Since 1996 when C.J. and I made a brief stopover in New Zealand on the way to Australia for the Women's World Hang Gliding Championship we have wanted to visit for longer than a few hours. Last January we ran into Kyla and Jonny, a Kiwi couple, while paragliding in Colombia. They said we should come to NZ and fly with them. C.J. thought that was a good idea. Then another flying friend said we had to look up his "mum" if we went to NZ. And, finally, C.J.'s old high school friend invited us to visit with him and his wife near Auckland. It was practically a done deal! To get the most out of our Worldmark timeshare points we booked a week at the Rotorua resort (north island) and two weeks at the Wanaka resort (south island). Since we were staying for a month, that left only a week to share between our friends in New Zealand. We figured it would be easy but we had not counted on what looked like such a small country (4.5 million folks) being so big in area. On our return to the states we discussed what we had missed - the Bay of Islands and the extreme north, Christchurch, Dunedin and the extreme south among many other places - and already we are thinking about returning some day.
30 Jan, Fri - Fortunately we had both a reasonable departure time and a friend willing to drive us to the airport. Jeff Speers picked us up around 1300 and dropped us off at the Air New Zealand departure desk. We checked three bags (our two wings and a rolling duffle) so we had to pay for the third one ($150!). On this trip I had a random TSA pre-check and C.J. did not but the line wasn't too bad and soon we were at our gate. Since we knew we wouldn't be getting any food on the flight to San Francisco on United, we shared a ham sandwich on a roll from La Pisa. In SFO we hurried to our gate to see if we could get our seats changed to ones adjacent since we were several rows apart. Success! Seats 39K and J were window and middle right over the wing, but the inability to look out since it was too dark to see when we took off and landed. During our wait at SFO we treated ourselves to a falafel sandwich in a pita, and a good fruit salad at DeliUp Cafe.
31 Jan, Sat - 1 Feb, Sun - Our twelve-hour flight to Auckland was uneventful. There was a humorous safety video which used characters from the Lord of the Rings to make the usual points about wearing seat belts, where the exits are, etc. We got a decent dinner shortly after we reached cruising altitude and a full breakfast before we landed. Otherwise we tried to sleep as much as possible. There was a good selection of movies, music and entertainment in our seatback consoles. At some point we crossed the International Dateline and we were in the next day.
1 Feb, Sun - We reached the arrival gate around 0530 (local) and went through passport control. Then we picked up our bags (after we stopped to eat two oranges from home outside an entry arch with Maori-style carving. There were lots of signs saying "Declare or Dispose...or $400 fine" for bringing in various foods, etc.). At the bio-inspection station we had to unpack our boots and hand them in for cleaning before we were allowed through the scanner. Right outside the exit we found a Spark (Telecom) shop and bought two inexpensive smartphones complete with SIM cards and 100 min voice, 500 MB data, and unlimited texts for $118NZ (about $90US). Then we went to the Budget Rent-a-car office and checked out our Australian Holden Cruz. I had already bought excess insurance coverage from 1Cover just the night before we left. [There's no automatic credit card coverage in NZ or OZ but rental is expensive because the CDW (collision damage waiver) is required.] It was drizzling when we rolled our luggage to the car park where we found our car (about the last rain we would see until the end of our trip!) and we sat in the car for a while figuring out where we were going. I set up my Galaxy S4 as a GPS using a saved map which got us at least out of Auckland. C.J. chose a scenic route around the Coromandel Peninsula which would, we figured, take up enough time that we would get to the Rotorua WorldMark (Marama Resort) around 1600, our check-in time. We made a brief stop just outside of the city at a viewpoint probably intended for watching the planes take off and land at AKL. Driving on the lefthand side of the road wasn't bad at all on the divided highway (one of the few in NZ) and the many roundabouts weren't too bad if you kept alert and remembered to go counterclockwise (Oops, I mean "clockwise") around the circle, but the narrow roads of the Coromadel were more challenging. We stopped in Thames, one of the largest towns on the peninsula and visited an iSite (official tourist information place) next to a bus station. We used the facilities and had lunch - our first Kiwi pie, a steak-and-mushroom one, and a sausage roll. The roads turned narrow and winding along the coastal bays and over the central range. We stopped for a break to walk on a rocky beach south of the town of Coromandel. On the east coast we found a big super market, Countdown, in Whitianga and bought $55-worth of groceries - everything seemed quite expensive. We continued south through Whangamata, Waihi and Katikati. On the outskirts of Tauranga we stopped at another Countdown because we knew they had restrooms. We would have liked to explore Tauranga and the beach of Mount Manganui but the drive had taken longer than we had expected and it was approaching 1600. We turned south and inland on Rte 36 toward L Rotorua. By now we were out of the area I had saved on my Galaxy for offline use so I was using the smaller screen of my new phone as a GPS/map; it worked fine with the windshield bracket I had brought along. After passing through some interesting gorges we drove along the shore of L Rotorua for a ways before reaching Marama
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| Marama Resort (WorldMark) |
Resort around 1630. Check-in went smoothly and we soon moved into our two-story condo unit. We had a view out of our back windows to the canal between Rotorua and Rototiti complete with red-faced black swans. After settling in we decided to eat out rather than cook so we went to one of the few places within three km, Okere Falls Store. We joined a group of young people around a big, thick table on the porch and ordered bratwurst, lasagna and a local beer (Steingadner?). Weather continued to be variable with both sun and showers. Back at the condo, without access to the internet (not available, or available for a fee but not recommended), we went to bed early.
2 Feb, Mon - After getting help figuring out the microwave, we had oatmeal for breakfast. We checked with the front desk about finding free wi-fi; MacDonalds was the only suggestion. Since C.J.'s Mac had not charged much using our low-wattage current converter, we went into Rotorua (about 20km) to find another adapter plug (I had brought the wrong adapter plug for NZ outlets and had to borrow one from the front desk), and a place where C.J. could access the internet and I could review the magazine "alpha". We parked at a big shopping mall and first we went to the Spark store where we asked about how to use the wi-fi hotspots that were free for customers of Spark. Then we looked around for an adapter in a couple of places before meeting a helpful salesman in Smith City, a home furnishing store near the Dick Smith Electronics store we had been looking for. We even got a discount ("No one pays retail", the salesman said.) We checked Dick Smiths and The Warehouse and
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| Rotorua Museum |
prices were similar. We checked out a bakery - good-looking pies and quiche - then went across the street to a seedy-looking internet cafe where C.J. did some emailing for local paragliding contacts and Ric Martini while I proofed the alpha. After dropping the computer and iPad back at the car, we walked through the city to the Government Gardens. On the way we stopped at a tour office where the staff was very friendly, told us about booking tickets to Hobbiton and offered to let us use their wi-fi. Since it was already after lunch time we found an "award-winning" bakery and grabbed a chicken, apricot and Camembert pie to share - very good. We entered the Gov't Gardens at the Albert Gate and followed a cultural heritage trail until we reached the Rotorua Mueum, housed in the former Victorian-style bath house which used water heated geothermally. The entrance fee was a bit steep ($32.40 for seniors less a 10% coupon) but there was a lot to see. First we watched a movie that gave a good overview of the recent geological history of the area with much on the eruption of Mt. Tarawera in 1886 along with some origin legends of the Maori people. The seats were shaken during the depiction of the eruption in the movie which was pretty surprising. Then we went through the cultural history side of the museum which had much information about the Maori and the Maori interaction with the European settlers. Later we climbed to the rooftop viewpoint and then descended to the hot and gloomy basement where the mud baths had been when the building was opened as a bath house in 1908. The Gov't Garden still contains the geothermal sources for the hot water - Rachel's Pool and Malfoy's Geyser, plus Sulphur Lake. After finishing our tour along the cultural trail, we returned to the car looking for a drink or a snack along the way. It was 1700 or so and everything was closing up, even in the mall. We ended up in Carl's Jr., which had wi-fi, where C.J. found an electrical outlet near the rest rooms and got the alpha emailed the Greg and Nick. We got a Mango Tropic milkshake and an ice cream sandwich. There was no rush hour traffic as we drove back to the resort around 1800. C.J. roasted the chicken and I cooked some spaghetti and served it with olive oil and salt and pepper (we hadn't bought any butter); a green salad completed our meal.
3 Feb, Tue - After another breakfast of microwaved oatmeal and raisins, we drove counterclockwise around L Rotorua through Ngongotaha where we caught sight of the "Zorb" hill (large transparent sphere ride) and the gondola to the sky swing. The road continued through the commercial side of Rotorua and then south toward Taupo. We continued about 20km to the trailhead for Rainbow Mountain Summit Track just beyond the intersection of Rtes 5 and 38.
