The Far South

I don´t know if there’s a paradise in the sky, but now I know for sure there is one on Earth. It’s only very very far away from home (actually that’s probably the furthest country from Europe).

Paradise is small and very easy to discover, but has a huge variety of climates and landcapes : wonderful beaches with esmerald water, volcanos, fjords, glaciers, perfect countryside and amazing rainforests...everything is a subtile palette of blue and green., and everything seems so pure and intouched.

To be in paradise you have to be pure as well, so you make a lot of sport (walking, biking, kayaking,swimming, bungyjumping...) and you stop smoking (they are really helpful with this ugly addiction since the paquet of cigarette cost 11€...).
In paradise you are here to enjoy the wildlife so you don’t loose time with your other ugly addiction (sex is an addiction?) : internet. Of course they are really helpful in that case too, since you have to pay for wi-fi everywhere, around 3,5€ an hour.

Paradise language is obviously universal, so you practice finally your english.

Paradise has a temperate climate but is an exotic country : here you can find hostels in boats or in former jailhouses, the cashier at the supermarket ask you if “you’re having a great day”, (you can´t help answering, “of course I have, I’m in Paradise”).
Food can be exotic as well, such as green shell mussels which taste like oyster, and of course the famous kiwifruit, actually they have 2, the green one, and the golden one without hair on the skin. They are both so sweet and soft that you can eat the skin as well (by the way, that is the real forbidden fruit, not the apple, because it indeed comes from Hell, euh China, and is not native from NZ).


Paradise is for everybody, there’s absolutely no racism in this perfectly multicultural society. Maoris are alcoolized and subsidized, asians works likes asians in asian businesses (restaurants, shops...), and there are even a few blacks, everybody love them because they are good at rugby.

In kiwi paradise there are no snakes...but there is another evil creature : the sandflies...theses tiny little vampires make mosquitoes look like pussies.
That probably means that even in paradise perfection doesn´t exist....so I decided stopping being a perfectionist, that doesn’t make sense.

Even in Paradise you can find more paradisiac places ! such as Milford sound or Abel Tasman Park...that’s indeed one of the things I’m learning in this trip...there is always something better, that just never stops ! So why not simply stop this absurd search and start enjoying what you already have.

In Paradise you can have the most exciting experiences of your life, such as swimming with dolphins, make the highest bungy jumping in the world, jetboating on a canyon, or driving on the left side of the road. And probably that driving is one of the best and cheapest stuff you can do here, landscapes are so varied and beautiful that you just wish to drive forever !

Talking about driving, after a few hours you get so confident that you drive at 70 instead of 50...so the guardian angels (yes the kiwi cops) stop you to prevent an accident. They are so kind that they call you by your first name and say you’re doing great when then put you a 120 NZ$ fine, and advise that you have a month to pay it, and that you better pay it if you want to go back one day in paradise ! ....conclusion, no matter where, a cop is a cop.

Finally you realize that something is missing , and you start feeling alone and thinking that being with your beloved ones is maybe the real paradise. And since you are a little broke as well...you have no choices but eating a lot of golden kiwi fruits and not paying the paradise 120$ fee) to get “the hell” out of here and go back to the purgatory reality.

So now in the South Island for 2 weeks.
Starting with renting a car, for five days, to go faster and see the west coast.
First stop was the northen shore with Golden Bay and the Abel Tasman national park, for 2 days. Kayaking one day, night on a boat hostel and walking the oher day. Just wonderful! On the south island I also had my first contact with Paradise only evil thing: the sandflies. Some small flies living on the coast and pumping your blood like mosquitoes, but as a result you get bigger and more scratching spots (and after a day you really regret mosquitoes)!
It also was my second time driving on the left side of the road (first try in Malta 2 years ago), but here it's easy and fun because ther are not many cars.
I'm getting tired a litlle bit of travelling so fast here (almost never spent a night on the same site) and sleeping in sometimes uncomfortable conditions (like 2 nighs in the car). South island is different from the north, more mountains and no volcanoes, and a really wild and beatiful coast.
a quick stop in Wanaka, Queenstown, and then direction Te Anau and the Fiordland national park (NZ most visited area), for enjoying the famous Milford Sound. And yes it's the most beautiful place I've seen in NZ, the most infected with sandflies too! I stayed a couple of days there, for kayaking, cruising and trekking on the area. And always been quite lucky with the weather since it's one of the most humid place in the world.
After that incredible spot, go back again at Queenstown to kill myself with a huge bungy jumping.

Just a week to visit half of New Zealand, yes it's short. So I focused on a few specific points...first the Coromandel Peninsula (which is accesible by ferry from Auckland, so nice trip), well known for it's nice beaches...and Cathedral Cove was really amazing (just see the pics)...I had a nice stay there, doing a lot of bike on the coast.
And then the centre of the Island to see the Volcanic area of Tongariro National Park (the Mordor land in the Lord of the Rings!) and especially to walk the Alpine Crossing, a oneday 19kms walk, supposed to be one of the most impresive in the world (nothing less!). I got very lucky with the weather, since it was quite sunny and not too windy, and yes after a first disapointing part where you think that Canary Islands are really nicer, then you get to the top, and frankly it's quite unbelievable (pics...) the nice stuff is to really walk in a volcanic fields, surrounded by craters and coloured lakes...!
My last stand in the north was the capital Wellington, mandatory stop to go to the south island by ferry. Anyway it's a nice little town and was a pleasant daystop.

Already a week in the North island of New Zealand, times goes faster down under !
(and yes indeed since a day here is equivalent at 2 days in patagonia, 3 in Buenos aires or five in Bolivia !!)
There is much to say, but let's start with the beginning, Auckland. This is NZ main city (1,5 millions people on a total of 4,5 in the country), but not the capital (yes...Wellington). I stayed there for 2 days hosted this time by Vulcan a friendly turkish emigrant contacted once again through Couchsurfing.
Auckland is just "nice"...in fact 95% of the town is a kind of posh american suburb full of perfect houses with perfect gardens in a perfect environment (green volcanic hills, forests and parks everywhere, nice bay with a lot of islands)...and finally perfectly boring.
The "rest" is a kind of small, clean, modern business distric with a few bars and a lot of cheap asian restaurants...as you can guess defitively not the most funky town in the world! actually Auckland's main interests don't reside in the town itself but in its surroundings, such as the islands or the Waitakere regional park. It's a wonderful park with wild volcanic black sand beaches, cliffs, and a fantastic regenerating rainforest.
Before the "roastbeefs" invaded NZ, most of the country was an endemic primary forest with some huge trees like the giants kauris, which could live more than 2000 years and have a diameter of 8m! Of course in the 19th century timbers cut almost everything, and now we can just see a few "young" specimens of 600 years old, although the Kiwis make huge efforts nowadays to preserve their unique fauna and flora, and are replanting a lot...but it's gonna take decades before the forest starts to really look like it once was. Theses forests are indeed one of the things I prefered here, because they are really different, they seem to be from "another age" (like in the Dinos docs) with a lot of ferns, so green and luxurious, and so peaceful at the same time.
It's seems ridiculously "new age" said like that but I don't know how to explain it otherwise, you feel a kind of spirituality in this environment (I experienced stg similar in the Titicaca, in a diferent way for its purity and timeless effect).
After that, since it's summer here, it was finally time for me to go the the beach ! (so far I hadn't swim in south america), that's why I took a ferry to go the the Coromandel Peninsula, where stand the most beautiful beaches of the north Island.