traveldiary.stracke.us

The park comprises 700 sq km and is part of the Southwest New Zealand World Heritage Area. 22 of the 27 NZ mountains stretching over 3050m high are in this park. The almighty peak of them all is Mt. Cook, at 3755m is the highest. in Australasia. Our drive into the park was accompanied by a vision in the distance of the mountain piercing through a band of clouds. The Maori call Mt. Cook, Aoraki, or Cloud Piercer, a very appropriate name. Their language is so descriptive. The landscape was treeless, high and very rugged.
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My wife is the kind of person, who hates to discard anything, especially food items. We leave very little rubbish ( “garbage” in other parts of the world). I reap the benefit of her habit, because we always have something to eat and often she cooks an excellent dinner after reloading at a local supermarket.
Two days ago we had a great picnic-lunch on the shore of Lake Tekapo with views of the green glacier-fed lake and the Southern Alps with Mount Cook in the background. Our lunch consisted of a French stick ( baguette), prosciutto, different cheeses, olives, grapes and Victoria Bitter beer. The poor people on their organised bus tours driving by our picnic table appeared just slightly jealous, to see us having lunch while they had to take pictures of the statue of a famous New Zealand sheepdog next to us !
That night Gabi cooked our dinner in the backpackers hostel and we shared the table with a group of young Israelis, who had no firm itinerary until going home in November. One told us, that he just had worked as a salesman for 2 months. Some had just finished school. None seemed to be interested in politics but rather were out to enjoy the world. They seemed to think that the media overplayed the negatives in Israel and tried to convince us to travel there. We told them someday! We also met a Dutch man that had worked as a kiwi pruner. There are many ways to make a living.We hope to be able to avoid work for just a little longer !

From our Old West Hotel, the following morning, it was on towards Mt. Cook. Since it was drizzling in the foothills of the Southern Alps, the gas attendant gave us no hope of good weather for that day. The newspaper on the other hand had given a positive forecast for the mountains. Who were we to believe? We decided to chance it and continued to drive through the dreary weather. After a couple of hours and higher in altitude, when we turned into the Alpine region, the sun greeted us at Lake Tekapo. This large Alpine lake has a beautiful turquoise green shimmer, like the Caribbean, but is ice cold, like Lake George in spring. This color is due to “rock flour” sediment in the water, created by the grinding of rock materials, which ended up suspended in the glacial runoff, during the glacial period. Here we had a lunch picnic before finding another abode for the evening. A newly constructed youth lodge was on the side of the lake, but it did not have ensuite facilities (own bathroom). We decided to rough it for the night and “share” facilities. This was a BIG one for Lothar. He likes his own facilities; must be the medical hygiene stuff in him.:wink:

Early morning drive to Kaikoura along the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Both islands are of volcanic origin and on the South Island the shores are strewn with old lava rocks, where hundreds of the New Zealand sea lions hang out. As a backdrop to this rugged coastline, are the Seaward Kaikouras, taking on an autumn hew, bathed in golden yellow tones. In Maori legend, the Kaikouri Peninsula was where the demigod Maui, fished up the North Island from the depth of the sea, thus beginning the creation of New Zealand. In the 1800’s-early 1900’s the village of Kaikoura was an old whaling station. Now the surroundings flourish through sheep farming. All those sheep that we missed on the North Island, were here on the South Island, literally 1000’s strewn throughout the countryside. I guess it still must be a lucrative enough business, even though we had been told to the contrary
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On Wednesday, March 16th we flew on Qantas from Auckland to Wellington on the southern tip of New Zealand’s North Island. We checked in for our flight ( this time in economy on a cheap fare within New Zealand), and were told we had to pay NZD 175 ( about USD 130 ) for luggage overweight. We carry four suitcases ( one purchased in Hong Kong to even out the weight) with about 82 kilogramm total. We had to walk with our luggage trolleys about one kilometer to deposit the 2 suitcases with scuba gear and other items not needed right now, and left them in Auckland Airport left luggage. We will pick them up on our way to Australia. The shuttle bus on our way to the ferry pier in Wellington gave us a free city tour. Wellington looks like a provincial very British city with a lot of old wooden townhouses. A big ” cat ” helped us across the Cook Strait between the North and South Island.
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It is Sunday 1PM in Christchurch, Saturday 8 PM in New York right now. We did not have Internet the last 5 days and I have to backtrack to last Tuesday.
We spent that day in the hot thermal springs in Waiwera, north of Auckland. There were about a dozen pools with varying water temperatures, one spring was so hot, we could only stand it for a few minutes at a time. In- between laying in the sun and soaking in the volcanic waters, we went down a few waterslides. They were
” Black Holes ” and so fast, that it was scary. After going down the black ones, I decided to try a slide with a clear plastic tunnel and some daylight, but this one was throwing me from side to side and the water spray off my feet made it impossible to keep my eyes open. We got banged up a little, but it was fun. We left the park sunburnt and well rested for the travel day to the South Island the following morning.

