The Cutlery Chronicles: New Zealand

Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts

Sunday 7 June 2015

Week 24: NEW ZEALAND - Lake Tekapo → Mount Cook → Queenstown → Milford Sound

Image of the week: hiking through Mount Cook National Park
More images at the end of post
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Where in the world

Onwards south from Christchurch, with a night spent at Lake Tekapo, two in Mount Cook Valley, one in Queenstown, and four at Te Anau for easy access to Fiordland National Park.

Thoughts

I write this with just a few more nights left in this country, and panic is starting to set in.

Quite simply, this has been the most visually dazzling place I've ever visited. I want to look at all of it. There's still so much of it I haven't seen. I need more time, I'm not ready to leave. I'm already missing it.

To ease the ensuing torment of tearing myeslf away from this place, I've been enjoying editing all of the pictures. I can already tell I'm going to waste hours back in the UK looking over them with wistful nostalgia. And boy, have I taken a lot. It's hard not to, when everything looks so freakin' amazing.

a glassy and limpid Lake Tekapo - the second best place in the world for stargazing -
New Zealand
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There can't be that many places in the world that have streams so clean and clear you can drink directly from them (you can see a video of me a little further down doing so).

Or where lakes are an arresting turquoise blue because of rock ground by the power of slow-moving glaciers to a powder finer than talc, the microscopic particles then suspended in the water and catching the sunlight to reflect such an unusual colour.

clouds so low you can actually touch them
the steep sided, flat-bottomed and glaciated Eglington Valley
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Or where you can quite literally touch early morning stratus clouds. Or where you can hike around the country's highest peaks found in Mount Cook National Park, the same place where Sir Edmund Hillary developed his climbing skills before becoming the first man to conquer Mount Everest.

Mount Cook Valley, New Zealand
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(Incidentally, the avalanche risk the day we went hiking was medium. We heard one on the otherside of one of the mountains, a deep rumbling moving through the infinite silence. Both a bit scary and exciting.)

Or where you can cruise along calm waters between sheer cliffs carved out by centuries of ice erosion, surrounded by rainforests clinging to vertical rock faces and cascading waterfalls that thunder into the depths below, as we did during a cruise through Milford Sound with Southern Discoveries (see Did you know? below).

the sheer cliffs of Milford Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand
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On the note of that cruise, not only did we get clear skies in what is one of the raniest places on the planet, but a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins came out to join us, swimming beneath and alongside the boat, effortlessly gliding, splashing about, playing. Utterly magnificent beasts, and way bigger than I was expecting.

So yeh. New Zealand has been laying it on pretty thick. It's going to be tough getting on that plane.

Here I am drinking directly from Monkey Creek stream, on the Milford Road between Milford Sound and Te Anau, and a bit of the surrounding scenerey.

The best things I ate this week

Fergburger, Queenstown

Thanks to motel kitchens, kitchenettes and communal cooking spaces (see My insider tips below), we've mostly been rustling up our own dinners. Which has saved a good number of pennies.

But I must mention the Fergburger. Almost every Kiwi I know told me I had to pay a visit to their only branch in Queenstown. It's a bit of an institution, always busy, and open until 5am.

Fergburger, Queenstown

The burgers are absolutely massive; 1/4 pounders on huge soft white baps.

There was a Tropical Swine: NZL beef, streaky bacon, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli, relish - hold the pineapple. And a double, with all of the blue cheese.

Despite the key word in this section's title, it's not the best burger I've ever had. But top marks for size, staff enthusiasm and cool vibes.

Did you know?

I learnt a heap of fascinating things on the Encounter Nature Cruise through Milford Sound with Southern Discoveries. Fascinating to me, anyway. But then I love this stuff.

Not a sound

Milford Sound is not actually a sound at all. A sound is a v-shaped valley carved by a river, with rolling sides, subsequently flooded by a body of water. Milford Sound is a u-shaped valley with sheer cliffs, carved out by the erosive powers of a glacier, then back-filled by the sea. This actually makes it a fiord.

pod of dolphins that joined us, Milford Sound

European settlers incorrectly named it - along with all but one of the other New Zealand sounds - as they didn't have the knowledge or technology we do today to map out the shape of the valley bottom that lay, in places, a whopping 400m below.

When the mistake was eventually realised, it was agreed it would be too much hassle to change all the names.

Instead, they've given the region and its 14 fiords the collective name of Fiordland. And it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, don't you know.

