Punakaiki Pancake Rocks

One of the other places we stopped on our drive along the West coast of New Zealand was the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks area. This place is really cool; it's full of limestone rock formations that look like stacked pancakes!

In different areas of the lookout platforms, you could see water surging in when the waves came and this sometimes creates blowholes. We weren't there at high tide, so I wasn't able to capture anything too spectacular, but it was still neat to see some small blowholes.

There's really not much else to say about rocks, so I'll let you enjoy the pictures. 

Are you hungry for pancakes now? We were, so we had them for breakfast the next morning!

The background was just as awesome as the rocks themselves.

At the bottom of this set of rocks were swishy plants that look like those things in a car wash.

There was a small blowhole down in this crevice.

We never really saw anybody surfing in this country, though the waves looked great to me!

So, the Pancake Rocks were definitely worth stopping for on our West Coast drive. We spent the night of December 27th near Franz Josef glacier; more on that tomorrow!

West Coast Wonders

Driving along the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island is spectacular! We stayed near a seal colony on the night of December 26, and we checked it out on the morning of the 27th. Then we made our way from Westport down to the Franz Josef glacier, stopping at several points along the way to check out the scenery.

In Greymouth, we stopped at the famous Monteith Brewery and did a beer and cider tasting tray much like we did in Nelson. You see the Monteith brand everywhere in New Zealand, so it was cool to visit the actual brewery.

We did a short hike at the Truman Track, which went through the woods and led to a cool beach with this overhang ledge thing. The landscapes along the West coast are so varied...beach, forest, rivers, farmland, rocks, etc.

In a small town called Hoktika, we stopped and each bought ourselves a jade necklace. New Zealand jade is kind of a big deal, especially in that little town. Can you spot Zack's necklace in a picture above?

As we continued our drive, we were treated to a spectacular sunset. It happened to coincide with the exact moment we passed by this unbelievably blue water. I have not altered the color in the picture below, and the photograph doesn't even do it justice. It looked fake.

The West coast was truly full of wonders, and tomorrow I'll have a post about one awesome place in particular that I haven't mentioned yet. Lots more to come!

Sporting our new jade necklaces and loving the blue water!

Whitewater Rafting with Extras

We left Abel Tasman on the day after Christmas and started heading toward the West Coast. On the way, we stopped at Buller Gorge for a whitewater rafting trip. We met our guide at this historic iron bridge and learned that we were the only ones going on the trip!

We also learned that the water level was pretty high because of all the rain they'd been getting, and the boat would be pretty light and tipsy with just the three of us in it. I think our guide was a little worried, but we assured him we had done plenty of whitewater rafting in Colorado. The rapids proved to be just the right level of thrill and excitement. We had to paddle pretty hard at times, but none of us fell out or had any scary moments.

Because it was just us on the trip, our guide let us do some fun "extras." Here's a picture of Zack swimming through a small rapid (on purpose). Our guide wanted him to see what it was like; he swallowed a lot of water!

There were several little waterfalls along the way, and we got to stop for some pictures near them.















We also stopped for some cliff jumping. I didn't jump from the highest ledge (I was saving my bravery for activities later in the trip), but Zack did. Here he is mid-jump.

When we got back to the bridge, we had hot chocolate and cookies and cake. The only bad part was that I got eaten alive by sandflies on my hands and feet/ankles, which I didn't realize until a day later would create about 35 bites that would itch like CRAZY for a few days. Ugh-what is with me getting itchy bites in every country we visit? We soon bought some sandfly repellent and learned to wear more clothes when these nasty flies were around!

So other than the post-trip sandfly bites, it was a fun few hours of floating through the gorge, playing around, and paddling through some decent rapids. I'd say that makes for a good afternoon in New Zealand!

A Christmas Tramping Trip

Split Apple Rock in Abel Tasman

Christmas Day in New Zealand was spent hiking part of the Abel Tasman track. Hiking is called "tramping" here, whereas in Australia it's called "bushwalking." Anyway, we took a water taxi from Kaiteriteri Beach to Bark Bay. Then we walked back on the trail to get picked up at Anchorage, for a total of just over ten kilometers of tramping.

We had amazing sunny weather, and the views and beaches on this track were incredible. Check out this private little lagoon on the right! We enjoyed the swing bridge and playing on one of the beaches at lunch (both seen below).

We took a short side trip to Cleopatra's Pool, a freshwater area with small waterfalls and a natural slide. It was so fun and a great way to cool off!













