Christchurch Well, that's it Hector. You cannot get any further away from home without rocketing off the damn planet... On the 5th of November 2004 I landed in Christchurch, the capital of New Zealand's south island and, what's more important, Europe's antipodes. From now on, every single mile I travel will be countdown back to Spain, via the other side of the world of course.
Upon arrival, Christchurch immediately evoked sights I had previously seen in Oxford (England): the gothic churches, the pedestrian streets, the sleepy bridge over an ever sleepier river, the flower-blooming parks, the old-fashioned bakeries, the bell-ringing trams, etc. Indeed, Christchurch had been a mid-XIX century settlement supervised by the Church of England, and it was meant to be the role model embodying all that was considered British by the victorian standards. For what is worth, they definitely achieved the goal. Today's Christchurch teems with a young, university-town atmosphere, with students crowding the local outdoor pubs, the flee markets and a profuse arts and music scene. And, by the way, the weather was most English too! Cool, mild temperatures wrapped up by a cloudy sky accompanied me for the few weeks I spent in this country. There goes my lovely Australian sun tan! On my first night there in Christchurch, I heard that there were some local celebrations in a nearby town with fireworks and stuff, so I picked up a bus and spent the evening there eating ketchup-soaked hotdogs and enjoying the fireworks spectacle. However, the most significant event during my stay in Christchurch was casually meeting Felix (England). I had planned to rent a car to explore thoroughly New Zealand as there are some remote areas best reachable by car. Well, he was incidentally following a similar itinerary across the country for a similar amount of time as myself, so we joint-ventured our respective enterprises. A new friendship had been just forged, and Felix was to become my travel companion during the following weeks.	Such an oh-so-English sight, ain't it? I love this picture
Christchurch's center square featuring the cathedral and this funny looking sculpture	Tram railing about
So we went on a night out to celebrate our brand new partnership, and as we were playing pool we somehow got involved with this colorful group of locals and ended up few hours later in a karaokee club dedicated to the glory of the classics from the 80's (Bananarama, New Kids on the Block, Eurithmics and the rest of the troupe). Weeeeeird experience, I tell you! Anyway, Felix and I spent one more day visiting the city's must-see like the Botanic Gardens, the Canterbury Museum (don't miss this one out if in Christchurch, it kicks big ass) and stuff like that before we collected our mighty white-color Nissan Pulsar from the car rental and off we drove into this awesome country called New Zealand!
Arthur's Pass
On our way towards the West coast's glaciers, we drove across the Canterbury plains and over the Arthur's Pass, linking both sides of the Southern Alps. The Southern Alps are so called because of their resemblance with the alpine scenery characteristic of the European Alps. We stopped along the way for some beautiful treks around these pristine surroundings, spending the night at a guesthouse atop the Pass. Trekking up the mountains certainly is one of the most popular activities here in New Zealand for this is a tramper's paradise. The landscape vistas are just unbeatable if hiking is your thing. Picture on the right: grass plains over loomed by majestic peaks.
Heidi-like valleys, sheeps included	Another fine example. Me likes!
Felix and I took another demanding trek at Arthur's Pass reaching the snow level of one of the area's summits. I reckon I am gaining my shape back fit after a rather lazy month in Australia. Once atop, we treated ourselves with a well-deserved home-made ham'n'cheese sandwich!
Mountain shelter	Keep going mate, we're almost there!
The glaciers
The west coast is home to two impressive glaciers: the Franz Joseph Glacier and the Fox Glacier. For those of you guys who've never been in a glacier, it is basically an ice river sliding all the way from the mountain crest down to the valley, covering and eroding whatever's on its way. Here in New Zealand I learnt heaps about glaciers and how they operate, and how they expand and shrink over the centuries. There are hundreds of glaciers all around the world wherever there's a mountain range, but what makes these ones here in New Zealand unique is the fact that New Zealand is at the equivalent latitude in the south hemisphere as the Mediterranean Sea is in the north hemisphere and, on top of that, these glaciers are at only 250 meters over sea level. Ok, I will dumb that down so we're both in the same page: can you imagine a huge ass perpetual ice river storming down a hill in, say, Saint Tropez, Monaco or Rome? exactly. That clues us in of the extreme weather conditions here in NZ's south island. Moreover, this is the only spot on Earth where a rainforest -yup, those wet tropical forests covered with moss, fern and stuff- can be found within 100 meters of a glacier. Amazing contrast! Picture on the right: Franz Joseph Glacier as viewed from about 1km distance. Have a close look into the picture: do you see the little red-colored circle I have drawn on it? that is a group of tourists. Now imagine the actual size of this mother fucker! It's something trully breathtaking to see.
