First Week Queenstown

You'd think that being in a new country for a week would have seen me post things regularly on new and exciting experienced I did in that time. Unfortunately, this last week was not the norm in that regard. For starters, I got sick. Badly. A cold which a few others in the hostel also caught. The first day with it, I had committed two others taking a walk with me up a hill behind Queenstown to have a look down. A short way up I had to stop, as I noticed that the exercise was not doing me any favours what so ever. From that point on Emma (Aussie) and Adam (UK) carried on alone and I just wanted to walk back and get in to bed. Unfortunately that would have meant I would have been out of food, which is probably not the best thing to be when sick in bed. Swung by the supermarket and bought a few things before getting back to the hostel and bed. I slept for a good portion of the day, but as a result my jet lag (still I reckon) came in to play and I couldn't sleep the rest of the night.

Due to bad luck I had to take an hour bus trip to the next town the following day, reason being to open a bank account. Now, opening a bank account seemed like such a simple thing. At least it was in Australia. On my second day here I walked off all the banks in Queenstown and the results weren't promising. Westpac had declined straight away. Company policy dictated that I couldn't open a bank account before having a job (along that line) and, well, it's extraordinary difficult to get a job without a bank account. Ergo, problem?! The next largest bank, the ANZ, didn't have a spot free to open an account until three weeks later, which is a very long time to go with pulling funds from over seas. The other bank, a bit smaller, Kiwibank couldn't give me an appointment for a similar long time. In the end I organised an appointment in the next town in Cromwell, where I could go and get everything done four days later. The bank problem seems to be a Queenstown exclusive, as stories I've heard from backpackers in Auckland say that they got in when they walked in to the banks.

Anyways, in the end I went to Cromwell with a cold to open a bank account. There are two buses, one in the morning going there and one in the evening coming back. End of line. Brilliant for when one is not felling to well (sarcasm). What was nice about the journey, though, was that we had a funny and talkative bus driver, which in my situation was really a relief. Also the scenery along the route was stunning. We passed wine fields and bungee drops over clear rivers where rafting and kajaking is possible. All surrounded by the South Islands mountains. I can't wait to travel in an own vehicle again. 

In Cromwell I actually managed to get a bit more than the bank account done. As if to make up for all the bad felling from being ill, I got a lot of good new that day. I'd found out I could get a bit more money from Oz than originally anticipated, due to superannuation I was never going to need. I got my tax file number sorted out, which was made a lot easier with me just having been in the bank and I re-read a job interview invitation I have for a ski field I applied for. Once back I then just dropped in to bed again.

The next few days saw me recuperating and generally not doing a lot past sleeping, reading and watching videos. Most of my survival in that time was in tea, honey and raw lemons, but as of today I feel a lot better.

The past days have been cooling off and just today we have had the first bit of snow on the mountains. Here is to hope to a good season, and quite a few other backpackers are also getting a bit hyped up due to the snow. A lot of people are itching to get on to the snow fields.  

Flight to New Zealand

The first blog from New Zealand for me. After an agonising long time.

First the background check of what has been going on these past couple of days and what it has taken to get here. About five months ago I had decided to go to New Zealand after my time in Australia. After all they are close together. First of visa, that took a while to do. As people from the UK are allowed to stay two years, I wanted to take my British citizenship and apply to NZ same as in Australia. Unfortunately I don't qualify as a UK citizen, as I have been living in Germany. So after a lot of scrambling around with the German embassy and getting passports sorted out internationally, I got to go to NZ as a German.

Next thing was flight and I reckon I got a really good deal with that one. Due to me knowing pretty sure four months before that I wanted to go to NZ I booked a flight fast and had it go via China (to visit Rhiannon) and Germany (to visit everyone else). In the end I paid 1200€ all together, not bad in my books, considering it was Quantas and British Airways I was flying with, too.

After a 35 hour long travel of which 26 were spent in the plane I got my first eye on New Zealand, the South Island more precise as I was flying in to Queenstown. My body was fed up with planes, me being tall not helping at all. My stomach had had enough of plane food, too. Nothing against what they served, it was very nice, but in the end I wanted something which I could spread out more. Airports just served very pricey things.

The first things I saw coming down in the plane were the tall mountains, which we actually ended up flying through to get to the airport of Queenstown. The top of these mountains is not covered in trees, but only in what looks to be grasses. Lower down the trees start showing up with roads and small towns in them. 

Upon touchdown my neighbouring passenger seemed relived, he didn't seem to like the landing much. Can't say the same for myself, as I have flown so many times now throughout my live I'm desensitise to a lot of the quirks of flying. On the plus side we had a nice sunny day, too, so the views on to the surrounding and the planes reactions were superb.

