Kodak Moments: Rob Roy Glacier Track

I have decided that is is unfortunate that we haven't done more hikes during our 15 months in New Zealand. There are few places that bikes can't take you and that hiking can, and those places I've now realized, are well worth it.

This past weekend we were in Queenstown (again) with some family, and Scott and his brother decided to cycle to Wanaka. You know, just up and over a mountain pass… a cruise-y 68 kilometers, no big deal. I drove the hour or so over, as cycle support of course. I totally would could should did not need to do that ride. It was a rest day.

Anyways, there's a hike I've been wanting to do just outside of Wanaka for some time. The Rob Roy Glacier Track is moderate level 10 kilometer hike through paddocks, then beech forest, and finally up to a valley below the hanging Rob Roy Glacier. Its located just at the entrance of Mt. Aspiring National Park, about 50km from Wanaka.

Without further ado, pictures:

Beech forest is the most wide-spread native forest remaining in New Zealand

Glacial water gets it's blue color from super fine sediment suspended in the water. The sediment is a fine "rock powder" that has formed from the rocks grinding together beneath the glacier. The color of water varies in vibrancy, and is enhanced by sunlight.

There were signs advising hikers not to stop on this bit of trail because of increased hazard of rock fall. So… whoops.

Trees growing out of canyon walls. Cool.

One of many, many waterfalls. Being blown away by the gentle summer breeze….

Scott and his brother, Craig. So excited to be hiking after their big ride.

A "hanging glacier" is a glacier that sits on a shelf, or cliff, above a valley.

Waterfall overload! 

I'd classify this hike as a "Can't Miss" if you're in the Wanaka area. I thought it was absolutely stunning, despite the rain and clouds. I can only imagine how spectacular it would be on a clear blue day.

And of course, since we were in Queenstown, we spent another day at the bike park. Below, Scott doing what he does best:

I know….

I know…. you guys, I know. It's been a month. It's been since last year. I know. Let's just forget the excuses and catch up (in bullet form, because I'm lazy.)

- My parents arrived on December 20th, and left this Tuesday. They were not graced with New Zealand's best summer weather. But there were a few nice days (and it's been hot ever since they left, of course). Christmas was beautiful in the morning, and then rained as hard as ever all afternoon.

- We had an amazing time with them and I feel incapable of putting it into written word. So often it felt like not even a week had gone by since we saw them (and definitely not a year). It was just wonderful.

- Making Christmas cookies in the summer feels weird. But they still taste good.

- The Christmas tree never made it out of the bucket.

- We spent New Years camping in the woods with friends instead of at a bar/club/party. Best NYE decision in a decade. Also, an inspiring way to start 2014. (Then on New Years Day, it rained like hell, and we left.)

- We spent a week in Queenstown with the folks after the new year. What an amazing place to ride. We've been there before, but with all 4 bikes we got all kinds of sweet rides in this time. We saved time for a bit of sightseeing and wine tasting too, of course.

- Before the folks left we spent a day in Oamaru, checking out the Steampunk Headquarters. Such a cool little city. It rained like hell there, too.

- Scott got a total of 3 weeks off of work, and I got 10 days. It all flew by so fast, and now we're back to the grind. (Which honestly, isn't bad at all. We're lucky people.)

Looking towards a bright future!

Scott being all talented and things. 

My favorite bit of trail!

Queenstown sunset

Scott found his new favorite store, like, ever.

Steampunk HQ!

And looking forward…

- We have 3 sets of visitors coming over the next two months. Starting Tuesday, the guest room is booked until early March! (Lets be honest, this does not bode well for blogging…)

- We booked tickets to visit California and Oregon next summer. The anticipation of seeing family and friends is already killing me. And we've already managed to get two enduro races on the books while we're back.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season and New Year!

Gray Skies and Whale Tales

Sometimes I have an idea for a blog post that I think about for so long, that when it comes to writing it I am at a loss. Its like, all the thoughts I was going to have on the topic got thought, and my brain is done with them. This is unfortunate because you, my lovely readers, obviously miss out on something I once thought was fantastic, but didn't have the followthrough to get online before my ADD brain could type it... what? One such case is the story of the awesome boat trip we went on in Kaikoura with Scott's parents. Regardless, it's an experience worth writing about. So here goes...

