From the Mountains to the Sky Act 19: Aoraki

Today, we rented a car and drove to Aoraki (better known as Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in NZ) for the afternoon. It was a bit of a ridiculous thing to do as the proportion of time spent driving to time at destination was ab out 2:1. It will probably be the last trip outside of Christchurch for me until I leave for home. Next weekend will probably be devoted to wrapping up loose ends and preparing for home.

Anyways, back to today's trip. We left, heading south out of Christchurch for the first time in a while back along the road towards Queenstown and Te Anau (trips 3 & 4). It was foggy and looked like rain but we weren't about to let that dampen our spirits. By the time we reached the mountains in Burke's Pass the skies had cleared a little and there were some spectacular views of snow-capped mountains near the road. We passed by Lake Tekapo (brilliant blue) and turned North up the road towards Aoraki.

We arrived at our destination, Hooker Valley, around 1pm and started walking up the valley, crossing a couple swing bridges and fording a stream. After crossing the second bridge, Mt Cook was supposed to be seen to be "dominating the valley," instead there was a large ball of cloud and fog "dominating" the scene. A little less spectacular than I imagined but the surrounding mountains were still quite beautiful. The landscape was littered with glacial features and I had quite a good time finding and naming various types of features in my head (erratics, moraines, kettles etc.).

Just when we reached the terminus of the hike and were about to turn around (the rest of the track was closed due to avalanche risk) it began to rain. We got quite wet on the way back but it didn't really hamper the fun. Instead of following the trail, we clambered among the rocks beside the glacial river and lake, enjoying finding our own paths and skipping many rocks on the water. I fell quite a few times among the rocks, but I was already wet enough that it didn't really matter.

After returning to the car, we drove home.

From the Mountains to the Sky: Act 18 - Auckland

The final day of our North Island journey was the least interesting. From Rotorua, we drove to Auckland via the Coastal Scenic Road, about a 3.5 hour drive. Here is a map of the entire route for the whole trip.

View Larger Map
We arrived in Auckland around noon and started walking around the city to get a feel for the place. We followed the walking tour outlined in Lonely Planet. It wasn't the most exciting thing to do but it did give us a nice overview of the city. We saw the Sky Tower, the University, the harbourfront, and the main shopping/touristy areas. Auckland really feels like another big city, with all of the trappings. After visiting the city centre, we drove out over the Auckland harbour bridge for a skyline view.

We returned our rental car, and caught our plane back to Christchurch. It was a very satisfying trip.

From the Mountains to the Sky: Act 17 - Tourism's Tacky Delights

Day three of our trip happened in and around the city of Rotorua, about an hour north of Taupo. Rotorua is the adventure capital of the north island and has much to offer in the way of tacky tourist attractions. We took full advantage.

Our day began at the Agrodome, a farm/adventure tourism zone. Here, one can find such activities as a Freefall simulator, the Shwoop (a giant swing a la Canada's Wonderland SkyFlyer), the AgroJet (fastest Jet boat in the world), Rotorua Bungee, and the Shweeb. The Shweeb was the reason that I came to the Agrodome thanks to a tip from a friend (thanks J).

A little about the Shweeb. The Shweeb is a recumbent bicycle attached to the underside of a monorail. It allows the rider to travel very quickly around a 200m 'track' with minimal effort. The inventor of the Shweeb hopes that it will catch on as a mass commuting device but personally I'm skeptical. While I would enjoy it immensely, I don't think it would be everyone's favourite method of transportation.
My first run on the Shweeb, I clocked in at 1:01.7 over the 600m track. They keep records and it was the 11th best time by a Canadian in the past 2 years (since it opened). I decided to come back later in the day and try again. After the Shweeb, we wandered around the farm for a while and saw some lambs. They looked very fuzzy.

After wandering around the farm, we came back past the Shweeb on our way back to the car. There was a crew there with cameras. I guess since I was walking past, the operators asked me if I wanted to ride again (for free) so that some pictures could be taken for Arrival magazine (some NZ tourism rag). How could I refuse such an offer? I got 5 free laps to get a feel for the gears and such before coming back later in the day.

