Akaroa

We had 6 days before picking up our camper van in New Zealand, but after about 2 days we'd seen most of Chrostchurch. So we headed to the Banks Peninsula for a couple of nights. It's a rugged tract about an hour outside Christchurch, and home to the only French settlement in New Zealand. In fact, the South Island may be French today had the settlers arrived just a few days earlier. The French had purchased the land from the locals, but a Britih gunboat beat the French settlers by two days. And that was that.

Today Akaroa is a little touristy but just a nice place to hang out. We got in a great day of kayaking and this morning climbed to the peninsula's high point, which is only about 3 miles each way from town, but 2500 vertical feet - basically straight up.  We made it in about 4 hours, in time to catch our bus back to Christchurch for dinner and beers at the Smash Palace, a pop-up bar a few blocks from our hostel. Not a bad day. 

We pick up our camper van tomorrow and begin an 8-week hiking road trip. First stop: Mt. Cook. Stay tuned...

On the road in Oz

Tasmania is a tough act to follow. But we did our best by road tripping through Victoria and South Australia. The first few days we drove the great ocean road in Victoria, spending three nights in Apollo Bay - a classic tourist beach town where we surfed (sort of), attempted to hike (turns out most hikes are really short walks), saw koalas and aborted a visit to a "scenic lighthouse" because they wanted $20 each for the pleasure (we've already seen a few in Maine). To recover from our rigorous road trip, we spent three nights relaxing at a little studio apartment in the Barossa Valley - if you've never tried Air Bnb, we highly recommend it - and doing some serious wine tasting. Something like 20 vineyards in 4 days. It was rough.

Pictures can be found here: https://plus.google.com/photos/103829313469224560701/albums/5994629804271970657

After that, it was back to roughing it in South Australia, and some serious driving. It reminded us of driving through Kansas, except for the constant threat of a kangaroo or emu running into the road. We spent one night in the little (really little) town of Melrose, where there's the North Star hotel. The best pub we've been to so far, complete with endearing bartender, local drunk and a helpful local who invited us to camp on his farm on our way back to Melbourne. Then it was back to hiking: alligator gorge (no alligators, but the ever-present threat of snakes), Wilpena Pound, and Rawnsley's Bluff. Hundreds of annoying flies aside, it was beautiful country and a good lesson in geology. The rocks change color with the light, there are kangaroos, emus and goats everywhere, and we enjoyed a blissfully quiet, dark campsite at Wilpena (dark campsites being hard to find in Australia given the proclivity for streetlights in holiday parks, which are basically fields of RVs with our tiny tent in their midst). To top off our Aussie roadtrip, we stopped at our new friend's farm on the Murray River and enjoyed another quiet night of camping overlooking a beautiful river and its resident pelicans. Nevermind the "Danger Snakes" sign.

Pictures from South Australia can be found here: https://plus.google.com/photos/103829313469224560701/albums/5996138697562193313

And as an aside: internet in Australia is sparse and slow. And in New Zealand it's sparse, slow, and expensive (you pay by the megabyte, because NZ has a single internet cable to Australia and is otherwise cut off from the 21st century). So our posts may be a bit sporadic these next few months - bear with us. We promise it will be worth the wait...

New Zealand

After two seeks in South Australia and Victoria (photos coming soon) we made it to Christchurch last night after a painless journey. We spent the day looking around town, and the resiliency from the earthquake of 2011 is impressive. Everything is under construction, the city is overflowing with contractors, and barricades are a common road hazard. According to one local, they are trying to demolish 300 unsafe buildings per day.

There's also a range of cool pop-up installations occupying empty spaces. Art installations, temporary resturaunts, and cargo box shopping areas. It's all very cool, very mutable, and very inspiring. As the poet once wrote, "I get knocked down, but I get up again..."

We have a few days here before picking up a camper van on April first and heading off for two months of hiking. More to come.

