queenstown
yo yo yo from queenstown, the bungy and adrenaline capital of the world. it was here that A.J. Hackett decided to make the first jump off a bridge while tied on with a huge elastic cord. This town is crawling with adrenaline junkies. it's quite a shock after the tiny quiet towns of the west coast in which we've been spending our time.
Since greymouth (3 days ago?!), we've covered the entire west coast in our little toyota corona. yes i said corona. we stopped in hokitika - a very artsy little town with a cute clock tower, but we missed the jade carving workshop. next time. we drove on to okarito, a town known for it's lagoon and white heron breeding ground, neither of which we saw. instead we stayed at a hostel that used to be a 2 room schoolhouse and hung out with the other women staying there - a german mother-daughter team and a canadian with her californian friend. all very nice. we had a very sad moment of mourning when we realized the vegetables that we were going to roast with our kumara and eat with the roasted chicken we had just purchased were alas still nice and cool in the refrigerator back in greymouth. but the chicken and kumara nonetheless made for a delicious meal. and dad, it seems carving skills run in the family. i carved the leftovers off the chicken in quite an impressive display, i must say, and then managed to fit them all (more than half the chicken) into a tiny little tupperware (the only one we have).
next morning, we did work in exchange for our night at that hostel. we weeded around about 24 native trees that had been planted the year before. they were tiny and suffocated with grasses and prickly gorse and all kinds of stuff. we worked for about 2 hours in the sun, swatting sandflies away, with views of the snowy alps in the distance and the rush of the ocean in our ears. it was kind of nice to feel useful, defintely good not to have to pay for beds, and felt great to be giving these trees a chance - the possom population here has exploded since the fur trade took a nosedive and the possoms devour 3 football fields worth of native forest every night. really sad.
next, we headed into glacier country. New Zealand has over 3000 glaciers, and there are two in particular that come down really low and are accessible. We stayed at the motel-style Glowworm cottage (no we didn't go see the glowworms) and took a stunning walk up to the ice face of the Franz Josef glacier (after planning out and booking all our accomodation and tours for the rest of the trip!!). very cool. we then finagled a dinner out of pasta, our leftover chicken, and a can of 4-bean mix. fun to cook in a big communal kitchen - there were hot plates lined up along the counter all the way down - people making pasta everywhere. then we finally watched whale rider! jordana had never seen it and none of the other hostels had it - but this one did. it's so good. and really fun to watch after learning more about the Maori culture and understanding some of the words and customs better.
moving on to the most beautiful day i've ever experienced (so far). we got up early early and drove to lake matheson - it's the place everybody goes to take pictures of the two tallest mountains here - mt. cook (aoraki) and mt. tasman with their reflections in the water. if you see any calendars or postcards from here, they usually have that image in them. anyway, you have to go early while the water is still. so we did. it really is quite stunning. even though i've seen that image so many times, it's still satisfying to see and take with my own camera. so, calm beauty there. moving on to the glacier hike on Fox Glacier. we hiked over the rocky path for a while, then through NATIVE RAIN FOREST to get to the glacier. we put crampons (cramp-on... cramp-off... cramp-on cramp-off.. the cramper ::clap clap::) on our boots and stepped on to the huge tongue of the glacier. we were on the ice for about an hour, admiring the icy blue hue in the crevasses and being amazed by the hugeness and age of the thing we were standing on. very very cool. (matt, insert amy-glacier joke here).
next we headed towards haast. we stopped at a beach with huge pieces of driftwood, and at a lookout where there was a huge expanse of bright ocean...