Wetter than the Amazon

Milford Sound is one of the rainiest places on the planet. It gets two and a half times the annual rainfall of the Amazon (often considered as one of the wettest places in the world), and if there's been no rain in a week, a drought is declared.

Miraculously, it was all clear skies and sunshine the day we visited. What unprecedented luck.

the sheer cliffs of Milford Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand
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Waterfall drinking water

The community that live around Milford Sound are too far off the national grid to be able to use it. Instead, they harness the power of the largest waterfall there - the Bowen Falls - to generate all their electricity.

This waterfall also provides all of the drinking water in these parts; it comes out of the tap as it does from the waterfall, with no need for intervention, it's that clean. And it tastes great.

Here's a video of us getting up close and personal to the frigid cold, crystal clear and invigorating spray from Stirling Falls, one of the other thunderous waterfalls in Milford Sound. A 'glacial facial' as the Southern Discoveries tour guide like to put it.

Refreshing, to say the least.

Prices for the Discover Nature Cruise during the winter are $76 (£38) for adults and $16 (£8) for children. Summer prices differ. The cruise lasts for around 2 hours and 15 minutes with different departure times.

We made our own way to Milford Sound by car, from Te Anau where we were staying, but pick-up and return from either Te Anau or Queenstown can be included at an extra charge. Food option add-ons are also available. Check the website for more details.

Note: Southern Discoveries kindly hosted our cruise at a discounted media rate as part of the Explore New Zealand Programme. All views remain my own.

Thousands of years of thunderous swirling water with pebbles in have sculpted really alien looking smooth basins in the rock, when passing through this narrow passage.
Deep, round holes. Perfectly polished walls.
The Chasm, on the Milford Road to Milford Sound - New Zealand
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My insider tips

We'd never stayed in a motel before we came to New Zealand; I'm not even sure I knew what a motel really was. If you're wondering the same, it's a type of hotel designed for motorists (hence the m, I guess), consisting of connecting rooms whose doors usually face a parking lot.

Depending what's on offer and what type of room you book, some will have a little kitchenette, some a fully equipped kitchen, whilst others will have large and comfortable communal lounge and kitchen areas, often with roaring fires. We've been staying in a lot of these and have really enjoyed them. Simple, functional, and great value.

Another new option for us have been holiday parks. They can be found in cities, forests, National Parks, beside the sea and pristine lakes, all over the place.

our self-contained cabin at Shotover Top 10 Holiday Park, Queenstown
New Zealand
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One we particularly enjoyed was Shotover Top 10 Holiday Park in Queenstown, who offer a bed for every budget with a variety of accommodation options. From tent camping and campervan sites, basic cabins to comfortable motel rooms, to group accommodation for large parties, self contained units and luxury lodges.

What's particularly show-stopping is its location, a stunning alpine setting just 4km (seven minute drive) from the centre of Queenstown. We had a completely adorable self-contained cabin, like a compact wooden chalet, very comfortable, modern and extremely cosy, with a little deck, kitchenette and space to park next to it.

These are a great alternative to what can sometimes be soulless hotels, and a fantastic option for motorists, be you with car or campervan.

Prices vary for accommodation type, but this self-contained cabin starts from $100 (about £50) per night.

Note: Shotover Top 10 Holiday Park kindly hosted our stay at a discounted media rate as part of the Explore New Zealand Programme. All views remain my own.

the road into Mount Cook Valley, New Zealand
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Highlight / Lowlight

Highlight

I mentioned in last week's post we were hoping for a spot of star gazing at Lake Tekapo. But the weather forecast back then was questionable.

Sure, you can look up at the night sky anywhere. But the reason for getting so excited about doing so in this part of the world, is because this area is part of a UNESCO protected dark sky reserve.

(Also, I studied astrophysics at university, and it's been about 10 years since I last looked through a telescope - so you can add a couple of notches onto my excitement levels).

the top of Mount John during the day, where we were stargazing the night before -
Lake Tekapo, New Zealand
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It's a haven free from light pollution in the middle of New Zealand's South Island, with lighting controls protecting the pristine skies. In addition, the air is dry, so there's little moisture to get in the way of observations.

All this makes it one of only a handful of Gold Standard Starlight Reserves on the whole planet. And actually, Lake Tekapo has recently been acknowledged as the second best place to stargaze in the world.

Well, the powers that be were smiling down on us, because the single night we were there, under one of the darkest skies on the planet, there wasn't a single cloud.

