New Zealand

SF & I journeyed to Middle Earth, Jan 27 - Feb 9 (losing and gaining a day at the end, very weird).

The journey to Middle Earth starts w/the best safety video we've ever seen!  Probably directed by Sir Peter Jackson (who played himself).

Our trip was simple:  stop over in Hawaii to visit my mother and also to adjust to jet lag, fly to Queenstown, take the Ultimate Hikes "Classic" (combines Milford Track w/Routeburn, with a night in between at the Tiny Town of Te Anau), then return to Hawaii and eventually back to Chicago.

It was perfect.

There's a 4 hr difference between Chicago & Honolulu, but just one hour between Hawaii and New Zealand.  Thus, virtually no jet lag.

Ultimate Hikes (UH) greatly exceeded expectations.  This was a 5* trek. We had to carry our clothes (UH gave a minimalistic list), lunch, and water, but that was it.  I started w/a Dept of Conservation (DOC) trek, which was about half the cost of the UH trek, and very easy to arrange, BUT I had second thoughts after seeing my friend Mei's pictures of...the food.

First, the DOC trek:  the website is well-organized and easy-to-use.  Shelter, bunk beds, flush toilets, and cooking facilities are provided.  However, you need to carry your own pots and pans, plates, utensils, food, and sleeping bags.

Being so money-minded, I went by cost and signed up for this, telling Se Fok that we surely could survive on freeze-dried dinners for just a few days - bring one pot to boil water, pour it into the dinner bag, and eat with a spoon. And we could do without showers for a few days, too - it would save time!

Mei told me I was crazy. At our age and with all our savings? Then she showed me pictures of their lodge - their clothes drying rooms (no washing facilities, either for bods or for clothes, with DOC), and, most importantly for me...their FOOD.  Three course dinners with the choice presented the night before. Salmon. Steak. Lamb.  And did I mention hot showers?

SETTLED.  I signed up for UH and cancelled DOC (a $170 penalty, but oh, well).

And I am SO GLAD I listened to Mei!!!

We arrived in Queenstown a couple of days before the UH departure date:  a cushion in case of delays, mishaps, etc.  We had none, but it was nice to have a couple of days to walk around, because Queenstown is in a splendid setting (the best was yet to come, but my initial impression was:  who needs the Milford Sound? It's nice enough right here by Queenstown!).  I'd researched restaurants on Trip Advisor and had a couple lined up.  They were excellent and good value (my fav combo!), adding to the pleasure and contentment. We stayed at the Kawarau Hilton, which was quite far from Queenstown and had a shuttle that ran very infrequently. Taxi prices were exorbitant. However, luckily for us, the shuttle stopped right in front of UH and its schedule worked with the UH departure & arrival.

We were blessed w/almost perfect weather – a rarity for this part of the world.  This was an expensive trip:
we bought a RT to Hawaii, and RT to NZ, so airfare alone was over $4000. The hikes were about $6K for the two of us. With incidentals, it was ca. $11K, one of our most expensive trips ever, but good value nonetheless.  Truly memories for a lifetime and I'm glad we did it!

New Zealand is an exceptionally safe, clean, honest, and civilized place. Although the Milford Track was plagued w/sandflies, their bites, though annoying, aren’t poisonous and they don’t transmit disease like many
mosquitoes. There are very few poisonous plants, no thorny plants that I can recall, and no poisonous or dangerous animals (New Zealand essentially is two large islands and only birds made it to there in the past). The only mildly pestiferous creature was the kea, a large & cheeky native mountain parrot that likes to chew up and carry off shoes & other things.

None of the mountain lodges were locked, and you could hand credit cards or cash to shopkeepers and restaurant people without worry. You could drink water directly from the streams, the air was clear, sweet, and clean, and we had absolutely no digestive upsets (not that we’re very sensitive to them, but I’ll never forget our major illnesses in Yunnan & the Yucatan, with lesser but still very inconvenient ailments in XinJiang and Cambodia). New Zealanders seem t/b trusting, honest, eco-minded, pleasant, and progressive. The safety & lack of thorny plants allowed us to truly relax and enjoy the experience.

I loved the Milford Track scenery: high mountains plunging down to sea level or near sea level, a profusion of high waterfalls (the ones outside of Pompalona Lodge in Clinton Valley reminded me of Rivendell!), the beautiful Anderson Cascades, the clear waters of Ada Lake and the Sound itself, with Mitre Peak towering over the Sound and its tidal flats near the pier & hotel. I also loved the lodges, which were simple but beautifully situated, and which had wonderful welcoming treats such as home-baked scones and raspberry-white chocolate muffins. I liked the length of the walk (4 nights, 4-1/2 days of walking) and the professional, friendly, and goofy guides (Kelly, Steve, & Liane). The longer trip & personable & funny guides help bring the very international group together. Kelly (after we all introduced ourselves and stated where we were from):  "Now you can all get together and solve our world problems."

