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Christchurch
The flight from Sydney to Christchurch was rather uneventful and
surprisingly short (and might I add that Air New Zealand has the
best food of any airline we have flown). For some reason I got it
in my head that it would take forever, but within two and-a-half
hours we could see land. Right after the plane left the airspace
over the Tasman Sea, we crossed over the New Zealand Alps. I was
never aware New Zealand has so many mountains. As the plane lowered
in its approach, we were in awe of the breathtaking landscapes.
Everything was so green and hilly. We flew over farming communities,
small cities and lots of sheep. All the communities we passed over
were in the shadow of a small mountain range. We arrived in Christchurch
and were picked up at the airport by a friendly older gentleman
who worked for the car rental company. He gave his suggestions about
the best route and things to see in the South Island. As it turned
out we followed a lot of his suggestions and really enjoyed it.
As we left the airport, the man pointed out another terminal and
told us it was a U.S. Military base. Traci and I were both a little
confused, but then we remembered we had read that Christchurch is
the jumping off point for Antarctica. New Zealand is the closest
inhabited country to the frozen continent. It seems rather strange
since it is so lush and green here, but there are still many glaciers
in New Zealand as well. So our military has a base in Christchurch
for scientific research in Antarctica…hmmmmm. I digress.
Christchurch was a nice city. We stayed a couple nights and spent
the days walking through their botanical gardens and the city. The
proverbial "They" says that Christchurch is the most English
city outside of England. We were in the city center, and there is
a cathedral, a stone bridge over a stream and several buildings
that seem to be ancient. New Zealand is younger than the United
States, so obviously this isn't the case, but it certainly does
feel English.
We figured out that we only had about three weeks to enjoy the
South Island, so we couldn't stay in any one place for too long.
The whole trip is winding down, and we are getting frantic, trying
to see everything before it all ends. Like I stated, we spent a
couple of days in Christchurch and then made our way South toward
the imposing peak of what the Maori call "Aoroki:" Mount
Cook.
Mt. Cook
On our way to Mt. Cook, we stopped at Lake Tekapo, which is
one of the largest lakes in New Zealand. This is where we came across
our first experience of what was to become a recurring theme. This
recurring theme was the extreme beauty that is completely shocking.
Every time we thought we were getting used to the scenery, another
glacial lake made our mouths drop open. The whole country is picturesque,
but the glacial lakes leading to the mountains are beyond explaining,
although I will try. When we arrived at Lake Tekapo, we came upon
an old stone pioneer church positioned directly on a bluff overlooking
the most amazing view. If you have ever seen Lake Louise in Banff,
you may have an idea of what it looked like, but these New Zealand
lakes are HUGE! Lake Tekapo is a glacial lake, carved over 14,000
years ago. A number of the glacial lakes around Mt. Cook are getting
larger. There are still glaciers melting and carving out massive
chunks of shore all over the area. The color of the water at Lake
Tekapo is like neon turquoise, and there are wildflowers blooming
all along the rocky shoreline. With the clouds only scanty and puffy,
the blazing blue sky gleamed off the surreal mineral infested waters.
This was a view that people pay thousands of dollars for. Luckily
for us and everyone else, there isn't one resort or anything along
the whole shoreline.
That is another thing we grew accustomed to; million dollar views
that don't cost a dime. Everywhere. Next we traveled along the coast
of Lake Pukaki, a glacial lake that gets bigger every year. With
the Tasman Glacier melting and withdrawing every year, Lake Pukaki
grows about 200 meters longer a year. When we got to the Southern
scenic overlook of the lake, we could see Mt. Cook, New Zealand's
tallest mountain. It didn't look all that far away, but mountains
have a way of appearing much closer than they really are. Mt. Cook
has a very craggy peak, that classic snow capped point. Traci and
I decided we would like to hike around the mountain. No, not AROUND
the mountain, but in the area. You literal people should be ashamed.
So what I thought would be a 15-minute drive turned out to be more
like an hour and 15 minutes. When we arrived at the small village
of Mt. Cook, right at the foot of the massive peak and many glaciers
and mountain ranges, it was already getting on in the afternoon.