Upon disembarking the plane we passengers walked along the tar to the terminal to pick up our luggage. I myself was relieved to see my backpack come, as the last time I had seen it was Munich, on the other side of the planet. Picked it up and proceeded through the document check system. For some reason I had the jitters a bit, but there was no reason for that, as everything I had done and supplied was correct and accounted for. Due to that I had no issues what so ever passing through, the only thing I couldn't answer positively was that I had a job or knew someone. That didn't seem to matter to much, so a short while later I stood in the main terminal. I was surprised a bit by the sheer amount of police present for such a small airport, but then again, a lot of people were around that day. Grabbed some money from an ATM machine to pay for any bus or taxi feeds and then outside the airport I had a quick ring around a couple of Queenstown hostels.

A week prior to my flight I started looking at accommodations, which was probably not the best thing I did. Due to an extreme lack of misfortune, everything had been booked out in Queenstown. Everything in my price range at least. I chatted with my Lesley about it (my aunt), who had been to Queenstown before, and she found an accommodation which was the cheapest of the pricey ones. In the end I booked one night in Wanaka, a town an hour and a half’s drive from Queenstown, just in case I found nothing on my arrival or the authorities wanted some proof I had where I was going. In the end though, I got an accommodation in Queenstown, as someone had backed out. Pretty much exactly what I had been aiming for. Also Queenstown probably has the advantage that it is the bigger of the two towns, so to set up things like banks accounts and such it may be a bit better.

Caught a bus, on which I had my fist taste of Kiwi English in Kiwi-land. A guy I had worked with before was and spoke like a guy from New Zealand, but with this bus driver I really noticed. Got dropped of at the hostel I booked in and arranged my room and all. After getting to my bed, I pretty much just lay in it and slept. Waking up two hours later to get my clothes of whilst everyone else went out for some drinks. I myself was just to knackered from 35 hours of travelling.

The next day saw me getting up earlier than everybody else. Most likely due to my screwed up biological clock and partly probably because of them all having been out the night before. I must have been one of the only backpackers awake at that time, as after having some breakfast provided by the hostel (jam sandwich) I went out for a bit of a walk. Sometime throughout the night I developed a headache, probably thanks to not hydrating enough the day before. Drank a lot and had a walk in fresh air. Looking at the scenery again I was reminded of Johannas words, that Queenstown very much looks like Nesselwang. I can happily agree to that, as I really like mountains and snow. The snow part is still missing, but the mountains and forests are more than making up for it for now.

Walked along the shore of Lake Wakatipu for a very short while, as I had to be back at the hostel for checkout. Checked around the town a bit, too, to see where most of the important things are located. Back at the hostel checked out and then walked to the hostel I was staying in for a week. Check in at that hostel was at 3PM, so I was way to early. But in the meantime I left my bags there and went shopping for some food. Had a bit more of a look around the town at the same time, too. From what I can gather of the people there are a lot of tourist here at the moment, as I saw a lot of Asian looking people and heard a bit of Dutch (I think) and German. If the stories of past people I have met in Australia are true, then NZ is full of Germans anyway (again). Did a bit of light shopping nearly had a heart attack looking at the prices, but later on other backpackers told me that it's just Queenstown which is this pricey.

Back at the hostel I just had to wait a short while and then got my room allocated. Fist thing I did was have a shower to clean of nearly two days of travelling before sitting down to write the blog.  

Sailing Croatia Day 14: Cuscica Bay – Biograd Marina

The last day and I tried to have a bit of a sleep in. For some reason I was felling a bit under the weather again. But at one point dad asked quietly if I was awake, with a positive answer, so I got up and helped him bring up the anchor. Daniel must have heard the call, too, as pretty much when I got up he was out of bed, too. Once we got under way not much happened to me, personally. Due to being lethargic I spent most of the last day lying in my cot with a book at hand. I wasn't the only one felling a bit under, as most of everyone else also didn't do to much. Later on in the day I was called up to the deck, as Rhiannon went higher up the mast than before. Whilst helping her up another boat passed us and the skipper jokingly asked if we were searching for bananas. Once up I left to get back in to bed, but was called out later as a small school of dolphins passed by. These were a lot more active than all the previous ones we had seen, probably because there were more of them. A couple of tail slaps on the water later we carried on, me back in bed until we nearly reached Biograd. Rhiannon had been doing most of the last stretch and I got to go in to the marina.

What a chaos. We had to dodge multiple boats hanging around the exit of the marina. One backed in to the marina at hight speed from a couple of hundred metres outside the marina walls. Once we managed to get close to the entrance a catamaran came out backwards. Don't know what was going on there, but everybody seemed to like the reverse gear. Once in another came boat came screaming from the left, backwards of course and we nearly had a collision.

Pretty happy once we got in to the bay we had allocated to us. Once all things had been checked, electricity, fuel, water and the cars still being there we had a bit of free time before we all went out in the evening to dinner. After eating in a nice pizzeria with large pizzas we returned back to the boat for the last night. Took a while to get there as the city was celebrating Easter, and a lot of residence were walking from the church to somewhere.

