After driving around the south island for the last three weeks we have had the opportunity to see what natural beauty New Zealand has to offer. Imagine taking all the great landscapes of the United States and fitting them into an area the size of Texas, limiting the amount of people who can live there to 1-1/2 million, this is New Zealand's south island. Everywhere you go there is something new and spectacular. With towns far and few between you are really able to get a feel for a place and its spaciousness when it is not bogged down by so many buildings, people and things. As we drove we kept thinking, "this country just keeps one upping itself".
After two days in Christchurch we headed north towards K aikoura, exploring the coast line and hanging out with the local seals but we unfortunately just missed its renowned sheep shearing show (it's on the list for next time). We found the perfect place for our first night in the van, on the beach where the mountains met the sea. After witnessing yet another picturesque sunset and having a delicious meal of tacos, we stargaized and went to bed.
The next morning we continued North to meet up with our American friends we traveled with in Asia (It just so happened that they were also going to New Zealand around the same time we were). We met in New Zealands Marborough Region and spent the day wine tasting. The area is known for its Savingon Blanc and has wineries all over the place. They were delicious for those of you who like fruity wines, Alan and I just went for the experience not neccisarily the taste. We camped just outside of town on the ocean. On our second night of camping there we were woken up in the middle of the night by the camp ranger knocking on our window. Confused and disoriented we slid open our window and listened to him speak, "There is a tusami coming as a result of the eathquake in Chili and you have to evacuate to higher ground." Luckly 'higher ground' was just 500 meters up the road and the tusami they expected was only supposed to be 3 meters high. We were not allowed to go near the beach or the coast the entire next day. We saw more then one cop car that day, people took it very seriously. In the end the tusnami never came, we were safe!
After we had been in New Zealand for a few days I realized that Alan had some plans of what we were going to do before even we got here. I began overhearing conversations about how we were going to be doing this trek or that trek. But this was the first time I was learning anything about them. Turns out we were doing a three day hike in Abel Tasman two days later. The next day I learned all the details.
Alan:
If there is ever a strech of land that exemplifies New Zealand, it is the road from Nelson in the north, down the west coast to Queenstown in the south. It's like God took the leftovers from every piece of beautiful land in the world, smushed them together and dropped it in the South Pacific. Beautiful wine valleys, rolling grass covered hills, snow peaked mountains, waterfall ridden valleys, glaciers, azure blue bays and lakes and on and on and on. Every turn in the road brings new views of another eye popping scene. Able Tasman, the National Park in NZ northwest corner, is just one of their gems.
Like most of the worthwhile treks here, it is a logistical nightmare to see the best spots easily and cheaply. New Zealand has a way of making you work (or pay) to see the good stuff. And because we didn't have 5 days to spend seing it all, we opted for the boat/hike/kayak/hike route which cost us a pretty penny. It was worth it. A boat taxi took us up the coast about 25km the first morning. An hour ride that included a bit of site seeing along the way. We then spent the rest of the afternoon hiking along the coast line from beach to beach. The beauty of this hike is that after every hour or so of trekking, you end up on another postcard perfect stretch of sand. I hate to say that after a while it became monotonous, in the good way that endless stretches of beaches can be! Camping the first night on the shore of one of these aforementioned gems, Mika had her first nocturnal encounter with New Zealand wildlife....
As many of you know I have a fear of the dark. I do not know what it is but something happens to me when the night settles in. I am also one of those people who, unfortunately, needs to pee in the middle of the night and have woken Alan up countless times to come with me. Finally on a night lit by the full moon I decided to go by myself. I pumped myself up and climbed out of the tent. As walked away, I glanced around and thought I saw a figure of something near me. Telling myself that I must be imagining things I turned away, just as I was settling in, the figure that I thougnt I had made up scampered away! Startled I ran back in the tent, woke Alan up and told him all about it. Later we found out that it was probably a possum. In my defense I must say that possums are different here then the ones we have back home. They are black, very furry and can be as large as a a fox. Needless to say, I have not gotten over my fear of the dark just yet.
Our second day was our first in kayaks. We were lucky, the weather was with us and we mostly drifted with the current in and out of the bays and caves carved into the limestone by the relentless sea. The tides in Able Tasman are a bit tricky. They rise and fall more than 6 meters a day, some of the largest in the world. The trail also cuts through some of the bays where the tidal impact is the greatest so at times you can kayak through these areas and at other times you can walk right down the middle. Because high tide was roughly at noon we were able to paddle virtually everywhere. Up rivers and into caves otherwise unreachable. It could not have been a more perfect way to explore the park.
Our final day was more of the same. Hike to beach, sit and eat at beach, swim in water, repeat. We saw a stunning moon rise and couldn't help feeling the serenity and calmness of the sea. Not too shabby.
Leaving the park we planned on driving quickly down the west coast to get to Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of New Zealand and possibly the world. If there is a way to make your heart beat faster, the folks in Queenstown have probably found a way to turn it into a ride. Anyway, we started driving but didn't make it too far. By the time we hit the Tasman Sea we had stopped countless times to just simply "see". Pancake Rocks with blow holes activated by the tides, jagged cliffs that pierced the violent Tasman Sea, glaciers flowing off the tops of the Southern Apls only a short walk from the highway, rainforest valleys and of course the sunsets. Mika and I laugh when we look through our pictures because it takes us a while to figure out where all the sunsets are from. The ones on the west coast were unique because we were able to stop on the side of the road, make dinner and enjoy the sunset from the comfort of our living room.
