Rain Makes Lovely Waterfalls

Friday morning (the day the world was supposed to end...apparently) we woke up bright and early at 6am to head to breakfast and catch the bus in to town.  We were supposed to meet at the stop at 7:05 am...so first I ran to Starbucks to grab a coffee and call mom and dad (to tell them the world hadn't ended) and Andrew ran to the store to grab some sandwiches for lunch.  We boarded the bus and headed off towards Fiorland on a beautiful journey through hills and flowers and natural trees and brush.  We stopped halfway at a town called Te Anau...very adorable and on a lake :) We got to get off the bus to have a look around and as we did we did some shopping :) Andrew found a beenie (he's been searching for ages) that was reversible and made of wool, possum, and silk.  No nylon. Which was the goal.  I also stopped at a store selling Jade...the stone of NZ that the Maori people came looking for...the shop had one of the largest Jade stones in the world inside it!  Got a few things there and then we were on our way again.

Once we entered in to Fiordland National Park you could see the difference in scenery.  Our bus driver was very educational, telling us that they get 8 meters of rain per year (about 24 feet)...insane.  He said it rains about 200 days out of the year.  That's even more crazy considering they close down the entrance to Milford Sound when it rains. Meaning no one in and no one out because of problems with rock fall and avalanches.  We got really lucky, because as we were driving, the entrance tunnel was closed...but the weather cleared just in time and it opened for us around noon so that we could enter in to Milford Sound.  The day before the tour group actually had to go home without seeing it...crazy!

Anywho...We entered Fiordland National Park and stopped a few places along the way for some photos.  The first was at a lovely river with lupins and mountains with waterfalls all around.  Andrew made me smile as we were driving along as he said my quote of the day "I think I may be a bit of a tree hugger...".  Who'd a thunk it. ;) At the second stop I snapped a picture of a local bird, the Tui, as we were walking around the Mirror Lakes.  The Mirror lakes were pretty awesome...when the weather is right you can see the reflection of the mountains in the water.  The sign is even upside down so you can see it's reflection ;) Cheeky.

After Mirror Lakes we hit "the great divide" where everything goes from close up rainforest and distant views of mountains to cliff mountains shooting straight in to the road with waterfalls and snow all around.  It was amazing.  It felt as if I was driving in to a fairytale world.  The bus was great because the windows were huge and they even had a skylight window at the top of the bus so you could see in all angles.

As we drove through we did a few stops where it was permitted.  A lot of places you can't pull over because of frequent rock fall and avalanches as I mentioned before.  Andrew made me smile again when we stopped and one of the guys on the bus was smoking at a stop and flicked his cigarette before getting in the bus...Andrew goes "Hey! Pick that up!" And he did :) My littler tree hugging litter police (don't kill me Andrew I'm just kidding haha).

Anyways...the drive continued on, curving through the mountains and through the tunnel that led us to the other side of Milford Sound.  On the other side of the tunnel there was similar steep rocky mountains and waterfalls and then it opened up at the end at Milford Sound.  Which actually isn't a 'sound' at all...its a fiord (thank you helpful bus driver) :) Once off the boat we wandered around waiting for the cruise to load up.  It was a decent sized boat...but the deck areas were a bit strange.  We started to notice the completely different climate now...our driver mentioned that the weather can be a mystery...changing completely from Queenstown to Te Anau to Fiordland National Park and in to Milford Sound.  Each place was actually different. Crazy! It was beautiful out in Queenstown...a bit cloudy in Te Anau...cloundy again in Fiordland National Park...super cloudy once we got further...and then all clouds once we got in to the Sound.  Man was it cold and windy.  So I snuggled up in my leather jacket, rain coat, and a warm hat and we got on the boat.

Once on the boat we tried standing on the deck but it was just so windy and cold.  I was dying.  It was horrible! The clouds covered most of everything and it was just feeling awful.  Couldn't believe we had come all this way and it was like this...We got to the Tasman Sea and then turned around...and just as I was feeling as though the boat was a bit of a waste, the weather took an amazing turn for the better! The wind was completely different now that we were in a different direction...and the clouds started to open and saw blue skys and sun! It was BEAUTIFUL! I couldn't believe it! So perfect...So back though the sound we went, passing gorgeous waterfalls and little sleeping seals on rocks. It was perfect.

