New Zealand Part 2: Doubtful Sound and Drive to Milford (Feb 7-9)

Today we woke up early, excited to start our sea kayaking trip to Doubtful Sound. At 6:15 Lindsay and I hopped on the minibus with our chipper guide Jeremy and headed out of Te Anu. After picking up a couple of other folks (there were 8 of us total), we drove to Lake Manapouri and boarded a ferry to cross the lake. It was a bit overcast and the weather report called for rain, so on the other side of the lake we all geared up in our wetsuits and rain jackets. From there we traveled by van over the mountain to get to Doubtful Sound, the largest fiord/fjord in Fiordland NZ. On the way we stopped to take pictures and were fortunate to see a tree filled with alpine parrots known as Keas. By the time we had hauled the kayaks down to the water, the clouds had parted and the sun was shining. The water was like glass.

Over the next few hours we had a great time paddling around exploring the area. We had some great people on our trip, including our guide Jeremy's mother and aunt. We stopped for a lunch of PB & J on a secluded beach. I shared my left over smoked salmon with the others, which was quite a hit. After lunch the wind picked up and we busted out a couple sails to rig onto the kayaks. Yes, sails on kayaks! We brought two kayaks together, and tied some fabric to the paddles. By lifting the paddles in the air to function as masts, we started sailing down the fiord. Although it was fun, I almost staged a mutiny since the "captain" of our little boat caused us to lose the race against the others. As the sun sunk behind the 1100m cliffs, we pulled into camp for the night. That is when the horror began.

Many people know of the beauty of Fiordland in New Zealand. We have all seen idyllic pictures of Milford Sound with its majestic cliffs, tranquil aquamarine waters and dense, lush forests. What most people don't know is that living among these natural wonders is the world's most awful, intolerable insect, the sand fly (AKA the black fly). While paddling away from shore we encountered the occasional annoying fly, but as we pulled into our campsite, all hell broke loose. As Karl Sagan would say, billions and billions of these little bastards (all female by the way) descended on us looking for a little blood. Soon they were in our ears, eyes, noses and mouths. Every exposed area of skin was on the menu. Bug spray you say? I could hear their collective laughter as we applied the DEET. The Maori have a legend about these flying nightmares. Apparently the landscape was so beautiful that the Maori would just stand and look at it forever, so some goddess created the sand fly to keep them moving.

We awkwardly transported the kayaks from the water's edge to camp and set up our tents as quickly as possible. Once that was done we ran down to the water, took a quick, icy dip and changed for the evening. Then as soon as possible we made our way to the central bug shelter in the middle of camp where we would have dinner and a brief respite from the hoards buzzing outside. We had a nice freeze dried meal of chicken tikka masala and chatted it up with the others.

The next morning we were up at 6:30 and back on the water by 8. Again the fiord was like glass, and as we made our way to the middle of the sound, the dull hum of the sand flies died off. Thirty minutes later we saw a small spray of mist off in the distance. Soon we were following the resident pod of bottle nosed dolphins around the sound. It was quite a thrill, and there was even a calf playing around in the water. After a few more hours of paddling on another beautiful day, we got back to land, packed up the kayaks and made our way back to Te Anu.

As Lindsay was preparing to shower back at the holiday park where we were staying, I looked at her and thought she had contracted chicken pox. The number of sand fly bites were unfathomable. Once we cleaned up we had a drink (Roaring Megs/Dogpoint Sauvignon Blanc) and then dinner at the Redcliff restaurant in Te Anu. We had a bucket of mussels and clams, followed by a braised pork dish with sauerkraut and a barley risotto. It was wonderful, and we even ran into Jeremy, his mom Vivian, and his aunt Chris there. The highlight of the evening was when we found out that Gandolf, Frodo and a few others from Lord of the Rings ate there back during the filming.

Another highlight was when we overhead two German tourists at the table next to us becoming confused when the waiter brought over the dish they had ordered, the Tarakihi (a fish, pronounced tear-a-key), which they had accidentally thought was turkey. The evening ended with a cold and moderately tipsy Lindsay jogging down the street trying to get warm on our way back to the holiday park.

The next day was a work day for Lindsay, so I took the car and drove to Milford sound. I made a quick stop at Miles Pies for a killer bacon egg and cheese pie and medium flat white. I took my time during the 2 hour drive to the sound, stopping to take pictures and do a little hiking. At the sound, the weather was nice so I had a coffee and took some photos. On my way back I visited a few waterfalls, one of which I fell into. I also did a 2 hour hike up the beginning of the Routeburn Track, and stopped at the Mirror Lakes where I think they filled the swamp scene of Lord of the Rings. That evening Lindsay and I grilled sausages and onions at the holiday park's BBQ and had a nice conversation with a couple of old miserly Brits, who were kind enough to give us some of their delicious chips. That evening we packed for the big 4 day hike on the Milford Track.

