At the 21st of February i got my Australian visa. I was extremely happy until I realized my flight is only in a week. Then i figured i might as well use this time for a short "vacation" at the wonderful northland. I've already seen most of this area but it's just worth going again (and again and again...).
I looked for people going up to northland which I can ride with. Luckily, I found an add of someone going this way on the next day and looking for lifters! it was a german girl named Xira.
We bought food for the next 4 days and hit the road.
At the first day, we found an amazing and isolated bay with calm water and gorgeous golden sand. This was the first time I got into the ocean in NZ!


Matapouri bay


Xira in Matapouri bay



We stayed in wangarie and on the following day continued our way north. The special places on this day were a pastoral waterfall park and a crazy glow worm cave!
It's a very long cave in which the celling is covered with millions of tiny blue dots of light. Looks exactly like the sky on a clear night! This light is a method these special worms use to attract mosquitoes (their pray). Never seen anything like it!


Whangarie park


Whangarie park

On the next day, at the bay of islands, we took 2 kayaks and strolled around the islands - until it started raining... then, we paddled back to the backpackers and watched some movies.

After the bay of islands, we kept going north and visited a Mauri (native new zealanders) monument in an off-road bay. "when you finish climbing a small hill a stunning views revels..." brilliant coastal view! We had lunch there and hit the road again.
My last night up north was in Manganui - A small and quiet harbor town.


Matauri bay


Matauri bay


Matauri bay

On the next morning I took the too early 6 hours buss to Auckland (only one buss do this rout every day). Although my flight departed only on the next morning, I didn't even book a room. I had some bureaucracy stuff to handle and took a shuttle to the airport at the evening. Spent the night sleeping on a bench inside the international departures terminal - not too bad actually :)

On 27th of February at 7am I took off to Melbourne - Australia.
Many people told me about Australia being very different from New Zealand and it is very true. There are many reasons for why the two first days here were a bit difficult for me:
1. it's a new country with different culture
2. i haven't really figured out my travel route in Australia yet
3. every thing is damn expensive!
4. probably the most important one - i was totally alone here.



The first two days were devoted to getting to know Melbourne. It's said to be the most fun and impressive city in Australia and I wouldn't want to miss it just because I'm in a "new country shock". Plus, I wanted to have a raw plan of my trip and find out where I want to be and what I want to see in this huge island...


my initial trip rout - may change dramatically :)

Every thing began to be much better since the 3rd day. I've met many wonderful people and next thing I new, I had too many new friends - didn't have enough time to be with everyone :) The backpackers I'm staying at is totally cool and manage many special activities like free bike tour at the city and get this - bars night tour! for 3$ we got a funny guide taking us to 3 of the best bars in town and we had free beer and snacks!
I was also looking for a lonely planet book for Australia and got the ultimate deal! I traded it for my useless SIM card (it's useless for me now...).

I've also met will, a 19 years old Dutch guy (from Holland). We decided to hire a "wicked" camper-van for 8 days and tour the "great ocean road" and the Grampions national park on the way to Adelaide.
This camper-van is a 3 sits van with a bed and a kitchen inside! which means we'll save money on accommodation! awesome concept! We interviewed some people whom wanted to do the same trip, and invited Ceren(a 19 years old dutch girl) to join us. That will make the expenses even smaller!

So now I know what I want to do and have free time to stroll Melbourne's streets and go on site-seeing. It's a wonderful city! full of energy, nice people and fantastic night life!! The city center roads are full of trams (a very practical electric buss-train) and impressive old buildings which provide the city with a special futuristic - old fashion character.


the train station @ Flinders street






bars tour night

I visited the Melbourne museum, beach, the famous and amazingly designed library, some gardens and parks, the beautiful river which crosses the city, the tall observation deck and went to the casino twice - earned 45 dollars on the roulette!! :)


Molbourne from up abouve - observation deck view

i'm meeting so many people all the time now! it's so much fun! traveling is an outstanding experience!!!

tomorrow i'll take the camper-van and leave with the kids (Will and Ceren) to the great ocean road. it said to be one of the most beautiful coastal scenic roads. no doubt that's gonna be awesome :)

hi everyone!

