May 30-Glacier Hike

Happy Friday!

Finally made it to our rest stop about 8:30 tonight. This is the second night in a row we are staying at a Top 10 Holiday Park. Holiday Parks are in most cities and is a mix of campground units and cabins. Last night we had a bathroom in our own unit, tonight we have to share. Looks as though we are the only one in the unit of five or six cabins because they told Ted to go ahead and use the women’s showers since the men’s isn’t working

This morning we were up early and on the road. Ate cookies for breakfast along the way. We are on our second 24-pack of “Anzac Chocalate Cookies”. Taste a lot like oatmeal cookies with chocolate drizzle on top. Can’t say it’s been the healthiest breakfast, but that’s all we had.

We had a five hour drive from Christchurch down to Fox Glacier for our half day glacier hike. More curvy roads and driving through mountains. Nothing too exciting so I took an hour nap along the way. You wouldn’t believe the number of bridges we had to pass. With that, over 90% of them are one lane bridges. My guess is one lane because they didn’t/wouldn’t need to spend the money to make them two lane with the minimal traffic flow. Either way, lots of one lane narrow bridges, probably hit 50 or more.

We spent our afternoon taking a half day glacier hike across Fox Glacier. Pictures are pretty amazing. Fox Glacier is only one of two of the nearly 3200 glaciers in New Zealand which is actually growing. This glacier is able to grow because of the amount of rainfall it sees each year. Over 200 days a year with approximately 150 inches of rain. This in turn leads to the glacier moving up to 3 feet per day! Luckily, we had a rain free beautiful day! It’s also one of only three glaciers in the world that are in a rain forest.

Met another crew from Ireland today on our hike. Three young lads, likely my age, who were on “Holiday”. When I say Holiday, I guess you could re-phrase that to extended vacation! They were on their fifth month of eight for their around-the-world trip. Unreal…I’m guessing that many Europeans work for a few years after they finish at University to save money to travel abroad for awhile. Seems quite apparent just by the few people we’ve talked to. How sweet would that be!!!

After we finished up there about 5:30, we drove for another three hours to hit our Holiday Park for the evening. Tomorrow we’ll be heading over to Milford Sound for an overnight excursion. It’ll take about five hours to get there. To date, we’ve put on over 800 miles on the two cars we’ve rented. Yikes!

Random Notes:

The other day we had pulled off to take a few photos of the mountains. Trucking along, we noticed a John Deere tractor with a front end loader. Cruising along in the loader, sat a yellow lab, happy as could be. Was hoping we’d be able to catch up and snatch a picture as we passed, but he turned off.

Beginning of the New Zealand Alps
Ice picking our way up the Fox Glacier
CHillin' on the Glacier
Fox Glacier Valley

May 29-Caving Adventure

Another day down. Just sitting at the Hamilton Airport writing our blog before we leave here for Christchurch in an hour.

Stayed at another B&B last night. A neat place in which we had our own cabin. It was a cute set-up with a small loft with two bunk beds for children (yes, Ted and I even climbed the ladder to check them out) and a king size bed and kitchen. One of the reasons I loved the place was because the rooms were decorated in what some of you may call teal. Yes, the room was a teal color with teal sheets. LOVED IT! Our host, Angus, provided “torches” (head lamps as we would call them) for us to view some glow worms on their property. A short hike from our cabin and we arrived at a small rock wall covered in bright green glowing worms. It really appears like you are looking in the sky at stars. Basically, a glow worm is what the name states... A worm that glows in the dark. The worms glow to attract insects to them.

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise which Ted captured with some photographs.

This morning we had booked a caving tour with the Black Water Rafting Company. We were booked for the 5 hour Abyss Tour which involves rappelling down a very narrow entry into the cave. From there we ziplined to another rock, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and plunged (Ted did, I didn’t) into the river on innertubes. The next few hours were spent exploring the caves on our tubes and by foot and viewing the beautiful rock formations in the cave, along with all the glow worms. I fared well, considering we were in the water most of the trip….don’t worry Mom. A wonderful experience, had a blast, and will likely be one of the highlights of our trip.

Ted’s Rendition
Our journey began with 40 degree weather and sliding into wetsuits that had been kept in the cold overnight. We were very cold for quite awhile until our bodies were able to warm up the suits. We traveled to the caves via van and immediately went into abseiling (known to us as rappelling) trainings. We all the got the hand of it quickly, so next up was the real thing. Britt elected to go first and I didn’t argue, so I let her test things out. After 20 feet, she was gone into the darkness. I was next and off I went into the Abyss. About 20 feet down, you have to sqeeze through about a 3-4 foot opening. Very tight and hard to maneuver. After squeezing through, I landed on a platform to a smiling Britt. After the rest of the party rappelled down, we went onto the next portion of the adventure…ziplining. Britt went again of course to test things out. We ziplined to a rock platform and had some coffee and cookies.

Next was one of the funnest portions of the adventure…jumping into the underground cave river. This entailed sticking your tube to your butt and jumping off a 15 foot cliff into the river. Britt chickened out and decided to crawl down the side.

