I've arrived back in Christchurch after just under 2 weeks of travel around the southern portion of the south island. It's been a real mixture of extremely rewarding moments, taking in vast beautiful wilderness and getting to know interesting friendly people from all over the world, and not-so-perfect moments, getting sick of being constantly on the move and sleeping in hostel bunks, riding long hours on uncomfortable busses, and experiencing the gray, rainy, coolish weather than is summer in some parts here lately. I am anxiously awaiting my time further north, in areas more known for their sunny weather, and looking forward to my planned time at a retreat center and visiting some farms.
In the last 2 weeks I hiked to see alaska-style glaciers in one of the only areas at this lattitude where the glaaciers nearly reach the sea, cruised in the wildernessy but touristy Milford Sound, visited the Scottish city of Dunedin, had fun in the "adventure capital" Queensland (including watching fellow busmates bungy!!), visited several national parks, and (saving the best for last) spent 4 gloriously peaceful days on Stewart Island.
Stewart Island is the "third" new zealand island, a huge island of primarily rugged, protected wilderness located one hour's ferry ride south of the "south island". Many people go because of the birdlife, and there's a small island near the one town on the island called Ulva Island, which you can take a water taxi to and hike around on. Ulva Island is a predator-free island, rare in these parts, which means that there are bird species there that can't survive in the presence of rats and other vermin that were never native to these lands. One wonderful thing about the birds here having evolved with a lack of predators is that they are quite tame to the human with the camera and pose for photos better than those back home!
Every day I went for long walks out from town (Oban) with my friend Lotty from London. We would just make giant loop walks out of the trails and roads, all extremely scenic, visiting numerous gorgeous and unpopulated beaches and coves each day. The town is small, pop. 400 or so, plus tourists, and everywhere you go you feel the presence of nature. I am so impressed that there are so many trails everywhere I go in New Zealand. Most places you can just walk for a bit and hop on a trail, and head off into the "bush" pretty near wherever you are staying. We also joined the locals for their weekly Quiz Night and a fund raiser concert for the search and rescue. A little break from the typical tourist life, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Other highlights included the blue cod feast supplied by the folks off my bus that had gone out on the fishing trip the day we came in (most of them only stayed one night on the island) and harvesting my own mussels from a beautiful beach near town (gritty but tasty as I didn't have time to let them clean themsevles out like you do with clams).
I won't go into details about all the other places I visited, mostly the same old tourist things, although two more food items that stand out strongly in my mind include 1) My time in Dunedin was short but I have grand memories of a vegan/indian food cafe there that fed me the first gluten-free samosas I've ever seen, satisfying a three-year dearth of one of my favorite foods!, and 2) Queenstown hosts the best ice cream I've tasted, a place called Patagonia, run by Hispanics, I think, and with a dark chocolate-macadamia ice cream that was to die for. I never regret paying good money for good food! Imagine how many ice creams you can buy instead of one short-lived bungy jump!! 30-40, maybe? Haha!!
Onward ho...
