Australian TV is simply terrible

I’m sitting here watching Rove, the Australian comedian’s show, writing the previous blog entry, when one segment grabbed my attention and offended me straight up. Mind you, I am certainly not one inclined to be PC, and I’m almost never offended by things on TV. But this simply crossed a line that should not be crossed.

The segment was roughly like the SNL’s Weekend Update, where Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallong make jokes about the news. So when an image of the Twin Towers of the WTC came on-screen, I instantly became quite suspicious. The female contributor said something like this: “Al Qaeda won last night’s award for greatest TV special, they say they are working hard to follow up with a sequel.” And then the studio audience laughed. I still don’t understand why an Australian audience would find a 9/11 joke fun. The fact that the deaths of thousands of innocent people was a major televised incident is not funny. And more terrorist attacks are no fun either, just ask London or Madrid. And what about Bali?

The journey back

Well now that I’ve just demolished this Econ final, I should probably finish the account of the happenings this weekend.

After our excursion to Milford sound, we dropped off Maelle in Te Anau (where she was going to work on an organic farm for room & board). Before we left, Annie and I wanted some cheap food to tide us over until we got back to Dunedin, but everything was so damn overpriced in this tourist town. Even after spending 15 minutes walking around town, I refused to give up, remembering a Fish ‘n Chips on the way into town. My memory paying off, we found the ONLY reasonably priced establishment in Te Anau – hoo-rah! Anyways…

Not in any rush to get back to Dunedin, I found two different points of interest along the drive back while looking over the map in the car, one, a viewpoint, and two, a historic homestead. We first took the detour for a scenic view, but we one-upped the view. The turn-off for the scenic view was in front of a large ridge, and behind the turn off was large opening in a fence. Following that human instinct to go past boundaries , we drove through the opening onto what apparently was the old route of the highway we were driving on. After a few hundred meters we parked and trespassed onto a sheep and cow pasture to climb the ridge to get the best views. This was no grassy hillside, however, this pasture was covered in large thorny bushes and other strange flora, so when we herd strange noises through the bushes we were surprised to see cows being surprised by us and trotting away in protest. We also came across some bold and/or stupid sheep who didn’t get out of our way, but this time we didn’t try to catch any. Eventually, we got to the top of the ridge, and this is the view we found:

On flickr you can also see the vista when the sun came out, also, be aware that the above panorama is just about 180 degrees, it only looks less because of the wide-angle perspective of the lens.

Our next point-of-interest was a historic homestead, but when we got to the town there was no signs and everything was closed (being 6 o’clock on a Sunday). We tried to get directions, but we ended up just trusting the map and our gut because there were only about half a dozen roads in town. Driving a couple of km’s on a hunch, away from the main road when we were already in the middle of nowhere, the two-story, stone built Victorian homestead stood out like a sore thumb. We had a nice chat with the woman who lived there, and continued onward. Next stop Dunedin.

Another 30 minutes later, just as it was getting dark, we saw two guys looking for a hitch, and this being NZ, not in a rush and two empty  seats, we decided: what the heck! These two guys from England were also on their way to Dunedin, and boy did we make there day. They had been getting plenty of rides, but only from elderly farmers heading from one two-road town to another. As I said, they were in a really good mood since we had given them a lift, so they were great company for the ride back. And for all of you back home, thinking that I was just a bit crazy, after a few months here you really stop feeling so paranoid about everything. New Zealand is a safe country, and there’s a lot less reason to be generally distrustful of strangers. Kiwis are a generally decent bunch, as are the heaps of backpackers who roam through the country. Case in point, I’m still here writing this entry.

To Fiordland!

Well, I’ve reached that point where I can really say I’ve seen the South Island. If I had to go home tomorrow, I wouldn’t feel that I had missed out on the New Zealand experience. I have seen Fiordland, and it was good. Traveling with me were Annie (who also went with me to the Catlins) and Maelle, a French primary-school teacher working on her English (she e-mailed the tramping club wanting to travel and I responded).

