Jan 2009

We’ve been on the road now for about three weeks for so, and it has been a blast. Our first destination was the Banks Peninsula, which is just South of Christchurch. An old farm was our home and a hut with a glass ceiling (to watch the stars) was our room for three nights. There we went for a couple of runs, swam in the ocean, and even picked our own mussels off of the rocks for dinner. Talk about fresh seafood!

Our next stop was Christchurch, where we spent two nights in a jail that has been converted to a hostel. The city itself was an interesting mix of English and Kiwi influences, and the definite highlight was an early morning run through the botanical gardens in a sun shower. Beautiful flowers and extremely well laid-out. We also found some great cafes and other nice spots to watch the world go by. Side note to the beer drinkers out there - the Twisted Hop makes an amazing cask-conditioned IPA.

Kaikoura, a beach town about two hours to the North that is famous for whale watching, was our next stop along the way – and coincidentally the spot for my 30th b-day. Erin was kind enough (and patient enough) to go with me on a fishing mission that day, where I hooked probably the biggest brown trout of my life. Agonizing that I lost it after a long fight, but still cool. After that, we came back to town for some fish and chips and a few beers at the local pub. We also hit up a seaside BBQ cart that cooks up freshly caught fish and shellfish for appetizers, and finished the night with crème brulee at a nice restaurant on the pier. Talk about the royal treatment! The next morning we went for an amazing run around the peninsula, which offered us perfect views of the coastline. Sea transitions to fairly tall mountains in less than a mile – quite dramatic, and a great way to finish up our time there without the crowds.

At that point we were starting to get thirsty, and as such the Marlborough wine area seemed to be a natural destination. We stayed a couple of nights there, rented bikes to tour the wineries, and had a blast in general. The wineries are easily accessible and located within close proximity of eachother, which made riding between them enjoyable and quite painless. Sauvignon Blanc is the varietal for which the region is most well-known, although we did try some good Pinot Noir as well. Would have loved to buy a couple of cases, but space and budget limitations were such that we settled for a couple of bottles to accompany us on our journey. Erin’s favorite had to be the sparkling Sav. Blanc, but much to her chagrin they don’t export that one. No fair!

The Marlborough Sounds were our retreat after all of that eating and drinking, where we stayed four nights at a great little backpacker resort on the water. We basically rotated between the sea kayaks, hot tub, and hammocks, at least when we weren’t swimming in the beautiful water. The hosts there were amazing, and even provided mussel feeds every other night for the guests. Hopewell was the name of the place, and the name could not have been more fitting. It was one of the highlights of our trip so far.

There’s definitely more to write and pictures will come soon, but we hope you are all doing well!

Happy Birthday, Nate!! We spent the day(s) in Kaikoura and on a mission to the Waiau River, about a 2 hour drive from Kaikoura on the south island. Nate loved every minute of it and then we headed back to town and splurged for the $5NZD fish and chips. Had a few beers in the Strawberry Tree (a funky little Irish bar) and got some creme brulet to top off the night.
No picutre for now as I'm entering this on a ghetto-coin based computer without any USB to download a picture.

The day after Christmas we took off for our second 5-day, 4-night tramp. This time we ventured off on the Rees-Dart Track, a route where you basically follow two river valleys (Rees and Dart) while catching glimpses of glaciers and alpine scenery. We decided to do a day trip from the middle hut (Dart Hut) up to the Cascade Saddle; that day, we woke up at 5:15 and had amazing weather compared to the downpour of the day before. We took 8 hours up and back to the saddle and then still had to hike 6 hours down to the next hut, Daleys' Flat, since we had booked the backpacker shuttle out the next day. I don't think I have ever been so glad to see a hut or stop walking; but remembering the scenery from the Cascade Saddle made the 14 hour hinking day definitely worth it.

The crazy thing that happened, though, was on the way up on the second day, we passed a pair of nesting falcons and they actually dive-bombed a British girl (sans talons) and gave her a pretty good bruising on her head. Sheesh!! She was fine, but what crazy protective falcons, hey?

So as you can tell, Nate and I are not the best bloggers. Maybe it's because NZ is like candy for outdoor lovers, or maybe it's because we are truly on our budget kick and it's expensive to use here. Either way, we may do massive dumps at once, but hope we don't detract from the dramatic scenery that is here in the south island. It's really hard to believe that we've been traveling for a month. We forgot to include some things from the beginning of our trip (Milford Sound area), so we'll include them now. Sorry for the non-chronological ordering, but we are newbies at this blog stuff. What we've done in the past 30 days:

-Hiked 15 days
-Slept in eight huts, four campgrounds, one hostel, one jail (which is now a hostel), one B&B, one trailer, and one house
-Figured out the best backpacking food program (well, at least thus far for dinner): miso soup, cheddar cheese, rice noodles with canned chicken and peanut sauce, fresh brocolli/zuchinni (yes, Anna!), chocolate hunks, hot chocolate avec whiskey (Nate likes his straight)
-caught some big fish...more to come
-pulled our own mussels off the rocks for dinner twice (go budget travelers!)

We hope that 2009 is off to a good start for everyone. For Christmas Eve, Nate and I found a carols service at St. Peter's in Queenstown, where we were able to sing Christmas carols amongst the massive number of overseas travelers as well as the locals as well. For Christmas Day, we BBQ'ed in the park and camped before taking off on the Rees-Dart track. We missed being with our families and loved ones for sure.
As for New Year's, we rung it in with Cory and Camella up in their beautiful mountain house in Makarora, just outside Wanaka (pop. 40). Nate and Cory played all his records and we cooked up a wonderful meal. Nice to be with friends in a beutiful place. Happy New Year's to all. Hope 2009 is a good one, full of adventures, laughter and memories. The first video below is from a recent track up the Cascade Saddle. The pictures following are of Cory and Camella's house in Makarora in addition to a hike we did on the 4th of Jan. Miss you all!