The longest (distance) vacation Tammy and I ever took was to New Zealand. We’d been wanting to go for years and finally decided to take the plunge around Thanksgiving in 2004.
Day 1 – We made it to New Zealand
The travel gods smiled on us. Our flight to Los Angeles was on time and relatively smooth. We were able to get the bulk head, so we had plenty of leg room. The layover in Los Angeles wasn’t very long, and we go on empty seat between us for the leg to Aukland. The empty seat was a good thing, since Tammy spent most of the trip flipping around in her two seats. At times she even had parts of my one little seat.
Our flight arrived on time at 6am Monday morning Aukland time (11am Sunday Texas time). Now that I think about it, we left home to eat lunch at noon Saturday and were trying to figure out how to drive on the wrong side of the road 24 hours later. Oh well, I don”t think we hit anyone.
We got into our hotel, spent a few minutes in the hot tub and then headed out to explore. We ended up eating lunch at the top of the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere. The most interesting part was that the wind is blowing 25 knots and you could feel the tower sway…………… No, on second thought, the most interesting part was watching the fools jump off. If you paid them some money, they would hook you to a harness and talk you into walking the plank right above the restaurant. It wasn’t quite a free fall, but it was darn close. There was a platform to land on with a big red bulls eye.
We stayed there long enough to make the full trip around. Aukland is in a very interesting area with lots of water. You wouldn’t believe the sailboats that we saw. In the marinas, the sailboats out number the power boats easily 20 or 30 to 1. The other interesting thing about Aukland is that there is not a single straight street in the whole town.
We’re heading back to the hotel now. I think we’re not going to stay up all day today as Tammy had planned. Tammy is about to slide off her chair beside me. I’d better get her home before I have to carry her.
Tomorrow we have reservations to go for a match race in the America’s Cup boats. These are two of the boats that were built for San Diego. If it’s blowing tomorrow like it is today I sure hope we don’t repeat the broken boat episode.
More later.
Lee and Tammy
Day 2 – We wake up in Aukland
We went to bed around 4PM local time Monday. I got up at 7pm and offered to take Tammy to dinner. I took the groan as a no and headed out. A couple of hours later Tammy was still asleep and I went back to sleep. I got up at 4am to visit the head. There was Tammy in the tub. She said it was about time I got up. When I told her it was 4am, she said that explained why it was still dark out side. Her watch was still on Dallas time and she thought it was 9am. She’s not much of a morning person, so she might be expected to confuse 4am and 9am. Anyway, she said it was my fault for not setting her watch and promptly went back to bed. I got her up for good at 6am, and we headed down for breakfast. That makes a total of 14 hours since she had gone to bed. I think she’s caught up on her sleep now.
First on our tour today was the Maritime Museum. Museums are normally good for about an hour. We spent 3 hours in this one. Any museum that has it’s largest exhibit a hall of sailing dinghy’s is my kind of place.
After a really good lunch and a little sightseeing, we headed out for our sail on the America’s Cup boat. For those of you that are sailors, we were on NZL40, which was a 1995 vintage boat. If you remember it was in 95 that the Ausie boat broke in half in 25 knots of wind. I could see the harbor and it was puffy and easily hitting 20 knots, but they assured us we’d get to sail. We were scheduled to take both boats out for a match race, but with the strong winds, they decided not to risk a collision, and we only took one boat out.
There was 4 real crew, so all the grinding was done by all of us tourists. Trust me, the main sheet in 25 knots takes at least 4 and preferably 8 people breaking a good sweat.
Tammy was the first to steer and did a pretty good job once she remembered it was a wheel and not a tiller. I got my turn as we were heading for the harbor bridge. It responds to the helm a lot faster than I expected for a boat that long (80′). The gusts were hitting pretty hard, but a couple inches on the helm was all you needed to feather it up. As we approached the bridge the skipper asked me to pinch a little. I was thinking he was looking at the pilings up ahead about 300 yards. No. it seems we can only clear the bridge in the dead center and were getting a little close to hitting the mast. Once clear of the bridge we went a couple hundred yards, tacked, bore off and rocketed back down the harbor.
We headed back around the point to where we could see where the America’s Cup races had been. By then we were getting a steady 25 to 30 knots of true wind. WOW!!!!!!!