When we got to Anchorage, we had some time to relax while waiting for our water taxi that would take us back to Kaiteriteri. So we enjoyed the gorgeous golden sand and clear cool water and took naps on the beach. Like last year, it was another amazing Christmas Day spent in the sunshine.









We spent the night at Kaiteriteri Beach and didn't feel like cooking after our busy day, so we drove into town and found an Asian place that was open. We got some fish and chips (they didn't have Asian food-go figure!) and a fried chocolate bar for dessert (delicious!). Oh yeah, and we were even able to connect to the Internet and talk to our families on Skype for a bit. It was Christmas Eve for them (and a lot colder), but it was awesome to "see" them and wish them "Merry Christmas!" A great day all around.

A Belated Merry Christmas from the Keys!

Christmas Eve in Nelson and Golden Bay

After our mountain bike ride on the Queen Charlotte Track, we hit the road again and drove to Nelson, a funky little place about two hours from Havelock. We had lunch and did a beer (for Zack) and cider (for me) tasting at a restaurant called Sprig and Fern (thanks for the recommendation, Kate!). Then we spent a couple of hours browsing in the stores and walking around town. It had a very hippie sort of vibe; it reminded me of Boulder, Colorado.





Next, we headed to our campsite for the night in the Golden Bay area of the Abel Tasman National Park. Like last Christmas Eve, we camped right near the beach. In this picture, I'm standing right outside the back of our campervan, and you can see the water through the palm trees.










We had chili for dinner (which also happened to be what we had last Christmas Eve!) and enjoyed our Saint Clair wine with strawberries and cheese and Makana chocolate. While we were snacking, Santa came around and handed out candy to all of the campers!










We later took a walk along the beach. There were several other people doing the same thing, so it was a festive atmosphere, especially with the music provided by a bagpiper. Because nothing says Christmas like a bagpiper on the beach, right?!

Also like last Christmas Eve, we had a beautiful sunset to enjoy on the beach. I'll end with two of my favorite shots from the night. I'm not sure if this was our last Christmas Eve we'll ever spend on a beach, but I wouldn't mind doing it again if it looks like this!

Smith's Farm and Mountain Biking the Queen Charlotte Track

After our wine tasting afternoon, we stayed the night at Smith's Farm in Havelock. It had some fun animals and a pretty hike on site that led to a big waterfall. If you stay in the woods until dark, I guess you can also see glowworms, but I did the hike in the daylight.

On Monday morning, we rented mountain bikes and rode part of the Queen Charlotte Track, which we could access by riding only four kilometers from our campsite. New Zealand has several famous hikes; some take a full day and others take several days. The Queen Charlotte Track is one of the longer ones; it's 71 kilometers and takes most walkers four or five days and bikers two or three. We only rode to a major lookout and back, which took us a couple of hours. But that still gave us great views of the Marlborough Sounds. The panoramic shots below show you our whole view (if you combine them together).

It was a fun mountain bike ride and a good way to start the day, even though the weather was a little drizzly. But there was still some driving to do and more fun to be had on Christmas Eve Day! Stay tuned...

Marlborough Wine Region

After our awesome swim with the dolphins on Sunday morning, we drove North toward Picton. A couple of hours later, we arrived in the Marlborough wine region for an afternoon of wine tasting. This area is world renowned for its wine, especially the Sauvignon Blanc variety. Our first winery stop was Cloudy Bay (the cellar door is pictured here), where we enjoyed sitting in the sunshine for awhile after our tasting. 

While Zack rested at Cloudy Bay, I went across the street to Allan Scott Winery and tried a few of their wines. Though I had never heard of it, I really liked the Gewurztraminer wine, so I bought a bottle!

Next, we stopped off at Makana Chocolate Factory and sampled some of their yummy candy. We bought some white chocolate cranberry bark to enjoy as a Christmas treat.

Saint Clair is a pretty famous winery in the region, and their Sauvignon Blanc was delicious. We bought a bottle after our tasting and ended up buying another one at a grocery store later in our trip (since we had already finished one). I think it's our new favorite wine!

The last winery we stopped at, on a recommendation from someone at Saint Clair, was Wairau River. We got there right before they closed, but we were still able to taste a few of their wines. Good stuff, but the Saint Clair Sav Blanc was still tops in our minds.

I've always seen wines from the Marlborough region on the shelves here in Australia, and now I can say I've been there. I've never considered myself a big "wine person," but after our visits to Yarra Valley, the Mornington Peninsula, Margaret River, and now Marlborough, I guess I'm learning!