Seal Snarl at Kaikoura, New Zealand

Seeing New Zealand fur seals at Kaikoura, New Zealand

Wild creatures grouping together is really cool. Wild creatures grouping together and not caring that you’re there, and in fact threatening you if you come closer, is super cool.

It really puts things in perspective.

What must it have been like for seal hunters when tens of thousands of seals teemed the shores of New Zealand?

What must it have been like for whale hunters when whales were so plentiful that they were kept awake at night by the sounds of whales calling and playing in the bay at Wellington Harbor?

Surely these people didn’t think they were going to hunt seals or whales into extinction. If they had, surely they would have dealt with these animals differently.

Those were some of the thoughts I had sitting on a rock with a seal 20 feet away on my right starting at me, and another seal sleeping 15 feet away from me on the left.

If you get much closer than that, the seals will show their teeth and let you know that you’ve come close enough.

I know, because I tried.

I was brave enough to get to see the snarl, and the teeth, but not brave enough to see what would happen if I pushed the limit further. And why would I need to?

The seal let me know that I had come close enough, and I thought it was appropriate to respect that boundary.

I would like to tell you that seals are majestic and beautiful creatures, but they’re not.

They smell strongly of an odor I might have once smelled before, in my high school football locker room after the most difficult practice at the end of the season.

To get around, they flop from rock to rock.

They roll around lazily having fun in tide pools.

Watching them playing and vying for territory with one another was incredible.

In the wild in Africa, I’ve seen giraffes, zebras, warthogs, and man-eating brids.

I’ve gotten to work with baby turtles in Costa Rica and swam with a shark in Tahiti.

However, being able to get so close makes this experience with New Zealand fur seals my favorite wild animal experience (so far).

Popularity: 1% [?]

Continue reading "Seal Snarl at Kaikoura, New Zealand" »

Living in a New Zealand Campervan

So far, we’ve spent 11 of our 90 or so days here in New Zealand living in a campervan.

Before being in a couple of RV’s with friends (in the states), I always thought of motorhomes as (more than just a bit) ghetto or hillbilly.

But because of the experience I had with friends’ motorhomes, I got opened up to the idea of being in a motorhome/campervan.

And driving around in campervans is one way we’ve been seeing the country of New Zealand.

I am surprised how much I’m enjoying having an RV.

Carrie put it best by saying that the reason she’s liking having a campervan is that it’s great while being on the road, knowing where you’ll sleep every night, and not having to worry about taking all your stuff with you, because you already are where you’re sleeping every night, and you’re already taking all your stuff with you.

The campervans we’ve rented have been roomy (for two), comfortable, and equipped with everything we need, as well as pretty much everything we want.

And, I’m used to driving on the other side of the road now, having spent a fair amount of time in the driver’s seat.

So far, in 11 days, we’ve covered 3250 km. by road, in 2 campervans (Motorhomes).

We’re about to rent another one as well.

That’s 2,020 miles in 11 days, or about 200 miles/day.

It’s great during this time to have good company. Carrie and I keep ourselves and each other occupied while on the road.

We do this by:

• Playing games like 20 questions
• Talking about business ideas, web content, products/services, finances
• Planning our next steps of our travel
• Etc.

We also occupy our time with Carrie reminding me about bridges.

There are a surprising number of one lane bridges here in NZ. There aren’t a lot of people here, especially on the South Island.

Being that the country has a lot of rivers and lakes, many of the major roads go over these rivers, but there’s no real need for more than 1 lane bridges, even on many of the major roads.

For whatever reason, I’ve been neglecting to slow down to approach these bridges (even though they’re extremely well marked and are easy to see from the higher position of the driver’s seat in the campervan). So Carrie usually will say “One Lane Bridge”.

If that doesn’t register with me quickly enough, my foot now automatically moves to the brake when I hear her say “You might want to slow down…”

Actually, this has only happened a couple of times in 11 days. They’re all new roads to us.

The views are incredible – from the beaches to the snow capped mountains.


Mostly, we’re really enjoying being able to spend the night wherever we feel like stopping, so long as there’s (a picnic area or a) camper park, or in one case, a country road with a shoulder that was way off the road. (We woke up there to the sound of a guy on a four-wheeler and his dog herding cattle.)

