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

Milford Sound by Air!

Another day of superlatives!  I’ve just plain run out of them!  We had an awesome day!  Last night, we stayed up and did a little star gazing.  Can’t get enough of the Southern Cross and Orion (upside down).  This morning, our activities didn’t start until noon, so we slept in, cooked a wonderful breakfast and enjoyed the morning.  We headed out to the airport for our flight to Milford Sound.  After calling earlier and confirming the trip was still on and not cancelled because of weather, we got to the airport and met a lovely couple from Austria that were sharing our plane.  The woman working at the desk at the airport has a nephew that is a math major in Dunedin.  She gave us his contact info because we’ll be in the town where he lives tomorrow.  I think we’ll call him up and John can maybe get together with him. 

It was hot in Wanaka today with a lot of big puffy clouds that in Colorado would probably mean thunderstorms.  However, we headed out anyway and there were lots of big puffy clouds hanging around the mountains and glaciers.  But that was OK, because we still were able to see some incredible scenery.  We flew to the Sound (which is technically a fiord and not a sound according to our boat captain) and landed.  This was amazing!  We had to fly past the harbor into the canyon, make a sharp turn and descend to the airport.  Unloading and getting on a bus, we got to our boat for the sound tour.  I feel lucky to have been on this boat.  It wasn’t huge, there weren’t many people on it, and the captain was very skilled – getting closer to rocks with the wind and the current than I would have ever dared.  We saw beautiful scenery.  It’s kind of surreal when you’ve seen so many pictures of a place and then you are actually there!  Words can not describe!  The boat trip was exciting and we saw many seals.  We also went under a waterfall where John was baptized.  Everyone was getting back under cover at the waterfall, but poor John kind of got stuck out a little longer and was SOAKED!!  We spent a few hours on the boat and then headed back to the airport.  The clouds were really socking in now, and the pilot said we’d try and head back through a pass.  If the clouds were too bad, we’d have to try and get back another way.  He managed to get us back that way, around clouds and rain.  We saw where the Milford Track goes, and I also was able to see a few kilometers of the Routeburn Track.  Pretty impressive – I’ll put one of those on my bucket list – or maybe both!  The bumpiest part of the flight was coming back into Wanaka.  With all the clouds, I thought we’d really be in for a rough ride, but surprisingly, we did fine.   

This part of New Zealand is amazing.  The scenery is so variable and there are nooks and crannies everywhere.  If you look at a map, you can’t really get a sense of this place.  I’m looking forward to a bungy jump tomorrow and off to Te Anau!

Pictures - hard to decide today!

Car Troubles

Finally, what everyone has been waiting for – a rest (sort of) day!!  We really didn’t plan on a rest day today.  However, if you’ve been following the blog, this event was inevitable!  We planned on taking a 4 hour hike this morning.  After finally getting all our gear loaded, the car didn’t start.  Imagine that!  We are up at Mt. Cook – no services – but at least I had cell service.  It took about 2 hours for the tow truck to come, get us up and running and on our way.  I called the car rental place and told them I wanted a new car.  We finally decided they’d bring me a car in Wanaka where we had reservations.  They didn’t want me shutting off the car to get gas or even in the parking lot when we arrived, so we were kind of stuck until after 3:00 in the afternoon babysitting a car.  Don’t worry, I plan on letting them know this when I return the car.  We stopped at a picnic spot on the way back and let the car run while we ate.  After arriving back in Wanaka, we waited for our new car.  We are both kind of tired from all the fuss and driving, so we just went walking around town here in Wanaka.  I did manage to make some reservations for the next few days so we at least have a plan!  Laundry was done, some cribbage played and I’m ready for a good night’s sleep.  We may try paddle boarding in the morning before our flight to Milford Sound in the afternoon.   After all the driving and the waiting, it really wasn’t much of a rest day after all!

