We want to be Kiwi's!!! (Part 2)

Alright, Scott and I are back to talk some more about Queenstown. This really is a great town of about 10,000 people though a million visit each year. It’s an adventure-seekers paradise with plenty of bungy jumping (the first bungy jump took place here), white-water rafting, biking, canyoning, fishing, jet boating (more on this later), hot air ballooning, paragliding, skydiving, tramping and skiing to keep yourself occupied for a long, long time. And the scenery to go with it. There are also great wineries nearby and gold mining. Queenstown is also a place to stay if going to Milford sound though as we had mentioned we stayed in Te Anau. So we arrived on St. Patrick’s Day and checked in to our hostel, which was located a couple of blocks from the bay, which we could see part of from our room on the balcony/deck, along with the mountain range that surround the bay called The Remarkables. They were pretty remarkable!

We settled in and then went to check out the town as well as the St. Patty’s day shenanigans. We decided to stop in a restaurant for a snack and ended up getting the green lipped mussels, which were by far the BEST we’ve had yet and still make that claim now. Much better than the one’s we had before. We then walked around some and saw many pub crawls, the shopping areas, more bars and restaurants. We stopped in a few places for some beers and then grabbed dinner. We ended up going back to the place we had had the mussels. Its actually more of a pizza joint and it smelled really good when we were there before so we stopped in again. Turns out this place was North Carolina territory! We ended up meeting about 5-6 people from NC and also from Kansas, South Dakota, and Texas. Most of them were in there late 20’s/early 30’s and had decided to live there for a while (we understand why). Anyway, we had an enjoyable time talking about familiar places back in the states with our new American friends.

On Thursday, we got up and decided to go up to the Queenstown gondola (similar to the one in Christchurch) to take in the views. It was kinda a cloudy day in the morning, but it was starting to clear up by the time we got there. The attraction to taking another gondola ride here was that they also had a luge ride you could go on down part of the mountain. Apparently there are only 2 other places in the world where you can luge like this. A side note I'd like to share is that I developed a weird rash on my earlobes and cheeks a few days earlier. It was itchy and looked like a big red party on my face!

Views from the top

We made it to the top of the gondola, took in the views and then headed to our luge ride. We picked up our helmets and them on, then took a chairlift to go higher on the mountain to where the luge starts. They took pictures of us riding up to the luge and also as we were luging. When we got to the top we were greeted by the guys who work there to help us get our luges in place. One of them informed me that I had my helmet on backwards. Naturally I took off the helmet, kinda feeling like and idiot for wearing my helmet all the way up to the luge on the lift with it on backwards. Oh well. They said it happens all the time or maybe they were just trying to make me feel like less of an idiot. Regardless I quickly took of my helmet, turned it around properly amongst the laughs from Scott, only to snap part of my neck into the chin strap. Not wanting to make an even bigger idiot out of myself I refrained from screaming a loud ’AHHHHH’ even though it hurt and it took what seemed like forever to get the dang latch undone. So we luged down the mountain. It was actually quite fun and Scott of course tried to go as fast as he could. I was just trying to keep a low profile and get down the mountain safe. At the bottom I told Scott about snapping my neck into the strap. More laughter. At the bottom there were also pictures from our luging and that’s where you get to see me wearing my ’special helmet’ on the way up and I have a really weird look on my face and almost do look like I may have a mental problem.  Scott decided that was one picture we would definitely have to purchase.

Please note helmet is on correctly

Both of us sporting backwards helmets!

So we went back and had lunch at the café there and then took in some more of the views before heading back into town. On the way, we stopped to inquire about going on the jet boats and we actually found one we could go on that afternoon. Jet boating is something that started in New Zealand and is offered in many cities in New Zealand. These boats are different in that they don’t have external parts and water is drawn through the intakes in the bottom of the jet boat and internal propellers. This forces the waters out through the rear at great force. These boats will do 360 degree turns and it’s a full on thrill! We went out on the Shotover Jet (Big Red) on the Shotover River outside of Queenstown. The boats hold about 20 people though when we went there were only 6 plus the driver and we rode in the front. It had turned out to be a nice afternoon and the canyons we went through and the all around scenery was totally worth the ride. We had an overall awesome day.

