New Zealand Part 5

Saturday January 20th

Anniversary Part 2…. Off to Milford Sound.

We woke up to yet another gray day, and were wondering whether it was worth the 4.0 hour trip to the Milford Sound area, but decided that since it is one of the wettest places in the country it probably didn’t matter at all. We didn’t have to be in Milford Sound until 4:15 to catch our boat, so we figured we’d stroll around Queenstown first before hitting the open road. Queenstown is one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever visited. Is sits at a bend on the northeast corner of Lake Wakatipu which gives it amazing views in all directions. The mountains surrounding the lake are bold and dramatic and in view no matter where you are in town. We drove down to the town center, parked on the street, and decided to walk around the various side streets to look for a place for breakfast. We turned towards the water and found a cute open square on the waterfront where you can pick up ferry and tour boats to take you out on the lake. Local artisans were filling up the main thoroughfare setting up tables and tents to sell their wares. Next to the square and dock is a well constructed plaza that houses numerous fine restaurants, the Minus 5 frozen bar, and the Wharf Casino. We found a great little place for breakfast right nearby called the Naff Caff Café and had ourselves a delicious meal! You’ll all be happy to know we had a proper breakfast with nary a meat pie to be found! After breakfast we hit up the artisan tables and chose a Tangiwai necklace for Phil. It was perfect, and a stone we learned was unique to the Milford Sound area which made it all the more special considering our final destination. The local legend tells the story of Tama, a Maori warrior whose wives were abducted by Poutini, the guardian of the greenstone. Tama wandered about searching for his wives and found one of them at Milford Sound. She had been turned into pounamu. He cried and his tears fell on the stone and changed into tangiwai, or weeping water, the pale translucent bowenite which is another form of greenstone valued for pendants. He searched further up the river until he came upon a waterfall blocking his way. The boulders he rested upon were his other two wives who had also been transformed into greenstone

We continued in and out of stores until about 11 o’clock and decided we should get back to the car and hit the road. We climbed into the car excited and recharged, when our hearts fell abruptly into our stomachs at the almost imperceptible **click click** of the last bit of juice leaving our battery!! It seems that smarty, that would be me (Shawn), forgot that not all cars automatically turn off the head lights and the few hours we were away were plenty enough to sap the poor old girl of her will to live… so sad! Thankfully we were parked outside the good old Salvation Army, so I walked in and asked the woman behind the counter if she could help me. She was a saint, and got right on the phone with her friend who owned a garage up the street. He arrived in short order, hooked up the sensors to the battery, and with a grim face told me we’d be wise to have it replaced. I started to get nervous though, because we really couldn’t leave any later than noon if we wanted to have any shot of getting to the sound on time, and it was fast approaching 11:30. On the other hand, we didn’t want to get stranded in Milford Sound which is way the hell off the beaten path! CURSES… I chose to replace it, and found myself pacing nervously in the garage as the minutes ticked off the clock, kicking myself for my stupidity! The funny irony here is that we thought we’d be budget conscious and decided not to get the extra insurance on the old beast, so because of that the rental agency wouldn’t pay for the repair… so the cost of the battery ended up equaling what we would have paid for the insurance we declined in the first place… I think there’s a life lesson here… hmmm

We got ourselves in gear by noon and I hauled ass out of there… I got nervous when the initial part of the drive along Lake Wakatipu was that slow snaking drive we’d grown accustomed to on the South Island, but relaxed when it finally pulled away from the lake into more open country roads. It’s a good thing the old P.O.S had all that new juice running through her, because I put her into overdrive. We made mad time and got to the Milford Drive with time enough to actually enjoy the drive. A quick geopgraphy note. As the crow flies, Milford Sound is actually not too far to the west of Queenstown, but because the mountains are so rugged, you actually have to take a long 4+ hour detour loop south and then back up north to get into the Fjordland National Park area: http://www.fiordland.org.nz/ . The Drive into Milford Sound: http://www.fiordland.org.nz/Travel-Guide/Maps/Te-Anau-Milford-Road-Highway.asp is listed in many places as one of the most scenic drives in the world! There are also several hikes in the area that are described as some of the most beautiful in the world. We couldn’t wait!!

The magic starts as you turn north from the town of Te Anau. The road takes you along the beautiful Lake Te Anau and then turns to the northeast towards the mountains in the distance. Within a half hour or so, my power driving ended suddenly when we came upon Knobs Flat. The view simply took our breath away and we had to stop. Mother Nature must have been feeling sorry for us for the morning’s drama, as the sun started smiling down on us, breaking through the clouds just in time to enjoy the moment. The Flat is a huge wide field of tall golden grasses extending far into the distance with jagged mountain crags rising on either side of the valley becoming more and more grand and snow covered the farther ahead you look! We weren’t the only ones amazed, as an entire tour bus worth of people about a half a km up the road had emptied into the fields and were twirling hands outstretched as if they were having a Sound of Music Moment…

We pressed on for another half our or so and found the path ahead narrowing and becoming more lush. Clouds started to hug the mountain tops again and fill in parts of the valley. For some stretches, we were buried in thick rain forest and in others the valley would open up again and reveal itself. At its most dramatic, we found ourselves on a stretch of road like nothing I have ever seen in my life. I think it was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.

The valley floor was a deep dark canvas of grasses, lush plants, and small trees. Gorgeous shimmering rock faced cliffs rose sharply out of the foliage trapping us on the valley floor. Waterfalls of all shapes and sizes coursed there way down every nook and cranny from the higher elevations all the way down to the valley floor. The air was cold and crisp here, and cleaner than anything I’ve ever inhaled. Looking up to the misty peaks, you could just make out the specks of blue of the high mountain glaciers seemingly defying gravity against the steep cliffs on which they lay.

This stretch of road curves off to the west and then stops abruptly in a huge rock bowl at the entrance to the Homer Tunnel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Tunnel You have to wait 15 minutes between signals, as it is a one-way trip through a steep and dark tunnel carved into the granite mountain ahead of you. With no sky in sight and the steep walls of rock disappearing into the clouds above it was a very surreal experience. We stepped out of the car to take in the view and noticed the air was starkly colder here. To our surprise we saw 3 Keas, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kea playing at the side of the road. These are beautiful green parrots found in the alpine regions of the country and are known for being extremely “naughty” to quote the natives. They will take stuff right off of your person and tear off pieces of your car. They are not afraid of people and these three before us were tossing around someone’s dropped phone card. It was really funny! The tunnel drops steeply ahead to the opening on the other side of the mountain. It opens up into another awe-inspiring mountain bound road that defies description… and I’m sure you’re sick of my rambling attempts to put them into words. Suffice it to say, if you ever have the opportunity to get to New Zealand, you MUST take the trip to Milford Sound: http://www.nzti.com/cruise-milford/milford-sound.htm

The last kilometer or so flattens out and winds you down to sea level through the very modest “town” and up to the Boat Terminal at the eastern edge of Milford Sound. We parked the car with 15 minutes to spare and packed our overnight bag for the journey on the Milford Wanderer: http://www.realjourneys.co.nz/Main/OvernightCruises/ The boat was a good size, able to carry up to 60 passengers and crew. It had viewing decks on all 4 sides of the main level, and 2 sleeping quarters down below. The main cabin had booths along the window and a longer cafeteria style table in the center. The kitchen was in full view at the front of the main cabin with a wide open counter that doubled as a bar, separating it from us. It was an interesting mix of people on the boat, the largest of the groups being a rather rowdy college-aged lot that spent a good portion of the time hootin’ and hollerin’ as frat guys tend to! Thankfully, it was more amusing than annoying, and once the sun went down we were comfortably distracted with our own group fun…

By the time we were ready to pull out of the dock, the sunshine we had seen an hour or so ago at Knob’s Flat was long gone. The air was cool, and the skies were cloudy and threatening rain. Sadly, we never got to see the classic picture of Milford sound with the clear blue skies and the dramatic mile-high sea cliffs of the triangular Mitre Peak proudly dominating the foreground. Instead, what we saw was a mystical world of low clouds and dramatic rocky cliffs rising steeply out of the water and disappearing into the mist above never revealing just how high they were. As much as it would have been spectacular to see the world’s most photographed mountain in all its glory, we were happy to have it this way since rainy days bring the mountain cliffs to life sending waterfalls careening down from the heights above in a stunning visual.

