South Island – Pt 2 – Southern Alps (Best Place on Earth?)

[Words: Janice, Pics: Mark]

We took advantage of the family car waiting for us in Christchurch and were headed on to explore the rest of the South Island. We had beautiful bluebird days almost everyday we were away until we returned back to Christchurch. We cut straight from the east coast to the west coast of South Island, driving across Arthur’s Pass. The roads were windy and steep, cutting through some awesome snow-capped mountains, so obviously Mark was enjoying the drive, and ended our day in the Westland Tai Poutini National Park which is home to the famous Franz Josef (12 km long) and Fox (13 km long) glaciers.

 

Beware the Kiwi Crossing!!!

Getting ready to enter Arthur's Pass - east NZ connection to the west coast. Population 54 and highest community in NZ at 2,428ft above sea level. Thanks for the car dad.

 

Both glaciers have advanced and retreated over time (have been recorded to move us much as 70 cm a day), but are both currently retreating. Just before the sunset, we walked to the terminal face of the Franz Josef glacier and took some really cool photos of the glacier in this reflective pond called Peter’s Pool. The next day, we signed up to join a full-day glacier walk on the Fox glacier, so we strapped on our crampons and layered on our waterproof gear and started trekking our way up the glacier. It was such an experience being up on the bright blue glacier, and the really cool thing about it, is that it is constantly moving and changing, so that if you visit it, it’s never the same. We got to slip through some moulins (hollowed-out tunnels), drink fresh glacier water (I didn’t have a cup, so I just got on my belly and slurped it up), jumped over small crevasses, ate lunch on the glacier, and we also saw some people ice climbing – one of my favourite experiences yet!

 

Guide necessary. Sign was serious about this since posted an article of two tourist traveling without one being crushed in front of parents by falling ice chunks the size vehicles and weighing 100s of tonnes. We opted for a guided tour.

 

One of many mirrored lake photos. This one was in front of Franz Joseph Glacier.

 

Fox Glacier. Distinction to be one of few glaciers in the world to end in a rain forest, only 300m above sea level.

Start of glacier walk near terminal face - Fox Glacier. Guides up ahead cutting a few steps.

Exiting a moulin, or crevasse, hole in the glacier. Glad there was no movement of ice in the 15m tunnel.

Fox Glacier. This is as far as we would hike up due to the gnarly terrain behind us.

Lake Matheson just after sunrise with fog being burned away.

Lake Matheson overlooking Mount Cook to the east.

Mount Cook and Mount Tasman, number one and two in heights above sea level.

Thought the rainbow mirror shot was worthwhile. Fox Glacier.

 

From the glaciers, we moved on to Wanaka (which is the smaller, more mellow version of Queenstown) and the drive in takes us through some more gorgeous scenery. Since it is winter, Wanaka is its ski/snowboard mode and Mark is super excited and spends almost all day in and out of all the ski stores. We spend a few hours getting both of us fitted with rental ski equipment and head out to Treble Cone ski area early the next morning. That evening, we went to a local sports bar and watched the NZ All Blacks vs. Australian Wallabies Tri-Nations rugby match. We showed up in All Blacks clothes and got a couple free drinks, so Mark was excited about that – the atmosphere was great, and it was $5 CAD pitchers of beer all night. The All Blanks spanked the Wallabies 30 to 14.

 

Lake Wanaka

 

Beach at Wanaka looking out into Roys Bay at south end of Lake Wanaka.

 

Wanaka sunset

It was sleeting/snowing in the morning, and so on our drive up to the base of Treble Cone, we were told that we had to put on snow chains (which we purchased in Christchurch before we left). First, Mark and I have never put on snow chains before and second, the car we were driving had low clearance above the tires, making it really difficult to fit the chains on. After 40 minutes of struggling and some guidance, we finally got the snow chains on (other cars pulled over and had theirs on in 5 minutes, which was super frustrating to see) and we slowly climbed up the switch-back gravel roads to the base of Treble Cone. The first run was alright, some spots were icy, some spots had fresh ungroomed powder, so it was a little tricky for me (and ya, I fell a few times), but the wind was up too, so that made it even harder. The second run, we followed this ridge run, and it was a combination of bad timing and the location we were at on the mountain, as we found ourselves in 100 kph winds and white-outs – I couldn’t see a thing, and the wind was pushing me off the mountain every time I turned – I was getting scared. I wasn’t the only one, there were other people on their butts just sliding down the hill. After some encouraging words from Mark, I made my way down (some sliding on my butt, but mostly skiing) and I sat in the lodge and warmed up and waited for the wind to calm down. Mark went out for a couple more runs, but he wasn’t have such a great time either because his bindings kept on popping off. After a long lunch break when the winds died down, I went back out with Mark again and we took a few more runs. Treble Cone only has 2 chairlifts, and one of them was closed for most of the day for avalanche work and patrol bombings, so the line-ups were really long. Only be2pmor so, the other chairlift opened so we hopped over to that run and took some fun runs in freshly groomed powder. In the afternoon, the view from the top of Treble Cone out over Lake Wanaka was gorgeous, I would say one of the best views in all of NZ – so although the morning was awful for me, the scenery made up for it in the afternoon. I thought putting on the snow chains would be the only hard part, but we had more problems getting them off once we were at the base of the mountain. After another 30 minutes of struggling and with further assistance from some friendly Kiwis, we finally got them off, and threw them back into the trunk hoping that we’d never have to use them again.

 

Treble Cone ski field, Wanaka. Most advanced ski area in NZ and largest skiable area. Typical shot since valley is usually brown and peaks are covered.

 

Thawing of the icicle beard

Next day we were off to Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of the world. We arrived in the morning and before I could think about it too much or chicken out, we booked our big tandem Nevis Bungy Swing for the afternoon. This is reportedly the highest swing in the world, with a 70m free fall and then a 300m swing. It was about a 45 minute drive to the Nevis Canyon from Queenstown and although I thought there would be more to it, all we did was sign a waiver and get weighed in a few times, and before we knew it, we were walking out on this long scary bridge over the canyon and getting strapped in. I decided to be strapped in backwards, and Mark went forwards. I’m not sure whether my rationale was sound or not, but it seemed to be less scary for me if I couldn’t see how far down the canyon was. The guy was joking around and telling us he was missing clips and forgetting buckles, but seriously, no one else did a double check!!! I of course asked whether someone else was going to audit the situation and make sure we were all strapped in right, but before I could object, he pushed the green button and down we went. I remember screaming (I think I heard Mark yelp too), my eyes shutting briefly and the free falling (which apparently is only for 3 seconds). Then by the time it all registered we were swinging over this giant canyon and I wanted to do it again – it was sooooFUN!!!! Of course, we had to buy the photos and videos of our bungy swing too, so it was an expensive afternoon, but after doing it, I know that I can also bungy and skydive for sure and look forward to it.

(For those on my Facebook – VIDEO - http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150333689195050)

If staring down 160m wasn't scary enough, the suspension bridge of 70m swaying the strong winds was an unsettling approach to the Nevis..

 

Nevis Canyon, outside of Queenstown. No countdown, thanks bungy employee.

3sec free fall. Covered 3 football fields in length in 150kph length. One of trips highlights.

On day 2 in Queenstown, we signed up for the Shotover Jet ride. Mark had done it before, many years ago, but said that he was happy to do it again. It was basically twenty-five minutes of racing through the dramatic and narrow canyons of theShotoverRiverCanyonin this big red jet boat, whipping past rocky outcrops and skimming around boulders. My favourite was when we did the 360 degree spins and got sprayed with the face with the freezing river water. Really good fun, but too short.

 

Billed as the 'World's Most Exciting Jet Boating Ride'. Won't challenge this considering 360 spins, 85kph speeds on waters 10cm of clearance and walls cleared by about a meter on the side.