Lake Tekapo just after sunset. Clear skies for stargazing -
New Zealand
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We secured the last two places on the Mount John Observatory Tour that evening with Earth & Sky, driving us up the mountain by Lake Tekapo (a road closed to the public at night), under the cover of complete darkness - not even the bus headlights are allowed to be on.

What followed was two hours of frigid cold with utter engrossment. The people studying at the observatory act as guides, introducing visitors to the objects and constellations visible in the sky to the naked eye, pointing them out with lasers that seem to reach to infinity.

Then there's looking through the portable but powerful telescopes, and the the impressive 16" Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector (a very big and fancy telescope) inside the permanent dome. It's not every day you get to look at a star nursery, 1000 light years across and 160,000 light years away, with your very eyes. Even beginning to fathom those distances still makes my brain hurt.

If you bring along your DSLR camera, their astrophotographers will connect it to a tripod and try to capture a decent image for you, while you're busy listening to the guides.

Image taken by the Earth & Sky astrophotographer on my camera. That cloudy band across the middle is the Milky Way. And those dark patches are molecular dust clouds, bazillions and bazillions of miles away,
Mount John Observatory, New Zealand
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Below is an image taken by the observatory staff of everyone in our group that evening. It looks like it's daytime as the camera was set to a long shutter speed to collect all the available light. This creates a bright enough image without using the flash (no white light allowed in these parts), and to capture the stars in the sky. But trust me, it was night time.

Note the awesome coats provided, previously used by a US expedition to the Antarctic. Entriely necessary with the glacial winds ripping through the observatory grounds at that altitude. And really effective. They also hand out hot chocolate - bonus.

Mount John Observatory stargazing group of 31/05/15
(Matt's sitting on the floor, I'm third from the right in the front row)
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The moon was rather bright that evening, providing quite a bit of natural light pollution - try to coordinate a visit when it's a new moon (i.e. no moon in the sky), or there abouts, if that's feasible.

But being 1km up in the middle of the night, with the snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps all around us shimmering in the silvery moonlight, looking up at a sky we'll prob never see like that again, was really very special.

sheep at the bottom of Mount John, with the Southern Alps at the back,
Lake Tekapo - New Zealand
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Prices for this tour at this time of year: adults $140 (£70), seniors $130 (£65), children (8-17yrs) $80 (£40), and a couple of family group packages.

Note: Earth & Sky kindly hosted our visit at a discounted media rate as part of the Explore New Zealand Programme. All views remain my own.

Lowlight

The first equipment casualty of the trip occurred in Mount Cook Valley. Fumbling in my thick gloves, I dropped the camera lens cap on the floor whilst on a bridge getting the below shot.

It fell through a gap into the river below. I'm surprised it did't happen sooner to be honest. Queenstown was the next stop the following day so it was quickly replaced, and they're not expensive. Worse things have happened.

Mount Cook Valley, New Zealand
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Next week

A couple more days spent in Queenstown, before we catch a flight back up to Auckland where we'll stay near the airport for a stopover night.

We then bid farewell to the southern hemisphere and it's off to country number ten - the USA. Fist stop, Hawaii.

Postcards

Lake Alexandrina, view from the top of Mount John, New Zealand

skimming stones at Lake Wakatipu, so big it has its own beach - New Zealand

heading for forebodeing skies as we drive into Mount Cook Valley, New Zealand

hiking through Mount Cook Valley, New Zealand

Not bad, considering no tripod. Image of the night sky at Lake Tekapo - New Zealand

hiking through Mount Cook Valley, New Zealand

the turquoise colour of Lake Pukaki, New Zealand

Sunday 31 May 2015

Week 23: NEW ZEALAND - Wellington → Nelson Lakes → Hanmer Springs → Christchurch

Image of the week: breathing in that incredible air at glacial alpine Lake Rotoiti
More images at the end of post
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Where in the world

A few days in the capital of New Zealand, Wellington, followed by a ferry over the Cook Strait to South Island.

Continuing south, we stayed a night each in Picton, Murchison, and Hanmer Springs, ending the week in Christchurch.

Thoughts

I've realised why New Zealand is appealing to me so much; I'm a scientist at heart, and this place is a science mecca.

It's feeding my love of natural history, geology, astronomy (see Highlight below), conservation (see Did you know? below), and photography like nowhere else ever has. The country is like one giant Natural History Museum. And everyone - young and old - loves a Natural History Museum.