The next tacky tourist activity was Zorbing, a chance to fulfill all of one's hamster ball fantasies. You climb to the top of a hill, get inside a giant plastic ball filled with a little water, and roll down. Quite fun! And very hilarious.


After zorbing, we went back to the Shweeb where I was going to try to post a world record time. I didn't expect to have much luck, but I thought it would be fun to try. The world record is 57.1 seconds to complete the track. My second timed attempt was 59.4s. A very respectable time. Only about 100 people have broken the 1 minute barrier according to the host/leader guy. I ended up having the 2nd fastest time of Canadians and the 21st fastest of males under 25. Definitely an enjoyable thing to do.

Next, we had a break for lunch and then off to tacky tourist item number 3, luging down the hillside above Rotorua. You ride the gondola up over the town and then ride back down on a little cart with basic steering and brakes. Like soap-box racing. It was surprisingly fun. I didn't expect much but it was really great. The tracks were fairly long and you got a decent amount of speed riding down the hill.

In the evening, we went to a Maori cultural show and meal, the biggest tacky tourist activity of them all. While I did learn some interesting things about Maori history and how they are struggling to keep their culture alive, the whole thing felt VERY artificial with way too many people with cameras flashing filming the whole thing. It was quite entertaining and the meal was delicious, cooked in a traditional hangi with wonderful savoury flavours.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 16: Getting into Hot Water in Taupo

On Friday, we spent the day in Taupo and the surrounding area. Lake Taupo, the centerpiece of the region, is the caldera of a volcano that erupted about 2000 years ago. It is fed by 20 different rivers and streams and drains through one river, the Waikato. The city of Taupo is located where the Waikato R leaves the lake. From Taupo, one can view the triple peaks of the Tongariro National Park one of which, Mt. Ngauruhoe starred in a recent film as Mt. Doom. There is a hike that passes through this park which unfortunately we did not have time to do. Here is a view of the Tongariro peaks over the city of Taupo.


Friday morning, we woke up and set out for our first destination, Huka Falls, a waterfall on the Waikato River just outside of Taupo. It was nice, but nothing too special as waterfalls go. From there, we headed to NZ River Jet for a ride in a Hamilton Jet Boat. The Hamilton Jet is essentially a very large Seadoo, which is capable or running in very shallow water and doesn't get tangled in weeds and such. Also, it is able to do some fun stunts like 360s and running over the shore for brief periods. The River Jet tour consisted of three parts. First a slow cruise up the Waikato River with stops along the way to explain the local flora, fauna, and history. This is a very beautiful area that reminded me a lot of the Grand River in Waterloo.

After the sedate boat cruise, we arrived at Orakei Korako, one of many thermal areas in the region. We spent about 1.5 hours there, wandering through the steaming vents, mud pools, hot springs and silica terraces of the park. It was pretty nice but similar areas at Yellowstone National Park are much more spectacular. There were also a couple geysers in the park but we were not lucky enough to see them go off. The highlight of the park for me was learning about the significance of geothermal power to historical Maori people. They used geothermal vents to provide central heating for their houses and to cook their food. This made Orakei Korako a much fought over territory.

The final leg of the trip was a speedy and daring ride back down the river to where we began. Our guide, Adam, put the Hamilton jet through its paces, pulling off a number of 360 spins and jetting through the shallows of the Waikato. It was quite a bit of fun.

Following the jet boat tour, we went to the Aratiatia Rapids for lunch and to watch the release of water from the dam. The Waikato is an entirely controlled river that is used to generate 65% of the North Island's electricity needs through a series of 8 hydro plants and dams. The Aratiatia dam is the first of these. Twice a day, water is released from the dam and you can view the rapids as they were before human intervention happened. The transformation from this:

to this in a few short minutes was quite remarkable.