Two days later we finally rolled into Queenstown. Like I said, this place is built for the adrenaline junky. In my day I would have been in heaven, but now closer to 40 than 30 we sat by the water, ate ice cream and listen to two hippies play covers on their guitar and violin! Equally satisfying. We camped out that night and met a guy from Sydney. He was a yukalaly playing clown (litearally) on a vacation to decide his next career move. Never a dull moment! He played some Beattle covers for us as well as his own tunes about loves lost while in a nursing home. Probably not a chart breaker but it gave us a chuckle. We ended up making a deal to exchange cars for the Routeburn trek so it all worked out perfect.
The next morning we awoke to sheep grazing around our van. Again we packed up and headed south towards Milford and the beginning of the Routeburn Trek. A hike I have been waiting to do for the last five years when I first visited.
Mika:
The Routeburn is considered one of the top hikes in the world, naturally it was on our list and I can say without hesitation that it was my favorite. It begins by traveling through the trees and thick brush while steadily climbing up the side of a ridge, only catching glimpses of the mountains across the valley through the mist. On ever inch of ground, on every rock wall, hanging up and over ever tree is moss and litchen. The air is moist, aiding in the continuous cascading colors of green. Apart from the traveled, dirt path everything is soft to the touch. So soft that you cannot help but squish your fingers into its coverings. (Alan in action picture below.) The trees are unique and twisted, the branches seem to be undulating curves reaching towards eachother in conversation. As we walked trickles of water appered from tiny canals within the moss and streams stemming from the mountains formed pools under the many bridges we crossed. The sound of water permiated, only interupted by the calls of New Zealand brush birds. Finally we reached a clearing to see the most maginificant waterfall, reaching 174 meters (525 feet) falling into a pool of aqua blue water. We lay down at its base and watched as the wind drifted the falls back and forth. As we moved above brush line, the clouds were covering the valley and we could not see the peaks of the Ailsa mountains, the breathtaking views that we had heard so much about. Briefly we were graced with a frustrating game of peak-a-boo with the clouds and the mountains. But maybe this made us appreciate those brief glimpses of snow capped peaks even more? As we moved back into the trees we came to our campsite near the edge of the lake. The fog slowly rolled into the valley, tired, we settled into our tent.
The next morning brought thick fog and we continued along another ridge barely able to see 20 feet in front of us. Light rain brought more mist and we walked over the rocks anticipating its lifting and a good view. Once over the sadle we were in luck, the clouds cleared and the mountains came into light. In front of us appeared a wide valley surrounded by towering peaks, the river below cutting a path through the wheat green fields of grass, truly breathtaking. Once again it was time to stop and appreciate the spectaluar beauty we were witnessing. More waterfalls and rivets of water followed us as we traveled into the valley to camp along side the rivers shores.
Our last day was a short hike to the car park, seeing the same lush woods and yet another beautiful large waterfall. Driving back toward Milford, after we stopped for the delicious treat of coffee, we pulled over to the side of the road as a dust cloud filled the valley below us. Steaming from a lake at the base of the mountains, the wind drew a large cloud through the valley over the adjacent peaks. Another unique site, but we had to continue on our way. We dropped off our new friends borrowed car, picked up our cozy van and headed to Gun's campsite where a warm shower awaited us. The camp was a goodie and an oldie started in the 50's by one of the first family members or person's to settle the area.
Because we saved so much money with our car swapping mission on the Routeburn trek, Alan and I decided to splurge on an overnight cruise in Milfod Sound. This was going to be my first overnight stay on a boat since I worked in the Caribean and I had some high expectations. The boat was the same size as the first power boat I worked on, a 120 feet, except now it was housing 60 people insead of 6. But it did not take long for us to settle in, we somehow lucked out with a double room (we were supposed to be in a quad room). Dinner aboard was delicious and the views from the cove within the sound were superb. The next morning we cuized to the mouth of the sound. On our way back, we passed huge waterfalls, seals just coming back from a night of fishing and the topper, a school of dolphins that played in the clear water along side the boats wake. A very successful mission accomplished.
This wonderfullness was followed by three days of rainy and overcast weather with hurricane strength winds (or so we thought so) that followed us as we drove south. Our little van was blowing all over the place, making it very hard to drive. We stopped for a movie (Alice in Wonderland) in the uncharming town of Intercargill before continuing our drive. We pulled up to our campsite late in the evening, dissappointed that we could not make our planned spaggetti dinner because of the winds. But somehow we managed to place our van just right and prevailed through the storm with a delicious meal in our bellies.
The day that followed was a lot more driving, taking us to through Dunedin and out onto the Otago Pennisula. The wind stayed but in the evening the rain let up, leading to one of the best sunsets, the pictures below only begin to do it justance. Because of the wind, the albatrose (a huge seagull type bird but at least 4 times of a normal seagull) were flying overhead. We were watching the sunset because we were waiting for the little blue penguins to come ashore after feeding for the day. They were bringing meals home for their little ones, regurgitated fish! So we watched. We waited. We saw the sunset. We kept our eyes peeled on the water. We waited some more. When it became dark we were still waiting. Finally with the help of red flashlights (pengiuns apparently get scared of white light) we saw them, rafts of pengiuns coming home from a long day at sea. The whole thing was quite funny, 20 people waiting 2 hours in the wind, to kind of see but not really be able to fully see pengiuns with dim red flashlights. We were one of the last 4 people to stay and on our walk back we ran into two pengiuns making there way to thier homes. Unexpectedly our pengiun excursion left us driving late into the night. It was 12am, an unhead of hour for us, before we arrived at our campsite.
We finshed our loop of the South Island back in Christchurch. After spending a day on its peninsual we booked it up to the ferry that was taking us to Wellington in the North Island. After we boarded an announcement told us of that 7 meter swells awaited us. It was a 3 hour trip that left Alan as white as a ghost (I had taken dramamine before we left, Alan declined). And so began our morning on St. Paticks Day in the North Island.
