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NEW ZEALAND
Most tourists come to New Zealand Christchurch (7.3.) It was cold and rainy when we landed in Christchurch. Therefore, we decided not to spend much time there and escape into the nature. We left as soon as we rented a car and consulted local Visitor Center (which happened only the next day after our arrival). Then we started our journey into the heart of South Island. We drove through the most typical scenery of New Zealand - the green hills with pastures covered with thousands of sheep. That night, we camped at one of the many beautiful and big lakes of this country, Lake Tekapo. We slept well - in our tent under tall pine trees. Mount Cook (8.3.) The next morning,
Queenstown (9.3.) Next morning, we decided to continue our journey across the island,
even though there was heavy rain in the forecast for the western part of
the island. It turned out to be a good choice; we had a beautiful, sunny
day. We drove through barren brown mountains covered only with short,
drying grass. We stopped just after Lindis Pass to have a
lunch. We enjoyed the surrounding scenery so much that we decided to
spend some time wondering around. We soon found a trail that led us to
the top of the closest mountain. We were nicely surprised by a
breathtaking view from its top - green valley below us and many mountain
ridges in front of us. It was a nice stop. Te Anau (10.3.) We spent most of the next day driving to Te Anau, a town located in the south-west part of the island and not far from the west coast. It is the gate to the nearby Fiordlands, a national park stretching far south and north along the coast. When we arrived there, it rained very hard, so we decided to find a hotel room instead of camping on the flooded grass. (It was not easy to find an affordable room, as most hotels were totally full. New Zealand clearly was not ready for the influx of the many movie fans.) We took an afternoon nap in the hotel and then went for a late afternoon stroll along the Te Anau Lake when the rain stopped. We visited a small bird ZOO in a lakeshore park, where we saw the keas for the first time in our lives. Kea is a mountain parrot that does not fly. You can find it only on the South Island of New Zealand and nowhere else in the world. We had a chance to see them out in the wild later during our trip. Milford Sound (11.3.) The road from Te Anau to Kepler Trek (12.3.) Kepler Trek West coast (13.-14.3.) Since our next target was the Abel Tasman park on the northern tip of the South Island, we spent one and half days on the road, driving to the north along the west coast. On the first day, we made a stop in Queenstown (to buy groceries and spend too much time in an Internet cafe) and then stopped again at the beautiful lakes Wanaka and Hawea. In the evening, we reached the Tasman Sea and set up our tent in a pleasant campground on the shore of a small lake. The second day, we simply could not drive by the Fox Glacier a Franz Josef Glacier without stopping there and spent about one hour visiting each of them. They make their way from high peaks all the way down to the sea level. By the evening, we reached Motueka, a town on the coast south of Abel Tasman, and grabbed one of the last tent sites in one of the local campgrounds. (Again, too many tourists everywhere.) Abel Tasman (15.3.) The long drive Wellington (16.3.) In Wellington, we first had to find a guidebook for the countries that we were going to visit next in South America and then buy groceries for the remaining few days of camping. When done, we went to "Te Papa", a national museum with very interesting exhibitions about the history of New Zealand, the Maori culture (Maori are the native inhabitants of New Zealand) and about the history of coexistence of Maori and European settlers. Later in the afternoon, we left Wellington and drove to the center of the North Island. We camped not far from lake Taupo, the largest lake of the island and one of the starting points for trips to Tongariro National Park. Around lake Taupo (17.3.) It rained all day on the 17th of March, so we could not take off for
the planned one-day Tongariro Crossing hike. Instead, we explored the
area around lake Taupo. The Tongariro Crossing (18.3.) During Auckland (8.3.) On our last day in New Zealand, we just made an uninspiring drive to Auckland to catch a 6pm flight to South America, the last continent on our trip around the world.
Notes about New Zealand: We felt that New Zealanders were very nice and hospitable people. In New Zealand we rented a car and camped all but one rainy night. There is an abundance of campsites and private camps are very well equipped. Standard equipment includes showers, a laundry room with one or more washers and one or two dryers and a large kitchen with several stoves, tables, chairs and a fridge. Since we decided to visit some of the most popular areas, we met many tourists. However, locals mentioned to us that there are many mountain ridges and valleys and many treks that are not very far from the beaten track, yet they are quiet and remain undiscovered by tourists. Next time we go to New Zealand, we will search for those.
