A Jam-Packed Week Deserves A Jam-Packed Post

Another reason to do a whistle-stop blog post is that I’m currently on my last night in New Zealand with access to some decent Wi-Fi. Tomorrow we head to Fiji where I expect we’ll experience similar issues to most of New Zealand, and I don’t want to end up with such a backblog of posts again.

Queenstown

Views from the top

Our longest stay on the G Adventures tour saw us spend three nights and two days in the adventure capital of the world: Queenstown, a pretty little town with more to do than meets the eye. A viewpoint accessible by either a gruelling fifty-minute walk or a cable car offers panoramic views of the town and Lake Wakatipu and the mountain ranges beyond. Likewise, there are also stunning views of the mountain from the town.

At the top you can mountain bike, race down a hillside track in luges and even bungee jump. Nearby there are also canyon swings and The Lord of the Rings tours. While we were tempted to do the latter, we came to the decision that our money would be better spent on a now-booked excursion in Hawaii, being much bigger Jurassic Park fans. That said, check out the picture below of a The Lord of the Rings shop we stumbled across where you can also book the tours.

All in all, Queenstown was time for us to unwind and sprawl out. We didn’t partake in any of the activities besides venturing up to the mountaintop in the cable cars as we’re trying to be very careful with our money given the length of our trip, but we did explore and spend some time with some members of the group as we hit the local cinema and watched Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 (review to follow, of course).

Gandalf the Grey, the King, and Aragon

An alien landscape

Beautiful but eerie

At over a staggering 12,000 square kilometres in size, Doubtful Sound Fiordland National Park is one of New Zealand’s largest national parks and one of the largest in the world. It was the southernmost place we visited in the country, and also the most remote. A ferry journey across the waters introduced us to some truly remarkable landscapes on either side, which appear somewhat eerie and alien under the heavy rainfall. But speaking of alien, when we arrived at an education centre for the night, we undertook a (very wet) hike to the epic Helena Falls with a couple of local tour operators, who told me that scenes from the upcoming Alien: Covenant had actually been filmed in Milford Sound (not so far away from Doubtful) with the area serving as the planet known as “Paradise” in the film. They also explained that there was a practically-built spaceship there for some time, but which was consequently blown up for the film (don’t blame me for the spoiler – it’s in the actual trailer).

Driving into Doubtful Sound on a coach (after the ferry), can be described in no other way besides otherworldly, a true alien landscape. Giant mountains that wall the forest trails disappear into mist and obscuring rainfall, and bear similarities to the world of Pandora in James Cameron’s Avatar. But another interesting fact is that Doubtful Sound was supposed to be the original filming location for Jurassic Park.

One of the local tour guides explained to me (exclusively) that the film crew had even showed up, but due to the heavy rainfall (it rains here some two-hundred-and-eighty days out of the year), they relocated to Hawaii – a set we’ll be visiting in just under two weeks!

The next morning, most of the tour group went kayaking up the undoubtedly-beautiful fiord. Unfortunately I wound up sick with a nasty cough resulting in a sleepless night. While I was never prepared to undertake the four-hour kayak, I was eager to give it a go for at least an hour. However, my visit to Doubtful Sound wasn’t wasted, as I learned about its history with film. But not only that, it remains one of the most jaw-dropping landscapes in the country.

A seemingly-alien environment

I want to ride my bicycle

Otago Rail Trail

After Doubtful Sound, we spent two nights in the almost-equally-remote Wedderburn; a vast expanse of land bordered by snowy mountains that line the horizon in every direction. Here, we attempted a 35km bike ride along the Otago Rail Trail, but which was quickly cut short after Sian experienced issues with her asthma due to the sudden sharpness of the cold air. But our second night was much cosier as we enjoyed a meal and some drinks with some of the group in a local pub, and did some more stargazing on the walk back to the farm where we stayed.

A night in a cell

It even had Wi-Fi, so my one phone call was possible

In 2011, the small city of Christchurch was hit by a devastating earthquake, which resulted in lots of devastation and death. Sadly, some seven years on, there remains a lot of reconstruction. During a very short stay we visited the infamous Cardboard Cathedral – a replacement to the one badly damaged in the quake.

But Christchurch is also home to perhaps one of the most unique hostels in New Zealand – the Jailhouse Rock Accommodation. In other words, it’s an actual jail. Or at least it was. Its rooms are cells, and, well, the whole place looks like a rather lovely prison and is perhaps the coolest hostel we stayed in during our time in New Zealand.

Time to start saying goodbye

Picton

So, we headed back up to the northernmost part of the South Island, but before catching the ferry back to Wellington, we spent the night in the harbour town of Picton. It’s a pretty enough little place with a gorgeous waterfront – at least in the right weather. We enjoyed some of New Zealand's best pies here from The Bakery – the perfect lunch following a night of drinks with the group at a local Irish Bar. But sadly, the next post is the last of New Zealand...