Our final stop in Taupo was a swim in a thermal stream, pretty much a natural hot tub. I'm not a big fan of hot tubs usually but I did enjoy this thoroughly. The natural environment with little waterfalls really set a nice tone and it was great fun to jump back and forth between the main Waikato River (10 degrees) and the stream. Also, it was fun to climb up the waterfalls and explore the interesting ways in which the hot and cold water interact at the junction of the stream and the river.


After another event-filled day, we drove to Rotorua and checked into our hostel there. Here, we met a young British couple who had been traveling since April, starting in Thailand and making their way through many nations to New Zealand. It was nice to just relax and chat with them for a while before heading to bed to prepare for the next day.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 15: Spelunking

This past weekend, I went on a trip with 'M' to the North Island. We took Thursday and Friday off of work and went on a 4 day trip from Auckland south through the central region of the North Island.

We left Christchurch Wednesday evening, traveling by a combination of bus & taxi to the airport (nearly missing the flight), and arriving in Auckland around 8:30pm. We picked up our rental car and were off South towards our first destination, Waikato. Arriving at the hostel at 11:45pm, we discovered that while the door to the hostel (Juno Hall Backpackers) was open, as promised, there were no keys for any rooms left out for us. We had no idea where we were supposed to sleep, or how we could possibly find out. We wandered through the hostel trying doors hoping to find a room with beds that looked like they were supposed to be for us. In the end, we ended up just picking a random room and falling asleep, hoping to sort things out in the morning. It wasn't our room, but the manager was quite understanding as they had forgotten to leave our keys out.

Thursday, our only activity for the day was the Black Abyss tour of the Waikato caves, run by the Legendary Black Water Rafting Co. This was my highlight of the entire trip. The experience was completely novel and I really enjoyed it. I've never before been deep inside a cave and it was incredible. Our tour guides (Doug and Jah) were friendly, helpful, and tons of fun. The tour had 6 people on it, 'M' and I along with two absolutely huge 20-something males, an old Kiwi man, and a tourist from England.

The tour begins with an abseiling lesson. For those who don't know, abseiling is the art of lowering oneself on a rope either down a cliff or into a cave. You control your speed by changing the angle of a rope passing through a rack of metal tines as well as by the tightness of your grip on the rope. The lesson lasted about 20 minutes before we were all set to try out our new-found skills by lowering ourselves 30m into the cave. The abseil lasts 2-5 minutes and you have to negotiate a narrow opening on the way down. This was the first of many occasions I was very glad to be wearing my helmet on the expedition.

Reaching the bottom, we went for a short walk through some damp, but mostly dry, tunnels: looking at a variety of rock formations and using our spelunking helmets to look around. It was great fun. Following this wander, there was a short trip down a zip line into a pitch dark cavern lit only by the steady but minuscule glow of hundreds of glowworms. We stopped for a quick glass of hot chocolate and a small snack before the tour continued. While eating this snack, the guides had us sit on the edge of a ledge with our feet dangling. It was very difficult to tell what was at the bottom of the small cliff. It was quite unnerving.

From here, we grabbed some innertubes and leaped off the cliff into a stream that runs through the caves. The water was very cold, hence the wet-suits you've seen in the pictures so far. We floated along the stream, stopping to take a good look at the glow worms on the ceiling and examine the rocks along the way. Glowworms are actually not worms, but maggots, the larva of flies. They live in damp places and catch prey by dangling spiderweb-like threads down and lighting up their behinds to attract small animals. After pupation, they live for only a short time before perishing (they have no stomachs in this form). On the ceiling of a dark cave, they look a bit like the night sky, little pricks of starlight shining through. Quite a sight to see. We floated back up the stream to where we had been before, left our innertubes for the next group and started walking (through the stream).

After a while, our walk became not so much a walk, but a swim/crawl/shimmy through some deep water, small gaps, and narrow spaces. For a while, I was at the front of the group. It felt a bit like I was leading a spelunking expedition, wandering through caves looking for the way out.