here are the latest developments on my legal-illegal
situation on the south pacific countries:

after killing time very professionally yesterday
(watched "shark tale" "taxi driver" and "million
dollar baby" - don't ever watch "taxi driver"!), i got
up early this morning for the next episode of this
reality show.
went strait to the immigration offices, where they
told me yesterday to bring a prof that I'm going away
soon in order to extend my NZ visa.
i spoke with the same lady as yesterday, gave her the
flight list (what they asked for) and than she said:
"you must have misunderstood - since your visa is not
valid anymore, you should fill a form and wait 3 weeks
for a new visa".
if it was a movie, that's probably the part when i
pull out my gun and demand a new visa - now!
but it's not a movie... and i don't have a gun...
so i politely explained that i can't wait for 3 weeks
and pleaded for a solution. so she spoke to her
manager and got me an extension until the 28/2 (almost
enough - but not really).
"but you know it's gonna cost you 180$..." (~500
shekels). i wanted to shout "what ever! just give me
the f__king extended visa!". but i just said "yeah,
ok" and paid.

then, i went to the Australian embassy, spoke with a
different lady (the one i spoke with yesterday was not
there) and got the same "you should have checked the
visa yourself...blah blah blah" lecture.
when the lecture was over, i handed her all my
perfectly filled forms and she told me to come back
tomorrow morning to see what's their decision (about
giving me a new visa).

so now please everyone cross both hands and legs your
fingers to increase my chances to get this visa!
if you practice it for few times, it can also work out
your finger mussels and improve your coordination :)

there is a slight chance that I'll get the visa
tomorrow but on the last 72 hours I've grown to know
that optimism and governing authorities don't really
go hand to hand together... :)

as for my mental condition - I'm totally fine :)
although i need to run from one bureaucracy producer
to the other and argue with stupid stubborn people, i
still know it's a trip and enjoy my time. just wish
to take this flight as soon as possible so I'll have
enough time to see the whole east coast of
Australia...

there one lesson for everyone from all this is - NEVER
TRUST YOUR TRAVEL AGENT!
they may seem professional and look like they know
what they're doing, but a simple check (like the one i
was suppose to do) can save you a lot of money, effort
and time...

another lesson i learned two months ago is - always check how the sunscreen smells before you buy it! i bought one with a coconut fragrance - which i hate!

thanks for all the letters! they will help me kill time today :)

hope to get the visa tomorrow and stop sending you these awful letters!
love
Yaron (totally legal NZ immigrant for the next 8 days)Cohen

hi
the 3 last days were really really really long for me, and this is
the story. it's very long so you don't have to read it
:)

many times in my life i dreamed of traveling in New
Zealand. non of them included being stuck there and
becoming an almost illegal immigrant!!
even though i told you i'm having a flight few days
age - i'm still in NZ!
here is what happened:
on the 15th of february (4 days ago) around midnight,
i said goodbye to everyone and headed to the airport.
the boarding wasn't about to start until 4am, so i
found a nice space on the floor, next to some other
backpackes, and chilled/napped. at 4am i attended to
the boarding stand, placed my bag on the scale and
gave the nice lady my ticket and passport. 30 seconds
later, she was telling me that my Australian visa
expired 2 days ago. she said it's not a problem though
- "you can just go to an internet stand and reissue
your visa in 5 minutes" - i was so relived!
i filled the online form and noticed that i can't
select "israel" as a nationality. went back to the
nice lady, told her what happened and she went "ahh
that's right, Israelis can't apply for visa over the
internet - you must apply for new visa at the
Australian embassy before taking this flight".
you know, it's hard to comprehend it when they tell
you that you cannot take your flight.
i wanted to tell her "but wait! how could it be? i
already packed my bag, said goodbye to everyone, slept
on the damn floor for 4 hours! how could it be...?"
but i knew it won't help...
the next thing i had to accept is the fact i have to
get to Auckland - 800km and an ocean away! that means
buying a 200$ plain ticket to a place i don't really
want to be...
the worst thing is that my New Zealand visa expires on
the 18/2!! so i called the immigration and told them
my story. as usual these New Zealanders were sweet and
told me they won't kick me out of here if i do it
myself in the next 3 weeks.
at 8am i called Adi to come pick me up from the
airport. i spent another day in Christchurch and took
the flight to Auckland the next day. i thought to
myself "that's not too bad. it may cost me some more
money, but i'll go to the embassy, explain my
situation, get a new visa and take a flight to
Australia the next day".
in Auckland i slept in a lame backpacker in a room
with this extremely stinky guy which farted and snored
all night. i got up early in the morning "who knows,
maybe i can even catch a flight today...".

