Kiwi Land, Part VIII

Location: Gunn’s Camp vintage accommodation

Date: 31 May 2012

Time: 9:15 PM

It was still dark out when we left Queenstown at 6:45 for the deep south extension trip.  Our new driver is E.T. (as in the Spielberg movie).  All the Stray drivers are supposed to have weird nicknames (Whales, Gollum, Scratch, Swede, etc.), each with a funny story about how they acquired that moniker.  E.T. is pretty cool and laid back, different from Whales but in a good way.

The reason we left so early was so we could get to Milford Sound in time for our cruise.  We stopped briefly in Te Anau, the town nearby, first for some grocery shopping.  Of course, E.T. stopped at all the good vistas so we could take pictures like the typical tourists that we are (you know, a horde of people getting out of the bus, staring into the viewfinder, and jumping back on). Needless to say, the scenery is still amazing.

On of the stops was Mirror Lake, where the water is so smooth that it reflects the mountains above like a mirror.  We remarked that the mountains look even prettier in the reflection.

Mirror Lake

Anyways, we got to Milford Sound around 1.  Milford is actually a fjord (not sure why they call it a sound), about 8 miles long, stretching out to the Tasman Sea on the west coast.  The crystal blue water is about 1000 meters deep, and it’s surrounded on both sides with enormous cliffs over 1,500 meters high.  Countless waterfalls shoot through the trees and rocks into the fjord.

So the cruise was incredible.  The skipper pointed out what we were seeing as we headed out to sea on the south side and then back along the north.  (Most of the other people on the boat were Asian tourists, so they repeated all the commentary in various languages I didn’t understand which was a bit frustrating because it was loud and I just wanted to enjoy the view, but it’s only fair that they should understand what’s going on, I guess.)  It’s hard to explain exactly how amazing the view was.  All I could manage to say was ‘wow.’  It’s safe to say there are no places in the world more beautiful.

Apart from the scenery, the other highlights of the Milford cruise were seeing dolphins and seals, and also when the boat sailed right up next to the biggest waterfall so it sprayed everyone on the bow.

Dolphins!

Now we’re staying the night at Gunn’s Camp, a vintage 50s era accommodation.  When I say vintage, I don’t just mean style.  Really, this place runs on generator electricity.  The water for the shower is heated with an actual fire, and the cabins are heated with coal stoves that we had to light ourselves.

The coal stove that will keep us warm tonight.

The glowworm adventure…. Supposedly there was a spot near Gunn’s Camp where we would be able to see a bunch of glowworms, so Sandra, E.T. and I tried to go find them.  We didn’t.  We bushwhacked a few meters into the thick rainforest on the side of the road where we thought they were, with only a tiny flashlight, and then decided to turn back because we were lost.  We were getting smacked in the face with thorns and branches and all sorts of crazy things, until finally we got back to the road (not in the same place we left it) and had to climb up a muddy bank.  My jeans and shoes got filthy, but it was a worthwhile adventure (even though we didn’t see the worms).

Kiwi Land, Part VII

Location: Base hostel, Queenstown

Date: 30 May 2012

Time: 6:00 PM

I slept in until about 11 this morning, a nice luxury after a long night of partying.  Queenstown has a pretty exciting late-night scene.  With people from all three major tour companies, plus some more ‘freelance’ groups, there are significant numbers of young people around.  In fact, I happen to know a good number of them from Melbourne; apparently I wasn’t the only one with the idea to squeeze in this trip.  Small world, eh?

We did another hike this morning up Queenstown hill, a misnomer, really, because it was quite steep.  When I say we, I mean a motley crew of a myself, Mike (from England), Ida (Sweden), Sandra (Switzerland), and Abe (New Zealand via USA), and myself, the lonely Yank.  Per usual, we had a stunning panoramic vista from the top.  Had it not been for the enormous mountains, we would have been able to see for miles.

That was just the beginning of the hill.

The view from the top.

Proof that I am actually in New Zealand

When I got back to the hostel I booked a jet boat trip and a canyon swing (you’ll hear about these later) for Sunday when I get back from the deep south detour.  I also booked five luge rides for this afternoon.

The luge starting line.

Just the gondola ride would have been worth it.

