Wellington to Hawkes Bay

Tuesday, July 6.  We enjoyed a morning in the city of shopping and museums.  The national New Zealand museum is in Wellington.  Many interesting exhibits including a large jade boulder (mined here), an earthquake house, and many Maori exhibits. 

We drove to Havelock North in the Hawkes Bay area and had dinner with the Braasch family,  Their son was Louise's "kiwi host" at Otago University this past term.

Wellington - North Island

Monday, July 5.  Yesterday we had our longest drive of the trip -- Franz Josef to Blenhiem -- 7 hours in all.  This morning we took a car ferry from Picton on the South Island to Wellington on the North Island. 

It was a large car ferry and the trip took 3 hours.  We did not take our rental cars on the ferry -- instead we dropped off ours before we left and picked up new ones when we arrived.  Wellington is the capitol of New Zealand and there are many things to see.  We toured the parliament buildings this afternoon and plan on shopping and museums tomorrow. 

Hiking Franz Josef Glacier

Saturday, July 3. Today we took a half day guided walking tour of the Franz Josef Glacier. New Zealand has over 3,000 glaciers. What struck us as unusual is that this one is next to a rain forest. The tour outfitted us with raincoats, pants, boots, and crampons (sp? -- ice cleats that we strapped on our boots). In several places the guides had carved steps for us to climb.

Franz Josef is a small town on the western side of the South Island. We are staying in a Bed and Breakfast and are the only guests. The World Cup is big here too -- the pub where we ate last night is open this morning at 6:30am to watch the games.

Queenstown to Franz Josef

Friday, July 1.  Today we traveled from Queenstown to Franz Josef.  Franz Josef is on the west coast of New Zealand and was about a 5 hour drive.  The sun rises at about 8:30 and it is has been quite cold in the mornings (20s).  Our first stop of the day was the bungy jump and then we continued our our trip north and west.  We drove through some beautiful country and at least 2 national parks today.  We made a few photo stops along the way.  The roads were in very good condition and the icy spots had been sanded long before we got there.

By the time we got to the Tasman Sea it was in the low 50s and the landscape was quite different than the east coast of NZ.  It was very lush and green and we saw many rainbows.  I also learned how to navigate 1 lane bridges today -- we must have crossed at least 20.  By the end we understood the signs that indicated which side had the right of way!

Kawarau Bridge Bungy

Friday, July 2.  No, I didn't do a bungy jump...but watched Kevin and Louise jump this morning from the Kawarau Bridge -- home of the original bungy jump.  They did a tandem jump (where 2 people jump together) as the rest of us watched.  

 

Queenstown

Thursday, July 1.  A sunny and warm day in Queenstown (mid-50s).  The town is named for Queen Victoria and considers itself the adventure capital of the world.  My big adventure was a visit to a spa.  Andy, Louise, and Kevin went skiing, while Liz and I enjoyed a quiet day.  I have an incredible view of the mountains from my hotel room and I am enjoying it!  This picture is what is in front of our hotel --  Lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables mountain range (part of the Southern Alps) in the background.  For those Lord of the Rings fans -- this is the area of New Zealand where it was filmed.

Sandfly Bay - Otago Peninsula

Wednesday, June 30.  Today started as a beautiful sunny day -a good day for our trip to Queenstown.  Our last stop before heading to the mountains was to visit Sandfly Bay on the Otago Peninsula just outside of Dunedin.  This bay is a wildlife refuge and is home to sea lions and penguins.  See the pictures of the bay and sea lions -- no penguins as it's not the right time of year.

To get to the bay we drove on Highcliff Road -- a very, very narrow and curvy road.  They don't seem to believe in guard rails or shoulders - yikes!  I am getting more comfortable driving, but still talk to myself at every right turn "turning right, crossing traffic" (kids laugh).  We parked at the top of one of the cliffs and then walked down to the beach.  It was a fun and easy walk down through soft sand (like Lake Michigan sand), but the hike up was a killer.