The two hours flew by and we were back in the harbor. We’re on our way back to the hotel now. We’re planning on heading South in the morning. Not sure what we’ll do, but Tammy wants to spend the day crawling through slim and cold water in the black water caves. We’ll see……..
Lee
Day 3 – We are going to die
We left Aukland Wednesday morning and headed South to Waitomo to do some caving. We’d checked the various brochures and Tammy picked the group she wanted to go on. I was lobbying for not having to wear a wet suit, but I don’t get a lot of votes in this group.
I wasn’t sure to be happy or sad when Tammy picked the 100m Abseil with a dry route out. (That’s a 300 ft rappel for you Americans.) They took us for a 20 minute ride in a van. They said it was because the cave was on private land, but I knew it was to keep us away from our cars, so we couldn’t back out. Once we got our gear fitted, and they gave us a minute’s instruction on how to clip into safety lines, we were off down the trail.
You walk out onto a platform over the sink hole and they clip 4 of you together with a guide. Then it’s off the platform and down the hole. Our guide had told us the ropes were new and a little slick, but I had to actually work myself down the rope at first. After 50 feet or so, a light pressure would hold and a release would start the down slide. Things were going OK.
It didn’t help to look down, the hole just went into the darkness. Looking up was just depressing. There was no hoep in going back up. One of the girls with us was a real hoot. She would drop 6 or 8 feet and come to a quick stop and bounce up and down on the rope. Tammy thought this was great fun and had her go at it. By this point, I was starting to figure out the physics of the situation. The farther we went down, the less the rope below you weighed. The weight of the rope was acting to help retard your slide, so the further you went down, the more you had to grip to keep from sliding. Add to this the fact that the ropes were wet down lower, and it was all I could do to hold position. What Fun !!!!!!!!!!!
After about 30 minutes, we got to the bottom, and headed back into the cave for our dry route out. This turned out to be climbing over wet rocks with only the occasional safety rope to hook into. We were making steady, but slow progress up, and I was beginning to wonder how this trip was only going to last 4 hours. After we left the last of the entrance light, they had us turn our head lamps off to see the glow worms. It looked like the top of the cave was covered with stars.
Then we got the surprise they had promised us. Our route out was up a 30m steel ladder with small round rungs. There was a general sinking feeling in the group, but no one really wanted to spend the rest of their life below ground, so there was no choice. Tammy went first, and since she had to be off the top before the next person could start, we got to wait around at the bottom as her head lamp disappeared into the darkness above you. She called down a few words of encouragement about how much the ladder swayed and such.
One thing she didn’t bother to tell us was that she was leaving muddy foot prints on each and every rung that we would have to grip with our hands. Oh boy oh boy………… Since there was no Internet cafe at the bottom, you might have guessed that I eventually made it to the top.
While we were sitting around trying to get our legs and arms moving again, we got to talking to the guide. It seems we had the actual guide and same hole as the Prime Minister used.
After we got back to the car, we headed on further South.
Tammy is going to pay for this one.
Lee
Day 4 – We can’t move
After spending one day grinding winches on the AC boat and the next day climbing, our mussels were in serious need of a rest. We stopped at a geothermal area to do some gentle leg stretching. It’s not as big as Yellowstone, but very interesting. It seems the area just came alive in 1886 with major geyser eruptions fairly recently. We spent several hours walking along the paths observing. The paths were basically down hill, and a bus brought you back to the top. Just what the doctor ordered to stretch the legs.
We headed on South for some sight seeing from the car. What is amazing is that the scenery changes so fast. You would start with hills like Arkansas, then the next valley would look more like Colorado. Then there were nearly flat sections then really steep sections.
For my motorcycle friends, this country is just what you’ve been looking for. If you stay on the major highways, you will wear your tires out evenly. If you get on the lesser highways, you will wear out the sides way before you wear out the center. I know went for 10 to 20 kilometers at a time without having anything straight in the road. The roads are all well maintained, but don’t count on shoulders.
We spent about 7 hours driving and ended up on the South West coast around dinner time. Tammy wasn’t feeling very good by the time we got to town. Her sinus’s were acting up and the constant turning had her a nice shade of green. We found a nice little motor lodge and checked in for the night. They had a small restaurant attached, so we decided not to venture out. What a find !!!!!!! The food was incredible. That got Tammy back in the swing of things.
