Antipodes part 2: New Zealand
11/16/10, 1:01pm New Zealand time. First of all let me say that New Zealand is just a freakishly, impossibly beautiful country. Any random (rural) patch of it ranges from pretty to bang-your-head-against-the-wall-because-you-can't-stand-it gorgeous. I got in just after midnight on Thursday, having crossed the International Date Line, got through customs okay and picked up my rental car. I immediately headed to the fanciest hotel I could find by the airport (only NZ$109--and keep in mind that NZ is at a 30% discount for Americans) and quite literally washed that tropical island nation right out of my hair. At that point it was around 4am Samoa time, so I collapsed into bed. The next morning I made an early start and drove out of Auckland (I'm planning to see that city on my return trip) to Maramara, the town with the sheep farm where Hobbiton was created for LotR. I had a nice lunch of ribs in a pub, and was amused to note that instead of babywipes they gave me a fingerbowl of warm water. The water had a slice of lemon in it. (This happened again later with another mes sy dish.) Also they had hard cider on tap, and the ketchup is very different--I think it has curry. Anyway, after lunch it was time for the tour. Hobbiton is the only LotR location where there is something to see besides landscape (apparently there was a very strict leave-no-trace agreement), and it was trebly interesting: first as set from a film I've seen; second as a set actively under construction for an upcoming film--yes, they're about 75% done rebuilding it for the upcoming Hobbit movie. As a consequence of that I had to sign an NDA to take the tour, promising I wouldn't reveal what I saw, or upload any photos. (I can tell you, however, that they have built X new XXXXXX XXXXX, along an XXXXXXXXX of XXXXXXX XXX, for the new film.) And third of course, as a location from Lord of the Rings. We walked past the doors all the private hobbit-holes featured in the films, including Sam's house and, of course, Bag End. We also stood in the Party Field under the Party Tree (which was actually, I noticed for the first time, a pine and not an oak). We did not get to be near the Green Dragon or the Bywater Bridge or the mill, but could only look at them from across the water.
Then it was time to drive south to Tongarira N.P., home of Mount Doom and what is advertised as one of the best day-hikes in the world. I would say that this part of my drive, down the western side of Lake Taupo, was the most beautiful part of NZ so far--just grass-clad hills crowned with gray stone. If you map every part of NZ to Middle-Earth--which is very easy to do--this would be the kingdom of Arnor. Naturally I had to start listening to my book-on-tape of the Silmarillion.
8:07pm. So I eventually reached my hotel, had dinner & went right to bed, because I had to get up at 5:15 the next morning to get on a bus at 5:45 to start hiking at 6. It's called the Tongarira Alpine Crossing if you want to google it, and it's totally insane. You start in this complete desert area, although I don't think it's technically desert since there is water running through it (and in the early morning, fog). The plants are sparse and desert-y more because of the condition of the soil, I think, which is just volcanic rock in various sizes, from boulders to sand. Aside from the running water, it could easily be Mordor, and in fact one of the volcanos was used as Mount Doom. Anyway, you climb gradually up to the pass between the two volcanos, where I took a slight detour to the summit of the shorter one (not Mount Doom; incidentally I was listening to the Silmarillion through the whole hike). There was some snow on the ground, and I hiked through a good bit of it. The trail then descends by some geothermal lakes, green and blue in color, then around to an area with more standard alpine vegetation. At one point, as you can see in the photos, I was above/even with a cloud layer that was blanketing the valley and lake below, which was really cool. The trail also goes near some little hot springs, but you can't get close to them. Then at the end, it descends into basically a jungle (temperate rainforest) with lush vegetation and gushing streams--it could be Samoa almost. Thanks to the kindness of some hikers just ahead of me, I barely made the 12:30 bus, which made the hike 6.5 hours, with probably half an hour of that pauses. I think that's the longest hike I've ever done--though not the hardest: I refer you to the Swiss Incident of 2006. I did end up with a few blisters, but nothing too bad.
I then pressed on eastward to Napier, which I would describe as the Monterey of New Zealand, and also a prominent wine region. The road I chose was unpaved for several kilometers, though that was in the process of being fixed, as well as several of the one-lane bridges which seem common everywhere. And of course it was brain-meltingly beautiful. I should mention here that NZ has nothing we would call a freeway/interstate, at least outside of major cities. Even the most major roads are two lanes, with occasional passing lanes. It's like the US in the forties, before the interstate system was developed. And my WV experience is serving me well in navigating the twisty bits through the mountains. At any rate, I got to Napier too late to do any wine tastings, but I did have dinner at a winery. Napier is also interesting because it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931, so the whole downtown was rebuilt in Art Deco style. They're very proud of it, although perhaps a little more than is strictly justified, since although the buildings are indeed art-deco (in a sort of Mediterranean style--brightly colored stucco), they're not very impressive examples of architecture. Anyway, the next morning I went to the National Aquarium there, which was really tiny but nice, and saw several interesting things, including an axlotl, some eyeless Mexican cave fish, and a kiwi. The kiwi is nocturnal, and walks around the forest floor stiking its beak into the ground to smell for grubs and stuff. NZ also has a thing like a lobster but without claws, which they are hilariously pleased to call a "crayfish". Apparently they're delicious, but I haven't eaten one yet.
So after that I went to a few wineries but was unimpressed, had lunch at one, then hit the road southward for Wellington.
11/17/10, 10:06am. So the part of the road to Wellington that crossed back over the mountains westeward was really cool. It was more SoCal-style scrubland, and NZ has these shrubs that are covered in yellow flowers like forsythia--some mountains are entirely covered in them. I checked into the hostel & had McDonald's for dinner (more expensive & smaller portions than at home, just like every foreign country, but at least they had correct ketchup. Actually I don't think the NZers call their version of ketchup "ketchup"; it's just "tomato sauce" or something.) The next morning I went out to the suburbs to the Weta Cave, which is the little museum and store associated with the Weta Workshop, the special-effects company for LotR and several other films. A lot of weapons and costumes from the films, as you can see in the photos.
