- Unlike Europe, the more you travel south the colder it gets.
- In many small villages if you go at 8pm for dinner it can be too late.
- Various geology and biology notions, like it take 2 years to have some orange vegetation on rocks, 4 years more to have some green musk and few more years for the first micro plants.
- New Zealand landscape offers the same fantastic green hills and field that you might see in similar countries with abundance of rain, like Ireland or UK, but having 4 proper seasons here in addition to that you can see fantastic colours. In my case I discovered the amazing gold and fire colour tones of autumn.- The royal albatross can have a wing-span of up to 3 meters; blue penguins are the smallest ones, yellow-eyed penguins are colorful and noisy; sea lions are huge and can be scary when seen from 2 meters, or when they charge you.
- Change the inclination level of the floor you're standing on and all perspectives can change.
The most shocking notions however has to be:
- A moderate amount of sporting activity can be good for your body and spirit, if of course followed by good wine and cigarettes in order to rebalance toxins in your body.
How did I discover all this? Here's the recipe: fly to Christchurch, where all Antarctic expeditions departs, spend a couple of days there, then take the Transalpine train, one of the top 10 most scenic train rides in the world. Arrive to Greymouth, discover it's a ghost city and move on swiftly. Go up to Fox Glacier, hike for few hours before having the rewarding experience to walk on a 500mt high glacier.
Remember to put on crampons when on the glacier. Continue south to Wanaka. While there visit the Illusion World and take Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal style pictures in the gravity room. Next day rent a mountain bike and go around the lake for the most picturesque off road trail ever. From there, cutting right in the middle of the mountains where they shot Lord of the Rings arrive to Queenstown. No need to go to the -5 Ice Bar there as it's already -5 outside. You can take a gondola to the top of the mountains for fantastic views and to have a ride downhill with the luge. With another of those top 10 most scenic trains you can get to Dunedin. Called the Edinburgh of the south hemisphere, you can here go on a tour through hidden, private and well protected areas to see royal albatross, penguins, sea lions and fur seals. In Dunedin go play with gravity and perspective again on Baldwin street, the steepest street in the world. To make it a full round go back to Christchurch and this time rent a mountain bike to go up and down steep, exhausting but regarding off road tracks. To make this recipe spicier visit at least one Indian restaurant in every place you stop. One last thing, dont bother with pastas (incredibly overcooked) or espressos (longer than an American one). But that applies only if you're Italian :)
