The Flight of Dean and TK by ferry to Abel Tasman

My blogging has become extremely inefficient lately. Truth is that I've been rather busy and, perhaps more importantly, it seems a better use of my limited time here to be out and about, instead of stuck in front of a computer.

TK arrived from Finland on Monday afternoon, luckily only 10 minutes late this time. This morning, March 19th, we are sailing off to South Island again. This trip we shall not travel thousands of kilometres by road but shall limit ourselves to adventures in and around the Abel Tasman National Park in the northern part of South Island. The park is said to be one of the most beautiful in New Zealand and gives great opportunities for trekking by foot, boat or kayak. We plan to try all three modes.

I don't expect to find any phone or wireless networks there so e-mailing, tweeting and blogging will be on hold till next week. The weather forecast for the next days in that region is pretty good (unlike most of New Zealand) so we are looking forward to some active exploration and a few thousand more photo opportunities.

Deliverance

This post intersects the ongoing diary of our South Island tour with coverage of a Sunday afternoon walk in the Rimutaka Forest Park. Despite the weather forecasts of last week this weekend was surprisingly pleasant and made it possible for me to enjoy outdoor concerts in Wellington, part of the Wellington Jazz Festival on Saturday, as well as an afternoon walking in Rimutaka on Sunday.
As Mikko (a student of Media Lab here on study exchange) and myself didn't make it out to the park until after 15.00 it was decided we would make the 90 minutes walk to the Orongorongo river. Regular followers may remember that this has been the subject of an earlier post in which yours truly took a wrong turn on the ridge track and found himself 6 kms downstream from where he should have been, with somewhat tricky and sweaty consequences.

The sun was high in the sky and the only aim was to enjoy the scenery, capture some nice images and have a picnic lunch at the river before taking the same route back. And that is what we did, without mishaps and detours. In fact the river was so inviting that I was compelled to throw myself into it once we arrived, the cool relentless current washing me off downstream, at least for a few metres.

The return walk was more leasurely, mainly due to the improved quality of light in the early evening and the photo opportunities that arose. The river track takes you through various forest types, each with their own particular character. It is not surprising that this track is sometimes noted as being the most popular short walk in the Wellington region. Despite that we only met about 25 or so other trekkers during the entire afternoon including three rifle carrying lads and a dog at the river. No jokes about moonshine stills were made. Well, fortunately they didn't look like the Georgia hillbillies from John Boorman's Deliverance ;-)








Towards the final section of track a lone walker approached us from behind enquiring whether we had working phones with us. But, as we expected, there was no phone network to be found there. Peter explained he, an Englishman, had been staying in the valley campsite the night before but, today, on his trek to the peak of one of the nearby hills had become lost due to the lack of sufficient signage up there. (This all had a very familiar ring to it ;-) He had ended up on the river, 5 kms from where he should have been, was forced to make his way along and over the river for 5 kms in order to reach the track again. Because of this had missed the chance to catch the bus back into Wellington.

We were very happy to help him out, of course. The irony of the situation was not confined to the fact that we had found a(nother) lost Englishman in Rimutaka but that he was also sporting a Weta Digital teeshirt, advertising his employer. Weta is one of the key companies here in the New Zealand creative industries, the core of my research at Victoria university. So, I had found my first local contact in Weta at last and in very amusing circumstances. The arse rocket was waiting in the car park and the cold beer I'd bought on the way out to the park was still very cool in the boot - a tasty reward after the afternoon's exercise.

Gold diggers and Glacier riders

This post may take some time to re-organise. I am more than a little frustrated, trying to make blog posts from home. Despite upgrading my Telecom NZ ADSL contract I honestly have to say that the experience of 'broadband' here is bringing back memories of the days of ISDN connections in Finland well over 10 years ago. Well, actually, that was quite reliable but slow compared to our modern-day broadband. The ADSL here is just totally unreliable and slow. The worst 'feature' is that my net connection actually drops off the Internet totally about once every ten minutes! So whatever process is happening then it's time to start again from zero. Things are a little better at the university so I expect I'll have to complete my blog posts there next week.

