Tuesday, Day 5

Because of the continuing threat of inclement weather, we decided to move our day trip to Milford Sound from Wednesday to today.  When we awoke we had quite a surprise waiting for us.  Yes that is snow on the mountain peaks above Queenstown.  We were told that this is highly unusual for this time of year.

We decided that since all six of us cannot fit in the same car, that rather than drive both cars to the Sound, we would take a charter tour bus.  We are so glad we did.  The extra color commentary provided was well worth the slight difference it would have cost us to drive, and we were not faced with the drive home after a long day.  So at 7:25 AM we loaded onto our coach and are off.

By road, Milford Sound is 307 km from Queenstown(about four hours drive), with most of the tour buses to the Sound departing from Queenstown. Some tourists also arrive from the smaller tourism centre of Te Anau, 121 km away. There are also scenic flights by light aircraft and helicopter tours to and from Milford Sound Airport. The drive to Milford Sound itself passes through unspoiled mountain landscapes before entering the 1.2 km (.75 miles) Homer Tunnel which emerges into rain-forest-carpeted canyons that descend to the sound. The winding mountain road, while of high standards, is very prone to avalanches and closures during the winter half of the year.  The past few days were particularly wet, so mudslides, slips as they call them here, were very much a factor.  In fact only two hours after we cleared the tunnel on the way home, the road was closed and did not reopen for several days.  If I didn't mention it before, this is the ONLY road in or out.

One of our first stops on the way was Mirror Lake.  We thought it was funny how they posted the sign as a mirror image so you could read it in the crystal clear water of the lake.

This beautiful field of Lupens was in full flower.  Lupens are a non-native plant brought to New Zealand by settlers as flowers for their gardens.  They escaped into the wild and proliferated to the extent they are now considered a nuisance weed.  Close by here we stopped to fill our water bottles from a glacier fed stream.  Amazing how pure water tastes.

The scenery is so spectacular along the road.

Now we meet one of the more mischievous characters around.  The Kea, or Mountain Parrot.  This one was posing and showing off for everyone on the bus.  What a ham!

We stopped to await our turn at going through the Homer Tunnel.  The cycle take 15 minutes or so.  This tunnel, as well as the road, was built by people who worked for what we would call the WPA during the depression.  They and their families lived out here in this wilderness for years.  Talk about hearty souls!

 
Yes, this is a one lane curved tunnel, think driving through a large culvert.  The tunnel was built basically by hand, no large machinery was ever used.  If you don't stay centered, it will conveniently grind part of the roof off of your vehicle.

Because of all of the recent rain, everywhere you looked the cliffs were covered with these enormously long waterfalls.

Today we got a rare glimpse of Mt. Tutoko.  Apparently she is normally shrouded in clouds.

Finally, four hours after leaving Queenstown, we arrived.  With Mitre Peak in the background, we prepare for our boat tour of the Milford Sound.  Grammy and the two grandkids are ready to go!

I'm going to break this now and pick up with the boat tour on a second post.

Day 4

This will be a very short post just to maintain continuity.  The weather began to deteriorate Monday morning and the forecasts are even more ominous.  Although the weather was threatening, Bec and I decided we would play Queenstown Golf Club.  As I said the weather was getting worse, and the winds began to sweep north across Lake Wakapitu.  By the time we finished, the winds were howling at near 70 KPH or 40-50 MPH.  One thing we are learning in New Zealand is to play in the wind.  The course itself was only mediocre and we would not go back.  We forgot the camera, but I was able to find this picture on the internet to give you some perspective.  No real way to escape the wind as you can see.

We were originally going to Milford Sound on Wednesday, but with the weather worsening, and the road there a perilous journey in and of itself, we will go tomorrow.

Day 3

So today we leave the Canterbury Plains behind and head up through the mountains and down to Queenstown.  We are taking Route 79 over to pick up Route 8 then heading up to the Southern Lakes Region.  Some of the most spectacular scenery in all of New Zealand is located here.  This area will also provided us with our first real glimpses of the Southern Alps.   We come up over a small rise and there they are, The Southern Alps.

