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Twenty Awesome Views of the Shetland Islands

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The Shetland Islands once belonged to Norway, but later became part of a marriage agreement between a Scottish king and a Norwegian princess. Located about halfway between the two former kingdoms, there are over 100 islands with more than 900 miles of coastline. Come join me for a quick pictorial tour.

First, I apologize that there was such a long break between my posts on Norway and Scotland, but life gets in the way.

After touring on the Flam Railway, we crossed the North Sea to the Shetland Islands, which are part of Scotland. The islands are located at the northern tip of the United Kingdom.

We sailed into the port at Lerwick. They tell us that much of these port scenes are in the television series called “Shetland”.

First, we toured the islands by bus.

The islands are beautifully green as this is May. It is sparsely populated.

The road followed a ridge with sweeping views of the land to the sea below.

Agriculture appears to be their primary economy.

We did finally get to see their most famous residents, the Shetland ponies. If you’ve ever owned one, then you know that they are not the most pleasant horse species.

We stopped at an overlook to view this cove.

It was a cove with sunning seals.

The Celtic language is a language all its own. For example, a tower is called a broch.

There are many brochs in Scotland.

The temperature today, even in the sun, did not rise over 53°. The morning was quite cool, especially with the cloud cover and wind. Layered clothing helped.

In the afternoon we visited a site called Jarlshof. Jarlshof is a 4000 year old village by the sea.

We first toured the oldest part, which was about 4000 years old. Their houses were round.

There were even pathways between their homes.

Then we toured a newer part of the settlement that the Vikings left behind.

The Viking homes were rectangular in shape.

Also built at this site was a more up-to-date Laird’s home.

All ruins though as each settlement was built on top of the last.

Can you imagine what it was like when someone looked out this window and saw a Viking ship? Actually, this is a door. I guess they were a much shorter people.

Are There Fiords or Fjords on the North Sea?

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Last Fall we saw fiords down in New Zealand, but now we are on the other side of the world where the same geological phenomena are called fjords. Join us for a pictorial tour of the Flam Railway in Norway.

Flam is a port on a fjord on the North Sea. From there we took a scenic railway up into the mountains.

Last night we cruised from Bergen up the coast of Norway in the North Sea. We will visit ports for the rest of our holiday.  First stop is the port of Flam.

A North Sea Sunset

Due to Chuck’s condition this is best for us now. We do not have to pack or unpack for a week.

We are on a small French cruise line called Ponant on a ship called Le Boreal.

There are only about 200 passengers on board.

It was a very comfortable ship though much too cold to swim.

This morning at breakfast, we cruised through a large fjord to Flam.

The scenery in the mountains was beautiful.

There were waterfalls everywhere. Though not as many as we saw in a fiord in New Zealand last year. You can read about it here. I don’t think we’ll ever see that many waterfalls in one place ever again.

These Norway waterfalls were spectacular, too!

The Norwegian villages were quaint and pretty.

We made two stops to stretch our legs.

Finally, we got back to Flam, and we made some of our best buys for family souvenirs. The Norwegians are known for their jewelry, especially pewter and silver necklaces and earrings. Their woolens are nice, but I was jaded after discovering New Zealand’s blend of merino wool and possum fur. Their possum isn’t like ours. It doesn’t look like ours, and its fur is soft.

We left Flam and sailed back through the fjord back into the North Sea. This is goodbye to Norway, and we hope to return someday. We only visited a small part of their country.

Tonight we sail across the North Sea to the Shetland Islands.

Have you Ever Been to Bergen?

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Frankly, I had never heard of Bergen until we decided to take a trip to Norway. Here are pictures of what we found.

Bergen is a city on the southwestern coast of Norway, its second largest.

It is surrounded by mountains and deep vast fjords.

We spent most of our time on the city’s wharf which is called Bryggen.

Bryggen is known for its colorful wooden houses, which were actually warehouses.

It was once part of a great trading empire, and they traded from these warehouses.

Their greatest economic product was dried or salted cod and cod oil.

