How the Internet got to New Zealand

I'm really not sure, and I don't think it's all the way here yet.  Data use is incredibly restricted, either by time, amount used, or both.  In America, I'm used to free Wi-Fi in most public places, and 'free with purchase' at most of the rest.  The hotel in Queenstown had 20 minutes free/day.  The hostel I just stayed at in Auckland gave me a voucher for 200mb of free internet use, which was plenty for general surfing, but not enough to get all of my pictures uploaded.  Hopefully Australia is a bit better, otherwise many of the posts about my trip will be coming after the fact.

Queenstown, Part II

Can you get any more New Zealand than this?

After Mount Aspiring we swung back through Queenstown to grab some lunch and say hi to SIL, then out the other direction to head up Coronet Peak. We were tempted to take a detour on Skipper's Road while we were up there'd, but decided that the little Toyota probably wasn't up to it.  Luckily we were able to give our legs a rest and drive all the way to the top of Coronet Peak.  Well, most of the way.  Along with having great views, Coronet Peak is a ski hill, and the only way to get to the very top is on the ski lift.  The chairs were running, but given that it wasn't actually open, we didn't have any lift tickets, and it looked like they were making snow to go along with the real stuff that should be falling shortly, we decided to make do with what we had.

Looking down from Coronet Peak

We had time for one more stop before heading back (coming at this time of years means you miss out on the summer & winter tourists, but also means you have less daylight to work with), so we decided to swing by a beach along the Shotover River.  Shotover used to be known as the richest river in the world, but it's been pretty thoroughly de-golded (I know that's not a word... deal with it) at this point. It is, however, one of the few rivers I've seen down here that merits the name--most are more like streams or creeks.  From there it was back into town for drinks and dinner.  The bro went for another Fergburger, but I didn't want to have too much of a good thing, so I grabbed a pie from the Ferg Bakery next door.  Pies are a traditional dish down here, and are basically a better tasting and higher quality (i.e., they won't give you the runs) version of a Hot Pocket.  Mine had pork belly, apples, onions, and some sort of gravy contained by a nice flaky crust, and was quite tasty. After that it was back to the hotel to finish up my postcards and watch some NZ television before hitting the sack.

Hole in... a lot.

Day three turned out sunny for us again, which is apparently quite lucky this time of year.  We started off the morning tracking down a Frisbee so we could hit up the local disc golf course.  I almost gave up on it after the first shop wanted $29.95 for one... even after the exchange rate is taken into account, that's just ridiculous.  Luckily we were able to find another shop that was open, and selling them for only $12.95.  The course itself made a fun start to the morning as well.  Neither of us did particularly well, but the course took us around the outside of the small peninsula that the Queenstown Gardens are located on, so we got some great views while we were playing.

Arrowtown.  This actually should have gone with the previous post, but oh well.

By the time we finished it was light enough for us to hit up the gondola.  It was a bit pricey, like pretty much everything else down here, but we got a discount on the luge course at the top, and the views were incredible.  They also had a luge course up top that we added on as part of a package with the trip up the gondola.  The wind kept it cold enough that it wasn't as enjoyable as it could've been, but zipping down the course high above Queenstown is hard to beat.

View from the top of the gondola.

The day finished with a couple more short hikes in the Mt. Chrichton/12 Mile Delta area (there were fish!), and then, of course, more beer and another Fergburger.  I swear, those things have pretty much ruined every other hamburger for me.  For the rest of you, you're damned if you do (in which case every other hamburger will be ruined for you as well), damned if you don't (in which case you'll be missing out on the best hamburger in the world).  Final verdict: go to Queenstown.  You'll thank me, and then you'll thank yourself.

12 Mile Delta.  Man, what I wouldn't have given for my fishing pole.

Queenstown, Part I

The drive from Timaru to Queenstown was long, but incredibly scenic.  The town itself was even more so.  We got off to a later start than intended because SIL was still not feeling great and debating whether or not to come, but rolled into town in the early afternoon.  After dropping stuff off at the hotel we headed up to the gondola, but it was a bit rainy still so we decided to wait on it; SIL went back to the hotel to rest, and the bro and I wandered town for awhile.  We found a bar (1876, located in the old courthouse building) that actually offered happy hour prices—a rarity down here so far—had a couple pints of one of the local brews, then headed out for dinner.  The good news is, it was delicious.  The bad news is, my new favorite burger place is about 7,000 miles from home.

