New photo index pages...

I've created non-picasa photo pages:

http://geekywedding.com/nz/images/
http://geekywedding.com/nz2/images/
http://geekywedding.com/nz3/images/

They should load much more quickly for faster browsing of the first three batches... There's still a fourth batch to come (mostly animals close up with a wide angle lens).

Posh Auckland

We've given up our campervan lifestyle two days before we are to return home. It was sad to say goodbye to our friend the van, but we're drowning our sorrows in a fancy hotel room in Auckland. Really, we're muddling through somehow. Our hotel room has a washer and dryer in it, and we can each walk past each other without one of us having to scooch over on the bench seating. It's really lovely. We haven't yet decided if we are actually going to see anything in Auckland, or just spend the next 36 hours watching television and ordering roomservice. Tonight, at 10:30 p.m. "Ask This Old House" is on television!! Can you believe it?

Hope everyone had a fantastic father's day!
Jenn and Nathan

We're back in Wellington

Hence the large collection of photos Nathan has just posted. That's everything we've taken in the last week or so, with the exception of the kayaking photos, which are still on the disposable cameras. You'll probably want to pick and choose amongst them. I can't imagine anyone will want to look at all 600 of them. I'm not even sure we have, which is why we didn't weed them. :)

We've had a lucky two days of travel since we left Queenstown. New Zealand is much bigger than I knew, I mean, it's a *really* big place. To go from "sorta near the south end of the South Island" to "kinda in the middle of the South Island, maybe a smidge north" is a 7 hour drive. And the weather, well, we've had good luck comparatively, but it has been a bit dodgy, and we have plane tickets for Wednesday, so we were giving ourselves plenty of extra time to get out of Dodge. Our routine has become "Drive some, stop and check the info center for weather and road closures, check the map, drive some more." And in this fashion we've covered the trek from Queenstown to Wellington in a day and a half. That's some good progress.



ESPECIALLY IN A CAMPERVAN. I love our campervan, truly, it's a good friend, and a handy little Swiss Army Knife of a place to drive around in. Today, however, we were, I kid you not, passed by a Vespa scooter. Didn't know that was possible. Once it gets going, on flat open road, the old campervan can usually get up to about 100 kph, or 60 some odd miles per hour. On a hill, we're doing good to muster 40 kph, and New Zealand, in addition to being really big, is also really hilly. And understand, I'm using the phrase "hilly" to describe anything from a mountain climb to a rather gently sloped driveway. These all make our little campervan start to wheeze.



Anyhow, I digress. Yesterday we covered the lion's share of the distance, getting from Queenstown to Christchurch. Almost everything we passed, with the general and fortunate execption of the highway itself, was buried in snow. The same storm that marooned us last week had dumped record amounts of snow on the middle of the South Island. Some places haven't had electricity in a week or so. It was lovely, though, and as you can see, we took many, many pictures from the windows of the car.



We went through Twizel, which is Edoras to LOTR fans. Some people will tell you the hill of Meduseld can't be seen from the highway, that you need to take a helicopter tour to see it. I scoff at these people. I picked out a hill that seemed right to me, photographed it extensively, and continue to believe that it's the right place. I'm going to publish a series called "Edoras in Snow." When we stopped at the info center in Twizel to check the weather and the roads, their office had pictures of one of their staff dressed up as a Rohirrim. That was cool.



By Christchurch the snow had pretty much melted, so our trip today was less dramatic. Our plan had been to take a whale watching tour in a place called Kaikoura. However, it was raining and windy enough to prevent the tours today. However, at the info center in Kaikoura, where we stopped to check the weather again, I found a flyer for a store that made "Gift Quality Chocolate" on our route. So we stopped there instead.

We'd planned on spendind the night in Picton, where the ferry leaves the South Island for Wellington, or perhaps taking the evening ferry tonight. However when we went to the ferry terminal, they got us right on the 2 pm ferry. We were two of about 12 people on the ferry (as opposed to the hundreds on our trip to the South Island) and so we felt rather special.



