More Good Stuff

Tue. Dec. 29: We drove from Abel Tasman to Motueka and took a side road (recommended by our lodge host--a great idea) through Tapawera to the main motorway. It was a very scenic and serene drive past beautiful pastureland.

We then stopped at the Buller Borge Swingbridge which we walked across. They claim it's the longest swing bridge in NZ and was quite "swingy" over a rushing river. Not for those who are afraid of heights! We returned walking over instead of taking the Superman harness, flying over the gorge. Looked like fun, but...

Swingbridge over Buller Gorge

Miles on swingbridge in Buller Gorge

Our next stop was at Cape Foulwind (don't know why it's called that--rather off putting--the air smelled fresh to me!) We saw a fur seal colony with many little pups and walked an hour to the lighthouse.

Fur Seal Colony in Foulwind, Westport
On the way to the lighthouse near Cape Foulwind

Next stop was Punakaiki which is a very well-known place on the coast famous for the Pancake Rocks. These are limestone structures that have eroded over time to form pancake-like towers. Just beautiful. And depneding on the surf and tide, there are blowholes that spray water.

Views of Pancake Rocks

We stayed that night at an unusual "tree house" set in the forest. This was a 4-unit building built right amongst the trees and had a balcony, very quiet and serene and we felt like Swiss Family Robinson.

Treehouse "motel" in Punakaiki

Wed. Dec. 30: We had a big driving day ahead of us: about 10 hours including stops (see below).

We left our wonderful tree house "motel" and drove to the Pancake Rocks one more time. The weather was a lot clearer and everything looked even better under blue skies. Another favorite place.

We then drove to Arthur's Pass summit (half way to Christchurch) and turned around and returned to Kumara Junction near Greyouth. (Our plan is to continue south and see Christchurch on the way up the east coast in a couple of weeks.) The pass was wonderful: we passed very high mountains, some with snow, waterfalls, rivers...visibility was great and we just loved it. There is a train trip through this pass that goes from Christchurch to Greymouth and it's supposed to be one of the world's greatest train trips. We can certainly understand why.

Arthur's Pass

At Kumara Junction, we headed south and stopped at Franz Josef Glacier. We walked about 10 minutes from the car park and there it was. The glacier is beautiful white/blue ice and the air crisp and clear. It was so refreshing. We then stopped briefly at a lookout to see the Fox glacier, too, but didn't have time to walk in.

Franz Josef Glacier
Fox Glacier

We arrived at our Haast Motel about 7:30pm, Haast is the last town before we get to Fiordland where we will really see some dramatic stufff. Stay tuned.

Knight's Point near Haast

It's ALL Good!

We arrived in Wellington on Dec. 23 after a 9-hour drive from Auckland. Wellington is really a beautiful city, very hilly, magnificent harbor with that boring turquoise water. Ho hum.

Wellington Harbor

On the 24th, we got up early and walked up to Mt. Victoria which has a terrific view of the harbor/city. We then spent about 4 hours at the Te Papa Museum which showcases Maori culture, NZ natural history, European immigrant history and lots and lots of other stuff. For example, we went on an adventure ride in the museum that was like being at Disneyland. You get strapped into a seat that bounces you around and they simulate all kinds of kiwi adventures shown on a screen such as bungy jumping, 4-wheel driving over a sheep farm, grass surfing, mountain biking, glider flying...lots of fun and we were really jostled about. It's a great museum and I could easily go back.

Maori meeting house

We then took a cable car to the top of the Botanic Gardens and walked down back to the city via the gardens that were just beautiful and even passed the Jewish cemetery. yes, in the 1840's, there were about 28 Jews in Wellington! We continued walking along the waterfront back to our motel. Wellington is full of grand public buildings and art work, plazas, places to walk along the water, view spots...really a lot to see and do and one day wasn't enough.

Botanical Gardens

On Christmas Day, we took an early morning car ferry to Picton, a 3-hour trip. A lovely large boat, very calm water, beautiful views (of course). Picton is a small town and on Christmas day, EVERYTHING is closed. I mean EVERYTHING, so we had to bring food with us for all our meals until the 26th. No worries!

Wellington from the Ferry on the way to Picton

Views from the ferry

Picton is situated on the Queen Charlotte Sound and we drove about 10 minutes to Karati Point, a sacred Maori spot and took a short walk down to the water. We then parked our car at our B&B in town and walked along the harbor to Shelley's Beach and Bob's Bay. Again, beautiful views and that boring turquoise water.

Picton harbor

On Dec. 26 we took a water taxi to Torea Bay and hiked part of the Queen Charlotte Track in Queen Charlotte Sound. The 5-hour up and down hike was part forest walk, part ridge walk with amazing views of various bays and sounds. The pictures you're about to see have not been Photo Shopped--honest. The color is real. Wow.

Queen Charlotte Sound

Queen Charlotte Sound

Miles at Queen Charlotte Sound

Our hike ended in Mistletoe Bay and the water taxi picked us up and brought us back to Picton. What a great day!

Mistletoe Bay

Mistletoe Bay Babe

Miles at Mistletoe Bay Babe

On Sun. Dec. 27 we drove up and over the most magnificent mountains to our next destination, Abel Tasman National Park northwest of Nelson onthe northern tip of the South Island. After stopping at Motueka at the helpful I-Site info center and a quick buzz through the nearby farmer's market to pick up some fruit and veggies, we drove through the national part to Totaranui. The mountains were covered in mist. We thought, "Oh well, today will be grey--godd thing we're driving." Well, our luck was with us and it cleared and the view opened up to amazing green valleys and views of the Tasman Bay. We took a fast 1 1/2 hour hike from Totaranui to anapai Bay. Beautiful as always. We then drove back about 2 hours to our lodge situated on the southern entrance to the park. Dinner was at a lovely restaurant nearby with a view of the sea. Ahhh...this is good.

