October 20, 2006

Queenstown – Mt. Ben Lomond Summit

The Department of Conservation is hopeful for opening the Milford Track on Sunday, which would mean forward staging in Te Anu tomorrow. The D.O.C. avalanche team is scouting the snow pack and crust density to determine the opening date. Yesterday’s rain on Mt. Lomond meant wet heavy snow out in the Milford range.



Armed with better weather, warm gear, food, and plenty of water the summit of Ben Lomond was today’s target. Given that the mountain is tucked just behind Queenstown the trailhead is an easy entry point for approximately four hours of climbing. Yesterday, at the suggestion of the owner of the hostel, I started at the chairlift trail. This translated into just over a thousand meters or over 3,000 ft. straight up. To pose a better mental image, hang gliders use the top of this face as a launching point. Learning from this brutal initiation, yesterday’s descent trail along the waterfalls was the better choice for a “non-staircase” style beginning to the day.





The ascent was relentless with a huge payoff. There actually is one saddle prior to the ascent, complete with a memorial bench marking the beginning of the Southern Alps viewing vantage point.



After soaking in the views and a sandwich, the rocky “mountain goat” style climax remained. Climbing poles were definitely my friends. Pushing forward and pacing for a consistent ascent a woman almost literally flew by me, also leaving her male climbing partner in the dust. They had just finished the Sydney 100K race the previous week. Another couple came by in reverse order. Her commentary was, “This climb certainly is a bugger… bugger, bugger, bugger.” It seems improper syntax to only use the word once. I was in complete agreement and we crossed the snowfield together, working our way to the ultimate summit.

The summit platform was very narrow, with a survey marker defining the pinnacle. A mountain man from Colorado, the partner of my “bugger” climbing buddy, stood on top of the survey marker. Heights generally are not an issue for me, but with the wind blowing and the surrounding shear slopes the best I could muster was a brief balancing quadruped perch without full extension. Vertigo got the better of me and finally I settled for a seated picture.



The descent was scenic in the waning afternoon light, complete with antique coal steamer and a wild ram sighting. The eight-hour plus scheduled trek took just under six and a half hours.

October 19, 2006

Queenstown – Holding Pattern

After arriving in Queenstown, one of the first things done was to check conditions for the Milford Track. In order to hike the trail a registration must be completed with the Department of Conservation or D.O.C. My target was to initiate the trail opening week of Spring. Somehow, no one told Mother Nature to stop the snow machine. I’m in a holding pattern until the D.O.C. determines that the avalanche risk is reasonable enough to support allowing hikers through the Alpine passes. (Beside the delay, I am enjoying the Southern Hemisphere alternate seasons.)

To help pass the time and train for Fuji, Everest, and Kilimanjaro I took a casual stroll up the slopes of Mt. Ben Lomond. The problem with this scenario is one should never “take a casual stroll” up any mountain. The weather was windy, cold, misty, and threatening. This put a damper on things and when my dodgy knee decided the trip was over half way up the incline it wasn’t hard to agree.



On the descent I took the “One Mile Track” (it wasn’t) along a snowmelt stream running from the main east-facing gorge. New Zealand is known for its display of lush green features and foliage. The return path sparked imagination and it was entirely tangible to believe that mystical creatures could exist in the pre-historic undergrowth.

October 18, 2006

Queenstown – Milford Sound

Eco Tours started a thirteen-hour day with a 7:30am pick-up at the Deco Backpackers. We headed to Te Anu and Milford Sound. For “Lord of the Rings” fans, the last scene of the third movie with an unimaginably beautiful cliff and water world background is no set but actually Milford Sound.

Along the road to Te Anu we got our first glimpse of the Merino sheep that produce the miracle fibre. Their wool does not itch, wicks moisture better than any technical fabric to date, keeps you warm even when wet, and has natural anti-microbial properties so doesn’t smell even after vigorous activity. (Can you tell I’m a fan an bought two “Icebreaker” brand hiking shirts.) It is recommended to wear the shirt a dozen times prior to washing. The brand slogan is “Treat it mean to keep it keen.”



To break-up the more than four-hour drive to Milford Sound we stopped in the town of Te Anu, which is the staging area for many alpine tracks including the Milford, to visit an endangered bird sanctuary and catch a quick snack.



This green little guy is from the only known alpine parrot species.



The weather began to change as we approached the coastal range and didn’t co-operate in the actual sound area with showers and fog, but the natural wonder still captivated.



