A post on our recent trip to New Zealand.
This trip was a little out of the ordinary for us in that we signed on for a group tour for the first two weeks of the trip, with an outfit named New Zealand Trails (this is a company that was suggested by our good friends Pete and Rosana, who in turn have friends who've been on their tours before). We decided that the four of us would do the group tour together, and then we would add on an extra week as well (Pete and Rosana's extra week was before the NZT trip, and ours was after).
Our vacations these days (as always) are all meticulously planned and organized by Amy, and she did another bang-up job for this one, especially for the week after the group outing.
For the flight over we did two segments, one to LAX (the usual 6 hours or so) and then a second 12-hour segment to Auckland (whew). Arriving and getting through the Auckland airport is an interesting experience mainly as a result of the very thorough agricultural inspections that they do. We had our bags x-rayed (to make sure we were bringing in exactly what we said we were bringing) and there was also a hiking boot inspection. I had heard about this ahead of time and had scrubbed our boots quite a bit. You get asked of course about any and all foodstuffs you are bringing in (very strict rules there).
Queenstown is a smaller city than I had imagined; it is perched on the north side of beautiful lake Wakatipu ("waka" is apparently the Maori word for canoe). We arrived a bit after lunch, very jet-lagged of course and had to force ourselves to take walks and do other activities to stay away until something resembling a normal bedtime hour. Photos:
Walking in the Queenstown gardens:
Group tour notes:
Monday, Day 1: we lugged our bags up the hill to the designated meeting spot in the morning eventually met up with the group: 12 total, a couple from Wyoming, a couple from Utah, a couple from Philadelphia, a woman from Syracuse, and a woman from Portland (in addition Pete, Rosana, Amy, and me).
We piled into a large van (had seats for about 16 people) along with our two tour guides and drove to Arrowtown (old gold mining town), where we picked up rental bikes and got ready for a ride, as the main outdoor activity for the day. Not a long drive, weather nice and cool but sunny.
Decent gravel path along the river, pleasant temps and good/functional bike (front and rear brakes reversed). It was an enjoyable ride, weather continued to be good, and we had views of the river valley and surrounding hills. Every now and then the bike path would cross the river, which meant a suspension bridge (nice and narrow ,kind of bouncy too). [We were to later learn that they seem to have these all over the place in the south island]. Photos:
Suspension bridge:
A "pest" trap (we would hear more about these later):
View of the river from the trail:
Rosana riding:
We finally came to a more established bridge at the end of the ride, which featured a huge bungee jumping setup, with lots of people watching and a substantial queue of folks waiting for their go. Turns out that bungee jumping was actually invented by a Kiwi, an enterprising you man by the name of A. J. Hackett (supposedly if you look on youtube you can find a video of his very first bungee).
Our guides were Dan, who did all of the driving, and Kristy, who did all the cooking (I'd say she prepared a bit more than half our meals, with the other half coming in cafes and restaurants along the way). Both of them were great, very enthusiastic, knowledgeable about New Zealand, and in general a lot of fun to travel with.
After the bike ride it was a picnic lunch, then a good deal more driving to make it to our next destination. Driving on the flats north of Arrowtown it was interesting to see the various canals that had been put into place to distribute water from the mountains, and to power hydro power dams. We also passed a salmon farm. Water in the canals (even a long way from the mountains) still has an incredibly glacial look to it, very chalky.
Drove up to through the town of Twezil, then to Lake Ohau where we stayed at the Lake Ohau Lodge, a really fantastic setting -- huge wall of mountains to the west, peaks to the north, lake to the south.
Nice dinner cooked by Kristy that evening; we got a chance to talk to each other and get to know the other group members.
Tuesday, Day 2:
Tasty breakfast cooked by Kristy and Dan, then it was once again into the van and off for a drive up to the trailhead on the valley leading up to Mount Aoraki / Mount Cook. I decided to stay together with the group, which was doing a five mile hike up the Hooker Valley trail, not too much up and down, but with spectacular views of Mount Cook / Aoraki to the north. Weather superb, could not have been any better.
Amy and I finished a little early on the hike (rest of the group was going a bit slower) so I decided to do the second hike option as well, a 2.5 mile round trip to Sealy Tarns. That was kind of a cool hike, pretty much straight up (our guides referred to the walk as "The Stairmaster", which indeed turned out to be an apt description). Fantastic views from up top -- surrounding mountains and the valley running to the south. The terrain in this area is about as glacial as I've ever seen -- everything looks like it has been freshly carved out by giant rivers of ice.
Partway up the Sealy Tarns trail, looking north to Mt Cook:
Back down towards the trailhead and visitor's center:
At the tarns, facing north towards the lookout:
View north. The lake is the one we hiked to along Hooker Valley trail.
View back to the southeast:
The trail (stairs and more stairs):
I made it back down in time to join Amy and Rosana at the Hermitage Hotel, where we had a nice cup of tea together (very civilized). Pete and a couple of the other folks had been "heli-hiking" -- that sounded pretty interesting: they pile you into a helicopter, then fly out to land on the Tasman glacier, where you walk around on top of the ice exploring things.
