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Published: December 7th 2005
We realize that it has been quite a while since our last entry, but we were enjoying ourselves too much to make any new entries. You might think that 3 weeks is a lot of time to spend in such a relatively small area, but we ran out of time and could have stayed longer because this was our favorite place of the whole trip. We are lumping all of NZ into one blog entry, but there is a definite difference between the north and south islands. Fortunately, we flew into Christchurch in the south island to start our New Zealand adventures and spent the bulk of our time on that island. There really is no comparison between the north and south. The south is a place of amazing natural beauty and beckons you to be outside doing things (some things you may have not even thought of doing the day before, but acted impulsively and said "what the hell?"). After seeing the south, the north is not really scenic at all, so you can cover a lot of ground in a short period of time because you don't have to stop (other than for the wineries). So with that being
said...
Our first meal in NZ was lamb gyros made with real lamb meat! So to the lady in Athens who said that gyros were made with pork I say "hah". As you'll be able to tell from the photos, food was a big part of our experience. We had some really good meals as well as some that were not so good, but other than a deepfried whitebait sandwich, it was all edible. We would give the food a B+. I found a new love in the salmon. I never eat it at home, but it was a lighter color than ours and I saw it on the menu a lot, so I tried it. After that I put it into my 3-day rotation of lamb, venison and salmon, with an occasional ribeye thrown in to mix things up. Doug made it much easier on himself by only rotating between the lamb and the ribeye.
One of our favorite ways of eating the above was something called stonegrilling. We saw it at a few restaurants in both islands and tried it in two different places. What it is is a piece of volcanic rock that is heated
to a high temperature. Once you select your main course, they put it on the slab and bring it out to you. You are then responsible for cooking the rest yourself. You are advised to cut off small pieces and cook them to your liking, then continue on cutting off more pieces of meat, fish, seafood or whatever. Doug even used his to brown his potatoes. This was a fun, interactive dining experience and it allowed us to cook the food how we wanted.
You can also tell from the photos that we ate at Indian restaurants a couple of times. We found them quite prevalent around both islands, so that was also common food fare. Our first experience was with a waiter in Christchurch who will never be lonely because he will always have himself to talk to. Whenever we go to a new Indian restaurant (and Thai for that matter), we don't know how hot to ask the food for, so we try to get some info out of the staff. When he asked how we wanted it, I started explaining that we hadn't found the food in Australia to be hot enough for us. Then he
said something like this, "how would you like it?...medium, hot, mild, medium, mild...where are you from?...medium...yeah, you need medium". And that was the end of our "conversation". Well those of you who know can probably guess where this is going. I made a point of telling him before we left that it was one of the most mild Indian dishes I had ever had and it was cooked much hotter at home. Even Doug's Indian hot dish was medium at best.
We did have other good experiences with Indian food. The place in the photo with 4 different types of curries was very good. That was our Indian piggy platter, which consisted of a lamb, beef, chicken and vegetarian dish with the rice and naan. We asked for all of them to be Indian hot and that is what we got.
So I guess now that I've gotten sidetracked into the food review, I'll have to give you the beverage review. This rates an A. We each found a new beer that we really liked. I liked Steinlager and Doug loved the Speight's. Yes, the use of liked and loved was intentional. If Doug didn't have his Speight's
by 3:00 every day, he started getting antsy. When a bar didn't have Speight's, there was a noticeable letdown in his demeanor for a few seconds before he found a new one to try.
We also drank our share of wine while here. There are pockets of wine-producing regions in both islands and we were able to sample wines from both. We actually stayed in Blenheim for 2 nights so that we could visit some wineries on our own. Maybe it was because we already did the organized tours in Australia, but we much rather preferred driving around on our own and stopping wherever we wanted, as well as however many times we wanted. I think in total we went to about 15 wineries. We especially liked going to the ones that were smaller and/or didn't export to the States. We found some wines that we really liked and we each found wines that we normally wouldn't drink. Doug purchased quite a few bottles of whites and I bought a couple of bottles of reds. Between the two of us for both Australia and NZ, we bought 4 cases. Of course, we don't have all of that left because
of the BYO offered at restaurants in both countries, which has depleted our stock already.
Another thing we enjoyed while visiting the wineries was the lunch outdoors. The weather was absolutely beautiful in the south island the entire time we were there. Based on a recommendation by someone at one of the wineries, we had lunch at Highfield Estates. We included photos of Doug's ribeye (imagine that!) and my Thai chicken salad, both of which were delicious. If I'm not mistaken, we each purchased a couple of bottles at that place.
