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New Zealand
(South Island)
We left the North Island of New Zealand and landed on the South Island Wednesday, August 30th. The Interislander ferry took us from Wellington to Picton. It was a beautiful three-hour cruise (fortunately it didn't end like Gilligan's).
Wednesday night we drove into Blenheim and stayed at the Marlbourgh Motel. On the way into Blenheim we started to see why the locals call the South Island "another world" from the North. It is much more untamed. Wild rolling hills, rugged shorelines with intense crashing waves. It feels like we have crossed over to a different continent.
Thursday, the 31st, we drove to Kaikoura and went on a fantastic hike around the peninsula just outside of town. The views on the shore hike and the cliff hike were amazing. Surrounded by wide-eyed sheep, cows, amazing seal colonies, and hundreds of sea gulls the scene was quite surreal. We even saw a couple of huge birds that we think were albatross.
Friday, September 1st, after a good night’s rest at The Anchor Inn in Kaikoura, we went out looking for sperm whales in a small plane. Joel got to be the copilot, which seemed to make the other passengers, including Lisa, a bit uneasy. But we made it up and down without a scratch and we even got to see a huge sperm whale.
Saturday we woke up at Delorenzo's Motel, in Nelson. We went to the post office to send back some beautiful shells Lisa had found on the Kaikoura Hike. Outside the post office Joel threw away a pair of cheesy leopard colored sunglasses that we had received free with a drink we got at Planet Hollywood in Auckand and a shirt that had been ruined in the wash. Later that day, at the local market, Lisa found a ring she really liked. As the local merchant was sizing it for her, his small daughter and wife returned from doing some errands in town. His daughter was very excited, you see she had found a pair of "really neat" sunglasses in the trash. She was quick to point out that there was also a man's shirt in the bin she had found them in. She theorized that the shirt and glasses had been discarded by a bankrobber! She was so adamant about her story and so excited about her find, that Lisa decided to just smile and let her have her story. Small world -- huh?
We spent Saturday night in Nelson at The Palm Motel. This was really a pretty nice motel as have been many of motels we have been staying in. We normally would be staying in more budget accommodations like backpackers’ hostels, but the exchange rate in New Zealand is so good right now we can't resist taking advantage of it and being a little "snobby snob". For example, The Palm cost $85.00 New Zealand dollars per night. We heard on the radio just today that the exchange rate is at an ALL TIME low right now -- it only costs $0.41 US dollars to get $1.00 New Zealand dollar -- so the room only cost $34.85 in US dollars. Sunday the 3rd we stocked up on food and drove to the trailhead of The Abel Tasman Coastal Track and went for a 4 day, 3-night hike. Before we even got started we meet a real interesting character, Jimmy, at an art studio located right at the trailhead. After some coffee and interesting conversation with Jimmy we headed down the trail. We had heard that this tramp (that's what Kiwis (New Zealanders) call hiking) was one of the most beautiful in the entire country and it didn't disappoint. It was absolutely amazing.
In Tibet they believe that going on long journeys too spiritual places is a purification process. The more difficult the journey, the deeper the level of purification. We believe we received a high level of purification on our four-day tramp over the Abel Tasman -- it was definitely difficult, but you would be hard pressed to find more beautiful scenery anywhere in the world. Deep, lush tropical forests, cascading waterfalls, suspension bridges draped over rushing rivers, amazing coastal vistas, hidden lookout views perched on monumental cliffs, birds of every shape and color serenading us as we walked through mother nature's beautiful collage of life -- simply amazing.
Wednesday, the 6th, still basking in the high provided by The Abel Tasman, we drove south to Westport, had a great big steak dinner at Baille's Pub and slumbered at Chelsea Gateway Motel.
Thursday, the 7th, we drove further south to Greymouth. On the way we witnessed the amazing West Coast of South New Zealand in all its glory --- huge crashing waves, mountains covered with green, rock formations carved into beautiful shapes by the wind, the sea and time. This beauty was truly evident at The Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes at Punakaiki.
Thursday night we stayed at The Alpine Rose in Greymouth. We enjoyed a pizza in our room as we watched CNN. The violent situation in Indonesia, specifically West Timor, is very interesting to us as it might affect our plans in South East Asia.
Friday, the 8th we drove into Hokitika. Hokitika is well known as a center of art and craftsmanship. Shops adorn the town, containing some of the most beautiful, jade, glass and wooden works of art we have ever seen.
We purchased an amazing hand crafted, blown glass vase and a truly original chess set -- the chess pieces are shaped as penguins in similar glass as the vase and the board is made from two woods native to only New Zealand. It was a wonderful experience to be able to meet the craftsman and see him at work, blowing glass right at his kiln.
