Where: New Zealand
When: July 2008
Highlights: Ice Climbing, The Shire, Gorgeous Mountains
Ok so this trip is actually the middle of our honeymoon, we started in Sydney, Australia then flew to Auckland. But… it wasn’t that easy. We get to the Sydney airport and find out that our flight has been delayed. Husband has JAM packed our itinerary, leaving little to no room for silliness such as bad weather and plane malfunctions. Soooo this was a problem. We needed to get to Auckland to pick-up our transportation/housing for the next couple days and head to our first destination. So husband figures out that this could be a serious problem, and he is trying to use the free internet stand, and we all can ascertain how well THAT worked. I have taken many a flight, and had my share of canceled/delayed flights. So I go to the counter and inform them that we have all these plans and that if we can’t make it in time, then we are really in trouble. I have previously had airlines put me on different carrier flights to get me where I needed to go in cases such as these. And I worked my magic, and we got on a different flight. And we made it to Auckland!
We had rented a type of small motor home to drive around the north island. We were also going to stay in it at camp sites. The motor homes are very different over there, and look more like commercial vans than motor homes. We were excited and loaded out stuff into our new home on wheels. Did I mention that they drive on the left side of the road AND the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, AND this vehicle was a standard transmission? It makes everything more exciting, right? It was actually fine, husband is good at adapting and always does a good job driving on either side of the road.
We had seen a grocery store on our way to the rental place from the airport, and made a stop for some food and of course, booze. We loaded up on a few snacks, stuff to make a few meals, and box wine. We like to keep it classy. We then headed on our way southish. This is the part where us newly weds would learn something new about each other. I am a terrible navigator. I suck at reading maps. It's still a problem and a source of contention. Soooo husband THOUGHT we were going to Waitomo (way down south) the first night, so he followed signs and was headed that way. I could not figure out the map, as usual, but to my credit, I had NEVER looked at a NZ map before and it was all new. I had no clue where we were going or how to get there. Husband had made a detailed spreadsheet on excel of where we were going/staying/doing each day so I pulled that out and it turns out that we were not supposed to go to Waitomo. That was a surprise to us, but it was good because we actually were going to Rotorua, because it was closer. We drove at night for 3 hrs and eventually found our way to Rotorua. Along the way, I was laughing at the road signs that attempted to scare you into driving safely. They were staggered and went something like this….
The Quick Are The Dead; The Faster You Go, The Bigger The Mess; Tired drivers die; and I remember something about paralyzing your passenger. I need to look up fatality stats in NZ and see if the scare tactic works. I have a feeling that it doesn’t.
ROTORUA
So we made it to our campground, Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park, we swung open the doors and ..WHAM! Our nostrils burned with the foul smell something similar to what you would expect from Labyrinth’s Bog of Eternal Stench. Sulphur. Awesome. Now would be a good time to explain that I don’t usually plan our trips, its all Husband. In fact, I didn’t plan much of my wedding. I usually just agree to a general plan, and show up on time. I help with some research and what not, but the majority of our trips are all put together by Husband. I did not know anything about Rotorua, but it turns out that it has natural hot springs and volcanic terrain. One person we met who was on vacation (“holiday” as they call it), said that whenever you go to Rotorua, you always bring it back in your suitcase (your clothes will reek).
Anyway.. it was late but they left us directions and we went to our parking spot and plugged into some electricity and went to bed! The next morning we headed out to Wai-O-Tapu, a “Thermal Wonderland”. I should mention that the native people of NZ are Maori, similar to native Americans, and Wai-O-Tapu means “sacred waters”. Wai-O-Tapu was really neat, smelly, but neat. We pull up and you can see a hill with areas of steam rising up. There are volcanic areas where the earth is all kinds of different colors, a bubbling mud pool (yes, exactly like the Bog of Eternal Stench), and a geyser, Lady Knox. We took a leisurely stroll around the park, saw the geyser, and returned to our home on wheels for some eats. We had wine and cheese, and then felt sleepy, so we took a nap. In our camper, there in the parking lot. I loved it. You wanna take a nap, and you just DO IT.
We eventually headed back to our campground, and I wanted to partake in their hot springs hot tubs. Husband didn’t want to go, so I went by myself. Did I mention that we were there in July? Yea, ok so July is winter in the southern hemisphere, so its cold. Not too cold, but coldish. There were actually 3 hot springs tubs, with varying temperatures. I was actually kinda bummed because they were not as hot as I had hoped. That evening we had a “Maori Hangi” dinner and performance with tamaki tours. Its similar to the Hawaiian luaus, so I have heard… I have not made it to Hawaii yet! We were picked up by bus and transported to our Hangi location. It was a large area, with a mock village set up. They did a Maori fight demonstration, it was raining and chilly so I was eager to get inside, but it was good. We then walked around the “village”. After that, we went inside and the females put on a dance show for us and talked to us a bit about the culture and then we all went into the large hall for food. It was alright, nothing spectacular. After the meal, we headed to our respective buses to head back. We were tired, but the bus drivers were earning their tips and were entertaining us, and she even did about 10 laps singing a silly song in a roundabout. Which was fun and scary, considering we were in a big yellow schoolbus!
