Whale Song

Due to a change of plans following the Nelson Lakes incident, we had the opportunity to return to Kaikoura on the East Coast of the South Island which we had previously visited 3 years ago with Gill and failed to do the famous whale-watching due to storms. Kaikoura is famous for its sealife - lots of whales and dolphins, so we were keen to return. We were in luck with the weather: the 7am trip went ahead as planned despite cancellations the prior day, and aside from several people throwing up from seasickness around us [thank the Lord for Ginger Nuts!] - it was all very successful and we saw 3 sperm whales. The whales go down to the bottom of the Ocean, which by the way is over 1000m deep (over 3000 ft), for anything from 30 mins to one hour for feeding and then return to the surface to breathe for about 5-10 minutes, during which time you get to gawp at them from the boat, before doing a lovely breach before heading back down for more chow time. Quite amazing! Sadly, I was unable to do the dolphin-swimming that I had hoped to do as I got fluey-fevers, so I guess we will just have to return to New Zealand to do that sometime.

A word on Transport

Since many folks seemed curious about how we were planning to actually travel during our journey, I thought I would share our plans. I (i.e. She) had a romantic notion of completing our journey substantially in the manner of sustainable tourism: our intention was to take solely public transport [which does include airplane travel though as long as we don't charter our own jet] or self-propelled means of transport (legs or wheels) where possible. We had been reliably informed through our own experiences and through the writings of many a travel author that this was by far the best way to experience a culture, see the landscape and also meet people.
So far so good.... we took local buses in Fiji, we have traveled the North and South Island of New Zealand largely through buses which aside from an oft-traveled and always late cheapo service by K-bus (otherwise labeled "stray-bus"), and hired bikes on several occasions to explore more widely than our little legs could carry us. Have to admit that we did hire cars for just 2 day trips to get out to the mountains on one occasion, and to escape rain on the other, but hopefully, we will be able to continue this as the modus operandi of our journey.

Hiking in New Zealand - Nelson Lakes

Just under 2 weeks into our grand world tour we geared ourselves up for the first of 3 multiday hikes in New Zealand. The first being in the Nelson Lakes national park. Our fitness and preparation was not as advanced as we would have liked and so it was with some trepidation that we rationed our backpacks to the bare essentials, stocked up on 6 days of food and broke out the walking poles.

Somewhat unwisely this first trek would be the hardest of all - 6 days on less manicured tracks, with few people around and not many exit options - although this is also part of the charm of the Nelson Lakes area. In total we would be climbing and descending over XXX feet and cover over XXX kilometers. The Route would take us in a loop from Lake Rotoiti at St Arnaud, up over the Travers Saddle, along the Sabine valley, with a side trip up to Blue Lake and back to Rotoiti via Mt Cedric and the alpine lake Angelus. Our plan was to camp, meaning we also had to carry a tent and warmer sleeping gear.

At this point we introduce our patent awaiting "Buffometer" with a scale to measure our mental and physical state. This would be the scale we assessed ourselves on each day:

Broken --- Beaten up --- Bruised --- Bring it on --- Buff


The Big question was how would we fair afetr 6 days of hard tramping ???

