"Kia Ora" or welcome in Maori to the second post about our trip to New Zealand (Aotearoa or "Land of the Long White Cloud" in the Maori language). After our trip on Doubtful Sound, we continued our journey towards Queenstown, the touristic capital of the South Island. In and around Queenstown, you can do plenty of activities such as the famous bungy jumping (invented there), shotover jet boat trips, wine tastings, etc. We opted for the boat trip, another NZ invention, and managed to squeeze in a quick trip to the Peregrine winery. After 2 relaxing days in this touristic but pleasant town (also great food), we continued north via Cardrona valley (where we stopped for a short horse ride) and Lake Wanaka towards the Franz Joseph glacier, located on the other side of Southern Alps from the Aoraki Mt Cook village (see previous post). The highlight there was a so-called heli-hike on the glacier: you are dropped by a helicopter on the highest accessible point of the glacier for a trek on the ice (material provided). After this unique experience, we continued along the West Coast and stopped near Hokitika in a great bed & breakfast lodge. The next day, it rained heavily and we visited some interesting rock formations ("the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes") on the coast in awful rainy conditions. A long drive finally took us to the lovely city of Nelson in the north of the South Island where we walked by the jewelry store that made the ring for the "Lord of the Rings" movies. Next stop, after a short flight to the North Island was Wellington, the very charming capital city of New Zealand, with a Belgian Beer Bar (called "Leuven"!) as impressive asset in the nightlife. Another highlight for the amateurs is National museum Te Papa ("our place"): one of the main attractions is the "colossal squid", a monstrously big octopus measuring a few meters in length. The interactive museum also has great exhibits on the Maori culture and the history of NZ. After Wellington, we headed for the region around the Art Deco town of Napier, where we also explored the wineries of Hawke's Bay. The end was approaching, the only place left on our program before Auckland where we had to catch the plane back was Rotorua, a town with a lake and a sulphurous stench in the air: this is a very active geothermal area. The main highlight in Roturua next to the boiling mud pools and geysers is the local Maori cultural centre and museum Te Puia next to the geothermal nature park. They also keep some kiwi birds in captivity there and we managed to see one! Rain had accompanied us during the visit and also on the drive via Hamilton to Auckland, or the suburb Devenport to be more precise. After a quick stop in a centre about the Antarctic (Kelly Tartan) we headed to the very bead & breakfast in Devenport. After a final fine meal with NZ wine and a good night's sleep, we were ready for the 12h flight back to Bangkok... The pictures above are in random order and cover some of the sites described above.
During one of the recent long weekends, we made a trip to the Malaysian island of Penang ("Pulau Pinang"), close to the southern Thai border (West coast). Penang is a fascinating place with a mixture of different cultures, so typical of Malaysia ("Truly Asia" as the tourist ad says). The majority of the people on the island are of Chinese descent, but there are important Malay and Indian (Tamil) communities, each contributing in their own way to the local culture, which also has a lot of European colonial influences. Penang, and especially its capital, still carrying the somewhat archaic colonial name George Town, is listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO(together with the historical town of Melaka (Malacca), also in Malaysia) because of its unique cultural heritage and the fact that the old town (dating back mostly to the 18th century) has been very well preserved. The humid heat was beating down on us but we managed to see a good art of the town, which is easy to explore on foot or by rickshaw. A nice weekend out!
