Christmas Vacation - Part IV: Canterbury on the East Coast

We arrived in Christchurch on the train on the evening of the 30th, and had one night out on the town before M had to fly back to San Francisco the following day. 

To give our time in Christchurch a bit of context, it's probably best to provide a bit of back story. Christchurch is the third most populous city in New Zealand (368,000 people) and the biggest city on the South Island. In the early hours of September 2010, it was hit by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, weakening the city's infrastructure. At mid-day in February 2011, a 6.3 earthquake struck central Christchurch, devastating the city and killing 185 people. This event is a turning point in Christchurch (and New Zealand) history the way that 9/11 is in New York. 

We have been hearing about the earthquakes since we moved here - everything is pre-and post-earthquake, and the economy has been greatly affected by the rebuild. Everyone talks about all the historic buildings that were destroyed, particularly the Christchurch Cathedral. All that we've heard about it didn't prepare us for the extent of the destruction. We thought a few old buildings over a couple of blocks had been affected, but it was so much more than that.

According to Wikipedia, 1,000 of the 4,000 buildings downtown were initially expected to be demolished - including hotels, office buildings, homes, etc. Based on what we saw, many of those buildings are still yet to be demolished. Some of them look like they've been sitting untouched since February 2011 - including many restaurants. I wouldn't want to be on the demolition team that has to empty out those kitchens!  A big part of the problem is that New Zealand has such a small population that the resources aren't available to reconstruct the city at the rate you might expect, so if you know any builders, send them our way!

We spent three days in Christchurch, including New Year's. We were sad to see M leave that morning, and our sadness grew when we finally made it to check out downtown Christchurch (in the rain, no less). We had dinner near our hotel and then toasted with some Amisfield bubbles to ring in 2015. On New Year's Day we carried out our 5-year tradition of spending all day in bed watching TV before heading out to Lake Tekapo on the 2nd.

We were in Tekapo to check out the Mt. John Observatory on the Dark Sky Reserve, but once again, our plans were thwarted by the weather. Although it was a nice day, it was too cloudy to see anything, so we had to cancel our tour. We took advantage of our stop in Tekapo to do a horseback ride in the region, which played Edoras in the Lord of the Rings movies. It was supposed to be a 3.5 hour ride, but ended up being 4.5 hours - which is a lot of time to spend on a horse if your name isn't Aragorn or Eowyn.

Near the end of the ride, Rob's horse slipped on a beer can, spooked, and bucked. Rob fell off on the way back down, but thankfully wasn't hurt or too traumatised to get back on his horse.

After Tekapo we headed out to Akaroa (population 700), which is the only French settlement in New Zealand. It it a popular tourist spot, so has a better selection of activities and nice restaurants than its size might suggest.  We loved it so much we stayed for three nights, including one overnight on a sheep farm, which we'll tell you more about later!

Clockwise from top left: the Container Mall in downtown Christchurch - a quick construction solution; the old Christchurch cathedral, missing its steeple; the famous Cardboard Cathedral, a stunning example of Kiwi ingenuity; 185 white chairs in front of the CTV buildling, where 115 people were killed; Rob lighting a candle for Grump (in keeping with family tradition)

Top: Our new favourite bar, Volstead Trading Company; Bottom: New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

In Lake Tekapo.

Horseback riding - with a cookie stop at what appears to be a fairy ring.

I've been horseback riding in the US, Mexico, Switzerland and Jamaica, but this was the most stunning ride I've ever taken - we went through open plans, over mountains, around the lake, along the beach and back through some fields.

Top: On our horses; Bottom: our campsite in Akaroa

Akaroa - our new favourite town in New Zealand!

The Kiwi Bushman

As Megan mentioned in her recent Christmas Vacation Part III post, our heli-hike at the Franz Josef Glacier was cancelled over X-mas break, leaving Megan, M and I in search of a fun activity to fill our day. It was quite a scramble to find anything that wasn't already booked between the general busyness of glacier region during the holiday and the dozens of other travelers with cancelled hikes that day.

One activity which caught our eye was the Eco Rafting whitewater rafting day trips, but unfortunately we couldn't get anyone to pick up the office or mobile phone numbers provided; we even tried stopping at the i-Site, who kindly placed a few calls on our behalf with no joy. After wandering around for a bit, with all hope virtually lost, I decided to make one last attempt and called the Eco Rafting mobile ... and got through! The line had a lot of static, but I made out:

"We're out on the river right now! How many people do you have? What sizes are you? Okay, meet us in Hari Hari at the Pukeko Tea Room at 1:30, we'll be in the black 4x4." click 

Okay... says me. "Hey M&M, we're driving up to Hari Hari and going rafting!" So we hop in the car and drive 1 hour up to Hari Hari (pop. 348), locate the Pukeko Tearoom, and browse some light country reading (see below) while sunscreening up for for our rafting trip.

