Our New Zealand Adventure

New Zealand Map

2008-02-26T14:58:00.004+13:00

It's summer in New Zealand.

To give you an idea of latitude: Nelson, at the North end of the South Island, is at the same latitude South as New Haven, Connecticut, is North.
Christchurch is comparable with Manchester, New Hampshire.
Queenstown is comparable with Bangor, Maine.
The next stop South is Antarctica, but we won't be visiting.

This is us, leaving home in Pennsylvania, USA, on a rainy winter day. This is our only luggage. (You can't see the day packs on our backs.) Those Eddie Bauer rolling duffels fit easily into most of the planes' overhead compartments as carry-ons.

This is us at Doubtful Sound.

February 4-6, 2008: Flights and Arrival

2008-02-21T07:05:00.005+13:00

Sunrise over the South Pacific, out the airplane window. Great colors.

What a beautiful view of Sydney we saw early in the morning! We saw the sun coming up over the South Pacific --- but we were too high to see any islands. Long flights, but comfortable enough. Airports were all hassles, but we caught every flight with minutes to spare.

The New Zealand eco-inspector washed the bottoms of my hiking shoes, since I had been walking near horses the last time I wore them. He was pleasant and chatted about the Superbowl. A nice welcome to NZ.

Overnight in this motel. The silly kiwi on the roof is all it has going for it, except the free shuttle from the airport.

Back the next morning to the (nice) Auckland airport, and a quick flight to Christchurch. You have to love the paint job on this plane.

February 7: Christchurch to Kaikoura

2008-02-18T06:00:00.004+13:00

After an early flight from Auckland (North Island) to Christchurch (South Island) we rented a car (from Apex, which worked out well) and armed with some good maps from the rental company, started up the east coast toward Kaikoura. There is a single north-south road along the east coast. It follows a train track wedged between the mountains and the coast. At some points, it's amazing how close it is to the surf. Unlike on the east coast of the USA, we saw very few houses, no resorts, no high rises, few vacation cottages. Amazing.

Gore Bay

Cathedral Cliffs, with Gore Bay in the background.

We had no idea how much this east coast of the South Island would look like our golden hills of California. It is late summer, also a drought, thus the dry grass.

Did you know that cows know to get out of the road? Unlike sheep, they give you a look, then scoot, in their ponderous way, off to the shoulder, where they seem to be working for the highway department, keeping the grass down.

Top photo is Gore Bay. To get there we had to take a right turn off Route 1. The car behind us wasn't paying attention and tried to pass on our right. It clipped our 1.5 hour-old rental car! Everybody is fine, but we owe the rental car company for the fender.

No, it had nothing to do with driving on the left side of the road -- let's make that clear! Peter is an excellent driver, whichever side of the road.

February 7-8, 2008: Kaikoura

2008-02-17T21:18:00.006+13:00

Rough seas at Fyffe Bay.

Kaikoura consists of a grassy plateau on a irregular peninsula sticking out into the South Pacific. (Kaikoura Range in the background.) The sheer sides drop down to a limestone shingle, with a couple of stacks (below). A hiker took our picture on one.

We walked most of the way around the peninsula on the rocks, then climbed back over the top among the fields of golden grass and flowers.

Fat fur seals surprised us a couple of times, with their warning roars. We stayed away.
Anyway,
they smelled like rotten fish.

We ate our lunch here, after climbing up the (serious) hill from the beach. Nice view, huh!

We saw lots of these straight rows of trees, apparently windbreaks between the fields, throughout the South Island. Beautiful.

We stayed at a lovely cottage on the quiet South Bay side of Kaikoura Peninsula:
Bay Cottages Kaikoura

Dinner of seafood appetizers at the Pier Hotel Restaurant. What a view!

For bigger photos, click on this link.

Kaikoura: There are no words! Astonishingly more beautiful around every turn.

February 9: Kaikoura to Ngaio Bay

2008-02-16T16:04:00.009+13:00

Tourists can get crayfish for $40 each. But not us.

The road -- the only North South highway on the East Coast -- was wet from the South Pacific surf, and had warning signs about seals on the road (below).

And then, the necessary repairs?

Marlborough Sounds -- Queen Charlotte Drive. Beautiful.

Lots of tree farming and logging in those hills.

Havelock: a nice place for coffee -- which is always espresso, unless you ask for "long black" which adds some water. "Flat white" is with milk, like a latte, without the foam.

