timeout in Europe (June and July 2011)

It feels like yesterday when I got back to Milford after 2.5 years of absence and travelling Australia and Canada. And yet, it was last October. 10 months and an eventful summer season have passed and I have been away on a holiday in Europe for a little over 5 weeks. I have spent time with my family and more important, with my gorgeous nephew, have travelled to London, Amsterdam, Rome and Paris and have done several day trips in Germany with my parents, too.

I have been to London twice before and I always love coming back to this wonderful city with all its history, busy locals, crazy traffic and tourists en masse. 3 days and nights I enjoyed the sightseeing, walked my feet silly, observed random people in the underground trains (a very interesting thing to do do pass some time!) and asked myself how London will cope with even more tourists and spectators during the Summer Olympics next year. Truth to be told, although I am quite used to a city being packed with people, I have a feeling that London will be worse than Vancouver, just for the fact that the Summer Olympics are much bigger than the Winter Games. I am still quite jealous though not to be part of the Summer Olympics, especially since a few of my former workmates from Vancouver are now part of the London Organizing Team. But I can't have it all. Good luck to London and I hope (and I am quite confident) that you can pull it off! One of the things I hadn't done before on my previous London trips was a visit to Windsor Castle outside of London. I took the train and enjoyed leaving the busy city behind me. There were still heaps of tourists of course but by far not as many as in London and so it was a good timeout.

One of my London highlights was catching up with my friend Catherine, who I worked with in Vancouver for VANOC and we have also travelled to the Canadian Rockies together. When you travel around as much as I do, it is always great, seeing your old friends because goodbyes at most times are for good, which is one of the sad parts of an unsettled life like mine.

Amsterdam was my next destination and I only spend 2 nights in this extraordinary city. My old Fraserway buddies Diane and Emilie gave me a surprising welcome at the airport and took me into town. I don't think they realized but that was the best thing they could have done for me. Except for when I am flying home, nobody ever picks me up from the airport and so it is comforting to know this time you don't have to worry about how to get into town and to your accommodation. Just sit back, relax and talk about the good old times in Vancouver. Time was precious and so we did as much sightseeing as we could on that same day of my arrival. We went on a boat cruise through the canals of Amsterdam (best way to explore Amsterdam!), went for delicious dinner in a Spanish tapas bar and afterwards headed to the famous Anne Frank House, where Anne and her family where hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Although very interesting to see, the tour was rather painful because there were far too many people. Like a duck family we all walked in line behind each other, from room to room, throwing a glance at the exhibition items before following the others into the next room. There was no time to just stop and reflect on what you were seeing at that particular moment. The house was done up nicely although no furniture was to be seen. That had been Anne Frank's dad request when he approved the museum. The book shelf was there though, that used to hide the steep staircase up to the Annex. We climbed the stairs and it's a good reminder of the way those houses in Amsterdam are built. Very slim and high and most times the stairs are too narrow to get any bulky items up the stairs.

On the second day we caught up with Agnes, another friend from Vancouver, who had come all the way from further outside Amsterdam to have dinner with us. It was great seeing her too and I am more than grateful that she made all that effort to see me! Dankjewel Agnes!

Third stop was Rome and I was particularly looking forward to visiting the Italian capital due to its rich history and famous sights. When I first arrived in Rome, I struggled getting my bearings since it was so much bigger than Amsterdam (and yet, so much smaller than London or Paris). When I went for a walk first, I got lost and stumbled across one of the papal churches only by accident. For the second and third day I bought a ticket for one of the many open bus tours and that helped the whole sightseeing thing a lot. Just hop on the bus and decide where you want to get off. The weather was great and my tan must have improved by 200% during those days although I am not really a fan of heat and sweating all day. But better still than the winter temperatures in New Zealand. If you think London is filled with tourists, than think again. Rome is overcrowded with tourists to an extend that it becomes frustrating and annoying especially when you have to line up for hours to see the Colosseum or the Vatican. As mentioned before, it was hot and there is hardly any shade that could protect you from the merciless sun. My advice to any Rome visitors; whenever possible try to purchase your tickets in advance (sometimes possible by buying tickets at other attractions) or try to go with a group. There is always an extra line up for pre-purchased tickets, Rome card holders and groups and those queues are usually pretty short. My biggest disappointment was the Sistine Chapel. To be honest due to time restraints I travelled as a philistine, not taking much time for art or museums and that’s the reason why it pissed me off having to walk through the Vatican Museum for hours, in line with what felt like ten thousand of other tourists, going to see every single painting and statue in the museum when all I wanted was to see the Sistine Chapel with the famous fresco of Michelangelo. I had another frustrating moment at the sight of the famous Trevi Fountain with literally hundreds of people in front of it, ruining every shot. I took three shots and left, not even taking in this masterpiece of a fountain! I was also very close to losing my temper with the many intrusive street vendors trying to sell hats, sun umbrellas, silk scarfs and other useless stuff. No matter how many times you have said no to them, there was always another vendor just seconds away who offered you the exact same stuff. And single blond women work as magnets for those street vendors, trust me!

