The Land of Oz - January 8, 2010

What a long day! As Colin mentioned, we had a very early departure from Auckland. We were up at 4:15am and out the door by 4:30. Our flight, scheduled to be 5 hours and 20 minutes, was actually really nice! Air New Zealand had spacious seats (thought a little too “upright” for sleeping – even reclined), gave us breakfast, a morning snack, and unlimited hot and cold beverages! That doesn’t happen in the U.S. anymore. In addition, we reached Cairns, Australia ahead of schedule by over 30 minutes after a 15 minute late take off.



Once we got through immigration and customs (and had to depart with our beloved trail mix from New Zealand because of the nuts), we headed to the car rental company (which we booked last night). For Australia, we are paying less for a more luxurious car (they didn’t have any smaller cars).



Colin prefers the little Toyota Vitz from NZ, but I love the ride in the Toyota Camry. It is a bit more difficult to maneuver into small parking spaces, but since we will be driving fairly long distances on the “highways,” I think it will be valuable.

Upon talking to the car rental guy, we found out a big rain storm (think monsoon!) is heading into the area tomorrow and will be very severe tomorrow night. We had intended to go up to Cape Tribulation during the afternoon and stay overnight, but heeded the warning and changed our plans. It is the rainy season (peak summer) up in northeastern Australia, an area also called Northern Queensland. It is very tropical and we certainly felt the heat and humidity as soon as we stepped out of the airport. We only have 8 days to get ourselves about 2000 km down the coast to Brisbane, so we didn’t want to get stuck north of Cairns (plus neither of us like rain!). In addition, you can’t swim in most of the waters in northeastern Australia because there are many jellyfish, called “stingers” here, whose sting can kill.

Our next stop was the mall to get an Australia SIM card for our cell phone, bug spray, and a few groceries. We headed into Cairns and went into a nicely air conditioned mall, but spend a tiring hour finding the best cell phone deal. It certainly was not as easy as finding a good deal in NZ (but that may have been due to Boxing Day sales). We decided on a card that charges us $0.30/minute in Australia, but it is over $1/minute to the U.S. In NZ, we were only charged $0.22/minute anywhere in the world. So – to our families reading the blog – we won’t have the luxury of calling as much (or as long) as we did in NZ. We’ll try skype more often from the free internet access available at McDonald’s.

When we finally finished at the mall – which seemed so late, even though it was still only 1pm – we checked out the town of Cairns by foot. We had a delicious burrito meal at a place called Lillipad, which was recommended by the guidebook we have as having good vegetarian options. I did get a chicken burrito, but Colin got a tempeh breakfast burrito. Both were delicious!



After lunch, we took our hot, swollen limbs for a walk along the waterfront. There were quite a few people enjoying the “lagoon” on the waterfront, since you can’t swim in the ocean.




On our walk back to the car, we stopped by Rusty’s Market to check out the local fare.



We picked up some peaches, grapes and varieties of bananas. There are three different kinds of bananas sold here – regular (Cavendish), small yellow bananas called “monkey bananas” and small green bananas called “sugar bananas.” More on the bananas soon.

From Cairns, we headed south with hostel reservations made at Mission Beach, two hours south of Cairns. The drive was beautiful and, like in New Zealand, we saw many grazing animals in the fields and drove by impressive natural beauty. We stopped at two places, each about 7-8 km off the main road. The first, called The Boulders, had a refreshing calm pool of water where we cooled ourselves down.



The second stop was more impressive than the first, with a pool of water at the bottom of waterfalls. We didn’t have much time to stop since it was getting late (the sun sets up here around 6:30pm), but Colin managed to go down the “waterfall slide” a few times!



Our accommodations for the night was the YHA Treehouse hostel. We arrived in the dark so we didn’t get a good view of the entire treehouse. We were ushered to our room, a cozy one bedroom. Our zero-sleep time was quick indeed.

Last day in New Zealand - January 7, 2010

Welp, we checked out what Christchurch had to offer. The city has a modern feel to it without losing some of its late-1800s feel. Most of the buildings and streets were clean. Even the older buildings were skillfully maintained.



Christchurch had a welcoming park centralized downtown. This “central park” included, among others, a meandering stream, national museum, and botanical gardens. The stream allowed for canoeing, kayaking, and “punting” (think Venetian boats). We didn’t do any of the stream activities, though they seemed decent.

Instead, we visited the Canterbury Museum and botanical gardens. The Canterbury Museum was pretty commonplace, as far as museums go. The Museum had interesting exhibits about Pacific/Antartic exploration from the Polynesians to Captain Cook. The botanical gardens were similarly mediocre; roses, native fauna, etc.

