A taste of Gili

The island life

(Dec 22, 2011)

The day after our freediving course, we checked out of Ozzy Bungalows and into Villa Almarik, the more upscale hotel that we discovered on our bike ride north of the island to Coral Ocean 2, the restaurant with delicious pizza but mangy cats wanting to steal food.

Almarik was beautiful. For double the price (apparently we negotiated a very good rate) of Ozzy, we got full housekeeping, excellent breakfast, free welcome massage, free introductory scuba dive, and a bunch of hotel amenities like DVD player, and shampoo.

It was a good thing we switched to this nice hotel too because we ended up spending a lot - and I mean a lot - of time in our room. Both of us were still feeling sick and mostly lying in bed or on the beach chairs. Too sick to even go into the water which was a shame because apparently the snorkeling here is excellent.

I suffered through a combination of drenching sweats at night, nausea that hasn't resolved over two days which is unusual for me, and lightheadedness.

Hopefully it will go away by tomorrow and we can do some snorkeling before we return to Bali.

I actually really like this island. It is similar to Caye Caulker in Belize in that motorized transportation is not allowed, so people get around on bike, horse drawn carriages or walks. It is more charming though, busier, and has real beaches.

It is a busy little place with restaurants trying to get your business each time you go by their menus. Dive shops galore line the street and accommodations of varying degrees of luxury can be found.

Although it takes a really long time for food to come out, the fresh mango juice more than makes up for the delay. Last night, Shannon and I had dinner beside the water watching a lightning storm over Lombok island.

It is dang hot here. It gets over 30C with heaps of humidity. Just laying under an umbrella reading causes me to be drenched in sweat. This would be a perfect time for a fresh fruit juice, except that the power has gone out on the island so the blenders don't work.

The power went out on me a couple nights ago when I went all the way down to the south end of the island to tell Steve we couldn't meet him for dinner. In addition to feeling sick, the chain fell off my bike, and the power went out. All of a sudden, the booming music was doused by silence, the street completely black with the stars emerging in the sky.

Sydney!

Mt. Cook

We left Queenstown and drove the 3 hours up to Mt.Cook. On the way Hannah called and we were able to have a catch up on the phone. Edward took over the driving so I could talk on the phone. Unfortunately we were cut off a few times in "low spots" so we kept having to call each other back! I will not forget when we were cut off for the second time I was waiting for us to drive over this one hill and all of a sudden there it was....A beautiful turquoise blue lake with snow covered mountains in the background! This was our first glimpse of Mt. Cook and it was breath taking. We pulled over onto the side of the road to take photo's. The water was so turquoise colored and the sky so blue and the snow covered mountains, a real picture of beauty.

The rest of the drive up to the mountain was gorgeous as we followed the lake all the way there.



When we arrived we found a place to stay at the backpackers place. A hotel room with a view of the mountains for $100 as opposed to the Lodge room for $230. These were our only options as there is nothing else there, just a Lodge with a restaurant, a pub, an activities center which consisted of a small planetarium/movie screen, and a backpackers hostel.

In the evening we watched a documentary on Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. It was quite interesting. Later when it became dark we went on a star gazing tour. This turned out to be really good as we both learned a lot. We were able to see many stars through a telescope and also jupiter with 4 of it's moons and identify many of the constelations. The southern hemisphere can see stars that we cannot see in the northern hemisphere. Here we were able to see Betelguese (sounds like beetle juice) which is a massive sun that we aren't able to see from the north. It was really cool!

Betelguese is the low bright orange star
to the left of the mountain in the middle

The next day we went hiking (again!). Our guide from Franz Joseph Glacier recommended the Hooker Valley hike so that is what we did. It was a 3 hour hike that took us over a swing bridge which I was almost blown over due to the crazy strong winds! Along the way we followed a glacial stream all the way to the base of the Mt.Cook glacier. The water was freezing! This was a really nice hike, quite easy, but seemed to take forever and the wind was relentless! This country is extremely WINDY!! Very strong winds that almost blow you over! On the trail was a guy using crutches....not sure how he managed but he was determined.

You can see the base of the glacier covered in dirt just at the waters edge

walking back



Adventure Capital

Finally, we landed in a town with some Saturday markets on a Saturday! We visited the two markets in town, the sun blazing and the wind howling, the combination giving a crisp blue lake with exciting waves.

We both did the Shotover Jet, the famous jet boat as I discovered with more research. This is probably the one to do for a thrill. It was much better than Hukafalls jet. It flew through Shotover Canyon cutting close to the canyon walls.


We ended the day with a Gondola ride up the mountain for some magnificent views. The AJ Hackett bungy jump was there. I think this was the first one, but other than for historical reasons, it looked like the Nevus jumps and swings would have been much better. We did a luge ride, like the one Edwin and I did in Sentosa in Singapore. It was pretty fun.

 For dinner, we succumbed to $5 lamb shanks from the Alpine Supermarket.

Towards Queenstown

The drive to Queenstown was punctuated by several waterfall stops and majestic scenery. There were more waterfalls than was possible to visit, the Blue Pools where trout could be seen in clear glacier fed rivers, and lookouts were framed with big skies, mountains and lakes.

We made a lunch stop at Wanaka where we had a little fun at Puzzling World.

Just outside of Queenstown was Arrowtown, a historic themed town where we learned about the Chinese immigrants coming to NZ to mine gold.

We found a little gem called The Whistler for the next two nights. For the usual $105, it featured pretty much a full kitchen and even washing machine.

Some say Queenstown is overrated, but I thought it was quite a beautiful city. Mountains, lake, resort like feel with tons of restaurants, gift shops, outdoor sporting stores and Asian tourists. This evening, the turquoise blue lake was rough with white caps from the incessant wind.

We ordered some Indian food but then discovered $4.50 lamb shank dinners at the grocery store on the walk back to the hotel. I aborted the India curry and had a delicious lamb shank. Then I had the curry anyways.

Unfortunately our washing machine malfunctioned and didn't wash while we re-watched the movie Couple's Retreat. Guess which resort Couple's Retreat took place at? No, not the one we stayed at. 