My trip was nearing its end but I still had one destination to go: Paris! Far too late I realized that I had not planned enough time for Paris and so had to skip the trip to Versailles as this would have been too crazy time wise. I arrived in Paris late due to my flight leaving late and then the train from the airport to the city had problems too. I don’t even know what happened to the train since I didn’t understand the French announcement. Welcome to France! The same day of my arrival I ventured out to take some night shots and I ended up at the Eifel Tower. Quite impressive that tower! For my only day in Paris I bought a ticket for an open bus tour, expecting a timesaving and effective sightseeing program (as we Germans do). But I didn’t take into account the inability of the French to organize something as easy as selling bus tickets. Everywhere I have been so far, there are heaps of street vendors, selling those tickets on the street in order to make the whole jump on the bus process quick and easy. Well, not in Paris. The only way to buy your ticket is on the bus and when you take the first bus in the morning, you spend at least 10-15 minutes at every stop, waiting for all those tourists to buy their tickets as they get on. After more than an hour and having seen not even half of the tour, I decided to leave the bus, and explore Paris on foot. I walked down to the Louvre, which is an impressive building! Unfortunately again, I didn’t have time for the inside and took pictures only. Later that day I came back for some great night shots. Montmartre and Sacre- Coeur where bustling with people as well and those idiots decided to sit on the stairs infront of the church, which made it nearly impossible for other people to get through. Well done! I always said, tourists are stupid and brainless and this trip has done nothing to change my opinion.

I wouldn’t have thought that flights from Paris are so expensive but getting back to Germany on a plane was out of question. Instead I took the train and travelled on the fast ICE most times. The German railway services surprised me with on-board-service from Paris to Frankfurt and a train attendant’s toe-curling English that made me shiver. When I got home I needed a few days to recover from the tight schedule and enjoyed some time with my parents. I also caught up with a few friends from school, that I hadn’t seen for many years and the day that I flew out again we also visited my brother and his family again so I had the chance to say goodbye to my nephew Henry. That little fella will be missed dearly and I wish I could spend more time with him. But then again, I can’t have it all, that’s life.

So, there it is, dunno why it took me so long but I guess I just needed to sit down and think about what I was going to say.

Have a good one,

Katja

waiting to go home

I am finally in holiday mode and currently in Queenstown, waiting to board my plane to Auckland in a few hours time. Problem is, that a few days ago a volcano in Chile decided to spew its ash and thanks to the roaring fourty's powerful winds, the ash has arrived in New Zealand. That has resulted in many flights between Australia and New Zealand being cancelled and this morning all major airlines have cancelled numerous flights. Not so Air New Zealand and that's the guys I am flying with. So fingers crossed. If all goes well and according to plan I will arrive in Frankfurt tomorrow evening, after a few-hours-stopover in Hongkong.

Plans I have many for my time in Germany. Of course I'll be trying to spend as much time as possible with my bundle of joy little Henry but I have also organized a trip through some very exciting European metropolises. I will spend some time in London, Amsterdam (and NO, I am not going for the pot!), Rome and Paris and I am so looking forward to going to all those places.

A few friends have implied wanting to catch up with me and of course the rest of my family wants to see me back home every now and then, too. Looks like I won't be relaxing much at all during the next few weeks, but I never really intended to anyway.

So again, fingers crossed I'll be able to leave New Zealand today and then see you back in good old Germany!

P.S. By the way, I've been a busy bee last night uploading heaps of new pictures onto my picture blog. Please check it out here.