We found that if we did any lengthy walks at all, we would never
make it back to the next town to find a place to sleep. One unique
thing about New Zealand is they have highways that lead to wonderful
sights, but don't continue. You have to backtrack from whence you
came. It was only shortly over an hour to return back to the main
highway, but we were running out of daylight (not really, but doesn't
it sound more dramatic this way?). We didn't come all this way just
to look at the mountain, smile, and leave. We wanted to do a hike.
There were some glacier walks, and some tremendous views of Mt.
Cook if we walked inland a few hours. There was some accommodation,
but most of it was filled since it was late in the day. We ended
up staying at a pretty nice place in Mt. Cook so that we could do
a nice hike the next day.
Well, the next day was cold, kind of drizzly, but still pretty
decent. We couldn't view Mt. Cook at all due to the completely gray
sky, but we walked inland toward Mt. Cook a couple of hours and
made it to the terminal face of the Horseshoe Glacier. This glacier
has a pretty small lake that turns into a river since the elevation
is so high. We walked across two suspension bridges as it got colder
and colder. By the time we made it to the glacier, we both had our
jackets on and hoods up. We sat by the lakeshore and it wasn't as
cold there. There were very large chunks of ice floating around
the small lake, and cracking sounds from the terminal face. On our
way out, we drove to another glacier, the Tasman Glacier. This,
like we wrote about earlier is the glacier that formed Lake Pukaki.
Now remember it took us over an hour to make it from the Southern
end of Lake Pukaki to Mt. Cook (and Tasman Glacier), and that should
give you an idea of how big this lake is. Hiking almost straight
up, stumbling over rocks, I made my way to the overlook of the Tasman
Glacier. This view was again totally amazing, but strange. Whereas
the greenery and majesty of most of the scenery was rather terrestrial,
the land around the Tasman Glacier exuded otherworldliness. It was
like I stepped onto Mars. The landscape was desolate and rocky.
This was the remains of the glacier's destructive path. Meandering
through the middle of the Mars landscape was a large river; the
origin of Lake Pukaki. Tasman Glacier is amazingly huge. It runs
up into the mountain range and is 29 kilometers long and 200 yards
thick. That, my friends, is a lot of ice cubes. The glacier loses
200 meters of length per year; meaning Lake Pukaki is always getting
bigger. Rocks jutted up from the ground as if thrown haphazardly
by the Maori gods. It was like a riverbed with no water. I think
NASA could do some Moon training here.
Whitewater Rafting
Queenstown is a city that is pretty much known for its extreme
sports. Situated next to New Zealand's third largest lake (Lake
Wakatipu), the Remarkables mountain range, and a large number of
river canyons, it is a veritable hodgepodge of vacation activities.
There is skiing, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, parasailing,
paragliding, sky diving, bungee jumping (this is where bungee jumping
started), and whatever else death defying feats you wish.
We chose a relatively safer pursuit and went whitewater rafting
down the Shotover River. The weather was perfect, but the bus ride
to the canyon was less than stellar. The Shotover River is where
most of the goldmining in New Zealand took place. The only road
down to the starting point of the trip is an old miner's road. Our
bus had to negotiate hairpin turns and a track with 200 foot drops
on one side. Did I mention that this track was just gravel and the
track was only inches wider than the bus? Our driver was good, but
I think a few of the people had white knuckles by the time we got
there. There is one point in the track where we passed through a
stone archway. The old miner's called it "Hell's Gate"
on the way in, and "Heaven's Gate" on the way out. That
may tell you something about the life of a miner. They say there
is still tons of gold in the Shotover canyons, but it is even cost
prohibitive to try to get to it, even with the technology that exists
today. So there it lies.
The water was a little low, but it was very fun. Our guide, named
"Shaggy" (he really looked like Shaggy from Scooby Doo,
except he was very buff) led two other couples and us down the river.