This post is about day 3 of our recent trip to South Island. We left Hokitika and continued heading South down State Highway 6 towards the Southern Alps and made our first stop at the old gold mining town of Ross. The Ross gold fields were famous within the gold rush of the 1860s but the majority of gold mining activity ended already in the early 1870s. Ross provides good opportunities for visitors to explore the spirited days of the gold rush when, for example, there was so much gold being dug that successful miners were seen lighting cigars with bank notes in the saloons and the largest nugget found, the Roddy Nugget, was used as a doorstop in a hotel. I also heard that some geologists believe that the town (village?) is actually still sitting on a mass of gold deposits and that 'it would be a good idea' to bulldoze the whole place and mine it thoroughly. The residents of Ross are, no doubt, of a different opinion.









After briefly experiencing the modern-day landscape of Ross and its photo opportunities we continued down route 6. The forests became more exotic and the huge pastures were familiar from the picture book images of New Zealand we've all seen.



It's interesting to remember that this is all man made and that those massive solitary trees in the fields were once a part of an all embracing diverse forest cover that stretched from the high mountains to the sea. The drive is, anyway, very pretty and soon we are heading up towards the mountains, crossing numerous one-way road bridges, driving through canyons and over passes with endless hairpin bends.



We took a detour to the end of Franz Josef glacier, one of the two most famous here. There were a lot of cars and buses in the car park but the people soon get well dispersed along the various paths to the viewing decks and walkways along the valley.



Even from a distance the glacier was impressive, somewhat 'dirty', but impressive. We continued on into the Fox Glacier village, a hub for outdoor activities of all kinds in the area. The weather was clearing and while we had lunch outside people we being briefed in front of the store next to the cafe on how to be good passengers on a helicopter trip. There were lots of advertising signs for helicopter and small plane trips in the region. It was very tempting. Tarja and Tessa got more interested and soon, while they ate, I had managed to book us a flight for later that afternoon; 40 minutes flying up Fox glacier, around Mount Cook and then down along Franz Josef glacier and back to the airfield. There was also a possibility to land on the glacier, weather permitting.

We were driven to the airfield on the outskirts of the village, home to the 20 or so helicopters working in the valleys there. This makes the airspace in the glaciers relatively busy. Pilots negotiate their routes by talking to each other constantly. Flying along the edge of the ridges, dodging heavy clouds and the surprising blasts of updraft from the hills, flying here is not for the faint hearted.

The flight was fantastic, the best I've ever experienced. We were all very happy even though the cloud prevented us from landing on the high slopes. That meant that we had more time to fly and also take in the slopes of Mount Tasman as well as Mount Cook. We also got to circle above one of New Zealand's highest waterfalls, depositing masses of frosty water down into the depths of the glacier. I can't help thinking that we should really get fit enough to make some of the long treks here, to see some of these wonders close up and stride those majestic ridges up towards the glacial peaks. The helicopter is just too easy, almost an ethereal experience. After landing I can't help wondering whether that all just happened. Too much for the senses in 40 minutes! Luckily I have about 500 images to remind ourselves it was real. Here are a few examples.





































After the exhilarating flight we decided to stretch our legs with a visit the end of Fox Glacier, despite the fact we were well behind schedule and were uncertain of where we would stay that night. The stones along the valley were extraordinary and TK collected a few examples for her collection.





The sun was dropping slowly in the sky as we headed further south and, luckily, as the last threads of gold stretched across the pastureland before us we came to a charming but rather desolate farmyard holiday chalet site, just before Jacobs River. The accommodation was fine and we soon hit the sack in preparation for the long drive across the hills to Queenstown the next day.

