Happy New Year from New Zealand - January 1, 2010

Even though it is still New Year’s Eve for all you Americans...

The beginning of the 2010’s. What will the next decade bring? Teleportation? 100 Home run MLB seasons? Faster and more courteous service at the DMV? I, for one, am not sure about the first two. But I can tell you that, in addition to the DMV probably still being a mess, the first day of 2010 brought an early wake-up call for a day of ice climbing.

We had booked an ice climbing trip on the Franz Josef Glacier. We settled on ice climbing because the hikes didn’t satisfy our sense of excitement and our bank account frowned upon the helicopter trip to the glacier.

Our alarm clocks sounded at 630AM on New Year’s Day. Nicolle and I hurried ourselves into a quick breakfast and out the door. Normally we’re never late for anything (cough!), but we literally had to run down the street to ensure that the ice climbing trip didn’t leave without us.

As we walked in the door of the tour company’s store, we noticed that it seemed conspicuously empty. Turns out that we were the only individuals booked for that ice climbing time. Though just us two and a guide might have made for an intimate climb, the tour guide canceled our climb. We were dismayed by the cancellation, but the tour company made up nicely: they rescheduled us for the next day and comp’ed us some free passes to a local hot pool spa.

We figured that the spa might serve us well later on in the day after, say, an invigorating hike near the glacier. So we researched the local map, chose a hike, and set on our way.

The hiking trail was listed as taking about 5 hours roundtrip, with the summit rewarding hikers with a nice view of the Franz Josef Glacier. The hike itself was moderately difficult. The elevation climb wasn’t too drastic. Based on my poor conversion of meters to feet, I estimate the climb gained about 2000 feet in elevation. Sir Edmund Hilary would scoff at such a trifle…while being carried by his sherpa guide. The trail, however, included a few steep climbs, rock scrambles, rickety bridges crossing raging rivers.





One interesting characteristic of the hike was varied environments among differing elevations. At one point we walked through dense vegetation with noticeable humidity and warm temperatures. The next we were climbing up open rock faces where the air was a little cooler.

After about two hours of hiking, we reached the end of the trail. The end was not the summit of the mountain. Nevertheless, the end was high and open enough for a great view of the glacier.





The glacier itself was/is impressive. It’s one big ice cube carving the mountains as it advances/retreats. Even more impressive is the contrast between the glacier sitting next to, essentially, a rainforest. Just another absurdity of NZ.

Finally, we took our wobbly legs and exhausted bodies to the hot pool spa. Normally, I’m not a fan of spas. But we matched my affinity for the right price (free) with Nicolle’s love of spas. I had hoped that the spa was geothermal pools. In this case, the pools were artificially heated to three temperatures: 36, 38, and 40 degrees Celsius. My conversions of temperatures is even worse than for distances, so you’re gonna have to convert that one yourself. What I can say that the pools were warm but not hot. That is, nobody was basting me with melted butter and filling the water surrounding me with diced vegetables. Nicolle says that the 40 degree pool was uncomfortably hot. Sorry we didn’t take photos, but the pools were outdoors in the rainforest, with beautiful steam rising above.

To be sure, one one two zero one zero was a relatively relaxing day. Tomorrow brings another early wake-up (for the rescheduled ice climb).

Wanaka and the drive to Franz Josef - December 31, 2009

Today, New Year’s Eve, we started our day in Wanaka, which is a town not far from Queenstown. We thought the two towns would be similar, but Wanaka did not appear to be as beautiful or exciting as Queenstown. Because we arrived in Wanaka late last night, we had to get our keys from a lock box. When we got to our room, we found out the hostel had mistakenly put us both in a male dorm room. That meant I had to bunk with 5 guys. Three of the guys were travelling together from Israel and one guy was Brazilian. We spoke with them for about 15-20 minutes, before they went out for the night. So, the male dorm room was fine since I really didn’t see any of our bunk mates. This morning, we walked around a bit in the town and had a great lunch at an Indian restaurant. Colin had venison and I had some lamb. Both were delicious.




On our way out of Wanaka, we stopped by a place called “Puzzle World,” which has a life size maze in it. We didn’t want to pay the $15-20 to go in, so we took a few photos by the leaning tower outside.



Our drive from Wanaka to Franz Josef took us through the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Since we’ve already posted so many amazing mountain photos, I won’t post more here. We did stop after about an hour to do a short (5 minute) hike to another waterfall.





We soon emerged to the West Coast of New Zealand. The road skirted along the ocean at times and there was one primary viewing point, where we took a photo. Not far from the viewing point, there was a 1 hour hike to the water that brought you to an area where penguins and a seal colony exist. We decided to take a break from driving to do the hike, but found out the penguins have left their spot for a few months to be in the water. Even though we didn’t see any penguins or seals (we didn’t walk the extra 2 miles), it was still really nice to be alone on the beach. The sand was pretty rocky and I’m sure the water was cold, so we just walked a bit. Colin says he prefers a deserted beach to anything else in the world!!