NZ vegetation along the hikes has a very unfamiliar feel to it (or at least it did at this point in the trip). Here's one thing we saw all over, a Matagouri bush. Very tough plant, with lethal-looking thorns:
Driving back from the hike:
View from the back of the van:
Photo-bombing Pete and Rosana (how rude):
Another nice dinner again back at the lodge cooked by Kristy and Dan, this time local salmon (I assume from the farm we drove by).
Stargazing with Pete and Rosana that evening -- that was definitely an unexpected highlight. I didn't think I would be able to stay awake long enough, but I held out just long enough to see some cool stuff. Couple of very bright nearby stars, Sirius and Canopus, then the southern cross (which I had never seen before), and then eventually a full sky and a good view of the milky way. Pete and Rosana are more avid astronomers, so they had a specific list of things that they wanted to see while "down under".
Orion was there, but oddly upside down in the northern sky. Shooting stars (a few) and then the most amazing display of satellites that I've ever seen. It was basically a line of them running from northwest to southeast, one after the other, with a new one popping into view about every 5 or 10 seconds. Slightly creepy in fact! Pete speculated that it might be another Elon Musk or similar high-tech/startup venture (he'd heard that some sort of big satellite network was in the works). Pete and Rosana had binoculars, which also helped a lot (they were looking for a couple of specific globular clusters that are only visible from the southern hemisphere).
Wednesday, Day 3:
In the morning after breakfast we got packed up and said goodbye to Lake Ohau, then made our way north and east over to the city of Christchurch, with a stop at the Mount John observatory (quick hike up to the top and then some modest views). Mount John is a sort of monadnock; it has two telescope domes at the top, one of which is active, and the other (now shut down) was apparently run in cooperation with the US government, used to spy on Russian satellites or something to this effect. Photos:
This statue is a monument to the working dogs of New Zealand -- early settlers relied hugely on their dogs (and I guess the current ranchers still do):
Stopped for lunch at the Fairlie Bakehouse in the town of Fairlie, where we bought meat pies and had a picnic lunch. According to Dan, the pie in NZ is all about the savory stuff (sweet pies are very much secondary), so this was definitely good local pick. The pie I had was delicious (traditional "steak and cheese"), and as I might have expected, very rich indeed (a long way from diet food). Also bought some cherries from a local stand; the fruit in the area is very good.
Lengthy drive in to Christchurch, arriving eventually around 5 or so. The hotel was a quirky sort of place on the outside -- the entrance was inside a sort of station/hallway building with a tram running through the center of it, and a glassed in ceiling. Room itself was nondescript but comfy, with a view out from the 5th floor.
Semi-fancy dinner at a restaurant in Christchurch ("Dux Dine"), fish and chips for me (eek, more rich food... wish I had known about the pies... but it was quite good). We walked around a bit after dinner, looking at the area around the old cathedral (which is still in a ruin today, in spite of the time that has passed since the 2015 earthquake).
This building (now condemned and boarded off) was just a half block from our hotel:
Graffiti park:
Ruins of the Christchurch cathedral, which has not yet been rebuilt. It is currently home to a good-size collection of birds:
More urban murals:
Thursday, Day 4:
In the morning we had a superb breakfast at a local place called the "Unknown Chapter" (I had vegan tofu over toast with roast tomatoes and mushrooms, excellent), then we walked over to look at some of the memorials from the earthquake.
When the earthquake struck it damaged a lot of buildings, but one in particular was so heavily damaged that it essentially pancaked, killing something like 115 people (including a fair number of small children, and a collection of folks visiting from Japan at the time).
They have a memorial set up on the site, and then next to that they have the so-called Cardboard Cathedral, a replacement cathedral building designed by a Japanese architect that has these huge interesting cardboard columns/supports in sort of an A-frame structure.
Next to that is a bare field with lines of office chairs that have been painted white (reminded me a lot of the "ghost bike" memorials they create near Boston when someone is killed while biking).
After that we took a drive out to Godley Head, which is a peninsula just to the south of the main city, and east of the main harbor, where we did a short hike.
Very reminiscent of the Marin highlands outside San Francisco, with pristine oceans down below (seals and dolphins frolicking) and dry grasslands up above. We visited the site of a former NZ army installation, where during the WW-II era they had put in big fixed guns to protect the harbor and the city.
People launching their parasails off the hilltops:
Short drive up the coast to get free of Christchurch, then lunch at a small seaside town called Waikuku -- nice vacation homes and an absolutely pristine beach (walked out to explore while Dan and Kristy were getting lunch set up). As with many of the other beautiful watery spots in New Zealand we had seed, it was virtually deserted.
Stopped for a toilet break along the way:
Perhaps it was just our especially savvy guides (who knew all the good routes), but I have to say that New Zealand is a great place to drive around as a tourist from a bathroom perspective -- the public toilets are plentiful and clean, you don't have to go hunting around for them or sneak into restaurants or cafes to use the loo.
Long driving days; we finally rolled into Kaikoura (up the coast) around 5:30ish. Dinner was falafel salad or fish ordered out take-away from Dan; we ate at a small BBQ area behind the motel where we were staying. Short walk down to the beach as well, not quite as scenic as the beach we had seen earlier that day.
