Karin's off!

The past weekend was Karin's last with us. She is off to the South Island with her friend to continue her exploration of New Zealand. It was great having her, and she stayed longer than any of us planned. The island has a way of grabbing you.

Trip to Stony Batter

Karin has a friend visiting, so it is time to head off to Stony Batter again. These are the old military tunnels from WWII servicing some large guns used to protect sea entrances to Auckland. The tunnels were shut down for a month or two due to some silly spat between the volunteers who run the place and the Department of Conservation that think they do. Anyway, things are back open, it is a beautiful day, and time for a visit. They have opened up a lower level that contains the control center and some other new aspects. Lots and lots of steps to go down!







After the tunnels, we continued our island tour, visiting the Pioneer Cemetery and checking out some of the unusual inhabitants of the island. This being New Zealand, sheep were involved.

Home!

After two weeks of traveling, we were very, very happy to get back to Waiheke. It was a somewhat adventurous drive, with a car spinning out in front of us, and Mike almost running into a passing police car, but we made it home safe and sound.

Some little tidbits about traveling in New Zealand:

1) Hotels have this thing about milk. Upon checking in, you are faced with a choice of skim or whole milk, and are given a container (sometimes little, sometimes a liter).I am not sure what the milk is for, but no check-in is complete without a transfer of milk.

2) New Zealand highways are not really highways. Highway 1 is the main street of many towns along the way. It is kinda like I imagine the US in pre-interstate days.

3) There is a group that vets motels, and it is clear that they have a checklist. If you want a four-star rating, you must provide "spa baths" (no matter how small), breakfast served to the room (even if it is "unavailable" on the particular days we were there), kitchens, and so on. There was a similarity to the rooms we stayed in that was uncanny. On the plus side, we generally stayed in "motels" which means kitchen facilities, separate bedrooms, and so on. At the best, these are nice apartments. At the worst, they are normal sized rooms, cut into smaller pieces.

4) New Zealand really does playgrounds well. Or maybe we are just noticing them for the first time!

Taupo

Today was an easy drive to Taupo, through the Desert Road. Although formally part of Highway 1, the stretch south of Taupo is often closed due to snow. While not a desert (in the sense of sand and cacti), it is a pretty forlorn stretch.

Taupo is a town based on the shores of Lake Taupo (the largest lake in New Zealand). Nice town, very activity oriented. But we weren't very activity oriented, so we just relaxed. We visited the Huka Falls which are formed when a reasonably broad river suddenly gets compressed between rocks. What it lacks in height (there is a drop of about 20m), it makes up in velocity and violence.

Taupo

Queen Charlotte Sounds and Return

Time to head towards home. This morning we drove on the Queen Charlotte Drive along the north part of the south island. It is a windy road, with excellent lookouts over the sounds. A very nice drive!

We arrived in Picton an hour or so before our ferry checkin, and found it was a wonderful town! Lots of cafes and shops, and a large playground, complete with a ride-on train that some enthusiasts run. Wish we had more time there!

Then back on the ferry for the three-hour trip to the North Island. The weather was nicer than the trip down, so we could enjoy the scenery more (except for Alexander who still just wanted to play in the kids area).

A quick drive north got us out of Wellington to a rather plain highway-side motel.

Queen Charlotte Sounds and Return

Nelson

Nelson is supposed to be one of the nicest towns to live in in New New Zealand. For us, it was all about playgrounds. Alexander spent the morning at a "Chipmonks", an indoor playground for kids. There was a killer slide (in my case, almost literally), a ball pit, ride-on toys, a climbing maze and much, much more. Alexander clearly could have spent two weeks in there!

Nelson has a very good Saturday market, with very good quality crafts and other items for sale. Ilona found the first "real" bratwurst in New Zealand: it tasted just like back at home, right down to the "right" bun.

Afternoon was spent at a very large playground near the beach. Dinner at a seafood restaurant, where the staff was wowed by Alexander's portable DVD player.

The photo system now allows slideshows. If that isn't working, check out the photos below.

Nelson

Punakaiki

We spent last night at at cabin on the West Coast, just north of Greymouth. The cabin was very nice, and obviously the result of typical Kiwi know-how. Obviously built by the owners, it was very well fit out and comfortable, including a separate large hot tub. The area was beautifully "landscaped", if that is the right word for the natural surroundings, with a stream, paths, and plants. The West Coast, has a much different feel than the east coast: it is much wetter so far more lush. The ocean is also much rougher.

