Photo Update, Summer Weather, finally...

It's New Year's Eve and we have a decent Internet connection so I am making some time for photo posting. Tonight Queenstown's population will quadruple and party city will be on full blast. We already see 2 band venues set up along the waterfront where the fireworks will be. I was confirming the fireworks logistics with a police officer I met at our condo complex. He and several other officers are here on loan from Dunedin (4 hours away) to help manage the festivities. Yikes!!

A look at Queenstown from the top of the gondola. This is the "jumping off point" for parasailing, mountain biking and the luge. Of coursed there is a bungy jump, too.

My sister, mother and brother-in-law on our jet boat ride before my mother decided she had enough but there were still 30 more minutes to go. Oops! Here we go again with a 360 degree spin. Wahoo!

I never met these people before but they let me take their picture at 10 AM eating the famous Ferburger. Folks get up early and stay up late to stand in long lines for this. We have passed on it.

Food options here are definitely at the top of the rating scale. We had a 7 course dinner with wine pairings at the Amisfield Winery. This was John's pinot poached pear with hokey pokey and house made sorbet. We did the "trust the chef" option and had some pretty unexpected food. We liked the squid fried in its own ink. When it was served it looked charcoal black burnt.



Holidays in Queenstown

I wish I could get more photos posted but we have lousy Internet options here. I just wanted to let everyone know we had a nice warm and sunny Christmas with my family here in Queenstown. Our 4 bedroom house had a killer view of Lake Wakapitu and The Remarkables (mountains). We did lots of touring of the town and area together. We all enjoyed the Birdlife Park with kiwi and native birds as well as the taratua. The latter is a reptile unlike any other. It is even in its own scientific order among reptiles.

The gondola offers spectacular views of the town and lake as well as a chance to view parasailing off the top. There is a luge, bungy jumping and mountain biking, too. Always the land of extreme sports. I almost forgot to mention our family outing on the jet boat. Somehow we managed to get my mother on board. She was fine with the first few 360's and the bumpy ride at high speed. After about 15 minutes she said she was done but it was an hour ride. The rest of the clan was squealing with delight.

John was really happy that he got to Skype with his Alaska family but new grandbaby Hunter was napping. Another session is being scheduled so he can see how mmuch he has grown.

In anticipation of the huge fireworks for New Years Eve, we reserved a table with a front row seat.We heard over 30,000 people come to the Queenstown waterfront for the show. We may hit the ice bar afterwards.

We have been "on the road" for over 7 weeks now and admitedly have some bouts of homesickness. We miss all of you and wonder what's new with you. We do have email now and then so feel free to write. Check back soon for photos.

Queenstown

We finally made it to Queenstown where 6 members of my family are meeting us for Christmas. My mother, escorted by one of my nephews, arrived yesterday and hit the ground running. We have already been out to wine country, been bungy jump watching and to the kiwi bird life park. The rest of the crew comes in tomorrow. I have really enjoyed your comments so keep them coming. If you don't want to "sign up" just send me an email. We usually check in every day though that may change while the family is here.

Today was the first time we have seen a kiwi. They are endangered because stoats were introduced to get rid of the rabbit population and found kiwi eggs and chicks an easy meal. Kiwis, being flightless, lay eggs on the ground. Having nearly wiped out the national icon, there is a big push to rid the land of stoats and breed kiwis to grow the population. They are nocturnal making them difficult to see. At the bird center, we viewed them in a very dim red light where no photos were allowed.

This is bungy jumping at the Kawarau Bridge where the whole craze was started by AJ Hackett in 1988. The gorge is spectacular and people seem pretty nuts but it is fun to watch. Only about $140 US for a huge adrenaline rush from the 145 foot bridge. Look closely to the left and near the top of the bridge shadow, to see the jumper. He/she will be retrieved by the raft at the bottom of the screen.

This is the land of all things extreme. We have never seen this before!

View of Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown. This is New Zealand's longest lake.

Cut her off! She said she might have a few sips while we sat on the wharf. This came with 4 straws but she really liked it so good thing we had the wheelchair to get her back to the car. This is my 87 year old mother.

