Coromandel Peninsula

Again, I realize that I've been rather bad at keeping up to date. So, a few things I've done and then the real meat of my post. A bit over a week ago I went climbing at Waipapa. It's a cool crag located above a river. It was a lot of fun and really pretty, but all the climbs were balancy slabby climbs that weren't my style. The other big highlight of being here is that I went to an All Blacks rugby game, the first one of the season. The entire stadium was packed with people wearing black shirts, a sold out game, with the occasional splotches of fans in blue supporting France. It was a very heated game, as the Rugby World Cup was between France and the All Blacks last year so the rematch was amazing. Quite a fun game, and seeing the Haka and fuel behind it was pretty cool as well.

Waiau Falls

Now to the real post. This past Sunday, Rose, Matt, and myself took a trip to the nearby Coromandel Peninsula. Leaving midday we went to Waiau Falls Scenic Reserve. We thought that the reserve was a lot bigger, but it turns out that the hike we intended to do and spend the afternoon doing was only about a 5 minute walk. So, we saw the waterfall and proceeded on to find somewhere to camp. The coastal drive was gorgeous and the amount of rainfall in the past month has certainly made the country come alive in green. As we left the coast and drove through the forest the variety and changes of bright and dark greens became more and more apparent.

Sunday night we stumbled upon the Mill Creek Bird and Reptile Park. Since we got there at sundown we pulled in and walked through the park to find the owners/managers and pay for night. In walking through the park we saw peacocks, a variety of birds, wallabies, possums, bunnies, and many other animals. As we walked through the parks, a growing number of ducks, pigeons, chickens, and peacocks that were loose in the park began to follow us. By the time we reached the office I think we had about 15-20 birds following us through the park. But, unable to find the managers, we pitched our tents and made dinner, spending the night playing a board game we found before an early bed time.

Monday morning was a surprisingly quiet wake up call with the large number of animals all around us. The only animal nearby was one of the ducks that had wandered down to the camp ground from the adjacent park. Breakfast eaten and tents drying out a bit before we packed them, we walked back through the park and spent a bit more time looking at the animals before paying.

We found one very cool bird called a Corella that liked to talk to us and would come up to the cage and put it's wings in the pose so it looked like an angel. Or if you put your finger out it would like on it's back and stretch out its wings so you could pet her neck and back. It was an adorable bird. They also had extremely friendly donkeys that we were petting and feeding and tons of other parrots and birds that liked to talk and show off when you walked by.

Rose and Matt playing with Lila 

Lila wants to be pet

After we departed from the camp site we went to one of the more iconic tourist stops in New Zealand called Cathedral Cove, which is accessible via a 45 minute walk down from a beautiful outcrop overlooking the ocean. Upon descending to the beach, the iconic 40 foot tall cathedral-like tunnel that looks out onto a free standing outcropping in the middle of the beach. It was gorgeous and I am glad that I was able to make it there before leaving the country.

The view from the car park towards Cathedral Cove

Another view from the car park at Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Looking out of the tunnel that gives Cathedral Cove its name

The cave that gives Cathedral Cove its name

From Cathedral Cove, we went a bit further south to another must-do stop on the Coromandel Peninsula. This stop is located in a tiny town that popped up probably because of the tourist demand of it. On the eastern shore of the peninsula is Hot Water Beach, a beach famous for the two underground hot springs that run below a part of the beach, allowing tourists and locals to dig thermal pools in the sand.

As we arrived to the beach a little earlier than expected, we went to a cafe down the road called Hot Water Cafe to get coffees and snacks. I got an amazing caramel slice - coconut graham cracker crust, middle caramel layer, and hard chocolate topping. It was delicious! As we were finishing, a cute blackish-orange cat with bright green eyes came walking out from around the corner in the shop. The waitress told us that her name was Chai and she is the cafe's cat. We took turns holding Chai and petting her as we finished our snacks and before long she was happy and purring sitting on our laps.