Wellington to Nelson and beyond

Adios Wellington! Tarja and Tessa arrived tired from their longest haul on Thursday 12th, delayed several hours by a broken Quantas plane connecting them from Sydney. Friday was spent exploring Wellington. Still suffering from jet lag early on Saturday morning we headed off for the Interislander ferry in a shuttle bus with much too much luggage.
The ferry crossing between Wellington and Picton takes about 3 hours and the boat was quite busy, with about 750 fellow passengers. Going was 'rough', according to the notice board and when we were clear of the shelter of Wellington's inlets the boat developed a lovely heaving movement, from side to side and bow to stern which made walking on deck tricky but helped to rock us off to sleep for a while.
The weather had cheered up considerably by the time we had wended our way through the narrow courses of the Marlborough Sounds to arrive at the little harbour town of Picton. Then, once we had disembarked and I'd collected our rent car we packed the excess(ive) luggage and headed towards Nelson, sunshine capital of New Zealand. Nelson is known for its pleasant and laid back atmosphere and is home to numerous people who have made it their escape from whatever they had before. The surrounding area is now rich in vineyards and the studios of artists and craftspeople proliferate the region. We were heading to meet my old school friend Tim, rediscoved in social networks, who I hadn't met for about 35 years.
Nelson was baking in the midday sun when we arrived there. It was one of those days when you really experience the cleanness of the air and the awesome clarity of the light here. In fact, on first impression, the South Island appeared to possess a totally different atmosphere to the North - more space, less people, clean lines and shadows that could cut like a knife. Tim and Pauline have created a lovely place for themselves and their family outside Nelson, surrounded by water, vineyards and distant hills. Their extensive home is lushly decorated with art and artifacts, ancient and modern, with examples of western, Asian and Buddhist art as well as Tim's collections of quirky toys and memorabilia.
It is fun to catch up with an old friend after 35 years...of course, mission impossible in one meeting. The company was fun, the food and wine were superb and our bed was oh so comfortable! And Tessa was very happy to meet boys of her own age and to get to borrow their Internet connection;-) New friends in Facebook, new old friends and new new friends for the future...
Our tour leader, Tessa, was keen we would not decide to break the travel plans and hang out too long at Tim's so we said our thank-yous and farewells and were on the road again soon after 10.00 on Sunday, heading to drive south down the west coast route.
Gorgeous weather and gorgeous scenery enabled quite a few stops for minor excursions and photo opportunities as we headed out towards the coast, alongside peaceful snaking rivers.
By late afternoon we'd made it as far as the famous Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki. The place seemed to be swarming with bus loads of Russian speaking tourists who were offended when we ventured into the field of view of their (endless) snap shot sessions - Olga & Boris standing in front of the Pancake Rocks, Olga & Boris in front of the strange New Zealand 'forest' along the path to Pancake Rocks, Olga & Boris swearing about intruding Finnish tourists thinking they can't understand etc. etc.
"Punakaiki is best known for its Pancake Rocks and Blowholes - both of which are spectacular and a must-see when visiting the West Coast", as it says in the promotional literature. Been there, done that and we bought some decent presents, ceramics, for friends and family in the souvenir store. Some of the souvenirs here are very classy, lots of hand made crafts from local artisans.
Further down the coast there is sign of rain. The sky and the sea are huge and we are moving into gold country. There really is gold in them there hills...
Every now and then the road narrows and a single-track bridge takes us over another river. Sometimes the traffic is expected to share the bridge with the trains as well. We wonder what happens if a train appears in the other direction!? No point to argue about rights of way I guess. Our aim is to get as far as possible towards Fox Glacier but the night is approaching and we've just come through the old mining town of Hokitika. The chalets and motels along the way had been unappealing or 'no vacancy' and it was almost dark when I decided to turn back. In the mirror I noticed a farm entrance with what could be a typical B&B sign at the end of the track. This is to be one of many happy 'just in time' situations during our trip to South Island. We have discovered Berwicks Hill Country Stay, a farmhouse bed & breakfast run by Eileen and Roger Berwick. We were their only guests for the night and we spent the evening with them and their cat, Oscar, in the living room. We gained lots of local knowledge and were encouraged to visit Hokitika the following morning to explore the tourist possibilities and to purchase some of the special local stone goods.

Monday morning was fine and I was keen to see the sun rise over the hills, lifting the night mist and driving away the night's moisture.

The plan is to drive another long day, down towards the largest glaciers of the Southern Alps. We had a healthy breakfast with the Berwicks and said farewell to them and Hokitika. Roger is interested in some of my photos for their web site. He's off to work in the town. The farming has obviously become a secondary course of income. Once he would rise every morning at 04.00 to milk their goats. "Some sort of madness", he explained.