Along the Away

After a day spent mostly in the coach and on a boat looking, looking, looking at the untouchable rugged beauty of Fiordland, it was rather refreshing to find ourselves the next day in Arrowtown, in the Otago region. This lovely little town has a wonderful village-vibe going on with some great cafés and stores to wander around. It’s also a good place for a bike ride, with a great cycle path along the willow-lined Arrow River.

The point of the bike trip we went on was to head towards the Kawarau Bridge, traversing over river crossings, country lanes and apparently a pretty amazing suspension bridge.

Apparently. Hmm. Due to some bizarre navigational instincts, myself and Gabriela, a girl I was riding with, somehow took a turn about halfway that took us back to the starting point….

Yeah. Not sure what happened. We were having a merry old ride. We even stopped for pictures.

The owner of the cycle hire place was quite surprised, especially as we hadn’t even taken the same route back. Sure we saw signs, but we thought it all looked OK.

And we were rather preoccupied with the scenery.

But anyhoo, we were kindly given a lift in the car to the Kawarau Bridge where the others were. Bit embarrassing, but mostly disappointing as we missed out seeing the suspension bridge, but sometimes things just don’t work out, and that’s OK.

We had fun on our bike adventure, and seeing as we didn’t even realise we were on the wrong track til the very end… well – no harm done lol.

Goodbye Queenstown! Time to mosey on over to the south western corner of the South Island!

Off we trundled on the coach, passing through some lush forest lined roads.

We had the opportunity to take a wander through some forest trails right off the main road which is always good for healthy dose of nature.

We then continued through ‘Fiordland’ – to me, ‘Fiordland’ sounds a bit like a territory you might find on a map in Game of Thrones, but in reality it is a land of beauty and picture postcard views. Like the Scandinavian ‘Fjord’ (steep valley), Fiordland is dominated by the Southern Alps and the crystal clear lakes that lie between them.

We stopped to look at Mirror Lake where the still waters reflect the mountains and sky. This particular spot is rather famous and a sign sitting above the waterline rather cleverly makes it’s point.

Fiordland offers similar views and effects all around the area so we stopped regularly along our journey to get out our cameras.

A highlight of our trip was driving through the mountain – the Homer Tunnel is built into the Darran Mountain Range and is 1.2km long. When it opened in 1954 it was only a single lane gravel road. It has since been widened to two lanes but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was rather glad to not have met another vehicle on our journey through it!

The tunnel is pretty much pitch black, but when we came out through the other end it was back into the sunshine, past waterfalls and forest, always with the moody mountain backdrop.

Winding our way around the snow capped mountains meant we eventually ran into some snow! We had time to pull over and have an impromptu snow ball fight!

But I’m a lover not a fighter, so I also busied myself creating a little baby snow-pal, complete with a hat.

Luckily the weather was not wet or wild so we were able to take time to go on the Milford Sound Nature Cruise. This was quite special, cruising around the Sound in between the sheer vertical mountain faces where multiple waterfalls cascaded off the sides.

We saw a couple of fur seals sunbathing on the rocks, and then a pod of bottlenose dolphins came out to play with the boat!

What is it about dolphins that turn everyone into crazed paparazzi clicking away? I took a million photos, but for everyone’s sake here are just a couple.

It was cool how close the boat took us to the wall of the mountain rock face. The captain edged us right up to the wall where a waterfall smashed down on the front deck. Some brave souls held on tight and took a hit – but I watched from just inside the cabin :-)

The rocky walls are beautiful, layers of colour and minerals – the geology is very interesting, on the boat they share information about it which is cool.

The Milford Sound Cruise was really good – I would definitely recommend it. I did wonder a bit about the fabulous reviews Milford Sound gets from travellers, it was beautiful but not as breath-taking as I was expecting (it pains me to say, but gotta be honest). I think it must depend a lot on the weather, the sky and the water. A Google image search shows some truly gorgeous photos of the Sound, so if you have options, opt for the clearest day you can.