Giant plastic seafood seemed to be a not-uncommon theme at cafes. This one was The Mussel Pot in Havelock, famous for its trademarked farmed Green Lipped Mussels.

Mussel patties?

Chewy, meaty, and pretty good green lipped mussels -- but especially beautiful.

February 9-10: Ngaio Bay, Marlborough Sounds

2008-02-15T17:44:00.005+13:00

Peter, Joe, and Oscar

After a hair-raising number of hours on dirt roads with glorious views, we arrived at our hosts' private eden. It is very dry in the mountains among the sounds, but after you leave the mountainside roads, and dip down switchbacks to Ngaio Bay, it becomes a tropical garden, with private beach, organic gardens, and Jude's gourmet cooking. Roger's exquisite floral photographs decorate the walls of the cottage and their home.

Jude and Roger built this house, plus outbuildings, and planted all this greenery about 10 years ago, after living in a previous house (where the vegetable garden is now) as they raised their five children.
Ngaio Bay Homestay

These are black mussels, although they looked blue to me -- and almost as big as the green ones we had for lunch in Havelock.

We were accompanied on our explorations of the gardens and beach by our hosts' two dogs. We were astonished to watch Joe, here, bite mussels off the rocks at low tide, and chew the whole things up, shell and all. I worry about their insides, but Jude and Roger say they've been doing this all their lives, and how could they stop them anyway?

Our lovely little Garden Cottage. The windows on the other side were on the beach. Crashing surf at high tide, and thunderstorms the second night. Nice. In the morning there was the delightful music of a bellbird. Indescribable. But click on this link to hear an approximation (the bellbird we heard was playing a different symphony, but the idea is right)
http://www.backpack-newzealand.com/articles/topic51.php

Our very own outhouse, to go with the Garden Cottage.

Roger's laughing doves, who came to visit us in the cottage.

I looked up Laughing Dove on Wikipedia and although I hadn't thought I heard the doves "laugh," maybe I did.

Click this, and then click the arrow on the Wikipedia page to hear the call.

February 10: French Pass, Marlborough

2008-02-15T12:20:00.001+13:00

Wet sheep with a view.

Wet sheep looking at me.

This is a view into the top of a big tree fern.

French Pass is this cut between the peninsula and the island, opposite. The water is deep, the pass is narrow, and the tides roar through. The idea of the lighthouses, of course, is that boaters are to keep between them if they want to make their way from the sea and the bay . We never saw any on this rainy day. Wild currents would scare me away. Fishermen love it, though, because the turbulence brings up nutrients which attract fish. Orcas, seals, dolphins, and penguins appear.

In the photo, the lighthouse in the middle looks like the conning tower of a submarine. It's amazing that it stands there at all.

This is the town of French Pass, at the end of a very long dirt road.

February 10: Ngaio Bay Bath

2008-02-15T07:44:00.001+13:00

Roger moved this extra-long cast iron footed tub to the beach years ago, then encased it in concrete with a firebox underneath. It was too smoky, so he built the chimney.

Last night, he built a fire before dinner, and by the time dinner was over, the water was VERY HOT. The hose is to cool off the water, and the firewood is to warm it up, naturally. Yes, those are rose petals and lavender flowers in the water. There's a wooden platform on the bottom of the tub, to keep it from burning one's bottom.

Those are my feet, in the bath, as the sun goes down. Peter chose to soak in the sound first, to cool off before the hot bath. I did it the other way. I got warm in the bath, then jumped into the sound to cool off. Then back into the bath until it was long after dark.

If it hadn't been windy, Roger would have surprised us with fireworks after dark.

The best hot tub experience ever.

February 11: Marlborough Sounds to Blenheim

2008-02-14T23:16:00.001+13:00

This is the Ngaio Bay Homestay mailbox, with the vertiginous mile-long "driveway" beyond.

We really didn't mean to cut this calf from the herd this morning and make him run, zig-zagging down the road, in front of our rented Ford Focus.

Our last view of Marlborough Sounds, just as the sun was finally coming through the clouds.

February 11: Blenheim, Wine Country

2008-02-14T23:02:00.002+13:00

This is our little cottage at St. Leonards B&B in Blenheim (pronounced BLENum). It was once a kitchen on the sheep farm. The owners live in the larger house. They moved here a year ago from England, where they ran another B&B.