We arrived back and got straight on the bus home.  The bus home was a quick one...we made only one potty break stop and just went straight back to Queenstown.  Once in Queenstown it was about 7:30pm...so our journey that day was a full 12 hours :) Crazy crazy...

Andrew and I decided that since we survived the end of the world, we would try the "bar crawl"...man was that interesting...We started at 8pm a bar called Altitude Bar...definitely a singles bar.  The decor was...artistic. Graffiti all over the walls...making me feel like I needed to have a few piercings haha. We had no idea what the details were of the 'crawl'.  All we knew was the starting point and that you got a drink at each stop, totaling 6 bars, and there was free food (my reason for going hahaha).  Turns out it started at 9pm, so we were an hour early. People slowly started showing up and then the whole thing started.  We learned that we go as a big group of everyone on the 'crawl' and we stop at each bar for 45 minutes.  So we were staying at the current bar for yet another hour...wish we had known there was a starting time haha.

After the first bar we went off to the next...we quickly realized that everyone on the crawl was a 'single' and we were the only couple.  That made things difficult. No one wanted to talk to us! Haha. The only time we got people to have a conversation was when Andrew left to go to the restroom and a guy came to hit on me. Once Andrew returned...he would try to strike up a conversation, but I guess that was awkward and not what they were there for, so they quickly left haha.  After a short while, we figured out this wasn't our thing at all...so we went to the next bar waiting for the free food...once we got the food we decided to high tail it out of there and head home for the night...I think thats the last crawl we'll do haha.

The next day we woke up early so that I could do a work meeting.  After my meeting we decided to head home...

After its all said and done I would have to say that Queenstown is a must see.  It's definitely expensive...and we have some holes in our pockets after that one...but it was well worth it.  Fiordland National Park was also a must see.  I'm not sure how the flights are in and out of Milford Sound...but I would recommend trying to at least bus one way.  The drive there was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life.  It's going to be quite hard to top ;) So for those planning to go to NZ some day...you MUST go to Queenstown, Milford Sound, and Fiordland National Park...oh and one of the lakes...Tekapo or Pukaki ;)

My next post will likely be after Christmas.  We're currently planning a trip to the top of the South Island for New Years...but hopefully I can get a post in before that...I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Adventure Capital of the World

We arrived in Queenstown late afternoon on Wednesday the 19th.  After checking in to our hotel (which was a bit rinky dink but who cares...it was cheap) we decided we were going to walk around Wanaka Lake to town.  The view from the hotel was lovely...sadly a tree blocked my view haha. But it was easy to get out and around it, with a picnic table outside for sitting and taking in the views.  Right below our hotel were bus stops (quite convenient for the rest of the trip) and a little lake path.  Once we got down to the path we noticed a dock.  Andrew was set on jumping in the lake at some point on our trip. I told him he was crazy. He then decided he was going to stick his feet in to the water...that's when he decided he was crazy as well. It was freezing...of course. So after staring at the water and the mountains, watching all the ducks bob up and down...we decided to keep on going in to town.

The walk was a lot longer then we though...4km long...which is about 2.5 miles. But hey, it was beautiful out and we needed to walk after such a long drive! We walked through the Queenstown Botanical Gardens, in to town under a big arch that Rotary had made as a memorial for something...I think a war...anyways...there were lots of people sitting out on the beach area near the water. Listening to music, slacklining between trees...it was a site to see :) 

We went in to the downtown area to have a look around.  First we did a bit of shopping. It's quite hard figuring out what to bring back people...but even harder, to figure out what to get people for Christmas! Andrew and I were under the impression that we did a draw name gift exchange for Christmas here and that that was it...so we each bought for the person we drew and thought nothing else of it...come to find out...you still buy for everyone for Christmas day...the draw names was just for a family lunch. Oops.  So about half our time in Queenstown felt like we were looking for gifts haha.  

After going in a few shops we noticed the movie theater! So we decided to buy tickets for the 7:30 showing of The Hobbit :) Movies sure are expensive here...I think it was $15 or $16 per person? Ridiculous. So we bought the tickets then went and had some dinner at a bar/restaurant right next to the theater.  I was oddly craving pasta.  I think it was because of going past all the wineries that made me think of Italy...