Next, we ended up at the top of a small waterfall. We were given the opportunity to jump off this waterfall and this was very enjoyable. Landing in a deep pool beyond the falls before clambering back up the way we had came. There was also a way to crawl beneath the falls and emerge on the other side. I tried a few times to do this, but was always caught by the falls along the way and swept off down into the pool below.

Our trip concluded with a climb up the "Twin Waterfalls of Doom." This name was perhaps a little melodramatic but, at first glance, the waterfalls were quite intimidating to climb. Fortunately we had the help of our trusty guides and everyone was able to clamber out without too much trouble. I emerged onto the dry surface, wet, weary, a little cold, but deeply satisfied with experiencing something very new that I had not seen before and probably won't see again.

Following the tour, we were given hot showers, bagels, and soup. A very welcome luxury.
Around 4pm, we left Waitomo and drove to Taupo, the next stop on the north Island adventure.

[These pictures are a little blurry. My apologies. But as an excuse, they were taken underground in very dark conditions.]

From the Mountains to the Sky At 14 - 'Windy Welly'

This weekend, we flew to Wellington for a weekend in the city. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand but, like Ottawa, is not the biggest city. It is the third biggest behind Auckland and Christchurch.
Friday night, we flew from Christchurch to Wellington, arriving at 9:30. That evening we headed out into the city and visited a couple bars and such. We also wandered around the docks and saw some artwork and the New Zealand stock exchange.
Saturday morning, we went to Te Papa Museum, New Zealand's national museum like the British Museum in London. It was a great museum. There were tons of exhibits about New Zealand's history, geography, art, culture, nature and more. I could have spent the whole day there but there were lots of other things that we also wanted to do in the city. We left in the early afternoon to continue our tour of Wellington.

Next, we went up to the Botanical Gardens by Cable car. Despite it being winter, there were still a large number of flowers and plants in the gardens and since they were up on the hill, it provided a good viewpoint overlooking the city. There was a pleasant leisurely walk down from the Botanical Gardens to the government area which we took. It was all downhill and quite nice.

We got to the Beehive too late for the tours (security kicked us out immediately when we walked into the building), but still got to see the outside and the surrounding buildings. It was an interesting architectural thing to see.

Saturday evening, we went to the Karori Bird Sanctuary, an interesting project in the middle of the city. This is a place where an environmental group has removed all of the of the invasive predators brought by Europeans and put up a big fence to keep them from coming back in. The fence itself is quite a feat, including a close mesh (to keep animals from going through), a top shield (to keep animals from going over), and deep roots (to keep animals from burrowing under). We went to this reserve mainly to try to see the Kiwi. Unfortuanately, we didn't get to see a kiwi but we did hear them and saw some other animals including tuataras and kakas.

On Sunday morning, we climbed up Mt. Victoria beside Wellington. From the top, there were good views of Wellington harbour and the surrounding areas. 'M' and I had our flight home scheduled for 12:30 so we walked to the airport from Mt. Victoria. Along the way, it got really windy. And I mean really windy. When we got to the airport, we wandered along the coast and saw something quite amusing. Instead of the waves coming towards the shore, they were going away because the wind was so strong coming over the shore. Windy Welly certainly deserved its nickname here.



[I feel like this is not the most coherent post I've ever written, but I'm putting it up anyways. I would like to think that I'll come back and edit it later, but I probably won't]

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 13: Home from Abel Tasman

On Sunday, we traveled home from Abel Tasman to Christchurch along the route shown in my last post. This was not the most efficient route but it was perhaps the most scenic.

Early in the morning, 'I' and I woke up to see the sun rise over the Tasman Bay. Unfortunately, the clouds were not completely cooperative but it was still quite a nice sunrise. Definitely worth waking up for. This photo doesn't really do it justice, but it was the best I could do.