Day 1: Upper Travis - "Breaking us in"
XXX km, noted as 8 hours of walking plus time for rest and lunch, with over XXX ft of elevation.
This was on paper going to be one of the hardest days of the trek. Some kind soul on the bus had assured us that however very few deaths actually occur from falls on the track - most people in fact die from drowing crosiing the rivers and tributaries - how comforting !
One thing in our favour was that the weather had at last taken a turn for the better with mostly sunshine and a few clouds to help keep things cooler - perfect hiking conditions. The first thing we noted was how uneven and hard going the track was - lots of rocks, roots, slippery footings, and stream crossings to constantly keep us off balance and test pour concentration. This was going to be a long 8 hours.
However the views soon opened up into some wonderful alpine vistas and the track wound alongside the gushing acquamarine Travers river. Once we were in the wilderness and away from the towns and people it was easy to imagine ourselves in a Lord of Rings epic alongside Legless, Aramis and Dodo (or whatever their names were) - the grand scale of the landscape is stunning and very untamed. We met a grand total of 4 people that day on the track - so you can easily get the feel of how isolated and remote this area of the world quickly gets.
We crossed a rather wobbly swing bridge and many avalanche paths that day, with large landslide bolders, debris and scree. As day turned to late afternoon and we were starting to fall behind the posted hours expected for the trip we considered our physical state and options for camping on the trail. The clouds had started to look ominous and the first drops of rain started to fall as we ascended up the valley for the final 2 hours and many tributary crossings. This must have given our weary limbs the stimulus desired as we stepped up our pace and made to the Upper Travers hut "in time for Tea". The hut was situated approximately 20ft the other side of the 'avalanche path' - we choose to believe that the Kiwis must be extremely good at predicting where the avalanches are allowed to plough through the wildnerness.
To our not so great disappointment, no camping sites appeared obvious so we happily bundled into the hut in a bunk room all to ourselves with "ensuite" (ie a door to the outside)
Dinner was a simple pasta affair which would be mirrored on many nights, with a ration of chocolate that tasted like heaven.

Buffometer reading: - Definitely tending towards Bruised and slightly Beaten Up

Day 2: The Saddle - "Thigh buster and Ankle twister"
XXX km, noted as 6 to 9 hours of walking time.
We felt somewhat better than expected the following morning as we stretched our legs. There was certainly some bruising from the previous days exertions, but as we climbed the 1500 ft to the saddle we felt surprisingly chipper and enjoyed the fabulous views of Mt Travers. The saddle itself provided fabulous views of both the Travers and Sabine valleys.
What we had not prepared ourselves for was the 3,300ft descent on treacherous terrain, scree and bolders without an even footing in sight. Knees, thighs and ankles trembled as the km's passed and minor slips ocurred more frequently as we weakened. Fortunately the weather held out for us, as we would not have wanted to even attempt this walk in the rain.
With our heads down constantly watching our footing it would have been all to easy to miss the spectacular scenery passing us by - however we took frequent stops to rest our limbs and take in the surroundings. We descended down tussock plains and a scree fall an into the Sabine valley through wooded tracks until we passed over a vertiginously deep gorge before the final descent to the West Sabine Hut.
In total with many stops, this walk took us over 10 hours and we staggered in exhausted to the hut heading straight for the river to dunk our throbbing feet in the icy waters.

Our thanks go out to Jessie amd Tristan who tracked with us for much of the day.


Buffometer reading: - Thoroughly Beaten Up, hoping that our aching limbs would have a chance to recover on the next easier day.

Day 3: Blue Lake side trip - " Rivers and Waterfalls"

This was to be a relatively easier day as we could keep our tent at West Sabine and head off with just 1 lightweight pack. However initial omens were not good. As we breakfasted a Search & Rescue helicopter landed outside the hut, people ran in gathering stretchers and various equipment and sped off without a word leaving us
feeling somewhat disconcerted. We have to say that although we feel for whomever the poor souls were that were in trouble, the only small comfort we could gain was that at least the helicopter headed off in the opposite direction to our walk.
The trail to Blue lake was blessedly much more forgiving and even than the previous 2 days - although our legs were already feeling fatigued and quads very tight.
The walk tracks up alongside the Sabine River through wooded areas crossing many streams and tributaries, apssing waterfalls and emerging into an open area just below Blue Lake with the river rapids providing a crescending accompianment to a spectacular hanging valley and mountainous backdrop.
A further 1 hour climb led up to Blue Lake for a lunch stop and a chance to relax at the wonderfully serene setting. The lake itself is a colourful mixture of bright greens and blues.
The return journey was mostly downhill, testing our aching limbs and by the time we made it back to camp we certainly felt increasingly fatigued and Caroline had some ankle twinges that were to be a portent of things to come.

Buffometer reading: - Wavering around Bruised and Beaten Up

TO BE CONTINUED ....

