Jizni Ostrov / South Island (New Zealand)

Prvni mesto jizniho ostrova kde se rozhodneme prenocovat je Nelson - nejslunecnejsi mesto NZ (ne, ze by jsme to potrebovali, kdyz jsme meli za cely mesic jen jeden destivy den). Nelson vyuzijeme jako zakladnu pro trek v NP Abel Tasman. Uz pri ceste lodi vidime, ze se bude na co tesit. Huste lesy, zatoky a laguny lemovane zlatymi plazemi. Krasnych 22km nenarocnym terenem, plaze lakaji k povalovani, ale jen co se zastavime na piknik zacnou kousat sandflies. Nektere trasy v NP maji 2 ruzne cesty podle toho jestli je priliv nebo odliv.
Dale jedeme usek Nelson - Greymouth. Scenerie jak jinak paradni, ale krome zastavky u Pancake rocks (formace utesu poskladane z tenkych vrstev sedimentu) a kolonie tulenu se nic zvlastniho nedeje. Prejizdime dost mostu 3 v 1 jak je mistni nazyvaji - 1 pruh pro oba smery, auta i vlaky.
Na ceste z Greymouth do Franz Josef urcite stoji za zminku expozice Bush. Je zde zajimavy dokument o tom jak se na NZ zbavovali premnozene vysoke a proc tu maji tolik farem kde vysokou chovaji. Kazdy rok tu postrileli pres 2mil kusu. A nez vynalezli vystrelovaci site tak skakali lovci na hrbety jelenu z helikoptery! Franz Josef je vesnicka o 2 ulicich. Hlavni lakadlo pro navstevniky je nejpristupnejsi ledovec NZ. Ale jen se koukneme z vyhlidky, proti Patagonii hodne slaby odvar.
Dalsi den zastihneme zrcadlove jezero Matheson zalite rannim sluncem a nad zemi se povaluji cary mlhy. Stesti, ze priroda nedela kyce, tohle by jinak jeden urcite byl.
Queenstown neni jen hlavnim mestem adrenalinu, ale zaroven malebne mestecko na brehu jezera Wakatipu pod vysokanskymi kopci. Vecer pri zapadu slunce vidime zelenou?! oblohu. Skoda, ze zrovna dosly baterie ve fotaku. K obedu jednoznacne doporucujeme svetoznamy Fergburger. 15dolaru nekomu mozna prijde za hamburger dost, ale verte, ze lepsi maso v housce budete shanet tezko. Muj tip je jehneci s matou.
Navecer druhy den vyjedeme lanovkou nad mesto, ale zelena obloha se podruhe nekona. Na dalsi 2 dny pujcime auto, ale kvuli Velikonocnim svatkum je vse rozebrane a tak na me zbyde jen automaticka prevodovka. Prvni jizdy jsou docela zazitek, proc to auto misto pribrzdeni vzdy rovnou na miste zastavi? :)
Na vylet jedeme ve 4. Itinerarem jizniho ostrova jsme se presne strefili do programu 2 ceskych holcin;) Martiny a Jany (Zdravime!). Cilem je Milford Sound, vzdusnou carou vzdaleny jen 30km, ale 5h cesty po silnici. Jediny vozidlem pristupny fjord z obrovskeho NP Fjordland. Jak uz jsme si zvykli, mame bezchybne pocasi. Vzhledem k tomu, ze je tu prumerny rocni uhrn srazek 7m a maximum 10.4m! docela drzost. Silnice vede mezi ostrymi vysokymi kopci. Na chvilku zajdeme protahnout nohy do dzungle a kapradi kde je uzka souteska Chasm. Presne ji vystihuje citat, ktery zni nejak takhle: 'Nejlepsi socharske nastroje nejsou majzlik a kladivo, staci jen lehky a dlouhy dotek vody a vzduchu.' Na Milford Sound jedeme na 2h plavbu podel brehu fjordu. Kilometrove vertikalni svahy kolem jsou plne vodopadu uplne zavislych na desti a nektere jsou hodne mohutne i kdyz ted zrovna nemaji prisun vody. Cestou zpatky konecne vidime ohromna stada ovci, tech 60mil nekde byt musi. Pocasi je porad krasne, ale citelne se ochladilo. Misto kratas prichazi na radu kalhoty a bunda.
Dunedin (preklad skotskeho Edinburgh) zalozeny skotskymi pristehovalci se misty opravdu podoba Edinburghu. Zastavime se u Baldwin St. coz je podle Guinessovy knihy rekordu nejstrmejsi ulice sveta, ale myslime ze jediny duvod proc tento titul drzi je, ze nikdo v Bolivijskem La Pazu nema o teto knize ani paru.
Nedaleko Dunedinu zastavime u Moeraki Boulders. Velike kameny ve tvaru koule nahodne rozsypane po plazi. Vypadaji jak draci vejce ze kterych se kazdou chvili musi neco vyklubat.