That's the "ledge" bungy.  It's not much bigger of a drop than the Kawarau, but it's 400 meters above Queenstown so it's much scarier.  Also, you're attached at the waist (instead of the ankles) so you can jump or run off and do crazy things.

The luge is a really cool concept.  You take a quick gondola trip to the cliffs above Queenstown (which, of course, afforded me amazing views of the city and the lake it hugs), then a small chairlift to the top of the hill.  You strap on a helmet, and then sit in a luge, basically a glorified lunch tray with wheels and handlebars.  There are two tracks, a ‘scenic’ beginner course and a faster, more challenging one.  You have to do the easy one first to get a hang of how the gizmo works: pull backwards to go, all the way back to brake.  Gravity takes care of the rest.  You have to lean to get around the twisty track quickly.  And believe it or not, it’s completely possible to flip or get thrown out of these things.

Getting air on the Luge (note the "shit-eating" grin on my face).

I had a smile on my face the whole way down.  But let’s be honest, I needed to go faster.  So my next four runs were on the ‘expert’ track.  There are two steep drops on the trap, and if you sort of pop your weight up, you can get air.  Naturally, I did.  From the picture you’ll see me with that same stupid grin that Calvin and Hobbes have when they’re flying down the hill in the red wagon.  This is the kind of thing that Asher and I would probably get cutthroat competitive about, the kind of activity that would quickly morph from downhill luge to free-for-all Mario Kart-esque bumper car mayhem. It was great fun.

We’re leaving at 6:45 tomorrow morning for the south (Milford sound first), so it was an early night for me.  I had a quick drink at the pub adjacent to the hostel to say bye to Whales and the trainee driver Scottie (we get a different driver for the south loop), then headed up to bed.  I’m feeling a bit under the weather (I drank some questionable river water the other day, I think), but knowing my immune system I should be up and running soon.  After a couple episodes of Big Bang Theory (which I acquired via the wonders of the informal traveler file-sharing system), I hit the hay.

Kiwi Land, Part VI

Location: Base Hostel, Queenstown

Date: 29 May 2012

Time: 4:10 PM

This morning I had the best breakfast ever.  The Cocoa Puffs tasted the same, but the view, holy shit the view!  From the kitchen patio at the Base hostel Wanaka, you can see the lake and a near-360 degree view of stunning mountains.  I am so jealous of the locals who get to wake up to that every day.

The view with my Cocoa Puffs

We had the morning to explore Wanaka, and I used the time to hike up Mt. Iron, which is about a 500 meter elevation, a steep 90 minute return trip.  The view from up there was even better than my breakfast.  It seems many of the locals use the path as their morning exercise—infinitely better than a treadmill.  The beauty of New Zealand does not cease to amaze me.

THe view from Mt. Iron

The outskirts of Wanaka (as seen form Mt. Iron)

Cliffs of Mt. Iron

Around 11:30 we got back on the road to Queenstown, the largest city (other than the ruined Christchurch) on the south island.

Before we got to town we stopped at the world-famous AJ Hackett bungy (bungee) center.  AJ Hackett is basically the inventor of bungy jumping, the guy who tied rubber bands to his feet (inspired by an older and much more dangerous tribal tradition) and jumped off anything he could find, including various bridges, the Eifel tower, helicopters, and the tallest building in Aukland.  This guy is the mac-daddy of adrenaline, arguably one of the craziest blokes on planet earth.  Anyway, the center is located at the world’s first commercial bungy site, Kawarau bridge, 43 meters above the river below.

The view form AJ Hackett

Kawarau

After we watched a fifteen-minute video about AJ and the history of bungy, I decided it was time for my debut.  THAT’S RIGHT, I JUMPED OFF A BRIDGE!

The bridge is not the tallest bungy in Queenstown—there are two taller ones.  But it has the unique advantage of being over the water, and I chose it because I was determined to get dunked.  After a nervous half-hour wait up on the bridge, they strapped me in.  You would be surprised to know how informal the official bungy setup is.  You wear a harness as a safety measure and as a way of being ‘rescued’ in the raft in the water below, but the real apparatus is basically a tea towel, some straps, and a carabineer.  They rap the towel around your ankles as a cushion, and then tie the whole thing up somehow with straps and clip you to the glorified rubber band they call and bungy.  Then they set the rope to the exact right height for my weight.

