Travel log of Eli and Anna Bendersky

Hi all,

After a short flight (3 hours) we landed in Christchurch, on the south island of New Zealand.

Christchurch is one of NZ’s largest cities, with the population of Haifa (about 300,000 people), though it is spread over a larger territory because most of the buildings here are private 1-2 story houses.

We picked up our rental car (a battered Mazda Lantis approximately 10 years old with 200,000 km on the odometer) and settled in Dorset House, a backpackers hostel near the city center. This hostel is much better than every hostel / motel we’ve stayed in Australia (and for a much lower price), so our first impression was very positive.

The weather wasn’t very good in the first couple of days, it was cloudy and raining, but we still walked around the city a little, shopped for some food. The supermarkets here are cheaper than in Australia, almost as cheap as in Israel, except for the vegetables of course, which cost a fortune (9 NZD, that is 27 shekels for a Kg of red peppers…).

On the 11th, we drove to Akaroa (80 km south-east of Christchurch) to begin the Banks Peninsula track. It is a private track, which means that most of it goes through private land, and the booking price includes accomodation in huts, pickup to the starting point, and a pre-set schedule. There were two options - to do the track (which is 35 km long) in 4 days, or in 2 days. We decided we’re fit enough to go for the 2 days option… There was another couple doing the track in two days, and about 12 people doing it in 4 days.

The track begins in the evening - a bus picked us up in Akaroa (the local town / village) and drove us to the first hut, where we spent the night. The huts on the track were very nice and clean, with gas stoves and cooking equipment. There was also an option to purchase food on the way, but we decided to take all the food on us, to practice for the longer tracks we’re going to do later.

In the morning we woke up to begin walking - the track starts with a very steep climp up a hill from sea level to 700 metres, and most of it was inside a cloud.

After hard 1.5 hours, we finally emerged above the clouds, for a gorgeous view of the harbour filled in thick white clouds - it really looked like a swimming pool you can just plunge into.

The first day was very difficult, and we walked for about 8.5 hours, not counting a lunch break. So naturally we felt quite exhausted after it. But we did get to see a lot of beautiful views, as well as a multitude of local fauna, which consists mostly of sheep, but also dolphins and seals, ducks, cows, hares and geckos.

The second day began with an easy walk along the coast, and then we began climbing again - to a 600 metre saddle point between peaks, through a beautiful forest, passing over countless little streams. The climb wasn’t as bad as on the first day, but the way down was very difficult, and took us longer than expected. When we got to the car we could barely walk The second day was a bit shorter in total - 7.5 hours. Conclusion: we probably should have walked the track in 4 days. As a first track in New Zealand, with big packs on our backs, it was pretty difficult, and we took the next day off in the hostel - just doing nothing and letting our legs and backs recover.

So far our impression of New Zealand is most positive - the country is beautiful, the people are very nice and the hostel is exceptional (and we heard from other travelers that other hostels are not worse). The weather is not that good most of the time - it’s quite unpredictable. At least we had luck on the track - it wasn’t raining. Tomorrow we are leaving the Christchurch area, and heading south-west towards the mountains.

Bye bye for now.

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