As we pulled out into the sound, we had a meet and greet with the crew and our fellow travelers. They gave us the rundown of the tour, showed us our bunks, and opened the bar! To our delight, we were given our own bunk and were able to spread out a little in the ever so tiny space. Each bunk was closed off to the public by a sliding terry cloth curtain. Tres snazzy! Inside there were dual narrow bunk beds on either side, with a walking space in between that Kate Moss would have a hard time negotiating! High on the wall on at the end of the aisle was a porthole between the bunks providing some natural light and a cool view about 2 feet above the surface of the water! Since our transformation to total winos was not yet complete, we figured we’d finish the conversion on this fine day and cracked open one of the bottles we brought on board! We made our way back up the steep and narrow ladder-stairs to the main deck to head outside to enjoy the views. Unfortunately, I misjudged the distance between step and ceiling, and clocked my head on the leading edge on my way up. To my dismay, the volume of wine I had imbibed up to that point was not enough to dull the pain! Oy!! The lesson was clearly to drink more and faster to avoid such a catastrophe in the future… I got right on it!

The starboard, port, and aft decks were covered to provide shelter from the elements, but the bow was open to allow for the full experience rain or shine! Our journey took us along the inner half of the sound past striking sea cliffs, huge and powerful falls, with sea birds shrieking past from time to time, and the occasional group of adolescent fur seals resting on the exposed rocks along the cliffs. We were in heaven, again! After a several hour loop, the boat turned us back to the eastern shores into a quiet cove for an opportunity to get more intimately connected to the sound. We had the option of a sea kayak tour or a large motorized skiff tour of the deepwater basin. Since the weather had really turned south at this point, we opted for the motorboat option. We spent about 40 minutes skimming right up to the rocks getting the detailed tour from the crew’s naturalist. He was a very nice bloke, telling us local stories with a fun dry sense of humor. He had a handle bar moustache/gotee-looking thing, big hoop earrings, bandana on his head, and slight stutter. A regular pirate he was! The tour took us past waterfalls, old avalanche sites, beautiful flowering tress, and a cute lonely fur seal basking proudly on a small exposed rock. As fun as it was, poor Phil was having a hard time relaxing as his full bladder was conspiring against him! By about 20 minutes into the tour, the wind, rain, and splashing waterfalls were just taunting him, and ceased to be amusing!! Thankfully, Mother Nature saved him, as a sudden downpour of rain forced an early end to the tour!

Once back on board, we dried off, replenished our wine, and made our way back up to the main cabin for dinner. We found a booth and were joined soon after by 3 young women on the tour, Liz, Tracy, and Colleen. They turned out to be great fun, and we ended up spending the next 5 hours with them drinking, laughing, telling stories, and playing games. Liz is a Kiwi from the Auckland area. Tracy is a fun American from Wisconsin. Tracy and Liz met in college and have remained friends since. They were traveling with Colleen, a San Diego native, who was now studying with Tracy in Hawaii. The three decided to take a holiday in New Zealand, giving the Americans a chance to see the magic, and Liz a chance to get to the South Island. This, of course, worked out well for us, as it gave us the pleasure of meeting them! To our surprise and delight, dinner was actually really tasty. The cook on board prepared a pumpkin bisque that was delicioso! This was followed by roasted lamb and potatoes for the main course, and a tasty pavlova for dessert. Pavlova is a creamy meringue dessert covered in fresh fruit, that originated in New Zealand. YUMMY!

After we cleared the dinner plates, we sat with our new lady friends and laughed a lot! Since Phil and I had run out of our wine, we replenished the bottle at the bar, and kept the spirits flowing! Tracy was a regular comedian, and had us rolling in the aisles… so much so at one point I managed to send my glass of wine splashing across the table!! Oh yeah, I’m a classy date. We talked about our lives, our trips so far, music, dating, you name it! After awhile, and the opening of our 3rd bottle of wine… I mean second, I mean, shit… ha ha… um… well it was over the course of many hours… um, yeah and of course we were sharing it with the girls… I mean please, do you think we’re that bad… wow. Anyway… inspired by our neighbors, the games began. Since Phil had actually been through college without ever playing the game of asshole, the rest of us decided to introduce him to the old college staple. It was fun hearing the different regional rules as we talked him through it. We had a lot of fun, and well, as beginner’s luck would have it, Phil actually did well, making his way all the way up to Presidente. Que bueno! After asshole, we decided to reclaim our pride and sophistication, and introduced the ladies to “In the manner of the adverb” Tracy was a genious performer, and it was hard to guess through the tears of laughter. Good times! At one point, I ran downstairs to get some paper to exchange information with them, and in my hasty return, managed to clock my head yet again on the same edge! Thankfully, this time I was numb enough not to feel it… (at least not until the morning… damn… the knot I had on my head the next morning was shocking!!) By midnight, the ladies decided to call it a night, and Phil and I stepped out onto the back of the boat to have a night cap. There we met a nice guy from the Canadian Army who was on a government paid vacation and managed to hook himself up with the aforementioned crazy big group not realizing what he was getting into. It was an interesting conversation, and while chatting and sipping we may have been persuaded to have a cigarette with said soldier… I mean who were we to deny him the company after serving so honorably in the middle east… okay, fine, we had 2.

We poured ourselves into bed comfortably after one, and readied ourselves for the next day of our trip. Our grand plans were to get up at dawn to make the most of the time, but we didn’t even stir until we heard the sound of the breakfast announcement! We met our new lady friends for breakfast, filled ourselves up on eggs and bacon, and stepped out on the deck to enjoy the morning air. The plan was to take the boat out to the west to the entrance of the sound and beyond into the Tasman Sea. As we approached though, we found ourselves staring into a wall of white. The fog was so dense you could not see anything ahead; it was eerie. The crew thought better of pressing on and turned us back into the sound. We traced the southern shore on the way back in and were taken to a large waterfall with a rock face so sheer the boat was able to get right up and touch the wall with the bow of the boat. Our resident Naturalist, the aforementioned pirate, suddenly appeared in full rain gear carrying what looked like a cup of coffee. He proceeded to step right on to the bow and under the crashing waters. After a short spell he stepped out and proceeded to tell us a story. It turns out that because this particular waterfall falls from such a height over exposed rock, the friction created actually warms the water. He had the water in 2 coffee cups, and it was warm to the touch even through the 2 cups! Amazing! Nothing like a natural warm shower!

The last hour of the trip really blew our minds. We were heading back towards the dock and got word that the resident pod of bottlenose dolphins was nearby, so they made a detour and took us over near them. The show we got was out of this world! We cruised at a snail’s pace into the cove, and noticed quickly that the dolphins were everywhere; easily 20+ in the pod. They were swimming just off to the port side of the boat, moving slowly in the opposite direction we were headed. In the silence, you could hear the gentle splashing of water as they broke the surface, punctuated by the deep respirations they made before diving back under. The water was so clear here that you could see them a fair distance underwater as well. There was an unusual effect created where the gray of their skin seemed to become almost illuminated a blue/white when they dove underwater. Amazing! We even had the good fortune of seeing several young calves surfacing next to their moms. They were so adorable. While the bulk of the group was quietly going about their business, we had the occasional wild child make a more bold statement by jumping completely out of the water! Sadly, the camera had a hard time catching them at the exact moments of their surfacing, so I missed a lot! The memories, however, are indelible... and Phil’s video footage is fantastic!! After spending a good time coasting along with the group, the crew decided to turn it up a notch and try to encourage more exciting play. They slowly turned the boat back out towards the main body of the sound and kicked up the speed. This really got them going, at least half of the pod started to chase the boat and ride the pressure waves it created! It was out the park cool. The were jumping out and ahead of the wakes, diving back and forth between each other, and at one point 4 of them were swimming so close to each other, it looked like they were toughing. I have never seen anything so exciting!! The best start of a day ever!!!

After about 10 minutes of play, they suddenly turned away, and once the show was over, the crew turned us back to port and took us home. We said our good-byes to Liz and company, wished them a safe journey, and went back below to pack or bags for the journey back to Queenstown. It was sad to leave, but we were looking forward to having a little more time to see some of the things we missed on the drive in…

New Zealand Part 4

Day 5: (Narrated by Shawn)

Friday January 19th.

Happy Anniversary...

