Alan and Me, about to drop 420 meters over a canyon.
After our incredibly terrifying adventure on the Nevis Arc (canyon swing), we couldn’t help but feed the need with a 4WD through the mountains, a jet boat ride, and a whitewater rafting trip on the Skippers Canyon.
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Okay, this post was supposed to go up almost a week ago, but I’ve had limited access to internet!
We picked up our first hitchhiker!!!
Alan and Hila at the Clay Cliffs
Hila is from Israel and has been traveling for 2 months in New Zealand; we picked her up in Oamaru before our four-hour drive to Queenstown. The countryside in this area is simply breathtaking. The highway is surrounded by looming mountains, lush green fauna and rambling rivers. We made a brief stop at some Maori Rock paintings, and hiked through brush to see the Clay Cliffs. These rock formations were carved out of the landscape by two million years of erosion on layers of silt and gravel, that were exposed along the active Osler fault line.
We dropped off Hila in Omarama and then stopped in a little area called Cromwell to taste some local wines.
We went on the world’s largest swing yesterday, across a giant canyon. Pics and video to come in the next few days!
– Demon Killa Cola: it’s what New Zealanders crave!After much deliberation and monetary calculations, we have decided to rent a car for the month. Buses were pricey, hitchhiking wasn’t very practical, and walking was out of the question. So, for 14 bucks a day we got a little Mazda with room for four, and kamikaze’d our way out of Christchurch, driving on the left side of the road. Also, the windshield wiper gadget is on the left and the turn signal handle is on the right, so we keep wiping the windows every time we want to turn. It’s rather disconcerting when you’re trying to see, turn into the opposite lane of the road you’re used to, and have the wipers suddenly start going and smearing bug residue all over the place.
But so far we feel like the rental car was worth the money. We’ve been able to visit numerous places that we never would have seen hitchhiking or busing from city to city.
– In the small french town of Akaroa, at the edge of the harborWe’d heard about a gorgeous place called Akaroa, where we could see a great penguin colony, that was only 2 hours away from Christchurch. We knew the distance from Christchurch to our next destination was four hours, so we assumed that we’d have two hours to go from Akaroa to there. And so, we took the trek through the Banks Peninsula, a gorgeous piece of land which plays home to three harbors. We drove through lush hilltops capped with fog, stopping for breathtaking views of the unimaginably blue waters. Akaroa itself is an old French Settlement of only one street that is lined with cute little buildings and a gorgeous beach. We popped into the info center to ask about what to do there, and discovered that it would be 4 hours to our next stop! With it already beinbeing 4:00, we knew we needed to get out quick, so we grabbed some coffee and ice cream, shot a few pictures of the water, and drove on to Oamaru, New Zealand’s only Victorian Town.
After arriving in Oamaru we showered up quick and walked about 10 minutes into town. Along the way we stumbled upon what we’ve aptly named the “Obesity Trifecta.” It was a KFC next door to a Dominoe’s Pizza, with a McDonald’s across the street. The best part is that as I was about to take a picture of the scene, an obese woman came down the street. It’s truly sad to see these craphole fast food restaurants in beautiful cities around the world, in which people can find delicious, affordable, fresh local foods that aren’t poisoned with chemicals and pesticides; there is no High Fructose Corn Syrup in anything. Fortunately, there are no Wal-Marts or Mega strip malls that we could see.
WIth two nights to stay, we saw everything the industrial-era town had to offer: We kicked off with a pint of cider at one of the local watering holes, the Criterion Hotel, where we chatted up a couple of local characters while a guitar player serenaded us with some New Zealand folk tunes. The whole place reminded me of the Australian Roadhouses I visited years ago. We had a tattoo-off with a very drunk Kiwi. He was quite a pleasant chap, but we could not understand about 75% of what he was saying due to his thick and slurred accent.
The next day we tooled around the old town and discovered a limestone sculptor, and an old Whisky Distillery where Alan had a tasting and I admired the top-floor art gallery. After that we popped into the Whitestone Creamery where we got some delicious cheese so that Alan could concoct another famous cheese plate. Then we went down to the very cold and windy beach to see the Yellow-Eyed Penguins coming in from the water to feed their young. We saw a few from afar, but actually a baby penquin came right up to the path and posed for some headshots before scuttling back into the brush. We also saw some seals from afar, basking on the stormy beach.
