Glacier Photos

View from Punga Grove Hotel

Keep an eye on that large rock area in the center. This is the view from the helicopter.

Same rock different angle and closer.

Above the rock, it is to the right.

The Day of the Glacier

The morning started with some confusion. I thought I was to wait for a shuttle from my hotel. After 20 min the hotel manager came out and told me to walk over 2 blocks. So I did, didn't see it so I asked 2 other tour directors who runs the hike on the glacier. Both told me to go back past my hotel to Base Glacier.  Nope, back to the main road about 500 yards to Heli Hike!  I'm late and miss some instructions. They give me boots and socks to put on, a fanny pack and a waterproof jacket. While signing the release I see there are health questions. Yes I have had knee surgery in both, turned my ankle severely a month ago but have a brace, yes I take high blood pressure meds, but no heart surgery or asthma. OK I'm good to go. 

We walk through some shrubs across the street an it opens to a massive flat area with 4-6 very rough helio pads. The copter can only take 5 and pilot. Our group takes 3 trips to get to the glacier. I know the photos do not do justice. We flew over quite a small portion but it silenced everyone in awe!  The blue color of the ice spires is beautiful. We are snapping pictures like crazy. We land with pinpoint perfection and put on the crampons (metal spikes that attach to the bottom of the boot). There are 2 leaders and they offer a fast group and a leisure one. In my 20-40s no doubt I would have accepted the challenge, but at 61 I'm going leisure. 

This should give some perspective of the ice.

Within the first 100 feet I realize I am in over my head with a bum ankle but keep going. I slipped

 and fell 3 times and the guide decided to be my personal assistant! AJ was so sweet and a young girl behind me carried my camera. At this point I trusted her more than myself. I'm not kidding, glaciers are NOT FLAT. We stopped for a short rest and he challenged us to drink from the glacial pool so I did and it was so pure and cold if course.

The weather was warm and overcast thank goodness. When the sun peaked out I stared to get a bit nauseous and AJ told me to take off my hat. It cooled me off a lot. Back to the helicopter and back to level ground. He flew on our flight and I gave him a $10 tip because I would not have made it without his hand holding, literally. 

Looking up at the spires of blue ice.

When I hit the street after returning equipment I began to sweat profusely. Exhaustion, a workout like I've never had and perhaps some anxiety for what I just accomplished. I slept in my soggy clothes for 2 hours. Amen 

Up,  shower and off to dinner at the Monsoon, right next to my hotel, Punga Grove. I have splurged

Another delicious meal!

with Pioneer Chicken with ricotta and spinach, roast potatoes and spring onions in a mushroom sauce. The drink is ginger ale. My stomach is not ready for beer yet. Oh yes I celebrated with chocolate mud cake!!  

Repacking and up for a bus and train ride tomorrow.

More adventures to come, but I think I have completed the major physical tasks at this point. I don't think Hobbitown will be too bad after that glacier.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Leaving Queenstown for Franz Josef today.

For some reason I couldn’t sleep at the Rees Hotel last night. It has been my favorite hotel and for those that have traveled with me, I even liked the pillows and walked barefoot on the floor!!

I was up at 6am so I decided to have breakfast at the hotel. Vanilla pancakes with caramelised banana and bacon with orange juice for $28.00 NZ. I needed to have that with the long bus ride ahead of me for the day. The desk clerk brought my luggage all the way up the driveway of the Reese and across the street to the bus stop! No easy feat! Our bus came on time and off we go at 8 am.

The bus driver was very informative. When we would pass something historical he would tell us a story or just be silly. We stopped every hour for a 10 minute break. Some of the places we stop are amusing. They are places where there are pubic toilets (as they say) or a small café to get a snack or piece of fruit. This photo is from a salmon farm. I kept my eye on that white heron. He was getting closer and closer but no catch while I was watching him.

When we reached the western coastline, he stopped at a lookout for the chance to take some photos. The coast in that section is much like Oregon with the large rock like structures rising up from the shallow waves. There is a lot of driftwood covering the area by the dunes and people on the beach appear to be picking up trash.

The drive here was very different than Dunedin to Queenstown. There we saw rolling hills and a lot

of sheep. Here there are more streams, rivers and sharp mountain peaks. Every flat area has a name. I did pass a stream called “Roaring Meg”. Sound like anyone we know?

Our arrival in Franz Josef was early at 4:00PM. I must say the view of the glaciers, Fox and Franz Josef was amazing. I can’t believe they do not melt in the sun! Tomorrow I will see it up close for myself as I am going on my first helicopter ride and glacier walk.

After the arrival at Punga Gorda hotel, I deposit all my stuff, grab the camera and tripod and get a few shots of the small street and glacier in the background. Dinner at The Landing was fun as I joined to other Americans at their table. Of course the wife has a son who graduated from Downingtown! They live in Boston now and are here for 3 weeks also. They just completed the tour I am taking tomorrow and gave me many tips, so now I am …cough cough….prepared to walk on a glacier. Dinner was chicken satay, rice and a small salad with a Summit ale.

I stopped in the Wildlife Centre for Kiwis across the street but the ticket was $35 just to see some kiwis in cages – not sure I want to see them in that environment. They are nocturnal so it is difficult to spot them running wild.  There is one guy who has transmitters on some so he can run tours and find them in the dark. The poor kiwis! I think I’ll go to the zoo.

Not much else happened today since it was a long drive. I’m sure I’ll have some interesting details tomorrow.