This is a tuatara, a living dinosaur. There are 4 orders of reptiles and this guy is the only member of one of those orders. This grouped has been around over 200 million years, retains some skeletal structure from fish and has a "third eye" in the forehead (covered with skin) that is believed to monitor circadian rhythms and UV rays.There is a local craft beer with this name that has a very cool bottle bearing the bumps of the skin and the sawtooth ribbing of his back running up the bottle neck.

This is the most rare duck in the world. It is from subarctic Campbell Island, south of New Zealand. It is flightless.

Stairway to Heaven

We have been on the move both around New Zealand and hiking. Lake Tekapo and the Mt John Observatory Night Sky Tour were high on my list to experience. This area is the best place to view the night sky in the entire southern hemisphere. Well, it's great unless it is total cloud cover and major winds. We cancelled.

Next up was Mt Cook. No, not for climbing but to visit the area. We got in 2 really great hikes in marginal weather but beautiful alpine scenery. John picked the Sealy Tarns hike with 2200 steps for one of our outings. I swear it went straight up and it really was that many stair steps.

It happens to be absolutely peak season for the lupine and they line the highways everywhere. We certainly have seen millions of them. I was sad to hear they are a serious threat to health of the rivers. They create a root web that stabilizes lands in braided rivers, robbing native plants and animals of the natural river processes they need to survive. Dang, they are so pretty!

Lake Punakaki on the way to Mt Cook. It looks like a swimming pool, unreal turquoise.

There are 3 swing bridges on the Hooker Valley trail at Mt Cook. This trail was very busy.

Mt Cook was very shy, in the clouds almost the entire time we were there. This is the best shot we could get. We were in a restaurant that cleared out as everyone  raced to get their photos during the brief appearance!

This is called the stairway to heaven hike. Great views and worth the climb.

View of Hooker Valley from our stair climb hike, Mt Cook Village on the middle right. Mt Cook is farther to left so not in view here

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Mt Cook lily, for you flower lovers. All of the alpine flowers seem to be white.

Water, water everywhere

We stopped off at Hamner Springs, famous for its thermal waters. John deserved a massage and some water treatment with a good soak after all of his driving. Only one night there then on to the east coast, Kaikoura. The main point of visiting this little peninsula town was to swim with dolphins. That was a scary and fun experience. After getting outfitted in wet suits (no photos, thank you), we rode out into the South Pacific searching for dusky dolphins. These are the  acrobats that jump and spin in fantastical fashion.

We found them and jumped in the sea to get a close encounter. Poor John had major trouble with his mask not sealing due to his facial hair and gave up. I braved the great big ocean for several leaps of faith and got to see them up close and personal.

The peninsula is a limestone formation with numerous coves accessible by a trail on the cliffs. We enjoyed seeing the seals and numerous birds. There is a conservation effort underway for the Hutton shearwater birds.

Next up was Lake Tekapo for the Mt. John Night Sky Observatory. This was one of the highlights I was looking forward to. Unfortunately, the clouds are thick and no stars so we had to cancel. However, the lake is gorgeous with fields of lupine in full bloom.

Tomorrow we head over to Mt Cook which is only 100 km away. We plan for some hiking and to take in the Sir Edmund Hillary Museum.

Kaikoura  peninsula walk on the east coast.

More of  the peninsula walk at Kaikoura. No dolphin swim photos, sorry.

Photo paradise. The water is pure turquoise, probably even better on a sunny day.

Lake Tekapo.

Kayaks, Swing bridges, Caves and more

We couldn't leave Abel Tasman without a kayak outing. It was fine until the westerlies picked up and we had to work really hard to get back. John did the curvy and very difficult driving from Kaiteriteri all the way to Karamea, north end of the road on the west coast of the south island. Along the way we stopped to cross the longest swing bridge in NZ, 110 meters long over the Buller Gorge.

Once in Karamea at our bach (pronounced "batch"), kiwi for vacation cottage, we did a short hike to Scott's Beach along the last part of the Heaphy Track. In 2 hours we never saw a soul and had the beach to ourselves. We squeezed in the Timbers game before the hike...go Timbers!

Today we took a guided hike to the Honeycomb Hills Caves, managed by a public trust and only accessible if guided. The Oparara Basin is full of limestone that millions of years ago was undersea. The tour took us in to a huge cave complex with over 9 miles in passageways. We also visited the largest natural arch in the southern hemisphere which crosses the river. All quite amazing because this area is so remote that virtually no one comes to see these phenomenal features.

