Trans Alpine to Christchurch

Time to move on from Arthur's Pass to Christchurch arriving in the late afternoon via the Trans Alpine Railway. Our agenda here is to travel the following day with Brian out to Akaroa which is a dormant crater and volcanic bay opening to the Pacific. This is a view of the bay from up on the caldera.














Akaroa was a French settlement in the mid 1800's when some adventurer sold about 60 Frenchmen on the idea of coming to Akaroa to set up a French colony. Unfortunately when they arrived they found the British had steamed into the harbor a few days earlier but they stayed on and the place has a definite French stamp on street names and architecture. Here is a colorful jeweler where we dropped a few francs.














After a lunch on the bay we boarded a craft for a cruise out on the bay to the small Hector's Dolphins, fur seals and penguins with a short turnaround in the Pacific.

















Akarora is a yet another fabulous panorama in New Zealand and our trip out was via a sheepherders path which was filled with spectacular vistas.


We left Christchurch the next morning to catch our 7AM Trans Coastal train ride up to Blenheim to tour the Marlborough wine region and the Marlborough Sound to witness the harvesting of the famous "greenlip mussel". These are now marketed as the green "shell" mussels since the idea of lips on a mussel did not "go down well"!

Ever onward!

An unusual Christmas Day

The owners of the Wilderness Lodge, Gerry and Ann McSweeney, promised us a "special walk" on Christmas Day so we all gathered at 10:00 AM for a walk toward Mt. Horrible. Shortly after leaving the lodge we met up with our two guides for the day: one Merino lamb and one black face lamb. They stayed with us for the whole 5 hours going up the mountain and back. The only thing they would not do is cross the river on a 4X12 plank so we portaged them!














After crossing the river we walked up the mountain for another hour or so to a small opening where we built a bonfire and had lunch with tea followed by a marshmallow roast with pink and white marshmallows. Our guides waited patiently nearby!




After a return trip down the mountain to the Lodge I protaged the guide back across the river.

We then prepared for a special Christmas dinner with traditional choices of ham, lamb and turkey and sticky date pudding. Photos all around!

On the road again...

Glacier Region to Arthur’s Pass


We left the glacier region today…Christmas Eve Day…for an eight hour drive with Brian our Canterbury Trails guide to Arthur’s Pass National Park and a two night stay at the Wilderness Inn. We stopped by Franz Joseph Glacier just up the coast a few miles from our Fox Glacier base for a trek through the rain forest just below the terminal end (snout) of the Glacier.

We made numerous stops for treks and photos but stopped in Hokitika for lunch and shopping since it is a bit of a regional market. Hokitika is on the Tasman sea and was settled in the mid 18th century as a base and port for gold mining supplies. Today it is the center for greenstone (jade) sales with several jewelry centers. Brian continues to amaze us with his breadth of knowledge, passion for guiding and good humor. I could not recommend him more highly for guiding services in the South Island. His 4WD vehicles are pristine and comfortable. They appear new but are actually fully rebuilt vehicles from the mid 90’s…and he runs their turbo charged diesels stoutly.

Departing Hokitika we moved up country into the NZ southern alps driving through winding canyons along braided rivers, waterfalls and wildflower fields. Braided rivers appear to be multiple rivers occupying the same broad plain during calm weather but during major rains they unite to become one raging stream moving rocks and sediment down river from the mountains.

We arrived at our Wilderness Lodge located off the road a few hundred yards back in a heavy beech forest and just in time for a 5PM Christmas Eve farm trek to view the sheep dogs working a flock followed by a trip to the shearing station for a demonstration of hand shearing of a Merino sheep. On this Christmas eve we had everything at hand to make our own Nativity creche!





The Lodge has 20 rooms and and the owners have built trails throughout the surrounding forest fully marked for self guided treks with guides to plants and formations. The lodge is very rustic with a large gathering room and full dining room. They encourage group dining so we met some entertaining English and Danish folks also there for Christmas.