Once we left the beach, we decided not to make any more stops until reaching our destination (Franz Josef). The road went back into the mountains, where we swerved on some serious “S” curves for about 45 minutes. We passed the town of Fox Glacier, where the first of two glaciers in “Westland Park” are located, but we didn’t stop because Franz Josef is the other glacier town. Since it is New Year’s Eve, we opted to pay a little more to have our own room versus sharing with others. After unpacking our bags, we decided we should do some laundry since we have been wearing a lot of our clothes multiple times and we are about halfway through our time in New Zealand. We don’t expect to have to wear my long sleeve dry-wicking shirts or pants in Australia and hopefully won’t have too much more cold weather now that we are heading north towards the warmer weather.

Our New Year’s plans are pretty low-key – meaning we have none! We have an ice-climbing expedition planned for tomorrrow and we need to meet the guide at 7:45am. Plus, since neither of us drink, it doesn’t make sense to stay up to party in the hostel. We plan to get a good night’s sleep in our own room before a day long ice climb.

Day trip to Doubtful Sound - December 30, 2009

THE STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE:


The picture shows our ferry tour through Doubtful Sound. Looking at a map, Doubtful Sound is in Fiordland National Park, in the south west corner of NZ. Doubtful Sound is neither "doubtful" nor a "sound", much like Rhode Island is neither a "road" nor an "island". Discuss. There is no doubting the majesty of this natural topography. Plus the sharp profile of the mountains were carved by advancing/retreating glaciers, making it a fiord/fjord instead of a "sound" (which is carved by flowing water sources).

The weather provided a smorgasbord (keeping with the Scandavian/fjord theme) of weather patterns. Most of it was rain and fog, as you can see in the picture. No worries, blue skies broke through on occasion. The low fog gave perspective to how tall these mountains were.



Seeing this guy/girl was exciting. A school of dolphins swam close to our ferry, while a few wild members showed-off by riding the waves of the ferry's bow. Hey, it's NZ...even the wildlife enjoys extreme sports. The dolphin shadowed us for about 10 minutes. I think we were running the wildcat offense, sans Ronnie Brown.



Your authors braving the wind and cold on the ferry's aft.




Somewhere over the rainbow sheep chew grass. Who knew? Our first NZ rainbow astonished us with its beauty and relative closeness. Since then I think we have seen one rainbow per day. The interesting part of the rainbows we see is that you can invariably see where it begins and where it ends. Technically we haven't checked, but I'm pretty sure there is no pot of gold; but you might be able to find a cereal box with delicious marshmellows. Half eaten if I got there first.

Apparently the sheep were oblivious to the wonders of light and water that were occuring behind them. They were doing what they should be doing: eating grass. How bizarre. (US CAFO's should take a page out NZ's agricultural book.) I digress. A wise CPWA worker once recommended that the CPWA have sheep "cut" the grass on the CPWA's land. He might not have realized that the sheep would put him out of a job. Perhaps, though, he was onto something.



A human grazing. Or rather, a human eating an oversized fish burger. We stopped by PJ's Fish and Chips in Queenstown to partake in their pesce. I figured we should sample the fabled fish and chips. Nicolle tackled this burger with determination, though I helped her to finish the burger. My meal was the fish and chips with mushy peas. The fish (Hari?) was okay, same with the chips. The mushy peas were somewhat to very mushy; I could have done without them. In full disclosure though, I'm not a fan of any type of peas. Another nail in the coffin of British cuisine.

Day trip to Milford Sound - December 29, 2009

Today we visited Milford Sound, about 75 miles north of our hostel in Te Anau. The forecast predicted rain, but tour guide operators insisted rain made the waterfalls and overall view more amazing. I think that might just be what they say to make you feel better (kinda like raining on your wedding day).



We started our journey north fairly early and had time to stop at the many viewing points along the way. The first photograph shows the lavender that grows in the fields all over New Zealand. As I stood in the field, I was awestruck by the beautiful fragrance around me.



We also stopped at a pool of water reflecting the mountains and appropriately called mirror lake. The photo above was taken at our next stop about halfway to the sound at a chasm.




As we came within 10 miles of Milford Sound, we drove through a 1200m long tunnel that was very steep. Once we got through the tunnel, you can see the windy road we then encountered.







Milford Sound is the most popular visitor attraction in Fiordland. It is well known for it’s many waterfalls. As we boarded the ship, there were light rain showers falling. Colin brought his poncho, but we really never needed it. The rain never got strong and we actually had some pockets of sun during our 2 hour cruise. It was pretty amazing how close the boat got to the waterfalls. The bow of the ship was actually directly under a waterfall at one point!



One the way back home, Colin and I decided to do a short walk (just over an hour) through a Beech Forest. The photo above shows just how large some of the Beech trees really were.



