Milford Track and Milford Sound

The Milford Track was brilliant. Like I mentioned earlier, I was accompanied by a German by the name of Andreas who by luck of chance got a booking on the track 4 days prior to his booking date, which happened to be the same date I booked months ago. It was his first time doing an overnight hike or a hike with a backpack.



We were very lucky that it never rained during our four days on the track. That is very rare considering that the Milford Sound area is the second wettest place on earth. It makes for very lush rainforests even if they aren't tropical.



The intrepid Dr. Root stands on a rock in front of one of the many many waterfalls in fiordland.



Those are lakes, not puddles near the highest point of the track (1154 metres - not so high). It's hard to tell how far away they are, but they are about a half a kilometer or so from where I was standing when I took this photo. If you look closely you can see the trail winding up on the lower left corner of the picture.

Valley among giant mountains.

Milford Sound is actually a fiord, not a sound. It's a fiord because it was created by glaciers.

Nevis

Sorry for the long delay in updates. Haven't been near a computer for awhile. Been camping alot since I met up with a very nice Canadian couple, Todd and Cat. Toured around with them for about a week which allowed me to save lots of money and got off the Kiwi Experience bus for awhile which was nice.



Rainbow over the roadway. It disappeared as we drove under it.

This sea lion was actually demonstrating its boundaries to keep back, not posing for the camera as it might look.

These penguins were found deep inside a cave underneath cliff walls that met the beach and were only accessible at low tide. We felt bad for taking their photos as apparently they were vewwy scared.



So after the first bungee jump I did another one the next day over three times as high called the Nevis named after the chasm that the cable car you jump from is suspended over. That has to have been the greatest thing I've done in NZ so far. Beats even skydiving. There's someting about leaping off a 440 foot ledge that is more terrifying and thrilling than jumping out of an airplane. Whenever I look at the photos, especially this one, I relive the thrill and want to do it all over again. I have one more jump in Queenstown which I may be doing soon. But right now I am in Dunedin where I arrived just a few hours ago and where the steepest street in the world is.

Bungee Jumping

I know, I know, the extreme sports are beginning to get old... well, maybe for you to read about, but not for me as participator! I was pretty scared. It was harder to jump off the platform than throw myself out of the airplane. Apparently I had the nicest jump in terms of form. Form was the last thing on my mind, but glad to hear it.







Rainforest meets mountains. This was the view the morning of our second attempt at climbing the glacier. I forgot my camera so I have no new pics of the glacier. The day started out nice but halfway into the trip it started raining and sleeting. So we're clambering around on this glacier in the pouring down rain, but no one's spirits were daunted. Before the rain came the view of the glacier spreading up into the mountains was spectacular. The guides use pick axes to make steps into the ice. Many of the steps were vertical, as in straight up. Pretty crazy. Many places there were handrails in place and a few places we walked across chasms in the ice over bridges made of ladders and plywood.





Queenstown. Adventure Capital of the world, or at least New Zealand. This is where I will be doing the Nevis bungee jump tomorrow. Over three times as high as the one I did today. The jump happens over a giant canyon from a small cable car suspended 134 meters up (435ft) the second highest bungee jump in the world. You free fall for 8 and 1/2 seconds before the bungee slows you down and stops you from colliding with the foot deep stream below. Scared? You could say that. More excited than scared at this point tho. We'll see how that ratio is tomorrow when I'm in that little cable car and then step out onto the small platform. Advice I've gotten from other people is ... don't look down.

Queenstown




Maori for a moment.


On Wednesday I leave to the Milford Sound to embark on the Milford Track. Private Person (Andreas) got a fluke booking four days ago by some uncanny bit of luck for the same day I booked two months ago so we will be doing the hike together.

Franz Josef Glacier

Crossed over to the South Island a few days ago via Ferry. The strait between the North and South Island creates a lot of wind.



Visited The Forbidden Pool from Lord of the Rings The Two Towers where Gollum gets caught by Faramir. Sorry, no Smeagol impersonation.



