Whales, Seals and Kayaks

Our next destination was Kaikoura, on the east coast. This small town is on the tourist map because of the deep drop in the sea depth which attracts whales of many kinds. Some male sperm whales have made this place their home and they can be seen year round. The drive down the coast was quite pretty, but Oren spent most of the time worrying we would get stuck without petrol...

We arrived in town, walked around the two streets and prepared for our whale trip the next morning. The boat took us out to open water and we looked for the whales using some sort of 'whale radio' - the captain of the boat put this thing in the water and listened to them 'talk' in order to find them. The sperm whales hang out for 10 minutes on the surface, breathing and resting, before diving for 50 minutes. When we found the first whale we just stared at it breathing until it made a beautiful slow dive into the deep water.

We managed to catch a film of one of the dives. On the way back we were accompanied by a group of playful dolphins. We were both as excited as school kids as they jumped and swam around the boat.

After Kaikoura we drove back north, relying on the weather report that promised us some sun. Our plan was to visit the Abel Tasman National Park and do a one day kayak trip in the marine reserve. There you can spot seals and if you are super lucky (we weren't) even small penguins.

It was a nice day in the sun, working on our paddling muscles and enjoying the views. As seasoned river canoers we already applied our experience when facing the sea waves :-)

Today we had a long day on the road, driving south along the west coast. We broke our trip with a stop at the 'pancake rocks' - interesting and bizzar rock formations along the coast.
Most of the view along the way was grey sky, brown coast and big rocks in the sea.

p.s.

We still haven't seen any penguins apart from the ones on the road signs, but we are not giving up yet.

Wellington and cycling the Queen Charlotte Track

After spending a few days in Wellington we left the North Island and moved down south. The city left a nice impression on us (as did the wine selection in the supermarket). It was also our last days with our buddy Florian, which was very emotional (yet another reason to go out and drink another glass of wine). One of the strangest things was that every day, as we were walking in the streets, we saw signs in cafes, restaurants and shops saying they are closed. And that was in the middle of the day! Don't these people want to make money?



On the morning of our ferry to the South Island we had a bit of a scare. Our car refused to start (it probably felt neglected after being parked on the street for 3 days) and I (Oren) had to run around in the street (Sunday at 6:20 a.m) stopping every car and begging for jumper cables. Eventually a cab driver helped me out (after I told him I would pay for his time) and we made the ferry.

From Picton we went on the Queen Charlotte Track, a lovely 3-day, 71 km trail going around the wonderful bays in lush bush. It is unique amongst the other Great Walks in that it can be done by mountain bikes and that taxi boats carry your stuff from one accommodation to the other. Perfect! we thought. Let's go for it. We should have been a bit wiser given the following conversation at the bike rental shop.

Guy at desk: Do you have any experience riding on single tracks?
Us: {silence... awkward looks at each other} Err.. what exactly do you mean by single track?
Guy at desk: It's a track that is one meter wide or less.
Us: Ahh {more looks...} Hmm.. No.
Guy at desk: Ok, no worries. Do you ride mountain bikes regularly?
Us: {with a smile} No.
Guy at desk: How would you rate your level of expertise - beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Anita: Beginner.
Oren: {trying to think if I can get away with saying intermediate...} Beginner.
Guy at desk: Alright. Just fill out this form.
Us: {signing the form which says we can't sue the company if something goes wrong}

We started the trail 4 km after the begining, skipping one big hill. It didn't make our life much easier, because there was another hill just after that. When they said 'you can mountainbike the trail' I didn't really imagine we would be facing steep ascents, rocks, tree roots, dry pine and scores of other obstacles. There was a bit of hatred as we pushed our bikes up the hill, sweating like hogs. Like most things it must go worst before it gets better, and Anita had a bit of an accident, flipping forward (in a graceful way). The adrenaline helped her out and she was laughing a second later. From there on it was pushing up hill and cycling on the straights and downhill. The only thing that bothered the silence was bird songs and our 'ah', 'oh' 'AIIII' and 'scheisse' screems as we hit things and bounced of various objects. When a clearing in the bush came we were faced with brilliant views which made all the hard work worth it.



