The Leap of Faith

Anique's Voice

Standing at the edge of a 43 metre drop is always going to make you nervous. Today I learned that it’s even more nerve racking when you are preparing to jump off.
Let me back up. In 1988 a man called AJ Hackett opened the first commercial bungy jump in the world. It was just outside of Queenstown, New Zealand, on the historic swing bridge over the Kawarau river. Since then more than 2 million people have bungy jumped from that spot. Today I joined the ranks of daredevils and jumped.
Since we decided to go to New Zealand I have said that I wanted to go bungy jumping but secretly I wasn’t sure if I could do it. I did some research and got the okay from Mom and Dad but I still wasn’t sure. On our first day in Queenstown I realized that I would regret it if…

View original post 427 more words

Nine Degrees and Raining

Anique's Voice

Half the people we meet tell us that this rainy weather is just what happens in New Zealand, the other half apologize for the weather. Regardless of what it’s normally like, we have had awful weather lately. The worst of it was in the Catlins, the south eastern corner of New Zealand. Over the course of our four days there we experienced pouring rain, gale force winds, daytime temperatures of 6C, and hail storms. All this prompted us to write another rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas, this one based entirely on what we experienced in the Catlins.
It goes like this:

On the twelfth day in the Catlins New Zealand gave to me:
Twelve gale force days
Eleven big black clouds
Ten frozen toes
Nine degrees and raining
Eight rusty wheels
Seven giant hills
Six twisty roads
Five numb fingers
Four soggy tourists
Three hail storms
Two frozen…

View original post 28 more words

Phone troubles

We are having some cell phone problems. The phone is not recharging.
Since we are far from any large town, we’ll turn off the phone to use only in emergencies. This will be the last blog post for some time.
We will also not be receiving emails until we visit a library or fix this issue.

Only in NZ

The Misty Mountains

Sorry about the lack of photos… we took lots but I can’t transfer them to my phone in order to post them.

Anique's Voice

After a lovely ride through the Buller Gorge and the West Coast we have reached the Southern Alps. The mountains have been getting progressively bigger since we started crossing the South Island and now they have finally become the Alps. These towering, snowcapped mountains are home to all sorts of birds and plants as well as several glaciers.
On our first day in Greymouth,  we rented a car (a Mazda Demio) and headed south towards the Franz Joseph Glacier. On our way we stopped to explore Hokitika,  a popular tourist town near Greymouth. There we found a Saturday morning market.  Though the market was small, we made a few purchases. Dad and Owen both bought pounamu (jade) pendant and we shared this fantastic, Hungarian, fried, garlic – flavoured pancake called a Langos. I also bought a jade necklace in Hokitika. Pounamu (jade) is a very important stone in Maori culture…

View original post 570 more words

Nelson Lakes to Buller Gorge

Our (mostly downhill) 60 km ride from St Arnaud to Murchison….in photos.

Lake Rotoiti - our campsite

This is what a fault line looks like

Downhill to Murchison

Who says NZ has hills?

The Buller river valley

Broom in bloom

Future publican?

Sampling a local favourite - not bad with cheese

Murchison church

Our cool digs at Riverside Motorcamp

The swimming hole in the Buller river

Another day of spectacular views on the South Island.

Marlborough Sounds

We have spent the last few days admiring the breathtaking beauty of Queen Charlotte Sound on the northern tip of the South Island. We arrived by ferry late on Sunday afternoon and quickly settled into the Top 10 Holiday Park. After supper, we walked around the lovely town of Picton. We awoke Monday to pouring rain. We were dry in our great new tent but a little bummed about the weather. We decide to forgo kayaking or hiking and decided to rent a wee car for the day. Most car rental agencies were closed but eventually we found a Toyota Vitz (a Yaris in Canada) to rent for $50. We spent the day driving around the twisty roads, visiting Havelock and Blenheim.  Tuesday morning,  we awoke to clear blue skies. That was great news as we had booked a water taxi ride with Cougar Line. At 8 am we boarded the small twin-hull boat and headed out into the Sound.

Picton Harbour on a perfectly calm morning

During the one hour ride to Motuara Island we saw a fur seal, a couple of Little Blue Penguins, and a flock of Fluttering Shearwaters. Motuara is located at the northern end the Queen Charlotte Sound and is the island on which Captain Cook first raised the Union Jack to claim the South Island for King George III.

The view from Motuara

Today it is a predator free bird sanctuary. Here and there along the path the conservation authority has placed nesting boxes for Little Blue Penguins.  Lucky for us it is hatching time. Some boxes contained a parent incubating an egg, a parent and fledgling, or a couple of fledglings. They are very small (as their name suggests) and very cute but equally smelly…as diet of fish has its drawbacks.