Maunga Kakaramea (mountain of coloured earth) was so named because native miners dug there for ocher, valued for it's deep red color. The trail, all 3 km of it, started out rolling and before we reached the steeper summit track there
was a viewpoint for the bright blue crater lake. It took just about the advertised 1hr30min to reach the summit. A tour group of maybe eight passed us a couple of times before we all reached the summit. The leader was well-versed in local geology and gave a good explanation of the landforms we could see from Taupo in the south, to Mt Tarawera to the NE and Lakes Tarawera and Rotorua to the N. It was great to connect the view to the information we had picked up from the Rotorua Museum exhibits and film of the previous day. It was very windy on the summit (and the sun was stronger than we realized at the time due to a thinner than usual ozone layer over NZ) but we got in the lee of the solid base of the fire tower to eat our lunch of PB and J with a middle-aged man who had pushed his bike up the trail and was going to ride down a much steeper trail restricted to mountain bikes for descent. By now we had picked up a little sunburn on our arms and my neck - I had put on sunscreen late and only on my face and neck. The descent was much easier and we met a few people who were on the way up. We stopped at a view point and at another boot track that went up to some steam vents. It wasn't yet 1500 when we got to the car so we continued south another km to Waiotapu and turned east on a road to the commercial geothermal area (described by some as better than Yellowstone). Before we reached
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| Waiotapu boiling mud lake |
Wai-o-tapu (where the entrance fee was $32 each) we stopped at a large (45m across), active, mud lake, part of a National Reserve and walked to several viewpoints. Then we drove to Wai-o-tapu and checked out the visitor center/gift shop. Back on the main highway we stopped at a store selling honey and tried to get a drink at the Waiotapu Tavern but there was no one at the bar to serve the advertised mead. So we returned to Rotorua and bought apples and ginger beer (the alcoholic kind) at Countdown and gas at a Mobil station ($1.599 per LITER! * 40.7L = $65.18)(So gas around Rotorua was about $4.75US per gallon, I guess we can't complain in the US particularly since gas prices had dropped to close to $2/gal during Feb.) We returned to the condo for a ginger beer and nuts snack. Later C.J. made a dinner salad with the chicken, lettuce, and some pasta. We ate on the deck - nice to be in the southern hemisphere in Feb. After cleaning up we went to MacDonalds (about 10km away) and tried using the "free" internet (we bought tea and a iced mocha drink) but C.J.'s Mac would not connect. We ended up sending emails to Pam Willets (Matty Senior's mum) and Ric and Kitty on my Galaxy which seemed to connect just fine. Somewhat frustrated, we returned to the condo with great sunset colors and a full moon. Ric called C.J., and Pam and I exchanged several texts. Both invited us to stay with them for part of our no-condo week. Ric strongly recommended the Agrodome, so we decided to look into it.
4 Feb, Wed - Some digestive upset last night coupled with runny nose, fever, cold symptoms. I took two aspirin and felt well enough (although still sunburned) to eat oatmeal and get on with the trip. At 0900 we went over to Reception and booked a Maori cultural performance and
hangi meal at Mitai Maori Village. We got a 15% discount for booking through Marama Resort ("...no one pays retail").
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| Blue Lake |
Then we drove to Blue Lake (Tikitapu) where we parked and circled the lake on the track mostly through forest and ferns but some was along the Tarawera Road. At about the halfway point we climbed to the carpark and scenic overlook from which we could see Blue and the much larger Green (Rotokakahi) Lake. Green L is "kapu" or sacred and no boats, swimming or ? are allowed. It took us about two hrs to make the 5.5km circuit including a missed turn which had us climbing to the carpark twice. Back at the car, we drove way out on Tarawera Rd past the Buried Village (commercial site related to the eruption of Mt. Tarawera) to a Reserve where we could look across the lake to Mt. Tarawera. It had erupted in 1886 killing 120-150 people and destroying a pair of money-making tourist attractions, the Pink and the White Terraces. We ate our PB and J sandwiches in the Reserve (park) before heading back. We stopped at a memorial overlooking the lake and at the Buried Village visitor center/gift shop. Next we drove the Okareka loop past the lake of the same name and a residential area. Back almost to Rotorua, we visited the iSite VC at the Redwoods Reserve. By this time we were ready for a nap; my nose was running and I was sneezing. We stopped at Countdown for some bread, Parmesan and some cold capsules. Then we went home to rest up for the Mitai dinner and show. We were scheduled to be picked up at 1745 and the van was right on time. We stopped at two B and B's to pick up other Mitai guests. There was the usual long line to get in and pay ($192.20 on the USAA MC; Amex was not accepted). After a short time spent sitting around our tables, and some introductory remarks (..."Mitai means family...TeArawa is the canoe that brought our ancestors here...etc."), we were led into the woods past a smaller scale reproduction of a Maori village as of several hundred years ago. We saw the bubbling
cold spring and ended up standing along a stream up which a carved canoe with 8 or 9 warriors were paddling. They reversed after acting out a greeting as if they were arriving for a visit. Our guide then took us to the area where the food had been cooked underground in the hangi style. Next we were taken to an outdoor amphitheater where we sat under a roof in front of a reconstructed village setting for the cultural performance. It consisted mostly of aggressive dancing by the men and the graceful poi
dance of the women. The tattoos on both the men and women were striking (and later we were told that they were temporary and were removed after the performance). Following the dancing, we returned to the dining area and went through a buffet line consisting of salads, scalloped potatoes, hangi-cooked potatoes, sweet potatoes (purple), lamb and chicken. Later we went back for desserts - pavlova (sort of the official NZ dessert), chocolate roll, steamed pudding with custard sauce. After dinner (around 2100) we could choose to go with the guides along the dark trail, with flashlights. At the spring we turned off the lights and were able to see lots of glowing dots, the so-called glowworms. We emerged from the woods right at the carpark and our van was waiting to return us to Marama Resort.
5 Feb, Thu - We finally got going around 0900 on our way to Hobbiton. It took about 1.5 hrs
on Rtes 5 and 27. We got our tickets right away ($150 - gulp) and a 1050 tour time. We
wandered through the gift shop and noticed that there were books available that
showed the locations that were used for filming Lord of the Rings and
The Hobbit; a bit expensive at $38 each but tempting. There were lots of other souvenirs including a replica of Gandalf's hat for $320 and a similarly expensive "elven cloak" with a leaf-shaped brooch (probably made of the popular NZ mix of Merino and possum fur wool). Across the road from the office and store/cafe was a shepherd working some of the farm's many sheep with a dog and an ATV. At the appointed time we boarded one of the many tour buses (except ours, "Gandalf", was plain white and without the sleek commercial look of the new ones that must run back and forth from the nearby hub of Matamata). We drove through two farm gates and past many sheep and Angus cattle before reaching the bus park where we unloaded. We walked through "Gandalf's Cutting" and past many Hobbit holes (or at least
the doors and fronts) as we climbed the hill to Bag End which was surmounted by a large oak tree (made of steel and resin with individual leaves wired on). None of the Hobbit houses had any furnishings beyond what might be visible through the small windows as all interior filming was done on sound stages in or around Wellington. Our guide was very good allowing us time to take photos and offering to include us in photos, and keeping us separated from the many other guided groups. From Bag End we walked down to the "Party Field" where Bilbo celebrated his 111th birthday. Then we followed a trail through the woods to the mill, across a two-arched, stone bridge to the Green Dragon Inn. Everyone received a complimentary mug of ale, cider or ginger beer. We also bought a scone to go with our drink. Then it was back on "Gandalf" and return to the entrance. By
then the outside cafe was open so we bought ice cream cones before hitting the road (C.J. had Hobbit Crunch). Before leaving we asked about wi-fi availability and found there was none there and none at the Matamata iSite, either. So we headed instead toward Tauranga over a range of hills. We bypassed the city on a toll road and reached the resort beach town of Mount Manganui. The iSite there told us that there was free wi-fi all through the town so we parked in the shade near the beach and got our online stuff done. C.J. checked Nick's ed notes and we picked up email from all three accounts. Later we walked along the very windy (offshore) beachfront. Heading home we drove E along the coast to Papamoa then went south on Rtes 2 and 33 through a kiwifruit growing area. Back at Marama we shared a ginger beer while we walked around the condo units. The swans (red beak, black body, from Oz) swam over looking for a handout. We had homemade chicken soup (still using that same chicken we bought the first day) with salad and the avocado we bought at a fruit stand in Papamoa. Later I called Michel at Kiwi Air PG (in Opotiki) about getting our visitor flying licenses. He and Aniko were heading off for the long weekend but he said we could meet them at the boat ramp for L Tarawera the next day at 1015.
6 Feb, Fri - Waitangi Day - marking the day the treaty between Maori Chiefs and the British Crown was signed in 1840, thus the beginning of New Zealand (as opposed to Aotearoa). Figuring the traffic would be bad on Sunday as everyone heads home from the long weekend, we planned to leave a day early and go visit Ric and Kitty on Saturday. First though we had to meet Mike and Aniko. To be certain we didn't miss them we left home at 0845 for the GPS-calculated 35 minute drive to Tarawera Landing. We had already gotten copies made at the office of our IPPI and USHPA cards. Then we stopped at the Te Ngae shopping center to get some cash from an ATM to pay the $60 each for membership in the NZHPGA. Mike called just before we took the turn onto the Tarawera Road , and said to meet them in town instead at the nearby shopping center since his friend with the boat was going to be late anyway. We didn't have long to wait before Mike and Aniko (He's from The Neth; she's from Hungary.) arrived. We secured a table in The Coffee Club, ordered drinks and filled out almost all the paperwork (Mike hadn't read my long SMS so didn't realize that both of us were pilots). Mike and Aniko turned out to be really great people, friendly and enthusiastic. They got out a road atlas and showed us some local sites and some N of Auckland. They recommended a trip S to Taupo and the Tangariro Alpine Crossing before we left the area. Within minutes we were on our way (1045). Mike was going to email us a copy of the second license so that we both have one once they get back from their trip. It was an hour drive (80km) to Taupo which was crowded with tourists and very windy - big whitecaps on the large lake. The two-lane highway down the west side of the lake
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| Volcanic activity monitor at trailhead |
was busy and quite narrow in places, but the traffic was moving right along. We stopped for a break in Turangi and to get info at an iSite. They had a map for the 19.4km Alpine Crossing, and we found out that a partial crossing took us into great scenery and eliminated the need for a shuttle. We also found out that a warning had been issued for volcanic activity along the track but "it was probably okay" to hike. We drove down Rte 47 stopping for a photo of steam erupting from one of
the craters on the side of Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom in LOTR). We took the unpaved access road about 4km to the carpark at the trailhead (~3700 ft). There were quite a few people around, mostly returning from the hike, and they looked chilled - no wonder, because it was very windy and there had been showers. When we started to get geared up I realized that I was woefully unprepared for a cold, possibly wet, hike in big windchill conditions. No rain pants, wind pants, warm hat, nor gloves. Fortunately, the rain held off and C.J. had an extra pair of wool mittens. We headed up the trail slowly with the wind at our backs. It was a good trail; there hardly seemed to be a climb at all. We passed the turnoff for the hut and then, maybe 2km farther, just as we reached the first ascent to the top of a lava flow we met a large group of people descending. An officious young woman (possibly a group guide) insisted we turn back as the trail had been closed due to volcanic activity. We were surprised because a system of status lights at the TH had showed "green" (no danger) when we left not long before (and it was still green when we returned). However, having seen what Mt. St. Helens had done, we weren't dumb enough to continue up in the face of a warning. We didn't leave right away, though, but sat in the lee of a gully wall and ate lunch. Heading back toward the TH, we faced the full force of the wind and felt the winter-like conditions due to the wind chill. Hoods up and zippers sealed, we pushed on. After a while the sun came out and it didn't feel quite so frigid. The walk back to the car didn't take very long and we were able to talk with a couple of about our age from W of Melbourne. The car was nice and warm as we drove back to the highway. We filled up the gas tank at Turangi where the Z station had a price of $1.849/L. We figured that the prices had gone up for the weekend but back in Rotorua prices were still around $1.629. The wind on the south part of L Taupo had decreased but waves were still crashing onto the shore at the town. It continued to be crowded so we jammed on to Rotorua stopping only at a rest area which explained that the round-eyed bird on all the traffic safety signs was the ruru, or owl (also known as "more pork" for its call). We bought some salad greens, spaghetti sauce, tomatoes and a can of pineapple at Countdown which made a great dinner with the leftover chicken (although we saved the pineapple for another time).
