Kia Ora!

Hello everyone...sorry for the lack of postings recently. We're hoping to remedy this with a few postings over the next couple of days, including this one to bring you up to date on the last week or so.

Debbie actually left one stop out of her last blog post. After Queenstown we didn't head straight back to Christchurch...first we drove to the west coast of the south island to go see some glaciers! Because we were waiting for the right wind at our paragliding location for so long in Queenstown, we didn't get out of town until later than we were hoping and wound up arriving at the Fox Glacier (which we were only planning to do a quick look-see at anyway) around dusk. We were literally the last people in the parking lot when we left. We arrived in the tiny and quaint Franz Josef Village (the town near the second glacier...named, funny enough, Franz Josef, after the Austrian emperor...I guess the glacier was "discovered" by a German explorer) around 8pm, grabbed a quick dinner (good timing too since everything shuts at 9pm) and arrived back at our hostel in time for a black out! The whole town was blacked out...possibly either from a rock slide or a car accident knocking out the main power line. We wound up making the best of it by wandering into the pitch black TV room and finding the first Americans we had run into in over a month. We'd just been saying how we had come across almost no Americans travelling in Australia & NZ, and then there they were! And even funnier, it turns out that this couple is from San Luis Obispo/Arroyo Grande, which we thought was a pretty good coincidence, particularly since the last American friend we hung out with (Nicki) in Melbourne is also from SLO and of course we have a few really good friends from there! We never actually got to see what these people looked like (at one point the guy came over to us with his cell phone and held it to our faces so he could see us, but didn't do the same for him and his wife), but we talked for a good hour or so.

Anyway, the next morning we got up bright and early, drove over to the glacier parking lot, and hiked to the terminal face of the glacier...about an hour's walk. The glacier is much smaller than it once was (they have signs along the road in showing you where it used to be), but it's actually growing now so it should continue getting bigger for the next little while. You can't climb on the glacier without being on a guided hike, and the track we took doesn't get you right up to the ice, but we were still impressed...how many times in life do you get to see a glacier afterall? We stayed at Franz Josef for about 2 hours, then booked it back to Christchurch through some amazing alpine scenery.

Debbie's last post left us about to catch the train north from Kaikoura. We enjoyed that ride (it was a beautiful day so the scenic element of the ride was on full display. The train drops you in a town called Picton at the northern end of the south island, where you catch the ferry to Wellington. The ferry was quite an experience...the journey is about 3.5 hours, so they make the most of it with a cruise-like ship. This thing had a cafe, a restaurant, a bar, WiFi, a luxury lounge, two movie theaters, a sun-bathing deck, a children's play area, etc. We mostly just lounged (Debbie wandered around a bit and took in the scenery), but did enjoy a delicious meat pie.

Our visit to Wellington was brief, and marked by some not-so-great weather, but we mostly enjoyed it. We spent one full day there: Easter Sunday! The highlight of the city is the Te Papa museum, a really well done museum about New Zealand, its history, natural history, Maori culture, etc. We spent a good four hours there, then went across the street to a brew pub for lunch. Now, the rules in NZ for Good Friday and Easter in terms of alcohol sales are pretty funny. You can't sell alcohol straight out...the only way we were able to get beer was by ordering food, which entitles you to a couple of beers. We even stretched it by asking to share a sandwich and get two beers...but the law-bending waitress finally obliged. Afterwards we went to a modern art gallery, where we saw some cool stuff including a short documentary on a modern-day Maori tribal leader who got a full facial tatoo in his 60s as a means of demonstrating his cultural heritage in the midst of modernity. That night we enjoyed a traditional NZ meal of USA Southern/New Orleans food. Okay, so not traditional at all for NZ, but delicious corn bread, fried chicken and key lime pie nonetheless. And hey, the restaurant was the top-recommended one in our guidebook!