The highest sea cliff in the world rises over a mile straight up out of the water. A 450-foot waterfall is dwarfed by the magnitude of immense rock faces and crags. Mixed in with the rocks are penguins and seals.







We were treated to a natural extravaganza on the way back to Queenstown. The sky and clouds are unbelievable with three layers of activity shifting simultaneously. The colors were not so amazing, as the incredible tangible depth of field. Standing in the lush grass one almost felt as if it were possible to be consumed or fall into the dimension of sky. Our group simply stood in silent amazement by the side of the road, and then burst into excited description after climbing back into the van.





Sound Knowledge

Milford Sound is actually no sound at all. The early western explorers initially mistook the waterway as being formed by the many streams that enter the geological area therefore making the Milford cliffs and watershed a technical water eroded/formed “sound”. In geologic reality, Milford Sound was formed by glacial erosion and therefore should really be called Milford Fjord. Primacy wins the day and Milford Sound although incorrect is the name that stuck.

October 17, 2006

Rotorua / Auckland / Queenstown

As wonderful as the North Island is I have decided to fly directly down to Queenstown so that more time can be spent exploring the Southern Alps and hiking the Milford Track.

Driving from Rotorua back to Auckland I experienced a horticultural marvel, which it turns out is quite common in New Zealand, the over 20 foot hedge. In person it is really impressive. :-)



The flight down was a very quick 90 minutes, with amazing views of the Southern Alps, which stretch almost the entire length of the island. The entire range is still being formed by the uplift of two tectonic plates pressing together.



Our approach to Queenstown was more of a strafing run than the traditional gradual descent. The pilot needed to bank hard around one peak and then drop sharply into the valley. Amazing!



Queenstown, itself, is an alpine resort haven. There was a Spring Jazz Festival underway in town, which is perched on the hills surrounding a deep alpine lake. The lake is actually so deep that at its bottom fathom it is below actual see level.





Tonight marks the first true “Backpacker” experience in a shared room with two other fine gentlemen. One is from Cambridge, England and the other from Wales. There are two distinct personalities. The learned Brit was a great source of literary discussion. He was convinced that the Da Vinci Code defined pure literary crap. Structurally I have to agree with him but it sure was great “brain candy”. The other roommate, Kevin, was a young, gap toothed/toothless, Welsh brick layer with a classic personality. He couldn’t be more friendly and ready to chat. The only problem was I couldn’t understand a word he said. Kevin was a patient sort and would slow things down and actually consciously introduce consonants into his speech, given my Anglo auditory deciphering handicap. Haaa…



How to speak Kiwi

• Use of the word “as” – Utilized when someone asks you a qualitative question like “How are you?” Proper response would be “Good as.” That’s it. I guess it is up to the questioner to figure out what you are as “good as or maybe it is short for “Good as it gets.” “As” is also used as a term to show approval, such as “Sweet as”. So if you see an especially cool car or beautiful person you might respond “Sweet as”. If something is not difficult, then it is “Easy as”.
• If there is a slippery step and you fall, you have taken a “mean whippa”.
• If one thing is more expensive than another it is said to be “more dearly”.
• If there is a large quantity of something, there are “loads” of it.
• “Wee” is used to add emphasis as to how small something is, as in the double adjectives “wee little”.
• Small pieces are call “bits”, even small segments of time as in a “wee bit of time”.
• Highly Redundant Qualifiers: “I reckon” is used in general speech, as in “I reckon it will rain today”. “I tell you” is used when telling story and added at the end of just about every sentence of the story, as in “The chicken crossed road, I tell you. Just so he could get to the other side, I tell you.” I reckon the Kiwi’s must be very leery of the potential for verbal plagiarism.
• “Crap” – The generally non-offensive derogatory adjective is used to describe anything that is sub-standard. “My crap car is always breaking down.” “We are experiencing a bit of crap weather today aren’t we.”
• “Marvin” – To be really hungry, as in “I missed lunch today and now I’m so marvin.”
• Tramping – a.k.a. hiking, but usually in reference to a multi-day expedition
• Track – a hiking or mountain biking trail

October 16, 2006

Rotorua

Rotorua is a cultural center for the Maori people complete with cultural park and many evening performances and Hani which is Maori for “pit cooking” of meat and starch. Also of interest is the fact that Rotorua is a volcanic area with steaming vents right in the middle of town. The native tribes had fought over this area literally for centuries to control access to the boiling waters, which were used for cooking and ceremonies. Today, spas dot the locations of key natural hot sulfur pools and mud pots. (Free spa passes usually accompany a multi-event booking.)





