Mountains, Boulders, Glaciers, and Cats!!

The rolling hillsides, smoothed by glaciers, and occasional "pop-up" hills which look like domes, (the residual of lava flow) make the scenery highly variable and exciting. Deep ravines, astonishing cliffs, and overall beauty make this a delightful eyeball feast. On the north island there were almost always mountains looming in the distance, but on south island, sometimes vast flat expanses, then the alps rising as we continued south.  There were also places that had huge boulders and unusual rock formations. 

Moeraki Boulders - on the Pacific coast.  Not much known about their origin.

Elephant Rocks - in the middle of a farm.  If you look closely just above the date, you will see me standing at the base of that huge rock!

Pancake Rocks - on the west coast - The Tasman Sea.  During high tide, blow holes are amazing and entertaining.  Like the above rocks, there is little understanding of how these were formed.  Obviously, over many thousand years!!

An attempt to  capture a photo of the spray from a blow hole. 

Traffic is almost non-existant until you get into settled communities. It is not unusual, especially on the south island, to not see another vehicle for miles. Then at a look-out, maybe 2-6 vehicles. Caravans, as they call their motor homes, can be anything from converted minivans with curtains, up to rigs which look like they could sleep 6. many were big, bulky and several road-ways had signs noting "not proper for vehicle tows".

Occasionally, without warning, or a major highway, we would encounter a one-lane bridge, the sign indicates which direction has right of way (big blue arrow) versus "give way" (small red arrow) but a bit unsettling to be cruising at 100-110 kph ( 60-65 mph in US terms) to come upon one of these bridges. Occasional sheep, and rarely a cow or two, grazing along the road, no major sheep traffic jams so far.

Jay was fascinated with a lot of the road signs.

There were many signs about driving safely.  They were related to "drink driving", fast driving, driving when tired or sleepy.  The one above certainly gives a clear message.

A reminder for those of us used to driving on the right!!  Sometimes arrows were painted on the road.  Needless to say, we were very attentive to the reminders - as well as reminding each other!

This announces what we call a speed bump - in NZ it is a juddar bar.  Don't ask me why.

Guess what this is!!  Notice the one just ahead as well.  We crossed a one lane bridge (had to give way since we had the red arrow) that also was a train bridge!!  Well enough road signs.

Farm equipment on the road is another major challenge, as these monsters take up 1 1/2 lanes and unless there is shoulder you just have to follow until they turn off or find a wide spot. Haying is very active as summer ends, and huge bales and rolls of hay are everywhere in the fields. Almost all summer crops are gone, we were disappointed in the lack of tasty corn, but enjoyed squash, tomatoes, plums, apricots, nectarines, grapes (both raw and distilled into interesting varieties of wines, none of which we found to be spectacular and significantly more expensive than Australian imports, which we usually purchased).

Wine industry here is huge, growing and highly publicized, promoted and amount to large portion of the tourist industry. One town had over 20 wineries, most of which you could walk to - each had its own "cellar" (store) but we didn't find anything outstanding, and the prices were high, compared to the Australian imports, which we knew, so we went with the imports - maybe not patriotic but practical on budget.

There is also a small olive industry here, olive oil isn't evidently big sales item, but boutiquey sales and roadside stands - which we have usually passed before we noticed them, not much roadside advertising which is a refreshing change. Road and street signs require slowing down A LOT, since they are small and viewing spots, special attractions, museums, etc. directions are not well-displayed.

Information centers "i-sites" are evident in almost every village and town, and all over bigger cities. they can usually make reservations, advise (but not recommend, no favoritism permitted) available sites for food, lodging, etc. Brochures and maps about everything are all over the place. No problem getting info on any and everything you would ever want to know. some of the brochures are so creative they must have spin artists working hard: a tiny community north of where we first served has a sock factory, and a defunct store converted into a museum -sort of. the brochure would have you believe it is one of the most historic and scenic places you could ever visit - " scenic walking trails or tracks, picnic tables, museum", etc. etc.

Another word about bathrooms: every community has well-marked and generally clean public restrooms, mostly free but some have an admission fee, from 20 cents up to 50 cents, coin drop required to unlock the door. "Super-loos" even have shower facilities, but signs advise that camping and cooking equipment is not to be washed or cleaned in the sinks or showers. And the wash-water is not recommended for drinking.

Most are a little more discreet - not painted red.  Only experienced one the entire time we were there that was not spotlessly clean.  In fact, the country is so clean - very little litter.  They are proud of being "clean and green".

