Trampin' n tourin'

New Zealand suits me down to the ground because it's a nation of 'trampers', ie hairy people who go walking in the mountains all the time. I'm not hairy, but I like to go walking, so I'm generally accepted by these people. I met a few nice trampers when I went tramping in an area of the Southern Alps called Arthur's Pass National Park. It is a testament to the quality of the mountains in New Zealand that APNP is actually one of the less popular places to visit, but you can see from some of these photos below that it's a spectacular area.

I really love New Zealand, but in some respects it's not half as easy to travel in as South America. Obviously the English language element to NZ is an advantage for me, but in all other respects I have found it more difficult. For one thing, you actually have to book buses and hostels in advance. This is quite a foreign concept to me. In South America, if you want to travel to the other end of the country, you simply get on a bus, pay the nice man or lady on the bus, and then get off several hours/landslides/coups later. What's more, in South America it only costs you between USD 1 and USD 3 per hour of your journey. Here, you have to book it the day before and spend getting on for ten quid for a 2.5 hour journey. Nightmare!

Expenses and the requirement to think ahead aside, New Zealand is a great country. Though, I'm not quite sure how lucky New Zealanders realise they are. Two days ago, when I was hitchiking back from my tramp to my hostel with a lovely elderly New Zealand lady, she remarked to me how the country was going downhill, since nowadays they were letting in far too many people. She lamented the fact that her beautiful country was becoming overcrowded. Quite distressed at this news, I asked her what the population had lately risen to. 'Well', she said ('Well' came out 'Will'), 'We were at about 3, yis, 3 million. Now I think we're nearing 4 million.' What a joy it must be to have the population of half of London living in a country larger than the whole of the UK.

It's a beautiful country too. And the network of backcountry huts that are scattered around the mountains means that every overnight tramper can have a comfortable night while they're out in the wilds. I did a five day tramp around APNP, and took these photos.











Barker Hut, in the last shot, was in possession of a toilet with surely one of the best views in the world. The toilet was missing a door, which meant that whilst relieving yourself you had the choicest view over a glistening glacier hanging under a jagged-edged peak.

Enough of the faecetious [sic] remarks; let me tell you about a little plan of mine. You see, further to my comments about buses, I feel that bussing around NZ is a foolish idea. One alternative would be to do what lots of travellers do and buy a car for 3 months, and then sell it before I leave. But I have a much more cunning plan: namely to buy a bike. You see, New Zealand doesn't seem all that big, and it's incredibly bike friendly, so I feel that I might as well regain some fitness, and have lots of fun, by riding my bike around as a means of transport. I visited the superbly named 'Around Again' second hand bike store in Christchurch earlier today, and I've managed to sort myself out a bike fitted out with all the touring goodies. I'm looking forward to picking it up tomorrow; it has paniers, panier bags, a helmet, a pump and various other things. Hence, as of tomorrow, I hope to join the rank of 'New Zealand bike tourers'. I can't wait!

Check back next week for exciting pictures of me trying to make it up alpine passes on two wheels...