The South Island is the true outdoors persons paradise. I call the South Island the 'true' NZ. It is the area that we first fell in love with a few years ago. The North Island is more about beaches, BBQ's, boating, and baching it on the weekends. The South Island is all about rugged terrain, going miles without seeing anyone, and living off the land.
Proving the 5 degrees of separation theory----We flew to Christchurch Thursday night after work. I booked a B&B outside of Christchurch not knowing anything about it. It just happens that the owners of the B&B are none other then the parents of Phil Keoghan, the host of the Amazing Race! John Keoghan, his father, just returned from a 40 day trip across the US. John supported his son Phil in the MS bike ride across the US. John and I were standing in the kitchen scratching our heads about why we knew the name Phil Keoghan..... it just so happens that our friends from DSM and our friend Phil from Omaha rode with him when he passed through the respective cities. We will have to start watching the Amazing Race now. There was recently an episode of the Amazing Race filmed in NZ.
Proving NZ will put a road up anything----- Friday morning we headed up to Mt Hutt to go skiing. Mt Hutts claim to fame is that it is one of the first ski fields to open in the Southern Hemisphere each season. To get to the ski area, you drive from sea level up gravel mountain roads (with shear drop offs and no guard rails) until you reach about 6500 feet. From there you can ski the top portion of the mountain. Mt Hutt was closed on Thursday due to gale force winds. On Friday, the lower lift was open and later in the afternoon the lift that goes to the very top of the mountain opened up. We took the very top lift only one time. We had a hard time getting off the lift because the wind was blowing so hard and about 20 ft from the top we got sandblasted with snow. I would have liked to seen what the gale force winds were like the day before! So,we took our look at the panoramic view and called it good. That night, we stayed in Methven at a really nice boutique B&B and meet 2 couples on their honeymoon (one for South Carolina and the other from England).
Seeing the Cloud Piercer ---- On Saturday, we took a leisurely drive south to Aoraki/Mt Cook. Aoraki means Cloud Piercer in a Maori dialect. Mt Cook is the highest mountain in NZ at 12,316 feet. Mt Cook is part of the Southern Alps range which has 70+ glaciers and over 140 peeks standing over 6600 feet. On the way, we stopped at Lake Tekapo. There is a lake and little church here which is a tourist 'must see'. One of our B&B hosts said they had once seen 13 tour buses here at one time! It is a great spot--- check out the pictures and see for yourself. We also stopped at the Mt Cook salmon farm. The farm is in a hydro canal used for power generation and is the highest salmon farm in the world. Next was on to the Hermitage at Mt Cook. The Hermitage is a historic resort in NZ and is in the valley at the foot of Mt Cook. We were on a recon mission to check out the area for friends in coming in Nov. The 55 k road up to Mt Cook was very foggy- you couldn't see the lake we were driving along. Fortunately, the resort was above the fog level so we had a perfect view of the mountain. I feel we lucked out getting a view of the mountain. Many people travel here and only see the mountain covered in clouds. Saturday night we stayed at the Hermitage and watched the NZ All Blacks lose to France. (P.S. we have tickets to see the All Blacks against Australia in a few weeks time).
Tramping to glaciers and icebergs---- After a restful night at the Hermitage, we got up early for some tramping. We saw a few of the parks glaciers, crossed a couple of suspension bridges, and saw some icebergs. Mt Cook was clear at the start of the tramp. By the time we got back from the tramp the mountain range was socked in with clouds and was spitting snow. That was the end of our South Island fun this time around. The next time we plan to be down here is in November with friends from Iowa.
For a full range of trip pictures see here - http://picasaweb.google.com/jandlmarshall/SouthIsland2009_06_1202?authkey=Gv1sRgCIT7-f68laXNiwE#
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