Here are some pictures from New Zealand that other people took. I thought I’d share.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Tag: NewZealand
Queenstown Birthday
Morning on the boat was beautiful. The clouds came in low covering the tops of the mountains, but it was quite peaceful. The water was like glass. At breakfast, they announced the sighting of penguins. I LOVE penguins. I looked and saw them, but all I saw was a black thing in the water way off in the distance. You couldn’t tell that it was an animal, much less that it was a penguin with a yellow tuft of feathers over its eye.
Then off to Queenstown. Queenstown is known as the Adventure capital of New Zealand. They are famous for skydiving and bungee jumping. We have three nights in Queenstown. How great to stay in one place for three nights! First they took us to Peter Pans Tours to book any activities we wanted to do. This was the most disorganized tour company. The lady helping us would ask a question and then completely ignore the answer. They were obviously only interested in getting our money and getting us out of there as quickly as possible. Six of us signed up for Canyoning and they couldn’t even tell us which company we were booked with, what day, or what time. We would get an email later that would tell us. Later that night, we still didn’t have the email and the shop was closed. Our tour guide got a hold of the guy from the shop and he agreed to meet us at a local bar and bring us the information. He was, of course, an hour late. But we finally got the information. We spent way too much time in a backpacker bar. I am so not a backpacker. We finally went to a bar with live music which I enjoyed much more, but a few in our group couldn’t wait to go back to the backpacker bar so they could have cheaper beer and Jagger bombs. I stayed up long enough for midnight to celebrate the beginning of my birthday and then off to bed.
The canyoning tour was fun. We put on thick wetsuits and harnesses and walked through a tight canyon. We rappelled or slid down waterfalls along the way. It was only for an hour or two, but just the perfect amount of time. Four of us went out for a nice Italian dinner and drinks at a rum bar – no Jagger bombs in sight. Then to another place with live music. It was a wonderful adult evening.
The last day in Queenstown, I spent wandering around the town. A few of us went to do the Luge which is similar to an Alpine Slide, but instead of a concrete luge track that only one cart can go down, it’s more like a go cart track. We went to Ferg Burger which is supposed to be the best burger place in the world. I don’t know how you get that reputation. There was always a line out the door and down the block. The line was shorter when we went and it didn’t take too long to get our burgers. It was a normal burger with a huge bun and a lot of goop on it. It was good, but I don’t get all the hype. However, I don’t get all the hype about burgers anyway.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Zorb Video
I tried to upload this video days ago, but wifi in New Zealand sucks. I finally got good wifi for a night.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Abel Tasman
Next was a long drive to Wellington. We had a tour of Weta Workshops booked. I really wanted to go, but I’m still sick and this was the last opportunity to see a doctor for a while. Heidi and I skipped the tour to go to the doctors. Just to see the doctor and tell her I had a sinus infection and her to go, “yes you do” cost me $200. Ouch and ouch. We went out for dinner. It was the last night we would all be together. Half of the group would end their tour in Wellington and half of us would go on to tour the South Island. It’s sad to say goodbye to some of our group. The next morning was an early start with breakfast at 6:00am.. Half the group got on bus or had other plans. The rest of us got on a ferry to cross the Cook Straight. I’ve never been on a big ferry before. This boat was huge, full of semi trucks, cars and cargo on the lower levels and people on the upper levels. The views outside were stunning, but the wind and cold made it uncomfortable outside so we spent the 3 hours in the café area. We stopped for wine tasting. It was a tourist area with some shops – I could have skipped this part. We had lunch near a river where part of The Hobbit was filmed. I took a picture of the river, but can’t say it looked familiar.
We got to spend two nights near the Abel Tasman National Park. Two nights in the same place is a small luxury! The first morning we got picked up by a water taxi. Because of the big changes in tides, they load you into the boats and take the boats out to the water by tractor. That was a fun unique experience. Our boat took us to Split Apple Rock. Then we went to a nearby island and looked for fur seals. Our guide told us they were technically sea lions, but they never changed the name. We saw a few. They dropped us off at a different bay and we hiked back. There are a bunch of trails in the park and some go along the tops with great overlooks and some go down to bays. We did some beach time and a lot of hiking. We saw dolphin, but no orca. I keep hoping to see orca – maybe later in the trip. It was a little more hiking than I wanted. We got back around dinner time. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen.
They have a great sea gull here. He’s very white with red eyes and red feet. There was one on the beach that tried to sneak up behind us in hopes of getting food. He snuck all around us – up one side, then the other, round back, back and forth in front. It was a lot of work of pretending he didn’t notice us as he searched for scraps. He came up empty. The sand at the beaches is golden due to iron in the minerals. Some of the sand is black which was obviously metallic because it stuck to the magnets on my backpack, creating cool crystal like structures on the magnets. The water was too cold for me, but a few people swam.