We set out towards Nelson around 9am, expecting to breakfast in Motueka. Unfortunately, given that it was the winter off season, our chosen restaurant was not open and we journeyed on. Instead, we went to the Morrison St. Cafe in Nelson. It was excellent! I had blueberry pancakes with maple butter and they were great. Definitely the best breakfast I've had in a while.

While in Nelson, we stopped at the modern art deco cathedral for a quick visit. Note the clean lines and extreme height without buttresses. This is still a working cathedral and since it was Sunday morning, a service had just finished. The people there were very welcoming to visitors and very tolerant of our wanderings throughout the church. One of my favourite things was the small children running around the cathedral, just like I ran about my church when I was little. It was a wonderful breath of fresh air that even in this magnificent building, children are still children.

Continuing on from Nelson towards Picton, the roads became very windy. I was driving and it felt like I was in a car on television, the amount that the wheel was turning back and forth. The Queen Charlotte Drive is one of the famous drives in New Zealand and it was very nice. We stopped at many lookouts overlooking the northern sounds and fjords

and took a group picture when we arrived in Picton.

From Picton, we drove onwards towards home, stopping for supper in Blenheim. This was the best meal that I have eaten in New Zealand. It wasn't particularly New Zealandish (I had pasta) but it was slathered in pesto, garlic white wine sauce, and bacon. Very tasty.

From there, it was just a quick (4 hour) trip down the coast back home. We passed back through Kaikoura, site of our very first weekend trip. It was kind of fun to see that landscape again. We arrived home around 8:30, unfortunately too late for church. I had hoped to take the rental car and go but we missed it by 1.5 hours.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 12: Abel Tasman

This weekend we went on a long trip for the first time in a while (since the Glaciers/car crash adventure). We rented a car (a Toyota Vit, like the Echo), and went for a long drive to Abel Tasman National Park, at the North-Western tip of the South Island. Here is a map of our entire route for the weekend.

View Larger Map
We arrived at our lodgings in Marahau at about 10 o'clock on Friday night. We were staying at Old MacDonald's Farm, an eclectic campground/hostel/cabin arrangement complete with chickens, llamas, cows, and a random assortment of other animals. We had a 4 person cabin to ourselves.

Saturday morning, we woke up early so that we would have as much daylight as possible for a tramp along the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. We caught a Water Taxi from Marahau that took us by boat to Bark Bay from where we planned to walk back to Marahau, about a 25 km hike. We started walking in Bark Bay at 10 am and were hoping to be back in Marahau around 5pm before dark.

Along the way, we crossed over a pedestrian suspension bridge,

and visited Cleopatra's Pool.

Hiking was a big part of the things I wanted to do while in New Zealand and this tramp did not disappoint in the slightest. It is one of the most popular tracks to walk in the country and there is a reason why. The track itself is well-formed and easy to walk and the scenery is gorgeous. Bright blue ocean, lush green forests, sandy beaches, and mountains viewed across the bay make for some spectacular lookouts. Here is a small selection of the many photos we took.



This last photo was taken on a beach about 4 km from Marahau. From this point, we decided it would be clever (it was not) and fun (it definitely was) to walk along the beach instead of along the track back to Marahau. With very little forethought, we also decided it would be a good idea to cut across the bay as the tide was low. Everything started out great and we were having a good time discovering tidal wildlife in small pools. Then we came to the first small river flowing to the sea. This should have been a warning sign. It was easily leaped over, but it was a sign of things to come. By the time we were halfway across the bay, I had removed my shoes, and was now wading through very cold ankle deep water. In one place, a river flowed across the plane and the water came up to my knees. It was not warm. Others in the group did not remove their shoes before attempting to leap some rivers and ended up with soaking wet footgear for the rest of the weekend. Despite this, crossing the tidal plain was an exciting finish to the day.

