The Land of the Long White Cloud

This post is by Sue Tindell.

   Attending the Travel Leaders International Summit has been a great experience for me and my colleagues, and our 2017 event promised to be one of the best yet: New Zealand! It had been several years since I was "Down Under," so I was really looking forward to this trip. Well, I should say, looking forward to the destination. The trip is very long, but the destination is definitely worth the effort.





Tuesday-Thursday, March 14-16 -- Wisconsin to Australia to New Zealand

   The first thing the traveler needs to understand, and accept, is that it's a long way from America to New Zealand. I left my house in northwest Wisconsin for the drive to the Minneapolis airport, where I met my good friend and colleague Laurie Glomstad Passard from Travel Leaders in Grand Rapids, Minn. Our (relatively) short flight to Los Angeles gave us a chance to catch up. After a short layover at LAX, we boarded our trans-Pacific flight to Sydney, Australia. Not only is it a 14-hour flight, there's also a crossing of the International Date Line, making the jet lag even more fun than usual. By the time our last flight arrived in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it was already Thursday afternoon, March 16th. Fortunately, our hotel, the Langham, was ready to receive us, and we were certainly ready for this beautiful hotel.

   We had slept during much of the long LA-to-Sydney flight, so we were fairly well rested and able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon and evening after checking in. Auckland is a city of some 1.5 million people and is on the North Island. New Zealand itself is comprised mainly of two large islands, North and South, plus about 600 smaller islands. Polynesians settled these islands nearly a thousand years ago. The first European to see them was Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. The British claimed New Zealand as a colony around 1840 and it became independent in 1907, declining an offer to be part of Australia. The native Polynesians are known as Maori, and the two official languages of the country are English and Maori.
  

Friday, March 17 -- Auckland

   New Zealanders have St. Patrick's Day just like we do in the States, which explains why these construction workers were dressed like this. At least, that's the explanation we were given!

    After spending most of the day exploring this modern city, we prepared for the opening event of the Summit, a formal dinner at the Auckland Museum, where we were greeted by Maori musicians, and invited to see if we could summon our own inner Maori!

   A fine time was had by all, as we reunited with our colleagues from all over the States who had joined us for this exotic trip. The next morning we would have our business meeting and then make our first visit to the countryside of New Zealand, and it would be a memorable one indeed.

Saturday, March 18 -- Matamata, North Island

   In the mid-1950s, English author J.R.R. Tolkien published his epic Lord of the Rings, considered the best-loved British novel of all time and the forerunner of the fantasy fiction genre that has since produced other epics like Game of Thrones. Tolkien's novel and its predecessor, The Hobbit, were set in Middle-earth, a realm populated by people known as hobbits, but there are also elves and dwarves and lots of mystical animals.

   The novel inspired a series of three movies released from 2001-03 and filmed almost entirely in New Zealand on picturesque farmland about two and a half hours from Auckland. The films were directed by New Zealand native Peter Jackson and were smash hits at the box office and on the award stage, winning a total of 17 Oscars. And today we were going to visit Hobbiton, where much of the movies were shot.

   

The Hobbit Holes were like something out of a fairy tale.

Chess, anyone?

New Zealand's native flora add much to the
exotic feel of Hobbiton.

Laundry day in Hobbiton.

As a gardener myself, I was especially entranced by all the flowers.

Here I am with Cindy Tyo from Fargo, N.D.

The movie set is still a working sheep and beef farm. In the distance
we could see the Kaimai Ranges.


      It had been a wonderful day, but there was lots more to come.

Sunday, March 19 --  Waitomo, North Island

   Our visit to Hobbiton yesterday had shown us that this modern, Western nation had an exotic side that was filled with surprises. We would see another one today: the Glowworm Caves of Waitomo.

    Another pleasant drive of two and a half hours took us through the fertile farmland of the Waikoto region. This is an agricultural area that specializes in dairy farms, so it reminded me a lot of my native Wisconsin. One of the dairy cooperatives here, Fonterra, is owned by more than 10,000 New Zealand farmers and accounts for 30% of the world's dairy exports.

   Our destination today was the Waitomo Caves, a series of limestone caves that have been a major part of New Zealand tourism since the early 20th century. The Glowworm Caves are home to a species of glowworm found only in New Zealand, Arachnocampa luminosa. We were not allowed to photograph the glowworms, which are about the size of mosquitoes, but here are pictures from the Caves' website:

    After emerging from the caves, we were able to sample some of the above-ground scenery.

   The ride back to Auckland went by quickly and soon we were preparing for the concluding event of the Summit, the gala dinner. Travel Leaders always chooses a great venue for these dinners and tonight we would be dining at Cable Bay Vineyards on Waiheke Island, a 21-mile ferry ride from Auckland over the waters of Matiatia Bay. 

The ferry ride across the bay provided us with spectacular late-afternoon scenery.

