Day 10- Kaikoura to Hanmer Springs

We said goodbye to East Coast and the Pacific ocean and headed inland to Hanmer Springs. The road was pretty, but lots of mountain curves and single lane bridges. Some of the campsites we have stayed at have been busy, but no where close to being sold out. However, Hamner Springs only had 2 sites left and we got one of them. It’s Easter Weekend, so everyone flocks here or to the coast for their 4-day holiday. It’s a good thing we got in early. THE thing to do here is to do nothing but relax in the natural thermal pools. Matt found it hard to believe that all we had to do today was sit in a huge thermal spring surrounded by mountains.

The pools varied in temperature from 36c to 41c. The hottest we went to was 39c. Anything hotter than that was “People Soup.” While soaking we chatted up a couple from Toranto, Canada. They were married 5 years ago and their wedding photographer accidentally erased all their wedding photos from the memory card and did not have the images backed up. They have no wedding photos and it took 8 months to get their money refunded. What a horror story! We soaked in the thermal baths for 2 hours and then walked back to the camper for an exciting early evening date doing laundry. Might go back late tonight. There are no photos of today’s activities because neither of us wanted to bring camera gear inside and keep an eye on it. You can check out the thermal springs here: www.hanmersprings.co.nz

Day 9 – Kaikoura – Dolphins

This day by far exceeded all my expectations. We came to Kaikoura to swim with Wild Dusky Dolphins off the coast. It is the largest population of these species of dolphins in the world. The only available time slot left open was this morning at 5:30am!!! Eegads, it’s still dark outside at that time. Matt elected not to swim and opted to “watch” from the boat and take photographs. Once I got my wetsuit on, we had a quick educational video and then it was off to the boat.

On the way out to find the pods, sunrise began. It was spectacular. Then, all of a sudden, the boat was surrounded by dolphins and I slid off the back of the boat into the water. It was Freakin’ Cold!!!! Everyone took in big gasps of air since the cold water almost knocks the wind out of you. I have to say that swimming with dolphins at sunrise in New Zealand is among my Top 5 coolest things I’ve done. The dolphins were about 5ft long and sooooo curious. All they wanted to do was play and chase us around in circles. Then they would jump out of the water and splash us. They would get so close that a few times I thought they were going to bonk into my mask. They also like to be sung to in high-pitched sounds, so our “singing and chirping” was the entertainment for both the dolphins and those left on boat. At times, I’d have 2 or 3 playing with me and then a pod of 20-40 would join the fun. I was literally surrounded by them. The wetsuits were really buoyant so it took a lot of effort to dive down with them. But when I could get down, it really caught their attention and 4-5 would float back up to the surface with me. We swam with them for just under an hour. I was exhausted afterwards. Playing with them was like non-stop water aerobics. They were so beautiful and agile.

Once back on board, the boat came onto a huge pod of dolphins that were estimated to be at 3,000!!! They were leaping in front of the boat, riding the wake and skimming along the surface. The Dusky dolphin is considered to be one of the best acrobats and they lived up to their reputation. They really were having a fun time too. Here’s an interesting dolphin fact:

Dolphins are very promiscuous and the female is known to have 5 different partners within 20 minutes. They are also the only animal, other than man, that has sex for pleasure only. Some of the dolphins had nasty scars. The scars aren’t from predators, but from other dolphins who get too fisky.

Day 9 continued – Kaikoura – Sheep & Wine

After a quick catnap, we headed over to sheep farm for a lesson in sheep sheering. The sheep are shorn every 6 months. The millions of sheep that have been grazing all over the country only represent 10% of the sheep. The other 90% are sold for meat. The farmer we met can sheer up to 500 sheep per day. The record sheer for the country is one lamb every 30 seconds for 8 hours straight! Farmers get approximately $19 per sheep per year for the wool. That’s why they have so many and they make up the income difference in meat sales.

It’s logical that after watching sheep get shorn, a glass of wine might be in order. Next stop, the Kaikoura Winery. There were 6 wines to sample, all whites and on Pinot. Non of the whites were barreled in oak, so I did enjoy them. I took a glass out to the patio overlooking the coast and Matt opted for Organic Lemonade. The wine was a keeper, the lemonade was not.

