South Island Log.

(March 18) I'm in Auckland, New Zealand. The campervan plan is back on the rails. In fact I'm hoping to check out a Nissan Vanette tonight. No sign of any VW Kombis. Then it's off to the South Island before winter kicks in to meet up with Brian Dillon and Jeremy Kelleher and Dave Leahy and any hitchikers who take my fancy enroute. The job should be in the bag (Intel, Auckland, SW Dev). Salary negotiations could be interesting. Chances of a trip to Dublin on business are slim, unless I join the customer services dept, not likely. My Ozzie mobile is out of commission, thanks to a sneaky charge slapped on by Vodafone Oz. Down there with Esat on the customer service front.


(March 22) I'm in Wellington and just about to get the ferry to the South Island. The van is going fine so far despite the 450,000 km on the clock. The good news is that the engine blew when Gina had it on the South Island the last time and it had to get fully reconditioned. It was unbelievably windy last night. I had to move the van to a more sheltered spot at about 3:30.
Vanette. I'm buying one like this tomorrow called Buck from Gina from San Francisco.







Went to the top of the Skytower with Gina today (03/19). Tallest structure in the hemisphere. Didn't bungy jump off though. I'll wait till Queenstown. Made the entry fee and more in the casino downstairs.










(March 23) I'm in Kaikura. About to walk out the peninsula and hopefully spot some whales/dolphins/seals. It's a beautiful sunny day with a slight nip in the air. Perfect for walking. I'm hoping to meet up with Brian Dillon later on for Saturday night Christchurch action.
This is what I want to see soon










(March 26) I'm in Dunedin. Just jogged up Baldwin St, the steepest street in the world. About to go busking and put this Kiwi love of Irish music to the test. Nice for a change cos I've been avoiding playing the Irish stuff in Oz. Brian Dillon is the latest passenger in Buck.


(March 27)Just up. Still in Dunedin. Gonna do some more wildlife watching this morning then off towards Invercargill. not sure whether we want to go to Stewart Island or not. We have to be in Queenstown by Friday so that Brian can pick up his Super 12 ticket for Sunday - Crusaders v Brumbies in Christchurch - big one. I'll be staying in the Queenstown area when he gets a bus up.


(April 2)I'm in Te Anau. A tourist town in Fjordland near a big lake. We went cruising on Milford Sound yesterday, myself, Brian and Ian from England who we met while hanging around in Invercargill for the Highlanders vs Chiefs game. It was my coldest experience since the blizzard in February 2001 (or maybe surfing in Mayo in November come to think of it) cold anyway. And its still cold. Gotta start heading North. Queenstown tomorrow. Bungy jump is the main event there. The Crusaders game was the one to go to. Last minute drop goal by the home team to win by a point after a big comeback by the Brumbies. Amazing rugby. Alles les vertes.


(April 3)Just arrived in Queenstown. Beautiful sunshine. It's still a little chilly, but not as bad as Southland. An English lad gave me an unused ticket for a bungy jump and booked in to do it as Yariv. I'll go for the "I left my ID in the hostel" story. If he asks any questions, I'll say I've an Israeli granny. It's the first bungy ever, off a bridge, I think you get your head wet, not the tallest at around 50m, but should be suitably terrifying. I stayed in a hostel last night for the first time since Christchurch. It was just too cosy, log fire, free pool, quality tunes/company. I'm ready to go back to the camping lifestyle tonight. This is the Karawau bungy jump bridge, the first one AJ Hackett jumped off. The whole place is AJ Hackett crazy. He's got his one brand of outdoor clothing, etc









(April 5)I'm in Wanaka. I did the bungy jump at Karawau Bridge yesterday as planned. I was so keen to get it over with I almost didn't wave to the camera. They were shouting as me to get my legs off the platform until the rope was on. The key is not to look down. I had planned to do a graceful swan dive, but when your jumping off that platform all thoughts of style go out of your head. The first few seconds were terrifying. A gale force wind blows through your ears. I think this was the point when my contacts flew out. Then there was a strange period of deceleration and I was wondering when I was going to hit the water. Then splash into a river of icy cold water. Bouncing back up out of the river was the highlight. There was a wonderful calmness and feeling of having survived. Unfortunately I couldn't see much without the contacts and again I didn't do much shaping. Into a dinghy and safely to shore. The video will be in the post to Blarney. I did the jump under the false name Yariv Cohen (luckily I didn't go for my original choice of Steinberg cos the signature would have been tough to reproduce). Thinking a still had another jump on the ticket, I went back to the office to get the ticket where I was informed that I'd already done my Ledge jump. Exit stage left. Went to puzzling world today in Wanaka. A good way of spending a rainy day. Wanaka seems to be a cooler, more laidback version of Queenstown as touted. One night here then on to the West Coast glaciers...


(April 6)I'm in the Franz Josef Township and I'm going a half day trek on the Franz Josef Glacier tomorrow. I wanted to go on a full day, but both Fox and FJ were booked out (just missed the last spot on FJ). Got a puncture today and had to but a new tyre, the first vehicle crisis. The drive from Wanaka to FJ was special, beautiful sunshine, great scenery. Brian and Ian (English bloke we met in Invercargill) are going on the helihike, I cant be convinced.


(April 11) I'm in Motueka at the start of the Abel Tasman Track. I'll be spending four nights from Friday in huts along the track, carrying my own food and cooking gear. It is the next level up from camper van dweller. Who knows maybe I'll be climbing Mount Cook next following in the great tradition of Rev. William Green who nearly got their first but got caught in a blizzard and had to spend the clinging on a ledge, beating his legs in order to stay awake and avoid falling to his death. Maybe I'll stick to sleeping in a campervan. I dropped Brian in Greymouth on Tuesday 9th, he should be in the North Island now. I dropped Ian in Westport the same day. So I've been in full control again for two days. Not a hostel in sight. I went glacier hiking last Monday on Franz Josef. Magic. Huge pinnacles of ice and crevasses in between. I was in the fast group. Our guide was cutting steps in the pinnacle when a lump of ice came free and he tumbled about twelve feet in front of me. He cut his arm and hurt his knee but battled on. The knee had already been injured when half a ton of ice fell on him one day. These were his only two accidents on seven years he said. When we met up with another group we joined them and he limped off to get a helicopter down. On board his chopper was a doctor we had met in Dunedin. Brian was in a different one. He had hurt his ankle during a squash lesson the day before.


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