tight budget but don’t want to spend too much money I highly recommend the following.

Sweet Mothers Kitchen.

I adored Sweet Mother’s Kitchen. The atmosphere was very upbeat, service was very friendly and energetic. Food is particularly good with a mix of Cajun and Creole dishes, plus Mexican snack food. Every one should also order the curly fries. It’s a real testament to a dining establishment when you can hang about for hours and not even notice the time slip by. Everything that is right in eating out in New Zealand is summed up in Sweet Mothers. No reservations, no dress code, students, older people, kids, couples every demographic can be spotted there. The food is delicious, the music was classically cool and the staff are wonderfully attentive and the guy with the dutch boy haircut who always wears his Cliff Richard t-shirt behind the bar never fails to make me smile.

Catch Sushi Bar

This place has a sushi train, and offers a good variety of fresh sushi. A perfect spot if you’re by yourself or with one other and very reasonably priced.

Planet Spice.

Fair enough you have to go out to Newtown and risk being stabbed or worse having to speak to a local someone from Newtown but Planet Spice really is worth the hassle.
I consider myself a bit of an Indian connoisseur having spent a few months in India and eaten curries all round the UK, including in Brick Lane Bradford Manchester and Glasgow so trust me when I say that Planet Spice isn’t just the best Indian in Wellington or New Zealand it’s easily the best Indian restaurant I have been to in Australasia. Indian food in this part of the world is a very drab affair with predictable dishes served in a school dinner style two scoops style. Planet Spice has a stunningly good menu with a different variety of specials on every night which have never failed to impress. What really makes it stick out is that it takes advantage of the great seafood available here resulting in a mix of Indian sea food even I have never tasted the likes of before.

Divine curries. Absolutely delicious and very authentic tasting. Service friendly and quick, throw in a bit of BYO with some friends and you have all the ingredients for great night out. Definitely recommended.

Chow

A friend recommended this one and I wasn’t sure if I would like it but overall it is a good casual spot for dinner. The food is a selection of very reasonably priced Asian dishes; Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Indian. Perhaps a good choice if you’re not sure what you feel like eating. Not to mention the fact that on Monday nights it’s two for one mains.

Phu Thai Esarn

Phu Thai Esarn Restaurant is probably Wellington’s most loved Thai place. Based on the bottom Kent Terrace these days there was an outcry when it closed for a month when it moved from its original Margery Banks locations. They offer food as good as anywhere I have tasted outside Chiang Mai. Infact the Tom yum goong soup is the best I have ever tasted every where. Not only is the food delicious and reasonably priced but it comes in quite large portions and the staff are typically Thai and could not be more helpful. Just try and stop them fill your glass every two minutes! Great place.

Deluxe Café

This cafe on Kent Terrace has to be one of the best I’ve ever been to, a great spot for vegetarians with options like fresh salads, pies, and roasted veggies. The staff is really friendly and actually seem to enjoy working there not because they have but because they like it. The salads are excellent and the art’s always interesting. I love every dish I’ve ever eaten in there and loved the old and newly refurbished décor and great all around vibe. The photography and art on the walls are well worth a look and can be purchased in the café. A contender for the best coffee in Wellington . Home of the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra which is known to play concerts there at 8am in the morning.

Satay Kingdom.

Satay Kingdom is the backpackers friend. Located right in the heart of Cuba Street, I had countless yummy takeaways from here. Everything vegetarian cost less than 10NZD which meant I could eat a yummy healthy meal for cheaper than going to the supermarket and buying everything individually, not to mention saving valuable drinking time. It’s just a pity that they don’t sell beer, but everything else it’s just perfect for people on a budget. At Satay Kingdom the fish sambal is drool worthy.

Ernesto’s

Located at the corner of Cuba and Ghuznee street from the outside it looks quite up market due to it’s 50’s Cuba style décor but the prices are very reasonable given the high quality food on offer. The cheese board was a firm favourite of mine and when I had a cheese craving it was the first place I headed to. No self respecting backpacker can sit in a hostel and eat fine cheese while your mates eat noodles and pasta everyday. The staff are extremely helpful and polite. Red blooded males will enjoy the employment policy at Ernesto’s. Another great place just to go and have coffee and watch the world go by.

Fidels

This is a bit of a Wellington icon and quite rightly so too, the food here is excellent. This includes both the menu and their cabinet food. There are veggie and vegan options available. Fidel’s serves Havana coffee which is a decent brew of coffee, to go with possibly the best eggs Florence I have had in New Zealand. I always found it the perfect pre-night out meal or a good meeting point for friends.

