Liz and Richard's 2007 Adventures

Brief New Zealand update

As always, we're way behind.  Since we left Asia here are some experiences we've enjoyed - details to follow.

1)  Liz and Dick drive a 900 horsepower Pilot Boat after the Captain disembarks 3 pilots onto a freighter/tanker at sea off Napier Harbour

2) Liz and Richard crawl, stagger, float, dog paddle and survive on a 1.5 km trek along an underground river.  Why we would go for a hike 300 feet underground in 14 degree C water mystifies both of us, but it was fun!

3)  90 Mile Beach at the tip of the North Island - hardpacked sand and our guide Gordon - a most interesting human being - takes us for a drive on the beach and a life philosophy experience and Liz goes sandboarding

4)  Liz checks off a major life list item - we swim with Dolphins - 200 of them.  It is magical - only pics we have are before we got into the water

5)  Liz and Richard manifest growing fascination with very large mountains, very close up, from very small planes - Mount Cook and the cirques of the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers - Jim you would have loved it!

6)  Continuing a theme, we take a helicopter ride over the mountain range from Milford Sound with a stop at a glacial lake.  Liz's first helicopter ride - unfortunately she loved it.....there will be more helicopters in our travel life.  Note that Dickie is developing a tilt to his head and a manner scarily reminiscent of his name sake....Mr. Cheney!

We've just booked to take a Centurion Tank for a spin, so the reversion to childhood appears to be complete!  AT 52 tons the Centurion may be the largest "toys for boys" yet.  To come - Australia and diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

Will expand on above in later posts - hope everyone is well!

Best regards

Liz and Richard

Norfolk Island

We have a fascination with remote islands - Galapagos, Iceland, Easter Island, etc.  Norfolk definitely qualifies - 1600km east of Sydney, 1000km northwest of Auckland.  A volcanic tip rising out of the Tasman Sea, it is only 5k x 7k with a population of 1100-1500 persons (depending on who we talked to).

Norfolk is physically beautiful - the source of the eponymous Norfolk Pine, which while a houseplant in North America is a 200 foot tall giant here!

The climate is perfection - 70 - 80 degrees F all the time, cooler at night, tropical rains refresh without inhibiting and sea breezes are constant.

The history is rich, interesting and still unfolding:

- discovered by Captain Cook in 1774.....the Polynesians had been there first but left
- British set up a penal colony in 1825....notorious for its brutality and the source of many ghostly island legends (note street name)

- in 1856 some of the Bounty Mutineers (without Marlin Brando) moved from Pitcairn Island to Norfolk.  A third of the current islanders have names of Bounty Mutineers - Christian, Evans, Nobbs, etc
- Currently Norfolk appears to be a defacto colony of Australia - but that too is evolving

As always Liz had found us a perfect home, overlooking the sea, wonderfully appointed and owned by a couple (Barry and Pam) who delighted in gardening

Much to Richard's delight Barry is a hibiscus fan with some gorgeous types and much mulch, pruning and fertilizing conversation ensured

They also had a complete herb garden, chickens, banana plants, avocado tree, fig trees and hot peppers to die for (as we write our kitchenette is suffused with the fragrance of grilling hot peppers as Liz preps dinner - ps - it was delicious)

Like so many islands, Norfolk has some idiocyncratic rules

- no fresh vegetables/fruits may be imported.  Since the local produce is exceptional, this is not a problem....but an opportunity.  Haven't had tomatoes this good since we grew them ourselves

- there is a "casual" beef industry on the island - every man, woman and child is entitled to graze 10 head on the public roadways.  Cattle guards are everywhere and the fine for hitting a cow is painful - the cows grazing around the satellite dish is symbolic - not the identifying tags in the ears

- The island is tax free - liquor, wine, cigarettes, etc are cheap; gas is brutal ($2.00 AU per litre) but on a 3500 hectare island you can't go very far.  Neat feature - because there is no public transport on the island hotel rooms come with a car and kids can drive at 15.  We saw few motor bikes and virtually no bicycles....everybody drives.