Once everyone was in the water we tried running in the water to warm up a bit and were able to walk down part of the cave due to the low water level. After some walking we all hopped on our tubes and connected and made a large tube train by hooking onto each others legs. We turned off our torches and looked to the ceiling to see thousands of green glow worms. We proceeded to float down the river with our guide giving us the history of the cave. We then got rid of our tubes and walked through more water. We came to a waterfall and slid down a slide on our bellies. Even Britt followed to my surprise. Continued to walk through the cave where we came to a deep spot where we had to swim. Due to the buoyancy of the wetsuits, I was able to pull Britt along behind me without her drowning. Onward we went, trekking through the caves until we came to the end where you could choose whether you wanted to take the easy or hard way out. I took the hard way, Britt opted for the easy way out. The hard way involved shimming through a 3-4 foot opening under a waterfall, then crawling up along slide the wall and over two different waterfalls and crawling through a very narrow cave opening back into daylight. I was very proud of Britt that she made it through this adventure knowing her fear of water. Most of the time she looked wide-eyed and scared, but didn’t complain. Overall, she enjoyed the adventure and I couldn’t be more proud.

The nice thing about the excursion, there were five of us on the tour with four guides, so we were able to learn quite a bit about the area. In talking with the other three, one man, Matt, came from the UK. He was on an around-the-world trip with his recently retired father. I expected him to tell us they’d be on vacation for just a week or two. Nah, they were on the eight month of their year long excursion. They’d been to Australia, now New Zealand, and will finish in South America. Quite the guy and neat to hear about his travels.

Random notes:

Locals must not eat out very often. The two times we’ve ate out for dinner, it was only us and one or two other tables eating dinner at 6:00. Could be that eating out is quite costly, or maybe they enjoy eating at home instead.

Does anyone know who Bill Brysen (sp?) is? Our tour guide on our rafting trip asked after we told her we were from Iowa. Ted and I looked at each other and said, we have no idea who Bill Brysen is. She proceeded to say that maybe she had the wrong state. Then we introduce ourselves to Matt and he asks the same question. Apparently he is a well-known travel writer. Dean/Marge, have you heard of him before?

Megan and Brent - give our favorite niece and nephew a big hug for us! Glad to hear everyone is still doing well after the bad weather.

Cool Picture of Flower that I (Ted) took
Sunrise at our Bed and Breakfast
Britt rappeling into the Black Abyss
Ted with a tube stuck to his butt and falling into the river
I'm a spider

May 28th - Ted lands a BIG ONE

Today. I should let Ted tell you about today….

If you don’t already know, New Zealand is considered to have the world’s best fly fishing. The area around Taupo, where we stayed last night, is considered the best area to go. Yesterday I contemplated whether or not to take the dive and spend the cash on a fly fishing guide. The Taupo area is very touristy, so the cost is very high and pretty shocking. I was about to go on without taking the chance to fish is this great area, but my GREAT wife talked me into spending the money for a guide. We signed up for a half-day at one of the local fly fishing shops. We left this morning at 7:30 with our guide Leon. He was a fairly young guy that was in love the outdoors and very enthusiastic about fly fishing. He took us to a river called Waitakoto river. For the first hour, he spent some time with Britt and I showing us how to cast and fish the river and for New Zealand trout. After getting the hang of things, we trekked back to area of the river that had several large pools where the fish like to hide. Leon hiked up the side of the cliff to see if he could see any fish. Luckily, he sighted a couple in one of the pools. He told me where to place my fly and be ready for the fish to strike. After the first cast, WHAM! The fish went running downstream and flopping in the water. It was amazing the power the fish had. Several mintues later, Leon was able to net the fish. Below you can see a picture of the 18”, 4 lb rainbow trout that I landed. A beautiful fish.

Leon showing me how to hold the fish (I really did catch this fish!!!)
Me holding the fish (Britt picture taking skills needs some work - The picture just doesn't give it justice)

Unfortunately, Britt did not have the same luck (or skill as I would call it) as I did. Better luck next time. I will still give her half the credit for the fish as she talked me into going. THANKS!!!!

Random notes:

From our first night stay at a B&B, we found it interesting how much New Zealander’s know about our current events. We carried on a lengthy conversation about politics, mainly Hillary and Obama. What was even more surprising was the fact that last night after we posted our blog, we had the local news on. They had a quick clip on tornado’s in the Midwest, even mentioning Northeast Iowa and showed video of a tornado in Hugo Minnesota. Who knew we would hear about Iowa halfway around the world.

There are approximately 38 million sheep in New Zealand and 6 million cows. Ted and I believe we’ve seen all but a few thousand of the 6 million cows…..

Theresa…you were right. Day 4 and Ted and I have talked about everything we could think of. Car rides, if I’m awake, are turning into memorizing Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, and Rascal Flatts (although I have the last two memorized) songs.

Good news. Ate a quick lunch at McDonald’s today and they have regular “tomato sauce”. I should’ve asked for a sack full. Maybe it was just the restaurant we ate at? Time will tell. When I ordered our meal, Ted told me that locals will put beets on hamburgers. Not knowing if they did at McDonald’s, I asked the cashier for two cheeseburgers w/out beets and onion. What we got was a hamburgerless sandwich. She must’ve thought I said without beef…

I think Ted is starting to believe he’s now a race car driver. You should see the smile on his face as he speeds (you didn’t read that word Mom) around the curves. Feels like we’re driving in the Rocky Mountains constantly!