We had nice picnic lunches when we got tired and ignored the few proper mountain bikers that passed us by, cycling in ease.



At the start of the second day, after leaving our bags at the jetty (a little doc) for the taxi boat to pick them up, our butts hurt so much we could barely sit on the bike.


We did more pushing, more whining and a few 'Ich kann nicht mehr. Ich will nicht mehr!'. But soon the fun downhill parts came and Anita's childhood BMX days helped her jump over the hurdles on the way. The combination of fearing for our lives and the speed rush was awesome. Luckily, our next hostel was close to a shop and we rewarded our efforts with some snacks on the deck.


The last day was wet. The rain started at 8:00 and didn't stop for a minute. We decided to take a detour, cycling on a paved road, to avoid a techincal climb. After an hour, we rejoined the track, wet like rabbits. For some odd reason we decided to go on. So we did and somehow got much wetter!
Going downhill is not as fun when everything is slippery, wet and muddy. We went through a few big puddles, filling our shoes with water and mud. It was quite miserable (and there were no views, everything was behind the clouds). Somehow we got all the way through (and even quite fast) but we looked like crap (and felt like it, too).


We waited for our taxi boat for 3 hours in an outdoor wooden shelter. We rubbed each other for warmth and used one dry towel, which we brought as a seat cover, to dry our wet feet. Luckily, a nice guy from the UK lent us a fleece and we got a bit warmer.

All of this was forgotten once we were back in Picton at our lovely hostel (the tombstone), sat in front of the fire and had a great dinner.

Feeling New Zealand

In the last week or so we have been getting more and more into the 'New Zealand experience'. After going back to Auckland for Yom Kippur we drove south to Rotorua. On the way we visited a sheep farm and since there are 10 times more sheep than people in this country the Kiwis take their sheep seriously.


In Rotorua, a town famous for its natural hot springs and Maori culture, we went to see a Maori cultural experience evening.












We heard interesting explanations about the old legends and spirits and about customs and rituals. There was also Maori dancing with the famous Haka at the end (and one performed by the crowd). One of the highlights was a Hangi dinner. A traditional way of cooking food on hot coal under the ground. Since both Anita and I had been fasting for 25 hours we were starving and it was a brilliant way to end the fast. We ended the tour with hot chocolate and the exploding geyser outside.

The next day we ventured West to Waitomo to see glowworms. These are odd maggets that have a small green light in their butts which shines in the dark. We walked in two caves, one with interesting formations and the other with the glowworms. Once our eyes got used to the darkness it was like going to the planetarium. The entire cave was lit with tiny green dots (unfortunately we don't have any nice pictures besides the view outside the caves, so you will have to use your imagination).

We left Rotorua after doing a downhill luge, another one of the strange activities one finds here, and a relaxing visit to the Polynesian Spa where we sat (again) like shrimp in hot smelly pools.

Our next stop was Taupo and we were positively surprised to discover that enough snow has melted in the mountains so that we would be able to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This is a hard one day trek (around 18 km) in the mountains which are famous from Lord of the Rings (mt. Mordor). We got all our warm clothes ready, rented some funny-looking fleece trousers and got on the bus. The hike was not easy. A few sections were very steep and windy but the views were great. Having snow obviously made the trek a lot harder. Some parts were quite deep, but it also added so much to the scenery. On the way down we slid on our butts on one slope (shortcut!) and arrived, exhausted and happy at the bottom, just in time for the bus back to the city.




















In the evening we celebrated our day with some other people we met on the hike and had a long and silly night sampling local wine and relaxing our muscles.