Friday morning we got up early and headed down to Wellington. That’s where we are right now. We’re catching the 5:30 ferry over to the South Island. Fortunately we stopped at one of the I-site’s yesterday to get the info on the ferry. It seems only one ferry is in service right now, so the seats are a littel scarce. We were able to book yesterday, so if we can find the terminal, we’re on our way.
Tammy just informed me the meter is about to run out on the car, so I’d better be on my way.
Lee
Day 5 – Ferry ride
Well I finally got to an Internet cafe, so I’ll try and catch up.
The last time I wrote was in Wellington. For a capital, Wellington is a small friendly town. They’ve fixed up the waterfront with a really nice park and walkway. It seems the thing to do at noon on Friday is take your lunch down to the park and enjoy the sunshine. There was even a free concert going on near the mall, and the singer wasn’t bad.
We had reservations on the 5:30 ferry to the South island. One of the two ferries is in dry dock, so they had warned us to make reservations. With only three sailings per day and one of them at 1:30am, you didn’t want to get left behind. After they loaded the trains, trucks, buses, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and foot traffic we were off. We checked our car in so we didn’t have to take it across.
The wind was blowing around 30 knots which seems to be normal around here. The problem was our ferry rolled like a pig. She started rolling as son as we left the dock and she rolled until they tied her up at the far end. The roll on a boat larger enough to have a train on board is going to be slow, but it was enough to make walking below decks a real challenge.
We started out with some great seats on a aft deck. We were protected from most of the wind and had a tremendous view. This lasted until we cleared the headlands into the Cook Straights. With a 30-35 knot wind on the beam and the ferry making 19 knots, there was a 50 knot wind across the decks. If that wasn’t enough, we were getting spray up on deck 7. I ventured out for some photos and a new hair do, while Tammy stayed in her comfy indoor seat.
We trip to Picton was 3 hours, so we had a view of the sunset as we were steming up the channel past mountains that reminded us of Desolation Sound. We’re far enough South for the twilight to last over an hour, so it was truly majestic.
The only real drama was at the car rental counter. They’d forgotten to notify them I was coming. Fortunately I got the last car Budget had, so all was well. Our hotel was about two blocks from the ferry terminal, so we settled in for the night.
Lee
Day 6 – Tammy tries to kill me
We headed out of Picton on Queen Charlott Drive. It’s listed in the guide books as a scenic route. WOW !!!!!!!!!!
We were stopped to take pictures when the the motorcycles that had made the ferry ride over came by. The sport bikes in full leathers were doing maybe 30mph to give you an idea. I can picture people coming over from Wellington just to make this drive.
It was during one of our picture stops that I began to realize Tammy may be out to collect on my life insurance. She wanted a picture of some flowers so we walked back up the road a ways. There’s no shoulder, but there was a grassy area about a foot wide between the pavement and the bushes. She found the flower she wanted and I started to take a picture of it. Then she decided that the picture needed to be from a slightly different angle. I took one small step away from the road and into thin air. Those buses turned out to be really really tall. My feet never did hit ground, but fortunately the thorns were thick enough to stop me. I managed to get back up on the road and decided to make sure and not drop a wheel off the pavement (there are no guard rails). After a few minutes of pulling stickers out of my everything we headed off. Never did get the flower picture.
We drove most of the day and ended up on the west coast. Lots of scenery. This is motorcycle heaven. The roads are perfect and the motels all have chars out front.
Lee Cash
Day 7 – Tammy tries to kill me again
Sunday we headed down the coast. We stopped off to see a seal colony and some interesting rock formations. At Greymouth we stopped in at the I-site to get some info. We found out that if we rushed on down to Franz Joseph glacier we could catch the 3pm guided tour. The speed limit is 100kph and I double-dog-dare you to average much over 50 or 60. Anyway, we made it before my arms gave out from turning.
Tammy decided that something she had eaten for lunch was trying to eat her, so she sent me on the tour by myself. I should have been thinking about the flower episode.