We went back to "our Wellington campervan park" and had a chat with the landlady about our trip thus far, and what we'd been up to since we left about a week ago. She had a similar story about travelling in a campervan right after she was married (40 years ago) and getting stuck between two landslides. Her tale ended with milking a cow after spending the night in a new hotel though. :)

Our current plan is to dash back up the west side of the North Island, and maybe spend a day or two in Auckland before Wednesday. Right now we're spending our Friday evening in Wellington in a food court, where the internet is handy and the people watching is awesome. We might see X-Men 3 after we're done here.

Hope you're all well--
Jenn and Nathan

Super mega hyper ultra photo batch 3

You can find them here:

http://geekywedding.com/nz3/

WARNING: It'll take *FOREVER* to load.

Enjoy!

We're turning North

Hello from Queenstown! This city is beautiful, set between a whole circle of mountains with names like "The Remarkables" and "Cecil." You really have to love a mountain to name it Cecil. We've been here for two days, and we're actually just getting our first look at Queenstown in the daylight. It would be great if we had another week or so to spend here, but as of today, we are headed back to Auckland. Slowly and steadily.



Since our last post, we've been up to some EXCITING stuff. Our last morning in Franz Josef (which was actually our first morning, since we only spent one night there...) we took a helicopter ride to the top of the glacier. The weather was most cooperative, clear and not windy. We had two other couples in the helicopter with us, and of course, the pilot, and we spent 30 minutes cruising over Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier.



At Fox, we landed and got out and stood on top of the glacier, which was just absolutely AMAZING! (Of course we took many, many pictures, which we'll post when we can, which may be in Wellington.) Everything we do here in New Zealand, I think, "I think this may be my favorite thing we've done so far" and the glacier flight was a definite contender. I don't think I'll be able to pick in the end, but wow! Helicopters are way COOL!



After our flight, we drove to Queenstown, through some absolutely incredible scenery. The weather was mostly good to us, just some left over snow from the big storm a few days before, and that was all on the side of the road. We finally got to see those snow capped peaks we knew had been hiding in the clouds our whole trip. We arrived in Queenstown after sunset, and missed our first chance to see it in the daylight.




Yesterday, we took a bus trip to Milford Sound. The bus picked us up before dawn, here at our holiday park, and drove us five hours into Fjiordland National Park. Again, the scenery was just stunning, and all the more so, since we both got to watch and take pictures, rather than one of us having to drive. The bus driver was also a photographer, so he made frequent stops for us to jump out and take pictures. We also had our first experience with KIAS! Crazy parrots who like to remove the rubber from whatever they find, seals around windows, windshield wipers and the like. Another reason we were glad we weren't in our campervan. We cruised through a one way tunnel that descended ten meters for every meter it went forward, and popped out in clouds so thick we couldn't see the mountains for awhile. Then, we got on a boat and toured the Sound. It was still raining, but we were undercover and there were dozens and dozens of waterfalls. One picture we took has FOUR waterfalls in ONE shot!! Have you ever heard of such a thing?



On the way back, our bus trip was a little shorter, since we didn't stop for photos. Once it got dark, however, the driver put on "Whalerider" on the TV screen up front, and we spent the last part of our trip watching that.

Now, we're going to check our email, head out, and see Queenstown in the daylight. Hope everyone is well, Jenn and Nathan

South Island Adventures

Friends, we've been having adventures since we last posted. The South Island has all sorts of surprises for us.

When we last wrote, it was from our campervan, and we were parked in front of a hotel with wireless connection. Just after we posted, as we were working on getting all those pictures up, the wireless started to get flakey. Nathan went to talk to the lady who owned the hotel. I mention this because it's typical of the experiences we've had with people in New Zealand, everyone has been exceedingly kind. This lady, who's name we don't know, let Nathan sit in her lobby with his laptop for at least a half hour. Then we were both there, using our computer. She introduced us to her cat, Mazda, gave us recommendations on our route, and suggested a local bakery for meat pies. All of this, and we weren't staying at her hotel.

We stayed in Nelson one night, at what claims to be the largest campervan park in the Southern Hemisphere. They had a sorry looking petanque court.