Mysteriously enough, although there are no dangerous creatures in this country, Anita's hand was as swollen as a tennis ball, after having been bitten by something 2 days ago. Because we wanted to go canoeing and needed Anita's grip we went to the doctor and got her some pills. The pills did wonders and her hand returned to normal proportions (with some 'extra skin' hanging). So, all fit, we decided to do a 3 day Canoe trip in the Whanganui river. Florian, who we met on the crossing, joined us as our rescue Kayak.


On this river trip we were joined by a nice Swiss couple (we are practising our Swiss German!) and we all rowed down the mostly quite river with all our equipment in big blue barrels on board.
Although no experience is required, there were a few rapids that required some serious rowing and coordination. Anita was in charge of identifying obstacles and I was in charge of steering and providing support and reassurance that we will not flip over. Florian, however was not that lucky and he capsized and had to finish the rest of the day wet and cold. The last day provided us an encounter with the jet boat. These big motored boats fly up the river with tourists creating huge waves. Every time we heard a bit of noise we rowed frantically to the banks of the river to hide. But the last picture proves that we finished the tour with a smile.

Cozze di mare

It's been now a week for us in not so sunny New Zealand and we have been travelling across the North Island to places with lovely names like Whangarei (pronounced Fahn-ga-ray), Paihia and now Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula...where I am celebrating my birthday today :-).

The highlights of the past week are as follows: Oren turned into a sperm whale while diving in Tutukaka in 15 degrees. Meanwhile I went on a private Maori tour where I learned a bit about the history, traditions and edible plants. My guides Eva and Gloria were extremely funny and we had a really good time, so that no one paid attention to the watch. My tour ended up being 4 hours long instead of 2.5.

In Paihia we went on a boat trip hoping to be lucky and see some dolphins - potentially even swim with them.

All that happened was that Oren was attacked by vicious sea gulls and I spent most of the time outside in the back of the boat, filling up one paper bag after the other with my breakfast and yesterday's green lipped mussels. (Sorry for the details, but it was a traumatic experience. Unfortunately, Oren was too busy replacing my bags and there are no 'action' pictures...).
As a compensation for the unsuccessful dolphin trip we treated ourselves to excellent burgers (a DUDE burger and a Rasta Vege) in the evening accompanied by some good live music.

The next day we visited the birth place of modern NZ: the Treaty House at Waitangi. We had an interesting tour of the place where the treaty between the Maori chiefs and the Brits was signed.
Most of yesterday was spent on the road towards Coromandel which took us around 7 hours. On
the way we had to readjust our personal record books: last year we went to Gilroy in California which is famous for garlic. We then decided that this is the oddest thing a town can be famous for. Enter Kawakaka. It hosts toilets created by the famous Austrian architect Friedrich Hundertwasser. Now that is even weirder.

On the topic of weird attractions, we are now in Hot Water Beach where you can dig your own jaccuzzi during low tide. As soon as we arrived, we packed the shovel and went down to the beach where many people were already boiling like shrimp. No one cared it kept raining all the time.

Auckland - Diagonal Crossing and Step Brothers

One feature of Auckland, possibly a Kiwi thing, is the diagonal crossing. You know when you stand at a traffic light and wait for a green light to cross in one direction, let's say north, and then wait for the next green light to cross again to the east?
Well they made it easier down here - you just walk in the middle of the road in diagonal. At a certain point they just give a red light for all the cars and a green one for all the peds (pedestrians). all you have to do is run quickly and make sure you don't bump into anyone crossing in the other diagonal.
Genius.

We found out about this as we were walking into the cinema, trying to stay awake so we won't fall back into jet lag hell again. We watched Step Brothers and it was hilarious. My brother and I have a tradition. Every time I come for a visit we allocate one night for takeaway, deep meaningful conversation and a dumb movie. In the past few visits that meant Will Farrell and after the last film - Semi Pro, I left feeling that he might have run out of tricks.
I was wrong. He just needed to make a movie not about sports..
Anyway, we peed our pants and managed to stay awake long enough to almost beat the jet lag.

Hong Kong Pictures