Serious Travel

About a week ago I left my cozy little room at Bunny’s house and set off on a little tour of the South Island. I made it to Queenstown, Wanaka, Lake Tekapo, and Christchurch. Tomorrow, I fly out of Christchurch to Auckland and beyond.

It’s been a lovely week.

I went hiking and paragliding in Queenstown, and got to see the beautiful Milford Sound. In Wanaka, I got a bit of R and R, while chatting away with some cool fellow travelers at the hostel, and then got my first taste of fly-fishing. On the drive up to Christchurch, I had a picnic lunch beside the beautiful Lake Tekapo (you don’t get water this clear back home!).

So Queenstown. I can see why people either flock to it or avoid it like the plague. If feels at once like your typical ski resort town and a beach town. Come to think of it, they are both pretty similar. If you’re young, like to spend your nights in bars and days jumping off of things, this is your place to be. If you like good food and wine, have some money to spend and like lounging in a location with spectacular views, this is also your place to be.

But if you’re looking for something a little more…real, you might want to avoid it.

But anyway, Queenstown is good enough to spend some time in. As usual, I found a little day hike to do. Cue the beautiful pictures.

And I went paragliding. Yep. I ran off the side of a mountain, attached to a stranger and a parachute. It wasn’t too bad. Actually, it was really pretty awesome. I will say though that while I’d been seriously considering doing something slightly more intense…like skydiving or bungee jumping, as soon as my pilot started twisting and turning us through the air, and my stomach started flipping over and over, I knew there was no way I’d get myself to jump off anything higher than a chair.

After that exerting day, I did something much more leisurely: sit on a bus for several hours on the way to the Milford Sound. The sound was actually miss named—it’s really a fjord, but the guys who first explored and discovered and named all these places managed to call all the fjords in this area sounds, so the name sticks.

We drove by a river so clean you can fill your water bottle with it.

It’s a long drive, but if you’re like me and enjoy staring out the window at beautiful things, you’re in luck, because the views from the bus windows range from dazzlingly beautiful to jaw-dropping-oh-my-god-ing-this-can’t-be-real gorgeous.

Then you get to the fjord, hop on a boat, and it only gets better. The trip is worth it, if only to get a look at what New Zealand looks like when it’s untouched. There is only one road from Te Anau to Milford Sound and for most of the way that road goes through a nature reserve. The sheep in their paddocks disappear, replaced by ancient forests and golden fields (or if you’re there when the lupin are in full bloom, everything is purple and blue).

Wanaka is a great antitode to the over the top tourist feel of Queenstown. I spent my 48 hours there fishing, sitting by the lake, eating ice cream, and going for walks. On of my roommates at my hostel was an Australian. It’s temping to describe him as “older” because in backpackers anyone over 30 seems old. We started talking while we were each making our respective dinners. He saw me putting my sandwhich and veggies into a Tupperware container.

“Are you taking that somewhere?” He asked, pointing.

“Yeah, I’m going to go eat it by the lake.” I said, “I love picnics and this is the best place to do it.”

“That’s a wonderful idea. If you wait to minutes for me to eat my noodles, I’ll join you.”

A few months ago, I would have been weirded out my a guy definitely twice my age offering to join me on a picnic by a lake. But these days I’m trying to say yes to these sort of cool experiences. Even after talking for just a few minutes, it was obvious that he was well travelled, and I wanted to hear the stories he must have.

So a few minutes later, we were walking down to the lake, an unlikely couple. We found a shady spot by the lake because the sun is strong in this part of the world. My new friend had already made fun of me for my baseball cap, asking why Americans wore them when they didn’t protect more than the face. I shrugged.

We spent the next three hours sitting there, idly chatting about various things—our travels, his job, my study plans, New Zealand, the differences between the Maori, Aborigines, and Native Americans, lakes, the wonderful way kids can entertain themselves for hours on a beach…

Eventually the sun went down, it got cold really quickly, and my friend said goodbye, picked up his stuff, and headed back to the hostel. I stayed back for a while, bought myself an ice cream, and wrote a bit, enjoying the view of the lake.

The next lake I saw was Lake Tekapo, which, also if you catch it during the right time of year is wildly beautiful. I missed out on all the purple flowers, but was still blown away by the lake itself. I've never seen a lake quite like this, and that's saying something seeing as I was raised surrounded by lakes. But Tekapo's got clear waters. Really, really clear waters. 

But I didn't have much time there, and suddenly struck by the fact that I was nearly done with my time in New Zealand, I picked up a stone, kissed it, and tossed it in to the water.

Trout Fishing on the South Island

“Nice cast,” Paul said, looking over my shoulder. “Further out next time.”

I nodded and pulled out a little more line before starting to fake cast. One. Two. Three. Four and down. The fly landed way left of where I wanted it to go. I watched it float downstream a bit before pulling the line back in. One. Two. Three. Four and down.

That cast was better. The fly floated down again, up over the head of the rainbow trout I’d had my eye on. The trout paid no attention to it.