The following day we grabbed a rental car, drove up to the Mt. Victoria overlook (more of a hill than a mountain, but good views of the city), then headed up the coast and then inland to National Park Village. Pretty much everyone who goes to National Park does so to do some hiking in Tangariro National Park, and we were no exception! We decided to challenge ourselves with a 19.4 kilometer walk (about 12.125 miles) on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, reportedly the best one-day trek in NZ. We enjoyed it, though the weather was a bit dodgy for much of the hike (fog, clouds) so the views weren't as great as they normally are supposed to be. But the trail takes you past Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings (an active volcano!) and by these really beautiful lakes. We wound up getting stuck in a massive rainstorm during the last kilometer or so, and our socks, boots, backpacks, etc. are still drying out...but we survived the challenge and managed to complete the hike in about 5.5 hours! Even with the bad weather, we're glad to have gotten to do some trekking in this beautiful country. We also met some nice people from our hostel on the shuttle bus to/from the trailhead, and enjoyed some beers and dinner with them after the hike.

Yesterday we drove from National Park to Rotorua, a geo-thermal village replete with hot springs, geysers, mud baths, and Maori cultural attractions. Last night we attended a Maori cultural experience, which included a show (the haka, the Maori challenge dance used to intimidate others, was the finale...and I got to go on stage to learn how to do it!), dinner out of a hangi...a steamer of sorts that uses the steam from the geothermal pits, and spectacular night-time views of two erupting geysers. Today we're taking it easy...heading to a spa shortly for a little hot springs and mud bath/exfoliating massage action. Tonight there are some night markets here, which should be cool, as we've definitely found the food at markets to be most reasonably priced. And maybe we'll even pick up some Maori goodies! Tomorrow we're off to Auckland, our final NZ stop (with a brief planned stopover on the way for Debbie to Zorb...that is, roll down a giant hill in a big plastic ball). Sunday we fly to Sydney, spend the night there, and then head to Tokyo the next day!

More posts to come in the next few days including roses (highlights) and thorns (low points) from Australia and NZ. In the meantime, Kia Ora! (which means hello, but can also be used as good bye!).

Wha? You're in New Zealand?

I know, we fell off the planet, and ironically, we've had really good internet access. Don't judge, we had important things to do, like figure out where we are going in Japan (and New Zealand for that matter), and Mike just HAD to watch Lost :)  Anyway, I'll write a longer post today on the ferry and post it the next time we're online, but our week in NZ so far has been great.  We spent a couple of nights in Christchurch just getting oriented, went punting on the Avon (they fancy themselves an English city), went to an amazing craft market with silverware candelabras (Bailey, new business? They were awesome), climbed a church tower and hung out.

Then we picked up a rental car and droooooove to Queenstown, center of adventure on the south island.  It is also adorable, and incredibly scenic (mountain town on a lake... you know).  We spent our first day just checking everything out, went for a nice long walk, ate lunch by the lake, etc.  We wanted to go paragliding, but the weather was wrong (wind direction/strength is important). That night we went to a New Zealand Quiz Night (you know how we love trivia!) and as a two person team, we managed to come in 8th out of 12! Which is amazing, considering our teams usually come in around there and here there was a round on New Zealand geography....

The following day we actutally got to go paragliding! It was lovely, that will have to be described later though.

That afternoon we drove back to Christchurch up the west coast, which was GORGEOUS.  Really changing and beautiful scenery.  Really enjoyed it.  That brings us to yesterday! Whirlwind, I know.  Anyway, yesterday we took the Tranzscenic railway to Kaikoura on the East Coast.  The journey was a little funny, we were fogged in for a lot of it, I started calling it the Trans-sorta-scenic railway, but then it got beautiful on the coast. We got in in the morning, and weren't sure if we would be able to go whale watching (which is what this town is famous for, and it is only done by one locally owned Maori company), because Mike had a bunch of work to do all day... but yesterday there was a 3:30 tour, and by that time the weather cleared and it was really pretty.... And we saw a whale! A sperm whale named Taiaki, who looked at us (twice, apparently rare) and hung out on the surface for like 10 minutes and did an awesome dive.  Then we found a pod of Dusky Dolphins (look them up, adorable), they said there were around 100, we were surrounded, it was magical.  We also saw a number of Wandering Albatross (they are huge, and I think endangered), amazing birds.

Today we get back on the train, then head to the ferry across to Wellington, then on to our week of North Island adventure!  Phew... That was some fast typing.  Happy Passover/Easter to you all!