Guest Blog: Linda & Don on the South Island

Well, everyone, Don and I have survived our trip to NZ, and have traveled well. Andrew and Becky have since effectively covered our vacation in their blog, but they seem to want something from us too. Why would that be? They do such a grand and thorough job as it is. Nevertheless we will give it a whirl.

Don takes in the view from the Old Slaughter House

There are some aspects of the trip that B&A can’t touch, such as the flight into Chch. Since B&A landed in Auckland and took the ferry across, they missed all the magnificent views from the plane. Don and I were mesmerized even before we landed in Auckland. I, a lover of sunsets and sunrises, was blown away by the sunrise as we approached Auckland. My only disappointment was a lack of a picture window on the plane. Surely the transportation industry is missing the point when they don’t market the views from the skies, as no one else is able to compete against them.

Linda and Don enjoy the sunset (over the Tasman Sea, not the Southern Alps)

Once we resumed our short trip from Auckland to Chch, Don and I were glued to the window, both fighting for the best view. The scenery was unrivaled and unending. The Southern Alps, which NZ is famous for, were often beyond our vision during the land trip because of the cloud cover. Not so in the skies. These tall peaks, covered with snow, jutted through the clouds trying to reach out to the plane. They were absolutely glorious, and a good welcoming to the South Island. Beyond the mountains and the clouds we were greeted by the vineyards, sometimes covered with red netting, and remote roads, seemingly going nowhere for miles and miles. Only in the air can you really see how unpopulated and unspoiled NZ is. New Zealanders have a paradise, and they know it.

B&A also introduced us to the world of hostels. For those of you who are not familiar with this term as used in NZ, a hostel, or BBH, is a larger home with many bedrooms which include singles, doubles, and dorms. They provide, if you are lucky, multiple bathrooms, and kitchens. Sometimes you are asked to leave you shoes at the door, and always to clean up the kitchen after your meal. We were more often than not able to stay at the best hostels, and once, Becky informed me, our hostel had the best rating in the world--that would be the ‘Old Slaughter House’. This hostel, built on the side of a steep hill, included a ten minute hike up the hill in order to reach it. We were fortunate as our host, David, brought our luggage up on his four-wheeler, saving our backs and our lungs.

Don discusses his latest journal entry with Becky, while Andrew enjoys appetizers at that evening's backpackers

David had other amenities not offered by most hostels. Of course, the best one, as far as I was concerned, was the sunset. We could watch the sun as it sank into the ocean from David’s wrap-around porch high on the side of the hill. He also offered hot water bottles to keep us snug as a bug at night. Did I mention before that these hostels do not have central heat? Well they don’t. No comforts like home! Some supplied small electric heaters; others fireplaces. But not David, he supplied hot water bottles, and I am going to run out and buy them for my girls to use this winter when they come home for visits. They’ll just love it.

Living in a hostel also gave us the opportunity to cook and enjoy all our meals together. Thanks to Becky this usually came off without a hitch. Most kitchens, as far as I was concerned, only had the most basic supplies. But Becky managed to cook varied and healthy meals. However, she expected Don and me to take turns with her and Andrew. This included, not only the cooking, but the planning, the buying, the storing, the dishwashing, etc. etc. Most meals came off pretty well, but then there was the night of the omelets. What a disaster that was! I won’t even go into it. Thank God there were nights we eat out or had smoked salmon, or mussels at David’s or the nights that Chris and Belinda cooked for us. Those were great nights! Chris made us a traditional NZ pavlova cake. I tried to replicate it last night for my friend Pam. It was nothing like Chris’s. In fact, I had to make it twice. The first time it just fell apart; the second time it did again, but I was forced to use it. The only saving grace was the whipped cream, strawberries, and kiwis. Anyway, Pam acted like it was great. Thank goodness for friends.

Unlike some of our friends, who have toured NZ via a cruise ship, we were fortunate to tour the country in B&A’s Subaru, affectionately called ‘Ron Burgundy’. Because of this reliable hunk of machinery, we saw places most tourists never get to see. It took us up the highest mountains and to the most desolate beaches such as Gore Bay, where we saw our first bull kelp. If you don’t know any better, when you see it floating in the ocean, it looks like a seal. Ron took us to Farewell Spit, a narrow peninsula consisting of sand, seals, and a Gannet Colony. This peninsula, much like the 90 mile beach on the north island is restricted to one tour company so it is vastly desolate.

We wade across a tidal pool to make our way to the gannet colony at Farewell Spit

Did I mention that Ron only knows how to drive on the left hand side of the road? Don was able to experience this first hand, the day he volunteered to drive. The ‘golden rule’ according to Don is keep the driver in the middle of the road; left turns are like right turns and right turns are like left turns unless it is a gentlemen’s turn (ask Becky or Andrew for clarification). And, then there are give ways, round-abouts, judder bars, and one-lane bridge give ways. Also, New Zealanders are speedsters, never staying within the posted speed limit, always looking for the opportunity to pass you.

