Dec. 28
Brighton (just S of Dunedin)
The highlight of the Routeburn Trail was celebrating Hanukkah on Christmas Day at the Routeburn Flats Campground with 3 Israelis (a woman traveling solo and two guys.) They lit 6 candles in the rain and all sang songs. It was a special moment.
I won't go into the Routeburn -- the clouds mostly obscured the alpine scenery. You could "sense" that it was there, but you couldn't see it. I may make another bid -- just a dayhike -- coming from the Milford Sound side...if it's clear.
In my final analysis, NZ backpacking cannot compete with that of the Sierra Nevada. You just can't beat that California sunshine! Plus, the abundance of alpine lakes and opportunites for solitude in the Sierra reallly place the home front in first place. Give me a summer day in the Ansel Adams or Emigrant Wilderness, and you can pretty much be sure that it's going to be a great day.
Anyway, Queenstown had become an unbelievable jam of tourists who were peeing in Moke Lake, harrassing my favorite waitress at Sombrero's, and basically just acting like Fisherman's Wharf tourists. Plus, the sandfly situation was not improving. Those things come out when it's rainy/wet, and they disappear when it's hot and sunny. So, you get a double-whammy when it rains b/c the shitflies swarm you.
Thankfully, the sandflies are not everywhere...and this red-blooded Californian still hadn't been in the ocean. So, I drove out to Dunedin on the East Coast. The Central Otago countryside is remarkably arid and treeless; many places could pass for California.
Dunedin is, well...Dunedin. The architecture is styled after Scotland and I don't find it very warm. Plus, there seem to be very few trees for some reason. The city center is oriented around an octagonal street grid, the center of which is called "The Octagon". So, everything orients around The Octagon.
Now, if you just go 3 km south from the Octagon, you find yourself at St. Clair Beach, which is a beautiful beach with perfect white sand in a salty, laid-back beach community. This is a cool place. And, the surf looked really nice.
I picked up a surfboard and had my first surf session today at Blackhead, which is a cove that looks incredibly similar to Rockaway. The kiwis were just as friendly in the water as they are on land. The water is about 58-60, the swell was about 2-3', and the predictable offshore wind was howling.
So, I am heading south via the Catlins coastline to Invercargill, from which point I need to head back to Queenstown to pick up my birthday package. I don't know what the email connectivity will be for the next few days, but I would presume not that good. I'm sure I'll get online by NYE.
Brighton (just S of Dunedin)
The highlight of the Routeburn Trail was celebrating Hanukkah on Christmas Day at the Routeburn Flats Campground with 3 Israelis (a woman traveling solo and two guys.) They lit 6 candles in the rain and all sang songs. It was a special moment.
I won't go into the Routeburn -- the clouds mostly obscured the alpine scenery. You could "sense" that it was there, but you couldn't see it. I may make another bid -- just a dayhike -- coming from the Milford Sound side...if it's clear.
In my final analysis, NZ backpacking cannot compete with that of the Sierra Nevada. You just can't beat that California sunshine! Plus, the abundance of alpine lakes and opportunites for solitude in the Sierra reallly place the home front in first place. Give me a summer day in the Ansel Adams or Emigrant Wilderness, and you can pretty much be sure that it's going to be a great day.
Anyway, Queenstown had become an unbelievable jam of tourists who were peeing in Moke Lake, harrassing my favorite waitress at Sombrero's, and basically just acting like Fisherman's Wharf tourists. Plus, the sandfly situation was not improving. Those things come out when it's rainy/wet, and they disappear when it's hot and sunny. So, you get a double-whammy when it rains b/c the shitflies swarm you.
Thankfully, the sandflies are not everywhere...and this red-blooded Californian still hadn't been in the ocean. So, I drove out to Dunedin on the East Coast. The Central Otago countryside is remarkably arid and treeless; many places could pass for California.
Dunedin is, well...Dunedin. The architecture is styled after Scotland and I don't find it very warm. Plus, there seem to be very few trees for some reason. The city center is oriented around an octagonal street grid, the center of which is called "The Octagon". So, everything orients around The Octagon.
Now, if you just go 3 km south from the Octagon, you find yourself at St. Clair Beach, which is a beautiful beach with perfect white sand in a salty, laid-back beach community. This is a cool place. And, the surf looked really nice.
I picked up a surfboard and had my first surf session today at Blackhead, which is a cove that looks incredibly similar to Rockaway. The kiwis were just as friendly in the water as they are on land. The water is about 58-60, the swell was about 2-3', and the predictable offshore wind was howling.
So, I am heading south via the Catlins coastline to Invercargill, from which point I need to head back to Queenstown to pick up my birthday package. I don't know what the email connectivity will be for the next few days, but I would presume not that good. I'm sure I'll get online by NYE.
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