NZ Adventures #13: And That's a Wrap Folks

Earth Date:  Monday, November 26 through Thursday, November 28, 2018

It's not lost on me that I'm writing this post one year after our NZ adventure.  It's taken me a whole year to complete this series.  Yeah, I'm slow.  As we've remembered our trip via Google Photos pops this week, it's reminded me how much I treasure New Zealand... enough to troll residency info with the hope that there's a hidden clause specifically for long, lost non-relatives or just really awesome people like us who want to make a home there.  Turns out NZ'ers are a choosy lot.

That's a wrap...

This post wraps up the chronicle of a wonderful adventure exploring the two splendid islands that make up New Zealand.  We have one last long drive to finally see the friends we crossed the world to visit.

Check out yesterday's reallly long drive to the Fjord here.

It's Monday, and we are looking at a six-hour drive from Queenstown to Christchurch through the heart of the South Island.  Jayme is on course to get there, and of course, I still suffered from the #wemustseeallthethings neurotic completer/finisher complex.

We head out on Hwy 6 -- goodbye Queenstown -- turning north on Hwy 8 at the wee community of Cromwell, capital of stone fruit.  Nope, not kidding.  They even have a sculpture of very large fruit highlighting their town's welcome signage.  Because they can.  We make it two hours before I get antsy and have to snap pics of something beautiful.  Just past Twizel (yep, Twizel), we stop to admire Lake Pukaki.

The lovely turquoise color of the water is caused by glacial flour, which is super fine rock particles from glacial erosion.  I understand it is a gluten-free flour.

As we descend out of the Otago region and into Canterbury towards the East Coast, the weather turns rainy.  We push on towards Christchurch.

I'm reduced to taking pics from the car window.  Wait, are those sheep?!  In case you missed it, sheep are a thing here.

Christchurch

Finally!  We arrived mid-day, located our hotel and after a brief rest, hoofed it across Hagley Park to meet up with our friends.


It was a great afternoon and evening, seeing the city from their point-of-view.  What struck me most about Christchurch is the resiliency of the citizens and the love Jeremy and Matt conveyed for their city when they showed us sites that had been destroyed by the earthquake of 2011 that shook their world, and were in the process of being re-built.  There are still many buildings in crumbles, but the hustle and bustle of the city was apparent.

Important to note here:

• Shorts in blustery spring is a thing
• Scooter, scooters everywhere
• Every downtown is cute

Oh, and

• Jeremy and I do not selfie well...

The destruction caused by the earthquake was particularly apparent seeing Christchurch Cathedral.  One portion of the church is lovely and intact.  The other side, rubble.

As of last year, there was still debate as to whether it should be rebuilt.  Christchurch was settled by sponsorship of the Church of England as an Anglican community, so the church has strong roots in the foundation of Christchurch.  Christchurch was the first official city in New Zealand, gaining a royal charter in 1856.

Debate even between Matt and Jeremy was that the church represented dated, conservative views, so we should let it go.  But it was a central and grounding building rooted firmly in Christchurch's history, so it should be preserved.  I get both points-of-view.  According to Wikipedia, design and stabilization work has begun in 2019, so we'll see.  Apparently the cost will be astronomical.

A wander through the lovely Christchurch Botanic Gardens was on the sightseeing tour.  It's funny how when you're showing your hometown to visitors, you take them to places you don't usually go.  Botanic gardens typically fall into that category.  We wandered around, we conversed, it was great.

Botanic gardens can be tiring, so we needed a dinner chaser.  Vegan nachos at C1 Espresso.  Yes, thank you.

A neat outcome of earthquake resiliency is that business owners in Christchurch are re-purposing old buildings, such as CI Espresso in an old post office.  They deliver food to your table via pneumatic tubes, like you used to use at the bank drive-thru.  They distinguished the women's and men's rooms with Leia and Stormtrooper action figures.  50 points for ok nachos.  100 points for well representing #nerdlife.

TranzAlpine Train

On Tuesday, Jeremy bought tickets for the four of us to take the TranzAlpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth.  The train transverses the island from east to west in about five hours -- across the Canterbury Plains up into the Southern Alps and across to the West Coast.  Another one of those things many NZers hadn't done, including Matt.  New adventures all around!

Sights were lovely, as they are.  It was cloudy, so we didn't get the magnificent backdrop of soaring peaks, but we didn't mind.  I am entranced by any New Zealand landscape.

It was the visiting that was most fun, anyways.

Arthur's Pass is the mid-point on the line.  There's not much about, other than old industrial equipment and a few very poor shanties.  But it does offer a nice stop to stretch your legs.