US friends: let me know if I can look into a subscription for you.

Right on schedule, the two fellas (Josh & Cam) pull up in their truck and immediately make quite an impression. Excellent beards and excellent chatter. Also excellent: learning how to play chicken on a one lane bridge, and close calls with puddle splashing hikers (don't worry, we stopped to chat with them about how we would have splashed them if the timing was right, but they got off lucky)!

We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was just going to be M, M and I on the river with the Josh's buddy, Cam, as our fearless leader. Josh is the owner of Eco Rafting, and would be driving the truck down to the end of the river to pick us up a few hours down the line at the end of our trip. As we got suited up, we heard from Cam about Josh's YouTube channel (and persona): Josh James Kiwi Bushman. A few highlights (there are many more on the YouTube page, encourage you to visit and subscribe):

Josh James the Kiwi Bushman:

"The old lady took the lads down to the local fishing hole and came back with this stonking great eel, Charlie insisted we eat it for dinner so I thought I would show you fullahs how to skin ye old Eel."

Our rafting guide, Cam, giving the Kiwi Bushman a hand with his gun review series:

Apparently Josh will be appearing on the Discovery Channel (or similar?) in 2015, so keep your eyes peeled!! (Definitely will highlight on this blog if it happens.)

Once out on the water, we hit a few decent rapids, but overall it was a reasonably tame trip (as we had been warned). These guys typically do much more exciting multi-day rafting and hunting trips, where you take a helicopter or drive into the deep bush and spend days making your way back out, but unfortunately we'll have to save that adventure for a later date! It was definitely an awesome day, and all the better due to our discovery of the Bushman. I know M is building up his legend back in the US and hopes to make it back for a long-haul trip at some point, which would undoubtedly be memorable. 

Top: low fog over Franz Josef Glacier, leading to our rafting trip. BL: Suiting up with Cam. BR: Heading into the river.

The Bushman winning at life.

The fog might have been low, but it was a perfect day out on the river. 

Christmas Vacation - Part III: West Coast Life

After D&L left, Rob, M and I left Queenstown and headed north to explore the South Island's West Coast, which is the most remote region of the country. The West Coast region takes up almost 10% of New Zealand's land, but has less than 1% of the population - which in a country of only 4.5 million people, means that this region only has 33,000 people. Many of the towns we passed through had populations of just a couple hundred people, and by the time we reached Greymouth (population 9,800), we felt like we were in a teeming metropolis. They even had a McDonalds!  Talk about bright lights, and the big city!

Our first stop was Wanaka, which is very similar to Queenstown in location and activities, but is not as globally famous. Instead, it's full of Kiwis who think Queenstown is a tourist trap, and it's a lovely town.

M said all he wanted was just to catch one fish in New Zealand, so we asked the owners of the campsite we were staying at for a recommendation. They gave us the number of a friend of the owner, and we headed out to do some trolling with a lead line on Lake Hawea (does it sound like I know what I'm talking about?). Between the three of us, we caught seven fish in three hours - six salmon (which we kept) and a trout. Our campsite had a place for us to clean our fish - complete with a fish smoker and some spices. Suffice to say, we feasted that night.

We each caught two fish - except Mark who caught three! Bottom right: Harry, our guide, administering the Judge to the salmon Mark caught.

Best dinner ever.

After Wanaka and Lake Hawea, we spent a full day driving through Haast (population 297) and up to Whataroa (population 405) through Franz Josef (population 330). National Geographic Traveller and Lonely Planet have labelled it one of the best drives in the world, but it was a bit lost on us, as it was so rainy and foggy we could barely see 10 metres ahead of us.

Top: Driving through Haast, a land without cell phone reception; Bottom left: Our hotel in Whataroa, which used to be a maternity hospital, and was just about as creepy as it sounds. When we woke up the bathroom sink was full of dead flies - this place is not at all haunted.

The next day we headed back to Franz Josef for the one activity we'd booked ahead of time - a heli-hike on Franz Josef glacier! Unfortunately, although it was a cracker of a day in the area surrounding Franz Josef, the glacier itself was covered in clouds, and it was too dangerous to fly - and there's no other way to get up there. The area was so packed with disappointed tourists that it was impossible to find an alternative activity. Thankfully, we managed to book a last minute rafting trip with the Kiwi Bushman, which Rob will tell you more about soon, as the Kiwi Bushman deserves his own post.

We stayed in Franz Josef that night in the hopes that we could hike the glacier the following day, but they were completely booked and it turned out to be even cloudier than the day before. Instead we went Quad Biking for a couple hours and then went to the Kiwi House so we could finally see a real live kiwi bird (no pictures allowed)!

Quad biking - much better than expected!

Lunch in Hokitika - sadly the Sock Machine Museum was closed until further notice.

