We are considering our 'bucket list' trips and find that we want to return to several places, New Zealand being on top of the list. So we did. The planning in Nov and Dec aren't documented, but are a great part of any trip, including this one. And the inevitable changes. Here are some notes to share and for us to remember.
.......
7 Mar 2017
Got the email cancelling our Delta flight to MSP 1 am. Called Delta and got rebooked through Hibbing!!! Of course we knew the weather there was worse and wouldn't fly, but we retained the MSP to SFO flight we needed. So we drove to Minneapolis airport, sometimes in a whiteout. Made it to SFO in time for our Air NZ overnight flight and we relaxed. Not bad in retrospect. Air New Zealand seems a responsible and least expensive way to get there at present.
........
8-9 Mar 2017
Arrived in Auckland and flew to Queenstown, a bit sleep deprived. Qtown has really built up and got even more expensive. Eating has been rather erratic: breakfast on the plane, maybe 3 am NZ time. Walked downtown for lunch along the lake which is always pretty; blue lake, high mountains which were spectacular coming in on the plane. Shops have changed in eight years; imagine that. Huge lunch at Va Du, a café near the harbor, walked around, then took the city bus back to the YHA hostel; we are Hosteling International members which is a good deal and they like seniors as well as young people. Last time NZ was a bargain, but no more. Interesting to be where US tourists are a minority. After falling into bed in the afternoon we had a light lunch with NZ white wine (much better here with it's full nose), decent cheese, and NZ apples. Then to bed, for sure to sleep....
.........
10 Mar 2017
Off early to do our bounce to Milford Sound. Almost caught up on our sleep. Last time we did an overnight on the Sound, which was great. But auto rental is exorbitant in QTown, so we took a coach-cruise-coach package which actually worked well. Less rain, so fewer waterfalls in Milford, but a pretty trip and got farther out to sea. This cruise went out further into the Tasman Sea so we could see quite a bit past the end point of land, Annne’s Rocks. Would have done Doubtful Sound farther down the coast had I known about it for the wild and remoteness. Long ride there and back. On the way back, the bus stopped at the Roteburn Track & Key Summit at the Divide to drop off trekkers with packs, a substantial three day hike. Karen’s already thinking about what to do on our next trip when we would take more time! Probably not trekking to Milford Sound… The bus stops at Te Anau for coffee and at Mirror Lakes for a photo op, with snow on the mountains in the distance; lovely. Dinner on the veranda across from the lake. A loaf of bread, a bottle of wine, some cheese, and each other.
Up early again to cab to the
.........
11 Mar 2017
Inter-City bus to Dunedin; we found that by taking this fine bus to Dunedin airport we could save almost half on car rental in Queenstown. The driver started out being crabby but became generally funny, except for being irritated at some passengers who darted out for the restrooms and to take photos every time he stopped to pick up new people. Finally got to our coffee break stop and an hour later to Dunedin airport where we picked up our rental, a RAV that is larger than our 2008 Sub but will turn out to be a good car on the mountain roads later. After an excellent Asian meal in town, we got groceries and headed to our backpackers, McFarmer’s, all the way down the Otago Peninsula. We had some trouble finding it but should have spotted one of his sheep on a long chain right next to the road in front of the McFarmer’s sign. It was an interesting place to stay: a converted barn with three bedrooms, bath, shower, living room and kitchen; very nice with lovely views of the bay. There were also a couple separate cabins and we had an interesting discussion with an older couple (at least older than we are) from Australia who were there for a week and traveling around for several months. We had a heater in our room to supplement the wool blanket and down comforter. Gene cooked another excellent meal, we had a nice bottle of wine and interesting conversation with our housemates from Nova Scotia, Ralph and Jill. They are planning on hiking the Roteburn Trek; one has to reserve space in a “hut”, which sounds like a hostel, rooms of bunks with cooking facilities. We were impressed with their hiking plans. We visited with our other housemate, Nell, who is a nurse who moved to Dunedin from a much smaller town and stays at McFarmer’s four days a week while she works at Larnach Castle. It sounded quite interesting; she gave us maps of the gardens. We thought about stopping there until we found it cost $125.00 per person to tour the gardens and castle itself. Not! Wine and salad for dinner overlooking the bay; very nice.
......
