New Zealand #2: South Island

On Sunday morning, we said goodbye to Craig and his family and got on the ferry to the South Island. However, compared to the ferries at home, this was more like a cruise. There were recliner seats, restaurants, a bar, a children's play area, a movie theater, and not to mention beautiful scenery along the way! We arrived to the city of Picton, boarded a bus to Blenheim, our first stop on the SI. After finding beds at The Grapevine Backpackers and meeting our new roommate Luke from England, we all went out to explore Blenheim. We figured out it was a pretty lame small town, but that was ok because we had really stopped here to go wine tasting! The Marlborough region is known for their white wines, and my favorite wine Oyster Bay is made here, so I was super excited to go out and try more NZ wines. The next day we rented bikes, got a map and some directions to some of the good wineries, and started our winery tour. We visited 5 wineries-Villa Maria, Matua, Highfield Estate, Fromm, and Wither Hills. All were good, but our favorites were Villa Maria and Wither Hills. It was a great success for our first bike/wine tour :) Oh and did I mention the tastings were free!!!
After an afternoon of wine tasting, we bused it to the city of Nelson. Nelson is at the edge of the Abel Tasman National Park, which we had heard was amazing. We arrived into Nelson around 8pm and had our first experience with not being able to find a hostel. Our bus driver was kind enough to call around for us and found us (and our friend Luke) 3 beds at Paradiso Hostel. They only had 3 beds in different rooms and for the first time in over 3 months, Toriann and I didn't sleep in the same room, crazy! But, somehow we managed :) We found that Nelson was another city that closed up very early and after settling into our hostel, we went for a wander into Burger King, as it was the only place still open (at like, 10pm). The hostel itself was pretty cool, complete with a pool, hot tub, volleyball court, and large busy kitchen which offered free soup at dinner time.
The next morning, bright and early, we headed out to the Abel Tasman for a full day of hiking and kayaking. We rode the water taxi to our first stop at Bark Bay Beach with scenic stops at Split Apple rock and Pinnacle Island. From Bark Bay, we hiked for 3 hours or so along the coast to Torrent Bay. We had heard the sand flies were bad at these beaches, so I had decided to try out our all natural 'jungle juice' that we purchased from a man in Panama. He had claimed that this magic 'jungle juice' was mosquito and sand fly repellent, relief from insect and stingray bites, sunscreen, could be poured in your ear for ear infections, and...and, could cure melanoma cancer if applied properly. Sounded good to us, so I generously applied it to my legs. After hiking for a bit, I realized that although I was not getting bit (but neither was Toriann), I had heaps of dead sand flies stuck to my legs. I'm not sure if I would consider the 'jungle juice' a success or not... Back to Abel Tasman, after enjoying Torrent Bay beach, the water taxi picked us up and delivered us to Watering Cove, where we had a picnic lunch of veggie sandwiches and banana chocolate muffins (so good!). We met our kayak instructor, had a crash course on kayaking, and headed out to sea. We first kayaked to a small island that often has seals. We saw one seal and he swam right up next to the boat. It was really cool, but a lot of work to see him...because, we then had to turn into the wind and paddle back to the coast. Toriann and I were taking our time, but apparently we were too slow and our guide decided we should be towed by the boys boat. So, the strong men helped pull Toriann and I to safety, and then we continued on down the coast back to Marahau, where the whole day had originally started. We figured out that maybe we had been a wee bit slow because we rolled in about 1 1/2 late. Luckily, the bus had been kind enough to wait for us, and drove us home to Nelson!
Our next day in Nelson, we debated whether or not to go skydiving. We both had been going back and forth for days, and ended up deciding against it. However our good friend Luke decided to do it for his birthday and ended up loving it although i am not sure he would do it again... ooh well maybe next time. We instead had a leisurely day in the city and caught up on life (whatever that means...)
