Back home.

It was a quick, but bumpy, ride from Auckland to San Francisco - only 11 hours. Then on to Seattle.

I wanted to put down a few thoughts for those of you that told me they had been considering a NZ trip.

We loved the country and the people. 

• It seemed everyone was friendly and not rushed.
• It was clean - no trash on the beaches or along the roads.  
• With the exchange rate lodging is not any more expensive than in the US and for food we regularly commented how it seemed to be 2/3 the cost of a similar meal in Seattle or Boston.
• It takes a long time to get anywhere. People are not in a hurry on the roads. They all seem to respect the speed limit (of 60 mph).  But even then it seemed we averaged only 40 or 45 mph on the curvy roads in the So Island.

We drove over 2000 miles.

Thoughts and things I might change?

• 3 nights and 2 days is enough in Queenstown. Take a cruise on the Lake. Climb Mt. Lohman. 
• A day trip (versus overnights) on Doubtful (or Milford) Sound is enough. Unless it is pristine weather you won't get in any walks or kayaking. Stay in Te Anau and it is a reasonable day trip.
• Unless you want to do the full Routeburn, a day walk (several hours) up to Key Peak or into Lake Howden will give you a pretty good idea of the terrain - which I found quite similar to the Cascades.
• We stayed a night in Wanaka, but aside from being a bustling smaller version of Queenstown, I'd stay there again only if it fit the day's driving.
• I loved Mt Cook - definitely worth a couple of nights in the village to do some of the walks. Definitely a bike ride to Twizel (if not further), and if it is clear, a helicopter ride over Mt Cook area would absolutely make it into our next visit.
• Our walk up Mt. Russell at St. Arnaud was well worth the effort.
• The stay in Golden Bay at the Golden Bay Hideaway was the best stay of the trip. http://goldenbayhideaway.co.nz/ 
• And our walk to and swim at Taupo Point gets the nod as the "best swim" of the trip.
• Next visit I would definitely do some miles on the Queen Charlotte Track near Picton. You can use local transport to move gear and there are many good accommodations on the walk. 
• Seeing Blenheim is worth the extra short drive.

On the North Island:

• You can skip Taupo, Rotorua, and Auckland (except to fly in and out).
• White Island Volcano is a must.
• Stay at the Chateau Tongiraro and feel comfortable doing the Tongiraro walk without a guide. Transportation to/from the walk is the only challenge (if you can walk 12 miles without excessive effort). 
• If you like kayaking, Then go north to Bay of Islands or Whangaroa. Our guide at Northlands Kayaking (https://northlandseakayaking.co.nz/) has been running his company for 30 years and we felt very comfortable with him and his advice. If you wanted to do a multiple day trip, he can give you some advice on the best outfitters - he no longer does them himself.

That's it. If you are thinking about going, then take the leap. It is well worth the pain of the long flight.


Trip pictures at : https://photos.app.goo.gl/hGMakUq9NAyztNVp6 

To the far north.

We still hadn't been able to kayak, but had heard about the Bay of Islands (which sounded a bit like the San Juans back home)...

so decided that might be the place for this last part of our New Zealand trip. 

I had wanted to see a kiwi, so on the way north to Whangaroa we stopped at a kiwi recovery sanctuary. Kiwi's are endangered. Add in their being nocturnal, and seeing one is not that easy. You cannot capture and keep a wild kiwi, but if you are participating in a recovery program, you can raise a kiwi from an egg (they lay 2 a year) keeping them in captivity for a year when they are big enough to fend for themselves.

A real Kiwi - in a dark room (they only come out and forage at night)

This was my backup picture if I failed in my quest.

Kiwis lay the largest eggs of any bird.

I also found my original quest, a Kakapo, but it was, unfortunately, stuffed. The live ones are found on just 3 protected islands where all theirpredators have been eliminated.

In Whangeroa, we found our kayaking. It was warm, clear, and windless.  A great day of kayaking.

And we got in a few final swims. I continued to be amazed how warm the Pacific is this far south.

Then it was time to head back to Auckland to prepare for the long trek home. But first, on the way, we stopped for our last unique kiwi experience - a glow worm cave. Glow worms are found only in Australia and New Zealand. The glow is from the tail of the worm and is their way of attracting food (they spin a web and catch flying insects). And why are glow worms only found in NZ and Australia? Probably as their caves don't have bats (they spend the night in tress instead). If the bats lived in caves, it is likely the glow worms would have been an easy dinner.

A great trip, sad to have to leave such a great part of the world.

More pictures at https://photos.app.goo.gl/hGMakUq9NAyztNVp6

Volcanic New Zealand

New Zealand and New Caledonia represent the visible part of a portion of continental crust, usually referred to as Zealandia. The rest of Zealandia includes the Challenger Plateau and Lord Howe Rise, which stretch from Northwest of New Zealand almost to Northern Australia, and the Campbell Plateauand Chatham Rise, to the southeast of New Zealand.

Originally New Zealand split off the ancient supercontinent of Godwana.  

At that time the breakaway piece, called Zealandia, was much larger than the islands today.