We also stopped at a Crayfish stand (lobster). A whole lobster could be purchased for $50 NZ ($35 US). That’s a darn good price for 2 people. The lobster guy suggested we split but when Matt told him that he was allergic to shell fish, the following exchanged happened”

Fisherman: bummer mate. Are you asthmatic?

Matt: No, I’m not Hispanic

Suzanne: (LOL)

Fisherman: I said ASSSSthmatic, like unable to breathe, since most asthmatics are allergic to shell fish.

Matt: Oh, I thought you asked if I was Hispanic.

The Kiwi accent is confusing at times.

Day 8 – Christchurch to Kaikoura

Love, Love, Love Kaikoura. It’s a little beach town, locals only, best fish ‘n chips ever!!! Ii is also surrounded by a huge mountain range which is covered in snow during the winter. We had a relaxed day and walked through town and along the coast. In the late afternoon we headed up the waterfront trail to a high bluff which had some incredible coastal views. We were hoping for another great sunset. Matt headed down the trail hoping for the oh so perfect shot at water level. I stayed up top with the rolling hills and hay wheels. The sky gave us a little bit of pink, but it was not all that spectacular. Right now it’s Crayfish season. I learned that their crayfish are actually ginormous lobsters.

Day 7 – Timaru to Christchurch

The day started off right on schedule. We left Timaru, made a quick stop at the Pac ‘N Save for groceries and were on the road to Christchurch. The Top 10 Holiday park in Christchurch is so busy during summer that it has a drive through check-in for campervans. Once in our spot, we left the camper and elected to take the bus into town. Unfortunately, after waiting for over 20 minutes for a bus that was suppose to come every 5-10 minutes, I was getting discouraged. But then I saw shiny red city bus approach our stop. I waved at the bus driver to stop. It was the #14 bus that was required to stop, but it didn’t!!! I just got a nod from the driver and he kept going.

Discouraged, we just decided to take the camper into city center. We started up the camper, but the transmission light was blinking non-stop. That can’t be good. No matter what Matt tried, the light would not stop blinking it’s warning. After a quick call to the rental company, we were advised to go to the Christchurch Airport and check with the Britz mechanic, so off we went. Of course, when the mechanic got in, the transmission light stopped blinking. The mechanic took the camper out for a spin and drove it like a Nascar Race Driver. I had to hang onto the table in the back. He said he needed to “push-it” to see if everything was ok. The light never came back on and our camper was given a clean bill of health.

City Center was nothing much but a city with a cathedral in the middle of it and lots of souvenir shops. We lasted about 2 hours walking the streets and then headed for the hills. We took a gondola ride to the top Mt. Cavendash. For being the second biggest attraction in the area, I expected a bit more. Maybe it’s just that after riding gondolas in Switzerland and China, this one was just a tad anti-climatic. It did have a nice view of the area. I liked being above the city better than in the city.

My favorite New Zealand phrase for the day in in regards to some cheese we bought. The sticker says, “Ripe for Tonight!”

Day 6 – Mt Cook to Timaru

We started off the morning by doing a 2 hour hike that took us to Blue Lakes, Tasman Glacier View & Tasman Lake. The 3 Blue Lakes were actually green due to the algae problem. Tasman Glacier View was looked like a lunar landscape. The rock debris is only a few meters thick and below that is 200 meters of Glacier. The terminal face of the glacier is at the north end of the lake and at the south end are the icebergs and glacier chunks. This lake is only 30 years old and formed when a massive chunk of the glacier gave way damning up the river. The park attributes global warming as the culprit.

Every mountain was shrouded in cloud cover, but as we left the park towards Timaru, the sun broke through for just a brief moment and Mt. Cook gave us one last show. It was beautiful. On the way to Timaru, we stopped at Lake Takapu. The water Azule due to the glacier minerals left behind that reflect the sunlight. After a 3 hour drive, we made it to Timaru. A family of ducks welcomed us to the campsite. Now, it’s off to go exploring and see what we can find in this port city.

