It has been awhile since the last blog and a whole road trip from Jan 6th to the 13th and move down south to Queenstown. Ryan and I loaded up everything that we brought with us to NZ in the trusty "Tele" short for Telestar and hit the road on Jan 7th. We headed towards Mount Cook stopping at
Mount Hutt, Methven and Gearldine to walk around and see the sights.
The first day we arrived at Mount Cook/Aoraki it was a bit overcast. Driving in we stopped at
Lake Tekapo and then stopped at Lake Pukaki where some of the Lupines were still in bloom. We then settled in at the campground where you could see the base of a huge mountain and glaciers but the top was clouded in. We also visited the Hermitage Hotel which was built in 1895 and rebuilt and expanded over the years, which is probably the most famous hotel in NZ.
Mount Cook was really amazing they have a whole new museum at the Hermitage that was just opened about Sir Edmond Hillary. We were there just a few days before he passed away. He was most notably the most famous person in NZ. He passed away Jan 11th, 2008 at 9 am of heart failure at the age of 88. It was the passing of a legend. He was best known to be the first to summit Everest in 1953 with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on the eve of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation. He was also the first to complete a motorized crossing of the South Pole in a Ferguson Tractor. He started the Himalayan Trust to build bridges, schools, and airstrips. The news of "Ed's" passing was all over the news as well as documentaries about his life. We watched these mesmerized along with the Kiwis and other tourists that were staying at the Queenstown holiday park with us. One family from Auckland where he lived and grew up had seen him talk recently and said he was an amazing person. He had even signed the $5 bank note with his picture on it for each of the kids. He will be missed by this country but his legacy will last for a long time to come.
Waking up in the morning at the base of the mighty mountain we headed on a 4 hour hike up the Hooker Valley train where we passed over two hanging bridges. After the second bridge we had perfect views of
Mount Cook. On the drive out of Mount Cook National Park we stopped off at Lake Pukaki again for the lake mountain views. After leaving there we headed to the Clay Cliffs near Omarama. After visiting the clay cliffs we headed to Omaru.
Omaru has lots of buildings made of Omaru limestone that were built in the 1880's. We stayed at the Holiday Park here. In Omaru we got to see some rare
yellow eyed penguins. The next day we headed south to the
Moeraki Boulders. These are round stones on the beach that were formed 60 million years ago, as lime salts accumulated around a fossilized organic core.
Dunedin was the next stop that we made. There we visited the Octagon which is the main town center. We also went to the
Otago Museum and then Dunedin Botanic Gardens. All the buildings in Dunedin are really beautiful there. The railway station here is the most photographed building in New Zealand. I am sure we will be back here some time during our trip. Next we drove out to explore the
Otago Peninsula just outside of Dunedin. The winding roads along the beach were very cool. We also got to see some of the Royal Albatross that nest on the point as well as some Spotted Shags, Seals, and Sea lions. We then came through
Cromwell an old Gold mining town and now a large area for fruit growing. Then we went to
Queenstown. There we stayed at the holiday park to try to get settled here. Nick is staying at the Flaming Kiwi Backpackers and has a job at a Vineyard. Ryan and I found accommodations at Reavers Lodge that is at the top of the hill near the bottom of the Gondola that has great views of Queenstown. We are still exploring jobs but may work at the vineyard with Nick.
We took a short 2 day trip this weekend with Nick to go to the Catlands in the South Eastern corner of the South Island. On the way we stopped in Gore where there is a
Giant statue of a brown trout. After lunch near the statue we were standing directly in front of the statue and asked a local to take our picture. She stepped to the side and got the three of us in the picture and not the fish. Duh, if you are standing in front of something like that isn't it obvious that you want the fish in the picture. We asked her to take it with the fish in it and even then she only managed to get the tail in the picture. Gore is also the country music capital of NZ as well as the Brown Trout capital of NZ. After visiting Gore we drove to Nugget Point which was a light house point that overlooked some rocks that look like nuggets. This is one place in NZ where three different kinds of seals can co exist unlike other places on the island. After Nugget point we camped at a beautiful point on the beach. The next day we visited Purakaunui Falls and Matai Falls. Then went to
Cathedral caves. Then down to
Curio Bay where there is fossilized forest of trees that is 160 million years old. Then we drove to Porpoise Bay and then headed back to Queenstown.
We are now getting settled in and will start jobs at the Dry Stone and Slucers Vineyards this week. It will probably be a week or two until the next travels or adventures. But I am sure we will have some living in Queensland which is the adventure capital of the world.
