Waterfront in Wellington
My hostel in 'Welly'
This sailboat is one of six 2-man crewed boats in a race to circumnavigate the globe. Taken from my ferry to the South Island.
Coming in to Picton harbor, South Island.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Wellington Pictures
Now that I've had time to download some photos, I wanted to add a bit from Wellington. The city is a really great bowl-shaped harbor at the bottom of the North Island, and was the jumping-off point for the beginning of my adventure.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Off to the South Island
I've been here in Wellington for 3 nights now, and have really enjoyed the city.
I flew Air New Zealand from San Francisco to Auckland, and it was probably the nicest airline I've ever used; great food, lots of room, and personal TVs with hundreds of movies, TV shows, and games for everyone.
After 20 hours already in limbo since leaving Chicago, I had a 5 hour layover in Auckland. It was pouring. My flight from Auckland to Wellington only cost $75 NZD (about 60 US dollars?), and the woman next to me used a profuse amount of some horrid lotion on her face that made my throat feel like that time I got bear sprayed in Montana, however, with an aftertaste more akin to baby powder than serrano pepper.
Wellington is a great city spread along the shore of a cup-shaped harbor. It was rainy for the first 2 days, and then cleared up, which brought the crowds out to the waterfront and shopping. The Te Papa museum (free) was amazing, and would have probably cost $20 each in the US. Interesting facts I learned: one godwit (small bird) was recorded flying straight from Alaska to New Zealand on its migration; 9 days and 11,000 km without stopping. New Zealand has long and short finned eels, which are born in the mid-Pacific, migrate to New Zealand's rivers and live there for about 30 years, then swim back out to the mid-Pacific to spawn and die (reverse salmon life cycle).
Just after stepping off the bus from the airport in downtown Wellington. Met a nice Kiwi guy who was pretty keen on fishing; he even got off the bus with me to point out which way I should walk for my hostel.
Aaaand I'm late for the ferry.
- James B. Fishin-soon
I flew Air New Zealand from San Francisco to Auckland, and it was probably the nicest airline I've ever used; great food, lots of room, and personal TVs with hundreds of movies, TV shows, and games for everyone.
After 20 hours already in limbo since leaving Chicago, I had a 5 hour layover in Auckland. It was pouring. My flight from Auckland to Wellington only cost $75 NZD (about 60 US dollars?), and the woman next to me used a profuse amount of some horrid lotion on her face that made my throat feel like that time I got bear sprayed in Montana, however, with an aftertaste more akin to baby powder than serrano pepper.
Wellington is a great city spread along the shore of a cup-shaped harbor. It was rainy for the first 2 days, and then cleared up, which brought the crowds out to the waterfront and shopping. The Te Papa museum (free) was amazing, and would have probably cost $20 each in the US. Interesting facts I learned: one godwit (small bird) was recorded flying straight from Alaska to New Zealand on its migration; 9 days and 11,000 km without stopping. New Zealand has long and short finned eels, which are born in the mid-Pacific, migrate to New Zealand's rivers and live there for about 30 years, then swim back out to the mid-Pacific to spawn and die (reverse salmon life cycle).
New Years at my hostel
Aaaand I'm late for the ferry.
- James B. Fishin-soon
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Here we go
I'm scrambling to get this blog together before I fly away and never get around to it, so... here's the first post.
My basic plan for 12 weeks in New Zealand is to fly into Wellington, and reach the South Island via ferry (http://www.interislander.co.nz/The-Voyage.aspx) by January 2. Beyond that, I have almost no itinerary, but am thinking about using this as my general outline: Head south from Nelson to Murchison. Then continue towards Greymouth, take Tranzalpine train through Arthur’s Pass to Christchurch. From there, meander towards Wanaka and Queenstown, probably via Kurow and Omarama. After reaching and exploring Queenstown, make it back to Auckland for March 23 flight, either by flying north and exploring North Island, or taking bus to Wellington and exploring a bit before flying home. Somewhere along the way, work on a farm.
That's it for now, I will probably read my guide book on the plane to prepare a bit.
Lastly, I have a feeling that when the trip is over, I'll end up looking back at this preliminary outline and find that the plan and the actual trip didn't overlap at all.
Ah man, too bad I didn't have room for my world atlas.
My basic plan for 12 weeks in New Zealand is to fly into Wellington, and reach the South Island via ferry (http://www.interislander.co.nz/The-Voyage.aspx) by January 2. Beyond that, I have almost no itinerary, but am thinking about using this as my general outline: Head south from Nelson to Murchison. Then continue towards Greymouth, take Tranzalpine train through Arthur’s Pass to Christchurch. From there, meander towards Wanaka and Queenstown, probably via Kurow and Omarama. After reaching and exploring Queenstown, make it back to Auckland for March 23 flight, either by flying north and exploring North Island, or taking bus to Wellington and exploring a bit before flying home. Somewhere along the way, work on a farm.
That's it for now, I will probably read my guide book on the plane to prepare a bit.
Lastly, I have a feeling that when the trip is over, I'll end up looking back at this preliminary outline and find that the plan and the actual trip didn't overlap at all.
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