On day 3, we went up to Coronet Peak for another day of skiing. The good thing was that it was sunny and it hadn’t snowed at all in the past few days, so we didn’t need to worry about the snow chains, but bad because there wasn’t too much fresh snow on the mountain. Although Mark tells me that Coronet Peak has some of the best snow making machines around, so there was a really nice layer of fresh snow on the mountain. It was another bluebird day and the view was beautiful from the top (although not as nice as Wanaka in my opinion) and with that small fresh layer of snow, I was actually really enjoying the day. Because I was in a good mood, Mark started giving me the pole planting and other ski lessons since as he loves to do because my form was not very good, and by afternoon I was feeling much more confident. Someone was even filming me down one run – and I hope it’s because I was looking good, and not because I was an example of how not to ski, but I guess I will never know. On our last day, we took a day trip from Queenstown to Arrowtown, an old tiny gold-mining town which has really quaint shops and restaurants – not too much to do, but really relaxing and beautiful. Otherwise, Queenstown is a very touristy town, so there were lots of really cool shops, bars, and restaurants – so Mark and I entertained ourselves walking through the town. There is this really famous burger place in Queenstown called Fergburger, and although we heard that people had waited up to 40 minutes for their burger, we only waited about 20 minutes, but I can’t say that it was worth the wait – it was good, but not that good.

 

Cornet Peak ski field, Queenstown. Largest of all ski fields in terms of snowmaking capability. Queenstown to top-right by lake and Remarkables ski field top middle of the picture.

 

TSS Earnslaw, coal fired steamship nearly 100 years old. Departs Queenstown onto Lake Wakatipu.

Pitching stones into Lake Wakatipu on the edge of the Queenstown Gardens

Our last big adventure in the South Island was heading into the Fiordland National Parkin the far south west and visiting both Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound. When Captain Cook first arrived in this region in the 1770′s, he incorrectly mapped and described these areas as sounds (flooded river valley) but they were actually fjords (valley carved by glaciers). Unfortunately, everyone kept on calling them sounds, so they names stuck. To rectify this, the named the whole area the Fiordland, but didn’t even spell it properly (should be Fjordland). This area generally gets 300 days of rain a year, but the locals were joking that the area was in a drought as it hadn’t rained in the past 3 days. It’s always nice to have sun and blue skies, but most people told us that this area is best when it’s rainy and gloomy as the waterfalls are at their most impressive and the fjords are all misty and mysterious. We started off with a boat tour in Doubtful Sound, which is the second largest of the 14 fjords in the area, and enjoyed the scenery of rugged peaks and twisting inlets. The water was remarkably calm that day (per our captain), so we were able to go right out into the mouth of the Tasman Sea and watch some lazy sun-bathing NZ fur seals. We also spotted a few shy small Blue Penguins floating by the shore. On the way back, we had a visit to the underground Manapouri Hydro Power Station, which NZ touts as one of their biggest engineering achievements – very interesting. To actually get to Doubtful Sound is an adventure in itself, as we had to get on a one-hour boat ride across Lake Manapori first, and then another one-hour drive across Wilmot Pass and the Fiordland rain forest and do that again on the way back – so it was a long day.

Looking back into Doubtful Sound. Saw one other boat and no planes or other human life...quite the remote tranquil experience.

 

Since we already did a boat cruise in Doubtful Sound, we opted for the kayak trip in Milford Sound, which is home to the world-famousMitrePeak. Milford Sound is the most visited of all the fjords because the mountains stand the tallest and straightest out of the sea, the rainforest clings to the sheer rock walls, and the waterfalls are the highest. Although Mark and I argued here and there about the paddling and steering, it was a really relaxing and beautiful day as we got to kayak right up under a waterfall and have the water spray gently on our face, eat lunch on one of the bays, search for the elusive Fiordland Yellow-Crested Penguin (we heard them, but did not see them), kayak beside more NZ fur seals sun-bathing on the rocks, and see the residue of severe tree avalanches on the sheer cliffs. Mark was in awe of the snow-capped mountains jutting out of the water, especially Mitre Peak, which is the world’s highest sea cliff.

 

Milford Sound, Mitre Peak. This could be the most photographic scene in NZ. Mitre Peak named after headwear bishops wear, the peak rises just over one mile and is one of the tallest sea cliffs in the world. This was another favourite experience of the whole trip.

 

Springboard town for Milford Sound - Te Anau, Lake Te Anau.

And with that, our adventures in NZ had almost come to an end. I wanted to go skydiving on our way back up to Christchurch, but the weather was just about to take a turn for the worse, and we had to drive up through the mountains back to Christchurch quickly before the snow hit, otherwise we could have been stranded down in the south for days and miss our flight back to Toronto. We broke up the long drive (along route we got some gorgeous shots of Lake Pukaki and Mt.Cook – NZ highest mountain at 12,316 feet and training ground for Sir Edmond Hillary, first person to climb Mt. Everest and a Kiwi) and stayed over night in the beautiful town of Lake Tekapo, with its stunning aquamarine colour.

 

One of my favourite lookout points - Lindis Pass - 2hrs NE of Queenstown.

 

Lake Tekapo. Milky light blue colouring from sediment runoff from the alps.

Lake Pukaki, looking westward. Right in the distance at the end of the lake stands Mount Cook, tallest mountain in NZ at 12,316ft.

Church of the Good Sheppard. Situated on the rocky shores of Lake Tekapo and this shot is a the back of the church behind the alter. View of Mount Cook and best church view I have ever seen. Could not be over 500sqft with 5 or so rows of seats.

By the time we arrived back inChristchurch, we got big snow dumps two nights in a row and all the roads were closed, so Mark and I just hunkered down and watched movies to pass the time. Apparently, this was the worst snow storm NZ had seen in 50 years, even Auckland saw snow, which apparently has not happened for about 70 years or so. I was getting nervous because the Christchurch airport was closed in the mornings and experienced cancellations and delays for the rest of the days, and with all our connecting flights that was not good news. Fortunately, by the morning of our departure, the snow had ceased and it was just rain, so everything was looking good. We were supposed to fly from Christchurch to Melbourne, Melbourne to Bangkok, Bangkok to Stockholm, Stockholm to Dusseldorf, and finally Dusseldorf to Toronto (combination of cheap Jetstar flights and Air Canada points were to thank for this horrible route and 48 hours of flying) to get home. So although we were all worried about getting out ofChristchurch, it was actually a 6 hour delay inMelbournethat screwed everything up. Because of that delay, we missed our connecting flight fromBangkok to Stockholm, so everything had to be rescheduled and the earliest we could fly out of Bangkok to Toronto would now be three-days later on August 21 instead of August 19. Oh well, far worse places to be stuck than Bangkok and I guess it was good to break up all the flights. The three days went by fast with shopping, eating and movies and then we were on our way through Frankfurt and Paris this time and finally made it back toToronto!

 

We were also supposed to visit some of my family in Hong Kong at the end of our trip, but we just ran out of time. The 168 days of travelling were done and gone and it all went by too fast. Hope you all enjoyed reading these blogs and seeing the pictures (if not, it’s a good journal for us)! I’m so happy Mark and I got the opportunity to do a trip like this, it was full of adventures and meeting really great people along the way. Time to plan our next trip…

South Island – Part 1 – Wine, Whales & Christchurch Family

[Words: Janice, Pics: Mark]

[FOLLOW LINK FROM EMAIL TO SEE PICTURES FOR THE ARTICLE]

So Mark tells me although he loves all of NZ,South Islandis where the real dramatic landscapes are (i.e. mountains and snow). Although he’s been to NZ many times before, Mark has never really explored the top of theSouth Islandand the Fiordland and West Coast, so these areas would be new to him too. The plan was for us to arrive on the ferry in Picton harbour, and drive that day along the north coast, through theRichmondmountain range toAbelTasmanNational Park. Although it was a bluebird day in Picton, it was apparently snowing in the mountains and the surrounding areas closer to sea level and as a result, the roads to Abel Tasman were closed.