Remember how cool you thought Jurassic Park was when you first watched it? New Zealand has the same effect.

Maruia Falls, Murchison - South Island
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You'll notice I haven't written much about the cities. To be honest, we're not here for the cities, even though they've been nothing but very pleasant. We've mostly used our time in them to take it down a gear, indulge in some lie-ins, get some much needed laptop time under the belt, and stay in to eat pizza.

What we're really here for is all the glorious bits in between the cities.

Every road leads to an even more epic landscape than the last. Around every bend you're met with nature in its purest form, friendly people (one lady spent half an hour chatting to me in the supermarket wine aisle advising which ones I might like to try), and otherworldly views.

It's a spiritual and cultural destination like no other. Journeying through the country is a voyage of discovery - at once personal and universal - leaving you no choice but to reconnect with the elements, and take a moment to step back and put your hands together for our glorious planet.

miles and miles of vineyards in Marlborough, New Zealand
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One of my favourite spots from this week has been the Lewis Pass, one of three alpine passes to cross the Southern Alps. We stopped the car and did the short 800m Alpine Nature Walk, a loop track at the start of the St James Walkway.

It takes you through alpine wetlands, ethereal native silver beech forests, iced-over glacial lakes (at least, at this time of year) and provides some spectacular views of Gloriana Peak and the Spenser Mountains.

views from the Alpine Nature Walk at the start of St. James Walkway
Lewis Pass, Southern Alps, New Zealand
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We've had day after day of endless blue skies as we enter New Zealand's winter; thankfully nothing like the UK in that they might be cold, but they're more often than not clear and dry.

This country sure knows how to turn it on.

To close this section, I've always really liked UK comedian, presenter and author Danny Wallace's writing, and I've just stumbled across his top ten tips for New Zealand - a both informative and humorous read.

beech forests on the Alpine Nature Walk at the start of St. James Walkway
Lewis Pass, Southern Alps, New Zealand
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The best things I ate this week

Malaysian food in the capital

Dinner of the fried noodle dish char koay teow (this was my favourite street food I tried in the actual distrcit of Penang in Malaysia), roti and curries at Little Penang, Wellington. The place was rammed - we had to wait 20 minutes for a table - and the food was solid.

The noodles could have done with a bit more char flavour, but the constraints of a closed kitchen and all that. It was a good Asian fix, been missing those strong flavours.

Little Penang, 40 Dixon Street, Te Aro, Wellington City

Hokey pokey

I had been instructed by my cousin's Kiwi husband to try some hokey pokey ice cream. For the uninitiated, it's a New Zealand creation - vanilla ice cream with small bits of honeycomb toffee. It's a good'un.

top: Malaysian food in Wellington, hokey pokey ice cream
bottom: alpine toasty, coffee in Wellington

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Alpine lunch with a view

A proper greasy fried-off toasty enjoyed in warm winter sunshine. A good alpine café lunch, followed by the above ice cream, in a nostalgically dated cafeteria that still has the 'tray tracks' at the food cabinets from the 60's, I suspect.

Alpine Motor Cafe Restaurant, State Highway 7, Maruia

Coffee in Wellington

A great way to start a bright and brisk day in Wellington on Sunday morning, with a flat white from the must-visit Customs Brew Bar.

Customs Brew Bar, 39 Ghuznee St, Wellington

the flightless takahe, only found in NZ,
spotted in Zealandia, Wellington

Did you know?

There were no mammals in New Zealand

Before the first humans set foot on New Zealand's shores about 800 years ago, these lands had been isolated for 80 million years.

This long period all alone differentiated it from every other large land-mass on earth, in that the wildlife that had evolved here included no mammals.

No mammals! Try to imagine that for a moment; a land with only insects, reptiles and birds. Nothing with fur whatsoever, not even a mouse.

This meant that birds quite literally, ruled the roost. They were the top predators, and some of them were massive.

What a lack of mammals also meant, was that the creatures here had not needed to evolve to evade them. This meant New Zealand developed a totally unique ecosystem, not replicated anywhere else on the planet, that included a high number of flightless birds that live on the ground (e.g. the kiwi, weka, takahe).

a weka we spotted in the wild,
another flightless bird only found in NZ

When us pesky humans arrived - the first wave from Polynesia - we introduced mammals, both accidentally and intentionally.

