Aug 2023 – Page 2 – B' on Tour

Christchurch

Early Tuesday morning on 27th December 2022 I was heading to the central bus stop in Queenstown in order to catch my bus to Christchurch. The bus driver was actually quite funny, and told us if you’re still with him in the evening then something went wrong, and we didn’t end up in Christchurch. The Kawarau Gorge, shortly after Queenstown towards Cromwell, was quite spectacular with the Kawarau River deeply carved into the rocks. The Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge is maybe one of the highlights in Queenstown due to its bungee jumping activities.

Crossing the Kawarau River…the outflow of Lake Wakatipu

After a brief stop in Cromwell we followed Lake Dunstan, which was formed by damming the Clutha River in 1992 (yes, it’s the same river than in Balclutha), North. Its water is also used for irrigation in the surroundings. Then we headed towards the Lindis Pass, the border between the Otago region and Canterbury region, and the highest point on our route today. One cyclist got off with his bike in Omarama. I had a brief chat with him, and he said his driving South from here, back again over the Lindis Pass. I saw several cyclists around here. It appeared to be a very popular thing (for Europeans) to cycle on the South Island.

Agricultural Irrigation Scheme around Lake Dunstan

While approaching Lindis Pass the vegetation changed

There was a lot of purple Lupins blooming along the way. Even it looks quite beautiful, Lupins are an invasive species and threat to the native plants in New Zealand, introduced by British settlers – who would’ve thought of. We made another brief stop in Twizel to pick up some other cyclists. After Twitzel we drove around Lake Pukaki, here Aoraki / Mount Cook is visible on clear days, and as typical it wasn’t a clear day that day. The lake is now part of the Waitaki hydroelectric scheme. The lake has been raised twice to increase storage capacity (9m in 1952, and 37m in 1976 ), submerging Five Pound Note Island, which once appeared on New Zealand’s five pound note. In Tekapo we had lunch break. The lake wasn’t really that impressive, if you’ve seen other glacier lakes before. I went to the local outdoor store to buy dehydrated food, and a gas bottle for the stove, as I thought all stores would be closed once we’d arrive in Christchurch.

Purple Lupins along the road looked beautiful…but they’re still an invasive species

There was a driver change in Tekapo, as it’s almost half way. The second bus driver gave us some travel commentary. She said, if we don’t like it then we should just put in our earplugs (What!?). And all her comments were about the great agriculture and how big the Canterbury region is: It produced the most dairy, the most wool, the most deer (yes deer farming is a thing here), biggest potatoes, and much money one can make with it downstream, it also has the biggest meat processing and milk processing facilities…it sounds like the best region in NZ – and full of bogans.

Since 1994, the number of dairy cattle in New Zealand has increased 70 per cent. But their nitrogen-rich urine and faeces has affected water quality and carried pathogens downstream. The concentration of nitrate nitrogen in the Selwyn River in the Canterbury region is 9.66 mg/L. The current national limit in NZ is 2.4 milligrams, so it’s four times that. That’s crazy high. Just to put this in context the nitrate bottom line in the European Union and even China is 1 mg/L of nitrate nitrogen. Thus, the current value in the Selwyn River exceeds the EU limit by a factor of 10! Leading to increased algae formation, and as a result very low oxygen levels in those waters. The Canterbury region is a very dry region, as most of the precipitation occurs on the West Coast due to the prevailing westerly winds. And the natural colour of grasses in the region would be more brownish and not as green, as we see it nowadays. This comes only due to excessive usage of fertilisers. And more than 99% of the plants in the Canterbury plains are introduced (trees, crops, bushes, grasses – yes even the grass comes from England), leaving not much room for native species in intensive farming. This part of the story was unheard of in the bus, while praising all the agricultural achievements. “The fish can’t die twice. They can’t die of toxicity if they have already died because there’s not enough oxygen.”

Did she clean up, as pledged? No, that would’ve cost votes…Jacinda was just another pretender

When I arrived at the hostel I asked them to alter my reservation. I just booked the night before, less than 24h ago, for 2 nights, and now I changed my travel plans and only wanted to stay one night. Hence, they still had another 24h to fill the bed for my second night, but they were adamant and made me pay both nights. Well, I changed everything else now, and I’m going not to stay two nights in Christchurch. I’ve never experienced something like this before. Ok, if you don’t show up, you pay the first night. But I showed up, and hence still needed to pay the second night. That’s just greedy.

My feet were really itchy. The sandflies ate me alive the day before, and I needed to do something about it. I wanted to go to a pharmacy and by antihistamine, but as Christmas Day was on a Sunday, this Tuesday is regarded as replacement public holidays. This meant most of the shops incl. pharmacies were closed, and couldn’t be bothered to open. Eventually I found an “emergency”/late opening pharmacy. For sure it was packed with customers, as the whole city was going to this one and only pharmacy. Anyway those pills helped me greatly to cool down the itching, I never had that massive issues with sandflies before.

Queenstown

The old driver picked us, the five Chinese guys and me, up at 14:30 from the Rarakau carpark. Within 30min we were back at the office in Tuatapere, he drives the road at least twice each day in both directions. Now I had about 1h to wait for my next lift to Mossburn. I needed to rearrange my backpack and bag from hiking mode into travel mode. Hence, I needed to get all my belongings first out and then packed again. The women in the office were not very friendly while I was doing this. They didn’t say anything, but based on their body language they didn’t like that I made a small “chaos” for a few minutes until both my bags were sorted out again.

I was the only guest going the 90km to Mossburn, the Chinese families went back to Invercargill to fly back to Auckland. During the drive I was talking to the young driver. He was really nice. He told me that he was born in South Africa, and then his family used to live in Nigeria and Uganda before his father looked for a business to buy in New Zealand. First he owned a car rental business in Queenstown, before he took over the Hump Ridge Track corporation. His father seemed to be an entrepreneur, and it doesn’t seem to matter for him which business he’s running. No wonder, that it’s now profitable at those prices ;). He said the biggest advantage of NZ compared to South Africa is its safety.

…I spotted even a few wind turbines along the ridge line.

In Mossburn I needed to wait for a tourist bus to pick me up. The driver was really friendly, she came from a day tour with tourists from Milford Sound and Te Anau. They looked a bit awkward when they saw me in my hiking gear, while wearing shorts and a lot of sunscreen to get the perfect tan. We followed first the former Kingston Branch line to Lake Wakatipu, but who might’ve guessed that the line between Invercargill and Fairlight is already closed since 1982…surprise, surprise NZ. Only the last few kilometres are currently operated by the Kingston Flyer’s vintage railway.

