The slog up to Mueller Hut

On New Year's Day we woke up to glorious sunshine again and after an early breakfast drove to Mount Cook (also known as Aoraki) mountain village (see photo) to check the weather at the Visitors' Centre. The next two days forecast really good weather. We started the trail up to the Mueller Hut, which takes you up to the main ridge above Mueller Glacier. It takes 3.5 hours to get to and walkers can overnight and walk back down the following day. The first stage of the walk is hard going, with a lot of large steps cut into the rock and I found it quite tough, especially since I had not done much exercise for the last 6 weeks and the sun beating down was fierce. At the halfway point at Selwyn Tarns, we had a wonderful view of the Mueller Glacier, the Hooker Glacier, Mount Cook and the surrounding peaks of the Main Divide (see photo).

There are over 140 peaks over 2000m high in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, which lies in the Mackenzie Basin. Mount Cook is the highest at 3754m and is where the late Sir Edmund Hillary developed his climbing skills. The Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is a World Heritage site with over 70,000 hectares of alpine scenery. The Mackenzie is also home to the Tasman Glacier, the longest in the southern hemisphere (although we did not get views of this).

On the second part of the trail there are no large steps but a lot of loose rock and scree and we had to make the final ascent to the ridge through melting snow. By this point most of the group had abandoned the walk due to exhaustion. I made it up to the ridge where there were views of a glacier at another mountain (Mount Stewart (see photo)) but as we were short for time and I couldn't face the 20 or so minute scramble to the mountain hut, I decided to head back down. A good job really, as I really suffered with the steps downhill and my legs felt like jelly! I also felt quite rough, as we had marched up the mountain with not many stops (including food stops). It was a really tough first day walk, but it is known as New Zealand's steepest hiking trail and it is quite common to have bad weather in that area, so the Rimu trip usually does more sedate walks.

Some of the group who headed back down earlier went to the cafe at Mount Cook village and saw a number of people and police milling around. About 9.30am in the day, a female climber was roped to her guide, some ice fell and knocked the guide down the mountain. He was airlifted to hospital but died of his injuries. I think he was a well known local guide. The area around Mount Cook is notorious for accidents. I don't think I will ever have the guts to do any mountain climbing for the simple reason that you never know how what the conditions will be.

We had another night at Braemar Station (see photo) and salmon for dinner which our guides bought from the local fish farm. It was delicious.

Happy New Year!

I am currently in Queenstown half way through my trip, as this is the only opportunity I have had to update my blog (pictures to follow). Well, the activities have been occuring thick and fast! I arrived at the Holiday Inn in Christchurch in the morning of 31 December to meet with the rest of my group for the Rimu trip, which is run by Active New Zealand. I managed to find the rest of my group, but no guide. Active NZ run the Rimu trip from Northbound to Southbound and vice versa. I was on the Southbound trip and thank my lucky stars that I wasn't on the Northbound one, as it was full older couples. I pity the girl who looked panic stricken when she realised she was in their group and not ours. There are 12 of us - two American couples, an American guy and 12 girls. Our guides did finally arrive - Barry, who is from England and Holly, who is a Kiwi.

We set off on our drive to Lake Pukaki, which is near Mount Cook. The weather was a bit miserable leaving Christchurch but it got even worse the further south we went. We stopped for lunch at a place called Peel Forest in inland Canterbury. There is a rich variety of native bush and bird life and a few tracks to explore. The highlight is the 15 minute long Big Tree Walk, and you guessed it, there are lots of rather big trees. The signs say "If you think this is big, carry on." and you then come to the biggest, which is 60 metres high and its trunk is about 5 metres wide (see photo).

We carried onto to Geraldine, a farming town which is apparently full of old grannies doing their knitting. I didn't dare pipe up and say that I had taken it up last year, as well as sewing. After a short stop, the drive continued to Lake Tekapo (see photo), which is very blue and in a stunning location surrounded by lots of mountains. Apparently the blueness of the water is caused by rock dust. Situated 710m above sea level, the air around Lake Tekapo is reputed to be the clearest air in the southern hemisphere. Hydroelectric power is generated from the waters of the lake. There is also a picturesque church (The Church of the Good Shepherd) which overlooks the lake.