The beauty that is the Marlborough Sounds. Formed by river erosion and largest coastline in NZ, this north part of South Island offers scenery often overlooked on NZ vacations.

Sunset on the Snout hike two hours from Picton harbour. Can barely make out the InterIslander Ferry from Wellington in the bottom right of the shot.

NZ rarely gets snow (other than in the mountains), so many of the roads, schools, public services and businesses, etc. across theSouth Islandwere closed and the local news was going nuts reporting the freak snow fall. In turn, we changed our plans and decided to spend those couple days instead exploring the Marlborough Sounds in Picton and take advantage of the great weather in the area.  Most people come from theNorthIslanddown to theSoundIslandby ferry and think they’ve seen all there is from the window and move on, that was what we were going to do, but we would have missed out on some absolutely gorgeous scenery if we did. We enjoyed a scenic drive along the Queen Charlotte Road with a lunch stop in the small town of Havelock where we pigged out on fresh NZ green-lipped mussels, we got some playtime with NZ fur seals and enjoyed lunch on one of the secluded bays on a kayak trip into the Sounds, and we took a decent walk out along a peninsular to an amazing viewpoint (The Snout Walk). The Marlborough Sounds is possibly one of my favourite spots in NZ.

Nice looking skirts. This area gets the most sunshine in the country with upward to 250 days of sun a year thanks to the rain shadow effect of the mountains to the west and south.

Another Snout trek pic overlooking Picton harbour. Gorse weed/flower, which was everywhere over the south island, that had inch long spikes all over the branches.

Walk back to Picton in the evening; one of the most colourful skies of the our south island trip.

More turquoise waters surrounding NZ coastline

Moving on from Picton (but the great weather followed us), we headed south to Bleinhem, which is the town centre for one of NZ’s largest grape growing and wine making regions. Sauvignon Blanc is the region’s specialty, but every white wine we tasted was really good (with the exception of the Chardonnays which Mark and I have determined we just don’t enjoy). We visited about 5 or 6 wineries, and I was probably drunk by the second one – the white wines were just so good. We bought a few bottles as gifts for Mark’s family that we’d soon be visiting down inChristchurch. We recommend Wither Hills,SpyValleyand Villa Maria based on the wineries we visited and others would beCloudyBayand Dog Point; which we did not visit.

View from the top of Spy Valley winery. Company name was due to U.S. satellite communications monitoring station (spy base) nearby.

From Picton to Blenheim. Lone jetty.

Largest mussels I have ever seen...were the size of Janice's hand.

The road from Bleinhem down to Kaikoura had some of the most spectacular coastal scenery I’ve ever seen. Just north of Kaikoura at the Oahu Seal Colony, we pulled off the road and took too many pictures of the sunbathing NZ fur seals. The town ofKaikouraitself is on a peninsula overlooked by snow-capped majestic mountains and the deep and plankton rich sea at its doorstep provides an ideal habitat for marine mammals and sea birds. We joined a whale watching tour in the morning, and were lucky enough to see a couple of sperm whales deep dive for some food, hundreds of dusky dolphins spinning and jumping, and some giant albatross flying around fishing boats. I would have loved more time in Kaikoura, but we were due inChristchurchthat afternoon to return our rental car and meet Mark’s Uncle Bede.

Sperm whale ready for its 3km dive underwater of the central east coast of the South Island

Only half the whales body is exposed above water and it surfaces for about 2 minutes

Hundreds of dusky dolphins eating, playing and showing off aerial skills. Pretty memorable backdrop with surprising blue coastline, foothills, Kiakoura white capped mountain range and the bluebird day. Couldn't have asked for a better day, no wind. Tried same trip 7 years ago and drove 3hrs one way, then 3hrs home to Christchurch same day due to rain storm.

Drive into Kiakoura with mountain range of same name in distance.

NZ Fur Seals. They shore during the day and in this site sleep around the parking lot and along boardwalks and then they wake at night to hunt in the ocean.

Most of Mark’s family lives inChristchurchand fortunately, Mark was able to catch up with almost everyone, including his Uncle Bede and Aunt Carmel and cousins Brynn, Ryan & Nicola (and their adorable kids Mason and Cameron); Aunt Michele and Uncle Patrick and cousins Michael and Claire; and Aunt Nicola and Uncle Barry and cousins Liam and Rebecca.

October 1993. I was 11 years old. Only Emma, from Auckland, youngest of cuzzies is missing.

Meeting #2 with cousin Ryan and wife Nicola in ChCh home (previously surprise meeting in Ubud)

We saw a bit of the residual snow across the city, but most of it had melted away as the weather was warming up. Neither were sure of what to expect since the big earthquakes of Sept 2010 and Feb 2011, but when we went into town there was nothing but rubble left and the entire area was fenced off. It was really a sad and desolate sight. Some of the businesses that could relocate to the suburbs have done so already, but others are just out of luck as they wait for the city to rebuild, which will take quite a few more years.

Entrance to downtown CBD of Christchurch. This was the sight from most inroads.

The Earthquake Commission of New Zealand (in conjunction with private insurance providers) is generally covering all damages caused by the earthquakes. All buildings and houses inChristchurchhave been classified as being in either a green (the repair/rebuild process can begin), orange (hold, further assessment required), red (where remediation would be prolonged and may be uneconomic) or white (unzoned, unmapped) zone. Fortunately, all of the homes of Mark’s family, with the exception of one, are all green.

Photo taken early in August. All stores were left as is after the 2nd major earthquake in February and untouched since. Surreal to see the chaos and area frozen in time.

Stone churches didn't stand a chance

We took a drive to the most damaged areas ofChristchurchincluding Lyttleton,Brightonand Sumner and the roads were all uneven and warped, sandbags lined rivers to prevent further flooding, shipping containers banked along the road offering protection from rock and landslides from cliff faces, and portable toilets were scattered throughout the neighbourhoods. On a brighter note, we visited a few really good weekend markets in the suburbs (Christchurch Farmers Market and Riccarton Rotary Sunday Market) and had lots of quality time with Mark’s family.

Cliffs and homes above half hanging in there at Sumner beach 10km SE of ChCh. No, not a train below, but containers were used as protection for traffic below from falling rocks and homes.

Posing around Sumner Beach with the purple Lupins

FromChristchurch, we ventured on a couple of day trips – one to Akaroa and the other to Hanmer Springs. Akaroa is a beautiful historical French and British settlement situated in the heart of an ancient volcano in which the ocean has filled in. We had a brunch in the quaint village and then took an afternoon walk through fields of sheep and flowers with an amazing view of the bay. The key attraction, Mark participated in 5 years ago, was swimming with the smallest dolphin in the world, Hector Dolphins, in the long harbour. At Hanmer Springs, 3hours north of ChCh towards the mountains, we basically spent the entire day at the famous thermal pools, which had dozens of rainbow, rock, sulphur and freshwater pools to choose from, ranging from 36 to 42 degrees. They were too hot for Mark, but I loved them!

