SiMonica’s Voyage

Our last few days in New Zealand were largely spent on buses, travelling from the northern tip of the south island, back down to Dunedin, where we were flying out of. Luckily we had some breaks in between and one of the best was our early morning swimming with dolphins experience. We arrived in the coastal town of Kaikoura in the evening and woke up at 4:45 the next morning to go to the center of Dolphin Encounters. This outfit sets you up with wetsuits and snorkeling gear, gives a few tips on how to play with dolphins, then takes you out on a boat and pretty much dumps you into these pods of anywhere between 60 and 300 dusky dolphins, Dusky dolphins are quite small as far as dolphins go, only about 1 long and weighing about 70 kilos (150 lbs). We only had to travel about 20 minutes by boat for our first experience, and after that they took us to about four other places once the first pod moved away. We were encourage to make funny sounds and dive under water to attract the dolphins to play with us. The first time I was a bit too shocked by the cold water to really make any sounds at all, but it was incredible to simply look down through my mask and see all these dolphins swimming about 3 feet below me. As the morning went on we got a bit better at playing with them and on the last swim Simon wore himself out swimming circles with the dolphins, while I had fun diving down and just taking in the fact that I was swimming with these amazing creatures.

The day continued in a surreal way as we had woken up so early and hopped a bus to Christchurch by noon. We arrived in Christchurch and made it to our hostel and spent the afternoon lounging by the riverside reading and went out to eat at a place called Memphis Belle, a fantastic pizza place. The next morning we caught the 7 am bus to Dunedin and upon arriving at our hostel, called Hogwartz, which arguably was the best place we stayed in New Zealand, we opted out of sightseeing and watched the movie Ray instead. (Highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it already). The next morning before our flight out we walked down through the university area to the botanic gardens, then hopped our shuttle to the airport.

Brisbane was a bit of a shock to the system after the beautiful and tranquil New Zealand. The city itself is fine, and we actually had quite a nice day yesterday walking around the parks, checking out their Gallery of Modern Art where they had the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art which showed some amazing pieces by Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese contemporary artists. On, out of the many, striking works were drawings made with repeating letters instead of brushstrokes making up traditional Korean landscape paintings by the Korean artist, Yoo Seung-ho. We also had a great dinner in Chinatown.

The bitter taste in our mouth is really from our hostel, not that we left the land of sheep and hobbits. The kitchen was in the basement and if you turned on the AC water would spew out of it. There was only one sink and somehow no spoons or bowls. Then we had the pleasure last night of having the two guys who were sleeping below us bring back girls that they had picked up from a bar. Fantastic.

So on that note we’re leaving Brisbane and taking a flight up to Cairns where we’ll rent a car and drive up to Port Douglas. We’re planning on snorkeling and perhaps doing a scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef, and then checking out some of the beautiful rainforests and waterfalls. We’ll be up there for a week and then we’re flying down to Sydney.

Meanwhile we finally got our Southeast Asia guidebook and are getting busy planning the next part of our trip. We’re starting in Thailand with Bangkok and Chiang Mai, then traveling to Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. For Thailand and Cambodia we’ll be travelling with my parents which should be great. Thanks to my Dad’s Cambodian colleagues in Lowell, MA we will be staying with a family in Phnom Penh and getting an inside scoop to the country!

The day that you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived and we’ve uploaded over a thousand photos to our photo page (which can be found by gently clicking on the link on the right hand side or by clicking here).

For those wondering what we look like now, here are two photos from our last night of our hike:

Enjoy!

After dozens of mosquito and sandfly bites, liters of perspiration dripping from my brow, many ascents and descents, and beautiful views, we returned safely to the comfort of our hostel.  Over the last 6 days we walked roughly 80 kilometers and the highest peak that we reached was around 1000 meters.  The first two and a half days were spent walking the inland track of the park, which is much less popular than the coastal track.  This means that it is not as well maintained but there are fewer people.  This part of the hike was the hardest because we had to battle huge root systems  that crossed our path and were slippery from the condensation due to the thick canopy of forest that lay above us.  Also, my leg hairs kepton attracting prickly grass fibers.  On the third day, we finally arrived at the north end of the park and walked south along Tasman Bay and its numerous inlets and estuaries.  We had to time our hiking to coincide with low-tide times to cross two estuaries barefoot on top of thousands of crumbling shells.  No feet suffered in the process, except for the blisters that we inevitably developed over the duration of our hike.  As we got closer to civilization, more people appeared on the coastal track and became less friendly.  Nonetheless, we had a good time and were able to swim during the last three days in cold ocean water.  My only complaint was the hardness of the sleeping mats which led to fitful sleep on my part. 

As a reward for our hard work, we treated ourselves to a nice dinner out in the fine city of Motueka (close to the park).  We tend to not eat out in New Zealand or Australia since it is pretty expensive and much cheaper to cook your own meals in the wonderful kitchens that are in every hostel.  So, we found a fancy restaurant in Motueka called “The Gothic.”  It is housed in a former church building and comes with the appropriate religious paraphernalia.  I had my eyes set on a big hamburger, and when the waitress came over to take our order I instinctively asked her if I could have the meat cooked “medium.”  To which she eyed me suspiciously, and replied, “Sir, we cook the meat.”  The burger was extremely tasty and juicy.  Monica had chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto on a bed of spinach mashed potatoes. 

Tomorrow, we’re heading to Kaikoura to swim with dolphins on the 18th of Februrary and then we’ll finish where we started, in Dunedin.

By the way, we’ve uploaded a bunch of new photos.  No photos of New Zealand just yet, but they will be coming tomorrow.  Hold your breath.

