Scotland in New Zealand?

(steve)

It was nice to arrive in Dunedin after the mud and isolation of Stewart Island. Our rental car blazed through the miles between Invercargill and Dunedin in only a few hours. We diligently stopped at the tourist locations marked on our map, and were rewarded with some interesting stuff and a couple of duds.


Interesting: petrified forest. This was a forest covered in a volcanic eruption near the ocean. Lots of logs disguised as rocks. Some of them looked very well preserved. Bonus: yellow eyed penguins! Nestled among the rocks surrounding the forest were a few nests of rare yellow eyed penguins. They were so cool to see up close (about 20 feet). They are the most endangered penguin species out there.

Interesting: slope point. Southern-most point in South Island. Strong winds.


Not so interesting: Niagara Falls (of New Zealand). Our map suggested this feature would be something worth driving a few kms out of the way to see. Don't believe everything you read. This "fall" was a few rocks in a fairly slow moving stream. Not so amused walking back to the car.

Arriving in Dunedin was welcome. Civilisation return. Dunedin is the Scottish portion of New Zealand. Everyone here spoke with a variety of Scottish twist to the Kiwi accent. The city itself has a bit of European feel, with ornate architecture and sculptured gardens.


The town is also the home of the University of Otago, providing a young mind-set typical of college towns. We also had our first rugby experience as the Super 14 season started and the town went insane. I don't fully understand the rules, but it seems more entertaining than US "gridiron." The town was lots of fun and our favorite so far.


We also indulged in a few activities while here. They were albatross sighting (unsuccessful), yellow eyed penguin spotting, touring the Cadbury factory (Karen's smile didn't melt all day), toured Larnach castle, and basking in the town octagon.

Halfway Through NZ: A Perspective

*** PHOTO UPDATE! Check out our new photos in the folders for Queenstown, Milford Track, and Te Anau and Doubtful Sound ***

(karen)
We realized on Valentine's Day that we've officially reached the halfway point of our time in New Zealand. So soon! To supplement my usual journalistic entries, I thought I'd share with you some of our thoughts, comments, and observations from being in New Zealand and living the backpacker lifestyle for 6 weeks.

* I've grown fond of having a daily cuppa English style tea, with milk and sugar. It's a great treat after being in the bush all day.
* Steve hasn't cut his hair since before Christmas and he's starting to look like a Beatle.
* You can still get blisters after 6 weeks of tramping.
* We've taken internet access for granted. Now we typically have to pay $6/hr on coin operated machines.
* I've never worn so much sunscreen in my life.
* It's really nice not to have to think about what to wear every day. The only question is, long sleeve or short?
* We are completely out of touch with music, television, movies, and world events. And it really doesn't seem to matter!
* The coolest weather forecast I've seen so far has been "Nice Spells". As in, most of the day will be crappy but you can expect pockets of niceness?
* Things we've come to value: hot showers, clean clothes, huts to sleep in on the trail, plastic backpack liners on rainy days, high quality tramping gear, dry boots, cheap internet, good books to pass the time, fresh fruits and veggies, ear plugs, toilet paper, mosquito nets, and good people to talk with over a cuppa tea and freeze dried dinners
* The river water here is so clean that you can drink from it without having to treat it. Instead of carrying 2 liters, at times we've just used a mug and scooped up water then we're thirsty
* New Zealanders (Kiwis) idolize Peter Jackson. King Kong is still big out here.
* People ask "How're you going?" instead of "How're you doing?"
* In a quick poll, 4/5 trampers prefer mosquitoes over sand flies
* %75 of all trampers SNORE
* Americans export a staggering amount of culture including movies, books, magazines, television, music, as well as many brand name items and of course fast food. (But why are there so many Subways and so few McDonalds?)
* The most common tourists here are from other members of the Commonwealth like Australia, Britain, and Canada, as well as many Germans, Swiss, and surprisingly, Israelis. There are only a few Americans floating around.
* There are no radio stations in rural New Zealand. Not one.
* Light switches click down to turn on
* Most toilets have two flush buttons, for #1 or for #2
* Many Kiwis have never traveled extensively in their own country, preferring to go abroad. In fact it can often be cheaper to fly to Australia than to fly between the North and South Islands.
* The lamb here tastes better
* Tree line (called bush line) happens at 3,000 ft. elevation
* Telephone poles are made out of concrete
* Folks down under really do eat vegemite and say "g'day!"
* Ourdoor gear is waaaay more expensive than in the States. I was looking for a waterproof jacket, and a Mountain Hardware brand jacket was $700!! Boots run about $400.
* Kiwis and Aussies think Americans are nuts for eating peanut butter with (gasp) jelly! And why do we call it jelly when it is clearly jam?
* They are obsessed with Hollywood tabloids
* Kiwis love to take the mickey out of Aussies in their midst, and how!