Hamner Springs with Southern Alps in the background. Week prior pool where covered with foot of snow

View into the volcano that is Akaroa, which is one hour east of ChCh

Lone jetty #2 into Akaroa harbour

View exiting ChCh on the Canterbury Plains to the Southern Alps to the west coast

 

South IslandBlog – Part 2 – To Be Continued…

New Zealand – North Island – Mark’s Second Home

Rain, wind and an average temperature of 10 degrees welcomed us to Auckland- which was definitely a shock to my system. I was wearing all my layers for the first few days as my body was adjusting to the “winter” weather in New Zealand. I didn’t have to be in NZ very long to notice all the 2011 World Cup Rugby advertisements, posters, merchandise and general paraphernalia plastered everywhere (WC Sep9 – Oct 23, Mark’s dad somehow got WC Final tickets, fingers crossed the All Blacks are in that game). NZ is the host country this year (last hosted in 1987, also coincidentally the last and only time NZ All Blacks team won) and the tournament starts September 9, so the countdown was on! This is quite strange since the All Blacks are consistently at the top of the world rankings each year, including the world cup years.

Canadians think they are crazy about hockey. NZ gives Canada competition re: obsession about their national sport/pride

We were very fortunate to be staying with some of Mark’s family – Uncle John, Aunt Karen, and cousin Emma while we were in Auckland- and they were most welcoming and generous. The first couple of days, we were just so excited to be in a home, use tap water, take good showers, watch English TV, etc., that we did not leave their house for two days.

John Eccleton, Emma, Karen. Thanks for the Auckland hospitality. It is always a great greeting to New Zealand.

By the third day, we finally managed to make our way out into the city and explore the downtown and harbourfront as well as the national museum. The weather was a little gloomy, but you could still see that Auckland was a beautiful coastal city, built on a land of 50 dormant volcanoes. AKL is also home of the largest Polynesian population in the world and one of the few cities that has two harbours with major bodies of water (i.e. Pacific Oceanand Tasman Sea). The city is home for about one third of the NZ population at 1.4million people. We drove to a viewpoint at the top of Mt.Eden(one of the many dormant volcanoes in the city) one afternoon, and a huge rainbow arched itself across the city which was really beautiful; Mark was freaking out because it was a double rainbow. Mark and Emma were able to squeeze in a friendly tennis match – Mark did win, but Emma (who is 12 years-old) definitely showed her skill, so that next time when they have a re-match, I’m sure the result will be the other way around. We also did some bowling, Team NZ (John and Emma) vs. Team Canada(Mark and I), and I’m sad to report that Team Canada didn’t do so well. Although he claims he hasn’t been bowling in years, we were all convinced that John was spending some extra hours at the bowling alley recently because he was killing us with all these strikes in a row.

Mount Eden. Yes, it was a double rainbow.

Canada vs New Zealand

On our last day in Auckland, the sun was finally starting to show itself, so Mark, Emma and I went across the Tamaki Strait on the ferry to WaihekeIslandfor a relaxing walk around and to soak in the beautiful scenery. Six days later, we are off to explore the rest of the North Island of NZ in our rental car (which John helped us get at the bargain price of $12CAD a day!!!).

Normally NZ flag has a blue base and red stars, but this represents the nautical flag. NZ flag has 4 RED stars of the Southern Cross constellation. Not to be confused with the Australia flag that has 6 WHITE stars.

Cuzzie aggression

Emma, 12yo cousin from Auckland. Waiheke Island, NE of Auckland

Within a couple of hours drive from Auckland, we were on the beautiful coast of Bay of Plenty where we located the famous Hot Water Beach in the small town of Hahei. Because of the natural thermal springs under this beach, if you dig a hole in the right spot at low tide, hot water will bubble up, leaving you with your own private natural hot water tub. With a mild and sunny day, and with the tide going out, it was a perfect day for this, so we hired a small shovel for a few dollars and proceeded to dig a hole in an area of the sand which we could feel was hot under our feet. We were warned that getting a comfortable pool of water would require some engineering, luck and perseverance, and I didn’t really know what people meant by this, but right after we started digging, we found out right away. After just a few feet of digging a very small hole, a little bit of water started bubbling up, but it was scalding hot (60C is spots)!!! We tried digging in a few other spots where we felt the hot sand under our feet, but it was that same boiling water that came up. We then started to experiment with that engineering we were told about, and dug trenches from our pool to the ocean in hopes of getting cold ocean water to funnel in – that didn’t work. We also resorted to using a bucket to transfer cold ocean water into our pool – that didn’t work either. Finally, after a long time, another couple saw us struggling and offered to share their pool with us, which had that nice comfortable temperature. We dug a little bit to expand their pool so we could all fit comfortably, but that didn’t help as that just resulted in scalding hot water seeping in on one side and very cold water on the other, so parts of the pool got really cold and then got really hot at unpredictable times. Both Mark and I left that beach with first degree burns on our feet and butts, but it was really fun and we stayed until the tide came back in and washed our pool away.

One minute later the ocean crashed in, but was a nice relief from the scolding water

The next day, with the sun shining again, we took a nice walk to the much-photographed Cathedral Cove on another part of Hahei beach and then moved on to Coromandel Town. Even after only a few days on the road in NZ, I realized that driving itself is an attraction – the scenery is beautiful and it is hard not to pull over at every other park or viewpoint to enjoy the view and take pictures. In Coromandel Town, we took this train ride through a wild life sanctuary; the tracks and train were built by a NZ pottery artist in the 70′s – interesting and nice views.

Over looking Coromandel Town. Peninsula 75km east of Auckland.

Coromandel Peninsula. Very tropical looking turquoise blue waters, but probably 12C temperature this time of year.

Cathedral Cove, the Coromandel. Looking out to South America.

Cathedral Cove

Silver fern. Endemic to NZ and along with the Kiwi bird, true NZ

Driving further south, we arrived in Rotorua or Sulphur City, where we were staying with Mark’s cousin, Monique, and her family (husband Koro of native Maori decent and their children Alex, Tamaku, Ihaia, and Awanuiarangi (aka Awa)).  This city is nicknamed Sulphur City due to its pungent and unique egg smell as a result on being built on geothermal zone. We took note of it each day but locals noses I guess have adjusted to it and do not notice it much.

Eldest of cuzzies, Monique Tini. Also, Koro and the kids left to right: Tamaku, Ihaia, and Awanuiarangi (aka Awa). Thanks for the fun times in Rotorua

On the way into Rotorua, we had to Zorb, Rotorua being the birthplace of this odd activity. We decided on the wet Zorb option, which involved jumping head first into a giant transparent beach ball, the centre of which is filled with warm water, and then they close it up and roll you down the hill. Basically, the only way I can explain this is that it’s probably equivalent to being inside a washing machine. It doesn’t look like much when you watch other people go down the hill on this zig-zag track, but when you are inside that ball sliding away as it rolls down this hill, you are slipping and sliding with no control, and it is really fun.

The zig zag track. Looked slow, but once was in the ball, felt like a crazy water slide. Good luck attempting to stand in it

Where am I and how did I not lose both contact lenses

After our Zorb experience, we were welcomed by Monique, Koro and the kids and they showed us around the Whakarewarewa Thermal Village (I have no idea how to pronounce that) where some of his family lives and gave as an introduction to Maori culture and the many geysers, thermal hot pools and mud pools in the area. Koro showed us someone’s traditional Maori hangi meal (meat and vegetables) being cooked in this pit dug in the ground, using thermal heat, and it looked and smelled delicious. The next day, we got better acquainted with Maori culture at the Tu Puia Arts & Crafts Institute where we visited the carving & weaving school and watched a Maori cultural performance. The performance included the Haka, which was traditionally performed by warriors before a battle, proclaiming their strength and prowess in order to intimidate the opposition, but has now been made famous by the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team, as they perform the Haka at the beginning of every match. Some of these Maori guys are really big, so when they do the Haka, it definitely is intimidating.

37 letters. Maori words are often shortened for some reason and each word carries a story related to the meaning of the area or object. 'WH' is pronounced as a 'F' sound.

