Around the world

Mount Cook

jeremierita — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:34:00 GMT

Morning feels like dawn as the mist covers the lake shores and the surrounding mountains. Noemie is still sleeping so we get out and have breakfast in the meantime. It’s very cold outside.

We take the road to Lake Pukaki. From there we could not see Mt Cook yet but the clouds were clearing up. So we take the one hour road to see New Zealand’s highest peak. The scenery along the way is stunning. I could hardly find words to describe it, but it goes like this. The road crosses a large valley surrounded by tall brown mountains covered with snow and in front is Mt Cook, all white and majestic with the wind throwing dust amidst patches of snow. Wow. We stop every 10 min to take pictures, but they fail to convey the splendor.

On arrival, the sun is shining. We had missed the boat trip to see the glacier. Instead we take a hike in Tasman Valley with Noemie in outdoor gear and sunscreened. The walk is enjoyable but the end scenery at the lake is disappointing. We take our car and head to Hooker valley where we get up close and personal with Aoraki, Mt. Cook’s Maori name.

We take the direction of Queenstown and stop at Oamara for lunch. The clay cliffs there are nice, but apart from the great landscapes surrounding the route, not worth the trip. We pass through otherwordly landscapes at Lindis Pass. The mountains seem to be covered with a big cloak of thin cloth that gives it very soft and silky shapes. How come this is not in one of the Lord of the Rings battles?

We continue via Cromwell and arrive in Queenstown at dusk. By the lake - again?? - Noemie takes her bath. I cook dinner matched with some good Kiwi wine. We pass the night close to the Queenstown Gardens. In the morning we are awaken by ‘you should get moving guys, not allowed to park here’. Damn, we thought we were on vacation…

NB: Noemie says ‘Mama’ for the first time tonight. Dad is jealous…

Tips:

Not very easy to find a place to park the campervan in Queenstown.

In Oamara we have a quick bite at ‘Wrinklie rams’. Not terrible.

From Christchurch to Lake Tekapo

jeremierita — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:21:00 GMT

Traveling with Noemie on board means customizing our trip to accommodate the 3 of us. The rest of our holiday will be a campervan road trip. We’re not really the campervan type, but this seems a very popular option to visit Kiwiland. Plus this means more flexibility for Noemie and she gets to sleep comfortably in her car seat.

So we start with the South Island and off we go from Christchurch through Geraldine. After 30 min on the road we stop for a photo shoot. The car won’t start again. Guys stopped by and helped us push the campervan downhill and we could start it again. At Geraldine we stop for lunch but we get stuck and waste around 3 hours waiting for the car to be repaired. This involved a detour to Timaru and then back on SH73. We got to Lake Tekapo just in time for sundown. The turquoise waters of the lake, the mountain ranges behind, perfect location. We roam around for a place to park and settle in a quiet location. A nice fire to warm us up and dinner is ready.

The smoke helping, we have the visit of 2 angry ladies from the village who inform us that it’s forbidden to light fires and to camp around the lake. Mmm… We finish our romantic meal in a hurry, turn off the fire and follow park next to another campervan nevertheless in a prime location near the lake.

It’s late already. Inside the vehicle, real adventure starts with figuring out how to make the bed, heat up the place and organize our belongings…

Tips:

We rent from United Campervan, nice new van (that can breakdown nevertheless...)

Lunch at Café Verde in Geraldine with good choice of pies and salads.

Christchurch

jeremierita — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:21:00 GMT

Surprisingly we feel refreshed and not jetlagged as expected. Weather, however is not a good start. Residents are walking around in heavy outdoor gear and we start wondering if we chose the right season.

The city is very pleasant with amazing gardens, colorful houses and nice architecture. We wander around and sample the nice boutiques and bookshops. Some areas have a very old English feel while other spaces are have a very contemporary design. We visit the Art center which had exhibits of little interest. We are stunned by the number of restaurants in the city. It gets late and we don’t want to overdo it so we head back to the hotel for a nice spa bath.

Tips:

We eat at Mum’s great Japanese and Korean food.

There are some nice bookshops with wonderful choice of used books where we picked up National Geographic copies from the '30s.

A long Journey

jeremierita — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:54:00 GMT

One of the first reactions to our trip was ‘nothing like short hauls!’ Indeed this is definitely the longest series of flights we have taken so far and perhaps we will not have the occasion to fly consecutively to a destination for that long.

This trip is new, unprepared and will be dealt with as a ‘pilot’. Why? It is the first time we hit the road with our little one, Noemie, who is just 6 months old. Unprepared, because we chose the destination randomly, only several weeks ago. Our travels usually take us to developing countries where cultural differences, culinary experiences and adventures are at the heart of the voyage. Very few countries could satisfy our envies and at the same time provide facilities necessary for travel with an infant: nice places to walk with a stroller without actually breaking it, good hospitals in case of emergencies, good infrastructure and baby commodities. So randomly we asked ourselves: ‘what country would be both developed and make you dream’? You got the answer!

This nevertheless means that our modus operandi had to be different. Many practices will be skipped, some with pleasure, others with regret: bargaining for hotels and taxi rides, smoking in restaurants or public places; not that we are heavy smokers, but after meals or with a drink we enjoy shortening our lives. Not to mention speed limits and driving which could also earn us hefty fines.

So the trip starts with a series of airports and layovers. Departure from Beirut on Friday, to Dubai where we choose to stay on the plane. Next stop after 7 hours in Kuala Lumpur. Considerate of the journey ahead, we had booked a hotel for the day, as we had a lay over of 14 hours. We crashed at the airport hotel and Noemie copied. After a good shower, our stomachs got us wandering in the airport restaurants. This is one of our favorite airports: spacious, clean, with lots of nice shops, and most importantly, an opportunity to buy a year’s supply of my favorite kretek cigarettes.

So far so good. The flight to Auckland - our third - takes 9hours and 15 min. And yes, the 15 minutes count. Full house, no empty seats and we barely could find space to have a cot for Noemie, let alone spread our legs. We managed to sleep a couple of hours. Fresh air and a heavy accent welcomed us in New Zealand. We chose to start our trip in the South Island, in Christchurch: 4 hours till our next flight. On arrival to Christchuch we had behind us 23 hours of flight and 20 hours of layovers. We nearly forgot we had our luggage to collect. Thank God, hotel is booked.

Tips:

Hotel: Centerpoint on Colombo. Nice room with good facilities and a warm welcome. 155NZ$

We eat at Thai Food, excellent soups and nice setting

Hint

jeremierita — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:30:00 GMT

Maybe this will help...

Next destination

jeremierita — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:30:42 GMT

Back on the road. We finally made up our mind, and chose our next destination.

Any idea where that is?

Girls wanna have fun

jeremierita — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:23:00 GMT

All is well with miss Noemie. Increasingly smiling as she passed the 6 weeks mark.

For those who are following this blog for travel purposes, don't worry, we'll get back on the road sooner rather than later.
We should be going to Dead Sea in June, to France early July, and probably to Thailand in October. Of course, we'll tell you all about that.

We've read some great books too that we will soon tell you more about.

Stay tuned.