The weather wasn't cooperating when we drove up to Kaikoura. Then again, it was the middle of August (Northern Hemisphere Equivalent: February) so why would it? When we got into town we were greeted by a cold southerly wind and gray skies. The rain was holding off though, so we checked in to our whale watching tour, which we had signed up for the night before.

Although the front desk staff were unfriendly and the safety video a bit excruciating, the tour was amazing. The guys who ran the boat tour were enthusiastic and knowledgable. For a whale-idiot like myself, I learned a lot before we even spotted one, making the whole experience that much more fantastic. Anyways, what you all care about: pictures.

No wait. First of all, a brief and incomplete lesson for those of you unfamiliar with the Sperm Whale (mom). Male sperm whales are far larger than females, and average 50ft in length, and weigh 45 tons. Newborns are a mere 1 ton. Sperm whales have teeth instead of baleen. They are the largest of the toothed whales. That being said, these teeth are for fighting, not chewing. For digestion, they have two stomachs: the first uses muscles to crush food, and the second has gastric juices which break it down. They are found in the open ocean, and are the deepest diving mammal. They can dive up to 10,000 feet, and feed on all kinds of marine life, especially giant squid (aka: the source of all my nightmares since I saw that one at Te Papa. Gross). They have the largest brain of any animal on earth- 5x the size of a human brain! source 

The sperm whale is known for the distinctive shape of it's big blocky head and very small lower jaw. (They make very cute cartoons.) The head makes up approximately one third of the body. Besides a massive brain, the whale's head is filled with a waxy-liquidy oil which was originally mistaken for sperm. Hence, the name (poor guys). The oil reserve is thought to help with buoyancy and diving, as well as communication- although it is not completely understood. Sperm whales have been widely hunted because of this oil.

Billy Blockhead

When sperm whales come up for air, they stay on the surface of the water for about 15 minutes. They can dive for up to a couple of hours! But if one doesn't know what they're looking at, they may mistake this great mammal for a bit if driftwood. Only about 1/10th of the whale is visible from the surface.

Sperm whale from below, you can see what part is above waterer. -Thanks Google image search

To identify the whales (and not the driftwood), we were instructed to keep an eye out for their blows. The blowhole on the sperm whale is located on the left side of their head and is shaped like an "S", giving them an odd, angled and "bushy" spray-like blow. This is also helpful in distinguishing a sperm whale from it's cousins if you're lucky to be out searching amongst different species. Anyhow, our search went really well, and we got to see 2 males side-by-side right off the bat.

So yeah, if you didn't know what you were looking at, this may not be super interesting. If the water was clear and tropical it would be neat to get some sort of underwater camera involved (like Ms. Basquez did in the photo above). But regardless, to know what is under the water is what it's all about. That, and the whale tail. These were the first whale tails I've ever seen in my life, and they were so close. It was spectacular. (Photos courtesy of my father-in-law.)

Our trusty captain found us 6 whales, which apparently is quite a good show. We had mercifully calm water, which helped with both binocular use and decent photography. Before taking us back to shore, he motored us over to the local dolphin hangout. We cruised into a pod of an estimated 600 dolphins, although I'd guess there were even more. At one point there were dolphins jumping and flipping as far out on the horizon as I could see. The dolphins around here are Dusky Dolphins, known for their arial acrobatics and playful nature (aren't all dolphins?). They can be found in many places in the southern waters of the southern hemisphere, but are particularly prolific in the waters around New Zealand. They are great for the tourist economy around here.

All the dolphin photo credits are (obviously): Me.

Besides doing front flips and aerials, these guys liked to "surf" the wake at the front of the boat. This was fun to watch because they were no more than 8 feet away.

While the sole mission of the sperm whale seems to be dive deep and eat giant squid (rendering them my oceanic heroes), the sole purpose of the dusky dolphin is clearly: have as much fun as possible at all times. 

So my first voyage out into the South Pacific was amazing, gray skies and all. I'd recommend Whale Watch Kaikoura to any one interested in whale watching and unenthusiastic desk help. There's much cheaper dolphin encounters out there, but the whale experience is phenomenal. I'm so glad we did it. A big thank you to my in-laws for making it happen for us. What a great adventure!

Yours truly searching for albatross.

Scott and Billy Blockhead 

Kodak Moments: Kaikoura, Picton, Marlborough Sounds

So I'm off to work in a few moments but I thought I'd share a few photos from our recent trip up north.