Pictures – a few…

Aoraki/Mt. Cook

OK!  I truly think I’ve run out of superlatives!!  This place is truly amazing.  We think we have an area figured out and whammo!  It’s not at all what we expected!  Last night we decided we’d leave in the morning and head to Mt. Cook Village.  I really thought it would be a nice day drive, but we decided to make a reservation at the village just in case!  WOW!  Glad we did.  We got a late start in the morning, but drove through places we really thought looked like Colorado.  There are lots less trees and it’s very open.  The views are incredible and it feels like home!  Then we get closer to Mt. Cook and there it is!  This gorgeous turquoise lake with the mountain in the background!  The lake is HUGE!  We keep driving and there we are in the middle of all these incredible glaciers just hanging off the mountains and we’re getting closer and closer.  Of course we had to take a hike, so we went on a 3 hour hike to the lake at the base of Mt. Cook.  It’s so amazing and there are glaciers everywhere.  We stayed at the lake, contemplating life, kind of hoping for a little earthquake to see an avalanche and just resting.  We hiked back and headed to our hostel.  It looks like an old ski area resort.  I’m not really sure what it is, but we have this amazing view and we can see Mt. Cook peeking on the edge.  From the bar, where we had a drink, you can see Mt. Cook.  We fixed a delicious omelette with fresh veggies and are sitting on the porch enjoying the view!  Tomorrow, we will hike to Sealy Tarns, high up on a moraine with supposedly great views of glaciers and then head back to Wanaka where we are staying again.  We are having a hard time deciding what to do – mountain biking, hiking, checking out LOTR sites (which are many in this area), but whatever we decide, it will be great!!  Help – I need my thesaurus!

Pictures

Fox Glacier to Wanaka

We thought maybe we’d sleep in this morning, but guess what?  No deal!  Up at 5:30 to ride out to Lake Matheson for the sunrise behind Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook!  What a view.  This lake is a natural lake left from a glacier that has retreated.  It was a real treat.  We headed back in town for a little more time in bed.  Then a girl from Germany, who we met and John played cribbage with last night, came with us for the ride to Wanaka.  We also met a girl from Denver on our tramp, and she was also at the hostel and played cribbage.  She came out to Lake Matheson with us this morning.  I wasn’t sure what to expect on this leg of the voyage to Wanaka, but New Zealand never ceases to amaze!  Haast is a beautiful small town on the south of the West coast, as they call it, right along the ocean.  The ocean pounding into the rocks was impressive.  Outside of Haast, we climbed along a beautiful blue glacial-fed river and went over Haast Pass.  We were driving right around Mt. Aspiring National Park.  I’m not sure why it’s called Mt. Aspiring because it’s totally INSPIRING!!  Not too much farther was Lake Wanaka.  At first, it sort of looked like Blue Mesa, but then we went around a bend and it looked like the ocean!  It’s BIG!  Then over a small “pass” to Lake Hawea.  Unfortunately, when we stopped to take a picture there, we got back into the car and it wouldn’t start – AGAIN!  Luckily, a group from Australia was also at the pull off and they were able to take me down to a place where I could get phone service.  After a 1 ½ hour delay, we were back on the road.  We dropped Klara at her hostel, found ours, went shopping, cooked dinner, and are ready to head out across the park to see the lake!  We’ve made reservations for the town of Mt. Cook tomorrow for some great hiking, and then we’ll be back in Wanaka to maybe do some mountain biking.  Got to still get in that bungee jumping in Queenstown, which isn’t too far!!  However, everyone says the scene in Queenstown is crazy and you won’t meet a local.  We are trying to figure out how to do the bungee jumping and not stay in Queenstown.  Looking at a map, you’d think “no problem” but distances are VERY deceiving in New Zealand!  We still have hopes of getting to Milford Sound and Stewart Island.  I still haven’t seen penguins and that’s the last “must do” on my list.  Everything else will have to wait until my next trip!