... This was a big day, and one we were both looking forward to with great anticipation. We decided, after much debate in plotting our course around the country, to have a kind of 2-day anniversary celebration. The first plan was to head south along the coast to glacier country in Westland National Park and do a half day hike on one of the two large glaciers that highlight the park, The Franz Josef and the Fox Glaciers. And the second was to take an overnight cruise in the Milford Sound in Fjordland National Park. After looking at both glacier options, I decided to book us a trip with the Franz Josef Tour Group. The drive to the glacier from Greymouth takes about 2 hours., but it is an easy drive, with lots of straight open stretches of road allowing some real zipping along! That is of course, unless you are stopped by a herd of cattle crossing the road!

About a half hour from the glaciers the road starts to get more interesting, as the flat fields, low brush, and small hills changed dramatically into more serious rises covered in lush temperate rain forest. It is like we entered a mythical world. For all you Tolkien fans, it was one of the most Lord of the Rings moments of the trip. Truly like we were in the misty mountains! Although really impossible to tell from the road, the mountains on your left as you head south are the foothills of the largest mountains of the Southern Alps. These peaks remain permantly snow covered and are the source of many of the country's glaciers. What is really interesting is that while most of the world's glaciers seem to be in recession. The Franz Josef and the Fox glaciers are still growing. What is more, they are two of only a handful of glaciers that drop so far and come so close to the ocean in such temperate climates. As I understand it, only glaciers in Patagonia have similar qualities. From its origin high in the Southern Alps, the Franz Josef Glacier descends deep into the lush rainforest of Westland’s National Park, from a height of 2700m (~8800 feet) above sea level to only 240m (~800 feet) in as little as 11 km, making it the worlds steepest and fastest flowing commercially guided glacier! Woo hoo Game on!!

We arrived in the little town of Franz Josef with 40 minutes to spare. Of course, like so many places on the South Island, I use of the word "town" loosely. This settlement was little more than a quarter mile stretch of civilization and about a dozen buildings. Sadly mother nature was not being kind, and the surrounding high mountains were completely covered in clouds and the low peaks were fighting to emerge from the soft tendrils of fog that were embracing them. My heart was racing! We packed our bag with water and power bars for the adventure to come, and had enough time left over to get ourselves some meat pies from gas station made in Phil's Bakery in Greymouth! It was the perfect energy boost. I mean, there is nothing like a half pound of beef and gravy in a crisp pastry shell to get you started for strenuous exercise!! What were we thinking?! The Tour Group is exceptionally well run, and one I would highly recommend for those of you considering a trip to these parts! They provided water proof pants, boots, jackets, stylish red fanny packs with size-appropriate ice talonz, as well as mittens and hats if we so chose.

They packed about 40 people in a bus with us that were later divided into 3 groups for the glacier ascent. The sky was gray when we started, but we didn't let that bother us. The bus ride wa short, and took us about 10 minutes outside of town. About halfway there we caught our first glimpse of the glacier through the lush foliage around the road. It was just a tease, but enough to get our hearts pounding, and we both looked at each other smiling! The beauty of this experience is hard to describe, and pictures and even video probably won't do it justice. It is otherworldly in the truest sense of the word. We started walking up a very modest incline into a beautiful rejuvenating rain forest. Though young, the canopy was developing nicely, and most of the higher sites were initially hid from view. Within a short while though, we stepped out of the green and into a wide open valley in full view of the glacier a few kilometers away. It took my breath away, and to our delight, we noticed that although we were surrounded by clouds above, the sky above the glacier was starting to clear and blue was beginning to peak through! Someone was smiling down on us!

The valley floor was cut in half by a braided river originitating from beneath the glacier itself, emerging out of a 5 story tunnel at its base! The mountains rising up on either side of the glacier itself were very steep and rugged, but still had lush forest coverage on the lower elevations. There were also a number of waterfalls streaming down their rock faces, some barely a trickle, and others crashing more dramatically to the valley floor. As we got closer, we started to see a number of warning signs that caused a nervous chuckle. Nothing like seeing 4 large caution signs with pictograms of how you might die in the adventure you were about to take! We pressed on putting our full faith in our guides! Even sitting within a half kilometer of the glacier's face, it was hard to grasp just how massive this ice sheet was! Things had warmed up considerably by the time we reached the access point, and we decided to take off a few layers before strapping on the ice talonz and moving on. We took the advanced group and were the first to step on to the ice. The hike/climb is well organized, and is designed to be user friendly for the less experienced among us. They had make-shift stairs cut into various faces with guide rope and bridges placed over areas that were more dangerous.

The ice of the first parts of the hike were more gray than blue, as the dust, rocks, and small boulders the glacier has been pushing out of its way were collecting in the crevaces near the bottom. The higher we got though,the more stunning it became, and there are few words to describe it. By the time we were about 10 minutes into the ascent, the sun had won the battle, and the clouds were burning off fast. The gray ice gave way to white, and the white soon gave way to a blue that became more brilliant and beautiful the higher we got. When staring into these blue sections, you could see spectacular patterns and markings deep within it. If that wasn't enough, the rapid movement, the warm sun, and time had molded the surface of the ice into a countless variety of shapes and textures. The combination was truly awe-inspiring. If you ever have the chance to see a glacier, or even better, get on one, I suggest you jump at the chance. We hiked for about 2 hours on the ice, over crevaces, over ridges, and through tunnels, probably getting up about 1000 feet before eventually turning back. We were sad to leave, but so happy to have had the opportunity.

By the time we reached the valley floor again we were full on sweating, and we took off all the remaining layers and even the jacket to try to cool off before packing ourselves back in the bus! Phil and I were stragglers on the hike back though, as the entire valley was bathed in sunlight now, and the views were even better than when we first arrived. It was very hard to tear ourselves away!

Once back at the car, we drove for another half hour or so to the Fox Glacier, and figured we should at least take a look, since it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. The drive up to this glacier was a little more interesting since we were now driving through well established rain forest. The other fun thing was they had signs posted along the approach showing you how far the glacier had advanced at various pounts in history. Just before the glacier, we passed a pond on our left with some of the most brilliant blue and green water we have ever seen. To this day we have no idea what it was that gave the water this color, but it was gorgeous! You'll see the pictures soon. The Fox Glacier is absolutely beautiful and I'm sure we would have had as much fun here had we decided to hike this one. After a few photo-ops, we moved on, since we had a 4-5 hour drive south the Queenstown!


About a third of the way down from Franz Josef, we hit the town of Haast, the last coastal town before diving inland through the Southern Alps. We figured we'd gas up and have some food, since it was going to be a long stretch before hitting Queenstown. Although large on the map, Haast is so small, that we actually drove by it the first time not realizing it was actually the entire town! Our only food option here was Smith's Tavern. There are few words to describe this dive hick watering hole.... oh, did I say that? The deer and goat heads adorning every wall space and antlers hanging from all of the exposed roof beams should have been enough of a warning sign not expect great things, but we didn't want to judge a book by its cover! Well we should have! Poor Phil's seafood platter, ended up being a giant bowl of DEEP fried batter with little seafood bits buried deep within! He suffered through a few pieces before I ordered up a steak so we could leave on a happier note. This was not the romantic anniversary dinner we had in mind! The pictures of the summer festival showing a group of local women leaning over plucking ducks was the icing on the cake, and we high tailed it out of there!

The pain of Smithy's was soon forgotten though, and in short order the landscape started to look like something out of the movies!! The mountains were ragged and rocky and the higher elevations were still coated with last winter's snow.The pain of Smithy’s was soon forgotten, as we drove further inland into the Southern Alps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Alps towards Queenstown. Within minutes we found ourselves surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery we would see on our trip. A mountain river roared through the valley between huge ragged snow-capped peaks. Mist hung over the surface of the water highlighted in places by sun beams breaking through the clouds above. In places where the sun found the water, it was illuminated a stunning blue I have never seen in such waters before. The river soon turned away from the road leaving golden mountain fields in its place whose tall grasses were dancing wildly in the winds racing through the valley. It couldn’t get any better… could it?

We stopped for gas in a little town… I should say, in a little building complex that doubled as a town. It was all weathered and rustic like something out of a western movie. It had 2 small self-serve gas pumps outside under a drive up awning, and a little convenience store / restaurant / post office / inn within the building itself. I didn’t see a school, but I’m sure it must have been out back!