and that's what happened today - you should know every
time i moved from one office to the other involved
about 2 miles of waling and long waiting...
i had some passport photos taken and went to the
Australian embassy. the lady over there told me i
should have checked my flight ticket in first place
(thanks, haven't figured it out myself - i'll remember
that for the next time somebody asks me "what is the
most annoying comment you've ever got?"). anyway, she
told me it will take around 10 working days to know
whether i'm granted or not!!!! (so much for my
optimism)
i went to an internet cafe to get some forms i needed
and to write a personal letter to the embassy (maybe
it will make things quicker). plus, i had to go back
to my backpackers and pay them otherwise they would've
kicked me out.
when i got back to the embassy, happy that i have
every thing it takes for applying, the guy looked at
my passport and told me they cannot issue this visa
while i don't have a valid New Zealand visa. i tried
to explain him that the immigration told me it's ok if
i'm leaving soon but he just said "if you stayed here
longer then what you were suppose to, you can do the
same thing in Australia" - can he really be that
stupid??!?!
so i almost ran to the NZ immigration office to have
my visa extended. but they wouldn't give me one. "if
you want us to extend your visa - you must prove your
flight to Australia is coming up soon".
think about it - it's a trap! i can't book a flight
cause i don't know when i'll be getting my Australian
visa (if i ever get it), so i can't get the NZ visa
which means i can't apply for Australian visa, which
means i can't book a flight (and so on!).
i ran to the "cathai pacific" (my flight company)
offices and explained the situation. they printed a
fictive itinerary (flight booking list) for me and i
ran back to the NZ immigration. they were closed! at
1600!

how frustrating could it get??
so now i have all the forms they asked for and i hope
they won't make up any more problems tomorrow.
now i'm forced to relax until tomorrow...

so that's my day - how was yours? :)

i must tell you your sweet sweet letters regarding the
blog / your love life / studies / army depression /
trip plans / mental problems are the only thing which
kept me going! thank you very much! :)

thanks for having the patience to read this over-sized
letter! :)
wish me luck for tomorrow!
Love
Yaron (your NZ illegal immigrant) Cohen

I actually can't believe i'm saying that, but there are only 20 hours until i depart from this unreal land. Definitely the most kind and friendly people in the world, incomparable stunning outdoors, cheap meat and low humidity - why the hell am i leaving??!?
These three months made me used to all this goodness and driving on the left side of the road, so coming back to israel will be harder then ever!

I'll try to write about the last two weeks here without sounding sad.
After having a successful business meeting in Invercargill, I started heading up the east coast, general direction - Christchurch. My first destination was Oamaru, relatively small city which has many old and perfectly preserved buildings. The main attraction at this point was penguins. At evening time, lots of penguins come out of the ocean and do their duffy walk back home across the beach. There were two groups of them: the yellowed eye, which are the most rare penguins in the world. The blue penguins, the smallest ones.
* sorry for not publishing photos of them - had some technical problem...


Oamaru streets - it's much more impressive then what you see here...

The other attraction was the Moeraki boulders - big, almost perfectly round rocks in a beach south to Omaru. This special phenomena was very nice to see, but it's kinda funny how many people go there just to see a bunch of rocks :)


the Moeraki boulders

Traveling north, I arrived Timaru. That's one of those cities I told myself "I could live here...". Big enough to have offer everything I need but not too crowded, sweet township architecture and only 80 km from Christchurch. We stayed there one night in a HIT house and then continued our way north to "peel forest" reserve.
We were offered to stay in a charming farm house for free for a few hours of "help around the house". 20 minutes after we arrived this place, we were taken to cut firewood for the winter. It sounded like a cool work - I didn't care if it's hard. But then, I also didn't think they will enslave us for 5 hours! loading and unloading trucks with logs!!!
We hit the road early on the next morning - just in case they planed "morning chores" like cleaning the fridge or something :)
Next stop - mount cook, the highest and most spectacular mountain in NZ. Luck was not on our side though. We had bad weather and stayed in the worst backpackers in NZ (because it was the only one with vacancy...). The mountain is really amazing though - glad we went there.


lake Tekapo - the color of the water is real!!


fantastic road to the mountain


the only good thing about the backpacker was the huge lounge window view...

