For Narnia!!

It's been way too long since we have posted a blog, so I'll keep things short... Maybe not. The last few weeks we've been staying with a series of wonderful families near Christchurch, the first being Tom, Maree, Grace and Annie. Through the workaway program we stay with families and get the homely amenities in exchange for a few hours of work each day. The greatest part about these work exchanges is that we get a great opportunity to experience Kiwi culture. Tom, Maree and company were incredibly gracious, welcoming us into their home, fixing us meals, and asking us plenty of questions about the likes of American politics and environmental awareness. We had a great time with this family.

Stopped at a famous pie shop on the way to our workaway. Apricot chicken an camembert cheese. Yummmmm

Following the Clapham family adventure, we drove out to a small township along the west coast highway called Springfield; donut included. The Milliken with their three young kids have been a bundle of energy that definitely kept us busy. The first day we arrived we drove a little further up into the mountains to an area called Castle Hill. Those of you who have seen the Narnia films would recognize the craggy boulders from the battle scenes in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I also have to express my excitement that the world's best rock climber, Chris Sharma, came here to rock climb. Narnia was breathtaking. We walked around, boulder hoping for several hours, soaking in the sun and exploring the limestone massif. This is definitely a highlight of the trip. Aside from working on various tasks around the cattle and she farm, from stone picking to gardening, we've commandeered a couple bikes to explore the roads around Springfield. The town is tucked alongside the mountains so the views from the saddle are sweet as.

The pictures don't do this place justice.

For Narnia!!

sunset from the farm in Springfield.

more from the farm

Springfield doughnut.

For Thanksgiving, Susan and Rob allowed us to share with their family a piece of our American culture in preparing Thanksgiving dinner. They don't eat a lot of turkey here, so we spent the day making a traditional dinner with chickens as a substitute. Thank you to both of our mothers for the recipes, they were a hit!

We've had the chance to explore Christchurch a couple times. The city is still very much a construction zone following the devastating earthquakes of 2010/2011. However, there are many beautiful pockets. The first jaunt into town we explored the Riccarton farmers' market, a nice combination of great smells and beautiful food. We devoured a scone and some fantastic organic apple juice and then headed to the re:Start mall. After the earthquakes the old shopping center of the city was left in shambles, but the crafty minds of Christchurch devised a plan to build a mall using shipping containers. Great idea. We did some birthday/Christmas shopping and enjoyed a mouth-watering pizza in the warm sun. Overall, despite the construction and somewhat empty-feeling nature to the city, there is much to be enjoyed in Christchurch.

The cathedral was badly damaged in the quake. The city Is in a big debate whether they want to spend the money to rebuild or not.

re: start mall

such a good pizza! Kumar, mozzarella, sunflower seeds

Today is Caroline's birthday, so we had a little lunch celebration including a cake and a present I sneakily put together with the help of Susan and Rob. It was two years ago today that I had the guts to actually talk to Caroline, wishing her a happy birthday at the end of our chemistry lecture as she was leaving. Seriously, you'd think I would have said more to her as she had been at my group table for the last two weeks... Needless to say, it was worth it and I have been blessed with two more birthdays with this wonderful adventure buddy. I can't express how grateful I am for her companionship.

birthday girl

Tomorrow we head to our third and final workaway, and hope to plan out the remaining five weeks of our trip here on the south island!

Cheers,
Blake

Journey down the east coast

One of the first foods we were introduced to here was Pic's Peanut Butter. As most of you know I am a peanut butter fanatic, so finding what I would call the best peanut butter of my life was so exciting. Luckily for us, Pic's headquarters is in Nelson and offers free daily tours! They explained during the tour that the reason their peanut butter is so good is because the peanuts are roasted before they are grinded and then they get bottled in only 15 minutes. I was so tempted to buy a 5kg bucket of peanut butter, but the $64 price tag seemed even too much for my pb love. We stocked up with a 1kg jar and the nice lady working there threw in a jar for free! Hopefully we can make these jars last over a week this time.

Pic's Factory!

So much peanut butter, but never enough.

We took off the next day and drove south to Nelson Lakes National Park. The first sight we saw upon arrival was a beautiful, clear lake with giant snow capped mountains in the background. After a short stop at the visitors center for a hike recommendation, we put our boots on and started for a long hike up Mt. Roberts. It was a tough and steep jaunt to the summit, but the views were some of the best I've seen yet. 360 degree views of multiple lakes and mountains on all sides really can't be beat.

Lake Rotoiti

On top of Mt. Roberts

Cute old hut they used to use for skiiers

Mamma and her baby ducklings came right up to our car!