Day 4 - Sabine Hut - "Sandfly Central"
The walk from West Sabine, along the Sabine river to Sabine Hut is on paper a much easier walk that those preceeding - 5 hours walking time and no major ascents or descents. Most of the track parallels the river, climbing up and down by necessity where avalanche and loose ground force a detour. We were hoping therefore that this day would provide some rest while we considered the option for the finale of either the challenging ascent of Mt Cedric over to Lake Angelus or the easier route around the mountain via the Speargrass hut. However it soon became apparent that our reserves of energy were already tapped and Lake Angelus would have to be a pipe dream.
The track was extremely pleasant as it meandered alongside the river, but continued to be uneven and slippery with many stream and river crossings. with tired limbs and dwindling concentration we both had slips and tumbles, until almost inevitably caroline slipped at a stream crossing and started to feel familiar and ominous pangs in her ankle. The New Zealand parks provides "what to do in a survival situation" defining key indicators as either a lack of food, water, shelter or will to survive. This seemed somehwat dramatic, but certainly with our confidence taking a beating we started to mull over whether perhaps it would have been a wise idea to bring a locator beacon as had only seen a handful of people in the park and any major accidenct could well result in it being many hours or even the next day before someone else would comg along to rescue us. Such disaster banter kept our minds focused as we carefully forged our way on until we arrived at a speactatular gorge crossing and the 30 min left to go marker for Sabine Hut.
For seasoned hikers we took an embarrsingly long time for this day , but did not care as the hut came into view. Gradually as we drew closer a persistent background hum had been getting louder and louder and we realized that this was from the cumulative effect of many thousand tiny wings of sandflies and wasps. We later learned that this area was used to test various repellants due to the multitude of willing little biters.
As we offloaded packs Carline was suffering from sharp pains in her ankle (giving us concerna about a repeat tendonitis injury), and so fearing for our plans over the next 50 weeks we admitted defeat and looked for escape options. As luck would have it, this hut was on a lake that could be reached by a water taxi. It also turned out that we were not the only victims and we joined 3 ohter people also similarly taking an early exit. Given that we had seen so few people, its fair to say that Nelson Lakes exacts a punishment rate.

All in all, Nelson Lakes is a stunning and challenging park that we would very much like to return to one day - but hopefully when we are fitter and less injury prone !

Buffometer - Broken for now, but with hope that we will be fit for the Milford Track in 3 weeks time

Fly by night North Island

We are so happy to be back in New Zealand again. The time has flown by since we arrived - and finally, after a couple of days of rain in Auckland, we've had stellar weather. Spent a couple of days in Auckland sorting out our onward travel plans, met up for a couple of beers with an old Kiwi friend Tim who Caroline worked with back in the London Andersen days, and enjoyed the art museum of Auckland. We then took a wonderful bus trip down through the North Island to Wellington at the southern tip. Quite a fascinating journey - the bus took all back roads stopping in many a town in the middle of nowhere to drop off or pick up passengers, but compared to taking the main roads all the way, we got to see a lot of interesting countryside along the way.
We loved Wellington - it reminded us in some ways of San Francisco - small cosmopolitan city, lots of cafe culture, lovely little victorian clapboard houses dotted around the hillsides. Sadly had very limited time there, so we enjoyed a late night opening at the Te Papa Museum (lots of superb dispays about Maori and NZ history), followed by a mouth-watering curry at the local curry house. We arose early the next morning to walk the streets of the city before taking a morning ferry across to Picton. The journey afforded us with wonderful views of Wellintgon nestled into the hills, and then an hour 'cruise' of the Marlborough Sounds, which brought back happy memories of our 4 day hike on the Queen Charlotte track 3 years before with Caroline's sister, Gill.
From Picton we headed off for some wine tasting (more like drinking in fact), and from there to Nelson Lakes (both covered in separate postings....)

Veni, Vidi, Vino Vino

We came, we saw, we drank lots of wine



Our visit to the Marlborough vineyards commenced in excellent conditions, a clear blue sky at the wonderfully hospitable Watson Way Backpackers. This is a charming place with with friendly hosts, Paul and Pat, who name all their rooms after children and grandchildren - we stayed in the Mark room.

They also hire bikes, which we availed ourselves of and set off early for our first tipple at 9.30am. On our meagre budgets we were keen to identify all the vineyards that gave free tastings - however we did find it extremely difficult to cycle away and not purchase several bottles as we would have done back in California.