Fergburger came highly recommended, and with good reason: they use quality ingredients, quality buns (freshly made at the Ferg Bakery right next-door), and taste absolutely delicious.  I went with the “Mr. Big Stuff”: ½ pound of beef, cheese, “American streaky bacon” (basically the bacon we’re used to in the States), lettuce, onion, BBQ sauce & aioli piled onto the aforementioned fresh baked bun.  I had trouble finishing it but loved every minute of the process.  I didn’t really feel like I could move much afterwards so we swung by a souvenir shop and then back to the hotel.

 

The second day was full of exploration and hiking.  We initially headed out to Glenorchy, at the other end of the lake from Queenstown, but we must have missed the turnoffs for the hiking around there, so we continued further on.  We attempted to make our way to Paradise, but the road wasn’t in great condition and the bro didn’t want to rattle his car to pieces, so we turned back to try a different road.  After winding through several pastures of sheep and across a river we found ourselves at the Mount Aspiring National Park.  There are several different trails to choose from depending on your ability level and time that you have available; given that I hadn’t been hiking in quite some time and we were there to enjoy the scenery, we chose the 30-minute (estimated loop time, though I’m not sure how they calculate it) nature walk.

 

We managed to miss a turn—which would have added a couple hours to the hike—but luckily ran into some other folks that were able to give us directions back.  I wouldn’t have minded the longer walk, but we were already struggling to try to fit in as much of the area as we could in the time we had… I think you’d need at least a week to do it justice.  The landscape was amazing, the views were breathtaking, but it was also a bit odd, because there was almost nothing in the way of wildlife.  A few birds, but no mammals, and not even much in the way of bugs.  Not that I’m complaining about that last one, but still… weird.

 

To be continued….

Waimate, Oamaru, Moeraki

Today was wildlife day! Not sure if it was fully planned that way, but that's how it worked out, and I enjoyed it. SIL was unfortunately under the weather, so the brother and I headed south to Oamaru.  Along the way we swung through Waimate to visit a wallaby park.  They're pretty cool little critters, and you get a little bag of feed to share with them as you go through the various enclosures. They've been hand-raised so they're quite comfortable around humans, and don't mind getting up-close and personal.

Om nom nom nom.

 From there we continued on our way to Oamaru to see the Steampunk museum.  First, though, was something even more important: whiskey tasting.  It was a bit spendy (like everything else here), but when you consider that there hasn't been an active distillery here in over a decade and they're working out of previously barreled/bottled stock, it wasn't bad at all.  I even found one that I liked (and that gets used to make a whiskey ice cream at a local creamery, also quite tasty), and will probably end up having the bro bring back up for me, so I don't have to haul it around on the rest of my trip.  Right across the street from that was a small craft brewery; they don't have nearly the beer scene that the PNW does, but they're starting to develop a taste for good beers.  We did a sample set, with a pilsner, a wheat beer, and my personal favorite, a porter.  We lunched up to sober up, then made our way over to the Steampunk museum.

Groovy.

It was smaller than I expected, and had more of a dark turn than I'm used to in Steampunk, but was still pretty darn interesting.  They do have a decent amount of room to expand into, both in the building and in the yard around it, so hopefully it will continue to improve.  Either way, I'd say it's worth your time to check out.  Sadly I'll be missing the Steampunk festival that they put on... it'll be happening at the beginning of June, while I'll be visiting my friend in Brisbane and winding down my trip.

I wonder what they were bowling for?

After that we headed further down the coast to Moeraki, home to some really crazy boulders and a wildlife preserve for yellow-eyed penguins.  I forgot to read the explanation of how the boulders were formed, but there are a whole series of them that are either perfectly spherical or nearly so.  Some of them have split open in interesting ways as well.  One thing that really surprised me is how little animal life there was along the beach.  We found one place where it looked like a clam had burrowed in, but no crabs, no washed up starfish, none of the things I'm used to running into on a beach.

Just chillin'.

