We left Steph and Lance's farm to spend a little over a week touring the country. NZ has a "backpacker" bus called Kiwi Experience. It's a "guided bus tour" of the entire country on your time schedule; the bus drops you off and picks you up when you want. Ex. when the bus gets to Waitomo, you can stay the night there, or stay a week. When you're ready to continue the trip, hop back on.
The bus also helps with accomodations and activities along the route. The driver passes along a clipboard so you can sign up for rooms at hostels (you don't have to book anything in advance, you're guaranteed a night's stay). And, the driver passes along a clipboard to sign up for skydiving, caving, etc (they make the "reservation" for you but don't cover the cost.
The bus and hostels were full of "backpackers;" recent college grads exploring the world on daddy's dime with backpacks. We didn't quite fit in with our roll-ie luggage. We chose to go to bed around 11, not stay up until 3:30 running the halls and partying at the bar. And, we weren't on a fied budget trying to travel the entire country, just the northern half to see glowworms, hot springs, and do 1/2 day hikes.
So, as we leave the farm, our adventure truly begins.
Showing posts with label NewZealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NewZealand. Show all posts
Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
NZ Cape Reinga
Cape Reinga is the northernmost point of New Zealand. Reinga means underworld. The Maori people believe this where your spirit goes when you die - it leaps off the land and either ascends to the afterworld or sinks.
We took a day-long bus trip to the Cape - there were three highlights. One was the view walking to the lighthouse on the cape. You can see where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific.
Another highlight was driving down 90 Mile Beach (it's really only 60 some miles long). It's a national highway; the bus literally drove on the sand!
But the big highlight was sandboarding. We walked/hiked to the top of this huge sand dune with a boogie board, laid down on the board, and road it to the bottom. At the bottom of the dune was a lot of water - when you hit the water, you hydroplane because you're going so fast.
I took some pics of Mary coming down the hill, but they don't do the thrill-of-the-hill justice.
We took a day-long bus trip to the Cape - there were three highlights. One was the view walking to the lighthouse on the cape. You can see where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific.
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Another highlight was driving down 90 Mile Beach (it's really only 60 some miles long). It's a national highway; the bus literally drove on the sand!
But the big highlight was sandboarding. We walked/hiked to the top of this huge sand dune with a boogie board, laid down on the board, and road it to the bottom. At the bottom of the dune was a lot of water - when you hit the water, you hydroplane because you're going so fast.
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| From NZ Cape Reinga |
NZ Hokianga Harbour
Steph and Lance live in a region of New Zealand called Hokianga (you may remember the biggest tree in area is called Hokianga). From one of their high hills, you can see Hokianga Harbour; it's a huge inlet of water that reaches the ocean.
The Olivers have a boat we dropped in the harbour and drove out to where the harbour water meets ocean water. There are sand dunes there you can board down (we'll talk about that later). While Rob and Lance tried their hand at fishing (it was a bust), Mary and Steph wrote some graffiti in the sand.
It says "Mary + Steph were HERE."
Using her feet, Mary wrote the "Mary + were." She tried to write the same size as Steph, and thought she was. These are huge letters, eight feet tall; you can see them from the other side of the harbour!
More pics from our harbour trip are below.
The Olivers have a boat we dropped in the harbour and drove out to where the harbour water meets ocean water. There are sand dunes there you can board down (we'll talk about that later). While Rob and Lance tried their hand at fishing (it was a bust), Mary and Steph wrote some graffiti in the sand.
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It says "Mary + Steph were HERE."
Using her feet, Mary wrote the "Mary + were." She tried to write the same size as Steph, and thought she was. These are huge letters, eight feet tall; you can see them from the other side of the harbour!
More pics from our harbour trip are below.
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| NZ Hokianga Harbor |
Monday, April 27, 2009
New Zealand Dolphin Adventure
About half-an-hour away from Steph and Lance's farm is the Bay of Islands. It's a huge bay filled with little volcanic rock "islands" formed eons ago. Some are puny; some are have homes on them.
We took a boat tour looking for dolphins to swim with. There are about 450 dolphins in the Bay of Islands, so they were easy to find, but they had their babies with them. The survival rate of baby dolphins is low, so swimming with them and disrupting their feeding habits is dangerous for the baby. The captain offered the entire ship the opportunity to get in the water in the bay and swim anyway, away from the dolphins. Mary was the only one who voiced interest (out of 150 people). They insisted she could, but she shied away (if only her husband would have done it with her :)
One of the "islands" is pretty infamous - it's called the Hole in the Rock. Over time, the ocean has eroded the limestone portion of this island. We literally drove through the hole. You can see in this pic (click on it to make it big) that we're looking at a sailboat through the rock. 
For lunch on the tour boat we stopped on an island with a restaurant for some awesome fish and chips (I think the best we had all trip). We took a little walk on the island into a sheep field. It was difficult dodging sheep dung! The island we were on was centrally located so we were able to see quite a few "islands" in the bay.| More NZ Dolphin Adventure Pics |
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Tuesday, April 7, 2009
How To Go Pig Hunting (by Rob)
Step 1: Let the dogs loose
Step 2: Run around in the thick forest for 2 hours
Step 3: When the dogs are barking, they've found a wild pig
Step 4: Slice the boar's throat
Rule 1: No talking except the quietest whisper
Rule 2: Try not to be upwind of the pig
Lance's neighbor is a pig-hunting expert and it sounded like fun to me to run around in a forest for 2 hours (slicing a pig's throat, not so much). Chris came over with five hunting dogs. We drove out near some native bush on the Oliver farm and let them loose to get the scent. We started walking to the bottom of the hill.