We loved it.....off to "Slick's Butchery", our friendly butchershop, deli, fresh veg and Island history emporium.  The service was charming, the meat and veg sublime and we regretted not being here for 10 days - note that their bacon includes the pork loin

TREES

The Island is named after a tree.....or visa versa.  Everywhere are Tolkien like wonders.  Following some favourites

Tree Ferns - we love them because they conjure up visions of dinosaurs

One tree inhabitant is particularly fascinating ..... a spider - very large, harmless with elaborate webs (they're called 'community spiders')

One notable arboreal giant is a Banyan tree that covers an acre.  Unfortunately the access is over the airport runway so here's just a long shot.....yes, it's all one tree.

But our favourites were 5 giant ficus with writhing root structures that threatened to reach out and fold you permanently into their sylvan embrace.  We visited frequently in the changing light.  Too many photos follow of the hundreds we took.

Norfolk Island - 2

DINING

We cooked most meals in our suite....the local produce was too tempting (we just can't resist great hot peppers) but we did dine out twice.  The night we arrived was the fish fry at a nearby restaurant.  Excellent fish and chips, salad of local veggies, warm service and good value.

Then a lunch at Branka House - a charming colonial home with wraparound verandas and surprisingly good food.  A lamb rump salad with roasted peppers, feta, mustard and olive dressing; then a novelty in the middle of the Tasman Sea - seafood tortilla - prawns, scallops, local fish all wrapped in an island tortilla with tomato relish and sour cream.  Liz ordered a side of avocado, dill, horseradish cream salsa which was exceptional.  We're becoming addicted to avocados moments from the tree.  This was the calibre of cuisine we expected in the New Zealand wine country (more to come on that shortly) - local ingredients, creatively combined and skillfully prepared....photos follow:

Branka House has lovely gardens with some fun topiary, that Liz demonstrates below:

WATER AND POWER

While there is regular rain, the soil is porous and ground water runs off into the sea.  No new wells are allowed and locals subsist on rain water collected off their roofs.  Most homes have tanks the one below - where our water was stored.....it was very good

Because the island power comes from diesel generators, there are some interesting prohibitions:

- no air conditioners (except the hospital and computer rooms)
- no ovens.....locals BBQ really well
- no clothes driers
- no back lit signs  - no loss there

Incandescent bulbs are rare and you quickly get into the habit of conserving power....it's probably a lifestyle habit we all will need to adopt.

GETTING STUFF FROM AWAY

There is an airport - flights on Wednesday and Saturday; all else arrives by sea....only there is no harbour - the coast is a series of cliffs plunging into the sea with only a few small beaches.  Everything from toilet paper to a bus is offloaded onto small boats and brought ashore to one of two docks (see below).  For a bus they lash 3 boats together.  Since the sea is generally rough a cargo ship can stand off for many days waiting to deliver.

There are some charming stories about small boat deliveries.  One, possibly apocryphal, is that when the village ass ordered an expensive car - no surprise - it "accidentally" fell into the ocean.

More verifiable is that when a local bar owner ordered a shipment of Video Lottery Terminals, they "accidentally" fell into the ocean.  He was subtley advised that future orders of VLTs would also continue to fall into the ocean.  There are no VLTs on Norfolk Island

Here's a picture of the dock - note the crane works by hooking your truck up to the end of the cable.  They do have a large mobile crane for big lifts

There are feral chickens everywhere....

Norfolk Island - 3

THE PENAL COLONY

A scene of great brutality, the penal colony has been generally well restored.  Following some pictures

The Governor's Home - the Governor's ranged from sadistic monsters to pragmatic rehabilitators

The outlet to the sea from the stream thru the Governor's garden - the legend (or reality) is that one of the more ogre like governors had the prisoners dig a new path through the solid limestone as he didn't like the shape of the natural course

The Crankhouse where prisoners walked a treadmill to grind their grain....occasionally the multi ton grind stones came loose and crushed a lot of bodies.

Of particular poignancy is the cemetary.  Most of the prisoners were Irish (some as young as 11) caught stealing to feed their families during the potato famine.  There were 3 mutinies and a multitude of tragic stories.  Many of the headstones have been restored and they tell a sad tale of the time....and of the subsequent travails of the Bounty mutineer descendents

LIZ AND DICK GET RELIGION

We don't usually do churches, but St. Barnabas' on Norfolk touched us.  It is relatively small, physically beautiful and charming.