Next stop: Waitomo.
Next stop: Waitomo.
WAITOMO
We drove east to Waitomo the next day. Husband was really looking forward to Waitomo because he looooves canyoning, and that was next on the agenda. We headed to our tour destination, The Legandary Black Water Rafting Co and prepared for an adventure. We were outfitted with wet suits, helmets and booties and shuffled onto a small bus. Our first stop was a hike to a small hill where we would practice rappelling. Remember how I said it was winter, yea well there was no snow, but it was freaking cold, and rainy, so that part was not fun. We did our required 2 practice rappels, and hiked to the entrance of the cave. I was slightly alarmed to find out that we would be rappelling down a small hole for 200 feet. That’s kind of a lot. Anyhoo down we went. They took pictures of us going down. I look like a ninja.
Probably because I am one. So it was my turn, and I discovered that it took, what seemed like, forever to get down. About half way I tried to talk to the person below me, and I got no response. Nobody could hear me. Awesome. We then hiked on questionable metal planks and go to a zip line… that led down a completely black tunnel. Ooooooooookay. I was not the first to go. The first person went whooshing down, and all of a sudden you hear a loud WHAM. Uhhh and then the next one is sent down and again… WHAM. And the next. WHAM, WHAM, WHAM. What the heck is going on down there? Are we crashing into something. This, uhm, made me a little uneasy. It was my turn, and I jumped off with great trepidation into the dark, zipping along, and it ended normally, but I heard a loud WHAM. Turns out that one of the guides was slamming their bag on the wall to freak us out. Hahaha good one, buddy!
Probably because I am one. So it was my turn, and I discovered that it took, what seemed like, forever to get down. About half way I tried to talk to the person below me, and I got no response. Nobody could hear me. Awesome. We then hiked on questionable metal planks and go to a zip line… that led down a completely black tunnel. Ooooooooookay. I was not the first to go. The first person went whooshing down, and all of a sudden you hear a loud WHAM. Uhhh and then the next one is sent down and again… WHAM. And the next. WHAM, WHAM, WHAM. What the heck is going on down there? Are we crashing into something. This, uhm, made me a little uneasy. It was my turn, and I jumped off with great trepidation into the dark, zipping along, and it ended normally, but I heard a loud WHAM. Turns out that one of the guides was slamming their bag on the wall to freak us out. Hahaha good one, buddy!
I was wrong about the cute & little part. We paid our entrance fee and first thing was the Kiwi exhibit, they were huge. Well not huge like emu huge, but it stood about a foot and a half tall. Creepy.
Next Stop: Matamata = The Shire movie set from The Lord of the Rings!
Husband was particularly excited about this as well… I mean come on… we all know I didn’t plan a stop to see the shire!
It was a GORGEOUS day! Blue skies, warmish temperatures, just perfect! We arrived in Matamata at the meeting place before our tour. We grabbed a quick lunch, and I ordered a “Lord of the Rings Beer”, that apparently was made for the crew.
It was the worst beer I have had in my entire life, and basically had no alcohol. Blech! Our tour started off with, of course, a sheep sheering demonstration, those Kiwis looove their sheep! We then were bussed to the location of the shire. We got to walk around and take pictures. A lot of the little houses were still intact, but a few were falling down. Apparently movie sets are RARELY kept, and it was a bummer that this one may fall apart eventually. We took a picture at Bilbo Baggins Diggs, and I embarrassingly took a picture of Husband in front of the party tree pretending to put the ring on (runs off in shame). It was really a cool experience. They picked a great location. NZ is beautiful with rolling green hills, and this location was very secluded. Our LOR tour was not over yet, we did one more portion on the south island.
Bilbo's Diggs!
WAIHI BEACH
That night we drove up to Waihi beach, to spend our last night before flying to the south island of NZ. The next morning husband got up super early to get pics of the sunset, but if you know me, I don’t get up early for anything except to catch a plane or go fishing.
So I stayed in bed. We headed to Auckland to catch our plane, and this was where my lack of navigational skills caused a bit of a rumble in our camper van. I really had no idea where we were supposed to go, and I was giving Husband directions, to the best of my knowledge, which has been established as completely sucking. I was looking at the wrong airport symbol and we got super lost, and went too far. Husband was flipping out because he thought we were going to miss our flight and we were lost, but it turned out that our flight was later than he thought and we made it in time. Phew!
