Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Milford Trek Part 1
Sometimes you start out with one expectation of a trip or experience, and end up getting something quite different. Our 33.5 mile Milford "Track" as they call it here was like that, in that we expected beautiful scenery, clean air and pristine waterfalls, good exercise and while we got all that, the highlight of our trek was the wonderful people we met along the way.
We quickly realized that we were completely unprepared for this. This is a four day, three night hike which you book through the New Zealand Department of Conservation, and you stay in huts along the way which have bunks and toilets and cold running water, but no electricity. Only forty other hikers are allowed on the trail at one time, so you are sleeping and eating together all three nights. I was a little worried about that, but it turned out to be the least of our problems. You were so tired at the end of the day you didn't care who was sleeping next to you.
So we had reserved our places, rented backpacks, sleeping bags, and equipment, and our rental guide said "oh, you can't wear those shoes, you'll have to have tramping boots" so we rented those too. Big mistake. The packs weighed at least 30 lbs each, the boots felt fine the first day, but by the second we had sore toes and aching backs. Pat said "I don't know if we're too old, too out of shape, or too stupid, but I'm thinking it's all three". This wasn't a walk down a nice path, it was over rocks and at times boulders. And the other 38 hikers - some older than us, some younger - were literally flying over the trail. Smiling and snapping photos and saying "Isn't this grand?"
Humbling.
Milford Trek Part 3
The second day was 10.3 miles of a gradual climb to Mintaro Hut, estimated as a six hour hike and it took us 9 hours. As we ate our dehydrated backpacker meal, we saw families with creative pasta meals and nicely planned lunches. We had such a nice group - two young couples from Israel, a family with two young sons and one with two young daughters, a retired physician and his wife from North Carolina in their late 60's, another physician who has connective tissue disease who has hiked Kilimanjaro and the Appalachian Trail with her friend who is a dentist, several young couples from Australia and New Zealand - and a group of Kiwi's who must have been in their late 70's who completely outpaced us.
This is one of the lovely families we met,
Chris and Pauline and their beautiful daughters Michele and Caroline, from the Nelson area of New Zealand. Those girls never whined once.
Milford Trek Part 4
Day three was the killer. It is an ascent to Mackinnon Pass, with switchbacks up the mountain and then back down again totaling 9 miles. We went from rainforest to alpine meadows, and could look across at several glaciers on the adjacent peaks. We were in the clouds, so at first couldn't see much, but the sun came out and it was really something to behold. I'm glad I didn't know how bad the descent was going to be, because I was feeling relieved to be up there finally, and if I had known how painful going downhill with a backpack on would be, I probably would have begged for a helicopter rescue.
So we started the descent, and after a fall and some dehydration, I pretty much hit the wall around 5 pm. I just couldn't get my legs to work. Pat was also exhausted, and his feet hurt, so it was hard to know what to do. I decided to take the boots off and put my Ecco sandals on, which was a big help to my poor toes, but I just couldn't move very fast and we still had several miles to go to our next hut.
Pat went ahead hoping he could drop his pack and come back to help me, and Chris offered to carry my pack for me, which was really so kind. But Pat declined, and came back when he realized how far the hut still was, and actually tried to carry both packs for a bit.
While Pat had gone ahead, one of the young couples came along and offered me a second walking pole, as he said it is really a lot easier to go downhill with two poles, but I said no and thanked him. He offered again when he saw Pat further down, and Pat brought the pole back to me. It really did help.
I'm still embarrassed to admit all of this, as it isn't easy for me to ask for help. And Pat was also exhausted, and shouldn't have been carrying two heavy packs. So along comes Max and his wife Ingrid and their two boys, pictured below, and Max sees Pat struggling with two packs and pretty much insists on carrying it. He carried his own pack and mine the last several miles to the Dumpling Hut.
Here are Max and Ingrid and their sons. The Milford sandflies were attacking right then so I don't think the boys appreciated posing for the photo ..