The penguins were pretty cool, especially since it's the first time I've run into them in the wild.  They weren't very large, but there were a decent amount of them, and it was fun to see them waddling around.  There were also quite a few seals hanging around, and I was amazed at how hard it was to spot them if they weren't moving.  Apparently we got there at just the right time of year, because there were a few groups of baby seals running around as well.  The only annoying part was having to watch out for all the rabbit holes... stupid rabbits.



Baby Seals!

Today we're headed off to Queenstown; more from there later.

Travel, Christchurch, Akaroa

Well, the first day is in the books. A word of advice: if you can avoid 13-hour flights, do so at all costs. The staff of Air New Zealand was friendly, the food was decent, some of drinks were free, and the safety video was done by some of the ladies from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, but that is just way too much time to be cooped up in one space. I managed about 2.5 hours of crappy sleep while staying up until about 3am PST in an attempt to help me adjust to New Zealand time, and that’s all that I had until a bit after 11 last night.

So that's how you wear a seatbelt.  Thanks Hannah!

I'd been warned about it before, but things are Hellas expensive down here. Lunch yesterday for the bro, SIL and I ran us almost $70. A Big Mac meal at McDonald's (Macca's) was $9.90, although that did include $1 extra to get bacon(!) on it; that was still about half the price the continental breakfast at our hotel would have been, though.

Christchurch is an interesting city. Despite the big earthquake being a bit over 3 years ago, there are quite a few places that are still rubble. Others look fine on the outside but still have structural issues that prevent them from being used, and the city hasn't been able to either demolish or repair them yet. They've had quite a few issues with flooding as well, so having to deal with that while recovering from the earthquake hasn't been fun.

Still standing.

Akaroa was a pretty cool area, although it would be much more fun to visit in a jeep or something; there are a lot of windy little roads, and many are only 1.5 lanes wide.  The town itself is like a slightly less impressive French version of Leavenworth, but it's got some very impressive views.

Down by the bay, where no watermelons grow.

After that it was back up to Christchurch for a rugby match. Like almost every sports team I root for, the local Crusaders lost, but we had great seats and it was fun to watch.  Very hard to follow between 15 guys running around on each team and not fully understanding the game, but still interesting.

But there was no joy in Christchurch; the Crusaders missed six
points worth of penalty kicks, and lost by five.

Tomorrow it's off to Oamaru to take in the sites--including a Steampunk museum, and I think some penguins--with a possible stop to see some wallabies along the way.

Weeha

Damn... good thing I got to the airport as early as I did.  My flight from Portland to SF got canceled, and they barely had time to get me onto a flight to Seattle instead. They're working on getting me to SF now; as long as I make it in time to catch my 9:15 flight out to Christchurch, I'm fine with it.

I think I've got it all

Passport: check.  Socks/underwear: check (enough for 8 days, so I should only have to do laundry twice). Shirts, both long and short sleeved: check.  Pants, both long and short legged: check.  Overnight bag with medicine, toothbrush/toothpaste, razor, Gold Bond, nail clippers, and a mini sewing kit (just in case): check.  Surface/Nook/Zune (along with chargers, adapters, and earbuds): check.  Deck of playing cards: check.  Spare set of glasses: check.  Journal: check.  List of postcard recipients: check.  Writing instruments: check.  Package for SIL/birthday present for brother: check.  Wallet: check.  Cleaning wipe for glasses: check.  Bank/credit card company notified that I'll be out of country: check.  Towel (which any traveler worth their salt should always remember): check.  Printouts of my flight itineraries and hostel reservations: check.  Camera (with memory card and fully charged battery, plus spares): check.  Lock for hostel lockers: check.

I got distracted quite a few times while packing so I wouldn't be surprised if there's something I've forgotten, but I'm feeling pretty comfortable.  As with my last big trip it still doesn't feel quite real, and probably won't until I'm somewhere over the Pacific Ocean on my 13-hour leg from San Francisco to Auckland... assuming I'm even functional at that point.

There may be more posts while I'm en route, but depending on how energetic I'm feeling I may just stick to Facebook updates.

Contact info

I was tempted to take my phone with me on this trip, but decided $0.25/minute to talk, $0.05/outgoing text and $0.50/incoming text just wasn't worth it.  I will have my tablet with me though, so if you can't make it through the entire three weeks without communicating with me, I'll be semi-regularly checking the following:

Facebook
Email (menoichius at gmail dot com)
Skype (menoichius)

4 days left!