Wrapping Up
Now that we’re back home and caught up on our sleep, etc. I’ll try to catch up with my journal. Apologies for the lapse. Between driving, moving from here to there, sightseeing, and drawing and painting, keeping up with the blog just became a chore. Anyway:
Meanwhile, in Australia . . .
. . . there were brush fires, and Ashley and Taylan nearly had to evacuate! The fires actually reached the park that we visited together. This trip has been touched by calamity: wildfires, earthquakes, a typhoon, a volcanic eruption, mudslides (we learned what a lahar was), murderous high temperatures in Auckland and Sydney– all of which we narrowly missed, or touched us only peripherally. Whoa!
Back to Taupo
I need to give some props to the people who run the Wharewaka Lodge in Taupo. We needed to leave at 5:30AM in order to join our group for the hike across Tongariro Crossing. Our hosts not only had breakfast ready for us, but packed us a really nice lunch! It was much appreciated, and I want to make sure I at least post that here.
The night before our trek, Susan, one of our hosts, told us about the earthquake in Napier, how it destroyed the town and remade the landscape. It raised the earth below Napier’s bay, making land that the town’s airport is now located on, and rerouted waterways. The result made the topography of this area ideal for growing wine!
January 4, 2018 — Onward to Napier and Hawkes Bay
If I have mentioned it before, then I’m saying it again: the countryside of New Zealand’s North Island is beautiful. The flora is unique, to me, and some of it, particularly the trees, are stunning. So, for me, driving through this country was really enjoyable.
After Napier’s destruction, the center of town was rebuilt in the then-popular style Art Deco. There are Art Deco tours in Napier. There are cute shops filled with Art Deco antiques and facsimiles. You can buy a flapper dress, a cloche, a zoot suit. Maybe I’m jaded, but, as we say in New York, “Rockefeller Center it isn’t.” One problem was that, while the buildings may have been Art Deco, their signage was all rectangular functional (I won’t even call it modern) and blocked your view of the buildings themselves!
I did get a kick out of the little chain of cafes called “Angkor Wat Kiwi Bakery and Cafe” and had to do a sketch of one (Sorry about my misspelling).
Where we stayed, the Breckenridge Lodge, overlooked one of the Hawkes Bay vineyards, Hawkes Ridge, if memory serves:
We tasted a local merlot and a cabernet sauvignon — very nice.
January 6, 2018 — Napier to Wellington
Wellington is picturesque, on the shore of an enormous bay. We stayed at the QT Museum: luxurious, very chic, extremely hip. It has a wonderful, very hip art collection displayed throughout its ground floor lobbies and corridors. We were put up in an “apartment.” Not our first choice, but it had a nice kitchen, sitting room, bedroom, big bathroom, and a genuine copy of a fake Chuck Close (apologies to Alan Sherman). Oh, and did I mention, hip?
Its location is perfect, as well, right across from the city’s museum. And walking about in Wellington was a real pleasure. The bayside is easy and fun to walk: people strolling, pedaling in multi-cycles, diving off the docks. The museum is beautiful. We saw mostly Maori art and naturalist displays, but there was an exhibit dedicated to the battle of Gallipoli. To say this exhibit was very moving doesn’t do it justice. It was overwhelming. We left in tears.
On a lighter note, I went off to tour Weta, the special-effects company that is famous for its work in the Lord of the Ring movies, Avatar, etc., etc. No real surprises there, but it was great fun.
Not so much fun was the Zealandia Night Tour, at $85(US) each, wanting to see actual live kiwi birds in their beautiful sanctuary, but found out that yes, people have seen them now and again, sometimes. But since it was raining, we didn’t. Yes, we did see some endangered birds, well, one; and some cormorants, which were on the comeback. Nice. Glow worms, we’d already seen in a mine in the North Island.
Oh, and it was a NZ$21 cab ride each way from the hotel. Just sayin’.
Monday, January 8 — The Interislander Ferry
This reminded me of ferry rides in Norway. Lots of cars and trucks pile on, crowds of people: families, backpackers, old, young, in-between. We paid a few extra bucks to avoid the crowds, and sat in a comfortable lounge, food, drink and WiFi provided. I felt guilty for not updating this, but did get a few sketches in.
Here’s a little watercolor of twilight on Coromandel:
And I finished my pen-and-watercolor of a steam-powered tour boat we saw on Lake Taupo:
We landed in Picton and, with I think a majority of the passengers, lined up to rent a car. An hour later we drove off in a really cool, red Mazda station wagon. What a pleasure to drive, after that Toyota saloon we had on North Island! It had zip, and more importantly it cornered so sweet. Important for navigating the twisty mountain roads. By the way, when the NZ road signs say 85kph turn, they mean it. When they say 35, or even 25kph (15.5mph!) turn, they mean it even more!
Blenheim
The town of Blenheim, in the Wairau Valley has big-time Sauvignon Blanc wineries. We stayed in the midst of the vineyards at the Marlborough Vintners Hotel, a collection of one-story duplexes. Reminded me of the Quest, where we stayed in Melbourne.
Tuesday, January 9
We joined a “Deluxe Guided Wine Tour By Bicycle.” I’ve been on better-run tours, where operators arrived on time, and we didn’t have to sit on our hands for an hour before bikes were provided and the tour kicked off, but once it started, it was nice: The area is flat, we rode mostly on hard packed dirt roads, so no vehicular traffic to contend with. The wineries ranged from tiny, family run enterprises to internationally known firms. We had an interesting variety of taste experiences.
The Wairau Valley is prime wine-growing territory. Land is expensive. Viticulture is expensive. It’s a popular place for tourists. Don’t expect to get away cheap.