Kayaking at Abel Tasman, Split Apple Rock in the background.

Our cute, one bedroom bach in Karamea, $65 a night, very funky.

John crossing the swing bridge on the way to Scott's Beach. We've crossed a swing bridge every day the last 3 days.

Glow worms at Honeycomb Hill Cave. Lots of amazing formations in the cave.

Emerging from the cave. Lots of head room in this cave along with Moa bones and carniverous snails.

Ferns are a symbol of New Zealand for good reason...they abound in many varieties. These were along the trail to the cave.

The Oparara Basin gets about 240 inches of rain a year. The rivers run orange brown from the leaching of leaves along the banks. The leaching makes an acidic tannin tea of the rivers.

Oparara River near Karamea. The subtropical flora has a bayou feel. Ferns, moss, palms, green.

Abel Tasman National Park

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving. We wrapped up our exploration of the Golden Bay area and arrived at Kaiteriteri on Dec 1. This is the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park, New Zealand's smallest but most visited park. We have enjoyed good weather so our 2 day hike on the park track was quite nice. We also did a little kayaking to get another view of this beautiful place.

A different kind of hiking. This was the way to Whararangi Beach near Farewell Spit. "Wh" pronounced "F"

Highlight of this beach along with caves and interesting rock formations.

Along the Abel Tasman Track between Medlands Beach and Awaroa.

Sometimes the trail is boardwalk to protect the wetlands. New Zealand flax is in full bloom now.

Between Awaroa and our boat pick up at Totoranui we had a tidal crossing. It took about 40 minutes including taking boots on and off. We had to time it within 2 hours of low tide. The trail went through forests over headlands then down to the beach for short walks on the sand.

This catamaran picked us up at Totaranui Beach, made a quick stop at Awaroa Lodge where we had stayed the night for our luggage, then we enjoyed a 2 hour cruise the length of the park back to Kaiterteri.

Shoreline of the park.

Photo update

We had fun exploring the Aorere Valley, a dairy farming area on the road to the Heaphy Track (one of NZ's 5 Great Walks). The general store at Bainham was a very funky  art gallery, coffee shop that felt like a junk yard in a barn. The Naked Possum Cafe, however, was quite upscale. Their art gallery features items made from tanned possum hide, an introduced animal that is huge pest. They eat native trees and the eggs of the national symbol, kiwi birds.

We made it out to the end of the Farewell Spit yesterday. Depending on the tide, it can be as long as 35 km. Tides here are very long because the land is flat allowing the water to go way out. We had hoped to see more birds but did see oyster catchers and godwits.

A view of Nelson from a lookout at what has been determined to be "the centre of New Zealand".

One of the dozens of phenomenal costumes from the Wearable Art Museum. Oddly, perhaps in a nod to the men, the other half of the museum displays classic cars.

John has done all of the driving so far while I serve as navigator. The road to Collingwood from Nelson goes over Tanaka Hill which is an extraordinarily curvy road. Good job John!

This is a shot of the Te Waikoropupu Springs, a sacred Maori site. Most place names here are in the Maori language. It's been hard for me to learn to pronounce these names! The springs put out 14,000 liters of water per second and are touted as the purest water in the world. Note the clear aqua water.

This is Cape Farewell, the northernmost point of the south island. Seals hang out here. We stopped here as part our tour to Farewell Spit.

Milnthorpe Beach is typical of the area. The tide is out making the beach extra wide. Not a soul here though we just missed a wedding that caused the entire region to shut down. We had trouble finding a restaurant open as far as 30 minutes away. Parts of the beach are totally covered with seashells. It made me sad to walk on them making them crunch and break under foot. Most of them were whole.

I am continuing my accreditation work LOL. We took a little wine tasting tour and I just had to get his photo. Amazing wines here, mostly famous for the Sauvignon Blanc and top notch Pinot Noir.

Collingwood and Takaka

Just a short note to let you know we are out on the NW tip of the South Island, really close to the end of the road. It feels like the end of the earth, too. We drove 30 min to the nearest ATM to get cash for our lodging payment. Along the way to day we did a short walk to see some very unusual limestone rock formations, hiked 4km to see a great waterfall then found a sacred Maori springs for another little walk.