Friday, Day 5:
Super-early wakeup today; set the alarm for 4:30 in order to get packed and onto the van by 5am (yikes), whereupon we drove off for our next activity, a dolphin watching boat ride. Or as they pitched it, a "dolphin encounter" -- as opposed to just observing from the deck, you actually hop into the water and get a bit closer. I had to admit that I was a little skeptical at first (swimming with dolphins, really?) but I went ahead and put on the kit. We suited up in wetsuits, then took a van out to the docks and hopped onto a boat -- medium-sized twin-hull, three crew, and about 21 passengers. Reasonably speedy as well.
The weather was ideal, very little wind, almost no swells to speak of. The boat crew took us south along the coast, riding for maybe a half hour or so? We could see dolphins playing around almost immediately. In this area they do have some common dolphins, but most of what we were seeing were Dusky dolphins. These are a smaller variety, about 6 feet long, with striking black/white coloration (black or dark grey on top, white belly).
The boat captain found a pod of dolphins that looked interested, zoomed over to them, cut the engines, and then the folks in wetsuits slid off the end of the boat and then swam over to take a look. Dolphins are only mildly curious about swimming humans (or from their perspective, mostly stationary human blobs floating in the water) but they are more curious if you make interesting noises, so (as instructed by the crew) we made all sorts of squeeks, pops, clicks, snaps, yells, yodels, you name it, and that did indeed do the trick.
You'd be swimming with your mask down, and all of a sudden a dolphin (or several) would zoom over and circle around you to check you out and find out what was making that weird noise. You could then try to zoom around them (impossible), or more likely just keep yourself oriented properly while they zoomed around you, doing their inspections. I saw tons of dolphins up close, even got to see a mom with its baby a few times (the babies swim very close to their moms, tracking their every movement through the water). Extraordinary experience; it put all of the other dolphin-watching I've done before to shame.
After we'd been swimming in one area for 5 or 10 minutes the dolphins would tend to get a little less interested, so the boat captain would give a blast on his horn and we'd climb back on, then motor off to another area. Dan and the other folks who were up on the boat and not in the water said later that the effect of watching from above is very humorous -- big clump of people swimming around in circles, heads down in the water yelling and squeaking and singing through their snorkling tubes, quite entertaining.
After about 30 minutes or so we got back in the boat and for a while the captain just zoomed around looking for dolphins to observe, which was also fun. The dolphins were also very interested in the boat itself as it moved along - they loved playing around next to and in front of the boat while we were underway; they can apparently "surf" on the bow wave, so we got great views of them that way as well, with lots of jumps and flips.
After getting back from the ride and getting cleaned up we had a nice breakfast in a side room there at the dive center, which had an attached cafe.
From there it was into the van and heading north again, this time up to the city of Picton, which was a bit of a port town, with a crowded marina and a wharf large enough accommodate the big ferries that run up to Wellington. We had a picnic lunch there, then went to the kayak rental place to watch a safety video (of course) and finally hopped onto a boat (water taxi) for a ride across the sound to the next destination, called Lochmara Lodge. This was a smallish resort on the sound with a very family-like feel to it, with cabins, places to kayak, paddleboard, etc.
On the taxi:
This particular taxi had a mascot it turns out (named "Lochy"):
We showered and did our best to take a nap (not much success, too many people out and about), and then eventually went out for a walk, where we met up with Jay and Nancy, who were wandering around with a pair of binoculars looking for birds to see. We saw a weka (first of many), a wood pidgeon, a fan-tail, and towards the end of the walk a New Zealand robin (interesting bird, looks nothing like the American version -- much smaller, dark grey, and somehow less frightened of humans than many of the other birds).
The lodge itself:
Wandering around the grounds above the cabins, encountered these guys:
Silver fern (or at least I'm pretty sure that's what these are):
A bit o' art:
More ferns:
Entrance to the Lodge from the trail that connects to the Queen Charlotte Track:
Nice dinner at the cafe there, I had a really excellent green curry with chicken.
Saturday, day 6;
Today was our big kayaking day. Amy and I were up early and breakfast was not until 8, so we went for a walk on one of the hiking trails up the hill. The trail in question said that it led to the Queen Charlotte Trail, which is a big (100km?) trail that runs along the ridge for a long ways -- we hiked for a half hour of so but didn't encounter it, so we just came back down the same way, since we were out of time. Lots of lovely silver ferns (is is the fern on the NZ flag & national team jersey), they are beautiful plants (or in some cases trees).
We waited around a bit after breakfast, but eventually a boat zoomed into the harbor laden with kayaks, and a couple of guides unloaded them and got them set up for us. Two-person kayaks with spray skirts, rudders, and stowage for a small amount of luggage -- it was pretty good kit. Once we got set up, we did a lengthy paddle (bit less than three hours?) back south from Lochmara to Picton again, which meant crossing the sound the other way. Nice water, a bit of wildlife (mussels, cormorants [called "shags" in NZ], not too much else), not too many boats. It was a nice ride.
On the water:
I was worried that I would be sore afterwards (nothing like a long day of paddling to knock you over), but thankfully that wasn't a problem.