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New Zealand Population: 3 900 000 Population growth:
1,12% Literacy rate: 99%
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because of its diverse, beautiful and wild scenery. There is something
for everybody's taste - high mountains with glaciers, green rolling
hills with herds of sheep, wineries, lakes, wild rivers, volcanoes,
geysers, hot springs, fiords, beaches, the sea...and more. As of this
year, however, there is also a new kind of visitor - the fan of the
Oscar-winning movie trilogy The Lord of the Rings, who comes to visit
the country where the movie was made. (The most devoted ones are headed
to the exact locations of the now dismantled movie sets.) We originally
planned to spend six weeks in New Zealand, but due to cutting our trip
short, ended up staying only two. While that allowed us to sample the
beaten track, we unfortunately did not have enough time to get away from
the crowds and explore the quiet backcountry. So even though our
experience has still been great, we would like to come back one
day. 
we
ascended into a valley under the highest peak in Austro-Asia, Mount
Cook (about 3750 meters above sea level). On the way, we drove
along the shore of another beautiful, more than 25 kilometers long lake.
We cooked lunch and then spent the whole afternoon exploring the valley.
We hiked along a wild river with muddy water that is being fed from
surrounding glaciers. Now and then, a part of a glacier would break off
and fall down into the valley, making a thunder-like sound. Around us
were bushes of tough alpine grass and many alpine flowers. Leaves
started to turn. Fall was coming. (It was 15-20 degrees Celsius during
the day and about 10 degrees at night.)
Milford
Sound is very scenic and leads through valleys carved by glaciers.
Surrounding mountains are covered with beech forests. Above the trees
rise bare rocky peaks, some topped with glaciers. We made several stops
along the road, including one for a 3h hike up the Key Summit
to get superb views of the beauty around us. In the afternoon, we
arrived in Milford Sound and were so taken by its
unsurpassed atmosphere that we decided to pay for the quite expensive
boat ride through this fiord to the ocean and back (22km one way). It
was definitely worth it. We were surrounded by sheer rocks, some up to
1700 meters high. Numerous waterfalls, the biggest one 160m tall, were
falling down the walls into the ocean. Breathtaking beauty. We were
thankful for a wonderful, sunny day, since it rains most of the time
there.
is
one of the best known Great Walks. It takes four days to walk the entire
trek, but we were able to save only one day for it. Since we wanted to
see as much of it as possible, we kept going as far as we could and
turned back only after reaching the highest point of the entire trek. We
returned just before dark. We spent 10 hours on the trail and got well
beyond the first hut. Jitka decided to take a break there while Marek
ran up the Luxmore Mountain, the highest peak of the trek.
He walked 34km that day and Jitka did 28km. We both got quite tired on
our way down, but our chocolate reserve saved us.
was
rewarded by a wonderful day in the Abel Tasman park, where we sampled
yet another of the Great Walks - again in one day. This one is very
different, as it does not climb into mountains, but stretches along a
beautiful part of the coast. It cuts through rain forests to emerge on
beaches and then dive back into the green hills again. We took a water
taxi about 16km in along the coast and then walked back to the starting
point.
North
Island is very volcanically active and there is a geothermal area
in the middle of the island. There are colorful lakes, geysers, hot
springs. But our favorite was a large mud pool. It looked
like a huge bubbling pot that irregularly sprayed geysers of mud into
the air.
the
night, rain ceased and the next morning welcomed us with blue sky. We
were ready for perhaps the most beautiful - and certainly the most
popular - one-day trek on New Zealand, the Tongariro Crossing.
This trail is a part of yet another Great Walk and starts low in the
pastures, but quickly climbs through areas of lava flows high up onto a plateau,
from which rise several volcanoes. We have been to a few volcanic areas
before, but this place had the most charm and mystery in it. Red
Crater at about the mid-point of the trek was the most
impressive one we have ever seen - its deep red and black colors were
really vibrant. We also climbed up the Pukekaikiore volcano,
the highest peak in the area. It was a hard 2-hour climb up very steep
slopes with unstable ground, but our effort was rewarded at the top with
a beautiful view of a large white- and red-colored crater. Even though
low clouds rolled in quickly and stayed for couple hours in the morning,
the weather remained stable with some sun and no rain for the entire
day.