YOUPOST 4

Beautiful New Zealand

A few weeks ago, a girl asked me to give her some advice in terms of travelling. She intends to go to New Zealand and knows that I was there, so I happily gave her some recommendations on what to visit and to do. Now I would like to share my experience with you.

First of all, you do not have to know anything before leaving. There is nothing you must not do, maybe except committing a crime. To correct myself, there is nothing you must not do, that you are not allowed to do in your home country either.
Next, stay as long as possible, because a) the flight is too expensive for a weekend trip and b) you will not be able to get to know the culture in a short time.
In my view, the best way to travel is on your own because you will meet many people on the way and to be honest, I could not spend half a year 24/7 with the same person, even if it was my best friend. I chose to do couchsurfing, I hitch-hiked and survived it. It is not a recommendation to sleep at strangers houses and go with them to the next town, but it is much more adventurous.

Some destinations worth going to: (all the pictures are of course taken by myself, that's why they are not that good)

Queenstown, the city of adventure in the Southwest of the South Island. Known for its beautiful landscape and the great variety of extremsports offered. It is probably best to not stay for too long because after one week you will have spent all your money on things like rafting, mountainbiking and skiing, depends on which time of the year you are going. Remember: Winter on the northern hemisphere means summer in the southern one. Why not spend a hot Christmas and New Year's Eve?

If you then travel on westerly, you will find a hiking trail that leads to Milford Sound, the best known fjord of New Zealand. The attraction is not just the fjord, but the National Park surrounding it is maybe even more beautiful. It is a very touristy place and sadly the only fjord a backpacker can afford to have a look at.

A very remote part of New Zealand is the West Coast of the South Island because it is confined by the Southern Alps in the East and the Tasman Sea in the West. Maybe owing to the fact that there are so few people, the nature is picturesque. To name one example: On the picture above, there is the Fox Glacier, which is a Glacier that runs into the rainforest and the rainforest runs on until it touches the sea.

Another thing you might want to try on the West Coast is Whitebait, a tiny little fish that you eat on the whole. It is a delicacy.

I worked for two and a half weeks on a farm in the Golden Bay, in the North-West of the South Island and I fell in love with that part of the country. Above, you see a photo of Pupu Springs, the clearest waters in the world. 

I recommend eating fresh cockles, pipis and other mussels as well as oysters, picked by yourself in the Bay.

Another remarkable part of New Zealand are the Marlborough Sounds in the Cook Strait. The best way to explore them is to go by kajak. I slept in a hut on one of the many islands and did a night kajak-trip where I saw penguins, dolphins and fish glowing in the moonlight. If you like adventure, go for it!

You might want to try Paua, too. It's a rare, eatable sea snail, but the best part of it is the amazing, colourful shell. The only problem is that they are hard to get, you have to dive for them.

 

One last stop on the South Island: Dunedin, an old Scottish city and the Otago Peninsula, where you can watch some penguins coming home if you are lucky.

 

What I liked best about the North Island, was the Far North. On the left, you see a picture of the northernmost point, Cape Reinga. It is surrounded by a lot of Bays, rainforest and waterfalls. If you like nature, you will definitely like that area.

 

As I said, there are a lot of bays in the Far North and the most famous of them is the Bay of Islands. I prefer other bays over that one because in the Bay of Islands, there are too many tourists. If you have the opportunity to go to one the remote bays of the North, do it.

Rainforest in New Zealand is nothing like the rainforest in other places. The Kauri Trees growing in them are the biggest and highest trees in the world and every rainforest you will walk through, will be full of large ferns. By the way: The silverfern is the national plant of New Zealand.

 

Last but not least, if you like hiking and volcanoes, do the about 18 kilometres long Tongariro Trek in the center of the North Island. There is not much to say about it because, in my opinion, you have to see it for yourself.

I could have shown you about one hundred pictures more, from other stunning, picturesque, amazing places in New Zealand. Indeed, I would be able to fill an entire book about this country. Anyway, at some point there has to be an end.

Some other recommendations:

1) Try Marmite, you probably will not like it, but try it.

2) Wellington is a beautiful city, but maybe try to avoid Christchurch. You will be disappointed because the earthquake destroyed almost everything. A lot of people moved away, so it is a very lonesome city.

3) If you like bubbling muddholes, this is the country for you. On the North Island there are many volcanoes, geysers and other forms of geothermical energy on the surface. Be prepared for the smell of addled eggs!

4) Enjoy the sweet New Zealand accent. :)

5) Go to the small, unknown villages, too. The people will be friendly and show you some places no tourist has ever seen before.

6) Avoid staying in hostels, they are not as international as you might think. You will not speak a word English because ninety per cent of the tourists sleeping in hostels are Germans. If you stay at hostels, maybe you could take one outside of the cities. I had much better experiences with them, because the people are much friendlier and of more disparate cultures.

7) Try some jolly cake.