Skiing was a big deal for me as I have only done it once in my lifetime, and it was on the disaster scale. I was seventeen, on a student trip to the USA west coast on the G’day USA program. We went to the snow somewhere in the extreme north west of the country, I can’t even remember the name, it was south of the Canadian border. Our group instructor seemed bored and not that bothered. He gave us a half-hearted lesson before putting us all on the chairlift up to the top (it seemed like a ginormous mountain, but I concede that time may have increased the dramatic scale in my memory). The chairlift was fun, but when we got to the top I didn’t know what to do! I put my feet down, slid off the chair and then kept sliding. Down. The. Mountain. The good news is that I didn’t crash. The bad news is that I didn’t know how to turn or control my speed at all, so I picked up speed until I was literally airborne for half of the descent. When I neared the bottom I saw that it leveled out to end in an excavation pit where there were trucks and bulldozers (again, memory scale maybe be slightly distorted). So to avoid skiing off the cliff, I had to throw myself sideways, where I cut my cheek on the ice. Epic ski fail.

Cut to 15 years later and I thought I’d give it another go.

Because I was on my own I visited Snow Biz the afternoon before to book in a gear hire beginner package which included ski and clothing hire, lessons and bus transport up the mountain. I rocked up very early the next morning to get fitted for skis, pants and jacket then was one of the first to get in line for the buses, which depart right outside the shop. There are two options – The Remarkables and Coronet. I did some googling which would be best for a beginner and decided to go to The Remarkables.

The bus ride was easy, though pretty intense considering the steep, winding climb on a narrow, snowy road! We arrived and I felt a bit out of the loop on what/how. Everyone was there in friend or family groups and seemed to know what they were doing. The intrepid solo traveller is not immune to occasional pangs for the comfort and ease of being with friends. But the only option is to brush it aside and make it work. I watched for awhile and then changed into my ski boots there in the car park and then trudged up to the people-conveyor-belts (what are they called?) and to the building with everyone else.

I figured it out from there – I put my bag in the storage room, leaned my skis on one of the numbered stands, went to the cafeteria for a coffee, snapped some photos and then it was time for my first lesson!

Luckily there were some other solo peeps in my group so we quickly forged a bond of support to keep each other’s morale up and clapped and cheered our gradual improvement. Our instructor, a twenty-something Welsh guy, was absolutely wonderful. Funny, kind and understanding – he played a huge part in building my confidence. We had a two hour morning lesson, stopped for a lunch break and then had an afternoon two hour lesson.

I couldn’t believe that by the end of the day I was capable of skiing down the beginner slope, controlling my direction and speed and most importantly STAYING UPRIGHT!

I had a blast the whole day, the lessons were fun, the environment was stunning and I felt pretty proud for having tried something new that pushed me out of my comfort zone. I would love to come back another time for a week or so, and I have to say, I think it would be a lot of fun with a group of friends. Add it to the travel list :-)

While in Queenstown, I went horse riding at Glenorchy, arranged with Dart Stables who came and picked up a group of us in town. It was a 45 minute scenic drive to the stables travelling along Lake Waktipu with a couple of photo stops along the way which was appreciated… I mean, look at this scene.

When we got to the stables we had the option of borrowing gear for the ride which was a good idea given the river crossings we would be making. I borrowed some gumboots and a big waterproof riding jacket – I felt like I was off on a mountaineering adventure, but better to be prepared than sorry (and wet and cold).

I went on the two Hour ‘River Wild’ ride which was perfect for all riding abilities – especially beginners!

It was breathtaking.

We meandered along the northern part of Lake Wakatipu with a mountain range backdrop and lots of glacial river crossings.

I rode a beautiful horse named Merlin – he was very kind, and only a little bit curious about wandering off the track a couple of times.

The two female riding guides travelling with us were great, they kept all the horses happily in line and gave us plenty of instruction in regards to riding through the river crossings and how to lean backwards to make it easier for our horse.