Hereis Ms. Merino with a new outfit for Christmas Eve!

Glacier tromping

We opted for a helicopter ride up to Fox Glacier and a flyby in front of the face of Mt. Cook the highest mountain on the South Island at 12,500 or so. It rises up from the Tasman Sea with lush rain forests at the sea coast and a full bore glacier ending only another 1000 feet or so above sea level. This is the spot where one can most observe the odd combo of rain forest and glacier within a 30 minute hike. The heli ride was awesome as one might expect. There were several in the air simultaneously flying a prescribed pattern and in radio contact. It is only sunny on occasion and in the morning so there is a mad scramble to get the flights in during any window. The neve' is the area high on the glacier (approx 8000') where the snowfall accumulates and forms the glacier due to snow pressure and that is where we land to walk about. They actually had marked parking posts for the helis! It looked like about 6 spots available.






Following the heli ride we went hiking along the sea coast on the Tasman along Gillespie Beach and then into the rain forest which starts at the beach edge about 50 meters in. This West Coast area was the scene of several great gold rushes in the mid 1800's so there are numerous ghost towns just in from the coast on the glacial rivers.



The photos attached show rain forest and glaciers coverng the Fox and Franz Joseph which are the two main active towns with tourist amenities...small at they are. Our hotel the Te Weheka was very well done with a great host. Overall it was remeniscent of our visits to Alaska.

Footprints on the Coast

We met our Canterbury Trails guide/driver for our trip from Queenstown up the West Coast of the South Island. We will be with him for 5 days covering the Glacier region, Arthurs Pass National Park and on to Christchurch. Brian the guide drives a 4WD Toyoto Van which is well outfitted with an intercom, a trailer for luggage and plenty of provisions for a spot of tea or lunch in the bush. He is totally knowledgeable in Maori culture, geology, flora and fauna and the history of NZ. We will stop repeatedly for observation, hikes, tea, waterfalls and even a spot of shopping.

Our first days' destination is the Glacier country which includes Fox Glacier where we will stay at the Te Weheka Inn in Fox Valley. There are 3035 charted glaciers in the South Island and another 28 on the North Island but we will explore only 2: the Fox and Franz Joesph(named for the Austrian emperor by Haast an Austrian explorer). The Glaciers in NZ result from the steady moisture flow from Antarctica and over the Tasman Sea which turns promptly to rain and snow when it hits the Coastal NZ Alps. The South Island is one of two places in the world where one encounters dense rain forests and within a 10 minute walk one can be at the terminal end of a glacier which extends miles up the mountain side. The other is Chile but this is the only island location in the world with such spectacular incongruities.

I will include some photos in this edition of the drive up via Lake Wanaka (where we had lakeside tea), over Haas Pass through miles of spectacular water falls and wild flowers and on to Fox Glacier where we stayed for two nights...a trip of only 180 miles but it required 9 hours to take it all in... plus a stop or two for farmers repositioning their cattle via our road.

Fjordland National Park

We spent the last two days at the Fjordlands National Park which is a World Heritage Site protected by New Zealand and UN authorities. The Fjordlands were glacier created starting over 2 million years ago. There are seven fjords in the Park averaging about 900 feet deep and the mountains rise vertically from the water surface to about 4000 feet. The fjordlands were first charted by Capt. Cook in 1773. Doubtful Sound which we explored on an overnight cruise aboard the Fjordland Navigator with 65 other passengers was first charted in 1793 by Capt Malaspina a Spanish explorer.

Doubtful Sound is total wilderness. We reached it after a 3 hour coach ride (stopping for a look at the Kingston Flyer enroute) then connecting to a 50 minute ferry ride across Maunupori Lake to another 50 minute bus ride to Deep Cove at the end of Doubtful Sound where we boarded the Fjordland Navigator. In two days we saw only 7 kayakers and two other boats. Doubtful is in a rain forest and averages 212" of rain per year. The total park has 120 miles of shoreline and encompasses 2.6 million acres.