Then we went and saw the movie...I won't spoil anything, but it was fantastic :) So cool to see the scenes shot in places that now looked so familiar :) After the movie we got a cab back to the hotel...most expensive cab ever...$17 for about 2.5 miles of driving.  Stupid. So we decided to learn the bus route for the next day haha.

The next morning (Thursday) we woke up early around 8 to go get some breakfast at the hotel.  They had a rinky dink buffet...but hey...it was included so we ate it. Thursday was the day for the gondola and luge :) So we figured out the buses and headed in to town.  Once in town, we walked over to where the Skyline Gondola starts off.  We headed up the gondola over the tall trees to the top of the mountain.  It was so breathtaking from up there.  There is a restaurant situated on the top of the mountain that has a cafe, restaurant and a gift shop.  On the way up we also passed the bungee jumping.  We decided to give that pass...sketch! 

We went in to the Skyline building to take a look at the views off the mountain side.  It was stunning (as you could imagine from the photos).  We wandered around, snapping photos and then decided to go for the ride on the luge.  The ride to the luge started with a helmet and a chair lift. The helmets sucked. We went up the lift to the top and learned how to operate the little luge thingys. Pretty easy.  Then we went off on our first ride down of 5.  Soooo much fun! It was a bit hard to go fast though...people kept getting in our way and not pullling off to the side. A bit of a pain. But it was still a blast :) 

After the luge it was bout 11am or so.  We decided to go have a custard square in the cafe and then go back down the gondola in to town.  We weren't sure what to do because it was still early and we hadn't really planned anything else...so we decided, lets go see if the Shotover Jet has anything available.  It was a beautiful day...and Saturday, the day we planned to go, was 'supposed to rain' (just like every day is supposed to rain here) so we figured, hey, why not.  

So we found a place that sold tickets to the jet, went in and talked with them...and it turned out they had an open trip just minutes away! So we booked our tickets and off we went to meet the bus and go to the Shotover River :)  Once at the river we suited up in our lifevests and got on the speedboat.  Man that thing had some umph! It can hydroplane in water as low as 5 mm! Insane...and the 360 spins?!?!$@#! I about pee'ed my pants. It was SO MUCH FUN! Basically...you get on this little speedboat with a bunch of people, and this guy takes you up and down this cliffy river...super fast...and makes you think your going to hit all the cliffs.  Then, once your in the open a bit, he takes the boat and does a ninja fast 360 degree spin! You get quite wet.  So awesome and so worth the $130 bucks haha.

So after the boat ride we went and grabbed our free photo (check it out over there) and went back in to town to shop some more for Christmas presents.  We shopped for what felt like ages...got super tired...and decided to take our tired selves back to the hotel for a nap.  

When we woke up we decided to go back in to town to visit the Minus 5 Ice Bar. Probably the coolest bar in the world. Literally ;) Bahaha. Anywho...they supplied us with big furry coats, ugly ugg boots, and gloves and shuffled us in to the big cooler of a bar.  The bar was surrounded by ice...ice block walls, ice sculptures, ice shevling for the drinks...SO COOL! Our entry came with a 'free drink' so I got the peachy something and other and Andrew got a 'Yummy Yeti".  Heehee.

After cooling off, taking lots of pictures, and not being able to feel my fingers anymore, we decided to head on out.  The guy at the counter gave us a little coupon for a buy one get one at the bar next store called the Boiler Room (or something similar) so we went over there to have a drink.  After that, we decided it was getting a bit late, and we had to get up SUPER early the next morning for our Milford Sound trip, so we headed back to the hotel and in to bed. 

Amazing day...and couldn't WAIT for tomorrow :P

Ice Blue Lakes and Damn Tasty Ginger Beer

After a long and amazing week I've decided to sit down and write out all that was done the past week...get everyone a bit more caught up ;)


 Monday and Tuesday were working days...work work work so that I can get a bunch of hours in and then be able to go to Queenstown for a long weekend :) Andrew did a lot on the farm, helping out his dad, like working in the hay! Nice outfit huh?