Well, the time to defy all my instincts came.  I stripped off my shirt, despite the freezing wind and the definite chill of the water below, and nervously approached the edge of the platform.  I bawked once, leaning backwards onto the crewmember, and then shimmied to the edge again.  I smiled awkwardly to the camera, then the guy counted from five…

Next thing I knew, despite all my better judgments, I flung myself off the bridge.  The way down was terrifying.  I couldn’t get any sounds out of my mouth.  There was enough time for my brain to register that I was falling to certain death, then enough time for me to realize this was the most exhilarating thing I’d ever done.  Then, arms up, chin tucked, I plunged chest-deep into the freezing water.  I was only under for a few milliseconds, then I got yanked out again.  Then I screamed.  Wooooo! Wooooo Wooooo!  As I bobbed up and down, waiting to settle before I could get lowered into the raft, I was sure that was the most fun ten seconds of my life.  Coming from a person who used to thing bungy was an absolutely suicidal hobby, I can say I’m a changed man.  Everyone needs to experience that terrific near-death jump at least once in his life.

The moment before I stared death in the face.

The moment after I stared death in the face (note the smile)

Gravity is a toy.

The plunge.

And back up.

And back down.

Landing! (Note how the normal people are dressed.)

There was too much adrenaline pumping in my arteries for me to be cold.  The guys in the raft asked me how many fish I saw, and also commented that I was crazy and bold for doing the water dip in winter.  Go me!

We’re at the Queenstown Base hostel now, which is definitely the busiest place we’ve been yet.  Ski season hasn’t even started yet, and the place is already packed with travelers like me taking it all in.  We have a free day tomorrow, so tonight should be a good time touring the Queenstown nightlife. 

Kiwi Land, Part V

Location: Base hostel, Wanaka

Date: 28 May 2012

Time: 4:00 PM

Well, the weather was bad again.  So no glacier heli-hike.  I’m disappointed because it was one of the things I was really looking forward to about New Zealand, but it just means I’ll have an excuse to come back.  Plus, the significant sum of money I saved will let me do some other cool activities in Queenstown.

We stopped a ton on the way to Wanaka.  The roads are still incredible, surrounded on both sides by huge snow-capped mountains that were carved by glaciers and deep blue lakes in between.  Whales stopped a bunch of times for great photo ops.

The first stop was Fox Glacier, which is the next most famous glacier other than Franz Josef.  The weather was still crap, so we just snapped a few photos and I walked a couple hundred yards towards the bottom, but we didn’t actually go on the ice.  Like I said, I’ll have to come back for a glacier experience (or maybe try Alaska, also high on my list).

Fox Glacier, not at its best

The Tasman Sea, that is

One of the coolest stops was the Blue Pools walk.  You walk about ten minutes into the forest to a sort of ravine, and then you cross a couple shaky wire bridges.  The water in the river below is aqua blue.  Apparently the bits of sediment that come from the glacial melt give it that color.  There was a trio of jet boaters below; that’s something I might try.

En route to Blue Pools 

Just a shaky bridge over the blue water 

20 person maximum? 

That's why they call it blue pools. 

I kept saying on all my trips in Australia that they were the most beautiful places I’d ever been.  Well, now that’s all changed.  New Zealand is, and will be for a very long time, the most spectacularly beautiful place I’ve ever been.  Every vista is breathtaking.  This is nature at its best.  Pictures don’t do it justice, because the feeling of being surrounded by these mountains and lakes and glaciers and rainforests is indescribable.  I think every person in the world owes it to himself to come here.

We took a group picture at one lake, and then went to another, Lake Hawea, which is enormous and supposedly over 450 meters deep.  As usual, the water is clean and blue (and probably ice cold).

Our group (Whales is taking the photo)

Yet more glacial lakes

Deep glacial lakes

Now we’re at the Base hostel in Wanaka.  I’m going to cook myself dinner and then head to the pub for a bit for Karaoke and pool.  We’re on roughly the same timetable as a couple other bus groups, so there is a fair amount of people at this hostel.  Should be a good time.  Tomorrow we have the morning to explore Wanaka, which is at the southern tip of a lake surrounded by (you guessed it) mountains, and then we head down to Queenstown, “the adventure capital of the world,” where the next leg of my journey begins.