I left off telling you about a book I was reading about the sex industry in that part of the world. The book concentrates on how young girls get to be sex slaves. It was very disturbing to read , that it was well accepted in the communities that men were infidel. What they should do though, is not get caught. In order to have a steady supply of young virgins, which seem to be preferred by Asian men, young girls in the northern regions of Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Pakistan, India, etc. are abducted to serve in this trade.
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I am still reading a book about Thailand and ” mai pen rai ” is a way of life, meaning ” never, never mind “. It is the Thai’s secret weapon to disarm the western ” logical ” thinking.
Statistics in Thailand mean even less than in other countries. An example of how information is obtained :
An American pollster hikes through the jungle and wants to interview hill tribespeople about their thoughts on monarchy and democracy. He is accompanied by a Thai interpreter. The Thai has tremendous pride in his country and the best manners on earth. He is embarrassed for his country when villagers look blank at the mention of ” Communism” or “Democracy”. The interpreter does not want to disappoint the nice expert from America, so he fills the massive vacuum with glowing phrases of his own invention. I suspect that this is the way we get our news and form our opinions about other cultures more often than we can imagine.
The only thing I learned is that the Thai are very proud of their King and their country and would not dare to make a negative comment in public.

We are experiencing the end of the New Zealand summer. The weather is sun and clouds, and it feels like Lake George after Labor Day. The temperature is between 65 and 75 degrees F, and yesterday I went swimming in the Coral Sea, which is part of the South Pacific. The water was refreshing and Gabi preferred the hot tub at our hostel. We visited Waitangi and saw a Maori culture show. We toured the historic grounds where, in 1840, the
” Treaty of Waitangi” was signed between the British and Maori. This is considered the birthplace of the nation of New Zealand. The Maori chiefs gave up their sovereignty to Queen Victoria, but were reassured to keep the use of their land and fishing areas. Unfortunately, there were some translation errors, one contract in English, the other in Maori, which led to ongoing friction and demands from the Maori tribes against the British crown. Prince Charles is visiting New Zealand right now, and a female protester was arrested for exposing her breasts with the words ” Get The Shame Off My Chest” painted on them. Apparently there are ongoing land claims from Maori against the British, not that different from US Indians against the white US government.
We also saw the ” Marae Runanga ” a large Maori meeting house built in 1940 to commemorate the centennial of the nation. It has very artistic wooden carved figures of all the different Maori tribes with their ancestors. On the beach we saw a 35 meter war canoe, made out of 2 gigantic kauri logs. It has room for 200 people and is powered by 80 rowers.

Prices here are sky-high and our budget would no longer support hotels/motels. Two night’s ago I took a reluctant husband to our first “youth hostel” or “backpacker lodge”, as they call it here. It did have the typical bunk rooms, I remember from the good old days, but it also had double rooms with ensuite (your own) bathroom. There were lots of young people but there were definitely as many people in our age or even older. Many probably also remembered these places from their younger days. A benefit of the “Lodge” was, that we were able to shop and cook. It had a big communal kitchen with BBQ grill and all; here we got to meet fellow travelers. Dinner last night was so good, we grilled strip steaks and had “pocket” potatoes (baked) with sour cream, and the best corn imaginable. UM UM yum! We capped it off with a good NZ wine, yes we were surprised too, that they grow wine grapes. For breakfast we found Bagels at the local supermarket. We are creatures of habit, aren’t we?:roll:
Today we were heading south and when it was time to find a place for the night, we didn’t even think twice, we headed for another lodge. This one has a washing machine/dryer and a spa, which is what they call a jacuzzi here. Once again to the supermarket for food and dinner out in the lodge’s garden. As long as you are not looking for the Hilton, these places are great and we are able to continue our trip, without major dents in the “budget”. Even hubby is convinced!