Chuck with his big catch!

We spent two days in the city and it rained both. Bergen is the rainiest city on earth, raining 240 days per year.

On the second day we visited the home of Edvard Grieg, the famous Norwegian composer and pianist of the Romantic era. He called his home Trodhaugen, the troll’s house.

He thought he rather looked like a troll. He was only 4’7″ tall.

His “In the Hall of the Mountain King” was used by Disney in some of his work, as well as other compositions.

https://youtu.be/dRpzxKsSEZg

We also visited a medieval Norwegian Church.

Known as Stave architecture, it is made entirely of wood.

Only a hand full of these churches are left. They are very susceptible to fire. Instead of gargoyles they have dragons.

What You Didn’t Know about Auckland

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On our last two days in this part of the world, we visited Auckland, located on New Zealand’s North Island.  What we found was a very friendly and beautiful city.  Here are the highlights. 

We toured the city by bus and walked throughout its downtown area, especially near the sea.

Within a block of our hotel was Quay Street, and the building ahead is the Customs House.

Downtown Auckland

Auckland’s Skyline

The bus tour began with a drive around the city’s port basin.

Auckland’s Seaport

We also took a drive through some of its residential areas.

Some of its residential areas are built on hills overlooking the sea basin.

Its skyline included a building locally called the “toilet seat” building.  Can you pick it out?

Driving into Auckland

Sadly, we never made it up into their space needle.

Quayside in Auckland

Our Aussie guide and our Scottish Kiwi bus driver got into quite an exchange when comparing their home city’s harbor bridges..  It seemed to be all in good fun though there is quite a lot of competition between the two nations.

Crossing Auckland’s Harbor Bridge

Our bus drive though was quick to counter with Auckland’s Team New Zealand, and that they currently hold the America’s Cup. 

This was one of their America’s Cup sailing vessels.

Auckland also has a War Museum that is a must see.  It was built after World War I because of all the Kiwis killed during that war.

The museum’s central war memorial room, which names the war and the Kiwis who gave their lives for their country’s freedom.

It was well done and included later wars and the Maori warriors as well.

A Japanese Zero

We even got to see more about the Maori culture.

A Maori ceremonial hall

They were great seamen,

 

A re-creation of the sailing vessel that the first Maori used to come to New Zealand, which before them was only inhabited with mostly birds many of which did not fly such as kiwis, penguins and moas, a bird similar to an ostrich but is now extinct.

This is a Maorian war canoe.

It carried about thirty men.

We especially enjoyed driving around their harbor basin,

Tamalo Drive

which offered a different type of New Zealand landscape,

but no less scenic!

As you’ll remember, while in Australia we never got to see a Kangaroo in the wild. The same was true for New Zealand penguins.

Chuck and his stuffed friend, but Chuck underdressed for the occasion. He forgot to wear his tuxedo.

We left Auckland to go back to Sydney for a fourteen hour flight to Los Angeles. It was October 9, and by then we were beginning to notice the hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico back home. Unfortunately, he grew into a monster storm and got to our area in the panhandle of North Florida about the time we flew into Atlanta. It would be more than 24 hours before the roads were cleared enough so we could drive the rest of the way home.

Hurricane Michael

The Real Story Behind Glowworms

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On the North Island of New Zealand is a cave at Waitomo. So many of my daughters’ generation grew up in the 1980s with a Glo Worm, a stuffed toy which had a pajamaed worm body and a glowing head when squeezed. Both girls loved and slept with them.

I had no idea that the concept came from New Zealand, and we got a chance to see the real glowworms of Waitomo renouned for its limestone formations and glowworms also called Arschnocampa luminosa. They live in a cave system which includes the Ruakuri Cave the one we visited.

Wai means water and tomo means hole or shaft in the Maori language. They had known about the cave and the glowworms for over a century.

The glowworms are on the ceiling of the Waitomo Cave. A photo from Wikipedia.

One can tour the caves by boat as there is an underground river, but we toured on foot. We could hear the river though rushing through the cave.

