Queenstown South Island NZ

January 17.18, 2009

Queenstown is one of the premier resort towns of New Zealand. Oddly enough, it is not on a coastal beach but on a big inland lake. The setting is similar to Salmon Arm BC, for those of you who have been there, but the mountains are bigger.

There are, of course, lots of houses and small developments that have sprung up around it but they are still small scale by NA standards. Still freeloading at the Glass’s for a couple of days we drove into the Queenstown, parked the car and then climbed the nice trail to Queenstown hill. The vertical lift was about 500 metres (1500 feet) to the top from where we started and the trail, while wide and well packed, is really up all the way. The day stayed cool, with just a little rain, while we huffed and puffed our way to the top.

(On trails like these I always want to kill the people you pass coming down. They are always laughing and joking and having a good time while you feel like the guy at the beginning of the anti-perspirant ad.)

The view from the top was worth it. In the year 2000 they placed a sculpture at the time to symbol eternity or inner/outer strength or personal achievement or something. I found that it made a great spot to hang my shirt to dry.

Back to the Glass’s that night and then out to dinner at an Indian restaurant in nearby Arrowtown. Arrowtown was once a golding mine hotspot and the main street is still preserved and picturesque. The food was great and the entertainment was Brett and I wrestling at the till for the bill. His arms were longer and he won. Thanks Brett.

Next day was Barbara’s birthday so we did a two hour walk around nearby Lake Hayes and then off to a nearby café for lunch. Back to the house for gin and tonics and the end of a nice day.

Have to tell you that these are interesting people. Brett is an aircraft engineer, who used to work for Air New Zealand, and who now flies tourists into the Milford Sound area. Barbara, who is from England originally, used to be a nurse to the bush stations around Alice Springs in Australia. They had done a lot of their own design work on the house and the results were great. There was even a line of motion sensitive lights along all the hallways that lit up when you were looking for the washroom at night. You have to like that in a strange house.

We were told that the actor, Sam Neil (Jurassic Park), lives right down the road. Must be a nice neighbourhood.

By the way, in case you are wondering, Lana and I skipped the Fiordland area including Milford Sound. I had already done one of the treks (the Routeburn track) and we had both seen the area the last time we were here. Since it is on a road that just goes in and then just comes out we decided for the sake of time to skip it. We didn’t think the that fiords had changed much since the last time.

Fox Glacier to Queenstown

January 16, 2009

Left the really small settlement of Fox Glacier and continued down the west coast highway towards Queenstown. This really is an area that has lots of similarities to the interior of BC. At times you couldn’t have told the difference (except perhaps for the people driving on the wrong side of the road and all those one lane bridges – oh and maybe all those sheep as well).

Went through some spectacular alpine country with rushing streams pouring down and the roads twisting up, which was to be expected since this is the heart of the Southern Alps. Very high hills (even by BC standards) although they didn’t have the tall BC forests but more of a mixture of scrub and a variety of different pines.

Cruised through Haast and then followed the road away from the coast and into the hills. While in Hasst we saw again the big red truck for the German tour group Retel Tours. Their concept is a little different. By day you ride on their bus but at night the bus and the truck convert into a 30 or so little sleeping compartments. Kind of like a movable hostel since you do your own food in the portable kitchen.

Stopped at Wanaka, which is a nice little resort and had a cheeseburger right next to the starting line of the triathlon they were holding in about 10 minutes. Spent some time in the little shops but more to stretch our legs then to buy anything. Although we haven’t been doing any big driving by Canadian standards we are usually doing 4-6 hours of driving a day so a break isn’t bad.

After Wanaka it was mostly high grasslands with sheep and cattle. The road we were on kept following a valley that got narrower and narrower until the hills on wither side were almost touching. Only the road was keeping them apart. Of course there was road work right near the top which gave the guy behind me a near heart attack as I was sliding backwards trying to get it into gear (driving a stick - remember) after we had to stop on a steep slope. That will teach him to get too close.

From there it wasn’t too hard to get to Queenstown but we did have to come down one of the tightest series of switchbacks I have ever driven. It said 5 km on the curves and they really meant it.