Regardless of your budget. There are no excuses for not having a very happy belly here.

Tags: Backpacking Wellington, Best places to eat in Wellington, cheap food Wellington, Cheap places to eat in Wellington, Chow, deluxe cafe, Fidels Cafe, Phu Thai Esarn, Planet Spice, Sweet mothers kitchen

The South Island of New Zealand is world famous tourist Mecca. Literally thousand of backpackers are here at any time and it is a common first time backpacker trip as well a stop off in a lot of around the world airline tickets. Travelling here combines amazing sceneries, hospitable a warm people and endless tranquillity. Each traveller has his own New Zealand, whether he is seeking treks or short walks, extreme sports or just a hot tub and spa everyday! So here is a backpacker’s guide to the costs involved in travelling round the South Island of New Zealand.

At the time of my visit, the exchange rate of 1 GBP equalled 2.16 NZD. I will put the cost in both at the end.

Accommodation

The price of budget accommodation is pretty standard where ever you are in New Zealand. It was possible to find a room in a dorm at anything around 24-27 NZD. Discount for long terms stays sometimes apply in off peak season It is hard to find a single room so if you are travelling on your own it is fairly pricey. Splitting the cost with someone makes all the difference. For that price you will get a double room and occasionally a private bathroom with an all important heater which will cost anything around $75 NZD.

Food

New Zealand cuisine and dining is generally enjoyed as relaxed and unaffected as possible, in keeping with the laidback Kiwi psyche. It is possible to have excellent Asian takeaway for $10 dollars which is much cheaper than going to the supermarket to buy your ingredients and make it yourself but as a traveller you don’t want to be carrying around large amount of foods. I found the South Island to be a bit more expensive than the less touristy North Island but you could still eat in nice place and have an excellent meal for less than $15 dollars. Fish and chips may not be high on the healthy eating scale, but your New Zealand cuisine experience is incomplete without enjoying this traditional New Zealand takeaway meal, served wrapped in paper for around $10 NZD.

Alcohol

Wine is very cheap in New Zealand, epically if it’s local wine. You can buy a bottle of some of the best wines you may ever taste for around $15 dollar but if you are on a budge and are not to fussed about the taste a bottle wine can easily be picked up for as cheap as $6NZD. Local beers such as Speight’s and Tui will set you back around $6NZD and the more expensive foreign beers such as Corona will cost around $8NZD. They could really do with a Witherspoons is New Zealand.

Water/Soft drinks

A litre of water will cost around $2.50 NZD. I have to highly recommend Big Blue when it comes to drinking water here. I should point out that the stuff that comes out the tap is more than good enough to drink. Soft drinks are quite expensive here and for some strange reason it’s cheaper to buy a 1.5 litre of coke than it is 250ml bottle which will set you back $3.50 NZD. Fans of the Scottish soft drink Irn Bru might be disturb to find out the worlds greatest hang over cure is $10 a bottle on sold under the guise of an energy drink!

Travel

Travel is very simple in New Zealand. The boat ride from the North to the South Island which is a must will cost around $75 NZD one way. It tends to be cheaper to fly and internal flights are serviced by the excellent Air New Zealand who offer deals on certain internal flights every day. My flight from Wellington to Christchurch return cost a mere $110 NZD.

It’s also possible to travel round New Zealand by bus; there are several tour companies like Kiwi Experience who will happily over charge lazy tourists who want everything handed to them on a plate. Intercity is the biggest public bus company if you don’t drive and want to do things independently. Prices once again vary depending on how far in advance you book but a three hour bus journey on the North Island can costs as little as $17 NZD. A six hour journey from Dunedin to Christchurch cost $40 NZD. It’s a very cheap way of getting around however you are at the mercy of the bus time table and no night bus services run here apart from the Auckland to Wellington route.

Car is the best way to travel around the South Island, there are simply so many place that you will want to stop off at and enjoy the view. Public transport after 6pm in New Zealand is also near non existent in towns outside the cities. Jucy rentals tend to be the cheapest place to hire a car. A quick loot on their website now tells me that you hire a car for 3 days for 100 NZD. It is worth calling the company instead of booking online as it is possible that you are doing them a favour by returning the car to a certain destination and receive the car hire free and only pay for the insurance. If you want to do it in style the cost of a 4X4 hire for the same period of time will cost $380 NZD. Petrol is cheaper here than in Europe and you can fill your tank up for around $75 NZD.