Having finished our snacks and coffees we went back to the car park and changed into beach attire and brought the pots and milk bottles to use as shovels for digging our holes. As we got to the beach we saw signs warning about the hot spring water reaching temperatures of 147 degrees Fahrenheit. Caution in mind, we found another group with a hot pool already dug who were kind enough to let us use their spades. Needless to say, they made the digging much more effective than the pots that we were intending to use. We ended up with a massive hole because one half was burning hot and the other side cold ocean water. Geothermal hot springs in the beach with 50 degree weather outside was a very cool experience. As we were getting ready to leave, a large tour group came up and each one asked to feel the water. The three of us got quite the amusement from watching each person come up touch the water and flinch at the scorching temperatures. A quick dip in the ocean to rince off the sand and we headed back to the car towards a camping spot for the evening.

We found a DOC site to camp in located along the Tairua River. It clearly is more of a summer camp ground as most of the area was flooded and swampy and we were the only ones there. Having found an appropriate place to camp, we went back to do the Golden Hills Battery hike that we had seen. The hike passes 2 old gold mines, and unfortunately the one that was still open and able to be walked in was flooded. With daylight dwindling we decided to pitch our tents and make dinner for the night listening to the river and watching the distant lightening, hoping it didn't pour on us that night.

Tuesday morning we woke to clear blue skies and oats and fruit that Rose was cooking. We ate and bundled up against the chilly morning air before heading further south to the town of Onemana. Onemana is a quaint little beach town with a gorgeous beach and tide pools during low tide. Unfortunately, the tide was high, but we still found a little pond with a small waterfall opposite the ocean. A bit further down we found a sandy hill that had a rope swing at the top overlooking the beach which we obviously had to play on. After spending time taking turns swinging and pushing we went to the opposite end of the beach where we had seen a trail leading to the top of a bluff. The dense and overgrown shrubs made the view rather limited, but the beauty of the hike was still quite amazing. Hiking and games complete, we headed off to another slightly larger beach town of Whangamata in hopes of catching low tide.

Onemana Beach

The swing overlooking Onemana Beach

Swinging at Onemana Beach

The planned activity from Whangamata had been to kayak out to Donut Island with the low tide, an awesome island with a lagoon in the middle of it about 1km offshore, but due to strong swells and big waves we decided against that choice. Entering the lagoon is through a narrow tunnel, so the strong wells make it dangerous. Instead, we got meat pies in town and ate them on the beach before heading off to a waterfall that was listed nearby on the map.

A bit of confusion and poorly illustrated maps took us on a few detours, but eventually we reached the Homunga Bay trail head located about 2.5km from the beach at the top of a large hill about 1km tall overlooking the ocean. The hike to Homunga Bay goes through farmland and wooded areas, crossing streams, all with vast views of countryside and ocean before finally coming out to a beautiful bay. Directly where the trail meets the beach is an area of shaded, overhanging pohutukawa trees with washed up driftwood everywhere. To the right was a beautiful waterfall that is the convergence of all the streams we passed, and to the left was more trees and a boulder field. Being the only ones on the beach made it feel like a remote island paradise. The only downside was the abundance of sandflies and the large number of swollen bug bites I now have. But, I am certainly glad we went there, as apparently the beach is only accessible during low tide and it was a great place to enjoy some cookies and a beer with two great friends.

The view from the trail head

Hiking to Homunga Bay

The waterfall at Homunga Bay

Homunga Bay

Homunga Bay

The ride home I fell asleep, waking up in time to see us pass through Paeroa, the town that makes the famous New Zealand soda L&P (Lemon and Paeroa) before heading back to Auckland. What a beautiful trip and I have more photos than I know what to do with.

Don't Forget What's Nearby

I guess it's been a while - again - since I've posted, so I should catch up on the exciting things in my life. Besides the fact that there are now only 2 weeks left in the semester before finals and I'm leaving the country in barely over a month, I've been taking advantage of some of the more local activities rather than venturing throughout the islands to be a tourist.

