HIKING AND BIKING IN NEW ZEALAND, Part 3: Guest Post by Cathy Mayone

New Zealand, Milford Sound

Over the Christmas holidays, my niece and her husband, Cathy and Mike Mayone, spent two weeks in New Zealand, driving, biking and hiking on both the North and South Island, enjoying the southern hemisphere summer and New Zealand's unique landscape. I thank Cathy for sharing their trip with The Intrepid Tourist. For more about their biking experiences, you can go to her blog .

Queenstown

Part 3:  New Zealand’s South Island Alps, Lakes and Fiords

As our airplane approached Queenstown, we marveled at the surrounding snow-capped mountains.  As we procured our rental car, the agent casually said, “Oh, you are lucky to have landed. They often divert to Christchurch due to the weather.”  Having heard about the terrible floods that had been ravaging the South Island in the prior weeks, I had been monitoring the weather and relieved that we had some partly sunny days ahead of us.  Given the unforeseen weather, I had also kept our itinerary loosely planned for our five days in Queenstown, which makes for a great home base for many of the South Island’s sites.

Otago Wine Trail

We rented bikes in the old historic town of Arrowtown.  Its buildings reminded me of Colorado’s Old Western towns.  Upon hiring (as they say, rather than renting) the bikes, we didn’t get very far since the Farmer’s Market was just coming to life.  Once on our way, we headed to the Otago Wine Trail that follows a creek to the larger river and gorge.  The highlights of this trail include two suspension bridges we had to cross, one of which was quite long.  The trick is to not look down and not have too many people the bridge at once!  

Kawarau Gorge suspension bridge

We also came to the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge, the world famous, original bungie jumping site.  Seeing even the most fearful people give it a go, it was tempting, but the vineyards were beckoning us.  The vineyards are all right along the trail so we stopped at a couple of them before turning around for the return.

Drive to Milford Sound

We picked one of our sunniest days to go to Te Anau and the Milford Sound.  Your options are to fly, bus, or drive from Queenstown, with some tours providing combination fly/bus/cruise day trip options.  It’s a two hour drive to Te Anau, and then another two hours to Milford Sound.  We seriously considered the expensive flying option, but determined there were too many things we wanted to see along the way.  Mike was up for driving, so call us crazy, but we did a day trip, stopping in the small lake town of Te Anau in both directions for a break.  The beautiful landscape kept us occupied the whole trip, and the road into Milford Sound cuts through a tunnel rather than having too many hairy turns, so the driving was more manageable than anticipated. 

Milford Sound cruise

Once in Milford Sound, we took Cruise Milford’s two hour “boutique” cruise, which was a smaller boat advertised not to be filled to capacity.  It is recommended that you book in advance during the high season, as it would be a shame to show up in Milford Sound and not be able to get a cruise.  Also, there are not many eating options in Milford Sound, so plan for picnic food.  The other tip is to avoid the $10 / hour parking that is closest to the cruise docks and do the free parking / shuttle that is near the airport, making sure you allow enough time.

Milford Sound waterfall

The cruise does a loop on Milford Sound going down on one side to the opening of the Tasman Sea and back on the other side.  The greenish-blue Sound waters contrasted beautifully with the steep, snow-capped mountains abundant with waterfalls.  The boat even went up under some of the waterfalls, giving advance warning to those who did not want to get wet! 

Lupines

We made several stops along the way in and out of Milford Sound such as Mirror Lake, and to take pictures in the fields of lupines--the beautiful, pink and purple flowers that bloom all over New Zealand in the summer.  We arrived back in Queenstown around 10 pm at night, just as the sky was turning to night.  (New Zealand summer days (December) are filled with long daylight hours, making this day trip more doable.)

For a shorter day trip from Queenstown we did the 90 minute drive over to Lake Wanaka.  It was one of the busier lakes with swimmers, kayakers, jet skiers, boaters, and parasailers.  Tired from our previous two days, we kept it simple with a beach take-out lunch and a lakeside walk.  Plus, we needed to conserve our energy to stay up for the New Year’s Eve Queenstown activities.  After happy hour on our balcony, we walked down into town around 7 pm when we heard the music begin.  There were local bands playing to an enthusiastic, mostly middle age with children crowd.  We found it to be a very “sane” New Year’s celebration but perhaps it was still early.  We headed back to our AirB&B for dinner and balcony viewing of the fireworks at midnight, and we wished our family and friends a Happy New Year 18-21 hours before the U.S. would celebrate.

