Queenstown: Our Final Venture

After tens of hours in rental cars, thousands of kilometers on beautiful roads, and countless nights of not being able to feel my toes, we finally reached Queenstown. In this city you can do any extreme sport you can think of: skydive, paraglide, snowboard, or the all famous Bungy Jump. We did none of these upon landing in this amazing city...instead we got in the car and drove for almost 5 hours all the way out to Milford Sound and Mitre Point, the Number 1 thing all Kiwis must do. Mitre Point is a mountain out in the middle of Milford Sound and it is nearly always covered by clouds or rain. If you get to see it on a sunny day then you are quite lucky because it rains 6,700 mm a year here.

Mitre Point...covered in clouds as always. 

I know I look special... but in my defense, it is about 40 degrees, windy as could be, raining, and I think I may be wearing 4 shirts...

 The road to Mitre Point may well be one of the coolest we ever took. It is 110 Kilometers from the nearest town one way which means you better fill up your tank before you even think of making the drive. In order to get there you must drive through the Rainforests of Fiordland National Park and then into the dark depths of Homer Tunnel. The tunnel is straight through a mountain. It was opened in 1954 and for quite a while it was the largest tunnel in the world. It is just over 1.25 km long and it doesn't have smooth walls like the tunnels we are used to in the States...you are driving straight through the rugged rock of the mountain.

I didn't take this picture...you aren't allowed to stop your car near the tunnel during any season except summer because there is a significant risk of avalanche...but this is the eastern portal of the Homer Tunnel.

We stayed in a pretty camp site that night and then visited Humboldt Falls the next day.

camp

Sometimes I wish that we could get closer to the amazing sites





The clouds cleared enough to see the top for less than five minutes!



Just about as soon as we left the Falls it started to rain...and it didn't stop until about 8 pm...We spent a long day in the tent while we played cards. We also got attacked by thousands of Blackflies which are kind enough to bite.

Blackflies that were on our porch...they didn't get into the tent but they did make it really hard to leave.

We spent our last full day in Queenstown where both of my travel buddies Bungy jumped. I didn't do it for a number of reasons, but I think the most valid is the fact that I like to blackout when I am upside down for more than a second or two...which would not be good if I were to hang that way for a couple of minutes. We visited another gold mining settlement too: Arrowtown. We spent our last night of camping in New Zealand at Lake Moke...my official favorite campground.

I decided I would live in this mountain later in life.

Words cannot express how cool it was to see the mountains perfectly reflected in the lake. It was a perfect end to my travels in New Zealand.

And finally a picture or two from the plane ride home:

The color of the water here is unreal.

A taste of the Southern Alps

A bit of the North Island (Including some Lord of The Rings!)

An evening flight to Wellington began our North Island adventure where we did lots of driving, slept in a different bed almost every night, saw lots of Lord of the Rings filming sites, and climbed some very epic trees. We landed in Wellington with no idea where we were really going and no clue which bus stop to use but we eventually made it to our first hostel. We spent two nights in this place and I wasn't so fond of it. It kind of felt like I was being locked in. We spent our first full day touring the Te Papa museum for the most part. It is a huge national museum with everything from Moas to art. We also visited the Weta Cave, a small film museum that did not meet our expectations at all...but did yield a nice picture or two.

The actor who played this Orc really was that big! The statue is on a stand that is about a foot high so if you drop him to a foot shorter you get a life-size version. He was nearly 7 feet tall and had a chest that really was that wide!

Just hanging out with Smeagle (the man at the museum gave me permission to touch :))

After a couple of rainy days in Wellington we walked the outskirts of the Shire and then moved on to Rivendell where we had a lovely lunch. After touring some of the scenery from the Elven City, we moved on to Mordor...which happened to be covered in snow...it was creepy all the same.



If you are a true LOTR fan you will be able to recognize this as the road that the Black Rider chases the hobbits down as they leave the Shire.



My favorite tree in Rivendell

Tawhai Falls

Mordor...well sort of. It would look much more realistic if there wasn't any snow.

While we were leaving Mordor we saw the best rainbow I have ever seen. It was a perfect arch with a connection in the middle and a secondary rainbow hovering to the side.
Our next hostel was a fun place called A+ Samarai Lodge in the tiny town of Turangi. There isn't much to about Turangi except that it is a town of few happenings bit many fun people. An hour up the road was Taupo, home of Huka Falls. While in Taupo we got to see a lot of amazing wildlife once again. We saw the elusive Blue Duck which has been the focus of several conservation projects and a lot of restoration. This was also where we saw hundreds of water plumes from surfacing hot springs.

Huka Falls, the most visited natural attraction in New Zealand (according to the sign in the carpark)

Next up: Rotorua where I did not take a single picture...the end...Rotorua may well be the most tourist oriented town in the North Island and that is probably why we didn't linger there very long. We soon moved on to Matamata. This is where Hobbiton is but we couldn't actually tour it because they have started the filming of the new movie. (By the way...to all of you that kept encouraging me to try for a part as a hobbit in The Hobbit you will be disappointed to know that I am 6 inches too tall to qualify...the casting call is for women that are 4'8" or less).