In Picton after getting changed and reorganized we had an excellent lunch at the Oxley hotel, which is right there a few steps away from the wharf area. I had an good piece of fish and potatoes/veggies served with marinated olives (yum).
From there it was off and on to the drive to Nelson. We stopped after about 40 mins or so at a winery along the way, the Giesen winery, where we did a tasting. Very good sauvignon blanc (including a barrel aged type that I thought was excellent); we also tried a range of merlot wines, also delicious.
Fairly long drive, then we finally rolled into the city of Nelson in the mid to late afternoon. Once we got settled in the hotel the guides told us that we were on our own for the next day (Sun), and that they would pick us up for breakfast Monday morning.
Interesting sign near the motel where we were staying (???):
The coffee from our hotel room -- this brand was especially good. In the USA you tend to get small filter-style coffee makers (Mr Coffee-esque); in New Zealand you get a smallish plunger-style thing for making coffee.
Amy and I made a bee line for the nearest grocery store after unpacking and loaded up on veggies -- green beans, spinach, broccoli. Also some fruit, and a small bag of couscous to make with pesto. We had a good dinner that night, cooked in a microscopic but quite functional "kitchen" there in the room (the NZ hotels seem to do pretty well in this way). Pete and Rosana joined us.
Sunday, Day 7:
This was our free day in Nelson, and the weather looked sunny, so we were excited about the prospects of going for a bike ride. Various members of the group had talked ahead of time about the choices, so when we walked over to the bike rental place, we were a good sized group of seven.
After getting kitted out with bikes, we struck out to the south, following an old rail line that had been converted into a bike path. Very pleasant ride, nice and smooth, not too much traffic. The bike path took us about 10 kilometers or so, at which point we branched off and followed a coastal path (gravel mostly) that was at the edge of a big dry marsh or salt flat. The path meandered along the edge of the salt flat, lots of curving around, then eventually headed inland towards an area with more houses and farms, and finally turned and made a straight shot out to the coast, crossing over a couple of small bridges.
Rabbit Island turned out to be wooded (no rabbits to be seen), but when we made it through the woods along the shore we emerged onto a perfectly lovely beach, with nice sand and good views, not too crowded. I had a (short) dip in the ocean, and Amy wandered around on the beach and stuck her feet in the water.
On the bike path:
The beach at Rabbit Island:
At that point it was already past 1pm, and we realized that we hadn't seen anything in the way of food along the route (there was one cafe shown on the bike map, but when we went past the spot we couldn't see anything at all). Since we were both pretty hungry, we took off back on the path and rode another hour or so, forking off the path to locate a pub called "The Honest Lawyer", where we had a very late lunch (it turned out to be a good place to eat). Photo:
After that we decided we would make a quick stop at the WOW Museum, an odd little place, has two main sections, one given over to classic cars / automobiles, and the second section entirely devoted to so-called "Wearable Art". Strange combination, but it was fun to see. The wearable art costumes are from a festival that they used to have yearly in Nelson; according to Kristy it was a really big deal and a huge party (apparently the show got a bit too big, and they had to move it to a larger city). They had some video clips playing at various points in te exhibit, and it did indeed look like a lot of fun (a sort of art-themed Cirque Du Soleil atmosphere).
Some photos from the first section (wearable art)-- there were things all over the map.
This outfit I found especially amazing -- looking at it you would swear that it's made of white feathers of one sort or another, but when you get really close, you can see that each "feather" is actually a small piece cut out of a plastic milk carton (and then carefully crafted with hundreds of small scissor cuts to make it feather-like):
There was an entire section with nothing but bras (waaaat?):
The stuffed critters that make up this bra are actually possums (the Australian kind, which were imported into NZ as game to be hunted, and are now considered pests). Weird.
Then it was on to the car section. Too many vehicles to photograph properly, so here are just a few:
From there we took a slightly different route back, a bit more traffic but on the plus side much flatter (we avoided the big hill that we went up/down on the other route). Total mileage about 55 kilometers, which is not bad for a ride on a rough path.
At that point Amy and Rosana decided to go to the 5:30 Evensong service at the cathedral, hoping that there would be some good music (it was unfortunately music-free), and I decided to be a potted plant... sat in the hotel room and drank beer with Pete :-).
For dinner we polished off the leftover veggies from the previous night, in combination with a small tofu curry from a local Thai place.
Monday, Day 8:
Up and at 'em again. We walked over to a breakfast place called Morrisons (superb food, some of the best avocado toast I have had in ages).
Mural seen on the walk there:
The breakfast place:
Seen while wandering around afterwards -- kind of a cool concept for a flowering plant pot:
From there we hopped into the van and had a fairly long drive to the west -- our time on the eastern coast of the south island was done. We drove for an hour or two to reach Murcheson (big white water kayaking mecca) and then along the Buller Gorge, next to the Buller river, which grew larger as we went along. Very beautiful river, quite large towards the end.
We eventually wound up at the oddly named town of Cape Foulwind, where we did a short hike along the coast finishing up at a seal colony. Nice stroll, very warm.
Seal colony at the end of the walk. Loads of seals playing around, but kind of hard to make them out in a photo without a better lens.
