Drive to Christchurch, &, about Tsunamis

Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula

• breakfast in the hotel was interesting, as half-a-dozen bishops wandered in an out while we were eating, obviously in town for the consecration; none of them Victoria Matthews

Drive Around Otago Peninsula

• after breakfast we headed out for a drive around the Otago peninsula, which forms the south side of a long, fairly narrow bay which forms Dunedin Harbour
• we opted to drive around counter-clockwise, which turned out to be a wise choice; doing so allowed us to hug the "land" side of the road, rather than being on the "water" side
• this is definitely a "white knuckle" drive no matter which way around you go, but at least going this way, if you got squeezed off the side of the road by the frequently large trucks and busses coming the other way, you'd be in a ditch or field, or take the side of the car off on one of the not infrequent cliff faces; going off the road the other side would generally get you onto a steep downhill slope, at best, or a steep drop-off, aka cliff, with ocean at the bottom
• most New Zealand roads, and this one definitely, were designed for British cars of the 1950s, but are now carrying vehicles  built in the 21st century; thus if a full-sized car like a Camry (which we were in) meets a modern touring bus coming the other way, there isn't much room to spare
• barriers to leaving the road are non-existent; in a lot of places there are low wire fences, top maybe 2 feet off the ground with two wires running between very thin posts - these are not there to stop cars from going off the road, they are there to stop sheep from going on the road!
• that's the down side, the up side is that there are often breath-taking views (at least for the passenger, the driver is too busy negotiating the road and many curves to look much - as often happened on this trip, June was taking pictures out the window so that later I could see what I had missed!
• we did a side trip to Sandymount, which involved going off the paved road onto exactly what the name implies, a very large sand mount, overgrown with scruffy prairie grasses, as far a a non-four-wheel drive car was safe to take, from which point there were several hiking paths with short walks to look-outs from which one could see the coastal scenery with the South Pacific Ocean as the background - again, breath-taking views
• from the heights of Sanymount we returned to the "main" = paved road, and continued around the peninsula, with the road alternating between high above the ocean to at sea level
• eventually one comes to a fork in the road, with the main road turning back towards Dunedin, and a narrow track going towards the Royal Albatross Centre, which we took

Royal Albatross Centre & About Albatross

• the Royal Albatross Centre is on Taiaroa Head, which is the end of the Otago peninsula
• it is one of only three world-wide royal albatross breeding colonies, and the only one accessible by car (the other two are in the Chatham Islands, and on Enderby Island, a part of the Auckland Islands which are owned by New Zealand, but are well south of South Island and part of sub-Antarctica)
• the Chatham Island colony is by far the largest, with more than 6000 breeding pairs, while Taiaroa Head has a few more than 20 breeding pairs (Enderby Island's numbers are not known)
• because of the necessity of not disturbing the breeding birds, the parking lot is well away from the breeding grounds, and there is an orientation centre well away also
• in the orientation centre, besides the usual amenities, is a display of material about albatrosses, including a complete skeleton of an adult bird, articulated
• prior to going into the observation part of the visit, one is shown a movie and given an orientation talk about these remarkable bird
• an adult albatross can have a wing span of more than 7 metres, and is a superbly designed machine for flying enormous distances completely away from land
• a breeding pair (albatross generally mate for life) lays a single egg, which both take turns hatching while the other flies out to sea to feed themselves and bring back food for their mate
• the eggs are about the size of a football, laid in October or November, and take about 80 days to hatch
• Once hatched, both parents take turn feeding the chick, using a stomach oil that is very rich and high in energy
• the chicks generally fledge after around 240 days, after which the parents separate and fly out to see for a year 
• once independent, the young birds embark on a world circumnavigation journey that takes about 7 years to complete
• at the end of that time they return to their breeding colony, find a mate, and begin their own breeding life
• their parents also return to the breeding colony after the year at sea, find each other, and breed again (widow/widower birds whose mate does not return generally do not mate again)
• the actual breeding colony is on the other side of a hill from the orientation centre, and to get there one walks through deep trances, deep enough that there is no chance of a bird seeing a human
• the trenches lead into an observation post with windows all around, but not more than 2 feet high, mirrored, so that again the birds cannot see humans
• a number of nests are directly visible from the windows, and good quality binoculars are chained at regular intervals along the windows so that one can get a good view
• other nests not directly in view can be observed on high quality TV monitors, and there are also models of eggs, and other displays
• altogether, a very well done educational centre about these remarkable birds

Return Drive towards Dunedin

• one has to return from Taiaroa Head by the same road one came in on, but eventually one returns to the coastal road, which now mostly runs at sea level along the north side of the Otago peninsula
• eventually, we chose to go inland, and back to higher ground, to visit Lanarch Castle
• this is a very large mansion, built in the style of a Scottish highland castle, in 1870s and 80s by William Lanarch, a colonial entrepreneur and politician
• the history of the Lanarch family is not a happy one, involving betrayal (a wife that committed adultery with his son) and financial collapse, ending with William killing himself in 1898 in the New Zealand Parliament
• the place fell into severe disrepair, and was eventually bought by the Barker's in 1967, who by their own labour completely restored the place and its gardens to their former magnificence
• it is now a very significant Dunedin tourist attraction, and has earned a number of honours, including the garden being rated as a "Garden of International Significance"
• leaving Lanarch Castle, we headed back down to the coast and towards

Glenfalloch Woodland Garden

• Glenfalloch is Gaelic for "hidden valley"; this is an historical garden, established from 1871, and classified as a Garden of National Significance by the NZ Gardens Trust
• not very far from Dunedin, it apparently has a very fine restaurant within it, which however, and sadly as we were near supper time, was reserved for a wedding reception
• we did however enjoy a leisurely walk through the extensive grounds, which words cannot describe; you will have to look at the pictures
• from there, it was an easy drive back to the hotel, an quick brush-up, and out for supper

Supper

• not far from our hotel was the very large Speight's Brewery, which would not be the direction we would walk in, but the concierge at the hotel suggested the Speight's Ale House as a place we might consider for supper
• good suggestion!
• a place with good food, that however is also quite casual and fun
• we ate on a balcony overlooking the main floor; the food was excellent, and (for Down Under) not too outrageously priced
• perhaps the only issue was that the liquid offerings were beer, beer, and beer (there was some wine on the list, but we had been spoiled by NZ wines elsewhere, and these were not of the 1st rank)
• I, of course, enjoyed the beer selection, June, not so much
• and then, to hotel, to bed, and rest for the next day's drive to Christchurch, along the coast, with planned spots to visit

Te Anau to Dunedin

• breakfast opportunities in Te Anau were not numerous
• I got the impression that we were in the only actual hotel in town, and that all other travellers were either backpackers staying in a few hostels; or people on tour buses that stopped briefly later in the day for coffe and a bun
• we ended up at the backpacker cafe, which served a nuritious but assembly line buffet breakfast
• you want butter on your toast, that's extra; jam, that's extra, cram and sugar in your coffee, there's a charge for that, and the coffee too if you want a second cup
• it was fuel for the journey, but not much more
• we began to drive south-eastward across New Zealand by about 10:00 a.m., on good roads that wended their way over broad plains, and low mountain ranges, with higher mountains in the distance
• very spectacular scenery, that looked somewhat familiar, and, of course, we were driving across the Plains of Rohan (LOTR: the Return of the King), more commonly called Southland (the bottom of South Island); although we did not see habitations with a vaguely Scandinavian look about them, nor large numbers of horsemen in sort-of Viking gear
• about half way on the drive to Dunedin we cam to the town of Gore, which advertises itself as the "World Brown Trout Fishing Capital"; emphasized by what I assume is the world-s largest brown trout, about 20 feet long, depicted leaping vertically
• it is a lovely, sleepy town in a broad river valley, with the Mataura River running through it, presumably supplying the brown trout
• wandering around the town, one also comes across a monument announcing that one is in N.Z.' Capital of Country Music, this monument probably would be classified as the world's largest stylized 6-string acoustic guitar (down under seems to specialize in these sorts of "world's largest" things, although Oz has far more of them)
• the main street is lined by very brightly painted shops, with the street having a "western" look, except for the flower-filled median running up the middle
• also different from the wild west is the roof over the side-walks, welcome with the bright sun of summer beating down
• past Gore the drive got somewhat more urban, with lots of little towns to drive through, and near the coast the direction turns north-eastward as the road parallels the coast, but 5 to 15 km inland
• arrived in Dunedin near 3 p.m., checked into our hotel Scenic Hotel Southern Cross, on the corner of Princess & High Street
• if that sounds like we'd stumbled into Edinburgh, that is correct, Dunedin is Scots for Edinburgh, and is a city build by Scots, in a very Scottish style
• a lot of the major city buildings are of lime stone, like its namesake, and there are hints of Scottish influence everywhere
• just one note on parking at this hotel; to get to the prking lot after unloading luggage, one has to drive almost 1 km around the block to the parking entrance, and then one has to park on a very large prking lot that would make a very good skateboard park; ramps at odd angles to one another and to the horizontal; yes parking slots are marked off, but getting to them feels likew driving on a roller coaster; I never did find out what this surface actually wasmeant for
• with parking being what it was, after checking in we proceeded to explore Dunedin on foot
• as I mentioned, Scotish memorials are everywhere (although there is one pub, "The Duke of Wellington, which has on it signs adverising, German, English, and Irish beer, that doesn't fit!), and the first notable building one comes upon near the hotel is the First Church of Otago, needles to say, Prebyterian
• a very large neo-gothic limestone structure, surrouned by very large, fenced grounds, with a large separate "hall", it points to the fact that Dunedin was at one time very prosperous, and still is
• the interior is large and well-lit, but very obviously Presbyterian, with a pulpit where where most churches would have an altar
• wandering around the center of town, all roads eventually come into the "Octagon", which is exactly what the name implies, an 8-sided plaza, with 8 roads leading into it
• it is obviously the centre of the city's life, lined by commercial buildings, with most of them having restaurants and bars on the 1st floor
• the "square" has lawns on which students were lying about in uniforms waiting, as it is also a bus hub
• a very large statue of Robert Burns is on one side, not improved by being a seagull resting place, Dunedin being a coastal town
• the Anglican cathedral is just off the Octagon, and was open so we wandered in, but not without being scrutinized by an "office dragon" who informed us that we would have to be very quiet as a rehearsal was going on
• this being a Friday afternoon, we thought wedding, but no, it was an ordination rehearsal, which had really ended, except we overheard some concluding discussions between the very young man in civies and shorts with sandals who was obviously the ordinand (so I revised my assumption to rehearsal of a priesting), and the Dean in red-trimmed cassock , about some logistics
• afterwards, as the Dean was leaving, I introduced myself, and discovered in fact they had been rehearsing the consecration of the new Bishop of Otago, and that I had just missed "my Canadian bishop", Victoria Matthews (she had indeed been my Canadian bishop)
• the conversation got me an insistent invitation to the consecration, but I begged off on the grounds that we had firm travel commitments, which the Dean assumed meant we had to leave town, and I didn't correct his assumption
• we then found dinner at one of the restaurants on the Octagon, and after that continued our walk-about, to the railway station, which is an amazing Victorian red-brick "wedding cake" construction
• by the time we got there, it was closed, so we could only view the equally elaborate interior through a few windows
• then back to the hotel for the night