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| Silverfern Tree |
7 Feb, Sat - After breakfast and a little cleaning up we drove over to Okere Falls Reserve and walked the short (30 min) trail from the car park to the Trout Pool. There were interpretive signs at the falls about the first power generating turbine in the Rotorua area. There were steps down to the pool below the 7m falls, the highest commercially-rafted falls in NZ. Trout Pool was the end of the short raft trip, or rather, the falls just above it. From Trout Pool we walked back and went halfway down Hinemoa's Steps to watch a group of sledgers
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| Sledgers just below the falls |
get into the water. As we drove back to Marama we saw a big gathering of people on the shore of L Rototiti; it looked like there was some sort of historic boat regatta/parade. At the condo we finished packing up and checked out by 1115. Our route to
Auckland took us through Matamata so we could stop at the Middle Earth-themed iSite. Then we motored on north stopping for lunch at a scenic pullout, and later at a service area on the Rte 1 motorway. Traffic was not much of an issue as we drove through Auckland. Once we got off the motorway we stopped at a Pac N Save for some flowers and a bottle of wine for our hosts. It was still 10+km along Whangaparaoa Rd. before turning off to Gulf Harbor
(just a couple of km short of the entrance to Shakespear Regional Park), then right on Island View and right again on a long driveway to Ric and Kitty's big, impressive, modern house with a fantastic view out over Haruki Bay all the way to the Coromandel Peninsula (and backed up to a golf course). We arrived sometime after 1530 , visited over snacks and beer, then had a delicious steak dinner. We had our own room with a futon bed and a bathroom with a shower.
8 Feb, Sun - Up at 0715 or so. C.J. was feeling better after her cold/fever peaked and broke overnight. We all hung out doing computer stuff- I was looking at our route to the ferry at Wellington and where we might stay on the way - Wanganui, probably. I sent texts to two flying club (Auckland HGPC) contacts and got replies. One thought that Muriwai on the west coast might work but the wind was too light so far. C.J. and I decided to drive over there anyway and Kitty loaned us her Garmin Nuvi. It was a bit over an hour to the beach where we parked among the holidayers and asked the surf rescue guys where the PGs usually flew. They pointed to a path to the south which led up to the gannet colony. Behind the clifftop colony was another bay and carpark with a grassy area that might have been a launch. A paramotor passed over but there were no HG or PG. We walked back to the car and drove to the upper carpark before starting home. We stopped for ice cream in Kumea and picked up 500g of cherries. Back on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula we stopped at Pac N Save for oatmeal, cinnamon, and hot chocolate. We also stopped at a bakery and got a loaf of ciabatta. Instead of turning in to Gulf Harbor, we continued on to Shakespear and walked the Waterfall Gully trail to a lookout on the ridge. We tried to figure out where the PG launch was; it was shown on the park map as located above Te Haruhi Bay facing generally south. When we got back to
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| Shahespear Regional Park |
the carpark we drove into the park through an automatic gate (The whole park was surrounded by a vermin fence to keep out possums, stoats and feral cats, among other imported pests) and drove to the end of the road at the campground. We pulled off to take some photos through a giant picture frame on the way. By the time we had looked around, it was almost 1800 so we didn't try walking up the hill to where we guessed the launch was. Back at the house, Ric and Kitty were visiting with their fellow golfers, Tom and Barbara
, following a game. After they left for home we all cooked up a pasta, sauce, chicken, salad, and garlic bread diner - delicious!
9 Feb, Mon - We hung around until after 1100 then headed north with the intention of checking out the Dill's Hill site and touring some of the east side of the island to the north. We bought gas at a Z (apparently Z is the new Shell brand) station in Whangaparaoa. Then we followed the free route north through Orema until we got back on Rte 1. Just short of Warkworth we found the turnoff for the Parry
Kauri Park and stopped to view the large Kauri trees that have been
preserved, and walk a trail/stairs and boardwalks through a Kauri forest.
It was very cool to see these redwood-like giants and the associated
species. By the time we reached Warkworth we were ready for some lunch.
Ric had let us borrow his
Guide to Pies in NZ and we
found one of the two recommended places right on the main street. We took our steak-and-mushroom and chicken-spinach-feta down to a park next to the river for a semi-scenic lunch. On the way back we stopped at an iSite to get a map showing interesting sights in the area. And we got dessert - a couple of ice cream cones. A walk around the commercial district also turned up a group of folks playing bowls (is that right?) - looked something like bocce ball. Heading out of town, I missed the turn to Dill's Hill so we went NE through the winery area of
Matakana, past the turnoff to Omaha Beach, on to Leigh and then over a ridge on an unsealed road to Pakiri to the south end of the long Pakiri beach - wild and relatively unspoiled. We were hoping to make it all the way up to Mangawhai Heads where we were told the real East Coast scenery begins, but it was already 1645 and we were supposed to pick up the dinner at an Indian restaurant in Gulf Harbor. Mangawhai town would have been at least another half hour to the north and then Rick said it was 1.5 hrs back home. So it was fortunate that I had picked the wrong turn near Pakiri and ended up at Wellsford
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| Pakiri Beach |
on Rte 1. From there we went south to Warkworth and felt we had time to take the detour to see where Dill's Hill was located. We decided not to drive up the rough road to launch (or walk) but the area looked like it would be a great north-facing flying site. We weren't too late to order dinners for four at Chait's Tapas and Bar in Gulf Harbor right down where the boats are moored. We got a garlic-prawn salad and Lamb Rogan Josh for ourselves - both were very good and included basmati rice, naan and crunchy poppadom. Later I tried to call Budget to arrange for dropping off the rental car at the Interisland ferry and picking up a new car on the south island. But I was too late. However, I made reservations for us on the Interislander for the 1445 crossing. Matty Senior's mom, Pam Willets, and I have been texting and she's keen to host us in Nelson - great!
10 Feb, Tues - Up at 0700 but then hung around until almost noon. I called Budget to get a confirmation number for dropping our car off in Wellington and picking up another one in Picton around 1800. Kyla called to say she'd meet us at North Head, a flying site across the bay from Auckland. We drove down Rte 1 to exit at Rte 26 to get to Devonport which is west of North Head. We found the entrance to the park and drove the narrow road to the upper carpark. We didn't stick around as it was too early but we went back to Devonport to find some lunch. There were no parking places near the main shopping/eating area so we ended up parking .5km away and walking back. We settled on Collettis Cafe just down the street from the Victoria Theater. We were able to eat outside under an awning (it had rained earlier as we drove to Devonport). Service was somewhat slow but the lamb burger and order of kumara (sweet potato) fries were excellent. It was after 1400 when we left Colettis and almost 1420 when we got back to North Head and found Kyla at the mid-level carpark. Kyla was not dressed for flying but she showed us around the various launches; she pointed out that the wind was "funky" and not good for trying to fly. We had a good visit then went back down to town and had a gelato cone with Kyla. After saying goodbye, C.J. and I walked up the street just windowshopping for a while. Around 1630 we started home in some seriously slow rush hour traffic, but were back by 1745. Since we were going to have dinner with Ric and Kitty at the country club after their twilight golf game (9 holes), we spent some time packing our wing bags for the Interislander ferry trip. Around 1935 we started down to the club but we must have taken the wrong path because it took us longer than expected to reach the clubhouse. Ric had already ordered Caesar salad and an open-face chicken sandwich (better-tasting than it sounds), with a beer for us. Tom and Barbara ate dinner with us, too. We stayed until the winners of the round were announced then walked back to the house. I couldn't keep up with Ric and Kitty with their battery-powered, motor-driven golf trolleys until they switched to a slower speed - quite the cool gadgets!
