Colleen has a way of putting things that gets right to the heart of the matter. We had been in New Zealand for three or four days, just long enough to realize how much we enjoyed it, when one night after a gorgeous lamb dinner, we were sipping some wine and Colleen said “you know, it’s kind of like we’ve travelled around the world just to find New Zealand”. She was right, with 8 months on the road, and 17 countries under our belt, I can honestly say New Zealand was by far our favourite place. Why? Well…
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| Scenic drives |
Driving: We rented a car for the three weeks we were in New Zealand, a 12 year old Nissan Pulsar wagon that served us well (the battery died once, but other than that no complaints). After being herded around on public transportation for the past 8 months, it was nice to be in control again. In our usual race to pack everything in, we ended up driving something like 3500 km in our three week visit. Sounds like a lot, but it’s hard to complain when each ride is more beautiful than the next. On any given day our drive would take us past snowcapped mountains, deep blue lakes, barren alpine mountain passes, vineyards, rugged coastline and lush green fields full of sheep (sheep outnumber people 40 to 1 in New Zealand so there was never a shortage). Add to that the fact that our visit coincided with the peak of the autumn foliage colours, and you can see why driving a few hundred kilometers a day was a highlight, not a chore. New Zealand was by far the most beautiful country we’ve been to in all our travels.
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| Cooking in |
Hostels: There is a wide range of accommodation catering to independent travellers in New Zealand. We ended up choosing to stay at hostels because they tended to be reasonably priced, centrally located, and usually had some unique and interesting features (one was a converted jail, another was a converted monastery, and one was right on the ocean with amazing views of the bay). The rooms were simple and clean, and there was always a common room for eating, hanging out, and meeting other travellers. Best of all though, every hostel we stayed at had a fully equipped kitchen. After 8 months of eating whatever was available from dodgy restaurants and road side stalls, it is hard to describe just how happy we were to be able to have control over what we ate again. Fresh vegetables, tuna sandwiches and even something as simple as toast were like long lost delicacies. We also indulged in New Zealand specialties like lamb and mussels. It was great, in the three weeks we were in New Zealand, we only ate in a restaurant twice.
People: Kiwis are friendly people. Not over the top loud and boisterous, just pleasant, polite and helpful. After months on the road in developing countries where language and culture were often a barrier to communication, it was nice to be able to ask for directions or just to have a pleasant chat with someone on the street.
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| McKinnon pass |
Milford Track: The Milford Track is a four day hike through New Zealand’s southern Fiordland. It is touted as one of the world’s greatest walks, and has been on my travel wish list for years. The walk (or tramp as the kiwis call it) starts off in incredibly green, moss covered rainforest laced with crystal clear streams and lakes, climbs above treeline to the awesome panorama of barren snowcapped peaks at McKinnon Pass, then back down again to end up in the fiords of Milford sound. The hiking was strenuous, the lodges we stayed at were cold and uncomfortable, and we had to carry and cook our own food for four days, which was a bit of a nuisance, but it was all worth it. Colleen and I love hiking, and this was a truly great one. The “world’s greatest walk” moniker was actually appropriate and not just a marketing superlative.
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| Climbing the ice wall |
Fox Glacier: Colleen has always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride, so when we saw one offered over the beautiful lakes and mountains around Queenstown, we decided it would be a nice treat after the Milford Track. What does this have to do with a glacier? Wind. Apparently hot air balloons have a very low threshold for wind, and the morning of our ride it was so windy that the balloon ride was cancelled. Disappointment or hidden opportunity – hidden opportunity of course. Colleen lost no time organizing our next adventure, and within half an hour of finding out our hot air balloon ride was cancelled we were in the car headed north for an ice climbing adventure on Fox Glacier. Just walking on a glacier was amazing, but climbing a 40 metre ice cliff with crampons, ropes, harnesses and ice axes was absolutely incredible. We even got a chance to explore, then climb out of an ice cave.