12 Mar 2017
Easy day in the morning, Ralph and Jill and Nell took off and we had a quiet breakfast and watched the bay. Then we drove to the end of the road, stopping on the way for coffee and a scon--that’s become a habit, the coffee is espresso and water or milk and the scones are date or cheese, both wonderful. First we stopped at the Albatross Centre, no albatross right there but a lot of history about the person who brought them back to the peninsula and babysat the first few albatross eggs until he was sure the few pair could breed and raise young successfully. Next to the Penguin Place, a yellow-eyed penguin reserve and hospital, one of three in the southern hemisphere. Yellow-eye penguin are threatened; there are perhaps 300 on the South island and not as many on the north island. The hospital rehabilitates, hopefully, and releases several species of penguin back to the ocean. Last year they successfully treated about 300. The “hospital” part was interesting: you peer at them through small openings in wood boards. Since they can only see a small part of you, they think you are small and they don’t become frightened. Yellow-eyeds are not social with each other and so they can’t be kept in zoos at all. They die. They can’t be kept in close proximity for long at the hospital, either. We also saw Fjordland Crested Penguins – we saw three or four of them in Milford Sound, swimming.
Next was a boat trip on the Monarch out the bay and into the ocean. It was wonderful! Raining and cold, but we saw albatross on the wing and feeding, and hundreds of other seabirds because the boat driver was able to get us close to a upwelling of krill, so we could see barracuda snapping at the krill on the surface and seabirds diving to feed, kept us occupied for nearly an hour. It was a great experience even though the boat ride was cold and windy and wet. Back to the hostel, with new housemates from Holland. We managed to talk politics without argument. They are worried about upcoming elections. We had another very good home-cooked meal and some wine and to bed. The Otago penninsula is a wonderful place worth visiting again. Our hosts at McFarmers were wonderful email (mcfarmers@xtra.co.nz).
.......
13 Mar 2017
Oamaru! It’s a lovely drive along the coast, seeing sheep and cattle, rolling farmland and mountains always ahead. We are staying at the Red Kettle, a backpackers associated with YHA, where we stayed in 2009. We checked in and then went to the old downtown looking for wool for our friend Martha, who’s caring for our cats and seedlings in the greenhouse, and for my sister Sue. Just before dusk we headed out to the little blue penguin reserve which now has bleachers on both sides of the rock beach they run up the beach to come in from hunting/eating all day to get to their little houses in the reserve. Premium seating tickets are much preferable. They don’t see yellow light so they don’t see us, and we were told to be extremely quiet. Shortly after dark they began coming in; they appear over the top of the last huge rock and run like crazy to small holes in the large wood wall that protects their houses in the reserve. The penguins are about 14” high and the triangular-shaped holes for them to get through are perhaps 8” high; their triangle houses are perhaps a foot and usually occupied by a pair. They go back to the same house every night they land on this beach; the reserve now has 300 houses, up from perhaps 80 when we were last here. We were closest to where they went through the wall, and one of the two holes on our side they usually used to go through was blocked by a grouchy fur seal! It was hysterical: they come off the rocks and onto the beach in groups chirping to each other to communicate and a group of three or four would come to a dead stop, look at the seal, look at each other, look around, run backwards sometimes back over the rocks, and finally figure out there was another hole they could go through. It was amazing to watch. Of the 120+ penguins we saw, only one had the courage to run right past the seal, who snorted but didn’t move. Seals don’t eat penguins! Karen would go watch this every night, the penguins are soooo cute! Back for a late and quiet supper in the kitchen and to bed, nice room, nice warm bed.
.......
14 Mar 017
We decided to take the lovely drive inland from Oamaru through farmland and mountains rather than the direct route. By this time, I'm fairly adjusted to driving on the left and no longer turning on the wipers when signaling a turn. Beautiful Moon-Over-the-Mountains on our way through the pastoral landscape. The clouds parted for a glimpse of Mount Cook. Turquoise alpine lakes, mystery crops, and happy campers. Lots of NZ falcon, the nameless but common black and white crow (magpies I found out) and paradise shellducks. We were soon in Christchruch with good directions from Google; found it possible to download a route so wifi not needed or available. The YHA Christcchurch is fine, as good or better than the Rolleston House. Cooked a great meal joined by Cecelia from Sweden who we first met in Oamaru.
