I woke up early in Dannevirke, and hit the road to head towards Napier.
My first, rather long detour (quite appropriately, actually) was to the longest place name in the world, a hill called Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. The locals call it Taumata, as you can imagine that spitting out that whole name would take quite a while.
It is roughly translated as the The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the slider, climber of mountains, the land-swallower who traveled about, played his puterino (flute) to his loved one, a brother who passed away. If you zoom in on the picture you can read the story there.
After this, I continued on my journey through the lovely and scenic Hawkes Bay – passing through lots of farm land and wine country.
I made a few stops to admire the landscape, then checked into my hotel in Napier – which was quite lovely.
One stop was just to capture this crazy hedge:
Once I was settled in at my hotel and ready to explore, I headed to the Bluff Hill Lookout, which promised views and a lookout over the port. The wind was fierce, and there was a bit of rain, but I did manage to get a few pictures and not blow away. On a prettier day, I could have watched the works at the port for hours, I think.
I left the lookout, and descended down into the town of Napier, an Art Deco style town, due to an earthquake that decimated the town in the 30’s.
I decided that I would stroll along the boardwalk, and just see what I could discover, as there were gardens and other features along the way.
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Once I had had enough of the cold, wind and rain, I grabbed dinner and headed back to the hotel.
The next day was my Hawkes Bay wine tour. I was picked up early in the morning, and had the tour guide to myself for the entire morning.
We started by heading up to Te Mata peak – which gave lovely views of the Hawkes Bay region – in between the foggy cloud cover – unfortunately, most of my pictures are after the fog rolled back in. The hang glider launch points made me laugh, and terrified me at the same time. I will do lots of things – but I am pretty certain I AM NOT that brave!
After that we headed to our first winery, Black Barn – which had a phenomenal Riesling – I am trying to save it to bring home. . . We will see. . .
I love the scenery of wineries!
The next stop was my favorite winery of the day I think – but that maybe because the lady running the tasting thought I was “charming” – it is totally the southern accent y’all – and gave me extra to taste – which panned out, because I made sure to find out howto buy their wine back in the states, and got a little bit of wine to take with me as well.
After this, I got to go to the Arataki Honey company store, which had tasters of different types of honey, as well as cool displays on the process for getting honey in New Zealand – the science teacher in me enjoyed it very much! Also, I had no idea there were so many unique honey flavors! Wow!
After the honey store, it was time for lunch, at a winery – y’all – they know how to do a yummy spread at the NZ wineries.
After lunch we picked up some others to join the tour, all Brits here for the Lions Rugby tour. They were a fun bunch, and it was nice to chat, compare travel notes and laugh along with them as we tasted wines the rest of the afternoon.
Around 5:00 I was dropped off at my hotel, and obviously wasn’t driving anywhere, so I ordered a pizza and relaxed for the rest of the evening in my hotel room (and watched Survivor NZ).
Friday morning I started with a farewell morning tea with the staff at Fulbright New Zealand, then went to pick up my rental car for my adventure. After navigating through some fun Wellington traffic (people were arriving in town for the Lions/All Blacks Rugby match tomorrow), I found a parking spot RELATIVELY close to my flat, and made several trips to get all my stuff loaded in the car, then I set off on my trip.
Leg one was a short journey – but I had planned a side trip to Castlepoint, which did add some time to the trip.
Once out of Wellington, I wound my way through the Rimutakas, stopping for a few scenic points.
I had debated about whether or not I really had time to make it to Castlepoint before dark, but decided to go on, and I am SO very thankful I did – it was worth every minute.
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I left Castlepoint as the sun was setting, and made the rest of my journey in the dark to my stop for the night, Dannevirke. Today was a short post for a long day – but it is definitely the beginning of a fantastic adventure – my last hurrah in New Zealand before heading back to the US.
Taking advantage of a sunny day, I finally made it out to Matui/Somes Island – which is the island that sits in the middle of Wellington Harbor. It was one of my Wellington must dos, and I had not made it out, and with my time winding down, knew this might be the last nice day for it, so I paused my writing flow, packed a picnic and set out to catch the ferry to the island.
The island has a fascinating history, as it has served as a quarantine station, military outpost, interment camp and now wildlife refuge. The island gives the opportunity to discover nature by traveling along various tracks, and I ended up walking on each track on the island and extending my stay there because it was such a lovely day, and I was enjoying my tramp so much.
When you arrive on the island your first stop is the quarantine station, where you check your bag and shoes for bio-security risks. Once cleared, you are able to start exploring.