I was just enthralled by the beauty of the mountains and the golden light.

As the sun set the temperature dropped – my feet were so so so cold! My toes felt like little pebbles in my shoes by the time we got back – I couldn’t feel them at all, and that was with two pairs of merino socks on, so be warned if you read this ahead of doing the ride – rug up your feet!

Totally worth it though!

My time in Queenstown was jam-packed with activities – fittingly so, as Queenstown has the reputation of being one of the world’s adventure tourism capitals.

I skiied! I luge-ed! I horse-rode! I danced!

I loved the winter village feel of Queenstown. The streets were bustling and everyone was rugged up warm and cheerful.

Every direction offers a postcard view – it’s the mountain horizon that does it. Even the view from our apartment was pretty special.

I explored with some friends from the bus tour over the three days we were there. On one night I went with Mel and Michael to a fabulous whisky bar with a big fireplace and hard-core bartenders who laboured intensely to create a very fancy Old Fashioned for my friend and an expresso martini for me – both were awesome.

We kicked on to meet a large group at the quintessential backpacker nightclub, The Buffalo Club, where we drank cocktail jars and danced the night away.

The next day I rode the Skyline Gondola up to Bob’s Peak on Ben Lomond Mountain, which was well worthwhile for the amazing views at the top.

While I was up there I figured I may as well ride the luge – it was fun for novelty’s sake and not expensive, but the view is definitely the highlight.

We traveled back down and walked into town to meet some others at Fergburger – the famous burger hotspot. Being a vegetarian I wasn’t sure if I’d get the same experience as it’s the Fergburger original that everyone raves about – but they had a few veggie options so I tried the “Bun Laden” – a falafel burger. It was pretty damn good actually!

In the afternoon I wandered around on my own for awhile – time for some solo time-out! The evening was beautiful down by Steamer Wharf, I even appreciated the chill as I walked around, it lent a special atmosphere.

That night we went to the Below Zero Ice Bar – which, you guessed it, is made of ICE! Including the cups…

And the decor…

And the light fixtures…

Basically everything! It was fun to visit for awhile, we stayed for about two hours. To be honest, it’s not really that cold (compared to being outdoors in NZ haha!) There is a photo booth in there plus an ice puck table and vodka on the rocks – plenty to amuse oneself for a couple of hours.

For dinner, Mel, Michael and I kicked on down to Steamer Wharf where we’d independently walked around earlier that day and seen some interesting restaurants.

We walked back and forth a few times before deciding on ‘Public Kitchen‘ which was quite special. Their menu is based on collective dining and sharing food, so while we all ordered our own ‘main’ meat or seafood we ordered a number of delicious veggie side accompaniments – yummo! We were there for a few hours, chatting and laughing and sharing tales from their life in Darwin (fascinating – I want to go even more now!) and my travel stories from India. Seriously, it’s the people you meet while on the road that make the most lasting memories; it was one of my favourite nights.

I’ll share more in my next couple of posts about my skiing and horse riding adventures. I would love to return to Queenstown again, either in winter so I could properly learn to ski, or even in Spring or Summer to go hiking and enjoy these great outdoors.

If I HAD to pick one single highlight of my trip to NZ it would probably, most likely, OK definitely be the glacier heli-hike I did on Fox Glacier. It really was one of those top-of-the-top travel experiences. Sure, everything you do when traveling is a special experience and rates high on the life scale far above the base line of sitting at home on the couch. But there are some once in a lifetime epic experiences that skyrocket off that scale to be seared into your memory forever. The glacier hike and opportunity to poke around in some ice caves was absolutely amazing – plus, you get there by helicopter!

There was a lot of debate on the road and even amongst travellers online about whether it’s worth doing the half day (4 hour) heli-hike, which is expensive at NZ$400, or doing a much cheaper half day hike or even a drive-and-hike instead. I understand that there’s a point where you just can’t multiply the dollars in your pocket, but if you do have the cash and you’re just weighing up where else you could spend it – don’t hesitate. This is one of those things you have to do while you’re there.

