December 30, 7:55 am
Sussex House B&B, Nelson, NZ

We're just packing up to leave Nelson but not, we hope, to leave the sunshine behind. We had lovely weather here for a hike yesterday and had a lovely hike to take advantage of it: between Tonga and Torrent Bay on the Abel Tasman Great Walk in the park of the same name. It's about 60k from Nelson, with some lovely winding roads to get there, and once we arrived on the park's doorstep we then had to get to and from the trail. That trick is commonly done by water taxi, which is what we did. We had a high-speed motorboat drop off at one of the gorgeous golden beaches of the park, followed by a wonderful hike through dense palm tree jungles, another beach and a swim at lunch time, further hiking with the sun coming through the forest cover as we went, and a final swim before the water taxi loaded us up for the trip back to the car and the beach.

Today we're off to Picton, where we will board the 1:15 ferry to Wellington on the North Island. We've had a fantastic time in the South, and we're hoping some of the good weather mojo comes with us as we head towards Tongariro and the Bay of Islands!
posted by Tom at 1:58 PM | link | (0) comments

Thursday, December 28, 9:20 pm
Sussex House Bed & Breakfast, Nelson, NZ

After three highly fattening days over Christmas in Queenstown, we now find ourselves at the top end of the Southern Island, almost ready for the crossing back over to the North Island. Much activity to cover over the last few days, of course!

Boxing Day progressed largely as predicted in our last post. Deer Park Heights is a strange kind of private petting zoo, spread out over a fantasticly beautiful rocky hill overlooking Lake Wakatipu, with Queenstown on the right, and remarkable mountains all around. (The Remarkables are to the left.) It has been used for several film shoots, and has a fake small North Korean-styled prison still standing near its Western peak, from a straight-to-video Disney production in the 80's. Deer Park Heights was also used by Peter Jackson for filming several scenes from the Two Towers, most notably the flight of the Rohirrim towards Helm's Deep and the fight against the warg-riding orc scouts sent by Saruman. It has a driving track leading up the hillside, and several very large field areas with various animals, most of them more or less used to humans coming up to them and feeding them. (Feed stations are conveniently provided for buying large canisters of feed.) The animals included deer (not so used to humans), llamas (somewhat pushy), opacas (a bit aloof -- I might be mixing them up with the opacas though), goats (who mobbed Anne for food while I was off climbing rocks for views), and a few others I don't recall right now. We had a fun couple of hours driving and hiking around to see most of them and then headed back to Queenstown.

From downtown Queenstown we got on the 2pm sailing of the TSS Earnslaw, a vintage steamship that's been sailing Lake Wakatipu since 1912, and still equipped with twin steam engines powered by coal. We had a nice cruise across the lake to Walter's Peak, a working farm whose main business is giving tourists an introduction to New Zealand farm life, including a sheep dog demonstration and a sheep shearing. It's pretty staged, and it was hardly a private experience as the Earnslaw took 50 other people along with us, but it was still reasonably entertaining.

We ended the day with a very nice Thai dinner at Thai Siam in downtown Queenstown, and went back to the B&B to get packed.

Yesterday (the 27th) we said goodbye to Bill and Kari and set off (after another gut-expanding, four-course breakfast!). We drove east a bit and then up the mountain road north from Queenstown towards Wanaka. The morning started with scattered cloud, which still hadn't fully set it by the time we got to Wanaka, and we stopped there for a couple of photos across that town's beautiful lake, and an (expensive) visit to a woolen goods shop. And a couple of coffees.

Onwards, still heading north and eventually west towards the coast. As we crossed over the Haast Pass, the clouds descended thickly and the rain started coming down in sheets. We made our way to our overnight stop at Fox Glacier, which we were fully prepared to believe didn't exist, as the clouds prevented any views at all.

And that was last night. The Fox Glacier Lodge was fairly spartan, but comfortable, clean and warm. We got up at 7am to see sunshine, but with clouds on the horizon. So we quickly dashed off for an hour-long walk around the nearby Lake Murcheson for some nice views of the mountains, before returning to finish packing and get some breakfast! Then we resumed our trip up the west coast to Nelson, stopping for some cool watery geology features at Punakaiki: the famous pancake rocks and blowholes.