Day 5 - Mt. Cook

Rain, rain, rain…wind, sprinkles, more driving rain. We sat in the campervan reading most of the morning at the trail head waiting for a break in the weather. We decided after lunch that whatever type of weather there was, we were hitting the trail. The rain did not stop, so out we went in our rain gear and set out to Hooker Glacier terminal lake along the Hooker Valley Track. The trail was for the most part an easy climb, with a few bumpy patches that required some rock jumping. The 2 swing bridges were pretty cool, their own little engineering marvel. The track follows the Hooker River which had some raging white water. The water itself is also milky white due to the mineral deposits from the glacier. It was a long, wet hike, but the reward was worth it. It’s not very often the you see a glacier at one end of the lake and icebergs out in the middle of it.

In the grocery store, we stumbled across “Pull Apart Bacon Cheese Bread.” Matt is one of the ultimate bacon connoisseurs, so we had to try it for dinner. It did pull apart, however, it was neither cheesy nor bacony.

Day 4 con't – Mt. Cook Sunset

After I had completed my blog entry for the day, we headed back through the forest to our campervan. The wind gusts were outrageous and the clouds were literally swirling. Then everything was bathed in this incredible yellow light. I could not believe the colors of the sky. It was truly one of the most magnificent sunsets I have ever seen. It may have even topped the one we saw on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Anyway, these are the photos. They have not been enhanced. This is what the sky REALLY looked like within the 10 minute time span while I was photographing it. It was surreal.

And one last thing, Matt would like me to tell everyone that we were walking through the forest with our laptops because we were going to the main office to use their wireless internet. We needed to take care of some wedding biz stuff and don’t just randomly walk through the forest carrying laptops.

Day 4 – Oamaru to Mt. Cook

We headed out early this morning, destined for Mt. Cook National Park. There was one minor detour before actually hitting the road…a visit to the Edmonton Cheese Factory. This cheese factory was not creepy like the other one. The cast of Scrubs flies out the owner once a year to bring them all cheese. There are signed autographs from the cast all over the place. Their cheese was outstanding! The best part was we had CHEESEcake for Breakfast!!!! Homemade berry cheesecake! We left with a bag full of cheese too.

The drive to Mt. Cook went through lots of farmland and gradually entered the mountains. We used up almost all of our gas driving into a headwind up mountains for 3-1/2 hours. The first view of Mt. Cook through the windshield was pretty stunning. It’s hard to believe how HUGE it is. The Tasman glacier is next to it and when we got into the small village at the base of the mountain, you could actually see the blue ice of the glacier.

The weather was getting sketchy and the winds were high, so we did a short 1-hour hike that was described as “a delightful stroll with a slight incline.” Maybe they rank their trails different here, but the slight incline was tough enough to definitely burn off the cheesecake calories from breakfast.

We got settled into the campsite and then walked through the forest with laptops in hand to get online. How odd is that? Anyway, the winds are really blowing right now and I’m afraid sleeping in the camper tonight will feel like I’m in a boat on the high seas.

Day 3 – Dunedin to Oamaru

The morning started off early towards Tunnel Beach just outside of Dunedin. The hiking trek to get there goes through sheep pastures and then takes a steep drop down to the beach below. With every step, Matt kept looking back up saying, “Ya know, we have to climb back up this…It’s really steep.” I was thinking about the climb back up too, but I wanted to check out the beach more. The last part of the trek takes you through a man-made tunnel and pops you out into a secluded beach with giant boulders.

There were massive storm clouds that were threatening to dump, so back up the trail we went. Good grief the trail was steep!!!!! The incline was much greater than I had allowed myself to notice coming down. It was the kind of trail where you just bend over parallel to the ground, put your head down, don’t look up, hands on your backpack straps and just trudge…one foot in front of the other. I’m sure I burned off enough calories for at least 2 pringles.

We made a quick stop at a Cheese Farm. It was kinda creepy. I don’t think the cheese lady had seen visitors in quite sometime. I was ready to turn around and run out, but then I set off a motion detector and sounded the “guest bell” so we were trapped. We left the creepy cheese farm with a small wedge of both regular brie and smoked brie. It was pretty darn tasty.

Next stop, the Moeraki Boulders. These are large spherical boulders that sit on a stunning stretch of beach. They say they look like giant marbles scattered around. However, Matt has his doubts. The origins of where these rocks came from and why they happen to be in just this one spot are not in our Lonely Planet book. Matt seems to think they are “fake” and that the restaurant on the cliff above put them there as a fake attraction. He’s nuts!