In the bus towards Queenstown with some haystacks on the meadows

Fairlight Station at the Kingston Branch Line

The drive along Lake Wakatipu is really beautiful. You’ve the snow covered mountains in the backdrop, and it’s the first time for me to get really close to them. While Queenstown has really a marvellous spot at the lake, it’s a bloody tourist destination full of (wannabe) hedonists. It already starts by entering the town. You drive those private communities like Jacks Point and Hanleys Farm. It’s only built for the purpose that those Insta hedonists stay among themselves, and don’t even want to mingle anymore with the general public. As there’s no facilities in the private communities, the soccer mums still need to drive their SUV into town to get a piece of butter. Further down the road are then the rest of the holiday apartments, big (single glazed) windows – so everyone can look into their living room. It felt a bit like Ischgl or Sölden, but with less flair and only optimised to get more money out of the tourists. Not that I ever stayed in Ischgl overnight, I’m only there to approach the Heidelberger Hut. But even the even the 2 close by ski resorts in Queenstown (for the other 2 you’ve to drive at least 1h towards Wanaka) appear quite small compared to European standard, but therefore they’re at least more expensive and the service is worse (there’s not even drivers for the ski buses available to get all tourists to the lift). Queenstown is the hotspot for adventure tourism like Downhill MTB (yes, who would dare to go uphill), Jetskiing, Skydiving, SUP, Bungee Jumping, you name it, all the cool stuff. And in downtown you only see those wannabes. Not a place where I want to stay for long. I’m only here to connect my transport.

…while Queenstown lies splendidly on the bend of the lake.

Based on the recent inspiration I got, I changed my travel plans for the coming days. Hence, in the evening I altered my bookings and reservations for the bus and the hostels for the next days. I was going to Wanaka for several days, but now decided with changing hostel availability to do that later, and go earlier to Arthur’s Pass. The bed in the hostel was the only I could get for Boxing Day. I knew the brand, and it was known to be a party hostel, but I haven’t experienced anything like this. The new kids on the block were running in the hallway all night long, drinking and partying on the balconies. And it wasn’t even our room, all people in my 8-bed dorm room (tried to) sleep by 23:00 o’clock the latest. So all the door smashing were in other rooms next to us. It was an expensive experience for 42.70$/night for sure. But maybe I’m getting too old and prudish for the hostel lifestyle, maybe I did the same 20 years ago 😜.

Hiking Hump Ridge Track (Day 2 & 3)

After a quite relaxing night on a soft mattress, I had an easy start on Christmas Day. In the morning we got at least free porridge for breakfast (typical convict food), but you need to be quick, because once it’s empty you don’t get anything more. After packing all my stuff I started at about 9:00 o’clock. I think I was the last one leaving the hut. The weather just cleared in the morning and opened up some amazing views.

To start the day with I did the Tarn Loop, which is a short boardwalk above Okaka Lodge on top of the Hump Ridge. This is the main thing why you come here. It’s really beautiful, and as the clouds just cleared I had great view from Stewart Island in the East, the dense forest of Fiordland NP to the West, snow covered mountains to the North and the Pacific to the South towards Antarctica. I didn’t want to leave my backpack at the junction, because I was afraid that the Kea would attack it. Hence, I carried it all along the way through the loop. Lake Poteriteri was clearly visible, whereas Lake Hauroko was still covered in low lying fog. The sky above me was still overcasted, but the cloud base was high enough to provide enough view. I went to one of the false peaks on the Hump Ridge, as it was just a few metres, and I thought it’s always nice to be on a summit. When I almost finished the loop a Dutch Trail Runner arrived. She looked super fit, but also super lightweight. She started 3-4h ago, and was running the whole 60km track in one day. She told me that she hiked it several years ago. I guess she didn’t pay the 400$ for the run😉. It took me about 1h to finish the loop. I could’ve done it much faster, but I just enjoyed the splendid view by my own.

Start of the Tarn Loop with Stewart Island in the backdrop

Lake Poteriteri in between the mountains is clearly visible

The Hump Ridge stretches to the North and is quite open & grassy. Looks like easy to walk…Lake Hauroko must be underneath those low lying patches of fog

Couldn’t resist to climb that pseudo peak next to the radio antenna and make a selfie 😏

Splendid view to the lower plains in the East

Okaka Lodge nestled against the mountain, and the green ridge line behind for the descent

For the next 10km you follow another ridge line in order to descent. It’s not as steep as the ascent, and I had the impression that there was more boardwalk along the track. The start was quite a walk through a mystique forest. All those moss covered crooked trees made you think you’re in another world. I liked this part of the track the most. After maybe 25min the runner caught up with me again, as she had a quick chat with the guys in the hut. And not much later I caught up with this poor KiWi tramper. He started much earlier than I did, and didn’t even do the Tarn Loop…but he was not much into the track. He said, I should tell the publicans of the next lodge that he will arrive late again.

…the trail runner just overtook me in this magical place…

…and sometimes even some views down the coastline opened up.

About half way down the ridge line in another shelter, and even toilet if I’m not mistaken. I had a bit of early lunch there, because the porridge, with not much proteins, didn’t suffice long. There are several outcrops along the ridge line, which open up and from where you can get great views into the Fiordland NP. Further down the beech trees reminded me of parts of Tasmania…not surprisingly, as it’s almost the same latitude. There are also plenty of possum and stoat traps along the way, as they’re both a pest in NZ. They were introduced to New Zealand as early as 1879 to control rabbits that were destroying sheep pasture – well here we go British colony. Introduce one species, to prey onto another introduced species to protect a third introduced species…where did I hear from that approach before 🤔 – ah in so called Australia. Yes opposite to Tasmania possums are non-native and are actively hunted in NZ. You can even buy clothes made out of possum fur. NZ wants to eradicate possums by 2050, as they prey on e.g. the eggs of Kea’s.

On the first outcrop I got a view back to the Hump Ridge…the forest just stops shortly before the ridge line.

The view of the boardwalk in front of us…reminded me a bit of the Great Wall in China

The forest is dense, don’t underestimate that, but the colours are just stunning

Taking in the last view before the final descent

After about 5h I finally reached the old Port Craig bush tramway, which is part of the South Coast Track. The construction of this isolated 15km long, metre gauge tramway, started in 1917 in order to transport timber logs to the sawmill in Port Craig. But the company went into a financial stalemate in 1928 and was wound down. Due to the great depression in the 1930’s the timber demand declined and the whole operations were salvaged and demolished in 1939. The tall timber viaducts deteriorated over the subsequent decades, but were finally restored and nowadays only used as walking bridge.

The old Tramway Cutting is now part of the South Coast Track

In order to overcome four deep ravines, one of the tallest timber viaducts were built. The first one we passed was the Edwin Burn Viaduct. Afterwards we follow the former tramway the next 10km to Port Craig. Now it’s a smooth and easy walk along the embankment. Sometimes the old sleepers still exist. The Percy Burn Viaduct is with 36m the tallest timber viaduct along the tramway (and also the highest in NZ, if I remember right). I had another break at the private Percy Burn Hut. The hut was open and it provided even bunk beds, but I couldn’t find any coffee. As I wanted to leave a Ukrainian couple, who used to live in Auckland since about 20 years, came along with their son. I just said, it would be nice to have a coffee now, and he said sure we have coffee with us. So, we turned on the kettle and had a long conversation over a coffee in the afternoon sun. It was a relaxed, and maybe only an hour to walk to the hut. We spoke about the current war in the Ukraine, and he told me some insights from his friends and connections back in his home country. The rest of the walk to the Port Craig hut was nothing special. I passed the DOC owned hut (later on I also went inside, it’s a nice hut which suffice for several nights. The difference in price is 175$/night, ok you need to bring your own stove and breakfast, but that’s about it).

