Christmas in the southern hemisphere

Camping isn’t much fun in the rain, but we were fortunate enough to have a beautiful week of summer weather in Wanaka, Mt. Cook, and now in Queenstown. We started off the week heading two hours north of Wanaka to Aoraki National Park, home of the majestic Mt. Cook. After a very windy first half of the drive (of course) we turned a corner and began one of the best drives of my life. We drove along the powder blue Lake Pukaki for the next half hour with the mountains beckoning us from ahead. Our weather forecast predicted rain for the day, so we expected an afternoon in our tent, but we were shocked to find a beautiful sunny afternoon when we arrived. We went on a short hike to Kea Point, where we saw much more impressive Mueller Glacier on Mt. Sefton than the ones we saw on the west coast. We got to camp right below Mt. Sefton too, which was pretty cool. The next morning we set off for what was claimed the south island’s most scenic day walk- the Hooker Valley track. It was a fairly easy hike with the flowers blooming and three swing bridges to freak Blake out. After about thirty minutes of hiking we rounded a corner and boom! Mt. Cook was directly ahead of us. I could tell Blake was in his ultimate happy place, chasing the mountain for the rest of the hike.

 

Stopped at the Clay Cliffs of Oamarama on the way to Mt. Cook

 

Mueller glacier in the background

 

Crazy Blake got up at 5:30 in the morning to get a sunrise picture of Mt. Sefton

 

camsite

 

Mt. Cook with glacier lake

 

 

Drive to Mt. Cook with Lake Pukaki

 

Blake on the Hooker Valley Track

We spent another two days back in Wanaka hanging around the lake and hiking Mt. Iron before heading off to Queenstown on Christmas Eve. We decided to treat ourselves for Christmas and book an airbnb for two nights to have the comfort of a bed and a home. Our hosts were absolutely amazing and insisted we go with them to their family Christmas lunch so we wouldn’t be alone. With the really hot weather we had that day, it was hard for it to feel like Christmas since “Frosty the Snowman” didn’t fit at all. Nonetheless, we had a wonderful Christmas (although sad to be away from our families) and were overwhelmed by the kindness of the relative strangers inviting us to be a part of their family for the day.

 

This is by the house we had Christmas lunch at with the Remarkable behind us.

Queenstown (known as the adventure capital of the world) is a lot like Wanaka scenery wise, but much busier. If you ever want to skydive, bungy jump, or jet boat, this is definitely the place to go. We went into the city center on Christmas Eve and spent the afternoon shopping with the masses of people there. Luckily, it wasn’t nearly as bad as going to the mall in the U.S. on Christmas Eve. They even have a Starbucks here, which meant we could get iced coffee finally! Yesterday was Boxing Day here (they have Boxing Day as a holiday rather than Christmas Eve) so the city was really busy again. We heard there were amazing views if you take the gondola up to the top of the hill, but a trip up was $30. Instead of paying, we found a really nice trail zigzagging up the hill to right where the gondola drops people off. We got the spectacular views, a good workout, and saved $60! Lot’s of people will ride the gondola up and then take a luge halfway back down the hill or the really brave can mountain bike down some black diamond tracks. We are headed out of Queenstown today to visit the Milford Sound and then headed to Dunedin on the east coast to spend the New Year!

View from the top of the gondola over Queenstown and Lake Wakitipu

 

Hanukkah in Wanaka

We are currently experiencing a very rainy day in Wanaka, so in order to avoid being stuck rereading Harry Potter in the tent all day we decided to park ourselves at the library and take advantage of their magazines and free wifi (only 30 minutes daily so my pictures better upload fast!). Other than the bad weather today we have completely fallen in love with this town. Wanaka is a town of about 6,000 people centered around the huge Lake Wanaka with mountains surrounding in almost every direction. Although not many people live here, all the Kiwis and tourists seem to flock here in the holiday season making it very busy. We were only supposed to stay here one night, but we ditched our other plans and ended up staying here five nights. I think we both love it because it’s an outdoor oriented community with tons of things to do. Also the weather has finally turned to make it actually feel like summer here.

Blake enjoying Wanaka beer at the holiday park

Supposedly this is the most photographed tree in NZ

 

 We lucked out finding a really nice holiday park to camp at for three nights that was relatively cheap and right on the lake. Our first morning there we rented some bikes from the holiday park and rode about 20k down into town and back. It’s hard to beat a ride with the lake on one side and beautiful purple flowers blooming on the other side. We spent the afternoon looking around the shops and having some of the best gelato of my life. It’s really hard to stop myself from going back in there every time I walk by.

