Milford Sound part 1

From the lodge in the woods we traveled by bus to the Milford Sound. On the way I got to experience my first temperate rain forest, mirror lakes, and random tourist shops.

Our first stop was a fruit stand where you could buy homemade candies and dried fruits along with ice cream in which they mix in your favorite fruits.

Next, we stopped for gas where I bought a leather Australian hat. It was a lot nicer than the one I bought in England. It had thicker higher quality leather and plastic instead of number 8 wire for the brim support.

Lunch consisted of a venison pie at another tourist stop. The view over the lake was amazing, even with the clouds.

It was also rainy

The rain obscured the Mirror Lakes a bit, however we still got the idea.

The temperate rain forests of New Zealand are grown on only a few inches of soil over rock. Therefore, to stay on they intertwine their root systems to scale the steep mountain sides. This leaves all the empty spaces  perfect locations for waterfalls.

We then traveled through a hand made tunnel through the mountains to the other side to Mission Impossible music.

At the other side we stopped for a short walk through the forest were we saw some amazing stone formations.

I think the rock formations are amusing, the three holes in the rock remind me of an imperial scout helmet.

After our short walk, we arrived at our accommodations the Milford Wanderer.

Our room approximately and eight by five foot room was shared my three people, Mica, Christina and me. It also gave us a low level view of the water.

The Milford Sound while wet was beautiful. The waterfalls were in full swing. We experienced strong winds and close views of seals and penguins. We saw the  penguins, while kayaking around the sound, therefore I did not bring my camera in fear that it would get seriously wet. It was chilly. Especially since, I was only wearing my bathing suit.

Later I jumped from the top deck of the ship to go swimming

The water was freezing.

That night our dinner was crackling, pork, mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. We stayed up late playing connect four and due to my swimming experience I enjoyed two shots of Red Label whiskey.

Day 1 Topdeck Tour

Day 1 Topdeck Tour

Topdeck picked me up at 7:30 am. Immediately I meet people. Mica from Germany and Christine from Canada were the first. They had met each other that night. There were four other Germans to start with. Stephan, a social worker, his partner and Eva and her friend were next and two Americans, one from New Jersey. The other two girls were from Mexico.

We first traveled to a farm were we had a lovely fresh tea break filled with fresh scones, sausage rolls and cookies, followed by lamb feeding and my third sheering demonstration. As a gift, we were all given dog whistles. Hard to get a hang on we looked like idiots as we tried to make noise. I did figure it out by the third day.

Next we traveled to lake Pukaki and lake Tekapo both were a beautiful light blue, apparently caused by particles carried by the glaciers.

At the lake Tekapo village we had lunch. Thanks to my previous night with Max, and his gang I had lunch pre-made. In the village we met a Newfoundland dog with a very diplomatic personality.

The last place we visited before we arrived at our first accommodations was the Mount Cook village, literally a museum and hotel rolled into one. The museum was going over the history of mountaineering and of Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first to reach the top of Mount Cook.

Our first accommodation, a skiing lodge during the winter, was a nice introduction to travel. While not a fancy hotel,, bunk beds and twins only. The food was simple but acceptable. A slightly bland yet well made lasagna with green salad, balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Dessert was a lovely chocolate brownie with wiped cream.

Later that night we went on a walk were I got to practice some spanish and got to divert a small stream.

Christchurch

Christchurch

After my money fiasco, I boarded the plane and left for Christchurch. The passengers next to me were an old couple visiting their grandchildren. They chuckled at me in the beginning because for a moment I though I had left my phone behind, not that my cell phone actually works. All I can do is text.

Once in Christchurch I wandered around the square and went to dinner at the Tandoori Palace, a cheep but good Indian restaurant. Sitting alone for dinner two old couples joined me. Max, the alpha male  initiated the conversation by asking me if the food was good. That moment I was enjoying a lamb Masala so I replied, “the food is good thank you”

I ignored them for a while but I had a nagging question that bothers most Americans. So, I asked “Do you tip here?”

Max smiled and said “no”.

Soon after I had joined tables them, we started talking about health care. George, the other male in the group, had previously suffered a heart attack and had literally died on the table with a blood pressure of zero. According to Max, this would not have happened if George had not been on the wait list for heart surgery. Apparently, New Zealand is good at emergency medicine, fixing your arm or leg if you had an accident, but needs a lot of improvement on long-term treatment and specialty medicine such as cardiology.

Max is an engineer and currently sells trailers for large lorries and trucks that can lift

cargo containers to other countries around the world. His wife Ann was a dentist at a school. All children in new Zealand are provided free dental care.

I met up with them the next night.

The next day I woke at eight, had a small breakfast at the Cathedral Café and called a paragliding company about the weather conditions.

