As we Marched right out of February, New Zealand unveiled a series of adventures and surprises.
Dunedin
Reviews on Dunedin (Doon-ee-din) were polarized from our friends and family, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect. But it was an obvious stopping point on the East Coast, so after our Steampunking around, we landed in the quaint Scottish-settled town.
Hikes
Look, if you hate hiking (walking or tramping as the Kiwis call it), definitely don’t come to New Zealand. We’ve experienced some of the best hiking in the world here, and this little ditty was no different. (Hyperlinks for your convenience for your next trip to NZ, which you will surely want to take after reading our blog.)
Five miles, 1844 ft elevation gain, and 360-degree views of the area. Beautiful vista at the top, but a bit boring at the descent so we ran down. We also spotted our favorite bird, the fantail (or pīwakawaka).
Our hikes aren’t simply relegated to nature. No, when there’s a hill, we shall climb it. Enter Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. (If you’re into controversy, this actually isn’t true anymore, though it’s still self-proclaimed and was in the Guinness BOWR until 2019. Baldwin trekkers enjoy a 35% grade while those who summit Wales' Ffordd Pen Llech (easier done than said) must conquer 37.5%). The street itself was a little rough on our legs as we did it right after the summit of Mt. Cargill, but we enjoyed it nonetheless (after all, there was a cat waiting at the top).
Our favorite house on the street is this Mondrian art home that is built into--rather than on--the hill which gives perfect perspective for the steepness. (And also brings me back to my 4th-grade art appreciation days where I first learned of Mondrian. SO to Mrs. Gruber.)
Lord, we are gluttons for punishment. If you can believe it, we did all three of these hikes on the same day. (Quite a different Tuesday from our previous Chicago <> Riverwoods commutes and full-meeting calendars.) But this was a cannot-miss hike with aggressive lamb sucklers, soft dunes, and mating hooker sea lions (pakake), the rarest sea lions in the world. As we walked along the beach (on which we didn’t actually know we would encounter wildlife), we first yipped with glee as the rock in the distance turned out to be a solo sea lion. As we approached and got good pictures, we were saddened to see a pup nearby that had died. We learned that mothers sometimes leave their pups on the beach for up to three days at a time while they go out fishing, and this one was just a victim of nature.
We then saw two sea lions, one quite a bit larger than the other in a continued scuffle, the smaller one seeming to play defense. After some time, the larger one won the battle and mounted the smaller.
The perp was clearly a bully as he mounted another unsuspecting sleeping sea lion later, chased after a yellow-shirted girl (human) on the beach, and when his first victim retired to the water, played lazy before speeding after her to harass her once again in the waves.
I was just reminded of something. We actually went on four hikes that day. Our legs were bit wrecked by the end, but we were driving out of Dunedin on Wednesday so we had to hit the tramping like tramps.
This one was a brief and more scenic hike, just under a mile and a half long but the hand-carved tunnel into giant climbing boulders and the well-formed sea arch made every step worth it.
Canned Sushi
That night after all the hikes, we just wanted some sushi. We’ve been eating clean for the whole of New Zealand (paleo pescatarian) and so we haven’t eaten out much (at all). But being on the coast, we assumed Dunedin would have some primo sushi. We were wrong. Go to Dunedin for the nature, not the sushi. We tried place after place to much disappointment. The consistent offering was salmon (often smoked) and tuna with the occasional shrimp. We walked into one place and sat down, looking at the menu for a bit until we realized those were our only options. The tuna? It was “canned tuna.” Sushi with canned tuna… We’d been eating canned tuna almost daily for the last week so I can guarantee that is not what we were looking for…
So we went back to our motel and reached back into our cooler. Ah well.
Candidly, we didn’t get to explore much more of the Scottish town beside the outdoor activities. We did play around at the train station a bit and enjoy sky hues from our motel, but after two nights stay, it was time to move on.
Oh, and one morning while Heather had a call to turn down a job back in the real world, I went to this Starbucks and was taken back to Portland in every way.
Te Anau
After our coffee, we hit the road towards Te Anau. Our first stop was at the Chrystalls Beach to Bull Creek Bushwalk, a brief walk along the beach with angry crashing waves delivering alien seaweed to the sharp rocks.
We stopped here for our lunch of canned tuna and became lunch for the local sandflies.
We then drove on through (you know it) beautiful landscape and ended at the Kepler Track and stretched our legs in the forest with a quick 5k walk. By the way, the teeny mice here are the absolute cutest.