Franz Josef Glacier

No sleeping in on tour days! We got up, had our lunches packed and got suited up for our glacier hike.

The Franz Josef Glacier Guides is the largest tour company in all of NZ, also owned by the Maori tribe who made some good investment decisions. The guiding company had some pretty good gear including boots and crampons, as well as raincoats and storm pants. I've noticed here in NZ that most tour companies have full gear for their activities which is great for tourists like us.

We were expecting rain today but amazingly, the weather was great! Our guides told us that being the wettest part of the country, appreciate the sun whenever you can.

The hike was definitely a highlight of NZ. It started off with a quick tramp through rainforest suddenly giving way to the rock valley leading up to the glacier. Waterfalls cascaded down on both sides of the valley. The day was marred when I lost my sunglasses somewhere on the track.

The weather was variable on the ice as we walked through deep ice crevasses, through ice tunnels and walked on the frozen imperceptibly flowing glacier.

I was really glad for the advice we got from friend and the Internet to do the full day tour rather than the half. The guides told us where the half way mark was and it barely got started on to the glacier!

We repeated our dinner at the Landing then ending off the day with a soak in the Glacier Hot Pools included with the glacier tour. 

Rain

It was pouring today. We drove from Westport down to Franz Josef taking about five hours.

Although it was a full day of driving, there were a couple of sights that we wanted to hit along the way which were outdoors.

The first was Cape Foulwind. Yes, quite foul today indeed. From the car, we saw the lighthouse, admired the waves crashing against the rocks and drove on.

We didn't stop until the Punakaiki Pancake rocks. Along the way, the highway ran along the coast which was pretty dramatic because of the wind and rain causing some pretty impressive waves.

Even though Punakaiki should have been a free walk, because of the rain, the iSite got us anyways when we bought ponchos.

We got out and got wet! The iSite agents told us that what made this afternoon spec was the fierce wind. Usually, it only just rained.

The track out to the ocean and pancake rocks started off with rainforest, then tall grasses that reminded me of a corn field. Then all of a sudden it gave way to the full brunt of the wind and rain.

The sea had carved out impressive caves in the multilayered rocks and with the weather, ocean sloshed around eroding the cliffs further.

Now that we were wet anyways, it didn't matter so we backtracked a bit on the highway to Truman Track. This 20 minute walk was well worth it too, taking us to the beach. The rain let up slightly but the wind continued to howl making the caves and overhangs along the way good reprieves. Towards the end of the track, a waterfall fell and flowed out to crashing ocean waves.

The drive was really quite long and I was at the wheel. But with my audiobook Moneyball, the driving was surprisingly not tiring at all. I'm always impressed at how audiobooks totally make a fatigue fighting marathon of a drive completely different where I sometimes hope the drive to be longer just so I can find out what happens next in the book.

In Franz Josef we booked a full day guided hike and I was really annoyed that they didn't apply the $10 off coupon to both our tickets instead of just one, because we only had one coupon. I told Shannon that while Southeast Asian countries rip off tourists for a dollar or two here and there, here you still pay more as a tourist but it's a factor of ten more.

We pretty much checked out all the accommodations in Franz Josef and even a couple places just outside of town. I was not surprised that everything was much more expensive. We ended taking a room with the smallest sink we've ever seen (but at least there was an ensuite) for $68 a night at Chateau Franz. Shannon used her charm to talk down the friendly host from $76.

We had a very nice dinner at The Landing. The lamb shanks were good! So good in fact that we would return the next evening as well. 

Hiking Abel Tasman!

Even after having not rained torrentially yesterday we were still rewarded today with clear blue skies, perfect for our postponed walk in the national park.

We booked the brief 3 hour trek between Bark Bay and Anchorage. The booking entailed arranging water taxi drop off and pick up in and out of the parks.

It was a beautiful walk, and I have to say again how well maintained the trails are in NZ. Props to the Dept of Conservative.

The section we went on followed the coast giving us beautiful views of beaches, going over streams and pools, a swinging bridge at Sandfly Bay that we kayaked under two days ago, and ended off traversing the sandy foreshore between Torrent and Anchorage.

We drove from Kaiteriteri to Westport, the landscape turning mountainous as we hit Buller River, going along the gorge.

We found a motel, bought groceries for dinner and stayed in. Actually, pretty much all of the motels we've stayed in here have cooking facilities, usually consisting of two burners, a microwave, a small fridge and some utensils. It was nice buying exactly what we wanted for dinner, cooking and eating at half the cost otherwise at a restaurant. 

The Storm that Never Came

We were warned about a big rain storm coming in overnight so we were wary about hiking in Abel Tasman today. Waking up early to check the weather, dark clouds loomed just off shore so we decided to go back to bed and sleep in.

For some reason, for lunch I only had two kiwis, a chocolate chip muffin and chocolate ice cream cone. I paid for this in a headache in the afternoon until I ate some chips in the car.

On the recommendation of our host we drove north to check out the biggest and clearest fresh water springs on the continent, Pupu springs.

It was a bit of a long drive out there for a half hour walk, but it was interesting to see the thousands of liters of crystal clear water well up from a couple of springs in a lake. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up rippling the lake and obscuring the clarity and colors beneath. Some of this water had been underground for 2-10 years and the clearest next to a springs found in Antarctica.

Along the way, we made a side trip to Harwood hole, and sink hole almost 200 meters deep. I was seriously thinking about turning around because the gravel road was so rough, narrow and windy, but we eventually made it. The walk turned out to be great starting off with Lord of the Rings like dense silverwood trees giving way to acid rain carved marble rocks that gave the trail a bit of a challenge. Eventually, the path opened up to this huge drop into the abyss.

While driving, Shannon and I decided to start focusing on doing things here in New Zealand that isn't available in Canada. The countries are just too similar with tons of nice hikes and walks that you just can't do them all. Also, because it is difficult to do some things without a guide, it starts eating away at the bank account.

Even if we were to rent kayaks at Abel Tasman, we would have saved maybe $20, so we decided to do the guided tour. But maybe because of the season, mediocre weather and lack of wildlife, it definitely wasn't worth $320.