So getting back to non-food and beverage related items (although I do reserve the right to mention them again, if I deem it appropriate), after we left Christchurch and the people wearing halter tops and shorts in the Santa parade, we picked up the car and started driving south. We stopped at the Antarctic Centre, which is the final stop for people getting ready to go to Antarctica and it also has a visitor center. We went through the tour, which included a chance to go into a room where they made the temperature with the windchill something like minus 20. Big deal. I expect it to
be about that when I get home! We also got to ride in a Hagglund vehicle which are the ones used in Antarctica. That was pretty neat as we got to see the how the thing handled over different terrain, including being submerged in water.
Then we continued on driving south of Christchurch. We just drove until we found a town we liked or it was getting to the point where we should find a place to stay. As we mentioned in other blog entries, we really enjoyed this way of travelling. We met more locals and talked to them and got some good information from them.
Kind of the "real" start of the trip was when we hit the lakes region in the center of the south island. Believe me, the pictures we posted do not do justice to the actual colors and beauty of the area. We wish we could somehow capture this on film and be able to share this with you, but as I'm sure that I'll say again, you need to go there and see it for yourself. Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki are a glowing, neon-blue unlike anything we've seen before. It's different
than the Carribbean blue and set against the snow-capped mountains and deep green of the trees, it is absolutely gorgeous!
And did we mention the lupins? They grow wild along the side of the road and near the creeks, which also have a unique color because many of them have water from the glaciers, so they are a clear, yet icy blue. And speaking of glaciers, we included photos from two of them that we went to, Fox and Franz Josef. To see these huge formations of ice which look like they are just suspended in mid-air and may fall at any time to start an avalanche, was quite awesome, not to mention the remnants they left when they did melt millions of years ago. It makes you realize the power and beauty of nature.
And did we mention the fiords? The bulk of the photos we have are from an area in the west of the south island called Fiordland. We spent 3 nights in a town called Te Anua, which is a great place to explore this area from. We took boat cruises on both Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound, which were similar but different. Doubtful
is 10 times larger than Milford, but the "smallness" of Milford really makes you feel small as the massive fiord walls rise up out of the water next to you. Getting to Milford Sound required us to drive a route that is a World Heritage Site for its beauty. There is no way that I can put into words the spectacular scenery, so I am not even going to try. I hope you can get a little idea from the photos and again....you need to go there. This is a definite must for anyone going to NZ.
We also liked Te Anua for other reasons. We had a place on Lake Te Anua and there was a bar next door called The Moose that we went to every night. We were there on a weekend, so they had a live bad that was good. They were loud and got the crowd going, especially those we named The Psycho Sisters, Crazy Legs and The Tube Top Sisters.
And did we mention that the sky was so clear at night that we would stand in the hotel parking lot and look at the stars like we had a telescope? I
don't know if we've ever seen the Big Dipper so clearly before.
After we left Fiordland we went to Queenstown, the adventure capital of the south. We stayed 2 nights here. After we checked into the hotel we went to the Shotover Canyon for a ride on the Shotover Jet. It is a power boat that was designed specifically for its maneuverability at high speeds and potentially, in very shallow water. He said the boat can operate in as little as 10 cm of water and goes 80 kph. It burns 2 litres of special hybrid, jet fuel per minute. The driver took us down the river in an obstacle course type of ride, coming within 2 feet of the canyon wall (I know, I had a seat on the end) and even closer to the logs in the water. He sent us into 360's and made sure that we all came out wet. This was a lot of fun and we recommend doing this. And in an "it's a small world, isn't it moment", the people sitting next to Doug were from Atlanta so they chatted about home.
I swear there is something in the air in
Queenstown that makes people more adventurous. There is almost a palpable feeling of testosterone or stupidity (they're almost the same thing, aren't they?) buzzing around town. Everybody is talking about bungy jumping, gliding, boating, etc., so in a moment of God knows what, I signed up to go skydiving! I had thought about it in the past, usually in the "no f*&@#$ way" would I do it, but I thought "what the hell?" For having a night to sleep on it, I was surprisingly calm. Not even when I upgraded to the 15,000 feet jump (that's 16,200 feet above sea level, mind you), nor when the plane door opened to let a couple of people out at 13,000 feet nor even when I was taking a couple of hits of oxygen before I headed out the door, was I really nervous. It wasn't until I could feel the wind whipping my legs around outside the door as my jump master held me on the edge for a few seconds and then fell over face down, couldn't feel gravity against my body for a full minute and started hurling towards the ground that I wondered what I was doing. Once I
got past the first few thousand feet, give or take a couple, I realized that I just had to go with it. Once that happened, it was an indescribable feeling of euphoria that I have never had before. Maybe I'll be able to spot it on the video when I get home. I do know that my freestylin' moves have been captured on film. I told them they could use my video in the training session as what NOT to do. And special props to my fellow 15,000 foot jumper, Olaf, from Germany. Although I would have liked to share this experience with Doug, I am glad that Olaf was there to have a few beers with afterwards and share the excitement.