As I walked, I was immediatly greeting with stunning views of the harbor, Eastborne and Petone.
My first stop was the cemetery monument.
Between 1918 and 1920, Somes Island was used as a human quarantine station during the influenza pandemic, and many died on the island.
I trekked along from the Monument along Cable Bay to the lookout over Shag Rock. Birds, flowers, skinks and Tuataras were plentiful. I felt like I had the island to myself, as everyone else had headed to the visitors center first.
From the overlook I headed to the lighthouse, stopping to check out the Weta Hotel.
Those are some gargantuan insects!
Then I enjoyed the lighthouse, before beginning my trek to the Southern Lookout – I am pretty certain I took a million pictures – it was so pretty!
Here at the southern lookout, I realized that I was not going to have time to see everything I wanted unless I booked the later ferry back, so I called the company to secure my seat on the later boat, giving me more time to enjoy this peaceful oasis.
My next stop was the old WW2 gun emplacements, so I went up the “steep track”. Along the way I got the opportunity to observe the amazing fantail, which may be one of my favorite NZ birds.
Then, at the gate, I made an interesting observation about the weathering of the gate.
I wonder how many times those pieces of wood have been slammed together?
At the top, I explored the gun casings, and just genuinely enjoyed the views, pulling out my lunch for a stop at the picnic table.
I headed back down to the visitor area, where I explored the animal quarantine station, which felt an awful lot like animal prison – which, I guess, it was, in a way.
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After that it was down to the visitor center, where I learned about the other uses of the island, particularly its use as an internment camp during WW2 and the attempted escapes.
Next, I wandered back to the wharf, and with time to spare, checked out the old degaussing station, and listened to the stories of Meg Pilcher, (a fascinating lady!)then to the North Wharf before leaving the island and heading home.
I am so glad I had this beautiful weather to enjoy this amazing sanctuary!
So, my last few weeks in Wellington were quite exciting, but I was also super busy wrapping up my official Fulbright work. I spent so much time writing I just couldn’t bring myself to blog – so I am behind – but I have lots of fun stuff to share with you all – so this post will be pretty long. (and has lots of “different” stuff in it!)
Matariki Celebrations:
I know I mentioned Matariki in my last post, as I was making the stars as a part of that celebration, and the festivities continued.
I really encourage you to watch the video – such a cool celebration of a new year and renewal.
Another really interesting cultural event I attended was Te Oro o ngā Whetū: The Echo of the Stars – a performance sponsored by the Chamber Orchestra of New Zealand, and featuring New Zealand String Quartet, ngātaonga puoro artist Alistair Fraser, Te Reo Māori performer and composer Ariana Tikao, and students from Virtuoso Strings Orchestra.
The music was hauntingly beautiful, and thanks to the use of taonga puoro (Traditional Maori Musical practices) was just a fascinating experience.
Here is a small snippet of what I was able to experience:
They also had some really neat Maori culture as TePapa played host to the Kaumātua Kapa Haka – an event featuring over 500 Maori Elders. It was beautiful – and if you want to really be moved, check it out – the diversity of the performers and the passion they have for this beautiful art is a experience to be had!
As I mentioned, I have done lots of writing the past few weeks, and my Fulbright work is complete, with just a few logistics before I can share it on a broader scale, which is super exciting.
I did my final presentation on June 16th at Victoria University, and we had a Fulbright NZ Awards ceremony at Parliament on June 19th. It was a great celebration!
I did lots of exploring Wellington as well – nice breaks to clear my head and walk around were much needed! Some of these are quite random pictures, but they all tell the story of my Wellington experience, so check out the captions for more info!
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Gallipoli Exhibit
I have made several trips to TePapa, and love the museum, but had not been in the right place to do the Gallipoli exhibit justice on previous visits, so on a rainy afternoon I went across the street to experience this powerful exhibition, which was done by the team at Weta, and is called the “Scale of our War”. The exhibit features larger than life images of the war – made with stunning accuracy and detail. My pictures do not do the exhibit justice, fortunately they do have great images on their website. You can also learn more about the creation of the exhibit and the stories behind those rendered.
Images are below, but please be warned they are a bit graphic.
I also visited the “Quake Breaker” exhibit – which was fascinating to see how they stabilize a huge building like TePapa in an earthquake prone area.
The scratch plate showing movement – I imagine a lot of that was scratched in November.
There will be another blog post dedicated to Matui/Somes Island – I just couldn’t bring myself to crowd this one anymore.
Sometimes you just end up where you need to be, which is what happened to me tonight.