Blake biking through the purple flowers

GELATO!!! Coffee and salted caramel flavor

 

There’s a hike right in town that is the “locals hike” that we have now done twice called the Mt. Iron hike. It took us about half an hour to reach the top before we were rewarded with 360 degree views over the whole city. If I lived in Wanaka I would probably do this hike multiple times a week. Moderate effort, for maximum reward.

 

Top of Mt. Iron

 

Walking back down from Mt. Iron

My knee was feeling a bit better after getting it taped up, so we decided to go for a bit more challenging hike up Diamond Lake to Rocky Mountain. It was a pretty steep hike up, but we got an even better view of the city than at Mt. Iron. Now here comes the weird part. When we got to the summit there were two other girls talking and we could tell they were Americans. They looked like they were pretty into their conversation, so we sat down 20 ft or so away from them. We were taking in the view when we overheard one of the girls say ”Oregon.” At this point we started listening in on their conversation because we were curious. Then we heard the girl say, “Linfield” and “Kyle.” At this point I jump up and go over to her and say, “Not to be a creep, but I think I know the Kyle you are talking about.” There’s a guy named Kyle who graduated with us from Linfield that had gone over to NZ a few months ago to live in Wanaka, so I was pretty positive that’s who she was talking about. Turns out, the girl had dated Kyle when he was living in Wanaka for a few months. Honestly, what are the chances the only other two people on the mountain start talking about Linfield. We definitely had our minds blown by what a small world it is.

Diamond Lake hike- you can't see Diamond Lake from this picture though. That's Lake Wanaka in the background.

Blake posing for a picture before we had our minds blown.

 

Another highlight of the week was going to Cinema Parasidio last night to see the Hobbit. (Thanks for the birthday present Drew!) This theater is unique because instead of the traditional theater seats, there are couches and even two cars to sit in if you want the drive in movie feel. I’m not the biggest LOTR fan, but the atmosphere of the cinema plus the homemade cookies and ice cream made the movie very enjoyable. We also visited the very unique attraction of Puzzling World. I was hoping there would be jigsaw puzzles, but they were more like mind puzzles. They have tons of different puzzles in their lobby that you can sit down and work on them for free, so we sat there for an hour or so working on various puzzles until our brains hurt.

He must be really strong.

Blake wanted to use some of his Christmas money to take a tour of Wanaka Beerworks. I even liked one of the beers!

It's hard to see, but this is the movie theater.

 

We are spending one more night in Wanaka (for now) and are heading up to Mt. Cook tomorrow to hopefully catch it when the weather is better. Then we are headed to Queenstown where we will spend a few days for Christmas!

All Around the Country

We’ve had a very busy last few days full of driving over mountain passes and checking things off our list of must sees. We left our workaway on Friday morning and picked up our super saver deals rental car, which looked like it sounds. In the first few hours of driving it, the steering wheel would shake and it was having major difficulties starting. The last thing we wanted was more car problems, so after a call to the rental company they agreed to give us a new car and an upgrade at no extra cost. Our new car, Rhonda (we had to name the car) has been wonderful through our last few days of driving across the country. We finished off our stay in Canterbury with a hike around Godley Head. It was a beautiful coastal hike through old military bunkers used in WWII.

 

Old WWII bunker at Godley Head

We set off the next morning to drive through Arthur’s Pass to the west coast. Arthur’s Pass would’ve been amazing, but it was super cold and windy and my knee hurt so bad I couldn’t do any of the hikes we were planning on doing. Instead of staying the night there like we planned, we did a short walk to see Devil’s Punchbowl Falls and then kept driving west. It wasn’t quite Multnomah Falls, but pretty close in height! The sun was right above us, so we didn’t get a great picture unfortunately.

 

Blake with Devil's punchbowl falls in the distance

The west coast is rainy and gray 90% of the time, so we were shocked to get there and have a beautiful sunny day and weather that finally made it seem like summer. We read that at high tide we could see the Punakaiki blowhole go off, but due to the nice weather, the seas weren’t rough enough for the blowhole to go off that day. The pancake rocks around the blowhole were cool enough to make the trip to Punakaiki worth it though. We found out that the only free campsite in town required a two hour walk through the bush to get to. Being the bargain hunters that we are, we decided to go for it. It was already five when we got to the parking lot, so we rushed to pack up our backpacks and food for the night so we could set off. After about an hour of walking, I realize that I saw the pump for the stove fuel bottle in the car and never asked Blake if he grabbed it. As Blake is pondering how to cross a river, I ask him if he grabbed all the stove parts. Nope. We debated eating just a cold cans of beans for dinner and not having breakfast, but for those of you who know me well, that was not going to happen. We grumpily walked back to the car and paid the overpriced amount to set up a tent at the holiday park that night.