So that’s the basics of the costs of backpacking in the South Island of New Zealand. I loved my time here and didn’t have to worry too much about the costs but I would say to anyone on a budget and thinking of going on a trip to look at other options. New Zealand is an expensive place to backpack around.

Here is a break down of the costs of everything I did on my trip.

Cost of Interisland ferry one way $75 (34 GBP)
Cost of flight from Wellington to Christchurch return $125 NZD booked in advance on grabaseat (56GBP)
Cost of car hire per day $50 (22 GBP)
Cost of full tank of petrol $75 (34 GBP)
cost of 4 hour bus journey $40 (18 GBP)
Cost of hostel dorm $24-27 (11GBP)
Cost of a double room in a hostel – $75 (37 GBP)
Cost of a Bottle of diet coke – $3.50 (1.5 GBP)
Cost of a coffee $4-$5 (2.00 GBP)
Cost of a pint of local beer – $6-8 (3 GBP)
Cost of a decent bottle of wine $10 -15 (6 GBP)
Cost of a main course meal $15-$20 (7.50 GBP)
Cost of ice skating – $15 (6.0 GBP)
Cost of hot tubs – $30 (13.6 GBP)
Cost of skiing in Queenstown $110 (50 GBP)
Cost of ski hire – $30 (13 GBP)
Cost of Ski Line $27 return (12 GBP)
Cost of Luge – 9 dollar per ride.(4 GBP)
Speight’s Brewery tour – $20 NZD (9 GBP)

Tags: cost of hostels in new zealand, how much does a bottle of wine cost in new zealand., How much does it cost to rent a car in new zealand, How much does it cost to travel in New Zealand

A 6am start was required for my journey from Dunedin to Christchurch, not a problem for me because as soon as I am on a bus I can get straight back to sleep as my 6 hour snooze fest from Queenstown to Dunedin proved. Well I write this blog as a warning to any backpackers who plan to do this route by bus. Don’t count on any sleep on the IC8110 Dunedin – Christchurch

Any bus journey in New Zealand starts off with a safety warning, sometimes the drivers give a little more information and fancy themselves as a bit of a comedian and throw in a jokeor two at the end so I was fine with the first five minutes off chat from this particular driver. But he then started telling the passengers his life story. It went on and on to the point where a pre coffee me was tempted to shout shut up! It got so bad that every time we passed an another Intercity service we got details such as the drivers name, how long he had been driving the bus for and where he was off to today. He really fancied himself as a tour guide which is fine if this was a tour bus! Stories about fish in the lake we would pass. Even as we went past his friends motor homes we were not spared personnel stories. All I wanted to do was sleep. He must have spoke for 3 hours non stop. I was seriously un amused.

Mercifully we stopped off for 45 minutes in a small little town for breakfast and I got my required two espressos down me and stared aggressively at the driver across the table. Fortunately the stories subsided as the journey went on probably due to the spectacular scenery slowly fading into the distance. I started to listen to his stories with a little less distain and noted that allot of his stories about him and his wife seemed in a past tense and I started to realise that he probably tells the same stories every day without any reply from passengers and that he was probably just very lonely. I felt very sorry for him by the end of the journey and thanked him for the stories at the end of the journey which brought a smile. I felt terribly for me previous hatred towards him.

I hadn’t really planned to spend any time here at all but a friend in need meant that I turned up the day before my flight. It’s very much a one night town pre flight to somewhere better. It was cold wet and miserable the day I was there so I didn’t venture out to much so I won’t even attempt to pass my opinion on Christchurch. I did drink allot of nice coffee, found a few decent bars.

I broke the habit of a backpacking life time and splashed out on a hotel room since it was the last night of what may very well be my last big trip for a long time. Hotel So is a budget hotel in the city centre and was recommended to me by a friend. For 50 dollars (a mere 20 more than staying in a 6 person room in the hostel around the corner) I got my own double bed, bathroom, free wifi, television with cable tv and MP3 Soundsytem. As well as use of the best sauna I have had outside Sweden. If you are a backpacking couple in Christchurch I wouldn’t think about staying anywhere else as long as you don’t mind that your room look’s like something an astronaut would be having sex in.