Mt. Cook roadtrip (30.04.-3.5.2011)

My camera has been suffering from serious neglect and I also needed to get back on the road. Good timing because my friend Katrin was about to leave Christchurch via Mt. Cook and Queenstown and so we decided to catch up and meet halfway. I had hired a car from Queenstown and left for Lake Tekapo on a beautiful, sunny and warm Indian summer Saturday, allowing for various photo stops along the way. After I had reached Lake Tekapo I found Katrin sunbathing on a park bench overlooking the lake - what a great idea! We got rid of her luggage, organized fish & chips for lunch and continued sunbathing. Later we headed off for a photo shot at the church of the good sheppard and also at the Mt. John Observatory - right in time for sunset and a beautiful display of different colours. At the YHA hostel I later cooked dinner and encountered the same old questions: 1. Why do backpackers only eat pasta? 2. Why is recycling so challenging for some people? 3. Is it too much to ask for to turn off the stove when finished cooking?
Sunday came and we left for Mt. Cook (not without the mandatory stop at Lake Pukaki of course). Although a few clouds had found their way into the sky it was still warm and sunny and the clouds are quite a nice feature in pictures anyway. We stopped numerous times on the way to Mt. Cook Village as Mt. Aoraki overlooms every other mountain and mountain range in the area. Breathtaking as usual and we understand how lucky we were to actually see the mountain as it usually shyly hides behind the clouds. In the village we took a short walk into the Hooker Valley before making ourselves at home at the YHA hostel and spending a quite night with a bottle of wine.
I couldn't wait for monday as I had booked a tour with the Glacier Explorers. My second tour it proved to be and I was looking forward to seeing how things had changed. The walk across the moon like landscape down to the Tasman Lake was intriguing. Here a few facts about the Tasman glacier and lake: The glacier is the biggest in New Zealand with 27km these days. 18 thousand years ago, its lengths was 100km. In 1973 the Tasman Lake began to form as the Glacier continued its retreat. In 2009, the lake measured 2km at its widest point, 6.5km at its longest point and 200m deep at its deepest point. It started raining during the tour and it felt like temperatures were dropping too. That might as well have been the windchill, as the boot sped over the lake to allow for different views. Most of the icebergs broke off the Tasman Glacier during the February Christchurch earthquake that was felt in the Southern Alps as well. The guides kept their distance to the Glacier itself due to the fact that only 10% of an iceberg are visible above the water and nobody knows how far the 90% underneath the water are extending out into the lake. As icebergs melt (sunlight, warmer water that surrounds them) they continually try to keep the same ratio and that makes their movement unpredictable. I loved doing that tour again and I might as well be back in the future for a third trip!
We had to get back to Queenstown on the same day and so we said our goodbyes to Mt. Cook Village. When we got back into Queenstown a few hours later, it was almost time for sunset and we got rid of the car, went shopping and had yummy pizza before making ourselves comfortable in the hostel. The next day we headed back into Milford and Katrin stayed with me for a few days to relax and befriend a few sandflies. Mission accomplished I would say!

the season so far...

Oh boy, the summer season is nearing its end. And what a season it’s been! The crew this year has been far from perfect and easy to work with (and that’s the most polite way I can express my feelings), it’s been much quieter than I remember from previous seasons and time has been flying extremely fast. There have been many reasons for Milford being quieter than usual and two of them have been the earthquake in Christchurch in February and the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March. People are recovering from those tragic events and have other things than travelling in mind. The media has broadcasted an image of a broken and devastated Christchurch and a country in ruin and that has put many people off travelling.

Christchurch is the gateway to the south island of New Zealand and yes, a lot of infrastructure in the city has been destroyed and there are less hotel beds available than usual. The CBD is still cordoned off and nobody is allowed inside, for different reasons like cleaning up, making sure nobody gets hurt from unstable buildings etc. New Zealand is popular with self catering tourists who travel the country in motorhomes and there are less of those available as well, as many of them are being used as alternative accommodation for the thousands of families who have lost their housing during the earthquake. Unfortunately Christchurch has lost the Rugby World Cup to other cities in the south island as well, due to the facts I have stated above. That’s a major psychological blow and it will take Canterbury a long time to recover from it. Nevertheless, life is going on and the city is being rebuild – slowly but with lots of passion and thought as to how to make Christchurch a safer place in the future.

Milford businesses are suffering from declining tourist numbers but we are more than optimistic that next year’s summer season will see an increase in numbers again, as we’re still the number one tourist destination in New Zealand!

