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Published: February 6th 2011
New Zealand - A Common Site
Did you know that there are over 10 sheep per every one person in New Zealand?On a gloomy, grey, rainy morning, we woke up on our final day in South America reflecting on an incredible seven weeks through three amazing countries, hardly believing it had truly come to an end, but excited to enter the next phase of our around-the-world tour – New Zealand and Australia! Of course, just getting to that phase of the trip would be a long and exhausting process.
After hearing that the Cusco airport could become overcrowded with long lines, especially around the holidays, we asked for a taxi to pick us up at 6:45am, thus starting our journey early in the morning on December 21st. We arrived at the Cusco airport just before 7am only to find it practically empty. So, after quickly and easily making it through the check-in and “security” process, we sat at the gate with almost two hours to talk about our favorite experiences from the last seven weeks and what we looked forward to in the next few. Finally, we boarded our first of three flights and took off just after 9am. Our trip was underway.
The first flight was a relatively short hop to Lima, where we had close to an hour
and a half layover before boarding our second flight to LAX around 12:30pm. During the eight hours of flying up the Pacific coast of South America and Mexico, we discussed how, after seven weeks away, it was going to be a little weird having a brief stop back in our home country, but looked at it as less of a stop in the States and instead as just another of the many layovers our trip has contained. We landed at LAX around 5:30pm.
Having heard that there had been a few terrorist threats around the holiday season, we expected security and immigration control to be beefed up quite a bit. Having spent seven weeks in relatively racially homogeneous countries during our time in South America, it was striking to see the smorgasbord of different faces and races standing in the long “U.S. Passport Holders” line. It just proved what a melting pot our country is, which is probably one of the main reasons the U.S. does not have the same sense of strong cultural history as the places that we had just visited. Describing the typical American is a much more difficult task than, say, describing the typical Peruvian.
New Zealand Fern
The mountain biking trails of Rotorua gave us the first glimpse of the famed New Zealand fern found all over the country. And yet, at the same time, if there was anyone in the immigration line that would have fit the typical American male description, it would have been me… or so I thought.
Erin and I walked together to hand our passports to the immigration officer. Upon scanning my passport into the system, the officer verbally said “Hmmmm?” Within moments, a second immigration officer came over and said that he needed to ask me a few questions, would I mind coming with him. As Erin and I started to follow him to another security booth, the officer looked at Erin and told her that he needed to speak with me privately. Erin was told she should probably go retrieve our luggage. Even more confused now, Erin reluctantly left me behind to answer what, at first, seemed to be a few basic questions. What’s your birthday? Where were you born? What was your purpose of travelling in South America? And then the questioning started to become more of an interrogation. What’s the origin of your middle name? (Fuge is my paternal grandmother’s maiden name) Have you ever been to the Middle East? (Prior to this trip, I’d been to Europe for
Scenic Turn-Off
We were told to stop at every "Scenic Overlook" we came across, but we made this one on our own between Rotorua and Tongariro. a total of 10 days, and other than that, I’d never left the North American continent) Are both of your parents American citizens? (Yes) How are you financing your trip around the world? (I’d been saving up for a trip like this since my first overseas experience in Europe five years ago) Let me be more clear, have you ever been to any Middle Eastern country like Pakistan, Afghanistan or anywhere like that? (Like I said, I’ve never been close) And you’re sure both of your parents were born in the United States? (Yes, both my parents and all four of my grandparents)
After a few minutes of going in circles like this, I had finally convinced this guy that I was no threat to the United States of America, and moreover, I wasn’t even planning on spending more than 6 hours in the country, assuming my plane to New Zealand was not delayed. I found Erin, who had both of our backpacks and looked a little confused, but before I had a chance to explain, I was again being asked to go one way while Erin was told to go another. This time a customs agent felt it
Pretty Drive
An example of some of the gorgeous sites along New Zealand roads. was necessary to search my backpack “because they often do random searches of bags arriving from Lima, a known drug trafficking flight”. After a few minutes of answering many of the same ridiculous questions, the man took my bag for a special screening. He almost seemed disappointed when he realized there was nothing exciting to find in my bag and said it would be just a few more minutes while he typed up his report on the computer. Meanwhile, Erin was starting to get fussy with the security officials who thought it was suspicious that she was not leaving the baggage claim area.
