Thought we'd better update the blog tonight and let everybody know we are safe and sound in Timaru, around 2 hours south of Christchurch. It's been a very long and stressful day after leaving Kaikoura.
You may now have heard about the Christchurch earthquake that hit today at around 1pm. Barry and I were on our way into downtown Christchurch and missed being there for the big quake by about 20 minutes. We thought our car had a flat tire when we were just outside Christchurch, but that was actually either the first quake or the aftershock we were feeling. Barry could barely control the car as we were swayed left to right going 100km an hour on the highway! It wasn't til we had pulled over and got out of the car and saw others doing the same that we realized it was a tremor. Silly us, we thought tremors were normal around here. Unfortunately, this was a shallow earthquake that caused much more devastation than the 7.2 magnitude quake they had in September. So far, 65 people are confirmed dead and more are expected. Others remain trapped in downtown buildings. We are truly blessed to be safe tonight. There are so many distressed people in Christchurch right now, everyone is talking about it and many have been affected by it. Keep them in your thoughts.
Take care all, and be thankful if you don't live in an earthquake zone!
Nat and Barry
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Abel Tasman Park
Saturday, Feb. 19:
Had a horrible night's sleep at Bella Vista last night after partyers a couple units over were talking loudly and drinking until 2am. Which meant we decided to checkout and find somewhere else to stay. Took the Discovery Day tour from Abel Tasman Sea Shuttle, for $72 each. Ended up booking it at the Eden's Edge Backpackers lodge in Motueka on the way to Kaiteritiri beach. Unfortunately Eden's Edge was booked for accommodation for that night, but she was more than willing to book the shuttle for us, as she gets 10% - very nice, talkative lady actually. Turns out you can just book the various boat tours at the beach, but it was pretty busy when we got there.
We enjoyed the cruise for the first hour or so, as the various bays along the coast are very pretty, with golden beaches, greeny blue water and rugged rainforest down to the shoreline. The boat was pretty full. The Sea Shuttle basically stopped in six bays to drop people off until we reached the top bay, Totaranui Bay. Then on the way back, we stopped again in a couple bays before dropping us off in Bark Bay at about 1:30pm. There is a 6 km coast track hike south towards Torrent Bay, where we were scheduled for shuttle pick up at 4:45pm. You could add on another 30 minute walk to the adjacent Anchorage Bay, if it was low tide, or another 90 minutes if high tide.
The hike was enjoyable, again through lush forest including black beech trees (although it appeared to be quite dry while we were there) with peeks here and there at the luscious blue ocean. Everything is so green here, not much color variation or flowers. Also got to cross the Falls River swingbridge, not for the height-sensitive types (Mom you'd hate this!). We arrived at Torrent Bay just after 3 pm, and decided we'd hitch a ride on the earlier boat back to Kaiteriteri at 3:45pm. Alot of people got wet boarding the boat as some swells came into the bay just as we were wading in th water onto the gangway. Headed back to Nelson to find accommodation, and stayed at the much quieter Amber Court Motor Lodge in Tahunanui near the Bella Vista. The owner was a wise guy though, teasing us about our wimpiness on the roads here, telling me to go the local hardware store, buy some concrete to toughen up!! The cheekiness!!
Just wanted to add that the main beach in Nelson, Tahunanui Beach, is absolutely beautiful, and under-rated compared to the pebbly but golden Kaiteritiri beach by Abel Tasman park. It was right near our hotel in Tahunanui so we visited it in the evenings both nights. The beach is almost flat, so at low tide, the sand seems to go on for miles, and the sand is soooo soft, with no rocks and a few shells. This is a great swimming beach - unfortunately we ran out of time for that.
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| Lots of interesting rock formations |
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| Golden sand beaches, but cold water! |
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| Track between Bark Bay & Torrent Bay |
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| Tahunanui Beach at dusk, Nelson |
B-bye Wellington, Hello South Island!