The woodwork is inspiring.  The roof is effectively an upturned boat with intricate joinery.  The pews are New Zealand Kauri wood preserved with whale oil, and finished with inlays of mother of pearl.  The stained glass was shipped from England as was the pipe organ - an interesting anecdote - the pipe organ made it all the way from England on a sail driven whaler with not a scratch, but was damaged by the local installers

One particularly charming feature is the individual hand needleworked pew cushions.  One can only assume that sitting on another family's cushion is a major faux pas!

Following our religious lapse, Liz reverted to childhood and went for a swing

As always we visited the local botanical gardens and were rewarded with sightings of blue and red parrots and a rare tropical Robin Red Breast

Norfolk added to our collection of signs.  The first is too cute to be real - we assume it's guy humour at our favourite butcher

Here Australia seems to assume some of the "local bully" perceived role that the US fills elsewhere resulting in the following

The local paper generated a series of fun want ads.  We were especially fascinated by what "sales" job requires the unique combination of fishing knowledge, computer skills and the ability to drive a forklift

We close with a bit of Island colour.....in the small local phone book you can find subscribers listed not only by name and address, but also by nickname.  Where else can you dial up "Diddles" or "Frenzie" on his mobile?

And some Island humour - one of the neighbours called his home "Hot Tin Roof" (most of the island homes have names) - other neighbours responded by naming their home in the "roofing" manner.  The series of gateway signs in a favourite of tour guides and sightseers

We were enchanted by Norfolk Island - wished we had booked longer than 4 nights and we just might return one day!

New Zealand - Cave Rafting

The photos are not ours - the reason will rapidly become apparent.

The experience raises two essential questions:

1)  Why are Liz and Dick wading around in the dark in a freezing cold river 300 feet underground in the middle of New Zealand?

2)  More importantly, why are Liz and Dick staying at a Dickensian version of Fawlty Towers without even the comic relief of John Cleeves......humour is not on the agenda at the Waitomo Caves Hotel.

We like caves - France, Galapagos, Easter Island,  Central NZ is a swiss cheese of caves (300+) - rivers disappear down sink holes only to pop up miles away.  We had to try.

The process is simple......everybody puts on a wet suit, rubber boots and a miner's helmet with a light, and grabs a large inner tube.  Dickie is clearly the grandfather of the group and Liz is one of only 2 females

We practice forming a chain on land so we can raft downstream together.

Then we practice jumping backwards 6 feet into the water in daylight, so we'll be able to do a similar move over the 2 waterfalls we'll encounter underground

 

Why we are not carrying a camera becomes self evident.

We learn that underground "rafting" is a misnomer.  We stagger, lurch, dog paddle and occasionally even raft for 1.5 kilometres underground.  We discover that helmets do work and that we would not have been happy coal miners.

We had a terrific time.  The ceilings of the caves (they're not really caves, more like large culverts) are hung with glowworms - strange insects with an even stranger ecology.  They live their whole life cycle in the cave in darkness.  During the larva stage they hang from the ceiling and emit a glow (same chemistry as fireflies).  Insects swept into the cave are trapped by sticky tendrils hanging down from the larva.  The net result is that as you crawl, stumble, wade and even sometimes raft, you stare up at a ceiling filled with organic stars.

It was exhausting and satisfying.

About the Waitomo Caves Hotel.   Town was booked up.  Hotel looked great from the outside....probably once was.  A room that even Oliver Twist would have found depressing.  Staff for whom the notion of customer service was unexplored territory.  Entertainment was excellence, however, as a cavalcade if guests assaulted the uncaring front desk person (the totally negligent Fiona) when they discovered that their incredibly expensive rooms did  not vaguely resemble the brochure.

We sipped scotch and smiled, went downtown for a pizza and returned to our cell before Nurse Ratchett could punish us.  Left very early the next morning.

Milford Sound - 1

Milford Sound is the scenic star that leads off every New Zealand travelogue.....and it is spectacular - mile high (literally) peaks plunging straight into the fjord, glaciers, waterfalls, etc.