After Mt. cook I headed east and spent 2 nights in a HIT house of two sugar-sweet 75 year old couple. They own a big farm with lots of deer, cattle and open fields. They turned their house into laundry center because I had to was all my clothes and it was raining outside (kiwis usually don't have a dryer machine...).


Ion and Eveline's farm. they have the most professional sheppard dogs i have ever seen!

When my clothes got dry and i was good to go, we headed to Banks peninsula - a bit south to Christchurch. Beautiful bays in special shapes, green mountains and of course, lots of sheep. We spent a couple of nights in a cute and relaxed tourist town called Akaora. basically didn't do much over there. Just chilled out with guys in the cool backpackers and drove along the bays.
The real special experience was surprisingly involved with food. On the last evening in Akaroa i heard you can find mussels ("mulim") in a near by bay. We drove there with Barbara (a german girl i met in the backpackers) and started peeling those shells off the rocks!
I cooked the mussels and added them to a sweet cream and coconut milk sauce as a topping for pasta - turned out amazing!!


Banks peninsula bays


Okains bay (where we got the mussels from)


peeling the mussels


Le awesome dinner :)

Now i'm in my last destination.... Christchurch. It's almost painful to write it. The city is huge and beautiful and i'm staying in a big warm HIT house with two charming cats. I had some sight seeing and enjoyed the Valentines day street shows.




valentines day street shows


the cats

I guess that's it. the flight to Australia is on saturday at 7am.
As for the summery:
After 3 months of awesome thrills, special experiences, partly annoying companions, 2 islands, 16000 km of road trip, countless photos, same amount of sheeps, meeting my parents, getting to know that the smartest and sweetest people know what it takes to live a decent life (having it on two isolated islands on the other side of the world), I can only say one thing - you have to be here to believe!
No other words can describe how much I like this place. I could never even imagine such a place before I came here.

As for the complete route in NZ:
north island



south island

The last three weeks of my trip occurred on the south side of the southern island of NZ. Absolutely amazing areas called Fiordland, Southland and Otago.
Combining with meeting my parents and traveling with them for 4 days made the best time in my journey yet!

Considered by many the most unique and beautiful part of NZ, Fiordland, which situated on the south - west side of the southern island, is a great natural reserve. It consists of fiords - huge mountains coming out of the ocean, forming deep and steep sounds.
The inland mountains of the reserve are enormous and affected by alpine climate.
Annual 9 meters of rainfall (only 40cm in Tel-Aviv!), spread on 260 days, results beautiful savage rain-forests, awesome waterfalls all over and very clean streets in Te - Anau :)


Te - Anau lake


Te - Anau main street


Te - Anau, a small and pretty town, which provides good ground base for trackers, was our home while doing the short - term activities Fiordland has to offer.
On the first day, i went on the Milford sound cruise. An impressive sample of these amazing sounds. Getting near the massive walls makes you feel like the smallest ant!
While sailing we saw some lazy seals sunbathing and friendly group of dolphins, which stayed around our boat for quite a long time.
The 2 hours of road trip back to Te - Anau was almost as stunning as the cruise itself. I'll let the photos talk...


Milford sound


Milford sound


Milford sound - the small white dot is a big ship


road trip to Te - Anau


road trip to Te - Anau

The next day was dedicated for touring Te - Anau lakeside routs. I also bought a new filter for my camera - you may notice the difference in future photos... :)


Te - Anau lake (without the new filter...)

