Hello from Japan!

Getting Ready for Norway

Updated: June 28, 2018

Welcome back!

It’s summertime, which means another trip and another blog. Get ready for two weeks of tantalizing text, fabulous photographs, and general travel goodness. This time we are headed to Norway. We planned an ambitious trip packed with hikes, flights, drives, and boats, as well as a stop on an island near the North Pole where we will make our second attempt at dog sledding.

If you zoom in on map above, we are starting at the bottom in Stavanger, then driving our way up to Trondheim during the first week. After that, we’ll fly waaaaaaay up north to Svalbard, before flying back south to the Lofoten Islands and finally exiting via Oslo.

Svalbard is that little yellow island nearly obscured by the top of the globe

With my days finally free of teaching and graduate classes, I’ve been packing and preparing, anxiously awaiting the start of the trip and ready to share it with you. We fly out on Friday, arrive on Saturday, make our way to Lysebotn, and start with a bang by hiking Mt. Kjerag on Sunday. Hopefully going up and down the stairs in our building has sufficiently trained us for this:

The path on Kjerag

Just kidding, Mom.

Check back for daily updates on the adventures of Matt and Jo.

Day 13: Auckland

by Joanna

Updated: July 24, 2016

Day 12: Hobbiton

by Joanna

Posted: July 19, 2016

1 Comment

We’re going on an adventure! With one day left in New Zealand it is finally time to step out the door and visit Hobbiton.

We met Vic, the owner of Red Carpet Tours, outside the hotel at 8AM. Another lady from Germany was on the tour, and the four of us were on our way. Vic drove us about two hours from Auckland to the town of Matamata (where Hobbiton is located). On the way, he shared plenty of great stories about the filming of the LOTR and Hobbit movies, and showed us some props that were used in the movies.

Replica of Bilbo’s contract with the dwarves

Vic explained how he capitalized on his fortunate opportunity to start Red Carpet Tours. When filming LOTR ended, they started tearing down the Hobbiton set. Bad weather interrupted the demolition, months passed, and days before the crews were about to return, Vic contacted the farm owner and they both agreed to call off the bulldozers.

To find customers, they teamed up with a local who was well-known in the LOTR fan community for sleuthing out the filming locations (and racking up several trespass citations in the process). She began to let other die-hard fans know that Vic could arrange tours to what was left of Hobbiton and other filming locations.

Today, the Hobbiton tours are more official

As a result, Vic was offering LOTR tours to Hobbiton for several months before New Line Cinema formalized an agreement with the owners of the farm to start Hobbiton Movie Set Tours. Of course, there are still lingering concerns from the Tolkien Estate and other rights holders when it comes to the current operation at Hobbiton, but nobody looked to be handing out cease and desist orders when we arrived, so I think we’re in the clear!

Welcome to the Shire!

In 2011, the Hobbit movies were made and the set was rebuilt with permanent materials for the purpose of bringing in tours once filming was finished. Today, these tours are popular for Tolkien fans and non-fans alike. As a new fan myself, (I still haven’t seen The Hobbit yet, oops) it was easy to see the appeal of Hobbiton.

Technically not LOTR, but I’ll allow it

The view up toward Bag End

Impressive attention to detail at each Hobbit hole

It’s an actual farm

This place is more than your typical movie set — it is a living set! Sheep and dairy farm operations carry on nearby. The grass, plants, birds, etc. are all real and living (with the exception of some prop potatoes and the tree on top of Bag End). It is the largest purpose-built set ever used in cinema.

Hey Annamarie, you’d probably like working here

As tour groups walk the paths, gardeners and farm workers can be seen doing their regular farm jobs in and amongst the set. Sheep and cattle can be seen just over the hobbit holes. All this work yields an amazing level of natural detail on the set. For the record, I would totally live in a hobbit hole, given proper height.

Get off my Hobbit lawn filled with art supplies!

Bagshot Row and the Green Dragon across the water

And what about very old friends?!

The view from Bilbo’s porch

Sam’s residence

Entertaining community board hear the Watermill

Entertaining community board near the Watermill

Our tour ended in the Green Dragon where we enjoyed some SouthFarthing fine ales and lunch. Warner Brothers isn’t really the company I think of when it comes to beer, but whoever they contracted to brew these Hobbiton ales did a great job.

Cheers!

