1 February - Kaikoura, and back to Wellington

It's been a busy week, and we've had little internet, so I am just now catching up.

After Dunedin, we headed back to Christchurch to stay two nights. Our full day before returning was at Kaikoura, and for me, it was the highlight of many spectacular adventures. I had been so apprehensive of the cold water of the Pacific, given the cold summer, as we booked a swim with wild dolphins in the Pacific. But the heavy 5 ml wetsuit (with an additional 5 ml jacket) and hood kept us toasty in the 16 degree water. The day was a gorgeous sunny one, and our team on the boat told us we had a stellar trip, as we literally saw hundreds of dolphins. We got in three swims. We were told to make noise to attract the dolphins; thus, the weird sounds on the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EugvLBJQZnE

The next day, we flew back and stayed a night with my mentor at the Ministry of Business, Judi Altinkaya. She is simply the best. She has collected us at the airport, stashed our luggage, fed us, transported us, brought us to stores outside the city for better priced items, etc, etc. Today (1 Feb), she took us to a Greek Festival before transporting us to a suburb for some discount stores.

We moved in on Sunday, 26 January. Over the past week, I have spent many hours polishing the beautiful old wood in this 100 year old house apartment, cleaning windows, and cleaning up the garden and grounds. I never have time for this kind of work at home - so stretched thin form work. I have fully enjoyed it, and it is so satisfying to see the changes based on my work. Too bad I didn't take "before" pictures, as the place was in major need of TLC. Last night we had a small dinner party with the other two Axford fellows and a spouse. It was fun to have people over.

22 January - Otago Peninsula

This morning we made our way from Dunedin to Otago Peninsula, known for birdlife. It also has the only castle in New Zealand, Larnach Castle. The family history is a bit shady, with indiscretions including a son having an affair with his step-mother, and suicides. It would make a great BBC series!

After the castle, we went to the head of the peninsula and took a tour to see penguins and seals. It is the only way to do this, as the land and animals are well protected by the government. That is great, as the yellow-eyed penguins, especially, are rare. We had a private tour on an 8-wheel atv (my stomach still got queasy on the very bumpy trail!). First stop was at a colony of fur seal moms and their young pups. They were wonderful to watch. The highlight was a mom and pup that had wandered up the path we were on, so we were only about 3-4 metres from them. The baby was so curious! Dick got some great photos of them, and I took some video that I will post when I have decent internet access. Then we saw, from a distance, a yellow-eyed penguin chick and several blue penguin chicks.

20-21 January - Milford Sound, Parasailing, wineries

I keep thinking it can’t get better…and then it does. From Fox Glacier, we drove to Queenstown, high-risk sport capital of the world and home of bungy jumping. I am happy to sky dive (tandem!), scuba dive, jump a horse (small jumps only, but still…), parasail (my first today!) – but bungy jump?? Forget it!!

We were supposed to parasail on Sunday, but the weather was scattered rain and lots of wind, so we rescheduled for Monday. We wandered around the city a bit, then drove to Arrowtown, a pretty little village where we hoped to see Philomena (but the cinema was sold out).

In the evening, we checked out one of the ice bars. There we met a woman who specializes in Asperger's Syndrome who is moving to Sarasota in 2015. Small world! Walking in the town afterwards, we caught some fun Irish music performed by a group at a restaurant.

Monday we got up early for a very long, but beautiful round-trip car drive (10 hours) to Milford Sound, one of 14 fiords on the South Island created by the glaciers. The views en route were breath-taking. We would drive through huge walls of rock cut through the mountains, drive sharp curves to view snow-capped mountains, and go through areas of forested, then arid mountain-scapes.  Shortly before arriving at Milford, we had to drive through a one-lane mountain tunnel over a kilometer long.