The owner uses this car to pick up guests at the airport. Cool.

We arrived too early to check in, so we left our car and luggage, borrowed two bikes, and rode among the wineries. We had lunch at one winery, and only tasted wine at two other wineries. The wine was not as good as what we had already bought at the supermarket to have with us. (On the recommendation of our host in Kaikoura.)

Looks like California to me.

Our water bottle, waiting for lunch at St. Clair Winery.

Horseback rider among the grapevines, on an English saddle.

Grape harvest is in March.

I wonder what they shoot. There were bird nets protecting a few of the rows of grapevines, but not all of them.

They farm deer in New Zealand. This one is a sika deer, next door to our B&B. He'll keep those spots for life.

This rooster really wanted that hen. He hardly ever stopped crowing.
The fawn looked interested.

February 12: LakeTekapo

2008-02-13T23:27:00.003+13:00

Tekapo (TEA-cup-oh) Lake is truly this color. It comes from the "rock dust (or silt)" that comes with the water off the glaciers and down the mountains. Up close it is clear.

Church of the Good Shepherd, an active Anglican Church, erected in the 1930s. There's also a statue of a collie dog nearby, honoring the sheep herding dogs that make raising sheep possible.

I got surprised by a bunch of ducks as I framed the lupine, the lake, and the mountains.

No crowds. Just us on this beautiful morning.

Early on our second day in Tekapo, we drove up Mt. John, where Canterbury University has its observatory. It looks like there were five telescopes. We should have visited at night. It is reputed to have the clearest, cleanest air in the southern hemisphere.

These photos don't suggest how high we were on the mountain!

February 13: Lake Tekapo to Lake Wanaka

2008-02-12T20:17:00.005+13:00

Farmed deer. Deer were first brought over for sporting game (oh, those Brits) in the mid-19th century, but they became pests, and now there's venison on the menu in most restaurants. They do try to keep them out of the bush and inside the fences, since they destroy vegetation.

ID tags in their ears.

Mt. Cook is where Sir Edmund Hillary trained before going to the Himalayas. Those elevations are in meters.

That's Mt. Cook beyond Lake Pukaki, barely visible among the clouds, snow-capped, even in late summer.

There were a few tourists at designated viewing points, but never enough to get in the way.

Mt. Cook Salmon farm takes advantage of the fast-running canal that runs out of Lake Tekapo and powers four or five power generation plants. These salmon are big and muscular and clean. The hose sucks the fish out of the net, the men stun and kill them, and toss them into the blue bin. When that bin is full, it's dumped into larger cooler bins, covered with ice, then lifted into the trucks opposite. Seventy percent of the salmon from here is sold in Japan.
We had some delicious smoked salmon on crackers for lunch.

Mt. Cook on a clearer day.

February 13: Clutha River

2008-02-12T08:25:00.001+13:00

Clutha River drains Lake Wanaka. We spied the river as we entered the town of Wanaka, and found it again later after we settled into our motel. While we were exploring, a truck came through and oiled the dirt access road. Now our car will cost us MORE money when we return it. What a mess. Still, the river was worth a visit. Fast and clear, reportedly full of rainbow trout.

February 13-14: Wanaka

2008-02-11T20:32:00.002+13:00

Some "motel" this turned out to be. Lake View Motel turned out to be more like a lovely lodge. Four rooms (with kitchenette and porch with a view) under the owner's house. On the ridge overlooking beautiful Lake Wanaka.

Early morning bicyclists. We saw a lot of bicycling, but mostly people with panniers and backpacks. These looked more like day racers.

We watched a number of cricket games on this field last night, with binoculars from our balcony. I guess the "bowler" uses the artificial turf as his runway.

A number of scenes from Lord of the Rings took place around here somewhere.
Middle Earth, indeed.

Mt. Aspiring in the far distance. This is an extreme telephoto photograph.
Note the glaciers still there in late summer.

They staged a sailboat race for us, right under our balcony on Lake Wanaka.
At least two boats capsized in the stiff breeze.

And then, the next morning, it snowed in the mountains.
Exact same view of the mountains, same tree, less wind, and colder than the evening of the boat race.

Spectacular.

February 15: Te Anau, Fiordland

2008-02-10T21:20:00.000+13:00

The road to Te Anau was hairy, if not very crowded. Lots of switchbacks, missing shoulders. But we're told that it was only closed a single weekend last year for snow. Despite what it looks like in this photo, we DID drive on the LEFT most of the time.