Wednesday, January 10
Gulp! The guidebook said “Take SH1 down the coast all the way to Christchurch.” The announcement on the ferry was “State Road 1 is closed until further notice.” It seems that an overabundance of rainfall the past year and a rambunctious Pacific Ocean, not to mention the damage done by recent earthquakes, makes driving SR1 a chancy thing. Luckily it was open. Others have gone as far as a third of the way down to Christchurch only to be told to turn back, and take the far longer route through the center of the mountains of South Island. And yes, there were quite a few stretches of road that were one-lane only. Luckily the amount of traffic was such that delays, waiting for the construction worker to turn the STOP sign around to SLOW, weren’t unbearable.
We passed through a couple of popular destinations, a cafe called The Store, but we weren’t hungry, and a highly touted seaside town, Kaikoura, famous for its whale-watching expeditions and other wildlife. It was raining, and a soggy Kaikoura didn’t attract us. Maybe another time.
Christchurch
If I had to move to New Zealand, I would want to settle in Christchurch. Yes, it is still rebuilding, years after its famously devastating earthquake. You can park in an open-air lot that is clearly the basement of a building; you can shop in stores made ad-hoc from shipping containers; you can pray in the “Cardboard Cathedral.” One big construction company’s offices is a collection of shipping containers.
But it’s got a great vibe. There’s art all around. Those shipping containers are painted with whimsical colors and designs. People are upbeat. I loved it. (And yes, there are also conventional office buildings, government buildings, stores. We stayed in the George, a very nice, modern hotel.)
Friday, January 12 — On to Mount Cook.
Wow, more gorgeous scenery! Huge lakes, beautiful mountain vistas. Once we got to Mount Cook Village we stayed at Hermitage Hotel Aoraki. I thought I was in Switzerland, at this hyper-efficient, super-modern, beautiful high-rise hotel, with its jaw-dropping view from our window. On account of the weather, we only caught brief glimpses of Mount Cook itself, but the views we did have were spectacular.
I took a hike up one mountain pass, through some beautiful meadows, and the next morning, as we left for our drive to Wanaka, we took a detour and both of us climbed to a ridge overlooking a glacier and its lake, complete with iceberg. Yes, this is beautiful country.
Wanaka
The road to Wanaka leads through some dauntingly high mountain passes, then down through “Central Otago’s tawny tussock landscapes.” You can have the tawny tussocks.
Here’s a pencil sketch of Lake Wanaka, surrounded by cloud-shrouded mountains:
By this time we were travel-weary. Instead of trying local restaurants touted in our guidebook, we stopped off at supermarkets and grocery stores, buying pies (chicken, beef, lamb — really good!), and bread and cheese (New Zealand must have 100 types of blue cheese. We really enjoyed it!). The town of Wanaka, on the shore of its lake, was just a blip to me; the five-star Maple Lodge (It had some maple saplings planted in the back) made us scratch our heads: who gives out these stars?
Sunday, January 14 — Drive to Te Anau
Thank you for following my ramblings this far. Not too much to go! We’re nearing the end!
Te Anau is on the edge of Fiordland National Park (Yes, they have their own spelling system here. It’s their British roots, I think.) If you ever find yourself here, stay at the Prospect Lodge. It’s got only a couple of rooms, but the view can’t be beat. On the morning we left, we woke up early, to see the sun rise, and were treated to a double rainbow over the hills. There are some things you just can’t paint:
Milford Sound
From Te Anau we could have taken a quick single-engine plane ride over the mountains to see the fjord (Milford Sound is actually a fjord. And there, you Kiwis. That’s how it’s supposed to be spelled!). We opted for the less adventuresome bus tour. We dreaded it, but came to really enjoy it, as we were able to stop on the way to and from Milford Sound to walk through the amazing forests, and see the mountains up-close. As my fellow tourists walked through the forests, I was arrested by one old, hoary beech, and just had to draw it. Here’s the pen-and-ink drawing I did:
Our driver/guide, Michelle, was fun, informative, and made the drive very pleasant. Not to mention her making us tea and treating us to home made biscuits (cookies, for you Yanks) on the way back.
The Milford Sound cruise was fun. It reminded me of Geiranger Fjord in terms of size, and traversing the opening to the Tasman Sea, with its rollers dousing the small boat’s decks with spray, gave the cruise a measure of excitement.
Tuesday, January 16
That morning, after enjoying the view of the double rainbows and then breakfast at Prospect Lodge in Te Anau, we drove to Queenstown “The Adventure Capital of the World.” I guess we were adventured-out. We walked down to the town from our hotel, the Heritage, which is perched high on a cliff overlooking Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables. It’s a very upscale lakeside city with some cool art galleries and shops, a pedestrian shopping street. Yes, there were people on jet skis on the lake. A couple of people had rented these curious closed-roof craft that looked like sharks and zipped across the lake throwing up huge amounts of spray. Paragliders towed by motorboats. A man floating above the lake using a water-powered jetpack run off the motor of a jetski.
We enjoyed a nice lunch of pho at a little Vietnamese restaurant on the dock.
Wednesday, January 17 — Head for Home
There you have it: A quick drive to the airport. Drop off the car. Climb aboard a flight to Auckland, then an 11-hour flight to Hong Kong. Overnight in Hong Kong (thereby hangs another tale, but for another time) and catch a plane to the US. Don’t ask me times or even dates at that point. They’ve become meaningless.
January 19, 2018
Home at last! What a nice bed we have! How nice to be back with friends. Roxy even acted happy to see us!
What a trip, though. We saw so much, but we’re amazed at some of the calamities: Rock slides, mud slides, an erupting volcano, earthquakes, a typhoon, wildfires . . . did I mention the volcano? But I finally saw a gamelan up close, orangutans, . . . My head spins just trying to encompass it all.
