Napier

So we hired a car in Wellington and left right away for Napier.  Even still, we ended up driving for a couple hours in the dark. But I have found my dad's kiwi doppleganger.  The manager at the Napier YHA has similar mannerisms and conversations with him go in a similar way.  It was really fun.

We walked over to the Pack and Save and bought lunches for the next couple days as well as four crappy mini frozen pizzas (although we wouldn't know how crappy until we ate them).  As a side note, Kiwi's love meat.  There is virtually no market for vegetarian food.  One example of this is every grocery store we've checked sells only meat pizzas in the frozen section.  No cheese, no veggie, but always ham and pineapple or meat lovers or supreme.  The only pizza that doesn't have pig or cow were these mini pizzas that came in bbq chicken flavors.

Anyways, in the morning we talked to Kiwi Dad about doing a bike wine tour of the region.  We were strongly recommended to do one and were really looking forward to trying it.  It was sprinkling just a little bit so we were hopeful it would clear completely by the afternoon, but the first company we called said they were closed because it was still raining where they were.  So we decided to do a driving wine tour of the region instead.  We grabbed a map and a suggested route and left.

Elephant Hill was the first stop.  They had six wines available to taste, 3 whites, 2 reds, and a dessert wine.  The main building had a large window overlooking the vineyard which was really beautiful.
Next we drove to Taka Peak overlook which was had a 360 degree view over the entire Hawke's bay.  We made wraps in the car with the fantastic view.

We stopped at Black Barn vineyard next where I forgot to take the camera out of the car.  But that's okay because the wine was just okay that we tasted.  And we drove some more to Salvare which had both wine and olive oil tasting.  The wines were decent (I liked them more than Andy), but it was really fun to taste the olive oil.  It wasn't just olive oil, it was also mustard and dressing and vinaigrettes.  All with a little bit of bread.

The last stop, Silky Oaks Chocolate shop where we bought four small chocolate pieces for $5 NZD. Then off to National Park Backpackers to be as close as possible to the Tongariro Crossing track for the next morning.

Andy's Fotodump

And I get to post my favorite photos too!

I think Katie actually took this picture. This is from the scenic lookout that our driver from Queenstown to the Routeburn Track stopped at.

Katie's feet on one of the many swinging bridges on the Routeburn Track.

A boardwalk through the mist on Routeburn.

This is probably my favorite picture so far. On the left is the Harris Shelter. We came from behind and to the left of the shelter and the track continued on to the right along the ridge and around the corner. This picture was taken from partway up the Conical Hill side trail.

Hopefully you can see the stars in the picture. This is one of my first attempts at nighttime long exposure. A sandal was used on the deck of the MacKenzie Hut. The moon was really bright this night. Hopefully you can make out the bottom half of Orion on the horizon (upside down).

A rock formation somewhere off the west coast of the south island.

Taken from a beach on the Truman Track near Punakaiki.

Fotodump Friday

Last week we had the brilliant idea of having a weekly post called Fotodump Friday in which we would select our favorite pictures from the last week to share with you.  But when last Friday came around, it was Good Friday and everything was closed in New Zealand.  So we patiently waited and now it is Friday again (at least on the east coast of the US for a few more hours).

Here are my favorite pictures from the last few weeks:

Taken between Franz Josef and Punakaiki out of the window of the car while still moving.  I'm super proud of this picture.

Taken on the Abel Tasman.  People in this region really like to spell things out in rocks close to the water.

Taken on Routeburn although neither Andy nor I remember taking this picture

This picture just reminds me of how laid back and relaxed Wanaka is.

Also taken out of the window of a moving car, somewhere between Franz Josef and Punakaiki.  The trees in this region had a windblown look to them and it was really cool.

Alright, someone else took this picture, but it's fun! On Key Summit on the Routeburn Track.

