Acting Globally: februar 2014

fredag den 28. februar 2014

Fox Glazier

Now climbing a glazier shouldn't be a comfortable helicopter ride in the sunshine, stepping of directly on the ice, planting your flag, popping the champagne and have your picture taken. It should be a challenge for Men, wrestling with the elements! And so the Fox Glazier obliged me by putting up the worst weather I have experienced since I arrived, grounding all helicopters for the day!

But upwards we went, me and my new partner in glazier climbing, Larry from Hong Kong. Approaching the base of the glazier we stopped to mount ice spikes on our boots and grap a walking stick from the stand run by the local alpine parrots, the Kias.

These very intelligent birds have a craving for anything they can tear apart with their strong beaks and they have been known to terrorize carparks leaving peoples tires destroyed. Walking up through the river of ice I experienced deep blue ice walls, caves forming over night as the glazier moves and cracks and finally the icefall separating the upper ice basin where the snowfall accumulates and then travels down towards the valley through the fall and the river.

Franz Josef

Another day, another early start.. Feeling a little bit heavy headed after the encounter with the very friendly and very generous locals at the pub...

A long drive again today but with some good stops at the most beautifull parts of the coastline.

This area was inhabited by another local, a flightless bird so tasty it was almost hunted to extinction. The poor fella wasn't helped by its natural curiosity leading it to approach humans.. Sort of like a take a way dinner..

Upon the first sighting along the walk, the immediate reaction was of course for someone to yell "Kiwi!!" And the following camera frenzy was spectacular, ignoring the fact that Kiwis are nocturnal..

Next stop was the pancake rocks, the special kind of rocks used to make fairytale pancake houses and other assorted american restaurant chains..

Looking around I again found myself in Jurassic Parkish surroundings

Heading a little bit more inland we approached the final destination of today, the Franz Josef Glazier, beautifully surrounded by rainforest clad mountains. Making the most of the remaining sunshine I grapped my running shoes and went up towards the viewing platform in front of the glazier. This particular glazier you are not allowed to approach from the front due to the danger of rock slides and falling ice, which has lead to a booming business in helicopter hikes going up on top ofthe glazier, so the air was thick with the sound of buzzing choppers flying up between the mountains.

The terrain reminds me of hiking in the Austrian Alps, with the exception that you find yourself running under a canopy of rainforest jungle. Quite impressive and a very enjoyable run.

Tomorrow I have booked a guided full day hike up and into the slightly bigger Fox Glazier in the neighbor valley, ignoring the temptation of doing the lazy helicopter ride.

Westport

Leaving Kaiteriteri going south towards the west coast of the south island we headed for one of the most beautiful and scenic coastal drives in the world, as rated by Lonely Planet. We were in for a long drive only interrupted by a few stops and walks along the way.

In the late afternoon we rolled into Westport a small coal mining city and the first city on the sparsely populated west coast. We crashed at the Bazils hostel a very laid back place that I would have liked to stay a night longer, but it wasn't meant to be.. Instead the bus driver organized a big bonfire on the beach complete with hotplate, guitar and a few beers! The roaring fire attracted a few locals and I had a chat with a guy called Matt that worked as a mechanic at the local mine. We discovered we had a mutual interest in WW2 tanks and airplanes and I was recommended to visit a few museums around Wanaka, a stop coming a little further down the road.

Heading back from the beach we were dropped of at the local pub where more locals were eager to chat about everything from fishing to the impact of the strong New Zealand $ on coal export.

tirsdag den 25. februar 2014

Sky Diving!

Being the adrenaline junkie that I am... I "jumped" at the opportunity to get a perfect view of the Abel Tasman National Park from above plus see both the north and the south island at the same time.

I was geared up by my tandem jump master Matt, that besides from being a little dissappointed I wasn't a 20 year old blond swedish girl, was an alround good guy and we had a little chat both on the way up and the way down.

The jump itself is actually quite undramatic.. It is the anticipation and buildup that is scary, flying is just... easy? The 80 seconds of free fall were amazing.. Calling it free fall is actually not very accurate as you don't feel like falling.. More like hanging susspended above the earth by a thread...