After supper, 'I' and I headed back out to the pier at Marehau for some stargazing. Since Abel Tasman was very far from any major human settlements (Marehau has a winter population of 80) we had some wonderful darkness to work with. The moon was new and the skies were impeccably clear. We spent an hour or so lying on the pier looking for constellations (not that we knew any from the Southern Hemisphere) and making up our own. It was a glorious finish to the day.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 11: Back to Mt Hutt

Saturday, we went back to Mt Hutt for some more skiing. This time, the entire lower hill was open along with the triple chair lift up from the bottom. Here is a map if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Once again, the skiing was great, with long runs and (this time) lots of powdery snow to ski through and fall into. It was great fun. Here's a couple pictures from the day.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 10: Glacial Adventures

This past weekend was a very eventful one. I think that it is best if I write one very long post detailing what happened.

This past weekend, we planned to visit the Westland, in particular Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The plan at the beginning of the weekend was to go to Fox Glacier on Saturday, and on Sunday climb up Mt. Fox, a smallish mountain (~1300m above sea level) beside the glacier.

On Friday after work we headed out on the ~5hour drive to Franz Josef from Christchurch. Everything went well and we arrived at about 11pm, got to our rooms and slept soundly until morning.


View Larger Map
The next morning we awoke bright and early to head off to Fox Glacier for the day. We had booked a day of Ice Climbing and guided walks on the glacier itself and needed to get to Fox Glacier by 8:00am. Arriving in Fox Glacier, we entered the glacier tours place, were given our gear, and started packing up for the day ahead.
Here is a list of the gear we took with us for the day

One Pair Sturdy Ice Climbing Shoes, including warm liner and plastic outer layer

One Pair Crampons, complete with all the spikiness one could want

One Pair thick leather gloves

One Ice Multi-tool, fulfilling many purposes as pick, walking stick etc.

Ropes

Anchor Pins

Many layers of clothing

Gaters

Eye Protection

Helmet

Lunch for the day

Here is a picture of my fully-packed bag for the day.

We headed out towards the glacier, first by bus up the road to the car park, and then on foot for about a 1.5 hour walk. Along the way, I learned many things about glaciers from Graham, one of two guides for our group of 8. He was very friendly, helpful, and willing to answer all of my questions about glaciation and geology in the region. He was also quite old, which made him all the more charming. I enjoyed his playful banter and his kind-hearted yet very serious warnings about the dangers of glaciers.

We equipped our crampons and wandered out onto the glacier for a lesson in walking on ice. There are two different techniques for walking on ice, the French Technique and the German Technique. We learned a little of the French technique including the "Donald Duck", the "Crab" and the "Waddle." This was probably my favourite part of the day. I now feel like I could walk around on a glacier quite successfully on my own with minimal danger. This picture shows us doing the "Donald Duck." You can see Graham on the left side.

After being comfortable on the ice in our crampons, we began to learn to climb and belay on the ice. The key part of ice climbing is to use the front spikes on your crampons to support most of your weight and push you up the cliff. The arms and ice picks are used mostly for holding your bodyweight over-top of your feet. I found ice-climbing to be quite a bit easier than rock climbing because it was possible to create a foot or pick-hold wherever one was needed. More difficult was when I attempted to climb without picks. I ended up scraping up my hands quite a bit attempting this but I did make it to the top first with one pick and then with none.

I should also mention that for this day our Group of Seven gained an eighth member. 'G' from New Jersey joined us for our ice climbing day and went out for supper with us afterwards. She was quite friendly and we had some good times.

Saturday night, we headed back to our hostel. While exploring the common area I discovered a young dutch couple playing Settlers in Dutch! It was a joyous meeting and we played a round together. To be honest, their Settlers skills were a little weak, especially in the initial placement of their first settlements. I still enjoyed the game and enjoyed meeting and talking with them. Andres and Esther are going to be living in Auckland for the next 6 months studying and working.

So ended an eventful Saturday to be followed by an even busier Sunday.

Sunday morning, we again woke up early to head out for a day of hiking at Mt Fox. We headed out on the road from Franz Josef to Fox Glacier in anticipation of a day of hard work and good times. I was driving the car.