Milford Trek End
And then about a mile before we arrived, this beautiful young couple from Israel met us on the track, and said they had been concerned about us and wanted to see if they could carry our packs for us. Ofre took my pack from Max, and Hadas actually offered to take Pat's, but he felt he could manage, and we all walked the last mile together. We were just overwhelmed by their thoughtfulness.
Ofre and Hadas are from Tel Aviv, and are both working on their PhD's after having served in their country's military. We had a great chat with them the night before about their views of our country, theirs, and their hopes for a peaceful future. We were so impressed with them, and it helped my loneliness for my own kids to spend some time with young people their age. Here is a picture of Hadas (a lovely name meaning flower) and Ofre (which means "deer").
So the last morning we knew we had to get up earlier and leave earlier because we had a six hour hike to make the 2 pm boat at Sandfly Point which we had reserved to get back to Te Anau. And six hours to others would likely mean 8 for us. So we left early, and made it to the boat just in time.
By the way, the Sandfly name is very appropriate. I'll take mosquitos. And note my "I'm so happy!!!" look to be sitting on that boat!
We spent our last night in beautiful Te Anau, got up early and took a 10 hour bus ride to Christchurch, which was just perfect because we badly needed to rest our aching bones. The rolling hills, grazing sheep and kind New Zealand people we met are so present in our thoughts; we hope some of them will keep contact with us, come to the US for a visit and stay with us in Minnesota.
And this morning, as we sat down in an unfamiliar church, Pat and I were both struck by the last hymn of the morning, which is one of our favorites:
"We are pilgrims on a journey and companions on the road,
we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.
Brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too."
We came to Milford seeking beauty and enjoyment and ended up receiving so much more. We are so very grateful. It will be hard to leave New Zealand tomorrow morning, we have had a wonderful time here.
Kia Oro
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Ofre and Hadas are from Tel Aviv, and are both working on their PhD's after having served in their country's military. We had a great chat with them the night before about their views of our country, theirs, and their hopes for a peaceful future. We were so impressed with them, and it helped my loneliness for my own kids to spend some time with young people their age. Here is a picture of Hadas (a lovely name meaning flower) and Ofre (which means "deer").
So the last morning we knew we had to get up earlier and leave earlier because we had a six hour hike to make the 2 pm boat at Sandfly Point which we had reserved to get back to Te Anau. And six hours to others would likely mean 8 for us. So we left early, and made it to the boat just in time.
By the way, the Sandfly name is very appropriate. I'll take mosquitos. And note my "I'm so happy!!!" look to be sitting on that boat!
We spent our last night in beautiful Te Anau, got up early and took a 10 hour bus ride to Christchurch, which was just perfect because we badly needed to rest our aching bones. The rolling hills, grazing sheep and kind New Zealand people we met are so present in our thoughts; we hope some of them will keep contact with us, come to the US for a visit and stay with us in Minnesota.
And this morning, as we sat down in an unfamiliar church, Pat and I were both struck by the last hymn of the morning, which is one of our favorites:
"We are pilgrims on a journey and companions on the road,
we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.
Brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too."
We came to Milford seeking beauty and enjoyment and ended up receiving so much more. We are so very grateful. It will be hard to leave New Zealand tomorrow morning, we have had a wonderful time here.
Kia Oro
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Saturday, January 15, 2011
Much like the Hawaiian "Aloha", the words "Kia Oro" mean hello and goodbye in the Maori language. The cities and towns, rivers and beaches and mountains all have Maori names in New Zealand, and one of the things we have appreciated most about this country is the way that all Kiwi's honor their Maori heritage. Everywhere you go there are information plaques describing historical events and places, and Maori culture is an integral part of New Zealand's day to day life.
We are still struggling to enter pictures into our blog - never thought that would be our biggest frustration. The ipad and blogspot don't want to talk to each other. But if that is the biggest problem we encounter in six months, we'll be very happy!