Pulled into the driveway of some more friends of Bruce and Carolynn who had offered to put us up. Brett and Barbara Glass (and their son Matt and Brett’s mom Nan) turned out to be really nice people. Matt promptly vacated his room to sleep on the couch (although it was a nice couch in a very nice room – still) and we settled in to sponge off of another group of first rate New Zealander’s.

They had a great single story house (like the vast majority of New Zealand homes) on an acre of land over looking a small lake. Not only did they let us stay but they made us dinner as well along with wine and conversation. Both the conversation and the wine were great.

New Zealand coffee

If you are going to NZ, from North America, and you want to fit in then you need to know some things.

The first is that coffee, as you know it, really does not exist here in NZ. What we buy at Tim Horton’s or Starbucks is called “brewed coffee” and is not offered in restaurants or coffee shops. (You can, I know because I have seen it, do it in your own home but only with close friends.) Somehow, in the last 20 years NZ went from bad instant (last time I was here) to an espresso based culture.

Your choices in a NZ café are as follows.

Short Black

Long Black

Flat White

Latte

Tea.

If you like lattes then you are in luck because they are the same. If you don’t then you better like espresso in one form or another. Short or long blacks mean a single or double espresso. A flat white tastes to me just like a latte but I am assured that there is a difference. Since it is cheaper and stronger than a latte I am happy about it.

Don’t try ordering a double-double or demanding “real” coffee because it is bad manners and they call the police.

Other things you should be aware of.

A “chilly bin”, my most hated NZ expression, is actually a cooler (as for pop or beer). Even the newspapers use that phrase. There was a story about a guy, who survived the sinking of his boat, by holding on to his “chilly bin” and floating to shore.

Any word in English can be shortened and a “y” added on it. A Steinlager beer, for example, becomes a Steiny.

The police do random checkpoints and have every driver talk in a breathalizer. They don’t need any reason to do that in NZ they set up a roadblock somewhere and away they go.

Flip flops are suitable footwear attire anywhere including rugged trails and fancy restaurants.

Any time you can eliminate vowels then it is a good thing. Substituting a single for a couple of others is also fine. Yeah becomes Yh and Goodday becomes gitdy.

Never, never sit on a NZ toilet while flushing. Don’t why, just don’t do it.

Oh and they also drive on the other side of the road.

Hokitika to Fox Glacier

Left the hostel before eight and hit the coastal road to do the two most famous glaciers in New Zealand. The drive was pretty flat although it did have its moments especially when we hit some of the longer bridges over the rivers.

I may have mentioned that maybe the majority of rural bridges in New Zealand are one lane only. There is usually a sign saying which side is supposed to yield but when you are going 100 km and come zipping around the corner you don’t always have a lot of time to stop and figure it out. My personal favourite was the really long bridge that was not only one lane but you also had to share it with a railway line. Click on the picture if you think I am lying.

The two glaciers are different in that they come right down to the temperate forest. The paths in is easy but rocky. They keep you well back from the front sections since the glaciers have a tendency to drop tons of ice at random times. Last week two brothers were killed because they ignored the posted boundaries and went in for a closer look. If you have lots of money you can take a helicopter ride up to the top or a guided glacier walk. We passed. Being from BC we figured that we had seen enough glaciers of our own. These were pretty cool though.

After tempting death by going to the glaciers we walked around a pretty little lake where, normally, a clear reflection of Mt Cook, NZ’s biggest mountain, can be seen. We did see Mt. Cook but not in the water. Did see a big freshwater eel though and a really large pigeon in the trees. Stayed at a very big hostel at the Fox Glacier that night. It even had a movie room. Who would have thought!

Motueka to Hokitika

Drove along the west coast of the South Island today. The feel is much more rural that the North Island and the seascapes seem more rugged. That is not to say that they don’t have fabulous beaches but it just looks a little less inviting.

Went through the town of Westport with an unfriendly overcast sky and didn’t really see too much of interest so kept heading down the coast. Stopped at the pancake rocks at Punakaiki which are a strange rock and blowhole formation on the seashore. Looked for the dolphins and whales rumoured to be in the area but no luck.