Dinner at the Star Tavern, right next to the Omau Settlers Lodge where we were staying. Nice little rooms/cabins, constructed mostly out of corrugated metal of some sort, painted and sparsely decorated. I liked the way they were designed, it was a nice setup. Rosana entertained us by making "Highlander" cocktails (somehow she managed to assemble the right list of oddball ingredients), so we had a proper cocktail hour before dinner. Brief ping-pong game at the tavern as well before dinner.
Cocktail hour:
The lodge:
The so-called "New Zealand Christmas Tree":
After-dinner walk down down towards the beach -- we asked the guy running the lodge where we should wanted and he flashed a smile and gave us some directions that involved walking down a path on the other side of the tavern, then hopping over a sign that said "no admittance" (or something to this effect). We bungled it a bit by picking the wrong sign -- that led us to an odd cleared area where someone had set up a pavilion/tent that looked like it was for a wedding. We eventually got turned around and found the correct path, which led down to the beach itself. The tide was in, however, so we weren't able to explore much other than the small section of the beach there.
The coastline here is very steep and clifflike, also very rocky.
Photos:
Tuesday, Day 9:
Quick breakfast at the lodge, fruit / toast / muesli provided by the couple that runs the place. Nice home-made bread and butter. From there it was into the van and off on another drive.
First stop was in Punakaiki, to do the Porari river track, a decent walk (4ish miles) starting at the coast, then looping around and running along the Porariri river (another stunning NZ waterway). That was very lovely, albeit a tiny bit buggy at the beginning.
Pete, looking fashionable:
After that we drove on, stopping at the Punakaiki "Pancake Rocks" area, and did a 15-min walk there. The rocks in question are these interesting layered formations that look kind of like stacks of thin (4-5 inches thick maybe) pancakes, arranged in odd spires and peaks. Nice, although a bit exposed.
From there, we continued down along the cost on route 6 to Greymouth, where we had lunch at a microbrewery called Monteiths. Nice place to have a meal, and the beer was not too bad either. Odd fact: in New Zealand you can order something called an APA or "American Pale Ale", which is essentially an American-style IPA -- who knew? My meal consistent of a set of small tarts made with sweet potato, which the Maori call kumara -- apparently it is the local vegetable with the longest history here, having been brought over by Polynesians more than a thousand years ago. In the parking lot, I thought this looked kind of cool. West coast of the south island definitely has a sort of a hippie feel in places:
After another drive, we made it to the town of Hokatika, where we had an hour of so of free time, so we decided to go to shopping. This town has a bunch of stores devoted to pounamu, the green jade-like stone that is found in this area and is/was highly prized by the Maori. Amy and I wandered the shops and found some nice things to buy -- no shortage of options (there were some nice merino wool things for sale in some of the other shops). Also the place in the photo below -- interestingly enough the local "possum" fur makes good hats and gloves (the fibers have a hollow core):
More driving again (this was a very long driving day) until we finally reached the small town of Okarito. The section of highway leading into Okarito here runs right along the coast, and it reminds me of Route 1 in California along the coast north of Santa Barbara and south of Carmel -- rocky, windswept, with a very wild feeling. Our guides also talked about how vulnerable the road is, with the heavy weather in the area. Road closures are frequent, and make it very difficult for people who live in the towns along this area. On top of that there is a nice big geological fault line, which is now "due for a big one", having not shifted for three hundred years or so. All of this lends the area an odd temporary feel, as if the folks here are all living on borrowed time in some way.
We finally pulled into the very small town of Okarito, which is close to the shore and to a big lagoon that is a protected spot for the white heron. The lodge there is nice, a main meeting/cooking/eating area and then a bunch of detached cabins. The cabin that Amy and I were in had a very 1970s feel to it (bright blue shag carpeting on half of it), but very cozy and comfortable.
King Pete holds court prior to dinner:
We had a nice dinner cooked by Kristy and another guide Meghan who happened to be staying in the area on break, but wanted to help out her teammate. Fish en papillote, broccoli, and rice, quite good. We also did some laundry (since they had a good setup there) and I had an enjoyable soak in the hot tub with Amy and Rosana.
After dinner we walked down to the edge of the lagoon where they had a sort of shack set up, along with posters showing some of the history of the town. Okarito started out as a tiny 2-man lumber camp, and then at some point in the 1830s/1840s someone discovered gold, at which point it ballooned into a sizable boomtown (5000+), but then deflated as the gold was mined out and folks moved elsewhere. The people there worked hard to keep the town alive by trying to create a viable port, but without any luck -- the tides and the presence of the lagoon apparently made it completely unworkable (lots of ships got stuck and became wrecks), and it eventually shrank back down to its current size of about 30 people. Easy come, easy go, as the saying goes.
Walking on the beach after dinner:
Wednesday, Day 9:
Today we kicked things off with a session kayaking on the lagoon, looking at bird life, especially the white herons, which the locals are trying hard to create a sanctuary for. A bit buggy, so it was hard to sit still while the kayak guides went through all the usual safety speeches and detailed instructions on how to hold the paddle, etc. It was a decent couple of hours on the water, but not quite as much fun as our previous session on Queen Charlotte Sound (although the views were definitely nicer).
