Road Warriors November 25, 2010

WOW!  Has it really been since Samoa since I updated this thing?  Oof.  What would cousin Nathan think?  Bad blogger…wah wah.  So what has been going on halfway around the world?  Well get your reading glasses out and I will tell you the highlights.

A couple weeks ago, I got the immense pleasure of having Dad visit.  The entire week before his arrival I was literally giddy.  It’s weird what a treat it is to see you family after being gone.  On Friday, October 29^th, Dad pulled into The Old Convents driveway in this MASSIVE camper van and I literally ran out of the class session we were having, thus in turn ending class.  I was a little more that loud.  Anyways, I got to introduce Dad to all the CCSP staff and students and we had a big community dinner and afterwards we sat down and made our plan of attack.  South Island, here we come.  We set out for adventure the next morning but got distracted in town.  We saw this sign for a tent sale.  Now in America, a tent sale is something to get pumped about.  A whole bunch of really discounted intems under a tent!  AH!  Bliss.  Well in New Zealand, they have a slightly different take on the term “Tent Sale.”  The tent sale that they were having was literally a tent sale…yeah.  Tents were ON SALE.  GAH!  Dad and I both had a good laugh about that one though before finally hitting the road for real.  However, two hours later we pulled into the gas station and there was a little bit of mix-up at the gas pump that once again led to a lesson in cross-cultural studies.  In America the handles for diesel are green.  Unfortunately for our trip, the handles for diesel in New Zealand are black.  So Dad accidentally partially filled the tank of our camper van with regular gas instead of diesel to which there was uttered a sting of profanities.  Definitely warranted in my book though.  So there we sat, with no cell phone, and this lady at the gas station counter that insisted on charging exorbitant rates for use of the phone.   We pushed that camper van out of the gas station stall and waited until this man wearing and epic pair of stubbies showed up to drain our tanks for 3 hours.  Why such the long wait?  The All Blacks were playing Australia.  So waited, and waited and waited and then showed up and we pumped and pumped and pumped the tanks clean.  5 hours after the little mix-up we had a clean tank and set off down the road praying that there would be no more bumps in the road.

We drove all the way to Akaroa on Banks Peninsula and pulled in to the campground around 11:00 at night and literally passed out.  The next morning, we looked out at the view we had missed coming in and ate breakfast in awe.  Our campground was situation upon this hill that looked out on Akaroa’s beautiful bay of turquoise water, surrounded by green slopes and this quaint little town.  We piled into the camper van and then drove down the hill to the town where we ate pastries at the local bakery and made our booking for swimming with Hector’s Dolphin.  For those of you that don’t know, I am in love with Hector’s Dolphin.  They are the world’s smallest and rarest dolphins and are endemic to New Zealand.  Last year, I did a research proposal centered around this specie of dolphins, so getting to swim with them, was a dream come true.  We squeezed into our wetsuits and boarded Black Cat cruises and set off down the harbor in search of the more murky water they prefer.  Not to brag of anything, but I spotted them first, off the left side of the boat.  They came and bow surfed and I was literally squealing with delight.  Finally, we got to wet in the water…which was freezing by the way…and try our luck at getting to swim with Hectors.  At first they were not so interested and we all just kind of sat around bobbing like corks in the freezing cold water, but by the time people started getting out, they were pretty friendly little guys.  To lure a dolphin in, you need to make yourself as entertaining as possible…so put on a show!  Sing!  Dive!  Try out your dolphin squeak!  Near the end of the tour, this old man Howard and I were the only ones left in the water.  He was crowing like a rooster, and I was singing “God Bless America.”  For some reason that combination of sounds enticed the dolphins and I got to swim with two dolphins for a couple of minutes.  We. Made. Eye contact.  GAH!  Needless to say, by the time I got out of the water, I felt like a dolphin whisperer and was beside myself with joy.  It was literally perfect.  J  For the rest of the day, Dad and I visited a cheese factory and ate gourmet cheese and crackers for lunch, took a very scenic drive up in the mountains (Mom and Grandpa would have been a wreck) and got some quiet time to read and watch the sunset.  I cannot imagine a better way to spend the day.

