4/9/10 (christchurch)

Christchurch - Sydney

For some reason Jon and I have a tendency to book really early flights, probably because they are usually the cheapest but it’s no fun getting up at 3am. We flew Jetstar, which is a budget airline and they are not kidding. We got the last two seats on that particular flight since we extended our trip. I’m not sure if that’s the reason for our seat assignment. We got the very last row of seats by the toilets and Jon barely fit into the seat. We usually reserve an aisle seat for him so that he can stretch his legs a bit but there were only the middle and window seats left. I felt so bad that he had to be crammed in there. Luckily, the flight was only 3 hours. And the airline didn’t even offer us water. However, we went through customs with no problems at all. 

Our friend’s sister picked us up at the airport and dropped us off in the city to explore. We walked around CBD and found a huge underground mall with a food court. We hadn’t booked a hotel yet so Jon found an Apple store for us to use the internet. Very smart of him. Jon was able to find a hotel near the city center and we were pretty tired so decided to check into our hotel. The only challenge was that our friend had our luggage and we waited till she got off work to retrieve it. In the meantime, we took a much needed nap and explored the neighborhood around our hotel. The area is called Darlinghurst and it reminded us of the mission district back home with trendy shops and restaurants. There were lots of things right outside our hotel including a yogurt shop next door so kudos to Jon for finding this hotel.   

We were invited to go out with our friend but we were still feeling a bit tired so we decided to stay in. Jon reminded me that I’m middle-aged and not as young as I used to be. Is 32 middle-aged??

4/8/10 (hanmer springs)

Hanmer Springs - Christchurch

A bit of a sad day as it was our last day in New Zealand. It was incredibly cold the prior night in the camper and we were looking forward to the upcoming night in a hotel. We got a late start on the day cleaning out the Hippie. We went for some lunch in Hanmer Springs. It was a nice little town built around their hot springs and reminded me of a ski resort village in the US. After a quick bite, we hit the road. We passed through a beautiful mountain range that I wanted to try and capture on video. New Zealand roads aren’t always the best and when we pulled over on the sloped highway we were instantly stuck in the middle of nowhere. The nice thing about New Zealand is that almost everyone is really friendly and helpful. Within five minutes we had a handful of people on the roadside to help us and we were on our way to Christchurch. 

We had booked a hotel at the library in Kaikoura and you never know what you are going to get. The hotel turned out to be pretty nice and met our three requirements: clean, good shower pressure, and free internet. After a little difficulty finding the hotel we unloaded our gear and headed out to return the hippie camper. It was pretty sad moment. We had grown quite fond of our little camper van. The only real damage was a pretty massive crack in the wind shield. Fortunately we had maxed out on the coverage. The return lady was really nice and helped us line up a ride to the Christchurch airport. When we got back to the hotel we started our laundry and pack up. I downloaded the latest episode of Lost and got caught up with the blog posts. We also tallied the amount of money spent in New Zealand. Ouch! We will put up a blog post on the damage shortly. 

New Zealand was an incredible experience and vastly exceeded my expectations. It was tough to pack up but we look forward to our adventures in Australia. We went to bed early to get ready for our 3am wake up call for the ride to the airport and our next adventure. 

4/7/10 (kaikoura)

Kiakoura - Hanmer Springs

Epic day. Annie powered through and drove all the way to Kiakoura after arriving for a short while in Christchurch the night before. Kiakoura is an amazing place surrounded by snow capped mountains and located on the Pacific ocean. Kiakoura’s harbor is a unique area because it has a very deep ocean trench that makes it ideal for aquatic sea life including the rare albatross bird, sperm whale, occasional orca, and of course the dusky dolphin. The dusky are quite acrobatic and are know for the summersault flips out of the water and are very playful. 

We stayed a very busy Kiwi family park and the morning was a little quieter. We woke up and had breakfast and were then off to the local library to book our hotel near the airport for our final night in New Zealand in Christchurch. When we finished I had to try out my new camera gear I purchased in Christchurch and captured some of the beautiful scenery with a few time lapses. We were then off to the dolphin encounter for our final big New Zealand activity, swimming with the dolphins. 

