An Unexpected Journey - Nine

April 18, 2016

An early breakfast, shared with busloads of Chinese tourists, fortified us for our nearly three-hour drive.  Tim got some last pictures of the sun coming up on Mt. Cook and we were on our way.  We transitioned from snowy mountain tops and lakes to wide open plains, then the rocky hills of the Dunstan Range.  We enjoyed more beautiful autumn colors, especially the towering poplar trees planted as windbreaks that lined the roads with their bright golden leaves.  We also saw many incredibly tall and dense hedges as property dividers.

Sunrise on Mt. Cook

Just outside of Queenstown, we stopped at a pretty little park on Lake Wakatipu for some pictures, then continued on to the Rees.  The travel company, New Zealand Self Drive Tours, originally said this place was fully booked, so they would have to change our accommodations.  When I compared the second place online, it didn't hold a candle to this one.  The internet showed rooms still available, so I asked our travel consultant, Christina, to please try again.  Not only did she get us a room, she got us an upgrade to a luxury apartment for no additional cost.  So we were anxious to check out our upgrade.  We were not disappointed - a full kitchen, washer and dryer, living room with fireplace, two bedrooms and a lovely deck with a great view of Lake Wakatipu.  Way to go, Christina!

We quickly got settled in our room, then headed to the lobby to wait for our pickup for our afternoon Appellation Central Boutique Wine Tour.  Our guide for the tour, Martin, met us in the lobby, and led us to the van where six other guests were already waiting.  He made quick introductions, and we discovered we were all Americans - two retired couples from Pennsylvania, and young newlyweds from California, here on their honeymoon.  Although it is possible to communicate with other English speakers, sharing the same nationality allows for an entirely different style of conversation.  It was quite a treat.

Our guide, Martin, and the beautiful Gibbston Valley

 Martin was a fount of knowledge and kept us well entertained as we headed back out to some of the vineyards we'd passed on our way into the city.  We visited Amisfield, Carrick, Mt. Difficulty, and Mt. Rosa wineries, with beautifully scenic drives in between.  We sampled lots of Pinot Noirs, the specialty of this region, along with several others, including Pinot Gris, Reislings and Rose-Gamay.  I am far from a wine connoisseur, so I will spare you from any attempt to review these wines.  It was the first time I'd done this kind of tour, and just enjoyed learning how it all works.

Our first stop, Amisfield

vineyards fill the nooks and crannies of the landscape

At the Carrick Winery, workers were just bringing in the final harvest of the season, and were giddy with the anticipation of easier days ahead.  Here we enjoyed an outdoor feast of meats, cheeses, fish, green-lipped mussels (so pretty), fresh fruits and breads while chatting with the other members of our group.  It was a feast for all the senses.

Mt. Difficulty was named by one of the original settlers of this area, William Rees (also the namesake of our hotel).  As the story goes, he was trying to transport 3000 sheep from the east coast of the island to the west, and found this particular mountain impassable.  These days, an extreme mountain marathon is run annually on Mt. Difficulty.

Mt. Difficulty truck

One of Mt. Difficulty's brands is Roaring Meg, named for a storied saloon keeper - I was amused by the similarities to my own saloon keeper/sister, Meg.  A roaring river and hydroelectric station share the same moniker.

people tubing down the Roaring Meg

At Mt. Rosa, I picked up a book called Wine Dogs New Zealand.  Apparently all the vineyards and wineries in the area have dogs, and their photographs were put into a coffee table book.  We met a few of these "celebrities."  Cute idea.

www.winedogs.com

The netting over the vines is meant to stop birds from indulging

Eight Americans and a Kiwi
(Leah, Andy, Liz, Tim, Martin, Carol, Norm, Jan and George)

Once back in our lovely hotel room, we realized room service was no more expensive than the menus we'd seen, so we enjoyed a rare night in, with the lovely view and the cozy fireplace.  We had to be up early the next morning.

The lovely view out our window

An Unexpected Journey - Eight

April 17, 2016

After a nice breakfast at the George, we bade goodbye to Christchurch and the beautiful Pacific coast, and headed west into the heart of the South Island.  The vast Canterbury Plains soon gave way to rocky, majestic mountains, in contrast to the softer, rolling mountains of the North Island.

We interrupted our over-four-hour drive with a stop at the breathtaking Lake Tekapo.  This highest lake in New Zealand is so stunningly turquoise blue it doesn't seem real.  The unusual color comes from the fine rock particles that are suspended in the glacier-fed water, reflecting that particular hue from the color spectrum.  Photographs don't begin to do it justice.