Milford Sound (Getting there; Being there; Leaving there)

Drive to Te Anau

• as the crow flies, the distance from Queenstown to Milford Sound proper (the pier from which the cruises depart) is about 70 km
• but, given the mountain ranges and lakes in the way, if the crow is driving, it is closer to 300 km
• we had a pre-booked cruise, lunch included, leaving at 12:30 p.m., and having learned that 300 km on New Zealand roads is at least 5 to 6 hours, we left the hotel at about 5:30 a.m., and drove off, into the dark, direction Te Anau, which is the nearest major town to Milford Sound
• nearest is relative, it is still 120 km from Te Anau to Milford Sound, but it is the last place to get gasoline, and the road can be difficult; eg. in Winter there is avalanche danger, and chains on tires are mandatory under certain conditions
• for about the first 90 minutes of the drive, it continued dark, as we were driving through mountain passes, thus sunrise was later than it would have been at sea level
• luckily, traffic was light, as some of the road was of the "white knuckle" variety, but, in general, it was a pleasant drive
• gradually, we began to see some of the magnificent scenery we were driving through, and eventually emerged into a fairly broad plain as we neared Te Anau
• we got to Te Anau at about 8:30, by which time we were ready for breakfast, the nutrition bars we had brought for this drive having long since been consumed
• charitably, Te Anau is what one would call a "one horse" town; also a not too many places to eat town
• eventually we found a small cafe serving breakfast, which was very pleasant, and the breakfast was certainly adequate; again, scaled to hikers and climbers
• however, facilities were limited, and when we asked for the washroom, we were directed to the public library across the road, which also served as a public convenience, and cheerfully so; the librarians were quite used to people seeking relief, and were happy to provide same
• then, we duly filled up the car, having been warned that this was essential, as there were no gas stations on the way, and only limited supply in Milford Sound (and that was on a credit card basis only, and only chip cards at that) - having had the odd problem with making Canadian chip cards work in New Zealand, we wanted to be sure of having enough gas to get there, and back

Drive to Milford Sound

• the drive to Milford Sound is worth it for the scenery, even if the Sound were not at the end of it
• most of it is through Fiordland National Park, and thus there is very little evidence of human habitation
• the road, which is a proper width two-lane for most of the way is excellently paved, especially considering the conditions which exist during winter
• in our case, we drove in late summer, so conditions were excellent
• eventually the road rises to near 1000 metres above sea level, and goes through a high pass between mountain ranges with snow still apparent, very near the road
• and then one comes to the Homer Tunnel, a slightly more than single lane tunnel about 100 km from Te Anau, thus 20 km from Milford Sound
• the tunnel is about 1250 m long, and at the eastern entrance is at about 950 m of elevation; it drops about 120 m to the western entrance
• although the width is sufficient to allow two cars to pass, it is not wide enough for two buses, or a bus and a car, etc., thus traffic through the tunnel is controlled by traffic lights
• given the nature of the traffic , which is effectively "tidal" headed to the Sound in the mornings, and away from the Sound in the afternoons, this is actually quite effective, and waits are reasonable
• apparently in winter the waits become more problematical, as both ends of the tunnel are subject to avalanches, and thus clearing traffic through becomes more urgent, but this was not our problem
• all around the eastern entrance, where we had to stop to await a green light, which would be about 15 minutes because we had just arrived as the light turned to red, were magnificent mountain views, with snow and ice coming down to road level
• we got out to enjoy the view, and instantly discovered one of the  small problems in Fiordland (one which keeps it mostly free of human settlement); what the New Zealanders call sand flies, and we call black flies
• we quickly sealed off all entrances into our clothing and sprayed bug repellent on every exposed piece of skin, but these little critters were merciless, crawling through the tiniest of gaps in clothing to get at non-repellent sprayed skin
• we very quickly went back into the car, only to discover that the critters were so desperate for human flesh that they came through the air vents to get to us; eventually we beat them back, and,having learned the lesson, proceeded to spray ourselves and every piece of clothing, with repellent
• later, at the Milford Sound ship terminal, we found a display of a greatly enlarged, to about 1 m wingspan, fly, and the Maori legend about them
• apparently, when the god Tuterakiwhanoa, the carver of Fiordland had finished creating the natural beauty of this area, especially his masterpiece, Milford Sound, the goddess Hinenuitep became afraid that humans, attracted by the beauty of the area, would move in and despoil it
• thus she created Te Namu, the black fly, to persuade humans that they should not linger too long
• legends of course convey truths by story, and it is true that very few people actually live in Fiordland; even the workers in Milford Sound on the boats and in the very few amenities there mostly arrive in the morning and leave in the evening
• the drive through Homer tunnel is amazing, with very little lighting overhead, and only unfinished granite walls on the side and overhead, and one emerges at the western portal effectively high up on a rocky mountainside, looking straight out at Milford Sound and the Tasman Sea, as the road makes a sharp right turn almost immediately beyond the portal
• from there to the Milford Sound parking areas is a drive mostly down hairpin turns through nearly 850 m elevation to sea level
• we made that drive through intermittent but hard rain showers
• at Milford Sound there is adequate parking for the large number of cars coming each day, and more parking for the 40 to 50 buses bringing tourists daily (apparently the bus drivers have to be specially qualified on the road in, both summer and winter)
• from the parking lots it is a pleasant walk, with bug repellent in place, to the dock from which the cruise boats leave
• there we had a short wait before we boarded out boat, holding perhaps 200 people for

Milford Sound Cruise

• we arrived near the end of the rain showers, but the view of the Sound was still obscured by mist and cloud
• walking from the parking area to the departure area, and indeed the entire view of the Sound from that end, is dominated by Mitre Peak, which indeed looks like a bishop's mitre
• as one cruises away from the dock, the view opens up, and the first thing one sees to the right is a magnificent water fall
• we were told that we were seeing the Sound at its best, just after heavy rains, when the water run-off from the surrounding land is at its highest
• our outgoing view was somewhat limited, as we had booked the cruise with a buffet lunch, so while we ate a very good meal, we saw the scenery through the large windows of the dining area
• As we finished eating, the weather cleared, the sun began to shine, and the clouds rose to form a pretty background to the peaks surrounding the Sound
• from the deck of the cruise ship the view is pretty much un-obscured, and one can easily move from side to side, as the passenger load is low enough that it does not feel crowded
• the view is almost indescribable with mere words; steep cliff sides, with high mountain peaks above them, and waterfalls and cascades running down from great heights
• the scale is such that it is difficult to perceive the heights from which water is falling, until another cruise ship, similar in size to the one we are on sails near a fall, and looks like a rowboat in comparison
• the guide then tells us over the speaker system that what we are looking at is a waterfall three times as high as Niagara Falls, coming from perhaps one-third of the way up to he higher peaks!
• one of the "novelty" items is the large cruise boat nosing up to a waterfall, so that the water sprays over the bow, drenching anyone silly enough to stay up front (to be fair, they do warn of this, and inform you that cameras and cell-phones probably won't survive the shower)
• we stayed well back!
• the cruise goes just out into the Tasman Sea, before turning around; thus whatever views one missed on the way out can be seen on the way back
• total time on the water is only about 2 hours, but in that time one gets the views of a lifetime; it is no wonder that Milford Sound is on every bucket list of places that have to be visited; it truly is one of the most beautiful spots on earth!
• and then ...

Return Drive to Te Anau

• The drive back is the reverse of coming out, and takes just as long
• The views are of the same mountainous terrain, yet the angles are different, so the drive is by no means boring
• arrived back in Te Anau at about 5:30 p.m., and checked into our hotel, the Distinction Hotel & Villas Te Anau
• This was a hotel of the "Superior" category, but while clean and adequate, was certainly not up to what that category applies; I guess "superior" is relative to what else there is available locally
• after a "freshen-up" we wandered around the town a little bit, including a very nice walk along the lake shore, but quickly realized that the town was rapidly shutting down, so went looking for a place to have supper
• there wasn't a lot of choice, so we settled on "Bailiez Cafe Bar" which looked interesting, and still open
• we were quickly seated, and asked for our order by a charming young woman, speaking with a familiar accent
• when asked, she told us she was from Hamilton, Ontario, not 60 km from our home
• she was travelling the world, between university years, and like a lot of young travellers, she said you can always earn your room and board by waitressing
• after a very nice meal, we headed back to our hotel, and, as there wasn't much on the telly, despite a plethora of satellite channels, went to bed!

Around Queenstown & Area

Sky Line Gondola

• After breakfast, the first order of the day was to ride the Skyline Gondola to the top of Bob's Peak
• the plan was to walk to the gondola bottom station,which on the map was at worst 1 km away from the hotel; and, the concierge at the hotel assured us, was an easy 10 minute walk
• there was a trail, starting right across from the hotel, that would bring us to the road leading to the station after an easy walk through a pleasant forest, so said the concierge
• about 30 minutes later we were still stumbling around on steep uphill, then steep downhill trails, none of them marked, nor on my hand-held GPS
• eventually we switched the GPS to compass navigation, using our destination as an end point, and simply going along trails going in approximately the right direction
• somewhere in this process June twisted an ankle, and we were very glad not longer after to emerge onto an actual city street, which was on the GPS map
• I parked June on a handy wall in front of a house, marked her location on the GPS, and then used it to navigate back to hotel, on city streets
• even that had its moments, as some of the "streets" turned out to be staircases done the steep hill back to lake level, the along that back to the hotel
• eventually picked up the car, and drove back to pick up June
• then we headed downtown, for the first order of business, getting a walking stick; found a Leki "Wanderfreund" collapsible hiking stick in one of the many adventure outfitting stores, and bought two, as I had previously thought of getting one for travel use on off-road trails
• if you don't know Leki, they are a German company that make hiking sticks of all varieties; they are extremely light and very strong (made out of aircraft alloy), and most are collapsible
• the "Wanderfreund" - "hiking friend" is a walking stick with a very comfortable ergonomic cork handle and wrist strap, with spring shock absorber, weighing less than 500 grams, and collapsible down to under 18 inches for packing; it has both a rubber foot for use on city streets, and a tungsten carbide tip for use on rock and hard surfaces, and is considered the Cadillac of hiking sticks
• thus equipped, we headed on, by car, to the downhill station of the Skyline Gondola
• and, we got lucky, with finding the 2nd closest parking spot just vacated
• the ride in a two-person car up to the top station is along a cut through the forest in a natural "dip" with sheep grazing below, gradually revealing more and more of a view of Queenstown and the surrounding land, mostly mountains
• the top station is a very elaborate complex, and not quite at the top of Bob's Peak
• there are several dining venues, lounges where one can sit, enjoy refreshments and the view, and outdoor viewing platform covering almost 360 degrees, and the obligatory gift shop
• to the north is the continuing slope up Bob's Peak
• there is a chair lift that can be taken to the top of the "Peak" but not for skiing, but for a wheeled "bob-sled" run along a paved track - it looked interesting, but, given June's ankle, we passed
• other directions give views of Queenstown and the lake, and the various approaches to and from the city
• prominent in the view is one of A.J. Hackett's (many) bungy venues
• this one is both a simple (one cord) bungy jump, from a platform cantilevered well out from the slope of the mountain, and the possibility of a "swing"  with two bungy cords attached at about 45 degree angles from vertical (you jump off the platform, the cords eventually bring you to equilibrium, and then you can swing by pumping your legs for as long as you want - eventually, they haul you back up with a rope attached to the harness you are wearing)
• after thoroughly exploring the view, we lunched in one of the lounges, enjoying the view, before taking the cable car back downhill, and going on to