Pohutu Geyser. When active once and hour can spray up to 100feet. We had a VIP trip to the thermal village after hours thanks to Koro.

A couple of Maori performers at the Tu Puia cultural center

Tu Puia Maori carving

Being invited into the Maori Wharenui (literally translated to 'Big House')

Staying warm at the Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley (pronounced Faka)

We took a small day trip from Rotorua to visit the glow worm caves of Waitomo. When we were in the caves on a small raft with hundreds of thousands of glow worms all around, it felt like we were in space, and it really was like nothing else I’ve seen before. Even better was that with every minute that went by, our eyes got more adjusted to the dark so the glow worms just got brighter and brighter.

Quite the surreal experience in pitch black cave with only lighting from millions of glow worms on the ceiling of caves

Weather wasn’t great in Rotorua, but it wasn’t too cold or wet, and I was better acclimatized at this point, so it wasn’t too bad. Otherwise, we spent our time in Rotorua hanging out with Tamaku, Ihaia and Awa – we had a ton of fun with them.

Our last stop in the North Island of NZ was Wellington (the nation’s capital), where we stayed for a couple of days. The weather was brutal!!! Torrential sideways rain, sleet and wind – it was pointless using an umbrella because it would just be blown inside out, so we were generally soaked all day. Despite the weather, I really liked Wellington, there were lots of really cool shops, bars and restaurants. Over the couple of days we visited the Parliament buildings, the Te Papa Museum, took the old cable car up to the city viewpoint (although we couldn’t see a thing), visited some arts markets, and had a few beers at the local Mac’s brewery.

The Beehive, aka the NZ Parliament building, Wellington

From Wellington, we were taking the Interislander ferry across the Cook Strait to the port town of Picton on the South Island. On the day of our departure, the rain and wind was still insane, which made for a very rough ferry ride. We were riding over swells that were 9m high and the largest ferry in the fleet at 22,000 tonnes was being tossed around the 100kph gusts. As a result, majority of the passengers were gripping onto vomit bags with their heads were between their legs and the ferry crew were working hard just to stop all of the cafeteria dishes and other fixtures on the ferry from crashing and falling over as we were getting rocked by the swells. Mark and I were well seasoned from our travels in South East Asia, so it was no problem for us ) Very abruptly, however, when we entered the Marlborough Sounds area on the South Island, we were sheltered from the weather, and the sun was shining. I felt like this was a good omen and I was very excited about visiting the South Island!!!

Other miscellaneous thoughts include: In terms of food, most of our diet consisted of sandwiches, pizza, meat pies, and fish & chips, as well as a healthy dose of chocolates and cookies, which is all good, but I was definitely beginning to miss my rice and noodles. Fresh produce is very expensive, like tomatoes were $12 CAD/kg and broccoli was $3 CAD per crown… ridiculous (the local kiwis attribute the high prices to the winter season, but groceries are generally more expensive in NZ). Gas was also outrageously expensive at about $1.75 CAD a litre. The backpacker places we were staying in NZ were amazing compared to what we were used to inSouth East Asia, and the price was reasonable at around $50-$65 a night for the two of us. On first meetings, Mark’s family members said they had to take a second look before they could tell it was him with that nest on his face. I am not good at reading maps and navigating, so fights often ensued when we are on the road and he’s driving and I’m struggling with the directions – I offered driving so that Mark could navigate, but Mark didn’t trust me driving on the opposite side of the road (not all Asians are bad at reading maps and driving though).

Close enough (Wellington)

Janice and Emma, Waiheke Island

Macabre and Mesmerising – Strange Sulawesi Funerals

[Words: Janice, Pics: Mark]

On Canada Day, we moved on from Gili and as we were leaving, we saw a couple bars with signs that said Happy Canada Day and advertised that they imported Molson and Canadian beer in for the occasion. Mark was tempted, but we had a flight to catch. We flew from the island of Lombok, back to Bali, to connect on to Sulawesi – our last island in Indonesia. We didn’t arrive in the town of Makassar until 9pm at night, which always spells trouble because all the local people know you are stuck with limited options, so we paid too much for a taxi and stayed at one of the worst guesthouses, which was next to what seemed to be a garage. So in addition to the crazy annoying roosters and dogs, there was also the sound of the garage door opening and closing and roaring motorcycles all night long. The next day, we found ourselves on yet another 12 hour bus ride on ridiculously bad roads to Rantepao, the base for tourists to explore the region of Tana Toraja, which is home of Toraja ethnic group people. By way of background (which I hope you find interesting, we certainly did), it’s been said that the people of Tana Toraja live to die, as they focus a lifetime of energy and savings on funerals for their loved ones.Funeral preparations there can cost a fortune, making Tana Toraja one of the most expensive places to die. Most of the people are Christian, but they mix many of their old cultural believes with Christianity. When someone in a family dies, that person is given a big funeral ceremony at their house which lasts up to several days. Bamboo structures are built, seating areas are made, and the homes literally turn into compounds to support visitors of the dead. Family and friends come, usually bearing gifts for the family, and are welcomed with tea, coffee and biscuits. Although cigarettes and food are common gifts, live pigs are also given as gifts and those are killed and grilled up in the back to feed all of the guests. The main event of the funeral ceremonies is the slaughtering of buffalo. The number of buffalo a family slaughters is an indication of their social status and how much money they have. At some small funerals, only a few buffalo are sacrificed, while at large ones, there can be up to 100 killed over the course of a few days. The reason that the buffalo sacrifice is so important is that the Toraja people believe the buffalo leads the deceased on to their afterlife. So right before the buffalo is killed, the body is turned to face south so when the buffalo dies, they can travel together to their next life. Once the buffalo sacrifices have occurred, the body is then ready to be buried. Buffalo in Indonesia are very expensive and it can sometimes take the family a long time to raise the money to throw a proper funeral. During that time, they embalm the body of the dead and keep it in the house until the funeral can happen, sometimes staying there for years until they can afford a proper send off. The traditional homes are called Tongkonansand are characterized by their boat-shaped roofs. The horns of every buffalo sacrificed in a funeral for one the family members are displayed at the front of the home as a sign of the family’s wealth and social status.

Typical view from our mountain trek. One of my favourite mountain treks that did not involve above treeline mountains and snow. Some other guys bike, not mine.

Tongkonans

Top front of the Tongkonan 'horns'

Tanah Toraja backcountry

Kids still confused that Janice can speak english

Because July and August is the quiet agricultural period, it is the peak season for funeral ceremonies. Our first day in the Tana Toraja was a Sunday, which was a day of rest following Christian practices, and so we took a nice 5 hour trek through the mountains and passed some gorgeous scenery with fields and fields of lush rice terraces. The children in the villages were friendly and fun, often playing with us and chasing us and only a few of them asking us for candy. On Monday, there was one funeral on, and although every tourist in town was in attendance, it was still good fortune for us that one was on at all while we were there. We bought a carton of premium cigarettes (for about $9 CAD) as our gift to the family of the deceased and as we expected, we were welcomed with tea and biscuits and invited to sit in one of the many newly built bamboo structures with all the other tourists. This was the first day of the funeral ceremony, so for most of the day, we watched the family welcome guests and accept the variety of gifts, most notably the live pigs tied up by their legs hanging from bamboo sticks. They pigs, screaming and crying (one of the most awful and sad sounds I’ve ever heard), were being taken to the back of the house and either being slaughtered for our lunch later that day or being marked for slaughtering for a later date. While we were waiting for the main event – the buffalo sacrifice – our guide shared some very interesting stories about the Toraja people (can’t remember most of them now) and chatted with other tourists.

