New Zealand Photos
Australia Photos
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
Great Barrier Reef
This will be the last post for our Great Escape adventures in New Zealand and Australia. Yesterday, we traveled out to a portion of the Great Barrier Reef which is about 20 miles off the northeastern coast of Australia.
What a treat that was. It was like swimming in a home aquarium (except cleaner!) with all the colorful coral and fish swimming around just beneath us. We visited 3 different areas of the reef and snorkeled each time. The colors, even though the sky was grey and it was rainy, were spectacular. The water was 29 degrees Celsius (85 degrees Fahrenheit)…very nice.
The fish in the photo album are of the fish that we saw yesterday. We didn’t take these pictures because they would have come out murky and not as colorful so these are professional photographs of the fish.
We’ll be home before you know it…just have to endure the long travel days…till, then,
Love from Christi and John
What a treat that was. It was like swimming in a home aquarium (except cleaner!) with all the colorful coral and fish swimming around just beneath us. We visited 3 different areas of the reef and snorkeled each time. The colors, even though the sky was grey and it was rainy, were spectacular. The water was 29 degrees Celsius (85 degrees Fahrenheit)…very nice.
The fish in the photo album are of the fish that we saw yesterday. We didn’t take these pictures because they would have come out murky and not as colorful so these are professional photographs of the fish.
We’ll be home before you know it…just have to endure the long travel days…till, then,
Love from Christi and John
Monday, May 4, 2009
Australia
Well, we’re here in Australia and counting down the days before we must return to the Northern Hemisphere. It’s been a great trip, the memories of which will dominate our dreams for some time to come, I’m sure.
We’re here in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia. It’s situated on the northeastern coast and includes a massive rainforest, a massive coral reef and is warm/hot and humid…just right!
We originally thought this part of our journey would be a time to relax on the beach or by the pool and read books and do not much of anything. The weather hasn’t cooperated very well on that front so we’ve tried to be a little more active than planned. It’s all good, however, because we’ve seen and experienced some really neat things thus far.
Our first excursion was only a short trip up the road to an Aboriginal village where the Kuku Yalanji people live and operate a modest rainforest walk with one of the local guides who explains the flora and fauna found in the rainforest.
I’m so glad we did this first because there are sooooooooooooooo many plants in the local forest that can hurt, trap, maim and kill you found in these local forests. The Kuku Yalanji have lived and thrived in the rainforest using the forest resources for food, medicine, shelter and weapons. We learned about things like the Tar Tree that oozes black sap that, if touched, will eat into your flesh and rot it away. We learned about the Wait-a-While vine that is used for catching fish, building huts, eating and more. It’s aptly named because it has tiny barbs all over it that will hold onto whatever (or whomever) it brushes up against and you have only to “wait a while” until you can figure a way to get free of its hold. We learned about the Stinging Tree that has spines and hair all over the leaves that causes lots of pain if touched. Horses have been known to die from contact with this deadly plant.
We also learned about some good plants that won’t kill you such as the Soap Tree. You can crush the leaves of this tree and mix it with water in your hand to make a very nice lather that leaves your skin soft and very clean. The twigs of the tree can be snapped and peel the bark back to get a lovely spearmint-like scent that can be used for medicinal purposes.
Many of the fruits in the forest are poisonous but the Aboriginal people have learned how to prepare them so that they can be eaten safely. This information has been passed down for many many generations.
We saw some paintings left from the Kuku Yalanji ancestors that depicted some of what they might have seen while living in the forest and near the ocean such as kangaroo, stingray, turtles, and Cassowary, a bird that is now on the endangered species list but can still be seen in this area from time to time.
During our walk, our guide told us that he is a shaman and was taken by his grandfather and grandmother to be raised. I think that was because he was determined to be of shaman orientation early on and his grandfather was also a shaman and therefore wanted to pass on his wisdom to him. It sounded like he had a great life growing up with his grandparents and learning the ways of the forest and practicing how to heal others with his gift.
After our guided walk, we were treated to a didgeridoo lesson. This instrument is made from a branch from a tree (I forget now which one) that has been hollowed out by termites, leaving a tube though which you can make wonderful sounds. We learned that the didgeridoo is only played by men. Women can only play the hand sticks or sing. So, after a song from the expert musician, John was invited to play the instrument. It was great fun to watch John blow a raspberry and make the instrument come alive…well, sort of.
After tea and goodies, we were on our way. Truly happy to have taken advantage of this opportunity to learn a little about the indigenous people, their culture and traditions.
Next day, we decided to take a trip further north to the rainforest and to learn a little about what makes it so special and unique. We would also include in this trip a boat ride down the Daintree River where thousands of saltwater crocodiles live, breed and feed. Cows, dogs, little boys, tourists, it matters not. If they can catch it, which they are very good at, they will eat it.
Apparently a little boy WAS eaten a few years ago, but only after his little dog was eaten first. Never stand too close to the water’s edge, I say!
We took a very short ferry ride across the river, safely snuggled inside our car and made our first stop at the Daintree Forest Discover Center where we learned about the rainforest from the ground all the way up to the treetops where we could see the thick canopy of trees that shelters all the teaming life below it.
Some of the things we say were the elusive Cassowary. What a strange looking bird. It stands almost 6 feet tall and has a blue head, red goblet and a bony crown on its head. It’s almost extinct in with fewer than 1200 in existence so it was a real treat to see one wander by as we were observing the rainforest.
We also saw a Golden Orb spider female spider that, legs expanded, is the size of hand or larger! She’s got bright yellow on each of the joints on her legs and was making a web right near the walkway. How convenient! Apparently, her web is so strong that it can catch small birds. She mates with many much much smaller males and thanks them for the experience by promptly eating them! I’m itching all over just typing this!
At any rate, we saw only a fraction of the animal and plant life that exists in the rainforest but we got a good overview of it though this well done Discover Center.
The rest of the trip was spent mostly in the car driving up the rest of the way on the paved road to Cape Tribulation which was named by Capt. James Cook when he came there on his sailing ship and tried to find safe passage around the coastline.
A beautiful coastline it is but, by now, we’re a little drunk on beautiful coasts lines having spent 3 months in NZ drooling at them there. So, we headed back to the Daintree River where we would catch a boat and try to see one of the many saltwater crocodiles living there. What fun!
We did see one but the tide was high and that’s not a good time to see them. Fortunately, our ticket allowed us to have unlimited time on the boats over three days so we decided to come back and try again. What a good decision that was because we ended up being there at low tide and having the boat and guide to ourselves. This trip, we did see about 6 crocodiles of all sizes. Two of them were very large males, basking on the banks storing up the heat in preparation for the “cool” night to come. We saw Scarface, named because of a dual he and another croc had in which his face was deeply scared. Apparently he fared better than the other croc because that croc hasn’t been seen since. We also saw Fat Albert who was even bigger than Scarface and was considered to be the alpha male in the area. He was very fat and the guide said he’d seen him take a dead adult cow and shake it to pieces. That’s a big croc!
So, that’s our adventure to date. We’re waiting for a good weather window (it’s been raining and windy!) to go out to the Great Barrier Reef and spend the day snorkeling. I’m sure I’ll have a tale to share then and hopefully some pictures, too.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Kerikeri
Well, here we are in the Northland staying in a lovely little cottage in a town called Kerikeri. Kerikeri is known for it's mandarin oranges and fruit in general. It's warmer in the Northland so citrus fruit can be grown. Citrus is something I've been missing on our trip. It's nice to now have some of the local variety to eat now.
We went for a short hike at Puketeti Forest yesterday to see the local kauri groves. Here's a link if you want to find out more about this giant of a tree: www.kauri-museum.com
It's been a pretty uneventful stay here. We hoped to have better weather but it's been sort of grey and cloudy for much of the time. In fact, a weeks worth of rain is settling in now which should last the duration of our time in NZ.
On a whim, John and I went to a local folk music club last Friday night. We were walking in town and noticed a poster on a window for a couple of people with banjos and guitars. We both like that sort of music and decided to take in the local color. (More on that later.)
The venue was a local distillary where they make all their own spirits on site. I had a "black" sambuca that wasn't bad and John had a tequilla that was more like moonshine than the smooth tequila from Mexico that we know and love. Ah well...we're in NZ after all.
We settled in to a nice evening of Irish music with Michael Black and John Sanders. Michael Black was the main attraction and he sang the typical Irish songs you would expect. But John Saunders really caught my attention and John's too. He was a really good guitar and other stringed instruments musician and we wanted to hear more of him by the time the concert was over. We purchased a CD and will be sure to learn more about him and his music when we return to the US.
But perhaps the thing that will keep the night special in our minds is what happened after the show. We were seated next to a couple of men who clearly loved to sing and had really good voices, too. Turns out one of the guys is a local artist who does gigs around the area and the other is a life long friend of his who happens to share a common heritage...Croation.
John overheard them talking about their Croation music to some others and struck up a converstaion with them. Erin and Laura had toured Croatia together and loved the country so John was keen to find out more about it from these too affable gentlmen.
When the music was over, one of the men turned to us and invited us to their place for more music and conversation. Now a bit about the "local color" comment above.