We got back on the road and continued the adventure to Queenstown. The mountains on our right were great, but the mountains beyond were tremendous, with higher more beautiful snow-capped elevations peaking through the valleys in between. It turns out we were driving just to the east of the northern most aspect of Mount Aspiring National Park: http://www.newzealand.com/travel/destinations/national-parks/mount-aspiring/mount-aspiring.cfm

The road continued south, and before long the view opened up ahead and we found ourselves hugging the eastern banks of Lake Wanaka: http://www.newzealand.com/travel/destinations/regions/wanaka/wanaka-home.cfm This is New Zealand’s 3rd largest lake, and a sight to behold. What was amazing that was except for the road we were driving on, the lake seemed completely unspoiled. There were no signs of civilization anywhere, except for the town of Wanaka at its southern banks, which we stumbled upon later! We couldn’t help but stop every 5 minutes to take in the views, as each turn of the road showed off something better than the moment before. About halfway down the eastern shore, we were bummed to find that the road turned sharply left up a hill through a small valley away from the lake. We had no time to mourn the loss of the view though, as we crested the small hill and saw one of the most breathtaking views of the whole vacation. There ahead was Lake Hawea: http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/lakehawea/ , Wanaka’s sister lake. Because the sun was starting to set at that point, and because we approached the lake from the west, every rocky crevice of the entire mountainous eastern shore ahead of us was illuminated a warm golden brown. There are no words…

After taking a long relaxing moment, we continued on. The road drove along the western shores of Lake Hawea to its southern bank and beyond. There the we followed along the other side of the mountains along Lake Wanaka’s eastern shore which took us around to the southern bank where we found the cozy little town of Wanaka. This is a must stop for anyone traveling in the area. It provides great access to Mount Aspiring National Park, it has a all kind of lake sports to offer, and it is a charming town to simply stroll around. They have a scenic beach and park along the waterfront, and a stretch of modern restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating and spectacular lake and mountain views. We decided to stop here instead of rushing to Queenstown to have ourselves a proper anniversary dinner while we still had some light. After some consideration, we decided to try the Reef Seafood Restaurant:
http://www.wanaka-info.co.nz/restaurants.php?id=23
, since it was on the second floor and we were all about getting the best views we could to catch the last of the sunset over the lake! The staff was friendly, the ambiance warm and inviting, and the views remarkable, with huge glass panels so clear they almost looked invisible… They were so convincingly clear, in fact, that some poor Belgian tourist walked right into one next to us trying to take a picture, and shattered an entire panel!! Um, Wow!!! After what looked like an uncomfortable conversation, which I am sure included how they were going to pay for the damage, the mood settled again, and we had a wonderful, romantic dinner!

As the last of the light was fading, we said goodbye to Wanaka and hit the road for the last hour of driving to Queenstown. Queenstown sits at the north eastern bend of of the beautiful Lake Wakatipu:
http://www.experiencequeenstown.co.nz/southern-lakes-region/lake-wakatipu/
We didn’t see the lake in the evening, but the town was great. It is much more commercial than Wanaka, but still has a lot of charm and character. There are countless shops, restaurants, and bars scattered throughout the downtown, and the cutest little casino on the waterfront, and for Friday night, the town was hopping! There were people everywhere, which we weren't used to!! We continued past the bustling town center and up a small hill to our final resting place of the evening,
The Heritage Hotel Queenstown:
http://www.nz-holiday.co.nz/heritage-queenstown/default.asp This hotel is fantastic, and one I highly recommend for anyone visiting the area. It is gorgeous, well-appointed, and inexpensive with ridiculous views of the mountains and lake. Our room was spacious and beautiful, with a private balcony out back overlooking a mountain creek, and giant bathroom. We took a well earned hot shower, put our feet up on the bed, and resigned ourselves to a night in. It was already a long day, and we were exhausted. Instead, we opened one of the wines we picked up along the way, and made a toast to a great day, a fantastic trip, and to our love… what better way to cap off the first year with the man you love… thank you Phil for an amazing journey so far!!

New Zealand Part 3

Welcome Back.......

Thursday January 18th

Our worst wake up of the trip... 4:00am!! The goal was to get to Wellington (4.5 - 5 hours away) in time to drop the car off, find a new bag that would carry the extra goodies we picked up, and get to the 10am ferry. No problem! Our drive took us down the eastern coast for a stretch, but turned inland before the sun came up, so we couldn't tell you how it looked! I'm sure it was beautiful. When the sun finally did come up, it revealed low lying mist in the valleys between the hills and mountains we were driving through. As always, sheep abounded, and we could count on seeing a few hundred in at least one direction we turned! This drive took us down through the Wairarapa Wine Country which included the town of Masterton, the place where Vanessa's wedding was to be held at the end of our journey. We didn't stop for anything though because we were under a major time crunch! Just before Wellington, the road turned inland towards the mountain range that had been flanking us on the right. Wellington was on the other side of this range at the Southernmost aspect of the South Island. The pass was known as the Rimataka Hill, but I assure you it was anything but a hill. This bad Johnny was comfortably over a thousand feet, with hairpin turns and twists to make even the most daring driver white knuckle it! Oy! And this was the pass we were going to have to cross again and a again to get back to the wedding festivities later... hmmm.

The drive was beautiful though, and once on the other side we actually found ourselves in civilization again. There were a number of small towns on either side of the road as we neared Wellington. At one point, the river to our right crossed under the highway and followed us for a spell on the left before opening up into a large Harbor with views out into Cook Straight. It was fantastic. Straight ahead in the distance was Wellington, wrapping itself around the western shores of the harbor. Wellington is a beautiful city, reminiscent of San Francisco in some ways. Colorful homes were perched precariously up and down the surrounding hills and small sky scrapers rose out of the center of the stretch. I had printed out a dinky little map in order to try and find the rental car drop-off site, but didn't realize that the city was larger than the map lead me to believe. What is worse, said map did not tell me about all of the one way streets and bus lanes there, which made it really hard to navigate... I started to feel that burning in my stomach as the minutes clicked away on the clock and the rental car was nowhere to be found! Finally, a somewhat scared looking pedestrian helped point us in the right direction. I pulled in hurriedly and started the process of unloading the car. While I squared away the paper work, Phil made a mad dash around the neighboring streets in a desperate attempt to find a cheap bag to help us on our way. I rearranged what I could, had a taxi called to get us picked up, and waited for Phil to get back with a bag. It turns out he managed to find one from a ubiquitous Marshall's-esque store named Farmers... and oh what a bag he found! Let me break it down for you. Imagine the brightest blue you have ever seen, and then multiply that by 10. The electric blue number he brought back for us could be seen in a blizzard, in the dark, with your eyes closed!! Desperate times though called for desperate measures, and we stuffed it until we had to sit on it to close! At this point we had 3 large suitcases, 2 backpacks, a camera bag, and my hiking boots hanging from my shoulder because they still didn't fit anywhere! All of this was jammed into the cab and we headed back to the harbor to catch our Ferry. We made it with about 15 minutes to spare!

To our delight, the ferry was extremely well organized, and we were actually able to check our bags at the gait! So instead of having to guard our bags like two mama hens the whole time,we were free to relax and explore the boat. We were psyched! The Interislander is the main ferry that transports you from the North to the South Island. It is listed as one of the most beautiful ferry trips in the world, and there is no doubt in my mind it is true!! The trip is a 3-hour tour that takes you 92 km out of Wellington Harbor, across Cook Straight, and into the Marlborough Sounds Region of the South Island to a little town called Picton. I should mention this, all along the way so far, the North Islanders we met were telling us to get off the North Island and spend as much time on the South as we could. As beautiful as the North Island was to us, they said it paled in comparison to the South. We were so excited!

The ferry was kind of a cross between a true ferry and a small cruise ship. It was pretty damn comfortable. We camped out on one of the outside decks and enjoyed the sun and the spectacular views. The ride is split into 3 very distinct sections. The first part was great because it offered a spectacular view of downtown Wellington as we pulled out into the harbor. The channel out into the straight was wide and the entrance to the channel was flanked on our left (the east) by a large rocky bluff with a lighthouse on top and at the shoreline below. It was a nice send off. The second part of the trip took us out into the Straight. There the water got a little rough and the wind picked up, making us reach for a light sweater, despite the warm morning sunshine. When the South Island finally came into view, we knew were were in for a treat. Some of the mountains that would could make out along the shoreline already seemed grander, and in a few places there were still hints of snow! The coastline of the South Island is dramatic, with ragged golden brown rocks jutting out of the water transforming into softer greener mountains the higher they rise. The water of the Queen Charlotte Sound was amazing. It varied from deep blue to the classic Caribbean Turquoise. It felt like paradise. As we snaked our way deeper into the sound, we passed numerous private coves and beaches, gorgeous sail boats and speed boats, and at one thrilling moment, a pod of dolphins started jumping and playing along the starboard side of the ship! We were in heaven!! After about a 45 minutes in the sound, the port of Picton came into view. Picton is small, but it is truly a gorgeous little town. In fact, it that looks like it would fit comfortably along side any you might find in the Mediterranean. We couldn't wait to get on land and start our Southern Exploration. After a minor SNAFU, we managed to find our rental agency and picked up the sweet ride they had arranged for us! Zoom zoom... cough... sputter... zoo- ... cough. Okay, so our sweet ride turned out to be a 10+ year old P.O.S. Nissan Pulsar with 160,000km under her belt! Alas, beggar's can't be choosers, and we laughed it off and hit the open road.