Another interesting attraction in Hokitika is Westland's Water World. You can see a guy put on scuba diving gear and get into a tank filled with huge eels and watch him feed them by hand -- very bizarre.
After a wonderful day in Hokitika, we headed further south -- with the plan being to get to the Queenstown area and do some skiing. After sleeping in Haast at the World Heritage Motel (we don't recommend it) we found out the road south to Queenstown was closed at the Haast Pass because of the snow.
We have hit a patch of bad weather of late. It has been raining in the form of a consistent heavy downpour for about 4 days. This rain takes the form of snow up in the mountains around Queenstown making the road impassible. Not only are there white out conditions on the roads, even the fields (that's what Kiwis call ski slopes) are closed because of too much snow. How often do you hear of skiing facilities complaining of too much snow? It turns out the snow dump in southern New Zealand is the biggest in about 30 years. We decided to head back north to Hokitika (the only road to take) because when we asked the lady at the petrol station if she thought we could get through, she said, "If you have 4 wheel drive and chains on your tires and you follow a snow plough, you might get through.". The road back to Hokitika and then across the island to Christchurch, through Arthur's Pass, was amazing even with the heavy rains. The scenery around Arthur's Pass is beautiful. Huge, snow peaked mountains, and cascading waterfalls surround you as you weave your way through the beautiful landscape.
We spent the night of the 9th, in Christchurch. We had a fantastic Indonesian meal and then lounged in our hotel room, at the George Hotel. It's nice to just lounge and do some light reading sometimes.
Sunday, the 10th, we went to the Canterbury Museum where, in addition to many other fantastic exhibits, they had an exhibition devoted to Antarctic Exploration.
After touring the Canterbury Museum we gazed at some amazing works of art at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery and then did some shopping. Lisa found some very unusual hand crafted, blown glass wineglasses she had to have. Sunday night we again stayed at the George Hotel.
Monday, the 11th, after climbing to the top of the bell tower of The Christchurch Cathedral, we drove to Methven, a sleepy little skiing village next to Mt. Hutt. We stayed at the Sovereign Hotel sleeping the night away, dreaming about the skiing we were going to experience the following day.
Tuesday, the 12th, we went skiing at Mt. Hutt. The weather was absolutely fantastic compared to rain, rain, rain we had been getting the past few days. Mt. Hutt was quite an experience. First, since our rental car was two-wheel drive, we had to rent chains for our tires just to set up to the lodge. The drive to the lodge, with its huge vertical drops right on the side of the road, definitely gets the heart pumping. The first thing we noticed at the top was a couple of "cheeky" Keas in the parking lot. These huge parrot like birds love to chew on the rubber on cars.
They were really doing a number on the ski rack on the car next to us. Next we had to get some rental equipment. The staff was amazed by the size of Joel's feet. Joel had to get size 15 and a half, in American size, and the boots were still too tight. Adding to the humor of the situation was the fact that they had to give him special skis so the bindings would fit the boots. The skis had written right on them "BIG FEET". Do your feet grow as you get older? Joel has always had big feet, but this is getting a little ridiculous.
The view from the top of the chair lift was spectacular. We were literally above the clouds as huge flat surfaces of snow ran into green lush valleys covered by a ceiling of white clouds.
The skiing was excellent and we had a great time. We both had ear to ear smiles on our faces as we walked out to the car -- that was until we got to the car. Our key to the rental car broke off in the trunk lock. The key was now useless for starting the car. Our only alternative was to call a tow truck to come all the way to the top of the mountain to try to help us. Of all places for something like this to happen! The woman on the phone from the rental Car Company was very helpful and she told Lisa "Mr. Moses was on his way with a tow truck." Joel went to wait for Mr. Moses at the entrance. When he finally arrived, Joel flagged him down and said to the driver "Are you Mr. Moses?". The driver looked back at Joel, with a very confused face and said "What?". "Are you Mr. Moses?", Joel replied. Again the driver of the tow truck was very confused and said "I'm here to help some people with a broken key. Who's Mr. Moses?". It was then that Joel noticed the sign on the door of the tow truck read -- Methven Motors. It turns out that the woman on the phone had been saying Methven Motors not Mr. Moses.
Well, the tow truck driver got a big kick out of that. He turned out to be our savior as he proceeded to unlock the steering column and hot-wired the car. We were mobile again! Never mind that we needed our Swiss Army knife to start the car, at least we were on our way. On the way back to Christchurch we found a rather interesting obstacle in the road. We spent Tuesday night at the Park Royal Hotel.
Wednesday, the 13th was our departure day from New Zealand. We hopped on a big jet plane and flew to the Land of Oz, Sydney, Australia.