Finally, Erin and I were both legally back in the States, only to turn around and check all of our luggage in with Qantas airlines for their 11:45pm departure to Auckland, New Zealand. Of course, that meant we would have to go back through a security line in order to enter the departure gates. Here, a woman took a look at my passport photo and a look at me and said, “You look different from this photo…” To which, I told her that I had been travelling for seven weeks and had not brought my razor
Tongariro Volcano
Little did we know when we took this picture that we would be climbing near the top of the volcano the following day. with me, hence my poor excuse for a beard. She let me through but waved another TSA agent to give me a special security check. I was told, this time, that it was due to my “baggy” clothing (a pair of relaxed-fit jeans and a medium size buttoned-down shirt). Now, I had never had a TSA pat-down before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It turns out, they get quite a bit friendlier than your average concert gate security pat down, and I’ll leave it at that. Having found nothing hidden in the waistband of my boxers, I was allowed to again meet Erin on the other side of the security check-point. Whatever the reason was that I was pulled aside, it was at that point that I decided I would be shaving as soon as we got to New Zealand.
After a stop at Chili’s Too for food and, after all that, a well-needed beer, Erin and I finally boarded what would be our last and longest flight of the journey to New Zealand at 11:45pm on December 21st. If you’ve never flown Qantas airlines before, you should book a flight to New Zealand or Australia just
Beating The Fog
As we raced the mist up the mountain, it made for some incredible views with the sun rising. for that experience alone. Everything from the food, the in-flight entertainment set-up, the free alcohol, the comfort and the service is superb. It truly made the 13 hour flight more than bearable and we almost didn’t want to get off the plane when we landed in Auckland. After 3 flights, 23 hours in the air, 8 more hours in airports, 4 “special” security checks and one crossing of the International Date Line, we made it to New Zealand just before 10am on December 23rd.
The first stop was Apex Car Rentals, where we would pick up our Nissan Note that would take us through both the North and South islands over the next three weeks. After saying that we had no experience driving on the left side of the road, we were given a questioning look as we turned down the extra insurance. We were handed the keys and carefully drove out of the rental car parking lot. I made it about one hundred feet to the first roundabout before I noticed the brightly lit red exclamation point underneath the speedometer. After negotiating a full circle in the roundabout and turning back into the rental car lot, we asked
Upon Closer Inspection...
Yep, the volcano we had seen from our drive still looks every bit like a volcano as we climbed closer to it. if there was something wrong with the car. Quite embarrassingly, our question was answered with a quick demonstration on how to release the parking brake, followed by a look of “Are you sure you don’t want that insurance…”
With our tails between our legs, we again left the rental car lot and headed into downtown Auckland, where we had plans to meet up with Erin’s friends Lara and Jason for lunch. If it’s not enough that I’m a small-town kid who loathes driving in cities and that I was fairly jet-lagged and tired, I was heading into New Zealand’s largest city on the opposite side of the road from what I’ve always known. Proudly having made the drive with ticking off a minimal number of New Zealanders, we parked next to a large marina in Auckland where many incredible yachts and catamaran sailboats were moored. We had a nice lunch catching up with Lara and Jason, as well as getting some insider tips about what they had learned after living and travelling in New Zealand for a few months.
At this point, I wish I could say we headed to a hotel for a much deserved nap on
Highly Prone Volcanic Area
To walk past the volcano on the left of this photo, we had to walk through the large volcanic crater left behind from a long ago separate eruption. a comfy bed, but with such short time and so much to see in New Zealand, we couldn’t afford to do that. Just before 4pm, we got back in our car and started the three hour drive to Rotorua. As we left the city limits of Auckland, the New Zealand landscape began to present itself in the shape of rolling farm-lands and pastures. It was quite the pretty drive, but by this point all we cared about was getting to Rotorua and checking in at the Lakeside B&B, which we did right around 7pm, and we didn’t leave our room until breakfast was served the next morning.
Rotorua is a lovely, small town situated on the shores of Lake Rotorua, which is surrounded by thermal hot springs and geysers. The main reason the town was on our travel itinerary is that it lays claim to having the best mountain biking trails in the entire country just outside of town in the Redwood forest. After our three disappointing mountain biking attempts in South America, we figured New Zealand would know what they were talking about, and we were not disappointed. We started riding a maze of trails that reminded us
Crater Lakes
As often happens, water collects in dormant volcanic craters. These were small sisters to one very large crater lake along the Tongariro Alpine Crossing hike. quite a bit of the Emerald Mountain trail system back home, only on a much grander and more densely forested scale, which made it easier to get lost. The riding was incredible, but after a few hours, we were sore from not only being out of shape, but also from riding on hard-tail bikes without bike shorts over some technical, rocky areas. It was time to celebrate finally finding some quality mountain biking with a beer at Rotorua’s Pig & Whistle Pub, which was originally the town’s police station. That also ended up being where we enjoyed a Christmas Eve dinner of some decent pub food.
