Bluff and Orca

Five hours after my first lift I arrived into Bluff, New Zealand's southern most town. On first appearances Bluff is a place that looks down on it's luck - A grotty harbour town with empty shops and closed down hotels. It epitomised my gloomy mood following attempts to hitch a ride out of Dunedin.

But first impressions  can be deceiving, and following my first good night's sleep in quite a while, I was ready to explore Bluff the next morning.

The sea was calm, the birds cheerfully tweeting, fishing boats were going about their business, and the day-trippers were getting their photos taken at the yellow distance sign - It's 4810km to the South Pole, and 1401km to Cape Reinga, New Zealand's most northerly point.

Bordering the Bluff coastline is Bluff Hill, with walking tracks heading off in all directions. In times gone by it has been used by Maoris as a whaling post, and by the military as a lookout - The 'gun pits' with their grey concrete daubed in grafitti look quite out of place on the tree covered hill, but provided a great chance to explore. And explore them, in their small entirety, I did!

I walked and explored the area for a good four or five hours - Nothing particularly exciting about that. But, on my walk back along the coast, with a sheer drop into the ocean on my right and forest to my left, I heard an extra loud splash. I looked, and could see nothing (at first). Not even a freak wave. Then something caught my eye in the water - A whale? I continued looking, and there in front of me an Orca came up for air! A brief, but exciting glimpse. My first orca sighting! I watched as the fin settled back into the water and the orca swam off. With an extra bounce in my step I bounded off back to the bakcpackers.

And tomorrow, after a call to the British embassy, I'll be hitting the road to Queenstown! Bring it on!

A Night Under The Stars

I'd been on the Inter Islander ferry three or so months ago - Going the opposite way, upto Wellington to look for work, and a flat share. Now 'm back on it and looking forward to new adventures, exploring the South Island again.

I hadn't an idea where I wanted to go when I first disembarked, so I asked the first few lifts to take me somewhere nice. They did. Three lifts, and one travel companion later, I was in the mountains near Motueka, bedding down for a night under the stars - Just me, my bivvi bag and the wilderness. I was in the middle of nowhere - No cars, no other people, no streetlights - Just me and the clearest night sky I have ever seen! I witnessed multiple shooting stars, and I swear, with each blink of an eye, more stars presented themselves to me. I was so amazed, mesmerised, fascinated, whatever you will, by the sky that, despite the threat of rain, I left the zip on the bag open - Even the many bites I woke up to in the morning couldn't dampen my spirit.

And in the morning, after about 5 or 6 hours sleep I made my way down to the creek - About a minute away from my bed for the night - for fresh drinking water and a wash. I was in heaven! Freezing cold heaven, but heaven all the same!

I spent the next few days hitching rides between rivers and beaches along the north and east coasts; topping up my tan in Kaiteriteri, witnessing seals in the wild on the deserted beaches just outside Kaikoura, and marvelling at Gore Bay's wild waves. I then decided it was time to head to Dunedin - It was time for a beer or six.

My lift to Dunedin was with Cam, a 17yr old lad, who'd just returned to school after the 3month summer/Christmas break! The time flew by as we chatted about the great hikes, fishing and hunting in the Oamaru/Dunedin areas. I was quite envious of all the pursuits Kiwis get up to in the great outdoors.

*Sorry, no pictures - My camera's still good for nothing except drunken pics on a night out*

A (very) Brief Update

Well, it's been quite a while since my last blog post, so I'll have a go at very briefly summarising since leaving The Sandcastle; New Zealand have won the World Cup, I've lived in, worked in, and since left Wellington, I've met some fantastic people, I'm still poor, got drunk a lot (probably related to the previous point), and I now find myself back in the South Island.

Now I'm back on the road intention is to try and keep this regularly updated. Let's see how that goes.