Tuesday, February 28, 2006

We walked miles all around this town and stumbled upon a Lantern Festival in town for the weekend. There were lanterns everywhere - floating in the river, hung from trees and in the park. The sheep and dog pictured here had motion activated sound so they'd Baaa and bark as you walked by. Clever. One of many fountains was this one that looked like a dandelion head. Beautiful floating fish all around.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:25 AM
      (3) comments

We topped off our last night in NZ with what they call punting down the Avon River. Kind of like a gondola, but without the singing. The boat is very flat on the bottom as the river is only about a foot deep. There were very tall aromatic eucalyptus trees hanging over the river. Very romantic!!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:22 AM
      (1) comments

Christchurch looks a little like England - cathedrals and artwork abound, along with a lovely river winding through town and Botanical Gardens with huge trees planted in the mid-1800's. We stopped at the Rose Garden (roses in February!) Some guy took our photo, and asked if we wanted him to count down. We said yes, and he started at 100...hence our laughing pose. Nice walk!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:20 AM
      (2) comments

We hiked up about 10km to this ice cave at the bottom of the glacier (I'm standing in it, if you look closely). It was drippy and cool, which felt pretty good after our uphill alpine hike. The only tree on this hike was a pygmy pine, which is about 3 inches high! We were hiking with some professional bird watchers, and they spotted a very rare rock wren...which they were ecstatic about. At least we've got a good start if we ever decide to start bird watching.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:16 AM
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Here we are the the Wilderness Lodge at Arthur's Pass, which was our best stay in NZ. It's a working sheep and cattle ranch, with owners that are passionate and knowledgeable about the environment. We watched Skip the border collie muster the sheep...amazingly the sheep stayed in a tight little circle long after we and the dog left them in the field. We then picked one lucky sheep to shear with old fashioned scissors. This is fine merino wool...SO soft to the touch! We even pulled the wool over the eyes of the sheep – it can be done!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:13 AM
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Horse Trek through the Alps. When it's a clear day here, the scenery is like a 360 degree postcard...you'd swear Julie Andrews is going to pop out and start singing that the hills are alive with the Sound of Music!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:09 AM
      (1) comments

We are in the Southern Alps and the glaciers and mountains are breathtaking. The Franz Josef and Fox glaciers are only about 200 meters above sea level, in the midst of a lush rainforest. While most glaciers worldwide have been retreating, these are advancing...about 30 meters of snow lands on the top each year. When it rains, it buckets down. We took a flight over, then strapped on crampons and stomped around the glaciers - it was pretty warm up there! Mt. Cook is the highest peak, named after Captain Cook.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:05 AM
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   Tuesday, February 21, 2006

The hike was through streams and the rainforest, with lovely moss and mushrooms along a glacial whitewater river. No bears to worry about here. We got our feet plenty wet and muddy, despite the fact we took our shoes off at least half a dozen times!

Note - some guy named this area Siberia...an unfortunate moniker for a beautiful place. He also named a couple of mountain peaks Dreadful and Awful. Hrmph!!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 5:17 PM
      (4) comments

This small town has but one claim to fame...the SIBERIAN EXPERIENCE! They helicopter you out in the woods, and you find your way back about 4 1/2 hours later to the jet boat pick up point. The helicopter ride was amazing - we were in a huge glacial bowl surrounded by literally hundreds of big and small waterfalls, complete with a double rainbow
:) We looked straight down on a 2,000 ft. waterfall.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 5:14 PM
      (2) comments

A three hour hike near Milford Sound. They said to be ready for all kinds of weather here, so we carted up coats, sweaters and raingear. Turned out to be a beautiful, sunny and humid climb past a churning low waterfall and uphill through the rainforest to this lovely alpine lake. The skinny dip at the top was worth it!!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 5:12 PM
      (1) comments

Our 80 ft. boat sailed very close to a huge (2,000 ft) waterfall, that sprayed so much it cleared the decks of all onlookers. Mike was the last man standing, happy but soaked when we'd finally passed the waterfall.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 5:10 PM
      (1) comments