Next stop was Greymouth where we found the sewage treatment outflow while walking along the restored wharf and, again, decided to head onward. Stopped for the night after about 5-6 hours of driving the seacoast and the coastal plain. The hostel was just across the road from the beach so we grilled on the deck and tried to watch the sun set on the water.

Wellington to Picton to Nelson to Motueka (South Island)

Got up early to be on the ferry to the South Island. In line at the dock by 7:00 am for the sailing at 8:25. Nice ferry although a little bigger than and not as nice as the ones that go from Vancouver to Victoria. They do have a two-story play space for the kids and a cinema.

The trip takes about 3 hours with only about an hour on the open sea and the rest navigating the costal passages. Interesting enough the trip is an east/west one and not a north/south since the north end of the south island is level with the south end of the north island.

Landed in Picton after passing through Queen Charlotte Sound (named after our daughter we think) which is a very pretty collection of islands, remote farms, fish farms and steep green hills. Took the scenic way out of town, which was yet another twisting, turning, narrow road perched above the ocean. Could be worse.

The next stop was in Nelson, which was a bustling town with lots on people in the downtown core. You have to hand it to New Zealand. All of their downtowns are full of small individual shops and they have a lot of life. There are hat shops, men’s shops, shop stores, and all sorts of things that the mega stores killed on main street Canada years ago. I must say that the choices and the prices might not be as good but it is nice to have everything local.

After Nelson, we took the costal highway to Motueka since it was fairly close to the entrance of Abel Tasman National Park. The hostel was nice. Our building was almost empty and had mostly “older” people in it.

We got up early the next day to drive the winding roads into the park and catch the water taxi to our starting point. The Abel Tasman coastal walk is one of New Zealand’s best and while we didn’t want to do the entire 3-4 day walk we thought 3-4 hours of it was better than nothing.

The water taxi was rather different. Since the tides are so high/low they actually put you in the boat while in the parking lot. A tractor then pulls you down the road to the water and out about 100 ft until there is enough water to float the boat. See the picture at right. That is a tractor leading the boat.

We were dropped at Anchorage Bay, where we had to wade ashore, and started on the trek. It was a very beautiful trek, mostly up above the water, on a narrow but level path. It twisted and turned with the hills so some times you were in tropical vegetation and other times most in coastal scrub. Lots of people on the path. Some had full camping gear and other just flip-flops and a t-shirt. There really aren’t many ways to get off it unless you come in by boat, we were amazed at the clothes, and footwear people thought were appropriate. Finished the 12km about the right time and headed back to the same hostel for a special steak dinner celebrating the 23rd anniversary of Lana and me meeting at Ayers Rock in Australia. Then we sat up and drank with a whole bunch of Germans. My head hurt the next morning.

Masterton to Wellington

Went to the local Farmer’s Market first thing and had a wild boar pie. Really. The showground (fairgrounds) reminded me of the ones in Armstrong, BC. Bigger in area but no indoor arenas. I particularly liked the grass cutters – a pretty good sized herd of sheep.

After that, it was more grassland until the town of Martinborough. That is where all the wineries were - great. Unfortunately, none of them opened for another couple of hours and, to tell the truth, they looked like real home based operations. They weren’t what we were expecting. Onwards to Wellington.

One thing about this part of NZ is that there sure weren’t any tourists to be seen. It is kind of off the beaten track.

Hit another high hill road just before Wellington and spent the whole way up in third gear. Come to think of it, I spent the whole way down in third as well.

In Wellington, we are splurging on an upscale backpackers lodge with a washroom and shower in the room! It too is an old hotel but it hasn’t lost its touch – yet. First stop in town was Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand. It was quite large and really well done. Spent more than a few hours there and planned to go back for more.

We even ate that night at a great Thai restaurant where we could bring our own wine. Talk about splurging.

Next day was spent exploring the city on foot. Lots of nice districts with small shops and cafes. Looked at the particular interesting looking parliament buildings and took the cable car to the botanical garden. Lots of walking but worth it.

