Jan 2: Lake Wanaka to Franz Joseph

Had a nice leisurely start to the day then headed west on our way to the Glaciers.  By noon we’d made it to the coast, near the town of Haast.  The drive through the Mt Aspiring pass was stunning.  Lots of one way bridges, steep drop offs, snow capped mountains, and electric blue streams.  This was the most stunning bridge, called The Gates of Haast.  The pictures hardly do it justice.

Haast is a cute little town of 300 people on the Southwest coast of NewZealand.  It’s a World Heritage Area full of exotic scenery and wildlife.  Ship Creek is a nice little outpost once you hit the ocean.  If we'd had more time, there were apparently some great hikes in this area.

We finally made it to Franz Joseph glacier.  The Māori name for the glacier is Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere ('The tears of Hinehukatere'), arising from a local legend: Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Wawe, to climb with her. Wawe was a less experienced climber than Hinehukatere but loved to accompany her until an avalanche swept Wawe from the peaks to his death. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many, many tears flowed down the mountain and froze to form the glacier.  

We did a hike out to the mouth of the glacier, then cooked a fun meal of Thai curry chicken with rice.  Another long day, seeing such a variety of sites. . .

Paragliding video. . .had some free time to play on the computer now that I've arrived in Bali. . .

Jan 1: Queenstown to Boundary Creek Campground (Lake Wanaka)

January 1^st!  The start to 2012.  We’ve been working on our list of 2012 Adventures and Intentions, and it was nice to take some time to think about the year past and all that it had to offer.  Lisa also had the good idea of adding a ‘burn list’ to our 2012 reflections—things we were ready to part with and leave behind.

We decided to start the day and the year with a paragliding jump off the mountain.  There is a nice hike up instead of the gondola which took about an hour.  Then we got strapped in and did a tandem leap.  It was a perfect day to soar over Queenstown, taking in all the views.  Both of our pilots gave us a taste of the “g” (g-force), and by the time we landed we were definitely feeling the champagne from the prior night.  We had full intentions of doing the bungy swing to top off the day, but now that we were both headachy and nauseous decided to pass.  Plus it’s easy to drop loads of cash on all these activities, so we figured we'd give our wallets a break too in search of calmer pastures.

Onward towards the West coast of NZ.

Driving on State Highway 6 (SH6) was absolutely stunning.  Super windy mountain roads with lake views and neon blue glacier streams.  We found ourselves at our first DOC, Boundry Creek Campground.  Now THIS is the camping that I was imagining when coming to NZ.  Only a few sites and nestled up against Lake Wanaka.  Got to set up my Kammok and take a nice nap.  Here is a pic of me in the hammock, solar charging my phone, drinking a local beer, and reading my book.  That’s perfection to me for a New Year’s Day.   

There was a nice lawn to do Acro, and even some Tahitian kids that were visiting joined in.  One of my intentions for 2011 was to jump into handstand, so here’s a video of that year’s work (a whole year! and lots of practice still needed, but I have to remind myself that progress comes in small steps at times. . .)

This year I’ll work on holding it for 20 seconds.  I love goals.  :)

We cooked a yummy dinner of mashed sweet potatoes with local Manuka honey, and some organic Mushroom and Marscapone soup.  And of course a bottle of local Sav Blanc.  A sweet way to welcome in 2012.

Dec 31: Te Anau to Queenstown

We couldn’t leave Te Anau without a run around the lake.  Such a beautiful spot with a great off-road trail.   

Lake TeAnau

And where better a place to end the run, than the local meat pie shop, Miles Better Meat Pie.  Seemed the thing to do in the Fjordlands, so we were on our way with one Chicken and Bacon pie, and one wild venison with plum sauce (their specialty).  Made for a great snack as we drove out of town towards Queenstown (QT).

QT is about a 2 hr drive from Te Anau, but a world of difference in sights and activity.  Lisa the master planner found an iPhone app call “Jason’s New Zealand” that saved our ass and got us a campsite for the night.  All other attempts to find a place to stay for NYE were laughable at best—places had been booked for months as apparently this is the place for all the Kiwi’s to congregate during the holidays. 

The drive was amazing, winding around lakes and sprawling countryside with sheep grazing and deer meandering in the open fields.  Very few cars on the road making it a leisurely and scenic ride.  

Lake Wanaka

Once we arrived in QT all serenity was replaced with hordes of people and our first bout with local traffic.  Yet another driving challenge with the good ‘ol RV.  But we made it to our ridiculously crowded campsite which would appall me but for the fact that we were extremely lucky to have it.  So we nestled in with our neighbors and went to explore the town. 

QT

Camper city

There were tons of shops and bands getting set up for the evening.  We stopped in every restaurant we could, to try and find a table and lucked out once again to get the last table at the last place we tried.  So an overpriced and mediocre dinner, but we were in the center of town and got to see amazing fireworks over the city at midnight.  The bars were a little crazy and we were feeling kinda like old folks, so we called it a night and squeezed back into our sardine campground.

9:30pm and the sun is still out

A video of Milford Sound

Our route

Dec 30: Milford Sound and Glowworm Caves

We arrived late on Dec 30 in our very crowded campsite, lucky to get a plug-in space as I think it was one of the last.  We were basically in a cement parking space with folks all around us.  Not so scenic or idyllic, but since we didn’t book anything in advance, and this is their busy season, we were lucky to get what we got!  The morning of the 30^th we boarded a bus to take us to Milford Sound, about a two-hour drive from Te Anau. After all the driving from the previous day, and the desire to take in some sights versus navigating our wide load, we thought it would be a nice treat to be given a ride for a change.  The drive out to Milford was amazing.  Our tour bus had a glass roof so you could take in all the beautiful sights.  Here are a few:

And here’s a pic of this amazing yogurt I found here, apparently “by men” and “for men”.  It was apricot and manuka honey and lots of seeds (buckwheat, linseed, quinoa, sunflower, pumpkin, chia).  As a rule, I think every other country does yogurt better than the US.

Once we arrived in Milford we boarded a boat for a 2hr cruise to the mouth of the sound where it opened onto the Tasman sea.  Apparently Milford is actually a fjord (carved out by glaciers, filled in by the ocean), and not a sound.  They get 243 days of rain here a year, but we hit one of the sunniest and warmest.  It was breathtaking.  Mitre Peak juts into the foreground, creating a dynamic panorama on all sides.

There are waterfalls coming off all the mountainsides, and the trees barely hold onto the edges.  Apparently there isn’t much ground cover on these vertical rocks, so they rely on anchor trees and an intertwining root system.  However, if one tree goes, it takes down all those in it’s path, creating a tree avalanche.  This bare section is a result of one of these avalanches, taking another 100 years to replenish itself.

 

We got back from our tour around 4pm, chilled at the campsite for a bit, then headed off for yet another tour.  Trying to pack everything in as you need 6 months in this country, not 8 days.  I really want to do some of the long hikes out here and just have some time to be in one place, but we’re also dying to see the different areas.  So we did the Glowworm tour which was super cool, but no pics allowed.  My favorite quote was, “The hungrier they are, the brighter they glow.”  Basically you hike through this cave with beautiful waterfalls that have cut through the limestone and sandstone, then get to a deep cave and jump in a little rowboat.  They don’t allow any lights, so you float in the darkness and look up to what seems like a brightly lit sky of stars.  I was careful to keep my mouth closed while looking up though so no ‘shooting stars’ were ingested.  Another long day filled with stunning sights.  We are loving all that this country has to offer.