as we drove south along the coastal highway, the cliffs in the distance were separated from the water by a long white cloudy mist. in the afternoon sun it was one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen, i think. so gorgeous i could hardly bear to look at it. but i did. wow. we got to haast, which we thought was going to be a slightly larger town than it turned out to be (picture a parking lot with a tiny supermarket, a fish & chip shop, and a hotel- that's about right), so we had some plain pasta for dinner (well, "plain" with garlic and olive oil, fresh thyme, and cashews and sunflower seeds) after putting in a laundry and taking a shower. we were SO exhausted, we found ourselves cracking up at every little thing. not that we don't do that anyway. then we rushed off to see the sunset. it was an extraordinary day, so naturally it had to finish in similar style. we chased down the sun until we found it resting on the mountains at Okuru, where there was a body of water in front of us along with a sandbar. picture the most perfect sunset you can in a cloudless sky, and i bet you'll come up with something like this. down to the birds flying in and out. everything went from golden to rosy before we left (sadly we had to stay in the car to watch, for the sandflies were vicious and were stuck to all the windows ready to attack if we emerged for longer than just to open the window and snap a photo) and went back to the hostel to collapse into bed.
next morning we started off our long drive down here to queenstown. we stopped at some waterfalls right off the road and then at a gorgeous lake for lunch (apples, peanut butter, crackers, hummus) with views of mountains in almost all directions. really i can't describe this place at all - you just have to come see for yourselves. Next came the fantastic Puzzling World of Stuart Landough in Wanaka. very well done. we spent a fair amount of time doing puzzles out in the free room - rubik's cube type things - fit all these shapes into this square, logic-type things that i just love to pieces and everyone else starts throwing across the room. then we decided to go inside. sadly, we did not have the time or patience to complete the maze - it's supposed to take about an hour, but we did go through the illusion rooms, which were topped off by the slanted room. water streamed uphill, a ball rolled up a pool table, and i got extraordinarily disoriented. imagine trying to stand so your head faces the ceiling and having gravity knock you over. i was messed up for quite a while once we came out of there. Luckily, i don't have to drive because i'm under 25 and thus not covered - jordana took her first hand at steering the vehicle on the wrong side of the road, and she did quite well. We stopped at some fruit stands when we got a bit further south. and then drove into queenstown.
no worries, anyone, i'm not going skydiving or zorbing or bungy jumping or anything crazy like that. i'll stick to my seal swims and glacier walks thank you. nabia FINALLY got her camera yesterday!! hooray hooray! the crowne plaza in christchurch actually had it flown in to queenstown yesterday at a cost of over $100 to them. but we're holding it now, so happy happy times. na will have her camera on her birthday tomorrow. we went out for a real dinner last night and got a good bang for our buck at world bar (leftovers will be lunch today). it's a lot tougher to meet people in a trio, i think, so we haven't been socializing all that much, but it's been fun just the three of us. it's interesting how much of a difference it makes though, i think.
today we drive over to te anau, from whence we will be visiting milford and doubtful sounds. we stay at a deer farm there for three whole nights. i'm excited to stay in one place for more than a night. i need the break - this pace is quite exhausting. before i can even take in one breathtaking image, another one is in view. i can't process that quickly. i'm concerned that each will pale in the shadow of the next.
i think i have to come back here again one day. i will be prepared for tramps (tent, good sleeping bag, much more physical fitness), i will go to hokitika and do the jade carving workshop, i will spend more time on the north island... i could pretty much plan out the whole thing. so if anyone wants to join me, i'm gonna do that eventually, i think. besides, it's not far from fiji, and i'd love to go back there too... once i learn to scuba dive.
well, off to more adventures today. missing you all and happy holidays.
love,
amy
email me
Since greymouth (3 days ago?!), we've covered the entire west coast in our little toyota corona. yes i said corona. we stopped in hokitika - a very artsy little town with a cute clock tower, but we missed the jade carving workshop. next time. we drove on to okarito, a town known for it's lagoon and white heron breeding ground, neither of which we saw. instead we stayed at a hostel that used to be a 2 room schoolhouse and hung out with the other women staying there - a german mother-daughter team and a canadian with her californian friend. all very nice. we had a very sad moment of mourning when we realized the vegetables that we were going to roast with our kumara and eat with the roasted chicken we had just purchased were alas still nice and cool in the refrigerator back in greymouth. but the chicken and kumara nonetheless made for a delicious meal. and dad, it seems carving skills run in the family. i carved the leftovers off the chicken in quite an impressive display, i must say, and then managed to fit them all (more than half the chicken) into a tiny little tupperware (the only one we have).