Not a sound (apparently misnamed), this is actually a fjord. (We learned that sounds are created by rivers, fjords by glaciers). We flew there in on a Cessna (top photo includes the wing), and took an overnight cruise out on a sailboat. Spectacular 5,000 foot mountains that rise straight out of the Tasman Sea, with waterfalls too numerous to count. Before dinner, we took a little kayak trip to a BIG waterfall (look for the wee yellow kayaks at the bottom of the photo)

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 5:02 PM
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Activities abound here. You can heli or bungy anything...they'll even shoot you out of a cannon! We chose a ride on an America's Cup sailboat...tame by comparison, but a unique experience nonetheless. Captain Joe put us to work, and taught us a thing or two about sailing. The wind was fine...what a kick in the pants!! We were not only excellent "rail meat", but we helped raise and lower the sails as well with those big winches.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 4:55 PM
      (2) comments

   Monday, February 20, 2006

Snow capped mountains! Lord of the Rings this, Lord of the Rings that. There are tour busses full of LOTR fans. We took a combination jet boat/funyak trip. What is a Funyak, you ask? It's an inflatable canoe. The canoeing was tame, except for when the jet boats rode by and sprayed us, but the scenery was absolutely stunning.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 12:09 AM
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We're now at the South Island. This is the Antarctic Museum - did you know that almost all the Antarctic Expeditions left from NZ? The proximity is suitable, so Christchurch has become quite the hub. Another fact: 90% of the world's fresh water is in Antarctica. Don't worry...we're not planning an expedition anytime soon! They do have an Arctic Simulator complete with -18C wind-chill that takes you through an Artic storm in about 5 minutes. Jeez Louise!! Note that this photo is NOT from the Artic Storm. During the actual storm, we ducked inside a tent!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 12:05 AM
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   Friday, February 17, 2006

One last kiss and the last of the daylight before we headed into the cave. Isn't this just the best photo?

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 12:11 PM
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We loved the epic Lost World all day caving adventure. It started with a 100 meter rapell down into the canyon (that's a 30 story building, people!) We had lunch at the bottom of the cave, then strapped on the headlamps and took off for hours of cave exploring, including rock climbing, spider-walking, inching along narrow rock ledges, wading and swimming through underground rivers. There were lots of underground waterfalls, and even an opportunity for Mike to dive from a 8 meter rock ledge into a pool. We saw eels and cave spiders (I didn't look, but Mike saw them). The best part was kicking back with our headlamps off for 20 minutes and taking in the glow worms. After our eyes adjusted to the dim light they gave off, we could actually see each other in a completely dark cave! It was an amazing day.

Labels: Highlights, New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 11:56 AM
      (5) comments

   Thursday, February 16, 2006

We've seen a lot of thermal pools and geysers here, but this one in Oreki Koreka rivals Yosemite for color. The cave to the right is a wishing cave...you put your left hand in the warm water and make a wish. The natural chemicals in the water also clean jewelry...handy, huh? The natives here live very close to a lot of these thermals. They use the hot water for cooking and bathing. We had corn on the cob cooked in boiling thermal water. Despite the fact that the water smelled like sulphur, the corn smelled and tasted just fine.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 9:57 PM
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   Wednesday, February 15, 2006

We decided to fit in a little 3 hour quad adventure - we both managed to get stuck thoroughly in some really thick mud. The tracks they had us on were really cool - we went through narrow jungle passages, downhill slip & slop, etc. Note that Mike is really trying on the left to keep his ONLY shoes dry! Mike and the guide spent so much time digging the quads out of this lovely chocolate pudding that they only charged us for two hours instead of three. And now for the laundry....

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 9:48 PM
      (2) comments

Tongariro Crossing is one of the best hikes in NZ, and a new addition to our all time top 10 hikes. A successful hike here is very weather dependent...some people hike it and see almost nothing due to frequent cloud cover. We waited 3 days for just the right day. The hike (or tramp, as they call it here) is 10 miles total, including a long, arduous uphill climb on all fours over a lava boulder field. The bottom photo shows a thankfully flat valley, surrounded by mist from warm thermals. At the top, we were rewarded with the spectacular view of the famous Emerald Pools. We saw 3 volcanoes total as we hiked across the saddle. A truly spectacular and exhausting day!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 9:42 PM
      (2) comments