They gave us waterproof pants, boots, wool socks, and a rain jacket. The rain jacket was a good touch since it was raining. A 5 minute drive out of town they parked and we unloaded. We had a 10 minute walk through a rain forest to the river bed. Then the guide told us that the faster we made it up the river bed, the more time we’d have an the glacier. There were 9 people in my group and none of them were over 25. We made it to the glacier in 25 minutes when it normally takes 45 minutes. You could see the face of the glacier for a long time, but you couldn’t get a sense of the size.
At the base the guide pointed out the ant people that were up at the top of the first rise, then the micro-ant people up further up where we were going. The only problem is that I do mean UP. In one of the attached pictures, you can see the ant people.
The glacier has been receding for the past few years and recently started advancing again. As it advances, the face gets steep like a wave coming onshore. They had cut steps in the face and up we went. After an hour of climbing wet ice steps to the moon we were onto the first almost flat area. The guide informed us we were standing on 90 meters of ice. Of course, since the valley floor was also rising as we went, we’d climbed more than that. As it turned out, we were about half way up.
I’d always wondered why they call the teeth you put on the boots cramp ons rather than clamp ons. Now I know. When you put these things ON your boots, your legs are going to CRAMP.
The guide pointed out that they like to walk in the bottom of the crevasses rather than on the top. You can’t fall far if you are already in the bottom. So we headed up a crevasse. Unfortunately, it ended after about 50 yards. Then it was straight up maybe 20 feet. The crevasse was about 2 feet wide and there were steps cut in alternating side to put your feet in. I made it up without looking down. One of the smaller girls behind me didn’t have long enough legs to make the steps and was stuck. The guide walked over to the edge and asked her if she needed help. When she said yes, his answer was typical Kiwi humor, “too bad”. He did manage to get her up somehow and we were off to more serious exploring.
At one point I was squeezing down a crevasse when I got stuck. Everyone in front of me had made it with some wiggling a squirming, but I was stuck. It seems the back pack I was wearing had a hard frame. The crevasse was too narrow for the frame and I couldn’t turn sideways with the pack on. Neither could I raise my arms to get the pack off. I finally figured out that I could reach one hand back and grab the strap on the top on raise the pack enough to free it.
By the time we got back I was totally exhausted. Tammy swears she was really sick, but…………….
Lee
Day 8 – Twisty Roads to Queenstown
We spent Monday driving down the coast to Queenstown. I offered the send Tammy up on the glacier, but she declined. I even offered her the helicopter ride up. Now I know she had no desire to see the ice, she was only trying to get rid of me. I got even with her. Five hours of driving down the twisty roads had her a beautiful shade of green.
To give you a idea of the roads, I’ve attached a picture of one of the longer straights we had today. Please bear in mind that this is the major highway on the west coast, and this is as big as it gets.
I stopped to take some pictures, and she just groaned.
We’re in Queens town now. We checked in at the i-site and made our reservations for the next few days. Fortunately the credit card is still working.
I won’t spoil the surprises, but we should have some good stories and pictures in the next three days or so.
We’re off for dinner and maybe a trip up the gondola to see the town. If we get in early enough, there are laundry facilities in our hotel.
See ya later.
Lee
Day 9 – Queenstown
We really enjoyed Queenstown. Now you’ve got to realize that it rained constantly and is turning seriously cold. Neither of these conditions are what you would call good for Tammy. However, I’ve got pictures to prove she’s smiling.
We got lucky with the reservations. The i-site sent us to a hotel right on the waterfront. We didn’t have a view from our room, but the hotel was extremely nice for the price. They even had self laundry facilities, so we got all our clothes cleaned. We got up late for us (7am) and had a big breakfast. Then it was a short walk across the street to the departure point for our day’s cruise.
Actually, we had to make a detour a few blocks into town and get gloves and ear warmers. The temp is falling like a rock and the steady rain has a real chill in the air.
The cruise was on a coal fired steamer that was launched in 1912. The original steam engines are still working, and you could tour the engine room while under way. This was some seriously cool machinery. It’s twin screw with dual triple expansion steam engines good for 500 hp each.
The cruise took us across the lake to a sheep farm for the obligatory demonstration. We hadn’t seen a sheep sheared yet, so this was a good opportunity to check off that activity. They also gave the demo of the Border Collie bringing the sheep in from the pasture. Tammy liked this part, because she got to pet the dog. She did comment that a working Border Collie in the rain is a truly dirty animal.
