Our Adventure's End ...

K: It is pretty hard to summarize an eleven-week adventure. I thought about leaving it at WOW! When you take a 2- or 3-week 'vacation' you are often hostage to the tourist routes, etc. It takes a while to decompress, and before you know it, the vacation is over. Traveling for an extended period of time is a very different experience. You really get to settle into a place or country and step back from the typical tourist routine. I like to call it being a traveler rather than a tourist. I hope to have the opportunity to be a traveler again soon!



We experienced three very different countries on this adventure. Indonesia may have been the hidden gem. I loved the people, first and foremost. They call Thailand the country of smiles but Indonesia isn't far behind! Welcoming, friendly, warm and generous come to mind in describing those that we met. Delicious spicy food, tremendous weather, beautiful beaches, warm seas, tropical jungles, volcanic mountains, yoga, local artists, Buddhist temples, Hindu temples . . . there will be much more to explore on our next trip there!

Australia is a huge country, and, therefore, hard to really get a sense of it. Imagine touring the US and how you would describe it to someone else. But each state that we visited (Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria) was quite different in geography, personality, weather and activities. The 14,000-kilometer drive through the heart of Australia is something that most people never experience -- the stark beauty of the Outback and the desolation of a huge swath of the country. South Australia is truly beautiful with its rolling hills, stunning coastline, wineries and Kangaroo Island, one of my favorite spots. As a state, Queensland was probably my favorite with its dense rain forests, jungles and miles of stunning coastline, including the Whitsunday Islands and Great Barrier Reef. It is true that Whitehaven Beach may just be the most beautiful beach in the entire world. And, I will never forget all the strange and dangerous animals/wildlife from the cassowary to the invisible Irukandji jellyfish.



I am glad that we visited both Sydney and Melbourne. They are completely different cities in every respect. Sydney is beautiful with its harbor and Opera House, palm tree-lined streets and proximity to great beaches. The beach culture is pervasive; the people are tan and beautiful and, seemingly, relaxed. Melbourne had an 'urban edge' with tremendous restaurants and a fashion scene that is dominated by black and white (even in summer). I am glad that we got to experience both.

I am in love with New Zealand! Authentic pops into my mind in trying to summarize my thoughts. The landscape is pure beauty from the subtropics in the north, volcanic mountains through the center, rugged stunning coastlines, glaciers and then fiordland (in the tropics)! The Kiwis embrace outdoor and adventure activity as a way of life, and it is evident in their personalities. You won't meet nicer people anywhere in the world. I was also surprised by the food. The Kiwis take advantage of all of their natural products and produce and have developed a healthy, wonderful national cuisine -- from local cheeses, grass-fed beef, venison, and lamb to tons of fresh seafood. When you pair the cuisine with New Zealand wine, it really doesn't get much better! Yes, New Zealand has been added to my very long list of potential retirement spots!







V: Hard to grasp that this two-and-a-half month trip is over. What an epic!

We did so many things, saw so many things, were inspired by so many places and people, and invigorated to return to a few of these places, when we can.

Karen's thoughts echo mine about these places visited and activities enjoyed.

Indonesia was a delightful place to visit. It is an amazing mix of Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and animist influences, all co-existing amicably. Just learn to speak a little Bahasa, and I could live there, definitely.

Australia was someplace I've long wanted to see, and am glad we did. It is a unique landmass, with some of the most interesting creatures and geographical formations on the planet. It was a bit disappointing to not find much tasty beer there, alas. Yet their wine is quite delicious.

And it is clear that we were both taken with New Zealand, aka Aotearoa in Maori, The Land of the Long White Cloud, where there are more cows and sheep than people, where deer are corralled in fenced-in forests, where the people are rabid, proud fans of the legendary national rugby team, the All Blacks, and where some of the finest wines on the planet are produced. A return visit there, to do more of the wonderful North and South Island activities, seems mandatory.

And now that we are back in 'reality', I suggest that it is so worthwhile to take time out, to explore this world, to immerse in other cultures, to do as many things as one can, to make new friends. The spirit is invigorated, the mind is refreshed, and the notion of truly trying to live life, and explore the possibilities offered in one's world, is inspired.

It was a grand trip.

Queenstown, a Beautiful, Active City

K & V: We love Queenstown, NZ. It just may be the most beautiful city in the world and could be a place to definitely live, at least for most of the year's months. What a beautiful place, the setting reminds us much of the seven hills of Bergen, Norway, but with the much more majestic Remarkable Mountains surrounding Queenstown. The large Lake Wakatipu at the city's edge makes for a stunning setting.