I spent the day at Te Puia, an extremely informative Maori cultural center. The village is run by Maori peoples and is also a trade school for weaving and woodcarving.





The primary source of weaving material is flax grass, which when stripped of its green vegative matter leaves a corded material which can be rolled up and down the leg to form a strong two ply rope. If one stips just the end of the flax leaf and allows the rest to dry, the rolled tubes can be tied together by the stripped rope ends to form skirts and outer garments.





The cultural dance show was outstanding. The natural voice strength of the singers was both moving and impressive.





Other highlights included the light controlled Kiwi exhibit, artificially switching night and day illumination so that tourists can view this nocturnal species, and the geyser that erupted in almost constant spurts. (Kiwi Fun Fact: Before releasing an egg, up to 70% of the Kiwi's body size/mass consists of the carried egg.)



In the evening I went to the Mi Tai hani and cultural show. This was great from the standpoint that the Maori really took the time to explain the culture and we had to walk through the woods to get to their ancient/historic village site. We went through the traditional greeting process that a visiting tribe may have experienced hundreds of years ago, complete with the agitated gesturing, grunting, and tongue waggling of the warriors, to the peace offering, and nose to nose touching of the tribe’s chief to our elected chief of the “Tribe of 22 Nations”.

The hani food was good, but not exactly “great”. The wood used did not leave a sweet smoke flavor but a bitter lingering taste. The “hani palette” may need to be acquired, especially when it comes to potatoes, which absorb the greatest flavor density of sour smoke. However, the lamb was quite good.



Misc. Maori Knowledge
• The Maori are not the native people of New Zealand but migrated nearly 1200 years ago. The true natives were either killed off in battle, inter-married, or were eaten.
• There was no personal property, as everything belonged to the tribe, which was ruled by the chief who literally had life or death power. If one was weak or out of favor with the chief your fate could easily culminate in a trade with another tribe. This would not improve your lot in life because human trade resulted in either slavery or dinner, as in “you are the dinner”.
• What is the deal with the protruding eyes, facial tattoos, chest beating, chanting, and protruding tongues? Simply, intimidation. If you could scare your enemy away, then no battle is necessary. The tongue waggling is a sign that “I am going to kill you and eat you.”
• New Zealand had only two mammals prior to the arrival of the Maori, in the form of small bats. The Maori brought rats as a foot source and dogs. When both were freed it had a dramatic impact on the local wildlife, especially the rats. New Zealand had the largest flightless biodiversity on the planet, with 8 ft. tall birds and many small ground feeders. These species had never faced a ground predator so were completely unprepared and evolutionarily helpless.
• The tattooing on both males and females is done in a three step, hand drilling process. First the pattern is imprinted in the skin using a fine needle. Larger gauge needling follows this primary step to open and permanently indent the skin. Finally the ink is applied in the third of the dermally invasive processes. The Maori tradition of tattoo is somewhat unique because not only is ink applied, but the skin in grooved in the process. Traditional full body patterns can take between 6 & 8 years to complete.

The tattooing of a woman’s lips and chin represents the form of a bat, which is thought to be a nurturing creature and symbolizes their role in the tribe. Interestingly enough, the chin as a location for this female tattoo is a relatively recent occurrence. Since the European arrival and the introduction of “all season” clothing this tattoo has moved from its traditional “giver and nurturer of life” location to the more visible chin.

For males, the facial tattooing is meant to intimidate their foes. The higher ones station in the tribe the more fully the face and body is covered. A complete tattoo mask would consist of three birds: the bat (which was thought to be a bird), the owl, and the native raptor.

October 15, 2006

Paihia to Somewhere South of Auckland

A day of rest… well sort of. I decided to hang around Paihia for church this morning, catch up on some planning/e-mails then see the giant Maori trees used for making enourmous war canoes.



Church was a riot. I went to the only local one I could find, an Episcopal parish. My attendance brought the total number to about twelve. During the service I couldn’t help thinking, “This could make a great Monte Python sketch.”

The service was led by a very well meaning octogenarian woman, which matched perfectly with the first two hymns. The melody was so high that even the ladies were squeaking out the tune. To give you some sense of the musical stratosphere, after the first two notes the tune jumped up to a “d” and shortly there after hung around “f” for what seemed like forever. The tune didn’t break “b” until the end. To make it really fun, there were six versus. Yikes. Right on que, standing behind the carved eagle podium, she began with “Well let’s see… where to start?” and then promptly dropped all her papers in a flurry of bits and pages. Not a soul reacted. The congregation must either be quite used to the antics or have been asleep.



