Big towns ar not really a nice thing: They are load, busy, nature is contained in some parks. I was quit happy that today I had the opportunity to leave Auckland again. Not with the plane (this is still leaving tomorrow) but with a nice catamaran. The Dolphin Explorers are offering Swimming With Dolphin tours but it is really more like this. It is a real whale and dolphin watching which includes the possibility to swim with the mammals. I was really suprised when I boarded the ship. There was a real scientific attempt. We guests ar more or less financing a mission to examine the marine sealife around Auckland. For 95NZD the Dolphin Explorers are offering a 5 hour trip Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. A nice offer was the ticket for the seaworld little bit outside of Auckland for 50 Cents (it looked like a special offer with a time limit). The crew around the experienced skipper looked a little bit like Eco Baywatch. Fur sure this kind of job is the dream for every marine biologist student. So I think ... I think You know that I think ;-) Anyway, when the reached the marine park I was immediately remembered to the famous BBC documentation Blue Planet: Dolphins, whales and seabirds in abundance. I was stunned. Even in Kaikoura (the whale watching capital of NZ) You see not this. Where was so mauch to see and to enjoy that I took not much photographs. I wanted to see it with my own eyes. The tours are not only for watching. The participients should learn as well. Like everywhere in NZ you are immediately part of a family if you join something like this. The crew tried to get us into the stuff with a small quiz and the skipper was starting to talk after the left the harbour and was stopping when the reached the quay again (nearly 5 hours!). I learnt again that dolphins (here we encountered common ones) are not stupid. The only reason why they are hopping in front of a boat is because they use the water stream around the hull to surf (it looks like that they ar really like surfing). As soon the boat stops and you want to swim with them they loose their interest and it takes no long time until the guys are away. Some of us are trying to swim with them. But ... hehehe ... it was not really a Flipper thing. But there was a good thing about it for which I'm thankful to the dary guys jumping into the really cold water: The deck was not crowded anymore and I was able to take a 360° view around the boat. The time rushed. To early we had to cruise back to the harbour. But I must say: Cool! If You ever come to Auckland then fuck the Sky Jump, skip the Sky Tower, don't look for the Seaworld. Go directly to pier 3 and get a ticket for the Dolphin Explorers. It is cheap and you see much. If you compare it later to the tour in Kaikoura you know what I meant.
But ... okay, okay ... I was afterwards on the Skytower. My knees are still weak. I hate towers. But this NZ bastards are jumping of it only secured by one cable and guided by two others. This is ... crazy. Others are climbing up to the highest platform far over the public decks. On this tower you can see why NZ people are unique in some way. I think they need always the feeling to life. Only this can explain for example the Sky Jump. But back again to the Dolphin Explorer tour which was for sure the highlight of the day. If you are back in the harbour it could be that you need to sign up with the Sea Shepherds. These guys are the special friends of the Japanese whaler fleet. The crews call them for sure pirates. And it looks like that they are some sort of. A sympathetical one. And another whaler fleet is as well going to war with the Sea Shepherds: Iceland, this small, unimportant, mostly volcanic (sad that not all of it is one volcano ;-) ) was asking to get the permit for hunting whales. Again, some self-studied professors want to do some research on them. Where is Moby Dick when you need him ;-)

