Seeing Is To Believe!
‘Travel becomes a strategy of accumulating photographs.’ – Susan Sontag
It’s hard to believe it’s only been five weeks since I left the UK and came to New Zealand. The time has gone both inexplicably fast and also very slowly, with each day lived to the fullest. Now, it’s time to take stock and look back on my first five weeks here, and to reflect on the fact that in this short space of time, I have not only already done five of my personal ten ‘must do’ things in New Zealand, but have also managed to fit in a whole lot more as well. It’s incredible what can be achieved when you get up before eight every morning and don’t sleep before eleven every night…
Today, I flicked back through my travel journal, as it is so far. Reading through it made me realise just how much I’ve done in such a short space of time. Today, I also sat on the bus from Queenstown to Mt Cook and reflected on my ‘old’ life. I feel like I have jumped off the merry-go-round, which was fun and I loved it, but the repetitiveness of it was beginning to tire me out, and I have now gone off into the fairground to explore the other rides, like the dodgems, the Ferris wheel and to sample the candy floss. I can always head back to the merry-go-round when I want to, but for now, I’m enjoying the new, exciting, more daredevil rides.
Within my first week in New Zealand, I visited Cape Reinga. Those of you who remember my top ten list know that this is on it – visiting to see the Tasman Sea meet the Pacific Ocean and potentially to throw a message in a bottle in… Unfortunately, I didn’t get to throw the bottle but I did see where the two bodies of water met. I’m afraid I was a little underwhelmed, although we were there on such a beautiful day that it hardly mattered, and the views were simply stunning across the ocean. However, truthfully, I preferred the beach we visited half an hour later and where we ate our picnic lunch, because it was so clean and the sand was so white and the water pristine.
About two weeks later, I found myself in Kaikoura, about to board a boat that would take us out into the Pacific Ocean on the hunt for whales. I was really excited – I have wanted to see a whale for myself for years and finally, it was happening! The boat was small and as we sped out into the open sea, the huge waves threw us about so violently that those with weaker stomachs began to throw up. I myself was feeling queasy, but my excitement mounted as we got closer and closer to the whale we were hoping to see. The atmosphere on board the boat was tense – everyone was as keen as me to see a whale! And finally, somewhere shouted an alert and there he was – Tiaki, a ‘resident’ male Sperm whale. I was definitely not underwhelmed this time!! The experience was wonderful – Tiaki was stunning. We were lucky to see a pod of dolphins swimming alongside him, which just emphasised his magnificent size and the scale of him. All too soon, he readied himself to dive… I got the money shot of his tail as it flipped up in one powerful farewell salute and for those magical five minutes, I forgot about my queasiness. A wonderful moment, one to cherish.
Franz Josef was next. Walking on the Franz Josef glacier was, perhaps, the activity I had looked forward to the most. For days, we had driven through beautiful landscapes shaped by ice. Now, I would be walking on the very ice that carved out the deep valleys and left behind crystal blue rivers that ran through piles of rocks and stones. Unfortunately, the night before, I decided that it was the perfect time for a drink… Or ten!! The day of the glacier walk I was so hungover I couldn’t keep food down. Error!! Nevertheless, as I donned my crampons following the short helicopter ride to the glacier, my excitement overtook my nausea. We dived straight in and slid through a crevasse almost immediately, struggling through particularly narrow areas and momentarily wondering if we were going to get stuck. No-one did, we popped out seconds later, thrilled. Near the top of the glacier, my hangover overtook me once more and I had to stop to rest. The rest of my group continued and I waited for someone to come and fetch me and take me on a shorter loop back down the glacier. In many respects, I kind of lucked out. My new guide told me so much about the glacier that I wouldn’t have learnt if I’d stayed with the group, and as I was feeling rough, we stopped more, allowing me to enjoy my surroundings more easily and thoroughly. It truly was beautiful – all blue ice, deep dark crevasses and huge boulders. A rumble behind us caused us to turn and watch as a huge chunk of ice fell away from the glacier, disintegrating as it tumbled. Back at the helicopter pad, I felt lucky to have experienced the glacier with my guide, although still a little embarrassed. We waited for the rest of the group and talked about the fast retreat of the glacier and what was causing it. By the end, I felt sad to leave my guide and sad to step off the ice and back into the helicopter. A magical experience, and one definitely best enjoyed with a clear head and a full stomach!!
