Adventures in NZ (Part 3)

I stayed at this hostel in Invercargill which was runned by 2 amazing Americans. They actually sailed all the way from the states to NZ!! Total journey was 3 months, where the last month the guy sailed alone cos they got too bored while sailing and an accident happened and the woman had to be evacuated after they reached the polynesian islands. But its really damn amazing how they sailed all the way over. I really pity the guy tho cos in the last month not only was he alone on the sail boat, he also did not meet a single other vessel along the way.

Well since we are on hostels, I cannot remember which one I stayed at, but it was really cool with a nice basement which was like those kind of old dusty English basement style.

Can seriously be used for a horror movie man

I also met a bunch of Taiwanese and 1 Malaysian who were here on a work holiday visa. So most of them were working on a cherry farm where they will be picking and packing cherries. And apparently some of the cherries are as large as your fist!!!! Can you imagine that? You won't be able to find it easily in NZ as they export most of them to countries like Japan and the States. Why? Cos of profits! Apparently cherries are not sold by weight in Japan, but by the quantity of cherries. So while they do sell some of them locally, most of the best cherries are actually exported.

Anyways before this the Taiwanese were travelling in a large group of 11. OMG I wonder how they ever got things moving man. Haha 11 is really a large group. Haha can form a tour group already. Well we chatted till late into the night before we all turned in.

Free and lovely home-made bread for breakfast

In the end, I decided to give Stewart Island a miss as the ferry ticket was too expensive! Besides I was running out of time due to the detour to Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook and Stewart Island can be visited during winter as well. Oh well if I really was gian to go can always go down again during winter.

So the next morning I explored Invercargill a bit. Seriously this town has absolutely nothing to do at all. Haha its really pretty boring tho the stuff here are cheap mainly because this city has the lowest property prices compared to all other big cities in NZ.

Oh I also visited the Queen's Park where I saw a high tech toilet there. It's like those that you hear about in Japan where everything is automated. The weirdest feature is that the toilet door is auto locking and automatically opens after a certain time regardless of whether you are ready or not. Haha I'm sure it has been the cause of some embarrassment at some point or another.

Anyways I drove on down to Te Anau late morning. First thing I did was to go to the DOC office to confirm my trek on the Routeburn Track which I booked long ago. At the same time, I also checked if there were any last minute cancellation for the Milford Track. And for the first time on this trip, lady luck was smiling on me!! There was a cancellation for 1 person the following Thursday. Wah mai tu liao I straight away booked.

For those who are wondering what is the big hoo ha, well the Milford Track is like the Kindabalu track(or worse actually). Apparently when the booking season for summer opened in Jul, it is generally fully booked within a month or less. So to get a last minute cancellation is really darn lucky for me! Haha Te Anau is like a main trekking point with thousands of routes around here.

Anyways my plan will be to go for a day trip up Mount Luxmore the next day, do the 3 days 2 nights Routeburn trek after that, rest for a day and then do the 4 days 3 nights Milford track after that.

Before I end of, some pictures of Te Anau Lake.