Daddy & Erinn tour New Zealand - Part II

When last I left you Daddy Piller and I were leaving Wanaka in our trail of dust and headed South en route to the great Fiordland National Park. 

Our full route from Wellington to Dunedin

Prior to my dad’s arrival, I had a heart to heart with Mother Nature and so far, it seemed that she had been keeping up her end of the bargain. We spent our first day on the outskirts of the park and spent the afternoon relaxing and getting caught up with family and friends via the local internet café. The next day we enjoyed the first leg of the Kepler Track. Unlike the mountainous terrain that we had traversed in the days prior, the Kepler took us along a winding path through rainforest to the glorious lake Manapouri.

Kepler Track

Swing bridge

Cruising the boardwalk

Red tree

Colourful fungi decorate the forest floor

Meandering the rainforest toward Lake Manapouri

Enjoying our reward

Lake Manapouri was a great first taste of the great Fiordland National Park. But it wasn’t until the next day that we truly got into the thick of the mountains. The following morning we made our way up to Milford Sound where we boarded a boat with 18 others and set sail deep into the sounds for an overnight cruise. The views - a symphony of waterfalls falling out of thousands (literally) of crevasses that time has created. The food – beautiful seafood, grilled veggies, roast beef. Yum! The company – Australians, Malaysians, fellow Canucks. So fun! Absolutely everything was spectacular. I truly cannot put into words the majestic power that these mountains have. So I guess I’ll stop trying and will simply let the pics tell the story…

The Milford Mariner

Our room

Milford Sound

To give you a little perspective - the waterfall in the middle is three times the height of Niagara

Misty mountains

Snow on the mountain tops

Mast

A double rainbow!

Out at the Tasman Sea looking into the mouth of Milford Sound

Homer's tunnel - a 1.27 km long tunnel that works its way through these spectacular cliffs

Next on the grand tour was a road trip to Dunedin through Central Otago. Dunedin is a town of about 132,000 people and is the home of much of the country’s arts and culture. It also has some stunning architecture, amazing cafes, and some killer surfing! Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to get some surfing in but we certainly didn’t waste the two days that we had left for our adventures.

Dunedin train station

Inside the station

Beautiful tile work

Dunedin graffiti

Dunners art gallery

Doorway in town

On our last full day, we hit the road again and made our way up the Otago Peninsula. This peninsula together with its 20 km long Otago Harbour is home to a huge colony of Royal Albatross and the endangered Yellow Eyed Penguin. The roads in this area are incredibly steep and the drive was incredibly rugged and yet the sharper the shoulders got and the higher up we drove, the more beautiful the views.

Yellow Eyed Penguin hospital. Where penguins go to get better before being released back into the wild

Happy feet!

Baby penguin waiting for its parents to return with some grub

Look closely and you'll see the underground bunkers from which we were able to get up close and personal looks at the beautiful penguins

The view from the penguins' homes. Pretty decent real estate!

Entering the tunnels

Profile

Exploring the tunnels

Penguin neighbours chilling by the bay

The royal albatross has a 3m wing span - the second largest albatross in the world

On our very last day in the South Island, we took a quick drive north of Dunedin to check out the Moeraki boulders. These boulders and basically huge spherical stones that look like they’ve been strewn along a stretch of Koekohe Beach near the town of Moeraki. Over millions of year these boulders have been exposed through shoreline erosion from black mudstone coastal cliffs that back the beach. It is here that our trip had come to an end. It was time for us to pack our bags and catch our flight back to Wellington where we had a day and a half left to make the most of daddy-daughter time.

Seagull takes a rest

Moeraki boulders

On Monday morning I took him to the Wellington Botanic Gardens to check out my office, meet my colleagues and get one final glimpse of beautiful windy Welly from above. It was really nice to be able to show him the place I’ve been calling home for the past 8 months and to give him to chance to put faces to names. That afternoon, he caught his flight to Auckland – San Fran – YYZ. As his plane was passing overhead and I was running along the waterfront, I saw a pod of orcas wandering into the Wellington harbour – an incredibly rare occurrence. I hope that he was able to see them from above as he bid farewell to this fantastic country. I miss him already but am so happy that he was able to visit while I was here. It was really great to see him and catch up. Now it’s only a matter of months before we see him once more and we start calling ‘The Big Smoke’ home again!

Daddy & Erinn tour New Zealand - Part I

It has been an incredible 8 months thus far. We have met so many fabulous people, learned a ton, and thoroughly enjoyed soaking in all the sights and sounds of this great country. What made it even better, though, was having the opportunity to explore parts of it with Daddy Piller! For two weeks, he bid adieu to the bitter Canadian weather and traded it in for some father-daughter time! He arrived a few weeks ago peeling off his winter coat as he walked through the arrivals gate. It was a beautiful sunny day in Wellington – a perfect welcoming! The poor guy was probably a little tired from the long flight but we didn’t sit down too long to rest. For the next day and a half, we feasted on brunches and dinners, went for a glorious walk up Mount Victoria, visited Te Papa – New Zealand’s National Museum, and cruised the streets. By the time the weekend was over, we had thoroughly made our mark on the city!


