SPT DAY 37, 37 AGAIN, & 38-42: PAPEETE AND BORA BORA

Miles flown so far: 21,254

As a result of airline tickets purchased with mileage points, the attached blackout dates and other limitations, we were "forced" to stay 5 nights in French Polynesia on the way home.  We made the most of it by booking some time on Bora Bora: that magical, quasi-imaginary place of exotic paradise lost in the South Pacific.  This concept rings less true in the rainy season, when we were there.  We flew into Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia and the largest city on Tahiti.  We didn't see much of the city, but the airport cafeteria and the Tahiti Airport Motel (our layover for one night) were two things best avoided.

 

The tiny flight to Bora Bora the next morning took off into sheets of rain like I have never seen.  The waters parted in time for landing, and I was able to get a shot of the island and its resorts.

Almost every moment of our time on the island it rained, or was cloudy, or was cloudy and rainy.  Besides that, however, you could see what a special, beautiful place this was.  The colors of the water, sky and sand were otherworldly.

Our one good sunset.

And a rainbow!

The time we spent in Bora Bora was an unexpected luxurious addition to an already spectacular trip.  I am so glad we were able to experience it, even in the rain.  That said, I made some mistakes when arranging the trip that I wish I could have changed.  Staying at a resort on Bora Bora is not a good introduction to Polynesian culture and cuisine, and I knew that it would not be.  It is one of the most spectacular islands in the world, and the idealized version of the South Pacific (which is why all those resorts are there).  I will admit I wanted to fulfil the fantasy of an over water bungalow looking out over an azure lagoon.  I got this, and it was romantic and private and wonderful, despite the rain.  Beyond the room and the surroundings, I wish we hadn't felt so trapped at our specific resort.  The food was terrible and overpriced.  If our time in French Polynesia had not been such a tack-on to the planning of our entire trip, I wish we could have seen some of the less inhabited islands and sought out a more authentic experience.  I watched the No Reservations episode about French Polynesia and it seemed so much more interesting than the country we visited: eating food caught yourself in a breezy locally-built bungalow with no electricity looking out at several other uninhabited islands under thousands of stars.  In short, becasue of our hasty planning and limited time, our Polynesian fantasy was not fully realized, but it was a relaxing and peaceful stay, nonetheless.

A nice end to an epic journey to the other side of the world... and I really feel ready to go home!

SPT DAY 35 & 36: QUEENSTOWN AND AUCKLAND

Queenstown was our last stop in the South Island before one night in Auckland on our way out of New Zealand.  Located on Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown seemed like an amalgamation of Boulder, Colorado and Prague.  It was packed with tourists, especially backpackers, most of whom were using the town as their base for helicoptering, jetboating, skydiving, bungee jumping or even just hiking around the local mountainous wilderness.  Everywhere else we went in New Zealand seemed to be visited only by elderly British couples and ourselves.  In Queenstown, I was the one who felt old.

This is Vesta Design Store and Cafe, on the lake shore in town.  It is a cute old house where Kiwi designers sell their wares and you can enjoy a flat white (latte) while perusing some local architecture and interiors magazines.

The greenhouse in the front garden was cute.

In the spirit of all things Queenstown, we decided to get our piece of the adrenaline circuit and signed up for some tandem paragliding.  We strapped in with our respective guides and leapt off of this mountain into the wind.  That blue ribbon indicates to the guide that there is enough wind to keep you aloft once you jump off the edge.

There goes my boyfriend.

I expected to be terrified, but it was actually quite peaceful.  As close as a person can get to flying... quietly drifting over hilltops and forest.

At the end of the ride, my guide gained altitude on a cross wind and then decided to give me a thrill by spiraling down to earth incredibly fast.  It was radical.  I wanted to go again as soon as it was over.

Having really experienced the nature, adventure, and thrills of the South Island, we flew to Auckland for one night in New Zealand's largest city before heading home.  There were some pretty Victorian houses in various stages of repair and disrepair around the Ponsonby neighborhood where our hotel was located.

