There and Back Again

Some advice I received before embarking on this journey was to try some Bluff oysters.....well, we arrived in Bluff, on the very southern tip of the South Island, on a Sunday evening and everything was shut down.....so, I kept my eyes open all along the coast (and tried many OTHER delicious oysters along the way :)....and pretty much forgot about it.....Lo and behold, as we're entering Auckland, I see a sign for Bluff oysters posted in front of a Tip Top ice cream shop.....needless to say, I stopped and, the owner also "shouted" (turned us on to) some smoked eel...I must say, though, that the weirdest thing I ate here was "whitebait"- a West Coast- South Island delicacy....it usually comes in an egg fritter....and is a bunch of tiny fish (like it sounds)...when I noticed the pepper sprinkled on top, was actually not pepper....I realized it was the WHOLE fish...they were eyes....yeah.
Anyway, I was talking about advice, and thought I'd share some of our favorite bits of advice....
1) If you don't breathe, your windows won't fog up. (in Te Anua, the day before we left for the Milford Track when a DOC worker spotted us wiping the INSIDES of our windows so we could see to drive- as much moisture inside the van as outside!)
2) If you keep moving, the sandflies won't bother you (anywhere on the West Coast of the South Island)
3) "Oh, sure you'll be fine!.....until your van breaks down. (what the Aussie version of Click and Clack replied when we asked what they thought of the funny noise coming from our engine)...you know the rest of the story.
4) Do come back - and bring your family! Would love to. We've all said that Colorado would be paradise if we had the beach at the base of the mountains.......
Gotta go pack.....
Cheers!

Tumu Tumu Toobing

Hey, eveyone!
Tomorrow, we catch our flight out of Auckland to Seoul, Korea! Unbelievable! Currently, we're on the west coast of the Northern Island- in Raglan- a sunny, surfing town. We like it here. We have made the most of our last week or so...leaving Motueka, we spent a couple days in Nelson...went to the Market... and headed towards the ferry stopping along the way for the Havelock (Green-lipped) Mussel Festival and stopped in Picton at an Irish Pub for a Guinness on St. Patty's Day. We boarded the ferry to cross the Cook Strait and landed in Wellington and went to the awesome Te Papa Museum...Heading up the west coast, we wanted to see Tangoriro National Park (and where Mt. Doom (Lord of the Rings) was filmed....we were driving along at one point and saw a bunch of people at a pullover so we went to check it out....we parked and walked over looking at a very muddy river and tons of mud and debris everywhere, we asked a gentleman what had happened and he told us that just the day before, the lahar had come down as the crater lake at the top of the Mt. Ruapehu volcano had given way...I remembered having read about the anticipation of this happening on the ferry ride in the beginning of our trip to the S. Island, so, everyone was well-prepared for it and all of the safety things put in place had worked- no major damage or injuries. Caused quite a stir, though. (no pun intended). (Incidentally, this had happened back in 1953 and there was a memorial to lives lost right there.) Okay, Mary's going to share about our last adventure...here I sign off and say, "It's been Heaps of FUN!" I've loved keeping in touch with you all, too...tomorrow, we'll be eating BimBimPa and are tremendously excited to meet Caits and Bean in Maui for a week. I'll be back in the Boat around April 6. I love you all! So yesterday we went black water rafting. It sounds rather scary and we were both fairly nervous as we were gearing up in our wet suits, helmets, and boots. It actually turned out to be a very calm, kind of tranquil experience. So we started out tromping through the rolling green hills, maneuvering around the cow pies in our wet suits and gum boots (traditional kiwi footwear, basically rain boots). Then we came upon a small opening with a ladder sticking out of the ground. We squeezed through the hole down into the caves where we were to be black water rafting. The rafting was actually tubing wich was really just sitting on tubes pulling yourself along on a rope in the pitch black and staring up at the glow worms on the ceiling which looked like a million little stars. We covered about a kilometer, partly tubing and partly walking from cave to cave. It was amazing. The water was very cold and we actually had to swim a couple of parts, which was a little scary swimming in black water, the only light you have is coming from everyone's headlamps. Plus people started talking about the movie Descent, which is about some girls caving when they come upon some humans that have lived down in the caves and evolved into white creatures with no eyes. Anyway, we climbed out another hole back into the cow covered hills. It was quite fun. Anyway, time is about out. Love you all, Mary

