Wine in the mountains

Day 9: Queenstown

We took the liberty of waking up a little later than usual today. After so much activity in the past week, a little extra sleep was welcome! We had no plan for the day, so we headed out of our hotel to go to town. Since we had arrived at night last night, we didn’t have a chance to see what Queenstown looked like. We stepped into the lobby of our hotel to see floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Lake Wakatipu and the mountains aptly named The Remarkables! Wow.

We went to town to book our stay for tomorrow night (details to follow), had a nice little homemade sandwich (thanks for the inspiration, Monique!) at a park with a gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains and the water lapping up on the shore in front of us, and then decided to do a winery tour in Gibbston, a town just over from Queenstown.

On the way to the wineries, we were very excited when we saw another beautiful rainbow! Then, we gave a ride to two girls whose car broke down and who were backpacking to another town to do some conservation work with birds in the area. First time picking up hitchhikers! Good karma!

The main type of wine in NZ is Pinot Noir. The grape vines were brought over from France in the early 1900s, with the logic that since Queenstown was at the same latitude as France, the Pinots would grow well in the same kind of climate. So we did a few tastings of the Pinots and some Rieslings, had a tour of a wine cave with a cellar, and tasted some yummy cheeses. We visited three wineries and then went back to town to grab dinner and take it back to our hotel.

Unfortunately, the only downside of NZ is the food. We have yet to have a good meal (besides the ones that we prepared and the one Korean meal in Rotorua), and considering that the food is so expensive, it should be much better! (Although it could be that our taste buds are used to much more salt and spices than the Kiwis (a.k.a New Zealanders) are used to.) Sadly, we’ve actually resorted to Subway (three times) and McDonalds (a painful once) because we didn’t have any other options! But we can’t really complain – all that NZ doesn’t have in food, it has in everything else, so we’re still really happy! 

Tomorrow’s a big day! 

View of the Remarkables

Grape vine over the mountains

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

Volcanoes, Geothermal Areas, Craters... oh my!

Day 6: Rotorua

When we arrived in Rotorua, a distinct “smell” welcomed us. No, it wasn’t us – it was the smell of the minerals in the geothermal waters! The entire town and everything in it smells like sulfur (like rotten eggs, for those who don’t know what sulfur smells like)! It’s quite gross, but after a whole day here, we kind of got used to it. I guess that’s how the people who live here can stand it.

After breakfast, we went to Wai-O-Tapu, one of the many geothermal areas near the town. There, we saw a geyser erupt (when hot water combines with colder water in an hourglass shape inside the earth), but it was induced (with a natural type of detergent), so we almost heckled the guy, but refrained! We hate tourist traps! 

We then headed down a long pathway to see craters and natural mineral pools and terraces – all with boiling, bubbling waters and steam vents (of over 100 degrees celsius) right at our feet! It was a very unique experience to be walking through and surrounded by natural volcanic activity. 

Once we finished the walk through the geothermal park, we spent the next few hours at a spa in town, wading in the mineral pools that boast healing properties. I don’t know if we were healed or not, but it was a nice and relaxing day after our hectic schedule of the last few days.

After the spa, we drove back to Auckland airport and are staying the night at a hotel nearby to catch our early morning flight to Christchurch so we can start on our tour of the South Island. We still can’t believe we’re only on Day 6 of our trip! We still have so many more things to see and places to go – how exciting to know this is only the beginning! North Island was fantastic, and an incredible way to begin our journey. The trip has already exceeded our expectations, and we can’t wait to see what beauty awaits us in South Island! 
 

Standing next to the Lady Knox geyser

 Champagne Pool in the Geothermal area

Thousands of "Stars"

Day 5: Waitomo Glowworm Caves

We got up early this morning to catch our bus from Whangarei to Auckland, where we headed to the airport (and met the same Indian bus driver from before – who hooked us up with a massively discounted fare) and picked up our rental car. In NZ, the driver sits on the right of the car and they drive on the left side of the road! With two days of driving ahead of us, you can imagine the tension!

