Last December, we went on a road trip with our friends Jeremy and Laura McBryar. You can read about our trips here: Part 1 and Part 2.
After 5 months, I’ve finally finished editing a highlight video! Now that might seem like a long time, but Peter Jackson is still editing The Hobbit part 2 and 3 and he finished filming over a year ago!
Speaking of the Hobbit, keep an eye out for Smeagol and some orcs.
Our Easter weekend was spectacular! Here in New Zealand, both the Friday before and the Monday after Easter are public holidays.We also took Thursday off, meaning we had a 5 day weekend! With all that time, we decided to do the Kepler Track.
We travelled to Te Anau with two friends we’ve made while living here, Nick and Hilde. Nick is originally from the UK and Hilde is from The Netherlands. They moved to Christchurch about 3 months before us and we met through work. Nick and I (Evan) work together at Tait.
On Wednesday night, after work, we drove 6 hours down to Queenstown. We spent our last night in civilization staying at the YHA in Queenstown. It would be our last shower and comfortable bed for 3 nights. We woke up early the next morning and drove the remaining 2 hours to Te Anau, where the hike begins.
Morgan’s excellent video of our trip:
Our first day was brilliant. We had sunny skies and a cool breeze. The first 6 km (3.8 miles) were nice and flat and went along the banks of Lake Te Anau, the largest lake in New Zealand. We then turned and began our climb up the mountain.
Although the trail was not extremely steep, we consistently moved uphill for the next 9km (about 5.5 miles). Our total elevation climb was 850 meters, which was hard work with 30 pounds on our backs! Once we got above the tree line, however, the views of Lake Te Anau and the surrounding mountains were beautiful. We reached the hut around 4:30 and which bunks we wanted to sleep in for the night.
Our team gets started
Lake Te Anau
Just above the treeline
Enjoying the view
On the Kepler track, there are 3 huts for people to stay in. Each one is limited to 40 or 50 people. The huts have twin sized bunk beds, gas stoves, and flush toilets. You bring your own cooking tools and there are no showers. So it isn’t the Ritz, but it was great to be out of the wind and we were sure happy to save the extra pounds a tent would have weighed on our shoulders!
Our first stop: Luxmore Hut
Sunrise at Mt. Luxmore
Sunrise over Lake Te Anau
Our second day was even more beautiful than the first. Although we didn’t expect it, this day was very challenging. We climbed another 600 meters and fought against 50-60mph winds. Frankly, it was epic.
The views were insane. We moved from mountain top to mountain top, and could see 360 degrees all around us. The lakes stretched out amongst the glacier shaped mountains to create spectacular panoramas.
Our first photo stop
Further Up the Mountain!
On top of Mt. Luxmore – Our highest elevation
This felt rather epic
Getting over the Saddle
More ridglines
Even more ridglines
Heading back down into the valley
To finish the day we descended a very steep slope. In fact, I counted 99 switchbacks! By the time we reached the Iris Burn hut we were exhausted. We made dinner, devoured it, and did our best to stay awake until 9pm before sleeping a solid 10 hours.
The third day was the easiest, speaking from a terrain perspective. Although it was our longest hike at 11 miles, 95% of the hike was a gentle downhill slope that followed the river.
From a, “our bodies are in pain” perspective, however, it was rather difficult. Our shoulders, hips, backs, and especially feet were screaming at us. We also had collected some excellent sandfly bites.
If you’ve never met a New Zealand sandfly, be grateful. They are like mosquitos, except their bites itch more and last longer. Despite their best efforts, we managed to press on, and even took time to enjoy the scenery.
We started by hiking an extra 2 miles (without packs) to the Iris burn falls. It was a refreshing way to start out the morning. The Iris burn hut actually had my favorite view of the trip. We were placed in the bottom of a valley surrounded by mountains that had been carved by glaciers. Standing below them is both inspiring and humbling.
Iris Burn Falls
Iris Burn Hut
The Big Slip
My favorite part of the actual hike was “The Big Slip.” In the 1980′s, a massive landslide occurred and left a rather tall cliff in addition to clearing out the trees. Therefore, it has since been called, “The Big Slip”. The mountain view around us was great.
Our final hut was called Moturau. It was positioned nicely on Lake Manapouri and surrounded, as you might expect, with mountains.
This was a big concern for us
Moturau Hut
Lake Manapouri
Looking stylish at Lake Manapouri
Our final day on the Kepler was an easy one. we only had to hike 3.5 miles more and it was nice and flat. The forests we walked through were so beautiful and, at least to me, exotic. Ferns filled the forest floor in all directions, and the beach trees were ancient. The area felt sacred in a way.