Two weeks was not enough to see all of the South Island, let alone the whole of New Zealand, but I think we got a good taste for things.  Of course, I was blown away by the awesome natural beauty of these islands (as everyone who has been is, I am sure).  Also, I was surprised by the sense of isolation and its strong affect on the culture of the place.  If I am ever lucky enough to go back, I think I will focus the trip even more on seeing pure nature.  Auckland was a pleasant enough city, and we had some good food and great wine in several places, but without a doubt the most remarkable time of our trip was spent being floored by the surreal countryside, beaches, mountains, forests, glaciers, rivers and lakes of this tucked-away corner of the globe.

SPT DAY 33 & 34: TE ANAU AND MILFORD SOUND

The last part of our time in New Zealand was in the southern mountains and fjordlands, said to be the most spectacular part of the South Island.  It, like the rest of the country, delivered.

The drive from Wanaka to Te Anau was half dry alpine desolation and half pastoral farmland.  The mountains above outside the town of Queenstown are called the Remarkables.

The view down toward Queenstown.

Te Anau is situated on a lake of the same name.  It is the largest body of freshwater in all of Australasia, according to the boat captain who took us out on the lake and to the local glow worm dell.  We hiked inside a twisted limestone cave and took a handpulled boat into the darkness to observe the little glowing worms.

The lake is totally pure and drinkable.  It is surrounded by pristine primeval forests on almost all sides.

The town itself has some interesting architecture.  This little number above was right in our path when walking into town, and we passed it half a dozen times.  Each time I obsessed a new horrifying detail, and the end of our time in Te Anau, I think I actually began to enjoy appreciating what an abomonation it was.  Something like a 1980's McDonald's morphed into a 4,000 square foot family home.

One thing I have to give the hideous house, and the entire town, was their gorgeous flowers.  This Dahlia put mine to shame.

We rose early one morning and headed to Milford Sound (with, we found later, barely enough gas to make it there and back... we coasted into Te Anau at the end of the day on fumes).  Besides that minor stress, the drive was tremendous.

We climed higher and higher into the mountains.

Finally we came to a tunnel bored into this mountain side.  We emerged on the other side looking strait down into Milford Sound.

We took the required boat tour of the sound.  Here are two 4,500 foot peaks that plunge directly into the sea.  Notice the seemingly tiny 500 foot waterfall emerging between them and falling into the sea below.  Milford Sound and its surrounds are big, impressive sights to say the least.

Those 4,500 foot mountains are small fries compared to Mitre Peak, a 6,000 foot mountain that towers above the sound, and surrounding clouds.  It is impossible to understand the scale of the things around you as you cruise the area.  We were told if a person were hiking on the top of the smaller mountains, such as the one in the previous pictures, you would not be able to see them with the naked eye.

As we headed back into the head of the sound from the Tasman Sea, we saw some fur seals sunning on a rock.

Here is that 500 foot waterfall up close.

Yeah.

Our trusty, if empty, Corolla station wagon on the way back to Te Anau.

On the way back to town, just off the side of the road, are the Mirror Lakes.  These are oxbow lakes cut off from the nearby river.  They are crystal clear and very dramatic.

Where do you go to see dramatic nature after you have been places such as this?

SPT DAY 31 & 32: LAKE WANAKA

We left Hokitika in a fog, which soon cleared as we continued down the coast.  We drove through stunning countryside, into forest and beside crystal lakes into the village of Fox Glacier township.  After a little back and forth, we decided to splurge on a helicoptor tour of the Fox Glacier.  Adventure sports and the like, we discovered, are cheaper in New Zealand.

In the helicoptor tour waiting area was an art gallery.  Here are The Doors on some doors... think about it.

Anyway, up we went.  I can't say much, other than... well... it was intense.  Take a look.

We soared into and over the valley of the Fox Glacier, over toward Mt. Cook, Mt. Tasman, over serveral other glaciers, deep into the Southern Alps.  We landed on a snow field nearly 10,000 feet up, walked around a bit and then flew back down grazing snowcapped peaks, rainforested mountain tops and glacial riverbeds.  It was magical.  Total awe.

We recovered our senses, and continued on.  Here is a spot on the coast just north of the town of Haast, before the road turns inland.

I wish I had better pictures of the drive between Haast and Wanaka, because it was perhaps the most remarkable change of environment I have ever seen in such a short drive.  In the period of an hour and a half we drove along temperate rainforest coastline up into a river valley with even more magestic forest framed by snow capped mountains.  The road was trimmed with waterfalls and huge stone cliffs.  It was indescribable.  Just then, it all opened up, the trees vanished, and we were in a landscape of desolate scrub around a totally glass-clear lake.