To have a glimpse of the routbern track, I climbed to key summit. Stunning views for small effort :)


key summit

My "main dish" in Fiordland was the Keplet track. I know i'm repeating myself here, but this was definitely the best track i ever had. 80 km of absolutely brilliant views!!! The first day was lakeside rain-forest rout and climbing 1300 meters high mountain. Once I've reached the peak, the forest was replaced with alpine terrain - short yellow bush and black rocks.



The second day was the most amazing one. Walking on top of snowy mountain chain - from one peak to another. Brilliant 360 degrees panoramic views of all the mountains, vallys around and the beautiful turquoise Te - Anau lake.

The 2 following days I walked in wild and thick bush, along beautiful creeks and waterfalls. The path was much easier.
I was very lucky weather-wise. Haveing 4 days in a row with no rain at this area is uncommon.
It would all be perfect if not for the horrible sand flys! These small bastards attack you by the millions and sting as long as you don't walk fast!







My next destination was Dunedin, where i planed to meet my parents.
This ride lasted 2 days through the "southern scenic road" and the Catlins area.
The Catlins look as if god gathered all the best sea phenomenons into one place!
Driving along the coastline, i got to see defferent unique stuff every few miles: seals, sea lions, prehistoric fossilized forest, lighthouses, amazing cliffs and more! here are some samples...


sea lion at cannibal bay - one of these beasts started chasing me!!!


Nugget point


one of Catlins waterfalls

On the 21/1/07 I arrived Dunedin and met my parents. Three months has passed since i last seen them so it was very exciting! It was so great to see them here - on the other side of the globe :)
The following 4 days i slept in fancy hotels and ate non cheap food - in restaurants! :)
Although there were only senior age people on my parents tour (my mom was considered a child...), it was quite nice.
We drove from Dunedin through the Catlins and "the south scenic road" to Te-Anau, where we had the Milford sound cruise (you're probably experiencing a de ja voo right now - the matrix was not broken, i just did the same thing all over again).



Next - Queenstown!
The non stop tourists city. Not only unlimited activity options, this city has stunning scenery as well. We went on jeep ride to special river where once people used to mine gold. I did some gold panning and got my first gold piece! :)
Next in line was jet boating. A spaceship-like boat for 14 people which goes up to 80km/h in narrow rocky river paths - only few inches away from bluffs and rocks! adrenalin "to the face" :)
At the same day we also managed to go up to Bob's peak by cabelcar - brilliant views of lake Wakatipu and the great dramatic mountains.


gold panning


jet boating (with dad)


Queenstown as seen from Bob's peak

On the next day my parents continued their trip by heading up north. We said our goodbyes and i joined Adi and Veronica (a sweet german girl which traveled with us the last two weeks). This whole day was devoted for site-seeing over landscapes where they filmed "the lord of the ring" movies (pretty much everywhere here). This area is about as beautiful and impressive as Fiordland.







After jumping from one place to another for such long time, I decided to stay in a farm for a while. In the middle of nowhere, neer a ghost town called middlemarch, i stayed in a farm owned by a guy named Dean. It's a deer and cattle farm and Dean plan to turn his house into backpackes. So we worked around the farm about 3 hours a day in retern for free accommodation and food - cool and very affordable :)
Dean was great and we had lots of fun working and hanging there. I even went hunting with him! (obviously i didn't kill anything...)


the farm


our neighbor farm watch goat - the sweetest and funniest thing i've ever seen


the house

While staying at the farm, I went to Dunedin for an overnight trip.
This city is amazing. despite how big it is you don't see too much traffic and crowd. Plus, the design of the buildings is very impressive.
I got lots of chocolate in a cadbury chocolate factory tour, visited the well preserved Loranch castle and even got to see wild albatrosses and penguins!!!!!
On the next day i'v been to Boldwin street - the steepest street in the world! it's actually so steep, tourist who try "climbing" it sometimes give up on half way :)


Dunedin


Loranch castle

Time is running short for me over here... My flight is in two weeks!!! The good news is that I practicly finished the rout i've planed. Only got Christchurch and mount Cook left.
Now I'm back in Invercargill (for the third time) not because I like it so much, but because there is a Paua (Abalony) shell factory I need to visit (business stuff).
When I'm done here I'll start heading north to Christchurch area, perhaps work in another farm for some time.