NZ Day 22: Das Ektische

When I first read about Akaroa, a town at the bottom of an old crater, I imagined something much more dramatic than what I saw today. Akaroa is on the Banks peninsula right next to Christchurch. The Banks peninsula was formed by two volcanoes about ten million years ago. Erosion was hard at work on both mountains, they used to be an 1500 meters high now the highest elevations is about 1000 meters, but still pretty impressive.

We spent the entire day driving out to Akaroa and back to Christchurch along the summit road. Not a very eventful day but the views were incredible. The weather was a mix of clouds and sunshine which turned the green landscape into mystic collage of bright light and dark shadows. With such weather conditions there is not all that much CGI necessary to create Lord of the Rings like sceneries. A wonderful conclusion to our stay on the South Island. Tomorrow we will fly back to Switzerland. Bye Bye New Zealand.

NZ Day 21: Meeting a Kiwi Bird

Seeing free roaming kiwi birds is very unlikely. We weren't so lucky. Kiwis have become a highly endangered species since various animals, introduced over the last 200 years compete for their food source, steal their eggs, eat their chicks and kill adult birds as well.

In recent years the kiwi has become a national icon for New Zealand and there is quite a lot of activity going into protecting the few birds that are left. There is for example one program where people pick eggs out of kiwi nesting sites. The eggs are then put into an incubator. Once hatched, the chicks are equipped with a little transmitter and set free on an island without predators. After one year the grown birds are again captured on the island and brought back to their original site.

As my birthday project, we set out to at least see a captive kiwi. Meeting a kiwi in the flesh is not that easy since the birds are very shy and most active at night. After some research we decided to go to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. They have a large kiwi house with a reversed day night cycle, making it quite likely to actually see a bird out and about.

As we came to the kiwi site there were panels advising us to be quiet and also to not touch the birds. So we went in, careful not the make any noise. It was quite dark inside the enclosure. At first I did not see a single bird. I was already thinking about leaving again when Regula caught sight of a first kiwi. It was busy foraging at the other end of the enclosure. It seemed quite aware of our presence and hid itself as soon as we made a sudden movement. As time went by, we saw more birds walking around in almost complete silence. They used their long beaks to burrow holes into the ground looking for food. Some did not seem bothered by us at all and came quite close to the walk way. They look enormously cuddly with their furry feathers and their round form. Too bad there were all these "Don't touch the Kiwi" panels, so I can only assume they must be at least as fluffy as the kiwi Regula got from a local arts shop the other day. I really hope the preservation efforts are successful so that some day, when we come back to New Zealand, we will see kiwis out in the forests again.

NZ Day 20: It's One World

When we went shopping in New Zealand for the first time, we were quite quick in picking up the essential bits of food. The only part where we lingered was the chocolate department. Cadbury, Nestle, some Lindt and lots of Mars candy. We were longing for something familiar but we did not have it in us to go for Lindt. Swiss buying Swiss chocolate on their second day in New Zealand was just too much. So we ended up with a package of mini Milky Way bars and a bag of Maltesers. But when I tasted the Maltesers they did only almost taste like our Maltesers back home. The same problem with the Milky Way bars. The package revealed that the candy was produced in Australia. I guess tiny variations in the quality and origin of the ingredients were causing the taste differences. A New Zealander in Switzerland would probably experience the same but downside up. If I was ever to emigrate from Switzerland, I would use my visits back home to stock up on "Swiss Taste" Maltesers and Milky Way bars.


Today we arrived in Christchurch to use our last two days to explore the city and take a look at the Banks peninsula. I felt as if I was in the US when I saw that a Westfield Mall was located right next to our motel. It seems the US is having quite an influence on the retail business in New Zealand. Next to the Westfield mall was even a Borders book store. Inside it looked exactly like the US version. Except for some displays where it said New Zealand Books on top. I wonder if for an American the New Zealand Borders would also have that same effect the Australian Milky Way bar had on me. Maybe there is that tiny detail they did not get right. I did not spot it. The design guides of Borders are probably more thorough than the ones of Mars Inc.

NZ Day 19: Aoraki/Mount Cook

There are only about 200 People living in Mount Cook Village for real. All the others come as tourists with only Mount Cook in mind. Too bad, that the highest peek of New Zealand is often shrouded by clouds. People traveling on the cheap take it with a grain of salt and either wait for better weather or just leave without having seen the mountain (as we will tomorrow). But then there are those who pay a lot for a few pleasant days at the Hermitage Hotel. Even these guys can not make the clouds go away, but they do quite a lot to keep their customers happy. They have for example a 3D cinema and a digital planetarium to entertain both their guests as well as the ticket buying masses.