It was remarkable to see the foliage change from the eastern side of the Alps to the western side.  The west receives more rainfall and was definitely more tropical.  Not less lovely, just more tropical.

And ahhhhh, we're back to the West Coast, which is where God has deemed we will live one day.

The train line ends at Greymouth Station.  We grab a bite to eat at DP1 Squared (rewind!), and have just enough time to run through Countdown (Jayme's favorite) for snackage before the train arrives and we head back to Christchurch.

We spent the evening at Jeremy and Matt's place, keeping it real with take out and RuPaul's Drag Race.  We're in our room and tucked into bed by 9:30pm.  It was a good day.

The Last Day

It's the final day of this adventure before traveling begins.  And we begin it with a bang by sleeping in!

Today, we shop.  I'd decided we hadn't secured enough souvenirs, so it was shopping day.  Jayme helped by being uber grumpy.  We found a mall.  Their malls are defunct just like many of ours, and we found diddly squat.  We headed back into city center, finally found a parking spot and head into shopping.  Jeremy and Matt meet us there for lunch, and then we drive out to a harbor town, Lyttelton.  It's rainy but we make the best of it and find a cute stretch of shops to explore.

A nice dinner with Jeremy tops off the evening.  Hard to believe we are homeward bound tomorrow.

Heading Home

All good things must come to an end.  But not just yet.  There are still a few hours to hang out.  After check out and errands... at Countdown, I cajole Jayme into hanging out at Hagley Park for a bit.  He wanted to head to the airport at 11am for a 5pm flight.  No.  Nope.  Not sitting for that many hours at the airport.  I spent our last $20NZD on a salad at the botanic garden's cafe, and we wandered through the greenhouse.  The day was lovely one, and while I was ready to be home, I could have continued exploring this extraordinary island.

Have we talked about the trees in NZ?  If not, we should, they are amazing, as you can see.

Finally, Jayme can stand it no longer, and we head to the airport.  Fine, let's turn in the car early to avoid another day's fees.  And we scored an earlier flight to Auckland, which just meant sitting in the international terminal for hours.  But that's ok, they had food and shopping.

CHC ➔ AUK ➔ SFO ➔ DFW ⬥ November 29, 2018, ~1:00pm (scheduled 5:00pm) arriving November 29, 2018 @ 6:38pm. Yes, Friends, we traveled for 24 hours.  It was long, but the trip was so worth it.  We wizened up from the flight to NZ, and purchased bulkhead seats, making the longest stretch more bearable on the legs.

We were late leaving Auckland, which put us late for our connector in San Francisco, which then meant we were on an American flight vs <other un-named US airline>, which meant collecting our bags and changing terminals, which meant going back through security while we are tired and jet lagged.  Adventures, indeed.

You know what makes your house look really good?  Being away for three weeks.  Hello Dallas.

But for three weeks, we were in freakin' New Zealand!  And it was grand.

If you're just joining the series, catch episode #1 here.

NZ Adventures #12: When a Sound is Really a Fjord, Who Cares?

Earth Date:  Sunday, November 25, 2018

Driving through cascade-tastic valleys?
Yeah. Whatever.

It's Milford Sound Day!  It really should become an official holiday.  Not sure how Hallmark would work with that one, and while I want everyone to marvel in the majesty of Milford, I don't want them to on the same day.  It's a pickle.

Anyways, it's one of the places I've been jonesing to see, but it's also a really long day of driving, and we know how Jayme's felt about driving.  Not that I blame him.  Plus, he's a tough customer and is just so-so intrigued.  I'm hoping the Sound will wow him.

We have a tour booked at 12:45pm, so we head out early for an almost four hour drive to Piopiotahi, aka Milford Sound.

To the Sound that's really a fjord.  But really, it's so beautiful, who cares.  Well, maybe the marine biologist people, but the regular ol' tourist persons like us don't really care.  We just want to ooo and ahh, and gaze up in awe at the majestic heights and spritely waterfalls.

Milford Sound is a fjord in Fiordland National Park.

- A sound is a large ocean inlet.
- A fjord is a narrow ocean channel forged by the formation and recession of glaciers characterized by steep, vertical walls and a flat ocean floor.

We didn't get a close look at the ocean floor, but we can validate that the valley walls were pretty steep and vertical.  Steep, vertical and majestic.  Really, majestic is the best word for a place like Milford Sound.

The Drive

But first, the journey is it's own kind of majestic...

To get to Milford Sound, we drove through lovely pastures, foot hills, beech forest and finally up into cascade-tastic valleys of waterfalls to Homer tunnel and out the other side to more beautiful scenery.