Dan and Marilyn on their way:
The mountains in the distance are the range that includes Mount Cook / Aoraki, interestingly enough (seen from the other side of course).
White heron -- the guest of honor for this particular bird sanctuary:
After that it was into the van and off down the coast, then inland to the town of Franz Jozeph, where we did a short hike up to see the glacier of the same name.
The hike runs mainly along an absolutely vast expanse of grey stones and gravel, with a meek-looking (at least at the moment) river running down from the glacier. The walk took about 45 minutes from the trailhead to the viewing point downhill from the glacier. At about the 10 minute mark you go by a marker and a sign saying that in 1908, this spot was the end point of the glacier. You then tramp a solid 30 minutes along the plain until another signpost saying "In 2008 the glacier ended here", and then in another 5 minutes you are at the end of the trail, with the glacier visible but still way the heck up the hill. Food for thought.
Start of the trail, has a sort of "jungle" feel:
Emerging onto the big flood plain. Could this whole thing have possibly been under water at some point? Seems impossible -- too big.
The spot where the glacier used to end back in 2008/2009.
End of the line-- this is as close as they want you to get:
Jeff at work with his camera (a good one). Kind of made me wish I had brought a good camera to work with (cell phone is ok, but comes up way short in many cases).
Looking back from the viewpoint:
Waterfall along the way:
Continuing the drive down the west coast:
From there we got into the van and did another lengthy drive, going up over the Haast pass, and finally across the watershed divide and down into the lake town of Wanaka. We were all getting pretty restless towards the end, and Kristy had to resort to telling us a collection of puns and riddles and bad jokes (there was a whole series of cheese-themed jokes as I recall, all of them groaners... jokes of last resort, so to speak) to keep us entertained.
Lake Wanaka, yay:
Later in the evening:
Lake Wanaka is gorgeous, a lot like Lake Ohau but larger and more developed down at the south end. We drove down along the eastern edge, around the bottom, and a couple of minutes up the western side, arriving at the Edgewater hotel, described by Dan as "bougy" (e.g. bourgeois). I would tend to agree; it was pretty hoity-toity. We had a decent dinner at the restaurant there, a short walk along the lake, and retired for the night.
Thursday, Day 9:
Late start, but then after breakfast we had another really nice hiking day, this time heading a short way up the lake (8km) to hike Rocky Mountain, a smallish mountain near the edge of the lake. It was warm (in the 80s) and the trail was pretty exposed, so we got pretty sweaty on the way up and down. Fabulous views, both from the intermediate lookout points and from the top, where we could see all of the lake and then north towards the "alps" forming the boundary over to the west coast.
Trailhead:
About half way up:
Diamond Lake:
View to the south:
Pete on his way:
Reaching the top:
View to the North:
To the southeast:
Lounging at the top with Nancy:
The gang:
On the way down:
About halfway up there was a small lake, and in the section of trail just above the lake it was forested, and we heard some nice birdcalls, which Kristy identified as tui. Never saw the birds, but I managed to capture one of the calls on my phone.
Lunch up on top, salads prepared previously by Kristy. Odd combination (sweet potatoe, tomato, some sort of smoked cheese, arugula, dressing) but quite yummy. The top also featured a decent sized group of French tourists, and an extraordinarily intrepid couple with their (large) baby in a carrier and with a 3 or 4 year old who had somehow made it all the way up to the top -- wow.
On the drive back to the hotel the guides asked whether we might like a swim in the lake, which sounded like a good idea to all of us, so we pulled over at a small annonymous beach and went for a super quick dip -- very refreshing indeed.
Afternoon was spent mostly lolling around (with some laundry), along with a hearts game (Pete crushed us) and some reading/journaling. Dinner at an Italian place in "downtown" Wanaka, food was quite tasty but it took forever to show up, and the place was so loud that it was hard to have a real conversation, so it was maybe not my favorite group meal, in spite of the food.
Walking back from the restaurant along the lake, we passed this enormous group of people who were there to photograph the oddball tree sticking out of the lake ... ???. This tree is (apparently) a big deal on Instagram (yet another good reason to avoid Facebook and Instagram, amen).
Friday, Day 10:
Super early start today, in the van and on the road by 6:15 (ugh). We drove to the southwest out of town and then up in to the hills on the Crown Range Road, which brought us over a pass and down into Arrowtown and then Queenstown. Lots of "freedom" campers parked along the way (they are banned from Wanaka, which is already crowded enough). Hot air balloon, that was kind of cool.
In Queenstown we parked near the chairlift/gondola thing, then walked just down the hill to a breakfast/coffee place called Bespoke Kitchen, which was a mite bit crowded but had excellent food. "Breakfast board" for me, which featured a couple of poached eggs on avocado toast, an odd shot glass with some sort of fizzy ginger juice (?), and then a dish of apricot compote with tapioca and coconut cream (yum). Amy was adventurous and had a turmeric latte (who knew). She didn't care for it (too sweet for her tastes), so I polished it off.
From there we walked down to the dock and hopped into a boat (The Southern Discovery) and cruised down to the other end of Lake Wakatipu. Lovely boat ride, nice calm water, no jouncing around to speak of, and some nice views of the side of the lake, and also up north to the mountains when we went around the bend.