Our goal was to get to the town of Greymouth which is about a 3rd of the way down the west coast, about 8+ hours from where we were now! We drove south to Blenheim, the heart of the Marlborough Wine Region and turned right towards the west coast. Our ride took us up along the northern coast and then back down towards Greymouth. The drive through the country beyond Blenheim was like something out of the Napa Valley. Dry arid mountains flanked us on either side and field after field of grape vines colored the valley floor. It was a brilliant contrast!! We didn't stop to visit any at this point though as the goal was to hit them up on the way back to the North Island after our week on the South. About an hour into the drive, the mountains started to get larger, and the predominant tree was a pine of some kind. It was great. I have never been to the Rockies, but this was starting to look like I imagined they might be!

We stopped to recharge in a very cute little town called Havelock. It was a charming little place with a number of cute restaurants right along the road. We decided to stop at a place called the Mussel Pot and had ourselves a tasty plate of grilled mussels. If you haven't had the pleasure of Grilled Green-Lipped New Zealand Mussels, it is a must for the seafood lover in you!! We got the sampler, which gave us a choice of the 4 most popular seasonings they had. YUM!!! Feeling revived, Phil decided that he would take a turn behind the wheel. He drove for a few hours over progressively windy roads towards the Northern Coastal town of Nelson. Nelson is a pretty lively city, and one that might have been fun to explore if we had a little more time. We did our usual town walkabout, but this time on a mission to find a Farmers so that we might exchange the BIG BRIGHT BLUE BAG for something larger and more subdued. Of course, right outside the store, we realized that somehow somewhere in our travels we lost the receipt. Phil was forward thinking enough to have left the tags on the bag thinking that our time with this Blue Beauty might be limited, but without a receipt I worried they might think we were a couple of lying thieving Americans! I left Phil at the top of the steps just outside holding the bag, in full view of the folks at the counter I was about to talk to. I came up with some cockamamie sob story , and they were kind enough to let us return it. We said our goodbyes and traded her in for a larger army green model. Very butch! We repacked the bag in the back seat of our P.O.S. and decided to press on as we still had a long way to go!!

The coastal drive out of Nelson was beautiful and we stopped a couple of times to simply enjoy the beautiful water views. About an hour down the road our stomachs started speaking out and demanded we stop for some nourishment, so we stopped at the first town we could find for some food. We landed in a little nameless town after six pm, which apparently is the witching hour for a lot of New Zealand towns, and as usual, found that everything was essentially closed. Thankfully, just as we were losing hope, we came upon a modest little restaurant named Poppycock Thai! How could we not?! Now of course it wasn't anything like our girl Pam's, but when you're starving, it's a home run! Phil calmed his stomach with some Hot and Sour Soup, and I decided to fight through the Nam Flashbacks I was having after my first New Zealand rib experience in Auckland, and braved the spare ribs again... I mean what were the odds they would be as nasty as the Auckland Chinese experience! I chose wisely, and the ribs hit the spot!

After Nelson, there was very little in the way of civilization, and we drove as quickly as we could to the coast. The sun sets late in the summer over there, but we still had only a few hours to go to get to the coast, as we wanted to try and catch the Sunset over the Tasman Sea. The road took us through beautiful Buller Gorge, with parts of the highway actually carved right out of the cliff walls in a little one lane stretches! SCARY!! As we got closer to the coast, we found ourselves in what felt like a cruel trick. You know how in some movies they create the illusion of the room stretching away from you even as you are running your fastest towards the other end... this was just that same experience. We'd be driving along happily with the Sea right there on the horizon, and then the road would dip down, dive through a series of hairpin turns, and wind in any number of ridiculous angles, only to have us emerge with the horizon looking just as far as it had before; it felt like we weren't gaining any ground on it at all. When you're overtired, the charm of these winding country roads is lost entirely!! Finally, just as the last of the color was leaving the sky, the road opened with a Sea view and we stopped to take it in.

Once at the Tasman Sea, we turned south and hugged the coast to Greymouth. This is listed as one of the most scenic drive in the country, but sadly our light didn't last long enough to see most of it! As the light was fading though, we managed to sneak one last spectacular view of Knight's Point , a beautiful cove and rock formation. We got out to take a look, as we heard there were seals resting on the shores below, and within seconds we were swarmed by small black sand flies. I had read about them in the tour guides, but we had not had the pleasure of meeting them before now! Thankfully, they didn't really bite us, they just swarmed every inch of our body, and the feeling was nasty enough to make us retreat to our car with our tails between our legs!! Unfortunately, the flies managed to fill our car too, and suddenly the magic was lost!!! After driving a little while with the windows open, we lost most of the unwanted passengers, and continued on our way.

The rest of the drive was dramatic, and would have been amazing if had any sun left, but sadly it faded in the next half our and left us in utter blackness with no street lights, house lights, and virtually no cars to help light our way. This was the scariest of the drives by far, and my hands broke into a sweat as I gripped the wheel and crawled up and around the many sharp mountain turns, knowing, but not seeing that the sea was to our right over the cliffs! It was unsettling to find ourselves so far removed from any civilization! The stress was broken a few times as we passed some cute Penguin crossing signs, but we did not have the pleasure of seeing any on this particular drive. That said, we did quite literally almost bump into a number of the local opossums. These are actually adorable little animals, but they are apparently hated by the locals because they are so destructive! Sadly we had some camera issues, and weren't able to capture any pictures of our own. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally saw the lights in the horizon that represented the town of Greymouth. We drove sluggishly to our Hostel ready for a good night's sleep only to find, to our dismay, that the doors were locked for the night, and we were S.O.L.!! We did the panicked drive around what was now the ghost town of Greymouth, and managed to find refuge at the Kingsgate Hotel. It all worked out for the best though, and it turned out to be a much better way to get refreshed for the big glacier hike the next day. And on the eave our anniversary, the idea of sharing a room with 2-3 other people just didn't sound particularly appealing anyway! We had a nice hot shower, some quality alone time, and a good night's rest. That was a long day!!

New Zealand Part 2

Day 4 of our New Zealand vacation

Wednesday January 17th
We woke up with plans to drive directly to the Hawke’s Bay region on the east coast to Napier, but decided to change plans at the last minute and drive north to the Bay of Plenty area to see some of the coastal beaches there that Phil had his heart set on! We got up early and left our 6 roommates quietly behind. The air that morning was cool and misty, and we decided to cross the street before heading out of town to a park we were told about right next to the Backpackers. To our delight, we found a collection of steam vents, bubbling mud pools and hot springs right there in the center of town. Who knew? It explained the smell that permeated the air, and was a nice treat before heading off on our way. Before hitting the open road, we stopped for gas, coffee, diet coke, and some meat pies… truly disgusting… I know. Rotorua sits at the northeast corner of what is known as the central volcanic plateau of the north island, and the elevation there is about 1000 feet. The drive to Whakatane was about 100km or so to the northeast and took us into another beautiful world of scenery we hadn’t seen before. As we neared the coast, we started down the first, of what would be many, very windy mountain roads. It was amazing. The rises and valleys were covered with thick lush forest. Mottled throughout, were numerous tree ferns which gave the whole experience a tropical feel. It turns out these tree ferns are kind of a staple on both islands and really add a nice feel to the local forests. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cyathea_medullaris.JPG

We drove through the town of Whakatane which is separated from the coastal beaches by a sizable hill. We headed over without stopping in town, and were rewarded with a gorgeous view of the Bay of Plenty, the dramatic coastline in the distance, and Ohope Beach directly ahead. http://www.whakatane.com/ohope_beach.html