 |
| Tudor Garden |
11 Feb, Wed - Up at 0700 and out shortly after 0900. Traffic was slow approaching the Auckland Harbor Bridge on the motorway but once across there was no further problem. We were mostly on motorway and expressway for the two hours to Hamilton where we stopped at the magnificent Hamilton Gardens (free). We were there only a bit more than half an hour but we managed to see several gardens in the Fantasy collection: Tudor hedge designs, what a
 |
| Maori Garden |
Maori garden might have looked like, and a tropical garden (but planted with species that should survive the winters on the North Island. We also looked at the kitchen garden (medieval, walled) and an herb garden. We considered having lunch at the cafe but it was quite busy so we started out of town once we had filled up with gas (1.759, a bargain compared to other stations we had seen where gas cost1.869/L). We missed all the lunch spots and didn't stop until nearly 1400 at a Bakehouse where we shared a hot pork sandwich with veggies (or "veges" as they way in NZ) and gravy on a (terrible) ciabbata roll. Then we cruised through central NI on winding roads with many ups and downs. We made a short stop in National Park, a very small village at the crossroad leading to Whakapapa Village and the Tangariro Alpine Crossing. We reached Wanganui at 1730 about two hours later than the GPS had predicted what with all our stops. Our pre-booked room in the Riverview Motel ($120) was more of a suite than a room, with a full kitchen, couch and recliners. We walked along the river for about ten minutes to reach the town center and a restaurant/pub recommended by the motel, Stellar. [We recognized at least two couples who were also guests at the motel.] C.J. had a seafood chowder from the starters menu - a large bowls with a thick slice of bread. I had the Thai Beef Salad which was an even larger bowl. We shared a glass of Boundary Road Flying Fortress, a good pale ale (amber). All the Boundary Road drinks we've tried have been good. We ended up more than filled. After dinner we walked back through the main street of the small city and climbed through Queens Park past the War Memorial to the huge and impressive neoclassical Sarjeant Gallery (the cornerstone said 1923) and a museum. We could see two tall, stone towers across the river and, in the distance, the Tangariro Range from which the clouds had finally lifted. A little snow could be seen in patches on the peaks. Back at the motel we realized how tired we were and got to bed by 2200.
 |
| City and bay from the top of funicular |
12 Feb, Thu - We were up at 0700 and used the can of pineapple chunks on our
oatmeal. On the road by 0830, it was a nice drive through increasingly
populated coastal plain. We got into Wellington 11-ish and checked to see where
the ferry terminal was before driving into the downtown business district. We
found a parking spot not too far from the main bus and train terminal and asked
at customer service what we could see in an hour or so. We had considered the
museum and that was one option but we chose the second. It was a short walk to
the funicular which carried us to
the top of the Botanic Gardens and a view of
the city and bay. Then a trail wound down through the park and came out at the
Parliament buildings. We found our way from there back to the bus station and returned
to the car at 1240 just as our time ran out on the meter. Next we had to find a
gas station so we could return the rental with a full tank ($1.799/L). From
there it was only a short distance to the ferry. We snagged the last parking
slot in the Budget area. Finding no carts for our bags, we rigged our packs for
carrying and lugged everything a reasonably short distance to the check-in
around 1315. We checked the usual three big bags then bought a panini and a
blood orange soda for lunch. Later someone came around and told us we had to
check our rollaboards as well, luckily there was no additional charge and it
left us free-er to wander around the ferry. The ferry started boarding a
bit late so we didn't get in until around 1810 (and then it was still two hours
drive time to Nelson). The crossing took about 2 1/2 hours and was mostly open
water. But the last leg, through the Marlborough Sounds
 |
| Marlborough sound |
had scenery much like
you might enjoy passing through the San Juan Islands. Since dinner would be
late, we bought a mince-and-cheese pie (the most popular pie in NZ) and it
was one of the best we had. [The
availability and quality of pies all through NZ was nothing short of amazing -
even pies in bus and ferry terminals had flaky crust and tasty fillings.] When
we reached Picton C.J. went to secure our luggage from the carrousel while I
hurried off to the Budget Office to beat the crowd. Their computer was down so
I
 |
| Approaching Picton, SI |
had to sign only one form to get the keys to our new burgundy Holden Malibu.
I picked C.J. up at the baggage claim and we very quickly drove out of Picton.
The wide-open, mostly level highway changed as we entered the mountains and
wound through the forest up and down ridges. At one point a large raptor who
was eating some roadkill flew up in front of us and the headlight on the left
clipped the bird. We hope it wasn't injured. It was around 2030 when we reached
Nelson and found Pam's house after missing only one turn (didn't react quickly
enough to what the GPS was showing). Pam had a nice late dinner for us of
marinated green beans, potatoes and cold chicken. We visited and discussed
plans for Friday. She had already made contact with Tony Dickison, a local
pilot/instructor to meet us to fly in the morning at the nearby site of
Barnicoat.
13 Feb, Fri - We slept in a little too long so had to hurry to get to nearby
Octopus Gardens Park by 0930. Tony was not there and did not answer his phone.
We waited around for an hour, talked with some other pilots who showed up, and
then gave up. We returned to Pam's apartment and repacked for touring to the gateway
to Abel Tasman National Park (Motueka and Kaiteriteri) with the possiblity that
we would rent a kayak somewhere. We drove directly to Motueka, a busy tourist
town, and stopped to get some brochures and maps at the equally busy iSite.
Then we continued on to "Kaiteri" and found a parking place next to
the beach. We walked along the golden sand a bit, but by then we were really on
a quest for lunch. There were only a couple of busy restaurants so we settled
for a ham and cheese sandwich and a coke from a convenience store. While eating
on a bench at the beach we kept an eye on the wind and waves. We could see some
whitecaps and we had been told that the wind often comes up in the afternoon,
so we were concerned about renting a kayak and getting stuck somewhere due to
stormy conditions. So we didn't even talk to the kayak-rental operators...we've
had cause to regret our decision since. We drove on toward Marahau, the end of
the
road before the AT National Park. At one point a sign pointed down a side
road to Split Apple Rock Bay. We found the trailhead and hiked down to the
really pretty golden-sand beach with the split spherical granite boulder in the
middle. We realized that it would have been an easy paddle from Kaiteri, and
downwind on the return. [Oh well! Maybe we'll have to return.] There wasn't a
whole lot to see in Marahau, except the Fat Tui Cafe which was recommended in
our guidebook so we turned around and returned to Kaiteri by a loop. Just
before
entering Motueka, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand that served
frozen ice cream chunks ground up with frozen fruit in cones, sort of like a
softserve swirl. Since it wasn't too late, C.J. got Tony's phone number from
Pam, called him and found out that he had taken students to launch early that
morning and had not gotten back down to meet us before we left (wind was over
the back, his phone had gotten dropped and broke, yada, yada). Anyway, he said
that the flying looked good for the evening, so we returned to Pam's for our
wings and hurried to Octopus Garden to meet a number of pilots and students. We
rode up with everyone else to the take off at 600m MSL, a large, grassy,
rounded launch. The bailout LZ was not visible from launch and neither was
Octopus LZ. Once we launched Octopus was obvious with its green grass and the
two large cargo containers and three new cricket pitches (new since the
morning) for a demo game on Saturday. Both C.J. and I got up in thermals along
with another pilot. Airspace restrictions had to be carefully observed because
the Nelson airport was quite close by, but I got to 700 m. Since I was still
going up and the clouds were low, I headed out front to get out of what was
becoming strong lift. Even after crossing the high-tension power lines and
getting out of the hills, I had trouble getting down and had to core sink to
get low enough to fly a pattern and land softly after about 32 min, my first
flight in New Zealand. We had an invitation from Tony and the group to fly with
them the next day at 0930, but by then we would probably be on the road to the
West Coast. We were back at Pam's by 1930 or so, got cleaned up and took her
out to dinner at The Honest Lawyer, a pub not far away. C.J.'s lamb cooked on a
hot stone was excellent, as was my fish and chips with panzella salad.
14 Feb, Sat - Up at 0730 with a surprise handmade valentine from C.J. We had
some delicious ripe mango on our "porridge" then packed up and were
on the road shortly after 0900. Pam told us that we shouldn't miss Nelson Lakes
National Park so we turned south off the main highway toward St.
 |
| Nelson Lakes |
Arnaud. We
stopped at a boat ramp on West Bay of L Rotoiti and walked 15-20 min on a trail
along the peninsula, noting traps set for non-native species like possums and
stoats. Then we drove down the Buller River valley to Murchison where we
stopped briefly at a TI. We picked up some info on the Buller Swinging Bridge,
a local attraction, so we stopped there. It was $20 for the two of us to sway
across the narrow, 110m-long suspension bridge and then walk a 15 min loop
 |
| Vermin trap |
trail through an area that had been mined for gold. There were also info signs
about the 7.8 earthquake in 1929 that had raised a 4.5m fault scarp. We skipped
the cable zip line back across the gorge (for an additional fee). There was no
cafe so we pushed on hoping to find lunch before getting all the way to
Westport. No luck, but we were late enough that we didn't get stuck in the
marathon (and other races) traffic at the Iron Bridge. At the iSite in Westport
we were unpleasantly surprised to find out that almost all lodgings in the area
were full all up and down the coast. However the agent found us one about 10 mi
south of town. It cost quite a bit more than we would have desired ($155) but
at least it was a
 |
| Buller Gorge swingbridge |
nice B&B right on the coast. We checked in and then went
down the road 0.5km to the Star Tavern for a late lunch/early dinner. C.J. had
a pork, plum and bacon pie that came as a meal with mash and gravy and cooked
veges, while I had the Fisherman's Basket with deep-fried fish, squid,
scallops, mussels and a crab stick with chips. It didn't reach the high level
of the previous night's dinner but we were pretty hungry. The service was
friendly and we were almost the only customers. Since it was early we drove
south another km to the start of the Cape Foulwind (named by Capt. Cook)
walkway. The trail went up and down
 |
| Cape Foulwind |
along the tops of the sea cliffs with the
waves crashing on the beach and rocks below. It was about 3 km, 40 min, each
way. I had grabbed my pack just so I'd have my water bottle and parka and forgot
to take out my journal, my Nook, two magazine, etc. It was pretty hot in the
sun so I never needed the parka, but we drank almost all of the .75L water. The
southern end of the walkway (reached from the N or from a shorter trail to the
south at Turanga Bay) was an overlook above a seal colony. We could see several
adults and a few pups. The walk back did not seem as hot and tiring since we
had a breeze in our faces. We were ready for a shower and a change of clothes
when we got back to Omau Settlers Lodge. We collapsed for a couple of hours
before going to bed at 2200.