We joined a guided group and climbed a lil'bit up the glacier. Felix and I would have loved to do the heli-hiking tour, which takes you by helicopter to the top of the glacier and drops you there where the ice caves are at their best, but we cheap bastards couldn't afford the US$200 bill for a 30 mins flight. Sucks to be poor! One day, when I become rich, I will buy my own helicopter for fuck's sake. Well, actually, fuck the helicopter, I will buy my own glacier altogether!
Climbing the ice slopes	The ice shapes up into sharp, pointy formations
You see the blue color of the ice? the ice turns blue as pressure condenses it up. The scientific explanation is similar as of why the sky is blue: blue's the shortest range in the color spectrum and thus the only one reflected back out. Or so I hear anyway, I personally don't know jackshit about any of this...	Felix goofing around inside an ice crack
This is the view upon the front valley from the top of the glacier, and that's what's remained as the glacier has retreated back over the years: a U-shape valley as opposed to rivers' V-shape, because where a river cuts, a glacier brushes instead.	Pretty descriptive
Milford Sound -through Wanaka and Queenstown- After a couple of days exploring the west coast glaciers, we moved on onto our next destination: the world-class fiords of Milford Sound, in the south-west corner of the country. The drive in itself was most rewarding, as it was 600 km of some of New Zealand's most outstanding regions (Wanaka and Queenstown), and we'd oftenly stop along the way to treat our eyes with panoramic views second to none.
The Wanaka lake. The town of Wanaka, where we slept for the night, charmly rests by the shore
An endless ocean of grass meadows surrounded by snowed peaks, topped by the bluest sky you could imagine and cut through by a lonely road. This very valley and its sense of sheer open space is among the top-five most divinely beautiful sights I keep from my entire journey around the world. Utterly mind blowing!
When we finally arrived to Milford Sound, we booked a ticket on a boat sailing up and down the multiple fiords cutting inland from the Tasman Sea. It rains an average of 250 days a year here, so the amount of water delivered is so high that these fiords have the honor to be the only place in the world where the water is composed by two layers: the top one is fresh water from the constant rains and the bottom one is salty from the sea. Unsurprisingly, it was bewildering pretty as well. I am aware that I might be repeating myself here, but everywhere you go here in New Zealand is just astonishingly beautiful. Better yet, check it out by yourself:
The boat navigated the different fiords among herculean snow-topped peaks
Countless waterfalls pour into the sea from the mountains	Sea lions sun-baking by the shore Dolphins swimming about our boat
My rickety english is running short of adjectives to describe the overwhelming beauty of this country. This place is just unbelievable. Guys, start saving up money and get your collective asses down here. It is that good indeed...   Anyway, here in Milford Sound Felix and I took yet another four-hour exhausting trek up the mountains to almost snow-level altitude. Completely knackered, we arrived to the summit, glad to have sweated our asses off because the prize waiting atop was well-worthy... I told you it was worthy! - This lake lies at the plateau summit, guarded as you can see by huge mountains 360 degrees all around   And, since here in New Zealand's south island the rainforest blends with the alpine scenery in a heartbeat, we also enjoyed a pleasant walk in the woods on our way up. The shocking contrast of going from this tropical forest into a snowed mountain within 20 minutes of walk defeats your senses!   With Milford Sound we had reached the southern end of the island, so we backtracked up north again on our way towards the very imposing Mt. Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain. We spent the night in the activity-pumping town of Queenstown, where Felix hit the city center for a night out while I embraced Morpheus' blessing spell faster than I could un-tie my shoes. It had truly been a wonderful, alas exhausting day. Can't fucking believe Felix still had energy to go out clubbing! These englishmen are all mental, I tell you...
