There and Back Again: a Canadian's tale

(Tuesday, May 23) On our drive up to Auckland, the weather echoed our sadness at our trip coming to an end, and we caught only the briefest glimpse of majestic Mount Ruapehu before the rain and fog obscured everything.
We had a great few days with Margaret Woodbridge's sister Heather Dockery in the Avondale area of Auckland, helping her enjoy her new retirement. We admired the beautiful garden views from Heather's comfortable house, checked out the views from the top of Mt. Albert, browsed the art galleries of Auckland, bought a bigger suitcase to house all our accumulated treasures, and (thankfully) sold the car to the second bidder. The fall of the Kiwi dollar against the Canadian dollar has served us well for the whole trip, but now that we are on the selling end, of course, we would have liked it to be the other way!

On Saturday morning (May 27) Heather dropped us (and our maximum load of luggage) at the airport (so easy--thanks, Heather, for everything!) and we breezed through the Cathay Pacific check-in process.The flight went smoothly and then we were efficiently processed through all the steps to arrive at the Panda Hotel in downtown Hong Kong by just after midnight their time.
The hotel is very luxurious, and we wallowed in the soft bed for a full night's sleep before taking advantage of the incredible breakfast buffet offering everything from sushi to bacon and eggs. The hotel is very well organized-- they have uniformed personnel stationed everywhere, all wearing audio earpieces (slightly unnerving--I confess to feeling a bit as if I had stumbled into The Matrix!).


We had a few hours before our next flight, so we briefly explored the hot and steamy streets and markets of downtown Hong Kong--fascinating! There was everything imaginable on offer, from exotic fruits to unusual vegetables to fresh hung meat, fresh and dried fish, and even a cage of live toads!! What an eye-opener. As we turned back to the hotel the oppressive humidity turned to pouring rain, which persisted for the rest of our time in Hong Kong.


Back in flight, we were impressed by the mountains of Alaska when we set down for refueling at Anchorage. Almost home (well, relative to New Zealand)!



After the efficiency of the Auckland and Hong Kong airports, we were a bit depressed at the disorganization and slowness of the Toronto airport. Our luggage was a ridiculously long time in coming off the plane, and then we discovered that one of our cases had been left behind in Hong Kong. However, despite the luggage hassles, having to fight off an elderly little Chinese lady who tried to yank my luggage cart away from me, the lateness of the hour at the end of two long days of travelling, and then a grouchy Robert Q shuttle bus driver, our spirits rose as we got closer and closer to home.

What a joy to see dear John and Jess's smiling faces waiting for us in Woodstock! It was hard to stop talking about all our adventures, but we all finally got to sleep about 2 a.m. to the comforting trill of the frogs on the lake. Nevertheless, I snapped awake again at 6:30 a.m. and went out to re-acquaint myself with my pets and garden. Everything is enormously lush and a bit overgrown, but the garden has survived amazingly well, and Molly and Norton seemed very excited to see us! It's great to be back home.


We have had an unforgettable time in New Zealand, and will try to go back as soon as we can. We remember our many new Kiwi friends with great fondness, and will hope to host some of them in Canada whenever they can come to visit.

This will be my last blog entry, so I want to thank all our friends and family who wrote to tell me that you were enjoying following along on our adventures--it has been so much fun composing the entries, and they will be a great record for us of our wonderful experiences. Readers of the blog will also be spared the ordeal of admiring endless trip photos when we see you (I did take over 9,000 photos, after all...)!!

To anyone contemplating a trip to New Zealand, let me say--go as soon as you can, and stay as long as you can!! Kia ora.

Farewell to the South

On Friday we left the west coast and had a beautiful drive through the Buller Gorge over to Nelson. Along the way we met a charming Irish couple at one of the lookout points and now have a standing invitation to visit them in Dublin!