We looked at our calendar, read through the rest of the AA driving guides and figured we can cut some time out of NZ and consider possibly going to the Philippines for a couple weeks instead.

For those interested in budgeting, our expenses in CAD not including flights in each country so far is

Los Angeles: $2268 (6 days, $378/d)

French Polynesia: $6336 (14 days, $453/d)

NZ: $4604 (18 days, $256/d)

Abel Tasman National Park

We were excited to do the full day kayaking tour that was had booked around Abel Tasman. A friend of our told us that this was the best thing she had done in all of New Zealand.

It wasn't a bad day for kayaking. It was a little cold to start off with but once with all the gear on like the splash suit and kayak skirt, it was good.

We paddled down the coast from Tonga Bay down to Anchorage swinging by a couple of islands including Tonga Island to view some seals.

It was a decent day out in the outdoors with the sun staying behind the clouds until the tour was over. The water was very calm despite our guide expecting 30 knot winds. We saw a couple of seals, but not the hundreds fighting over prime mating rocks that would have been cool in a couple weeks time.

So far, I have to say New Zealand had been rather disappointing. Shannon and I seem to have arrived probably at a bad time during the year. All the travel literature we're using shows people frolicking on the beaches and taking swims in pools after long hikes, but it's been too cold and windy most of the time to take off my fleece. Here at Abel Tasman, we're probably a month too early to see the seals and whales, as well as enjoy the fruit season and even flowering of the vineyard plants.

The prices are expensive for what we're used to, and I can't help but keep thinking about beach, warmth and dirt cheap stuff in Asia, especially when we gave in this evening for a delicious Thai meal in Motueka.

Doing some reading for our trip ahead, it doesn't look too much more different. Queenstown looks interesting being the adventure capital of the world, but Fiordland sounds similar to what we have back home.

What's been good is that we haven't had a problem finding relatively inexpensive accommodation and not booking ahead of time. But I guess this is the tradeoff for low season.

Wine country better with strawberries

We started off the day drinking right after breakfast. Strange, but that was the only way our schedule worked. We visited several vineyards in the region and sampled their wines.

We decided not to do a tour but instead go around ourselves which was fine. For me personally, not being a big wine fan, not really liking the taste and on top of that wine being an expensive hobby, doesn't really make sense for me.

I decided not too long ago that I really shouldn't try to force myself to enjoy alcohol since I don't really like it for any particular reason. The only type I can really say I do like are late harvest wines.

We ended up going around to four vineyards before we carried on. The experience for us was essentially the same as our tour in the Okanangan. The wines to be honest didn't taste different: "dry," as they would say.

A nice stop was the hydroponic strawberry farm near Blenheim where we picked a basket and had some very tasty yogurt.

It was a windy drive through the Golden Bay towns to Motueka where we stopped for dinner at Gothic, an old church converted to restaurant. At Kaiteriteri, when we were "this" close to staying at the resort and spa for $140 a night, we found a private basement suite for $80 that more than met our needs.

A review of our budget revealed that we had just broken the $20k mark on our vacation budget with the New Zealand excursions costing more than we expected. 

On to the South

Hard to believe but today marks the one month period since our the start of our sailing trip so long ago and six weeks since we left Canada!

We got up early this morning to go up to the Mount Victoria lookout and admired the view of the city. The radio played a song called "Nothing beats a nice day in Wellington" and indeed it was a very nice day out.

We then checked in at the ferry terminal where we left our car and went over to the famous Te Papa Museum for a couple of hours before our ferry departure.

We encountered a talkative host who told us about his children and grandchildren and how they were all either living in the US or Australia because they made much better living there.

The museum itself was very good and because we were limited on time, we only got to see a couple of exhibits.

The ferry crossing was uneventful and before long we were cruising in Marlborough Sound, a beautiful sight to welcome us to South Island.

Our first stop was Picton iSite where they were very helpful in assisting us with planning our next few days in the Marlborough and Abel Tasman National Park area. With a general sense of our itinerary, we drove to Blenheim just a half hour away, a town of about 20,000 to stay for the night.

My first impressions of South Island is that it seems bigger. Maybe because it is rumored to have a lot more things to see and do, and also because the mountains are larger and waiting in the backdrop as opposed to the smaller green hills of North Island. So far the weather has been great with sunny skies, but the cool wind still posters. Accommodations are more expensive. Our motel tonight is $112 and the $70 places we were used to didn't exist. It could be because we are in wine region though.

In the evening, we ate Pizza Hut, watched Shutter Island on tv and made plans for vineyard tours tomorrow and Abel Tasman the next few days which should be nice.

NZ's Capital

We had a nice leisurely day in Wellington today. After sleeping in, we had good intentions to head straight down to the iSite to do some South Island planning. However, minutes stepping out of our hotel, we were distracted by an outdoor clothing clearance sale followed by a bookstore where we spent some time looking at their Bali Lonely Planet guidebook.

Because Christmas holiday is coming up, it's actually kind of difficult traveling by the seat of your pants because we have to consider how many weeks we'll need in NZ, then how long to spend in Australia, and finally, how to go about traveling around Bali so that we know where to book a place during the holiday week where it supposedly fills up.

After eating at a downtown food court, we eventually made it to the iSite where we decided not to do another Lord of the Rings movie set tour since we didn't recognize most of the fictional locations listed in the brochures despite having just watched Fellowship of the Rings.

We strolled around the CBD window shopping while busy locals bustled around us. We took the cable car up the hill mistakingly purchasing a round trip ticket as we would later walk back down the hill anyways.

At the top, there was a cable car museum about cable car history in Wellington. Very similar to San Francisco, except there they had a working cable system instead of a mockup.

The walk down the Botanical Gardens was nice. I should have worn more than just my t-shirt as the weather was windy and cool in the shade. Kind of like Canada, cooler than you'd expect.

At the base, we made it just in time for the last Parliament Building tour of the day. This was actually well worth the hour visiting the Beehive and Parliament building, gaining a bit of history about NZ, as well as its similar executive and legislative arms of government.

We had to walk back to our hotel because our parking ran out. Here it doesn't seem like you can buy parking for a full day which was quite annoying. We moved the car to the street where it was free until 8am the next morning, so we get to sleep in a little.