One small landmark was the Dead Marshes. If you’ve seen the Two Towers, this is where Gollum leads Frodo and Sam on their way to Mordor. We chose not to jump into the bog ourselves, but we did take a picture.
The Dead Marshes
Crossing a Bridge
The Ferns in the Forest
We finished!!!
We finished the track, took a shuttle back to our car, and then drove to Queenstown. The first mission was to eat a Fergburger, home of the best burger in New Zealand (in my opinion anyway). I enjoyed a Big Mouth burger, which had 1/2 pound of Angus beef, American streaky bacon, and a whole lot of cheese.
Our second mission was to shower – we had been 4 days in the wilderness without one! We did wash our faces in the sink (the water was freezing) and I actually went for an 8 second swim in Lake Manapouri (the water was freezing), but nothing can replace a nice hot shower. We relaxed for the afternoon with Nick and Hilde and slept rather well that night.
Since we were in Queenstown, we wanted to do something fun. Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world. We were feeling rather drained, so we didn’t go all out by bungy jumping or skydiving. We did, however, ride the gondola up to the top of a small mountain in Queenstown.
From there we had great views of the beautiful town. We also rode the luge 3 times, which was certainly a fun ride. You drive little carts down a curvy raceway. I of course won each race because I was well stocked with red turtle shells, mushroom boosts, and star power.
View of Queenstown
Queenstown, now with us
Getting started!
Preparing for the Luge
We then had a 6 hour drive back home. We stopped at Lake Pukaki and took in one of the best views of Mount Cook I’ve ever seen. Lake Pukaki is shockingly blue and the sky was so clear.
Mt. Cook and Lake Pukaki
All in all, it was an excellent adventure. While it was difficult, we are really happy we did it and are eagerly planning our next Great Walk.
Today Morgan and I ran some errands to get everything we need for the Kepler Track. On Wednesday we have a 5.5 hour drive down South, and then we’ll begin hiking on Thursday Morning.
The Kepler is one of the 9 Great Walks of New Zealand. It starts in a town called Te Anau, and is a 60km (37.3 miles) loop. On the first day, we hike for about 10 miles and will also have to make it to the top of a mountain. That means we’ll change elevation by about 1000 meters, or 3280 feet.
The Kepler
Needless to say, we’ve had to do some training! Over the past few months, we’ve done a decent bit of working out and running. We have also gone on 3 beautiful walks to test out our new hiking boots and practice going up hills.
The first walk was the Temple Basin trek in Arthur’s Pass. It was about a 3 hour round trip and had a pretty steep incline. The ground was pretty loose, which made it difficult, but we made it to the top and had a great view (click any image to enlarge):
Temple Basin Panorama
The View from Temple Basin
Our second walk was a bit easier. We went on the newly renovated Godley Head walk along the cost. It was a fairly cloudy day, but the waves were hitting the cliffs pretty hard, which was cool. We walked for about two hours along the coast and turned around when we reached some gun turrets used for protection during World War 2. Probably our favorite walk that is local to Christchurch.
Godley Head Panorama
Morgan soaks in the view
For our third walk we drove back to Arthur’s Pass. There we had a steep climb! We went up to the top of Avalanche Peak. Overall, we changed climbed over 1,000 meters to reach the top. There were no flat parts, only steep and up. We did take a break to eat lunch, however, so that was nice.
And of course, the view was spectacular. I don’t get to the top of a mountain very often, but I think I might start to make a habit of it. The 360 degree views are just spectacular, and there is a great sense of accomplishment when you reach the top. I highly recommend the experience.
The beginning – it went up
Pressing forward above the tree line
At the top! With Crow Glacier in the background
Feeling Accomplished and proud to support the Braves
Morgan looking awesome
We can’t wait to do the Kepler track! Will have some incredible pictures (supposing we don’t walk in the rain for 3.5 days!) and I look forward to conquering some more mountains!
Yesterday marked the 2 year anniversary since the destructive Christchurch earthquake. There were flowers all over the city (many of them in the cones marking road work) and people at work shared stories about where they were when it struck.
The earthquake killed 185 people and injured over 5,000. Billions of dollars have been spent repairing the city, but there is still much to do. This town, however, has not given up. Things are slowly being mended, and it has been over 1 year since any destructive earthquakes have struck.