Tongkonan village

They did not have a good fate and were quite loud

Because this was the first day of the ceremony, only one buffalo would be sacrificed, and it would be on day 4 or 5 that the rest of the buffalo would be sacrificed. Because it is considered impolite to ask, our guide was only able to estimate that there would be around 30 buffalo sacrificed for this particular funeral later the week. Just before the sacrifice, all of us guests enjoyed our lunch of pork cooked with Torajan spices in bamboo shoots, using our hands and pretty much eating off of papers on the ground. It was tasty! Shortly after lunch, some brief announcements were made and this small black buffalo was tied up to this bamboo structure to be sacrificed. The cut to the buffalo’s neck was quite quick, but it seemed to be a while before the poor buffalo was actually dead and it was very difficult to watch, I closed my eyes at a few points. Most of the tourists left immediately after the sacrifice, but we stayed on and watched as the buffalo was butchered. Quite a few tourists were right up close taking video and pictures of the sacrifice and the butchering – not me. Some pieces were saved for later, some pieces were being stewed for dinner later that night and other pieces were given back to the guests as gifts. In fact, we rode back to town with a man taking home the two front buffalo feet with which he would make a soup. Our guide told us that one small ordinary black buffalo can cost approximately $3,500 – $4,000 CAD and a large high-grade buffalo (black and white with blue eyes) can cost approximately $14,000 – $23,000 CAD. We saw a couple of these high-grade buffalo in the village, and their blue eyes were quite shocking. For the most part though, there were small black buffalos everywhere around us, even at our guesthouse, so that my allergies were crazy and our towels and bed sheets even smelled like buffalo – gross. Accompanying the buffalo were huge populations of roosters and stray dogs of course, so again, sleeping in past 7am was not an option.

The buffalo pre-ceremony

The pig was not going to have a good day

The buffalo during the ceremony (only 29 more to go)

The buffalo after the ceremony...time to prepare to eat

Don't think we thought this was easy to watch, but we did see two European women a couple meters away snapping photos, hardcore

The very expensive albino buffalo

Our lunch eaten with hands on the floor next to home of the deceased

On our last day in the Tana Toraja region, our guide took us to a few sites including a stone grave, a cave grave, a baby grave and world-class Tongkonan houses. In the stone and cave graves, it was a little unsettling because there were literally thousands of bones and skulls around, as most of the coffins have been disturbed by thieves. Tau-Taus or wood carvings of the deceased would be prepared, in a position with their arms out (represents the request for offerings and to be carried to the heavens) and displayed on the front of the stone graves. Every ten years or so, the family members change the clothes on the Tau-Taus. Unfortunately, many of the old Tau-Taus have been stolen and have only recently been replaced. The baby grave was a tree with holes carved out in the trunk for the bodies and covered with twig doors. The stone, cave and baby graves date back to the 15^thcentury, but our guide says are still in use today.

Effigies protecting deceased

Cave graves. There were to many skulls in here for my liking.

Baby tree

Tau-Taus. Cliff face was full of this family.

We also visited a local market, which had a live pig section… and there were rows and rows of crying pigs tied up by their legs and hung from bamboo sticks and some just thrown in sacks. There was also a corner where men were trading rosters for cock fighting, which is now illegal, but still very popular among Indonesian men.

This may sound all strange, but it was truly a unique and intriguing cultural experience. Although as tourists, we are welcome to the funerals, the purpose is not for tourists, which is rare to find when you travel. After the 12-hour bus ride returning back to Makassar, we spent one more night near the airport and flew out to the city of Manado the next day for our last stop in Indonesia – the Bunaken islands for more snorkeling and scuba-diving. At this point, we were able to count down our days in south east Asia on one hand, and that was scary and sad.

Our friends following us north off the coast of Bunaken Islands

Fortunately, the Bunaken islands were only a 2 hour drive and boat ride away from the airport in the city of Manado. We only had a couple of days here so we did a couple of dives on our first day and spent our second day on a dolphin watching boat ride and snorkeling. Bunaken had the most spectacular and colourful coral and starfish we’ve seen, which we enjoyed while diving and snorkeling. The current was very strong, almost felt like a flowing river at times, so when we were diving and snorkeling, we were getting pushed around at times, and had to reverse our course because we just couldn’t complete against the currents. The currents were also unpredictable and would change direction every 5 minutes, so the conditions were a little difficult. Our favourite dive was a mud-dive, where we could really appreciate the beauty of macro sea life, from little seahorses and fish 1cm in length darting through small bouquets of coral. We had to be careful with our fins because the floor was all sediment and if we kicked too much, we would lose all our visibility. One of the highlights of our entire trip for me was our dolphin watching boat ride. I’m not exaggerating when I say there were hundreds of dolphins in the water around us – including spinner and bottlenose dolphins and possibly others. They were jumping (with serious air time according to Mark) and spinning (1080’s according to Mark) up out of the water and just generally playing and showing off. They also enjoyed swimming in the bow waves produced by our boat, so we usually had anywhere from a pair to a dozen dolphins swimming and jumping right in front of our boat. Quite the grand finale for the South East Asia portion of our trip!

Coral fans at the muck dive. So many small 'macro' things in this dive (courtesy of the internet...I need a scuba camera)

These starfish were everywhere

Giant clam

Snorkling off the coast of Bunaken

Unfortunately, our last night in Manado before we flew out to Auckland the next morning, was about the worst ever… I know I’ve probably said that before, but this truly was the worst. It was a stifling 30 degrees in our room, there was no fan, there were no windows, there were cockroaches, killer mosquitoes, ants on our beds, and only a bucket and a tap and bucket for our shower and we were only able to sleep a couple of hours. Mark thinks that it was our last night was horribly equivalent to our very first night when we arrived in Phnom Penh, so it seems only fitting that our South East Asia tour was bookended by super ghetto $10 CAD accommodations.

We spent 32 days in Indonesia, but we felt that it wasn’t nearly enough time to really explore the country thoroughly. We had to skip a few spots that we really wanted to go to, it’s just too big and too difficult to travel, and although you can fly from spot to spot, that added to our budget too quickly. We really enjoyed Indonesia; it has so much to offer, so Mark definitely wants to go back someday. Anyways, because we booked budget flights with the local Indonesian carrier and then Jetstar, what should be an 8 hour flight to Auckland will actually take us about 24 hours because of transfers and layovers. I’m nervous about the winter weather that will be awaiting us in New Zealand. I know it’s probably nothing compared to the Canadian winters, but we’ve been in 30+ degree weather for the past four months, so it will be a shock to my system… and I don’t do too well in cold weather. Mark looks forward to the cool weather and snow… and he has had to deal with the hot weather for 4 months, so it seems only fair that tough it out in the cold for 1 month.

Who knew my beard would pale in comparision to a local Indonesian. Tana Toraja 1 : Canada 0

Bali and Gilis – Plunging into Paradise

[Words: Janice, Pics: Mark]

When people think Indonesia – they think Bali – and we can see why, because it definitely has a lot to offer from shopping, restaurants, beaches, trekking, history, culture and art. We only had a week for Bali, so we decided on three spots: Seminyak/Kuta – an expensive party beach area on the west coast, Ubud – an art & cultural hotspot in the middle and Amed – a serene beach area on the east coast. Bali is a small island, and so, the transportation between each spot only took a few hours, not the usual 10-12 hours… amazing.  

 

 

Local talent on Kuta Beach (not me)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed in the Seminyak/Kuta area for 3 nights – which basically consisted of streets with high-end shops, bars, lounges, clubs, and restaurants built around a rather unspectacular beach, although the beach is apparently really good for surfing. About every 3 steps you take, whether on the beach or on the streets, someone is in your face trying to sell you something – a sunchair, a massage, a sarong, a taxi… anything. With a huge variety of restaurants, we got to change up our usual diet of fried rice and noodles and enjoyed sushi and pizza. We also splurged on a couple drinks at Ku Da Te, one of the most popular lounges in the area, where we relaxed on lounge chairs overlooking the beach. Our favourite afternoon involved taking a taxi about one hour out of the main area, to Uluwatu, an area with a temple perched atop a steep cliff face, with extreme surfers below riding some of the biggest waves in Indonesia. We enjoyed sunset drinks in a surfers’ bar clinging on the edge of a cliff overlooking the surfers enjoy their last few waves of the day at the famous Padang Padang sets.