On the way back, we actually bought the Bali and Lombok Lonely Planet to do some planning. Here we experienced the high prices of books in the country. I remember that was the case in Australia too where books were so expensive, people set up book clubs and shared each other's books to make it more affordable. The Lonely Planet which was listed as $25 USD cost $50 NZ, about $40 CAD equivalent.

Which brings me to why things in Canada (and the US) cost so much less than goods anywhere else. Here, a soup at a restaurant would cost $8 CAD. Pop about $4, $3.5 for a can at the store. A whole roasted chicken at the supermarket was $9, a waterproof camera was $460 when BestBuy.ca listed it for $320. Gas is $1.70 a liter.

The things I found cheaper were hotels, about half the price of an equivalent in North America. Car rentals is probably less too at $28 a day, and when you work it out, cell phone plans would be better.

We had dinner at a place called Hog's Breath Cafe which had surprisingly good prime rib. I negotiated a 20% discount, as there was a coupon at iSite, but I neglected to take it because, who would have thought we'd go to this restaurant anyways?

While at the restaurant, I scored another deal booking a ferry to South Island. The famous Interislander was full, but there are actually two ferries that operate between Welling and Picton. The Bluebridge Ferry was having a promotion and cost $50 less with a student card.

After dinner, we watched Contagion, went back to our hotel, did a load of laundry, in an actual laundry machine this time, and then bed.

Reading about Bali actually got us both excited about Indonesia, which we were a bit hesitant about initially after hearing about the scams. We are also considering adding Philippines to the itinerary and perhaps abbreviating Thailand, since we've been there already.

In any case, looking forward to finishing Wellington tomorrow morning and seeing what's next in the South Island. The outdoor clothing store guy admitted that South Island hands down beats North for pretty much everything. 

Napier and Wellington

Today I tried out Hukafalls Jet, the number two rated activity in Taupo according to TripAdvisor. I would have preferred Rapids Jet but we would have had to delay our drive south until 12:30pm from 10:30.

It was pretty good. Fun to do once. Rather expensive at $80. I couldn't help but wonder if it was this one Ben recommended or maybe Rapids Jet, or even another on of the many I've seen all around.

My waterproof camera is starting to give me troubles now. It got some water internally in Cancun, and despite trying to dry it out with silica gel and rice, in the right conditions, water still condenses under the lens ruining shots in the most inopportune moments. This has happened in Bora Bora a couple times and now on Hukafalls Jet. Dang.

After the thrill ride, I was chatting with a couple from Saskatchewan while waiting for Shannon to pick me up. She wasn't interested in the ride and went to take pictures at the waterfall. The Canadians just got here yesterday, they're flight delayed 2 days after the skybridge crashed into their plane due to high winds. Crazy. They were heading north to do White Island and spending two days at the  Waitomo caves.

I think next time if I were to come here, there are a few things I'd have do like another cave tour, White island, and the 7m white water raftable falls.

We had a rainy drive down to the sunniest city in NZ, Napier. It semi-lived up to its reputation because the second week stepped out of the car to the Bluff Lookout, the rain stopped. It was still overcast, but at least not wet.

We also had a walk downtown seeing the Art Deco buildings. It would have been pretty neat living during that era. Kind of like Bioshock. As well did a loop back to the car on Marine Parade.

We skipped gannet watching at Cape Kidnappers because of the weather and after a few more hours of driving south we came across gigantic blades spinning behind hills and peaking over trees. This was the Te Apiti wind farm, a remarkable place!

Eventually we made it to Wellington, the capital of NZ. The drive overall was quite nice once the sun came out. A short stretch of waves crashing against rocks and green mountains was really nice just north of Pukerua Bay. It took some circling to find uStay urban apartments where we scored a deal for $62 in an otherwise sold out city. Apparently, annual reports are due out or something and everyone was having a conference in Wellington.

It took even longer to find parking downtown. In the end, we parked at the parkade beside the hotel but had to wake up at 7am to buy another ticket.

Mount Doom

We got up buck early to catch the 6:15am bus to Tongariro Crossing from Taupo. It turned out to be a great day, very nice hike. Volcanic rubble turned into orange sulfur craters and several emerald lakes up at the peak of the hike.

Just a couple of observations not on Shannon and my video.

The weather went from sweating at the base, even at 9 in the morning, to freezing with 50-60km/h winds at the top.

Mount Doom was neat to see.

The peak of Mount Doom is sacred and therefore they were not allowed to film it in Lord of the Rings. Didn't matter because they CG'ed it anyways and made it spill with lava.

What I've noticed is that the Maori have made a lot of things sacred. Excusing my insensitivity, it just seems like a waste not sharing the beauties of the land with others. But I guess that's the point. Aside from the peak of Mount Doom, were some fantastic looking hot springs on the eastern face of Tongariro Mountain. It's kind of like going to Banff area and saying boom, Radium Hot Springs is sacred. Therefore no swimming. Also, Lake Louise, so you can go but no photography. Who knows, maybe it was sacred but just the "white man" didn't listen there.

Exhausted after our hike we had a nice shower back at our motel, did some Bali planning at the Internet cafe and had a huge 700g rump steak at a place called Dixie Brown's. It was quite excessive, even I'll admit to that. 

A geyser and lots of sulfur

This morning we checked out and drove down to Wai-O-Tapu where we rushed to make the 10:15am eruption of Lady Knox Geyser.

Wai-O-Tapu is quite the commercialized park as the Lonely Planet warned but that didn't tell the whole story.

Around the geyser were seats set up amphitheater style for optimal viewing. 10:15 came and went. Cameras were poised. Then a park guide steps up to them geyser, tells us some history and geology, and proceeds to dump some surfactant into the mouth of the geyser. Water bubbles up and five minutes later it is gushing ten meters high.

I guess see the geyser was neat but for those expecting something like Old Faithful at Yellowstone, not quite the same.

We went into Wai-O-Tapu which was an easy hour and a half walk around interesting boiling mud and colorful pools smelling of various degrees of egg.