next morning, we did work in exchange for our night at that hostel. we weeded around about 24 native trees that had been planted the year before. they were tiny and suffocated with grasses and prickly gorse and all kinds of stuff. we worked for about 2 hours in the sun, swatting sandflies away, with views of the snowy alps in the distance and the rush of the ocean in our ears. it was kind of nice to feel useful, defintely good not to have to pay for beds, and felt great to be giving these trees a chance - the possom population here has exploded since the fur trade took a nosedive and the possoms devour 3 football fields worth of native forest every night. really sad.
next, we headed into glacier country. New Zealand has over 3000 glaciers, and there are two in particular that come down really low and are accessible. We stayed at the motel-style Glowworm cottage (no we didn't go see the glowworms) and took a stunning walk up to the ice face of the Franz Josef glacier (after planning out and booking all our accomodation and tours for the rest of the trip!!). very cool. we then finagled a dinner out of pasta, our leftover chicken, and a can of 4-bean mix. fun to cook in a big communal kitchen - there were hot plates lined up along the counter all the way down - people making pasta everywhere. then we finally watched whale rider! jordana had never seen it and none of the other hostels had it - but this one did. it's so good. and really fun to watch after learning more about the Maori culture and understanding some of the words and customs better.
moving on to the most beautiful day i've ever experienced (so far). we got up early early and drove to lake matheson - it's the place everybody goes to take pictures of the two tallest mountains here - mt. cook (aoraki) and mt. tasman with their reflections in the water. if you see any calendars or postcards from here, they usually have that image in them. anyway, you have to go early while the water is still. so we did. it really is quite stunning. even though i've seen that image so many times, it's still satisfying to see and take with my own camera. so, calm beauty there. moving on to the glacier hike on Fox Glacier. we hiked over the rocky path for a while, then through NATIVE RAIN FOREST to get to the glacier. we put crampons (cramp-on... cramp-off... cramp-on cramp-off.. the cramper ::clap clap::) on our boots and stepped on to the huge tongue of the glacier. we were on the ice for about an hour, admiring the icy blue hue in the crevasses and being amazed by the hugeness and age of the thing we were standing on. very very cool. (matt, insert amy-glacier joke here).
next we headed towards haast. we stopped at a beach with huge pieces of driftwood, and at a lookout where there was a huge expanse of bright ocean...
as we drove south along the coastal highway, the cliffs in the distance were separated from the water by a long white cloudy mist. in the afternoon sun it was one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen, i think. so gorgeous i could hardly bear to look at it. but i did. wow. we got to haast, which we thought was going to be a slightly larger town than it turned out to be (picture a parking lot with a tiny supermarket, a fish & chip shop, and a hotel- that's about right), so we had some plain pasta for dinner (well, "plain" with garlic and olive oil, fresh thyme, and cashews and sunflower seeds) after putting in a laundry and taking a shower. we were SO exhausted, we found ourselves cracking up at every little thing. not that we don't do that anyway. then we rushed off to see the sunset. it was an extraordinary day, so naturally it had to finish in similar style. we chased down the sun until we found it resting on the mountains at Okuru, where there was a body of water in front of us along with a sandbar. picture the most perfect sunset you can in a cloudless sky, and i bet you'll come up with something like this. down to the birds flying in and out. everything went from golden to rosy before we left (sadly we had to stay in the car to watch, for the sandflies were vicious and were stuck to all the windows ready to attack if we emerged for longer than just to open the window and snap a photo) and went back to the hostel to collapse into bed.