Huka Falls is a big honker, supplying 15% of the power for New Zealand. It can fill an Olympic sized swimming pool in 3 SECONDS. We took another jet boat…this one did 360 degree turns – which we did with our hands in the air. Woo hoo!! These jet boats are addictive!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 9:38 PM
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Posted by Mike:
With a blistering speed of 3mph, Sue biked across tree roots, muddy uphills and lush valleys. At least we had a great view of this thermal swimming hole. We were so slow getting back, we missed our 6pm return time to the bike rental shop, and ended up taking the bikes back to the hotel. Quite an effort (I used my belt to hold the trunk lid shut) to get them in the car.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 9:34 PM
      (0) comments

   Saturday, February 11, 2006

Not to get mushy, but the honeymoon continues to be not only a load of fun, but very romantic!!

By the way, behind us should be Mt. Ruapaho (Mt. Doom for you Lord of the Rings fans). We have yet to see it, due to the clouds. But those clouds made for a really amazing sunset later.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:20 PM
      (3) comments

How cool is this? This is a huge native Maori carving and we got to swim right next to it. The water is so WARM, even though it was 6pm and a little cloudy.

Afterwards we were offered towels and a spot of tea. At $30NZ each (about $25US) this was our best bargain so far for a 2 1/2 hour sail.

Labels: Highlights, New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:15 PM
      (4) comments

We took a sunset sail on this 36 ft sailboat. We had great winds, were under full sail. The boat was tipped so far to the side that we had our legs in the water by hanging over the side of the boat. The water is fresh, very clear and about 75 degrees. This is such a beautiful spot!!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:12 PM
      (1) comments

Lake Taupo is a HUGE lake (bigger than Tahoe, we think). They said the entire city of Singapore could fit in this lake. We rented a hobi-cat for a couple of hours and had a great spin around part of the lake. At least we didn't sink it this time, like we did in Cabo!!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 2:07 PM
      (4) comments

Greetings from the Polynesian Spa in Rotorua! They have lovely pools here that have thermally heated healing waters at four different temperatures. We also did a mud bath, but we'll spare you the photos of our mud encrusted feet :) This was a good rainy day activity - it's not so bad when it's raining if you're in a hot pool!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 1:59 PM
      (0) comments

   Thursday, February 09, 2006

Say G'day to Thelma, the pig at our B&B. Thelma eats ALL table scraps. (Including pork products, but don't tell Thelma!)

This morning she smelled like maple syrup and this afternoon she smelled like celery. She loves to be scratched behind the ears.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 11:44 AM
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   Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Ever heard of "sledging"? It's kind of like a plastic half sled for the water. You hold on like the dickens and paddle with flippers while you go over the rapids. That's me on the left doing some surfing - which lasted about 2 seconds until the water kicked me out. Cool! I actually had to do this without my contact lenses (too much water in the face) and am so blind without them that the guide had to lead me down the river. For example, she'd say...everyone swim over to that tree, and all I could see was green blobs. Anyway - it was a kick in the pants!!

Labels: Highlights, New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 9:33 PM
      (0) comments

They say this is the largest raftable waterfall in the world, dropping 21 feet. The name of the river, Kaituna, means "fish food" which is what you'll be if you don't make it. We did a radical raft maneuver called GET DOWN, which means that you sit down on the floor of the raft between the pontoons, hold onto the edge of the raft and your paddle with one hand, hold onto a handhold on the floor of the raft with the other hand and duck your head. We had the raft completely at a 90 degree straight down position. One out of five rafts that try this waterfall flip over. They said a native Maori prayer prior to our going over the falls about courage and safe water.

Sue and I are in the second row. We submerged the entire raft at the bottom of the waterfall.

       posted by Mike @ 9:10 PM
      (4) comments

Of the 250 people at this dinner, Mike was selected as the CHIEF, which meant that he had to lead his people around the camp and do a dance at the end. He's supposed to be looking menacing here... not such a good job!!

The Chief relished his role all evening, though, as you can imagine. Ahem. He even led us in song... America the Beautiful, with New Zealand substituted for America, as in "New Zealand, New Zealand God shed His grace on thee"

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 12:41 PM
      (2) comments

A traditional Maori (native tribe) warrior "greets" us for a "hangi" dinner. Although this may look comical, these guys are fierce and scary. They make gutteral sounds and whip their spears around. Tatoos on the face are a sign of great acheivement. It was enough to make me jump!

