Sky Tower Lamb

We awoke to a sure Obama victory in the election news down in the breakfast parlour. The other lodgers, from England, wee very excited as well for the Obama presidency. We packed our bags and got approval from our hostess Maureen to leave them in the foyer for the day while we trekked around town. We scheduled our shuttle for that evening and took off down Victoria Street. We perused Victoria Market and found the prices less than spectacular. So off to the Auckland Domain, a huge park with rugby and cricket fields and the Auckland Museum. As it was lunch time, we walked down Parnell street, searching for one of a few gluten-free restaurants that Ingrid had researched. All three of the cafes that we were looking for had either moved or shut down, so we stopped at a café that fortunately had gluten-free fare. Next we headed back to the Auckland Museum, which was filled with Maori artifacts and other displays pertinent to New Zealand. The most impressive artifact was the Maori war canoe, which was hewn from one tree and was very wide and massively long with ornate carvings. Also, the Moa fossils and other large bird fossils were impressive. We then trekked to the Sky Tower downtown for our dinner reservation at 5. First we went to the observation level and walked around. Auckland is quite a beautiful city from the tower. There is a lot of foliage and greenspace. Portions of the observation deck had glass floors that you could stand on and look straight down. It took quite a bit of trust to stand on, even knowing that the glass was well engineered. At 5:30 we headed up to the Orbit, the actual restaurant. We were the first guests at the restaurant (apparently everyone in NZ is accustomed to eating late). We sat by the window and had a wonderful set menu meal for $65 dollars, which included an entrée (appetizer in NZ) of seared tuna, a main of lamb loin, and two glasses of wine plus coffee or tea. Although the reservation is for an entire 2 hours (which allows for two full revolutions of the city), we had to leave at 7:00 in order to walk back to our B&B where our shuttle was going to pick us up at 7:30. We made it just in time and sat comfortably in the shuttle, picking up others along the way, until arriving at the Auckland Airport for our trip home.

Hokey Pokey Truffle

Today we intended to catch some of the US election coverage, but that didn’t pan out as we were busy. We walked down to the harbor and over to the fish market (passing Z-pier) intending to stop in on a fish auction. I think we got there a little too late for the market, but the fish mongers had impressive displays of fresh fish and green-lipped muscles. It was a little early for lunch, which was a shame as they had little grills set up so that you could buy the piece of fresh fish you wanted and then have it grilled up right there. Down at the ferry building we bought a few tickets to head over to Devonport, a small island off of downtown Auckland. Devonport was a little less exciting than we expected. There was a main avenue with semi-interesting cafes and stores, some of which were not open, others that sold junk. We took a walking tour of the island, which took us along the water front and up to the top of northhead, a little hill that once formed part of the strategic defenses of Auckland during one of the world wars. We toured some of the bunkers and stood on the uber-windy top before taking in the free 15 minute cinema on the history of northhead. Apparently, the US once plotted an invasion of New Zealand during WWI, as they had a pact with Japan and therefore might have become an enemy of the US. All of the high points visible from northhead are volcano cones, some of which are still active. The next part of the walking tour took us along a beach on the north side of the island, where sponges had washed up alongside various other shells. We hooked up with an Australian lady that was in theater and chatted about nothing in particular until our walking path took us straight up mount Victoria. Ingrid and I went up the mountain and took in another nice view of the island and distant downtown before stopping near the ferry terminal for an unspectacular lunch. A quick stop at an internet café to say happy birthday to dad and look at the US election progress and went back to the mainland. After making dinner reservations for the next evening at the revolving restaurant atop the sky tower, we headed down to the Harbourside Restaurant at the old ferry building. What a disappointment. I had the seafood platter, which boasted the “freshest” seafood. But the oysters were shucked poorly, leaving shell bits in the bite and the oysters and clams were far from fresh, making me ill for the rest of the evening. At least the hokey pokey truffle we bought on Devonsport was delicious with the rest of our last bottle of wine, a pinot noir.

