New Zealand - South Island

On the way to the Hooker Glacier, Mt Cook - Hooker Track
Jim and Lea near the Hooker Glacier with Mt. Cook in the background

May 5, 2007

Central City YHA – nice hostel – we had a twin inner room with only a skylight – tight quarters – but who cares when we were so tired. In the upstairs lounge room, we found two computers, checked our e-mail – tuned in for a few minutes to the movie people were watching –the first or last Star Wars, but then chose to wander out and see what the city looked like at night.

Found an Indian restaurant on the corner – the corner of Gloucester and Manchester Streets. We each tried a different NZ white – Hawk’s Bay Church Street Chardonnay for me and Stoneleigh Sav Blanc for Jim - both really nice. We sat by the window and just looked at each other – we toasted to New Zealand with big smiles.

MAY 6, 2007

Jim and I walked around the block to Moko for a very nice latte. Out the window we saw the cable car which tours around the city and is a nice tourist attraction – not for us today.
We met Jim’s sister, Dotty, back at the Youth Hostel – how long has it been since we saw her? Years! Jim’s brother’s son, Orlin’s, graduation? She looked great in her green crocs which matched her huge green duffle bag!

We rented a car after numerous phone calls – met some nice guys from Israel while we signed the paper work. They were trying to talk us in to bungy jumping! Of the 3 guys, 2 did the bungy jump – the one with the wedding band on his left hand did not. With the loaded station wagon we headed off to buy food before heading south on Rt1.

Lake Tekapo wowed us with majestic mountains beyond turquoise waters. From the plains we headed into the hills and then along a plateau before really getting into the mountains. Drove around another big blue beautiful lake – Lake Pukaki -and then before we knew it we were at the YHA at Mt. Cook. Settled in our triple – bunk beds and a single – tight quarters - feels like we are in a tent with more head room. We fixed a delicious dinner in the hostel kitchen – dill mushroom chicken, cauliflower, brown rice and salad – strawberries for dessert. Great fun as we spent time chatting about old times at the Watsons of Coopersburg.

We watched Finding Nemo with some nice folks- Charlette from Canada and her friend from Scotland – conversations about how humans and fruit flies are more alike than you’d think, Andrew Stanton from Rockport, and our work found us talking into the night – Dotty dragged us out to see the bright moon over the mountains – spritzing a little rain tonight – we hope for a clear day tomorrow.

MAY 7, 2007

Here we are at MT COOK – the highest mountain in New Zealand - Aoraki, the Maori name which means “cloud pincher”. We woke to rain – pouring rain – Jim either couldn’t hear it or was in denial. Jim made oatmeal with raisins for breakfast – where’s the coffee? Fished it out of the bin!

The history of the huts at Mt. Cook was fascinating. They made the first one in 1949 and parachuted the materials in from an airplane – dropped them on to the glacier and the workers glicaded down on the materials using the parachutes to slow them down. There is a picture of these guys flying down the glacier on timber – really cool. They were the first of the NZ extreme adventure sporters – and it was free for them! It took them a year or two to build it and the first year that they went up to use it – it was gone! Wiped out by an avalanche! Mt Cook is one of the premiere mountain climbing areas of the world.

With our hiking boots on, we headed for the Hooker track which leads in to the Hooker Lake. Brisk morning walk – windy – very windy – and still high clouds on the mountain peaks – but we heard that it was going to clear. We stopped at Mueller lake – the color of chai tea with dirty icebergs floating –broken off from the huge glacier which looked like part of the mountain because it was full of dirt. The first suspension bridge was not that scary – looking down the greenish milky glacier water raging below. But the path winding around the cliff to get to it was! After we crossed the river, hiked up over the hill turning the corner – BOOM! Snow capped Mt Cook appeared in Splendor. 12, 600 ft reaching high into the blue sky – clouds streaming by – pinching ourselves we screamed with delight at such a view. A family of four from Melbourne were with us commenting on the magnificence and we decided to yell in unison– at the count of three – “AWESOME!”