We arrived early and had a quick lunch. Once we checked in they sent us to a room to get some serious wetsuit equipment. The weather was getting pretty cold and this meant the water was going to be chilly. We were a little concerned about Annie because there were no life vests and we would be in really deep water. They did have small paddle boards and that made both of us feel better. They warned us that the water was very choppy and inquired if we were prone to seasickness. After a short safety video, we were off to the bus. We took a short ride to the harbor and they had two boats waiting for us. They weren’t kidding about the choppiness. Our boat was getting blasted with huge swells and I started to get a bit queazy. Fortunately we spotted dolphins quickly and they stopped the boat. The captain sounded the horn to announce the propeller was off and send swimmers in the water. I strapped on my snorkel mask and waddled with my flippers to the edge of the boat to jump in. I was a little hesitant because I knew the water was going to be really cold and after the initial shock I quickly forgot about the temperature. I dipped my head in and five dolphins darted by within three feet of me. We stayed with this pod for about ten minutes as the dolphins took an interest in us and weaved throughout our group of snorkelers. We were instructed not to touch but to make noises to get their interest. It was quite funny hearing everyone as the dolphins checked us out. After a bit, we couldn’t keep up with them and so it was back to the boat to find a new pod. 

We repeated this four times and each time you could literally reach out to touch the dolphins as they swam by. The final swim was my best. One particular dolphin took an interest in me as it swam by. We had eye contact for about fifteen seconds as I followed it around and it circled around for another look. I think we became friends on some level and it was a pretty amazing experience I will long remember. 

This was a really big moment for Annie after all her hard work learning to swim this past year and she did great. It was very hard for us to stay together while in the water. The waves were quite large and it made it very challenging but she handled it all very well. She got a chance to see many dolphins on her swims. I am very proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone and swimming in the deep water with these large animals in the wild. She had a really good experience but by the end of the day the sea water and rocky boat added up and she felt pretty sea sick. 

Once back on land, Annie started to feel better and we decided to make a run for Hamner springs. They are know for there hot springs and it was about an hour and a half away from Kaikoura. I am glad we made the trip because the landscape was quite striking as the sun set. We arrived in Hamner springs and found a camp site, quickly ate dinner, and were off to the hot springs. The place was packed and fortunately Annie somewhere in our travels had collected a coupon for a free upgrade to a private pool in the spa. We checked out the regular pools and then spent the rest of the evening in a private pool. It was really nice to get away from the crowd and have a little quite after our big day. When we finished, we were off to our final and very cold night in the the Hippie Camper.

4/6/10 (timaru)

Timaru-Christchurch-Kaikoura

Today was a drive day. We headed up to Christchurch and walked around the city center a bit. I was looking for a guidebook for Australia at second hand bookshops but found no luck. I was very fortunate to find one for New Zealand at a good deal and thought I would give it a try again. I’ve learned that I really like visiting the second hand bookshops. They are very quaint and I wonder about the people who have read the books. And it’s always good to support the locals.

Jon has been on a search for two items the last few weeks: Maori music and some camera gear. We happen to stumble across a used music store and he was able to find some Maori music, which he is hoping to use in our New Zealand video recap. The camera gear proved to be a little more difficult. There are a lot of camera shops around but none that really specializes in camera gear. We stopped in at a local camera shop and the shopkeeper was very helpful in locating a nearby store that had what Jon was looking for. Apparently there are very few around in the country and we were lucky that Christchurch had one. We stopped in the store and Jon was in his happy place. He did some camera talk with the guy and also got ND filters that will really help with his time-lapse videos.

We decided to make a run for Kaikoura so that we can spend the morning exploring before our dolphin swim at noon. The only concern was that we were only able to get one spot for swimming with the dolphins though the tour company assured us that it was very likely that both of us would get in. We kept our fingers crossed since it would be a bummer if only one of us would be able to do it.

We stopped at a Kiwi family campsite and had a great meal planned: bbq chicken, Moroccan couscous, green beans, and a bottle of Pinot Gris that we bought in Marlborough at one of the wineries we visited. However, when we entered the kitchen there were about 30 German teenagers. It was a madhouse in there and our hope of enjoying a quiet evening was going to be tough. We made the best of it and still enjoyed our meal.