Herne Bay, Auckland

Packed up and drove to the airport for a speedy car return (surprising!). Off to Auckland on Air New Zealand. We looked into renting a car for our two days in New Zealand’s largest city, but they were too expensive on such short notice. So we got hooked up with a shuttle that took us to our bed and breakfast in Herne Bay (appropriately titled the Herne Bay B&B). It was an interesting B&B. Not so well kept or homey (no individual heating/air-conditioning control for the rooms, no drapes or blinds for the windows, very limited television stationage, no remote, etc.), but the B&B was in a fabulous location for seeing downtown and nearby food joints, and it had this awesome cupola that afforded unparalleled views of the city. We ventured up along Ponsonby & College Road for dinner, where we found a take-away Indian restaurant. We chatted with our Indian immigrant cook, who essentially just heated up pre-made dishes. We took the food back to the apartment and had a nice meal of lamb goush and chiken tikka masala with fresh garlic naan and basmati rice. Very, very tasty.

Wild Goat

The following morning, we scouted out a small stone church that overlooked the lake. It is quite a famous church, and I can see two reasons why: (1) the nice architecture; (2) the view out of the window. Afterward we jetted off to Christchurch. Once we got onto Route 1 and into the Canterbury plains though, the scenery became very unattractive (i.e. unorganized civilization). The farms along the road had large hedges separating various sections. The hedges were trimmed to look very boxy and unnatural. Truck traffic. Traffic lights. Poorly conceived businesses and business locations. Not a fan. In Christchurch we checked into our hotel around 1:30. The staff of our hotel checked us into a room that the maids were still cleaning. So we left our baggage in the car and headed out for some lunch and sightseeing around the city. We found “the strip”, a nice section along the river that has restaurants with outdoor seating. We went to the Tap Room for lunch, where I tried wild goat and kangaroo meat. They served it raw but with a sizzling hot stone to cook the meat on myself. The kangaroo was lean and a little gamey. The goat was reasonably tender and quite tasty. Afterward, we continued our walk around town, passing under the archway on the bridge of remembrance (for war heroes) to the Botanical Gardens, which were quite extensive with beautiful arboretums interspersed between well-manicured tree and flower displays. Back at the central plaza, where the trolleys are stationed, we debated a ride around town. But we had already seen nearly everything on the trolley tour, so Ingrid got a frozen yogurt (vanilla mixed with raspberries in a neat machine that does single servings). Had muscles again for dinner, as an entrée. They were spectacular! When we got back to our hotel and opened up the door to our room, there were all sorts of unpacked bags in our room (as if someone else was staying there). A quick trip to the check-in desk confirmed that the lady who checked us in gave us a key to the wrong room. That night we finished our bottle of sauvignon blanc with some delicious chocolate.