We still get the occasional aftershocks, but they are smaller and shorter. While many people fear another big one, no one really knows for sure. But we pray often for the city, that it will be rebuilt quickly and that God will not only heal the land, but heal people’s hearts here too.
In honor of the 2 year anniversary, we participated in two runs hosted in town over the last two weekends to raise money for the Canterbury Earthquake Children’s trust. The trust supports children who lost parents in the earthquake.
The first run was an 8km (5 miles) “Colour Run” and the second a 12km (7.5 miles) “Run to Remember.” Both runs were fun and great ways to support a good cause.
The Colour Run took place in Hagley Park. Organizers threw colored powder at us every kilometer, so we looked pretty interesting after the race. We expected the color to wash right off, but the pink proved difficult. It took 3 showers with soap, face wash, and makeup remover before I could go into work without looking like I had a giant rash on my forehead!
Before the Race
The end of the Colour Run
A little too much makeup…
Victory!
Today’s run was in a beautiful location. We started in Victoria Park, ran up to the top of the Port Hills, and finished at Hanson Park at the bottom of the Port Hills. We had stunning views of Christchurch and the Pacific Ocean to our left, and views of Lyttelton Harbour on the right. It was hard heading up hill, but going down hill was pretty nice!
Tait (Evan’s work) sponsored us, so I got a free hat. My first athletic sponsorship!
At least one of us was excited to start
View to the Left
View to the Right
A Brief Pause to Take in the View
Our Nike+ Run Map
It was encouraging to see how many people turned up at each run. Organizers were hoping for 500 people at today’s race (A Run To Remember), and there were over 2,000! People are ready to move forward and there is a growing hope for the future. Keep the city and its people in your prayers!
On Saturday we went on an incredible day trip. It ranks among my top 3 New Zealand experiences thus far. We woke up early and left at 6:00AM. We had a 2 hour drive up the coast to the city of Kaikoura, which is world famous for its rich marine life. There are plenty of whales, seals, albatrosses, and dolphins.
We had booked a dolphin encounter, and I was stoked. Swimming with dolphins was a life ambition of mine, and I was pretty pumped to be swimming with them in the wild. After check-in, we suited up into some serious wet suits. The water is quite cold, but these wet suits kept us very warm, which was pretty nice for those of us who are used to Gulf of Mexico water temperatures.
Our stylish wetsuits
Before shipping out, they warned us that the water had become very choppy in the last hour or two. The sea was so rough they said they may have to cancel. Anyone who wanted out had the chance, but we had come too close to turn back. Then came another warning: Orcas had been spotted on the coast. Orcas are more commonly known as Killer Whales, and they are a natural predator to the Dusky Dolphins we were going to swim with. Our guides said they may scare off the dolphins, but we decided to go out and see if we could find them anyway.
We hopped on our boat and headed out. Their warnings about the choppiness were not exaggerated The sea was angry that day my friends. Swells were often 9-12 feet tall and our boat was rocking.
After a few minutes of travel, all our guides got really excited. “We’ve spotted the orcas!” We put our dolphin hunt on hold and stopped to observe the killer whales. Coincidentally, randomly seeing whales is also on my bucket list. So this was pretty convenient and awesome! For those of you who will tell me that killer whales are not technically whales, keep your spurious biological views to yourself!
Free Willy!
Goodbye friend
We got a few pretty amazing photos of them and attempted to get some decent video, but like I said, the sea was angry and my camerawork was pretty shaky. After 30-40 minutes, we continued on our journey, hoping to find dolphins.
We found some!
Now, I’ve never been seasick in my life. But after rocking up and down for so long, the fun roller coaster sensation was beginning to turn on me. As we moved closer to the dolphins, I wasn’t feeling too great. I figured hopping in the water would help, and I was right. I completely forget about sea sickness when we finally found dolphins and began swimming with them.
It was spectacular.
These were wild dolphins and the tour company does not feed them. They travel in pods between 100-1,000 dolphins and we simply go out and find them. As our guides said, “Don’t expect the dolphins to entertain you, because you are supposed to be their entertainment.” Dolphins love noise, and so they encouraged us to click, sing, hum, and do whatever else we could to get their attention. I of course, chose to sing the Braves Tomahawk chop for them, and they loved it. They swam so close to us, within touching distance. We were told not to touch them, however, because this would spook them, but we totally could have reached them if we tried.