Bicycles: there are lots of bikers here, helmets required but not always observed. Saw one guy on a bike without a helmet drinking beer while crossing pedestrian walk-way. I guess those idiots are evey-where. Serious bikers in their bright racing togs and skinny tires, sometimes in packs, on roads, streets and even highways. the bike lanes in primary roads, and frequently in city streets, are well-marked, but secondary roads, mountain, and coastal roads, already narrow, leave no room for error. There is often no shoulder, and deep ditches (which will overturn a car if you go into them) are treacherous enough for motorists, much less bikers. And then there is the off-road drop-off which can be several hundred feet of direct fall into canyons.  We did see a smattering of guardrails in some areas, but generally nothing to prevent disaster if going over.

Travelling bikers: I must admit a new respect and even reverence for these people. When my little car is struggling up a mountain, and I see a bicycler pedaling up, I am astonished. They have saddlebags over the rear wheel, may also have one over the front wheel, and even have on a backpack. never saw any who had quit and were sitting on the side of the road, but saw a lot who seemed to be barely moving, and struggling very hard. I am not talking about just a few people, we have seen them almost every day, even in the rain. "Bless your heart" comes to mind. It's really scary to think about how exposed and vulnerable these folks are to so many dangers, but haven't seen any accidents - except for a few in-town fender-benders at intersections, only involving motor vehicles.

Sports: cricket of course, plus three styles of rugby ( bumper sticker: Give Blood, Play Rugby) a rough- and-tumble tackle variation of our football, except no time-outs, commercials, pads or helmets.  Just run with the ball - try to pass it BACKWARDS to a team-mate or kick it forward.  We didn't get to see a live game, but plenty on the telly.  They start playing these in grade school!  Their sports would never made it in the US since no time-outs for commercials.  Same with soccer, which is hugely popular. Dog and horse racing were noted in several areas, casinos and gambling machines are common in bars, pubs.

One of the oddest sports is netball: a women's form of basketball, with major exceptions. No dribbling, have to pivot on one foot if you have the ball, must shoot at a basket with no backboard. Opposing players can block with hands, arms, but cannot jump to try to block a shot. Very odd, sort of boring.

When we went to the West Coast, truly another step back in time, source of gold rush and coal mines, still rough and rustic, but with continued modernizing in the midst of 1800's buildings and memorabilia, coal museum, lots of historical references to floods, shipwrecks, and just east of the alps was the legendary James Mackenzie who rustled 3000 sheep into the high country. He was caught, convicted, escaped prison several times, was shot, eventually given a pardon, then left the country. He is something of a folk hero, and an entire district is named after him, plus a bronze statue erected in his memory..

This was a "gold mining town" - one of the more commercially build places - kind of like Knotsberry Farms in California.  Actually, there were not many places like that which was quite refreshing.

The train trip thru the Alps was amazing. Four hours thru wild country, from barren wind-swept mountain- tops thru 19 tunnels and into the lush rainforest of the west coast. Towering mountains, some snow-topped. Up to 500 inches of rain have been reported in a single year. Riverbeds in some valley were hundreds of yards wide, very shallow, and receive huge amounts of snowmelt from the mountains and the glaciers.

Looking across the valley as we head toward the mountains.  A few rain drops on the lens as Jay was on the observation deck of the train.

Looking ahead at one of the many bridges we crossed on the train. Some were quite scary as you looked down into a deep gorge over a river as we crossed.

One town at the mouth of one river into the ocean has regular flooding, with buildings washed away. They have built a big floodwall, but the river bottom is filling with silt, so it won't be long before the next big overflow.  20 inches of rain recently fell in one weekend, with the highest recorded rainfall in memory, bridges washed out, another landslide that again trapped over a hundred hikers. Helicopters to the rescue again, the only road again closed by major "slip" off the mountainside, communications disrupted, really rough weather to be expected on the west coast and fiordland at any time.  We do have an amazing video of the rain forest and mountains which we are bringing home.

The narrator on the train was full of information about the alps, some of which we didn't care for, as she explained all the heavy equipment to be seen as we approached the 19th tunnel. She said the tunnel was being unroofed since it was unstable, and would be a modified pass in a few weeks once all the dirt and rock material over it had been removed. She then added "it's stable enough for now". We sort of held our breath going thru that tunnel, both ways. No mention of the excavation was made on the return trip.

We were introduced to sandflies, sounds innocent but they are not. About the size of fruitflies, these rascals have a painful pinch when they bite, and draw blood, and leave a red itchy reaction which lasts for days. Mr. Mosquito Magnet Jay learned quickly to apply repellent after the first attack which occured at a scenic innocent-looking picnic spot. Although known for its rain, we were spared except for a sprinkle one day as we finished sight-seeing, and the morning we were leaving to return on the train.