In the evening, we grabbed sushi for dinner and then happened upon a wine store that was quite unique. The store had wine dispensers on the walls so you can do a wine tasting of all the different wines in the area. We didn’t have the opportunity to visit any of the wineries so we thought this would be a good way to try out some of the local wines. In the area we were, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc were very popular so we had a nice tasting before heading back to our hotel to pack up. In the morning I got up to go to the bathroom and ended up smashing my nose on a shelf bar that was directly over the sink. So here I am with an ugly rash on my face and ears, a red gash on the bridge of my nose, and a red pinch mark on my neck from the helmet strap. What a mess I was! By the way, all have cleared up by now, except the rash on my face, but its much better now.

Though sad to leave we had only planned to stay in Queenstown for 2 nights. We thought about staying longer, but there was just too much more of New Zealand we needed to see. We got up on Friday and it was a beautiful morning. We checked out of our hostel and picked up a rental car.

Our plan was to drive North to the glaciers. Before we left town we stopped at the Queenstown Gardens that are on a little peninsula near the water and then walked back along the edge of the water. Very nice morning stroll before a long car ride. So we headed through some beautiful country on our ride. Scott, being the experienced 'drive on the left side of the road, right side of the car' driver he is (from Ireland), took off in full force! And boy did he. Taking most corners on two wheels! The roads are very windy, but the scenery was just amazing.

On the way we passed through more scenic towns such as Wanaka, which is sits on Lake Wanaka. We took a pit stop here to enjoy the scenery and then headed on the Lake Hawea, up through to a village called Haast, before getting to Fox Glacier Village, which is where we stayed for the night. Our drive was about 6 hours and we stopped at other scenic points along the way.

Lake Wanaka

Roadside antics

Lake Hawea

Waterfall stop

Haast Valley

There are 2 glaciers in New Zealand and they happen to be located in the midst of a rainforest! Very unusual, but leave it to New Zealand to have such a landscape. Fox Glacier is one of them and the other is Franz Josef (the more well known one). We planned to go to Fox Glacier the following day so we walked into town to inquire about doing a tour. There are actually a variety of tours you can do from ½ day tours to full day tours that get you more exposure to the glacier where you can walk on it. You can also go ice climbing, which involves climbing the glacier walls using using ice picks and crampons. Unfortunately, the weather forecast wasn’t going to cooperate for these excursions. It was to be rainy and cloudy the whole day and these excursions aren’t cheap so we decided against going to Fox Glacier. Plus we had just seen a glacier in Patagonia so it wasn’t the end of the world. We value our time and want to see as much as possible so we decided to move on and headed north again.

On Saturday, we headed north from Fox Glacier Village the next morning and it was dreary and rainy but not quite as bad as we thought it would be. Franz Josef is north of Fox Glacier so we ended up stopping there so we could view the glacier and then tramped in to get a close up view of the glacier. We got to see the rain forest that surrounded this glacier. It really was very peculiar. The glacier was huge and quite blue at the opening. 

From there we kept driving, taking in the scenery. It truly is a beautiful country with mountains, the coast, and greenery everywhere. We stopped along the way in a town called Hokitika. This town is home to the National Kiwi Centre. Since we hadn’t had the opportunity to see a kiwi yet, we decided to stop. The kiwi centre also houses long-finned eels. Tuatara’s, tree frogs, fish, birds, etc. Though it is the National Kiwi Centre, there are only 2 kiwis at this location. We did get to see one, but you aren’t allowed to take pictures because they are nocturnal and they keep the kiwi house dark. The kiwi we saw was about 3 years old. She was trying to eat. We did get to take pictures of the eels and they lived in a huge aquarium because they are some enormous eels! These types of eels can actually live to be 150 years old and the ones here were between 85-100 years old and female (males die after they spawn). Check out these pics. Monsters!

Long-Finned Eels

Another Tuatara

From Hokitika we went north through a town called Greymouth and about 30 miles north of that is Paparoa National Park, which is home to the world famous Punakaiki Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. These rock formations are a mystery to geologists. The rocks are on the edge of the coast and have been eroded by the seas but geologists can’t figure out why they eroded into a bunch of buttermilk pancakes. There are blowholes where water spews through but it wasn’t the right time of day to see them when we were there.

Luckily as we headed north along the coast, the weather was starting to clear so we didn’t have rain and clouds the entire day. From the pancake rocks we went northeast towards Nelson. We stopped at more scenic points and waterfalls along the way. It was about a 7-8 hour driving day for Scott. Yes, a long day driving but again trying to get in as much as possible.

