A "holy" flight

Day 14: A destined meeting, a fateful flight

We woke up ridiculously early today to drop off our rental car, grab a cab, and make it to the airport for our 7am flight to Melbourne. After buying some cheesy souvenirs from the airport gift shop (yes, we actually forgot to go into any stores while in NZ – but we just couldn’t get enough of the mountains), we sat by our gate waiting for our flight to board.

That’s when it happened.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama walked by us.

He walked through the gate, and onto… you guessed it… OUR FLIGHT.

At first, we didn’t know if he was on our flight or not, but as soon as we approached our aircraft, we saw him sitting there, in the front seat (in economy class!), surrounded by his entourage of other monks and many personal security guards. We were awestruck, dumbfounded, elated! People wait their whole lives to meet him, and of all the flights in all the world, he walked onto OURS!

As we entered the plane, we caught his eye, smiled at him (and he smiled back!) and we both bowed our heads with our hands clasped in front of us in respect.

Talk about a safe flight! We actually flew with the Dalai Lama as the orange glow of the sun rose above the clouds outside our window! We felt so blessed to have “met” him, and were in awe pretty much the rest of the day.

During our entire trip throughout NZ, we couldn’t help but feel that we must have done something pretty amazing in our life to deserve all that we have had the opportunity to experience. But that was the kicker. What a perfect end to our trip through New Zealand, and what a perfect beginning to the next leg of our trip.

This blog entry could/should end there, but that was actually only the beginning of our day! We arrived in Melbourne, took the shuttle to the city, and had to find a place to stay (last-minute, remember)! So we managed to find some internet, booked a hotel, and went to drop off our stuff and grab a much-needed meal. We napped (we haven’t slept much over the last few days), walked around the city a bit, had some dinner (the food here is so much better than NZ – and so much more reasonably priced!), and then explored the area. Melbourne seems to be a city full of hidden gems down tiny alleyways, and we found some pretty cool places tucked around corners!

On our way home, we happened to walk into a bar where break dancers were battling and rappers were free-styling! The breakers and the DJ were amazing. I (Gaurav) had to go with the flow and show the kids some old-school flavor and, for a short period of time, be part of the underground breakin/hip-hop culture in Melbourne.  I soon realized my body has changed and I am not as fit as the younguns, but it could have just been the hiking and trekking in the last couple of weeks (as Rachna laughs at me in the background)!

We went back to the hotel and bought some internet time to book some stuff. No plan for tomorrow yet, but we know the things we want to see, so hopefully it will all work out!

Watching the sunrise with His Holiness

Graffiti art that pulled us into an alley to a hidden bar

Living in the moment

Day 11: Queenstown

This morning, we woke up to a beautiful view of the mountains surrounding us (again!) and headed back to Queenstown. Since Milford Sound is at the end of the road, we snaked back through the same rainforests and mountains as on our way in, but it all seemed new again. Every time we see something, it feels as if we are seeing everything for the first time. And though we have seen so many mountains and trees and sheep, it never seems to get old. The awe remains.

And again, the weather was great! Whatever was foggy yesterday was clear today, and vice versa, so we managed to see everything there was to see across the two days of our trip! We got back to Queenstown and spent the evening planning and booking a few things. It is stressful to do things so last-minute, but there is also a sense of just enjoying everything as it is happening and seeing what we feel like doing next. Its kind of zen – living in the moment! 

 Sheep, sheep, everywhere!

Lucky, fortunate, privileged, blessed... thank you!

Day 10: Milford Sound

Our trip just keeps getting better and better! Today blew our mind away… AGAIN! Just when we thought we had seen the most amazing things, we find something new that completely takes our breath away!

Today, we drove toward Milford Sound, another end-of-the-road town like Aoraki/Mount Cook. The drive was, once again, spectacular. On the five-hour drive, we passed through so many different landscapes, and we kept getting surprised with new and amazing things to photograph! It was like every turn held a new gift! We drove through windy mountains, stopped for a herd of sheep crossing the road to go grazing, saw deer farms (apparently a big thing in this area), passed by a town with a whopping population of 72, drove through tufts of clouds, watched rivers raging below us, walked through a rainforest, watched a chasm carve out a path through large boulders, witnessed hundreds of waterfalls dropping from miles high, and saw enormous mountains and cliffs end in lakes all around us. And that was just the drive!

This time, instead of a glacier, the road ended in a Sound (also known as a Fjord), which is a narrow inlet that snakes its way through the mountains from the sea. It is hidden between the mountains so you cannot see it from the sea (some early explorers didn’t find it, even after several voyages).

We checked into our hotel in the middle of the mountains, and then went to the bay to join our cruise through Milford Sound. Once again, there are no words to describe our experience. The cruise took us through the sound, through a hidden oasis of mountains, rainforests, waterfalls, and sea animals (dolphins, sea lions, and birds)! We saw another rainbow (another full one, from one end to the other), watched dolphins swim and jump by our boat, were soaked by a waterfall, saw sea lions sleeping on a rock, watched the sun set through the mountains, and had lost complete function of our awe by the end of it all (actually, we had lost that at the beginning of our day)! 