A campervan, motorhome, or RV is really an incredible way to see New Zealand.

It’s something we’re surprised to recommend so highly.

So far, we’ve rented 4 berth campers through Maui (did a return for them for about $25/day(after insurance)) and a Backpacker Quattro. Backpacker costs a lot less (if you’re not doing a return). However, the Maui rental had a diesel heating system (which works wherever you are), whereas the Backpacker’s heater is electric and only works when you’re plugged in at a camper park.

We’ve loved it and are looking forward to our upcoming campvervan rental (another rental return) to head back up to Auckland.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Continue reading "Living in a New Zealand Campervan" »

Lake Wanaka and Lake Tekapo: New Zealand Lakes of Note

Lake Wanaka and Lake Tekapo are two of the many lakes that we saw on our travel around the South Island of New Zealand.

Both lakes are VERY much worth a visit.

Wanaka is a fun little ski town.  While not right by a ski area, it gives great access to three ski areas around it.  For those who have been to Frisco, Colorado, think that but think of what it would have been like in about 1990, with more services available.

The locals are concerned about it starting to develop into something much bigger and losing it’s local charm.  I could definitely see that as   Wanaka is a really cool spot for some amazing views of lakes and mountains, but I think most people will still be drawn to the bigger and more reputed neighbor to the south, Queenstown.

Wanaka definitely merits a visit, and a longer stay if you are going to ski in New Zealand.

Lake Tekapo, and the Tekapo area, is supposedly really an up-and-coming area in New Zealand for stargazers from around the world.  They have laws in Tekapo about how many street lights can be on at night.  They’re really working to keep the night sky clear for amazing viewing.  The result of muted light at night seems to also be muted voices at night, as the town, while lively, had an overall very peaceful and super calm atmosphere.

I was able to get some really great pictures of the moon shining down on Lake Tekapo by setting a long exposure and adjusting the ISO Sensitivity on our camera.

There’s not a lot going on in Tekapo outside of the lakeside activities, but there are hot springs, a spa, an ice skating rink, and a tubing hill.  Tekapo would make a great 2-3 day getaway from the 3 hour away and bigger city of Christchurch, or would make a good place to go and just get lost (for a month or longer stay).

Of the two, I liked Tekapo best, but both Tekapo and Wanaka merit a visit on any trip (longer than 10 days) through New Zealand.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Continue reading "Lake Wanaka and Lake Tekapo: New Zealand Lakes of Note" »

The riskiest thing we’ve done

New Zealand is known for adventure and risk taking.  In fact, bungy jumping was invented here.   But that’s not what we did.

Sky Diving is also huge down here.  But, that’s not what we did either.

We just talked about glaciers, but no, we didn’t wander off the path and have ice falling down around us.

Nope.

People think that we’ve done dangerous and risky things.  But, the riskiest thing we’ve done in 12 countries and 10 months of traveling is this:

driving up a mountain pass in big campervan (RV) without enough gas.

The distance between gas stations was 88 km (about 52 miles).  The gas station we passed was closed, and we thought we’d have plenty of gas to get to the next station.  The tank read ¼ full.

Not the best idea when at one point we were 44 km (26 miles) from anything, in any direction.  But we did it anyway.

But, as we were going up the first of the big uphill stretches, the gas light came on.

The RV went from being ¼ full to running on fumes in basically a few miles.  Jonathan asked if I knew what time we passed through Haast (the last town, you know, the one with the gas station).  I didn’t know.

He said he needed to know if we were half way yet, and should turn back, or if we should keep going.

Not good batman.  Not good.

Oh yes, we were worried.  Our hearts were pounding, and we were barley talking.  We did everything we could possibly think of to conserve gas.

Even if that meant Jonathan was singing “Gotta have faith”.

It is a good thing actually, that we had to go up the pass first and could coast down on the way out.

But this RV doesn’t really coast…you always have to push on the gas.

Just when we think our luck is running out, we see a sign up ahead that means a town is nearing.  It’s only 18km away now.

Thankfully we managed to make it to the next gas station in Makarora.   But, unfortunately, it was closed too (at 7:30pm).  This means that we had to park in the parking lot for the night and wait for it to open at 8:30 tomorrow morning.