Kawarau Bridge (with Bungy) over the Kawarau River

• not too long a drive to the Kawarau River gorge, and the Kawarau Bridge
• built 1878 - 1880, this suspension bridge is memorialized by the Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand as a significant part of New Zealand's engineering heritage, creating a vital transportation link for travel and commerce in Central Otago province
• but, in modern New Zealand history, the Kawarau Bridge is the site of A.J. Hackett's first bungy jump
• I have not been able to find sources that would explain why Mr. Hackett thought it was a good idea to tie, effectively, a rubber band to his feet and jump off a bridge, but the result is a uniquely New Zealand sport that has gone around the world
• of course, it has been refined into a science; at this particular site, and at others involving jumping over rivers, the jumper can decide to just dip into the water, or not
• the check-in desk automatically weighs the jumper, and calculates the length of rope in addition to the bungy cord needed to achieve the desired result
• jumping is not cheap; for an adult, the 1st jump is NZ$175, the second, should you be so crazy(?), NZ$60
• we watched a number of people jumping, and one deciding not to jump (there are no refunds), including one pair of French guys who decided to jump roped together
• we couldn't figure out what the incentive for that was, until we noticed the two very attractive young French women cheering them on; ah, testosterone! 
• interesting was how the jumpers were retrieved; after settling down they hag upside down some distance above the river
• a motorized Zodiac maneuvers under them, and they are lowered down by the jumping platform, and pulled into the Zodiac using a hook on a pole; primal, but effective
• after watching the jumpers for a while, we walked across the bridge, and inspected the jumping platform
• it is a highly technical operation, with safety first, and all kinds of checks and balances, to ensure the safety of the jumpers
• but, no way would I do this!
• what is not obvious, unless one has read up on Lord of the Rings film sites, that just beyond the Kawarau Bridge is the fairly brief scene in "The Fellowship of the Rings" of the Gates of Numenor; the scene where the Fellowship is drifting down a river gorge in boats, and comes to two huge statues of ancient kings on each side of the gorge; the statues are inserted digitally, but the rest of the scene is the same
• then a return to our hotel, via some small villages, and a stop for gas and picking up some nutrient bars, as tomorrow's departure will be before breakfast is available
• dinner at the hotel, checking e-mail and posting blogs, then to bed, ready for an early rising and departure

Queenstown, Earnslaw Dinner Cruise to Walter Peak

February 23, 2010
Queenstown Walk-about

• Got up early enough that breakfast was not urgent, so thought we'd get into town, and find it there
• asked the concierge how long it took to walk into downtown, also back, and were told "about 10 minutes" but opted to take the city bus instead
• the hotel has a system of vouchers; your pick up two at the front desk, one takes you into Queenstown, the other brings you back (that somewhat makes up for the outrageous Internet access policy at this hotel)
• so waited, not too long, for a bus just across from the hotel, rode into town, and got off in a central location
• first impressions; Queenstown is very modern, there are not a lot of "old" - more than a few dozen years old - buildings
• those that are, are of the "heritage" type, architechturally significant, and inevitably well maintained
• another impression; this is indeed the sport, and adventure sport, capital of New Zealand - a lot of the businesses along the downtown streets are either booking offices for various activities, bungy (NZ spelling) jumping, jet boating, etc., or sell the equipment for hiking, mountaineering, skiing, etc., or sell upscale clothing for outdoor sports, or sell upscale foods and wines, or, are restaurants
• we quickly located one of the latter, and ordered breakfast, which was scaled to +200 lb. humans about to head out on one of the many physical adventures on offer, the result being that we felt no need throughout this day to find lunch - being quite happy to wait for supper on our dinner cruise
• after breakfast we wandered aroung downtown some more, and eventually found our way to the shores of Lake Wakatipu, a very lively area, with street artists, and more opportunities for sports such as jetboating
• also here was the wharf from which the TSS Earnslaw departs on cruises of the lake;
• TSS = twin screw ship
• meaning, as we learned later in the evening, when we embarked on this vessel, that Earnslaw was coal-fired, steam-driven, by two triple expansion piston steam engines, each driving a separate propellers
• noted the location, and how to get there, as this is where we would be departing from in the early evening
• kept wandering, and found our way to the Queenstown Gardens, a large peninsula jutting out opposite the downtown area
• we had a very pleasant walk around this large park; beautiful groomed gardens, areas with native trees and plants, water features, and even a skatepark, with ramps and obstacles and staircases, and a large sign prohibiting bikes, which did not discourage a yonug man from riding his extreme bike over and around everything
• also, a free indoors ice skating rink, the first we have seen so far
• by this time it was later afternoon, and we decided to walk back to the hotel, rather than taking the bus
• it was a a pleasant walk, but not the 10 minutes that the concierge at the hotel had told us it would be, more like 30 (if you hustled, it could probably be done in 20, but with some straining at the end, a fairly steep uphill path)
• freshened up, packed some fleecies in the pack packs, got another set of bus vouchers from the desk, and rode to the Earnslaw pier for

TSS Earnslaw Dinner Cruise to Walter Peak

• we had pre-booked this, without actually knowing too much about it
• we boarded the Earnslaw with perhaps 250 others, and steamed up the lake, enjoying the views, and if so inclined the drinks, mostly beer, on offer from the bar (we were not so inclined, but enjoyed the views)
• Walter Peak eventually came into view, about 13 km down the lake, and we docked and disembarked (those who had dinner tickets, the others were simply going back to Queenstown)
• Walter Peak is described as a "sheep station" and it was probably that at one time, the home of a "run holder" who grazed thousands of sheep on the mountainside, and lived off the wool, the mutton and the lamb meat.
• today, it lives on tourism; it is not clear if there is still an owner, or if it simply a corporate tourist attraction (I suspect the latter)
• the buildings are immaculate, the grounds are impeccably landscaped, but the main attraction, towards we were encouraged to quickly go, was a very large dining room, seating perhaps 200
• we found a place, introduced ourselves to those at our table, and waited for instructions on what was to happen next
• a waiter showed up, sit brief instructions on how to get food; it was all buffett, there were appetizer, main course, and dessert stations, and we could go up at any time to get any of those, and there were no limits to how often one could go
• but first, did we care to order wine (extra cost over the pre-booked dinner) and he would recommend - naming a red and a white, at special prices (NZ$45 and NZ$40 - quite upscale given the prices one pays in stores
• A lesson or two learned about fine dining; never ask a waiter to recommend either food, or wine; inevitably they will push the stuff the kitchen wants to get rid of, and as for wine, they will push that, or the wine with the most profit margin
• we looked at the wine list (and none of the wines were anything we'd heard of), and, again, lessons learned, if you know none of the wines. do not order the most expensive, nor the 2nd most, nor the two on the bottom - all of which are positions to catch the unwary; go for the middle, and you are likely to get a decent wine at a decent price
• the food, all of it, was excellent, great variety, and, for buffet, very fresh (and so was the wine - not fresh, excellent)
• at some point, I went to use the washroom, got lost, and got to the bar serving area, noted a listing of the wine specials chalked up prominently, but also, a very discreet sign, where I probably shouldn't have noticed it, but I did and photograped it, saying "Try to promote the blackboard specials, as we have to get rid of old stock."  - and the blackboard specials were those the waiter had pushed
• there you have the economics of wine in restaurants - best know what you are ordering, or,if it is all unfamiliar because you are abroad, stay away from the extremes of price (until of course the industry catches on to that, and loads the middle of the wine list with plonk at high price)
• after dinner, there was a sheep dog demonstration, quite entertaining, and a sheep shearing demonstration, not so much, as we had already seen one earlier in the trip
• back onto the Earnslaw, and the cruise back to Queenstown, in a bright moonlit night
• inside, there was a sing-along around a piano, mostly for those who also wanted to sample wares from the bar, but the real magic was outside
• a bright, almost full moon, shining on the lake, and illuminating the hillsides on the shores; in the distance, the light of the town
• when we docked, not that late at night, we decided to walk along the lake, back to our hotel, in the very pleasant, mild, later summer night
• back at the hotel, the usual personal maintenance, check e-mail via the cheap connection at the hotel down the hill, and posting blog stuff.
• tomorrow, more Queenstown exploration, but with a more "extreme" edge

To Punakaiki, Pancake Rocks; Franz Josef Glacier; Fox Glacier & Queenstown

[to be fleshed out - sadly, Blooger has draft bulletted lists with levels, but posts all levels the same]


February 20, 2010
To Punakaiki, Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