Then it was time to move on. We drove through some of the prettiest mountains – very rugged and very green. More cows, sheep and farms too.
Maori
The Maori show/dinner was fun. The bus driver that picked us up was funny. He taught us “Kiora” which means “Hello, Goodbye, How are you, etc”. Then he proceeded to translate it to almost every language in the world, including accents in that language. At the dinner/show they did a ceremony before letting us in. Then there were different educational stations where they showed us different parts of their culture. They were warriors and great sea navigators. Many of their games were based on hand eye coordination and agility to make them better warriors. After that they took us to a room where they did traditional song and dance. I found it interesting that they shake their hands a lot in the dancing and they explained that this was the life force. Louise, are you reading this? They believe shaking of their hands is life force. Then dinner. The dinner was similar to a Hawaiian Luau where the food was cooked in the earth. After there was more singing and dancing and more funny bus driver who knew the national anthem of many countries.
On Day 3 of the tour we started off by going to see some mud pools. There is a lot of geothermal activity in the area. It was exciting for a minute. Then we went to a place where two creeks met, one was cold and one was warm. A few of us sat in the creek for a little bit. There was supposed to be skydiving today, but it got canceled. I wasn’t going to skydive anyway so it didn’t matter to me, but I think the mud pools and two creeks was an attempt to fill the extra time. Then we went to Huka falls. It’s a very impressive waterfall. It’s not tall, but it’s a tight rock canyon and the volume of water being pushed through it is insane. A sign said the volume of water could fill 5 olympic sized pools every minute. After that we went to Blue Duck Station which was a ranch in the middle of nowhere. We were supposed to do some 4wd touring of the ranch, but because it was raining, we didn’t go very far. They spent a long time telling us about the ranch instead. It was very beautiful, but it would have been more interesting if we could have seen more of the ranch.
On Day 4 of the tour we were supposed to hike the Tongarino Crossing. It is supposed to be a live volcano, but I don’t think you can see lava or anything. It got canceled because of weather. Everyone on the bus was so cranky about it. So we did a smaller hike to a waterfall. Half the group did that and then went back into town for lunch. The rest of us did a hike from there that went to two lakes. The hike was longer than I expected and it was all above tree line with a lot of exposure – it was so windy. I decided I wanted to spread some of Scott’s ashes above the lakes. I got one guy to take the picture and I tested the direction of the wind. Right after we had a discussion about how many times I’ve been covered in Scott’s ashes. Just as I let the ashes go the wind changed direction and blew Scott all over another girl on the tour. She was a bit freaked out about it. The guy and I kind of joked about it and that freaked her out more. I felt a mixture of embarrassment and humor. I wanted to laugh, but didn’t think that would help much.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Zorb
My last day in Auckland I did laundry, packing, and crying. I asked my hosts if I could do laundry and she told me she’d let me know when she was done with the washer. Hours later she was nowhere around and I had just been sitting there waiting. That’s what prompted the crying. It’s a silly thing to get upset about, but it just triggered feelings of being unwanted/unwelcomed. So, I think there’s still some stuff around being adopted coming up. Laundry got done and all was fine.
The first day of my 18 day tour of New Zealand was a mixed bag. Most of the people on the bus had been together for the past two days so they all knew each other and I felt left out. More unwanted/unwelcomed. I can recognize that the feelings don’t match what’s really going on, so I just sit with the feelings and notice. That’s all that needs to be done.
The other two new people on the tour are an Italian father and son. The father doesn’t speak English, but still tried to talk to me anyway. Both of them are just so excited to be travelling and grinning ear to ear all day. That helped me feel a little better. The tour included accommodations in hostels, the bus ride, a guide, some of the meals and some of the activities. Most of the activities are add on fees though. “Say yes to everything” is going to cost a lot on this trip. On the first day we did quite a bit of driving and a grocery shopping stop. Then we got to Hot Water Beach. At low tide, a small crack in the earth’s crust creates a warm beach. People get shovels and dig holes in the sand to create small “hot spring pools”. We only stayed there for about a half hour, and there were a lot of people there, but it was neat to see. Some of the water pools were very hot and felt like boiling water. Then we went to the campground in Hahae where we were staying. The rooms were new and pretty nice. I was lucky to get in a room with only one other person. Hahae is a holiday town. Hardly anyone lives there in the winter, but in the summer, a bunch of people holiday there. A bunch of us went on a sea kayaking tour to Cathedral Cove. It was a very expensive tour, but also very beautiful and enjoyable. The weather warmed up nicely for it. Our guide made a salad and bbq for dinner. There’s around 20 people on our bus. Another bus from the same company was also there, but their tour didn’t include food or accommodation or the guide. So they were a big bus, but it’s a hop on hop off bus so they can continue on with it or stay in one place longer and get on the next hop on hop off bus. I’m glad I did my tour instead, but I thought it would be the same people for the whole 18 days. Some started earlier, some will only do the North Island, and I assume new people will join us for the South Island. My roommate for the night is a German lady who is going through cancer treatment. We had some discussions about ATP and she is very interested and thinks I should come to Germany to do some work. So, I wonder, is that what’s next? Because it was a hostel and had two bus loads of people, it was loud, but I still managed to get some sleep.