It’s been awhile since my last blog so this may be long. I’ll try to split it up and publish the second half tomorrow, okay? Okay!!
Christchurch continued to bring surprises. Our accommodations were awesome; we got a small apartment with a solid kitchen and living room, so we cooked many of our meals, and Alan created a fabulous cheese plate using cheese from a New Zealand creamery.
– Riding on the gondola up to LyttletonOne of the main attractions in Christchurch is a gondola ride to the top of Mt. Cavendish for spectacular views of the two harbors that surround the city. The water is a pristine blue and though it was very windy, we really enjoyed our time there.
– "The Human Carousel"The next day, we took a long walk intending to arrive on the beach. Hah. After about half an hour, we stopped into a cafe to find out how much farther it was, then discovered it was actually a lonnnnnng way off still. So we hoofed it back into town and caught another buskers show. The most impressive was “Betty Brawn.” She claims to be the strongest woman alive. She lifted two guys up in the air with her shoulders, tore a paperback novel in half, and bent a copper pipe with her bare hands.
– Lily Pads!Our trip wrapped up with a guided tour of the Botanical Gardens, where we spotted rare native and exotic plants, most notably the New Zealand Silver Fern. Also, we checked out the Cathedral and walked up to the top of the tower for some great views of the urban center. On that last evening we had a phenomenal dinner at Liquidity, which was highlighted by a duck spring roll with cardamom and ginger in it, with a “ginger slaw.” And, of course, we had wines to go with each course, some fine examples of New Zealand vino.
A few other interesting things we noticed in Christchurch: The people around the city are super friendly and very laid back. Several locals were happy to give us detailed directions when we were lost, and to tell us which buses to take when we weren’t sure. There are many old buildings that look as if they were transported whole from Britain. There’s the joy of the mince meat pie – New Zealand’s answer to fast food. It’s like a tiny little shepherd’s pie with minced meat in it. Sounds kind of gross but really it’s like a beef stew that’s been chopped up a bit in a food processor. Finally, there are as many coffee shops as there are in Seattle, though the population is only 344,000. What’s weird though is that only 3 in the inner city had free internet service.
We’ve been in Christchurch for 5 days! The city is definitely a college town, full of art galleries, trendy boutiques and hip young folk. We are fortunate enough to have arrived during the World Busker’s Festival, a 10-day-long annual shindig which brings street performers from all over the world to share their acts in different venues staged around the city. We’ve seen fire dancers, acrobats, comedians, the world’s strongest woman, and an amazing beat-boxer named DubFX….
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Well last night we had a comedy of errors… while in town we’d seen a club with a sign that said “Steps Karaoke Bar.” With my ambitions of singing karaoke in every major city I visit, I insisted Alan and I go on Friday night. So we got cleaned up after our kayak adventure and hopped in a cab to check it out.
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| From Fiji |
Last night we got a real Kava ceremony at our hotel, courtesy of our good friend Cookie. Kava is the national drink of Fiji. It’s a root that is ground up and mixed with water in a special bowl called a bilo. Fijians gather together sitting cross-legged on a straw mat, around the bilo, where an individual is mixing the Kava. The person making the Kava says prayers and leads a series of hand claps and exclamations as he serves up the drink in a small coconut cup. When it’s your turn to be served, you clap your hands, shout “Bula!” to give thanks, then shotgun it. I can”t accurately describe Kava; the flavor is a cross between
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The Sleeping Giant Mountains
We’ve been here almost 2 days and have decided that Fiji could very well pass for a territory in Heaven. The air is crisp and balmy, the sky blues as topaz and the ocean warm as bath water. We were fortunate enough to find a resort of “bures.” A Bure is a little hut on stilts, perched about 2 feet off the ground. Ours is on beachfront property with a prime view of the ocean. Hammocks hang between the palm trees here and we’ve made fast friends with the bartender, Cookie.
I’m pulling music, movies, bookmarks, preferences, and other delightful goodies from my main computer to my teensy-weensy HP Mini. It’s been deliciously hacked with Mac OS X by a certain to-be-unnamed computer guru.
First stop: Fiji. I’ve heard it’s monsoon season right now, and there’s civil unrest near the capital. Fortunately, the capital is far north of our destination. The weather reports say rain, but at least it will be in the 80’s. Humidity here we come!
Anybody out there been to Fiji? Got any recommendations?