We still can’t believe it. Each day, our jaw hurts because we are perpetually dragging it along with us everywhere we go! Everything we see just gets more amazing than the last thing! It almost feels so unfair to write blog entries about all of this beauty because unless you see it with your own eyes, you cannot comprehend just how breathtaking it all really is! We cannot even imagine going back to a “regular” life after all of this – and we’re only at the beginning of our trip! The one thing we keep feeling every day is how unbelievably lucky we are to be having this experience. We are so fortunate. We are so privileged. We are so blessed. And “Thank You” are the only two words we have managed to say that mean anything.  

Mirror Lakes, on the way to Milford Sound

Waterfall, rainbow, dolphins... heaven

Milford Sound

Sunset in the Sound

The Blog Entry with No Title

Day 8: Aoraki/Mount Cook

This blog entry has no name because we could not find any words to describe what we saw today. We woke up in the morning to a spectacular view of huge snow-capped mountains outside our window. After dealing with a minor gas snafu, we drove over to a trail we wanted to walk. The drive itself was gorgeous, on a gravel road with tremendous mountains flanking us on every side. Everywhere we looked, there it was again – the awe. Actually, awe may not be a fair word to use – there may be no word to describe everything we were seeing. It was so unbelievable, we could barely even explain it to each other (especially with our jaws open) – but we both felt it!

We headed up the first of four trails, and reached the top of one mountain. There, we saw it: the Tasman Glacier – the largest glacier in the Southern hemisphere (aside from the Antarctic). Actually, not only did we see it, we were standing on a glacier! Now, it’s not what one would expect – the one we were standing on had about 1-2 meters of rock on it, below which was pure and solid glacier. The one in front of us, however, looked as one would think a glacier would: white and blue and snowy and icy! Nevertheless, there we were, on a glacier looking at a glacier. And if that wasn’t enough, we turned to our right and saw ICEBERGS floating in the Tasman Lake at the base of the glacier! Umm, yeah. Glaciers and icebergs. Surreal. Awe. Besides explaining it in the poor words we’ve chosen, we cannot express the feeling of standing there, experiencing all of that. It is something one must see for themselves to understand, and we still feel so unbelievably fortunate to have had this opportunity.

What was interesting to learn was that since the glacier is melting, the Tasman Lake is actually a new lake – about 20 years old. And about 100 years ago, the glacier we were on was much much higher than it was today. And in years to come, this will all look different again. Just crazy, and particularly saddening that this beauty could one day be lost (but it could give birth to new beauty!).

So after this (as if this experience could be beat), we went down to another trail, which took us to a few small lakes, which had somewhat frozen over like the Tasman Lake. Again, just more and more beauty.

Then, we headed to a third trail, which took us down to the bottom of the mountain/glacier to the Tasman Lake. There, we were even closer to the icebergs, and they were so huge! We couldn’t believe it again! We just kept getting wowed over and over again. Can you imagine the feeling of standing on a glacier looking out at icebergs? It just shifts your perspective. We were so small standing there, and there was no way for us to feel big. It was impossible. The feeling of being so small compared to all this grandeur was so beautiful, so welcome. I hope we will carry that feeling with us for a long time to come.

Finally, we cut across to the fourth and final trail of our day. We didn’t know what to expect until we reached the end and were standing face to face with the icebergs in the Tasman Lake, with water rushing out to the Tasman River right by our side. Awe. And since we were there, no rock in the world could stop us from making our way almost out onto the water to touch one of the glaciers (one of the smaller ones that was closest to us, of course). Awe. Awe. Awe.

We had thought that the trails and views that Monique and Myles had shown us in the North Island would be hard to match, but there we were, matching them. Though different in every way, the trails we have been on have all been so utterly inspiring that we are only able to use faded words like “beautiful” and “spectacular” and “breathtaking” to describe them because when it comes right down to it, there are no words in any language to explain this feeling. And that’s ok.

After our treks, which took us about 3-4 hrs, we drove our way down towards Queenstown. On the way, more gorgeous scenery and… more sheep! We passed through the Lindis Pass, which was a very narrow road that passed through a heavily mountainous area, with the mountains almost touching the road, they were so close! We were completely surrounded and just when we didn’t think it was possible to feel more, in the reserve wells of our heart, we found even more awe.

We made it to Queenstown in the evening and in our desperate attempt to make hotel reservations for the next two nights, we bought fries at McDonalds just to get their “free” 30-minute wireless internet connection. Right at the 28-minute mark, we booked our hotel through a US website since they were a day behind us (yup, very very last minute)! Ha New Zealand time zone! We can time travel! 

We dropped our stuff off, went to town to grab some dinner, and then came back and relaxed in our room. We don’t know what the next few days will hold, but we are sure it will be spectacular. It always is. 