We drove north ten miles or so to Punakaiki, home of the pancake rocks and blowholes. It was pouring rain, but we did the half-hour walk to the coast. We hit the timing about right: it was close to high tide, so the water crashing against the rocks was spectacular. The rocks themselves are layered (hence the "pancake") and quite striking.


We continued driving north along the coast, headed for Nelson. Just before Nelson we visited the birthplace of Ernest Rutherford, Nobel prize winner in Chemistry, and pride of McGill University, where he did much of his Noble work (and where my father got his PhD in chemistry). Nice displays (though it looked like we were the only visitors in a while), along with a life-size stature of Rutherford as a very small boy.

Then off to Nelson!

Click for more Punakaiki

Arthur's Pass

Today we drove from Christchurch, through the mountains that form the spine to the South Island to the West Coast. We went through Arthur's Pass, one of the world's most spectacular drives. While the pass is sometimes closed in the wintertime, we had a wonderful, sunny day. In New Zealand, snow cover is very much a function of altitude (a weather forecast in the South Island might say "snow today, down to 1500 meters").





Along the way, we stopped at the town of Arthur's Pass, where there is a tourist office with a number of kea birds in the parking lot. Keas are unusual alpine parrots (unusual since most parrots are rain-forest based, not alpine) which, unfortunately, love to eat the rubber seals off of cars. Lots of signs saying "Don't feed the keas" so naturally they are all getting fed. We attracted a few when cleaning out the car, and I think we saw one of them throughout the rest of the day. Lunch was at a bar called the "Wobbly Kea", so I naturally had to buy a shirt.




We did a short hike (estimated at 20-30 minutes, or about an hour between the toddler pace and Ilona trying out her camera) and otherwise enjoyed the drive tremendously.

Arthurs Pass

Christchurch

We spent four nights in Christchurch, the largest city on the South Island. Christchurch prides itself on being the most English city in New Zealand, to the extent of having a River Avon complete with punters. It kept up the English style by being drizzly throughout.

Mike was giving a number of talks at the University, so the stay was a bit disjointed, but highlights included:

The historical museum, which received Ilona's seal of approval for being both interesting and scientifically legitimate.

The botanical gardens which, even in winter, were interesting. Of course, having an extensive playground didn't hurt!

Dinner at a Korean BBQ place, with a grill in the middle of the table. Not being familiar with how to cook this way, we ended up burning lots of food, and they had to replace the grill three times. Perhaps there was a reason the "grill food" menu was only in Korean!

A tram that did a few kilometer loop around downtown Christchurch. The drivers each had their own schtick about the town, and were lots of fun. And they all let Alexander ring the bell.



Mike's talk, which attracted a pretty large crowd (about 60) of people from business and the university.

Click for more from Christchurch

Kaikoura

Kaikoura was our favorite stop on the trip. I was berated by Ilona and Karin for only staying one night here. We drove here after the ferry through areas that got more and more spectacular. Kaikoura itself is on the ocean and has mountains and wonderful scenery as a backdrop. It is a medium-sized town, and is known as the headquarters for whale-watching trips. Unfortunately, the storms over the past few days had made the sea very roll-y, so no under-six-year-olds were permitted on the whale watching trips, so we didn't go on one. But there were a lot of other things to do.





The highlight is a sea lion/bird colony just outside of town. We've been disappointed before with our wildlife experiences: we have to be the only people to go to Russell and not see dolphins. So when I got out of the car at the seal colony, I did wonder aloud whether we would see any sea lions. That was about two seconds before I almost tripped over one napping by where we parked. So we definitely saw sea lions and birds, and the area is ridiculously beautiful with mountains in the background and the sea crashing against the rocks.





We then took Alexander to a playground set in one of the most stunning areas you will see. Between the mountains and the sea, with palm trees scattered about, it was wonderful. And of course the Mickey's enjoyed it too.

Dinner that night was one of the best we have had, set in a tavern by the water. Alexander, who had not napped all day, fell asleep in his soup, which gave us a bit more time to enjoy things.

We took lots of pictures, so be sure to check the web album for more.

Kaikoura