Pancake rocks

 

We continued to drive Rhonda down the west coast, stopping in various towns to visit the highlights. Our favorites- with pictures below- were Hokitika Gorge, a hidden coastal walkway near Greymouth, Lake Matheson, and the glaciers. Both Franz Josef and Fox glaciers were really cool to see, but it was really depressing to see how far they have retreated. They retreat 4-5 meters per day! They had a picture showing where the glacier was in 2012 and it has already moved back a significant amount. If I had to guess, I would say they would be gone in ten years.

The surreal blue water at Hokitika Gorge.

Lake Matheson. On a clear day the mountains reflect in the lake.

The closest we could get to Fox Glacier.

Franz Josef Glacier. The red sign is where the glacier was in 2008.

What's left of Franz Josef Glacier

Cool archway we found on the beach

Blake in a cave.

 

We are now in Wanaka and are both completely in love with this town. It is centered around the lake and surrounded by snowcapped mountains. In other good news, my meniscus isn’t torn and I got some kinesio tape that seems to really help, so I can keep hiking at least to some extent. We decided to stay in Wanaka for a few more days, so updates on this town later!

It's harder than you'd think to find a burrito here

It's hard to believe we are in our last week of our last workaway in NZ and only have a bit over a month left in our trip. We are staying with the Pilgrim family who live in the middle of nowhere about 45 minutes from Christchurch. Luckily, the family has been great and we have had plenty of work and other activities to keep us busy. We've spent lots of time playing Lego's and doing art with the kids, Jasmin and Isaac and get at least one game of Monopoly Deal in with the parents, Elizabeth and Paul once the kids go to bed. Also, Elizabeth shares my love of puzzles and we were able to knock out a large puzzle in a day. Our free time has mostly been spent biking through endless farm land and driving to the nearest indoor pool to swim laps. Now that I know Blake can swim a few laps in a row, he will be forced into doing a triathlon this summer.

I will definitely come home much more skilled in the tool world after this workaway. Our main task for the week was to build an extension onto their woodshed, which meant I got to learn to use a dropsaw, nail gun, and an impact driver! Grandpa would be so proud!

using a nail gun

the finished woodshed

We spent a good two hours on Saturday herding sheep from the neighbors property onto a truck so they could be moved to an area with more grass. We got to experience the scare of herding gone bad when the sheep pushed over a gate and all escaped. Luckily none of them ran onto the road, but it took six of us chasing them around the property for a half hour before we finally got them rounded up again. If you've never watched a sheep jump in panic I would recommend finding a YouTube video on it because it's very entertaining.

I was sad because none of the sheep would let me pet them :(

Then they got nice again!

Yesterday, Blake and I celebrated our two year anniversary! We really really wanted Mexican food, because we haven't had any since September since no one here seems to eat Mexican food. Therefore, it was really hard for us to find a Mexican restaurant that actually sounded decent. We finally found one in Christchurch called the Flying Burrito Brothers and decided it was well worth the trip. We feasted on a veggie burrito that was up to Blake standard, enchiladas mole, and a delicious peach margarita. We finished the evening with a walk around the beautiful Christchurch botanical gardens. Unfortunately most of the old buildings around the gardens were destroyed in the earthquake, but the gardens were still pretty cool to look at.


Unfortunately Heinz was having some problems stalling out that the mechanic had no idea how to fix, leaving us with three choices: One, keep throwing money into the car to try and fix whatever the problem might be. Two, keep driving it and really hope nothing happens when we are driving over a mountain pass. Three, sell the car while we are in the biggest city on the south island and rent a car with the money we get from the sale. Number one was definitely not happening, so we decided to put our car up for sale. After three days up for sale, we got an offer only a hundred dollars less than our asking price that we couldn't pass up. The guy came to pick the car up tonight and the whole deal was done in five minutes. For some reason he didn't even test drive the car or even look into the inside before buying it, but we weren't about to tell him otherwise. It's bittersweet having Heinz gone, but we think it's for the best.

Sorry about the lack of pictures- the internet is once again really bad here and won't let me upload anymore right now!