Mon. Dec. 28: We pre-arranged a water taxi to drop us off at on hiking trail at one bay and pick us up at the end of the hike at another bay. (The whole area is full of countless bays and inlets and most are accessible only by boat.) The extra fun of this taxi trip was all 16 of us loaded up in the boat which was on a boat trailer and we were "driven" to the water pulled by a tractor. the tractor then backs us into the water and releases the boat. Part hay ride/part boat ride. No worries!

Aqua Taxi getting into position

Marahau beach near Abel Tasman Park

Split Apple Rock seen from our Aqua Taxi

The hike was about 3 hours long and we waled through beautiful, wet, dense forests along the coast from Bark Bay passing Torrent Bay to Anchorage Bay. The vegetation looked especially bright with all the mosture from the previous evening's rain. Another interesting thing is when the skipper dropped us off, he was very specific where the pick up place was because 4 hours later when he would come, the tide would be really low and the shoreline would look completely different. Many boats would be moored on dry sand. When he means "low", he's serious because it's up to a 4.7 meter (15 feet) tide. We actually were able to walk back acreoss the sand to our pick-up place that was under water during high tide. Weird!

The week went FAST!

Our time with Daniel in Auckland has come to an end and the week went by so quickly. Now our paths diverge: we're off for 3 1/2 weeks traveling in the South Island. Daniel, meanwhile, is here in Auckland until Dec. 29 when his friend from Israel arrives and they will travel all over NZ in their rental car for a couple of months.

We don't know how often we'll have internet in order to use Skype or write a blog, but we'll stop at internet cafes.

We will have to leave NZ (boo-hoo) on Jan. 19, stopping for 24 hours in Bangkok, then returning to Israel from Jan. 21-31. We will then pack up our WARM clothes and head for Zurich.

The adventures continue!!! Stay tuned.

Goodby, Auckland!

Daniel is here!

Daniel arrived on Tue. Dec. 15 and we've been running around ever since. No time to work on the blog till today. It's wonderful having him here and exploring New Zealand with him!

While Miles was working, Daniel and I walked around parts of Auckland that I love. (You've already seen pictures of the Domain and Auckland War Memorial Museum.)

On Wed., we went to the Auckland Botanic Gardens which were amazing. We were there only a few hours and didn't finish because we needed to get back to the city to meet a friend at the Sky Tower downtown (which is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere).

Pohutukawa trees at the Botanic Gardens, also called
the New Zealand Christmas Tree, now in bloom



Multi-colored hydrangeas


Rose


Daniel and a sculpture at the Botanic Gardens

We looked at beautiful Auckland from the top of the Sky Tower, including watching people who participated in Sky Jump, basically being lowered by cables at very fast speeds from the top of the tower. Not for me!

View from the Sky Tower and the "jumper". I'm glad we were behind glass.
(This is a LIVE person, but he still might be a "dummy"!)

On Thur., Daniel practiced driving on the left side and is quite good at it. We went to Mission Bay, near central Auckland and to neighborhoods I had never been before.

The next day we drove to Mt. Eden in Auckland where you can drive the roundabout road up to the top of a dormant volcano. Greatest view of Auckland! And you can see a giant grass-covered crater. Just beautiful.

The crater at Mt. Eden with a view of Auckland. You can barely see Sky Tower in the distance. (It looks like a huge hypodermic needle.)


View from Mt. Eden

Then we were off to One Tree Hill, also at the top of a dormant volcano, where there is an obelisk, built by an English architect in 1912, honoring the Maori people (the One Tree is long gone!) Once again, beautiful views. This obelisk is in lovely Cornwall Park which is a huge hilly, grassy park with old buildings from 1910. You can just imagine the ladies having tea and cakes.

The top of the obelisk...

...and the bottom of the obelisk honoring the Maori people


Do you see Daniel in the middle of this amazing tree in Cornwall Park?

Our last stop of the day was to Coyle Park, a pretty little beach west of Auckland. It was fun just driving around, finding places on the map and just saying "Let's go!"

Sand cliffs at Coyle Park

Daniel and a Maori sculpture at Coyle Park

On Sat. Miles joined us and we were off on the ferry to Waiheke Island, about a 40 minute ride. This island is quite large and is well-known for its 18 wineries, restaurants, shops, etc. We did none of that: we wanted NATURE so we went on a very nice "bush" (forest) walk for about an hour, seeing giant palms and kauri trees. Really nice.

Daniel and me on our walk on Waiheke Island


Another interesting tree on the hike

We then took a bus to a Rocky Bay and walked on the barnacle-covered rocks which were very sharp. You really didn't want to fall on these solidified lava flows.

Rocky Bay

Another bus ride to Palm Beach which was a lovely, sandy beach with pretty cliffs which I've written about so many times before. You blog followers know what I'm talking about!

On Sun., we drove about an hour north of Auckland to Tawharanui Regional Park and hiked over pastureland, through forests and along the beach. What a DELIGHTFUL hike filled with variety.

We parked our car near the lagoon on the right and started our hike opposite Jones Bay


Those are REAL sheep along the hiking path. Not a ba-aa-aad view!


Another view...


And yet another view from the hike...


And another view... (I am getting SO repetitive...)


Our beloved sheep (yum yum) on the way down to Anchor Bay


We made it! Anchor Bay

Our last stop of the day was at Goat Island Marine Reserve where there is great snorkeling (but no goats!). Too bad we didn't have time for snorkeling (the real reason is the water is cold. Forget it.)

Goat Island Reserve


Miles and Daniel on the beach at the reserve