There is so much to do in the Queenstown area--mountain biking, parasailing, bungy jumping, kayaking, sailing, boating, jetboating, golfing, and skiing in the wintry hills. There is a great vibe with everyone seeming very active and fit. Underneath the aerial tram/gondola is a concrete downhill luge run that looks like good fun. It has a very nice downtown pedestrian shopping area, an active nightlife, fine dining venues, and an international 'feel'.

We enjoyed a great bike ride around one arm of the lake, around a peninsula-point golf course, through some deep, dark woodlands, and through the community rose garden park. It would have been a pretty awesome golf course to play... next time.

The rose garden park was absolutely stunning with such a broad variety of roses, showing many colors. And the air was scented wonderfully!

Regarding the picture of the plaque posted above, Viggo was very surprised to find a monument in the park dedicated to Robert Falcon Scott and his four comrades, the British Antarctic explorers who perished on their return journey after their trek to the South Pole in 1912. (They arrived at the Pole to find that Norwegian Roald Amundsen's men had beaten them there.)

A highlight of Queenstown was riding the aerial tramway to the top of Bob's Peak, and attending a Maori Kiwi Haka Culture Show. The performance was very informative, amusing, and entertaining. The Maori songs and dances were very nice to hear, as Maori is truly a beautiful, lilting language. The performance began with the women singing a few songs, and doing a few dances, including an audience-participation dance, but, alas, Karen was not selected to go onstage and give it a try.

Then the Maori men came on, demonstrating fighting techniques traditionally used with their short knife and the stabbing spear, quite a formidable weapon. The Haka is the traditional Maori war dance, recognized worldwide nowadays as the New Zealand National Rugby Team, the All Blacks, perform it prior to each international rugby match. The men do it with loud voices, grunts, thigh slaps, yells, and wide eyes and tongues out, putting on a fierce expression to intimidate their enemies.

Though it may be a decision regretted later, Viggo opted to not get a Maori face tattoo.

Bites and a fine Sip: Fish and Chips at a sidewalk stand and dinner at the Bunker. The Bunker is one of the best restaurants in Queenstown and perfect for our last night in New Zealand. It serves local product and typical NZ cuisine. After an "entree" (which is a starter) of duck pate, it was tough to choose between local venison, lamb, grass-fed beef and duck. We settled on venison and beef with an Amisfeld Pinot Noir, one of the best vineyards in the Otago Valley. All was delicious and a perfect end to our three weeks in NZ.

A Night on the Doubtful Sound

K: An overnight trip on the Doubtful Sound was just great. Most of the tourists head to the Milford Sound in Fiordland, but we selected the more remote, less-trafficked Doubtful.

You travel by boat for one hour across Lake Manapouri, then in a bus through dense rainforest for 40 minutes on the only road in Fiordland, and then board the boat for the trip through the sound/fiord. Despite the rain, the Doubtful is
beautiful with rugged peaks, dense green forest and an endless number of waterfalls.

Its scenery is like Norway meets Indonesia. Deep fiords, surrounded by mountains, but the setting is a rainforest rather than alpine mountains. The fog from the rain made for an almost eerie setting.

Part of the cruise entailed fishing for our dinner. My dad would have been so proud of me baiting my own hook as well as taking the live fish off the hook! Who knew fishing could be so enjoyable, perhaps it was because I didn't have to be quiet!



































V: We cruised the Doubtful Sound on the good ship Tutoko II, captained by Richard, and crewed by Jen. I highly recommend cruising the Doubtful with Fiordland Expeditions, as Captain Richard's commentary as we journeyed was informative and wry, witty, and just plain hilarious.

And Jen, the mate, was simply outstanding. She was a fine cook, and an even better procurer of the food for the guests to eat. She donned her wet suit, put on the scuba tank, and over the side, into the fjord she went, gathering fresh rock lobsters (or crayfish as the Kiwi's call them) with her bare hands from the Sound for one of our dinner courses. Dinner included pumpkin and vegetable soup, fresh steamed lobster, grilled sea perch, rice and fresh vegetables. Breakfast the next day was scrambled eggs with lobster, grilled bacon, sausage and mushrooms. In addition to cooking, catching lobsters, and gutting fish, she cleans the boat, does the dishes and laundry with only two hours free between each of the overnight cruises. In her spare time she fishes and hunts elk and deer. She was impressive, and mature beyond her 20 years.