Kiwi Land, Part IV

Location: Franz Josef (Rainforest hostel)

Date: 27 May 2012

Time: 11:00 PM

My alarm went off at 7, but the glacier heli-hike was cancelled for inclement weather and wind, as expected, so I went back to sleep until noon.  It ended up being a rather dead day, but I enjoyed relaxing nonetheless.

I spent a couple hours in the huge hot tub, turning into a prune and looking at the mountains and rainforest that surrounded us.  Not a bad life, really.

Truthfully, I spent most of the day reading.  I picked up a copy of Anthony Bourdain’s (you know, the chef/author from “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel) Kitchen Confidential, which is all about his career as a chef and all the crazy experiences he’s had in the kitchen.  It’s a wild, lewd, hilarious, and really revealing look at the foodservice subculture and its gang of alcoholic, drug-abusing culinary grads and immigrants.  I must say, I’m glad I decided not to become a chef; as crazy (in a good way) as the life sounds, the stress is unimaginable.  I’m enjoying the book so much I’ve cranked through 250 pages in two days, which is quite a clip for me.

When I get done with this book, I’m going to reread Great Gatsby (I brought a copy with with me from the UniMelb library) in anticipation of the new DiCaprio movie this summer.  Odds are the movie won’t be as good as the book (none of the previous renditions were), but I’ll give it a fair chance.  If I finish that I’ll try to make more headway in He, She & It, which I’ve been working on since February.

There’s a chance we’ll get to do the glacier hike tomorrow morning if the weather is nice, otherwise we’re back on the road towards Wanaka.

Kiwi Land, Part III

Location: Franz Josef (hostel)

Date: 26 May 2012

Time: 8:35 PM

Some creepy (possibly homeless) guy started talking me up outside the museum.  I was lying down on a bench with my suitcase under my legs, and thinking someone was going to come up and steal it he told me “watch out, Cristchurch is a city of thieves; they deserved what they got.”  That set the tone for this conversation, and quickly became aware that he was some sort of fanatic Christian who considers himself a prophet and wants to “bring the Church closer to God.”  He didn’t quite understand the concept when I told him I was Jewish.  “Wait, so you believe Christ is the messiah, right?”  Oy.  To be fair, I don’t think he was completely right in the head.  I took it all in stride because I found him mildly entertaining despite his crazy theories.

When 7 AM came I got on the shuttle bus to Greymouth where I was meeting the Stray bus.  I fell asleep almost immediately.  A couple hours later, the bus went over a bump and I startled awake.  Holy shit, it was paradise.  The road was snaking through the valley with huge mountains on either side poking their tips through the fog.  In the distance I could see snow-capped peaks.  I know I say this a lot, but this is the most beautiful place I have ever been, hands down.

Woke up to this.

Greymouth

Also Greymouth.

When I heard about the BU kids who got into the terrible car accident the other week, people told me the roads here are very dangerous.  I can see what they mean.  The roads are narrow and twisty, with one-lane bridges.  Sometimes there is no shoulder, just a sheer cliff on the side with no guardrail.  Thankfully the driver was experienced.

I had about two hours in Greymouth waiting for my Stray Bus connection.  It’s a small, quiet town—not much going on there on a Saturday morning.  I bought some snacks, figuring food might help me not be so cold (it did), and strolled around until the bus came.

The Stray bus driver, Whales (real name: Adam) is really nice.  (In fact, everyone I’ve met here so far has been really ncie.) He explained to me how the whole hop-on hop-off system works and how I choose activities.  We have a little community going on the bus, eleven of us including me.  For the first time on this entire vacation, I was the only American!  Whales plays funny music and tells us tidbits and funny stories as we’re driving along.