Having exhausted our $50 admission, we drove up Old Kerosene Road where we found a beautiful stream and mini waterfall that was hot! We were surprised no one hadn't commercialized this and charged for it. We put on our swim suits and had a fantastic relaxing dip in the hot waterfall.

We drove into Taupo just another 40 minutes away where it started to pour. We found Chandlers Motel which was charging $30 less than comparable accommodations after driving around half an hour.

At the ever so handy iSite tourism office, we got information on the Tongariro Crossing for tomorrow. Something I thought would have been just about free cost us $100 in having a shuttle take us to and from the all day hike. Had we planned it better, we would have only booked one night at Chandlers and driven the hour to get down there and carried on south.

Because of the rain, there was not much else to do. There were some highly rated jet boats in the area which we'll have to put off until the day after.

We hung out at the Internet cafe, bought food for our hike tomorrow, and had a nice lamb shank dinner at Pimentos. Then watched part of Lord of the Rings that I downloaded on my phone before going to sleep. Long hike ahead tomorrow!

Sheep and Hobbits

Shannon was really looking forward to the sheep show at the Agrodome today to see all the different kinds of sheep and what makes them different.

The Agrodome was a few minutes away from town and was actually a farm as well as an attached and unrelated Agroventures which had a bunch of thrill rides if you were so inclined.

We dropped $40 to see the sheep show which was kind of interesting. About 16 or so different types of sheep were introduced to the audience with the nice fluffy merino being the star attraction. There was also a sheep shearing demonstration and two types of sheep dogs shown including the staring eye dog which was pretty neat.

We got to take a few pictures with sheep and then stop over next door where some newborn lambs were penned for some petting. Baby animals are always so cute.

On the way out, we stopped by the Zorb. Now normally, I'm all for paying for one of a kind experiences, but the Zorb has got to be the fastest way to have your money parted from you ever. For $36,  you get zipped up inside the Zorb sphere and rolled down the hill. The whole ride is no more than 20 seconds which was pretty ridiculous. Maybe if you got a couple of rides, or allows you can ride for an hour, but at that price, I just got a picture and we moved on.

We drove about an hour to Matamata. Driving through NZ, we frequently pass towns whose lifeline are the highways that crisscross through the country. The average sized town in NZ is about 7000 with the total population about 4 million. That really gives you an idea about the size of the place. There really are no "big" cities so living here would definitely change one's perspective on the size of a community. Moving to Red Deer with 90000 people would be like a metropolis here.

A farm just outside of Matamata is where Hobbiton is located, the set of the movie Lord of the Rings. The owners of the land convinced the movie studio to not take down the set and have it as a tourist attraction. It was really neat to see, almost like another Warner Brothers tour. But the whole shire was there from the Party tree to Bilbo's house and the Green Dragon. A neat bit of trivia include the "sunset" where Gandalf and Bilbo were smoking pipes was actually filmed during sunrise because of the landscape. Whenever I come on to these sets, I feel it's too bad that most of the buildings are actually facades.

Shannon and I aren't huge LOTR fans but appreciated the tour nonetheless. Later, we'll have to watch the movie again to appreciate the full NZ LOTR connection.

We went back to Rotorua where we wandered around the town. The thing with small towns, which all of NZ's towns are, is that they pretty much don't have night life, especially on Sundays.

We enjoyed Kuirau Park, a public park spotted with numerous bubbling hot springs, mud and other volcanic activity. It was really nice to find a place in NZ that didn't charge you to see something. In NZ it seems, to do or see anything, someone has to make a buck off you.

We strolled around the Museum grounds. The Museum used to be a really posh bath house for the "rich, ill, and famous." It's interesting how hot springs are somehow connected to healing. The park was free with a nice rose garden, and we skipped paying $10 to see the museum.

Caving adventure

It was drizzling again today. Which made it a perfect day to do some caving underground!

I was really looking forward to doing something like the reputed piece de resistance of caving tours, the 7 hour epic which included an abseil down into a huge cave and then finding your way out through waterfalls and underground rivers. I was looking forward to it as much as Shannon was not. Luckily for her, it was sold out.

We compromised on a three hour less intensive tour with Legendary Blackwater Rafting Co. Donning chilly wet suits and grabbing an inner tube, we made our way down to the caves.

It was freezing water! The temperature was about 11C, but thankfully the wetsuits were thick. I also put on one of my wool t-shirts and rash guard as I usually get cold in the water.

The entrances to the caves always amazes me. They're often non-descript small entrances with a gentle stream running into them. Crawling in, the small low overhanging ceiling gives way to crazy rooms and crawl spaces. I was the first to enter and lead the group which was really neat, as if I were exploring this cave on my own.

Near the entrance, there was this low and tight corner to be negotiated which led right into a cozy cave room with an impressive waterfall crashing down to the cave floor. I think this was the coolest thing I've seen in a while. Our headlamps weren't bright enough to see where the waterfall began, but all of a sudden this rush of water cascades into this small enclosed space, and then out the passage that we just crawled through.

There were several floating areas where we'd turn off our lights and see these amazing blue-green star like points on the ceilings of the caves. These were the glow worms, and they actually got really bright. Their life cycle was actually quite gross. They're not exactly worms, but maggots. These insect larvae have excrement that glow in the dark to attract flies. The flies get stuck in sticky strands the larvae secrete and get eaten. Eventually, the bug makes a cocoon and emerges as an adult. The adult insect doesn't have a digestive tract so it lives only three days. But 10% of its body is reproductive organs so you know what.

There was a small waterfall jump, and eventually we made it to the cave exit, got a hot shower followed by bagel and soup. It was a very good tour, but too short, I thought and if I were around again, would definitely sign up for one of the longer ones.

The last time we were in caves was in Belize. I thought these ones were more interesting especially with the beautiful glow worms and the waterfall. Both had the tube ride. For Shannon, I think this was just right for her. She told me again that she was quite nervous for this one, but coming out of it, it wasn't as bad as she thought. Made it!

We drove into Rotorua and did some motel searching again. After about 6-7 motels, we found Collingwood Gables Motel, run by a Korean lady who knew I was Chinese right away, unlike the otherwise nice corner store clerk at Rawene who thought I was Indian. We're finding that most of these motels are pretty much the same, all built around the same time with two faucet sinks, two burner stoves, a separate small kitchen, a bathroom in the back and bedroom in the front. The room was $75 ($60 CAD), whereas many others averaged $80 CAD.