It was important to stay on the pathways through the caves for safety and ecology.

We went through a Glowworm Grotto and marveled at the twinkling glow coming from its ceiling,

It was hard to photograph the worms, as it had to be pitch black to see them glow.

At one point our guide showed us up close the thin strands of slime that the worms emit, a form of excrement, something all of God’s creatures has to do. But still “ewww”.

Yep, those translucent threads are poop.

The limestone formations were also an attraction,

Especially the curtain formations which take hundreds of years to form.

A speleothem called a curtain.

We entered this cave walking down a long spiral ramp.

Going down was easy!

We reached this area north of Rotoruta by bus on our way to Auckland, and this is what was above ground and on top of the cave system.

On the ground above the caves.

The countryside between Rotorua and Auckland was pastoral,

The wooded area is a protected part of the original terrain before they cleared the fields.

Beautiful,

And scenic.

New Zealand is a beautiful emerald green country that reminded us of Ireland.

The Best Way to Visit a Sheep Station

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Well, to visit a sheep station take a boat like we did. I’ll explain later. I grew up around a lot of cattle, but certainly not sheep. In New Zealand, there are over 25 million sheep.

We visited the Mt. Nicholas Sheep Station near Queenstown, a station across the lake and only accessible by boat. This is a high country merino sheep farm.

We toured its high mountain pastures

and marveled at its pastoral panoramic views.

Later, we toured their sheep shearing sheds to learn how it’s done.

This is how much is sheared from one sheep.

One sheep followed us around and was quite domestic.

We even fed her.

While we were eating a picnic lunch we watched some men and dogs bring a large herd down from the upper hills.

The wool is shipped from here by boat, and this was also how we arrived and departed.

They demonstrated how a single sheepdog can work a small herd.

We spent most of the day here and especially enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Rotorua: The Maori’s Geo-thermal Lands

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Perched on the edge of a caldera on a crater lake, Rotorua is a land of geothermal activity as well as the center of Maori culture. Here’s what we found when we visited this hot springs resort town.

This is Te Puia’s Whakarewarewa Valley where we found geysers which popped up in the most unexpected places.

Notice the small geysers near the residential fence.

and the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute

with traditional wood carving instruction and other cultural skills taught to their students to make sure their culture does not get lost in time.

This Maori gentleman is practicing their art of carving.

I call this city the Roto-Rooter city, because its name is somewhat easier to remember that way. It is pronounced Roto-Ruah.

This is a hot springs health resort, and we especially loved the gardens

surrounding the old hot springs hotel,

The ground is unstable with boiling springs.

which sadly is no longer used.

This is a city of earthquakes, but thankfully we were spared any “big wiggles” from the ground below, though it didn’t make me sleep any better knowing we were sleeping on the side of a caldera.

We learned about the Maori,

They performed a ceremony used for greeting strangers.

their traditions,

An example of their beautiful wood carvings.

and their fierce warrior culture.

They were skillful at a distinctive guerrilla type of warfare. The tongue thing was to frighten their adversaries.

They fed us a meal that was somewhat similar to our Hawaiian Luau.

A Maori feast cooked underground.

We spent two days here and really enjoyed walking throughout the town. It is springtime here in October, and their azaleas were blooming.

And we got to have our picture taken with a Kiwi. No, it is not real because they are nocturnal and to do this with a live Kiwi would be abusive. We did get to see them in a nocturnal environment, but they were hard to view.

The kiwi is a flightless bird the size of a chicken.

Milford Sound’s Fiords and Waterfalls

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West of Queenstown on the Tasman Sea is a land of waterfalls called Milford Sound . It is known for its fiords, but on the day we visited it was truly a land of waterfalls.

Milford Sound

We stayed in Queenstown for our third place of residence while visiting the South Island, but we used it as a base for other excursions, including a day long trip to Milford Sound beginning early that morning with a spectacular sunrise, one like I’ve never seen before, which is saying a lot for a Florida girl.

