Over the Hills & Far Away: Mid Semester Break (part 2)

This is the second part of my post about the trip I took during my fall break. If you haven't read the first, you can click into it from the side bar to the right.

The second half of our trip started at our friend's house in Nelson, where we awoke to a blue, cloudless sky. The concept seemed a bit foreign after five days of grey, and it was a welcome change. Day six took us up even further northwest, to the very tip of the South Island. We passed through Takaka, a cool, frontier-esque town with a large climbing population that gather at a place called "hangdog". While we were there we couldn't help but notice an awesome slackline set about 15 feet over water. Really cool, but we quickly set off again.

Moving up north, we went through an area known as Golden Bay, over a wall of high hills from the rest of the island, and known for its gold sand beaches and sunny days. We finally reached the Farewell Spit in the afternoon, a huge land formation extending into the Tasman that provides a natural barrier to much of the northwestern portion of the island. It was beautiful, and much less crowded than most of the places I have visited in New Zealand thus far. This also marked the farthest away from Dunedin that we could travel while on the south island.

That night, we drove 30 kilometers on dirt roads to reach a campsite that we were sure we would have to ourselves. Our guess was right, but the roads were crazy, and in the dark, there was one portion that I can safely say is the single scariest 10 feet of road I have ever seen. It wasn't until the next morning that we were able to see just how insane it was, and though the first picture below doesn't show it well, the second one sums up my feelings nicely. In short, if you drifted a little too far, there was no shoulder, just a 10 foot high or so drop off that would flip your car, and then send it rolling about 1,500 feet down into a valley. Nice... Perhaps this is a good time to mention that most roads we have seen here are similar in that, while they are decently well maintained, there is little shoulder area equalling no forgiveness. Maybe this is why there were 14 fatal accidents during a 7 day span last week in NZ... my theory as to why the population is so low here.

Day 7 was spent in Abel Tasman National Park, one of the most commercial and popular areas of the country. This is primarily because Abel Tasman is only a 45 minute drive from Nelson, and it's main beauty is it's accessible coastline where gold sand meets perpetually calm waters (due to the Farewell Spit). People like to go on kayaking tours here, and we had planned on renting some out, but there were only tour slots available, which didn't sound fun for a group of kids looking to get away from people. Abel Tasman was cool, but amongst the beauty of the rest of New Zealand, somewhat forgettable.

Day 8 saw us drive east and meet up with the Pacific once again at Picton, where one would catch the ferry to reach the north island via the Cook Strait. From here it was only a short hop down to Blenheim, in the heart of Marlborough, one of the fastest growing wine regions in the world, and the premier area for vineyards in New Zealand. We decided that while we were there we might as well stop and see what a winery was all about. True to form, we didn't go to the biggest, and avoided the tourist attractions. Instead we asked around and picked one that is instead small, family owned, known for quality, and has its own dog.

Called Lawson's Dry Hills, the winery is in the southern area of Marlborough, which apparently gets more sun, colder nights, and drier weather (hence the name), making for distinct grape varieties. We met with Sue, who showed us around, as there were no other people there for a tour, and we got to see some of their grapes actually in harvest and pressing, which was really cool. I really respect that the winery is and has always been family owned and operated, and the atmosphere lacked all snobbery, which is something I commonly view in relation to wine. The entire time the vineyard's dog, a yellow lab (like mine at home) named Tomi, was sniffing around at our heels too, adding to the laid back atmosphere. The general area reminded me of home as well, with the golden hills that rose from the vineyard casting shadows similar to those in the Boise foothills that I love so much back home. It was a bit of paradise for me.

Day 9 was spent in Christchurch and on the Banks Peninsula, the latter being much, much better. Christchurch was ok as far as cities go, but there really wasn't much for  a guy like me to do there. Poor college students who have been on the road for 8 days aren't going to be spending money in the shops. The impression I got was of a city very proud of its English heritage, with the main attractions seeming to be Cathedral Square and the Avon River, where people could pay grotesque amounts of money to 'punt' along the tree-lined stream in small, guided boats. Not for me. There was a mexican restaurant there though, and while the food was only ok, it was nice to finally get some burritos in a country lacking food variety.

The Banks Peninsula on the other hand is a big area (if you look at the map it is the giant knob sticking off the middle of the east coast) formed by two giant volcanoes erupting at once. This created huge hills (not quite mountain status) that shoot up out of the sharp bays that stretch into the center of the peninsula at the caldera of the larger volcano.

From here it was a long drive back into Dunedin, taking up the 10th day of our trip, and completing the circuit of New Zealand's south island. We arrived in town at noon exhausted, but with dry clothes and tents as the entirety of the second half of our trip was under sunny skies.

I am still tired as I write this blog post, but that is part of the fun of traveling. Our little car has been holding up incredibly well given the strain we've been putting on it, and I hope it can keep up for another 2 months. This post also marks the half way point of my journey in Aotearoa, which is hard to believe. In one way it feels like I just stepped off the plane in Auckland, and yet in another, I feel like I have been here for a really long time. All I know is that there is still a lot that I've been missing here in New Zealand, and before I come home I will see more of the open road.

Take care everybody.

Jake

The Rain Song: Mid Semester Break (part 1)

This post is going to be split into two parts, each covering half of my ten day journey around New Zealand's South Island. This is in part because I have a lot to say, but also because the trip had two distinct sides two it, so it feels a natural split. In this post I'm going to run through the locations I saw and things I did during those first five days.