As Pat wrote, we left Auckland for the Northland in our little Hyundai, seeing the area around the Waitangi Treaty House where the British and Maori achieved a peaceful settlement. The Maori warriors dance the Haka before battle - which you can still see when the New Zealand Rugby Team takes the field. We visited a Maori Village in Rotorua, where they still cook traditional "hangi" meals by steaming them in the earth which has geothermal geyser activity.
We made our way to the Wellington Ferry which takes you from the North to the South Island, a lovely trip through what is called New Zealand's norther fjord lands. We spent a few days in the Marlborough Wine Region, home to many wonderful Sauvignon Blancs. We sampled fresh New Zealand Havelock Mussels, wished our fine dining group was here! And we found a restaurant in Nelson with a name so unbelievable that we just had to dine there - "The Honest Lawyer", have you ever heard of anything so crazy? Sorry to Kim P, Rob L, Chris K, Jerry VK, and the rest of our attorney friends. We are attaching a picture .... they sold great T-shirts, but we couldn't afford them for you ...
That brings us to Christchurch, where we arrived at our hotel to find it is closed due to damage from the earthquake a few weeks ago, so we were scrambling for digs at 8 pm. We found a great place, got up early and caught the bus to Dunedin, formerly "New Edinburgh", a city of Scottish heritage in the buildings and people. My dad (a proud Sinclair) would have loved it here. Took a tour of the coastal peninsula to see nesting yellow eyed penguins, blue penguins, and Royal Albatross as well as furry seals and sea lions. A beautiful day!
We are off to Te Anau for our four day Milford Sound trek tomorrow ...
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Finding Middle Earth and Hobbitland,
Greetings to everyone from New Zeeland. Deb and I are off on the great adventure and having a wonderful time. It has been nothing less than brilliant so far. But first, a much appreciated thank you for your good wishes, prayers, and overall support. It was and will continue to be a highlight of our trip. We remain connected and think of you often on our daily travels.
We send along our prayers and support for my cousin Mary Anne whose daughter Livy died this week from complications of Neurofibromatosis. Mary Ann and family were remarkable, caring, and courageous in giving Livy a wonderful last year.
We arrived in New Zeeland only 5 days ago, but we have already traveled the North Island and crossed over Cook Strait by ferry today and are settling into the Marlborough region (wine country) for the next 2 days. We have been impressed with the ever present commitment, value and recogition of the Maori culture (original settlers to NZ in 800 AD) throughout all of NZ. Yes there are the towns of Wellington, Hamilton, Christ CHurch, but almost every other town, road, sign, and historical marker is Maorin. We visited the Waitangi Treaty House outside of Paihia where the Maori chiefs signed a treaty giving sovereignty to Queen Victoris in exchange for rights to lands, forests,and fisheries in 1840, as well as the only active, living Maori village outside the town of Rotorua. Enough of the history.
Some of my favorite things so far have been the highways - if you come to NZ you have to see part of it by car. Driving on the opposite side has been amusing for Deb and she silently counts how many times I end up in the wrong lane or turn on the windshield wipers instead of the blinker. IT's hard to fake the wipers when it is sunny and beautiful out. NO accidents yet though. They also have great signs along the roads - " You're on holiday, what's the hurry"," Slippery when frosty", and "protect our forests because they are saving the rest of the world". I particulary like the slow lanes every 10 km to let the native NZ pass me. I have to admit the Hyundai does not have much pick up going up the mountain passes - we have both tried to lean forward to see if we could get the car going faster. The most amazing thing though is that each day you don't imagine you will see as spectacular a scenery as the previous day, but you do. I The country is a combination of COlorado, Washington, Northern Calif, and Ireland without the rain.
SO we did go looking for HObbit land and did manage to see Mount Doom as well as many expansive,green carpeted mountain valleys, covered with sheep and no houses.....just like in the movie.
I promised Deb that I wouldn't tell the story of the shower at our last motel (more like a room in a house) except to say that her only comment was "This isn't right!!"
