New Zealand Adventure of D And E

Deirdre goes skydiving in Rotorua, North Island.
Deirdre explains: "Skydiving was amazing. It was $220 NZD. I was only scared when they opened the door for' a few minutes. We were at 12,000 feet above Rotorua. The view was amazing. You could see the whole island! They strapped me to the front of the instructor. He pulls the cord and tells me what to do while we are plummeting to earth. When you are falling, you can barely hear yourself even if you scream. The wind is rushing by so fast that it makes your skin feel like it is being pulled backwards. Your mouth gets very dry. And your eyes water, even with goggles on. When he pulls the cord, it feels like you stop in mid-air. You are actually being pulled up. But, because you are falling so fast, the speed that you go up at is not as fast as your falling, so it feels like you just STOP. I was falling at 200 meters per second. Which is fast. When you start to float to earth, the view is so beautiful I forgot to be scared. I was too impressed with the scenery. Landing I have to pull my feet up and the instructor lands on his knees. Freefall only lasts about 50 seconds. But it feels like an eternity. Floating to earth takes 8 to 10 minutes. But it feels much longer. The whole experience was the most thrilling of my life."

Meanwhile Erika went white water rafting on the tallest commercially rafted waterfall in the world at 7 meters or 21 feet. When we drove to the river (not a long one like the Tully in Queensland) I saw a cemetary and joked "Oh that's for the people who didn't make it." Well the raft guides were none too pleased with my remark because the driver said more people than he cared to say were buried there that he knew! GULP. Good going Erika, strike one for international relations. For river rafting you wear a wetsuit and a life vest for buoyancy. The rafts are made of inflatable rubber. We practiced how to jam our feet in and hold onto the sides so if the raft turns over we are not to let go but hold on. If the raft flips it creates a pocket of air inside you can breathe and be safe until the guide flips the raft back. After we set off it wasn't long til we got to the big waterfall and as we toppled over I of course fell out and sank like a stone. I think it was the nearest I ever came to feeling like drowning. The water was so cold I wanted to inhale sharply. Bad idea. I fell so far down I was panicked as to how long it would take me to get out of the watery tomb. But the guides had told us. Just relax, hold onto the vest and it will bring you back up, and it did. GASP! I got back in the raft totally adrenalized and scared to the point I was hyperventilating and shaking! Did I mention I hate heights.

D and I had had a hell of a time trying to find the misty town known as Rotorua south of Wellington. It was very hard to find the campground. We were lost on the strip of chain food stores along the main road but finally we saw the wisps of volcanic steam and found it. On day 3 we went to the geothermal hot springs, saw a geyser, mud pots, and other really otherworldly areas around this volcanic hotspot. It smelled of sulfur of course. It was a lot like Yellowstone National Park.

Day Four was drive like all day and night to get to the ferry to take us to the south island. We arrived and had no where to sleep at 3 am so I finally found a parking lot (this is illegal actually) but no one caught us. I woke up having to pee so bad but there were no bathrooms around. I had to go exploring. It was interesting but I finally found a public toilet near Town Hall.

Day Five we drove to Kaikoura hoping to see Sperm Whales who frequent the deep waters nearby. Unfortunately the weather was not friendly so we didn't get a chance. D and I were at each other's throats in the van. Arguing about stupid stuff, about magazine articles and such. I wanted to see the beauty of the southern alps and park and see the sea lions along the coast by the road. They can be a bit large and dangerous. We were cautioned not to get between them and the sea. We tried to just hang out all day and rest coz we were so tired from driving so far and found a little campsite to hang out in, watch some tv in the kitchen area of the hostel. Every trip needs down time very important!

Day Six and Seven we hustled out along the Southern alps to Mount Cook to walk around the rainforest nestled at the base. We stopped at a huge mountain lake to take in what is considered the freshest air in the southern hemisphere and take pics of the little church along the coast. We stayed in a campground. It was chilly there. We heard Matthew McConneghy and crew were filming there for an upcoming movie called Vertical limits so we went to the bar to hang out but he must have been at the other bar in town. I stole a paper outlining the next days shots from the lobby. As a souvenir I guess. When we were cooking pasta at the hostel kitchen some Kiwis came in and saw our pesto sauce and made all sorts of disparaging comments about how icky it looked. It's a lovely mountain and worth seeing. We didn't have enough for a helicopter ride up the mountain to a better vantage point. Worse luck.