So, what have I been up to this season, people may ask. I have been on a few missions, starting off with the Catlins late last year, Stewart Island, Queenstown/Arrowtown/Wanaka/Kinloch and just recently Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula. To be honest, I have been either too busy or too lazy (or a combination of both) to write a story for the last two trips, but you’ll be able to enjoy the photos on picasa. I loved the Otago Peninsula for the wildlife and the many photo opportunities but with those opportunities come the painful pleasure of going through hundreds of albatross shots to choose the best ones.

Early this week Milford has celebrated its annual End of the Season Ball to farewell those people that will leave us at the end of this season. As every year, staff numbers will drop at the end of may from around 160-200 in summer to 50-60 in winter. Although, this winter is going to be a little bit different as there is a lot of construction work going on in Milford to improve the flood protection of the village and therefore we have quite a big number of construction staff staying with us over the winter.

And there is good news for my friends in Europe and esp. in Germany. After a lot of thought and research for alternative holiday destinations during our winter season I have decided to fly home to Germany in June to see my family and spend heaps of quality time with my little darling nephew Henry. And if possible I will try to travel Europe, so look out for me, I might pop up on your doorsteps….

Stewart Island (23.01.-27.01.2011)

When my friends Tina and Frank from back home asked me whether or not I was interested to come to Stewart Island with them, I didn’t have to think long. I have been to Stewart Island twice already but there’s no harm in visiting this beautiful place for a third time. In order to save some time we had decided to take advantage of Stewart Island Flights and took a 20 minute sightseeing flight over to the island. The weather was gorgeous and so were the views especially when approaching the island. Like last time with Tina and Frank we had booked the Rose Cottage and when we arrived there after a steep but short climb up the hilly road, I was instantly hit by memories. Everything looked the same as in 2007 and the interior hadn’t changed at all. I moved into my little room and chaos took over. With no hooks or wardrobe everything ends up on the floor and that’s where it would stay for the next few days.

Well, what is there on the island you might ask. The only town on the island is Oban so let’s call it the capital. Locals have everything they need; the general store that has fresh bread and eggs twice a week; a post office and the mail/newspapers coming in early in the morning on the first flight over from Invercargill; South Sea Hotel that serves as Hotel and Pub/ Restaurant; a café that sells handmade jewellery made from fishing gear; a takeaway; glowing sky clothing shop (and it all started out on Steward Island!); the red shed aka the Tourist Information Centre; DOC Information Centre that is especially important to all those people coming to Stewart Island to hike (either Rakiura Track or one of the Circuits); the fernery gift shop; a police station; a rugby field (unfortunately Stewart Island residents struggle putting teams together for regular matches, but one of the regulars is the annual Maori vs Pakeha match), a Presbyterian church, the church hill restaurant, quite a few lodges and cottages to accommodate all those visitors; even a YHA and many many boats. There are only a few kilometres of sealed road and a few cars that need to have a valid warrant before coming over to the island. Recently they even started offering a wee rental service for tourist tired of walking all those hills. The hills require a bit of an effort to climb but there are no other ways and so people have learned to live with them. Locals without a car mostly own bikes (can’t see where that helps because you still need to put a lot of effort in getting up there, but nevermind) or motorbikes.

As I said, Oban isn’t big at all but in order to see all the different places, bays and ‘attractions’ you need to walk a lot as they are all located at different ends of town. Or you head down to the red shed and either book the Village & Bay Tours or the taxi service, which also takes you to the most popular places. I did the first and although I had seen all those places before, I really enjoyed the tour for all the information I received from our informative guide Kylie. The insight into local life was priceless! We also did the Patterson Inlet Cruise with Stewart Island Experience on a rainy day because we wouldn’t want to spend all day walking in the rain. Again, the information we received were highly appreciated as you normally don’t get that kind of information and insight from a travel guide. We also stopped on Ulva Island, the bird sanctuary for a short guided walk. That walk wouldn’t have been enough for us as we like to explore things and take pictures, so luckily we had been to the island 2 days before and had spent almost 6 hours with watching birds and enjoying the sun at West End Beach.