Four Seasons in a Day

Hiya! After coming out of the Milford Track, Mary and I made a beeline for Motueka (the northern coast of the South Island- where we did our first trek on the Abel Tasman about a month and a half ago! Can't believe it!); being one of the warmest parts of the country and also home to many friendly kiwis, vineyards, and orchards.....in other words, this is where I would choose to live in this country and Mary would live in Nelson, just down the road from here, where we are headed tomorrow (bigger, has a movie theater...oh, I think I forgot to tell you that at the movie theaters here, they sell ice cream cones and wine and beer which you bring into the theater with you! Amazing.) So, I'm getting ahead of myself again....the Milford Track....a three night, 4 day tramp(33.5 miles)....being one of New Zealand's 9 Great Walks (and certainly the most famous), one has to book this out in advance....for high summer season, a year out...I actually booked ours in Oct right before I got our plane tickets....we arrived in Te Anau (the closest town to the start of the trek) on a hot, sunny day and spent the afternoon by the lake. For the next 2 days, there were severe weather warnings and torrential rains...a gentleman at the campground we were staying at said, "It'll come right.""It'll come right." And, it did. On the morning of our departure, we awoke to partly cloudy skies and walked the 10 minutes from our last night's lodging at Te Anau Downs (I booked a room at a backpacker for the night before and after our trek there in case we were wet!) to the ferry. We sat on the top and rode about 1 and 1/2 hours across the lake to the start (some of the lakes are so huge here they look like the ocean!)....we met some of our fellow trampers....and enjoyed the view....on the Milford, you are required to follow the path and stay at each of the 3 huts. The first day only entailed about a 1 and 1/2 hour walk to the first hut....being the last, we soon met up with 2 guys from Hawaii who were "bird-dogging" a guided tour up a side path through the bush and up a creekbed so we joined them. It was glorious- from all the rain, everything was dripping and glistening...the spiderwebs in the trees were all lined with dew and lit up with all the colors of the rainbow....we were so lucky, every day was sunny and warm, we didn't even pull our raingear out. One of the highlights was Sutherland Falls- it is the tallest waterfall in NZ and, I was told, the 5th largest in all of Australasia...again, being last on the trail, we enjoyed it all to ourselves and, as we met a few of our fellow trampers on their way out from this sidetrip, they affered their advice: the first guy said," bring a jacket or you'll get very wet". The next 2 girls said, "leave your camera behind the big rock...and everything else...and go up the left side and behind the waterfall" (they were dripping wet and smiling hugely)-we took their advice. At one point, I said, "Mary, if we're going for it, now is the time!" We ran across the tussocks, and the creek in our crocs (me yelling-of course)-it was very loud and very cold! AND, you wouldn't believe the WIND! It was like being by a helicopter! We got around the side, soaking wet, entirely exhilarated, when Mary YELLED,"Do you think this is good enough?" We were laughing so hard. Later, I said something about the wind and Mary's reply was, "What do you mean?" "That was like a hurricane. " Oh, and Mary saw a kiwi, too! (I was behind her on the trail)- that was the day before. It is so rare to see one in the wild. Like a tourist coming to Rocky Mountain Natl Park and witnessing a mountain lion attacking an elk- something I've never seen, but talked to a newcomer who has. Another unusual thing we have noticed on these tramps is that people get up very early(don't laugh, Miguel), some even set an alarm clock ("What the hell is that?", you wonder when it's still dark out and you've got all day to get to the next hut) and race to the next hut to get there by early afternoon. This worked out great for us cause we'd sleep in a bit and then go to the kitchen and make our coffee in peace and quiet, and be able to leisurely enjoy the walk all to ourselves. It was fun to meet up with the others at night in the huts and share stories over dinner. We played Farkle (dice game we learned at Michele and Mike Johnston's one Thanksgiving) one night with 2 other Americans and 3 Germans...we learned from Philip, the German guy, who also brought his dice to the table, that it is called "Chicago" in their country. Crazy. Well, the last day's weather is really what made it perfect- it was misty- not enough to put on our raingear, but, enough to put our packcovers on. When we reached Sandfly Point (and, it's given that name for a reason! and, they will bite you in swarms. ya know how when you've been on a boat for a long time(days), your body naturally sways back and forth when you are once again on flat ground? Well, once you've been bitten by sandflies, you experience "phantom bites"- at least, that's our experience and what we call them. And, they sting just as bad as the real thing. So, anyway, since the rest of our group "the independent walkers" had caught the early ferry out....we were the only two, besides the "guided walkers" (mostly Japanese).....I think the young, good-looking kiwi ferry driver must have felt a kinship with us (or felt sorry for us) as we weren't enjoying the bagels and hot drinks provided to the others so he said, "I will come get you two first when it is time to leave and you can choose the best spot on the ferry." We got on the very front and we pulled out into the Fiordlands and it is just like you see in photos....misty, moody, dramatic and magical passing slowly over the water, waterfalls flowing down everywhere. It was perfect. We celebrated with a cold beer and dinner at a cafe in the harbour and rode the bus back to our backpacker where we showered and watched The Terminal (Tom Hanks) on TV eating popcorn and drinking hot Ovaltine. Next day,I could hardly walk (one day was straight up and straight down)..... we headed back up through Queenstown and Wanaka-beautiful mountain lakes and waterfalls and the rain began......it lasted for two days...we went to Fox Glacier and the Franz Josef Glacier and thought it was very cool how they do come down to meet the rainforest, but, we did not hike up to them because of the heavy rain and warnings of flashfloods....our glacial experience at Mt. Cook is our most favorite part of our trip..... We catch the ferry in a couple of days back to the North Island and fly out of Auckland on the 22nd......we are already talking about coming back and we ahven't even left yet! For those of you travelling here, the "real Hobbiton" I referred to earlier is in Akaroa at the Unoko Farm Hostel- Steve and his German partner, Anja, run it.....go there and plan to stay for awhile.
We send our love and hugs,
Holly and Mary