Since discovery and prior to Park status in 1912 the fjordlands were a source of fur seals, gold mining and timber.

Queenstown adventures

Queenstown is in the Remarkable Mountains and is the center for outdoor adventure activities in New Zealand. It is where bungee jumping was invented by two NZ chaps, home to paragliding, rock climbing, luge running, high speed jet boating, long distance hiking, skiing, sailing, wine making and assorted other outdoor adventures. Unfortunately we passed on all the opportunities.

I am posting some pics of our visit to the AJ Hackett bungee jumping center where it was first developed and up the Queenstown gondola to Bob's Peak for a look at the city and the local para gliding.

RUNNING THE CLOCK

Somehow we have packed 44 hours into a 24 hour period because we left Tucson at 2PM Tuesday, traveled for 24 hours and arrived in Queenstown two hours ago and it was 10 AM Thursday!

Our Air New Zealand flight from Los Angeles to Auckland lasted almost 13 hours and was quite pleasant. We flew in something called Premier Economy which is appropriately combining Business Class food service with a seat somewhat better than economy. This class is positioned on the upper deck of the 747 adjacent to the Business Class. After a two hour layover in Auckland we flew on for a couple of hours to Queenstown with spectacular views of the south island New Zealand Alps.

The biggest surprise on the flight was seeing Peter Defaria, son of Carl and Polly on board! Peter is an actor and appeared on board in his cameo role in the Dark Knight which was featured on the flight over!

In my next post I will try to incorporate photos which promise to be spectacular. The flight down here definitely whet our appetite for that which follows.

shoboat

New Zealand bound

Tomorrow we head off to New Zealand for three weeks of touring the North, South and Bay of Islands. There are four of us traveling by plane, train, car, helicopter and boat. "Us" are Carl and Polly Defaria and Lee and Sally Shobe. We arranged this trip through Jane Turner at Active Downunder Travel. Her tag line is Discover New Zealand The Active Way so we are taking all forms of transportation and recreation. We fly directly to Queenstown where will base for four days including two nights on the Fiordland Navigator exploring Doubtful Sound by boat and kayak. We will then move on to Fox Glacier for a little glacier hiking and butt sledding. By then it will be Christmas Eve so we are moving on to Arthurs Pass to stay at a sheep shearing station for a couple of days with the Shepard to see if" it came upon the midnight clear". Also more hiking and exploration of the New Zealand mountains. From there we catch the Traz Alpine Express Train to Christchurch for another couple of days exploring the Akaroa Harbour, Canterbury Plains and Akaroa Crater. We are promised sights of Hectors Dolphins, NZ Furseals and penguins. Apparently the Kiwi's are on Holiday.

Our next leg is via the Tranz Coastal train to Blenheim where the highlights are a Greenshell Mussel cruise on Marlborough Sound followed by day tours of the Marlborough wine country. We are staying at Maison Grange known locally as "the barn" located on a ten acre "Pinot Noir vinyard.

Ok that does it for the South Island so now (Dec 30) we are flying off to Rotorua for a dip into the Maori history and culture plus a helicopter tour over to White Island and a hike around an active crater volcano crater lake. That will cover our steam sauna needs. We will no doubt greet the New Year with a Maori ancient cocktail brew...or Scotch if they've run out. Those of you at home will only be thinking of what you might wear for New Years Eve since we are a day ahead.

On New Years Day we again step on Air New Zealand for a trip up to Kerikeri for more Maori culture...this is where the Maoris signed the Treaty of Waitangi with the Europeans to create New Zealand. Much like Hawaiians, not all native Maoris today are convinced it was worthwhile.

After a couple of days here it is back to Auckland to collect ourselves and prepare for the 13 hour snooze flight back to LAX via Air New Zealand.

If you care to hear how this all plays out check in for a daily (more or less) update.