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.