New Zealand, part 2

New Zealand on a map looks like a small island at the end of the world. Most people when they get there want to see everything because a flight takes around 20-30h. We couldn't afford more than 2 weeks off, so we focused only on the south part of South Island. We drove around, stayed in the hotels, and drove hundreds of kilometers almost every day. A lot of people rent RV's. You can camp almost anywhere! It's standard to have breakfast in the parking lot, and dinner at a milion star restaurant. So, if you can have a month off or more, I would recomend to rent an RV. This also gives you some flexibility. Sometimes it's raining so when you want to hike it's better to wait a day or two and make sure that you do it on a sunny day.

DAY 8: ROUTEBURN TRACK

It rains in New Zealand pretty often, more than in Seattle. Everybody thinks that in Seattle it rains everyday. Imagine then, how grateful we were to get a nice sunny day.

Routeburn Track is one of the Great Walks. It goes through the Fiordland National Park and has 32 km one way. Normally it takes 2 – 4 days to do the whole hike. You can start either on Routeburn Shelter (25 km from Glenorchy) or the Divide (85 km from Te Anau). On the track, there are a lot of shelters so you can enjoy your day hiking 8-12 km a day.

To do the whole trail you need to have a shuttle. There are special companies that can pick up your car at one parking lot and bring it to the other one. What a smart idea! Darek read that the most beautiful part of the hike is from the Shelter to Harris Seaddle. This you can do in a day and it's a 9 hour walk. So that became our plan.

The trail is very easy and well maintained. We reached the first hut after 1.5h. We weren't tired, but the view was amazing, so it was pure pleasure to relax there. Then, we hiked to the next hut, Roteburn Falls. This part of the trail was steeper, but still well maintained. After another hour, we reached the hut that surprised us by it's size. It's huge, almost like a complex of 3 buildings. Those trails have to be popular during the summer time (Nov-Jan).  

​From the hut we hiked further to Harris Saddle. This walk took us a while, but only because of the breaks that we took every minute to take a picture. This part of the trail we were above the timberline so it's gorgeous but windy at the same time. At the top there is a small shelter where you can sleep only in an emergency. It was nice to go inside for a while, since it was really windy outside. We met a couple there, who live in New Zealand, but they were once in Poland for a vacation. They were there years ago so it was nice to hear their stories about the country side attractions etc. It's nice to hear that others went to Poland and enjoyed their time there.

​After a short break we headed down. It was a great walk. That day was Darek's birthday so after getting back to Queenstown we went to Botswana Butchery Restaurant. It is an amazing place! Of course, we had lamb, and it was so tasty! Darek also tried deer tartar that was tender and delicious. Everything there is top quality, delicious, and made to perfection. If you ever have a chance to be in Queenstown, I would definitely recommend this place.

DAY 9: WINERIES, CENTRAL OTAGO

Wines from New Zealand are getting more and more popular. This region belongs to the New World Style. They are learning fast, and their wines are becoming better and better with every new vintage. There are two major wine regions, Marlborough & Central Otago. Central Otago is exactly between Queenstown and Mt. Cook National Park. There was no other option than just to stop by some of the wineries.

When you travel on Route 6 there are wineries every few kilometers. There are a lot of options and I believe all of them are really good. We decided to visit Gibbston Valley. Yesterday, we had this wine for dinner and it was delicious. It pairs really well with deer tatar and lamb shoulder. 

The wine tasting is very similar to the one we have in the US. You pay a few bucks, get different samples, and you learn about each of them. Since Darek is working in the wine business, we got more samples than the regular crowd. We learned a lot about this region and wineries. I was surprised that they hardly use corks. Most of the wines are twist-off. I always believed that the wine needs to breathe through the cork to help the wine age in the bottle. I asked the wine maker – why? Why do you use caps? He said that New Zealand is relatively a small market and the best corks go to France, Spain, the USA, and Italy. The corks that they used to get were poor quality. Of course, that's not good for the wine, so all (or at least most of) wine makers in New Zealand use caps.

We bought Pinot Noir that's supposed to age for a few more years. We will see how it goes with aging in the twist-off bottles. We hit the road again and drove straight to Mt. Cook National Park. The road was gorgeous with beautiful scenery.

Mt. Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. It's also quite difficult and challenging. I've heard that Edmund Hillary, trained on Mt. Cook before hiking Mt. Everest. Hillary is from Auckland, New Zealand so Kiwis are really proud of him. Mt. Cook NP has a museum dedicated to Mount Everest and Hillary. There are a few marked and recommended hiking trails at the park however, you can hike wherever you went. It was evening when we got there so we took a few basic trails like:
Kea Point, Tasman Valley, Tasman Glacier, Tasman River, and Blue Lakes.
It was another gorgeous day in paradise.

