so tuesday morning we got up super early, and were picked up by a cab at 5:30, for our 7am flight. we flew to queenstown via christchurch, and on the second half i had all 3 seats to myself. the view was amazing. upon landing in queenstown we picked up about 1000 brochures. there is a lot of bungy jumping, paragliding, jetboating, and various other extreme activities there, but we decided we were too poor and just to do a hike instead.
so we went to the budget rental car desk, where we found out we were supposed to pick up our car at 3:30 pm in the city, rather than at 10 am at the airport. so we went outside and perused the shuttle bus and cab options, and after deciding on the $5 bus, we stood in the sun admiring the beautiful view. while we were waiting, a man who was dropping off come corporate business man at the airport said he was going back through town if we wanted a ride. we decided it wasn't too sketchy and said sure. he told us he was from australia, but was now living in queenstown, working for the seagate company, which makes hard drive parts that are in every computer in the world, and they send their employees to queenstown for vacations and retreats and stuff. he said the first woman astronaut was scheduled to come give a talk next week. he dropped us right by the rental car place, and we thanked him. then we went in to ask if we could leave our bags there while hiking, and the lady said sure, but to be sure to be back before she closed at 4.
we then decided to hike to the top of the queenstown gondola, about an hour hike each way, so as not to get back too late. the first half of the hike was in the woods, with a lot of beautiful view overlooking queenstown and lake wakatipu, which is the prettiest color i have ever seen in a lake. the colors of everything there are just amazing. the sky and the lake are really blue, the trees and the grass are really green, and the people are really nice. about halfway up, the trail merged with a gravel road, which was less interesting to walk up, but we continued all the way to the top, where we took pictures from this nice cement overlook area, which we discovered was actually a helicopter pad, when one landed a few minutes after we had moved away. we rested for awhile, used the bathroom, and bought some post cards, and then trekked back down, which seemed much shorter than the way up. we saw ferns that look just like the all-blacks (rugby team) logo, and bright red mushrooms that look like they are from mario. there was this crazy steep and windey mountain bike path, but we did not see any bikers risking it. we did see other people, and everyone smiled and said hi. sophie says being around such friendly people all the time is making us more friendly, and she is totally right because at home i would never be the first one to say hi to a random person, and i said hi to everyone we passed.
anyway, when we got back down, we had lunch at a little cafe, and used the cool hi-tech public bathrooms in town, in which you just push a lighted button to lock and unlock the doors, and then got our car keys. i got the car in my name because i'm 21 and ej and sophie are only 20 (although i'm not sure if that makes any difference). there was an extra $25 fee per day because we are not 25, and i signed a form that said i would be the only driver (which was completely not true, but it made it cheaper). then we decided to walk around town some more before leaving for our hostel in te anau. we stopped in some random tourist shops, and a bookstore, where ej was flipping through a book about maori tattoo art, and found 2 pictures of tia, one of our guides from the marae! small world! then we found the beach, and just sat there taking in the scenery for a long time. i cannot put into words how beautiful it was.
eventually we left and found the car, a new silver corolla, and i took my first go at driving on the left. the first hurdle was learning that the driver side is the right side of the car, and for awhile we kept going to the wrong side to get in. the hardest part of driving was really remembering that the blinker and windshield wiper controls are switched, and throughout the trip we kept turning on the wipers when we wanted to turn. beyond that there were really no problems, and i drove the whole 2 hours to te anau in one go. we passed lots of mountains and sheep, some cows, and a couple deer farms.
we found our hostel, the steamers beach backpackers, checked in, and got dinner at a pizza and pasta place in te anau. by then it was 8:30 or so, and we were exhausted, so we went back and planned our milford sound trip for the next day, and went to bed.