15 Feb, Sun - According to the posted schedule, breakfast wasn't
until 0730
but we wanted to make an early start so we were there by 0715 and on the road
by 0800. (Gas in Greymouth, $1.91/L) We drove along the coast stopping briefly
at a viewpoint on a ridge just before Punakaiki. Then we
reached Pancake Rocks
and found a place to park before the popular stop got overrun with tours. The
tide wasn't quite right for spouting blowholes but the loop walk gave us good
views of the rock formations, waves and churning water. After a quick look at
the TI/gift shop (they had possum pelts for sale - wonder if they were roadkill
or the result of vermin trapping), we headed off to Hokitika, the setting for a
book C.J. had read recently. It was
kind of a cute beach town with a clocktower
in the middle of the main street and a museum housed in the old Carnegie
library. We walked through town and out to the beach where there was a bunch of
driftwood artwork. Our next stop was at Franz Josef Glacier where
we walked up
a trail to Sentinel Rock, a viewpoint of the glacial valley and the
much-receded glacier. Checking the GPS once we were within 3G coverage, we
found it was about 3.5 hrs to Wanaka so we drove on through Fox Glacier and
Haast, over the scenic Haast Pass and down the other side to L Wanaka then
across a divide to L Hawea. We finally arrived at WorldMark Wanaka at 1900.
After checking in we drove into town to get dinner but we ended up buying
groceries then going home and cooking a stir fry of steak schnitzel and carrots
with rice and salad.
16 Feb, Mon - We were up by 8-ish, made some microwave oatmeal (no oven or
range here, just a hotplate, M/W, and elec kettle). Then we did laundry (no
washer and dryer in the unit but several
 |
| Pukeko |
in the resort's laundry room, $3) and
put the clothes on the supplied rack out on our deck. C.J. talked to Abe
Laguna, a pilot we met years ago at Tiger who now lives in nearby Queenstown.
He used to have a business doing tandems and training but now works for Delta,
a utility company. With a NZ wife and an 8-year-old son, that probably makes
better sense) and he said he could meet us at Coronet Peak to fly around 1700.
Until then we decided to explore Wanaka a little by walking into town, about 30
min. We went to the iSite and got info on local walks and maps of Queenstown.
Back at the condo, I sent an email to Mike of Kiwi Air about our missing
license - we had only one although he had put both our names on it. C.J. signed
up for Tomizone wi-fi access good for 30 days or 3 GB since there wasn't any
free wi-fi at the resort (boy, are we spoiled!). We burned some cheese
sandwiches for lunch (we had bought a 1kg block of Edam cheese at New World
supermarket along with a loaf of sourdough bread) and soon enough it was time
to leave for Coronet Peak to meet Abe. We left at 1515 and took the Crown Range
road through the mountains through
Cardrona to rejoin Rte 6 below a series of
tight, narrow switchbacks. Oops, I hadn't filled the gas tank at Wanaka when it
was below 1/4 and, as we descended, the low-fuel warning light came on. There
were no petrol stations on the mountain road or in historic Arrowtown so we had
to push on toward Queenstown, 20 km away. Fortunately we reached a Mobil station
in Frankton and I put in 60L at $1.969/L for a total of $119! By now it was
1630 and Abe, who had not called us at 1400 or 1500 when he said he would,
called and, once we told him where we were, told us to meet him just a short
way north/east of Frankton at the Delta shop. He arrived in a truck with a
cherry-picker and we were soon following him to the flight park and LZ. It was
busy place with lots of pilots (hang and para) and tandems, and even had a
cafe. Leaving our car in the lot for retrieve, we hopped in with Abe and Saneh
(?), a relatively new pilot, and drove to the Rocky Gully launch, one of two at
the ski area's mid-level parking lot (3750'msl). Abe pointed out the airspace
restriction left, right and out front, and above (400' over the ridge behind
us). Launch was pretty flat - like a golf tee - but there were decent cycles
and I got off neatly except for a tip cravatte which was pulling me to the
right. I had to pull the stabilo to get it loose. That cost me some altitude
but there was enough light thermal lift that I was able to cross a small gap to
the next ridge and follow that almost to the end where it overlooked part of
Arrowtown. I spotted a pilot turning out in front of the ridge over the LZ and
when I reached him there was a hawk circling as well. That lift got me back up
from maybe 2600' to over 3300'. Then it was easy to stay up and hard to get
down. I finally cored some sink to get down because I heard on the radio that
Abe had already landed (what I didn't hear was that he had toplanded to save us
from having to drive the 16km back to the TO) . I think I flew about 55 min and
C.J. 61. Very fun. We paid our landing fee ($5 each) and got us all a drink at
the cafe. We asked Abe if we could take him to dinner but he said he had to get
back to Wendy and Tane. On the way back to Wanaka we stopped at the Crown
Terrace launch, located just above the switchbacks on the Crown Range road,
where several paragliders on a tour were ridge soaring. Abe thought we might go
there on the 17th when Suhas (another old Tiger pilot who now lives in India)
is supposed to be in town. We got home around 2040 and C.J. cooked up some
chicken and carrots and made another excellent salad. Then she got her computer
online and worked on four articles for the April magazine. A successful first
day in Wanaka!
17 Feb, Tue - Up at 073, C.J. worked on editing, then I did, too. I also
researched lodging and kayak trip on Milford Sound. After a lunch of toasted
cheese we booked a guided 4-5 hr kayak tour for Mon (C.J. had checked the
weather) with S.K. Fiordland/GoOrange ($350, with a pickup in Te Anau). We also
booked two nights in a backpackers, part of Lakeview Holiday Park (they also
have camping and motel rooms) in Te Anau ($150). Around 1515 we headed to Crown
Terrace to meet Abe and Suhas. It was a much more pleasant drive without the
stress of imminently running out of gas. We arrived
 |
| Abe, C.J. and Suhas - Arrowtown |
first and noted that the
wind was pretty strong. When Abe arrived he confirmed 24 kph, gusts to 40
(conveniently there is a weather station right on launch which can be accessed
on our smartphones). After a short wait to see if anything would change, we
drove down the switchbacks and went to Arrowtown for a tour of the Chinese
miners' settlement from ca. 1860. It was after 1700 and too late to get a pie
at the bakery but we found a gelato place (Patagonia) and tried the
"mascarpone and fruit of the forest" and a really dark chocolate with
macadamia nuts. We were going to give Crown another try but halfway there we
could see from the
 |
| A.J. Hackett bungy bridge |
weather station that it was still blowing more than 20 kph
and no one was flying. Abe suggested taking the alternate, low land, route back
to Wanaka, Rte 6. We did and stopped at the Kawarau Bridge, a well-known and
historic bungy-jumping site (commercial, closed at 18.00); we stopped again at
Roaring Meg, a series of rapids on the Kawarau River where a score of kayakers
were playing in the waves. We continued on past Cornwall, Luggate and the
Wanaka Airport, then stopped at the New World market for more veges, fruit,
wine and beer. Back home by 2000.
18 Feb, Wed - Up at 0700 to try to make an early start for the one-hour
drive to the end of the Wanaka-Mt. Aspiring Road at Raspberry Flats, the
trailhead for the Rob Roy Glacier Lookout track and the W. Matukituki Valley
track. We were certainly not alone in the car park, but some people were
heading off with backpacks on the trail to the huts and Mt. Aspiring NP; others
had fishing gear. We all took the same trail along the river, through the
sheep, until we reached the swing bridge where C.J. and I crossed the river and
started up. I don't know the distance but it was more than an hour to the lower
lookout and more than
 |
| Waterfalls below Rob Roy Glacier |
another thirty minutes to the awesome upper lookout. We
had lunch while trying to take in the view of the hanging glacier and all the
waterfalls. There were a few other hikers around and a few more arrived as we
finished up and started down. It was a good thing we started early under a
partly cloudy sky because it was hot later, especially if you were climbing the
330m to the 770m msl upper viewpoint. It
was hot enough just walking the last
mile from the bridge back to
the car park.
We
drove
back on the unsealed,
sometimes narrow, road to the turnoff for the Treble
Cone ski area (and flying
site) where the pavement begins. There was a sign next to the road giving
information about the site [There was a sign at every site in New Zealand explaining
airspace, where to land and who to contact]. We learned that the LZ was along
the road next to a large deer paddock. Heading back to Wanaka we made one more
stop at a park with a view of Mt. Aspiring across the lake. We were glad to get
back to the condo around 1630 and get showers, a smoothie and a beef, onion and
pineapple stirfry.
