An Amazing Race to New Zealand

One of my favorite TV shows is The Amazing Race on CBS.  I have been a fan of the show since day one.  I love it because it combines two of my favorite things; travel and the interactions of people in sometimes extreme circumstances.  Every season there are people on the show that I totally dislike but there are usually others who I do like and I enjoy watching all of them visit places that they have never had the opportunity to visit or just never imagined visiting.  One of the really great things about it is that the show forces participants to interact with the locals and get out of their nice, neat American comfort zones.

This season so far they have been to Bora Bora, New Zealand, Bali and Vietnam.  I think next week they will be in Africa.  Nearly every time I watch an episode for the last 21 seasons and now into 22 seasons, I think, OOOHHHH!!!!  I WANT TO GO THERE!!!!  While I think I would really love to go anyplace that they have visited so far this season, the one that I have been thinking about endlessly since seeing it a few weeks ago is the Rakaia River Gorge in New Zealand.  First of all, I really don't think you could go wrong with a trip to New Zealand.  It's not one of those kinds of places where you are going to be afraid of catching some horrible disease just from getting on a train like in Bangladesh.  It's a nice wholesome clean country with lots of outdoor activities and people who live off the land.  It's sort of like the Colorado of the South Pacific..... only it's surrounded by water and they have hobbits there apparently.

Here's a picture of what I've been obsessed with for the last two weeks....

Rakaia River Gorge

No my friends, this is not Six Flags and there is no food coloring in that water.  It is really that color.... naturally!  Now imagine racing in a speed boat down that river and then possibly even fishing for trout or salmon in that river.  That's what they did on The Amazing Race.  The contestants flew into Christchurch and made several stops in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand.  I think that I would like to visit this region.  After looking at several hundred pictures on line of the region, the only issue I think I would have would be narrowing it down to the time of year to visit.

It's a long flight and an expensive trip to take.  So you have to be sure that you get there at the right time.  But the problem that I think you would face is that there doesn't seem to be a wrong time.... You know except when they have an earthquake or a flood.  I think we can all agree that those would be the worst possible times to go.  But any other time, I'm thinking you might be happy.  But just to be sure that you hit it perfectly, I'm starting to think that you fly over and find a nice family to stay with and just stay until you can't stand it anymore.  You could fish on the Rakaia like these guys did....  That would feed me for months!

Here's a map of the region.  I'm thinking if you flew into Christchurch just like the contestants on The Amazing Race did, you could spend a week or two seeing and exploring all there is to do there.  Then you would just have to head on to the next leg of your trip in NZ.  After all, there is no way to see all of NZ in just a few weeks.  Well maybe you could pass through all of it, but you can't experience all of it.  See look at what I mean.  All of the pictures below were taken in Canterbury.

I'm thinking I would need at least a day to go on glacier viewing trips in boats.  But considering how many glaciers there are to view and different scenery surrounding each one, I'd probably need more time.  Then if it's winter in NZ, you're probably going to want to participate in some winter sports like the people to the right... Not me, 'cause you know, I don't do snow.  But YOU might like that.  So you'd need a day or so for that.

Then there are the whale watching trips to consider.  If there's a whale tail to be seen, I want to see it.  And how many times in life do you get to go packing with llamas carrying all of your stuff for you?  I'm thinking not many so you have to take advantage of it while you are in a place with a good supply of llamas who want to carry everything you brought.  This alone would make me think that I have to spend a lot more time walking than I normally do.  If I'm going to walk more, then more time is required.  My stay has just been extended.

 There is all this sort of scenery to be seen.  It's not something that you can see from the ground.  So you're going to need to go on one of those helicopter sightseeing tours.  I'm thinking that alone will take a half a day per region.

If you'll look below at the photo of the sheep in front of the tree you'll know why I would have trouble choosing the right time of the year to be there.  I'm assuming this photo was taken during their fall which I guess is our spring.  You want to make sure that you see trees that look like this.  But you also don't want to miss flowers blooming in the pretty country side during spring..... UGH!!!!

My final dilemma I'm just going to go ahead and tell you is finding time to shop for and the money to pay for all of the fiber and yarn that I would have to bring back with me. Now, I'm a person who can go to a spinning weekend and shop the 5 or 6 fiber booths available for one third of my weekend trying to make decisions and imagining what can be made with all of that glorious sheep's wool and alpaca.  But if you put me in a country like New Zealand for a few weeks or a few months, every sheep in the country would be bald and I would be broke!

So this is what The Amazing Race does to someone who loves to travel.  It gives you new "must go" places and sets you off on dreams that can carry you for weeks or even months.  If you've never watched it, you might give it a try.... then when you find your dream destination give me a call our check out my website www.placesuwillgo.com.