The next day we headed out for Omaru, which is a couple of hours south of Akaroa.  Dad and I ate Sour Patch Kids, a true delicacy that NZ is missing and Peach rings, and talked about how I want to be a framer when I grow up.  We reached Omaru around dusk and went to see the yellow-eyed penguins at the beach lookout.  What funny creatures they are.  These penguins come in from the sea and then climb this steep cliff to their nesting sites.  Yep!  I said climb!  Can you imagine climbing a cliff with your pants around your knees?  I just don’t know how they do it.  Later that night we paid to go and see the little blue penguin at the nearby Penguin Center.  While the Center itself was pretty cool (they had a camera in the nest of a blue penguin and you could see the chicks waiting in the nest) the guide we had was this shrill older lady that would yell at people if they stood up in the stands.  Needless to say, that got a little old after a while.  At the Penguin Center, we did get to see the little blue penguin come in and waddle up the ramp to their nest sites, but the real treat was when we went out to the parking lot and saw so many more little blue penguins just chilling out.  There’s $40 down the drain…

P.S.  Omaru has the best blue cheese in the world!  Mmmm So creamy!

The next day we drove South along the Catlins (I know!) Coast to get to our next destination literally across the South Island.

Highlights Along the Catlin’s Coast:

• Standing on the most Southern Point of the South Island…the closest to Antarctica I’ll probably ever be.
• Eating chocolate…yeah for Cadbury!!
• Getting to explore a petrified forest
• WATERFALLS!
• Eating fish and chips from this shady Asian restaurant… “Everything’s fresh”

After a long days drive we ended up in Timaru which is a lovely little town who’s campground has the nicest bathrooms EVER, where I finally showered for the first time on the trip.  I am a dirty kid.

The next day we drove through the mountains to Milford Sound.  The views were just stunning and I got to see my first Kea (alpine parrot)!  What a funny creature.  Word of advice: The Kea loves shiny things and eating rubber.  Do not leave anything out or it may just disappear.  After driving about 1.5 hours up the canyon we finally arrived and promptly boarded Mitre Peak cruises for our tour of Milford.  This tour company was awesome.  Not only do they give a guided nature talk, but also they get you right up to the side of the Sound where you get drenched by waterfalls.  They even take you out of the Tasman Sea, which is probably a highlight of the whole trip.  I liken it to riding a bull that is constantly being soaked by water.  SO AWESOME!!  If you ever go, be sure to go with Mitre Peak Cruises and be sure to hit up the Milford Sound Underwater research observatory.  It’s on my bucket list.

After Milford we traveled up to Glenorchy where we hoped to do a horse back riding tour of LOTR sites.  Sadly we were rained out, but that gave us the opportunity to visit Queenstown!  I would liken Queenstown to a ski town in the United States.  Lots of overpriced equipment, bars and people.  Somehow though, it’s totally awesome.  At Queenstown, we did a little shopping and then went on jet boat ride down in the Shotover Valley.  On said jet boat ride, you literally are swerving around a canyon, doing 360s and screaming/laughing.  Half the time it looks like you are going to run into the walls of the canyon, but somehow you never do.  Fun Fact: Shotover Jet boats only need 10cm of water to operate!!  After a jet boat ride, we hooked up with a couple of CCSP students that were in the area and had coffee and ice cream with them.  They were going bungee jumping though so we peaced out pretty quick.  Dad and I then ate burgers as big as our faces at Fergburger and consumed even more Cadbury Chocolate for dessert.  Can you say yum?

The next day we drove a LONG way up to Aoraki/Mt. Cook.  We arrived and it was raining and sleeting so we put off our hike and visited the Sir Edmund Hillary Centre and the DOC office.  Both were so cool and had awesome displays about the history of mountain climbing at Mt. Cook.  Can I just say that I have so much respect for those old mountain climbers who instead of crampons had nails driven through their boots?  So ingenious!  Maybe the best part was getting to watch this really neat documentary (yes…I am a nerd) about Sir Edmund Hillary.  What a story! That night, the rain let up a bit and Dad and I were able to do a little hiking around our campsite.  We hiked up a little ways to look out over this glacial lake observe the terminal and lateral moraines of the glacial valley.  It was definitely a good refresher course before Terrestrial Ecology.  We woke up the next day and it was still cloudy, but we decided to chance our luck on a hike nonetheless.  I literally prayed the entire hike that the sky would clear and we would be able to see Mt. Cook in all its glory.  Check out the scenery we got to see!

GORGEOUS!!

The remaining days were just spent driving back up to Kaikoura.  We spent the night in Christchurch on Guy Fox Day and there were fireworks everywhere.  Why?  GREAT question.  I don’t know why there would be a national Kiwi holiday for the man that tired to blow up Parliament.  Hmmmmm   J  What a great end to a wonderful week traveling the South Island!  Thanks Dad!!!

Advertisement