John and I had hoped to connect to more Kiwis on our trip here but for various reasons, our journey hasn't given us that opportunity. It's a regret that we both have but perhaps a future trip will be different.
Well, I pretty much jumped on the offer to join them for more music and conversation and John, I think, came along a little begrudgingly. We followed them to the house of one of the men and had a very interesting conversation with them about Croatia, New Zealand and music. The one man, Ivo Yelavich, was the musician and pulled out his guitar, computer and speaker and treated us to a very eclectic concert of music and song that he sings at weddings, funerals, farmer's markets etc. around the area. He particularly loves Country music but he played and sang Croation, Maori, Rock and Roll, and Blue Grass for us that night.
The other man, Jone Yelcich, also had a nice voice and the two of them sang several songs together, too. In between songs were stories of Dalmation (Croatia) immigration in the 1800s and how hard it was to work in the gathering gum from the Kauri trees here in the Northland. Gum was a highly valued commodity then and many workers were employed to process it for use throught the world.
There's so much more tha tcould be added here about the converstion we had about Croatia, immigrants, and Maoris but suffice to say, it was a very interesting evening. We actually didn't get home until almost 1:00am but I'm very glad we met them both and that we were bold enough to take them up on their offer for an evening of music and converstion.
We'll be heading back to Devonport (near Auckland) on Tuesday for our final few days in NZ before flying to Christchurch in the south island to celebrate John's 60th birthday and fly out the next day to Australia for the last leg of our incredible journey.
We went for a short hike at Puketeti Forest yesterday to see the local kauri groves. Here's a link if you want to find out more about this giant of a tree: www.kauri-museum.com
It's been a pretty uneventful stay here. We hoped to have better weather but it's been sort of grey and cloudy for much of the time. In fact, a weeks worth of rain is settling in now which should last the duration of our time in NZ.
On a whim, John and I went to a local folk music club last Friday night. We were walking in town and noticed a poster on a window for a couple of people with banjos and guitars. We both like that sort of music and decided to take in the local color. (More on that later.)
The venue was a local distillary where they make all their own spirits on site. I had a "black" sambuca that wasn't bad and John had a tequilla that was more like moonshine than the smooth tequila from Mexico that we know and love. Ah well...we're in NZ after all.
We settled in to a nice evening of Irish music with Michael Black and John Sanders. Michael Black was the main attraction and he sang the typical Irish songs you would expect. But John Saunders really caught my attention and John's too. He was a really good guitar and other stringed instruments musician and we wanted to hear more of him by the time the concert was over. We purchased a CD and will be sure to learn more about him and his music when we return to the US.
But perhaps the thing that will keep the night special in our minds is what happened after the show. We were seated next to a couple of men who clearly loved to sing and had really good voices, too. Turns out one of the guys is a local artist who does gigs around the area and the other is a life long friend of his who happens to share a common heritage...Croation.
John overheard them talking about their Croation music to some others and struck up a converstaion with them. Erin and Laura had toured Croatia together and loved the country so John was keen to find out more about it from these too affable gentlmen.
When the music was over, one of the men turned to us and invited us to their place for more music and conversation. Now a bit about the "local color" comment above.
John and I had hoped to connect to more Kiwis on our trip here but for various reasons, our journey hasn't given us that opportunity. It's a regret that we both have but perhaps a future trip will be different.
Well, I pretty much jumped on the offer to join them for more music and conversation and John, I think, came along a little begrudgingly. We followed them to the house of one of the men and had a very interesting conversation with them about Croatia, New Zealand and music. The one man, Ivo Yelavich, was the musician and pulled out his guitar, computer and speaker and treated us to a very eclectic concert of music and song that he sings at weddings, funerals, farmer's markets etc. around the area. He particularly loves Country music but he played and sang Croation, Maori, Rock and Roll, and Blue Grass for us that night.
The other man, Jone Yelcich, also had a nice voice and the two of them sang several songs together, too. In between songs were stories of Dalmation (Croatia) immigration in the 1800s and how hard it was to work in the gathering gum from the Kauri trees here in the Northland. Gum was a highly valued commodity then and many workers were employed to process it for use throught the world.
There's so much more tha tcould be added here about the converstion we had about Croatia, immigrants, and Maoris but suffice to say, it was a very interesting evening. We actually didn't get home until almost 1:00am but I'm very glad we met them both and that we were bold enough to take them up on their offer for an evening of music and converstion.
We'll be heading back to Devonport (near Auckland) on Tuesday for our final few days in NZ before flying to Christchurch in the south island to celebrate John's 60th birthday and fly out the next day to Australia for the last leg of our incredible journey.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Kapiti Island, New Plymouth, Tongoriro Nat'l Park, Auckland and the Cormandel
Kapiti Island
Well, last time I wrote we were still in Wellington. We left expecting to travel an hour to our next destination which was Kapiti Island. Kapiti Island is one of 5 preserves that NZ manages to ensure native flora and fauna thrive and are protected. It is here where 1200 of the 1600 remaining kiwis live freely in the wild. This was one of the few destinations that we actually booked before we left the U.S. because we wanted to be sure to experience it this time.
Kapiti Island is just 5 miles off the coast of the North Island and is just a short boat ride across the water to get there. We were instructed to check in with the boat service at 7am that morning to be sure the boat was going that morning. We did. It wasn’t. We were told the water was too rough to take us there so we called our booking contact to see what we could do to reschedule our lodging and boat trip to the island. We were able to re-book it for the following week. Now, our plans had changed and we needed to re-think our route because we’d have to stay in the area longer than we’d planned in order to try for Kapiti Island again.
So, we decided to drive north to the district called the Taranaki.
It’s a beautiful area with a volcano and ocean both within view at the same time. Mt. Taranaki (Mt. Egmont) is one of 4 volcanoes (2 of which are still active) in the area. We visited the other 3 later in our trip so I’ll describe those later. We hoped to spend a couple of days there hiking the mountain to fill the time before we had to make our way back south again. The weather was rainy and the mountain, much like Mt. Rainier, wasn’t visible at all. We found a place to stay in a town near the mountain and hoped the rain would let up in the morning enough to go for a hike. Turns out the rain lifted and about ½ of the mountain was visible. We went for it! Off to the mountain for a day of hiking. We selected a hike at Dawson Falls which is a well known track on the mountain. We set out for a 4-5 hour hike and weren’t disappointed. The forest was much like a rain forest. It was very very damp, mossy, and slippery for much of the hike. Once we hit the summit, the views weren’t great because we were essentially in the clouds that were hanging over the mountain. I can imagine the view if the day was clear! Spectacular, I’m certain.
We finished our hike and headed for the lodge for a “cuppa” (NZ for a cup of coffee or tea) and enjoyed a conversation with a British couple who were on holiday, too. That was it pretty much for Mt. Taranaki (Mt. Egmont).
WOMAD (World of Music and Dance) Festival
The next day we headed north to New Plymouth where we would spend 3 days at the WOMAD (world of music and dance) festival. We’d been to several WOMAD festivals in Seattle before 9/11 but since then, it has become too difficult for the musicians to get visas to enter the U.S. so the festival doesn’t come to the U.S. any more. It is a yearly event in NZ. We were happy to be able to attend. The venue was absolutely stunning. New Plymouth boasts a beautiful park in which to house the 3 day festival. Over 40,000 tickets were sold to this event. We heard music from all around the world and many from local NZ artists. The weather was perfect, too.
Kapiti Island...redux
Monday morning, we headed south again to finally go to Kapiti Island. This time, the weather had cleared and the boat was running! They deposited us on the east side of the island first where we had a brief intro by a Conservation Staffer about the island and NZ native wildlife and plants. They very strictly control what is brought on to the island and what is removed. All bags must be inspected to ensure not rats are inadvertently re-introduced. Rats had decimated the bird population and have been eradicated along with stoats and o’possums which had been introduced years ago when the island was inhabited by people. No seeds from fruit vegetables or garbage of any kind can be left on the island. Non native plants are strictly prohibited.
Along with a handful of other adults, we were joined on this part of the island by about 25 10-12 year old kids on a school trip. They were accompanied by 1 teacher and 2 adult chaperones. After the intro, we were free to spend the next several hours hiking to the summit of the island and appreciating the view.
John and I took off for the more difficult trail to the top hoping we’d be pretty much alone along the way so we could enjoy the hike. We met other adults along the way and one young German man who had been living in the area as a home care worker along with 2 other men. They cared for several severely disabled men in a home. This was his day off and he was taking advantage of the good weather to come to the island.
As we neared the top, we could hear the kids. I couldn’t believe the clamor they made. Where on earth were the adults in charge of these kids?! There simply couldn’t be a bird left in the immediate area with all the racket that these kids were making. We squeezed past a hoard of them to get to the viewing tower. These kids were climbing all over the tower, running, screaming and generally being a nuisance. Where on earth was the teacher!?
