Sunday, 29 April 2007

Mt Aspiring National Park



In Dunedin I met up with my old friend Yukio Flinte and we took off for 3 days of tramping. We weren't really sure where we would go but ended up in the Mount Aspiring National Park near Wanaka. On the first night we stayed at Mount Aspiring Hut then on the second day we climbed up to French Ridge. It was a very steep climb. We went from 400m to around 1400m in about 4 hours. The first 2 hours were relatively flat just going along the Matukituki river and the next 2 hours were straight up. I was completely exhausted when we arrived at French Ridge Hut but after a lunch stop, I soon found the energy to keep climbing to get closer to the glacier. I reached the snow line but could only look at the Glacier as it was too far to reach. Here's a picture of it.






Then we headed back to the hut. On the last day we walked out, taking a side-trip to the Rob Roy glacier on the way. There we met a kea. Kea are alpine parrots native to New Zealand. They're like the monkeys of Monkey Mountain in Taiwan in that they like to steal food. Some poor tourists had their lunch stolen.














The long-drop at French Ridge Hut















Can you spot the two trout in the river?













Lake Wanaka

Saturday, 28 April 2007

Wellington

Here's a photo of Wellington City for those who wanted to know what it looked like and one of Oriental Parade.








One good thing about having friends spread all over the place is that you have free accommodation and food wherever you go! So thanks to good friends Mabel and Graham in Wellington, my uncle in Christchurch and Lance and Liz in Dunedin my expenses were kept to a bare minimum. Thanks guys and hope I can return the favour soon. Here's a photo of Mabel and Graham at their flat in Wellington and one of them working on the BBQ at Kirsty's house.







While in Wellington I also caught up with Kirsty (back from London on holiday), Debbie (who spent one year in Taiwan), my brother, and other friends from Dunedin (Rachel Kan, Melissa and Mark, Craig and Angeline and Phirun).

Two very different New Zealands

I've just returned to Auckland after 2 weeks travelling around the country. I went to Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Wanaka and also did some tramping in the Mount Aspiring National Park. It was a great time and I got to catch up with a lot of people I haven't seen for a long time. I've got lots of photos to post but first I'd just like to state my amazement about the difference in climate between the two main islands of my county. On Friday for example:

11:30am driving to Christchurch airport with heater going full blast.
1:30pm driving home from Auckland airport. It's so hot in the car we turn on the air conditioning.

For the last few days the temperature in Auckland has been a full 10 degrees hotter than Dunedin. So although there're lots of things I don't like about Auckland, I'd have to say that it has an ideal climate. Especially after living in unbearably hot Taiwan.

There are also differences in plant life between the 2 islands. Here is one photo taken near Auckland in the North Island and one photo taken in Otago in the South Island. Can you guess which is which?


Wednesday, 11 April 2007

Rotorua

My family and I went to Rotorua at Easter. Rotorua is a small city in a geothermal area of New Zealand. My sister and her family moved there about a year ago so we got to vist them and I saw my very first nephew for the first time. His name's Zak and he was born in November last year. While in Rotorua we checked out some of the geothermal attractions. Lots of boiling mud, steaming vents and geysers. Some people call Rotorua "Rotten Rua" because of the smell of sulphur in the air. We visited a Maori village where they use the natural thermal springs for cooking food, and bathing. We also got to see a Maori cultural performance and I was picked from the audience to join in with the haka. It wasn't so embarrassing as they picked about 10 people to join in.







This was all very fun but I still needed some action and adventure to complete the trip. So I tried zorbing. A zorb (see pic) is a large thick balloon inside a larger balloon. The "zorbonaut" is thrown into the zorb along with a bucketfull of water and then rolled down a hill. They emerge at the bottom soaking wet. It was a great experience, kind of like being on a hydroslide. If you want to know more go to www.zorb.com

Zorb










Pukeko

Monday, 9 April 2007

30 Top places to visit in New Zealand



This list is taken from a survey in which people voted on the top 101 must-do attractions around New Zealand. Of the top 30 I've only been to 9. How about you?


1. Mitre Peak and Milford Sound (pictured)
2. Doubtful Sound
3. Bay of Islands
4. Fiordland National Park
5. Abel Tasman National Park
6. Aoraki Mt Cook
7. Coastal Kaikoura
8. Hanmer Springs
9. Camping (anywhere!)
10. Tutukaka/The Poor Knights
11. Marlborough Sounds
12. Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers
13. Mt Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe
14. Wairomo Caves
15. Travelling the Southern Scenic Route
16. Otago Rail Experience
17. White Island (marine volcano)
18. Stewart Island
19. Arthurs Pass National Park
20. Tongariro Crossing
21. The Blue Pools of Haast Pass
22. South Westland
23. Waipoua Forest
24. Mt Taranaki
25. Lake Tekapo Observatory and Church of the Good Shephard
26. Ulva Island (Stewart Is. bird colony)
27. Otago Peninsula
28. Canterbury Plains
29. Punakaiki (Pancake Rocks)
30. Cape Reinga (pictured)

I've just come back from a weekend in Rotorua which comes in at number 47 on the list. I'll put up some photos from that trip in my next post.

Saturday, 7 April 2007

I miss my students!







And I don't have enough photos of them

Tuesday, 3 April 2007

life in New Zealand


So I'm back home again. No longer a waiguo ren. I haven't taken many photos recently but here is a picture of the sky on a typical day in Auckland. Yes it's blue! Something I didn't often see when I was in Kaohsiung.
I've been busy applying for lots of EFL teaching jobs. Unfortunately EFL is not doing so well in New Zealand at the moment. I'm told this is due to the high New Zealand dollar. Most EFL students go to the U.K. or America to study English and less and less are coming to New Zealand. However a few schools in Auckland have offered to give me any relief teaching work they might have (that's subbing for my North American friends). Actually I would've had 2 weeks of relief teaching lined up this month if I hadn't already booked my trip to the South Island. Oh well, at least I'll be having fun catching up with old friends and maybe doing some tramping (that's kiwi for 'hiking') or skiing.

I did lots of Chinese things last weekend. A group of us went out for Yum Cha. Then I went to visit my Taiwanese friend's family, spoke lots of Chinese to his parents, and played Mah jong.

I'll be in Dunedin from April 17th to 26th. Before that I'll be in Wellington from April 13th to April 16th. And I'm going to Rotorua for Easter weekend. I'll be sure to post photos from those trips later.