We were pressed for time, with an afternoon reservation for a tour at 2 p.m., but we couldn't resist stopping for pictures more than once; the scenery was just so stunning.

One of the most photographed landmarks in the region is the Church of the Good Shepherd, a beautiful old, stone church circa 1935 that looks out onto Lake Tekapo.  There is a bronze sheepdog statue nearby, a tribute to the contribution these dogs have made to the community here.

rabbits in the churchyard

From Lake Tekapo we headed southwest, passing by the southern end of  Lake Pukaki.  From there we turned north, with little time to enjoy the beautiful lake on our right and the mountains on our left.  We arrived at Mt. Cook Village with little time to spare.

Mt. Cook Village has only a handful of buildings - a large hotel and the dorms that house the people who work in the village.  These are the only people allowed to live in this village inside Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park.  So it wasn't too difficult to find our hotel, the Hermitage.  We parked out front, and Tim went to check in to our room while I queued up to sign in for our tour.  Forms had to be filled out and signed, and Tim was taking the luggage upstairs.  After a few nervous moments (on my part), we met up in the lobby just as the bus was loading.  The hotel kindly agreed to let us leave our car out front until after the tour.

The bus for Glacier Explorers had maybe 25 or 30 people on board, and headed back out the way we'd come in, turning off onto a gravelly road that seemingly lead nowhere.  Tim was hoping he could discreetly slip his knee wraps on at the back of the bus, but a family of young kids clambered into the seats behind us.  It was startling to hear unmistakable Thai tones coming from some nearby passengers - strangely made us feel at home.  Guess they were escaping the crazy Songkran Festival, too.

We were let off amid the great moraine deposits and embarked on the trail ahead.  We were told if we couldn't keep up we would be asked to return to the bus, but Tim ducked into the little restroom and secured his knee wraps, quickly catching up with the group.  The group had become so spread out that the guides soon gave up trying to do a head count.  It was a good cardio workout huffing up and down the trail, but we were solidly in the middle of the pack - so glad we weren't last!  We finally reached our destination on the shore of the Tasman Glacier terminal lake.

Packs were not allowed on the boats, so plywood "lockers" were provided.  We all deposited our things and got suited up with life vests, then headed down to the small dock area.  Ten or twelve to a boat, we settled in and were whisked off into the lake.  Our captain clearly enjoyed being at the wheel, and that made it fun for us as well.

another boat on the lake

 Lake Tasman is a milky gray color, from the rock flour that is generated by the grinding of the glacier along the bedrock.  Small ponds from the 1970's have merged and grown into a 7 kilometer long lake as the glacier continues to melt and calve.  The 2011 earthquake caused 30- to 40 million metric tons of ice to drop into the lake, hastening its growth.

The Tasman Glacier is New Zealand's longest glacier at over seventeen miles long.  The lower end of the glacier that terminates at the lake is completely rock-covered - quite surprising for many of us who expected a snowy white expanse.  The face of the glacier is black with rock, and is retreating at a startling 1500 to 2500 feet every year.  It is expected to completely disappear in ten to twenty years' time, when Lake Tasman will reach its capacity.  The harsh reality of global warming - so unimaginable.

Tasman Glacier terminus

We were able to get up close and personal with some of the icebergs floating in the water.  We could reach out and easily break off chunks of ice.  They are not actually huge, single pieces of ice; rather, they are ice that has been compacted over time with pockets of air that bubble and fracture as the sun reaches them.  Our guide asked if anyone wanted to take a piece with them, which we though was a joke.  But he said this compacted ice is very slow to melt.  We didn't take any with us, but we did have a taste!

on board the Scirocco

the bluish ice is where the air pockets were bubbling

Too quickly our time on the water was over, and we cast off our life vests and made the trek back to the bus.  People were being quite pokey, stopping for lots of photographs; this must be a bit maddening for the guys who run the operation, but they were all pleasantly patient, or patiently pleasant?

On the drive back, our guide recommended a visit to the Chamois Bar for dinner, as opposed to the hotel restaurant.  After going to our room, which turned out to be quite a hike from the front lobby, we drove down the road to the Chamois.  They didn't serve food for another hour, so we enjoyed the mountain view, and I watched Tim play himself in darts - guess who won?  Had a nice dinner and enjoyed people-watching with the many nationalities gathered there.  

Never knew a chamois was a goat!