Home at Last!

Well, I'm back home now and trying to get back into reality!  What a trip!

Now that I'm home, I am posting pictures from the last few days in Dunedin.  We visited the campus, went on a seal, albatross, and penguin viewing tour, visited the Larnach Castle, and visited the Moeraki Boulders.  There are so many more things to do in the Dunedin area.  I hope to get back to New Zealand someday because there are still a lot of things I'd like to see and do.  It's not like we didn't try to see it all though.

Dunedin is a great town, but a little cold and rainy while we were there.  In fact, one day I texted Bill because it was 46° in Dunedin and 41° in Gunnison!  I think John will have a great time!  He's regretting he forgot his skateboard with all the hills in town!

I hope you enjoyed the blog.  I don't think John will continue it, as he'll begin his studies, but you never know.  I am putting all the blog on a website which will be easier to access by day and activity.  As the days go by, I'll also be adding LOTS more pictures to the web albums I have since I now have Internet access I don't have to pay by the MB.  So - CHECK BACK SOON!!

The new website address is:  https://sites.google.com/site/powellnz2015/

Pictures from Dunedin Tour

Pictures from our last day together

Pictures from the Larnach Castle and Gardens

Last Post for Now

This will be my last post until my return.  We are too busy and the Internet here is EXPENSIVE!  I'll post some final pictures when I get home.

Today we are going out to view penguins and albatross.  We've taken a tour of campus.  Tomorrow, we are going up to some beach with cool rocks.  Then John will get dropped off at the airport and I'll be heading home on Monday.  I should arrive Monday night, MST at 9:30 P.M.  It will literally be the LONGEST day of my life  :)

Anyway, enough for now.  Check back on Thursday or Friday for some final pictures!

Kathie and John

Dunedin

Everyone says Dunedin is cold.  I laugh…  It’s cold!!  The high today was about 46°, but it’s wet and windy – and did I mention – COLD!  We decided since it was  rainy we’d check out the town.  We headed around town and planned to tour the college, but it really was cold and wet.  We finally ended up at the train station and signed up for a 4 hour train ride up the Taieri Gorge.  Before it left, we had about 3 hours to kill so we went to the museum, which was very interesting, an art gallery, had lunch, and visited some shops. 

The train was very nice and it was really nice because we were inside and pretty warm!  It’s nice to have a feel for the area around Dunedin.  We never left the city limits.  Dunedin has claimed a lot of land! 

We’ll check out a few things tomorrow, too.  Then it’s off to the penguins and albatross habitat!

Pictures

Stewart Island

It’s been a few days since I posted.  Last place we were was Invercargill.  On Monday morning, we got up early and headed to the ferry at Bluff, which is about 20 minutes away.  The day was threatening rain, but the winds were calm.  We had a nice trip over to Stewart Island – easy we thought!  After taking care of a few items before we caught our water taxi, John got a short nap between raindrops. 

The water taxi was smooth sailing and he dropped us off in what seemed the middle of nowhere.  We hiked for a little over 3 hours and made it to Mason Bay Hut.  My main goal in going here was to possibly spot the illusive kiwi.  At the hut, we walked to the beach and saw a bunch of oyster catchers (birds).  The weather was definitely turning bad and windy.  It rained a lot on our hike in, but the wind wasn’t too bad.  That night, we stayed out until 11:30 looking for the kiwi.  Unfortunately, we didn’t see one, but we did hear them calling which was good enough for us!  I planned on getting up early and looking, but the weather was really bad.  Very windy and rainy until about 7:00.  We did look in the morning, but again didn’t see any.  There were about 10 people at the hut that night finishing or doing other treks.  Four others were heading out our way that morning to catch the water taxi home.  This time, getting from Freshwater Landing Hut to Golden Bay was very windy and big waves.  We checked into our hostel and enjoyed the rest of the day. 

The next morning, Wednesday, we checked out and headed for our trip to Ulva Island for hiking and bird watching.  This island is one island in New Zealand where all the rats, stoats, weasels, etc. have been eradicated.  There were 4 other people crazy enough to want to go over because today, the winds were HOWLING!!!  Our driver got us over there, we spent 3 hours walking around looking at plants and birds between hail, and came back.   We found out later that all other trips to Ulva Island were cancelled for the day.  It’s funny because we were told they always go to the island – no matter the weather.

Upon arriving at the place we ate lunch, we found out that all the ferry trips from Oban to Bluff were cancelled!  We were told they NEVER cancelled the ferry unless it was REALLY bad.  I think it was REALLY bad.  I heard the winds were over 125 kms per hour out on the water.  I believe it.  The squalls kept coming through as they had the last few days, but the weather was definitely colder and windier.  We went to the ferry to collect our backpacks which we left that morning, found a hostel for the night, cancelled our hostel in Invercargill, and just enjoyed the time.  There wasn’t much else to do.  I do have to say, it was COLD!  I packed just the opposite.  On our first hut hike, I took all my cold weather gear since we were heading near glaciers.  It was hot.  This time, I left my cold weather gear because everyone said it wouldn’t be cold, and it was!  No heat in the hostel and this morning it was 42° with 100% humidity!  Cold!