Some old timber sleepers still exist after more than 100 years

Percy Burn Viaduct and hut (in the background)

If you think this is muddy, then you haven’t walked the Port Davey Track

As it was quite warm in the sun, I just had a cold shower. In the evening I had a walk around the interpretive path on the former sawmill site. It’s quite impressive how they put all the operation onto the slope of the hill. But the continuous erosion is a constant threat here. There were several books in the hut, and one also outlined 100(?) hiking tracks in NZ. I flipped through the book, and by chance I found some new inspiration for a hike near Arthur’s Pass, one of my planned next destinations. In the evening also a random guy stepped into the lodge and asked if he could sleep here. But as the ranger was not here, we redirected him to the DOC hut. As nobody checks in, he might have just slept there for free. The KiWi tramper arrived again late at about 21:00 o’clock. The hike has definitely overwhelmed him.

Last Standing Wall of the former sawmill, and some other iron relicts

Erosion is a constant threat to this site

On Boxing Day I still had 20km walk in front of me, whereas the last 10km are the same as the first ones. The first 10km were quite nice, following the coastline in a constant up and down. Even I started late I caught up with all the other hikers in front of me, except the US woman (I even didn’t see her in the morning, as she had such an early start). I had a lunch break in one of the small bays, once I reached the coastline directly. And here the Sand Flies are horrible. I haven’t experienced anything like that before. Even with normal DEET, you don’t get anywhere. The Ukrainian family told me, they even stopped before and bought specifically the 40% DEET. I could see several abandoned campsites on another bay, where people stayed overnight. As it’s along the South Coast Track, I would assume that this is all legal. When I was back at the 4WD track another happy KiWi tramper with a guitar came towards me. I asked him where he was heading, and he told me along the South Coast Track to his patch of land, as he was of Māori descent, he still owns a patch of the bush there. And he told me a bit about the circumstances of the Māori land.

That’s the last part of the former railway embankment of the hike out

Afterwards the track narrows down and you walk through tempered rain forest

Reaching the first beach…and the mountains are again shrouded in clouds as we look back

On the hike out I opted for the beach track, as the other hikers told me that it was much easier. And indeed it’s a pretty straightforward walk at low tide. I sat down on a washed ashore tree stump to have a tea, but again those sandflies are really nasty once you stop. While I was sitting there this random guy from yesterday evening walked past. He told me that he’s from Sydney and of Greek heritage, and now doing holidays in NZ. Obviously he hadn’t any experience in hiking. He didn’t had a stove or any food with him, but he told me that he wanted to climb Mt. Cook. And people got angry at him, when he tried at his own. Well yes, Mount Cook is basically closed since mid December (at least the route via the Linda Glacier, due to too many open crevasses), and this Greek Aussie bloke also didn’t appear to me to have any experience with crampons or glacier travel at all.

For the hike out I followed the beach as often as I could

I liked how these different sand colours merged with each other (it looked actually even better in real)…while sitting down and enjoying a tea

I was at about 14:00 o’clock back at the carpark, as pickup was at 14:30 o’clock due to transport connections. And for a 20km hike, it’s actually quite early. This day wasn’t as relaxing than the others before. While I was waiting for my pick up to arrive, the Greek guy came by and offered me a lift out of there (very kind, but I declined, as I had my transport already organised this time). The two Chinese families just made it in time. The adult son was really done. He had blisters at his feet, and could barely walk anymore. The NZ tramper didn’t make it in time at all, I think he started after me the last day. They organised a special pickup for him in the evening, as he was going to stay another night in Tuatapere. Well, even if there were managed huts, warm showers, and electricity to charge your phone, I don’t think it was worth the money. The 400$ are just too pricey for what you get, and the only highlight of the Hump Ridge is the Tarn Loop. Beside that, the South Coast Track is for free.

Hiking Hump Ridge Track (Day 1)

In the morning at 8:00 o’clock at Christmas Eve I got picked up, and together with some other hikers we got a short introduction of the hike in the office in Tuatapere. There were two elder couples, one with their adult son. Originally they came from China, but are now living since several decades in NZ. And another KiWi tramper, who used to live now in Australia. After we were provided with a basic map, we got driven to the Rarakau carpark.

Drive along the South Coast to the end of the road close to Fiordland NP

We started walking at about 9:00 o’clock from there. The Hump Ridge track follows most of the time the South Coast Track. The South Coast Track is a 4 days one way track, as the name suggests, along the South Coast of New Zealand into the Fiordland NP. It doesn’t climb any mountain though. There are several DOC owned huts along the South Coast Track: Port Craig School Hut (25$/night), Wairaurahiri Hut (10$/night), Waitutu hut (10$/night), and Westies Hut for free. There’s no ranger on those huts. You need to buy Standard Hut Ticket or Serviced Hut Ticket for each night’s stay, and put those in the honesty box at the hut. Hence, the South Coast Track would be much cheaper, but as it’s a walk in – walk out along the same way, and it didn’t include any mountain, it was of least interest for me. Hence, I decided for the expensive option.

The first 10 km of the Hump Ridge Track follows the coast line. After about 3 km you reach the suspension bridge over the Waikoau River, and behind there are several sheds. Now over Christmas those were quite popular holiday destination for the owners. In a 20km detour around the Waikoau River you can drive here from Rarakau carpark, if you’ve the permit from the private land owners. The land here is still owned by the Māori people. Further down the coastline after Port Craig there are again patches of Māori land, which are not part of the Fiordland NP. But in order to protect the native forest, the traditional owners agreed to protect the native forest for a fee paid by the government. Otherwise there was a threat that traditional owners would log the forest and make money out of it, as it was once tried in Port Craig.

…while the track is in front of us, the Hump Ridge is shrouded in clouds.

The track follows directly the beach. You can either walk on the beach, or on a high-tide track. I thought I follow the high-tide track, as it sounded easier. But it was boggy in places, and there the water accumulated. Also in some parts it was quite overgrown, and I thought there was no car or quad driving here for a long time. And indeed, I guess most of the time the locals just drive along the beach. After 6.8 km there’s a turn off to the more remote Teal Bay Hut at Lake Hauroko and Lake Poteriteri Hut. In order to get there you still need to walk up the Hump Ridge (albeit in a different location) and cross the actual summit of the ridge line, The Hump, on the way to Teal Bay. Shortly afterwards is the last private hut, the Track Burn Hut, at the Waikoko Stream. You can drive until here with your quad or high-clearance 4WD.