Mount Cook Australasia's rooftop with its intimidating 3800'ish meters of altitude, the Mt. Cook lies moreless in the center of the south island, wrapped up by the impressive mountain range of the Southern Alps. Apparently, the size and the surroundings of this bad boy are so that excellent walks with awe-inspiring scenery are to be found here. However, the Goddess of misfortune chose us as her next victims, for we were welcomed with awful weather conditions upon arrival to Mt. Cook National Park. Indeed, it was rainy, foggy, cold and miserable, all the mountains shyly hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds and therefore our tramping expectations all but spoilt. So we sat our asses all day long at the guesthouse praying for the mist to depart, alas it certainly didn't. The next morning it was pretty much the same so we had to call it quits and give it up. Pissed off and disappointed, we packed up our stuff and drove away from the Mt. Cook without having even had the chance to see it. Aahhhh bollocks! Needless to say, I have no photo to show you guys.
Abel Tasman National Park After one full and eventless day of constant driving northwards, we finally reached the north-west corner of the south island, home of one of the most beautiful natural environments in New Zealand: the Abel Tasman National Park. The Abel Tasman area is a lush show off of foliage extravaganza, combining thick forests and pristine beaches. In fact, the nearby beach of Kaiteriteri had been voted in 2003 by the UK-based newspaper The Guardian as one of the world's top 5 beaches, whatever their criteria might have been. Other than walking, the most popular way of exploring the park's coastline and beaches is sea kayaking. I'm sure you guys know what a kayak is: one of those slim, fiber-glass-made tandem canoes. Call of duty-conscious, Corporal Felix and Lieutenant Hector promptly jumped in one of these things and paddled up and down the shore for a whole morning. The day before we had stopped by a golfing facility and played some, which added to the kayaking exercise proved way too much for my muffins-fed muscles, so the body-ache was due -and confirmed- the day after. We stopped for a couple of hours at one of the reserve's beaches and goofed around with a group of peeps there playing freebie and stuff. It was a nice beach day. Funny to be having a beach day in mid-November; back home in Europe, we'd be having a hard time avoiding getting our balls frozen oven.
Split Apple rock and a bird hanging out	Sea kayaking
And so concluded our tour around New Zealand's south island, definitely the most strikingly beautiful of the two. I am glad that we spent two weeks out of three in total there. Apparently the north island is more densely populated with large cities like Auckland and Wellington, but I feel that it's in the countryside where the country's most precious treasures are to be found. Anyway, after the Abel Tasman National Park, we reserved an early morning and over-priced ferry ticket (having spent the night in the uninteresting town of Nelson) to cross over towards Wellington, capital of New Zealand.
Wellington Wellington is a small city (pop. 300,000) that feels much bigger. Featuring a large harbor frontside, wide fly-over highways an international-corporate branches left, right and center, this is a bustling urban center emanating tons of life from every pore. No wonder this is New Zealand's acknowledged stronghold for the nightlife and bar scene ahead of Auckland, a much larger city and the country's economical engine. We only spent one day in Wellington because we only had one week left for the entire north island. However, we met a very friendly and extroverted girl called Marie (from Denmark) and the three of us hit downtown for some pool games and some beers. The day after, waking up under the always amusing hangover-derived effect of sorehead, we packed up our stuff and drove few hundred kms to the very center of the island into the Tongariro National Park. As we drove out of Wellington, we immediately took notice of the different landscape characteristics between the two islands: where the south island is alpine and wild, the north one is slightly hilly, green and tamed. Picture on the right: green fields. Picture bellow: nop, it ain't a Windows XP desktop picture. It's New Zealand's north island.
Tongariro National Park ...And on the 21st of November 2004 I, Aragorn, son of Arathorn, led the Fellowship of the Ring into the dark and sinister land of Mordor... well, not quite; but Felix and I did arrive to the Tongariro National Park, where Peter Jackson shot Mordor outdoors scenes for his 2001-2003 blockbuster trilogy The Lords of the Rings. This National Park is a volcanic area with a handful of volcanoes scattered about. The fields in between are dusty, rocky and devoid of any vegetation whatsoever other than a dry bush here and there. Pretty gloomy place to be honest. Felix and I trekked for hours once again to reach the plateau summit for some kick ass moon-like views.
Just the sort of place you don't wanna be left alone, ain't it?   Ladies and gentlemen (drumroll playing), here is where Frodo dropped The Ring in the lava pit: the Mount Doom (actually called Mt. Ngauruhoe, a 2287m volcano)
Felix and I, founding members of the LotR freaks club, would try to figure out what scene had been shot at what place and from what angle. In fact, we had rented The Two Towers (LotR episode 2) the night before and watched it at the guesthouse TV room. I reckon we had a ball walking the set where the film had been shot. Felix was playing Sam and I was playing Frodo and we took stupid pictures impersonating the two of them climbing up the rocks in agony in their quest towards Mt. Doom. Can't believe I'm telling you guys this shit. There goes my spanish macho reputation...
