Rotorua and my last room

The hangi wasn't quite what I expected. It was a lot larger and felt very commercialized leaving me with an awkward feeling. It was a bit like watching a diorama in a museum except composed of real people. Eventually it seemed to get better and I was quite interested. It was very interesting when they were educating on their culture and tatooing. The food afterwards was pretty good, if not a little untraditional - neither lamb nor chicken were on the island, though I supopse it's not like we could eat native birds anymore. Dessert was chocolate cake and fruit salad, also a little odd.

The next day, I journeyed to the Polynesian Spa which was quite nice. From what I understand, it is built on natural geothermal hot springs which warm a number of pools to varying temperatures. It was very relaxing with a view that opens out on to the Lake Rotorua.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera for the hangi, and didn't have it for the spa, either, so I've practially no pictures since I left the glacier a week or so ago. Part of that, of course, is because I've been treading a lot of the same ground.
I did get some night shots of the cathedral in CHCH:



I also got some pictures of a girl feeding seagulls by Lake Rotorua. I think I have some better ones, but I had my camera set to underexposed by accident, and have to brighten them digitally. After she ran out of bread, the birds weren't done with her. She backed up to her parents' car and leaned back, arms spread out and a rather scared look on her face while the gulls surrounded her in a giant mass. It was almost too cute to handle.


I'm in Auckland now. I was hoping for a dorm room at a backpacker, but their number was busy. I hopped ab us hoping I could get a room anyway. I've learned one lesson since - when phones are busy, rooms are full. After two incidents of that nature, I've decided it's a pretty good rule to follow. They sent me to a backpacker a few doors down. For $18, I got to sleep in a really, really cramped room with five other people, their laundry and belongings strewed across the floor in a dark, dirty looking hostel. It would have been similar to catching a room for the night in a college house owned by a bunch of slovenly guys who had crammed entirely too many people in. The room I would have had, had enough room for three bunks (six beds) and just enough room to walk in and a small area in the middle of the three sets (set against three walls). Normally, I'd not mind being in a messy area, but this was pretty bad, and smelled rather dank. There was barely room for my stuff, and it was the first time I'd ever felt uncomfortable leaving my camera in the room. I decided I'd spend a bit more and get a single room at the first backpacker.

I leave in less than a day. Despite a seven hour layover in LA, I leave LA earlier than I leave Auckland. Any ideas what I should do?

Wine, Soup, and an Islander Feast

As best as I can recall, two days ago, I went on a wine tour of the Marlborough Sounds region best known for their Sauvignon Blancs. I was hoping to do a full day tour, but they need a certain number of people to justify it. Fortunately, I got to do a half day, and to my surprise I was the only person on the tour. It was quite nice to have the guide all to myself as well as to be able to go at my own pace throughout the tour. I did stop at the winery which produces the Monkey Bay line of wines that you can get in the States. I'd had one MB Sauvi before, and wasn't that impressed, but I think I'm beginning to like Sauvis more now. Also, MB is one of their cheaper lines of wine. At the fourth of four wineries I visited, they also had an olive oil stoer with tastings. It may have been roughly four glasses of wine speaking, but one of their oils was delicious, and I was persuaded into buying a bottle.

After about an hour back at the backpacker, I got a ride to the ferry terminal and made the three hour trip back to Wellington. This ferry was not nearly as nice as my last one and smelled of diesel and livestock - most likely from the diesel and livestock aboard. I suppose it would have been relatively nice were it not for the smell - there was a bar/lounge, an open cinema and a small "cafe."

I got into Wellington about 10:30, walked a hundred meters or so to my backpacker. It is the only one in that area of town and was full my last time through Wellington. The only other lodging in the area is $250/night, so I was rather hoping I'd be able to get a room. Fortunately, I got a room in what looked to be a converted hotel. Even more fortunate was that I was alone, had an ensuite, and the ensuite had a bathtub. I quickly tossed out the tempting idea of taking a bath, as there was no plug, and I had to be on a bus in about eight hours.

