NZ - South Island

Views from the plane
see all photos »

The flight from Auckland -> Christchurch took me over the Northern part of the South island. Below were endless giant mountains with snowy peaks. Icouldnt help thinking that even from 30,000 it was just a sneek preview into the amazing sights I was yet to see. Scrambling around the empty seats on the plane trying to get better and better photos became quite an amusement to fellow passengers and flight attendants. The most bizarre thing happened when all of a sudden the mountain range stopped. Quite suddenly, almost in a straight line.

Snowy peaks
see all photos »

Arriving in Christchurch (Ch.Ch) after the flight and leaving Lianne to fly back home I felt quite empty. With no Rich I knew it was down to me to pick myself back up again.

So on arrival at the hostel I booked myself on a tour around Ch.Ch on hearing it was for FREE(!) and would take most of the day. The tour took us around the beaches, dramatic fjords and massive habour bays. Filled with numerous nationalitities, it was our tour guide Grant I talked to mostly. At the end of the day he invited me to travel with him and some buddies to SeaFest in aplace called Kai Kaoura (approx 3hrs north of Ch.Ch). The only draw back was I would have to go grab my things, meet him back at the depot in 25mins, and 'oh, there may not be a spare ticket'. Not knowing what SeaFest was, whether I could geta ticket and whereKai Kaoura actually was, I jumped at the chance.

Then suddenly....flatness
see all photos »

Grant and I set off, picking up two of his mates Lee and Bob. On route the guys described SeaFest was a popular yearly Sea Food festival,whichhundreds of stalls, live music and 10,000 peopleall come together in the sleepy town Kai Kaoura. The fact that most of the stalls had now diverted from sea food to wine and beer didnt cause a need to change the title of the festival.

Arriving in Kai Kaoura we immediatly went to Grant and Lee's friends house Shayne, who just so happened to be the owner of one of the few bars in the town. Living with Shayne was Nick a guy from south NZ and Selina, a Belgium traveller. On arrival at the house Shayne offered us some Crayfish he had personally dived and caught earlier that day. As it was the night before the festival we thought we should take it easy checking out Shaynes bar. It still didnt stop us from abusing the kind hospitality of free drinks and managed to carry right through until 4am.

SeaFest 2005
see all photos »

The next morning we were all up early and Shayne was already onto getting me a ticket. After a few strings were pulled I had a complimentary ticket!

Arriving at the field I was amazed by the numbers of people, when only the night before the town was dead. Tents lined everyinch of a massive school field with a central marque banging out New Zealander's own rendition of U2.

The rest of the day we all went around each of the tents sampling the endless wine and beer offerings, occasionally stumbling upon the odd sea food tent and gorging the delights of fresh Whitebait, Powell, Crayfish and Cod. My usual conservative view of been warey of sea food was quite blurred that day. However it was not until Lee presented us all withtequila shots containing a slug like fish at the bottom when i decided i had, had enough of fish for one day.

SeaFest 2005
see all photos »

That evening the celebrations ran on meeting up with more people the guys knew, including bumping into Jimmy and Lucas the guys from Wellington. The three bars were all jammed, pumping out either live music or the latest euro drance tracks. As friends of the patron we continued to receive our perks long into the night. Shayne's bar walls were covered in photos covering many different subjects fromgunners shooting in the Gazaar strip, to women grasping hungry children. Talking to Shayne about them, i discovered he went traveling and decided rather than do the tourist travelling, he would take his camera blagging he was part of the media. All of thephotos had incredible stories and series of events, even some never authorised for publication.

A kid clearly not wanting his dad to go to be beer tent
see all photos »

Grand, Lee and Bob all headed back to Ch.Ch and I decided to stay and try and hitch my way around the north part of the south island.Planning to then catch a tour bus called the Kiwi Experience further around the coast.

Nick, one of Shayne's flatmates invited me to go wild pig hunting. So, at 5am Nick, his dog Wog, his trusty 12bore shotgun and myself scaled up nearby mountains. The dog was trained to sniff out wild pigs and scare it towards hunter. Nick on seeing dinner for the next week running on four legs towards him would then prompty take it out. The mountain range was huge and we covered many miles on rough terrain before the weather turned in. We both got soaked and called it a day. Although alittle unsure about the ethics of shooting, I still came home disappointed.

Shayne's photos
see all photos »

The next day I waved off Shayne, Nick and Selina armed with a handwritten sign for "Nelson". On finding a good spot to hitch I waited patiently eagily smiling to all passing traffic. 25 minutes later I was sitting in the back of a car drivenbyBritish Columbian Jayson and his girlfriend. Lookinggenuinelysorry, they stated they were on their way to Nelson although it may take a while as they planned to stop off at as many vineywards as possible. Would that be ok?....."erm...i guess that's ok" I sarcastically replied.

Shayne's photos
see all photos »

The first vineyard was the famous NZ Montana brand. After a free(!) guided tour of the vineyard and winery we got to the most important part - sampling it. And yes that was free too! It was at this point I had to pinch myself to realise my favourable position. Not only had I managed to get a free ride which usually takes 5 hours, but also the chance to drink in famous vineyards - and yup you guessed it again...for free!

We visited 4 in total (including the premium Witherhills and Cloudy Bay).Which doesnt sound a lot considering there were over 35 in the Marlborough region. However as each vineyard served red and whitewith the different types and then flavoured varieties it was actually a heck of a lot!

Shayne's photos
see all photos »

Arrived into Nelson and decided to have a quite one playing pool with a load of people in the bar opposite the hostel.The next morning I armed myself with yet another sign this time stating West Port. Finding another great spot I was picked up after 45mins. Guy was the driver this time who was a travelling farming salesman. The journey this time was to be 6 hours and we passed most of the time talking about his crewing adventuressailing around the Carribean and South of France. With little or no experience he managed to sail around the world for free. Now there's a thought.......