At first it seemed like the rapids were going to be a total cakewalk
because the water was so low, but we found that the rapids got stronger
as the river progressed. There was even one area where we all (more
than 30 of us) had to get out of the rafts and walk along the craggy
canyon wall to avoid a razor-like rock pointing straight up in the
middle of the river. Traci and I have been whitewater rafting once
before, and like this time, it was fun, but nobody tipped over last
time. We were negotiating a difficult maneuver around a huge boulder
that we kind of got hung up on, but we made it and waited for the
rest of the groups. Suddenly, one of the rafts shot around the corner
and nailed the rock head on. The raft folded in half, shot up in
the air, and all seven occupants flew into the river. It was pretty
scary to watch, but kind of cool. Everyone was pretty safe, wearing
all the safety equipment, and within minutes all the guides had
the watersoaked victims back in rafts. Looking at the scenery from
a raft is a unique experience. I couldn't help but think of Wile
E. Coyote chasing the RoadRunner and falling off into these ravines
because of the steep drop-offs and vastness of the walls. OK, that
was a dumb analogy, but any of you who grew up watching Saturday
morning cartoons knows exactly what I am writing about, don't deny
it. There were parts of the river that were completely shaded by
trees barely clinging to the steep sides, and other areas where
the sun beat down unmercifully. The most unique feature of this
rafting adventure was this part near the end where we went through
a really long natural rock tunnel. It was an eerie experience. At
the very end of the tunnel, we hit a nasty rapid and dropped right
off and into calm water. That was the end of the trip.
Kepler Track
In New Zealand, hiking or trekking is known as "tramping."
Our New Zealand tramping book had many multi-day tramps that were
suggested and we carefully studied them and decided to first tackle
the "Kepler Track." This one started and ended in the
same spot which was a plus as we had a rental car and it was supposed
to be one of the best alpine walks in the country. Tramping is pretty
much a national past time here. There are literally hundreds of
multi-day hikes all around. Some of the best of these tracks are
in the Fiordland National Park. The Fiordland is an amazing place.
It has all the mountain and glacier features I wrote about before
with the added features of fiords, ocean coast, and reachable alpine
crossings. There are a couple tracks that are a bit more popular
than the Kepler Track, but they require booking months in advance.
Some world famous hikes in the Fiordland are the Milford and Routeburn
Tracks. The Kepler Track is 36 miles long and takes four days. We
had never walked that far before, let alone multi-day hikes, but
this is something that we really wanted to do. We had to travel
to a little town at the entrance of the Fiordland National Park
called Te Anau to enter the Kepler Track.
On our way to Te Anau, we picked up two backpackers from the U.S.
They were travelling together and met on a ship somewhere in the
Polynesian Islands. Apparently there is this whole other world of
being part of a crew and travelling by boat with a captain for months
and months or even years. You earn your keep by working and you
sail all over. The guy was doing this for nearly a year and the
girl had been on the ship a few months. The girl had also done trail
maintenance in the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. They
both seemed like they were in their young 20's, and the guy talked
pretty much nonstop for the two hour drive. It is always interesting
to meet people while travelling. Everyone has a story.
These tramps have a "hut" system. You have to book a
place in the hut before you leave for the tramp. We had bought a
tent, so we just got hut tickets for the first night (because they
told us there was no camping there) and bought tentsite tickets
for the remainder. We started the Kepler Track at about 1:00 PM.
According to our map, the track went around the end of Lake Te Anau,
and then went straight up the side of the Kepler Mountains. The
path looked like it might get difficult after the first two hours,
and it did. The following narrative is going to sound like complaining,
but it isn't. It is simply trying to explain the difficulty of walking
36 miles through mountains by a couple of out of shape wannabe hikers.
OK, so maybe it is complaining. Our bodies complained through the
whole thing. We both had a great time though (in retrospect).
After reaching the base of the mountains deep in the pine and gum
forests, the path began to wind upward…and upward…and
upward. This went on for two hours. It was very difficult, but when
we thought we were never going to make it, the scenery changed suddenly.
The trees basically just stopped, and there was nothing but scrub.
We had reached the timberline. Trees could not grow any higher for
some reason. It had been four hours of hard tramping. It was just
another 45 minutes to the hut, but it seemed like forever. We were
already pretty tired when we got to the timberline. We didn't realize
we were on top of a mountain range at first. We were walking across
a "saddle," which is the narrow peakline between mountains.
It is kind of like walking on the very top of a roof. Obviously
it is a lot wider, but you do have to watch out for heavy gusts
of wind. The views from the saddle were unbelievable. We could see
where we started (kind of) some 11 miles below and away, and we
saw our first fiord. Giant green mountains jutted straight up out
of black waters. These fiords are where a lot of Lord of the Rings
was filmed. I could see why. Only the Fiordland could produce the
majesty and otherworldliness a film like LOTR needed.