So I stayed in bed. We headed to Auckland to catch our plane, and this was where my lack of navigational skills caused a bit of a rumble in our camper van. I really had no idea where we were supposed to go, and I was giving Husband directions, to the best of my knowledge, which has been established as completely sucking. I was looking at the wrong airport symbol and we got super lost, and went too far. Husband was flipping out because he thought we were going to miss our flight and we were lost, but it turned out that our flight was later than he thought and we made it in time. Phew!
FOX GLACIER
We had a quick lay-over in Christchurch, and we took a teeny tiny little plane to Fox Glacier. This was the most gorgeous flight I have ever taken. The mountains were just breathtaking. It is also the smallest airport I have ever been to. We had a rental car waiting, and we hopped in it. I was grumpy and had a headache, probably cause I was hungry, and when I am hungry I turn evil. We decided to stop for dinner at a small town, and then head to our hotel, Fox Glacier Sunset Motel. The drive there was interesting, lots of twisty-turney roads, and one-lane bridges. This was all very interesting because we, again, were driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car. It was kinda funny because Husband kept hitting the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal. The next morning we had to get up early for our ice climbing adventure! I was actually not that excited about it because it was much colder on the south island. I was worried I would freeze my arse off all day. We got up early, and headed to our guide company, Alpine Guides Fox Glacier. We bought stuff for lunch, and they outfitted us with everything we needed from a backpack to a thermos with hot tea, and all our ice climbing gear. Our guides were 2 young girls about my age… Sweeeeet!
We were driven to the glacier, tossed on our packs, and started hiking.
We had to hike quite a bit in the woods on a trail to get to a spot where we could get on the glacier. I had never seen a glacier before, and it was stunning. The glacier has “paths” for less adventurous people to take a lame-o glacier walk, and we walked along that for awhile until our guides found a good practice spot for us. We had never been ice climbing before, so we needed to learn the basics before attempting to conquer a wall. They gave us a brief demo, and gave us the go ahead to start practicing. Husband went first, and did well. I was a bit nervous because ice climbing basically consists of 2 steps – 1. kick your feet hard into the ice so your crampon sticks and 2. Hit your ice picks into the ice so it will hold you.
We practiced a bit and the girls decided we were ready to try our first wall, so we set out to find it. The cool thing about ice climbing is that the terrain is always changing. This glacier in particular is actually growing a meter or 2 a day, so one day a hard wall will be easy and vice versa. They found a relatively easy crevasse for us to try, and they set up our gear. They raced to the top and hammered in the equipment, and bam we were ready to go.
Husband went first, and did awesome! I went next and got tired half way up and quit. I was bummed I didn’t make it to the top my first try, but it just motivated me more to try harder next time. We walked a bit more around the glacier and found another wall and this time I made it all the way up… Score!! We then stopped for a bit of a warm up with our hot tea and lunches. The problem with having lunch on a glacier is that there is nowhere to sit that is not cold and wet.
So we sat for just a bit on our bags and moved on to the next wall. This one was gorgeous!
We were pretty tuckered out, and this was our last wall. We both made it to the top. We hiked a bit more on the glacier, and we stumbled upon a rare glacier moulin. We were able to go into it and climb out the other end. Pretty cool.
It had been a long day, and we were ready to head back. Kicking your feet into ice all day REALLY hurts your toes! And the boots they give us are sturdy, similar to downhill skiing boots, and they are NOT fun to walk in. I loosened them on the hike back, but I was in agony after a full day in them.
We made plans to meet our guides at a local pub for some warm mulled wine after a quick clean-up. We had a great time drinking with them, and the mulled wine was delish! We slept like logs that night. We actually really liked our hotel, comfy beds, warm room, awesome bathtub. I guess anything is nice compared to living in a camper, right? Next up: Drive to Queenstown for Husbands birthday dinner!
We had to hike quite a bit in the woods on a trail to get to a spot where we could get on the glacier. I had never seen a glacier before, and it was stunning. The glacier has “paths” for less adventurous people to take a lame-o glacier walk, and we walked along that for awhile until our guides found a good practice spot for us. We had never been ice climbing before, so we needed to learn the basics before attempting to conquer a wall. They gave us a brief demo, and gave us the go ahead to start practicing. Husband went first, and did well. I was a bit nervous because ice climbing basically consists of 2 steps – 1. kick your feet hard into the ice so your crampon sticks and 2. Hit your ice picks into the ice so it will hold you.
We practiced a bit and the girls decided we were ready to try our first wall, so we set out to find it. The cool thing about ice climbing is that the terrain is always changing. This glacier in particular is actually growing a meter or 2 a day, so one day a hard wall will be easy and vice versa. They found a relatively easy crevasse for us to try, and they set up our gear. They raced to the top and hammered in the equipment, and bam we were ready to go.