By noon time we were on our way to Queensland.  It was a 4 hour drive and was the first extended driving we've done.  Kevin and Louise took turns being my co-pilot as we headed to the mountains. 

The temps have been in the 40s while we've been in Dunedin, but they steadily dropped as we headed inland.  We went through a very pretty section where there was "ice fog" that had covered all the trees and plants -- even the wool on the sheep sparkled with ice.  Thankfully the roads were okay.  We arrived in Queenstown shortly before sunset.

The highlight of dinner was sitting next to a family from Ohio (recognized by the Ohio State sweatshirts).  I leaned over and said "O-H" and they replied "I-O" and laughed.  They were traveling with their daughter who had been an exchange student in Australia.

Dunedin - chocolate & beer

Today we toured the city of Dunedin with Louise acting as our tour guide. She has been an exchange student here since February. We visited the University of Otago, her flat, the local museum, the Cadbury chocolate factory, and a local brewery - Speight's.  Have you seen the barking dog and sheep singing Happy Birthday on YouTube?  That is a Speight's commercial.  We also hiked up Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world.    That is Louise and me next the to an old Cadbury delivery truck.

This morning I had my first travel boo-boo.  I managed to plug my hair dryer and converter into an outlet that couldn't handle it. I blacked out not only my own room but the Vasher's room as well. Smoke and sparks were involved. Where's a good electrician when you need one?!? The owner was very nice about it and had things working by the time we got back at the end of the day.

At dinner we all were impressed with Liz's skewer of prawns.  We also enjoyed green shelled mussels -- a unique seafood from New Zealand.

Finally - Dunedin!

We arrived in Dunedin a couple of hours ago.  On our last flight of the trip (Auckland to Dunedin) they circled for an hour due to fog and then landed in Christchurch.  We then traveled by bus to Dunedin, a 5 hour ride.  Tomorrow Louise will be our tour guide around town and we plan to tour a brewery and a chocolate factory.  Time to crash -- it's been over 30 hours since we started our trip from LA.

Visit to Manhatten Beach

Visited the beach today to kill some time before our 9:30 pm flight.  Andy, Liz, and Kevin arrived from Detroit this morning and we took the trolley to the beach.  Kevin went body surfing as the waves were rolling in.

Los Angeles by Night

Arrived in LA safely with no flight problems.  I took a tour of LA by night -- visiting Beverly Hills and Hollywood.  We walked part of the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Mann's Chinese Theatre.  The fact that it was the anniversary of Michael Jackson's death made it even more interesting.  There were several makeshift memorials, moon dancing and singing fans, etc.  Sidewalk vendors were selling sequined gloves -- hmm...Christmas gift??

Map of New Zealand

Dunedin, NZ is approximately 10,000 miles from Southwest Harbor and is 16 hours ahead of the eastern time zone.  This is the start of their winter with highs in the 40s along the coast.  We are heading into the mountains at the beginning of the trip where I expect we will encounter snow and temps in the 20s.

I expect warmer temps as we travel north.  We will be touring the North Island on the last half of the trip and departing from Auckland.

I am packing a winter coat, a rain coat and lots of fleece.  Louise suggests wearing layers as the weather can change quickly in New Zealand.  Sounds familiar to Maine!

Getting there is half the fun?!?

I'm not sure I agree with the old adage "getting there is half the fun" when it comes to flying to New Zealand. It's a long, long way from Southwest Harbor. (see pic of SWH on left).

On Friday, June 25, I will start my trip from Bangor and fly to Los Angeles and then on Saturday evening board the flight to Auckland, NZ. It is a 13 hour flight to Auckland-- but due to crossing the international date line we will actually arrive on Monday morning. Then it's on to Dunedin, our destination on the South Island of New Zealand -- a relatively short, 2 hour flight. That is where the trip starts. (see picture of the beaches at Dunedin). Time to get back to packing...more later!