Auckland, Pre Cruise

Auckland, even though the world is in the mist of coronavirus, New Zealand at that point seemed to

Sky Tower from waterfront, Auckland

be business as usual. Kim and Laura had arranged for us to have 2 sets of 2 bedroom apartments in “downtown” Auckland (in fact, across the street from Sky Tower). We are now 4 couples with the addition of Betty and Greg from Clarendon Hills, IL.  The area where the apartments were located seemed a little sketchy (looked like old time Time Square with some XXX dance lounges, and dive food diners), but it turned out to be a good location.

So in the evening, we headed toward the wharf and marina where there were loads of restaurants. Plus the site of the 2021 American Cup Marina, where there was one of the winning catamarans from the 2017 American Cup race. Plus there were a few beautiful catamarans like the one below left at the marina. Kiwi’s love their sailing.

 

On Sunday March 8, before we boarded Azamara Journey on Monday, Kim and I spent the day exploring Auckland on the On and Off bus, but since it was NZ marathon day part of the route was

closed so we headed for the Auckland Museum where “there’s a wonderful Maori collection and a cultural show”. The cultural show was spectacular, and so were the Polynesian exhibits and history. A special exhibit on the two guides from Tahiti, who accompanied Captain Cook on his 1st voyage and were able to speak the language in the islands and in New Zealand. The war memorial section of the museum was amazing. And it seems in every town we visited there is a war memorial. After the museum, we spent part of the afternoon at a concert in the park. We finished the afternoon back on the bus taking in the sites we missed because of the marathon. In the evening it was back to the waterfront for a delicious meal. Auckland seems to be a very livable vibrant city. 

Timaru and Christchurch

Last 3 days of the driving trip on South Island.

After our wonderful 2nd farm stay near Fairlie, we had a short drive to Timaru, a working port town on the east side, where Kim and I went to two wonderful museums -
Te Ana Maori Rock Art Centre (where examples of Maori rock painting can be found along with a nice history of the Maori people is explained along with some history of the strange birds and vegetation).
South Canterbury Museum was the second museum with its “historic and natural artefacts of the south Canterbury region.“  The picture on the right is the Anglican Church in the Edwardian style next to the museum.

In Christchurch, we did the on and off trolley and stayed across the street from the Cathedral which still has the Earthquake damage from 2011, bell tower is gone, and may never be rebuilt (picture on right).  We watched the gondola rides on the Avon River and spent about 2 hours in the CC Art Gallery. Then it was the hunt for a book “Fun with Flax” on weaving foliage, which we were successful in finding.  Then on Saturday, March 7 we flew back to Auckland to experience that city before our cruise b gan on March 9.

My Cook/ Mt Aoraki and Farm Stay 2

Mount Aoraki (Mt. Cook) is the highest peak in New Zealand at about 11,700 feet and the mountaineering center of New Zealand is in Mt. Cook village.  On a sunny day the mountain looks like the image to the right, but the picture below and at the Church of the Good Shepherd below right is all we could see. But we did get a long view of Mt Cook on the day we left the farm stay.

 

Te Anau, Manapouri, and Cromwell

March 3-5.

Today, I need to apologize for my lack of timeliness on the blog because I know I am a week behind, but when you are busy living it is hard to post history (the excuse I’m giving), plus internet has been spotty.

The road to TeAnau was full of distant mountain views and ranch land full of thousands of sheep, cattle, and venison (raised like cattle). Kim had a “perfect” almond milk mocha in Mossburn a small but popular cafe along the road. 

In TeAnau, we had a reservation for a Cruise to the “glow worm caves” so after a quick steak pie and chicken pie it was off to see the worms. Not real worms, but the larval stage of a Diptera (fly), this species only found in New Zealand, that grows and emits light to attract other bugs for food in limestone caves.

To describe the experience, picture total darkness except the
greenish-blue glow from thousands of faint lights as in the night sky trying to pick out the various constellations, plus your in a small metal boat with the sound of water rushing toward the abyss under you. Pretty cool!

The caves are on the mountain side of Lake TeAnau, so the catamaran takes us to the cave. Lake TeAnau is the largest natural lake in New Zealand and also the deepest.

After the Cruise, we walked through a beautiful botanical garden in TeAnau on our walk back to the motel.

In the morning, we took a short side trip to Manapouri with Lake Manapouri, another large lake for breakfast, then back to Mossburn (our most southern town while driving) for Kim’s mocha. Back to Queenstown on our way to Cromwell, for a quick stop at the world famous Ferg Burger, it was delicious. Just outside of Queenstown we stopped at the Kawasaki River Gorge for the site of the first bungy operation at AJ Hackett Bungy and Zipline center. No one decided to take the plunge, but there were plenty of young kids to watch.