So we ended up watching a 3D movie on Mt Cook and walking through an exhibition detailing the history of the mountain and people climbing it. I learned a lot about the first successful ascent to Mount Cook. Several New Zealanders had been working towards climbing the mountain. In late 1894 they learned of well known English mountaineer coming to the island to attempt the first ascent. The New Zealanders accelerated their plans and on Christmas Day 1894 they achieved the first ascent to Mount Cook. The English mountaineer was not amused and didn't even attempt to do the climb. Instead, he did the first ascends to Mts Tasman, Silberhorn, Sefton, Haidinger and Sealy to repair his ego. In March 1895 his Swiss guide Mathias Zurbriggen made the first solo ascent to Mount Cook. They even named a ridge of the Mountain after him.

The Maori call the mountain Aoraki and sinc they were first to name it, the name was officially changed to Aoraki/Mount Cook in 1998.

NZ Day 18: Great Expectations

The 101 Must-Do's for Kiwis guide puts it like this: "Aoraki Mount Cook towers above the Southern Alps and there's nowhere that you can get as close and personal with this mountain than at the Aoraki Mount Cook Village." and to drive the point home it goes on "The possibilities are endless in this UNESCO World Heritage Area, but one thing's for sure: wherever you are, when the sun is about to set, make sure you turn to watch Aoraki Mount Cook's snowy crown painted in shades of pink, purple and red." How could we miss out on this.

So here we are now, in a cosy little double room in the local YHA. Unfortunately we got rain and clouds instead of the sun and blue skies for company. It seems though that today wasn't all that bad, since tomorrow the weather is supposed to get much worse. As we drove up here today, whole sections of road between Oamaru and Omarama were flooded after only two days of rain. We read in a guide book that the Mount Cook area gets over 4 meters of rain a year. Part of this seems to be happening over this weekend.

NZ Day 17: Things going Whirr

I bet it does not always rain in the Catlins, but for us it did most of the time. The dark clouds do add a certain dramatic touch to it all. A lighthouse out on a windswept cliff does sort of make sense. Also these big stone balls in Moeraki are much more fun with a little rain and much less crowded as well.

Apart from mother natures wonders, we also spent some quality time in the Lost Gypsy Gallery today. In the tiny village of Papatowai there is this guy who runs a unique gallery. He builds all sorts of machines and gadgets out of 'old stuff'. Most things go 'whirrr' when you press a button or turn a handle. Some are for sale and some are just to look at and go 'wow'.

The most ingenious creations have found entry in the exhibition area at the back of the gallery where you pay 5$ entry fee. The exhibition is built into three huge water tanks. There is for example an old electric piano, where most of the keys have lost all their black/white coating but for each one a separate little machine goes off and makes a unique sound. My favorite item was a guy riding his bike on a tightrope.

NZ Day 16: Free Dolphins

Two weeks ago in Kaikura it cost over 100 dollar to "swim with the dolphins". This evening in Porpoise Bay the hector dolphins had happy hour and swam with the humans for free.

The Catlins, where we are staying tonight are the pure opposite to most of the other places we have been until now. The tourists are here like everywhere else, but there seems to be almost no tourism industry. Not only the dolphins swim on their own in Porpoise Bay. The penguins in Curio Bay next door also go ashore all by themselves. There is even a viewing platform above the bay and a nice DOC Ranger on the ground who knows everything about Penguins and answers questions.

I guess the Catlins people are not all that happy with the state of affairs. They try to catch up with the rest of the tourism industry by sealing the unpaved roads and large building projects like the one we saw advertised on a large plot of land right next to the beautiful Catlins Beachhouse where we got a room tonight.

Every now and then in the past I have been joking about the possibility of letting all that computer stuff be and starting up sheep farming in New Zealand. Here in the south I finally found all these sheep I have been imagining. There are really a lot of them. I guess sheep farming is not all that personalized anymore as far as the farmer sheep relationship is concerned. The sheep seed to be quite interested in me though.

NZ Day 15: Tiny Leaves

When Captain Kirk lands on an alien planet all plants and rocks look as if they were made from cardboard. In Stargate they film in a normal North American forest and add a color filter to simulate alieness. How pitiful, when very cool and slightly alien looking forests are only half a planet away.

Here in New Zealand the forests look like ours only at first glance, close up almost everything is different. Oftentimes the fern grow on a trunk like palms and the trees I have seen so far all have unnervingly small leaves. It seems as if evolution had taken some rather different design decisions around here. I bet there is a perfectly good reason for trees to have these tiny leaves since there are actually several varieties of trees and they all have tiny leaves. Regula even thinks one must be an oak since its leaves look like shrunken versions of oak leave. Maybe science fiction movie writers should come to a New Zealand for forest inspiration.

