New Zealand

New Zealand
GSB Spring Break 2007

Click here to see pictures on Picasa: Through Milford Track, After Milford Track

New Zealand is a beautiful country with loads of activities for those seaking adventure and R&R. I had the opportunity to spend two amazing weeks over spring break in NZ with 9 GSB classmates (or 8 + a husband).

We left SFO on Friday March 16 within hours of our last winter term class for our 13 1/2 hour flight to Auckland. Air New Zealand has the best entertainment system of any airline hands down, including dozens of on-demand movies (all 3 LOTR), TV shows (CSI!) and music. Good thing because I was in the middle seat with an enormous snoring woman who kept me from getting any shuteye.

After connecting to our final destination in Queenstown, we settled in at the Sherwood Manor and headed downtown. We refueled then head up the gondola for wonderful views of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu, then luged at the top of the hill. So fun! After a few drinks, we head back down to the wharf for a jet boat ride around the lake and nearby rivers.

Queenstown; Lowell, me, Katy, Kermit and Libby before jetboating

Day 2 started with bungy jumping from the Kawarau Bridge, the original location where AJ Hackett did his first jump. I got pretty nervous as we waited to go, super windy up there and it's a 43 meter drop to the river. It was scary to let go of the edge to waddle out onto the plank (legs are tied together so can't walk normally), but once I jumped it was exhilerating. Super fast and don't remember much except bouncing around after. They are super precise--I told them I only had a change of shirt and they dunked me in the river just up to my waist! Kermit, another GSBer, asked to be dunked to his socks, not shoes, and they did it!

Kawarau River bungy (picture of jump coming soon!); All of us at Amisfield Winery

After we all jumped, we head for the Queenstown Wine Trail, a bus that took us to four local wineries. Favorite was Amisfield Winery & Bistro, we didn't get to have dinner but their dining room is beautiful also. It was the start of a looong day, as we tasted wines, then head into town again for a night at the Minus 5degree vodka bar and sake bombs at Japanese place Tekka.

Me and Lowell at Gibbston Valley Winery; Lauren and Rick at Minus 5degrees

So Day 3 in Queenstown ended up being pretty mellow for me, as I recovered from the night before. Strolled and napped in the Queenstown Garden, while some others frisbee golfed on their 18-hole course.

Early the next morning, we set off on the Milford Sound Track. Being early fall in New Zealand, the group was about 22 people (including 9 of us). Our group included two older couples from Los Altos, newlyweds from UK, single women from Japan and Canada, and an older NZ couple. The Department of Conservation keeps strict tabs on the number of hikers that go through the track so between trackers (up to 50 in summer) and independent hikers, there are never more than 90 or so that hike a day. Pretty nice.

After a bus ride to Te Anau, we boarded a ferry to take us to the northern tip of Lake Te Anau where our track would begin. We had a short mile hike to Glade House where we would stay the first night. The guides took us on a nature hike into the hills and we learned about the evil possum and stoats, the weasel-like rodents that terrorize native birds. We also got powerpoint presentations on the animals and plants that we would come across each night before the hike, which was great because we actually noticed the birds and ferns on the walk. Note on hike: while the generator turned off at 10pm every night, with bunk beds, hot showers, and venison for dinner, we were nowhere near "roughing it."

Our group at the Glade House; fern curl we saw on the nature walk

We were awakened by the generator turning on at 7am the next morning. After a hearty (multi-course) breakfast and packing our lunches for the day, we set off for a flat 10-mile walk, the first real leg of the track. Not too hard and we got to take little side trails for some amazing views. My favorite bird of the track is the bush robin--a little grey guy, not so smart but very curious, will hop on to your shoes and pick at your shoelaces if you stop walking for a few seconds. Super cute. We stopped for lunch at a hut near Hirere Falls, where we had to watch out for Charlie, the resident kea (mountain parrot), who kept sneaking over to steal our food. In the afternoon, we skipped rocks at some watering holes and saw some waterfalls, before heading to Pompolona Lodge.

View on Day 2 hike; Lowell and me at Mile 4 marker

Day 3 is the hardest day, with elevation gain of over 2000 feet by lunchtime and back down to Quintin Lodge. There were lots of steps and switch backs from the start, and it was pretty tough. I was "Herbie," the slowest of my hiking group, but they were wonderful and supportive and let me go in front to pace the group. Rick, a former Navy SEAL, also taught us how to count off and march SEAL style, which kept us occupied for a few miles. Cool stuff. The climb was hard, but absolutely breathtaking. It was hard not to stop every few steps and take a picture (I learned to shoot on the move...)

We stopped at Mackinnon Memorial, which had some of the best views (see 360 degree video in Picasa), and then started back downhill after lunch. The downhill was actually harder for me (crappy knees) and the hiking pole that I rented was invaluable. There were tons of waterfalls on the way to Quintin Lodge. From there, we took another short hike to Sutherland Falls, the 4th tallest waterfall in the world at 580 meters. It was spetacular and huge. Some ventured behind the falls, but I think I just got wet.