It is the time of Matariki here in New Zealand, and as a result there are special events happening all over. (Matariki is the Maori name for the Pleiades. Marariki means “eyes of God” and when the cluster of stars twinkle low in the sky before dawn it is the time of Matariki, or the Maori New Year. If you want to know more about this fascinating celebration, I encourage you to check out more here) Ambitiously, I had placed a ton of events on my calendar of things I wanted to see, do and experience during this special time, but I did not factor in the fact that I was going to be firmly in final project compilation and writing mode during this time. Today was one of those days. I have my final project presentation for Fulbright New Zealand tomorrow afternoon, and was in quite the writing flow when my alarm went off reminding me that I wanted to go to the Star Weave Jam organized by the Maori Women’s Refuge. This event is a part of the One Million Stars to End Violence Project, which aims to weave one million stars by July 2017 to be used in an installation at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
I thought it sounded like a cool event, and weaving the stars would be a nice creative outlet.
However, when my alarm went off, I questioned it. I was in a writing flow, and was warm and cozy inside – and the Wellington wind was whipping away – not exactly an invitation to venture outside.
But there was something – a nudge, if you will – to go – so I laced up my shoes, grabbed my jacket and gloves, and set out on the nice quick stroll from my apartment to the Wellington Museum where the event was going to be held.
I settled in, watch the “how to make a star” video, and got some help from the volunteers, then made stars and chatted with the ladies that happened to be at my table – we had a positively delightful time – and even were treated to some fantastic storytelling by Tīramarama, a Maori storytelling duo. It was just a lovely way to spend the evening.
One of my table mates, Sonia, and I particularly hit it off – we talked as we worked: about our travels, my Fulbright project and experience, my adjustment to New Zealand, her family and children, her new job and relocation to Wellington – really just a little bit of everything. She shared with me some stories from her Iwi (Maori Tribe) and Matariki. Before we knew it, it was time for the Museum to close, and we walked out together. As we were about to depart, she said “wait – I have something I want to give you”, and she placed a hard round stone in my hand. As she gave it to me she explained that it was an Aroha stone (Aroha means unconditional love in Maori). She shared with me that the Aroha stone is sacred to the Maori people (as are many stones) and that it is a special stone because it turns the energy around it into love, which is transmitted through the person it is gifted to. It is one of the few sacred stones that does not require special cleansing, because it is a cleansing stone on its own. She shared that she had been carrying it around for a few days – trying to figure out who to give it to, and that she was certain that the stone was seeking its home with me. It was a special and very touching moment. We hugged one another goodbye, with plans to hopefully see each other at events this week, and I strolled home, the stone in my pocket.
When I got home I got the opportunity to look at the stone – what a gorgeous, colorful piece it is (and this picture doesn’t really do it justice). The pink and white colors are just striking.
What a nice reminder to stop, be present, and savor the opportunity I have been given to be here in this amazing country, surrounded by lovely people and a beautiful culture, even as my time here is rapidly coming to a close.
My Journey to Lake Tekapo began with a bus ride. It was a fairly easy ride, and I arrived in Tekapo in the early afternoon.
Tekapo is a very small village, right on the bank of Lake Tekapo. The “downtown” area is a collection of shops in a strip.
I got off the bus, collected my luggage and checked into my Hostel, Tailor-Made Backpackers. The hostel was clean, quiet, and had great laundry and kitchen facilities, and even better – NO Bunk beds – which is always a great bonus in a backpackers!
It was a very, very foggy day, but I was watching the forecast very closely, because both of my activities here are weather dependent. One of my most anticipated activities in New Zealand was to go up to the University of Canterbury’s Mount John Observatory at night to see the Southern Sky. Of course, this is very weather dependent – because cloud cover will obviously impact the view. My tour was originally scheduled for Friday night, however tonight (Thursday) was looking pretty great, so I thought I would hold out for a few hours, see where things stood.
After I was checked in to the hostel, I walked back to town, where the fog was slowly beginning to lift.
My other sky dependent activity was an amazing flight experience, The Air Safari Grand Traverse, which was gifted to me by a friend who had been unable to use the voucher on a previous trip due to weather. (This friend wishes to remain anonymous, so I will just say a gigantic thank you). Unfortunately, while the fog was lifting, they were unable to get flight clearance, and asked me to check back in a few hours.
I decided to walk over to what maybe Lake Tekapo’s most iconic location, the Church of the Good Shepherd, which is literally right on the banks of Lake Tekapo – and is a gorgeous stone chapel.