I didn't see any hobbits.

Our final destination was Auckland because what North Island trip would be complete without it? To be honest, I kind of hated most of Auckland...the city just doesn't hold a lot for me but we did get to watch the final showdown of a sheep shearing contest. We were probably the only three Americans in the crowd and we were by far the loudest people cheering. it was pretty cool.

On our last day in the North Island we did a little something for me. We went on six high-wire/tight-rope courses that were in the trees of a nearby forest. The highest  bits were 14 meters off the ground. I walked across a 3/4" thick metal cable 46 feet above the ground in the rain! Granted I did have two life cables attaching me to the trees, but it was really scary. There were some pretty intense obstacles too. It was kind of like doing a huge obstacle course that was between 8 and 14 meters off the ground complete with climbing nets, giant skateboards, swaying logs, and lots of zip-lines. It was one of the most challenging things I have ever done without a doubt. I am still sore after that one! My abs will never forgive me and there is a bruise and a scab from where I kindly punched a tree. Once we touched the ground again for the last time, we headed for the airport and flew home for a whole 10 hours before we flew off on our last adventure!

Glacial Glory

So I have kind of dropped the ball on this whole blog thing...In the last 17 days I have really only been home for about 4 of them. Crazy right? I have been doing crazy amounts of travelling so I will make 3 different posts about the 3 trips that I took recently. Firstly you all get to learn about the West Coast and the Glaciers!

On October 7 we set off for the Punakaiki Pancake rocks and Blowholes. This is a cool area where there are stacks of stone that is in sheets. Scientists cannot fully explain why the rocks do this.

From Punakaiki we scooted our way down to Hokitika, the Jade pub of New Zealand. We camped next to the beautiful Lake Matheson where we listened to a Morepork, New Zealands only Native owl...their call really is "Mooore-pork Mooore-Pork". While in Hokitika I bought a Jade ring :) After a rainy day of shopping we moved on to Gillespies Beach which was an old gold mining settlement.



Part of an abandoned bucket dredge




Coolest sheep ever




















We stayed there for two night because it was in a great location to get to Fox Glacier and to see Mount Cook; NewZealand's highest mountain.

The Twin Peaks: Mount Tasman and Mount Cook

We did a nice hike to Fox Glacier where we got to see it from above and then we walked to 200 meters from the ice face. You cannot get any closer than this unless you pay big bucks for a guide and the proper gear. It was here that we saw our first Kea, the only Alpine parrot in the world!

Coolest person in the world



Fox Glacier



Kea

We finished the trip with a hike through a pitch black glow-worm cave that had a river running through it. Let me tell you, that water was cold! And the cave was about 3/4 of a km long. Once you got to the end you were forced to turn back right away because there was no where to go except back so in total I walked a km and a half through that creek. Our final adventure for the trip was a drive up a super steep hill that our rental car couldn't get going more than 25 kmph. And thus concludes out tour of the West Coast.

Kiwi Birds, Pukekos, Wekas, and Dancing Ducks!

So what did this past weekend hold for me you ask? Amazing experiences with the birds of New Zealand of course! Now don't get me wrong, the beaches were beautiful but it really is hard to top a good weekend of bird watching.

We traveled to the far off land of Abel Tasman national park this weekend and this trip probably turned out to be the best one yet. We succeeded in having very few mess ups on this trip and everything that we planned actually happened for once. The drive to Abel Tasman took more than 6 and a half hours but it was well worth it. We drove through the Misty Mountains (as they are known in Lord of the Rings) and were almost all the way on the West Coast! Our drive to the campground where we stayed, Totaranui, was full of many near death experiences as we wove our way through a 12km one lane gravel road that has a cliff face on one side if you get too close and the promise of a bumpy ride down the mountain if you get to close to the other side,but Sophie, the girl who was driving, masterfully got us there in one piece.

While we were setting up out tent at about 9:45 or 10 that night, we heard the whistle of a kiwi bird. I was a bit unwilling to believe that's really what it was at first but I checked by wildlife book and I am now 100% sure that's what we were hearing. It was so exciting to hear them all night long! The males and females were distinctly different and I hardly slept because of all the racket they were making, but it was so worth it to be able to say I listened to them all night. The next morning when we got up we scurried down to the beach to look for foot prints of the kiwis that were feeding there the night before and there were so many!


Those prints that look like chicken feet are actually Kiwi prints!!!!!!

After setting down came we went for a 6 and a half hour hike through the (rain)forest and along several beaches. Abel Tasman really is a pretty place. It was on our way to the main trail when we saw the Weka and Pukekos. Both species are endemic  to NZ and they are flightless. So cool!

Weka



Pukeko




















During our hike we also heard a grey warbler. It is a discrete, tiny songbird but its call is the most complex and amazing call I have ever heard. Here is a taste of Abel Tasman...