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| Dolphins at the boat |
Dolphin Encounter: Imaging sliding off the back of a boat into the freezing cold waters of the pacific with nothing but a wetsuit, a mask and a snorkel. Now imagine being surrounded by 200 curious dolphins darting out of the murky waters to check you out. It was just as awesome as it sounds. Some would have a look and move on, but others would stay longer. Hard to say if they were curious, playful, or had some other motive, but they were definitely interested and would swim circles around you while looking you over. Making eye contact with a dolphin in the wild is a pretty special experience. Actually, Colleen had the closest encounter of the day when a dolphin followed her for several minutes as she swam back to the boat, Again, hard to say what the dolphin’s motive was, but it’s fun to think it was some combination of curiosity and playfulness. We’ve had some incredible wildlife encounters on our trip, and this one ranks up there with the best.
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| Autumn vines |
Marlborough: Marlborough is New Zealand’s premier wine producing region and is famous the world over for producing fine Sauvignon Blanc wines. Colleen and I love visiting wine regions (we love wine too). We’ve been to wine regions in California (Napa and Sonoma), Italy (Tuscany), and New York (Finger Lakes), we even incorporated Quebec’s modest wine region in our wedding. There is something about the beauty of neat rows of vines spreading out over rolling hills bounded by forests or farmland that can’t help but draw you in. Marlborough of course was no exception and we spent a couple of wonderful days visiting vineyards and sampling wines. We even managed to fine the winery that produced the wine we served at our wedding (Hunters).
Christchurch: The events in Japan overshadowed the earthquake in Christchurch, but the city is in no way finished dealing with that disaster. While the suburbs seemed to suffer relatively minor damage, the downtown district was still cordoned off, and from what we could see looked like it had been hit by a bomb with whole city streets reduced to rubble.
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| Rough seas |
Cook Straight: New Zealand is essentially two big islands, and the only way to get from one to the other is via a ferry service across Cook Straight. We had to take this ferry midway through our trip in order to get from the South Island to the North Island, and we had no reason to think this would be anything other than routine. The first sign of trouble was the crew checking all the life boats, then came the announcement to make sure not to flush the seasickness bags down the toilets followed by the captain’s warning to brace ourselves for 10 metre swells and 40 knot winds. I wasn’t brought up in a nautical tradition so swells and wind speeds meant nothing to me (I’m not even sure what a knot is), plus our journey started in the calm sunny waters of Queen Charlotte sound, so there was no hint of the rough seas to come. Come they did though. First the wind picked up, then the boat started swaying with the ever bigger waves until you couldn’t walk the deck in a straight line, and 4 out of 5 passengers were turning different shades of green and puking their guts out. I’ve never been in seas that rough, so it was a pretty incredible experience in its own right, but, just before they closed the outdoor observation decks, Colleen and spotted a group of four dolphins diving out of the face of the towering waves, and watched a massive albatross glide effortlessly over their frothing peaks. The quiet grace of these animals stood in stark contrast to the raging seas around us and is a sight I will never forget.
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| Mount Doom |
Tongariro Alpine Crossing: This was a day hike we did in the North Island. What made it special was that the hike’s path was over an active volcano. The hike itself was beautiful with some stunning views of the surrounding countryside, but the volcano stole the show. Walking through a volcanic crater is a pretty special experience with a surreal and very unique landscape (the volcano was used as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings Movie). You could actually see wisps of gas coming up from the rock in certain areas and even smell whiffs of sulfur as you walked. To add to the beauty, it had snowed recently, so the views were even more spectacular.
Sandflies: Unfortunately paradise does not exist on this earth, and our utopia was bound to have its flaw – the sandfly. Sandflies infest parts of the island, and while their bites seem innocuous at first, they last for days and are so itchy, there are times when an amputation seemed preferable to the continued suffering
We loved New Zealand. Beautiful landscape, friendly people, lots of things to do and easy travelling, what’s not to like. There is no question in my mind that we will go back for another visit, and I can’t wait for that day.
Michael
Starbucks in Target
Coral Ridge Mall
Fort Lauderdale
Florida