wednesday, we got up at the crack of dawn again (actually before down to be exact), and left by 6 to drive the 2 additional hours to milford sound, where we wanted to do a kayak tour with one of two companies. it was raining and dark, and i drove again while sophie and ej slept. the road to milford sound involves a lot of winding back and forth down the sides of mountains, but once the sun came up the view was amazing, little waterfalls coming down the mountain faces all around. there are all these 1 lane bridges in the mountains, and we came up to one where a car was just sitting on front of it, for like 5 minutes, not doing anything (there was no traffic going the other way). we eventually pulled up next to them and they said they were debating crossing it. i offered to go first, and they followed us safely across. i wonder how long they would have stayed there waiting if we hadn't come. there are basically NO people around after te anau, and there is a one-lane tunnel through a mountain that did not have an operating signal light at that hour. fortunately we did not encounter anyone else on our way through. we finally arrived at the milford lodge, the only hint of civilization for many miles, around 8, and the tour we wanted to take left at 8:30 from there, so we asked at the desk and were told they would come into the main lounge area when they got there. so we waited, and the other company (which cost $5 more) came first, but we decided to wait for the other one. when they were still not there at 8:30 i went to ask the desk, and the girl there called and said they were all booked. at this point we were freaking out a little because we couldn't wait for the evening tour, since we had to drive 6+ hours to franz josef that night. the girl at the desk called the first tour, which had just left, and said we could pay at the lodge, and then drive down to meet everyone else, and that they were calling an extra guide, blake, and he was going to kill her later for getting him woken up.
so drove down the road a little further and arrived at deepwater basin, where there were some fishing boats, lots of kayaks, and a big tent. they gave us thermal pants and shirts, fleece jackets, rain jackets, and kayak skirts, and told us not to wear cotton because it just sucks the heat from your body when wet. there were sandflies everywhere, which the girls from california who had gone earlier had warned us about, but ej had some bug-spray wipes that smelled really nice, which we put all over our faces and hands and i put in my hair. once we got out in the water the bugs weren't a problem.
we all got double kayaks, i went with sophie, and ej was with another american who had 2 other friends in a third kayak. we were put in a group with blake as our guide, and he had a german guy in his kayak as well. blake was probably the most interesting person i have met on this trip so far. he told us all these stories and interesting facts, and we saw seals and penguins and other birds, and the "twirly whirly tree" which is growing in a circle, and which blake calls his 8th wonder of the world. he told us how the maori pick out children who are going to be great, and they bend the tree into a knot so that it grows in the shape of a perfect walking stick, which will be ready to use when the child is an adult. it shows that although great and powerful, the person was once small and weak. the most recent person blake knew of to be chosen was sir edmund hillary (the first guy to climb mt everest, who just died recently), so it's a pretty big honor. it's really cool how they can forsee something like that.
milford sound is indescribable. it's so green, and all misty (it rains there about 200 days a year, so we weren't too phased by the rain), and there are little water falls all over the mountains whenever it rains. there are actually only 2 permanent water falls, one of which is twice the size of niagara falls. i did not take my camera because i didn't want to risk getting it wet, but ej had a waterproof disposable one so she will give us her pictures. the most amazing thing for me was how distances and proportions seem so out of whack in milford sound. the mountains are just SO enormous, everything looks closer and smaller than it really is. we thought we were going to see a waterfall, until we found out it was 9km away! it looked so much closer. and none of us believed that the closer water fall was twice the height of niagara, until we were right next to it.
we stopped in the middle for hot drinks (something orange, i really don't know what it was but it was wonderful at that point) and blake told us stories for a really long time. last year he lived in tonga with the natives and kayaked and swam with the whales. apparently there is a lot of controversy about japan hunting whales. their "scientific" purpose is for the earplugs and ovaries, and the rest is sold as meat. apparently the "cultural right" argument for continuing to eat whale meat is unfounded, as they only began using the meat in addition to the blubber after WWII. there is this guy who use to work at greenpeace, who has been going around ramming his boat into whaling ships, and has just been officially declared a pirate, but the general population doesn't seem to object much to what he's doing.
other random things we learned:
maori bird names are usually replicating the bird's call. there is this one bird, i think it's the alpine parrot but i might be wrong, that is really smart, and very destructive. they love the sound of breaking glass, and will destroy your car. if you see them and throw rocks at them, they will move so they are in front of your car, which you obviously don't want to throw rocks at.
milford sound is actually a fjord, not a sound, because sounds are created by river valleys, and are V shaped, while fjords are glacially created, and U shaped. there are 14 fjords in nz, 13 of which are called sounds and one of which is called in inlet. instead of renaming them all correctly, the whole area is just called fiordland national park.
it takes a "very special kind of person" to stay the winter at milford sound, according to blake, who stayed part of the last winter there. he says there might be 7 or 8 people at the bar each night. i think anyone who lives there for any amount of time anytime fits that description, being that the nearest town is 1.5 hours drive (and te anau is NOT much of a city).
on nice days the milford sound airport is the second busiest in the country (i think), since it's only 50 km from queenstown but you have to drive about 4 hours to go around the mountains, flying is a very popular means of transport.
