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| Peaks and Beaches, South Island, New Zealand |
I’m back from a couple of weeks tramping around the southern island of New Zealand. The place is just as beautiful as imagined (or as portrayed, for Lord of the Rings fans) and the hiking, cycling, and kayaking was as invigorating as I hoped. All went well and I think that treating myself to this trip was a great way to acknowledge passing the bar exam and my thirtieth birthday.
I flew Air New Zealand. My coach seat was comfortable enough for the ~12 hour flight. I departed LAX in the evening, ate dinner, and woke up with only an hour and a half of flight time remaining before arrival. The Air New Zealand staff was helpful and I appreciated the airline’s sense of humor (click here to check out their rugby-themed safety video).
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| Clear and still waters make a perfect mirror |
Once in New Zealand, I joined a group of eight other travelers, all strangers, for Active New Zealand’s Rimu trip. I was reticent to join a group, but did so because I would otherwise have been traveling alone without adequate knowledge of the best places to get out and enjoy New Zealand’s natural beauty. The group was an interesting bunch of Americans and Canadians ranging in age from late 20s to 60s and from a variety of professions.
For those who might be interested, here is a brief summary of my activities accompanied by a few pictures:
- Snorkel with seals in Kaikoura. Thick wetsuits were provided and I wasn’t the least bit cold. We snorkeled from a remote location and our group was alone with a colony of New Zealand fur seals. The water was a bit rough, but the snorkeling was not what I would consider vigorous–the greatest difficulty was passing through a shallow channel without colliding with some rocks. This was an opportunity to observe the seals, as there was little else of interest to see in the water except for the occasional jellyfish.
- Wine tasting at Forrest vineyard in Marlbourough, where helicopters are sometimes used to distribute warm air from thermal pockets and ward off frost threatening the grapes.
- Kayak in Queen Charlotte Sound. I spent three days here. The kayaking was fantastic–cool, misty weather and mostly flat conditions. We saw a lot of beautiful landscape and water thick with jellyfish that reminded me of a scene from Finding Nemo. We stayed at Lochmara Lodge, a quirky place with great grounds, excellent views, and modestly appointed rooms. The restaurant at the lodge provided some of the best food on the trip. I loved their french toast and was adventurous enough to try the local green-lipped mussels (mussels are not typically something I prefer).
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| New Zealand’s green-lipped mussels |
- Hike in the Punakaki rainforest. Honestly, what I loved here was not the hike but the pebble beach (where I sat in the sun for an hour and saw only two other people), the cottage motel immediately on the beach, and the “pancake” rock formations.
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| Pancake Rocks, Punakaki |
- Kayak in Okarito. The kayaking here was not as remarkable as other at other spots on the trip. But watching the tide pull the water out of the lagoon to mix with the water at the beach at sunset was downright mesmerizing. (If you’re planning your own trip, this is a place you shouldn’t feel bad about skipping.)
- Hike at Franz Josef Glacier. We saw the lateral moraines and terminal face of the glacier. I also thought it was interesting to get a good look at the roaring run-off from the glacier–it was a milky grey (full of sediment) with chunks of ice floating quickly past like over-sized ice cubes.
- Cycle in Central Otago. I loved the first half of this ride, but I spent the second half thinking I should start attending spin classes on a regular basis–my legs were spent by the end of the day! The landscape in this area of NZ was still green, but the area is dryer and the terrain reminded me of parts of Northern California. Much unlike California, however, I didn’t see another soul during the ride.
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| Sheep, a fixture of the NZ landscape |
- Explore Queenstown. I skipped some of the more extreme activities in Queenstown, but I heard great things about canyoning, jet boating, and bungy jumping from my trip-mates that took part. Instead, I took a low-key walk about town and took a cruise on a steamship (TSS Earnslaw) to Walter Peak High Country Farm, where I enjoyed watching dogs round up sheep as well as a shearing demonstration.
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| Walter Peak High Country Farm House |
- Kayak in Milford Sound (Fiordland National Park). This part of the trip started out unpleasant because the air was thick with sandflies, but the bugs thinned as we got underway. Milford Sound is a beautiful place that was recommended to me by all of my friends who have traveled to New Zealand. It seems that most people visit by way of rather large boats, but I thought the scale and drama of the fiords were better experienced from my wee kayak. We saw some thundering waterfalls, barking seals, and a pair of penguins waddling along the craggy edge of the sound!
- Hike in Mt. Cook National Park. Mt. Cook is the highest peak in NZ and the clouds gave way for a little while in the afternoon so that we could get a good look at the mountain. The DOC center in the park was one of the more interesting ones that we stopped at during the trip.
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| Mt. Cook |
By the end of the trip, I was ready to come home for some alone time, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to make my way to New Zealand, where there was so much fresh air, clean water, and time to think about what comes next….
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