• an almost total overland drive, leaving the Tasman Sea at Nelson, and not reaching it again until just to the north of our desitnation
• the drive is over modest ranges of hills, thorugh broad river valleys with beautiful vistas, and the occasional one-lane bridge
• but an easy drive, even though long
• we hit the Tasman Sea again just north of our desination, Punakaiki
• the coast hereis quite rugged, lots of weathered rocks, with beaches in between, and lots of opportunity for spectacular photographs; it was one of these stops that led to a stupid incident
• the dangers of having become accustomed to driving on the left, and after w while not remaining totally conscious of the differences from driving on the right (particularly habits)
• we'd stopped at in a layby at a scenic view of the shore and ocean, and when we finished taking pictures I realized that I had stopped right at the front of the layby, on the right of the road, and directly ahead was a blind curve to the left
• meaning, if I just pulled out and crossed over to the left side of the road, I would have no warning of a vehicle coming around the curve
• the solution, back up in the layby to give myself more room
• there was no other vehicle in the layby as we got into the car, started the car, put it into reverse I checked the rearview mirror one more time by looking up and to my right, except in a left hand drive car, the rearview mirror is up and to the left!
• not more than 10 feet behind me a camper van had pulled in, which I duly hit, at probably not more than 5 km/hr
• said bad words!
• the camper was a rental, one of a company that calls its inevitably beat up Toyota vans "Spaceships" and instead of numbers, gives them spacey names, this one was "Jet"
• it was driven by a young Belgian couple, and while there was a crease in my rear bumper shell, their van was so beat up that it was hard to tell what, if any damage I might have caused
• there were paint scratches, but no paint from the van on our car, one of the headlight plastic covers was cracked, but had condensation inside it, and anyways was far higher up than the damage on my bumper
• but, the young couple were most distraught
• they had not bought the extra collison coverage, and the deal with Spaceships was that you had to report even the most minor accident, at which point Spaceships would charge NZ$1000 to your credit card, and sort everything out when you returned the vehicle, maybe
• I assured them that the insurance I had would cover any damage to their vehicle, and gave them a business card with all my contact information and wrote on it that I would be responsibe for any charges made to them as a result of this incident
• we then drove on into Punakaiki, the next place with telephones, as they needed a landline, while I called Hertz from our cellphone
• interesting difference in approach from the two rental companies
• Spaceships response to their report was ok, we'll charge $1000 to your card of record
• Hertz's response was, without asking anything about insurance coverage or not, "Is anyone injured, do you need assistance?" Sometimes it is worth dealing with the high-priced spread
• the Hertz person I spoke to was in the next Hertz centre down the coast, Greymouth, and even though next day was Sunday, said she would come into the office and would meet me there to fill out an accident report, and to assure the other party, that, as clearly this was my fault, the Hertz insurance would cover any damage to their vehicle
• all that out of the way, we, and the couple I had hit, went to enjoy the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks, a unique, and even today not totally understood coastal formation
• rock columns, weathered away by wind and sea, that look like stacks of pancakes
• geologists speculate that these were formed by layers of sedimentation, with some events (and there would have to be 20 to 30 of these) between sedimentation, that sealed a layer of no more than a few inches
• it is the events that would do this that are still not understood
• there are also coves in which waves crash and rise many metres up the walls, and other, intriguing rock formations
• we spent several hours walking around, before moving on to our overnight stay
• this was the Punakaiki Resort, and again, the address and instructions we had were not too clear
• the GPS directed us down one very narrow lane, direction the ocean, ending in soft sand, little turning around room, and nothing that looked like a resort
• asked directions, got told it was a few miles down the road; sure enough, there it was
• Punakaiki Resort is a "green" facility, solar panels for electricity and water heating, and we checked into our very funky unit, with all of it's energy conserving features, like, unless someone is actually in the room, there is no air conditioning or power except to the in unit fridge. Neat!
• Punakaiki has the fast food joint near the Rocks, or the restaurant at the Resort; we went for the latter; a very pleasant walk to the dining room through a garden with water falls and one tunnel under the main highway, and a very good meal
• back to our room, to watch an amazing sunset from the balcony

February 21, 2010
Drive to Franz Josef Glacier & Walk to Glacier

• breakfast at Resort, then left, reasonably early, for drive southward along coast
• there was just enough  mist, and the light was low because sunrise was behind the Southern Alps to the East, and a coastal range of hills to make rock formations on the coast seem mustical and mysterious
• I'm beginning to believe this IS Middle Earth
• much of this drive was within sight of the ocean, but eventually truned inland, into the foothillls and then the Southern Alps
• the scenery was spectacular, the road acceptable, with the occasional one-lane bridge
• when we reached the town of Franz Josef we checked into our hotel, which was adequate, but basic, despite being the best accomodation in town; we are in mountain country, and the accomodation is appropriate to hikers, skiers, mountain climbers and the like
• also noticaeable is the noise from the helicopter pad directly across from our room, ferrying people onto the upper reaches of the glacier; but, they won't be flying by night, so, no worry
• we didn't realize until next morning that the flights start up awfully early, just as soon as there is enough light
• it is now early afternoon, time to drive to the parking area from which one can walk to the foot of the glacier
• the walk is on poorly groomed paths, over large rocks, basically the glacial moraine, for about 2 km
• the view is spectacular, high mountains on both sides, with waterfalls coming down
• one can only get so far to the foot of the glacier before running into warning signs and fences keeping us away from obvious danger
• but, there are people inside the fence, standing right at where an "under ice" river emerges from the glacier, with a fragile looking arch over it; if that collapses,a s it will, anyone there will be toast (if that's what you call someone swept away by an icy river)
• there are also legitimate ways of being on the glacier; it takes a while to recognize the ant-like creatures on the face of the ice, which is dirty,not white, as people with guides, roped together, walking on paths, which we learned have to be chopped out every day, as the glacier changes that much
• that's when you realize the scale of this thing, we walked in about 2 km, and the glacier itself stretches up to the peak for about another dozen km
• there are people walking around near the peak, because we can see helicopters landing and taking off, but they are not visible, even through a 400 mm telephoto lens
• this is one of those places where you realize that nature is mightier than humans
• also one realizes how much climate change is changing the world; Franz Josef glacier at one time, not more than 50 year ago, extended to where the present parking lot is!
• we hiked back out, drove back to our hotel, and explored Franz Josef town, which is basically only shops catering to tourists (although tourists who like good wine, as we found in tthe one grocery store)
• the for supper at the only restaurant in town, other than the hotel dining room; we sat outdoors, and as it cooled (we were in the mountains near a glacier) overhead propane heaters kept us comfortable during an (again) very good meal
• back to our room, with some wine, and some relaxing, before falling asleep in total quiet, and with clean mountain air
• tomorrow will be another long drive, to Queenstown

February 22, 2010
Fox Glacier, Drive to Queenstown

• After breakfast at the hotel, we took the short (roughly 15 km) drive to Fox glacier
• there are two ways of seeing Fox glacier
• drive some ways towards glacier along the Fox River, park, and then walk to the foot of the glacier much like at Franz Josef
• or, drive beyond the Fox River, doen a narrow road to a parking area, from which you can walk to the Fox River, with a number of views of the glacier aolng the way
• we took the latter, the walk was pleasant, through theusual rain forest, down to the river
• at several points the glacier is viewable in its entirety through gaps in the forest
• once at the Fox River, the glacier is around abend in the valley, so not actually visible
• there is a supension bridge across the river to the road into the glacier; one could cross, and walk in and to the glacier foot
• we chose not to do this, walked back to opur car, and continued towards Queenstown
• the route is mostly inland, through valleys and mountain passes, over rivers with the by now usual 0ne-lane bridges (two lane bridges come as a surprise)
• the views are often very pretty going towards spectacular
• eventually the route does go along the Tasman coast for perhaps 20 km, but on a faily high cliff top, with a couple of stops from which there are spectacular views
• at Haast the route turns inland again, followig the Haast River into the mountains to where the landsborough River flows into it
• this confluence offeres some spectacular views, as as one can see down three wide river valleys and into the surrounding mountains
• At this point the Haast River, and the route turn sharply south
• the views of the river and the mountains can only be decribed as spectacular, and only the very narrow road and lack of frequent off-road parking keeps you making progress, otherwise you'd stop every few hundred metres to take phots
• there are enough points at which one can stop that I'm grateful for digital cameras, with which you can take many dozens of photos without worrying about the cost of film, developing, etc.
• eventually the route reaches Lake Wanaka, the source of the Haast River, and follows its eastern shore for a dozen or so km, at which point the road "jigs" over to follow the western shore of Lake Hawea (which drains into Lake Wanaka) for about the same distance
• the views of both lakes and their mountain shores are again worth stopping as frequently as possible
• we are seeing this in Summer, and the mountains are mostly beige, brown, and alot of green; I can only imagine the scene in the Winter, when the mountains would be snow-covered (and shutter at the thought of driving these roads in snow!)
• leaving Lake Hawea the route follows the Hawea River for a while and then takes a substantial jog eastward, the south again, before turning westward again, thus avoiding a substatial mountain range, the Crown Range
• there is actually a road across this range, Crown Range Road, but our instructions from our travel agent warned us against taking this as it is a) very dangerous even in summer, and b) taking it voids your rental car insurance
• needless to say, the GPS wanted to direct us along this road (and absent of contrary information we would probably have followed it); after all, a road to a GPS is a road, and this one would make the drive substantially shorter (by at least 50 km)! Another confirmation that one ought to have more information available than just the GPS map.
• much of the southward part of this jog is along Lake Dunstan, and the westward part follows the Kawarau River which flows out of this lake, and down towards Lake Wakatipu on which Queenstown is located
• much of this part of the route is through a deep gorge in which the river runs
• apparently this was gold mining territory in the 19th century; the gold has been exhausted, but at least one mine has been taken over by entrepreneurs who extact gold from passing travellers
• at the "Gold Fields Mining Centre" there is a mining exhibit, but most of  all it is an opportunity for "extreme" water sports
• Queenstown is known as the sports capital of New Zealand, particularly extreme sports
• at this mining centre one can get dressed up in inflatable flotation suits (you end up looking soemwhat like the Michelin man), put on a helmet, and then
• jump of a clif, about 40 ft into the river
• swing out over the river on a rope, let go at the top of the swing, fall into the river
• slide down a slide that ends about 25 feet above river, fall into the river
• run out hanging onto a pulley on an overhead cable over the river, let go, fall into the river
• in all cases, a jet boat comes along and picks people out of the river, and returns them to shore for then ext bit of fun
• we passed, but enjoyed the show!
• then on for the remainder of the run into Queenstown, through the town centre, to our hotel, the Heritage Queenstown, which is located somewhat on the outskirts
• our room overlooked the lake, and the mountains on the other shore, and we watched the sunset while sipping wine
• had supper at the hotel, settled in, and planned tomorrow, for which we have the day free, but are booked for an evening dinner cruise down the lake to a sheep station, Walter Peak