Picton and Wellington

Oh the rain.  It has been following us for what feels like forever.  We arrived into Picton later than desired because we decided to take the scenic route at dusk, which meant that most of the drive was in the dark.  And it was a treacherous windy road through the mountains.  In the rain.  Not a good idea.
While at the hostel making dinner (leftover stir fry and peanut butter toast) we met a couple from the UK.  They have been in NZ for months now.  For the first 6 weeks they bicycled around the North Island with bikes they brought over on the plane.  Then they hired a car on the South Island and did the touristy things.  Next they are heading onto Southeast Asia for a little bit before getting married in Ireland in September.  It was fun talking with them.

The morning brought high winds and lots of rain.  Not a great day for sailing.  We hung out in the hostel until it was time to return our rental car and board the ferry (there isn't much to do in Picton on a good day and we didn't want to be cold and wet for the ferry).  The ship was like a mini cruise ship with a cafeteria, bar, family area, and reclining chair lounges.  Better than any "ferry" I've taken in the US, but also more expensive than any ferry in the US.  It took about 3 hours to get across the strait.

Once in Wellington we took a shuttle to the train station and a bus to the hostel.  A short trip to the grocery store and an hour later we were making spinach raviolis and chicken tortellinis in a sun-dried tomato cream sauce.  In our room we chatted with Kelly, a U of Tenn  graduate who spent the last 3 months working in Australia.  She is traveling around NZ for a few weeks before heading to Thailand and then back home.

Wednesday morning brought more rain.  Ugh will it ever stop raining?  That's okay cause today we are going to see Te Papa, the amazing free museum just up the road from us.  It not only is free, but it has free luggage storage, free wifi, an earthquake house which really shakes, and tons of technology to complement the exhibits.  It definitely lived up to the hype we've heard about it from the people we've met on our travels.

Lunch was leftover pasta and then we hired a car and headed to Napier.
And remember:

Abel Tasman National Park

On Monday we woke up to a rainy, foggy day in Nelson. Afraid that we might have another rainout, we didn't set our hopes too high for the eastern side of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. After having breakfast and making sandwiches we backtracked about an hour and found blue skies in Marahau at the start of the track.

We hiked about an hour and a half to Apple Tree Bay and stopped to have lunch. The beach had a lot of guided kayakers and pesky sandflies. After lunch we headed further down the track for another half hour which brought us to the next beach. We spent about a half hour combing the beach and then decided to head back.

The hike back was not nearly as enjoyable as the hike in, and seemed to take twice as long as it actually did. And now, some pictures:

Golden Bay and Nelson

Phew, finally caught up with the blog.  I am writing about Sunday and it is Sunday.  This morning when we got up and moving we booked our next hostel in Nelson (a lot of them were full because it is Easter break and everyone is off from school).  We made sandwiches for lunch and left.  First stop, Abel Tasman National Park.

The great walk of Abel Tasman starts (or ends, depending on the direction you are walking) in Wainui bay, which was a half hour drive from our hostel so off we went.  It had stopped raining when we left the hostel and we could see a little bit of blue sky and were hopeful.

Ten minutes after starting along the track the skies opened and started pouring.  Even though we were wearing raincoats we were soaked within a minute.  So we turned around and walked back to the car where we waited for 20 minutes before ceding defeat.  Today was not going to be a dry day.

We skipped Pupu Springs (the other attraction we were going to see in Golden Bay) and headed over Takaka hill to Nelson instead (about 2 hours away).  It was a reasonably nice drive once we were off the winding mountainous roads and the rain let up some.  We ate our sandwiches in Nelson in the car in a parking lot.  The Nelson library was somehow open and had free internet so we spent a couple hours in the warm and dry library surfing the internet.

We checked into our non-YHA hostel (only available beds were in a private room), ate second lunch (leftover stir fry) and walked out to the beach in the drizzly weather for a half hour or so. There were quite a few people kite-surfing at the beach. After walking down the beach for a while we came home and made dinner (burritos).

