Back to the pier, we drove to Glenorchy, a little town nicknamed "Heaven on Earth". The ended up in a very quiet place - almost depressing. We took advantage of the situation to work on our pictures and website. Sometimes, one needs to work... :)
Franz Joseph is famous for its glacier and the whole city relies on this activity so we had no choice but to do it ourselves too. Back in the past, one could walk to the glacier... But they found a way to make more money - they decided to close the original access and now the only way to get to the glacier is to fly a helicopter. A very good experience though! We loved it. We were able to walk on the glacier, get into some caves and learn a lot about glaciers in general and about that one in particular. A fantastic experience - definitely a must-do when you come to New-Zealand! From Queenstown, we drove to our next destination: Franz Joseph. This would be the top-notch glacier destination. And it didn't fail. We had a couple opportunities to walk to get closer to the Glaciers... That was worth it. But all we were waiting for was to get ON and IN the glacier! For such an experience, we would have to wait for the day after. Until then, we enjoyed a beer on a terrace under the sunset - not too bad! :) The day after was to be the scariest day in David's life... Heading to Queenstown, the sun was shining. David had a booking for a his first skydive over the charming town of Queenstown and the Remarkables Mountain Range. And this was quite an experience! Hard to describe so check the video when we release it as you will get a better insight of such an activity. Once done, and still alive, we went for a burger in a place that we had spotted a few hours before. The queue was insane, the place was busy at all times! We checked the reviews online and they were all very good so we had to try those burgers. It turned out that they were not as good as what we expected - certainly they were huge but not that tasty. Anyway, we were filled up and ready for a movie. Being in New Zealand recalls everyone of The Lord of the Ring. Well, here we were, in for a treat - the latest Hobbit in 3D! What a good choice, the movie was good and the 3D was awesome. We would sleep well, dreaming of orks and parachutes! The trek finally done, we quickly went to the supermarket to get more supplies and then drove to Milford Sound - another remote area in Southern New Zealand. As we were getting closer, the weather changed dramatically, and rain started to appear. Soon enough, it was pouring on the road, making the drive quite challenging. We made it to our hotel, and spent the whole afternoon in the very comfortable lobby - it was feeling like Christmas and let's be honest, we loved speeding some time doing nothing! Reading magazines, drinking tea, that was good! The day after, we had a cruise booked to discover the sounds. Believe it or not, it was sunny, such an unexpected good news. As the Lonely planet states, "if you are very lucky, it will be sunny" - so lucky we were! The cruise last almost 2 hours and was a good way to get closer to the Rocky Mountains. Quite impressive! Excited to accomplish our first trek in New Zealand, we were ready to head to the Kepler Trek which is part of the NZ Great Walks. It ensured us to have a challenging hike and therefore it would offer us amazing views on the Fiordland National Park including the Te Anau and Manapouri lakes and also on several mountains. This time however, it would be different from the Annapurnas in Nepal as we would have to carry everything with us : food, clothes and ustensiles to cook. Waouh ! What we can tell you is that it has been very tough sometimes ! Indeed to carry more than 10 kilos (we do not know how much exactly) over 60 km on 4 days is quite a challenge. What a nightmare ! But it was an amazing experience and something that we will, for sure, never forget. The first day was 13.8 km long, the shortest day of the whole trek. We started to walk in the forest along the Te Anau lakeshore and then we started our ascent of Mount Luxmore. During this climb, we blamed ourselves for indulging with sweets and greasy food during the previous weeks (Indian food particurlarly). Finally, we arrived at the Luxmore hut, we cooked our first dishes and we spend our first night on bunk beds. The second day was 14.6km long. It took us on the very top of the mountains from where we had a tremendous panorama. It was very windy and we got a bit of rain but we quickly forgot this hazardous moments for enjoying views. We met some pirate birds during our way to Iris Burn Hut. It was a very long day as we were expected to arrive earlier. Therefore, we were very happy to discover our hut and we had one of the longest nap of our lives before dinner. The third day was 16.2km long along the lacks shores through the forest. We arrived to the Motauauka Hut. The place along the Manapouri lake and we assist