Our Flickr page is updated with photos through our Thanksgiving Day feast.
Don’t worry, these are just our favorite photos from these areas, not all 400+ photos we have taken in the lat week!
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29Nov
Categories: New Zealand Comments: 0
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29Nov
Categories: Thoughts Comments: 0We have had people ask who is the voice behind the blog. Is it Erin? Is it John? The answer is both. We write all of our blogs together. Which might explain the confusion of some of the text. Usually we get to the end of a few days of activity, grab the computer, get cozy in the car, and write the blog, filling in each other’s sentences to tell the whole story. So far it has worked well and is a good practice in communication.
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29Nov
Categories: New Zealand Comments: 2
While our family and friends were eating turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, pecan & pumpkin pies, and more turkey, we were eating pork ribs, kumara, black cherry chicken, and banoffee pie. Turkey is very difficult to come by in New Zealand so instead of trying to fix a traditional Thanksgiving Day feast for two we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner out. One thing that was the same about eating this Thanksgiving Day meal was that we were extremely stuffed by the end. What we did miss out on though is the post-dinner, tryptophan-induced nap. It is one of the best parts of Thanksgiving Day, after all.We had a great day celebrating Thanksgiving. We have decided
it is best to celebrate holidays over two days–the first day being the actual date we would celebrate here in New Zealand and the second being the official day it is celebrated back home. A 21 hour time difference makes this two day celebration possible. The first holiday we tried this out on was Halloween. The candy consumption was intense. We wouldn’t recommend so much candy over two days. Thanksgiving we split into a day of thankfulness and a day of eating. Perhaps, we’ll stretch this celebration out to three days and tomorrow be thankful for eating.
Certainly, we are not lacking things for which to be thankful and we had fun making a long list as we hiked around the Franz Josef area. While we sat around our Thanksgiving table, we thought about what our families would be eating and the potential conversation around the table. These are the times we miss family the most, but the ribs did fill the void temporarily. =) -
29Nov
Categories: New Zealand Comments: 2
We have seen much in the last few days. Our last day in Nelson (where we rested after the Abel Tasman
Walk) was spent taking in a movie, In Bruges (really good and really bad, all in the same movie) at the local cinema as buckets of rain poured down from the sky. We had stayed in Nelson for three nights and we needed to move on despite the weather.NELSON LAKES
Even though we moved on that day, we traveled less than
100 km to the Nelson Lakes National Park with the intention of taking a couple of days to fish (John) and hike. Thankfully the weather lightened up and we only had rain off and on during our time there. It was a good couple of days at Lake Rotoiri. We took a nice, leisurely walk around the lake, stopping periodically for John to try his hand at reeling in a brown trout. He nearly caught two. The first fish gave a good fight before stealing John’s lure and swimming away, but the excitement of it was almost as good as if he had actually brought it to shore. The second took the lure, but was able to break free. John doesn’t consider himself a fisherman so just getting a fish on the line was enough. He also got some tips from a Canadian fishing guide who was fishing at the same lake. The guy even let John have a try at fly fishing (I’m sure this will be a new challenge to take on when we get back home).
The scenery was beautiful and we began to see why some people describe the South Island as so spectacular. The Nelson Lakes are off the normal tourist route, which is a little surprising because of how beautiful the area is. One strange thing we saw at the lake was a sign at the end of the dock that said you could not fish for eels. When you peered over the edge you could see 20 or so 4-5 feet long eels. Interestingly, we learned that it takes eels 90 years to be mature enough to spawn. Thank goodness it doesn’t take humans 90 years to reproduce. Could you imagine rearing a child at the age of 95?
PANCAKE ROCKSFrom Nelson Lakes we drove west toward the Tasman Sea. The coastline here reminded us of the Northern California coast–rugged beaches and bigger mountains right off shore. Pancake Rocks was a stop that came highly recommended (thanks, Robby!) so it was a must-see. We were not disappointed. The Pancake Rocks are a series of limestone formations that look like a bunch of hotcakes stacked on each other. To this day, scientists don’t have a good explanation for their unusually flat formation.
FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER
Stunning, spectacular, fabulous, beautiful, gorgeous… we couldn’t decide which word to use and we probably said them all as we spent a day seeing all the
different angles (except for the helicopter close up) of the Franz Josef Glacier. The day started with a near 4000 foot ascent to Alex’s Knob (not sure what a knob is exactly, but they are all over the place here). This hike had three lookout points. The first two gave us [please fill in with superlative from above] views of the glacier, Mt. Cook, the Southern Alps, and the Tasman Sea. The third lookout was at the end of the hike, or knob, and by the time we arrived the clouds had moved in and you could barely make out the glacier below. Regardless, it was still a great hike and we were able to catch the first two views again on our way down.
We got back to the car and ventured on to explore the glacier, up close and personal. The signs at the end of the cement warned that you were free to cross the barrier, but it was at your own risk. The real debate was whether or not we wanted to take our socks and shoes off and cross a glacial river to get a closer view. We decided to go for it. We got about .5 km away when we had to start climbing up through the bush. At that point we decided we had enough, considering the hike we had just completed and how tired we were. We set off back to the car and were casually walking along (as casually as you walk through a boulder field). Next thing we knew John and our camera were on the ground. A huge rock had shifted beneath his feet and threw him off like a bucking bronco. Erin was sure he had broken his tailbone the way he came down. After checking him out, he had just a slight sprain on his left foot and the camera was still in tact with a few new war wounds. Neither injury was significant, thankfully, but John will be using his walking sticks (trekking poles) for the next couple of days.HAAST PASS TO WANAKA
Our Servas hosts’ told us the Haast Pass was one of their favorite spots on the South Island. When we 
started from the town of Haast it didn’t seem like much, but as we journeyed through we understood why. This was probably one of our favorite passes so far in New Zealand. Not only were there great views but also some really great spots for skipping and diving rocks. If you are not 
familiar with rock diving it involves throwing rocks up in the air and trying to get them to go in the water with very little splash–similar to Olympic platform diving. There is also a tone that you are going for that can be best explained as a deep “thunk”–you’ll know the sound when you hear it. Hours of fun to be had with rocks (John, his brother, Pete, and cousin, Derin have spent many an hour rock diving together).We are so glad for digital cameras, otherwise the last couple of days would have broken our budget in the amount of film used–we figure it would about 16 rolls (24 photos per roll) worth, and that doesn’t include the photos we deleted! We have narrowed down the field to our favorites and they will be on Flickr soon.
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23Nov
Categories: New Zealand Comments: 8
As we are traveling, we have realized the importance of familiarity. Because we are moving around so much, it’s comforting to have at least a few things that you can count on to be the same on most days. One thing we have found about our traditions (we use the word tradition in our house instead of “routine” as John doesn’t care for routines much… or at all, really) on the road is that they usually involve sugary treats, as if we were more deserving of treats here than at home. The tradition we observe most frequently is our nightly cup of cocoa and some sort of cookie to compliment. Recently we picked up some cookies called “Chit-Chats” and discovered they have a unique property. We need to rewind for a second… Our friend Martha taught us how to fill a cookie with hot cocoa by using it as a straw. You simply bite off the ends of a certain type of cookie, stick it in the cocoa (or possibly coffee–not been tested), and sip the cocoa into the cookie through the end. The cookie becomes saturated with the cocoa and you end up with a perfectly soft and gooey cookie–it’s almost indescribable how delicious it is! Warning: The cookie becomes very hard to manage and will fall off into the cocoa if you take on too much liquid–there is a fine balance. From our experience it only takes a second or so to fill the cookie. We believe the original cookie Martha introduced us to was the “Tim-Tam Original.” To our surprise, the “Chit-Chat” was a good knock-off that worked almost as well. We have since used the “Tim-Tam” and it is probably the one to go with.
