Onto the Next Adventures: February 2014

Sunday, 23 February 2014

New Zealand road trip

Two islands, 4000km and a tonne of adventures later-New Zealand was an amazing road trip. Leaving Milford Sound, we headed back to Christchurch with our final stop a Lake Tekapo. Here's some shots of our road trip back.

Lunch stop just outside of Queenstown(left)

Devils staircase (right)

Stop at Lake Pukaki to watch the sunset and for amazing views of NZ's highest peak-Mt Cook

View from the top. Our hike up Johns Mountain from Lake Tekapo.

If it were night, I'd be a stargazer in the galaxy observatories in the background ;)

Having some fun in Lake Tekapo town. Shawn's going to make me one of these zip lines when we get home! Lol

Add 1000km more!

We finished the north & south islands of NZ with 15 day total journey and just under 4000km in two rental cars. Time to switch it up in Australia!

Goodbye New Zealand! We had a blast! (left)

Hello Aussies;) (right)

Wednesday, 19 February 2014

Milford Sound-Fiordland

Waking up with beautiful views of the sunrise over the lake and mountains, listening to the birds singing with coffee in hand-this is what I call a great start to the day!

Now getting to Te Anau, a small village and the jumping off point for most trips to Milford Sound, wasn't so easy. Well it would have been if the only road "highway" to the south wasn't closed because of a landslide! "Didn't you see the sign in Franz Joseph?" the "polite" lady at the closure asked. We looked at each other for reassurance that we didn't and agreed that we were too occupied chatting with the hitchhiker we picked up as we were leaving Hokitika, we totally missed the obviously tiny sign:( Eitherway, we had been travelling all day and it was pouring sideways rain now so we welcomed the stop. With only one option for accommodation in Haast, we lucked out with a couple of the last available beds! Guess we weren't the only ones who missed the "sign."

Stop at Franz Joseph Glacier. Even after an hour walk, it was hard to get a good look.

Lots of this. This is New Zealand after all!

The next day we set off early as the road reopened at 7am. Another full day of travelling (with stops) and we arrived at our destination around 5pm-only to find limited space at the hostels in town. I think we better start booking ahead:( No worries though. We haven't had to sleep in the car yet! lol

Watching the sunset over the lake after checking into our hostel across the street.

Getting ourselves out of bed at 6am the next day to drive to Milford Sound wasn't the easiest task-but well worth it! With nothing booked(lol), we managed to arrive in good time, buy cruise tickets with our buy 1 get 1 half off coupon, and set off with the rest of the crowds into the depth of Milford's Fiord. It rains on average 182 days of the year here (6-9 metres annually) so we felt pretty blessed with a sunny cruise. We cheers'd our free coffees on the deck and set our eyes forward on the adventure ahead.

6am start. Fog lifting and sun rising over the mountains in Fiordland on the way to Milford Sound

Hommer tunnel. Did I mention how much I love tunnels? not!

This one, build in 1953, is 1.2km long, carved through a mountain. The sides are solid rock.

A great morning to explore Milford sound by boat

Front and centre. Top deck with an unobstructed view of the Fiord.

Fiord entrance-looking out on the Tasman Sea.

Stunning views of the mountains all around Milford Sound.

On the road back from Milford Sound. Stopped for a picnic lunch along the river with this view.

Hoki

Hokitika ("Hoki" for short) was our first stop on our 8 day road trip from Christchurch. We were meeting our friends from Ireland (Sinéad & Aiden) that we meet on our travels in Mendoza, Argentina-now living here temporarily.
We had the first day and evening to tour the small fishing village while we waited for our friends to return from their road trip in the north of the island. Here's a few highlights of our adventures in "Hoki" that day.

Creations left over from the local driftwood competition.

A few trips back and forth to local library to connect to their free wifi and we finally managed to send enough FB messages to our friends to finally meet up! We spent a full day and two wonderful evenings chatting and enjoying each other's company. Sinéad and Aiden, we miss you already! We look forward to seeing you in Canada soon and back in Ireland one day;)

Suspension bridge over the gorge at Lake Kaniere.

Shawn and Aiden checking out the fishing situation in the gorge.

Stone skipping competition.

