New Zealand 1, with June

Milford Sound

We have not wasted any time. Craig and I survived our crazy travels from Vietnam to NZ (long layovers at the wrong time of day to allow any sleep). We slept a few hours near the Christchurch airport, picked up a car, dropped off my bike at a bike shop, got groceries for several meals, found a NZ Afghan for June, and goopie looking things for ourselves, unsuccessfully searched for replacement toothbrush heads, and met Craig’s sister June when she arrived 13 hrs after we had landed. Afghans seem to be a type of NZ chocolate cookie.

Link to NEw Zealand 1



NZ shares the honors with Australia for ease of entry into the country. A very short line, no need to talk to people as everything is automated, until you get to customs. They unfortunately confiscated Craig’s Tet cake because meat is not allowed in, even if cooked for 12 hours. We were also stopped by a money sniffing dog, and her nice handler. We had brand new bills from the ATM, and this smell was enough to attract the attention of the dog, searching for amounts way larger than ours.

We introduced June to a hostel kitchen in Twizel, learned to pronounce the name of this town, and the one we were going to next.
We hiked in Mt. Cook National Park the first day, near there the 2nd day, and managed to get a walk in, and to stay dry, also the day we drove to TeAnau in the rain.
TeAnau is the gateway to Fiordland National Park, and we spent 4 nights here, hiking all but one day. We have been incredibly lucky weather-wise, and the scenery is gorgeous. We saw dolphins at play in Milford Sound from the cruise boat, and were told that sightings occur only every couple of weeks.
June has helped us get a great start on our training for the Himalaya. She is as competitive, and goal driven as Craig, so they have all the stats. Mostly we have done flat walks in valleys, and along lakes, but also a couple of nice steady climbs, and were rewarded with views especially from Mt. Key near Milford Sound. Long days, around 15 km, building muscle endurance, which I need to walk correctly. I managed 20km one day, and June & Craig did 25 km.

I am looking forward to biking when Kim and Chris arrive in Christchurch on the 26th. Will be happy not to have to see, or smell, my hiking boots every day for awhile.
June noticed no dogs are allowed on so many of the  trails we have hiked. NZ is trying to eradicate all non native mammals, which prey on the almost extinct kiwi, and takahe birds. There are traps, and poison, and dogs apparently also can kill kiwi.
There are lots of sheep, and many more deer than cows in the pastures we drive by. They sold venison at the butcher’s, and Craig and June tried to convince me that a farmed deer’s life is much better than that of a wild deer.

Craig wrote about what we will miss in SE Asia, but I will also miss their firm beds. 2/3 beds we have tried so far in NZ are soft, and I finally slept well on a totally worn out mattress on the floor in TeAnau.
Everything here in NZ is clean, the air is crisp, we have seen mostly very active, outdoorsy type people, and the blue color of the sky is gorgeous.

We are now at the apartment in Christchurch, with most of our chores taken care of. On the way here today, we picked up a youngish couple from Finland! They had hiked the length of the North Island, and were now continuing their way south here on the South Island. So far 2300 km (~1400 miles) on foot since late November. A river was flooded, so they had a 140 km detour, and hitch hiked some of the roads. I felt bad we couldn’t offer them more than a few miles in the car, as we were close to where we had planned to hike for a couple of hours. They are clearly very experienced backpackers (in the true sense of the word), and after talking to them, Craig really hoped we could climb Kilimanjaro before we travel to South Africa. But May is not the right time of year to do this, unfortunately.