A note on Internet access in New Zealand

• New Zeland hotels, like in manyother places, hasve decided that wireless Internet, which is relatively inexpensive to provide in rooms, can be a profit centre
• like everywhere else, often the inexpensive hotels offer free internet, and then as one goes up in scale and expense, they begin to charge more, often ridiculaous amounts, such as $15 per hour
• and yes, they use the model of charging for connect time, which makes no sense, instead of bandwidth use, which would make sense, as that is an actual use of a resource (ok simply being connected does tie up a port on a router, but those, once paid for, cost nothing on a time basis)
• so far this trip I have been using either free access in theplaces we have stayed, or simply forgone use, particularly when the cost was ridiculous
• in Auckland, the hotel charged too much, but there was an open wireless router nearby enough that I used it to connect
• you wouldn't want to do banking on that kind of connection, but it's good enough to check e-mail, particularly as my e-mail log in uses SSL, ie passwords and ID are encrypted
• here, the Heritage Hotel wanted NZ$25 for 24 hours, which is on the edge of unreasonable, so I searched for other available networks, and found one at a Best Western Hotel, down the hill from us, with the same signal strength as inour hotel, for $5 per 24 hours
• as both were payable through credit card, not to the hotel, and were by the same ISP, it was a no-brainer
• even Conde Nast Traveller, a very up-scale travel magazine continually rails against the stupidity of expensive hotels then nickel and diming (actually 10 and 20 dollaring) guests on Internet access, while the cheap hotels provide it free, or at nominal cost
• I suppose the principle is that guests who want Internet access are business travellers (and at one time they probably were) and so since their employers paid the cost, it didn't matter what you charged
• but that is less and less true, today even recreational travellers want net access, want to check e-mail, and use social networks while on the road

Cook Strait Crossing, Drive To Nelson; Abel Tasman National Park

[to be fleshed out - sadly, Blooger has draft bulletted lists with levels, but posts all levels the same]


February 19, 2010
From Wellington to Picton; Drive to Nelson

• drove to Interislander Ferry Terminal, dropped off June with luggage at terminal, then went in search of Hertz car return
• Hertz does not let you transfer cars between North and South Island, instead you drop the car off at your port of departure, and pick up another one at your port of arrival
• first problem was finding the Hertz parking lot, which, when found, was full, so parked as close as possible in another company's area
• then to find the drop-off office which was a "follow the signs" exercise, with some of the signs not too clear
• eventually found the office, closed, with a note saying they only opened after a ferry had arrived, "please drop your keys into this box, here"
• reluctantly, I did so, hoping that they would eventually find their car
• then to the terminal, to check our luggage, airline style; it gets tagged and thrown onto a belt, and disappears
• our ferry was pullinginto dock, and unloaded with surprising efficiency, given the number of people, cars, and trucks that came off
• then, a long walk, up gangways, onto the Arahura Interislander, and then watch a long line of cars, trucks and a surprising number of motorcycles, almost all Harleys, loading
• departed right on time, and as the weather was dry, if not warm, we could watch from deck
• along with a large number of bikers, men and women, all in leathers, looking very tough, until we learned that they were a New Zealand Harley Club doing an annual two-island tour, and, because of the cost of owning a motorbike like a Harley in New Zealand, they were all doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants and the like, playing at being bad boys, and doing it by staying the nights in the finest hotels along the way
• pulling out of Wellington Harbour, we saw the same scenery of the day before, but from the water
• out in Cook Strait, the ferry route parallels the coast for quite some distance, looking out at steep hillsides, very rough, with no signs of human habitation
• then a turn south (and one is never out of sight of one of the two coasts) and into a channel that leads into Queen Charlotte Soung
• considerable distance inside the sound, again with rugged hillsides and occasional steep cliffs on both sides, but with what appear to be fishing stations, one apparent mussel growing "farm", and eventually as one nears Picton, obvious recreational homes
• on docking in Picton the ferry very quickly offloads, one's luggage is quickly ciculating on a carousel just as in an airport, and within 20 minutes of docking, one is on the way to the various car rental offices, just outside the terminal
• here, the process is very simple; identify yourself, confirm you want to continue insurance as purchased previously, and you are handed the keys and directions to your new car
• I was somewhat concerned about the car in Wellington not being in the Hertz lot, but was told that happens all the itme and they get very good at finding cars; as for the damaged wheel, not to worry, if I reported it it would be looked after, and in any case it wasn't my problem as I was fully insured
• and very quickly we are out on the road, headed in the direction of Nelson on the Tasman Sea coast
• ahead of us were the Harley gang, but they very quickly went in a different direction
• at this time, it had started to rain quite heavily, with a moderate fog, with very narrow, curvy roads climbing to some height and then dropping back to sea level
• the road conditions did not seem to concern the locals who would come up behind us, patiently wait as we cautiosly drove along, and then at the earliest opportunity blast by and disappear around the next curve
• I am beginning to understand oneof the traffic safety signs we keep seeing; a picture of the round 100 km/hr speed limit sign, with concentric rings around it making the sign the bull-ey, and the slogan "It's a limit, not a target"
• seems New Zealanders are a bit like Germans, if the limit is 100, they must go 100!
• but, I must say, annoying as we probably are, the drivers are very patient, no horns, no flashing lights
• eventually the road leaves the coast, and begins to climb and go down several ranges of hills that are beginning to look like mountains, thus, switchbacks, blind curves, steep cliff on one side, steep drop on the other, roads still narrow, me still in a "large" Camry
• eventually the road begins to climb up one side of what is likely the northern outliers of the Southern Alps
• the weather has cleared enough that one can see a great distance ahead, and while we begin the climb in a valley, we can see switch-back after switch-back, steadily climbing
• and thinking, since Neson is on the sea coast, eventually similarly dropping on the other side
• one's nerves are not helped by extremely large tractor-trailer combinations, sometimes with two trailes, that either overtake on the uphill straights (and sometimes there is, mercifully, a third, passing lane), but also by those coming the other way, downhill, at speeds probably above the limit, and takingup a great deal of the road
• this was definitely the most "white knuckle" drive thus far, but eventually we did drop down to sea level, for a pleasant drive in bright sunshine into Nelson, along the Tasman Sea all the way
• stoppen in Neson at a supermarket to pick up the obligatory bottle of Viognier, some crackers and cheese, which we felt we had definitely earned
• our hotel, the Monaco Hotel and Resort (Monaco being the name of the Nelson suburb) was on the south side of the city, and an interesting property
• it looks like a very quaint English village, with rows of townhouses, each of which contains one or two suites
• we had the bottom floor of one, with a bedroom, large bathroom and a combination kitchenette and sitting room
• we duly set up for wine and cheese, and relaxed, and I gradually worked out the knots in my shoulders from the drive and watched CNN Sports and Olympic highlights
• given it was CNN it was difficult to know what countries, other than the US were in competition, or if it wasn't an American, who won anything
• eventually it came to suppertime, so we explored the hotel; their dining room was a bit fussy-looking, and seemed to wsant you to wear at least a jacket, so we wandered off to the pub across the road, which turned out to be owned by the hotel, and be a very us-cale pub
• The Honest Lawyer might have been straight out of an English village, with excellent wines, good beer, and pub food that was better than most fine restaurants; the prices were accordingly high, but the alternative, driving into Nelson, didn't appeal so we stayed
• had a good conversation with barkeep about local stuff, beer recommendations, wind recommendations, food recommendations, so pleasant that in a moment of weakness bout one of the pub t-shirts
• thoroughly watered and fed, wandered back to our "room" while watching the sun set over the Tasman Sea, and then went to bed as the next day would start early
• we knew where we were going, but it was difficult to decode some of the directions we had been given and reconcille them with a map, and it was not clear just how difficult some of the driving would be

February 19, 2010
Kaiteriteri, Abel Tasman National Park,Seals and Beach Walk

• our intructions were to make our way to the "Wilsons Able Tasman National Park" kiosk in Kaiterireri, opposite thepublic beach
• off we set, navigating mostly with the GPS, set for Kaiteriteri, hoping that once we got there the rest would be obvious
• the route basically followed the coast of Tasman Bay, with only some minor hills, a few one-lane bridges, one quite long, and just going into Kaiteriteri, some very curvy, narrow road, going down hil with a lot of blind corners
• and, once there, kiosk was obvious, from the crowds lined up to book everything from transport up the coast (down? its southward) to campsites and hiking trailheads, to sight-seeing round trips, camping permits, and whatever Abel Tasman National Park offered
• there are no roads in the park, the only way in is by boat or on foot, and if by boat, Wilsons was the only game in town
• we had pre-booked a "Seals and Beach Walk"
• turned out to be not many seals, nor beach, but a lot of walk
• we embarked on a largish motor-cat, which had a very ingeneous landing bridge that it extended for embarking or disembarking passengers, and then retracted for travel, allowing the boat to stay in deeper water, and avoidning the necessity for docks
• we motored along the coast, sightseeing the very spectacular park coast line, dropping off people at various locations, for hiking, cayaking, or at some holiday lodges
• eventually we circled an island that had a seal colony, although very few were in residence
• then we were dropped of on the beach at Tonga Quarry Camp with very few and very rudimentary instructions;
• follow the trail back in the direction from which we came, you can't miss it, there is only one
• oh, there will be two when you get to such and such a beach, we suggest you follow the high tide route, unless you want to swim across and inlet
• when you get to Medlands Bech, wait for the next one of our boat headed to Kaiteriteri
• it all seemed a bit loosy-goosy, but we were assured it was all perfectly safe and they hadn't lost many people
• but first, we checked out the local bird life, including some little penguins, who were abviously used to people, and let you come quite close for pictures
• then, off into the bush, following the obvious path, in the direction we'd come from
• very quickly we left the beach, and sea level, and started climbing, then dropping down again, and climbing again
• I had my portable GPS on, and we effectively kept alternating between sea level and 100 to 150 metres, but we could walk at our own speed, and the path was well groomed, and never too steep
• the terrain was tropical rain forest, lots of moss, and the ubiquitous giant ferns
• through the trees on the ocean side one could most of the way see the turquoise blue Tasman Sea, and as one dropped down to sea level, the scenes were of secluded coves and beaches that one could only reach by boat
• some of the scenery was so beautiful and spectacular, that looking at the pictures we took, they are only a poor approximation
• the total distance walked was, by the GPS, a little over 10 km, not very much actually, but enough for us
• fortunately, we had brought lots of water, as advised, as there is abolutely no potable water available at any of the campsites or beaches along the way; all have boill water notices, all have take your grbage with you notices - the latter obviously obeyed, as we saw very little signs that humans had been along theway
• eventually we got to Medway Beach, and settled in for a longish wait for the next boat going back to Kaiteriteri
• while we had a schedule of arrivals and departures, it seemed to be only distantly related to reality
• eventually, about an hour late, our transport arrived, and we settled on board for the roughhly one hour back to our starting point
• by this time it was later mid-afternoon, and we walked to the only restaurant in Kaitreriteri fro a late lunch, early supper
• had very good, and substantial lunch of seafood chowder and lamb burger with fries
• then headed into the next door general store and camping outfitters, hoping against hope that I could stock up for the evening's relaxation rather than having to drive into Nelson
• they had a surprising good and extensive selection wines and cheeses (I guess camping in these parts does not necessarily involve eating and drinking badly)
• so, supplied for the evening, we headed back to our hotel, effectively reversing our route of the morning
• watched more of the Olympics, with the same complaints, sipped wine, ate cheese, then went to bed
• tomorrow, a longish drive, close to 300 km, to Punakaiki

Putangirua Pinnacles, Lake Ferry, to Wellington; Wellington City Tour

[to be fleshed out - sadly, Blooger has draft bulletted lists with levels, but posts all levels the same]
February 16, 2010
Putangirua Pinnacles

• "dry" riverbed with fantastical stone pillar formations on the canyon walls
• Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" the "Paths of the Dead" location
• Lake Ferry
• small village on Cook Strait
• had lunch at great, and only, pub
• watched surfing
• not the end of the road, but almost!
• Drive to Wellington
• partially backtracked towards Martinborough,  then cut cross-country to pick up main highway
• an easy drive into WEllington
• checked into Duxton Hotel
• discovered they had a guest laundry, not just free washer and dryer, but free soap
• finshed washing about 9 p.m.; headed out to find supper; discovered sidewalks mostly rolled up
• tried a couple of pubs that were jumping, but no food to be had
• eventually found Uncle Chan, a Chinese place, food was good, but it was obvious that they too wanted to close, so hurried up
• this was a Tuesday night, but this is also a national capital!