Zum ersten mal seit Wochen habe ich wieder einen erlebt. Auf den mit 4 Millionen Kiwis bevölkerten Inseln gibt es eigentlich keine Staus. Zumindest solange man ausserhalb Aucklands bleibt. In der grössten Stadt Neu Seelands sieht es ein wenig anders aus. Die Fahrt mit dem Bus vom Flugplatz in die Downtown dauerte ewig. Grund waren Autos in Massen, die nahezu jede Strasse verstopften. Die Rushhour kann also auch im Kiwiland zur Tortur werden. Da konnte ich den Busfahrer nur bewundern. Musste er doch ein recht grosses Gefährt durch den Stadtdschungel bugsieren und war dazu noch die Freundlichkeit in Person. So etwas hätte ich zu Hause in Deutschland auch gerne öfter. Als Unterkunft für die nächsten zwei Tage habe ich die Aspen Lodge ausgewählt. Das B&B ist für die Lage sehr günstig, bietet das obligatorische Frühstück und wird von freundlichen Maoris betrieben. Die Zimmer sind verständlicherweise extrem einfach, doch stört das bei der Lage kaum. Ob man aber für 300NZD eine Nacht oder 6 Nächte eine Bleibe ist da schon etwas wichtiger.
Sehr nahe zum B&B hat sich ein Manga Cafe angesiedelt. Sehr nett. Und ein paar Minuten weiter findet man schon die ersten Förderbandsushis. Noch viel netter. Dazu kommt noch die ganze Downtown vor der Haustüre. Der nahe Hafen sollte morgen vorteilhaft sein. Will eigentlich noch etwas mit Delphinen schwimmen, falls es noch möglich sein sollte. Abends wäre dann noch der Besuch des Skytowers (ohne Sky Jump!!!) geplant. Nach einigem hin und her darf ich jetzt auch am Samstag heimfliegen. Vorher gibt es aber noch ein Buch zu erstehen: Es scheint, als ob gerade ein Werk über die gewaltige Krakatau-Explosion erschienen ist. Ausserdem gibt es da noch ein Kiwi-Bestseller ... nur habe ich den Namen mal wieder nicht im Kopf ;-)

Sometimes it is really a pain in the ass: Nice weather was promissed for today and the chances were really high for a nice flight over the mighty Tasman Glacier. The first flight (a reconnaissance flight) showed a high possibility for a glacier landing but when we arrived the sky was heavily clouded again. No comparison to the desastrous attempt to reach the Ball shelter a day before (we were wet till the bones) but again the weather made it impossible to enjoy the funny New Zealand inventions. The best thing is, that for tomorrow the forecast promissed a perfect cloudless sky around Aoraki (Mount Cook). But now we are back in Christchurch. And with us the rain.

After the ride with the Tranz Alpine Railway from Christchurch to Greymouth we went a little bit farer to the north. Near the famous pancake rocks with their impressive blow wholes we found the really great Te Nikau Retreat. The village nearby is called Punakaiki and it is more or less nothing there. At least we were able to have dinner in the only pub available. The next one was in Greymouth 30km away. Te Nikau offers a nice main building with a very warm inside plus several lodges in the rainforest. The lodge we had was for sure the best accommodation I had until now in NZ. The peaceful thick forest around the lodge, the fire place, the nice kitchen, the sleeping places, all this made it a real experience to stay there one night. The only thing You should have is a torch to get there. While we were staying there some lamps on the way to the lodge were not working. Without light from the moon it is nearly impossible to find the place. We were accompanied by two guys from Danemark. They have done carpenter work on the islands and were now on the search for snow to do some skiing.
The next day was quit a surprise. The forecasted rain was not here. Instead the sun was shining and we had a impressive drive on the coastal scenery further north of Punakaiki. Our destination were the Fox caves. This caves are inside the Paparoa National Park and they are only accessible by foot. It was a nearly two hour walk to the caves. The track was closed because of a washout but it was no problem to get through. The really difficulty were the two river crossings we had to do. The water was not really warm and barefoot the stone were not really nice to walk on. But finally we reached the remote caves and we were able to do a one hour caving in the impressive underground.
The afternoon we spent on the road. We wanted to reach one of the famous glaciers on the west coast. We got a quit nice hostel in the Franz Josef Village. The best part of it was the spa. There we had a nice evening discussing some stuff and enjoying the warm water. Not so nice was the fact that in the rooms TVs were installed. Our two guys living with us (a couple) had nothing better to do than turning on the TV as soon they are coming into the room. As well they had the fantastic idea to cook with peanut butter in the installed kitchen. Really funny to have the smell and the stupid TV program. The hostel would be great but the design of the rooms with TV and kitchen is not really genious.
Today the promissed rain was reaching the west coast. Our walk up the Franz Josef Glacier was still dry but after we had the chance to see this gigantic mass of blue ice the rain started. First there were some occasional showers but before the reached the car the doors of heaven were opening up fully and we got wet till the bones. For luck we were afterwards travelling in the car. Sad thing was that we had no chance to see the Fox Glacier and the famous mirror lake with the Mount Tasman/Cook scenery. But You can't have everything. Now we are in Wanaka. The famous Wanaka where each two years warbirds from all over the world were meeting each over and attracting 110000 spectators to this really small town. Now between the summer and winter season the village is calm. If there is some stuff of interest we will see tomorrow - if the rain stops.