A lay person gave the sermon which was the story of the “young rich ruler” and Jesus’ famous “eye of a needle” statement. The other point of hilarity, at least from a British satire perspective, was after the congregation had experienced communion the organist played while our fearless leader straightened up the alter table. She looked into the communion cup. Seeing that it was not empty, with a quick head cock, “bam” the communion chug was born. This may be a common practice, to finish the wine, but to witness the practice in this way made it seem like the action belonged more in “Three Weddings and a Funeral” than a very quite Sunday morning in Paihia.

After church I caught up on e-mails and left for west coast, which is home to a forest of some of the largest trees in New Zealand and probably the world. The roads are windy at best, extra fun remembering to stay left, with one lane in each direction the norm. (Picture driving to Pt. Reyes, every where you go.) However, because of this the drivers are really quite excellent. Sixty miles per hour is not uncommon and slower drivers eagerly move out of the way when ever possible. There simply is no fast lane so absent minded drivers who in the states would sit out in the fast lane barely making the speed limit don’t exist. Every driver appears to be fully engaged and conscious of other vehicles. The first time I came up on another slower car going my direction it wasn’t immediately obvious why he kept veering onto the shoulder while keeping the speed limit. He in return was probably wondering why I refused to pass. This practice of providing space for others to pass, even if fully achieving the speed limit appears to be common. Imagine such a driving etiquette change from the personally indignant US style of road ownership, with the phrase “They’ll just have to learn to be patient” ringing in my ears.



The people in New Zealand are amazingly clean and helpful. This is truly the land of the spotless public toilette. Almost every little berg or hamlet has public restrooms that would exceed most private baths at home for cleanliness. The Kiwi’s also appear to be fastidious with litter. Next to none is visible and was probably distributed by a tourist.

If traveling in New Zealand, there simply isn’t enough to be said about the “i” sites which are offices in most towns that will literally get you information and/or book travel and tours for the local area or the entire country. Amazing. Tourism is an industry source of pride and definitive focus.

Making my way down the west coast towards Auckland I simply ran out of daylight and passed through the city after dark. The target was a campground south of Auckland on the way to Rotorua.



Without a clue of where the campground lay and the time approaching 11pm I happened across a security guard in his car. He was happy to help with directions but only after a speech lesson. The road I was looking for was of Mauri origins and had two (r)’s. So instead of jumping right to directions we literally spent two or three minutes say “arrrr” back and forth. He would correct me and say “No, put your tongue in the top of your mouth.” So, I would try again, “arrdth”. Finally, with a little frustration he gave up and said, “You say your (r)’s like an Englishman.” Apparently that was the price of directions because he happily pulled out the New Zealand equivalent of the Thomas’ guide and showed me the general approach to travel.

This did some good, as it got me within a 10 sq. kilometer range of the campground. However, given that it was pitch black and the countryside, all the roads looked extremely similar and many were unmarked. After another half hour of seeking and not finding, I stumbled across a closed Motel and bar. Fortunately for me the owner was still having a drink with some friends and was willing to rent me a room despite being after hours. This place was scary on a pitch dark night with a howling wind. Walking into the room my thoughts were, “It sure would be nice if there were more customers spending the night besides me and a worn looking semi-truck rig outside.” Needless to say, sleeping was accomplished on top of the bed in my sleeping bag and with my camping pillow. The fewer direct contact points with the fixtures of the room the better.



(It rained all night, so this mishap of not being able to find the camping site was very fortunate. There is not much worse than packing up a soggy tent and gear. In the day light the motel was much better than the night suggested, but still just as desolate. Leaving to find the freeway, guess what was literally a country block away after turning right?)

Random Knowledge
The Maori influence is still strong in New Zealand with a dedicated television station and the “All Blacks” national rugby team does a traditional war chant/dance prior to each match, especially with Australia.

Blog Updates

Hello Everyone,

My apologies for not updating the blog in a couple of weeks.

I am in China and it appears the government does not like anything associated with "Google", so they have been about 90% successful at blocking e-mail and until now 100% successful at denying access to Google's blog site. In talking with "locals" this is quite common with Yahoo being another favorite source to sensor.

Hong Kong will be home after Dec. 15th, so with a little luck a high speed connection will be available for the laptop and updates following. Even though HK is technically China, the freedom of information is reported to be better there.

Cheers!

Paul