After 10 km in total I reached the turn off to the actual Hump Ridge Track, leaving the South Coast Track behind, and the start of ascent to the Okaka Lodge. It was still another 10 km to walk, and about 1,000 m in elevation gain to make. The beginning was quite easy on a boardwalk and I thought of the Overland Track. Afterwards it turned into a normal track. The track was funded privately, and without a booking (in the two lodges), you’re not supposed to walk here. Also camping is not allowed along this track. There’s a shelter at about half way. Here I had lunch, and met with other hikers. Some hikers drove in by themselves, and I didn’t meet them before. A few metres behind is a small bridge over a deep creek, and it has a bucket on a long line to get water.

Higher up, I ended up in the clouds, and the view was marginal on that day. I arrived at about 16:00 o’clock in the hut, while the KiWi tramper arrived super late at about 21:00 o’clock. It was definitely too much for him. With 20km’s and 1,000m elevation gain, it’s quite a long hike, but the track is well maintained and super easy to walk. There’s no exposure or technical difficulty. I was one of the first ones in the hut (there was a very pushy and competitive US woman, who always wanted to be first at the hut), not because I was pushing either, I was actually just walking my relaxed speed. And my backpack was light, as I didn’t need to carry a tent (maybe I had my sleeping bag with me), no stove or gas. It was my first time in a managed hut since several years, as in Australia you wouldn’t find any managed huts, even the owns on the Three Capes Track don’t provide any meals. You could buy (expensive) meals and drinks in the hut, or just use the kitchen and cook your own meal (what I did, because in NZ it’s super easy and quite cheap to find dehydrated meals for tramping – as they call bushwalking here). There was a young Austrian bloke working in the hut. I had a cup of coffee and a nice chat to him, about his working conditions and travel experiences. Most of the staff is flown in – flown out on their 14 days rooster with a helicopter, but he prefers to walk in – walk out. There was another woman in charge in the hut, and I told them that I had to stay in the more expensive 4-bed bunkroom. And actually it turned out to be a 8-bed room, but the upper beds are not going to be occupied. I was alone in the room at all. And they had pity with me, that I was charged so much money. Hence, they gave me a token to have a warm shower (otherwise cold showers are for free). They also warned me of the Kea. Those endemic mountain birds are curious, and very intelligent. They will pick up everything, which is not tied down, and they learnt that mountain huts are a good spot to find: socks, flip-flops, soles, etc.

The native forest reminded me of Tasmania

The local high elevation flora seemed to be well adapted to the high humidity / cloudy weather

Okaka Lodge high up in the mountains is quite huge and consists of several buildings

Tuatapere

On Friday 23rd December 2022 I had a shared public transport to Tuatapere. They were due to pick me up in the early afternoon from the town centre in Invercargill. As I needed to checkout earlier from the hostel, I just went to the local library next door with all my luggage for a few hours. There was some confusion, as the driver thought I would arrive at the airport. But no, why would I just fly in – fly out for a few days hiking over Christmas (the other hikers in the van, he picked up, did so). As I said earlier, public transport in this part of NZ doesn’t exist anymore. The Tuatapere Branch railway line closed in 1976, and renting a car from Dunedin would cost me 200-300$… a day. This is typical only 30-60$/day, but you know is Christmas time, and now you can make some money. And just renting a car to leave it for days at a carpark, isn’t worth it at all. I was contemplating doing the Kepler Track over Christmas, and it still had a spare spot when I looked it up, but once I wanted to book it, one hut was fully booked out (and you need several consecutive huts in a row).

Thus, I opted for the Humpridge Track over Christmas. The Humpridge Track is due to become another of the Great Walks of NZ. At the moment it’s still operated by a for-profit corporation. Hence, the prices are hefty. I paid in total 400$ for 2 nights in a 4-bed dorm room (that’s 200$/night and the most expensive dorm room I ever paid for), because the 8-bed dorm (which were slightly cheaper) were already fully booked. I also opted for additional transport, as otherwise without a car, can get quite complicated/impossible tot reach the trail head. And for this they charged me in total another 200$. Well the huts at the Kepler track are operated by the DOC and would’ve been much cheaper, and I didn’t had much (well any) information of additional hikes outside the Great Walks sphere, hence I thought well that’s my Christmas present for this year. At least I could stay in nature, outside of some packed hostels.

Tuatapere is a tiny village, and I stayed in the only available accommodation in a dorm room (they still charged me 35$/night, which is even for NZ the mid to high price range nowadays). At least I had the room for myself. Three other blokes also lived there (permanently – at least it appeared like that). And it’s Friday evening, the right time to get shitfaced, still wearing shorts and Wellington rubber boots from work (one of them was in the excavation business). I was really impressed by those fellow guests of how many times you can put the word fuck in a single sentence. So there was a lot of talk (by them) and obviously not very much said, because each time they put the word fuck infront of each other word. But it was fluently. I’ve never heard of something like that before. They didn’t even have to think about it anymore (well ok, I don’t know if thinking at all is of their strength). Yes those are NZ bogans, and there are plenty of them on the South Island. There was also a young Māori woman in the hostel, and her uncle from Christchurch visited her. When he arrived, with several tattoos on his arm and face (I don’t know if those were traditional tattoos or associated with gangs, or neither nor), those three drunk, white blokes made derogatory comments about him (sure, he couldn’t hear, but I could). In the end those drunk mean weren’t aggressive, but the whole situation made me very uncomfortable. That made me immediately think of the movie Once Were Warriors:

Once Were Warriors

Slope Point

Thursday, 22nd December 2022, was the longest day of the year in NZ, and thus beginning of summer (we already had the discussion about the Gregorian Calendar, and the definition of seasons still apply in NZ to me). I tried to get a rental car in Invercargill just for one day, because as I said before, there’s no public transport available around here. But due to the high demand in the holiday season, and low supply here at the south of the South Island, I didn’t had any chance at all. Also with not many guests in the hostel, I almost gave up on my idea to get to Slope Point. It’s 75 km away, and just hitchhiking with a daypack and no tent in that slightly remote/rural area might be a bit risky, even though the weather was perfectly fine on this first summer day. Then it turned out, that this young Israeli had a rental car for a few days, and would drive back to Dunedin, as he had to be back at 14:00 o’clock to pickup a friend. I asked him, if wanted to do a slight detour via Slope Point on his way back, and first he was a bit reluctant. But after I told him he could drop me off afterwards in Balclutha, he finally agreed. The detour along the southern coastline is only 30km, but it would take much longer to drive due to the winding road.

Along the drive we had a great conversation. He was a very nice guy and asked me about my experiences in Australia, as he wanted to go there next, and travel experiences in general. I also asked him about Israel, and he told me it’s super expensive. In Tel Aviv you pay 60€/night for a dorm room. Young people can’t afford anymore to buy an apartment or built a house. Hence, they’re living with their parents for a long time, and maybe inherit the house from their grandparents once they passed away. He was of German ancestry, as both his paternal and maternal grandparents survived the holocaust. Hence, he has a German passport, which helps him a lot to travel, in particular into Muslim countries. He didn’t had any problems to get into Malaysia, but he wouldn’t try Iran, as his birthplace is still Tel Aviv and he doesn’t speak any German. He was also afraid of the current political situation, as Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Minister of National Security, is a convicted right-wing extremist. He put comments of him and Adolf Hitler side-by-side and asked his friends from whom they were, and apparently you can’t distinguish, as they hate speech and racism is the same, just against another minority group. He said, that if those jurisdictional reforms are passed, he’s afraid that a civil war might erupt. And he also said he’s prepared to fight for Democracy.