First it was the rats that hitched a ride with some of these first settlers. Then there were possums, stoats, cats, dogs, livestock, and the rest. Almost without exception, these introduced fauna have been detrimental to New Zealand's native species of plants and animals.

Imagine a finely tuned killing machine that is a stoat arriving on these shores, surrounded by fat juicy birds that can't fly and which lay their nutrient-rich eggs in easily accessible nests on the ground. Or imagine how many tasty seeds, fruits, small lizards and invertebrates the rats had at their disposal.

The native flora and fauna were incredibly vulnerable, and many have paid the price through their extinction.

kākā, forest parrot only found in NZ

That's why one of the things you'll notice about New Zealand is just how much it values its extraordinary wildlife, and what great lengths it goes to to protect it. A whopping 70% of the plants and animals in this country can only be found in this country; if it disappears here, it's gone forever.

Which is why places like Zealandia in Wellington and the fantastic work they do is so important.

Just 10 minutes out from the city, a valley sanctuary of 225 hectares is penned in by a fence designed to exclude more than 13 species of mammalian pests. It's a ground-breaking, community-driven eco-restoration project and education facility.

It's ultimate restoration goal is to create a self-sustaining ecosystem representative of the pre-human state that existed in New Zealand approximately 1000 years ago.

It's a fascinating place, where I learnt all of the above. If you appreciate nature, wildlife, and conservation, it's a must-visit.

not the Jurassic Park film set, but the valley sanctuary of Zealandia,
just 10 mins out of Wellington City
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My insider tips

Cook Strait ferries

This follows on from the Lowlight below.

If you are booked on a crossing that gets cancelled, it's likely they'll tell you there's no room to put you on a later boat with them, or with the other ferry company (there are two).

Most people take this as gospel, and just transfer to the next available trip, which might be the following day.

We weren't convinced, so went to the office of the second ferry company to see if we could book directly with them. We could.

So, if they tell you there isn't any room to transfer you, and you really need to travel that day, go and see if the other company will take a booking directly.

Highlight / Lowlight

Highlight

It's no secret New Zealand has some of the best dark skies for stargazing in the world. In fact Lake Tekapo is ranked as second in the world (after the VLT - Very Large Telescope - in Chile) and it's the world's first UNESCO dark sky reserve, protecting it by law from light pollution.

We're going next week, and I have everything crossed for no clouds. Although the weather man predicts there likely will be. Typical.

This week, we visited The Carter Observatory in Wellington. We watched the We Are Astronomers show projected onto the dome of the planetarium, revealing the global collaboration, technology and dedication that takes place to inch ever closer to answering the unresolved questions of the Universe.

Carter Observatory, Wellington
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It got me excited like a kid again, and reminded me why I ever did astrophysics. It's mind-blowing to think how far we've come as a species from when Galileo first looked through a telescope 400 years ago. What will be discovered in the next 400 must be beyond our wildest imagination.

I spotted a quote on the wall amongst the fantastic exhibitions, which I thought was so on point:

"The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability.

Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land."

Prices for planetarium shows also include their multimedia exhibition, public telescope viewings if the weather permits (alas, not on our visit), and start at $18.50 adult / $8 child / $13.50 concession.

Note: Entry to the Carter Observatory planetarium show was kindly hosted at a discounted media rate as part of the Explore New Zealand Programme. All views remain my own.

Lowlight

We had a 13.30 ferry trip booked to cross the Cook Strait (the passage of water between New Zealand's North Island and South Island) on Tuesday, to get us and the car to South Island.

We turned up as instructed an hour early for check-in, only to be told it had been cancelled due to one metre high swells (waves). After a couple of hours wasted hanging around just to be told we couldn't be transferred to another trip, we eventually managed to get a space on a 20.00 boat with another company.

Well, by this time, the swells had increased to a whopping six metres. The ferry, and all its contents, were crashing down on top of huge waves, with plates and glasses smashing in the boat's restaurant kitchens. Staff came round handing out sick bags, and most passengers had their head stuck in one for the full three hour journey, the tortured sounds of retching echoing throughout the boat.

the morning after the ferry trip - Picton Harbour making up for the night before
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We took travel sickness pills before hand, and I believe thanks to these, we managed to keep our dinner down when all the lorry drivers around us didn't. How those massive trucks downstairs didn't topple over, I'm not sure.

The Cook Strait has some of the roughest waters around New Zealand, I later discover.

Here's a video of a particularly bad crossing in 2002. I think the lorries did actually topple over during this trip, a crane being needed to lift them out.