I had managed to have my usual kip after leaving Geraldine and when I arrived in Lake Tekapo, it had suddenly become sunny with very blue skies. Hooray! Onwards to Braemar Station ("station" being the NZ word for a big ranch), on the shores of Lake Pukaki (another cobolt blue lake) and which would be our lodge for the night. It is owned by Duncan and Carol McKenzie (whose lovely gardens we happened to stroll through without asking!), is a mere 60,000 acres with about 6000 sheep. It is not a 5 star hotel, but the views of Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook (see photos) in the distance are fantastic. As the weather was perfect, we had unobstructed views. Dinner was a barby and we spent New Year's Eve drinking wine by the camp fire under millions of stars. What a great way to spend it and Happy New Year to you all!

Rangiora Zoo

The animals at Rangiora Zoo (ie Darren and Shane's) have a lot of character, so deserve to have some photos posted on my blog - Arku the parrot, Bart the cat, Holly and Benson, Mindy the peahen and one of the many ducks.

All quiet on the NZ front

It has been a quiet few days here in Rangiora, so as you can see the blog has been a bit neglected. On Boxing Day, Shane took us to a shopping mall and as the sales had started, it was absolutely heaving. I have been having cravings for a decent curry and was ecstatic to see that there was a curry counter at the food court in the mall. It tasted ok but wasn't hot and spicy enough. Unfortunately the chicken tikka masala was a bright red colour and I dread to think how many E numbers there were in it. I am surprised I wasn't climbing the walls! Luckily we only suffered one more day of eating the turkey, although I wasn't able to persuade my mum to make turkey curry (boo hoo - she is not a big curry fan). I know I keep going on about getting my curry fix, but when you are used to eating it often (and with a triple dose of chillis when Julie and I make it), you really get withdrawal symptoms. Thailand here we come.

On 27th December, Darren drove us to Akaroa in Banks Peninsula. Banks Peninsula was formed following violent eruptions of two volcanoes. The twin craters nurse the picturesque harbours of both Akaroa and Lyttleton (which we saw from the top of Christchurch gondola on Christmas Eve). The Ngai Tahu tribe had already discovered the charm of the peninsula before Captain Cook sighted it in 1770 when he initially mistook it for an island. From the mid 1830s onwards, settlers arrived from both British and French colonies, which influence is still prevalent today.

Akaroa is 84km south east of Christchurch and perched on the edge of a deep volcanic harbour. The journey takes 1.5 hours and includes some spectacular views (see photo of me, my mum and dad). Akaroa has British, French and Maori heritage and is considered one of Canterbury's first established townships. Visitors can swim with rare Hector's dolphins or see white flippered penguins or New Zealand's fur seal colony. Did we partake in any of these cultural delights? No, of course not - after a picnic by the beach, we went shopping instead and ended up in the pearl shop.

Akaroa Blue Pearl is Akaroa's leading manufacturers of handmade, high quality, blue pearl jewellery. Blue pearls are a mabe pearl, cultured in the New Zealand Abalone Shell (Haliotis Iris, which is also commonly known in New Zealand as Paua). Rather than being the traditional whole pearl shape, it is a hemispherical flat back pearl - an ideal shape for pendants, earrings and brooches. True to form I did buy myself a pearl but looking at the best quality pearls first meant that everything else paled into significance. Darren managed to persuade me to buy the most expensive of the three I had my eye on (ie twice the price of the one I wanted to buy), on the basis that I would kick myself if I didn't. That has completely blown the budget, as I bought a loose pearl and will have it set in Dubai (with diamonds of course!) and I am still in shock. Thanks Darren - but it is lovely. Baked beans on toast for the rest of the trip I think.