The Southern Cross

The winds were too much for the hot air ballooning again, so we took a walk down to the Queenstown Gardens, which were quiet and full of beautiful flora. We walked around the perimeter, passed the Frisbee golf course and the “bowling club” green before packing up and getting in the car to begin the next vacation phase at Lake Tekapo. Yesterday, we inadvertently pronounced it Lake Take-A-Poo while talking to a Kiwi in an outdoor store and had a great laugh. On the way to the lake (pronounced Teek-up-oh) we randomly decided to drive through Cromwell, a town known for its fruit production (as boasted by their three story fake fruit sculpture at the edge of town. What do you know Cromwell had a farmers market going on in the older district of stone and wooden buildings. The farmers market was extremely small but had a band, a wild game meat vendor, a cheese vendor, a salami vendor, a plant vendor, a few vegetable vendors, and a couple of food vendors. The band sounded like an African bluegrass band. It was a group of Africans that had an awesome sound. The main point of interest for me was the bass player. The bass was a box with a piece of twine connected to the box by a broomstick. The bass player would change the tension of the twine by moving the broomstick to and fro. What an ingenious bass. Ingrid and I tried some cheese and bought one that was similar to Parmesan. One of the food vendors advertised the best whitebait patties in town, so we gave it a try. The grill looked like it had been seasoned well, so I really thought we were in for a treat. The guy grilled up the whitebait patty (again a mixture of egg and whitebait) and put it on a buttered piece of bread with a squeeze of lemon. Good, not great. It was like a slightly fishy omelet on buttered bread. Next we shared a sausage with onion marmalade, which was pretty good. Up the road a little bit we stopped at The Merino Shop and the Country Coffee Shoppe for some shopping and a nice lunch. Being inland a bit we were a bit suspect that there were green-lipped mussels on the menu. However, our running theme required us to get them for lunch and we were not disappointed. The mussels were really good. Ingrid got the chicken salad, which was also very good. We drove by Lindis Pass, a mountainous area devoid of a lot of grasses, and Lake Pukaki, our first taste of unbelievably blue glacier fed lakes that had a view of Mount Cook, on the way to Lake Tekapo. Our room in the Lake Tekapo Scenic resort was a studio (bathroom and kitchen) overlooking the lake. It had to be one of the best rooms in town for the views and location. We donned our hiking attire for a climb up the nearby Mount John for a better vantage point. On the way along the rock-lined lake, we came across the most brilliant orange and purple flowers peeking out from the rocky shoreline of the lake. The actual climb was fairly steep and took us through a pine-covered section of hill, which kept us nice and cool. The top of Mount John was barren except for an observatory, and on the decent Ingrid got to fulfill her desire for up-close encounters with sheep. It was a good but tiring hike, some 3.5 hours. The Japanese restaurant that was recommended to us for dinner was closed so we ate at a restaurant called Reflections, which had a view of the lake. Lamb and venison, nothing special. We snagged some dessert from the 4 square market (a small grocer/convenience store) and headed back to our room’s balcony for sunset. That night we opted to take a tour of the stars with a local astronomer (who oddly enough went to San Diego State University for her degree). The stars were brilliant, as the light pollution is extremely minimal in this part of the country. We learned about the Southern Cross and true south and about nebulas and red giant stars. The way to determine true south is by use of the southern cross and another bright star directly below the long portion of the cross. The point in the middle of the cross and this tar is a good approximation of true south. And as there are many crosses in the night sky, a good way to know which is the true Southern Cross is to find two very bright stars (alpha centuri and beta centuri), which point to the southern cross. On the tour went with talks about the moon, Venus and Jupiter. We got a look at Orion (upside down in this hemisphere) and scorpio, taurus, the pleides. More talks about the milky way, a spiral galaxy, and how the earth is in one of the outstretched arms of the galaxy. The guide also mentioned blobular galaxies. It was quite an amazing tour.