Our trip started on Friday, the 2nd of April, as a group of four of us took off from Dunedin in the morning, driving southwest. We headed for Te Anau, a town that is the gateway to New Zealand's famous Fiordland National Park. The area is known for its incredible scenery, with the Milford Sound being one of the most popular locations in the country. 

I had looked at the weather forecast prior to leaving, so I knew that we were supposed to see rain once we arrived in Fiordland. After all, the area gets over 320 (no typo) inches of rainfall a year, making it one of the wettest places on earth and creating what I had heard were some ridiculous waterfalls, as water careens off of the rocky cliffs that scar the landscape leading up to the fiords. What I didn't expect, or maybe couldn't wrap my head around, was just how heavy the rain could be. 

At the end of the first night we were in the national park, and had gone to bed under a cloudy sky. Day two started with winds and blowing pockets of rain, but once we hopped in the car and began moving towards the fiords, the rain became consistent, then got heavy, then cut down visibility, making it hard to see anything but waterfalls and rock. These pictures don't do it justice, but the foggy quality that you can see in them isn't low lying clouds, it's the biggest deluge I have ever seen. Milford Sound was amazing even in the downpour though, as most people were inside or had decided to turn back due to what  they saw as "bad" weather. To me, it just increased the experience, and I feel that Fiordland showed me its true colors. I hope to get back to the area before leaving, as I would like to see Doubtful Sound as well. 

Making our way back down the road towards Te Anau, areas were starting to flood, so we decided to push on further than we had planned for the day, and headed north, past Queenstown to Wanaka for the second night. The rain was unrelenting though, and we had to set up tents in a cold drencher. Day three was rainy as well, and our trip took us north of Wanaka to the west coast of the island. Here we got our first taste of the rock beaches of western New Zealand, and we spent some time looking for Jade that the Tasman Sea apparently coughs up on shore, although very rarely. No one but me had any luck, as I found a "greenstone" the size of a quarter hidden among the rocks just before I was ready to give up. These things are New Zealand's national gemstone, selling for a lot of money as necklaces, earrings etc., so I'm pretty surprised that I actually found some. 

From here we went north along New Zealand's most famous highway (sh6), and spent some time exploring the mining areas from New Zealand's gold rush. One thing that really impacted me was when, during a hike, we accidentally stumbled upon an area that was used as an equipment dump after the rush was over. The atmosphere was really, really weird to say the least. It was an odd pool of water surrounded by ferns much larger than I had previously seen in my travels. Huge equipment lay strewn across the little pond and machinery disappeared into its rusty depths. For some reason it reminded me of Heart of Darkness, I'm not sure why. Its funny how some seemingly insignificant things can end up burning an image into your mind, and this is definitely one of those instances. 

From the beach I was able to see the Southern Alps and Mount Cook rising up into the clouds, which is one of the things I had been waiting for. New Zealand has always been that place where you could go from the beach to a high mountain ridge in a single day, and it was really awesome to finally be able to see that quality for myself. It was also cool to see Mt. Cook from the other side, and an interesting perspective when thinking about my trip up into the Southern Alps about a month ago. 

On day 4 we hiked around at the country's two famous glaciers, the Fox Glacier, and the Franz Joseph Glacier. These were cool, especially considering how close they are to the Tasman Sea, but they were way too touristy. It would have been cool to strap on some crampons and experience the higher portions of the glaciers, away from the other sightseers, the camera flashes, and the Asian tour buses, but we were trying to make it around the island in ten days, and couldn't stay long (not to mention we lacked equipment). 

Day four ended north of Greymouth, as we cut inland and found a place to camp. We arrived at our campsite late, but a friendly Kiwi invited us to join his campfire (how he found dry wood, I have no idea) and we shared stories about our trip, studies, and hometowns. The guy was there panning for gold, and he invited us to try our luck the next day. Naturally, you can't pass up an opportunity like this, as these sorts of random encounters are, in my opinion, some of the purest benefits and most important joys of traveling. Panning was fun, but there is a lot of technique to it and it isn't the most exhilarating of hobbies. After we had our fill we thanked the man and took off, driving north to Nelson, the largest city on the northern edge of the South Island. 

Here we met up with a friend from school. He showed us around his hometown and we ended up staying the night at his house, where his parents cooked us an awesome barbeque dinner. It was also nice to get out of the wet tents and grab a shower (you get really dirty over five days, even in a constant drizzle). Nelson was really cool, and I can confidently say that its my favorite city that I have visited in New Zealand. 

I think that after the first half of the trip, everyone was a little down. Some were tired of the rain, and two of us were dealing with nasty blisters that had grown to epic proportions from hiking so much and wearing perpetually damp shoes. I was the outlier, and really couldn't have been happier with the weather. I had also come prepared, packing multiple pairs of shoes and tons of socks, something that no one else did. Our friend's dad told us that Kiwis joke about the west coast by saying, "if you can't see the mountains, it's raining, and if you can, take a good look because in ten minutes, it will be raining again". We put that to the test and found it true during the first half of our trip, but it was all part of the experience, and besides, "upon us all a little rain must fall... it's just a little rain..."

Thanks everybody, I'll be posting about the second half of our trip in a little while, work has again caught up with me and I have a lot to do for classes. Hope all is well in the states!

Jake