Mum and dad flew back to Sydney for New Year on 28th December and now the real partying has started (only joking!). I have become quite fond of all the animals chez Darren and Shane. I even discovered another aviary with more birds and parrots which I hadn't noticed before, as it was tucked away in some corner of the garden. Holly and Benson (the long-haired dachshunds)are really cute, so much so that Darren bought them some santa outfits in the sale (see photo). They are sprightly young things but as soon as the outfits were on, they didn't move an inch, probably because they were totally shell shocked by wearing a straight jacket. Bart the cat has also taken a liking to me and he is sitting by the computer as I type this blog. He also has a habit of coming to visit you whilst you are on the loo but he has stopped giving me frights in the night. Arku the parrot is two years old and likes lots of attention. He will squawk and shriek when you are not in the room and if he knows you are in the kitchen he will say "Hello" and "What're you doing." They are great animals.

Yesterday I decided to check out the sales in Christchurch and it was a really pleasant experience, as there was hardly anyone in town. There were some good bargains to be had.

Today (Sunday 30th) we drove to Manuka Bay and Gore Bay (see photo of me), which is 115km north east of Christchurch and not far from two great fishing rivers, the Waiau and the Hurunui. Known as one of the safest beaches to surf, Gore Bay offers wild pounding surf at one end of the spectrum and peaceful streams amongst pockets of native forest at the other. On the road just above Gore Bay, you also have views of the Cathedral Rocks, which are formed of limestone (see photo). I also got to experience Shane's white knuckle ride driving - 140km down the highway overtaking all those Sunday drivers - not for the faint hearted and I am sure a I have gained a few extra grey hairs! We have seen some lovely properties for sale in that area, with stunning views over the sea. Maybe I should use the proceeds of the sale of my flat to buy a property and Vernon and I can retire to the wip wops. I think Darren and Shane like the idea of living in a granny flat in the country.

Tomorrow I am going on a two week adventure trip around the South Island. First stop is a sheep station near Mount Cook and on New Year's Day we will be taking a walk up near Mount Cook. Apparently it is quite a tough day, which will be interesting, as I have been practically sitting on my backside for the last two weeks. The weather was really nice today (it got up to the 20s!) but a cold front is coming in, so I have made sure that I have plenty of thermals. I am not sure how much internet access will be available when I am away, so if I do not update the blog, do not panic! I am probably having a really good time somewhere.

As I will be the first of anyone to celebrate New Year (albeit with a few sheep), I will wish you all a Happy New Year and see you in 2008.

Christmas near Christchurch

We arrived in Christchurch on Monday 24th December to stay with my cousin Darren and his partner Shane, who live in Rangiora, which is in North Canterbury and about 30 minutes drive away from Christchurch. During the afternoon we went up Christchurch cable car, which gives you spectacular views over the city (see photo). Darren and Shane's place is like being on a farm, with numerous lovebirds and a parrot in the house, two sausage dogs (Holly and Benson), another dog (Karma) (see photo), a cat (Bart) and various white doves, ducks and peacocks which roam around in the garden. Most of the animals seem to get on with each other. Last night I was up late updating my blog but I could hear the dogs barking a few times and thought I heard the wooden floorboards creaking outside in the dead of night. My imagination was running away with me as usual. Bart is about 20 years old and as black as the ace of spades - I was sleeping on the sofa and could hear him purring away and when I turned to look at where he was, he was staring me out, inches away from my face. It frightened the life of out of me.

Today (Christmas Day) we cracked open the sparkling wine at about 10.30am and I felt pretty sozzled by about lunchtime (and we hadn't even had the turkey by that point). I played boules in the garden for the first time ever and ended up being the Handforth champion - I think the booze must have helped but then again, much to Vernon's annoyance, I have always been a bit of a pool hustler, so my skill must have rubbed off! The turkey was delicious (as were the cold turkey sandwiches we had later) and Shane made the biggest trifle I have ever seen. It was delicious but we all felt so stuffed from pigging out earlier in the day.

Hope you all have a great Christmas and enjoy the turkey. We missed the Queen's speech earlier, which is probably just as well, as I won't be able to spoil it for you. Enjoy!