Don behind the wheel of Ron Burgandy

We had fun; let’s do it again in 2011.

Golden Oldies in Golden Bay (Sep. 24 – 27)

Terminology note: during our visit at Chris and Martin’s, Martin off-handedly referred to Linda and Don as our “oldies”, and for better or worse the term caught on with Becky and I. L&D haven’t seemed to mind much, so that’s good, but we enjoy it so much that we’d probably use it either way, we might just be more circumspect in our usage. With that in mind…

From the Sounds we took the oldies to Nelson, which is generally sunny, but wasn’t exactly cooperating for our day there. While in Nelson, we didn’t seem to get heaps of input on activities for the day, and so we took it pretty easy after our long hike the day before. I did take the opportunity to highjack our trip for a little while for a beer-related activity, diverting us to Founder’s Park for a mug at the brewery in the afternoon. I’ll cop to that being a danger of traveling with me. Otherwise, we took it easy in Nelson, enjoying the free-but-glacially slow internet at our hostel and playing cards.

Hot "tubs" by the stream at the Innlet

On the next day we headed out to Golden Bay, the hippie-rific rural beach area north of Nelson. You may recall our earlier visit to Golden Bay, where we stayed at a really cruisey Buddhist-inspired hostel, Shambhala. Unfortunately Shambhala was still closed for the low season this time, but Golden Bay seems to have good hostels all over the place, and we found one, The Innlet, and had it to ourselves for two nights. That’s the beauty of traveling in off-peak seasons here, and it’s tough to beat.

Hardhats are required for the tour at Ngarua Cave

Though the weather didn’t cooperate much of the time in Golden Bay, we were able to make the best of it, stopping at Ngarua Caves, a cool limestone cave formation with a tour guide who was a dead ringer for Albert Finney. We also stopped at a farm zoo/eel attraction that was highly recommended by Chris and one of Becky’s convention center workmates. It was surprisingly fun to feed eels pieces of raw meat, but Becky really got a kick out of feeding a little pig that followed us around the park – he looked so much like her sister’s dog that she began to call him Mickey as well. We also got out on Wharariki Beach that day and were able to find seal pups there again, but had to hurry and wade back to the beach before the tide got too high that afternoon.

Feeding the eels mince (otherwise known as ground beef) at the farm

Andrew suspiciously eyes the llama, who we called "Snarfy"

Becky makes friends with Mickey's swine doppelganger downunder

The next day we took a guided tour out on the Farewell Spit, Golden Bay’s unique sand formation that stretches towards the North Island. The Spit is basically a long sandbar extending from the tip of the South Island, and is formed from sand that is washed down rivers on the country’s West coast and subsequently carried by the strong northward current along the coast. It finally makes its way to the Spit, where it accumulates in a largely straight line, now about 24km in length. The Spit is a strongly protected environmental area, and the only way to get to the end is on a guided tour. Becky seemed to regret not taking the tour last time we were in GB, so I suspect we went there because of her as much as Linda or Don, but it was really good so no complaints by anyone.

The amazing upclose view of the gannet colony at Farewell Spit

Much like our tour on the North Island’s 90-Mile Beach, the Spit tour was an interesting drive down a dune-filled beach to a scenic lighthouse. Luckily, our tour this time was much smaller (only 6 of us), and our tour guide, an enthusiastic German, Kersten, was heaps better than our Cape Reinga driver, who prattled on for over an hour on the gory details of the local fishing competition. The highlight of a tour of the Spit is the gannet colony at the end, which is the only known one in the world not perched on a cliff. The gannets are a beautiful and colorful bird, and being able to get really close to a huge group of them was worth the ride and cost.

The Farewell Spit lighthouse

Of course no visit to GB is complete without a pilgrimage to the Mussel Inn, home to NZ’s most out-of-the-way, and some might say best, brewpubs. We can heartily recommend the mussel chowder with a Captain Cooker manuka beer to wash it down. We were fortunate to arrive when we did, as it had only re-opened for the spring the week before, having been closed for about six weeks in the winter. Driving around to various attractions we found out that to be the case for more than a few places, so good timing Linda and Don!

On our next and last day in GB we went out sea kayaking in the northern part of the Abel Tasman National Park. We’d been to Abel Tasman our last time in GB, where we did a hike and sail excursion, but again Becky seemed to regret not doing the kayaking. Since Linda is a keen kayaker back home she was keen to kayak in NZ, though she wasn’t so sure of doing it in the sea as compared to a placid lake. In the end it turned out to be a great kayak though, with sunny weather and generally calm seas around Tata Beach, where we put in. We got a few hours to paddle around rocky islands containing shag colonies, and saw a few seals to boot. The shags are another cool bird to see, but you definitely don’t want to get too close to them, as they seem to be more than happy to poop on you. Judging from the stench around the island, it’s not something you want to wear.

Andrew avoiding the shags while kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park

Alas, after 4 days our time at GB was up, but despite the bad weather on several days, this visit only cemented its status as one of our favorite places in NZ. You stay cruisey, Golden Bay.