Into the afternoon on this, our longest driving day of the trip, and towards the end of the day we had passed from the west coast to the central region and up into the suburbs of Nelson (pop. ~50k), where we're staying now. We'll be here for two nights, and we're looking forward to a nice hike in the Abel Tasman National Park tomorrow -- along with a whole lot of New Zealand's own tourists, as this is a favourite holiday location in this, one of the busiest holiday periods of the year.
posted by Tom at 3:23 AM | link | (0) comments

Tuesday, December 26, 9:50 AM
Pencarrow B&B, Queenstown, NZ

So... full..... Must... type blog... before slumping into... food coma. The pressure! Must... loosen belt.

We've had a very relaxing time at the luxurious Pencarrow B&B, whose hosts, Bill and Kari, have gone to extremes to make us feel welcome and well cared for during our stay. They even gave us Christmas presents under the little tree in our room! And the breakfasts have been gourmet heaven: eggs on a cloud yesterday followed by flapjacks, and today baked eggs (wonderfully spiced) and bacon, followed by belgian waffles. And this followed our Christmas dinner out, at Gantleys, a local fine dining establishment:

Clevedon oysters and wild medley mushroom soup with creme fraiche, drizzled with truffle oil

Lamb tenderloin cooked medium rare, served with minted green pea potato cake, fresh asparagus, topped with rocket pesto and finished with a roasted garlic and lamb jus, mint coulis

Pink grapefruit sorbet

Langoustine and tarragon butter ravioli topped with buttered leeks, wasabi caviar, finished with a foie gras sauce and blood orange reduction

Ham with bourbon molasses and pecan glaze, stuffed turkey fillets wrapped in smoked bacon with a spicy cranberry and dried fruit chutney and cider sage gravy

Sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce, white chocolate creme caramel with orange shortbread biscuit, vanilla bean ice cream encased in a pistachio nut tuille ring

Tea or coffee with pistachio, raspberry and white chocolate biscotti


Needless to say, we were still full this morning. We were also very thankful that we'd gone for a nice walk up Mount Crichton yesterday afternoon.

On today's agenda we will be driving around to Deer Park Heights, a nearly park where a number of Lord of the Rings scenes were filmed, and feeding the goats there; and this afternoon we're taking a cruise on the lake on an old steamship, the TSS Earnslow, with afternoon tea and a farm trip to see sheep being shorn. The weather is still largely overcast, but it doesn't look like we'll get much rain today if any, and there are patches of blue sky.

Merry Christmas to everyone! We're having a great time, and hope your holidays are going well also.
posted by Tom at 3:51 PM | link | (0) comments

Sunday, December 24, 2006
Pencarrow B&B, Queenstown, NZ

We're in Queenstown! We had a nice morning drive from Te Anau, with interesting hills and mountains on all sides. On the way we had a lucky encounter with the Franklin Flyer, a lovingly maintained steam engine which runs a 12 mile track near Queenstown, and I got some great photos. The weather's a bit cloudy today, though it shows some signs of clearing a bit.

Yesterday, though, it was spectacular weather for our Milford Sound trip: not a cloud in the sky! This is very unusual for Milford Sound, which is supposed to be the second most rainy spot on the planet, with more than 200 days of rain a year. (The first most rainy spot, Anne tells me, is in Hawaii.)

Anyway, we were picked up bright and early from our hotel-style B&B in Te Anau, the Cosy Kiwi, by a mini-van. Our two guides, Will and Eve, gave us a running commentary on the drive to Milford Sound, which went through progressively more and more spectacular scenery until we passed through the tunnel and descended to Milford harbour. There we stripped down to our bathing suits and were given a full set of gear, from thermal underwear to spray skirts and PFDs, and after a brief set of paddling instructions we set out in our double kayaks. The group (11 of us plus the two guides) was split into two, with our guide, Eve, leading us out into the sound.

The mountains rose steeply up on either side, topped in many cases with snow and all with silver threads of waterfalls cascading down to the sound. While the stillness of the sound was frequently interrupted by the seemingly endless stream of aircraft and helicopters doing tours of the area, it was still a vast and magical space. Tour ships cruised up and down, dwarfed to insignificance by the mountains towering over them. We had several hours on the sound, with a picnic lunch on Cascade beach as our far point. After lunch, the heat on the mountains created an updraft that brought the ocean wind up the straight. We set out into the resulting waves to the middle of the sound, then rafted up and set a makeshift sail (with some difficulties) to be pulled back towards the dock area. In total, we had some 5 magical hours on the water, and despite our sunscreen we ended up a bit overcooked on our hands and faces. (The rest of us was safely covered with gear!)