Christmas morning, we woke up to no presents under a tree, nor any stockings filled to the brim. Instead, we only had a four hour drive to Tongariro National Park to look forward to. This turned out to be mentally one of our hardest days of travelling yet. The day was cloudy, the drive was nothing spectacular and the National Park town was all but closed due to the holiday. We found a nice little camp spot, but still could only think about how we would have liked to be with our dogs
Sister Volcanoes
Did we mention that there was quite a bit of volcanic activity in the area? and our family for Christmas dinner instead of eating fruit salad and a peanut butter sandwich. But, we did have the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, said to be the best one-day trek in New Zealand, to look forward to.
We packed up all of our camping equipment just as the sun was barely starting to rise the next day and hopped on a shuttle to start our trek. Driving to the trailhead, it seemed almost as if the clouds and fog were going to take the enjoyment out of another day. The shuttle came out of the fog just yards away from where our trek would start, and from there it would be a race against the quickly moving mist. As to not be engulfed again in fog, we quickly made our way up the trail and started climbing higher and higher in elevation, which, once safely above the cloud cover, made for some incredible views. The higher we climbed, the more barren the hillside became, and the more littered with volcanic rock. We looked up to see that we were essentially climbing to the top of not just one or two, but many dormant volcanoes. Once at the top,
Not Just Pretty Drives...
The ferry from Wellington to Picton provided for some very picturesque sites as well. we walked across one absolutely huge volcanic crater while looking upwards at two others. After making it across, only guessing at what the consequences would be if one of these sleeping volcanoes decided it was time to wake up, we started heading towards a group of small turquoise-colored crater lakes. Passing the lakes, we headed down the other side of the volcanic range, where the vegetation started to come back. At first it was in the form of small brush, and then larger bushes appeared, until finally, we were in a dense rainforest. After five hours, and quite the change in topography, geology, and vegetation, we made it to the end of the trail, where the shuttle picked us up and took us back to our car.
We really did not to get to enjoy any time for rest, as we had to get back on the road and drive almost five hours to Wellington, the southernmost city on New Zealand’s north island. The main reason we were spending the night in Wellington was to be able to catch the early ferry the following morning to the south island, and therefore we did not have a chance to explore
Queen's Highway Overlook
We could tell this drive would have been very pretty, but the weather was quite foreboding. the city. However, upon going out for a nice meal accompanied by some great live music, we did find out why Wellington is nicknamed “Windy Welly.”
The ferry from Wellington on the North Island to Picton on the South Island takes three hours and, as such, is a boat nearly as large as a cruise ship that has all the amenities you could hope for on such a journey, including a bar, a coffee shop, a movie theater and much more. We spent the majority of our ferry trip in a glassed-in, park-like seating area where we could watch the howling wind nearly blow over the campervans on the back of the boat.
The boat docked in Picton just after 11am in a light drizzle coming from low-lying clouds. We quickly turned our Nissan Note onto the Queen’s Highway, which is the most scenic route between Picton and Nelson, before meeting the road to the Abel Tasman National Park. Unfortunately, the weather conditions took away greatly from what we could tell was a beautiful drive. We stopped in Nelson for a quick bite to eat (also because our hostel host in Arica, Chile was originally from Nelson and
Hand-Feeding The Ducks At Kaiteriteri Beach Motor Camp
Not pictured: Eli feeding a piece of bread to the ducks out of his mouth. we wanted to see the town that he had left to live in Arica… We still can’t figure out for the life of us why someone would choose to live in Arica over Nelson). While in Nelson, we stopped at the i-Site (information center), where we inquired about the Abel Tasman National Park. In so many words, we were told that we were crazy even thinking of going that direction because there was heavy rain forecasted in the area. We did not really have any other options and did not want to rely on a weather forecast to determine the nature of where we went, so we continued on our way.
In the late afternoon, we arrived to the town of Kaiteriteri (or simply Kaiteri as the local’s call it, because “what’s the point of the redundant extra teri?”) Kaiteri is a beachside town that has a mere 60-70 annual residents, but in the summer becomes a mecca for Christchurch residents to escape the city life and spend their Christmas and New Year’s holidays. We checked in to the Kaiteri Beach Motor Camp, where we had a reservation to camp the next couple of nights. As we drove to
Nelson Region Vineyards
Marborough may be the more renowned wine region in New Zealand, but we thought Nelson was the more picturesque... plus, we enjoyed the free wine! our designated camp site, we could not believe the camping set ups people had. We’re talking mondo-condos on steroids, with multi-room tents, full-on refrigerators, satellite tv, and grills so large they had to have their own trailer. We soon learned that this is a place that is usually booked months in advance and people settle in for weeks at a time. The only reason we were able to get a spot was because someone had made a last minute cancellation. We felt a little ridiculous setting up our tiny green backpacking tent in the middle of this madness.