We actually took a bus to get there, worse we discover that they let other people on our bus.....Liz is stunned

Contrary to expectations, it's a fun drive.  We have front row seats and the driver/guide is informative, amusing and wheels that 16 ton baby up the mountain roads like it was a Ferrari.  The high mountain valleys are portraits in blues and gold.   Some of the ranches (they call them stations) run for miles.  You wait for the theme music to cue Hoss and Little Joe  and the opening credits.

There are a series of Lakes (ponds, actually) in one of the valleys that have amazing reflective properties....and a really clever sing (the bottom part is a reflection)

The mountains trap the clouds and create micro rainforests; luxuriant vegetation, waterfalls and (originally) some amazing birds....most sadly now extinct.

The Sound is a series of panoramic splendors crying out for a painter to capture them

There are numerous waterfalls cascading from the hanging valleys

Seals sun themselves on the shore.  They are New Zealand fur seals - very small.  Would fit nicely in our backpacks and love the Jacuzzi at home!

Having too much fun we opted to take a helicopter part way back and get picked up by our bus.  The original plan was to land on a high glacier, but clouds moved in and we shifted to an alpine lake.  It was gorgeous.  Liz was ecstatic.

(comment from Liz re photo below - I'm turning 50 in a couple of weeks and I've earned everyone of those crinkly lines!)

You can see another Blue Helicopter on the point as we come in to land (1/3 of the way from the left; 2/3rds down - it's very small)

The lake is a natural infinity pool that spills out over the world's 5th highest waterfall - first a photo of the lake and then the waterfall from the other side

Milford Sound - 2

The helicopter ride through the glacial valley was a geology lesson  It was amazing to realize that the Milford Sound most tourists see is a fraction of the miles of remote valleys.....a while back they discovered a flightless parrot that had long been believed extinct.  We're not big roller coaster fans, but we do have perverse fascination with mountains up close (the white stick is the aerial on the nose of the helicopter)

Passing over the road exiting the tunnel into Milford Sound, you get some sense of why we took the bus

It seemed like a good opportunity to try the video mode on our still camera.  Following are 3 short videos

1)  our take off from the glacial lake

2)  climbing over an arete to reveal the switchback road

3) landing to meet our bus

The following are links to the videos on YouTube - you should be able to view them if you have Windows media player or Quick time

 

Liz Drives 900 Horsepower

One of the delights of our stay in Napier NZ (most posts to follow regarding our two weeks in Napier) was our neighbours - Don and Mary Anne and their family.  Son Scott is the Captain of the Pilot Boat for Napier Harbour.....the boat that drives the Pilots out to the incoming freighters/tankers/container ships/etc.  He kindly invited us out for a run.

Always the good consultants we did our homework and drove up to the Napier lookout to see just what the Pilot Boat was.  You'll note it below - on the small dock in the wide scale view and in close up

The Port is surprisingly large as you'll note below.....

We arrive at the appointed time and day.  The Pilot Boat is immaculate and high tech.  Twin 450hp diesels, full electronics and navigation and the world's most amazing seats.  You could be sitting on top of the San Andreas Fault on a bad day and miss the earth shaking.

Now, a Pilot Boat does a simple, and insane, thing.  In a pounding sea the Pilot Boat pulls alongside of a ship - both ships still underway - the vessel's side looks like a 40 foot high steel wall.  Then without being crushed against the larger ship, the Pilot Boat disembarks a Pilot who grabs and climbs up a rope ladder to the deck of the ship.  One slip and he'll be Pilot Hamburger ground between the two vessels.

Off we go to put two Pilots on a tanker and then one on a lumber carrier.  They are charming and interesting men.

The Pilot disembarkation process is captured below.  Note that the people  outside on the foredeck where the action is happening are very relaxed and that Captain Scott manages to keep the Pilot Boat within a foot of the ship without scuffing the paint.

Some anecdotes......Pilot Boats have large tire bumpers all around.  Captains don't mind if you leave a black scuff mark, but bumping too hard and chipping into their rust coat is a no-no.  Toughest of all are the Cruise Ships (frequent visitors to Napier) who don't appreciate black scuff marks on their white sides at all.