Navecer prijedeme do Tekapa. Krasny hostel na brehu jezera bude nasim domovem pristich par dni kde mame pokoj spolecne s Martinou a Janou. Hned prvni den jsem si sel od 10 do pulnoci lamat krk a mrznout na hvezdarnu a vyzkumnou stanici Mt. John (holky odradila zima v noci, ale vydatne nas tam zasobovali horkou cokoladou tak se to dalo prezit). NASA vybirala lokaci pro tuto hvezdarnu pres 5 let a nakonec se zdarilo - nejlepsi podminky na jizni polokouli co se tyce cistoty vzduchu, oblacnosti a svetelneho znecisteni. A jeste ke vsemu jsme tu jen jeden den do novu a tak nic nerusi absolutni cernou pretatou mlecnou drahou. Astronomove maji silne laserove ukazovatka s dostahem 5km a tak na obloze doslova kresli a popisuji co vse vidime. Stred nasi glaxie, Magellanicovi galaxie a souhvezdi jizni polokoule (toto na severni polokouli neni viditelne), pak jeste Venuse a Saturn vcetne svych prstencu. Zajimava prezentace provedena vtipnou formou. Clovek si pripada hodne bezvyznamny, kdyz nam ukazou nevyraznou tecku na obloze a pak je v objektivu videt seskupeni 4mil hvezd...sem tam do toho vseho proleti meteorit. Pro me jeden z nejlepsich zazitku Noveho Zelandu.
Dalsi den se rozhodneme po nenarocnem treku zajit navecer do venkovnich vyhrivanych bazenu. Jen tak si lezet a kochat se nocni oblohou, parada.
3ti den pobytu jedeme jen ja s Jancou na trek pod Mt. Cook (nekdy prezdivane hora zabijak, vyzadala si uz pres 130zivotu horolezcu). Jdeme pohodovy 4h trek udolim Hooker az pod Mt. Cook kde si u ledovce na brehu jezera dame obed. Po ceste sem tam spadne nahore lavina a naplni udoli poradnym dunenim a hrmenim. A jedna je opravdu velka, krasa. Mt. Cook i kdyz neveliky (3754m) je opravdu majestatni, jen smeknout a poklonit se. Vecer si jdu zahrat hokej na mistni zimak, ktery jsme objevili vcera u bazenu. Kdyby mi nekdo pred vyletem tvrdil, ze si na Zelandu zahraju vyborny hokej s cechy, kanadany a maorem (mimochodem vyborny hrac, absolutne se do hokeje zblaznil a nekolik mesicu trenuje kazdy den) tak bych neveril. K dispozici je komplet nove vybaveni, vsichni zavodne hrali nebo hraji a tak ma zapas slusnou uroven (netreba zminovat, ze cesky utok si vedl velmi dobre ;)
Po Tekapu uz nam zbyva jen Christchurch, pro nas nejhezci mesto NZ. Krasna katedrala, centrum umeni a botanicke zahrady mohou souperit s Dublinskymi. Vecer dame jeste rozlucku s holkama se kterymi jsme cestovali skoro 2 tydny. Martina nam predvede sva kulinarska kouzla a jeste ted se nam sbihaji sliny kdyz vzpomeneme na tu dobrotu ;)
Urcite to neni naposledy co jsme se na NZ podivali, byt to blize domu tak tu snad rovnou zustaneme!

Fotky:
Abel Tasman
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59420&id=1344786025&l=1c9d1f50f2
Lake Matheson
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59421&id=1344786025&l=cc5be3ebb8
Queenstown
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59423&id=1344786025&l=e9c86cb5ee
Franz Josef
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59425&id=1344786025&l=ccf1fb71e9
Milford Sound
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59426&id=1344786025&l=7c57b7a646


First town of South Island where we decide to stay for a while is Nelson - sunniest town of NZ (not, that we need it, in a month we had just one rainy day). Nelson will do nicely as a base to explore NP Abel Tasman. And already from a boat we can see that the trek will be worth it. Dense forest and lagoons with golden sandy fringes. Great 22km of easy terrain, beaches lure to have a rest, but as soon as we stop for a picnic sand flies make appearance and are quite annoying. Some of the tracks in the NP have 2 different routes depending on the tide.
Then we continue from Nelson to Greymouth. Scenery as usual is great, but besides stop at Pancake rocks (cliff formation made of thin layers of sediments) and seal colony nothing interesting happens. We cross quite a lot of 3in1 bridges - 1 line for both directions, both cars and trains.
On the way from Greymouth to Franz Josef is Bush museum, definitely worth mentioning. We watched interesting document about how NZ coped with a deer (not native, imported from Britain) problem and why is there so many deer farms here. Every year over 2mil deer got shot. And before shoot nets were invented the hunters were jumping on the deer backs from helicopter! Franz Josef is a small village consisting of just 2 streets. Main reason why most of the people come here is the glacier, but after seeing Perito Moreno we don't even bother to hike close to it.