I just could not take enough pictures of this wild New Zealand mountain as we kept walking in to Hooker Lake where we witnessed pieces of the Hooker Glacier break off and begin their float down to the ocean. We tried to hurry to meet Dotty who thought the second bridge was just too scary to cross, but so many people felt like chatting along the trail. Everyone was happy the weather had cleared – apparently there are only about 150 days a year when you can actually see the mountain.

Feeling very lucky, we met up with Dotty back at the YHA – she had saved us some lunch from the BBQ they had had celebrating 75 years of YHA NZ- hung out at this great spot before heading over to see the other glacier up the other valley.Met Kieran and Chris – two “mt boys” who had just climbed across the ridge – we laughed and joked with them enjoying the sun setting on the amazing mountain backdrop. Kieran managed a vineyard up near Crabtree Vineyard and Chris (age 32) had been working with a company that creates custom bikes in NZ, but was moving back to Canada in 6 days – Missasoga! We sang a few verses of Missasoga Rattlesnakes for him and he laughed realizing Americans in New Zealand knew a song from his childhood. The really amazing thing about Chris was that when he asked us what we did and I answered; “I’m an Auditory-Verbal Therapist”, he knew what an AVT was! Being from Toronto area, and his nephew had received some special ed services – he was a pretty knowledgeable guy!

Back in the car, we bussed down to Twizle where we found Shawty’s which we thought was “Shorty’s” – internet – wireless to skype Hillary back at Cora Barclay Centre for her weekly mentoring session via skype – it worked well!

Drove the wild roads to Wanaka under a star studded sky – very bright stars! Found the YHA tucked away on a residential street. Brrr – getting chilly here. Whipped up a veggie rice stirfry – nice bottle of Shingle Peak Sav Blanc as we tried to plan out the next few days of travel.




Roadside views of Lake Wanaka




Tuesday May 8, 2007
Wanaka is a lakeside town – reminds us of Switzerland with huge mountains coming right out of the blue lake. We wandered around the corner neat the pretty beach and had a latte at Kia with the Kia girls serving us outside on the front sidewalk. Morning sun beamed down warming us in the slight chill of the NZ fall.

Hiking up Mt Iron gave a 360 degree view of Wanaka, the fastest growing town in the South Island. Nice sheep grazing on the hillside, bright red berries, yellows and oranges of autumn gave us a gorgeous look at this peaceful place.

We drove the “long and winding road” and Dotty sang about it! Cardrona was a quaint place half way along – a ski area there – now closed- can just imagine the place full of snow. Skinny two lane road meandering through the mountains like a river carved naturally as we passed mountains and more mountains.

From way up high we could look down on Queenstown our destination – right on another lake – Lake Wakatipu! Whew! It was a steep switchback going down into town with a car tailgating us all the way!

Finally at the bottom, we took a right turn for a jaunt up to Arrowtown, a small old gold miner’s town – one street remodeled into a touristy place, but very pretty! We had the quintessential New Zealand Fish and Chips at the Shed and sat in the afternoon sun admiring the fall colors all around us. In and out of shops we were tempted to purchase some goods – Jim tried on a vest that just fit! Nice saleswoman offered to have is shipped home for us and that was the clinching deal. We admired Pau shell – similar to abalone – beautiful greens and blues and shiny.

Queenstown is a great little city built on the sides of mountains with a main street right along a huge lake. We watched NZ14 an America’s Cup sailboat slowly sailing with a dark sail set against the brightly lit backdrop of huge multicolored brown mountains. Also we spotted an old steam ship taking the evening tour. We wonder if driving in here is more spectacular than actually seeing the sights from the town.

We hiked in to a waterfall – pretty shade of light and dark greens – then the bright white of the veil of water splashing down with a very soothing sound. Hidden away by the road – not really visited by many – it was our special treat!

Drove along the lake and then circled back to the lakeside YHA right near town.We are in luxury with this one – our own apartment! Two bedrooms, large kitchen, walk out terrace with a view of the lake and our own bathroom!

