New Zealand: Illa sud / South island

[ENGLISH FOLLOWS]
Hi ha una pàgina de motxillers per Nova Zelanda a facebook on vaig veure una entrada d'una noia holandesa, la Sophia, que buscava companys de viatge per recórrer la illa sud, així que li vaig escriure. Vam quadrar dates i també havia s'havia posat d'acord amb una noia d'Austria, la Petra, i una d'Alemania, la Merle, que es compraria un cotxe. Erem 4 companys de viatge, tots viatjant pel nostre compte, i un cotxe, així que ja podia començar l'aventura per la illa sud!

M'aixeco ben aviat a la casa on m'allotjaven a Wellington i un dels nois que vivia allà em porta a l'estació on havia quedat amb la Petra, anem cap al port i agafem el ferri que creua de l'illa nord a la sud. Al arribar ens recull la Merle amb el cotxe i anem cap a Nelson on ens trobem amb la Sophia. Ja ens haviem reunit els 4 i comencem a parlar sobre plans de viatge, històries i, en general, a coneixer-nos. He tingut molta sort perquè les tres són molt bona gent, tots tenim caràcters diferents però tinc la sensació que ens portarem molt bé.

El dia següent ja ens posem en marxa, Nelson és la porta per visitar el parc nacional Abel Tasman. Conduim fins a l'entrada del parc on agafem un taxi aquàtic, una barca que ens deixa a la meitat del parc nacional. De camí la barca s'atura per veure un grup de foques jugant a les roques, per mi ja ha valgut la pena venir aquí. Caminem pel parc nacional tot el dia, és preciós, de cala en cala com el camí de ronda però amb la selva entremig, fins arribar al refugi on dormim. L'endemà continuem la caminata fins a l'entrada del parc on teniem el cotxe.

Ara que som 4 és molt complicat fer couchsurfing perquè normalment allotgen a una o dues persones, així que anem d'hostals. Ens dirigim a la costa oest on visitem les pankake rocks, unes roques a vora del mar que semblen pankakes apilats. Els trasllats amb cotxe són visites en si mateixes ja que passes per paratges increibles on has de parar sovint per admirar les vistes. Aquella nit dormim a Haast, un poble diminut on no hi ha gairebé res, ni cobertura, però tenen una increïble platja solitària on anem a veure la posta de sol i, com que estem a l'oest, el sol es pon al mar.

En dues hores passem de la platja als glaciars, això és una passada aquí, pots canviar radicalment de paisatge en molt poc temps. Ens diuen que hi ha una excursió que és molt maca per arribar a un mirador davant del glaciar Franz Josef però que no està gaire ben marcada. No sé a que es refereixen perquè estava perfectament marcada, com tots els camins aquí a Nova Zelanda, estan impecables, passem per varis ponts penjants i creuem varis rius fins arribar a un mirador davant del glaciar.

L'endemà anem a un altre glaciar i anem a dormir a Wanaka, un poble davant d'un llac espectacular envoltat de montanyes nevades. Decidim quedar-nos varies nits aquí per digerir tanta bellesa paisatgística. Pugem el Roy's peak, una muntanya des de la qual encara tens millors vistes, anem a un pub que feien micro obert, a un cine molt autèntic amb sofàs i cadires de dentista, i fem un circuit super divertit pel bosc amb bici de muntanya.

Continuem la ruta de muntanya fins a Queenstown, un altre poble a vora d'un llac i envoltat de muntanyes on també fem una excursió i aprofitem per sortir de festa ja que és dissabte i el lloc és conegut per la festa. Volem fer un tros de la ruta Routeburn així que anem fins a Kinloch i com que no para de ploure decidim estar a un hostal i fer un troç de la ruta l'endemà. Vam anar a parar a el millor hostal per estar un dia de pluja, menjador amb vistes al llac, foc, bon internet, pel·lícules, crispetes gratis i un jacuzzi exterior. Al final del dia ja no plovia, així que vaig aprofitar per anar a còrrer per la vora del llac.

L'endemà ens despertem i ens trobem una sorpresa, estava tot nevat! Preguntem i ens diuen que podem fer l'excursió igualment, així que anem cap allà. La carretera estava força neta de neu fins a l'inici de l'excursió, però tot el camí estaba replet de neu que formava un paisatge preciós. Passem pel bosc, varis pons penjants, no parava de nevar i alguns arbres es comencen a trencar pel pes de la neu, així que decidim fer mitja volta. Al final no feia gaire gràcia els arbres que queien perquè era perillós, però afortunadament arribem al cotxe. De tornada hi havia un arbre a la carretera, frena i el cotxe rellisca per la neu fins el costat de la carretera. Dues rodes estaven al fang de la cuneta i no hi havia manera de treure'l d'allà, no tenim cobertura i els altres cotxes que haviem vist es quedaven a dormir al refugi així que no tornarien fins l'endemà. Decidim començar a caminar fins a tenir cobertura, a males l'hostal on haviem dormit estava a 16km. Portem una hora caminant i trobem una camioneta amb una parella que ens diu que ens pot ajudar, ens carrega i anem fins on tenim el cotxe. Posen una cadena i a remolcar el cotxe que comença a sortir del fang però la camioneta comença a patinar i també acaba a la cuneta. No m'ho podia creure! Fent maniobres aconsegueix treure la camioneta de la cuneta. Així que a la tercera va la vençuda, provem una estratègia diferent i sembla que funciona, perfí aconsegueix treure el cotxe de la cuneta!! Una estona més tard estavem banyant-nos al jacuzzi exterior amb vistes a les muntanyes nevades, refent-nos del fred i rient de la mala estona que haviem passat.