The road to the Tasman Glacier

 

The Tasman Glacier

The Icebergs (to gain perspective, find the yellow boat) 

Due South

Day 7: Lake Tekapo and Aoraki/Mount Cook

Early this morning, we grabbed our short flight from Auckland to Christchurch, and rented a car at the airport (yes, as last-minute as you can get)! This is going to be our car for our entire tour of the South Island. We drove from Christchurch down to Lake Tekapo, where there was a beautiful view of the lake with snow-capped mountains in the background.  We stopped by a tiny church overlooking the lake, and then headed down by the water, where there were tons of rocks, and people had built rock stacks (called rock balancing) everywhere. Of course, we built one too, right before we left! We then drove all the way to Aoraki/Mount Cook. The entire drive was so scenic and spectacular, with massive mountains surrounding us on all sides, and sheep grazing just about everywhere! New Zealand seems to be all mountains and sheep! We’re not complaining, though – we’re loving it!

We drove through more (steeper) mountains to reach Aoraki/Mount Cook, which is essentially a teeny tiny one-circular-road town built at the base of some gigantic mountains. We arrived in the evening, but since it’s winter, it gets dark here pretty early. The town was really really small. We found a place to stay (of the three places to choose from), and though it was somewhat pricey, we were happy to have a nice place to sleep for a night.

The silence here is indescribable. Actually, the silence pretty much anywhere we go in New Zealand is so wonderful. If you just stop, you can actually hear what nothing sounds like. And it may be one of the most inspiring sounds in the world.

Also, there are stars everywhere! More stars than we’ve seen anywhere in the world! With barely any buildings anywhere in the country, there is nothing unnatural to block out the beauty of the night. And is it ever stunning! A night sky full of millions of stars you can actually see – it’s almost as if we never knew that this many stars even existed! It definitely puts the size of our life into perspective. (Another fun fact about NZ: instead of following the North Star like us, they follow the Southern Cross constellation! And here, we see the same constellations but at a different angle than in the northern hemisphere...) Pretty cool (or maybe not – everything seems cool to us these days)!

Anyhoo, a good night’s rest tonight, and can’t wait to do some treks in the morning!

p.s. We have also been so fortunate that the weather has been on our side in every place we have visited, and hopefully we will continue to be so lucky! It’s been chilly, but not unbearable with the right number of layers. Winter here isn’t as bad as we were worried it might be. Yay! 

 Our very own Rock Stack on Lake Tekapo

The word of the day is awe

Day 3: Whangarei Heads

Anyone who has been around children will know that they live every moment of their life in awe. Every single thing they encounter is amazing, and they can't get enough of each amazing thing - wanting to engage in it over and over again. Somewhere along the way as we grow up, we start learning that not everything is awe-inspiring, and we get used to the world as it is. We stop being wowed by the enormity of everything we encounter. It is one of the greatest tragedies: to not be amazed by all the things this world and universe has to offer. Because if we stop and look around, there can be no way not to see that we are surrounded by inspiration.

Today, we went to Whangarei Heads for a (very long) tramp up to the peak of a mountain (and then climbed up a rock to a very very high pinnacle surrounded by a cliff), down the ridge of it to a grass clearing, and then further down to a beach (Ocean Beach) - close to a five-hour hike! Now, we aren't the fittest in the lot, but we didn't want our limitations to drive our experience here or anywhere we are travelling, so we started up the mountain, and when we looked to our right, there it was: the awe.

The scenery all around the North Island looks like the rolling hills of Ireland. Being constantly surrounded by such large mountains both grounded us and lifted us up. Walking up to the top of that mountain felt so enlivening, and climbing up the rock at its zenith gave us a view we actually couldn't believe we were seeing! Nothing seemed real - it felt like we had to be on some sort of fake movie set, but we weren't! We couldn't believe how high up we were, and how utterly beautiful nature really was. The awe was overwhelming.

We had lunch at one of the top points on the mountain, overlooking everything around us. Or lunches have been so tasty despite being so simple. We get so caught up in fancy food, we don't realize how yummy bread, avocado, tomato, and a little sauce can be! We're really learning to appreciate simplicity.


The walk down was tougher, with barely a path to follow through the dense forest down the ridge. Our toes were killing us from being squished against the front of our shoes for hours on end! But we made it to a grass clearing halfway down the mountain, and walked downhill through that for some time, until we reached a beautiful, seemingly private beach at the bottom. More awe.

The hike took all our energy, but we still managed to make a nice dinner (gobi manchurian, thai coconut curry soup, and cosmopolitans!) and talk for some time before calling it a night.

The awe is still here. We cannot believe where we reached today, and those images will never fade from our memory. The pictures will certainly not do the experience or the view justice, but we'll post them anyways!

Try to find some awe today. I'm sure if you look hard enough, you'll see it in everything you encounter. We sure did. Hopefully we keep this feeling for a long time to come.

The View from Whangarei Heads

Monique and Myles at the mountain's tip

Us in the grass field halfway down the mountain