We made it to the hut, and Traci and I ate and fell asleep before
half the people in there even thought about going to bed. Kind of
sad, huh? Oh well, hopefully the track gets easier. Ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha.
The next day was again amazing and excruciating. Walking for eight
hours would be enough of a task for anyone, but we walked to the
peak of Mt. Kepler (3600 feet), and across numerous saddles in between
mountains. The day was extremely nasty, and as alpine weather is
always changing, it began to rain and became very cold. There were
two shelters along the way in which we stopped and recharged our
batteries (granola bars and water). Sometimes we couldn't see more
than 100 feet in front of us because the mists were so thick. That
was a shame because we could only imagine how amazing the views
must be on a clear day. We had been tramping for five hours when
the track began its descent into the valley below. The weather grew
warmer again when we left the alpine crossing.
The track going down to the valley was very difficult. If you ever
think going uphill for two hours is difficult, try going downhill
for two hours. There are a lot of muscles used that aren't typically
utilized, and we were very sore by the time we got down to the valley.
Traci's trick knee gave out twice.
We did however make it to the camp. It was a bit later than we
had hoped, but we made it. The first day we did the section in pretty
good time. The map said it should take six hours and we did it in
just over five. But the second day took us eight hours and should
have taken us six. Oh well. We set up our tent amongst other people
and tried to get to sleep right away even though it was only 6:00
PM. You tend to fall asleep a lot easier in exhaustion. The one
thing we didn't count on was how cold it was going to get. We were
lucky we left the hut when we did, because by the next morning,
where we had been was almost inaccessible. The freezing level in
the alpine area had dropped altitude, and virtually no one was walking
up there the next day. We heard that it might start snowing up there.
We were very cold in our tent and didn't sleep all that well. The
next day was rainy and very cold, so we decided to just stay at
the hut and not hike this day. Our muscles needed a little rest,
and we had gone pretty hard. We had to pay the hut warden for hut
passes that day, but it was well worth it. We warmed our hands by
the fire, played Scrabble, read and slept.
The next morning we got up early and decided to finish the track
that day. The last part was supposed to take two days but we looked
at it and talked to some other people who thought we could do it
all at once. So we did. This part of the walk was beautiful as the
track followed the Iris Burn River all the way to a huge lake. It
was also pretty level which was welcome. We still walked really
hard this day even though our feet felt like they were going to
fall off. By 2:00 we had crossed the huge suspension bridge that
led us back to the car.
We walked a total of 20+ hours and 36 miles. We went from just
above sea level to 3600 feet. It was horrible and it was wonderful.
It was great and we would do it again in a minute.
After the Kepler Track we spent the next few days in Te Anau and
recovered. We splurged on a room with a spa tub and it was wonderful!
Milford Road
This is the road that enters the Fiordland National Park. And it
is the only road that leads to Milford Sound. If you haven't heard
of Milford Sound, I am sure you have seen pictures. The massive
green walls jutting out of the black sea give the New Zealand fiords
their distinctive look. Mitre Peak in the Milford Sound, is one
of the most photographed mountains in the world.
The Milford Road is the source of some of the world's greatest
hiking tracks…the Milford, the Routeburn and the Hollyford
to name a few. We weren't able to do any overnight hikes of these
tracks because we didn't plan six months in advance. They are all
booked out that far in advance. It winds through some of the most
scenic valleys and mountain ranges in New Zealand. Near the end
of the two-hour road is a tunnel that bores straight through a mountain.
There are absolutely no lights inside, which makes travelling through
it a unique and scary experience. Along the road are some glacial
lakes such as the Mirror Lakes, so named because they are shaded
from the sun in such a way that a perfect reflection of the mountains
above is created. We ended up camping at Lake Gunn, another beautiful
body of water about an hour from the Milford Sound.