Se Fok favored the Routeburn Track, which spent more time above tree line, thus allowing for unobstructed, spectacular panoramic views. There also were no sand flies – a huge plus for him. As Mike and a randomly met English lady pointed out, the Routeburn has a different character from the Milford: it starts & ends at higher elevations, it goes up and down more, but very gradually, and there are different kinds of things to see. As mentioned, it has more expansive, panoramic views. There are a couple of large high mountain lakes, as well as many small alpine tarns. There are many more alpine plants. The Milford runs mainly along the valley bottoms, with only one day where we climbed to alpine heights (McKinnon Pass), but we descended on that same day back to a different valley bottom.

The Routeburn also has many more independent walkers, coming from both directions, and the independent walker huts are very close to the UH lodges. On the Milford Track, the lodgings are rather far apart, with
the independent walker huts farther along the track, and walking only in one direction. Thus, you rarely see other people and feel like you have the entire place to yourself. On the Routeburn, we passed people going both ways

We took minimal clothes, since washing facilities were provided at the lodge. Because the weather was good, I didn't use the warm clothes, but they certainly would have been vital, had it been cold, wet, and windy.  Washing facilities were good enough, especially since SF & I tended to straggle in last, after everyone else had finished. The drying rooms were excellent. It was a bit of time and work to hand wash my clothes daily (SF usually re-wore most of his clothes, so I only washed his occasionally), but it allowed a lighter pack. Moreover, I LIKED the simplicity of always wearing the same clothes! No thought about what to wear, beyond the weather and agenda for the day (swimming, extra short day, etc.).

The lodges & the food were absolutely delightful. B’fasts were solid, but unremarkable, and pretty much the same on the Milford: scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes, cooked ham, beans, oatmeal, yogurt, cereals, fruits. Lunch was always make-your-own with somewhat more selection on the Milford than the Routeburn. Dinners were the highlight of the day, and 3-course. You pick your meal the day before. I loved every single dinner and ate something different every day. Alcohol was on our own tab. We indulged in a glass of wine almost every day on the Milford – cost was similar to restaurants everywhere in NZ, plus how could we enjoy these otherwise? It was a lovely and delightful treat, and the Milford lodges served especially yummy “nibbles” to accompany imbibing and socializing – sun dried tomatoes, pimentos, cheeses, spreads, veggies, salami, plus the wow-factor of treats such as freshly-baked scones w/butter & jams, and raspberry-white chocolate muffins! I wish I had a bigger stomach so I could eat more!

The Milford lodges were in delightful locations with spectacular views. Glade House (#1) was in, of course, a glade (natural clearing), with a beautiful river running nearby. Our intro to sandflies (they like water), unfortunately! Pompalona Lodge (#2) was described by Kelly as “our treehouse” – it was ensconced in old-growth beech forest (which is why that location was picked – not in avalanche territory), but it was perched on the side of the valley, so its common area had splendid views of the mountains on the other side. Spectacular Spectacular!!! Quentin Lodge (#3), a 45 min walk from the very impressive Sutherland Falls, like Glade House, was also set in a clearing with a river nearby, but with even higher, even more impressive snow-covered mountains forming the backdrop. Our last night’s lodging, the Mitre Peak Hotel (#4), was a “real” hotel, with 24 hr electricity, spectacular views of Milford Sound & Mitre Peak, very nice modern private rooms and bathrooms with bathtubs, FREE washer-dryer facilities (SO welcome since
we were doing the Routeburn a couple of days later), and even an expresso machine! It was a wonderful cap-off to the trip!!!

The Routeburn lodges were newer and generally better equipped (especially w/electrical outlets, which I needed for recharging my camera), with nicer, more modern toilet & showering facilities (Milford was fine, but older and more simple). Their locations were very good as they were both close to swimming places (MacKenzie Lake and a nice waterfall), but their views weren’t as spectacular as the Milford lodges. Their washing facilities were smaller – just one or two sinks at each. The shared sleeping facilities on the Routeburn were better in that they weren’t bunk beds. The first lodge was an especial treat: they put us in a family room, so we got to use the double bed which was right next to a large corner window. It was an unbelievable luxury to lie on the bed and see the multitude of stars at night (I kept my glasses on the window ledge right next to me!), and to watch the sunrise from the warmth of our double layer of comforters, especially since it was quite cold at that lodge!!!

Routeburn food was excellent, too, but the nibbles seemed t/b a little more sparse and limited, and I did miss the “wow” factor of home baked goodies that we had at Milford. The first lodge had fudge; the second had
excellent brownies – but rather tiny pieces, just one per person, both places. The Routeburn had a particular outstanding dessert (fruit-decorated passion fruit mousse on top a large baked meringue, plated with passion fruit sauce) the first night, followed by a different and outstanding b'fast the next morning (eggs Benedict). Our first day’s lunch (packed and provided by UH) was also very generous and memorable: a huge chicken-and-hard-boiled-egg sandwich on a very large whole wheat roll, a large blueberry muffin, and a muesli rectangle, which SF pronounced “the best oatmeal cookie he’d EVER had.” Oh, yes, and an orange, too!