We made it safely to the lodge that was accessible only by boat or on foot and spent the next three days there.  This lodge was quite an operation.  They had small farm animals such as pigs and sheep, as well as an aviary.  They also had fruit trees and about 35 hammocks throughout their 11 hectare property along the hills.  One hammock area was called “Hammockville” and had such novel contraptions as a double hammock where two people can lie side-by-side with a little division between them (but sway together).  Another hammock area was called “The Observatory” and was cleared of trees so that to aid stargazing at night.

The first day there while we were still exploring the area we came down to the shore by one of the hammock areas.  It was low tide and we saw a plethora of mussels.  We picked 8 of the largest ones (as we were advised) and cooked them up with some pasta that same night.  It was delicous.  The next day started out with a slight sprinkle, but then it stopped, which enabled us to do a small hike to the highest point on a famous hiking trail through the Marlborough Sounds.  From there we had a 360 degree view of the area.   There was even a picnic table at the top of this hill.  On the way back, Monica led us astray a little thinking that we could take an alternate route to our lodge.  We had to return to the main trail after a little huffing and puffing back up the hill.  The next day we went out to kayak around the bay where the lodge was located and saw some huge stingrays and 11-legged starfish in the shallow waters close to the shore.  We were told that these stingrays were not lethal.  Then, when we returned, it was high tide and we jumped from a rope swing into the water.  My first jump was quite a disaster, as my leg somehow got entangled in the rope and I ended up falling into the water on my side.  It was a little red for a while afterward.

On Monday, February 5th, we took a bus to Spring Creek where we were met by our WWOOFing host.  WWOOFing, for those interested, is an organization of organic orchards/farmers who welcome volunteers to their farms to work for 3-4 hours per day in exchange for room and board.  The WWOOFing experience can last from a few days to months at a time, and is not defined in the work that one does.  However, we were lucky to have found this family who had a varied orchard where they grew apples, pears, plums, nectarines, different herbs, artichokes and a whole bunch of flowers.  They also had three chickens and a psychologically unstable horse (looked perfectly sane to me, but then again I didn’t have to get close to her).  We learned how to weed and cut out a bunch of thistle plants and Monica made 10 jars of pesto sauce from fresh basil and sunflower seeds.  When we weren’t working, we had a chance to explore the surrounding areas on the bikes that were provided.  On Tuesday, which was Waitangi Day (a national holiday marking the date when the Maori’s and the English signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which eventually screwed the Maori’s over and they’re still trying to figure out that mess), we visited a Maori marae.  A marae is a sort of community house that is open to all.  There was supposed to be a welcoming ceremony and various activities throughout the day, but we were 10 minutes late to the ceremony.  Thus we got a tour of the marae which was filled with beautiful wood carvings and totem poles.  Then, we visited a little open-air museum which is a small street of late 19th-century stores filled with various knick-knacks particular to those shops.  For example, they had a barber shop with old tools and a dentist’s shop.  This being a public holiday, there were a lot of people dressed in old colonial costumes.  On the grounds they had a museum of old farm machinery and a classic car show.  Additionally, we happened upon a “Rock and Minerals Club” which was essentially a store displaying various rocks with a laboratory for members to examine and work on rocks.  Monica got a full-fledged tour of the place from an enthusiastic member of the society, while I was rummaging through their boxes of books which were selling for $0.50 each.  I ended up buying “Brave New World,” “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” and a book by Jacques Cousteau.  Yes, we are finished with our 19th century romanticism of Thackeray and Eliot and have migrated into mid-20th century utopia.  During our free time in the afternoon on Wednesday, we rode our bikes to the beach (that’s the South Pacific) and it being a clear day we had a sighting of the North Island of New Zealand.  We did a short hike to Whites Bay.  On Thursday, this being in the famous Marlborough wine-growing region, we rode our bikes to two wineries and sampled their famous white wines.  They’re known for Cabernet Sauvingnon’s and Chardonnay’s.  After the first tasting, Monica came to the conclusion that she prefers red wine in general.  Biking between wineries is actually a pretty good idea since you can sober up by sweating out the wine between tastings.  Plus, you travel slower.  We ended our wine tour with a visit to a chocolate factory where we treated ourselves to some dark chocolate truffles.  M-m-m good!

Overall, we had a great WWOOFing experience and got to stay in a cozy cottage next to the owner’s house.  The food that we had was wonderful and the organic fruits and vegetables were delectable.  Today, we had to downgrade to non-organic peaches and we tasted the difference (however, it might’ve been that particular peach).  We had some great conversations with the family and learned a fair bit about New Zealand.

Today, we were finally successful in hitchhiking to Nelson.  Monica made a sign last night, and we were dropped off at the strategic corner this morning.  Within five minutes we were riding in a car to Nelson.  Once here, we visited the World of WearbleArt Museum and Classic Car Collection.  The WearableArt Museum displays the winners of the previous year’s WearableArt competition winners in various categories, and the latter part of the museum is self-explanatory.

Tomorrow, we are relocating once again, and then on Sunday, we are going to start on our 5 night/6 day camping trip in the Abel Tasman National Park.  The last three days will be walking along the beach and the first three day will be mostly along a ridge overlooking the  beaches.  We were warned that there are a fair number of wild pigs in those parts of the mountains.  Unfortunately we can’t eat them unless we kill them with a knife or with our bare hands.  I think we’ll opt of the instant-rice and dehydrated meals that we meticulously purchased today.  Don’t worry, we stocked up well.

Unfortunately, after a few futile attempts we still haven’t been able to upload new photos to the website.  We’ll make another attempt after our hike.

To end on a different note, after the hike, we’re going to swim with the dolphins!