A question that fascinates us.  The lumber ship has a basketball net on its aft deck.  How do you shoot hoops on a ship at sea?

" Hey Luis, that's the 5th ball you've lost overboard - you'll have to swim for the next one"

The Basketball yo-yo - the string never leaves your hand?

"Sorry sir, we're late with your cargo, but we lost 6 days going back to pick up basketballs"

Returning to port (we're almost 5 miles out) the unforeseen happens.  Captain Scott lets Dickie and Liz drive.  It's a lot harder than just aiming the bow, but 900 horses does instill an element of satisfaction.  Both of us glow with delight as shown below, especially Liz - when she brings the Pilot Boat into the dock!

Returning to Port, Scott reveals a delicious job perk.  He pulls up his personal lobster pot to tempt us with some of the largest pacific lobsters we've ever seen (they call them crayfish).  Scott smokes them - we covet them.  Where are smoked lobster on restaurant menus?  We increasingly believe the best food in NZ is in private homes

 

The Pilot Boat ride was an unplanned, unexpected life experience.  We had much fun, learned a lot and there's something terribly visceral when you grab those twin throttles and feel the floorboards rumble as 900 horses go for a gallop.

 

Flying over the Southern Alps

We have developed a potentially unhealthy predilection for very large mountains, very close up, in very small planes.

New Zealand's Southern Alps have a plethora of plane and helicopter tours to choose from; some even land on the glacier.  We chose Murray and his Cessna 185.  As always we arranged to tour without other bodies.  We really are becoming misanthropic

The day was bright and sunny, but a cloak of clouds clung to the lower icefalls and termini of the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers.  The Tasman Glacier was cloud free.

We were both taking pictures from both sides of the plane with both cameras (lots of "both" going on).....here's the visual experience, condensed into 3 categories

1) General mountain/cloud shots, notably the peak of Mount Cook (New Zealand's highest peak  - 12,000 feet)
2) Glacial ice fields; cirques, icefalls, snow packs, etc
3) the Tasman Glacier with its lateral and medial moraines

MOUNTAIN SHOTS

ICEFIELDS

TASMAN GLACIER

On the flight to and from the alpine peaks we passed over the bucolic New Zealand countryside - a series of river valleys bounded by the sea at one end and the mountain ridges on either side.  The valleys are visually stunning and Edenlike  -- both from the air and on the ground as we would learn on our drive the following day.  The vegetation is lush, punctuated with highly variable rivers - docile and meandering now....but subject to torrential flash floods, all terminated by the pounding sea.

As we flew over the coast we saw dolphins leaping in the sea.  Murray our pilot said he never swims off the beach because of the number of large sharks he sees cruising the shore.  We saw none; perhaps Murray was teasing the tourists.  We'll find out later this month when we dive on the Great Barrier Reef!

The above is a shot of where we stayed.

It was a delicious morning.  We then drove for 5 hours through fascinating country (and very winding roads) deeper into the south island on our quest to Milford Sound.

Swimming with Dolphins!!!

Liz here - I have always wanted to swim with Dolphins - we've seen them from boats but not been in the water with them before.  A friend (thanks Sarah!) told me about Swimming with the Dolphins in Kaikoura (90 minutes north of Christchurch).  It's a very well run operation that books up months in advance (only 13 swimmers are allowed in the water at a time)...........so I booked it in November.

We have only a few photos we snapped from the boat before we entered the water - Richard had a disposable waterproof film camera we haven't developed yet - but it all happened so quickly we don't know whether there will be any shots.

The pod of over 200 dolphins passed under our boat - we left port at 6am after donning full wetsuits and hoods (water is 16C), masks snorkels and flippers. 

The dolphins are nocturnal feeders and are now just goofing off for the day....mating (like humans they are always receptive, but only conceive seasonally) playing, leaping and examining these strange creatures - us!

The experience was magical.  The dolphins appear around us like wraiths.  You make actual eye contact with their huge orbs.  There are young calves paired with their mothers.  Then they disappear.  Other dolphins materialize out of the watery gloom, investigate us and also vaporize.

The experience is magical and momentary.  It repeats randomly.  The dolphins are in control - we are the curiousoties.

If you ever get a chance - swim with dolphins!