Back a the boat a comfortable sleep before getting up early in the morning and heading home with Daniel and Annalena on a ten hour trip. After being in Oz for so long, ten hours doesn't seem like to much, though.

Track at GPSies.

Weather sailing: Nice day with a bit of sailing and motoring.

Weather driving: Rainy most of the way.  

Sailing Croatia Day 13: Jezera Marina – Cuscica Bay

Two more days of sailing to go, before we head back in to Biograd an the end of the holiday. Due to the “accident” yesterday we got away a bit later than planned, as the marina tried and managed to contact the owner of our neighbouring boat a bit later in the morning. Seems to be no big issues, so we set of at around midday. The wind was not up to the game, as it was yesterday, so we had an easy time motoring out of the marina. Unfortunately this also meant that sailing proved rather difficult. We still passed the start of a small regatta, which were using all the wind that they could catch in the sails.

Out in open there was a bit of a breeze, but not to much. Still, whilst dad sailed across a lot of the open water stretch towards Zut Island, all the rest of us played a game of Phase 10. At one point we heard a loud engine sound and in the distance a coastguard vehicle could be seen approaching. Got a few pictures of it passing and caught the tail wave of it a few moments after it passed close by.

Once we reached the shores of Zut we had two ways of going around the island, west or east. The east was open towards all the rest of Croaita with a few boats around (former mentioned military boat still making a noise) and the west was a small path between two island. We choose the west way. Along the way we had to switch the engine on at one point, too, and as the wind left us shortly after we motored up all the way to the bay we stayed in. Along the way Daniel got it in his head again that he wanted to have some water contact. So as we travelled along we let the back down and he could stick his head and feet in.

Arriving at the island we were in debate if you could anchor or not. One out of three of our maps said no, but there was no sign to tell us not to. Also someone else was there already, but one should never rely on that. Dropped the anchor in four metres of water the first time, but after we had let out the correct length of chain for that depth (5x) I saw us being to close to the rocks on the side of the bay. So the anchor came back up again and we dropped it in six metres, which left a bit more space to the edge.

Shortly after all of us except dad went ashore to explore the area a bit. Dad stayed in case the boat got free. Walking was an interesting thing, as the land is treacherous. Most of the time we walked across thin sheets of stones that stuck up, due to the way the mountains go in to the water. But we had some stunning views down the route we came up with the boat. A few small remote farms with stone walls splitting up the island. I guess that the farmers bring their stock out here in summer, when the temperatures are milder. Reminded me of Scotland and Dad said it bought up memories of the Falkland Island.

Once we arrived back at the boat, Annalena and Dad cocked up some tea, pasta again. But after a nice filling meal and some desert we went to bed after playing a game of Phase 10.

Track at GPSies.

Weather: Sunny with a few wisps of cloud, light wind in the morning, no wind in the afternoon.  

Sailing Croatia Day 12: Zirje Island – Jezera Marina

Dad and Daniel were once again the first ones awake, whilst I just laid in bed reading a book. The evening before we had agreed that we would lie in a bit, so the motor was started up somewhere closer to nine o'clock than the usual one hour earlier than that. Whilst we motored out I had gotten everything on and was up on deck with the other two boys. Just outside the bay the wind picked up considerably and the sails went up shortly later. Annalena woke up due to that (maybe) and Rhiannon got up a while later, too. Due to the winds Daniel was surfing along the water at six knots later on, to much for breakfast, so we waited until the wind went down a bit after the next tack and had something to eat then.

Our general aim was to head towards the marina on Murter, but due to the strong winds and early start we had loads of time left. The wind died down shortly after, too, so we stopped at a lagoon on Kaprje. Dad and Rhiannon walked around the island a bit whilst Daniel went for a swim in my wetsuit. Annalena and me watched him from deck.

Once the two island explorers had returned I got on the wet wetsuit (juck) and hopped in. Fortunately Dad and Rhiannon had bought me a stone, just enough for me to be able to dive a bit. First time going down I had to hold back from breathing, as the last times I went down in my wetsuit I had a tank on the back. Dived under the boat a few times and had a look at the anchor.

Back on the boat Rhiannon had a go with swimming, too, and eventually saw that the water wasn't to cold in a wetsuit.

After we got her on board and dried Annalena pulled up the anchor and we set of toward the marina. And what a speed we had. Racing along Rhiannon eventually reached seven knots on the GPS, a speed we hadn't reached previously. Quite a few others were around, too, most of them with reefed sails, but we had a short bit of fun next to another boat doing the same as we were.

Getting closer to the marina dad took over the helm and probably good he did to. The wind was less than ideal coming in and following the (misguided) advice of one of the employees we ended up scraping alongside another boat. No to large damage done in the end and whilst the rest went shopping I looked after the boat.