In a clearing in the bush, we almost immediately found a fresh pig print. Chris (expert hunter) noticed the pig had been eating some berries off a nearby vine and rubbing itself on the bark of a tree.
I joked to Lance (in as quiet a whisper as I could manage) "We should just wait for the pig to come to us." 30 seconds later, I spotted the boar bounding through the trees. 20 seconds behind the pig was one of the dogs, and another... The hunt was on!
We climbed the largest, steepest hill in the area so we could have a birds-eye view of the lay of the land and could hear the dogs easier. I know it was the largest hill because there was a little sign-post on top that means it's the largest hill (they use it for surveying). And we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Then a dog came trotting up the hill to us. Not a good sign.
Then a second dog.
Then, a third dog came limping. It's white fur was pink from it's own blood. Apparently it had caught up to the pig, tussled, and got poked in the side twice by the boar's 3 inch tusks.
The hunt was over. Chris whistled and made some noises. The other two dogs came bounding up the hill, and we decended back to the truck.
At least I got to see a wild boar, and I didn't have to slit it's throat.
Had we got the pig, we would have had to carry it to the truck like this:
Step 2: Run around in the thick forest for 2 hours
Step 3: When the dogs are barking, they've found a wild pig
Step 4: Slice the boar's throat
Rule 1: No talking except the quietest whisper
Rule 2: Try not to be upwind of the pig
Lance's neighbor is a pig-hunting expert and it sounded like fun to me to run around in a forest for 2 hours (slicing a pig's throat, not so much). Chris came over with five hunting dogs. We drove out near some native bush on the Oliver farm and let them loose to get the scent. We started walking to the bottom of the hill.
In a clearing in the bush, we almost immediately found a fresh pig print. Chris (expert hunter) noticed the pig had been eating some berries off a nearby vine and rubbing itself on the bark of a tree.
I joked to Lance (in as quiet a whisper as I could manage) "We should just wait for the pig to come to us." 30 seconds later, I spotted the boar bounding through the trees. 20 seconds behind the pig was one of the dogs, and another... The hunt was on!
We climbed the largest, steepest hill in the area so we could have a birds-eye view of the lay of the land and could hear the dogs easier. I know it was the largest hill because there was a little sign-post on top that means it's the largest hill (they use it for surveying). And we waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Then a dog came trotting up the hill to us. Not a good sign.
Then a second dog.
Then, a third dog came limping. It's white fur was pink from it's own blood. Apparently it had caught up to the pig, tussled, and got poked in the side twice by the boar's 3 inch tusks.
The hunt was over. Chris whistled and made some noises. The other two dogs came bounding up the hill, and we decended back to the truck.
At least I got to see a wild boar, and I didn't have to slit it's throat.
Had we got the pig, we would have had to carry it to the truck like this:
Sunday, March 29, 2009
NZ Bush Walk
A Kauri tree is one of the most ancient trees in the world, and the largest by volume. They're a protected tree in NZ.
There's a small trail (half-mile?) near Steph's house that takes you in a circle to examine some of the kauri trees, including the 8th largest in NZ. We ventured off that trail for 3 1/2 hours of fun. We were on a different, marked trail (there were small orange arrows letting you know what direction to go), but there was hardly a trail. After 2 hours, we were freaking out wondering where we were and where we were going. We finally ended up at a small creek. We rested for a few minutes on the edge of a waterfall, then walked back.
The hike was not easy. We walked up and up and up steep hills (mountains), got cut up by flax, and Mary got stung by a bee.
The bee left a pouch of venom in Mary's arm. It immediately got red, swollen, and itchy. Mary still has a hole in her arm where she got stung.
After the hike, we went swimming in a "swimming hole." Water comes out of the hills, down a small waterfall, and continues on as a creek. It happens to be deep enough by the waterfall that you can dive in the water. The water was SO COLD!
Here are pics from the hike. They include Kauri trees, dead Kauri trees (they're so big, we're standing inside of them, and pics from our swim.
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| NZ Bush Hike |
New Zealand: On the Farm
In NZ, we stayed with Lance and Steph on the Oliver Dairy Farm. It was a nice, relaxing place to spend a week and their farm is close to a lot of sightseeing.
On the farm, we went everywhere on 4 wheelers.
WHAT WE LEARNED ON THE FARM:
* They use DeLaval milking equipment just like the Anderson Farm in Wisconsin.
* They rotate the cows from paddock to paddock. The cows eat nothing but grass...
* Except when they're eating turnips. They plant turnips to put nitrogen back into the soil.
* Their cows are Fresians - they need to be able to get up and down these huge hills.
* Sheep are out, cows are in. The # of sheep in NZ is declining as more people do dairy.
Here are some pics from the farm, including Steph feeding her horse, and a pink sheep (the sheep is from the ride to the farm, not from their farm. But here's where I'm including it).
Click on a pic to see it bigger.
On the farm, we went everywhere on 4 wheelers.
WHAT WE LEARNED ON THE FARM:
* They use DeLaval milking equipment just like the Anderson Farm in Wisconsin.
* They rotate the cows from paddock to paddock. The cows eat nothing but grass...
* Except when they're eating turnips. They plant turnips to put nitrogen back into the soil.
* Their cows are Fresians - they need to be able to get up and down these huge hills.
* Sheep are out, cows are in. The # of sheep in NZ is declining as more people do dairy.
Here are some pics from the farm, including Steph feeding her horse, and a pink sheep (the sheep is from the ride to the farm, not from their farm. But here's where I'm including it).
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| NZ Farm shots |
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