Husband went first, and did awesome! I went next and got tired half way up and quit. I was bummed I didn’t make it to the top my first try, but it just motivated me more to try harder next time. We walked a bit more around the glacier and found another wall and this time I made it all the way up… Score!! We then stopped for a bit of a warm up with our hot tea and lunches. The problem with having lunch on a glacier is that there is nowhere to sit that is not cold and wet.
So we sat for just a bit on our bags and moved on to the next wall. This one was gorgeous!
We were pretty tuckered out, and this was our last wall. We both made it to the top. We hiked a bit more on the glacier, and we stumbled upon a rare glacier moulin. We were able to go into it and climb out the other end. Pretty cool.
It had been a long day, and we were ready to head back. Kicking your feet into ice all day REALLY hurts your toes! And the boots they give us are sturdy, similar to downhill skiing boots, and they are NOT fun to walk in. I loosened them on the hike back, but I was in agony after a full day in them.
We made plans to meet our guides at a local pub for some warm mulled wine after a quick clean-up. We had a great time drinking with them, and the mulled wine was delish! We slept like logs that night. We actually really liked our hotel, comfy beds, warm room, awesome bathtub. I guess anything is nice compared to living in a camper, right? Next up: Drive to Queenstown for Husbands birthday dinner!
QUEENSTOWN
The next morning, I was hurting. I had used muscles I had never used before, and I felt it. The muscle soreness comes second only to class 5 white water rafting, but both times it felt like I was hit by a bus. We were in no rush to get to Queenstown, so we started down the road and eventually stopped at some sort of a scenic outlook for a small hike, to stretch our sore muscles. This was such a great little side trip! Check out what we saw – When you look closely at the snow, there are little crystals.
The scenery along our drive was just breathtaking. You feel so small amongst such large mountains. I just loved it.
The scenery along our drive was just breathtaking. You feel so small amongst such large mountains. I just loved it.
As we got closer to Queenstown, we drove by some Pinot Noir wineries, but they were closed, because it was winter time. NZ makes a mean Pinot, I highly recommend it! We made it to Queenstown and checked in at our lodge. It is a ski town, and was busy with skiers. We had some time to kill before dinner, so we walked around the shops downtown. We had reservations that night at a cool restaurant at the top of a mountain called Skyline. You take a gondola up there, so it was pretty cool. We got there early, and had some pre-dinner drinks, and met another couple. It turns out that they had just moved there, and the female was the new manager at the restaurant. So we had dinner with them, and discussed the food and had a great time. I mentioned to her that is was Husbands birthday, and they made a big deal about it and brought out all kinds of stuff and sang a song and had lots of candles. We had a great night and headed back to our hotel. Next stop: Glenorchy – Horse rides through LOR territory
GLENORCHY
We drove to Dart Stables for our “morning river wild ride” tour. I was soooo excited. I love horses and used to ride but haven’t been able to in a long time. We were assigned our horses and headed out. Husband had not really been on a horse, so of course he got stuck with the fat, lazy one. We started off down the road and ended up taking a trail into a valley. It was beautiful, but I was actually a bit nervous because the ground was frozen and I had a previous experience of a horse falling with me on it, and that wasn’t all that pleasant. We mostly walked around, we crossed a few rivers and the scenery was, as usual, just wonderful.
Our guide was interesting. He was some kind of writer from South Africa. We actually got into a bit of a heated discussion because he told me we were riding thoroughbreds, although they were shorter and stalkier than the thoroughbreds I was familiar with and looked more like quarter horses to me. The ground thawed and we did some trotting. He said we could try cantering, and I was excited about that until I attempted it. These horses used to be race track horses, the kind that pace, so they weren’t trained to canter. He did not mention this until AFTER we tried to canter. I gave mine multiple signals and he just kept extending his stride and I was so confused as to what he was doing. It was a comfortable gait, but just not what I was used to. Of course Husbands fat and lazy one wouldn’t get near a fast trot, so we gave up. But it was great to be back on a horse in such beautiful scenery!
Our guide was interesting. He was some kind of writer from South Africa. We actually got into a bit of a heated discussion because he told me we were riding thoroughbreds, although they were shorter and stalkier than the thoroughbreds I was familiar with and looked more like quarter horses to me. The ground thawed and we did some trotting. He said we could try cantering, and I was excited about that until I attempted it. These horses used to be race track horses, the kind that pace, so they weren’t trained to canter. He did not mention this until AFTER we tried to canter. I gave mine multiple signals and he just kept extending his stride and I was so confused as to what he was doing. It was a comfortable gait, but just not what I was used to. Of course Husbands fat and lazy one wouldn’t get near a fast trot, so we gave up. But it was great to be back on a horse in such beautiful scenery!
That concludes our trip to NZ, and from here we flew to Adelaide. We absolutely loved NZ, it is breathtakingly beautiful, and I hope you have the chance to see it for yourself one day! We can't wait to go back.
Maine Girl
No comments:
Post a Comment