Jim and I took a walk downtown – Fraser’s pub! Right on the corner – looks like the hotspot for night life! Peeked in, but kept on going to get the few items at the grocery store. We enjoyed a nice veggie dinner –great game of Oh Hell, Hokey Pokey caramel and licorice candy and a fun night in Queenstown.

May 9, 2007

We made a nice omelette and oatmeal in our own kitchen – thought about what to do in Queenstown– a hike, a sail on NZ14, a ride on the steamship, really had to find an internet café and call Keara on skype! (which we did)

We met up with Dotty and decided to go to the top of the mountain. Jim and I hiked up as she took a ride up in the gondola. We met up with a guy named Chris from Denmark – chatted with him as we hiked through the pine forests up to the top. Great hike through the fall colors – stunning views of the deep blue lake as we meandered - zig zagging the switch backs up to the top of the mountain. We took in the panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and lakes and then settled down outside at a picnic table to enjoy a hearty lunch. Dotty met us there. We were looking for someone to snap a picture of the three of us and a voice said; “I’d love to take your picture for you” – nice guy – started chatting with us – he’s from Alabama (Brooks – he was “20s ish” and had a degree in Finance – hoping for a job in Queenstown – been traveling around in a van for 3 months) – traveling around – then a guy from Chicago joined us (Chris – he was 35 and had worked for Norweigen Cruise Lines for 12 years) – I loved being with my fellow countrymen – all Americans in the lakeside New Zealand mountainous town of Queenstown. We laughed and joked and just enjoyed being Americans together – fun!

We took the gondola down, packed into the car, got some gas and headed for the coast. The drive through the mountains was amazing - late in the afternoon – the purple mountains dark against the cloudy sky just stood out as dramatic – we pushed on – heading for Franz Joseph Glacier – darkness surrounded us – then it started raining – winding through the mountains – dark and rainy – Dotty got us going on “Hink Pinks” – FUN!
Hink Pinks are one syllable words that rhyme – have to give the description of the words without saying one of the words.And “hinky pinkies”; Jim; “what is cold spa treatment?” – “glacial facial”
And we exhausted the very silly PORTAL ones; “what is a portal that doesn’t have much money?” - a “poor door”.And the very very silly CRITTER ones as we passed the Fox Glacier; “what are cloth coverings on the critter’s feet” – “fox socks”
We were laughing all the 285 kilometers through the horrendous driving conditions to the coast – narrow curvy wet roads in blinding rain. After Fox Glacier we saw sign indicating no relief for the last 16 kilometers – a black winding squiggle on a yellow diamond shape!

Luckily we had a warm reception at the YHA in Franz Joseph – cooked up a veggie dinner that could not be beat and played a mad Scrabble game with an old game that had more tiles than I ever played with –listening to the rain storming down on the roof so glad to be safe and sound!




Lea and Jim start up the Franz Josef Glacier
Jim has fun sliding down a hole in the ice - a 25 foot tube through to the other side!
Lea and Jim hiking around the Franz Josef Glacier on the South Island of New Zealand.

May 10 Thursday

Clearing skies greeted us as Jim offered coffee and oatmeal for Breakfast. We visited the one street town – full of tourist shops and expedition brokers for the Franz Josef Glacier. The glacier was discovered by an Austrian explorer, Haast and named for his Austrian KING at the time because Haast thought the glacier looked like Franz Josef’s beard!
After much deliberation, Jim and I signed up to hike the glacier. We boarded the bus with 33 other hikers. Mike and Sam guided us along the valley up to the glacial terminal moraine where we put on our crampons. We grouped off with Sam who carried a large ax which looked more like a miner’s pick. He kept making and shaping the steps for the path we followed through the bottom part of the glacier. With our spikes we tramped along the very hard ice and snow – up little hills, steep stairways, and in and around interesting folds, crevasses, and walls of ice –even slid down a tunnel – resembling an MRI tube! It felt like a fun house, but I kept reminding myself that I was on a real glacier. This was not “Disney on ice” but a natural wonder of the world. The blues and greens reminded me of colors we saw in the icebergs we sailed near in “far off Labrador”. Thinking that I was walking on glacial ice like I saw from the deck of the yawl, “Windigo” made me realize just how “cool” this experience was. Of course, those Labradorian icebergs were floating from glaciers originating in Greenland in the northern hemisphere. These glaciers were southerners!