More fun notices and frosty beverages

Appropriately decorated with a carved Green Dragon

After a trip to the gift shop, we got back in the van and headed to Auckland. Matt continued chating with Vic while I napped. We made it back to the hotel and said goodbye to Vic who provided an excellent tour.

Red Carpet Tours was a good choice

Oooooh! Let’s go to Hamilton!

We located a Mexican restaurant near the hotel for dinner and headed back to the hotel afterwards to relax. Visiting an iconic destination in Middle Earth was a pretty good way to spend our last day.

Day 11: Waiheke Island

by Joanna

Posted: July 18, 2016

Day 10: Mt. Potts

by Joanna

Updated: July 18, 2016

1 Comment

We woke up this morning as soon as it was light enough out to get hiking. With coffee consumed and gaiters securely fastened, we used the key Brad gave us last night to open (and re-lock) the gate into the deer park behind the lodge, which is where we started on the trail to the Pyramid.

Deer send-off!

Adventure on the trail begins right away

Top gate out of deer park

Pyramid Mountain lies to the north of Mt. Potts Lodge and rises to an elevation of 1748 meters (it is about 550 meters at the Lodge) with a snow-capped peak. The terrain below the peak is a series of ridges and drainage gullies that snake their way up the hills to 1000-1100 meters, supporting a full array of alpine bushes and grasses.

The Pyramid

No trails up here!

There were mixed reports on exactly how long the full hike would take, with Brad suggesting six hours, and another brochure mentioning eight. Either way, when we started we knew we probably didn’t have the full day needed for the whole enchilada. After putting in about two-and-a-half hours to reach the 1100-1200 meter range, we declared our own summit on the top of a ridge after navigating the first major rockfall with snow cover. We celebrated with peanut M&Ms and dried mangos. The view was tolerable.

Reaching the snowy and rocky elevations

We declared this our summit

Thanks to Mariko, we knew which plants to avoid while tramping through the unmarked terrain, and which plants were safe to step on. This came in handy when the alternatives were mud or ice. Of course, I still fell once on the ice, but that was pretty much expected.

Navigating the way down

The lodge is back in sight

Mt. Sunday (aka. Edoras) in the distance

We made it back to the lodge on schedule, stopped to check in with Brad, and drove a few minutes down the road to the trailhead for Mt. Sunday, our other planned hike for the day.

Brad giving us pointers on how to jump electric fences

Not jumping any fences

The purpose of hiking Mt. Sunday was, of course, the main reason we ventured to a backcountry station located in the upper reaches of the Rangitata Valley in the first place — to see the home of Edoras from LOTR. It was also a fun coincidence that we ended up hiking Mt. Sunday on a Sunday.

On yeah, this is cool

Yep, that works

Details on the side of the mountain check out

Rohan!!!

After having fun at the top of Mt. Sunday/Edoras, we hiked back down and returned to the Lodge. We packed up and make lunch in the kitchen. Today’s menu was tasty gourmet cheese omelettes paired with other random snacks we have been collecting (such as Amarreto shots, peach jello cups, and sour cream chips).

After saying goodbye to Brad, we got back on the road for a three-hour drive out of the high country. Next stop: Auckland!

So long Edoras and Mt. Potts!

Well, technically, the next stop was Christchurch airport, but that’s not very exciting. We waved goodbye to our trusty car at the airport, waited out a short flight delay on Air New Zealand, and eventually made our way via Super Shuttle to the Sky City Hotel in Auckland.

Friendly Air New Zealand crew

Kind of a big deal in Auckland

The big city hotel in Auckland is quite a change from the high country lodge we had to ourselves in Rohan last night! Looking forward to sleeping in and putting the espresso machine to work tomorrow whenever we get up.

Day 9: Mt. Cook/Mt. Potts

by Joanna

Updated: July 18, 2016

Day 8: Mt. Cook

by Joanna

Posted: July 15, 2016

2 Comments

“Hooker Valley is the last place I would want to be tomorrow!” These encouraging words were spoken to us by Tom the bartender last night as he contemplated the weather forecast for our day’s plan to hike the Hooker Valley track. When we woke up, it was still raining/snowing, so we suited up and prepared for the worst.

At 9AM, we met our fantastic guide Mariko. The weather improved as soon as we stepped outside and hit the trail. There was still some icy/slushy/snowy patches on the path, so Mariko gave us YakTrax to use, and they were amazing. How do I not own a pair of these?!? Walking with ease on the slippery path, we made our way through they valley.

Mariko is the best!

