YoungSlug

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Milford Sound Boat Ride

We woke up our second day in Milford Sound to beautiful sunny weather, something rare because it rains 300 days a year there. Even though we had already been on a kayaking trip I decided to splurge and do the boat trip too - who knows the next time I'll be here? It was so worth it.

Milford Sound is the home of the highest sea cliff in the world.

This U-shaped valley shows where the glacier carved out the mountains.

We were on a little boat just like that red one. This is Lady Bowen Falls, one of the two permanent waterfalls in Milford Sound. At 161 meters high, it is three times as high as Niagara falls. There is a pipe hooked up at the top which provides water for people in Milford (which is 1 hotel and 1 backpackers).

Besides the two permanent ones, after it rains there are hundreds of smaller ones. The boats take you right up to the base of the waterfalls!

The boats take you all the way through the fiord and out to sea, where you can see birds and dolphins and seals.

What the fiord looks like from the outside. Who would have guessed that it stretches inland for 15 kilometers?

Seals lounging on the rocks

James summits one of the mountains.

Another view of Lady Bowen Falls. We got to kayak right up to this one a few days ago!

What a nice trip. I definitly reccommend taking a boat ride in Milford Sound .

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Kayaking Milford Sound

Part two of dad's Xmas gift was kayaking in Milford Sound!

Our kayak trip started in the morning at 9am when our guide met us in the lobby of the hostel at Milford Sound we were staying at. We kayaked half the fiord (Milford Sound is incorrectly named a Sound, which are carved by rivers. It was actually carved by a glacier, making it a fiord.) before lunch, going right up to the base of insanely tall waterfalls and saw seals lounging on the rocks.

After our full morning of kayaking (I didn't bring the camera, sorry!) we did a shorter afternoon trip where you kayak to the end of the Milford Track, which is known as the most beautiful walk in the world. We got to hike on the trail for a few hours. If we had wanted to walk the whole thing we would have had to book months in advance and pay pay $50/night for the huts, no camping allowed.

Also this trip rocked because our friends with the campervan (see last post) did it too! They are quite the jokesters and it was fun to hike with them. Our guide on the right was originally from Michigan.

This is what a lot of New Zealand hikes look like through the native bush. So green!

What is this tree called? I forget.

The last part of our trip was especially exciting because it started POURING rain right as we started kayaking back to the harbor. Luckily we had raingear and drybags but even still I was freezing. But in a little while we were nice and warm, and it was quite exhilerating to feel the power of the rain out on the water.

Campervan friends!

Gareth, Justine, and Tyler met working at a summer camp in America. Gareth is from South Africa and Justine and Tyler are from Minnesota. They were travelling for 2 weeks in their campervan and we joined them for a few days, camping and cooking together. They had just finished the Greenstone Caples track, which we were to embark in a few days, and were famished when we saw them, so when we shared some cookies with them it seemed as if we had made friends for life.

Check out thier campervan in front of a tunnel that goes straight through the mountain. It's one lane, there is a traffic light that switches every 15 minutes, which gives you time to explore...

the ice cave! In summertime???

Spider crawling in the ice cave

A crazy canyon called the Chasm

Rock Climbing in Queenstown

For Christmas, my dad sent me a card with a coupon for 2 adventures in Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world! You can go skydiving, bungee jumping in multiple locations, jet boating, paragliding, and mountain biking, but we chose rock climbing!

The full-day rock climbing trip was on those mountains behind Queenstown. This was the view from the top of the gondola. We walked up the steep hill, taking care of the the mountain bikers skidding past who go up the gondola and zoom down the mountain and set their bikes on the gondola and do it all again.

These are the rocks we were climbing. The trail in went along the top of this water pipe, with the blue handrail for safety.

Pretty awesome view from up there...

In this pic James is lead climbing, which means that he fastens the rope to the bolts on the rock as he climbs and is protected from there. I was top roping, which means I'm connected at the top of the rock.

It was a private trip, just me and James and our guide, a cool chick who immigrated to NZ from Australia.

Rock climbing is so much fun! It would be great to do a climbing trip around NZ or even the US, just drive around to all the different cliffs to climb with all the gear in the boot (thats what the call the trunk here) and camp at the base. That's definitly on my to-do list!

Ropes in New Zealand are about twice as expensive as they are in the states, so people buying them new usually purchase in the states and get them mailed here.

Now that we know where it is, we can come back here! All we need are ropes, harnesses, and quickdraws...

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Queenstown by boat

We didn't go on this one (looks too scary!)

Snow-capped peaks!

Big steamer ship that used to carry sheep to farms where there was no road access

On the way to Queenstown

I was blown away by this drive.

Roaring Meg Power Station

Lena!

We met this really nice german girl named Lena who was travelling by car by herself (so brave!) and we became friends and travelled together for 4 days down the West Coast. It was sad when we had to separate but she had to start a job at a cafe near Lake Paringa.