.......
15 Mar 017
Sunny day in Christchurch with an easy morning and walk downtown. The city is still in reconstruction mode recovering from the earthquakes. Visited the graphic, multimedia 'Quake City' show of what happened in 2010 and 2011. Lunch in the restoring food district with Cecelia and an easy evening at the hostel; nice private room. Haven't been in the car today...yeah! Got apps on my phone to do these updates (edited later, obviously).
.......
16 Mar 017
Off driving north along the coast to Kaikoura. We developed a habit of having a quick breakfast and later stopping for good coffee and a scone. The bakery we stopped at today was owned by a Cambodian family, highly educated and eager to talk to us about their political situation and ours; much more repressive in theirs, unfortunately. Many people we met were interested in our reactions to Trump, although part of our intention for the trip was to get away from that for awhile.
Also stopped at Tuhaitara Coastal Park about 30 k north of Christchurch, near Woodend; glad we did. The naturalist gifted us with a small, beautiful field guide of the area. We were only able to walk to the extensive beach although much of the wildlife is near an inland lake. Much camping there, likely for folks out of Christchurch. Info for another trip....
We also stopped for a stretch at St. Anne's Estuary, now nearly dry, but a great spot for a picnic.
Farther up the coast is the Waipara Valley wine area and we stopped for a lovely tasting and walk in the vines. In addition to an incredible Pinot Gris, kiwis are moving into better reds with the Pinot Noir grapes doing well. They also have very nice lunches (out of our budget) and an area planted with native plants of the area.
Highway 1 up the coast was greatly impacted by the earthquakes in November 2016. Most of the train tunnels are closed, however, and the tracks are still covered with dirt and rock. They just recently managed to clear the road for travel; we were lucky, the road opened this morning for travel all the way to Kaikoura. The Albatross is an old time backpackers with murals on the walls and many youngsters working for their stay. Went out to see the seals; because of the earthquake the land raised two meters so they are much farther from the walk over rough rock. still good. The Irish pub with Guiness on tap we fondly remembered was closed due to the quakes, but may reopen. 'Home' to the backpackers, we made a nice fish dinner and enjoyed watching the 'young folks'.
........
17 Mar 2017
Up early to go whale watching; a much larger affair than I had imagined, but well done. We saw several sperm whales plus dolphins, shearwater, albatross.... Sunny, lazy day and a drive to view the area from the top of the peninsula. Lamb for dinner with a nice Pinot Noir we got at Waipara valley.
.........
18 Mar 2017
Kaikoura to Picton is normally an hour and a half. With the earthquake it takes the long way round almost to the west coast, six hours and a bit. See the map at the top. But lovely country, through Lewis pass and lots of stunning farmland. Many stops to stretch and appreciate. Found our Airbnb in Picton and decided to have a blowout seafood dinner at Oxleys. Still on the journey.
.........
19 Mar 2017
Off early to drop off the rental car (yeah!) and catch the ferry. Marlborough Sound is magnificent. We enjoyed the ferry trip, the 'premium' well worth it. In Auckland, a cab is the reasonable way to get the considerable distance from the ferry dock to downtown. Checked into the YHA (fine) and walked to the excellent Te Papa museum in Wellington.
.........
20 Mar 2017
Wellington, the capitol of New Zealand has many tourist attractions. One attraction that is primarily for citizens of Auckland is Zealandia, a high, steep valley above the city which was much affected during colonization: gold mines, hydro dams, burning and farming. In the 80's, the city reclaimed the valley and is in the 500 year process of returning it to nature. The wildlife is accessible from walking paths and the entire valley is fenced off to keep out predators. After our visit, we took the tram down the steep hill to center city and a fine Malaysian lunch. The hostel is well placed, with museums and shops in easy walking.
.........
21 Mar 2017
We boarded the Northern Explorer train early. This is a new train, much different than the antique I road ten years ago. We recognized some traveling companions and ate on board while the scenery passed. The train largely has its own route across the island and it's history is full of logging and farming before its present use.
.........
22 Mar 2017
With our flight not until early evening, we have the day to play. Last November, the Maritime Museum and associated sail into the harbor looked good. And it was! The volunteers running the ship were friendly and talkative and the weeather was wonderful for a sail.
WayBack Machine to the 2009 NZ Trip