I had my heart set on kayaking in a local national park, so we started looking through the dozens of brochures we had collected. We decided to take Friday to make some reservations, do some laundry, and just take a break from our hectic vacation schedule. Which is what we did. We drove to Kaiteriteri, which is at the southern end of Abel Tasmen park. Our campsite overlooked a beautiful ocean cove. Though we were next to a major highway, we probably only saw a dozen cars the whole day. We had a beautiful beach to ourselves. Awesome. I finished reading "The Golden Compass."



Then Saturday, we went kayaking. It was just amazing, and a lot of work. We are rethinking our careers as Olympic Kayakers. We went with a guide, through about 13 km of secluded beaches, islands with seals, and beautiful, sunny waters. The weather was warm and gentle. For those of you worried about our exposure to Maori culture, Harold, our sea kayak guide got us totally up to speed. He began our journey with a blast on his conch shell, and a Maori chant. He told us folk tales as we paddled, and had us singing Maori songs. He was awesome. We ate lunch on a beach, he made tea and hot chocolate. Some of our group left to either hike out or to take the water taxi back, but Nathan and I and Harold and one other guy, we paddled on. We had blisters on our hands and jello arms but we sure felt triumphant when we finished.

As the water taxi drove us back, the water started to get choppy. Harold said a storm was coming in, and we were glad we didn't have to paddle through the larger waves. After kayaking, we drove on a few hours to the town of Murchison.

We woke up Sunday with the plan of driving from Murchison to Franz Josef Glacier Village. But it wasn't meant to be. Our beautiful weather disappeared and it started to rain. Then it REALLY started raining. We got into a bit of a scrape, our campervan died in a large pool of water on a corner of the road. We soon found we were stuck on a stretch of road between two "slips" or what we would call "landslides." Again, New Zealanders were totally good to us. The first guy that stopped said he'd call us a tow truck. The second guy offered to take us to his house (we said thank you, but we didn't want to abandon our van.) The third guy had a rope, and he towed us out of the puddle. Everyone that stopped asked "Are you all right, mate?" as though there just might be a logical reason we were stopped in a large pool of water with our hazard lights on. Giving us the benefit of the doubt.



Once our engine was out of the water, it started up again, so we were good, only still stuck with some new friends between the "slips." It was still raining and windy. An official came by and told us we might have to spend the night there, which would have been okay, since we have our van, though still less than ideal. Turned out it only took about an hour. A work machine turned up and cleared one "slip" and we were back on our way.

Many of the roads were flooded, and it was still raining, so we gave up and stopped in a town calld Hokitaki. The whole evening was rather weird. We kept trying to get a weather report, and didn't realize that the whole country was having terrible rain storms. All of Auckland lost power, we found out later. We watched the campground television, and all we could get was "The George Lopez Show," so we were in New Zealand watching really bad US TV shows. We went back to our van to try to get a radio station and all we could get was one experimental station. They were testing the frequency by playng every single Beatles song, back to back. We gave up and went to sleep.

This morning, it was *still* raining, but we finished our journey to Franz Josef Glacier. We stopped for fuel, and I asked the attendent if she'd heard a weather report. She said "Don't need one. It's windy and cold." Here in Franz Josef, though, we learned what sort of storm we'd seen. The weather was clearing though. As I write this, the sky is clear, except for gorgeous sunset clouds. Nathan and I made good use of the sunshine and took a solid hike to see the glacier. That's right, there's a glacier here. It's lovely. There is apparently BINGO at our campervan site tonight, but we may just skip it. :) We're going to check in with the weather, and if it holds, we're headed to Queenstown tomorrow.



Probably you all are enjoying HOT weather. Take care!
=Jenn and Nathan

New Zealand Photos Batch 2

Newest batch of photos here:

http://geekywedding.com/nz2/

From the South Island

The places the search for good internet connections will take you....currently Nathan has parked the van in front of a hotel that offers the CafeNet connection we paid for yesterday. We're not staying here or anything, we're just using the wireless before it expires. We've got the computer set up in the back of our campervan...when you come to think of it, we're a little like the A-team. Except that we're not fighting crime on the side, we're just touring. We're drinking "The Oringinal World-Famous-In-New-Zealand" soda L&P, which stands for Lemon and Paeroa. It doesn't taste very good, but it's a New Zealand speciality, so we're trying to finish the bottle we bought.