I went with the company Fox Guides. They fit you out in any gear you need; I was wearing water resistant hiking pants already but opted to wear one of their water-proof, insulated jackets plus their leather hiking boots. I had my waterproof Palladium boots but because you wear crampons on the ice I preferred the assurance of a perfect fit and performance on their own hiking boots.

We were assembled into groups based on on our individual weights and then had to stand together on a massive scale to check we weren’t over the helicopter requirements. I went with a few of my travel buddies from the bus tour which was great – we were all giddy with excitement! We were group 2 out of 4 helicopter loads, so we got to watch the group in front of us follow procedure as they ran to the helicopter and hopped in. It took off in a thunder of noise and arc-ed up and disappeared in between the mountains. The excitement mounted for our group as the second helicopter landed and it was our turn to beeline for the door, jump in and enjoy the ride!

It was a very smooth flight, all of us grinning ear-to-ear with our headphones on and eyes pinned out the window. The mountains loomed up and around us, the higher up we went it dawned on me just how high and big they are, a perspective you just can’t fathom looking up from land or birds-eye from a plane.

The glacier is an expansive long stretch of ice holding apart the opposing stark mountain sides that it runs between.

I was studying it for a long time before I noticed that a couple of the specks below were actually the other helicopter and the first group standing on the ice! Seriously, just as you think you’ve wrapped your head around the scale of the area it knocks you over again. We circled around as the group below all crouched down with their heads tucked and hands over their ears.

The helicopter lifted off the ground and drifted away back to pick up another group. Ours descended to the drop off spot and we touched down lightly. I stumbled out and beelined carefully over the ice to the group, we crouched and braced as the helicopter lifted off sending gusts of wind and sheets of ice across our huddle. Once it was gone we gingerly stood up and with the help of our guide put on our crampons which was not too difficult.

What a godsend they were! As soon as they were on I felt sturdy and safe, I could walk on the sleekest patch of ice and stay totally in control.

We followed our guide in a single file, taking care to step where he stepped (don’t want to fall through into a cave!) It was unreal, unlike any other environment I’ve ever been on.

Fox Glacier is one of the most accessible glaciers in the world with the odd distinction of ending in rainforest, 13km away from its beginning in the Southern Alps. It has both retreated and expanded over the years – the vegetation revealing its past.

My favourite thing about the hike was walking through the ice tunnels.

They’re cave-like, but not far below the surface, most of the time you can see the sky through gaps and holes in the ice above – they’re more like crevices I suppose.

They are just so beautiful.

Peaceful and ethereal.

Smooth and glossy, surprisingly dry to touch.

At times the tunnel was so tight I had to contort my body to slide through – and slide is the right word. If it weren’t for the smooth slippery walls of the tunnel I’m not sure I could have pushed myself through. I had to contort, lean into the wall and slide around, trying not to fall in a puddle once I’d made it through the tricky part.

Sometimes the ice was solid above me, but mostly I looked up to see a sliver of the sky between the curve of the ice above.

We climbed back up to the ground level of the glacier and crunched our way back towards the helicopter pick-up point, stopping for some group happy snaps.

Our guide chopped up the ice so that once we took our crampons off we didn’t slip and slide.

We repeated the whole crouch and brace routine again before it was our turn to hop on for our ride back to base.

Lucky me – I got to sit in the front! I was the ‘co-pilot’ (in my head). Susie looks a bit worried but was happy really.

The whole morning was just wonderful, I loved very minute! If you ever have the opportunity to go in your lifetime – do it!

This was a day I woke up with excitement fluttering in my stomach. As soon as my eyes opened I remembered what the day ahead held and I jumped out of bed with giddy anticipation, a bit nervous but with a big smile on my face. It was one of those holiday days where you’re going to do something you’ve planned to do before even leaving home.

