Back home

After 42 hours of travel we are back home (a long stay in Sydney airport and a missed plane in London did help to reach that time). Travel has been fine, but I don't want to see plane food for a while...

Tras 42 horas de viaje, ya estamos de vuelta en casa (un largo transito en Sydney y un vuelo perdido en Londres ayudaron a conseguir esa duracion). El viaje fue bien aunque no quiero ver comida de avion durante un tiempo...

Wildlife along the east coast

There are many places along the east coast where wildlife can be observed:

• Watch furseals and spy on shy yellow eye penguins in the Catlins.
  
• Watch elegant royal albatros and noisy Cormoran colonies in Otago penninsula.
• Swim with dolphins and sail by whales in Kaikoura.
  

Hay muchos lugares a lo largo de la costa este donde se puede observar vida salvaje:

• Observar focas peludas y espiar a los tímidos pingüinos de ojos amarillos en los Catlins.
  
• Observar al elegante albatros real y a los ruidosas colonias de cormoranes en la península de Otago.
• Nadar con delfines y navegar junto a ballenas en Kaikoura
  

Milford sound

Milford Sound is a beautiful fjord in the south west coast of New Zealand carved by glaciers. Tall waterfalls run its misty vertical walls.

Driving south

Endless wonderful landscapes driving along the west coast. Some samples:

In land of glaciers

Horse riding and glacier trekking...

Coast drive

A drive along the west coast of Nez Zealand south island is worth to do it : from Nelson to Franz Josef Glacier there are plenty of both different landscapes and sneaking roads to enjoy.

Sailing in Abel Tasman national park

Lord of the rings (I)

I have visited some of the natural places around Wellington where scenes of the movie "Lord of the rings" where done. There is not much left in those places other than their original state, but the explanations of the guide regarding the filming wee worth.

Wellington

Used to european cities, Wellington does not impress much. It is rather small size coastal city, mainly composed by residential wooden houses emplaced in a very nice bay. The first impression is to be in a calm holiday resort rather than in a city. Similar to Auckland to foreing eyes, it has one main diference: where the first lays in a flat field puntured by small volanic hills, the second is placed on hilly coast. Wellington has quite some hidden charms however as soon as one starts exploring it.

Tongariro crossing

"..I have been to Mordor and walked under the shadow of mount Doom..."

"Tongariro crossing" in probably the most famous trekking in New Zealand. After doing it I can only say that is rather difficult to improve it: walking amongst three volcanoes, vaste and blood red craters, deep emerald or blue lakes, lava rocks wastelands, vegetation ranging from high mountain scarce bushes to tropical rainforest and more... all in just 6 hours...

PD: for the "Lord of the rings" movies fans, "Mordor" was filmed in one of the lava rock wastelands and "mount Doom" is in fact the youngest of the three volcanoes in this national park.

Rotorua

The area where the indian-australian tectonic plate crashes with the pacific one is part of the Pacific fire rim. This line crosses the nort of New Zealand generating a set of volcanoes and geothermical effects. Rotoura city sits on top of that line... The houses lay amongst rotten egg (sulphur) steams, boiling lakes and bubbling mud pools. Is in this impresive enviroment, where the heartland of the Maori cultur is.

Heading south...

...like the birds. We left Auckland and visited Waitomo caves before heading to Rotorua. The caves are neither specially big or impressive. The kick however are the glowing insects: their worms hang from the ceiling glowing like blue spots in the darkness. Is like having a starring night inside a cave!


... como los pajaros. Dejamos Auckland y visitamos las cuevas en Waitomo antes de dirigirnos a Rotorua. Las cuevas no son no especiamente grandes ni impresionantes. La atraccion son los insectosque brillan en la oscuridad: sus larvas cuelgan del techo brillando como puntos azules en la oscuridad. Es como tener una noche estrellada dentro de una cueva!

Around Auckland

Not much time to write lately! Anyway, some nice places around Auckland:

1) Rangitoto, the most recently active volcano in the area in an island near the city.
2) Karekare beach, a beautyful place (the one that appears in "the piano" movie)


No ha habido mucho tiempo para escribir ultimamente! De cualquier forma, estos son algunos lugares encantadores cerca de Auckland:

1) Rangitoto, el mas reciente volcan activo en la zona que se encuentra en una isla cerca de la ciudad.
2) Playa de Karekare, un lugar precioso (es la que aparece en la pelicula "el piano")

Auckland, first impressions

• Population is quite spread: a few (not so) tall buildings are closest thing to a city center, two floor blocks (english suburb style) around and a huge wide residential area beyond.
• The place is green and full of trees (there are so many, that you barely see the city from the air, just houses).
• The city is on a mine field: there are 50 hills in the city area which are old volcanoes (dead by now, but...)
  

• La poblacion esta bastante dispersa: unos pocos altos (es un decir) edificios en lo mas parecido a en contro que tienen, manzanas de bloques de dos pisos (estilo suburbio ingles) alrededor y una inmensa are residencial mas alla
• La ciudad es verde y esta llena de arboles (hay tantos que desde el aire no piensas que es una ciudad si no casas.
• La ciudad esta en un campo de minas: hay 50 colinas en la ciudad que en realidad son volcanes apagados (de momento...)

Driving school

Today we rented a car to travel outside Auckland. The fact they drive "on the other side" was known and taken into account, what was not was that the fact the car was automatic. Result? Seconds after starting the car, it stopped miserably in the middle of a crowded centric avenue and I had no way to start it again! The gear did not want to move and traffic kept comming... All these years driving and I felt again like a complete beginer!

Finally Eva got some suggestions and we could continue: the thing was as simple as that the gear stick does not move (from stop to forward) "unless" you press the brake (then you can forget it for all the driving). To drive an automatic car is far easier in fact than a traditional manual gear box one, but it lacks to me the feeling of driving.

Hoy alquilamos un coche para dar una vuelta por los alrededores de Auckland. El hecho de que conduzcan "por el otro lado" era conocido y tenido en cuenta, lo que no lo era es que el coche era automatico. ¿Resultado? Unos segundos tras arrancar el coche, se quedo tirado miserablemente en el medio de una centrica avenida bastante concurrida y ¡no habia forma de arrancarlo de nuevo! No habia forma de mover la palanca de cambios y el trafico no paraba... Todos estos años conduciendo para sentirme de nuevo como un completo principiante!

Al final Eva consiguio algunas indicaciones y pudimos continuar: la cosa era tan simple como que la palanca de cambios no se mueve (de parado a adelante) "hasta" que pisas el freno (luego la olvidas durante toda la conduccion). Conducir un coche automatico es bastante mas facil que uno tradicional de cambio manual, pero le falta a mi gusto la sensacion de conducir.

Arrived!

After 36 of travel we have finally arrived to Auckland in north New Zealand! Just when we were getting finally used to be in the plane we have to leave it...

Tras 36 horas de viaje finalmente hemos llegado a Auckland en el norte de Nueva Zelanda. Justo ahora cuando que nos estabamos acostumbrando al avion, hemos de dejarlo...

Travel begins / comienza el viaje

Finally at the airport and ready to depart. After the last stressing days, our mind knows we are on holidays but doesn't feel like it yet.

Finalmente llegamos al aeropuerto y listos para salir. Tras el estrés de los ultimos dias, sabemos que estamos de vacaciones aunque no nos sentimos en ellas aun.

Destination: New Zealand!

This year the chosen destination is New Zealand. The year has been long waiting for the holidays, but finally the departure will be quite soon.

Este año, el destino elegido es Nueva Zelanda. El año se ha hecho largo esperando por las vacaciones, pero finalmente la salida será muy pronto.