Tags: Backpacking New Zealand, Christchurch, Dunedin to Christchurch bus, Hotel So, Intercity IC8110

Like any backpacker that plans to spend time in New Zealand I have to work to fund my stay here and I had planned to tackle the South Island in three separate holidays but a recent change of events back home meant that I was only ever going to be able to squeeze in two trip and in this one I had to pack in as much as possible so my stays in Dunedin and Christchurch were short.

It’s a six hour bus journey from Queenstown to Dunedin. I’m pleased to say that World Cup commitments meant that I slept the entire way so couldn’t possibly comment on the scenery other than that the bus was lovely and warm. I’d been quite keen to visit Dunedin as it is known as the Edinburgh of the South, Edinburgh being my home town. The Scottish influences are very noticeable from the Leith factories, The Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland founded Dunedin in 1848. The city is named after Edinburgh by the Scots who colonized it. The layout of the centre of the Dunedin was designed to reflect and imitate the layout of Edinburgh and many of the streets in Dunedin are named after streets in Edinburg. The architecture which actually reminded me more of Glasgow than Edinburgh also had that key bone chilling wind that is required if you really want to recreate that special Edinburgh feeling.

One thing I will say about those locals is that they are not afraid of the cold. Whilst I was wearing my all over thermals underneath two layers of clothes, mittens and hats which is most appropriate for a South Island midwinter it was not that uncommon to spot the local walking around without a jacket, girls in short skirts, guys in boardies and flip flops like it was a beautiful spring day. They build them tough down here.

I got a good vibe about Dunedin, not just because of the familiar Scottish feeling but it bucks the trend of Kiwi cities, it’s a big University town so feels young and vibrant. Numerous musical and Ops stores line the main streets. I saw more good looking fashionable people here than anywhere else in New Zealand. The night life seemed to be very healthy with numerous bars and restaurants pretty packed at 6pm on a Friday night. I even saw the rarest of things in Dunedin. A group of 30 something women out having fun, that didn’t scream ‘desperate for a man’ Very refreshing.

I stayed at On the top backpacker just round the corner from the City centre. It was quite upmarket backpackers above a pool hall which was great planning by the owner! Very nice living room and kitchen area and the whole thing looked very Scandavian which is never a bad thing.

Dunedins claim to fame is the Speight’s beer is brewed here (and is much cheaper here as well) you can take the brewery tour for a mere $20 dollars which also gets you two free beers and is a good way to spend the afternoon. The near by Cadburys factory offers a similar tour and there were a few museums in town that were worth checking out, Wish I could have spent a couple of more days here to be honest. Seemed my sort of place.

Tags: Backpacking New Zealand, Dunedin, Edinburgh of the South, On the top backpackers, Speights Brewery

After a crazy drive in the dark in which possibly only Carlos Sainz would have enjoyed I arrived in Wanaka. Sadly it was only an overnight stay after finding out the near by ski field was closed. It was a Monday night and not to untypical of New Zealand everywhere was closed by 7pm.

I stayed the night in a hostel where I had the worst nights sleep I had in quite a while. Having sang the virtues of hostels in previous blogs It had been quite a while since I had spent just one night in a big room with a bunch of stangers and I had forgotten what it was like to spend a night in a room with inconsiderate people turning the light on at all hours, alarms going off every five minutes and to stay in a hostel to stingy to turn on the heating in the middle of winter on New Zealand’s South Island. Freezing! Not a happy chappy at check out time.

Several coffees were required to get me going; fortunately I could stop off at the famous Cardrona hotel which anyone who has been to New Zealand will recognise from the many postcards it appears on. The Cardrona Hotel is one of New Zealand’s oldest hotels. A 40 minute drive from Queenstown and only 20 minutes from Wanaka, this unique place offers both quality coffee and lunch but possibly the ambient room I have seen. It was one of the best bars I had ever been in and very typically for New Zealand it happened to be in the middle of nowhere!

The drive down from the Cardrona valley is spectacular and at times you have to remind yourself your not in the the Lord of the Rings movies (I have done well not to mention LOR so far) Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand so make that the world and is a place I have long looked forward to visiting. It also gave me the chance to catch up with my friend Euan from my time in Worldwide Bacpackers in Wellington. If ever Sky1 make a show when backpacking goes wrong it should star him. Talking to him was the first of many examples of how hard it is to get by in Queenstown as a backpacker, Lot’s of people come here for work and it seam’s very hard to get work and almost impossible to save up any money. Queenstown is very expensive. I met quite a few people who moved to closer by towns to get work, or unless your a rich daddies boy like Euan and you come spend your time hunch over a bar ogling chubby Irish waitresses.