Cromwell, our nights destination was an old town that had been flooded by a hydroelectric dam, so they moved a few of the old buildings of historic Cromwell to a new site as a tourist attraction. We rewarded our long drive with a few margaritas at a Mexican restaurant.     D

Queenstown and surrounding area

February 28 - March 2

In Queenstown, the adventure sports capital of New Zealand, with water sports, winter sports,

 mountain biking, bungy jumping, zip-lining, and loads of bars/pubs we stayed at a 3 bedroom condo overlooking Lake Wakatipu. On Friday, February 28 we became 3 couples with the Wallace’s joining us.
So we did the tourist things, gondola ride to view Queenstown the I did a “luge” ride (a modified tricycle) which like the real luge uses gravity for the driving force.
March 1 went to Glenorchy, a “modern ecological hippie community” where we took a beautiful hike along a marsh where black swans

were abundant. Kim comment, “I could live here”. Then off to Arrowtown an old mining community with a beautiful main street where we had a delicious lunch, and some shopping.







View from Gondola ride, Queenstown (below).

                           Everyone trying for that perfect
                             picture of the black swans
                             Near Glenorchy

To Franz Josef then to Queenstown

February 26, 2020

Franz Josef is a town near the coast, which has the hike toward the Franz Josef Glacier. A small tourist town where the sound of helicopter could be heard every 15 minutes, as it took tourists up

to the glacier to get personal with the glacier. On the way to Franz Josef, we stopped to see if we could get a tour to the nesting of the white herons, but they were done nesting for the year. So instead we headed to Okarito. A tranquil beach where life was moving slower.




After lunch in Franz Josef, it was off to search for the glacier (glassier) Where Brian and Laura are standing was where the glacier was in 1908, it has receded over 3 km since then.  On the hike, there was a waterfall at every little crevice in the mountain sides. 



On Feb. 27 it was a rainy, cool blustery day as we did the 200+ mile day to Queenstown, the active sport, destination in New Zealand.  
We will spend 3 nights in Queenstown in a condo over looking Lake Wakatipu. Friday, we picked up Steve and Carol from South Carolina, formerly from outside Chicago to make us a group of 6.  

Arthur’s Pass and Hokitika

February 25, 2020

Our Farm Stay was a joy with Faye and Paul, a lovely couple who were built to entertain with talk and culinary delights. A 5 star on trip advisor, I’m sure. Perfect little farmette with lambs and a vegetable garden that produced more than they could ever consumed. Charming Glentunnel - quaint little village built up during the mining rush.

 

With a short stop at Sheffield for coffee & Kim’s Mocha (“a good one”), we were off to the mountains and a hike or two. The mountains are beautiful with a different texture and shape than those in the USA.

On our way to Arthur’s Pass (an old Maori route to the west coast first traversed by Arthur Dobson), we stopped at Castle Hill, a hillside of large boulders used in The Lord of the Ring trilogy.
Interesting little hike up through the rocks.

A quick lunch at the Arthur’s Pass, then up to Devil’s Punchball Falls with it’s 476 steps up (a real test for Kim’s new knee). Then we attempted a smile for the picture and rewarded ourself with a drink at the bottle shop, “womaned” by a lady from Asia who had a difficult time finding an amber beer for Brian (NZ has lots of part time immigrate employees especially during the tourist season who work here on a short visiting visa).
A very short drive to find Arthur’s Pass B&B.   Certainly an eclectic little house -  train workers home from the 1920’s.  Innkeeper - Renee was our host (the shorter lady, 5th generation Kiwi) Nothing short of a spitfire!  A unique opportunity in New Zealand is to be able to be “a helper” - a cool way to “work” your way thru NZ for a bed and food.  Claudia from Germany was the helper.

Arthur’s Pass’ residents number 30. Gotta like your neighbors!
One road in and through to the west coast. This is the same
route as the main railway line, in fact Arthur’s village was mainly constructed to house the workers during the construction of the railroad.

Hokitika was our next day’s journey, down the mountain to the west coast. 2/3 of the way to the coast we turned toward Greymouth, since the Monteith’s Brewery was there for lunch. A great place, both the town and brewery for a quick afternoon stop. Then off to Holiday Park in Hokitika where we stayed in #20 a cute little cabin with a queen bed and a bunk in a RV park. Hokitika was a lovely town famous for it jade and green stone. It also has a beautiful old Carnegie Library (1 of 18 in New Zealand)
which has been compromised by recent earthquakes. At sunset 8:30 the town or tourists turn out to watch the Sunset.