We were hoping to explore the little art shops and hang out in Takaka this PM but the place was shut down because virtually everyone took off for a wedding. We caught up with the action at the beach where the event had just ended. It was an endless sandy beach with millions of seashells, mostly unbroken. I wish I could have collected them!

Tomorrow we head out to the Farewell Spit at the end of the island for an all day adventure seeing wading birds, 100' high sand dunes and a lighthouse. Check back for photos to be posted soon.

Sunny Nelson and trip photos

We have moved on the Nelson, still on the very north end of the south island. We had a short bus ride here through the famous Marlborough wine country. Lots of great Sauvignon Blanc. The weather has turned summer like so we did a walk to the beach. I have finally managed to down load some photos from our 43 mile hike on the Queen Charlotte Track. Note the gigantic tree ferns. The highest elevation point was only 407 meters but we had loads of up and down all day every day.

The last shot is little Picton with only 300 people and a million visitors a year passing through on the ferry from the north island.

Queen Charlotte Track

We survived the 43.5 mile hike around the Queen Charlotte Sound. We were so lucky because John insisted on a rest day after the 14 mile segment on the third day. What a wimp but OK. Well, he was right on in 2 ways: first, we were really dead tired and fighting colds so a break was very nice, second, it was pouring sheets of rain and high winds that whole day! We would have been hiking 12 miles in pure crap weather. Thank you John.

So a bit about the Track (trail). We went resort to resort with our luggage hauled by the boat while we only wore our day packs. Parts of the trail were very steep with surface often of hard pack clay. That can be super slippery when wet! The terrain generally was up and down as we were skirting the sound. The native forest was very different from our home turf. There were many 30-40 foot tree ferns. Yes, real ferns that are trees. This is a subtropical climate with many unusual plants. We have been introduced to many fantastic birds which sang to us all along the hike.

Our B&B in Picton, end of the track, has limited Internet access so we have to wait until Nelson, our next stop, tomorrow to get you those long promised photos.

Hello Picton, South Island

We left Wellington today, crossing the Cook Strait in fine weather. I wish I was having better luck at posting photos. Keep checking as I am sure to have it figured out soon.

We had a week long chilly time in Wellington with some great adventures. On a lark, we went to a soccer game and Wellington won aginst the Aussies. We also went to the new James Bond movie and the musical Evita. For day time activities, it was hard to beat the WW1 Memorial and Te Papa Museum, both with extraordinary exhibits created by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, etc.)

Tomorrow we will take a ferry to the Queen Charlotte Walk trail head for the start of a 5 day trek along Marlborough Sound. The terrain is similar to Puget Sound but, honestly, even more gorgeous. While the days are long with up to 14 miles, we are staying a resorts with full services. More about all of that next time.

Tongariro Crossing and Wellington

The weather in Wellington could be a bit better. It feels a lot like home with rain and wind, chilly. That turned today into an outing at the Te Papa Museum, New Zealand's national museum. Now we find our remaining 4 days here planned around the weather. Things on our to do list include a guided tour of Parliament, a spin through the Reserve Bank Museum (sort of like the Federal Reserve Bank) and especially a tour of Peter Jackson's studios. Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Avatar and many exquisite movies were made here.

The top pic is from our fantastic hike on the Tongariro Crossing. This very active volcanic area offers a wide array of terrain over a 12.4 mile trek. We are still recovering from that one!

There is much public art as shown in the middle shot of a statue along the Wellington waterfront. Fortunately the main shopping streets have cover so we are not so impacted by the rain.

The last photo is and example of the scenery from our 2 train rides. once outside the cities we saw miles of pasture land with sheep. There are about 4.4 million kiwis (New Zealanders) and 10 times as many sheep, or so I've heard.

On the move

We've been on the move since landing here so sorry for not keeping you posted. We took the train to the center of the north island to do the famous Tongariro Crossing hike through stunning volcanic lands. Then we caught the train from there to Wellington where it has been windy and rather chilly all day.

We have walked much of the city center seeing the waterfront, botanical gardens and government building here in the capital. Lots to see and do but we have a whole week so no rush. We are thrilled with our airbnb lodging with a huge 2 room suite and full run of the old Victorian house which is very central.

Photos should be up in a couple of days. Thanks for checking on our adventure.

Spoiled rotten

No going back now! First class seats, dinner and free drinks in the lounge, pretty nice start to our trip.