Leaving Dunedin, Back to Queenstown

Taken with iPhone

Up early at 8:00 am not to anxious to get going today. Off to Cadbury for morning snack of hot chocolate and a sweet bun. Check out of room at 11 and sit in the very small lobby on the internet until my taxi comes at 1:00 for the 1:40 bus back to QT and the Rees for one night. Taxi is $6.50 to the bus station. My travel agent booked and paid for my travel, hotels and tours. So I just need to show up!  

Most of the way back I slept on the bus. The rolling hills here remind me a bit of the Poconos. Nothing too high, just green and sheep!

I was greeted at the Rees by Heidi! She was still here after her helio flight was cancelled because of the weather. She just sat in the lobby all day editing photos, and she had some good ones too.  I ventured off to town for a small dinner since I'll be all day on the bus to Franz Josef tomorrow. I went to Speight's brew house so I could try the beer too. Unfortunately they no longer brew the wheat as it is out of season. So I'm settled on a summer ale that is light and tasty. The tv has a rugby game playing and I still don't get the rules. I have seen several games and might have to ask someone about the game.

Everywhere in NZ serves water and it is much better than I thought it would be because it is spring water. My meal is called chicken parcels. Chicken, peaches, bacon and cheese in phylo with aioli and sliced almonds and crunchy potatoes. It was delicious. I have not had a bad meal here but there is still time! This is the second time I have had chicken and peaches in a sauce and I've got to try and make it at home. The other time was at Giordano's in Kennett.

I need to rearrange my suitcases to get everything back in place. That is tonight's mission. 

A boring day coming up tomorrow with a bus ride from QT to Franz Josef. Leaving here at 8:00am and arriving at 4:30. I hope we stop at some good fruit stands on the way.

Good night all.

More Photos From Dunedin

They are EVERYWHERE! This one however looked me right in the eye. Usually they go quickly away from people.

This is the view down to the beach were we walked to see the penguins and sea lions.

On the way to the beach, we passed several ponds full of birds and wildlife. This kingfisher was just waiting for his lunch.

I saw a small ceramic of this Pukeko in a gift shop an bought it hoping I would see one in the brush. Sure enough, he was walking along with his mate on one side of the road and a huge hawk was on th other side hunting for something in the grass. Score!

Here is the beach and the lighting during our walk for sea lions. It really was beautiful.

Going to the penguins, we passed many trees that were shaped like this because of the high winds on the bluff.

Black swans were not native to New Zealand, but were plentiful in the ponds.

Those of you who go out to eat with me know I love different types of pizza. This was at a local pub and had carmalized pineapple and ham with chunky potatoes. I think they were just deep fried, but not shaped like fries. Some good spice on there as well. Lunch $12 NZ. Good deal here.

Nature Time!

I always thought this was going to be a boat to some remote location, but I was wrong. It was a van ride to the peninsula point off Dunedin.

We left the hotel in town at 1:30 and arrived at the Royal Albatross Centre at 2:30. The drove for about an hour to the penguins. It was a full day of adventure as we returned after dark at 7PM to the hotel.













Some of us had paid for a close encounter with the birds, so off we go hiking up hill about 100 yards to the viewing tower.  From there we observed about 6 immature birds still sitting on their nests. They were almost full grown, but will not fly until about 8 months old. They are pure white. Every once in a while an adult flies in to feed their baby. The infant taps on the beak of the parent to show they are hungry and the parent feeds them what they have retrieved from the sea.

Here comes the parent in for a landing. What makes these birds unique is their wingspan and their landing technique.


From the viewing tower, we can see scores of cormorant adults and infants scurrying about, but their nests are all empty and appear to be made of mud like substance. Some fly about during our visit.

This is the view back to Dunedin Harbour from the Royal Albatross Centre.

We have just completed our walk to see the yellow eye penguins, all 8 of them.  We had to detour to the grassy dunes because a large sea lion was guarding a lone female.  While walking in the grass we came upon several sea lions sleeping and resting. They can be aggressive, but not today.

We spotted penguins hopping up this hill to their evening nests. It must take forever and they didn't make much progress while we were watching. The yellow eye penguin does not really have a yellow eye but a yellow eye stripe. 

This pic really does not show the steep the walk up and down to the beach.

The walk to the van was exhausting because this brace in my shoe does not bend properly for hill climbing and I'm out of shape. At the top of the hill everyone is looking at the flat tire!! We are in the farthest Eastern part of Dunedin peninsula with no phone or cell reception  and our guide does not know how to change it or where all the equipment is located !! Finally, a Japanese guy helped him get it changed and off we went in the dark. 

By saying these roads are winding and narrow does not really describe the trip. 

Overall it was an exhausting day of winding narrow roads and lots of up and downhill hiking. I fell asleep at 9:30

More Edited Photos

This cottage belongs to a friend of Trey's. It looks like someone transplanted it right from the Cotswolds. This and the chair are my 2 favorite photos so far. Actually the chair was at the lower left of this photo overlooking Lake Hayes.

I just wanted to try something in B&W and this seemed like a good choice. What do you think?

Yellow Tree in QT

This is "Grassy Valley" overlooking QT at 6:45am. Every 10 minutes the sun would change and so would the light in the valley. The Remarkables are to the left.

Late morning we turned and shot towards the sun and I'm not sure how I like this either. I do like the green way out in the valley and the light across the tops of the distant mountains.