Our plan was to hike a little bit, camp at Lake Gunn and go sea
kayaking in the Milford Sound the next day. We located the Routeburn
Track and found that there was a three-hour walk emanating from
there. It followed the first hour of the track and then sidled to
a mountain summit. We had already bagged a few mountains on this
trip, so we figured we could bag this sucker too. Of course it helped
that we started a lot higher in elevation, meaning we wouldn't have
to climb as far or hard to reach this summit. Along the way, little
waterfalls and beautiful glimpses through the lush, green rainforest
of the mountains in the distance greeted us along the way. After
almost an hour of a grueling upward climb, we reached the sidetrack
leading to Key Summit. If we had thought the uphill climb we had
been on was steep, it had nothing on this. This went almost straight
up. After a half- hour we reached the summit. We had bagged another
mountain! Luck was with us this time. The sky was a gorgeous blue
and nary a cloud. Staggering views of distant mountain ranges assaulted
us from 360 degrees. A brass plaque marked the summit. The plaque
had directions pointing to the different mountain ranges surrounding
us. The Earl Mountains and Annie's Peak were a couple of the more
breathtaking ones. The thing that was most amazing on Key Summit
was that there was a little swamp and a lake right on top of the
mountain! Maybe this is commonplace, but I did not expect to see
a lake surrounded by wildflowers and a bog at this elevation. It
was great. We had a nice picnic lunch, took a few pictures and descended.
Within an hour, we were back at our car and on our way to camp at
Lake Gunn.
Sea Kayak
We had hoped to take an overnight boat to visit the famous Milford
Sound, but they were also booked way out. My sister, an outdoor
nut, told us we had to go sea kayaking for her in New Zealand, so
we figured this would be as good a time as any. We camped as near
to Milford Sound as we could (about an hour away) and got up early
for our excursion. We met our instructor for the day, a laid back
and very knowledgeable environmentalist whose passion for wildlife
and the wilderness was very obvious. The other kayakers were from
Israel, England, and Germany. It was interesting to talk to the
couple from Israel given the current situation in the region. They
spoke of the frustration of the situation and our tour guide brought
up the recent news of Israeli military leaders making claims that
Israel should get out of the West Bank and give back the areas of
settlements. She spoke of the hopelessness that people in the region
feel more now than ever. They perceived that peace is farther away
than it has ever been.
We geared up with our many layers of polypropylene, Lycra vests,
waterproof wind jackets and the skirt things that you wear that
snap you into the kayak. We kayaked for about 5 hours and it was
wonderful. The fiords are absolutely breathtaking and kayaking was
the perfect way to experience them. We saw many seals, which our
guide explained the history of these creatures. The population was
nearly extinct after sealers came to New Zealand in the mid-1800's.
Mitre Peak and gorgeous blue green water and mountains were everywhere.
Mount Pembroke, New Zealand's second biggest mountain loomed behind
a cloak of mist. We did not see any whales, although they are spotted
here from time to time. We found that kayaking wasn't that much
different from canoeing. All of the kayakers were in double seated
kayaks, so you have one person in front paddling and one in back
paddling and foot steering. Paddlers have to synchronize their stroke,
which is pretty much opposite from canoeing, but the same principles
apply. It was a lot more stable, but strange because your body is
actually below the surface of the water. The best part of kayaking
is when a large boat comes near and leaves tremendous wakes. We
had to shoot across a few big waves. We had our lunch and then our
guide had a large sail, which we all held by hand and paddle and
sailed for a while. Near the end of our kayaking experience the
English lasses decided that everyone needed to get wet so they began
splashing everyone with their paddles. They paid for it in spades.
We reluctantly left Te Anau and Fiordland National Park and went
north. Again, the scenery in New Zealand is amazing. The extreme
beauty is indescribable. We kept finding ourselves driving and shaking
our heads at the gorgeous views everywhere. We discussed how some
people take weeks of vacation to see one such sight and we have
been bombarded with views and scenery for weeks.
The roads are few and far between here and we had to take the road
back to Queenstown to get where we wanted to go. We drove through
Queenstown and stopped and watched the bungee jumpers at the original
bungee jumping bridge!!! The worst part was watching a petite Asian
women with her whole family there nearly pass out she was so scared.
We watched her tell the guide "just one minute" and lean
back on him not able to make herself go to the end of the bridge.
Eventually she jumped and that did us in. We had seen enough. On
our way out we picked a bunch of ripe apricots from a wild tree
(along with many other people) and left. We also stopped at Gibbston
winery and sampled a few wines (this region has nothing on Australian
wines). Next door there was a great cheese shop which we sampled
some new and interesting cheeses.