Heute habe ich es hinter mich gebracht. Kim-Chee! Der Alptraum aller ALSTOM Inbetriebsetzer, die das Vergnügen hatten, in Südkorea zu arbeiten. Und? Eigentlich kann ich sie verstehen. Das Zeugs schmeckt echt recht ... sagen wir mal ... strange. Müsste es mir kein halbes Jahr geben. Ansonsten war der Koreaner ganz gut. Das Zeugs sauber aufgereiht im Buffet. Jeder kann sich nehmen, was er denn will und dann wird losgeköchelt. Ganz nett.
Christchurch scheint eine recht grosse japanische und koreanische Gemeinde zu haben. Anders lässt sich die Anzahl der entsprechenden Restaurants nicht erklären. Das ist jetzt aber keine Kritik. Kann die Metropole so doch auch kulinarisch etwas bieten.

Nach dem angenehmen Aufenthalt in Wellington ging es erstmal auf die Südinsel. Die Fähre verkehrt zwischen Wellington un Picton. Picton ist eine kleine Stadt, die eigentlich nur während der Feriensaison auflebt. Da wir aber zum Glück in der Nebensaison unterwegs sind, war die Stadt herrlich ruhig und ludt gerade dzu ein, etwas länger zu bleiben. Dazu gibt es in dem Örtchen ein sehr einladendes Backpackers namens Bayview. Die älteren Besitzer freuen sich über jeden Besuch, organisieren fleissig und bieten einen kleinen Fahrdienst an (das Hostel ist etwa einen Kilometer vom Fährhafen entfernt). Die zwei Tage in Picton nutzten wir für eine Seakajak-Tour in den Marlborough Sounds. Die Gegend gehört zu einen der schönsten und ist vor allem wegen dem berühmten Abel Tasman Walk bekannt. Zu unserem Glück spielte das Wetter voll mit. Tags darauf ging es weiter mit dem etwas verkommenen neuseeländischen Bahnsystem. Zwischen Picton und Christchurch verkehrt noch einer der wenigen Personenzüge. Zug ist da jetzt allerdings etwas übertrieben: Die Diesellok amerikanischer Bauart zieht gerademal drei Personenwägen. Dazu kommt ein Gepäckwagen und - Überraschung - ein offener Aussichtswagen. Der macht dann das Zugfahren noch zu einem echten Erlebnis Down Under. Allerdings verbieten die strengen neuseeländischen Rauchergesetze auch hier jeglichen Klimmstengel.
Wir fuhren nicht ganz bis Christchurch. Ziel war Kaikoura: Das Whalewatch-Paradies. Hier muss man schon extrem vom Pech verfolgt sein, wenn man keinen Meeressäuger auf den 110NZD teuren Touren sieht (gibt dann aber etwas Geld zurück). Wir konnten 4 Pottwale, dutzende Delphine und Albatrosse in Aktion erleben.
Übernachten in Kaikoura sollte man am besten in der Sunset-Lodge. Nur bitte nicht die Lonely Planet Karte ernst nehmen. Wir liefen mindestens einen Kilometer am Strand richtung Norden nur um später festzustellen, dass das Hostel direkt über den Gleisen am Bahnhof liegt. Die Herbergseltern sind extrem freundlich und haben uns trotz ihres Urlaubs noch aufgenommen (das Hostel ist über Juni/Juli geschlossen).
Nach der Tour ging es weiter Richtung Christchurch. Da sämtliche Backpacker-Sitze im Zug schon reserviert waren, haben wir uns für den Bus entschieden. Es stellte sich heraus, dass es sich um einen Mercedes-Kamekazi-Busfahrer handelte, der sämtliche Eigenschaften der deutschen Sternchenfahrer kopiert hat. Die Jungs, die vor uns herfuhren taten wir schon fast etwas Leid. Hing der Bus doch fast auf ihren Stossstangen.
Trotzdem kamen wir wohlbehalten in Christchurch an. Im Hostel wurde bis zum Mittwoch eingecheckt. Die Sushi-Restaurants sind auch schon entdeckt. Morgen heisst es dann erstmal, die südlichste Metropole Neuseelands zu entdecken. Dann wird es weitergehen nach Greymouth. Hoffentlich dann wieder mit dem Zug. Der Strecke soll zu einen der schönsten in der Welt gehören.