Port Waikato to Taupo

We decided that we had to stop at Rotorua because you are supposed to. It is NZ’s biggest attraction so as we angled down from the tranquil northlands we tried to decided what we would do there.

We got to Rotorua and had a bit of an engine scare (which turned out to be nothing) but at least we found out where the Toyota dealer was. We found that the town had vastly expanded in the last twenty years and we weren’t impressed. After walking around town for awhile we agreed that it was the biggest tourist trap in the country. All of the attractions were, it seemed, for profit. Considering that Rotorua is based around the amount of thermal activity in the area you would think that the various geysers and mud pools would be accessible – think again.

We did walk around Sulphur Bay where the water is milk coloured and the “solid” rock is really only what is left after the water dries (looks solid but don’t go walking on it). The area stinks of rotten eggs and really is not particularly charming. Anyways, two hours were enough and we were on the road again.

Now down the road a couple of hours to Lake Taupo which is the biggest lake in either NZ or Australia. The result of a huge volcanic explosion it is also a hub tourist activity. Most of the tourist guides list things like hang gliding or parachuting which are not specific to the area but seem to spring up where ever there are lots of young tourists.

The last two hostels that we stayed in had been empty but tonight was a different story. We had to go to three before we found a room. It looked like an old motel but at least we had a shared bathroom that connected to the room. It would have been great except that the Germans in the connecting dorm room were a little slow on the concept of unlocking our door when they left the bathroom. Funny, they were really good on the concept of locking the door when they went in it.

Taupo seemed to be a nice town. Since it was quite hot we didn’t walk down to the waterfront until after dark. Walked by a McDonald’s with a full sized DC3 airplane as part of its playground (I’m sure there is a good story there somewhere).

At least this hostel wasn’t for sale like the last two.

Opononi to Port Waikato

Opononi itself is a beach town bounded on one side by a beautiful bay and the ocean on the other. The sand dunes on the headlands are some of the biggest that I have ever seen. If we had more time we would have taken the water ferry over to them and sand boarded down the dunes. Sounded like a lot of fun to me. Not so much to Lana.

The hills in the northland are, well, hilly. There tend to be a lot of them and while they are not large by BC standards but they do make for twisty turning roads. Once again the standard speed limit was 100 km but nobody is doing over 80km and frequently only about 60 km. My left arm, which is my new shifting arm, is developing rapidly.

The landscape reminds me of Hawaii with the hills, although covered in either trees or lush green grass look new or unfinished. Many of the ridge and bluff lines are sharp edged and haven’t been worn down yet by eons of rain and wind.

One thing that has been missing, compared to my visit over 20 years ago, is the sheep. Back then there were literally sheep everywhere and now all we see is mostly dairy cattle. The locals have told me that everyone got out of sheep years ago due to a bad wool market but it still looks strange and not quite right. My completely unscientific theory is that the cattle are quietly eating the sheep at night. By day they look harmless but at night….. There is probably a bad horror mo

vie script in that somewhere.

On the way down the west coast, we stopped to walk into the forest to see the largest Kauri trees now growing in New Zealand. One is called the Lord of the Forest (Tane Mahuta) and the other is Father of the Forest (Te Matua Ngahere). They are estimated to be from 1500 to 2000 years old. We got there very early so the only ones accompanying us on the trek in were the native birds as they called in the cool of the morning.

The trees are in a 15,000 hectare reserve (what they call parks) and it was preserved only because it was the most difficult area to get at for commercial logging. It took 70,000 people, signing a petition in 1952, to get the area declared off limits to logging.

After we descended from the reserve, on really narrow roads, we hit some more open areas near Dargaville. It is at the meeting of two rivers and once was an important logging town. Oddly e

nough at the museum at Dargaville they have the masts from the Rainbow Warrior, the Greenpeace ship sunk in Auckland’s harbour, on display. Also in the museum, which is big for a medium sized town, is a display of wedding dresses and the largest accordion collection that I ever hope to see. Strange company for an old environmental warrior.

