(excerpt)
I arrived at Christchurch in an icy early morning time and not wanting to
lose a day, I decided to skip town and headed north. Kaikoura on the South Island’s northeast would
be my first point of tour.
Violating my flexibility principle of not booking anything in advanced,
I’ve decided to play safe for the first day and booked a 25-NZ$ hotel in this
remote town. Who knows what I’d find or
who I would encounter in some mysterious far-off coastal village that had killed
and harvested thousands of whales in its hay days. I’ve imagined drunk old men resembling a bad version of Jack Sparrow, glistening hooks hanging around and blood-stained
walls. Of course, that was just the effect of watching too many horror movies.
It was a tolerably long bus ride covering a little more than
180 km in less than (3) three hours.
Along the long road, countless sheep in vast green fields were the
common sight. And as if to emphasize that point, one road section was
temporarily blocked by hundreds of slow-going sheep strutting their way on and
along the road. The bus driver halted
on the roadside letting every single one of them safely cross and move to the
other side. For us tourists, it was a curious moment. We alighted for a
good photo opportunity.
Interestingly, sheep – among many other larger-than-rat
mammals were not native to New Zealand and most were in fact invasive. So were snakes. Presence of a single snake on board a docked
ship would be a headline news!
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| How traffic jam in New Zealand would look like |
Kiwi-land was blessed with diverse wildlife and notable of
these were the ground birds. Being ‘on
the ground’ for centuries or millennia, these over-sized chicken-birds were
flightless. They also nest on the ground
as heavy, flightless bird nesting on a tree was just unimaginable or ridiculous-looking.
With this lifestyle, birds and their nests were prone to
attack by invasive mammals or snakes which over a period of time- could wipe
these native species out.
Kaikoura
The town, now tame and tourist-friendly – used to be the
largest whaling station in the world killing thousands of whales of every
kind! In the old days, whale blubbers
were heavily used as fuel, for candle-making, and whale meat as food.
There were ‘great’ whaling stories in the old times, perhaps
the grandpas would still share their battle stories with the younglings – proud
and happy of their glory days.
That was before they ban whaling. Or the whole world except for a couple of
Nordic countries and Japan who continue to hunt and kill these poor adorable
giants.
The sea next to Kaikoura has the largest congestion, traffic,
show or activity - of the largest species of mammals that ever lived in this
planet. Sperm whales, humpbacks, right
whales, southern wales, blue whales and even orcas. The shore topography has the deepest
underwater vertical drop-off - around 900m and this is where the great ocean
currents meet. The vertical space
supports the welling up of smaller creatures in large volume – a perfect place
for whales to have free buffet dinner!
I arrived in town in the afternoon in a gloomy but decent
weather. Sampling local food in a
restaurant could be expensive but I decided to play tourist and indulge in some
luxury.
The favorite that was offered were a kind of rock lobsters
which was ‘ok-but-nothing-new’. I
ordered a new-sounding fish, but its name I failed to recall. It went well with beer and that was all I
remember.
I inquired around, looking for tour boats that offered a
proper whale-sighting experience.
Unfortunately for me the season and its weather didn’t
cooperate. I was stuck in the town for two days with no sea tour company operating. A two-meter swell was seen to be unfriendly
and unsafe. I went this far with the
hope to see majestic flukes gliding the ocean surface or see a whale breaching
playfully. I’ve seen it tens of times,
in NatGeo and Animal Planet – but never for real and up-close.
The friendly hotel owner advised me to wait for good weather
and spend the day biking to see the seal colony by the bay. Next day, the weather was till foul and he
offered to teach me how to fly his plane.
I know NZ was a place for adrenalin sport, but I never imagined doing a hasty hour-lesson to fly a single-engine plane!
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| Happy Seals sunbathing by the shore |
But back to the day’s adventure, I saddled for a short trip
and enjoyed the country scenery. To the
other side, the ocean view somehow offered peace. There’s always something special
about sea and shore. I soon arrived in
a sandy coast and spotted a group of seals sun-bathing on some rocks. Sea gulls were also all around making the
most noise. I was warned not to go in
between the seals and the sea so as not to be a potential target of a scared
mammal who wanted to run and swim.
There was no people around, I guess given the off-season
timing that I've so frequently favored. The
adult seals lying on the rocks curiously made grunting sounds and gave me
friendly-looking winks. Not wanting to
invade their space, I got to just about four meters to take proper
pictures. Not having zoom lens in my cheap
camera has its ‘disadvantage’, such as the need to be up-close and personal.
Satisfied, I said my quiet good-byes and turned around. And to my surprise, there was a teenage-
looking seal behind me. He (or she) was
resting on a small patch of grass, oblivious to my presence. What did the hotel owner tell me about being
in-between a seal and the sea?! Too
late. I crouched and almost crawled
homing to the single seal to take a selfie.
Seeing me from about two meters, it grunted and protested. Ok, I guess that was close enough. “Respect wildlife” – echoed in my head. Two happy shots were all I need and in a
couple of seconds, I was gone.
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| The lone seal behind me, exhibiting a stress-free life |
Mountains and Glaciers
After my failed whale-watching in Kaikoura, I rode back south
side and went straight to Aoraki park.
Climbing the country’s tallest peak was a serious mountaineering
undertaking so it was not in my ‘menu of tours’.