19 Feb, Thu - It was cloudy when I got up around 0745. C.J. had made
"overnight oatmeal" so
 |
| Mt. Aspiring |
breakfast was easy. There were new articles in
the dropbox that needed to be edited. I checked the USAA account to see how
much cash we've taken out (and how much we've charged on that credit/debit
card). Around 1000 I went out to see if I could find a cheap pair of shoes that
I could wear for the kayak trip since I had failed to bring along any Tevas or
booties, and flops ("jandals", locally) won't be suitable. I had
spotted the Salvation Army thrift store in town but I headed out of town a ways
to the recycle depot. There wasn't much choice so I returned to town and
wandered through the Sal and some other outdoor stores before heading home.
C.J. was finished editing and I quickly read through the three articles.
Toasted cheese sandwiches again for lunch. Then we drove into town and I picked
up a pair of used shoes for $8 at the recycle place. On the way back we stopped
at the Mt. Aspiring NP Visitor Center which had quite a good little museum.
After parking along the beach we walked into town and wandered through the DBD
(downtown business district) just to see what was there - lots of souvenir
places, eating places
 |
| TC LZ - outside the paddock |
and sports shops. A large tent had been put up on the big
park field just south of town and there were more people in town than when we
had arrived. Apparently we were in Wanaka just in time for the annual big
Triathlon. Anyway, we did some grocery shopping and bought a bowl of fruit at a
fruit stand (should have looked a little farther and found the same fruit for a
third less across the street). In the beachfront park we watched kids playing
on NZ-type playground equipment for a while. Then we checked out the prices for
renting a bicycle ($25 for 3 hrs - later we found that WM rented bikes for
$15/3 hrs). Back at the condo office we checked to be sure that we were going
to be able to get out of the driveway during the Wanaka Challenge Triathlon on
Sun. ("Sure, no problem.") We did another load of laundry and then
checked with Wanaka Paragliding about flying Treble Cone on Friday. They said
that they were flying tandems every hour on the half hour starting at 0930. We
dropped in to see Mike and Karen Stone (and their friends from Bend, OR) whom
we had run into at the WM Rotorua. Later we went over to the cafe/bar at WM to
see what was special at Happy Hour - not much it seemed so we went back to the
condo and drank our own wine and beer. Dinner was beef and pineapple again.
20 Feb, Sat - We were up at 0700 with the intention of getting to the Treble
cone LZ by 0930, but it
 |
| tandem set-up on TC |
was cloudy and we didn't even leave until after 1000.
We were just in time to see two tandems landing - feet up and kind of downwind
in very light conditions. The VW parabus was full but Richard, the tandem
pilot, said the gate was unlocked and it was okay to drive our car up and catch
a retrieve ride with them later. The LZ was at about 1075'msl and the launch
(Pub Corner) at 3500'. The two launches at Pub Corner face eastward and westward
respectively over the Matukituki River valley. L Wanaka was visible to the E,
Mt. Aspiring NP to the W. The unsealed road continued up to the base of the ski
area. Tandems launched and then a local (?) pilot, and then C.J. tried to
 |
| C.J. launching from TC |
launch to the E but a line got stuck under her helmet and she had to abort her
first attempt. When she got things straightened out her second launch was good
and she went right up in a thermal. I must have launched into the end of a
cycle and had to work to get back up to 3600'. I headed SE along the ridge,
crossing above two waterfalls to rough thermals above the rocky pyramid-face. I
continued SE sinking below 3000 and staying pretty close to the slope. Once I
spotted them, I realized that there were
many deer grazing the hillside
- not just the ones down below in the paddock next to the LZ. I flew back
toward launch and then SE again passing close to the waterfalls. Since I was
now getting below 2000', I went out to land trying to decide which way the
fickle windsock was pointing. I settled for landing in the same direction as
the tandems we had seen and had to use the same "feet up" technique
because I was coming in way too fast. After bundling my gear over near the
fence I waited for C.J. to land; she picked a much better direction and had a
good landing. Then I was able to hop in the van with the tandem guys, Jane, and
their passengers. Richard wouldn't take any money for the retrieve (usually $10
a head). On the way down I picked up a middle-aged couple from Oz who were
tired of walking on the road in the sun. Once packed up (there were now a dozen
pilots around) we headed home for more grilled cheese sandwiches for
lunch. Abe, responding to a text from C.J., said he was picking his boy
up at 1730, Suhas at 1800. He said he'd text us about where to meet. We rested
up rather than renting bikes. Around 1545 Abe texted us to meet at the flight
park at 1700. We hustled over there to meet Abe, Suhas, and his two Indian
companions. We all went up even though the sky had clouded over and the wind
had become very light. Abe flew both Indians tandem while Suhas had two flights
and C.J. got off with a forward. I tried several times to launch but could not
get a good inflation so I packed up and drove down (just as the flag began
showing a breeze up the hill again). In the LZ we met Wendy who had come out to
pick up Tane. The rest of us went into Queenstown to eat at Brazz, a pub right
in the center of town on Athol St. Dinner was surprisingly good, the beer, too.
Suhas told us that we had to visit India and he would give us an itinerary
which would include the three major flying sites (Bir is one of them). That
sounded like a possibility, especially with Suhas' help. We drove home in the
dark over Crown Range Road arriving around 2230. New World had closed at 0900
so we couldn't pick up any groceries.
 |
| Rude Rock |
21 Feb, Sat - Abe called around 1000 and asked where we were; he said he was
going to Coronet and maybe go out on the Skipper Canyon Road. We drove over the
Crown Range, got gas in Frankton, and reached the flight park around 1130. Abe
and Mike (another pilot and fellow Delta employee; he had joined us at Brazz)
had had sledders and left Mike's car on top. We drove them up (even though our
little car couldn't carry four wings) on the off-chance that C.J. might get a
flight. But on the way up we passed several vanloads of PG and HG tandems
driving down. Oh well, we got a photo of Rude Rock and Mike gave me a Delta hat
to replace the one I must have lost at Treble Cone when I flew with my harness
top unzipped. Rather than stick around to possibly drive the scenic, narrow
(and probably busy on Saturday) Skippers Canyon Road with Abe when he got his
SUV back from
 |
| View of Southern alps from Glenorchy |
the repair shop, we decided to take off to the far end of Lake
Whakatipu and visit Glenorchy and possibly continue on to Paradise. We drove
through the congested downtown area of Queenstown then along the lake with one
stop to overlook the whitecapped lake and three islands (must have been Pig and
Pigeon Islands). We arrived at the small town of Glenorchy ready for lunch and
had a good sandwich and drinks at the Glenorchy Cafe sitting outside with a
view of the Southern alps (The Misty Mountains in LOTR) and surrounded by metal
sculptures of moas and an eagle. Since there was little of interest in the
village we decided to head up the road to Paradise, extolled in guidebooks for
the scenery (and as the site of several LOTR scenes). Just out of Glenorchy we
picked up a lady hitchhiking to the Routeburn Track where she was a volunteer
hutkeeper (?). We dropped her at the intersection with the Routeburn road and
continued on the now-unsealed Paradise Road. It was about another 8 km to
Paradise which turned out to
 |
| Road and mtns beyond Paradise |
consist of some sheep and a big house/lodge
(Paradise Trust). We continued on passing under old beech trees and getting
occasional views of cloud-shrouded snow/glacier covered mountains. There were a
few other tourists out on the road (many of them Asian). There were no signs
that indicated where any of the sites used in LOTR, supposedly Lothlorien and
Isengard, were located. After passing a horse tour outfit and a rafting
operation, and fording two or three streams I stopped at a high point maybe
10km beyond Paradise and turned back. Back in Glenorchy we spent a few minutes
in a high-end general store mostly stocked with nifty-gifties before driving
back down the lake. Queenstown was less busy by now but did not excite us
enough to stop. We took the lowland route back to Wanaka and got some groceries
at New World. Chicken for dinner with chocolate rice pudding for dessert. Abe
suggested we bring our wings with us the next day so we could fly at Crown
Terrace on the way to Te Anau and Milford Sound. We agreed to wait and see what
the winds looked like on Sunday before making up our minds.
 |
| Lake Te Anau |
22 Feb, Sun - We were up early enough that we could get to Crown Terrace by
0945 if conditions looked good. But wind speed and direction were not right for
the site so we decided to not fly on Sunday and took the wings out of the car.
I watched some of the bicycle leg of the Wanaka Challenge as they pedaled past
the WM entrance going out to near Treble Cone and back. Around 1100 we got on
the road but poor signage for the triathlon detours slowed us down a bit. But
we finally got on the Crown Range Road and drove to Frankton where we filled up
with gas ($2.009/L) From there we drove S between The Remarkables and Lake
Wakatipu on Rte 6 almost to Lumsden where we turned W on 95. We stopped to make
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in Garston which had a surprisingly nice
park considering how small the town is. It was 1.5 hrs from there to Te Anau
with the Southern Alps becoming larger in front of us. We checked into the
 |
| Flowers? at Lakeview Park |
Lakeview Holiday Park and got keys to our backpacker room (a double bed with a
bunk over it, and a sink). Then we walked across the street to a lakeside park
and visited the info center for Fiordland National Park. From there we took the
lakeside trail to the main street and walked through the town checking out
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| Large sculpture of a Takahe |
possibilities for dinner. We stopped at a dairy and each had a small cone.
There was a Go Orange office where we ordered a lunch for our kayak trip. We
planned to bring cheese and crackers and energy bars to round out our lunch.
Then we returned to our room and read for a while until we felt like it must be
about time for dinner. Back on the main street, we chose Mainly Seafood and
ordered the fish and chips for two which included two 300ml drinks. On the way
back we watched the sun set behind the mountains across the lake. It was still
hot in the common room back at the backpackers ("Steamers Beach") but
our room wasn't too bad. We got to bed around 2200 with our alarm set for
early.
