Anyway, as usual when Steff goes traveling I hadn’t really made plans what to do and see apart from meeting up with old mates but on the plane I read about the Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds and was thinking it would be a nice idea to go tramping (love those typical kiwi words, there’s more to come.)
Of course returning to New Zealand without my best friend Maren (we had the best time traveling around in our campervan) was kind of strange at the beginning and forgive me if I’m being a little bit nostalgic.
Before heading to Erena’s house in Woodend Beach, Erena and I went to Christchurch city centre and I once again realized it’s more like a big country town (no offence but
). Nevertheless in a café I got what I’d been craving for months now: a big fat banana smoothie! Yummy!
Ok., some of you might think I have had too much sun (not quite yet, but spring has arrived) but since a hurricane hit the banana plantations in Australia, prices have sky-rocked ($13 a kilo!) and I pretty much haven’t had any since April! Let alone a banana smoothie. You would rather find signs in Melbourne cafés like: “BYO (Bring your own) Banana” or “For a banana smoothie give us your first born son”. Enough rambling on about this lovely yellow fruit but you can probably imagine what I ate at least once a day during my stay
.
Erena’s house and garden is a little oasis next to the beach. As mentioned before she is an artist and uses native flax for traditional Maori weaving. She grows all her own plants and one room of her house has been turned into this little workshop. Honestly, I would never have the patience to create all this fantastic pieces of art!
Unfortunately I could only stay with her for one night as I headed down the Canterbury coast to see my friends Allan & Janat and their daughter Emma in Timaru for the weekend. Once upon a time Maren and I were stranded in Timaru with our campervan and Allen was our mechanic who brought the “Blue Comet” back on the road. Not only that, he also offered us to stay with him and his family for the time the van had to be fixed. Seriously, I believe this could only happen in N.Z., hospitality is truly amazing.
Luckily, Allan and Janat were off for the weekend and so we drove to the inland to Lake Tekapo and Lake Alexandrina where I realized once again how beautiful N.Z. landscape is. I mean, I have already been there before, but the scenery never fails to take my breath away. Even a gusty wind couldn’t bother us, Emma and I actually had lots of fun posing for photographs.
Monday, I returned to Christchurch to spend two days with my friends Maria and Mark and their little daughters. Well, Maria and Mark have been fairly busy since Maren and I left in 2003, and they had not only one or two little girls since, but they have had Lily, Louisa and little two month old Maggie! So, I got to experience life with kids and even though they are absolutely gorgeous, I guess I will wait with becoming a mum for another little while. Considering my gypsy lifestyle probably a good idea
.
It was really great to catch up with geen (Mark) and his girls and thanks again for having and feeding me!
On Wednesday, I went back to stay for one more night with Erena before catching a bus very early in the morning (on holidays!), at 7 am to travel up north to Picton. I really wanted to do the Queen Charlotte Track now, in search for some peacefulness and solitude in and with nature before returning to the big city life. The track wasn’t very crowded yet, I believe in summer it’s packed with tourists and for most of the daily walks I was walking on my own. Or I should say with my lovely companion, the i-pod. First it felt weird not listening to everything around, the birds chirping, the leaves floating in the wind, the water breaking at the shore but when I listened to some good old tunes, Maren and I had always listened to when we were in N.Z. I couldn’t stop smiling and walking… No worries I didn’t start crying (just a little bit) but it was really cool to walk along the beautiful Marlborough sounds listening to some great music and remembering some great times.
For the nights, I stayed in backpacker cabins and each time I met some very funny people. Of course. I bumped into a group of (young) fishermen who had come to the Sounds to go hunting…bless them…being a vego I wasn’t particularly impressed about the huge pig they had shot, but playing pool with them was fun nevertheless. I also met a group of five Chileans in the middle of nowhere and not only could practice Spanish but also scored a place to stay in Santiago next time I’m around.
Four days and 71 km later, my feet hurt and I was utterly proud of my achievement. Planning to conquer Mount Everest next. Just joking but I totally recommend the Queen Charlotte Track to everyone.