We headed off to Waitomo, a town about 2.5 hrs south of Auckland. The drives here are just surreal. You can see cows and sheep (and sometimes deer and chickens) everywhere, just grazing on hectares upon hectares of bright green grass. They say the grass is always greener on the other side, but in the case of NZ - it's actually true! The grass IS greener here! On our drive, we also saw a rainbow (yay!) and not only did we see the rainbow, we saw the entire thing, end to end - and one of the ends was in the valley right beside us as we drove. So we were actually IN the end of the rainbow - we were IN the pot of gold! It seemed quite befitting, considering the beauty arond us!

So with a very hectic and tight schedule (in which even a minor delay could through everything off) - we finally reached Waitomo to see the Glowworm Caves. We reached just in time for one of the last tours! The walking tour took us through and down a cave about 48 feet below the ground, through a pathway created naturally by rivers running through it many (many) years ago. The caves were limestone and you could see stalagmites and stalagtites throughout. It was just gorgeous! Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any pictures (though it seems like the guide could have been bribed otherwise!)

The limestone, although beautiful, wasn’t the main attraction… it was the glowworms! Glowworms are basically insects that live in the caves and that go through five phases of life. When in their larva phase, they create a little hammock in which they hang at the top of the cave and then set out 20 little mucous fishing lines under their hammock. They emit a neon blue light from their tail, which attracts their prey, and when one gets caught, they pull up the fishing line and – dinner! In the caves, we were taken on a boat ride on the underground river, and the ceiling of the cave was filled with thousands upon thousands of these beautiful blue lights – like thousands of stars a few feet above us in a night sky!

After the tour, we went to a little scenic walk that a guide had told us about. It was pretty dark out, though, and the walk was unlit in the middle of the forest so, with flashlights in hand, we did most of the walk, but headed back out very soon, as the darkness got the better of us!

Anyhoo, after Waitomo, we hopped back onto our tight schedule and made the two-hour drive to Rotorua, a town built around its active volcanic areas. We got to our hostel, dropped off our stuff in our room (that looks like a jail cell or solitary confinement!), and got something to eat (in the only restaurant open in town at 9PM – Korean)! After being in four cities in one day, we are exhausted, but still very excited! 

Maori Culture

Day 4: Waitangi Treaty Grounds

The indigenous people of New Zealand are called Maori. Well, they don’t call themselves Maori, but they are referred to as Maori by everyone (kind of the way we say “Indians” in North America, when they are not actually called Indians). For the sake of simplicity, we’ll call them Maori.

The Maori came over from the Pacific Islands and created a home in New Zealand. They were the first humans to inhabit this island. Actually, New Zealand is the last country in the world to be inhabited by humans.

And of course, the British came later and colonized. And eventually, the Maori people revolted. And then we come to the subject of our blog!

Today, we went to the place where a Treaty was signed between the English and the Maori people to stop the fighting. We watched a dinky dramatized video of what happened, and checked out the “Treaty House” where some old British guy used to live.

The nice part of our visit was seeing the traditional war canoes with the beautiful carvings and masks, and the Maori Meeting House, where we took off our shoes and entered to a house-shaped building full wall-to-wall with intricate mask carvings. We also saw a short show of some Maori tribeswomen singing traditional songs, but it felt a little commercial to us – like it was their day-job. The kicker that made it feel most circus-like was the fact that one of the women kept saying “And now, ladies and gentlemen…”!

Anyhoo, we went back home afterwards and had a nice final evening with Monique and Myles. It was, once again, great conversation, great food, and some nice NZ wine, before we finalized our plans for the next few days, booked some things, and headed off to bed.

A HUGE thanks to Monique and Myles, who went out of their way to show us the best time in North Island. It was so nice to meet up and have the opportunity to spend some quality time with them! We couldn't have seen the amazing things we did without them - only locals would know the *true* beauty of a place (not the beauty catered to tourists) - and they gave us their best! We'll certainly miss them!

From here on out, we’re on our own! No friends to take care of us! Wish us luck!

p.s. We know we're a little delayed with all our posts, but we have either not had time to post, or not had internet to post! Don't worry, though, we write everything down and then put out mass posts at once!

 

Head of the war canoe

 Maori Meeting House

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