Pictures

Copland Track

So this comes under the heading “What do you think you’re doing?”!  I don’t exactly know what possessed me to think that strapping on a real backpack (one with sleeping bag, etc. in it and a terrible fit) after over 20 years and thinking it would be fun to hike in to a hut for 18 km one way and back out the next day the same 18 km would be easy!  Anyway, after all is said and done, we had a great time and I’m not really even that sore!  This is listed as an easy tramp (even though it’s 18km) and I guess it’s relatively easy.  After starting out having to cross a sketchy river, we went up and down, over and under, slipping on rocks and walking through the forest.  In all, it’s only a 1500 ft. gain, but I think with the up and down it had to be at least twice that!  I only fell once, in a waterfall area yesterday, and once, in a different area today.  There is moss, water, logs, and rocks and that all combines for an interesting hike.  We made it to the hut in about 6 hours including lunch.  The track is listed as 7 hours so I felt pretty good.  Welcome Flat Hut sleeps 31 and I think it was full last night.  We got there and sat in the hot springs, which really rested those tired muscles.  We went in again before dinner, and then talked a little to the ranger.  We saw an animal on the way and he thought it might have been a chamois.  I also finally saw the Southern Cross - knock another thing off the list!  This morning, we got up early – well sort of early – and headed down.  That took us 5 ½ hours.  We were glad to see the car!  We drove back to Fox Glacier where we are staying, bought some beer and groceries, and also headed out to the Mt. Cook viewpoint since it’s a clear day!  If we can find a burger tonight, that’s where we’re heading!  Tomorrow, we want to see the sunrise so it’s probably up and out really early and then we’ll hike around Fox Glacier and head to Wanaka.

Pictures

Glacier Country!

On to Franz Josef Glacier

Today started out a little ominous.  We got all packed and ready to go, and the car wouldn’t start.  I know there was nothing left on, but I think the battery cable may have gotten loose.  Anyway, a friendly service man came out, jumped the car, and we were on our way.  We were going to stop at a hot springs we got directions to just outside of Harihari, but decided to keep going since we got started late.  We were able to play a few games of cribbage in which John beat me every time, before we got on the road. 

Now we are seeing the mountains!  We arrived at Franz Josef, checked the i-site area, and the girl sent us to Fox Glacier to see Mt. Cook since the clouds were still pretty scarce.  We got there and Mt. Cook peeked out a couple of times, but we were also able to see a few other mountains.  These mountains stand between 11,000 and just over 12,000 feet and we are standing pretty much at sea level!  Then we headed back to Franz Josef, checked in our hostel and headed out to do a few hikes.  We were able to go to a lookout area and also to the termination point of the glacier.  It’s receding quickly!  We came back into town and booked a backpack up the Copland Track for tomorrow night!  We’ll walk in 18 km tomorrow, sleep in a hut, hopefully sit in the hot springs there, and then head back on Sunday.  We’ll probably stay in Fox Glacier on Sunday night, get up early to see the sunrise from Lake Matheson.  We’ll have to hike in a bit, but then we should hopefully get a good glimpse of Mt. Cook.  I also want to stay up late one night to see the Southern Cross, but haven’t been able to yet.  We are pretty exhausted every night!  We’re packing our backpacks tonight and we’ll get on the road early so we can hit the hike around 9:00!

Pictures

Arthur's Pass

Today, we are staying in Hokitika another night because I really wanted to see Arthur’s Pass.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.  It’s a tiny town at the top of a pass that is very narrow, curvy, and I expect – dangerous at times.  We took a hike to a couple of waterfalls – the Devil’s Punchbowls and Bridal Veil Falls.  Then we talked to the rangers about tramping to hut.  We headed back down to Hokitika and went to the Gorge.  Wow!  This is amazing.  The water is glacial and I haven’t seen that color water since Alaska.  It’s kind of amazing since it’s so warm here and there is no sign of a glacier – yet!  Afterwards, we headed to the beach in Hokitika and went looking for jade!  Tomorrow, we are heading for the glaciers!

Pictures

Punakaiki Rocks

We began in Westport this morning and decided to hike to a seal colony – not really a hike – just 15 minutes.  This 15 minutes turned into an hour or more since we went out to a lighthouse as well.  The views were absolutely stunning.  We saw seals, but even better, we saw lots and lots of seal babies, waddling along the rocks!  After this hike, we headed south and turned off for the Truman Track.  This walk takes you to the coast where the waves crashing into a cove are absolutely deafening.  Every view on this coast is better than the last!  We stayed here longer than we planned because it was so spectacular.  And then, we finally got to Punakaiki Rocks – pancake rocks where the water comes in to blowholes and crashes up against them.  Today was amazing because the waves were crashing in at the right angle.  The chimney pot was a place where water would get into this cave and squeeze it’s way into a small hole and it looked like a volcano!  So many amazing things!  I know I keep using these adjectives to describe something that really is indescribable.  After this, we lunched with the wekas and seagulls and made our way to this fun hostel called Birdsong.  We’ll stay here 2 nights because we’ll drive to Arthur’s Pass tomorrow.  We are directly across the street from the beach so that’s where we’re heading tonight to watch the sunset.  We also went into town for groceries and looked at some jade which is mined near here. 

