Ferry ride across Cook Strait

 

After watching whales during the stay at Kaikoura in an AirBnB, with one wall of the room facing the unhindered view of the sea, we drove to Picton to take the Ferry to cross Cook Strait and reach North Island. This was March 20th, and in the early hours there, we had already heard about sealing of international airport in Delhi for a week. 

 

In spite of the pleasant road trip otherwise, as was in ALL parts of New Zealand, some repair work on the roads and drizzle contributed to the anxiety. The anxiety was because of the lockdown in India, and because we wanted to reach Picton in time to take the Ferry, after of course filling the car and returning to the rental agency.

 

 

 

This was the only trip where it was cutting it too fine. We checked in our luggage, and immediately boarded the ferry, to leave in minutes. I am sure it was just waiting for us . Rachana and Lalit were waiting to meet us in Wellington. 

Some pictures from the Ferry, and the welcome at Rachana and Lalit's in Wellington.

 

 

And the beer in the last picture just reminded me that today is a Sunday, and I have beer at home . Cheers !

New Zealand: With the whales

NewZealand : With the Whales

On the last day in South Island of New Zealand,we spent two nights in Kaikoura in a beautiful Airbnb accommodation. The place was right across the beach and helpfully had two beach chairs. 

Rashmi was tempted to pick grapes from the in-house tree.

 

Some photographs of the sea, and the hills in the background can be seen from the gate, just across the road. Got up early to watch the ocean emerge from the darkness and took a walk around the region. Locals say that occasionally one could see whales there, but we did not….not across our accommodation I mean.

 

 

Went for whale watching. I had latently assumed that the whales will jump out, pose for us, and then dive in, allowing us to take pictures and videos. Alas, that was not to be. Yet, we have some pictures. Could see glimpses many a time, have many video clips, but except on one occasion am not sure whether it was the same whale amusing us, or there were many. It was fun! Am sharing some photographs here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twizel and Mount Cook

 

Twizel and Mount Cook

 

We were in Wellington from March 20th to June 7th, other than a brief trip out to see Lake Taupo, and geysers. Enough time to recall all our trips in NZ in detail. Here is one. 

The whale watching was fun at Kaikoura. Our general itinerary was to drive from place A to place B. Spend the evening, and next day at place B. On the third day, drive to place C. 

 

 

 

Twizel was also the place where we had one of the best beers while in New Zealand. This was one of the many craft beers available there….Sprig and Fern, Dry Hopped Pilsner. Slurp slurp. Strangely, these came in 888 ml bottles. I do not know why, but every ml was worth it . And yes, as compared to all other beers, the price per ml was steep. 

We stopped at quite a few places starting from Twizel, en route to Kaikoura, not for any need per se, but because ‘dil chahta hai’. Some pictures of bungy jumping ( not us!) are attached. The pictures may convey a little about what we enjoyed. While all of NZ was beautiful, South Island was more so. The water is practically jade and the colors are so vivid. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was also a lavender farm on the way, and we thought of returning there just before the harvest, sometime in January. It is said that lavender has a deep calming effect, but it got us all excited, I guess because it was not growing at that time of the year. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We trekked for a little more than 40 minutes to get a glimpse of Mount Cook….it was covered in clouds. But the views were still good. Looking at these pictures I am reminded of the immense natural beauty there. The drive itself used to be absolute treat --- the drive, and the view, as you can see in the few pictures and the videos. The videos were taken while we were driving and they are on my facebook page ( too big to be uploaded in a Blog!)

 

 

Trek to see Mount Cook

At the base to Mount Cook. The melted glacier pool is in the background.

 

The photographs shared here are a little too many --- a reflection of my state of mind, and nostalgia. if you know what I mean. The pictures are in no particular order, but it should be possible to correlate the pictures with the places I mention.

  

 

Bindu A.Bambah….Many thanks for asking me to do it. I am reliving the pleasant parts of our visit there, and loving it.

New Zealand : Te Anau and Milford Sound

 

Day 4 of posting recollections and pictures of the year old visit to NZ.

I think I goofed up. Some of the pictures that I shared yesterday were not from the route between Twizel and Kaikoura, but between Te Anau and Twizel. But doesn’t matter, really. 

 

Added a few from that part of the itinerary.

Te Anau was a small nice wonderful town. It was also the place where we had to stay to go to Milford Sound, a fiorde for a ride in the boat. The Airbnb apartment was so nice and so much to offer that we feel bad about not using it. At places such as these, two nights are grossly insufficient. That is why I always advocate in favour of year-long vacations. 

 

On the pavements in the town, saw different variants of Lily. The place is also famous for Jade….obviously bought some for my daughter, she says she loved them, but has not worn them yet Tanjul Raniwala

We took pictures inside and outside the apartment when we were set to leave….only to remind ourselves that we did not spend enough time here to enjoy this very morantic place (btw, morantic is a romantic was of saying romantic….it is not a typo).