We just can not get used to the thought that going north is warmer. As we left Franz Josef to drive north along the west coast, we anticipated more scenic views of mountains, beaches, and rainforest. Dotty drove along as the alpine glow gave us amazingly beautiful pinks!

More “Hink Pinks” kept us awake as we drove windy roads up and down mountainous cliffs until we arrived at Pukaiki. The rain and darkness made it a little tricky to see around this little town. Since we had been warned that this YHA might be hard to find in the dark, we stopped and got directions from an open bar. We took a left into the rainforest.

Down the dirt road with branches brushing the car we were a little dubious about what this YHA might be like. When we found “Te Nikai “, we found paradise! Some creative soul has designed many little houses in all sorts of funky ways to be a summer or winter retreat. This being off season not too many people were there. We found out way to our cottage “Krohai” – two bedrooms, nice big open room with a kitchen – huge bathroom, rainforest right smack out the window and sound of the waves rolling in on the beach not far away.
Nice dinner of sauted chicken and mushroom and another round of Oh Hell entertained us in our beautiful rainforest retreat.

May 11 Friday

We had a nice eggs in capsicum breakfast with a “Weka” – brown bird with long legs. Over cast skies damped out spirits at first - but hey- this is a real RAINforest experience.
Down to the beach in the rain. Powerful waves crashing up on the tiny pebble beach. Jim looked up a hole in the cave to see Dotty with her camera. Huge kelp washed up was all along the high tide mark. Met a nice couple – he from here, she from Arkansas now living in Philadelphia.
Back up the winding paths to the main office of the YHA-where we enjoyed homemade seed bread and earl grey tea before heading off to see the sights.
Pancake Rocks are one of the unexplained wonders of the world. Large land forms near the coast layered with ridges being worn away by the wild coastal waves. Why are the rocks layered? Why does this one sport have these kinds of layered rocks and no where else? We wandered the fun pathways admiring the amazing sights – waves smashing through blow holes, waves crashing over huge layered rocks, and more waves pounding the interesting shaped cliffs. The rows of thin fins of rocks reminded us of being in the “Fiery Furnace” at the Arches in Utah.
Pua shell ring with cup of coffee while it poured outside.
Driving along what we know must be amazing scenery – raining raining raining.
Stopped for an enjoyable visit with artist Carolyn at Te Moko – her glass bead studio. She looks like Pipi Longstocking grown up!
Turn in away from the coast to beautiful green velvet valleys edged with the huge mountains. We moved on to “Pack My Grandmother’s trunk” to keep us laughing.
Amazing asphalt, bitchy bitchimen, crazy concrete carrier, dark disturbing dirt, effervescent effluence , funky firehouse, gorgeous grazing goat, happy hill climbers, indecent indiscretion, jazzy jumpers, killer kelp, lumbering log trucks, much moistness, nine nonchalant nesters, one way overpass, plenty pretty panoramas, quick quencher, rural rednecks, some sunny spots, ten tenuous thoughts, unwelcome urge, velvet valleys, wet wild west, xylem x-rays, yellow yucca, zippy zaney zealots!
We stopped at a little mom and pop gas station store and found Hokey Pokey ice cream! Dotty loves this NZ delight. It was tasty! Fun to see the kids get off the bus in this tiny NZ town.
We kept on driving as the darkness began to fall – we were meeting a friend of a friend of Dotty’s in Motuika. Trish called us and directed us in to her house. Trish has retired to this small town where in her words; “nothing much happens and I like it that way”. She joined us for pizza then Dotty went off to enjoy a few days with her and we found the YHA.