Day 2 we drove from Hahei to the town where the Hobbiton tours leave from. The activity choices for today were Hobbiton or whitewater rafting. I have no interest in rafting. Yesterday we were told that we couldn’t go to Hobbiton because the bus was full. I would have booked that for after the tour if I had known, but I booked a day tour to do something else. Crap. We can go zorbing instead. Zorbing is where you go rolling down a hill inside a giant inflatable hamster ball. I thought that sounded fun. Then when we got to the town we went to the i site and our guide found out he had the wrong information given to him. So, the Hobbiton tour was back on. And Zorbing was still an option. And I have 5 minutes to decide. Ahhhhhhhh…..slight panic…..I can’t do everything. I want to do everything. I can’t do everything. I decided to skip Hobbiton. Zorbing was fun. It was a real short track, but I did it twice. After that we checked into our hotel and some people went to do other things. I went to eat and wander around town. I decided to get a massage. I figured I’d be crying through it since I was close to tears for no reason at all just before the massage. It wasn’t a very good massage so no crying. I left a little more relaxed and my feet felt better so that’s still a win. Tonight we are going to a Maori dinner and show. It sounds like it will be like a luau.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Bay of Islands
Joel and I decided to do a long day trip north to the Bay of Islands. We booked a 2 hour boat tour and decided to drive up and see what we see along the way. The drive is about 3 hours each way. The area north of Auckland is very hilly and very green. More hills, more green, and lots of cows. I do believe there may be more cows in New Zealand than people. The first stop was a honey store / coffee shop. It was a giant shop on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere. Next we went to the i site (information center) in the town of Whangarei. The lady there told us about a waterfall and a harbor area full of restaurants and shops. We decided to do the waterfall on the way to Bay of Islands and eat dinner in the harbor after. The waterfall was very pretty and easy to access so it fit nicely into our schedule. More green hills with cows, a few more stop offs and we were in the town of Paihia where we were to get the boat. The Bay of Islands is a bay full of islands. It was the first area of New Zealand to be settled by Europeans. The big draw besides dolphin watching, beaches, hikes and the history is the Hole in the Rock. The last island in the area has a big hole in it. We arrived early and tried to check in. The lady told us the tour we booked was for tomorrow. Crap. She said she’d upgrade us to the 4 hour trip that was leaving now. It was that or no boat ride so we took it. Two hours would have been plenty of time. It was pretty. We saw some dolphin, some islands and the Hole in the Rock. We stopped at one island and did a 20 minute hike. On our drive home we took a more scenic route that went through green hilly areas with cows. It also went along the coast for a while. We jumped out at interesting points to take pictures or just look at pretty landscape. At one point, within a 2 minute span of time, we saw wild turkeys, wild pheasant and wild parrots. I had never seen wild parrots so that was so neat to see them flying past the car. We got to Whangarei much later than we wanted. They had a park we had wanted to walk around, but we skipped that and went straight to the harbor to find dinner. There were no restaurants at the harbor, just some businesses. We headed into the downtown area. There were a ton of restaurants there, but most of them were closed. The entire town looked like a ghost town at 8:00pm. We found one that was open so at least we didn’t have to make a decision. We’ll eat there. They had lattes by the cup or the bowl. I had a bowl of latte with my pizza. We got home around 11:00pm. Sleep!
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Cairns
I had to make the 15 minute walk from the apartment to the warf with my suitcase, but it was mostly downhill so it wasn’t too bad. I took the ferry and then a train. It only took an hour and was way cheaper than a taxi. At the airport, not one person checked my id, but cuticle cutters are dangerous and needed to be confiscated. Wouldn’t want some unidentified person keeping their cuticles well maintained.
Cairns is pronounced Cans. So, the I and R are silent. This bothers me. I don’t know why.
After I found my airbnb, I headed into town to find a tour company. The first one I went into was very unhelpful. I showed her pictures of what I wanted to do and she kept saying she could only book transport tickets, no tours. I said I wanted a tour and she showed me something completely different. I know there are tours for what I wanted to do because I had found them on line. We went back and forth between no tours, yes we have tours, no tours. I told her we were just not communicating so I was going to leave. There are so many tour companies in Cairns. There’s 2 to 8 on every block so I walked a half a block and picked Peter Pans. They were so much more helpful. They checked on what I wanted to do and found that the train wasn’t running for the next couple of days so I couldn’t do that. They suggested a few other options. They told me of a random field north of town where I can see more kangaroos than I care to see so I don’t need to pay to go to the wildlife park. They recommended a tour called Uncle Brian’s. It went to some waterfalls and was supposed to be full of silly fun. Then we talked about New Zealand. They have offices in New Zealand and they have three tours they recommend there. I got the last spot on one of the 18 day tours. Awesome – One stop shopping. Now I have a lot less research to do.