The fog lifted enough for me to really just enjoy the church, the lakeside, the crystal clear water and the amazing beauty that is just so quintessentially New Zealand.
Lake Tekapo is a glacier lake, and just like the Glacial Lakes that I remember from Switzerland the color was striking.
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After exploring the waterfront, with the fog still clear, and the weather forecast looking good, I decided to go into the Earth and Sky office to see if I could change my tour to tonight, since the weather looked more favorable. The early tour was full, but they did have an opening at the 11:00 PM tour, so I took them up on it.
I left the Earth and Sky office, then grabbed a burger in a neighboring restaurant, then went back to check in at the flight office. Unfortunatly, as we were waiting the fog rolled back in – we would try again tomorrow. Having explored the town, and hoping for a late night at the observatory, I headed back to the hostel to do laundry, take a little nap and get ready for the night – it is cold on the mountain – as witnessed by this funny video they have for you on the Earth and Sky website of what to wear:
Around 10:30 I headed out, bundled up, and with my DSLR, because the astrophotographers will hook your camera up to the telescope to catch images for you for you to get your own images, which is pretty exciting!
I got to the office, checked in and waited for the tour to depart. At the office, they gave us each Antarctica tested jackets, worn by actual scientists on the US bases – which I thought was pretty cool!
We started the drive up Mt. John – which is fascinating. Lake Tekapo is in a dark sky reserve, so the street lights are a special type that will not interfere with the viewing of the night sky. It was still really, really foggy, but the tour guide said we were in to a real treat because the sky was clear above the fog which we would be above on the mountain. I will admit, at this point I started getting pretty excited – I was concerned about the fog and the uncertainty of the night sky above it.
Once we got to the mountain it got even more interesting. At a point near the summit, the tour driver had to turn off the headlights and we climbed the rest of the way in the dark – I was thankful he knew the roads well! (this was so that the headlights didn’t disrupt the researchers at using the amazing telescopes).
Y’all – I have lots of words – you read this blog – you know that – but seriously – I cannot put the amazingness that this was into words – beautiful, stunning, astounding, breathtaking, majestic – all come to mind, but don’t really do it justice.
Bad news is, my DSLR picked this night to be when it decided to finally bite the dust – it had been acting up for quite some time, so it was not a shock, but I will admit I was a little sad I couldn’t leave with my own photos.
However, the Astrophotographers always load pictures each night onto their Flickr account. I captured two of these images below from that night so you can get an idea of what I saw. (And yes – the sky did look like that!). (I was even so bundled I took off my Antarctic jacket – either it wasn’t that cold up there, I have really good thermals, or I am adjusting to a different type of winter – not sure which).
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If you want to see more images from the night, or other nights go check out: Earth and Sky Images.
My night was May 25th – but if you want to see some stunning Aurora photos – check out the 28th as well – that is the night it surged and was flat out amazing.
The special treat our tour guide talked about truly was spectacular, and you can see it in the pictures – look at the layer of fog sitting on the lake – it looked like a blanket covering the ground – the scientists that were showing us around the sky said it was a rare sight – like once every 2-3 years.
The sky was so clear you could clearly see the Milky Way trail, and could easily pick out the southern sky constellations – I was quite thankful for my massive amounts of time in the Digital Star Lab taking every single Carmel Colt through there for the past few years, because I could really pick out lots of things.
Unexpectedly – the coolest thing was the 2 “dark spots” in the sky – which we do not see North of the equator – the Magellanic Clouds, which are actually spiral dwarf galaxies.
After a tour of the sky – where the guide used this crazy cool lightsaber-like laser pointer that shot across the sky to point out what he was talking about (I really NEED one of those), we got to look in several telescopes and look at features of the sky.
The time passed quickly – and before I knew it the tour was over and we were back in the shuttle headed to town.
Well after 2 AM – I was back at the hostel, and settled in for a quick sleep – I was meeting the flight crew at 8:00 – hopefully for a flight.
The next morning – with lots of coffee – I was ready to fly – the fog had lifted, and it was an amazing day to fly – I could not have ordered better weather!
The flight was myself and a couple with quite limited English, so I essentially had a tour guide/ pilot to myself.
I thought the Stewart Island plane was small – but this one was smaller – only 8 seats!
It was a Gippsland GA8 Airvan – specially outfitted for scenic flights with over window wings. Check out the safety info card!