Sadly the skies were gray and there were patches of mist on the water, so we didn’t get the full experience, but it was still great in its own right. Ohope is one of the most beautiful and famous of the New Zealand beaches. The beach has 11km of unbroken white sand beach with views of the mountainous coastline stretching to the east, whale island jutting out of the bay less than 1km from the shore, and White Island, New Zealand’s most active volcano off in the distance. http://www.ohopebeach.info/white-island-bay-of-plenty.htm It was early when we got there, and because the weather wasn’t great, we had the beach almost completely to ourselves. It was perfect! I don’t think there is anything more relaxing than taking in a private moment on a beautiful beach, with the ocean breezes wrapping around your body, and the calming sounds of crashing waves and singing gulls filling your ears. Because the weather wasn’t cooperating, we decided to keep on moving, and continue our drive along the Pacific Coast Highway. Since it was 2 hours since our last meat pie, we decided we should stop and recharge at a local convenience store and got ourselves a few pies for the road! We drove another 30-45 minutes east through Opotiki along the coast towards “Eastland”, the eastern most region of the country, if you didn’t guess this by the name! It would have been a great drive, with mountains rising up sharply from the water, rocky coasts, and white sand beaches scattered throughout, but sadly the weather just wasn’t cooperating, and the road ahead was buried in low clouds and mist. Instead, we decided to stop at a lookout just outside of town and savor one last look at the beautiful views back towards Ohope Beach and White Island. Now allegedly, on said respite, there may have been a silly makeshift photo shoot highlighting the Holiday brand cigarettes we picked up the night before as a goof in Rotorua… but I’m not talking. After saying goodbye to the Bay of Plenty, we headed back towards Whakatane and then south towards Murupara along the Rangitaiki River. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangitaiki_River

The drive was quite scenic and completely different from the lush “tropical” forests we had seen less than 20km away. The road skirted the western border of the Te Urewera National Forest, http://www.newzealand.com/travel/destinations/national-parks/te-urewera/te-urewera.cfm which is the largest unspoiled natural forest left on the North Island. It started unassumingly with a casual drive through various open cow fields like you might see in Vermont, but in short order we were deep within gorgeous unspoiled pine forests. The drive took us over the river across a large damn, and then away from the river deeper into the forest. Once it opened up again, we found ourselves flanked on our left by the biggest mountains we had seen up to that point. It was spectacular, with the occasional glint of white representing a waterfall breaking through the foliage covering the range. It was along this drive that we saw our first Kahu, or Australasian harrier hawk. It is a pretty magnificent bird, and one of only 3 raptors found in the country. We learned quickly that it is a pretty common bird over there, and one that would become a common site along many of the roads we were driving.

We took a right turn at Mururapa back towards Rotorua and caught up with the Thermal Explorer Highway and took that south towards Lake Taupo in the heart of the Volcanic Plateau.
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/destinations/themed-highways/thermal-explorer/thermal-explorer.cfm/context/print.html

Before getting to Taupo, we were told by the couple we had met in Waiheke to stop at the Huka Falls before heading into town. We took a fortuitous wrong turn on our way and found a hidden treasure (at least for the foodies among us) We followed signs off the main road for the Huka Falls Jet boat thinking it must be near the actual falls. Um…not so much, oops! As we drove down the hill into the lot, we noticed a dozen or so large rectangular pools of water along the river’s edge that turned out to be the Huka Prawn Park! http://www.hukaprawnpark.co.nz/ This is an interesting place. Given the area’s significant thermal activity, the locals decided to use that to their advantage and constructed geothermal plants to harness this natural energy. Someone then came up with the idea of raising prawns using the heated waste water (not toxic waste, fear not) to warm more than a dozen fresh water pools we saw on our way in. It is quite an operation. You can go in and fish for them yourself, or you can just be a lazy glutton like we were, and choose to stuff your face and let someone else do the work! The sun started to peak through the clouds as we walked into the restaurant, so we grabbed a table outside on the spacious deck of the large restaurant they built for the immediate consumption of these tasty critters!! For those of you who are wondering, prawns, at least these prawns, are about halfway between the size of a standard shrimp and a one pound lobster. The deck gave us a great view of the beautiful blue waters of the Waikato River and the sheer rock cliff on the opposite shore. While stuffing our faces and enjoying a crisp glass of local Sauvignon Blanc, we got to see the brave souls on the huka jet boat race and spin their way up the river towards the falls, which it turns out were about a quarter of a mile down the road from where we were sitting… who knew?! The jet boat was several hundred dollars a person, so we opted to save our money and drive down to see the falls. We passed the Honey Pot and Heli-tour place on the way to the falls, and figured we’d hit them both up on the way back. The Huka falls are an amazing natural wonder and a kind of non-traditional water fall. They fall gradually over several hundred meters but with great force through a narrow granite canyon, eventually spilling out at the far end in a more traditional falls of about 35 feet or so. The sheer force and volume rushing by is amazing in and of itself, but the brilliant almost unnatural blue color is breathtaking. http://www.newzealand.com/travel/sights-activities/scenic-highlights/scenic-views/sh-huka-falls.cfm

After the falls, we drove back to the helicopter tours to try and get a last minute booking. I wanted to do a volcanic hike, but the scheduling just didn’t work out with everything we wanted to see so we thought we might take in a helicopter tour of the regions largest volcanic peaks instead. It turns out mother nature had other plans for us, as we were told by the tour guides that the flights were terrible that day! Since we were snubbed by the Gods, we decided to cheer ourselves up by stopping at the Honey Pot up the road. This was a really cute and cheesy operation serving up all things honey: including countless honey flavors (which were open for tasting!), moisturizers, oils, lotions, shampoos, even beer! They even had numerous working hives right on site, some of which actually snaked through the building in clear Plexiglas tubes. Sitting outside we enjoyed a honey beer in the warm patchy sunshine, and caught site of our first Tui. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tui_(bird) . This is a local bird that has the happy honor of being the poster bird for one of the more popular local beers. If you don’t see the bird itself, you are sure to see its face on at least one of the buildings in most of the towns you venture through. I think we have some video footage, so with any kind of luck it comes out clear enough to enjoy later.

We continued down to Taupo and stopped to walk around and to buy another memory card. Yes, we have problems; after only 4 days, we had practically burned through the 2G memory card we came with having taken over 700 pictures. Since there were almost 10 more days left in the trip, we had no choice! I left with another 1G card and met Phil at the car. (Incidentally, we would need to buy 2 more gigs of memory to get through the trip!) While I was in the camera shop, Phil explored the local shops.

Taupo is a cute little town that sits on the northern extent of the lake that bears it's name. Lake Taupo is New Zealand’s largest lake.
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/destinations/regions/taupo/taupo.cfm

It is quite beautiful, and on a clear day, looking towards the southern edge, you can get some nice views of some of New Zealands most dramatic large cone volcanoes.
http://www.bungyjapan.com/bungynewz/august/lake_taupo.jpg but we didn’t see them at all on this day. After the quick town tour, we felt compelled to stop at the McCafe on the lakefront. We were drawn to it initially because it had classic DC-3 airplane perched in flight mode next to the main building that was set up as a climb up and eat in cafe for the family! Kind of fun. Also, the idea of McCafe was intriguing, and we had to know what we were missing. Walking into the McCafe is a little disorienting. Straight ahead was the classic sterile looking environment of the familiar Mickey D’s, red tables and all, but to our left was a rather comfortable Starbucks-like environment with a wide array of much more delectable goodies waiting to be eaten… We were confused… healthy, high-end McDonald’s. Does not compute… does not compute. We just couldn’t wrap our minds around the concept and found ourselves running back to the car in fear! =)

We left Taupo in the mid-afternoon, and continued down the Thermal Explorer Highway to the southeast towards Napier in the Hawke’s Bay Region of the country. This area is famous for its extensive wineries, restaurants, and beautiful beaches. This section of the drive took us over the beautiful Maungaharuru Range and down to Napier These mountains were again quite different from any we had seen up to that point. The thick forests we had seen most of the day gave way to wide open treeless fields as most of the land here had been cleared for farming. Even the mountain peaks had little more than a smattering of trees. In their place though was the greenest of grasses, which in the last remaining sun we got that day made for a stunning visual effect! We almost felt like we had been transported to Ireland! The beauty of this drive, and many like it over there, is that there is virtually no commercial life between Taupo and Napier. The problem one might have with this drive though, and many like it over there, is that there is virtually no commercial life between many of the cities. If you can’t see where this is going, here’s the note to all NZ travelers: when driving around, if there is any doubt at all when leaving a town where the next gas station might be, top off your tank at the town you’re in! This tends to prevent unnecessary gastric ulceration and colonic upset! I learned my lesson! I was so distracted by the scenery, I forgot to watch the gas. We had a bit of scare when we had been driving for a few kilometers on empty and pulled into a self-serve gas station with great hope and relief, only to find that we couldn’t use their machines with our typical credit cards! SHIT! We had a mild panic attack but managed to coast into a local gas station on fumes and fill her back up!