The dinner is cooked underground with hot stones, kind of like luau cooking. Great food, really good native demonstrations and dancing.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 11:50 AM
      (0) comments

   Tuesday, February 07, 2006

As we were coming in, I couldn't resist climbing up the mast, and Mike wasn't far behind. The mast sways a LOT more than the ship does, let me tell ya! We had safety harnesses on, but you had to unclip and reclip the carribeaners as you went up. We even managed a kiss a the top!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 8:47 PM
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OK, maybe this is the next best thing! We climbed out on what they call the bow sprit which juts out about 15 feet from the bow and straddled the sail...we climbed on those side ropes to get to the front. Below us, there were dolphins on both sides - apparently they can surf next to the bow with little effort, so they really like hanging out there. It was quite a show!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 8:39 PM
      (0) comments

Ahoy, mates! This is the Good Ship R Tucker Thompson. She's a tall ship, and 85 feet long. Those of you in the Pacific NW may have seen her at the Tall Ships Festival last summer, when she sailed all the way from NZ to Tacoma for the celebration. We had a lovely sail, complete with "cream tea" which is tea and scones that are smothered in slightly sweetened whipped cream, and a fabulous lunch with BBQ chicken and salad with fresh feta cheese. The food is wonderful in NZ!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 8:32 PM
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This is one of the top 10 beaches in the world. Aside from the fact that it has surfing, boogie boarding and swimming in beautiful water...at low tide you can dig down about 2 feet in certain places and hit thermal hot water bubbling up. That water mixes with the ocean water that you sluice in buckets to make a warm spa. As you can see, we can dig the hot water spa, but can't avoid the onslaught of the tide as it comes back in and breaks down our barrier walls. Feels pretty cold after you've been heated up for an hour!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 10:38 AM
      (3) comments

How about hiking through an abandoned mining tunnel? How about doing it in the DARK with no flashlight?? We forgot ours...it was pitch black with water running down the sides of the shaft. Pretty creepy for about 1/4 mile until it finally came into daylight again!!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 10:34 AM
      (3) comments

   Wednesday, February 01, 2006

We got skunked on scuba diving at Poor Knights Island, because the seas were too rough. Too bad - it's one of the top 5 dive sites in the world. Our captain said it was only the 2nd time in 10 years that he's started off and returned to shore due to the weather. As they say here... bugger!!

Instead we hiked around the lovely Waitangi Falls, where locals were swinging from tree ropes into pools at the top of the falls. If it were sunny, and we weren't so groggy from preventative Dramamine, we would have joined them. As we got down below the tree canopy, the sound of the bugs in the trees was deafening. We never saw one bug, but we could hear them everywhere. Strange.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 7:07 PM
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Unbelievably vast coastline! We were warned not to drive our car on this beach, as they are routinely swallowed up by soft sand and fast currents.

We stopped off at the Te Paki Giant Sand Dunes, and were hoping to toboggan down the dunes, but it was too wet to get any speed at all. Mike said they're the biggest sand dunes he's ever seen, by far.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 7:03 PM
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This is the northernmost tip of New Zealand, where the lighthouse is, and where the Tasman Sea (from the Indian Ocean) and the Pacific Ocean meet. As you can see, the weather is not the best!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 6:59 PM
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A small but pretty waterfall - we got pretty close with the kayak!

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 6:57 PM
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Apparently the Beatles were in the Bay of Islands for a vacation and wrote a song about this very vessel...

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 6:55 PM
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Yes, the water drains clockwise. There is no tipping in New Zealand. All of the electrical outlets each have their own switch within the outlet. Web sites are referred to as dub dub dub etc. The paper money looks really cool - it has clear spots in it. We always are served milk with our tea. Bell pepper is called capsicum on menus. There are way more cattle than sheep, and sometimes they graze together. The other night our waitress asked us if we’d been specialed(!?) She then told us what the specials were for dinner.

Labels: New Zealand

       posted by Sue @ 6:53 PM
      (1) comments