I meant to get the NZ Part 2 post up a week ago, but work has been a little crazy lately so am just getting around to it now – and of course, there are more Aussie stories to add in at this point too!
Let’s start with some of the fun plants and animals in NZ. My favourite has to be the Kea parrot. Good size, dark green with splotches of orange/red under their wings that you only see when they fly. We saw our first one on our first day of the tour, when we were in Franz Josef:
I’m trying to think of the euphemism people use to describe kids who destroy everything – industrious, busy? Whatever the word is, you can use it to describe the Kea! In the photo above, the Kea started digging a super deep hole. We watched him for less than 5 minutes and in that short time, the hole he dug with his beak could fit a good half to two thirds of his body. Not sure if he was looking for bugs or just felt like annoying the home owner by digging a massive hole at the base of the wall. They’re apparently endangered (more on this when I talk about the Kiwi bird) but we seemed to see them everywhere. They’ve got a thing for ripping up rubber and plastic. Just a few blocks from where the one was digging the crater, we saw these 2 ripping up a clothes line:
And apparently Kiwis have a good sense of humour like the Aussies – this funny poster was on the boat we took to explore Milford Sound:
Apparently everything in that poster is true – they love destroying these parts on cars. I wonder if there’s an insurance waiver for that… You know what they call a group of Keas? A circus! That seems about right.
This photo was taken near one of the Kea Vehicle Attack Zones between Te Anau and Milford Sound (free advertising for our friends’ company RPS in Gravenhurst :)):
Another great stop on the way to Milford Sound was the Mirror Lakes. Photos simply do not do justice of how still these lakes were and how clearly they reflected the mountains:
OK back to birds. The bird we really hoped to see was the Kiwi bird, but we had no such luck. They’re nocturnal and it’s light until almost 9:30pm this time of year in NZ (just like Cdn summers – we miss those long dusky evenings!). They’re also endangered. Here’s a great fact sheet about Kiwi birds, they’re very cool. There are 5 types of Kiwi birds and the rarest one is called the Rowi. Because of the predators that were introduced, there is Operation Nest Egg where Rowi eggs are taken to a hatchery (and replaced with fake ones so the parents can still sit on the egg – not sure what happens when it doesn’t hatch) and when the chicks hatch, they take them to a predator-free island to get them to an age when they have a better chance of defending themselves, then return them to the wild. Kiwi eggs are really large relative to their body size. Here’s a sculpture of a kiwi and her egg that we saw in Franz Josef:
Fortunately, some artistic license has been taken here and the eggs aren’t quite that big, but they’re still quite enormous. Here’s another sculpture in Franz Josef that is true to size:
These are Moa birds. They aren’t around anymore (thank goodness, can you imagine happening upon a bird that size!!). The Maori hunted them to extinction as they were a good source of food and other useful materials. It was actually interesting hearing about the Maori hunting these birds to extinction and also destroying vast amounts of native forest in the process. The Maori culture in NZ is very prominent, you definitely get the sense of two cultures intertwined. I’m sure it’s not as happy and easy as it seemed to us tourists, but it was nice to see how naturally Maori culture is built into everything. “Kia ora” is a Maori greeting and we heard young people greeting each other this way while we were in downtown Wellington. And history was talked about matter-of-factly, even when the Maori were the cause of an extinction – they were humans and doing the best they knew at the time and that’s OK. While the Aboriginal populations of Australia date back 50,000 years, the Maori only landed in NZ in the 1200’s. Some think they arrived from Polynesia by canoe but others disagree. You can read some history here.
Possums are one of the threats to native wildlife in NZ. They were introduced from Australia in the 1800’s to develop a fur trade (note that the Aussie possum is totally different from the North American opposum – I posted about them several months ago when Hugh and I first saw Aussie possums coming back from pickleball one night). Possum fur is now mixed with Merino wool in NZ to make a number of garments – you see it everywhere in shops on the south island. I would’ve bought something to do my part to eradicate possums, but I simply have no need for warm woolly clothing anymore! Another threat are stoats, which were introduced in the 1800’s to control rabbits (which had been introduced for hunting). Stoats quickly discovered that it was easier to go after birds and eggs than rabbits, so the rabbits continued to flourish and the native birds were being decimated. Makes me wonder what “natural” solutions we humans are trying now that will turn out to have devastating effects. They now drop bait into the mountains to kill the possums and stoats, but of course that isn’t without controversy either. We did see plenty of possum and stoat road kill on the mountain roads, so maybe tourists are doing their part to help cull the populations.