Rose getting ready to hit the surf

A few weekends back I woke up at midday to a text from Jordan inviting me to go surfing at Piha beach about an hour away on the west coast. Rose, Ryan, and Jordan were all going to surf, well Rose was actually going to kayak in the surf but I decided I'd go along and rent a board since this is supposed to be one of the best surf beaches in the country. Unfortunately, the waves and rips were massive that day so the rental shop wouldn't rent anything. So, while Ryan and Rose attempted to fight the waves I explored the hillsides around the beach.

Sunset over Piha Beach

We ended up finding this really cool little tunnel that goes through the cliffside and faces out into the water, and a way on top of the cliffs where we ended up just in time for sunset. The entire area was gorgeous, so even though we couldn't surf it was a fun adventure for the day. Since there's not much else to say about that day, I'll just add some photos from the day.

This is the same cliff we climbed

We climbed to the top of the right cliff

Cave through the cliff

Today and last weekend I decided to explore the Parnell French market that I had heard so many of my friends talking about. On Saturdays and Sundays until 1:30 there is an outdoor farmers market hosted outside of a French market called La Cigale. Inside the store are amazing pastries, cheeses, breads, and wines. This part of the store is open all week and serves meals for lunch daily. But outside is a farmers market with the standard fruits and veggies stands, but also an amazing bread stand, hummus/dip stand, and sausage stand.
Last weekend I wanted to explore it, so I convinced Jonne to come for a walk on a sunny Saturday to the market. We started out getting ourselves delicious and fresh long blacks, which is essentially similar to an Americano; it's a shot of espresso with hot water. So, coffees in hand we walked through the stalls  looking to see if there was anything we want. Unfortunately, I had already done most of my shopping at the Countdown, the local grocery store, so I didn't need too much. But, with everything looking so good I decided to get a chocolate croissant (I mean it is a french market after all), and a loaf of French bread. Jonne got some figs that looked amazing, and tasted just as good.

Bread Stand

On our way out we noticed a sausage stand. Looking at the sausages, Jonne noticed that he was calling them "Dutch Sausages", so of course Jonne, who's from Amsterdam, had to talk to him. He explained that he tried fashion the flavor after a famous store, Hema from the Netherlands, which Jonne later explained has the best Dutch sausages ever. So naturally, once he told Jonne they were flavored in that way, he was sold.

Last week's Dutch sausage and chocolate croissant feast

With our prizes in hand, we quickly went back to Parnell Student Village, heated the sausages and croissants, and had a delicious Saturday feast.

With last week's successful trip, I planned again on going this morning. So, I texted my neighbor Amanda, who is always up for such adventures and we went down there. I thought ahead this week as well, so having done a lighter shopping at Countdown, just purchased all of my produce for the week fresh and delicious. While Amanda waited for her long black, I went through the fruit and veggie stalls and got those. She got her coffee just as I finished getting my foods, so we walked through the rest of the market.

This week, I got another chocolate croissant and different Dutch sausage (they were damn good sausage) and we headed back to Parnell. The breakfast feast of this week was an omelette filled with Dutch sausage, carmelized onions, and edam cheese. With a side of a chocolate croissant and toast and jam, and of course some tea. It was delicious.

This weeks omelette and croissant feast

Road Trip through the South Island

Unfortunately it has taken me a lot longer than it should have to get around to writing this post, but in an effort to not do homework I decided that updating my blog would be a relatively productive form of procrastination.

