Friday, December 26, 2008
Same Home Address - New Phones
Hi. We are indeed moving back into our home and have updated contact info:
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
A White Christmas
A White Christmas.
We could see the snow covered city as our plane landed in Minneapolis and immediately questioned the timing of our return! Within two days we had another 7 inches of snow to shovel and the air temperature had dropped to 13 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-25 Celsius for our friends in NZ!)
But strange as it may seem given the harsh welcome weather, it is nice to be home. The little things are comforting as well like that familiar scrunching sound underfoot as we walk through the snow, the silence after a good snowfall and seeing all the bare branches outlined with white.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!! Also wish you a Happy New Year with lots of fun and adventures whether at home or away.
Angie and Jim
We could see the snow covered city as our plane landed in Minneapolis and immediately questioned the timing of our return! Within two days we had another 7 inches of snow to shovel and the air temperature had dropped to 13 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-25 Celsius for our friends in NZ!)
But strange as it may seem given the harsh welcome weather, it is nice to be home. The little things are comforting as well like that familiar scrunching sound underfoot as we walk through the snow, the silence after a good snowfall and seeing all the bare branches outlined with white.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!! Also wish you a Happy New Year with lots of fun and adventures whether at home or away.
Angie and Jim
The End?
A fitting photo for the end of an incredible year experiencing life Kiwi style. The only thing that could compensate for leaving such a wonderful place is knowing that we are returning home to be with our family & friends just in time for Christmas. Yet realizing that we’re heading into the heart of a Minnesota winter, a few days stop over in Fiji was solid planning.
Last Leg of the South Island Tour
So much more to tell, but we got caught up in all the travel and preparing to leave the country, instead of updating the blog. The last week stayed true to form of New Zealand travel in that at each destination we vowed that this is the best and it can’t get any cooler… 
then the next adventure would top it become the new coolest thing ever! Our last week leg of the tour went like clockwork by selling our car in Queenstown, then took a rental to Mount Cook, Lake Tekapo and 
Kaikoura before leaving from the Christchurch Airport on our way home. 
Here’s a couple shots from that journey including whale watching in Kaikoura where we were lucky to see three sperm whales resting at the surface before diving about a mile deep again.
then the next adventure would top it become the new coolest thing ever! Our last week leg of the tour went like clockwork by selling our car in Queenstown, then took a rental to Mount Cook, Lake Tekapo and 
Kaikoura before leaving from the Christchurch Airport on our way home. 
Here’s a couple shots from that journey including whale watching in Kaikoura where we were lucky to see three sperm whales resting at the surface before diving about a mile deep again.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
KAYAKING DOUBTFUL SOUND
After the Milford Track, we spend one night in Milford Sound and then went down South a bit further to spend a day kayaking through Doubtful Sound. A sitting tour sounded like a nice idea after four days of walking. I’ll replace a thousand-word description of that day and our encounter with penguins with a few photos…
THE MILFORD TRACK
Though most travel to the Milford Sound by road, the Milford Track is a more 
direct route, walking from the town of Te Anau to Milford Sound. It’s one of New Zealand’s “Great Walks” and one of the worlds top walks as well. It consists of walking up a river valley, up and over a mountain pass, then down another river valley into Milford Sound. Sound easy enough…
Day One:
A warm up walk. We met the 2:00 boat and started walking the trail by 3:30. It was only 90 minutes or so to the first overnight hut. The packs are always heavier on day one, food for four days and a few luxuries like a small box of wine for the first night’s dinner. As it was Thanksgiving Day back home, we also broke out the pumpkin soup to accompany our grilled cheese sandwiches. No complaints – cheese stays fresh for a day or two and is a good menu addition to any long tramp (that’s what the Kiwis call hiking... tramping).
Day Two:
Really moving the legs now. We begin by 7:45 AM and arrived to the hut a bit after 2:00 PM. We still can’t believe our luck: with 300 plus days of rain each year in Milford Sound area, two days of perfectly blue skies felt unreal to us. We were prepared for the worst, but happy to instead lie in the hot sun in this immense valley. One nice touch is that we realized there was no need to boil drinking water as the rivers coming down the mountain were crystal clear and there was no problem filling bottles right from the river.
Day Three:
A full day’s work: Leave at 8:00 AM, up and over Mackinnon Pass, and into the next hut by 5:00 PM. See photo with tuft of cloud over middle part of mountain… that’s Mackinnon Pass.
Milford lived up to its reputation that day as the sky clouded over and the rain came. It was cold and windy up top, but the rain was comparably light (we heard Milford got 250 centimeters of rain in 10 hours the week prior -- about one inch per hour). After a walk down the incredibly scenic pass it felt like we were in a Lord Of The Rings adventure. (find photo)
We took a 90-minute side trip to Sutherland Falls, the highest in New Zealand. Since we hadn’t had a true Milford soaking yet, this provided a nice opportunity. The picture barely shows Jim and his hiking mate from NewCastle walking behind the waterfall. They were as wet as if they had just jumped in the river.
