Monday 29 January 2018

Penguins riding on the back of dolphins!



(for english scroll down, please)

Elerkeztunk az utazasunk csucs attrakcioihoz! A cim talan le is lovi picit a poent, de azert belemerulok a reszletekbe.


Fun facts: mindig beszelgessunk a helyiekkel, vagy epp turista tarsainkkal. Hasznos, kevesbe turistas tippekkel tudnak ellatni minket. Tovabba, nem volt stopposunk az elkovektkezo egy-ket napban. Tovabbra is napuldozes zajlik meglehetosen sikeresen, mig az orszag nagy reszeben eseget az eso, mi sikeresen a nap (es a pingvinek) nyomaban loholunk. Pompas!

 
Nos, Milford cikk-cakkos hegyei, fjordjai es kivancsi, gumiragcsalo madarkai utan, del fele vettuk az iranyt. Egeszen delre, a deli sziget legdelebbi pontjaba. Utkozben letaboroztunk egy regi fahidemlekmu labanal uzemeltetett freedom kempingben, ahol kedves holland csaladka latott el minket, par ausztraliaval kapcsolatos tippel, es beajanlottak nekunk egy franko kis barlangot a kozelben. Ugye, hogy milyen jo ismerkedni??
 


Szoval masnap reggel, kis barlangaszasra adtuk fejunket. Pici, keskeny zegzugok kalandos kis 2 orat biztositottak nekunk. De eronket es kedelyunket, nem tudtak elvenni tolunk, hisz meg az nap levezettunk a deli csucsokbe. Menetkozben felszerelkeztunk Invercargillban, es vetettunk par pillantast a varos kivalo tuatara gyujtemenyere. Lattuk a kb nagyon oreg Henry-t… a tuatarat. Majd hajtottunk tovabb, hogy elcsipjunk egy jo naplementet a fentebb emlitett celhelyszinen.

 





A kozelben egy ujabb szabad kemping vart rank, ahol a hemzsego nemetek mellett egyre nagyobb szamban bukkantak fel kedves barataink, a sand flyok. De a Bushman spray erejevel gyozedelmeskedtunk a vadallatok felett!

Ami masnap kovetkezett az “csak egyszer az eletben” tipusu emlek lett. Reggel, elvagtaztunk a paripaval Curio Baybe. Mar erkezesunkkor is volt jo par beloluk a vizben. Nevezetesen a hector delfinekbol. Ezek az kb 60-100 cm hosszu apro joszagok, paratlan kivancsisaggal vannak megaldva.
Bar, a nem tul meleg 17 fokos viz riasztonak tunt, ugy gondoltam kis szorfozes belefer. Mikozben a jeges szornyekkel kuzdottem, nehany kis kivancsiskodo is megkornyekezett, konkretan a deszka mellett bukott le karnyujtasnyira, majd a masik oldalt fel a felszinre a szomszedos szorfos iranyaba. Szavakba nehezen foghato, ilyen kozel lenni a termeszet fenseges alkotasaihoz. Kesobb a nap is kiderult, es Ati is belemaszott a vizbe. Neki picit nehezebb dolga volt neoprem nelkul (ha a termeszetes neopremet nem szamitjuk :P), de a nap es a bodyboard segitsegevel, neki is sikerult megkornyekeznie par meterre a “helyieket”.




Ezzel meg nem volt vege a nap esemenyeinek. Ahogy a naplemente kozeledett, ugy mi is egyre kozelebb helyezkedtunk a pingvinleshez. Sajnos, semmi esemeny nem volt, igy ugy dontottunk lelepunk szallast keresni. Ez az ido eleg volt arra, hogy pont odaerjunk a halaszatbol hazaero sarga szemu pingvinek vandorlasara.



A latvany megint csak egyedi, mivel, elvileg ezek az allatkak a vilag egyik legnehezebben megfigyelheto pingvinfajtai. Nekunk 4-et is sikerult lencsevegre kapni. Es hogy ezt meg tetozzuk a fiokak eteteset is elcsiptuk!! Ez mekkora mar!

 



Kicsit kiabrandito volt azonban, hogy a kihelyezett, nem tul feltuno kotelkordont minden turista atlepte, igy belepve szegeny pingut eletterebe. Atinak az az otlete tamadt, hogy epitsunk kis kooszlopokat a kotel menten es irjuk ki hinarbol, hogy "stop!" Hatha ezzel meg tudjuk allitani az ujabb turistakat. Eloszor nem tunt hatekonynak, de miutan az elso igen kedves holland leanyzo, Daniella nem lepte at a hatart, kicsiny tunteto tomegunk 3 fore emelkedett, s mialatt a holggyel megvitattuk uj-zeland csodait, azon kaptuk magunkat, hogy elfogytak a vadorzo turistak, es mindenki a vonal mogott volt felsorakozva!!!