They picked me up at 10:00 and drove me into the hills. The ride up already had excellent views of the city. The van, a clunker did not give a good impression of professionalism there were old broken helmets hanging on a bar behind the passenger and drivers seats. However, their equipment looked will maintained and I felt reassured.

We stopped by the side of the road close to a much nicer van from another paragliding company.

Carrying my harness, we hiked up a hill. Steve, the pilot was not only lugging a harness but also a large bad containing the parasail.

Once up the hill the pilots, we had followed the other group up, checked the wind. We ended up switching from the lakeside of the hill to the residential and off we went.

The other group started first.

 

Walking, then running, pulling the strings so that the sail would catch the air, we were off.

We swooped low across the ground until we reached a croup of rocks were thermals were present and we started rising further from the ground. At the highest point, people became the size of pushpins. Then slowly we started to go down.

We landed  running.

With the paragliding at an end I traveled with Steve and his wife to Sumter for lunch and learned he was previously and electrician in the air force.

Sumter is a beach area, the rest of the early afternoon involved walking for over an hour down the street taking in the view. There was a massive rock with a tunnel through it that was slowly created by smashing waved. I climbed the steps, carved into the volcanic rock, to the top. You could see all across the beech all the way to central Christchurch.

Walking along the beach the water was clear and blue green, talking previously to Steve that was due to the green lettuce seaweed that was rowing in the delta. Looking at the water then, I disagreed. The color was in the water. The next day the tour guide Scotty explained that it was from particles of rock that melted away with the glacial ice. I believe these particles traveled all the way to the ocean were it merged with the saltwater.

I traveled back to the center of Christchurch by buss. That did not go so well, the buss driver charged me $7.50 for the ride apparently assuming that I wanted to go to the airport. According to a local, he overcharged me by more than half. I filed a request for reinvestment; apparently, the buss station did not have the cash in hand to reimburse me on the spot.

After that fiasco, I was wondering around cathedral square christmas shopping when race cars started driving onto the court. Seeing someone talking to a driver, I approached him. The guy was carrying a star bucks coffee cup and when I asked him what was going on. I was surprised to hear an American accent. Brian was from Boston and was on his way to Antarctica for the summer to work as an electrician and hopefully go skiing. A democrat as well, we discussed politics and watched what was apparently the start of a car rally, a long distance of road car race.

That night as I tried to sleep an aftershock hit Christchurch.

Airport

Before I even reached Christchurch an adventure occurred. It is a bit complicated so I will start at the beginning.

Last Sunday, the eighth of November, strapped for cash, I bicycled to the local shopping center approximately ten to eleven kilometers away from Gordonton. I found the ATM machine however, my card did not work instead, it stated that I had insufficient funds even though I had over 2,000 American dollars in my checking account. Not worrying I assumed that it was the ATM machine. “I will just get the money when I am at the airport”, I thought.

Once at the airport six days later I became a nervous mess. None of the ATMs were working. They all said I had insufficient funds. My mind raced. The bank had called my parents because some of my payments were out of the norm. But, I had fixed it right.

To calm my nerves I paced the airport shops’, a toyshop selling inflatable sheep, and a bookstore, until I walked into a clothing store called beach _________. Sorry I forgot the full name. Where while wondering around one of the clerks/ employees asked, “Are you all right”

Being Natalie, instead of giving the normal reply, “I’m fine thank you” I told the truth. “I am about to go to Christchurch and I can’t get any cash, none of the ATM’s seems to work, and I can’t draw money out of my credit card because it doesn’t have a pin.”

I was surprised when she listened and gave me some not so useful advice. She sent me to a possible bank in the international terminal. That possible bank turned out to be a currency exchange run by a bank but the teller told me “We are not a bank.” So, back I went.

Once again back at the Beach __________ another clerk/ assistance approached me with the same  question as the previous. My reply “I’m fine thank you” surprised the previous clerk. Who looked up surprised and said “She’s the girl who”. She stopped looked at me.

I sighed, “I can’t access my money with my debit or credit card” "Oh," he replied. There is a bank down the street just around the corner past the traffic lights.”

I looked at him blankly. I’ve never been good with long verbal directions. “Can you draw it for me,” I asked

“Sure,” he replied.

My flight by then was leaving in an hour as I hurried once again across the busy drop off area of the regional terminal towards the row of car rental shops, turned right at the sidewalk and then turned the corner left and stared a brisk walk up the road. The map the clerk drew was a bit confusing. What looked like a round a bout was really traffic lights but I made it to the TNZ bank and ran inside.

My hopes fell when I walked inside there were no bankers just one teller and a customer in line. Waiting my turn I approached the teller, gave my story for the fifth time.