As we were driving along the gravel road, we hit a patch of black ice and I was left helplessly twiddling the steering wheel and and pumping the brakes as we slowly slid into the hillside beside the road. It was a harrowing and frustrating experience as I knew a couple seconds before impact what was going to happen. We bounced off the cliff and ended up in the middle of the road before the car came to a stop. Thankfully, none of us were hurt and we all walked away from the accident. For this I am grateful to God. The car, our trusty Subaru, was unfortunately wrecked beyond repair. It had seen us safely through many journeys and had now seen us safely through its last journey. It was towed to Fox Glacier and will be sold to an auto wrecker.

After completing our dealings with the police, the health care workers, and the tow truck, we were left in a quandary. How were we to get home? We borrowed a cellphone from a Welshman named Daniel and texted (how is this ever considered a word) 'J' who owns our only cellphone and had not come with us on this trip. He was with 'N' & 'B' who had recently departed for home in the other car. Fortunately, they got our message and came back to Franz Josef to pick us up. This still left a problem as there is only space for 5 people in one car and there were 7 of us. 'I' and I stayed behind while 'N', 'B', 'JW', 'JC', and 'M' headed home in the vehicle. 'I' and I planned to take a bus but unfortunately the earliest bus back to Christchurch left Monday morning at 9:15. We decided to take advantage of the situation we were in and headed towards Franz Josef Glacier on foot.

After walking 4km down the road we discovered a track leading off to the left of the glacier that offered many delights. It was fairly long but we embarked in hopes of finishing before dark. The trail was wonderful, with rocks, trees, and spectacular view in abundance. It also included a few rather interesting man-made features including some swinging bridges and a staircase that was built attached to the face of a cliff. Here is a picture of 'I' on this staircase.

This hike was probably the highlight of my weekend partly because it was awesome and partly because it came right after such a depressing and frustrating moment. It was great to be able to follow it up with a long and exhausting hike. We walked back to Franz Josef and spent another entertaining night in the hostel. Sunday evening we met a sister and brother pair from St. Louis. They were great fun and we had a good time joking and chatting. Exhausted, I fell asleep until morning.

Monday morning we began the long bus trip home at 9:15 in front of the YHA in Franz Josef. By this time, we were really feeling the effects of the accident the day before and my neck was incredibly sore whenever I moved. Curiously, there was no pain until I had slept for the night. There is no bus direct from Franz Josef to Christchurch so we were forced to first travel from Franz Josef to Greymouth and then from Greymouth to Christchurch. The bus was fairly comfortable as it was mostly empty and 'I' and I were each able to take two seats at the back of the bus. The bus traveled over Arthur's Pass and there were some great views to be seen for the parts of the journey I was awake for.

From Drop Box

We arrived back in Christchurch around 5:30pm and asked the bus driver to stop as soon as we had a clear idea of where we were. From there, we walked home, got into the house and crashed hard. The weekend had absolutely sapped my reserves of energy.

Reflecting back, there were some incredible highs and lows to the weekend. I feel like I experienced a full range of emotions from joy and excitement to sadness and longing for safety and home.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 9: Skiing Mt Hutt

This past Saturday, we headed out to Mt Hutt for some downhill skiing. It was, in short, the best downhill skiing I've ever partaken in despite only a few of the many runs being open.

The day began driving through green fields, with trees and hedges all around, we drove towards the mountain peaks in the distance. As they approached, they slowly grew until they filled the entire horizon. We turned off the highway and up the Mt Hutt access road. This is a very steep road that winds upwards about 1300m over 15km. The speed limit is 40km/h, simply because you can't really go much faster.

Arriving at the chalet, we rented skis and snowboards and headed out onto the slopes for the day. We started at 9:30 and went straight through until the hill closed at 4:00pm. There is no night skiing as there are no lights on the hills. Taking the lift up the hill was a remarkable time. At the top, you could look out, over the snowy ski hill, down the rolling brown hills beneath to green fields at the bottom. Very different from skiing in Canada. Another incredible part was that the ski runs actually started at the very peak of the mountain.