This hostel was much more like staying in someone's house than any other hostel we've stayed at.  There was only one kitchen and one of the owners was making Easter dinner all day.  This made it a bit awkward to make dinner as we always felt like we were in the way or imposing.  It also seemed that the owners had either friends or family over to share in Easter dinner which hung out in the hostel's only living room.  But everyone was friendly.

Punakaiki to Golden Bay (Takaka)

Stupid rain.  Our rooms in the hostel were at the very top of the house so we heard it raining all night (Andy's note: I slept like a rock).  And it's still raining this morning.  The most beautiful drive is supposed to be from here to Westport and we may miss it because of the stupid rain.  Oh well. - Written by Katie while still wearing her cranky pants in the morning.

The morning view from our hostel

It turned out to be a rainy day in general, but the drive was still pretty. We saw a lot of coastal beauty the day before so not all was lost.  Before getting into Westport there was a turnoff with a walk to a seal colony.  The view was from the top of a cliff, but down below was a rock outcropping with some mama seals and tons of baby seals.  The baby seals were playing in the little tidal pool, on the rocks or chasing around wekas (a type of flightless bird).

We stopped at a grocery store in Westport (a surprisingly large, bustling town). Lunch was canned chicken in mayo on some rolls we got from the bakery, potato chips and granola bars. We pulled off the road at an overlook of the river in Buller's Gorge and had lunch in the car.  A big part of the drive from Westport was through Buller's Gorge which was pretty cool in the rain, fog, and mist. Every so often we would drive by what were essentially waterfalls near the road because it was raining so much.

We continued north through the rain which came and went but eventually tapered off. Every now and then we would get patches of blue sky and saw at least two rainbows on our drive.
We stopped in the small town of Takarema and picked up 400 mLs of juice and a sleeve of Afghans (delicious chocolate biscuits [aka cookies in the U.S.]).  We then stopped in the larger town of Motueka to get groceries for the next two days.

The view from Hawkes lookout at the top of Takaka Hill

Finally, we made our way on windy route 60 over Takaka Hill and arrived at Annie's Nirvana Lodge around 6pm. Dinner was another stir-fry with the remainder of the rice and some fresh vegetables. As at I write this at 10pm the rain has returned. Tomorrow the rain is suppose to continue so perhaps we'll get an early start on our way to Nelson. We shall see. Making it up as we go along is fun. :)

Franz Josef to Punakaiki

In the morning we made reservations at the YHA in Punakaiki.  Turns out Good Friday is a big deal in NZ.  Every grocery store, most retail stores and some restaurants were closed for Good Friday all the way up the coast.  We again had gorgeous views of the ocean and coastline (most so today than yesterday) and drove through quite a few tiny towns.  For lunch we stopped in Hokitika, which is apparently known for having lots of Jade in the countryside.

Lunch was Pasta Fungi and cheesy garlic bread at a local cafe.  The pasta had mushrooms and bacon in a cream sauce.  I could have done without the bacon, but it was food and I ate it (well, i avoided the bacon as much as possible). We ordered a triple chocolate muffin to go (guess who's idea that was) and walked up to the beach.

The beach was a really awesome dark sand beach with tons of driftwood.

After leaving Hokitika we entered Greymouth, probably the largest town on the west coast.  We tried looking for a connivence store to get food for dinner but everything was closed.  So off we went to Punakaiki.  Punakaiki is a tiny tiny town based around these limestone rocks called the Pancake rocks.  Something in the way the limestone settled caused it to layer and then as the coastline was eroded away the limestone towers started coming up from the ocean.

It'd be more interesting if there weren't so many people there as well.  We also missed high tide which is when the ocean creates blowholes out of the limestone.  But we got a cone of chocolate coconut ice cream and checked into our hostel.

The Truman beach walk started almost from the back of our hostel and took us to a little beach cove which was really awesome to walk around in.  Dinner was at the only tavern in town which turned out to be hopping.  We each had a NZ beer and split nachos, a fried fish, and 2 tiny veggie spring rolls.  It was the cheapest thing on the menu.