Homer Tunnel is a 1.2km pass through the Darran mountain range.  It was started in 1935 and completed in 1954.  Thank you to the hard working folk who blasted through the range to open up the road to Milford.

It's one-lane, so we lined up with all the other rides to wait our turn.  Which really just offered a nice stretch-your-legs break and opportunity to capture the falls vaulting down the valley walls.

The drive to the Sound is a funny area.  You're driving through craggy wilderness with a line of cars, then all the sudden parking!  NZ has carved out a few cramped parking spaces and a commercial boat dock for the five or so tourist companies offering tours of the Sound.  And that's pretty much it.  Beauty + tourist trap boat docks.

Milford Sound

But it's really all about this...

The cruise was awesome, awe-inspiring and wonderful.  They take you right under some of the wispy falls.  They also offer factoids about the sights.  But you know how pilots often sound during their flight announcements -- like Charlie Brown's teacher?  That's about what the Captain sounded like.  But I'm sure the info was helpful and fascinating.
















Seal Rock is a fave basking zone for fur seals, and this day they were out in full force enjoying the sunshine.

Lady Bowen Falls

The two permanent falls are Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls.

Lady Bowen Falls is fed by Bowen River which flows through the northern Fiordlands and drops 531 feet into the Sound.  A cool factoid:  the Falls provides hydroelectric power for the tiny Milford Sound settlement.

Stirling Falls leaps off a valley between the Lion and Elephant Mountains.

The other falls find their ways down the cliffs shifting into new patterns as they make new paths.

Stirling Falls

Those wispy falls over the lovely striations in the cliff face... /sigh

The cruise was an hour and 45 minutes; the drive was four hours.  It was worth it:

I hope Grumpy, I mean Jayme, also agrees.

Pictures don't do Milford Sound one bit of justice.  God did a really good thing when he forged this place. 

Goodbye Milford Sound/Fjord.  You are lovely.














Any sights along the way?  Sure, but we are not stopping.  Nope.  We were on a mission to and from Milford Sound.  I complained, "but you said we could stop on the way back." "What I said was 'that the sights would be there on the way back.'"  Devious semanticist.

Whatever.  I will take pictures.

Lovely views along Hwy 94/Te Anau Milford Hwy

Tomorrow, we are headed to Christchurch to see Jeremy and Matt, leaving one final episode.

NZ Adventures #11: Quietly Queenstown

Earth Date:  Saturday, November 24, 2018

When the day begins with a big ol' whoops, you just know it's gotta be a quiet one.

In spite of the meticulous planning I'd done to prepare for each NZ adventure (really, likely because of the meticulous logistics planning), I botched up the date of our cruise through Milford Sound and we were supposed to be cruising today.  Yikes.  I was very much looking forward to seeing Milford Sound, so I was super bummed.  But you know what?  The folks in NZ are a pretty darn hospitable lot on the whole.

We were dreading a reallllllyyyy llllooooonnnnggg day of driving to get to Queenstown then on to Milford Sound, and seriously considering writing off that experience.  But the awesome lady at Cruise Milford just booked us up for Sunday, no worries.  #gratitude

Now, the day is a short jaunt from Wanaka to Queenstown.  Plenty of time to enjoy the sites and explore Queenstown.

#thatwanakatree

But first...before we bid adieu to Wanaka, we must visit the most photographed tree in NZ:  the "lone tree of Lake Wanaka."  We were up pretty early for a lazy Saturday morning in Wanaka, and yep, lots of tourists taking the obligatory photo of #thatwanakatree.  I too was a tourist taking an obligatory photo or two:

This famed tree of Lake Wanaka is a crack willow, aka salix fragilis.  Literally means that it's fragile - made of wood that is brittle and cracks easily.  So, stay off of it people.  Apparently that's been happening and branches are cracking off.  Silly people.

Oh, and see the lovely Mount Aspiring National Park in the background.

Check.  And we're off to Queenstown, which is a short one-hour drive along Cardrona Valley Drive, which suspiciously after the passing the town of Cardrona--more of a map blip with a chalet, general store and resort--becomes Crown Range Road.  It's the same road?!  Oh wait, the Crown Ridge road elevates through the Crown Range passing just by Crown Range Summit.  It descends through farming land, then in a series of tight switchbacks, which was nauseatingly "fun," sweeps through Arrow Junction and on by Lake Hayes.

Queenstown

Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world.  We experienced it as more of the sit around and enjoy the lake views capital of the world.