11/18/10, 9:01am. Right. After the Weta Cave, back downtown to the harbor area (sort of like Baltimore's) to the Te Papa ("Our Land" or something like that in Maori) museum, the national museum of NZ. It has a ton of exhibits on the geology, history, and art of the country, with a lot of Maori stuff in there. Incidentally, NZ seems to have a ton of white guit over the whole Maori issue--they signed a big treaty with the Maori chiefs back in Victorian times saying they wouldn't take their land, and then (naturally) proceeded to violate the hell out of it. But it's still technically in force to this day, and apparently is used by actual lawyers to settle actual legal issues related to the Maori. Anyway, there were lots of fantastically carved houses and canoes and such, and little people (tiki) carved from the local greenstone (very important to the Maori, looks basically like jade). There was also some 20th century political history--did you know NZ has actually moved in a libertarian direction in recent decades, legalizing gay marriage and also dismantling some parts of their welfare state?
I finished Te Papa earlier than I expected, so I had time to see the Musem of Wellington, City and Sea, which was pretty much as you'd expect from the name. And that night I went to Zealandia, a wildlife sanctuary right next to the city in a valley that used to be a reservoir (they drained the reservoir when they realized a faultline ran right through it). There's a big fence to keep out all the invasive animal species (except birds), and they're slowly removing the non-native plants as well. (Incidentally NZ is convered in California conifers for some reason.) I took the Night Tour, a.k.a. the Kiwi Hunt, and we (it was just me and two(!) guides) did have a close encounter with one, number two of the trip, as well as seeing some native parrots and the tui, a bird aptly named since it has two voiceboxes and can sing two songs at once. But perhaps the most interesting were the glowworms, little larva things that attract insects with light and then trap them on strands of mucus. So after that it was back to town and to bed, since I had to return my rental car by 7 the next morning (I thought) and then catch the 8:25 ferry south.
2:34pm. Right, so I returned the rental car and got on the ferry, which was like a mini cruise ship almost, complete with movie theater. I dozed through most of it, but was able to see the fjords near the end. I got my new rental car and headed south to Blenheim, capital of the Marlborough wine region. It was 1pm, so I had time to hit five wineries. Here I was impressed, at least with the whites, and ended up buying a sauvignon blanc from Herzog, a pinot gris and Gewuertztraminer from Alan Scott, and a chardonnay from Montana (which is unsurprisingly sold under a different name in the States). Then further south through the Maine part of NZ (mountains, sea, and seaside crayfish shacks). At one point I stopped at a random section of beach and encountered some random sea lions. Then sleep in a hostel just north of Christchurch.
5:24pm. Next morning the short drive to Christchurch and dropped my stuff off at the hostel (traveling with wine is hard!), then walked down to the center of the city. First stop was the Christchurch museum, then the art museum, then the Arts Center (which is just the NZ Tamarack, for those who know what that is), the the Botanical Gardens, which are really awesome. Why don't more American cities have huge flower gardens in the middle of them? Then another museum exhibit on Antarctic exploration, feature photos and relics from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions, including the flag Scott flew at the South Pole on his ill-fated final trip.
The next day I got a somewhat late start (incidentally, Kiwis have no idea that bacon should be crispy), and headed south toward Queenstown. I discovered the only non-gorgeous part of the country, the Plain of Canterbury (not that it's ugly, just kind of flat and boring), but was soon in the mountains and the gorgeousness again. After passing a couple of glacial lakes, I ended up in Wanaka, also by a lake, and checked into a spa-y place that had several heated pools and hot tubs. I had just enough time for a short hike, then a swim, then dinner with some awesome venison carpaccio (they're surprisingly big on venison here).
Which brings us to today. Another great strech of road brought me to Queenstown, where I left my wine and made it with plenty of time to the bungee (or bungy) jump I had booked, at the bridge that's the original bungy site. I'm certainly glad I did it, but it was actually a bit underwhelming: it didn't seem as scary as diving off the high dive. Then a couple of hours' hike, during which I wrote the previous entry, which brings us to the present.
11/19/10, 7:29pm. So, this morning I got up for a whitewater rafting trip, which was actually my first one despite living next to one of the centers of east coast rafting. It was fun, but again a bit underwhelming. There's an odd dichotomy in rafting, since when you go you want excitement, but when you get on the river the goal is effectively to minimize excitement by navigating the chosen stretch of river as safely and smoothly as possible. So that rafting the class IV rapids with a guide was not much more exciting than kayaking the class II-III ones by Alderson. Although taking point on the trip through the 170m tunnel was pretty awesome. So then more venison for lunch and a trip up the local ski lift for some (summer) luging. Again, not quite as exciting as I was hoping for. Then back to town and over to the most genius business I've ever heard of. It's called Wines Taste or something like that, and that's exactly what you do. You get a little chip card, and there are various stations around (sorted by varietal) where you stick in your card and press the button in front of various wine bottles to get a little tasting squirt in your glass. It's about NZ$2-5 per taste, depending on the price of the bottle (though there are a couple of super pricey ones), and you pay at the end. There are around 70 different wines to taste in the entire place, and of course you can buy all the bottles right there. They also sell little cheese plates and whatnot to snack on. As I said, an absolutely genius business plan; I can't believe NY and SF don't have places like this. Career opportunity? :)
11/20/10, 8:57pm. Today uneventful, just driving back to Christchurch for my early flight tomorrow.
PS. New laptop has stopped bluescreening and started behaving itself. I guess the grain of sand fell of the RAM chip or whatever it was.