It was lunch time so we decided to have our snack while standing on the viewing tower in amongst the kids. While there, I watch one of the kids throw his apple over the edge and down the cliff. One of the other kids yelled at him but no adult was nearby. Shortly after that, I saw another kid drop his plastic wrapper on the steps. I asked the kids to pick up their trash and to carry it out. They looked at me like I was from Mars. I asked again, this time more sternly. One of the girls picked it up and tried to get the boy who dropped it to take his trash. He refused. That was enough. John went down the stairs and found the teacher to tell her what her students were doing and could she please manage them. She did get up of the bench that she and the other 2 adults had been seated at for the duration of our stay and come to where the kids were to monitor them. My question is “why bring all these kids to a place like this with no program for them to be working on while there? “ It seemed like this was recess day and the kids were left to run wild. I was furious.
It was such a beautiful place to be but totally spoiled by these Ill-mannered kids who were largely unsupervised. What a waste.
Finally the kids were sent down the hill to catch their boat back to the mainland. Good riddance.
Our boat wasn’t due until 3pm so we lingered behind long enough to avoid the cacophony of kids heading down the trail ahead of us.
We hopped on our boat which was now taking us to the northern part of Kapiti Island where we would be lodging for the night. We were met there by a very lovely Maori woman who was working for the Conservation Department. She showed us around and introduced us to our hostess, Amour. Amour is a long-time resident of the island, one of only 5 families (all related) who remain on the island from the time when it used to be inhabited before the NZ government purchased most of the land for conservation. The land where the lodge and houses are is private property that was never sold to the government. Amour showed us to our unit which was different than the one we’d reserved when we were in the U.S. since we had to re-book our trip due to bad weather. The only room available when we re-booked was one that had a bathroom/shower in the unit which the original unit didn’t have. We had to pay more for this room but I figured that was a ok since I like not having to wander around in the middle of the night outside to go to the bathroom! The one thing we didn’t know is that there was no hot water running to the unit. There was indeed a toilet and a shower but any showers we took would be cold ones. I chose to take none. John was braver than me and took cold showers while we were there. I made due with a spit baths. I was a little miffed that we had to pay $50 more for this “service” and we didn’t even have hot water. Oh well. It’s all part of the experience.
We unpacked our small overnight bag and joined the others at a communal table for dinner of steak and salad and other fare. We lingered at the table until well after dark to head out on our guided walk to find wild kiwi. We split off into 2 groups of 8 each and off we went as quietly as possible and with as little light as possible to find the elusive nocturnal kiwi birds that are the national symbol. Kiwi’s are endangered all throughout NZ because predators introduced by humans have killed them in such quantities that they can’t reproduce fast enough to survive. Sadly, this is true for many birds in NZ.
Kiwi, while technically are birds, really somewhat mammal-like. They do not fly, they live in burrows, they have whiskers and produce an egg that is almost 1/3 their body size. One of the kiwi blokes, in relating that last little piece of trivia, commented that the size of the egg was really only a problem if your are a female. Ah, chauvinism is alive and well in NZ!
So off we went, searching under the brush quietly and intently listening to their calls. The male kiwi has a two tone call and the female will respond with a single tone. They communicate like this for quite a while during the early darkness to get a sense for their location. Round and round we went along the darkened paths. We stopped and listened, hearing only our heartbeats and an occasional rustling sound in the brush. About an hour in to the search, we headed back toward the lodge where the native grass was abutting the buildings. Our guide, astute to the sounds of the kiwi, thought he heard one in the grass. He signaled to us to stand still and he went into the grassy area where he heard the rustling. Just a moment later he said he’d found one and waved us all to come slowly to its location. Sure enough, it was a juvenile kiwi, our guide said it was probably this year’s chick. It was about 12 inches long and 8-10 inches tall with a beak that was very long for rooting around in the forest floor for bugs and such. We all got a good look and called the other group with a cell phone to come over to see it. The kiwi stayed put this whole time and the others were treated to a peak at a wild kiwi, too.
Cool!
The next day after breakfast, we were taken back to the mainland where John and I could continue our journey north somewhere. We had no real plans now so we were following the weather.
Tongariro National Park
We decided to head toward the center of the north island to the Tongariro National Park where the 3 other volcanoes were located that I mentioned before (Mts. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom), Ruapehu, and Tongariro) . The fourth being Mt. Taranaki (Mt. Egmont). I’d read about a great alpine hike across the mountain that would be about 19km and I thought we were ready for a good long hike and the weather seemed like it would hold so we headed inland to a small town near the park and found a place for a couple of nights to stay while we conquered our next mountain!
We learned that there was a bus that delivers you and picks you up at the trailhead so we booked excitedly hopped on our transport ready for a good day’s hike. When we arrived, we were not alone. There were hoards of others heading out for the same hike. Yikes. I thought this would be a nice quiet minimally traveled hike. We found out later that over 1000 people a day and sometimes 2000 people a day hike this trail. We were merely one of many ants making our way. It’s frustrating when you have so many people on a trail because John and I tend to hike pretty fast so we need to pass people frequently which isn’t always simple depending on the trail. But we trudged along, sometimes stuck behind slowpokes and sometimes in the clear. We made it to the crossroads where we could head up Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings fame) or we could head on along the trail like any sane hiker would do. So what did we do? Yup, we headed up Mt. Doom. Geesh.
This volcano is still active and has a crater near the top that is what everyone climbs it to see. However, the entire mountain is volcanic rubble (mostly loose) and rocks that tend to come flying down toward you when someone above you is inattentive and lets sets one freefalling in a trajectory directly headed for your kneecap. John, like a billy goat, climbed effortlessly to the crater hardly breaking a sweat. I, on the other hand, was more like a fish out of water, wondering what the hell I was doing climb this mountain now. Hadn’t I learned from the last one! I climbed and climbed and hugged the rough volcanic rocks as best I could but eventually gave up. I didn’t care any longer about seeing the crater but cared more about getting down this mountain in one piece. Down would be no cakewalk because it was loose gravel and rocks and nothing to stop the fall except for more loose gravel and rocks. Oh yes, did I mention the flying rocks from above?
Once down the mountain, we headed off to finish the rest of the hike which was formidable but beautiful. We made it to the parking lot with 15 minutes to spare. Whew, it was a good day and we were both pooped. Another mountain climbed.
The Forgotten World Highway and New Plymouth
We left this area to travel “The Forgotten World Highway” which is a section of road that has been pretty much left as it once was with settlements all along the way that have been largely untouched for years. It took us the better part of a day to travel this magical road to our next destination which was New Plymouth, again. We were sort of killing time and wanted to see the area more thoroughly just in case we thought we liked it best. Turns out we spent 3 more days there but decided to move on to Auckland.
Devonport / Auckland
We were fortunate and found a nice place to stay for a week in a neighborhood called Devonport across the bay from Auckland. I loved this place. It’s very quaint and small but just a short ferry ride across the bay to Auckland. We wanted to spend a week here mostly because we wanted to hear a visiting professor of primate studies, Franz de Waal, who was guest lecturer at Auckland University. His topic was “The Evolution of Emotion”. Fascinating talks and his book “Our Inner Ape”, was an equally fascinating read. I’m glad we stayed the week.
The Coromandel
From Devonport we headed east to the Coromandel peninsula. This is one of the places I wanted to visit when we traveled to NZ 2 years ago. Sadly, we didn’t have the time to do it then. We’re staying in a town called Hahei. The picture to the right is of Cathedral Cove which is near Hahei. Hahei is a pretty little village that boasts a beautiful beach that is safe to swim in and more stunning views. There is so much natural beauty in NZ that we’re sometimes catching ourselves being a little complacent about each new stunning vista. This area is truly gorgeous but so are so many of the other places we’ve seen during our trip. There simply aren’t enough adjectives to uniquely describe each of the beautiful places we’ve visited here. You have to see it for yourself to understand the problem!
We went for a walk this morning on a beach called Hot Water Beach which is just adjacent to Hahei. This beach is aptly named because there are 2 hot water springs just under the sand near the water’s edge. It’s a real attraction for tourists to dig a hole in the sand at low tide and boil their buns for a while. The spring water can get to 69 degrees centigrade! When we walked across the sand, we could sure tell where the spring was. Just digging our toes in a little was warm enough. We didn’t want to boil our piggies! Other than the hot water springs, this beach has very rough undertow and is apparently a very dangerous swim. However, there are some pretty good waves here, too, so the rip tides didn’t seem to faze the intrepid surfers willing to do whatever it takes to catch a wave.
After Hehei, we’ll spend a couple more days touring the Coromandel area and then will head to the Northland, which is the peninsula north of Auckland. It’s above the freeze line so never freezes and is considered semi-tropical. We’ll spend most of the rest of our time somewhere in the Northland. Hopefully we’ll be able to find one place that will suit us for the 2 weeks. However, it is Easter vacation and we may be lucky to find a comfortable bridge to sleep under. So it goes on our great adventure in which we are trying very hard not to plan much ahead of a day at a time. That’s not always been an easy thing to do but it’s been good to experience.
More soon!