A once in a lifetime thing.

Like SWIMMING. WITH. DOLPINS.

DUSKY DOLPHINS!

But the Dusky Dolphin pod lives off the east coast, and I was still in Nelson on the northern tip of the South Island. So onto the bus we got for the drive to Kaikoura, back through the Rai Valley and the Marlborough Wine Region. The early morning start was beautiful, I had my eyes and camera pressed to the bus window.

As we drove down the coast we stopped at Ohau Point to watch some New Zealand fur seals. They were cute, but pretty lazy, so we stopped long enough to take photos and stretch our legs then got on our way again.

While most of the bus group went on a whale watching cruise, myself and my new friends Susie, a fellow Aussie from Sydney, and Emma, from England, went out on the dolphin swimming cruise with Dolphin Encounter. It was expensive but worth it for the most amazing day!

‘Most amazing’ is an epic statement to make considering I spent some of said awesome day emptying my stomach into a plastic bucket.

AND into the ocean.

Metres from a Sperm Whale.

This is the price one must pay on intrepid sea adventures.

The sea swell was classified moderate-rough and the pod proved a little elusive to find, so we were on the water for over an hour before we spotted some small groups from the pod.

A lovely girl on the crew, who spent most of the time handing out and rinsing out plastic buckets, said it took us twice as long as normal to find them which would be why so many of us experienced sea sickness, and why I had it even though I’ve never been sick at sea before. Motion sickness has never been my problem, I can read a novel in 8pt font in a 4WD jeep driving on rural dirt tracks and I won’t even notice. But this time, I won’t lie, I felt pretty rotten.

Luckily, I fell into a cycle of 10 minutes feeling queasy, 5 minutes over the bucket, 10 minutes feeling just fine and dandy.

I’m grateful for small mercies, those 10 minute periods of dandiness meant I got to get in the water with the dolphins and have an absolute blast doing so.

Once we found the whole pod the captain positioned the boat a short distance away and we all popped into the ocean off the back of the boat. It took a bit of coordination with all the gear on and the excitement coursing adrenaline through our veins. It was then up to the dolphins to join us – they did not hesitate for a second!

It’s hard to describe, but let me try.

I plunged into the icy water and bobbed between the hectic chaos above surface and the eerie calm underwater. I pushed away from the crowd trying to get away from the flippers kicking my head, the arms splashing air bubbles in front of my goggles, the noise and disturbance all around me.

I swam toward some calm and started seeing flashes past my goggles; flippers of a different kind. Long noses, sleek dusty grey blurs, eyeballs passing right by my eyeballs. My breath caught in my chest, my heart thudded, I couldn’t breathe. The coldness of the water and the adrenaline seized me. A golden moment in time, pure joy, the power of the universe flowing into me and out of me as it does in only the most special of moments.

I bobbed up to the surface to take 10 seconds to pull myself together. I wanted to laugh, to cry, to throw up, to leap, to reach out.

I took some deep breaths. Adjusted my goggles. Calmed the hell down.

I ducked back under and took my time just hovering, watching. There were hundreds of dolphins darting all around me, every which way, it was unbelievable. I was conscious not to touch them but they had no qualms brushing past me, but oh so fast. I probably couldn’t have intentionally hugged one if I tried (I didn’t). I remembered what we’d been told and started to mimic their behavior. We wanted them to think we were just like them, a special kind of dolphin that had come to visit. I squealed through my snorkel, I flipped one hand back and forth and spun in a circle while they did the same around me. I was playing with dusky dolphins! Bloody amazing!!

I’m sure to the dolphins, we’re just indistinguishable to them as they are to us. But there were moments where I locked eyes with one for a fleeting moment and I wondered; what is this connection? Two species playing, one land based, one ocean dwelling. No reason to be here doing this together other than heartfelt curiosity on the part of one with the intelligence and means to adapt to an alternative environment, just for awhile. And the other, heartfelt curiosity and the intelligence to recognise the opportunity.