I woke up fifteen minutes after I was supposed to get a wakeup call and scrambled a bit to get ready in time. Skipping breakfast, I made it to my bus and... waited. A good fifteen minutes or so passed by before it showed up. I made it though, and that was what mattered at that point. At one stop in Kaikoura, I believe, I saw a book store, and managed to re-repurchase a copy of Revelation Space. I Only have about 100 pages left in my other book, so I'm glad I found it.

I made it to Rotorua fine and have been here since yesterday. I'm staying at the Funky Green Backpackers which I assume was named, at least in part, for their local concern - such as being the only backpacker I've been to that recycles. One of my books said it was perhaps the best backpacker in NZ, and while certainly nice, I don't know if I'd go that far. It's the first BP I've been to that actually has sharp knives and they have a very large selection of spices. You can imagine I'm loving this place :P. Having the spices on hand (I forgot mine in Picton along with some other food items which didn't add up to too much), I decided to make potato soup. The way I've evolved the recipe, you need a lot of herbs and spices, and this was just the place for it. I made a full batch which is a considerable yield - at least two quarts, probably more. The backpacker is nice, though, so I'm going to spend a couple days relaxing here. A japanese couple makes scones in the morning which you can buy for a dollar, and they have beer in the fridge for two dolalrs as well as a cappuchino machine for two dollars. A lot of things handy which is nice. They even have a bathroom with a heated floor! The place is $18 so I can't complain about them not having staples of other backpackers such as coffee and tea.

Tonight I go to a Hangi recommended by my BP. They said they believed it was more authentic whereas I've heard that some of them are fairly corporate tourist events. I beleive the event lasts four hours with a lot of Maori information, a walk, and then the Maori feast. Tomorrow, I plan to visit the geothermal spas that Rotorua is known for. By then, hopefully, I'll be done with the potato soup :P. The next day (the 20th), I have a bus up to Auckland where I'll spend one night before flying home. It's weird to think of the trip coming to a close, but it's almost here.

Finest pickings in Picton

After Fox, I bussed up to Greymouth - once again losing my copy of Redepmtion Ark. I stopped at bookstores in one town on the way and Greymouth and neither had it. I took the TranzScenic train to CHCH. I wasn't very impressed; it really seemed little more scenic than any of the busses I'd taken, and less scenic than some.

I spent two nights in CHCH positive that my bus for Picton left Wednesday. Apparently, I was positively wrong, and it left Tuesday. Paying for a new bus fare and a new ferry fare won't help anything, but I haven't much choice now. While in CHCH, I went to the bookstores in town looking for my relost book. CHCH even had a proper bookstore, but no such luck was to be had. I ended up picking up a book in a different series by the same author.

I made my way to Picton safely if not timely. Staying at a nice backpackers that provided free chocolate pudding cake and ice cream last night and cereal and fresh bread this morning. The good thing to come out of my mistaken time schedule is that now I have time to do a Marlborough wine tour which I'd forgotten to schedule in. I plan to do that today and sail to Wellington on the late ferry tonight at 7. If all goes as planned, I have a bus taking me out of town at eight in the morning the next day.

Chillin like a Fox

Today was an all day hike on Fox Glacier, named after Sir Fox, former Premier of NZ. New Zealand is the only place outside of Argentina where glaciers come right into rain forest. The hike ended up taking about an hour and a half longer due to a couple of reasons: a slow family taking a lot of pictures and video as well as parts of the path needing to be re-cut due to a lot of rain and no groups going up recently. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, though it certainly wasn't warm. we spent about five and a half hours on the ice. It was fun, and something I'd like to do in the future though without a guide. I think it'd be fun to have my own boots (which are sadly at home for a couple reasons) and hike with a few friends where we wanted instead of the slow going with a guide. Time's up, so I'll cut this short.