One of the main reasons Queenstown is so expensive is because there’s simply much to do. Ski, Snow board, Skydive, bungee jump, white water rafting, jet boat rides, disc golf, luge, day hikes, wine tasting .. heaps mate, heaps! as they say in New Zealand. Even the funky near by Arrowtown is worth checking out; unfortunately my time in Queenstown coincided with a full blown cold so I wasn’t quite feeling up to anything super active.

I took a day cruise round Lake Wakatipu. It seemed a nice way to aviod the cold and waste a snotty afternoon but did not offer any better views from what I could get from my bedroom. The captain also seemed to be a frustrated statistician who spent the entire journey talking about pointless numbers and figures like the average amount of time tourist spend in Queenstown is 2.3 days. The water is this deep at that point blah blah blah, On and on he went. They also seemed intent in showing off wealth. Telling stories about how big that house was, how much it cost, how many cars that person has. Even a close up of the under construction Hilton hotel and how much money that is expected to bring in. Who cares!

This summed up Queenstown a little bit for me; it’s a town that exists purely for tourist to spend money. Much like the same way Vegas and Dubai exist. I’ve learnt one thing from my travels and that’s that I don’t like fake places. I went on a few pub crawls in Queenstown and enjoyed the variety of nightlife but talk to a few people you will find Kiwi experience bus tourists and Americans here for a few weeks who portray the ski dude mentality before they head back to college to study corporate law or real estate or some other soulless job. That being said the nightlife there is much better than anywhere in New Zealand and a special mention to Winnes for their open fire, pizza’s and impressive sliding roof.

Queenstown also has the skyline which allows you to travel up on a gondola which was a first for me and then access the best views in the region are found here spread out in a spectacular 220 degree panorama, with breathtaking views of Coronet Peak, The Remarkables mountain range and across Lake Wakatipu to Cecil and Walter Peaks. It’s truly magnificent and awe-inspiring! If your not a poor backpacker like me you can enjoy a seven course meal from the inside restaurant which I would like to bet offers the best view of any restaurant in
world.

The skyline gave me my first ever Luge experience as well. Situated behind the Skyline complex, the Luge tracks wind 800 metres down through the trees, with spectacular views of Queenstown & The Remarkables, to finish beside the main complex. The two-seater chairlift (another first for me) takes riders and luge carts back to the top and it would be incredibly easy to spend your entire day there.

I spent 3.5 days in Queenstown, 0.2 days more than the average tourist. Really enjoyed my time here but I can only take places like this in small doses. I was glad to leave when I did. Not just for my wallets sake!

Tags: Backpacking New Zealand, Cardona Hotel, Queenstown, Sky line, Sky line Luge, Wanaka, Winnies Bar

I dont think my words in the previou blog did Mount Cook justice so here is a video I made whilst I was there. Sadly it isnt of the Japanese girl drinking out of the dog bowl. Could have made a fortune from fetish website with that one.

Tags: Backpacking New Zealand, Mount Cook, Mount Cook video

Up next was Mount Cook. A mere two hours drive from Lake Tepako, The weather which had been beautiful the day previous had taken a turn for the worst and much more like the winter weather we should be having this time of the year. It made for an interesting contrast in scenery from the day previous but just as impressive in it’s own way as we hugged the road that runs along side Lake Pukaki.

Mount Cook is the highest Mountain in New Zealand peaking 3.75 km metres high. At the base of the mountain range is the Aokaki Mount Cook Alpine Village which hosts a range of accommodation from the ultra flash to the YHA backpackers which of course I stayed at. I am normally a tad hesitant to stay at YHA hostel as they tend to be full of boring people and slightly odd older couples but I really enjoyed my stay here and got to witness one of the strangest things I have ever seen. Sitting across from a Japanese girl minding my own business she gets’s off the couch. Get’s down on all 4’s and promptly starts drinking out of the dog water bowl. She then gets back on the couch like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

My room had the best view from any hostel room I have ever stayed in. Even a morning grump like me got up early to check this view out. Check this out.

The hostel also had it’s own sauna which was not to bad although not exactly as hot as I would like, this was not helped by people whom would stop outside the sauna, stand there for a minute then open the door to look in letting all the heat escape whilst getting the fright of their lives that it was a sauna with naked sweaty people in it which would promptly follow with an embarrassed apology. What did they expect in a sauna? A cocktails bar? Muppets.