After the shearing, it was tea time. Then back out for some more tours of the farm. The farm is still a working farm with something like 160,000 acres dedicated to sheep. I think they said there was about 40,000 sheep in total. They keep about 400 sheep in the area around the house for the tours.
Tammy took a bunch of pictures of the flowers on the grounds. They do like to dress the place up a bit.
On the cruise back to town we all gathered around the baby grand piano for a sing along. We had people from Germany, Singapore, Netherlands, Korea, China, and probably a few others. Fortunately, the piano player sang loud enough to drown out Tammy and I.
We were scheduled to take the jet boat ride up the Shotover river gorge on our way out of town. My luck is improving. Since it was raining, they weren’t running the boats. They said something about it being too painful. How could you feel pain when you’re scared to death? Anyway, Tammy missed her chance to do me in today, so I’ll just have to keep my eyes open.
We drove about two and a half hours up to Te Anu this afternoon. We’ve checked into our motel (more chairs out front) and had a pizza for dinner. We’re on our way to the grocery store to get lunch for tomorrow, since we won’t be near a restaurant at lunch time. If I live to tell the story, you’ll find out later.
Lee
Happy Thanksgiving
The one food we haven’t seen in New Zealand is turkey, so we’ll probably be eating lamb for Thanksgiving. You guys all have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Day 10 – Doubtful Sound
Before I get started with the Doubtful Sound story, Tammy says I left off a major event from Day 9.
As we were shopping for our gloves in the morning, they had an earthquake. The story owner was up in the loft and noticed the moose head stating to sway. He called the earthquake before we felt it, but we soon FELT it. Everything was rocking and rolling. Kind of like standing on a 35 foot sailboat going downwind. There was lots of stuff hanging in the story that let you know how much we were moving. The cars out front were also noticeably rocking. It probably lasted 20 or 30 seconds. Later we found out the epicenter was a little off the Southwest coast of New Zealand and was rated at a 7.2 or 7.3. I don’t think Tammy arranged that one.
Now back to Doubtful Sound.
After another big breakfast we drove about 20 kilometers to the nearest town. There we boarded about a 50 foot sightseeing boat for a 25 kilometer cruise across the lake. They poked into several coves on the way. At the far side we unloaded at the power station. Since the lake is huge and nearly 600 feet above sea level, someone realized they had the makings of a good hydroelectric plant. The only problem is the lake was made by glaciers and emptied into a river. No one wanted to build a dam and flood the town, so they built the power plant underground. All they had to do was tunnel down 600 feet, carve out an area big enough to put their power plant in, then dig an exhaust tunnel 10 kilometers to the sea. It was all pretty impressive. Heck, just watching the bus driver getting down the tunnel to the plant and turned around was worth the trip.
After the power plant we drove over to Doubtful Sound. The road from the power plant to Doubtful Sound was built as a part of the construction of the power plant. It seems when they were trying to figure out how to get the generators to the plant, they realized that trucking them in from any of New Zealand’s ports would involve rebuilding several hundred kilometers of road and hundreds of bridges. Surely it would be easier to just build the 20 kilometer road from scratch. Well, they misjudged a little. By the time they were through, it had cost them $2 per centimeter and was by far the most expensive 20 kilometers in the whole country. Now the road’s sole purpose is to ferry tourists to the dock in Doubtful Sound.
At the dock we boarded a big cruise ship for the tour of Doubtful Sound. Of course, the first thing they point out that this is not a sound, it is a fjord. Sounds are made by rivers, fjords are made by glaciers. It was about another 25 kilometers out to the Tasmin Sea. The whole trip was just breath taking. The sun was popping in and out of the clouds, and every turn was more spectacular than the last. Eventually it was time to turn back and retrace out steps back to Te Anau.
The whole trip filled the day and it was nearly 9pm by the time we got back to town. We found a great little pizza shop for still another fantastic meal.
Lee
Day 11 & 12 – Milford Sound
Doubtful Sound was a tough act to follow, but we had booked an over night trip on Milford Sound, so we packed a carry on bag and headed out bright and early Thursday morning. For us that means somewhere around 11am. They had said the drive to Milford would take two and a half hours, so we allowed five hours. We got there right on time. It seems there was lots of pull outs with spectacular scenery.