Literally stopping to smell the roses:




Colin at the Peace Bell in the garden:


We also stopped into the cathedral located in the city’s central square. Meh. I’ll take St. Patrick’s or St. John the Divine. You could probably fit Christchurch’s cathedral inside the walls of St. John the Divine. I guess Christchurch gets a pass for being about 1/30 the size of NYC.




For the remainder of the day we putzed around Christchurch. I should note that we stopped into the Public Library. I was pretty impressed with the Library’s facilities and its free Wifi. Well played Christchurch.

We couldn’t putz around too much because we had to catch a flight out of Christchurch to Auckland. This flight ultimately marked the end of our time in NZ. The goodbye was messy because our flight from Christchurch to Auckland left Christchurch at 8:20PM and arrived in Auckland at about 9:40PM. That, itself, is not too bad. The bad part came when we had to catch another flight from Auckland to Cairns, Australia, at 6:45AM the next morning.

The dilemma we faced was whether to: (a) sleep (insufficiently and poorly) in the Auckland airport because we had to check-in for the international flight at 4:45AM; or (b) sleep (insufficiently) in a hostel located close to the Auckland airport. We chose option (b) because, as much fun as sleeping in airports can be, we figured eating the overnight stay cost to shower and sleep in a decent bed topped the other option.

In hindsight, I’m not sure we chose correctly. The hostel we stayed in was probably the most janky establishment we’ve stayed in so far. It gave hostels a bad name. And that’s saying something. Plus, though the hostel employee gave us a ride to and from the Auckland airport, he was delirious from sleep-deprevation (he spent all night picking up/dropping off other travelers). If we had stayed in the airport, we could have enjoyed playing with metal detectors, sleeping on the floor, and large bathrooms all to ourselves.

C’est la vie. NZ was exceptional. So much to do. So little time. Even less money. I highly recommend any part of NZ to any one who can swing the time/money. In fact, we might go with you.

On to Australia.

East Coast - January 6, 2010

Today brought a relatively relaxed itinerary. The first half of the day involved hiking the Queen Charlotte Track (“QCT”) in Marlborough Sound. Marlborough Sound is an extensive network of sounds (go figure) in the northeast corner of the South Island of NZ. The QCT enjoys recognition for being an approachable hike with some stunning vistas. (I think I’ve used “vista” more since being on this trip than in the past three years; part of sightseeing I guess.)

The entire QCT extends about 20-30 miles. A worthwhile multi-day trek to be sure, but we did only about 7 or 8 miles in total. We were able to mosey on over to the trail because we knew the hike would take only about 3 or 4 hours. We scheduled an advance return trip on a water taxi to allow us a longer trip. Basically, we would hike to a point and the water taxi would pick us up and return us to our destination, instead of worrying about the return hike.

The trail itself was well-maintained, which meant hiking it was a breeze. We were able to see some stunning views of the nearby sound.




In addition, we saw the ubiquitous national plant – the silver fern. You will notice it on the jersey of the All Blacks and other national affiliations. Silver ferns take their name from the color of the underside of the leaf being silver with the top being green, as most other ferns are.



Llamas, on the other hand, I don’t know what their deal is. I’m pretty sure they’re not any country’s national symbol, and I’m willing to bet they’re not on sports jerseys either. But, hey, they’re funny looking. Plus their names are spelled funny. Get a good laugh out of that picture, I’m sure llamas get made fun of by other animals too. (Donkey: “Don’t you realize you get made fun of by other animals for being bizarre looking and having a strange name? :::Snort::: Llama: “You’re an ass.”)




At the end of the hike we ate lunch in the picturesque Misteltoe Bay. Not much going on in Mistletoe Bay except the usual amazingly clear and beautiful emerald green water with stunning mountain profiles and surrounding vegetation. Yawn. If I had a dollar for every lake, sound, etc. that I’ve seen like that…





The water taxi scooped us up and returned us to where we started the hike. Along the way the water taxi treated us to a nice boat ride through the sound.

We saddled up our Toyota golf cart and began the 4 hour drive along the coast. Our destination was Christchurch, full circle from our sojourn on the South Island. Driving can be annoying. Nevertheless, the trip to Christchurch included a scenic ride alongside the eastern coast of the South Island.

This eastern coast was impressively beautiful. The east coast should be relatively similar to the west coast of the South Island. But because the east coast is on the other side of the South Island’s mountain range, the east coast receives much less precipitation. [See rainy/foggy pictures from 1/2/2010] In addition, I believe the coastal waters along the east are calmer. The waters certainly were today.