Today we (the kiwi bus tour) attempted climbing a glacier but the rain prevented us from actually getting on the ice. Tomorrow we get to try again with full refund of today's soggy outing.

A picture of me on the second outing with me actually on the glacier. A French guy in our enterage was nice enough to email me this photo he took.





Went sea kayaking again. Nothing terribly exciting. At one point the waves got a bit out of control near a rock island jetting out of the sea and there was some chaos and colliding among the kayaks.

Apple Split Rock - from another angle looks exactly like an apple split in two.

We had a costume party couple nights ago. Everyone had to come up with a costume that started with the letter 'P'. Some people got pretty creative....

British Police Officer

Pippy Longstockings

Plant and Pandas

Pink something or others....

Pointed titted Punks and Private Person (the guy on the right's shorts say "PRIVATE")

Police and the Pope (Loubie Lou our bus driver)

Pair of Gimps and Pijama boy in the background.

White Water Rafting

Latest adventure was doing class 4 and 5 rapids. Hahaha, great fun that was. One of the boats half capsized in the middle of the class 5 rapids and everyone was sorta just stuck in limbo while they tried to free the half sunk, flooded raft. I was the only one laughing at them... half of them were laughing at themselves and their situation too, so what the hell. It wasn't as scary as I thought it'd be, but there were a few times I almost found myself in the river. I want to try whitewater kayaking.

Tented again by the river. After the kayak trip we had lunch and then the bus was off again, in its usual -no moment for rest- rushed fashion. I think I was the only one from our bus tenting because everyone else was ready to leave and my tent with all my stuff strewn about it was still up. I barely made the bus in time. One of the staff people had to drive me up the hill while one of the people in reception called our bus driver on the cell to tell her to wait. Slightly annoying. We had a day rest in Wellington and I'm only now feeling a bit recovered from all the activities rushing from place to place.

Participated in a little pool competition tonight at the hostel. Got third place out of about 15 people or so by lots of luck and a little skill. I was stoked. The winner got $50 of drinks at the hostel bar. There were no runner up prizes.

Sky Diving

So the sky diving finally went through today at around 11am. Pretty good stuff. I got a photo package and DVD of the whole thing but it's film not digital so won't be posting those pics here. :-/ Here are a few pics I did get.







Pretty good fun. Wasn't even that scary. The moment when your bum leaves the plane is a bit of a "omg what have I done" moment but you're soon in the swing of things and flying high enjoying the ride. Whooooooooooooooshhh!!!

Sky Diving?

Weather permitting I will be throwing myself out of an airplane bright and early tomorrow morning from 12,000 feet for a scant $139. Went blackwater rafting which was great - floating down a river in complete blackness save for the ceiling of the cave which is covered with glow worms making it look like a night sky folded and bent - with the echo of people whistling the Star Wars theme song.



Went 4-wheelin' in some amazing countryside/farmland. The quads were fun, kept getting reprimanded by the tour guy for driving crazy, though. Went Zorbing which was whacky and fun - big round ball rolling down a hill you're inside of with some water to keep things somewhat smooth.










Went to a Tamaki Village where the Moari people gave us a taste of their culture and traditions. Prolly the highlight of the trip so far. They did a great dance and just the whole feel of the culture and people was special. Unfortunately I was filming more than taking photos so don't have many good ones.






Went Louging which was pretty good fun. Some good banking turns and drop offs. Got a free ride for no particular reason - something Kiwis seem to have a natural knack for. The attendant just felt like being nice after his friends joked that I should check my camera bag that I had left in his care during my runs since I couldn't louge and film at the same time.



Camped out a couple nights. This morning was mite cold with some rain and my stuff stayed mostly dry. Thanks for the bungees Dad, they worked out great for keeping my tent and bedpad to my pack. Bought a day pack as well which has been helpful.