Our hotel was actually in Frankton, an arm of Lake Wakatipu.  After scoping out the location of our place for the next couple of nights, we headed into Queenstown.

Parking is a pricey adventure in Queenstown.  We found a lucky parking spot by St. Peter's Anglican Church on Camp Street.  Which is a super cute affair built in 1932.  And they happened to be having their Market Days, which was a big garage and craft sale.  On our way back to the car, we wandered through.  Elderly folk + junk, but it was fun to explore, and see that garage sales are just the same as in our neck of the woods.

And check out the band, playing church and ol' timey faves.

We walked through downtown to see what was what, using up the two hours we booked on the parking meter.  Then it was off to find another exploration hub.  We decided to check out the Queenstown Gardens, cuz free parking without a time limit!  And the Gardens did not disappoint.

We wandered for a bit, then headed along the Queenstown Trail back into the downtown area along the lake.  We decided a salad and burger at The Bathhouse would do for lunch.  And it was perfect.  A table on the shoreline allowed for a lovely view and fun people + waggly-dog watching.  We had fun watching the hydro attack shark vessels (yep, that's what they're called-ish) zip into the cove and the adventure boats doing one final big sweep and splash before they docked.

After lunch we wandered along the Trail to Earnslaw Park where a weekend market was in the works.  Of course, I'm loving the stroll through vendor stalls.  Jayme accommodates.   I found a vendor who sells delightful handmade jewelry featuring local flowers:  Milliefa.  You can find her on the Book of Face here.  So naturally, I bought a few Christmas gifts.

Then guess what we eyeballed: a Patagonia Chocolates.  Yes please!

Then it's back to our hotel room for a nap.  Jayme is tired today and understandably so.  We've been going, going, going!  After some rest, we headed back into town for more walking around and dinner.  It's a rainy evening, so we duck into shops to stay dry.

The bed, like a cloud.  So we get in it early, cuz it's gonna be one early morning, as we check out The Fjord.  Peace out.

NZ Adventures #10: "Resting" in Wanaka

Earth Date:  Friday, November 23, 2018

We are in Wanaka and it's a good day to rest... except for the wee stroll Mr. Endicott thought it would be nice to take.  This is pretty much how I felt about that plan:

When we checked into the condo the nice lady at the front desk gave us the suggestion that Mt. Iron would be a leisurely walk if we wanted light activity on Friday.  Oh yeah, sure.  Don't trust the thin and fit New Zealanders.

After sleeping in and wondering what to do this fine day (I advocated for a rest day on the couch gazing at the lovely view from our condo), at Jayme's urging and my #wemustseeallthethings neurotic completer/finisher disposition, we set out for Mt. Iron.  Mt. Iron was NOT a stroll.  It was an uphill battle, and I was tired and maybe I was cranky, too.  Ok, so honesty requires that I tell you that I was indeed cranky, and I wasn't quiet about my preference for couch time.  Jayme just smiled, and onward we trudged.

Though the path was 100% up, the views were gorgeous.

It was like 0 to 545 meters up in four switchbacks.  For a weakling like myself, that's tough.  We were passed by everyone - soccer moms in their athletic wear, hiker girl with a huge pack, dudes walking their dogs, runners.  All the peoples passed us as I moaned and groaned each step of the way up Mt. Iron.

But, as we "strolled" I couldn't deny that Wanaka is a pretty cute little city.  It's like the upscale suburbia of the South Island.

Here you can see both Lake Wanaka (right) and Lake Hawea (left) off in the distance.

 And finally the summit for even lovelier views.

Our friends shared that many folks move to Wanaka for retirement.  I can see why.

After "the stroll," we ventured into the city proper to explore and find lunch.  What's perfect after burgers at Speight's Alehouse?  Right!  Gelato at Patagonia Chocolates.   We nabbed a delish scoop each (I recommend a dark chocolate and berry sorbet combo), then wandered down to the lake front.  It was a beautiful day, and folks were out and about.

Finally, it's time to rest, sit on the couch and stare at the lovely mountain views afforded from said couch.  And there may have been a delightful nap involved.

That evening we caught a movie at Cinema Paradiso, which is hilarious.  It's a series of ramshackle buildings strung together to create a theater.  Seating is a mish mash of couches, theater seats, chairs, etc.  The screen is like a home theater version over a black sheet, and they put an intermission in every movie so that you can pick up the warm cookies you ordered before the show began.  Clever, Paradiso, clever.  We watched The Girl in the Spider's Web.  It was a fun way to relax.

Tomorrow we are heading to the adventure capital of the world.  Adventure + The Endicotts = ?