Glowworms
One purpose of our stop in Te Anau was our booked overnight kayak trip to the Doubtful Sound. However, with one day to blow before then, we booked a quintessential NZ experience – a glowworm tour. This was the perfect itinerary add for Thursday given the rain forecast for the whole day.
We boarded a boat from downtown and crossed the lake to our cave pickup point. There, we were met with our guides and split into groups of 14 or fewer and taken into the dark caves. We trekked 250m inside with starry glowworms brightening up the cave ceiling as we descended. When we reached the end of the track, we boarded a small cave boat and floated in pitch blackness further in where the glowworms cast a night sky on the rocks above.
We didn't get any pictures inside due to lighting restrictions, but we do have some nerding to share with you...
-- Science Break! --
Fun facts about glowworms:
They spin little hanging lines by spitting them out of their mouth. Each takes 45 minutes and they drop 40-70 throughout their lifetime
The glow attracts hatching eggs from the cave’s water below to fly up towards the light (and become a tasty treat for the trap layer)
The glowworm is actually the second stage of life (larva) for the fungus gnat. The first stage being egg, then they are glowworms for 9 months, pupae for 2 weeks, and then adults
They only last a few days as adults, because they actually have no mouth once they reach adulthood, meaning all they can do is mate, lay eggs, and die of exhaustion and starvation
Glowworms are cannibalistic. If an adult flies into the fishing line, that’s just good eatin’. If a neighboring glowworm gets to close to one’s territory, snacks away. We watched a video of one glowworm warning the encroacher by knocking it off the wall, but the (stupid) glowworm returned to the same spot, so after the second offense the incumbent simply ate the territory competition
The color of the glow is relative. That is, different people see different colors: some yellow, some white, some green
The brightness of the glow depends on how hungry the worm is. If they’ve just eaten, they can turn off the glow entirely to conserve energy, but as days go by without food, they turn it brighter
Our guide was a total cutie from Cork, Ireland so we enjoyed his accented descriptions of all things (also, science)
-- You learned!! --
Our boat trip back came with a clearing of the skies, so Heather and I braved the top deck and practiced our trust falls with the wind.
Overnight Kayak of Doubtful Sound
As I said, a major attraction to this area was the access to Doubtful Sound. As Milford Sound was was inaccessible by roads because of flooding except for chartered buses, and all tour buses were booked, our best option into Fiordland was via a kayaking trip to Doubtful Sound. We had to obviously pack warm gear, but also all the food we would need for lunch and dinner on the first day, and breakfast and lunch on the second (taking into consideration we’d be kayaking for five hours each day and would be hungry fiends). So the night prior we made our paleo sandwiches and packed all the other food we would need.
On Friday, February 28th, we awoke at 5:15, made our hearty breakfast, got into our togs (NZ for swim gear) underneath warmer clothes (we would get a wetsuit on arrival to Manapouri) and stood outside awaiting our 6:25 AM pickup.
Time passed.
And passed.
And by 6:55 I was done waiting and I called the Go Orange offices. The woman on the phone asked details of my reservation and looked it up and said not to worry that the bus was just 15 minutes late so it’s not that late.
I corrected her that we were told to be ready at 6:25, and she said, “I’m not sure why they said that, because it says here your pick-up is 6:40.”
And then, almost biting off the last words of her previous sentence she said, “Oh, wait. No. Your trip was canceled. High winds. The kayak overnight trip is canceled. If you still want to do a day trip tomorrow, contact the office.”
Apparently, the office had contacted our motel and let them know, but we didn’t figure out the cancellation until we had made eight sandwiches, all the other requisite preparations, and were standing outside on a brisk morning in flip flops.
Dejected and disappointed, we dragged our cold toes back to the motel room (whose key we gladly left in the door like it was upon check-in) and strategized a different plan. I did some research, and we decided to bail on Te Anau and head towards our next destination of Queenstown where we booked a potentially more reliable flight-cruise-flight of Milford Sound at noon.
Queenstown
So we drove about two hours with some scenic stops along the way to make it in time for our noon departure flight. (I can't get over the scenery here. I had about 75 pictures we took along the way and tried to whittle it down, but damn, it is so beautiful in New Zealand!)
We arrived at the office by 10:30 and checked in only to discover that the high winds were catching, our trip was canceled. But, they said tomorrow would be a better day for it, so we flipped days and set about making a plan for how to spend our extra day and time in Queenstown.