Well, last time I wrote we were still in Wellington. We left expecting to travel an hour to our next destination which was Kapiti Island. Kapiti Island is one of 5 preserves that NZ manages to ensure native flora and fauna thrive and are protected. It is here where 1200 of the 1600 remaining kiwis live freely in the wild. This was one of the few destinations that we actually booked before we left the U.S. because we wanted to be sure to experience it this time.Kapiti Island is just 5 miles off the coast of the North Island and is just a short boat ride across the water to get there. We were instructed to check in with the boat service at 7am that morning to be sure the boat was going that morning. We did. It wasn’t. We were told the water was too rough to take us there so we called our booking contact to see what we could do to reschedule our lodging and boat trip to the island. We were able to re-book it for the following week. Now, our plans had changed and we needed to re-think our route because we’d have to stay in the area longer than we’d planned in order to try for Kapiti Island again.
So, we decided to drive north to the district called the Taranaki.
It’s a beautiful area with a volcano and ocean both within view at the same time. Mt. Taranaki (Mt. Egmont) is one of 4 volcanoes (2 of which are still active) in the area. We visited the other 3 later in our trip so I’ll describe those later. We hoped to spend a couple of days there hiking the mountain to fill the time before we had to make our way back south again. The weather was rainy and the mountain, much like Mt. Rainier, wasn’t visible at all. We found a place to stay in a town near the mountain and hoped the rain would let up in the morning enough to go for a hike. Turns out the rain lifted and about ½ of the mountain was visible. We went for it! Off to the mountain for a day of hiking. We selected a hike at Dawson Falls which is a well known track on the mountain. We set out for a 4-5 hour hike and weren’t disappointed. The forest was much like a rain forest. It was very very damp, mossy, and slippery for much of the hike. Once we hit the summit, the views weren’t great because we were essentially in the clouds that were hanging over the mountain. I can imagine the view if the day was clear! Spectacular, I’m certain.
We finished our hike and headed for the lodge for a “cuppa” (NZ for a cup of coffee or tea) and enjoyed a conversation with a British couple who were on holiday, too. That was it pretty much for Mt. Taranaki (Mt. Egmont).
WOMAD (World of Music and Dance) Festival
The next day we headed north to New Plymouth where we would spend 3 days at the WOMAD (world of music and dance) festival. We’d been to several WOMAD festivals in Seattle before 9/11 but since then, it has become too difficult for the musicians to get visas to enter the U.S. so the festival doesn’t come to the U.S. any more. It is a yearly event in NZ. We were happy to be able to attend. The venue was absolutely stunning. New Plymouth boasts a beautiful park in which to house the 3 day festival. Over 40,000 tickets were sold to this event. We heard music from all around the world and many from local NZ artists. The weather was perfect, too.
Kapiti Island...redux
Monday morning, we headed south again to finally go to Kapiti Island. This time, the weather had cleared and the boat was running! They deposited us on the east side of the island first where we had a brief intro by a Conservation Staffer about the island and NZ native wildlife and plants. They very strictly control what is brought on to the island and what is removed. All bags must be inspected to ensure not rats are inadvertently re-introduced. Rats had decimated the bird population and have been eradicated along with stoats and o’possums which had been introduced years ago when the island was inhabited by people. No seeds from fruit vegetables or garbage of any kind can be left on the island. Non native plants are strictly prohibited.
Along with a handful of other adults, we were joined on this part of the island by about 25 10-12 year old kids on a school trip. They were accompanied by 1 teacher and 2 adult chaperones. After the intro, we were free to spend the next several hours hiking to the summit of the island and appreciating the view.
John and I took off for the more difficult trail to the top hoping we’d be pretty much alone along the way so we could enjoy the hike. We met other adults along the way and one young German man who had been living in the area as a home care worker along with 2 other men. They cared for several severely disabled men in a home. This was his day off and he was taking advantage of the good weather to come to the island.
As we neared the top, we could hear the kids. I couldn’t believe the clamor they made. Where on earth were the adults in charge of these kids?! There simply couldn’t be a bird left in the immediate area with all the racket that these kids were making. We squeezed past a hoard of them to get to the viewing tower. These kids were climbing all over the tower, running, screaming and generally being a nuisance. Where on earth was the teacher!?
It was lunch time so we decided to have our snack while standing on the viewing tower in amongst the kids. While there, I watch one of the kids throw his apple over the edge and down the cliff. One of the other kids yelled at him but no adult was nearby. Shortly after that, I saw another kid drop his plastic wrapper on the steps. I asked the kids to pick up their trash and to carry it out. They looked at me like I was from Mars. I asked again, this time more sternly. One of the girls picked it up and tried to get the boy who dropped it to take his trash. He refused. That was enough. John went down the stairs and found the teacher to tell her what her students were doing and could she please manage them. She did get up of the bench that she and the other 2 adults had been seated at for the duration of our stay and come to where the kids were to monitor them. My question is “why bring all these kids to a place like this with no program for them to be working on while there? “ It seemed like this was recess day and the kids were left to run wild. I was furious.
It was such a beautiful place to be but totally spoiled by these Ill-mannered kids who were largely unsupervised. What a waste.
Finally the kids were sent down the hill to catch their boat back to the mainland. Good riddance.
Our boat wasn’t due until 3pm so we lingered behind long enough to avoid the cacophony of kids heading down the trail ahead of us.
We hopped on our boat which was now taking us to the northern part of Kapiti Island where we would be lodging for the night. We were met there by a very lovely Maori woman who was working for the Conservation Department. She showed us around and introduced us to our hostess, Amour. Amour is a long-time resident of the island, one of only 5 families (all related) who remain on the island from the time when it used to be inhabited before the NZ government purchased most of the land for conservation. The land where the lodge and houses are is private property that was never sold to the government. Amour showed us to our unit which was different than the one we’d reserved when we were in the U.S. since we had to re-book our trip due to bad weather. The only room available when we re-booked was one that had a bathroom/shower in the unit which the original unit didn’t have. We had to pay more for this room but I figured that was a ok since I like not having to wander around in the middle of the night outside to go to the bathroom! The one thing we didn’t know is that there was no hot water running to the unit. There was indeed a toilet and a shower but any showers we took would be cold ones. I chose to take none. John was braver than me and took cold showers while we were there. I made due with a spit baths. I was a little miffed that we had to pay $50 more for this “service” and we didn’t even have hot water. Oh well. It’s all part of the experience.
We unpacked our small overnight bag and joined the others at a communal table for dinner of steak and salad and other fare. We lingered at the table until well after dark to head out on our guided walk to find wild kiwi. We split off into 2 groups of 8 each and off we went as quietly as possible and with as little light as possible to find the elusive nocturnal kiwi birds that are the national symbol. Kiwi’s are endangered all throughout NZ because predators introduced by humans have killed them in such quantities that they can’t reproduce fast enough to survive. Sadly, this is true for many birds in NZ.
Kiwi, while technically are birds, really somewhat mammal-like. They do not fly, they live in burrows, they have whiskers and produce an egg that is almost 1/3 their body size. One of the kiwi blokes, in relating that last little piece of trivia, commented that the size of the egg was really only a problem if your are a female. Ah, chauvinism is alive and well in NZ!So off we went, searching under the brush quietly and intently listening to their calls. The male kiwi has a two tone call and the female will respond with a single tone. They communicate like this for quite a while during the early darkness to get a sense for their location. Round and round we went along the darkened paths. We stopped and listened, hearing only our heartbeats and an occasional rustling sound in the brush. About an hour in to the search, we headed back toward the lodge where the native grass was abutting the buildings. Our guide, astute to the sounds of the kiwi, thought he heard one in the grass. He signaled to us to stand still and he went into the grassy area where he heard the rustling. Just a moment later he said he’d found one and waved us all to come slowly to its location. Sure enough, it was a juvenile kiwi, our guide said it was probably this year’s chick. It was about 12 inches long and 8-10 inches tall with a beak that was very long for rooting around in the forest floor for bugs and such. We all got a good look and called the other group with a cell phone to come over to see it. The kiwi stayed put this whole time and the others were treated to a peak at a wild kiwi, too.
Cool!
The next day after breakfast, we were taken back to the mainland where John and I could continue our journey north somewhere. We had no real plans now so we were following the weather.
Tongariro National Park
We decided to head toward the center of the north island to the Tongariro National Park where the 3 other volcanoes were located that I mentioned before (Mts. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom), Ruapehu, and Tongariro) . The fourth being Mt. Taranaki (Mt. Egmont). I’d read about a great alpine hike across the mountain that would be about 19km and I thought we were ready for a good long hike and the weather seemed like it would hold so we headed inland to a small town near the park and found a place for a couple of nights to stay while we conquered our next mountain!
We learned that there was a bus that delivers you and picks you up at the trailhead so we booked excitedly hopped on our transport ready for a good day’s hike. When we arrived, we were not alone. There were hoards of others heading out for the same hike. Yikes. I thought this would be a nice quiet minimally traveled hike. We found out later that over 1000 people a day and sometimes 2000 people a day hike this trail. We were merely one of many ants making our way. It’s frustrating when you have so many people on a trail because John and I tend to hike pretty fast so we need to pass people frequently which isn’t always simple depending on the trail. But we trudged along, sometimes stuck behind slowpokes and sometimes in the clear. We made it to the crossroads where we could head up Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings fame) or we could head on along the trail like any sane hiker would do. So what did we do? Yup, we headed up Mt. Doom. Geesh.This volcano is still active and has a crater near the top that is what everyone climbs it to see. However, the entire mountain is volcanic rubble (mostly loose) and rocks that tend to come flying down toward you when someone above you is inattentive and lets sets one freefalling in a trajectory directly headed for your kneecap. John, like a billy goat, climbed effortlessly to the crater hardly breaking a sweat. I, on the other hand, was more like a fish out of water, wondering what the hell I was doing climb this mountain now. Hadn’t I learned from the last one! I climbed and climbed and hugged the rough volcanic rocks as best I could but eventually gave up. I didn’t care any longer about seeing the crater but cared more about getting down this mountain in one piece. Down would be no cakewalk because it was loose gravel and rocks and nothing to stop the fall except for more loose gravel and rocks. Oh yes, did I mention the flying rocks from above?