Another NZ animal that we enjoyed watching were the NZ Fur Seals. They splash around in water and drape themselves over rocks to sleep – my kind of life! We saw them on the west coast when we were out in Milford Sound:
And on the east coast just north of Kaikoura:
We stood and watched them forever! Surprisingly agile. I took about 50 videos of them, so consider yourselves lucky that I am showing great restraint and just posting these two 🙂
While on the east coast traveling by train from Christchurch to Kaikoura and then from Kaikoura to Blenheim, we also lucked out in seeing piles of Dusky Dolphins swimming parallel to the shore, doing terrific fully-out-of-the-water jumps. It was way too difficult to get a video of them, between them moving quickly and the train moving quickly, but they certainly put on a show for us!
It was a little overcast while we were in Kaikoura, but it was a pretty little town. There’s a Netflix show that takes place in Kaikoura, called Friends Like Her. We watched it before we went to NZ but nothing we saw in Kaikoura looked like what we saw in the show, other than the coastline. Speaking of the coastline, in addition to being mesmerized watching the seals, we were mesmerized listening to the sound of waves retreating over the pebbles on the beach:
I don’t know what it is about that sound but I could listen to it all day!
And check out the massive sea kelp washed up on the beach:
Kev K – we thought of you when we saw this, picturing your reaction if this touched your leg while in the water 🙂
There were a lot of Lancewood trees on the south island. These are funky trees in that they look completely different when young compared to mature (sort of like us humans…). Here is a young one:
The story we were told, which is included as one theory in the link above, is that those giant Moa birds liked eating the leaves of the Lancewood. So until the trees were tall enough to be out of the Moa’s reach, their leaves pointed down and had sharp barbs on them. Once tall enough to evade being eaten, their leaves turned upright.
Behind the Lancewood tree in the photo above you can see a Tree Fern. We saw these everywhere, very funky looking!
The west coast of the south island is full of driftwood!
This photo was taken from Ship Creek, which is further south from the famous driftwood town, Hokitika. Although the west coast of NZ wasn’t my favourite part of the trip, I really enjoyed Ship Creek. The beach was beautiful (sand flies aside) and one of the few sandy beaches we saw anywhere on the island. Plus the inland boardwalks were gorgeous, I wish we’d had more time to explore them:
Lots of spider nests in the shrubbery (but not killer spiders like in Oz):
I think I mentioned that Christchurch was one of my favourite cities on the south island. The other was Queenstown. It definitely has the feel of a ski resort (the Remarkable Mountains are there) with lots of great restaurants and things to do. Hugh of course went for a swim in Lake Wakatipu (right downtown Queenstown):
The water temperature was similar to the Atlantic when he went for a swim at New Year’s at Topsail Island a few years ago – about 12C! Needless to say, he didn’t stay in for very long.
While we were in Queenstown, we took the steamboat TSS Earnslaw out to Walter Peak, where we were treated to a spectacular lunch and a sheep herding and sheep shearing session! Another must-do activity if you find yourself in Queenstown. We happened to get a photo of the steamboat the night before we went on it:
Here’s another sunset photo over the lake at Queenstown:
The next morning while we were waiting to board the boat, we watched them delivering the coal:
While we were on the boat, there was a viewing gallery where we could see the poor guys shoveling the coal:
And for my family with shipbuilding history in England, I noticed this:
As part of our tour, we got to travel on a couple restored steam trains:
To preserve the engine, they stored it in a river!
And some regular trains:
The Dunedin railway station was absolutely stunning:
Some inside photos:
Dunedin as a city seemed a little depressed, I think it’s a city in transition, but we enjoyed a terrific Italian dinner at a very cool restaurant called El Trusco for Hugh’s birthday with our new friends Sue and Pete. We also happened across a potters’ co-op shop and I found a great mug that’s the perfect size and fit for my hand – plus the potter who made it happened to be working in the shop that day! It was also Dunedin where we saw this curious phenomenon:
A diagonal crosswalk! All 4 lanes of traffic are stopped so pedestrians can walk in any which way.
