The Hollyford Track

We were met by a new set of guides for this segment of our trip at Te Anau, and drove many miles up into the mountains to begin our trek. The guides were entertaining and very knowledgeable, Bart Crawford having lived with the indigenous Maori people for some time and learning their language and history, and Peter Crawford being a published and well esteemed Botonist who could also talk about wildlife and geology. We walked from inland beech forests into coastal rainforest, with a density of foliage and ferns and epiphytes (symbiotic plants growing high up in trees) unlike anything I've seen before. The Rata tree is highly versatile in that it can begin growing as an epiphyte on the side of a tree, send down roots and stringers like a vine, and then thicken to either completely wrap around it's host or form a stand alone tree on its own. The vines can be an inch in diameter and flexible like stiff wire, but harder than bamboo. Fern trees bring to mind Jurassic park with their palm-like trunks rising to an expansive umbrella of large fern branches spreading out from the top. There are 129 fern varieties in NZ out a total 180 or so known in the world, of every size shape and description. The color montage is amazing.

We crossed numerous "swinging bridges", suspended by cables, and saw much evidence of heavy duty trail maintenance along the way. Two weeks before our arrival, heavy rains caused flooding that wiped out some segments of the trail and buried trail sign under ten feet of gravel and river rock. This is a very active place with respect to weather and erosion. The Alpine Fault crosses our trail, and while there has been 400 KM of lateral displacement along the fault, there has also been 20 KM of vertical dissplacement over the last 50 million years. Maximum height of the mountains is about 3 KM, so erosion is almost keeping pace with the currently active mountain building (about the speed that fingernails grow!).

Though we hiked long and hard each day and fought off the "sand flies", we were met each evening with the pleasant sight of a Lodge equipped with screens, bunks, and most importantly gourmet food and cold drinks. Part of the trek involved jet boating down the river over rapids and some distance along the lake near the coast. Jet boats were apparently invented in NZ to navigate the rivers. We worked our buns off but had a reward at the end! Following hikes on the coast to explore early Maori and British settlements, we flew south along the coats to spectacular Milford Sound at the northern part of fjordland.

Christchurch to West Coast

Once we turned in our rental car there was an audible sigh of relief across the North Coast, South Island, but then our second round of fun began with our Active New Zealand Group. We headed west by bus from Christchurch through Castle Rock, where battle scenes from "the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" were filmed. Soft limestone formations are exposed and eroded in fantastic shapes that we stopped to climb on for lunch. By evening we had reached the West Coast and headed north from Greymouth to Paparoa National Park to see the gravel beaches, hike up some rivers, and see the famous "pancake rocks" with blow holes. These limestone rocks, though layered, are believed formed by chemical and pressure effects of deep burial, but now raised up by the active tectonism of the area. We explored the beach as well, but were vary wary of the surf and likely strong undertow. The weather was unusualy calm and still there were rogue waves occasionally chasing us up toward the cliffs bounding the beach.

Here we also discovered the "sand flies" which actually don't care much about sand, since they'll come after you anywheere near the coast. There are no mosquitoes, or snakes, or other dangerous animals or insects, but these sand flies are tenacious and leave itchy welts for 7-10 days, and make you a believer in insect repellant. The West Coast of South Island is similar to the west coast of North America, with a prevailing wind coming onshore and rocky cliffs bounding the beaches. The further south you go, the more you find temerate rain forest and lush vegetation, similar to going north from California up to the Olympic Pennisula in Washington State. The highest mountains are in south central South Island around Mt Cook, and we gradually wended our way south along the west coast and hiked up to Franz Josef Glacier - very impressive.

There were some opportunities to go up on the glacier, which some of our group chose to do, but it was enough for us to hike up to the face and see the signs of tremendous erosive power demonstrated along the way. The river bed up to the glacier was mostly trap rock and boulders, subject to massive reorganization every time there's a rainstorm. Since the west coast averages 30 feet of rain per year, washouts and flood are frequent, and prudent hikers keep a close eye on weather up in the valleys above them! We had mostly sunshine so our main concern was avoiding sun burn from the extra bright sun - we were under the ozone hole inthe upper atmosphere. The sun seemed brighter and "whiter" as opposed to the yellow color we see around North America - the ozone hole lets in more blue, violet, and UV frequencies! We were on our way south to Queenstown, where we would stay a few days before heading again to the upper Hollyford River valley to begin "The Hollyford Track", a trek down the river to the coast.

Adventures in New Zealand

Now that we've sorted through our pictures from our 3 week trek in New Zealand we can make some posts. We traveled with our friends from Houston, Marci and Mike Barnes, and were delighted with sunshine for all but one day of our trip, even along the temperate rain forest of the West Coast. Attached is a map of New Zealand showing our general route, starting first on our own driving up to Nelson from Christchurch. We stayed several days in Nelson at a great bungalow (The Crow's Nest) up on a NW facing bluff over looking Tasman Bay. The views across the Bay toward Abel Tasman National Park where we did some hiking were glorious, especially as we had a full moon while there and crimson sunsets. The Bay is funnel shaped and experiences huge 15 foot tidal effects. Every 12 hours we watched the cycle from high tide to mud flats back to high tide, with fishing boats and freighters timing their coming and going accordingly. The area around Nelson is burgeoning with wineries, having particularly good soils and climate for pinot noir and sauvignon blanc. We could taste the distinctive soil minerals in the wine amidst the various oak and fruit flavors - quite nice.