February 17, 2010
Wellington City Tour

• picked up by a pre-booked tour van; again we were the only ones booked, so had the van and driver/guide to ourselves
• he offered to give us the basic city tour, and then tailor the rest of the day to our interests
• he turned out to be an interesting guy; owner of a software company that had done well, and that he'd sold
• after a few months of retirement he was bored out of his skull, when a friend approached him about investing in an up-scale tour company he was starting
• our guy invested on the condition that he could drive one of the vehicles
• he really knoew the city, and also was very knowledgable about NZ economis, political life, and the world
• what a find!
• a quick tour of the downtown, past the National Museum (Te Papa Tongarewa)
• past ahotel that had actually been put on rails, moved off the museum site to its present location across the road
• up to Mt. Victoria, the high hill in the centre with views of Wellington in all directions, also with the very striking Byrd monument
• every town and city in New Zealand seems to have a Mt. Victoria
• good view of the airport, a single runway, with both ends on a body of water, apparently difficult to fly into and out of, because of surrounding hills
• then through some upscale neighbourhoods; Wellington is typical - the higher up you live the higher the price of your property
• then a drive along the coast of Wellington Harbour, out to the Cook Strait
• in some places the road is very narrow, with only the roadway and some small off-road parking; the houses are up above, and served by funicular type "elevators"
• on the Cook Strait the landscape is very rugged, weathered rocks, and obviously a dangerous coast for ships
• back into Wellington through the Mt. Victoria Tunnel, which makes for a considerable shortcut
• lunch (included in tour cost) was at a very upscale harbour-side restaurant, on stilts on the water, with what would have been a beatiful view, if there hadn't been a mild fog
• after lunch a tour of Stansborough Fibres
• weavers using traditional weaving methods, with wool sourced from STansborough sheep which are naturally white, greay and black, with some alpaca mixed in for softness
• suppliers of the cloth for the Elven cloacks in Lord of the Rings; also suppliers of cloth for the Narnia movies
• a thorough explanation of the weaving process, using Victorian age looms, and the methods of a 100 years ago
• ironically, when Peter Jackson was looking for a supplier of cloth for the movies he hade agents searchthe world, found cloth that he liked in a boutique in New York, and discovered it was made not far down the road from his studios
• a good sales room, selling everything up to full-sized elven cloaks - we settled for a scarf each (not cheap, but a souvenir that we are unlikely to see at our corner clothiers), and we don't have to caryy them; they will be mailed just before we arrive back home
• from there to Weta Studios
• more Lord of the Rings
• Weta were the armourers for all the weapons and armour used in the movies
• their principle was very simple; make reaal weapons and real armour, and you wont have to worry about making thme "look" real
• they also made all the pottery and glassware for the "Prancing Pony" pub in Bree, to ensure they were unlike anything one could buy
• but their greatest work on the films was their digital horses and digital doubles of the characters
• eg. in the Battle of Pellinor Field scenes, most of the horses and riders are digital, and in one scene where Legolas climbs a digital elephant, Legolas is digital also
• also Gollum is a digital charater, although his movements are acted out by an actor wearing a body suit with registration dots on it, onto which the digital character is then "projected"
• magical stuff!
• then into downtown Wellington, and a ride on the Wellington Cable Car, which takes you up to a hill top with great views, and botanical gardens, which we did not have time to explore, although our van, which picked us up at the top, did a quick drive through
• then back down the hill, on a road that was the narrowest we have seen; so narrow that houses built into the hillside below the road have "parking platforms" cantilevered out from the hillside
• interesting to speculate why, as there is no lack of land around Wellington; presumably there is prestige attached to living in these areas
• on to the parliamentry district, for a view of the "Beehive" office building, which regularly turns up on 10 ugliest buildings lists, next to the Edwardian parliamentary buildings, with the very modern "New" St. Paul's Cathedral of to one side
• to "Old" St. Paul's Cathedral, a late Victorian building, dark, with lots of stained glass
• no longer used as a church, now is available for weddings and other signifiant occasions (funerals?)
• obviously our driver/guide was an Anglican, and one he found out what I did, showed us this, his favourite church
• from there to the National Museum
• it was now late afternoon, and after a quick survey tour our driver/guide left us, as we were just across the road fromour hotel
• this is one of the great museums, and most impressively, it is free
• New Zealand policy seems to be that the national patrimony should not be made unavailable to people because of cost
• exploring on our own, we got a quick introduction to New Zealand history
• also, an introduction to how New Zealand deals with the ever present earthquackes
• thousands daily, most only noticable on instruments, but one or two that can be felt
• there is an "earth quake house" in which one can experience what a severe earthquake feels like
• also an explanation of the insurance scheme in place
• because "for profit" insurance companies are reluctant o underwrite earthquake insurance in risky zones, it is handled by a government agency
• there is a tax on all home insurance, not very high, which is used to build a fund out of which earthquake damages are compensated
• then to our hotel, supper, and get to bed in preparation for our crossing to South Isand in the morning

Napier, Wines, and Hotels; Martinborough and More Wine

February 14, 2010

We started the day by going into Taupo and having breakfast on an outdoor patio overlooking Lake Taupo, with Mounts Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe, and Tongariro, dormant volcanos, clearly visible on the south of the lake. After breakfast we set off, direction Napier.

The drive was entirely along State Highway (SH) 1, from the middle of the island to the coast, in a somewhat east and southerly direction. For the most part SH 1 is one of the wider roads we had so far encountered, wide two lanes, and three lanes with the overtaking lane alternating from side to side, and in places was 4 lanes for a good many kilometres. We were thus able to make good time, which was a good thing, as we had a fixed departure time in early afternoon for our pre-booked wine tour. The scenery along the way was a series of hill, even mountain ranges, with the road sweeping through broad passes. As we neared the coast of Hawke Bay on the South Pacific Ocean the hill sides became populated with vine yards, and as we drove through the coastal plain into Napier it was obvious that this was wine territory.

We easily found the Napier i-Site, the departure point for our wine tour. Not so easily found was on-street parking. It was Sunday, and downtown Napier (or the CBD, Central Business District as we are learning to call town centres) was crowed with cars and pedestrians, presumably left over from the previous night’s concert at Mission Wines. We eventually did get parked, not too sure if it was legal for us to remain there for most of the afternoon, but willing to take the chance. Then a short walk to the i-Site, which is beautifully located right on the waterfront, which itself is a promenade with flower beds and sculptures. After finding out that our tour would leave from directly in front, we waited, and waited, and phoned (using the thankfully now functioning cell phone) the contact number we had. That got us the assurance that our vehicle should be there any minute, and a description of what we were looking for. Twenty minutes later I phoned again, and got the assurance that our pick-up was indeed coming, but there were some “issues.” Eventually, more than an hour after the scheduled time, our vehicle from Odyssey Food and Wine Tours, a smallish van, did arrive, with two other couples on board, and the very pleasant young driver explained that he’d had a series of pick-ups at hotels, and at each of them there had been no-shows, but that he’d had to make inquires and wait for some time at each one. He blamed it all on the no-showing individuals having celebrated too much at the previous night’s concert; we now learned the attraction had been a number of Motown bands, and also that the concert was as much about drinking as music. And indeed, he had one more pick-up to make, which turned out to be another no-show, and then we were off, to Mission Estate Wines, as it happened.

Mission Estate is one of the large New Zealand wine producers, and, as we learned, one of the few that are able to ship the minimum 20,000+ cases of a particular wine annually for them to be imported into Ontario. The property we were taken to was the original mission house of some French priests sent as missionaries to Hawke Bay (why French priests to an English colony?), who in 1851 began growing grapes to produce sacramental wine, and then table wine, and effectively were the beginnings of the New Zealand wine industry. A note on the name of the wine growing region; geographically the body of water, a bay of the South Pacific Ocean, is Hawke Bay, but when used to describe wine, it appears to be, consistently, Hawke’s Bay.

The “tasting room” was a very large, almost baronial hall, with a large bar and several bartenders pouring sampling flights of about 6 wines, and willing to talk at great length about the characteristics of their product. Mission, as perhaps befits a more than 150 year estate, produces fairly traditional wine styles, very reminiscent of European “old world” wines. I might add that the tasting samples were of generous quantities, 1 - 1 ½ ounces, and since we weren’t driving, using the available “spitting” buckets seemed unnecessary. We were able to have a quick walk around the (present) mission house, which still has a “seminary” feel to it, despite the obvious wealth that went into its construction (wine-making by religious has a long tradition, and seemingly has nowhere been unprofitable). The chapel is now used as a formal dining room, and there are several other rooms of various sizes available for dining, and, on this day, perhaps to handle the concert crowd, large tents were set up on the lawn for dining al fresco.

We also learned that the Mission Concert is an annual event, now in its 18th year, and is always on the 2nd Saturday of February, which should have been known to our “down-under” expert, or at least communicated to us, with possibly a re-arrangement of our schedule to avoid the rush on hotels.

Then off in the van to our next stop, this one further into the country than Mission Estates, and at the other end of the scale from Mission, Moana Park Wines.

Moana Park is a family operation, producing no more than a six to eight different wines under their own label, but growing grapes on contract for larger wineries in the area. All together, they ship only 20 to 30 thousand cases a year, almost exclusively to New Zealand’s premium hotels and restaurants, and are thus well under the radar of LCBO, Ontario’s wine retailing monopoly. The wine makers, and mostly the only workers are three brothers, all with wine-making degrees, who are trying to be innovative and develop wines that are uniquely New Zealand. One of them sat with us for the tasting, and gave us his own commentary on the wines. He had also worked in Ontario, in some of the Niagara wineries, sort of apprenticing himself, and he well understood the politics of wine in Ontario, where even the wines that are sold through the Vintages program have to have enough quantities to give some economies of scale, especially when shipped from effectively as far away from Ontario as you can get.