Friday, Feb. 18th
Forgot to mention we visited the Te Papa museum in Wellington yesterday. Good museum, but absolutely huge! We didn't see all of it, but gave it a good 3 hours. Highlights were an "earthquake house" that simulated what an earthquake would feel like indoors - very freaky; and dioramas of animals that have lived or still live on New Zealand including the flightless kiwi bird, which is only found in a few spots in NZ now. Today we left Wellington for Picton via the infamous Cook Strait ferry crossing. Alot of folks who have visited New Zealand warned us that this crossing can be really fun - if fun for you means a really rough boat ride that lasts over 3 hours!! Thankfully, Mother Nature smiled down on us on Friday and we had sunny skies and calm breezes, so no seasickness problems! As we waited in the passenger vehicle line up to load the 10:30am ferry, we chatted up a local couple who were heading to Abel Tasman park for the weekend. Gave us some ideas on other places to visit and hike on the South Island, including Arrowtown near Queenstown. We've come to realize that alot of people down here have never heard of Calgary before, so it's kind of fun filling them in - this middle aged couple had never visited Canada before.
Drive from Picton (ferry arrival town) to our destination, Nelson, was, ah, interesting. Okay, it was crazy busy and a white knuckler for a good half of it. Glad to arrive safe and sound in Nelson.
Drive from Picton (ferry arrival town) to our destination, Nelson, was, ah, interesting. Okay, it was crazy busy and a white knuckler for a good half of it. Glad to arrive safe and sound in Nelson.
Wellington, Hutt City and the search for Rivendell
Wed & Thurs, February 16-17th:
Wednesday was pretty much a travel day as we made our way south from Tongariro down to Wellington, on the southern tip of the North Island. We chose a route that kept us on the main highways as much as possible to speed up the driving. However, we ran into lots of traffic and more road construction. And the first third of the drive was one of the worst roads I've ever driven - more on that on a future post about our ratings of the roads here! Interesting note: We've noticed the road crews are often made up of older men, not just the young punks we use in Canada - wonder why? We left Tongariro before 9 am and didn't arrive in Wellington until around 3pm. Long driving day that's for sure. Even better was that there was no accommodation left in Wellington that night, so we had to stay in Lower Hutt (or Hutt City), a bedroom community outside of Wellington, AND, we booked our hotel through an I-Site visitor centre (there's one in every town/city), and discovered they charge a booking fee to the hotel (and then to the customer) of 10-20%. So we payed $130NZD for a dumpy hotel in Hutt City, that is $110 if you book directly. Oh well, at least we know that now. The lady there did call around to a lot of hotels to find us something so I guess she earned it, and she booked our next night's motel in Wellington. Walked along the river through Lower Hutt in the evening, and lots of people were out jogging (everybody runs here) or walking their dogs off leash.
Thursday was a better day. This was our search for Lord of the Rings (LOTR) sites and in the afternoon, a visit to the Te Papa museum in Wellington. Wellington and surrounding areas were used extensively in the filming of LOTR movies, and they're at it again with The Hobbit now starting up. Everyone's just waiting for the director, Peter Jackson, to get over his ulcer.
Here's our independent tour of some LOTR sites:
- Helm's Deep (now a dry gravel quarry with limited access). Doesn't look like much now.
- The Great River Anduin (part of a Hutt City park that runs along the Hutt River). The river is very low right now, so it's a little hard to imagine this scene.
- Isengaard (another Hutt City park). This one stumped us - seriously looks like a lovely open space for a picnic, and there's a big playground with a zip line. Ummm, think they used a few computer graphics to make this look like a fortress for Saromen.
- Rivendell - Forest of the Elves. Definitely the best LOTR site of the bunch. This forest actually looked like it could be used in the movies, and is signmarked with info on the filming location. Only a 10 minute walk from the carpark at Kaitoke Regional Park, you're in the middle of a forest that was used for Rivendell. Even better, there was a film crew set up in a nearby parking lot, and we saw some actors dressed as medieval warriors. We also saw a production crew setting up tents and props along the river. When we asked a crew member what film they were working on, he joked and said it was a little movie called The Hobbit, then he said it was actually a small scale movie about zombies or something. Hmmmm, I wonder.
Wednesday was pretty much a travel day as we made our way south from Tongariro down to Wellington, on the southern tip of the North Island. We chose a route that kept us on the main highways as much as possible to speed up the driving. However, we ran into lots of traffic and more road construction. And the first third of the drive was one of the worst roads I've ever driven - more on that on a future post about our ratings of the roads here! Interesting note: We've noticed the road crews are often made up of older men, not just the young punks we use in Canada - wonder why? We left Tongariro before 9 am and didn't arrive in Wellington until around 3pm. Long driving day that's for sure. Even better was that there was no accommodation left in Wellington that night, so we had to stay in Lower Hutt (or Hutt City), a bedroom community outside of Wellington, AND, we booked our hotel through an I-Site visitor centre (there's one in every town/city), and discovered they charge a booking fee to the hotel (and then to the customer) of 10-20%. So we payed $130NZD for a dumpy hotel in Hutt City, that is $110 if you book directly. Oh well, at least we know that now. The lady there did call around to a lot of hotels to find us something so I guess she earned it, and she booked our next night's motel in Wellington. Walked along the river through Lower Hutt in the evening, and lots of people were out jogging (everybody runs here) or walking their dogs off leash.