Our days of traveling before having to be in Christchurch to start work on the farm were very few, so the next day we left Nelson and 9 hours later arrived in Franz Joseph. The buses here are great, they pick you up and drop you off at your hostel, and they provide tea and lunch stops. One of our stops was at Punakaiki, where they have 35 million-year-old pancake rocks, created by the waves pounding on the limestone and mudstone cliffs. The rocks are beautiful, unique twisted formations with the gorgeous west coast in the backdrop. It was definitely a worth while bus stop! Sure made us hungry for pancakes:) Franz Joseph is a town based around the Franz Joseph Glacier, one of NZs most famous glaciers. The climate is really unique because the glacier is surrounded by rain forest. We did a half day hike, through the valley leading up to the glacier and then up onto the ice. We were fully suited up with warm gear and crampons, and we had an excellent guide from Delaware. The walk on the ice was really awesome, up and down steep staircases of ice, through a naturally carved tunnel, and through a very, very narrow crevasse. We spent the remainder of the day, hot tubing, staying warm, and enjoying the scenery of the town.
And that completed our speed tour of the South Island, from FJ glacier, we did another long bus journey to Christchurch. Next adventure in NZ, WOOFing...

New Zealand #1: North Island

Truth be told we have just a few days left here in Kiwi land and have yet to blog about our weeks. Here is a quick run down of how these next few blogs will go...we spent a week in the north island, a week in the south island and our last week here WOOFing on the farm. First thing first let me tell you about the north island. We arrived in Auckland and Heathers high school friend picked us up from the airport and took us back to her house. Sarah and her husband Ken moved to Auckland, NZ a little over a year ago and offered to let us stay with them once they knew we were coming. Once we unpacked, Sarah took us out for a bite to eat and showed us around Auckland. We ate lunch down by the beach, shopped, and just roamed the streets near where she lived. Sadly we missed "thanksgiving dinner" which Sarah and Ken had enjoyed with some other American friends the night before we arrived, but as usual their were left overs which Heather greatly enjoyed. Before leaving Auckland, Ken drove us to Mount Eden, a view point (and extinct volcano crater) where you can see most if not all of Auckland city and its various volcano's. Afterwards he dropped us off near Parnell street where Heather and I then proceeded to walk the streets and see downtown Auckland. Parnell street/neighborhood is Auckland upscale neighborhood filled with boutique shops and Victorian homes. Not interested in the boutiques, Heather and I sat at a little chocolate shop and enjoyed a Flat White (NZ way of saying a latte) and a maple chocolate cake. Oh so good. Its great being back to western foods. After our sugar and coffee fix we proceeded on our tour through Auckland and visited the Auckland Domain (park), Auckland University, Albert park, Auckland Art Gallery, and the Waterfront. Aside from the many parks all of which I loved, the art gallery was great because it was free and had some interesting art on display.
Since time is precious we hoped on a bus early the next morning and headed to Rotorua to see the geysers and take in the oh so delicious sulfur air...or should i say the rotten hard boiled egg smell which makes you want to vomit. Luckily you only get the egg smell when the air blows it in your direction. The hostel we stayed in suggested to go and visit Te Puia a Te Whakarewarewa (Maori word) thermal reserve and Maori Cultural Center. Our visit was great because we got to see nature and culture in one. Our guide who is a Maori gave us a brief history lesson on the geysers and then showed us and told us about the Maori carving and weaving schools which they have there. We also visited the Kiwi house where we saw one kiwi moving around. did you know that kiwi's cannot fly and are nocturnal...i didn't until she told us...very interesting. After our tour around the grounds and our visit to the boiling mud pools and geysers we saw the Maori's perform some of their dances. The show lasted about 30 min. and it was all very interesting and beautiful but the part we most liked was the warrior dance. The men perform this and while dancing, they hit themselves on their chest, arms and legs and make their eyes freaky big and stick out their tongue. Oh so strange looking, but it is their traditional warrior face and you will see it carved into most wood carvings.