Tramping

In New Zealand, the word "tramping" is used for "hiking".We've been doing quite a bit of tramping lately.....we just got off the Routeburn (pr. Rootburn) Track yesterday.It is typically a 2-night 3-day trek. We turned it into a 2-night 4-day trek. How is that possible? Well, the track runs from near Glenorchy (closest big town being Queenstown) through Mt. Aspiring National Park to near Te Anau Downs/Milford (closest "big" town being Te Anau) coming out through the Fiordland National Park. One can go from either direction and go as far as one likes. There are 4 huts along the way. We chose to start near Glenorchy since that's where we were. It was amazing! The trail started in beech forest and we discovered the birds to be very curious... all's you have to do is make a little whistle and they come towards you.Our favorite there was the "Rifleman" bird- a tiny green bird that could fit in your cupped hand. We passed over several swinging bridges- our favorite there was the one that swung back and forth (as opposed to up and down). The trail followed a turquoise blue river on the lower section, winding up to the hut. At the hut, we dropped our packs, ate lunch, and continued up past the falls....this was our most favorite part! Being late afternoon/early evening (it doesn't get dark til around 10 PM here!), we had the trail pretty much to ourselves....oh, except for the Asian couple passing from the other direction....he said "Konichi-wa" and when I replied, "Konichi-wa. Ginki deska?" he went on excitedly about something-everything of which I only caught "edelweiss". We bowed and Mary and I kept our eyes peeled for edelweiss (which we had first seen near Mt. Cook). The valley floor was open, expansive, and absolutely beautiful...... a few puffy clouds in the sky, snow gentian and tussocks and tarns, and lakes with snow-capped peaks all around. We got to Harris Saddle and chose to go straight up Conical Hill and the view was amazing from the top- we could see clear to the Tasman Sea! And, this is where we found edelweiss. Back down, a night in the hut, and out the next day. Showered in Glenorchy and went into Queenstown (sister-city to Aspen) for beer and pizza... okay, and french fries! Being full and tired, we slept in our van in a parking lot. So, then, we drove over to the other end of the track here in Fiordland- two reasons really...first off, transport by bus back to the beginning runs around $70-$100 per person and we needed to be here, anyway, as we head out on the Milford Track in 2 days....So, we did the other half of the track starting at the "Divide" and tramped up to Mackenzie Hut/Lake along with a side trip to Key Summit which is another great view and lovely setting with tarns. We found this side to be much the same beech forest UNTIL we got into the MOSS-EVERYWHERE! Okay, picture being underwater. like you're scuba diving and you see all the purple and green and orange and white corals and things poking up here and there from behind and the seaweed is swaying gently with the current. THIS is how the landscape looked! Minus the ocean. Really.Trees, rocks, everything covered with moss or fungi or lichen and a bazillion varieties of each. I'll show you pictures. We had lunch in a magical place called "The Orchard"....it's not really an orchard, just looks like one. Only, the ground is COVERED in ferns- big, bushy ferns. And, a grassy opening (where you might picture a unicorn standing). That reminds me, I forgot to tell you that on the other side we took another detour on the way out to explore the North Branch of the Routeburn River (only a few river crossings there) and it was very Frodoish.....ferns, tree roots, moss....