But, it’s pretty awesome that we can honestly say that this was our riskiest travel experience.

**Caveat – this post was originally titled “The Most DANGEROUS Thing We’ve Done”.  But, in retrospect, the most dangerous thing we’ve done was (by far and away), the transport between Antigua and Panajachel, Guatemala.  After that ride, I consider myself lucky to be alive.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Continue reading "The riskiest thing we’ve done" »

Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier

Franz Josef glacier is further north than Fox glacier.  At the moment, it is also about a 45 minute walk from the car park (that’s parking lot to American English speakers) to the viewing area.  This viewing area is about 60 meters away from the face of the glacier.

We arrived at about 11:30am, and took our time getting to the viewing area.  We took some fun video along the way, and just enjoyed the stroll.  (Jonathan was looking for jade pebbles.)

When we got to the viewing of the glacier, it was awesome.  We could see its big blue cave mouth right in front of us.  Some day I’m going to take an ice cave tour of a glacier.

Jonathan was taking some video down by the river, and I decided to sit down and take a rock out of my shoe that had been bothering me for a while.

I accidentally dropped my shoe into a pool of glacier water.  COLD!  Then, when I bent down to pick it up, I dropped my camera in too.  NOOOOO

I fished it out as quickly as I could, and right now, it’s drying out.  I took the batteries and the memory stick out, and I’m letting it dry.

But at the moment, I don’t have a camera.  And we’re coming up on the most beautiful parts of New Zealand (we’ve heard).

So, needless to say, I was a little disappointed on the walk back to the car, and of course, it started drizzling.  Nothing like a little rain when you’re sad.

From there we drove the 16 km south to Fox Glacier.  This glacier is only about 30 minutes away from the car park.  But this rock is a bit less easy.  There are more rocks, and it’s much more of an incline than the one for Franz Josepf.

Also, when you get to the viewing area for Fox Glacier, the glacier is still 100 meters away.  So it is a way off.  Fox glacier is a bit more rugged and jagged looking.  It looks like a piece of it is going to break off at any minute.

But, I think I enjoyed Franz Josef glacier a bit more.

Jonathan and I weren’t even going to take the walk up to Fox Glacier, but decided that we might as well since we didn’t know when we’d be back.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Continue reading "Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier" »

Pancake Rocks and Blowholes

Yep, you read right.  Punakaiki, New Zealand is known for its pancake rocks and blowholes.

While we were in Springfield, not eating donuts, we saw a picture of the Pancake Rocks.  Jonathan mentioned that he wanted to go, and since they were only about 40 km further north than we were already going on our campervan-southern-south-island-road-trip, we decided to check them out.

When we got to the national park (about 10am), we were a bit sad to see that high tide wasn’t until 7:00pm that night.  The blowholes are at their best at high tide.  This meant that we were going to miss them.

But, the rocks were still there.  And, the best part is that entrance to the park is f.r.e.e.  Another great thing, is that we were almost the only ones there!

We had nearly the whole park to roam around by ourselves.  Actually, that’s a bit misleading; there is a path, and only a path, on which you can walk.

What are pancake rocks you might ask?  Well, they are rocks that are stacked to look like pancakes.  Yeah yeah, the obvious answer.  Here’s a bit more:

The Pancake Rocks are a heavily eroded limestone area where the sea bursts though a number of vertical blowholes during high tides. The ‘pancake’-layering of the limestone was created by immense pressure on alternating hard and soft layers of marine creatures and plant sediments, although scientists are still not exactly sure how.

We spent about an hour or so looking at all the amazing scenery and the really fun pancake rocks.  On the way out of the park, we noticed that there was a seal colony up the road.

We went over to the visitors’ center and asked if the seals resided there year round.  When we found out we did, we knew we were going.  Even though they were another 60 km further up north.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Continue reading "Pancake Rocks and Blowholes" »

New Zealand Fur Seals at Cape Foulwind

We thought it might be called Cape Foulwind because perhaps the rotting fish in the bellies of the seals would give off some kind of stench.

What we learned is that it’s called Cape Foulwind because Captain Cook and his crew, sailing around New Zealand in the late 1700’s, were blown onto the rocks here and had to drop lots of weight overboard (including cannons), to get out of the rocks.