Megtettuk a napi jocselekedetett, ami nagy buszkeseggel toltott el mindkettonket, es meg pingukat is lattunk. Eddigre, felbukkant a holland leany baratnoje is, es miutan beszeltunk a delfinekrol, felajanlottam nekik, hogy mit szolnanak, ha adnek nekik par boardot, hogy ok is be tudjanak uszni a jegesbe, es at tudjak elni a csodat. Miutan megegyesztunk es elvaltunk, meg egy horvat parossal, Neven-nel es Kseniaval is osszehaverkodtunk, akikkel ugyancsak jot beszeltunk es megosztottunk egymassal par tippet, cserebe par prima pingvines videoert. Remek termes egy napra.



Huh, ez a poszt picit hosszura nyulik. No, de masnap jott a delfin es pingvin les masodik kore. Reggel, mi mar tul voltunk egy kis szorfozesen, mire a leanyok befutottak, persze kozben a horvatokba is belefutottunk a vizparton. No, de jott a helyiekkel valo uszas. Amig Ati melegedett a parton az elozo uszkalas utan, en bekisertem a holland holgyemenyeket es sikeresen tudtunk karnyujtasnyira kozelkerulni a joszagokhoz. Orom volt latni, hogy megint hozzajarultunk valakinek a boldogsagahoz! Vegul Ati is bejott, es ezuttal videora is kapta a delfinkeket, csak hogy a fennti zagyvasag nemi hitelt is kapjon.


Az elmenyeket kis ebed segitsegevel feldolgoztuk, majd indultunk tovabb keletre,hogy lassunk par vizesest es hatalmas oceanvajta barlangot. Persze uton-utfelen belebotlottunk a horvat es holland parosokba.




 
Szamomra, a barlangokban a leglenyugozobb, a szovevenyes pokhalok voltak, melyek gyongyszemkent tartottak az ocanbol lecsapodo parat fonalaikon.




Par fokaval es pingvinnel kesobb, korulbelul este 11re beertunk a kovetkezo szabad kempingbe a vilag vegen. De nem szamitott, halozsak es matrac volt a fejunk alatt es hihetetlen elmenyek a fejunkben. Egyszeri es eletreszolo…

Petty

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Finally, we’ve got to the main attraction of the whole NZ trip. The title may actually gives away some of it. I will dive into the details, though.


Fun facts: Always start a convo with the locals or fellow travellers. They can give us useful infos about less touristy places, happenings. Also, we did not have any hitchhikers in the next few days!
We still are in sunchasing with great success. While in most parts of the country it was still raining, we managed to tag along the sunshine (and penguins). How fantastic this is!


Well, after the steep ridges, deep fjords and rubber chewing birds of Milford Sound, we head down to south. I mean the very south, the southest point of the South Island. We stayed at a freedom camping, set up at an old unused wooden bridge. During our stay, we started to chat with a kind family from Netherland, who shared some info with us about Australia and recommened a cool cave nearby. You see! It is valuable to make random conversations with random people!


 
So, the next day we decided to do some caving. The tiny, narrow tunnels provided us roughly two hours fun, but could not take our strength or enthusiasm, since we drove down to the south point the same day. Underway, we restored our food and water stash in Invercargill. Also, had a quick glance on the local tuatara colony. We saw the approximately very old Henry… the tuatara. Then we went on, to capture the sun set at our destination.







There was another freedom camping waiting for us nearby. Besides the usual german crowd our old friends the sand flies were waiting for us in increasing numbers. Luckily, we triumphed over the armies of wild beasts (not referring to the german crowd) with the help of our Bushman sprays.
What happened the next day was the so called “once in a life time” experience. In the morning we rode down with our stallion in Curio Bay. When we arrived, there were already a few of them in the water. Yes, I am talking about the Hector Dolphins. These 60 to 100 cm long little animals are blessed with exceptional curiosity.


Although, the not to warm 17 degrees water looked quite discouraging, I decided to do some surfing. While I was fighting with the freezing beasts, some of the nosy little fellas came by. To be more accurate, they came as close as my arms length, dived beneath my board, came up the other side and headed to the surfer besides me. It is really difficult to describe, how I felt when I was that close to these spectacular creations of the mother nature. Later on, the sun came out as well and Ati joined the fun too. Unfortunately, he did not have a wet suit (besides his own natural one:D), yet with the help of the sun and one of the bodyboards, he was able to attract the “locals” in a few meters distance.