Getting out of Dunedin, surprise, surprise, the car didn’t start! As I expected, it only needed a jump (something is draining the battery, what, I don’t know), and we were off to Fiordland. The first thing worth noting was that I hit a bird while driving on the highway, but unlike the instance in the Catlins, this bird got wedged into the grill of the car. Eventually, I decided that it could become a problem with the radiator and removed it – gross! It was disemboweled! Anyways, after a couple of hours driving past endless sheep stations, the mountains started getting bigger and bigger…

That was the view about 30 mins away from Te Anau – the major city for the region – i.e. a place to rip off tourists. Having some extra daylight thanks to the increasing longer days (the sun sets around 8 now), we made a detour to lake Manapouri before checking into the backpackers. This would be one of the few instances of photogenic weather the whole 4-day weekend!

Its hard to describe the beauty of a region where there are snow capped mountains on almost all sides, forming a bowl dozens of miles across, filled with the emerald green landscapes of sheep pastures. Not to be outdone by the attention-getting Te Anau, our rurally located backpackers (Barnyard Backpackers, Rainbow Downs), had its own vista for us.

Located on a hill above a deer farm, the backpackers was a great stay while we rested up for the Kepler Track. When we went to the DOC (Dept. of Conservation) office the next morning, as I feared, they warned us of the avalanche danger plaguing the middle section of the 3-day loop. In addition, the forecast for our 2nd day (when we would cross the middle, alpine section) called for near-hurricane force winds! Making do, we decided to only climb the first section of the track and then return the way we came after staying in the hut. Before we could begin the trek, however, there was one more incident of note, Annie caught a bird in her hands! Seeking the food in the car, she was able to shut the doors and catch the confused bird. I guess there is a first time for everything. Anyways…

The Kepler track, a Great Walk of NZ, has a wonderful design in that you climb for several hours through a beech forest very limited views until you suddenly cross the bush line 2000 ft above the lake and surrounding plain. To say there were panoramic views would be an understatement. Unfortunately, the unyieling presence of high-clouds took much of punch out of any photos I took, to show them wouldn’t do justice to the panorama I saw. Not long after, we reached the hut and took a well-deserved break. There were 3-4 hours of daylight remaining, and me being the stubborn and foolhardy tramper that I am, I decided to explore as much of the track as I could. Maelle decided to accompany me in my venture into snow-country.

Ascending past the hut, 2 inches of snow cover quickly turned into 2 feet! Making use of the tracks left by other curious trampers, we proceeded about 1 km up the track towards Mt. Luxmore. Eventually, Maelle decided that she would go no further, as the gale-force winds we threatening to blow her off her feet and down the slope (I was much more comfortable as I had fashioned a walking stick out of a young sapling on the climb through the forest). It was at this point that she pleaded with me not to venture any further, she explained that in the past year one of her friends had been killed in an avalanche in the French Alps. Reason getting the better of me, I was also placated by the growing presence of blue sky in the West – good photos coming up! And placated I was, as the sun remained just out of sight, but it was nonetheless able to illuminate some incredible scenery.

That night, we decided to stay in the kitchen/dining room of the hut along with the few other trampers, as the coal-stove and body heat had made the room several degrees warmer than the rest of the hut. Then, just like the night spent in Mt Aspiring NP, once we went to sleep the wind roared up. Due to the exposed position of the hut (above the bush line, just below the ridge line), the 50-person hut shook and creaked the whole night. When everyone woke up, it was as if we had sailed to another land in the night – the wind had completely settled and it was snowing!

The trip down was much faster than the way up, so we were back at the carpark by lunchtime! We then planned to drive up to Milford Sound and spend the night at their one lodge/hostel. It was not meant to be and the lodge was fully booked, so we spent the rest of the day hanging out at a new hostel and went to bed around 10 o’clock – I know. I woke up at 7 am, hoping to get a jump start on the day, unfortunately i had no way of knowing if the road to Milford was even open (it was closed a few days before from avalanches) because absolutely nothing was open. Accordingly, we took our time with breakfast until reception opened, then picked up some snow-chains as required by law.