Cairns is right on the ocean, on the Great Barrier Reef, but there is no beach in town and I’m told that the water is full of crocodiles and jelly fish. So, the town built a giant public pool called the Lagoon. It has sand beaches, a shallow kiddie area, changing rooms, snack bar, and a park next to it. There is a boardwalk that goes along the shore too. The boardwalk has grills, picnic tables, tennis, a skate park, volleyball, rock climbing, and exercise classes. There were Christmas Carolers too.
After dinner I went to an ice cream shop called Nitrolato. They make ice cream for you while you wait using liquid nitrogen to cool it. It is supposed to be fresher and creamier. They were all dressed in lab coats and it was fun to watch the fog come off my ice cream while they were making it. It did seem creamier, but I’m not sure it’s worth the extra cost.
Uncle Brian’s tour was fun. It was all young backpackers on my van and the other van. My group was relatively unfriendly to me. I guess it’s uncool to hang with the older lady. The people on the other van were slightly more friendly. When did 30 year olds become so young? Our guide was phenomenal. His energy was over the top all day long. While in the van going from place to place, he was telling us stories, having us play games or having us sing and dance. No second were we left unentertained. If we drove by road workers or towns people, he’d honk and we’d all wave. Everyone must be use to this, because they would have a huge grin on their faces and would wave back. He told us he’d give us information along the way – some of it true and some of it not. We were welcome to call Bullshit anytime we thought it was false information. We drove through a lot of sugarcane fields up into the mountains. The wet season was about to start and this will be one of the wettest places in Australia soon. Two towns always compete for the most rainfall each year. The winner gets a golden gum boot (rubber rain boot) as a prize. We stopped at the post office in Babinda to view the golden boot as it is proudly displayed there. We went through the forest to see the electrici trees (electrical towers) – everyone called Bullshit on that one. Babinda is a tiny town. It has a u turn area off the road where one is obviously not needed. But, in good fun we toured Babinda’s u turn facility – round and round a few times. The first waterfall was Babinda Rocks. We walked to an overlook, then had tea and snacks and then swam in the river. The next water fall had a rock you could slide down so there was much sliding. Then lunch. This should have been called Uncle Brian’s Eat and Swim Tour. The next waterfall was Millaa Millaa falls which has been featured in some ad campaigns most notably an Herbal Essences Shampoo commercial. So we all too turns practicing the water hair flip and trying to get a good photo. The last stop was a crater lake with a snack. It was a long day so when I got back I just went to the Holiday Inn across the street for dinner as I didn’t think I could find the energy to walk anywhere farther than across the street. I stood at the hostess stand for a while. Someone finally came up and asked if I needed something. Really? Why do you think I’m standing here? I asked if I could eat and she seated me. Again, three waiters zoomed back and forth around the restaurant and completely ignored me. After 15 minutes, I got up to leave and someone finally asked me if I was ok. No, I’m very hungry. What is going on? Is every restaurant like this or am I invisible or is it that unfathomable that someone might eat dinner alone so they assume (without asking) that I want to be ignored until my friend arrives?
The next day I slept in a little later. I headed out for lunch. The place I picked to eat was more because it was the first restaurant I found. It was so hot that I thought I might have heat stroke if I didn’t get inside soon. I spent some time in the Lagoon. I stayed in until my core temperature finally came down and I felt comfortable. The Lagoon is awesome. I decided to get a foot massage. It was a tiny Thai lady who proceeded to beat me up. She stood on my back and cracked it. She stood on my arms, my legs, and my hands. She beat my feet with some pointy thing. About the time I was going to cry mercy and beg to leave she was done. My feet did feel better after. For dinner I picked a steak place. I think you are supposed to eat steak while in Australia. I waited forever, again. I finally got up and asked the bartender how to get served. He handed me a menu. A menu doesn’t do much good if no one takes your order. After 20+ minutes, I walked out. There were more waitresses than customers, but no one would look at me so I couldn’t get anyone’s attention. What do they think I’m sitting there for? I told the bartender on the way out that no one would serve me. He said, “Oh too bad” with no motivation to fix the problem. There was a waitress out front handing out flyers, trying to get people to come in and eat. I don’t understand.
Cairns reminds me of South Florida when I was growing up. The buildings look the same, the hot, humid weather.
(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore
Rraine Drops 