Te Anau rhymes with "piano."

Lake Te Anau is 202 meters (662 ft.) above sea level and is 396 meters (1,299 ft.) deep. Lots of rainbow trout and landlocked Atlantic salmon, they say. It's COLD today, very windy. Not a good day for small planes and helicopters.

February 15-16: Manapouri

2008-02-09T23:26:00.001+13:00

The pretty moss was soft to walk on, and make everything quiet.

This is either a red deer or elk/wapiti bull. Apparently the red deer and wapiti (known elsewhere as elk) interbreed so I never knew.

He had a harem of females in his big (fenced) field. He stared at us for a long time.

This fungusy thing was about 4 inches across. Pretty.

We explored the shores of Lake Manapouri this morning, the embarkation point for tomorrow's boat trip to Doubtful Sound. Lots of flora, fauna, and an old Land Cruiser.

February 17: Doubtful Sound

2008-02-08T22:09:00.000+13:00

The trip to Doubtful Sound is an eight hour process with Real Journeys. We embarked at Pearl Harbor (yes) on Lake Manapouri, south of Te Anau, on a smallish boat. Forty five minutes in a gale and big whitecaps later, we docked near a huge underground hydraulic power station for transfer to a bus that would take us over a pass between mountains for the trip to Doubtful Sound itself. Captain Cook, by the way, doubted that it was really a sound, so never entered it when he visited New Zealand. In fact, it is a fjord.

A wonderful tour guide/bus driver told us about the trees, plants, and flowers that we saw along the way, and described the building of the power plant that uses the water that flows, through the turbines 2 kilometers underground, from Lake Manapouri to the Tasman Sea, via Doubtful Sound. The road exists because of the power station. It connects only those two lakes. Buses came via barge.

The big tour boat on Doubtful Sound itself was clearly built for the purpose, a beautiful vessel, and comfortable. It held about 100 passengers, inside and outside under cover and on top.

As you can see, the lake and sound were simply magical, as were the forests of beech and fern that surrounded them. Little recent rain limited the waterfalls, but we didn't mind.

The weather changed all day, as you can see from the different lights in the photos.

It's easy to imagine magical creatures living here.

February 18-19: Milford Sound

2008-02-07T20:13:00.006+13:00

That's a huge, multi-story cruise ship that stopped by Milford Sound. It gives those mountains some perspective for the photo.

This is the same view, early the next morning.
Two clear days in a row -- unheard of.

Our boat went right up to this waterfall.
My camera got wet. It was worth it, though.
I did not alter the colors in this photo.

One of those white-capped peaks is called Pembroke Peak, so I took the picture for Mom, who went to Pembroke College at Brown University.

This was our tour boat, one of several that ply the fiord every couple of hours. Then there are swarms of helicopters and small planes, too. I'm glad it's accessible to lots of people. It's that awesome.

Helpful sign at Mirror Lakes, on the Milford Road. Yes, it's right side up.

Mirror Lakes.

This is to show how clear the water is.

This is the Edlington Valley in the early morning, with the Milford Road running through it. I combined six photos into this panorama. It's too big to show well here, so click below to see it bigger.

See the panorama full size. Then click the "back" arrow on your browser to get back here.

Beautiful grasses near the Sound

Edlington River and Fiordland's characteristic mountain beeches.

Milford Hostel was the closest accommodation available to us, so we could be at Milford Sound in the morning -- when I wanted to photograph it. Hiking boots are hung outside the rooms for obvious reasons. Phew!

Day 18: Dolphin Video, Milford Sound

2008-02-07T13:05:00.000+13:00

These bottlenose dolphins were happily feeding as we went by. Ignore the audio -- too windy for the microphone on my little camera.

Click on the arrow (below) to see the video.

Day 19: Queenstown

2008-02-06T16:36:00.000+13:00

Normally, when you see a sign like this, you'd expect cows in the road. But no. Not this time. There are about 1000 sheep, desperately looking for a way to get out of the road and back to some nice grass. If you drive forward a little bit, you panic a few sheep who dash out in front of your bumper, or into the guardrail, or who try to get down the cliff that drops a long way down to a lake. The other side is fenced and uphill. One car passes us, going too fast, and panics more sheep than necessary.