Kaka on my Mind

(steve)

Just returned from the wild land that is Stewart Island. If you're unfamiliar, the island is the background for the film The Piano (Holly Hunter, about 1990?). If you've seen the movie than you know what I'm talking about. The island is considered the last frontier for New Zealand, the last place to find many endangered bird species in the wild. There is only one town, Oban, with a population of 350 dedicated to fishing and tourism. It looked similar to towns found along the coast of Northern CA.




Our adventure was to begin with a short 17 minute plane ride across to the island from Invercargill. It was a beautiful day. We arrived at the airport and checked in. Approximately 5 hours later we boarded the plane. That's right, a 5 hour wait for a 17 minute flight. It turns out the flight operated on visual flight rules and there was a pesky fog bank sitting on the road used as a landing strip on the island (they land on the beach sometimes too). The flight itself was uneventful even though the plane was a touch smaller than we were used to and bounced a lot.




Once landed, we were treated to amazing bird life over the next five days. First up, the kaka. This bird is the forest parrot (cousin to our previous friend, the kea), and just as loud. They spent most of the day swooping over the town screeching at each other (fortunately they don't destroy things for fun like their cousins). There were plenty of wood pigeons and tuis as well. In fact, there were so many birds that the noise was non-stop all day long into the evening. We've never heard anything like it before.

Our second day was spent on Ulva Island, a short water taxi ride away. This island is completely predator free, making it ideal for restoring native bird species. Our day was filled with sightings of rare Stewart Island robins, saddleback birds, kakas, wekas, wood pigeons, bell birds, and red-crested parakeets in the wild and often only a few feet away. It seemed strange to see parakeets this far south. It was inspiring to see how a little effort can make such a big difference with nature.



The next four days we were back out on the trail. We walked the Rakiura Track with an extra day to go day hike. It was here that we expected to be slogging through knee deep mud with rain pouring. Alas, it was not to be. With overall good weather and lots of planking (wooden steps) we didn't have to get too dirty or wet. Feeling somewhat cheated, we decided to make our day hike along a different trail reknowned for its mud. Karen was so happy to use her gaiters that she went tromping through the deepest mud the entire way (I didn't get any and consequently tip-toed through most of it unsuccessfully). Deepest part was mid-shin. It was a good walk with the reward of beautiful views.





After cleaning up and a nice Valentines dinner, we left Stewart Island (on the same small plane) with an appreciation for the way New Zealand looked, felt, and sounded when the first Europeans arrived.

By the way, take a look at the sidebar where we added a summary of the hikes we've done with mileage.

Greatest Walk in the World

(karen)


We left the bustle of Queentown in our newly rented Nissan Primera and headed west toward the largest national park in New Zealand, Fiordland, where we were to begin our journey on what many consider to be the greatest walk in the world: the Milford Track. The track is so popular that the Department of Conservation (DOC) has strictly limited the number of walkers per day to 40, as well as requiring the track to be walked in one direction only. We opted to do the four day walk as independent trampers, but many people shell out $1,500 each for a guided walk in which they carry nothing but their clothes, and everything from gormet food to hot showers is provided on the way. I'm telling you, this is tramping like I've never seen it! Even for those of us carrying everything on our backs we were greeted with massive cabin-like huts, gas cookers, sinks, and even flush toilets.