The teller interjected with “did you try our ATM machine,” “No” I replied, frustrated but restraining my temper. I thought the teller was an idiot, but at her recommendation I went out back, inserted my debit card punched in my pin asked for 400, watched a circle of dots rotate and finally my card was ejected an I had cash.

Overjoyed, I ran back to the departures terminal Kicking my heals literally. Once back, I ran to the Beach __________ and thanked the store clerks. I also asked for their picture. Here it is, Samuel Pham on the left and Kumal Prasad on the right.

Even though some of their advice lead me in circles. They cared enough to help. And Guys if you find this blog thank you.

Hobbiton and Te Aroha

Last week, as the title proclaims, I visited a film set for the Lord of the Rings movie and the soon to come The Hobbit movies, and Te Aroha, a hot spring and health spa at the base of a mountain.

I can say very little about Hobbition. Only that I did go, but I am unable to post any pictures of the set due to a confidentiality agreement I signed. Therefore, to give you as much proof as I can here is a picture of the confidentiality agreement. 

For more proof, I was also in Matamata, the town near the set known as Hobbiton, where they had a Hobbiton sign, Gollum statue and a weird chair. You might be thinking why am I not on the chair? Well, I did sit on it, I just forgot to have my picture taken. Instead, Steve's partner Nanette's children, Patrisha and Eloisa posed for the photographs.

If you want to see the set pictures, our guide informed me that after The Hobbit films are released, the confidentiality agreement is void. Therefore, ask me then.

At Te Aroha, I happily hiked up the mountain. Not only was it beautiful it was also a workout, an activity that does not happen very often driving around in a small SUV to different farms. I cannot stress this enough but the native flora in New Zealand is so different and cool. It was chilly in the forest but if you just imported some macaws and boa constrictors from the Amazon you could film a pretty believable B movie. This would be impossible however, since to protect the many native flightless bird. Most reptiles are banned from entering New Zealand.

Sadly I did not make it to the top. We arrived at Te Aroha at three o'clock and the hike up to the top takes 2 hours. But I still got pretty high up.

After the hike, I went for a short swim in a swimming pool supplied by a hot spring and later had a picnic with Nanette and her girls, Patricia and Eloisa. My favorite food was a shortcake like cookie with cornflakes and finely chopped orange rinds. Afterward, we packed up and drove home.

Next week I will be touring the south island. To keep light I will be leaving my computer behind. I will be returning on the 22 of November.

White Water Rafting

The morning started a bit hectic. We left as nine in the morning for the whitewater rafting company where David booked my trip, but the company had sighed me up with a different rafting company. They gave us some brief directions and we headed off further down the road and had to ask for directions one more time before we finally made it.

The rafting company’s location was convenient, located right next to the river.

I was the last customer to arrive. I quickly signed the “this is dangerous do not sue me paper”. And I was off to get dressed. I donned my first wet suit in my life. Seriously, I have never worn one before. I do not think it was that necessary either; the water temperature was not freezing.  It felt like donning a thick stretchy hide, and barely fit over my hips. Which have grown by the way, due to good food and little exercise. 

 A briefing than ensued going over how to hold your paddle, paddle, hold onto the raft and to brace yourself in the raft.

We then carried the raft down to a steep incline and hiked to the water’s edge followed by the instructor with the raft.

At the river, waiting were two kayakers, one with a waterproof camera strapped to his helmet.

After a few practice paddles I got moved to the front because the previous person had difficulty understanding English commands. 

Off we went, going first over some small rapids and then stopping in an eddie before going over a 3m waterfall, a practice run for the much larger one latter on.

Turning the corner, we traveled over some calm waters. I enjoyed looking at the flora. Native New Zealand plants look out of place for such a chilly and moderate climate. It feels like England but looks like the Amazon rain forest. Our guide took us over to the edge of the river and showed us the plant used as the symbol for the New Zealand team in the Commonwealth games. It is green on the top and striking silver on the bottom.

At the edge of the larges waterfall, we paused. This waterfall taller than the length of the raft would result in a full vertical fall.

 

Paddling forward, we neared the edge. On command, we slid to the bottom of the raft and grabbed the ropes on the side of the raft. I never remembered falling only swallowing water at the bottom. 

The rest of the rapids were small in comparison but we still had fun.

One of the rapids was small enough that we could stand up in the raft as we went down. 

Another of our prime video and photo opportunities consisted of paddling up to a 1m waterfall and submerging the front of the raft underneath the gushing water.  

At the end, we gently glided to shore, and I was assigned paddle duty due to being “vertically challenged”.

We ended the day with a photograph. Yes, I do look like an idiot in this photo. Don’t ask why I honestly don’t know.

Once back home, I donned my swimsuit and went snorkeling for my watch that I lost the day before. I found it at the bottom of the lake near the end of the jetty, still working and then swam 400 m to the bogy and back.