Pictures

Westport

Today was a driving day.  We started out going back up Takaka Hill.  Near the top, there was a turnoff for Canaan Scenic Reserve.  We drove about 11 km down this road.  During the LOTR, there was some filming done here.  Then back out to the road and into the town of Motueka.  There we exchanged some money, looked for a kite for John (didn’t find one), got some gas, and bought some cherries.  The boy at the bank is a student at Otago and he and John talked a bit.  The drive was beautiful as usual.  We did drive down another road where the LOTR had some filming.  That was worth the extra time.  Then we had some ice cream and bought some honey at a local stand.  From there, we headed along the Buller River and crossed on New Zealand’s longest swing bridge.  The mountains on this drive remind me a lot of Colorado.  However, the vegetation is definitely different!  We finally arrived in Westport where we are staying at a delightful hostel.

Pictures

Abel Tasman

This morning, John and Greg went for a mountain bike ride.  I guess there was a lot of uphill, but then a lot of fun downhill, too.  I stayed back and relaxed, planning our trip for the next few days.  Sheila came down and gave me a tour of their land, all the fruit trees and gardens.  It’s a beautiful place.  After John and Greg got back, Sheila, John and I packed up and drove to the Abel Tasman National Park.  We took about a 5 hour hike there and back to Separation Point where there is a seal colony.  We got to see some seals, and also birds.  The beaches were so beautiful and we passed a bunch of them.  Sheila wanted to take us to the entrance by boat and hike back, but it was much too windy.  We did get to see their old tugboat in the slip, though.  At the point, we saw some seals.  They are also trying to establish some colonies of birds there, and they have decoys and calls to attract the birds.   Sheila and I hiked back the same way, but sent John on around the corner and we picked him up at the town of Wanui.  We had to drive back over the hill to get to John’s pick up point.  He had been waiting there for about ½ hour for us.  What a wonderful day!  We headed back to town, got some groceries, and then Greg made us yummy mutton steaks!  We ate and drank and got back to the “love shack” to get some sleep.  We’ll have breakfast with Sheila in the morning and then head out to continue our trip.  I kind of feel like we’ve spent a few days in Lothlorien before heading out back into the warg territory – not really…  But really – it’s been fun!!  Thanks so much for everything Sheila and Greg!!!

Pictures

To the South!

Life is crazy.  It’s amazing how small the Earth truly is…  While in the Corner Cupboard in Gunnison one day, I was talking about going to New Zealand with John.  The girl I talked to pointed me to Sheila Northover, who lives in New Zealand for 3 months of the year.  We got to talking, and she gave me her card and told me to give her a call when we got to the South Island.  I did and BOY!  What a great thing!  Sheila invited us to her house in Takaka.  It’s in Golden Bay on the north side of the island near Abel Tasman National Park.

After a busy morning getting the car to the ferry, turning it in, getting on the ferry for a 10:30 departure, a 3 hour ride across the straits, and into Picton, we finally got our 2^nd rental car and headed into the south.  The mountains are taller and greener and the valleys much bigger.  My goodness, there are things growing everywhere.  We saw vineyard after vineyard, and orchard after orchard.  We stopped and bought some local wine, beer, and cherries and then headed to Sheila and Greg’s place.  Needless to say, it’s jaw dropping!  We came off of Takaka Hill and the valley is green and broad leading to views of Golden Bay.  We lucked out and ran into Greg’s parents, Jo and Pax, on the way in and they led us to the house.  Sheila fed us a wonderful seafood dish and we talked and asked lots of questions.  Afterward, Sheila took us to the “love shack” where she and Greg used to live before they built their house on the hill.  This is truly heaven.  We have a little kitchen, a couple of beds, shower and just the best place ever.  John doesn’t want to leave!  

Pictures

A Week has gone by!