The first two days of the walk were through the Clinton Valley. This is a long, glacially carved valley with steep canyon walls and an impossibly green river down the center. For the most part we had spectacular sunny weather, which is rare in this region where they recieve over 350" of rain a year. The second day we did walk in a light rain that caused hundreds of thread-like waterfalls to spill down the canyon walls. The ranger told us that during heavy rains the river will swell very quickly and flood the trail up to a meter deep; I was only mildly relieved to escape that fate, since it could've been a lot of fun :)


We were introduced to the destructive power of the kea, the world's only subalpine parrot. We had seen these guys one our last backpacking trip but only from a distance. The keas in this area have learned how fun people can be and we were warned to keep all belongings either in the hut or hung up high lest they be torn to bits. Apparently they like to steal cameras and poke holes in your boots. They can undo zippers and Steve even caught a kea in the act of opening the door to our hut! Cheeky devils.




On day three the skies were shining bright again; we hiked out of the Clinton Valley and over an alpine pass where we had amazing views of the snow capped mountains in this region. Thus began the 3,000' descent into the next valley on our way to the Milford Sound. As we climbed down the mountain we were in the heart of the temperate rain forest and flanked by a river that cascaded spectacularly into turquoise-blue pools. It it truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Later that afternoon we dropped our packs and took a side trip to the Sutherland Falls which is the tallest permanent waterfall in New Zealand and the 6th tallest in the world. I wasn't expecting much but the sight of it took my breath away! We sat in the grass near the base and watched it, mezmorized, for over an hour. Looking back now I regret not standing beneath it to feel the power of the water falling so far. (Isn't that always easier to say when you are miles away from the freezing cold water?)



That evening after dark we walked back out on the trail a small ways to see the glow worms that live in the cliff sides in the forest. There were hundreds of tiny blue dots scattered all around that made you feel as though you were looking at stars. I'm sure the glow worm cave tours are more spectacular, but I thought it was more special to have this treasure all to ourselves in the wilderness.

The last day was long but flat as we continued to the end of the valley and ended up in beautiful Milford Sound. The sound (really a fiord because it was carved by glaciers) is a majestic and dramatic landscape that is surrounded by thin, sharp peaks and shear walls several thousand feet tall that look like the Cliffs of Insanity from the Princess Bride. It's a strange little nook that sees hundred of tourists every day but since most everyone comes for a day trip there are few ammenities. We decided to brave the sand flies and spend the night at the rustic lodge/hostel to soak up this wild area a little longer.

High on Queenstown

(steve)


Welcome to Queenstown! We arrived in town on fumes after our long West Coast adventure. It would be perfect to have a nice 4 day rest to recover our strength for the next hike. Alas, it was not to be. Queenstown is the New Zealand capital of adrenalin pumping activity. The birthplace of the bungy is still very much in the fast lane, with a host of high octane events designed to increase blood flow to your head. Between the sky diving, parasailing, canyon swing, and various bungies there seemed to be people falling from the sky every few minutes, most of them about 20 years old. During our 4 days in town we managed to sample two of the low altitude activities, the mountain luge and river boarding. The luge was a small platform on wheels that went zipping down a track on the side of a mountain. It was really not as fast and scary as it may sound (as evidinced by the 10 year old racing next to me). Our trip down the river was a bit more hectic. Think rafting, without the raft. We strapped on helmets and jumped on body boards to tackle the white water. A few bumps later we were treated to a cliff jump, a tow behind a jet-ski, and a water slide across the river. All good fun. The rest of our time in Queenstown was spent swimming in the cold lake (a new tradition started in the rivers on the coast) and drinking beer with our friends from the previous trip who all stayed in the area too. After a few days of this we might need to get back on the trail for some rest.