Napier is an interesting city. There is an industrial port side to the north and the historic art deco side to the south. http://www.napier.nz.com/ , http://www.artdeconapier.com/ . I have to say, it is one of the most charming cities we drove through though, and it was kind of bummer we got there when we did because it would have been fun to explore it a little more. Note to the NZ traveler: Napier is not a hotbed of activity on a cloudy midweek day after 6pm! We found that the whole damn city pretty much shuts down after that! Of course we didn’t find this out until we started to walk around later. The waterfront strip in Napier is beautiful, and we stayed right on it at one of the YHA Hostels. Incidentally, this is a great company if you are looking for accommodations on the cheaper side, and they have hostels in most of the bigger cities in NZ. New Zealand, as we learned, lacked in high end accommodations. Oh well, we made the best of it. Again, the weather didn’t really cooperate, so our views weren’t what they could have been, but it was a great location nonetheless. We parked out front, pre-packed a small overnight bag, and brought only the essentials in because we had a doozy of a wake-up! Our goal was to catch the 10am ferry in Wellington, and we were looking at a 5 hour drive south, so we needed to get up at 4am in order to give us enough time to return the rental car in downtown Wellington and get back to the ferry before it left! Yeah, I’m not sure what the hell we were thinking! The other dilemma was that we had been buying little things along the way, and suddenly found ourselves overstuffed and in desperate need of another bag!!

Yes, I know… it’s only the 4th day! After settling into our room, we headed out to the beach and then wandered through the abandoned streets in desperate search for a bag and a meal! There were no stores open at all and the only real restaurant we found was a steak house named Charlie’s. It looked very cute from the street, with handsome dark wood walls, sharp looking black and white tiled stairs leading up to the second floor, and pictures of old Charlie Chaplin movie posters on the walls explaining the restaurant’s name. Of course, when we got to the 2nd floor, we learned that they must have run out of money on the entrance charm and had to do the dining room on the cheap! At the top of the stairs we found ourselves in a somewhat ghetto fabulous plain room with high ceilings and beautiful-ish mint green walls with dark green/brown carpeting that was kind of through down haphazardly not quite fitting cleanly against the walls! The tables had metal legs and black plastic tops, and every table had a tiny arrangement of fake flowers. The other surprise was that the whole place was run by an Asian family whose cursory knowledge of the language left me thinking that hadn’t been there too long! Good times. At least we had a sweet view of the deserted street below! The only activity on the street that night in fact, was the local maintenance crew finally taking down the Christmas decorations. I guess they celebrate it longer over there! The dinner actually turned out to be pretty tasty though, and we wrapped up the evening with a glass of wine at the hostel. Then it was off to bed, as we had a big date with the ass crack of dawn!

More to come......

NZ Report Part 1

Shawn took the initiative to write a play by play journal of our adventures in New Zealand.

A work in progress......Enjoy!

Friday January 12th


5:10pm the journey begins…

… of course not without a minor hiccup to start us off. Phil and I spent the weekend before typing up all of the exact details of our 2 weeks abroad, including confirmation numbers, addresses, and driving directions, in an effort to make it as smooth a trip as possible. Well somehow smarty, that would be me (Shawn), forgot all the details of our itinerary at work, and had myself a minor diva moment before calming down and convincing my brother Keith to help us out! He had to make the mad dash south to the hospital and then across town to JFK so Phil and I could put the finishing touches on our packing, and get off to the airport. With little more than 30 minutes to spare, he finally pulled up and saved the day… nothing like starting the trip off with a BANG! Thank you little brother!

To our surprise and delight, Air Tahiti Nui turned out to be a bit of a treasure. For the price of our ticket, compared to its competitors, we were expecting to be in the cargo with the chickens, but found ourselves in a rather spacious, clean, and well appointed cabin. A la Virgin Atlantic, every seat had its own entertainment center with many choices of movies and games to keep you comfortably distracted for the 13 hour flight time to Pepetee. Even better, they offered a nice meal and all the drinks we needed to keep ourselves sane!

Tahiti was nice, at least as best as we could tell in the middle of a rainy night from the curbside of the airport! We arrived at 2 in the morning and were greeted with warm hospitality by 2 lovely native women offering up Tahitian gardenia (Tiare Tahiti) http://www.thetahititraveler.com/general/flora.asp , a traditional white flower worn behind the ear, and a 2 man band playing yukalele and singing… the welcome was short-lived though as we were rushed through a make-shift customs room and shuffled on to the street where the airport doors were promptly locked behind us! We had 4 hours to kill before they let us in with nothing but a small café to keep us entertained. We took out a small stash of French Polynesian Francs from the sole ATM in the airport and managed to spend it, without any idea of how much money we were actually playing with, on bad silly named snacks and drinks. It’s easy to be amused by anything at 4am in the morning after being awake for 20+ hours and having a few mini bottles of wine under your belt! A word to the wise, if one were to choose to drink a Candy up, and I’m not entirely sure it is a wise decision in the first place, it is best not to let the strawberry milkshake-like drink spend 3 hours warming in the Tahitian heat beforehand!

At 6 in the morning, the doors opened to us and we were on our way to Auckland.

Sunday January 14th

We arrived in Auckland at noon on a bright sunny summer day! We picked up our rental car, a standard with the driver’s seat on the right side of the car, which of course is the wrong side if you’re an American. Yes, if you didn’t know this, New Zealand, like the U.K., drives on the “wrong” side of the street! Thankfully, I was coordinated enough to drive us out into the world beyond the airport with few mistakes… the most persistent one being my turning on the windshield wipers instead of signaling.

Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city, and the most like other cities you might know so it is an easy transition for folks coming to travel here. We checked into the Hotel Formule 1, http://formule1.co.nz/6487/detail/default.aspx
a few blocks from the Sky Tower right in the heart of the city. It was a cute modern hotel with TINY rooms done up something like a cruise ship. It came fully equipped with a kitchenette, washer/dryer, and a bathroom set up so that you could take a shower while sitting on the toilet if you chose to… fear not, we didn’t choose to!

We stopped to feed Phil at a Belgian restaurant just down the street from our hotel before venturing out around town. We had a hearty meal with some local brews and recharged the batteries before setting off to explore the city. We took the outside seats to enjoy the beautiful day, but didn’t realize it was a high fly zone for the local pigeons. Poor Phil’s meal and shoulder were christened by one who chose a perch just over our table. Our waitress was gracious though and replaced his potatoes (at least we think she did!). The pigeon mishap started a dialogue with her though that lead us to discover one of our trip highlights, Waiheke Island, a gorgeous little island about 18km east of Auckland in the Hauraki Gulf. After our meal, we roamed the city on foot and explored some of the major parks and a touristy area known as Sky City. This included the famous Sky Tower you see in all of the pictures of the Auckland skyline. FYI, it is the largest tower in the southern hemisphere. The whole complex is reminiscent of the Stratosphere in Vegas, casino and all, just a little more tastefully done! The Tower offers spectacular views of the city, surrounding harbor and waterways, and extinct volcanoes scattered throughout the gulf. It was amazing and a great way to start! http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/

Monday January 15th

We caught a ferry at Princess Wharf just a few blocks from our hotel and enjoyed a beautiful half hour jaunt across the harbor and into the gulf towards Waiheke Island. http://www.waihekenz.com/ One of the highlights of the ferry trip is the close passing of Rangitoto, a striking 850 foot symmetrical cone volcano that dominates the bay just to the north east of Auckland. It is the most famous of the more than 40 volcanoes that make up the Auckland Volcanic Field. The ferry docked in a cute quiet little cove with bright blue waters dotted with small sailboats on the western side of the island. We hadn’t been on the island more than a minute or two when we met an animated man by the name of Max, a local resident of the island, who convinced us and a local NZ couple to avoid the standard large bus tours and join him in his van for a half day tour of the island. It proved to be a great decision. He told us stories of the Island’s history and development, drove us to great lookouts, showed
us some spectacular beaches, and took us inland to several of his favorite local wineries, of which the island has many!!