To get a better idea of what swimming was like, check out the epic video below, complete with the only possible music choice for killer whales and dolphin swimming:
As soon as we got back on the boat (which was rocking even worse now from the waves) my seasickness returned with a vengeance. I hate throwing up with everything in me, and so I fought it hard. But the ride back was too long and too bumpy, and so I joined a new bucket list. Yep, I spewed right into one of the convenient barf buckets on board. The crew was super friendly through this time, they even took my bucket and cleaned it out to give me a fresh one.
Well, I guess there is a first for everything! Despite my unfortunate illness, the whole experience was totally worth it. We would both definitely do it again (although I’ll be investing in some seasickness meds next time) and had a great time.
Once we got back on land and I hugged a stable tree, we wandered around town and ate lunch at a local cafe. Kaikoura has a very popular walk along their peninsula, and so we drove out there and spent a couple hours hiking along the shore and up on the cliffs.
The area is breathtaking. 300 foot cliffs rise right above the ocean and have such intricate shapes and unique colors. Once you move up off the shore and on top of the cliffs, you have a great view of the North bay and the mountains that rise up above Kaikoura. It is truly spectacular to see the ocean and 8,000 foot high mountains so close together.
Panorama!
‘ 
There are also plenty of New Zealand fur seals hanging around the Peninsula walk. We said hey to a few of them and took some pictures. They are rather territorial on land, so you cannot get too close to them. Morgan, of course, still got as close as she could and one even growled at her. But then again, another seal waved at her so maybe she broke through to them somehow in the end.
The Growl
This Fur Seal waved hey to Everyone back home
After our walk, we had a seafood dinner right off the beach at a local shack and started our drive home. It was a full and tiring day, but not one we shall forget for years to come.
We departed Lake Matheson and began our drive to Queenstown. This trip is my favorite drive in the world. In 3 hours, we drive along the coast, into the mountains, and alongside 3 massive alpine lakes. Every turn has something new, and it is gorgeous the whole way.
Knight’s Point
Into the Mountains we go!
New Zealand Traffic Jam
We had a Picnic on Lake Wanaka
Lake Wanaka
Lake Hawea Panorama
More of Lake Hawea
We made a brief pitstop in the town of Wanaka. It is a lovely town, unsurprisingly placed on Lake Wanaka. They have an interesting little place called Puzzling World. We dropped by and took a few photos outside, but decided not to pay and go through their “attraction.” We’ve heard it is really cool, but there were a billion people there so we opted to miss the crowd. From Wanaka, we drove down to Queenstown.
The Leaning Tower of Wanaka
Puzzling World’s Roman Toilets
Heading down into Queenstown
We arrived into Queenstown with the afternoon ready to be enjoyed. There is a gondola you can ride to the top of a large hill/mountain that has a great view of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. I (Evan) decided it would be more fun to walk to the top of the mountain (and cheaper) so I tricked everyone into joining me. It was a long and steep climb, but I enjoyed it. Not sure anyone else did, but the view at the top was spectacular! And I find that scenic views are best enjoyed when you’ve made the climb to reach them.
The view from the top of the Gondola over Lake Wakatipu
Jeremy and Laura above Queenstown
The City of Queenstown
Since we were running out of time, we actually rode the Gondola down the mountain. We then went to the famous Fergburger for dinner. It was the first burger I had eaten since arriving to New Zealand, so naturally I went for the “Big Al” which contained 1/2 pound of beef, plus bacon and cheese. It was a delight. All the burgers were large, as demonstrated by Laura:
The Fergburger on the shores of Lake Wakatipu
Sunset over Lake Wakatipu
We spent the rest of the night right on the shores of the lake. There are a few shops, restaurants, and bars there and so it was a pretty happening place full of people. After checking out a couple different places, we grabbed a swing and just hung out until the sun set over the mountains. It was an excellent and relaxing evening after all our driving and hiking.
Oh baby, this is my favorite place to visit in the world! The drive rivals yesterday’s, but it is a bit longer. The photos do not do it justice, when you are in Fiordland you feel like you’re in a make believe world.
A fiord occurs when glaciers cut through mountains into the ocean. The ocean flows in and fills up the remaining valley. Our final destination was Milford Sound; however, it was actually misnamed over 100 years ago. Technically, it should be called Milford Fiord. A Sound occurs when a river cuts through mountains into the ocean. But, for whatever reason, the name Milford Sound stuck and now tour guides have an extra interesting fact to share.
The final 30 minutes of the drive into Milford Sound were unreal. As you may remember from our description of Fox, glaciers cut through mountains like they’re butter. When glaciers melt, they leave deep and steep valleys. These are covered with waterfalls that flow down all the way to the ocean.
