Thursday August 11th to Saturday August 13th, 2011
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
After a couple really epic days I was kind of looking forward to some relaxed travel through New Zealand. Yeah, I wasn't going to mind hanging out in the van and watching New Zealand through the window. Today I got just that....and I enjoyed it.
We left Taupo and began to make our way South again. The Haka tour doesn't often allow us to stay in one place for more than one night (there is just too much to see) so after 2 nights in Taupo it seemed like we were there for an eternity. Burto cooked us dinner last night though so that was pretty good.
Today we were heading to Wellington, the Capital of New Zealand. Wellington is the 2nd or 3rd most populated city in New Zealand. On this day which one it is is not entirely known because the population of Christchurch is not known. I'm sure you are all aware that Christchurch has been severely damaged by a couple major earthquakes in the last year. In a couple days we would get to see that damage first hand.
Before Wellington however, we would get to check out a few other things.
The clouds returned today so it was a good day to hang out in the van. If we had attempted to Tongariro Crossing today it would not have been nearly as nice.
We found this giant gumboot in Taihape. Taihape is the Gumboot Capital of the World (or so they claim). Every March they host Gumboot Day with entertainment and food stalls and of course Gumboot throwing competitions. If the Gumboot throw world record is broken on Gumboot Day, there is a $2500 prize.
Louise, Evan and Katie were not was excited as some of us about the Gumboot so stayed on the other side of the road.
Burto was really excited about this place because it is a "real" American Diner. I kind of have to disagree.....although they do have real ketchup. And while it did have lots of American Diner paraphernalia inside, it still wasn't quite the same. Burto really enjoyed his hot dogs tough.
Upon arrival in Wellington we made a quick stop at our accommodation to drop of bags and to settle in and then most of us made our way to another surprise stop on our trip......the WETA Workshop.
Outside the studio. Can you make a guess as to what they do? The next picture should clear it up.
Gollum welcomes you into the place. Yes, WETA does special effects and make-up for movies. Along with the Lord of the Rings, they have done all the special effects on tons of other movies including King Kong, Avatar, The Frighteners, District 9, Rise of Planet of the Apes, Chronicles of Narnia and many others.
This is Lutz. You may recognize him as one of the Uruk-hai from the Helm's Deep battle scene in The Two Towers. Interesting to note that Lutz is one of the smaller actors and this is how big he actually is. He was created with a lot of spray on paint and a face prosthetics but for the most part....this is all Lutz.
The little guy from District 9. He was in glass but you kind of wanted to pat him on the head.
Once we left WETA (which was super cool to check out by the way) Burto took us on a small tour around the Wellington area. Unfortunately we were only there for 15 hours so we had to see as much as possible in a very short period of time.
This is part of the Memorial commemorating the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the Wahine. The Wahine was an inter-island ferry (travels between the north and south islands) that hit a reef and sank near this spot in April 1968. 53 people were killed as a result of the accident. Wahine is the maori (and Hawaiian) word for woman.
Some of the view close to the memorial. The water here does not always look very nice. Not a surprise that the ferry hit the reef.
After a bit of a drive it was back to the accommodation and then out to find some dinner. Friday we would make our way to the South Island.
Friday August 12th, 2011
At far too early on Friday morning, we made our way out of bed and into the van so that we could catch our ferry to the South Island. Apparently they are very particular about arrival times so it is best just to show up early and wait it out.
The giant fire hall across the street from the hostel. The sun hasn't made it up yet.
The ferry we were waiting to get on.
The ride over was pretty uneventful. The first part is pretty rough so I found a nice spot away from the windows to rest and relax. By the time the ride smoothed out I was too comfortable to move. Most people spent the short trip sleeping or reading or playing cards. Not much else you could do. We left Wellington at 0800 and pulled into Picton on the South Island at about 1130 where we grabbed a pie (at what is suppose to be one of the best pie shops in New Zealand) and then headed out.
Once on the South Island, Burto introduced us to the driving game that would entertain many in the van for the rest of the trip. Basically while driving you need to be on the look out for beehives, bathtubs and wagon wheels. When you see one, be the first to call it out loud. Call 4 in a row and you win. Now I'm not much for games like this.....plus I tend to fall asleep went riding in the back of a van but it seemed to keep many in the van entertained. You would be very surprised how many random bath tubs there are in fields in New Zealand.