After arriving in Oamaru and getting settled at our new campsite, we headed out to Bushy Beach to watch the Yellow-Eyed Penguins come ashore from their day of hunting. It happens around 6:30pm and you are allowed to view them from the bluffs above. There’s a jolly-old Scottsman who’s the docent and points out the little black and white dots that waddle onto the beach.

The day ended with watching the little Blue Penguins return to shore from a days hunting out at sea. The Oamaru colony is one of the largest in New Zealand. 46 little guys came waddling out of the surf once it got dark. They came in on “rafts” meaning when a group meet offshore and come in together. No photos are allowed since they are shy, but mainly because their eyes are so sensitive to light that if a tourist accidentally fired their flash, it could actually damage the penguins’ eyesight. They are the smallest of all the penguin species. During the summer months up to 300 can come jumping out of the surf and hopping up onto land. They were really noisy too. Lots of calls signally each other when it was safe to move as a pack. Everyone watching had to stay very quiet and still. We sat in bleachers and it was like watching a really slow baseball game, but it was worth it. There were another 20 spilling onto the sand by the time we left at 9pm for a total of 66 penguins for the night.

www.penguins.co.nz

Sheep, Sheep and More Sheep

By popular demand....here are more sheep.

Day 2 - Otago Penninsula

You know it’s going to be a good day when it starts off seeing Penguins in love. We spent today exploring the Otaga Penninsula. It is home to yellow-eyed penguins, blue penguins, albatross and a gazzilion other birds. My brother, Mark, would have been in heaven! We chose to visit the penguins through Penguin Place (www.penguinplace.co.nz). It is a privately owned working farm, but the owners decided to help conserve the penguin colonies that made the beach their home. The yellow-eyed penguins are the only solitary species. They mate for life and have a territory. To view them, we hid in camouflaged hideouts and quietly made out way through their grounds via underground tunnels that were also camouflaged. We watched Dave and Donna groom each other. They have been together for 7 years. Steve was off under a tree alone, still molting and unable to go into the water. Another juvenile just did not feel the need to venture into the ocean yet. My favorite though were the Gay Couple, Bob and Barry. They have been together for years. They of course can’t make eggs, but are excellent foster parents and adopt eggs from other nests. How cool is that!

The blue penguins were off hunting in the ocean so all their little homes were empty. Once out of the penguins territory, we hiked up the ocean bluffs. We learned so much. I absolutely loved it!

The rest of the day, we spent trekking/tramping across the grasslands and coastal bluffs. Just stunning. Of course the weather got freaky on us. One minute bright blue sky, the next a massive hail storm and then blue sky again. Along the trek, some ranchers were herding the sheep for shearing and “cleaning their bums.” The Australian Shepherds that were working the flock were so much fun to watch. I did keep hearing “Bar-Ram-Mu…Bar-Ram-Mu, to yourself, to your flock be true!” in my head. It’s the secret sheep code from the movie “Babe.” The rancher was very kind to let us watch. After that we just hiked around some more, found some breath-taking views and stepped in a lot of sticky sheep poop.

DAY 1

After 2 movies, 2 ambien and 2 flights, we arrived in Queentstown, NZ. It’s just as beautiful as I remembered. Of course, no trip of ours would be normal if everything went as planned. Britz, our campervan rental company, noticed our camper’s registration stickers had expired, so that delayed our departure by 1-1/2 hours. I guess it’s better they send someone into town to get the new registration stickers than for us to get pulled over by the Cops. Don’t you think they might have noticed that earlier, prior to our arrival? I learned a new word from watching our camper training dvd… ”Your camper comes equipped with pots, pans, utensils and egg flippers.” Egg flippers are spatulas.

The drive to Dunedin was gorgeous. Matt did a great job driving on the other side of the road and steering the camper against some gusty winds. This time the camper is an automatic so it’s much easier to drive. I might even take a turn at the wheel. However, it doesn’t seem to have the same get-up-and-go as the manual one had. On a few of the mountain inclines, we found ourselves leaning forward willing the little campervan to make it to the top.