May 12, 2007 Saturday

Woke to sunny blue skies streaming through the high window bright curtains of this converted bakery YHA called Baker’s Lodge. It seems like no one is here – this is where the migrant workers stay – those who pick kiwi fruit – gobs of kiwi skins in the compost! And no one here at 8:30 am – gone pickin’?
Breakfast with a very friendly brown tiger cat. Lemon in water, soft boiled egg, with a little of that seed bread, and then coffee. The kitchen looks like it could feed an army and it’s just us!
Young couple joined us – Kelly is from Canada, Darren is from Brisbane, AU.They recommended that we visit Abel Tasman National Park and do one of the walks.
At Kaiteriteri we parked right at a beach. We look ed out and saw Dotty and Trish! Coincidentally we met at the same place! We visited with them for a bit and then decided to take the 12:30 boat. Able Tasman National Park extends from Marahau to Golden Bay – a whole headland between Tasman Bay and Golden Bay on the north edge of the South Island of New Zealand.
We said good bye (again) to Dotty as we were off on a hike around Kaiteriteri. We saw some amazing mushrooms/toadstools, cure olive colored birds, and great views of the area. It felt so good to be walking! We boarded the boat at 12:30 after having a nice salad at restaurant with the outdoor terrace.
The flat bottomed aluminum boat took about 40 passengers. In the noon day sun we headed west to the spilt apple rock – a huge ball of granite that is cut right in half! We learned that NZ was discovered by Abel Tasman. He named it after his homeland, Holland, which was called Zealand (land near the sea), but he did not claim it for his country – Cook or some English guy heard there was an island in the Pacific not yet claimed – so he came and claimed it for England-but it was named after Able Tasman’s country. (huh? Never knew all that until today!)
We saw some fur seals frolicking on the rocks on the way to Bark Bay. Gorgeous beaches wowed us all along the coast. We disembarked the vessel on a deserted one – well, some kayakers were there ahead of us. We started up the narrow trail through the rainforest. We loved hiking along – zipped out the 10 minutes to a lookout and kept on walking – then zipped down the 10 min to a beach – so pretty! When we reached the extension bridge we got a little freaked that it was another 1 ¾ to Torrent Bay to meet the boat – so we started hoofing it! We caught up to other people from the boat who did not do those 2 ten minute scenic hikes that we did! Phew! We all made it in time to wait for the boat.
The afternoon sun gave beautiful light to the coastline as we headed back to Kaiteriteri. The skipper helped some stranded boaters along the way.
Nelson was about an hour drive for us. We made it to the YHA in daylight! And had even stopped to get food for dinner! Nice dinner with Darren who we had met in the morning. Jim grilled some lamb chops, rice, salad and apricot yogurt for dessert. Nice Montana Riesling which we shared with Darren.


Sunday May 13, 2007
Left Nelson early – foggy morning – stopped in Havelock for a hot beverage – kept on Rt 6 heading for Picton – arrived in Renwick to take a photo of a shoe fence and looked at the map – thought YIKES! We went the wrong way. Headed back to take the cut off over to Picton but panicked and went all the way back to Havelock - 36 k – we drove 70 K and then drove on the Queen Charlotte Drive which is the SCENIC route to Picton not the regular way to go – we were going the correct way until we questioned it – instead we ended up on the most winding road in the entire world! New Zealand is full of winding roads but this was the scariest, curviest, and most narrow with no guard rails! Luckily Jim is a good skier and could slolam down the tight curves. Whew! We were racing against the clock to make the ferry!
Finally arrived in Picton with teeth gnashed and knuckles white. Found where to drop the rental car, checked our baggage and got to the ferry in time. We met a girl who was returning home to Portland Oregon! She had been working at a winery in NZ and was returning to her winery Maysara Winery at the Momtazi Vineyard in Oregon! Fun! Also met a friend of hers fromFrance studying wine making in NZ – great conversation on the top deck of the ferry –
This large boat takes some pretty tight curves getting out of the Picton area!