From the boat, looking back at Q-town:
Underway:
Pete and I:
Here we are "coming around the bend" in the lake and getting some nice views of the mountains to the north.
Pulling in to dock the farm:
We stopped for a bit at the Mount Nicolas ranch once we reached the bend in the lake, and spent a while there before resuming our travel. We had a short tour/talk from a woman named Emily there who works for Southern Discoveries but lives there on the farm and was very familiar with the operations (I think she had worked on a big sheep farm before).
She led us into the shearing shed (more like a small barn, it was fairly sizeable), where we saw the seasonal setup (clippers, etc), along with a couple of very large tables with raw sheared wool sitting on top. Each table had the wool from just a single Merino sheep (which was kind of hard to believe, it looked like an enormous volume of wool).
The wool itself really interesting to look at -- each clump was sort of gray/dingy/lanolin-covered on one edge, then pristine white in the middle and on the other end. The wool itself was incredibly fine, each strand way smaller than a human hair, and it was interestingly wavy/curly -- lovely stuff. Emily talked a bit about the history of the ranch it was started way back by a pair of brothers by the name of White, who had come over from England after having served in the British Army.
We also heard a bit about how the wool is used -- apparently the bulk of it winds up in high-end clothing (suits and such), with the remainder going to New Zealand wool clothing brands such as "Icebreaker". Someone asked whether the wool was processed at all before being handed over, and apparently the answer is no, the folks that buy the wool take it in a completely raw/untouched form. Removing the dirt and lanolin is apparently not all that hard, you just need some very hot water.
At some point while listening to Emily we were interrupted by two dogs coming into the shearing shed -- smaller Border Collie (or equivalent) named "Belle", and a larger German Shepherd / Labrador mix named "Khan". Belle was very energetic and wiggly, wanted to visit with everyone and get the maximum amount of patting and scratching. Patting her was interesting -- she had spent so much time around sheep that she actually had a fair amount of lanolin on her fur as well (you could feel it).
The ranch is enormous: 40,000 hectares, with a total of 29,000 Merino sheep and 2,300 Hereford cattle. We were surprised to hear that the whole show is run by only about 5 or 6 ranch hands, plus about 40 working dogs -- seems crazy, but I guess most of the time the sheep do fine on their own (since there really aren't any predators to speak of).
The sheep are sheared once a year around October; when they are brought in around that time they are also inspected and dewormed, etc to make sure they are OK. The sheep live for about maybe 12 years or so, the main determining factor in their life being their teeth of all things: if they can't chew their food, they starve. The ranchers inspect their mouths each time they come in to be sheared, and if their teeth are no longer viable they are shipped off to the slaughterhouse (to be used for dog food or equivalent), since otherwise they would die of starvation.
The really interesting part of the farm tour was when we left the shearing shed and went out to watch a "working dog" demonstration, where we could see the dogs in action rounding up a group of sheep. We walked over to a fenced off section of pasture not far from the shed, and Emily let the two dogs into the field, where there was a flock of sheep doing their thing (mostly on the far side of the field). The dogs trotted into the field and then lay down together, looking at Emily and waiting for her, both of them just about quivering with pent-up energy. She gave them a couple of commands and the dogs sprang into action -- Belle was off like a rifle shot, and Khan began running towards the sheep as well, not quite as fast. In a remarkably short period of time the sheep were all rounded up and collected in a knot next to Emily, with the dogs patrolling the perimeter and keeping them all in line.
We learned that different working dogs have different "styles" of moving the sheep, and are used in different situations. Dogs like Belle are especially good at pulling groups of sheep towards the shepherd and keeping the flock from separating -- her style was to outrun and outflank the sheep, and then once she had them where she wanted them, she would apply the "Death Stare" -- basically crouching down in the grass and locking her eyes on (with the expression of a lion focusing in on a gazelle -- very effective, at least on sheep).
Khan on the other hand worked mostly to "push" clumps of sheep in one way or another, and did this by loud barking (still in theory under the human owner's control). Emily's analogy for the two dogs was that it was like driving a car, where one was the steering wheel and the other the horn :-). It was clear from the dog behavior and from Emily's slightly snarky commentary that Belle was a bit better at staying on task and was probably the more effective of the two.
It was also interesting to hear that ranch hands / shepherds are hired and evaluated with their dogs -- humans and dogs are a unit (if a hand moves from one ranch to another, she brings her dogs with her).
We had fun peppering Emily with questions and learning about working dogs until we ran out of time, then walked back to the shed. There we hopped onto a bus (supposedly a special 4-wheel drive deal, but it looked like a regular smallish bus to me), and we drove off along one of the valleys into the mountains to the southwest. There was an interesting encounter on the road fairly early on when we came upon a ranch hand (mounted) with a couple of dogs who was driving two big skittish-looking cows in our direction through a relatively narrow fenced in section (the other way on the road). The cows were nervous about the bus (understandably I suppose, given that you don't see a lot of buses out on the range), so we had to do a little maneuvering and backing up to figure out how to let them get by without spooking the livestock.