On Monday I took the Interislander ferry to cross the Cook Strait and arrive in Wellington at night. I could stay with my friend Florence and her little daughter Millie at their house in Hataitai. Great views from there but I wasn’t particularly impressed when I had to walk up the hill with my big backpack for the first time. Not to mention it was windy what is no surprise in Wellington. Girls, you better use lots of hairspray if you want your hair to stay straight.
Apart from those minor things, Welly is my favourite city in N.Z., it has a huge coffee culture (I think even more cafés per head than Melbourne) and a very nice and relaxed vibe. Maren and I stayed and worked there for a while in 2003 and I returned to all the places we used to hang out at, including the now “famous” James Smith parking building we lived in for a couple of days…but that’s another long, long story...
For what happened on my last weekend in N.Z. I have copied you my friend Evelyn’s blog as she came done from Auckland to catch up and we spend a fantastic time together:
Once you've gone South East Asian You'll Never Go Caucasian!
Sunday morning. Wellington is wet and grey this morning. My friend Steff seems to have taken the last few days sunshine back to Oz with her.
But it would take a lot more than the weather to dampen my spirits today! There's nothing better than facing into another week at work knowing that you've made the absolute most of your weekend. And that's what we did!
On Friday evening, I skipped off work early (perk of being The Manager ) and raced back home to gather up a few bits and pieces into a bag. Simon, my flatmate, arrived home early too and said that he would drive me out to the airport which was great! Saved me having to trudge into town and find an over-priced airport shuttle. My flight was only an hour to Wellington and when I landed at 9:30pm Steff was waiting for me in the arrivals hall! It was great to see her again. We headed out of the airport in search of a bus into town and ended up getting a lift from a baggage handler called Ray who was on his lunch break and ran us into the city out of the goodness of his heart! THANKS RAY! I dumped my stuff and we didn’t waste any time hitting the town. Friday was Steff's birthday so we started proceedings with some cocktails and outrageously expensive red wine! lol. (Tip: never let the waitress pick the wine for you!) Then we hit the bubbly and it turned into a great night, hopping from bar to bar in Wellington's hio Courtenay Place. We met lots of great people and found a couple of obliging Irish men to abuse. The photos speak for themselves!! ROFL!!
When I finally crawled into my bunk bed at 6 in the morning it was bright outside. Ugh. Wait, I’m supposed to be living a detox lifestyle in NZ...? Arranged to meet Steff at 2pm and crashed out for a few hours. That afternoon, we were both a bit wasted and thought "Hmmm… wouldn’t a facial be lovely right about now?" So we tramped the streets of Welly in search of beauty therapy but none was to be found, and instead we found a coffee bar and sat on our asses for a couple of hours writing ridiculous postcards and solving the world's problems. Cinema seemed a good way to put down the evening, and we went along to The Embassy, probably the nicest cinema I have ever been in. I could happily have hung out in the ladies bathroom for the rest of the weekend. The movie was excellent, "Water", GO and see it soon.
It wasn’t long before our minds turned towards food yet again, and Steff knew this great Malaysian restaurant that she had been to 3 yrs ago. The food was amazing and I had something called Mangolassi (Steff, how do you spell it? ) - basically a non-alcoholic cocktail with mangos and other delicious things. YUM! We emerged hours later stuffed and unable to walk for the weight in our tummies! Ugh. Overdid it .....again!! Back to the hostel for a little rest before heading out. We went to a bar called Matterhorn and happened to walk in on a live gig with a band called Big Egg. Perfect. Live music, comfy leather couch, a few "quiet" drinks. Just what we needed. the bad were great and had a fantastic sound. Barry White meets rap music meets funk or soul or something. The whole bar was grooving and the atmosphere was deadly!
Three o’clock saw us wandering back towards the hostel for Steff to catch her shuttle to the airport. Both of us had a great weekend and vowed to do it all again soon! Hopefully, I’ll be catching up with her again before she goes back to the Northern Hemisphere.
To read more about Ev’s adventures get a hotmail account and check here:
http://evsblog.spaces.live.com/
Well, that’s pretty much it for the moment. I’m back in Melbourne, studying and working away and enjoying the first days of spring. Had 30 °C yesterday
!
Besos,
Manu