We continue on to lake Tekapo.  The aqua blue color of the lake is caused by the glacier runoff that feeds the lake.

 

We were taken with how the clouds appeared to be coming over some hidden spillway high up in the mountains.

Heading on south and west we pass Lake Pukaki with our first look at Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand reaching 3,754 metres (12,316 ft). 

From here we continue into the Otago region.  Some of you may recognize this area for its many fine vineyards featuring award winning Pinot Noir, Riesling and Pinot Gris varieties .  This is also the home district to Queenstown.  The scenery is mostly rugged mountains and fast moving rivers and streams.

New Zealand has had its share of troubles with non-native species of plants and animals.  As you can see here a project is underway in Central Otago  to eradicate some very invasive trees and restore the landscape to its original condition.  Other unwanted immigrants include rats, possums, and goats, all which were introduced by outside influences and whose populations have exploded because there are no natural predators to keep then in check.

Finally after a long day, we arrive at our villa overlooking lake Wakatipu with The Remarkables mountain range in the background.

Tomorrow we intend to play golf (the Queenstowns Golf Club is off Hal's right shoulder across the lake) and then on Tuesday we will head to Milford Sound.  So for today,

Haere rā, goodbye in Maori.

Day 2.5

As we continue on down the east coast towards our lodging in Ashburton, the road takes us along the coast to the Kaikoura Peninsula. When I say along the coast, I mean right on the coast.  It is amazing to us how isolated and uninhabited much of the coastlines in this country are.

One of the things you have to enjoy about New Zealand is the Kiwi sense of humor.  I would submit that many of the weather folks in the US would be well served by adopting a similar weather prognostication system.

As we approach Kaikoura, we begin to see many of the New Zealand fur seal colonies that are so prevalent around the South Island.  In the late 1800's and early 1900's they were hunted to near extinction, as the European fashionistas clamored for their fur as hats and other garb.  Thankfully, they have come back strong and healthy.

The remainder of the day was spent crossing the Canterbury Plains.  It is a major agricultural area, think Kansas, that is very flat and reminds one of the Great Plains of the US.  Off to the west, their are vistas of the distant mountains.  Other than that, can you say B-O-R-I-N-G!

We'll set off tomorrow up through the mountains and into Queenstown.

Day 2

Today we awoke early to a beautiful morning here in Wellington.  Thank goodness, because we have been told that the weather and thus the seas on Cook Strait can be very testy.  We have an early check-in at the ferry, not later than 7:25, for an 8:25 departure.  We decided to eat breakfast on the ferry, I am skeptical given my 24 year history with Navy food, but we'll throw caution to the wind.

I feel a little like Jonah as we approach the loading ramp.  This is the biggest of the three Interislander ferries, the Kaitaki.  She can carry up to 1600 passengers and six hundred cars.  There are onboard lounges, bars, a theatre, and several staterooms.  The total crossing takes about 3 hours from Wellington to Picton, with about 1.5 hours out in the open straits.  Cost about $560 round trip.

They loaded us into very tight positions on the mezzanine auto deck, and we went up to find the cafe.

So here we are.  From left to right we have Ann, Ken, Bec, Zack and Emma.  The scrambled eggs were reminiscent of far too many breakfasts I have had on other ships at sea.  Other than that, there were reclining lounge chairs to use and many decks from which to take in the scenery passing by the ship as we transited the straits and into Tory Channel and Queen Charlotte Sound heading into Picton.  Picton is a small town at the top of the South Island which seems to rely mostly on the ferry business and tourism.



To say that the scenery is spectacular is an understatement.

Driving south from Picton about 25 minutes is the town of Blenheim.  Blenheim is the epicenter of the Marlbourgh wine region which put New Zealand on the map with their Sauvignon Blanc wines.  New Zealand is a land of stark contrasts that take place in a very short distance.  As you come down out of the lush coastal vegetation around Picton, you enter into a flat dry plain very reminiscent of the area around Santa Barbara, California.  We'll come back to Blenheim towards the end of the trip, so we won't dwell on the area now.