4/5/10 (dunedin)

Dunedin-Moeraki-Oamaru-Timaru

Dunedin was a very interesting city with Scottish influence. There was a beautiful cathedral in the center of town. It reminded me a little of Nelson with all its shops though not as big as Auckland. It was Easter Monday and many of the shops were still closed so we didn’t have very good luck in our quest to explore. We stopped at the Cadbury chocolate factory but they weren’t offering tours since their plant was closed for the day. Nevertheless, we still got some chocolate while we were there. We also tried to check out a microbrewery that the girl at Invercargill Brewery recommended but it was also closed. Guess we’ll have to put that on the list of things to do next time we are here.

On our way out of town we stopped at Baldwin Street, which is the world’s steepest street. There were lines of cars parked at the bottom of the street and people walking up. I have to admit it was pretty steep though Jon believes that San Francisco has ones just as steep. After you walk up the hill you can get a certificate verifying you have done so. We decided people just have to take our word for it.

Today our goal was Timaru, which is about 180 km from Christchurch. Along the way we stopped at the Moreaki boulders. The boulders are almost perfectly spherical and at low tide you can see them along the beach. Some of the boulders were about 4’ tall. The outside looks like honeycomb shaped pieces glued together and it’s hollow inside. Really cool looking boulders. The guidebook says that the boulders were part of the cliff and as the cliff receded the boulders were exposed. 

After that we came to Oamaru where you can see the yellow-eyed penguins and the little blue penguins, which are often called fairy penguins. We decided to check out the yellow ones again to see if we can catch more of them. We spotted a few along the beach. There was a very enthusiastic man showing Jon where one of the penguins was resting and since we don’t really know how far is a meter it was hard for us to spot the penguin. The man got a little upset at us for not being able to see it. Jeez. But finally after some searching we were able to spot the little yellow fellow.

Oamaru is also the first or last place along the east coast depending on which way you are traveling that you are likely to see the fairy penguins. In Oamaru, there is a colony where you can almost be sure to see them. It meant that we would be staying in Oamaru till after dark but we figured it was worth it since you can only see the fairy penguins in New Zealand and certain parts of Australia. We waited until dusk and sat in a 350-seat stadium along the coast waiting for the little ones to come back in after a day of fishing. There were about 34 of them in rafts of 10-14. They are quite adorable and it was hilarious to see them scooting up the cliff toward their colony. When they are going down a hill it looks like they are about to tumble over. They measure to be 30 cm or as the host described it one ruler long and they weigh 1 kg. We are glad we stayed to see them. It was definitely worth it.

We were still determined to make our way to Timaru and made it safely there by 9pm. We checked ourselves into a camper site and settled in for the night. I was pretty tired so I was fast asleep while Jon was surfing the net. He came across a program for the Mac that he had been waiting for so he was very happy. The program will allow him to fix the bumps in his time-lapse videos. 

Like: Baldwin Street, Moreaki boulders, fairy penguins, program that will fix Jon’s time-lapse

Dislike: stores being closed

4/4/10 (catlins coast)

Catlins Coast-Nugget Point-Dunedin

It was a cloudy morning but the sun was making its way. The weather is definitely starting to get cooler as we enter the fall season and feels like it’s about 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. Luckily we have a warm comforter. It’s also nice that we changed our clocks for daylight savings so it’s not so dark in the morning.

We had set our eyes on Dunedin since we are now in the final days of our trip and still have to make our way past Christchurch to Kaikoura to swim with the dolphins. We also really wanted to see the bottlenose dolphins, yellow-eye penguins, and the little blue penguins. It’s hard to catch a glimpse of these creatures but we were feeling hopeful. First we made a quick stop along the Catlins Coast to check out the Cathedral Caves. We timed it quite well since you can only go one hour before or after low tide. Jon was more adventurous and scaled both caves while I stayed on the outskirt of the first cave. However it was me who ended up getting my shoes and pants wet. How did that happen?

Our next stop was Nugget Point to try to catch the yellow-eyed penguins. They are quite shy so there was a shed built along the mountain for people to view the penguins. We were in luck! We spotted two of them. As they moved inland they would wobble along but if they got to a step to high for them they would jump up. It was quite funny to watch them.