DAY 10: MT. COOK NATIONAL PARK​ i

As I said earlier Mt. Cook NP has a lot to offer. There are trails that take 15 minute to walk and trails that take a few days. We decided to hike to Muller Hut. This is a one day hike, but you can go further and spend few days in the mountains. The trail to the hut is crazy. There are 1814 steps. Can you imagine being in the mountains and going all the way up using stairs? It definitely helps a lot. So we were hiking higher and higher, admiring the view, but unfortunately not for so long. We hiked all the way up to the clouds and it was hard to see anything more than just few kilometers in the distance. It began to rain so we decided to head down.

​It was a good idea. Even though we didn't get to the hut we were able to enjoy a great view on the lower elevation where it was nice and sunny.

​The thing with hiking in New Zealand is that the higher you go, the more clouds you get. You hike in the clouds very often, and can hardly see anything. There is almost no way to get above the clouds so very often better view is at the lower elevation. That's not the case for other mountains where the higher you go, the better view you get. Of course, when it's a sunny day (which happens from time to time) then, the higher you go, the better it gets.

The hike to Kea Point to see the glacier took around 30 minutes to get there, but it's definitely worth taking. You can have a beer and relax looking at Mt. Cook, hearing when the ice breaks on the glacier, and admiring the blue lake made out of glacier water. So we hung out at the park, admiring the view, hiking around, and just relaxing.

DAY 11: WANAKA LAKE

From Mt. Cook NP to Franz Joseph & Fox Glaciers it's just 30 kilometers in a straight line. However, in New Zealand there are no tunnels, roads are winding, and we only saw one viaduct. So to get to the glaciers we had to drive more than 450 km. Somewhere, half-way we decided to take a break at Wanaka. This city is famous for the lake that has the same name. The lake is gorgeous like most of the things in New Zealand. The town is small, but has a nice lake boulevard, some bars and restaurants, and...The Puzzling World.

Puzzling World is a museum with a life size 3D maze, rooms with optical illusions, tilted houses where you lose control of the ground, and many other things. It's a lot of fun for kids, and adults. We had a blast, running back and forth trying to find an exit out of the maze.

​It's definitely a good idea to take a break there. You can even stay there for a day or two and enjoy kayaking, or other water sports.

DAY 12: FRANZ JOSEPH & FOX GLACIERS

Franz Joseph & Fox are the two most famous glaciers in New Zealand. They are very easily accessible through the walking path. It takes 1.5-2 hours to hike either of them. Of course Darek doesn't like easy trails so he found the Roberts Point Trail. It goes, higher and closer to the glacier. The trail is not so difficult as long as you are fine with swaying narrow bridges. There are around 5 swaying bridges, and two of them are more difficult. One is just long and very narrow. Even when you are there just by yourself, there is no way it will hold still. The other is shorter, but much higher – better not look down!

So if you are fine with swaying bridges, just take this trail instead of the regular, very popular, and crowded trails. Of course, you still need hiking boots because the rocks might be wet, and you don't want to twist your ankle.

Again, we hiked up to the clouds. It's not a surprise anymore. After spending two weeks in New Zealand, we got used to this, and rain didn't bother us anymore. It rains a lot in the South-West part of New Zealand. That's the region with beautiful mountains, fjords, and glaciers. We were there during their spring, so it might explain a lot, it can rain pretty often even in the summer months.

​I was disappointed with those glaciers. They are dirty and you can't get really close. I found Mt. Cook glaciers more beautiful and bigger. Even though, I guess everybody would like to see it, and get their own opinion. Can you imagine that years ago those glaciers were going into the ocean? They are shrinking. They retreat around 3 km in the last century, but they retreat even faster in last 8 years.

That was almost the end of our trip. The next day we got back to Christchurch, and then headed back to the USA. It was an amazing vacation, very intense (as always), but definitely worth spending 30h on the plane. Remember – just select the right airline. Landscape wise, New Zealand is a green island, has an amazing flora, tropical rain forests, cliffs, mountains that go straight to the ocean, dolphins and other see animals and much more. As a country – New Zealander's, that are called Kiwis, are really nice, friendly, and easy going. Their accent is unique – even though it was hard to understand, I liked to listen to it a lot. The air and the food definitely left an impression on me. I never had better ingredients. In New Zealand, it's not about how many spices you use. It's about the egg that tastes like an egg, the meat at McDonald's is real meat, and so on. The meals are simple, very often from the grill. The air – is fresh, without pollution (there are almost no factories). It's like a different world. So don't postpone the trip. It's hard to get 1 month off. Instead – just go there for as long as you can. Don't worry about the long distance flight. Just plan accordingly, and at the end you will be back home relaxed, oxygenated, and full of energy.