Hawkes Bay Wine Country

Hawkes Bay is New Zealand's leading food and wine region and apparently has some of the best weather in New Zealand with about 2200 hours of sunshine. Napier and Hastings were destroyed by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale in 1931, which resulted in the towns being completely demolished and rebuilt in Art Deco styles. There are also more than 40 wineries in the region, which is famous for the Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc grapes. We spent Friday afternoon visiting three wineries - Mission Estate (see photo), Trinity Hill and Craggy Range, which produce some great wines. I haven't been a fan of white wine for a long time but I found a lot of the wine easily drinkable (but then I am a bit of an alcoholic!). The wineries were a lot friendlier than the ones in Hunter Valley - possibly because they don't get as many tourists but the people serving us were a lot more laid back With the international luggage restrictions, however, it does mean that we can't take any wine back in our hand luggage, so we made up for it by tasting plenty of wines.

After visiting the wineries, we drove up to Te Mata, which is a mountain lookout in the Havelock North part of Hastings and there are spectacular views over Napier and Hastings and the Ngaruroro River which runs through Napier and Hastings (see photo).

The scenery in and around Hawkes Bay is very picturesque and varied, with lots of hills, shrubs and greenery but it lies on an earthquake fault. I had wondered to myself when the next big earthquake would be due in the region but I hadn't known by that point that at about 9pm on Thursday evening, Gisbourne, which is about 220km up the coast, had suffered an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter Scale. The news said that the shudders could be felt miles away, even in Christchurch but we were busy drinking the local glug and thawing our bones out in the pub in "Taumata..........etc etc etc" to even notice. Good job we weren't in the area when it happened - time for a quick exit!

I spent Saturday (22nd), the day of my 35th birthday, in the car driving from Napier to Wellington to catch the Interislander ferry to Picton on the South Island. The drive was pretty uneventful, but we were lucky enough to have lunch at what is allegedly New Zealand's best deli in Masterton - the Wild Oats deli. There was a much better variety of food than what we have had in other cafes, but nothing like the sort of delicacies you can find in delis in Europe. My brother keeps raving about steak and cheese pies, so we finally tried one here - not bad but not sure why it is so special. I am not surprised if I turn into a pie with the number I have eaten this week in New Zealand - what happened to good old healthy salads!

We didn't see much of Wellington before catching the ferry apart from having a coffee by the marina (and the view from the harbour is nice) but the main shopping street in the Cuba district is a bit of a dump and reminds me of Market Street in the Arndale Centre of Manchester. Anyone who has been there will know what I am talking about! We checked into our hotel just before midnight in Blenheim in the Marlborough area, which again is wine country with over 110 wineries.

When we woke up on Sunday morning, Blenheim was basking in sunshine - hooray! Blenheim gets around 2400 hours of sunshine a year and the first thing you notice about the Marlborough region is how dry the landscape is compared to the North Island. I much prefer the landscape in the South Island, with the mountains towering around you. Tramping here we come.

Our final stay on Sunday was in the thermal town of Hanmer Springs, which is about 90 minutes drive from Christchurch (see mum and dad in the photo above). The Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa in the town attracts visitors seeking the benefits of its natural mineral waters, which are drawn from a bore adjacent to the complex. It is surrounded by forests and mountains and the pools have nine open-air thermal pools and three sulphur pools (which really do stink). The pools range in temperature from 33-42° Celsius, which is supposedly perfect for soothing away aches and pains - I can testify to that, as the niggle in the back of my knee which I have had for a while seemed to get better. In desperate need of some pampering, my mum and I had a facial and a massage and then a belated birthday dinner. Lovely jubbly!

A Few Maori Stories

The Maori guide at the Te Puia Maori Cultural Centre in Rotorua told us how New Zealanders became to be known as Kiwis. He explained that New Zealanders were sent to war (during the first or second world war - I can't remember) with Kiwi shoe polish and had a reputation for having the shinest boots on the front. The other allied soldiers would barter for the shoe polish in exchange for cigarettes and hence, the NZ soldiers became known as "Kiwis". Kiwi polish was actually invented by a Scotsman married to a New Zealander and when she died, he named the shoe polish "Kiwi" after her. Whether this is true or not, who knows, but it sounds like a good story anyway.