NZ Day 14: Milford or Doubtful

One of the big questions for the last few days has been: Milford Sound or Doubtful Sound. As we started to make our way down the west coast and mapped out our travel plans, we decided to stay in Te Anau for three nights, to be able to visit one of the sounds/fjords everyone is raving about. Unfortunately there are two sounds that are accessible to the public. You can go there on a day trip or over night. For the Milford Sound, there are at least four boat companies offering to take you and for the Doubtful Sound there are two companies all with multiple offerings.

When I checked a week ago, all companies with online booking had space available for both Milford and Doubtful, so there was no hurry. We tried to weigh our options: overnight cruises promised to be more scenic, but they are also awfully expensive. Milford promised to be more spectacular visually, but Doubtful was more special since fewer people went there and it was also much longer.

We went back and forth between the options and finally settled on a day trip to Doubtful Sound, only to find that in the meantime all seats were taken. With that option gone we went for the longest daytime cruise (3h) we could find on Milford.

From Te Anau it is about two hours by car to get to Milford. This is not as bad as it sounds since there are many scenic views on the way there. I even got that mirror lake picture I have been trying to catch a few days back. Milford itself was spectacular and the weather excellent. The weather part is especially notable for a place with 200 days of rain a year.

We do have crass mountains in Switzerland too, but ours do not end up in the sea. The water is a huge plus and the nice boats too. Much more comfortable than riding up to Gotthard Pass in a Postauto.

NZ Day 13: Glowworm Logistics

Video and photography is not allowed in the Glowworm Cave, it said on the website where we booked the tour.

We are in Te Anau for three days. Tonight we kicked off the fun with a visit to the Glowworm Caves. Sitting in a small boat, together with 12 other people, in total darkness and silence, with tiny green dots on the cave ceiling above, felt very special, like a mix between camp fire, church and a VW bus where all seats are taken.

The Glowworm experience was also amazing from a logistic point of view. The cave where these creatures live is 250 Meters long. It consist of a lake at the end and a small creek flowing out of the lake to the entrance of the cave. Real Journeys, the company running the Glowworm Cave Tours, ferries customers in a 100 person catamaran to the cave. There they manage to guide people in groups of 12 through the cave without anyone really noticing that they have to wait and getting bored. First there is a visitor center where they show a movie about the glowworm and offer free tee and coffee. Then, they have managed to organize the cave visit itself, so that 4 groups of people can be inside without actually realizing it. Two groups are on the lake. Since it is pitch black and everyone was advised to keep silent on the lake not to take pictures, we barely noticed the other boat. As we came off the boat, the next group was waiting to board. And as we were walking out of the cave, I realized that, while our guide had asked us to walk onto a special platform to take a closer look at a waterfall, a fourth group had crossed ours without us taking any notice.

Regula found the glowworms and the cave super impressive. I myself am a bit torn. I think the logistics were probably even more impressive, since they were executed so gracefully that most people didn't even notice that there were any.

NZ Day 12: Not Queenstown

You should just skip Queenstown. Or at least this is what we were told by friends and a guide book. Go to Wanaka instead!

In Wanaka we visited Puzzling World and did a 15 minute walk along the lake shore, sat in café for a bit, went to all the shops and bought some presents for home. I even got a replacement for my cameras compact flash card that had gone mysteriously missing yesterday evening.

I bet Queenstown would have been much better suited for our little outing, since it must have many more shops and a wider selection of nice cafés. Not quite sure why we were told to skip it, but being obedient little holiday soldiers, we wouldn't dream of doing things the one just does not do. And puzzling world definitely is cool.

If you ever end up in Wanaka, try booking the "Riverside Apartment". Some people with a rather large house, a little out of town, have built this neat two room apartment into their huge garage. All very stylish, well equipped and very clean.

NZ Day 10: Reflections

The alarm clock rang at 5.30am, I crept out of our cabin to inspect the sky. It was quite overcast. So I decided that two hours in bed were way more preferable than the prospect of waiting for a sunrise at Lake Matheson which would in all likelihood not happen anyway due to the clouds.

Lake Matheson is that little lake at the foot of Mount Cook where every one goes and tries to take a picture with the mountain range reflecting itself in the often mirror like surface of the lake. The best time for doing that is sunrise and sunset.

