Monday again.
on Saturday Yuval, a friend from Israel, is coming.
He's landing in Christchurch at around midnight.
So what do I do in the meantime?
Not a trek.
I thought to spend this time on things I probably wouldn't get to otherwise...
So I decided to try and get to the glaciers and Otago peninsula (albatrosses).
So I hit the road, and by ~22 PM, after 7 rides, I was in Okarito.
~10 hours drive from Amberley, and 20 minutes from the glaciers.
The French guy that took me there said he's been working there for afew months now, that I can camp there, and that part of the 10 kmleading from the main road to the village goes through a kiwi colony,from a special type, and he saw them once driving through.
We didn't...
But it was exciting even to have low chance of seeing kiwis...
Anyway, the next morning I got a quick ride to Franz Joseph, where Idid a half-day-tour.
That means ~4.5 hours total, out of which you spend roughly 1.5 hourson the glaciers itself.
Most of the 1.5-hours-glaciers-walking you spend waiting for the guideto do "maintenance" work on the trail. digging the stairs some more, reopening water side-tunnels etc.
But though it was very slow, and I didn't get to walk too much on theglacier itself, it was a lot of fun.
Just plain fun.
Walking on a glacier.
You don't get to do that so often.
Well, I don't...
After I've done with the tour I hitched to the fox glacier, and wentup to the lookout, very close to the glacier face itself. This glacieris situated in a beautiful valley - sheer cliffs carved by the glacieritself (during the ice age, when it was much bigger), nice river, verypretty.
I spent the night nearby in my tent.
Next day I made it to Dunedin.
In only 3 rides, and I got there much faster than I thought :)
I spent ~2 hours looking for a place to pitch my tent, but gave up and stayed in a backpacker.
Next day I went to the Otago peninsula, hoping to see some albatrosses.
My 3rd ride was with 2 Israelis, and as we were driving along, I saw a car parking near the road, and Maayan standing next to it!!
Just as I asked them to stop, the driver muttered "I know her!"...We stopped, hugged, and had a happy reunion. It turned out the guy used to work with Maayan.What a hilarious meeting!!
Anyway, we went to the visitor's center, and talked for a while, standing outside, when this hugest of birds crossed the sky in a magnificent flight.
It was so impressive!
well, like with the whales, I saw only one (I think I saw more, far away,but I'm not sure) but it was so magnificent!!
After a pathetic attempt to see penguins in the daytime, Maayan drove me back to Dunedin, where we parted.
After spending a few hours there I carried on north...
I was taken by Graham.
A nice happy guy, of about 50 years old, glad to share his life experience. We had a lovely chat.
He was going to Palmerston, but I asked him about penguins, and so he took me to a place called tavora reserve, where you can see some.
I pitched my tent, and went to the beach. I spent ~2 hours there, in a light rain, watching the sunset and a few yellow-eyed-penguins.
It was so good!!
Being there, in a beautiful place, not mentioned in the guide books (though a British couple came there as well), watching them penguins...
Such a great feeling.
In a way, getting there, pitching my tent like that, and watching the penguins was the essence of my traveling.
I like hitchhiking so much. & travelling for that matter :)
Next day I woke up early and went to see the sunrise from that beach.Beautiful!And, I saw some more penguins. One of them was standing in the sameplace as last night, and I\'m guessing he was nesting...
Trying to get as close as possible I scared off a seal and a baby seal...
Later I did a short walk around, and saw some more seals & penguins.
afterwards I hitchhiked back to Amberley, and again, met Caroline aday earlier than was planned.
The following day was Feb. the 3rd.
Yuval is coming.
Caroline was on call, so we could do what we want as long as we don't go too far...
So we had a relaxing day.
In the evening we got some ice cream, watched "The World's Fastest Indian" and waited for Yuval.
We picked him up from the airport at ~1:30, and came back.
We talked almost until 4 am before going to sleep...
Next day we met Maayan, and went on some new adventures.
New adventures - new post...
But let's see what did we have in this post...
2 glaciers, 1 albatross, a happy if short reunion, yellow-eyed-penguins, seals, another reunion, and a great feeling of doing the right thing for me.
:)
the relevant albums (old ones, you might have seen them) -
the last part of http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b3257d94c4a5 (only the glaciers)
and http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b325646705f2
on Saturday Yuval, a friend from Israel, is coming.