Mount Cook Visitor Centre

We kept New Year’s Day, a partly rainy day, even simpler and opted for a walk around Queenstown, including Queenstown Gardens.  The next day, we headed out for the last part of our trip, driving two hours to Twizel, and then another 40 minutes past Twizel to Mount Cook, New Zealand’s highest peak.  We oriented ourselves at the wonderful Aoraki Mount Cook National Park Visitor Centre. 

Hooker Valley track

Having fallen in love with New Zealand’s suspension bridges, the Hooker Valley 5 km fairly flat track afforded us with three bridges leading us to Hooker Glacier Lake and closer views of Mount Cook.

Hooker Valley hike destination with view of Mount Cook

Back in Twizel, we checked into our AirB&B, slightly different accommodations, as it’s a true B&B in the home of its owners with a farm of three sheep, two young cows, and chickens. Our balcony looked out onto the fields where a Lord of the Rings battle took place. Twizel and the surrounding areas are known for their bright star viewing. With the long days, we were too tired to wait for the pitch black sky but we left the curtain ajar for a quick peak when we awoke in the middle of the night. Twizel, and so many towns we encountered in New Zealand, made us feel like we were returning to a time in the U.S. pre-Big Box stores and Amazon Prime. The towns still have the locally owned hardware and clothing stores, pharmacies, and bakeries.

Lupines and Lake Pukaki

We perhaps saved the best for last with our final bike ride, the Alps 2 Ocean ride, which is one of New Zealand’s 22 great rides.  From Twizel, we rode through the middle of wide open pastures with views of the mountains.  And then we reached Lake Pukaki, with its stunning turquoise blue water juxtaposed with the white capped Aoraki (Mount Cook).  It looked even more stunning on this day now that the Australian bushfire haze had dissipated.  We rode the trail around the lake until the trail ended, ate a picnic lunch, and then did the return trip to Twizel.

Our time had come to make the final drive to Christchurch to catch our plane home.  We left New Zealand wondering why we had never had it on our bucket list. Its people, beaches, mountains and activities afforded us a lifetime of memories and a reminder why we travel.

Related articles and links:

For more information about New Zealand’s amazing Great Rides cycling initiative and an in depth look at all of our New Zealand biking adventures, visit my “Great Riding” articles on my Swim Bike Run Survive blog.

For an in depth look at the Milford Sound, check out Owen Floody’s three part series.

Our South Island accommodations included:

Queenstown – 5 nights in a large apartment with lake views

Twizel – 2 nights in a B&B with small farm

FIVE DAYS IN ROME, Part 2: Guest Post by Paige Arnold

Bike riding on the Appian Way, Rome, Italy

My granddaughter Paige (age 13) and her parents recently went on a trip to Rome, and while she was there Paige kept a diary of their activities. Paige is a competitive swimmer, so although she was on vacation, she tried to fit in practice when she could. I thank her for sharing her thoughts and photos of the trip with The Intrepid Tourist. 

On our third day in Rome we went to the Borghese Gallery, but since we had tickets to go at 3:00, we decided to go to another museum first. It was a museum of musical instruments, which had many pianos and harps and such from a long, long time ago.

Harpsichord at the National Museum of Musical Instruments, Rome.

I really liked how the pianos and organs had paintings and art on the covers--it just made them that much prettier.  After that we went home for about ten minutes and then walked to the Borghese museum.  

Ceiling paintings in one of the twenty rooms of the Borghese Gallery.

At the Borghese Gallery, there were many beautiful statues and paintings and lots of rooms to wander through and look at things.   

Stone sculpture of person carrying a lion pelt (Borghese Gallery)

There was an app you could download to experience an audio tour that guided you through the rooms, which gave you a detailed explanation of the important pieces.  Since lots of people were using the audio tour, it was very quiet for those who didn’t, which was nice. 

Villa Borghese Park

There was also a park behind the museum with statues and trees, and we found that walking through it was very enjoyable.  For lunch, we had gotten sandwiches before, so when we got home we just ate those.  The sandwich place we went to was a “make your own” place, but it was a bit difficult since we didn’t know Italian.  They cut the meat right in front of us with one of those sharp spinning metal wheels, which was fascinating to watch.  After eating lunch, we relaxed for a while then went out to dinner at the same place that we had gone to the first day.  

The fourth day, I was in charge.  Early in the morning (at least early for me), my dad and I went out to the park near our house for me to draw and for him to take pictures of the Colosseum.  We spent about thirty minutes there, and then headed back to get ready to go out for a swim.  This time, we knew exactly which place we were going to and exactly how to get there.  We arrived, I swam for a bit, and then we went home.  I wanted a bit of a relaxing day, so we spent the rest of our day in the apartment, and ate a measly dinner that we managed to put together from the ingredients already in the kitchen.   