I did manage to visit a hospice agency in Rotorua. Had a nice chat with the head nurse. All of their patients are at home and they do not have a residential home. The government is strongly supportive and in many towns we saw the "hospice store" on the main street where items can be donated for those in need. For my friends in St. Cloud, their typical census is 70 patients and they primarily use SQ infusions instead of IV's for pain control.
We are impressed with the focus on organic foods, a limited number of fast food outlets ( but they are growing), a respect for the environment ( maori influence), and a genuinely friendly people who wish us safe travels.
Oh yeah, and remember the next time you go out for Chinese take-out in the US, they call it Chinese take-away here in New Zeeland.
Greetings to everyone from New Zeeland. Deb and I are off on the great adventure and having a wonderful time. It has been nothing less than brilliant so far. But first, a much appreciated thank you for your good wishes, prayers, and overall support. It was and will continue to be a highlight of our trip. We remain connected and think of you often on our daily travels.
We send along our prayers and support for my cousin Mary Anne whose daughter Livy died this week from complications of Neurofibromatosis. Mary Ann and family were remarkable, caring, and courageous in giving Livy a wonderful last year.
We arrived in New Zeeland only 5 days ago, but we have already traveled the North Island and crossed over Cook Strait by ferry today and are settling into the Marlborough region (wine country) for the next 2 days. We have been impressed with the ever present commitment, value and recogition of the Maori culture (original settlers to NZ in 800 AD) throughout all of NZ. Yes there are the towns of Wellington, Hamilton, Christ CHurch, but almost every other town, road, sign, and historical marker is Maorin. We visited the Waitangi Treaty House outside of Paihia where the Maori chiefs signed a treaty giving sovereignty to Queen Victoris in exchange for rights to lands, forests,and fisheries in 1840, as well as the only active, living Maori village outside the town of Rotorua. Enough of the history.
Some of my favorite things so far have been the highways - if you come to NZ you have to see part of it by car. Driving on the opposite side has been amusing for Deb and she silently counts how many times I end up in the wrong lane or turn on the windshield wipers instead of the blinker. IT's hard to fake the wipers when it is sunny and beautiful out. NO accidents yet though. They also have great signs along the roads - " You're on holiday, what's the hurry"," Slippery when frosty", and "protect our forests because they are saving the rest of the world". I particulary like the slow lanes every 10 km to let the native NZ pass me. I have to admit the Hyundai does not have much pick up going up the mountain passes - we have both tried to lean forward to see if we could get the car going faster. The most amazing thing though is that each day you don't imagine you will see as spectacular a scenery as the previous day, but you do. I The country is a combination of COlorado, Washington, Northern Calif, and Ireland without the rain.
SO we did go looking for HObbit land and did manage to see Mount Doom as well as many expansive,green carpeted mountain valleys, covered with sheep and no houses.....just like in the movie.
I promised Deb that I wouldn't tell the story of the shower at our last motel (more like a room in a house) except to say that her only comment was "This isn't right!!"
I did manage to visit a hospice agency in Rotorua. Had a nice chat with the head nurse. All of their patients are at home and they do not have a residential home. The government is strongly supportive and in many towns we saw the "hospice store" on the main street where items can be donated for those in need. For my friends in St. Cloud, their typical census is 70 patients and they primarily use SQ infusions instead of IV's for pain control.
We are impressed with the focus on organic foods, a limited number of fast food outlets ( but they are growing), a respect for the environment ( maori influence), and a genuinely friendly people who wish us safe travels.
Oh yeah, and remember the next time you go out for Chinese take-out in the US, they call it Chinese take-away here in New Zeeland.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
New Zealand is beautiful!
We are in Kerikeri near the Bay of Plenty on the north island - everything is going great except our Internet connections! Can't seem to upload photos - we'll sign in again once we figure that out!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
We're here!