Part of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu

On the Saturday, April 22, starting off mid-semester break, Jonne and I made it to the airport on a long awaited trip to discover and explore New Zealand's beautiful South Island. After landing in Queenstown we made our way to the backpackers that we would be staying at and met up with Jordan, who had flown down earlier to do some backpacking of his own. Queenstown is a quaint ski town and tourist destination located towards the southern part of the South Island and is situated at the foot of massive mountains and at the end of Lake Wakatipu. Perhaps most shocking was the cold alpine weather and realization that we had left the subtropical climate of Auckland. Having gotten our room situated, our plan for the day had been to take a gondola ride up one of the mountains to enjoy the view and go luging, one of the non-snow attractions of the area. Unfortunately, the windy and damp conditions had the luge close, so Jordan, Jonne, and I chose to explore Queenstown instead. We ended up walking around the town a bit, and with its 4 block city centre, we managed to visit every street, before going to the lake front to enjoy the scenery. It is indeed a beautiful town with a very ski town vibe, all enhanced by the beauty and natural surroundings. Following some hot chocolates in town, we returned to the hostel to use the hot tub and make dinner and read before our early wake up the next morning.

Kea - Alpine Parrot

Rise and shine! 6:30am on sunday, indeed two quite early days to start our vacation we got on the bus for a day trip to the beautiful and infamous Milford Sound. Throughout the 3.5 hour drive to Milford, our bus driver pointed out filming sites off the road. We must have passed at least 10 separate locations, for obvious movies like Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but also some others such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and How to Tame Your Dragon, among many others. Our driver told us about alpine marathon competitions, and local venison industry, as well as stopped at multiple places for us to hike and take photographs in the Fjordlands before we finally made it to Milford Sound. On one such stop, we saw a kea, the world's only alpine parrot, raging rivers, and got to drink from a glacially fed stream. Another stop, I tried a venison meat by, made from local venison; needless to say that it was delicious.

Milford Sound

The Lion 1,302m (crouching, it's head is the peak)

At Milford Sound - which incidentally is a fjord not a sound - we took a cruise through the fjord. If you're curious, fjords are glacially carved, and thus Milford Sound is actually a fjord. In any case, as we were boarding the cruise, several of our friends from Auckland ended up being on the same cruise so it made the ride through Milford that much more fun. The mountains surround the fjord are all almost 1000m or taller making the experience of being in the middle of it aw inducing and humbling. There were waterfalls over 150m talls, one of which we got within meters of touching (intentionally). While most everything seems to rise straight up out of the water at nearly vertical angles, the mountains continue that trend for about another 300m to the fjord's floor. Each mountain seemed to rise higher than the next. We learned about one mountain named the bishop's hat, and another named the lion, each for the way they looked when seem from the back of the fjord. The entire cruise was beautiful and amazing, but unfortunately a bit rainy and overcast, and the rest of the trip mostly followed with similar weather.

Mirror Lake (Fjordlands)

We got back to our hostel over 12 hours from when we left having spent the entire day seeing a beautiful and world famous part of the country. Monday morning I woke up and went back to the airport so that I could meet Corrie there. Corrie had spent the past 18 hours or something crazy travelling to Queenstown from Australia, where she is studying abroad, to join us on the rest of our trip. Having picked her up, we checked in at the Jucy Rental kiosk so that we could pick up the lime green campervan that we would be using for the rest of the week. The van is basically a modified Nissan van, with an extra bed on top, a fridge, sink, stove, power outlets, casette toilet (which we didn't use), TV/DVD, pull out bed/storage table, and mini kitchen. All in all, it was a perfect vehicle for what we needed and is quite impressively designed. My one complaint, not that it can be fixed, is that any time someone on the bottom bed moves, the entire van shakes so Corrie and I who were in the top bed felt the entire van rock back and forth and woken from sleep. And complaint two is that it is difficult for anyone to get out of the van without waking anyone else when all of the doors are right next to the bottom bed. But oh well, the van was great and did its job.

Lake Wakatipu

Anyways, after getting Corrie, I drove the van on the left side of the street back to the hostel to get Jordan and Jonne. Yes, I drove on the left because that's the side that you drive here, and it is weird. I would say for my first time it went pretty well. I only clipped a few curb corners and didn't do any real damage. I'm very glad that Queenstown is a small town though or it would have been a bit more stressful and terrifying. Once we loaded up the campervan, we headed towards Arrowtown where we had booked a horse back tour through multiple filming sites from the Lord of the Rings. On the way, we pulled over next to Lake Wakatipu and made lunch. The ride itself was gorgeous and even before we got to the stables we were able to see that every single place you look in this country is beautiful. The ride was amazing and we got to see sites from other movies as well, all of them were amazing and some didn't even look like the movies.