Thursday was a better day. This was our search for Lord of the Rings (LOTR) sites and in the afternoon, a visit to the Te Papa museum in Wellington. Wellington and surrounding areas were used extensively in the filming of LOTR movies, and they're at it again with The Hobbit now starting up. Everyone's just waiting for the director, Peter Jackson, to get over his ulcer.
Here's our independent tour of some LOTR sites:
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| Helm's Deep - Gravel Quarry outside Lower Hutt |
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| River Anduin location |
- Isengaard (another Hutt City park). This one stumped us - seriously looks like a lovely open space for a picnic, and there's a big playground with a zip line. Ummm, think they used a few computer graphics to make this look like a fortress for Saromen.
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| Rivendell in Kaitohe Park |
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Tongariro Crossing (aka Tongue-Out Crossing/Up the Ant Hill we go)
Tuesday, Feb. 15th.
Crossing distance: 19.4km
Additional roundtrip hike to the Mt Tongariro summit: 3km
Difficulty: Stiff climb up, and up, and up, and then non stop down, down, down. Only a couple km of flats.
Start time: 8:05am Finish time:3:45pm Duration: 7 h 40 min
Can't say enough about how pleasant the owners are at Adventure Lodge, Ron and Lorraine. Gave us great advice about the hikes in the Park and never tried to push any extras on us. Lorraine drove 10 of us to the start of the Crossing - about a 25 min drive from the Lodge. Met some really nice people on the bus - 1 young couple from England, and 3 couples from the U.S., two travelling together from Florida and the other couple from Boston (Peter and Dee). Peter and Dee had visited Lake Louise before and loved it but never spent time in Calgary. Besides these Americans we met, there are visitors in the Park from all over the world as we heard people speaking German, French, Italian, Scandinavian languages, lots of British (is that a different language?) and others.
There's not much in the way of parking at the Mangatepopo trail start, almost like they are discouraging people from taking their own cars. Costs only $30pp for a return shuttle - well worth it as the buses pick you up from the end of the trail at Ketetahi Car Park. However, both Barry and I thought that the best part of this hike was the first half (about the 9K mark), and you could actually turn back and hike back to the start. The second half was not as dramatic or scenic, and is quite a long slog for less payoff (10.5 km). I guess we're spoiled getting to hike in the mountains by Calgary - the scenery at home is hard to beat.
The first 2 or 3 kilometres to the Mangatepopo (sp?) hut is fairly flat, a slight uphill grade. Run into lineups at the 2 porto-potties at this stop however, since we were following a few groups of girls. Seems like they should have more facilities considering how busy this trail is, and this was mid-week! After this hut, the trail began to climb. Sometimes you had to climb over rocks, which would be a challenge for less mobile types. They've built lots of stairs, and when you look up or back, you see a row of ants, which are the hundreds of other hikers sharing the trail with you. Thankfully it was not a hot day, but you still are drenched in sweat as you climb the track towards the Southern Crater.
When you walk across the flat floor of the Southern Crater, you feel like you're on the moon. No vegetation, just a mud floor, and lava rock surrounding you on all sides. And you look up at Mt Ngauruhoe, and you can understand why they used in Lord of the Rings as Mt Doom. It's the perfect volcanic cone shape, and enticed a few hikers up it's summit trail. This trail is difficult as you have to climb across loose scree on a steep slope - no thanks, looks good from the bottom!!
As you climb out of the Southern Crater, you eventually get to a ridge where lots of us stopped for a bit of lunch. You also get a glimpse over the edge of the Red Crater below. At this point, Barry and I debated whether we wanted to do the Tongariro Summit, another 3 km. We'd already hiked about 9 k, and our legs were tired. But, being this close to the summit, why not? It looked pretty cloudy up there, which would wreck the views, but what the heck. You should not tackle this unless you're sure you have enough energy left to finish the Crossing. It is more climbing, not just a flat 3 k. It adds another 1.5 to 2 hours to the hike. Unfortunately, at the top, the mist came in and we couldn't see to the north, but could see Mt Doom to the south. Basically we tried to jog it back to gain some time as our bus was coming at 4pm.
