Since our first hike didn’t work out, we knew of one more that was probably doable… a hike to Lake Marion. We could actually see this lake from our hike up to Key Summit on the Active Trip we did. We made it to the top right as it started to sprinkle and some more clouds rolled in – but got a couple great shots. The color of the Lake was amazing.
Then we drove into the Miford Sound Lodge for the night.
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
From Riverton we headed to a town called Te Anau and stayed the night. Oddly enough, the next day we ran into the next Active tour group guide picking up his bicycles before heading into Milford Sound. Strangely enough, that is exactly where we were headed for the night. We had planned on doing a hike up to a mountain saddle (Gertrude’s Saddle). We had heard it had unbelievable views of the sound and mountains. Well, need I say it again, the weather hadn’t been too great and so the hike didn’t happen. At least not the whole hike. We did get about half way up, but after that it became solid ice and we didn’t want to have to come back down on that. And since the clouds and fog were settling in, there would have been no views anyway, so we didn’t feel bad heading back down. We were pretty much in snow from the beginning of the hike – i don’t think the Gertrude’s Valley gets that much sun. It was fun to be in the snow again though. Here are a couple pictures from our attempted hike. The first one is of ice that looks to me like an angel fish.
Just us in the snow!
by Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
We actually spent a few days driving through the Catlins, but for pictures sake we are putting them into just two blogs. The next day the weather was off and on sleeting, hailing, snowing, and raining on us. It did stop for a couple minutes here and there and we were lucky enough to do some hikes in the bush so we didn’t get pelted. We hiked to two different waterfalls and they were both big and breathtaking.
We had to skip a couple of caves and other stops because the weather was pretty bad. But, it did clear up as we traveled a bit more south. We went all the way down to Slope Point – the most southern point in the south island. (I think our timing was impeccable to be on the southern most parts of the south island at the time the first snow storms blow through!!!) It is so windy here that the trees are windblown.
Here’s a couple more pictures from Slope Point.
On our walk back to our car from Slope Point it started to sleet on us. Ouch!
After the Catlins, we stayed in Invercargill for the night. We didn’t take any pictures there because of the weather and because there’s really not a whole lot going on there. But 20 minutes down the road is a lovely town called Riverton. We did a couple hikes there and one had a lookout to Stewart Island. I know the clouds kinda hide it, but the mountains in the background are in fact, Stewart Island.
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
The Catlins are an area in between Dunedin and Invercargill. It’s got lots of beautiful coast line as well as many other neat landscapes and wildlife. Here’s where our weather took a dive… It was raining off and on in dunedin, but once we got to the catlins, the temperature dropped and the first snows of the season kicked in. From what we have heard, it came about a month early… so lucky us. Let me just tell you… sleeping in a van at night is a bit cold (especially if it’s snowing), and driving in a van whose heater went out, is a bit cold as well. But hey, it’s all part of the traveling and backpacking experience. We were just hoping that the weather would get better in a couple days or so.
Back to our journey… It was approaching dusk when we were arriving to our first stop. We went to a place called Nugget Point. It is a little tip with a lighthouse at the end and some huge rocks in the ocean. The lighting was just gorgeous so Colin did his magic and took this picture.
After our hike to the lighthouse, we went back to a wildlife lookout to see if we could see anymore penguins or seals. We actually saw another yellow eyed penguins waddling out of the water and hopping up to a bush to hide. It was seriously one of the cutest things I’ve seen!
Here’s just a sunset picture from the coast. The last two are of a lonely cow.
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
We woke up the next morning and drove out to the tip of the Otago Peninsula. It was a beautiful drive and on the tip, there is an albatross colony that lives there. You can pay quite a bit of money to go on a tour and see one of the babies… or you can stand outside and try and see one yourself for free. If anyone knows either one of us, you would probably know how penny pinching we are, so we went for the free version. We were warned since it wasn’t that windy, we probably wouldn’t see any, but it’s always worth a try, right? Well, we did get lucky and saw one fly around a couple times. If you look at this picture, to the left of the lighthouse is the albatross flying around. From tip to tip, their wing span is 3 meter long! Amazing!
These next two pictures are just of the peninsula.
We went down town again and walked by the first church in Dunedin. It was so immaculate. It just amazing how much time and detail went into building this church!
Next we went to the famous Railway Station. It was a beautiful building and still is a working station. You can pay for a scenic ride or take an ordinary train ride to another destination.
From the railway station, if you turn around 180 degrees and look behind you, you will be able to see this big purple cylinder tower. That is a 3 story chocolate water fall at the Cadbury Factory…we got to see it on our tour.
Then we were off to the Catlins.
by Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
We had heard tons of good things about Dunedin so we knew we had to go. Dunedin is a city of about 110,000 people… and a huge college town. Needless to say, it had a fun vibe to it. Our van started to overheat a bit right as we pulled in, so thank goodness we were in a large town with a garage to take it too. The verdict: a leaky pipe draining all our radiator coolant. lovely. But the people were awesome and got us right in and didn’t seem to be too overcharged! Praise the Lord! So the next morning we did what Colin has been wanting to do since we arrived in the South Island… go take a tour of the Cadbury Factory. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take our cameras in so we just had these few pictures near one of their cool old trucks.