Once down the mountain, we headed off to finish the rest of the hike which was formidable but beautiful. We made it to the parking lot with 15 minutes to spare. Whew, it was a good day and we were both pooped. Another mountain climbed.
The Forgotten World Highway and New Plymouth
We left this area to travel “The Forgotten World Highway” which is a section of road that has been pretty much left as it once was with settlements all along the way that have been largely untouched for years. It took us the better part of a day to travel this magical road to our next destination which was New Plymouth, again. We were sort of killing time and wanted to see the area more thoroughly just in case we thought we liked it best. Turns out we spent 3 more days there but decided to move on to Auckland.
Devonport / Auckland
We were fortunate and found a nice place to stay for a week in a neighborhood called Devonport across the bay from Auckland. I loved this place. It’s very quaint and small but just a short ferry ride across the bay to Auckland. We wanted to spend a week here mostly because we wanted to hear a visiting professor of primate studies, Franz de Waal, who was guest lecturer at Auckland University. His topic was “The Evolution of Emotion”. Fascinating talks and his book “Our Inner Ape”, was an equally fascinating read. I’m glad we stayed the week.
The Coromandel
From Devonport we headed east to the Coromandel peninsula. This is one of the places I wanted to visit when we traveled to NZ 2 years ago. Sadly, we didn’t have the time to do it then. We’re staying in a town called Hahei. The picture to the right is of Cathedral Cove which is near Hahei. Hahei is a pretty little village that boasts a beautiful beach that is safe to swim in and more stunning views. There is so much natural beauty in NZ that we’re sometimes catching ourselves being a little complacent about each new stunning vista. This area is truly gorgeous but so are so many of the other places we’ve seen during our trip. There simply aren’t enough adjectives to uniquely describe each of the beautiful places we’ve visited here. You have to see it for yourself to understand the problem!We went for a walk this morning on a beach called Hot Water Beach which is just adjacent to Hahei. This beach is aptly named because there are 2 hot water springs just under the sand near the water’s edge. It’s a real attraction for tourists to dig a hole in the sand at low tide and boil their buns for a while. The spring water can get to 69 degrees centigrade! When we walked across the sand, we could sure tell where the spring was. Just digging our toes in a little was warm enough. We didn’t want to boil our piggies! Other than the hot water springs, this beach has very rough undertow and is apparently a very dangerous swim. However, there are some pretty good waves here, too, so the rip tides didn’t seem to faze the intrepid surfers willing to do whatever it takes to catch a wave.
After Hehei, we’ll spend a couple more days touring the Coromandel area and then will head to the Northland, which is the peninsula north of Auckland. It’s above the freeze line so never freezes and is considered semi-tropical. We’ll spend most of the rest of our time somewhere in the Northland. Hopefully we’ll be able to find one place that will suit us for the 2 weeks. However, it is Easter vacation and we may be lucky to find a comfortable bridge to sleep under. So it goes on our great adventure in which we are trying very hard not to plan much ahead of a day at a time. That’s not always been an easy thing to do but it’s been good to experience.
More soon!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Nelson, Golden Bay, Wellington
Well, we have just one more day in Wellington (it's already been nearly a week here!) and I want to get some travel notes out to you before we leave for the next adventure...Kapiti Island...more on that later.
We both fell in love again with Nelson. It's a really sweet town with a good down town and activities to do in town or near by. It's only an hour or so away from the famous Abel Tasman National Park where hikers and kayakers spend much time and energy. We hiked Abel Tasman when we were here last and didn't think we'd do it again this time.
During our stay in Nelson, we tried to get out and do some of the local hikes as much as possible. There is so much to do in the immediate area, it would be a shame not to experience some of the outdoors while there. On one such day, we decided to take a 5-7 hour hike up one of the many trails so we set off for the day. About 2 hours into our hike, there was a stream we had to cross. Nothing too large or rapid but we would have to navigate some big boulders just under the water to get across. John decided to go first. And that's when it all went wrong. One step and down he went. I was helpless. I couldn't grab him fast enough and the rocks were so slippery that he couldn't get his balance for anything. Down he went. At first I thought he was ok, just soaked from the fall, but he came out of the water holding his left hand and showed me his ring finger. I wish I'd taken a picture of it but imagine your first knuckle on your ring finger bent 90 degrees backward. That's what John's finger looked like. Yikes!
I checked for any bones sticking out of the skin and didn't see any. We thought about trying to pop it back into the socket but neither of us had the stomach for that. It was clear we had to get him to the hospital to figure out how to fix it so we turned around and sped down the trail to the car toward the hospital.
Once there, we got him signed in and in the queue to be looked at by a doctor. We were out within 2 1/2 hours. Not bad, really. They took 6 xrays total (3 before resetting the finger and 3 after to be sure no bones were cracked or broken) and they gave him a shot for the pain before they reset it. We walked away with...wait for it...NO BILL! Can you imagine. This visit was covered by what NZ has as accident insurance for EVERYONE. We were ready (and willing!) to pay for the emergency room visit but there was no need.
Almost 3 weeks on, John's finger is better, though still sore.
Ah, well. We'd wondered about the medical system in NZ, I guess we got a first hand picture of it.
Golden Bay
Soon, we headed north to Golden Bay where John's favorite beach Wharariki Beach is which is near Fairwell Spit which is a long strip of land that juts out into the ocean and is the northern most point of the south island. It's actually more north than the south end of the north island. It's all a bit confusing!
We were to spend 3-4 days there doing some hiking and poking around. We'd booked a place for the first night at a little beach town called Pohara Beach. We go to our destination and were pretty disappointed with the place but stayed the night anyway. We called the owner the next morning and told them we would be leaving sooner than planned and set out to find a different location for the rest of our stay in Golden Bay. As luck would have it, we found a perfect little Bach (Baches are little self contained cottages - Bach is short for Bachelor) in Ligar Bay which is just down the road from Pohara Beach. "Home" again, we unpacked and settled in for our short stay.
We really wanted to go hiking in the area so decided to go the next morning to do a 7-8 hour hike on the northern most part of the Abel Tasman National Park. It was supposed to be a beautiful scenic hike across a small summit and then beautiful views of the ocean and beyond. The morning was grey and misty when we set out but we figured it would lighten up and the skies would clear by mid day. So we set out on our trip. Up, up, up we went, all the while in a misty cloud that wasn't getting lighter. By the time we reached the summit, we realized that we were not going to get any blue sky, nor were we going to see any great vistas. It was hard enough just to see the path in front of us for the fog and rain. Here we found ourselves again, ill equipped for the hike. We were soaked to the core by the time we reached the campground on the other side of the mountain. We decided we couldn't make the 4 hour hike back because our feet were soaked and we would have blisters the size of quarters if we attempted it. So we went to the information desk there, hoping to catch a bus back to the trailhead where we left our car. To our surprise, there were no more buses coming or going that day. Our only choice was to go back the way we came over which would be a 3 hour slog in wet clothes and boots or hitch hike. We decided to try to hitch hike so we set off down the road hoping a person would feel sorry for us. John stuck his thumb out to the first car that passed and they stopped immediately! Wow, that was easy.
It was a couple who were visiting from Holland who picked us up. What a relief and what an interesting couple. People who travel are so interesting! They deposited us safely to the other side of the mountain at the entrance to where our car was parked and we hiked the rest of the way to the car and headed home to dry out and regroup.
(The picture to the right is Wharariki Beach)
We spent the rest of the days in Golden Bay just touring around the area.
We left Ligar Bay for Nelson on February 27 and stayed just one night in Nelson before heading out for Picton, our launching point for the big 3-day hike starting on March 1. Our drive to Picton was the wettest, rainiest, yuckiest day we've had yet. We we soooooooo glad that our hike was starting the next day and hoping like mad that the weather would improve before we set out. But, we'd learned our lesson in Golden Bay and, while in Nelson, purchased some gaiters so we would be prepared and keep our feet dry in the event our 3-day hike was a wet one. It turned out that it wasn't but we were ready for it!
Queen Charlotte Track
This is a famous hike that is considered one of NZ most popular. NZ bends over backwards to make hiking easy and comfortable and one of the services provided is to move your overnight luggage from location to location so you don't have to hike with all your bags in tow. John and I carried our backpack each day but our overnight bag was deposited at our overnight destination each day. Nice!
(The picture to the right is from the track looking out over the Marlborough Sound.)
The first day, in my opinion, was the hardest day but only because of the length of the hike. It was a relatively flat hike so no real altitude gains but it was a 16 mile hike. That was a long day. We stayed at a lovely motel along the way that provided home cooked meals and nice accommodations. They also have glow worms! Glow worms are found all over NZ and are often tourist attractions but they had them in their back yard. I guess glow worms are really fly larvae that hang down from dark caves or rock outcroppings. Something in their bodies causes them to glow in the dark. Sure enough, we walked back to that outcropping that evening after dark and the hillside was full of little glowing darlings everywhere. Weird but kinda neat, too. It was like the sky full of stars but at your feet instead.
The next day we set out for what was supposed to be a tough hike. Lots of uphill and downhill. This day gave us good weather and grand views of the Marlborough Sound area. Lovely day...the hike wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be. This day was only 14 miles. We spent the night in a "backpacker's motel" which is essentially a house where the bedrooms are rented out. We had one room, another was rented by a couple of young women and the living room was inhabited by a Swedish young man whom we'd passed on the hike earlier that day. Not so great accommodations but we were grateful for the bed and excited to be able to finish the trip the next day.
We were up and ready to go first thing the next day and headed out for the shortest day we'd have of the 3 days. This day would only be a 12 mile hike. We had to be to our destination by 4pm to catch our boat to Picton so we were determined to set a pace. We got their 2 hours early. Oh well, we rested and enjoyed the feeling of not walking. It can be very repetitious and tedious to walk for so long. To pass the time, I began counting the number of steps I took in a minute and then did the math in my head to figure out how many steps that was per hour, etc. I calculated that I'd taken about 132,000 steps on our trip. Whew, that's a lot.
Back in Picton, we went out to a nice Indian meal and home to pack and get ready for our ferry ride to the North Island and the government seat, Wellington. This would be the last of the South Island until April 26 when we return to Christchurch to catch our plane to Australia for the last part of our trip, 12 days in Port Douglas, Australia.
Wellington
Whew, what a contrast it is coming from a 3-day hike in the wilderness (sort of!) and into a bustling, vibrant, frenetic city! It's a nice contrast and one that both John and I have been savoring.
We are staying in a condo (they call them apartments here in NZ) of someone whom we met via the lady we stayed with when we were here in 2007. We'd originally wanted to stay a month in Wellington and were looking to rent an apartment or home for that period of time so John contacted the very sweet lady we stayed with during our last trip here to see if she could help us find something. She did although we only have it for a week. The apartment is on the 7th floor of a 10 floor 50's vintage apartment building. It is on the corner so has views north, east and west of Wellington. A better view would be hard to find.
The wind blows strongly here in Wellington. The winds come up through the Cook Strait and pummel the city and surrounds most days of the year. It's funny, though, it's kind of nice to hear the wind blowing around at night.
But, never underestimate the power of the wind. A couple of days ago, I washed my Teva sandals and set them out on the deck to dry while John and I went for a hike. It was a beautiful sunny day, the wind was blowing pretty gustily but nothing, I thought, that would be strong enough to blow my sandals away. Wrong. Upon our return, the deck was empty, nadda, nothing...in hind sight, looking at all the other decks in the building, no one else has ANYTHING on their decks. I suppose they know that nothing would stay put so they don't put anything there. So, no more sandals for me. They've flown away into the cliffs and bush below the building, never to be seen again.
That pretty much brings you all up to date with what's happening here. On Wednesday, we leave early in the morning to go to Kapiti Island. Kapiti is a nature preserve that you can visit on day trips or on an overnight stay. We'll be staying overnight and as part of the trip, we will be taken to see the indigenous wildlife on the island and maybe, just maybe, we'll see the elusive kiwi bird. They are nocturnal birds and are very rare. I hope we'll be able to see one.
After Kapiti, we'll be heading north to New Plymouth in the Taranaki region of the North Island for a 3 day music festival called WOMAD. We went to WOMAD several times while it was in Seattle but after 9/11 the festival couldn't get visas for all the acts any more so they've ceased coming to the U.S. We're happy to be able to see it here!
So that'll take us through Sunday, March 15. From there, no one knows where we'll be. We'd like to do some hiking around Mt. Egmont which is a beautiful mountain in the Taranaki region. We'll see. We also want to settle some place for a longer time so we're just not sure what will happen after Sunday. I'll let you know as I know.
Til then...on to more adventures.
We both fell in love again with Nelson. It's a really sweet town with a good down town and activities to do in town or near by. It's only an hour or so away from the famous Abel Tasman National Park where hikers and kayakers spend much time and energy. We hiked Abel Tasman when we were here last and didn't think we'd do it again this time.
During our stay in Nelson, we tried to get out and do some of the local hikes as much as possible. There is so much to do in the immediate area, it would be a shame not to experience some of the outdoors while there. On one such day, we decided to take a 5-7 hour hike up one of the many trails so we set off for the day. About 2 hours into our hike, there was a stream we had to cross. Nothing too large or rapid but we would have to navigate some big boulders just under the water to get across. John decided to go first. And that's when it all went wrong. One step and down he went. I was helpless. I couldn't grab him fast enough and the rocks were so slippery that he couldn't get his balance for anything. Down he went. At first I thought he was ok, just soaked from the fall, but he came out of the water holding his left hand and showed me his ring finger. I wish I'd taken a picture of it but imagine your first knuckle on your ring finger bent 90 degrees backward. That's what John's finger looked like. Yikes!
I checked for any bones sticking out of the skin and didn't see any. We thought about trying to pop it back into the socket but neither of us had the stomach for that. It was clear we had to get him to the hospital to figure out how to fix it so we turned around and sped down the trail to the car toward the hospital.
Once there, we got him signed in and in the queue to be looked at by a doctor. We were out within 2 1/2 hours. Not bad, really. They took 6 xrays total (3 before resetting the finger and 3 after to be sure no bones were cracked or broken) and they gave him a shot for the pain before they reset it. We walked away with...wait for it...NO BILL! Can you imagine. This visit was covered by what NZ has as accident insurance for EVERYONE. We were ready (and willing!) to pay for the emergency room visit but there was no need.
Almost 3 weeks on, John's finger is better, though still sore.
Ah, well. We'd wondered about the medical system in NZ, I guess we got a first hand picture of it.
Golden Bay
Soon, we headed north to Golden Bay where John's favorite beach Wharariki Beach is which is near Fairwell Spit which is a long strip of land that juts out into the ocean and is the northern most point of the south island. It's actually more north than the south end of the north island. It's all a bit confusing!
We were to spend 3-4 days there doing some hiking and poking around. We'd booked a place for the first night at a little beach town called Pohara Beach. We go to our destination and were pretty disappointed with the place but stayed the night anyway. We called the owner the next morning and told them we would be leaving sooner than planned and set out to find a different location for the rest of our stay in Golden Bay. As luck would have it, we found a perfect little Bach (Baches are little self contained cottages - Bach is short for Bachelor) in Ligar Bay which is just down the road from Pohara Beach. "Home" again, we unpacked and settled in for our short stay.We really wanted to go hiking in the area so decided to go the next morning to do a 7-8 hour hike on the northern most part of the Abel Tasman National Park. It was supposed to be a beautiful scenic hike across a small summit and then beautiful views of the ocean and beyond. The morning was grey and misty when we set out but we figured it would lighten up and the skies would clear by mid day. So we set out on our trip. Up, up, up we went, all the while in a misty cloud that wasn't getting lighter. By the time we reached the summit, we realized that we were not going to get any blue sky, nor were we going to see any great vistas. It was hard enough just to see the path in front of us for the fog and rain. Here we found ourselves again, ill equipped for the hike. We were soaked to the core by the time we reached the campground on the other side of the mountain. We decided we couldn't make the 4 hour hike back because our feet were soaked and we would have blisters the size of quarters if we attempted it. So we went to the information desk there, hoping to catch a bus back to the trailhead where we left our car. To our surprise, there were no more buses coming or going that day. Our only choice was to go back the way we came over which would be a 3 hour slog in wet clothes and boots or hitch hike. We decided to try to hitch hike so we set off down the road hoping a person would feel sorry for us. John stuck his thumb out to the first car that passed and they stopped immediately! Wow, that was easy.
It was a couple who were visiting from Holland who picked us up. What a relief and what an interesting couple. People who travel are so interesting! They deposited us safely to the other side of the mountain at the entrance to where our car was parked and we hiked the rest of the way to the car and headed home to dry out and regroup.(The picture to the right is Wharariki Beach)
We spent the rest of the days in Golden Bay just touring around the area.
We left Ligar Bay for Nelson on February 27 and stayed just one night in Nelson before heading out for Picton, our launching point for the big 3-day hike starting on March 1. Our drive to Picton was the wettest, rainiest, yuckiest day we've had yet. We we soooooooo glad that our hike was starting the next day and hoping like mad that the weather would improve before we set out. But, we'd learned our lesson in Golden Bay and, while in Nelson, purchased some gaiters so we would be prepared and keep our feet dry in the event our 3-day hike was a wet one. It turned out that it wasn't but we were ready for it!