Once they came back we set of for some dinner at a local restaurant. Back at the boat more computer stuff whilst Daniel was watching football.

Track at GPSies.

Time 4 hours 30 min.

Weather: Sunny day with lots of wind.  

Sailing Croatia Day 11: Drvenik Island – Zirje Island

For some reason I was pretty knackered again waking up in the morning. Might be due to the anchor warning going of again three times in the night, due to lost GPS signal. Can not be because of the anchor dragging, as when I checked it the night before going to bed I had a clear view of the chain lying on the ground with the full moon light illuminating it.

Daniel and Dad were awake before everyone else, so when they started getting the boat ready for leaving I managed to get out of bed. Daniel drove us out of the bay and nearly immediately we had decent wind. Annalena and Rhiannon had woken up by then, too, so we were all enjoying breakfast. Due to that reason the sails didn't go up until the meal had finished. But when they did we had the good wind the whole time. With a wind coming from behind we shot past the church/lighthouse island we had passed on our way south and Primosten was left behind fast, too. Along the way it was discussed if we should go to a marina again, or camp out in a bay. As Daniel wanted to go to Zrce we headed that way. A few hours before arriving he realised that there are two named like that. It's written differently, but sound the same. So we carried on on our way to Zirje. As we had only bought the food to survive until to the next marina in Hvar, we had to go shopping on the way. I offered Kaprje, as Dads navigation book said it's got a supermarket there. Shortly before arriving Daniel red in the book again, that it can be difficult to get in there with larger boats. So our grocery aim turned to Muna, on Zirje island.

Getting in was a bit hairy, as the wind wasn't in our favour but we managed to land directly in front of the supermarket. Which was just being filled up. I managed to charge my laptop to last another day and we got food for the night. Dad and I spent some time on the boat whilst the rest walked around the town. Once they came back we got ready to leave. We had a play full cat having a go at the end of the lines. The cat had tagged along with the others and was rather friendly.

Left the harbour and whilst four of us enjoyed a game of Skipo, Dad steered us around the island to another anchorage. We set speed records of 0.3 knots coming around there and when Dad later had a game with them and I steered that dropped down to zero. Motor on and we carried on around the island to our anchor place.

Second time anchoring on a boy and once again they are different. These ones you take the rope through a loop at the top and there are two you secure yourself on. Did that and whilst Rhiannon and Dad chilled on the boat, Annalena, Daniel and me went exploring in a cave in the side of the cliffs we had moored to.

Later on a good dinner prepared by Daniel and Annaena. Spaghetti with a sharp salami sauce.

Track at GPSies.

Time: 9 hours

Weather: Sunny blue sky day with ideal half wind. Enabled a constant four to five knot speed.  

Sailing Croatia Day 10: Palmizana Marina – Drvenik Island

Bit of a later morning. Stayed up until half past twelve, working on pictures, time lapses, blogs and tracks. So in the morning we left a bit late, with no breakfast, heading to Hvar. Just before leaving, though, we refilled the water tank and charged a couple of things in the last minutes.

Hvar was the target again, as Daniel and Annalena hadn't seen any city on the journey so far. Got to Hvar under motor, as the wind was nearly non-existent. In the city we backed in to a spot again, as the harbour seemed a bit empty at ten in the morning. Power on (again) and then we had a coffee and tea at a small cafe. Later on whilst the new two were exploring the city and went up to the fortress, us other three took a walk to the other side of the hill and got a picture across the city. Back down at the harbour we got some breakfast at the local bakery which was consumed back on the boat. Then some shopping in the local supermarket, aptly named “Konzum”. My plan for the evening was to cook some pasta carbonara, but non of the supermarket sell the pre-finished sauce. A quick Google in the local WiFi and I had the receipt for the sauce.

Back on the boat Annalena manoeuvred us out and then later on we put up the sails on her watch, too. The first mile of driving straight took some getting used to, as the boat reacts in a certain way, but she is getting better and better.

Shortly later we sailed along at just under three knots on our way to Drvenik. The next hours were spent just lazing around in the sun. Dad and me steered most of the time whilst the other three played Skipo. Later on Rhiannon wiped up a fruit salad which was consumed just as we passed through a narrow gap in between two island. Out behind the island we could already see our anchor point and Daniel spotted a super yacht anchored in there. We managed to squeeze past it and whilst Daniel and me stood at the helm, Dad and Rhiannon dropped the anchor.

Once secured I got ready to cook up dinner and Daniel rowed both girls over to the island for them to have a look around. Dad was content with staying on the boat and taking pictures of the rising moon.

Dinner ready the others came back and we had a full stomach after a while with the super yacht taking, what seemed like, pictures toward our boat.

Track at GPSies.

Time: 7 hours

Weather. Sunny blue sky day with a little wind.