The wines at Moana Park were very different from those of Mission, The reds were crisper, fresher, with very little “barrel” flavour, and yet substantial enough to stand up to highly flavoured food. The whites avoided what we think of as New Zealand whites, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, in various styles, and instead concentrated on Riesling and Viognier. The latter is a wine we had not heard of; it is a varietal that was thought to be old-fashioned, but has come back into vogue in Europe, and New Zealand. It produces a Riesling-like wine, crisp, fruity tending towards citrus, without the excessively floral overtones that Riesling can exhibit (from my own tasting experience, a very creditable alternative to Mueller-Thurgau - a Riesling-Sylvaner cross - which a lot of German whites now are). The Moana Park brothers were experimenting with this varietal, as apparently were other New Zealand wine makers, but no one was producing enough of it to think of exporting, especially to Ontario. For the time being, local consumption only.

As a treat, we were given a sampling of Moana Park 10 Year Old Tawny Port. Our winemaker sampling guide explained that this had been an experiment, almost a dare - let’s see if we can make a decent new world port, that most traditional of old world wine. They had made only three barrels, and were now down to their last, and selling it at NZ$50 per bottle, about Cdn$38.50. That would be on the high side for tawny port in Ontario, but this one would be worth it - think of drinking liquified Christmas cake - nutty, candied fruit flavour, orange, lemon, hints of rum and cognac. One can only hope that someone “down-under” will produce something like it in large enough quantities to ship our way.

Our next stop was Ngatarawa, an older winery, the result of a “getting together” of several older winemakers, shipping under several labels; Ngatarawa, Alwyn, Glazebrook, Silks, & Stables; each covering a particular quality level and price points. This is a large operation by Hawke’s Bay standards, but not large enough to be seen in Ontario. The wines were what we were learning to expect from New Zealand; definitely a new-world style, with concentration on bringing out the inherent flavours of the grape and the terroir (the local soil), and not relying too much on barrelling. Again, the tasting samples were generous, and the explanations of what we were sampling exhaustive.

Then, off to our final stop, Vidal Wineries (the name is that of the founder, not the grape varietal). Here we were served a food tasting menu, paired with wines. The food was excellent, and the pairings complimented the flavours. I find it difficult to evaluate wines when combined with food, as it is the combination that one tastes, but I would say that the wines, again, were typical of new-world, rather than old-world, wine making, and of the universally high quality that we had experienced so far, both on this tour, and in restaurants with lunch and dinner previously. And, the facility itself was spectacular, decorated with old barrels, and yet very modern. And, thus concluded the wine tour.

During our drive we had explained to our driver/guide our dilemma of being booked into a hotel in Gisborne for that night, and having been warned about the distance and the dangers of the road. He was quite concerned that we not drive to Gisborne, telling us that as a professional driver he would think seriously about driving that route at night, and especially after having spent the afternoon tasting wine. He effectively insisted that he would drop the other couples off at their hotels, and then would drive us around to hotels that might have vacancies to find us a booking.

There is something to be said for taking advise, especially if it comes from several people. So we agreed. After driving around we booked at a Napier Best Western, for not much more than Cdn$100, which, given the circumstances, seemed a bargain. Our driver/guide then took us back to our car, but suggested that, given our wine sampling, and given the severity of drinking and driving laws in New Zealand, with much lower limits than in Canada, we walk around the seafront and town for a while before going off to our hotel. We took his advice, first calling the hotel we were booked into in Gisborne, who were most apologetic, explaining that they could not issue a refund, as the booking we had was final and it was now after 6 p.m., and me explaining that we would take the issue up with our “down-under” experts, but, if a traveller showed up looking for a room and they were full, we would not be showing up. I have very little expectation that our travel agency will do anything abut this glitch.

We did walk around Napier for a while; a very pretty seafront, and a very pretty town, then drove to our hotel, which was actually just a few hundred metres from our parked car, settled in, had supper in the hotel restaurant, and went down for the night, congratulating ourselves on our wisdom of getting into a bed, rather than being an hour and a half up a coastal road, in the dark, with another hour and a half to go.

February 15, 2010
Off to Martinborough, after breakfast.

A long, and in places tedious drive, all inland, about twice the distance we had covered the previous day from Taupo to Napier, which was long enough. We again congratulated ourselves on the decision not to go up to Gisborne, as that would have added another three hours to an all day drive. We basically blasted on, stopping only to stretch our legs every couple of hours, and occasionally to take photos in a particularly scenic area. On the drive, we saw the only wind-farm so far, about a dozen wind turbines on a high hill range. (Which raises the question: as an island nation, where does New Zealand find its energy; this was the only renewable energy source that we have seen so far, and we were told by our hosts in Rotorua that there is not much geothermal energy use or research happening, even thought that would seem a natural.)

We also stopped in Mangatainoka for a stop at the Tui Brewery (a Kiwi institution) famous for its “cheeky” advertising (and pretty good beer), all of it of one pattern; picture of attractive woman, in minimal clothing, “. Yeah, right!” (usually mildly offensive, mildly sexist, or both). Example: “It actually makes your bum look small. Yeah, right!” Aside from a history of brewing in this area, there is a nearly complete (it can’t be complete as there is a national contest to come up with more of these slogans) collection of the cheeky ads. Actually, good fun.

And then, on to Martinborough, a small town (village?) in the middle of a southern North Island wine growing region. We checked into the Pepper’s Martinborough Hotel (Pepper’s is an Oz and NZ chain that turns historic properties into upscale hotels) which was a frontier-style hotel, and adjoining cottages; we were in one of the cottages. After moving in our luggage we set out to explore the town, which turned out to be simple. We were on the main square; to the north was the town park, to the south was the main street (actually the main block), to the east was a large grocery and general store, and to the west was the post office. We explored the main block; which had only one craft store open, with very high quality and very high priced artists’ creation. On the other side was the only other attraction, a wine cooperative store that sold the products of 20 or so local vineyards. Oh, and a cheese shop.

So we checked out the wine store first. Very civilized; every product they sold was available for tasting. So we tasted, and having learned to appreciate Viognier, tasted their considerable supply of that varietal, eventually settling on a bottle that we thought we’d like to explore further, and purchased. While doing so, I noticed a table on the wall, listing the shipping prices per case to various parts of the world, neither Ontario nor Canada being listed. But the table suggested if your location was not listed, to enquire, so I did. Canada, I said. Where in Canada, she (the very knowledgeable about wine young woman behind the counter) asked. Ontario, I answered. Forget it, she said.

What followed was a lesson in the economics of selling wine in Ontario from abroad, with a certain amount of bitterness thrown in. The wines we were looking at sold at about NZ$ 20 - 25 per bottle (Cdn$ 15 -18 and change). Any reasonable number of cases that we would buy would not get us a discount. Then you add the cost of shipping from New Zealand to Canada, which would have to be by air (or by temperature-controlled container if by sea - you don’t want wine to freeze), which would be $5 - 10 per bottle. Then Canada Revenue piles on, and charges import duties and excise taxes on the price plus shipping, forwards the whole thing to Ontario, which adds its own taxes, the LCBO then adds their more than 100% markup and surcharge for not being from Ontario, and then whatever the price now is gets the bottle deposit added, and then charged HST. The price per bottle, as delivered to you, the private importer, is more than double what you paid at the vineyard. And, as the young woman said, good as the wine is, it’s not worth the amount it would cost you in Canada. Pity - government policy governed by Puritan notions of alcohol being sinful, hence taxable in the extreme, and just plain opportunism for money grabs, prevents some really good quality product from ever being seen here.

So, we did what sensible people would do. We took our bottle of wine, hit the store and bought cheese and crackers, and enjoyed a pleasant hour on the patio outside our cottage. Then, went off to explore the dining possibilities, which turned out to be the very formal (and nearly empty) dining room of our hotel, or, the public bar of the same. We opted for the latter; ordered at the counter, found a table, and enjoyed amazing lamb (chops and burger) with excellent sides. And, the people watching was great; locals being themselves.

And, of to bed, for the drive to Wellington, with a side trip to the Cook Strait coast.

To Taupo

February 13, 2010
Breakfast with our hosts, then good-bye, and we set off in the direction of Taupo, our next stop. It is not that far, but there are some interesting stops along the way.

The first stop was at Waiotapu Thermal Reserve, after about 40 minutes driving; again, the “tapu” in the name is the clue that this area is of spiritual significance to the Maori. Here, the earth’s crust, never particularly thick in New Zealand, is particularly thin. On pulling into the parking lot, the first thing one notes is the faint smell of rotten eggs, hydrogen sulphide, an indication that one is in an area with underground gas escape. And, on parking, we are beginning to note a very welcome characteristic of New Zealand tourism; when at a site which is only reasonably accessible by car, and for which there is an admission charge, there is no additional charge for parking, much like Europe; unlike North America, where parking is treated as an additional profit centre.

The thermal reserve is well worth the several hours it takes to tour, even if one arrives too late to see one of the geysers that only blows once a day. It is full of bubbling mud pools, sulphurous water pools, super-heated water pools coming up from the earth’s crust - a reminder, along with yesterday’s volcano tour, that we are only tenants on the earth’s surface, not owners in control. Some of the views are strangely beautiful, such as a very large lake, bright yellow, from suspended colloidal sulphur. Or, the “Champagne Pool,” several hundred metres across, full of bubbling water releasing steam into the air; it is only when looking at a diagram of the underground structure of this pool that one sees that in cross-section it is like a champagne glass - an underground reservoir of super-heated water, forced up through a very narrow “stem,” into the large pool where it can release steam.

After touring the Reserve, we stopped in the main building for a sandwich lunch, which we ate in a viewing conservatory, overlooking the reserve, with a wooded ravine in the foreground. Watching carefully, we could see that the ravine was a hive of bird activity, but we had no idea what species we were watching, as they were all strange to us. But, it was an entertaining show!

We then drove on, but stopping again at the Huka Falls on the Waikato River, not far from the town of Taupo. These falls are not all that high, but the volume of water is very large, and thus they are quite spectacular (in Canada we might argue over whether these were falls or rapids). Aside from the beauty of the view, also on offer are jet boat rides that go as far into the bottom of the falls as possible, until the current pushes the boat back; presumable the boat occupants are drenched; we didn’t try this, hence presumable.