Snow chains for your feet

Onward past Mueller Lake

With the Southern Alps on our left, and the Mt. Cook Range on our right, we saw plenty of glaciers. Mariko pointed out the Stocking Glacier (which looks like a stocking) and some hanging glaciers. We passed over the Hooker River three times on suspension bridges that reminded me why I am not going bungee jumping.

Glacier in the sky

Joanna loved these suspension bridges

Southern Alps

Stocking Glacier

The river water originates from the glacier, and is milky-looking because all the schist rock in the valley creates a fine grey powder via mechanical erosion. As the river flows further, it feeds into lake Pukaki, where these same sediments create the brilliant turquoise color we saw yesterday.

Mt. Cook dialed in

Snow blowing off peaks in the Mt. Cook Range

Soon, Mt. Cook came into full view. As the highest mountain peak in New Zealand, it is easy to spot. Following the glacial moraines on each side of the valley, we made it to Hooker Lake, with Hooker Glacier on the opposite shore.

Clear view!

With today’s warm northerly wind (yeah, this is the Southern Hemisphere!) the icebergs from the glacier had congregated at the southern end of the lake.

Ice on Hooker Lake from Hooker Glacier

We stopped for lunch, and Mariko even busted out a portable stove to boil water for coffee and tea. She told us the Maori legend of Aoraki, which is their name for Mt. Cook. Two brothers took a canoe across the lake to visit their father, the Sun God, and his new wife, the Land Goddess. During their assent to the sky, they messed up their frequent flyer chant, and didn’t get into the priority club access lounge. Instead, they froze in the mountains, and you can now see the face of one of the brothers in the peak of Mt. Cook.

After eating and marveling in our surroundings, we scrambled over some larger rocks to see the headwaters of the Hooker River, which was rushing strongly thanks to the precipitation in the previous 24 hours.

On the return trip, we learned about the flora. Even though there are 200 days of precipitation a year, the valley is very dry. Many of the plants look like they belong in a desert. Some have fun names including the Face Slasher, the Wild Spaniard, and the Bloody Irishman. The British liked to name prickly plants after groups of people they didn’t like. Subtle.

First algae, then moss, then tiny plants

Old Man’s Beard, aka. lichen

The Wild Spaniard, with leaves sharp as knives

Another cool phenomenon were the hidden cascades. Waterfalls flowing in and out of the mountain — disappearing and reappearing all the way down to the river.

Holy schist!

Given the location of this LOTR scene, Hermitage Hotel is the White City of Gondor

With Mt. Cook behind us, and the Hermitage in front of us, we completed our hike. Next up was to head over to our favorite bar for dinner, drink more Monteith Black beer, and gloat to Tom.

There were pockets of clear sky, so we checked with the stargazing group to see if they were heading out to the telescopes. The clouds were moving too fast, the moon was a bit too bright, and the wind was too strong, all making telescope viewing pretty mediocre. Alas.

However, we held our own stargazing tour by walking around the hotel in the moonlight. No telescope, but I think we did alright.

Won’t see the Southern Cross in Chicago

Thanks, Mt. Cook. You did good.

Day 7: Queenstown/Mt. Cook

by Joanna

Posted: July 14, 2016

1 Comment

Another rainy morning in Queenstown, but you know it’ll still be a good day when New Zealand’s More FM is playing their “high school hits” during breakfast, including Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up and Baha Men’s Who Let the Dogs Out.

After checking out of Browns, we walked up the street to see if the Skyline Queenstown gondola was worth a trip despite the rain. The staff people said it was snowing at the top, but one of the luge courses was scheduled to open shortly… so we decided to go for it.

Good view of Queenstown from top of the gondola

Suiting up for the luge

Crews were able to de-ice and clear the snow from one track

View from Skyline north toward Arthur’s Point

Following our luging Grand Prix, we filled up the gas tank and left Queenstown heading north via the Crown Range Road. The New Zealand weather alert service (and a guy at the gas station, for good measure) said we should go around and avoid the snow, but we took our chances with the scenic alpine route.

Snowy Crown Range Road

We’ve got the chains, but thankfully don’t need ’em here

Eventually the weather cleared and we passed through Cardrona, where we waved hello to the Snow Farm. The Snow Farm, of course, is the Nordic-style ski resort where we should have been hanging out with our sled dogs pals, but after calling to check again, they said there still wasn’t enough snow.