Zealandia sank under the rising seas and overtime was covered with sea floor sediment which in turn became sedimentary rock.

When the Australian tectonic plate subducted the Pacific plate two things happened.

a) An uplift of the south island of New Zealand, now sedimentary rock.

b) The onset of volcanic activity in the north island, which became another piece of the "Ring of Fire" around the Pacific Rim.

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We flew from the wine country of Marlborough (Blenheim) to Napier on the North Island where we rented a car.

Then it was off to Tongariro National Park, New Zealand's oldest national park and a World Heritage Site.  

We were going to tackle New Zealand's best know "stomp" - The Tongariro crossing (https://www.tongarirocrossing.org.nz/).  A 12 mile, one way walk crossing between the volcanic peaks of Mt.Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom in The Lord of The Rings) and Mount Tongariro.

Mt Tongariro on the left and Mt "Doom" on the right.

Mount Doom

It is popular place and it seemed as if everyone visiting New Zealand was doing it along with us.  Our guide told us upwards of 2000 people a day do the walk.

After the Tongariro we headed north to Whakatane to see what I consider a real Mount Doom - White Island. 

It is an active island volcano that is accessible by boat even though it is actively steaming and erupts with small explosions every few years. 

Approaching White Island

I bet it is the only place in the world you can walk into an active caldera.

They actually mined sulfur from the caldera from the late 1800s to the mid 1930s, but the operation went bankrupt during the depression.

More pictures at https://photos.app.goo.gl/hGMakUq9NAyztNVp6

Nelson, Picton, and a bit of "Napa Valley".

We left Golden bay and headed to Nelson to meet friends.  I loved Golden Bay, but was less than impressed with the coastal sprawl on the east side of Abel Tasman (Motueka especially).

We spent 3 days in Nelson with Greg and Sam, and while there biked one day, visited a bird sanctuary (the reason for all the bird sanctuaries is the requirement to eliminate all the predators in a securely fenced area - rats especially - before the ground nesting birds can be safely re introduced), and visited the botanical gardens and associated Suter Museum.

The visit was over too soon and we drove to Blenheim, the heart of the Marlborough wine area, of via Picton.

Blenheim and surrounding areas could have passed for Napa Valley with the bare hills and row upon row of vines.

After a stop for lunch at the Withers Winery, we headed for our lodging to prepare for our 7 AM flight to the North Island.


More pictures at  https://photos.app.goo.gl/hGMakUq9NAyztNVp6

To Golden Bay.

Before leaving St. Arnaud for Golden Bay, we took a walk up Mt. Roberts.

And managed a swim after the hot, dusty descent before heading on to Golden Bay and our eco cottage in Wainui......

 ....avoiding the occasional sheep stampede.

I don't know how Kath found this place, but it may turn out to be the highlight of the trip. A completely eco retreat - composting toilet and all. Next to Abel Tasman National Park and just a 2 km walk to Taupo Point where Abel Tasman had his encounter with the Maori.

We swam 2 of the 3 days, walked the beach almost completely alone, and enjoyed great sunsets.

Tomorrow we head for Nelson to meet our friends from Minneapolis – Sam and Greg.

More pictures at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hGMakUq9NAyztNVp6 

On our way north to Murderer's Bay.

Abel Tasman was on an exploratory voyage for the Dutch East India Company when, in 1642, he became the first European to stumble on New Zealand. 

He got off to a bad start on first contact with the Maori when they interpreted his blowing of the ship's trumpet as a battle challenge. A number of war canoes appeared, one of them rammed a long boat, and in the end 4 of his sailors died. Thus the peaceful Golden Bay of today was initially dubbed Murderer's Bay.

After leaving Twizel we drove to Arthur's Pass – the high point between Christchurch on the dry east coast and the wet western shore. 

It lived up to its reputation for inclement weather and sent us on our way the next day in a real gully washer of a storm.

But while there, I made my Kea sighting. My initial blog identified the Kakapo as the inquisitive parrot that loved rubber windshield wipers, but it is the Kea that earned that reputation. (The Kakapo are endangered, being brought back from near extinction on 3 islands that can only be visited under supervision).

These silly parrots (the Kea) are quite tame and have no fear of landing on your table or in the middle of a busy road. This brazen behavior (in a bird that is reported to be one of the smartest on the islands) may soon lead them to near extinction as well.

On a map it looks like you should be able to make the drive from Twizel to Golden Bay in a long 1 day drive, but in New Zealand there is no such thing as a straight road or a two-laned bridge. So you end up averaging about 40 mph max and everything takes twice as long.

We split the drive into 2 days and stopped our 2nd night in St. Arnaud in Nelson Lake National Park. 

We drove along the coast and saw the "Pancake Rocks" - an  unusual limestone formation,

Looks like Oregon to me.

and stopped in Westport to visit the Coal Museum - the area provided the coal for the industrialization of New Zealand.

Tomorrow we are going to take a walk up Mt Roberts before we finish the drive to Murderer's Bay.

A few more pictures at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hGMakUq9NAyztNVp6