The view from our hotel in Queenstown

The scenery on our way to Milford Sound was spectacular,

On the single Milford Sound road, scenic views are everywhere.

and very diverse. We went from lush to desert and back several times.

but fortunately, as we’ll realize later, it began raining and boy did it rain.

Raining in the Fiordland National Park

Still, it was a beautiful drive,

even complete with rainbows.

A Rainbow over Sheep

And on the way we got a close up experience with a rather friendly Kea, New Zealand’s mountain parrot who was likely looking for a handout. We stopped for road construction and he came to visit.

New Zealand’s Mountain Parrot Called a Kea

Finally, we got to the glacier-carved fiord of Milford Sound and boarded a boat.

We took the Milford Mariner with its picture windows for awesome views.

Fortunately, it rained and rained and rained; and Milford Sound with its emerald-colored waters,

It was surreal.

sheer rock faces,

Cliffs that plunged into the sea

and for the day hundreds of waterfalls was amazing.

This fjord gets an average of 252 inches of rain a year

and is one of the wettest places on earth.

In some places, its peaks are almost 5,000 ft high.

There were dozens of waterfalls…everywhere you looked.

Everywhere, they cascaded down the cliff faces, some over 3,500 feet in length.

Up high some smaller waterfalls disappeared in the wind and never reached the bottom.

On the walls of the fiord are rainforests.

We even traveled out its narrow entry and out into the Tasman Sea. Its narrow passageway is why it remained undiscovered for so long.

It was a beautiful day at Milford Sound; but because of the low ceiling, we had to go back by bus instead of by air as planned.

Secrets to Bungee Jumping in New Zealand

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Did you know that New Zealand is where commercial bungee jumping actually began?  Well neither did we!

We recently went on a Road Trip on the South Island of New Zealand.  Driving from Mount Cook to Queenstown gives one an opportunity to travel through some of New Zealand’s most scenic areas.  Here’s what we found.

The Crown Range

The views were awesome, especially when we drove through the passes and canyons of this range.  We stopped several times for rest breaks, one at a store called the Wrinkly Ram where I bought several woolens to take back to the states.

The Crown Range

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the valleys where we followed a river were beautiful as well.

A Valley Within the Crown Range

 

We stopped again about an hour later for a wine tasting at one of New Zealand’s many wineries.

New Zealand’s Wonderful Wineries

 

Then it was on to more pastoral views.  We began to see cows and sheep everywhere.  It is easy to see that this country’s economy depends on agriculture.

New Zealand Agriculture

Bungee!

Finally, we got a chance to go bungee jumping at the world’s first ever commercial bungee jumping site, AJ Hackett’s Bungy.

This girl never hesitated.

Did we do it? Liquid courage was the secret, but it didn’t help. In the long run, all of us chickened out; but it was fun watching the younger people do it.

Didn’t Help at All

Lunch was in historic Arrowtown, a quaint old gold mining village with many buildings dating to the 1800s.  Reminds me of our old west towns.

The Streets of Arrowtown

By User: Bgabel at wikivoyage shared, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22685826

Finally, we got to beautiful Queenstown and its gorgeous lakeside views.   We stayed at the Hotel St. Moritz and had dinner together that evening.

Walking down into Queenstown from our hotel.

How to do the Mount Cook Park in One Day

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Mount Cook is New Zealand’s highest mountain at 12,218 feet.  It sits in Aoraki Mount Cook National park, and its elevation is low by world standards (Mt. Everest is over 29,000 feet.)  It is still, though, one of the most imposing and intimidating peaks for climbers in the world.

Mount Cook

You really need weeks to see the park well, but if you only have one day, may we make a suggestion.  We suggest hiking the Hooker Valley Trail.

We visited Aoraki Mount Cook National Park in the heart of the Southern Alps to get a closer look at Mount Cook.  Here there are 18 more peaks over 10,000 feet high.

Mount Cook and other Peaks Nearby

What Makes Mount Cook So Difficult to Climb

It’s the weather which is usually horrible–that is the weather up there on its peak.  Massive amounts of snow fall year round.   Its glaciers and snowfields are extensive with frequent avalanches.  Its rugged terrain is rocks and ice.