After a couple of hours we boarded the boat and headed across Ships Cove (Captain Cook anchored here for more than 100 days during his voyages to New Zealand) to Resolution Bay. Here we disembarked and began a 10 km hike to Endeavour Inlet. We walked up and over the ridge and along the Sound. It was a beautiful walk in perfect weather. At 3:30 pm, we reboarded the boat and cruised back to Picton in overcast and windy skies.

View from the Queen Charlotte Track

Our lunchtime companion: a Weka

This morning,  we hopped on our bikes and hit the road headed for Pelorus Bridge – 52 km away. We never made it. At the 25 km mark, after battling high winds and hills, we could see rain coming down the valley.

Rain coming down the Pelorus Sound

We pulled over and donned our raincoats. The wind increased and we decided to seek shelter in some bushes. It was a good plan. We remained hunkered down in the shrubbery for 90 minutes while the wind howled and the rain pelted down.

Our dry sanctuary

We got colder and colder and stiffer and stiffer. After we were sick of playing word games and shivering,  we ran into the rain and put on our rain pants, our neoprene socks,  and an extra layer and mounted our bikes. We made it to Havelock -10 km away. We were soaked but warm. We ate a delicious hot lunch at a small café and decided to call it a day.

Happy cyclists

We rented a cabin in Havelock just before another bout of torrential rain. We loaded the dryer with our gear and settled into the smallest cabin we’ve ever seen. As I wrap this up, the sun is shining and full rainbow is gracing the valley.

This trip sure has seen its share of ups and downs!

The Coolest Little Capital in the World

Anique's Voice

That’s what the Lonely Planet called Wellington, NZ. I think that’s a pretty accurate description.
We have spent the last 5 days in Wellington and we have had a chance to really explore it.
We got here on Tuesday evening after taking the train from Masterton. On Wednesday we awoke to gorgeous weather. We took the bus into Wellington and set off to find the cable car to take us up the mountain. On our way we stopped in at a book store. I bought a book on the recommendation of one of the employees. Coincidence of all coincidences, it happened to be set in Lanark County, Ontario! Of all the books he could have told me to read!!!
From there we went up the cable car to the botanical gardens where we ate lunch with a panoramic view of the city. The botanical gardens were gorgeous and full of…

View original post 784 more words

12 days of Kiwi Christmas

This what we do to keep our minds off the hills when don’t have to worry about traffic. Fun!

Anique's Voice

When we do these long days of riding there isn’t a whole lot to occupy us. The scenery is beautiful but we have to keep our eyes on the road for the most part. We can’t read or listen to music. We can’t play eye spy because the only things to see are sheep and hills.
We had to find something to do with the time so we have taken to singing. Only on back roads, of course, and we shut up whenever a car goes by but we still sing. We sing everything from Micheal Jackson to french camp songs.
Today Owen asked me to give him a song to sing while he biked up a hill. I told him to sing the 12 days of Christmas… without taking a breath on the countdown part.
He couldn’t remember the lyrics to the first verse and when he hesitated dad…

View original post 97 more words

The Art Deco Capital of the World

Anique's Voice

Anyone who knows me knows that I love anything related to the 1920s and 30s. That means that I love all things Art Deco. That, in turn, means that I love Napier, New Zealand.
Napier originally looked like any booming colonial town. Edwardian buildings, wrought iron fences, wooden homes and cramped streets. That all changed in 1931 when the entire town of Napier was demolished by an enormous earthquake. This earthquake was quickly followed by fire, destroying all but a few buildings.
When the Town Council regrouped after this catastrophe, they decided to build the town back up in one cohesive style. They chose Art Deco for its optimism, it’s futuristic feel and, of course, because it was the fashion of the time. Funds were gathered from Insurance Brokers, Government grants, sponsors and towns people and they started rebuilding within 6 months of the ‘quake. There were four different architectural…

View original post 223 more words

And we’re off!

A very full weekend of last minute preparations and we’re off! Sheets washed, house cleaned, car put away, bags packed, model finished (Owen), school application submitted (Anique), route mapped (that one should have been done a little earlier). Marco’s parents came for pizza with a trailer for our bikes and away we went. Lots of nervous energy and excitement now…finally it is real! Anique made a great statement last night “it is so easy to get back into this travel mode with you guys”. I think we all feel that way.
We are taking a shuttle to the airport now, will pick up our bikes from overnight storage and start our longest flight ever. It will be worth the pain!