Me and Lowell at Mackinnon Memorial; Andrea at base of Sutherland Falls

The last day of hiking was the longest at 13.5 miles, but also the easiest in terms of elevation and number of pitstops. There were a few sights on the way, like Mackay Falls and Bell Rock. We had lunch at Great Bear Falls (I think), which was gorgeous albeit sandfly-infested. Miserable little buggers, I highly recommend a lot of DEET for anyone who does this track. The hike ends at Sandfly Point, which also unsurprisingly housed a lot of sandflies, 33.5 miles from where we started at the northern tip of Lake Te Anau. Btw, I would like to give a special thanks to my hiking buddies who patiently allowed me to take pictures at every mile post, not to mention the pretty photos in between. A boat took us from Sandfly Point to Milford, where we had wonderful accommodations at Mitre Peak Lodge and an interesting night out.

Group on last day of hike; me and Lowell at Sandfly Point, 33.5 miles from the start

Our last day on the track was a two hour boat cruise around Milford Sound, which included some whacky times on the boat, and then a five hour bus ride (=nap) back to Queenstown. We were joined there by our hard-working 10th trip member, Katy's husband Jason, who would instigate much of the daytime alcohol consumption for the rest of the trip.

The next morning, we flew out of Queenstown to Rotorua on the North Island, where we would spend one night. The town smells a bit like rotten eggs due to the geothermal activity, and apparently has excellent spas though we didn't have time to go. However, we ZORBED. Zorbing might be the most fun thing ever. Basically, a zorb is a big double-layer rubber sphere. In the case of hydro-zorbing, which is what we did, they stuck us in the ball with some water, and then rolled us down a hill. Hysterical. I will never look at a hill the same way. After we stopped laughing, we were picked up to attend a traditional Maori hangi (dinner) at Tamaki Maori Village.

Zorb rolling down the hill; Katy and Jason getting out of their zorb

We head out early the next morning to the Waitomo Caves, an amazing network of limestone caves and underground rivers. We were signed up for the Black Abyss Tour, which started with fitting us into heavy wet suits, helmets and boots, as well as harnesses. We learned to abseil, which I found out means hanging yourself off a rope, and then we abseiled 37 meters into a cave. We walked with our headlamps, did the flying fox (zip line), and tubed down underground rivers while admiring the glowworms (or technically glowing maggot poop as we learned). We played a story telling game in the cave with out guide Cowboy Dan, and learned I am like a raccoon according to Lowell, or he just likes smearing mud on my face. Then we basically rock climbed up these little waterfalls to crawl out of the cave. It gets super cold and a little scary sometimes but was totally worth it.

Me and Lowell after the mud; All of us in the cave

After the caves, we had a looong (7 hr) drive up to Bay of Islands at the northern end of the North Island. Unfortunately for us, Bay of Islands was hit by a torrential storm at this point, and got about as much rain in a day as they usually do in three months. This was a serious storm, the last article I found cited 400 homes damaged and $5m from the landslides and floods. We were actually trapped in the town of Paihia because the roads in and out were flooded, and Russell across the bay had lost power.

So we spent the next few days playing card games, some epic games of Solid Wood Jumbling Tower (otherwise known as Jenga), spa-ing, drinking, eating and karaokeing. I was getting sick at this point, so missed the mud frisbee, but had a great pilates session with Andrea and Helen. The group was getting stir-crazy though, and fortunately, the rain stopped after two days. While the bay was yucky from all of the mud, we could play outside again.

Jason playing Solid Wood Jumbling Tower; Paihia harbor after the rain

Hoping to pack in as much as we could, we signed up for a boat tour called Dolphin Discoveries, that guaranteed dolphin sightings and potentially swimming. We were excited to see a pod of dolphins, but a bit too commercial for us. The Dept of Conservation has strict laws around dolphin interaction and it was a bit weird to have three big boats with 40 people each hovering around the pod. Nice cruise though. Afterwards, Lowell and I went on a date night to Russell across the bay. There was a gorgeous sunset as we took the ferry over, and after walking around for a little bit (very small town) we ate at a really lovely called Sally's Restaurant. Wonderful seafood chowder, scallop and spinach salad, and Lowell had a great lamb with kumara mash. They were super friendly and even passed on my thanks to Sally's daughter's roommate who had recommended it when we met her at a Paihia bar.

Lowell and me on the Dolphin Discoveries boat; the boat dock in Russell at night

We booked ourselves on the Carino for our last day in Bay of Island. We made up half of the boat plus the captain Vanessa and skipper who were a wealth of knowledge (and grilled a mean hotdog for lunch). The catamaran motored out to the Bay and found a pod of dolphins, and we didn't get to swim with them, but swam around in the water after they moved on. Some of us swam over to the island, some boated, and went on a little hike, before getting back on the boat for lunch. They put up the sails and we basically lazed on the boat until they took us back.

Dolphins playing in the Bay of Islands; girls on the Carino

We drove to Auckland that night and had a taste of urban New Zealand at a Japanese ramen place and bar in town. The next morning was our last. We packed up our rental cars and headed to the ferry port to catch the 10am to Waiheke Island, about 35 minutes by boat. It was a little overcast, but still pretty. We had called ahead for a cab and head to Stoney Ridge, where we got a tour of their vineyards and olive orchards and learned about NZ wine making. Our next stop was Onetangi Road Vineyard. While it was on the same driveway as Stoney Ridge, we missed it because there was a sign that said "closed for a private party." Turns out we were the private party with ten. What was more remarkable was that this adorable little winery and microbrewery, with outdoor cafe and bocce court, was in its last day of operation, and we were its last customers. Really, this place was wonderful and I was sad that it would be no longer. But we drank its wine and beer and were in good spirits to board the Air NZ flight back to San Francisco.

Last view of Onetangi Road Vineyard; the whole group at Onetangi