Climbing yet another ridge we got a fantastic view of the Red Crater, now vivid in the mid afternoon. Then we got to have some fun, almost skiing down the loose sandy scree towards the Emerald Lakes below. It helped that we've dealt with scree before, and you just dig your heels in and go with the flow. We passed alot of hikers here who were fighting the scree and were getting really frightened.
After this, there weren't as many highlights for us. We stopped to eat our lunch at the larger Blue Lake, which became swallowed up in the mist right in front of us. The rest of the hike was just trying to get down as fast as possible, and the views were obscured on this side of the pass because of the low cloud. The last 3 km or so is in a lovely forest like Taranaki Falls, but I was too tired to enjoy it. At last, we reached the car park and thought our legs would never recover. Amazingly, we weren't that sore the next couple of days - who has time to be sore in New Zealand!!
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| Mt. Ngauruhoe (last eruption 1975) |
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| Crossing the South Crater |
Additional roundtrip hike to the Mt Tongariro summit: 3km
Difficulty: Stiff climb up, and up, and up, and then non stop down, down, down. Only a couple km of flats.
Start time: 8:05am Finish time:3:45pm Duration: 7 h 40 min
Can't say enough about how pleasant the owners are at Adventure Lodge, Ron and Lorraine. Gave us great advice about the hikes in the Park and never tried to push any extras on us. Lorraine drove 10 of us to the start of the Crossing - about a 25 min drive from the Lodge. Met some really nice people on the bus - 1 young couple from England, and 3 couples from the U.S., two travelling together from Florida and the other couple from Boston (Peter and Dee). Peter and Dee had visited Lake Louise before and loved it but never spent time in Calgary. Besides these Americans we met, there are visitors in the Park from all over the world as we heard people speaking German, French, Italian, Scandinavian languages, lots of British (is that a different language?) and others.
There's not much in the way of parking at the Mangatepopo trail start, almost like they are discouraging people from taking their own cars. Costs only $30pp for a return shuttle - well worth it as the buses pick you up from the end of the trail at Ketetahi Car Park. However, both Barry and I thought that the best part of this hike was the first half (about the 9K mark), and you could actually turn back and hike back to the start. The second half was not as dramatic or scenic, and is quite a long slog for less payoff (10.5 km). I guess we're spoiled getting to hike in the mountains by Calgary - the scenery at home is hard to beat.
The first 2 or 3 kilometres to the Mangatepopo (sp?) hut is fairly flat, a slight uphill grade. Run into lineups at the 2 porto-potties at this stop however, since we were following a few groups of girls. Seems like they should have more facilities considering how busy this trail is, and this was mid-week! After this hut, the trail began to climb. Sometimes you had to climb over rocks, which would be a challenge for less mobile types. They've built lots of stairs, and when you look up or back, you see a row of ants, which are the hundreds of other hikers sharing the trail with you. Thankfully it was not a hot day, but you still are drenched in sweat as you climb the track towards the Southern Crater.
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| Panoramic view within the South Crater |
As you climb out of the Southern Crater, you eventually get to a ridge where lots of us stopped for a bit of lunch. You also get a glimpse over the edge of the Red Crater below. At this point, Barry and I debated whether we wanted to do the Tongariro Summit, another 3 km. We'd already hiked about 9 k, and our legs were tired. But, being this close to the summit, why not? It looked pretty cloudy up there, which would wreck the views, but what the heck. You should not tackle this unless you're sure you have enough energy left to finish the Crossing. It is more climbing, not just a flat 3 k. It adds another 1.5 to 2 hours to the hike. Unfortunately, at the top, the mist came in and we couldn't see to the north, but could see Mt Doom to the south. Basically we tried to jog it back to gain some time as our bus was coming at 4pm.
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| Red Crater |
After this, there weren't as many highlights for us. We stopped to eat our lunch at the larger Blue Lake, which became swallowed up in the mist right in front of us. The rest of the hike was just trying to get down as fast as possible, and the views were obscured on this side of the pass because of the low cloud. The last 3 km or so is in a lovely forest like Taranaki Falls, but I was too tired to enjoy it. At last, we reached the car park and thought our legs would never recover. Amazingly, we weren't that sore the next couple of days - who has time to be sore in New Zealand!!
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