First order of the day was an appointment with the Fox Glacier. One of the few glaciers that are advancing despite the climate change. About two meters a year since 1985. On the surface of the glacier the ice is moving up to 7 meters a day. Knowing all that, I was not surprised to see a guy at the glacier view point using his video camera to capture the action.

When we went to Lake Matheson for the sunset picture taking, there was sun, but the mountains were still veiled and the wind insisted on keeping the surface of the lake rippled. There is an up side to this: My Lake Matheson shots will be really unique and not these perfect ones every one else takes. Highly overrated anyway!

On our way back from the lake we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Matheson Café does not close at 5pm as advertised in the guide book. They had a full dinner menu and even kept open past their normal closing time of 9pm because we and a few other guests arrived late. Highly recommended if you are in the region.

NZ Day 9: Rain God

Do you know Rob McKenna, the Rain God from one of Douglas Adams Hitchhiker Books? I was reminded of him as we made our way towards Franz Joseph and Fox Glacier along one of the most beautiful stretches New Zealand Highway. We didn't see much of it, since the clouds were pretty low and all the landscape seemed to have lost quite a bit of color.

This was our first rain-day since we came to the south island, so I guess we are lucky, but still, I have not taken it well. Today all these sand fly stings were itching like hell. I collected a fair number of them before I figured out that there is not only the initial bite but also a rather bad after effect. In the meantime I have a few insect repellents. I am also wearing long sleeves and when I am near water, I tuck my trousers into my socks. So far it is working and I have not collected more bites after the initial salvo.

All our thoughts were so concentrated on the rain and the itching and how bad it is, that we missed out on the rebuilt gold diggers village outside Greymouth as well as the Kiwi station a little further along the way. We have to work on that, otherwise we will suddenly end up back in Christchurch without having seen anything.

In the evening, the clouds disappeared and there was a beautiful sunset and dinner outside, so our hopes are up for tomorrow.

NZ Day 8: Pancakes Rock

They ship in the tourists by bus and the walkways are wheelchair enabled. The Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes in Punakeiki are the most touristic thing I have seen in New Zealand yet. The sound the water makes as it surges through the caves inside the limestone is awesome, and the water bursting out of the blow holes looks cool. The rock formations, looking like one of those card board reliefs our fourth grade teacher had us build, are amazing to look at.

But all in all, I felt quite empty as we came back to the visitor center. As if the site, which would be wonderful if experienced standing alone on a wind swept cliff, was not at ease with they way it was marketed. Sure it is all very tame when compared to other places where whole towns have sprung up around natures wonders, but for my time in New Zealand this was a first.

NZ Day 7: Go Westport

What to do when you have no whales, no food-look-a-like rock formations, no fiords? Some people at the Buller river decided to create their own tourist attraction by building the longest, one person, swing bridge of New Zealand. Walking on a shaky construction high above the Buller makes it instantly clear why it is called a swing bridge. For the way back, the enterprising bridge builders came up with a second thrill: riding back across the river in a harness suspended from a wire. I found that the 35$ they wanted for this 30 seconds of additional adrenalin was a bit steep, so I walked. A group of 75-85 year olds from the North Island seemed to be more adventure minded. They all went on the ride. "Got to do these things while you are still alive", one lady told me. She does have a point.

Tonight in Westport, after a great dinner at the Yellow Café, we tried to catch the sun setting in the Tasman Sea. Unfortunately it was hidden by some low clouds. On the way back from the sunset point, we caught a wonderful moon rising instead.

NZ Day 6: The Promised Track

If I had been called for jury duty on Abel Tasman National Park, I would have had to decline, since I had heard so much about it in advance. The most beautiful part of New Zealand. You have to spend at least three days doing the track! The section in the middle is the best!


The weather was perfect, the boat ride smooth. After about an hour, we got off the boat to walk the middle part of the Abel Tasman track. It was outright surreal. Every now and then I had to touch a few plants, just to make sure I was not in some Disneyland outstation. There was this really neat track, stenciled into the native forest. A forest where virtually all the plants look as if they were taken straight from some botanical garden, only more natural and with greater variety. Through the trees, wonderful golden beaches and secluded bays were visible. And in crass contrast to Disneyland where the ride ends after 5 minutes, it went on for hours.

Everyone goes to Abel Tasman, so we were not exactly alone, but even with the large number of people on the move, we did not meet all that many other people. Maybe most were moving in the same direction as we were.

At the end of our track there was a shortcut across a bay. It was only accessible when the bay emptied at low tide. While we were sitting at the beach, waiting for the water to drain, there was this group on a guided tour who did not want to wait that long. Almost biblical.