If anyone is reading this blog, you are probably tiring of all the exclamatory superlatives I’ve been using. But Milford Sound is truly majestic. The cruise boat goes between towering mountain cliffs carved by ancient glaciers, and a person pales beside them. Temporary (from the previous day’s rain) and permanent waterfalls drop from the cliffs. We got ourselves soaked by the spray of the second largest falls. Returning to our hotel, the blues of the lakes and rivers sport that icy blue and turquoise blue I have never seen elsewhere. Clouds seemed to weave themselves in front, then behind the Remarkables, a mountain range just south of Queenstown.

Monday was another beautiful morning, so we were able to make our tandem parasails. We took off at about 2,600 feet, from a ski area just outside Queenstown. It was so easy – you just jog with the pilot and your parachute til the wind lifts you off the ground – then you comfortably float in the sky and enjoy the amazing view. We did a few spirals to keep it interesting, but there was nothing scary about it. The views were exceptional.

Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLarkeqtRYA

Then we started off for Dunedin, in the southeast corner of the South Island. I wanted to stop at a vineyard, so we found Ceres and did a tasting. The woman there recommended another about 3 km down the road where we could also have lunch. As we’ve been trying to be frugal with meals, we decided to splurge at this place with a gorgeous view. I had delicious roasted duck, and Dick ordered Stuart Island salmon. It was the first time in this NZ summer when I could actually be comfortable in a sleeveless shirt, and it was so relaxing to sit outside on a mountain overlooking a beautiful valley view. We bought a Pinot Gris at both places. NZ wines are expensive, but they are so good.

Talk about unearned privilege. I think of my dear friends in Uganda and Liberia who will never have this kind of opportunity. Why am I so fortunate? No good reason I can think of. I can only hope that my work here, once it begins in February, can be of use to NZ policymakers and refugees resettled here.

Meanwhile, I am so mindful of this remarkable holiday I have had. It will equal 6 weeks of no work, the longest time off I have had, I think, since I began working at age 16. SO refreshing!

17 January -- Two glaciers and a lake

No rain today, and the sky seemed to turn blue just as we arrived at our destinations today. We started off by going through all those hairpin curves again to get back to t he village of Franz Josef where we found the trail to view the glacier. All the rock reminded me of Mordor except that it was more ice than fire. The trail was pretty flat, but all gravel and rock. For safety reasons, we could not get that close to the glacier, but I took some great close-ups.

Mountain carved by ice and water

The lookout point for Franz Josef.

More rock carved by the glacier

One of many mountain waterfalls. I am at the bottom.

Franz Josef.

The hike to Franz Josef was 90 minutes round trip, but it was fairly flat and easy. After a quick stop in the village, we returned to the village of Fox Glacier. First we hiked the Matheson Lake, but the conditions weren't ripe for reflecting the mountains.

Then we drove to the beginning of the Fox Glacier hike. This was the toughest one, with a fairly steep incline to the lookout. Because of the topography, we were able to get much closer to this glacier. It seemed to have much more dirt/gravel on it, but it was also majestic.

On the way back down, we saw a family that had picked up a large piece of ice they found en route. I borrowed it for a photo op.

Taking a drink from a clear mountain stream

Walking some glacial ice over the stones.

Mount Cook

Mount Cook

15 January: Greymouth to Fox Glacier

We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning and headed south. Our motel manager, Maria, suggested that we take a diversion to view Hokitika Gorge, as our final destination was only three hours away. We stopped in Hokitika and wandered around the town, popping into various artisan shops where pieces were crafted from wood, bone, goldstone, and pounamu, New Zealand jade. Then we took Maria's advice and headed onto local roads to the gorge. created by glacial runoff, the water was that beautiful otherworldly ice-blue colour. I also gathered a number of small pieces of jade from a stream feeding the river.

After that, we drove numerous hairpin turns to get to first Franz Joseph, then Fox Glacier village. We will have two days to hike near both glaciers and hopefully on one of them.

16 Jan: Torrential rain (we are in a rain forest, after all...). So we stayed in and wrote, phoned, read, and watched some television. Tomorrow promises to be brighter, so we will plan to see the glaciers then. After the rain finally let up some, we had some interesting glimpses of the mountains - see below.