Of course, this was not even near to the end of that day’s happenings. As dusk has approached, we tried to relocate ourself at the penguin watch beach. Unfortunately, the waiting was quite eventless, so we decided to drive around to look for a place to sleep. This was enough time to arrive to the top event, once we were back, we managed to spectate the arrival of the fishing yellow eyed penguins. This is, once again quite unique, since in theory, these animals are one of the rarest to watch of all the penguin species. We managed to capture on photo even four of the tiny fellas. In fact we were the lucky ones to see the chicks as the parents were feeding them. What the hell!!



However, it was a bit dissapointing to see, that almost every tourist has stepped over the not too visible protection ropes. With this, they basically trespassed the private sphere of the little ones potentially causing a disruption in in their natural habbits. Ati had this great idea, to build small stone colums along the rope and form a “Stop here!” sign form sea kelp, hoping to stop the intruders. First, it seemed to be useless. However, once the very kind traveller lady, Daniella from Netherland stopped behind the barrier, our environmentalist crowd grew to three people and while we were discussing the amazing adventures in New Zealand, we’ve got to the realization, that all the way too curious tourists have been gone and everybody was lining up behind the rope!



We had our daily good deeds and felt really proud about it and in addition we were able to spot penguins. By this time, Daniella’s friend, Melanie has joined us too. As we were explaining the dolphin experience, when I figured, why not to offer them two of our boards, so that they can fight the icy water in order help them experiencing the wonder. After we separated, we bumped into a kind croatian couple, Neven and Ksenia, who we shared some infos and tips with in exchange for some awesome penguin videos. Wow, this day was full on!


Gosh, this post is getting a bit too long. But the next day, penguin/dolphin watch round two was coming. In the morning we already finished the first round of surfing by the time the ladies have arrived. Of course we bumped into Neven and Ksenia as well, while having the surf fun. But,now! The second encounter came. While Ati was warming after the previous swim, I went in with Daniella and Melanie and yes, we were able to get really close to the little animals. Wohoo! Also, it was so wonderful, that we could contribute to others happiness once again!!



At the end Ati has joined us as well and he managed to capture a footage, so that all my mumbling above can gain some credit.

We processed the experience with the help of a quick lunch and we went on with our trip to the East, to see some waterfalls and huge ocean carved caves. Of course.. We continously bumped into the croatian and holland teams during the sightseeing.






For me the most attractive thing was the magical spiderwebs in the caves, that were collecting the condensing ocean humidity as pearl beads on their threads.



A few ocean beaches, seals and penguins later, at around 11 pm we have arrived to our next freedom camping. It did not matter, we had our sleeping bag under and all the experie

nce in our heads. Unique, once in a lifetime…

Peter, Hot Balls, Pumpkin


Friday 26 January 2018

Stargazing in Milford the magnificent



(for english scroll down, please)

Kovetkezo kalandunk Milford soundba sodort minket, ahol a pompas uj-zelandi fjordokat tudtuk tuzetesebben tanulmanyozni. De persze mielott belevagnek, nehany fun fact. 200 dollarba kerul az illegalis freedom kemping. Ezt sajat borunkon tapasztaltuk meg mivel rossz helyen alltunk meg paripankkal az ejszakara. Ezt en szurtam el, hisz varoson kivul is megoldhattuk volna, de a tura es sok vezetes, az ejfelig tarto vezetes tul kiszivott engem is. No, de lesz ez meg igy se. :D



Stopposunk is volt meg egy megint csak japanbol. A kertesz fiu sajna elegge torte a nyelvet, de siman megallas nelkul vegignevette az utat. Birsasogs reggelunk utan sikerult egy remek utszeli helyet talalni a kovetkezo ejszaka atveszelesere. Az elhagyatott mellekutak szepsege, hogy a kutya se jar arra, max a birkak.





Szoval, a Milford Sound. Te Anaubol indult kirandulasunk, miutan en bevasaroltam a szokasos energia reggelimet. A paripank szomjasan kezdte a aszfaltot harapdalni, igy meg az elejen visszakellett fordulni, de sebaj, mikor ujra nekiveselkedtunk ket francia stoppolo leanyt sikerult felvenni. Ok csak a kozeli turahelyre tartottak, de egy legalabb mi is megkaptuk a napi stopposkvotat.




A fjord hajo utat masnap reggel kilencre foglaltuk, az az nem volt nagy sietseg. Megalltunk itt-ott fotozni, gyonyorkodni a kilatasban. Fenn a hegyekben belebotlottunk egy kis kavicsos mellekutba, ami egy aprocska kis tisztasra vezetett. Szinte kinalta magat nekunk aznap ejszakara. 