Yes the green off to the right are vineyards.  More grapes than we had ever seen before!

We'll break today into two parts.  Be back later.

Day One of Our 2013 Trip

Well we are headed to the South Island to see what is described as "the most beautiful part of New Zealand."  It seems to us that it would have to go some to beat what we have seen on the North Island.

I was trying hard to not run off the road as Bec snapped this photo of the two adventurers headed south out of Auckland.  The drive from Auckland to Wellington is about 7 hours.  We took State Highway 1 down to Hamilton and then picked up route 39 to route 4.  This area is very rural and isolated.  You would literally need to drive several kilometers to get to you closest neighbor.  A trip for a loaf of bread should not be taken lightly.

As you begin to go across the southern edge of Tongariro National Park, Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films) reveals her snow/glacier covered head.  Her sister, Mt. Tongariro, will be remembered for a volcanic eruption last year.  Clouds of steam continue to spew from her top.

We continued on down to Wellington and spent the night in anticipation of crossing the Cook Strait to the South Island the next day.

Back in New Zealand

We arrived back in New Zealand on November 5th.  It was a bit of an experience dealing with US Airways regarding our extra bag.  Although I had spent nearly an hour on the phone with Air New Zealand and US Air and been guaranteed we had it all sorted out and knew the extra charge, they wanted to re-litigate the entire situation at the check-in counter.  They know they have you over a barrel, what are you going to do throw your extra bag in the trash?  The flying public really is being  horribly treated and abused by the airline industry.  That all being said, the flights were remarkably uneventful and all the baggage arrived promptly and without damage.

As most of you know, we had left Beech Mountain after the snows of Sandy and a resultant power outage that lasted more than a day, ending just hours before we were to leave for the airport in Charlotte. 

Although some of the sights were absolutely spectacular...

arriving back in New Zealand with all of the spring flowers and trees in full bloom, was a welcome visual change.  If you look closely in the center of the pictures below, you can see one of the two red/yellow/green parrots that have decided to adopt our bottle brush tree at least for the spring.

 

Before leaving, many folks asked us to explain the process for living and relocating to New Zealand.  For those of us over 55, living in New Zealand on a permanent basis can be a simple process if you have a lot of money to invest as the government here wishes; think $2.5M to $10M.  If that is not the course you wish to take, you can buy a business and prove to the immigration folks that it is good for the country.  Lastly, if you have relatives who have been permanent residents/citizens here for at least 3 years, they can sponsor you.  Short of this, you can live here as we do on a part-time basis.  We are here 6 months a year, which means we must be out of the country for at least an equivalent amount of time.  Unlike the US, if you overstay your visa, they will come find you and deport you.  There is no clamoring for amnesty for illegals here.  These requirements can all be found at the Immigration New Zealand website,  http://www.immigration.govt.nz/.

We find the country very easy to live in.  No language barriers, friendly people, additive free food, sound economy, and a stable democracy.  It is much like living in the US 40 years ago.  Oh, one more thing, everyone pays taxes here.  If you earn a dollar, you pay something in taxes.  The more you make, the higher the rate you pay.  There is no 47% who don't pay taxes here, everybody has skin in the game.  Very different to what we have come to in the US.

Bec and Ken have played golf a couple times since we got back.  Both courses were over on the northwest side near the Tasman Sea.  I am looking forward to getting back in the swing of things this coming week.  I had spent several days locating and selecting a car.  This took some time and kept me from the links for awhile.  Good quality used cars are plentiful here.  They are used Japanese imports, which come in great shape and with low kilometers.  Ours is a Toyota Camry with about 85000 km or 50000 miles and priced at $9800 NZD or about $8000 USD.

We are going to do the traditional Thanksgiving meal this year.  You might wonder why I bring that up, but when a 12 lb turkey cost $80 NZD, it's not something you do lightly.  We have a small grocery here called Martha's Backyard, which imports US items, at premium prices.  We were actually able to find some Petridge Farms stuffing there.  Cost be damned!

Well that's about it for this post.  I'll get the editor to review and make any necessary changes and then she will post it.

Cheers!