Merino wool spread out on a table from a recent shearing:
Cool fiber structure:
Saying hi to Belle:
At the farm:
Heading towards the pasture:
On the way, a trio of piglets:
Emily getting set to feed a calf and and lamb:
Dogs queued up, waiting for the starting gun:
Merino sheep:
The dogs at work:
Can't see it very well from this photo, but here Belle is doing her thing where she crouches down and gives the sheep the hairy eyeball (very effective):
Walking back to the bus:
Here we are on the bus, driving westward through the ranch (which was enormous):
The drive took us a fair ways (45 min?) down the valley; we went past the ruins of one of the original ranch houses built in the area. We eventually joined up with Dan, who had driven the van from Queenstown all the way around on the highway (whew). Once on the van we drove in to the smallish city of Te Anau. We had a half hour stop for bathroom + shopping, and Dan very helpfully drove Amy and me over to the DOC (Department of Conservation) center where we picked up our permit for the Routeburne Track.
From there it was a quick stop for lunch along a lake, and then a good chunk of travel time, heading all the way up route 94 to Milford Sound, bit less than two hours.
Stopping for lunch at a small lake:
A beech tree. Once you get far south and west enough, these are the trees you see on the south island.
Leaf clusters from a NZ beech. Looks nothing like a North American beech tree, more like a boxwood bush.
This is a pretty cool drive, especially the last bit, where you are hugging the walls of these enormous glacial valleys and winding your way up to what looks like a cul-de-sac, then at the very last second you plunge into a tunnel that takes you through and under the mountain and into the Sound area. We had a brief stop at "The Chasm", a roadside micro-walk that leads to a nice waterfall. True to the area, however, it was both raining and buggy, so we got an immediate introduction to the local conditions.
Lots of cloud/fog, lots of rain, and lots of water:
That night we slept in cabins at the Milford Lodge, which is a lovely place to stay (if you can get the booking). The cabin interiors were modern and had a nice feel to them, and the main lodge has a decent-sized restaurant with the usual accoutrements. Long day (given the early start), so it was not hard to get to sleep.
Lodge buildings:
Saturday, day 11:
We woke up and looked out the window to see: rain! Yes, it did indeed look rainy, but not really bucketing, just sprinkling. We packed up and got our bags out (Dan had kindly agreed to come collect them from the cabin porches), then went down to the lodge restaurant, where we had an immense breakfast, with fruit, yoghurt, toast, eggs, bacon, croissants, and a bunch of other things I can't quite recall (it was quite a feed).
We then hopped into the van and drove down to the harbor. It is a very big operation there -- we could see a half dozen very large tour boats, and as many again medium-sized and smaller ones, not to mention kayakers and a couple of boats with sailing masts that apparently have cabins for people to stay overnight in the sound. We piled into one of the biggest of the boats and before long we were on our way (still with a low cloud layer and light spitting rain). As luck would have it the rain petered out after about 10 minutes and the clouds eased up a bit (still a cloud layer, but high up enough that we could see across from one side of the sound to the other).
Once the visibility improved it was a fabulous ride -- there were waterfalls literally everywhere, really big ones here and there and then thousands of smaller streams coming down the very steep sides of the mountains that make up the sound. The area is so wet that the rock walls are covered with moss and vegetation, in spite of being impossibly steep. The boat was large enough that we had very little bumps or swells for almost all of the ride, so it was a pleasant experience boat-wise (Rosana is susceptible to sea sickness, and she didn't seem to have any issues on this ride). We went down to the end of the sound where it opens up a bit to the ocean, did a wide circle, and then came back. Very enjoyable ride, it really was a sight to see (now I know what all the fuss is about!).
For the second half of the day we drove back out the same way we came in, and then went for a day hike around noon or 12:30. We stopped at "The Divide", a trailhead on #94 (Milford Sound Highway), which it turns out is the same one that starts the Routeburne track. The hike was up to Key Summit -- it was a good invigorating walk. The lower sections are cool: temperate rain forest, everything dripping with water and covered with moss and ferns (trees are beech, of course). The walk eventually goes above treeline, with just scrubby stuff up at the summit. Very cloudy, so we didn't get much in the way of views, but it was still fun.
This sign at the summit showed us what we were supposed to be seeing (it was pretty much a wall of cloud, alas).
At the top:
Last night of the tour -- Kristy made us another excellent meal, featuring local venison for the adventurous eaters (that was my choice, and it was superb). It was a nice way to wrap up the trip.
Sunday, day 12:
Had breakfast (bagels and smoked salmon, yum), then we all piled into the van one last time, and Dan drove us over to the place where we were dropping our luggage (Amy had found a service that would send our big bags on to Queenstown, so that we could hike with just what we needed on the Routeburn).
We said our goodbyes and wished everyone well for the remainder of their travels -- it was a really nice group to hang out with.
[Parts 2 and 3 of our New Zealand trip still to come -- haven't managed to get them into the computer yet. -NM]
3 comments:
Kia Ora Than. Loved reliving the awesome trip. Can’t wait to read about the Routeburn Track next. -Rosana
Kia Ora Than! Loved reliving this trip! Can’t wait to read about the Routeburn Track.
Rosana
I tried to leave a comment on your later post, but don’t think you got it. I loved reading this whole blog,. Thanks
Marilyn
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