Up the Coast
We arrived in a small town called Wanaka that we were going
to stay at and went to a puzzle museum that we heard great things
about. The museum itself had an interesting collection of holograms,
a hall with faces that appeared to follow you and some rooms tilted
so everything seems wrong. It is built at an angle and then mirrors
and furniture make it seem very strange. The room is built so everything
looks level but you have to struggle to get across it because you
are actually walking up a very steep grade. The puzzle museum had
a large area with puzzles on tables that people can help themselves
to trying to work them out. They had all different kinds and after
solving a few, we decided to try the Labyrinth.
There were four stations in this maze that you had to get to by
roaming along and through fencing. It was very difficult and took
Tony just over 30 minutes to figure out. I (Traci) actually found
all four stations, but could not get back out and had to rely on
an emergency exit. (I am directionally challenged!)
We drove up the West Coast of the South Island stopping at Franz
and Fox glaciers. We wrote about glaciers earlier so won't bore
you with all the facts again, but these ones were totally amazing.
When you step foot into the huge valleys created by either of these
glaciers, you see the massive ice floe immediately. These glaciers
make the ones we saw two weeks previous look like an icicle in comparison.
The fox glacier came sprawling out of the mountain range, so massive
it looked as if it were just in the beginning of the ice age. A
huge river sprung from the terminal face. We passed a number of
signs on our way in the park that showed where the glacier was 150
years ago, 100, 50 and 20 years ago. I can't imagine how massive
the glacier must have been 1,000 years ago. We didn't spend a lot
of time here because we were running out of time on the South Island,
but we did take time to hike as close to Fox Glacier as we could.
We spent a few days in the Marlborough region and went to a few
more wineries. This region is known for its Sauvignon Blanc, which
is very distinct. The thing we walked away from in this region was
that they could make a mean Sauvignon Blanc, but not much else.
We tried a number of different wines, and there were a few nice
Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, but the Sauvignon Blanc was the real
prize. Crisp stonefruit, a full-length palate rather unusual for
this style, and noted green pepper flavors were a few things to
describe the Sauvignon Blancs of this region (for those that are
interested in such things). We visited Cloudy Bay winery, recommended
to us by a winery in Australia. We also visited Montana, Saint Clair,
and Nautilus. We found a great restaurant, "Elbow Room,"
which we ate dinner at one day and lunch the next. It was a wine
bar that served a generous glass of nice wine for about $2.50 US
and meals for about $4.00 US. Our meals consisted of penne pasta
with salmon, capers, and parmesan cheese cream sauce and great Italian
sandwiches complete with pesto, garlic aoli, Italian meats, cheese,
tomatoes, roasted peppers. The restaurant also provided gourmet
traveler magazines, which we read each one.
We had to take a ferry from the South Island to the North Island.
It was a gorgeous trip aboard a huge modern cruise ship with no
cabins, but rather lounges, restaurants, and seating. We sailed
past the beautiful Marlborough sounds and saw many dolphins along
the way. We met a woman named Ganit, who is an Israeli studying
Chinese medicine in Los Angeles. She was looking for a ride to Taupo,
which was about a 5-hour trip once we got off the ferry. She rode
with us about ½ way and we had an interesting discussion,
again, about the issues going on in the region. She, like other
Israelis we met had a very bleak view of the situation and she expressed
that people seem to have given up and peace and are running out
of patience.
When we found a place to stay for the night, she was able to get
another ride right away, which made us glad. We felt kind of bad
we didn't bring her all the way, but we didn't want to go that far
right away.
Thermal Highway
The next few days we were driving on what is known as the "Thermal
Highway" because all along its course are volcanoes, underground
thermal springs and mud pools. We made it to the Tangariro National
Park (Lord of the Rings was filmed here as well) and walked to the
Soda Springs (which stunk like boiled eggs). Again, the landscape
here was extremely otherworldish. Giant volcanic rocks jutted out
of the ground as if they were scattered carelessly by the gods.
Well, in fact they were shot out of a volcano, which loomed near
us ominously. The last explosion was in the early 1900's. The eruption
wiped out some small communities and killed over 150 people. That
the mountain near us was a volcano seemed evident by the cone shape
and the flat top, which up until 100 years ago had a pointed peak.