After that we drove south thru Auckland and out to the coast and spent the night at Port Waikato on the Tasman Sea. It is a little (very little) resort town on the end of a road that goes nowhere. It terminates on a big bay where there is a cluster of houses and an enormous black sand beach with no one on it.

The hostel was empty except for us and we walked the beach as the sun went down in the water. Other than a few surf fishermen and a couple of gulls it was just us.

Geez that sounds romantic doesn’t it but what really happened is that we walked a really long way on the beach. Lana floated on top of the sand and I sunk in it. Great beach but I found myself wishing for a pair of snowshoes.

Kerikeri to Opononi

Went further north today toward the 90 mile beach peninsula that is the top of New Zealand. There are a lot of tours that take you in buses for a full day up the beach (driving on the beach itself) but skipped that. We got up as far as Pukenui where we had lunch. Took a bit off a gravel road detour to the Gumdigger’s Forest.

At one time NZ most valuable export was the dried gum of the Kauri tree. The really interesting part is that most of the gum was from trees that had been dead for about 45,000 years. Kauri trees grow for thousands of years and, for various reasons, vast forests of them have been blown down and preserved in the bogs that formed on top of them.

In life the trees bleed large quantities of the gum which congeal on the truck and them fall off. The gumdiggers would probe these bogs for lumps of gum and then sell them to companies who made varnish and paints. The term gumboots came from the boots that they used at the time.

It looked like brutal work and the area of the park was covered in holes that were being dug as late as the 1930s. Reminded me of the holes around the Australian opal fields except it was in a bog and not a desert. By the way these trees were not petrified but are still valuable as lumber today.

We saw the stump of a tree bigger than any living Kuari now know. It was just a little older by say 45,000 years or so.

The ninety mile beach was pretty amazing. You could walk for over 50 miles and still have room to roam. Didn't like the dirt bikers who were roaring up and down our stretch but I can't say the beach was crowded. It was as uncrowded as it gets.

Crossed at a nice little car ferry to get over a big bay. Reminded me of the ferries in the Yukon but this wasn't free. Oh well.

Stayed at a farm hostel in the hills over Opononi where we had to drive through the sheep on the steep gravel road. Very quiet at the top of the hills especially as the hostel was almost empty. Had crackers and pate for dinner as the flies buzzed and sheep baaed.

Thats the view from the hostel at right.

Auckland to Kerikeri

As you may have gathered from one of the last post, I am now navigating the roads of New Zealand in a 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser. This vehicle has been generously provided by our friends Bruce and Carolynn who we can’t thank enough but whose sanity we do question.

Just to make things interesting the Land Cruiser is a standard. Now normally this would not be a problem but remember that the wheel is on the right and the shift is on left so I have to train a different hand to move the stick. (Geez, I just wrote that and it does sound kind of obscene doesn’t it?)

Anyway we dropped them at the airport and proceeded to drive out of the Auckland area. Hence the police report. By the way Lana says that anything she says as navigator is always put in the nicest terms and that report is somewhat inaccurate.

Once we were away from the cursed Auckland roundabouts (or was that me cursing) we made good time toward the Northland.

The roads in NZ are almost all two lane blacktops and, for the most part, they only have two speeds – 50 km or 100 km. Every road outside of a town is 100km regardless of how much they twist and turn or how narrow they are. To say that I was working the stick would be an understatement.

Now not a lot of people speed on the roads for two reasons. The first is that you would end up in a ditch and the second is that they have hundreds of cameras that automatically spit out a ticket if they catch you going more then 10km over. This is especially true when you come to a town and the speed drops to 50 km from 100km.

We travelled up the east coast passing through lots of grazing lands covered in cattle and small little picturesque towns with names like Waipu, Pukaroro and Ruakaka.

There is lots of road work being done according to the signs along the way but we didn’t see a single worker. Guess they are all off for the Christmas holidays. Nothing like navigating a twisty road and seeing the standard temporary 30km area (for all of 100 metres) then seeing that 100km sign again.

