The End?

well... after another short day in hong-kong (on new year's eve - the Chinese one - "Year of the Rat") the trip is over.

going over all my pictures now and sorting them. telling the same stories for the eleventh time, every time to a different person (or atleast so i hope, i might be telling the same story to the same person all the time, and that will be boring for him at some point)

i'll probably add one last post to summarize it all - but it might take me a while...

so that's it, for know...

Christchurch, Final Destination

nothing much to say about christchurch. i havn't stayed here for that long and most of the time it was just packing up and doing final preperations for my flight back... nothing much to tell about christchurch, kinda boring here. it's a city - what do you expect?

i stayed in jail here, kinda cool - they took one old historic jail and transformed it to a backpacker's. a bit odd sleeping in a cell and seeing bars on the doors, but amusing non the less (well, we watched "Shawshank Redemption", which was good for the occasion).

lets do a quick summary of NZ in numbers:

• 40 days (not including Hong kong)
• drove 4444 km (needed to drive half an hour around town for that)
• approx. 200-300 km by foot on tracks
• 26.5 kg in my luggage (almost needed to overweight, but convinced them it is hiking equip)
• 50$ worth of food thrown (or given) away on the last day
• 1315 pictures
• 4GB of images
• 13 posts

now i'm back in hong kong, starting to cellebrate the new year of the rat and then back to israel... on the plane here we were only 17 passengers, so it was kinda intimiate. i've never been on a plane where we all played cards, taki, chess, checkers and such - what a friendly enviroment...

i think that's it for now... pictures will follow...

The Cook-Kaikora Days

well, after dunedin suddenly i realized i'm running out of time. and like every good israeli tourist. i wanted to make as much as possible. so i've decided i'll go to mt. cook and then to kaikora in 1 day (including side trips). well, i forgot to check and see that it's actually about 600 km, with all the side trips i wanted to do. so it was a long day, but kinda nice.

on the way to mt. cook they have those rocks shaped like animals, nice - but not as magnificent as the mountain itself...

on kaikora i had only some luck with all my plans. i went swimming with seals, which was really amazing (but sadly, no pictures) and then i went on a whale watch. now - imagine this: rough sea, bad weather (but i already got used to that on my "Once in a lifetime" attractions...) and they issued a specific warning that "YOU ARE VERY LIKELY TO SUFFER FROM SEA-SICKNESS ON THIS CRUISE". and one dumb tourist (NOT ME!) decided he wants to go. half an hour later, he starts to become sea-sick. and then he panics about it, and then he faints. we all returned to the shore without watching a whale. the funny thing is that his girlfriend told us he ALWAYS gets sea-sick in boats... damn tourists!

just before i haded back to christchurch, i went to a sheep-shearing show. i wanted to shear one myself, but they didn't allowed it here on this place :(
and now, for the last place i'll be in NZ - christchurch...

-- Pictures --

Dunedin, not Danidin!

well, after many isralis calling this city on the name of the invisible child, i decided i'll start a campaign against it. but then i thought about it for a while and decided that it will be a waste of time. dunedin is a small city, and by saying that i mean it is quite big in new-zealand terms, it has quite a few streets in, but the main street is still the highway - and nothing much to do around...

on the way to the city, i've drove through the "Presidential Highway" (a road connecting two small towns named Gore and Clinton - and i don't know which was named first, them or the highway) - after that it suddenly hit me, the KIWIs (that's how the NZ people call themselves) are really looking for something to hold on to, something to be proud of. here are a few examples:

• i've been swimming in "The second most deepest lake in the northern part of the southern lands in the south island".
  
• i drank (and pointed to this place by the depatment of conservation) in a pub signed "A Historic Pub" - since the 1950's!
  
• they are really fanatic about rugby (and just try to say a word about the "All Black" rugby team...) - and c'mon, it's just rugby! they are almost the only country playing!

--- pictures... ---

an old cathedral they are proud of, 100 years old...

a sea lion which had enough of israelis taking he's picture (we were about 8...)

just the view in Dunedin

a tour to a beer brewery - "Speight's - The Pride of the south" (!?)

they drink the beer without head at all!

can't remember why i took this picture, but it was a bit to the end of the tour...

the gardens of Dunedin

luckily i saw the sign, i alomst drove over a pinguin. killing an endanegerd animal was not in my To-Do list...

the MILF ORD track

well, the track was great, but it's almost the same as the routeburn track, so i don't really get what the big fuss is about. after the track i did a cruise on the fiord, and that was the most expensive nap i have ever had, no doubt about it...

on the way to the milford sound, near the road there is a sign (which i did had the time to picture):

Next 100 Kilometers:
0 Doctors
0 Hospitals
1 Cemetery
Drive Carefully!

i found that amuzing...

-- and the pictures --

on the boat to the start of the track:

from the track itself:

a WEKA bird:

some more scenery:

helen, a scotish girl which brought a 6-pack of beer for a 4 days hike:

on the way back...

on the motel again:

kayaking in the doubtful sound (just south of the milford sound):

That's all for now...

Liron.

Cat-Diddly-Lins

just after a few days in the catalins now and arrived to te-anau, just before the Milford track.
(i intentionally ignore invercargill - were i spent a night before and after the catlins - because with a name like that and nothing to do - it deserves to be ignored).

not much to tell, area with great views, many wildlife and a hostel i was the only one attending (even the owner checked me in through the phone and asked me to leave the money on the bed)

i missed some of the places due to the tide, it still surprises me that there are places you can only go in specific hours, that change daily, because they are flooded on high tide...

-- straight to the pictures --

on the road:
the black sheep of the family:
a water-dog:
i had to post this:
wind beaten forest:
read yourself:
magnificent waves up 10 meters of cliffs!
the longest sea-weed i could imagine:
a real seal:
a more cooperating seal:
dumb goat:
on the way, i needed to stop aside and let some sheep pass:
so i waited:
and finally:
i know who will laugh at that...
cute yellow-eyed penguins:

that reminded me of a scene from an old game, can't remember which:
rock nuggets:
bored, really bored, waiting for low tide...
dogs, nothing much, just surrounded the car and didn't let me go. i think they have mistaken it for a sheep:
a sea lion, amazing beast:
a sea lion, just before it barks at me, and driving me away. weren't they supposed to roar?