After getting pizza for dinner and a quick stop at the Countdown supermarket since we had a fridge, we went to the Polynesian Spa down the road. Rotorua is on top of things crust and has steam rising from hot springs all over the place. In fact, as soon as you hit the city limits sign, sulfur starts hitting the senses.

The spas were great. There were pools ranging from 38 to 41 degrees were we just soaked and reaped supposed healing properties of the alkaline and acidic pools. One 41C pool looked out onto the lake and I think it's this view that gave it a top ten rating by some agency.

Driving on a sunny day

Today is probably the nicest weather day we've had since coming to NZ. We spent most of the day in the car putting in a good six or seven hours driving from Kaitia in the north to Hamilton south of Auckland.

Notable event included the ferry across to Rawene. Shannon's parents called while we were on the ferry and were planning on going to Red Deer for a farming technology show.

We had a quick lunch a cafe in Rawene before continuing on south to Waipoua Forest. Just off the highway is Tane Mahota, the world's oldest known kauri tree, sprouting from a seed probably when Christ was born. It was a pretty huge tree with Maori aboriginal significance - giver of all life. In this respect, it reminded me of the tree in the movie Avatar.

There seemed to be several hikes in Waipoua Forest, but Shannon was bored of the forest already, and we were anxious to get as far south as possible.

We kept going, hit Auckland at rush hour, but eventually made it down to Hamilton.

Whenever I think of a city named Hamilton, I think of smoke stacks and industry. There were some big factory buildings but Hamilton seems like a nice city.

There was a motel strip where we parked the car and just walked up and down the street looking at rooms and inquiring about prices. There was only one place that actually gave us a "deal," the owner was quite friendly and offered us a double bed for $64CAD. All the rest gave us the regular rates, you could tell, and despite prompting, didn't go lower.

The Gardena Court Motel had a small kitchen with fridge, two burner stove, tv, a lumpy double bed and clean shower. While it's not the most beautiful room, I thought the owners did a decent job with the details like Cadbury chocolates on the pillows, three sets of cutlery and pots for cooking, and neatly laid out shampoo and soaps. I'm all for family run places.

Being a Friday night, it was busy downtown Hamilton. Of course, downtown is only one street, but it was on street with no parking at all. We finally found a spot right in front of the Internet cafe, and had a nice cafeteria style dinner. We surfed for an hour before going back to the hotel.

The Far North

Today we drove up far north. Our first stop was Mangonui for some world famous fish and chips. The village itself was very cute. It could definitely be a site for a television series - very scenic main street, one or two beautiful dressed waterfront buildings, but living here in real life would probably be boring.

I imagine the fish and chips were made world famous somehow a self-proclamation that was subsequently perpetuated by iSite staff. Probably not unlike Japadog in Vancouver: a hot dog stand that managed to land in the Lonely Planet but a hot dog stand nonetheless. I mean, how can you do fish and chips in any other way than how it's always done? We ordered a shrimp and mussel dish as well as the fish and chips. They were like all other such platters I've had as expected.

Further north took us to the gift shop featuring a staircase carved into the trunk of an ancient kauri tree. An interesting specimen, but we didn't need any kauri furniture at the moment.

I find it strange the further north one gets, the more desolate it becomes. I would have thought it'd be the opposite since going north here should mean warmer as one approaches the equator. But like Canada, as you drive north, the highways become less busy and you definitely feel more alone.

The southern end of 90 mile beach was like that. It went on forever, merging into the mists beyond. It was also very flat giving the appearance that one could walk into the ocean and its waves disappearing into the sea. A few cars ventured north on the beach and some other tourists were having a look around, but the emptiness of the scene and fierce winds of the roaring 40s gave it an alien feel, like we were on another planet, in some ways hospitable, in others hostile.

A long miserable drive north took us to Cape Reinga.

Anyways, Cape Reinga was just as windy and felt like the end of the world. Looking off out into the sea, where the Pacific Ocean met Tasman Sea, I get the sense once again of how small I am and how easily the ocean could swallow me up, disappearing without a second thought in lapping waves that have struck this coast for thousands of years. A lighthouse sits on the Cape and I wondered how many exhausted sailors breathed a sigh of relief when they saw this northernmost point (close enough) of New Zealand.

I took over driving from this point and we made a stop at the sand dunes. We rented some boogie boards and surfed down the sand dunes. They were crazy steep, but definitely manageable once we got the hang of it. An hour was just the right amount of time as its the climbing up part that got the best out of you.

We made it down to Kaitia where we found a hotel that was clean but in need of a face lift. Better than a hostel though, so can't really complain too much. We drove out to Ahipara to enjoy the sunset, got some Chinese take out, and back to the hotel.

Bay of Islands

We went on the Cream Tour today, a full day Bay of Islands tour through the Fullers company which followed the route of a cream and mail delivery boat took in the olden times. We actually had some groceries and mail on board to deliver to a couple islands!

The day started off dreary and cool, and we wondered if we were just spoiled from sunshine and islands of French Polynesia that any cruise we did now would just pale in comparison. NZ isn't exactly a cheap country either, and what we like are cheap warm places...

Anyhow, the Bay of Islands very much resembled Halong Bay in Vietnam. There we did an overnight cruise in a bay dotted with green covered hills that poked out over the water. It was similar here with NZ's own unique plant flora. Interestingly, even the weather was somewhat similar: overcast, a weak threat of rain, jacket weather.

We cruised around different bays, saw the rare volcanic "Black Rocks" and had a stop at one of the islands for lunch. There was even a Hole in the Rock that Billy our skipper amazingly took our boat through. Halong Bay also had a similar hole, but we were taken through by human driven canoes.

The highlight of the trip were the dolphins for sure. We had two sightings, the first being a large pod of 15-20 dolphins with young calves. Then at the end of the trip, we came across a smaller pod and some passengers jumped in to swim with them in the wild. They were so playful, breaching the water, swimming so fast alongside the boat and getting up close. This was the first time either of us have seen dolphins like this and it was pretty amazing. I think the next time when it's warmer, we'd have to try the swim as well.