We're now in Waitomo Caves. Tomorrow, we will get to partake in the Waitomo Caves adventure. It should be interesting. We'll update tomorrow, if we get a chance.

A few more pictures of New Zealand

May 25th - May 27th

Please ignore my poor writing skills..

Well hello…Britt here…another day down and finally have the chance to use a computer and write a post. Lots of things to say…all will be pretty random and odd…

First off, talked to my Mom briefly yesterday when she was driving home from Marshalltown and she said there was severe weather around Iowa Falls. Spoke a few minutes again this morning and she said tornadoes hit in Parkersburg and New Hartford/Dike. I hope those who live nearby were unharmed and safe (Theresa, Ryan, Shirley/Dick, Jan/Marv).

The plane ride was great! Flew Air New Zealand and had more leg room then we’ve ever had before and chairs reclined far enough that both Ted and I slept almost 8 hours on the flight over. Also watched part of Michael Clayton (George Clooney movie) and Grease.

Day 1 we spent driving along the coast of Coromandel. There wasn’t anything separating our car and the ocean for 30 odd miles. Quite nerve racking with Ted behind the wheel and never more than 50 meters of straightaway. I managed to keep my calm and tell myself that Ted wouldn’t dare kill us on the first day of our vacation…

Partway through the day I wanted to stop in a small town and attempt to use the payphone to try and call our parents to inform Ted’s Mom she’d get Buddy for the night. The first two payphones we tried using our calling card pin number, but never managed to dial out. Our next option was to use our credit card and be charged a dollar amount. Wanting to get ahold of his Mom, I made Ted run back to the car and grab his wallet. Our third attempt at yet another payphone failed and we were on our way. We stopped 10 miles outside of town at an attraction and as we were walking through the lot Ted says, “Britt, I don’t have my wallet!” We quick looked around all the rubbage in the car and no wallet was to be found. We jumped in the car to speed back to town, the entire time arguing whose fault it was. Luckily, I found the wallet sitting in one of the booths. Not funny at the time, but funny now that we can look back.

FYI…if you like to travel, do not go anywhere without a GPS device. I would say it was the best present I have ever bought for Ted. For starters, it gets us to the places we need to be without getting lost. Two, saves on arguments as to which direction we need to be driving. Three, it allows me to fall asleep whenever possible since I am not required to navigate. And for those who know me, I can not stay awake in any vehicle! It’s as if someone secretly slips a sleeping pill in my pop. Maybe it’s actually Ted and he looks at it as peace and quiet time….

We’ve stayed at B&B’s the first two nights. Not only do you get a hearty breakfast, but we enjoy learning a lot from the hosts about their country. Ted spent all morning talking fly fishing with our hosts today. Sandy (our host) even took Ted to his favorite fishing spot to show him where he lost a 15 pounder yesterday. He even sent Ted away with two of his favorite flies!
Another interesting fact…hunting is allowed year round. One animal which is hunted is the wild pig. Apparently this is a sport in which hunting dogs chase the pig down the mountain near the hunter. At this point, one dog will take aim at one ear, another dog at the other ear, and sometimes a third dog at you know what if the pig is male. The hunter apparently stabs the pig under the gut. If you see men walking around town with a limp, easy guess is that he was stabbed in the leg by the pigs’ tusk. Doesn’t sound like a sport I’d be interested in….

Biggest disappointment: Ketchup isn’t called ketchup, it’s tomato sauce. And I tried some “tomato sauce” last night that didn’t taste anything like ketchup. I am quite concerned I will not find any Heinz ketchup in New Zealand and my meals will be subpar. Next time I better pack some in my suitcase…



Random notes:

An 18 pack of pop will cost you $15 NZD (New Zealand Dollars) which is approximately $11.50 in US dollars.

There are no pennies in their currency. If you spend $11.97, you’ll owe $12.00. That really kills two Engineers even if it is only 3 cents.

They run on 250V, so when you attempt to use your new hair dryer on 125, it’ll be shot. My bad.

Along one stretch of windy highway the following random signs were posted along various locations:
You’re going too fast…..crash
Nearest hospital…38 minutes
Surgery to save your life..9 hours
Spinal unit …….6 months
Grieving for your dead passenger…A lifetime

Enough said. Hope all is well with everyone back home. Grandma, hope you are feeling better. Ted and I are thinking of you often!

~Britt & Ted

Views from Coromandel Peninsula


Cathedral Cove

Waikato River

Huka Falls

Made it...

Made it to New Zealand just fine. 8:15 am local time on Sunday....17 hours ahead of Central (So, for those of you who have a difficult time counting that would mean it's 3:20 pm Saturday in Iowa:-)
Heading out to pick up our rental car and we'll be on our way. Let the journey begin....

Britt and Ted's Big Trip

We will try to update this blog on a daily basis to give everyone details of where we are at and how our trip is going.