As much as we wanted to stay in Nelson Lakes, we only had a few days left before our next workaway was going to start, so we continued on driving back up to the east coast to Blenheim. The wineries lining every road reminded us of the Willamette Valley so we had no choice but to go wine tasting. We started at Hans Herzog, a beautiful winery world famous for their elaborate ($200 a plate!) dinners and then ventured down the road to Cloudy Bay where we tasted a superb Pinot Gris.

Hans Herzog

Cool swing chair at Cloudy Bay

We continued our journey down the coast on Saturday morning towards he coastal surf town of Kaikora. Our book of "off the beaten path" outings told about a waterfall just off the highway where we might get to see baby seals. As we pulled up and saw tons of people we quickly realized this was no longer a hidden gem unfortunately. Although there were tons of people, it was such a cool site! Somehow the baby seals climb up this quite long and rocky river bed to play in a pool below the waterfall. There were five babies jumping and swimming through the pool and some bigger seals at various points of the river leading towards the waterfall. When we reached Kaikora, we decided to do a coastal walk where we saw even more seals- these ones were real fatties though. Blake thought one was a rock and was only inches from stepping on him. As cute as they are, apparently they aren't the nicest so you definitely want to keep your distance.

It's hard to tell, but this is where the baby seals were swimmng

Really fat seal!

Ocean view on our walk around the Kaikora peninsula

Our last free day was spent in the mountain town called Hanmer Springs. We spent our morning hiking up to Dog Stream waterfall and then rewarded ourselves with a trip to the hot springs that afternoon. We forgot to take pictures, but this hot springs was huge! There were at least ten different pools to choose from all with varying temperatures. We could've stayed all day, but we were starting to turn pruny after a few hours. Although we had a great time adventuring on our own for two weeks, we were really excited to get to our workaway. First of all, Blake's stove broke that day, so we were out of luck for cooking our own food. We also realized how expensive food is here and are even more appreciative now when we get our meals provided for us at the workaways. I surprised myself how much I enjoyed camping, but I was so excited to sleep in a bed again. Our new hosts live in a tiny town outside of Christchurch and are incredibly welcoming and nice. The best part- they only live 50 meters from the pub!

Blake at Dog Stream waterfall

Abel Tasman

I sit here writing having just finished the most delicious bowl of ramen and peas I’ve ever eaten. No, that is not sarcasm. After three long days of backpacking we are exhausted and ramen seemed to help our condition a bit. We had an absolutely amazing time on the track, but let me go back and tell you about our previous few days first.

We stayed our last two nights on the south island with Mike and Ivan (friends of the family we did our workaway with) in the most adorable little place called Greytown. We’ve found that a lot of tiny towns here, just like tiny towns back home, are often outdated and sorta’ rundown. Greytown on the other hand was full of upscale boutiques and cute little cafés all built in resorted colonial style homes. Mike and Ivan’s villa style house was also adorable and they even had a separate cottage in the back for us to stay. We loved the fresh salad and lamb Ivan made us and especially their chocolate lab, Monty (I think Blake wanted to steal him). Greytown is just over an hour from Wellington, so we decided we needed to spend a day seeing the windy city. We spent a few hours at Te Papa museum looking at the Māori exhibits, giant squid and my favorite, Shrek the sheep who had 27 kgs of wool on him before the shearers finally found him. Afterwards, we walked down Cuba street with its unique shops and took a walk along the waterfront after the wind finally died down.

Walking along the Wellington waterfront

It was really hard getting out of bed Saturday morning, because I knew it would be the last time I would be sleeping in a real bed for a while, but we had a ferry to the south island to catch! The Interislander Ferry runs three or four times a day from Wellington to Picton and takes about three hours. This massive ferry was probably three times as big as the Seattle ferries. It holds semi trucks, has a theater, cafés, and several viewing decks. Although it was super windy on the observation decks, we braved them for a few minutes to get some pictures of the beautiful Marlborough Sounds. The only downside was that I learned I can get very seasick even on a massive boat. We arrived in Picton that evening and picked up some fish and chips to avoid getting hungry on the hour drive to our campsite at Pelorus Bridge. It was a beautiful campsite right on the river, but we met our nemesis of the south island: sand flies. Think mosquitos but even more annoying. The little black bugs hover around your legs and leave the tiniest, but itchiest bites. After leaving the attacking sand flies the next morning, we drove west to Nelson and visited the local I-site (info sites most every town has) for advice on the Abel Tasman. A helpful lady helped us book our water taxi and campsites for our trip which we would be starting the next morning.