The Rat Lives in the Tree

Based on our blog posts and pictures, you might think our year of travel is all sunny days, high peaks, and warm beaches. Let us dispel that myth. Sure, we saw the Torres del Paine on a bluebird afternoon, surfed Apollo Bay under cloudless skies, and drank our fill of Piper Valley bubbly. And yes, we've seen all manner of cute and cuddly wildlife, from guanacos to koala bears.  But we've also had our fair share of run-ins with wildlife of a less savory sort. To wit, our top-ten least-favorite wildlife encounters so far:

10. The bees! Camping in Altos de Lircay, we were swarmed by yellow jackets two nights in a row. Luckily they were the benevolent sort.

9. The regurgitating wallaby, which haunted our campsite in the Walls of Jeruselem. Poor guy wasn't feeling well...

8. Road kill. Everywhere in Australia, with members including kangaroos, emus, and echidnas. Sad.

7. The Mosquitos on a hot muggy evening on the back side of Torres del Paine that threatened to drink us dry. And the deet was left behind.

6. The Rat in the Tree. Our first night in Hurtado, we camped and ate dinner with a lovely Chilean family. They departed the next morning, kindly leaving a note to say they enjoyed our company and concluding, as one does in these situations, "p.s.: the rat lives in the tree." And sure enough, he did.

5. Snakes. There are many venemous varieties in Australia. And Brook is terrified of them. 

4. Flea bites from stray dogs in Chile. Gross.

3. Millions of millipedes. When it rains in South Australia, the millipedes crawl out of the ground and into everything. Including our lux wine-tasting apartment in the Barossa valley. We killed at least 50 before giving up and going to bed. Insecticide was deployed in the morning with devastating effect.

2. Th ever-present, sharp-toothed and dull-witted, single-minded Brush Tailed Possum that will stop at nothing to steal your food. Including chewing through your tent. While you're in it.

1. Is there anything on this earth more annoying than a fly? Now picture hundreds, thousands of them buzzing incessantly while you hike the Flinders Ranges.

Regular Business Hours

After two months of travel, there are a few things we're starting to miss.  Mostly, we miss spending time with our good friends and families. But we also miss less important things, like regular business hours. In Chile, shops would open at 10, or maybe 11, shut from around 2-4 (or 1-3, or 3-5, depending on the whim of the owner), then open up again until maybe 9 or 10, except some days when they would mysteriously close early or be open until midnight. From there we went to the opposite extreme. In Australia, shops open promptly at 8, but close absurdly early. Even in Melbourne, 6 pm is considered late, and most stores close at 5.  Of course, this makes for a nice, regular work day for the staff. But it also makes it hard to buy things or get a campsite when you roll into a town at 6 pm. So we are starting to miss the always-open nature of many businesses in the US, along with a few other things, including:

Proper coffee (although we are now traveling with our own French press);
Internet that works, and doesn't cost $5/hour;
The news;
IPA;
Regular work outs;
The Titan;
Good, inexpensive lunches (lunch is the main meal of the day in south america and somewhat overwrought, and Australian restaurants are very expensive - think $15-20 for a burger);
Fahrenheit;
Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey.

And, in an odd but not unexpected way, we miss our work - not the sitting at the desk part, but the intellectual challenge and satisfaction of a job well done. But work will be there when we return, and for now we're enjoying new experiences and the freedom of travel, while also dealing with various minor hassles one encounters along the way.

But today, it's wine tasting in the Barossa Valley. Which is certainly not a hassle.

Koalas

Yes, there are koala bears in Australia, and yes, they are extraordinarily cute. Although they don't seem to do much but dangle photogenically from gum trees.

We had a few nice walks in and around Appollo Bay & Cape Ottoway yesterday, but elected to skip the famed lighthouse for which there is an absurd $19.50 admission charge (each), to see this "historic" sight that has been operating since around 1850. Since we can visit older lighthouses, for free, any time we like in Maine, we figured our funds were better spent on wine.  Besides, who cares for the recent and impermanent works of man when there's wildlife, 300-year-old trees, and an ancient coastline to explore.

