Day 2 Rainbow Springs

Firstly, the stars here are amazing. I mean, the stars throughout NZ are simply beautiful and 100x better than anything I’ve seen back in the UK as you always see the milky way quite distinctly. But last night? I swear it was a star gazers dream, I completely forgot to take a picture as I just got caught up looking up.

Today I woke with the sunrise and after a quick breakfast I head out looking for the trek I wanted to do. Now I’ve mentioned before that Kiwi’s aren’t big on signposting and never was that more true than today. I ended up going down 4 wrong roads because none, NONE of them were marked on any of my maps. And, of course, there are never any road signs in NZ

 It's hard to mind getting lost when you're getting lost that's just so pretty- these trees were massive! The bushes at the bottom were over three times my height!

 I did eventually find the track though and after seeing a slightly daunting warning not to attempt it when the river was in flood or after heavy rain I set off (I should maybe mention that last night it rained… pretty heavily)

The walk to Rainbow Springs was simply beautiful and definitely one of my favourites – the foliage was stunning and the path ran right along side the river so you’d often catch a glimpse of some rapids and the soar of the crashing river was your constant backdrop.

I’m really glad I set out early in the morning too, as despite it being winter here I definitely understand why its called the ‘winterless north’ as by around 10 it really started to heat up.

Just before I got to the waterfall everything went quite quiet, until I turned a corner on the path and got COMPLETELY drenched. I suppose the heavy rain had made the waterfall play up but my glasses were a blurry mess within seconds and my top was wet through!

So I quickly went up the cliff side to get a drier view of the falls.

 The walk back flew by and the whole trek only took a few hours so I decided to venture further along the river towards the Basin Reserve as I still had plenty of time. The section was definitely harder, purely because it was intensely muddy after the rain.

There also may have been one, or two terrifying moments that the mud was just too slippery and I did a crazy little wobble/skid towards the sheer drop down the river.

Despite nearly tumbling into the river a few times when I saw a thin, muddy little track to a second, surprise, waterfall I couldn’t resist. Although I think it was wading down to the rocks that really did it for my shoes – they’re now retired in the bin

I really love it when I come across a NZ heritage sight or historic landmark, because they always just seem so new to me! This was a historic power station that, weirdly, is just open for the public!

Steadily the path widened until I ended up in a park, from here I went to the Stone Store, which is the oldest stone building in New Zealand, and the missionary buildings - all of which look lovely in the sunshine

Everyone that works there is dressed in traditional clothing – think long dresses, corsets and shawls. And they sell only locally sourced bits and pieces, including preserves and jams made from the fruit grown in the gardens. They also make sure to sell a lot of what the store would have originally sold – gunpowder tea, handmade beeswax candles etc

Really falling in love with the horizontal lifestyle here in Kerikeri – the weath certainly doesn’t harm either! Walking around in t-shirts and shorts in winter? Yes please!

Dubai Marina

I intended to do the JBR walk today but a bit of confusion with the taxi driver took me to the Marina waterfront... not a major problem but since there's no way to walk from the Marina waterfront to JBR (Dubai isn't big on pavements and isn't really the sort of city you can walk around sadly) I spent most of the day exploring the marina and the amazing skyscapers which front the waterfront!

There are pictures of the Leader of Dubai all around Dubai, there's a painting of him in my hotel lobby and I've seen pictures all over places, on posters etc. Thought the fact they plastered his face on a side scraper was really interesting though!

Anyway I ended up finding the Marina Mall. It's one of the smallest mall's in Dubai with only 160 stores - it was nice not getting lost in a shopping centre for once!

It was one of my favourite malls as it felt really spacious, with a good range of shops and I loved how most of the shops had floor-to-ceiling windows - so there was a lovely view out over the marina as you shopped!

They also had a Waitrose there too, just like at Dubai Mall, so I popped in to grab a few things including a 'prickly pear' and some African Avocados!

Day 31 Ackers Point

Our lie in was foiled by people getting up at 5, 6, and 7, so after a frightfully early breakfast George and Cara set off on their walk to Maori beach while I lingered in the lounge meeting some absolutely lovely people who have all made Bunker’s their home, the friendliness was amplified by a lovely Italian gentleman called Albert and the Welsh manager, Jacqui. After spending longer than intended chatting I set off on my own walk.

 I'm never going to get over these kiwi road signs!

  One of the hundreds of different types of ferns on the Island which are special for the Maori

 This bird was actually really, really big, and looks like a giant colourful pigeon?

 This pretty much summarises alot of my walks here - stairs, stairs and more stairs!

Spot the Parrot! One of the parrots hiding behind a tree, then peeking it's head around making a loud noise and then hiding it's head again!

 Beautiful Watercress Beach

After doing such a mixture of walks yesterday there was no particular track I wanted to follow as I’d already walked sections of them all, so instead I opted to do a couple of the hour long walks, reveling in the vast differences between the landscape of Queenstown, which was almost entirely native scrub or introduced species and as such was strangely familiar, the drier and harsher countryside of Able Tasman and the incredibly lush walks around Marlborough. Stewart Island foliage just feels tropical, that’s the best word I can come up with. It was also everything I was promised in terms of wildlife. I’d barely been in the forest for 10 minutes before encountering all sorts of birds, most of which I’m at a loss for names. Included one black bird that hopped in front me along the whole path for over half an hour and only left because I’d gotten to the end of my walk!

 I'm not entirely sure what's on the rocks but in the bright midday sun they glistened and looked as though they had been liberally splashed with liquid gold. Strange and beautiful

 This pair made me smile. After walking over the island and seeing so many rare, quirky, endangered and exotic birds I stumble across some mallards - just goes to show they really get around!

 Spot the little bird!

I couldn't resist more photos of the endless stairs on all the walks!

One of my favorite walks was the Acker’s Point one which took me past Harold’s Bay, fisherman point and finishes at Acker’s Point with the lighthouse. This was the highlight of the day as it was a really beautiful walk, although it was, entirely up hill.

 Harrold Bay and Acker's Stone House

 Fisherman's Point

 I certainly noticed the smell!

On my way back into Oban I stopped off at their tiny, but jammed pack museum on the area.

This was the star of the show as there's only three in the world, a necklace made of dolphin teeth

Today has mostly been spent walking and enjoying the wildlife finished off with dinner at the kiwi-french (weird combination I know) crepery where I had a savory crepe which was strange, but delicious after walking all day.

Tomorrow is the ferry back to the mainland and none of us our really looking forward to it now we know what we’ve let ourselves in for!

P.S Pictures are coming, internet has just become a rare commodity