Waiheke Island is 36 square miles in size with over 130 miles of inviting coastline.

The view from the Vineyards was as wonderful as the dinner...and the wine!

   It had been another long but terrific day, and we returned to Auckland for our last night at the Langham, looking forward to our excursion the next day, when we would travel by air to the South Island. 

Monday, March 20 -- Queenstown

   The South Island of New Zealand is about 30% larger than the North but with 1/3 of the North's population. The Southern Alps run the entire 522-mile length of South Island, which has a well-deserved reputation as one of the world's best locations for adventure travel. 
   After a two-hour flight from Auckland, we arrived in Queenstown, a city of about 14,000 residents situated on picturesque Lake Wakatipu, with spectacular views of the Southern Alps. The town is the most expensive place to live in New Zealand, with average home prices around $1 million. Our home for the next three nights would be one of the city's finest hotels: Novotel Queenstown Lakeside. 
   After settling in at the hotel, we toured Queenstown Gardens, situated on a 30-acre peninsula. The first trees, a pair of English oaks, were planted here in 1867, and one of them still stands.

   

  After the Gardens we took a ride aboard Skyline Gondola partway up the mountain known as Ben Lomond, whose peak rises more than 5,700 feet above the bay. The view, needless to say, was spectacular. 

   It had been another wonderful day, but there was much more to come as we headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow we would begin our exploration of South Island, and we would do it by air. For the first time in my life, I was going sky-diving!


Tuesday, March 21 -- Glenorchy and the Shotover River

   Well, maybe not right away. As we set forth from Queenstown to the "drop zone" of Nzone Skydive in Glenorchy, about a 45-minute drive to the north end of Lake Wakatipu, the weather looked promising. We stopped along the way to visit a hotel, the St. Moritz, and by the time we arrived at Nzone's landing strip, clouds had moved in and our skydiving was canceled. Laurie and I were scheduled to do tandem diving, in which the diver is strapped to an experienced parachutist. Neither of us had ever done this and we were excited when we signed up, but as the reality of it approached, we got just a bit apprehensive. So we had mixed feelings about the cancellation. But wait! The skydiving was rescheduled for Thursday, as our whiz-bang Travel Leaders schedule-makers started juggling itineraries.
    The Shotover River winds its way south through the island and within some spectacular canyons, eventually joining up with the Kawarau River and a few miles later emptying into Lake Wakatipu. Shotover Jet provides exhilarating jet boat rides through the canyons. 
   

At Nzone, Laurie and I, along with her son, Drew Swihart, put on a
brave front, knowing we wouldn't be jumping out of any airplanes that day.

The bridges across the Shotover were almost as spectacular as the river and canyons.

Although the river was low, the jet boat didn't have any problems.

   Back in Queenstown, we relaxed for the evening. The skydiving had been rescheduled for two days later. Although Nzone boasted a sterling safety record, we were all a little nervous, and if it turned out to be too cloudy to jump that day, well, that would be too bad, wouldn't it? 


Wednesday, March 22 -- Milford Sound

   Our day was already booked for one of our longer excursions, by motor coach to Milford Sound, in the southwest of South Island. The Sound is a fiord (sometimes spelled "fjord") that is also a part of Fiordland National Park and Te Wahipaunamu World Heritage Site. The Sound runs a little more than nine miles inland from its mouth on the Tasman Sea, and is bordered by sheer rock cliffs that rise up to 5,000 feet above the water. With an average of 252 inches of rain per year, it is the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world. Some days will see up to ten inches of rainfall, creating numerous temporary waterfalls that can be up to 3,000 feet in length. As it is, the Sound has two permanent waterfalls, Lady Bowen Falls and Sterling Falls. 
   Along the way we stopped at Mirror Lakes, a part of the national park, for some great photos.

   Another stop came at a scenic overlook that, on a clear day, would've given us a great view of Mt. Tutoko, which rises to nearly 9,000 feet. Unfortunately, on this day it was just a bit cloudy, but it was still very scenic.

Mt. Tutoko can barely be glimpsed through the clouds...

...which didn't stop Laurie and me from getting a selfie!

      Finally, we came to Milford Sound itself. This panoramic photo from the Sound's Wikipedia page shows the majesty of the fiord, featuring Mitre Peak (5,551') in the center. 

   During our time here, we got up close and personal with some of the Sound's picturesque (and very wet) waterfalls: Umbrella, anyone?
   Instead of taking the bus back, our group took to the air in a pair of helicopters. Much faster and of course more scenic than being on the road! Here are some videos of the ride: Helicopter Ride 1 and Helicopter Ride 2.

   Back in Queenstown, we boarded our third mode of transportation today: a steamer for a cruise across the lake to our dinner location. Our vessel was TSS Earnslaw, a twin-screw steamer launched in 1912. This famous boat was actually built on the other side of South Island in Dunedin, then disassembled and transported in parts across the island by rail and re-assembled on the lake. Its decks are made of kauri, a native New Zealand wood. It hosted Queen Elizabeth II on her 1990 visit to New Zealand and also appeared in the movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, posing as a boat traveling the Amazon River of South America.