23 Feb, Mon - We were up at 0515 before the alarm went off at 0525. We had
overnight oatmeal with raisins for breakfast in the common room/kitchen
(well-supplied with everything needed). We were waiting at the front office at
0630 and the van was not too late. It was pretty chilly waiting in the dark.
The van was full of our six fellow paddlers,
Will, the guide, and a driver. The
trip to Milford took a good two hours and Will gave us some info along the way.
Cloudbase was pretty low and there was some fog, plus the windows were steamed.
I dozed for part of the trip and woke for the views of the extremely steep (a
result of the extremely hard rock) mountainsides/valley walls. After crossing a
divide (where the Routeburn Track terminates), we entered the 1.2km Homer
Tunnel which had/needed no concrete reinforcement. It was one-way with traffic
lights to control who gets to go (the lights are turned off from 2000-0600).At
Milford we drove around picking up equipment, hot drinks, and lunches before
reaching our launch site at Deep Basin. There we were issued thermal tops and
bottoms, a wet suit vest, a neoprene spray skirt and an orange spray jacket. I
put my thermal top on over my thermal poly t-shirt and green thermal top. [I
got too hot only after lunch when we were paddling in the sun, but I was able
to take off my spray jacket to cool down.] There were some sand flies buzzing
around us but they didn't seem to be a problem, and that was the only time I
noticed them. We had the usual lesson on how to paddle, get in, release the
sprayskirt, etc. then we paddled our 2-place kayaks out into Deep Basin and
around to the right rounding a low point to the cruise
terminal and Lady Bowen
Falls (and power generating source). We continued paddling along the east shore
spotting a couple of seals in the water and on the shore. We stopped for lunch
on a gravelly/rocky beach with a great view of Mitre Peak and up another valley
to the glaciated Mt Pembroke ("the only glacier in Fiordland"). The
$17 lunch was pretty good; even sharing between the two of us we had some left
over (after eating the 3-layer ham and cheese sandwich, cookie and trail mix).
Will provided everyone with a hot drink- tea, coffee or cocoa. It was just our
group of nine on that beach even though there were two or more kayak groups
paddling similar routes. There were also large and small cruise boats and lots
of airplane and helicopter flights. Will told us about
"treealanches", trees plunging from the cliffs when their roots could
no longer hold on the steep valley walls. We crossed to a point on the west
bank of the fiord and could see Stirling Falls farther down toward the sea was
falling from a sharply defined hanging valley. Just after we got across, paddling hard to get out of
 |
| Glaciated valley N of tunnel |
the path of a cruise boat, the "day breeze"
picked up blowing strongly up the fiord. We were heading south along the west
side with the wind at our backs so it was easy going. Since we were early, we
went around an island and up the river as far as Sandfly Point where the
Milford Track terminates. Then we paddled into a quiet channel which reminded
me of kayaking up a stream in Florida near Palm Coast. Finally we pushed across
the last bit of open water (Deep Basin) straight into the wind to our landing
point (around 1430). After changing back into the clothes we had left in the
van, we got back in the van, did a few errands and then started our return
trip. Along the way we made three
stops: just below the western tunnel entrance
for the view to the north, at Pop's View, a lookout over an area where three glaciers
had once crossed (and an old car that had long ago gone off the road), and a
pullout in the middle of the broad valley at the north end of L Te Anau where
we sat
in the grass and had hot drinks and cookies. We were back at the Holiday
Park by 1730. A shower felt really good. After 1900 we walked into town and
after a few other tries, settled on The Olive Tree Cafe (which may once have
been called the Sandfly Cafe in Lonely Planet) for dinner. It was sprinkling on
and off so we chose a seat under an umbrella on the patio to eat our lamb wrap
and cheeseburger with fries. It was still showering as we walked home but it
was nice and cool. We had really lucked out on the weather for the kayak tour.
Will had told everyone that it rains 200 days per year.
24 Feb - The kitchen and dining room area was busier at 0800 than at 0600 but it was no problem to prepare our simple breakfast. We finished packing, loaded the car then turned in our keys before walking the ten minutes or so along the lakeside trail south to the Te Anau Wildlife Centre. The weather continued beautiful although the clouds were somewhat low. TAWC consisted of a few large
aviary-type cages with keas (NZ mountain parrots), ruru (or, "more pork", the owl), kaka, water fowl (geese and ducks), and the prize exhibit, a takahe, once thought to be extinct, and looked much like a larger pukeko. We decided not to stick around for the
takahe feeding and returned to the holiday park along the path where bright mushrooms had sprung up after last night's rain. Once back at the car we drove south through Manapouri which had pleasant views over Manapouri Lake (saved by the local citizens from having extreme fluctuations as a result of a power project). We joined our original route not far away and continued to drive past paddocks and hillsides filled or dotted with fleecy or naked sheep. It was too early to stop in Garston for lunch but we found a scenic park in Kingston at the south end of Whakatipu Lake. The Kingston Flyer steam train was advertised here, and there were old locomotives and passenger cars on a siding but it did not look like they were running any excursions recently. After a picnic lunch we pushed on along the lake stopping for a view once and then taking the lowland route back to Wanaka. C.J. saw people flying at Coronet but not at Crown Terrace (until later when we saw one paraglider appear briefly in the air).
 |
| Last steps for a bungy jumper |
We stopped at the Kawarau bungy bridge and watched one first-time jumper step up, hesitate, hesitate, hesitate, and finally go. It looked like a back-snapper for sure. Then we tried to find the view of the guardian pillars on the Anduin River in LOTR by driving up Chard Farm Road. We couldn't pick out the spot that the giant statues were digitally imposed on the cliffs but we must have been in the right place because we passed a LOTR.com tour van as we were on our way out. Just to be different I took Ballantyne Road into Wanaka. It turned out to be unsealed for several km but eventually got us there, passing the recycle depot on the way. We bought some groceries at NW and then stopped at Patagonia for gelato. Back at the condo, housekeeping had replaced all of our linens, soaps, shampoos, etc. C.J. defrosted some chicken and made a pasta dish with salad and bread. We ate every bit as well at "home" as we did at restaurants. We got caught up with uploading our photos to C.J.'s computer and checking email. Ric and Kitti had texted C.J. asking how the trip was going and she had received a magazine story from Aine Friend whom we had met in Bucaramanga, Colombia.
25 Feb, Wed - We slept in until 0815 then, after some hot oatmeal, did a load of laundry - pretty
 |
| Haast Pass Lookout |
exciting, eh? Since it looked like another gorgeous day we decided around 1000 to go explore the Haast Pass road . We took PB and J, using up the last of the bread and boysenberry jam and starting on the delicious apricot and ginger. As we drove out past Alberttown C.J. spotted paragliders (or maybe speedwings) kiting on the top of a slope formed by a lake terrace. We stopped to watch but didn't see a convenient route to where they were. Heading on we drove along Lake Hawea then the east side of Lake Wanaka which was showing whitecaps. In Makarora, a very small town with a couple of tourist cafe/store/lodges, we stopped at the DOC visitor center and browsed the displays.
 |
| Gates of Haast |
We had already downloaded the short-walks brochure onto my phone so we didn't have to buy one. I had also downloaded NZ topo maps for my Back Country Navigator app. We drove right to the top of Haast Pass and the TH for the Haast Pass Lookout track, 3.5km return, a fairly steep climb to an overlook where we ate lunch. We met only one couple on the way up but several on the descent. Then we drove down the other side of the pass toward Haast several km for a stop at the bridge at the Gates of Haast. Next we stopped to walk the paved trail 200m to a view of Thunder Creek Falls, a 28m waterfall. Heading back toward the pass we pulled into the overflowing carpark for Fantail Falls. It was a very short walk to the rocky beach practically covered with rock cairns. The waterfall across the small river was also scenic; you just had to ignore the people who wanted to be closer and so ended up in many photos. Back up over Haast Pass we descended to
 |
| Blue Pools Swingbridge |
Cameron Flats, a DOC campground (parking lot for campervans, anyway), for a bathroom break. We backtracked a kilometer to walk the Cameron Lookout Trail to a view out over the Makarora River valley and the mountains beyond. Finally we stopped at the Blue Pools trailhead and walked down the trail for 1 or 1.5km (the signing was inconsistent). There were two pedestrian "swing bridges" (suspension bridges) which were nice and wiggly. The second crossed the Blue Pools which weren't all that blue but were pretty enough. We met probably twenty Asian tourists coming out while we were going in so by the time we got to the pools, there was no longer a big crowd. After taking some photos we sat on the rocky beach and ate the apple left over from our kayak lunch plus some cheese before heading back up the trail. That was our last stop and we were home around 1730.
26 Feb, Thu - We headed for Treble Cone at 0900. The same big rental van was there (saw it first at
 |
| C.J. on launch at Treble Cone |
Terrace) and a P-2 who was at TC for the first time. When the Wanaka tandem guys showed up, they squeezed us all in and we went up the hill through the now
locked gate. At one point there were workmen hanging from ropes on the steep slopes above the road making sure that that there would be no rocks to fall on the road or the skiers' cars. No one had soared although the sledders were quite extended. C.J. and I decided to follow Richard's advice and wait patiently until at least 1130. When I finally started getting my gear out, my South African hat surfaced; it had been down between the wing and my harness. After the tandems flew at 1130 C.J. launched but had the wing shoot over her head and she slid down the dry, slippery grass. Her second attempt was better although her wingtip collapsed. Meanwhile at least eight gliders passed below us from Black Mountain which they had reached by helicopter. The last few worked some light lift beyond the waterfalls and out over the paddocks in the valley. After I launched I flew E and stayed above the top of the falls, but C.J. was higher. The air felt "twitchy" and I wanted to get out in front away from the rocky pyramid face. I was soon down 1000 ft from the 3500 ft launch but there was enough lift to keep me up for 34 min. I landed to the N (same as the previous time) but got popped up and had to run it out (the wind may have been side-on). C.J. didn't land too long after me and we found out that she couldn't transmit using her headset and PTT, perhaps broken on her aborted launch. Two local (?) pilots landed after us and commented on how rough the air was. C.J. had been watching the air spill over the high peaks to the west and figured that it was time to land before the wind got to Treble Cone and the LZ. We stopped at the supermarket on the way home to get a few more groceries. Then we made a late lunch of toasted cheese sandwiches. By then it was after 1430 and we just rested and tried to figure out how to tell what the conditions were at the local flying sites. I still wanted to fly Crown Terrace but the forecasts didn't show much velocity. We charged our depleted electronics and the realization began to set in that our time in NZ was drawing to a close. I even found myself checking the route to the Q-town airport on Google Maps.