All around Mount Cook there are several walks that you can take, from short bush walks to adventurous walks in and around the Hooker Valley area. I opted to take the short trek out to the Tasman Glacier Lakes.

When I did my trek in Nepal at the beginning of this trip 8 months ago I wrote that if I was ever lucky enough to see such magnificent scenery ever again would be a very happy man. Well, it seems I have been that lucky again because the scenery in Mount Cook is beyond breath-taking and way beyond my limited writing skills to describe so I shall stick to the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words.

But the fun did not stop there. One hundred kilometres south of Mount Cook is the small town of Omarama. Having enjoyed my thermal spa experience in Kale Tekapo so much I decided to indulge further in the world of hot spas. I guess this is the point of the trip where I switch from backpacker to flashpacker. What was different from the previous experience was we had our private barrel tub which was heated by a log fire below us. Whilst we were stewing away in our own little barrel we could gaze at the snow laden mountain tops reflecting in the lake in front of us. We could marvel at the beauty of the sunset on Mount Cook and then admire the many stars in the sky as the night drew close. This was truly extravagant living. A day that will live long in my memory.

After two hours of boiling ourselves clean of Windy Wellington, all the stresses and strains that have been on my mind of late after making a few life altering decisions seemed a long way.

I’ve only been on the South Island a few days but I am already falling in love with it. Can’t wait for the next stop and can only imagine the fun that I will have.

Tags: Backpacking New Zealand, Mount Cook, Mount Cook YHA, Omarama, Omarama Hot tubs, Tasman Glacier Lakes

This part of my South Island adventure started with a redeye flight out of Wellington to Christchurch. My bleak morning mood was somewhat raised by being able to catch the second half of the England v. Algeria World Cup tie in the departure lounge. I was able to share my delight and small minded pettiness with Welsh and Irish rugby fans on tour as well as a host of Kiwi’s and other nationalities. Such was my delight that I almost forgot why I was there and for the first time ever had to be reminded by a phone call from Air New Zealand that my flight was about to board. I promptly did a sprint from the TV lounge to my gate in a style that Carl Lewis would have been proud of and was the last person to take my seat on the plane. To add to the excitement my stewardess was the girl from the excellent Air New Zealand safety video I highlighted a few weeks ago. Oh the glamour!

From Christchurch airport I took the trip down south and made the four hour drive down to Lake Tepako. This could have easily been done in two and a half hours if you were in a rush but when the scenery is this good you really should slow down and stop for coffee as many times as your bladder can allow. The journey wound through the countryside and hills passing through picture postcard towns like Ashburton and Geraldine. The best bit about this journey is that the road is all yours and you can go a good twenty minutes without seeing another car giving you the impression of absolute freedom and wanderlust. The South Island may be as an inspiring place as I have ever had the fortune of visiting. The landscape can also change so quickly. One minute you are travelling along windy roads with lush green hills and sheep for company and the next you are in some sort of moon like movie-set covered by lakes and water made so blue by the glaciers that it hurts your eyes.

First stop on this amazing journey was Lake Tepako a picturesque little stop-off village. I stayed the Lake Front Lodge backpackers which funnily enough had a brilliant view of the nearby lake. When I arrived I was informed by the Japanese guy on reception that I would be sharing the hostel with a very hot Finnish girl and an all girls college America hockey team. I liked those those odds!

As well as the lake to marvel at there are a number of activities around Lake Tepako that can pass the time. I took a trip out to the picturesque Church of the Good Shepherd which sits on the banks of the lake. As well as being a very pretty little building inside and outside it possibly has the best view of any church I have ever been in. Possibly even good enough to tempt me to go to church. Well maybe not but you get the idea……

My evening was spent making my first attempt at ice skating. I was informed I should try to move my feet like a penguin but instead I resembled Bambi on ice! Whilst I can’t claim my first attempt was a success I was more than pleased to leave the rink with no broken bones and not too wet an ass. Adjoining the ice rink was an outdoor thermal spa which was certainly more around my skill level. This was my second outdoor thermal spa experience and one I like very very much. The feeling of cold fresh on your face whilst your body soaks in hot water is so refreshing and on a beautiful night like this night when the stars were out on show it can’t be beaten. I’m not sure why miserable cold countries like the UK don’t incorporate these into our nightlife.

This is the life.

Tags: Christchurch, Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Front Lodge Backpackers, Lake Tepako. Backpacking South Island New Zealand