The Grand Traverse took an amazing path, flying over Lake Tekapo, 4 prominent glaciers (Murchison, Franz Josef, Fox, Tasman) and the majestic Southern Alps (Including NZs two highest mountains – Mount Cook and Mount Tasman). This is another instance of the pictures saying so much more than my words ever could. Air Safaris bills this as the flight of a lifetime – and I must say – they are 100% correct.
I will stop talking now and let you enjoy the pictures – these are some of my favorite of the trip – but honestly – I am going to have a hard time deciding which pictures make the cut for printing and hanging up in my house – I think my decor may entirely change to New Zealand pictures!
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I even captured a video of us flying around Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman – and replaced the noise of the plane with music to make it easier to watch – I apologize for the shakiness – we did hit some air currents while I was filming.
What an epic experience!
After this I had some work to do – so I set off for a school visit, then decided that an afternoon/evening at the Tekapo Springs spa was the way to spend my last evening here. What a great choice!
Just check out this place:
It was freezing outside of the water – but AHHHH! What a lovely way to “chill out” – I even sprang for a manicure and pedicure at the day spa – so I was quite content when I did finally leave the spa. (side note – check out the cloud cover – I am so thankful I changed my observatory tour to last night!)
The next day I headed back to Christchurch to spend the night before catching my flight back to Wellington.
A flat white before catching my bus to leave Lake Tekapo
This time in Christchurch I stayed in a really cool hostel, the Jucy Snooze – which featured these cool pods:
It was perfect, and thankfully walking distance to the hotel for my flight the next day, as their was some sort of taxi and uber strike.
Dinner that night was not as perfect, as I decided to forgo the last pack of my soup in my backpacker kit and have dinner out – at this highly rated teppanyaki restaurant (The kiwi version of our hibachi restaurants in the USA) – when about half way through my meal I saw a mouse scurry across the floor – and with that, I was done with my dinner. But hey – with travel you take the good, the bad, the strange and the gross – it all is a part of the experience – and it is a pretty funny story – in hindsight – that in a country where rodents are not native (and their is a huge push to e”rat”icate them (see what I did there- lol!) – I see a rodent, in a “nice” restaurant!
I went back to the hostel, and got ready to fly home in the morning.
It has been a spectacular few weeks on the South Island.
Monday morning I woke up early and walked to the bus stop to catch my bus to Christchurch – the bus ride was fairly uneventful (really, really long), but there were these precious girls (about 10 students rode this bus to their school – almost an hour from Te Anau).
They took turns reading to one another for the journey – it did make my heart smile.
The journey did, as all journeys in New Zealand do, have some lovely scenery – including a nice wintry wonderland.
Once I arrived in Christchurch, it was after dark, so I caught a cab to my hostel – one that I have been very excited to stay in – you see – I was staying in Jailhouse Accommodation – which is a hostel that is actually in the old Addington Prison, which has a fascinating history as a jail, women’s prison and a military camp. You can learn more about the prison here, as well as the artwork and artifacts that are all around the prison.
The next day, I went to the train station, and lucked out, because another girl was also headed to the train station, so we shared an Uber, and chatted throughout the day. She was an American, who is currently living in Hawaii (for work), but previously lived in the Atlanta area (where she still owns a home), and with close family ties to India. She is amazingly well traveled, and it was nice to chat with her – we shared travel trips, ideas and just genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. I thought I had a picture of the two of us, but apparently we were having too much fun when I took the picture – and I didn’t check it.
The weather for the journey was fairly awful, and viability was low, however, it was still pretty amazing to make this journey, and like so many historic railway journeys to think about the trials of the railway workers that forged the way through this unbelievable, beautiful, rugged and unforgiving landscape. Passing through the Southern Alps is an Experience I am not going to forget!
The TranzAlpine goes from Christchurch (eastern coast of South Island) to Greymouth (western coast of South Island) and back each day. This is at the narrowest part of the South Island. I was doing the return trip in one day, because of how my school visits panned out for the week (Which meant a very full day of enjoying the beautiful scenery – and being quite disconnected – not much cell phone service between villages). The journey started going between Christchurch and Arthur’s Pass. Passing mostly through the Canturbury flats.
The interesting thing about this crossing was definitly the changing, diverse landscape from one side to the other.
At Arthur’s Pass we were able to get off the train and stretch our legs and take a few quick pictures.
When we arrived in Greymouth Shreya and I stopped in the Speights Ale House to share a drink before we parted (me back on the train, her off to explore the West Coast). The west coast is aptly named the Wild West Coast, because it has some of the most unpredictable and wet weather in New Zealand, and for a nation where 4 seasons in a day is not uncommon, and mostly expected, this is saying something!
