We catch a taxi to the Holiday Inn which is the hotel used by VBT. It is on the River Avon. In ten minutes you can follow the river and walk to town. For information about hotels, our itinerary and special notes, see "Coordinates."
Christchurch is lovely town with lots of trees and a feeling of transplanted England. The entire setting encourages you to shift from the hectic pace at home to one that is better suited for a vacation. An electric trolley loops through the downtown area. The conductor provides running commentary and a bit of humor about the view, the history and things that are happening. It is an excellent introduction to the the heart of Christchurch and its way of life.
The afternoon of Day 1 we assemble in the parking lot of the hotel, meet our guides, get our bicycles, and have a "getting to know you" reception.
Our VBT leaders are Paul and Mariska who are New Zealanders and Joshua who is from the U.S.; this is his first trip leading in New Zealand. Mariska is a high school science teacher. Paul is retired from the Air Force and is a wealth of history and folklore that he shares with us throughout the trip. A top notch team.
Dinner is "on our own" this evening. After dinner we go to Christmas eve caroling in the park. There are several thousand people, most of them carrying lighted candles. We meet a New Zealand couple and their Tibetan Terrier and have a lovely evening.
Day 2, Christmas Day, is our first bicycling day. VBT has rented two Mercedes vans, each with a trailer. Eighteen bicyclists plus three leaders fill all but one of the 22 available seats. Our leaders put the bikes on the tops of the trailers and shuttle us up to the top of the nearby mountain. Today's ride is along the ridge line and out almost to the sea. The views are spectacular.
At the reception yesterday, Paul, one of our guides, said we probably wouldn't lose any weight on this trip and we don't. On the other hand, we eat well. Lunch is a picnic several tables of food set up at a wide spot in the road with a view. After lunch we continue riding along the ridge and then get a great downhill ride to the beach.
Day 3 starts with a van shuttle to the
TanzAlpine train station. We take the train
for two and a half hours across the Canterberry Plains and then up into the Southern
Alps to the village of Arthurs Pass. At the next stop, Otira, we get off the train and have
lunch in the local "hotel." After lunch we have a "mostly downhill" 55 mile ride. About three
miles from Otria the directions alert us to "the Oreo-cookie cows on your left"
(actually Belted Galloways) and warn us about a railroad crossing. I couldn't resist
capturing this quaint rail-road crossing sign. From there, the ride takes us
out of the mountains and then along the coast to Hokitika. We have a bit of rain.
When we turn west toward the ocean to go into town we encounter a "stand on your peddles" headwind.
That headwind has the ocean roaring with white caps and there is a wonderful view from the
bar and restaurant.
Day 4 allows for a late start. Hokitika is a center for New Zealand jade. We have time to do a little shopping for jade carved by the native Maoris. Members of our group find other items including great New Zealand bicycle jerseys and a replacement camera lens. The riding day starts with a van shuttle to Hari Hari. The bike ride is more or less flat along the coast. An option takes us to the Okarito Lagoon. Here there is an option of a kayak ride or a hike. I choose to kayak and Pat hikes. On the kayak we see lots of birds including white herons and godwits that migrate from Alaska and Siberia. From here, we van to the Franz Josef Hotel.
Day 5 is a "discovery day" which is
VBT code for "no bicycle riding today." The best of all possible options is to
helicopter to the top of the
glacier and hike down. But the weather gods veto that. Our leaders go to Plan B and
make arrangements for a helicopter flight tomorrow, weather permitting. Paul always
has a "Plan B" just in case. (It may just be that the "B" in VBT stands for Plan B.)
Today's Plan B calls for panning for gold then a barbecue
lunch. Every one finds gold, not much, but enough to claim success.
If we helicopter tomorrow there
won't be time for time to hike down the glacier so this afternoon we will hike up
the glacier. After lunch, we van back to town to get heavy boots suitable for mountain hiking and sturdy enough for the
iceTalonz that will give us the grip we need on the glacial ice. We also get
several pair of heavy socks to make the boots fit and a warm rain coat. We meet
our guide and take a bus from town to a point near the glacier. There is a path leading to the glacier and the local chamber of commerce has posted
signs that make us feel both welcome and safe.