We restricted ourselves to purchasing 3 of the best which would be drunk over the next week, with the best to be saved for the day we return after tramping in Nelson lakes for a week.

In total we visited 9 vineyards and had a jolly good time cycling around this very picturesque valley. In order of appearance we went to:

Cloudy Bay - As expected from one of Marlborough's most respected vineyards, the wines were all fabulous and so we we saved our untainted palates for this one first. It was a shame we could only buy 1 bottle.

Hunters - Run by a highly lauded female winemaker, the wines included some strange mixes (not quite our taste), and also a very nice sculpture garden and artist studio

The Wine Cellar - sampling selected wines from boutique vineyards, we tried several from Bouldevine - all were excellent including a great Pinot Noir - we did not buy here as we had a couple of expected winners to come, but it was very hard to leave empty handed

Prenzel - Also at the wine cellar - this was not really a vineyard, but worth mentioning as they provided a wickedly delicious chocolate liquer

Nautilus - An old favourite of ours that we have visited every time we have come to Marlborough - they have a fantastic logo and selection of art as well as superb wines. The "Bubbles" was very refreshing and their Sav Blanc is excellent. They also had probably the best Pinot Noir we tasted that day.

Wirau River - Classic crisp wines and a great place to grab lunch. They have a very nice spot to sit out and offer some mouthwatering food options. The pick of the wines here has to be their desert wine late harvest Riesling, like liquid honey.

Bladen - This small tasting room is slightly off the beaten track but well worth it. Every wine here was fabulous, light and balanced - we could have easily picked up 1 of everything, but settled for a gewurtztraminer to go with our Green curry planned that evening.

We have to admit that at this stage we were feeling rather jollyfied by the samplingn and a rousing rendition of Stand by Me with percussion effects provided by Gary could be heard across the vines.

Framingham - The tasting rooms here have an older fashioned feel and the owner was originally from Norfolk England (Gary went to school at Framlingham in Suffolk - so it seemed like a good place to try). Taste buds at this point were a little shot, but the wines were all pleasant, especially the Pinot Grigio.

Gibson Bridge - Our final stop. This very small boutique vinyard had only been going for a couple of years and unusually did not offer a Sav Blanc. He specialised in Pinot Grigio. The wines were great, but with a heavy backpack already we had to keep ourselves in check not to buy a further bottle


and the winners are:

Cloudy Bay - Sauvingnon Blanc
Nautilus - Sauvingnon Blanc
Bladen - Gewurtztraminer

There were many others we would have happily snapped up, but unfortunately budget and weight did not allow

Off to Nelson lakes next to work of multiple curries and wines

Bula Fiji!

Bula (Hello! in the local tongue)
So Fiji was absolutely nothing like what we had anticipated. We had a delightful, but very different experience from the honeymooning couples that so epitomose the Fiji expectations. My initial, and lasting, impression of Fiji is of Goa-meets-Hawaii; the lush greenery and vivid colorful flowers of these islands is so reminiscent of the happy trips we have had to other such polynesian islands, however, the poverty and political troubles that these islands have faced (something the aforementioned honeymooning couples staying at the Westin will have missed entirely)has created a very different vibe here.

Interestingly, at least two Fijians we met seemed favorable towards the British and refered with pleasure to our Queenie on their bank notes (even though they gained independence several decades ago), and refering to Britain as the motherland, and another was quite grateful that the European missionaries rid them of their canibalistic ways. Most surprising indeed.

Nevertheless, we spent a wonderfully relaxing time out on a remote Island, largely spent watching the warm monsoon rains from the balcony of the restaurant/bar at the Funky Fish Resort where we stayed. One of the true delights is that every single member of the staff (probably about 20) all knew us on a first name basis, and greeted us with warm hospitality and tremendously good food.

On our second day, we had the pleasure of experiencing a traditional Kava ceremony where the village chief would mix up this rather special blend (otherwise known as Grog) for the guests to enjoy. Suffice it to say that this grog is a mild narcotic and not advisable in many western countries and leaves you feeling a little light headed and tired-eyed... or maybe that was the jet lag.