Along the way to Nugget Point there were huge pastures of sheep so Jon got this crazy idea of shooting from inside the car to use as B-roll for our New Zealand video. I was driving the car while he was in the camper bed with his camera outside the side window. We got some beautiful shots since the sun was setting so hopefully it will make it into the final cut. I forgot where I was for a moment and drove on the wrong side of the road for a good 400 meters. Luckily no cars were on the road. Yikes!

On a really cold day sometimes all you want to do is stay in and snuggle underneath the covers, which we decided to do for the night. We rented The Fastest Indian from the campsite. It is a great story and made me appreciate the real life motorcycle that we saw in Invercargill.

We didn’t catch the dolphins or the blue penguins so hopefully we’ll catch them along the east coast.

Like: yellow-eyed penguins, The Fastest Indian, B-roll of the pastures and sheep

4/3/10 (invercargill)

Invercargill-Bluff-Slope Point-McLean Falls

Rain, rain, go away. Come back when we are no longer in a camper. Jon says that I made the rain come since I was wishing it away. Maybe so and for my bad attitude towards the rain I also got bitten in the middle of the night right smack in the forehead. I don’t know how a bug got so lucky to sneak into our camper in the middle of the rain. And what stupid bug would bite someone in the forehead! But it happened and because of my sensitive skin it will likely swell up and be there for a good week or so.

After an attitude adjustment we decided to check out the town on Invercargill. We saw tuataras, a reptilian from the dinosaur age that is only found in New Zealand. They have a successful breeding program and the babies look quite cute.

The other thing Invercargill is known for is having the motorcycle that was in the movie, The Fastest Indian starring Anthony Hopkins. The motorcyclist wanted to make sure the motorcycle stayed in the southland so he sold it to a local hardware store where there is now a small museum inside the store.

Jon also happened to come across a microbrewery called Invercargill Brewery so we decided to do a tasting. Their most popular is the Pitch Black which is a very dark beer, hence the name, and goes well with oysters. The most interesting thing we have found about the breweries is that they sell beer in 1.25 or 2 liter bottles and of course in regular beer bottles too. It’s the coolest thing because t looks exactly like a coke bottle with a label of the beer. People often bring back the bottles for refill so it’s environmental friendly. Apparently this is only done in New Zealand so as the saying goes, when in New Zealand buy beer in liters. We bought a 1.25 liter of their Pitch Black.

We talked to the girl running the place and found out it was oysters season and Bluff, a town 15 minutes away was supposed to have really good oysters. So onward we went to Bluff. It’s a quiet town and since it was Easter weekend there wasn’t much going on never mind it was raining like cats and dogs. We went to the very end of the road in Bluff and found the neatest signpost, which has 5 posts pointing in different directions. It had Sydney, Tokyo and other cities on there and indicated how far it was from that point. Right above the signpost was a little inn that had oysters. We tried the Bluff oysters, which are twice the size of Hog Island oysters. Very meaty and full of flavor. Delicious. I love oysters and could’ve eaten a dozen more.

Then we headed towards the Catlins Coast. We stopped at Slope Point, which is the most southern point in New Zealand. To get there we had to drive down a very rugged road. I thought our dishes would break from all the bumps. Then we had to walk 10 minutes to the signpost which wasn’t fun in the rain and trying not to step on sheep poop along the way since we walked through a sheep farm. We snapped a quick photo of the sign and headed back to the car. There’s also a sign at Cape Reinga in the north island, which we were close to when we visited Pete and Danielle. So another thing to add to our list for next time since we now have visited Slope Point.

We ended the day at McLean Falls campsite with hopes that there will be sun the next day.

Like: Invercargaril Brewery, Bluff oysters, Slope Point

Dislike: Our clothes getting soaked and muddy 

4/2/10 (doubtful sound)

Doubtful Sound - Intercargil

Wakie, wakie. Those were the first words of the day for Annie and I the morning of our Doubtful Sound overnight cruise. The captain was summoning everyone to breakfast at 7am to allow the crew to clean the bunks for the next day’s guests. Neither of us had the best sleep and were pretty tired in the morning. We met some great friends the night before and for breakfast we sat next to two guys who worked for Kia Motors and were based out of South Korea. One was from Italy and the other from France. They were pretty interesting and we got into some fun discussions about cameras and Apple computer. Following breakfast the captain invited everyone outside for a moment of silence. The rain had stopped, we all filed out on the deck and the boat engines were turned off. We were surrounded by the huge Fiordlands and drifted along the sound in the middle of nowhere. It was incredibly relaxing. 