Tongariro National Park overview...	...and Tongariro National Park overview after 5 minutes of Photoshop editing. Now, does it or does it not look like Mordor?
Another shot at this bad boy called Mt. Doom	But as you can see, not everything in Mordor is ugly. This picture is a personal favorite!
Bay of Islands After a couple of days messing around at the Tongariro National Park, we drove for the whole day, spent the night over in Auckland and continued north the next morning to the very northern-most cape in New Zealand, the wonderful Bay of Islands. On the way up there, I was pleased to notice that the center-north bit of the north island offers some of the thickest and lushest pinetree forests I've seen in my life. If the south island is all about snowed peaks and pristine lakes, the north island in the other hand is keen on flat green fields and forests
Alright. Bay of Islands is famed for its particular coastal landscape. There are hundreds of tiny islands and rock formations pinned all along the shore, with excellent beaches fringed by leafy vegetation. Have you ever been in the Dalmatian coast (Croatia), right across the Adriatic Sea off Italy? well, Bay of Islands is to the South Pacific what Croatia is to the Mediterranean Sea. No wonder it's become one of the favorite summer destinations for New Zealanders and an unbeatable sailing scenario. Unfortunately, Felix was running out of time having to catch a plane to Fiji two days later in Auckland, so we got to spend only 24 hours here in Bay of Islands, which wasn't nearly enough to squeeze the best outta this place. Anyhow, we did attend to a rather interesting exhibition about Maori culture. Maori are the aboriginal people from New Zealand before the white man colonized/invaded these latitudes. Well, in fact, it is said that Maori people themselves arrived here about 800 years ago in wooden canoes from Polynesia and other South Pacific islands, hence their hawaiian look. It's great to see that, as opposed to what's happening with their own aboriginal people in Australia, here in New Zealand the Maori are doing alright, socially-integrated and their culture and language remain strong. Good for them!	Maori folkloric dance is pretty fun and merry. We also got to see the haka (Maori war dance) which used to be performed before every battle in order to scare the shit out of the enemies beforehand. It's been launched to international fame by NZ's rugby team and national icon All Blacks, who dance the haka right before the match kicks off.
Maori totem. They portray most of them with the tongue sticking out to enhance the offensive, scary expression.	Another totem with Maori typical facial tattoos. People did actually ink their faces like this!
Once the exhibition had concluded, Felix and I called it for the day and went out for a couple of beers to a local pub. Well, I did have just a couple of beers, but Felix managed to bump New Zealand's average yearly beer-consumption rate all by himself that night. Drunk like a true englishman I reckon haha!
Auckland So, the day after we eventually got to our very last destination in New Zealand, the 1.2 million pop. city of Auckland. If Wellington is the political and cultural heart of NZ, Auckland is definitely the economical hub. We arrived in the evening, and being it Felix's only day here (he was flying the next morning), we walked downtown despite our latent fatigue. Didn't do much really, simply toured about some, checked the town's casino (we didn't gamble of course, not that we could afford it anyway haha!), had a frugal dinner, and dragged our worn out asses back to bed by 10 pm. In the morning at 8 am we returned the car at the rental office and Felix and I shook hands good-bye in an emotive farewell. It had been three weeks on the road together sharing the NZ experience and he's a cool geezer (I learnt this word from him). He's going to spend the next three weeks in Fiji before finally flying back to England after one full year worth of traveling. In fact, his case and my own are quite similar: two dudes in their late 20s that were bored silly back at home and thus decided to fuck off outta there burning their bank accounts traveling around the world. We sure talked a lot about it, and about what would we be doing when we eventually touch down at home, sweet home, as we both will be miserably skint by the end of our respective trips. You know, finding a new job, new apartment, starting from scratch all over again and the rest of it. We both agreed that it's gonna be tough to get back up on our feet, at least in the short term, but we also agreed that non of us would trade this journey for all the financial stability in the world. I guess there are some things in life that you just got to do no matter the afterward consequences. Some decisions are better dictated from the heart rather than from the head, and this definitely qualifies as one of them. Fuck me! after all, if you can't do these sort of crazy shit when you're in your 20s, then what the fuck is the point of it all? Yup yup, screw all that, we'll deal with it when time