View of the Marlborough Sounds from the ferry

Picton Harbor

The Abel Tasman Track is one of nine “Great Walks” they have in New Zealand. These are basically anywhere from 3-6 day hikes through areas they have deemed really pretty and have therefore spent a lot of money on maintaining really nice trails. All of the great walks have backcountry huts (basically lots of bunks to sleep, a basic kitchen and toilets) as well as camping sites to choose from. Even though the huts are nice, we thought it was kind of silly you pay more for a hut per night than you would for a hostel, so we chose to camp for half the price.

An example of a hut you can stay in. This one was by far the nicest one we've seen. Most look like old school log cabins.

After dropping our car off at the water taxi base, we set out to Marahau beach where our journey would begin. We had a long day ahead of us since we had to walk 22k from Marahau to our camp for the night at Bark Bay. Immediately we were struck by how beautiful the coast was. The beaches are golden orange and the water is a brilliant turquoise color. We walked for about three hours before stopping for lunch at what we decided was the prettiest beach of the trip, Anchorage Bay. After wolfing down our pb and j and admiring the views, we had to keep going. The trail continued winding back into the bush for a few kilometers and then bringing us back to the ocean views. About three more hours later, we made it to Bark Bay. We spent awhile lounging on the beach until the wind picked up and we decided it was dinner time anyways.

Views from the track day one`

Anchorage Bay

Bark Bay beach where we camped the first night

Blake woke up early to catch the first morning sunrise

 

Day two was a bit of a challenge since our legs were really tired and sore from the day before and our packs had rubbed our hips raw. We sucked it up knowing we had a shorter day (17k) and started walking. About an hour in, Blake realized he dropped his sunglasses somewhere on the trail. Reluctantly, we head back up the big hill at which point Blake drops his pack with me and starts running to find them. Miraculously, he runs up the hill out of breath and dripping sweat, but has his glasses in hand. Although the trail is still awesome, we start to get really tired right before lunch the second day and start talking about how we wished there was a Red Robin and symphony bar brownies waiting for us at our lunch stop. Unfortunately, lunch was half of a pb and j and some trail mix, but just being able to take our packs off was bliss for us as our bodies were so tired at this point. Luckily, we had an hour to rest, because the next part of the track was an estuary that couldn’t be crossed until low tide. We staggered to our camp and set up our tent just in time to avoid the sandfly fest that would plague us for the night. Our last day on the track we woke up really early so we could catch the sunrise over the beach. I realized I had never intentionally gotten up to watch a sunrise before, but after watching this one, I think it is something I will do more often. Despite our pain and exhaustion, I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful and definitely worth it this hike was. I think it was my favorite thing I’ve done since we’ve been here and would recommend at least doing part of it to anyone who comes to NZ. Now time for some rest, because tomorrow is hopefully a tour of Pic’s Peanut Butter factory!!

Awaroa Bay

The prettiest turquoise water I've ever seen

Blake at a waterfall pre losing glasses

Sunrise day two

 

42.4 kilometers hiked- 26.5 for those of you who are metrically challenged

An unexpected plunge into Mordor

The next week and a half marks the first time in our two month-long adventure that we have truly been on our own. With that in mind, Caroline and I wanted with such fervor to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing that we planned to spend the next two, even three days waiting out the weather. The Crossing, situated above 1000 meters for its entirety, is prone to high winds and nasty rain, kind of like good ol’ Mt. Rainier in motherland Washington. Leaving Rotorua with hopefulness and a little nervousness, we called the DOC office in Whakapapa Village in Tongariro National Park to check the conditions. Not to our surprise, things were not looking swell. Or rather, quite the swell of weather was coming. We grabbed a soggy camp site near the Village, pitched our tent, and soon after fell asleep to the sound of rain pelting our rainfall (its first major test). Waking up in the morning we were greeted surprisingly by the sun! We quickly ate some oatmeal, hastily packed the car, and raced to the DOC office to get the conditions. We were told that the weather would not be advisable for the crossing. Again, what a killjoy. However as I sat back in the car, a restless sense of needing to at least try the hike delivered the confidence to call a local shuttle company and ask if they would suggest the hike. The kind woman on the line warned us that the Red Crater which is the high point at 1800 meters had 80kmh winds, but if we were keen to go, we could start on the north end and potentially make it to the emerald lakes before the weather set back in. With that the pedal was near the floor and we were racing the clouds in our trusty chunk of metal.