You may have a hard time finding “Chit-Chats” or “Tim-Tams” at your local Safeway or Fred Meyer’s, but if you want to try this delicacy (or begin this tradition yourself), you can find the “Tim-Tam” at World Market. Martha will you verify our facts on this since you are the resident expert? Here are some instructional pictures below if you’re a visual learner.
Step 1: Start with a fresh package of Tim-Tams. Note, these are not the original, but work well.
Step 2: Take biscuit out of package before proceeding.
Step 3: Carefully bite off both ends of the biscuit.
Step 4: Place cookie into cocoa.
Step 5: Sip cocoa through your cookie straw for one second. Any more and you run the risk of losing the cookie.
Step 6: Eat the cookie, enjoy, and start back at step 2.
**If you can’t tell, it has been raining for the last three days and we have been inside finding ways to occupy our time. With more rainy days ahead on the wet South Island, look forward to more instructional posts in the future.**
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21Nov
Categories: Around The World, Uncategorized Comments: 2
We are finally getting our Flickr pictures somewhat organized. If you want to check out some more pictures here are links to each set. Sorry there will be some repeats from the Blog.
Flickr Sets
- Abel Tasman Coastal Track
- Queen Charlotte Track
- Christchurch
- Waitomo Caves
- Raglan
- to check out all of the sets you can go here if you have all day or are bored at work.
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21Nov
Categories: New Zealand Comments: 3
Ed Hatch, Erin’s dad, coined this phrase, “Indecision is the key to flexibility.” This has come to mind in our travels around New Zealand as we haven’t booked much in advance and have really just flown by the seat of our pants. Our indecision, or lack of planning, came in handy this week. After drying out from the Queen
Charlotte we headed on to Nelson for a couple of days rest before getting on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track (the third in our tour of NZ Great Walks). We started off the day thinking we would check out the information center, figure out the coming weather, post some blogs (like the three you got yesterday), watch a movie, and just relax. There was going to be no hiking or really any other semi-strenuous activity. Basically we were considering it a lazy Saturday, even though it was a Tuesday.
We arrived at the i-Site (the NZ information center in every town) to discover that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the weather forecast was great. Sun, blue sky, temperatures in the low to mid 60s. Just right for hiking. The forecast for Friday and beyond was rain, rain, and more rain. A big storm was heading this way. After the Queen Charlotte we wanted to try to avoid camping in the rain, as much fun as it is. We knew we had a short window and had to make a decision quick. Once we found out the last water taxi left at 1:30pm (it was 10:30am at the time) we knew our choices were a) wait until Wednesday and try to do a 51km hike (about 31 miles) in two days or b) bust our butts to make our reservations, get food, pick up some camping supplies, drive 56km to the boat launch, pack our backpacks, and eat lunch. With a little bit of convincing from John that it was actually possible, we went 
with option b. The next 2 1/2 hours (by the time we left the i-Site it was 11:00am) were referred to as “Tas-Mania” or as John would say, “good fun.”Needless to say, we made it with seconds to spare and a few unnecessary items in our packs. In fact, the boat was loaded and nearly driving away and Erin had to ask the driver to stop because John getting our camera we had forgotton from the car and was running toward the boat. Good fun. Despite the mania and hustle, it was a great three night/four day hike and well worth the effort. Indecision really is the key to flexibility.
Highlights of the Abel Tasman:
- The golden honey colored sand and turquoise blue waters. You would have thought we were in the tropics! The water temperature was around 62 degrees which didn’t feel like the tropics.
- Spending two of our three nights camping on beaches with no one else around.
- Beautiful coastal views looking into bay after bay, mixed with the variety of the NZ bush.
- Walking through two tidal crossings that could only be passed through in a four hour window each day. We had to speed hike 6 miles to make the first tidal crossing by 10:30am.
- Swimming (or rather, running in, diving down, coming up for air, and running back out) in the water.
- Setting an alarm for 1am so we could get up and see the stars (can you pick out the Southern Cross in this picture?) and then re-setting the alarm for 5:30am to watch the sunrise and then going back to bed until 8am.