We rode a boat up into Able Tasman park to hike, since there are no roads into the park, and then hiked back along the coast for about 6 miles to a boat pick up point. There were beautful views of the Bay and we got our first exposure to the diverse ferns and plants of New Zealand, including exotic fern trees. The area in Nelson reminded me of Berkley California (a la the San Andreas Fault) in terms of the steep hills made up of unconsolidated soils - earthquake country. Yes, Nelson, and probably the steep slope on which our bungalow was perched, lie right along a splay fault branching off of the great Apline Fault running through South Island. The Alpine Fault marks the tectonic boundary between the Pacific and Austro-Asian plates. We didn't experience any earthquakes in Nelson, but we thoroughly enjoyed the area and got our hiking legs in shape and our wine tasting palates refined!

A Week in Review

What a week!

After a decadent fondue Valentine dinner with my good friend Awatif, I decided a good workout the next morning would be necessary. My decision to (finally--it had been a week. I was hoping the snow would melt) shovel my car out of the snow directly after my workout, was not one of my best. Let's just say, I was feeling it the next day.

Later that day I took my car into the shop for some overdue maintenance and waited for the diagnostic (read: the cost) with fear and trembling. I was delighted to find out that all of the issues were minor, and I was only set back a few hundred bucks. Easy. I planned to pick up the car the next day.

Not so easy. The next day I spotted fraudulent charges on my only credit card, and had to promptly cancel it. Life was further complicated by the appearance of a bird-sized cockroach in my work area. It is safe to say that productivity was disrupted. 7 of the 8 of us in my area are women who wanted nothing to do with a cockroach of unusual size, and the one man took off as soon as someone said "cockroach." He came back 15 minutes later when all was said and done saying, "What?! Can't a guy go to the bathroom?" The President finally walked by and asked what was going on. When we explained, she rolled her eyes, got down on her hands and knees and took care of business. And that's why they pay her the big bucks.

Over the next few days I managed to withdraw enough cash to pay for and pick up my car. I had another kick-butt (and I mean that literally) work-out, that has got me aching in places I may never have thought about before. I joined the church choir, cleaned the bathroom, and learned a new tango move. And if that wasn't enough excitement, tonight calls for dinner at my fave cafe and the theatre (pronounce that the British way while lifting your nose in the air).

I hope I don't fall asleep in the middle of the play from all the exertion.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Have an Open Mind

I made another dish in my "have an open mind" series. Basically this series of dishes consists of combing through the pantry and fridge to see what's there, coming up with a general idea of something to make, and then doing a second comb-through to see what I have for the details. All are experiments. Some turn out disastrous. Some don't.

My most recent experiment was chicken salad, and I think it turned out really good! It's probably hard to go wrong with chicken salad, though. I shredded leftover baked chicken that I had crusted with herbs before baking, and added leftover roasted carrots, chopped green onion, radishes, grapes, and walnuts. Mixed in some yogurt and a little mayo and added in a few spices. Voila!

Yesterday on my mid-day commute I stopped at the grocery for a croissant and some lettuce to make my sandwich. The croissant was soft, flakey, and best of all.. still warm.

I noticed a lot less chicken salad left in the fridge today than I remember leaving. Apparently my roommates thought it was pretty successful as well..

Olympic Snafu

I decided to participate in the Olympics game that some people at my office organized. In doing so, I had to contribute $2 and then draw a country from a bag. Each participant essentially adopts their chosen nationality for the course of the Olympic games, and we keep track of the number of medals won. At the end the winner get's to take half the pot and the other half goes to the Special Olympics. It's pretty fun, especially since I work for a study abroad company and people get pretty excited about all things international. People have decorated their desks and offices in patriotic paraphenalia, and at the awards ceremony we will have an international potluck.

When I went down to pay up and get my new citizenship, the organizer told us there were only 2 countries left in the first batch of countries he'd pulled. My friend drew first--Liechtenstein. When I stuck my hand in the bag and rooted around, I came up empty! Joe said the tag must have gotten lost, but he knew what it was -- Denmark! Yahoo! So I started making preparations to support my fellow Danes. I told Liechenstein she was going down!

The next day I got an email titled "Olympic Snafu." Apparently someone had come down and chosen a country while Joe was out of the office and had picked Denmark. Joe was sorry, but said he put a fresh batch of countries (second-tier) in the mix and I was welcome to choose again. On the second draw, I chose...

Uzbekistan.

With only 3 athletes, I'm pretty much out of contention. Sorry Uzbek, but we're going down. Crap. I'm trying to decide if I should still be patriotic, or if I should become an ex-pat. Oh well, in the meantime..

Go Uzbekistan.

Hurrah.

Aunt Caity Goes Sledding

 

I didn't know if Caity would post any pictures from the weekend, so I thought I'd post a few. Much fun was had by all. Sledding/surfing was very adventurous, led by Caity - the most daring of all, although we were all whipped by Elinore. Who knew.

 
Elinore loves coming down on her belly!

 
Absolutely love this photo of Caity with the kids. What genuine expressions. Elinore keeps saying, "I just can's stop thinking about Aunt Caity." So glad you could come for a weekend with us!

Although since you left Toby has come down with 103 degree fever and a horrible cough. Yuck.