The Maoris tell another story ("Te Ika A Maui") as to how New Zealand was discovered. Maui was half man and half god and knew many magic spells and because of this, he was known as Maui Nukurau (the Trickster). Maui's brothers planned a fishing trip without him, so he hid under the floorboards of their canoe. When the brothers paddled out to deep water, they discovered Maui under the floor boards, who laughed and boasted at how he had unwitted them. Angry at Maui's sudden appearance, they immediately decided to turn back. Maui encouraged them to keep paddling, saying he knew of a place where they would fill their nets. The brothers, tempted by the promise of good fishing, followed Maui's advice and were astonished at the size of their catch.

Maui waited until his brothers wanted to return home before he told he wanted to fish. An argument ensued and when the brothers agreed to let Maui fish but wihout bait, Maui smeered his own blood on his jawbone hook and threw it as far as he could. When the canoe rocked, Maui knew he had caught a very big fish, pulled and pulled, the sea was in turmoil and Maui tugged until the fish broke the surface. Maui had not caught a fish but had fished land. Realising what he had done, Maui said to his brothers "I must go and make peace with the gods because I think they are angry with me." As soon as he had gone, the brothers started to argue over who should have possession of the land. The argument became fierce and soon the brothers began to slash and carve the land with their weapons. To this day those cuts and bruises of long ago can still be seen in the valleys and mountains of the North Island.

On Thursday morning (20th Dec) we drove from Rotorua to Napier, stopping at Huka Falls on the way. The Huka Falls are a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River which drains Lake Taupo. A few hundred metres upstream from the Huka Falls, the Waikato River narrows from roughly 100 metres across into a narrow canyon only 15 metres across. The volume of water flowing through often approaches 220,000 litres per second. At the top of the falls is a set of small waterfalls dropping over about 8 metres. The most impressive, final stage of the falls (pictured above) is an 11 metre drop. The drop is technically six metres (cliff beneath the water) but the water flow raises the level to 11m. Hukafalls Jet (which you can see in the picture) takes tourists within a few meters of the bottom of the final stage.

After lunch at Lake Taupo, which is the largest lake in New Zealand and lies in a caldera created following a huge volcanic eruption approximately 26,500 years ago (and according to geological records, the volcano has erupted 28 times in the last 27,000 years), we headed to our hotel in Napier for a quick check in, and then continued the drive further south to visit my dad's brother and his wife who live near Waipukerau, which is about 100km from Napier. It is truly in the wip wops - they have a lovely house which they have spent the last few years renovating and an amazing garden but unfortunately, they live next door to the neighbour from hell. He is the infamous local farmer and apart from rearing his cattle, he seems to have nothing better to do than terrorise the neighbours and let his cows and sheep run amok.

We also visited the town which has the longest name in the world (about 15 minutes away from their house) - "Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamatepokaiwhenaukitanatahu" (see photo), which is in the Guinness Book of Records. Why on earth someone would name a village with something which is unpronounceable to us ordinary mortals I don't know, but the plaque by the name explains that Tamatea was a well known chief, warrier and explorer of his time. He is the ancestor of the Ngati Kahungunu people of Porangahau and acquired many names to commemorate his prowess. Whilst passing through the inland district of Porangahau, Tamatea encountered the Ngati Hine people and had to fight them to get past. In the battle known as "Matanui", his brother was killed. Tamatea was so grieved at his loss that he stayed for some time at that place and each morning he would sit on the knoll to play a lament on his Koauau. Hence, the name indicating the hill on which Tamatea, the chief of great physical stature and renown, played a lament on his flute to the memory of his brother.

By this point the rains came in and it was really wet and miserable. We therefore sought warmth and solace at the only pub in the village and sampled the local fare - fish and chips. For some reasons the locals managed to spot us as tourists a mile off but then again, we were the only nutcases freezing our backsides off wearing shorts and T-shirts. And we thought it was currently summer in New Zealand!