The coastal area around Kikoura was unbelievable. Heading north and east from the beaches will put you at about Fiji. Rougher surf would be expected, but the waves were tame and the seas were calm. Except for a few differences, including black sand, I figure this area probably resembles the Californian coast before extensive development. We even saw seals like out in Cali.



The drive finished with our arrival into Christchurch. We didn’t have a chance to partake in nighttime activities because the usual responsibilities (meal preparation/laundry) needed attention. We will check out Christchurch tomorrow.

Lounging on Onetahuti Beach - January 5, 2010

I would mislead if I stated that we “awoke” the morning after the day of six-hour kayaking and three-hour hiking. Rather, we basically just interrupted the cycle of disturbed resting. The sun had risen and slightly warmed the air and we eagerly awaited the goal of relaxing on one of the beaches we frequently passed as we kayaked and hiked.

Breakfast on the beach:


So we departed our beloved campground:


But a little more hiking was in store before we could lounge on a beach. From our campsite, we hiked another two hours to the beach at Onetahuti.



The hike difficulty and vistas were similar to those experienced the day before.

The beach was welcomed and (somewhat) hard earned. We threw our bags on the sand, set our towels, and lounged. The sun was intense and I was sweating from the hike, so I figured I should cool myself off in the beautiful teal water. As I submerged myself I realized that the water temperature had overshot my attempt at cooling off and brought me right to freezing. I’ve been in cold waters before (Lake Champlain, the Atlantic out of season, etc.) and my inexact internal water thermometer would put that water at about 62 degrees. Such temperatures bring the swimming experience away from refreshingly cool to numbingly cold.

All was not lost. We still soaked up some intense sun for a solid three hours before our beach taxi arrived to return us back to the launching station in Marahau.




Once back in our car we packed up and made our way to the next stop in Havelock. The drive was a paltry 2 hours.

The hostel we booked turned out to be one of the nicer establishments we have stayed in so far. The town of Havelock is a small hamlet with not much going on beside the self-proclamation of being the green-shelled mussel capital of the world. I have yet to verify that. The hostel, however, feels like a converted hotel from the turn of the 19th century. It’s only slightly renovated and doesn’t appear to have required much anyway.

Sea Kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park - January 4, 2010

Our patience in dealing with a few rainy days on the west coast was rewarded with a magnificent day today!! For all of you that read the blog and wished us better weather – THANK YOU! It was wonderful to have a day on the water in a beautiful park with the sun shining.

We started our day fairly early, arriving at the Marahau Sea Kayaking office at 8:30am. The adventure started with a 1.5 hour kayaking preparation lesson. When the guide started teaching us about how to get out of the kayak if we flipped, I got a little nervous.

Once we got our gear on, packed all our overnight stuff in the kayak (tent, sleeping bags, etc.) and finished the preparation talk, we were on our way for a full day of kayaking with our guide. Thankfully, we managed to get in a small group of 8 people (4 boats with 2 people each). After just 15 minutes in the water, the guide had all 4 kayaks in a row and we had a sail up pushing us along! It was fantastic! If the entire day of kayak was riding the wind with the sail, my body certainly would never get sore.

It was also our lucky day that we had the wind at our backs most of the way. The water was chilly when we hit some waves, or got wet with the water off the paddles, but for the most part, it was sunny and warm.

The guide led us along the coastline at Abel Tasman National Park from 10:30-12:30 and then we stopped at a beautiful beach to have lunch.



The lunch was surprisingly delicious! We had chicken sandwiches with picadilly sauce (which Colin really liked), fruit, juice, cookies, and an amazing piece of chocolate cake! After a meal like that, the last thing you want to do is continue kayaking. To help fight off food coma, Colin and I went on a short walk to a viewpoint to look down at the beach where we had lunch. This is our view:



The second half of the day was nice. We kayaked at a good pace, explored a lagoon (which later showed us the dramatic tide changes when it was completely empty!), and we even saw a penguin in the water! Unfortunately, the penguin dipped back into the water too quickly before I could get my camera. We finished kayaking at 3:30pm and proceeded to start the adventure for the second half of the day. We had to hike 12km to the next beach where our campsite was located. Since I felt all salty and sandy, we stopped at a freshwater lake where I was able to rinse off and change out of my bathing suit and into more appropriate hiking attire.



We were rewarded with some pretty amazing views along the hike and stopped a few times to rest our bodies, eat some snacks, and drink water. The hike was not difficult, but felt that way after kayaking all day and carrying about 20-30 pounds in our backpacks.