Last weekend Scott, his parents, and I went on a small road trip up the east coast of New Zealand's south island. We saw the baby seals in Kaikoura, which I'm sure you've all diligently read about in my last post. Actually, lets throw in a few more baby seal pictures courtesy of Scott's dad, because he's clearly the photographer in the family:

Awwww...... ok, now for a picture montage from the rest of the trip. We had pretty mild winter weather, but not the full sunshine we all hoped for- as you'll see. Regardless, we enjoyed doing a little walking and driving around the sounds. 

That lump of driftwood in the background is a seal...

Marlborough Sounds by Picton

Hills behind Picton doing fall color-y things at the end of winter.

Picton. The industrial looking building in the foreground is the ferry terminal for the Wellington ferry.

This is a pukeko! One of my favorite silly NZ birds. 

Watching pukekos is a lot like watching chickens, so I guess you have to be kind of a nerd like me to appreciate them.

Just a fraction of the shoreline in Marlborough

Just a fraction of the mailboxes in Marlborough! There must be an underground contest or something...

 We cant wait to go back in the summer and do some serious riding and hiking. Theres several long backpacking adventures to be had in this region as well.

When I have a bit more time I'll post about our whale watching adventures in Kaikoura- a very awesome experience indeed.

Akaroa in the Winter

We've been to Akaroa once before, and we discovered tree houses can be a little creepy and it's completely acceptable for there to be a spider in one's cereal bowl. That of course has nothing to do with Akaroa, but until now was pretty much the defining memory of the place.

Well, last weekend we rented a little bach in Akaroa and spent some quality time with Scott's parents. (A bach is "a small, often very modest holiday home or beach house. Baches are an iconic part of New Zealand history and culture, especially in the middle of the 20th century, where they symbolized the beach holiday lifestyle that was becoming more accessible to the middle class" - thank you Wikipedia.) 

Actually, while I'm on the topic, I think bachs are a great way to stay during your travels in New Zealand. They are frequently the same price or cheaper than a hotel room ($100-$150 is average), and they will almost definitely provide more privacy, a kitchen, and a better view. The best website for finding a bach to stay at is Holidayhouses.co.nz, although I've also had good luck with Airbnb.com. The downside to the first website is you will either have to pay via NZ bank transfer (not an option if you are a foreigner), or arrange to pay cash at some point which could be tricky. Airbnb allows for credit card payments, but they are sneaky and skim off a bit of a fee for themselves. Regardless, I've had great luck with both websites.

Our bach in Akaroa

So you can see- they're frequently nothing fancy- although honestly this one was a bit more modest than many. Anyways, there's my travel tip for the day.

Moving on. Scott and his folks drove to Akaroa on Saturday morning while I stayed behind to work (story of my life). They took a beautiful drive along the ridge and enjoyed the stunning coastline, and did a little off-roading in his poor Subaru. Things belonging to Scott must be tough. 

This was not the slippery, greasy spot they almost got stuck at...

Yep, it was foggy and windy and frankly not very warm. It is the middle of winter after all... You can easily spot the fog layer that stubbornly blanketed the top of the hills all weekend.

On Sunday we hiked through a beautiful park in central Akaroa. We were lucky enough to see some Fantails. They're funny little birds to watch. They flit and swoop and hop around a lot, and are basically impossible to catch in a photo. They can't weigh more than a couple of grams, which allows them to do silly things like hang upside-down from the branches while fanning their tails and showing off.

Stay still you little bugger.

You're not helping.

Sitting still is clearly not an option

Right when I thought all the cute-ness was over for the weekend, the next thing happened while we were driving through the country. Lambs. That's right mom, it's lamb season!!! And not only did we see itty bitty baby lambs, they were little black lambs. Which for some reason, is the cutest thing that has ever happened. Unfortunately we couldn't get very close to them, so these pics are the best I could get...

I know, you can't really see a thing. But they were adorable.

We discovered during this trip that Akaroa basically shuts down during the winter. About 50% of the restaurants and shops are completely shut, even on the weekends, leaving the wary winter traveler with limited options. We weren't able to share our favorite restaurant with Scott's parents, which was a bit disappointing. On the other hand though, travel is cheaper this time of year. So I guess you have your trade-offs.

Looking down on Akaroa town

We took the scenic route back to Christchurch, which still only takes about 90 minutes. I really cant complain about how many wonderful spots there are within an hour or two of our city!