Sailing across the lake on the Earnslaw was a real Edwardian-era treat!

We enjoyed a gourmet barbecue dinner at Walter Peak High Country Farm.

   It had been another long but grand day in this fascinating country, and as we retired back at our Queenstown hotel that evening, we knew that the next day would be the big one: Skydiving!

Thursday, March 23 -- Back to Glenorchy and the Blue Pools

   The weather today was pronounced more than acceptable for skydiving, so we headed back up to Glenorchy and Nzone Skydive. We weren't able to do any photos or videos of our tandem skydives, but this one from Nzone tells the story pretty well: New Zealand Skydiving. 
   From the air, we went to the water, with a visit to the Blue Pools near the Franz Josef Glacier. Science tells us that the Franz Josef is a 7.5-mile-long temperate maritime glacier in Westland Tai Poutini National Park. It was named after the Austro-Hungarian emperor by a German explorer, Julius von Haast, in 1865. But according to the local Maori tribe, the Ngai Tahu, the glacier they call Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere was formed by the frozen tears of Hine Hukatere when her lover, Wawe, was swept away by an avalanche.
   Like most glaciers, Franz Josef has a cyclical pattern of advance and retreat, and is currently advancing 70 centimeters per day, about ten times the rate of typical advancing glaciers. The Blue Pools are formed by the meeting of the Makarora and Blue rivers, and some of our crew had to take a dip. Not me; I knew it would be pretty cold!

 
   Our journey continued to our destination for the evening, Scenic Hotel Franz Josef Glacier. From there it was only a short walk to Glacier Hot Pools, which were much warmer and more comfortable than the Blue Pools, according to those in the group who did both. I didn't doubt them; the Hot Pools were a wonderful way to relax and unwind after a day of travel. We were about halfway between Queenstown and our eventual destination of Christchurch.


Friday, March 24 -- Franz Josef to Christchurch

   The weather interfered with our planned activities today: heavy fog forced cancellation of our helicopter ride. So, we boarded our tour bus for the 235-mile drive to our next destination, Christchurch. Our route took us over Arthur's Pass, almost 3,000 feet above sea level, the highest pass in the Southern Alps. Along the way we had some picturesque stops.

The kea is a parrot native to South Island, known as "the clown of the mountains."

   After a pleasant day on the road, we arrived in Christchurch. The largest city on South Island, Christchurch is the third-largest in New Zealand with nearly 400,000 residents. In recent years the city and the surrounding area were severely damaged by a series of earthquakes. Over 4,500 quakes were registered in a four-year period beginning in early September 2010. The one on February 22, 2011, registered 6.3 magnitude and was one of the strongest ever recorded in an urban area, causing the deaths of 185 people. Most of those fatalities occurred when the seven-story CTV Building collapsed.
   We had only one night in Christchurch, but would have one final day of sight-seeing on Saturday before flying back to Auckland, the first leg of our trip home.




Saturday, March 25 -- Christchurch to Auckland

   We were up early to embark on our tour of the city. We were dismayed at the amount of earthquake damage still to be repaired, but New Zealanders are nothing if not industrious and were hard at work to clean up the city, an effort that has now lasted more than six years since the massive quake of February 2011. But there was still plenty of beauty in the city, and we indulged ourselves, including a ride in a "punt," a 12-passenger boat, on the Avon River, also known by its Maori name, Otakaro. The oarsmen dress in colorful outfits. We really enjoyed Christchurch, which lived up to its nickname, "The Garden City."

The Botanical Gardens.

The colorful outfits of the oarsmen awaited us at the Avon.

The memorial wall to the earthquake victims.

Despite the signs of the recent tragedy, Christchurch was beautiful.

   We had a 6pm flight to Auckland, and about two hours after leaving Christchurch we were at our final hotel. Our New Zealand adventure was coming to a close, and even though we were all anxious to get home, we were also sorry to say goodbye to this beautiful country.


Sunday, March 26 -- The long trip home

   The only bad thing about visiting New Zealand is the long distance from America. We retraced our inbound route, flying first from Auckland to Sydney and then to Los Angeles. All told, Laurie and I and several of our traveling companions spent about 20 hours in the air. Crossing the International Date Line again meant it was still Sunday when we arrived in Minneapolis. Shortly after touching down, I was in my car and crossing the St. Croix River into my home state of Wisconsin. And the next day, it was back to work. No rest for the weary!
    It takes a long time to get there and then get home, but every hour in the air and on the road, and in the airports in between, is worth it. New Zealand is a beautiful place, filled with friendly people and great food. The scenery is truly amazing. If you are looking for an exotic place that is well off the beaten path, the Land of Kiwis is for you!