NZ Day 5: Kiwis

"These are kiwis. They are not ripe yet, but it looks as if it will be a good turn out this year. They will be ready for harvest by May." Right behind our home for the next two days, in Motueka, there is a kiwi plantation. The lady who showed us the room also added some interesting tibits on the local produce.

So, the kiwis are ripe in May. This begs the question, where do the kiwis come from, we eat all year long. It seems that they can be kept in cold storage for some time, but I guess there are limits. Also there is only one harvest a year. So as we went to the local store, to shop for dinner I kept an eye out for the origin of the kiwis on offer ...

Tomorrow we are going to have our Abel Tasman experience. After talking to the local experts, Regula has become convinced that the boat is the only effective way how we can explorer the park. The tour operators assured us that the boat is very stable and that the weather tomorrow will be excellent. Sweet hopes.

NZ Day 4: Whale Watching

There was a sea sick warning when we booked the whale watching tour. But how bad can it be? It was the choice between going stomach to tail with one of the largest mammals on earth and a little bit of physical discomfort. It was just a warning after all and whale watching is a must in Kaikoura. So we ended up on a catamaran chasing sperm whales.

We had taken some meds prior to the ride to counter the effects of the boats motion. At first it seemed to be quite effective. Even Regula, who is very sensitive to motion sickness, was happily moving about the cabin and going outside to watch the first whale from up close. From then on though, things got bad. Obviously the meds somehow lost their magic after the first whale had wiggled its tail and disappeared back into the depths of the ocean. Regula was puking her guts out for the rest of the journey and I filled a bag or two as well. The only consolation was, that the guy sitting next to us was also green in the face although he had been serving in the British navy for 21 years. It seems that sea sickness is not something you can get rid off, even when you look like a bear and work on it for half your life.

Fortunately for me, the worst passed between the two whale sightings, so I did snap some good pictures. Tomorrow we are off to Abel Tasman. Regula is researching ways of seeing the park without setting foot on a boat. She has my full support.

NZ Day 3: One lane is enough

Today all bridges were only single lane. We had taken the inland road from Hamner to Kaikura. A very nice route through scarcely populated farmland. Now in summer all seemed nice and quiet, but judging from the enormous riverbeds there must be quite some action going on when the snow melts in the mountains. It seems that the government didn't want to spend all that much money on that road, so it built all the bridges only one lane wide. For medium size bridges this works very well, as anyone waiting on the other side can be seen easily. There was one bridge though that was so wide, that the other side was difficult to see at all, not to speak of making out whether there was a car or not. Instead of adding a set of lights to the bridge, they built in two 'car crossing locations'. Which has the advantage of not requiring any power and also keeping the thrill for drivers crossing the bridge at a much higher level. Confirming the thrill hypothesis there were to large road signs at the entrance of the bridge reminding the thrill-seekers that the speedlimit on the bridge was 100 km/h.

That whole one lane bridge policy seems to be a matter of principle, since one of the one lane bridges was maybe only 2 meters long and it was probably more expensive having all the signaling put up to alert the drivers about proper one-lane-bridge behavior than just building a normal bridge.

In the food department, Regula had an interesting experience today. After lunch she ordered a cappuccino. It looked very tasty and it came with a very special treat. The picture does not capture the color all that well, it did look much more yellow when that cappuccino was sitting on the table. But then again it may just be us, being Swiss and thus having the totally wrong associations wired in.

NZ Day 2: Eating by Numbers

Today we sat in three different pubs until we figured out how the ordering process works around here.

In the morning we had picked up our car and drove from Christchurch to Hanmer Springs. It took us a little under two hours to get there, so when we arrived at the thermal pools to do some splashing around in the hot water there were only very few people, which made it a very nice experience. The people who run the pools seem to be very concerned about the welfare of their customers. There were a bunch of life guards paying close attention to the patrons, making sure that drowned or even held his ears below water level for more than 1-2 seconds.

All the splashing in the hot pools made us hungry. We sat down at one of the local pubs and expected the waiter to show up and ask for our wishes. Nothing happened.
When the waiter still had not shown up after about 10 minutes, we left and went to another place ... but the same thing happened there, no waiter. At the third place we finally figured it out. There are no waiters who take an order, one rather has to go inside, order and pay over the counter. Then they hand you a large number on a stick which you place onto your table. When the finish preparing the food, they bring it to the table. Works very well and efficient, once we had figured it out.

Tonight we stay at the Hamner View Bed and Breakfast. Probably the most beautiful place in all of Hamner. It is at the edge of the city, on the slope of Conical Hill. It has a great view into the nearby mountains.