We got up before dawn this morning to catch the Interisland Ferry that, well, travels between the two islands. The whole process was very exciting, driving the campervan on to the ferry, watching the city of Wellington float by as we pulled out, having a mediocre breakfast from the restaurant, then wandering around the ferry until we reached the city of Picton on the South Island. The hillsides near the shore are covered with Scotch Broom, which reminds me of the Zayante Fire District and their yearly Scotch Broom Elimination Day.

We're spending tonight in Nelson, before taking the "bonzai" route to the south end of the South Island. From there we'll work our way back north. And, because I haven't yet made any mention of LOTR, I'll tell you that Nelson's claim to Lord of the Rings fame is that the jeweller who actually forged the ring that caused all the trouble (and the something like 16 others that stood in for it at various times in the film) is from Nelson.

This is our last CafeNet connection for awhile, so we'll post more pictures. After this, we'll be "at the whim of the universe" as far as Internet connections go.

Wellington Rover Rings Tour!

Well, today we did something totally different...we went on a Lord of the Rings Tour!! Not to worry though, our tour guide does general Wellington tours, so we got a bit of general Wellington history. AND, yesterday after we posted, we went to TWO regular Wellington museums as well, so we're getting a few non-LOTR activities in.



Some things I love about Wellington specifically, and New Zealand generally, they think all sorts of cultural places should be free to explore. National parks, free admission. Wellington museums, free admission. Wellington was the first city in the world to give free internet access to all it's citizens (I'm going to have to check that fact with Nathan when he gets back, maybe I'm making that up. Okay, I've checked, yes, it's true.) The public transportation is fantastic, all very civilized. Do you know how many murders there were between 2002 and 2005 in Wellington? None. That's right, and that includes surbuban Wellington, not just the city proper. The police aren't even ARMED. They don't even carry sticks. There are six guys in Wellington authorized to carry weapons, and they cover any incidents with weapons in the city, like the time Viggo Mortensen was leaving his practice session, and carried his sword out into the streets, still working through some Aragorn maneuvers, they called some of the only six guys in Wellington who can carry weapons. Don't worry though, they got that all straigtened out. New Zealand gave women the vote in the 1800s. These are all things I learned today on our tour of Wellington. Notice how some of them weren't about Lord of the Rings? (We're sitting in a food court as I write this, eating McDonalds fries. Terrible American travellers, but the internet is good. McDonalds has "New Zealand's favorite fries" according to the package, and that figure is "based on sales"....see more New Zealand trivia for you.)

On our tour today, we did see a number of Lord of the Rings sites. Mt. Victoria, in the middle of one of two of Wellington's green belts, had the "Get off the road!" site, as well as one of the places where the hobbits ran from the black riders. Then we saw Seatoun, which is a lovely suburb of Wellington, with a West Cliff - esque coast line. We had tea at the Chocolate Fish Cafe, which has a road running between its cappucino machine and it's best seats. We saw PJ's house, we drove by Weta Studios. We had lunch in Rivendell (my bacon and avocado sandwich had some roasted New Zealand sweet potato in it, and it was super tasty.) We wrapped up the day by visiting the Gardens of Isengard, and skipping stones in the Anduin. All in all, not a bad day. :)



Nathan's reminded me of some other facts we learned on our tour today. Nathan specifically asked about the location of Old Zealand. It's in Holland. Good to know, one day you might be on Jeopardy.

Tomorrow we're going to catch a ferry to the South Island. We can, we hear, drive our campervan right onto the ferry, and right off again on the other side. The trip should take about three and a half hours, and we've been told the chances of seeing dolphins in the channel are quite good.

We're hopeful that we'll continue to have good internet connection, and we may stop in Wellington again on the way back north. The Embassy Theater shows one of the three LOTR movies every sunday, and it would sure be nice to see one here. So we'll plan on writing more from the South Island.

--Jenn and Nathan