Why we love Tasmania

Tasmania is the size of Ireland, but with epic mountains, wineries, and endless beaches.  You just need to look past the venomous snakes, and it's a very cool place.  We spent a couple of weeks there, from February 27 to March 11, and could have spent a couple more.  We managed to hit three national parks (see prior posts for Cradle Mountain and Walls of Jerusalem), ending with Freycinet park (pronounced frey-seh-ney) which is a cool peninsula jutting out into the Tasman Sea.  

Between our treks we visited about 10 wineries in the Tamar and Piper River valleys, which specialize in Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and bubbly. The cool climate and sandy soil in the Tamar Valley makes for very well-balanced  Chardonnay (or "chardy" - the Australians seem intent on abbreviating everything possible) that holds up to oak well, so you get a touch of vanilla and cream along with refreshing citrus and mineralilty at the end. Same goes for the Pinot: earthy, dark fruit to start and then a long, flinty finish. And the bubbly from the Piper River area is just darned good, French style champagne.

Along with great hiking and wine, Tassie is a very hospitable island - free wi-fi in town centers, enthusiastic locals, and lots of wallabies and other wildlife to view. This also means lots of efforts by the wallabies and brush-tailed possums to steal your food  - we were literally beating (gently, mind you) on one wallaby with a hiking pole with little effect, had our tent chewed through on one memorable evening, and Brook entertained himself by chasing a particularly intrepid possum (which we caught rappelling down to our food bag) through the trees one night.  And we did see a few snakes, but they were pretty skittish and left us alone.  Which is a good thing. 

Great hiking, great wine, and friendly locals - what's not to love?  We highly recommend a trip.  And if you do go, make sure to visit the Tamar and Piper Valleys (for the wine) and the aforementioned national parks.  along with Fish Frenzy in Hobart for some damned-good fish n' chips. You won't be disappointed.  Here's a link to some final photos, including wine country and Freycinet: http://tinyurl.com/k7gdhro

Climbing Cradle Mountain

About 10 days ago we spent two nights camping in the Cradle Mountain area of Tasmania, and got lucky with a bluebird day on which to climb Cradle Mountain (about 12 miles and 5,000 vertical feet).  The range is ancient, related to Torres del Paine (which we visited six weeks ago) and fairly awesome. We'll just let these photos explain.

Here's the album link if the above doesn't work for you:
https://plus.google.com/photos/103829313469224560701/albums/5987266105280429361

Tassie trifecta

We've been in Tassie about 12 days, and could stay longer. We've climbed craggy peaks, swam at pristine beaches, and just finished 3-day backpacking trip in Freycinet National Park, which is an isolated peninsula with mountains and great beaches (trip report an pics coming soon). We took a break for a few days in the midst of all this to go wine tasting in the Tamar Valley and, much to our surprise, Tasmania produces some of the best Chardonnay we've had anywhere, along with excellent pinot noir and bubbly. A few nights back, we stayed in a lovely "granny flat" we found through air bnb, picked up some local lamb, and did some damage to our wine supply. 

Not too shabby. 

Headed to Hobart now and backto the  mainland tomorrow. We'll put up a more complete hiking trip report when we get some decent internet (which is hard to find while camping).

The Walls of Jerusalem

In Tasmanian there is a place called the Walls of Jerusalem.  It's in the midst of wild and rugged country, tucked down a narrow, winding 40-kilometer road - the last 24 of which are a rough dirt track. Notwithstanding our VW Jetta rental car, and the fact that driving on dirt roads negates the rental insurance, we made the 5 hour drive from Hobart and spent an amazing 3 days hiking and camping in the Tasmanian back country. The hike in to the Wild Dog campsite is only about 3 hours, but the real gem is the long hike on day two that takes you past alpine lakes, cliffs, and to the summit of Mt. Jerusalem itself. We saw wallabies, all manner of birds, and the odd snake along the way. Not to mention star-drenched skies at night, icy dawns, huge trees, and an Australian couple who wasn't so lucky with their (identical) rental car (we gave them a lift back to town; they bought us a beer at the pub).

It might rate as one of our all-time favorite hikes.  Here's a small photo gallery of what we saw along the way.

And yes, that is a hand-carved cribbage board.