We got stuck behind a flock of sheep for a while…that’s just normal in NZ

It was a nice drive through the countryside, and as the Tokanui branch line doesn’t exist anymore, you rely on your car. We passed several sheep (what else would you expect in New Zealand), and made our way to the carpark. I was surprised that the road was sealed all the way. There were already several cars at the carpark. Hence, it was a bit more popular than I thought of. The track to actual Slop Point crosses private land, but is freely accessible. It was easy to get to the lighthouse, we didn’t try to climb down the cliffs. The actual Slope Point, the southernmost point on the South Island, is further down near the waterfront and looked quite a bit wet from the sea. It was perfect weather, sunny, no clouds, no wind. But you could imagine that this is rare here. All nearby trees were wind-twisted from the South. There’s nothing in between here and Antarctica. Hence, you could imagine the prevailing weather.

The Southernmost Point on the South Island…

…about half-way between Equator and South Pole (whereas the latter is even a bit closer).

Rugged Coastline with Wind-Twisted Trees

We continued our drive along the coast line. We stopped again at the Florence Hill Lookout, that was directly next to the road. From here you’ve a great with of the Tautuku beach. Several other tourists in their campervans also stopped here, enjoying their perceived freedom with the vanlife style. Apart from several AirB’n’B’s there wasn’t much along the road. It was quite hilly though in between. And until 1971 one could’ve taken the railway from Mclennan back to Balclutha, but not surprisingly also the Catlins River Branch Line was closed down by the government. Even if it’s already out of service since more than 50 years, the embankment, some bridges and the Hunts Road Tunnel are well preserved. He dropped me off in Balclutha and I offered him some money for the fuel, but he refused, and said it was an pleasant trip with me. As it was around lunch time, I went into a typical NZ Café (which is the same as in Australia, as you need to hurry up to get a coffee before 14:00 o’clock). After my coffee I went to the local library to spend the afternoon there, as the only bus would leave again in the late afternoon. I still needed to do my reservation, but as expected there was still a free seat available on that leg. The bus stop was said to be “opposite” Rosebank Cafe & Grill. Easier said than done. First of all that Café was closed (at that time, or because it was holiday season – I don’t know), so I couldn’t ask anybody, and it was on the corner of Clyde St and Centennial Ave. So not clear at which street the bus would stop. The day before, we stopped at the fuel station for about 20min. But when I passed that one today, there was no bus. Hence, I pressed on and waited at the corner, where I could see both streets. In the end it turned out that the bus was late, as I waited for sure 20 min. The drive back to Invercargill was the same as the day before. I even had the same bus driver again. It was a nice day excursion on this sunny day.

Tautuku beach from Florence Hill Lookout

Invercargill

After staying for one week in Dunedin it was finally time for me to start my travels across New Zealand. Hence, on Wednesday afternoon, 21st December 2022, I went to the bus stop at the Octagon. There was a crowd of people, and even I had booked my ticket, and thus my seat was safe, I didn’t enjoy the imagination of being crammed in a narrow bus seat for 4 hours. Lucky me, most of the people were heading to Queenstown in another bus. Also after leaving Dunedin, public transport basically doesn’t exist anymore. There’s no passenger transport on the railway. And as replacement 1-2 daily buses from Dunedin to Invercargill are implemented, serving the local communities along the way, and literally following the railway line. In order to be a bit more flexible I booked a 45h flatrate ticket for the Intercity bus. It’s the major bus company in NZ, serving both North and South Island. You get a bit of a discount if you book a certain amount of hours in advance, but it’s also hard to guess, how many you really need. As I changed later my travel plans, I still have 5h and 47min left on the pass. Well, in hindsight a 40h flatrate would’ve been better. But also knowing that I have to squeeze into buses for almost 2 full days, is already horrible for me.

Once outside Dunedin, the landscape turns rural with farms dotted all along the way

After leaving the suburbs of Dunedin and picking up some other guests from the airport, the landscape actually turned rural. There was one cattle or sheep farm after each other. The eastern part of the South Island is in general characterised by agriculture. Invercargill is the main supply centre for the agricultural industry. It’s very male dominated. Hence, a lot of women leaving to the northern cities. In order to counteract this, a university was founded in Invercargill to attract more women into the town. Well, not certain how successful that is, and if those women want to stay around after they finished their studies.

Following the Main South Line to Invercargill

The hostel in Invercargill, in which I stayed, was actually quite empty, despite the holiday season. Hence, you could guess it’s not a popular holiday destination. There was only an older woman who emigrated from The Netherlands years ago. She complained about having her job lost in Queenstown, and now looking for a new one…a few days before Christmas. Listening to her, I don’t know if she had any formal education, but it sounded that she thought she’s better than the rest of the world. And then I had two blokes in my room. One of them was from the US and just started the Te Araroa long distance hike in Bluff. The TA crossed New Zealand from South to North (or vice versa) in about 3,000 km. It starts in Bluff further in the South, and after one day you reach Invercargill. Contrary to popular opinion, Bluff is not the Southernmost point of the South Island (and it’s also not the southernmost point in NZ, as there’s still Stewart Island to the South, and even more subantarctic island further south). Anyway, he told me that he wanted to carry the Starlink equipment (that’s additional 15 kg), so he could always have internet connection and work along the trail. But then realised that this is not a good idea at all. Then he quit is job, and is now just enjoying the TA on its entire long – without any work commitments. There was also another guy from Israel. I met him before in the hostel in Dunedin, and he wanted to meet some other people here, but this didn’t work quite out. Despite being a small town, there’re several outdoor stores where I provisioned myself, for the coming multiday hike.

Dunedin

After I arrived in New Zealand, I needed to make a plan how I’m going to travel over the two main islands. I realised quickly that it’s main holiday season. School and university holidays just started, Christmas and New Years Eve is approaching quickly, and then a bunch of international tourists. This paired with workers shortage and housing crisis. That meant some hostels weren’t either open at all, or just running limited capacity. Plus due to the severe housing crisis, people either stay voluntarily in the hostel because they can’t find anything to rent, or they put there by government agencies, who would pay for them. Some of the hostels got really bad ratings, when they were housing “homeless” people. Hence, I needed to fix my plans and book several hostels in advance over Christmas and New Years Eve, as otherwise I might’ve a rough night.

And I sold my tent in Australia, because I didn’t want to carry the extra load. Hence, just camping somewhere is also not an option. And typically those free campsites are out of town, and only reachable with your campervan. I was also looking into doing one of the Great Walks of New Zealand, but as you could imagine, they accommodation along those tracks had been all booked out. Hence, you can just go there and pitch up your tent as you like. Nevertheless, there are still other, less known, hikes.

…from the Octagon (with Christmas decoration)…looking down to the railway station.

