Fox Glacier- Hasst – Lake Tekapo- Christchurch- Auckland -Rotorura- Wednesday, December 19 to Friday, December 21
Wednesday
It was a good choice that we made to stay the night in Fox Glacier. The drive down the coast in the morning was spectacular as well as challenging. We stopped often for views out over the Tasman Sea, where seals played on the remote beaches at the base of cliffs. Our rock collection grew by a few more kilos when we all went beachcombing at Haast Beach. It is here that Highway 6 turns inland and winds back up into the Southern Alps, through raging rivers, deep, U-Shaped glacial valleys.
Again we found ourselves stopping, first at Roaring Billy Falls that plunge into the Haast River. The eroded flat rocks in the river bed were perfect for the world stone skipping championships, which were handily won by Rod, after setting a 12 skip record using a beautiful piece of water flattened gneiss that seemed to want to jump the white caps of the fast flowing stream.
Onward we climbed the winding highway through Haast Pass and the views were humbling. The Alps here are still snow capped and the run-off creates stunning waterfalls everywhere. We lunched at a beautiful bend in the road looking back towards Mount Tasman, near Fox Glacier, now many kilometres to the north. Moving on, we made a quick stop at the Haast River gorge where the river funnels through a narrow rock channel. We met up with the family from the UK who had been on the glacier climb with us the previous day.
The sunny and mild weather was a wonderful tonic to the rainy few days that proceeded. Highway 6 continues up into the high lake country and it was here that we had to decide whether we would turn south to Queenstown, New Zealand’s adventure capitol. We needed to be back in Christchurch by late afternoon Thursday, and the map showed a 7-8 hour drive from Queenstown to Christchurch. We reasoned that even if we made it that far, we would not have enough time to enjoy any of the activities. So north we went, towards the high mountain country east of Mount Cook.
This is LOTR (Lord of the Rings) country, where many of the segments in the movie were filmed. It is a high plateau that is dry and barren. We wound our way through places with lyrical names like Tarras, Omarama and Twizel. Occasionally, a pass is crossed and the scenery changes. This is perhaps the most amazing part of traveling in New Zealand. The scenery, the climate, the weather and the vegetation all change in a short amount of time. We would learn that this is true on the North Island as well.
We pulled into Lake Tekapo, a beautiful village on a large aquamarine lake with the prettiest church location on the planet. The altar has a large window that looks out over the lake.
We had an argumet over the accommodation we would stay in, since the area is served by an IYHA International Youth Hostel), a BBH (New Zealand Hostel) and a Holiday Park, all featured in our Lonely Planet. Colleen got her wish of a cabin by the lake. We did laundry until late into the night after a great dinner at the local skiers’ hangout known for great pizzas- we choose a spicy pepperoni and a venison/pumpkin combo for something unusual. The walls were plastered with famous ski resort posters: St. Anton, Austria, Courcheval, France, Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, St. Moritz, Switzerland, Innsbruck, Austria, Lake Placid,NY, and North Conway,NH!
Thursday
In the morning, we had a quick bite of breakfast and rolled on towards Christchurch. We made a stop in Geraldine to see the Guiness Book of World Records listed largest wool sweater. In the same store was a medieval themed back room where an eccentric man showed us his life size reproduction of the Bayou Tapestry made from shards of metal discarded during the production of sewing machines. Each 2 mm square piece of metal was hand painted and stuck to double-sided masking tape. The tapestry covered 2 walls and included an interpretation of the missing section. Now if that wasn’t enough, the owner has also created a detailed CD-ROM in which everything in the tapestry is linked and which also includes the creator’s hidden puzzles. There was more, but all Matheson could say was how this guy was borderline genius.
Later, we arrived in Christchurch, a beautiful city that has, as its centrepiece, a magnificent Anglican Cathedral. The boys’ choir was rehearsing for Christmas Eve, and it was for me, perhaps, one of the first true signs that Christmas was just a few days away. They began with “Adam Lay Y Bounden” and the amazing acoustics magnified the heavenly harmonies. I would have stayed to hear the whole rehearsal and get deeper into the Christmas moment, but the airport was a cross-town journey in heavy traffic. We strolled the square back to the car, where a market was in full swing. Matheson scored a wonderful NZ Alpaca wool jacket, knit in Nepal and sold to him by a Peruvian. Go figure.
Our Qantas flight to Auckland, on New Zealand’s North Island, was great except for the back row seats. We loved the wonderful grandmother who checked us in. She did not want to see our passports since she “always trusts Canucks.” She also felt sorry for Colleen, whose suitcase was somewhat heavier than the 20 kg domestic flight limit, not to mention the rest of our bags plus a guitar and a skateboard or two.
We boarded the hotel shuttle with our assortment of gear and crashed into beds in a beautifully renovated hotel room near the airport. As we fell asleep, a plan was drafted to get up early, hire a car from the airport, and drive the 3 hours to Rotorura to see the amazing volcanic and geothermal area, as well as go Zorbing, a New Zealand adventure must-do-activity.
Friday
Dawn came early and I grabbed breakfast while the others slept. The shuttle over to the airport was right on time and I was back with a car in minutes. We were off to Rotorura once we figured out the highway system. The drive was just under 3 hours and we arrived in the beautiful, green coloured hills surrounding the town to discover the Zorbing site was just off the highway.
Zorbing, for the uninitiated, is an adventure activity where you climb into a partially water filled clear plastic sphere which is attached to another, larger, air filled sphere. The operator adds warm water to the inner ball as you slide in, and then you roll down a large hill, sloshing around in the inner ball. Got it? See www.zorbing.com if you don’t get it.
So the boys were pumped and the 3 of us (Colleen declined) changed into bathing suits and hopped into the back of their ascent van, house music pumping beats at full blast. The Contiki expedition bus group that was ahead of us was comprised of a group of young international travelers. Apparently some of them had not come prepared with bathers as a few of them were rather scantily clad. Colleen remarked that the real show was not the descending Zorbs, but the unique outfits worn by the Zorbers.
We decided to descend together, all 3 of us in one Zorb. We had been given first hand descriptions of the descent, all by friends who had done this solo. The groups we saw coming down the hill were heard first! Doing this as a group was going to be fun.
It was all of that and then some. I belly laughed all the way down, and Colleen reported that she could hear us from far up the hill! Our combined weight in the Zorb really made a difference to the speed of descent, and we even bumped the retaining fence at the bottom. We slid out through the hole, and were ready to do it all again, if it weren’t for the price! We did, however, splurge on the CD of photos and the t-shirt.
We found a place to eat in downtown Rotorura and then went to the Thermal Wonderland to see the boiling mud pools, craters and geysers. Here, water emerges from deep underground at temperatures as high as +200 ℃ due to the great pressure. This area is one of the most active geothermal areas of the world, and the sulfur smell everywhere was proof. We waded in Kerosene Creek, where the temperature was moderated by the cooler spring fed water.
We started back towards Auckland to beat some of the Friday holiday traffic. It was, after all, the first day of summer holidays and the end of school here. The roads were busy with vehicles towing boats and trailers. But it did not seem to take long to get back to Auckland via the alternate route.
We retired to our room, rented a video and fell asleep after our big day.
