Super-tramping it up
One of the most bizarre sights I have had during my time in New Zealand was when I was in the south island, driving along Haast pass. I'd taken a detour down some 'country roads', (if you don't class all the roads as that) and happened upon a farmer, (I assume) in a beaten up old car, towing 6 horses around the field, they were kind of attached and being forced in to a trot...pretty gutted I didn't get a picture, but so I can share this rare vision with you, I've done an artists impression...(my horses weren't recognisable, so admittedly they are not the artists own work, and yes, I know there are only 4...you get the idea)
[Although a 'tramp' in the UK is another word for a homeless person, the kiwis use the word 'tramp' as their version of 'hike', so they have 'tramping tracks' and go 'tramping'.]
Anyway, Nelson, supposedly the sunniest place in New Zealand...spent a couple of days here on the north of the south island. Spent a day 'tramping' in Abel Tasman National Park, walked around 20km, got lost in the bush and thought I was going to become a missing person there, but you'll be pleased to know (possibly) that I didn't and made it out alive and it was good, turned out to be a warm day, had to strip down to my t-shirt and everything. Nelson also has some of the most amazing sunsets, the whole sky goes red and its like that everyday throughout the winter.
This is 'Split Apple Rock', in Abel Tasman National Park.
You can do a 3/4 day walk through the park, and camp along the way or stay in huts, the kiwis seem to have thought of everything, they even provide wood for your fires at the campsites...not sure they've thought about the possibility of any axe murderers visiting the campsite though...
I had a day in Picton, where there is not much more than the main port for coming in and out of the south island. Then, I had the roughest crossing in a ferry I can remember going across to the north island. It was supposed to be 3 hours long, but ended up being 4. I used all my effort trying not to vom up my cheese and tomato sandwich (successfully I might add), unlike my fellow passengers who were spewing all over the place. It's all part of the adventure eh?!
Wellington was as I had been warned, wet and windy! Learnt about the maori's at the pretty cool Te Papa museum. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, and is right at the bottom of the north island, unfortunately my hostel had not heard of heating. Considering New Zealand is badged as one of the most 'eco countries', no-one has double glazing, insulation or central heating - intriguing.
Some art in Wellington, a suspended ball...
The Beehive (New Zealands parliament buildings in Wellington)
Ever heard of 'craft graffiti'? Well, the idea is to use things like crochet, knitting etc to create eco friendly, removable graffiti in common areas to get messages across. Here's some I found in Wellington, giving a positive message to the commuters of Wellington! [It says 'You are doing OK']
I also saw this in Wellington, it amused me, was on a garage in a church carpark...
From Wellington, I headed north to Napier, famous for being an 'art deco' town. Basically, there was a massive earthquake in 1931 which pretty much destroyed the whole town. It was then rebuilt, all at the same time, in the style of that time (art deco). It's a pretty chilled out town, right on the beach. Watched a Rugby match on the TV, never knew how exciting things got...one man got his pants pulled down and you saw bare cheeks...
I am now in Taupo, a couple of hours west of Napier. Taupo is famous for having a massive lake (the biggest one in New Zealand), which, 5000 years ago was a volcano, which erupted, and is now a lake!
Walked up a mountain this morning when I got here which was challenging, it was so steep and just went up and up, but had a pretty good view at the top - could see across to Mount Doom (it's not called that in real life), which is covered in snow this time of year!
[Mount Doom is the smaller of the 2 white lumps in the distance just under the clouds - that's how high I had climbed, I was pretty much in the clouds!!]
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