Finally, we drove up to Greymouth through Hokitika (population 3,000) to sleep at a very noisy campsite before catching the TranzAlpine train to Christchurch, which is supposed to be one of the best train rides in the world. We even managed to fit in a Monteith's brewery tour before our train departed!

In case you've ever wondered what a keg looks like on the inside.

Aboard the TranzAlpine train - with a very important, helpful sign in the bathroom, just in case you needed instructions.

Views from the train.  Bottom left: This town Cass only has a population of one person (I'm not even sure what that means), but that one person has a mini golf course!

Christmas Vacation - Part IIA: Milford Sound

Of the 3,000+ pictures from Christmas Vacation, over 700 were from Milford Sound, and I'm still not sure that we managed to capture the magic of this place.  Either way - prepare yourself for picture overload!

We did a tour with the BBQ Bus. I was a little wary of the company when I booked it, but it was the only one that didn't stick you on a huge coach with 80 other people, so I decided to give it a go. It turned out to be even better than I could have dreamed!  There were only seven people on our bus, and we were five of them.  The drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound takes 4-5 hours, so the trip is almost as important as the destination.

Milford Sound is actually a fjord, and may be the most famous site in all of New Zealand that isn't associated with Lord of the Rings. According to Wikipedia, Rudyard Kipling once called it the eighth wonder of the world, and it's not hard to see why. The Sound itself is breathtaking - full of waterfalls and mountains and wild life. Two out of three days in Milford Sound are rainy, so we were very fortunate to have a sunny, warm, clear, perfect day. I'd like to go back when it's rainier to see the waterfalls, but we couldn't have asked for a better first visit.

Truth be told, the journey ended up being even better than our stunning destination. The further into the Fjordland National Park you drive, the more magical it gets. The BBQ Bus gets its name from its lunch stop. We stopped at a lovely little riverbank that the bigger coaches can't access, and wandered around among the lupins while our driver grilled up lunch on the BBQ he had packed in the trunk.

Once we reached the Sound, we took a 2 hour boat ride, complete with a trip into the waterfall.  Before boarding, our driver mentioned there was an option to fly back to Queenstown on a Cessna prop plane. I'm completely terrified of heights, and even moreso of flying, but I guess I was feeling giddy from the magic of the day and expressed interest. It turned out to be way too expensive for us, but when we returned from our boat ride, the driver let us know they'd be willing to fly us at a steep discount. D&L weren't interested, but me, Rob and M jumped at the chance.

By some lucky twist of fate, I ended up in the co-pilot seat for the 45 minute flight. I had multiple panic attacks and my vision may have gone spotty for a few minutes, but it ended up being the high point of a year that was already so full of magic, fun and adventure - and easily one of the best experiences of my entire life.

Stopping for lunch with the BBQ bus - not a bad spot for a picnic!

More stops along the way. The mountain range behind us in the top left picture is where the Routeburn Track is located, which Kiwis consider to be an "easy/moderate" trail. Rob and I are planning to hike the Routeburn Track over Easter, so this was a surprise to us! The mountains behind D&L in the top right picture are more famously known as the Misty Mountains.

On a boat tour of Milford Sound

The famous Milford Sound waterfalls - and me experimenting with the best ways to keep my beer safe from them. 

I still can't believe I volunteered for this (and am so glad I did)!  One last picture of Rob, M and I before taking off!  Right: Picture of our plane from the air. Bottom left: A quick detour over Milford Sound before heading back to Queenstown.

I'm a co-pilot!  The real pilot took the top right picture of me, and his hands were both on my camera while mine were both on my steering wheel holding the plane steady. So technically, I have flown a Cessna! Try not to be as terrified as I was (and Rob and M understandably were) by this idea.

Views from the plane

More views - no words.

Flying into Queenstown.  Top left: Views from the cockpit.  Bottom right: Hank, our pilot, with our plane.

Christmas Vacation - Part II: Queenstown

After Blenheim, we flew to Queenstown, which is easily one of the most beautiful towns in the entire country. Whereas bigger cities such as Auckland and Wellington tend to clear out over Christmas, Queenstown was packed. It's a popular destination for both Kiwis and foreign tourists year-round. We spent a long weekend in Queenstown in July so Rob could go skiing, but were eager to return in the summer - and we were not disappointed!

We used Queenstown as a base for a few other adventures, including a day trip to Milford Sound (which merits - and will get - its own post) and a private wine tour through Otago on Christmas Eve. Rob and M were hoping to do a few additional things, including riding The Shark (watch that video - you've never seen anything like it!) and bungee jumping, but they were completely booked. Of course I was devastated for Rob that he couldn't jump 450 feet from a platform with nothing but a piece of elastic tied to his ankles, but somehow I managed.