On the ride back, because I wasn’t talking so much, I was able to capture a video of a portion of the journey – but I really did just savor the experience.
The skies are always just so stunning! (and I know the pictures from the train do not do the colors justice!)
Before I knew it the train journey was over, and I was back in Christchurch. After a snag with locating my bag (just a miscommunication between the train staff), I was headed to the Airport to pick up my rental car so that I could head to Methven for the night for my school visit tomorrow. (again some backtracking, but I was maximizing my school visits as I could this trip). The drive to Methven was uneventful (thankfully), but it was a pretty journey even once the sun set.
As I said, this was a quick trip, so I went back to Christchurch and checked back into Jailhouse for another night. As I was back quite earlier than I expected – before heading to my next location – Lake Tekapo – where I have some pretty awesome adventures planned, as well as a school visit (work and pleasure – always a good mix!), I decided to check out the International Antarctic Center.
Christchurch is the Gateway to Antarctica, so almost all flights to many of the bases on Antarctica originate here.
It was informative and really “cool” quite literally, as they had a simulated summer snowstorm that I got to experience. Talk about being thankful for layers (and walking out the door into the warmth)!
I dropped off my car, shuttled back to the hotel, and had a relaxing evening, including delivery of some fantastic Pad Thai. I also scored the luck of a bunk room to myself for the night, always a great bonus when staying in dorms.
This weekend I headed to Te Anau, which is often referred to as the gateway to Milford Sound.
After landing in Invercargill, I had some time to spare, so I spent my afternoon at the Southland Museum – which was also conveniently the bus stop I would depart from on my journey to Te Anau. I didn’t take many pictures – they actually were not allowed in many places – but I loved the natural history section and the large collection of New Zealand species they had on display.
New Zealand has had quite the cold snap – so my scenery on the bus ride was quite the wintry wonderland. I arrived at the hostel around 5:30 – and was so thankful the bus driver dropped me off at my lodging location instead of the bus stop, because it was dark and cold.
I checked in, started laundry (I didn’t want to do it on Stewart Island if I could help it, since they pay 4x more for electricity down there than here on the “mainland”), and went to grab a quick dinner and some groceries.
As I was settling in at my room I saw an alert on Facebook that the Aurora was spiking – so I thought I would go at give it a look – being a little further north, with some cloud cover, I wasn’t sure I would see much, but I did spot the glow in the south.
It wasn’t much, but it was cool to see.
Sunday morning I was up early to catch my tour to Milford Sound. I was picked up by our driver Simon at the hostel, and immediately knew this was going to be a fun day.
Simon is a live-off-the grid, NZ local who has worked in nature conservation, science and tourism most of his life. He shared amazing stories and his passion for the Fiordlands, and because this was a small tour continually tried to give us extra stops.
Our first stop was the Eglinton Valley Flats in Fiordland National Park. Here we could see the mountains all around.
You could still see (and feel) the frost on the grass!
We had perfect weather for our next stop – the wind was still – the sun was shining – which meant that the reflection from the Mirror Lakes was stunning!
We had a few more stops on our way up to Milford, and there were some pretty entertaining Keas and some scenery.
And then we arrived at Milford, with a few minutes to spare, so we got to take in the scenery before heading to the boat terminal.
It really was a perfect day to cruise Milford Sound (which is not a sound, but a Fjord, for what it is worth) even if it was crazy cold. Our cruise took us from the terminal all the way out to the Tasman Sea – which felt like the end of the world. It was an awe-inspiring, breathtaking and unbelievable journey. I know that the pictures cannot possibly do this justice, and the scale is so impossible to get, but I hope you enjoy them. I used my DSLR, so those pictures are in the slideshow, while the pictures from my phone are below in the grid. There are a ton of pictures, because even though it was freezing, I stayed on the top deck the entire journey – I wanted to savor every moment of this likely once in a lifetime experience.
Look closely and you will see seals and dolphins. Like I said, it was a perfect day!
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After the cruise we boarded the mini-bus and started the journey back to Te Anau – but Simon had more stops for us.
Our first stop on the way back was the historic bridge over the Tutoko River.
Our next stop was the Chasm – a nice 20 minute walk where you see some of the coolest structures in rock made by water I have ever seen!
In the parking lot this lady had this cool van that she had converted into a coffee shop, so while we waited on everyone to finish the trail, I got my favorite NZ coffee drink – a flat white – and we enjoyed the mischievous keas in the parking lot – what funny little birds!