In all seriousness, I am really glad that I did it. The feeling of acccomplishment in overcoming a fear of jumping out a plane at that height is something I will always remember. My only problem is that I went out at the highest legal tandem jumping limit and I did it over the Remarkables mountain range on a clear day, what can I do for my second jump that will top this?
While I was
skydiving, Doug went on an adventure of his own. Not only did he do another wine tour, he did a gourmet wine tour. This one picked him up at the door and with only three other people (which is great to have such a small group), whisked him away to The Great Wine Experience along with tastings at four other wineries. The wineries included Gibston Valley, Olsten, Mt. Difficulty, and Chad Farms. Several more bottles were purchased and we polished off the Gibston Valley Sav. Blanc once Mary returned from her Skydive. Another unique experience included in the wine tour was the "Big Picture". This was a site that gave the wine consumer a little more information on the different "good" flavors and the "bad" flavors of wine. Once we completed our tour of the "Aroma Room" that has over 200 aromas to experience, we moved into an auditorium. We had our own glass of water along with five wine tastings. The video started and we traveled to various vineyards of the region via helicopter. We would then taste the wine while the owner of the respective winery was detailing out their aromatic impression of the wine. A very unique
way to cover many miles of the wine country while sitting in an auditorium! The Big Picture also offered lunch. We had platters of salmon, cheeses, breads, pickles, etc. My favorite were the pickled cherries and pickled black walnuts (shell and all!). I looked for them in markets afterwards but could never find them...
At the end of this remarkable day we topped it off with some spicy Thai food and then went to a bar called Minus 5. The whole place is made of ice, even the glasses. They issued us parkas and gloves before we went in and only allowed us to be in there for 30 minutes. That was a cool experience, but after a couple of over-priced drinks, we were ready to throw our glasses in the trash can and leave.
After we left Queenstown we headed north through Arthur's Pass, which had some more nice scenery, but not as dramatic as the stuff in the Fiordlands area. It is worth the drive, but make sure to bring along some CD's because the radio stations are few and far between and you lose them on some parts of the mountain.
After this we
headed to wine country in Blenheim, which I already mentioned. It was really tough to leave the south island, but we had to catch the ferry to Wellington. The ferry was 3 hours and it was somewhat overcast, so there wasn't much to see. Upon arrival into the windy city of Wellington, we boarded the shuttle bus and watched as the wind took hold of a trunk on a taxi cab and shattered the rear window. We honestly thought about skipping Wellington and driving north, but we decided to stay. The city is hilly, kind of like San Francisco, and we didn't find anything special there that made us want to stay. It did seem like the biggest variety of people were here, from ethnicity to clothing styles. This was where we had the Indian piggy platter though.
From there we drove to Rotorua, which is the center of the Maori culture, from what we were told. There were examples of Maori carvings and design on the streets and we saw more people with the tattoos on their faces and bodies. We got to eat more stonegrill here, but the town closed down rather early because it was Sunday.
We were going to go to the sulphur mounds and bubbling mud pits, but it was raining, so we just drove to Auckland.
We liked Auckland better than Wellington. Auckland is the biggest city in NZ and we both thought it reminded us of Sydney, although it is more of a Sydney wanna-be than it is in actuality, which isn't bad either. Water plays a big part in people's lives, with many sail boats going out every day after work for a cruise around the harbour. We found some good food here, from Asian to American. Particularly our last dinner and lunch were very good for both of us.
We thought it appropo to finish our trip the same way we started it, so we had a pint in an Irish bar. We are definitely sad to say goodbye to NZ, but know that we want to come back some day soon. And for the last time....you need to come here for yourself!!!!
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David Meyer
non-member comment
WOW WOW and WOW
OK, I'm going to NZ. Anyone else joining me? Jeez the pics are incredible and I'm sure they don't do it justice compared to being there!!! And now I'm hungry too...