So instead, from Mt Cook area, I went to Fox Glacier to
sample the magnificent treasure on the park’s western edge. Both Franz Josef and Fox glaciers were like
extensions of the big mountains. The slope
that runs down to the sea gave birth to a spectacular scenery of mountain,
glacier and sea. I don’t recall any
other place in the world where I could see a tantalizing deep blue sea by the
edge of a mountain glacier! Most of my
glacier experience were ‘up there’, so enjoying an ice experience without the
risk of altitude sickness was something conveniently different. I spend half a day walking the icy slope. The
operator provided us with sturdy boots, small crampons and waterproof
poncho.
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| Posing for posterity - like some legit expedition photo! |
This was many years before my serious mountaineering climbs
so I find the icy-slippery walk quite interesting. My first in fact. We also visited an ice cave
where we got to enter and do quick photo shots. Generally, ice caves are
dangerous and should not be explored without experienced guides or with unknown
ice conditions. We were just a few
meters inside enough to see, feel and say that we did in fact went inside an
ice cave. It was quite unique and
serenely beautiful. A different kind of
‘beautiful’ I would say as the colors are not as vivid and varied as that of similar
enclosed environment like the Antelope canyon in Utah. Nor as geologically impressive typical of
limestone caves with quartz-like stalactites. But unique and spectacular enough seeing shiny
ice with a hint of blue, and the fact that it was under a huge flowing ice and
undergoing more speedy transformation compared to its rock-and-stone
counterpart.
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| Into the wormhole |
Back outside the cave and on top of the glacier where we all
rested to eat our snacks – I couldn’t help but admire the stunning beauty of
the scenery. Somehow, glacier ice and
blue sea seemed to be an insane combination – but here, it was reality. A beautiful creation of a snowy mountain,
where ice-river flows down to an endless sea…
Soon I was back in my nice room hotel inside the Aoraki park,
reminiscing fresh memories of what I’d put in my ‘when was the last time I did
something for the first time’ list.
Next day was spent in an easy, lazy run. Wanting to see Mt Cook, I ran around the park
in good weather to see the peak from many possibilities. Mt Cook never made it in my climb list,
perhaps there was a silent echo telling me about its dangers, of hidden
crevasses, or many things unsafe. In
life, there will be things, places or people that we grant a look of respect or
awe - that we decide not to cross its path. In my list, this peak was one of
them. Not to say it’s final. So, giving
it a proper look was enough for the time-being.
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| A short chilly run at Mt Cook Park. |
Not very far to the east was Lake Tekapo. A quick visit revealed a spectacular scenery
where ‘Faith meets lake’. By the lake’s
edge was a quaint and pretty chapel called Church of the Good Shepherd - which
could have been an over-popular wedding venue if that was located near Manila.
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| The good shepherd! |
Alongside the church is a bronze statue of the MacKenzie
Sheep Dog. This statue revealed a story
about a hero dog who lost its life while trying to save its drowning
sheep. I recall that there was this
group of sheep - lost, confused and scared and about to drown in a rising water. The dog was guiding them to safely running
and barking to push them to the safe side.
There was a point where it needed to swim in dangerously rising and
chaotic water, to shoo away the remaining, struggling sheep to safety, but
which led the poor good boy to drown.
Selfless sacrifice to save others!
When I think about this story, I always silently sob in sorrow. I’m the type that gets affected with
heart-burning stories such as this.
After the quick stroll, I moved to Wanaka on the way to
Queenstown. The funny-for-me part was
that in Kiwi-land, the town’s border entrance would have this signage revealing
the town’s name, and population. Back
home, a ‘barangay’ or town sub-unit would have 30 to 50,000 people. Back in NZ, I saw the signage entering Wanaka
town declaring 4,000+ population! I
guess there will be no shortage of eggs, bread, water or sleeping beds in this
town!
To the town’s west was Mt Aspiring national park. Wanting to see fantastic view from above – I ‘climbed’
a mountain, in a lazy but adrenalin-filled manner. Heli-climb! I’ve ridden a helicopter before, a Huey
Vietnam-era version. It was a part of a civilian search and rescue training
where I got to rappel from a hovering chopper 100 meters above ground. But heli-rides in NZ, the country priding
itself to be the capital of adrenalin adventures – was not your usual fly up
and down. No! Not expecting anything, I
boarded the chopper eager to be on top.
Not realizing that the ride was supposed to be the highlight.
The expert pilot started a friendly and smooth-going ride.
But when we reached a steep slope, it zoomed fast and up hugging the terrain
and in my nervous view seemed to be below 50 meters! Like Tom Cruise in his Mission Impossible
scene, the pilot thundered fast zigzagging on the mountain slope as if avoiding
being hit by flying 30 caliber tracer bullets.
While I thought that it was good fun, it was also giving me the
head-spinning dizzy feel, stomach fluids seemed to be going up my throat. I
concentrated on not puking and looked in front of the windshield – my eyes
following the heli’s turns to reduce its dizzying effect.
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| Myself with 'Tom Cruise' |
Imagine my relief when the slope ended to an open sky. The chopper circled and soon landed on top of
a snowy mountain. The chopper was equipped with snow skids and flown by a
superb pilot – and without a hint of risk, we landed softly on snow. We all stepped out eager to see what was
around. Or be ready for a possible post-ride puke! I was wearing jeans, hiking
boots and jacket – just enough for the terrain and cold weather.
While I was after the mountain view which was spectacular
that day, the ride was surely the highlight of the day.
When I think about this trip, I was doubting if I really did
a backpacking trip – spending on luxury when I should have been sleeping in
some 10$ dormitory bed and walking hills instead of riding choppers! But what is life if you don’t get to spend
your hard-earned money, right?!
(to be continued)
***
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