Sunset over the mountains on our drive to Nelson

We made it to Nelson about 8pm and didn’t have a place to stay because we didn’t actually plan on getting there til the next day. Anyway, the places we knew about were booked but we found a hotel near the city center. We basically grabbed some dinner, decided our plans for the next day and went to bed. On Sunday, we’d decide our plan was to head northwest up from Nelson. We’d read about the beautiful landscapes and beaches that way and hit the road. There is also a very popular park, called Abel Tasman National Park and the Golden Bay that we wanted to visit. That morning we made reservations to stay near Pohara Beach outside of a quaint little town called Takaka, right outside of Abel Tasman. This national park is the smallest in New Zealand but also one of the most popular to visit. As we headed north from Nelson, we drove through many apple orchards and other fresh produce stands. There are also tons of wineries along the way. This lasted for about 45 minutes to an hour. Then we climbed Takaka Hill (mountain) that was quite windy, but again very scenic. We drove on until we got to Takaka and had lunch. This is a small little town of about 1,100 that has nice shops , cafes, and restaurants.

We’d read about some springs, called Te Waikoropupu or the ‘Pupu Springs’ located right outside of Takaka so we drove there after lunch. These spings boast being the worlds clearest fresh water. We tramped to the springs and were surprised because they actually are very clear. A very tranquil place with ducks swimming around and other birds in the area. They have lookout point where you can look into mirrors that reflect the water that have been set up to show just how clear it really is.

Pupu Springs

 

Reflective Mirrors

Very clear springs

Don't mind the food stuck in my teeth, just snacks!

Another point of interest in this area is north of the springs called Farewell Spit. We drove another 30-45 minutes to get to this location, which is the most northern point of the south island. It is a unique sand spit (sandbar) that is about 22 miles long and nearly half a mile wide. All along the spit there are sand dunes that are said to be about as high as 7-8 story buildings. To go out to the end of the spit it requires you take a tour. We weren’t touring that day, so we went out to a lookout point where you can see it in the distance and walked part of the beach that takes you near it.

Farewell Spit

After that, we headed back towards Takaka to where we were staying near Pohara Beach. We’d been blessed with another beautiful day and the temperature on this part of the island was much warmer since we were in the north. We had arranged to stay in a more unique place called the Sans Souci Inn. Normally we don’t give too much detail about the places we stay unless it is something special. This place was definitely a unique place and very peaceful. It felt like being at a retreat or spa, but it wasn’t. It was a very simple place and had an organic, yet Asian feel to it with futon type low beds. There were only about 7 individual units at this place and it was grass-roofed with compost toilets. The bathroom was communal to encourage communication amongst the guests, but the way it was decorated with plants and greenery everywhere was like being in a rainforest with a shower and toilet. The compost toilets were similar to an outhouse but you place sawdust/woodchips over your #1 or #2. The property owners were from Sweden and very much into sustainable living. They use solar energy and recycle all waste. Outside of our room was an orchard and a block or 2 away was the beach so you could hear the ocean waves while relaxing on our patio. A little slice of paradise. We had dinner down the street at a local favorite called the Penguin Café and enjoyed a nice dinner near the water.

Pohara Beach

The Sans Souci Inn

  Apple trees

The following day, I think Monday, was a bad rainy weather day. Our hopes of tramping, fishing, or kayaking were out the door. Of course it rained all day until about 5pm. We ended up going to Takaka for lunch, visiting some of the shops, making trip plans and driving into Abel Tasman park just to check it out. Along the way we drove along the coast and got to stop at one of the beaches (it was finally nice by then). We also went grocery shopping because the place we were staying also opened up its kitchen for their guests to use and we were very much ready to have a home cooked meal. We got some salmon, vegetables, and bread and had a nice feast. Since the weather had cleared in the afternoon, we also checked in with a sea kayaking company to take kayaks out the next morning.

We got up on Tuesday morning and checked out of our wonderful little slice of paradise. We went kayaking right outside of Abel Tasman park, starting at Tata Beach. It was a beautiful morning and surprising not too cold. The sun was out so that helped make it much more pleasant. We rented a double kayak for a couple of hours. We kayaked around some islands off the coast, saw more seals, birds, etc and really enjoyed getting a chance to be out on the water.