I don’t have much to say about Milford sound, other than it was beautiful and its scale is simply staggering – many of the cliffs and near-vertical ridges rise 2000 ft or more, straight out of the water. Be sure to check out the photos on flickr. Not surprisingly, it rained most of the day, as Milford sound gets around 30 feet of rain per year!

I will save the account of the eventful drive back for another post, for now, please check out the photoset on flickr.

The Quakes get closer

Early Tuesday morning, a magnitude 6.7 quake rocked Fiordland – the region I’m heading towards for the Great Walk (the Kepler Track). Afterwards, there were many aftershocks, some as large as 6.2. It would be pretty cool if we got hit by a small quake while I’m out there. I’m also hoping that the quake will reduce the risk of avalanches for the trek, as hopefully some of the weaker patches were let loose by the vibration. My flatmate actually felt the quake here in Dunedin, where the clock on the Town Hall froze due to the vibration!

Town Hall

Terrorizing the Catlins – one lamb at a time…

This weekend I returned to the Catlins (the South Island’s SE coast) to kill some time and see some of the points of interest I had missed before. Basically, I just wanted to get away on an inexpensive trip for the weekend and found a group of Americans who were off to the Catlins and jumped at the opportunity. We made a big mistake, however, in deciding our route. Instead of simply driving down the scenic road, we decided to take the highway down and then travel back up the scenic route. Little did we know, the first hour of the road (heading back North) was just farmland – so we drove two extra hours for nothing! Or did we?

Captivated by the shear number (ha!) of lamb and sheep, we had the urge to catch a lamb, simply because they are extremely timid and bolt when you get closer than 10m to them. As luck would have it, we were able to find a lamb trapped in between the two fences that keep them away from the road – obviously they weren’t working in this situation. Seeing the lamb, we pulled over immediately, and the chase began! After a couple of minutes trying to pen in the skittish lamb, I – me – was able to tackle it as it tried to bolt past. Once it realized it was caught and that we meant no harm, it was calm enough (or else it was just scared stupid). After taking some photos, we put the lamb over the fence so it could rejoin its mother – it was certainly adorable.

 

Finally reaching the Catlins, our first stop was Curio Bay – complete with a petrified forest and one of the southernmost points on the South Island. Not only were the fossilized tree-stumps mesmerizing, but we caught sight of several yellow-eyed penguins! There are only several thousand yellow eyed penguins left in the world, mostly in NZ, and they are the rarest of penguin species.

Continuing onward, daylight fading, we turned onto a side road to check out some waterfall or something. As we drove down the gravel road, we came around a bend and saw some sheep on the side of the road. Like always, the sheep stayed as far off the road as possible to keep away from the noisy, scary automobile. Then, in the blink of an eye, a lamb panicked and ran into the road and the path of our car… Thunk! It was awful – we knew we had just hit some poor lamb. Hoping that it died instantly we continued on, but we never ended up seeing the attraction because we wanted to set up camp while there was still some light. On the way back we encountered a heart-breaking sight – the lamb was alive and sitting on the road. Instead of being pulverized – the only apparent injury to the lamb was that its two hind legs were broken. Unable to just leave it, helpless, in the road, we brought it to the nearest farmstead and left it on the porch because no one was home. We hope the farmer put the lamb out of its misery (as I doubt they would bother to mend the broken legs of a soon-to-be-slaughtered lamb)

The next day, we revisted the sights I had already seen, until we reached Nugget Point. Wow! After raining off and on for the last 12 hours, the weather finally cleared up in the most incredible setting. There’s no point attempting to describe its beauty in words, so take a look. And yes, the water on the South side really was that incredible blue.