The Stray Bus

Tonight and tomorrow night we’re in Franz Joseph, the town next to the major glacier of the same name.  We’re supposed to hiking on the glacier tomorrow, but there’s supposed to be 200 mm of rain (that’s a crap ton), so we’re most likely going to go Monday morning instead.  Oh, did I mention it’s heli-hiking?  Because the glacier has formed a huge crack, it’s not actually possible to hike straight to the good part, so we get dropped off and picked up there by helicopter.  I’m pretty stoked about the helicopter, no to mention the crampon hike on the ice.

Tonight is a pretty relaxed night since we’re no in any rush to get somewhere.  I made dinner for myself and then hung out with some people in the hot tub.  Now it’s off to the pub (this hostel is very well equipped) for a bit before I get my much-needed beauty sleep.

Kiwi Land, Part II

Location: outside Cantebery museum, Christchurch

Date: 26 May 2012

Time: 5:40 AM (New Zealand local time)

My first impression of New Zealand: it’s cold.

My flight was uneventful (as always, that’s good).  I didn’t sleep, though, so I’m running on fumes.  We landed in Christchurch about a half hour early.  Customs was a breeze.  They’re really particular about bringing any contaminated organic matter into New Zealand, for fear of disrupting local ecosystems, so they actually x-ray your bag upon arrival.  Of course, I had no food (consequentially, I’m hungry), and hopped on the shuttle to the Cantebery Museum, where the first leg of my bus tour starts.

I must have mentioned in my last post that Christchurch was hit badly by an earthquake a few years back.  It didn’t quite register in my mind how bad it actually was here until the shuttle driver pointed out all the damage.  Virtually all of the stone churches, the ones that put the “church” in Christchurch, have collapsed or were severely damaged.  Unfortunately, it would be too expensive to rebuild them all, so they have to pick and choose which ones to fix.  Some 1,300 buildings are slated for demolition, including some very new buildings.

As you might imagine, life is tough in Christchurch.  The CBD is closed off for demolition.  There is scaffolding everywhere, surrounding piles of rubble.  Pubs were moved into shipping containers. The tourism industry is gone.  If it wasn’t for the fact that the airport is here, there would be no visitors at all.  Apparently something like 4,000 residents leave each week.

Christchurch continues to get earthquakes in series.  This morning they had a 5.2 magnitude shake, but with no liquefaction.  It was very shallow, though (only about 10 km below the surface), which made it feel stronger than it was.  In fact, the shuttle driver told me not to stand under the awning of the museum, because the structural integrity of almost all the stone buildings is in question.  People say it’s not unheard of for them to get five or six quakes in one day.  I can’t imagine how badly that would suck.

It’s crazy to think something like this could happen in a well-developed first-world country like New Zealand.  It’s devastating, really.  But all this doesn’t change my attitude towards this trip.  I’m still wicked excited.  (And still wicked cold.)  The bus arrives at 7AM, and then I’m off west through the mountains towards Greymouth.  Stay tuned!

Kiwi Land, Part I

Location: Melbourne (Tullamarine) International Airport

En Route to: Christchurch, NZ (south island)

Excitement level: totally stoked!

I don't know if you knew, but I'M GOING TO NEW ZEALAND!!!

I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my redeye flight to New Zealand.  New Zealand has been in the coveted second-place spot (below Italy) of "places I need to go before I die," and I'm just hours away from ticking it off.  I don't have long--only twelve days--because I need to haul my ass back to Melbourne to study for exams, so I'm doing just a quick (but packed) jaunt around the central and southern parts of the south island.  I'm going with a bus company called Stray, which is an easy hop-on hop-off service, and they take care of all the itinerary nonsense so I can concentrate on doing awesome activities.

My expectations for New Zealand in general are incredibly high, but for Christchurch they are low.  That's because an earthquake basically leveled the city a few years ago, and it's effectively a ghost town now except for the airport.  So I only have a couple hours there, just to catch a shuttle west to where I'll meet the Stray bus.

To preserve the suspense, I'm going to refrain from reciting my itinerary before I actually do things, so stay tuned.  But you can be virtually certain that I will decide (again) that I am in the most beautiful place in the world, and that I'm having the time of my life.  [Insert jealousy here.]

Mornington Peninsula

This Sunday I took a trip to the Mornington Peninsula, which forms the southern of part Port Phillip (the bay around Melbourne).  It's similar to Cape Cod in that it's very beachy-summery without being posh.  My friend Alessandra told me about the trip, so the do-everything-in-Australia part of me chimed in and claimed a spot in the car.  It was a great trip.