My highlight of this trip was definitely the kiwi spotting tour we had booked for one evening. I had never been able to see kiwis in the wild and had only seen them in a nocturnal house and that needed changing! We booked BRAVO ADVENTURE CRUISES who have been operating for more than 20 years with an amazing success rate. In the last 2 years there was no single day without at least one kiwi to be seen on their tours! Before we left the boat and headed into the night we received some useful information about kiwis, grabbed torches and filed behind the guide on our walk through the bush. It was pitch black and completely silent as nobody dared to speak. After about 15 to 20 minutes we saw the first kiwi searching for food and I stood in awe watching the bird. She knew we were there but didn’t feel hassled and stayed. Most New Zealanders have never seen a kiwi bird in their life and probably won’t. And here I was, looking at one! After a while we left her alone and kept on going, down to Ocean Beach. The kiwis love to come out to the beach because they feed on the little sand hoppers that appear in big numbers at night time (maybe even at daytime, I don’t know actually) and so we didn’t need to walk long before we saw the second kiwi. It was a female again (they have a longer beak that’s also curved) and she also was busy searching the sand. Our guide Greg had warned us to look out for sea lions that like to hang out on the beach and that he would not want us to run into them in the dark. Fair enough I’d say! He carried a long stick to be able to defend us in an emergency but luckily there were no sea lions tonight. Later on we saw a male kiwi, that was disturbed by someone in the group couching and he ran away hastily. But on the way back we saw him again so he must have come back to his spot immediately after we had left. Time is flying when you are having fun and I assume that most of us could have easily spent some more time on the beach but we needed to head back. At 12am we arrived back at the boat and with no vision at all but his radar the skipper took us back to the wharf.

As I said before, that tour was the highlight of my Stewart Island trip and I can’t believe I haven’t done that before! When I come back to the Island, I will be back on Ocean Beach!
After 5 days on the island we flew back to Invercargill and headed straight back into Milford Sound as I needed to get back to work for the next day. Tina and Frank stayed overnight and joined a cruise the next day before they left Milford and continued to enjoy their holidays in their motorhome; off to new adventures!

my Top 5 of 2010

I hope everybody has had a wonderful christmas time and a great start into 2011. My holidays were quite unspectacular. I was lucky enough to be off over christmas but I stayed in Milford anyway to be here for our annual community christmas dinner/party. It was raining for 4 days straight and so there wasn't much to do for me accept for having looong sleep ins, cleaning my room and watch a lot of movies. New Years I was working and I had a BBQ invitation from one of our skippers. It was 8 of us and we enjoyed a few drinks, sausages and mince paddies and a good laugh about this and that. I didn't get much sleep last night but at least I wasn't hangover like some of my workmates which I wasn't too happy about (party hard, work hard!)

In retrospective I'd like to share my Top 5 of special moments and events of 2010 with you.
1. Seeing my little nephew Henry for the first time and holding him was very special to me and I was looking forward to that moment a lot when I was still back in Vancouver. Right now I am not too sure when I can see him again but I hope it won't be too long.

2. Being part of and experiencing the 2010 Olympic Wintergames in Vancouver and Whistler is something I will never forget. I have experienced the Wintergames in all aspects possible; first working for VANOC recruiting the Games' Volunteers, then ensuring everybody's safety while working for Contemporary Security Canada and later volunteering for the Paralympics in Whistler. I don't want to miss any of those special moments and most dear to me is seeing the dress rehersal for the opening ceremony. It couldn't have gotten any better than that!

3. Being back in New Zealand and Milford Sound and cruising the fjord again after being absent for the last 2.5 years. Back on the boat it really hit home that I am back where I belong and where I feel content and home. Permanent Residency is my goal and I won't leave Milford before I managed to get that stamp in my passport!

4. Being able to travel the Canadian Rockies and take all those beautiful pictures of lakes, mountains, frozen waterfalls, tons of snow and heaps of other stuff was great. For the first time ever I snowshoed, tried hiking with crampons and saw footprints of bears. I realized that sometimes I am as brainless as all the other tourists I always complain about; reaching Lake Louise I was a little bit disappointed to see it frozen because I was so looking forward to taking pictures of mountains reflecting in the lake; it had never crossed my mind that in the middle of winter a lake could be frozen (to all fairness, that would not happen in New Zealand....) !

5. Last but not least, I finally saw Niagara Falls. As one of Canada's icons the Falls should be on everybody's list and although I wasn't really happy with the hype in Niagara (the casinos, bars, loud music, carrousels etc) I really enjoyed the Falls. Powerful, pure and definitely wet (as I experienced myself)

Have a wonderful 2011, may you come closer to implementing your dreams and plans for your future.