Queen Charlotte Track
This is a famous hike that is considered one of NZ most popular. NZ bends over backwards to make hiking easy and comfortable and one of the services provided is to move your overnight luggage from location to location so you don't have to hike with all your bags in tow. John and I carried our backpack each day but our overnight bag was deposited at our overnight destination each day. Nice!
(The picture to the right is from the track looking out over the Marlborough Sound.)
The first day, in my opinion, was the hardest day but only because of the length of the hike. It was a relatively flat hike so no real altitude gains but it was a 16 mile hike. That was a long day. We stayed at a lovely motel along the way that provided home cooked meals and nice accommodations. They also have glow worms! Glow worms are found all over NZ and are often tourist attractions but they had them in their back yard. I guess glow worms are really fly larvae that hang down from dark caves or rock outcroppings. Something in their bodies causes them to glow in the dark. Sure enough, we walked back to that outcropping that evening after dark and the hillside was full of little glowing darlings everywhere. Weird but kinda neat, too. It was like the sky full of stars but at your feet instead.
The next day we set out for what was supposed to be a tough hike. Lots of uphill and downhill. This day gave us good weather and grand views of the Marlborough Sound area. Lovely day...the hike wasn't as bad as I'd thought it would be. This day was only 14 miles. We spent the night in a "backpacker's motel" which is essentially a house where the bedrooms are rented out. We had one room, another was rented by a couple of young women and the living room was inhabited by a Swedish young man whom we'd passed on the hike earlier that day. Not so great accommodations but we were grateful for the bed and excited to be able to finish the trip the next day.
We were up and ready to go first thing the next day and headed out for the shortest day we'd have of the 3 days. This day would only be a 12 mile hike. We had to be to our destination by 4pm to catch our boat to Picton so we were determined to set a pace. We got their 2 hours early. Oh well, we rested and enjoyed the feeling of not walking. It can be very repetitious and tedious to walk for so long. To pass the time, I began counting the number of steps I took in a minute and then did the math in my head to figure out how many steps that was per hour, etc. I calculated that I'd taken about 132,000 steps on our trip. Whew, that's a lot.
Back in Picton, we went out to a nice Indian meal and home to pack and get ready for our ferry ride to the North Island and the government seat, Wellington. This would be the last of the South Island until April 26 when we return to Christchurch to catch our plane to Australia for the last part of our trip, 12 days in Port Douglas, Australia.
Wellington
Whew, what a contrast it is coming from a 3-day hike in the wilderness (sort of!) and into a bustling, vibrant, frenetic city! It's a nice contrast and one that both John and I have been savoring.We are staying in a condo (they call them apartments here in NZ) of someone whom we met via the lady we stayed with when we were here in 2007. We'd originally wanted to stay a month in Wellington and were looking to rent an apartment or home for that period of time so John contacted the very sweet lady we stayed with during our last trip here to see if she could help us find something. She did although we only have it for a week. The apartment is on the 7th floor of a 10 floor 50's vintage apartment building. It is on the corner so has views north, east and west of Wellington. A better view would be hard to find.
The wind blows strongly here in Wellington. The winds come up through the Cook Strait and pummel the city and surrounds most days of the year. It's funny, though, it's kind of nice to hear the wind blowing around at night.
But, never underestimate the power of the wind. A couple of days ago, I washed my Teva sandals and set them out on the deck to dry while John and I went for a hike. It was a beautiful sunny day, the wind was blowing pretty gustily but nothing, I thought, that would be strong enough to blow my sandals away. Wrong. Upon our return, the deck was empty, nadda, nothing...in hind sight, looking at all the other decks in the building, no one else has ANYTHING on their decks. I suppose they know that nothing would stay put so they don't put anything there. So, no more sandals for me. They've flown away into the cliffs and bush below the building, never to be seen again.
That pretty much brings you all up to date with what's happening here. On Wednesday, we leave early in the morning to go to Kapiti Island. Kapiti is a nature preserve that you can visit on day trips or on an overnight stay. We'll be staying overnight and as part of the trip, we will be taken to see the indigenous wildlife on the island and maybe, just maybe, we'll see the elusive kiwi bird. They are nocturnal birds and are very rare. I hope we'll be able to see one.
After Kapiti, we'll be heading north to New Plymouth in the Taranaki region of the North Island for a 3 day music festival called WOMAD. We went to WOMAD several times while it was in Seattle but after 9/11 the festival couldn't get visas for all the acts any more so they've ceased coming to the U.S. We're happy to be able to see it here!
So that'll take us through Sunday, March 15. From there, no one knows where we'll be. We'd like to do some hiking around Mt. Egmont which is a beautiful mountain in the Taranaki region. We'll see. We also want to settle some place for a longer time so we're just not sure what will happen after Sunday. I'll let you know as I know.
Til then...on to more adventures.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Mt. Cook, Christchurch
Mt. CookOMG! What a great decision to stay at Mt. Cook. It was John’s decision, actually. Originally, I’d only had us visiting there during the day and staying somewhere else that night but John thought he’d like to stay longer so we booked 3 nights in a cottage at the visitor center near Mt. Cook. Unlike Mt. Rainier where you actually drive up to the mountain and hike on the mountain itself, Mt. Cook is actually several miles away from Mt. Cook Village. But that doesn’t distract one bit from the magnificence of the area and the beauty of the mountain. In fact, it’s nice to be a ways away from the mountain because you can actually see it.
I haven’t even described the drive up to the mountain that includes a stunning view of Lake Pukaki which is a glacial lake formed from the melt off of the glaciers on Mt. Cook. The lake is a color that is almost indescribable. It’s an almost florescent green with a hint of blue. The color is the result of the mineral deposits from the glaciers. The lake is very long so you have a good look at the lake with Mt. Cook in the foreground for miles. A postcard perfect picture, indeed!
It’s at Mt. Cook where I had my first “near death” experience or at least it felt like I was going to die!
Mt. Cook boasts several great hikes, some short 1 hour easy jaunts, some are more lengthy, and still others are more arduous and suitable for more fit or skilled types. Yup, you guessed it. We did the skilled hike to Mueller Hut which is “easily” reached after 3-4 hours of uphill rock climbing! Of course, good hiking gear is a necessity. Things such as a hat to keep the sun off the head and help prevent heat/sun stroke, good hiking boots, extra clothes in case the weather changes and plenty of water.. So off we went, me in my running shoes and no hat, John all geared up and ready to tackle the mountain and not enough water, in hind sight, to make the trip. But I didn’t know that yet.
It was a gorgeous day with nothing but blue sky, hardly a breeze (wind is a steady companion to the mountain, we’re told), and excitement about our journey ahead. Mueller Hut is a destination that can be reserved if you want to stay the night. Others can camp out near there, though it’s mostly rocks so I don’t know how comfortable it would be!
The trail started off like most, a gradual incline, nothing too difficult. All was well for the first 2 hours or so. Huffing and puffing up the hill wasn’t so bad, though it was pretty much stair steps or rock climbing. On the way, we met a 70+ year old retired Kiwi couple and struck up a conversation with them. They’d climbed the hill about 20 times over their lifetime and have seen many changes, most noticeably the receding of the glaciers that are visible from the hiking path. If only I could climb like this couple when I’m 70 years old! The man and John nearly sprinted up the hill and I did my best to stay ahead of the woman, if for no other reason than to prove that I was able to stay ahead of a 70 year old woman! It was close but I did it!
Finally, after about 2 ½ hours, we reached Sealy Tarns which is a pretty little plateau on the way to Mueller Hut. It’s a grassy area with two small glacial lakes and a beautiful view of Mt. Cook. There is a trail sign when you reach Sealy Tarns that is provided by the NZ but someone had scratched in the sign an all too understandable sentiment…it read, “F’n Finally!” A sentiment I agreed with. I was pooped at this point but there was the Mueller Hut yet to see so off we went. I was game, or so I thought I was. Up, Up, Up….more rocks and more steps but now we were out of the bush and the mountain was even more visible. Beautiful!
We climbed for what seemed an eternity. My legs were weak and like noodles from the climb and the sun was beating down all the while. More than once, I wanted to stop and turn around realizing I’d bit off more than I could chew especially in running shoes! But John, always the motivator, encouraged me to continue and so I did. Finally, after what seemed another eternity, we’d reached the “summit”. The view was breathtaking and, now that I have some days to reflect on the effort, it was worth all the climbing to get to it. We rested there for a while but still had 40 minutes of rock traversing before we could actually get to the, now infamous, Mueller Hut. No rest for the wicked, we set off to reach our destination. Finally, there it was. Not much to speak of and, in fact, not much of a view from the hut as far as I could tell so, I figured I could say we’d reached it, even though we hadn’t actually touched the building. Seeing it was enough. I simply had no more energy to get to it, especially since I knew we had to get down the mountain yet and I was plum pooped!
We’d climbed about 3200 feet in 4 hours time to an altitude of about 5800 feet.
We rested on a rock and had lunch before setting out down the hill that just a couple of hours earlier, I thought I could not conquer.
Don’t think going down was any easier because it wasn’t. Fatigue really was the worst part. Knowing that tired feet and minds can cause one to make a wrong move and tumble down the hillside in a blink of an eye, most of my energy was spent focusing on where I was placing my feet and trying not to fall. Three and one-half hours later (7 ½ hours total hiking time), we emerged from the bush where we started our trip that morning.