I wondered at first if the sound of the boat motor would scare the dolphins away, but they didn't seem put off and came around and under our boat. Having watched The Cove, I think this is a way more humane way to interact with the dolphins being out in the wild.

We were pretty tired by the end of the trip. We checked in to Paihia Pacific Resort across the street from the hostel. For the same price, the place was awesome. Nice big clean room with ensuite and hotel amenities. It was a little quiet which was probably why we could negotiate. I bet this whole town completely books up during the high season, but right now we're still in shoulder season, and this is apparent by the weather. I'm actually ok with that having had a lot of water and beach time before NZ, and looking forward to more in Asia.

Dinner was at the same restaurant as last night. We were craving the three course dinner menu, and now with a 5% discount for returning, we couldn't resist. Unfortunately, I could only say that the meal was "good." I had lamb shank and Shannon had the fish of the day, blue nose, and we both found the meal left us wanting more. Yesterday's pizza at a little more than a third the price was more satisfying.

Pooped, we returned to our hotel, threw our smelly sandals in the washing machine, and turned in for an early night as we have big plans to head up to Cape Reinga, the northern point of North Island, tomorrow.

Going North

I can't believe its November already. Ace car rental forgot to pick us up this morning but with a phone call arrived ten minutes later at our hotel which gave us some time to do some planning from all the pamphlets we got from the tourist agency.

NZ is really well set up this way for tourism. They have iSite offices pretty much in all their cities that help with booking rentals, accommodations and activities for free. The offices are also stocked with free literature and advice from the people who work there.

We got a Nissan Tiida with about 80k on it. Steering wheel on the right of course, and it came with automatic transmission luckily.

Our first stop was Countdown, a grocery store where we bought a chicken lunch and all sorts of junk food, fruit and muffins now that we have a car. Then we drove up to Newmarket where I found a backpacking store that sold tent repair tape to seal a tear on my bag. I bought some in Vancouver actually and didn't think I needed it, but I guess for a longer trip, having it for my only bag, which is a great water resistant bag, but very light in terms of weight and material, wouldn't be a bad idea.

Then it was off on highway 1, driving by downtown and across the harbor bridge, out north towards the Bay of Islands.

Driving on the left isn't too bad. I knew this having rented a car when I visited Margaret River south of Perth. Actually, driving in NZ is quite straightforward as the traffic lights tell you exactly what you need to do. You can turn only with an arrow or green light. Usually pedestrians have their own signal so you don't have to worry about them crossing on your green.

The landscape is quite compressed to what we're used to. Endless hills are not the gentle rolling variety like in North America, but many mini mountains with steep green grades populated by sheep and patches of trees that seem too tall and skinny. It seems like every hill just had its grass mowed and landscaped. Either the grasses don't grow long here or the animals take care of everything.

We did a couple of hikes, the first one spontaneously off the side of the road to Pohuehue waterfall. The trail around Pohuehue stream leading up to the falls was impressive in its upkeep and very easy to walk. The vegetation was very varied with fern-like palm trees, broad and narrow leafed plants of all different shades. It seems more diverse than back at home. The plants seemed perfectly planted for our hiking pleasure.

The drive up to Whangarei was on a windy two laned highway with speed limits ranging from 80-100 km/h.

At Whangarei, we found the peak lookout point to the city, snapped some pictures and quickly made our way to the much more interesting Whangarei waterfall, just at the edge of town. This beautiful falls is supposedly the most photographed and I think very pretty. The water falls into a perfect tree encircled pond with a small stream draining the water away. A bridge arcs over the stream so that it can be hiked on both sides. If this was secluded, it'd be the perfect fantasy swimming pond.

We had a bathroom break on the 1hr trip left up to the Bay of Islands at the famous toilets of Hundertwasser. It was easy enough to find and on the way, both predetermined criteria I set for seeing this landmark. It was mildly interesting and well maintained.

We arrived at Paihia around 6:30pm when most shops had closed and restaurants opened for dinner. It was quite quiet and similar to Sylvan Lake in that the main drag ran along the water. Sailboats anchored just off shore with the famous picturesque islands out in the bay.

We had a delicious pizza dinner at La Scala after a bout of indecisive wandering.

Our accommodations for the night was noisy again, but we should have seen this coming. It was the Base Hostel, one of the better rated hostels which I'd agree with in terms of backpacker social atmosphere. But maybe we're of the wrong demographic for this sort of thing now. Especially after our recent track record. Our private double was opposite the bar which blasted music late into the night.

We (ie. Shannon) reaffirmed our plan to once again not book our accommodations ahead of time from pictures off the Internet. I think we've arrived in NZ just before high season and it seemed like rooms were aplenty everywhere. We strolled across the street and managed to negotiate a last minute room for tomorrow night at The Paihia Pacific Resort Hotel for $70 CAD, pretty much the same price as the hostel.

Getting out Butts in Gear in Auckland

We finally decided to get off our butts and do some exploring. The sun peeked out in the morning so that was promising.

We took the first ferry out to Rangitoto Island, the youngest volcanic island in the vicinity. We hiked the beaten path to the top and back down with a slight detour to check out the lava caves.

The island was neat in that vegetation managed to bloom out of volcanic black rocks that still seemed very freshly deposited.

The views were nice and we were surprised to see that NZ actually had similar turquoise blue shallows as in French Polynesia. We had a quick lunch of BBQ pork buns and granola bars at the look out. Kids on field trips swarmed at the top.

You can actually see the crater of the volcano and do the crater walk around it. It is now filled in with vegetation and supposedly dormant, but the crater is still very distinct.

The lava caves were an interesting diversion. Trails lead to several caves that can be explored and traversed, especially if one was willing to get a little dirty. Shannon stayed outside and waited for me.

We made it back for the 12:45pm ferry back to Auckland, to hike up some other dormant volcanoes. We took the train from Bristomart to Mt. Eden and walked up to the top for a view around the city. Supposedly, there are some 50 volcano craters that can be found in Auckland to the trained eye. Twenty might be identified by the untrained eye.

