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.