The Beauty
Queenstown is oft convicted of being over-touristed, but, it didn't feel that way for us (perhaps the unintended benefit of travel bans related to the coronavirus?). The town itself was stunning. We enjoyed beautiful vistas from our motel, quaint walk-throughs of the town abutted by crystal blue waters and dramatic mountains, and even enjoyed some new fruit and non-fruit tasters at the local brewery. So far, the most liveable place we've been in NZ.
Hikes
Look, Queenstown is just gorgeous. Natural beauty upon natural beauty. And I could wax on about the hiking but I’ll give you some bullets and then better, pictures thereof:
Friday: Queenstown Hill Walkway. It wasn’t kayaking (or canoeing), but we were in Queenstown and committed to doing something naturey with our time. About a 5K to the lookout and 1300 feet of elevation. Upon reaching the summit, we realized why all activity was called off. The wind whipped us around like rag dolls. The scent of pine was incredible (though they are about to kill off all the pine trees because they are actually invasive and endangering native vegetation).
Saturday: Moke Lake Loop. 4+ mile loop that we took lightly as a morning run. We did succeed in running the whole thing, but the steep and undulating hills and my surprise peninsula (I was leading and took us the wrong way) made it a real challenge. I also nearly peed myself when a rabbit crossed my path. Stunning views paired with glassy lake reflections make me wish I had taken this as a walk instead of a run. Oh, and welcoming jackrabbits were a total highlight.
Sunday: Routeburn Track. About an hour north of Queenstown is one of the top tracks in New Zealand. Many folks set about finishing the trail over several days, camping in one of the huts along the way. Due to flooding, however, much of the upper trail was taken out, so there weren’t any campers to be seen. But we enjoyed a 10-mile roundtrip to the first hut, Routeburn Falls Hut and finished with a small divergence on the way back see the nature trail where we learned about ancient trees of the forest. (If you want your mind blown, consider one tree that was there since before Cook arrived to New Zealand in 1769. We are so insignificant.) A rewarding hike with modest elevation gain, we paused frequently to exclaim things like “Oh my,” and “Wow,” and “This is so beautiful,” and “What even the actual …”. We made friends with the New Zealand robin who approached us fearlessly and flirted by our feet as we passed by.
Monday: Mount Chrichton Loop Track. Woof. We woke up Monday basically ready to not do this run/hike, but I looked at pictures of it (and of the all-day rain forecast for Tuesday) and thought, we should do it, we’ll be holed up in the rain tomorrow and in the car all day today. So, we did it. Not really as gladly (tbh) as the previous hikes, but we made a good run out of it, especially with Heather’s new trail runners, and finished the 4.5-mile loop with 1000 feet of elevation and peeing and photo stops in about an hour.
Milford Sound
We got to do it! The flight on Saturday went off without a hitch and sitting in co-pilot’s seat, I had a prime view. We sailed over three mountain ranges, including the Richardson range and the Humbold Mountains (LOTR nerds, these are the Misty Mountain Ranges). We saw Twin Peak Mountain, a nice trek with waterfalls off the glacier. We crossed over Hollyford Valley which serves as the border to Fiordland. I can't imagine better views or a more beautiful place in the universe.
The boat trip was equally spectacular with mountains that made toys out of full-sized cruise vessels and waterfalls that battered the unsuspecting front-of-boat tourists. We also saw the fault line that causes all the pesky earthquakes in NZ as well as the elusive fur seals (remember, we missed seeing these twice in Australia. Sorry, Angela.).
Catapulting to Glory
Okay, okay... you're getting sick of the beauty. I get it. How about a little adventure? Queenstown is the bungy jumping capital of the world. But that's been done (by Heather. Spring Break '98, wooooo!), so ... what more was there to pump our adrenaline?
How about being thrust 150m (ugh, metric) from a platform and propelled to 100 km/hr within 1.5 seconds? Um, ok.
So, we did the Nevis Catapult. One of us was significantly more cool than the other (the latter may have a shrieking problem). But we both did it and lived to change our underwear.
And then... we decided, while we were already on the platform... to do the swing. NBD right? Sure, just 300m (~1000 feet) into the canyon below. No need to pump the feet, though... And, because we didn't need to pump our legs, we decided to hook them on the straps and descend upside down. No joke.
(We bought the video and pics (naturally).
(But we also had our own.)
An absolutely thrilling cap to our time in Queenstown. Oh, and on our way to Routeburn, we picked up two hitchhikers. We couldn't be weirdos and take Brad and Lisa's photos while they were in our car (young New Zealanders taking 2.5 months off work to hike the entirety of the South Island), so we obviously took their pictures from behind once they left our car.
Next Up, Fox Glacier!
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