Don't mind the top of my head

We headed out around 11 am to head back south, back towards Nelson on to Kaikura. This was about a 4 hour drive. Along the way we stopped for at Canaan Downs Scenic Reserve, which is where scenes from the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed. Next we stopped for lunch in a town called Mapua,where we’d read about a restaurant called the Smokehouse. At this place they are all about smoking some fish. We shared a nice variety platter of salmon, mussels, Hake, whitefish, and a few other types. All very fresh and with great smoky flavoring. The drive from Nelson to Kaikoura is also very beautiful. The landscape turns from coastal waters to golden rolling hills and wineries and then back to the coast.

We arrived in Kaikoura around 6-7 pm. As we drove in along the coast, we went for miles and miles along beautiful beaches and none of the land was developed. No towns had formed around these waters or beaches. It was such an amazing coast to drive through. We figured it had to be owned by the government in order for it to be so untouched and pristine and we found out later that it was. It made for a really enjoyable ride. We stayed in a hostel in Kaikoura right in the heart of the town. It’s on the coast and known for its whale watching, fishing, tramping, and other outdoor activities. We got settled and decided to grab a bite to eat down the street overlooking the water. Not the best food, but the views were great. There are mountains surrounding the town along a beautiful coastline.

View from balcony at the hostel

A seal out of water

I must say, we are truly impressed with the overall beauty of New Zealand. We hadn’t experienced any place that had anything bad to look at. No eye sores. All very well preserved beautiful land. EVERYWHERE! I just had to get that out. I feel better. The only thing that is a let down is that when there is bad weather, that really can limit your options for what you do because there is so much to do outdoors here.  Wednesday was another bad weather day. It was cloudy and rainy in the morning. We decided to do some laundry, email, trip plan, etc. We heard about the Kaikoura winery nearby that sits up on a hill will nice views of the ocean. It had cleared up a bit by lunchtime, so we headed over to check it out. We tasted various wines including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir. Scott and I had also packed up a picnic lunch to have outside at the winery. We bought a bottle of wine from the winery then sat outside enjoy the views, our wine, and our lunch. Towards the end of our lunch the clouds and rain started to move back in so we packed up and left and went back to the hostel to finish our laundry, trip planning,, etc.

Kaikoura Vineyard

View from the winery

Then it cleared up again in late afternoon/early evening. We went and had dinner across the street, then came back to pack up our stuff. The plan for Thursday was to check out of the hostel and try to go fishing in the morning or early afternoon and then to drive on the Hanmer Springs and then on to Christchurch. We were to be flying out of Christchurch to Sydney at 6am on Friday morning. The weather forecast was showing clearer skies so we were hoping that would be the case. We really wanted to go fishing. Luckily, it was a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky. We arranged for a fishing trip at 1:30 that afternoon to go for 2 hours. We grabbed lunch and then shopped around a little, then drove to a nice lookout point where you can see seals, the bay, and nice ocean views. After this we headed to the meeting place for our fishing boat and guides, Nick and Jerry. Nick showed up in a truck and Jerry was right behind him on a tractor that pulled the boat.

The boat

These guys were funny characters and true fisherman. It was a small boat, nothing fancy but equipped with fishing poles, bins for placing our catch, and knives for cleaning the fish. There were also 2 other guys on the boat fishing with and they were from Holland. We left the sandy beach and went out on the waters. Shortly into our trip we spotted several dolphins swimming right by our boat. We hung around to watch them for a while then moved on to a seal colony. 

Seal colony

We moved on a finally got to our fishing spot.  As soon as we stopped a huge albatross came in from the distance and darted straight at our boat and landed right by us.  The albatross knew it was feeding time and soon others came and joined to get in on some lunch. Albatross coming in for lunch

Nick handed me a rod he’d baited and I got busy fishing. The line was to be let out about 77 meters, all the way to the bottom. Jerry got Scott’s pole ready and he started fishing and then the Holland boys. By the time Scott cast I had already caught 2 fish! Sea Perch.

I casted again and caught another sea perch, then 2 more. I think Scott finally got a couple sea perch by the time I had 5. Most of them weighed about 2-3 lbs. Then I caught 2 blue cod, about 4-5 lbs each. The blue cod is said to be hard to catch so I guess my superb fishing skills really showed through to be able to catch these guys. Nick kept joking to Scott and the other guys about how I was catching all the fish. By this point the Holland boys hadn’t caught any. Nick told Scott that as long as he was with me, he wouldn’t be a hungry man! Scott caught a couple more and we all kept fishing for a while longer.