Next day we catch the mirror lake Matheson bathing in morning sun light with fog ribbons lying around. Luckily nature cannot create tacky views, this would be it.
Queenstown is not just an adrenalin capital, but also a picturesque town on the Wakatipu lake just below big hills. In the evening wondering around town we see a green?! sunset. Pity, the batteries in camera just went flat. For a lunch world well known Fergburger is highly recommended. Somebody might argue that 15dollars for a burger is a lot but believe that better chunk of meat in a bun is hard to come by. My tip is lamb with mint.
Evening of next day we take a cable car up to the peak above the town, unfortunately green sunset is not on tonight. We rent a car for 2 days. Due to the Easter holidays nearly everything is gone and all we can get is automatic transmission. First attempts are quite a thrill, why does the car stop on the spot instead of just slowing down? :)
There is 4 of us taking this trip. Our itinerary matched exactly with plans of 2 Czech girls Martina and Jana. We decided to head to Milford Sound, fjord that is only 30km far from Queenstown by air but 5hrs driving. The only accessible fjord by car in the whole huge NP Fjordland. As usual we have a perfect weather - taking into account that average rainfall here is 7m and maximum 10.4m! it's nearly a blasphemy.
Road is just down below sharp hills. We go for a short walk to stretch our legs at narrow passage Chasm. This quotation does quite a good job on describing it: 'The best sculptor's tools are not chisel and hammer. All you need is light touch of air and water.'
At Milford Sound we take a 2h cruise along the sides of it. Big vertical walls around us are full of waterfalls completely dependent on rain water. On our way back to QT we finally see huge herds of sheep, the 60mil must be somewhere. Weather is still great, just temperature dropped significantly. So we change shorts for a trousers and jacket.
Dunedin (translation of Edinburgh) really bears resemblance to the original. But we don't find it as spectacular. We stop at the Baldwin St. which according to Guiness Book of records is the steepest street in the world. But I think that the only reason why it holds the title is that in Bolivian La Paz nobody knows about its existence.
Not far from Dunedin we stop at Moeraki Boulders. Big rocks in the shape of sphere randomly scattered along the beach. If anything like that existed we'd say they are dragon eggs that are about to crack.
We arrive to Tekapo in the evening. Great hostel on the shore of Tekapo lake will be our home for next few days. We share the room with Martina and Jana. Girls are bit tired but I decide to go freeze and break my neck at night at the Mr. John observatory. NASA was looking for the location for this observatory for over 5yrs and succeeded in the end - best conditions for stargazing in the southern hemisphere. Clear air, minimum of cloudy days and no light pollution. On the top of all these things we are only a day to New moon so nothing can distract the absolute blackness with blazing Milky way. Astronomers from the observatory have laser pointers with reach of 5km and can literally draw on the night sky. We can see a lot of great things not visible from our side of the earth - centre of our galaxy, Magellanics' galaxies and other constellations plus Venus and Saturn including its rings. Very interesting presentation delivered in a funny form keeps us entertained for 3hours. We all feel very unimportant, especially when we're shown a pale dot and then we can see 4mil stars gazing through the telescope...from time to time meteorite flashes across. One of the best things I saw in NZ.
Day after we just relax at the spa and can stargaze again, this time laying on our back in warm pools.
3rd day of our stay myself and Jana alone go for a trek below Mt. Cook (sometimes infamously nicknamed Mt. Killer, it claimed over 130 lives of mountaineers). Trek is easy 4hrs walk through Hooker valley. Couple times the valley roars with an avalanche falling above on the slopes, great. Mt. Cook while not very big (3754m) is quite majestic. In the evening I go for a game of ice-hockey on the local ice ring that we discovered yesterday by the spa. If someone told me that during our travels I'll play great game of ice-hockey with other Czechs, Canadians, Scandinavians and one Maori guy (by the way very decent player, absolutely fell for the game and has been training for last 8 months every day) I would not believe. I think I don't need to mention that Czech offence did quite well and scored few nice goals ;)
Our last stop in NZ after Tekapo is Christchurch, both of us agreed that the most beautiful big town in NZ. Nice cathedral, arts centre and botanical gardens can match the Dublins' ones. Last evening with girls we spent nearly 2weeks with rounds up a dinner. Culinary feast made by Martina.
Definitely this was not our last time we visited this great country. If it was closer to home I think we'd stay for indefinite time!

Pics:
Abel Tasman
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59420&id=1344786025&l=1c9d1f50f2
Lake Matheson
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59421&id=1344786025&l=cc5be3ebb8
Queenstown
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59423&id=1344786025&l=e9c86cb5ee
Franz Josef
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59425&id=1344786025&l=ccf1fb71e9
Milford Sound
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59426&id=1344786025&l=7c57b7a646