next morning we started off our long drive down here to queenstown. we stopped at some waterfalls right off the road and then at a gorgeous lake for lunch (apples, peanut butter, crackers, hummus) with views of mountains in almost all directions. really i can't describe this place at all - you just have to come see for yourselves. Next came the fantastic Puzzling World of Stuart Landough in Wanaka. very well done. we spent a fair amount of time doing puzzles out in the free room - rubik's cube type things - fit all these shapes into this square, logic-type things that i just love to pieces and everyone else starts throwing across the room. then we decided to go inside. sadly, we did not have the time or patience to complete the maze - it's supposed to take about an hour, but we did go through the illusion rooms, which were topped off by the slanted room. water streamed uphill, a ball rolled up a pool table, and i got extraordinarily disoriented. imagine trying to stand so your head faces the ceiling and having gravity knock you over. i was messed up for quite a while once we came out of there. Luckily, i don't have to drive because i'm under 25 and thus not covered - jordana took her first hand at steering the vehicle on the wrong side of the road, and she did quite well. We stopped at some fruit stands when we got a bit further south. and then drove into queenstown.
no worries, anyone, i'm not going skydiving or zorbing or bungy jumping or anything crazy like that. i'll stick to my seal swims and glacier walks thank you. nabia FINALLY got her camera yesterday!! hooray hooray! the crowne plaza in christchurch actually had it flown in to queenstown yesterday at a cost of over $100 to them. but we're holding it now, so happy happy times. na will have her camera on her birthday tomorrow. we went out for a real dinner last night and got a good bang for our buck at world bar (leftovers will be lunch today). it's a lot tougher to meet people in a trio, i think, so we haven't been socializing all that much, but it's been fun just the three of us. it's interesting how much of a difference it makes though, i think.
today we drive over to te anau, from whence we will be visiting milford and doubtful sounds. we stay at a deer farm there for three whole nights. i'm excited to stay in one place for more than a night. i need the break - this pace is quite exhausting. before i can even take in one breathtaking image, another one is in view. i can't process that quickly. i'm concerned that each will pale in the shadow of the next.
i think i have to come back here again one day. i will be prepared for tramps (tent, good sleeping bag, much more physical fitness), i will go to hokitika and do the jade carving workshop, i will spend more time on the north island... i could pretty much plan out the whole thing. so if anyone wants to join me, i'm gonna do that eventually, i think. besides, it's not far from fiji, and i'd love to go back there too... once i learn to scuba dive.
well, off to more adventures today. missing you all and happy holidays.
love,
amy
email me
posted by theonetheycallamy at 12/20/2004 04:58:00 PM
6 Comments:
i am soooo happy to know that you all are having the time of your lives. i wish i could do the same. love you all especially mr daughter jordana. miss alot
Whew, that was a wonderful entry!!! I just love reading about everything you're doing. And, yes, I still laugh out loud from your descriptions and comments. Maybe you should be a writer???
You're staying at a deer farm? Will you work there for your room and board, or do you just sleep there with the deer? Kindly explain to mama.
Lots of love and more beauty and good times.
Fantastique! I understand your desire to return and do more and that is a wonderful thing for the future. Travel lust is such a positive thing. Glad you are all having good times. I'm very curious about the deer farm, which Na didn't mention. Hugs and kisses, Tante Barbara
definitely cool ...
You put a smile on the face of anyone reading your journal and make all of us feel like we are there with you. Great patience and descriptions. Memories for two lifetimes! Unc B.
What are you CRAZY!
Don't go near the bungee jumpers, you might catch something!
Jordana - I'm surprised at you!
Nabia - you too!
And ice ... you could fall!
Oh, my head! I have to lie down. ouuu!
Grandma Ann
Amy, your descriptions are enough to bring us all along with you on these travels....I've been drooling over the scenery alone, not to mention the activities, foods and people.
Glad things are going well and that you three are having such unforgettable experiences. Sorry I didn't send birthday wishes...didn't know about your birthday...happy belated. So...stay healthy, keep on writing and having fun. With love from all of us here..
Elaine in Texas
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