Some falls in Fiordland. They are easily over 500 feet tall.
Driving down the valley
One of the massive cliffs left by glaciers
In order to tour Milford Sound, you hop on a boat. They go all the way out to the Tasman Sea, passing through the Fiord the whole way. It is a breathtaking experience. Quite literally, you are surrounded by 4,000-6,000 foot tall walls. There are also 4 permanent waterfalls in Milford Sound, but when it rains over 300 waterfalls flow into the fiord. It rains about 200 days out of the year in Milford, so your chances of seeing countless waterfalls are pretty good.
We were there on a cloudy day, but it didn’t rain enough to experience hundreds of falls. Still, it was stunning. There is a certain reverence and respect that you can’t shake in Milford Sound. Even though we spent 3.5 hours driving there each way, it was totally worth it!
Welcome to Milford Sound
The Famous Mitre Peak
Some new friends
We’re on a boat!
A permanent waterfall in Milford Sound
We drove back the same way we came, but took a couple of pit stops to take some pictures. I even did a bit of fly fishing, but to no avail (I only had 20 minutes…)
Fly Fishing in Fiordland
Wildflowers in Fiordland
The next morning, we went jet boat riding! A jet boat is, essentially, a jet ski built for 20 people. It only needs 2 inches of water to run, goes around 80km/h, and loves to do 360 degree spins. It was a unique and beautiful way to see the area around Queenstown. We went down the Kuwarau river, which is home to the world’s first bungee jump and the Pillars of the King in Lord of the Rings.
All aboard!
The Thunder River Jet Boat Ride
After Jet Boating, Morgan and I hiked to the top of Queenstown hill while Jeremy and Laura went shopping around town. This was another large uphill climb. We had an elevation change of around 500 meters, but the view from the top was the best we’ve seen in Queenstown. You can see in every direction, and have a much broader view of the Lake Wakatipu. It was probably my favorite hike of the trip!
The Top of Queenstown Hill
Woohoo! Over Lake Wakatipu!
That night we drove to our final hotel, in Omarama. It is a small little town, just outside of Twizel where we had booked a Lord of the Rings tour. On our way in to Twizel, we stopped at the very unique Clay Cliffs.
The Clay Cliffs
More Clay Cliffs
The Clay Cliffs were big…
After the Clay Cliffs we met up with a small tour company in Twizel. Our guide took us to the filming location of the Pelennor fields in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This was the location for the large battle and many scenes surrounding Gondor in Return of the King. She had a few different props and costumes, so naturally we did our best to reenact a few scenes.
Eowyn (played by Morgan) kills the Witch King (played by Evan)
Sword Fight!
Team Victory
The Guard of the Citadel
My precious… (Yes, that’s Evan)
Our final pit stop was in Lake Tekapo. It is a very scenic and famous lake, both for its unique color and excellent view of Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand. It is also home to the Church of the Good Shepherd, which is a small chapel that still has services right on the lake.
Lake Tekapo with Jeremy and Laura
Lake Tekapo with Evan and Morgan
Lake Tekapo and Mt Cook
The Church of the Good Shepherd
The view from inside the Church of the Good Shepherd
All in all, it was a pretty epic trip. Hard to believe we did it all in 6 days!!! The amazing thing is, how much more we still have to explore. Thanks for reading and we miss you!
Morgan and I took our friends, Jeremy and Laura, on a whirlwind tour of the South Island. In 6 days, we drove over 2,000km and saw some amazing things. Today I’m going to hit the highlights from the first half of our trip, and we’ll cover the second half next week.
Our Google Maps Itinerary
We began by leaving early on “Boxing Day.” Boxing Day is a public holiday that takes place on the 26th of December. I don’t really know the history of it, but it is the busiest retail day in the country as people make returns and purchase things that are on sale. Our final destination was Greymouth (Point B), a small city on the West Coast. To get there, we drove through Arthur’s Pass.
Morgan and I spent the day in Arthur’s Pass a few months ago, but the weather was much different this time! We’re enjoying a nice warm summer, so we wandered around in shorts and explored many of the same places in a different climate. There was a threat of rain all day, but it never came into fruition. There were many light and dark clouds hovering around the mountains, however, and that gave them a slightly intimidating touch of reverence.
Our first stop was at Castle Hill, the filming location for Chronicles of Narnia (no reenactments this time).