One of the highlights were the bathrooms in Kawakawa. Seriously, they are on the list of 101 things to do in the north and we just had to stop. Built as some sort of art project they are built as with randomly sized pieces of coloured tile. Nice but nothing that I would write home about.

Stopped at Whangarei to see the spot where the Maoris and the British signed their treaties in 1840. The Maoris, alone among native inhabitants of the Empire, weren’t ever defeated by the British since they gave as good as they got. The signing was something that both sides did since peace seemed a better alternative to an ongoing war.

Stayed the night in Kerikeri at a backpackers lodge where, when I went in to register, the manage thought I was a local landowner looking for cheap labour. Must be the Land Cruiser.

Wondering about Parnell and Queens Streets – Auckland

Last day in Auckland was spent wondering down two of the main shopping streets. Parnell especially was full of small shops and cafes without a chain store in sight.

If you are ever bored in Auckland then go the bottom of the Sky Tower and then to the small Irish Pub across the street. At the Fidler Pub you can get a pint and a Toastie (toasted sandwhich) for $8.50. Take one of the two outside tables and then watch the people dive off the top of the Sky Tower. They are on cables but you wouldn’t know it for the screaming.

Associated Press – Auckland. Warning Issued.

Police in New Zealand today issued an alert for a grey Toyota Land Cruiser on the roads north of Auckland. According to a police spokesperson the driver and occupants are wanted for questioning on a number of public decency complaints received from public in the area. Reports from citizens cite erratic driving and a continuous stream of verbal abuse coming from the vehicle. One complainant was quoted as saying that “the driver was a bloody idiot who didn’t know which side of the road to drive on”. Apparently there were also complaints about the tone and volume of the comments coming from the female passenger. Police have warned members of the public not to approach the vehicle or the occupants as they are definitely abusive to each other and may be dangerous to others.

Around Auckland again.

Did another road trip around the greater Auckland area with a visit to a fantastic upscale Farmer’s Market. You know the kind of place where they sell bacon wrapped mussels and give out free samples of beer next to the homemade pastries.

Then onto a Winery (Brick Bay Wines http://www.brickbay.co.nz ) with a sculpture path leading around the vineyard. Lana liked the wines and the art. I mostly liked the wine.

Then onto a small regional park tucked away on an ocean bay and, just because, New Zealand’s only pottery works.

That evening we were treated to dinner by yet another of Bruce and Carolynn’s friends. This time it was David and Bronwen who took us all to a great Thai place after entertaining us in their beachfront home with a view of Rangitoto Island. (No, I am not making this all up. Apparently B&C run in much better circles then we do).

Rangitoto Island

For those of you who wondered when we would stop eating and actually do something today was one of those days.

The area around Auckland is home to something like fifty volcano cones and the most recent one is Rangitoto island. It dominates Auckland’s harbour and, as islands go, is very young. Six hundred years ago there was nothing but a big patch of water where the island is today. The Maori living in the vicinity would have had a front row seat as the sea exploded and the classic volcanic cone rose above the water. Eventually it would level off at its current level of 250 metres.

Lots of people come over to do the most popular walk which is a beeline for the summit. I found the footing to be tiring as the lava path is graced with thousands of little knobs and cracks but we did pass people doing it in flip-flops. We had on runners and wished that we had taken our hiking boots.

The path on either side is filled with a jungle like tangle with all sorts of plants competing with each other for a toehold in an extremely harsh environment. According to the signs the oldest trees were only 250 years old and many species grew side by side here but no where else.

The walk to the top took about an hour and a light drizzle kept us cool. It also kept us from the fabulous views of the harbour that were promised but the crater at the top was neat. We took the long way down from the summit and onto a coastal track. By the time we got there the weather had cleared and the sun joined us big time.

Lana didn’t seem to mind but I am sure I left a trail of, huh, moisture along that road. It took us another two hours of walking to make the ferry dock where I spent the next hour dehydrating on the dock. All in all, I think that I need more acclimation to this climate.

That night Lana, with me assisting, made fajitas for our friends since it was our turn to cook. I spent the rest of the night re-hydrating with a number of very good Kiwi beers.