We guests had great fun fishing from the rear of the vessel. We all caught quite a few Sea Perch, aka Jock Stewarts, due to their Scottish tartanesque striping pattern. It was absolutely wonderful to have our fresh-caught fish as our main course for dinner.

Karen caught a Blue Cod, and we were so excited at the prospect of eating that, but, alas, we had to put it back as it was three centimeters shy of allowable length to be a "keeper". One of our group pulled up a barracuda, and another hooked a dogfish, a member of the shark family, but we threw them both back into the water.

We got to do a little kayaking in the rain, and it was really great to be on a small boat, with only five other guests, a nice intimate setting, as opposed to the Milford Sound boats of 70 guests plus.

The Doubtful Sound is like the fjord country of Norway, with dramatic, breathtaking waterfalls, and steep rockwall descents to the water, yet it is, arguably, more beautiful, due to the green forest cover of those rockwalls, and not the barren cliffs of Norway. And, hey, New Zealand is a whole lot less expensive than Norway, as a bonus!

Lake Wanaka

K: Lake Wanaka was our overnight stop between the glaciers and Fiordland. The lake is the fourth largest in NZ, and the area is stunning with more glaciers, the peak of Mt. Aspiring, and lush greenery.

In addition to hiking and numerous outdoor activities, two of the main attractions are Cinema Paradiso and Puzzlingworld. We just may have found the perfect business opportunity. The cinema is a bar, lounge, restaurant and movie theater all wrapped into one. You can dine before, during, and after the movie, in addition to drinking beer, wine or coffee. There is even an intermission during which delicious, freshly baked cookies are served. The best part may be the choice of seating: comfortable couches, lounge chairs, a row of airplane seats, or even an old VW Beetle car.

Just beyond Wanaka, towards Queenstown, is one of NZ's best up-and-coming wine regions, the Otago Valley. It does not produce the same quantities as the Marlborough and Hawkes Bay regions. But the climate is perfect for the fickle pinot noir grape, and some of NZ's best pinots are coming from the Otago Valley. We had a fine afternoon visiting boutique wineries and chatting with the owners of the wineries, which are predominantly family-run. Ah, another business opportunity!
Nets protect grapes from birds




Lake Wanaka, again



Cinema Paradiso



I feel tipsy...



Puzzling World

Lake Wanaka

Lake Wanaka, once again

Relief--Roman style

Winston Churchill holographic image, eyes follow you around the room, as his head turns

Clock runs backwards

V: Cinema Paradiso in Wanaka was so reminiscent of the old Cinema Lounge in Moorhead, Minnesota, (remember that, my Fargo-Moorhead friends?!) where I saw quite a few films when it was running. Same concept--have a beer and a pizza as you watch the film--but oh so much better at Cinema Paradiso in Wanaka. Truly it is one of the best cinemas on the planet. Oh, and the film we saw there was Mel Gibson's latest cop thriller, Edge of Darkness.

Karen got so, so frustrated in the Maze that we ran at Puzzling World. It might have been that I got to two of the four corners of the Maze before she got to one, or the fact that we together just got stymied in our attempts to find the last corner, but we did, eventually. That was a pretty fun 90 minutes spent in that maze.

Puzzling World was kind of a neat place, with weird-angle rooms, optical illusions such as the holographic faces that follow you as you walk around a room, and really cool artworks from bizarre and unique perspectives, such as drawings by M. C. Escher, my favorite artist.

Am very excited that we shall head out tomorrow for the Doubtful Sound, a remote and pristine spot on the planet!

The Glaciers -- Franz Josef and Fox

K & V: Wow--approaching the glaciers, after quite a few of those one-lane bridges, from a valley away is absolutely beautiful. And when we hike into the glacier valleys, with the waterfalls and gorgeous terrain, they are stunning. It is interesting to note that these glaciers are actually growing, we are told, versus most of the worldwide glacial fields which are retreating.

It is very eerie to consider that these glaciers stretch into tropical forests, a very weird phenomenon, yet one that contributes to the very unique and special geographical features of New Zealand.

The towns surrounding Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are very small, yet totally cater to the tourist, the backpacker, the glacier-climber. It's 'earthy' here, and very much outdoors-oriented.

On we trek towards our overnite voyage aboard a vessel on the Doubtful Sound!