On the road again

Sunday, Josh, Beth and I went on a horseback ride in Paradis, outside of Glenorchy which is about forty-five minutes from Queenstown. They filmed a few parts of the Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia, there, and it was truly a beautiful place to be. I even got to ride a horse that was in the Lord of the Rings. The ride we took was entitled the Ride of the Rings, so they showed us around some of the LotR filming sites and gave some story about filming as well as showing us a couple Narnia filming sites.


Monday, I had a bus ticket to and from Milford Sound (about five hours away on the West Coast in the norther part of the Fjordlands) plus a 100 minute cruise. I managed to get it for a dollar as it was the new promotion for nakedbus.com. I managed to maked it just in time to see my bus pull off down the next street. Lucky for me, I managed to get another dollar ticket for Wednesday. I made the trip and we stopped at a few scenic stops along the way: mirror lake, and a waterfall among them. I did manage a nice shot of a Kea bird:


There was a long tunnel through the mountain to Milford Valley (I believe it's called). I can't remember quite how long the tunnel was, but, for some reason, I think it was 8k. I'll see if I can find out and get a real number for you. On the other side, it was like coming out of near pitch black - aside from sparsely placed overhead lights - into gorgeous scenery. The mountain was like sheer walls on the side and the sun was beaming down into the canopy of the forest we were about to enter.

After a bit more driving we were at the sound which is actually a fjord, but don't ask me to recite the difference just now. The cruise seemed shorter than it was and wasn't quite as exciting as it'd been made out to be. It was still quite beautiful, it just didn't seem a whole lot more varied than the rest of NZ. the water was a gorgeous teal, and just as we reached the Tasman Sea, we saw a group of dolphins numbering about half a dozen or so. We turned around and stopped by two NZ fur seals:


I left this morning and am now staying in Fox Glacier Villiage. I'm here for the next two nights before making my way back to CHCH via Greymouth and the TranzScenic train. Tomorrow I'm going on a glacier hike. I imagine it will not be fun, and while I'm there I'll wish I were back in bed every moment. The pictures and the memory, though, I'm sure will be worth it afterwards.

I hope that isn't why you came here.

It's been a few days since I've updated, due in no small part to both having things to do and internet costing money.

Josh and I left Queenstown on Sunday I think. We drove a few hours to Dunedin on the East coast. There were a few things drawing us there, not the least of which being the Otago Peninsula where you can see seals, sea lions, albatrosses, yellow eyed and blue penguins. Sunday night we toured around town a bit, but everything was closed pretty early. We found only a very few restaurants open past 7, and three of them were the same Thai chain - all with different prices! It was drizzling most of the night, but started raining fairly hard by the time we left.

Monday, the weather was still quite rainy, so we started the day off with a Cadbury Confectionaries Ltd. factory tour. It was billed as being almost Wonka-ish and having a two story chocolate waterfall. Overall, though, it was a fairly boring factory tour, and the chocolate waterfall was activated by button and lasted all of thirty seconds. Nothing was very Wonka-ish other than the purple theme throughout the factory. With the rain still falling pretty hard, Josh and I worried that Dunedin was just a very rainy city.

In hopes the weather would clear up, we prolonged Otago for a few hours to do some shopping in town. Josh needed a sweater and I was hoping to replace a book I lost - one I bought a day before I left on my trip specifically so I'd have something long to read. By the way, I'm down to my last book, part one of Maus, and I don't think it will last long. Josh found a sweater eventually, and I couldn't find my book. Books are expensive here, though. I think it cost me $7 in the States, and the same format of a different book by the same author was almost $30 here. It would be nice to have something to read, though.

The weather had done nothing but get worse. The rain was coming down pretty hard, but we needed to make Otago and didn't want to stay another night if we had to, especially since the weather forecast didn't look promising. On our way there, parts of the road were flooded, the bay looked very high, and some waves were almost breaking onto the road. The wind was pretty intense, and the bay was brown from all the water running off the mountain. Hopefully the pictures come out well. We got to the tip where the albatrosses are, and entrance to the Royal Albatross Center was about $35 and another $20 or so for the penguin center. We were hoping to be able to walk to them, but the weather was too bad and the centers were closing, so we had to take the long drive back the peninsula with no reward other than some weather shots.