After driving for another 45 minutes, we ate lunch in Arthur’s Pass. Then we hiked up to see a massive waterfall, known as the Devil’s punchbowl.
We then went and explored a new area in Arthur’s Pass for us, the Bealey Valley. It was a short walk (just under an hour) and finished alongside a mountain stream. When you looked up river, there was an incredible mountain with dozens of waterfalls coming down it. These waterfalls eventually joined together to make the river we were relaxing next to.
From there, we drove down through the mountains into the town of Greymouth. We had little planned for Greymouth other than sleeping, but our hotel was right on the ocean and had a full kitchen. We cooked dinner and then ate it outside before driving 40 minutes up the coast to see the Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki (Point C).
No one is really sure how these rocks are shaped the way they are. It is pretty unique; they literally look like giant stacks of pancakes. During high tide, the waves crash against the rocks and there are some impressive “blowholes” where the water shoots into the sky. Unfortunately, we were there during low tide and missed the blowholes, but the good news is we arrived just in time for sunset.
Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki
Research work to determine if these are actually Pancake Rocks
Sunset over Punakaiki
One unique thing about New Zealand is that you could easily watch the sunrise over the ocean on the East Coast, drive 3-4 hours and then see the sunset that night over the West Coast. We haven’t done it yet, but it is definitely on our to do list.
We took a lot of great pictures, and received a lot of sandfly bites (case in point…buy bug spray!), but it was a very peaceful and beautiful way to end the first leg of our road trip.
We woke up in the morning with a 2-3 hour drive ahead of us from Greymouth to Fox Glacier (Point D). We checked in at 11:50AM for our first helihike! Fox Glacier is one of three glaciers in the world that actually descends into a rainforest. Although you can start from the bottom and walk up, we opted to take the helicopter towards the top so we could get a better view of the valley and hike higher on the ice.
The helicopter was a lot of fun. Neither of us had ridden in one, and the views were spectacular. Landing on the ice was interesting: the “landing pad” (aka, a patch of flat ice) was tiny. But everything went quite smoothly and we were fortunate to have great weather while on the glacier.
Heli-Hike Fox Glacier
Standing on top of a glacier is an odd experience. The guide told us that the glacier was about 150 metres deep! That meant we were standing on 492 feet of solid ice.
The Glacier is full of crevices, caves, arches, and because it was summer, tiny streams of melted water. The water is perfectly clean, which meant we could drink it straight off the glacier.
Life inside an ice cave
Filling up the water bottle with glacier water (no additional ice needed)
Standing on top of Fox
This ice cave was shaped for smaller people
Glaciers are also powerful earth-shapers. Much of the South Island was carved by glaciers, which give it the dramatic landscape it is so famous for. You can see the glacier at work as you stand on it. The edges are covered in rock and dirt that has been shaved off the valley walls. You can also look up and see the high outline of where the glacier has already cut into the mountain.
You can see how the glacier has cut the valley so sharply
The last few years have been warmer than normal in New Zealand, so the glacier has melted quite a bit. Four years ago, the glacier was as high as the vegetation line in the above photo. It has dropped about 100 meters since then! This fluctuation is fairly common; it was actually lower in the 1980′s than it is now. During the last ice age, the whole thing went all the way out into the ocean, which is 10 miles longer than it is now!
We were on the ice for about 3 hours before we headed back into town for dinner and a good night’s sleep.
The next morning, before we left the town of Fox Glacier, we stopped by Lake Matheson. It is a very calm lake that has a great reflection of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman. These are the two tallest mountains in New Zealand (around 12,000 feet).
Lake Matheson with Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman
We got bit by a few more sandflies, took some more great pictures, and headed off to our next stop: Queenstown (Point F).
To see more photos, check out the facebook album.
To be continued…
Merry Christmas! We’ve enjoyed our first Summer Christmas as best we can here. We sure miss family and friends this time of year, although I do not miss the cold weather. We have made great new friends here, and are enjoying spending the holidays with them.
To begin, we need to introduce you to our first Christmas tree. Kiwis only have one type of tree here (pine tree?) for Christmas, and they really don’t do much to prune and shape them. Needless to say, we got this bad boy into our home and found it had a bit of a lean and a couple of patches that needed to be filled.
Yes, this tree is in its stand…
But our Christmas spirit could not be squelched. We tied the trunk to a couple of bamboo rods to straighten things out and Morgan nailed some branches we cut off into the trunk to fill in the gaps. It began to look like a decent Christmas tree after all.