I feel like every picture I take looks like it is really just a printed postcard

Separation point (+ Sophie)

After a long day of hiking we decided to move on to Picton where we would be leaving our rental car and catching a bus home. I think Picton is my very favorite town in New Zealand so far. It is cute and quiet yet there seems to be something going on if ever you want to have an adventure. This is where I got to see 4 bird species and 2 hybrid bird species all at one time! Observe:

Here you can see Red-billed Gulls, Black-billed Gulls, Hybrid Black-Red-billed gulls, Grey ducks, Mallards, and Hybrid Grey duck-Mallards! The 'dancing duck' is a Mallard-greyduck. The grey duck is endemic to NZ and Mallards are self introduced and now they interbreed so it is not unheard of to see hybrids all over the country.

And now I shall leave you with the dancing duck! Good day to you all!

A Kaikoura Sunrise

Howdy All! It has been a while, sorry about that. I have been doing a whole lot of nothing interesting for a couple of weeks. Well...sorta.
Since the last post, I helped put together 1,700 CD cases and stuff them with CDs for a group called The Harbour Union. They are a compilation of several Kiwi bands that were all affected by the major earthquakes so they got together and made a CD that is kind of about the quakes. They are selling it and giving 100% of the proceeds to help rebuild Lyttelton. They gave me free tickets to get into the first concert on their national tour as a thanks for helping them out and I must say that the concert was pretty darn cool. :)
But what  you guys really want to know about are all of my adventures right? I went camping this weekend in our super cool tent complete with front porch!

We spent 2 nights at a campground called Puhi Puhi which was just outside of the beautiful town of Kaikoura and at the foothills of the Kaikoura Mountain range. W got up at 5:45 am so that we could watch the sunrise at Seal Point on Saturday while we hung out with some really smelly fur seals.

The reef flats of Seal Point at 6 am

Foothills to the Kaikouras



TheKaikouras in all of their beauty

















We spent the morning looking at really cool intertidal marine creatures and then entire day hiking around the whole outside of the Peninsula and then straight across the middle again to get to a road that could take us to our car. I would love to share all 200 pictures with you but....I'll just share a few.


A Sea Anemone!




Pretty starfish, no?



If you can see all those tiny dots along the flat there then you will be happy to know you are looking at one of the largest fur seal mating colonies in the world

South Bay

We were pretty exhausted after our full day of hiking, so on Sunday we treated ourselves to a couple of hours in the hot pools of Hanmer Springs. It is a small inland town that sits over a bunch of natural hot springs that a resort has taken control of. It was only about 13 degrees C outside but we were sitting in 40 degree c water. It was nice and toasty in there.
Well that is all for now. I am home and ready for another week of classes followed by a weekend of learning (yupp another field trip).
I'll catch you later 

Spring break and microscopes

Howdy to all! I just got back today from the beautiful town of Kiakoura where I battled seals, captured starfish, collected snails, stuck my finger in a sea anenome (on accident) watched the sun rise...twice and a whole plethora of other exciting and not so exciting things. So why was I in such a magical place you ask? a fieldtrip of course!

My marine ecology class had a 5 day field trip where we learned all about rocky reef systems. I did lots of boring things while I was there like spend 22 hours in front of a microscope between the hours of 7 am on Monday and 3 pm on Tuesday. There were also painful things like getting up at 4 am to beat low tide out on the reef....that is when I battled seals...they just happened to be hanging around our field site where we had to set up our experiment so we had to scare them off...let me tell you it's not easy to scare off a family of seals in the dark when all you have with your is a head lamp and a clip board. I suppose we should have expected as much since we were at a place called "seal reef" because it is home to one of the largest mating colonies of these seals. They are an endangered species.

Despite how much it sucked getting up so early and how cold the ocean is at that time (I had to spend about an hour and a half catching sea snails for our experiment...my hands almost fell off), I did get to see two very pretty Kiakoura sunrises.

This hazy mountain view is what I looked at during breakfast and lunch each day. The landscape in the area is amazing plus it was kind of fun to watch the baby seals playing...from a distance.

The Road That Doesn't Want Travelers

Today we went to Sumner which is a small town just outside the city that has been badly damaged by the quakes because it is built into the side of a mountain. On our first day here, a man from Sumner described the road that leads into town as being "The road that doesn't want travelers" because after the quakes one side of the road started to get covered by rocks that are falling from the cliffs and the other side was being licked by the ocean most hours of the day. On a windy day the high tide will cover the edge of the road for a few minutes. We went down that road to enter the town and the whole time you are on it you can feel how much you shouldn't be. on the side with the falling rocks they have packing trailers (almost the size of semi trailers) Stacked 2 high to stop the rocks from killing the road. it is hardly more than one lane wide. It is the only pass for the people of Sumner to get into Christchurch where most of them work unless they drive around the mountains on the inland side which is several tens of miles extra. It was quite weird being on the road.







Pretty flower huh?



We had planned to hike at a place called Taylors Mistake which has lots of sheer cliffs and amazing views...but as usual our plans did not work out. Since the quakes they have had to close the pass because there are falling rocks that may or may not kill you if you aren't careful. We did however see some really nice views.





I really like that there is just a huge hole in the mountain.

I have noticed that I only really take pictures of rocks and plants...I really like trees and decided that I will live in a NZ tree later in life because they are just very cool.