When we reached the Homer Tunnel – we had about 5 minutes before the one way tunnel was opened up for us, so we had one last chance to get out and enjoy the scenery on this side of the Milford road.
Driving along the Milford Road is a beautiful experience.
After a few more stops (I felt like . . . but wait, there is more!), Simon dropped me back off at the hostel, where I had a few hours to relax and have dinner before heading to my next adventure, the Te Anau Glow Worm Caves.
For dinner, Simon recommended a dairy that had fish and chips – since his tour was so wonderful, I thought I would take his recommendation. It was not a mistake. Yummy fish!
Then I walked to the glowworm caves for my underground adventure. Cameras are not allowed in the cave, but I bought the picture package to share the experience with you all.
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What you don’t see is the journey “under the glow” so to speak – guys – it was so cool – it really does look like the videos and pictures online, like this one, which is amazing:
or this one:
(these videos are from different caves, but the same experience applies).
It is DARK – which is what allows you to see the glow worms, and I will admit – getting in the boat when you cannot see anything is a little disconcerting.
WOW – today was certainly one of those epic days, that I am so fortunate to be able to have here on this New Zealand journey.
In an trip filled with amazing experiences, this is one journey that Fulbright has given me that is just spectacular and will be a standout of my trip. Stewart Island is a location that many Native New Zealanders have never visited (and it has a population of less than 400 people). As part of the Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, you have access to funds for professional development. Initially my PD grant was applied for to attend the Energise 2017 Conference in Queenstown – which was a wonderful conference and opportunity. After I applied for the grant, I received word that I was invited to visit the school on Stewart Island, which I thought was an incredibly cool school – and really would give me that last missing piece of understanding New Zealand school structure, diversity and remoteness. Because of it’s remoteness, accessing Stewart Island is difficult (and rather expensive), so I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it happen. I had some funds granted to me by my lovely Gamma Eta DKG sisters, which I was thinking would use to make this visit possible, then I realized that if I maximized my budget by staying in more affordable lodging (hostels and cheap AirBnBs), I could use those funds and amend my PD grant proposal and make both work, and visit all the remaining schools on my South Island potential visit list – so I amended my Fulbright grant, and set to work piecing together this 3 week journey, which led me to the lovely, remote, and wild Stewart Island, also known as Rakiura . (Rakiura means “glowing skies” – possibly a Maori reference to the Aurora Australis, which is visible sometimes at this southerly location, although others say it is a reference to the spectacular sunrises and sunsets). The history and establishment of Stewart Island is really cool, and if you are interested, you can read more here.
There are 2 ways to access Stewart Island commercially. You must cross the often treacherous Foveaux Strait to get to the island. The two options are the Ferry from Bluff and Flight from Invercargill. I hoped to do the ferry one way and the flight the other, but wasn’t sure how cooperative the weather might be. I decided to take my chances, and book the Ferry over, and the Flight back, and just hoped for the best.
Monday morning I got up and walked over to the meeting point to catch my shuttle to the ferry.
I thought this was a pretty gorgeous view on my way through Invercargill.
The hotel where I met the driver had this cool picture, which I thought appropriate as I embarked on my journey to this beautiful place.
The ferry ride was gorgeous and sunny and the seas were calm – I am so glad I took the ferry today!
Once we arrived in Oban, I met my lovely AirBnB host Raylene, and I cannot express how much I lucked up with her! We drove up to the house, dropped off my bags and then Raylene drove me back to the center of town so I could make my appointment with Dave at Raikura Jade. I had struggled with what my “souvenir” from my Fulbright experience would be – I am not one for cheesy touristy things, but I felt like I needed something to have as a memento from this experience – and had thought that a Pounamu, or Greenstone pendant might be a cool thing to get, however, I discovered that according to Maori tradition, you should not buy one for yourself – in fact, many backpackers and solo travelers will buy them for each other to get around this. By carving my own Pounamu gifted to me by Dave (he gives the stone for free for those that pay for the workshop), I was able to get this “taonga” or treasure as my memento of this amazing Fulbright experience.
The shape I carved was a toki, which is said to represent strength. You can learn more about the toki by listening here.
I started by picking my stone from the bowl of stone.
Once I picked my stone, Dave started teaching me how to begin to carve the Toki shape. I used lots of tools, and he was so patient with me – Dave was a wonderful teacher. (additional note, Dave worked on the Lord of the Rings, as a part of the team that created Faragorn Forest, and he later worked at Weta for other Jackson films).