Unfortunately, Evan quickly realized he was allergic to the tree. Watery eyes, trouble breathing, and sneezing meant our tree was not going to stick around long. We counted our losses (the tree only cost $15) and bought a fake Christmas tree. No nailing or allergy medicine required!
The Impostor tree
Since we were in a giving mood, we put our tree out in the front drive with a note on it…The tree was gone by the time we got home from work.
The big news, however, is that we have some visitors for Christmas! Jeremy and Laura McBryar have made the flight to Christchurch and are seeing the sites. We’ve certainly kept them busy and given them little time to recover from jet lag.
Jeremy and Laura!
On our first day we took them to the city center of Christchurch to see the earthquake devastation and the restart mall. We also went kayaking on the Avon river which flows right through Hagley Park. Then we drove to the beach and hiked a brand new trail for us, Godley Head.
It is a beautiful coastal walk that goes up and down hills above the water crashing into the cliffs. The trail just reopened after being closed for earthquake repairs. We then went home and ate a traditional Kiwi meal of Fish and Chips. I love that meal…
On Sunday (the 23rd) we went to church, did a bit of shopping at the mall, hiked the port hills, and then went to Christmas dinner at our friend Fiona’s house. Fiona was Morgan’s host mum while she studied teaching 4.5 years ago. It was a grand feast, complete with Christmas crackers and a massive ham, glazed by Evan. I have no experience glazing hams, but I watched a video on youtube. It turned out pretty good I think.
Christmas Eve was AMAZING. We returned to Mt. Sunday, the filming location of Edoras in Lord of the Rings. Morgan and I went once 4 years ago and had a blast. We paid a lot of $$$ to go on a tour of the place, and it was totally worth it. But now they’ve built a trail so if you’re willing to make the drive, you can climb the mountain for free.
It was windy!
It was a great walk, we crossed some gorgeous rivers, and despite the summer weather many mountains still had snow on them. It was certainly not your typical Christmas Eve, but we loved every minute of it (except the 20km of gravel road driving, which took an hour to accomplish in our Honda Fit).
Naturally, we had a picnic on top of the mountain. Since we were standing on royal ground, we had a royal feast: Peanut butter and honey sandwiches.
It was an epic day, but we returned in time for a Christmas Carols by Candlelight show in downtown Christchurch. Even though it is summer here, it was a chilly evening so we were wrapped up in coats and wishing we had a blanket to keep us warm. We ran into Sadia (Fiona’s daughter) and her boyfriend Sam and snapped a picture under the giant Christmas tree.
Latimer Square Christmas Tree
Tomorrow is Christmas day for us! Being 18 hours ahead has its advantages after all I suppose. We miss all of you very much, and hope you have a very Merry Christmas. On the 26th we’ll be taking off for a massive road trip around the South Island. Woohoo!
Today we present a video tour of our new hometown: Christchurch. We started this a few weeks ago, but it took a while to get done because there is so much to see!
There is still a lot of devastation from the Earthquakes, but hope remains as new life springs and rebuilding takes place. In this video, you’ll see Hagley Park, the Avon River, the Botanical Gardens, the Container Mall, the CBD Red Zone, homes, mountains, the beach, and more. If you want to see it all, of course, you’ll just have to swing by and pay us a visit.
Love you guys,
Evan and Morgan
A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed our first road trip. Labour Day here occurs on October 22, so we took advantage of our 3 day weekend with an action packed road trip.
We started on Friday, immediately after work. We had a 4 hour drive ahead of us, but it was pretty stunning. For at least two of those hours we had the ocean on our right and mountains to our left. We stopped outside the city of Kaikoura and had a picnic on the beach. Kaikoura is famous for its seals and whale watching. We didn’t spot any whales (you typically need to be in a boat) but we did spot a couple seals waving as we drove up the coast.
Our Picnic Spot
I (Evan) did have a major loss of innocence moment, however, and received my first speeding ticket ever! Cars here don’t have cruise control, and it is hard to watch your speedometer while gazing at the mountains and ocean. Needless to say, I had my foot on the gas for a bit too long and was busted.
But, we couldn’t let that ruin the trip! So onward we went along the coast, and then through the hills and vineyards of wine country. Our first night we stayed in Picton, a small harbour town on the North part of the South Island. There is a ferry boat that goes between Picton and Wellington, which is a city on the South Island. More importantly for us, it is home to the Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds.