Due to some unrecallable reasons, that day all private car visits to Milford Sound were cancelled and we were to take a bus, an organised tour, from Te Anau to Milford Sound, the boat ride and lunch and the return. It was almost all day, with little to do later. The views during the boat ride were terrific, as can be seen in the pictures. I have to say this even after seeing and experiencing boat rides in Thailand, Amalfi Coast and Vietnam. 

 

We saw a few waterfalls, went close enough to get wet, but not drenched. Apparently, there are seal colonies in the region, and also penguins and dolphins but we saw only seals. Another time .

One of the pictures has a man in blue jacket, with a fairly serious and sombre(?) expression. The guy must be off his senses to have that look on the face in such a wonderful place….Aha….may be the beer was over

Have also attached a few videos. Ideally, videos should be with (short) commentaries. But I am not good at that. One must be a smooth talker, or a great conversationalist

Enjoy !...If you have the travel bug, NZ is the place to go to.

New Zealand : Glenorchy

 

 

This is the 6th post of the visit to NZ last year. Sorry for not being able to maintain the continuity and not posting anything yesterday. 

 

Today I will share about the visit to Glenorchy on one afternoon. This will also complete our experiences of South Island, and hope it inspires people to travel to NZ. It is absolutely beautiful, as you can probably conclude from the pictures. 

 

Glenorchy was not on our initial itinerary. Rachana and Lalit (sister-in-law and co-brother) insisted that we go there. And we did ! Well, I hope the pictures do justice to convey what we would have missed, if we would not have gone there.

 

So this was the first day in Queenstown (had reached the earlier night). Had shared pictures from Bob’s peak etc from the visit in the morning. As we set out to drive to Glenorchy, we discovered the beauty of Heavens that one talks about. And mind you, the beauty was eminent in the drive ! Even before we reached the destination, it reiterated the belief: in life, it is the journey that counts !

 

The drive was less than an hour (~45 km) and we felt compelled to stop at more than one place. Oh boy, how I long to go there again. Btw, some of the attached pictures were taken in the moving car.

In the town, there was a largish store, which also had some take-away eats, mostly packed stuff, and handicrafts items. There was one eating place, but I do not remember why we did not go there….may be nothing vegetarian to offer. Were advised to go a few km further beyond the town, and there was one eatery which may have some vegetarian fare. And there we discovered more beauty.

 

As the story goes, there were many falcons in that area, a rare kind, and quite some had died because of electrocution at the power lines. At the restaurant where we had our lunch, they had a beautiful large iron structure of a falcon which can also be seen in the pictures. And the lunch was haloumi cheese sandwich --- yummy (had never heard of haloumi cheese until then). The beer was obviously great. 

 

Enjoy Glenorchy !

And let me repeat, if this does not inspire you to visit NZ, then I do not have good convincing abilities. Bindu A.Bambah When are you going?

New Zealand : Queenstown

 

 This is the 5th post in the series of daily posts about NZ visit in 2020. 

 

We had reached Queenstown in the night, and walked from the airport to the car rentals. This was our first independent experience of following the instructions verbatim, finding the locker box, the key of the right number, and reach the car amongst many others, wondering how will we get out of this place. And then we noticed that there was enough space for our car to get out of the parking lot of the rental company, but not for other cars parked there. Such was their organisation. 

 

We were anxious. Rashmi and Nikita were waiting for us at the deserted airport. But all was well. The hotel was nice with a view of the pool from one of the rooms. The hot water pool was a treat. The toiletries (Manuka Spa) in the hotel were so so good, that I cleaned the room . 

 

Next morning, went for a gondola ride to what is known as Bob’s peak (I think) for some breathtaking views, some of which can be seen here. There was an option of taking a luge ride back, at least part of the way, but we were not adventurous enough. Said differently, ‘phattoo the’ . At the restaurant and bar upstairs was also a beautiful map of the world, made from what looked like small oval shaped candies (like the gems).

There is also a picture of the outside of a ‘private luxury hotel’. See if that is the feeling the picture evokes .

 

The town, and the (long) walk from the hotel to the town were also very nice, with benches and public barbecues. People could just use them. I guess the weather was not right and we did not see anyone using the barbecues. 

 

For some godforsaken reasons, I just discovered that I do not have any pictures of the market area of the town, heavens know why, even though there was a fete in the town when we visited that evening.

The Hotel had asked us to park the car in the vacant land opposite the hotel. With my OCD, after locking and walking away from the car, I would return to check whether the lock is in place, and all is well. Shucks --- the car was unlocked. I locked it again, walked away, returned to check, and shucks, it was again unlocked. Given that the car was not in the guarded parking area of the hotel, and with an upbringing in India, I panicked, assuming the lock was malfunctioning. Called the car rental agency, who said that all the technical staff is gone. And added, "do not worry, I have been in Queenstown for 12 years now, and never locked the car". Well, that was comforting. Next morning, went first to the car rental workshop, and the lady looked at me, smiled (did not make fun of me), and told me that the censor in the key was such that the car unlocks when the key reaches within a certain distance of the car ---- and then I discovered my technological challenges . 

 

The anxiety due to the apparently malfunctioning car lock was so much that I forgot to avail their free drink offer in the hotel bar. Grrrrrr .