These were by far the longest ski runs that I have ever been on. Even on my first run down the hill, my legs were quite sore by the time I reached the bottom. This was great and I'm definitely looking forward to going back when more runs are open, including the lower slopes of the hills. Some of the termini of the runs are so far from the top that there are buses rather than lifts to take you back up to the chalet.

Later in the day, clouds rolled in and we were quite literally skiing in the clouds. This would have been quite frightening if we didn't know the hill fairly well by this point. Visibility was greatly reduced and there were many people falling all over the hill. I took one quite big tumble myself, losing one ski. It was a good day.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 8: Finally Driving By Day

On Monday, we decided the best use of our time would be to actually drive through the Mountains during the day time. We had driven three times through the mountains at night before. It was a great decision! There was so much spectacular scenery I had trouble not stopping every 5 minutes to look at things. We never would have got home that way.

The most spectacular part of the drive was the section that was beside Lake Wakatipu, between Te Anau and Queenstown. The lake was a deep blue colour, with mountains rising on the opposite shore to snow-capped peaks. I was overwhelmed by the beauty.

For lunch, we stopped at a wonderful little cafe in Old Cromwell that was in an old stone grain store. They sold wonderful sandwiches including the Bacon & Egg Buttie which was loaded with bacon.

I absolutely love driving here in New Zealand during the day. It's the best way to see the country.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 7: Fiordlands - Doubtful Sound

After a hectic Saturday driving to Milford we decided to kick back and relax on Sunday with a cruise on Doubtful Sound, the less accessible, larger, and less popular sound. Driving to Manapouri from Te Anau, it was raining and sunny at the same time, and there was a powerful rainbow. It was an excellent start to the day.

Our cruise was led by Real Journeys and it was quite excellent. Starting from Manapouri, we crossed the lake on board the Fiordland Explorer ending up at the West Arm. It rained most of the way across the lake so the view was not so spectacular. Nevertheless, I spent most of the trip up on top of the boat looking around and exploring the sights. It was very cold up there so I was bundled up with my hat, gloves, toque, hoodie and all the other scraps of clothing I'd brought with me. Simultaneously, there was a middle-aged kiwi man there with his daughter/grand-daughter who was wearing shorts. This man impressed me so I snapped a picture of him...clandestinely of course.

After arriving in West Arm we boarded a bus to take us up and over the Wilmot Pass. Our bus driver's name was Alex and he had some wonderful quotations. My favourite went something like this: "Our mountains are like naked middle-aged people. Better with a few clothes on." He was referring to the fact that he liked the look of the mountains better when there were few clouds around the tips. At this point it was still quite cloudy but the weather cleared up nicely later in the day. At the top of the pass, we got our first look at Doubtful Sound.

After descending the pass, we got onto the Fiordland Explorer for our trip around Doubtful Sound. This boat had sails and engines...and only a single crew member responsible for them. The captain was able to control everything from a single piece of custom software. It was pretty awesome. Also awesome was that you could walk into the bridge and talk to the captain about where the ship was (visible by GNSS), and look at charts and maps of the Sound. There were, of course, spectacular views of the Sound for the duration of our time floating on it. Here is one representative photo that can't really capture the true beauty of the environment.

After we had turned around to head back towards Deep Cove, we encountered a pod of dolphins. This group of about 57 dolphins lives in the Sound year round. They seemed to really enjoy playing in the wake of the boat. The dolphins were definitely the highlight of my day.

On the way back to Manapouri, we stopped at the Manapouri power station. For most, this probably wasn't the most interesting experience but I found it to be incredible. This power station was built using the natural grade of the land instead of building a dam. It is inside underground chamber with a 2km long spiraling road access tunnel. Super cool.

The cruise then took as back to Manapouri and we drove back to Te Anau. We spent a quiet evening in the hostel playing games and reading.