Hot Air Disappointment

Woke up at 5 AM to call the hot air balloon company that we were scheduled to go on. There was apparently too much wind so the trip was canceled. Instead we booked for the next day and ate breakfast at the Vudu Cafe (I had blackberry pancakes with lemon butter and honey comb; Ingrid had the banana bread with a lemon-fig marmalade and Marscapone. We also got a gluten-free brownie!) and then took a jet boating trip up the Shotover River. The trip to the jet boating place was a grand adventure. The outfitter that we went with picked us up from the hotel in a 4-wheel drive military style land rover. About 12 people total were on the bus, which took us up into the barren ski-fields high above the Arrowtown valley. The bus then got on the shotover canyon road (one of two roads in New Zealand that was NOT covered by our rental-car car insurance), a narrow road that traverses some 20 km into Shotover Canyon and down to the Shotover River. The trip took about one and a half hours along the “two-way” road that was barely wide enough for our bus. At points the slop away from the road was completely vertical and the tank/van tires were inches from the edge. Needless to say that was a good adrenaline pump for the jet boating. Essentially in jet boating, the boat goes as fast as it can up the river as close to the canyon walls as possible while avoiding rocks in the middle of the river. It was raining a little and the water droplets felt like needles at the speed the boat was traveling; but the driver did several spins and stopped at a few points of interest along the river (2 bungy jumping points – one active, one no longer used, the latter being the very first commercial bungy jumping spot in NZ – local gold rush spots and a Lord of the Rings scene – the one in the Fellowship of the Ring on the border of Rivendale when the wall of water washes away the wring wraiths), which helped break up the pain. All in all, it was a blast. On the trip out, we saw that the road actually was a two-way road, as we passed four other buses. A quick trip to the room to get warm and dry and we headed out to the local shopping area (i.e. not touristy). The shopping mall was very uninspiring. There was a warehouse type store that reminded us of Wal-Mart and a few other American style stores (cell phones, clothes, drug stores, etc.). Next we took the Queenstown gondola to the top of a mountain that overlooks, you guessed it, Queenstown. Ingrid was fascinated with the grazing sheep that you could see from the cable car. The top of the gondola had a street luge course and bungy activities (for more money) and a viewing platform. Ingrid and I took in the stellar views of the surrounding lake and mountains. Afterward we did some shopping at some of the larger outdoors oriented stores. We snagged some great Icebreaker clothing for the family. For dinner we slipped down to the Japanese restaurant that was recommended to us. It was called Kappa. We had sushi, sashimi, tempura, pickles, and salad, and it was all amazing. It made us feel much better to have great food again, as the trip seemed to be at a low-point during the past few days, which were full of uninspiring meals.

Merino Wool and Jade

I drove out of Franz Josef the next morning while Ingrid rested. On the way to Queenstown, I found a nice little rest stop called Ship’s Creek. Ingrid and I got out and took two walks. The first was inland, along the actual creek for which the stop was named. The creek was very brown and was fed by surrounding swampland. A gravel path along the creek turned inland into the swamp as a wooden walkway. The swamp water mostly appeared black. It was covered in a lot of places with a water plant that looked like a nice green ground cover. In the swamp we also saw “dinosaur” trees, which were extremely old trees that have entire ecosystems growing in them (other plants and animals). The second trail led through a freshwater marsh that led to a freshwater pond that was separated with the ocean by some sand dunes. The drive took us through Haast, where we stopped at a merino wool and jade store. The jade craft is surprisingly expensive. New Zealand is fighting the influx of Chinese Jade, which, because of the cost, is putting stress on their craft. The merino store provided some good wool goods. And as the clerk was fairly helpful we decided to ask her recommendations on places to eat. There was one place to eat in Haas, but she was emphatic that, if we could stand to wait for an hour, we should stop in at the Country Café in Makarora. Thinking we got an awesome food tip, we headed off to Makarora and found the Country Café. Let me just say that the clerk either had never, ever, ever, tasted good food or she had the worst sense of food of anyone I have ever met. The Country Café was a tourist trap. It was the equivalent of an American mini-mart. There was a case of hot “pies” filled with meats or cheeses, some pre-made sandwiches (with loaf bread), and hot fish n’ chips (although not fresh). All was expensive, greasy, and decidedly not gluten-free, which I had been hoping for. Our tip was a complete bust, and I am still amazed at how bad it was. We stopped to admire the beautiful blue water of another lake before arriving at Queenstown and checking into the Bella Vista Hotel, which is a chain hotel in NZ. The room was average but as expected for a chain hotel. The good news was that the hotel was within walking distance of a large portion of downtown Queenstown. We settled on Luciano’s for dinner, an Italian restaurant right along the harbor. Once again we tried the green-lipped mussels. These were in a spicy tomato sauce that drowned out any of the refined flavors of the mussels and so did not suit our fancy. Ingrid had the special, a wild hare w/ a chocolate, tomato, and feta sauce and pappardelle noodles, which was good but not amazing – you couldn’t taste the chocolate out right but could taste it’s effect on the sauce; the hare was lean and dark and tasty (and not very gamy); I had sole with pancetta and potatoes and rocket (a lettuce of some sort); it was decent, although the olives were kind-of an after thought. The good thing from this restaurant was that we got a great tip from the friendly waitress for dinner the next evening.