Day Eight we hustled south to Queenstown. We had heard all sorts of things about this mountain town that caters to all sorts of adventure type activities for tourists. I drove D mad by making her stop at all the BIG things along the route. Like the big fruit - a montage of giant fiberglass fruit like a monument to agriculture or something. D just shook her head at me. We stayed at the campground for a day or two. D rented equipment and went skiing at the local ski mountain. She asked me to videotape her skiing. I nearly froze to death in my little denim jacket. BRRRR. I booked a ride on horseback out in this town along a mountain range some miles away but they agreed to come pick me up. I met the nicest young Brit who had a lot of hunter jumper experience and we got along famously. I got to ride a trotter. Hm, what is it with me and trotters. That was the same type I rode near Harvey Bay in Queensland Australia. Oh well. So we went out along the river floodplains and the view was magnificent late afternoon. We chatted, negotiated around some cows and it was oh so enjoyable. He brought me back and we said we'd keep in touch (but we didn't). Oh well, c'est la vie. The town is very cute. They have sushi bars. It is sort of like Aspen Colorado but not so ritzy rich. It has an old west flavor to the downtown with a ski resort type atmosphere. D turned in early and I went to the Film Festival of the Bizarre. Watched a B movie "Revenge of the Bee Women" very strange flick. Knew David Klieler back in Boston would be proud of me. I also went to the Queenstown nature park to see very rare birds and lament the plight of many of the animals who were either extinct or on the verge. One extinct bird species had been rediscovered in the rain forest of the fjords and that was cause for celebration.

Day Nine through Eleven D and I drove furiously to the fjords of Southern New Zealand. First we stopped overnite in Te Anau. A lovely town with a lake nestled by huge mountains. Gorgeous. We took a boat ride out to see the glow worm caves. These worms during their life cycle hang from threads on the ceiling and in the dark they glow fluorescent green. Not to be missed. Then we drove like mad through what is considered to be the most lovely drive anywhere down to Milford South. As you go up in to the mountain they have carved a tunnel out of solid rock. The tunnel is very narrow and lots of tour buses come through so you have to make sure you have times your entry in well since it is 1 km long and if you are in there and a bus comes barreling up the hill they have the right of way and it could get ugly. There is a little hostel campground by the sound. No electricity it's all generator down there. These parrots came and hung out. Lovely green birds that wanted food, but we were cautioned not to feed them. How exotic New Zealand wildlife were. Milford sound is directly to the ocean through long fingers of water surrounded by towering peaks of mountain ranges carved by glaciers many years prior. The Milford Sound town looks at this huge peak that rises up across the sound called Mitre Peak since it looks like a Bishops mitre. D and I walked to see the lovely tall waterfall nearby, boarded a ship and headed out to see the sound in all its glory. Then we drove back to Te Anau to go to the other sound on the other side. One that is famous for its hydroelectric power plant in the middle of no where that feeds the insatiable demands of a aluminum smelting plant some miles away and hosts the most expensive road in New Zealand, about 2 miles long built through the rainforest in the middle of nowhere to connect the power plant to the sound where the tailpipe comes out. Currently they are building a new tailpipe. So we again boarded a ship, it took us across to the power plant, they gave us a quick tour, then we took a rickety bus to the sound (it's quite a ways down from the mountain range to the sound) and got on another boat to go out to the ocean and see the sound in all its glory. We got to see dolphins come up and frolic in our wake and seal pups on the rocks. They turned the engines off so we could hear how quiet the area really is when 5000 HP engines are blasting away in there. It was quite a site. I am glad I got to see it. On our way back to Queenstown we very nearly ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere but luck or something was on our side and we finally made it back to civilization to get a tank full of petrol. Little hairy there for a minute.

Fox Glacier: On the south island on the west coast is the fox glacier which streams down from Mt Cook almost to the sea. It forms from snow that deposited over thousands of snowfalls compacting into ice and moving downhill at various rates. It is one of the few places where rainforest meets glacier. You can only go there with an experienced guide.

Deirdre relates:
"Have you ever walked on a glacier? It is an amazing experience. You have to put spikes on your shoes. Because it is too slippery to walk on. Some of the crevasses or deep open areas, are 3 times as tall as I am. The guide took us to one spot where the water was running straight down thru the ice and I thought it would make a great waterslide if you knew where it came out. You have a long walking stick with a point on the bottom for balance. It is very cold. Even if the day is warm. The color of the ice is a really intriguing blue. One area was formed like a wave over our heads. Erika and I were the only women hiking besides the guide. Erika was flirting with the guys. And I have to admit a few of them were very cute. All in all a very good day."

Waitomo caves: North island on the west coast is a tiny town with sheep fields but beneath them lie a vast cave system where humans lurk in wetsuits and gum boots and lited-helmets on a daily basis. We were one of them for a day.
Deirdre relates:
"We looked like a bunch of miners with our wet suits on and our helmets with lights on them. Trekking across the fields the opening to the cave just barely fit me. Inside the maze of tunnels was astounding. I thought this must be what its like to be a beaver burrowing underground. The water was freezing even in wetsuits. Erika shrieked like an insane lunatic. I was bringing up the rear with a young girl who was afraid of water. All of the tunnels are filled with water. Sometimes you have to swim. She wanted to face her fear. So, I decided I was going to help her. So I held her hand thru the water and started to teach her to dog paddle so she could stay afloat. I stepped in all of the water first to show her how deep it was. By the end of the trip I think she was much more comfortable in water. About halfway in we jumped in tubes and floated down the cavern. We looked at glowworms. We sang crazy songs like Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. It looked like a night sky inside a cave. It's like a whole nother world."
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Updated September 23, 2001