Wednesday morning finally came and we woke up around 8am to get on the road a bit early.  Queenstown is about 4.5 hours from Ashburton...so we had a ways to go.  The drive was absolutely beautiful...first we drove through the winding hills of Mackenzie Country, passing all of the adorable farms with my favorite, sheep on hills :) I just love sheep on hills. Not sure why.


Our first stop was Lake Tekapo.  Its this amazing ice blue lake, crystal clear, surrounded by colorful lupins with a backdrop of snow capped mountains.  We pulled up to the lake and it took my breath away.  So amazing! I've never seen water so blue in my life.  In front of the lake, there was an adorable little church on the hill.  We got out of the car to walk around and take it all in....The lake was surrounded by rocks of all shapes.  I definitely needed better shoes.  After lots of climbing up and over and tripping I finally made it to the waters edge to take some photos and stick my toes in the water.  It was FREEZING. I guess that's what happens when you have glacier fed lakes.

After a photoshoot we decided to go grab some lunch in the tiny town surrounding the lake.  We decided on fish and chips.  Andrew wasn't too pleased with the result, but I thought it was just fine. Kind of tasted like funnel cake batter around fish. We also got a ginger beer...its like a thick ginger ale.  This one was a special one though because it was called "Franks Damn Tasty Ginger Beer"...Damn tasty. Funny. They're so much less censored here in NZ...SO MUCH less censored.  Its strange.

After fish and chips we decided to go look in a little gift shop to see if we could find a post card to send off.  I picked one with Tekapo and some of the lupins on it and sent it off to my family back in NC...missing them bunches! Then we decided to keep going with the drive and head to the next place.
Next stop was Lake Pukaki.  We didnt really get out and do a lot of looking around.  We just pulled off on the side of the road to run and grab some photos.  A nice Swedish family stopped behind us and took a picture for us :) Andrew did some funny poses...then I did some funny poses...and then we decided to move on so that we could get to Queenstown a bit earlier with time to have dinner and look around...and MAYBE go see The Hobbit...ohhhhhh how excited we were about that!



After our stop we continued on through Mackenzie Country to our destination...Queenstown.  Before the trip to New Zealand (while still in the States) I figured out there was a site called GrabOne, like Groupon or Living Social at home.  I scanned the site daily to find any deals we could use while we were here in NZ.  I ended up finding quite a few awesome things.  The first was our hotel stay in Queenstown...then I found a deal where you took a bus from Queenstown in to Milford Sound, and then you got to do a little boat cruise on the sound and then hop back on the bus back in to Queenstown. I also found a deal where we could go to the Minus 5 Ice Bar and a Pub Crawl while in Queenstown as well (fit in all the bars/restaurants at once!)...and then the last was Skydiving in Auckland (at the end of our trip here in NZ).  So with all those deals, plus our Christmas present from Andrew's dad and Aunt Steph, a trip up the Queenstown gondola and 5 luge rides, we had lots to do in the 4 days we were there.


Anywho...so off we continued on our journey in to Queenstown.  The next town we hit was Cromwell, also off a lake.  That town was pretty cute.  Must be known for their fruit because they had a huge sign as you entered town with gigantic fruit statues behind it.  It smelt amazing! Andrew saw a sign for fresh fruit ice cream and decided we needed to stop.  So we went in to this adorable fruit stand and got some fresh fruit ice cream.  They take fresh fruit and then put it in this contraption and the put ice cream on top, blend it, and then fill your cone.  We decided to pick two flavors...kiwi and mixed berry.  Both amazing and just what we needed to cool us off.  It was a beautiful hot summer day.

So then we kept on going in to another landscape...wine country! I couldn't tell you how many vinyards we passed.  It was amazing! There were a whole bunch of wine and cheese tastings...I was quite tempted...their cheese is awesome. But we kept moving, determined to make it to Queenstown with time to spare.  So onward we went, through the mountains and cliffs.  Each part of the trip was different.  It's amazing the difference in the landscape here.   Some places completely flat...others hilly...others cliffy...others like our mountains at home, rolly and tall :) And then snow caps and waterfalls and beaches! So incredible! Every step of the journey had something to see.  I couldn't let myself sleep (as I normally would on road trips) and kept my eyes peeled open :) 

Next stop...Queenstown...our vacation for the next 3 days.  Filled with adventure, relaxation, and beautiful sites to see :) Oh how we couldn't wait...