Disgusted by the smell, it was time to travel to our next stop which was Taupo to do the Tongariro Crossing. Upon our arrival into Taupo we made friends with Grant from Aussy. The three of us stayed in the same hostel and since we had some time left in the day we all ventured out for a quick hike to Huka Falls. Along the way we stumbled upon this spot were hot thermal water spills out into the Walkato River. Bummed that we didn't have our swimsuits we continued walking to the falls. The falls were beautiful with its blue/green water. Interesting enough it dumps enough water every second to fill two Olympic size swimming pools...crazy huh... also Taupo uses this fall as a hydro electric power station. Exhausted from traveling and our little hike we crashed early to rest up for our upcoming 20k hike. Since we are short on time we opted to do the day hike instead of the three day circuit around Tongariro. The bus picked us up at 6:20am and drove us out to where the hike begins. The fist part of the hike is up these steep steps called the devil stairs but once your at the top it dumps you at the bottom of Mt Ngauruhoe and Mt. Tongariro. Continuing on our way, some of the guys we were hiking with decided to climb the volcanic rock path up to the top of Ngauruhoe summit. Heather, Dino and myself continued walking on the path crossing the south crater, red crater and then up Tangariro summit. The view was amazing. We were able to see so much with the weather being so perfect. Once we descended down the summit, we stopped for our tomato and avocado sandwich lunch break. After refueling we passed the emerald lakes, central crater, blue lake, north crater and then proceeded along the never ending path to the finish point. The first half of the crossing was amazing and we saw so much, but the last half was long with switch backs down the mountain side and through the forest. I thought the end would never come but at last it did were we meet up with the rest of the gang and waited for the bus back to town. We made it back to our hostel, but since we were taking the overnight bus to Wellington, we had checked out and in essence were homeless for the evening. The hostel offered to let us use the showers for $10, but to save money we decided we would head back to the spot where the thermal water flowed into the river to bath. It ended up being a party with our new hiking friends, Grant, Carle, Ben and Dino. We all enjoyed soaking our sore muscles in the hot water with beers and music provided by Ben and Grant. It was the perfect end to a long day of hiking! After our party at the river, we went out for dinner and drinks to pass the time till our 1 am bus came and picked us up to take us to Wellington.
Last stop in the north island, Wellington, to visit our dear friend Craig whom we traveled with in Central America for a month. When we arrived we were tired yet excited to see Craig. He picked us up and took us in for the next few days. The kind man that Craig is, he drove us to two view points- Mt. Victoria, where we saw the panoramic views of the harbor, and the Carter Observatory, which has a great view of the city and its hills. We also visited the Botanic Gardens and took in all the wonderful smells of the roses. Oh so beautiful with its various colors and what delicious smells they each had. We loved it.
Craig is a sailor and works as a sailing instructor. On Fridays evenings they have sailing races and Craig happened to be taking out his current class, so he invited us on the boat to tag along. Unfortunately, many hours into the race, the race was sadly canceled do to no wind...bummer. Craig had to dock the boat at a different dock so he asked us to drive the car over. Nervous yet excited to drive I got to experience what it feels like to drive on the left hand side of the road. Lets just say it feels strange and a bit scary, but no worries we made it safely and with no near crashes.
For our second day in Wellington, Craig and his dad dropped us off at the New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Museum, while they went sailing. The Museum was great for many reasons- first, it was free, but it also had interactive exhibits on NZ land, history and culture. It was very child friendly which is probably why we liked it, it kept us entertained. Later Craig took us off roading along the beautiful beach coast which was fun yet a bit car sickening. The coast was amazing with secluded beaches with bright turquoise water that was so clear you could see the bottom in parts!
To end our time in the north we sat down with Craig's family and enjoyed a delicious family dinner. Oh how wonderful it is to be in a house verses a hostel. Well that was our quick trip through the north...now we are just a ferry boat away from the south.

Inka Trail to Machu Picchu...

After leaving Huancayo, Tino, and the kids, we set off for our next adventure-hiking Machu Picchu! We took the bus back to Lima, where we were determined to keep ourselves busy until our flight left at 5 am the next morning, without getting a hostel! We found a hostel that was kind enough to store our belongings and we managed to entertain ourselves until we headed to the airport at 3:30 the next morning! On the flight to Cusco, Toriann began to feel sick and by the time we had settled into our hostel, she had full blown stomach flu. This was more than concerning as we were about to set off on a 4 day hiking trip!! But, after some rest, meds and TLC, the next morning Toriann was feeling good enough, thankfully, to pack and start the Inca Trail!!
And so, we were off. We met our guides, Juan Carlos and John Carlos, our 10 porters, and the rest of our group-2 Canadians and 5 Slovenians at 6:30am and bused to Piskacucho. We hiked about 1 1/2 hr until we stopped for lunch, where I began to feel sick...uhhh. But luckily it wasn't our toughest day and we both made it to our camp site for the night at Wayllabamba. The porters are amazing, they not only carried all the gear, they also went ahead and set up camp, cooked the meals, and then cleaned up. The average career of a porter only lasts 2 years because it is such strenuous work, but the oldest known porter is 77!!
The second morning we woke up at 5am and forced down breakfast because we were heading into our hardest day of hiking. We hiked from 7 am to 2 pm straight up the trail to the Dead Woman's Pass, 12,000 fasl. It was incredible...the scenery breathtaking! They told us, take your time, dont go too fast, and fast is definitely not how I would describe how we made it up...we would go for about 2 minutes before we had to stop and take a break. But, we made it to the top of the pass, had a bag of skittles to celebrate and then prepared for the next 2 hours. The last 2.5 kms were down winding steep steps across the valley into our 2nd camp. To celebrate completing the hardest day we had popcorn at tea time! (Other than the popcorn, the food on our whole trek was below average!)
The third day was the longest, 15 km, but easier and more interesting than the 2nd day. We stopped at several ruin sites along the way and Juan Carlos was a wealth of information regarding the Inca buildings. The final camp site was buzzing when we arrived, full of tired, but excited hikers to be so close to MP...and also for the showers and beers!! We got the chance to clean up and relax a bit (still not eat much!) before sleeping a bit before getting up at 4 am to walk the last 2 hours before reaching MP. The last morning was a race! Noone wanted to be passed, and although it was only an hour to reach the Sun Gate, we worked up a sweat. Our first view of MP was quick, before the clouds covered it completely. But as we hiked down from the Sun Gate, the clouds lifted, the sun appeared, and we saw MP! The ruins are ridiculous, the best we have seen of the many ruins site we have visited, and are 80% original. After taking our pictures off the famous viewpoint rock, Juan Carlos gave us a 1 1/2 tour.
After the tour, the group was meeting in Aquas Calientes town to have lunch and visit the therapeutic hot springs. Our options to get there were either, one, take a $7 bus or two, walk another hour and twenty minutes down steep steps. Toriann and I, being on a budget, somehow made it down the steps to the town and arrived after the rest of the group had just finished eating lunch. But we had lunch, did the hot springs, and finally, got on the train to return to Cusco. Needless to say, when we arrived back at our hostel, we were wiped.
We packed, slept, and got up early the next morning to fly back to Lima! We spent the next day in Lima, seeing the sights, enjoying the city until our flight left for Buenos Aires at 12am. We then had a red eye flight to Buenos Aires and spent the next 15 hours in the airport, still exhausted from sickness, hiking and traveling. But at last, we boarded our last flight to get to Auckland, New Zealand-only 13.4 hours to go! The flight actually went by fairly fast, which was amazing, because Argentina Airlines was HORRIBLE. They only played 1 movie and fed us 2 very small meals...crazy.
It is hard to believe that we are saying good bye to Latin America. It has been a remarkable first 3 months of our trip. We have met amazing people, done and seen great things, and learned so much, about the culture, the people, and about ourselves.
Love, having no geography, knows no boundaries.
-Truman Capote