After piling up the gear and stowing the kayaks we set off back to Te Anau, with frequent stops for photos, returning to town some 11 hours after we set out. A wonderful day!

We're at the Pencarrow B&B now for the next three nights, a nice break from moving every 1-2 days. We'll be calling family tomorrow morning, our Christmas day, which is Christmas Eve in Canada.

Blessings of the season to everyone, a happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year! We're having a great time and looking forward to seeing everyone when we get home.
posted by Tom at 8:31 PM | link | (0) comments

I should have mentioned in my previous post, below, that we saw both yellow-eyed penguins and royal albatross on the Otago Peninsula yesterday, before starting our scenic drive to the Catlins. Fantastic wildlife this country has. Lots of spectacular photos were taken... which I look forward to uploading when I get home!
posted by Tom at 11:07 PM | link | (0) comments

Wash & Surf Laundromat/Internet Cafe
Te Anau, Fiordland, NZ
December 22, 2007, 5pm

Greetings from Fiordland! We arrived this afternoon after a pleasant but overcast drive from the Catlins, where we had a short overnight stay. After checking in to our B&B, we got on a boat and headed out across the lake to visit the local main attraction, an incredible underground cave formed fairly recently from glacier water carving through the local limestone. The cave is the home of the glow worms! The local tour company has a pretty good thing going taking squads of tourists out to see the little buggers, but it's actually a really well-done tour and it was a great experience. Somehow, they built a sturdy metal walkway that extends several hundred meters into the cave, suspended above the rushing (frigid) waters of the underground stream. At the end of the walkway, past the rushing waterfalls, is a tranquil flooded cave. A hand-powered raft took us out into the middle and we were surrounded by a little galaxy of underground stars: tiny green lights from hungry glowworms, competing with each other to attract insects onto their thin little sticky fishing lines. Very, very cool.

Tomorrow, we're off to Milford Sound at an ungodly hour: a 6:30 am departure! There's a two hour bus trip each way, so it's important to get off early to ensure we have a decent amount of time for kayaking on the sound. So far, the weather looks a bit iffy -- there's the occasional blue patch of sky, but by and large we're looking at clouds. Still, the sound is supposed to be spectacular in any weather, so we have our fingers crossed!
posted by Tom at 10:59 PM | link | (0) comments

December 21, 2006
Larnach Castle

Intermittent rain showers and, this morning, some hail! Perfect weather for dolphins and albatrosses. We're off to pay them a visit before continuing on our way southwards. Looks like (fingers crossed) the weather should improve by Saturday, our day on Milford Sound.
posted by Tom at 3:17 PM | link | (0) comments

December 20th, 6pm
Larnach Castle, near Dunedin, New Zealand
10 degrees Centigrade & cloudy

Well, at least it's not raining any more. Our delightful spell of weather ended this morning with grey skies, which quickly turned to rain as we got out of the Banks Peninsula. We then spent most of the rest of the day driving through torrential downpours, which occasionally lessened to mere drenchings. We traveled on the Inland Scenic Road which, in fair weather, would have given us good views of the mountains seen in the backdrop of the Rohan scenes in The Two Towers, but... not so much today. Just walls of low grey clouds and mist, today. Can't complain, it looks like it will brighten up for us for our Milford Sound trip and possibly for Christmas, so we're happy.

On Monday we flew in a convoluted way from Auckland to Christchurch. We came out of the terminal building, picked up our car, and got on the road. We first went downtown for a quick look at the city and its famous cathedral, and a walk along the Avon River -- very nice. We had a lovely early supper at the Viaduct, one of the restaurants beside the river, before retrieving our car from the multi-story carpark and getting back on the road.