Anyway, we finally got on the ferry this morning at 8:00 and had a VERY bumpy ride back to Bluff.  It’s about an hour ride, and if it would have been even a few minutes more, I’m not sure any of us would have kept anything down.  We were all laughing at first going over the big waves and crashing down, but the closer we got to Bluff, the bigger the waves and there were about 3 times that we actually came all the way out of our seats.  No one was laughing now…

We drove to Dunedin via the scenic route, but didn’t stop because it was pouring.  We visited the campus to find out about his housing key, but will be leaving his bag at the Uni Flat Office instead of his flat.  So we found our hostel for the next few days, Hogwartz, and it’s a great place.  We will go sightseeing around town tomorrow, out to see the penguins and albatross on Saturday, and packing bags for John’s flight out on Sunday. 

Dunedin is a beautiful town, but very large.  There are so many neat buildings and hopefully I’ll post some pictures in the coming days.  It’s very hilly here as well.   All’s good and I’m glad we are in Dunedin.  I think John is excited!  Oh – and the hostel has a guitar so guess what he’s doing?

PICTURES!

We left Te Anau as we found it – in the rain.  John went out with his new found friend, Jackson, last night and Jackson introduced him to some other kids going to Dunedin.  I think he was tired, but I’m glad he went.

Today, we just drove down the coast to Invercargill and on to Bluff.  Here we stopped at the southernmost point on the big islands of New Zealand.  These cities are some of the oldest beginning in the early 1820s.  We are staying in a hostel tonight and will be heading out to Stewart Island for our last great adventure.  We’ll be hiking into a hut tomorrow after taking a ferry to the island and a water taxi to a hike and we’ll hike across the island for a stay (hopefully it’s not full) in a hut.  We are taking a tent just in case.  It's also forecast to rain.  Then the next day, we’ll hike back, catch a water taxi and spend the night in a lodge on the island.  We’ll maybe go mountain biking or a island cruise before heading back on the ferry and on to Dunedin.  I won’t be posting anything until at least Wednesday night!

Pictures

Sea Kayaking Milford Sound

Last night, we met a family from Te Anau whose son goes to Dunedin through the lady from the flight from Wanaka.  We went to a restaurant here to meet them.  Jackson is a maths student from Dunedin in his junior year.  We didn't stay out too late as we knew we were heading out early today!

Our day began rather ominously.  We had to get up at 5:30 this morning to get to Milford Sound by 8:30.  It rained all night and was raining when we woke up and rained most of the way to Milford.  It was a little chilly as well.  Are we really going sea kayaking today? 

The drive was spectacular even in the mist and rain.  It’s about 128 km to Milford from Te Anau and everyone says leave 2 hours.  The road winds and eventually climbs to the Homer Tunnel.  This tunnel reminded me so much of the Whittier Tunnel.  Narrow and carved through a huge rock, the tunnel is dwarfed by it’s surroundings!  After the tunnel, a steep descent leads to Milford Sound. 

We arrived about 15 minutes early, got geared up and headed out on the water for the day.  It never rained on us, but the clouds stuck around all day.  The sun poked for a bit, but the water stayed calm – luckily.  The only real test was when the large sight seeing boats passed by and we had waves.  During our outing, we saw a penguin – the 2^nd most endangered penguin in the world.  We also had a playful seal swimming around. 

Needless to say, we are exhausted because on the drive home, we stopped at short hikes and saw some neat things.  I also talked to a fisherman who was after BIG brown trout.  I don’t know if he was pulling my leg, but he indicated there were very large browns in this particular lake.  I’d guess from his indication, they’d have to be 20 or more pounds.  Anyway, we’ve fixed dinner and I think we’ll be heading to bed relatively early tonight!   At least I am.  John is going out with Jackson tonight!

Pictures 

Bungy Jumping in Queenstown!

One more thing to cross off my New Zealand bucket list!  Bungy jumping – yes, it’s spelled correctly here!  What a rush.  However, IF I do it again, I’ll do the highest one, which is also near Queenstown. 

The hardest part was walking back up the steps from the river, but it was so fun!  I had my own cheering section.  There were a bunch of people, from China I think, that were watching us crazies.  When I walked up the stairs, they were taking my picture, high-fiving, and cheering!  Great times!  Then I got to watch my son go off the bridge and get dunked in the water.  Now I wish I would have done that! 

It’s a great time and we drove to Queenstown, ate lunch, and drove out.  It’s a pretty large town and kind of a lot of traffic.  We are now in Te Anau at a hostel.  Our plan is to drive to Milford Sound in the morning, sea kayak, hike on the way back, and stay here another night. 

John is going to meet with a maths student from Dunedin who lives here in town after he gets off of work.  We met the aunt on our flight yesterday. 

Great times!  Take a look at the pictures tonight and check out the videos on YouTube!

Pictures

John’s Bungy

Kathie’s Bungy