That night following our ride, we returned to Queenstown, so we could go to Ferg Burger for dinner. This restaurant has had a line out the door every time we see it. In fact, it seems that any time I mentioned that I was going to Queenstown to anyone, locals, kiwis, fellow study abroad students, literally anyone, they told me that I must go to Ferg Burger. Wow, I'm glad I did. I ordered the "Tropical Swine: Prime New Zealand beef, American streaky bacon, cheddar cheese, pineapple, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli & tomato relish". American streaky bacon, is bacon as you would be served in America; if you order bacon here you get the equivalent of Canadian bacon. The burger was amazing, one to battle any reputable and delectable burger I've had before. In fact, there is Ferg Bakery next door, that is a full on bakery which looks equally delicious, but also makes the burger buns fresh for their sibling restaurant, and they must have done this several times while we were eating dinner. It was amazing, and writing this is making me really want to go back to Queenstown for another one. Anyways, several of our friends who were doing similar trips through the South Island decided to meet up with us so we had a reunion of international students at Ferg Burger.

Painting with light over Lake Hayes

Having hung out with friends and gorged ourselves on food we headed off to start our road tripping adventure. It was my turn to drive again, and this time I had Jonne to help me realize that as someone who learned to drive on the right, we tend to put the car too far left in the lane in New Zealand. So, he helped correct this as I was driving through the winding roads in total darkness. We were the only cars out and the roads following the mountains are extremely windy. Some of the turns required us to slow down to 15km/hr so it was quite the rollercoast ride, halfway up the side of a mountain with a cliff edge dropping to a lake on one side and the other side the mountain. Finally, we arrived to a DOC (dept of conservation) camping area on Lake Hayes. In fact, freedom camping as it's called when you camp in a self-contained vehicle, such as our Jucy van, is allowed on most any DOC property unless it's explicitly illegal, and better, it is free. So, we pulled up to the lakeside, made dinner, and played with some long exposure and painting with light before going to sleep.

Lake Wanaka

Tuesday morning we drove to Lake Wanaka, and went to the local i-site. Most cities/towns have an information center, called an i-site, to ask for a coffee shop with internet and a cool hike. We decided to do an amazing hike to the highest local point just in time for sunset. From the top, we could watch the sun set behind the lake and the snow covered mountains in the background. We made some more progress on our trip and ended up that night camping on another cliffside, but this time it was overlooking the Tasman Sea. We were the only cars in the area and it was an amazingly peaceful and soothing place.

Fox Glacier

The next morning was cloudy and gloomy, but we had intended to visit the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. We found a cool hike at Fox Glacier National park and hiked to a viewing platform so we could see the glacier. The hike crosses over a river and boulder field, which was luckily crossable because of the drought. Although it had been rainy more lately, the river was not flowing that high so we could boulder hop across it to complete the hike. Still, the entire hike was through a drizzle that only proceeded to get stronger throughout the day. From the viewing platform however, we were still luckily able to see Fox Glacier and enjoy our premade PB&Js. Yummy yummy.

Three Mile Lagoon

From Fox Glacier we drove a bit further north to Franz Josef Glacier so that we could see another glacier that day. Why not, right? Sadly, the fog had rolled in too much and we could see nothing but that our rain coats didn't prove to be the most waterproof. So we retreated to the shelter of our campervan and attempted to put on dry clothing and not soak the entire interior of the van. With all of the wet clothing inside, the van became very humid and our efforts were not the most successful. Wet, cold, and getting hungry for dinner, we pushed on until we found another DOC site a bit further on and made dinner and dried off before watching Les Miserables and going to sleep.