As we walked deeper into the trail, the smell of sulfur became stronger
and stronger. This was another thing that would become typical over
the next few days. Stench of the earth's gases belching out of the
ground. They say the Earth's crust is very thin all over the northern
part of the North Island, hence all the activity. After about an
hour and a half, we reached the nexus of the bad smell, Soda Springs.
We made our way up to the streaming water, and could barely stand
it by the time we were at the origin, it smelled so bad. There was
clean water bubbling out of the rocks, which then turned into a
stream that ran all the way down into the valley below, carrying
the stink of sulfur with it.
That night we stayed in Roratura, the culture and thermal heart
of New Zealand. We did two things that day that were very interesting.
We played golf on a course in which there is thermal activity like
bubbling mud pools and small geysers, and we saw the most amazing
Maori cultural show. It was at the Maori Cultural and Art Center,
and it was completely fascinating, unlike any other cultural display
we have ever seen. They literally acted like we were a clan coming
to visit.
The Maori, if you aren't aware of this, are the original settlers
of New Zealand. I say "settlers" because no one lived
indigenously in New Zealand, man or beast. New Zealand broke off
from Australia long before land mammals existed, so nothing except
birds and flying mammals (bats) and insects lived there. Some of
the birds evolved to be flightless. And having no competition or
predators, grew large. That may sound like a mundane detail, but
it was important for New Zealand's later history. Some Polynesians
discovered New Zealand by doing expeditions from their native islands
called "Hawaiiki" (no, not Hawaii; most likely the Society
Islands, which include Tahiti) well over 1,000 years ago. The reports
back to the people of giant birds which had no wings and excellent
hunting was appealing to this hunting society, but things were plentiful
so no one emigrated. But later, the islands began overpopulating,
and war broke out. Maori history says that ten canoes (that could
carry 100 people each) lashed themselves together and set out for
the land called "Aotera," or land of the long white sky.
Most Maori trace back their ancestors to one of these 10 canoes.
So what was I saying? Oh yes, the cultural show. The guides told
us we needed to select a male chief, then we would enter the Maori
village. The Maori are proud of their warlike heritage. They have
a long history of interclan warfare and fighting off the white man
when the Dutch first discovered the islands in the 1700's. The most
distinctive features of the Maori are their body tatoos. The most
noticable of course is the face tatoo. We always thought that the
tatoos were just decorative, but we were told the tatoos on the
face convey information including mother's heritage, father's heritage
and tribal rank.
I overheard a Maori guide at a museum the other day saying to some
tourists that in Maori lore, the Gods are warlike, so man must emulate
the gods. Woman is the giver of life, and Man is the taker of life.
We walked to the gates of the village, our chiefs that we selected
out front. Suddenly, from a tower behind us, a Maori sentry blew
a resounding blast on a conch shell. Slowly, the Maori warriors
with their spears and clubs came out of their holy meeting house.
One by one, the male warriors came forward, making guttural noises
and brandishing their weapons. We knew it was only a show, but it
seemed very real. After a number of the black tatooed warriors displayed
their power and domination, a warrior came forward and placed a
branch on the ground in front of our chiefs. The first chief went
forward, picked up the offering and backed off. The process was
repeated then the other chief picked up his offering and backed
off. All the warriors retreated to the house, and we were allowed
to enter the grounds. We could have been laughing or clapping at
the outrageous displays of power, the warriors sticking out their
tongues, their funny sounds, but it didn't seem very funny at the
time, and was very real feeling. No one clapped or as much as giggled.
We were all entering an entirely different world. We took off our
shoes and entered the ornately carved house. All the men in our
"tribe" sat in the front, which is customary to protect
the women. The warriors from before performed a couple songs and
displays of power by stomping around the stage and again brandishing
weapons, then gave some speeches in the Maori tongue, which of course
none of us understood. Our own chiefs gave retalitory speeches of
thankfulness for their hospitality, then we all sang a song of welcome.
After this tenuous period, the Maori warriors and women seemed
much happier and did many dances and songs. We were able to sit
with our loved ones at this point, because the danger of a fight
breaking out was over since we all gave the traditional greetings
and welcome song. After about an hour of the dances and songs in
which they were displaying their scary faces and melodically singing
stories of their ancestry, we went to the banquet hall and had a
traditional Hangi, or Maori feast. This is mostly meats, seafood
and vegetables cooked underground with hot rocks. It was wonderful.