Sinead taking it all in:)

The long and winding road

Christchurch to Hokitika through Arthur's Pass

Leaving Christchurch the next day in our rented car didn't feel as exciting as it should have been. Our hearts were heavy and our minds preoccupied with the news from home. I felt my emotions following the road that day with every up and down, and twist and turn in the road. At times, tears streaming down like the rain on the window. As much as the ride through the mountains from east to west coast was absolutely stunning, I couldn't help but long for home and to be with my family.
As we approached Hokitika, I suddenly felt totally exhausted. Wanting to find a hostel and settle in for the evening was my first priority. Finding a hostel that wasn't booked completely was the next challenge. All I wanted was a private, quite space and the thought of sleeping in a dorm that night with 6 other strangers suddenly didn't appeal to me. (Doesn't appeal to me on a good day usually, but IS the most cost effected in these high price tag countries). I know there is always a reason for things because after trying our luck at one of the last hostels in town (the old mental hospital-as the locals called it) and failing, we ended up a nice, reasonable hotel in town. Our own room at that! We settled in, dropped into the local fish&chip shop for dinner, and enjoyed our meal and warm beer while watching the Olympics. Oh, turns out it was Valentines Day too! See, there's always a reason things turn out the way they do;)

Devils punchbowl-top bridge photo

What's left of Christchurch

Christchurch. Not what we expected...
Truthfully, I don't know what I expected to see in Christchurch? Disaster, deviation, destruction? Definitely.
After landing on our short 1hr puddle hopper from Auckland, we bussed into the centre of Christchurch. While walking 45min in an attempt to find a hostel, we stumbled across many MANY buildings that were destroyed & vacant. What we saw were the remains of buildings: windows smashed or boarded up, walls held up by sea containers, gates surrounding buildings that were now condemned, and shops with fixtures still inside totally abandoned. Very eerie!
After finding a hostel that had vacancy (2 hours of walking later), we dumped our heavy packs and decided to see the rest of Christchurch centre. Our photos not only show some of the deviation from the 2010/2011 earthquake, but also some of the rebuild efforts and unusual projects in an attempt to "restart" the city.

First building we came across. Weren't sure at first what the sea containers were all about...

then realized they were holding up what was left of the building...

Block after block, this is what we saw. We figured 80-90% of the buildings in the centre of Christchurch were affected.

Many of the historic churches in Christchurch are in need of serious repair:(

The following photos show some of the efforts being made to rebuild the city.

A temporary space. Crate-town is place were people can gather, grab a bite to eat from the surrounding food trucks, and listen to bands play. Pretty cool!

ReSTART

A sea container village set up in the centre to bring locals and tourists alike back into the city. Complete with coffee shops, clothing stores, restaurants, and toilets! -all made with sea containers.

Our best day yet

After spending a few nights in Hawks Bay wine region tasting some of New Zealand's finest Chardonnay's, Pinot noir's & , Gewürztraminer's we decided it was time to hit the road-before it turned it another Mendoza!
Driving NZ has been absolutely amazing. None of the roads are straight, scenery is constantly changing from sea to mountain to jungle to forest, and Shawn's driving skills are improving with every twist and turn of the road;) Driving on the left side still feels weird, and I keep going to get into the wrong side of the car, but an adventure non the less;)
We left Hastings early in the morning for our day journey to Hot Water Beach in Kahwia. Along the way we made a few well-worth-it stops. Here are a few.

Wine & olives. Two of my favourite things...

A short walk to the natureal bridge in Waiotomo

We arrived in Kahwia hoping for a place to stay in this very small fishing town and ended up with one of our favourite stays in NZ yet!

Our private cabin for $40/night complete with beautiful sunset views on the bay.

The town. Small, quite, perfect!

The next morning after the rain let up, we headed off to the beaches with our shovels (borrowed from Grant our host at the Motor park) to explore the nearby beaches. What we ended up with was deserted beaches and a hot bath! Check it out;)

Walk along the local beach. Sand dunes in the background sacred and untouched. (above)

Hot water beach. Dig in with your toes, find a hot spot, dig! Next, lie back in your own hot pool (beer optional) and soak. (below)

Next stop-South Island!

Sunday, 9 February 2014

Land of Redwoods, thermal parks and ZORB

Rotorua- still can't pronounce it right! If there is anything you could imagine activities wise, it's here!
Rafting, sky diving, bungee jumping, trekking, mountain biking, horseback riding, sky lining (luge ride down a mountain), hot thermal baths, Maori villages, swimming/boating in one of many lakes, ZORB'n, etc, etc-it's all here. Slightly overwhelming? That's the New Zealand way! YeeeeAh

What Rotorua is most well known for is it's smell. You see, the town is directly located in one of the most geothermal active regions in the world. Rotorua smells like one big rotten egg, but the steam coming up from the ground everywhere you look is pretty cool. You can see why it get so touristy here. It's pretty funny when hotels and holiday parks advertise "smell free" in their descriptions.
Choosing activities while we were here for just two short days took a bit of planning but we managed to fit in some pretty fun (and active!) adventures. Here's a snapshot of a few...