Cardrona township with Snow Farm road in the distance

You can check out anytime you like, but you can’t go dog sledding today

Our journey north took us through Wanaka, an idyllic lakeside resort community along Lake Wanaka; Omarama, a farming and ranching service town with some cool clay cliff formations we spotted from the road; and Twizel, a hydro-electrical power town home to the landscape where the battle of Pelennor Fields was filmed in LOTR.

We also drove over the highest portion of the South Island highway network at Lindis Pass. Technically, it is not an alpine pass, but it was brisk and windy nonetheless.

You. Shall. Pass.

That way!

Yellows, browns, whites, blues

From sheep farms to cattle country

We turned left onto Highway 80, driving alongside Lake Pukaki into Mt. Cook National Park as the sun started to set and some weather appeared to be rolling in from the west.

The turquoise blue waters of Lake Pukaki

Racing the incoming weather to Mt. Cook

Hermitage to the Hermitage

We made it to the Hermitage Hotel before dark and settled into our room. Then we ventured back outside and walked 15 minutes to the casual pub at the lodge down the road. It wasn’t yet storming outside, but the clouds had definitely closed in and a wintery-mix was brewing.

The pub food was great. And when a technical glitch with the printer delayed our order, we got a couple of free beers out of it. Score! Whatever this New Zealand, Monteith Black Beer is, it is delicious.

Good stuff!

Walking back in the dicey weather, we had a strong feeling our plans for evening stargazing might need a revision. We were right, but they still held the planetarium show for us. Mt. Cook is located in dark sky reserve area, so if the weather is better tomorrow (who knows!?!), we will go out then. Fingers crossed!

Day 6: Queenstown Area

by Joanna

Updated: July 13, 2016

1 Comment

You probably noticed in our pictures that the weather here the past few days has been pretty amazing. Sunny and perfectly mild winter days. Well, it seems our luck has been too good. The unseasonably mild winter means that there has been no snow in the mountains, and so, no sled dogs. Boo.

Also, the rain caught up with us.

Good morning, soggy Queenstown

So, we dusted off our indoor plans and set out to make the most of an extra day in the Queenstown area, starting with a tasty breakfast and a drive to nearby Arrowtown.

Walking around this historical gold-mining town is probably more fun when it’s not raining, but you can’t really put a damper on any stroll that involves stopping for hot chocolate and hazelnut truffles.

Second breakfast at Patagonia Chocolates

We checked out a few other places in town, including a jade factory, the town post office, and Dudley’s Cottage, which offers visitors a chance to pan for gold.

At least Dudley had a warm fireplace inside

At least Dudley’s had a warm fireplace inside

When the rain slowed for a couple minutes we also tracked down two more LOTR filming locations within walking distance from the city park and the trail to the historic Chinese Settlement.

First, we found one of the river beds that was a portion of the Ford of Bruinen (the rest is in Skipper’s Canyon, which is nearby, but accessible by the one road in New Zealand which rental car companies specifically tell you not to drive).

If you want him, come and claim him

Second, we found the location where Isildur was attacked by orcs and lost the One Ring into the bottom of the Anduin River.

Isildur and his crew coming around the corner before the orcs attack

Having reached an acceptable hour for drinking, we embarked on the second part of the day’s plan, visiting a handfuls of the wineries in Gibbston Valley along the Kawaru River.

Come on down to winerytown

First up was Chard Farms, located south of the river and accessible via another death-defying dirt road along a cliff. They love crazy roads here. On the plus side, the road offered a spectacular view of the river gorge.

Good view of Kawaru River and Highway 6

Home of original AJ Hackett bungee jump

More importantly, home of the Anduin River and the Argonath

Charm Farms vineyard

Let the tasting commence!

The next winery was Gibbston Valley Winery. Here we toured the vineyards and tasted the seasonal selections in their unique wine cave. The Central Otago vineyards are the southernmost vineyards in the world by a good margin. The soil is composed of the surrounding schist rock, making it difficult to grow a variety of grapes. They specialize in Pino Noirs, and outside a few exceptions, are unable to make other reds.

Tour guide was really good

Gibbston wine cave

Lunchtime!

Ready to make a couple more stops, we headed to Peregrine Vineyards, which has award winning architecture and wine you can buy at Whole Foods, followed by Mt. Rosa Vineyards for a full tasting menu.