I was seriously blown away.

It was the best day, ending in a sunset cruise back to shore.

We drove into Nelson just as the sun was going down. We drove through the town to our accommodation close by Tahunanui Beach. It may be winter, but that’s not going to hamper the enjoyment of a sundown stroll along the sand.

The sun set boldly into the horizon, the clouds changing their colour every few minutes.

As I was fiddling around with the mysterious settings on my camera I saw a group posing for photos in the fading light so I snapped a few of my own.

Before arriving, I was mostly looking forward to visiting the arty, laid back town of Nelson just to have down time exploring the town’s galleries, cafés and pubs, but then the opportunity to go on a quad biking adventure at Happy Valley came up and I unexpectedly decided to give it a go! There are so many things to do in New Zealand and a lot come with a significant price tag so I have been picking and choosing as I go. The quad biking offered a chance to see some of the local bush though and I find it hard to turn down nature time so I signed up with some buddies from the tour.

It was so much fun! We went with Happy Valley Adventures who picked us up from the hotel and took us to the property. When we arrived we were fitted with our helmets and hopped on our quad bikes for a quick lesson how to use the gears, accelerate and brake.

We rode around a circular practice track for awhile to build a bit of confidence which I was grateful for; I was stop-starting a bit at first and braking down the little hills haha! But soon felt like I had control and could pick up the pace.

One of the girls in my group couldn’t quite get comfortable with it (she doesn’t even have her drivers license so I can understand) and the guys were great, they put no pressure on her at all and she was still able to come on the ride with us by riding on the back of the guide’s quad bike.

We went on the Bay View Circuit track led by our guide Fletcher and accompanied by the charismatic Border Collie, Jenna, who very happily sat on the back of Fletcher’s bike the whole time.

We winded up through the mountain on a well worn 14km track through native forest. There was never any particularly hairy bits, just twists and turns, ups and downs, over bridges and through big puddles. Over the two hours I picked up speed and had more thrills. I only ever went as high as 30kmh (hey it felt faster on a twisting dirt track!) but the guys from our group that went on the tougher track went as fast as 60kmh!

Once we reached the top of the mountain track we had the option to go on the Skywire, which is a paid extra. It is basically the world’s longest flying fox. There is a hanging car with four racing car seats; we got securely strapped in and told to brace ourselves for the chill factor – I soon realised why! The first 800m is a freefall drop onto the flying fox where we apparently reach up to 100kmph! It was stomach dropping but a lot of fun! The wind chill sliced right through me in the drop but then we slowed as we flew 150m across the valley.

The view was beautiful, it felt like my feet could touch the native forest densely packed below us.

From there we headed to a lookout where we stopped to drink Milo and refuel on biscuits. It was a nice opportunity to stretch the legs and appreciate the view.

Back at the bottom we got about ten minutes for some crazy freestyle riding on a track laid out between some farmland. Somehow a sheep found his way on the track and took off running at the sight of me bearing down on him. Of course I slowed down, but did the silly bean get off the track? No, he kept running on the track taking peeks over his shoulder at me as he went. I tried pointing and waving at him to move sideways off the track which he eventually did, but not before we were all banked up behind him doing 5kmph hahaha!!

After our ride we got driven back into town where our first priority was food. I did my usual online cafe researching and led the quad biking crew to The Morrison St Cafe, we sat at a big round table and had a wonderful hearty tummy-warming lunch.

After that we all split up and went our own ways for a wander around the town of Nelson. I checked out some of the art stores with a couple of the girls and the Christ Church Cathedral at the end of the main street.

Then I struck off on a mission to visit a jeweller I had read about, Louise Douglas. I had seen photos of her work and loved the reflection of nature in her designs. I splurged on a treat to remember NZ by and bought a beautiful freshwater pearl ring designed like a seed pod… It is like the pic below but I got the gold tone pearl not a black one. I love it, wear it all the time, and remember NZ and Nelson every time I wear it.