He's landing in Christchurch at around midnight.
So what do I do in the meantime?
Not a trek.
I thought to spend this time on things I probably wouldn't get to otherwise...
So I decided to try and get to the glaciers and Otago peninsula (albatrosses).
So I hit the road, and by ~22 PM, after 7 rides, I was in Okarito.
~10 hours drive from Amberley, and 20 minutes from the glaciers.
The French guy that took me there said he's been working there for afew months now, that I can camp there, and that part of the 10 kmleading from the main road to the village goes through a kiwi colony,from a special type, and he saw them once driving through.
We didn't...
But it was exciting even to have low chance of seeing kiwis...
Anyway, the next morning I got a quick ride to Franz Joseph, where Idid a half-day-tour.
That means ~4.5 hours total, out of which you spend roughly 1.5 hourson the glaciers itself.
Most of the 1.5-hours-glaciers-walking you spend waiting for the guideto do "maintenance" work on the trail. digging the stairs some more, reopening water side-tunnels etc.
But though it was very slow, and I didn't get to walk too much on theglacier itself, it was a lot of fun.
Just plain fun.
Walking on a glacier.
You don't get to do that so often.
Well, I don't...
After I've done with the tour I hitched to the fox glacier, and wentup to the lookout, very close to the glacier face itself. This glacieris situated in a beautiful valley - sheer cliffs carved by the glacieritself (during the ice age, when it was much bigger), nice river, verypretty.
I spent the night nearby in my tent.
Next day I made it to Dunedin.
In only 3 rides, and I got there much faster than I thought :)
I spent ~2 hours looking for a place to pitch my tent, but gave up and stayed in a backpacker.
Next day I went to the Otago peninsula, hoping to see some albatrosses.
My 3rd ride was with 2 Israelis, and as we were driving along, I saw a car parking near the road, and Maayan standing next to it!!
Just as I asked them to stop, the driver muttered "I know her!"...We stopped, hugged, and had a happy reunion. It turned out the guy used to work with Maayan.What a hilarious meeting!!
Anyway, we went to the visitor's center, and talked for a while, standing outside, when this hugest of birds crossed the sky in a magnificent flight.
It was so impressive!
well, like with the whales, I saw only one (I think I saw more, far away,but I'm not sure) but it was so magnificent!!
After a pathetic attempt to see penguins in the daytime, Maayan drove me back to Dunedin, where we parted.
After spending a few hours there I carried on north...
I was taken by Graham.
A nice happy guy, of about 50 years old, glad to share his life experience. We had a lovely chat.
He was going to Palmerston, but I asked him about penguins, and so he took me to a place called tavora reserve, where you can see some.
I pitched my tent, and went to the beach. I spent ~2 hours there, in a light rain, watching the sunset and a few yellow-eyed-penguins.
It was so good!!
Being there, in a beautiful place, not mentioned in the guide books (though a British couple came there as well), watching them penguins...
Such a great feeling.
In a way, getting there, pitching my tent like that, and watching the penguins was the essence of my traveling.
I like hitchhiking so much. & travelling for that matter :)
Next day I woke up early and went to see the sunrise from that beach.Beautiful!And, I saw some more penguins. One of them was standing in the sameplace as last night, and I\'m guessing he was nesting...
Trying to get as close as possible I scared off a seal and a baby seal...
Later I did a short walk around, and saw some more seals & penguins.
afterwards I hitchhiked back to Amberley, and again, met Caroline aday earlier than was planned.
The following day was Feb. the 3rd.
Yuval is coming.
Caroline was on call, so we could do what we want as long as we don't go too far...
So we had a relaxing day.
In the evening we got some ice cream, watched "The World's Fastest Indian" and waited for Yuval.
We picked him up from the airport at ~1:30, and came back.
We talked almost until 4 am before going to sleep...
Next day we met Maayan, and went on some new adventures.
New adventures - new post...
But let's see what did we have in this post...
2 glaciers, 1 albatross, a happy if short reunion, yellow-eyed-penguins, seals, another reunion, and a great feeling of doing the right thing for me.
:)
the relevant albums (old ones, you might have seen them) -
the last part of http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b3257d94c4a5 (only the glaciers)
and http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b325646705f2
posted by הזידנרים at 2:42 PM
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