Col's New Zealand Adventure - 10 Years on...

INTRO

When I first sat down to write this intro, it was Nov 11th 2016. Well over 8 years since I had the trip of a lifetime in New Zealand. As I approached the finish line of typing up this diary, and adding a commentary for each entry, I was actually only three days away from the ten-year anniversary of the day I set foot on a plane to fly to Singapore.

It has taken me well over a year to put what I thought would be a few easy words about the trip, into something that did the experience justice. In my defence, I have been busy… Still, I only just made the deadline to begin publishing my diary in ‘real-time’.

Ten years to the day of each entry in my diary, I will post that entry, along with a commentary and any photographs. The hope is that you, dear reader, can follow my adventures on a daily basis, over the next month.

But why New Zealand in the first place?


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I was initially inspired by the behind-the-scenes documentaries on the Lord of The Rings DVDs. Simple as that. Though, that is not to understate the skill and the passion of all of those documentary films that make up the boxsets. They literally inspired me to get off of my bum, and to go to the other side of the planet to see this place for myself. My subsequent research into New Zealand seemed to reveal an adventure-filled country, full of vibrant, warm people, all with a shared love for The Land.



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It was this connection to the natural world which appealed to me, and the upbeat nature of the people of New Zealand, that inspired me to take what was, then, a scary leap into the unknown. With no friends or travelling companions able to come with me, and having never been anywhere on my own for anything longer than an overnight trip to London, the idea of going literally to the other side of the planet, on my todd, was one of the biggest and most audacious decisions of my entire life.

What follows here are the entries from the diary that I made on this trip. I tried to keep up to date every day so as to serve a reminder of the journey. Whilst at times the reality of the decision to go by myself threatened to overwhelm me with crippling loneliness, the notion of keeping the diary became a lifeline, and at times it was my only friend.



Having not read the diary for many years, but now having finally typed it up, these ancient diary entries do not read as the epic magnum opus that my hazy memory vaguely recalls itself creating! In fact, most of the diary entries seem fairly uninspiring, and instead reveal the scope of my loneliness (at times) and obsession with finding mundane creature comforts (beer, fast food, and the occasional cup of tea) within which to root myself. A constant search for something familiar, in order to get through the day to day in a land of the unknown.
As such, in order to do justice by New Zealand, its people, and the friends that I made along the way, I felt compelled to add a “post-commentary” to each diary entry here on this blog. If I left it for my diary alone to tell the tale, it would be a very biased account of New Zealand, mostly focused on the parts of the trip where I felt out of sorts. After all, it was always easier to write the diary when I was on my own, and feeling a bit lonely.



The real story actually lies between the diary entries, the bits not fully written about, the adventures in the gaps… Of course, the fun stuff is also evident in the many photographs I took along the way. As such, I hope the images and commentary provided with each entry paint a much more accurate (and hopefully entertaining) view of New Zealand and the life-changing affects that it had on me, than the diary notes alone ever could.



The diary as originally written is obviously full of shorthand, and quite atrocious grammar. Whilst my typed up 2016 grammar may not seem like much of an improvement at times, I have nonetheless tried to strike a balance between my natural ‘writing voice’ as it was then, and something that is human-readable now.
I’ve also added context where required to flesh out the events being depicted. In short, I make no claims that this digital version of my diary is an accurate copy of the written original, but I do hope that it is a readable improvement upon it.
The haphazard nature of diary writing means that some entries were written days after the event itself. Where the diary has ‘jumped’ in time, I’ve made a small note of the date in brackets. I hope that this does not interrupt the flow too much, but I have left these notes in so as to show where my head may have been at the time of writing, and to show which days were filled with more adventure (and therefore later entries) than others.