Bike riding past ancient ruins on the Appian Way

The last day, we woke up late and went on a bike ride on the Appia Antica road, which is the ancient road that connected Rome to Brindisi (also known as the Appian Way.)  It was a very bumpy ride, since the road was paved with cobblestone. On the way back, we stopped at a little restaurant off the side of the road, where the waiter was very kind and talked to us in English about how he used to live in California around where we live. He showed us a book he was mentioned in, and told us lots of stories about the author. In all, the trip was very interesting and it taught me how different Rome is from the U.S.
(Additional photos by Matt Arnold.)

Paige at the Vatican

SRI LANKA: Pearl of the Indian Ocean, Part II, Guest Post by Gretchen Woelfle

Reclining Buddha at Anurhadapura

My friend and fellow children's book writer Gretchen Woelfle recently returned from an exciting 16 day cycling trip in Sri Lanka. Here is the second of two installments she wrote about her trip. 

Legend has it that the Buddha visited Sri Lanka three times during his lifetime. History offers no evidence, but Buddhism did arrive in the 3^rd century BCE. And the Pali canon – the Buddha’s teachings that were transmitted orally for four hundred years – was first written down in Sri Lanka around 30 BCE. Today 70% of the population are Buddhists. (The other 30% are Hindu (Tamil), Christian, and Moslem.)

Monastic ruins at Anurhadapura

A cutting of the Bodhi tree, under which the Buddha became enlightened, was allegedly brought to Sri Lanka, and today that tree is venerated in the World Heritage site at Anuradhapura, an ancient capital. Our group circled the Sri Maha Bodhi (the sacred tree), each of us offering flowers to a monk and receiving a blessed string bracelet. We then cycled through the vast site to see restored monastery foundations, stupas, temples, and sculptures. 

Abhayagiri Stupa at Anurhadapura. Built in 1^st century BCE, restored in 1997

Stupas are solid dome-like structures. The important ones hold hidden relics of holy monks and teachers. Devotees circumambulate the stupas, chanting, meditating and leaving offerings.

Images of dwarves were seen as guardians of sacred items

Our group saw only a few of the countless historic temples in Sri Lanka. We hiked into the forest to the ruins of the Ritigala monastery complex where an orange-clad monk addressed a group of devotees.

Sculptures carved into a cliff-face at Polonnaruwa

We cycled to Polonnaruwa to the restored ruins and two enormous Buddhas carved into a cliff-face, my favorite artworks of the trip. These sites are more than tourist destinations; they remain pilgrimage sites for Sri Lankans.

One of many altars at the Tooth Relic temple in Kandy

The city of Kandy contains the country’s most precious relic – an alleged tooth of the Buddha, kept in a golden casket in the fabulously ornate  temple. Each evening monks open the doors to reveal the casket while drummers perform in a courtyard below.

Behind the curtain lies the precious Tooth Relic of the Buddha

Many other rooms contain an abundance of sculptures and paintings of the Buddha. Marble, gold, and painted images abound.

Offerings left at a Bodhi tree at Kataragama

The temple at Kataragama honors Buddha and the Hindu gods Ganesh and Shiva. Buddhists make offerings at another cutting of the Bodhi tree and Hindu priests perform daily pujas. Even on an ordinary week-day the site was filled with the faithful. An extravagant summer festival draws huge crowds. All through the country we cycled past modest village temples, tiny roadside shrines, and small altars in shops and cafés.

Small Buddhist shrine in a café

Sri Lanka has recently emerged from a thirty-year bloody civil war which pitted the Hindu Tamil Tigers against the Sinhalese Buddhist government troops, and current riots between Buddhists and Moslems threaten the peace. Sampath, our Buddhist guide (whose entire life has been touched by war), recounted stories of his best friend and neighbors who were Tamils (Hindus). As with so many conflicts, the causes are political, rather than personal. One can only hope that the tolerance exhibited at the Kataragama temples will win out in the end.

 

Intrepid Travel offers eight tours of Sri Lanka, from two to fifteen days. https://www.intrepidtravel.com/us/sri-lanka

Book recommendations:

The Rough Guide to Sri Lanka

Romesh Gunesekera, Noontide Toll. A novel of contemporary linked stories of the lingering impact of the civil war.

Romesh Gunesekera, Reef. A compelling coming-of-age novel about a servant boy (1960s-90s).

Leonard Woolf, Growing: An Autobiography of the Years 1904-1911. Before he met Virginia, Woolf spent these seven years as a British bureaucrat in (then) Ceylon.

Leonard Woolf, A Village in the Jungle. This 1913 novel is a powerful but gloomy portrait of village life.

Restored shrine with ancient sculptures and fresh offerings