[ENGLISH]
There's a backpackers in New Zealand facebook page where I saw a post from a dutch girl, Sophia, that was looking for travel mates in the south island, so I wrote her. We agreed on the dates and she also agreed with an austrian girl, Petra, and a german, Merle, that wanted to buy a car. We were 4 travel mates, all travelling on our own, and a car, so we could start the adventure in the south island!

I wake up really early in the house that I was hosted in Wellington and one of the guys that was living there took me to the station where I had to meet Petra and we went together to the harbour to catch the ferry for crossing from the north to the south island. When we arrived, Merle picked us up with the car and we went to Nelson where we met Sophia. We were the 4 together and we started talking about travel plans, stories and, in general, knowing each other. I've been so lucky because the three of them are really nice people, we have different personalities but I have the feeling that we will get along so well.

On the following day we started the trip, Nelson is the gate for visiting the Abel Tasman National Park. We drove to the entrance of the park where we took a water taxi, a boat that left us in the middle of the national park. On the way, the boat was stopping to see a group of seals playing in the rocks, for me it was already worth it coming here. We walked the whole day, it's really beautiful, from beach to beach with the rainforest in between, until we reached the hut where we sleep. The folowing day we continued the trekking to the entrance of the park where we had the car.

Now that we are 4 people, it is more complicated doing couchsurfing, so we go to hostels. We are going to the west coast where we visit the pankake rocks, some rocks next to the sea that they seem piled pankakes. The journeys by car are visits themselves because you drive by incredible places where you need to stop all the time to admire the sights. That night we slept in Haast, a tiny town where there's almost nothing, not even signal, but they have an incredible lonely beach where we went to see the sunset and, due to we are in the west, the sun sets in the sea.

In two hours we passed from the beach to the glaciers, that's really amazing here, you can completely change the landscape in a really short time. They told us there's a really nice excursion to reach a viewpoint in front of the glacier Franz Josef, but it's not so well indicated. I don't know what they are talking about because it was perfectly indicated, like all the tracks in New Zealand. We pass by several swing bridges and rivers until we reached the nice viewpoint to the glacier.

On the following day we went to Fox glacier and we slept in Wanaka, a town in front of a wonderful lake and snowed mountains. We decided staying some nights here to digest so many beautiful landscapes. We climbed up the Roy's peak, a mountain from which you have even better views, we went to an open mic pub, a really authentic cinema with sofas and dentist chairs, and we did a super funny circuit in the forest by mountain bike.

We continued the mountain road to Queenstown, another town next to a lake surounded by mountains where we also did an excursion and we took the advantage of partying because it was Saturday and the place is well known for the parties. We want to do a part of Routeburn track so we went to a town next to it, Kinloch. It didn't stop raining so we decided staying in a hostel there and doing it the day after. We stayed in the best hostel for a rainy day, livingroom with views to the lake, fire, good internet, movies, free pop corn and an outdoor hot tub. At the end of the day it wasn't raining anymore so I went running next to the lake.

On the next day, we wake up and we find a surprise, it was all covered by snow! We asked and they told us we can do the excursion anyway so we went there. The road was quite clean of snow besides the last part, but all the walking path was full of snow which made a beautiful landscape. We went through the forest, several swing bridges, it didn't stop snowing and some trees started to break for the weight of the snow, so we decided coming back. At the end, it wasn't so funny seeing the falling trees because it was dangerous, but luckily we arrived at the car. On the way back there was a tree on the road, we breaked and the car slipped in the snow to the side of the road. The two side wheels were on the mud and there was no way to take the car out from there, we didn't have signal and the people of the other cars that we saw would sleep in the hut, so they wouldn't go back until the following day. We decided to walk until we would have signal, on the worst case the hostel we slept last night was 16km away. We've been walking for one hour and finally we find a kind of pick up with a kiwi couple that could help up, so they give us a lift back ot the car. They put a chain and pulled the car that starts to go out from the mud, but the pick up also slips and it ends also on the side of the road. I can't believe it! Trying it harder, they can take the pick up out from the side of the road. So they try a third time, but with a different strategy and it seems that it works, finally take the car out! Some time later we were taking a bath in the outdoor hot tub with views to the snowed mountains, recovering the body heat and laughing about the bad time we had.