This is when things got good. As I was changing out of my pajamas and racing through the items we would need for our climb, my mind was flying faster than the winds at the crater. Without thinking about it, I locked the car haphazardly. Just before our packs were filled and the boot (what a trunk is called in NZ) it donned on me. “Sh**, Caroline, the keys are still in the ignition…,” I stated, with the panic growing in my stomach. I instantly went into criminal mode. Breaking in to my car is not a novelty to me. The best until this point being the time I locked myself out before school with the car running, the tank on empty, and the spare key with my mother in Idaho. This was worse. We were out of cell reception, potentially a long ways away from any, and trying to get on the mountain before the weather set. After unloading the trunk of all of our belonging, the next 40 minutes were spent trying to get to the latch which folds down the back seat. After physically bending the frame of said seat, and to the crowd of the family that pulled up in their camper, we finally got it! Needless to say, we were on the hill with the key glued and zipped inside my pants pocket. Since that moment I check my pocket every thirty seconds and present the key to Caroline when leaving the car.

The hike was a workout from start to finish. Trying to make up for lost time we climbed 6.4km with close to 1000m of vertical gain in 1:26. This exhausting pace would have had us to the lakes by about two hours had the wind not picked up. With gusts hitting us swiftly in the face, the decision was made to head back down. Those mountains, or I should say volcanoes, were glorious. Still active and steaming from multiple craters, Tongariro is a site to behold. Tussock and other harsh weather plant life covered the landscape in between big blocks of volcanic rock.

Surprisingly got a good view even with all the clouds.

Though we couldn’t tramp the whole crossing, there was absolutely zero regret following us trying to walk on one of the world’s best hikes. The three hours and 13km of hiking with 6000 feet of vertical gain and loss will leave us with a sense of accomplishment and adventure for the rest of our lives.

Oh, and we’re going to get another key cut.

Until then,

Blake

 

P.S. Tongariro National Park is the site of Mordor from Lord of the Rings. Mt. Ngauruhoe being the famed Mount Doom from the films. Any LOTR fan would understand the thrill of walking through Mordor…

It's a thermal wonderland!

This week was very eventful to say the least, so my blog post is about our last few days in Rotorua and Blake will take you through the interesting set of events we experienced yesterday. We got several days of good weather this week and took advantage by going on several hikes after work. Our favorite hike of the week, and one of our favorites so far this trip, was up to the top of Rainbow Mountain. The name is fitting as the mountain contains beautiful red and orange earth, complete with lush greenery all around. Starting out up the steep hill, we were shocked to see a bright turquoise thermal pool on the side of the mountain. After a pretty strenuous uphill, we finally made it to the top where we had a 360 degree view of the valley below. After the hike, we drove a few miles to Kerosene Creek. It looks like a normal river, but it’s geothermally heated so it feels like a hot tub! We planted ourselves underneath a waterfall that empties into a calm pool, perfect for relaxing.

Side view of Rainbow Mountain

Turquoise pool

Blake attempts the waterfall!

I can't stand up in the waterfall!

More Kerosene Creek

 

Blake loves beer and I love pretzels, so when we saw advertisements all over town for the Okere Falls Beerfest, we knew we had to go. It definitely lived up to our expectations. We had brats and beer for dinner and I even found a beer I liked! After the super healthy dinner, we decided to keep it going by ordering a giant soft pretzel with brie for dessert. It was definitely worth it. We stayed for a few hours listening and singing along to the awesome band.

Brats and German beer

I was too excited for the pretzel

 

On Saturday, we drove out back by Okere Falls to visit Hamurana Springs. After a short walk we came to the springs, which bubbles up about 50 meters from underground. Everyone else was throwing $2 coins into the springs and making wishes. We are cheepos and threw twenty cents in, so it’s doubtful our wish will come true. Taranaki (the rugby team was saw play in New Plymouth) was playing in the ITM finals, so we found an Irish pub to watch them play. Surprisingly there were quite a few other Taranaki fans there we were able to cheer with. What looked like a blowout, quickly turned into a close team, but Taranaki pulled out a win! Blake was proud to wear his jersey for a few days after that.

You can't tell from the picture, but it's about fifty meters deep.

Tuesday, we decided to pay for one of the tourist attractions, but we are so glad we did. Waiotapu (meaning Sacred Waters) is a reserve with tons of different kinds of thermal ponds. We followed the map and viewed all 30 thermal attractions, while we learned how the vibrant colors we were seeing were caused by different minerals. Our favorites were the Champagne Pool, Devil’s Bath, and the green pond that we can’t remember the name of.

Champagne Pool

Green Lake

Devil's Bath

 

Rotorua turned out to be a town I fell in love with. I will miss my morning runs through the beautiful Redwood forest, access to so many hikes, chai Lattes at Abracadabra Café, and the friends we made staying at the Funky Green Hostel. We are off to spend most of the next two weeks camping, which means more camping for me than probably my whole life combined. Wish us luck!