The Picton Harbour
We hopped a ferry boat that took us on a 2 hour ride to the end of the Queen Charlotte track. The whole thing is 71km, so naturally we couldn’t do the whole thing in a day. The boat dropped us off, and we had a 10km hike through the sounds to our pick-up location at Furneaux lodge. We had about 3.5 hours for what was supposed to be a 2.5 hour walk.
The Boat Ride!
Since we had some extra time on our hands, we took it easy. We stopped and met some native New Zealand Birds, called Wekas. We enjoyed some incredible views, and took several pictures. We stopped and had a picnic with a fantastic look over the blue and green water. The Marlborough Sounds are filled with countless bays, it was quite remarkable.
Our Drop Off Point
Our Friend the Weka Bird
Our second picnic spot of the weekend
Our boat was scheduled to pick us up at 3pm. Around 2:45 we were still walking, but we figured we had to be pretty close. At 2:55, we were starting to get pretty nervous. At 2:56, we saw a sign informing us that Furneaux Lodge was another 25 minutes walk!
Which meant, we ran.
It was difficult for us out-of-shape people to run up and down hills with bags on our shoulders after walking 9km, but we made it to the lodge by 3:05. Our boat, of course, didn’t arrive until 3:25 anyway, so our run was pretty useless. But the prospect of being stuck in the middle of nowhere did make things a bit more adventurous.
When we got back to Picton, we drove to our next destination: Nelson. We took the scenic route and enjoyed many more incredible views of the Sounds. We both decided we wanted to return someday, but next time we’ll ride bikes and do the entire 71km.
The Scenic Route
We arrived to Nelson in time to make dinner and collapse in bed asleep. The next morning we headed out for another day hike, this time to Abel Tasman National Park. Like the Queen Charlotte Track, Abel Tasman is too long to do in a day. The entire trail is 54km, and so we only hiked a small portion of it. Once again we hopped on a boat and headed up the coast. We landed in a beautiful beach and had to get knee deep in the water to make it to shore. Spring has only just begun, so the water was chilly, but it was such an incredible beach we didn’t care.
The Beach!
The sand there is golden because of the way the rocks in the area rust. The water is very turquoise and clear. We had a 13km hike ahead of us, but our ending point was actually our car. Since we didn’t have a ferry boat to rush to to catch, we once again decided to take our time.
Lounging…
Our first 45 minutes were spent lounging on the beach. We began our walk and were amazed at how diverse the foliage was. It felt like we were walking in a rainforest and the entire trail bordered these incredibly clear lagoons. We took a little detour to Cleopatra’s pool, which was a nice waterfall in a beautiful river. We stopped for lunch, took pictures, and went slow. After all, we had 7 hours to walk 2.5 km longer than we walked the day before in 3.5 hours.
Working on a splinter at Cleopatra’s Pool
After about 4 hours we came to our first sign, which informed us that we had 13km to go…which was quite a shock because we thought our entire journey was 13km. Needless to say, there was some miscommunication somewhere along the line, and we actually signed up for an 18km journey.
From that point on, we had to move a bit faster. No more detours or aimless lounging on the beach! We still enjoyed the scenery, however. What makes Abel Tasman so fascinating is the diversity. One minute your on the beach, and the next your in a rainforest, and then you go up to the top of a hill and the landscape suddenly feels like the desert, then you go down a hill through a rainforest and end up in marshlands!
Celebrating reaching the top of a hill
By journey’s end, our legs were exhausted. Somewhere in the last 5km, our legs went on autopilot. If we stopped moving, we may not have been able to start back again. Our brains were too tired to communicate with them, so our legs just kept moving. We made it back to our car around 7:30 pm, in time to drive back to Nelson, eat dinner, and collapse asleep again.
Our final day meant a journey back home to Christchurch. Before taking off, we made a quick detour to the very center of New Zealand. It was a “short” hike up a “hill” that ended up taking an hour to get up and down again. We even had a bit of rain on the way up, but fortunately it cleared by the time we reached the top.
The Center of New Zealand
Instead of going home along the coast, we cut down through the center of the island. There was a fair amount of rain, but the skies cleared up a few times for us to see the snow-capped mountains of Lewis Pass. I was hoping to get some fly fishing in, but alas, the rivers were far too swollen with rain.
The Drive Home
Needless to say, it was an epic journey. We drove about 12 hours, but the driving here is one of the most fun parts because the scenery is so incredible. Here is the final map of our entire journey (B=Picton, D=Nelson, C=Abel Tasman, and E=Christchurch):
If I ever get my act together, I’ll edit a highlight video from our trip as well. Woot!