Brooke's Blue Cod

In the end I think the Holland boys caught 3 sea perch between them, Scott caught 8 sea perch and I caught 10 sea perch and 2 blue cod. As we were catching the fish and pulling them in, Nick would take them and start cleaning them.  He only had about 2 fingers and one thumb and some nubs for fingers so it was really interesting to watch him scaling the fish.  He would throw the scraps out for the albatross and boy were they fed well!  We really had a fantastic time though I think the boys were jealous I caught the most fish!

                                                                                         

But that wasn’t all we got to do. After fishing, Nick and Jerry said we could put the crayfish (lobster) crate/cage in to see what we could get. The first batch we checked there were 6 crayfish and 2 small carpetsharks. Yes, they are real sharks. Nick pulled one out and threw it back in the ocean and the other one he held up and passed around to let us take turns holding it. I passed on holding the shark but Scott jumped on the chance to. I took some great pics. At the end of the trip, Nick divided up our catch. Everyone got their own crayfish to take and a bunch of sea perch and some blue cod. What a great day with beautiful weather and great fishing! We had so much fun!

Crayfish and carpetsharks

Scott and the carpetshark!

Dinner

Our next item on the agenda was to figure out how we were going to cook the fish. We had no kitchen to go to because we’d checked out of our hostel and we weren’t planning to stay anywhere that night because we were going to the airport early in the morning. We were determined to have this fish, even if it meant pulling over at a grill in a park to cook it or stop in a restaurant in Hanmer Springs to see if someone would be willing to cook it (plus we had plenty we could share with the chef). We felt really fortunate to have gotten some crayfish. They serve it everywhere in New Zealand but we hadn’t had any because to order it in most restaurants cost about $75-100 for one crayfish. We had a cooler bag already so we tossed the crayfish and fish in, bought some ice and hit the road to Hanmer Springs. It was about 3:30 by the time we left and we got to Hanmer around 5:15. The attraction in Hanmer Springs are springs. There is complex that has several open air thermal pools as well as 3 sulphur pools. Its in a beautiful setting with mountains around. We enjoyed the pools for awhile, then stopped in the restaurant on the premises.

                       Hanmer Springs hot pools

At the restaurant, we explained to the guy at the counter that we’d been fishing that day and wanted to have our crayfish and fish that we caught cooked. We asked the guy at the counter if he knew of a place that might be willing to cook our fish and that we would pay to have it cooked. He said he didn’t know of anywhere in town that would do that. We contemplated just going to a hostel and seeing if we could use their kitchen. Before too long the guy came over to our table and said the chef at the restaurant would cook it. The restaurant wasn’t busy so it worked out perfectly. Yay! We were thrilled! Scott went out to the car and brought in our fish. The chef was quite intrigued by the blue cod and reconfirmed it was hard to catch. My head swelled a bit J. He asked how we wanted it prepared and said he’d getting to cooking it for us. The crayfish were still alive and we watched him stab them. A little while later our feast was prepared and he really did a nice job with all of it and even prepared a potato dish and salad to go with it. He fried the sea perch and baked the blue cod and a light sauce. The crayfish were also prepared in a light sauce and oh so good! It was definitely one of our favorite meals of the trip. What a day! We left a little while later and headed on to Christchurch, which was about 1 ½ hours away. We stopped in town to waste some time before going to the airport and flying to Sydney at 6am.

 The prep work

Our feast!

New Zealand has to be one of our best trips so far. It really is an amazingly beautiful country. Everywhere we went throughout the south island was gorgeous and all the towns very quaint, clean, safe, laid back, and all around nice. The people also made it even better. New Zealanders are very friendly and have a great sense of humor. Most enjoy talking to anyone and we love their accent! We met some very nice people everywhere we went. It really is a neat place that we’d live if only it were closer to home. That’s why we want to be Kiwi’s!

We are currently still in Australia. We were in Sydney for 4 days and have moved on now. Yesterday we flew north to Cairns, then took a shuttle bus and hour away to a town called Port Douglas. It’s a beach town near the Great Barrier Reef. We got here just in time for the rain. We are to be here for 3 more nights and the forecast is rain. Booo! We’ll see how it goes. The weather is always changing so we are hopeful for blue skies so we can get out to the reef. Wish us luck! We’ll have more from down under later. Thanks for checking in!