Nette Stadt soweit. Recht klein aber gemütlich. Für Neuseeländer sicher eine gigantische Metropole ;-)

It must be New Zealand: You are sitting in the bar, enjoy a drink with Your friend and You see a house passing by.

New Zealand is expiriencing a power crises right now. During the summer rain was a non-frequent guest Down Under. The hydro power stations have not much water left for generating electricity. New Zealands power demand is backened to a very high percentage by hydro power. The missing rain showed up that this dependency could be a problem. Our commissioning of the Taranaki CCPP was watched carefully by newspapers, radio stations and TV. Spots were made to show the people how to save energy. Doing my 10 percent means, everyone should try to use 10 percent less electrical energy.
Energy crises are quit common to underdevelopped countries. There power failures are frequent like thunderstorms. It is something new to a country like NZ. The people are facing the risk that the grid is shutting down non-essential parts if the power demand is too high. It looks like that NZ is one of the first countries who is doing a lecture: Energy is not something which is coming out of the outlet. It is coming from a power plant and it needs to be converted from something. How New Zealand and the privatised energy companies will solve this problem is something I don't know yet but one thing is clear: Wasting energy is not cool. It could be getting a problem. NZ is facing it and for the inhabitants it is for sure not easy to adapt as quickly as they have to.

Before we arrived in New Zealand a historical event happened. The Alinghi crew defeated New Zealand's crew in the famous America's Cup sailing competition (Official homepage). It was said that some people in New Zealand were quit pissed about the fact, that Switzerland has beaten the proud sailing nation. It must be said that the victory was double-edged: Most of the crew was coming from New Zealand. Everything was international in the Alinghi team. It could be doubted that the language on the boat was Swiss German. But the sponsor was Swiss and nowadays this counts.
The impact on New Zealand was quit big. On the official pages You can read that the government is now supporting Team New Zealand to get the Cup back. They are afraid that the loss will mean as well a financial crack for New Zealand.
All this made it a little bit dainty to re-commissioning the Taranaki CCPP. The turbine is manufactured by an original Swiss company, parts of the crew are coming from the Alps country and the customer crew is coming from NZ. But the safety introduction made it very soon clear. No additional safety equipment to the safety helmet, glasses and boots was needed. The German speaking people on site were treated like always and if there was a fight when it was about megawatts. The sign in the control room "Swiss made" indicated that there is still proudness about the turbines' roots and the flags near the front door made it every morning quit clear: No adversaries, partners!

Anyway: Why fight? The Alinghi crew was partly coming from New Zealand and the Taranaki farmers are partly coming from Switzerland. So lets say Alinghi Ahoi like it was written in the Swiss Coffee Club and wait for a tensive fight for the Cup next time.