A Ride to Remember

The ferry crossing between Wellington and Picton is one of New Zealand's most iconic tourist experiences, and supposed to be one of the most spectacular cruises in the world. Our journey began on a typical New Zealand morning - grey and drizzly, but still picturesque nonetheless, gliding past mountains reflected in the Picton's calm harbour waters. After parking their cars, families and travelers quickly found seats on the upper decks and settled in for three hour journey.

As the ship eased out of the sheltered harbour and entered the open waters of the Cook Strait, the winds began to pick up, and the seas began to get rough. Really rough. Although the ferry crossing only covers 92 km, it takes place at a latitude known as the 'Roaring 40s' because of its unpredictable and furious winds. The strait is located where the Tasman Sea meets the South Pacific, funnelling westerly winds and deflects them to the north, which in the right conditions can produce the perfect storm. On this particular day, it brought in winds gusting to 60 or 70 knots, and within a few minutes, we were sailing through blowing 6 m swells.

The top deck was closed due to the severe weather, and the decks below were lined with people looking out in awe of the huge waves below. Sprays from the bigger waves came up 20m high, completely dousing the unsuspecting onlookers, which made for a great show from my perspective at the rear of the boat. We sailed on, and the storm only intensified as the waves kept getting bigger. For some reason, the captain turned the ship parallel to the wind, which meant that the brunt of the waves was being felt, rocking the boat heavily from side to side. As a sailor and somewhat of a thrill-seeker, I was totally loving this weather... but inside was another story.


A crowd of people on the deck

Once I stepped inside, it felt like the remaining passenger decks were ground zero of a disaster scenario. Children, the elderly and entire families were laid low by seasickness. They held vomit bags to their faces, wailed for help from frantic crew members or just laid facedown on the ground, completely incapacitated by nausea. The halls echoed with horrible sounds of people vomiting and crying, dishes flying off the shelves in the kitchen and crashing to the floor, and chairs and tables scraping across the floor. Over the main intercom, the captain gave repeated updates on the weather conditions, and car owners were called to the parking lots below to shut off their vehicle alarm systems. I had to escape outside to the freezing decks in order to avoid being overcome by nausea myself.


Biggest waves I've ever seen

Finally, the rocking motions eased and we entered the North Island channel opening and safely docked at Wellington harbour. Only two hours behind schedule, and a little bit worse for wear. The pain will soon be forgotten though. Tomorrow is our most gruelling hike yet - a 6 hour hike up to the summit of Mt Tongariro, or perhaps better known as Mordor.

Middle Earth

Milford Sound, glacial valleys in the Fjordlands.


Field of lupins in front of Mitre Peak


Glacier and floating ice berg at Mt Cook

After the jump

So jumping out of a plane was probably the most expensive, and exhilarating 7 minutes of my life. It wasn´t until the tiny Cessna barely containing the 6 of us took off and started climbing towards the sky that I actually started getting nervous. The peaks of the freshly snow-capped mountains looked almost close enough to touch, and we climbed higher still. All of a sudden, the doors of the plane were thrown open and everything was chaos. Emelie was the first to go. Before she could even finish screaming "No I don´t want to.." she had already been tossed out of the plane. Phil, my tandem guide, yelled "Ready?!" And before I knew it, we were airborne and bombing headfirst towards the ground, the flipping head over heels. After a few seconds, I realized I was actually skydiving, and even then even the air ripping past me at 200 km/hr couldn´t wipe the grin off my face. Then, too soon, the parachute chord was pulled, and we slowed our descent. My instructor showed me how to control the parachute by yanking the right and left chords up and down, and we spent the rest of the ride twisting back and forth while admiring the scenery of the Remarkables mountain ranges. After 5 minutes of this, the ground rushed up towards me, and after a totally ungraceful landing, the dive was over. I´ll be back though. After all, New Zealand is the only place in the world that allows a 15,000 ft jump, which is now on my to-do list.

Adventure Capital

After just three days of travel here is New Zealand, I've already been rewarded some of the most breathtaking landscapes I've ever seen. It's impossible to take a bad picture here - every scene laid before you is a postcard-perfect view begging to be captured on camera. There are rolling golden hills dotted with herds of grazing sheep, snow-capped mountains and cascading tumbling into rivers below and valleys filled with fields of vibrant pink and purple lupins, all within a days drive.

By the way the driving here is intense. And so much fun! The roads are perfectly maintained, traffic is pretty much nonexistant, and the speed limits are ... shall we say, optional? Just as you finish one hairpin turn carved into the mountain, another one begins, and you have to fight to maintain control of the steering wheel. We have a '95 Nissan Sunny rented for the next two weeks and I intend to push it to to the max.

Of course the best way to take in the scenery is up close and personal - hiking. Every day of this trip has some hiking trails planned, and most are not for the faint of heart. Today there were severe weather warnings issued for the entire central and south island regions. We were told to expect freezing temperatures with gale force winds and driving rains, and flash flooding in some areas. In Lake Wanaka, we saw cars half submerged in parking lots that turned into temporary swimming pools. Still, the hiking continued.


The fellowship: Emelie, me, Teresa

Now we're in Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world, and I have more pressing matters on my mind than getting hypothermia. Tomorrow is the Big Jump. As in jumping 12,000 ft off a plane and plummeting towards the earth and terminal velocity until someone (hopefully not me) pulls the parachute open. I'm getting sweaty just writing about it.

LOTR Part 4

Starting off on a whirlwind trip to New Zealand tomorrow. Our journey should be a lot like the LOTR trilogy, save for a few minor details. Instead of racing against an army of orcs, we'll be racing against time to do all the activities that we have planned. Skydiving will probably feel very similar to Gandalf falling off the bridge at the end of the Fellowship of the Rings, but we'll be accompanied by a tandem skydiving instructors instead of the Balrog. Instead of elvish lembas bread, we will survive on peanut butter, bread and cans of tuna. Our quest: completing the 2 islands and 12 cities in 14 days. With 3 girls who have zero driving experience on the other side of the road. Attached is a map of our planned journey (route highlighted in green, using my expert Photoshop skills). Should be an interesting couple of weeks, please stay tuned.