There was more but that's all the time I have right now. All in the last day or so. Good times. I don't bother looking at my bank account - takes the fun out of it.

will be doing class 5 whitewater rafting soon! (this is not a raftable river tho, except for the ultra insane)

The Hobbit Hole Internet Cafe

So I write from the hobbit hole internet cafe. Woo hoo - in Matamata aka The Shire. Very shirefic indeed. I cannot upload picutres because I this computer is running windows 98. I did get some good pictures of Hobbiton tho. Eva hooked me up with a free tour which would have been $50. Was pretty sweet.

ok, was able to upload:
Hobbiton

Hobbit sticks head out of Bag End.

From inside Bag End.


The Party Tree

So to bring you up to date, let's see... went see kayaking a couple days ago where we enjoyed hot chocolate, mochachino, cafe lattes and any other frappachino drink you can think of on the beach. The kayak guides brought it along. Was pretty fun but the guides wouldn't let us try to ride the waves in without assistance because someone's kayak flipped when trying to with the guide assisting. The kayaks are long and narrow so you have to go perfecty straight to do it, but I think we would have managed.

At Mercury Bay after sipping a Mochaccino on the beach.

Also went for a short walk where there were these rickety bridges that we got wobbling and bouncing pretty good. Alas, until I find a computer where I can upload you'll just have to use your imaginations. :/



I arrived in Matamata on Saturday and Eva has been a wonderful host and she and her friend and I hung out at a lake where I decided to try and climb this really tall narrow tree and nearly got myself into trouble. Was prolly the most technical and challenging tree I've attempted to climb but I wasn't really ever terrified, just a bit afraid at times. There were a lot more dead branches than I thought there'd be, and many branches that had leaves on them behaved like dead branches (broke really easily) Not having medical insurance definitely affects the level of risks I was willing to take. Was contemplating tryin to get to the top of the tree but settled with 2/3 way up. Took awhile to get down - to plot my course as it were. I have no pics of that but I did bring my video camera up the tree with me.

Burned my fingers on the burner this morning testing if it was on. Thought it was off. Seared the flesh on my fingers bad. Was worried I wouldn't be able to do much with them for the next couple days. Pretty nasty burn. But I put them under cold water for 20 minutes and then kept reapplying Weleda burn ointment and I'm amazed at how fast my fingers have healed. Barely feel the burn at all anymore - typing on this keyboard with no problem at all. Tip of my left pointer was burned the worst. So... THANKS MOM! cause I almost didn't bother bringing all your remedies. Glad I did.

I can't take anymore pictures because my card is full and I have no way to upload. Eva and her friend Katarina both don't have computers. Not good. Will have to figure something out soon!

I had no way to get back to Matamata from Eva's place. Eva and Katarina are working on Stud farms which are farms for raising race horses which can sell for as much as half a million dollars or more. Got a tour of the stud farm on the back of a little four wheeler steered by Eva. So anyway, I had no way of getting back to town from her place this morning because she was at work all day. Decided to try and walk but realized I didn't even know the way. A car started to drive by just as I had left the driveway of Eva's place and so I stuck out my thumb and gave a "please stop and pick me up?" kinda look and the guy pulled over and asked if I was going to Matamata. Very sweet. Yes, Kiwis and people in general are very friendly here. He offered to give me a ride back in 2 hours or so which is good because otherwise I'd have to find my way back, which wouldn't be much fun. I offered him money but he refused. I was quite surprised at my luck there.

Tomorrow I leave on the Kiwi Experience bus again. Next up is Zorbing which I'll talk of later and louge run - which I hear is pretty fun in the town of Rotorua. Lots of crazy fun things to do there. 40mph go carts too. Yes, bungee jumnping (not sure about sky diving) but I want to save those for Queenstown where they are extra awesome to do because of the height and views. I may be meeting up with Katarina in a week or so (man, those German girls sure are cuuuuute!) Well, I think that's it for updating of the last few days. Internet in the small towns costs an arm and a leg and a small fortune (okay, $3 for 20 minutes, but still - will have taken 3 hours to compress all the photos and email them home....) Hopefully pics with the next update! Love ya all! Thanks for reading the pictureless blog that isn't so pictureless now.