The glaciers are jaw-dropping amazing. The immensity and the extent of them is beyond comprehension, and the backdrop of the mountains is especially imposing. We had one which was backlit by sunlight, marvelous. We have been flustered by not being able to capture photos which represent the massive mountains' beauty and that of the expansive plains, deep gorges, passes, and other scenics wonders.

Fox Glacier on the west coast.  There are many glaciers in this area which is amazing since they are coming down through a rain forest.  They are becoming much smaller with the warmer climate that is being experienced.  This is one of the few pictures that day of the snow covered mountains in the background due to cloud cover.  Our timing was perfect - it had rained all night and on the 1 1/2 hour drive toward the glaciers. There is a trail - not visible here - that goes up to the face of the glacier.  It was an hour return (as is said).  I walked it while Jay waited behind.  Much of the trail was in the river bed - mostly rock at this time of the year.  It was quite exciting.

This is Mt. Cook, the hightest mountain in the country and where Sir Edmund Hillary "practiced" for his climb of Mt. Everest.  We were lucky here also - the peak is only visible about 1 out of 3 days (average) and we got great views of it.  We spent the night here and the next day went onto Lake Tasman - created by the Tasman Glacier in 1976!! 

This is one of several icebergs on the lake that have broken off of the glacier (pronounced glaz - zier by the Kiwis). 

Just a perspective of the size of the icebergs - the zodiaks hold about 15 people. 

Ice in the glacier has been compressed so much it may be seven times more dense than ice in the freezer at home. Walk to one glacier was possible, but dangerous, only permitted with experienced guides due to sudden rock-falls, collapses of glacier faces, crevasses. Ski-planes actually touch down on some, to let travellers walk on them. We skipped that part.  We found copious info on how the land was formed, glaciers were birthed, how they travel, etc.  We are talking millions of years of history of the earth, geology, tectonic plates, ice ages, etc., just too much for my feeble mind to absorb.

Our zodiak guide holding a piece of one of the icebergs - looks like tightlycompressed crystals.  Cold, too!!

Much Jade jewellery (HUGE industry in this native stone, almost as hard as steel and used by Maori for everything, from tools to axes-then more recently to retail decorative items) and some gold goodies were seen on the west coast, and yes we did do the tourist thing: gold town, coal museum, purchases of a few gee-gaws, then back to Rolleston for our final week at work and a very reluctant departure from our wonderful hosts, who had a corned beef dinner with Marlborough Savignon Blanc wine (the signature wine of New Zealand).   

The entrance to the home of Beth & John Koeghan, our hosts for the month we were in Rolleston. 

A small part of Garden View, Beth & John's B&B.  All the plantings - flowers, bushes, and trees are indigenous to NZ.  John has his doctorate in agronomy and works with plants, seeds, soil, etc., testing and consulting about plantings all over the world - NZ, Canada, Angigua, Indonesia, etc.   Beth & John's picture

is still on the camera unfortunately, but here are two of Jay's favorite permanent residents -

 the non-human ones, of course.

This is Orlando, the Orange Marmelade Cat, after a chldren;s book by the same name.

And, Gorgeous, the momma cat.  They are outdoor cats, but Gorgeous stands uptight on her back paws and works the window screens loose and crawls inside every chance she gets - much to the dismay of Beth.

We attended solemn and moving services on April 25, ANZAC DAY - a memorial day and dedication to the servicemen and women of the uniformed services. Anzac was a Turkish campaign in the first world war, disastrous for the allies who withdrew after almost a year of bloody fighting and massive losses of life and wounded. This was part of the turning point of the first world war. The sadness of the day was worsened by the crash and death of several airmen on the way to a dawn service that day. There were performances by the Army band, community bands, choral tributes at the cathedral, and the wearing of red poppies.


Rainy final several days in NZ, final weekend in Christchurch - where we would choose to live were we  coming here to stay. Leaves falling, cool and windy. Seems like it's time to get back to spring in Virginia. Do hope the pollen has been washed down by the time we get there. "See you later" .  We are ready to be home, with a stop in LA to re-adjust from jetlag and visit with son Jameson.

Check out one more posting of a few favorite pictures that did not make the postings. 



As we start organizing our return trip home, we are grateful for having the opportunity to experience this amazing land, its people, friendliness, history, and culture. We have had the time and flexibility of schedule to explore almost every place we wanted to see. There were a few more areas which would have been interesting, but it is hard to imagine anyone getting but a glimpse of the grandeur and beauty of these islands in less than two-three weeks. Almost four months has been adequate, and we look eagerly to getting together with family and friends and back into the world of reality. This fantasy-come-true was just right, no regrets.


  Lots of other stories to share, many pictures which need to be edited and distilled down to less than about a thousand that we've taken here.  We will be eager to re-connect, find out about what's been going on in your world too.

"See you later" as they say in New Zealand.