As we walk to the glacier we follow a trail along the river. There are water falls on
the mountains on both sides of us. When we reach the glacier we strap on our
iceTalonz and start to climb. We climb up and down, but mostly up. At places the
trail is very narrow with walls of ice on both sides. Our guide and the
other guides we see use their ice ax to rough up slick spots and keep steps well shaped
as we climb. The climb is a workout comparable to a good
bike ride in rolling hills. The ice is beautiful with richly colored blue holes and
little streams where it is melting.
The glacier extended all the way to the sea
during the last ice age, about 13,500 years ago. Since 1884 it has receded as much
as two miles and then moved back and forth several times. It is now about half
way between the recent extremes. The glacier continues from where we are standing up
the valley and disappears in the clouds.
After a brief stop to take in the view,
we start back down. Way below us we can see the rocks left on the flatter plain
over the centuries. As we reach the bottom of the glacier, it begins to rain softly
and the wind has a bite in it. The bus meets us and takes us back to town where
we exchange the heavy boots for our own shoes that now seem strangely light-weight.
Paul has promised us a special treat this evening.
He will take us to a nearby "glow worm" grotto. After dinner, we assemble and walk down
the highway about half a mile to the parking lot of the next hotel. Paul says it is
very dark in the rain forest and we have to be very quite. He asks us to form a single
line and hold hands so no one gets lost or falls and makes a lot of noise. He admonishes
us not to talk. We stumble through the forest for just a few minutes and there they are --
thousands of tiny, bright lights on what appears to be the up-turned base of a fallen
tree. Paul has mastered the art of making this a fascinating sight and a memorable
evening. Just in case you have the opportunity to take this tour with Paul, we won't spoil
your fun. However, from that point on in the trip, whenever someone mentiones glow worm,
members of the group hold hands, hum or both. Yes, I know, it sounds weird, but it was
great fun.
Day 6 and we get up early just in case the weather is better, but it isn't. The helicopter ride has to be postponed until we get to Queenstown. A one-hour van shuttle and then back on our bikes. We ride through forests and across pasture land and along the coast. Lunch today is at a salmon farm where they have great salmon chowder that warms body and soul. We ride on to our hotel for the night; its name says everything that needs to be said about the setting: Wilderness Lodge. The setting is wilderness, but the facilities are beautiful. There is a piano in the dining room and we discover that one of our tour members is, among other things, a pianist. We have a great sing-along evening.
Day 7 starts with a half hour shuttle to the town of Haast and the Haast visitor center. We ride south along the coast from there to Jackson Bay. The Wilderness Lodge had packed lunches for us but Paul says the fish and chips at the trailer/cafe are excellent. They are. We share them with some of the local sea gulls then we van back to the lodge.
There is a pleasant walk through the rain forest to the beach. Paul has pointed out the young, spirals on the ferns and we have seen this theme widely used through out New Zealand including the tourism logo, the logo on Air New Zealand's tail, and some of the Maori jade carvings.
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Day 8 starts with a half hour shuttle to the Haast visitior center then this time we ride east along the Haast River instead of south. The ride climbs slowly. There are several water falls, some near the road and several on the other side of the valley. The flat part of the ride ends at the lunch stop at Pleasant Flat. Four of our members choose to ride UP 563 meters (1,847 feet) and they all make it.
This is New Year's eve so we are staying at the Oakridge Lodge instead of the regularly scheduled "home stay" with local families. We have an excellent dinner and then we stay up to be among the first in the world to welcome the New Year. In New Zealand, we are in the first time zone west of the the International Date Line.
There have been occasional references to bungy jumping during the trip. At dinner tonight, Paul says the time has come to commit if we want to jump tomorrow so they can make reservations. Mariska shows us a photo of her in mid-flight. Two of us raise our hands.
