The Rare Sights of New Zealand...2009 Traveling Winding to a Close

Hey all,

The semi-world tour is coming to an end in a few days and it is time to head back to NJ for Christmas! I last left you in the North Island of NZ but would now like to bring everyone up to date on NZ's South Island. The South Island has magnificent scenery and reminds me of Alaska, Montana and Wales at different times. There are immense numbers of sheep and very few people. Of the roughly 4.5 mm people in NZ, only 20% are in the South Island. Tourism runs the show and outdoor adventure is the staple crop of many towns...fitting given the scenery.

So I have been joined by a friend for the tour of the South Island, Serena, from NYC and a colleague in The Nature Conservancy Young Professionals Group. She is here on a 2 week vaca before xmas. We have done a big loop of the South Island and head back to the North Island tomorrow in order to fly back to the states.

There are many things to explain and discuss about NZ's majestic South Island, but this blog will restrict the details to the rare/most interesting sights along the way. One of the first stopovers was Mt Cook (located in the middle of the Island) which is the backdrop for "Helmn's Deep" in Lord of the Rings. We also did Bungy in Queenstown; cruised the Doubtful Sound overnight seeing the very rare Fiordland Crested Penguin as well as Fur Seals and Bottlenose dolphins. This part of the NZ is the Bottlenose Dolphin's southernmost range since they are a warm water species (the water isn't warm, we went for a short-lived swim off the boat). The Doubtful Sound is a larger and more secluded version of the famous Milford Sound. It is in Fiordland National Park which is one of the largest parks in the world. The scenery was unbelievable with steep hillsides carpeted in trees and laced with waterfalls that pour into the sound's waters below.

After Queenstown and the Sound we ventured to the West Coast and into glacier country. In this part of NZ the glaciers are located right off the shoreline in what NZ refers to as the "Southern Alps." The combination of location and elevation makes for a unique landscape as the glaciers are all surrounded by NZ sub-tropical rainforest! It is difficult to imagine and comprehend, but is true: 20 ft tree ferns on slopes that touch frozen ice. Today we hiked for 7 hrs on the Franz Josef Glacier which exists in some of the (if not the) warmest temperatures for any glacier in the world. The snow at the top of the peaks keeps feeding the glacier, and it will not be disappearing anytime soon (despite climate change and our world's inability to have enough guts to tackle the problem). Along the way we saw the Kea, the world's only Alpine Parrot. This tropical looking bird just hangs out on the snow foraging for food. They are one of the smartest animals in the world and certainly take the crown for smartest bird. Last but not least, along one of our many drives through cattle rangeland in the South Island we saw some "frisky cows." This did not seem like a rare sight at first but then we saw what was actually happening. One cow was mounting another, but from the wrong angle! Yes, there are so many things i can say here but will let you use your imagination for the sake of keeping this blog "clean"...but the cow was humping another cow's face. Icing on the cake of rare sights here in NZ.

To top it all off, this last 2009 blog entry will also host the last lesson of Aussie, British, Kiwi language for my less-traveled american friends and family.


Sweet As: A kiwi favorite. This really doesn't mean anything..."Sweet as ___" - who knows, you can fill in whatever you want. But they don't finish the phrase...sweet as is stated simply on its own. This phrase is used to mean, "ok', "cool", "thanks", and usually comes by itself or at the end of the sentence. Some foreigners think you are actually complimenting their dairy aire, but that is not the case, there is only one "s" in Sweet As.

Friends with Dorothy: I just learned this yesterday from a Manchester girl. She was very sweet and proper and clearly didn't use any offensive language. But she was explaining one of her guy friends that doesn't like girls and referred to him as being "friends with Dorothy"...as in the Wizard of Oz. I think this is great, and it is quite funny. A supposedly less offensive method of calling someone gay. Usually only refers to guys.

Sharpish: Technically i was reminded this one from re-watching "Snatch" (an awesome movie)...but this is a classic British phrase and it means ASAP. "Mate, get that for me sharpish!" "Mate, we need to leave sharpish!" We should definitely bring this one to the US...it just sounds much better with a UK accent.

Glacier: Last but not least. This word, obviously you know what it is but it is pronounced differently here. We say Glay-Shur - seems logical. They say Glass-e-uh. Difficult to explain without sounding it out for you, but still interesting to know the different accents. This pronunciation is fairly consistent for all the Commonwealth countries.

OK, see you back in the States. The plan for next year is actually to not travel as much, maybe live in Jackson Hole, somewhere in the US with lots of outdoor activities, most notably skiing and fly fishing.

Dave