Some of the other highlights of our 5 days here in Fiji included eating veggie curry with the locals in the mainland, drinking Fiji Gold Beer(in a stubby); local bus ride through the monsoon rain, the locals laughing at us as we wade through muddy puddles in the monsoon rain (yet again), and Bryan Adams...but that is another story.

Off to New Zealand tomorrow

The Final Pack

Perhaps not the most interesting of blog insights - but for those travelphiles, we're including below our final pack list. If this is not your cup of tea - feel free to skip to the next blog installment.

After much debate and trading we whittled down the must haves and nice to haves to a mere 80lbs + food and water. Our aim was to go as light as possible and not have anything too flashy to attract muggers and other unsavouries. We plan to send a lot of colder weather gear and tent home after New Zealand and stock up on cheap T-shirts and stuff in Asia

The Final articles are:

• Backpacks - Gregory Whitney (89Litre) and Gregory Baltoro (65litre) - matching packs, how cute !
• Pack rain covers - ultralight sea to summit
• 25 Litre scrunchable day packs
• Big Agnes, Emerald Mountain 2 person tent
• Cooking gear: Gas stove; 2 titanium/aluminium pans; 2 mugs; 2 titanium plates; 2 sets Nalpene knife fork spoon; cleaning stuff
• 3/4 season sleeping bags (Marmot Helium) + inner liner + Thermarest prolite4
• Camel pack bladder + water bottle
• Walking boots - trusty Meindls; Lightweight running shoes; and Flip Flops
• Clothes - General rule is minimal, layering and multipurpose:
  Zip off hiking trousers; lightweight trousers (not Jeans); boardshorts / bikini (clearly His and Hers); Sarong; Gortex Jacket; Fleece; Long sleeve thermal; 3 T-shirts; 7 prs underwear; 2prs liner socks + 2 ankle socks + 2 Hiking socks; Hat
• Gators (for trudging through wet hikes)
• Toiletries (Hers significantly bigger bag than His) + bag that can hang in a shower
• Camera 1 each - 1 shockproof&waterproof and 1 higher resolution - The DSLR was a casualty here as it was too bulky and a magnet for mugging)
• 10 Gb of Camera cards + highspeed card reader
• Backup flash drives
• mini tripod
• 8 AA rechargeable batteries + lightweight global charger and adaptor
• MP3 player
• "Steripen" for sterilising water on hikes and in dodgy countries
• Swiss army knife
• Headtorch
• Cheap waterproof watch
• Cell phone (we will buy sim cards as we go)
• Travel books on current and next region
• 1 reading book each
• 1 pack cards
• Sunglasses, sunscreen, insect repellant, and anthisan for bites
• Medical kit - various lotions and potions for bites and other nasties
• Prescriptions: Malarone; Azithromycin; Cipro; Acetazolomide; Tindamax
• Key documents: Passport; Vaccination certificates; Money/Cards in various forms

And probably some other small bits and pieces we've forgotten

Christmas send off

Our last week in the US was spent with minimal possessions and sleeping on the floor in an empty apartment. Fortunately some very kind friends did their good samaritan bit and looked after us over Christmas and the New Year.

Christmas was spent with Linda, Mike, Lillie (aka Cutie), Smiley and Mr Beads. We were completely spoiled and copious amounts of food and drink were presented - it would have been rude not to have stuffed ourselves ! - besides we were bulking up for the lean months ahead. The season drink was determined to be Kia Royale which went down a treat.

Gary then had to say goodbye to his baby (Mike and Linda are kindly babysitting the Z4)and we set off for the New Year feeling very disconnected and low tech - no apartment, no laptop, no car and no cell phone.

New Years eve was spent with Poorti, Michael, Nisha and Anika. They were jolly good hosts and Poorti & Susie delivered up their famous 30 dishes feast. Eyes were certainly bigger than bellies and we needed to be rolled off to the airport the following day worrying about whether our 1 seat each in economy would be big enough.

Our final departure challenge was San Francisco airport and it did not disappoint. We had wisely left an ample 5 hours to catch our connection in LA on to Fiji - which was just enough to deal with the 3 hour delay in SF airport.

So it was with much pent up anticipation that we finally boarded our flight and headed off to our first destination - sunny Fiji