We walked around the crater of Mt Eden, the bottom of the crater supposedly sacred. At the top was another loud field trip, but we enjoyed the views nonetheless of the CBD across to One Tree Hill.

The train took us back downtown and we changed at our hotel before going out to the SkyTower up the block. Having seen Auckland from two different peaks already, we figured we'd see it from the top of the tower.

We made a dinner reservation for their buffet at 8pm. In the meantime, we grabbed some brochures from the iSite tourism desk around the corner and went up to the observation deck to watch the sunset.

The view was pretty much what you'd expect, and pretty incredible. Auckland is nice in that it has a beautiful harbor and a real sailing community. Its nickname is "The City of Sails" after all. We saw a fleet of sailboats practicing around a course, the packed marinas, Rangitoto and all the peaks all around the tower.

There were glass sections of the floor which were scary enough that Shannon only stepped on one once.

Dinner was a real treat. Tons of seafood including scallops, several different fish, mussels, clams and delicious oysters. Then they also had lamb ribs, chicken drumsticks, Coca Cola honey glazed ham, and a nice dessert table.

Unfortunately, at two in the morning, I had to clear out my GI tract from both ends, but felt better shortly thereafter. It was still worth it.

Auckland Rainy and Cold

What is probably most reflective of our time here in Auckland so far is the lack of photos taken. These two days, we've taken a total of five photos.

Being in Auckland over the weekend probably didn't help as most stores closed early and often the crappy weather made walking around and hiking not fun.

Either that or we should heed the advice of others and get out of Auckland as soon as possible to enjoy the rest of New Zealand.

This morning we changed hotels to All Seasons just down Queen Street on Wyndham. For an extra $10, we got an ensuite, a kitchenette, tv and stereo, a warm room, and a nice view from the 16th floor.

Queens street is where it's all at. We did some window shopping, went to the Internet cafe for four hours, and walked down the Harbour Viaduct.

For lunch we had fast food Indian which was surprisingly good and lasted us until Japanese ramen for dinner. We were hoping to sample some of New Zealand's famous lamb, but didn't find a restaurant that wasn't completely upscale.

The only other thing we did was book a rental car from the iSite official tourist office where they called around for prices on our behalf.

We initially looked into getting a camper van but even the basic ones ran between $75-100. On top of this, we'd have to pay campsite fees, a one way surcharge for Christchurch drop off, and just learned about the $300 ferry between the islands.

Shannon said it was probably a good thing we didn't commit to six weeks in a camper van since we're not big campers to start with. Instead we got a compact car for $28 a day.

What is a little disconcerting is we seem to be spending a lot of money here in Auckland and not actually doing anything. There are the hotels which are about $75 a night, and meals which cost about $30 for both of us. Despite the low NZ dollar, prices are still relatively high here. A 500mL bottle of Coke or water here is consistently $3-4 CAD, continental breakfast is $13, and main attractions like Skywalk and Skyjump from the tower is $120.

We made some plans for the week to visit Bay of Islands and the area north  Auckland, and briefly toyed with the idea of flying to Thailand and coming back to New Zealand when it was warmer. Being spring, we'll miss out on a lot of the water activities I think, which is a major highlight in the guide magazine, but that should be all right since we have a lot of beach destinations later on. There should be plenty of hiking here.

Touchdown in New Zealand

I was disappointed to learn that indeed we lost a day crossing the international date line. Leaving Thursday night, and being very impressed with Air New Zealand (why does Air Canada so under par?), we arrived on Saturday morning in Auckland.

It was the beginning of spring here so the temperature was a chilly 15 degrees, slightly wet having rained at night.

The tourist information desk was very helpful with sorting ourselves out on the first day. We got a 2degree SIM card and got 30 mins of NZ calling, 2500 texts and 50 mb data for $16. Strangely, calling Canada was 22c/min whereas calling NZ was 44c/min. The agent also supplied us with all sorts of useful tips about renting a camper van, car and getting around Auckland.

Before going to the city however, we had to make a stop at the Icebreaker outlet store, located at the airport shops NZ$1 away. There we manage to somehow spend three hours and come away with several shirts. Not only were the clothes cheaper in NZ dollars, but we happened to go on the first day of their sale, getting some clothes for 50% off the outlet price.

We found Kiwi International hotel on my cell phone while riding the Airbus shuttle into Auckland CBD. We got a private room for $56 without an ensuite. The room was definitely ghetto, especially since we've been totally spoiled up until now.

The room didn't seem to have heat, the walls were painted gray with energy savings lights emphasizing the grayness. I'm writing this entry at 1:20am and the bar across the street is blasting loud alternative music. Doors slam easily and sounds conduct throughout the room and hallway. It was clean at least, and there we crashed for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Waking up, we went for a walk down Queen Street, the happenin' street of Auckland. It was a Saturday so unfortunately stores were winding down to a close.

Our first stop was BBQ Duck Café, spotted from across the street to be full of Asians, and the Chinese only menus on the wall. This place has got to be good!

I got a delicious wonton noodle soup with a side of BBQ duck while Shannon ordered spicy beef lunch special. The duck here cost about twice the amount back home, and the spicy beef was damn spicy. In fact, it was the spiciest thing we've ever eaten, even after we asked for a bowl of water so that we could soak the beef in it to make it less spicy.

We ended up at the cinema across from the main square where the 99% city occupation was taking place. They had free wifi and using Kayak, we found and checked out another nearby hotel. All-Seasons looked like a much better deal. FWecor about $10 more, we got an ensuite, kitchenette and tv! We booked it for tomorrow.

My mom and dad got my email and was our fist caller on our trip. We caught up and I promised to post more pictures. Sounds like the iPad was a hit for mom.

We watched Debt, which was a really good movie. A real spy movie, a good twist and dilemma to mull over. Highly recommend.

Overall, today was a very lazy day. Didn't accomplish much, but what an entirely different feeling it is when we've got months of traveling to do with no fixed itinerary. We'll see if any of the sights are open tomorrow. Otherwise, we'll hang out at an Internet cafe where they charge a measly $1.60 an hour, and try to book a camper van.