So, that was my first near death experience. The climb was the most difficult climb I’ve ever done and I did it in running shoes! My very next purchase will be hiking boots!
Too pooped to cook, we ate a wonderful dinner at the Mt. Cook lodge that evening and feel into bed exhausted but happy for the perfectly beautiful day the mountain had provided.
Near death experience #2. - Sore and tired from the previous day’s hike, we wanted to get in one more hike while on the mountain and there is an easier 3-4 hour hike that didn’t require much climbing and leads you to the lake at the end of Hooker Glacier. This morning, we decided to eat the breakfast provided with our lodging up at the café. We normally eat in the room with our own food but thought we’d try it. It was a buffet style breakfast with granola, fruit, toast…all the normal continental breakfast foods. I took my usual granola (or muesli) and fruit and John filled his plate and we tucked into the breakfast excited about the hike ahead. The weather had turned a bit windy this day but we were till up for it. Near the end of breakfast, I noticed a tingling in my throat and ears that is the sure sign that I’ve eaten buckwheat. I’d eaten ¾ of the bowl of granola and hadn’t noticed anything so I’m thinking it was a rancid nut or something like that and not buckwheat but who knows. I stopped eating and waited a few minutes for the tingly sensation to subside and we left the table to prepare for the hike ahead.
About 20 minutes into the hike, I started getting a headache. I thought it was because I was carrying the pack and it just wasn’t situated on my back well. Then, I noticed the bottoms of my feet were itching really bad. John took the pack and I noticed the palms of my hands were itching now and I started coughing like I do when I’ve inhaled buckwheat dust. My lungs felt like they were filling with fluid and the more I coughed the more they filled. I decided I was having an allergic reaction to something so I took an antihistamine that we carry with us, mostly because John’s allergic to bee stings and we need to have it available if he gets stung. We kept walking, hoping that the antihistamine would start working and I would start to feel better. It didn’t feel like it was and, by now, my whole body was itching and I was welting up all over from scalp to sole. I decided I needed to turn back and see if I could find a doctor at the lodge. I was a little freaked out by the lungs feeling like they were full of fluid. I guess this must be what it feels like to have severe asthma. So, we turned around. At the campground, about 45 minutes into the hike) we stopped and I went to the bathroom and rested on a bench for a few minutes. I was scratching and scratching and scratching but I thought I was feeling better. We rested a few more minutes and I decided I was ok to do the hike. The anti-histamine had kicked in finally. Whew. I sure didn’t like that! But I’m glad we continued to the Hooker Glacier lake to see the glacier up close. Just 3-4 days after we left, a huge chuck of the glacier parted and sent a tidal wave of 3 meters down the lake.
Lake Tekapo
We had to leave Mt. Cook and head to our next destination which was Lake Tekapo only about an hour from Mt. Cook. This would be an easy day of driving so we stopped frequently and took pictures of the mountain as we left with the beautiful blue/green Pukaki Lake in the foreground. We stopped at the information center there at Lake Pukaki and inquired about having a gliding experience. John and I have both said we’d like to do that some day and we’d found out that this area of NZ is world renowned for gliding. We booked an hour each for the following day. Yup…near death experience #3. OMG!
The wind had been picking up and the glider operator suggested that we call in the morning around 10am to see what the best time for flying would be that day. So off we went to Lake Tekapo for the night and went to bed excited about the opportunity to fly in a glider plane.
February 9
We were up and out the door early to get to an internet café and deal with emails before we were to call to find out when we should be there for our glider flights. At 9:30am, John received a call from the glider operator saying sooner rather than later would be good as the winds were picking up and would likely be worse in the afternoon. So, we scrambled back to our place and jumped in the car for the hour drive to get to the glider plan operator. We arrived around noon.
Once there, we were met by the owner and 2 of the pilots who would be flying John and me that day. My pilot was an older Swedish man who is a glider instructor for 6 months while in NZ and 6 months while in Britain where he lives the other 6 months of the year. He basically flies all the time! He had a great sense of humor and assured me that he had read the book that morning on how to fly a glider plane and he thought he could do it…as long as he could open his eyes once we go in the air, we’d be fine. I chose to believe he was joking.
John’s pilot (because there are only 2 seats per plane we had to go up in separate planes) was an American young man about 25 years old who was the captain of the U.S. Glider Team. I didn’t know we had a Glider Team. He seemed nice and portrayed confidence. I pictured John and him doing loop-de-loops in the air like teenagers racing their hotrods.
So off we went to get strapped in to our respective planes (I had to wear a parachute but John didn’t…hmmm…maybe my pilot was right and he HAD read the book just that morning?) My pilot instructed me on the controls I would have available to me in the plane and what to do if he parachuted out of the plane…yup, that’s right, he suggested I should follow him! Joker. He also fitted me with a barf bag. I told him I’d try very hard not to have to use it. In hindsight, the fact that they gave John and me an anti nausea pill before we strapped in was a dead giveaway that we were in for a ride.
Before we knew it we were hooked up to our tow plane and in the air. No second thoughts now. Geesh. Who’s idea was this anyway!
What a strange experience it was to be seated in the front of this tiny plane, the real pilot behind me with limited vision….go figure… and the tow plane just a little in front of me being knocked up and down by the wind gusts. The visual effect was a little unsettling but my pilot was really great and talked about the process the whole way, always assuring me that he’d open his eyes soon and we’d be ok. Just a little way up into the sky we let go of the tow rope and were gliding! It was very very bumpy but we circled and circled and climbed the ridges to get the lift we needed to get above the wind gusts that were knocking us around and into the Lee wind which is a very fast and very smooth type of wind, or so I was told. The Lee wind is found at varying heights so you have to just search for it and climb until you find it, all the while analyzing the cloud shapes to see what the wind is doing. You really have to be a wind expert to fly one of these things because without it, you don’t have much of a chance to stay afloat.
Anyway, we circled and ridge climbed and my pilot did his best to keep my mind occupied but, alas, I could not keep my stomach and away it went. Right into the barf bag provided! I was glad I had it, as was he, I’m sure. Soon John and his pilot were up in the air and circling, too. My pilot, knowing that circling can cause sickness, tried not to circle much but used ridge lift to get us up higher. John’s pilot, however, didn’t ridge climb very much and just circled and circled to gain altitude. I found out later that John, too, lost his lunch. I repeat “Whose idea was this?”
At 9500 feet, we finally found that Lee wind and, sure enough, it was smooth as silk up there. What a difference. We were traveling about 90-110 knots with little effort. Unfortunately, the visibility was poor (an unusual occurrence) because the smoke from the fires in Australia had made their way to NZ. We could smell the smoke. By now, we had been in the air for an hour and ten minutes and it was time to go back. Before doing so, it was my turn to fly the plane. OMG! So I took the handle and the pedals and with clear instruction from my pilot, made the plane turn and descend or ascend. What a thrill! The plane was so responsive and easy to fly. Of course, I knew my pilot was behind me with his hands and feet ready to take over in an instant but it was still fun to think I could fly.
No, it was time to get down on the ground but, first, we had to fly back into the windy area of the sky. The pilot took the controls and we descended pretty rapidly. We were on the ground safely before I knew it. What a ride. At that point, I wasn’t too sure it was worth it to get so sick and queasy but now I’m glad we did it.
Christchurch
With our feet firmly planted on the ground again, we were off to our next destination back on the East coast. First, a short stop over in Christchurch to have lunch with Laura and then on Akaroa, a peninsula near Christchurch that was colonized by the French in the 1800’s. The weather had started to change by now and rain was always a threat. We were able to get a good hike in at Akaroa but the next 3 days were rainy and wet. NZ is in a draught period so the rain was welcome. Not so fun for visitors, I suppose, but good for NZ. With the rain putting a damper on our hiking plans, we decided to head on into Nelson. Nelson boast the most sun in the South Island so we figured we’d have better chance for good weather there and, failing that, at least would have the city to do things if hiking was out of the picture.
So here we stay for a week or so. We’ve got a 72 km hike scheduled for February 28, March 1 and 2 in Queen Charlotte Sound. This is fiord just east of Nelson about 2 hours and boasts memorable vistas and hikes for all levels. The first day will be about 26.5km, the second day is a 24.5km hike and the third day will be an easy 20km. The nice thing is that we have accommodations each night in a motel along the way and our travel bags will be delivered to each destination for us so we don’t have to lug them along on the hike. It would be much more difficult to pack along all our food and supplies for the full 3 days. I’m grateful for the service. Stay tuned for more on that adventure. I’m sure I’ll have tales to tell!
Meanwhile, we’ll spend the time leading up to our 72km adventure hike, in the Nelson area doing some hikes and sight-seeing nearby.
In fact, the weather has cleared up a little so we decided to go for a hike yesterday. This hike was a wee 16km (about 9+ miles) and are both pooped but it felt really good to get out and stretch our legs a bit.
Today, Monday, is business day. We have shopping, internet, and banking to do so I’ll get this posted hopefully.
More soon!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