On Monday morning, we caught the ferry across to the South Island – a three hour trip from Wellington through the Queen Charlotte Sounds and into Picton (where Pete and I gave‘er at the Queen Charlotte Classic back in November)! Not. A. Cloud. In. The. Sky. It was breathtaking!

Leaving the Wellington Harbour...

...And entering the Queen Charlotte Sound

Looking out for wildlife

From here we caught a water taxi to our first stop on the tour – the Portage Resort in Portage Bay. It was a beautiful hotel nestled away in a secluded bay right on the edge of the Queen Charlotte Track. It was too beautiful for words. And so, instead of throwing on our kickers and rushing off to hit the trails, we chose to stick around, go for a swim, and relax on the deck with a glass of vino (scotch for Daddy) and our books. A perfect way to spend our first afternoon!

The view from our room!

Portage bay

On the Queen Charlotte Track looking down into a beautiful bay

A wonderful end to a wonderful day

The next day - Tuesday, February 22nd. It was a pretty grim day in the sounds but we braved the weather and hit the trails nonetheless. While the tramp was still indeed spectacular and much enjoyed, we were completely unaware of the goings on only a few hundred kilometers south of us. At approximately 1 pm that afternoon, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the Canterbury region, killing hundreds and leaving complete demolition in its wake. Buildings collapsed as though they were made of cards, roads split in half leaving trails of liquefaction and seepage where concrete once lived. People were confused, rattled, scared. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. I have a few friends who call Christchurch home. Luckily they and their families were all OK. But even today, three weeks later, the wounds are still fresh as rescue teams continue to search for bodies amongst the rubble. The rest of the day was a bit surreal. Our schedule was taking us through Christchurch the very next day. I guess it was lucky timing…

On Wednesday, we cruised back into Picton and picked up one car and one Pete (he had taken the morning ferry across to join us for a few days). Unfortunately we had no choice but to head through Christchurch as we had to swap vehicles with the rental company there. Luckily, we were able to bypass the downtown core where the bulk of the impact had been and avoid getting in anyone’s way. From Christchurch, our route took us through Arthur’s Pass – the link between the Canterbury region and the West Coast. The pass crosses the Southern Alps and on the three-hour journey, we were rewarded with stellar views of mountain peaks, deep valleys, and incredible gorges. It was so beautiful that we decided to stop halfway through and fit in a short walk to a stunning waterfall known as the Devil’s Punchbowl.

Sleepy seals

Exploring the Kaikoura peninsula

Moa statue (a giant flightless bird that is endemic to NZ. They weighed up to 510 lbs which made them incredibly appetizing to European settlers. As a result moas went extinct in the 1800's

The moa lays an Erinn!!

Pointing the way to Mt. Cook (New Zealand's highest mountain)

Arthur's Pass National Park

Arthur's Pass

Arhtur's at dusk

Family photo

pretty mountains

I'd pick the sheep

Devil's punchbowl waterfall

The very next day we decided to check out Fox Glacier. Tucked in between a series of magnificent mountains (including the highest peak in New Zealand), Fox Glacier is a 13 km long glacier and is one of few in the world to end among lush rainforest only 300 metres above sea level. It’s quite a sight to come across this massive hunk of ice after walking through lush, dewy forest. Not your typical day walk in High Park! It’s quite incredible that NZ literally has it all – rainforests, mountains, alpine ranges, and glaciers! Incredible!

Fox Glacier

Crossing a stream en route to the glacier

Lake Matheson

Afternoon espresso with one helluva view!

Stopping to pick up a copy of New Idea mag with one of the latest (and beautiful) WWF ads!

The next day, we hit the road again and made our way to Wanaka – my favourite town in New Zealand. It was so nice to be back there for a few days and I immediately headed to the lake to soak it all in. It was far busier than the last time we’d been here as it was peak season and everyone else had the bright idea of staying there too. Luckily, by the late afternoon it had quieted down considerably and we felt like we had the place to ourselves. We were lucky enough to fit in two big walks, lots of yummy dinners and a stop at our favourite burger joint in all of kiwi-land. This place has nothing but local, organic goodies and the burgers are the size of your face! I mean really – how much more could one ask for?!

Cruising down the West Coast

Wanaka!

The view from our room

Hiking up Roy's Peak

The view from the top

Taking a moment to soak it all in

Happiness is...

Spot Daddy Piller

After two days in Wanaka, we sadly had to bid adieu to the beautiful town, send Pete off on a 20 seater plane back to Welly-town, hop into our trusty “Peppersprint” (yup – we’d named her by this point), and hit the open road once more.

It is here that I will take my pause before carrying on. Stay tuned for updates on week 2 - more great adventures of Daddy and Erinn coming soon…