Day Four:
Feeling like we could do anything for one last day, the 5.5 hour walk seemed very reasonable. With the forecast for rain, another completely dry day was a pleasant surprise. We passed many chest-high markers on the sides of the path with arrows to the next marker. We quickly realized that these are to identify the path for days with major rainfalls and flooding, and felt even more fortunate with the weather after seeing those markers.
A boat was there at the finish of that track on the aptly named Sandfly Point. It took us to the Milford Sound wharf where up to 500,000 people come to tour the sounds annually and for good reason.
The cold drink and hot shower felt as good as any we’d ever had. And thankfully, the legs didn’t get really sore until we were done walking. We also realized that we finished the tramp on December 1st, exactly one year from when we left Minnesota driving through the season’s first snowstorm.
direct route, walking from the town of Te Anau to Milford Sound. It’s one of New Zealand’s “Great Walks” and one of the worlds top walks as well. It consists of walking up a river valley, up and over a mountain pass, then down another river valley into Milford Sound. Sound easy enough…Day One:
A warm up walk. We met the 2:00 boat and started walking the trail by 3:30. It was only 90 minutes or so to the first overnight hut. The packs are always heavier on day one, food for four days and a few luxuries like a small box of wine for the first night’s dinner. As it was Thanksgiving Day back home, we also broke out the pumpkin soup to accompany our grilled cheese sandwiches. No complaints – cheese stays fresh for a day or two and is a good menu addition to any long tramp (that’s what the Kiwis call hiking... tramping).
Day Two:
Really moving the legs now. We begin by 7:45 AM and arrived to the hut a bit after 2:00 PM. We still can’t believe our luck: with 300 plus days of rain each year in Milford Sound area, two days of perfectly blue skies felt unreal to us. We were prepared for the worst, but happy to instead lie in the hot sun in this immense valley. One nice touch is that we realized there was no need to boil drinking water as the rivers coming down the mountain were crystal clear and there was no problem filling bottles right from the river.
Day Three:
A full day’s work: Leave at 8:00 AM, up and over Mackinnon Pass, and into the next hut by 5:00 PM. See photo with tuft of cloud over middle part of mountain… that’s Mackinnon Pass.
Milford lived up to its reputation that day as the sky clouded over and the rain came. It was cold and windy up top, but the rain was comparably light (we heard Milford got 250 centimeters of rain in 10 hours the week prior -- about one inch per hour). After a walk down the incredibly scenic pass it felt like we were in a Lord Of The Rings adventure. (find photo)
We took a 90-minute side trip to Sutherland Falls, the highest in New Zealand. Since we hadn’t had a true Milford soaking yet, this provided a nice opportunity. The picture barely shows Jim and his hiking mate from NewCastle walking behind the waterfall. They were as wet as if they had just jumped in the river.
Day Four:
Feeling like we could do anything for one last day, the 5.5 hour walk seemed very reasonable. With the forecast for rain, another completely dry day was a pleasant surprise. We passed many chest-high markers on the sides of the path with arrows to the next marker. We quickly realized that these are to identify the path for days with major rainfalls and flooding, and felt even more fortunate with the weather after seeing those markers.
A boat was there at the finish of that track on the aptly named Sandfly Point. It took us to the Milford Sound wharf where up to 500,000 people come to tour the sounds annually and for good reason.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
GLACIERS – SEE THEM WHILE THEY LAST!
Just when we think things can’t be more awe-inspiring here in NZ, we visit these extremely accessible glaciers, unique because of how close they are to the sea. We took a 7-hour walking/climbing tour of Franz
Joseph
Glacier and it was intellectually fascinating and visually magnificent.The glaciers are literally like extremely slow flowing rivers, slowly bringing everything on top – including massive rocks – to the front like a giant conveyer belt. The guide said he can lean an ice pick up against the front of a glacier in the morning and it will move 4 meters by the next afternoon. Because of the microclimate in this West Coast region, the glacier’s advance or retreat is less dependent on global temperature and more so on how much snowfall the glacier receives up top. In fact this glacier had been advancing over the past 5 years and just last year started retreating again.
But how can you not tour a glacier and not view it through the lens of global warming? Many glaciers and ice shelves around the world are retreating rapidly, but the climate will violently swing back the other way again one day and begin a new ice age. I’m reminded of George Carlin’s line about people wanting to save the planet. Save the planet, he says, the planet doesn’t need humans to save it -- it’s going to shake us off like a bad case of fleas. We felt like mere flees floating on this massive river of ice.
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