Christian's Travel Blog

In my earlier post "The Beauty & The Beast" I referred to the hardship Richard Katz encountered while travelling in the mid-twenties down "South" the Fiordland, joining a small group of adventurous people "to do" the most beautiful track in the world. I am not sure he made his way back to Wellington along the West Coast. Probably the hazarduos road over the Haast pass wasn't done by that time. Nevertheless, I imagine where Katz was standing to admire the two glaciers that carved their way down from majestic mountains into the sea. 1935 - a sign board markes along the winding narrow road the point the glacier reached out. And while Katz would have been walking 1925 already on ancient ice, I still   had some 15 minutes - or 1037 steps - uphill walk ahead to reach todays ending point of the glacier. 20 years ago I certainly did less than 1000. Not only at this place glaciers are melting faster these days. Katz also might have witnessed duri

Suddenly that strange bang - like a cracking bone - followed by the  rolling  sound of a long sea breaker made me looking up from my campsite just under the majestic mountains of the Aoraki Mt.Cook region - whoow, a loose piece of the glacier on the edge cracked and came down the cliff, triggering a spectacular avelange. I grabbed my camera ... My days up in the mountains not only remind me the time out in nature some 20 years ago - the more basic my journey in terms of "outdoor preparedness" gets, the more it  touches  my intuitive interest in "to be" and "evolution". Even science gets into a proportioned perspective against the rocks shaped by glaciers some millions of years ago. Notwithstanding, at the Sir. Edmund HillaryAlpine Centre one gets an introduction and orientation of the unique features of the southern sky ... to put the informative astronomy lesson into practice in the "gold rated" darkness of the night. By the way, Hilla

Stop theRouteburntunnel.co.nz 'click' on Stop for your support! Link to my pictures: Routeburn Track - one of the 3 Great Walks in "Middle Earth"

"No country upon Earth can appear with more ruged and barren Aspect than this doth; from the Sea as far inland as the Eye can reach nothing is to be seen but Summits of these rocky Mountains, wich seem to lay so near one another as not to admit any Vallies between them." ( Capt. J. Cook , 1770) Twice I toured New Zewland some 20 Years ago. I admit, only now I may say "I was THERE"! No excuse, but my former trips were at the edge of winter time and access to the "must-do" Milford Sound - eventually, as it was shaped by glaciers, a fiord by geological definition - just wasn't possible. But this time around, it's summer time! "ROAD 94 TE ANAU - MILFORD SOUND CLOSED" displayed the digital board in bright yellow capital letters. Oh no, not again. Not this time. I know, the weather is not only unpredictable in Fiordland, but also met-news indicated forecasts of heavy rain and gale winds for the next days ahead. "That's not

"Upon landing at Bluff, I immediately asked to be shown some Maoris, but was told that they were very scarce in that part of the country. Indeed ... it seemed as though I might as well have asked for a moa !" (AnthonyTrollope, English author, upon his arrival in Bluff in1872). Well, my road trip made me driving so far some 3333 km: from Cape Reinga up-most North, crossing the heartland "Middle Earth" and Cook straight, down South till the road came to its end - Stirling Point at 46°36'53" 168°21'21" - just to learn that the settlement of Bluff entitles itself as the town "where the highway begins". That's probably a fair indicator for "halfway" round ... with more fabulous scenic outlooks back up along the west cost ahead. By the way, or should I better say "off course", it's raining outside down South. No bluff! Only one tough couple challenges the gusty wind to capture the "must-do" pictu

It's summertime "Down under", what usually should be one of the beneficial sides of the antipodes: the winter stays up North. But in "Middle Earth" such rules obviously do not apply, especially the more you get down South, deep into the Fiordland to encounter the so-called most beautiful hike in the world - the Milford Track. Katz , while taking his notes next to a candle in the "Sandfly Hut", his fuming wet clothes aside the log fire, already had made his encounter with the changeable weather conditions halfway - or three days - along Milford Track: 52 km of spectacular views from the northern end of the "Cold Lake" Te Anau to the Milford Sound. And back! Those days the stunning Milford Sound was not yet accessible by car. Otago Daily Times , January 3, 2013: Heavy Rain closes three major tourist routes in the South Island; 150 trampers on Milford Track out safely after "extreme storm". Indeed, I thought I am already on my

The meadow covering Terrace Downs is filled with tents like flowers in late summer, and people hangout all over the green. Oh, it's not Christchurch I'm talking about, although the wounds of last years devastating earthquake are still very much visible in the inner city. No, I'm laying in the grass too, chilling out with some everlasting snowfields marking an impressive scenery higher up in the Southern Alps. We are into the second day of Rhythm & Alps and it's of no shame what the Kiwis and some UK-import bands have to offer to lead the crowd into 2013. People seem to be more relaxed and easy going than their neighbours "Down Under"; no fancy dresses, and especially no stress among the Maori people and descendants of white settlers and immigrants. It's everywhere present, be it in the public daily life or in TV. Kiwis work it out together. They enrich their life and present the co-existence proudly to visitors and the rest of the world -