We started at Goldwater Estate Winery http://www.goldwaterwine.com/ which turned out to be our favorite. The winery itself is gorgeous. Perched on a high hill, the famous old pohutukawa tree, seen in their stylized in their logo, is the centerpiece of the grounds, sheltering the picnic tables beneath its branches and providing a spectacular vantage point from which to enjoy the lush grapevines sloping gradually down to the spectacular turquoise waters of Putiki Bay on the southern side of the island. For us, Goldwater was a reintroduction to the world of white wines… who knew?! The New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is a home run, and the dry Riesling is far better than its candy sweet cousin we usually taste over here. We highly recommend them even for you red devotees!

From Goldwater Estate, we drove to the Onetangi Road Winery http://www.onetangiroad.co.nz/ . We were the sole patrons when we got to this cozy little winery, as our NZ cohorts decided to try out some local olive oils instead. For all of you fans, the island is also famous for its olive oil, so have at it! We opted for the booze! Part of what we loved about this experience, and so much of the trip itself, was the intimacy of it all. So often when exploring various vineyards, and shops, and natural wonders, we were the only two around! For those of you seeking some quiet romantic alone time, this is your place!! At Onetangi we enjoyed a flight of wine as well as some tasty beers; the winery doubles as a micro-brewery for the beer lovers among you!

After Onetangi, we drove off towards Max’s house on the north coast to Obsidian Winery, http://www.obsidian.co.nz/ a beautiful winery that sits in a little bowl surrounded by high hills just inland from the coast. We had a fun tasting of the various offerings at their outdoor bar! The nice thing about wine tasting in New Zealand is that every place we went to had a list of at least 8-12 wines, all of which were available for free or $1-2 NZ which was pittance compared to Napa and Sonoma prices!! At this point we had a comfortable buzz on, and were 4 bottles of wine heavier since we couldn’t help but buy a bottle from everyplace that we had visited! Danger! Rather conveniently, our next winery was right next door, so we climbed up the steep hill through lush green rows of grapevines to our last stop at the Miro Vineyard
http://www.mirovineyard.co.nz/ . Here we had our final tasting and a gourmet tapas lunch at Casita Miro, a charming little café on the hill overlooking the Obsidian Winery in the valley below and hint of Pacific Ocean off to the north. Our food was prepared by a colorful woman by the name of Sarah La Touche. She walked us through her menu and made some suggestions for pairings. We chose a seat in the sun, to enjoy some more of the warm afternoon light. Why not right? We were in the middle of winter just a few days ago! Apparently the strange red color my skin was turning was making our waitress nervous though, and she suggested I take a large hat out of their bag o’ tricks to help protect myself! They had a wide, colorful, assortment of hats and, um, wigs, to play with, and well that was an open invitation! Come on, you had to know that a little drinking combined with the adrenaline of lounging in the summer sun on the other side of the world, might lead to a little silliness. We went from Asian, to Milddle Eastern, to Bozo the clown in a few minutes. I think we were scaring our NZ partners!

The last beach stop on the tour was Onetangi Beach, which means “weeping sands” in Mauri. The beach was a 15 minute walk from Miro, so after feeling revived from our meal, we walked down the winding road to the waterfront. Onetangi Beach is a beautiful long stretch of white sand with light green / blue waters along the shoreline. There is also a quaint community that sits along the length of the beach. It was fairly quiet when we got there, with only a handful of the local kids out enjoying the day in the water. We enjoyed some leisure time walking on the sand and wading in the warm crystal clear waters. At times, you could see schools of silver fish swimming across the face of the waves before getting lost in the foam of the breakers! It was amazing! After about a half an hour or so, we were picked up in front of Max’s house on the beach, and taken back towards the cove to meet one of the evening ferries. Instead of rushing back and sticking to our schedule, as Max said we Americans are so prone to doing, we let him drop us off at Church Bay for one last adventure. We finished the day in Waiheke with a great hour-long coastal hike back to the cove to pick up the ferry. We got great views of Auckland, and were dazzled by beautiful blue water and rugged coastal vistas the whole way! You must go!

That night we tried to explore the local nightlife, but as you might expect, Monday nights were a bit tragic! I had to feed Phil twice that night after a meal at deceivingly nice looking restaurant called Prego turned out to be the worst pasta we’d ever tasted! Who knew it was possible to screw up pasta! The evening was saved with a late night gourmet pizza from SPQR café. This is a trendy locale with a fun décor, colorful clientele, and friendly wait staff, and one you should probably hit up if you are going to spend more than a day or two in Auckland! We were warned by a couple of waiters that we would be hard pressed to find a lot on this night, but we decided to walk to “K” street anyway to see what we could find. Sadly, they were right, and we were a little disappointed to find only the Family Bar open for business! When we arrived, Phil, myself, and the bartender were essentially the only people there, save a random drag queen we had seen out on the streets near our hotel the day before, and some people sitting in the slot machine room! Oh well! We still had fun, and after a couple of beers and a little silly dancing, we called it a night and readied ourselves for the start of our road trip!

Tuesday January 16th.

We left Auckland early in the morning because we had planned two things in cities that were 2 hours apart… oy. We started driving south to the Waitomo region. http://www.waitomo.com/ This is a beautiful region with rolling hills and loaded with cavern systems and glowworms. The drive down was nice, and we quickly found ourselves far from city living! We passed through a small town called Taupiri and stopped at a very cute frog-themed café Phil could not resist. We learned at that time that the town was famous for being the sacred resting place of the Mauri queen who died last year. We passed the cemetery on the way through, and I have to say that it was stunning, set out on a dramatic hill, and unlike any traditional cemetery we might see in the states. Sadly there is no video or photographic evidence…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/5271234.stm

After recharging with some coffee and a couple of meat pies, we were on our way! In fact, the Lick Inn, as it was called, started a rather disgusting tradition of eating meat pies anytime, anywhere that we felt a little peckish!! Incidentally, if you are not familiar with meat pies and you are a meat eater, you should try these tasty savory treats! Here’s a local option for all you NYC Metro readers… http://www.dubpies.com/pies.htm Moving on, Waitomo caves were pretty specatular. There are 4 main cave systems open to the public. We chose two. The first was Aranui cave, the most ornate and least traveled of all of them. Phil and I were the only two on our tour so it was very intimate and exciting, especially since it was his first cave adventure. Once we got to the cathedral, the point with the highest ceiling, Phil was given a chance to test the impressive acoustics of the place, and sang whole-heartedly into the dead silence! You know I’m a fan and completely biased, but the sound was AWESOME! The second cave was a little more touristy, but fun. We went deep into the caverns down to an underground river where we had a chance to view the famous glowworms. These are little fly larva that secrete a chemical substance that causes them to fluoresce a brilliant blue green color. The cave walk culminates deep under the hills above in a dark room providing access to the river boats that guide through the glowworm grotto. The relaxing sound of the slowly moving water was all we could hear as we cruised slowly down the river mesmerized by brilliant “starry” night affect the worms created across the cave ceiling.

From there we drove across the northern mainland to Rotorua, and area of New Zealand a famous for its thermal activity. http://www.rotoruanz.co.nz/home.asp
We went right to Wai O Tapu (“thermal wonderland”) the most well known and spectacular of the thermal parks. It was other-worldly. The skies were gray when we arrived which added to the affect, and the air was filled with a heavy sulfur smell that overwhelmed the senses! It is definitely unsettling to know that there is steam, gas, sulfur, and acid bubbling up from the earth below your feet. It is humbling in many ways… a feeling we would feel again and again as the natural wonder of New Zealand seemed to improve and change with every day’s travel… but I digress. We spent an hour and half hiking the trails through the park looking at the various formations, pools, and vents.

From there we head back to the town center and got settled into the HotRock Backpackers, the first of our hostel experiences. http://www.hot-rock.co.nz/Index.aspx?Page=Rotorua_Main It was the most crowded of any of them, and we stayed in a room with 8 of our closest friends!! Actually it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. They had a great pool, a fun bar right next door, and it was right in the heart of the town. We explored the town while we still had sunlight (which was usually between 9-10pm depending on what part of the country we were in) and had a great meal at a place called ICONZ. This restaurant had a modern décor and served traditional New Zealand fare with a modern twist. Phil went for the meatloaf and I had venison sausage! YUM!!! We capped the evening off with a relaxing walk along the lake and a swim in the hostel’s bathwater warm pool before walking to the Lava Bar next door for a nightcap.

To be continued......