And to all my collegues.. The Terma T-shirt has now been to 16.500 feet and back again

mandag den 24. februar 2014

Abel Tasman

Leaving Kaikoura we drove north towards the ferry passage where the content of our bus was split into seven people staying on the south island and the rest going on the ferry. Then we received a bus full of people traveling from north to south and together we continued to Kaiteriteri.

Kaiteriteri lies at the southern end of the huge Abel Tasman National park and gives access to magnificent coastal hikes by sea shuttles and aqua taxies. We arrived quite late so all activities were booked for the coming 2,5 days that I was going to stay in Kaiteriteri.

Day 1 started with a 14 km hike along the northern part of the coastline. Sailing into Torrent Bay we passed sun bathing seals and tumbling baby seals. We were dropped of and waded to shore in what can only be described as Robinson Crusoe-ish surroundings

From there it was up into the green mountains while slowly humming this

soundtrack.

I will just let the pictures speak for them selves...

The path was generally nice but did have a surprise or two on top of the constant feeling that a velociraptor would stick its head out of the bush...

The end of the trek rewarded us with an almost endless golden beach and a powerboat trip home to Kaiteriteri.

Day 2 was more hiking taking a short bus trip up to Marahau at the official start of the park working our way up to Anchorage Bay. The hike again included one panoramic view after another and an opportunity to see how the low tide two times a day leaves boats standing on their keel more than a kilometer from the coast.

The way home was again by boat passing the split apple rock.

Tomorrow its off to Westport, just after I complete a very fast and short trip..

Kaikoura

Jumping on the bus and driving along the east coast revealed the New Zealand I was expecting, when I left. Landscapes and vegetation that completely changes from one minute to another, from rolling fields and vinyards to green mountains and racked coastlines. You catch yourself just staring blankly out the window untill some 20 year old boy wakes up behind you, from his party infuced coma and points out that this is hardly anything special and you have much much to learn about this place... So I guess I have to get used to taking backpacking wisdom from "minors" if I want to catch up to speed anytime soon...

Just before entering the town of Kaikoura you pass the peninsula observation point looking back at the mainland you see the south and the north bay and the result is just breathtaking!

Kaikoura is known for its sealife attractions with whales, seals and dolphins staying close to the coastline due to the Kaikoura canyon lowering the seabed by more that 2.000 m.

I booked a swimming with Dusky dolphins encounter in the very early morning and spent the rest of the day trekking around the penninsula and watching the sunset behind the mountains from the observation point.

Getting up at 4.30 in the morning I strapped on my backpack and ventured into the starfilled night, sending a thought to the many nights spent almost like this in the terrain around Oksbøl. Sailing out with an almost calm sea and the sunrise on our left we went dolphins chasing and within 30 min we spotted the first fins in the water revealing that the dolphins were coming back from their nightly feeding to "socialize" along the coast. Wearing a full wetsuit and flippers we went snorkling, shouting and screaming to attract the dolphins that reacts strongly to sounds and eyecontact..

Being surrounded by curious dusky dolphins was fantastic and an experience long overdue! It all culminated with roughly 700 dolphins being gathered and playing around doing backflips and generally just showing off their awesomeness for the camera on the background of the rising sun and rainbows forming from the beginning showers.

The ride back was kinda rough with the sea showing how quickly things can change and all further sailing that day was cancelled.

Now its on to Kaiteriteri and the famous Abel Tasman National Park

Christchurch

I dragged myself into Christchurch from the airport thinking it a lively city with summer weather and lots of young people. Instead I seemed to enter a ghosttown with hardly any people in the streets on a friday afternoon! I half expected a couple of tumbleweeds to roll past me while waiting for the green man(being the good Dane that I am!) in a deserted traffic intersection.

At this point all I could think of was shave, shower and sleep. Even my feet were betraying me as they still seemed to think they were at 37.000 feet, making it seem like this city was once again visited by a powerfull earthquake!

After a good nights sleep I seemed to have shaken the worst jetlag of me and headed for my first pick up by the kiwi experience bus that is going to take me around new zealand the next 25 days. The upcoming stretch goes from Christchurch, to Kikoura and Kaiteriteri on the south island.