Once we got back to Manapouri, the rest of the day was up in the air. We had met two couples, Erin and Wei along with Georgi and Cathy, the prior night and they were raving about Milford Sound, which was roughly two hours north. We decided to head back to Te Anau. We stopped into the local iSite to get some information and ran into the same not so friendly clerk who sold us the glow worm cruise. He told us to not bother with Milford Sound. It would be very busy over the Easter weekend and we had just done Doubtful which was roughly the same. Annie and I decided to grab some lunch at the Sandfly Cafe to come up with a plan. 

We were both really tired and decided not to risk driving all the way to Milford without a campsite. Time was running short in New Zealand and we needed to start making our way to Christchurch. We decided to head toward the Catlands on the southeast side of the island and after a short drive we found a picnic site to take an epic nap before driving to Intercargil. 

Intercargil is one of the bigger cities in the southland. It felt a bit industrial and we arrived at 5pm after a very beautiful drive along the scenic highway filled with massive sheep pastures. This Friday happens to be a national holiday in New Zealand, Good Friday. Almost everything is closed. We drove around the downtown area and it was a bit of a ghost town. Since Friday was traditionally “date night,” I spotted the local theater and a nice little thai restaurant right next door. I suggested dinner and a movie which Annie happily obliged. She is quite the trooper because I wanted to indulge my youth and watch Clash of the Titans. It was pretty terrible but it felt good to watch a movie after a 6 week hiatus. 

We then moved on to our campsite for the night after a much needed night of sleep. 

Like: Doubtful Sound, Fiordlands

4/1/10 (te anau)

Te Anau - Doubtful Sound

I had a bit of a meltdown the prior night and I am sure Annie will have good fun telling the story for years to come. It had rained all night and it continued into the morning. This makes things pretty difficult in the camper van and it is almost impossible to keep things dry. We got a late start on the day due to the fact we purchased internet in the morning and we were busy checking email and updating the blog. We had to be in Manapouri at 12:10 for our overnight dinner cruise and we had some time to get prepped. After a nice muesli breakfast and some quick showers we were on our way. 

Manapouri is roughly 20 kilometers away from Te Anau and it was a pretty foggy and rainy ride. We arrived a bit early and parked in a nearby overnight lot for our cruise to Doubtful Sound. It is isn’t easy to get to the sound. We have to take an hour ferry ride across Lake Manapouri, which is quite scenic but on this day was covered with dense fog. After the ferry ride we arrive at a remote power station that leads to “the most expensive road in New Zealand.” It cost 1.1 million in the sixties and took two years to carve through dense forest. It goes from Lake Manapouri to Doubtful Sound and takes about 30 minutes. Once there we get on the boat that will take us around the sound. It was quite an adventure just getting there. 

When we arrived to the boat called the Fiordland Navigator we were welcomed by the crew in the saloon. There were about 50 people with us on the cruise. We were then shown to the quad-share where we would bunk with Trish and Trevor, a very nice Australian couple. It was back to the dorm days...a nice set of bunk beds on the lower level of the ship. After we were situated in the quad, I quickly grabbed the camera to take some video of our cruise. The ship had set sail and one advantage to all the rainfall was we were going to see some epic waterfalls in the sound. 

Doubtful Sound got it’s name because when Captain Cook sailed by and looked at the entrance and called it a doubtful harbor because he was concerned about having enough wind to exit the sound. The name stuck. The sound has a very intimate feel with the narrow body of water surrounded by massive mountain formations. The water is quite dark with the fresh water from the rainfalls meeting the ocean saltwater. It was incredibly beautiful. We cruised along for several hours exploring massive waterfalls and finally made it to the Tasman sea and saw a large colony of seals and an old crawfish (lobster) station. They then brought us back to the saloon for some warm soup and prepped us for the activities. We could go our on a motor boat to explore the shoreline or we could do some kayaking. We chose to kayak. 