It was great to be back in Nelson, in the area that we enjoyed so much in January, and see the vineyards in their bright fall colours. We visited with Marion Towns and picked up the print we had ordered made of her original pastel, Soul Watching Over Poverty Bay. It turned out even better than I had expected, and I am thrilled with this lovely fiftieth birthday present from Frank--can't wait to see it stretched and hung on our wall at home.

We had a great night in the Rutherford Hotel in Nelson,a very elegant and luxurious place for a very good price ($130 NZ), in a room with a great view of the cathedral tower. After a Thai dinner in a very authentic restaurant, we went to see Sione's Wedding, another of the good NZ films that are being made these days. This one is about the Samoan culture in NZ, and is very funny and heartwarming.

Marion's husband Jim suggested that, as we had the time, we should take 'the road less traveled' and drive the Queen Charlotte Drive across from Nelson to Picton to catch the ferry on Saturday. As the day was clear and bright, we took his advice and were glad we did. The road is pretty challenging, with many, many hairpin turns, but the views out into Cook Strait through the Queen Charlotte Islands are breathtaking.

Our last ferry ride was the best of the four we've had. The Strait was flat calm and the weather fine, so I was able to get up on the sundeck and really enjoy the beautiful islands as we passed through them. We will sorely miss this ocean/mountain scenery when we leave New Zealand.






Arriving back on the North Island in late afternoon, we drove up to Otaki and stayed the night at the cottage rented out by Victoria Ginn, a Kiwi photographer whose work I discovered while still in Canada last year. The accommodation is called Middle Earth Hideaway--an appropriate choice for a Lord of the Rings fan! Victoria is a fascinating woman who has not only published two books of extraordinary photographs, but also a book about her terrifying experience being imprisoned in Afghanistan when she got caught in the revolution there as a young woman. She is looking for someone to help her turn this book into a film--who knows, someday we may see it all on the big screen and be able to say we know the author! Victoria very generously made me a gift of a signed copy of her second book of photos (I already have the first at home); it will be a great souvenir of our time with her.

Sunday we visited several of Frank's motorcycle contacts, finalizing some 'deals' and collecting "just a few more small parts," and finished up back at the home of Sheila and Barry Grainger in Palmerston North. Today we are meeting with the executive at UCOL to sign a memorandum of understanding between Fanshawe and this polytechnic, which we hope will be the foundation for some partnerships in future. We will stay another night here, then continue north, with a stop in Hamilton, to Auckland, where we will stay a few days with Heather, Margaret Woodbridge's sister (what would we have done without the kindness of these Kiwi friends?) before flying home on Saturday. We have a stopover in Hong Kong on the way home, so there may be a few photos for a final blog, but we are indeed nearing the end of this journey. It will be so lovely to get home to family, friends, pets and garden, but we will leave NZ with much reluctance and a firm determination to return as soon as we can.

Charmed, I'm Sure

On the recommendation of our cottage's owners, we set aside Wednesday to explore the Charming Creek Walkway, which runs into the hills from Hector. The walkway, now managed by the Department of Conservation, is the old coalmine company railway track from the turn of the last century, and lots of antique coalmining artifacts decorate the track. Coal is still a huge industry here, and the largest open pit coal mine in NZ is still in operation nearby (but with higher-tech equipment!). Most houses in the rural areas of NZ are still coal heated.
We were soon charmed by the diversity of the track. We passed through dappled sun and cool green shade, passed under overhangs thickly covered in plants, scampered over open rockfalls, braved dark tunnels, peered up at the towering tree ferns and down at the 'creek' (more like a river!) far below, and were surprised to find rata in flower this late in the season.



The most spectacular, however, were the waterfalls, from tiny trickles to roaring torrents. Along the way we enjoyed this multi-level fall, and after an hour of walking came upon this huge, rainbow-adorned fall adjacent to a long suspension bridge. This seemed like a pretty good highlight, so we then headed back along the trail. During our whole trek we met only 4 other people, all going the opposite way. No overcrowding here!