We've been in New Zealand a week now.  It seems much longer as we've packed in the adventure!  Today was a day of travel - mostly.  We started out by visiting the ski area Whakapapa in the Tongoriro National Park.  It's a pretty amazing place as it sits on a volcano.  Thankfully, our feet and legs were sore because there are some great hikes up on the volcano, but the weather wasn't great today.  After checking that out, we headed to Wellington where we'll catch our ferry tomorrow.  Wellington is a great town!  I'd love to spend more time here!  We visited the Te Papa museum which is FREE and it's a very neat place.  We also walked along the beach.  While driving down, we stopped at a fruit and vegetable stand and cooked an amazing omelette with all sorts of goodies for dinner!  Our hostel is very large and has a couple of kitchens and more lounges.  We'll get up early in the morning to catch our ferry for the 3 hour trip over.  Hopefully, the wind will stop blowing quite so hard because it's wailing right now!  Looking so forward to spending time on the south island!


Pictures

Tongoriro Alpine Crossing

What a hike!  It’s 19.4 km to do the whole thing.  The elevation starts about 1100 m and climbs to nearly 2000 m at the highest point.  However, there is some up and down.  John climbed Mt. Ngauruhoe, which is 2291 m.  It’s also the volcano featured in The Lord of the Rings – Mt. Doom!  I only made it about ½ way up.  I was carrying a camera, which kept banging on rocks and I’d make 1 foot forward motion for every 3 feet I attempted!  I am glad I turned around when I did because I needed every ounce of energy to complete the rest of the hike!  We saw lakes, craters, steaming vents, and lots of lava rock.  The scenery was spectacular.  It’s an amazing place, but the whole while I was hoping the volcano wouldn’t decide to erupt!  There are warning signs everywhere!  We are now back at the hostel, I have a hostel booked for tomorrow night in Wellington.  On Sunday, we are off to the south!  We’re pretty tired but have to go figure out some food for dinner and breakfast…

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Day 6!

Waitomo Caves

Another amazing day!  We were lucky to find a good deal on line, but had to wait until 1:30 to begin our caving adventure.  So in order to kill time – hah! – nothing to do…  Anyway, we had a leisurely morning and I helped the guy in charge of the hostel feed the animals – pigs, cows, red deer, goats, sheep, a regular farm.  We then packed up and headed to town for breakfast.  There is a great hike leaving right from town so we did that.  It was part bush walk, part lookout, and part cave.  The cave was a natural bridge area and very beautiful.  After the hike, we went back into town and booked our passage to the south island for Sunday.  A little lunch – glad we did that, and off to the black water rafting.  This was quite the caving trip.  We hiked (in wet suits and gum boots), climbed into the entrance, squeezed through a bunch of tight places, tubed in the water areas with lots of glowworms.  More squeezing and swimming and finally after about 3 ½ hours, we emerged to hike back to where we left all our clothes.  At about 5:30, we headed to National Park in order to get there by 8:00 where we have reservations.  I also booked us a round trip shuttle for the Tongoriro Alpine Crossing tomorrow.  We have a nice room, but not good wireless.  We went to a local place for dinner and then crashed!  All the stores were closed so we couldn’t get anything for breakfast or our crossing.  We’ll survive.  We still have some food left!

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Caving pictures

Rafting on the Kaituna!

The Kaituna!  What a rafting experience!  Yes, it’s the highest waterfall that the majority of rafts go over, but it’s also a relatively safe river!  We started our day by leaving our very nice hostel and driving around Lake Rotorua to the falls.  There we hopped on a raft and rafted through this very narrow, amazing gorge with vegetation everywhere.  The rocks are nice and smooth – unlike the Taylor – and the water is pretty warm – AGAIN – unlike the Taylor.  It’s a short trip, but a very memorable one as there are many “waterfalls”!  The biggest is 21 meters high!  It’s narrow and a straight drop right down.  Unfortunately, I was jinxed by having to be the leaf reader in the boat to tell us if we’d make it safely or flip.  I ended up going out of the boat when we hit bottom and got tossed around a bit.  The rest of the people in the boat managed to stay in.  It was still a blast and we went over more falls.  Afterwards, we hiked to the lookouts to see the falls from the shore.

After the raft trip, we headed back to Rotorua to walk amongst the Redwoods.  We then went to a public park – right in town – where there are mud pots, boiling water, and steam!  AMAZING!  Then the gorgeous drive to Waitomo where we’ll be black water rafting (tubing) in caves tomorrow and where we’ll get to see the glowworms.  We’ve got our hostel all booked for the next two nights and with any luck, will head down after our adventure to do the Tongoriro Crossing – MORDOR!!!