Going home we had barely enough time to make dinner before we headed out again, this time to Speight's Brewery for their tour. That was much more interesting than the Cadbury tour. Our tour guide seemed a bit like an old country Scotsman - we even saw him drinking some before the tour. He was very informative and Speights seemed like an interesting place. I believe it's the only gravity brewery in the Southern Hemisphere and one of ten in the world. They had vats for fermentation I believe that are the only operating ones in the world, and one of two sets if the other brewery hadn't destroyed theirs yet. Also, they have fully copper kettles, which is pretty rare, but I don't remember how rare. I also learned that beer comes not jut in can, beer, and keg, but also in a tanker which is unpasteurized and has no added preservatives. Because of that, it has to be consumed quickly, and because it is a large volume, very few places have tanker beer. The bar below the brewery did, though, and I thought it tasted a little cleaner and crisper.

Tuesday, for some reason, as we were leaving Dunedin, the sun was shining and the skies were blue. Great weather for our trip through the Catlains. We stopped at Nugget Point, where there's an old lighthouse and great views. On the walk there is Roaring bay where seals, penguins and sea lions are supposed to rest, but we didn't see any. Next we stopped at Jack's Blowhole - a giant crevasse 200 meters from the ocean that is connected to the ocean by a cave network so the waves still crash through a hundred or so meters below the observation platform. I think there was another stop, but I can't remember what it was right now. We ended up in Curio Bay for the night. The backpacker there was just like an awesome, small beach house, and the owners were only there to pick up the money. It was just a girl from Belgium, Josh and me. Josh and I stopped at the petrified forest quick as we got there right at sunset when the yellow-eyed penguins come in. I got some pictures of one of the two we saw, but as it was really dark, I'm not entirely sure how the picture came out. There were blue penguins outside of the backpacker, but I could just hear them. By the time the fog rolled out and the moon was bright, they seemed to have left. Dolphins are also in the bay, but no sightings were made.

Wednesday, we left Curio Bay and made our way to Invercargill, supposedly the worst town in NZ, the basis of the Rolling Stones' Paint it Black, and, according to them, the "arsehole" of the world. We were just stopping for groceries, to book a backpacker on Stewart Island and to get food. Walking around downtown all we could find were cafes that were closing or had hardly any food left, Subway and Hell's Pizza - a good pizza chain in NZ. We ended up at Hell's before driving to Bluff, the port of call for Stewart Island. We got in at sunset and relaxed for the night.

Today we went to the info center to find some trails and the woman was going through the trails on a map and pointing out parts that had fallen into the ocean, effectively closing the tracks. When she was done, there was a solitary track left, and it sounded like it took about two hours at a pretty casual pace. We felt a bit disheartened about paying $100 for the boat to and from Stewart Island to just do a two hour hike, but we found a fairly cheap water taxi to Ulva Island which is in the inlet to Stewart Island and took a hike there for about three and a half hours. There are no mammals or natural predators there for the birds, so they are pretty accessible. The Waka are flightless and just meandered around Josh and me for a while at one stop. We also saw a few other species including the rare Saddleback/Tieke. I think I saw all of the following: Brown Creeper/Pipipi, Stewart Island Robin/Toutouwai, Rifleman/Titi pounamu, Grey Warbler/Riroriro, parakeets/Kakariki, Bellbird/Korimako, and the Fantail/Piwakawaka which is all but a few birds on the island. It's a little hard to tell as I wasn't trying to categorize them when I was there as I thought there were fewer species on the island, but looking back, I think I saw all of those.

Tonight looks to be some relaxing time, and tomorrow we take the only walk open on the island before ferrying back to Bluff and driving back to Queenstown.