And that's all there is to do in Punakaiki.  We went back to the hostel and chatted with the two girls who were staying in the hostel with us.  They are from University of Vermont but are studying for the semester in Auckland.  It was really nice to chat about the east coast with them and we compared their experiences with ours.  They are on Easter break this past week and this coming week so they are exploring the south island.

Drive to Franz Josef

Initially the drive out of Wanaka was all lake.  First Lake Wanaka, then Lake Hawea, then Lake Wanaka again.  Lakes are really beautiful but they all start looking the same when that's all you have to look at.

For lunch we stopped in a tiny town called Haast.  It really couldn't be more than a stopover for bus tours. There was one cafe and four motels.  I'm surprised it even gets a name on the map. We made PB&J sandwiches on a picnic table outside to enjoy the scenery but instead got attacked by sandflies, a bee and a very persistent seagull (stupid seagull).  It was not a pleasant stopover. Back into the car. Once we got on the road again we were now traveling along the coast. There were some amazing views of the Tasman Sea and the coastline.

The Tasman Sea

By around 2pm we were up by Fox Glacier (one of two glacier's in the area) and we stopped to walk up to the glacier, but we didn't actually get very close. The same with Franz Josef glacier.  If we had really wanted to see the glacier, we could have paid $100-$200 NZD per person to do a guided tour and walk on the glacier, but our budget and level of interest didn't really allow for that. So we had to do with the poor-man's view. A large block of ice, whoop-dee-doo. We both agree that glacier's are probably best viewed from the air.

Fox Glacier

We stayed in the cute little town of Franz Josef.  It was two streets big and took us about 10 minutes to walk.  We had dinner upstairs at the Blue Ice cafe - pizza and 2 beers for $28 NZD. Then bed.

Franz Josef Glacier

Wanaka and Beyond

Wednesday was a beautiful day to hire a car.  By 11am we were out on the open road heading north.  Our plan was to drive up the West Coast stopping whenever we wanted to.  First stop, Wanaka.  It took us just under 2 hours to get there (we stopped along the way to admire the amazing views of the valleys and mountains).

Our awesome Nissan Sunny

I want to take a moment to talk about driving in New Zealand. It's nothing like driving in the U.S. Okay, it may be similar if we were driving in Auckland or Wellington, but for the most part it's a breeze. Driving on the left side of the road only took a little bit of getting used to, and unless you're in a town there's little to no traffic. Other drivers are generally courteous and no one is in much of a rush. I guess you could say it's like driving in more rural areas in the U.S. Also, there's almost always something amazing to look at.

From our walk around the lake

Wanaka is a small town situated on a huge lake.  We bought lunch at the Doughbin (pre-made chicken sandwiches) and ate on the beach.  We walked a little ways around the lake, but didn't last long as we had done plenty of walking over the past few days.

Lake Wanaka (from our lunch spot)

After an ice cream cone we decided to get two beds at the Purple Cow Backpackers (a place Katie had stayed the last time she was in New Zealand).  The Purple Cow has a huge glass window overlooking the lake and mountains.  After shopping at the grocery store we made dinner (vegetable stir fry) and tried to plan out what we wanted to see on the west coast.  With several maps and timetables we tentatively decided on going to Franz Josef, Greymouth/Westport, Abel Tasman National Park for two days and then on to Picton to return the car and catch the ferry to Wellington on Tuesday. Sound good to you?

Window out of one of the common areas at the Purple Cow

While at the Purple Cow we also signed up for YHA (Youth Hostel Association).  The YHA owns a number of hostels in New Zealand, and a few independent hostels are YHA approved.  It cost $42 NZD (each) to sign up and we got a free night stay with each membership as well as 10% off every time we stay at a YHA hostel.  The free night stay alone is worth half the price of the membership, which is why we ended up joining.  It's part of an international organization called Hosteling International (HI) which has hostels that we'll be able to get discounts at in Australia, Asia, and Europe.