After a VERY long day, we arrived safe and sound in Auckland today. The flights went great until LAX - where we already had an 8 hour layover until an 11:30 pm departure, but then the flight was delayed until 1:45 am. We had lost that "isn't this fun and exciting" look by then, so no more pictures until we have a chance to rest up! I'm posting one of us at the airport, where Erin and Dan dropped us off in the morning ... the check-in girls couldn't believe we were packed for six months!
auckland reminds me of flying into Ireland ... it is the most beautiful green island, with rolling hills and mountains and lakes and rivers - just really pretty. Can't wait to see more of it!
We'll write again when we've rested up for a few days - thank you all for your good wishes, they worked!
auckland reminds me of flying into Ireland ... it is the most beautiful green island, with rolling hills and mountains and lakes and rivers - just really pretty. Can't wait to see more of it!
We'll write again when we've rested up for a few days - thank you all for your good wishes, they worked!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Last night at home ...
Our bags are packed and we are enjoying a last evening at home with James, Dan and Erin before departing for the airport at 6 am tomorrow morning. Pat and I are feeling very blessed tonight. We have had so many calls from friends and loved ones in the past few weeks wishing us well, and our patients and co-workers have been so supportive! Here are a few highlights:
- My friends at Clara's House Child Partial Hospitalization Program gave me a farewell party, complete with travel gifts and dinner and a beautiful engraved leather album for my pictures - only someone (ummm ... Rebecca?) forgot to invite me. I learned about it the week of the party, and found myself wondering how a person should handle this; do I go to the restaurant and just hang around? The day of the party someone said "Are you ready for your party tonight?" and voila, I had my invitation. So I showed up at the restaurant listed on the email invitation, told the wait staff "I'm here for my party" and they said "What party? We don't have any parties tonight". There was, it turns out, a later email changing venues, and (Rebecca?) someone forgot to send me that one. ANYWAYS, it was fun once I got there. Gotta love that Rebecca.
- Pat's friends at work had a great lunch for him, and they actually invited him to it.
- Many wonderful physicians in St. Cloud have been willing to help cover Quiet Oaks Hospice House, allowing Pat to leave without any worry at all that this special place will continue to thrive.
- Our coworkers have been so generous in being willing to care for our patients while we are gone. We leave knowing that they are in excellent hands!
- In church Sunday, our congregation gave us a wonderful blessing as we set out on this journey. We were so deeply touched by that, and will carry their good wishes and prayers in our hearts every day.
And tonight, as we struggle to say goodbye to our kids for six months, we are so grateful for their presence in our lives and for the care we know they will give to each other in our absence. Love is truly a wonderful thing.
Next stop, New Zealand!
- My friends at Clara's House Child Partial Hospitalization Program gave me a farewell party, complete with travel gifts and dinner and a beautiful engraved leather album for my pictures - only someone (ummm ... Rebecca?) forgot to invite me. I learned about it the week of the party, and found myself wondering how a person should handle this; do I go to the restaurant and just hang around? The day of the party someone said "Are you ready for your party tonight?" and voila, I had my invitation. So I showed up at the restaurant listed on the email invitation, told the wait staff "I'm here for my party" and they said "What party? We don't have any parties tonight". There was, it turns out, a later email changing venues, and (Rebecca?) someone forgot to send me that one. ANYWAYS, it was fun once I got there. Gotta love that Rebecca.
- Pat's friends at work had a great lunch for him, and they actually invited him to it.
- Many wonderful physicians in St. Cloud have been willing to help cover Quiet Oaks Hospice House, allowing Pat to leave without any worry at all that this special place will continue to thrive.
- Our coworkers have been so generous in being willing to care for our patients while we are gone. We leave knowing that they are in excellent hands!
- In church Sunday, our congregation gave us a wonderful blessing as we set out on this journey. We were so deeply touched by that, and will carry their good wishes and prayers in our hearts every day.
And tonight, as we struggle to say goodbye to our kids for six months, we are so grateful for their presence in our lives and for the care we know they will give to each other in our absence. Love is truly a wonderful thing.
Next stop, New Zealand!
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