Mt COOKing Chicken

Last week brought another package from home, this time from my mom. Our favorite almonds, some Christmas fun, and MORE deodorant were included. Craig and I will now be stink-free for the remainder of our time here, and probably for at least a year after! Thanks Mom. And Happy Birthday!
For Thanksgiving, we cooked up some chicken, homemade stuffing, mashed potaotos, and veggies for a pretty decent meal. Actually, we both agreed the stuffing was the best we had ever eaten! So, all in all, it wasn’t bad for a turkeyless Thanksgiving. We did miss all of our family and friends, and were sad to miss the Conklin Family Dinner though. But, we are extremely thankful to be here in NZ, to have each other, and to be able to talk to our friends and family even though we can’t see them.
For the weekend, we had planned to go glacier kayaking in Mt Cook/Aoraki National Park with our friends Dan, Emily, and Lexi. Craig had to attend a clinic opening ceremony for the uni on Friday, so while he partied with the Maori, I ran home and packed up the car. Here is Craig to tell about the Maori festivities:

The clinic opening had a big Maori (New Zealand aboriginal people) component consisting of two blessings, a whakawatea, which is for the pounamu and one for the clinic. A pounamu is the Maori word for jade and there is a new wood carving holding a big pounamu right in the entrance of the clinic. When someone enters the clinic it is customary to touch or rub the pounamu. Friday after work was the clinic opening and blessing which was also done according to Maori tradition. The clinic was set up with two groups of chairs facing each other. Maori people sat on one side facing the Pakeha (non-Maori people). There was a Maori leader who spoke in both languages. Both sides would have a leader or elder speak and then a song would be sung (in Maori) by the group of people whose elder just spoke. This went on for about 45 minutes. After all the speeches were made and songs were sung we performed the hongi. A hongi is what Maori would do to make peace or an agreement with each other, in this case, that the clinic was opened for all to use. A hongi is a greeting in which you place your forehead and nose to another person's while keeping your eyes open and touching or shaking hands. This is first done by women and then men. So for the ceremony all the pakeha women performed the hongi with all the Maori women first, then men. Then all the Pakeha men went through the line. It was a little communion like. The meaning behind the hongi is that both people are sharing the same air through their nose and this communal "breath of life" binds these people. It was interesting and a good cultural experience to have attended.
Link to local newspaper of opening

After I picked Craig up, we drove north toward Ashburton to pick up Craig’s surfboard, stopping on the way to pick up the “world’s best fish fry” for dinner. And it really probably was the best fish fry I’ve had. Blue Cod and chips, YUM!
After strapping the 9.5 foot board to the roof rack, we drove to a campsite for the night. It was a perfect night for camping, warm and dry. We woke in the morning, ate some oats, and hit the road for some Mt. Cook fun. On the way, we got to drive past Lake Tekapo, one of our favorite views, and on to our cabin on Lake Pukaki, another favorite (see pics from Lake Tekapo). We couldn’t check into the cabin yet so we went right to the Alpine Village where we were to meet our friends for the kayaking trip. Upon arrival however, we were greeted by a sign stating, “Kayak Tours On Hold.” ☹ We met with our guide who at first gave us hope that we would still go, and then 5 minutes later cancelled the trip due to high winds. Bummer! She suggested we put our names on the list for the Sunday morning trip and hope for better weather so we did.
Since we now had some free time, the 5 of us decided to check into our cabin and then go for a hike. We found a cool sounding trail, Hooker Valley Track, and set out for the 4-hour tramp. Except for the strong winds, the weather was great, warm with big white puffy clouds. Our hike provided some amazing views of a usually hidden Mt Cook/Aoraki. Aoraki is the Maori name which means "cloud piercing". If you look at the peak of the mountain you can see a face which represents the sons of one of the Maori gods who were turned to stone.