Routeburn Day 4 and Te Anau

Stupid day four of Routeburn. What a waste of a day. The one nice thing was that it snowed during the night so the surrounding mountains were snow capped.  We hung out in the hut until 1pm (it was cold and the hut had a wood stove).  We said goodbye to the Australians and the Canadians (although we knew we would see the Canadians on the bus one last time).  We met a woman from the UK who advised us to see the lakes region of Northern England.  We talked with a guy from the Netherlands for a while.  He was a lawyer back home and one day he was offered partner and decided that he didn't want to be a lawyer for the next 40 years so he declined the offer and left to travel.  He's been writing a novel about investing while traveling the world.

When we finally left the hut we walked back up Key Summit (which is a side trail) to take pictures of the snow capped mountains and to kill a little more time.  We met Amut from Israel who was just released from his required 3 years in the army and is spending 2 months in New Zealand. He graciously took pictures of us, and us of him. Here's a picture of Amut we took when he was further up the trail.

When the bus finally came at 4:30, we were tired and cold and just wanted a warm bed.  The bus dropped us off in downtown Te Anau, which isn't more than two streets lining a lake.  We walked half an hour to Bob and Maxine's Backpackers where we had reserved two beds.  They also had bikes that the guests could take into town, so we took two of them to the grocery store and bought dinner and breakfast and snacks.  Back at the hostel, Suzanne from the UK who we had met at MacKenzie hut on the Routeburn track had also taken a bed in our room.  It was fun to talk with her about the rest of Routeburn.  We made tortellini with alfredo sauce (from the refrigerated section) and split a bottle of wine with Suzanne.  Another guest started playing acoustic guitar and with a warm fire it was a great end to a four day hike.

The next day we spent in rainy Te Anau waiting for the 5:30pm bus up to Queenstown.  We ate fish and chips and wedges for lunch, had ice cream, watched the film Shadowland at the local cinema and hung out at the library with free internet.  In Queenstown we stayed at the Southern Laughter (after checking The Flaming Kiwi was full) where we had free potato and herb soup.  The plan was to rent a car the next day and drive up the West Coast.

Routeburn Day 3

Even though our sleeping bags were rated to -5C and we had sleeping bag liners that should add another 5 degrees, it was cold. The windows above the doors were left open and everyone in the room agreed that it had been a cold night the next morning. Oh well. Breakfast was once again, oatmeal, an orange and trail mix.

On the trail we passed the "orchard" which was a field filled with small fruit-like trees that aren't actually fruit trees. Then we came to Earland falls where we stopped to take a quick break and a few pictures.
We arrived at Howden hut around 1 and made lunch (pre-mixed tuna fish sandwiches). It was a fine day (in New Zealand the weather forecast usually includes the word "fine" quite a bit) so we headed up Key summit, which was an hour and a half return (roundtrip) to the hut.  The trail switchbacked right up to the top where there were amazing 360 degree views of the valley.  We followed the nature trail around the top with a laminated info sheet. When we were close to the end of the trail some menacing clouds rolled in, the wind started blowing and rain started to sprinkle on us.  Afraid of being caught on the top of a mountain in the storm we ran/power walked down the switchbacks as quickly as we could until we were in the shelter of the trees and then made our way back to the hut.

We hung out with the Canadian siblings who were the only people besides the Australians who we had met and were staying at Howden hut for the night.  Most people skip staying at Howden and walk straight on to the Divide.  The Australians were continuing onto another trail and had a long 7 hour hike the next day.  The Canadians were catching a 12pm shuttle bus to do a cruise at Milford Sound.  We were the only idiots who stayed but didn't need to be anywhere until 4:30pm the next day.
Dinner was two packets of vegetable soup and a packet of chicken soup.  The Canadians shared some of their Moroccan couscous with us and their peppermint chocolate bar.  We shared our hot chocolate with them.