Dunedin was the largest urban area in the 1860’s during the Otago Gold Rush, and is now the second largest city on the south island after Christchurch. It’s a big university town, and students are a major share in the population. But not all people like those many students. And there are some tensions between ordinary workers in the suburbs and more progressive university students around the CBD. Because students would occupy rental space, and the rental market is short in NZ, other people complain about it. As they can’t find anything to rent. There were two workers living permanently in the hostel, and complained about the situation. But I think you can’t blame the students for the rental crisis. In general I liked the vibe of this (quite small) university town.

I went for several walks around downtown and once to the beach in South Dunedin. I also passed by the Dunedin Railway Station. Unfortunately, the renaissance style station was scaffolded and covered up. Hence, you couldn’t see anything from the outside. But the doors were open, and the internal architecture was nice. Also the tourist train for Taieri Gorge excursion was parked on the platform and you could freely walk alongside it. That’s currently the only passenger service on the Main South Line south of Christchurch. Three blocks to the West is the Octagon, the main town “square” (obviously it’s not an squared, but has an octagonal shape). Here, you find several bars, and the theatre, cathedral, town hall, etc. But don’t be fooled, Dunedin is a small town. two blocks in any direction and the city is basically dead on a Saturday evening.

Taieri Gorge Express is waiting for the next cruise ship to arrive

Beautiful Mosaic in the Station Building

Nice flowers in the garden in front of the railway station

Hiking Mount Cargill Traverse

After checking into the hostel in Dunedin on Wednesday 14th December 2022, I started to make some plans and organise my stay in NZ. As the day was really nice, and the weather forecast for the coming days wasn’t that great, I decided to head out again in the afternoon for a walk. I took the same bus line back towards Port Chalmers but already got out in Sawyers Bay, I recognised a few guests from the cruise ship, but now, with my daypack in hiking gear, I fully submerged to the ordinary people.

Once I got out in Sawyers Bay, there was no sign of a walking track. I followed Hall Road uphill, and asked some local kids if this is the way to Mount Cargill, but they didn’t had any clue. Eventually the road turned into gravel road, and then there was a gate preventing any vehicle access. The track all of a sudden turned nice, and I was finally on the Grahams Bush Walk. There was even an old sign pointing the direction to Mount Cargill. The forest provided some nice shade, as it was really sunny and hot walking the first 1.5 km from the bus stop. I enjoyed the walk and kept on a good pace until I realised that I got a bit dizzy. I first thought it’s a problem with the heat, and I started too fast from the bus stop. Hence, I slowed down and made sure I kept well hydrated, as it would be a pity to faint away here so close to civilisation, on my first day in NZ. Unfortunately, this condition persisted for the next few day, and I guess it must’ve been some sort of Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS). Which surprised me, as we didn’t had any big motion at all on the ship, nor did I ever got seasick on the ship. I was really a smooth passage through the Tasman Sea.

After maybe 50min or so I crossed the Mt Cargill road, and then followed the Mount Cargill Walk uphill. This section appeared to be much more popular, because people driving with the car here and then take the shortcut to the summit. After another 30min I reached the Organ Pipes. You need to do a bit of slight bush bashing to reach the hexagonal basalt columns. Those were created by the volcanic formation. Here a few other walkers enjoyed the view around Otago. I briefly spoke to a woman from Christchurch who was visiting her daughter, and they went for a walk.

View from the North across the green hills of Otago…

Mount Cargill is already in sight from here with Buttars Peak, just in front of it

Afterwards I continued the walk to the summit. The track was through sturdy bush, as you could see, but cleared from branches all the way. In the col between Buttars Peak and Mount Cargill the track from Bethunes Gully joined in. And a few minutes later I was on the summit with the big antenna. The view over Dunedin and the rest of Otago was great. It was pleasant to see so much lush green. I also could see the MS Westerdam still being berthed in Port Chalmers.

View back to Port Chalmers, I still could see the MS Westerdam berthing, but she was about to cast off a short time later.

First thing what you do after being at sea…getting off sea level as quickly as possible and climb a mountain, there’s no better start possible 😅

Perfect view to Dunedin from Mount Cargill…early in the morning I already saw the big antenna from the ship

I didn’t want to backtrack to Bethunes Gully and instead opted to walk down Cowan Road. The walk was super easy, as we followed a gravel road. But hence, it was also a bit dull. You could drive up all the way to the summit that, if you want. Nevertheless, given it was already a bit late, it was a good option to finish the day like that. In Pine Hill I waited at the bus stop for the next bus. I was really surprised about the good public transport here in Dunedin. The buses were even equipped with bicycle carriers in the front. Something I’ve had seen before in Canberra, but nothing which would be implemented in Sydney. And even Dunedin is quite hilly, it even has the steepest residential road in the world according to the Guinness, it provides separate bicycle paths throughout the city. This actually surprised me.

I came back to downtown around sunset. But here sunset is really late. In particular just one week before summer solstice, it’s about 21:30 o’clock with dusk another 45-60min. Hence, I really struggled to adapt to the new time zone. It’s already midnight when you think, it must be just 22:00 o’clock or something like that. In Australia sunset, according to local time, is never that late. In the evening I met a Swiss Girl in the hostel. She was cycling across the South Island already since several weeks. We had a nice conversation, as it was my first interaction with overseas tourists since almost 3 years. And the first German conversation since a very long time.

Hobart – Dunedin (Part 2)

On Tuesday morning, 13th December 2022, I woke up and got on the upper outside deck to watch the sunset and see land…the rugged West Coast of New Zealand. We were just in front of St. Anne Point at the entrance of Milford Sound. The actual entrance is quite a bit hidden, and as such the actual Milford Sound was discovered quite late (by Europeans). The pilots came onboard in their small sea going vessel. They stayed with us for the next 24h until we should reach Port Chalmers. Milford Sound is by far the most attractive tourist destination in the Fiordland NP. When you’re sailing with a cruise ship into the fjord (yes, Milford Sound is technically a fjord, sorry to disappoint you here), then you can actually enter it from the sea side and enjoy it along the whole length. If you book a tour and start from NZ, those much smaller boats don’t get you to the entrance itself. And that makes totally sense, because the Tasman Sea can be quite rough here on the West Coast. Once we entered Milford Sound we were sheltered enough that the crew opened the open deck at the bow. The railing is quite forward leaning due to the ships design. Hence, you also need to lean forward to actually touch the railing.

Slowly making our way into more sheltered waters

Everyone enjoys the scenery at the bow open deck

It’s just impressive when you enter Milford Sound. The cliffs dropping down left and right of you for almost 2,000m You pass Mitre Peak (not to be confused with Mitre Rock in Arapiles) to the right and Mount Pembroke to the left. Very tall waterfalls are tumbling down along the cliff faces. It’s marvellous and breathtaking. We passed a rock formation called The Overhang. And I mean the ship is not small, the MS Westerdam is 300m long and has a beam of 30m. But here it feels like we’re sailing in a tiny banana boat. Once we reached the end of the sound and made a U-Turn (actually the captain made a 540° turn, so everyone had a complete look around from where he was), and you see all the small boats for day cruising, then you actual realise how big our boat was.