Tasman Sea

We woke up on Thursday and drove to Okarito so that we could do a hike around Three Mile Lagoon in the hopes of being able to see Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in the country. Unfortunately, the weather still wasn't being friendly to us and it was too overcast inland to see that far away. But, it was luckily a clear day overhead and we had great views of the coast. So, wh
ile we didn't get to see Mt. Cook, it was still a fun hike that I'm glad we did.

Hut at the DOC Site in Arthur's Pass

Having failed to see Mount Cook, we headed on towards Arthur's Pass, the last major stop of our trip before Christchurch. I'm quite sad that we didn't get to see more of the pass while driving in the daylight, because the entire canyon pass seemed to be amazing. It was filled with hairpin turns and the entire thing was at a very steep grade. But, we made it to the town of Arthur's Pass and found a nearby DOC site with a little hut and fireplace. So, as per usual, we parked, unloaded, made dinner, and relaxed. However, this time we were able to have a little fire in the hut to fight off the cold. Being away from the coast and in a massive valley, and at a bit over 900m, the area definitely was frigid. The i-site there said that it was getting down to 4-5 degrees celsius and that there was snow only 600m higher. But, we stayed warm and cozy for the night.

Devil's Punchbowl

Friday morning was a chilly and brisk morning, with winds gusting up to 80km/hr as the i-site had also predicted. We got up and went to do a quick hour long hike, hoping we wouldn't get rained on before the expected rains rolled in. The hike we chose to do was called the Devil's Punchbowl. It's an easy hike to the base of a 131m tall waterfall. We even went on the start of a track so we could get closer and the wind/water blowing off the base were enough to soak Jordan and Jonne who got to the water's edge. It was another impressive site and we saw rainbows and the daunting clouds rolling in so we took it as our hint to leave. Thus, the drive through the rest of the pass was filled with powerful winds that blew the entire van side to side and spectacular landscape views.

On the drive to Christchurch, we pulled over at the top of a massive hill to take some pictures of a scenic view. I could barely open the door because of the wind and was able to lean over quite far with the wind keeping me up. A bit later on we drove through Castle Hill, one of the best and most famous climbing areas in the country. I was quite disappointed that I hadn't brought any climber gear with me, and it was getting damp. I don't think I'll be able to make it there, so this may be one big regret that I have for my time here. I guess I'll just have to come back to New Zealand.

Random lake on the way to Christchurch

Friday night we arrived to Christchurch, checked into a holiday park (which is basically just an RV park) and made dinner. Jonne and Jordan showered while Corrie and I made dinner. A quick dinner later and we headed off to the local cinema so we could see Iron Man 3 which recently came out. As expensive as everything else is in this country, the ticket prices were only $10/person, which was quite shocking. The movie was fun and we went back to the park for the night.

Holiday Park

Saturday morning I woke up and showered, having not showered since Monday morning and was grateful for a warm shower to wake up to. We cleaned the van and enjoyed having a lazy morning before driving to the city centre so we could see the effects of the February 2011 6.3 earthquake that destroyed most of the town. The city is being rebuilt, but it was shocking how much damage and destruction could still be there for so long. It was also amazing to see thriving markets right across the street from dilapidated buildings.

Building in Christchurch 

Finally, after exploring the city we dropped off the van and went to the airport. In an effort to save costs on the pricy trip, we decided to spend the night in the airport and fly out at 6:30am. So, we killed time until about 8 when we got kicked out of the food court concessions area to the overnight area. We hung out and read a bit longer, and slowly the 4 of us, one by one, ended up curled up on the floor. I was grateful to have my sleeping bag with me so I was warm and cozy for the night on the floor. Somehow I slept surprisingly well and got about 7 hours of sleep.

And, Sunday morning we said good bye to Corrie as she returned to Australia, and took our bright and early flight home to Auckland. All in all, a great trip with some awesome people, and a gorgeous country that I've seen a bit more of.