Who am I writing this for? Unashamedly, mostly for myself. My constant photography over the years is a manifestation of what I am realising is an obsession with mapping my own past. This diary has remained un-typed for far too long, and the process of getting this far has taken ten years! I finally get to add the text commentary alongside the photographic journal, at long last.
Of course, I sincerely hope that other readers (you!) enjoy the fruits of my labour, but I make no apologies for writing in my own ‘voice’. Since this adventure took place, I have of course married the amazing Warrior Wonder Woman, Hazel Warhurst. Together, we have also brought into the world our beautiful, intelligent and magical daughter, Robyn-Hope.
I have never really delved into the details of this New Zealand trip with Hazel, and won’t be able to do so with Robyn for many years yet, but I hope that the depiction here reveals much more detail than I’ve ever been able to previously impart, that it provides a bit of inspiration, and for better or worse, reveals some of the mechanics of what made (or still makes) Daddy tick.



Finally, in order to preserve the privacy of some of the folks who shared in these adventures, I have deliberately fuddled, muddled or mixed up some names as initials. Though I’m sure most of the people I met would not mind (and indeed, I hope if you are reading this, then it has triggered some amazing memories of your own) I did not want to make assumptions. As such, I hope I have found the right balance of accuracy and anonymity, and that I retain the lion’s share of embarrassment purely for myself in any of the escapades depicted here.
I can’t wait to do it all over again! Perhaps you would like to come along?
Col (Nov 2016 March 2018)






TRAVEL DETAILS

FLIGHT ITINERARY - 2008
MANCHESTER (Mon, 17th March) -> SINGAPORE (Tues 18th March)
SINGAPORE (Thurs, 20th March) -> AUCKLAND (Fri, 21st March)
AUCKLAND (Fri, 18th April) -> SINGAPORE (Fri 18th, April)
SINGAPORE (Fri, 18th April) -> MANCHESTER (Sat, 19th April)
NEW ZEALAND ITINERARY
Bus Tour provided by Kiwi Express
Route: “Funky Chicken” + “Milford Sound Excursion” – 27 days
Worth noting that the price for the four flights, the whole Kiwi Express four-week bus tour, two nights accommodation in Singapore (outbound) and insurance all came in at ~£1550.00
I dread to think what the cost would be now!



TRIP CALENDAR

DAY
Week
DATE
WEEKDAY
START
END
1
1
17/03/2008
Mon
Manchester
Singapore
2
1
18/03/2008
Tue
Singapore
Singapore
3
1
19/03/2008
Wed
Singapore
Singapore
4
1
20/03/2008
Thu
Singapore (Dprt)
Auckland
5
1
21/03/2008
Fri
Auckland
Auckland
6
1
22/03/2008
Sat
Auckland
Whitianga
7
1
23/03/2008
Sun
Whitianga
Rotorua
8
2
24/03/2008
Mon
Rotorua
Waitomo
9
2
25/03/2008
Tue
Waitomo
Taupo
10
2
26/03/2008
Wed
Taupo
Taupo
11
2
27/03/2008
Thu
Taupo
River Valley
12
2
28/03/2008
Fri
River Valley
Wellington
13
2
29/03/2008
Sat
Wellington
Nelson
14
2
30/03/2008
Sun
Nelson
Westport
15
3
31/03/2008
Mon
Westport
Lake Mahinpua
16
3
01/04/2008
Tue
Lake Mahinpua
Franz Josef
17
3
02/04/2008
Wed
Franz Josef
Franz Josef
18
3
03/04/2008
Thu
Franz Josef
Wanaka
19
3
04/04/2008
Fri
Wanaka
Queenstown
20
3
05/04/2008
Sat
Queenstown
Te Anau
21
3
06/04/2008
Sun
Te Anau
Queenstown
22
4
07/04/2008
Mon
Queenstown
Queenstown
23
4
08/04/2008
Tue
Queenstown
Queenstown
24
4
09/04/2008
Wed
Queenstown
Christchurch
25
4
10/04/2008
Thu
Christchurch
Christchurch
26
4
11/04/2008
Fri
Christchurch
Kaikoura
27
4
12/04/2008
Sat
Kaikoura
Kaikoura
28
4
13/04/2008
Sun
Kaikoura
Wellington
29
5
14/04/2008
Mon
Wellington
Wellington
30
5
15/04/2008
Tue
Wellington
Taupo
31
5
16/04/2008
Wed
Taupo
Taupo
32
5
17/04/2008
Thu
Taupo
Auckland
33
5
18/04/2008
Fri
Auckland (Dprt)
Manchester