One of several waterfalls coming down the steep cliffs

…while we’re getting deeper into the sound

Lady Bowen Falls, and the snow covered mountains in the backdrop…just marvellous

The famous Milford Sound Track ends at the mount of the Arthur River at the end of the Milford Sound. Hence, you’re trekking to the Milford Sound and not along it. You need to book well in advance, as its the most famous walk of the 11 Great Walks of NZ. It was fully booked over the next few weeks, and (spoiler alarm) I didn’t do it. You can climb Mitre Peak in 2 days at your own. But the access is a bit tricky. Either you ask one of the captains from the day tours to drop you off at Sinbad Gully, or you take a packraft over the sound from the end of the road. You can rent one in Queenstown. I didn’t do that either. The cruise ships can sail into the Milford Sound, but we can’t berth here. Hence, nobody went ashore here and after the U-turn we slowly sailed out of the sound.

Sinbad Gully is the start of the climb to Mitre Peak (right back)

The end of the sound, but also the end of the Milford Sound track (around the corner, in the shade where the low clouds are)

Mount Pembroke (right), Milford Sound (middle), Mitre Peak (left)…just breathtaking

Bowen Falls is the first waterfall you see from the end of the road. It’s also the tallest waterfall in the sound. Whereas the Stirling Falls are said to be the most magnificent in the sound. Well I’m not an expert in waterfalls, but they looked all right to me. With a draught of 8.1m, the funnels of the MS Westerdam are still 47.7m above sea level. The captain parked the ship in front of the Stirling Waterfalls, and while standing on the bow outer deck (maybe at 25-30m), the waterfall was still impressive with its 155m. Once we reached the open sea again, the wind picked up immediately and the crew hurried us into the ship again. The bow is definitely not a pleasant place to be on open waters. It took us almost 3h for sailing in and out the sound. We followed the West Coast for the rest of the day.

Bown Waterfall, the highest permanent waterfall in the sound with more than 160m

Harrison River with Mount Pembroke in the backdrop

Stirling Waterfalls dropping from a high valley…

…and even on this big ship, you feel small.

Slowly we’re making our way back into the open sea…

…and say goodbye to Milford Sound – definitely the highlight of the cruise (not just for me)

Later there was a “Ask the Captain Anything”. I went there, and was curious if the Carnival shipping company would also use dual-fuel engines for its future ships, like Moeller-Maersk. The latter, the biggest cargo shipping company in the world, ordered almost 20 vessels which could be fuelled with renewable methanol beside MGO. So, first he squirmed around in his answer, but then admitted that the current situation for cruise ships (and its CO2 emissions) is not perfect. He couldn’t give me a definitive answer if methanol would be in the game at Carnival, which I didn’t expect either, because he’s “only” the captain. He sails whatever the company will tell him to do. I was happy with his answer, but was also surprised by the applause from the audience, as I thought they were just looking for convenient holidays, no matter what it costs (in terms of CO2 emissions). I made a rough calculation of my CO2 emissions for that travel leg. The MS Westerdam can carry up to 2388 passengers (yes, it’s like a small swimming town). It has a diesel-electric propulsion system, with three V16 diesel engines and two V12 diesels, plus a GE LM2500 aero derivative gas turbine. The total electrical power output is 65.84 MW. The actual ship propulsion has 2 azipods with 17.6 MW each, and three bow thrusters with 2.2 MW each. This makes a total of 41.8 MW propulsion power, or only 64% of the installed capacity is actually used for the propulsion. The rest is for the swimming hotel operations: fresh water production by reverse osmosis, pool heating, spa, kitchen, laundry, etc. During our passage we only made 14-16 knots, not the 22 knots top speed. That means the average power demand should be below 20 MW. But lets assume 20MW. With about 2,000 passengers (as we weren’t at full capacity, maybe it was even less) this gives us 20,000 kW/2,000 pax = 10 kW/pax. The whole journey took us 80h, hence our energy demand was: 10 kW * 80h = 800 kWh_(e)/pax. Those low running diesel engines have actually very high efficiencies. Two Stroke Diesel engines from MAN can reach up to 50% efficiency. But let’s assume 40% efficiency, that means we used 2000 kWh_(MGO)/pax. Diesel has a Lower Heating Value of 11.83 kWh/kg, that comes to 169 kg_(MGO)/pax and with a density of 0.846 kg/l my fuel consumption for the whole journey was 200 l_(MGO)/pax and that compares to about 600 kg_(CO2).

The MS Westerdam has a Gross tonnage (GT) of 82,862 t and Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) of 10,965 t. That’s similar to her sister ships. The MS Queen Elizabeth from Cunard Line (which is also a subsidiary of Carnival) has at GT of 90,901. So, if you ever wondered why the Cunard Line ships like MS Queen Victoria and MS Queen Elizabeth look similar, now you know. On the other hand, one of the largest container ships in the world, the Madrid Maersk, has a GT of 214,286 t and a DWT of 206,000 t, with an installed power of 52.65 MW. Hence, the DWT of the MS Westerdam is only 5.3% of that of a Triple E-class container ship. Which is not surprising, as the main purpose for the latter is to carry over 20,000 20ft containers at a speed of 16 knots (the same as we sailed). The Gross Tonnage, which is a measure for the internal volume, of the MS Westerdam is 39% of that from the Madrid Maersk. Thus, it’s still a big ship. I think it would be better to compare the displacements of the two ships (the DWT is without empty weight though), but those are not easy to measure, as they’re very uncommon in the commercial shipping industry. Nevertheless, it looks to me, that the MS Westerdam is still quite overpowered. It has a higher installed capacity, but lower for the propulsion, than the largest container ships in the world.

The good thing at those big cruise ships is, that they basically leave you alone. You can do whatever you want, nobody forces you to join in to a specific activity. That, I was actually quite surprised about it. So, I didn’t mingle too much with the ordinary cruise ship guests. I only joined an elder lady once for lunch, as all other tables were occupied at that time. Eleanor was a retired woman from Vancouver Island (it’s a very nice place, I’ve had been there in 2000 and loved it). She lived and worked for several years in Denmark, and got used to the European quality homes (yes, once you’re out of Europe, you actually appreciate the building quality). Now she builds her own home in the most sustainable way, and it’s not easy, because you need to find the right builders with the right mindset and qualification. She wanted to sail with her mother down to Latin America, but due to Covid-19 she needed to change her plans. She got credit, and now used it to cruise over the Pacific from Canada to Australia. After this cruise a few days in NZ, she’s heading back via Australia, Singapore, and the along the South-East Asian coastline to Japan, before sailing back home. She recognised me of asking the question to the Captain, and liked that someone raised it. We had a nice conversation during lunch, and later she invited me to join her for dinner in one of the more fancier restaurants (it’s still all included, but I’ve never been there before). But she said, I should go at least once.