I met the group Sunday morning at the car rental place in the CBD.  I didn't really know anyone beforehand except Alessandra, so it was nice to meet new people.  Turns out, I was the only guy with seven girls, so I had quite an entourage going.  The other great thing aobut this trip was that I did virtually no planning for it, which meant I could just sit in the back and relax while the girls figured out (without GPS, impressively) where we were going.

Our first stop was Frankston pier, which was a bit underwhelming because the weather wasn't eactly cooperating.  Luckily, I didn't get blown off into the water.  The only other people there besides us were local hobby-fishermen, and they weren't having much success.  For some reason I really like to watch people fish; it's relaxing, and I really admire the patience.

Frankston pier

The patient fishermen

A rusty pylon; just thought it looked cool

The next stop was up on a hill near the top of an old chairlift where there was a lookout.  We could see the entire bay from up there.  There was a little plaque with arrows pointing to all the different cities, but it was pretty easy to spot the Melbourne skyline without it.  The other view up there was a shiny yellow Lamborghini, a car that seems to be following me around Australia.  Naturally, I ended up with more pictures of it than on the bay.  Oops.

That's us, and behing us the view I was supposed to see.

What I actually saw.  (The car that follows me everywhere)

Our next few stops were quick jaunts at little beaches and touristy places.  One of them was Collins settlement site, which was the first official British settlement in Australia.  There was a sign there that listed what types of people were on the boat (convicts, officers, free settlers, and their families).
We spent a little while walking around Sorento, one of the main towns.  This is the part that really felt like Cape Cod.  Lots of ice cream shops, candy stores, toy stores, little galleries, etc.  One of the shops had two pet birds (Macaws, I think), and one of them talked with an Australian accent, which was natural, of course, but I found it wildly entertaining.  It got me thinking what talking birds must sounds like in other countries... Jamaica?  There weren't too many people in Sorento that morning, but a friend of mine told me it gets really crammed in the summer during vacation time.  I can imagine.

Collins settlement site

Beach boxes.

Le talking bird, Australian style

Didn't go in, just liked the sign

Our next stop was actually a bit of an accident.  We had accidentally driven past our intended destination, and when we went to turn around in a parking lot for a national park.  We decided we had time, and we did a little drive/walk out the Fort Nepean, an old military installation at the tip of the peninsula.  It was awesome.

On the walk out to the fort we had some of the most spectacular vistas. The weather had cleared up at this point.  Along the way to the fort there were a bunch of smaller bunkers and lookout towers.  All these fortifications are abandoned and obsolete now, of course, so they turned it into a tourist stop.  I'm pretty sure this fort never saw any combat, as I don't think Australia has had any wars on its soil.  The fort was abandoned in the 1950s.  Most of the fort is underground tunnels, which they put lights in so we could explore.  I remember thinking it would be the ultimate hide-and-seek location if I was little.
After a couple hours at Fort Nepean we had to head back to the car because we had a 7PM booking at the hot springs.  We stopped at Subway for a quick dinner.  No pepper jack cheese, unfortunately, but otherwise it tastes exactly the same as it does everywhere else (I think Subway goes through great lengths to make it that way).

Lookouts near Forn Nepean.  Almost seems Golan-esque

Not a bad place to do your military service, I would imagine

Peninsula hot springs was easily the highlight of my trip.  We spent three hours there, form 7 until they kicked us out at 10 when they closed.  The springs are artificial pools, but the water comes naturally from around 600 meters below the surface.  There were around twenty diferent pools, each one a different depth and a different temperature.  Some were warm, others were unbearably hot.  There was also a steam room and sauna, and a couple freezing cold plunge tanks to jump into afterward.  It feels incredible to jump in the icy water after you sweat to death in the steam room.  My favorite pool was up at the top of the hill where there was a spectacular nighttime view.  This ranked up there with the most relaxing times of my life.  After three hours, when my hands looked like clammy prunes, we had to leave.  We were basically the last ones out of there.
It was an exhausting day.  I slept on the ride home.