On the way to Kaikoura (our next destination) we made a couple stops. The first was at a winery for a quick tasting. It was ok but none of us were really impressed with what they had to offer us. The next stop was at Ohau Stream to check out some super cute little seal pups. I love my wine tastings but I have to admit.......the seal pups were much more exciting.
A few of the cute little guys. Obviously these are New Zealand seal pups.
This little one kept looking at me so I took his picture.
The little pups tend to travel upstream while their mothers are at sea feeding. Here the pups interact with each other in this nice and safe environment. It's like a fenced in play ground......with tourists. They seem to really like the little swimming hole and waterfall.
A little video of those cute seal pups playing around. You all know how much I love little seal pups.
The train bridge you need to pass to get to the seal pup swimming hole.
From there we mostly just drove to our next destination, which was a great little place called Kaikoura. A very relaxed day on this Adventure. More fun tomorrow.
Saturday, August 13th, 2011
Saturday morning I skipped the optional activity again. This time it was a boat cruise and perhaps a chance to swim with dolphins. Dolphin swimming is not on my list of things to do and it turns out the boat trip was really rough (Louise got pretty sick) and they didn't even see a dolphin let along swim with them. Burto and I were looking at attempting to do some fishing but the rain, wind and waves kept the boats in the docks so Burto caught up on some sleep and I hung around the hostel for a while. I had a good time doing some reading and writing before meeting the rest of the group for lunch.
After lunch the group teamed up again (except Eilidh) to do some sea kayaking. After having our attempt to sea kayak earlier in the trip cancelled we were all very excited to hit the water this time.
Yeah we all agreed it is pretty much impossible to look attractive in sea kayak gear. But it kept us warm so no one was complaining.
Here's the group of us from left to right, Evan, Nikki, Louise, Jenn (looking super cold), Katie and Me. Burto was also along for the paddle as well as another guide and 3 strangers who joined the group.
Heading out on the water.
Louise and I shared a kayak. She was in the rear doing all the steering.
Here we all are on the water.
That's Katie in the boat and that little black lump in the water is in fact a seal. There were a few swimming around. We harassed them a bit but they didn't seem to mind. If they got too close we were actually allowed to touch them with our paddles. Apparently they know that because none of them got that close.
We were out on the water for quite some time.....it was actually a lot of work but good fun. On the way back in Louise and I surfed a few waves.......and well we took a pretty big on head on as well. Still fun even though we ended up a little bit wet.
After all the kayaks were put away and the afternoon sorted out in Kaikoura we made the rest of the trip to Christchurch where we spent the night at the Haka Lodge. We rolled in after dark but got a bit of a glimpse of the remains of the city. There are a lot of entire neighbourhoods that are still standing but will actually need to be demolished. The city will certainly have a different look once the rebuilding is complete.
But back to the Haka Lodge. Not many hostels exist in Christchurch anymore and the owner of Haka Tours (Ryan) has built himself a very nice little place. Great kitchen, dining and living room areas (with a fire place), lots of private bathrooms/showers, and great little touches like heated towel racks and heaters above the toilets (so you can warm the seat up first). Of course like many places on this side of the world, there is not central heating in most New Zealand residences so I assure you, that toilet heater comes in handy.
The gem of Haka Lodge however is the private apartment (that Louise, Eilidh, Jenn, Katie and Myself had the pleasure of staying in). Fully equipped kitchen, big living room with big screen TV, giant bathroom, enough beds for 6 ( I actually slept on the futon in the living room....because I tend to be the last one to go to bed at night) and a heater that I actually had to turn off during the night because it was......well too hot. It was nice. We arrived to a freshly prepared steak dinner (everyone else staying there had actually been waiting for us to arrive before eating). It was really good and a wonderful place to spend the night.
Check it out and if you are ever in Christchurch......stay here. You'll thank me later.
http://www.hakalodge.com/
In the morning we would be on the road again....with a few additions to our tightly knit group.
Julie
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