Our destination was Akaroa, at the end of the highway, on the Banks Peninsula. The road started out flat, but as we got to the peninsula, hills rose sharply of our left. After skirting the base of a few the climb could no longer be delayed and we wound our way steeply up a hill to get our first of many amazing views. From the top the road diverged, and we chose, as it turned out, wisely: the tourist road. The road zigzagged across the windy summits of the hills surrounding Akaroa Bay and we had some spectacular views. My new digital SLR has the evidence, which I will post as soon as we get home!

We descended at last into Akaroa and checked into our B&B, the Wilderness House, a gorgeous Victorian-styled home with amazing gardens (featured recently in New Zealand House & Garden). Our hosts Jim and Liz were more than generous and gave us as warm a welcome and stay as could be wished.

Yesterday dawned fair and warm, and after a delicious breakfast we did an orientation walk of Akaroa, a small town founded by French settlers shortly after New Zealand was fully claimed by the English (with the Treaty of Waitangi between Great Britain and the Maori). We ended up at the main dock, where we found the Akaroa Black Cat Adventures offices. They set us up with wet suits and snorkle gear, and with 7 others and two guides we set out in a fast boat into the bay. Destination: wherever the dolphins were! And soon enough, we found them, lovely little grey, black and white coloured dolphins swimming up to the boat, and eventually, around us.

We had a magnificent and breathtaking close encounter with these wonderful creatures, who entertained us on the way back to shore with a remarkable, and very rare, aerial display of acrobatics! A fantastic dinner at the Harbour 71 restaurant concluded our best day in New Zealand so far.

For this evening, we're staying in the (glamourous) Larnach Castle in the (distinctly unglamourous) stables. Tomorrow, we're visiting a penguin sanctuary on the Otago Peninsula, then driving south to the Catlins for a farm stay night. Whee!!!

Addendum: the photos are from the Black Cat company's web site, so thanks (and apologies) to them for the links. Here is a link to the originals, and you can get from there to their booking form, too: Black Cat Group.
posted by Tom at 12:02 AM | link | (0) comments

Sunday, December 17th, 8:45pm
Great Ponsonby B&B, Auckland

We've had a great stay in Auckland, with a number of highlights. Yesterday we took a ferry out from the harbour to Waiheke Island, 45 minutes away. It's a lovely tranquil place, dotted with wineries. We rented a car by the ferry terminal there and explored a bit. After a lovely lunch at one of the nearby wineries we worked our way to the eastern end of the island. A World War II gun emplacement, built as part of the Auckland defenses, has been partially restored and is open for visitors. The tour is pretty basic, but very interesting. For $15 we got two admissions, a photocopied sheet of explanatory detail, and a flashlight: the gun emplacement is mostly underground, with long concrete-lined blast tunnels connecting the three guns (along with their hydraulic operating systems and ammunition dumps), spanning several hundred feet. It's all dark, as the lights and electrical systems were all stripped out by vandals in the years following the war. We finished up our day with another wine tasting and a slightly disappointing dinner one of the island villages before dropping off our car and heading back to the city.

Today we didn't have any firm plans, so we were able to spend most of the morning cleaning up our south island plans and making phone calls. We rebooked a couple of days of our itinerary before Christmas to give us a good day kayaking in Milford Sound. With a more overcast day today, we didn't feel much urgency to get out, but wandered downtown towards lunch time on the Link bus and did a quick shopping expedition. We found a fine little shopping mall by the bus terminal and picked up a good solid pair of hiking sandals and a hat for Anne, and another book for me. Then we went across the street to the Maritime Museum. There we found that for a small surcharge we could take a harbour cruise, which was about to leave, so we paid up, boarded, and set off. There was only one other guest on the cruise, a lady from Vancouver, but 6 volunteer crew members! After leaving the dock, our vessel, the Ted Ashby, hoisted sails and sailed down the harbour to the Auckland bridge, where we got to see some intrepid souls bungie jumping from a metal structure suspended below the bridge itself. We also had wonderful close-up views of a replica Polynesian ocean catamaran, apparently a rare sight in the harbour. The museum was fairly small, but quite interesting, particularly a documentary video made of the ENZA New Zealand round-the-world sailing race (completed in under 80 days!).