D&L left New Zealand early on the 26th, so Christmas Day was our last day with them. It was a Christmas unlike any we've had before - sunny and close to 80*!  While many Kiwis spent the day at the beach, D, L and M headed up the gondola to try the Luge before meeting up with Rob and I at a Mexican restaurant for margaritas in the sun! For dinner we ordered room service and then headed down to the hotel bar to watch the sunset.

We were so sad to see D&L leave - but so grateful that they came to visit!  We are thrilled that they enjoyed themselves and glad that they can finally appreciate why we love this little country so very much. We hope they come back soon!

Our tiny plane out of Blenheim - you can see straight into the cockpit!  The flight into Queenstown is one of the more breathtaking flights out there - you come down over the lake between mountains before landing.

Rob, M and I all chose Canada shirts to wear that day - completely independently of each other! The bottom left picture is of the sky after 10pm on the longest night of the year. 

Our Christmas Eve wine tasting - the highlight was the hour we spent at the Nose, which has an aroma room. We smelled a bunch of different scents and then drank some wine and tried to guess what aromas each wine contained. We finished off our day with a lovely tasting dinner at Amisfield Winery, which is where Prince William and Duchess Kate dined when they were in the area last year.

Left: Bungee jumpers - one off the Kawarau Bridge and the other by a gnome into some wine bottles. Right: Some scenery shots, including the stunning river, which is actually that colour in person because of something to do with it originating in the mountains and  having certain sediments.

Christmas Day in Queenstown - M&L luging and Kiwis at the beach!

Thanks again for everything D&L - we had the time of our lives!

Christmas Vacation - Part I: Marlborough

Like I said in my Catching Up post, we ended up with over 3,000 pictures from our Christmas trip on the South Island with Rob's family, so we're going to have to do this in multiple posts.  I don't know how many posts this will end up being, but last year's Christmas Vacation turned 1,300 pictures into four parts, so be prepared!

On Saturday the 20th, Rob and I headed to the airport to meet up with Rob's brother M, who arrived very early that morning from San Francisco. The three of us jumped on a plane and flew down to Blenheim, where we met up with D&L, who flew down from Wellington.  Rob and I went to Blenheim for our first wedding anniversary in September 2013, and had been eager to get back ever since.

Blenheim is the main town in the Marlborough wine region, which is world renowned for its Sauvignon Blanc. Our first night there we had dinner at Herzog Bistro and then headed back to the Chateau Marlborough where M's fascination with cricket began.  Over the next 10 days, we spent hours watching cricket in an attempt to figure out how the hell that game works.  We never did fully figure it out, but other Kiwis seem to appreciate that we tried.

The day after our arrival we did an all-day wine tour with Bubbly Grapes, who we'd done a tour with before. It did not disappoint the second time around and we had a fantastic time!

Welcome to New Zealand, M!  

Wine tasting at Cloudy Bay (aka L's paradise) - did you remember your astronaut costume?

We're going to need some of these swings at Geist.

A great start to G Family Vacation 2014!

After our wine tour we hung out by the hotel pool - Rob and M were over wine at that point. Bottom right: A home brewing/second hand book store. Maybe Rob and I can take it over one day!

There's no wine tasting like Kiwi wine tasting.

D&L in Auckland

For Christmas this year, Rob's parents gifted us with their presence and a family trip to New Zealand! D&L arrived in Auckland on December 11th. They spent the weekend with us in Auckland (and Waiheke) before picking up a rental car, learning to drive on the left side of the road, and spending a week driving down Wellington via Waikoto, Hobbiton, Rotorua and Taupo.

Top: D&L on Mount Eden, D sampling some New Zealand beer; Bottom: Oysters at Ostro, Rob and L enjoying some Auckland flora

Clockwise from top: Dinner at Orbit in the Sky Tower, Christmas tree of bicycles at the ferry terminal, Love Actually at Silo Park

Day of wine tasting on Waiheke Island, complete with platters at Mudbrick, dinner at Casita Miro and lots and lots of soup!

Even more soup

A blustery day in Devonport - we found a brewpub playing the Redwings game!  Bottom row is the Pohutukawa Tree, also known as the Kiwi Christmas Tree for its colours and tendency to bloom in December.

Top: D&L in Hobbiton; Bottom: D&L black water rafting the glow worm caves in Waitomo

Catching Up

Life has been a bit more hectic than usual lately. We just got back from a 20-day trip on New Zealand's South Island, and before that I spent 15 days in and out of Sydney, Australia for work.

I'll put up some posts about our Christmas Vacation in the next week or two (once I've sorted through the 3,000+ pictures we have), but for now we've completed some previous posts we started but never finished. They're all back dated, but I've included a list of links below so they're easy to find:

• Rob goes Skiing in Queenstown
• 24 hours in Matakana
• Springtime in Auckland
• Suddenly Sydney

Sunset over Auckland Harbour