We stopped in Wanaka, on the shores of Lake Wanaka, for a couple nights.  The town had a jocky, Colorado feeling, and some good food.

Lunch the following day was a great lamb burger.

After lunch, we went for a jet-boat ride up a nearby river toward Mt. Aspiring.  It almost blew the helicoptor ride out of the proverbial water.

We came around a bend and suddenly our view was filled with a huge glacier with half a dozen massive waterfalls spilling off of it.  Waterfalls spilling down hundreds of feet from a pristine glacier into wild temperate rainforest.  Did you even know this kind of thing could occur outside of blacklight posters?

A neon crystal blue stream ran from the waterfalls into the river we had ridden up.

There was a moment I wandered off from the guide and felt totally alone with nature.  Pure water, soil, air, grass, trees... this moment in time has become one of my favorite spots on earth.  Total isolation, the cleanest air breathable, and a view better than a dream.  New Zealand delivers natural grandeur beyond everything you have heard.  WOW.

SPT DAY 30: TO THE WEST COAST

We left the Hapuku Lodge for the west coast of the South Island.  It was raining hard when we left Kaikoura, and as we drove into the hills it began to pour.  We were listening to Black to Comm's album, Alphabet 1968, and it made for a eerie drive through gray hills and shadowy woodlands between Kaikoura and Lewis Pass.  Here is a video of theirs to put you in the mood:

After listening to an hour of this we were dreaming up dark scenarios where the hundreds of wet sheep we were passing all suddenly stood up on their hind legs and slowly turned toward us to stare in unison.  

Just as we changed the music to something cheerier, the rain let up and we drove into the Victoria Forest National Park.

We came upon the Mauria Springs Thermal Resort just in time, and pulled over to take a dip in their very hot natural springs... to wash away the darkness.

The Japanese style baths were just what we needed mid-drive, and after soaking for 30 minutes, we continued on our way toward the coast.

Here is the Buller Gorge, where things started to get really dramatic just a few minutes away from the ocean.

Outside the town of Westport we stopped for lunch at the Bay House Cafe on Cape Foulwind.  Despite the name, given by Captain Cook, the weather finally broke and the sun came out momentarily.

We were able to sit outside and enjoy the cafe's view and beautiful subtropical garden.

South of Westport the fog rolled in and hid the sun again.  This didn't keep the drive from being one of the most dramatic I have ever experienced.  By the time we made it to the boarders of Paparoa National Park, we were speechless: rugged cliffs, seemingly tropical rain forest, black sand beaches, 100 foot waterfalls, bright orange flowers.  It looked like something Dr. Seuss would dream up for a children's book.
Here are the pancake rocks of Dolomite Point in the national park.  Awesome.

After the drama of the Paparoa region, the broad plains and wide driftwood strewn beach of Hokitika, our stop for the night, seemed quaint.

Hokitika was a mining boom town, and maintains an end-of-the-earth feeling of isolation and eccentricity.

The bizarre but pretty town library.

Perhaps the weirdest thing in all of Hokitika was the cuisine.  I listened to the accounts of several guide books and magazine articles and tried the famous whitebait pizza.  Whitebait is the immature version of the local river smelt.  That is right: fish with cheese pizza.  I wanted to like it, I really did... but it was everything you imagine when you think of baby fish and mozzarella together.  Avoid it at all cost.  ALL cost.

SPT DAYS 28 & 29: KAIKOURA PENINSULA

Just 40 minutes outside of lush, hilly Picton the landscape flattens out and opens up to fields and vineyards.  We stopped for lunch at the Twelve Trees restaurant at the Allen Scott Winery in Blenheim.

The pretty buildings of the winery were made using rammed earth construction.

I started with a little tasting plate of wild duck and rabbit rillettes, cured salmon and pickled grapes.

A fresh beef carpaccio was a great main course with a glass of the 2008 Moorlands Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

After lunch we set out again for the coast, and the landscape turned grassy and hilly... then the electric blue ocean appeared.

The South Island's east coast.

We arrived in the little town of Kaikoura on the peninsula of the same name just in time for an afternoon whale watching expedition.  We were told it was a great day to see a whale, and that Whale Watch Kaikoura had a 95% success rate in spotting whales, sharks, albatross and other wildlife.  The deep water trench just off the coast means that groups of Sperm Whales are consistently congregating in the area.  I couldn't wait!  Just before we boarded the boat, a fog rolled in.