to a beautiful sunset. The last day, 15.5km was a bit boring to be honest as the walk was pretty much the same during the 5 hours. The only part that we liked was inside the scamps. The morning after, after a small breakfast, we were ready for a little hike, to reach the summit of Mount John. An hour hike, which rewarded us with a stunning panorama. There's really no word to describe how nice it was! A great coffee and we were ready to head further south, for our next destination: mount Cook! It was also time to say goodbye to Laura... We wished we could have travelled longer all together. Another time for sure! From Lake Tekapo, it took no more than three hours to reach the remote Mount Cook. We quickly checked in at our hostel and went for a 4 hour hike in the Hooker Valley. It was a nice walk until the lookout point over Mount Cook. There was a lake filled with small icebergs - quite unusual at this time of the year (as we were told). Then, we had a lazy early evening at the hostel, diner and straight to bed. On the morning, we went to the other side of the valley to discover the Tasman Glacier. The walk was only half an hour long yet it was a good warm up. We discovered the glacier from far away and could notice how quickly it reduces as years go on... Global warming perhaps? We hit the road and picked up a Spanish traveler on the road. We were now heading to Te Anau for a trek on the famous Kepler Track. Early wake up, we aimed to the airport to pick up our car rental. Freedommmmm, finally. Despite its small size, Christurch is not a good place for pedestrians and we felt like in an American metropolis... But now things are different, we have a car: let's discover New Zealand. Laura (David's sister) would be accompanying us for the first couple of days - we first went to Castle Hill, close to the famous Arthur Pass. There we contemplated bold rock formations in the middle of large grass fields. Quite a stunning panorama from the top of those rocks! Then we headed to Lake Tekapo. There, we discovered a little town on a shore of a nice lake. The scenery was breathtaking with all the flowers all around the place. We went for a little stroll alongside the lake's shore, and then after we had a quick look at the famous little church, it was time for us to go to the hot pools! There we relaxed for an hour or so... The sun was going down, we were like into the wild, surrounded by a dense forest and mountains - how could it be any better than this? As usual, after such a relaxation time, we were ready to sleep like stones! Which is exactly what we did! Our journey from Kuala-Lumpur took us to Christchurch after a non-so smooth trip via Melbourne, mostly due to the lack of efficiency of the company Malaysia Airline. Who would have though that this company would offer such a poor experience? Certainly not us given our family members often travel with them… anyway, we got unlucky on several aspects which got us fuming at them but we eventually managed to get our bags from A to Z, meaning we wouldn’t have to wait desperately for them in New Zealand. Once upon our arrival, we took the shuttle from the airport to our hotel – a former jail transformed into a guesthouse. This would be the perfect message or should we say – warning. Christchurch would prove to be a very special place – a kind of open-ceiling jail where no one would really like to live. The first day, as we were very tired due to the horrific journey from Malaysia, we spent the morning in a little café waiting for our room to be ready. We also walked through one of the biggest parks of the city – it was great to be in the nature and certainly a big change after India! When the room finally was ready, we crashed onto our beds for a long and much deserved nap! Then, we went to a big supermarket to stock up with groceries for the upcoming days. An early diner and in the bed we were, counting the sheep! On the following day, we were delighted to gather with Laura (David’ sister) who would be following us for 2 days! Certainly too short… anyway, we headed to downtown Christchurch for a stroll in what used to be the center of town prior to the terrible earthquakes of the end of 2011. The city looks terrible, and let’s say it, it is totally depressing. Old buildings are still there, way too fragile to be used – so the center is a mix of old and new but it just doesn’t work. It was quite an experience to discover old shops, which remain untouched since the catastrophe; it was like being in a movie in which a virus would have emptied a city of its inhabitants! Anyway, long story short, one day was enough and we couldn’t wait to rent our car to discover the rest of the country. And let us tell you straight away, if Christchurch was a letdown, New Zealand, however, is an amazing country! You’ll see the images soon but be prepared to book your flight tickets straight after as you won’t resist – quite simple! :) |