As we zipped our tent closed that night, the promised rain started to fall. At first, it was quite a pleasant way to be lulled to sleep. In the early morning hours, we were abruptly shaken awake by howling winds, heavy rain and the crash of something metal. We unzipped our tent just enough to see a gazebo, that we later learned belonged in a campsite about 50 sites away from ours, had been picked up in the wind and dropped just feet from our tent. Needless to say, it was not the best night’s sleep after that.
We awoke
PYOB
Erin at a Pick Your Own Berries farm is like a kid in a candy store! the next morning to reports of flash floods in the area and overnight rainfall totals of over 300mL (to give you an idea, that’s almost half the amount of rain that Singapore gets in an entire year). Our plan had been to head into the Abel Tasman National Park, which is only really accessible by water taxi, but we learned the boats would not be operating due to the rough seas. With this in mind, we pondered our options for the day, and came to the realization that we were nearby the lesser-known Nelson wine region. So, we hopped in the car with a map of vineyards and decided not to let a little rain ruin our day. We stopped at two wineries, bought one bottle of cheap NZ Sauvignon Blanc and decided that it probably wasn’t safe to taste any more wines and drive on the left side of the road. Instead, we decided to stop at a quaint berry farm where we picked our own strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and boysenberries. The last stop for the day was at the Monkey Wizard Brewery, where we tasted home-brewed beer and bought a liter of their kiwi-wheat brew. All-in-all, it turned
Abel Tasman National Park
The track takes you along the coastal hills in a densely forested region along the Northen coast of the South Island. out to be an absolutely lovely way to spend what seemed to be a ruined day.
That night, we were invited to join our camping neighbor and his in-laws for a few drinks. They were all neighbors in Christchurch, and for as long as they could remember, they had come to Kaiteri Beach Motor Camp for their summer holiday. It also turned out that the gentleman who invited us to join owned a bakery in Christchurch, so we were served a great lemon cake. It was quite the interesting evening as we drank, we laughed and we compared lifestyles between the States and New Zealand.
We woke up to a gloriously sunny day and the boats to Abel Tasman were all running as scheduled. We jumped on the first boat available to take us into the Abel Tasman National Park, with its coastline trails running through stunning rainforests. The normally turquoise water was a bit cloudy and filled with scattered tree trunks due to the previous day’s heavy rain and flooding, but the views from the trails were beautiful nonetheless. The only downside was that we had just over four hours to do a four hour hike, or
Abel Tasman Coastline
The hike also takes you down to the coast, which luckily we made it during low tide. At certain times of the day, portions of the trail are waist deep in water. else we would miss the earliest boat back to Kaiteri. So, instead of walking at a leisurely pace, we worked up quite the sweat in order to reach our pick up point in time… only to find out our boat was going to be about a half hour late.
Once again, we did not have the pleasure of relaxing after this hike as we were due in Kaikoura that evening, which was about a 4 hour drive. Along the drive, we double-backed the same route on which we had came from Nelson, and yet the heavy rain had created a flash flood so damaging that the road was unrecognizable. It was incredible to see an area that we had driven through two days earlier absolutely torn apart with asphalt ripped off the road, guard rails tied in knots, and trees down all over the place. It really gave us a perspective on the powerful force a rushing wall of water can have, which we would again learn in our later travels through Australia.
In Kaikoura, we checked in to the Fish Tank Lodge, which was a recently purchased and renovated hostel that had formerly not had such a
Back In To The Abel Tasman Coastal Hills
From hillside to beach side and back to hillside, there is no lack of great views along the Abel Tasman treks. great reputation. It was a nice little place that had clearly been cleaned up and creatively decorated by the new owners. After seemingly being on the move nonstop since we left Cusco, we were happy to check in for three nights, and even happier to not have any plans for the following day. We slept in, we walked to the dark pebble covered beach, we got some ice cream, and we simply enjoyed a lazy day. We also received the thrilling news from Dolphin Encounter that we had made it off the waiting list and onto the 5:30am dolphin swim tour the next day.