No rest for the weary….

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The Shire!!

We made it to the Shire!  Oh My Goodness!!  A dream come true!

We had a bit of shopping to do in Auckland which went without a hitch - surprisingly...  Then down the road to Matamata.  John is becoming quite the navigator!  The set was spectacular and even though we had no reservations, we were able to get on a trip right away!  After the trip through Hobbiton, we worked our way down to Rotorua and have a Kaituna raft trip waiting for us in the morning!  Should be a great day and we really needed a little down time today!

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A huge day!  We saw the HUGE Kauri trees.  These trees are truly amazing.  However, the west coast of New Zealand is awe-inspiring itself!  Sand dunes the size of most mountains, turquoise blue water, forests so dense it's amazing that any human being was able to navigate them, and of course the beaches.  We started pretty early with a wonderful breakfast in our hostel overlooking the beach.  We then headed across the continent to marvel at the ocean and the forests.  We walked among them for a few brief hours.  Then on our quest to find Karikari.  John picks up from here...

After spending 2 hours searching for this particular black sand beach desperately awaiting our lonesome footsteps, we were ready to call it quits and head into Auckland for the evening. The minimal signage pointing to the location of the beach only added to its mysteriousness and mystique, which consequently added to long hours of mind numbing navigation in back roads around New Zealand (not all bad I must admit). Anywhere hidden and difficult to find only indicates sacredness and creates pure moments at the crossroads of beauty and adventure creating the perfect formula for bliss.  The moral of traveling, and life I suppose; if you choose to dig in the  tailed dirt, don't expect to find gold.  Much frustration and small bursts of anger, tiredness and hunger nearly blunted our quest, but we finally made it to Karikari beach on the evening of January 12th, 2015.  While some are lucky enough to call this hidden NZ gem home, I was merely lucky enough to spend a brief and inspirational moment on the beach with my mom. Upon arrival, I quickly let my shirt fall easily to the sand and leapt into the inviting, infinite ocean before me washing away any previous skepticism of navigating the curvy mazes around the countryside. Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, this adventure marks one of my favorite experiences in NZ so far (although everything has been exceptional). Our cold souls have remained in constant motion since we stepped into the kind NZ air only a few days ago. More stories await around every jungle ridden, left side driving, steep, rolling corner and the unexpected journey has only just begun. 

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Yeah - sea kayaking!  Cross that off the list!  However, we went in to a river and got to kayak under a falls!  Then we headed back to town and found a room at a hostel.  It was so cool - about a block from the beach!  We walked to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where the English and Maori signed an import treaty.  The grounds were beautiful and we had a wonderful guide.  The singing was amazing.  Then we headed by ferry to Russell - a quaint town that has a sordid past.  We had lamb for dinner and then back to the hostel to crash!

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Saturday, January 10, 2015

We seemed to have lost a day...  I can't seem to figure out where it went!  We left Denver a little late, but around 3:40.  No surprise - a full flight to San Francisco.  We arrived in plenty of time to make it to our connecting flight to Auckland which left at 7:35.  That flight was also full!  However, unlike the trips to India and back, all the passengers were very well behaved - quiet and staying in seats.  I was able to sleep most of the way surprisingly.  I did wake up about 2:30 A.M. Auckland time.  We landed in Auckland about 6:00.  Customs was pretty easy, except our hiking boots had to be washed and our tent had to be inspected and shaken out.  I was able to easily get a car rented and cell phone sim cards swapped out to be used in NZ.  We met Clay Nelson, the man with whom I've been emailing about things to do and see in NZ.  We had breakfast and then he decided to lead us out of town so we could get to the Bay of Islands.  Well, driving on the wrong side of the road is interesting.  John had to remind me a few times while driving to get on the left, but overall, I think I did OK.  We made it to the Bay of Islands after stopping for lunch in a small town overlooking a marina.  The Bay of Islands is beautiful, but we are SOOOOO tired.  We walked around, did a little shopping, ate dinner and are trying to stay awake until an acceptable hour.  I've booked us a kayaking adventure tomorrow where we'll be able to kayak underneath a waterfall.  We think we'll stay another night in this town so we'll probably either sit on the beach, or possibly rent a sea kayak to mess around a little more!  Here are a few pictures!

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