Once again, we were rewarded when we got to our campsite around 8pm and saw that it was just a few feet from the beach. We quickly put down our gear, set up our tent and had dinner. Before the sun set, we caught a few photos of low tide on the beach.





We tried to keep ourselves awake until 10:30pm, when the sky got completely dark to do some star gazing. I have NEVER seen so many stars out at night as I did in the park! There were so many clusters of stars they created a haze of white in places. Some stars where sparkling, others were just so bright. It was worth staying up for, that’s for sure!

Driving stories - January 3, 2009

Ah, another rainy day! Looks like the New Year has brought the Millers bad weather in New Zealand. As Colin mentioned yesterday, our hostel was a nice house situated in the middle of the rainforest. Since it was rainy and foggy, it was nice to relax in the evening and sleep in this morning. Our only plan for the day was to get ourselves to the northwest area of the south island called Abel Tasman National Park.



The fog was not as thick this morning, so we could see a bit more of the rough ocean. We decided to do a little cave exploration on our own after breakfast. It was exciting to finally use our headlamps for something other than sleeping in hostels. The cave had a marked “trail” in it, so it wasn’t really exploring on our own, but there was no guide with us. After the cave exploration, it was another quick walk to the beach before leaving the west coast.

During the drive we hit some really rainy sections, but as we got closer to the northwest it seemed to be clearing up a bit. We spent four hours driving, and reached our destination, a town called Motueka, around 2:30pm. It wasn’t sunny, but it also wasn’t raining. When we got to Motueka, we realized we took photos on the camera without the SD card in it! So, we have photos on the camera, but we don’t have the connector for the laptop. We quickly got the SD card in the camera, and took some photos on our drive to the very northwest corner of the South Island – an area called Golden Bay. Unfortunately, the rain seemed to follow us from the west coast and once we got over the mountains it was raining so hard we could not see the bay up close.




Disappointed, we returned to Motueka, praying for some better weather the next two days. The forecast says sun – let’s hope NZ weathermen are much better than those from the U.S.! We have a two day expedition set for Abel Tasman with kayaking tomorrow, camping overnight, and then walking and taking a water taxi on Tuesday. Fodor’s tells me this area competes with others for the highest amount of sun, while the west coast is known for all its rain. They were right about the west coast, so let’s hope they are also correct about this area.

Since the last two posts haven’t included too much exciting information, I will share here some of our struggles with petrol stations (aka gas stations).



NZ understandably has small towns. It’s two small islands. It’s a small country. NZ also understandably has few gas stations in those small towns. Not many automobiles on the roads drive the roads of this small island country.

Travelers must remember to plan ahead. The distance between some of those small towns are easily underestimated. In two instances, we have underestimated those distances. Sure, we take the blame for such a misstep. The problem, however, is that the few gas/petrol stations that do exist are annoyingly unreliable outside of business hours.

Twice we have white-knuckled a drive with the fuel tank sinking dangerously below “E”. Perhaps we exaggerated our fears because, after all, we drive a glorified golf cart. [See for yourself in the 12/26/2009 posting.] Nevertheless, we would breathe a sigh of relief as we finally came across a gas/petrol station only to find that we would be forced to use a blasted machine that doesn’t take American forms of payment! More on this later…

Ice Climbing – Canceled. Fun – PPD. January 2, 2010

Just our luck. Another early morning of eagerness to ice climb. Another cancellation. What are the chances of a glacier situated next to a rainforest experiencing torrential downpours that cause tours of the glacier to be cancelled? No, seriously, what are the chances? I got nothing.

Anyway, we took our jilted-selves from Franz Josef and headed north along the west coast. The trip went relatively fast because our view of the coast was clouded; literally, the rain and fog descended into the area for an extended stay.




The first stop along the way was the town of Hokitika. After some grocery shopping and a nap in the car by the ocean (again clouded by fog), we visited a relative of the Miller family who lives in town. He, Peter Kettering, is a transplant from the northeast US and is the brother of my dad’s brother’s wife. If you’re like me, you’ll probably need to map that out on paper.

He and his partner, Vicki, were extremely hospitable. They treated us to a quick tour of their intimate home, extensive gardening, and delicious muffins. More important, they graciously entertained our interests in their experiences in NZ, California, and the rest of the World. Interacting with locals and their living situations breathed fresh air into a trip dominated by tourists.





The second and last stop was the sleepy “beach” town of Punakaiki. Similar to most of this leg, fog prevented the vista of, what we were told, resembled northern California. No worries. The hostel we booked turned out to be a diamond in the rough. And by “rough” I mean dense rainforest about 150 meters from the ocean.