One. Two. Three. Four and down.

I cast some hundred times during my day fly-fishing just outside of Wanaka. I managed to hook three fish. Didn’t actually catch anything, but Paul, my guide and teacher, was sure to tell me that having never fly fished before it was pretty great that I’d gotten the hang of the cast and managed to hook three fish throughout the day.

On my part, I couldn’t stop grinning. I was having a blast. I was learning how to fly fish in a spectacular setting, walking along the banks of an unbelievably clear river. It was great. It was better than great. It was just what I was hoping for.

I finally felt like I was getting to the great outdoors like I’d been hoping to do. Yeah, I’d gone on some day hikes, but this was something different. There wasn’t a path that we were sticking to. I’d crossed the river some five times already, slipping and sliding my way across. It was beautiful out there. Gorgeous. Reds and oranges and greens. Mountains just a stones throw away.

No matter that I didn’t catch any fish. That’s how it goes sometimes. But my first day fly fishing is one I won’t forget in a hurry. 

ch-ch-changes, part 2

Hi. Hello. So…I have three full days left in New Zealand. One of those days will pretty much be spent in an airport, so that makes it only two days.

So that’s kind of sad.

But on another note, that means that things are once again a-changing. I’m going to Thailand. What?

Okay, so I just wanted to post this teeny tiny blog to let you know of a few things.

•         I am going to Asia. That’s exciting. And terrifying.
•       That means the blog schedule will change again. I won’t have my laptop with me (Oh no! how will she survive!), so that means that blogging will be sporadic and dependent on getting to an internet café. But I will try and post blogs. Optimistically, I’m thinking once every one or two weeks.
•       There is a group blog. This time round, I’m traveling with other people, and the organization behind this trip has set up a group blog for my lovely group of soon to be friends. That is located here.
•        And I’ll be home in early May

But so yeah.

That’s happening (cue the silent screams. Are they from excitement? Or terror?)

Otago Peninsula

There’s a certain list of animals that all little kids know exist. You can probably name them off with me: lions, tigers, bears, sharks, elephants, giraffes, dolphins, whales, kangaroos, polar bears, eagles, snakes, penguins, bats.

There’s a certain list of animals we grow up knowing about. Either because they are found in zoos or circuses or our picture books.

But it’s always a strange thing to realize that they actually, truly exist.

It was strange to see a real live lion in Africa. They are huge, covered in fur. They don’t look like they should be real, they look like they should be plush toys. The way they move when they are lazy in the sun enforces that feeling—they are languid, and slow, soft. Of course, if I saw one hunting I might feel differently.

I recently experienced another one of those how-strange-to-realize-they-really-exist moments. With penguins.

One of the reasons I looked for a WWOOF host in Dunedin was that Dunedin is on the edge of the Otago Peninsula—a stretch of land that proudly calls itself “New Zealand’s wildlife capital.” Obviously I had to go there.

Besides spending three afternoons going on long walks through the bush in and around town I did get a chance to venture out onto the peninsula. People come to the peninsula in search of four animals: Royal Albatross, Yellow-eyed Penguins, Fur Seals, and Sea Lions.

Luckily, I got to see all four of those.

The Otago Peninsula has the world’s only main land nesting colony of Royal Albatross, so I took a little cruise out on the water to view them from the sea. They’re gorgeous birds, too big for my mind to understand. I only really saw them from a distance, but, nerd that I am, I thought it was really great to see them fly. They don’t flap their wings, but rely on the wind to help them soar.

Albatross nest

Can you spot the albatross?

New Zealand fur seals dot the shore line as well, so I got a great look at those cute little things. The story of these animals is sad—their population is only just recovering from the massacre that occurred when Europeans discovered the great numbers of seals in new Zealand and, knowing that they’d make a great profit, hunted them nearly to extinction. (Same goes for the whales that used to be found in these areas as well, but their numbers are still very, very low).

As far as the sea lions go, I don’t know much about them. And I don’t have a photo to show you as the only one I saw was a ways away and quickly went back into the ocean before I got a picture.

But let me tell you about penguins. Let me tell you about penguins.

Depending on who you ask, Yellow-eyed Penguins are either the world’s rarest penguins or tied as being the rarest penguins with another kind. But, so, yeah, there aren’t many of them left. In New Zealand, their numbers have gone down mostly due to  habitat destruction. These birds are shy, and refuse to nest within eyesight of other penguins. That means they need lots of bushes and hidey holes. But since much of New Zealand has been cleared for sheep or cattle to feed on, those bushes have disappeared.

There are parts of New Zealand now, like where I saw them, where organizations have deliberately planted native bush along the beaches in order to provide the penguins the habitat they need.

Seeing these penguins was weird and strange and wonderful. It’s so strange to realize that they actually exist. They are so unique and move so differently and just appear out of nowhere out of the ocean.

Just hopped out of the water

My tour guide told me that people connect more with the penguins than they do to the albatross. I can see why.