In the afternoon, as weather permitted, we entered the Acheron passage and cruised through the Fiordland NP. The crew opened again the Bow Deck and we could enjoy the landscape from the front of the ship, as we were slowly sailed through the sounds. Resolution Island was to our right, and we passed Breaksea Sound (yes, those are real sounds now), and West Jacket Arm to our left. Then we turned to the West again in front of Long Island. The gap between Indian Island and Long Island got us a view to Astronomer’s Point. Here Captain James Cook setup camp for five weeks on his second voyage after sailing through Antarctic Waters. On our way through Dusky Sound we could get a glimpse to Five Fingers Point, maybe the most iconic rock formation in the Fiordland NP. Afterwards the wind picked up and the open deck on the bow was closed again.

Entering Acheron Passage in Dusky Sound…

…while a small (fishing?) boat came out of Breaksea Sound…

…and afterwards getting a glimpse to Astronomer’s Point in the backdrop…

…and Resolution Island is now to the North…

…while on our way out of Dusky Sound it already got overcasted, and the wind picked up…

…Five Fingers Point at the Tip of Resolution Island (it depends on the perspective, but you can clearly see a hand forming with that five rocks)

In the evening we sailed in between the South Island and Stewart Island, reaching the first permanently inhabited areas of New Zealand. I activated my NZ SIM card (which I already purchased back in Sydney), because I didn’t want to pay for expensive Internet on the ship. Now that I was going to disembark I needed to do a hostel reservation. Also my immigration card asked for an address. Hence, I thought it’s a good idea to book at least for the first night a place to stay. Afterwards I enjoyed the sunset off Stewart Island. Maybe we could’ve been faster in Dunedin, but the schedule was so that everybody could do their day excursions in the morning. Hence, there was no rush to be there too early in the morning.

We circumnavigate the West Cape of NZ and the Fiordland NP.

Last Sunset onboard and my southernmost point of the whole journey so far

After sunset on Wednesday morning, we were already close to Dunedin. The hills already looked very green. You could see the tall antenna on top of Mount Cargill. We still need to sail all the way around the Otago Peninsula to reach Port Chalmers. The peninsula is only connected via a 1.5km wide isthmus to the South Island. The entrance to Otago Harbour is quite narrow, and afterwards it looks also shallow. Nevertheless, for me it looked so stunning to see again some green hills. It had a bit of a teletubbies appeal. For safety reasons we were accompanied by a tug boat. But due to the high manoeuvrability with the two azipods and the three bow thrusters, it wasn’t needed.

In the night we only made 14 knots, and we’re still sailing along the NZ coast line in the morning…

…but finally the antenna of Mount Cargill is insight, and we already crossed South Dunedin.

Cargoships are in the roadstead in front of Port Chalmers

Navigating the Narrow Entrance into Port Chalmers

Once we berthed Customs came onboard and I needed to get my clearance. Hence, I went with all my gear into the room. There were some Asian guests, who seemed to need a special visa to get off the ship, even for the day excursions, and some Filipinos (I assume, those were crew who left the ship here, because all the crew except the officers were Filipinos). So, I presented my mountain boots, and dry food to the Customs. They checked my Passport, and then asked me what address I put down there. I told them from the hostel I’m staying at. They weren’t happy about that, and told me I don’t need that. Well OK, but gave me my clearance anyway. They couldn’t tell me on which Visa I was, but they did put me down as a resident. Because Customs was acting on behalf the Immigration Department. Later I logged in to the website to check and yes, I was now officially a resident of NZ, and could stay as long as I want, and not just three months on a tourist visa.

Green Hills and a winding road along the shoreline is just picturesque

Port Chalmers with the Cruise Ship Terminal on the left, and the tug boat which accompanied us

I headed directly to the gangway afterwards. The security had me already on the list to disembark here. But the woman in front of me had her trolley with her, and that was considered too much for a day luggage. She was asked what was inside, and told all her camera equipment. So, if you miss the boat it’s one thing, but if you try to get off the boat deliberately with too much luggage, then you’re most likely to be stopped by the boat security. So if you try this, just check in with hand luggage and let you send your big backpack via post 😉. But I’ve no idea who you would then sort out your visa. After I walked down the gangway I said goodbye to the Filipino Security Crew (as he was that same who welcomed me in Hobart), and then the officers stood guard in their white uniforms. I wasn’t staring at them, but the Cruise Travel Manager asked: “Are you going for a hike today?”, and I only replied “Thanks for the Lift” with a big smile on my face, while walking along the ship to the cruise terminal. Wow, finally I made it to New Zealand – 2 years and 8 months later than expected 😊.

I just walked straight through the cruise ship terminal, while all the other guests were bustling around finding their right group for the day. Then outside I wanted to take a shortcut, and two taxi drivers told me I can’t cross their parking space, and I need to follow the barrier tape…well ok fine, I’m just carrying more than 20kg on my back. After a few metres more, there was a railway tunnel and some tracks leading into the port. The railway tracks were crossing a (public) road. So, I want a few steps off the pedestrian walk, to the side of the road, and with one foot in between the railway track. I could’ve also crossed the railway track there, if I would’ve done two steps more. But I wanted to stop briefly and make a photo – in a blink of a second. Then a port worker in his hivis vest saw me, and told me I can’t make a photo from there. Then I said, no I can, it’s a public road. Then he said, stand at least off the railway. I stood maybe 3-4m away from me. Well if you stop talking to me, I would’ve already done my photo. And those cargo trains are no coming around the corner like a high speed train, at this unguarded level crossing. Eventually he moved on, and I took my photos. I thought what a nice welcome from those KiWi’s.

Through this cargo tunnel the port is served (it’s a branch from the main south line), and as you can see its speed restricted to 10 km/h…so what’s the fuss all about?

Then I waited at the public bus stop. After a few minutes more and more cruise ship people were lining up. They were not supposed to take public transport, as the bus leaves once per hour, and it’s out of capacity if 2000 would like to take them. But I can fully understand, because the bus into Dunedin is 1.50NZ$, whereas only the shuttle bus from Port Chalmers to Dunedin’s Octagon is 25US$. For basically the same service, operated by the same bus company. But I had time. I was finally in NZ. I drunk a coffee direct in front of the bus stop in a small coffee shop, and read the local newspaper. Also Eleanor, the retired Canadian lady walked past me. She told me that she was speaking to the Captain as he stood guard, and asked them if a guy with a big backpack already passed, and they said yes. So she told them, that I was already travelling since a few years from Berlin.

I wasn’t expecting to read about Honecker in the local newspaper while enjoying my coffee at that day.

The Main South Railway Line is passing directly through Port Chalmers, but there’s no longer any regular passenger service. There’s a tourist train starting from Dunedin railway station into the Taieri Gorge, and you even could book a day tour on the cruise ship for it (which I didn’t do), but they won’t pick up the cruise ship passengers in Port Chalmers, you still need to take a shuttle bus to Dunedin, what a hypocrisy. The next bus to Dunedin was still busy with local people. The tour literally follows the railway line, and it takes about 25min to the city centre. Dunedin is an university town, and it was end of the university year. The young (bachelors ?) were celebrating their graduation from university in their academic gowns.