Peregrine Winery’s award-winning architecture

99 barrels of wine on the floor…

Mt. Rosa Winery, last stop

Back in Queenstown, and free from the stress of the the traffic, rain, and crazy mountain streets, we discovered a Thai restaurant with free delivery. Sold!

Our bonus Queenstown day is complete. Time to head north tomorrow as long as the roads are open!

Day 5: Glenorchy

by Joanna

Posted: July 12, 2016

1 Comment

We’re getting good at waking up before sunrise. Today we started with a 7AM breakfast at Browns before driving to Glenorchy for some horseback riding. The road from Queenstown to Glenorchy runs along the coast of Lake Wakatipu’s northern branch and is, unsurprisingly, gorgeous.

Bienvinedo a Glenorchy!

We arrived in the small town of Glenorchy and found Dart Stables. After getting checked in and geared up, we took a short ride to a second stable location where we were matched with our horses. I got Bryan and Matt rode Bobby.

Jo and Bryan

Matt and Bobby

Our tour was aptly-named “River Wild” because our path followed the Dart River south from Mt. Alfred to the head of Lake Wakatipu. On our left, the Richardson Mountains, and on our right, the Humboldt Mountains — or if you prefer, Misty Mountains on both sides (according to LOTR filming).

Humboldt Mountains to the west

Training for the Rohirrim

Fun fact: one of the horses (Trevor) in our tour group was Prince Caspian’s horse in the Prince Caspian Narnia movie (whichever one that was). And years ago, eight horses from Dart Stables appeared in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Very regal, these horses.

Crossing the Dart River

Mount Earnslaw in the distance

For parts of the trail, the guides gave us the green light to let the horses trot. Ironically, the only person who fell off was one of the guides. To be fair, her horse tripped and she executed a perfect tuck and roll. This commotion startled Bobby a bit, but Matt managed to hang on. As for Bryan, he did hold up the entire tour for a couple minutes demanding a drink of delicious glacial river water.

I AM THIRSTY! Glacial river water is my demand.

I AM THIRSTY! Glacial river water is my list of demands.

Upon returning to the starting stables, we enjoyed tea and a handful of lollies (New Zealand gummy candy) before saying goodbye to our horse friends. Next up, we booked two tickets to Paradise! (aka. Town nearby LOTR filming locations for Isengard and LothlÃƒÂ³rien)

Clouds looming over the Wizard’s Vale

LothlÃƒÂ³rien Forests of Mount Aspiring National Park

Ok, so we didn’t actually need tickets, but the 4-wheel drive rental helped. After leaving Glenorchy, the “no exit” road to Paradise enters the Mount Aspiring National Park forests (LothlÃƒÂ³rien) and becomes a small dirt road with washout zones at the various river tributaries.

Finally, we met a washout zone crossing that looked legit.

Wizard’s Vale River Crossing: July 12, 2016

We chose to turn around and go thru the Mines of Moria

Rather than driving straight back to Queenstown, we made a few stops for a couple walks along the way. First, the Glenorchy general store. They had some cute local items, and lots of wool products (remember all the sheep?). I saw a necklace I liked, but when I found out they bought it online (rather than from a local artist), it lost its luster. Alas.

This sign seems redundant in Southern New Zealand

Southbound along Lake Wakatipu

In our quest to find more Lord of the Rings filming locations, we also stopped at Bob’s Cove and Twelve-Mile Delta. Bob’s Cove technically didn’t have any filming locations, but it was pretty.

At Twelve-Mile Delta, they shot the Ithilien Camp scenes where Sam, Frodo and Gollum see the Haradrim/Oliphaunts and argue about cooking coneys. We googled the exact latitude and longitude of the filming locations from the LOTR guidebook, but they must have been for the production assistant’s trailer or something. As such, we didn’t find them, but we did find two French guys looking for the same thing. We’re not the only nerds in New Zealand! Also, we saw a couple rabbits, which seemed appropriate.

Where are you hiding!?!

Resorting to visual cues, we walked around the area’s trails (and off some trails, too), in hopes of finding the spot. All said and done, we were solidly in the ballpark. Plus, we got a good little hike out of the deal, and saw some really cool rocks in the delta area.

Twelve-Mile Delta with the Remarkables across Lake Wakatipu

Back in Queenstown, we found a little walk-up taco restaurant called Taco Medic where we picked up dinner and brought it back to our hotel (much like last night).

Forty CCs of tacos, stat!!!!

We’ve figured out how to cheat the system and get all the good food, but avoid the hustle and bustle of the city!