Uluwatu Temple in all its glory on Bukit Peninsula, SW Bali

Catching last ride in at Padang Padang (the Balinese Pipeline). These waves are very fast long barrelling breaks over a shallow coral reef and is only for expert surfers.

Cliff entrance to Bukit waves. Entrance had 20m cliffs on each side and was only 5-10m wide.

Surfing spectator at the Padang Padang breaks, SW Bali - legit area for legit surfers...I just wanted a sundowner

For dinner, we stuffed ourselves with barbequed calamari and fish at Jimbaran beach, which turns into kilometers of seafood restaurants in the evenings. It was a decent place to visit for a couple days, but if you aren’t into loud techno music playing all day and obnoxious drunk people in the streets, this area probably isn’t for you.

Our next spot Ubud, was probably just about as touristy as Seminyak/Kuta, also swarming with extremely annoying locals trying to sell you taxis and other souvenirs. However, Ubud was absolutely gorgeous as the area is set amid cascading rice terraces and temples with intricate carvings and statues. Our first day, we were just exploring the town and Mark heard his name being called out, and very surprisingly, it was his cousin and his wife who were on holiday from New Zealand to attend a wedding. We knew they were in Bali, but despite our earlier attempts, we weren’t able to coordinate, so it was great luck that we ran into them and we all ended up going out for drinks and ribs later that night – very fun!

Surprise encounter with eldest cousin from New Zealand - Ryan Eccleton. Still know clue how he recognized me since only see him once in every 5 or 10years

Our second day, we took an enjoyable tour to a number of temples and rice terraces outside the main town of Ubud. Our favourite spot was the Holy Spring Water Temple, where locals were bathing in the various pools of water as they believe the water has healing power and to cleanse themselves of their sins before going into temples to do their ritual prayers. That evening, we watched a Legong dance show at the Ubud Palace, which is a form of traditional Balinese dance characterized by intricate finger movements and extremely expressive facial expressions. I enjoyed it, not sure about Mark.

Locals cleansing at temple in the pools

Crazy eyed Balinese dancers in Ubud

On the morning of our last day, we visited Monkey Forest – which is lush forest with gorgeous carvings and home to hundreds of monkeys. The monkeys are so smart, but aggressive – if tourists brought bananas into the park, and hid them in their pocket or bag, the monkeys would jump up on to them and take them out – they knew exactly where they were being hidden and how to get them out. The monkeys could even open boxes of food and plastic bottles of drinks. In the afternoon, we left the city and trekked to the peaceful surrounding villages and enjoyed some amazing views of rice paddies. On a side note, it was in Ubud where I first remember hearing the roosters and stray dogs… all night long. Mark and I had gotten somewhat used to the noise of traffic all night, but the cock-a-doodle-doos and barking were new and kept us up most of the night.

Ubud - central Bali rice fields

Ridge top walk just outside of Ubud

Coconut drink with a view overlooking surrounding Ubud rice fields - might have been Janice's favourite drink of the trip

Monkey forest in Ubud (Janice has bad flashbacks from Vietnam)

Great grooming skills

Moving on to our last spot in Bali, we were looking forward to leaving the tourist hubs and visiting Amed, a quiet and peaceful black-sand beach with amazing snorkeling and scuba-diving. Our sole purpose for visiting Amed was to dive the USS Liberty ship wreck. It is only 30 meters from shore, so we walked out from the shore with all our diving gear and dove down. The diving was AMAZING!!! The coral was gorgeous, there was a huge variety of sea life including my favourite, the turtle, and we saw the most spectacular sight of a school of trevally fish, swimming in a huge tornado formation, with a couple of giant trevally (each about a meter long) in the middle. We got to dive through parts of the wreck, which involved going through some very small spaces, and we even saw some parts of the old ship, like a wheel, ladder, and rudder covered in coral, all now part of the sea. The snorkeling was also very good, with probably the best variety of sea life we’ve seen in south east Asia so far. This was definitely a great way to end our visit to Bali! Now on to more beach, snorkeling and diving in the Gili islands located off the coast of Lombok, our next island to visit in Indonesia.

Black sand beach at quiet Amed, central east coast Bali. Sand was coloured due in part to residual from local volcanoes.

Gunung Agung - tallest volcano on Bali at 10,308' and highest elevation on the island

Butterfly fish and blue starfish seen snorkling off Amed coast

Cyclone of Trevally (courtesy of the internet). They couldn't have been more than 10m from the shore and started just a meter below the water

View from within the shipwreck (courtesy of the internet). No ascending too fast here or you might get a little stuck

 

It was only a two-hour fast-boat ride between the islands of Bali and Lombok, but the wind was up, so we were bumping our way over swells and waves that were several feet tall. Needless to say, it was a horribly rough ride, as we were being thrown up and rocked hard back down with each passing wave. I had a serious headache afterwards. We finally arrived at our destination, the Gili islands and had to choose which of the three – Meno (quiet and undeveloped), Trawangan (parties and overdeveloped) or Air (inbetween) – we would stay. If you couldn’t guess, we decided to go to Gili Air and I can honestly tell you that we didn’t do much over the 4 days/5 nights that we were there, other than read, sleep, snorkel and dive in the turquoise blue waters. During our dive, we saw the banded sea snake, the most venomous snake in the world, and lots of turtles!!! We were told that the sea snake is extremely passive and would bite only if severely provoked. We were further told that they only have teeth at the very back of their jaw, so they can only bite you on your fingers or ears, so all you have to do is ball up your hands into fists and cover your ears. Other people told us that was a myth and that this snake could bite you anywhere. I thought it this was all very fascinating.

East coast of Gili Air facing Lombak coastline

North shore of Gili Air

Picasso or Lagoon Triggerfish

Think these are a form of the clown fish

Oriental sweetlips (Janice's favourite fish) (courtesy of the internet...couldn't take a pic of this fish myself)

The only stressful part of this island, was trying to book the rest of our flights for our last couple of weeks in Indonesia – these are times when we really missed the efficiency of the developed world. Also, there were more loud and annoying roosters, dogs and this island even had donkeys, so we were lucky if we could sleep in to 8am. Otherwise, we did a lot of relaxing at really cool beach front restaurants in their many bamboo huts and loungers. We walked around the island one afternoon, which took all of 90 minutes or so, and watched the blood red sunset at what seemed like to be the edge of world.

They start them young

Visiting the Volcanoes of Java

Avoiding a 3-day ferry ride east to Java from Sumatra, the next closest island in Indonesia, we took a 2 hour flight and arrived in the tourist town of Yogyakarta (pronounced Jog-jakarta). On our first day in Jogja, we just toured the city and visited the Sultan’s palace and royal pools, which wasn’t too spectacular, except that it was interesting to learn that it was common for sultans to have upwards of 80 wives and 200 children. The current sultan, however, appears to be embracing the modern practice of maintaining only one wife. The problem is that he only has four daughters, and with no desire to attain another wife to bear him more children, no one knows who will succeed him as the next sultan. In the evening, we watched a traditional Indonesian ballet at the famous Hindu temples of Prambanan, which was a retelling of an old famous Hindu fable.