Okay, now is the time to share my gratitude to Ed Mumm and Matt Drexel....whose maps have loosely become our itinerary (along with tips from family and friends and fellow travellers...)Ed is a Kiwi friend of mine from Steamboat Springs to whom I brought a map of both islands and a bottle of wine one evening (and, his wife, Carla who KNEW we'd love Nelson) before we left. And, my co-worker, Matt, who lit up and just shone whenever he'd talk about NZ (pr:N Zed) and copied pages from his "Tramping in NZ" book and underlined and highlighted the best of his experiences here. (Hanging Ballroom, Mueller Hut, The Orchard to name a few) THANK YOU to ALL who have shared your insights, experiences, and support of our adventures!
Right now, it is POURING RAIN and I am tucked cozily into this internet booth at a very quiet and relaxing holiday park outside of Te Anau....Mary is reading in the van....today is a "Sunday-kind-of-day"....we slept in, washed everything we have (clothes, sheet, comforter cover, dishes, van). We had been tramping and "freedom camping"(primitive- maybe an outhouse) for the last week or more. Hopefully, this rain is going to let up a bit(actually, clear blue skies would be fine by me) before we go on the Milford Track (3 nights 4 days) ; although, we ARE in Fiordland- and that's what it does here they say. We have a huge curiosity about the Milford Track....it sounds horrible and yet people still do it. Pay to do it. Torrential rains, flooded trails, and sandflies....hmmm....Huge, beautiful waterfalls, misty mornings, "God-light" streaming through the clouds, moss, ferns.....we'll let you know....
Driving and tramping gives one ample opportunities to ponder....Things I've learned in New Zealand:Never use Tom's honeysuckle rose deodorant before going out tramping- it attracts the bees (and there are ample BIG bumblebees).An ablution block is the area that includes the showers, toilets, kitchen facilities, and laundry in a campground. A queue is a line. Always bring earplugs when sleeping in a hut.The Road to Paradise(an actual place near Glenorchy) is long... and bumpy. Always close your sink drain down tight in the campervan before travelling on a long and dusty gravel road. Our campervan also does river crossings. Those metal waterbottles (made in Switzerland) are great for keeping coconut rum cold in a backpack. Being in New Zealand, one can also feel as though you are in Costa Rica(Abel Tasman), Scotland(Dunedin), Ireland(The Catlins),England(Christchurch), France(Akaroa), Austria(Routeburn-Harris Saddle)... There are so many different ways to describe "green" here: Dark green, lime-green, dusty-green, dusky-green, shiny green, bluegreen, soft green, deadgreen, wetgreen...Same with rain: Mist, drizzle, downpour, sprinkle, sheets...the weather here in NZ is usually either "fine", "mainly fine", "nearly fine", "cloudy, clearing to fine"...And, of course, tramping thoughts and talk always turn to food...we could go on about this all day: Let me just start with the sticky date pudding. oh, my god...it's warm and soft and is served with "cream" (we'd call it whip cream) and ice cream. Oh, and the hokey pokey ice cream...I asked this lady (the kind anyone would want for a grandma) in a little corner store how I could describe it to my family and friends:"Well, when you have it in the ice cream, it's melty, a bit like toffee, no, butterscotch, well, neither really, but, it's got that rich flavor and, then, when it's covered in chocolate as a candy, I suppose it's a bit like a honeycomb, only tighter, a little crunchy; ya know, it's one of the first things one learns how to cook as a child....The chocolate: I literally took a photo of the chocolate aisle in a grocery store in Christchurch...now this was a super-store...A whole aisle a block long FULL of chocolate bars! Was "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" filmed here, too?
The one that has us stumped is: What were the Seven Dwarves mining?
We love you all TONS!
Holly and Mary