- Toilets in the woods that flush. Not the long drop toilets, real flushing toilets!
- Coming off the walk on Friday (it wasn’t raining but the temperature had dropped and weather was definitely coming in) and enjoying a hot shower and a pizza.We really are going to take the weekend to catch up on internet stuff; we are getting the “Saturday” we had tried for five days ago. John already has plans for pancakes, eggs, bacon, orange juice, and tea tomorrow morning–a break from our usual oatmeal and fruit. Of course, we’ll wait until tomorrow to decide =).
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21Nov
Categories: New Zealand Comments: 4
We first heard of the Queen Charlotte Track at an REI event featuring Peter Potterfield, a photographer who was sharing about his time tramping in New Zealand. We both remember seeing this hike and thinking it would be out of our price range. A bit funny to think of a hike being out of your price range, but the Queen Charlotte is no ordinary hike. One woman we spoke with referred to it as the Princess Track, implying that it was for those who perhaps needed a bit more comfort on the trail; and comfort it offers. There are at least 14 resort-ish places to stay along the track, complete with fine dining options, heated pools, kayak rentals, and beautiful views of the Queen Charlotte Sound. To add to the luxury of the track, hikers can hire a water shuttle to pick up luggage each day and transport it to their next resort. Incredible!
But, Peter Potterfield’s pictures were breathtakingly convincing and we wanted to figure out a way to do this hike, if at all possible. Thankfully, the DOC (Department of Conservation–equivalent to our National Park Service) services about eight campgrounds on the track and only charges $6 per person. That price fit nicely into in our budget! And as it turns out, it’s actually cheaper to do the luggage transfer with your water taxi than to just do the water taxi (which you have to do because it’s the best way to get to the start of the track). Only in New Zealand would you feel okay about your bags being dropped at an unattended dock in the morning and sitting there all day.
The first day of the walk was sensational. On our cruise out to the trailhead we got to swim with dolphins–well, not exactly, but they came very close to the boat and we got video footage (and of course, we couldn’t help but think of our dear friend Molly). The trail itself was relatively easy and we took a nice leisurely pace as we walked with a new acquaintance, Andrew from Australia. There were beautiful lookout points, displaying clear blue sky, winding waters of the sound, islands scattered throughout, and yachties out cruising, We enjoyed Andrew’s company and conversation all the way to the Furneaux Lodge where we shared a meal at the pub, sitting out on a patio overlooking the water (thanks again, Andrew!). This being our first resort run-in, we could easily see why the trek was described as a “princess” trail. We chose to have our own “princess” day and hop the boat between the Furneaux Lodge and the Punga Cove Resort, which was near our campground for the evening. This cut out 10 km of the trail and provided an opportunity for an afternoon nap before the other campers arrived. We didn’t feel the normal satisfaction after a long day’s hike, partly due to the shortcut and partly due to the fact that our heavy packs were waiting for us when we arrived at the Camp Bay Campground. The evening was spent hanging out with another new acquaintance, Mike from Germany. We chatted and had fun taking crazy pictures.
On day two we ditched the princess mentality and walked nearly 25 km (15 miles). Of course, we weren’t carrying our backpacking packs which helped, but we were good and tired by the end of the trail. This portion of the track was the most scenic, offering ridgeline views of both the Queen Charlotte Sound to the south and the Kenepuru Sound to the north. We climbed to one of the highest points along the track to look out at a gorgeous scene. The trail was easy most of the day, but by the last mile we were ready to be off our feet. Once again, we were glad to see our packs, considering our home was inside them. We found a campsite at Cowshed Bay, set up camp, and promptly took a nap (noticing a theme here?).
At approximately 10pm the rains began…
At midnight the monsoon hit. We awoke to wild winds and buckets of rain pouring from the heavens. It was as if an irrigation sprinkler was on outside our tent.