As the sun rose on New Year’s Eve day, we were getting suited up in 5mm wetsuits, snorkels, fins, masks, and we were being shown an instructional video on how to swim with dolphins. I have to admit that I was excited going in to it, but my expectations were simply to be dropped in an area of water where there might be a few dolphins frolicking about. About fifteen minutes in to the boat ride, we started seeing our first dolphins jumping and playing in the boat’s wake. We continued on to where the
Not Your Average Beach
Taking in the view from the Kaikoura Beach. Notice that instead of sand, the beach is comprised of small, dark pebbles. captain believed the dolphins would be more active. Fifteen minutes later, we were given the instruction to gear up and get ready to swim. The first thing you notice when you hit the water is how absolutely cold it is. As you start to get over the temperature, you begin to realize you are out in the ocean, far off shore and with no idea as to how deep the water is. And then, out of the corner of your eye, you see a dark figure dart by. Even though you know you are signed up to dolphin swim, it’s still a bit unsettling and images of “Jaws” come to mind. Those thoughts quickly escape as you look around and take in the hilarity of the situation, as we were told the best way to attract the dolphins is by “singing” into your snorkel. So taking a second to look around, I saw about twenty people swimming every which way, making a range of high-pitched sounds no choir would envy. Even in the mass of dolphin swimmers, it didn’t take much for me to make out Erin’s distinct “dolphin call”.
The first swim yielded results just as I had
Sunrise on New Year's Eve Morning
This was the view that welcomed us to our Dolphin Encounter! expected, with a few dolphins swimming in the area, but other than that, not much activity. We were called back to the boat, where we would be transported to a second drop location. The dolphins seemed a little more playful and active at the second location, and as soon as we entered the water, we could see this was going to be an experience like no other. We were no longer just swimming in water that happened to have dolphins in it. We were actually swimming and interacting with dolphins. We would play games of who can swim in a circle faster with the dolphins, which they inevitably won every time. At one point, a dolphin found Erin so attractive in her hooded wetsuit, that he turned his belly toward hers and swam along with her for a little bit in this way. It was not until Erin was raving about this experience on the boat that we learned that was the typical way in which dolphins mate. After about fifteen minutes, we were again called to the boat to travel to yet another drop location. The third location was no less active than the last, but the adrenaline was
Dusky Dolphins
The first sign it was going to be a good day was when the dolphins started swimming alongside the boat and playing in its wake. beginning to wear off. After swimming with the dolphins for another ten minutes, we were sufficiently exhausted and quite cold. We were excited to be served hot chocolate upon our return to the boat, but it was difficult to drink through our permanent wide smiles. We had just swam with dolphins!!!
We returned to the Fish Tank Lodge ready for a good afternoon nap before heading out on the Kaikoura Coastal Track, a two and a half hour walk along the cliffs of the Kaikoura peninsula and through a couple of fur seal colonies. Of course, the seals reminded us of Raven (as most funny and adorable animals do) and made us miss our dogs yet again.
That night was New Year’s Eve, and planning our trip we were excited to see that we would be in New Zealand for New Year’s, knowing that some towns in the country get pretty raucous for the holiday being that they are among the first in the world to be able to bring in the New Year. It turns out, Kaikoura is not one of these towns. It is a nice, small, sleepy beach town, but it’s not the place to
Snorkelling So Far Off The Coast?
What could Erin possibly be looking for so far off the Kaikoura coast... be if you want to party. As far as we could tell, the most exciting party was going to be at our hostel, with just some grilling on the BBQ and a few beers being passed around. While not the crazy party we may have been looking for, it started as a pleasant way after a long day to bring in the New Year… until we met an odd group of three young guys travelling together. One was from France, one German and the other Japanese. None of them spoke the other’s language, so they all communicated in their less than interpretable English. We started talking to these guys and soon learned that for all three, their main goal in life was to visit the “great United States.” They wanted to see New York, LA, Vegas and Yellowstone. It was really interesting to hear the desire in their voices to visit a place that, in some respects, up until now, I had largely taken for granted. Just when I thought it was an enjoyable conversation, the French kid looked at me and started telling me how hot my wife was. Ok, I can handle that, but when he looked at
DOLPHINS!!!!
Generally, they were swimming so close that we couldn't get an entire dolphin in to the picture frame. me and said “Would you like to see my penis?”, well that was a bit too much. Erin and I quickly ran away from the conversation and into our room for the night.
We awoke the next morning and tried to avoid any contact with one particular odd Frenchman on our way to our Nissan Note. We had had a pleasant stay in Kaikoura, but it was time to get on our way. Despite the weather issues, the first half of our New Zealand adventure had been quite amazing, but it was really the next ten days with a trip to Queenstown, Milford Sound and the Kepler Trek that we were most excited about. Erin will pick it up in the next blog from here.
'Sweet As'
e squared everywhere (written by Eli)
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Nick
non-member comment
sweeeeet!
hey guys, just checking in to see if you left NZ before the quake? SWEEEEEEET pictures. Berries, dolphins, sunsets, and funny looking creatures. Awesome.