comes. For the time being, we're enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime experience and nothing, nothing, will ever take that away from us. Good luck Felix, it's been a pleasure meeting you. So I had two days left in Auckland. Unfortunately I couldn't do much the first day because it piss-rained all day long, so I sat my butt at the guesthouse reading the entire 2004 collection of the Cosmopolitan magazine. New Zealand sure has some of the best landscapes around, but unfortunately the weather doesn't match. And, surprise, surprise... the second day rained most of the day too. But since it was my last day in New Zealand and probably my last chance to explore Auckland in God knows how many years, I grew some guts, puffed up my chest, put on my Dolce&Gabbana raincoat (yeah right) and proceeded to beat the town's pavement fearless of the weather conditions. Auckland's set is reminiscent of Sydney's, as both cities are located within a snake-twisted bay dominated by a sky-scrappers-fronted harbour. The main landmark is the higher-than-the-Eiffel-tower 328 meter tall SkyTower. In fact, it's the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere, and one of the most thrilling bungy-jumping facilities in the world. That's one thing you won't catch me doing; I tend to dislike browning my underwear, you see? Anyway, the best lookout point for a panoramic view over Auckland is the Mt. Eden, a volcano situated barely a couple of kms away from downtown. Auckland region is thoroughly punctuated by a number of volcanoes actually. Nothing huge, mind you, mere hills.   Auckland is nick-named The City of Sails, probably because there are literally hundreds of yachts anchored by the water front. As you can see, the SkyTower dominates the sky-line.
The SkyTower at dusk	I attended a kid's cricket game. I couldn't figure out where the excitement is in this sport, or the strategy, or the skills. Could anyone familiar with cricket please send me an email and explain it all out for me? By the way, after rugby, cricket is probably the most popular game here in New Zealand.
So that's about it. I spent that last day in New Zealand walking about Auckland's main drags, checking out the must-see locations, getting my shoes soaked up by the annoying on-and-off rain and sipping a cappuccino while watching people walk by, which hold my attention upon the enormous amount of oriental people living here in Auckland. I couldn't believe how large the Asian community is here, even more so than in Sydney or Melbourne. Seriously striking. Won't comment any further on Auckland. It's, basically, another bustling and pumping city with tons of cafes, shopping, dining, blah blah.	Auckland Museum is charismatically built on a hill
Today 28th of Novemeber in the afternoon I'll grab a plane to the Cook Islands, a piece of heaven that God must have forgotten here in the South Pacific, right in between Hawaii, Fiji and Bora Bora (my mouth is watering already!). It's gonna be quite a change from New Zealand, for I will be trading NZ's alpine landscapes and cool, cloudy weather for the Cooks' white-sand beaches, azure lagoons and a tan Pamela Anderson would die for. Oooohhhh boy, life is tough ain't it? But I am ready to stoically undertake my tropical penitence... if I could just remember where the hell did I put my swimmers and the sun cream!
I will cut to the chase: this is, along with Tibet, the most beautiful country I have been in my life. The south island's alpine scenery is second to none in the world. To whomever is reading these lines: do yourself a favor an come to New Zealand; your eyes will be ever-grateful.
Meeting Felix and renting a car together. Driving is definitely the way to explore New Zealand, and Felix turned out to be a great travel companion. The south island's west coast glaciers are quite a sight. This nameless valley, found by fluke as we were driving from Wanaka to Milford Sound. I lack of words to describe the enormity of it. Wanaka Lake area is the perfect weekend-trip spot. In fact, the entire south island's countryside will take your breath away! This country is hiking coliseum. If mountain-tramping tingles your royals, you must check this place out. Like Aussies, Kiwis are a cheery, easy-going bunch. Visiting the natural sets where The Lord of the Rings had been filmed was pretty amusing, like for example the Tongariro National Park.
Just as expensive (if not more) than Australia. My travel budget down the loo for good! Sorry to say lads, but Kiwi girls are just... underscoring. Felix and I had this bet going on: whoever would spot the first nice-looking local girl would get a free round of drinks. Well, we never got to order those drinks... New Zealand's beer brews taste on horse wee-wee. All of them. Waiter, can I change this for a Heineken, please? Cities and towns here, with the possible exception of Christchurch, are not very charming. But then again I must declare that I seldom spent more than a couple of days in any. And, seriously now, I cannot think of anything really negative about this country. I just love New Zealand!