But i do think the reason they charge what they do, is because they gave us each 4 candy bars! Sweet As!… or as our buddy Tannin from Okarito would say, “Yum As.”
After that we did walk around town a bit and then the weather got yucky. So, we headed to Baldwin Street – the steepest street in the world! Who knew it would be in New Zealand. Since, it was raining, we decided to just drive up it, instead of walking. Our good ole Green Lantern was feeling pretty good after being in the shop – so he had no problems making it to the top. Here’s our prize van at the top of Baldwin St.
The next day when the weather cleared up for a bit, we did actually walk up it and even got a certificate proving we did!! This is actually Colin the next day on the steepest part of the street. It really was a VERY steep street!
by Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
Our next stop after Christchurch was Omaru. This is on the south eastern coast of the south island. It was actually a really neat little town. We pulled in almost at dusk and that just happens to be the time when the yellow eyed penguins come ashore to their homes in the bush and shrubs. They had a look out where you could try and spot some – and since our timing was impeccable, we decided to go. To be honest we didn’t actually think we’d see any, to to our amazement, we saw 3! This first picture is of the path to one lookout station. If you look closely – about 45 degrees down from where the people at the lookout are watching, you’ll see a little white dot under a bush. That’s a yellow eyed penguin!!! They are actually one of the rarest penguins to find or see.
This next picture was much closer and easier to see. They were hiding under a bush as well, but there just happened to be a peep hole where we could see. How cute are they?!?!?!
Then right before we left, we saw a hill of sheep that was just stunning.
The next morning, we were walking around town a found out that part of Omaru has some amazing architecture. There is a whole part of downtown that is very “old fashion” looking. People even dressed up like they would have and played the parts as they would have when this area was first built. Pretty neat.
After a much needed break from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we stopped at a Dominoes Pizza for lunch. YUM. Then it was off to Dunedin (pronouced Due-nee-den). But, we did make one quick stop at the Moeraki Boulders. It was a really random stop but had heard good things about them. So little did we know, it was high tide – so we got a bit wet walking out to them. But they were a spectacular site in the ocean.
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
The next day in Christchurch was supposed to be the last nice day for awhile so we hiked around outside a bit. We went to the hills right outside of Christchurch just about 20 minutes away. We saw some amazing views from up high of the city and the ocean. We also saw an old gun camp where Colin found some cool doors to take pictures of.
Then the traveling begins… and the bad weather… but more about all that later.
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
After our Active New Zealand Trip, it was time for us to hit the road… do a bit of traveling ourselves and see what we had missed (or things we just wanted to go back and see) – and completely blow all our money. Since our trip finished in Christchurch, we stayed there a couple days. We went to the Antarctic Center which was very interesting. It’s kinda like a museum – it’s all about life on Antarctica and the people and countries that have stations there and what they do. But they also had some blue penguins there that they feed and take care of. I’m pretty sure all of them were handicapped in some fashion (blind, broken feet, even hydrophobic) but they were so cute. Mommy Judy and Bridget… this is the perfect place for you to work! I know those penguins would be treated well if you looked after them!
Then they had a room where they imitated an arctic storm. They had actual snow in the room (Yes, they kept it that cold!) and you got to gear up in some heavy duty jackets that they provided. Then every 30 minutes a “storm” would start. Well, at least they had strong fans start blowing on us. It was pretty cool (literally) but really neat! They also had a snow mobile that is used in Antarctica and a cool ice slide.
Next, we found some sample clothes that you could try on. So of course, we bundled up and tried on everything that people stationed in Antarctica would wear. We look kinda silly because they are all WAY too big, but at least we got the idea (and they were really warm!)
And here is another snow mobile that they use.
And the coolest part was we got to take a ride in the Hagglund. This is an actual vehicle that is used in the snow and ice. It’s a pretty crazy machine and can handle and do almost anything. (I guess it has to to be in a completely barren land with hills and ice.) We went up and down some hand made dirt hills that were pretty high and then we even floated in a huge pond. This is one serious military machine! Go here for more about the Hagglund.
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
So we woke up to our last day on our Active New Zealand tour – yet another beautiful morning looking out to Mt. Cook. We packed up and headed to Lake Tekapo. Some of us did a short 35min hike up to a cafe/observatory on a hill. Then we decided to have one last group photo before we all went our separate ways at the airport. But good ole Russell had us laughing up till the last minute of the trip. We had an on going joke with him the whole two weeks about how all Englishmen wore speedos and really short shorts all the time. Well the news came out on our trip that Russell actually did have some short shorts. So we teased him about it and told him to wear them to breakfast on our last day. Well, nothing happened at breakfast, so we all just forgot about it… That is until group picture time. All the sudden Russell starts to unzip his pants and we all get a bit worried at what he is about to do – then he drops his pants and see his short shorts. We all were so stunned and couldn’t stop laughing. So we had to have the shorts showing in our group photo. It was just too funny to forget.
So that is it. We headed to Christchurch and dropped everyone off at either the airport or at the hotel. It was an amazing two weeks and have meet 14 amazing people. We had two of the best guides Active has hired and wish them the best for their futures ahead. This will be two weeks that was an unforgettable experience and adventure. Now it’s back to the real world for most of our group and off on the open road for Colin and I.
By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus
