11 days until I’m finished work…
17 days until I will be waiting anxiously at the Vancouver
airport…
19 days until I arrive in Auckland…
24 days until I depart on my first Great Walk down in Te
Anau, NZ… (Eww that seems so far away!)
Speaking of Te Anau, who would have ever thought it was such
a hassle to get down to the South Island?!
The other night I was sitting around, and I got this nagging feeling
that I should look into island transportation.
So here’s a lesson for those who are reading… TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS!
Thank GOODNESS I decided to do some snooping around. Turns out that NZ’s transportation system
books up very quickly! I am travelling
down to Te Anau with Intercity Coachlines, which is the “Greyhound” of New Zealand. Anyways, I had booked my Kepler Track walk
for the 8th of March, assuming that would leave me plenty of time to
get down to my south island destination.
WRONG!
All of the shorter bus rides were booked, and the only one
available was the “Starlighter” which is an overnight 11 hour ride to
Wellington, NZ’s capital. (At least it’s
somewhat cheaper!) Once in Wellington, I
have just over 3.5 hours until I catch the Interislander Ferry, which is rumored
to be one of the most beautiful ferry rides in the world! I will be welcomed
aboard the Arahura, one of the three ships of the Interislander fleet.
Below is a link that will take you to an interactive 360°
tour of the ship. Once the page is
loaded, close the little picture of the book in the foreground of the page and
explore! It’s pretty neat!
Alas, once I dock in Picton on the south island, I then miss the
next and only bus of the day by a mere half hour. Damn.
What does that mean? It means I
fork over the moola for one night of accommodation at one of the local hostels.
The next morn I catch a bus to
Christchurch, where I AGAIN miss the one and only bus for the day. Sheesh!
Can’t catch a break! PARTY IN CHRISTCHURCH that
night! ...not!
No really, it means $$CA-CHING!$$ Hand it over partner. You’ll be payin’ for another night on the
road. On the up-side, this hostel offers a choice
between camping or rooms. (Camping =
cheaper! Yay!) Mike and Irinka, the
owners of the hostel/campground seem to be pretty awesome, as they immediately
contacted me once I had booked and offered to pick me up for free from the
bus! Not to mention they apparently
offer free internet.
Once rested in Christchurch, I’ll be up eaaaaaarly again to
catch yet another bus to my final destination, Te Anau. Gateway to some of the best walks in New
Zealand, Te Anau is a small town located in Fiordland National Park on the
western side of the South Island. I have
yet another hostel booked, and it is there that I will rest my weary bones
before picking up my tickets at the DOC office. Then my adventurous trek of the Kepler Track can finally begin!
So if there was a lesson I’ve learned here, it’s to research
and book well in advance for mostly anything in New Zealand. But that being said, it’s a mistake I won’t
be making again, and what’s done is done.
There’s no use in banging my head against the wall over this crazy
travel route. I’m choosing to look at it
as an adventure!
Check out the image below to see how much of a journey it actually is to get from Auckland to Te Anau!
Hooray! (Goodbye!)
Hooray! (Goodbye!)
No comments:
Post a Comment