The road to Milford Sound from Te Anau passes exactly at 45 degrees south latitude - we just had to take a photo.

Queenstown and Te Anau - December 28, 2009

Today we spent the morning in Queenstown, where there are numerous people around, but nothing felt crowded. We did see there were opportunities to do some extreme sports, but didn’t see too much because we only spent the morning in town. There was a beautiful walkway that took us all along the water from our hostel to the gardens in town. Colin practiced his skills at photography and took some great shots of our walk.




We decided today we would experience local cuisine since there were so many restaurants to choose from. We decided on a little French restaurant called “Solera Vino” where Colin ate fish with rice and peas and I had beef with couscous and a mint-cucumber yogurt sauce. Colin’s sole was amazing!! My meat was extremely juicy and tender, but neither of us are big fans of mint-cucumber yogurt sauce. After a nice dessert at Patagonia Chocolate Company, we drove the 2.5 hours to Te Anau, which is our base for the next three days.

Unfortunately, the overnight cruise of Doubtful Sound was booked solid, so we decided to do a three day package of events in Fiordland. We booked a cave tour tonight at 5:45pm, that takes us underground to see the bioluminescence of gloworms. Tomorrow, we will cruise Milford Sound and the day after we will cruise Doubtful Sound.
The drive to Te Anau again was amazing and beautiful. We drove along the mountain for the first hour or so and then in the valleys for the second hour and a half. In the valleys we saw so many animals grazing in the fields. I read in a travel book that sheep outnumber people in New Zealand and what we have seen certainly confirms that!!
Our hostel in Te Anau is very different than the YHA hostels we have stayed at. The owners have actually expanded their home to accommodate about 20 people. There are two buildings and the “backpacker dorms” which have bunk beds are in the second building not far from the owner’s homes (where there are rooms with double beds only). The owners are so lenient and relaxed. The view is pretty amazing as well. We are in a plain-like area where the mountains pop up around us. The neighbors have sheep in their back yard!



We drove around Te Anau a little bit before heading out to our cave exploration. We caught a boat from downtown across the lake to the entrance to the caves. Unfortunately, the tour did not allow us to take photos, but believe me when I say the light from the glow worms was amazing. I get a little claustrophobic when it’s pitch dark, but had no problems because the glow worms lit up the cave for us. The boat ride was nice, but a bit windy. I’ll have to remember to bring warm clothes the next two days since we will mostly be on the water.

Mount Cook and Queenstown - December 27, 2009

My first night ever in a hostel was pretty good. I was nervous about sharing a room with 7 other people, and only one of those someone I know (Colin). Our room had 8 bunks and Colin and I got a top/bottom. He took the bottom and I took the top. We brought earplugs with us, but I was so tired, I doubt I needed them. The night was not quite as relaxing as our first night in Auckland – my body wants to go to bed at 6-7pm and get up by 5-6am. I tried staying up until 10:30pm, but I still woke up at 5am!!
Our hike yesterday was cancelled because of the rain, but we woke up to a full rainbow literally outside our window! We thought about going to look and see if the pot of gold existed at the end, but decided to go on the hike we planned to do the night before. The hike we did was a 1.5 hour trek each through beautiful scenery to Hooker Lake, at the base of Mount Cook. It seems every time I see something beautiful, I turn the corner and there is another beautiful image in front of me. We crossed two suspension bridges, passed waterfalls, soaked up the rays in the valley and found glacial-like formations in the lake at the end. The view of Mount Cook from the base was amazing.
At the end of our hike, we went back to the hostel for lunch and made our way 3 hours to the city of Queenstown. We had heard a lot about Queenstown and it is called the “Adventure Capital of the World” and the place where bungy jumping was invented! We have no plans to go bungy jumping and I hope to avoid crowds of people I expect to see. We have come to relax and get away from the crowds of NYC, and have been rewarded in NZ so far. We are staying in the YHA (Youth Hostel Association), which is the same chain we stayed in at Mount Cook. Instead of a 8 person share dorm, Colin and I have just 2 bunk beds in our room. This hostel is not quite as nice as the one in Mount Cook, but the cooking facilities are larger, it’s very close to the downtown area, they have many more showers and they give you towels! Our plan is to use Queenstown as a stopping point on our way to “Fiordland,” where we hope to experience the sounds created between the mountains. We had hoped to do an overnight cruise of Doubtful Sound, but was a little nervous about sleeping in a cabin with 3 other people on a boat and we waited too long to book the tour. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise – I might not be ready for that. So, we’ll have to find a day trip to the sound instead.
Tomorrow we head closer to the Sounds and plan to stay in Te Anau and experience either Milford Sound or Doubtful Sound. Photos I have seen of both look amazing, but I think I lean towards the isolated waters of Doubtful versus the tourism of Milford. In the meantime, I leave you with a sunset photo taken in Queenstown.