we got back a while after all the other groups, due to our long chat in the middle of the sound, and were completely soaked through and pretty exhausted. once we were dried and changed we drove to the very end of the road, where there is a bar and cafe, and campground for people hiking the milford track (a 4 day hike that's really famous). we had lunch at the cafe, and then sophie drove while i slept. we had to go all the way back through te anau and queenstown to get to franz josef glacier, so this was the longest drive of the trip.
we stopped for gas in queenstown and ej took a turn driving. a few hours later, in wanaka, we had just entered town, and passed a police officer when ej was like, 'am i being pulled over' and sure enough, we were. the speed limit in cities is 50km/h and 100 on highways, and apparently we had just passed the entrance to the city. the cop was really friendly, and suggested we stop for gas and food before leaving town. despite his friendliness he gave ej a $120 ticket (which he reduced from the $180 he said she should have gotten). that put a damper on things, especially because we were worried the rental car company would find out i was not driving, but i think as long as she pays the ticket within 28 days it will be fine. we had dinner at a takeaway restaurant, and got gas, and then continued driving. the cop said it would be at least 3 hours to franz josef, which is more than google maps had said. he also said to be careful of possums (they spell it without the o here) in the road, and that it's better to hit one than end up in the lake. we called our hostel, the glow worm cottages to say we'd be late, and they said they would leave the key for us. we arrived a little after midnight, and found our little 4-person room, with full bathroom and mini kitchen. it was SUPER nice for $26. there is also a pool and hot tub there, and free soup for dinner, but unfortunately we missed all of that. we didn't even shower before going to sleep.
thursday morning we got up at 7 i think (sleeping in by our standards), and checked out of the hostel, canceling our second night (we decided to just drive to christchurch thursday and sleep at rileys, rather than pay for another night). after i had paid, the guy at the desk came and found us and said he had charged me for 4 instead of 3 and refunded the credit card. i'm glad he noticed because i wouldn't have!
we drove around the block to the main st, got some granola bars and apples at the grocery store, and went to the glacier guides office. there were all these warnings that the hike is kind of intense and not to do it if you're not in good physical condition. we were a little scared, but of course we were doing it! they suited us up with wool socks, hiking boots, waterproof jackets, and mittens, and gave us a bag with crampons. we left everything in the car except sophie's backpack with our cameras, food, and water, which we took turns carrying. they took us to the glacier by bus, and then we hiked for about 45 minutes to get to the base of it. the hike wasn't too intense, less steep than the queenstown gondola. there was this british family with 2 kids who must have been under 10, and some older people, so we figured we would be fine.
when we got to the base of the glacier, where you are not allowed to go any further without a guide, we put on our crampons, and split into 3 groups. we ended up in the least intense one, with the little kids and old people, but we were fine with that. climbing up the glacier was pretty cool. they have steps carved in the ice, and chains or ropes to hold on to a lot of the way, so that was not too difficult at all. the crampons really make walking on the ice easy, more secure than regular hiking boots on a muddy trail.
the glacier is all white and blue, it doesn't even look real. there are rocks all throughout that have been eroded from the surrounding river valley. our guide told us the glacier has been advancing for several years, although in the past few months it has been more stationary. it exists in such a warm climate because there is a giant basin up in the mountains, which is filling with snow and ice faster than it can melt.
we had a short lunch break at our high point (far from the actual top of the glacier), and started back down before we got too cold (it was pretty chilly up there). during the hike back on the ground though it was really hot. again, as with everything else we've done here, going back seemed much shorter than the way there. when we got back to town, we headed for christchurch. we took route 6 further up the west coast (within view of the tasman sea for part of it), and turned onto 73 in hokitika. we drove through arthur's pass, which is supposed to have some awesome hiking, and stopped in springfield for dinner at a cafe. there was a truck loaded with big square bales in the parking lot and some small square bales on the ground! (they were pretty mulchy looking though).
at the cafe we met our first unfriendly kiwi (although she could have been british or australian, i can't really tell the difference in accents yet). ej and i ordered lasagna, and sophie got a veggy tart, but when she brought our food she also brought a panini, and accused us of ordering it. we said we had each only ordered one thing, and she stood there for awhile glaring at us, dropped the fork, and walked away. it was a little scary, and we ate quickly in silence.
then we drove the rest of the way to christchurch, which i will write about later because this is super long!
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