A szallas, es baratsagos kismadarka mellett csillagos eget is kinalt nekunk a helyszin. Persze, mast is tartogatott nekunk a magashegyi buvohely. Csillagos eges ejszakanak megvan az a szepsege, hogy hideget is hoz. J Sejtettuk is, szoval felkaptuk az osszes meleg ruhat magunkra, beuzmeltuk Atinak a teli halozsakot, mivel o kevesebb vastag ruhat dobott be a kocsiba. Eppenseggel, kellett is minden gonc, reggel a satram egy jeg volt.  Vicces a nyar kozepen latni… 




Elerkezett a reggel, mi se fagytunk meg, johetett a fjord! El kell, hogy mondjam ezen a teruleten 200 napot esik az eso evente, de en 3 alkalombol ketszer napsutesben erkeztem. Ez nem volt maskepp a mostani negyedik alkalommal sem. Egy ora alatt atautoztunk a kikotobe es indult a kirandulas. Meg mindig pazar a latvany. Egekbe emelkedo meredek hegyek, melyeket a gleccser formazott az evmilliok soran. Fokak, vizesesek mar csak hab a tortan.







Ezuttal annyira nyugodt volt az ido, hogy meg a nyilt tengerig is ki tudtunk hajozni. Visszafele azert elbujtak a kis esofelhok, de szerencsere kegyesek voltak velunk es konnyeikkel nem aldottak meg minket.

Sikeres felfedezesunk kovetkezo eleme a Kea hegyi papagajjal valo talalkozas volt. A kis joszagok nem nagyon felnek az embertol, de annal jobban szeretik az autokon talalhato muanyag dolgokat. Persze, egy jo fotoert siman bealdozunk egy kocsi ajto nyillaszaro gumit. :D  





A madarkak utan, meg betuszkoltunk egy zaro turat, hogy felmasszunk meg egy vizeseshez, majd elmenyekkel gazdagon nekivagtunk kovetekzo szallashelyunk levadaszasanak.



Petty
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Our next adventure led us in Milford Sound, where we could examine in details the astonishing fjords of New Zealand. But before diving in the story, once again some fun facts. The illegal freedom camping costs 200 dollars. Well… we learned about this the hard way, since we parked our stallion in the wrong place. I have to admit, this one was on me. We could have parked outside the city. The extensive tramp and the long drive ‘til midnight took its toll, in the form of 200 crispy dollars.


   
We got another hitchhiker as well. The young japanese gardener guy was not too good in english, but that did not prevent him to laugh during the whole trip. Also, after the bad day with the fine, we managed to find a nice freedom camp on a side road. These abandonded rads have the advantage, that noone visits them! Except maybe some sheep and possums.

 

Sooo, Milford Sound. Our trip started from Te Anau after I equipped myself with thye usual power breakfast. Our stallion started to chew through the kilometers a bit too thirsty, so we had to turn back, but now worries! As we started the trip once again we bumped into two french hitchhiker ladies. We hit two birds with one stone, they’ve got to the tramp trail nearby and we reached our daily hitchhiker quote.


 
We booked the boat trip the next morning at 9 am, so we were not in a rush. We stopped here and there and did the compulsory touristy stuff. In the late afternoon we found a small gravel road that led to a small plain area surrounded with trees. It has clearly invited us for the overnight sleep.




  
The accomodation offered us a friendly bird and clear sky with millions of stars. It also had some surprises for the naïve travellers. The clear sky brings some cold as well. We knew that, so we dressed up with all the warm stuff we had. I gave the winter sleeping bag to Ati, since he did not put in the car some of his warm clothes. We needed the preparations… My tent was one solid ice structure in the morning. Surprise, surprise in the middle of the summer.

 




The morning came, we did not freeze to death, so up for the fjords! I have to say, in this area it rains 200 days a rain, yet two times out of three I had sunny weather. This forth time wasn’t any different either. We drove down the harbour in an hour and were ready for the excursion. It is still spectacular. The tall steep mountains grown ‘til the sky were carved be the glaciers during the millions of years. Cute seals and massive waterfalls were only some sweet icing on the cake.






 The ocean was so calm that the ship even dared to head out the wide open water. The rainy clouds started gathering on the way back, fortunately they were generous and did not blessed us with their tears that day.


The next element of our successful Milford exploration was the contact with the Kea parrots. The little animals are not really afraid of humans, but they really like the plastic and rubber pieces of the cars. Of course it was a small sacrifice to loose a little piece of door sealing rubber for the nice photo.



After the bird we squeezed in one last hike to the nearby waterfall, than we continued our ride to find our next nights accomodation.


Peter, Hot Balls, Pumpkin