When you first approach the overlook to see the seal colony here, it’s hard to see the seals.

For one, the ocean is incredible at Cape Foulwind.

Waves crash against giant offshore rocks, birds soar in all directions, and the sounds of the waves are pleasant, but definitely let you know that you are a tiny creature in the big scheme of things.

For another, seals sitting still look like rocks.

When they’re basking in the sun (yes, it was SUNNY!), they are hard to spot because they blend right in with where they’re laying.

But the longer we stood there, the more seals we saw, and the more we noticed their movements.

There were baby seals and mama seals nursing, pups playing in tide pools, and giant male seals flopped on their backs and sunning their bellies.

As one point, a seagull decided to bother one of the seals and got told off by the seal.

It was impressive.

Males can get up to 200 Kilos (400 lbs. +), and apparently can feel quite threatened by humans, especially when a human is standing between one of them and the water.

So it really nice that at Cape Foulwind, they have built some great overlooks to view both the incredible power of the ocean, and the lives of New Zealand fur seals as they mate, breed, play, grow, and live.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Continue reading "New Zealand Fur Seals at Cape Foulwind" »

No Donuts in Springfield

Remember a few years back, when “Springfield”s (the towns, not the people) across the country were competing for who would get to host the premier of “The Simpsons Movie”?  Well, with there being a Springfield, or two, in nearly every state, it was a bit of a debate.

In New Zealand, however, there’s only one Springfield.  So, naturally, it got to host the premier of “The Simpsons Movie”.  To celebrate, they erected a giant fiberglass donut (frosted pink) and with a bite out of it.

Well, apparently after the movie left town, some of the townspeople thought the donut should leave too.  When it didn’t leave town soon enough, though, problems ensued.

Some people lit the donut on fire!  Crazy.  The lit a sculpture on fire.  The funny thing about this is that Springfield only has about 1,000 residents or so.  So, it’s not like it’s known for much else.

In the end, the council put up a replacement donut.  Disappointingly, this one though is made of an old tire.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Continue reading "No Donuts in Springfield" »

A Winter’s Day at Cornwallis Beach

While we were in Auckland, Matt’s parents let us stay at their house. And, they even let us use their car while they were gone. Thank you Keith and Carol!

So, on our last day there, we decided that we really should go check out the beach. After all, we’re only about 30 minutes (in two directions) from a beach.

We drove to Cornwallis beach first. Cornwallis area has an interesting story. Way back when (in the 1800s), someone in England went around selling land rights at Cornwallis.

For £100, you could get your own plot of farmland, passage from England to New Zealand, and guaranteed wages for a year.

Sounds too good to be true right? Well, it was. When the 36 families arrived at Cornwallis, there was nothing there. The land rights hadn’t been secured, and there was nothing ready for inhabitants.

The settlers tried to make it work. They tried for 3 years. But, unfortunately, it just wasn’t livable for them at the time. So, they abandoned it.

The result, however, is a beautiful nearly empty beach, with a really long fishing pier / wharf.

The wharf was in need of repair about 10 years ago. So, the surrounding community donated to have it reconstructed.

If you donated enough money, you got to put a plaque on a plank on the pier. This one was my favorite.

But these were nice too.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Continue reading "A Winter’s Day at Cornwallis Beach" »

Hell’s Gate in Rotorua, New Zealand

Hell’s Gate is Rotorua’s most active geothermal reserve. It is a Taonga (treasure) of Ngati Rangiteaorere (the local Maori people).

Hell’s Gate is set in 50 acres with a large variety of geothermal features.

You can walk past steaming fumaroles and pools of boiling mud. There are remarkable formations, colors, “land coral”, and even the largest hot waterfalls in the southern hemisphere.

You’ll also see the pool where the Maori Princess Hurutini lost her life to save her people.

Hell’s Gate was so named by playwright George Bernard Shaw on his visit there.

He also named many of the pools inside the park.

I enjoyed our few hours walking around Hell’s Gate Thermal Park.

But, if we’d have had to pay the $30 each entrance fee (instead of having it included in our Maori experience), I don’t think it would have been worth it.

Hell’s Gate is a very interesting area and a fun walk, but not one worth $30 per person in my opinion.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Continue reading "Hell’s Gate in Rotorua, New Zealand" »