In the end, after both lanes of traffic are stopped for about 10 minutes, one sheep finds a gap in the uphill fence and all the rest funnel through, following like proverbial sheep. We don't know if that is what the shepherd intends, but he is way behind us in his truck with the cattle sign and his dogs.

This was our goal that day: Queenstown, "Adventure Capital of the World." Our room opened onto this veranda, with a three-ring view of the circus that is Queenstown. We saw a continuous cascade of hang-gliders from the nearby mountain, a goldola ferrying the adventurous to the platform. The hang-gliders rode tandem, presumably with the experienced one pulling the strings. They seemed to glide right over the main street in town.

Below, there was a steamboat, what looked like a retired America's Cup yacht with tourists riding on it, a jet-boat banished from the Shotover River by the drought, jet-skis, slalom water-skiiers and a couple of kayaks.

Outside of town were signs for bungee-jumping sites. We declined to visit.

February 20-21: Christchurch

2008-02-04T16:38:00.003+13:00

Christchurch was founded in 1850, modelled on 19th century England, as a settlement by the Church of England. It continues to look like what I imagine England to look like, from its architecture to school uniforms.

There is even a River Avon, with punting.

Cathedral Square hosts celebrations, chess, and commerce.

A large botanical garden and central park must have been planned from the beginning. This huge Monterey pine must have been planted a very long time ago.

This lovely gate leads to the athletic fields of Christ's College, adjacent to the park and botanical gardens.

School uniforms for girls, throughout the South Island, seemed to be as long as possible.

In summer, school uniforms must require shorts for boys -- and long socks. The young man's tie had wide horizontal stripes.

The gondola just outside of Christchurch offered discounts on annual family passes. These little boys were wrestling and being silly on the floor just before this photo. Then they spied the footprints and stood still on them. Clearly, they've been here before.

Christchurch: far away from anywhere, yet very familiar.

This is a local hangout, Robbie's Pub and Grill. Note cricket on the TV. Lots of families, meat on the grill, and Tui beer. We had excellent burgers of ground lamb, plus "chips." And a free beer, because we came on a motel recommendation.

Our very nice motel, well-located at the edge of the central park. Clean, well equipped, with a friendly host and hostess.

Ashleigh Court

Interesting Things We Noticed in New Zealand

2008-02-03T16:40:00.002+13:00

This sign was posted on the door to the observatory on Mt. John. Uh huh.

We saw a number of skateboard parks in the towns. Looks like Kiwis start their adventure sports early -- and encourage them.

For those of you who wonder if there are any people there, since my photos are mostly devoid of people. Yes, there are a few tour buses in mid-February. But never so many as to get in the way.

Rental campers are NOT anonymous. Rental companies go all out with the paint.
Here's the story of Wicked Vans.

We had a double take when we first saw alpacas. These were cute and fuzzy.

This one was almost naked after a bad haircut.

We loved watching the dogs herding sheep. Amazing.

Don't mince words.

The weka is chicken-sized and scavenges around campsites.

Yeah. We know. We do a lot of that when we travel.

Kumaras are like sweet potatoes and go in quiche, soups, etc.

To answer your questions about our little duffel bags, yes, we did a laundry once.

Pretty necklace-like seaweed in tidepools on the east coast -- South Pacific, that is.

Our entertaining bus driver to Doubtful Sound also drove us down 2 kilometers into the power station at Manapouri. The road is the yellow line. We got out and looked down at the turbines in the machine hall. The water drops from Lake Manapouri into Doubtful Sound, but there's no evidence of it above ground. And the power company agrees to keep the levels of the lakes at their natural levels. Amazing. This plant powers much of the southern part of the South Island.

Somebody built a treehouse a long time ago in this tree. Recently someone trimmed one side of the tree -- exposing the remains of the treehouse (about 20 feet above the ground).

This character sounded Scandinavian and wore this long oiled-canvas coat and hat on a rainy day. I'll bet he had heavy luggage.

This is the cockpit of the tour boat on Doubtful Sound. The captain didn't look busy. It looked like it could all go on autopilot. The passengers also could see these views of the fjord, on LCD screens in the passenger areas.

NZ is doing its best to revive its fisheries, so this section of water, off Kaikoura, is closed to fishing. Very closed.

It's a little strange to see a Kiwi Supermarket selling Italian kiwis.