The seafood was very fresh and the vegetables nice. It all had a
particular taste; kind of smoky and earthy. I guess that is what
it tastes like when you cook it underground.
Hot Water Beach
We drove for five hours the next day to make it up the Coromandel
Peninsula. The thing we were hoping to see was the Hot Water Beach.
This beach is unique in that during low tide, people dig holes in
the tidal area sand and sit in hot thermal baths. These baths are
made by a hot spring that sits right below the surface of the sand.
The ocean covers it up for 20 hours a day, but the other four are
filled with people digging holes. We were within five miles of the
beach when we realized the traffic ahead of us was slowing. It had
been raining lightly most of the day, but we hadn't thought much
of it. When we peered around to see why the traffic was slowing
so much, we found out why. A torrent of water rushed across the
road in front of us. There were cars lined up on both sides of the
washout. The water was crossing the road deeply and quickly. We
decided we might turn around and make our way to Auckland. Suddenly,
one of the cars broke out of line and decided to ford the makeshift
river. We all watched tenuously. He made it across. Slowly, each
car decided to try it. Each car made it across, albeit they shifted
around a bit. We finally decided to go for it. Other than the water
splashing up against the side of our car, it wasn't that bad.
We made it to the beach and found a campground next door. We pitched
our tent and waited for low tide when we could dig a hole in the
sand for our thermal bath. When 6:30 p.m. rolled around, we walked
down to the beach to find about 20 people already hard at it. Traci
and I dug all around, trying to find a thermal spring under the
sand to no avail. We searched around thinking we didn't really know
where we were supposed to find these springs. Other people had little
pools dug out already, but all we could do was dig up a spot, find
out it was a dud, and then move on. One of these digs almost proved
costly.
We were digging a fruitless hole in the sand when the tide came
in without warning. My wedding ring (fake one thankfully) shot off
my finger when the water came up. The sand quickly buried it. We
both started digging frantically. Although it isn't my real wedding
ring, it is still a nice ring, and its symbolism is what was important
to me. After 10 minutes of digging, we left it for gone. The tide
came in again, and there, lying in the sand was my ring. It was
miraculous. It had been buried under at least a foot of churning
sand and seawater, and then it was sitting on top of the sand. Amazing.
We decided this whole thermal bath thing was a crock, so we started
back to our tent. We were walking across the beach when we walked
over a hot spot in the sand. We realized we probably just walked
over a hot spring. We began digging and suddenly boiling hot water
filled the hole. It was so hot that we couldn't dig until the cool
tide came in. We tried to keep digging the hole, but again, it was
too hot. Well, we found our thermal bath, but it was too hot to
use. So that was that, a big success.
Auckland
We made it to Auckland early the next day. We went to the wonderful
Auckland War Memorial Museum, and spent the afternoon there. It
was both a breakdown of New Zealand's war history, including civil
war with the Maori and participation in British causes such as the
Boer wars, World War 1 and 2. In addition, there was a whole floor
of New Zealand's natural history, animals, volcanic activity, etc.
And there was a whole floor dedicated to Polynesian culture, mostly
Maori. It was a nice museum.
We didn't do much the next day, just drove down to the harbor and
look at the yacht slips where the America's Cup race would begin
next year. The kiwis won the cup from the USA last time, so they
host it and are VERY excited about it. We ate at Auckland's trendiest
restaurant for lunch, Cin Cin. Other than that, we spent time finishing
this stuff up.
THE END?
Well ladies and gentleman, this might be it! We are leaving for
the Cook Islands tomorrow, and as far as I know, my worldwide internet
service does not work in the Cook Islands or Fiji. I assure you
we will keep writing, although we may not be able to post the text
or pictures until the end of March. We thank all of you for keeping
up with us and Kiora, or Welcome and Thank you (Maori). We will
see you all soon!
Highs
Hiking at Mt. Cook
Kepler Track
Sauvignon Blanc
Scenery
Milford Sound
Kayaking
Whitewater Rafting
Very friendly Kiwis
Seafood
Maori Culture
Glaciers
Golfing
Natural thermal springs
Temperate climate
Lows
Leaving
Also, check out Traci's Asian Human Rights
Commission and election monitoring in Sri Lanka page!
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