New Zealand Part 1: Mount Cook and Te Anau (Feb 4-6)

A side note: We've added the last few blogs about our adventures in January, which are all back-dated, so you'll have to scroll down to check them out....

Now for our New Zealand adventures:

Our journey started with an evening flight on Thursday February 4th to Brisbane and another glorious night in the Formule 1 ghetto motel. We decided to go to Brisbane the night before our crossing of the Tasman Sea so that we could catch the early flight to NZ, putting us in at 2:30 PM (the alternative was getting in at midnight). Friday morning we awoke early and took a cab to the airport. Soon we were flying and three hours later we could see the Southern Alps covered in snow in the distance. We landed in Christchurch and with minimal hassle passed customs and picked up our rental car (the "Supa Saloon"). We had only 17 days total to see this bifurcated country, so we had made the decision to limit ourselves to the South Island so as not to be too rushed.

We began our drive heading south. We drove through fields and farms and small towns en route to our final destination Glentaner, situated at the bast of Mt. Cook. As usual, the drive was both beautiful but also significantly longer than expected. The trip did speed up when I figured out how to turn the car's overdive on, thereby allowing us to drive the car at less than 6,000 RPMs. That was nice and saved us heaps of gas. As we turned off the highway onto the final stretch to Glentaner, we passed Lake Pukaki, a beautiful blue glacial lake. Off in the distance behind the lake we could see Mt. Cook, the tallest moutain in New Zealand, with not a cloud in site. It was quite a site to say the least. We pulled into the parking lot of the Glentaner lodge at 8:45, only to find out that reception was about to close at 9 and the lodge's kitchen had closed back at 7:30. I think it was Blanche DuBois who said something about strangers, and Pete the hotel guy set us up. He knew we had been driving for hours and that the nearest open restaurant was over 3 hours away, so he went back in the kitchen and produced a couple of cold salami/ham sandwiches. We had bought a bottle of Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc wine earlier that afternoon, so we sat outsite on the hotel patio and had a picnic as the sun set on Mt. Cook, turning it a subtle shade of pink. It was the perfect way to start off the trip. After dinner we retreated to our little cabin and hit the hay.

The next morning we packed up and drove to the national park at the base of Mt. Cook. We made brie and apple sandwiches for breakfast, and hit the trail. The next 1.5 hours led us up a large glacial valley to a lake at the terminal edge of Hooker Glacier. The sun was bright and the sky was cloudless. Turns out the whole area had been clouded in for the last two weeks and we were lucky enough to have a day of perfect weather. After arriving at the lake we sat down to rest and have a drink of water. Soon after we started chatting with a couple of ladies resting nearby. As it turned out, one of the ladies was a photographer for our local Townsville paper The Bulletin (a.k.a. "The Bully"). She was so excited at this coincedence that she insisted in taking our picture for the paper. We posed on the shore of Hooker lake while she took over 30 photos. We said our goodbyes and made our way back down the trail.

From there we continued south, stopping for a pie and quiche lunch in Twizel followed by a brief experience at a roadside salmon farm where I bought a hunk of smoked salmon. After passing through and stocking up in Queenstown, we made our way to the day's final destination, Te Anau, which would be our base of operations for the next week. We checked in to the Top-10 Holiday Park and ventured into town for a relaxing dinner at a small pizza joint, where we had their special apricot, chicken, and brie pizza. After a long day of driving, it felt good to get into bed and go to sleep. The next day would start early.

Here are the links to some of our New Zealand photos:

Set 1 (Landscape/artistic photos)

Set 2 (General photos)

Our Claim to Townsville Fame

Yes we are still alive...AND we have visited the "Chicken Counter"

Hello, hello, hello...

Well, it has been awhile since we last put anything on the blog. The last 6 weeks have been a whirlwind and it doesn't look like the next six will be any different. In the next few days we will be posting some backlogged blogs. For example today we will post our Post-New Year's Eve Swimming Adventure entry, which is dated January 7th. Tomorrow or the next day we will post our Training for New Zealand and Alligator Falls entries (both dated in January). Soon after that we plan to put out some notes and pictures of our long weekend in the Sunshine Coast at the end of January.  Once that is taken care of, we'll get around to telling you about our recent, restfull, slow paced vacation to the south island of New Zealand. I have included this picture to whet the palate.