After the basic bones of the toki shape were done it was time to smooth out the stone – I used 4 different grits of sandpaper, and then I had a lovely pendant shape. Dave instructed me to rub it in my skin, so that my own oil polished the stone, and the shine was amazing – it really brought out the colors in the stone. Next Dave helped me braid my lanyard for the necklace – we used a 4 strand braid – I was not very coordinated with it, but Dave was crazy patient with me, and he even let me film him doing the 4 handed braid on his own as he finished the strand – just look at how cool!
Then we took the pendant back, made the notch and the hole for the lanyard, tied the knots to make it adjustable, and voila – my beautiful, finished toki.
What a great thing to do!
My pendant complete, I headed across the town of Oban to Golden Bay where I enjoyed the view, the sunset and the peacefulness. I even had a lovely chat with a lady from the Department of Conservation who was waiting on some researchers to arrive on the ferry.
Tuesday was my first day in the school, and I had a lovely time getting to know the students and the school. After school, I walked back up to Raylene’s home, named Glendaruel and spent some time exploring her gardens. They are just lovely, and he backyard is full of the amazing bird life in New Zealand.
Tonight was the night of my Kiwi spotting tour, and the weather seemed to be cooperative. The kiwis however, were quite stubborn. But finally, after several walks around the area of Big Glory Bay- we spotted a lovely kiwi enjoying his dinner of grubs on the beach. I know the pictures are pretty horrible, but, hey – it is what it is. (and an added note – these are some big birds!)
Here is a video of the kiwi, and a video of the grubs that he was munching on.
Wednesday was another school day. Check out my commute for this week:
After school, I was still feeling a bit under the weather, I decided to stay in, and Raylene so graciously made some soup for me – have I mentioned how above and beyond she went (she also cooked us a lovely dinner of fish one night and we had a lovely chat about schools around the world)?
Check out the morning breakfast spread:
The rest of the week was filled with school visits and enjoying Oban – I even got to teach the students programming – so it was a great school visit.
One of the students even said I was their favorite visitor since Prince Harry stopped by the school – so I will take that as a complement!
Saturday morning I flew out on the very small plane – and now I am off to my next weekend adventure – Te Anau – to the Glowworm Caves and the one and only Milford Sound.
Sunday morning I started by backtracking about 35 KM (about 22 miles) on twisty roads to a special location, Cathedral Caves. Cathedral Caves can only be accessed within an hour on both sides of low tide and even then only during daylight hours – so you have to consult the schedule and plan accordingly – and I was lucky – there are entire spans of days that you cannot access them at all. There is a slight hike down to get to the beach, and an access fee (make sure you have cash – there were some young girls that had to go try and find an ATM) for the trail – but at 5.00 NZD it is worth it for the trail to be maintained by the local land owners.
After the 1.5 km walk downhill through some beautiful bush,
You emerge onto the beach – a peaceful, untouched beach oasis.
After walking down the beach – you arrive at the caves, and WOW!
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They were massive – and it was so incredible to see the changes to the caves by the sea water continually beating against the rocks. It was amazing.
After I had thoroughly explored the caves, I trekked back across the beach, and up the trail to my car.
My next stop highlights the Kiwi sense of humor. You will recall that yesterday I visited Purakanui Falls and McLean Falls, both beautiful examples of waterfalls, right?
Well, behold the New Zealand “Niagra Falls”
Next I ventured south – to Slope Point – the furthest south point of the South Island – which is located on a sheep farm (no joke, you cross through the pasture to get to the marker). The access is closed during Lambing season (September – November)
My next stop was the cliffs at Fortrose. It was windy – so I didn’t stay long, or get too close to the edge, but it was cool.
A bit chilly at this point, I was thankful to find a cafe and grab some Seafood Chowder and a hot coffee before continuing my adventure.
Next up, I made my way to Bluff, and Stirling Point, which is often confused with Slope Point – Stirling Point is the end of the Motorway which stretches from the tip of the north island (at Cape Reinga) to here in Bluff.
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With some extra time before I needed to be in Invercargill and return my rental car, I decided to explore more of Bluff. This led me to follow signs to the Te Rau Aroha Marae. Such a unique Marae from the outside – beautiful!
Then I headed to the Bluff Lookout, thinking it might be a cool spot to enjoy the sunset.
As I headed up the path to the lookout, there were some informative signs about Moas, birds and other native wildlife, predators, pests and history.
Finally, I headed to Invercargill, hit the grocery store, returned the rental car, did laundry and prepared for my next journey – I am off to Raikura – Stewart Island in the morning.
Merry Adventures 