Day 9, New Year's day and the last bicycling day of our trip. We van-shuttled 36 kilometers from Wanaka to Tarras. It is raining. The BVT tour leaders are not about to cancel the ride if there is anyone who gives any indication that they want to ride. One person says they want to ride so the ride is on. Several of us can't wimp out on the last day so we get on the bikes. It rains all the way to the Jones Fruit Stall -- 37 kilometers. All of us who start make it to the fruit stall.
We change to drier clothes and then join the others in the van. Our next stop is the Gibbston Valley Winery. They provide a tour of their wine cave with a sampling of four outstanding wines. There was a second group in the cave at the same time. They ask if we would mind if two of their members sing a duet. We learned later that there have been weddings and other special functions in the cave, in part, because the acoustics are so good. They sing a love song that is outstanding. One of those wonderful surprises we often get on our adventure trips.
It is just 1 kilometer from the winery to the Kawarau River bridge, the home of bungee jumping. We go to the kiosk where Jim and I sign up, sign waivers, pay our money and get on the scale. No fudging here. They weigh us and write it in large red numbers on the back of our hands. The rain stopped earlier in the day; it is just drizzling a bit off and on.
Pat had already checked out the process of how they prepare us for the jump and decided it is OK and joined the others in the spectator area. Jim and I now have our own cheering section.
There are two jump platforms next to each other on the same side of the bridge. I go to one and Jim goes to the other. There is a bench where they wrap a large bath town around my ankles. Then they wrap what appears to be a nylon strap around the towel and between my ankles. They attache the bungee cord to the nylon strap with a huge carabiner. Everything is tight and looks strong enough to support a Volkswagen. [One bungy site claims, "All equipment for bungee jumping is rated at over 4,000 pounds. A new VW weighs less than 3,000 pounds.]
They help me stand and ask me to "penguin" walk to the edge of the platform. The jump master suggests I look straight ahead at a distant bridge and then just jump. I look down and slowly fall forward. An absolutely exhilerating feeling of freedom. Fun, exiting, unlike anything I have ever done. NOT scary. FREEDOM!
There are people on the platform who look like they are scared out of their wits. I admire them for jumping anyway. But, I do not find it scary. The closest it came to scary is at the top of the first bounce when I stop and hang weightless for what seems much longer than possible. Then back down, up, down, up and then down close to the yellow boat where two guys are waiting for me. One holds up a long white pole and tells me to grab it. They guide me down toward the boat. One of them says to do a sit-up and I am gently lowered on my back on the boat. They take off the nylon strap and towel and hook them on another line to be hauled up to the bridge. They pull the boat back to the shore. I say thanks and wait for Jim. Then begin the hardest part of the whole process: climbing the stairs up to the viewing area to rejoin Pat and our friends.
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I get high marks for my form from the spectators. Jim and I walk back to the kiosk. They play a video of our jumps. They give us a certificate, a copy of the video, a T-shirt and a receipt for our photos which we have to pick-up in town this evening. Everybody gets back in the van and we are off to Queenstown.
The clouds are clearing. Just before we get to Queenstown, we pull into the airport and stop at the helicopter area. At last we get our helicopter ride, no glacier, but spectacular views.
Day 10 is another "discovery day," this time in Queenstown. Just as Christchurch was a great place to begin a vacation, Queenstown is a great place to end one. It has the youth and vibrance of a Southern California beach town but it is set on a beautiful lake surrounded by majestic mountains.
One of the attractions in Queenstown is the the Kiwi & Birdlife Park. The entrance has an eight foot silhouette of a kiwi. Kiwis are nocturnal. There are several on display in a darkened room. We get to see them, but no photographs. The park is a lovely place to stroll and see a wide variety of native birds in natural settings. There were no native mammals in New Zealand so birds filled a wide variety of roles. The lack of mammals meant that the birds had no predators so flight was not necessary.
Day 11 starts with an early van ride to the airport to catch flights to our
next destinations. Ours is Aukland for three days of sight seeing and then home.
February 2000
Lots of great pictures and a few words. The guy guy on the right is Paul who was also our leader.
January 1998 A thorough and
detailed report.