Royal Pools in Yogyakarta

The next day, we woke up at around 3am and made our way to the famous Buddhist temple of Borobodur for sunrise. The temple has six-different levels, with carvings on each level, illustrating the journey to enlightenment as one ascends up the temple. The temple has over 500 Buddha statues, one of which is believed to bring good luck if you rub his feet. Unfortunately for us, this lucky Buddha could not be reached during our visit due to construction. Now that’s bad luck.

Borobudur - largest Buddhist temple in the world

 

A few of the 72 stupas that surround the top of the temple

In the afternoon, we meet up with some friends of ours that we met in Halong Bay, Vietnam (it’s a small backpacking world) and visited a village that was decimated by the Merapi volcano in 2006, and again in 2010. It is an extremely active and unpredictable volcano, which apparently has smoke and ash spewing out from its crater 300 days of the year. The area around the volcano was dark and desolate, with rubble from people’s homes and stores. We spoke to a few locals who still live in the village and asked why they still live there, and they said they are not scared of the volcano, that this village was their home and they were never going to leave.

Mount Merapi

Surreal landscape surrounding the once village around Mount Merapi (the Fire Mountain)

Living room

 

Remnants of lava flow over a river bed

Our last sight in Java was a sunrise panoramic view of Mount Bromo, including a visit to its crater. It was a 12-hour drive from Jogja to Bromo, and then another 12-house drive from Bromo to Bali… our next island to visit in Indonesia… and it was a gruelling and uncomfortable 2 days of driving, but it was definitely worth it. Bromo is one of the most active volcanos in the world, and it most recently erupted in January 2011, and is constantly grumbling and throwing up ash and smoke.

6am, Gunung Bromo sunrise

The panoramic view was amazing as the sunrise painted a reddish-pink hue on the smoke and clouds around Bromo. By early morning, the sky was a vibrant blue and we were walking our way through inches of ash (referred to as the Sea of Sand) towards the crater. The landscape was surreal, compared by some to that of the moon. When Mark and I finally reached the crater after a slippery climb up a steep set of “stairs” made of ash, we found ourselves staring into the crater with hot smoke and ash and the stinky smell of sulphur hitting our faces.

Felt quite insignificant starring up at Bromo. Could hear periodic grumblings from within the volcano.

Had to clear this area one hour later due to the change in wind direction

Into the eye of the beast

After only about five minutes, Bromo let out a big rumble, followed by a huge amount of smoke and ash, and with the wind picking up, we had to run back down the volcano as ash and smoke was being whipped into our eyes, ears and mouth. Mark’s beard was covered in ash – gross, but ash was still coming out of my ears 3 days later – so that’s more gross. Bromo was Mark’s favourite spot so far in Indoneia! We are now off to Bali – the most visited and touristy island in Indonesia.

 

Janice on the edge. Scary first step

 

The climb up the side of Bromo. Felt like I was hiking backcountry out of a ski resort...no traction.

Half foot of fresh...ash

Sumatran Orangutans Welcome Us to Indonesia

After a metro ride, a ferry ride, a taxi ride, an airplane ride, another taxi ride, a bemo ride (ghetto mini-van used as public transit), and finally a tuk tuk ride (motorcycle)… we at long last arrived in Bukit Lawang (a small village in the northern part of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia) from Singapore. The bemo ride was probably our worst transportation experience yet… the mini-van was completely rusted, especially the floor, such that the heat of the engine below was burning our legs the entire 5 hours, the passenger side door next to Mark was only being held shut by a latch, and wires were haphazardly coming out from under the dashboard. We experienced culture shock for the second time this trip, as we departed the clean and organized city of Singapore to the dirty and chaotic world of Indonesia.

Motherly love

Bukit Lawang is home to Gunung Leuser National Park, which boasts the largest sanctuary of Sumatran orangutans (approximately 5,000). The orangutan is only found in one of two countries in the world, the other being the Malaysian side of Borneo (along with the Indonesian side). Bukit Lawang also has a rehabilitation centre for the orangutans in efforts to preserve the continually decreasing number of orangutans due to hunting, trading and deforestation. We spent our first day on a one-day trek through the jungles of the national park in hopes of spotting some orangutans. Lucky for us, we saw about a dozen orangutans over the course of day, mostly mothers and babies. We did meet one male and female pair, but apparently, we interrupted them while they were trying to mate, so they were not very friendly. We also came across plenty of sneaky monkeys (Long-Tailed Macaque – sneaky because they are sly and steal food) and punky monkeys (Thomas Leaf – punky because they have mohawks).

Hanging out. Orang (Man), Utan (Forest).

Janice vs Long-Tailed Macaque - Stare down

My favourite of all south-east asian monkeys, the 'Punky Monkey' or Thomas Leaf Monkey. That is a true pose for a pic.

The rules of the national park include, among other things, no smoking, no loud noises, no feeding the orangutans, no leaving rubbish in the jungle, no touching the orangutans, staying at least 7m away from the orangutans, etc. I can confidently tell you, that our guides and our group disobeyed everyone of those rules. The guides ended up luring the orangutans, down from the treetops where they usually sit and feed, with bananas and pineapples from our lunch so that they would come right up to us and then the guides started feeding them, so then we all followed.

Rule #1 broken...caught in the act

We ended our one-day trek with a tube-rafting ride down the river, which had a few rapids… and although we thought we were going to crash into rocks at a few points, it was all really good fun. Mark and I felt really bad once we digested what had happened during the day, because the orangutans easily contract diseases and germs from us, which can make them very ill and even cause death.

Beard competition...I think he is jealous

How many inflatable tubes and Indonesians can be connected?

Anyway, the next day, we watched the national park’s official guides feed bananas and milk to around 4 orangutans from a feeding platform in the rehabilitation centre. The orangutans were so funny and cute because after they finished their cups of milk, they each had milk mustaches. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I didn’t expect the orangutans to so accustomed to our human presence, I guess that’s why they were referred to as semi-wild animals. Although we really enjoyed seeing the orangutans, it’s in situations like this, where I am sure that our tourist footprint is causing more harm than good. We also enjoyed our evenings in Bukit Lawang watching the severe storms and blinding lightening; after several hours, Mark was able to capture a few shots of the lightening bolts that cracked across the sky.

Milk mustache young one

Typical night in the jungles of northwest Sumatra

So, yet another 9 hour or so car ride on windy roads from Bukit Lawang, we arrived at Lake Toba, the world’s largest voclanic lake. The weather was sunny and not too hot in the day, and was cool in the evening. We just spent our 3 days here relaxing in the peaceful atmosphere and enjoying the gorgeous scenery. Lake Toba is home to the indigenous Batak people, who are most well known for their beautiful homes with soaring arched rooftops and their historic practices of cannibalism.

Toba sunset

A popular joke among the locals was that Batak people eat everything with four legs – except tables. Unfortunately, Lake Toba was a little bit of a ghost town, which was nice for us, because we really enjoyed the peace, but bad for the people in the area because the tourism industry just died in the past few years.

Was this day 1, 2 or 3 of Lake Toba? They all looked like this.

The people in North Sumatra were very friendly. Indonesian boys/men would strike up conversations with Mark (only Mark, not me, not sure if it’s because I’m a female or because I’m Asian, probably both) all the time and offer him cigarettes. We learned that if you are a man in Indonesia and do not smoke, you are the centre of constant ridicule and called a ladyboy, and so it is a common gesture of goodwill to offer a cigarette to all your male friends and acquaintances. Indonesian girls/women would stare and Mark and giggle and laugh (only Mark, not sure if it’s because he’s a boy or because of his beard, probably both). We also learned that everyone loves to sing and dance; it seems that every young Indonesian man can play a guitar, and can sing at least 5 different Justin Bieber songs… at least he’s Canadian.

 

Lake Toba, NW Sumatra. Sunset over the Batak style roofs.