Week 12 - Another very full week

One of the waterfalls at Milford Sound

     Kathy and I continued on the Stray bus tour a total of 10 days.  On Monday March 26th, our final day in Queenstown,  we took a day trip out to Milford Sound, part of Fiordlands National Park.  I enjoyed Milford Sound so much with Terry, Kara and Alex that I wanted to do it again.  Snow had fallen up in the mountains and there had been lots of rain so we had a different perspective, but all beautiful.    

Glacier Lake with icebergs

Kathy & I on our hike up Mt. John

     On Tuesday we headed to Mt. Cook region.  Mt. Cook (11,000 ft.) was the mountain where Sir Edmund Hillary did many of his training climbs in preparation for Mt. Everest.  The road into this area weren't paved until 1990s.  The only people who live in this area are employees of Mt. Cook National Park.  They have an unemployment rate of 0%.  The hostel had a nice package deal that included lodging, tour of a glacier lake, museum and dinner.  We went on a boat on Tasman Glacier Terminal Lake.  The lake had many icebergs that had broken off the glacier.  Terry would have loved the tour because so much of it was about spectroscopy and light refraction.    

     On Wednesday we stopped for a night in Lake Tekapo, known for the best star gazing in all of South Island.  Kathy and I hiked to the top of Mt. John and had a day-time perspective of the observatory and the views.  At 9pm we went on a tour.  We were given very warm coats (ones that had been used in the Antartica), put on a bus and driven to the top of the mountain.  In order to avoid ambient light interfering with star gazing, the bus driver turned off the headlights and did the last mile up in total darkness.  I found that rather un-nerving, especially with the S-curves and no guard rails.  It was a beautiful night and I have never seen the stars so clearly.  We got to see the Southern Cross, Gemini, Scorpion, Mars, Saturn, Milky Way and more.  The little town has streetlights one meter high to cut down on ambient light.  I think they would prohibit all night traffic if they were allowed to do so. 

So many sheep!

     On Thursday we stayed at a hostel very close to a 20,000 acre sheep/cattle/deer ranch.  Some people in the group went white water rafting, some went bike riding but Kathy and I went on a nice walk and found a sunny spot to sit and read and watch the deer.  This ranch has 30,000 total animals.  It was mating season for the sheep and deer so things were very busy on the ranch.  The hostel room we had that night was very small - 10 x 12 for ten of us.  Triple bunks.  Not much room for our stuff but it worked.  In the morning we took off only to be stopped by a river of sheep that were crossing the road to change pastures.  The sheepdogs were barking and jumping, the farmer was trying to move the sheep, the bus wanted to get through and we had a plane to catch.    We made it to the airport on time and were back in Auckland by 1pm.

     Hannah flew in from Vancouver on the same day Kathy and I returned from our travels.  She had no troubles getting in and making her way to the free Stray tour of Auckland.  We had a nice dinner at home and then got to play bridge.  Hannah managed to stay awake until 9:30, despite her 14 hour flight. 
     On Saturday Kathy, Hannah and I took the ferry to Devonport, a quaint seaside village.  We climbed two dormant volcanoes, poked around the museum and shops and ate gelato.  In the evening Terry joined us for a lovely dinner at the Auckland Fish Market, topped off with more gelato.  So nice to have Hannah visiting for a while in New Zealand.

Week 11 - A Very Full Week

     This was the start of a week very full of sights, travels and new adventures.  My friend Kathy flew in from Columbus for a two week visit.  On Monday we boarded the Stray bus (a tour company whose goal is to give adventurous travellers access to amazing places around New Zealand) to do a free day tour around Auckland.  We got to walk out on the Auckland Harbor Bridge (scary in itself with the gusty conditions that day) to watch bungy jumping.  Also, drove around to see beautiful Bastien Hill (in the rain), go to Sky Tower and watch sky-jumping (in the rain) and visit a pub for lunch.  I was amazed to realize that almost all of the places we visited that day were places we have walked to over the past couple months.

Lake Matheson

     Tuesday Kathy and I flew to Christchurch to start our tour of the South Island.  We chose to use the Stray busses to do our travels even though most of the people on these trips were 20-30 year olds.  We knew we'd be the oldest ones but we liked the places they were going and their philosophy of travel.  We met so many nice people from many countries including Sweden, Holland, Switzerland, England, Wales, France, Germany, Japan, China, Austria, India and more.    Many of the folks were on work/holiday visas and were in New Zealand for 6 months - two years.  The work they did varied but many were involved with retail, service and agriculture.  With careful budgeting they were able to make enough money to fund their travels around the country.

     Our first night on the road was in Christchurch where we were able to see firsthand the earthquake damage as we tried to get to our hostel by walking through the center of the city.  We quickly found out that a large area has been closed off to all vehicular and foot traffic. We were saddened by extent of the devastation that still exists in the center of the city even one year after the first of the major earthquakes.
Wednesday morning we were up very early to work our way around the closed city center to pick up the bus to take us to the West Coast where we would catch up with the Stray bus.  We traveled over beautiful country of the Transalpine Mountains. 

Our little group on the icefields in the rain

     On Wednesday night we arrived in Franz Josef for two nights stay at the Rainforest Hostel.  The next day I went on a full-day glacier walk.  It was very tiring but I'm glad I did it.  We were given a warm coat, snow pants, warm hat, gloves and thick socks and heavy boots.  We started with a long walk through the rain forest, then over glacier rocks, then put on cramp-ons to go on the icefields.  We went high up the glacier and had to traverse narrow ledges, crevasses, and icy conditions.  We had rain about half of the day.  Part of the tour included a pass to the thermal pools in town - a most delightful treat after a cold, rainy, tiring day on the icefields.

The Top of the Parasailing Hill

On Friday we arrived in Queenstown, the Adventure Capital of the World.  Queenstown YHA was our favorite hostel.  A private room for Kathy and me looking out over the lake with snow-capped mountains.  It was mostly cold and rainy but we did some hikes, checked out the museums and shops and rode the jet boats through Shotover Canyon.  One of the highlights for us was going paragliding.  A peaceful gentle ride - not scary in the least - what a great way to enjoy the beautiful countryside below us.  Paragliding was one of those adventures that we can say "We're glad we did it and we'd do it again" as opposed to other adventures that we'd say "We're glad we did it but we don't need to do it again."
PS:  Terry stayed back in Auckland to work.  He traveled to Dunedin on South Island (an area settled by the Scots) to give a talk at the university.  He also managed to fit in a scenic train trip over the Taieri Gorge, a tour of Cadbury Factory and a tour of the Speights Brewery.