By the time we made it out over the trench, the fog reduced visibility to near nothing.  The captain used this funny device to search sonically for whales below the surface.  He would listen carefully, then rush to the ship's control room and we would zip off into the gray abyss.  This process was repeated 10 or so times over the course of two hours.

This was pretty much what we saw while whale watching in Kaikoura.

The next day was windy and rainy, so no second attempt was made to see a whale.  I was determined to see some of Kaikoura's famed wild life, however, and dragged by boyfriend into the driving rain for a hike around the peninsula.

Most everything we saw was trying to hide from the rain.  At first I was sure this was a penguin, but my boyfriend insisted it was not.  

This seal was also unamused by the rain, and by our inquisitiveness.  Signs warning to stay at least 10 meters away from the seals were loosely interpreted (who can convert metric on the spot like that?) and we got a nasty warning growl to get the hell away.  By the end of the walk the sun came out for a bit, and we could say we experienced some of the local nature, even if it was just a cranky seal and not a Sperm Whale.

Our hotel about 10 minutes south of town was the best we have stayed in here in New Zealand. The Hapuku Lodge and Tree Houses are built with locally sourced materials high on supports to maximize views of the ocean and snow capped mountains on either side.  It was some of the most interesting, unique and sensitive architecture I have seen on this trip.

Unfortunately the tree houses were booked, but our room in the main lodge was very nice as well.  One problem with the place: they were in the process of installing a pool and expanding the grounds and landscaping.  All of this looked like it was going to be beautiful when it was completed, but in the meantime we were surrounded by a construction pit.  The service was good, the architecture great, the decor very nice, and the views beyond the gravel and cement mixers breathtaking... it just would have been nice to have all those gorgeous local plants to frame everything.  Also, and it is a small thing, but every hotel in the world should be obliged to mail postcards for their guests instead of sending them to find the post office in town.  It is just good service.

Another highlight of the hotel, and our trip, was the food.  Here is the duck liver pate.

The main course of rack of lamb.

And my strawberry balsamic tart for dessert.  

While so much of New Zealand's food is sourced locally, you aren't really made aware of that fact unless you ask.  Curious, because in the states and the UK, and even Australia, a dish's provenance is touted and the locavore obsession means foods that are obtained nearby are often priced at a premium.  In New Zealand, I think because of its isolation, it only makes sense to source locally.  Why would anyone go through the trouble of doing it any other way?  Lucky them.

SPT DAYS 26 & 27: MARLBOROUGH SOUNDS

Miles flown so far: 18,020

We awoke to more bright sunshine in Mangonui, but drove south to Whangarei (pronounced fun-ga-ray) to the airport, where the clouds were gathering.  Luckily we were flying out to Nelson, our entry point to the South Island of New Zealand.

The bustling Whangarei Airport.

I was not happy to see the approaching storm, especially since this little thing was our plane to Auckland, where we connected to an only slightly larger prop jet to Nelson.

All fear melted away, however, as we approached Nelson.  Despite the fact that the South Island is generally colder and stormier than the North Island, the Marlborough Sounds region enjoys New Zealand's sunniest micro climate.

We drove from Nelson to the funky port town of Picton, on Queen Charlotte Sound.  The next day we took an all day kayak and hiking trip on part of the Queen Charlotte Track, one of New Zealand's many wilderness hikes.  Some of these hikes last for days and you can camp or stay in pre-booked lodges along the way.  If we had more time, I would have loved to have done one of these treks, but we were not disappointed by the day trip we took.

The color of the water and the plant life were surreal.

A Shag, which is a sea bird we saw a lot of on the kayak portion of the journey.

The hike back.

An interesting little museum in Picton contains the remains of the sailing ship Edwin Fox.  Built in India in the 1850's, it carried cargo and passengers around the world and especially to New Zealand and Australia until the advent of steamers made it obsolete in the 1880's.  It served a few more functions (freezer for lamb meat, floating coal storage) before being beached in the 1920's, re-floated in the 1980's and finally incorporated into the museum in 1999.

The exterior hull.

The interior of the ship's hold.  Really creepy.  

ship image via Marlborough Online