In fact, it is exactly as Danny at Vknow said: the food, though perhaps not 5* a la Alinea or Fredrik’s, was definitely a 4*. Dinner was definitely fine dining, and we were in the middle of nowhere, so everything had t/b helicoptered in and out!?!

Plus, you could have a very nice glass of wine or bottle of beer w/dinner!?!

We took a Milford Sound cruise the morning after we emerged from the Track.  As Se Fok said:  after the track, the Sound was a bit of an anticlimax!  But we got to be on the ocean ever-so-briefly!

The drive out towards Te Anau is spectacular!

We had an afternoon and night in Te Anau between the Milford and Routeburn treks.  The town is very small and I had time to go to the glow worm caves.  It's a 45 min boat trip across the lake - boat goes very fast, right into a very stiff headwind, so even I couldn't stand it on the sun deck for long, even though the weather was great!  I felt like I was being hit by a jet stream.

The cave itself was a wonder.  It was a relatively new cave, formed by the erosive force of a rushing, roaring, swirling underground stream with waterfalls, cascades, and pools.  No time for stalactites or stalagmites to form yet! There was a boardwalk and steps following the stream. Quite damp, and some pretty low ceilings, especially for entry. The cave (actually a long stream-cut passageway) alone was well worth seeing.  Again, I was lucky - after a heavy rain the water can rise very high, engulfing all the walkways. But the weather had been very dry for the past week so all was well and everything was accessible!

The glow worms, surprisingly, are like maggots.  I.e. nothing like the Chicago fireflies.  They secrete a sticky thread which hangs from the roof of the cave. They are very soft bodied and thus must be in a very high humidity environment.  Their light is unblinking - a tiny dot of pale blue.  Very different from fireflies!  The light attracts flying insects which are then caught in the sticky thread.  The maggot them undulates down the thread and sucks its hapless prey dry.  Quite creepy!

Once your eyes get used to the darkness, you can see a little by the light of the tiny pale blue dots.  There's a multitude of them - like stars in the sky. It was a unique experience and I'm so glad I went!!!

The people on the treks were fine, too – this was part of the fun! This kind of a trip attracts a certain kind of person. It's not a cheap or easy trip (especially if you're coming from the mainland USA or Europe), especially considering you must carry all your clothes on your back in any kind of weather for 7 days. You have to be reasonably fit, tough, and enjoy being outdoors. Our co-travellers were educated & intelligent people, and came from all over the world, but mainly haole w/a smattering of Asians.

Other logistics that proved t/b wonderful: staying over in Hawaii proved t/b PERFECT. Broke the trip in half, plus the HI to NZ leg is north to south, so there’s virtually no jet lag!

Time of year was perfect! Apparently Feb (equivalent of Aug in Chicago) often has extended southern “highs” where high pressure air settles over the south island, resulting in warm clear days and cool nights for days at a time. We hit it just right! Dec and Jan are often very wet with more unsettled weather.

Our trip length and timing was just about perfect, too! SF still had diamond status at Hilton (to expire very soon!), so we had excellent free b’fasts at the Kawarau Hilton, and we were able to pack lunches off those b’fasts, too.

SF also was able to use the airline lounges, so we could get wonderful meals at the Air NZ lounges. All this may change soon, so I’m so glad we took advantage of it while we could!!!

We had two excellent meals in ZQN at Vknow and Eichardt’s, plus we bought the Fergbaker meat pies which were excellent (Ferg cooked in Stout w/caramelized onions, and venison w/portabello mushrooms and caramelized onion sauce). We had a nice meal at Redcliffe Restaurant in Te Anau. SF had a really excellent salad and a trio of wild local game; I had pork belly (too fatty for me) w/a v. good gnocchi casserole and delish red cabbage & fresh watercress. We tried Miles Better Pies, too! So, we ate VERY well!!!

Our hotel in Auckland (an Ibis) was a 15 min walk from the domestic terminal (where we arrived). There was an excellent restaurant (Szimpla Gastro Bistro) next door, and a large supermarket across the street. We left first thing in the morning, checked in, then relaxed for a good 3 hrs at the wonderful Air NZ lounge
where we had b’fast AND “morning tea”!

Flight was great, with a big movie selection and even 3 episodes of Game of Thrones! Good food, too (ckn curry w/rice, potato salad, and a nice cake w/a fruit sauce & cream cheese frosting). And free NZ wine! I tried the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir - both very good!

So – wonderful food & wine, spectacular scenery, perfect weather (cool air, warm sun, clear skies!), interesting plants & birds, nice people! An absolutely PERFECT trip!!!