Just behind where I was standing to take the crosswalk photo was a park called the Octagon with a big statue of Robbie Burns:
The story is that it’s intentional that he has his back to the Anglican church 🙂
Another stop in the middle of nowhere that we really enjoyed was Oamaru and its Victorian Precinct:
They had a fun SteamPunk museum there:
And a penny farthing you could try out:
I have no idea how anyone ever rode these! They are so awkward and Hugh could barely reach the pedals, I had a heck of a time trying to pedal! Thank goodness some intrepid inventor came up with the bicycle.
I of course never miss an opportunity to take pictures of fun signs, so here are some from the south island:
These were both taken in Kaikoura. I liked the “Pause” one – no need to fully stop before crossing, just pause 🙂 And the Whale Trail just reminded me of the Rail Trail back in Hamilton.
Our last stop before taking the ferry to Wellington was Blenheim, home of lots of wineries. We went to the Allan Scott winery:
The wines weren’t really to my liking but the winery was fabulous and the food they served was incredible. And there was a red Model S parked there, made me miss my beautiful Ruby! The Marlborough wine region is more known for its whites than reds, especially Sauvignon Blancs. The best reds we had were Pinot Noirs from the Otago region.
On the final day of the tour, we boarded the ferry at Picton to head to Wellington:
(Chris S – you’ll recognize my shirt and someone on our tour had grown up in Bermuda!)
And this is our ferry in the background after we landed in Wellington – hard to tell but it’s a HUGE vessel and very comfortable to enjoy the 3.5-hour crossing:
We stayed in Wellington for 4 days to visit with our friends Dan and Chris, who live about an hour from Wellington on the west coast of the north island. Dan is from Thunder Bay originally but moved to NZ around 25 years ago. Hugh and Dan curled together quite a bit back in the day. Since moving to NZ, Dan has played for NZ at the Olympics and Worlds! We had a great time catching up and after such a go-go trip around the south island, we really appreciated chilling out for a few days before heading back to Oz and work. We also really enjoyed Dan and Chris’ cat, she was hilarious to watch:
We spent one day in Wellington and arranged to meet up for lunch with another of our curling friends from back in Hamilton – Derek!
Derek moved to NZ after the Christchurch earthquake and we introduced him to Dan and they curled together in a number of spiels. They both ended up moving from the south island to the Wellington area, so they still stay in touch. One of these days we’re going to arrange for the 4 of us to curl in something together!
We lucked out in Wellington in that it was a sunny and not too windy day. Wellington is apparently one of the windiest cities in the world, step aside Chicago. This is a fun sign at the marina – at first I thought there was vandalism because the I was missing, but then I realised it’s intentional so you can get your photo there 🙂
The old and new parliament buildings:
A great use of an old shipping container in a windy, rainy city – a bus stop:
No idea what this is growing on the trees:
Jo L – do you know? It’s very funky looking.
Dan and Chris live in Waikenae, a beautiful little town that has Kapiti Island off the coast. Not far from where they live, there is a great nature reserve. Lots of trails through forests and around ponds.
And lots of local wildlife. They were tricky to see so I didn’t do well getting photos but did eventually catch this New Zealand Pidgeon:
I am REALLY zoomed in here – these birds are HUGE! Lots of ducks. This one found Hugh and Dan’s conversation to be less than enthralling and walked away:
Some fun jumping facts:
Our last day with Dan was rainy:
I bet you’re thinking I took this photo from the window of a car – WRONG! This is from the plane as we were taxiing for takeoff from the Wellington airport – the airport is right downtown and what you see through the window is a regular road in the city with houses on the other side!
So that’s the end of the NZ trip. We are definitely going to head back to explore the north island one of these days.
OK, I promised you some more Aussie stories but this blog is too long already, so I’ll save them for next time. But I won’t leave you hanging waiting any longer for the boxing kangaroos! Hugh witnessed this on the golf course not long after we got back from NZ:
I tell ya, the golf course is the place to be to see all the crazy Australian wildlife!