At 6am we woke up from a noisy night of restless sleep to, you guessed it, more rain. Any of you who have ever been in a tent in the rain understand what it’s like. If you haven’t, it probably wouldn’t be your first choice of enjoyable evening activities, especially if it appears there is no end in sight. We peeked out the tent door and it looked as if… there was no end in sight. The winds were still blustery and the tent was beginning to take on water. Not to mention both of our packs were pretty well soaked (Erin’s actually fell over and landed outside the tent during the night). It could have been much worse. We decided to call off the rest of our hike and head to shore to dry out. The water taxi company was nice enough to allow this change–what other hike would you be on where you can use the telephone at a hotel to call in help?! We were thinking about those who went on Walkabout with George Fox this year in the Sisters and how they endured much more (lightening, snow, rain, freezing tempratures) and had to hike out. Yup, we were on a princess hike.
Of course, as soon as we hit shore, the sun broke out. We didn’t regret our decision one second and were able to get completely dried out by the end of the day. Now we are waiting to find out what the weather will be like for the rest of the week so we can get going on our next hike, the Abel Tasman Coastal Walkway, one of the most visited areas of New Zealand.
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21Nov
Categories: Around The World, New Zealand, Uncategorized Comments: 1We have found that blogging is a fun way to stay connected with family and friends back home, but we have discovered that it does take a lot of our internet time. We have received comments from many of you who are reading the blog and we wanted to let you know that even if we haven’t written you back, we LOVE getting them and please keep sending them through. We will try to get better at responding, but when we don’t, know that we are reading them and taking great joy in your words.If you haven’t commented yet, don’t be shy, it’s the only way we’ll know you’re connecting!
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21Nov
Categories: New Zealand Comments: 3
- NZ Police Have Nice, New, Shiny Cars
There is a story that goes way back where the comment, “What seems to be the problem officer?” was used when I (John) was pulled over. If you don’t know this story I will have to tell it another day. Of course, I learned my lesson when I spoke those words in college, and did not utter them this day. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to help the situation.
Sometimes things that seem to be just fine in the States don’t work so well in New Zealand. First, going 7 miles over the speed limit doesn’t seem to be ok here in NZ (if you haven’t heard of it in the States, I have always generally understood that 55 doesn’t really mean 55. It could be partly because 15 kilometers sounds worse than 8 or 9 miles an hour over the limit.) So, when the police officer pulled us over I didn’t have to ask, he just said here is your “insta-ticket” (what they give to foreigners) for $80 NZD. And off we went at a slower pace, keeping right to the 100 km speed limit–safety first.
As we went along I was thinking about how this had been my first ticket in 10 years (luckily it doesn’t go on my record back home), but I was not upset seeing as I was for sure speeding. Just about the time I was starting to let go of the money we had lost to the NZ police force, what did I see but another police car. This one was oddly placed up in the curvey moutain roads and actually threw me off, but I thought to myself, “No worries, I am definitley not speeding.” As I came around the next corner I noticed three more police cars and a police officer waving me over and yes I was dying to ask, “What seems to be the problem officer,” but before I could he told me. I guess in New Zealand you aren’t able to “trim the fat” or go over the dotted white line even when there are clearly no cars coming for quite a distance. I find this a nice way to shorten a drive (the shortest distance between two points is a straight line–I learned that from Dukes of Hazard) So to cut down the fours deaths per year from head on collisions they have on the South Island they have gone on a mission to stop this horrible offense. To make a long story short, they gave me another $150 NZD “insta-ticket” and sent me on my way. After this ticket I was starting to understand why the entire police force had such shiny new cars. I believe I had fallen victim to a police force fundraising event. This was confirmed when I got to our campsite and I heard of two other people who had gotten the same ticket on the same corner. After working out my frustration and getting an apology from one of the local kiwis for this scam, I came to terms with it and let it go after writing this blog. Luckily for me the US dollar is doing prettty well against the kiwi dollar and they will be taking a little less money out of our pockets. Also, Erin might drive more often which should help as well.