During the short time we were there, we watched several snow storms move over its peak.

Mount Cook’s vertical rise is about 10,000 feet on either side of its range, a long and tiring approach.

Mount Cook on the other side of the Hooker Valley from our hotel.

Mt Cook helped Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand’s most famous mountaineer, hone his climbing skills in preparation for his conquest of Mount Everest.  He tackled Mount Cook in 1949.

Our Personal Experience

We spent two days in New Zealand’s Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park.  Our hotel was on one side of the McKenzie Basin and on every side of the basin the Southern Alps scraped the sky.

The Hermitage Hotel in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park

 

We had these landscape views in every direction from our hotel room.

On the second day we took a day hike up the Hooker Valley Trail, a six mile (round trip) trail, though we didn’t realize it at the time. All we knew at the time was that the pamphlet said it was a three hour trail.  We thought, “a piece of cake.”

Our hotel in the foreground and the Hooker Valley between it and Mount Cook

We think they meant it was three hours return from the trail head and not from the hotel because it took us over six hours to make the entire hike, but what a glorious walk it was.  When we added to the trail the walk between the trailhead and our hotel, this was an additional two miles one way.

We walked through much different terrain between the hotel and the campground.

On the Hooker Trail itself we walked on a well groomed path over basically flat terrain, past alpine streams, through desert terrain, and below glaciers in the shadow of Mount Cook.  The mountain is called Aoraki by the Maori and the park is called the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park.  The Maori are New Zealand’s native or earliest people.

Chuck on the Hooker Valley Trail

We had views of the Mueller Glacier, Hooker Lake, and Mount Cook all the way.

Lake Mueller

We crossed over three suspension bridges with glorious views in all directions.

2nd Suspension Bridge on the Hooker Valley Trail

This was a walker’s paradise, and I thought several times of my walks with my father over the earlier years of my life.  The two of us walked trails all over America, usually in the early morning hours before my Mom and sister awakened.  We were campers, and we stayed a lot in national parks.  What a great tradition he left me.

Hooker Valley Trail

The scenery here is alpine in the purest sense with its skyscraper peaks, spectacular glacier views, and permanent snow fields.  At night this valley is also a magnificent place to star gaze, a Dark Sky Reserve.

The park sits beside Lake Pukaki.  Within the park is the kea, the only alpine parrot, which we failed to see here but would see later in another part of New Zealand.

Later on the Hooker Trail we hiked past the surreal streams and milky lakes, whose suspended, glacier-ground rock sediment makes the water opaque, a surreal greenish turquoise color.

Hooker Lake with its icebergs.

We went all the way to the end of the trail overlooking a closer view of Mount Cook and the glacial Hooker Lake with its floating ice.

The End of the Hooker Valley Trail

Of course, the walk back was equally scenic but we really felt the miles about mile ten near the White Horse Hill Camp Ground.  My dogs were barking, and we both felt bereft when we realized that there was no shuttle back from the campground to our hotel.  We still had two miles to go, the sun was going down, and it was beginning to get cold.

The Heritage Hotel as seen from the White Horse Hill Campground

A word of caution about clothing, food, and water, though.  Take a packed lunch.  We did, and the rest break turned out to be perfect.  We also took a small bottle of wine and some cheese.  We stopped about 4 p.m. for another good break.

In addition, we layered our clothing.  I got chilly especially on the way back as the sun went down, but had a lined rain jacket to layer over my thin sweater.  So check your weather before leaving.  Finally, take enough water.  We stayed hydrated.

Layering was important. The weather changed several times on the trail.

This turned out to be Chuck’s favorite part of the entire trip.  It was my second favorite, right up there with the Great Barrier Reef.  If you only have one day here.  Park at the campground and take this trail.  What a wonderful walk!

A late afternoon view of the Hooker Valley Trail with a snow storm approaching Mount Cook in the distance.

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