Tonight is our last night in Auckland, so we're heading back to our room to start packing our bags. We're flying down to Christchurch tomorrow, which isn't very far, but we have to change planes in Wellington so it will still take us a few hours to get there. Looks like the weather will be nice for the next couple of days, but may turn unseasonably cold after that: highs of about 10 degrees centigrade. At least it will feel a bit more like Christmas! All this walking around in short sleeves is very strange for December.
posted by Tom at 2:46 AM | link | (0) comments

Friday, December 15th
Great Ponsonby B&B, Auckland, New Zealand

Kia ora! That's hello from New Zealand. We're winding down after a fairly busy day, which started far, far too early in the skies over the Pacific as our overnight flight descended into Auckland International. Yesterday was our last day in Hawaii, and we took our last opportunity for really hot weather to go to the beach in Kailua for some ocean time. Then off to the airport, and now here we are!

At the Auckland airport we were met by the B&B's driver "Uncle", who drove us in through moderate traffic to the Ponsonby area, just west of the downtown core. The English heritage of Auckland was immediately apparent. Besides the blindingly obvious driving on the left side of the road, there were the more subtle touches: the cut stone curbs, the English-style road signs, the smaller cars, the narrow sidewalks and fenced-in front gardens, and the warm-climate cottage-styled houses. At the B&B we were given a quick welcome and orientation, and we were able to dump our luggage and have a very necessary warm shower before heading out for the day.

First order of business was getting Anne some comfortable sandals, which had proven an astonishingly difficult task in Hawaii. We walked downtown, about a half hour from Ponsonby, and before long we'd found a store with some solid but stylish Birkenstocks which suited the need. By then, it was lunch time, so we stopped in a little side alley for a wonderful cafe lunch. I had an absolutely delicious cajun fish burger.

Then we strolled back down the hill to the Britomart Transit Centre, where we picked up a bus out along the eastern harbour road. This took us to a wonderful unique Auckland museum, Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World and Antarctic Experience. There we got our first close encounters with penguins, who waddled through a carefully climate-controlled snow and ice habitat, and swam with amazing speed through the cold waters. We also went through Tarlton's aquarium, which is built up around a long clear acrylic tunnel, so that the sharks, rays, turtles and fish swim all around you as you go through. Short, but sweet.

By the time we made it back to the B&B we were pretty wiped out, and we had a couple of hours of recouperation time before heading out for dinner on Ponsonby street, which is soft of a Queen Street West kind of area, with lots of interesting shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. We picked a Belgian beer garden and had some immense local mussels accompanied by a massive basket of french fries and mayonnaise.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we're headed to Waiheke Island, one of the gulf islands nearby. It's a 45-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland, and boasts of 18 wineries and some lovely hiking.
posted by Tom at 2:19 AM | link | (1) comments

Aloha! It's 11 am in Hawai'i, and I'm writing this from the business center at the Turtle Bay Resort. Anne and I arrived here late on Sunday evening after a long but smooth journey from Toronto via Vancouver. 19 hours of straight travel accomplished, we were pretty exhausted by the time we got to our rooms, and slept a full night's sleep. Jet lag is for the weak.

Yesterday's forcasted sunshine took its time arriving, though the grey morning clouds were frequently pierced with patches of blue. The temperature, 29 degrees centigrade, made sitting by the pool and watching the surf the main activity of the day... A day with very little activity, truth be told. We compressed a lot of recovery into a short time period!

In the late afternoon we went for a pleasant drive west along the north shore from our resort. The resort is on the farthest northern point, and the north and west shores are the strongest for surf at this time of year, so there were many spectacular waves and most of the young in the island seemed to be out with their boards. We stopped at Sunset Beach to watch some surfers, and I used up a few dozen shots on my fancy new digital SLR.

Continuing on, we stopped in Haleiwa for shave ice -- a local specialty, basically a slightly more substantial fruit freezie in a cone -- and further down the road, for some delicious garlic shrimp from a shrimp truck. Then, adventuresome spirits exhausted for the day, we turned back and drove through the golden sunset lights towards the resort, a late dinner, and bed.

Today's starting slowly but well. This afternoon we'll be off to Honolulu to catch Casino Royale in the island's best theatre, and then heading to Duke's for some fine dining, Hawai'i style. Tomorrow, we check out in the morning but have another full day to enjoy the island before getting on an overnight flight to Auckland.

Huzzah!
posted by Tom at 3:57 PM | link | (0) comments