Mt Cook/Aoraki from a distance


Aoraki (look close to see the face)

The trail took us across multiple rivers, 2 very high suspension bridges which were fairly scary with the wind, and out to the terminal face of the Hooker Glacier. Once there, we settled on some rocks for snacks and scenery before heading back. The suspension bridges were much more enjoyable on the return trip as the wind had died down considerably.


Swing Bridge

Upon return to town, we went into the only restaurant for dinner, Old Mountaniers Café. It was pretty pricey (Craig’s pizza was $30) being the only food source in the “town” (it was more like a compound) but the food was really tasty, especially after all of our exercise and fresh air. After dinner, we headed back to the cabin to relax for the evening, but not before a little side trip to check out the Tasman Glacier, the glacier we thought we were kayaking by the next day. Dan drove us up the road to the Tasman Glacier Trail, and then kept right on driving past the sign that said something like, “enter at your own risk.” What is should have said is, “the so-called road is made of boulders, is very narrow, and is flooded at one point. You need a tank to get through.” Needless to say, it was an adventurous ride, especially when we reached a pond preventing further access and had to back the car all the way back down the road. It was pretty hilarious though!


End of the "Road"

When we finally got back to the actual road, we hopped out for a hike up some steeps to see the glacier. It was really cool! There were tons of icebergs and the glacier itself was pretty impressive. Well worth the hike up. After a bunch of pics, we started back down so we could get to the cabin and shower.


Icebergs

The “cabin” consisted of 1 queen bed, 2 single beds, and a folding bed that was harder than the floor, all in a room the size of the average hotel room. Luckily, Craig got the sympathy vote for his height so he got the queen bed which of course works out nicely for me. There are some advantages to having a giant fiancé!
It was Emily’s 30th birthday so Craig and I brought a little mud cake and a 30 candle to celebrate. After some showers, mud cake, and beer, we were all ready for sleep. Luckily, nobody snored in our tight quarters.
In the morning, we awoke to some cloudy, foggy skies, but limited wind so we were hopeful the kayaking trip was on and it was! We piled into a van which shuttled us to a trail that we hiked down to the Mueller terminal lake where there were camouflaged kayaks waiting for us. This was not the lake we saw the night before and thought we were going to paddle.
After a quick lesson on how to paddle a kayak (Craig, the whitewater paddler and Dan, the former sea kayak guide, especially benefited from this lesson), we set out on the lake, toward Mueller glacier. There was one little iceberg on the way, and lots up close but we weren’t able to paddle close to the face of the glacier. Apparently, there is a river flowing from the top of the mountain, under the glacier, and comes out under the lake we were on. The water causes large chunks of ice to break off on its way out, and the chunks of ice pop up to the surface of the lake unexpectedly, making for dangerous kayaking conditions near the face. So, we had to view from afar. It was still pretty amazing. The lake we were paddling was actually completely covered by glacier 30 years ago. The glacier and surrounding landscape changes daily, and we paddled up to a river that was not there the day before. It really is intriguing!
It was a nice paddle, and the clouds even cleared a bit for great views of Mt Cook. We heard tons of ice and rock falling (sounded like thunder) and even saw 2 avalanches up on the mountain! There was a surprisingly loud rumble, and then we saw tons of snow tumbling down the mountain. Really cool to see!


Kayaking Couple


Views from the Back of the Boat

After we got back to the village, we all hung out and had some snacks in the parking lot. Our friends headed back home and Craig and I followed after one more short hike out toward Kea Point.
On the way, we stopped to buy some fresh salmon at a salmon farm, and we got to feed the fish for free which was fun. We cooked the salmon last night and it was really really really good! Nothing like fresh fish.
As for the apartment hunting, we looked at three this week and 2 are good options. We hope to pick one in the next day or so. So that’s going well. Craig is gearing up for graduation weekend which will be busy for him. And we’re starting to plan for our upcoming relocation and North Island Trip. It’s weird to see Christmas dec’s and hear songs and not be getting super into the holidays. No tree, no shopping, saves money but feels weird. Plus, it’s light out til almost 10 o’clock now which is not normal for our USA holidays!
We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

All the pix