27 Feb, Fri - After breakfast we rented mountain bikes from the front desk at WM for four hours. We coasted down to town and went souvenir shopping. C.J. got decent prices on a teatowel and a potholder/oven mitt set. Down the street we finally bought a compact edition of Ian Brodie's book on where to find the film locations for LOTR. Then we headed out on the lakeside trail around Eely Pt and Beacon Pt to the Lake Wanaka outlet, the Clutha River. There the trail got narrower and became hilly so, after 400m or so, we turned back. It was already after 1200 and our bikes were due back at 1400. We made it back up the hill to WM and made lunch before collapsing for an hour. I was checking the winds at Crown Terrace and they seemed to be building and the right direction so at 1515 we drove over the pass and spotted a couple of wings flying. By the time we got to launch those wings were sinking. After watching for a while C.J. decided to launch - if she sank out I could go down to the bailout and pick her up now that we knew for sure where the LZ was. After an abort and
 |
| C.J. soaring at Crown Terrace |
a launch where she fell before flying away, C.J. soared above all the other pilots who launched before and after her. She flew about 18 min and toplanded in the field behind launch. After helping her carry her wing out of the field over the stile, I got ready to go. The wind had picked up and it took me two tries to get off. I went right up in lift out front and flew left to the fence line of the resort compound and then right to beyond the switchbacks on the lower Crown Range Road. I had flown only nine minutes when I saw the other soaring pilot land. Thinking there might be some good reason to land (and, of course, I didn't want to sink out and have no easy way to get back to the car at launch) I landed, too. Later he told me he landed because his friends just wanted to get back to their lodgings at Wanaka (or dinner at Cardrona). [This was the same group of pilots we had run into before at Crown Terrace and at TC.] Once we got packed up we drove down into Frankton to get gas (still $2.009, while in Wanaka the price had gone up to $2.069). Then we drove to Arrowtown and walked up the Arrow River a little ways to where the LOTR episode at the Fords of Bruinen was filmed. We walked through the historic town afterward looking for a place to eat - the pizza place (Off Piste) was busy with a two-hour wait, The Fork and Tap Pub was crowded. (It was Friday night, after all.) We finally settled on the
 |
| Dinner at The Postmasters house |
Postmasters House which was quiet and had excellent food. We ate outside under an umbrella with the sun setting behind the Coronet ridge. C.J. had slow-cooked lamb with kumara and mint pesto. I had pan-fried elephant fish (huh?) with oven roasted potato wedges and a salad. C.J. celebrated her flight with a Kicking Mule which had some kind of seven-year-old whiskey, ginger, mint and honey while I had a non-alcoholic ginger beer. We left around 2030 and got back to the condo an hour later. [We had heard from Abe a day or so ago that he was going to a PG meet in Nelson but then on Friday he had changed his mind and was going to maybe fly TC on Saturday.
Maybe, but the weather predictions did not look good to me for Saturday or for the next several days.]
28 Feb, Sat - We had been in NZ four weeks and Saturday was the first day we had had rain serious enough to keep us from doing any outdoor activity. That was sort of okay because we had some editing to do in the morning. Around noon we drove down into town to buy some more souvenirs but there wasn't a parking place to be had; we returned home for lunch. Later we went out again armed with a WM umbrella (bigger than the ones we had brought) and found a parking spot in the beach lot - no problem. We looked in several shops and then Abe called and said he was coming to Wanaka and we should get together for coffee. C.J. suggested Patagonia for ice cream instead. Surprise! Abe had Jeff Slotta with him. Jeff had left his sailboat which needed maintenance up in the Bay of Islands and flown down to Nelson for the comp. But
the meet got moved to a site near Murchison and when he and Abe got there, the winds looked too strong. They headed off to Greymouth on the west coast to visit a friend of Abe's (and later heard that the flying had been very good!). Abe looked beat from all the driving but Jeff was his usual ebullient self. After they took off in Jeff's van (he leaves it stored at Abe's house) we bought a pauau shell butterfly necklace, and a corrugated-cardboard kiwi model kit. Then we went back for the other Brodie book - this one about
The Hobbit filming locations. We also got a postcard, some stamps, and another, panorama postcard. By then the rain had tapered off to
 |
| Above Diamond Lake |
showers and quit so we drove out to the Diamond Lake Reserve (not far from the Treble Cone LZ) and hiked up to the lake which was only 0.5 km. Since the good weather was holding we continued on around the lake and then up the trail and 250 steps to the lookout down to the small lake, and then farther up to a great view out over Lake Wanaka. There was even a brief rainbow as we got there. A couple from Munich with their five-year-old daughter took our picture, and we took theirs. We were pretty sweaty from the humidity; fortunately it was still overcast. all we had with us were our cotton clothes and rain gear.
 |
| Not a kiwi bird, near Diamond L. |
We got back to the parking lot around 1930 where a number of "freedom campers" were preparing and eating dinner. [It appears that camping in parking lots outside of cities and towns is permitted if your camper is self-contained (but those are much more expensive to rent).] Back at the condo C.J. prepared the last of the chicken, broccoli, and carrots plus a salad with avocado. I checked in online for our flight but I could not choose seats because there were none available for the AUK-SFO leg. Also I could not pre-pay for our third checked bag so I called Air New Zealand. After five minutes on hold I got an agent who said not to worry, more seats would be released at the airport. And, there was no way to pre-pay (the cheaper rate) because our final leg is on our not-favorite airline, United. After eating we got started on packing even though we didn't have to leave until noon on Sunday. Still, it was 2300 before we got to bed.
1 Mar, Sun - Last day in NZ! We got up early enough to eat breakfast, make lunch and finish packing. We left around 1000 so we could have time to take the lowland route which we had not done in that direction. Beyond the A.J. Hackett bungy operation we stopped to see if the "pillars of the kings" were visible - no, but there were a bunch of whitewater kayakers waiting around at a winch and cable arrangement that went steeply down to the river (We figured it must be for the local rafting company). We filled up the car gas tank at Mobil in Frankton for the last time (still 2.009/L). We were at the Queenstown airport early, around 1130, for our 1430 flight. Turning in the rental car was easy and there were free carts in the parking lot. We used the scales at check-in to decide how much to m0ve from our too-heavy carry-ons (over 10 kg, quite a bit above the 7kg limit) to C.J.'s relatively light wing bag. Check-in then went smoothly. We hung out in the terminal and ate our PB and J sandwiches; I talked a bit with the campervan rental people - pretty expensive. Once through security there wasn't much to do until our flight. We had an aisle seat on one side and a window seat on the other (A + D) so we didn't have seats together on our flight to AUK, arrived 1620. We had to go through security again, passport check and immigration. Once through we were in a world of Duty Free Shops, one after the other.
 |
Air New Zealand plane w/silverfern design
|
Our next flight, to SFO, wasn't until 1930 so we had plenty of time to eat our crackers and cheese and go to the Spark shop. There we handed over the last of our NZ cash to get the unlock codes for our phones. We received a printout and an email with the software code. We still had enough change to buy some ice cream but there were only frozen yogurt shops inside security. After boarding we arranged to trade seats so that we could sit together in the center section on the aisle (D + E). Once we reached cruising altitude dinner was served - chicken curry or beef casserole. C.J. watched the first two Hobbit movies while I watched the third one and tried to rest/sleep. When the lights went back up, we watched
Ice Age - Continental Drift and had breakfast - an omelet and sausage link. Once on the ground at SFO (1045 Sunday) we had long lines through passport control which made us consider applying for the Global Entry program. When we got around to looking at our boarding cards for our final leg, SFO-SEA, we noticed that our flight departure had been changed from 1250 to 2040, another eight hours to wait...and then we'd get in too late to expect a ride home from Jeff. We consulted with a United rep who advised us to go to ticketing and try to get our flight changed to an earlier-departing one. We passed out of security after going through a perfunctory customs check and waited in a short line for a long time only to be told that all flights were completely full and we would have to try standby. We turned our three checked bags in again and went to Gate 84 where we signed up for standby. While we waited, we went to Klein's Deli and had a roast beef sandwich on a French roll. We did not make it onto the next flight, but the one after that (1355) had one seat available on the narrow-bodied jet. I took it hoping that C.J. would get on the next flight. There were good views through California - San Francisco across the Bay, Castle Crags, Mt. Shasta, and Lost Lake in Oregon. Then we ran into overcast and there were no views until we got below it over Puget Sound near the Nisqually Delta. All our bags showed up, and Jeff was there waiting for me at the cell phone parking lot. C.J. called and said she was boarding the 1711 flight so I drove back to SeaTac (carefully, on the right side) to pick her up at 1930 (although she didn't get out of the terminal until 2000). By then we were hungry again, hungry enough to stop at the Tukwila Jack in the Box for Sourdough Jacks. We finally got home around 2130 and went early to bed.