This was Annie’s first time kayaking and with new found confidence from her Fiji snorkeling success she was excited. I knew it would be interesting. We grabbed bouncy jackets and a paddle and jumped in our kayaks off of the rear of the Navigator. We were off, well kind of. Annie initially perfected the art of the circle in her kayak and we quickly moved to the rear of the group. After some wonderful instruction and a bit of patience from a crew member she got the hang of it and we started to explore the sound’s shoreline. I tried taking photos that quickly proved difficult due to the rain. After about 45 minutes we headed back to the ship for the evening swim. The water was incredibly cold at 12 degrees Celsius and it was encouraged for anyone who wanted to test it out. Several people quickly jumped in and even quicker got back on the boat. I contemplated a bit but decided I would probably never get the chance again and that was what that trip was all about. I jumped in and my body instantly stung in shock. I was on the boat as fast as possible. Unfortunately, Annie wasn’t around with a camera and she arrived just as I was toweling off. Disappointed, she talked me into it again and I got my second helping of the cold Sound. After the evening swim and a warm shower, it was time for dinner.

The food was one of the most impressive things on this trip. They had a huge variety and it was really good. We sat next to some new friends, an English couple Georgy and Cathy as well as an Australian couple Erin and Wei. We spent the next few hours swapping stories and strategies about how to combat the sand flies and had a nice evening. Around 10 everyone started to file out of the saloon to head to bed. We stepped outside on the deck for a quick look and it was pitch black without a sound, a bit eerie. With everyone in bed Annie and I grabbed the laptop to catch the latest episode of Lost I had downloaded in the morning and then we were off to bed. 

It turned out that Trevor was a bit of a snorer and I have become a light sleeper on this trip so my night proved to be void of sleep but the day was pretty incredible day.

Likes: Doubtful Sound, the ride in, kayaking, swimming, and our new friends.

Dislikes: Quad-share and snoring.

3/31/10 (queenstown)

Queenstown - Te Anau

In the north island the rain seems to come and go within a few minutes but not in the south. As we were heading to Te Anau it started to rain and it didn’t stop. I don’t mind the rain and was glad it was raining since there are more waterfalls at Doubtful Sound when it rains. We were leaving for our overnight cruise the next day. But it sucks to be in a small camper when it rains. It’s difficult to get your shoes which is underneath our camper bed and also our bed gets wet each time we open the door. The upside is that we don’t get sandflies or mosquitos. Always tradeoffs in life, right?

We figured since it was still raining we would plan some indoor activities and you can’t get more indoors than a glowworm cave. We were supposed to check out a glowworm cave in Waitomo but it was a bit out of the way for us so we skipped it. Te Anau also had a cave so we decided to book the tour. But before the caving we heard about a 30-minute movie called Ata Whenua - Shadowland that a helicopter pilot had made about the fiordlands. It was supposed to be really well done and playing at the local theatre. We decided to check out the movie. The story goes that a local helicopter pilot for 20 some years decided that he wanted to document the fiordlands so that others can enjoy the beauty he sees everyday. He spent 10 years working with a film crew. When the film was finished there was no movie theater nearby to show it so he built a small theater in Te Anau. It was a cinematography movie so there was no commentary. Just images of the beauty of fiordlands with music especially composed for it. Can you imagine his deep appreciation for the fiordlands?! That’s dedication and love. 

Then we checked out the glowworms. Since our tour wasn’t till 7pm it had gotten pretty dark outside. We got on a boat which took us to the caves about 20 minutes away. It was as if we were in an episode of Lost where the Others were taking us to their island. Once we got to the caves it was a bit of a circus show since only 14 people could enter the cave at one time so we had to wait our turn. The caves were dimly light and there was a flood of water underneath it so it was quite damp inside. It was very different from the other cave we visited in Damarea. To see the glowworms we sat on a raft which a guide pushed around in the dark. The glowworms light up to attract other insects so the brighter the light the hungrier they are. Their lights look like mini LED lights. We were able to get very close to them. Jon even asked one of the people there if there are real glowworms in the cave or if they just installed lots of green LED lights. They assured us they were the real deal. Good to know! It was pretty cool to see them though I think the boat ride to the island in the dark enhanced the experience.

Like: Ata Whenua - Shadowland, LED glowworms