At one stop a cute Swedish girl asked for a ride up the road to a phone. Of course I said yes. It seems they had a flat on their motor home and couldn’t figure out how to get the spare out from under the rear. It was only about 3 miles to the only place within 20 miles that had a phone. She got the instructions and we headed back. By the time we got there a bicyclist from Sweden they had met the day before had stopped and helped her husband figure it out. On we went.
Our ship for the evening had 30 double cabins and we got settled right in. There was the brief safety lecture and we started out the Sound. This Sound is much smaller and I would say more spectactular than Doubtful Sound. The mountains seem to go straight up. At times they disappeard in the clouds. Then the clouds would break and reveal the craggy snow covered peaks right above you. The captain knew all the special nooks and pocked in to give us a better look. One he was particularly proud of was a falls. He said for everyone that had missed their morning showers to make their way to the foredeck. True to his word, he stuck the bow pulpit in the falls.
After about a one hour tour of the Sound, we’d seen penguins and sea lions. We then picked up a mooring in the most protected cove. There we had our choice of activities. Tammy and I were the only two that opted for the kayaks. With the recent history, I wasn’t going on the kayak unless Tammy also went on one. Ah, that was her plan. As soon as we were 100 yards from the ship, she “lost control” and rammed me. I remembered that the water temp was 10C, so avoided flipping over.
We had a guide along with us, and she took us to some places likely to have penguins. Sure enough, we were able to paddle right up to several nesting pairs of Yellow Crested penguins. These are one of the most rare breeds of penguins and make southern New Zealand their nesting grounds. They’ll be leaving in a few days, so we were very fortunate to see them.
After about 45 minutes it was time to head back up wind to the ship. You could see the rain coming across the Sound and we were beating into about a 20 knot breeze. That made for a bit of a wet trip, but we arrived just as the first rain drops fell. There were also two launches from our mother ship that were out for a cruise. Each one held 16 people, and they made the second one wait while we got aboard. Our timing was perfect.
After a quick shower (private bath) and dry clothes, we headed up for dinner. We sat with a couple from New Jersey and a couple from France. They are both spending more like 5 weeks in New Zealand. Maybe when we’re rich.
Breakfast came at 7am. They wanted to have time to cruise back out to the Tasmin Sea before we returned to the dock. Again the scenery was spectacular. With the sun on the other side, I got a whole new set of photos.
We were back on land around 9am for our drive back. It became obvious pretty quick that it had snowed during the night. The I remembered the signs at the pass. It seems they require you to have chains in the car up until November 30. OOOPs. Thank goodness the sign said the road was open and we headed out to face the oncoming buses coming in for the days tours.
The road climbs right up the mountain. At one point, it looks just like the roads in the alps with the hard switch backs and no guard rails. However, the crowning glory is the tunnel. They cut a one way tunnel through 1.2 kilometers of solid rock with a 1 in 10 grade. The guide books all say it is unlit, but they have added lights. There is a light hanging from the ceiling about every 100 feet. I can’t tell whether they helped or hurt. At the high end the ground was covered in a dusting of snow. From there we headed on down the valley back to Te Anau.
We drove on back to Queenstown, and are spending the night here. I’m giving Tammy another chance to get me on the Shotover river in the morning. From there were heading up through the middle of the South Island. We have a room for Saturday night, but I’ve forgot where.
I’m going to head back to the hotel and wake Tammy up for dinner.
Later.
Lee
Day 13 – Score one for Lee
We got up early Saturday to take the Jet Boat in the Shotover river. We checked and this is the one the Prime Minister did, so if it’s good enough for her………
The morning was cold (10C) but clear, so they were running. I pulled one over on Tammy by getting her to sit right behind the driver. It turns out when the driver wants to get really close to a rock, he does it on his side. This put the rocks whizzing past her head at a close distance and high rate of speed. He said the boat was limited to 80kph and he ran flat out. Trust me that is plenty fast with rocks about 2 feet from your head. We also did a bunch of 360 degree spins. It was a real hoot. With two 300 hp engines driving jet pumps, the boat was amazingly agile. He could get it rocking from side to side the turn and cut the throttle. The rear end would let go and the boat just spin. Cooool.