Fair at Foulwind

When Captain Cook was repeatedly troubled by gales and storms off the west coast of the South Island in the late 1700's, he named the jutting coastline in this area Cape Foulwind, and the name has stuck ever since. Today (Monday May 15) we took advantage of having the only sunny weather in all of NZ to explore this beautiful coastal area, and found it more fair than foul.

Our first stop was the lighthouse, where we enjoyed gorgeous views of the dramatic cliffs of Westport, and the rocky shoreline far below the lighthouse itself. We also made friends with the local weka, yet another of NZ's unique flightless birds. These ones practically climbed into our car!

A few more minutes' drive brought us to the other side of Tauranga Bay, and a short walk to the seal colony. These seals live on the rocks of this sheltered spot all year round, but right now is the time for growing the pups born last spring to maturity. We laughed at the antics of the adolescent pups, who were determined to disturb their elders' afternoon slumber.

And if it feels to you folks as if we are really far away--well, we are!

As the sun got low in the sky, we stopped at a fabulous cafe for a drink and an appetizer at a shoreside table, before driving home to our cottage. Another memorable day.

Haasta la vista!

Here's an update on our trip over the Haast Pass to Westland, the final 'corner' of NZ that we'll have the chance to explore this trip. The weather on Thursday was really only good for a travelling day--gloomy and drizzly! Nevertheless, the mountains of the pass were still spectacular.



The difference between the western side of the Southern Alps and the eastern side is startling. On this side, all the moisture from the ocean winds is dropped on the slopes, creating a lush rainforest. Every possible ecological niche from the lowest mosses to the highest treetops sems to have been filled, and some of the trees are quite Ent-like! The roads are lined with almost impenatrable greenness, punctuated by roaring waterfalls, and crossed by creeks about every ten feet. All the creeks are named, and it was a source of amusement during our long drive to note the prosaic (Rocky Creek, Mountain Creek), the sublime (Flowery Scent Creek) and the ridiculous (Roaring Billy, Windbag Creek).

We stopped at a hotel in Haast Beach for lunch, where we found these parked--Frank seems to be able to sniff out unusual cars from a hundred miles away!

The clouds and mist made the landscape very dramatic, but it was a challenging drive over the pass in the rains, so we opted to stop at Franz Josef for the night before continuing up the coast to our cottage near Westport the next day. The Alpine Glacier Motel was fabulous, with a full kitchenette, free DVDs, king sized bed and, best of all, an enormous spa bath like the kind you see advertised in the ads for the Poconos--heaven!--and all for a mere $110 NZ a night. We had a wonderful night's sleep and awoke to clear skies and this view.

We wimped out on trekking up to see the Franz Josef Glacier (what do Canadians need to see a big field of ice and snow for??), contenting ourselves with purchasing postcards, and continued north. More gorgeous rainforest and coastal scenery (including this incredible hanging rock), and we arrived in the tiny village of Hector, 30 k north of Westport, just in time to catch the sunset over the beach before finding our new home for the next week.

This cottage is a real pleasure, with a fireplace, stereo, videos, magazines, books, a lovely garden, and a washer and dryer--hurrah! The beach is a two minute walk along a grassy path. Frank also found an outdoor tap and hose, and took advantage of the opportunity to give the ol' Duchess a much-needed wash in preparation for her imminent sale.

Saturday (May 13th) was my fiftieth birthday (thanks to all who emailed me birthday greetings), and I spent it reading, walking the beach, sunbathing on the spacious deck (it got to 17 celsius here that day; remember this is NZ's equivalent to our November!), and painting--not a bad way to spend a birthday! The weather Saturday was very changeable, as these shots show--we had NZ's famous "all four seasons in one day." However, a big change came on Sunday, when we had cold and wet. Never mind, we are content to stay inside our cozy cottage and enjoy our last week on the South Island (P.S. today is warm and sunny again--hurrah!).