Onward, to another stop overlooking Taupo, Lake Taupo, and the two volcanos on the other side of the lake, neither active, both dormant. We drove through Taupo, along the shore of Lake Taupo, to our hotel, the Taupo Hilton. What a contrast to our previous four nights; ultra modern, futuristic bathroom, very comfortable, all the mod cons, but somewhat sterile. After cleaning up we drove back into Taupo, to walk around, and to find supper. The lakefront in Taupo is well developed, well maintained, and very beautiful with lots of flower beds and natural shrubs and trees. Back from the lakefront, it is obvious that the only industry in this town is tourism, with all levels of restaurants and accommodations. One very odd item, we found a McDonalds, which had embedded in its structure a DC3 aircraft, outfitted as a dining area. We did look at it, June found it quite interesting as it harkens back to her flying heritage (actually beyond), but we did not eat there (surprise?). Instead, we found a lakefront restaurant with outdoor seating, and enjoyed a very pleasant dinner with wine, and view.

Driving to Rotorua via Hobbiton; Rotorua & Volcano Climb

February 11, 2010

After breakfast we settled up our account, and then set off southward, but not without going back to Whangamata first, with the address of and a recommendation to one of Reinhard and Petra’s friends, who owns a panel beater shop, what we call a body shop. Reinhard figured he would fix our dented bumper shell for the price of a beer. Well, it turned out the friend had gone on a fishing trip, and his wife was running the shop. She sent her foreman out to look at the car, who muttered the Kiwi equivalent of “piece of cake,” told us to take a walk around the village and come back in 15 minutes. When we did, there was the car outside, with absolutely no evidence of any damage; I asked about the technique, and it seems to involve an over-powered hair dryer to soften the plastic, and a large suction cup to suck out the dent. When I asked about the cost the wife asked if I thought NZ$20 (about Cdn$15) was fair; I quickly paid up, and we went on our way. Again, I suspect in Canada it wouldn’t have been nearly that cheap, or as quickly done.

We then headed southward. On review, we should have chosen a different route than the one the GPS took us on, which was inland, and taken the alternative route along the shoreline of the Bay of Plenty which would probably have been more scenic. We probably would have done that, had we consulted a map rather than simply punching our destination into the GPS. We happened to have navigation set for shortest time, although in New Zealand, where all roads in cities and towns have a speed limit of 50 km/hour, and highways of any kind a limit of 100 km/hour, shortest distance would have yielded the same result. Thus, we travelled a marginally shorter time or distance, but through less interesting scenery.

Either route would eventually have brought us near Mata Mata, the home town of the parents of the husband of Trisha Longworth Foote. We tried to call them from a land line phone, but no one was home. I then took the opportunity of finding a cell phone shop, and had them test my phone. By a process of elimination we decided that my phone had been damaged, probably the internal antenna broken off, which meant that unless I was directly under a cell tower, I would get no signal. So I asked if by any chance they had unlocked cell phones for sale, and was informed that New Zealand law did not allow cell carriers to lock phones, and thus any phone I wanted in the store would do. This also means you buy a phone, and you buy a service plan, and the prices are independent. Picked a phone model that was not the latest but a good price, and was back in business with portable communication.

Mata Mata is also near the location of the Hobbiton film set, used in the first and last of the “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy. It’s not enough of an attraction, seemingly, that our GPS New Zealand map has it as a point of interest, but after getting directions from a local, we did find our way to departure point for the tour. The set itself is on a working farm, and one parks some distance away and is bused in, for a considerable admission price. (The farmer [he is now dead] was paid well for the use of his land for filming, and his sons will be paid again in 2011 when “The Hobbit” starts filming, but the sons have been making money ever since charging for tours. Once on the set, it is instantly recognizable from the films. The Hobbit holes are still there, but the elaborate fronts have been taken off, and in their place is plywood, painted white. All except one are false fronts and cannot be entered; the only one with an actual room behind the front is Bag End, as that was a location with a scene looking out through the door. The party tree and field are there, and much as they were in the film. The oak tree growing above Bag End is there, in pieces, as it was an oak growing in a different location, cut apart, and re-assembled in its place in the film; the leaves seen in the film are artificial, wired on, thousands of them, by hand. The mill pond is there, but the mill and the bridge were painted styrofoam, and are gone. Now the work of rehabilitating the set for “The Hobbit” has just begun; hedges are being replanted, gardens re-made, and of course the mill and bridges reassembled. An interesting visit, and interesting to compare the reality on the ground with what one sees in the films, and realize the magic of film-making. Also realized is why films cost so much to make! Before continuing driving, we watched a sheep shearing demonstration. Amazing how quickly a sheep is stripped, the wool coming of almost in one complete piece.

We continued our drive to Rotorua, and as we were running late were glad we now had a working phone and could call our hosts for our farm stay and advise them we would be later than expected. It was near 6 p.m. when we pulled into the farm of Jim and Barbara Hitchcock, our hosts for the next two nights. The farm wasn’t quite what we expected, actually very little land, a few grazing animals, and very modern home. We learned that the working farm was actually some distance away.

After checking into our very comfortable room with modern en-suite bath, we joined the Hitchcocks, for cocktails before dinner, and for getting acquainted. We’d picked up a bottle of wine along the way, but had also thought about what we could bring that was Canadian, and probably not easily found in New Zealand. We chose a bottle of ice wine, and it was as if we had brought gold; the Hitchcocks had been to Vancouver and Calgary, had tried ice wine, and really enjoyed it. New Zealand wineries have tried making ice wine, but lack the key ingredient, a freezing winter. Their solution, throw ripe grapes into a freezer and let them dehydrate; we were told the result is best not discussed.

Dinner was fun as we each learned about each others’ countries, and about ourselves. Like most farmers in Canada, New Zealand farmers have to have additional income; as Barbara told us their daughter delighted in telling her friends in school that her father sold semen! He is in fact a cattle geneticist, who indeed does sell semen, but with the objectives of breeding cattle with particular strengths and characteristics.

Jim and Barbara were quite interested in our itinerary, and as so often happens, we had already been to places they hadn’t been, and would go to quite a few more. But, that happens to us in Canada too, as visitors go to places we ignore. However, there is now some concern about a part of our future itinerary; on February 14, a few days down the road, we are booked for an afternoon wine tour in Napier, in the Hawkes’ Bay wine-growing region. But, we are booked into a hotel that night in Gisborne, which Jim assured us, and confirmed with Google maps, is about 3 hours north of Napier, with the way there being a coastal road that in places is quite challenging. Also, Gisborne has nothing to recommend it, according to both Jim and Barbara, except that it is the first large city in the world to see the rising sun; since we try not to see the rising sun, that makes it of limited interest. Also, the drive up would have to be reversed the next day, with not much of interest on the way, adding three hours to what was already a long day. Jim couldn’t understand why we had been booked so far away, as Napier did not lack in hotels, and went back to his computer to see what might be the cause. It seems the coming weekend is one on which Mission Wines has an annual major rock concert on its property, to which tens of thousands of visitors come, and book up all the hotels. But the concert is on the Saturday night, and Jim felt that we should look for a place to stay in Napier when we got there, rather than risking the three hour drive, especially after drinking wine all afternoon.

So, another concern about the “down-under” experts. I suspect that what happened was that no hotels in the class we had asked for were available, and they simply did a proximity search for hotels in our class, and booked the nearest one. If they had consulted us, we probably would have down-graded,if offered the choice. Something to worry about for the next few days.

And so, to bed, to rest up for tomorrow’s volcano climb.

February 12, 2010
Up reasonably early, for a good breakfast with our hosts, because Jim had to be off on his semen-selling business. But not before he suggested that since our volcano climb didn’t start until afternoon, we should visit Rainbow Springs Wildlife Park, which would be on our way. We duly did that, and found it to be a very good suggestion.

First, Rainbow Springs is just that, an amazing series of spring-fed pools, populated by a rainbow trout colony. But more than that, it is an exhibit of New Zealand birds and wild life, in a beautiful natural setting. It was easy to spend a morning there, and it could have actually occupied more time, but we needed to find the Rotorua i-Site, from which our volcano climb would depart. But first, we did a quick tour of the Rotorua lake-front area, which is beautifully maintained, and appears to be a major recreation spot.

There is an i-Site in most New Zealand towns, going from basic tourist information to very elaborate services. This one was not just a place for information, it was a transportation hub for travel by bus to just about anywhere in New Zealand, it found local accommodation, and offered shower facilities for back-packers and cyclists (which are everywhere in this country). After inquiring where our tour might leave from, and being pointed in the general direction of a bus departure slot and told to watch out for signs on vehicles, we enjoyed a Maori musical and cultural show that was being presented in front of the building, trying to remember our brief instruction in Maori custom, such as when a guy in full war paint shaking a spear sticks out his tongue as wide as he can at you, he is saying “Hi!”

Eventually our four-wheel drive bus for the volcano climb arrived, and we joined the rest of those participating for the quite lengthy drive to the beginning of the climb to Mount Tarawera. On the way our driver/guide gave us some of the background to what we would see; Mt. Tarawera was dormant, not extinct, but had a well understood periodicity of eruptions, and was not due for another few hundred years. It last erupted in June 1886, destroying surrounding villages and countryside, and killing about 120 people. The amount of material ejected into the atmosphere was about 2 cubic km, more than Mount St. Helen in 1980.

Mt. Tarawera is also sacred to the Maori, and only the particular company we had booked with was allowed to operate tours, twice daily only, and even they had to renew every three years, and there were parts of the mountain that were totally off limits. Our driver/guide was married to a Maori, and thus understood the customs, and was trusted to respect them.

June had been somewhat reluctant about going on something called a volcano climb, but was reassured when she saw it was by 4-wheel drive vehicle. Unfortunately, that description was not quite complete. The final 1500 metres to the summit is on foot, on trails that are at best rough, and in places quite steep. However, the climb was worth it, the view from the top showed the entire Lake Rotorua area and far beyond. But the real fun started when we went down, at first on a very gentle slope to the lip of the volcanic crater. From there it was basically down a 45 degree slope of small, marble sized lava pebbles called scree. The technique is essentially that used in powder skiing; keep your weight well back and your toes up, and glide down several hundred feet to the crater bottom - and don’t fall because you probably won’t stop until you hit bottom, which would be fatal to the expensive camera and lenses I was carrying. June went down with the help of our guide, I managed to get down without disaster. The rest of the fun was climbing back out, along a long path that snaked up the crater side, back to where we had left the bus. Then the issuing of certificates of completion happened, and the drive back to Rotorua to pick up our car and drive back to the farm.

We of course had volcanic dust and pebbles in every pocket, pant cuff, and exposed orifice, so the first order of business was to shake out everything we were wearing, and then shower. Then cocktails and supper, for which we had supplied another bottle of wine, to prevent dehydration. Jim and Barbara were quite intrigued by our adventure, never having gone up this volcano, which they could see out their window.

After another pleasant evening talking, we retired to rest for the next day’s drive to Taupo.