After that we headed North. There was a warbird museum I had seen on the way down that was worth the stop. They have a collection of Russian fighters as well as a Hurricane, Spitfire, Sopwith Camel, and several others I’ve forgotten right now. The museum was surprisingly well done with a lot of info about the NZ involvement in both World Wars.
The next destination was Mount Cook. They call the mountain chain the Southern Alps, and this is no exaggeration. The peaks are all snow covered and just jut right up into the sky. We’ve got some pictures, but they won’t do them justice.
We’re stopped next to a glacier fed lake right now. Tammy picked this town because they had a bronze statue to the Border Collie. The working dog is a big deal in this part of the world, and New Zealand wouldn’t be the same place without the ability to work the sheep in this mountains.
Tammy’s back is hurting, so she’s gone to bed, and the machine I’m working on is coin operated. I would have made today’s story longer, but I’m running out of coins.
Our current plan is to head on into Christchurch tomorrow. However, we don’t have any reservations, and our flights are not for a few days yet. We could change our mind at any moment. It’s awfully pretty here.
Lee
Day 14 & 15 – Christchurch
Well, we decided to come on down to Christchurch. We found a few more beautiful stops along the way. The most interesting was a museum in a small town. It turns out to be a club that collects cars, tractors, earth movers, farm implements, and who knows what else. It was really neat.
We did a quick tour through the Botanic gardens last night, and took a guided walking tour this morning. Our guide added a lot of the history of the region and people that founded the area. The walking tour lasted 2 hours, which was about 20 minutes more than I had feet. Our guide had been doing the tour for 10 years and is probably 70. I almost had to trot to keep up with him. There is something about this climate that give the people a lot of energy.
At lunch we met a woman from the US that spends about 2 months a year here in Christchurch. She and her husband used to do a lot of traveling around the world. Now she carries on the tradition.
We’re heading out for the Avon river for a little boating, then down to the harbor to look around. We’re trying to decide whether to take the train trip in the morning or spend more time looking around the town. After that we’re off to Tahiti.
Lee
P.S. Lee is insisting he want’s to take me “punting” in the park. I’m a little concerned he might be looking for a way to get even for my accidental lightly bumping his kayak on Milford Sound. Of course here the water is like 2 feet deep compared to 1400 feet in the sound. We’ll seeeeee
Tammy
Day 16 – Are you sure this is the way?
Well I let Tammy live. We took an old row boat down the Avon river. The river was really shallow and it was going to be hard to hold her under, especially with all the people strolling on the banks. We just had to sit back and enjoy the flowers.
After the boat ride we decided to take a quick trip over to the harbor in Lyttletown. It was OK, but the trip back was interesting. There is a tunnel through over a kilometer of rock, or you can drive over the scenic roads. We opted for the scenic route home and got more than we bargained for. Up until now I thought the roads were narrow and twisty. Boy was I wrong, They are NARROW and TWISTY. We made it back to Christchurch before my heart gave out. We found a nice little local pub on the way into town that had really good food, so all was not lost. We decided to spend our last day taking a drive out the Banks peninsula. There is an old French town out here and several small harbor towns along the way. Sounded like a good idea for the day. Well, we started back in Lyttletown then headed up the scenic roads to the next town (I should have learned.).
Things were going fine until I think we got off the map. At one little town we had two choices. One was paved and had a “No Exit” sign. The other was dirt and had a “Limited Passing Next 14 kilometers” sign. They were not kidding about the limited passing opportunities. I never met anyone head on. It would have been a long negotiation if we had. I got one picture of the car filling the road with the sheer drop off on Tammy’s side. A little later I would have liked another picture. However, it was too narrow to get out of the car. I couldn’t open the door on my side and Tammy might have disappeared if she got out. I didn’t get the exact time, but it took us close to an hour to cover the 14 kilometers. I think the scenery was spectacular, at least that’s what Tammy said. Actually, the jeep trail out of Telluride is wider.
We’re in Akaroa right now recuperating. There is a major highway back to Christchurch. In this part of the world, major highways have lines at the edge of your lane with usually a foot pavement before the edge of the world. We’re heading out early in the morning. I have no idea what to expect in Tahiti, except that my long sleeve shirts will remain packed until I get back to Ft Worth.
If you don’t hear from me again, we’ll be back in town Saturday.
Lee